14. The Aetherfin Undertaking
FOURTEEN
THE AETHERFIN UNDERTAKING
The shuttle was bigger than Charlie expected.
Although, in truth, all Charlie knew of shuttles came from her knowledge of Star Wars and Star Trek, so she wasn't sure if her expectations were nonsense.
But this was clearly a working vessel, built to carry cargo, equipment, and containment units for animal rescue operations.
Her observations did make it clear that the shuttle was functional, efficient, and designed for purpose.
There were consoles along the walls, seating for the crew, and a viewport at the front that showed the interior of the Emberkind's shuttle bay.
She could hear engine sequences cycling through the systems beneath her feet, probably for pre-launch protocols.
But other than that? Charlie really didn't know much.
One thing she did know, with the most assured of all assurances, was she was about to be traveling in open space.
Open. Space.
As a human, as someone from Earth, and as Charlie Wickett herself, she realized this moment was bigger than anyone on board probably realized for her.
"Nervous?"
The voice caught Charlie off guard, pulling her away from her thoughts. Reyna looked at her from her seat across the deck with a raised eyebrow.
"No," Charlie replied indignantly. "Why?"
"Because you're tapping," Reyna said, pointing down to Charlie's hand. Charlie followed her indication and did, in fact, see herself tapping her fingers against her thighs.
The truth was, she was nervous. Not scared, exactly, but nervous in the way you get before a test you've studied for but haven't taken yet.
She'd been studying the stars her entire adult life, and learned even more growing up in the Beckman household.
But to actually stretch it beyond what any human had ever accomplished?
To be the first one to travel this way? Charlie absolutely knew she was the first human to ever do...
any of this. But up until now, maybe it was the fact that it hadn't been staring her in the face through a viewport at the aft of the ship.
She'd never studied to be an astronaut because it had never been part of her goal.
But now she wished she had taken advantage of the free courses JPL had offered employees to give them a look-see into the life of an astronaut on a spacewalk.
She was worried she was going to make a fool of herself in front of the entire Emberkind crew.
"I'm fine." Charlie could hear the higher pitch in which she uttered that sentence. She was fine. She just needed some time to wrap her head around the open space concept. And being out in it.
"She said after the longest hesitation known in Emberkind history," Reyna quipped, her mouth twitching into a teasing smile.
"You know, in my defense, I actually am committing history here for Earth, I'll have you know," Charlie retorted. "I'll be the first human to do the whole open space... travel... thing." Eloquent, Charlie, good job, she thought to herself. Way to defend the human race.
This time it was Maren who piped up from two seats to the right of Charlie. "Actually, that's not true," she said brightly. "Despite the non-contact status of Earth, we've had a few humans interact with the Coalition and participate in inter-galactic space travel in many forms!"
Great. So now she was just nervous for no god damn reason.
"That's true," Reyna added, looking from Maren to Charlie. "She's right. So it seems you might actually just be a little... scared?"
Charlie actually grunted under her breath before she blew out from her mouth, making her bangs flutter against her forehead.
"Okay, fine, you know what?" Charlie threw up her hands in defeat.
"I'm not one to mince words. Yeah, I'm scared, okay?
I'm actually scared shitless!" Charlie saw Reyna's eyebrows raise high up her forehead.
"I mean, that's open space out there!" She pointed out the viewport towards the back of the shuttle.
"That's.... that's...." What was it? Vast?
Boundless? A sweeping cascade of never-ending nothingness?
"It's incredible," Reyna provided, and Charlie looked back at her.
Gone was the teasing smile and the quirk of her eyebrow.
But there was still something there, something in her choice to use 'incredible.
' And Charlie realized, she was right. It was incredible.
It just needed a perspective change to see it that way.
"Yeah," she responded, feeling her heartbeat slow and her tensions calm. "I guess you're right."
"Don't worry. It'll feel like being in a flight machine from Earth. That's what was told and put into the Coalition history texts, at least," Maren provided, giving Charlie something to latch on to.
"You'll have to tell us if they got that right or not," Reyna said. "Besides, it's not like you haven't been flying through open space for the past two weeks anyway." Then she winked at Charlie.
Well, damn. She hadn't thought about it like that. And, gratefully, that made Charlie feel even better. Calmer. She had already been doing this, just in a much bigger vessel. With smaller windows further apart.
Reyna brought the okay again, allowing Charlie to feel more than ready to handle this trip.
"You're right," Charlie said honestly. "Thank you."
Reyna nodded. "I'll always be around to try and listen, and to help set the record straight if you need a little," she paused while she seemed to think about her next word. "Assistance." Her smile returned and Charlie couldn't help but roll her eyes at Reyna's tease.
"Yes, thank you for your services, Captain," Charlie remarked flatly.
"My most sincere pleasure." Charlie knew they were teasing each other again, but something in the way Reyna responded, and the look that followed that captured Charlie's eyes for just a moment longer than she thought was needed, made Charlie consider her a moment beyond the job and tasks of a Captain.
She began to wonder what Reyna was like, as a person.
After that, Reyna went to the bow of the shuttle and spoke with the pilot to discuss the course.
The rest of the crew began to file in around her.
Torvax took a position near the pilot with the focused stillness of someone who had done this hundreds of times.
Kess settled into the medical station with her equipment already laid out.
Maren had already been at the engineering console, running pre-flight checks, and continued to complete her list. Cael was in the seat furthest from Charlie, his posture stiff and his attention conspicuously elsewhere.
Minutes later, it seemed everything was in order for the shuttle's launch. Torvax was the one to call out the launch tasks as they officially started the mission.
"Gangway up."
"Gangway up," a crew member near the aft of the shuttle called out.
"Sublight thrusters set for ignition."
"Ignition set, Torvax," came a voice, this time from the pilot.
"Directional assist for departure 'go' on my mark."
"Ready for go." Seconds passed by as the sounds under the shuttle started to get a bit louder.
Charlie looked around her feet, feeling an exhilaration at hearing the engines roar to life in a smaller vessel.
She could feel these same rhythms and sequences in the engine housing on board the Emberkind itself, but, on this size of a ship, she could feel it in her bones without touching any walls.
"Mark," Torvax said loudly over the engine noise, and Charlie felt the shuttle lift slightly and hover inside the shuttle bay.
"Spin start adjust a 'go' on my mark," came Torvax's voice again.
"Ready for go."
This time, it was barely two seconds. "Mark."
Charlie felt the shuttle begin to rotate, a slow, controlled turn that took about ten seconds to bring the bow around. When it had completed the 180-degree rotation, Charlie could see the bay doors wide open through the viewport.
"Stabilizers up," Torvax instructed.
"Up."
"Coordinates locked."
"Locked."
"Directional assist activated."
"Activated and waiting for launch."
At this, Torvax looked up and out through the viewport. "Go for launch at your command, pilot."
Charlie hadn't noticed this whole time that Reyna had been moving back to her seat on the opposite side of the ship across from her, where she was seated before when she had been talking to Charlie.
Charlie didn't notice that she had sat down, locked herself into the harness, and checked herself in her seat for the launch.
But Charlie realized it now, because Reyna's movement of unbuckling her harness, unseating herself from the jump chair, and the quick movement of her crossing the deck and taking the seat on Charlie's immediate left made Charlie very aware of where she was now.
"What are you doing?" Charlie asked, worry etched in her face and escaping through her voice because, weren't they freakin' launching their shuttle into space right now?
She watched Reyna quickly strap into the harness next to her and lock herself into her new seat.
It was then that she pulled Charlie's hand off the armrest she hadn't realized she'd been gripping, and intertwined her fingers through Charlie's, holding her steady.
Charlie's grip loosened immediately, and her eyes sought out Reyna's. Reyna finally looked over at her.
"If I'd left you to that poor armrest, I think I would have had to put in a repair order to the Coalition before we even got through the bay doors."
Charlie didn't react at first, but then shortly after actually laughed. Soon, Reyna joined her.
"Jesus," Charlie finally said as her laugh died down. "I didn't mean to take anything out on the poor shuttle." When Charlie raised her gaze to Reyna, she smiled over at her.
"Don't worry," she said softly. "I've got you." And Reyna squeezed her hand to emphasize the point, just as the pilot ahead announced the next part of the sequence.
"We are go."