Arashi Take the Wheel

Posted on Tue Nov 12, 2019 @ 6:32am by Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant Arashi Tanaka Mr.

1,041 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Nibiru
Location: Holodeck 1

Penny stood outside the holodeck, leaning on the door frame. She saw Arashi coming down the corridor and stood up straight, hands behind her back. "Thank you for meeting me," she said, trying to sound serious. "We need to update your flight certification."

Arashi had just arrived outside the holodeck. "Ok what do I need to do to get this done?" He said, noticing the attempt at seriousness in Penny's voice. "I am as ready as I will ever be for this. The last time that I did this was at my graduation exercise."

"Yeah well...I am catching everyone up," Penny said, blushing a bit. "We're a bit overdue. She smiled at him and opened the holodeck. "Just going to take a Valkyrie out for a spin."

"All right. Let's do this." Arashi said and stepped in to the holodeck. "Let's see what you got for me." Arashi had wanted to joke around but realizing that he hadn't done this in a long time, he steeled himself for what was to come. To be honest, he was a bit nervous.

She grinned at him. "That's the spirit!" she said, a bit more chipper. They walked inside, stepping into the Valkyrie, Penny sitting in the co-pilot's chair, and Arashi in the pilot's chair. "All right," she said, "start the pre-flight checklist, and we'll take her for a little trip."

"Roger that. Ready and raring to go." He said and slipped in to the pilot's seat. "All right let's see...Warp core is stable, impulse engines are idle, Nav systems are on standby, RCS systems are good. All systems that I can see are good to go. All systems in the green, ready for launch."

"Then let's launch," she said. "You'll see a series of navigation beacons. Let's see how you maneuver around them."

"All right here we go!" He said and smoothly moved the shuttle toward the navigation beacons. He maneuvered around the first one okay since it was sitting still so he didn't have any trouble. The second ring moved in a side to side motion and required a bit of timing to navigate through. He continued through the navigation course having incurred a few penalties or something for hitting 3 of the navigation beacons. He was slowed down a bit, but he got through the course okay, or at least he thought he did. "So how did I do?" He asked after he rested his shaky hands a bit.

Penny gave him a comforting smile. "Well, you tried, that's what's important."

"Here I thought that I did well. Guess that I am going to have to recert before I am allowed on the bridge." He said with sigh.

"I'm teasing," she said, giggling. "You passed. You reached the required difficulty level for your position and you even did a few rings better. If we're ever in a pickle, I'd say you'd do well bailing us out."

"Geez don't scare me like that." Arashi said, a bit miffed but he smiled anyways. "So what is the next test?"

"Okay, next up is a runabout," Penny said with a wicked grin.

"Bring it on!" He said with an excited grin. He was raring to go again and it showed on his face, what with the smiling and all.

Penny grinned back. "Computer: phase two." The computer beeped and the cockpit changed to that of a Starfleet runabout. Penny was still in the copilot's seat watching Arashi, and she sat back, getting comfortable. "Okay. Let's see how you do with some evasive work. Enemy ship approaching off our starboard."

Arashi noted this and had the computer identify the enemy ship and weapons. "All right so it is a Romulan fighter with disruptors and a single torpedo launcher. So that thing is pretty maneuverable but let's see how good that pilot is," he said and then steered the shuttle toward an asteroid field behind the fighter at full impulse. The pilot was surprised so much that it took him an instant to respond.

Arashi had a head start but the fighter was closing fast. He got into the asteroid field as a shot from the fighter's disruptors flew past. There was something that was interfering with the sensors but he could see with what his instructor, to coin an old Earth military phrase, called the "Mark 1 eyeball" otherwise known as his eyes. He maneuvered around the asteroids while dodging the random shots of the Romulan fighter. "All right big boy, let's see how well you do with flying like I do." He whispered to himself and looked toward Penny. "Here we go!"

He flew at full impulse toward an asteroid that was as huge as a starship. It was looming large in the viewport and was getting close and the fighter pilot did not know what was going on so he chased the shuttle. "All right, I am gonna use the brakes and he'll fly right by." He said, quoting an old Earth movie as he stopped the engines and used the RCS to drop down below the asteroid and the fighter not being able to respond fast enough crashed into the asteroid. He maneuvered them out of the asteroid field and smiled. "So, be honest. How did I do?" He said with a grin.

Penny grinned and tapped her padd. "Pretty good! You'd make a good stunt pilot." She put her padd down and swerved around to face him. "Congratulations, you've passed with flying colors, no pun intended."

"Thanks but I think that I will leave the stunts for the cadets or something. As for passing, well let's see what happens when the situation isn't so simulated." Arashi said seriously. "There isn't going to be any programmed responses and..." realizing that he was getting a bit too serious he spoke again. "Well if the bad guys want to dance, they will know where to find me." Arashi said with a grin.

Penny smiled back. "That's the spirit! In the mean time, you are free to return to your duties. "

Arashi wiped a slight sheen of sweat off his forehead. "Sounds good. I'll see you later." he said and exited the holodeck.

Penny waved at his back and tapped her padd, making her notes.

 

RSS Feed