Impulse Burn (Part 7)
Posted on 11 Apr 2014 @ 8:16am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Riley Cameron & Senior Chief Petty Officer Keval zh'Erinov & Lieutenant Asahi Kita & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Crewman Ash Rowe
1,701 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Episode 05 - Solstice
Location: Sol System - Jupiter Station
Timeline: MD 57 - 1525 hrs
Previously, on Impulse Burn (Part 6)...
"Yeah...Let's do it!" Lamar thought it was a crazy enough plan that it might actually work, and he gave Riley a quick hand-signal to indicate for them to proceed to the shuttle and catch up with it. With a few inputs on the thruster pack controls, the gaseous propellant jets began to fire putting Lamar on a pursuit course with the runaway Type-9. "You take the port-side nacelle and I'll take the starboard side one? Then we can give it a push together?" he suggested.
With a laugh the Engineer pulsed his pack and sent himself moving towards the shuttle. The exterior was obviously ice cold, not that he could feel it through the EV suit, but once secured, he looked towards his co-pilot.
"Let's see just how mad we are eh?"
And Now, the Conclusion...
[ON]
Shuttle Livia
Allyndra caught the wave from Lamar as their shuttle was pulling alongside. The engines were starting to overheat, but holding them back had been the best course. The Galilei suddenly pulled ahead and Allyndra cautioned Keval not to follow suit.
The Galilei was just ahead when a bright light flared and the shuttle both slowed and then veered. She tapped Keval on the shoulder, "Looks like Galilei has a problem."
Keval barely looked up from the console, so focused was he on piloting, "Keep an eye on them," he said.
Allyndra took just a tad of power from their mad dash to use for the sensors and the readings were not good.
=^=Shuttle Galilei, this is Shuttle Livia, do you need assistance?=^=
There was silence. "By the Twins, sorry Keval, we need to slow."
Keval cursed silently, not because they had to slow down, it was only a race, but out concern for his friends in the other shuttle. He eased off of the thrusters
=^=Padua, this is the Livia, the Galilei appears to have an issue we are heaving to provide what assistance we can=^=
Asahi's voice piped up on the other end. =^=We hear you loud and clear, Livia. Let us know if you need any other assistance.=^=
Keval could see the two stranded Fleeters outside the shuttle as he came to an emergency stop. Allyndra," he called out, I think I may have lost them. Use the sensors and see if you can find them and put out a call to the to other ships."
Allyndra made sensor sweeps and finally picked up the blips. "Got them, I will keep track."
Allyndra had kept watch of the two crew of the Galilei puzzled as to the antics and lack of response. It was when she noted that now in EVA suits the two where, well what were they doing? Finally it dawned on her, "Those two are pushing their shuttle with their suits!"
She turned to Keval, "If they are that alright to do something like that then we don't have to hang around further. Keval, the engines have cooled and we have a lot of fuel left, let's.........what is that old Earth term? Light the fires and kick the tires." She said triumphantly.
"As long as they're safe, why the hell not. Maybe we can win this thing after all. " He quickly plotted a new course, fired up the engines and set the thrusters to maximum impulse.
Shuttle Ostillo
Theron watched out the view port as he saw the Livia, slow down in response to the emergency on the Galilei. He looked over at Ash as their shuttle passed the other two at that point.
Ash shook her head, letting out a long whistle, catching a glance of the sight before focusing back on their finish line, pushing on. "Crash and burn, baby, the charm of the track."
Theron was just a little startled by the unremorseful attitude from Ash, but he understood, 'this was a race.' "We are now in the lead." He looked to his pilot, "I am not recommending pulling back, but I would definitely recommend not pushing it any further."
"Deal," Ash nodded firmly, keeping her steady rather than pushing any further. She wouldn't slow any thought...her eye was drifting to the time, wanting to get those extra seconds.
. . .
After a few moments Theron glanced at the sensor display and exclaimed, "You have to be kidding me!"
Ash glanced across to him with concern. "What? Don't tell me another shuttle's gone!"
Theron focused the sensors on the Galilei, checking energy signatures and life signs. His jaw slightly dropped in amazement then said, "Darius and Cameron are in their EV suits, outside the ship and pushing the shuttle using their suit thrusters." Theron looked to Ash confused, "What do you think they trying to do?"
Ash laughed warmly, shaking her head as she looked back ahead. "Exactly what any good racer would do....they're trying to finish the race!"
***Jupiter Station Finish Line***
Shuttle Livia
The fuel level was fine, that is what Allyndra expected as she had urged to follow a cautious race. It was that port side engine, it had cooled but now as the mad dash and over power hit it, was warming fast, much faster than the starboard.
She tried to balance the mix but the engine was rapidly becoming critical, that and the stop to check on the Galilei had put some distance between them and the two other shuttles.
"We are loosing that port side engine Keval," Allyndra said with disgust in her voice. "I am going to have to shut it down before it blows......." An idea struck her. "Can you put us in a tight corkscrew turn?"
"I have magic hands they can do anything," Keval responded, "why?"
"I am thinking shut the port down, put everything we got into starboard but by spinning the craft we try to even the thrust."
"Good idea. We may still win this, if not at least we'll finish."
Shuttle Ostillo
Ash caught sight of what was going on, her eyes narrowing when she realised what Livia was doing. "Oh no you don't, sneaky..." she tutted, shaking her head. She adjusted their course slightly, so they were still ahead of the Lavia, but directly in front of them, blocking their course. Realising that they had limited maneuverability with only the starboard thrust, she knew blocking their path would force them to level their speed, as they wouldn't be able to maneuver accurately around and ahead of them.
That, or they might just fly straight into the back of them. For some strange reason, that idea made Ash chuckle. It was like backwards chicken.
Theron glanced over at Ash and back to the controls. He was amazed at her arrogance, but understood that sometimes a strong aggressive attitude was necessary to win.
"That's it...keep it up..." Ash murmured, to the shuttle, her hand gripping the top edge of the seat for just a moment as she caught her breath, watching the finish line draw closer.
Ash let out a cheer as they crossed it, punching a hand up in the air above her head, breathing hard with adrenaline. "I'd do a victory lap, but I think she might blow!" she laughed.
Theron Rhodes just smiled slightly and shook his head at the excitement that Ash exuded. "Congratulations Ash, well done indeed." Glancing again at her, "And yes we do not want to blow an EPS or the bypass hot wire they had set." He glanced down to check it's viability.
Finally, Rhodes laid his hands on the arm rests and leaned back and took a deep breath. He looked over to Ash once again, smiled more genuinely, and said, "You did good. Yes, you did very good."
Shuttle Livia
Allyndra was impressed with Keval as the shuttle spun like a dart. She was getting just a little green around the gills from the stars and the titanic display of Jupiter and she was from a race that had natural flight.
Ostillo suddenly maneuvered into the front of them and with a quick thrust of the damaged port engine managed not to run into the back and just managed to keep the minimum separation. The sudden maneuver had forced them slightly to the side, they were still right on near the Ostillo, but even Allyndra could see they had managed to cross first.
She turned to Keval. "Well we had the strategy, just the gods did not quite smile on this day. Shutting engines down before I get sick."
Shuttle Galilei
Now sitting unceremoniously on the top of Galilei's port nacelle, Lamar took in the view in front of him as the other two shuttles crossed the Jupiter Station finish line and began to power down. It had been a long shot for him and Cameron to win the race ever since the power overload inside the cockpit had forced them outside, but at least they had completed the entire race course.
"Well......shit," the support craft pilot mumbled inside his helmet, then kicked his space boot against the large silver nacelle in frustration. "At least we didn't explode or lose the shuttle."
"Aye....we still should have won though Sir!" Cameron replied, laughing at the thought of them trying to push the shuttle over the finishing line. The race had been a success, although Riley knew full well he was going to spend the next part of a week getting their bird ready to fly again.
[OFF]
--
MWO Lamar Darius
Chief Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Saalm]
WO Riley Cameron
Engineer
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Holliday]
CPO Keval Grayson
Operations
USSGalileo
{PNPC Nicholas}
LT Asahi Kita
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo
Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo
CN Ash Rowe
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]
Lt. Theron Rhodes
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Galileo
RSS Feed
Back to Top