Be Careful What You Ask For (Part 2)

Posted on Tue Mar 29th, 2011 @ 6:10pm by Lieutenant JG Malia Jacy

Mission: Episode 2.1 - "Unanswered Questions"
Location: Starbase 386
Timeline: Shoreleave 01; 1300 hrs

ON: [[Starbase 386, 1300]]

Twenty minutes later, Terry came out with the rest of the pilots and saw Ensign Moretti standing there...suited up and ready. He did a quick walk-around, checked the maintenance PADD, and turned to the Ensign. "You ready?"

Velia tugged at the suit in various spots. She didn't find it flattering or comfortable ... and that was her best assessment of the attire. "Why, don't I look ready?" She cocked an eyebrow upward at him.

Terry smiled, “Oh, we’re about to find out just how ready you are. Climb up.”

"Nice to finally have met a trusting pilot," Velia snorted and hefted herself into the rear seat. She really did wonder how he was going to fold himself into the front but figured if she wanted to make it through this little demonstration she may as well keep her commentary to herself ... or at least, most of it.

Terry followed and climbed into the front seat. He lowered the canopy and watched as the rest of the squadron powered up their fighters. He removed his helmet and called back to Velia, “What are you waiting for, Sunshine? Not sure which of the ten controls to activate first? I thought that the machine did the bulk of the work?”

She shook the helmet in his general direction and raised her voice a little so he could hear her over the descending covering. "Hey, I'm just the Intel agent on an information seeking mission. Think of me as your job shadower for the next little while. Or are you asking because you've suddenly forgotten? What are you doing up there flyboy? Are we going, or what?" Without giving him a chance to answer her right away, she pulled on the helmet and crossed her arms as if to say she was waiting.

Terry smiled, put his helmet back on, and looked out the canopy. He motioned to the crew chief before firing everything up. He activated the comm after his pre-flight check on the fighter's systems...no sense in giving the shadow extra talking time. He spoke into the comm, "Here we go." The fighter slowly lifted off the deck. Terry gunned it out of the bay and pulled the fighter straight up into what he liked to call his 'combat take-off.'

Velia felt herself flung back into the seat and the pressure of the helmet pressing against her. Her first thought was that if she found the urge to vomit surfacing, she was taking off this helmet and he was going to pay for it.

He then leveled out and spoke to Velia, "Oh, sorry about that." He checked his indicators. "Looks like I forgot to activate the inertial dampeners. If you'll excuse me a second..." He checked on the other fighters. They had all left the bay and were heading to the patrol area. He tapped the console, "Standard formations and patrol pattern. It looks like it's going to be a quiet run this afternoon. Oh, and if anyone actually screws up a standard patrol run this time, not only are you buying at Flanagan's, but you also owe big time. And I fill in the blank when I want." Terry could hear a collection of sighs, laughs and chuckles from the other pilots.

He shut off the squadron comm link and talked to Velia. "We're joining that fighter over there." Terry pointed to the second fighter from the left that was peeling off from the rest of the squadron. "If you have no objections, we'll go for a while on the patrol run and then bank off. You can practice flying it if you want. I mean, if you trust me enough not to override and make it bumpy."

"You FORGOT?!" Her normally deadened tone rose a bit. "Anything else you may need a refresher on? And no, I'm not touching those controls. The last thing I need is to be set up for destruction of Federation property," she informed him, her voice returning to normal. "I also," she continued, "don't think you've given me much of an objection choice - not since I'm already out here with you. Just remember, I'm a valuable Starfleet officer and Captain Iluvar would probably frown on my demise." It wasn't a complete lie. Some day she would be a valuable Starfleet officer - if she ever got the chance to do things once in a while.

“I wouldn’t kill you. I wouldn’t even injure you. Promise. But if you don’t want handle the controls, I won’t force you.” Inside, he was laughing his head off. From the dawn of military fighters, every pilot had made it his goal to make their non-pilot passenger vomit. He had to admit, though, that Ensign Moretti had done an excellent job holding hers back on his combat take-off. Most passengers usually lost it right there. She had moved up a few levels in his book. Then, another thought popped in… “If flying is not your forte, then how would you like some tactical training? I can set the phasers to training mode and call another pilot over. It’s a whole lot different that any tactical training you would receive on a starship. Out here, your targets are smaller, more agile, and faster. It’s definitely a challenging test of one’s skill and mental acuity.” He paused a second and smiled. “And it can be a humbling experience, too. Especially for someone of your 'caliber,' Sunshine.”

"You know what they say about friendly fire, don't you Major?" Velia couldn't keep a chuckle from her voice as she asked him.

“Sorry Ensign, I don’t.”

"It isn't." She made a show of flexing her fingers. "Point the target, flyboy."

Terry laughed as he contacted the pilot that was supposed to be his wingman for the patrol. He told him about the game-plan and where to meet them. He wanted to get out of the way of the patrol zone and put some distance between them and the Starbase’s shipping lanes. The last thing he needed was some civilian captain getting up in arms thinking that something bad was happening.

When Lieutenant Arrendo (NPC) arrived at the coordinates, Terry made sure that he had his weapons systems set to training. Upon confirmation, the Major set theirs as such and disabled the actual torpedoes and initiated the simulation setting. Then he said to Arrendo, “Take no prisoners, Lieutenant.” He immediately started evasive maneuvers and brought their fighter around.

“Okay Sunshine, phasers are set to training mode and simulated torpedoes are loaded. Let’s see what you’ve got.”

Velia couldn't help but feel that the major had sorely underestimated her and immediately went into what she called 'game mode' - which really just meant a random pushing and pressing until something happened. It was how she'd beat her brothers more than once on their gaming systems. With what passed for a shriek of glee for Ensign Moretti (though anyone who heard it would liken it to a Banshee's wail) she began fiddling with this or that in sequence and suddenly she felt something happen from the wings. A shudder and something sounding like it was releasing. "I thought you said these were simulated?!" Velia yelled accusingly.

Terry felt the shudder and the slight bounce. “Holy…” He checked the indicators. “What in the world are you doing back there! Stop playing around with things!” He activated the comm link, “Arrendo, training session is over. Re-join the patrol.”

Lt. Arrendo heard the frustration in Major Walsh’s voice. “Aye, sir.”

Terry slowed the fighter to a stop and turned it to face the region of space they were in when he felt the shudder. “Just as I thought. You jettisoned the two extra Type U+ Micro-Pulse Phasers mounted on the wings. We are not equipped with a tractor beam.”

If he could have seen her face, he'd have realized Velia's mouth was agape. She mentally listed off the smart assed things she could say to him; things like 'I thought you said it was idiot proof' or 'you can't even manipulate a simulation right and they let you out here with loaded weapons?' or 'how is this MY fault?? This wasn't MY idea!'. But then, the realization of what 'jettisoned' and 'Phasers' and 'not equipped with a tractor beam' meant when used in the same sentence, she could almost picture Commander McNeil's face in front of her and knew that the only way to help herself was to keep her mouth shut for once. A heavy sigh and a groan was all Terry got in response.

“We’re going to have get a Type 8 shuttle or some kind of maintenance craft out here to carry or tow them back into the hangar.” He paused. “You realize you’ve caused a lot of extra work and most likely some form of reprimand from both our Captain’s and XO’s, right?

"Of course we will," she muttered with a huff. Velia had a feeling that she was going to be confined to quarters until after the next shoreleave.

“Well, I can’t speak for what’ll happen with your Captain, but I’ll take full responsibility on this end. Hopefully Captain Lange or Commander Richardson won’t come after you. I’ll try to keep that from happening.”

Velia's breath caught the snarky comment it was carrying in the back of her throat. She hadn't expected him to say that. In fact, she was pretty sure this was about the time a tirade would be launched in her direction. "Why?" she asked him softly.

Terry was surprised by the calm softness in her voice. It didn't seem to fit with what he had learned of her in the past hour or so. He replied similarly, "'Well, I might be a hard Marine pilot on the outside, but it just doesn't seem right to let you take any blame for what's happened out from my CO and XO. I'm the one who's responsible for you being in here. To me, that makes me responsible. Besides, my shoulders are broad enough and strong enough to heft the punishment for both of us." He paused and smiled. "There aren't very many gentlemen left in the galaxy these days. I'd like to change that."

She couldn't do anything but nod; not that he could see her doing it.

He smiled under his helmet. “Oh, and, Sunshine, since you’re the one who messed up during the patrol, you’re buying at Flanagan’s this evening for everyone that was out. And you also owe me big time. But since you’re not one of mine, it’ll take me a while to figure out what to do.”

"I'm sure I'll look forward to that," she groaned. "Wait, Flanagan's? You cannot be serious!" Now she was stuck with him, and his entire squad, for the whole evening. And she was sure he was going to make them all aware that she was the greenie who screwed it all up. Her arms folded in a defensive measure and she practiced glaring a hole in the back of his head. If it weren’t for the fact that she was more than a little nervous about facing McNeil, Fala, or Captain Iluvar she surely would have fought harder to get out of going. Maybe she’d die of embarrassment and save the whole command staff the trouble. This was not the way she’d wanted to make a name in Starfleet.

“In the meantime, I’ve got a couple of Micro-Pulse Phasers to get back into a hangar bay.” Terry shut off every control he could think of that was in the backseat and relayed the situation to 386. He was really going to get it. In a few minutes, a shuttle was sent out to tractor the wing-mounted phasers and tow them back into the appropriate hangar. Terry followed them in.

OFF:

A cross-simm post

by

Ensign Velia Moretti (PNPC)
Intelligence Officer
USS Pandora
Played by: Lt. JG Jacy

and

Major Terry Walsh
224th Dragonriders
Wing Vice Commander
Starbase 386