Orbital Skydive - Part 2 of 3 - Happy Landings

Posted on Wed May 6th, 2020 @ 1:13am by Lieutenant JG Matthew Plumeri & Commodore Leon `Lee` Pike & Lieutenant Commander Croesus & Lieutenant Commander Nicholas Coleman & Lieutenant Timothy O’Riley & Commodore Alexandra Harrison & Commander Kisha Ventar (Maab) & Lieutenant Kah'lyn Chiara-Rivers

1,826 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 106 – Stalemate
Location: Sub-Orbital Lift Platform & the Surface
Timeline: MD3 - 1000

[ON:]

PART TWO – SUB-ORBITAL LIFT - SOUTHERN SKIES STARLINERS - THE JUMP

LTJG. Plumeri stood behind the hashed yellow line on the platform. With one of the moons of this system behind him and the glowing blue and red planet below, Matt turned to see who was coming. He did not know the latecomer, but he waved them over and patted them on the back, “You’re just in time. You ever been on one of these jumps? I’m Matt Plumeri. Here…let me check your suit for you.” Matt did a quick but thorough check of the drop suit and while Haku was faster at it than he was; everything checked out and green lights indicated this person was ready.” Rapping them on the helmet, “Good to go!”

Matt spoke to whoever was left. “Want to jump and then form up as a group? I’ve done that a few times, and it’s really fun to do go down that way. Especially when you start to enter the atmosphere.”

Alex spoke with excitement in her voice, "Sounds good to me. Let's do this!" She was getting eager to jump.

Lee nodded "Sure that works for me."

Kah’lyn looked to Croesus, she was nervous but she had never been one to back down from a challenge. She just hoped she wouldn’t end up regretting it.

" It's not the fall that will kill us. It's the sudden stop." Croesus joked.

Kah’lyn playfully smacked Croesus on the arm.

Walking over to Plumeri, Coleman smacked his arm as he looked down at the jump. "You're totally a dead man for making me come along with this jump. I'm terribly afraid of heights, but I can't help but do this to see how it goes," Coleman said, smiling as he looked over the edge once more, nervously.

Matt laughed and said, "Like Croesus said sir, 'It isn't the fall that we have to worry about. But don't worry - I'll see to it that we name a lab after you. The 'Nicholas Coleman Memorial Lab' ". Matthew teased and said, "Ay! We flappin' our gums here all day or are we jumping!!!"

"Hey? O'Riley? You want to jump with us?" Plumeri called over to O'Riley.

“I’ll be happy to join you guys, I’m here to have some fun.” Tim replied as he walked over to the waiting group.

Matt offered Tim a fist bump even through the gloved hands of the orbital jump suit, "Right on! This will be jump number six for me. I still get the buttferflies in my guts y'know? Every jump is different, something new I didn't know before." Matthew said to the small group, "Ay?! Crosesus, Kah'lyn? Coleman, Matthews and all? This is O'Riley. I just met him today but he's done jumps before. Tim O'Riley? Meet the 'funky bunch' " Plumeri's eyes were alight with mirth.

Tim nodded to everyone of course he had already met Croesus but he was happy to meet the rest as well.

"OK? Green light! Here we go! Woooooo!" Looking at the incredible sight, Matthew took a breath and then leaned and fell forward out and from the top of the platform. It was like nothing happened for a few seconds. The view looked the same, there was no sense of speed, there was no sound and no buffeting of wind or atmosphere. It was truly an amazing and exhilarating feeling!

If it weren’t for the fact that the sub-orbital lift platform was moving away from them at a high speed; the ride was incredibly smooth. Matt looked around for another jumper and caught up to them, “You doing OK?” Matt asked through the COMM link inside his helmet.

“I’ll let you know when we get to the ground!!” Kah’lyn was hanging onto Croesus as best as she could, not that the suit made it easy. Landing was going to be a whole different matter, one that she’d have to learn to negotiate quickly.

Croesus held her tight as he also felt the force around him.

After they leaped from the platform, all Kisha could think of was how she was going to kill Alex for daring her to go as she could never turn down a dare...IF, they didn't die first. She could feel herself holding her breath.

Alex yelled out, "Whoo hoo!" The feeling of falling freely was nothing that she could describe. She looked at Lee and hoped that he was feeling the same way. Everything she was feeling was all positive. All of the fighting and killing from this war they were in was left up there, at the platform. Commanding a ship in this war was stressful and she felt that stress disappear...even if it was for a short time.

Tim had jumped with the others and was enjoying the acceleration and adrenaline of the jump. He started to move himself slightly to get the best feel for his jumpsuit. He could tell everyone was having a good time he smiled. Olivia was going to kill him if he got hurt but she knew he enjoyed times like this.

Lee had jumped with the others, he turned his head looking over at his wife, both of them had been through quite a lot lately, but they managed to get through it all together, he knew it made their marriage stronger. "You forget that we both know each other's thoughts Imazdi, no need to wonder." He said to Alex telepathically.

Alex tried to see Kisha but she couldn't but she wasn't worried about her, "This is sooo fun." She was going to have to thank Lt. Plumeri for finding this place.

“How soon before we get to the end of this madness?” Kah’lyn looked at Croesus. She was glad she’d chosen to be attached to him as she was hating every moment of how vulnerable being on this jump was making her feel.

Haku responded to her question over the COMM with, "Three minutes until the chutes open."

Matt turned over and onto his back to look at the fast receding view of the lift platform. The last jumper leaped from the platform and let out a exuberant howl! Then, stretching his arms outward, he allowed himself to fall back and into the void. "YEEEEAAAH!" He shouted exultantly. He brought his arms back to his sides and was soon rocketing straight down to catch up to the others. From this vantage point with Starbase 23 high overhead and behind them, everything was illuminated in a pure kind of light. No atmosphere to distort the images. The planet below was rapidly approaching them, and Matt howled like a wolf at the full moon, “AAwwwwroooooooo!!” he said as they plummeted through the ether. He laughed and looked at each of them in turn. “You guys rock! This is so much fun! Am I right?”

Alex made a thumbs up motion to Matt, "That's an understatement!" Kisha just growled to herself.

Coleman looked over at Plumeri and just shook his head as they plummeted towards the planet. He enjoyed skydiving, while hating it too because he was so nervous about heights. But, he learned over the years to enjoy the crazy things in life.

Matt looked over at Coleman, "You feel that sir? Your heart pounding in your chest? Yeah! 's how you know you are alive!" Plumeri said as he did a forward cannonball flip and rolled himself over a couple of times before flattening out again.

Looking over at Matt, Coleman said, "You should try doing this off the skycliffs on Kronos. They don't believe in any sort of safety devices there, so you're truly on your own there. Next trip!"

"Awww hell's yeah! Next trip!" Matt said as he gave him the thumb's up. As they were in a freefall to the surface, their orbital jump suits help control their spin automatically. This help stabalize the jumper so they they didn't end up spinning like a top and unable to right themselves again.

Haku, on her 'surfboard' was sure to check on everyone as she, like some kind of angellic, surf-board riding guardian hovered about the group. She announced over the COMM now, "One minute until the chutes deploy people! Smile for the camera? I'm coing around to get your holo-image." And she did fly from person to person capturing their images.

Inside the jumpsuit, a HUD display came up with a :30 second countdown. The thrusters on the suit gradually started to slow the descent. At :00 seconds the chutes would deploy and if people wanted to they could then open the faceplates on the jump suits.

With just a few thousand feet to go, Matt looked around at his crewmates and new friends. He felt the thruster pack start to slow him down.

:10...
...:09
...:08
...:07

Slower and slower from a death defying drop to something a little more relaxed.

...:06
...:05
...:04

The wind buffeting their bodies, the sunlight bright and all around then. The green of the fields below.

...:03
...:02
...:01

:00. The rear of the jumpsuit opened and Matt's chute came out and unfurled. It jerked him upward as the chute filled with air. And now it was an easy floaty ride to the bottom. All he had to do was steer.

Matt made it with pretty good form to the field and made an OK touchdown. He landed on the ground and kissed it. Then pumped his arm a couple times and roared like a Klingon. As his antics played out, the jumpsuit auto-magically recoiled the chute back in. When it was all done and the helmet was off, he went to greet the other landers. "Hey? How'd you like it?"

Kah’lyn was sat breathing heavily glad to be back on solid ground. “Oh it was...” She shook her head, she wasn’t sure if she wanted to scream for glee on making it to landing or throw up from the experience.

Alex was still feeling the adrenaline rush. She was a little disappointed that it was over but then again, all good things must come to an end. Alex looked over at Matt, "It was such a rush. Thank you for putting this together. It was just what I needed."

Plumeri was all smiles, "Aw hells yes Captain! Anytime. I'm glad that everyone had some fun. Holodecks are nice; real life is better!"

"So true. At least now I know who to come to when we need someone to plan shoreleave."

Tim hit the ground landing with some ease not to far from his crew mates. He was laughing he hadn’t had this much fun in a long time. He was going to have to do this again and maybe he could get Olivia to join him next time.



=== CONTINUED IN PART THREE ===


[OFF:]

LTJG. Matthew Plumeri
Science Officer/Historian
USS Endeavor
NCC-72802

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