Flashback: Speed Racer, Part 1: The ‘88 70 Ophiuci Rally
Posted on Fri Dec 3rd, 2021 @ 9:44pm by Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair
1,768 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
Handling the Fallout
Location: 70 Ophiuci System
Timeline: 6 March 2388
Footage of small, shuttlecraft-sized ships existing a dense asteroid cluster and flying off into deep space
Voice only / Lead pack has just gotten through the C2 field. Runcis and the number 15 is still in the lead, followed closely by Ccora Maygua's 103 and th'Zora in the 29. About four and a half seconds back is Sinclair. She's trying to close that gap but her number 81 seems to be sluggish on the turns today. Turning now to Darrell Lazenby. Darrell?
As race footage still dominates the screen, a smaller image in the bottom right corner shows Federation Sports Service correspondent Darrell Lazenby sitting next to an aged Japanese man in a command red Starfleet uniform
Jenson, I'm sure you and anyone who's travelled by intra-system shuttle in the Sol System knows, most of those shuttles are flown by Starfleet cadets, learning piloting skills and good discipline, not to mention logging lots of flight hours. Some of the most famous Starfleet officers, like Admiral Edward Jellico, Captain William Riker, and Commander Geordi La Forge, began their careers flying those commuter shuttles taking people like you and me to our business meetings on Titan, for example, or the Neptune L2 Station. Well I'm sitting here with Commander Morioka Arata, chief flight instructor at Starfleet Academy back on Earth. One of Commander Morioka's responsibilities is to assign Junior and Senior Cadets with those flight assignments. Good afternoon, Morioka-san.
Thank you for having me, Darrell.
Commander, when Jane Sinclair isn't racing here, she's flies for you. What're your impressions of her?
Cadet Sinclair is one of our most gifted pilots, and she's an excellent technician. She can also be incredibly grating. She has never disobeyed an order but she skirts the flight rules if she thinks she can get away with that.
Isn't that dangerous?
Ordinarily yes, but because of how familiar she is with shuttle systems, both from racing and from her time working at the Proxima Yards, she actually does know what's safe and what isn't. She exceeds speed limits and flies too close to other ships or debris, but not once has even left a scuff mark. Indeed, a lot of her passenger reviews are fantastic, praising her for getting to their destinations early.
What's this I read about unauthorized excursions? Has she stolen ships?
More like she doesn't return them promptly. Takes a detour in her empty ship between the final run and going back to the hangar. But because she's good at maintenance work, she's able to get the ship ready for its next run in less time. *Laughs* Pisses me off. I told her that if a shuttle was late even once, by even a minute, she'd be expelled. And she smirks at me every time she stands by the shuttle at the next pre-flight inspection.
*Laughs* Cocky as hell, but it sounds like she's earned it. What do you make of her flight today?
The picture-in-picture image of the two men has been replaced with footage of #81 in different parts of the race. Part of the montage includes interior shots of Jane Sinclair's cockpit
I think there's something wrong with her plasma manifolds. Something must have misfired early in the race and cracked one of them. It's making it harder for her to make those turns. The three leaders grew their lead by a full second in the B field and another half-second in the C2. See the way she's bouncing around like that? She's obviously tuned down her inertial dampers more than the other pilots to try and compensate, but it's not enough. She's putting everything she's got into staying in fourth, and she knows it. Maybe she gains back a bit of time if the others screw up their warp windows.
But Runcis and th'Zora are particularly good at the warp jump portions of these rally races.
So you say. But can I tell you a secret, Darrell?
*Laughs* Please do, Commander.
I always bet on Cadet Sinclair. She'll never let me live it down if she finds out though. *Laughs*
Thank you for speaking with us, Commander. We'll go back now to Jenson Jarrett in the booth.
The image in the picture-in-picture changes to Jenson Jarrett, Federation Sports Service, in a room with a window to space behind him. The Class M planet 70 Ophiuci A III is visible, as are the buoys designating the start and end point of the race.
Thank you, Darrell, and thank you Commander Morioka. The leaders are coming up to the final warp window that will take them from 70 Ophiuci C back to A and toward the finish line....
There was still much to do before the race was over. Sure they were through the asteroid fields, slalomed the buoys around the moon of D IV, skimmed the atmosphere of B II, and made three small warp jumps between the four stars that made up the 70 Ophiuci System. But they still had to make that final warp jump and then make it around A II before coming to the finish line.
Jane Sinclair was ready. Her shuttle, however, was not.
The commentator had been correct, not that Jane could see or hear it. Within ten minutes of starting, one of the plasma manifolds in her fusion drive had cracked. High-speed impulse steering was effectively shot.
To compensate, she brought her inertial dampers down to 55%, from where they had been at 65%. Her competition flew somewhere between 60-80%, depending on the race. The physics was well understood: inertial dampers, in addition to keeping the inside of the ship stable, prevented relativistic effects caused by acceleration. In practical terms, that meant ships at "full impulse" stopped accelerating when they reached 0.25c or so. In shuttle races, the dampers were tuned down, letting the pilots break the standard "speed limit" and reach speeds of 0.4 or even 0.45c. It also meant the rides were much rougher, which is why she wore a flight suit and helmet and was secured to her seat with a five-point harness. Turning down the dampers helped smooth out her yaw steering, and helped her stay in the race.
There was nothing else she could do about the cracked manifold directly. If it were a regular shuttle flight, she would either try to replace it mid flight or return to a shuttlebay and fix it there. It was one of those problems was truly impossible to predict. One manifold might run perfectly for 3,000 hours of flight time (normal rating was 2,000) and another might run for only 20 hours before cracking. In the middle of the race, all she could do was either return to the landing bay or try to manage it.
As always, she chose to try to manage it. And she was doing a decent job!
She was approaching the warp window. A stretch of space, marked by buoys, that was half a million kilometres long. At their current speed, they would be in and out of it in less than four seconds. They had to jump to warp 2 inside that narrow window. Another one, exactly as long, was 20 AUs away. It would take about 16 minutes to reach. They had to get back to below 0.5c within that window. Failure to enter and exit warp in the allotted areas meant disqualification. But jumping as early as possible and exiting as late as possible could mean gaining on her competition.
Her warp engines were primed. She crossed the buoys.
Crack
Starlight swirled and she was suddenly flying ten times the speed of light in a straight line, crossing the distance between 70 Ophiuci C and A.
And Jane Sinclair was suddenly in agony.
She closed her eyes tight and tried to breathe through the pain, but every breath hurt. She needed to get herself under control.
It took a minute of work, spent thankfully at warp with nothing to dodge, but she managed to calm down. What had happened? When she jumped to warp with underpowered inertial dampers, the force of the harness against her chest was enough to crack her ribs. She couldn’t know how many or how badly until she landed. The pain was worse than anything she’d felt before, but she could tolerate it.
She would need to tolerate it, because she wasn’t quitting the race.
Darrell, that was an unbelievable ending!
It sure was, Jenson. Th’Zora’s last minute boost managed to get him across the finish line just an eighth of a second before Runcis. Ccora Maygua finished third, but even more surprising is Sinclair, who managed to keep her fourth position and even closed that gap to only three-point-two seconds. Pretty good for someone with a damaged plasma manifold. Hwa rounds out the top 5. The final positions of the remaining thirty-eight participants are being displayed now.
We’ve already seen Th’Zora’s victory cruise. We’ll cut back to him in a few minutes, but first let’s cut to Lindsay Croft at the main landing zone to meet up with Sinclair. Lindsay?
The main image cuts to a young woman, Lindsay Croft, another correspondent with the Federation Sports Service, in a landing bay. She is standing outside a shuttle marked with the number 81
Thanks Darrell, Jenson. In just a moment, we expect the hatch on the number 81 to open and Jane Sinclair to step out. Mechanical issues aside, she had an amazing race, and a large crowd of people are standing here with me, hoping to get a glimpse of the 26-year-old Proximan. It’s a bit surprising she hasn’t come out yet, but it’s understandable that she’d want to take a breather before coming out.
Voice only / Lindsay, we’ve just been given confirmation from Sinclair’s team manager that you can go in and greet her yourself. There should be someone there to open the hatch.
Alright, I’m on my way. Through the crowd, to the door. Hatch opens; camera follows Lindsay inside. Jane? Jane? Lindsay Croft, Federation Sports. Great race out there, today, how are you feeling? Oh, shit.
The camera moves around to focus on Jane Sinclair, still strapped into her chair. Her eyes are open but have trouble focusing. She smiles at the camera and there is blood all over her teeth. She gives the camera a thumbs up before she falls unconscious
Someone get a medic in here, now! And cut the feed!
[ / / / ]
Cadet Junior Grade Jane Sinclair
Starfleet Academy, and also occasional racing pilot
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