"Flying Free"
[Previous post: "Return"]
###
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, Corridor
After each and every mission the members of the senior staff were
expected to go through a debriefing which compared their log entries to
their personal account of what had happened. To the Hirogen this was
nothing short of a monumental waste of time even though he understood
the base reasoning behind the need to insure that the Intel had been
accurate. There would not have been much of a reason to have a secret
Intel base if the information it gathered had been unverified and erroneous.
Uxtar smiled as he turned the corner and saw the HATHOR's FCO standing
at one of the many view ports which gave view into the main docking
area. If there had been only one good thing about these debriefings it
had been that they had all been over and done with letting the crew
enjoy some well deserved time to themselves.
"Admiring the view?" the Hirogen asked as he came to stand right next
to the Vulcan hybrid.
"Trying to," Derek replied with the stoic coldness of a Vulcan. "It is
hard for a pilot to be doing *nothing* when you are used to flying at
warp speed and dodging whatever the universe throws your way,"
Stormwind added knowing that the Hirogen would understand, after all Uxtar had
been the ANUBIS' FCO before being transferred to the Sec/Tac position.
"Follow me my friend," Uxtar said with a grin that would have worried most, but luckily for Derek he had been at that moment in his *Vulcan* mode.
###
The secret base had been so large that it had taken the high speed pods
several minutes to bring the Hirogen and half Vulcan to where they had
wanted to be, or more precisely to where the Hunter had wanted to bring
the HATHOR's FCO.
"What are we doing here?" Derek asked.
"Lending a hand," Uxtar replied, the same unsettling grin still present
on his lips.
"I never signed up for *maintenance* duty my friend," Derek calmly
pointed out, their surroundings combined with the Hirogen's claim had
lead the half Vulcan to the logical conclusion that they had come here
to *help* with whatever hands-on work had been left to accomplish.
"Then you have nothing to worry about my friend," Uxtar replied, the
grin on his face even more prominent now than it had been only a few
seconds ago. "I asked Commodore Simmons permission and he seemed more
than happy to accommodate my request."
"Asked the Commodore *what*?" Stormwind asked as he slowly became
frustrated with his friend's lack of any specific explanation.
"To take these for a test flight to insure that the repairs to them had
been properly done," the Hirogen replied as he pointed to a pair of
VIPERS already sitting on their launching platforms.
A brilliant smile instantly appeared on Derek's face.
###
"I know that this is not your DRAGONSEYE, but I think that you will
enjoy this," the Hirogen said after he had completed the last of the
pre-launch verifications.
=/\= You talk to much Uxtar, =/\= the half Vulcan replied in an all too
Human tone over the open comm link. =/\= Let's get these babies out
where we can see what they can do. =/\=
Uxtar smiled. It had been nice to see that he understood his friend as
well as he did. The Hirogen opened a channel to the base's C&C and
made the request that Derek had been so anxiously waiting for, "VIPER 21 and
22 requesting permission to launch."
=/\= VIPER 21 and 22, external sensors show nothing but open space,
permission granted. Have fun out there and try not to scratch the
paint, =/\= Commodore Simmons replied apparently having a personal
interest in this *joy ride*.
=/\= Now what? =/\= Derek asked as he displayed his growing impatience.
"Now," Uxtar grinned, "we hang on!"
Just as the Hirogen said those words the two VIPERS where propelled
through the launch tunnels at such a high speed that both men were
instantly glued to their seats for the few seconds it took for the
Interceptors to leave the safety of the base and be hurled into the
empty vacuum of space admits the countless asteroids which surrounded
the NEW ALEXANDRIA complex.
###
[Earth is the insane asylum for the universe.] 2006 post #142
Stardate: 60344.0720
Setting: NEW ALEXANDRIA, VIPER Maintenance Bay
Stardate: 60344.0735
Setting: VIPER 21, Cockpit
Stardate: 60344.0745
Mark Hutchings {h172mark16@fastmail.us}
Ensign Uxtar
Chief Security Officer
USS HATHOR
