Fighter Drill

Posted on 06 Jul 2025 @ 12:37pm by Lieutenant Paul Winchester & Lieutenant Serina "Reaper" Donovan & Lieutenant Margeurite "Maggie" LeFebvre & 1st Lieutenant Cassandra Matthews

1,275 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: S04 Episode 02 The Hackers Backdoor (Incidentals)
Location: Hanger Deck
Timeline: Prior to New Mission

[ON]

- Flight control - USS Tomcat -

Paul stood in the newly refurbished flight control room, looking out over the hangar deck that houses the group's new Gryphon fighters, and he started to wonder how long it would take for the pilots to get here if called for real. So, he decided to evaluate them with an unscheduled drill, which would please his wife greatly, and to find out who was suitable for the head of the flight leader for each group. He looked down at the console, activated the timer, and pressed the recall control.

Maggie was half-asleep on Todd's lap, watching a holoprogram in his quarters. Her comms buzzed, and she sat up straight. What the HELL?! She wasn't expecting to be recalled yet! She'd just gotten off her shift!! She stood up.

"I better go," she said, snatching her flight suit off the back of the door, and stepping into it with a quickness. She pulled off her heels, tossed them aside, and put on her boots. A minute later, she left, calling behind her-"I'll get my stuff later, babe. Love you!"

She was physically fit, so instead of the turbolift, Maggie ran the length to the hangars. She arrived red-cheeked and slightly winded, but nothing too concerning.

"What is going on?" She asked aloud as she appeared in front of Winchester. "Sir? Something on fire?" She asked.

Cassandra showed up looking ragged and tired. Though she moved with the usual Marine quickness, she didn't appear to be rushed. She was running on coffee and willpower alone. The disappearance of Doctor Hawthorne was weighing heavily on her. Vainly, she had tried to retrace steps. I tried to find her on security feeds. Still, there was absolutely nothing as though she had vanished into thin air. What would she say to C'Tirr? Hell, what would she say to Somers? That last made her shudder. Not even a week as MCO, and she had failed to protect one of her own. On the Starbase, nonetheless. It was beyond humiliating. It was disgraceful. She had finally handed the case over to StarBase security. She'd hoped to report to Somers about the missing Doctor. Surely, though, Security would be alerting the captain soon enough. Thus, when the call came in to report to the hangar, thankfully, she'd been nearby. Falling in with the familiar face of LeFebvre, she saluted Serina and Paul out of muscle memory rather than anything else. She was dog-tired and bone-weary.

Serina had been watching as the two newbies came charging in. Looking at her stopwatch, she frowned. "Well, we're going to be a bit quicker to get there".

"Maybe we can knock off some minutes by doing what the old 22 fire departments did. They would leave their pants in their boots and make them faster to get to their trucks". Serina said

Paul looked back at her and replied, " At least Raider 3 got here first with Cassie in second," being rather pleased with them. He continued, "But, you are right, they do need to be quicker," he finished, " I think it is time to put them out of their misery, don't you?"

"Agreed, Paul. They kinda need to move faster. What do you say to a little test? Who gets here first? However, we're going to need a little help from engineering to shake'em up, and if they learned, call the Ready Five, and see who gets here first". Serina was chuckling, and it was her Devious chuckle. She had something up her sleeve.

"Well, we could use the holodeck." Paul looks back at his wife as he gives his wife a grin. He grinned, knowing how she could cook up something wicked.

Serina was chuckling as she put the program in and passed it to the holodeck computer for activation when prompted.

"Now ya'll take your backsides and get some sleep", Serina said, with that devious and wicked smile.

She waited till they left the holodeck and motioned to Paul to come next to her. She tapped the computer screen and started to type her plan. It read "What will happen is I have done reconfiguring the holodeck to include the decks where the pilot's bunk, cause it is the only way it seems real. You have to hit the code to get the ball rolling. Nod if you understood". Serina waited for Paul to nod yes or no.

Maggie sat waiting. She was tired but ready to go. She was always prepared to take her bird up, but she also knew that she needed to sleep to be at her best. She wasn't doing much of that lately, even though she WAS in bed. Finally, they were allowed to go, with not much explanation other than "training." She was waiting for the next shoe to drop. She could handle the training. She was a good pilot, sure, but even SHE knew that to be the best, she needed to be trained by the best.

Paul stood next to his wife, watching as she set up her plan, and as cunning as it was, Paul knew that the pilots had to be on their toes and ready at a moment's notice for when the captain ordered them to be ready to go out into the void.

"Oh, they will be. They most definitely will", Serina said, chuckling.

Cassandra didn't feel ready. She felt anxious and now a little sick to her stomach. That question kept burning in her mind like a frantic heartbeat. 'Where is Doctor Hawthorne? How did she disappear from the station unnoticed? Why was she here and not looking for her? She wanted to say something to Winchester or Serina but knew that they likely wouldn't understand. She eyed Maggie next to her. 'Say something.' Her mind screamed, 'Say something!' Cassandra cleared her dry throat and spoke. "My apologies, but I need to report a missing crew member. One of our Doctors is missing from the station." She stated her voice was full of anxiety.

"Relax, go do whatever it is you need to do. Keep me updated on the situation." Serina added.

"Well, we'd better let Faith know about this, as he is Chief of Security," replied Paul, as he knew that Faith would not like being kept out of the loop. "Yeah, I guess you should or do you want me to do it?" Serina said.

"Her name is Doctor Melody Hawthorne. I have a strong suspicion that she didn't disappear of her own free will. She's been involved in a medical collaboration. Some of the other doctors involved have also disappeared from Starfleet headquarters, Station 11, and colony Zynex 4403, only to be found dead later. Her service file has been erased from our main computers. I, however, have a backup set of files for the Marines in my office." Cassandra said, the dam having broken, she poured out what she knew—anything to get action.

"Send me everything you have, Cassie, and I will get Faith to look into it," replied Paul, looking back at her. He continued," I will let you know when we find something," he finished," Now dismissed."

[OFF]

 

RSS Feed