Lt. JG Ollie Bergmen - Barrel Roll! Barrel Roll! Do the barrel roll!

[CPT Arianus]

(( Five Clicks later, Type-17 Argo Transport “Atlas”, Designated Flight Training Ground, Space around Risa ))

Fly the shuttle, watch the instruments, and listen to the communications. Even though the computer did a lot, controlled a lot, and made many decisions, it was still Ollie who made the final calls. The young lieutenant was beginning to feel overwhelmed by the information the shuttle was providing, the necessary actions for the flight, and the orbital flight central comms blaring through his headset.

oO Aviate, Navigate, Communicate… Aviate, Navigate, Communicate... Oo

Bergmen repeated it to himself, his mind racing in every direction, while he was trying to drive it back into his mental bullpen with this basic flying lesson. And still, he attempted to concentrate on all aspects at once, leading to a lack of focus on anything in particular.

Syrex: Alright Lieutenant, please hold here whilst I explain the test to you.

Bergmen's head bobbed quickly while his eyes darted across the instruments. He hovered his hand over the flight controls briefly, toggling between autopilot and manual before confirming autopilot with a sigh and turning to Doctor Sydax.

Bergmen: Ready, Doctor. ::smiles::

Syrex: So, this’ll be a forty-minute test, starting here with a few maneuvers before we have a few simulations of various encounters you may one day face, before we slowly make our way back to the Artemis. All right?

Bergmen: Alright, alright, understood, Doctor.

Ollie turned back to the controls, and his hands started to work on the settings for the upcoming test.

oO Dampers off. ADIRU set to Normal. SPWS extended range…set. Control sim… Oo

Syrex: Then let’s proceed, do a barrel roll at one-quarter impulse. No internal dampeners. Oh, and try not to make me throw up.

Bergmen: Aye, ma’am. Barrel roll, zero point two five impulse.

oO Controls in parameters. All green. Oo

Bergmen’s eyes quickly focused on the reference point about 45° off the shuttle's nose, and while he still held his glare on it, his hands worked the throttle to start accelerating. When hit with about one-fifth of the impulse, he started maneuver with pitch up the angle and roll adjustment. As the shuttle hit mark zero two five impulse speed, he pulled the throttle to idle and let their forward momentum carry him forward smoothly while rolling to offset 90° degrees.

Bergmen: Feel good, Doctor?

Syrex: Response

Ollie, hanging from the restraints with his head down, blinked and fought against the blood rushing to his head. He tried to keep his gaze on the reference point as the shuttle continued rolling back onto its belly. With a rolling angle of approximately 47°, he began to increase the throttle to stabilize the overload of acceleration force. With a slight swing, the shuttle rose back to a horizontal position, ten feet below its previous flight level, at a speed of one-quarter impulse.

Bergmen: Speed zero point two five, check, flight level, flight level is nominal. What’s next? ::smiles::

Syrex: Response


TAG/TBC

–
Lieutenant JG Ollie Bergmen
Operations Officer
U.S.S. Artemis-A
A240009JC1