Runabout Approach

Posted on Thu Jul 11th, 2024 @ 2:44am by Captain María Zavala & Petty Officer 2nd Class Elis Nar

595 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Episode 1.01 - "Ad Astra"
Location: Aft Compartment, Runabout USS Pictor
Timeline: Day 01, 1208 hours

ON: [[Aft Compartment, Runabout USS Pictor, Day 01, 1208 hours]]

If there was one thing María Zavala regretted about the last few months, it was how busy she had allowed herself to become. Ordinarily, time management wasn't an issue for her. She had always been pretty good at keeping on top of things, and her staff was, too. But that all changed with the announcement of her newest assignment. Ever since the approval had gone through, the meetings, reports, and personnel transfers had been piling up faster than she could get through them. Everyone wanted answers it seemed, and they wanted them now. And that had meant a lot more work for her.

Thankfully, she was traveling by runabout, one of the benefits of which was that it was harder for such things to reach her. Sure, they could have tried to pass things along as they came through. But it was a whole lot easier to simply route them to their destination (where it would be waiting for her when they arrived). In the meantime, all she'd had to deal with was a few work-related matters following their departure, and then she was free to focus on...other pursuits.

A good thing, too, as Zavala had been looking forward to curling up with one of her favorite books. Even though she'd read it dozens of times already, every return felt like a new experience (a new chance to immerse herself in the story). It was something she'd cherished ever since she was a girl. And, while she appreciated her interactions with the flight crew during shift changes and over the occasional meal, being able to sit with that peace and quiet proved the most fulfilling.

...which is perhaps why a part of her was disappointed when she felt the sudden shift of vibrations running through the ship. She looked up from her book to see the stars outside the rear windows coalescing into single points of light. It was a clear sign...their journey was almost over.

======

Zavala entered the forward compartment to find Petty Officer Elis Nar, her yeoman, seated at one of the auxiliary stations doing his best to stay out of everyone's way. She paused, placing one hand on the headrest of his chair and offering him a smile. Then she turned her attention forward where Lieutenant Farix was working the command console and Crewman E'tan was handling flight and navigation. From the sound of things, it seemed Farix had made contact with the systems flight operations control and was coordinating their approach.

"Acknowledged," the lieutenant said, "Altering course two-nine-mark-seven, vector gamma-six."

As Farix spoke, E'tan made the appropriate entries into her console. The runabout responded by banking slightly to starboard before settling back to an equilibrium.

Through the viewport, Zavala could already see the large sphere that was the planet. They were still a bit too far away for her to make out the station, but she knew that would not be the case for long. Indeed, as they drew closer, she eventually caught sight of the familiar mushroom shape of a Stardock class facility in high orbit.

"We're coming up on marker gamma-six-two," E'tan said.

"Thank you," Farix replied, acknowledging the report, "Runabout Pictor to control, we are in position. Awaiting clearance for final approach."

“Pictor, this is control. You are clear for approach to hanger two-seven. Proceed at one-quarter impulse power to marker gamma-six-one, and then cut to thrusters only.”

“Acknowledged, control,” Fariz said, “we are en route.”

OFF

 

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