A testing opportunity... Continued

Posted on Fri Nov 10th, 2017 @ 9:51am by Lieutenant Reno “Reno-gade” Van Straten

973 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Mission 0: Everybody Has A Story
Location: StarBase 424
Timeline: 2 Months ago

[ON]

[Starbase 424, Deck 127, Compartment 84]

The other side of Compartment 84’s door turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. There was nothing there, just a small room, maybe two meters square and another door. Which did not open when he approached it.
Reno looked around the featureless grey walls and wondered if he’d come to the right place. He was just about to leave when a voice came from nowhere. “Lieutenant Van Starten, step up to the panel for identification verification”
He looked around, a panel had appeared at head height next to the door. He knew it had not been there a moment ago. He approached it, when he got within half a meter the a blue light came on and a narrow blue beam ran up and down his body. Then it swung down and went over his bag.

It flicked off and the voice said “State your name, rank and serial number”

He obliged “Van Straten; Reno; Thomas; Lieutenant. Serial Number “

“Place your right eye in front of the scanner for retina confirmation”

He moved closer to the panel, a round blue bean came on and focused on his right eye. It was bright and he had to stop himself from blinking. After a few seconds it flicked off.

“Identification confirmed” The voice announced “You may enter”

The panel faded back into the gray panel and the door slid silently open. He stepped through.

There was not much in the second room either, it was bigger than the first, and had several doors leading off it, but no furniture, nothing on the walls, just the same blank grey.

“Wait” The voice said, so he did and wondered just what he had got himself into.

After what seemed a lot longer time than it really was one of the doors opened and Helujon came out. “Very well Mister Van Straten I’m sure
you’re wondering what you let yourself in for…” He said with a thin smile

Dammit I knew he was reading my mind! Reno thought to himself.

“Let me give you the tour” Heujon continued smoothly and led Van Straten through one of the other doors. There was a larger room and this one had furniture. There were about twenty bed, with lockers and closets, a small lounge area; a dining area with a replicator and another door way at the end. It looked like something from a Marine Corps boot camp Reno thought.

“You can drop your gear on bed number eleven” Heujon said “This is where you’ll be staying during your time with us. Heads and showers are through that door” He pointed to the far end of the room. Reno put his back down by the bed, it looked like ten others were occupied.

“Now let’s see why you’re here” Heujon led him back out the lobby and in through one of the other doors.
This was much bigger, the size of a large cargo bay and it was full of dark people and equipment.

“This is our flight simulator room” Heujon said and let Reno look around.

There were three large full-motion cabin flight simulators, two roughly six meters long and three high and cone shaped and a third, much bigger and round, like a flattened ball. Each suspended in an anti-grav field. The two smaller ones were in use, the cabins bucked and rolled as they simulated the motions of craft in flight. A group of technicians were sat at a bank of terminals monitoring the simulation.

There were five smaller simulators, maybe the size of dual cockpit fighters. Then there was a flight briefing area, complete with Fight Pilot chairs, set up in front of a viewscreen. There were several people in plain flight suits sat in the chairs and a tall female Andorian, wearing a fighter Corp’s flight suit, appeared to be giving them a briefing.

Finally, far end of the large space, was another long rectangular structure, that looked like the outside of a holodeck.

“Looks impressive sir” Reno commented.

“Yes it does” Heujon agreed

“So what exactly did I sign up for?” Reno asked, pretty sure this was more than he had expected.

“Let’s just call it Flight School shall we” Heujon replied. “I’m looking for some pilots, good pilots, very good pilots. You might be one, but we’re going to teach you a few things, then run you through some tests and see. I’ll introduce you to our lead evaluator”

He led the way over to the briefing area, where the Andorian had just sent the other pilots off to the simulators.
“Squadron Leader Shoni’ZhAsdex This is Lieutenant Van Straten, our newest candidate” Heujon did the introductions. “The Squadron Leader is the senior instructor at Top Gun. She is a combat decorated veteran and when it comes to pilot evaluations, we listen to her

Shoni’ZhAsdex gave Van Straten a cursory look, ignored his out-held hand and said to Heujon “Does he know the rules commander?”

“Not yet, would you like to tell him?”

Shoni’ZhAsdex turned back to Van Straten. “First Rule of flight school, you don’t talk about Flight School! Second Rule of Flight School, you don’t ever talk about Flight School! Got that?”

“Yeah, I guess so” Reno said, slightly bemused

“Do you think that’s funny Lieutenant?” She got in his face a little “Cos you’ll love the Third Rule of Flight School - what I say goes, don’t like it, leave now!”

“Woah” Reno held up his hands pleadingly “What’s with the heavy stuff? Anyone would think this was super classified or something!”

“It is!” Heujon and Shoni’ZhAsdex said together.

To Be Continued…

[OF]

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