The Silence

Posted on Fri Jul 27th, 2012 @ 3:07pm by

869 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Mission 79 - Triangle
Location: On approach to Kaleb System, SB400
Timeline: Current

ON:

The silence roared at Marine Captain Neil Hammond from the seat of his fighter.

The Marine pilot know what people thought it was like in a fighter, the scream of thrusters or the explosions of combat. But sealed in his helmet, the only sounds to reach him was the quiet thump of his heartbeat and the distant hum of the warp engines.

It was peaceful.

Peace was rare for a marine, rarer still for a pilot, so Neil had learnt to treasure these quiet moments, sealed in his helmet and seated in his fighter as the craft sped along at warp 4.

He could have waited. The USS Savannah was due to reach the station in a week, and the CO was an old friend of Neil's, he had been adamant that the marine take his leisure time, but the Captain knew he could not wait. Word on the wire was that there had been some major conflict out there, and the marine couldn't afford to take the week.

So here he was, strapped into his Redemption class Bomber, meditating on the silence as the fighter flew itself to Neil's destination. It had been a long 10 hours, but now the destination was in sight, Neil knew he was going to miss the silence.

"Approaching fighter, this is Starbase control. Please Identify yourself and state your intent." The Subspace comm burst into life, waking the pilot from his reprieve.

"Starbase control, this is Redemption four five two niner on approach for landing, pilot ID Hammond; Gamma Delta five. I am under orders from marine command to join your compliment as marine fighter CO. Please advise as to a flight-path and landing bay."

"Confirmed four five two niner, a flight-path and landing bay have been uploaded to your computer. Welcome to Starbase 400."

"My thanks control, Hammond out" A push of a button disconnected the comm, giving the Captain a moments peace before the computer announced they were about to drop out of warp.

The captain grabbed the twin control sticks just as he felt he deceleration of the ship, a slight jolt as the ships small inertial dampener compensated for the deceleration, then a race of colours lights resolved into realspace, specifically Kaleb IV, and above it, Starbase 400.

Neil had been posted to starbases before, but the sheer scale of the Spacedock class was amazing. It towered over his view of Kaleb IV like a rogue mountain, and Neil reckoned that his last posting, SB31 (an ancient Regula I class) could fit into the mammoth many times.

Still admiring the view Neil took manual control of the Bomber, turning its sleek form round onto his designated flightpath. The approach was quiet, giving Neil more time to absorb the scale of the station, appreciating how much time and effort it would have taken to build it.

His path cut quite close to the hull (closer then a starship could ever safly go) and he flashed over windows and viewing ports, seeing snap seconds of faces and people as they spotted the fighter go past. He even passed by the promenade, and had a chance to see people pointing at the sleek fighter before having to turn the fighter away.

Finally he traversed the distance, lining up with one of the larger landing bays designed for a fighter landing. as he got closer he saw the land cradle emerge from the deck like a flower, the various struts lining up on his approach, configuring itself for the Redemption Bomber's wider then usual frame.

The distance vanished to nothing, and Neil's fighter slid into the cradle. Immediately he felt the deceleration as he and the cradle raced along the landing deck, the cradle killing his momentum by hundreds of meters per second, although even the crafts little inertial dampener soaked that up well.

Before long the cradle had almost killed all his speed, and slid along under deck rails to a free landing space, on the oddly unoccupied fighter bay. Despite this being unusual Neil began to extract himself from the fighter, disabling the restraints and poping the canopy. Still no-one arrived when Neil had descended from the fighter, and he was in the process of removing his own helmet wehn the bay doors finally opened and a marine arrived, looking distinclty unprepared for the CO's arrival.

"Captain Hammond sir!" The marine said, skidding to attention before the captain and Saluting smartly, despite his uniform looking a bit disheveled. "We did not expect you sir, we thought you'd be arriving with the rest of the new squadron next week sir."

Neil returned the salute "I thought to move up me schedule, considering the situation. Tell me marine, where is the rest of the squadron?" Asked the MFCO, pointing to the suspiciously empty bays on the flight deck."
"That will take... some time to explain sir" the marine said hesitantly.

Neil stared thye marine down for a second as the man squirmed before chucking his helmet to the suddenly surprised marine, who managed to catch the helmet purely through reflex, "Well, explain it to me on the way, I need to report to the MCO."

"Well sir, that is what I needed to explain..."

OFF:

RSS Feed