HOME | DD

Description
The sun was starting to sink below the horizon. “Dinner is served,” called Featherstone over the loudspeaker.

“Tomcats go first,” said Hardwick.

The Tomcats lined up in front of the elevators to go below deck. Nuts was one of the first to get below, sharing an elevator with Gomez. The elevator reached the hangar bay. She scooted to her designated spot. A forklift set the plate in front of her. She gawped when she saw that it was salmon on a bed of wild rice. She had never eaten anything like that while on duty before.

“Ma’am since you are going first, tonight, you are getting the Hornets’ supper. They are going to be maaad!” said the forklift. “What were we supposed to get?” asked Nuts. “Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes,” replied the forklift, “The Hornets are not going to die doing without their fancy food for one night.”

“They will do without their fancy food until they learn to eat civil,” said the voice of Hardwick as she trundled off the elevator.

Disco headed over to one of the elevators and went below, as she was eating with the Tomcats. Arriving in the hangar bay, Disco took her place next to Nuts, and one of the Forklifts set her usual plate of Scorpion Peppers in front of her, along with a bottle of ultra-hot hot sauce. “Thanks!” said Disco cheerfully, “I always enjoy my Scorpion Peppers!” “Your salmon looks absolutely delicious,” Disco said to Nuts, picking up the bottle of hot sauce and pouring the sauce liberally over the Scorpion Peppers, “If you want to try this sauce, I’d advise you to be extremely careful; it’s extremely, savagely hot.”

Gomez had taken her spot next to Disco. Her probe door was already open, so she could smell Disco’s meal. “It’s already burning and I am several feet from it,” Gomez said, “Nnoo thank you!” “It’s making my eyes water!” Nuts laughed. “We could use that stuff as a weapon against the Hornets and Lightnings if they do any mischief during the night,” said Vandy, “That stuff has gotta seriously burn going down.” “You’re right,” Disco said with a laugh, “Both the hot sauce and the peppers do burn as they go down, unless you’re a Space Shuttle, of course; for my sisters and I, they just taste deliciously spicy. We can certainly use the peppers and the hot sauce as weapons against the Lightnings and Hornets if they try anything; Nuts and I used Scorpion Peppers that way against Betts during our investigation of her, and she lost her voice almost completely for several days as a result. I also use the peppers and hot sauce against a pair of extremely obnoxious, smart-mouthed spaceplanes named Dream Chaser and Dream Rider, who live at KSC, and their human friend, Pete, a tech who keeps deliberately annoying me, and seeing those three pains in the rudder react like their mouths are on fire is absolutely hilarious!”

“Tell us about what the Hornets and Lightnings do,” asked Tomato.

“”There’s the tying the mouth shut while we sleep,” Vandy began as she tapped on her jaw, “They think it is funny tying rope to our chin pods then tying it over our heads to hold our mouths shut.”

“That was done to me in Bootcamp, “said Nuts.

Vandy continued, turning to Disco. “The Tomcat has sensitive skin areas where she doesn’t like to be poked. They are located in her wing fold area. The Tomcat has soft skin in her wingfolds to keep this area sealed and smooth, and allow her wings to sweep back, but it is ticklish and ornery Hornets and Lightnings will poke a Tomcat in her waist while she is sleeping just to watch her jump awake and thrash about with her wings. They will sit back and snicker while the poor Tomcat embarrasses herself”.

“I never had to deal with anyone tying my mouth shut when I was in boot camp,” said Disco, after she’d eaten some of her Scorpion Peppers and drunk some rocket fuel, “Maybe the jets I was at boot camp with knew that if they tried that trick with me, they’d risk losing a rudder, even though I didn’t have my lasers then. Of course, any Hornet or Lightning who tries that trick on me now will receive an instant, and nasty, laser ‘tattoo’ on her tail.”

Disco grimaced a little when Vandy described how the Hornets and Lightnings liked to poke sleeping Tomcats in their ticklish waists. “Poking a sleeping Tomcat in her waist to make her wake up laughing and thrashing about is just mean!” said Disco, “I totally sympathise, too; we Shuttles are horribly ticklish on our bellies and under our wings, and we definitely wouldn’t want to be poked there while we’re sleeping! Fortunately, those areas can’t be reached when we’re lying down sleeping, and as far as I know, the Lightnings and Hornets don’t know that Shuttles have those ticklish areas. Any Hornet or Lightning who tickles a sleeping Tomcat, however, will have her probe door personally painted with hot sauce by me.”

“It would be time to break out the hot sauce in the morning and paint their probe doors!” said Hardwick. Disco grinned at Admiral Hardwick as she said this, then she ate some more Scorpion Peppers.

“Gonna use that drone tonight on the Hornets?” Gomez asked Disco as the Tomcats started to clean up after eating their dinner. Some of them started getting on the elevator to go to the flight deck again.

“You know, Gomez, I think I will use my drone tonight,” said Disco with an evil grin as she finished her supper and cleaned up, “I’ve designed my drones so that I can either control them manually, or program them to autonomously track a target, and either way, if I want to, I can monitor the drone’s video feed on the screen on the control unit, whilst the drone is filming. I’ll have my drone film the Hornets while they’re eating their supper, and I’ll simultaneously monitor the feed on the control unit; if I see any piggy eating from the Hornets via the drone’s feed, I’ll go straight to the hangar bay and sort the Hornets out.”

Next to take the elevators down to the hangar bay were the Lightnings. They didn’t notice anything amiss. Nothing really changed about their fare. They got their salmon on a bed of rice and creamy coffee as expected. Kathy Morgensen noticed them rolling out the juice dispensers for the last group. here was red juice and emerald green juice.

“Green or red juice for the Hornets? I thought they took the creamed gourmet coffees?” asked Morgensen. “They are last in line Ma’am,” explained Featherstone, “The juice is for whoever is last. Hardwick says so.”

“They are not going to be happy!”

The Lightnings started to clean up. Morgenson could already smell the Swedish meatballs. That was Tomcat fare, not Hornet food!

The Lightnings muttered amongst themselves as they got onto the elevator and took a ride up to the flight deck. Featherstone and his crew already started setting out plates of the Swedish meatballs on a bed of noodles with a side of green beans. The forklifts were also setting out cups of the green and the red juice.

Stapleton was one of the first Hornets off the elevator. “Where’s our food?” she demanded. “I see this Tomcat slop on the tables.”

“It is your food, Ma’am”. Featherstone replied.

Entwhistle scooted off the elevator. Something odd flew in after her and hovered near the ceiling. “You won’t be eating any gourmet foods until you learn to eat like ladies.”

Stapleton grabbed a cup of the green juice and flung the liquid at Entwhistle. “You can have the Tomcat feed!”

Entwhistle took a paper towel and dabbed the green off her nose. “You’ll be scrubbing showers tonight for that stunt”.

More Hornets grumbled as they filed in and found that their usual fare was missing.

“Eat up ladies,” said Gomez as she took her place at the head of the table.

After cleaning up, Disco headed back to the flight deck on the elevator, intending to prepare her drone. Disco paused briefly to enjoy the fresh air when she reached the flight deck, then she moved to the carrier’s bow, where she was far enough away from the elevators that the Hornets wouldn’t see what she was doing.

Standing with her back to the elevators, so that she appeared to looking out to sea, Disco carefully checked to make sure that no-one other than the Tomcats was watching her. When Disco was sure that the Hornets and Lightnings weren’t watching, she quietly opened her payload bay and surreptitiously removed her drone, placing the drone on the deck in front of her.

Disco then retrieved the drone control unit from her payload bay and expertly programmed the drone. I’ll fly the drone manually this time, Disco thought to herself, It’s always fun to do that, and I can easily switch the drone to “Auto” if I need to go below and kick some Hornet tail!

As the Hornets went below, Disco calmly started the drone’s engines, which produced a low, barely audible hum, even at full throttle, and sent the drone after them. The sleek drone, which resembled a miniature fighter jet, followed Entwhistle towards the elevator. As Entwhistle went below on the elevator, Disco deftly manoeuvred the drone after her, and down to the hangar bay. When the elevator reached the hangar bay, Disco flew the drone skilfully and quietly up to the ceiling, where she had it use its STOVL capability to hover and watch – and film – the Hornets.

Disco growled angrily when Stapleton threw the green juice at Entwhistle. “Those Hornets are just asking for me to go down there and introduce their insolent tails to my lasers!” she said furiously, showing Hardwick and Nuts the drone’s video feed on the screen on the control unit. “I’m going to watch for a little while longer though,” Disco then said, “I’d like to see what the Hornets do with what they obviously think is Tomcat food, and if there’s any disgustingness at all, from any of them, I’ll be going down there immediately!”

Nuts watched the video. She could see the hangar bay from above. The quality of the video was excellent. The bubble heads of the fighters gleamed in the hangar bay lights. She could hear their voices clearly. “Make me eat that Tomcat refuse!” Stapleton was saying.

“Want me to bring Disco down her to tattoo your tail with her lasers?” Entwhistle replied, “Don’t think I won’t.”

That statement got the Hornets to sit at their tables to eat. Stapleton shoved her nose into her plate and started sucking her noodles into her mouth with a big slurping sound. Smith was the only one who ate her food neatly and carefully. “Stapleton, you are disgusting!” Smith said.

“You’re a little prissy,” Stapleton shot back then rapped on her bubble.

Entwhistle scooted over and gave Stapleton a hard knock over her bubble. “Leave her alone! She’s the only one that is not going to have to clean tables. In fact, she’s going to eat with the Tomcats at breakfast call tomorrow morning. She doesn’t need to eat with you pigs. She is also going to get early to bed while the rest of you will straighten the hangar bay.”

“We want Commander Needly back. It was funner with her around. Tomcats are wet blankets,” one Hornet griped.

“We want Case back in command too. Hardwick is ruining everything.”

“She is putting things in order and if you don’t stop the griping, I’ll bring Disco down here and really give you something to gripe about,” snapped Entwhistle, “Start eating neatly, ladies, not like pigs!”

Nuts snickered at what transpired on the feed. “They really are piggy”.

“Now start cleaning the tables!” Entwhistle’s voice barked. The Hornets whined like school children.

“I can’t believe what I am hearing,” Vandy cut in, “And we have these as our fleet dog fighters? Pathetic!”

Disco grimaced in disgust at what she saw on her drone’s video feed. Those Hornets were revoltingly piggy! “I’m glad Entwhistle is going to let Smith eat with us tomorrow,” she said, “It’ll be much more pleasant for Smith to eat with civilised companions rather than with those pigs.”

As the Hornets continued to gripe, Disco frowned in annoyance. Very soon, she decided, she would go below and start laser “tattooing” Hornet tails!

“I agree with you, Vandy,” Disco said, with a snort of exasperation, when the Hornets started to whine about cleaning the tables, “Those Hornets are the grossest, piggiest, laziest, most disgusting jets I have ever encountered, and I am going below right now to introduce those swines’ sorry tails to my lasers!”

Disco quickly switched her drone to “Auto”, and gave Nuts the drone control unit so that the Tomcats could continue to watch what was happening in the hangar bay. Deploying her lasers, Disco then stormed over to the nearest elevator and headed below.

Arriving in the hangar bay, Disco nodded to Entwhistle and Gomez before angrily confronting the Hornets.

“I have been watching you lot eating your supper,” Disco growled furiously, fixing each Hornet in turn with her fierce glare, but nodding at Smith, “And, apart from Smith, I am absolutely disgusted by what I have seen! You lot eat in the most revolting manner I have ever seen, shoving your faces in your food like pigs at a trough, and then you whine like little kids when you’re told to clean up! You lot are supposed to be front-line fighters; instead, you are total pigs!! You Hornets are going to be punished for your disgusting piggy behaviour right now, with a laser ‘tattoo’ from me!!”

Disco immediately fired her lasers at Stapleton’s tail twice, first at one rudder, then the other, each shot scoring a perfect hit on Stapleton’s rudders and leaving good-seized burns there.

After laser “tattooing” Stapleton’s tail, Disco swiftly did the same thing to each Hornet in turn, leaving every Hornet, with the exception of Smith, with sizable scorches on both rudders. “Now, I hope you sorry, despicable swine learn something from this!” growled Disco, “You’d better start eating in a civilised manner, like Smith, or I’ll be forced to use my lasers on your pathetic tails again, and I don’t think any of you want that, do you?!”

The Hornets were now whimpering like whipped puppies. Vandy chuckled as she watched the screen. “They now know Disco is no ‘Dee Dee’.”

“Why are you not like the shuttle ‘Dee Dee?’ in the Kitty and Dee Dee show? Dee Dee is funny and nice,” asked Stapleton.

“Kitty and Dee Dee are in the world of fantasy. The cartoon was created to be comedy, not a reflection of real life,” Smith interjected, “Kitty doesn’t behave like a proper Tomcat either; she wears a huge bow on her yaw braid, and is a clumsy flier.” “I saw an episode of that ‘Kitty and Dee Dee’ show once, when I was browsing YouTube,” growled Disco, “And I seriously hated it! It’s not just Tomcats who are portrayed completely wrongly in that cartoon; Shuttles are highly intelligent and agile, and we would never sit on anyone, ever!”

“Where’s some cream for our tails?” whined Stapleton, “My tail is still stinging! This is cruel and unusual punishment!” “The marks will heal and we will repaint your logos,” said Entwhistle, “Colonel Discovery did no permanent harm to you.” “Re-painting our logos will hurt! It is stinging too much!” whined another Hornet. “We can give it a day for the soreness to go away then!” said Entwhistle, “Straighten up or Disco will zap you again.”

Disco bared her fearsome razor-sharp teeth at Stapleton, so that Stapleton had a clear view of them, “As you saw with the portable coffee mess, I have no hesitation in using these teeth when necessary, as well as using my lasers!” Disco growled warningly.

Disco then glared fiercely at all of the whining, whinging Hornets. “It’s your own faults that you’ve now got sore tails!” she snapped, “So you pathetic collection of sorry swine can shut up, and put up with it! If I hear any more whining and whinging from any of you, I will make your sorry tails even sorer than they already are!”

Smith suppressed a snicker as she watched the Hornets whimper as they put away the tables and got the hanger bay ready for bed time. The hangar deck was divided into four sections. One section for the support personnel--the Forklifts and other miscellaneous, one for the Lightnings, one for the Hornet unit and one for the Tomcats. Scattered around were the other various aircraft. Case was assigned a spot with the Hornets.

Up on the flight deck Nuts and Vandy were laughing. “I don’t think I will be able to stop laughing by bed time,” laughed Nuts.

“To the shower with you Stapleton!” ordered Entwhistle, “You will scrub the shower, remember? The rest of you are finished until bed time.” Entwhistle turned to Disco. “I think I am going to need your help in watching Stapleton to make sure she cleans the shower. It’s right off here.” Entwhistle showed Disco the shower wash area near the stern. It had a privacy curtain. Back there was a Tomcat already brushing her teeth in front of a mirror. “Entwhistle, I’ll certainly come and help you to make sure that Stapleton scrubs the shower as she’s supposed to,” Disco then said to Entwhistle with a grin, “And if she gives us any problems, I may even turn up my lasers’ power level a notch, as I did to Betts and Peterson when they tried to use live missiles and live rounds on Nuts and I during our investigation of them.”

Nuts guided the drone to the shower area, filming Entwhistle beckoning Stapleton to start scrubbing the shower floor with a scrub brush. She handed Stapleton the brush. “Scrub or Disco will give you more laser tattoos.”

“As for you,” Disco growled fiercely at Stapleton, “Start scrubbing right now, or else!!!”

Disco decided that she could easily watch Stapleton and brush her teeth at the same time, as she had no problem doing multiple things at once. Giving Stapleton a fierce warning glare, Disco retrieved her toothbrush from the kit which she carried in her payload bay, and put toothpaste on it. Making sure that she was positioned so that she had a clear view of Stapleton, and a clear shot at Stapleton’s tail, Disco thoroughly brushed her teeth, making sure that they were absolutely spotless and gleaming white, before rinsing her mouth with mouthwash.

Stapleton started to scrub the floor with a bristle brush. She glared at the Tomcat scrubbing out her probe door. Some of the toothpaste dripped onto the floor. “I am not going to clean that up!” Stapleton snapped, “She slobbered on the floor.”

Entwhistle glared. “You will wipe it up! How does it feel to be cleaning up after others? She is not near as piggy as you.”

“Sorry,” The small Tomcat said quietly. “You did nothing wrong,” Entwhistle replied.

There were snickers now outside the wash area. “Look at their tails!” said a voice, “Instead of the Stingers they are the Stung!”

“They crossed that Shuttle. Ooh you don’t want to mess with her!” Said another female voice.

“Glad she is on our side,” said another.

Entwhistle peered out to see the Tomcats setting out their bedrolls. Some were even laying on them waiting for Stapleton to vacate the wash area.

The Lightnings were on the other side of the partition. They slept standing up as did the Hornets. They thought they were too tough for bedrolls. One Lightning peered through the doorway and snickered. “Prissy girls!”

“You need to finish. You have three squadrons waiting to brush their teeth,” prodded Entwhistle as Stapleton was scrubbing the sinks. The small Tomcat rinsed out her mouth and probe door and scooted back out into the hangar bay. She pulled down her bedroll from its hook on the wall. She unrolled it revealing a plush pillow in the shape of a space shuttle. A Lightning roared in laughter at the sight of the pillow.

Nuts had entered the bay and set up her bed roll. She wheeled around and slapped the Lightning. “Leave her alone! She got that fancy pillow at Kennedy Space Centre last year. Bother her again and I’ll tell Disco about you--that’s if she didn’t overhear you.”

Disco, who had by now finished brushing her teeth and re-stowed her kit in payload bay, also glared at Stapleton. “You’d better clean up that spilt toothpaste as Captain Entwhistle told you to,” Disco growled warningly, “Or I’ll use my lasers on your sorry excuse for a tail again, with the power turned up a notch!”

Just then, Disco, with her keen hearing, overheard the Lightning teasing the young Tomcat, and being told off by Nuts. Giving Stapleton another warning glare, Disco burst into the hangar bay and confronted the Lightning, with her lasers deployed.

“I just heard everything you said!” Disco snapped angrily at the Lightning, “And as punishment for being a bully, I am going to make sure that your nasty tail matches the Hornets’ tails!” Disco immediately fired her lasers at the Lightning’s tail, twice, the brilliant blue beams leaving a sizable burn on each rudder, similar to the ones on the Hornets’ rudders. The Lightning yelped and scurried away like a puppy. Nuts could hear her whimpering.

Having dealt with the bullying Lightning, Disco decided to set up her own bedroll before going back to check on Stapleton. Although Disco could sleep standing up, she preferred to lie down, partly because she found lying down more comfortable, and partly because lying down ensured that her ticklish areas were protected while she was sleeping. Disco had seen the Hornets and Lightnings preparing to sleep standing up, and she gave a brief snort of disbelief at the idea. How those ridiculous Lightnings and Hornets think they can get a proper night’s sleep when they spend the whole night standing up, I don’t know! Disco thought to herself as she started to set up her bedroll.

It only took Disco a few moments to set up her bedroll, in a space next to Nuts, then she went back to the wash area to make sure that Stapleton wasn’t slacking off. “It looks like Stapleton has actually managed to do a good job in here,” Disco said to Entwhistle after inspecting the wash area, “Maybe this should become a daily duty for her, to help her to unlearn her disgusting piggy habits.”

“I concur,” replied Entwhistle, “Wash area is now your duty, Stapleton!” Stapleton frowned as she scooted off to her squadron. The Tomcats started filing in to brush their teeth. Tomato started brushing with her face over the sink. Toothpaste suds dripped out into the sink. It ran out her probe door when she started cleaning it with the paste and the brush.

“Tomcats are such pigs!” snorted a Lightning that poked her nose in the doorway.

Hardwick scooted into the shower area and glared at the Lightning. “Tomcats are no pigs. They are decent folk who have had proper training, unlike the excuse for training you’ve had under Case!”

“You’d better watch your mouth!” Disco growled warningly at the Lightning who’d referred to Tomcats as pigs, “I don’t think you want your tail to meet my lasers, do you?”

Giving the Lightning, who was still standing there, another brief warning glare, Disco then headed back into the hangar bay, and settled on her bedroll. She lay with her tail facing the hangar bay wall, and her head – resting on her pillow – facing into the hangar bay, ensuring that no-one could sneak up on her from behind. Anyone who tried to sneak up on Disco would have to approach her from in front, where they would be confronted by Disco’s lasers, and by her formidable teeth.

As Disco watched the other jets preparing for bed, she had a strong suspicion that she and the Tomcats would not be left in peace to enjoy their sleep. If those Hornets and Lightnings try anything, they’ll regret it! Disco thought as she prepared to go to sleep, They’ll find out the hard way just how much Scorpion Peppers and ultra-hot hot sauce burn when one isn’t a Space Shuttle!

“I trained at TOPGUN under Captains Aquila and Jaws,” Disco said then, thoughtfully, “They’re F-14D sisters who are highly experienced, highly skilled dogfighters, and who run TOPGUN; training under Jaws and Aquila helped me to really hone my dogfighting skills. I’d love to see the pigs we have here, otherwise known as Hornets, take Jaws and Aquila on; they’d kick those Bugs’ tails for them, and they’d do the same to the Lightnings. I’d actually like to take on the Hornets and Lightnings myself, and put the training Aquila and Jaws gave me to good use, thrashing their sixes, and giving them some ‘flying lessons’!”

Nuts’ eyes widened a bit. “Aquila and Jaws? Isn’t Aquila that Tomcat with the gold lightning bolts on the sides of her face and on her tail, and isn’t Jaws the one with silver lightning bolts on her red tails? I’ve heard that they’re among the very, very few Tomcats who can perform the Hardwick Hairpin.”

“That’s definitely Aquila and Jaws. I instructed them in how to perform the Hairpin when they were at Boot Camp, and I trained them when they were students at TOPGUN,” Hardwick broke in, “Best fliers in the Navy. They sure know how to make a jet eat humble pie. It might be worthy of consideration to get them to come out here and teach these Lightnings and Hornets a lesson in humility. Jaws and Aquila can out-fly a Raptor, an Eagle, or a Fighting Falcon.” “So can you,” Nuts broke in, “I watched you cream Betts”.

“As Disco mentioned, I trained Aquila and Jaws. Aquila is the head of the Navy Fighter Weapons School – TOPGUN. Jaws is the Executive Officer of TOPGUN. Only a select few are sent to study under them. Disco studied under them. In the air, Disco is nothing to be trifled with. Case did not mess with her because she could make Case’s life very miserable,” Hardwick finished as she watched the jets slipping into their bedrolls.