A Routine Flight Exam
Posted on Sun Sep 1st, 2019 @ 1:29am by Captain Aviram Drell & Petty Officer 3rd Class Mara Stavros
Mission:
Episode 01: "Vestal Hearth"
Location: Shuttlecraft Belor
Timeline: Day 01, 1327 Hours
ON: [[Corridor - Deck 09, USS Vesta, Day 01, 1327 Hours]]
Stavros knew she was running late. It was getting to be a habit. Despite her best efforts, she'd lost track of the time again. Now she was half-walking, half-running down the final stretch of corridor toward the main shuttlebay. Not the way to make a good first impression, she thought as she nearly collided with two crewmen going the opposite direction.
"Sorry," she called back over her shoulder.
Rounding the final bend, Stavros drew even with the large double door that marked the shuttlebay entrance. She stopped and gave herself a moment to catch her breath. No sense making it seem as if she was all frazzled and discombobulated, even if that may have been how she felt at the moment. Steadying herself, she entered the room.
[[Primary Shuttlebay, USS Vesta]]
The 'wooshing' of the shuttlebay door opening made him jump a little in his seat, he'd been so absorbed in routing subsystems and computer controls back to their default 2-crew configuration. The craft has to look and operate as plain as the day she was finished, just in case his student wasn't ready for the real work.
PO1 Sullis glanced at the chronometer, and to the exasperated PO3 jogging up to the Belor, and shrugged. No need to quibble over the little things, it's all uphill from here.
The clicking open of the shuttle's rear hatch signaled Corbin to compose himself, and respectfully stand. "Good morning, Petty Officer Stavros, are you ready to begin?"
"Yes, sir," Stavros replied, relieved to have escaped a verbal reprimand.
"Right...I mean, of course, sir." Whether or not she had been late, Stavros was definitely on-the-clock now. She started by slowly making her way around the Belor in a clockwise direction. As she walked, her eyes scanned up and down, left and right in search of anything that might have looked out of place. Visual inspections were usually handled by the deck crew, but it never hurt to take another look around, just in case.
Best do it properly, she thought to herself.
[[Shuttlecraft Belor]]
Once they'd made it completely around and she was satisfied everything was in order, the young petty officer led the way up the boarding ramp into the shuttle itself. This was not Stavros' first time aboard a type 11 shuttlecraft, of course, and so she was quite familiar with the layout already. She immediately took up position at the port-side forward station where she would have access to the shuttle's primary flight controls.
Corbin took up the PADD in his hand and actively took note of her pre-flight inspection, which served two purposes. 1: It was the classic ´ínstructor´-thing to do, appearing lording and judgemental. But in more important detail was 2) Sullis had to make sure that PO1 Stavros was ready for all the things the Belor could be called to do. The Dominion War and the Voyager mission had called into serious question just how well Starfleet trained shuttle pilots under fire.
The most important note the instructor took was how quickly Mara forgot her self-consciousness and her nervousness. He watched her duck under the shuttle´s engine pylon and sweep behind it´s impulse engine with an eagle eye. And most importantly to him, Corbin didn´t have to remind her to do so.
Once she had completed the exterior inspection and took her station, PO1 Sullis did the same and let the junior pilot begin the Belor´s startup sequence. ¨I see that you already have flight time in this class, that will make this much quicker. We´ll hit all your re-certification criteria today: basic planetary survey, inclimate weather flying, emergency trouble shooting, evasive combat maneuvers, and my personal favorite - combat force extraction.¨
He gestured to the shuttle´s central monitor and activated it with his free hand. In so doing, a winding course from the Vesta was drawn, down to the Starbase before taking a quick warp flight out to a nearby asteroid field before winding up on the moon of the neighboring gas giant. ¨Any questions or concerns, you´re about five minutes too late. Shuttlecaft Control is ready for us to bounce whenever you are.¨
Stavros nodded. It was a lot to try to process all at once and perhaps that was part of the point. Pilots regularly had to deal with all sorts of information coming their way. Thankfully, none of what she'd just been told was anything she hadn't already seen at some point before, either in training or on an actual mission. She just needed to stay calm and stay focused.
"Beginning pre-flight sequence."
Her hands were a little shaky at first, but they steadied as she entered into the familiar routine. She went through the list of systems checks and confirmed everything was good to go. Then she did one more check on their flight plan, making sure it was programmed into the navigation computer.
"All systems are good to go," she reported.
Corbin nodded and transmitted the clearance message to the Vesta´s control center. Once they received the all-clear, he gestured to the junior NCO to lift off and get the Belor on her way.
OFF
Petty Officer 1st Class Corbin Sullis
Auxiliary Craft Pilot
USS Vesta (NX-94200)
Petty Officer 3rd Class Mara Stavros
Auxiliary Craft Pilot
USS Vesta (NX-94200)
