USS Ares
Main Hanger-bay
02:00 am
The past few weeks, with the USS Ares's repairs and refits nearing completion, the night cycles aboard the Ares had become unusually quiet times during which most systems that could be switched to stand by mode were in stand by mode. With a lot of the crew off ship on R&R or for other reasons the corridors were mostly empty and earily silent. DS9 was pretty consistent with its adherence to its day/night cycles meaning that it to showed little to no activity during the night cycles.
At 02:00 am Ship time though there was one Starfleet officer that instead of signing off entered the fighter squadron's locker room and began changing from a standard Starfleet uniform into a flight suit. Schrit's nervous anxiety had been building inside for days to a point that even his son noticed there was something odd going on with his father. Danre knew better than to ask, or comment, on the fidgeting and restlessness Schrit was trying very hard to keep from being noticeable. In fact Danre was probably the only person who was aware of the cause for this, uncharacteristic, behavior his father was developing. But as Schrit was putting on his flight suit, checking pressure systems and pairing the suit with the helmet he took from his locker before closing it he almost laughed out loud with anticipation and felt he was about to explode from all the nerves, anxiety and anticipation he felt, mainly as a pressure on his chest.
He rarely felt anything like this, and could in fact remember all the times in his life when he had felt like this. He was, literally, feeling like a teenager on Christmas morning waiting for the "OK signal" from his parents before he could storm downstairs to the Christmas tree and unpack his one single present of which he knew what it was, which was nothing less than the most awesome thing in the universe that he could be given. And now he was feeling that same feelings, only now he was a 47 year old Starfleet officer, with a 39 years long career behind him and a son of his own. Nevertheless, the 12 year old kid was still very much a part of him, apparently.
Satisfied his suit and helmet were good and solid he walked from the locker room into the main hanger for the fighter squadron and stopped in his stride when he realized the lighting was up to normal operational luminosity. Confused he changed his direction to the nearest terminal and called up the activity logs for the hanger bay. Everything looked as it should be except for the last entry. As scheduled the previous shift had been busy offloading 2 Danube class shuttles which had been transferred to DS9 via tractor beam and then using the same tractor beam technique to bring aboard 4 fighters from the USS Peterbuilt to replace the shuttles. As requested 2 of them had been placed in what they called the Hotspot, closest to the hanger bay's exit to space, and….
"Wait a second, I requested one of them for the Hotspot" Schrit muttered to himself. Noting that where he had requested one fighter to be prepped for flight two were actually fueled, Diagnosticized and prepared for flight Schrit switched off the terminal and started winding his way around the various shuttles, worker bees and Adrestia fighters towards the Hotspot not feeling less confused than he had been before he'd checked the logs.
Ducking below the winglet of the last Adrestia fighter his eyes widened and he breathed in so hard and loud the sound it made even echoed through the cavernous hanger-bay. With the last obstacle blocking his view behind him his gaze had locked onto sleek likes and curvaceous shapes he had not had the pleasure of beholding since a short time after he had arrived on UPAFREDE (Utopia Planetia Advance Fighter Research & Development), little under a decade ago. And although Schrit had expected to experience some emotional and nostalgic feelings seeing his first true love again, he had not expected the overwhelming mix of emotions that rampaged through him when he laid his eyes on her. He was quite literally feeling as well as hearing his heart beating, and thus very aware of how much faster it was beating.
The Sparrow Class Advanced Space Superiority Fighter was as beautiful as he had remembered her. She looked like she was going fast standing still, and like a predator bird, mid strike upon her prey. The Sparrow's silhouette and profile told all who laid eyes on her exactly what she was, and managed to look proud of herself for doing it. She was a thoroughbred Space Superiority Fighter through and through, Sleek, curvaceous and vicious.
Slowly Schrit walked to the Sparrow, and even more slowly moved his hand up to touch her ever so gently, as if he was afraid she'd vanish upon touching her. Then, as if gently stroking a partner in a tentative opening of foreplay, Schrit moved his hands along the Sparrow's nose towards the cockpit's canopy, having to make a conscious effort to keep his eyes open and suppress… sounds escaping from his throat that would be inappropriate in almost all situations and most certainly this situation.
Then Schrit's heart almost exploded to a stop when both Sparrows lit up, initiated their pre-flight sequences and opened their canopies without warning and in full sync. Eyes wide like saucers, mouth wide open Schrit backed away, his torso a bit quicker than the lower half of his body, causing him to fall flat on his ass. Then, just as he managed to remind his body to resume his heartbeat and breathing laughter erupted from the second Sparrow, slightly behind the one he had touched. As he turned to look what the source of the sound was he saw a grizzled old Ktarian face pop up into view, laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face. Between chuckles and guffaws from unsuccessful repressed laughter the Ktarian pointed at Schrit saying
"That was… <chuckle> by far… <guffaw> the funniest… <muhachuckle snicker> thing I have ever… <mhihihi hmhmhm> seen in my life!!!!"
only to subsequently regress into uncontrollable laughter. It took a few seconds but soon enough Schrit's brain had put all of it together in conscious thought and managed to voice a coherent response.
"Commander Zoteke Madwan, as I live and breathe! I thought you were light-years away, scaring the crap out of young and fresh pilots so much they flew in straight formation instinctively our of fear!"
A minute or two later the Ktarian's laughter had abated and had climbed down from the Sparrow's cockpit. Schrit had recovered from the shock enough to walk up to him and grab his old friend and mentor into a bear-hug the moment his feet hit the hanger deck.
"I'm so happy to see you my friend! Now that my heart has resumed beating that is" Schrit exclaimed, before releasing the old Ktarian from his hug.
Unperturbed and with a cocky expression Zoteke replied "I decided to make sure that the bottle of Glenfiddich you owe me would be the genuine 52 year, oak-barrel aged, single malt kind, and not that 12 year old cheap stuff they're shipping across the Federation these days."
Faking an offended expression Schrit replied "You wound me sir! I would sooner fly myself into a black hole than be associated with such infamy!" before returning to a somewhat normal look and sound and adding "The bottle is in fact in my quarters ready to be sent off by shuttle courier to Starfleet Command with the request to forward it to the USS Hornet for the attention of one Cmdr. Zoteke Madwan."
"ooh really… ah shrudd, I guess you really want to take the Sparrow out to get re-acquainted first, before we tag team that bottle huh?" Zoteke said, one eyebrow raised in a reasonable Vulcan-like manner. Before Schrit could respond though Zoteke held up a hand to stop him. "Just shut up, and helmet up rookie!" he said in what was supposed to be a condescending tone, and then pointed at the Sparrow behind Schrit. "You're in that one, this one's mine for this flight. 5 million clicks apart and may the best man win, rookie!" said the Ktarian, climbing back into the cockpit of 'his' Sparrow.
Clicking his helmet straps in place, grabbing the struts to climb into 'his' Sparrow Schrit couldn't help but note he couldn't remember the last time he had been as happy as he was at that moment.
