Red Eye Flight [4/6]

Posted on Tue Apr 14th, 2026 @ 8:16am by Captain Jaro & Lieutenant Harinarayani Khatri

1,016 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Episode 0: 48 Hours and Counting
Location: Cockpit / USS Muko
Timeline: T -42 hours (04:25)

It prompted a pause in Khatri's own preparation, the immediate command of the primary cockpit seat without a thought spared for perceived presumption. If anything, Raya was intrigued by Jaro's willingness to adopt any role outside that of a mere observer and filed the inclination away for future reference. Also worthy of recollection, however, was the flippancy surrounding the supposed simplicity of flying a starship. A glance sideways didn't reveal much in Jaro's profile to suggest a preference between outright ignorance and willful jest at her expense but Raya's hesitation lingered just long enough to leave no room for her to pretend she hadn't reacted at all.

It was, as it happened, an attitude she had spent her entire career trying to put in its place.

Advancements in flight control technology, whilst not in dispute, were also just as impacted as any other department by the sudden decrease in Fleet resources. As sophisticated as the automated systems were, and there was no denying the absolute reliance on them to keep a starship moving, peak efficiency was wholly reliant on a streamlined consistency that was becoming harder and harder to guarantee with these old war-beasts resurrected from retirement. The universe was unpredictable, that was kind of its whole deal, and though that unpredictability fell within parameters that could, at least, allow for some pretty solid assumptions, there was never a point where emptiness was guaranteed to remain that way. So, yes, while it was undoubtedly the ship's own processing capacity that allowed for the influx of data to be initially gathered and organised, the interpretation of how that translated into trajectory adjustments was a negotiation between pilot and regulation procedure. A mediocre pilot might just follow the computer's recommendations without interference but that rarely resulted in maximum fuel efficiency nor optimal time management because the system prioritised safety over all else.

As it should. It just sometimes got a bit...overzealous. There was a difference between crossing to the other side of the road to avoid contact with an unleashed dog and bypassing the entire town to achieve the same outcome. One was reasonable; the other was just risk management gone mad.

So, no, Khatri didn't actually believe that anyone could fly in a straight line surrounded by emptiness, mostly because she didn't actually believe emptiness existed but also because simulations routinely demonstrated that the autopilot was preprogrammed to favour a slight zig-zag if left unchecked. Her posture spoke somewhat of her disagreement though the remark remained ultimately unchallenged, left to drift into the ether as the silence from her end was instead punctuated by the activation of helm control and the shuttle's own voice issuing demands for access clearance. It very politely acknowledged her active status, and then very politely also suggested she abandon the current attempt to initiate an unauthorised test flight. It wasn't wholly unexpected; the Aerowing's security protocols were significantly more rigorous than an average shuttle, for perhaps obvious reasons. A tiny technicality meant that she hadn't actually had her duty assignment finalised but as she waited for Jaro to rectify that, Raya bit back the frustration that overly-bureaucratic nonsense always provoked. It was like waiting for a parent's signature for an excursion they were in charge of running.

She drew in a deep breath as helm controls finally transferred.

And then took a small amount of smug delight in bullying the safety protocols into letting her override the clearance requirements. Maneuvering free of the Amazônia under full manual control took concentration and a measure of patience but, for a pilot who ran close-proximity simulations frequently as part of her own self-imposed training, it was relatively routine. Spinning her slowly on her own axis to face the right direction was the most delicate part and once that was achieved and the Aerowing had poked her nose out from under the larger ship's hull like a whale calf emerging from its mother, Khatri switched her attention to scanning for Jaro's intended target.

"Confirm heading," she requested as the data fed through to Captain's own terminal.

Jaro watched her from the corner of his eye, his hands resting lightly near his own controls but making no move to interfere. He noticed the shift immediately—the way the somewhat weary traveler he’d met in the corridor had vanished, replaced by a creature of singular focus. As the Muko released from her magnetic clamps with a serios of metallic pangs and began its inch-perfect crawl away from the Amazônia, the cockpit was suddenly filled with a cacophony of electronic protest. Proximity klaxons shrieked, even the computer was unsure wich collision hazard they were closest to at any given moment, interrupting itself with new warnings, suggesting they were about to impact everything in the sector. For a fleeting second, as the sensor readings showed their ventral hull passing within a meter of the station’s hull, Jaro felt a small, uncharacteristic prickle of doubt. But the doubt vanished as quickly as it came; despite the noise and the flashing lights, the Muko felt steady. There was no tremor, no correction that felt rushed. She appeared to be fully in control.

As they finally cleared the station’s shadow and the proximity alarms fell into a shamed silence, Jaro let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. He offered no critique of the flight—he knew better than to lecture an expert—but his smile held a new layer of respect.

Jaro tapped a coordinate into the secondary display. A distant, bloated sphere of sickly viridian and bruised purple grew larger on the long-range scanners. "Heading two-four-zero, mark fifteen, the third planet. Specifically, the northern high-pressure cell. If the Muko can maintain a stable hover in that soup, despite all the luxury additions her previous post saw fit to festoon her with, then we can probably consider her officially part of the family. Or would you happen to have an alternative maneuver in mind?"

[TBC]

Captain Jaro
Captain
USS Amazonia

Lieutenant Harinarayani Khatri
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Amazônia

 

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