Paper Planes
Posted on Sat Sep 23rd, 2023 @ 3:11pm by Lieutenant Commander Chester Ripley & Lieutenant Commander Frasier Greene & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell & Staff Warrant Officer N'Vara Eroskar
3,470 words; about a 17 minute read
Mission:
Short Treks
Location: Shuttlebay Flight Control - Primary Shuttlebay
Timeline: Middle of Day During Extended Warp Travel
[Deck 26 - Shuttlebay Flight Control overlooking Primary Shuttlebay]
It hadn't been the plan for her to spend most of her shift patching fixes in the Shuttlebay's control systems, but the recent updates from Starfleet had made the controls a little bit wonky, causing the Shuttlebay Manager to put in a work order for it. After Engineering had looked at it and found no mechanical issues, it had fallen on Ops to find errors in the subroutines that were causing the issues. While it wasn't a major issue or even something that took her terribly long to figure out, implementing the new code had left her brain numb by the end.
Letting her head fall back to rest on the backrest of the chair, Sydney stared up at the ceiling as she let out a heavy breath of relief having completed the necessary adjustments. While she knew there was probably more she could find to do, the Intrepid was currently in one of those lulls during warp travel where basically everything was working as it should and the crew could do nothing but wait. Picking her head up and looking out the windows overlooking the main shuttlebay, Reid spied the massive, closed doors at the end of the empty, lengthy expanse and an idea popped into her head.
Getting up and stepping over to the replicator set into the wall, Reid entered a quick sequence of options before the machine glowed and materialized a stack of pink-hued pages of paper. She took the stack in her arms and moved it over to sit on an empty spot on the main console before taking the top sheet and taking a seat to start working with it.
Folding it in half down its length, Syd flattened each fold by running a firmly pushed fingertip over it while pressing the paper into the flat of the console. Flipping and folding the piece of paper over and over, the human formed the most basic version of a 'paper airplane' that she could before standing up and taking a look down the length of the quiet shuttlebay below.
Stepping over to the small landing at the top of the metal stairs that led down into the bay, she took the plane between her two fingers, aimed it towards the far doors, and gently tossed it. The plane flew for only a few meters before quickly taking a nose-dive to land on the shuttlebay floor, drawing a disappointed grunt out of the Ops Chief. Turning and stepping back through the open door into the Control Room, Sydney grabbed another sheet of paper and took a seat to work on her second model…
…By the time the Orion Computer Systems Specialist strolled in from the Deck 26 hallway entrance, Sydney had littered the shuttlebay with three more pink-hued paper planes. Working on her fifth model, N'Vara stepped up behind her to look over her shoulder to study what she was doing before asking, "What'cha working on, Sir?"
Reid didn't take her focus away from her deliberate folding and manipulation of the paper as she answered simply, "Paper Planes. Want to hit the doors."
N'Vara let out a feigned, "Ahhh..," as she continued to watch the Operations Chief, taking a step back when Reid stood up quickly and followed the woman with her eyes as she watched Sydney take aim and launch another paper plane over the overhang's railing. Turning quickly to watch the craft's flight through the Control Room's windows, the human's plane glided a solid ten meters before tipping to the side and careening off to slide to a halt just in front of one of the stowed shuttles.
Clutching the railing with both hands, Sydney's chest vibrated another loan, growling groan of thought before turning and stepping back into the room to snatch up another sheet of paper to start work on her next attempt. N'Vara, having figured out what the Commander was doing, asked, "Mind if I join?" which only elicited a quick head shake and grunt in response. The Orion stepped over to select her own sheet of paper before taking a seat in one of the other chairs at the control console, glancing in Sydney's direction and taking cues from her design as she began folding her own paper airplane.
The clank and rattle of boots on the metal stairs and landing drew both women's attention to the flanking doorway to a grizzled Senior Chief Petty Officer standing in it just as he called out, "The hell are you doing up here?!" Turning in her chair before standing up, the man noticed the pips on Sydney's collar before stiffening his posture and saying in a more formal, respectful tone, "Apolgoizes, Commander. I didn't realize it was you."
Sydney waved off his concern, quickly ordering, "At Ease, Senior Chief. Just doing a minor engineering experiment since there isn't much to do at the moment. Apologies for the mess. I and anyone else involved will clean up after ourselves," she assured him before glancing the Orion's direction.
N'Vara quickly stood up and nodded in agreement, "Of course, Senior Chief. We'll clean up after ourselves."
The Senior Chief seemed to appraise the two officers for a moment before shrugging knowingly, realizing there wasn't anything he could say to either, and was satisfied to know it wouldn't be left to him and his to clean up after them. "Good luck with your experiment, then, Commander," he said with a nod before turning and heading back down the metal stairs.
Glancing at each other a moment, Sydney and N'Vara seemed to be in sync as they both shrugged and returned to their seats to continue work on their paper planes…
Having checked with the ship’s computer Doctor Greene knew Commander Reid was located nearby, however the sheer size of the shuttle bay that lay out before him once he’d crossed the threshold stopped him in his tracks. Why didn’t he just use the comm instead of playing cat and mouse around the ship? It would have certainly saved him plenty of time, though lacked the sense of exploration he’d been on since setting off in his pursuit.
Having been posted on stationary bases until recently Frasier was still coming to terms with living on what felt like vulnerable tissue floating among the stars subject to the unknown entities of space drifting upon the winds of the Captain’s will… much like the paper aeroplane that fluttered past his vision.
Bewildered the Doctor swiftly looked again convinced he’d imagined the pale pink miniature aircraft zip by over his head, his eyes tracked a second one as it gracefully fell to the deck and skidded to halt. Where were these coming from, Frasier asked before spying the staircase over his shoulder and the gentle sound of voices from above. Realising the shuttle bay had an upper level, or this scenario a launch pad for paper planes he headed up to be greeted by Reid and another officer he couldn’t quite place.
“Hello,” he said quickly feeling as if he’d interrupted them doing something inappropriate. “I was…” he paused again having not really thought through what he’d say. Instead: “Have you tried a stiffer paper type to prolong the flight?” tumbled out of his mouth.
Both Sydney and N'Vara turned to the Doctor, but neither got up from their respective chairs. While the Orion's gaze stayed on the Medical Officer, the Ops Officer's turned back to the paper airplane she was carefully folding a new wing angle into, but replied dryly, "The extra weight would cause it to fall faster. Just need to find the right angle on the wings and get the right throw…" She didn't continue to say anything more as her focus returned entirely to her work.
“I see…” Frasier trailed off as Sydney resumed her attempt without as much as a hello or an explanation why they were throwing paper planes in the first place.
N'Vara was at least slightly less focused on the 'experiment' and offered the man a rise of her chin and a casual, "What's up, Doc? If you care to join, there's a stack of paper over there," she said with a wave of her hand to the end of the control console, "but if you think a higher weight paper would be better, feel free to use to the replicator. I wouldn't mind giving it a try, if you think it'll work." While the Orion's tone was casual, the medical doctor would easily pick up the slight look of competitive desire in her eyes. While N'Vara may have been acting like she didn't care about the 'experiment', her body language would tell Doctor Greene she was taking it seriously enough she wanted to beat her Chief to the shuttle bay doors.
“It might,” the Doctor stepped closer to exam the paper stack. “Then again, as Reid said it might simply drop like a stone. Aside from bragging rights what’s the prize for the longest flight?” he asked the two women aware that the Warrant Officer was perhaps a little too keen to try his theory as if hell bent on beating her superior.
While Reid didn't turn her focused attention back toward the Doctor, N'Vara only stared blankly at him for a moment before offering a shrug, "Bragging rights? It's an 'experiment'. You've already been told more than I had before I got involved."
“Ah,” he nodded. “Well in that case we’re need some more… test subjects from the replicator.”
All the Counselor was looking for was a quiet place to do her notes. Was that too much to ask? Why was this ship so BIG? Back on Triton, she had tons of little cubby-holes to hide in. She was hoping the Hangar Bay would be quiet-they weren't on a mission yet, and even if they were, work still had to get done. Admittedly, Rena was having a tiny bit of trouble adjusting to the new ship. She'd never admit it to anyone except S'Tera, though.
What she found instead was absolute insanity. She ducked as a paper plane sailed over her chocolate colored head. "Whoa...what is going on HERE?" The Betazoid looked around.
…After having finished her seventh or eighth attempt, Sydney had returned to the railing over the overlooking landing to launch her latest version, dubbed 1.7, off down the length of the shuttlebay. She didn't realize anyone else had come into the main area until she heard the yelling, which drew her attention away from the pink paper plane that had gone the furthest yet, but dropped before making it even halfway.
Clutching the railing as she leaned over it, the woman's yellow-trimmed uniform was easier to spot, especially as she leaned to the side to get a better view of the source of the voice. Not immediately recognizing the counselor but managing to put 'two and two together', Sydney quickly determined it had to Rena, prompting her to call out, "Hey, Counselor. Apologies. Doing an impromptu experiment to pass the time until we arrive at our destination given the lack of regular maintenance this new ship actually needs. You can join us if you like?"
Despite the offer, the Ops Chief didn't seem to linger to actually hear an answer, probably figuring Rena would either make her way up to the Shuttlebay Control Room or not. Leaning back off the railing and returning to inside the control room, Sydney let out a disapproving grunt before she grabbed the PADD she'd been using before and began to make more notes on the performance of her last model, and where she could improve it. Once done, she selected another fresh sheet of paper and got to work folding, flipping, creasing, and folding 'Reid Version 1.8'.
Rena considered. "Sure," she said. She made her way forward, settling in at the table. She took a piece of paper, and folded it, beginning with the first two top corners. Once she'd finished the nose of the plane, she folded it in half, folded the wings down, and then pressed the final corners through her fingers, so they were slightly curled.
"Try to send yours upward at a 45* angle," she said, absently, as she folded, to the others. Her brothers had taught her that trick-they'd spend hours on the various ships and bases they grew up on trying to aim the planes DIRECTLY at people's foreheads.
Chester Ripley walked into the shuttle bay to eat his lunch. Generally, he didn’t care if people watched him eat his first lunch, during his break, but this was his second lunch, technically while he was on duty.
This, however, was the first time there were people on the deck. Quietly, Chet stashed his lunch and exited the lower offices, taking the turbolift up one deck. Making it seem like he had just casually arrived to look around while he walked the decks. “Oh! Didn’t mean to interrupt. Whatcha got goin’ on?”
"A test of engineering, aerodynamics and perfecting the best technique," Doctor Greene explained carefully folding the wing on his newest creation between forefinger and thumb. "To propel our paper creations to the far end of the shuttle bay," he showed Ripley the dart like shape of his plane. "Though I feel with so many of us now here it's now less of an experiment and more of a competition."
"It's not, Doctor," the Orion spoke up without looking away from the unorthodox creation she was folding. Having creased the paper in half, N'Vara had folded the paper into something akin to a bird, with a gentle fold in the middle that swept up to matching folds that swept the corners down into long wings with just the slights up-curl on the ends. Holding up her creation in front of her, she turned to glance at Greene, "It's called 'shaming'," she said with a slight smirk.
"You're fine, Doc," Rena said.. "If *I* can figure it out, you'll do ok," she said, standing to aim her plane. "Duck" She sent it sailing over the Doctor's head, smiling as it came to a stop near the others.
These words brought Sydney out of her moment of focus, causing her to nearly erupt, "No! We are not here doing…whatever that is." Turning her head and gaze almost violently towards the doctor, "And, No, this is not a competition. Everyone is free to help everyone else. The goal is to get a piece of paper to fly across the length of the shuttlebay to hit the bay doors without needing anything more than the proper design and tossing technique."
Turning her gaze to sweep across the others as she spoke, the Ops Chief sounded quite serious as she continued, "It would be easy to make some kind of 'launcher' or use the systems to lower the gravity or cause some kind of other beneficial effect. This," she said holding up her newest completed version, "is all about doing what our ancestors did through sheer ingenuity and trial and error. Before we could warp between stars, we had to learn how to do what comes so easily to birds; to fly. In this case, we're just trying to glide. If we can't manage to make it to the end of the shuttlebay from up here, we might all need to go back to the Academy."
Giving them all a look and a forceful nod, Sydney stood up from her chair and made her way out to the overwatch railing. Taking in and releasing a deep breath, she studied the manner in which she pinched her plane, adjusting it as she practiced her throwing motion to make the most out of Rena's advice. After a few motions, the woman seemed sure she was ready to let '1.8' fly as she reeled her arm back and brought it forward swiftly, releasing at the pinnacle of the motion to send the paper airplane soaring upward before leveling out and then gently starting to float to towards the deck.
Keeping a nice, straight path, the woman started to repeatedly mouth, "no, no, no, no, no," before letting out a loud, "DAMMIT!" as the plane skidded to a landing, just over halfway across the total distance. Leaning on the railing and staring at her resting pink plane in the distance, Sydney only pushed herself up off her forearms when she heard the footfalls of another begin to approach.
Standing back as N'Vara stepped out, the Orion asked, "So was that one yours?" which prompted a humming grunt and a nod from her Chief before the Commander turned to head back into Flight Control to snatch up another piece of paper and wander off towards her previously claimed seat. Reid Version 1.9 was clearly now her next best hope as she started moving the page of paper in the air, thinking intently before committing to any hard creases.
“Oh! It’s paper airplanes!” Chet answered the unanswered question. “My older brother and I used to play this game on Starbase 9.” Chet clapped just a little to himself before continuing. “I never was very good at it though and my brother was real mean about it cuz I always got us caught.”
Folding into his insecurities, Chet watched. “Do you mind if I watch for a bit?” he asked quietly.
"Watch?!" N'Vara asked but also seemed offended at the question simultaneously. Reaching over to pick up a sheet of paper, the Orion Warrant Officer held it out for the Second Officer to take, "No watching allowed. If you are going to be here, you are going to take part. I'll help you if you want, Sir? Have fun with it. Doubt you have to worry about anyone being mean to you here." Even if it wasn't common, N'Vara offered an encouraging smile to the man. Chet was probably the most liked Senior Commander on the entire ship.
“Okay…I’ll give it a try,” Chet said with a nervous chuckle. He tentatively took the piece of paper and he remembered how to fold it the way his brother taught him. From where he was seated, he started folding, his tongue stuck out as he concentrated on building his plane.
…It had been probably an hour of the room full of people folding and stepping out onto the catwalk to toss their planes over the railing in hopes of making it as far as they could. The entire open center of the shuttlebay, as well as around and even on top of a few of the stowed shuttles, was littered with pale pink paper airplanes. The further from Flight Control one got, the fewer planes seemed to have come to rest. No one had yet made it the entire way to the far shuttlebay doors, but it was clear all of the practice flights had been paying dividends. There had to be at least a dozen planes within striking distance.
While individual success varied, the 'experiment' was already proving to be a success as it had brought together a wide array of officers from varying departments all working towards the same, simple goal. While there were those who had turned their attention towards helping each other with their designs, there could surely be those who saw it as a competition and were focused on being the first to hit the far doors. N'Vara may have been the first to offer help to others, but even Sydney had eventually softened up as she turned away from wasting pages of paper to using a small, holographic PADD to approach the problem as a scientist or engineer would.
With the current shift soon coming to an end and the entire group having wasted enough time, Sydney let out a heavy sigh as she finished up her last crease on her last fold and carefully examined what would be her final attempt. Cradling it between two fingers as she stood up, the Ops Chief looked to the group of others all focused on their own creations to announce, "Shift Change is quickly approaching, and so I think it's time for Us All to give it our best, last shot. Before we get to collecting all of our previous, failed prototypes, I think we should all go out on the catwalk and all take our last throws together. We'll either succeed as a crew or come up short as a crew."
Glancing around, Sydney watched and waited for each person in attendance to finish off their last attempt and ready themselves to head out together to see if today was the day they would conquer the main shuttlebay…
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