Heading Home
Posted on Mon Aug 24th, 2026 @ 9:34am by Sublieutenant Miles Lynn & Lieutenant Commander Mila Lynn & Lieutenant Ashix Zirda & Major Ashley Rogers & Lieutenant Seira t'Reiza
1,170 words; about a 6 minute read
Mission:
Intermission: Safe Haven
Location: Cera Drydock
Timeline: 2387-10-01
Captain Fyodorevich checked off the last item on the PADD in front of him, and nodded towards the senior officers of the rump Ourainavassa crew that had brought the ship back to Cera. "All your cargo has been loaded, Major Rogers, and work on your ship is finished. Once you are ready to leave, please contact dock control for clearance. I hope you enjoyed your visit to Cera. After all, since this time you came announced, we were able to accommodate you more."
Mila smiled at the Captain. "Thank you, Captain." She turned to the others. "Looks like we are all set. Shall we?"
Ash nodded at Mila and half saluted the Captain with a smirk, "No guarantees for the next time, sir."
Lieutenant Ashix Zirda stood rigidly near the rear of the group, her cybernetic eye whirring softly as it calculated structural efficiency metrics across the docking bay. Her dark, unblinking gaze shifted from Captain Fyodorevich toward Maior Rogers. To Ashix, the attempt at humor was an unnecessary social overlay, but she kept her blunt observation to herself.
Seira dipped her head to Captain Fyodorevich and Miles; then slipped up the ramp ahead of the rest to go get started to preflight checks and contacts with Cera dock control.
A mechanical hum resonated through Ashix’s jaw as her ocular implant re-calibrated, analyzing the ramp's inclination with relentless, analytical precision. Falling into step behind Major Rogers, she gave a single, rigid nod toward Captain Fyodorevich, her dark eye unblinking as she moved silently up the boarding ramp toward her station.
Mila nodded at the Captain, and looked over at her brother, stood behind him. "Last chance, Miles. You sure you're staying?"
Miles sighed. "Told you, she's in good hands with Seira. Dad needs me, you, honestly, don't anymore." He embraced his sister, then looked over at Ash. "Thank you, Major. For everything. Look after Mila while I'm gone, yeah?"
"Major Rogers’ safety is a primary operational objective," Ashix interrupted, her synthetic voice buzzing slightly through her jaw. "Your concern is mathematically redundant, but noted. Efficiency will be maintained."
Ash raised an eyebrow at Ashix before turning to Miles and giving him a hug too, "You know I will. Just like to the Captain, I can't promise routine and predictable, but you have my word that I'll look after her." She turned to Ashix, "And the rest of the crew too. Sometimes a little redundancy isn't a bad thing when it comes to making sure the people I care about are safe."
Captain Fyodorevich saluted with a smile. "I wish you best of success in your endeavours. I am looking forward to hearing about them when you come back to collect young Mister Lynn, yes?"
Miles couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry, I will keep you updated with all the stories my sister sends me. We'll be seeing a lot of each other now that I'm going to be a flight trainer with the fleet, after all."
"Dream job, eh? Getting paid to show off your fancy flying to others?" Mila shook her head. "Well. The folks back at the Colony will be rather anxious to get their one decent ship back, so I reckon we'd better be off. Right, Ash?"
Ash shook her head at Miles, "And the galaxy will have to deal with all of your protégés zipping around solar systems...." She gives him a big smile... she's a bit surprised at the amount of... pride...? that shes feeling towards Miles. He and his sister have come a long way from when they first met. And apparently so had Ash, herself. She looks over at Mila, "Yeah... let's get out of here. A lot of people want to get home."
Twenty minutes later, all farewells had been said, and Ourainavassa was ready to depart. With the ship running a minimal crew, of course, most people on the bridge were not at their usual stations, with some even taking multiple roles on at the same time.
Mila, for example, was at the tactical station, which had also been linked into the engineering systems, monitoring how the newly upgraded systems were functioning. At the same time, she also handled communications. "All systems looking good," she reported with a smile. "We're good to go, as far as the ship is concerned, and we have departure clearance from dock control."
At Systems Control, Ashix absorbed the influx of telemetry from the newly upgraded subroutines. "Secondary power distribution is holding and orbital release vectors are optimal," she reported, her mechanical jaw buzzing slightly to smooth the synthetic edge of her voice as she bypassed two redundant diagnostic prompts. Her dark, unblinking eye shifted toward Major Rogers with cold, strategic confidence. "The ship is fully optimized for departure, Major; we may disengage docking clamps at your command."
“We have clearance and departure vectors approval from Cera dock control.” Seira announced.
"Message from traffic control," Mila reported from her makeshift combined tactical/communications/sciences station. "Basically, they're telling us to watch out for the two battlecruisers of the Ceran fleet and their escort ships, as our requested vectors do take us a little close to their position." She chuckled. "So basically, keep your eyes open and don't crash into the massive battleships you can see from the other side of the system."
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Seira laughed in return.
"Collisions are mathematically improbable unless flight control actively attempts one," Ashix stated, her voice flat and entirely unamused by the lighthearted chatter. Her fingers tapped a rapid sequence into Systems Control, adjusting the proximity sensors. "I have locked our active collision-avoidance subroutines to the Ceran fleet's transponder frequencies; clearance margin is established at 47 kilometers."
"You can always rely on Ashix to take the fun out of things," Mila commented. "Our 'active collision avoidance subroutine' is called Seira. She's over there, at the helm."
Seira decided to stay out of this…whatever it was…and instead threw a glance over at Roger’s, waiting for the command to take the ship out.
Ash chuckled at the motley crew in front of her and shook her head. "Let's get the hell out of here."
“Yes ma’am.” Seira eased the ship out of its position and through the areas in and around Ceran space dock on maneuvering thrusters only, then kicked in the impulse engines at reduced power once an appropriate distance, and finally after a few minutes called out to Roger’s again, though this time she didn’t look away from the controls. “Ready for warp on your command.”
Ashix tracked the rapidly updating telemetry across Systems Control as the power draw stabilized. "Warp Coils are fully aligned, power distribution is locked, and subspace field geometry is holding at peak efficiency," she reported in her clipped, synthetic cadence, her jaw ticking with a faint mechanical hum as she cleared the final pre-warp diagnostic checklist. "Warp is cleared on your order."
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