((Transcripted from Discord room 214-Aerospace Race 
[Event RP Room]))
Maikull
Turning from the crowd, Maikull approached Lt.Cmdr Pi, finishing the drink in his hand. “So how was that?” he inquired. “I think it went well sir, very inspirational” the Ex-Borg Officer remarked, still tending to the data on his PADD. Rounding the ramp to the Perch, Lt.Cmdr Brannigan gave a small clap, “Well done Cap! Was worried you were teetering into buzzkill territory, but then you roped them back in with the Overstocked bar remark!” The Andorian jested. Finishing his report, Pi gave his full attention once more to the group, turning to face the Andorian, “I figured you’d be halfway to the shuttle bay to register your time. Still going to go at it in the Peregrine?” he asked. Zach shook his head, “Nah, Figure id let some others take a crack at it before I break their hopes and dreams of a high score.” He chuckled. “And honestly if no one else brings a Peregrine to the mix, I might just take one of the Yellowstone’s out.” “Well play nice.” Barron warned, “but we do have a reputation to uphold.” He voiced to the bolstering pilot. “You actually gonna give it a go?” Zach asked his Commanding Officer. Barron nodded, “Yea, figured I’d take the Yacht for a spin. Don’t worry, I’ll go after you and try not to hurt your feelings by crushing your times by too much.” Zach laughed aloud, pointing his fingers at Maikull and nodding, “Them’s are fighting words cap!” He said backing away back towards the ramp. “Gonna get back to mingling.” He announced before returning to the crowd in the Canteen section of the Lounge.
Chell Brohm
Chell wouldn’t have missed a genuine, non-holographic Starfleet-sanctioned racing event for all the free holodeck time in the quadrant. Through the introduction from the captain, the pilot had her eyes glued to the view of the asteroid field out the windows, making notes on the map of the route she has on her PADD with the details she sees. When the clapping begins she realises the speech ended, and joins in the applause politely. Once the crowd dissolves into conversations, she weaves her way through it towards the captain and his officers. “Oh, Commander Barron!” she tries to get his attention. Once she does, she rambles out both her introduction and request in one breath. “Hi, sir! Petty Officer Chell Brohm, I’m from the flight deck back at Deep Space 13, uhm, I heard you might have a Peregrine Falcon I could borrow, is that right? I mean, as long as there’s still a time slot left for it- I don’t mind waiting. Or going first.”
Maikull
Zach was halfway down the ramp when he heard the petty officers request and immediately did a 180. Commander Barron smiled and greeted Chell, “Hello Petty Officer, and yes. We have Several Class 8 Shuttlecraft on loan from the Starbase, Two Yellowstone Runabouts, and 6 Peregrine Fighters available for use. There new though, so I’ll ask you mind the paint job on them.” He said with a smile, offering a handshake to the junior officer.
Zach had returned to the group, “Now THIS is a pilot!” he announced boldly coming from behind. “She didn’t ask for the space bus, she went straight for the Corvette keys! Hi, I’m Zach Brannigan! Chief Tactical and Chief Flight officer, USS Sun Tzu.” He introduced himself. “Peregrine’s are perfect for a course like this, they can handle the S curves and bends like a dream. Good choice!”
“So I take it you’re going to register the Blue Hawk now?” The Ex-Borg Officer commented to Zach. “Well, if she’s taking one out, I gatta!” the Andorian responded. Barron waived off the two Lt. Cmdrs and focused back on Chell, “Your free to use any available craft we have on hand, just speak with the Flight Deck Officer on the Shuttle Bay observation lounge. And sure, if you’re up for it, you’re more than welcome to break the course in!”
“Zach may have done the initial flight when we found this location, but I have since increased the length and difficulty of the course to prevent him from having an edge.” Pi noted to Chell, “So please feel free to humble any and all officers here.” Pi continued with a smile.
Chell Brohm
“Great! I mean, uh, that’s great, sir!” She reaches to accept the hand and gives it an overly-enthusiastic shake, “Don’t worry sir, no Falcons will be harmed in the making of these laps. Well, barring unforeseeable circumstances. I know that type inside and out, I’ve been training on them since Mars technical academy.” When the chief flight officer addresses her, she turns from the captain and smiles widely. Easily caught up in a bit of excitement for things that go zoom, she finds his energy somewhat infectious, and her nervousness around the ranking officers diminishes. “Blue Hawk? That’s a great name. Shorter wavelength than red, right? Makes it faster. I’ll probably stick with the Falcons, it’s the type I’m most familiar with. In fact, I should go familiarize myself with yours… the ones we’ve got back on DS13 are definitely not new.” Then an awkwardly placed afterthought, “Uh, sir.” The chatty Bolian also flashes a bright smile to Pi, “Well, I’ll do my best sir! It’s really just in the spirit of fun though, right?” Of course, when it comes to career enthusiasts given a chance to flex their professional skills, it’s much more than in just the spirit of fun.
Maikull
“U.S.S. Blue Hawk is the name of his ‘personal’ Peregrine, its wing leader for our two squadrons, so it’s outfitted to be a little more ‘advanced’ than the others, but shouldn’t matter much for the race itself.” Pi clarified.“Yea, we can totally go, I need to get signed up anyway, and while we are there you can check out the wings.” Zach confirmed with a smile.
Mitsuki Rumiho (LTJG)
Rumiho trots up to the officers and Chell after a bit, she had been talking to Tsurugi who is just here to support likely, he slowly follows as Rumiho speaks up.
“Harou Chell-san! Sirs.” She adds for the other ship officers with a short head bow.
“I read stuff but I’ll still kinda unsure how to get set up…” She says with a tilt of her head.
Maikull
Zach chuckles and scratches the back of his head, “yea, bad timing on that automated announcement huh?” He acknowledged. “Basically we head to the Flight Control Deck on deck 6 that overlooks the Shuttle Bay, there the on duty flight officer will register your choice of ship, and your time slot.” The Andorian Officer explained.
“Due to the narrow flight path, and increased risk, this will be timed solo runs, so it’s just a matter of who has the track at what times. We will be here for a few hours, so no major rush, but you can only sign up one run at a time.” Lt.Cmdr Pi explained further.
Chell Brohm’s Run
Chell spends as much time as possible getting to know the Peregrine Falcon loaned to her by the crew of the Sun-Tzu. Fortunately the design is standardized, and aside from a few updated display panels and a more efficient EPS flow regulator, everything feels right where it should be. As her registered time with the circuit draws nearer, she launches and gets the fighter into position. And then it’s go time.
Chell’s first lap is quick, but she paces herself. She learned back in the amateur racing she did in her youth that taking a lap to learn the circuit is worth more than all the notes you could take just looking at it, so she looks for the right racing lines, estimates how quickly a few turns can be made, but doesn’t fly up against any limits. She finishes with a 96 second run, then repositions at the start and does a systems check.
“Okay. Now for real.” The gloves are off. The fighter’s engines are fully open through the first checkpoint, only slowing down from full impulse for a turn near a particularly large asteroid. She can remember which turn looked like it would take what throttle setting and begins setting an impressive time, but then she misjudges one sharp turn and overshoots the checkpoint, requiring her to circle back and waste precious seconds. The lap clocks in at 74 seconds.
Clenching her teeth a little, she repositions at the start and takes a moment to settle herself. The computer reminds her this will be the final lap. Systems are green, the checkpoints are reset. One lap wiser, she takes off. At these speeds there’s very little time to plan ahead. Look ahead, react, look again, no room for anything else. Ripping around the track with maybe a little too much confidence, in some segments she pushes right up against the limits of the ship and her own abilities. In just 62 seconds she’s through.
Slowing her heartbeat with some deep breaths, she pumps her first inside the cockpit. “Yes!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2sumgTbPo0 (Click to Watch the Run!)
Maikull
After showing Chell the Shuttle Bay and registering himself, Zach headed back to the Courthouse to watch the young Chief make her run. Pi remained on the perch taking notes while Kiff had joined him the crowd. “Ay! Kiff! Good timing, there is someone I want you to meet!” he boasted loudly, pointing out to the window as the Peregrine Fighter made its way to the starting point.
Watching the Bolian Pilot make her first run, seeing her time drained the cheerful emotion from his face. As she made her second lap, the color began to drain as well, and on her final lap, the automated announcement system chimed:
“Petty Officer, First Class Brohm; Peregrine Class Craft; One Minute Two Seconds. New Course Record”
Maikull
“WHAT?!” Zach whimpered, as Kiff burst into laughter behind him, “Wasn’t your course time like One Forty-Two?” he cackled. As Zach watched the shuttle bank back to the ship, he could only stand amazed at the Chief’s skills as a pilot. Maybe he HAD been spending too much time flying a starship. Maybe he was losing his touch.
Pi descended from the Perch with a glass of ice, and handed it to Zach. “Here, for that bruised ego” he snickered, trying to maintain his composure. Kiff just continued howling with laugher, and slung his arm around Zach, “Oh yea, someone who can fly like that, I defiantly got to meet!” he jeered.
Between the ice and his friend’s jabs, Zach couldn’t help but to laugh along as well. “DAMN that girl is good.” He proclaimed, a larger grin smearing across his face. “KIFF, Fetch me my Aviators! I got a run to make!” he announced, shoving the glass of ice to the Bolian Engineer and heading back out towards the Shuttle Bay.
Veneela Sovum
Ven slowly approaches Rumi in her flight suit and beams in an excited manner. “Did you see that last person!?” she states bursting with enthusiasm and excitement “That was so fast!”
Mitsuki Rumiho (LTJG)
Rumiho whistles, “Chell is no slouch… I don’t think I can do better than that in tiny ships… Never even operated a Peregrine. Think my best bet is something with some drift like a Runnie.”
Veneela Sovum
Ven makes a ‘pffft’ sound. “I think we can beat her. At least I hope so. She was really good, she’s more of a pilot then she lets on when I see her at Risa!”
Mitsuki Rumiho (LTJG)
Deadpans, “I’ve never heard her talk about anything else…” then softens, “I don’t have the reaction for inertia shifting, I usually stick to flip burns and wide turns… typical in big ships.”
Veneela Sovum
“Ah,” Ven replies undeterred in her energetic enthusiasm. “Well, whatever you need me to do just let me know!”
Zach Brannigan’s Run
A few moments later
Sitting at the helm in his personalized Peregrine Fighter, Zach banked to the starting line. “Shuttle Control to Blue Hawk, you are clear for your run.” The Flight Control Officer reported from the comms. Zach snapped open his sunglasses from Risa and slipped them on, tapping the controls on his terminal, he opened up the media player, and pressed play on the active track. An ancient, nostalgic Terran rock tune echoed through the cockpit and through the comms; even the people standing by in the Courthouse could faintly hear the upbeat music. Scrolling across, he accessed the timer function on his terminal, took a deep breath, and as he hit the “Start” button, he accelerated.
He blasted full impulse out of the gate, but his experience tempered his haste, and he dialed back to 3/4th Power for more control. Hitting his targets, and weaving back and forth across the navigational line, he rounded the first corners, and into the “S” curves. He knew the markers would be far closer together, so he once again dialed back to 1/2 Power to better maneuver before opening her back up to 3/4th Power rounding the first large asteroid.
The music helped keep him focused, he wanted to play back how Chell blew through this section at near full impulse, and how that already set him behind, but he knew the distraction would only slow him down further. Blasting through the first straight away at full impulse speed, he rounded the 2nd large asteroid and readied himself. He knew this section was going to be dicey, so once again he dialed the speed back some, but activated his conductive accelerator, which boosted his maneuvering thrusters even more, allowing him to bob-and-weave his way through the narrow zipper and make his third loop around before throwing the throttle on yet another straight away.
Another Turn, another round of sharp corners and S-Curves for his conductive accelerator’s to get him past, almost missing a mark but pulling through by the skin of his antenna. It was the last stretch. Caution to the wind he knew he had to make up the time and threw it into full gear, banking hard to starboard as he rounded the final curve, the finish line within sight. As he blast past, the fireworks went off behind him and he quickly drew up his terminal as the Automated Announcement System went off
Zach Race (Final).mp4 - Google Drive (Click to watch The Run “Sound On!”)
“Lieutenant Commander Brannigan; Peregrine Class Craft; One Minute Twenty Seven Seconds. Exceeds Course Par.”
Maikull
Zach retuned to the Courthouse following his run and met back up with his friends.
“Well you definitely did better than last time!” The Bolian Engineer congratulated. “But Petty Officer Brohm still has you beat by 20 seconds.” Pi clarified.
Zach laughed it off, “Hay, I’m happy with a sub 100! And yea, props to that girl, she’s an amazing pilot. I clearly got to get back on the saddle and get my skill level back up before I’d be comfortable flying at her level.” He asserted, taking a drink to help cool off the adrenaline rush.
Mitsuki Rumiho’s Run
Rumiho leads Veneela and Tsurugi to the bay to get their Yellowstone Runabout running.
Rumiho works through her checklist and getting them out the bay while Tsu, who no one stopped from boarding the craft, seems to be fiddling with stuff to juice it. “Some people are supportive, I like to consider myself additive.” he claims.
Rumiho rolls her eyes, “I doubt we can match a Peregrine’s moment of inertia even with any boosts, but any bit helps.” she said as she flew them out to the start position.
“Not a boost, it’s an optimization curve. You don’t have to match a Peregrine Niji, you just gotta keep up.” he says with a little smirk as he updates the control systems.
Switching the controls to her customized manual set up. Her right hand on a control yoke for pitch and roll with foot pedals for yaw, left hand on a translation stalk that seems to handle lateral motion, which also rested within a throttle slide and apparently had a switch to lock it in and out of translation control mode. It was not a standard Starfleet configuration but it suited her preferred method for find control. Perhaps it was more attuned to lower velocity control however.
Rumiho was running through a course simulation, “The track is in my way… why not just post the gates alone?”
“Obnoxious right? All those random curves and turns between the gate don’t do anything useful, try to ignore them…” Tsurugi added.
Rumiho flips some switches above her, “Sun Tzu control, this is Tanpopo-1, all systems go, proceeding to run.” she says, in a rare instance, actually speaking Fed Standard instead of UT translated Japanese, causing her surprisingly thick accent to peek through. For some reason, Tsurugi puts on a pair of sunglasses. His eye implants do not need them.
Flipping one last switch, Japanese Metal starts playing on the speakers, a rather energetic song as the runabout accelerates into the track. She quickly and with some rather fine motions seems to keep the craft stable through some rather high speed turns. It’s clear Rumiho has lowered the inertial damping in her seat at least as her body is clearly rocking around more than the passengers would feel. She also seems to favor a lot of spinning in her manuevers.
“Why all the spinning?” Tsurugi asks.
“Cause the track is in my way!” she exclaims, “And spinning is cooler than not spinning.”
Tsurugi shrugs, he seems to be enjoying himself though as Rumiho’s frantic motions run through the first lap gate, “120 seconds, Chell was already home napping by then.”
For her part, she was ignoring the attempt at motivational taunting and proceeded into the second run, looking more centered. She seems to be doing better but clips one of the gates and it doesn’t register, instead of doing the natural second pass she kicks into reverse and backs into it before slamming her throttle back forward. It costs some time but it was more efficient. Her flight style clearly indicates she is more of a perfectionist than a speed demon… even if she is going remarkably fast.
“112!” Tsurugi calls out as they pass the gate. Rumiho seems more plugged in and just goes right into lap 3. For reasons known only to himself, when he called out the time, Tsurugi was eating a chocolate bar.
The song playing is more of a head banger, and Rumiho’s pigtails can be seen thrashing about. She isn’t even really using her viewport heavily now and just flying by computer plots and feel. Tsurugi for his part seems amused, perhaps cause since the start of this, Rumiho herself has started enjoying it, winning or not. She rocks her feet on the yaw pedals, and does a series of sudden braking thrusts and turns in the middle of sections of the track, just ignoring the curves and going for direct point to point manuevers. It wouldn’t look as fancy from a distance but it was cutting out a lot of fat.
Finally into the last segment she gives the throttle level a final pulse before yanking it back just after the finishing gate, causing the computer to do a full braking thruster fire. Rumiho gives an arms up cheer.
“Thus kindly I scatter!” she exclaims, it seems to match a lyric in the song playing. It also may perhaps be a play on her callsign. (note: Tanpopo means Dandelion).
“102 Niji, not a bad improvement rate.” Tsurugi says calling out her best time. “Not bad for this old bucket.”
“The port thrust stabilizer is loose.” she says looking back.
“Ah… rentals right? We should have borrowed the Cook or La Ha Furiosa.” he said referring to some craft from Endeavour. The Yellowstone was apparently not from their ship at all.
Rumiho begins procedures to get the runabout back into the Sun Tzu’s bay.
the automated message rang out once again:
“Lieutenant Junior Grade Rumiho; Yellowstone Class Craft; One Minute Forty Two Seconds. Exceeds Course Par.”
Maikull
Zach and Pi applauded with several others in the Lounge. “Wow, For a Yellowstone, that’s not too bad!” Zach nodded. “Yea…but their not designed for those kinds of maneuvers. Its all good, but I need to get down to the shuttle bay and see what might have shaken loose.” Kiff stated, excusing himself and heading out. Zach took another sip from his drink and looking around the lounge, “You seen skipper anywhere?” He asked the Ops Officer. Pi also looked around, and shrugged, “Probably went to the bridge.”
Maikull Barron’s Run
Maikull had watched several pilots go for their run. It was obvious that many of them had also outfitted their craft specifically for this run; which, to their credit was understandable, It -was- a race After all. Slipping away to the lower section of the ship, he boarded his personal Captains Yacht, and discreetly signaled the traffic control officer to clear the course for him.
While not optimized for a race, his Yacht was equipped with an RCS Accelerator tied to the engines, Science Particle Generator tied to the shield generator, and Tactical Vulnerability Locator tied to the phaser banks, making it a well-rounded craft.
Banking to the starting line, he quickly went over all of his pre-flight checks, shutting down Weapons power, and diverting it to the engines to give it a little extra -kick- for the track. “Commander Barron sir, you are clear for your run. Good Luck sir!” he heard the Flight control officer over the comms. “That’s clear Sun Tzu. If it looks like I’m about to lose, cut the tracks length short for me will ya?” he chuckled. There was a long pause on the comms, to which he was sure the control officers were stuck in a panic. He hit the comms again. “Guys, I’m kidding.” There was a relieved laugher on the other side, “That’s clear, thank you sir!”
Hitting the throttle, the shuttlecraft crossed the first mark and started the clock. Full impulse was fine for this initial stretch as he rounded the first portside turn, as he rounded the second, he lowered speed to tackle the S-Curve, but found it to be underwhelming. Boosting his speed again he was able to blow right past it and into the first orbital run. Perhaps because of all the extra speed the other craft had, made maneuvering so tight, but slow and steady was going to be his course.
He hit the straight away, putting the extra power into the impulse engines, and rounded the starboard curve. Slowing down he knew the tight s-curves were no joke, and allowed the computer assisted evasive maneuvers help him navigate that at half-full impulse before rounding the 3rd orbital portside curve into the next straight away.
Feeling confident, he once again opened up the engines, and bracing himself for the Starboard turn and zig-zagging, he let his Conductive Accelerators handle the sharp turns while he readied the last orbital turn, slipping into the final pass. Once again throwing the throttle into full gear, he managed to maintain control on the final starboard turn before zipping through the fireworks at the finish line.
“Commander Barron, Maikull; Captains Yacht Shuttlecraft, Two Minutes and Two Seconds. Just above Course Par!”
OOC Thank you for everyone who participated, spectated and showed their interest! Hopefully I can host more “leisurely” events like this for people to be able to participate in down the road (The caveat being, it mostly happening on Discord). Any input, suggestions, or criticisms are welcomed! Ill be posting an AAR this weekend going over the event summery, and issuance of some RP awards! (Maybe later, Ill be able to offer something more substantial to entice more people once finances balance out again)
