Landau Posted June 10, 2012 Share Posted June 10, 2012 ((Holodeck 2, USS Victory))::As if on cue, the arch that would permit entrance to the holodeckappeared no sooner than the tug had pulled away leaving the jet alone onthe tarmac a distance from the hangar. Kali had already been up into the[...]pit and verified things that might have mattered in the real world, buthad little coincidence in the holographic world. Still, old habits had away of sticking around, especially in an environment as real as this.::::Seconds after the arch appeared, the doors opened to reveal a tall man ina flight suit that he didn’t seem all that out of place in. Some people,like Tressa, had a hard time adjusting to the weight and feel of the suit.Colt, however, seemed almost as comfortable in it as if he were born in thething. Her eyes followed him as she laughed at the recollection of Tressawhen they had gone flying on Earth, a coincidental thought she was suddenlythankful for as it had allowed her to hide a deeper, more frighteningfeeling; an ever strengthening attraction that she hadn’t fully exploredduring the crisis, but one that was making itself quite known now thatthings had calmed.::::Not wanting to answer questions, she turned back to the jet and continuedthe process of pre-flight until he approached and spoke to her.::::Colt stepped through the doors to Holodeck 2 and immediately foundhimself on a Tarmac standing before an archaic aircraft. He approached theplane trying not to tug at his flight suit, it was a little uncomfortableas he had cinched up to help him withstand the g-forces of whatever stuntsKali might pull. He looked over at the woman who had invited him onthis...date? He wondered if that was what this was. Things had beensomewhat confusing between them and Colt was still trying to decipher whatexactly their relationship was. It was a difficult thing, trying to pursuea personal relationship with someone who was his direct superior, but hewas beginning to find that challenge less daunting every day.::::Approaching the aircraft, which he had learned earlier via the computerlibrary was an F/A-18F, a type of 20th Century fighter jet, he found itamazing that contemporary Air Forces used fragile, primitive crafts likethis in battle. He closed the distance between them and spoke::Daniels: So, this is the real deal... an actual F-18? ::He of course knewit was a holodeck program, but he imagined it was a near perfectreproduction.:: It's hard to believe they'd use things in air battles withno shields or warp drives or anything.::Now she had little choice but to turn and grin at him. At least therewere no questions about her previous staring or the slight laugh.::Nicholotti: I see you do your homework.::Colt smiled warmly at Kali::Daniels: I try to learn everything I can about every weapons system I can.::He paused for a moment and continued with a smirk:: Even reeeeaaaally oldones.::Having made it all the way around the aircraft, Kali now made her wayover to where he stood. He was taller than her, but that didn’t matter;there was no fear in her mind now as she walked up to him and stopped.::::As Kali came around from the opposite side of the jet, Colt got his firstunobstructed view of her in her own flight suit. His mind struggled to finda label for the way she looked, cute seemed to be the closestapproximation, though the word betrayed the confidence and the capable wayshe was performing the pre-flight.::Nicholotti: You ready for this?::An almost evil grin appeared as she spoke, fighting the urge to move evencloser.::::Colt looked up at the blue-gray monster and raised an eyebrow.::Daniels: I'm ready as I'll ever be.Nicholotti: ::with a nod.:: Good. Let’s go then.::She gestured towards the rear ladder as she turned and headed backtowards the beast. It was, for all intents and purposes, a living,breathing, being at that point, and one that Kali had spent many long hoursin as a kid. This was one moment where the smile just couldn’t be hidden.::::He climbed up the ladder and into the empty seat behind Kali, taking afew moments to figure out how to strap himself in before speaking again.::Daniels: So, how exactly did you learn to fly one of these?::He looked around at the various instruments and displays, particularlythe weapons systems. Colt always seemed attracted to the things that blewup and/or put holes in other things.::::As she settled into her own seat, ground crew members appeared and pulledthe ladders from the plane and finalized preparations for their departure.::Nicholotti: My grandfather taught me.::Without thought, her hands went to work bringing the monster fully tolife. With each one, something new came on and changed until finally theywere ready to roll.::::Colt smiled even though she probably wouldn't see it from where she wassitting. The confidence she was exuding and the way she was working thisancient warbird, wasn't unlike the way she commanded a starship, which hefound to be extremely...alluring.::Daniels: I see. You sure seem like you know what you're doing. So do I needto do anything or do I just sit back here and be amazed by you like usual?::Her face well hidden in her helmet, Kali knew he wouldn’t be able to seethe look on her face. As the canopy lowered around them, she spoke into thenow active radio.::Nicholotti: Yea, don’t touch anything. ::She laughed.:: Not until we’re offthe ground at least.::There was a tone to her voice that said so much more than what she spoke.It was almost taunting, as if she were telling him ‘just wait, you’ll see’with an evil laugh appended to the end. It was a trick her grandfather hadused on her, and one she had a bad habit of pulling on anyone brave enoughto go flying with her. For now, though, there was the matter of takeoff.After that, they would be free.::::Relative silence descended on them as she went through the processinvolved. Air traffic control was handled by legacy towers and Starfleetinstallations these days, but in her holodeck simulations, she always triedto get things close to how the old towers would do it. It never quiteseemed real though, but it worked well enough for the purpose. At least shenever found herself waiting in line to take off, ever.::::With clearance given, the plane responded to her controls as shemaneuvered it towards the runway they would use to get into the sky. Simplemovements caused the craft to react all the way down the taxiway to the endof the long strip of concrete that sprawled out in front of them. Smilingto herself, she made the final preparations for takeoff while speaking tothe man behind her. This was always the best part of things; feeling thespeed as the craft they were in hurtled into the sky.::Nicholotti: How are you doing back there?::Colt was enjoying himself already. The sound and vibration of the turbineengines were tremendous, the visceral stimulation was a far cry from thesterile, antiseptic feel of a small starfighter. As usual the woman behindthe controls was demonstrating her refined ability to capture his thoughts,preventing him from thinking about anything else for too long, before histhoughts returned to her.::Daniels: So far, so good. I'm not too worried though, I trust you.::Kali laughed; he certainly had a knack for being able to invoke feelingsshe had thought long buried. It was only the jet, and the controls at herhands, that kept her mind on track and not of on a distant tangent.::Nicholotti: Fair enough.::With that, she shoved the throttle all the way forward. The plane seemedto jump beneath them before it went screaming down the line of concreteahead of them. Kali watched the gauges, pulling back as soon as the speedhit a certain mark. The craft went shooting through the sky as the twooccupants were pushed back into their seats with the force of multiple G's.It was this that she lived for, both as a child and now; the moment whenspeed, in all its glory, could actually be felt.::::As Kali hammered on the throttle Colt heard the turbines roar and feltthe force of gravity press him back into his seat, it was astonishing. Hismind told him that he had achieved speeds far greater than this on anynumber of ships, but because modern ships had inertial dampeners he hadnever found it very exhilarating. Now he truly felt as though he wasscreaming through the air faster than ever before. After a few moments ofclimbing they finally leveled off he found himself able to speak again.::Daniels: Kali, this is great! The raw power of this beast is awesome.::He was smiling like a kid and he was fairly certain that she would beable to hear it in his voice.::::She could hear that wonder in his voice; the same wonder she had alwayshad for the sheer thrill of flying. Her own laughter filtered over theradio to the back of the plane.:: Nicholotti: Glad you can see the light. ::If he could see her face, he would see quite the smirk. It was ratherpleasing that he was really enjoying himself. There hadn’t been many peopleshe’d flown with since she joined Starfleet, but Colt seemed to be havingthe most fun of them all. Of course most of them ended up sick at somepoint during the flight, Tressa included, though hers was probably to beattributed to the pregnancy they had found out about a couple days aftertheir flight. She smiled in spite of the part of her that missed the womandesperately and focused her attention back on the man who had taken her upon the offer to fly.:: ::He looked out the side of the canopy, studying the control surfacestrying to understand the way the jet maneuvered through the air in anattempt to estimate it's abilities. Looking forward he spoke again.:: Daniels: So, let's see what she can do! Nicholotti: You might be sorry you said that. ::He felt his muscles tense up slightly, he hadn't realized how much of anadrenaline junkie he was, but now he was shaking a little in anticipationof the incoming rush. As she gunned the throttle once again and he felt thewelcome feeling associated with acceleration in Earth's gravity he smiledunder his helmet and let himself be pushed back into his seat.:: ::Kali immediately pulled the nose up into another steep climb that pushedthem both back dramatically into their seats. As the airspeed slowed, shenudged the nose back over and they quickly shot back down towards theground. It was like a game of chicken that she always lost, but there was akind of thrill that built itself up within her as the ground got bigger andbigger. There was also precision in the move, and when the altimeter was ather limit, she pulled out of the dive and made a parabola that took themback into the sky.:: ::They tore through the sky climbing, diving, and rolling as Colt had tofight back the urge to yell. He imagined that she would be impressed by thefact that he hadn't gotten sick from the stunts, she didn't have to knowthat he had stopped by sickbay on his way over and picked up medicine formotion sickness. His heart was still racing when they finally leveled outagain. ::After a few of her normal stunts, she brought the plane level andsomewhat under control before speaking to Colt.:: Nicholotti: So, you should grab the stick and fly. ::She pauseddramatically and stuck her hands up so that he could see them.:: Cause I’mtired. ::She laughed. This was the one thing she did to everyone, save Tressa,just to see how they would react. The effect was much better in the realworld, but the holodeck had made things feel real enough up till now;perhaps the mind would not allow him the luxury of remembering they wereactually quite safe on the ground of the holographic chamber. Of coursethere was also the fact that her safety was in the pedals at her feet, butshe kept that to herself too.:: ::He saw her hands held up in the classic "no-hands" gesture and in abrief moment of panic scrambled for the Co-Pilots stick before the logicalpart of his brain told him they were actually in the safety of theholodeck. Grinning sheepishly he held it steady for a moment before gentlylowering the nose of the jet into a gradual dive before gently nosing backup to level. The little "stunt" he pulled didn't hold a candle to the largeoverarching loops Kali had pulled, but he was proud of the simplemaneuverall the same.:: Daniels: You know, that's not bad. It certainly handles a littledifferently than a starship. Maybe I'll have you give me some lessonssometime... add to my list of skills that aren't particularly useful, likesailing. ::The word reminded him of their time on Eschevar, he was sure this wouldbe fond memory as well just like they time the had spent there.:: Nicholotti: That wasn’t so useless though. ::On the contrary, it had been the origination of the spark that had ledthem to this moment. In that aspect, it had proved to be very useful.:: ::Once again she took over the controls and he released his grasp on thestick. A few moments passed before either of them said anything. Colt waslooking around the [...]pit now taking note of the various buttons andswitches.:: Daniels: Does this baby have functional weapons systems? ::Kali couldn’t help but laugh at that. If anyone would ask that, it wouldbe him.:: Nicholotti: Yea, but nothing’s loaded.::The real jet, of which this program had been modeled after, that sat in ahanger at home on Earth, was as real as it had been back in the glory daysof the supersonic flight. Without the need for the weapons though, theywere never loaded or armed.:::: He was a little disappointed by the news, until he had an idea.::Daniels: I Suppose it won't hurt to depart from realism a little here...Computer, outfit this jet to full combat payload.::Air to air missles appeared on pylons and the ammunition for somethingcalled a "20mm Cannon" showed to be at full capacity::oO Projectile weapons, So retro... I like it. OoDaniels: I'm gonna let 'er rip. Is that ok?::By now, Kali was quite amused. Having gone through great pains to programthe jet to provide similar functionality to front and back seat occupants,she hadn’t thought it would be used in this manner. Still, she grinned.Never had anyone thought to do such a thing in the past, but it seemed likea good enough idea. It certainly would be a good test of her flying skillsand his shooting skills if nothing else; but only if they had an opponent.::Nicholotti: In a minute. Computer, insert three opponents. ::She paused andthought for a moment.:: One Su-27 Flanker, one MiG-29 Fulcrum, one F-4J,Mitsubishi version.::There was a moment of silence before the computer complied and the otherthree jets appeared a ways in front of them. After another moment, the jetsscattered. Kali smiled. It was time to hunt.::Nicholotti: Alright. I’ll chase em down, but the shooting is all you.::Colt was grinning so widely his face was starting to hurt, it wasn't everyday that he got to play with this kind of hardware. Though he had notraining with these kind of weapons he hoped his natural skill at makingthings go boom would be able to compensate::Daniels: Yeehaw! ::He yelled a little too enthusiastically:: Let's go.::That was all that was required; he said the word and she banked the planeoff to the right to follow the first of the opponents. It wasn’t longbefore the Flanker was in sight out of the canopy window. Suddenly aware oftheir presence, it broke its flight pattern and tried to dart in betweenthe clouds. Kali followed it.::::Colt spotted the enemy plane and tried to lock missile radar, a tone toldhim that he had 'probably' locked on. He had noticed the 3 weapon choicesVulcan, 'AMRAAM', and 'Sdewndr'. Going with the only name that herecognized he fired, resulting and a short burst from the front mountedVulcan cannon.::oO Oops, that's not it. Oo::As Kali lined them up again and Colt finally heard the lock on tone, hethis time fired the 'AMRAAM'. As the missile arced out his eyes followed itto its fiery conclusion::::Pursuing the jet through the clouds, she waited to hear the release ofwhatever weapons the man behind her would choose to use. The clouds clearedin that moment, and they found the plane they were seeking just to theirright. Kali banked the plane again and Colt shot; the result of which wasan explosion of orange red flames the likes of which she’d seen on someolder holovids she’d watched as a kid.::Daniels: Yeah! Pretty good for my first try, eh?::Laughing at the reaction coming from the back seat, Kali turned the planetowards their next target.::Nicholotti: Not bad. Not bad at all.Daniels: What can I say, weapons just... speak to me.::They continued until all 3 adversaries were destroyed, largely due toKali's impressive flying and to a lesser extent, Colt's beginner's luck inthe gunner's seat.::Having had enough fun and adrenaline for one day, Kali brought the planearound and set it as gentle as ever on the long runway that looked soincredibly real. Her hands went to work again, flipping switches andpushing buttons as they came to a stop near the line of hangars where theyhad started. Finally she opened the canopy and released her body from therestraints allowing herself just a moment to get used to normal gravityagain. Continuing her egress, she motioned behind her for him to do thesame.::::As the Jet came to a stop and the engines wound down, Colt saw Kaliunbutton her helmet. As canopy slowly opened she climbed out and motionedfor him to follow. Once they were on the ground and clear of any hazardsthey stopped not far from the now motionless fighter to talk.::Daniels: I'm glad we did this. ::He paused for a moment:: You never ceaseto amaze me, do you know that?::The comment took her momentarily off guard, but she kept her composure.So often over the past week she had questioned herself and her ability todo what she did. Now here he was telling her that she amazed him.::Nicholotti: I do?::Colt rubbed the back of his head a little, a habit he often displayedwhen he was trying find the words to express himself.::Daniels: I don't know, it’s just that every moment I spend with you seemsto leave me hoping that the next one isn't too far away.::In the still silence that had now taken over the holodeck, Kali felt thetrappings of command, and all the responsibility melt away again. Anincredible feeling replaced it, drawing her to him. She stepped closer andslipped her hand into one of his.::Nicholotti: All that we have is now, and right now, I’m here.::The feeling of standing on the edge of a cliff had long gone. This wasthe path she was willing and ready to follow. Would he jump as well?::::As Colt stood there holding her hand, he again tried to find the wordsthat would portray his feelings for her. His words were failing him onceagain, so he decided on an alternative course of action. He placed hisother hand on her waist and gently pulled her towards him and before hecould talk himself out of it, he kissed the beautiful dark-haired officerwith a passion befitting of the tension that had existed between them forweeks. As he felt the lightning shoot through his body, he laughedinternally at the fact that his biggest adrenaline rush of the day hadn'toccurred on that jet. After a moment that seemed much longer than it hadprobably been, he released her allowing for the now notably smaller spacebetween them to return.::::For a command officer who had to stand strong almost all of the time, itwas surprising to even herself to see just how fast she melted into themoment. It definitely caught her off guard only this time, had he beenwatching her, he would have actually seen it. But he didn’t; instead, hefelt it. He had to, because as he embraced her, she realized how much thiswas what she had wanted him to do. There had been a sort of longing overthe past weeks, and it had become tension that was all suddenly releasedwith this single act. It was like a deep breath after having been underwater for too long. It was an act that sent near literal sparks shootingthrough her body, bringing with them a feeling of being really alive forthe first time in a very long time.::::And when he was done, he let only the smallest space return between them.The Captain of the Starbase was gone; in that moment, though, she felt morepowerful than any command would ever allow her to. In his arms, she felt asif she didn’t need the plane beside them to fly. Kali didn’t fight thesmile or the look of contentment on her face. She had found a safe place tobe; to show what she was feeling and thinking. He had earned that now, atthe very least.::Daniels: I don't intend on letting you go anywhere if I can help it.Nicholotti: Good.::Throwing time and any other cares to the wind, Kali pulled him backtowards her. As their lips met again, no words needed to be said. All thatexisted in that moment was him, and to her, that was all that reallymattered. Sure, there would be terrorists, and those who would want to hurtthe station and those on it, but right now the universe was perfect and so,she found herself lost, more than willingly, in the moment, and inhis arms.::::All of his fears assuaged, he more than willingly allowed her to pull himback towards her. As they embraced in the shadow of the machine that had soquickly been replaced as the highlight of his day, he silently thanked theuniverse for bringing him to this base, for bringing him to her.::::After a short while (a little too short by Colt's standards, but beggarscouldn't be choosers) they regained some of their composure and, realizingthat they both had somewhere to be soon decided end the program. The gridpattern on the walls faded into view and with the exit now plainly visiblethey walked hand in hand towards it, stopping just short of causing it toopen.::Daniels: This was fun. ::He smiled and winked:: We'll have to do this againreal soon.::Kali grinned. Fun was one way to describe it.::Nicholotti: Yes, we will. I look forward to it.::As they stepped out into the corridor, he dropped her hand before turningtowards her.::::With that he released her hand, not wanting to cause a stir with any crewthat might be in the corridor, and stepped through the threshold. He pausedand turned back towards her one last time.::Daniels: Hey, I'll see you tonight. Ok?::She nodded, not wanting to let him leave or to let the moment end, butlooking forward to the next when they would see each other again.::Nicholotti: Of course. I wouldn’t miss it.::He reluctantly turned and walked down the corridor, heading towards hisquarters on the Victory to shower and get ready for the party later thatnight. Though he plodded on with a sense of purpose, his mind was stillback in the holodeck, replaying the events over and over.::::Kali watched him go with a tinge of sadness. Moments were fleeting, butshe would always have the memories and the feeling of being able to flywithout any wings that he had left her with. A smile appeared on her faceas he disappeared around a corner and she headed off to her own quarters.This was just the beginning, the beginning of something great.::JP By:--======//////======>Lt.JG Colt DanielsChief Tactical OfficerSB118/USS Victory&--Commander Kalianna NicholottiCommanding OfficerStarbase 118 / USS Victory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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