==/\== P E R S O N A L L O G ==/\==

[rosetto 0]

After three days of flying Hoppers and Worker Bees, Rosetto grew anxious for a more challenging flight. If he was to pass this course then he would have to demonstrate to his instructors that he could handle more than simple courier missions. Today's mission was one such opportunity, Search & Rescue.

 

He had retrieved the mission plans on his PADD the night before from Instructor Lopez and was briefed that he would be in the front seat again with Cadet Cloverdale at Nav. He had not spoken with Nashwa in two days; 'drawn away by other concerns' he thought; and wondered if her presence would keep him at ease as it had before. It was passing 0700 hours and she was no where to be found. Assured that Lopez would find a suitable substitute, Rosetto continued to study the mission at hand. The vessel he was to fly was a some what larger one this time; a Class J Merchantman! This vessel was 150 meters long and consumed most of the Holodeck as they entered to start this mission.

 

As this was a space-born vessel, they would enter via a transporter pad that was situated at the far end of the room. The lieutenant, however, wanted them to do (and get used to doing) a walk-about visual inspection and familiarize themselves with the modifications to this classical freighter vessel. The ship was suspended mid-air which provided a full 360 by 360 view for them. The lieutenant explained that there were four decks and the first cargo deck, the one directly beneath the main deck had been converted to a medical section. The other two were set up for disaster recovery facilities and could transport a thousand refugees to safety if necessary. As their mission was one of flight training, they would not have to concern themselves with the details of these operations but only familiarize themselves with the general layout.

 

As Lopez continued to lecture a late-comer had arrived and tugged slightly on Rosetto's tunic. It was Nashwa and he smiled; happy that she could make it. She seemed a little out of sorts and played catch-up on her PADD while the Lieutenant stepped over to the Holodeck Arch and tapped on its keyboard. The vessel was instantly split in two exposing the interior details.

 

"As you can now see, cadets", she continued pointing with a hand laser, "This vessel is much larger than it appears to be and there is much to consider when maneuvering her during rescue operations. The lowest deck has been fitted with a tractor beam and retractable cargo bay doors that can be utilized for surface extractions where the use of transporters is not feasible."

 

Nashwa quietly explained that Kenya, her youngest, had taken ill and that she was still a bit worried about her condition. It was a simple flu bug but Kenya was only 2. Rosetto shared his concern while listening to Lopez detail the transporter pads on deck three. He assured her that Kenya would be just fine and they smiled and turned back to the briefing.

 

"Okay cadets. Our mission is to rescue a small group of 20 sight-seers on a class-M planet that is experiencing some unexpected tectonic shifting. Cloverdale. Glad to see you with us. You will be coordinating efforts with the rescue specialists on deck 3 while we are hovering above the site. They will manage all surface contact from their position. Rosetto. You will need to familiarize yourself with the surrounding areas; appendix C of your mission plan. Beck and Johnson. You two will be with me on the sensor panels. Any questions? Save them! We're on a timeline people. Lives are at stake so stow it and get your butts on the transporter pads!"

Rosetto quickly paged to appendix C and took some quick glances. There was a hillside, some cliffs, a large lake and several small clearings but none looked larger than 60 meters in diameter. He slipped his PADD into his pouch just as they shimmered off the transport pad. They materialized on the bridge and the three seats of the helm control were ten meters ahead of them. Nashwa darted to the left seat and Rosetto took the right and he began to check the onboard system status boards.

 

“Rosetto, you will note that we are enroute to the planet with an ETA of 10 minutes. Cloverdale will have the site locations keyed in. I want to hover fifty meters above and attempt a beam out operation”, barked the lieutenant as she busied the other two cadets with configuring the navigational sensors.

 

He busied himself with getting the vessel prepared for a standard orbit entry. This was SOP for all planetary flights and he needed to get the vessel there at the correct time so that they could descend into the atmosphere proxima to the site entered. Nashwa had a little concerned in her eyes as she quickly called up the planetary details and zeroed in on the evac site. It was worse than they’d been told. The site was dense with trees reaching 30 meters in height and the refugee camp was reported as being 250 meters from the lake shore beneath the natural canopy.

 

“Beck, I’m gonna need your numbers as soon as you get them,” she called out as Beck was initializing and configuring the forward scanners for lifesigns. These numbers were critical for her calculations and coordination efforts with the transport chief on the deck below. Rosetto looked at her with a smile and a silent horizontal palm that she understood as a calming gesture. There was a confirming nod as she returned a half-smile He knew that panic was the enemy of mission objectives and more often than not it proliferated chaos and confusion. Focusing his attention on the vessel’s controls he called up the flight ops for standard orbits and entered his specifics. The system quickly returned the suggested trajectory and he enabled the program.

 

 

“Leaving standard orbit. ETA, 4 minutes ma’am”, he called to the Instructor who had braced herself on a bulk head watching Johnson & Beck tapping away at the sensor panels. The vessel surged and banked as it slipped through the atmospheric boundary. There was slight turbulence and Rosetto gripped the main controls keeping his eye on the bead. His entry was far from perfect and was received with a stern glance from Lopez who took notice to a glass that had tumbled off a shelf and onto the deck. When they entered the cloud bank she stepped over and retrieved it but Rosetto didn’t see this. He was far too occupied with his maneuvers. They were now 125 kilometers away according to the display in front of him. He banked left and brought the forward thrusters on line that helped slow their descent.

Edited May 14, 2010 by rosetto