Turbulence rocked Catalina's racer as it zipped across the human city. It's crumbling towers and blacked roads created a maze of thermals. The racer's flight computers had trouble compensating for the sporadic shafts of hot air, decreasing thrust from the lift fans only to leave the uplifting air moments later.
"Locate the diagnostics terminal under the leading landing pylon. Depress latch with the tip of a pen to reveal, AKK" Catalina was jolted in her seat. "Ok enough of this," she said as she pulled back on the wheel lifting the racer further into the air. "I'll be lucky if I get the right airplane let alone figure out what to do with it." She looked out over the passing city. She was headed to one of its larger complexes. It's long wide stretches of concrete connected hangers and barracks. Smaller roads ran towards bunkers, which despite the years looked untouched by nature. Her racer started descending towards a cluster of domed hangers. After it had touched down Catalina was able to see places where nature had begun to retake the airfield. Grasses poked up through cracks in the taxiways and vines had slowly taken the walls of the control tower.
She walked around the buildings looking for a way to gain access to the interiors. At the back of furthest hanger she found a door cracked open. She pulled on it; its hinges were locked up with corrosion. The door flexed but resisted her efforts. She left the door in search of another way inside.
After spending the better part of an hour searching for easy access to the hangers and finding none, she decided to give the rusted door another try. She went looking for a lever to force the door. In an old maintenance yard she found some solid pieces of rod that felt like they could do the job. She found the shortest of them and dragged it to the door. She wedged one end into the crack of the door and pushed. The door creaked and moaned as she put more and more of her weight into the rod. Catalina heard a loud crack from the door just before it swung open, dumping her and her rod on the ground.
After dusting herself off Catalina walked into the hanger. Shafts of light penetrated into the large building at different angles, some illuminating a wingtip or tail section on the various aircraft inside. She thumbed the button on her camping light sending its beam around the before making her way to the front of the building. She picked up a crow bar from a tool rack hanging from a wall. The weight felt good in her hand and gave her a sense of security against the unseen monsters in the dark. At the front of the building she located one of the doors she had tried earlier. She tried several of the buttons next to it. From behind her she heard the hum of old lights turning on. Two of the massive lights popped, sending a shower of glass over the aircraft, before another three came to life. Next to the light button was a simple box containing one red and one green button. She pressed the red button the panel issued a click and the button popped back out at her. Next she tried the green button. This time motors on the wall came to life, she heard the sound of metal complaining along with several loud pops, before the hanger doors began to open. She turned to look as light from outside flooded into the hanger, what had been the dim forms of unrecognizable objects became the graceful outlines of the fighters she had come for.
The light above her shifted and flickered as a bird took off from it's rapidly warming surface. A bit of dust fell from its lip. She looked up at the light. "Amazing, no battery should be able to last this long." She found the light buttons, turning the few remaining lights off.
"Ok Alexei I've found something. Hope it's what you're looking for," She said to herself. She pulled out her link pad and brought up the few pictures she had been sent. She went from airplane to airplane inspecting each, checking it against the pictures in her link pad. Three of the five aircraft matched the images and the description she had read. She visually inspected each of the three. The Talon closest to the hanger door appeared to be in perfect condition. Its stubby forward swept wings seamed undamaged, the cockpit's duroglass was clear and un-cracked. The second Talon was in worse condition; it was under one of the holes in the roof. The chunk of concrete, which had fallen out of the roof, had smashed the right side of its "V" shaped tail surface. From there, nature had worn down the interior of the tail until corrosion was visible throughout it and a section of the engine. Catalina looked over the last of the Talon fighters. It also had survived the years with grace, having been shielded from the elements by its brothers.
She poked around the damaged Talon figuring any damage she did would pail in comparison to what had already been done. She found the tiny hole that was supposed to open the diagnostics terminal. Not having a "Pen" she used the tip of her claw to depress the small button. She heard a click and the crackle of electricity arcing across a broken connection. A hidden panel cracked open releasing a faint wisp of smoke. The smell of old fried circuit boards filled the space around Catalina's head for a while, as she worked her claws into the crack and pulled the panel open. She looked at the components that had been revealed, she tried tapping on the small screen but nothing happened. She found several slots for diagnostic tools to be plugged into, and a row of buttons she could only barely read.
She left the fighter in search of the diagnostic tools she would need to use. After looking around at the various tool chests, she was able to find them in an old locker. She tried the various green power buttons on the various tools and finding them all dead, she carried one back to her racer. She dissected the tool and located the power source of the device. Then, she Jerry rigged it to work off the power cell of the camping light. With the addition of some bonding straps she was able to keep the whole mess contained in an easy to hold unit. She went back to the damaged Talon and tried to hook her tool into it's port. The Talon's screen came to life, filled with the haze of static. Meanwhile, Catalina's diagnostic tool began flashing, "processing," on its screen. Moments later the tool's screen was filled with the results of its scan. It took Catalina a while to translate the terrain words displayed. The tool confirmed the tail section was damaged and also indicated that the nav computer was out of action.
Now that she knew how to check the fighter's internal systems, she went to work on the fighter closest to the hanger door. Its diagnostic panel opened easily and when Catalina plugged her tool into its port both the screen in the panel and the one on her diognostic tool came to life. She waited for the tool to finish its scan of the aircraft. Again it took her a while to translate the information presented. "You've got to be kidding me, everything but the engine is working. Dang it." The diagnostic report indicated that the engine's computer system was fried.
"Come on baby work for me," Catalina said as she translated the readout of the third Talon. So far everything but the fusion engines checked out, and she knew they would need to be energized before she had even seen the fighters.
She jumped into the air and started to dance around the fighter when she finished the translation. The fighter was in workable condition. Only the engines needed energizing. The report also indicated that the missile system as unarmed, but that was to be expected and did not pose a problem.
Back at the racer, Catalina called Alexei to report on her success and give the bolo the necessary information about the aircraft. After making the call, she fired up the racer and carefully guided it through the hanger doors. She set the aircar down next to her fighter and opened the power cell compartment. After locating the electrical posts for the fighters engines', she ran her jumpers to from the racer to the posts. With power running through the fighter's systems, she was able to activate the canopy and climb inside the cockpit. It's interior was cramped and compact. Looking over all the various controls and screens, she realized she would need a few lessons before she would be able to pilot the fighter. After finding a comfortable position for her tail, she worked her way through the steps necessary to energize the fusion engines.
She heard the whine of compressors followed by a quiet hum from behind her as she watched the fighter's power level's climb. As the bars climbed towards green, the racers power cell began to crackle and whine she was about to cancel the whole process, when a loud bang issued through out the hanger. She looked in horror at what was left of her racer's power cell, thankful that nothing else seemed to be damaged by the explosion. She looked back at the fighter's controls. As the last of the systems reached full power, she realized it had worked. The fusion engines had powered up. The main screen changed from the power display to a readout of the fighters systems. She looked over the readout, able to read information displayed much easier than before. The display indicated that all but the missile systems where fully operational. She carefully put the fighter in standby mode before climbing out of the cockpit. She closed the cockpit canopy and went to inspect the damage done to the racer.
Catalina was sitting on the nose of the largest aircraft in the hanger, a bomber that looked as if it where built for speed and not much else, when she heard the roar of the lift truck's thrusters over head. The vehicle landed just out side the open hanger doors and a man climbed out of its cab. The man looked around for a moment before finding Catalina on her perch.
"You miss Teff?" he asked.
"Yeap, thanks for coming out this far. I could use some help." Catalina said. She started climbing down off the bomber. "Do you happen to be carrying any spare power cells?"
"Yeah I've got a few. Why you need one?"
"Yeah mine blew while I was landing back there." Catalina pointed to the back of the hanger.
The man looked over towards the racer. "Ok we can take care of you. I'm told you want me to take one of these things back to the city right?" Yeah that's right I want the smaller one at the back of the building. Think you can handle that?" Catalina lead the man back to her fighter. "This one here. We'll probably need to move the ones in front of it before we can get to it"
"Well I guess. Any reason you can't take the one up front?"
"Only a few of its systems seem to be working. With this one the only thing that doesn't work is the weapons system. My company wants to study and restore this aircraft."
The man walked around the fighter thumping it with his tail occasionally. "I know, I've been told to ask you what color to paint it when we get it back to the shop."
"Paint? Hmm. Well I guess if you'd just wash it down and give it a band of red across the nose and down to the wings that would be good. Make sure it's flight grade." Catalina replied.
The man had gone to look over the racers power cell compartment. "It'll be an extra two hundred credits for the power cell. You want me to charge it to the same account?"
"Ahhh yeah I guess that would be just fine."
"Ok then I'll get started moving these and then I'll lode up this baby and install a new power cell for you. Ok?"
"Well I'd like you to put the other aircraft back where they started if that's ok." Catalina said.
"Hey it's no fur off my back just means I get paid more."