Skyflying (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 25 Jul 2014 @ 5:22pm by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim

2,113 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Episode 06 - Legend of Souls
Location: USS Galileo - Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD 06 - 2230 hrs

[CONTINUED]

Lamar looked over and, to his surprise, Allyndra was flying along next to him under her own winged power. It was quite a sight to see, and this was the first time he'd properly seen her fluttering around in the air using her natural abilities. "Thanks!" he yelled back through the roar of the wind, then tried his best to follow her instructions and change the placement of his hands. Sure enough, it worked just as advertised and he was able to level out the glider before banking slowly to port over the sea. Unable to resist the urge, he leaned forward and dropped the nose of the glider to put it into a shallow descent and pick up airspeed, then leaned his body back to once again level out the craft. "Yeah!" he yelled with a child-like grin.

Allyndra followed. She did not have to do much more than let the gossamer wings catch the breeze. She watched Lamar and had a little fear when he tipped the glider forward but he caught it and headed out and she could hear him cheering the maneuver. She folded her wings and dove to catch up. It was quick and she snapped them open again coming in close but not too close. She was laughing when she got close enough. "FREEDOM! It is like nothing in the world is it not?"

"Amen to that!" he yelled back. During his free time on the ship he usually amused himself with holodeck recreations of old 21st century aircraft but had never thought to try flying in the most basic of glider contraptions. The lack of complex instrument panels, heads-up displays, and fly-by-wire avionics was very much a welcome change, and for once he actually felt more connected with the sky than he ever had before.

"Where to now?" he shouted, wondering if she had a particular flight plan in mind.

Allyndra knew that Lamar was adventurous and that the safeties were in place but that did not mean to do something he was not ready for either and spoil the experience. "No place really," she finally called back.

"You should practice turns, like this," she banked suddenly to the left and away and down before making a slow roll to the right. Unlike the glider she could power her way back up. "As before, shift your weight in the direction with your shoulders, let's try a lazy turn left, then down and to the right, then a sharp one left. The later will take us back to the cliff, pick up some more speed, almost a dive and then when you feel a bump, that is the wind rising. Point upward but not too sharp or you will stall then make slow lazy circles. When we get high enough I will turn toward the ocean and then show you something fun. Ready?"

"After you," he yelled, then began to follow her doing simple slow turns to both port and starboard. It wasn't hard to catch on to the way the glider worked, and he was able to lean into each turn with relative ease. The sharper turns were a bit more tricky because the glider's nose wanted to dip along with the wing when he banked, but a readjustment of his body's weight after each turn was able to level out the craft and null the pitch.

Allyndra turned and then dove. She could do this faster than Lamar since her wings could fold while is glider should not do that. The ocean came up fast but she was well experienced and snapped her wings open to catch the air and then level. The speed had built up and she zipped just above the waves. Reaching one hand down she allowed it to trail catching the tops of the waves. Slowing she pulled up and turned but then hovered to see if Lamar could do the same and be there just in case.

Squinting to block out the sun's reflection on the water and keep Allyndra in sight as she buzzed ahead of him, Lamar shifted his weight forward to once again pitch the glider down. The rush of air whipping across his ears drowned out all other sounds and put him into a focused state as the craft rapidly picked up airspeed. About a hundred feet above the waves, he leaned back to try and level out but the glider was a bit slower to respond than he'd anticipated. Oh shit, he thought while watching the clear blue waves grow larger and larger as he quickly approached them. In the final seconds before reaching sea level, it became apparent to the warrant officer that he wouldn't be able to pull up in time, and his instinctual reaction to ditch the glider overrode all other impulses.

"I'm bailing!" he yelled, then unholstered his feet and let them dangle for a brief moment while he held on to the bars. At twenty feet ASL, he let go of the bars and folded his arms across his chest as he began to fall feet-first into the ocean. A rush of adrenaline surged through his veins and he closed his eyes in preparation for hard contact with the water.

Allyndra hand turned hovering to watch. She could see he was going a bit too fast and began to move. She went past and then turned to help adding her own wing power to help maneuver the glider but it suddenly veered lazily to the side and Lamar was heading for the sea. She dove hard but he was just not close enough and it really did not make that much difference, for all she could have done is slow slightly his descent. They were far enough out that the ocean was deep here and the waves not so rough. The safeties were on so she had no fear that something catastrophic would happen so she came to a hover again and waited for him to surface.

The force of the impact had submerged Lamar quite deep in the water, but thankfully Allyndra had been prudent enough to make him change out of his jeans before stepping into the holodeck. The weight of saturated denim wouldn't have made it easy to swim to the surface, but the light athletic shorts he was now wearing were relatively easy to handle. Kicking his feet towards the surface along with underwater breast strokes, he finally burst up above the waves and took a deep breath of fresh air before wiping the water from his eyes and looking around to survey his ocean surroundings. He caught a quick glimpse of his glider nearby which had landed unceremoniously and was now half-submerged beneath a wave, then he started to look around for his girlfriend.

"Remember to always look up," Allyndra hovered down until her feet just touched the water. "Are you alright?"

"I think I got water up my nose," he answered then sneezed in an attempt to clear the holographic water from his sinuses. Once he'd rid himself of the uncomfortable sensation, he rolled on his back and began to float while looking up at her. "Is that as easy as it looks?" he asked, gesturing up to her wings while wondering how hard it was for her to fly around and hover with her own specialized appendages.

Allyndra continued to hover. "No, it is tiring. The only good here is that one gets a little ground effect." She then moved just a little away backwards seeing that he seemed to be fine. She then took on a formal pose and then did a little dancing. It was very stylized movements with the legs with her toes catching the water and slinging glittering strands in the air. There were also times when she dipped and caught the water with her hands and did the same. She then stopped and floated back before folding her wings and dropping into the water near Lamar.

"That is water dancing," she said as she bobbed in the water and shaking her now wet hair from her face.

For a long moment he watched the ballet-like movements she made and was thoroughly impressed by the delicacy, stylization and precision of her technique. He'd never seen anything like it before, and while he wasn't be biggest fan of professional dance, he reckoned she could easily make a name for herself on Earth if she ever decided to work in the entertainment industry.

"Can you do any tricks? Maybe dance while inverted?" he wondered out loud.

"Tricks? I feel like a pet now!" Allyndra pouted and splashed water at Lamar. "And no, I can not dance inverted." She laughed and then started with strokes for the shore kicking water at him following on her earlier splash.

He grinned and splashed water back her with his hands, then followed suit and began to swim his way back to the beach. Fortunately for him, his glider had crashed not too far away from the San Diego banks, and the swim was a manageable albeit slow one for him. It had been quite a while since he'd last been in the water, and many of his swimming muscles were out of shape.

Finally, many long minutes later, he felt his feet touch the muddy sand beneath the water signifying their arrival at the shore. Somewhat exhausted by the endeavor, he slowly walked out of water onto the beach and bent over with his hands on his knees to catch his breath and recuperate. "Kind of wish I had had wings for that trip," he laughed in between breaths.

Lamar was faster than she was in the water and passed her. Every Akkadian learned to swim, in fact it was inherent in their nature from being Katarah. Akkadia was after all more ocean than land and though wings gave them some freedom from the water storms could easily blow one into the water as well. She too finally reached the shore and then could stand and walk out. Her light flight dress clinging to her slim hipped form. She grabbed hand fulls of long dark metallic blue streaked hair and wrung the water out before tossing the wet strands over her shoulders.

"Now the part you don't have to worry about," she told Lamar and unfolded her dripping wings. "Letting them have to dry. Luckily they do not absorb much, just the surface." She then laughed and waved them a few times, sending another shower toward Lamar. He looked wonderful wet, his dark skin glistening with the water and she could feel herself aroused at the sight.

"Wet wings, huh? Can't say I've ever had to deal with that before," he teased, then ran a hand over his head and face to wipe some of the water off him. He stole a long look at Allyndra and her damp glistening hair, while also noticing how her wet dress now revealed the shape of her entire body. "So...what now?" he asked with a knowing look as he stepped close to her and put his hands on her shoulders. Sex on the beach? he mused to himself.

Allyndra smiled, "When one falls one gets up to try again. If you are afraid of falling do not try your wings." She said that but she could not help her own desire. He was just so lovely and the water glistening made him seem like some sea god come to her. Her words had been spoken but her eyes glittered in a different message.

"We can go back up again," he said in agreement with her philosophy. He was just beginning to get the hang of the glider and definitely wanted to try again. "But...first things first," he said, then leaned down to give her a kiss while also reaching down and curling his fingers under the bottom of her dress' fabric. He gave it series of gentle tugs to peel it up and off her body.

Allyndra felt both a little chill and also thrill run up and down her body as Lamar pulled at her flight dress. She lifted her arms and wings to make it easier for him and then pressed forward reaching downward.

"Ah, I see," she almost whispered. "You wish to do a little different kind of flying."

"Yeah...maybe," he teased, then leaned back down to kiss her and enjoy some private time with her on the sunny beach.

[OFF]

--

MWO Lamar Darius
Chief Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC Saalm]

Lt Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo

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