Archaea by Dain White Page B

kicking down-corridor like the station was on fire. I wasn't too happy to say goodbye to the most seductively dreamy hunk of meat this side of Texas, but I also didn't want to spend my time squatting in a corridor hoping for a lift, either.
    As fast as we were moving, we barely reached the Archaea in time – the captain's intuition was bang-on, as it turned out. The stationmaster arrived with a small army of armed, lantern-jaw muscle right as we were about to open the lock, and demanded we cease with departure at once.
    I keyed the interlock anyway, of course, and his men learned the hard way not to put a hand on a weapon specialist, especially this one.
    I turned the first one upside down and spun him up for a flight down the corridor, and after that it was all elbows and handholds, as everyone got rowdy. Yak earned our respect almost immediately with a viciously efficient one-two combo move that left nearly anyone in black shirts dreaming of clouds, and we all dove into the Archaea as soon as the lock opened.
    I feel sort of sorry for those boys, but I guess they should have trained a little more before they decided to mix it up with a trained killer.... oh, and Yak too, he did alright. He sure is tall.
    We ran through pre-flight like well-oiled machines - as we had been practicing the procedure enough the past week we could have done it in our sleep, though Janis made it almost too easy. Every readout I needed to scope was on my screen as I needed it, so our process was fast...check, check, check, and a good to go for a green light on the master console on the bridge.
    The captain blew the bolts holding us to the station and put her astern almost as soon as the last talkback was barber-poled. Without clearance it was more of a scram launch, as one might make in an emergency - but all the same it was smooth as silk. The captain plays the helm like a seasoned professional.
    "All hands. We are now at condition yoke. Close all hatches and prepare for out-system burn, in 2 minutes. I am almost done checking the course recommendation given to us by Janis, and it looks like a 2g burn. Stand by."
    A few moments later, with a massive shove in the small of my back, Archaea launched -- we were away!  
     
    *****
     
    I fed power to the reac drives slowly, my main goal here was to get us clear of the station cleanly, so there was no claim to damage, or any cause for undue attention from the local patrols.
    The Archaea responded smoothly, as smooth and responsive as any ship I have ever conned, maybe even a little better due to her lower mass. The slightest nudge on the control, and she precessed smoothly, transitioning to a new inclination as if I was steering her with my thoughts.
    "Pauli, please set my station for thought controls if you please."
    "Sir?"
    "Thought controls Pauli, on the double-quick. I want to be able to control her with my mind,  mister."
    Pauli looked back at me, finding himself nearly blinded from the high-intensity flash from my indomitable toothy grin.
    "Sure thing, Captain" he smirked. Turning back to his holos, "She handles well sir?"
    "Like a dream Pauli, like a dream I don't want to wake up from, ever." I wasn't exaggerating, not even a bit. She was a beaut. "Pauli, I need some data to help me work up a solution for tightest perihelion to Europa-- oh, never mind, I see it now."
    "Captain, I am sorry, what do you see?" Pauli turned around again, with a small-furry-animal-in-the-headlights look.
    "The data and course plot, and it looks damn good too, right on the money and as efficient as I'd hope for. Your astrogation skills are impeccable, son."
    "That's not mine, Captain... I haven't done anything like that. I was in the middle of running a memory check", he paused."I think that's from Janis, Captain."
    My mind was racing as I checked celestial data for this system and ran the numbers on the plotted course. I am one of those old fashioned types that looks to see if the light is on if I flip a switch.