Helena let out a low moan as the docking bay door for the transport ship came into view. She despised these hazardous environment training exercises. As much as she loved camping and navigating by the stars without a computer to tell her how to get there, she was certain that the officers in charge of these trainings out here on Titan enjoyed torturing them. A young fresh faced, full of himself, ensign held up a hand. “Sorry miss. Ship’s not ready to board yet. We’re waiting on the pilot. No one gets on till the preflight check is done. You’ll have to go wait in the lounge.”

Just to be sure she wasn’t dreaming and would wake up to find herself still in that crater hole and explosive still going off, Helena glanced down at her jump suit. Yep, there it was, her insignia badge marking her as a Fleet Pilot. She sighed. “Ensign…”

“Jaleery. Ensign Jaleery, miss. I really am…”

Helena cut him off. “Look here Ensign. First of all, I’m not a ‘miss’, I’m a Lt. If you cared to pay as much attention to the uniforms and ranking on other officers as you do that data on your clipboard there, you would know that. Second I am the pilot. So if you want this bucket of bolts to get off the surface, get outta my way so I can get my preflight done. Captain Marceau Renault and passengers have been ordered and cleared for immediate departure.” She passed over the letter with the official United Earth Star Fleet seal. “I am not going to be the one to tell the Captain his transport back to Earth was delayed because the pilot of his transport was denied access to the ship.”

The ensign stared at the paper. That was…was…the admiral’s signature…and a lot more authority than he had. But…this was Lt Laursen? He thought Laursen was…well a guy. Like a BIG guy who did all kinds of amazing and crazy things from the pilot’s seat…not…well this woman standing in front of him. “I…I need to see your…ID.” Helena rolled her eyes so hard it almost knocked the poor ensign to the floor. She reached into the left pocket of her jump suit, and yanked out the ID card. It seemed primitive but they still worked. Wow it really was Laursen. His bunkies would never believe him. He entered the key code and the doors slid open. “Sorry mi…Lt.”

Helena nodded, “Thank you En. You have the engineer’s clearance check for me?” He nodded and handed another paper and her orders over to her. “Safe flight, Lt.” Helena returned the awkward salute the kid gave her and lugged her gear bag with her down the docking tube and to the door. She swiped her card on the access panel and their was a hiss as air escaped as the door opened. She stepped in and took a deep breath as a grin spread across her face. Weariness gone, Helena loved to fly! She tossed her bag into a storage compartment with a grunt as the door closed behind her. She sat down in the pilot’s seat and swiveled toward the controls as she buckled in. =/\=Titan flight control this is Lt Laursen beginning preflight engine start-up and flight check.=/\=

Lt Laursen, pilot