Wild blue yonder

[Ensign Jake Walker 0]

As the heavy personnel shuttle approached Challenger most of the young officers were generating enough electricity to power the lights on the Golden Gate bridge. All but one. He has seen the Challenger many times in the last 8 months. As part of his Navigational training, He was a pilot on the transportation team delivering components and parts to the Challenger project. Not to mention the seemingly endless hours he had to spend in the Challenger simulator to qualify as a candidate for the spot as Navigational Officer. As the shuttle approached he was just glad all the training, testing, poking and prodding had a payday. And it was off the port bow getting bigger by the second.

 

"He" was Jake Walker, Snake to his friends. Snake had been a pilot attached to the 214th Heavy Lift Wing at Pope AFB in North Carolina. Since the Vulcan first contact the Armed Forces of individual governments had mostly been eliminated. The few exceptions had been those who had shifted focus to mostly humanitarian efforts (USAF and Army, British Royal Navy, etc). As far as the Americans went they were the first ones on-site after a disaster, such as a hurricane, tornado, etc. The army did the work, but the Air Force got them there. The Americans were able to be on-site anywhere in the world in 2 hours thanks to the C-1100 Jupiter. And Snake had been one of the Jup's proudest pilots.

 

Now Jake was shifting gears. Starfleet had been recruiting officers from the various branches of the worlds Armed Forces, and Jake took them up on the offer. Jake was only required to complete 2 years of Academy training before graduating. They offered him Advanced Individual Training (AIT) in Colorado, which Jake considered one of the most beautiful places on the planet. Flight training in the Colorado winters were considered demanding because it forced pilots to rely less on their visual and physical keys and focus on instrumentation. Flying through the Rocky Mountains in the winter had crumpled more than a few T-95 trainers, but Jake came through his training without even scratching the paint.

 

And now he was approaching the apex of a pilots career. Sitting at the controls of Starfleets newest starship was the jelly donut, and Jake was taking a big bite. And of course the frosting on that donut was the shuttle pods. How many new and exciting atmospheres would the Challenger encounter during its expedition. Previous pilots had logged their experiences, but Earth explorers had not even scratched the surface of the known galaxy.

 

Sure he would miss his family and friends, But Jake knew that the quality of people who were manning this new starship would present him with many new and friendly faces. He just hoped that some of them knew how to play Euchre. Or even Poker, he thought as he smiled.