Holding down the fort.

Posted on Tue 20th Jun, 2017 @ 10:32pm by

673 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Unity Week
Location: Fighter CIC

Lieutenant Rose O'Malley stood in the Fighter CIC, watching the sensor contacts of the USS Warspite and it's flight of Valkyries with Captain Wellington speed away from the area of operations as they went to warp. Not long, they were out of sensor range. She felt a wave of panic start to come over her, realizing that her commander was now away from the station--that meant the entire department was in her hands. "Shit," she whispered.

"Ma'am?" questioned a nearby Staff Sergeant monitoring one of the many consoles.

"Nothing. Just forgot to do something before coming on shift," she lied. "I'll have to do it later."

The staff sergeant chuckled. "Happens to me all the time ma'am."

O'Malley simply nodded. A part of her wanted to hide in the Fighter Operations Office. 'No, I won't hide,' she thought to herself, recalling the meeting she had with Captain Wellington before her departure. She was in charge now because Wellington had faith in her and she would not betray that trust. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Lieutenant," the staff sergeant who had just spoken to her called out.

"Yes, what is it Staff Sergeant?" O'Malley said walking over to the Staff Sergeant's location.

"Knight Zero-Five is reporting a flight control and life support system malfunction. Knight Zero-Five and Knight Zero-Three are on CAP Duty," the Staff Sergeant explained.

"Put Knight Zero-Five on Comm," O'Malley said, hoping the situation wasn't bad.

"Knight Zero-Five is on Comm," the Staff Sergeant reported.

"Knight Zero-Five, this is Fighter Control," O'Malley spoke. "What is the extent of the malfunction?"

"Control, this Knight Zero-Five," came a deep male voice in response. "Throttle is sluggish and it fights me at every maneuver. Life support is on back up but won't last much longer."

Though not a pilot herself, O'Malley knew that wasn't good. She closed her eyes for a moment in thought as she went through the emergency procedures for such an occasion. Though the life support was failing, the pilot still could pressurize his suit in a complete fail of the system. The flight control failure was another matter entirely. She opened her eyes, looking at the large sensor display that showed the two fighters. "Knight Zero-Five, can you make it back?"

"Yes, ma'am," Knight Zero-Five responded with nervousness that showed in his response.

O'Malley wasn't sure if it was bravery or typical pilot bravado that was the cause for that answer. "Very well, Knight Zero-Five. Begin landing procedures. The flight deck will be ready."

"Roger that, Control. Knight Zero-Five, out."

O'Malley remembered her next step as she turned to look at the Staff Sergeant she had spoken to earlier. "Staff Sergeant, ready the flight deck for an incoming emergency landing," O'Malley ordered.

"Aye, Ma'am," the Staff Sergeant said as he put in several commands into his console.

On the flight deck an alarm sounded as crews sprinted to their stations and the alert fighters were taxied off to the side. On both sides of the bay door, two cylindrical emergency tractor beam emitters rose up out of the deck and began to glow blue as they powered up.

The malfunctioning Razor-Class Fighter of Knight Zero-Five soon appeared as it closed with the flight deck. The fighter was barely maintaining the glide slope for a safe landing as it continued to drift too low and then too high. As the fighter crossed the threshold of the flight deck's forcefield the emergency tractor beam emitters activated, slowing the fighter down considerably and stabilizing it as it set the fighter down with no more than a audible thud.

"Razor Zero-Five to Control. I've landed in one piece."

O'Malley let out an audible sigh, thankful she had remembered all of the procedures. 'Maybe this won't be so bad,' she thought. "Well done, Knight Zero-Five." She then turned to the Staff Sergeant. "Get maintenance to go over that fighter immediately to see what happened."

"Aye, ma'am," the Staff Sergeant replied as he tapped the command into his console.

 

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