Jane Sinclair’s Busy Day, Part The Last: Partners In Crime

Posted on Thu Oct 21st, 2021 @ 3:05am by Lieutenant JG Jane Sinclair & Lieutenant Karen Kujo 'Union Jane'

1,283 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Handling the Fallout
Location: Mess Hall
Timeline: Evening

The busy day was finally over. Lieutenant jg Jane Sinclair had completed her phaser proficiency tests. She had her physical. She checked out the holodeck catalogue. She met the chief engineer and had a great conversation with the chief of intelligence, who helped her with her machine shop and access to classified files, respectively.

She was ready for her role aboard the Myogi.

Finally it was time for a late dinner. Not in her quarters though. She had scarfed down a sandwich in her quarters after trying the spy thriller holonovel. She went to the mess hall instead, replicated a meal-sized salad with strips of seasoned, breaded chicken and a synthehol Pilsner, and looked around for a seat.

There was a woman seated by the window. Long blonde hair and an interesting jacket over her uniform. Jane decided to talk to her.

“Mind if I join you?”

The blonde looked up, a big goofy grin spreading across her face.

"Life's no fun if you don't have someone to share it with!" She replied, her British accent tinged with a strong, Geordie flair. "Have a seat!"

“Thanks!” Jane said, taking the seat. She set her tray down and extended a hand across the table. “Jane Sinclair. I fly the ship.”

"Lieutenant Karen Kujo," the blonde responded in kind. "I fly... smaller ships."

She shrugged. "Eh; sounded better in my head."

Jane giggled. “Ah! You’re responsible for those Razors I saw in the shuttlebay? Those look fast! I prefer shuttles to fighters but I can’t deny that must be thrilling.”

"I know, right?!" Karen agreed, pumping her fists excitedly. "Say, ever threaded a fighter between the engineering hull of a Nebula and one of its nacelles? So satisfying to pull off!"

She chuckled a little at the memory. "Of course, I got my ass chewed out by the Air Boss for making such a close pass, but I'd say a few harsh words was a small to price to pay for the adrenaline rush... How about you?"

“In the Academy, I flew the thrice-weekly run to Eris Station in a Type-11 shuttle,” Jane replied. “Normally a boring run but I’d get to spice it up sometimes. Hug an asteroid, comet, or ring rock. I *might* have got between the primary and secondary hulls of an Oberth once.” She grinned at her new companion. “Why would they put gaps of that size in ships if not for badasses like us to fly through them?”

"Oh, cool!" Karen gasped in amazement. "I can't believe I've never thought to try something like that!"

Jane let out a laugh. I like her, she thought. She picked at her salad and took a big gulp of her beer. “You ever raced?” she asked.

"Well, it's not exactly what you'd call 'legal,' but I have smoked my fair share of street outlaws on the back-roads of Japan," Karen boasted, leaning back slightly in her booth. "Of course, most of the blokes I come across take me for some hot-shot tourist looking for some street cred, so it's always amusing to see the looks on their faces when I show them up in front of their pals..."

“Oh, I’d have loved to see that!” Jane said. “I used to race in space and air but I’ve never tried on the ground. What’s it like?”

"It's wild," Karen replied with a toothy grin. "Given the relative obscurity of the sport, the few enthusiasts that are worth mentioning are highly competitive, to the point where they've got things down to a science."

She paused for a moment or two to take a swig of her synthetic brown ale.

"Ah, now that's a good broon," she sighed. "Anyways, where was I? Oh, right; so the trick I find boils down to finding a happy medium between balance and velocity. For example, you don't want to be slowing down to take a turn, as you're now going slower than your opponent and wasting valuable time getting back up to speed. The solution to that is to oversteer and fishtail around the corner; it's a little trickier to master, but it keeps your speed up and it's so satisfying to pull off!"

Jane’s eyes were locked onto Karen’s as she spoke. The passion in what she was saying was powerful. And that accent….

“There’s a similar technique in orbital or deep space racing,” she said. “You usually need to follow a set path, usually marked by buoys you need to stay close to, or gates you have to fly through. Stay at full burn all the time and you take wide arcs. You’re taught to reduce during turns, but the experienced racer learns to gun it, then cut forward thrust for just a moment and let momentum carry you forward a bit. Just long enough to re-aim your nose and slam the throttle open again. Zoom! through the gate.” She gestured with her hands as she talked, and almost knocked over her now-almost-empty drink, catching it a moment before it tipped. She took the final sip and set the empty glass a bit further away so she couldn’t knock it again. “You miss a buoy or a gate, they send you back to do it right. Hit the buoy and you probably die, so it’s a difficult game, to be sure. But oh my god is the rush worth it.”

"It would appear as though air racing and ground racing have similar principles?" Karen observed. "Maintain velocity, don't hit the obstacles... the only real difference between the two of them boils down to the presence of vertical mobility."

“Seems like it,” Jane agreed. “Generally speaking we don’t have to deal with road conditions in space either though. Not much chance of Turn Five being slick with rain,” she added with a grin. “Then again, some of the courses get disrupted with asteroid collisions or solar flares. Maybe they are comparable in that respect.”

"Hmm... didn't think about that one," Karen remarked as she took another swig of her ale. "But regardless, I'm kind of intrigued to see how orbital and deep space racing work; maybe once we finish whatever it is the Admiralty needs us to iron out, you could show me a simulation in the holodeck?"

Jane grinned. “Show you mine if you show me yours?” She giggled. “I’d love to try street racing.”

Karen cracked up at the remark. "I'd be more than happy to," she replied before leaning in and whispering in Jane's ear. "Between you and me; word on board is that the Second Officer has a Street Racing Scenario programmed into the holodeck, so if I can get my hands on the codes... I think we're golden."

Jane got goosebumps at hot breath on her ear. Man, a date tomorrow and an appointment for holodeck fun with yet another beauty. I’m liking this ship already. She nodded excitedly at the suggestion. “You get the codes. I’ll find some holodeck time one evening once we’re done this first mission. We’ll do some space racing, some street racing, and finish with a drink?”

"Now you're speaking my language!" Karen cackled. "Man, I think I'm gonna love this deployment..."

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Posting by (in order of appearance):

Lieutenant Junior Grade Jane Sinclair
Chief Flight Control Officer, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)

Lieutenant Karen Kujo
Nightkids Squadron Leader, USS Myogi (NCC-65918)

RSS Feed