Second Flight

Posted on 24 Jun 2016 @ 11:07am by Chief Warrant Officer 2 Anthony Duval & Lieutenant JG Lenaris Marika

1,232 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 11 - Divinum Mundi
Location: USS Galileo - Holodeck Three
Timeline: MD8 - 1900Hrs

It was Duval's day off so he was wanting some time to himself and getting in some stick time would help clear his head.

Duval was wearing all of his flight gear again, this time he wanted to get some stick time in over Europe for Operation Charlemagne otherwise known as 'The Liberation of Europe.' He tapped in the program he wanted as he heard footsteps approaching down the hallway, his hearing was in truly exquisite shape. "Hello Babs." Duval turned to greet the younger Bajoran woman. "Hows things?"

"Awesomely bubbly! You?" She offered him her best grin and pushed herself up on her toes to kiss his cheek.

Duval regarded her. "Feel like flying?", he was not expecting the kiss.

"You bet'ya! Got some time before work and I can't sleep no more. Walking around looking for trouble isn't the same on a ship than it is on world. But what can a girl do? Get into holodeck trouble!" She smiled affectionately and took a look at his gear. "Where we flying today?"

"Today... We're going to Europe. How did you enjoy your flight in Korea?" he inquired of the smaller woman.

"It was interesting. Although I'd prefer it if we didn't blow up again." She grinned and winked. "What part of Europe? Germany? Italy? Scandanavia? Great Britain? Latveria?"

"The date is twentieth of march, twenty fifty."' he regarded her as he handed her a PADD. "The various details of our mission and flight... We're going to Western Europe."

"Awesome! Great choice! Then again I do tend to think everywhere is a great choice. They all have fun stuff to tell. History is great! Geography is great! People are great!" Waving a finger at nothing she continued. "I'm going to need a suit again. If we make this a habit, I should make my own and use that."

"It would help." Duval deadpanned as he regarded the smaller woman. "As I recall the male pilots liked you." he sighed. "Besides... we're going to England... " he tapped the display once as the door opened.
The two of them stepped into a large military base except this place was easily three times the size of the base that they had visited in Korea. "Welcome to RAF Brize Norton." Duval supplied. "This way..."

The place was a mess of pilots, armory personnel and weapons technicians, they were swarming over just about every single last plane in sight. "Well... Welcome to the first day of Operation: Charlemagne.." he said quietly as he approached an F15E wearing a hemp color scheme. "Yep... A Royal air force F15 Strike Eagle." he turned to her. "So... you ready to fly Babs?" he smiled down at the smaller Bajoran.

"Just give me a few moments to get into this." She gestured at the gear she had just conjured up and went on to promptly put it on. "So what's today's gist?, Why all the fighting?"

"Well out mission today is to take out a SAM site on the French coast, not far from Cherbourg." he explained. "If we can take it out.. and all of our other guys hit their targets. we can proceed with the assault on France and start Operation: Charlemagne. The purpose is to liberate Europe." Duval explained.

"Liberating Europe. Got it!" She finished buckling her gear and stepped up to Duval for inspection. "Are we going to lose again? Or do we actually have a chance of getting it right this time?"

"No... This time.. we're going to win." Duval responded with a smile as he regarded her. "Yeah. you make the flight suit look hot." he added as he gently helped her with her collar. "Yep. You look good." before he handed her a Map which indicated the area they were flying into. It had RAF Brize Norton marked, it also showed southern England and northern France with their target marked clearly. "Thats where we're going." he explained. "I want you to draw out our route so we get there..."

"Got it!" Taking the map she looked at it for a few moments. "Anything I should know before I start making squigly bits? I doubt you need me to draw a straight line." She winked at him and nudged him lovingly. "Do I get extra points if it looks pretty?" She grinned.

Duval smiled, he found Marika's good nature and humor to be infectious. "You get extra points if you do it right and we survive." he responded. "Besides. I have no doubt we'll get redeployed mid-mission to help someone else in need.."

Nodding she took a moment to observe the map. Finally, using Duval as a writing board, she drew their itinerary, making sure to stay on their side of the border as long as it made sense to do so, then drew the rest, trying to avoid major cities, or what she thought might be military installations. "Here's hoping I don't get us killed." She smiled back at him and winked. "If I do, at least you get the satisfaction of dying with the prettiest girl on the ship!"

"If I do then we will make the enemy bleed before they kill us.." Duval rumbled. "See those four warheads on the rails... Those are brand new, straight from Research... They are almost identical to Joint Direct Attack Munition. JDAM's except these are armored against fire, armor piercing and they also have a rocket on them. They are designed to go in deep and explode deep inside hardened structures or emplacements." Duval explained for Marika's benefit.

Marika nodded. Her people had never had wars like this. What they had called wars, the instructors at the academy had called small skirmishes. while passionate, her people were also very spritual and valued life far too greatly. While the occupation had changed some of that, she could never imagine her people creating weapons such as these.

Pushing the sombering thoughts aside she smiled at her friend. "Let's get this job done then!"

"Yep.... Besides... The war will be over in six months.." Duval sighed. "Come on Babs, Let get this done." he said to the shorter woman, before he went and climbed into his Eagle. He regarded Babs as she was climbing into the back. "You good back there Babs?" he inquired of her.

Taking a moment to latch herself safely, Marika booted her computer and gave her pilot the thumbs up. "All good!"

Duval smiled as he finished the last of his checks. "Alright, we are good to go." he paused as he tapped the display before him. "Tower. Ripcord. Permission to Taxi?"

"Ripcord Flight. Tower. Permission Granted, good luck."

"Careful on the lift off. I'm reading a slight imbalance on the left tail." Poking uselessly at her screen a few times Marika frowned and used the keypad. "It's gone now... guess it was a glitch." She craned her neck to look behind, just in case she could spot something from her seat.

Duval nodded his head once but he did so slowly. "Understood.." the take off was smooth and steady. "Alright... We are southward bound... joining up with the rest of the strike." as they moved through a large bank of clouds then suddenly the sunshine blazed forth along with another three dozen planes also became visible.

[OFF]

WO2 Anthony Duval
Engineer
USS Galileo

Ensign Lenaris Marika
Archaeologist/Anthropologist
USS Galileo

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