Paths of Penance

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2020 @ 5:40am by Lieutenant Lasarra "Silverbolt" Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 72: T'Would Ring the Bells of Heaven
Location: Starfleet Base - Deneva - KAPPA FORNACIS
Timeline: 1000Hrs - April 5th, 2392

Senior Flight Officer Lasarra Unal who went by the callsign of 'Kat' was not a happy woman, her first and second classes had gone well however it was just that she had not slept well the previous evening, she had dreamed that the Borg were going to assimilate her and make her their new queen.

It was a rather strange dream but she remembered the whole encounter as she blinked the exhaustion from her eyes, she went into the large conference lounge with the other pilots, they all found their seats. "Alright... Everyone hear me alright?" there were over seventy pilots in the room, all of them slated to become officers.

There were various responses. "Alright, you guys in the back lock those doors." upon hearing those words. Lasarra knew that was followed was going to be good. "Alright... You all need to go through your psych-tests, that is all except two of you... Senior Flight Officer Lasarra Unal and Flight Officer Nelis Kalaan do not need to... As you took yours last night.. It was best to do it the way we did."

Lasarra stuck up her hand. "Yes Flight Officer?" Flight Colonel Robert Legato knew that this was going to be interesting.

"I wasn't imagining what I went through ... or dreaming it... was I?" Unal inquired.

"No Flight Officer, what you experienced was very real... But you needed to face it."

"I did... Why?" Unal suddenly demanded a trifle hotly.

The Colonel had had more then pilot prospective pilot quit on him at times like this, they had gotten angry and quit for various reasons but he stood by his training methods. "To make you face your fear and draw strength from it." the Colonel responded.

"By letting me think I had been assimilated by the Borg and turned into a Queen." Lasarra responded. "I've faced death before.."

"Yes. I read your file front and back flight officer. Yours was especially difficult considering you had faced death so often in your previous career."

Lasarra held her silence as many didn't know about her previous career and she clearly had not talked about it. The Colonel had already pegged her as someone who would do well in Starfighters. If she could move past the baggage she was carrying from her previous career. Because of his respect for her, he decided to have it out with her in front of everyone rather then demand she stay behind after this. "Flight Officer Unal. I see something in your flying... You are a dedicated pilot but you also have a special gift for it."

Lasarra didn't know any of this so she decided to hear him out rather then get angry as she allowed the thought that had been raging in her mind to die out on its own. However the frown that marred her face refused to leave.

"Now... If there is nothing else... I officially award you all your new callsigns." the Colonel went back to the matter at hand before he went through the pilots, assigning them all names like 'Rabbit' or 'Hoppy' before he came to Lasarra herself. "Unal... I name you...Silverbolt." the next person received 'Boomer' and the next after that was 'Arclight.'

One of the more senior pilot cadets stood up. "Sir.. I'd like to request a name change... for Silverbolt?" he indicated Lassara.

"Very well, present your request."

"Well amm..umm sir.. the name you have for her doesn't make any sense to us... so we'd like to propose a new name."

The Colonel was highly amused. "Very well.. Proceed.."

"I'd like to have Cadet Unal be renamed ..... Warwolf." he explained. "All In favor?"

at least two dozen hands shot up. "Aye!"

"Against?"

Another two dozen or so hands shot up, one of the nameless cadets at the back of the room. "Just because she commented about her being made into a Borg queen doesn't warrant a change of name!" the voice called down.

"What say you Senior Flight Officer Unal?" the Colonel addressed Lassara directly.

"It matters not to me sir." she responded. "Either name is fine by me."

"Very well.. Your request is denied. Silverbolt will remain her callsign."

A short time later after the seventy two callsigns had been dished out, the various pilots began receiving their assignments and billets, as expected the vast majority went to the new carriers now entering service with over a dozen going to the Champion and the Centaur's Shield alone. Soon they came to her. "Silverbolt. You're going to the Roanoke."

Soon all the assignments were dished out. "You all depart tomorrow morning... So the rest of the day is yours... Go party and get out." the Colonel dismissed the cadets, they all began filling out the room. Lasarra was along them.

Her next stop was her room in the nearby barracks except she was in no mood to party, she turned her head as the doorbell beeped at her. "Come in."

As she expected, her other three pilots that made up her cadet flight all swarmed into her quarters. "Hey... you heard?"

"Yeah. I'm being sent to Roanoke... You.?"

"Centaur's Shield for me and Drake here." the female Bajoran indicated the Unx pilot next to her. "I got the Winds of Africa." the human male regarded Lasarra. "I guess this is the last we'll all be seeing of each other."

The Unx pilot who was easily twice the size of both females combined, simply nodded his massive head. "Yeah... Looks like."

"You got the callsign 'Thud'." Lasarra responded. "It could have been a worse callsign you know.."

"Oh yes.." Thud responded. "Take care of yourselves out there.." and with that the massive man turned and went out the door, turning himself sideways as he went.

"Come on Silverbolt. Lets go party." The Bajoran took Lasarra's hands and all but dragged Rachael Yamaguchi's doppelganger out the door and down the hallway.