Moo the cow said
While tossing a bale of hay off the bed of his pick-up truck the sound of a single engine prop plane overhead caught his attention. Colin looked up to see the small red plane fly above the field to the east. From his vantage point on the ground, it looked like the plane itself was flying toward the setting ringed sphere of Ragnar, Aerilon’s guardian in the sky, on the horizon. It took his mind back to another day long gone.
WHO: Colin Ives WHERE: Bee Lucky Ranch, Aerilon / Caprica WHEN: 12-5-Y02 / march Y97 (backstory)
He jumped from the open top four-wheel vehicle which brought him from the briefing hut to the flight line. A pair of Mark VII Vipers flew in close formation overhead. The sound of the roaring engine sent a trill up his spine. He thought he could never get tired of hearing that. He reached for his flight bag and helmet.
“Chocks,” his wingman used his call sign. “Hope you’re wearing a diaper. It’s a long flight.”
“You bet, double absorbent,” he played along and then flipped him the middle finger. His wingman laughed as he rolled away toward his own viper. All because another nugget from other squadron relieved himself in his flight suit on a short flight, he and another new pilot in his squadron had to endure the jokes. The price paid for wearing new shiny gold wings. His only regret was his call sign, a reminder of making the dumb mistake of running over wheel chucks before his plane captain removed them.
It was an important flight today. His squadron was transferring to the Battlestar Solaria for his first deployment as a viper pilot. They would fly from Caprica to rendezvous with Solaria in Gemenon’s orbit.
He handed his bag and helmet to the plane captain, while he began his walk around inspection. He first started with the port cannon. Everything checked out and he pulled the red flag pin. The Colonial Forces did not mess around, Vipers flew armed and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. He continued his inspection, pulling flagged pins as he went around. After his inspection was complete he handed the pins to the flight captain, and then climbed the ladder to the cockpit.
He sat down in the single seat cockpit and started to strap himself to the chair. His plane captain came up the ladder and helped him with the straps and then handed him the helmet. Colin slipped it on and heard it clasped onto the metal ring around his collar. The plane captain checked the air hoses, and then gave Colin a thumb’s up.
It was all standard procedure. He went through the entire process, checking off his pre-flight list until the viper was operating and ready to move. On the ground, the Viper operated as a normal plane. There was no launch tube, instead it took off from a runway.
The clear canopy slowly closed around the cockpit. He saluted his plane captain and followed the marshaling signals from the ground crew to direct him off the flight line and on to the taxi way. The engines behind his cockpit were alive, and with a slight nudge of the throttle the viper moved forward. The plan was for Vipers to take off in pairs. Mooooo.
(Present)
His thought of the past was interrupted by mooing cattle behind his pick-up. He returned to the present on this cold dreary morning. “Yeah, frakking moo, you fat cows.” He kicked a bale of hay off the back end of his pick-up in anger. He was not upset with the cows interrupting his memories, but that he was reminded of his formal life.