Star Trek Discovery: Penitent's Walk

IX: Hell for Leather

ATTENTION—ATTENTION—ATTENTION—THE PLANETARY SAFETY AND SECURITY ADMINISTRATION HAS ISSUED A CRITICAL WARNING FOR ALL CITIZENS OF LUNDHEATON CITY AND ENVIRONS. ALL RESIDENTS SHOULD EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!!! AN ORBITAL THREAT HAS BEEN DETECTED AND IS PROJECTED TO IMPACT LUNDHEATON CITY WITHIN THE HOUR. ALL RESIDENTS SHOULD PROCEED QUICKLY AND IN AN ORDERLY FASHION TO THE NEAREST EMERGENCY EVACUATION TRANSPORTER PADS. IF THERE ARE NO EVACUATION OFFICES WITHIN A ONE-KILOMETER RADIUS, RESIDENTS SHOULD SELF-EVACUATE USING ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORTATION. THIS IS NOT A TEST—THIS IS NOT A TEST—THIS IS NOT A TEST

The most glaring difference between Hazarian Station's Operations Center and a traditional Starfleet bridge was the lack of a command chair, and Lucero was definitely feeling that absence right now. If nothing else she could have dug her fingers into the arms as the pressure bore down on her like a wine press. Instead she had to make do with a master systems console that stood like a podium in the center of the room, forcing her to stand, but preventing her from being able to pace and burn off nervous energy.

To her ten o'clock, Nilsson and the Osnullus crewman worked at their long bank of computers. Scattered wisps of blonde hair had come loose from where Nilsson had tied them back, forming a glittering corona around her face. At her one o'clock, the cool-headed Owosekun was monitoring their descent and projecting their path on the transparent aluminum skin of the three massive viewports at the fore end of the ops center. The planet had long since grown and swallowed the viewports, and now displayed the eerie play of light across the thin clouds of Hazarian Prime's mesosphere.

"Entering troposphere in approximately three minutes," Owosekun reported.

"And that's where the real fun begins," Lucero said tightly. The stratosphere that they currently plummeted through was too high and the atmosphere to thin for the shields in any configuration to do any good against their velocity. Only when they got to the relatively lower altitudes of troposphere—close enough for the planet's gravity to hold onto the atmosphere—could they use that atmosphere to their advantage.

And by that time they'd practically be on the ground, relatively speaking.

Lucero reached out for the comm switch, then realized to her great frustration that she'd walked away from the systems console in a fit of nervous energy. She gritted her teeth and strode over to it, slapping the comm switch with probably more force than was necessary. "Lieutenant Detmer, are you set up?"

"Aye captain. Standing by."

"All right, Owosekun will patch the feed through to your cranial implant in a few. Lieutenant Linus, are the vents functional?"

"Manual overrides functioning normal, Commander. Nice and balmy down here, too." Lucero grinned at the thought of him lazing at the control panel. She was finding that she liked these Discovery crew members more than she expected, and she missed the camaraderie that serving aboard a starship—a thin roll of metal in the Universe—more than she'd ever allowed.

"Well, just don't fall asleep down there."

"Keyla," Owosekun called out, "I'm ready for the interface."

"Stand by..."

********

Detmer jogged in place in the sim suite, then stretched, worked the kinks and the cracks out of her lanky frame, and slid into the simulated Messerschmitt cockpit. She strapped herself into the seat, then pulled her leather pilot' helmet over her hair. If she was going to do this thing, she was going to do it right.

"Okay, go Owo," she said. A moment later she saw a tunnel of indistinct colors and shapes encroach on her vision, as if she'd stood up too fast and the blood couldn't reach her brain. Then a flash seemed to bisect her brain. She winced against the sudden pain and took a few breaths until it passed. Now she saw the rolling atmosphere of Zerothian Prime as if it hung before her in the suite. Framing it were read outs and informational chyrons. A scarlet ribbon showed the station's trajectory.