This is something that I've wanted to do for a while now, and the particular urge hits me whenever I hear that one song by Gwen Stefani...
Benjamin sighed as
they entered LEO. They were inbound to pick up a new recruit for the newly-founded Roughriders - Yet another young lady to fill out their pilot ranks. Not that
Ben minded - women did tend to make for better pilots, but all the same it was going to be troublesome.
The Magnificent
Midnightwas a
performer, pure and simple. The engines ran like thouroughbred champions and the harder you pushed them the more they asked for. It was almost as if the
Blackbird wantedto
break the Limit.
Ben had his iPod on him, a recent acquisition. It was a classic style, one that he had waved for increased storage and sound quality. He also had a
splitter attached to the headphones jack. One end was connected to the headphones. The other was connected to the auxillery audio input. Ben had just recently
discovered that the ship seems to respond to some songs better than others.
Of course, he'd forgotten about this fact when he decided he wanted to listen to some music.
At first, with the piano and vocal intro, nothing happened. And then the backbeat kicked in hard and so did
Midnight's main engines.
"Holy SHIT!" bit off Ben as the G-forces slammed into him.
"WTF!?" cried out Gina from her station behind him. "You dumkopf! Did you forget the iPod?"
"Yeah! Song reaction!" Benjamin confirmed, as he tried to unplug the iPod from the input, but for whatever reason it would not come free.
"It's jammed! She's not letting go of it!"
"Shiest!" snarled Gina. "Checking navigation." In her station, Gina's fingers flew over the keyboard as she
pulled up the navigational charts in use. What she saw surprised her - Midnight's had a complete course laid out for landfall at Narita Airport, Japan. "She's somehow got it in her head that we're
going to Japan!"
Ben blinked at that as Midnightbegan
a full-power dive into the soup. That didn't worry him, though, as he'd waved her hull with that in mind. It was because he just realized the affect of
the song.
"It's the song! Gwen Stefani LOVES Japan, so that's where Midnightis going! Get us an emergency clearance from Tokyo ATC! We're gonna be coming in
hot!"
"Already on it!" Gina called back. Ben happened to look at one of the side displays he installed, one
that Midnightfavored to use for her avatar, a cute little Red Winged
Blackbird, and he had to suppress a snort - the little bird on the screen was, for all intents and purposes, dancing; scooting and flitting across the screen
with tail feathers twitching up and down in time with the music.
In what must have been a record time for re-entry, they passed through the ionization field and were still ticking off about Mach 12 as they shot over Papa
New Guinea. Right there, they began to make a large, banking spiraling turn that would let them shed speed and bring them right into Tokyo
airspace.
Meanwhile in Japan, ATC was in a tizzy trying to get the airspace around Narita prepared for something the airstrip was never really intended to handle - a
hot, space-capable Blackbird. Fire and Rescue trucks were dispatched to a hot standby. All air traffice was diverted to a high-altitude holding pattern. And an
army of space and Blackbird (or Habu as it is known in Japan) fans had gathered outside the airport. One of the ATCs, a fan of things like this himself, had
leaked it through Twitter and things snowballed from there.
Just then, Japan came into veiw. Midnightwas
an excellent navigator - they were lined up perfectly for their first appraoch to Narita. Midnightpolitely dropped to just under super-sonic as she hit the first apprach loop, letting air friction leach off more and
more speed.
Two more loops came and went, but they were still going disgustingly fast... for a commercial airliner. Ben noted that this was normal
for a Blackbird. Everything about Blackbirds screamed SPEED in giant, neon-lit letters, and Midnightupheld the tradition well.
They lined up with the Runway for their final and Midnightdropped the landing gear. Speed began to drop off precipitously and so did their altitude. Landing was the tricky part in a Blackbird;
like in NASA's space shuttle, you were in a flying brick.
Midnightmanaged just fine, though, and touched down on the tarmak, deploying her safety-orange drogue-chute. Reverse thrust was applied - this
was a new sight for a Blackbird, as excited ions blasted out around the difuser cones over the 'intakes' and curled back and around the engine
cowls.
With that extra braking power, Midnightsoon
brought the engines down to an idle and guided herself to a convenient slip where she cut her engines entirely and rolled to a
stop.
"... Well now, that was interesting," said Gina.
Ben allowed himself to snort at that. "You thought that was bad? The shit-storm hasn't even hit yet." He then pointed out the window where
the emergency services vehicles were approaching... followed closely by a small army of Japanese fans.
Gina took the sight in for a moment. "Mein Gott! What the hell am I gonna do?"
"What you always do when we gotta deal with my fangirl following. Cling to my regular arm like I'm YOUR plaything, NO ONE elses, and they'd
better remember it. Don't worry, I'll have my big arm ready incase anyone tries anything, but I don't think it will be that
bad."
Ben then triggered the cockpit canopy hydraulics and allowed the relatively fresh outside air in. Already someone was putting accomodation ladders in
place, and a Japanese man in a business suit was carefully making his way up to meet Ben.
"Ah! Ro-des'-san!" he called out as he finally closed the distance to the cockpit coaming. "As a duely appointed representative of the
Prime Minister, please allow me to be the first to welcome you here to Japan." The representative then bowed formally.
Benjamin stepped out, followed by Gina from her cockpit on her own ladder, and, dredging up his knowledge of Japanese customs, Ben returned the bow, making
sure that it was just as low as the representative's.
"Arigatou," Ben replied. "I apologize for the inconvenience."
The representative brushed it off. "It is no problem. It's good to get things shaken up now and then, if only to see how effective our measures
are. Besides..." The representative then cast a look around the growing, milling crowd that was being kept in careful check by police. "...It seems
you are more than welcome to our beautiful country."
Suddenly there was a chirping sound from the cockpit and Ben looked down at the side monitor. There was
Midnight's avatar and she was making curious sounding strands of bird
song.
Ben laughed. "Sorry girl, you wanted to come to Japan so badly, we're gonna be stuck here for at least a day or two now."
"One thing is for certain," said Gina over the growing din from the crowd. "Gwen Stefani songs are going on the restricted
list."
Ben scoffed. "At least until we're ready for another visit."
Benjamin sighed as
they entered LEO. They were inbound to pick up a new recruit for the newly-founded Roughriders - Yet another young lady to fill out their pilot ranks. Not that
Ben minded - women did tend to make for better pilots, but all the same it was going to be troublesome.
The Magnificent
Midnightwas a
performer, pure and simple. The engines ran like thouroughbred champions and the harder you pushed them the more they asked for. It was almost as if the
Blackbird wantedto
break the Limit.
Ben had his iPod on him, a recent acquisition. It was a classic style, one that he had waved for increased storage and sound quality. He also had a
splitter attached to the headphones jack. One end was connected to the headphones. The other was connected to the auxillery audio input. Ben had just recently
discovered that the ship seems to respond to some songs better than others.
Of course, he'd forgotten about this fact when he decided he wanted to listen to some music.
At first, with the piano and vocal intro, nothing happened. And then the backbeat kicked in hard and so did
Midnight's main engines.
"Holy SHIT!" bit off Ben as the G-forces slammed into him.
"WTF!?" cried out Gina from her station behind him. "You dumkopf! Did you forget the iPod?"
"Yeah! Song reaction!" Benjamin confirmed, as he tried to unplug the iPod from the input, but for whatever reason it would not come free.
"It's jammed! She's not letting go of it!"
"Shiest!" snarled Gina. "Checking navigation." In her station, Gina's fingers flew over the keyboard as she
pulled up the navigational charts in use. What she saw surprised her - Midnight's had a complete course laid out for landfall at Narita Airport, Japan. "She's somehow got it in her head that we're
going to Japan!"
Ben blinked at that as Midnightbegan
a full-power dive into the soup. That didn't worry him, though, as he'd waved her hull with that in mind. It was because he just realized the affect of
the song.
"It's the song! Gwen Stefani LOVES Japan, so that's where Midnightis going! Get us an emergency clearance from Tokyo ATC! We're gonna be coming in
hot!"
"Already on it!" Gina called back. Ben happened to look at one of the side displays he installed, one
that Midnightfavored to use for her avatar, a cute little Red Winged
Blackbird, and he had to suppress a snort - the little bird on the screen was, for all intents and purposes, dancing; scooting and flitting across the screen
with tail feathers twitching up and down in time with the music.
In what must have been a record time for re-entry, they passed through the ionization field and were still ticking off about Mach 12 as they shot over Papa
New Guinea. Right there, they began to make a large, banking spiraling turn that would let them shed speed and bring them right into Tokyo
airspace.
Meanwhile in Japan, ATC was in a tizzy trying to get the airspace around Narita prepared for something the airstrip was never really intended to handle - a
hot, space-capable Blackbird. Fire and Rescue trucks were dispatched to a hot standby. All air traffice was diverted to a high-altitude holding pattern. And an
army of space and Blackbird (or Habu as it is known in Japan) fans had gathered outside the airport. One of the ATCs, a fan of things like this himself, had
leaked it through Twitter and things snowballed from there.
Just then, Japan came into veiw. Midnightwas
an excellent navigator - they were lined up perfectly for their first appraoch to Narita. Midnightpolitely dropped to just under super-sonic as she hit the first apprach loop, letting air friction leach off more and
more speed.
Two more loops came and went, but they were still going disgustingly fast... for a commercial airliner. Ben noted that this was normal
for a Blackbird. Everything about Blackbirds screamed SPEED in giant, neon-lit letters, and Midnightupheld the tradition well.
They lined up with the Runway for their final and Midnightdropped the landing gear. Speed began to drop off precipitously and so did their altitude. Landing was the tricky part in a Blackbird;
like in NASA's space shuttle, you were in a flying brick.
Midnightmanaged just fine, though, and touched down on the tarmak, deploying her safety-orange drogue-chute. Reverse thrust was applied - this
was a new sight for a Blackbird, as excited ions blasted out around the difuser cones over the 'intakes' and curled back and around the engine
cowls.
With that extra braking power, Midnightsoon
brought the engines down to an idle and guided herself to a convenient slip where she cut her engines entirely and rolled to a
stop.
"... Well now, that was interesting," said Gina.
Ben allowed himself to snort at that. "You thought that was bad? The shit-storm hasn't even hit yet." He then pointed out the window where
the emergency services vehicles were approaching... followed closely by a small army of Japanese fans.
Gina took the sight in for a moment. "Mein Gott! What the hell am I gonna do?"
"What you always do when we gotta deal with my fangirl following. Cling to my regular arm like I'm YOUR plaything, NO ONE elses, and they'd
better remember it. Don't worry, I'll have my big arm ready incase anyone tries anything, but I don't think it will be that
bad."
Ben then triggered the cockpit canopy hydraulics and allowed the relatively fresh outside air in. Already someone was putting accomodation ladders in
place, and a Japanese man in a business suit was carefully making his way up to meet Ben.
"Ah! Ro-des'-san!" he called out as he finally closed the distance to the cockpit coaming. "As a duely appointed representative of the
Prime Minister, please allow me to be the first to welcome you here to Japan." The representative then bowed formally.
Benjamin stepped out, followed by Gina from her cockpit on her own ladder, and, dredging up his knowledge of Japanese customs, Ben returned the bow, making
sure that it was just as low as the representative's.
"Arigatou," Ben replied. "I apologize for the inconvenience."
The representative brushed it off. "It is no problem. It's good to get things shaken up now and then, if only to see how effective our measures
are. Besides..." The representative then cast a look around the growing, milling crowd that was being kept in careful check by police. "...It seems
you are more than welcome to our beautiful country."
Suddenly there was a chirping sound from the cockpit and Ben looked down at the side monitor. There was
Midnight's avatar and she was making curious sounding strands of bird
song.
Ben laughed. "Sorry girl, you wanted to come to Japan so badly, we're gonna be stuck here for at least a day or two now."
"One thing is for certain," said Gina over the growing din from the crowd. "Gwen Stefani songs are going on the restricted
list."
Ben scoffed. "At least until we're ready for another visit."