Freefalling

Posted on Sun Jul 29th, 2018 @ 5:38am by Lieutenant Commander Selune
Edited on on Sun Jul 29th, 2018 @ 5:38am

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Present Tense
Location: Space
Timeline: What year is it, anyway?

Its seemed that 20 years of advances had done nothing to significantly chance the basic mechanics of flight and Selune was beginning to feel every minute of the sim once she had gotten over the new and much improved consoles and controls. There was very little that felt different to the pilot, up was up, down was down and flying backwards through asteroid fields was still considered ill-advised so it hadn't taken long for her to go from excited, to interested, to adept, to mind-numbingly bored as her instructor had apparently taken the view that regardless of how well she could fly, she would still need to go through at least 100 standard landings and full controlled orbital flights before he would let her anywhere near anything larger than a hovercar.



She was pining for the real thing and if they demanded another hour in here there with the vast cloud of disinterest radiating from her "instructor" there was a reasonable chance she would simply walk out and steal a shuttle. Not that it would be a good start to her return to Starfleet but frankly since the first hour she had learnt nothing new and was beginning to suspect she may in fact be getting dumber from the basic activities they were having her run.



A few minutes later and one more painfully basic landing executed to perfection, she burst from the stuffy confines of the simulator and into the cool recycled air of the hallway. She couldn't help but wonder if there was any real atmospheric difference or it was simply the freedom from the oppressive indifference of instructor. The answer was found before she had taken ten steps and his dull voice grated down the hallway after her, "Before you go anywhere perhaps you would like to complete the final phase of your evaluation? A live flight, basic take-off, orbit and landing."



Well it would be simply rude to say no to such an offer after all.



-----



The flight was barely one quarter over before the general aura of disinterest and unimpressed smugness rolling from her companion drove her past simply boredom, the simple majesty of flying being lost and replaced with the memories of the last few days.



The autopilot was well past sufficient to perform the entire flight, takeoff to landing and she had, probably stupidly in hindsight, programmed it to do just that. She still gave the appearance of actually paying attention but really her mind wandered. She had honestly wanted to join Fiona and Chary, but a mixture of fear and apprehension had quickly cut that avenue down for her and instead she had ended up realising that what she thought would take days had taken a few hours and now she was left with the first real company in what felt to be an age and she already wanted to get away.



He let out another of his soft grunts that, from what she could tell, suggested he was unimpressed by something and she finally gave in. Fingers dancing across her console she began a new autopilot pathing, she noticed the instructor shifting slightly as he tried to follow what she was doing but she simply ignored it, chances are he would lose interest before... another soft grunt and he slumped back into his seat apparently excavating the underside of his nails.



It took her two or three minutes of calculations before she was satisfied with her new flight plan, and another to double check it before she swung her chair around and nodded to the half sentient man in the opposite chair.



"Just going to stretch my legs while the autopilot handles this for a sec," she casually informed him, her lithe feline body easily bouncing to its feet with supple grace before padding to the back of the shuttle. She threw a look back over her shoulder as his eyes vaguely followed her with the same flat disinterested stare that she had already become sick of, "I was just thinking it might be wonderful to get a breath of fresh air," she continued, her hand dancing over the manual override on the hatch, the sudden depressurisation almost ripping her from the cabin before she threw him a wide eyed, maniacal grin, "Oh, and in case you were wondering," she called out as a small beep chirped somewhere on her person, "I've disabled the controls for the next few minutes."



And then, she jumped. To say she jumped is a misnomer, it was more like she let go and dropped the emergency shielding for a second and was sucked through the portal into open air. She pulled a breather up over her face as the thin atmosphere tried to suck the oxygen from her lungs before letting herself lay back against the wind in blissful free fall. Blissful might have been overstating it. But for a few sweet moments she was truly alone, no more flaunted emotions behind stony faces, no more oblique questions with nebulous answers, no obligations or expectations, just herself drifting on the wind.



Naturally as her mind relaxed it drifted to the recent events. She found herself dislocated from the tenuous relations of her family, who if she knew them probably had no idea that she was back and only would have heard about her "death" because of a direct transcript from Starfleet. She sighed softly to herself, it was probably easier to just go on like she had never come back. Signing up for the academy had created a deep gap between her and the vast majority of her people. If she had of been a diplomat or negotiator things would have been different... but a pilot, part of the bridge crew assigned to combat duties. The idea was untenable at best and it created a deep rift that never fully closed.



She knew that Fiona had a large family that would welcome her back into the fold. Chary didn't seem to have anyone other than her friends, but Fiona had become her family. Selune still felt a slight estrangement from the tightly knit pair. The others she barely even recognised enough to place names too and they had seemed a pair themselves. Ultimately Selune felt infinitely alone in the universe at that point in time.



She let out a soft sigh as another bleep informed her that the shuttle should be almost ready and let her eyes drift open, slowly rolling in the air as she looked for it. Of course she could have screwed up the autopilot entirely and be heading for certain death... ignoring the parachute she slung on and still hadn't properly fitted anyway.



Within a few seconds of searching she saw the shuttle plummeting towards her, making a soft bank and slowing just below her and then slowing just enough to gently admit her through the hatch and reseal it, then suddenly shift back into the original orbit loop. The instructor sat white faced staring at her like a devil, not uttering a sound.



Well maybe her little excursion had more than one benefit after all~

 

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