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First Flight
© 2020 by Walter Reimer
Thumbnail art by
ahro
“Captain on the Bridge,” Jax said as the mare stepped across the threshold. He half-turned in his helmsfur’s seat. “Traffic Control’s uploaded a flight plan for us.”
“Great,” Meredith said, settling into the captain’s seat. Like the rest of the ship, it was brand new, and felt very comfortable. “Advise Traffic Control that we’re undocking.” She glanced at Kucherova, seeing the minkess watching the proceedings with a professional eye. She turned her attention to her repeater screen and studied the flight plan. The plan was a standard series of maneuvers in both normal and hyperspace. “Flight plan approved.”
“Thank you,” Jax said. The rat fitted a paw into the reaction controls and touched a series of commands with the other. “Umbilicals clear, airlock seals green. Undocking, now,” and the ship gave a tiny shudder as his fingers twitched and the freighter moved away from the mooring buoy.
“How’s it feeling?” Meredith asked after the A Quiet Life had been moving for several minutes.
“Pretty smooth so far,” Jax replied. “I’ll run through a three-axis exercise as soon as we’re clear of the buoy. Engineer.” The cervine doe at her board swiveled an ear. “Reactor status?”
She smiled. “All smooth, Helm.” There was an outsider aboard; everyone was all business and on their best behavior. “You have reaction drive at discretion, and the hyperdrive’s on hot standby.”
“Got it, thanks.” The ship had been steadily increasing the distance from the buoy. “One thousand kilometers,” the rat said. “RCS test begins.” For the next hour, the bulky freighter pitched, rolled, yawed, and performed combinations of movement in all three dimensions until he was sure that he had a good ‘feel’ for the controls.
Jax brought the ship to the required heading and reported, “Handles pretty good.”
“’Pretty good?’” Kucherova asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Well, yeah. It’s bigger than the Kiss Me in the Dark, so it’s going to have a lot more inertia to stunt around,” he explained. The minkess nodded, taking out her padd, unfolding it and scrawling a note with a fingertip.
“Jax, let’s move to inphase point L3,” Meredith said. “Speed at your discretion.”
The rat grinned. “Yes, Ma’am,” and advanced the throttle to full. A neophyte might not have noticed it, but an experienced spacer could feel a subtle vibration run through the deck plating. “Engine status?”
“Handling the load well. Hyperfield emitters are charged and ready.”
The assistant engineer added, “Navputer’s accepted the flight plan. Lock confirmed on first waypoint.”
Meredith smiled. So far, so good. “Helm, inphase when we reach the IP.” She glanced at Kucherova, who had accessed the ship’s computer and was monitoring everything with her padd.
“Yes, Ma’am. Inphase, now,” and the starfield flipped, white on black to black on white, before becoming the featureless black of hyperspace. “Insertion nominal.”
“Take it slow until you’re comfortable with things, Helm,” Meredith said.
Jax nodded, keeping the apparent velocity to five times lightspeed. The engine readouts showed that the propulsion system was working properly. “Thirty minutes to first waypoint,” the rat remarked.
“You have a good crew,” Kucherova remarked, and Meredith grinned at her.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” the mare said, a definite note of pride in her voice. She leaned toward Kucherova. “How is it looking from your point of view?”
The minkess smiled and angled her padd so that the mare could see the display. “Good, so far,” she replied. “This is the tenth of her class, so everything’s been tested in simulators, shakedowns, and in realtime conditions. Still, not every ship’s the same.” Something on the padd caught her eye. “Engineer, check the emitters, frames twenty through twenty-five.”
“Slight power falloff, compensating,” the doe said. “We may need to check the power distribution when we get back.”
“Is it a problem?” Jax asked. “Do I need to outphase?”
“Shouldn’t, so long as we keep an eye on things.”
Meredith sat back, hardly daring to hope that this would be the only problem. It was going to be a busy two weeks; hell, the first day required the Captain to be either on the bridge or immediately available for all three shifts. She thought about the tea she’d had, and decided to switch to coffee, just for the first few days.
The vacation at the end of this working-up period would definitely be welcome.
© 2020 by Walter Reimer
Thumbnail art by
ahro“Captain on the Bridge,” Jax said as the mare stepped across the threshold. He half-turned in his helmsfur’s seat. “Traffic Control’s uploaded a flight plan for us.”
“Great,” Meredith said, settling into the captain’s seat. Like the rest of the ship, it was brand new, and felt very comfortable. “Advise Traffic Control that we’re undocking.” She glanced at Kucherova, seeing the minkess watching the proceedings with a professional eye. She turned her attention to her repeater screen and studied the flight plan. The plan was a standard series of maneuvers in both normal and hyperspace. “Flight plan approved.”
“Thank you,” Jax said. The rat fitted a paw into the reaction controls and touched a series of commands with the other. “Umbilicals clear, airlock seals green. Undocking, now,” and the ship gave a tiny shudder as his fingers twitched and the freighter moved away from the mooring buoy.
“How’s it feeling?” Meredith asked after the A Quiet Life had been moving for several minutes.
“Pretty smooth so far,” Jax replied. “I’ll run through a three-axis exercise as soon as we’re clear of the buoy. Engineer.” The cervine doe at her board swiveled an ear. “Reactor status?”
She smiled. “All smooth, Helm.” There was an outsider aboard; everyone was all business and on their best behavior. “You have reaction drive at discretion, and the hyperdrive’s on hot standby.”
“Got it, thanks.” The ship had been steadily increasing the distance from the buoy. “One thousand kilometers,” the rat said. “RCS test begins.” For the next hour, the bulky freighter pitched, rolled, yawed, and performed combinations of movement in all three dimensions until he was sure that he had a good ‘feel’ for the controls.
Jax brought the ship to the required heading and reported, “Handles pretty good.”
“’Pretty good?’” Kucherova asked, raising one eyebrow.
“Well, yeah. It’s bigger than the Kiss Me in the Dark, so it’s going to have a lot more inertia to stunt around,” he explained. The minkess nodded, taking out her padd, unfolding it and scrawling a note with a fingertip.
“Jax, let’s move to inphase point L3,” Meredith said. “Speed at your discretion.”
The rat grinned. “Yes, Ma’am,” and advanced the throttle to full. A neophyte might not have noticed it, but an experienced spacer could feel a subtle vibration run through the deck plating. “Engine status?”
“Handling the load well. Hyperfield emitters are charged and ready.”
The assistant engineer added, “Navputer’s accepted the flight plan. Lock confirmed on first waypoint.”
Meredith smiled. So far, so good. “Helm, inphase when we reach the IP.” She glanced at Kucherova, who had accessed the ship’s computer and was monitoring everything with her padd.
“Yes, Ma’am. Inphase, now,” and the starfield flipped, white on black to black on white, before becoming the featureless black of hyperspace. “Insertion nominal.”
“Take it slow until you’re comfortable with things, Helm,” Meredith said.
Jax nodded, keeping the apparent velocity to five times lightspeed. The engine readouts showed that the propulsion system was working properly. “Thirty minutes to first waypoint,” the rat remarked.
“You have a good crew,” Kucherova remarked, and Meredith grinned at her.
“We’ve been through a lot together,” the mare said, a definite note of pride in her voice. She leaned toward Kucherova. “How is it looking from your point of view?”
The minkess smiled and angled her padd so that the mare could see the display. “Good, so far,” she replied. “This is the tenth of her class, so everything’s been tested in simulators, shakedowns, and in realtime conditions. Still, not every ship’s the same.” Something on the padd caught her eye. “Engineer, check the emitters, frames twenty through twenty-five.”
“Slight power falloff, compensating,” the doe said. “We may need to check the power distribution when we get back.”
“Is it a problem?” Jax asked. “Do I need to outphase?”
“Shouldn’t, so long as we keep an eye on things.”
Meredith sat back, hardly daring to hope that this would be the only problem. It was going to be a busy two weeks; hell, the first day required the Captain to be either on the bridge or immediately available for all three shifts. She thought about the tea she’d had, and decided to switch to coffee, just for the first few days.
The vacation at the end of this working-up period would definitely be welcome.
Category Story / General Furry Art
Species Horse
Size 71 x 120px
File Size 40.6 kB
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