Holding Pattern

Posted on 16 Mar 2009 @ 5:23pm by

1,150 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M1: Prepare for Battle
Location: Shuttlecraft - Aft of Freedom
Timeline: Current

Lieutenant DeHavilland sat in the shuttle craft just beyond the Main Shuttle Bay of the USS Freedom and waited for confirmation that he could proceed inside and deliver the cargo waiting inside the vessel as well as himself. If things were as tense as he had been hearing, he needed to get onto the Bridge asap and bring the flight systems online. The last thing this ship needed was to be set and ready to get underway but be short a pilot. Frustrated, he hailed the technician's in the shuttle bay.

"Things haven't changed, sir." said a clearly frustrated technician from a video feed on the terminal before him.

"You've been shuffling equipment for the past forty-five minutes. I need on NOW." DeHavilland exclaimed.

"You're just going to have to wait, sir." he replied. "I'll contact you when there's space for the craft." he added, terminating the transmission.

"Well that just tears it." DeHavilland replied to the now terminated screen.

He tapped into the ships systems and brought up the security feed of the Shuttle bay. Just like the technician said, his team was quickly trying to shuffle the multitude of crates and supplies currently littered about the bay to give enough room from the force field to accommodate the shuttle. The only open space was on the opposite side of the bay, closer to the doors leading deeper into the ship. What was obvious, even though they were moving quickly, was that they had no idea what they were doing. Every time one technician moved something, another moved it back in a ridiculous cycle. It was like they were trying to piss him off.

Adjusting himself in his seat, he moved the shuttle closer and approached the force field into the main shuttle bay. He rotated the ship in a flat spin ninety degrees to starboard and forty-five degrees to the side as he coaxed the vessel towards the force field sideways at an awkward angle, watching his approach from the internal security feed of the Freedom in addition to his own shipborne instruments. His panel immediately came to life with a transmission from the internal technician that had just hung up on him.

"Right." DeHavilland said to himself, "Now he wants to talk." he said.

The shuttle slipped through the force fields with a electrical buzz and he adjusted his vector, moving the ship towards the ceiling of the shuttlebay at a forty-five degree angle to the deck, matching the orientation of the shuttle. Satisfied that he was clear of the chaos of crates and equipment, he leveled and spun the ship about as he crossed the bay, setting the shuttle down on the far end in the gap of equipment, making sure to put the shuttle's doors in line with the ones leading into the vessel. He pressed the comm button and activated the transmission the technician had been trying to get through.

"I found a spot." DeHavilland said.

The technician just stared back, dumbfounded.

== 15 minutes later ==

The lift doors hissed open and the din from the room beyond rushed inside. The Bridge was in complete chaos, or at least it looked that way at a glance. A Lieutenant was standing behind a team of technicians, coordinating the others over her shoulder and trying to get the Bridge into some state of normalcy. Considering the room was full of technicians and a few yellow shirts, he figured the Lieutenant to be the one in charge.

He crossed the Bridge as quickly as the chaos allowed, slowing by the helm station. The technicians looked to be done and running diagnostics now, he'd send them off to do something else once he had reported in, he thought.

"Ma'am." he said, announcing himself.

The Lieutenant finished giving instructions to one of the technicians before she turned to see who was talking to her. "Yes?" she prompted, obviously not happy about the state of things and clearly wanting to get back to her attempts at organizing.

"Ma'am, Lieutenant Curtiss DeHavilland reporting for duty." he said proudly.

"Ahhhhh...so you are," Mari said with a vague look of believed recognition as she had now had a chance to look over the sparse roster, "Bienvenidos, Lieutenant. Welcome to the crazy farm where it seems that all who enter are either loco or become loco within their first hours aboard. How can I help you?"

"You should see the Shuttle bay, I'm not sure loco quite covers it." he said, glancing over his shoulder at the conn. "I'd like to get started, ma'am. Looks like you got your hands full. If you don't need me elsewhere, I'll take over at the conn and get things up and running. There's some curiously dangerous rumors running about, and if they're even half true I'm gonna need all the time I can get."

Nodding, a dark and rather annoyed shadow passing over the beauty's features, Mari said, "Es cierto. And in my experience, nearly all rumors are based in truth. The thing concerning me most right now is that we still have not been assigned a commanding officer," she paused and shook her head, "But that is not your problem. That is mine. Certainly you may take over at the conn station. Let me know when you've had a chance to run some tests. I want to know that we are flight ready ASAP."

"Yes ma'am." DeHavilland replied with a sharp salute.

He turned around and approached the conn station on the left, tapping the technician on the shoulder and thumbing towards the door.

"I'll take it from here." he said.

The technician relaxed visibly and didn't hesitate for a moment to make a b-line for the lift. He sat down in the chair and accessed the terminal. The technician had been going about it all wrong, doing it this way he'd be here all night trying to get the flight systems up. Looking over to his right he saw the other technician doing the same thing on the auxiliary conn. He shook his head in disbelief. Reaching across he poked the technician and thumbed to the door again.

"You're just slowing me down." he said, "Find another station to work on." he added, turning back to his and re-organizing the diagnostics.

He lined up the tasks in a more efficient order and set the computer to work and turned slightly to the side portion of the terminal and touched the panel; nothing happened. He touched it harder, but still nothing. He slammed his fist against it in frustration and it came to life with a flicker. A nearby technician turned to look at him curiously.

"Just requires a gentle touch." DeHavilland said, waving for him to continue on with his duties.

"Looks like I AM going to be here all night." he sighed to himself.

Lieutenant JG CJ DeHavilland
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Freedom
====OUT====

 

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