Chapter 6
The Captain stood on deck and pressed the intercom button.
“Good morning,” he said. “We will be disengaging from the docking port in exactly thirty seconds. Please be prepared.” He nodded to Shereth at the helm and she started the ignition sequence, counting the seconds until the thrusters and engines would be charged under her breath.
“1… 2… 3…”
Lieutenant Hunter braced himself in his seat. Adrian Nemenk sat down.
“18… 19… 20.” She pressed a few keys and the Draco began to slide away from the docking port. There was a sudden jolt and Shereth quickly readjusted.
“Can’t you bring us out just once without doing that?” Lieutenant Hunter said.
“I’ll keep it in mind,” she shot back.
A few seconds later she entered a heading and the Draco sped away from the spaceport. Shereth turned towards Ryden.
“The Draco is in open water, Sir.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant. You’re dismissed. Mr. Nemenk, please take the helm.”
Shereth left, smiling, and headed down to the Mess Hall.
“Good morning, Shereth!” Temen said as she walked through the door, smiling broadly.
“Good morning.” She looked around in amazement at all the number of people. “There haven’t been this many people here since the power went out on deck 6.”
Temen nodded. “Where there’s food there’s people.”
“No kidding.”
He laughed a little and led her over to a free table.
“So,” she said. “How are you today?”
"I'm fine. Tell me," Temen leaned across the table. "Was the ship supposed to jerk like that when we left the dock?"
Shereth looked down, smiling. "Not exactly. It's not good. But it's not bad either. Very few pilots can bring you out smoothly."
"So you were expecting it to jerk like that."
"Yeah... at least once..."
"Uh-huh."
"Don't tell me you've never had this happen to you before..."
"I've only flown on a ship once in my life. I like the ground."
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