The shuttle, as it turned out, was a cramped little thing that had been forced into the mostly automated ‘hanger’ at the back of the Vagabond. The cockpit was even smaller than what I’d had back in my old Rattler, which had already been small for a single-seat fighter. Soren had called this little thing the ‘Type 15 Shuttlepod’.

It was a model I’d never personally heard of, but it had all the hallmarks of the Starfleet Shipyards that had made Vagabond herself. It was practically a small angular box with a seat at the front, a tiny cargo or passenger space behind it that could fit one other, or maybe two really small people. On the bottom was the two engines, which looked like they had been added as an afterthought when someone asked ‘but wait, how does this fly?’

I was squeezed into the cockpit seat with my spacesuit on after I had finished my pre-flight checks, and Lea was going over the mechanical systems for the third time. She had said that she didn’t want me going out without making sure that technical errors wouldn’t surprise me out of nowhere, which didn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence with the safety of the small shuttle. However, it did give me lots of time to be looking over my skill tree. I’d gotten a skill point when I levelled up earlier, and it wouldn’t do me any good sitting there when I could assign it to a new skill certification.

There were a few options in front of me at the moment, as I skimmed over the available trees. The piloting tree certainly held a few more choices, like the Integrated Pilot Gear Certification, which would give me access to a whole new selection of gear from helmets to implants that would provide me data about the ship I was flying with enhanced precision and more fine control over the data given to me. Another option would be to go down the Small Craft Instinct Certification, which would give me a boost to my intuitive control over smaller spaceships. I’d taken it pretty early when I was flying around in my single-seat fighter on my last character, and it had saved my life when it gave me an instinctual feeling for dodging incoming fire or avoiding obstacles.

However, since I was working with a larger crew for the longer term, it was worth considering other alternatives, like some of the skills in the on-foot combat or personal equipment tree. Those were always good choices for the early game, especially when you were expecting to deal with a lot of people face to face. There were other possibilities, like the engineering and social trees… But if I was honest with myself neither were especially appealing to me. Engineering was Lea’s wheelhouse and the few times she had tried to explain things to me it just went in one ear and out the other. And… Social skills were antithetical to my anxiety, and I really didn’t want to be speaking to people as it was. I’d leave it to Soren and Alex to talk things out when “Diplomacy“ comes up.

I turned my attention back to the on-foot combat section. I had the Basic Foot Combat Certification, which is what gave me access to both a basic simulated range for practice, and the ability to buy the entry level personal defence weapons. Looking past that, it really didn’t help much, but it was a solid place to start when it came to defending yourself. I really didn’t like worrying about those security guard guys, especially since all I had was the basic pistol. I needed something that would help me protect myself and my friends better. Looking over my options, I found myself attracted to just a couple.

There was the Intermediate Pistol Certification, which would give me access to a killhouse simulation and the ability to simulate and try nearly any handgun in the game along with an AI trainer that would instruct me on basic techniques. It would help me get better with the weapon I already had and pistols were some of the easiest and cheapest weapons in the game, meaning I wouldn’t be spending much on equipment. The other option was the Intermediate Short Blades Certification, offering very similar options to the pistol cert, except this would focus around daggers, combat knives, and other sharp blade options. Melee was always a gamble in a game with lots of ranged options and heavy armour, but with the right equipment most of the armour could be negated. Plus, being able to stab someone was always helpful when the ammo ran out.

I sighed softly, selecting the Intermediate Pistol Certification for now. I’d likely pick up the Short Blades one later, once I had more credits and time to pick out a good weapon for it. But the pistol is what I had now, so as much as I wanted to run around cutting people, it was the safer option.

Lea knocked on the wall of the small shuttle next to my head, and leaned in the open cockpit hatch. “Hey Kae. Maintenance all checks out. Ready to fly?”

I looked up at the black haired woman, and nodded. “Yeah, should be… You are going to be on comms right?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“Yep.” Lea replied, beaming at me, “I’ll need to be able to see through your helmet cam too so I can help you identify the components to verify which model the destroyed shuttle was.”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure you can.” I replied, sighing softly. The suit was tight around my tail, which was compressed into the tight, less flexible confines. My ears would be trapped in my helmet too, at least once I put it on. Neither was very comfortable on my furry appendages, but it beat suffocating out in the vacuum.

“Hey Kae,” Lea put a hand on my shoulder, bringing my attention back to her before I got lost in my own thoughts, “Be safe, okay?”

“I will, I promise. I’ll be back soon.” I turned a soft smile back up at her. The slight wag of my tail was pretty notable too as the bulky suit rubbed against the impromptu hole Lea had cut in the back of the seat for it.

“Heh. See you soon, puppy.” Lea reached over and rubbed between my ears. I whined softly, shaking my head out of her reach. She climbed out from the tight cockpit space, and I pressed the button to seal the hatch above my head.

I took a deep breath, and centred myself on the task at hand. My hand wrapped around the joystick on the right and the other wrapped around the throttle on the left. Old-style analog controls, compared to what the bridge of the Vagabond has, but they felt comfortable and familiar in my hands. A small grin spread across my face as a press of one of the buttons on the joystick with my thumb tabbed on my mic.

“Shuttle NCC-VB-1 to Vagabond. Comms check.” I read into the microphone, letting myself slip into the routine communication procedures.

“Vagabond to shuttle VB-1. Comms read loud and clear. Report when ready for departure.” Alex’s voice came back in that calm manner he always had. The shuttle bay doors began to retract from their clamshell around the shuttle.

It very much helped keep me calm even as I readied myself to deal with the mission. “Roger Vagabond. All systems reporting green. Transponder code squawking on 170.1. Standing by for departure clearance.”

“Shuttle VB-1 roger. Squawking transponder on 170.1. You are cleared for departure.”

“Wilco. Departing now.”

The shuttle shook slightly as the magnetic clamps that held it in place with the rest of the Vagabond’s frame released, and a slight burst upwards on the ventral RCS thrusters pushed my little shuttle upwards and away. As the main thrusters ignited, and the small plasma jets pushed me forwards with surprising speed, my grin widened.

The familiar feeling of the tight space around me, the sensation of the controls in my hands… It was far too tempting for me to resist playing around with the shuttle at least a little bit as I angled along the planned vector towards the asteroid belt and its wreck. I brought the shuttle into a tight corkscrew, laughing as the little shuttle flicked around. The inertial dampening systems were already kicking in at full capacity, which was a shame since the quick manoeuvre wasn’t that bad on g-forces compared to what I was used to with my fighters. That brought me back to reality a little, and I flattened out my trajectory as I forced myself to focus. This wasn’t a joyride, Kaela. Get your head in the game.

I brought the ship into a lower thrust setting as the asteroids started to grow larger. The belt was more dense than what one would expect for a typical mid-system asteroid ring, though most of those were still pretty far apart given the sheer size of space as a whole. However, my goal was a small patch near the middle of the belt where the two rapidly spinning threats hung barely a couple dozen metres away from each other with my goal between them. The masses of rock could easily crush my shuttle, or even cause significant damage if they just so much as clipped the small vessel with how much weight was behind the rotations.

I slowed the shoe box's approach with the forward RCS thrusters slightly, using the momentum to glide through the belt. I let myself slip back into that piloting headspace, focusing on what my readouts were telling me as my reflexes and intuition guide me through. But something started to change. The world started to fade out from my conscious mind as I focused purely on my cockpit and the space around me.

As my mind sank into that state, it was like opening my eyes up to a whole different vibrant space awash with blues and oranges. The trails clouded around the asteroids, currents that made me feel the danger in my body, touching my mind just below the surface. I knew I should’ve been terrified about what was happening, but it was hard to push my concerns through as they just seemed to end up washed away on the Novaspace-like currents. My hands moved on their own as the view in front of me captured what remained of my conscious mind, guiding me around smaller meteors and chunks of asteroid hanging between the larger obstacles. It felt less like I was watching out for the objects, but instead feeling where they were in space, and letting myself react just enough to avoid the danger.

It felt like a beautiful dance as I approached my destination - the ruined shuttle hanging just in front of me as I carefully approached. Everything just seemed natural as I navigated in between the dangerous rocks, feeling out where the safest approach lay. I could feel the wakes in the currents of energy around the shuttle as the asteroids continued in their dangerous rotations.

I blinked awake, my shuttle suddenly parked barely ten metres away from the wreck. What the heck had just happened? Everything had suddenly gone colourful, and I had felt all those currents and energies…

“...VB-1, come in, please!” Lea’s voice came over the comms. I frowned at the comms console. Had I missed call outs?

“Vagabond, this is VB-1. I… I’ve arrived at the target?” I replied, looking out the cockpit window. How the hell did I get here?