..Shadow Here..Aye  Sir... On it...

   Leaving the   Drop ship and closing the ramp, again  , giving  a wide path of the  missing  shuttle.

  The On the COMs   ..he says, SGT Kong-We...and  Hanschel.. We need to have   Shuttle  #4 ready. Engineer team is going out, I'm their  Driver....

 moving back into the Shuttle hanger, Kray locates  Shuttle 4.  once he opens her up, he begins to do the pre-flight on  engines and instruments... warming the engines  a bit.

 The shuts  down, Going to the  hold section  checking the  ramp way.. and,,double, and triple checking the clips and wires..flash backs of survival came back as the dropped  to they ground in special training...

Dragging her tool cart behind her, Hanschel in her wake, Kong-We shops up soon enough to check for any problems shuttle 4 might have.
Kray's pre-flight check reveals only one issue, the onboard airconditioning is two degrees off. Though this might be an issue for the pilots at times, when in space with an open bay, its a non-issue as the entire shuttle will be decompressed anyway. Not something that has to be fixed immediately.
Wires and clamps work like a charm. In ten minutes time they have the shuttle all prepped and good to go.
However, there is the slight problem of Kray being alone.
The shuttles really need a co-pilot. If only to operate the doors, winches, cables and what not, but also to be the pilot's eyes and ears at the back of the ship. When they operate that close to the main hulk, a slight error could spell disaster.

To Shadow's surprise Kong-We starts to suit up to join him.

  Shadow  watches  as  Kong-We,..I dunno..SGT?..I mean..if  sometnin' goes sideways out there.., me and some engineers   can be replaced..but  yer  supposed ta be a wonder-kinder...

  He had  just  checked his suit... checking seals and the like......i don't look fer nothin' bad, but considering  the stuff that goes non here..Ya know..Like the stuff in hanger bay 4?

 Kray doesn't look right at her  when he brings up  ahnger Bay 4, but only starts to  put his suit on.

If she knows about bay 4 she doesn't show. Instead, she starts to meticulously check Kray's suit as he checks hers.
"Do job. Fly well. No problems."

  He chuckles,..when it  comes  time to fly...I always  do 'm best. But those  folks are  gonna be working on an engine that has a  Buttered   Vane or two....Now..stuff has  me  , more then a little  worried here.. is everyone is be secrect about stuff.. cause some fella  is dead on the bridge...an' someone tried to blow us up...if we got  woke a bit early..now?  ya think  us Military folks , at  least, would be let in on the secrets ? Cause..hey? ain't none of us going back to earth... an' information , not  given..could be what kills us all...

Lu turns, facing Kray, her face all business.
"I do not know Australia, but China, need to know basis. GNA much the same. You understand? We need to know, we will hear. Meanwhile we do job, make job easier for command."
Then she turns back to her part of the cockpit, flipping switches and checking her systems.
"You supposed to be good pilot. You show me."

"Bridge, shuttle 4 ready for launch. Test run."

  He chuckles,...ain't  no Bleedin' 'supposed' about it.... lets  see if these are any better, then the bricks  with wings they had back home.......I also wanna  make  some  back ups... test m' touch.. so when were ready for that.. ya  hook up and i'll open the  ramps   ta see .

"Agreed, back and side tests. No idea what team will need." Lu flicked some switches, suddenly bathing the cockpit in darkness except for the system lights. Sliding her chair back she then lowered a range viewer, allowing her to see three-sixty around the Rhino Shuttle.

..Right  Then..off we go......   taxing   slowly towards  the Hnager  doors  he waits for them to open. If he can see   who is openignthem, He'll give them his deck slaute and, push off into the  Black using thusters  until eh was the  required  30 yards past, the kick in the  engines...

 wtaching the indicators  as the  engines came fully to life. He moved  outward.  hid did some  left and  right  bnaks, a  climb and Dive, remaining as smooth as he was able in the 'brick'... he tried to pivot  first, on the nose...then pivot  on the tail...... He  flew Under the  MArco  , doing an immelmann  and came  back over top  to   come  down where the Hanger    doors were..

 ..No..lets  see if i can coax her to count inches..instead of  feet?

  He looks at the CAm and has the  #4 in the middle of his screen as he   uses thrusters only to back her up...watching the 4 get bigger and bigger..and watching the Numbers  dropping rapidly , from yards..to feet.. when it reached  5 feet. he hit the thrusters the other  way to stop  their momentum, and push her slightly away from Hanger bay .

 ..Screen says..5 feet 3 inches.. what do you have?
This message was last edited by the player at 13:45, Mon 27 Mar 2017.

"Five-three... Five-two... Steady at five-one. Slow spin 90 degree lengthwise please. Belly to the ship."
Lu kept her gaze locked on the viewer, working on instinct.

  flicking   the screens, he  watched that, and the windscreen.  The  shuttle  moving  with the combined touch of roll, pitch and Yaw. Shadow  was good at this  with a fighter...some times   doing this  on a pivot  during the Mock  combat..even 'torched' an instructor like that..in his academy career he had  torched  3  instructors , who started calling him'head hunter'.

 But  a scuttle had its own set of  rolls.. which was nice , in a way...  he   flicked the   shuttle's   thrusts  again to try to get as close  as he  could..looking throught the  camera where the 'boarding hatch' is.. as if   the shuttle would be locking on... he waited  to feel the soft bump of the shuttle's landing gear.

The bump was a bit harder than expected, the shuttle responding just a tad slower than Kray was used to. Still, a manouvre well performed.
Even Lu agreed.
"Good. Now at eight meters out, so I can test winches. Keep steady, slowly straight up.

  There is a nod...perhaps a light frown at the bump....8 meters out...

 slowly rising as he feels the tug of the  winches...

  Shadow watched the screen with the Cam view, while watching the  nose of the  shutting.

  He wasn't in love, with flying shuttles, his  instructors  made him take more then his share of runs with them..either to punish him..or sharpen his skills...or both.

 Either way.. he was still better then a lot of shuttle jocks and at this point? he was competing against himself.

Lee finds herself in the Hangar where she spends time looking at the Boats that are there. Looking through and trying the different types out for fit.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:51, Fri 24 Mar 2017.

Lee can only access hangar 1. Hangar 2 is depressurised because of manouvers. In Bay one she finds the 24 Hellcat fighters, and several engineers servicing them.
However, since she is no pilot, she is not allowed to sit in any of them.
She could access hangar three through the hold if she wanted.

Strolling over to the Engineers servicing the Hellcats, Lee asks if it was possible got a look inside the Vessel and perhaps even try the seat out, that's if they'd didn't mind.

"Sorry ma'am, no can do. Only pilots. Major Ascott's orders."
The young engineer shrugs apologetically before sticking his head back into the fuselage of the fighter, trying to fasten some tubing.

In reply to Hangar 1 (msg # 53):

No probs sport Lee replied the ship had so many areas that were still
inoperative she decided to heading back to her cabin.

As Kray lands shuttle 4 a crew of engineers is already waiting with several carts of gear. The moment they get the okay they start unloading the carts, securing the tools in the cargo bay.

Lu takes her seat in the cockpit again, running her post-flight sequence.
"Good work," she states without looking at Shadow.

  There is a nod, and his half smile,..Aye Mate... I know...but thank you.

  shutting the engines  down. He steps out of cockpit  to stretch his leags and wait for the team to arrive.

   While he  waited for the Engineer,  Shadow  moved to the back of the  shuttle to see if  any  damage was done by the Cables.

  ..well..... he said into his Helmet to Kong-we,..that is  one plus about workin' in Zero...don't hafta worry 'bout things bangin' around .

Was that a smile?
Kray cannot be certain, as Lu keeps her head firmly turned to her systems, but it looked like one.
"Engineer team, we are ready for you, you can load up," she communicates to the men working the cartloads outside.
Yep, that was a smile for sure.

  While the Team Loaded , Shadow  finished his turn around the shuttle, Patting the  Nose  as he  walked around to re-enter.



  Over The COMs  he says,..LT Shadow here...Engineer team Loaded...lookin' fer  permission ta take off?

 he flicked on the  hold CAM to see if they were buckled in as he waited for the call.

Word from the bridge comes back, giving the shuttle the go-ahead to get the repairs in. Dr. Cornell will be monitoring the effort from his station in engineering, coordinating the team from there. As the four engineers take place and strap up, the hangar bay depressurises and the doors open.
"We should get forcefield like sci-fi movies," Lu mutters as the pressure evaporates.

"Rhino Four, you are clear to take off. Vector one-niner, speed 4 knots. Major Ascott requests you see him upon return Lt. Shadow."