Right on the edge

Posted on 26 Mar 2026 @ 6:40pm by Lieutenant JG Zhivise Silatuyok & Ensign Unknown 'Weirdo'

1,883 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Unity
Location: Flight Deck
Timeline: Takes place before the ceremony

"....you sure this is a good idea, el-tee?" The deck chief never asked anyone to question orders; it was more a way to make sure everything was thought through.

"I mean no, I am not," Zhiv said, sounding a bit insane as she spoke, "sorry, problem is with piloting, you can run as many simulations that you want, but until you get behind an actual helm console, you have no idea," Zhiv said, looking at her deck chief.

"Fair enough," the deck chief said, before nodding that the officer who wanted to learn how to fly arrived.

And there he was, all bounce and all smile. "Good morning!" The sea-coloured eyes were bright enough to rival the stars that were waiting for them. As usual, a few PADDs stuck from pockets, and with a gesture designed to look somewhat like a salute, he slid a stylus behind one ear. At least today, he didn't appear to be juggling them. "All good and ready to go?"

"Ensign, this is deck chief Declan Voss. He is gonna be keeping an eye on us," Zhiv said with a small smile. "Chief, this is Ensign Weirdo," Zhiv said, giving the deck chief a small smirk, something very different than what she gave Weirdo.

"Excellent! Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Chief Voss!" He gave the chief a small bow.

For a moment, Voss found himself the centre of the man's full attention; the sea-coloured eyes took him in, all of him. Then that unsettling gaze turned away and focused on the nearby shuttle. "This is the one?"

"Mustang, a perfect training shuttle, the workhorse of Starfleet Type 6," Zhiv said with a smile, but with a slight pain behind it as her mind got flooded with memories of watching her family train wild horses. "So, pre-flight checks, go," Zhiv said.

"On it." The man bounced inside and slid behind the consoles. All at once, he was all business. He did the pre-flight checks rapidly but methodically, checking off every one on one of the PADDs he'd pulled from his pocket. He adjusted a few settings which might've led to, well, nothing disastrous, but certainly some trouble later on during the flight, checked them again, marked them, and moved on to the next.

In an amazingly short time, he turned around, handed the PADD to Zhiv, and said, "All systems green and ready to go."

"This is good, but the outside of the shuttle also needs to be checked. I know that the deck crew is trained to handle the outside of the shuttle, but as a pilot, you should check to make sure everything looks okay," Zhiv added.

The man grinned again as he got up and pulled another PADD from a pocket. "Yes, that's what this one's for."

Once outside, the pattern repeated. The same swift and very thorough inspection, the same methodical checklist. (This he had practiced during previous visits to the flight deck, usually late at night when most people were asleep. He required little sleep, and since this area was usually very quiet, it was a great time to practice. Besides, it was always nice to have a conversation with Kat while he was here.)

"Visual check completed. No anomalies found." This PADD was handed over, too.

"Hand those over to Voss, and then we are good to take off," Zhiv said with a smile as she moved up the ramp and took the auxiliary seat, while the ensgin handed the pre-flight checks to the deck chief.

A moment later, he entered, in the usual brisk manner, and sat down. One last visual check to see if everything remained in order, then he flipped a switch to contact flight control and ask for take-off clearance, while with the other hand, he closed the hatch and activated the internal systems. All by the book.

"So, before we take off, you'll be taking the lead. I'll be asking some questions while we fly; it'll help me gauge your knowledge." Zhiv said, keeping her smile friendly, I'll only take the controls if something catastrophic happens, or if you need me to," she added.

"Console configured for primary flight control. Hatch closed, shuttle pressurised, all systems nominal. Activating engines…" He narrated his actions as the shuttle lifted and gracefully manoeuvred through the open landing bay doors. He appeared to be as calm as if this were a holodeck simulation.

It was smooth, which was a rarity with someone learning how to pilot; usually, maneuvering thrusters was offset. "Very nice control, and what speed do you cruise at until we get the proper distance from the ship, and what is that distance?"

That was easy, he rattled off both numbers as he guided the shuttle away from the Odin (and what a fabulous sight it was, to see the mighty ship so close by, against the backdrop of stars), adding: "By the book. Minimum safe distance is…" He had taken shuttles through various training scenarios in the holodeck, including a few things he hoped he'd never have to do in reality.

"Good, now...," Zhiv said, tapping a few buttons, "here is the course I want you to follow, along with the guidelines. If this goes well, I'll allow you to do some freefoam flying; it'll again give me a better idea of your abilities, which so far are very good." Zhiv added with a small grin.

So she hadn't blinked at the extra information. Good, he hadn't expected her to. When he'd browsed the holodeck computer for pre-existing training scenarios, he had come across more than a few from other pilots, which stress-tested the hell out of various shuttles, runabouts and fighters. Most he was unable to access without an actual pilot's licence, but based on the descriptions he had been able to replicate a few himself.

"I've logged quite a few training hours," he replies, grinning back briefly. That grin was all he allowed himself, though, after that he was once again all business. He quickly glanced at the course and guidelines, his hands moved across the console to program the new course and heading. A graceful curve which took them away from the ship, although it remained visible on the sensors and even through the window, if you knew where to look: one silver dot amidst the stars.

"That is good, running simulations is important, but it still isn't this," she said, looking around the shuttle. Deciding that some surprises might need to be done, again, just to see how he handles himself, but that would be for later.

"Oh, I know." The smile is very audible in his voice, even though he is still all business, quite focused. The real thing is much better.

"What's the most advanced simulation you have run?"

"All the ones I could access without an actual pilot's licence to unlock them," comes the prompt reply. "And the freestyle, regular holodeck programs give more leeway to experiment, as it turns out, so I ran a few of those, too. After finishing the training ones," he feels obliged to add.

"Good, um," Zhiv said as she ran some calculations in her head, weighing options. Pulling out a PaDD, she hit a few buttons, and all of a sudden the starboard nacelle went out, causing the shuttle to shudder and spin as only one side was using the thrusters.

The reaction was immediate. His hand shot out across the console, tuning the port nacelle's output instead of killing it altogether, easing it slowly to zero output to allow the shuttle to make a full 360 spin. With an almost uncanny sense of timing, he shut the nacelle down altogether as soon as the shuttle was back on course, then let it coast at its current speed. Then, even though he knew full well the starboard nacelle had been remotely deactivated, he ran through a series of troubleshooting steps to determine the actual cause and what he could do to fix it. Not just internal systems diagnostics and monitoring, but also with an eye on the external sensors. There were too many scenarios, too many options, and more than one featured external causes of damage.

What he didn't know was that his actions would trigger a cascading failure. Next, the console started to flicker but remained operational, slow and sluggish, as if someone were entering too many commands at a high rate.

The shuttle also shook a little, as an alarm went off, indicating it was a minor shock wave, or space ripple which occurred often, it didn't really affect ships because of their size, but smaller vessels like shuttles did feel them.

He smiled, no, he actually grinned. It was during moments like this he felt most alive, when time slowed down and he could almost see the different layers. What at first seemed to be a series of events happening almost simultaneously now spread out, giving him ample time to react. With a flick of a hand he killed most of the systems, everything that used excess power and wasn't acutely needed to keep them alive. With the other he strapped himself in and checked, with a quick glance, if Zhiv did the same.

Now the cascade failure had been stopped, simply because there were no more active systems to crash, and they could ride out the ripple. The shuttle was built to withstand these type of things, and more. The more fragile wetware inside it, not so much.

And, finally, the final cascade, the ripple suddenly ended as they did. The shuttle lurched, and then was suddenly thrown violently, or it felt like it, and alarms went off as it actually happened before finally all systems went offline, as the shuttle came to a quick and sudden stop.

Good thing they were both strapped in. Even so, it was quite the sickening jolt, or would have been for people who didn't have the stomach for it.

Despite the grin, he still esd business-like and efficient in both his observations and movements. Again that quick look at Zhiv, in the faint light of stars, to check if she was alright. Then a visual check of the cockpit, looking for any obvious signs of damage. Sounds and smell also played a role, though that was not as readily seen by an outside observer.

Once it was clear nothing was about to buckle or explode, he turned back to the now completely blank console and activated the most basic system.

Zhiv remained silent, just watching, as the program was wrapping up. There would be no more surprises, just the final steps to get the systems back online. So far, she was impressed, a little nervous, but at the same time exhilarated that he had that same grin when she went through these same tests.

When none of the diagnostics revealed any sign of damage or trouble, he gradually brought the other systems online as well. A few minutes later the shuttle resumed it's happy hum which indicated everything worked as it should.

Only then did he turn to her. "All systems nominal, resuming original course and speed," he reported factually. Then the grin returned. "That was fun!"

"I am glad, and I am very impressed with your skills. Let's take us home," she added with a smile.

 

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