The finishing touches

Posted on Thu Jul 11th, 2019 @ 1:03am by Lieutenant Jack Carver

Mission: War and Peacekeeping
Location: Main hangar deck
Timeline: The night prior to launch

It had been - and still was - a total bustle of activity on the main hangar deck on the Astraea. The layout of this hangar deck was a unique feature on the Akira class, designed to be light cruisers / light carrier hybrids. Their main hangar deck ran the entire length of the saucer section, with the aft access between the pylons, nominally used for incoming craft, and the fore access in the front of the saucer, for departing craft.

First, Jack's ground crews had arrived via shuttles. Then the cargo pallets had been categorized and beamed to the ship's various cargo bays via the onboard transporter system. Next, the ship's complement of shuttles and runabouts were moved towards the aft of the through-deck hangar, parked type by type on either side, lining the walls.

After that came the mass transporting of support equipment, rows of optional mission pods for the Gryphons, diagnosis equipment, munitions, spare parts - a truly enormous amount of support equipment for six fighters.

All this equipment was placed lining one side of the hangar, towards the front, dividing roughly a quarter of the total hangar space into six separate bays, one for each of the Gryphons. Lining the opposite wall, support equipment for the smaller Razor interceptors. Fortunately, this took less time and less space.

It had taken more hours of hard work than Jack cared to admit of hard work hooking everything up, making sure everything came across properly and was functional. The twenty ground crew attached to his two squadrons had done impressive work, working down the list to square everything away, knowing the ship had orders to launch mere hours from now.

But then, it was time. The moment Jack had been working towards. And he sent the communique to the USS Overloon, holding position outside the starbase. The order to send his fighters. One by one they launched from Overloon. One after the other they entered Starbase space. One after another they lined up an approach vector for Astraea. And one by one they flew into the hangar bay, lining up a final approach between the ship's pylons, requesting docking clearance, and entering their new home.

First, the six Razor interceptors of 72nd Interceptor wing, Wraith Wing. Small, angular, sharply pointed machines, with a single pilot. Small - about the size of a small shuttle. Fast, agile, with only light shields and light weapons. And each with a name painted on the right wing, in elaborate calligraphy lettering.

'Hunter'.

'Hornet'.

'Shank'.

Every Razor that landed was ushered to its new parking spot by ground crew, Jack Carver himself noting their arrival on a PADD, ticking off each ship as it landed.

'Weasel'.

'Locust'.

'Firefly'.

72nd Interceptor Wing, Wraith Wing, was transferred. One by one the ships, small, sleek, looking fast even when standing still, came to a halt and powered down their engines. One by one, cockpit hatches opened and their pilots emerged, congregating near Jack to watch the next set of arrivals, the meat of Jack's fighter group.

And one by one, the sleek, powerful and brand spanking new Gryphons started to arrive. Much larger and much, much more powerful craft than the Razors, these approached small runabout size, with back mounted nacelles, wings with pulse cannons mounted in their roots, a Type 7 phaser bank on its back, and carrying two crew - a pilot and a weapons officer.

And each, just like the Razors, had a name painted in black calligraphy on the right wing.

'No Mercy'.

'Animus'.

'Diplomacy'.

With each arrival, Jack's tired demeanor lifted. These were his ships. Hisfighters. And - to him - they were drop dead gorgeous.

'Leopard'.

'Bad News'.

'Reaper'.

And with that, 16th Heavy Fighter Wing, Revenant Wing, was home. As each Gryphon lazily rolled into their new designated position and powered down, as their flight crews emerged, Jack wandered over to the one right in the front, Revenant 1, callsign No Mercy, and traced a hand over the leading edge of the sleek and powerful machine's right wing.

"Hello beautiful." he smiled, letting his gaze wander over the beautiful form of his personal ride. "Welcome home."