Lt. jg. Mi'shune sh'Sonora - Insert Quarter to Play
d.reinhart
She couldn’t lie, Mi’shune felt a tingle of multi-level excitement flying this ship.
sh’Sonora: Course laid in, ready to engage.
McLaren: Ensign, clear our departure with Fleet Ops.
Waiting was the hardest part of starship helm operations. While she could react in real-time as a auxiliary vessels pilot, Mi’shune was at the behest of her operations officer, her commanding officer, and the hundreds of crewmembers of the Aurora-A who were all part of the sequence of events and functions responsible for the starship’s function.
Muur: Response?
Mi’shune looked over her shoulder, waiting for the all clear. McLaren nodded. The dog was off the chain.
McLaren: Take us out, Lieutenant, thrusters until we clear the space doors, then use your own discretion to take us out toward the Azure Nebula.
sh’Sonora’s Inner Dialogue: oOTalk about step by step instructions. Was she a helm officer too?Oo
sh'Sonora: oOShut it, are you trying to get us relieved of duty?Oo ::Her fingers tapped in the helm piloting commands.:: Aye yay, Sir. Let’s take her for a walk.
The diamond section of the Aurora, as one couldn’t accurately call it a saucer section except by shorthand recognition, nosed itself towards the docking ring doors. Ponderously, the thick, duranium gates slid themselves open, revealing the gaseous expanses of the Jenatris Cloud. It was a beautiful sight, but not where they were going today. There was a cerulean formation that needed visiting. The Azure Nebula was their destination, and Mi’shune wasn’t one to keep a stellar gas cloud waiting.
The thrusters pushed the nimble little vessel past the space doors with more than enough room to spare. It was designed for capital vessels, even the bulky Galaxy/Yamato variants. A tiny Rhode Island drifted past the space doors and kicked up the impulse engines to clear the rest of the way with little effort.
The flying was too easy.
McLaren: It's certainly a nice ride... like it just rolled out of Utopia Planitia.
sh’Sonora: ::Sighs whistfully.:: Rolls Royce makes one hell of a good impulse engine, Sir. But I want to see what she’ll do at warp.
Muur: Response?
The excitable Andorian felt she must have triggered some sort of curiosity in Commander McLaren, because she caught her superior officer checking out engineering console and exchanging a glance between herself and the Vulcan engineering officer at the station.
sh’Sonora: oO Barely out of spacedock and already fretting. It’s kind of cute when you think about it. Don’t worry Sir, I only pull out the stunt flying when my life’s on the line. I’ll take good care of her. Oo
McLaren had barely sat in her chair when she gave out… not an order, but a suggestion.
McLaren: There's a set of asteroids, just on the edge of the nebula. Big lazy hulking ones that should provide a nice obstacle course for the both of you to get a handle on the ship...
One tended to ask why there would be so many navigational hazards so close to a large Federation Starbase. That was, if one was a layman who didn’t know a self-sealing hull from a self-sealing stembolt. Starbases were huge, city-sized edifices of exotic metals and even more exotic energy collection and generation. They required immense amounts of resources to construct. So they were parked in planetary orbits or near stellar phenomenon with plenty of mineral or energy wealth to offset the enormous construction costs. Like say… a nebula full of gasses. Or an asteroid field.
Or both, as Starbase 118 held in plentiful reserve.
The asteroid field was densely packed enough to give the Narendra a challenge. In some cases the big, old cruiser would have to push through like a sumo wrestler to make it through the field.
The Aurora was a much more nimble ship. If Mi’shune had to guess, it could slip through the densest areas like a stiletto through chainmail.
sh’Sonora: Sounds like fun, Sir. Laying a course for the asteroid field.
Muur: Response?
sh’Sonora: ::After a long pause.:: Say Sir… you think we’ll get a chance to test the weapons systems today? I’ve always wanted to play a literal game of Asteroids with a real starship.
Any: ?
*****
Lieutenant jg. Mi’shune sh’Sonora
Helm Officer
Starbase 118 - Ops Department
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