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Interregnum 01-02 S2 / Re: Day 17 [0845 hrs.] (R)idiculous (I)nconvenient (O)rnament
Last post by rae -[Show/Hide]
“Hold on to your neck ridges, Janus.”
Personally, he wouldn’t have minded if the fucking things just fell off. Or flew off, or got cut off in some ‘tragic,’ ‘unavoidable’ accident. It was a deep, well entrenched dislike that would undoubtedly feel different to the Betazoid than the other aspects of his pity party, with a hint of genuine annoyance thrown in as well. His neck ridges were nowhere near as prominent as a full blooded Cardassian's, but even that little bit had never mixed well with Starfleet’s love of high, starched collars. Just thinking about it made his neck itch under the exosuit.
Ah well, at least he’d gotten Gemini back into a good headspace. No telepathic powers needed, it was clear from how she slipped into action with the practiced ease of a pilot thoroughly trained on this ship. A pilot who was showing off really, but that was to be expected, given the circumstances. He would have been more worried if she hadn't tried.
For his part, Janus did exactly what he'd said, switching his console yet again into a trainer’s setup that would show him an echo of every input as she made it, comparing her actions to the Valravn's reactions. Normally, this view was for a trainer instead of the trainee - cubs learned better by doing than watching - but he'd gotten more use out of it later in life, experienced enough to see Gemini's split second choices and how he could alter them to his own flight style.
For a few seconds, he let himself close his eyes and truly feel it, the rapidly changing forces of gravity that no inertial dampeners could ever keep up with.
He wasn't entirely sure why he cared so much. Sticking to his original assumption, there was no logical reason why Razor wouldn't assign him back to a Valkyrie, a ship he's been flying since before some of the younger pilots had ever gotten their wings. No reason to learn anything about the Valravns beyond boredom and a desire for something to do, even if he was wasting Gemini's time by mucking with her maintenance flight. He was still irked to have found this two seater abomination in the fighter bay at all, considering the years he'd spent turning the Mk III Valkyries into a force to be reckoned with.
When she asked him what he thought, Janus didn’t quite think it through before answering “Excellent flying, precise, assured. Certainly gave me some ideas. But since this is also a combat sim - don't use Thea's nacelles as cover. If you're engaged this close to the mothership, there are better places to lead it that will give bridge tactical a clear shot to skewer the thing. If Thea isn't able to take her own potshots, you want to keep it away from the drive systems. The simulation is only marking you as an enemy, but any living pilot with half a brain is going to forget about you for a chance to take out the bigger ship's warp.”
Belatedly realizing that he was probably out of line - did he have the right to lecture anyone about tactics right now? - Janus continued in a lighter tone. “Ops, or worse, an engineer, will be on coms yelling at you before you ever make it back to the fighter bay. They don't look like much, but have you ever noticed how fucking creative they get when they're pissed?”