| A Test Flight |
| Summary: | Peter Quill takes his predecessor's ship on a test flight with Kitty Pryde, and they plan a lesson. |
| Date: | 2016-10-10 |
| Related: | None |
| NPCs: | None |
| Scene Runner: | NA |
| Social/Plot: | Social |
| Players: |
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Star-Lord is in the crew's mess, enjoying a meal of sorts. Whatever looked fairly easy to prepare in the ships' stores.
Shadowcat buzzes the airlock and waits. Then walks in after he intercoms. She walks back and smiles wide. "Hey Peter" She limps slightly but looks cheery. "Any big plans this afternoon? i was hoping, you could help me work on a lesson plan."
Star-Lord says "That just became my big plans!" he waves towards the table, "Pull up a seat, have some grub… we have…" he looks around, "Some brown chewy stuff, some green stringy stuff… the blue goop is pretty tasty."
"You are hopeless. We have a cafeteria" She grins at him. She takes a seat and pokes her finger into the blue goop then licks it "Mmmm, not bad" She smiles "So, I don't really want to teach. When i was a young and a student here, shit would go sideways. And i never felt ready. What i want to do is teach these kids computers with situational challenges, a controlled environment of computer stuff going wrong" She grins and looks impish. She slides a piece of paper over, clearly a flight plan, coordinates. "Take the ship up, and make stuff go wrong. Course i need to practice it all first. So, you ready to help?"
Star-Lord continues eating what he served out for himself. After another mouthful he says, "I like the idea… they get the knowledge, plus practice quick problem solving." he looks over the flight plan, "So where are we taking them?"
She looks up "Up and out, low orbit. the first few go well then deeper" She grins and leans, tapping her finger. "Today just up and cruising around, no specific plan. You can fly so i can tinker" She grins.
Star-Lord sips at a bubbling green drink and puts it down, standing up at the same time. "Can we leave now?" he asks… dinner already forgotten, he grabs his jacket from the chair.
Kitty laughs and grins at him. "You clean up your mess here and we can leave now" She stays seated and flicks her eyes around. "Cause i am not catching flying food up side the head is crap goes wrong" She shifts in her seat. "While you've been tinkering, think there is a way we can give the ship a virus to kill the engines and lost risk.. trauma?"
Star-Lord begins sealing up the remains of his meal to stow away. He finishes the drink quickly, and considers. "What if we scripted a shutdown, and suppressed the diagnostic signals?"
"Ohhhhh" She starts writing some notes. "I like that, maybe cause a relay that makes their first fix cause other things to crash" She taps her pen to her lips and shifts to get up. "That could work" She grins at him. "You didn't finish eating Star-Lord" The hazel eyes sparkle as she knows how anxious he is to fly
Star-Lord waves dismissively at the mess table, "Later…" he starts heading out towards the corridor. "It'd be neat if we could just talk to the ship, say what we had in mind."
"Oh, doing a simple AIish system for this crate would be easy." She tips her head slightly and grins "I'll program up something for you. Maybe Douglock can help me" She nods her head "You help me teach the kids and I'll set your ship up with voice commands." She nods and follows
Star-Lord reaches the bridge. He glances at the command chair for a moment, but after a moment's hesitation he beelines for the primary helm seat right in front.
Star-Lord says, "That easy? That could be very helpful on here. Especially flying solo, jumping from seat to seat is a bit annoying."
Shadowcat does the same, then walks to the seat beside him. She sits and grabs the seat harness. "Well, maybe for normal people it'd be tough. But I know the ship fairly well all ready. And computers are just sort of.. natural for me, As a teen, I , was fairly dorky, and socially awkward but computer were never judgy"
Star-Lord looks sideways at you, "No way were you a dork… you're not kidding?" his hands start moving almost automatically, it isn't until he reaches a complicated sequence that he blinks and looks down, "Wait, I just realized I've never operated this before."
Shadowcat smiles and nods "Oh yeah, glasses and insecure. Sweet and naive, and way to unsure of my powers" She looks over and grins at him "You have the same instinct with ships I have computers. Trust yourself" She motions "You hand was going to right way. "Flip the intake"
Star-Lord follows her instruction and is continuing the prep nicely. He chuckles at her description, "I coulda worked with that, take off your glasses slowly and pretend I saw something nobody else did… classic."
Shadowcat laughs "Yeah, i would have fallen for it to. I was desperate to have a guy like me. I threw myself at people" She feels the ships rumble to life and smiles wide. She takes out her phone and taps a few buttons. She hangar doors start to open.
Star-Lord's eyes flick up, and he says, "Umm… did we tell anyone we were going out, I hope nobody was shooting hoops…"
She laughs "That paper gives us clearance, all the right people have been informed. We won't run anyone over or get shot out the sky. I did slightly fib, the ship is listed as experimental. Cause i didn't want to deal with full registration"
Star-Lord nods, and says, "Looks like it's a go then. I'm turning on the antigravs now…" he moves a control, again that slight lurch as the ship lifts and hovers, balancing itself. "I bet we could fix that, but I kinda like it." he comments.
She looks at him and blinks a few times. "Damn, the similar things are just creepy sometimes. The jolt to hover lets you know your going to be flying, right?" She shifts to sit uo, hands forward. "Okay, i'm ready, and i'll jump in if your going to tear a wall out, but it's all you. Fly us out and up. The air space around the school is a no fly zone except our ships so" She tugs her harness tight.
Star-Lord rubs his hands together, and tugs at a low control. The ship rises up, through the hangar door, above the trees and grounds, and when it's reached a height clear of obstacles, he pulls the throttle and the ship dashes ahead, gaining altitude steadily.
The acceleration pushes you into your seat, but you sense it's been dampened.
The hazel eyes go wide and she leans back into the seat, no longer concerned with controls. She smiles wide and the eyes flick around then over to him. She blinks a few times then looks forward again. "How's it feel, like your ship? Similar enough"
If a dolphin in open sea could make a joyful human face, it would probably look like how Peter looks now. "Like I never left." he admits. He pulls back on the steering control, and the ship turns upwards into a straight climb, accelerating still.
Shadowcat exhales and feels pressed solidly into the seat. She pulls up a display, checking the ships efficiency and outputs. She clicks a few times, looking at what systems are engaged, what she can tinker with to test the next generation. "Feels good to be flying again"
Star-Lord relaxes now himself, as progress towards orbit will still take some time. "What was the part that used to scare you?" he asks, looking out at the clouds streaming past in a clear blue sky.
Kitty shifts and turns her head and looks at him. She puzzles the eyes slightly "Scare me? About flying?" She thinks a second "Um, nothing really. I guess not understanding how the ships systems worked initially" She grins "First few times out I was learning to fly so"
Star-Lord asks, "Was it me teaching you…?" a few more buttons pressed, and the ship begins buttoning up for spaceflight, additional seals closing, excess gear retracting. "Can I get a pressurization check?" he asks you.
She flicks a buttons and taps a display. "She is sealed in 3, 2, 1..All intact Mr. Quill" She leans back again "No, Storm taught me the basics. I could fly, get the ship where I needed to go. I was 13 or so when i started to run around fighting evil with the X-men" She grins "But you, you taught me to soar, how to really maneuver a ship through the stars"
As if on cue, the brightness begins to visibly fade from the sky. No stars yet, as he's still flying in the same hemisphere as the sunlight. He falls quiet, looking out the side to see the Earth fall lower and noticeable curvature appear on the horizon.
Shadowcat smiles wider and squirms in her seat. The hand rubs her stitches on right thigh. She turns her head and looks out. She clicks a few more displays "Fuel intake is normal, and all systems are green" She shifts and undoes her harness. She shifts to lean, looking at the earth falling away.
Star-Lord glances at a velocity alignment guide as he picks the low orbit elevation. He announces, "Engine standby T minus 15 seconds…"
She smiles wide and leans back to her seat. She grins and flicks her eyes around the ship "She is flying perfect" She waits and feels that shift, that almost deceleration. She exhales and grins.
Star-Lord lets the time pass down without counting, and at the designated moment he drags the throttle down to minimal and locks the engines into idle mode. There's that slight falling sensation, and then he smiles and unbuckles his own restraints. "Orbit achieved," he announces.
She scrambles up and to the window. She looks out like a person on their first trip up, looking back at he earth. She grins like the cheshire cat "It never gets old." She flicks a glance at him.
Other-Peter seems to have a flair for simulated experience, as we are not in free-fall, but the gravity automatically reduced somewhat creates a floating sensation but still with the convenience of some pull towards the floor panels. Peter crowds into the narrow cockpit front window near you, joining you in getting immersed in the view. "If I timed it right, we should get sunset in a few minutes."
She shivers and looks up and back at him. "Yeah, taking me for a sunset cruise. Now wonder you didn't finish your food. You thought, oh, perfect set up" She blushes slightly and looks back out. "It always feels peaceful up here, unless someone is trying to kill us"
Star-Lord's eyes flick around the view, "Careful what you say, the universe can have a sense of humor," he chuckles. "I hardly have to make it a setup, this sort of thing has an appeal no matter the timing."
Shadowcat shivers as she looks down, the horizon of the earth starting to color. "It does have a sense of humor, a sarcastic one" She blinks and flicks a glance back up at him again. Then back to the view. She holds the ship edge.