Things Past – "I dun seen about everythin' when i see a elephant fly..."
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
Richard Dunham, the CAG of DS5, flew beautifully engineered and designed space fighters and he was so good at it he had elevated himself to the rank of Commander and to an eminent reputation as the best pilot in the quadrant. His flying was what he did best and *best* was what he was.
His wife Chelsea, on the other hand was NOT good at flying. She had started badly with a holosuite experience in a 20th Century early aeroplane in which she had crashed and technically *killed* herself in then she had tried to learn to fly a space shuttle but the lesson had been shared with her niece-in-law who was very talented and had taken to it like a duck to water, laughing as teenagers do, at her elderly aunt's efforts. Mrs Dunham had wisely decided to allow her husband to concentrate of teaching his enthusiastic neice that day and had postponed her own efforts to learn for a quieter time in the future.
None of these things would have deterred Chelsea's wish to learn what made her husband happy if it hadn't been for a traumatic experience on their honeymoon when a semi-installed program had malfunctioned and left her locked inside the cockpit facing a countdown that informed her it was imminently going to fire weapons at close range at her new husband and obliterate him in front of her eyes.
Unable to make it deactivate nor to escape to warn him, Chelsea had been terrified out of ever wanting to try to fly the thing again but now that more time had passed she was thinking she should make a new attempt. Unwilling to make a fool of herself in front of Rick a third time and with spare time on her hands due to the fact that he was out on a mission, the CMO took a holosuite and obtained a basic flying lessons program to load up and work through, hoping to overcome it.
As she entered the Holosuite, Chelsea couldn't help but feel some nervous flutterings but she was determined not to disappoint Rick so she strode in and sat herself into the training cockpit that was in the centre of the room. The auto-instructer's voice was clear and calming and once she had made herself comfortable, learned how to fit the harness and what the main functions were, the hologram evolved into a whole craft around her.
Taking a deep breath, Chelsea did what she was instructed to, carefully and with great concentration, making some verbal notes that would be replayed to her when she came back for her next session. She spent an hour and a half before she realised the time and when she left she was elated to think that it hadn't been so bad and she had, according to the auto-report at the end, apparently done well.
Excited she went back the next day and again until the program had evolved to a fully simulated flight, space conditions all added so that she even managed to cope with a space eddy and some meteorites in a small field between planets.
Proud of herself, Chelsea kept her efforts quiet, hoping to surprise Rick with what she had learned. It took some time before she got a chance to get him alone and by that time she had learned a lot and was at the cadet level which from *phobic* was a HUGE advance.
He finally came home early one day and the opportunity was right.
"Rick?" she said carefully, testing the water. "Would it be totally against all the rules if an unqualified Medical Officer were to ask to fly one of your fighters for a short trip?" she expected him, knowing as he did that she had such feelings about flying the last time they had talked about it, to think she was talking about someone in her department wanting to do it instead.
"Urrrrmmm whats this about?" he asked with puzzlement knowing that she did not like to fly and wondering what she was on about.
"I wanted to ask if I could come out with you for a quick spin in a Valkyrie?" she said, coming straight to the point. "Would that be okay? You did promise to teach me once." she kept back the fact that she had learned a little already because she wanted it to be a nice surprise.
"I remember" said Rick remembering that day, it had been around the first time they had met. "But I thought you had gone off flying?"
"I had but I can't stay *off* it forever and it means too much to you for me not to *try*. So will you teach me please or have you gone off the idea too?" she smiled at him mischievously, the question more of a challenge than a real query.
"I don't understand what you mean by 'it means to much to me for you not to fly?' I'm happy if you don't want to fly again, that's cool. If you're happy with not flying again then let's leave it at that?" Rick replied.
"I.... I thought it.... it seemed so important.... we went out for you to teach me..... Kim came too.... I..... it's what you love more than anything. It has to be important." Chelsea replied, a little taken off stride by her husband's response.
"To me yes" said Rick. "Flying is the second moat important thing in my life. But that doesn't mean I expect it to be important to you. You asked me to take you out and teach you to fly, which i did, if you want to carry on with learning that's great. But it not up to me its up to you."
Chelsea brightened again; she looked up at him with adoration in her eyes and muttered with her lip bitten softly. "But I DID.... I learned. I want you to be proud..... can i show you?" she asked, her best 'holding out for a hero' look at full power.
She did not get it. "I only want you to fly if you want to fly. I'm not imposing my loves on others, its like if we make our kid" He put his hand on her belly. "Its like if we make our kid become a doctor or a pilot or a starfleet officer, he or she is going to do what they want to do."
"But I *want* to be good at flying too. I wanted to learn. The first time I tried in that Ancient Battle of Britain Simulation on the holodeck I technically killed myself outright but it was fun! I still wanted to learn more. Then when we went on our lesson I *still* wasn't very good and because Kim was a natural at such a young age, it made more sense to let her explore her talent but I actually *was* disappointed not to have got to practice." she sighed, remembering.
"If I hadn't still wanted to try again, I wouldn't have attempted to fly the 'other Chelsea' until that went even more wrong! I figured it wasn't meant to be but it made me sad to think I never would get it. So I went and learned properly, thinking to surprise you when i got good at last!" she explained her reasons for the lessons.
"You didn't make me, Rick, you didn't impose it. If anything I thought you gave up quite easily - I mean, three disasters and you're off to the pub!" she smirked, turning the conversation lighter again with a joke.
"Sooooo you don't need me to teach you then" said Rick thoughtfully not sure where the conversation was at or where it was going.
"No. I did a whole course of lessons!" she declared proudly. She took out a padd and showed him the certificate she had gained. "Now all you have to do is hand me your Valkyrie and promise not to cover your eyes while I show you how beautifully I can fly her or.......... " she paused, grinning, knowing perfectly well *THAT* wasn't going to happen. "you can break out the celebratory Elderberry cordial. It's a pity I didn't pass before I got pregnant or we could have had champagne."
"How about we settle for you flying the Chelsea to begin with" at least then if she broke anything it would be his property and not Star Fleet's.
"Oh... " the original Chelsea paled. ~OH NO! I only learned to fly Valkyries so far.....~
"Sure! That'd be brilliant." she gave him a broad smile and put on the flying gloves she had replicated for the occasion. ~How different can they be?~ "Let's go then."
"Ok, but she better not get a scratch" said Rick seriously. "If there was one thing he loved more than Chelsea it was Chelsea.
~WHY did I suggest this? I just wanted to show what I can do in a Valkyrie and NOW look what's happening.....~ "Of COURSE I won't scratch her!" she said with a slightly indignant tone.
"I mean it, you put a prang in that and it could fall apart so no knocking it about" he said half seriously half joking.
"I won't knock it apart!" she said again wishing she could be sure she could confidently do it right and ease the doubt out of his mind.
The Dunhams left their apartment and headed down to Rick's private hanger bay where his stock tramp freighter 'The chelsea' resided.
As they approached the craft the original Chelsea looked up at her, smiling as if she was full of confidence. She let Rick open her up and sat in the cockpit. It wasn't totally new to her so it was a case of so far so good. She knew now how to start her up and to get clearance to launch and so on. She did all the pre-flight checks, hesitating to find only with one or two that were in different places to where she was expecting them.
She didn't look at Rick at first but now she was ready to set the little craft onto a cushion of downthrust ready to manouevre out of the main hanger doors she paused and looked up at him, anxious not to see that frown that would mean she'd forgotten something or put on an air-brake by mistake or worse, left a cargo door flapping. Gazing up her dark eyes met his gray ones and that ever present warmth that she always felt when they did, flowed through her. Her breath caught slightly. It never failed to affect her that way even after all this time together. He was her universe and his eyes never failed to remind her of it.
TBC......
A JP Between:
Commander Dunham
and
Commander Dunham
by Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham
Post Details
| Title | "I dun seen about everythin' when i see a elephant fly..." | |
| Mission | Things Past | |
| Author(s) | Commander Chelsea Dunham & Commander Richard Dunham | |
| Posted | Sun Feb 24, 2013 @ 3:22pm | |
| Location | Dunham Quarters/Hanger Bay | |
| Timeline | BACKPOST |
His wife Chelsea, on the other hand was NOT good at flying. She had started badly with a holosuite experience in a 20th Century early aeroplane in which she had crashed and technically *killed* herself in then she had tried to learn to fly a space shuttle but the lesson had been shared with her niece-in-law who was very talented and had taken to it like a duck to water, laughing as teenagers do, at her elderly aunt's efforts. Mrs Dunham had wisely decided to allow her husband to concentrate of teaching his enthusiastic neice that day and had postponed her own efforts to learn for a quieter time in the future.
None of these things would have deterred Chelsea's wish to learn what made her husband happy if it hadn't been for a traumatic experience on their honeymoon when a semi-installed program had malfunctioned and left her locked inside the cockpit facing a countdown that informed her it was imminently going to fire weapons at close range at her new husband and obliterate him in front of her eyes.
Unable to make it deactivate nor to escape to warn him, Chelsea had been terrified out of ever wanting to try to fly the thing again but now that more time had passed she was thinking she should make a new attempt. Unwilling to make a fool of herself in front of Rick a third time and with spare time on her hands due to the fact that he was out on a mission, the CMO took a holosuite and obtained a basic flying lessons program to load up and work through, hoping to overcome it.
As she entered the Holosuite, Chelsea couldn't help but feel some nervous flutterings but she was determined not to disappoint Rick so she strode in and sat herself into the training cockpit that was in the centre of the room. The auto-instructer's voice was clear and calming and once she had made herself comfortable, learned how to fit the harness and what the main functions were, the hologram evolved into a whole craft around her.
Taking a deep breath, Chelsea did what she was instructed to, carefully and with great concentration, making some verbal notes that would be replayed to her when she came back for her next session. She spent an hour and a half before she realised the time and when she left she was elated to think that it hadn't been so bad and she had, according to the auto-report at the end, apparently done well.
Excited she went back the next day and again until the program had evolved to a fully simulated flight, space conditions all added so that she even managed to cope with a space eddy and some meteorites in a small field between planets.
Proud of herself, Chelsea kept her efforts quiet, hoping to surprise Rick with what she had learned. It took some time before she got a chance to get him alone and by that time she had learned a lot and was at the cadet level which from *phobic* was a HUGE advance.
He finally came home early one day and the opportunity was right.
"Rick?" she said carefully, testing the water. "Would it be totally against all the rules if an unqualified Medical Officer were to ask to fly one of your fighters for a short trip?" she expected him, knowing as he did that she had such feelings about flying the last time they had talked about it, to think she was talking about someone in her department wanting to do it instead.
"Urrrrmmm whats this about?" he asked with puzzlement knowing that she did not like to fly and wondering what she was on about.
"I wanted to ask if I could come out with you for a quick spin in a Valkyrie?" she said, coming straight to the point. "Would that be okay? You did promise to teach me once." she kept back the fact that she had learned a little already because she wanted it to be a nice surprise.
"I remember" said Rick remembering that day, it had been around the first time they had met. "But I thought you had gone off flying?"
"I had but I can't stay *off* it forever and it means too much to you for me not to *try*. So will you teach me please or have you gone off the idea too?" she smiled at him mischievously, the question more of a challenge than a real query.
"I don't understand what you mean by 'it means to much to me for you not to fly?' I'm happy if you don't want to fly again, that's cool. If you're happy with not flying again then let's leave it at that?" Rick replied.
"I.... I thought it.... it seemed so important.... we went out for you to teach me..... Kim came too.... I..... it's what you love more than anything. It has to be important." Chelsea replied, a little taken off stride by her husband's response.
"To me yes" said Rick. "Flying is the second moat important thing in my life. But that doesn't mean I expect it to be important to you. You asked me to take you out and teach you to fly, which i did, if you want to carry on with learning that's great. But it not up to me its up to you."
Chelsea brightened again; she looked up at him with adoration in her eyes and muttered with her lip bitten softly. "But I DID.... I learned. I want you to be proud..... can i show you?" she asked, her best 'holding out for a hero' look at full power.
She did not get it. "I only want you to fly if you want to fly. I'm not imposing my loves on others, its like if we make our kid" He put his hand on her belly. "Its like if we make our kid become a doctor or a pilot or a starfleet officer, he or she is going to do what they want to do."
"But I *want* to be good at flying too. I wanted to learn. The first time I tried in that Ancient Battle of Britain Simulation on the holodeck I technically killed myself outright but it was fun! I still wanted to learn more. Then when we went on our lesson I *still* wasn't very good and because Kim was a natural at such a young age, it made more sense to let her explore her talent but I actually *was* disappointed not to have got to practice." she sighed, remembering.
"If I hadn't still wanted to try again, I wouldn't have attempted to fly the 'other Chelsea' until that went even more wrong! I figured it wasn't meant to be but it made me sad to think I never would get it. So I went and learned properly, thinking to surprise you when i got good at last!" she explained her reasons for the lessons.
"You didn't make me, Rick, you didn't impose it. If anything I thought you gave up quite easily - I mean, three disasters and you're off to the pub!" she smirked, turning the conversation lighter again with a joke.
"Sooooo you don't need me to teach you then" said Rick thoughtfully not sure where the conversation was at or where it was going.
"No. I did a whole course of lessons!" she declared proudly. She took out a padd and showed him the certificate she had gained. "Now all you have to do is hand me your Valkyrie and promise not to cover your eyes while I show you how beautifully I can fly her or.......... " she paused, grinning, knowing perfectly well *THAT* wasn't going to happen. "you can break out the celebratory Elderberry cordial. It's a pity I didn't pass before I got pregnant or we could have had champagne."
"How about we settle for you flying the Chelsea to begin with" at least then if she broke anything it would be his property and not Star Fleet's.
"Oh... " the original Chelsea paled. ~OH NO! I only learned to fly Valkyries so far.....~
"Sure! That'd be brilliant." she gave him a broad smile and put on the flying gloves she had replicated for the occasion. ~How different can they be?~ "Let's go then."
"Ok, but she better not get a scratch" said Rick seriously. "If there was one thing he loved more than Chelsea it was Chelsea.
~WHY did I suggest this? I just wanted to show what I can do in a Valkyrie and NOW look what's happening.....~ "Of COURSE I won't scratch her!" she said with a slightly indignant tone.
"I mean it, you put a prang in that and it could fall apart so no knocking it about" he said half seriously half joking.
"I won't knock it apart!" she said again wishing she could be sure she could confidently do it right and ease the doubt out of his mind.
The Dunhams left their apartment and headed down to Rick's private hanger bay where his stock tramp freighter 'The chelsea' resided.
As they approached the craft the original Chelsea looked up at her, smiling as if she was full of confidence. She let Rick open her up and sat in the cockpit. It wasn't totally new to her so it was a case of so far so good. She knew now how to start her up and to get clearance to launch and so on. She did all the pre-flight checks, hesitating to find only with one or two that were in different places to where she was expecting them.
She didn't look at Rick at first but now she was ready to set the little craft onto a cushion of downthrust ready to manouevre out of the main hanger doors she paused and looked up at him, anxious not to see that frown that would mean she'd forgotten something or put on an air-brake by mistake or worse, left a cargo door flapping. Gazing up her dark eyes met his gray ones and that ever present warmth that she always felt when they did, flowed through her. Her breath caught slightly. It never failed to affect her that way even after all this time together. He was her universe and his eyes never failed to remind her of it.
TBC......
A JP Between:
Commander Dunham
and
Commander Dunham