Working Things Out

© 2019 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  rabbi-tom


The palomino mare’s ears swiveled as an alarm started to blare, and she blinked awake to discover that she was drifting close to the ceiling of her quarters. “Oh, shit,” she said sleepily before reaching out and planting a paw against the surface. A gentle shove, and she fell toward the floor, dodging slightly around drifting objects in her room until she grasped the bedframe.

Shouldering into her discarded jumpsuit she knocked a few items away from the doorway before opening the door. Meredith closed it behind her as soon as she was past the threshold to prevent any of her things floating out into the corridor.

Other members of the crew that had been either waiting to go on shift or were asleep were emerging from their quarters. Her shift’s engineers and cargo handlers were already headed for auxiliary workstations to see what they could do, and Meredith soared to the bridge with a simple push of one hoof.

“ – Motherfucking artigrav!” Captain Kwinton was snarling. The skunk was holding onto the back of his chair with one paw while the night shift bridge crew were busy troubleshooting the artificial gravity’s control system. A quick glance at the main monitor showed that they were in normal space, with This Far centered in the display.

Well, at least they were on time.

Kwinton glared at her and she held out a paw. “My shift’s headed aft right now to help. What do you need me to do?”

“Vinzen’s helping dope out what the fuck’s wrong,” and he jerked his chin at a pair of feline feet sticking out of an electronics bay, “and Karla’s aft. You drive us in and get us docked.”

“Got it.” She pulled her legs up to her breasts so as not to hit anyone with her hooves and sailed past the captain, settling into the helmsfur’s seat and strapping in. A quick survey of the data on the main screen showed that they had plenty of velocity. They’d be on time, so long as everything went well.

You hear me, Deus? she asked the deity she worshiped. Deus, of course, didn’t reply.

She fitted a comm headset on. “Kiss Me in the Dark to This Far Traffic Control.”

The planet disappeared as a window opened to show a broad polecat’s face. “This Far Traffic, we have you on approach vector. I need you to correct course x plus 12, y plus 6, z plus 4. That’ll put you on course for dock at PT-76.” He blinked. “You having trouble? Your mane’s all over the place.”

Meredith smiled, her paws slipping into the controls and making the necessary adjustments using the cargo ship’s reaction jets. “Artigrav’s down, and I haven’t had time to braid it up.”

“What, you use a braided artigrav?” The polecat grinned.

Meredith heard a growl behind her. “I meant my mane, Control. Currently on course, and we’ll advise when we are on final approach.”

“Oh, I don’t want to think of this as my final approach.”

The mare leaned to her left as Kwinton shoved past her and glared at the controller. “It is, and I’ll see you on the station.” He closed the channel by slamming a fist down on the console, and used the inevitable rebound to propel him back to his seat. “You’re not getting paid to flirt, d’Estcourt.”

“The Captain will please note that I was not encouraging him,” she said crisply.

“I know. Just reminding you.”

Mentally, the mare shook her head and concentrated on keeping the freighter on course. She glanced at the monitor to check the figures.

And looked again.

“Bridge, Engineering.”

“Engineering. That you, Meredith?”

“Yeah. I’m getting some lateral drift up here. Are we venting anywhere?” There was a bang and a muffled exclamation as Vinzen hit his head inside the cramped space he was in, and Meredith felt Mikhal looking over her shoulder.

“Hang on. We’ve been so busy with the damned artigrav . . . “ The voice trailed away, then said, “Shit, you’re right. RCS quad 22’s leaking a bit. How far are we veering?”

“It’s not bad. I’ll have to keep an eye on it until we’re in dock, but we should be smooth. How’s the artigrav?”

“It’s out of alignment again. Two waveguides now. Mikhal there?”

The skunk poked his headset with a finger. “I’m here, what?”

“We’re recommending that we run without the artigrav until we dock, Boss. Me and the others agree that we won’t be able to keep it aligned until we can do an overhaul.”

The skunk grimaced. “Fine, pass the word to everyone to be careful.” He returned to his chair and strapped in. “Meredith?”

“Boss?”

“Get us to dock.”

“Right, Boss.” The mare settled back in her seat, her restraints tightening slightly to keep her secure, and kept one paw on the reaction controls.

A shuttle carrying a maintenance team was waiting for them at the docking point. Once the locks cycled and the doors opened, a cheerful-looking otter poked his head in. “Hi!”

Meredith had been sent to meet the group. With the ship docked, the engines had been powered down. “Hi,” she said. “Welcome aboard.”

“We hear you’re having trouble with the artigrav?”

She nodded. “Waveguides keep falling out of alignment. And we’ve got cargo to shift.”

The otter gave a jerky nod as he drifted further in, followed by the other five members of the team. “Any other issues?” he asked as she moved to drift alongside him.

“Venting from an RCS quad. Might be a stuck valve.”

Two members of the team, a kangaroo and a badger, reversed course and headed back to the shuttle. “Veranq and Ali will go outside and take a look.”

Meredith gave him a sidelong look. “You know, ordinarily we’d have to wait a day or three for you. What gives?”

“You’re carrying for Imperial Chartering, right?”

“Yeah.”

The otter gave her a wry smile. “There you go.”