Scott and Haroun, Monday morning

[x-cyclops.livejournal.com]

Backdated to Monday morning. Scott and Haroun put the Blackbird through a test-burn and find out there's still some repair work to do.



Haroun did one final lap around the Blackbird, checking and double-checking and triple-checking that the wheel chocks were firmly in place, the VTOL roof control was firmly set to CLOSED, and that the room was free of debris that could get sucked into the jet's big air intakes. Once he was satisfied, he tapped his X-Men comm unit once. "Jetstream to Cyclops. We're ready to go on the first test-burn. Want to come monitor from the flight deck?"

Scott, getting changed after a session in the Danger Room, blinked as he heard the message over his com. "I'll be there in five," he answered back.

It was a little over four before he got to the hangar, waving briefly at Haroun as he walked up the stairs to the 'tower'. "Everything all set up?" he asked, turning on the exterior mikes.

Haroun, by this point in the pilot's chair of the Blackbird, gave a thumb's up. Over the radio, he said "Absolutely. Everything in here checks green. I've got the remote diagnostics hooked up, you should be able to see them as well. I'm going to go for a gentle burn initially, just in case. 10% power for thirty seconds, then if everything is still green we'll increase the power."

Scott lowered himself into the chair, his eyes on the aforementioned diagnostics. "Sounds good," he said. "Anytime you're ready."

Haroun grinned, even though Scott couldn't see it. "Ignition in five, four, three, two, one..." he said, then flipped a toggle. Both the Blackbird's engined ignited with a dull roar, and the telltales never changed from their soothing emerald. "OK, we're looking good. Fuel intake looks good, computer control's doing just fine. I think we got that new engine installed perfectly."

"What," Scott said with a smile, "you had doubts?" All of the readings from here were normal, as well. He glanced at his watch, waiting the rest of the thirty seconds.

"When it comes to this baby girl, I never have any doubts." he said with an unabashed note of pride - and a sound that didn't translate across very clearly on the radio. Almost - a sniffle? "Coming up on the thirty second mark." Haroun said, voice back to normal. "We'll increase power by 10% every thirty seconds until we take it up to the ceiling."

"All right," Scott said, one eye on his watch, one on the diagnostics as Haroun increased the power a notch. "Still green up here." He was amazed there hadn't been anything requiring the jet in the last couple of weeks. Not that he was complaining, but given the way their luck had been lately, it hardly seemed plausible.

"Twenty percent." Haroun said, precisely at the thirty-second mark, and goosed the throttle just a little bit. The engine's roar got a little louder, but everything stayed reassuringly green. "Still good. Go for thirty percent in thirty seconds."

Scott leaned back in the chair and just watched. Haroun seemed to have everything well under control, after all.

Haroun took the jet up to thirty percent. Then forty. Then fifty. The checks went just fine until eighty percent was reached. When Haroun pushed the engines up past eighty, the warning lights flickered from their cool soothing green into an angry red. "We have a problem. Aborting test." Haroun said crisply, throttling back the Blackbird quickly before any more damage could be done.

Shit. Scott leaned forward, examining the diagnostics. "Not getting a clear read on what went wrong from up here," he said, rising from his chair.

"Hard to say from here. I had data capture running, I'll start breaking it down second-by-second so that we can see what went wrong when. If we're really lucky, we popped a breaker or something. If we're really unlucky - well, we're still here, so we didn't get really unlucky." Haroun said over the radio. He leaned down and fiddled with something out of Scott's sight, then straightened back up holding the data capture storage unit. "Stay there - we'll use the computers in the tower to do the analysis."

Scott sank back down into the chair and waiting for Haroun to join him. "It's got to be a breaker or some such thing," he said as the other man came in. "I know we were trying to go as quickly as possible so that Nathan didn't have to hold that engine for any longer than necessary, but we did double-check each other's work."

Haroun shrugged. "I happen to agree, but let's keep an open mind. We may have missed something. The interconnections for the engine were a stone-cold bitch to wire up, especially with all the E-M baffling we have to do." He slid the data capture recorder into the computer designed to accept it, and then booted up the terminal. "I'll take it to the seventy-percent test, then we'll go second-by-second to see where the problem was."

Scott leaned back in the chair, watching the data from the first part of the test scroll by swiftly. "Something minor," he murmured as Haroun slowed the flow of data to a crawl at the seventy percent point. "Has to be..."

Haroun studied the data intently. "Wait. We've got some cavitation in the fuel intake. Didn't show up on the lower-powered tests because the pressure was too low. See this? When it crosses this point, we start to get some flutter. The higher the pressure, the more the flutter. By the time it hit 80, the overrides kicked in. Dammit!" he said, slamming a fist against his thigh with a surprising amount of force.

"Shit," Scott said with a sigh. "Hurray for having no classes today... wait, you do, don't you? Arabic." He stopped, thinking. "Could Nathan take it for you? We really ought to get moving on this."

Haroun grinned. "This is where teamwork comes in handy. We're going to need to drain out the fuel lines, and that one person can do. So while I'm teaching my kids basic Arabic, you can get started on the fuel drain. Once the lines are empty and flushed, then we can start on disassembly."

Scott smiled briefly. "Fair enough," he said. He could definitely handle some quiet time in the hangar. Might be just what the doctor ordered. "We do have a replacement intake, yes?"

Haroun grinned. "Sure do. I checked when I did the parts inventory. Charles isn't shy with the parts or his wallet. We're well-stocked here in replacements."

"Good. Then, plausibly, we could still have it replaced and get through the test-burn tonight." Scott sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck. "Which would be good."

"Maybe." Haroun said. "We have to be sure we have absolutely _ALL_ the jet fuel out of the engine before we get started. I don't plan on blowing up again." he cautioned.

"We'll get the fuel lines flushed properly, don't worry," Scott said a bit irritably. "Not keen on the idea of blowing anyone or anything up at all."

"I think we've had enough explosions here to last us a lifetime." Haroun agreed. "And speaking of explosions - you OK, Chief? I didn't get a chance to touch base with you earlier."

Taken aback by the shift in the conversation, Scott managed a shrug. "Sorting things out. Dumping a few of my less-critical responsibilities onto lucky third parties."

"Good." Haroun said. "Got anything for me, other than the Blackbird?"

"Ororo might have a couple of training exercises she needs your cooperation on," Scott said. "She's taking part of the load there, at least for a while. And actually, if you're up for supply-teaching my mechanical engineering course, I might get you to do that in a week or two."

"Not a problem on the training." Haroun said with a grin. "And what's supply-teaching?"

Scott couldn't help a faint smile back. "I mean, cover the class for me for a few days - I've promised Alex I'd go college-visiting with him, and Charles thought that was a particularly good idea, so I suspect I'd find myself on the plane one way or the other if I balked." He chuckled a bit tiredly. "But there are all kinds of fun traditions associated with supply-teaching. You get to come in and be intimidating, and the kids get to try and give you a hard time..."

Haroun grinned. "I'll call Maddy and make sure she's got Medlab prepped. Think your Mechanical kids can handle a little Aeronautic? Especially when we can do a wind tunnel just as nicely as you please?"

"They're bright kids," Scott said. "They can probably handle whatever you throw at them." He looked down at the Blackbird, already mentally reviewing what he'd need to do to start draining the fuel.

Haroun just grinned. "Good. Propjet engine design should be right up their alley - how advanced are these kids? Will they choke on a design project?"

"Make sure it's group work," Scott advised after a moment's consideration. "I'll give you a list so that you can pair the ones who might have some trouble with the ones best able to support them." He shrugged again. "I don't know when this is going to be," he admitted. "Fairly soon, I'd think, but to be honest, I don't have the energy to approach this trip with my usual passion for organization. If Alex needs help setting it up, he'll let me know, or ask Charles..."

Haroun nodded. "I've got enough to go on for now. And speaking of going on, my Arabic classes is going to be dancing in their seats unless I get a move on - I've got a quiz scheduled for today."

"Hitting them, early, huh?" Scott asked wryly, getting up. "I'll get started on the fuel drain. Hopefully should be well along with that by the time you get back."

"Keeps them on their toes. And this is the absolute basic stuff- if they can write the alphabet and not have it look like lizard tracks, they get the A. Bonus points if they manage to write their names." Haroun said. "And I'll be back as soon as I can."