Pre-Show Practice

Posted on Wed Jul 15th, 2020 @ 6:28am by

Mission: Cruel Meridian
Location: Deck 9 - Holodeck Three
Timeline: MD 10
1604 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

"Computer, begin program Sullivan Tango Romeo Zero One please, keep it paused until I give the command."

The components of the training scenario that Lieutenant Sullivan had built in order to practice for the upcoming introductions began to materialize on the holodeck. She had reserved four hours for practice as the chief diplomat had been very specific with her vision of how the crew from the Majestic would make their entrance. Everything starting from the initial fly-by was choreographed to music, and even as she sat and stared at the dull grey conn of the aeroshuttle, Sullivan was still thinking about the green dress that Cassie would be wearing.

She shook her head and focused on the task at hand. Originally built into the hull of the Intrepid class starships, the aeroshuttle had been kept in the design when the engineers at Utopia Planetia Shipyards borrowed elements of the Intrepid and Sovereign designs and merged them into the Majestic class starship. Lilith had only recently become familiar with the "other side" of smaller Federation spacecraft, having previously been assigned to fighter wings for most of her career. Luckily, many of the control systems between both families of vehicles had been designed with similar architecture and functionality, an intentional choice that had been made to save time and resources when it came time to train crews on multiple types. However, nothing could really replace the fact that she had never flown the aeroshuttle except in the simulator.

"Well, up is up, down is down, how hard could it be?" Sullivan postulated, copying the same control setup that she used on the bridge of the Majestic over to the aeroshuttle. "Please, please, please, please tell me they considered atmospheric flight when they designed this thing."

"I believe that to be the case, ma'am," Oron, the ship's shuttlecraft specialist and Lilith's trusted right hand Bolian replied.

"That's as good of a guarantee as any, I'll take it," Sullivan grinned. He was a man of few words, but she had come to understand and appreciate his method of communication. "I'll be right back, gonna do the walk."

Lieutenant Sullivan got out of her seat and walked out of the aft hatch to walk around the shuttle. In the simulation, it had already been detached from the hull of the ship and was floating in a black void of an unrendered background. Much of the ambient light in the program was provided by the Majestic's running lights as the ship loomed just a few hundred meters away from where the aeroshuttle was currently rendered. As she continued her inspection, Lilith found that the early indications were promising for controllable atmospheric flight. The integrated warp and impulse reactors were embedded into an aerodynamic fairing built directly into the wing, an additional step that was not necessary had the shuttle been designed primarily for space. The engineers had even been kind enough to include vectored lift devices in the wingtips, a favorite among shuttle pilots for the agility they provided in atmosphere.

"You won't believe this, Oron! They've got vectored thrust and everything on this puppy. This is gonna be fun," she beamed as she walked back through the hatch and took her seat. The interior of the shuttle would comfortably seat each member of the negotiating team with room to spare. Each seat came with a five point harness, a cup-holder, and the standard Federation sick bag tucked neatly into the side pocket built into the pivoting arms.

"Alright, time to unfreeze, you ready to pull some Gs my friend?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, yes."

Slowly, Lilith nudged the controls and the aeroshuttle darted away from the shadow of the Majestic towards the atmosphere of Sozon II. At first glance, there were a lot of Earth-like features on the surface. Expansive surface oceans formed a network of water that wrapped around the planet's continents. Even at this distance, a massive mountain range could be seen snaking its way along the border of where two tectonic plates must have collided eons ago. On one side, lush green forests reaped the benefits of snow melt and mountain streams racing down from the peaks on their journey to the ocean. The other side of the mountain was home to a vast desert that extended for many kilometers to the east. Sand dunes cast imposing shadows across the desolate landscape, which only started to turn green again once it reached a smaller network of rivers on the eastern end of the main continent.

"Computer, initiate program Leblanc Zero One on my mark," Sullivan called out as the first burble of atmospheric turbulence could be felt. "Ready with the music, Oron?"

A single nod indicated his readiness.

"Mark."

The capital city of Oslerton was nestled at the base of the tallest peak in the mountain range. Their flight path was programmed to bring the aeroshuttle in from the north along the river valleys before their final descent took them on a tour of the capital before ending in a spectacular low pass of the outdoor venue, topped off with circling maneuver to the landing pad that had been purpose built for their arrival. From start to finish, the airshow would take eight minutes to complete.

TERRAIN TERRAIN, PULL UP!

In addition to the music playing, the shuttle's built in ground proximity warning system voiced its complaints about Lieutenant Sullivan's flying as she swooped down the valley. On both sides, mountain peaks rose above the altitude at which the aeroshuttle was flying. Oron was less than pleased, but Lilith remained focused as the terrain began to flatten out into the plateau where the outskirts of the city were just starting to come into view.

"Remind me to brief the team that they're going to hear that warning from the computer," Lilith mentioned without breaking her concentration. She couldn't remember if any members of the negotiating team were nervous flyers, but the least she could do would be to forewarn them about the points in the flight where she would have to intentionally go against the safety algorithms built into the flight computer.

Lilith's eyes lit up as she saw the pyrotechnic display shower the skies above Oslerton in a dazzling array of colors, shapes, and laser illumination. The windscreen of the aeroshuttle filtered out most of the laser light, which was enough to protect the vision of the pilot.

"Oh no," Oron grumbled, recognizing the shift in his boss's body language. "You're having an idea."

"Yes. Yes I am," Sullivan grinned. "Arm the countermeasures, we'll give them our own pyrotechnics as we go by on the pass."

A series of sequenced, flashing lights was the visual cue for the approach path to the Royal Sozon Amphitheater. The challenge of picking out one specific set of lights out of the cityscape was made even more difficult by the fireworks that peppered the sky in her peripheral vision, but Lilith managed to find her target and accelerated to just below the speed of sound. She had several different breakouts out of the low pass she wanted practice, but she decided to pull vertical on the first attempt. Without Oron noticing, she dialed the inertial dampeners back a bit before pulling back on the stick, registering a simulated six times the force of normal Earth gravity.

Outside, the flares shot out of both wingtips and out of the dispenser on the bottom of the hull, creating an angelic pattern in the sky as the smoke from the countermeasures mixed in with the wake of the aeroshuttle. Instinctively, Lilith looked back over her shoulder to see the view, only to have her stare be met by the grey operations console that was located behind her station. Rearward visibility was non-existent, but she got a chance to view her handiwork as she brought the shuttle around for a graceful landing on the pad.

The program timer filled each display in the aeroshuttle with a thirty second countdown. At this point, Sullivan's job was over. Cassie would be the first to step out of the hatch and strut her stuff as she made her way down the walkway to the center of the event, followed by the rest of her team shortly thereafter.

"Computer, pause simulation, reset to checkpoint three," Lilith called out as the displays all blanked in front of her. Out of the windscreen, the simulation had reset to the point where the outskirts of the city were in sight. "Well, Oron, what did you think? You should practice this too, just in case we need a backup."

"Yes ma'am, but if it is all the same to you, I shall leave the dampeners on."

"They were on silly," she smirked in return. "Just reduced. By a lot."

"Oh."

Lilith burst out into laughter, clasping Oron on the shoulder to keep herself upright in her seat. "Come on, let's take a break and get some coffee or something. We'll reset and get this thing perfected. Thanks for the help today, by the way. This is important to Cassie, so I don't want to screw it up."

"Of course, Lieutenant, I am happy to oblige."

The star trails streaked by outside the window in the corridor. The Majestic was two days away. Together, the two pilots stepped out of the holodeck in search of coffee. Lilith knew she had more practice to do before the real thing, but she would get there with a few more attempts.

"Practice, practice, practice," she muttered.