Classified Briefing

Posted on Sat 28th Apr, 2018 @ 8:26pm by Lieutenant Colonel Brooklyn Wellington & Captain Ranulf MacBain

966 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Brushfires
Location: Marine Country, Starbase 109
Timeline: MD 11, 09:00

The woman standing on the short stage of the briefing area would not be considered attractive by most Humans. She was too tall, her hair was cut too severely for her strong jaw, her nose looked as though it had been broken more than once, and her eyes were an unfashionably muddled mixture of green and brown. She wore the uniform of a major of the United Federation of Planets Marine Corps and stood quietly at parade rest while she watched the other Marine officers of the 19th Marine Aerospace Group settle in to the comfortable chairs in the room.

"Good morning," she said, after coming briefly to attention and touching a control which dimmed the room lights. "My name is Major Beatrice Cassidy; I have the honor and privilege of leading Marine Fightin' One-One-Four. Formerly part of Carrier Aerospace Wing Eleven, the one-one-four was among the first squadrons to be assigned the F-34 'Black Lightning' interceptor. We are now assigned to Colonel Wellington. Additionally, I brought with me the construction specifications for the F-34 and its associated Electronic Warfare vessel, the EW-9 'Phantom.' These vessels, along with the resupply vessels known as 'Water Buffalos' will be constructed at the Starbase 109 construction yards, and will begin phasing out older fighter designs. Colonel Wellington has asked that I brief you on the capacities of the system so that you may begin looking forward to training to operate it.

"Before I begin, are there any questions or comments?"

Beck raised her hand for the Major's attention. "Is 140 responsible for manning and flying these resupply vessels? I want to know how closely to pay attention." There were snickers around her and she turned red. She hadn't meant to sound like a smart-aleck, but really meant that if she weren't responsible, she didn't need to record every detail. Least said, soonest mended, she sighed.

Major Cassidy suppressed a smile. "No, Captain. The resupply vessels, for reasons which will become apparent later, require specially trained crews. Those crews will be making their way here through normal personnel channels."

MacBain shook his head, "No questions, Major." His squadron was busy with 24/7 CAP and he would worry about some future event when the time came. Right now he would listen and think on what was said. His focus, though, was on the Colonel's orders to keep the base safe.

"If possible, do you have a holodeck training program?" Wellington asked. "I would like the assigned pilots to get familiar with the craft and it's physical capabilities before setting a foot in it."

"Yes, ma'am," the Major replied. "Also, most of my squadron have qualified as flight instructors on the new hardware, so we won't be dropping anyone into the soup unprepared."

The Major looked around. "No other questions? Alright, then, let's proceed." She touched another control on the lectern, and a wireframe hologram appeared in the air. "This is a representation of the F-34 interceptor, the backbone of Fleet and Marine next-generation intercept and pursuit doctrine." The craft depicted had an ovoid pod with a clear canopy situated at the forward end, and twin pylons emerged from the aft end, canting slightly down to a pair of warp nacelles which projected aft. Near the aft end of the nacelles, another pair of pylons canted inboard and upward, holding a weapons pod in the center.

"As you can see," the Major explained, using a laser designator to indicate the flight deck, "the Black Lightning is flown from a semi-standing position, rather than the seated position of previous generations. The flight deck canopy is situated so that the pilot can see over and forward of the nacelles. This aft pod contains the torpedo launchers, which fire over the reactor and flight deck assembly."

Though she was no longer a fighter pilot, and had no desire to return to being one, Beck was interested in the configuration of this new fighter. Without thinking, she spoke up. "And this semi-standing position is feasible because there is an advanced inertial dampening system? I'm thinking about how that would wear on a pilot over time, Major. Can you speak to the advantages of that?"

"As it happens, I can," the Major responded, again smiling slightly. "Studies have shown that pilots have the greatest degree of situational awareness when they receive some... a very, very small fraction... of the inertial forces which result from maneuvering. It's a sort of haptic feedback which we've all evolved to understand without training. The system designers, therefore, decided to divert power from gravplating to structural integrity fields and inertial dampeners. For most of the time a pilot occupies the flight deck, the perceived direction down is actually aft, so the flight couch actually puts one in a semi-recumbent position, which is better for handling the inertial vectors which are allowed to bleed through."

"Thank you, Major," Rebecca said, nodding. It made perfect sense. Fooling the brain once again, she thought, making a note in her PADD. She might not be piloting these things, but she wanted to understand.

"In space," the Major went on, nodding at Beck in acknowledgement but moving on, "we experience Newton's laws in a very primal form, and in a three dimensional environment. Therefore, we must control the attitude of the ship in respect to pitch, roll, and yaw. The Black Lightning and associated vessels use the time honored system of controlling pitch and roll with the right hand, and yaw with the feet. Throttle and immediate auxiliary controls remain on the left hand. And yes; before anyone feels the need to ask, these controls are configurable to operate in a left-hand orientation as well. No one will have to learn flight from first principles in order to pilot these craft."

 

RSS Feed