First Flight

Posted on 09 Apr 2016 @ 3:09am by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Anthony Duval & Lieutenant JG Lenaris Marika

3,707 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: Holodeck Two - USS Galileo
Timeline: MD85 - 1700Hrs

Warrant Officer Second Class Anthony Duval checked his wristwatch while he tapped the display before him. "Computer. confirm download complete?"

"Confirmed. all files are uploaded to the master mainframe. you may access any at your discretion."

"Excellent.. and confirm nobody is using this holosuite at the present time?" Duval inquired.

"Negative." was the unexpected answer.

Duval simply smiled as he stood there, wearing a dark green flightsuit that looked comfortable on him, with a pack on his back, helmet and gear in one hand and steel toed boots. In short he looked like a professional flight aviator from the mid 21st century, all he missed was the sidearm.

"jogug eul wihae yeong-gwang" he muttered softly almost softly to himself as he suddenly realized that someone was behind him. He slowly turned his head. "Y'know.. its .... never wise to walk up... behind someone.."

"Why?" Marika asked with a grin. "It's the best way to surprise them!" She giggled lightly as she passed him. "Or tickle them. Or give them a stealth hug." She Stopped and placed herself in front of him, confident, all smiles. "Never underestimate the power of a good stealth hug."

Duval regarded the smaller Bajoran woman standing before him, she seemed to be way too happy. "I'm just uploading several dozen holoprgrams to the system.... so I can indulge in one of my hobbies."
as he tapped the display. "Yep... all here." as he turned to face her.

Marika raised an eyebrow, and took the time to look over the gear the man had on him. "Soooooo, I guess you're expecting trouble? What kind of simulation is it?" She raised the other eyebrow and stared at him curiously.

"Its the day the Chinese Hegemony Invaded the Unified Republic of Korea... on Earth..." Duval regarded her. "It was about a week after the start of the Third World War... I had two relatives who fought in this war.... and Duval's have served ever since... all the way down... to me." he paused. "Are you..... doing anything at the present time?, wanna go flying?"

"Ooooo! I looooove flying. We talking plane, sky diving or pretend wings? I once went on a helicopter ride, it was an old museum thing, and I kept peeking out, I almost feel. But they had those magnetic belt things. Then there was that time I was in Hong Kong on a secret mission for Her Majesty ... not sure who ... and I had to jump from a tall building with a glider. Although that was a holonovel of some kind. Where do I get the gear?"

Duval found himself smiling as he found this small Bajoran woman to be something refreshing. "Y'Know... It normally takes me awhile to get to like someone... But I find you refreshing." he commented. "Today... We're not just flying.. We're going to war... for my ancestral homeland." What he left unsaid was that the battle was one they were doomed to lose. "Next time we end up on the holodeck together... How do you feel about going to Hong Kong?" he regarded her.

"Hong Kong's pretty fun. But to be honest I'd rather see places I haven't seen yet." She smiled some more and stared at him for a moment. "All right Mister Hot Pants! I need gear. Computer! Synthesize appropriate gear for me, pertaining to the program in waiting. Set it wherever is most appropriate and safe." Taking a moment to gear up, she mused about the joys of flying. Looking back at the mass of geared up muscle, she wiggled her eyebrows at him playfully. "After you Hot Pants!"

"Alright." he responded. "Welcome to South Korea... the date is August the Seventeenth, Twenty Forty Five." as he regarded the smaller Bajoran woman who was now wearing the same attire that he himself was wearing. "Mmm... you look good in a flightsuit." as he led her towards the large sprawling operations building that was nearby, the airfield was covered in military aircraft as two Eagles were taking off and over on another runway, another couple were landing. "Okay... you're gonna be my Weapons systems officer. Basically the gal in back, I point and when I tell you... you shoot at whatever I tell you to shoot at. k?"

Looking over at the 'birds' in childlike wonder, Marika grinned like a kid being offered candy. "Sounds good." She knew the basic theory of how these things flew, but it still astounded her how Human's had made these things fly. Just so much ... metal.

Duval led the smaller woman towards the Operations building, he grasped the door handle as he tugged the door open, the two of them entered as a third pilot approached. "Hey Phantom." the American sounded pilot addressed Duval. "So... you got her..?" he indicated Marika

Raising an eyebrow the young Bajoran eyed the man. "Whats wrong with her?" Maybe he thought she was too young?

"Nothing really... She's just new is all." the other pilot answered.

"Relax. She's checked out on all the newest kit and she knows what her job is... which is to kill whatever I tell her to kill... So stop worrying." Duval answered

"Yeah... Still.. you heard the orders?" the second pilot inquired of Duval

"Bits and Pieces... " Duval responded.

"Check the Intel board. You're flying today... In fact... all of us are."

"Things with the Chinese getting worrying?"

"In a manner... You'd best go read it for yourself." the other pilot sighed. "Its gonna get ugly real quick."

"I will... Come on... Lets go do some reading before we go flying." Duval said to Marika.

"Oki doki!" As they walked towards their objective, Marika often pranced off to look closely at some item or another she spotted along the way. Aeronautics had always been something of a mystery to her. And being an archaeologist, taking a look at the tools used, or the inscriptions they held, was a natural way of getting a glimpse into a world she barely knew.

"I worked on a Chinese dig for two years before this assignment. It was a lot of fun." Admiring a flag bolted to a wall for a second, she quickly ran back to him. "No aerial vehicles though."

"Be careful how loud you say that here." Duval explained. "Remember the date.. China and Korea don't get along." as the sirens began screaming. "Aww hell.. come on." as he led Marika on a merry dash through the building, the loudspeaker nearby began screaming orders in Korean. "modeun jojongsa , seukeulaembeul , seukeulaembeul , seukeulaembeul!" which both of their combadges translated into "All Pilots, scramble, scramble, scramble.!"

"Come on Hotness, time to get airborne!." Duval called.

With a nod Marika followed him swiftly. Somehow this all seemed much more serious now. She couldn't quite grasp what it was, but she'd figure it out soon enough. As they approached their craft, she was once more amazed these things could really fly.

Duval nodded to the crew chief who maintained the F-15K that was sitting inside the hanger, he rattled off some Korean at Duval who nodded, before responding in the same tongue. "He says the bird is ready for flight. Lets mount up." as he quickly ascended the ladder and climbed into the front seat of the cockpit. "Alright." and with that he tapped one of the displays as both sets of consoles, in the front and in the back came to life. "Coming?" he asked Marika.

With an eager smile, she climbed in and settled into the back. Looking at the various buttons and switches, she frowned slightly, trying to make sense of them. "Hmmmmm... targeting systems... I think I'm going to require a quick primer of the essential components. I could always improvise..."

"Okay Babs. stick on your helmet, you are going to need it." he added as he picked up his and slipped it on. "Especially when I ignite this engine." he rumbled. "Tower. talk to me.?"

"Incoming bandits are ten miles out and closing fast, you might wanna boogie on right along Phantom,... or you'll become a Phantom."

"Confirmed." as he tapped the display to bring his systems online, he checked that Marika did have her helmet on which she did. "Alright," and with that he tapped the display twice, his engines ignited. "Tower, permission to taxi?"

"Go for it, head to the runway and prep the take off en route. You are being retasked, your new assignment is to hit the bridge two miles up the river from Manpo. That bridge must come down.. confirm?"

"Confirmed. We'll handle it." Duval responded as he pushed the stick forward, his F15K began rolling forward towards the runway. "Marika, you set back there girl.... we are about to be gone." as he lined his plane up with the end of the runway, in the distance they could see fireballs and puffs of smoke mushrooming out of nowhere. Signs of the battle now raging.

Nodding, she giggled. "All good! I think I have the basics figured out... If I don't we'll know soon enough. Get'er up!" The danger of course didn't ring real to her. This was a holodeck after all, and the safeties on these things had been upgraded since they first started seeing use.

"Alert, forward radar is off the air.." came the call over the com system as Duval pushed the throttles forward. "jasin-eul bang-eo hal sueobsneun salamdeul-ui bang-eo habnida." he said in Korean which the combadge he wore turned into "In defense of those who can't defend themselves." as he smiled before slowly pulling the stick back. "Charlie Two Five, this is Juliet Six four?"

"Go ahead, we're still online."

"Is my mission still the same?"

"Confirmed... Go kill those bastards for us."

Duval nodded. "Babs, arm your weapons..." he sucked in a lungful of air as he turned his Eagle to their new heading. "You good Babs?"

Still staring at her instruments, 'Babs' decided to learn Korean after this. The calligraphy had some similitude with Chinese, yet it was very different . An interesting task for sure. And it would be nice to understand the language without a translation matrix. If only she could figure out what those three switches were for. She felt they were something important. She was pretty sure she had found the ejection mechanism, and the missiles, and targeting systems. And what about all the blinking lights?

Duval raised an eyebrow as he rolled inverted. "Oh lets see..." he pushed the throttles forward. "Prepare for intense feelings in your arms and legs Babs." he addressed Marika.

Duval smiled as he broke into song. "Wash the sorrow from off my skin.... show me how to be whole again..." he sang as he rolled the plane right side up. "Lets see.... approaching IP point.." as he checked the displays before him before he flipped a switch. "and stepping into attack..." he said clearly. "You good Babs?"

"On it!" She flipped the clear casings and activated two missiles. "Missiles ready. Reading ... not close enough, I can't get a lock." For a moment the loss of feeling in her legs really threw her off, until a new light started blinking angrily on her console. "I'm not one hundred, but I do believe someone is tailing us."

"Yep." Duval responded. "I see him... a Chinese MiG." as he smiled before he came out of burner by slowly pulling back the main throttle on his left side. "Let him think he's got me... which he probably does.."
he paused. "keep an eye on the Master Alarm Babs?"

"Of course!" The fact she didn't really know what the Master Alarm was, didn't bother her that much. After all, with a name like that, she gathered it would be rather easy to pick something up if it turned bad. Or so she hoped.

As she finally caught the targeting system acknowledging it's lock, she smiled and pressed the button. "Missiles away." But nothing happened. "Or not... what did I do wrong?" Looking around at the various displays, she tried to figure out what was wrong, when a new warning showed up. "He's got a lock on us!"

Duval raised an eyebrow. "Six seconds.." he responded. "Going into burner." he paused as he shoved his throttles forward. "Dropping to the deck.." he added as the landscapes burred as their speed increased. "Babs. keep an eye out for missiles.." he paused. "Switch to JDAMS. I'm gonna need them."

Duval looked as the MASTER ALARM began screaming. "Babs?" he sighed as he snapped his stick hard to the left before a missile shot past at the last second before the missiles warhead exploded, sensing it couldn't track its prey so it fused and detonated.

Duval sighed as he looked right and then back to his front in under a second but that was enough to tell him where the MiG was actually located, in perfect firing position. "Crap." he muttered.

Duval suddenly smiled as he pushed the throttle away from him while he cut in the speed brakes, as the MiG shot past, Duval then slammed his throttles forward before switching to missiles, he quickly got a good lock before he lit off one missile which dropped away off of wing station one before its onboard engine ignited and the missile shot towards his enemy.

Duval smiled as he switched to guns before he decided to try closing with his enemy, he noticed as the Chinese MiG dump some flares, one of which intercepted the missile but the fragments crashed into the MiG which Duval then doused with a couple squeezes of the trigger, reducing the MiG to scrap metal.

"Babs?" Duval inquired. "Get us back on course for target alpha please?"

Staring at the stick for a second, she promptly grabbed hold of it. Checking her position indicator, she went to pull them roughly to the left, but braced herself for a more gentle turn. Somehow, she doubted this thing had Inertial Dampers ... so THAT was the pressure on her legs. Again she found herself amazed that these things could fly.

Slowly, her console indicated she was turning correctly. She grinned. This wasn't so bad! Although, she doubted she wanted to try her hand at landing. "Back on track in 5."

Duval grinned like a madman under his mask. "Excellent... Okay. coming to Zero four two. arming JADMs" as he tapped the display before him, the radar signature changed. "and... stopping to attack... You set back there Babs my sweet?... Prepare for some chop.." before he suddenly laughed maniacally.

Marika stared at her companion.. or the back of his head at least. Was he ok? That laugh felt a little off. "Right on spot." She confirmed her readings and nodded. At least, she thought they were. She'd know soon enough.

Duval smiled as the Master Alarm began screaming at them. "Time on target.." he checked his distance to the target, once he realized it was good he pulled the trigger.

The four JDAMs dropped away as Duval went into burner to get away from the three missiles that were even now tracking towards his plane.
"Hold on back there Babs." as he rolled inverted while flying over a large outcropping of rock, two of the missiles were unable to track and smashed into the juggernaut of stone, leaving fireballs as the reminders of their presence while the third missile overshot, passed Duval on his left side and ploughed into the ground, shattering itself in a third fireball. "Alright.. time to head home..." he smiled. "Still with me, Babs?"

Somewhat mesmerized at the explosion, Marika took a moment to answer. "Uh... yes, of course. It's not like I can go for a walk or anything." Pushing the distraction aside, she looked back down at the console and it's new blinking light. "I'm reading several enemy IDC's closing in on our location. I do believe you got their attention."

Duval raised an eyebrow. "I see them... four in all." he commented. "Yeah... there is a decent chance we're about to get shot down." he sighed as he ducked around a mountain and then went up and over another before popping off some flares.

Marika looked around at the sky, searching. "Can we outmaneuver them and get back in time?" She felt the beginning of an idea forming, but it wasn't clear enough to tell what it was yet.

Duval paused. "Well... if you got ideas Babs." as he checked the radar display before his master alarm went off. "Ahh yeah, three MiG's." he commented. "Babs... I think we're going home on foot." he called as he pulled up, letting the three of them get in close, before he rolled inverted, while he tapped the speed brakes. He knew he would have about three seconds so he squeezed the trigger.

He watched as the bullets spray forth, impacting two of the MiG's, shooting both of them down. Duval knew he'd never get lucky with that stunt again as he quickly switched to missiles and while the missile tracked, the warhead jammed. "Shit!" Duval snapped. "Babs... I'm all out... no ordinance left..." he sighed softly.

"There! 28 degrees Y, 67 degrees Z. Cumulonimbus. Huge one. It should screw over their targeting systems. Or at the very least screw their visual and give us a fighting chance." She double checked her coordinates and sent them to his screen. "It's that or ejecting right here from what I can tell."

Duval snapped the stick over to the left as he made the corrections that Marika ordered. Before he shut down just about all of his radars and the like. "Alright.. going in." as the clouds thickened around them the way a snowfall would suddenly like a shroud. "Dropping flares... and chaff." as he pushed a button on the stick. "Babs... Any luck with weapons back there?" he inquired of her, not expecting much of anything but sometimes the backseater would find something the second time they missed on the first time through the checks.

Pushing a few button she tried to bring up the schematics for this thing. "If I understood Korean this would all go a lot better." She pressed a few more buttons. Modern shuttles didn't have much in common with ancient Korean fighter jets. Activating the missile system, knowing it wouldn't fire, she stared at the warning message it offered. "What does it say?"

Duval sighed, he had forgotten that he always went for stupid levels of realistic in his holoprograms, such as the original language intact. "Computer, reset all displays ... to english."

Duval smiled before he answered. "It says you fixed it. I now have one working missile." while the two of them dove into the thunderstorm that Marika had indicated earlier.

Duval reactivated all of his radars before going into burner. "Alright, lets go kill that guy." as he emerged from the thunderstorm moments later, he found the MiG who was heading away towards Osan Air Force Base which was even now off of the air. Duval acquired a good lock before squeezing off the last warhead on his wings. The Missile tracked straight and true, but it was intercepted by a flare less then twenty yards from the MiG itself, which was caught in the explosion, as both Duval and Babs watched, the plane disintegrated quite violently.

"Osan?" Duval asked over the com. "Magic I need a sitrep?"

"Osan has been leveled, you're being redeployed back to Busan Air Force Base."

"Understood... Status of Chinese Invasion?"

"The fight does not go well, several dozen divisions are pouring across the Yalu river.. Its.. Its messy." came the hesitant response.

"Understood Magic, My mission went well....Just not good enough." he quickly locked up the The Hemmies had erased Osan from the map..." he paused. "Well Babs... Welcome to the Third World War... by Wars end. Blood and Destruction will be so in use and dreadful deeds so commonplace that mothers will not help but smile as they behold their infants quartered on the hands of war."

Duval sighed softly. "Say Babs.... you 'know' we're never going to make it.." he was careful to insert virtual quotation marks into his sentence as his threat alarm went off. "Crap... I knew it.." he muttered. "Chinese MiG's roamed the skies at will over occupied Korea." Duval explained. "They decimated the Korean air force in a week.. but took horrible losses in the process.." as he jerked the stick to the left before he snapped it back again to the right.

It was no good as the Chinese fired two missiles at them. Duval meanwhile snapped the stick back to the left before he tapped one of the buttons on the stick, launching off decoys and flares, each one of them shining as bright as the sun in terms of infrared signature.

The first missile was enticed away, gleefully chasing the sun as it was seduced away from Duval's F-15K except the second was either put together better or was just more stubborn, it flew right up Duval's engine and exploded.

Duval had enough time to say. "Aww shit." before him, Babs and the world around them were reduced to nothing more then fire which faded away to be replaced by the metallic grid of the holodeck. Duval turned to the smaller woman. "Still wish you'd come along Babs my sweet?" he inquired of the younger woman.

For a moment she stood there in silence, as if shocked. And she was a little. She'd never blew up before. Tilting her head to the right, a smile slowly creeped back onto her face. "That was ... interesting." Raising her head she looked at her partner and nodded respectfully. "Thank you for sharing this with me."

Duval slowly smiled. "Well... for what its worth... you did well. I'd fly with you anywhere... Babs."

Offering him a cocky grin she walked up to him and gently punched him on the arm. "Of course you would! I'm as fun as you can get!" Nudging him with her shoulder she mumbled to herself .."But now I need to learn Korean."

"Then... I wish you luck." Duval smiled down at her.

[OFF]
WO2 Anthony Duval
Engineer
USS Galileo

&

Ensign Lenaris Marika
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

RSS Feed