Pilots Error...

Posted on Mon Dec 2nd, 2019 @ 8:07am by Ensign Mikko Ishigami
Edited on on Tue Dec 3rd, 2019 @ 6:35am

820 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Demons in the Dark
Location: Starfleet Shuttlebay 1

Mikko felt around in the dark. The shuttlebay control room wasn’t the largest room on the ship, but even in the dark it felt cramped and small. She had been thrown away from the console when the ship had been thrown from warp. As a pilot she knew that this wasn’t right, a starship shouldn’t just lose power and be thrown from warp at the speed they were going without warning.

She had managed the Tokyo's helm many times, she wished she had been there when this had happened and not stuck down in the shuttlebay. She ran a hand through her hair, she must have hit her head when she had been thrown backwards.
“What do I do now?” she asked herself out loud as she tried to access the control console. Luckily the shuttlebay doors between the bay and vacuum of space were closed, most likely now locked shut along with the emergency bulkhead to prevent decompression of the surrounding decks.

Mikko managed to get the doors open and stepped out onto the shuttlebay floor. Several of the shuttles and auxiliary craft were locked down on the deck, a few of them a little out of place due to the inertial dampeners failing briefly. She looked around, she seemed to be alone.
“Everything seems accounted for" she said. Luckily the Prowler that belonged to the SWORD team had already been locked in its bay, which was now separated by the emergency doors which had sealed shut. She couldn’t get to any of the shuttle storage bays.

“Maybe the sensors on one of these are working?” she asked herself as she approached one of the Tokyo's Danube Class roundabouts.

It was easy to get the roundabouts systems online. Luckily its systems seemed to not be affected by whatever had disabled the Tokyo. Mikko started by running a quick sensor sweep on the local space, nothing really showed up apart from it being deep space with no anomalies or stellar phenomenon in the immediate area.

“Strange...” she said as she looked for any signs or clues that might explain what was happening. Another scan showed that the life signs on the Tokyo were sporadically dotted around various areas of the ship, and many seemed to be moving to emergency or more vital areas such as engineering. At least the crew was alive, she took some comfort in that.

“You’re still a bad pilot you know...” a voice told her. Mikko looked back, she knew that voice. But he wasn't here, he couldn’t be here. Shaking it off she returned back to the console.

“You know, you’ll always be a low ranked officer. You’re just too carefree and you never consider others...”
Mikko swung around in her chair. There stood a man, dressed in a pilots uniform looking at her with crossed arms.
“Go away!” she replied simply. She turned back, there was no way that her old flight instructor could be here with her on the Tokyo. The miserable old fool was still back at Starfleet Academy on Earth, that she was sure of. It was him, Lieutenant Commander Richard Middleton whom had put her before the command staff for her ‘reckless' flying.

“The fact you’re even on a starship amazes me. You should be grounded, not flying anything with your skillset!” he snarled at her, his voice going through her like ice.
“I am a good pilot. I can fly well, I was young and stupid back then...” Mikko replied simply. “I’m better now, I can fly without any problems...”

Suddenly Mikko found herself sitting not in the run about, but at the controls of a type nine shuttle. It was hurtling down towards the ground at alarming speed, sparks and smoke erupted from behind her as the ground, covered in lush green pine trees swirled at her coming closer and closer. She ran her fingers over the console, but there was nothing she could do.

The shuttle ripped through the trees, its forward viewpoint shattering showering Mikko in shards. It finally came to a stop. Coughing, Mikko crawled out just before the shuttle was engulfed in flames. The pain was intense, her burnt flesh and uniform smelled foul as she laid looking up at the sky.

Middleton leant over, looking at her a blank expression on his face. “This is how you end. Your reckless days are over. Theres no bigger disgrace for a pilot to be killed in a shuttle crash by their own hands"
“P...please help me...” Mikko reached up for him, but her arm felt heavy as if she was forcing it through thick treacle. Then her arm fell down and Mikko was engulfed in darkness as her head made contact with the roundabouts helm console, hitting it hard enough to smash its smooth touch surface.

Posting by

Ensign Mikko Ishigami
Flight Control Officer

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