PhantomCruiser
Wanderer
Whether illicit or approved, every airfield is going to have one. There’s always a hole-in-the-wall swill serving joint somewhere nearby. They’ll be called by different names, but the wood paneling, dart boards, pool table, creaky leather and dim lighting provide a worldwide continuity. For the most part (geography notwithstanding) the menu is the same as well; fried something-or-other and beer. After a bit of investigation by Cleveland Davis, SRC Polygon proved to be no different. Cleveland had spent the better part of the day getting himself killed (repeatedly) in the full motion simulator, and over one of the pool tables, he was now dishing out some good natured but severe punishment to those homicidal technicians who’d killed him earlier.
John Kirby had given Maria Kolsov a rough description of Cleveland, not specific, but as promised, Cleveland was the only 6 foot 4 inch man in the place with coal-black skin, graying hair and a tie-died Peter Tosh tee shirt. All things considered, the tee shirt was the giveaway and Maria spied him at the pool table as soon as she walked in the door. After collecting a bottle of water from the bar, she made her way over to introduce herself.
Cleveland walked around the table, eyeing his shot up to sink the 8-ball yet again. His opponent resigned himself o another loss and headed for the bar to make his payment. Cleveland saw Maria take up a position along the wall, and he flashed her his best movie-star smile and gently sank the 8 ball. The technician wordlessly held out a beer bottle as payment, “I yield. You’re killing me here” he said. Cleveland smiled again, “Serves you right after all those dirty tricks in the simulator, I count you as still ahead though.”
Maria approached and stuck out her hand, “John said you were holding court here, I’m Maria”. Cleveland looked nonplussed for a second “John? Oh, Kirby. You’re that Maria.” Cleveland turned to the techs that had been paying his bar tab for the evening “Class dismissed fellas, better luck next time”. Then to Maria “Let’s grab a table”.
“You gave Kirby a tour of the hangar spaces then?” he asked as they took their seats. Maria smiled “I did indeed; he was like a small child at Christmastime”.
“Sounds like Kirby. He loves all types of aircraft, the older the better. I got a quick glance at your squadron when I first got here”. The two continued to make for aviation-related small talk to kill time.
Kirby glanced around as he walked in, spying Cleveland and Maria in an animated discussion, while making the same hand gestures that pilots have made since man first took flight. No doubt filling her up with old war stories, Kirby thought as he headed towards the bar for a local brew and ordered a plate of chicken wings.
“Let me guess” he interrupted, clapping Cleveland on the shoulder “There I was... 200 feet and inverted, out of airspeed, altitude and ideas.”
Cleveland grinned, “Oh! You’ve heard this story before then?”
“Countless times” Kirby and Maria chimed in unison, “I’ve even taken that story and, um, embellished a few things.” Maria added
Kirby grinned as he took as seat at the small table and handed Cleveland a sheaf of papers. “I’ve got a surprise for you Cleve.”
Cleveland unrolled the papers and raised an eyebrow to Kirby “We’re doing power points now?”
“More than presentations my friend, Victors almost got Syracuse wrapped up. The hardware is bought and paid for, and 5 flights are already scheduled. And at the end of those flights, we’ll be operational, on a limited basis, but we’ll be open for business”.
After studying the printouts for several minutes, Cleveland shuffled the papers back to Kirby. “I’ve only got two questions boss; question number one is, when do we start? And, can I be on expedition one?”
Kirby sighed, “I knew you were going to ask that, and truth be told it’d really be up to Victor. After all he’s actually the “head” of the space division. My guess is that he’d want to keep you working on Maxine until it’s operational.” Kirby spied Maria trying to peek at the stack of papers and gestured for her to help herself as he paused to sip his beer, “You still want to head that up, right?”
“I do, I really do. But this’d be a chance for a quicker trip to space.” Cleveland finished his own beer and stared wistfully at the ceiling.
“Nancy would kill me if I sent you off again, it’s bad enough that you’ve been here for so long.” Kirby paused, “And speaking of which, have you talked to Nancy lately?”
“Ya mon! My ear’s still sore from the chewin’ she gave me!” exclaimed Cleveland “She never gonna forgive me for lettin’ you fly in Maxine. Speaking of which, we ever going to come up with a proper name?”
“Actually I think I’ve got one. If we stick with the idea of naming them after rivers and waterways, I was thinking of naming the first one Parvati.” Kirby saw the bartender signal that the wings were ready, “And the next one Oracabessa, after that we’ll see. You want a refill?” He asked, standing up. “Maria, anything?”
“None for me, I’ve got pirate patrol in the morning”. Maria smiled. Kirby made for the bar to retrieve his wings, and with two more beers and water he made his way back to the table”
“Wait; did you say the next one?” Cleveland said as he reached for a wing. “And Oracabessa, I know where that is, I played in that river as a boy when we’d visit”. He paused for a second, and looked over at Maria “And did you say pirate patrol?”
Maria laughed as she reached for a wing of her own “I did, as part of our agreement here we provide top cover for our coast guard along the Straits of Malacca. We do search and rescue too, all sorts of air-force things to earn our keep.”
Kirby looked somewhat astonished “I thought the pirate problem was solved years ago?”
“It was, mostly” said Maria between bites. “There still an element of it remaining, and drugs too. You’d be amazed what passes through this way.”
“I wouldn’t” said Cleveland, “Singapore has been a major shipping hub long before anyone knew about the Americas. Same goes for Hong Kong and Taiwan, there’s no telling what sneaks out.” Looking at Maria again “Does it ever get exiting?”
Maria’s eyes lit up “Oh yes! I went weapons hot with a drug runner last year. A really fast boat was being chased by a coastal patrol vessel and they called for our help” pausing long enough to reach for another wing. “They gave me the go-ahead to fire warning shots, so I put a half-second burst of 30 mm in their path.” Maria smile warmly, “They got the message.”
“What were they carrying?” Kirby asked.
“Heroin. Lots and lots of heroin.” Maria replied.
“Good for you!” Cleveland said, “I always loved doing something productive instead of cutting holes in the sky,” holding his beer up to clink his bottle to Maria’s water. “So how do you like the dash 27?”
“It’s a really nice bird. It’s about the same as the MIG-29 only bigger. And” giving Kirby a mock glare, “It’s not nearly as old as some people would think.”
Several stories, beers, waters and wings later the group realized how late it was getting. Maria had the best excuse to call it an early night with her scheduled flight the next afternoon. As the group broke up Kirby realized he’d never told Cleveland what his “big” news was. “Oh, hey Cleve. About Nancy... She’ll be here on Tuesday.”
John Kirby had given Maria Kolsov a rough description of Cleveland, not specific, but as promised, Cleveland was the only 6 foot 4 inch man in the place with coal-black skin, graying hair and a tie-died Peter Tosh tee shirt. All things considered, the tee shirt was the giveaway and Maria spied him at the pool table as soon as she walked in the door. After collecting a bottle of water from the bar, she made her way over to introduce herself.
Cleveland walked around the table, eyeing his shot up to sink the 8-ball yet again. His opponent resigned himself o another loss and headed for the bar to make his payment. Cleveland saw Maria take up a position along the wall, and he flashed her his best movie-star smile and gently sank the 8 ball. The technician wordlessly held out a beer bottle as payment, “I yield. You’re killing me here” he said. Cleveland smiled again, “Serves you right after all those dirty tricks in the simulator, I count you as still ahead though.”
Maria approached and stuck out her hand, “John said you were holding court here, I’m Maria”. Cleveland looked nonplussed for a second “John? Oh, Kirby. You’re that Maria.” Cleveland turned to the techs that had been paying his bar tab for the evening “Class dismissed fellas, better luck next time”. Then to Maria “Let’s grab a table”.
“You gave Kirby a tour of the hangar spaces then?” he asked as they took their seats. Maria smiled “I did indeed; he was like a small child at Christmastime”.
“Sounds like Kirby. He loves all types of aircraft, the older the better. I got a quick glance at your squadron when I first got here”. The two continued to make for aviation-related small talk to kill time.
Kirby glanced around as he walked in, spying Cleveland and Maria in an animated discussion, while making the same hand gestures that pilots have made since man first took flight. No doubt filling her up with old war stories, Kirby thought as he headed towards the bar for a local brew and ordered a plate of chicken wings.
“Let me guess” he interrupted, clapping Cleveland on the shoulder “There I was... 200 feet and inverted, out of airspeed, altitude and ideas.”
Cleveland grinned, “Oh! You’ve heard this story before then?”
“Countless times” Kirby and Maria chimed in unison, “I’ve even taken that story and, um, embellished a few things.” Maria added
Kirby grinned as he took as seat at the small table and handed Cleveland a sheaf of papers. “I’ve got a surprise for you Cleve.”
Cleveland unrolled the papers and raised an eyebrow to Kirby “We’re doing power points now?”
“More than presentations my friend, Victors almost got Syracuse wrapped up. The hardware is bought and paid for, and 5 flights are already scheduled. And at the end of those flights, we’ll be operational, on a limited basis, but we’ll be open for business”.
After studying the printouts for several minutes, Cleveland shuffled the papers back to Kirby. “I’ve only got two questions boss; question number one is, when do we start? And, can I be on expedition one?”
Kirby sighed, “I knew you were going to ask that, and truth be told it’d really be up to Victor. After all he’s actually the “head” of the space division. My guess is that he’d want to keep you working on Maxine until it’s operational.” Kirby spied Maria trying to peek at the stack of papers and gestured for her to help herself as he paused to sip his beer, “You still want to head that up, right?”
“I do, I really do. But this’d be a chance for a quicker trip to space.” Cleveland finished his own beer and stared wistfully at the ceiling.
“Nancy would kill me if I sent you off again, it’s bad enough that you’ve been here for so long.” Kirby paused, “And speaking of which, have you talked to Nancy lately?”
“Ya mon! My ear’s still sore from the chewin’ she gave me!” exclaimed Cleveland “She never gonna forgive me for lettin’ you fly in Maxine. Speaking of which, we ever going to come up with a proper name?”
“Actually I think I’ve got one. If we stick with the idea of naming them after rivers and waterways, I was thinking of naming the first one Parvati.” Kirby saw the bartender signal that the wings were ready, “And the next one Oracabessa, after that we’ll see. You want a refill?” He asked, standing up. “Maria, anything?”
“None for me, I’ve got pirate patrol in the morning”. Maria smiled. Kirby made for the bar to retrieve his wings, and with two more beers and water he made his way back to the table”
“Wait; did you say the next one?” Cleveland said as he reached for a wing. “And Oracabessa, I know where that is, I played in that river as a boy when we’d visit”. He paused for a second, and looked over at Maria “And did you say pirate patrol?”
Maria laughed as she reached for a wing of her own “I did, as part of our agreement here we provide top cover for our coast guard along the Straits of Malacca. We do search and rescue too, all sorts of air-force things to earn our keep.”
Kirby looked somewhat astonished “I thought the pirate problem was solved years ago?”
“It was, mostly” said Maria between bites. “There still an element of it remaining, and drugs too. You’d be amazed what passes through this way.”
“I wouldn’t” said Cleveland, “Singapore has been a major shipping hub long before anyone knew about the Americas. Same goes for Hong Kong and Taiwan, there’s no telling what sneaks out.” Looking at Maria again “Does it ever get exiting?”
Maria’s eyes lit up “Oh yes! I went weapons hot with a drug runner last year. A really fast boat was being chased by a coastal patrol vessel and they called for our help” pausing long enough to reach for another wing. “They gave me the go-ahead to fire warning shots, so I put a half-second burst of 30 mm in their path.” Maria smile warmly, “They got the message.”
“What were they carrying?” Kirby asked.
“Heroin. Lots and lots of heroin.” Maria replied.
“Good for you!” Cleveland said, “I always loved doing something productive instead of cutting holes in the sky,” holding his beer up to clink his bottle to Maria’s water. “So how do you like the dash 27?”
“It’s a really nice bird. It’s about the same as the MIG-29 only bigger. And” giving Kirby a mock glare, “It’s not nearly as old as some people would think.”
Several stories, beers, waters and wings later the group realized how late it was getting. Maria had the best excuse to call it an early night with her scheduled flight the next afternoon. As the group broke up Kirby realized he’d never told Cleveland what his “big” news was. “Oh, hey Cleve. About Nancy... She’ll be here on Tuesday.”
