How are we getting on?

Posted on 30 Aug 2016 @ 11:21pm by Lieutenant Jonathan Kilmartin & Commander Terry Walsh & Lieutenant JG Samantha Lopez & Lieutenant Commander Gemma Alexander & Ensign Aurilia Moretti

1,827 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Click Three Times
Location: Flight Deck
Timeline: MD 6 || 1445

Progress was being made in the clean-up of the flight deck and Lieutenant Kilmartin was slowly beginning to get over his headache caused by the apparent incident that had wreck the ship, whatever the hell it was. Communications remained offline so Sunbeam had sent Ensign Sito to see if he could find anything out. In the meantime, the Squadron XO had been working on an inventory of the Squadrons starfighters so that he could update the chief.

"Anyone seen Rocco?" the Lieutenant called out as he stood at the heart of the flight deck.

"He left the deck some time ago sir," one of the maintenance workers informed from nearby.

Kilmartin let out a sigh and bowed his head in frustration before deciding to take action himself. "Archer, Striker. I need a minute of your time please," he called, drawing the two women's attention from their current tasks.

Striker had been working on clearing the decks to make way for maintenance crews to get to work on the damaged fighters. She handed the grav cart over to one of the maintenance crew and headed over. "What's up boss?" She asked.

By now Archer was working on getting the deck squared away, after helping with wounded, so she could get to her beloved craft and see how bad the damage was there. At Kilmartin's words she put the piece of debris she was holding into a large tub and wiped her dirty hands on her flight suit, "What's the word Sunbeam?" She asked coming over.

"Right, as the senior pilots in the three Flights, I want an update on our Fighters and operational status," the Lieutenant indicated as he waved a PADD. "By my calculations we've lost six fighters. We have four damaged birds, only two of which are fixable at present. That means we are at little better than half strength people until further notice. Unfortunately, I don't know which fighters are from which flights, so I want you to work out what your Flight has and report back to me. I'll then be recommending to Rocco that we re-organise the Flights and bring us to operational status as quickly as possible," the XO told as he passed the PDD to a passing Crewman. "Right now, the best we can hope to maintain is a functioning CAP. If the Boss wants a proper mission from us, at present we are frakked. Get to it."

"Aye, will do!" Striker said, grabbing a PADD and walking across to one of the maintenance crew.

"On it." Archer replied, and pulling a PADD out of her pocket, heading off in another direction.

Aurilia moved another pile of parts aside on a antigrav cart and approached the Deputy Squadron Commander, her uniform covered in grease and fluids, her fiery red hair matted on one side and bruises showing on the left side of her face. "What do you need me to do, Lieutenant?" she asked wearily, but gamely.

Sunbeam looked around the flight deck for a minute, contemplating which of the many jobs the Ensign could be entrusted with. If the Squadron was going to be functional anytime soon, they would need ordnance. "Munitions," he blurted out before looking back at her, "grab a maintenance Chief, check the ordnance. I want a full list of what we have. If we are to get any of our birds in the air, I want weapons ready."

"Yes, Sir," Aurilia said before she turned to find a maintenance Chief in the chaos of bodies and fighters that seemed to be everywhere. When she spotted once, she headed off after grabbing a PADD from where it lay on a table and began to get busy on what he wanted her to do.

With several tasks now on the go, the Squadron was shaping up after the chaos of the last few hours. All Sunbeam needed was for the chief to show his face again and for communications to be restored. For now, he tracked down the Maintenance Chief nearby. "Gale," the Lieutenant called out, "How are we looking? I need to know that when the Captain wants us, we can launch. Any issues with any of the flight deck systems?"

"Not all that bad Lieutenant; most of the mess is cleared up, so we at least have a clear run to get out. All we need now is for the flight bay doors to open...I've been in contact with Engineering, they're thinking it might be something to do with some severed power couplings, but that's not my area of specialty. Apart from the fighters we've got down we should be good to go within the next few hours, engineering dependant of course." Gale said, handing over the PADD he'd been taking notes on.

Archer had finally be able to corner a few, not as busy, deck crew and began trying to make sense of the chaos. Archer moved fluidly about updating a PADD as she went as crew rushed around checking craft at her order, though some were already on it being the amazing team they were. She crammed the PADD under one arm at one point to help a deck crew look into her craft. Her precious Arrow, she frowned at it like a mother worried over her child as the crew worked, "It will be fine Ma'am, just a few bumps and dings. You really stuck the landing..." She didn't hear the compliment only that her craft was going to be ok. She breathed a sigh of relief and watched them for just a bit more to make sure they could be trusted. She wanted to look after the craft herself but she had work to do.

Sam walked over to Kilmartin a little shellshocked. "Sir, report on those numbers. I've got 3 birds missing, and one with minor damage. My flights a bit upset, they were a close bunch and the 3 we lost are gonna be missed." She said, handing over the PADD.

Alexander sighed as she headed over to Kilmartin,"Sir, Report, we have 5 val's we can actually use." She handed him a PADD with the stats on it, "between loss and wreck that's what we have to work with. We are down two" Thankfully her Arrow was on the duty list.

Kilmartin took both PADD's and nodded in thanks. "Cheers guys. I'll let the boss know. For now, do what you can to get your birds and pilots ready for launch again."

"On it Sunbeam" Archer said and jogged off to her craft, catching another pilot on the way as she helped out on the flight deck.

===[Squadron Commander's Office, 1525 hours]===

Terry's rest was interrupted by the Captain's voice over his communicator. That could only mean one thing, some form of basic power had been restored. And the Senior Staff was being assembled in the Chief Engineer's office. He had to get up and get back down to the Flight Deck. But first, he had to do a quick check of Flight Ops. He found no one that was severely injured, but reassured those he did find that everything was going to be okay. After that, he made his way back out to the maintenance hatch and crawlspace that would take him back to the Deck. With, at the very least, internal communications and lights back on, things should be going a little easier down there.

===[Flight Deck]===

Terry emerged from the same maintenance hatch that he had left from earlier and into the bustling Flight Deck. He stood, stretched, and smiled. Lieutenant Kilmartin, he assumed, had done an excellent job in getting the pilots and maintenance crews better organized. Things looked like they were progressing well. And they would have to continue to do so, since he had to get some information and get off to the meeting that the Captain had called. He looked about the Flight Deck, searching for his Deputy.

Kilmartin was stood near his own Valkyrie when he spotted the Squadron Commander and was relieved he had decided to show his face again. "Commander," the XO smiled as he waved him over. "We have a problem. We're eight fighters down. Six gone, two for the scrap heap. We've got two that need repairing before they can go back out so we're at half strength." Kilmartin passed the Commander the data PADD he had been holding as he continued with his report, "Alpha lost two, brave one and charlie three. With the flights as they stand, we'll struggle to mount a CAP let alone a mission group."

Terry ran both hands over his face and sighed before taking the PADD. "I don't like that," he said, "I don't like it one bit. I knew we lost some good pilots, but I didn't know it was six. And two birds for scrap and two damaged...that's not good, Lieutenant." Terry looked at the PADD and thought about what his Deputy had just finished reporting. "So, Alpha is down to five Valkyries, Bravo is down to six, and Charlie is down to three." He looked back up to Kilmartin. "You're right about CAP and a mission group, there's no way we can effectively do it. Maybe Charlie's three can form up with you and Bravo if, or when, we need to get back out there. But back to the two that need repairing, do we know what's broken and will they be easily fixable?"

Kilmartin shrugged and let out a little sigh. "Not yet sir. I've got Gale and his peeps working on it. They'll be preparing a list of whats wrong and what they need to sort it," the Deputy told. "We've also got a problem with the flight deck's bay doors. If they can't get them to open, we can't launch. There's an engineer who thinks it might just be some severed power couplings but until they are fixed, we aren't going anywhere."

"It always seems to be something, doesn't it?" said Terry, shaking his head. "If it's not the fighters, it's the bay doors." He paused and looked around. "You've done a great job, Lieutenant, despite the addition of door problems. Things look like they're really shaping up. I'm going to need you to keep it going down here for a bit longer, though," he said, turning his attention back to Kilmartin. "The Captain has called a Senior Staff meeting down in Engineering. I imagine he's going to want a status report, so please keep me informed. I can go ahead and give him this information, too."

"Yes sir," Kilmartin nodded.

Terry nodded, "Alright then, keep it up, Lieutenant. I'm going to do a quick check and then head to the briefing." Terry smiled, albeit weakly, and did a quick check of the Deck. Everyone was doing a good job of cleaning up and getting things in order. He then walked back to the maintenance hatch and left for the staff briefing.

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