Post Flight Engine Check

Posted on Tue Mar 19th, 2024 @ 1:25pm by Ensign Kash th'Kaasniik & Lieutenant Commander Nash Winters & Lieutenant JG Jason Williams III

1,708 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Side Plots
Location: Shuttle Bay 2
Timeline: MD 2, 1845 hours

Kash was about to clock out for the day when he stopped to admire the Valkrye III that the new pilot had brought in. It stood out against the ancient Tridents. Rumors were that they were supposed to be getting upgraded soon, but soon could mean months in Starfleet time.

Commander Winters heard through the grapevine that a new fangled fighter craft had been brought aboard and stowed in Shuttlebay Two. He was a trained pilot, but more skilled as an engineer. Despite all that, he had to take a look at this bird for himself. He brought along his diagnostic kit….just in case the visual inspection didn’t hold up to specs.

After meeting the CO, and stowing his gear in his cabin, Jason had returned to Shuttlebay Two, to do some post flight maintenance on his bird. Truth be told, while he was fairly sure the flight deck crew could look after his Valkyrie, seeing as they were still working with twenty year old starfighters, didn't fill him full of confidence that they were trained to work on cutting-edge tech.

So here he was, underneath his bird, standing inside an opened service compartment, cleaning and adjusting his flight systems.

Nash saw a pair of legs protruding from the starboard side of the ship when he walked in.

“Hello….excuse me….when I heard this was here I had to take a look. Nice looking ship,” Nash announced.

One of the feet lifted and waggled in greeting. Then, from inside the compartment, a man's voice could be heard replying. "Howdy! And thanks, I've just recently broke 1000 light-years on her frame, and she still has that new girl smell to her." He suddenly ducked out from inside the compartment, and stepped out towards the visitor. As he did so, Jason pulled a rag from his back pocket and started to wipe the grease and grime from his hands.

“Nash Winters, Chief Engineer. Welcome aboard. I’d love to get a look at her systems, if you don’t mind. A thousand light years is quite a feat, considering the smaller, sleek design. Does she…your ship, have a name?”

Hearing whom he was speaking to, Jason straightened up a bit. "Pleasure to meet you, Sir, Lieutenant jg Jason Williams III, call sign Reaper. And yes, this girl and I have done dome traveling together." He then grinned about the question as to if she had a name. "You a piot too, Sir? She does indeed. I've named her Lizzy, after my baby sister."

“It’s Nash. Pleased to meet ya, Lieutenant. I am a certified pilot. I can do Titan’s Turn in my sleep. But most of my Starfleet career was spent in engineering. When most kids were doing puzzles, doodling, or coloring, I was looking at starship specs. That’s when I got the itch. Is this a newer class vessel? Haven’t seen anything like this before. That’s what got me interested in coming down here.”

Jason grinned at the energy of the Astrea's Chief Engineer. "Nash is is, so long as others aren't around. And Titan's Turn...I've still got the fastest time on record for it." He grinned proudly, then looked back at his starfighter, nodding. "Yeah, she's the Mark III, newest variant to fly. She can carry more ordinance, and has a faster spool-up on her Impulse Engines, giving her more maneuverability than previous versions. Also, with her advanced STF generator, I can pull higher gee turns than before, without the threat of blackout."

“Impressive. Hope the excessive speed didn’t get you in trouble with the authorities. I got lucky. Anyway, I’d like to take a closer look at your - - our ship. Propulsion, navigation, tactical, the full level one diagnostic. Give me a hand?”, Nash proposed.

Arching his eyebrow slightly, Jason nonetheless nodded. "Sure thing. I was in the middle of purging the Impulse manifolds when you walked up." He turned and made his way back under his starfighter.

Nash opened his tricorder and started his scans. “If we ever get into a firefight with the Romulans, this thing can give them a run for their money. Armed to the teeth, Jason. Pulse cannons, torpedoes, the works. Max warp of 5.3. No, the tricorder didn’t tell me that. I looked up the specs before I got here.”

He continued his scans mid-ships, continuing aft. “Gotta tell ya, Lieutenant. For the warp hours put on this puppy, you’ve maintained it extremely well. Impulse drive, warp engines, fuel storage tanks, all in great shape. I do read a small fluctuation in the deflector grid. Might want to take a closer look. Don’t think it’s anything to worry about.”

Jason beamed proudly, hearing the Chief Engineer praise his maintenance regime. "She is designed to hold her own against the top generation enemy starfighters out there. Hell, with a full squadron of these, they could go against a modern destroyer by themselves." Walking to the work ladder that he had set up on the port side of his starfighter, he started to climb it as he continued. "Yeah, the designers stated that there were some bugs they were still trying to work out of the grid. They claim to have an answer within the next few months." He paused and looked over at Nash, shaking his head, "Which means, when a correction is discovered out here in the boonies, they will then tell the rest of the fleet about it."

“It certainly would seem that way. These fighters haven’t been deployed fleet wide yet, have they? Would be a nice addition to ships across the quadrant. Do you mind if I take a look inside the cockpit and the ops interfaces? Then I’ll let you get back to what you were doing,” said Nash.

Jason nodded as he replied. "They are being deployed now. Mine is the two-thousand-first to come off the assembly line." Then he nodded again, and indicated his cockpit. "Help yourself."

Nash tentatively climbed into the cockpit, careful not to disturb anything. “Hey, Jason, these controls and displays resemble those of the Vipers the Fenris Rangers use. Had a chance to see one after the Mars attack. Built for fighting, not as sophisticated as this ship.”

"Most starfighters will be set up in pretty much the same generic way. Pitch, yaw and roll, plus thrust controls are all you need to physically move the craft. What differs is who is in the seat at the controls."

Nash chuckled. "Yeah, I bet. I'd love to get back into this, but my wife would kill me if I even brought it up."

"Well, there's always the flight simulator in the holodeck?" Jason offered with a shrug. "They can even have the safeties lowered to nearly zero, to get the blood pumping."

Nash climbed out of the cockpit and back down to the deck, "Maybe. Not quite the same though. Thanks for indulging me a bit. I should go wrap things up in engineering and head home. Welcome aboard, if you need anything feel free to reach out, be glad to help out."

"Thank you, Sir," Jason replied with a friendly grin. "I'm sure I'll be seeking help from both Ops and Engineering in the coming weeks, as I figure out the proper auxiliary craft loadout that Astrea should have."

"You know where to find me," Nash responded with a wave out the door.

Kash who had been standing nearby spoke up again, "I'd be glad to help too. I know my way around the shuttle bays."

Jason had noticed the Andorian earlier, bit just figured he was admiring his starfighter. "I'd appreciate the help, Ensign...?"

"Kash th'Kaasnik, support pilot. You can call me Kash. I was on the other end of comms when you came in," Kash responded.

"Ah!" Jason beckoned Kash over as he climbed down off of his starfighter. When the two men were close, he held out his hand in friendship. "Pleasure to meet you Kash. Nice to have a face to go with the voice."

"Likewise, Lieutenant," Kash responded. "Welcome to Astrea. We're still feeling things out a bit here. All the major systems we completed before we left spacedock, but still some work to do. They were also going to send a different commanding officer out, and that was changed just before launch. You might get the feeling that things are still in limbo around here, that's because they kind of are."

Jason chuckled slightly as he nodded. "Yeah, I did get that feeling." He didn't voice that he got that feeling from the simple fact that, as a junior officer, he had been put in charge of figuring out an entire department, which currently, he was the only one a part of. However, he kept that thought to himself, as it would not be appropriate for him to voice it to someone of junior rank to him. "So, what is there to do around here for fun?"

"The usual, two main bars on Deck 10. Aft lounge is supposed to have more of a club vibe, but I haven't checked that one out yet. Couple of smaller joints. One of the restaurants has rotating chefs that do sort of theme days or weeks- Bolian or Klingon or whatever. Holotheater takes up a couple of decks, that was new with the refit. I suppose it depends on what you're into," Kash replied.

Jason nodded, grinning slightly, as he replied. "Sounds cool. Anyone have an Orbital skydiving team going?"

Kash's eyes lit up and his antennae perked with interest. "I haven't heard of any, but I'd be interested."

Jason grinned and nodded. "Well then, we should start planning something." The two men then moved back to Jason's Valkyrie, talking and getting to know each other, as Jason finished his service of his starfighter.

Once everything was done, and his starfighter was tucked away in its parking area, both men shook hands and went their separate ways, each glad to have made a new friend.

~OFF~

Lt. Commander Nash Winters
Chief Engineer
USS Astrea

&

Lieutenant (jg) Jason Williams III
Starfighter Squadron Commander (Interim)
USS Astrea

&

Ensign Kash th'Kaasnik
Support Pilot
USS Astrea

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