Fighter Escort Readiness

Posted on Thu 2nd Feb, 2017 @ 12:54am by Lieutenant Colonel Brooklyn Wellington & Colonel Horatio Drake

996 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Wrongs Darker Than Death Or Night
Location: Deck 100: Fighter Operations
Timeline: MD-02: 0745 Hours

It was Drake's first time on Deck 100, he had scarcely visited two thirds of the base since taking command. One could be forgiven for thinking it looked the same as any other deck, on any other starbase; Starfleet loved their uniformity. But this particular deck held something special - the Fighter Operations Department.

Fighter Operations was one of those departments that Commanding Officers seemed to have a love/hate relationship with. Up until the Dominion War, the more seasoned officers just didn't see the need or requirement for having fighters on starships. In fact, up until the war, very few starships actually had them as part of their compliment... they were, instead, posted mainly on stations and facilities. However, the Dominion War brought many things it... one being the need for more ships, of any class and capability. This was when Fighters came into their own - they could support capital ships in offensive manoeuvres against Jem'Hadar Heavy Escorts, Battleships, or Dreadnoughts or take on Fighters and Attack Ships by themselves with, usually, a very high degree of success.

Since then, any ship that could accommodate them... had them. They had become as standard on ships as phaser banks or warp cores.

Having tried her office, to no avail, the computer had identified Captain Wellington as being in one of the adjacent hangars. Drake now walked into the hangar to a bustling hive of activity.

Brooklyn enjoyed spending time on the flight deck. She literally spent her entire career on one and this was where she felt most at home. What seemed like chaos to others was to her, a well orchestrated ballet. She was currently helping the ground crews to make sure the escort fighters were in top shape and clean as she finished running a phase degausser over the fighter. The tool cleaned all dirt and scorching from a fighter's hull. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Looking over, she saw that the person was Colonel Drake. She placed the phase degausser down on a nearby table and made her way over towards the Colonel. "Welcome to Fighter Operations, Colonel. What brings you down here, sir?"

"Thank you, Captain." He paused and took in his surroundings. "Well, I just thought I'd come down to make sure everything was going smoothly for the escort run today?"

"As well as can be expected sir," she smiled. "Just shining up the fighters a bit to make them look pretty for the delegation and the admiral." She honestly hated these visitations by diplomatic parties and admiralty. More time was spent in making things shiny and pretty instead on doing the nitty gritty work that often needed to be done. Luckily for Brooklyn, her department was 90% operational with only two fighters and three transports still grounded.

"Excellent... excellent" Drake smiled. "It's going to be a challenge getting this station's reputation back to where it once was... but it's this sort of thing that'll help us along the way!"

"Tell me, Captain, how are you settling in? I apologise I haven't been down sooner... my list of things to do gets longer by the day! I strike one thing off and three more take its place!" He smiled.

Brooklyn shrugged and returned the smile. "No need to apologize, sir. I know how it is. Luckily I've gotten a good deck crew who have been working their butts off ever since I arrived but I wouldn't want your job, sir. Care for a tour of the place?"

"That would be very kind, thank you.' Drake tried to sound confident but, in reality, he wasn't. There was no need to receive a guided tour around a department on a starship, and as for not personally introducing yourself to a Head of Department weeks after they've come aboard... unheard of.

He had, however, had enough aptitude to review Wellington's service record before venturing into her realms. They started walking as he spoke, "I saw that you've done some time instructing at the Academy before rejoining 6th Wing as a Deputy Wing Commander. Was it hard adapting back to active service after teaching? I know that for most, once you've become an instructor you don't usually have the urge to come back?" He spoke, not from personal experience, but rather from officers he had served with. They hadn't necessarily been through the hardships that Wellington must have had as a PoW, but just got comfortable with a different walk of life.

Taking a deep breath, Brooklyn replied, "not really, sir. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed teaching but there were times I was safer in deep space than teaching some of those cadets," she chuckled, recalling some of the bonehead mistakes made by a few cadets. "To be honest, I missed the excitement of the unknown.

Drake chuckled, "Well, the unknown is certainly what we're getting everyday out here, on the edge of Federation space... an entire starbase re-tasked from it's original charter..." His mind started wondering, his interest in fleet history taking over.

Brooklyn grinned. "I don't doubt it, sir. You have a tremendous job here, but at least I can say that you have me supporting you."

He snapped back from his day dream, "Quite right, Captain... and pleased to have it as well." As they continued walking he noted the time on the large chronometer on the wall of the hangar bay. He had been down here for longer than he had intended... why had he agreed to a tour? These days his schedule seemed to be arranged by the minute, as opposed to by the hour or day.

"Captain, I hope you don't think me rude but would you mind if we finish the tour another time? I've got to check in with Commander Dal before Admiral Dobbs arrives!" He tried to put on his best apologetic face... he wasn't sure if it was convincing.

Wellington simply nodded. "Understood, sir. Have a good day, sir."

 

RSS Feed