System Patrol

Posted on Thu Sep 4th, 2014 @ 8:40pm by Cadet Senior Grade James Anderson & Carson Reed & Lieutenant Lynsi Mason
Edited on on Thu Sep 4th, 2014 @ 9:45pm

Mission: Vagrants, Vagabonds, and Thieves
Location: V/F-37 "Claymores"

[ON]

The Claymore squadron's hanger was full of activity. Maintenance technicians moved from ship to ship, performing pre-flight checks and inventory checks. Other members of the deck crew shuffle around carts full of supplies, tools, ordinance, fuel, and a plethora of other crates. Space was being cleared for fighters to land while others were prepped for launch. Pilots ran moved back and forth from fighters to their staging areas, conversing with techs carrying PADDs. The whole orchestration seemed like chaos to someone not in the know. But to the well trained deck teams, everything was moving like clockwork.

Amongst the bustle was Lynsi Mason, hovering around her Peregrine-class fighter. True to her namesake, her fighter was painted with a custom paint scheme showing flames around the nose. There was no way no one was not going to recognize her bird.

James stepped over the threshold with his helmet tucked under one arm. Good thing I made it with time to spare, he thought to himself when he saw what lay before him. The hangar bay was larger than most others the young cadet had previously found himself in. In fact, save for a handful of dedicated ground facilities, there wasn't much in the Federation or beyond that could outmatch the size and scope of anything aboard a Stardock-class station. There was clearly enough space to comfortably fit auxiliary craft from at least three or four starships with room to spare.

As James continued looking around the room, his senses took in everything that was going on. He was pleasantly surprised to see that much of it wasn't all that different from what he'd witnessed aboard starships. Shuttlecraft, runabouts, transports, and even starfighters needed constant maintenance and support in order to keep them in top flying condition. This was equally true for the men and women who piloted them. The good news was that it meant James could sort of find his way around without too much trouble.

It didn't take James long to locate Lieutenant Mason. Not surprisingly, he managed to pick out her starfighter long before he ever saw the lieutenant herself. "Cadet Anderson, reporting for duty ma'am," James said as he approached.

Blaze handed a PADD back to the technician. "That looks good. I don't think that stabilizer will cause us too many problems, but get a crew on it after he lands." The tech nodded and was on his way, leaving Blaze to greet the newcomer. "Ah, Rookie. It looks like you made it okay." She pointed behind him to a fighter to the rear and left of hers. "That'll be your bird there. You've got the nine o'clock spot. Firefly has the right flank, and Jinjo taking up our rear. Your main job, besides not crashing, is to keep your eyes peeled for threats from the side. We don't have anything on sensors at the moment to be concerned with, but we fly every sortie expecting a fight. Got that?"

"Yes, ma'am," James replied. The young cadet was doing his best to keep his attention from continuing to wander around the room. Understanding his assigned place in the formation was certainly important, but it wouldn't be the most difficult thing for him to remember on this flight. All James had to do was hold his position, keep an eye out for anything that might be of interest, report it to the lieutenant, and not screw up. Remembering everyone's call-sign, however...now that was going to be more of a challenge. Blaze, Firefly, and Jinjo, James repeated, going over the names once more in his head. A part of him wondered if it might not be a good idea to take note somewhere. Then he realized that would've been silly. There was no way he was going to have much chance to be looking at any notes while they were in flight.

Having gotten that sorted out, James turned so that he was looking toward the starfighter the lieutenant had pointed out to him earlier. There didn't seem to be anything particularly special ore noteworthy about it from where he was standing. It looked pretty much like your typical Peregrine-class Federation starfighter. There were no identifying features like the brilliant colors adorning the lieutenant's fighter etched into the hull of this craft. Just plain old, dull gray duranium hull plating. Still, it was something at least.

"Good. Go on and get yourself situation. We'll launch in a few minutes shortly before the last patrol comes back in. There will be more than just our flight out there, but don't get distracted. Just stick with the three of us." Blaze gestured at the other two fighters in their group. "I'd introduce you to the other two, but they're already in their birds. You can meet them once you're on comms. Alright, get going, Rookie." She left him standing there in the hanger so she could climb into her own fighter.

James didn't need to be told twice. He knew it wouldn't take long for the others to whip through their pre-flight checks. They were familiar with the craft they were flying and had probably been out more than a few times in the last several days. That meant James didn't have much time before he was going to be left behind. He quickly crossed over to what would be his starfighter for this particular sortie. One of the maintenance specialists gave him a thumbs up as he climbed inside, indicating the ship was ready to go.

No sooner had James taken his seat than the consoles around him started coming to life. One-by-one, each interface began to glow, indicating the start-up sequence was already underway. A few simple keystrokes was all it took for him to confirm this. Moments later, a gentle humming sound filled the air, a clear sign the fighter's engines were also starting to power up.

Blaze quickly settled in to her flight seat. She put on her helmet and comm headset and pulled up the displays on her fighter. Like in Anderson's her controls came up right away. But her's were already preset for her preferences. She had her quarters and a comfortable bed, but here in the cockpit was where she felt most at home. She opened the comm and prepared for launch. "Flight lead standing by. All fighters, check in."

A woman's voice came in through James's headset. "Firefly, standing by."

"Jinjo, standing by," added a man's voice.

There was a moment of silence as James raced to finish the last few steps of his pre-flight sequence. It wasn't going to look good if he spoke up without having gone through everything first. Once more, James looked around the cockpit of his fighter and began mentally checking things off the list. Control, instruments, fuel... The console interfaces were all active, displays were sending back the real-time data he needed, and deuterium fuel tanks were plenty full. Engines, tactical, flight operations... James' gaze passed over the visual readouts for each system in turn; everything was green and ready to go. Harness, hatch, hope...

"Uh...Rookie, standing by," James reported in.

Lynsi let a smile slip onto her face, though none of the other pilots could see it. She may have acted gruff around the cadet, but she considered it a form of tough love. It was the best way for him to learn. "Copy that, all fighters standing by. Flight Control, this is Squadron Lead. We're standing by for launch. Permission to power engines."

"Permission granted, Squadron Lead. Flight Deck is clear. Bring engines to ready," another voice spoke into the comm channel. This was one that Anderson didn't recognize, presumably from the squadron's flight controller.

"Willco, Flight Control. Bringing engines to ready." Blaze powered up the thrusters to bring the nimble Peregrine class fighter into the air above the hangar's deck plates. By this point all of the deck crew and mechanics have moved to a safe zone, and were prepping to work on the incoming fighters.

Taking the lieutenant's statement as instruction, James figured it was best if he followed suit. He placed his hands on the primary console and slid his fingers along one of the colored stripes. This slowly increased power flow to the maneuvering thrusters, which in turn, caused his own fighter to rise gently into the air until it was hovering only a few feet above the hangar deck. Simple enough, he thought to himself.

With the four fighters in the air, Blaze spoke out over the comm again. "Engines at ready, Flight Control. Permission to disembark."

"Granted, Squadron Lead. You are cleared to launch." By now, the large hangar doors had already opened, revealing the starfield beyond. "Have a safe mission, Blaze."

"Thank you, Flight Control. We'll see you when we get back. Let's go, boys and girls." With that, Lynsi increased the throttle on her engines, accelerating through the atmospheric forcefield. Firefly accelerated to join her, while Jinjo maintained his distance behind the Rookie.

[Three-and-a-half Hours Later]

Things had been relatively quiet ever since the flight had taken up their position along the system's defense perimeter. As soon as the four of them reached the edge of their designated patrol zone, Lieutenant Mason would turn them around and lead them back in the other direction. Their job during all this, as James understood it, was to identify incoming objects. It would then be their responsibility to assess the situation and report that information to the station before whatever it was actually entered the space around Starbase 332. Sounded simple enough...at least in theory.

Their first contact came about twenty minutes into the patrol. An outbound Federation cargo transport laden with supplies, likely for ongoing repairs to the station, was brought to station-keeping at one of the outer marker buoys. Lieutenant Mason...that is, Blaze...took the lead in communicating with the vessel's captain while James and the others made several passes around the transport itself looking for anything that might have been out of the ordinary. They repeated the process again about forty minutes later when a civilian vessel approached their perimeter. This had occurred a total of at least three or four times since they started. Each time, Blaze would do a quick follow up with James to make sure he understood what was going on.

With the exception of these few intermittent contacts, there really hadn't been much for them to do other than continue their patrol back and forth, keeping watch. After about the first hour or so of that, James realized he would need to find something to occupy his time. He listened to the other pilots chat over the open comlink while he started out by playing around with the configuration of his interface consoles. Although he couldn't actually save any of the settings, it was interesting to see how having things in different places affected his ability to control the ship. Then he went on to reviewing the status of his own starfighter and running a few simple diagnostics. All the while, he tried to keep at least one eye on what was going on around him in case something did happen.

So far Blaze had been impressed with the Cadet. He didn't participate much in the chatter, but that wasn't too surprising. Blaze, Firefly, and Jinjo all knew each other and worked together everyday. It was the kid's first time with the squadron. So far he was doing everything by the book, which was all you could ask of a cadet. She'd even consider letting him fly with her more often.

Eventually Mason's proximity sensors picked up another incoming ship. The identification signals identified it as the Crescent Star, a ship that Blaze had escorted in many times before. She didn't expect any trouble from this one, and her mind went back into instructor mode. She radioed it in to Flight Ops. "Command, this is Blaze, we've got another ship inbound, identification registering as fife tree niner alfa charlie seven two whiskey eight. Permission to execute Anne Sullivan procedure. Do you copy? Over."

The Flight Controller checked the registration and confirmed it to be the Crescent Star, but was still amused that Blaze wanted to change procedure. "We copy, Blaze. You sure he's up to it? Over."

"Affirm Control. I'll be right here. I'll make sure nothing goes fubar. Don't worry. Over."

"Roger, Blaze. You're go for Anne Sullivan. Control, out."

There was some snickering elsewhere on the line, though it was not clear if it was coming from Firefly or Jinjo. But Blaze interrupted the laughter. "Alright, Rookie. There's a ship inbound 270 mark 034. You've got the lead on this one. Jinjo, take his place, I'll bring up the rear."

"Copy that, Blaze," Jinjo reported. He brought his fighter out of formation as Blaze started to bring hers back to the rear.

Startled as James was at having suddenly been thrust forward into the lead position, he knew he could not allow his surprise to distract him from the task at hand. They had a job to do and he was the one being asked to do it. We've been through this, he thought to himself, Just take it one step at a time. The first thing James did was glance over at one of the readouts in his cockpit to see if he could locate the ship on sensors. Sure enough, there was an inbound contact in the exact location Blaze said it would be. From what little James could see, the computer had identified the vessel as the Crescent Star, a Suurok-class starship. The "NSP" prefix told James the ship operating with the Vulcan Science Directorate or under civilian ownership. Either way, they were going to have to stop and to undergo inspection.

James banked slightly to starboard before leveling out so that his bow was facing toward the approaching vessel. At their current speed, he knew they would still have a few minutes before the Crescent Star entered visual range. Until then, they would have to rely on sensors, which were still pretty accurate at this range. It was also a pretty sure indication that the Crescent Star could see them as well. After all, James and the other fighter pilots weren't exactly trying to hide or anything.

With one hand, James reached across to a console on his right and activated the ship-to-ship communications. He waited a moment for the connection to be established before speaking. "Attention Crescent Star," James began, "This is Cadet James Anderson of Archa system patrol. Identify yourself and state your intentions."

Blaze monitored the sensor readings while she listened to Anderson talk to the ship. She was impressed that it was coming so naturally to him. Being able to fly was one thing, but being able to communicate and lead was what was going to take him further in his career.

"Archa system patrol, this is Carson Reed (PNPC) of the Crescent Star," a voice replied, "We're en route to Starbase 332 to drop off passengers and supplies. Hoping to get a little R-and-R in, too, I think."

The explanation seemed simple enough. Civilian transport vessel carrying personnel and supplies with intention to layover at the station described pretty much every ship they'd encountered so far that day. James knew, however, that the other members of his flight were still circling the Crescent Star and conducting scans of the vessel. They would soon be able to confirm whether or not Reed's statement was true. Until then, it was up to James to keep them occupied. "I appreciate your cooperation, Mister Reed," he said as he turned his attention back to open communications channel, "This should only take a few more moments."

While the other fighters were busy conducting their scans, Blaze was watching the Rookie. The Crescent Star had never shown any problems before on any of her previous visits, so Lynsi wasn't concerned with this one. There was no reason to suspect that anything was wrong, though she wasn't going to take any chances. They still needed to do their routine checks, but as expected the scans didn't pick up anything that would have warranted a closer look via boarding. She relayed this to Anderson on the flight's private comm channel. She didn't want the freighter to here this part of the conversation. "Alright, Rookie. Everything looks good. You're clear to escort them in to the inner marker. The Dockmaster will take over from there. You just need to let the freighter know what's going on. Over."

"Yes, ma'am," James replied. It was a relief for him, at least, to hear there was nothing particularly out of the ordinary with this inspection. He was certain Blaze would have stepped in if things had gotten out of hand, but part of him appreciated the fact he was able to see this through. A simple tap brought him back to the his conversation with the Crescent Star. "Okay, Mister Reed, everything seems to be in order," James told them, "I'll be escorting you to the inner marker and the station Dockmaster will handle your approach from there."

"Roger that, system patrol," Reed confirmed after a moment, "We'll follow you in."

Blaze talked into the flight's internal channels. "Good work, Rookie. The destination is the same as the previous ships. We're just taking them in to the inner marker. You've still got lead. We'll have your back."

[OFF]

Lieutenant Lynsi Mason [P: Von]
Squadron Leader
V/F-37 "Claymores"

Cadet Senior Grade James Anderson
Cadet
Archanis Flight Training Center

Carson Reed [P: Anderson]
Deck Cadet
SS Crescent Star