Weclome to Flight Ops (Hanger & Flight Deck)

[Akirapryde]

Stardate: 53831.89
USS Thunderchild, NCC-63549
Deck 13, Hanger Deck
The Dragon's Lair
Lieutenant Arron Duncanson, Lieutenant Rebbecca Paxton, Lieutenant (JR) Mordecai Noonia

Lieutenant Duncanson laughed, "You have a lot to learn here" he said patting Noonia on the back, "Paxton can't be persuaded by words. This is her baby. And in a kind of way, we are all her family" he said motioning to the rest of the crew along the hanger deck. "No, the CAG and she go way back. He saved her life during Operation Return" he explained then continued, "so he called her debt in exchange for allowing you this chance. What he told her during that meeting, I could only guess. All I know is that her debt to him is canceled" He paused a moment and turned to look at Lieutenant Noonia in the eyes, "So if I were you, I would really think of what you did or said that impressed him so much that your future in this division is worth a life debt." He seemed to smiled at Noonia's play on words but before he could speak Lieutenant Paxton spoke.

Lieutenant Paxton came to a stop just ahead of them as she turned to face both humans, "Or better yet, Hollywood. I would ensure that your performance here reflects the costs that has made this possible." She waved a hand to silence both men, "But Lieutenant Duncanson is right, you have a lot to learn, Hollywood." She pointed to a pair of crewman wearing white vests who were carefully going over an Attack Fighter that had just beamed down from the flight deck. It appeared that the craft was damage in someway. "See those crewmen with the white vests."

"They are deck safety officers" she explained. "The last time an Admiral from Starfleet Command visited my hangers deck at Utopia, one of my safeties ordered him to stop what he was doing. There were some hurt feelings and much yelling. But I stood behind my safeties without question. They are the final authority on this deck and everyone, even me, will follow their instructions." There was a sense of pride in her voice as she spoke. "If you ever ignore one of them, even once. I will bounce you off this deck faster than you could realize. And you will not be back."

It was Lieutenant Duncanson's turn to speak up. "It is something that we pride our selves on here in Flight Operations. Engineering had five recorded incidents last month that were all safety violations. One such incident led to a power coupling shorting out and an engineer was injured. In the past two months, Flight Operations has had zero violations. We owe Lieutenant Paxton for making this place the safest place to work on the ship. It is something that Lieutenant Paxton takes very seriously."

She nodded and followed up these words, "listen Hollywood, look around you. A mistake here at the very best could only damage a fighter. And at the very worse could cause critical damage to the ship. Hundreds of lives depend on our ability to do our job and do it safely. Four months ago, before I was allowed to take over Deck Operations, we had the worst safety record on the ship. That Deck Officer is gone. Now we have the best record on the ship. On this deck" she said moving up closer to Lieutenant Noonia so he could hear her better, "You are one of my own, Hollywood. Just like each of them" she added waving her hand around. "At the end of your shift, you WILL be able to return to your world of glitter and fame. Unharmed. I will promise you that."

Taking a step back she motioned to a group of crew members wearing red vests heading over to that damaged fighter. "See those guys in red" she asked pointing at them, "they are fuel and ordnance personnel."

Lieutenant Duncanson took over almost on cue, "ordnance and fuel personnel ensure that each craft leaving is fully prepared for their mission. They also ensure that fuel transfers are handled with the up most care. Arming, disarming weapons on craft departing and arriving falls to them as well. No craft is aloud to move to the hanger deck with any weapons that are still active. These crew members ensure that these weapons are safe before the transfer." Taking note of the two green vested crew members joining the group he added, "Green vests are our Support and Maintenance personnel. It is their job to ensure that any and all craft are mission capable at any given time."

In a moment of a timely pause Lieutenant Paxton took over. "Down times for my craft is simply not allowed. Need a part, we'll replicate it. Need help, we'll assign it to you. No matter the effort needed, the repairs will be completed as safely as possible. We have one simple philosophy down here. We support the pilots completely so they can do their job. If one fighter can't take off during a crisis than we have lost part of our combat efficiency. This is why we can't afford down times."

She motioned to a group of crew members in yellow vests as she continued, "yellow vest are your craft handlers." It appeared that they were getting ready to use an anti-grave sled to move the wounded fighter.

Lieutenant Duncanson followed up, "these personnel take charge of the craft whenever any craft moves. They will escort the craft from point A to its final destination. No matter where that destination happens to be. Rather its either to the maintenance bay on the starboard side of the deck or up to the flight deck, no craft moves without a handler. They also ensure that craft are moved in the fastest but safest possible way. Only when the craft is either secured at its destination or if he is relieved of his charge, meaning his craft, by a Deck Captain will the handler leave his craft."

Lieutenant Paxton pointed to a Andorian in a brown vest, "Nothing moves on either the hanger deck or the flight deck without the permission of the Deck Captain. There will always be one on duty for each deck. During times of crisis there will be four on duty on each deck. The Deck Captains maintain constant communications with Flight Operations two decks above. Vital information is relayed between Flight Operations and the deck crews via the Deck Captains. Each Deck Captain answer to me personally. So you can guess that they will not bend or break my rules."

She paused as they watched the wounded fighter being moved towards the Maintenance Bay. "Then we come to the purple vests. We are the Deck Commanders or Deck Com. It our responsibility to run both decks and answer for any mistakes that happen. There are three of us and each of us answers directly to the CAG." she paused a moment then added, "Lieutenant Duncanson is currently on duty as Deck Com. Even though he works for me, unless I have good reason to relieve him, his word is final till the end of this duty."

Lieutenant Duncanson nodded, "Now, what is important for you to understand Lieutenant is that each person here is expected to not only know the job of his fellow deck hand but to be able to perform that duty with the same level of experience. Cross training here is the norm. Unlike in Engineering where you guys have a million and one specialists who each have pretty much one job. Each of us, including you, will be able to do all duties that come with working in the Hanger Deck or on the Flight Deck." he smiled with a warm and friendly smile, "don't worry. A large number of files have already been transferred to your person data terminal in your quarters. There will be a lot of studying for you in the near future. And yes, you will be tested. We all are. No one is allowed to stagnate here in Flight Operations."

Lieutenant Paxton stepped in, "We don't expect you to learn this over night Hollywood. But you will have to learn it if you plan on proving that the cost for you was worth it. Down here we speak our own language" she said motioned to the group moving the fighter as she continued, "and even have our on sign language." The group were communicating in both hand jesters as well as over voice. The move seemed largely complex but they were able to move the wounded fighter across the busy space without coming close to anyone or anything else.

She turned back to Lieutenant Noonia, "Okay before we move on, any questions?"