Riders in the Sky

Posted on 31 Mar 2018 @ 8:58am by Lieutenant Nicholas Hunter (Jan 2389 - WIA-TRNSFR to XFY Medical) & Lieutenant Junior Grade Geneviève "Jenny" Lassonde (Dec-Jan 2389 - TRNSFR After Gorn War)
Edited on on 31 Mar 2018 @ 8:58am

Mission: Ne Me'e Laua Na Paio - Heroes & Villains
Location: High Above the Federation Diplomatic Mission - Bre'el
Timeline: 1 Jan 2388

While the pleasantries of the mission opening proceeded down below, The Golden Knights were at work high above. The sleek Valkyrie fighters wheeled in graceful circles, out of sight and looking for the first sign of danger.

"Okay people, let's settle in and keep our eyes peeled," Jenny instructed her flight. "We're not expecting any trouble, so it might be a long night, but don't let that get in the way. Let's stay on watch, let's fly clean, and let's make this an action the Knights can be pleased with."

"Okay, Hawaii, how do things look from the big tiki bar in the sky?" She called up now to the Hawaii's CIC, where the ops crew was busy feeding data from the starship's vastly more powerful sensor array down to the flight down below.


=/\=

Deck 2, CIC
USS Hawaii

=/\=


Hunter listened to the subspace chatter coming from the flight leader as he watched their movements on the sensor feed. He had to admit, Lassonde had her pilots lined up and flying the straight and narrow. Being a pilot, at least for that small a craft, had never been a fit for him, though. He preferred a larger craft.

He tapped a glyph and opened the channel on his end. "Five by five, Lieutenant. What do ya hear?"

"All clear on the social front so far, Hawaii," came the reply. "Nothing out of the ordinary detected so far." Every pair of eyes in the flight was scanning the sky, but for now the most notable discovery had been the quality of the local scenery.

Nick chuckled to himself. He remembered flight detail from the Academy. It had been exciting...for about five minutes. After setting his controls to follow a set routine, he could have played solitaire or even slept, had he so chosen.

"Well, the weather's great, so far. No signs of meteorological events coming your way and no other craft in the vicinity." His voice held just a hint of a smile. "I hope you brought a book."

"No such luck," Jenny responded. "The security team was very clear, they wanted no distractions whatsoever. We can't even buzz the party."

"They know how to rain on a parade." Hunter knew the seriousness of Jenny's duty, of course. But, everyone had to lighten up occasionally. Boredom, hopefully, would be her number one enemy. If it wasn't, he had her back.

Down on the planet, the flight wheeled around for another high altitude pass over the mission compound. This may have been serious business, but jenny always did have a gift for making things more interesting. "Okay Knights, who's up for a little bet?" she asked. "Any one of you that nods off will have to polish the Valkyries when we get back." There was hardly a chance that trained Starfighter pilots would ever fall asleep at the controls, but, the only thing more powerful than a flyer's pride was their sense of competition.

Hunter grinned at Lassonde's jab at her pilots. It was the last time that anything resembling a smile would come to his lips. A red light caught his attention and he tapped it to proceed. Data rolled out in front of him, followed by a message from the CIC.

Damn, he thought. He tapped the open comm glyph. "Lassonde, contact at bearing 020, half a parsec. They're closing. Go to weapons ready."

A surge of adrenaline shot through Jenny's body at these words and her demeanor changed in an instant. "Look alive Knights! Contact entering the system at bearing 020, Weapons ready and prepare to intercept!"

The formation looped around once more and zoomed into the upper atmosphere, doubling their speed as they went. "What have you got for me Hawaii? Size, velocity, warp signature, Anything?" Jenny asked, tensely.

Hunter tapped the console again, attempting to find the answers to Lassonde's questions, along with his own.

"It seems to be a sensor malfunction, Knight 1. Running diagnostics. So much for buzzing the party, eh?" Hunter mused.

"So much for my clean bill of health!" Jenny shot back, slightly annoyed. "You tryin' to give everybody a heart attack!" the pilots eased off the throttle and the fighters slowed as they began to descend back to their patrol altitude.

"Not at all. I'll put in a work order with Engineering so Kosu's gang can get on it," Hunter replied, still wondering about the malfunction.

"Copy Hawaii, and let's cross our fingers nothing else goes wrong."

OFF:

Nicholas Hunter, LT, SF
COO

Geneviève "Jenny" Lassonde, LTJG, SFFC
CO, FLT 801