Tarik had stopped by and visited the night before and indicated that he'd received official notification that she'd been placed on light duty. And that he needed her to finish her basic flight training with Paul Deveraux and brief Captain Degataryev within the next twenty-four hours.
She pulled on her uniform and fixed the brace and walked the long way around to the reception area and out she took a lift and headed for space dock where she would met Lt. Deveraux. There she found him sitting on the ramp of the midsize shuttle they'd been practicing on. "Ah, my Captain, zeh are ready 'no to continue yuz lessons?" Jayme smiled with her teeth clenched, forced herself to relax, "Yes, Lieutenant, I am here so can we please get started?"
"Oh yes, lets. I am here as an observer. That shuttle is yours... begin." Paul sat back down and watched as Jayme took her PADD off her hip—keyed a program and began her exterior inspection and then entered and began her interior inspection. "Lt. Deveraux, all systems checked and ready. Please board so we can be on our way." Jayme waited and he took the science station seat, "When you are ready, lift off and circle the station, then take us out 1 light year." Jayme had clearance and the bay doors opened and she guided the shuttle out and on the course specified by the science officer. In the silence she started humming the tune to one of her favorite Lila Cheney albums.
When they were about one light year away from the station the power blinked twice and one-by-one the systems shut down. She punched the button to send out a 'Mayday,' she noted that the light was blinking. The starboard thruster shut down twelve seconds after the port thruster, which sent them in a slow counter clockwise spin. Jayme immediately accesses the port ballast tank and released several gentle bursts to bring them out of the spin. She turned to Paul and found he was out, she checked his pulse just in case and found, him snoring. She immediately started down the manual check off to find the problem. Behind the science station were the relays for the control runs... basically fuses/isolineor chips.
She grabbed a blanket from the back and used it to pillow Paul's head as she laid him forward ever his science station. She opened the panel and started down the power control systems and found the two buses that had blown. She opened the cover of the redundant supplies and found one isolineor chip/buses. She replaced the one that controlled the life support and bought up basic controls... but for flight operations she needed a second chip.
She leaned against the wall and thought about all of the systems onboard. They weren't on any science mission and there had to be a spare chip as a redundant power run for the sensors. She lifted Paul back up off his station so she could lay on her right side and wiggle under the station pull the panel and find the isolineor chip. Which she did and worked her way back out, pushed Paul back down and inserted the chip into the second control run and all of the stations, even science came back up.
She closed the panel and decided to leave Lt. Deveraux on his console. She sat at the left seat controls, cut the mayday signal, and turned the shuttle around and headed back to station. She landed and the shuttle was swarmed by mechanics and two medical tech's from Sickbay. She turned and saw Paul sitting up grinning with his feet resting on his station. "Had you really need me Las, I would have been more helpful... whaz goods a test... if moi helps."
Jayme at that moment stood and walked out of the shuttle before she slapped him silly! Once on the dock and him standing beside her and listened while she reported to the small craft chief engineer what happened and her fix.
"Now, for zie final exam, Las." He pulled on her sleeve and she followed him to another bay. In that bay was a shuttle twice the size as the one she'd been training on. "This is yours for the next three hours. Launch, navigate the course that's already laid in, and then you are to land at Camp Anderson on New Canada. There you will pick up a special package for Colonel Tarik, and return to station." He stood and watched as she did her inspection of the exterior and when she walked up the ramp she turned to him, and asked, "Are you coming?"
"No, mon amis! Ze's is your "Solo flight." Jayme froze on the steps and stared at him. Paul smiled and said, "You will do fine, Las. Now go, don't make me report failure to ze Colonel." Jayme took a deep breath and entered the shuttle, closed the hatch and did her interior inspection. She sat in the left seat and noticed her hands shaking... She closed her eyes and meditated for a few minutes, until the 0ps center and Lt. Deveraux called, "Captain? Are you okay?"
She exhaled forcibly and powered up the primary flight controls, and activated her comm's, "Solo flight requesting permission to launch, over." She listened and Paul gave the order to launch. Jayme watched as the bay door opened and she with more then a little wavering managed to get the shuttle out into open space. The Course she was to navigate then showed up on the master screen. She followed the directions for course and speed, and was finally cleared for New Canada's air space. Thirty minutes later she landed and was greeted by Sgt. Corran.
They left the ship for a few moments while someone pressed a cup of Rakdajino into her hands. She cautiously sipped the hot liquid. "How's the knee Captain?" Corran asked, as he'd been aboard ship for the holo deck game. She turned to him so the wind wasn't blowing dust in her face, "I'm light duty for another two weeks. Might be freed of this damn brace in a couple of days."
"We didn't expect an officer to come pick up the package." Corran said with a smile.
"I'm doing my flight check off's and since I needed to solo—this was my assignment." With a nod that they had delayed long enough, he followed her into the shuttle and secured the bundle, he'd been carrying, waved and left the ship. She scanned that area around the ship and then proceeded to launch. Thirty minutes later she was maneuvering the shuttle back into is slot. After shut down, Lt. Deveraux appeared, and helped her with final shut down and to carry the package, which was heavier then Paul expected.
Together they walked back to the Marine Reception area and to the colonel's office. Both of them faced the colonel, Paul handed over the package which he placed un-opened on the floor beside his chair. Paul then said, "She's passed her basic flight ops for the smaller and larger shuttles here on station, mon amis!"
"Congratulations Captain, the first of the Hawkes will be here in two weeks... flight training for them will begin as soon as a training team is ready... your name is on that list and you will complete it with the rest of the team you picked." He smiled and nodded to both of them. "You're dismissed." Jayme entered the infirmary and asked, "I'd like 1500 mg of Acetaminophen." Sgt. Berke pulled from the drawer the amount and handed her a large cup of water and watched her take the tablets. "Thanks." She recycled the cup and headed out to the mess hall for lunch.