I Am Unafraid, Part I of II

Posted on 23 Aug 2017 @ 11:06am by Ensign Miraj Derani & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin

3,318 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Starfleet Fighter Corp Flight School
Timeline: MD21 1100

ON:

Liam Bailey was sitting at his desk. He always sat at a desk now, not like just a few years ago. Before his promotion to desk jockey. He hated being a desk jockey but pilots would never get rated and posted to a ship. But he still hated it.

However, his day had gotten slightly better with contact from one of his best students, Miraj Derani. She for some reason had had her flight privileges removed and needed to be reinstated. Luckily for him, as commander of the flight school, Liam could handle special cases himself, as he would with Miraj. He knew she would arrive soon and waited until he heard a knock on the door.

Miraj had tested herself in simulators, knew she was able to fly, but a computer test wasn't good enough. Flight capacity, and therefore status, had to be assessed by a sentient mind, of appropriate rank. There weren't many people she felt comfortable asking, afraid that the people, the instructors she had flown rings around in the past, would take the chance to get back at her. A medical suspension meant effectively a requalification test, it had to be passed perfectly.

So she turned to the one who had been the least fazed by her piloting abilities, The chief instructor at the fighter school. Bailey had agreed instantly, so now she was here, knocking on the door.

Bailey heard the door and pushed aside the PADDs he had been reading. He checked the chrono to be sure who was standing outside the door.

"Come," he said.

Miraj walked in smartly, feeling much like she had the first day of her brief time being assessed for the fighter school. She was wearing a uniform for the first time in what felt like forever, and the form fitting fabric felt itchy and she had to fight the urge to pull at the collar like a first semester cadet. "Good, morning, sir."

"Well, well, well," he started. "Derani. More like deranged."

He chuckled.

"Did the ships get too big? Did you run into a starbase?"

He was teasing, but part of him was still bitter that she had chosen to fly capital size starships instead of fighters.

"It's a good thing I'm in charge around here now," he continued. "Not sure anyone else would pass you." He paused. "Of course, you'll still have to pass."

"I wouldn't expect anything less, sir," she replied, but then couldn't resist a bit of back chat, "Afterall, we have to keep everyone who insists on obsolete technology feeling useful." There was warmth in her tone. It had been a long and well trodden argument between them on every occasion they'd met after she had demonstrated she utterly lacked the killer instinct needed for a fighter pilot.

Bailey looked over the young woman for a moment and shook his head.

"Well, at least you haven't gotten yourself killed," he said.

He paused and turned back to his computer to bring Miraj's file up. When the computer didn't respond to his request, he shoved the monitor aside and looked back at Miraj.

"I don't really care what got you grounded," he started. "What I care about is if you can still fly a fighter. If you can fly one of those, you can be cleared for a starship."

He paused.

"But still," he continued. "Being grounded is a serious offense. If you've done something wrong, then I need to know that also."

Miraj looked uncertain. She wasn't supposed to discuss events with anyone else. "I was grounded for medical reasons. I was injured in the thing with Galileo." She ummed and ahhed over the rest of it, her part in the mutiny. The Starfleet officer who had interviewed her hadn't seemed interested in it at all, and she hadn't been called back for follow ups. "There's more, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say."

Bailey nodded at Miraj's comments about how she had been grounded. The scuttlebutt around Headquarters had gotten around to him several days ago that he wasn't surprised when Miraj mentioned what got her grounded. He was a little concerned by her statement about not being allowed to talk about whatever else had happened to her, but Liam had been dealing with Starfleet and its secrets for so long that it didn't matter to him what she did.

Bailey hurumphed and nodded again.

"Okay, Derani," he said. "You need to fly again and I'm the one that's going to have to clear you. So, you still have issues with flying a starfighter?"

"Beyond that they're arrogant, over confident and utterly pointless?" She replied, an impish smile on her face. "None at all. I can fly anything." It slipped out. It was an old response. It wasn't proven yet. She hoped she hadn't jinxed it.

He cocked an eyebrow at his former student. Her opinion of starfighters had not waned at all. For other instructors that knew Derani previously, they would have been angry that her opinions had not changed. Bailey, though, was quietly proud of his student for maintaining her beliefs and her willingness to stand up for her lack of care for the starfighters that could save the larger capital ships from being picked apart.

"Right," he said. "Same ol' Derani. Disrespectful to the ships that save lives everyday."

"Ships that waste lives everyday," She countered. "The Valkyrie hasn't been updated since the Dominion War, and it still can't carry enough ordance to make an effective attack on even a sixth-rate ship unless it crashes it and blows its antimatter containment, which the pilot doesn't tend to survive. They're pointless. A relic of a bygone era."

Bailey snorted. This was the constant argument. Derani always felt that fighter ships were not necessary when capital ships were around, but Bailey knew that even the littlest fighters were capable of causing the beginning of the damage that could take out or at least disable larger ships.

"Fine," he said. "But that little relic is what you're flying today." He paused. "You ready?"

"I was born ready." It was the traditional reply, and had always seemed strangely applicable to her. Miraj just had to hope it was still true. "Show me to my relic."

Bailey scoffed at her egotistical opinion of herself. Yes, he knew she could fly the fighters. He knew she could fly the fleet vessels. He just didn't know why she wanted to. Bailey had watched Derani grow into an amazing pilot back when she was at the Academy and then in flight school and what did she do with that talent? Waste it on a starship.

Without a word, Bailey stood up and began to walk out of his office toward the hangar. He didn't even wait for Derani or even look back to see if she would follow. He knew she would. After a couple of minutes, he approached the hangar and shooed the few techs out so he could be alone with his student.

"There's your relic," he said, without even knowing if the girl was behind him or not. "She's one of my favorites, so be careful with her."

"I don't hurt ships," Miraj protested as she examined the Valkyrie fighter sitting on its struts. "And we already know each other. We've flown before." Miraj knew ships, even ones that only had serial numbers and not names, and this one she had flown during assessment. She climbed the ladder to the cockpit, and settled herself down into the seat, putting on the headset and beginning the pre-flight checks. She looked down to see him standing on the ground. "See you in the sky, old man."

Bailey shook his head. Derani always had a sense of the ships that she flew and he knew that she would recognize the ship. He made sure to pick the same ship she had used when she qualified. If she was going to re-qualify, she could do it in the same ship.

He grinned and offered a mock salute.

"I'd tell you to be careful," he started. "But you won't listen."

She frowned down at him. "I'm always careful with ships, I'd never hurt one!" Which was why she hadn't lasted long in the fighter assessment program; she could outfly anyone, but had no killer instinct. "See you in the air, sir." She pulled the canopy shut on the Valkyrie, and started the engine.

Bailey stepped back as Miraj started the engines of the Valkyrie and then moved across the hangar toward his own fighter. He had the pre-flight done for him so he simply needed to get in and launch. He caught up with Miraj quickly and got on his comm.

"Okay, Derani," he said. "We'll start off slow since it's been a while since you've been in a fighter."

Bailey checked his sensors and his screens.

"You'll see your weapons are not active right now. We don't need those yet," he started. "First, let's check your manoeuvrability." He paused. "Remember, this is a small fighter that handles differently than a starship. The slightest touch will send you careening off in a different direction."

Miraj rolled her eyes. "Your grandmother must be a champion eggsucker." She checked her instruments. As far as she could tell the sky was clear, the end of atmosphere fast approaching. Safe enough. She hauled on her stick and the little craft rolled sideways, spinning fast around the longitudinal axis clockwise three times, righting herself perfectly at the top of the third spin. "You mean like that?" She hauled the other way. The valkyrie span back anticlockwise, precisely three times. "Or like that?"

Bailey watched as Derani flew the small craft around in circles and he snorted.

"You know showboating in a fighter is a punishable offense, right?" he said. "You could kill someone." He paused. "And don't tell me you're in control. You will never be one hundred percent in control while you are flying."

Bailey lifted the controls and headed to the edge of the upper atmosphere.

"Okay, hotshot," he continued. "You've got circles down, but how are you at flying around things? Head to these coordinates and then make it to the finish line."

He was sending her to a prepared area of an asteroid belt. It wasn't one of the original components of the qualifying test, but as it was Derani, he wanted to really test her.

"I can fly around you!" she chuckled. She looked at the headings. Asteroids were no problem, far too spaced out. "Let's get this party started." She kicked it to full impulse and sprinted for the Asteroid Belt in a direct line. "Do we get to buzz Planetia Utopia on the way past?"

"If you buzz them, I will demote you myself," he said. "Besides," he continued. "They've made it a little harder to buzz them."

He chuckled as he considered the security changes that came from the control center at the shipyards. They wanted to stop Bailey's cadets from buzzing them and had small sensor nets placed around the shipyards that would shoot an EMP at the offending fighters.

Bailey followed his former student toward the asteroid field and watched as she prepared to enter. Moving to the other end of the field, Liam waited for Derani. As he did, he made some changes with his fighter and sent several commands to Derani's fighter as well to allow her weapons to activate.

Miraj's brow ridges drew together as she saw that her fighter had activated its weapons. "Hey," she spoke into the comm and she circled and twisted at the start point. "Why the phasers. I just want to fly, not murder people."

What bailey had not informed his pupil of was that going through the asteroid maze was nothing. It was evading phaser fire that would be more difficult. Of course, these being training fighters, their phasers mimicked actual phasers, including the impact and deterioration of resources. He released the safety and squeezed the trigger to let loose a volley of red phaser fire toward Miraj's ship.

"You never underestimate the situation," he started saying as he fired again. "Nothing is perfect, nothing is safe."

He fired, in front of, behind and around the Valkyrie that was being flown by Miraj.

"Make your way through the asteroids and see if you can get me once you cross the finish line." He paused. "I'll be over here."

He fired again, this time using real phasers to destroy a small asteroid.

"That's not fair!" she protested. "I'm a lousy shot." Which was an understatement. She maybe able to fly so he couldn't touch her, but she wouldn't have been able to hit him if he stood still and helped her aim.

"Flying a fighter is not fair," Bailey said. "Flying in general is not fair."

He paused and smiled as Miraj whined.

"Don't worry," he continued. "I won't hit you."

He fired his phasers at Miraj, hitting the space in front of her.

"At least in a starship you'll have better shields and better hull. You have to be able to maneuver away from as much as you can."

Miraj knew these lessons. Bailey had taught them to her before but her time in a ship of the fleet had softened her, in his opinion, and she needed to be reminded once more. He fired his phasers again, this time behind her.

"Keep flying and I'll keep missing," he said. "Make a mistake, and I won't miss."

Miraj pulled on her stick, spiralling up and over the line of phaser fire that was heading towards her backside, "I don't make mistakes," she shot back, dropping down out of his line of sight and taking cover behind a nearby asteroid. A couple of hundred kilometers away, its nearest neighbour was tumbling through the void. With a twitch of her controls she swooped up and dodged behind it, keeping pace with its motion through space, hoping the density would shield her from Bailey's sensors. If it could she'd drop on him as he tried to see round her first hiding spot.

Bailey didn't use his sensors when he was flying. His eyes and his instinct were enough to let him know where Miraj was. When she ducked behind an asteroid, Bailey had a feeling what she was going to try.

"Don't think about it, Derani," he said. "You may be able to fly circles around me but I can still take the eyes off a squirrel from 50 meters away."

Bailey fired real phasers at the rock she was hiding behind to start breaking it apart.

"Be careful of the debris field," he said with a chuckle.

Her little Valkyrie shot out from behind the asteroid, weaving effortlessly through the debris field, "What debris field?" she asked, looping up before turning sharply around the centre point of the fighter and dive bombing down on him, aiming to get past him into the clear space behind the chaos he was creating with his armaments. "You're getting slow, old man!"

Bailey watched as the ship stretched its distance away from him. He smiled. Sitting at a console hadn't softened her skills. Bailey pulled aside to allow Miraj to fly past him.

"I might be a slower pilot, but it's still like shooting fish in a barrel."

He fired again, missing on purpose, of course.

Her gasp of indignation could be heard clearly across the open comm. "Shoot this," she muttered, rolling into a series of bunny hops, jumping back and forth around the debris to obscure her flight path. Flipping in and out of the small rocks, she frowned, her heavy orbital arches shadowing her eyes. She had to shoot him now, and that would be tricky. Hopping around could buy her time.

Bailey started flying toward the speck that was Derani. If she wanted to be certified, she was going to have to earn it. Her loops and hops were making it harder to hit her precisely, but when he missed, he managed to turn the bigger asteroids into smaller pieces that Derani would have to get past.

As Bailey followed her into the asteroid field proper to engage, he had to turn suddenly as an asteroid moved into his path. He was lucky not to be demolished by the large object but hadn't noticed his sensor panel registering a problem.

"Come on, Derani," he said into the comm. "I don't have all day."

She twisted on her central axis bringing her guns into line. She let the computer do all the work. She'd not hit him at all if she tried it manually, and lanced out with the phaser.

Bailey started his barrel roll on time as the phaser fire flew past him. The sensor panel was ringing louder now and as Bailey leveled out, he finally noticed why. His engine was leaking coolant and it was slowly overheating. On a starship, that wouldn't be a problem because of the amount of venting that could be done along with the many different redundant systems that would compensate for something going wrong. On a fighter, there was no such luck. If the engine got too hot it would explode. Bailey attempted to eject his engine, an old trick, of course, but effective, but the systems had failed.

"Derani," he said, voice slightly panicked, but keeping calm. "I have a problem."

"Don't blame your tools," Miraj said smugly. "Just admit you can't touch me."

"Cut the crap, Derani," he yelled. "I need to eject and you need to grab me before this fighter explodes."

All levity drained out of Miraj and she twisted the Valkyrie around, He was a good half an AU away, "Do it, I'll catch you." She barrelled towards the stricken fighter. If she could get her shields between him and any explosion, that would keep him alive. Then she could solve the problem that he'd be hurtling out in space in just an EVA suit at whatever speed the ejection system spat him out at.

The debris he'd created pinged on her shields. Even with them in place the rocks, many at least as large as her fist hit her like torpedoes at the speed she brushed past them. A bigger one tumbled across the direct path to Bailey she was taking, but she didn't try to avoid it.

At the last possible moment she went into a roll, nose over tail, holding to the line of approach, skipping over the surface of the passing rock with minimal deviation, and then gunned her impusle engines to max to shoot across the last hundred thousand or so kilometers.

In his many years as a pilot and even longer as an instructor, Liam Bailey had ejected from his fighter only three times. Each one of them were horrendous experiences and each time, Liam Bailey told himself never to get himself into those types of situations again. Each time those ejections happened within atmosphere, never in space. Each time Liam Bailey was grateful for the immediate response from his teammates and support crew to grab him quickly and safely. But now he had Derani. There was no time to contact anyone. He had to trust that she would be able to get to him. His suit would keep him safe for a few minutes, after that, it was anyone's guess.

Punching the console's eject button, the cockpit windows were destroyed and then Bailey's seat - with him in it - was launched into space. He had an idea of where Derani was and just hoped that she would make it in time. There was a glint of light catching the edge of Derani's fighter. There was hope.

And then the Valkyrie exploded. The world went white.

To Be Continued...

Ensign Miraj Derani

Captain Liam Bailey
Commanding Officer
Starfleet Flight School

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