Practice Makes Perfect
Posted on Thu Aug 28th, 2014 @ 10:44am by Cadet Senior Grade James Anderson & Lieutenant Anin Sturner
Mission:
Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Thieves
Location: Flight Simulator, Archanis Flight Training Centre
[ON]
[Flight Simulator, Archanis Flight Training Centre]
"Again," the voice of the instructor barked. James winced slightly at the sharp sound in his ear. Although the lieutenant was not in the cabin with him, James knew she was watching every move he made from somewhere very close by.
They were going on their fourth hour in the simulator now. Already, the young flight cadet was starting to wonder what exactly he had gotten himself into. Piloting starships and shuttlecraft was one thing. James had been learning to do that ever since he'd convinced his father to let him start running simulations on the holodeck. Starships and shuttlecraft was where the bulk of his flight experience lay. They were really starting to come as second nature for him. Piloting a Federation starfighter, on the other hand, was something James had never dreamed of doing before. It was turning out to be a lot more difficult than even he had imagined.
James glanced over the readouts before him. Although the basic configuration was similar to most shuttlecraft, there were still some pretty major differences in how the information was being reported back to him at any given moment. His eyes skimmed over each console in turn as he tried to figure out exactly what went wrong this time. Things had actually been going rather well right up to the point they'd started navigating through the orbital debris field. A few moments later, his port wing nicked one of the abandoned satellites. Everything else pretty much went downhill from there. "Port thruster's sluggish," James muttered to himself.
"Is there a problem, cadet," Sturner (NPC) asked from her unseen location.
"I said there must be a problem with the port thruster, ma'am," James replied more clearly, though silently berating himself for not remembering that his instructor was still listening to everything happening in the cockpit, "it seems a little sluggish." True, James wasn't absolutely one-hundred percent sure that was the problem, but there wasn't much else that could have been causing it. The port wing clearly dipped too low every single time he'd made the pass. That meant either he was fouling up his turn or there was something wrong with the engine. This being the umpteenth time they'd run the scenario, James was inclined to go with the latter.
"Then fix it, cadet," she ordered, "Correct the problem and move on."
"Aye, ma'am," James replied. Shifting slightly in his seat as he spoke, James reached down with one hand to adjust the PADD attached to his right leg. This was his first time ever wearing the new inertial dampening suit and that was also taking some getting used to. The suit was designed to reduce the effects of sudden acceleration and to protect him in case the cockpit suddenly depressurized. As such, it had a very different feeling from the standard uniform James was so familiar with.
Another moment passed before the lieutenant's voice came across the intercom once more. "Your starboard thruster pushed too hard," Sturner explained, "You need to be aware of your thrust levels. The computer won't be doing all the work for you in a starfighter."
Just one more thing to keep in mind, James thought to himself. Making yet another mental note for himself, the young cadet reached over to one of the consoles on his right. He made a few adjustments to the starboard thruster assembly, checked it against his port engine, and made a few more adjustments. Then James turned to his primary interface and set about making the appropriate calibrations there. Within a few moments, he was ready to go. James looked up through the forward viewport of the cockpit just as the holographic exterior began to shimmer.
"Alright," Sturner said, "Let's run it again..."
[OFF]
Lieutenant Anin Sturner (NPC)
Instructor - Starfleet Fighters
Starbase 332
Played by: Cadet Anderson
and
Cadet James Anderson
Flight Control Cadet: Starfighter Division
Starbase 332
