Daryl looked over his flight charts in his flight deck. Flight deck/home was really a 50 meter room with all the flight management systems and his bed and a little kitchen area. In the corner is where lovely was taking their place on the makeshift bed where she curled up waiting for the normal routine. Several containers of food and personal items were stored. As he took his seat in front of several monitors. One of the monitors was large and curved showing what was out in front. As the trucker sat down in a large and well worn seat putting on his head set.
“This is Rush Valley 154799, final inspections complete ready for departure for 2 standard months.” A voice of the controller responded “ Rush Valley 154799 you are cleared for departure please head to 90 by 170.54 at .5 AU as per flight plan.” “Rodger” Daryl stated. “Rush Valley 154799 please refrain from using species based slang as per standard code.” Daryl took a deep breath “ Sorry, I will refrain from species based language.” As he turned off his mic, Fuck you. Caitlyn appeared next to him crossing her arms, “Well, Well you are in a mood today. They are just keeping order and making sure that everything is safe.” Daryl gave a grin that made most species very nervous when they saw humans make this small facial gesture.
Daryl relaxed back in his chair and moved a small control panel to head toward a large gas giant. The AI was flickering as it was running several mathematical computations. Prepare for a slingshot maneuver in 10 seconds. Daryl knew this was an older technique to achieve speed but it would save him on fuel and fuel was money. As the forces caused the ship creaked from the extra strain of forces. As they begin to accelerate, Lovely buries herself into the blankets that make her bed. Daryl was extremely focused as he knew that many ships had cracked or burned up pulling this maneuver in the past. But the Rush Valley had been upgraded over the years not for luxury or even updated to be in code in the inner spiral but upgraded for him.
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Once up to speed, thrusters were put to full charge to break gravitational pull. “There we go baby” as they flinged themselves to their next destination. “Again, Pilot Rucker, why do you insist on calling a ship older than you, Baby?” The AI quizzically asked. “As I have said, Rush Valley is my baby. I care for her, I feed her and she lives with us. We went over this a hundred times.” Daryl sharply stated. “Incorrect, Pilot Rucker, we have had this conversation 79 times.” As he rubbed his head, “Did you update while we were docked up.” “OF course there were many patches that you have not updated for a better interface.” she chirped. “Fuck no! Take out the new patches or I will have Murphy play with your control box.” The AI seemed to be horrified and then shifted into amusement. “You are bluffing.” As he turned his chair to face her he gave a smirk looking at her projected self. “Okay, I will be off line for an hour to meet your weird human desires” she faded out of sight as she started the process.
Daryl got up from his chair and went over to the food pantry. Getting 3 bowls out and three packages. Tearing open the packages he poured each package into each bowl. As he looked at it he growled. Looking at the three packages he could make out the word terrain on all three but he was not gifted with the many types of writing in the universe. “Caitlyn I need translation.” there was no response “Caitlyn!”. Then he realized she was still offline. As he thought to himself, well this is it. As he brought the bowl to lovely he put it down. As Lovely awoke came over to eat it quickly. He turned to a small hatch that was left open on the floor under the main array of terminals. “Murphy, Foamy, Murphy, Foamy” he sang into the hatch. Soon a white and gray cat appeared and stretched and sniffed the food. Daryl smiled and ran his fingers down the spine as the cat purred. Daryl gave a small chuckle “Head Engineer, Chester Murphy Fomey of the feline collective.” Daryl knew this was one of the best tricks humans had pulled off for years to list the pets as crewmembers to meet the requirements of bureaucracy. As Daryl sat in his chair with his bowl he took a big spoon full. As he put it in his mouth he had a quick realization that it was the cat's food. “Fuck it.”...