Sunday Snippet: Yelling in Vain

Whew. What a week of television. The Walking Dead had another terrific episode. Thoroughly enjoyed the hijinks with Rick and Daryl. Something tells me it's the calm before the storm.

Well, the X-Files disappointed many fans, but I actually loved having it back for its limited run. That said, what a craptastic cliffhanger. Geez. But, my other shows amped up the goods. The Magicians is truly becoming a quick favorite. And Lost Girl will be so missed, which I say all the time. Then there's Bitten, another favorite I wish would continue onward. *sigh*

The Flash revealed something I totally didn't expect. Now I can't wait to see what happens. I'm totally loving the shared universe with characters popping up on other shows. More on that later. Agent Carter has one more episode, which is awesome! I thought last week was the finale. Sadly, I'm not holding much hope we'll get another season, but fingers are crossed anyway.

Arrow keeps blowing my mind. And it's in a great way. That said, I'm looking forward to Malcolm getting his comeuppance. If that doesn't happen, I'll be sorely disappointed. And, well, other things need to happen, too. Just saying.

Legends of Tomorrow, again, changed things up. I thought it was very cool to see future Star City, even in crazy disarray. Shades of things to come perhaps? Eh, who knows? Arrow may only get one more season after this one.

I watched the Blindspot marathon Saturday. Really like the show. Too bad it's on NBC, my most hated network ever. I pretty much refuse to watch anything on the channel. So, looks like I'll be watching Blindspot when it's on another channel or via Netflix or Amazon Prime.

And that's it for TV this week.

Tonight's post is from Yelling in Vain, a novella that got its start with the prompt challenge of writing a story around a main character that's almost through training when a fellow cadet loses their life. The other main characters comes into the story as an investigator.

Here's the mini-blurb:

After an accident that takes the life of a fellow cadet, Lora Seaves falls back on her combative attitude to keep it together. Jestin Warbly has to decide whether or not Lora is cracking up or okay to fly. He's got one big problem… a powerful attraction for the rookie pilot clouds his judgment.

And a sneaky peek…

Lora Seaves banked her plane in deep space and maneuvered around the obstacle representing an asteroid. Her peripheral vision caught the change before her brain did. Turning, she opened her mouth to call out a warning over comms, but no sound emerged.

The collision happened too fast.

A heartbeat later, she remembered her training. "Base. Whipcord. Badger's KIT. His ship exploded on impact." Into a million pieces or more.

Reaction set in and Lora blinked, trying to clear the visual. Her reflexes sluggish, she followed protocol and fired her thrusters, lifting up and over the crash to mark the site. She couldn't leave until the recovery team launched, but some distance helped ease the churning of her stomach and the shiver of shock she couldn't shake.

"Whipcord. Base. Rec team launched. Return to base when they arrive."

Lora auto-responded. "Copy, base. Return when they arrive." She'd have to debrief and explain what happened.

Except she had zero clue. The collision happened so damned fast; she only caught the flash of the explosion then the aftermath of Badger's ship debris floating in space. A kick of remorse hit hard. She'd liked Brad German, aka Badger. His sense of humor had a wicked twist to it and Lora appreciated the often sarcastic tone he used.

Used. Geez. Her hand shook on the joystick and her ship wobbled.

She straightened it up, getting a grip on her spiraling emotions. "Get a hold of yourself, Seaves. Can't lose your shit now."

"Whipcord, recover ship. Did you say something?"

Damn. She'd left her comms open. Way to go, dumb ass.

Lora responded. "Recovery, that's a negative. Chatting to myself out here."

Lieutenant Rhodes, the lead search and rescue pilot, chastised. "Cut the chatter, Whipcord. Radio silence until we're on site. Two minutes out." She ended the communiqué abruptly.

Lora switched her comms off. "Stupid cow. Not like I've ever experienced something like this before." Or ever wanted to again.

The collision and explosion played on loop in her mind for the longest two minutes she'd ever lived through. The static squawk in her ear indicated incoming comm traffic. Lora blinked, surprised to find tears gathered on her eyelashes.

Switching to an active channel, she replied to Rhodes. "Recovery, Whipcord. Request permission to return to base as ordered." She struggled to keep a jittery tone from her voice.

Rhodes responded. "Granted. When you return, land and secure your craft. Remove your flight suit and leave it with your helmet in the cockpit. Report to the infirmary then wait for further orders. The deck chief will download the nose, wing, and tailfin camera footage. Do not do a post-flight erasure." She waited a beat. "Are you clear, Whipcord?"

A ball of dread landed in the middle of her gut. "I'm clear, Lieutenant. Reporting back to base. Whipcord, out." The whole situation now Lora freaked out more than a little.

Turning her ship, she started the journey back to base, her mind whirling with potential reasons for the change in standard operating procedure. Of course, there hadn't been more than a dozen fatalities on qualification day in the three decade history of the station's flight program. Lora hated reading all the manuals, but she'd definitely covered every page of the flight finals. Being ordered into what amounted to lockdown status had her tenuous thread of control quivering tautly.

Whatever reason the bigwigs had for the shift from normal better be good. And Lora hoped like hell she landed on the right side of whatever came next.

I love story prompts. Getting the creative juices flowing with small little nudges is fun!

That's it for this week. Catch everyone on the flipside.

ML Skye