Rough Flight, Pt 1

Posted on Sat Jan 18th, 2025 @ 9:33am by Lieutenant Commander Rin & Captain Gary Taylor
Edited on on Sat Jan 18th, 2025 @ 9:36am

Mission: MISSION 0 - History Speaks
Location: Shuttle, Deep Space
Timeline: After current mission
1327 words - 2.7 OF Standard Post Measure

The shuttle's engine hummed as it continued on its flight to Actios. Visiting its trade hub would be of significant value, but there was also concern over local politics, considering the beehive they had kicked over at the Arena. So Gary and Rin were now en-route to take a quiet look around, out of uniform.

Rin tried to busy herself at the controls. She kind of hated piloting, but at least it was a distraction. Because the tension between them was palpable. Gary, in Rin's view, wanted things between them to just go back to normal. She too would prefer for them to have that previous relationship, but the fact was it wasn't. And the problem wasn't something that could just be wished away. He probably thought she was being stubborn, and maybe she was, but she had reason for it. The entire thing was intensely uncomfortable, but it simply was what it was.

Gary sat in the co-pilot's seat. He had tried to occupy himself by reading some technical PaDDs but it was an exercise in futility, and he finally gave up and just sat in awkward silence and the tension became even more unbearable, more uncomfortable, more despairing because he didn't want this, and he was reasonably sure Rin didn't either.

With a jolt, the shuttle dropped out of warp, alarms sounding.

"We've hit a debris field..." Rin explained, fingers dancing over the controls.

Gary was out of his seat in an instant and moving toward the rear of the shuttle towards the engine compartment to see if he could somehow find and repair the problem. "Field integrity is down. See if you can switch to impulse." He suggested before things really got bad.

The shuttle bucked again something struck the left nacelle. The lights flickered as the shuttle rolled, warnings lighting up across the console. Something exploded in the rear of the craft. Describing the controls as sluggish was an understatement as Rin failed to pull the ship out of its spin. Then the engines gave out entirely and the lights went out, throwing the two officers into darkness.

Gary desperately tried to restore power, get the lights on so they could at least see. His fingers fumbled in the dark as he flipped switches. jabbed at controls again and again until finally the emergency lights came on and bathed the interior of the shuttle in a pale, sickly light. He resisted saying the obvious that the emergency lights were on and instead made his way back to the co-pilot's seat. "We're caught in a gravity well, we're going down. Only hope is controlling the descent and not get too busted up when we hit." He continued to try and coax the power back on to the engines by rerouting, bypassing systems and after several anguishing seconds gave a short shout of triumphant glee. " It isn't much, but we have thrusters."

"Re-routing main controls to your console," Rin informed him as she did so. "You're the better pilot. I'll take up co-pilot duties."

It was a simple fact. Gary used to fly fighters. Rin had barely passed her flight certification. They were 100% more likely to survive with Gary behind the proverbial wheel. She might also be able to reroute systems faster than him, being able to do the complex math in her head. Mostly, she didn't want it to be a debate. They didn't have time.

Gary didn't waste time replying, He gave a short, curt nod and got to work to hopefully save their butts among other things. He looked at the readouts and told Rin, "First thing, is we're coming in too steep. Even if we didn't burn up in the atmosphere the damage caused by an uncontrolled descent isn't one, we would walk away from." Even as he talked, he was judiciously using the thrusters to get the shuttle's nose up and slow their descent. Keeping an eye on the angle of their descent he spoke again. "Find us a landing spot."

"Yes, sir," Rin acknowledged, although her hands were already moving. The readouts indicated the planet they were hurtling towards was a methane world; hot, but not unbearably so, low gravity, limited lifeforms. Hardly ideal, but it was what they had to work with. As long as the ship remained intact, they could wait it out until rescue.

If it remained intact.

She flipped through topographical scans. The landscape was mountainous, so it took several more precious moments to find a suitable plateau for landing. She wasn't a huge fan of it's size. Gary was going to have to limp the shuttle fairly exactly, or else they'd overshoot. But better locations were farther away than she trusted the shuttle could reach.

"Sending coordinates to your console," Rin advised him.

Gary's eyes drifted to the coordinated for the landing spot Rin had picked out for them. "Going to be tight, but we should make it. " He stated. He was still using the thrusters to slow their descent. "Still too fast but I don't want to overuse the thrusters. We'll need them to make a relatively soft landing. I'll use the shuttle to slow us....hopefully." Now he did look at her as he said his next. "Once we break through the upper atmosphere. Call out our altitude every thousand feet and when we get to ten thousand feet every 500 feet because this shuttle is going to turn into a rock fairly quickly."

"Yes, sir," she replied, not looking up.

They plunged into the atmosphere, a mass of swirling greens and blues which then peeled away to reveal a rugged but grandeose landscape, the mountains stretching for miles into the sky.

"30,000 feet, sir," she reported. "29.....28..."

Gary listened to Rin's level voice call out the altitude as the plunged through the upper atmosphere. He turned the shuttle and raised the nose to act like a brake for their descent as well as to get it on the correct approach. They were still plummeting when he used the thrusters to slow them. The effect was noticeable as their speed decreased (it was still too fast) But more manageable now as the plateau grew in size as they rapidly approached. A few miles from their intended landing spot, Gary fully engaged the thrusters as the shuttle dramatically slowed. The plateau grew and a mixture of greens and browns dotted the landscape but more importantly it was flat. "Hang on, setting her down." He told Rin as the thrusters whined at being used like they were, and the ground swelled in the viewport. Then there was a hard, jarring thud, it jostled them, and more systems shorted out. Another thud but less forceful and then they were down and stopped. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding "We're down." He informed her.

Rin didn't realize until then she had screwed her eyes closed in those last moments of descent when there was nothing more she could do to contribute to the landing. She ran internal diagnostics, which reported nothing wrong, although she was more and more suspicious of those systems of late. A visual inspection, however, also failed to indicate any substantial injury.

"Are you alright?" she asked, visually looking over her XO.

Gary doesn't answer right away, he is thanking his lucky stars that Rin and himself are down and in one piece and not scattered across the plateau. After a few seconds of wiggling arms and legs he looks at her. "Yes. I am alright. You?" he inquires as he shuts down the few systems that are still working.

"Other than some bruises, yes," said Rin as she unclipped her safety harness. "Nice flying."

She moved to the back of the shuttle, wincing as she did, opening a hatch and checking its contents. "Emergency supplies are all here. Food water, medical, envirosuits for if we have to venture outside. I guess we fire off the emergency beacon and... wait."