A almost perfect flight
Posted on 31 Jan 2025 @ 5:34pm by Lieutenant JG Zhivise Silatuyok & Commander Kristiana Petrova
1,200 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Miranda
Location: Shuttle Bay
Zhiv sat in the back of the shuttle as it flew through the blackness of space. The stars were still impressive, but nothing special, at least not special like what she was reading. Warp tech hadn't moved much outside of being more efficient, which was still fascinating. "Ma'am, we should be docking with the USS Odin in about twenty minutes," the pilot said.
"Thank you," the young junior lieutenant said as she kept studying the schematics of a new EPS relay, which would again just make the warp engines more efficient, it had some similarities with the artificial quantum singularity that the Romulan Star Empire uses.
The shuttle touched down perfectly in the Odin's shuttle bay, and Zhiv was mostly impressed. There were some minor mistakes. The pilot tapped a few buttons to lower the ramp. " And here we are, lieutenant," the pilot said as they started their post-flight checks, allowing the lieutenant to disembark.
"Thanks again," Zhiv said as she grabbed her bag and headed down the ramp where a woman greeted her.
Kristiana stood waiting for the shuttle carrying their new helmsman—well, helmswoman, in this case. She didn't know the young officer; she just needed to practice saying that name, and she was still only moderately old enough to say it smoothly without stumbling or mispronouncing it. There were times when much about the certain she could welcome a new crew aboard was an adventure and times when it was routine. This time, it fell somewhere in between.
"Lieutenant Silatuyok?" Close enough for government work. "I'm Commander Petrova, welcome aboard Odin."
"Thank you, Commander." Zhiv paused as she checked the rank on her collar. " Commander Petrova," Zhiv said as her name came to her. I've done a lot of reading up on the Odin; she is an impressive ship. " She added, feeling a bit awkward as she hated this part of new assignments.
"Indeed," She was an aging ship, a workhorse, not much for glory or the limelight, but could stand her ground if needed. Much like Kristiana felt, herself. "Come, I'll show you to your quarters, get your authorizations done. Any luggage that needs taking care of?"
"No, just this bag," she said, adjusting the strap of her duffle bag on her shoulder. Um, how many pilots do you have?" Zhiv asked, trying to remember if she had read that in the information she had received after getting the assignment.
"You're one in a team of five. I've set up a duty roster with one pilot on duty at any time, with the rest off. Three on, two off allows for some days off as well," Kristiana mused, explaining as they walked. "I haven't gotten the chance to read your profile properly, tell me about yourself?"
"I enjoy things that go fast, always have, same as my dad, he is still a test pilot, which I am aspiring to do, or maybe teach flying at the academy, which my father did as well," Zhiv said this all very fast, which she tended to do, especially when she came into a new assignment.
"I see," offered Kris. She'd felt it was a fairly typical answer for a flight officer. Most had a fascination for speed, freedom of flight, or gentle hand gestures controlling the giant and powerful starships Starfleet operated. Or a combination of the three. "So what kinds of craft and ships have you flown?" she asked, as they walked.
"The Odin is the biggest ship so far. I have done some transports, but mostly shuttles and worker bees," Zhiv said, hoping that answer wasn't gonna disqualify her, which would be weird that Starfleet Personnel gave her this assignment, "but I am a quick learner, and I have been doing a lot of simulation work for ships of this size, and the type of impulse, thruster and warp drive design," she added again all in one breath, and fairly quickly.
"Well, Starfleet deems you fit to fly the ship, so I'm not gonna worry about that. I'm sure you'll do fine," Kris offered with what she believed to be a reassuring smile. "All the same, I would like for you to get some actual stick time under low-stress situations as soon as possible. Next opportunity I want you to - take the ship and fly her about. Get a feel for her," It would look weird to the rest of the fleet to see Odin just flying around, doing loops and banks. Still, she figured having the inexperienced helmsperson learn how the ship feels during a low-intensity situation could only benefit them if she needed to fly the ship in a high-intensity situation.
"Really?" Zhiv said excitedly as she came alive, which always happened when she was told she got to pilot something, "and of course, I understand this is for you to also evaluate me," she added.
"Not so much to evaluate you as to get your actual stick time," Petrova readily replied. "I trust in your abilities. That said, I still want you to keep up practice. This goes for all my officers equally."
"...oh, yes, of course, sorry." Zhiv was ecstatic to get behind the stick, it had been far too long, and something bigger than a transport.
"Right. Well, here we are," Kris halted at a set of nondescript doors in a hallway. She keyed in her authority, to open the doors. "Computer, assign these quarters to Lieutenant Junior Grade Zhivise Silatuyok." It is very close to the actual pronunciation. "Authorization Petrova two-five-oh-one." satisfied that her authorization had gone through at the computer's confirming bleep.
The bedroom, bath, small couch, coffee table, and small dining room table are your typical standard ship quarters. "Simple, but yeah, simple is nice," she said, letting out a sigh. She set her bag down on the couch and took a quick look around. " Ready to see the bridge," Zhiv said, a little bit too demanding. Still, she didn't mean for it to be demanding.
"Certainly. Just down this way," It wasn't far to the nearest turbolift, just down the hall. And the ride to the bridge was even shorter, as it was just one deck up. The doors swooshed open, revealing the aging but still comfortable and modern Nebula bridge, with the helm station towards the front.
This wasn't her first time on a bridge, but this was the first time being on a bridge of a warship, "wow, this this is amazing," Zhiv said as she took it all in, "may I," she said walking over to the helm.
"Certainly," Kris answered easily. "I have more work to do, so - have at it. We have another fifteen minutes before we have to get underway again, so - don't crash the ship and you'll be fine," she added with a little humor.
Zhiv grinned, taking a seat and letting her fingers run over the cool metal of the helm station, The soft lights of the terminal were magical-looking, like the commander said, take it slow. "Right, simple, and easy," she said as she laid in some coordinates and set a speed along with a simple maneuver.