Wintrow's Checkride

Posted on 22 Nov 2014 @ 9:45pm by Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin

893 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 07 - Sojourn
Location: Starbase 84 - Shuttle
Timeline: MD 04, 0800 hours

[ON]

Dea had arrived at the shuttle bay just a bit early. Prepared to see how Wintrow handled himself piloting. So far that was one thing Dea had not been able to witness first hand. "Good morning," Mialin greeted the Cadet when he arrived, "Are you ready?"

"Ma'am," Wintrow greeted in turn as he waited beside the shuttle. He stood casually leaning against it, though he just radiated nervousness. He knew he would do good, because he'd not failed a flying test before. Well, not since repeatedly crashing a fighter on a holodeck anyway. But that had been nearly two years ago. "Yes ma'am I'm ready," he answered, smiling slightly. "I've studied most of last night."

"Secure the hatch behind you," Dea commented as she boarded the shuttle. "I'm going to pull up our course. Its designed to test all of your skills low speed and high. Though precision is graded all the way through." She took a seat in the copilot's chair.

Wintrow climbed inside and closed the hatch, then secured himself into the pilot's seat. "Understood ma'am," he answered as he went through the pre-flight checklist without even being asked to do so. It was just a habit that had grown on him ever since he learned to fly fighters.

Dea watched him carefully though she remained quiet, "When you're ready request permission for a departure vector then take us out." Given this was an evaluation Dea had a PADD to take notes.

Without breaking his concentration, Wintrow nodded, finishing his checks first. "Starbase control, this is Shuttlecraft Cynus requesting departing vector and permission to depart."

"Shuttlecraft, you are cleared for depart, vector is appearing on your screen."

"Confirmed starbase. Shuttlecraft out." He activated the shuttles thrusters and neatly had it lift off and drift towards the bay's exit. Once the bay was cleared, he fired thrusters to quarter impulse and steered away from the base.

From the copilots chair Dea kept a close eye on things. Making a few notes on her PADD. "Show me what you're capable of Cadet Wintrow."

"It's Paragon ma'am," Wintrow absently corrected her as he followed the directions on his console. He neatly steared the shuttle along it's designated path though he overcompensated on one of the corners.

As a fighter pilot, he was used to evading obstacles at high speed so there was little room for error on his part. Yet, he managed to skim right past one of the objects, the shuttle's response time slower than what he was used to on his own fighter. "Whoops," he murmured as he gritted his teeth, his face a mask of utter concentration.

Emergency procedures was obviously something he needed to work on, outside his skill to eject which was not an option on a shuttle. Instead, he slowed the little craft to a halt for a moment, and shut down most of the running consoles as an alarm started to blare. He left navigation running, an emergency beacon and diverted the rest of the power towards oxygen preservation.

After several minutes he resumed his course to starbase.

Dea watched him Wintrow carefully. "You have to be able to compensate for a change in craft agility without thinking about it. That will come with time. You want that and your emergency procedures to be second nature so you don't have to think about it if you ever find yourself in trouble."

"I'll start practicing those," Wintrow promised as he continued his path.

About an hour later, Wintrow returned the shuttle to it's pad and landed without incident after receiving permission to land. He took a deep breath as he powered down the shuttle. "That was...different," he breathed, anxiously looking at his department head.

Dea nodded as she wrote the last of her notes for Wintrow's check ride, "Shuttles are different then fighters but you'll get more confident with time. Having a diverse set of skills will benefit your career as time goes on. Nice job Cadet. Enjoy shoreleave while we have it."

"I will try ma'am," Wintrow answered, "though I'm accomanying Cadet Saalm to Rigel for her sister's wedding." He gave her a questioning look. "How did I do?"

"That is considered a form of enjoying yourself," Dea commented meeting Wintrow's gaze, "As far as how you did. There's stuff you need to work on but you passed. I'm not the type who will leave you hanging. You'd know right away if your scores weren't good enough."

A happy smile passed the boy's face. "Does this mean I'm allowed to fly a shuttle now, if called upon ma'am?" he asked eagerly. "I mean...if there's people who want to go anywhere on short trips and such?" He didn't have a whole many things to do to pass the time, and flying was what he did love to do. Flying, and sailing.

"You are cleared to fly one but that does't mean you will always get to. Even I don't get to all the time," Dea smiled. "Now as I said before enjoy your leave and be ready to work when we come back. Things will get busy quickly."

"Thank you ma'am." Wintrow smiled back. "You enjoy your leave too ma'am."

[OFF]

LCDR Dea Mialin
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo

Cadet SO Wintrow Paragon
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC T'Vanna]

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