Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Flight School [Fin}

[Rorx]

Gwyn sat in the Humvee filled with anticipation, today he, Major Caine, hopefully Doc and whoever else of the team were interested were due to get a flight from the local airbase down to Groom Lake Airforce Base. Or the more infamous section of it - Area 51. Major Caine was keeping his word of getting Gwyn's flight capability checked out, and it was decided that this was the most appropriate place to do so. This was due to a combination of it's distance from public roads and that there were so may rumours of strange things flying in and around the area that a flying man would be easily dismissed in the same breath as so many other crackpot claims. Now he just had to wait for the Major and whoever else turned up for the flight...

[Adrian Moss]

God, don't let him impact on the Salt Flats was Caine's immediate reaction to seeing the flight area. Having that much salt ground into one's body had to hurt like all Hell. Jones was a good man, a good trooper, and a valuable asset. Caine didn't want this to go badly.

In the same light, he needed for this to go well. Jones could fly, but how fast (why he had a radar gun) and how manueverable, they had to find out. One day, they might even find out how high, but that could wait until they got him some high altitude gear. Today was just fast and fun.

The Major keyed his head piece,

"Jones, radar gun is operational, laser range finger is tracking. We are a go for Test flight #1. Just going ove it with you, that's to the outcropping and back. 10 klick round trip. Let's do this."

Please don't let him impact into the Salt Flats.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia stood a short distance away from Caine. Since their meeting in his office after the attack on SG8, Olivia had been the epitome of a proper soldier toward Caine. The problem was that she wasn't a proper solider, and this reaction was as alien to her as the salt flats were to wildflowers.

"Can I get a ride?" she asked Gwyn as he waited. He realized that there was a possible double entendre, but she blew past it without allowing anyone a chance to catch it. "I mean after the test?"

[Rorx]

"Fine with me, Doc. If we'll be allowed..."

Turning towards the distant outcropping he keys the radio, "Roger Major, en route."

Lifting off he accelerated as fast as he could towards the outcropping ahead of him. Major Caine kept his eyes on the radar gun raising an eyebrow as it rapidly climbed up past 100km/h and finally settled down around the 200km/h mark. About 3 and a half minutes later he was setting back down in front the Major.

"So how'd I do, Sir?"

[Adrian Moss]

Caine whistled,

"Two hundred kilometers per hour, or pretty close to it. You slowed down a bit on your turn around, but that's to be expected, I guess."

He looks to Olivia, but talks to Gwyn,

"How is your stability? It it's good, you can take the Doctor out for a flight. Remember, hang on to her tight, don't land on her, and don't leave her out there."

Turning back to Gwyn,

"After that, would you rather try some obstacle training up in the slopes of those mountains over there, or do you want to do some altitude testing. I have an altimeter you can use, and we can go for 2 kilometers and work our way up to five. I don't want you going higher than that without oxygen."

With his eyes going down to his computer, he begins tapping away.

"Doctor, I think you are up. Get your goggles on."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia clapped happily and grabbed her goggles. She stepped up to Gwyn and asked, "How are we going to do this?"

[Rorx]

"Ok, I suppose it's going to be one of two ways, either like I'm carrying you in my arms, or giving you a piggyback ride. I think you'd probably be safer if I carried you, so unless you seriously object we'll do it that way."

Picking Olivia up Gwyn turns back to Major Caine.

"Major, we'll re-run the outcropping as I wouldn't want to compromise one of the tests with an additional factor for an initial run."

"Right then Doc, here we go!"

Lifting off he once again accelerates up to his maximum speed, but this time he goes Dense as he guesses they hit about 50km/h in order to be doubly sure he doesn't drop his teammate. The windspeed rapidly mounts blocking any attempts to talk to one another and pulling at Olivia's clothes making them flap madly, but strangely not at Gwyns.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia whooped as the ground disappeared behind them. She appeared to have no fear of heights as she clung to her "pilot." He couldn't hear her, but she was laughing, joyously, as one of man's greatest dreams was achieved. The only way this could be better was if she could do it herself.

[Rorx]

Olivia's laughter was snatched away by the wind as they accelerated but not before Gwyn had caught the beginnings of it and glanced down to see her laughing, joy filled face. The sight brought a massive grin to his own face, delight that his team mate and hopefully friend enjoyed flying as much as he did himself.

They soon hit his top speed, although he did have a cursory attempt to push it a little harder with no signficant effect, something for him to work on. The wind was pulling at Olivia, but resisting that was little trouble to Gwyn, and he felt that he would probably be fine without going dense to increase his strength. However, it was making Olivia's clothes flap all over the place and threatening to rip off a number of buttons. Curiously his clothes seem practically immune to the wind, something he should take up with the alternate Earth Specialists, they were said to know a lot more about powers in general and other things that went along with being a Specialist.

As they approached the outcropping Gwyn calculated the effect the extra mass of his increased density and his passenger would have on his turning circle and slowed more than before as well as taking the corner wider than last time. The run back to Major Caine was going just as well, so in the last klick Gwyn shouted down to Olivia to "Hold tight" and threw then around in a barrell roll followed by a loop the loop before landing in front of the Major.

Landing he initially ignores the Major, making sure that Olivia was ok, grinning from ear to ear as he does so.

"Here's your stop then Madam, thank you for flying with Jones Air. Hope you were ok with the acrobatics at the end?"

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"That was awesome!" Olivia giggled, bouncing a little as she got her "land feet" back. "You have to try it, Major!" She was too happy to kept it cold, at least for that one statement. Flying was wonderful. "And that barrel roll was fantastic. So much fun!" She become a little somber. "I wish I could do that."

[Rorx]

"Thank you, we try to keep our customers satisfied here at Jones Air"

Turning more somber himself to match Olivia's concern he continues, "As for flying yourself, who knows what you will be able to do in the future. No-one has told me that it stops here, but neither have they told me we can get more powers in the future. I guess they just don't know themselves."

Smiling again he finishes with a stage whisper as he turns to Major Caine, "Hang have to report in now."

Facing Major Caine he gives a reasonable facsimile of a salute with a falsely serious face, "Specialist Jones reporting Sir. Test of flight capability whilst carrying one passenger a success Sir. Top speed was not subjectively slower although allowance had to be made for the increased mass when making maneuvers. Recommend we move on to the altitude test next Sir."

[Adrian Moss]

"My chance will come later, I have no doubt. For now, we have only so much daylight and a few more tests we need to run. Let's drive over to the foot of that outcropping over there."

"Jones, altitude can be done later in the day, maybe even at night. Right now, I want to see you in an obstacle course."

He gets the rangefinder and puts it in the Humvee. He also makes sure they have a stored flight suit with altimeter.

Off-handedly, Caine adds,

"I'm glad you had a good time, Doc. It sure looked fun."

Waiting for the others to get into Hummer, Caine hummed a little tune. Once in, they drove nearly fourty-five minutes to the foothill noted earlier. There were boulders strewn around the place and some mean looking cacti.

The got out and looked around, the heat beating down on them. First, he handed the radar gun to Olivia then Caine pulled out the rangefinder and scanned about. After a moment he found what he was looking for. He handed the device to Gwyn carefully as to not mess with the trajectory.

"That big boulder there. The red one at 998 meters. I want you to fly nape of the earth to there and back, weaving amongst the obstacles. It is as close as we are going to get you flying through a forest for now. Dense up and go when you are ready."

"Doc, you keep on eye on him with the radar gun. Let me know how fast he goes. I'll watch him with binoculars."

[Rorx]

When Caine ordered the obstacle course next Gwyn just gave him a "Yes Sir" then shrugged to Olivia when he turned away to get the gear into the Hummvee.

During the long drive to the Major's chosen location Gwyn and Olivia had a semi-shouted discussion of the history of manned flight over the noise of the Hummvee on the rough salt flats ground.

On arriving Gwyn scanned the surroundings while the Major choose his site and calculated the sort of safe speed he could work with around the surrounding terrain. By the time Major Caine had chosen and informed Gwyn of his decision Gwyn had already worked out that he would have to cut he's speed to only about 50mph (80km/h) n the 'trees' while at maximum weight.

Taking the range finder Gwyn examined the landmark and the route towards it. Acknowledging the Major with a simple "Aye, Sir" Gwyn increased his density and accelerated away. However, this time rather than flying lying down in the classic superman pose, he flew standing up in order to be more maneuverable around the stones and boulders. This was sort of familiar to Gwyn, as he had spent most of the time since becoming a Specialist flying at low speeds only a 1cm or so off the ground to simulate walking while at full density. Nape of earth he increased the height to a couple of feet to allow for the increased speed and sped off zigging and zagging around the boulders to the designated return point and back.

Click to reveal..

Dex + Flight = 6d10

(22:18:25) ChatBot: (HG_Jones) rolls 6d10 and gets 8,2,4,9,5,3.

2 sux

[Adrian Moss]

There were some tight moments there as he zipped along. Radar gone told the story: reduced speed around the larger obstacles. Caine quickly did the calculations. Sending him on a flanking mission he would cover X amount of the arch in Y speed. Sending him aloft wouldn't always be an option, unless he wanted the Specialist to be blasted full of holes.

He came back a little faster with a more cavalier style. He was getting the hang of it. That was good. He needed Jones confident when making these manuevers. They needed to become second nature, but at least Caine knew they could trust Jones around the mountain.

When he landed, the Major was smiling.

"Barely breaking a sweat Jones. I guess it's time for that altitude test ... or more likely the first altitude test."

He smiled to Olivia and pointed Gwyn to the back of the HummVee to were the altitude suit was.

"Suit up. We'll do the first test when you finish getting ready - doing as decided - two working it up to five kilometers. We'll stay in radio contact, okay?"

Now he waited for Jones to finish getting ready. Again, he hoped he wasn't pushing the Brit too far. Greed to exceed could get Gwyn dead.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Caine didn't get a smile back as Olivia made a final note on the board she was keeping. "Jones, would you like some help suiting up?" she asked him, peering across the hot sands at him. Her sunglasses were more fashionable than protective, and she was clearly squinting.

[Rorx]

"No sweat at all Major. I'd have a tighter turning circle and higher speed when not at full weight, but I assume you wanted that to get a minimum ability and/or safety. yeah, I'm ready to try the altitude test, 2km on the first trip then return, then work up from 2km to 5km."

He walks around to the back of the Hummvee to get the flightsuit on, "Thanks doc, a hand might be useful. I've never tried one of these before, only seen them on tv and movies."

A couple of minutes, and probably some laughter later, they return with Gwyn sealing the mask on the helmet and checking the mini oxygen tank that was rigged on a hip belt.

"Ready when you are Major."

With a brief nod from the Major as he makes a note on his laptop Gwyn closes the visor down, semi-salutes to Olivia and takes off straight up at max accelearation.

Less than a minute later he called in to Caine with a grin you could hear over teh radio, "Holding at 2km Major Caine, no unusual effects at this stage."

[Adrian Moss]

Caine went into the Hummer and searched around in the forward compartment. He came back and handed a pair of snow goggles to Olivia.

"Here. These work equally well in the snow and out on the flats."

When Gwyn hit is first limit, Caine hesitated.

"Okay. Go for three."

At the next level, I make him count fifty, backwards, by twos ... and spell his name spell his name backwards too.

[Rorx]

"Going for 3km on the gauge."

about 30 seconds later Gwyn is on the radio again.

"3km, Sir."

When given Caine's questions there is a slight pause then he answers them all immediately and correctly, and in 4 langauges, although Caine has to take his word about that.

"Ready for 4km Sir."

[Adrian Moss]

"Double check your oxygen then Go for Four."

Would there be a limit? Could Jones possibly fly around the world. He was tireless, or so it seemed. Caine remembered a mantra: Just because you haven't found a limit doesn't mean it doesn't exist. What was Jones' weakness/limit/what have you. Thankfully no one had thought to ask him to find out.

Leaning heavenly close to Olivia, Damien passed the binoculars over. Even out here with all this sand and salt, heat, and biting wind, he could tell she smelled great. Her stance was easy on the eyes - too easy.

"Doc, take a look at the first self-propelled man altitude flight. Keep an eye on him. With his progress, he'll hit 5 kilometers up. His oxygen is good and he's coherent."

Then he realized he was standing wayt too close to her while he talked. There was no rational reason for him to have remained there while he talked to her. No excuse he could easily come up with.

[Rorx]

"Tricky with this visor one SIr, but it all appears to be correct and the Doc checked it before I lifted off. Going for 4km."

Another quick 30 sec dash through the slightly thinning atmosphere and Gwyn had reached 4km.

"4km sir, I can tell that it's cold up here, but I don't particularly feel it or any effects from it Major. Have you got a different set of questions or shall a run through the last ones again? Otherwise I'm ready for 5 klicks."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia stared through the binoculars, momentarily caught up in the wonder of the moment. Man flying unaided has been the dream of the earliest human. Seeing it happen was astounding; watching even planetary gravity release its limitations on mankind was an unforgettable moment.

She turned to Caine to hand back the binoculars - and found him way too close. Just the turn of her head to address him was suddenly charged with energy. She was surprised for just a second, keenly aware of how close he was. But that surprise became a challenge as she met his eyes. They said it all: Do something, or stop looking at me like that.

And then Gwyn's voice over the radio broke the mood. Olivia jumped away before holding the binoculars toward him and putting the goggles back on, one-handed.

[Adrian Moss]

Caine backed up as if he'd been slapped. Immediately he looked up to the far too distant speck that was probalby Gwyn. It could never happen. She was his to protect and it couldn't be any other way. They were all his charges.

"Gwyn, new questions: Count off the countries in the European Union."

When that was done,

"Fine. The atomic weight of Boron," and he named off five other elements.

That done, Caine had to grin.

"Cleared for Five. We'll set the record there for today. I'll need better equipment for you on our next trip out."

He had to do something.

"Doctor Jenings-Izumi, I was in your personal space. It won't happen again."

You can't protect them if you let emotions get in the way.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

The urge to hit him with the board in her hands was nearly overwhelming. The thought that she should test him by invading his space crossed her mind. She had an image of her stepping into his space, him stepping back and repeating until she was chasing him around the truck. She settled for, "You're quite alright, Major. No harm done." She looked at him as she finished, "Was there?"

[Adrian Moss]

He didn't need to say anything else. Done was done.

"Was there?"

"I need to keep a proper distance between myself and the team I command. There is a reason for that."

There. That was that - matter settled. It was an easy principle to understand. The CO had a distance he had to keep. He had to think about each and every member of the team as special. No one could be more special than anyone else, or he was a lousy commander. Right?

Gwyn called in, record set.

"Congratulations Jones. Come back down. Take it easy," he responded abstactly. His mind was elsewhere.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia had grown up with parents who were about as anti-authoritarian as was possible without breaking from society completely. And one of the things that they'd taught her was that the word 'proper' was just society's way of inhibiting freedom of choice though forcing one group's standards on another. It was a word that drove Olivia crazy.

So she took a big step, and invaded Caine's personal space, tugging up the goggles - which were not really being allowed to protect her eyes - as she did. She just looked at him, quiet and defiant.

[Adrian Moss]

What the hell?!?!

Instinct was to move and strike. They taught you to fight close-in in the Special Forces. Other voices whispered in his head as well, and one of them was a woman.

Damien turned into her, halving the distance. His hands hung loosely at his sides. They were so close the wind made a whistling noise passing between them. He looked down into that pleasently exotic face. He matched her action and liftend his own goggles higher up on his head so that he could look deeply into her eyes, but he managed to keep all of his pleasure at her imminent contact off of his face. His was a serene mask of will.

"Nice move, but now what are you going to do?"

She would back down, because he sure as hell couldn't.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"I thought I'd just stand here," she said, a false serenity in her voice. Wait for you to break, and I don't know... talk to me. Yell at me. Do something beside quote regulations and tell me what's "proper". "Watch Gwyn fly back. You going to use the binoculars?"

[Adrian Moss]

Keep standing there and I'm going to kiss you, and kiss you hard, like I've gone without water for a week and your the only glass of water in a thousand miles kiss.

Caine reached out and brushed an errant stand of hair away from her eyes.

"Gwyn's coming."

"Olivia," he said using her given name for the first time in weeks, "I am your CO. I have to protect you ... and all the members of my SG. That's why I need to keep ..." my hands off you? "my perspective. I hope you can accept that. If I led you on earlier, I apologize. My fault, though I have no regrets."

Still, he didn't move away, or look away, and Gwyn was fast approaching.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Then... I can't handle it when you look at me like that," Olivia said softly. "All that hunger and pain and want. Do you..." The words that hovered on her tongue hurt. How could she say them? And in the end, she couldn't.

"Do you think that you can cut back on that, if you're not going to do anything about it?" Not her first question, but close enough.

[Adrian Moss]

Gwyn was almost there. Neither one of them had moved. They were so close they were raditating their heat into one another, erotically so. It was a fatal misconception.

"Understood," was all he could say. She was right, he had been weak and that weakness, that inability to let go, had hurt her. Damnit, he couldn't do his job like this. He would have to do better.

He could transfer her out, but that would cripple his team dynamic. It wasn't her fault. It was his. He was going to have to man up and keep it tight. It was the only thing that could be done.

He didn't want to say it,

"You are still in my space, Doctor."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"You're the one with the problem with that," she said, her forehead still tingling where he'd touched her. She shouldn't be this aggressive, but four weeks of living with him, of all but showering and sleeping with him, had made her bolder than normal. "You wouldn't have a problem with Jones standing this close to you." Well, maybe he would. But it wouldn't be for the same reasons, and that was why she didn't back down.

[Rorx]

Gwyn had started off his return to earth in a dive, but as he got below 1km up he noticed how close together the other two were and slowed his descent.

Perhaps they are finally going to resolve their attaction? But either way there is going to be fallout. My money is Caine being to hung up on the rules and having to try to hold off - good luck to him, I don't think I could keep that up for long. Heh, at least it will distract Caine from spotting me put the air tank back on.

500m and they still hadn't separated so Gwyn turned from a diving position to the classic superman flying position. They obviously hadn't noticed, so he started spiralling down starting with a 100m diameter.

So the cold didn't effect me upto 5 klicks, thats what ~26,000ft, and I didn't need the air tank either. I didn't even notice any shortness of breath, apart from trying to talk was getting harder I guess. I suppose I'll have to use the sir tank to go higher anyway, otherwise I won't have enough air to talk into the radio. Hmm, to test this better I think I'm going to need access to a pressure chamber, preferably one that is both positive and negative pressure. What are they up to, still the same.

[Adrian Moss]

Caine cleared his throat.

"Jones is here," which was a round about way of saying I'm not backing down, I'm doing my job.

He turned and went over to Jones, helping the Flyer get his tank off. Flyer - good callsign. Too bad they didn't use them on the dirt side of this here Air Force.

"Well, Jones," the Major told the Specialist, "you aren't going to replace jet fighters anytime soon, but with your lift capacity and your manueverability, you are going to give us one hell of a strategic and tactical edge. I think we should sit down with the Sargeant some time and work out some basic plans - see what he thinks about this."

Tank in hand, Damien walked back to the Hummer heart heavy. Duty came first and this time it meant Duty was denial. He could deny how he felt about her. He had to.

"Alright, experiments done for the day," he said in a light-hearted tone he didn't feel. "Back to base. It's pancake night."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia turned away from both men, pressing both hands against the vehicle to steady herself. Damn insufferable man! "If I led you on earlier, I apologize. My fault, though I have no regrets." Doesn't matter what I think, that maybe I need closure. All that matters is him...

She sighed and pushed away from the truck, silently wondering how much longer this could go on. She put a smile on her face and went to join Gwyn and Caine. "Congrats, Gwyn, on your record flight," she said, then nodded at Caine's words. "Yeah, time to be heading back, I think."

[Rorx]

"No Major, but I might give a 'copter a run for it's money. I'll get together with the Sergeant sometime to thrash out some ideas but off the top of my head I'd say the best bet would be a collapsible metal frame that you could all clip on to with a quick release mechanism for emergencies and tactical situations, that I could lift all in one go. I'll start on some designs when we get back."

He accepts Olivia's congratulations and seeing the tension still between them asks, "Thanks Doc, come on and give us a hand out of this suit."

Click to reveal..

Rapport roll at Wits-1 dice (for no skill)= 3 dice

(20:05:32) ChatBot: (HG_Jones) rolls 3d10 and gets 5,2,8.

(20:05:42) (HG_Jones): 1 sux

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"Sure thing," Olivia said cheerfully, moving to help him. She helped him strip out and put the suit away, concentrating on her work, and not on Damien, somewhere close by. She could feel him, like a live wire, and it was unnerving. Super senses, please go away... I don't need this.

The task done, they were ready to go. Olivia made sure she got in the back seat before anyone else could. Caine would drive, he always did, and she didn't want to be next to him. With her mood, she'd do something childish, and that wasn't cool.

[Rorx]

Gwyn's joy at the flying he had finally been free to do quickly ebbed away in the face of the obvious tension between the others and Olivia's unhappiness. Getting into the back Gwyn tried to distract her during the trip back with trying to work out what changes would have occured in the Roman civilisation if they had lasted long enough to discover steam power...