Flight Training

Posted on 24 May 2014 @ 9:48pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim

3,739 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay
Timeline: MD 04 - 0800 hrs

[ON]

There had been an offer for actual certification for shuttle pilot and Allyndra after having had a taste of the race had decided to take up the offer. That and the fact that the instructor was going to be one Lamar Darius was a nice addition.

She had just gotten off her shift and her time was for oh-eight-hundred, in the main shuttle bay. She made her way down there but before entering the bay, stopped and did a little exercise routine.

Stepping through the door after she had warmed up her flight muscles, the spacious bay offered the room to stretch her wings and she did so. It was that awkward exhausting and challenging type of flight that required one to maneuver with the body vertical. A sort of hovering movement. She floated across the shuttle bay and though she wanted to surprise Lamar a little, the whir of wings would certainly give anyone with ears a pause.

She spotted him and maneuvered that way and cheerily called out, "I am here to learn to fly."

It had been an uneventful morning for the chief support craft pilot, and Lamar had just reported to his duty shift and was still in the process of waking up when he heard a familiar voice and a strange sound of what could possibly be buzzing. He put two and two together, and turning around from the maintenance locker where he was taking inventory, sighted Allyndra, and gave her a light wave of his hand. "Morning...bright and early, I see?" he teased, knowing that she was in the books for an 0800 training lesson.

It was good to see her again, and sadly hadn't had the opportunity to spend much time with her since their mutual vacations during shore leave. He hoped she didn't think he'd been avoiding her, rather it was the result of a busy duty schedule due to the lack of flight operations crew members. Hopefully the flight certification program he had volunteered to instruct would help remedy that, and he was happy to start the day off with his first student.

Allyndra settled gently to the deck. It was hard work but she enjoyed the short flight and only slightly breathless replied, "The Guild Mother taught me well never to be late."

She held up her hands and turned them palm away from Lamar. "I remember the stick across the knuckles and it left the impression that tardiness was not to be tolerated." Dropping her hands, she took another step, "Well before we start how have you been?"

"Well enough," he answered with a casual shrug. Small talk wasn't his forte, but he appreciated the inquiry nonetheless. "It's been busy in flight ops ever since we launched. We're short-staffed so everyone's been pulling extra hours on their shifts and there hasn't been a lot of time off," he elaborated. "You?"

"Good enough, I think they made my sickbay smaller in the remodel. Nice equipment though. Now then, here I am to get certified," Allyndra laughed lightly. "You must forgive my little amusement when I got the note that one could learn to fly."

He grinned and slowly nodded. "Well, not all of us are born with wings, you know. And believe it or not, piloting shuttles isn't actually too hard. What kind of prior experience do you have? I'm guessing they put you through basic flight training at the Academy?" he wondered, trying to gauge how much instruction she would need to feel comfortable inside a cockpit.

"That as far as shuttles, basic that we all had is the extent I am afraid. Though my instructor did say that I had something of an aptitude for it. So," Allyndra made that funny shrug that sort of caused the wings to rub, "consider me pretty much a novice."

"Fair enough," he replied with an understanding nod, then quickly thought about the best way to introduce her to support craft piloting. "Piloting isn't too hard...hell, if I can do it, anyone can. Do you remember the basics of directional control from your classes? Translation and rotation?"

"Yes, I do. However, while I know the theory, the practicalities are what is the word you Earthers say? Oxidized? No that is not it........."

"Uhh..." Lamar furrowed his brow in thought, wondering what the exact word was that Allyndra was looking for. Oxidized... "Rusty?" he suddenly thought of the scientific word's synonym.

"Rusty! That is it! Well, my skills are rusty but their is a saying on my world: 'If one is afraid of falling, then never try your wings'."

"No prob, nothing like getting your feet wet on the first day to get rid of some of that rust." Did that even make sense? he wondered with a mental chuckle, hoping the meaning of his words was at least somewhat clear. "We can take our the workbee and practice thruster control...then next session we can move up to larger support craft like the Type-9?" he proposed.

"Very good, I like getting my feet wet. Well lead on, and I shall try not to scrape the paint." Allyndra replied.

She followed Lamar to the small craft he had called a workbee and remembered she had been told to always do a pre-flight. This ship was different than during Academy days but still enough was similar that she went through the routine with him watching.

"Did I forget anything?" she inquired as she presented her checklist.

Sitting in the tiny, cramped cockpit next to her, he did a double check of all flight control surface controls as well as the primary and secondary systems. "Looks good," he answered as he jotted down some notes on his PADD. "This workbee has some additional maintenance systems which we won't need for this flight, so go ahead and power them down using the operations console. You can divert that power to the primary thrusters, if you want." He pointed towards the small ops console to Allyndra's right.

Allyndra spent a few seconds looking at the controls of the indicated section that Lamar had pointed and then shut the down the systems but did not divert to thrusters. It had been awhile at the controls of a ship of any kind and the last thing she needed was to launch the little worker ship like a torpedo.

"Very good, shall I take her out?"

"Sure, just make sure to go easy on the thrusters and only use the slightest of inputs. Try to focus on only one maneuvering axis at a time...for now. And don't forget to contact flight ops on the bridge and get permission for departure," he explained.

Allyndra lifted the little ship off carefully though they rocked slightly as she got a feel for the maneuvering thrusters. She then got her clearance and the doors parted to let in the stars set in the blackness of space. It always was an inspiring sight and she sighed for a moment as she remembered the picnic she and Lamar had shared before Ring Rise on Akkadiea. The flight control gave her permission and she moved the throttle she thought gently but the little craft responded quickly and they went through the force field a little faster than she had expected.

"Sorry, this is a responsive little ship."

Lamar felt his heart skip a beat when the fragile workbee unexpectedly sped through the shuttlebay exit, but it was understandable given the circumstances and nothing which was cause for too much alarm. "Slightest of inputs..." he repeated with a small laugh, then nodded in confirmation. "This little gal can get wildly out of control if too much thrust is applied, but if you can get to the point where you feel comfortable in such a maneuverable craft, the larger Type-9 and runabouts will seem much easier to pilot." He pointed towards the space directly behind and between Galileo's nacelles. "Apply a little forward thrust and lets go out about 500 kilometers from Galileo. That should give us room to try some maneuvers."

Allyndra throttled back and looking chagrined, "Sorry, alright let's try this again." She felt like someone who had been stung once and was overly careful. The first couple of thrusts were barely enough to push the craft but she slowly worked trying to get the feel of what was too much and what was too little. It took a lot more time than she had planned to get into the position.

"Again, apologies, I feel as skittish as a maiden trying her wings for the first time. I know more or less what to do but things do not work quite as expected."

"It's cool, I know the feeling," Lamar empathized, "I was the same way the first time I started my flight training. It's all experience, really. After a few hours, you'll feel a lot more comfortable and you'll be familiar with the way the craft handles." He watched as she positioned the workbee at his designated coordinates, then gave her a nod of approval.

"Good job, now apply a little forward thrust from the starboard-aft thruster and apply a little reverse thrust from the port-aft thruster...that should swing us around 180 degrees while keeping our position stable," he said. "Once we're facing Galileo, give some vertical thrust and take us above the ship about 10 kilometers.

Allyndra nodded in understanding and furrowed her brow again going a lot slower so that she did not fly the small craft off to quickly. Her rotation went a bit past a half circle and she had to compensate to bring it around. However, the next part came easier as she got more used the little craft's nuances. She brought the craft to the indicated spot.

"There," she said with a little triumph in her voice. She then turned to Lamar and smiled. "I can see why you like this. It is freedom." Allyndra sighed for a moment remembering her first flight. "When I got my first wings instead of spending time in an Iresima house like all the others I instead flew as far as I could."

He smiled as she recalled her first flying experience for him. "You're braver than I am. I think if I had wings, I'd be scared to death of messing up and falling a hundred-plus feet into the ground. Or the ocean." He hated oceans just about as much as he hated the Jem'Hadar.

Allyndra laughed lightly as she tried to imagine Lamar with wings. "Silly, only the females have wings..." She trailed off and then said, "A Guild Mother once told me: 'If you are afraid of falling, never try your wings'. Oh I admit, I was but then I guess curiosity over came all that." She shut up suddenly and then shook her head, "Here I am prattling on like some old Guild Mother. If your interested maybe come by some time, it has been awhile, and I can tell you more. Now what next honoured teacher?"

"That sounds good, I'm free later tonight after alpha shift is over," he replied to her invitation. It had indeed been a while since they had spent quality time together, and no doubt there was some catching up they needed to do.

"Let's see...," he proceeded to mumble, turning his thoughts back to the task at hand and noting their current position above and behind the Nova Class. "Let's try a 180 degree roll to put us inverted to Galileo, then translate left at 10 meters per second without yawing or pitching."

"Sounds good, sometime beta shift then, I have gamma, traded with that Bolian doctor. Alright let's see if I can do this," Allyndra made a bit of a face and remembering the skittishness of the craft touched the controls as gently as Garrin had touched her the first time they joined. The craft responded to her gentle hands and spun around neatly on its axis. She overshot by a few degrees so that it was more of a 190 degree roll but compensated.

Lamar had said left, but was that while they had been one way or now that they were the other way. She decided that it was after the roll and moved the craft to her now left. There might have been just the tiniest bit of wobble in the maneuver but overall she thought it had gone well.

"Hope that was right, you said left, but it was after the roll part so I figured left once we made the roll."

"Yep, you got the right direction." He craned his head to look out of the workbee's tiny windows to properly take note of their current position. "Good job, looks like we're in the right position." He made a mental note that despite some minor maneuver deviations, Allyndra was actually doing an excellent job. "Now translate right, back to our original position, then forward about two kilometers, then backwards another two kilometers."

"Aye," Allyndra replied falling back into her routine from being a cadet. The spatial directions were easy as were the distances. Her instructors at the Academy had always noted that and her advantage of having it built in. That was not the problem, but the little ship and the controls were. She just always kept feeling like just do it. If she could fly on her own out here, it would be just so much more natural. She finally completed the course and without too much bobbling and wobbling, but it took her longer than she liked.

"There!" She finally said triumphantly. "If I could fly out here on my own it would be so much easier. Thoughts go to my back not my hands." She laughed. "You know if you appreciate the nuances of these maneuvers you might like to watch water dancing."

Allyndra had mentioned water dancing to him several times in the past, but sadly he hadn't gotten around to actually seeing it with his own eyes. "I'm going to have to take you up on that offer, one of these days," he remarked with a small grin while he took note of the workbee's new position.

"Looks like we're in the right spot," he added while surveying the console in front of him to double-check the navigational coordinates. "Now let's try a 90-degree roll to starboard, then go ahead and take us in a slow circle around Galileo's beam." The maneuver would effectively put the small maintenance craft on its side while testing the pilot's ability to navigate a specific spatial plane while oriented to a different one.

Allyndra turned to the task given to her. That was actually again very easy for her mind to comprehend. The controls slightly harder but she was becoming more and more used to the nuances of the little ship. Lamar had said slow circle but this felt just like flying over the ocean except there was no feel of the wind on skin and wings and instead as the little ship began its roll she went from slow to fast, actually laughing as the curve of the ship and stars spun fast. She pulled up from the fast barrel like roll to stop where they had been.

"Sorry, got carried away, it was just so much fun."

"It is kinda fun, isn't it?" he remarked when she finished the maneuver and parked the shuttle in its original starting position. "You did that pretty well," he complimented, "Let's try something a little more delicate..." he pointed to the protruding landing pad directly outside of Galileo's main shuttlebay which was lined with yellow markings and landing lights. "Think you can park us on the pad without entering the bay?"

Allyndra studied the indicated area. It was in her mind easy enough for she could visualize the needed tracjectory. That was in her mind, but she would have to translate that to hands and feet rather than body and wings. "I think so," she replied.

They sat a few moments while she again mentally prepared that this was with hands and feet with the little craft and then deciding on her action twirled the little craft. The visualization she had was a sort of rise with a roll at the apex coming straight down onto the pad. She had done that sort of thing many times on her own back on Akkadia in her younger years. The craft shot up and she twirled at the zenith of apex and then pushed it down. There was a little groan through the ship as it landed on the pad as she had visualized but a bit harder than she had planned. The craft bobbled on its struts a few seconds but it was where it was supposed to be.

She shook her head, "I keep trying to do all this with mind to body, but not mind to hands and feet. Well, I don't think I broke anything, maybe a bit harder on the landing than planned."

Lamar's eyes went a bit wide when the workbee landed forcefully on the pad. After a slight wobble, however, the craft settled itself down and he glanced out of the cockpit to view their current position. "Not bad," he said with a nervous laugh. "No, doesn't look like we broke anything...on our workbee or Galileo," he teased while giving her a gentle pat on her thigh.

"How about we lift off again and you can park us inside the bay?" he suggested after his eyes glanced at the chronometer and noticed they'd logged almost an hour of flight time already.

"That I can do without quite so much drama," Allyndra said laughingly. She could not help but feel a little thrill from the contact and had to take several deep breaths to calm herself. She covered it over but saying, "Just nerves after that stunt."

Slowly she lifted off again and then guided the little craft back through the shield and into the bay. Her next landing was as gentle as Bloodflower seed floating to the ground.

She began to shut the craft down and turned her head, "Thank you for your patience." Allyndra took a quick look around and then leaned to kiss Lamar.

Lamar was about to congratulate her on her first official landing on Galileo but quickly lost his train of thought when he observed her leaning in to kiss him. As cramped as the tiny workbee's one-person pod was with the two of them sitting side-by-side, he only had to move his head a matter of inches before his lips were pressed up against hers. Slipping his tongue lightly into her mouth, he let out a quiet breath and began to reminisce about the time they had spent together during shore leave.

Allyndra played slightly with Lamars and oh so gently tugged at his lips with those sharp inner teeth. She wanted to taste him again so badly but then the situation came crashing back in. She pulled back and tossed her hair. "I do not do that for all instructors, only the very best and as far as I am concerned there is only one."

He chuckled at her adulation and gave her a mock frown. "Trying to get in my good graces?" he playfully scolded, then feigned a shrug. "I guess I can bump up your grade for every kiss you give me. Bonus points for anything extra that happens in between the sheets."

Allyndra laughed. "I think I will take you up on that offer but perhaps a little later."
She did lean in and kiss him again but whispered in his ear, "It is said in the old days when males still had wings that we would mate in the air, perhaps a holodeck and a grav pack we can try like in ancient times?"

"Join the Mile-High club, huh?" He would never have thought of such an idea without her being there to suggest it, and as crazy and physically difficult as it sounded, it definitely seemed like an experience he couldn't pass up. "I like the sound of that."

"What is that?" Allyndra asked curious. "A few thousand feet is what I have read, higher the air is not...supportive? No wings work, one has trouble breathing for long to sustain that altitude. Blacking out and falling is not something I care do from high up."

"No, no," he shook his head as he attempted to clarify while giving her a sideways grin. "It's an old Earth term...it means to have sex in some sort of aerospace craft in the atmosphere. It started out when us Humans were flying around in old airplanes in the early 20th century, and it was the 'cool and exciting' thing to do to have sex up in the air...and if you did, you and your partner were said to have joined the Mile-High club."

"Ah!" Allyndra comprehended. "I see, well then, I guess we shall have to make you member then but you can boast you did not need a vehicle." She teased with a delicate finger down his cheek.

"I will set something up when we both have time," she sighed. "Right now, duty beckons again. So did I pass or shall I have to wait until after the holodeck for extra credit?"

"You did pretty good, all things considered," he answered. It wasn't often that he got the chance to tutor other pilots, but from what he had seen of her piloting skills and her ability to learn on-the-fly, she was definitely ahead of the curve. "There's a bunch more stuff we have to go over but today was a good start. I'll send you some reading material to look over in between our sessions."

"Very good," Allyndra made a polite nod of the head. She then started to get out. "When you do, if your interested send a time when you can make a holodeck."

"I will," he assured her as he also began to climb out of the cramped cockpit now that the craft was parked and the canopy was open. "I can't wait."

[OFF]

--

MWO Lamar Darius
Chief Support Craft
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Saalm]

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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