Lt JG Imril - Come Fly With Me

[Chris Taylor]

(( Main Shuttlebay - Deck 11, USS Artemis-A ))

‘Normal’ and Imril were arms-length acquaintances at best. The bright lights, busy bodies, and endless vibrational thrum of a fully-staffed Starship still felt like a distant echo of Before. Before being marooned, hunted, altered. Footsteps that didn’t quite match the movements of their feet as they walked towards the Shuttlebay.

It was settling into a schedule that seemed most alien. Wake up, same time as yesterday. Eat breakfast. Start shift. Go on break. Come back. Take lunch. Come back. Post out for the day. Do some R&R or check in with the medical team. Eat dinner. Work on personal projects or more R&R. Go to bed. Wake up. So unlike the ten days spent not a crew member but a survivor. Packing up and moving out at a moment’s notice. Be it to scrimp for food or escape the weather or something worse. Stealing sleep whenever it was possible.

Focus on work had seemed the best way to shake off the cobwebs. It was what Imril knew. And yet, there they were, out of synch with their own routine.

So, mix up the routine! Or at least fill it with something that would be both novel and useful. Time for another requalification session!

Shuttlecraft Perseus stood ready on the Shuttlebay floor. The Type-18 shuttle was small and compact. Not much good for ferrying people to and from Rylor. Which made it the ideal vehicle for a quick evaluation flight. Or at least one of the only practical ones.

The ship was in perfect shape. They knew and trusted the shuttle pool engineering staff well enough to be sure on that point. But the engineer in them couldn’t not go see for themself. So into the ship they went. Assuming the pilot’s seat, they pulled up the latest information on the vessel.

K’Wara: Response

Imril looked back to see their instructor for the day enter the vehicle. Gave them a respectful nod for decorum’s sake. Followed by a small and friendly wave.

Imril: Lieutenant. 

K’Wara: Response

Imril: No, I’m not running preflights yet. Just looking over the specs. According to the maintenance logs, all of the shuttles received thorough tune-ups while we were away. In case they’d be needed for search parties. Workbees, too.

Quite possibly the DOTs, as well, but any such orders were not logged on the shuttle’s computer.

K’Wara: Response

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Lieutenant JG Imril

Engineering Officer

USS Artemis-A

A240110I12