Don't Fear the Reaper

Emergencies

My alarm blared in my ears the horrifying beep, beep, beep of the device made me angry. I slammed the device with my palm and sighed, sitting up in bed and turning on the light. I let my eyes adjust to the brightness that flooded the room. I listened intently to the noises around me. The jets from the day shift were landing and it was our time to shine. The swaying of the ship used to make me nauseous, I was not used to its incessant movement. I tried so hard to get used to the movements as my job had moved me onto this infernal boat. But each day it felt as if I was going to puke if I was on it too long. That's why I enjoyed the air, the more time in it, the less time I spent feeling sick to my stomach. Of course, Dramamine helped, but I couldn't use that when I was flying, which was just about every day. The medical specifications for pilots were stringent so I dealt with the issues that being on this death trap gave me. I was one of few females that had ever made the attempt to the Navy. I graduated from the Naval Academy as a top aviator and continued my time flying on these stupid ships when I was on assignment. When I wasn't, I was happily teaching young students about airplanes and helping them earn their private pilot licenses. Of course, higher command hated the idea that women were on their precious boat. But I had many people vouching for me and my Radar Intercept Officer (RIO). Her name was Crystal Harris, but everyone just called her "Doe" It was her call sign, every pilot and RIO had one. It was the easier version of our own names that was granted to us by other pilots and command. She had gained this name because she had doe eyes and she had a lovely personality. I looked over to my flight suit which hung on my closet door, to the left of my bed, and sighed happily.

I wasn't due in the hangar until 6 pm, and it was just around 4 pm currently. I needed to get out into the air and start my pre-flight check before Crystal got there. I rolled out of my comfy bed and walked over to the closet door, shrugging into my flight suit, I normally wore a white shirt and shorts underneath my pressure suit and the canvas suit. It was a lot to wear, and I knew that these clothes would be disgusting by the time I was done flying today. I threw my hair into a Navy-regulated neat bun, put on my boots lacing them up tightly, and put my canvas suit above them, blousing them caringly. I opened the door to a bustling corridor, everyone was ready for dinner as they were all heading to the mess hall on the ship. I slowly made my way to the flight deck. Bumping into a few friendly faces and smiling at them as I went. I figured I would get my briefing from the day shift pilots, as they landed. But as I arrived on the deck I was pointed towards the Air Traffic Control Tower by all personnel I could see. A truck pulled over to me and I jogged over towards it.

"What's happening?!" I asked the man who pulled up to me.

"I'm not sure, I was told when you arrived to bring you to control. Your aircraft has already been pre-flighted by another pilot." The guy said. I nodded, it must be bad if they needed me, generally, they wouldn't send me out unless completely necessary. The man drove me over to the other side of the runway, dropping me at the elevator for the tower. I thanked him as he drove off, I pushed the button to the elevator which opened immediately, and pushed the down arrow once I got inside, before the doors closed I saw Crystal smiling as she jumped in with me.

"You know what's going on?" She asked me as she took off her aviator sunglasses.

"No, mum's the word around here, must be a situation with day shift," I told her, as we rode down together, as the door opened we walked down the corridor and to the right. In here were radar operations and en route controllers. Which is exactly as it sounds, these were who handled communications when you were in the air. Tower controllers were those who dealt with aircraft when you were in the range of the ship ready to take off or land. I saw Commander Jardian also known as 'Stinger' was down here with one of the controllers. I listened to the radio before making myself known.