Hurry Up And Wait

Posted on Mon Nov 4th, 2019 @ 8:41pm by Pilot Allegra Jennings & Commanding Officer Mickey Serendipity

Mission: The Forgotten Arm
Location: SS Albatross, Eros Parking Swarm.
Timeline: Eros Incident T-minus 23 hours

Mickey pulled himself up the ladder to the cockpit, ghosting along with his fingers pulling on every second rung. Every deck he passed through a narrowing in the ladder, where an airtight bulkhead was ready to snap close in case of a leak. What they usually ended up doing was adding bruises to shoulders and knee caps, but better a few bumps than sucking on hard vacuum.

He sailed up through the floor hatch, hands outstretched to absorb the impact as he came to a stop in Allegra's little domain.

"Any word from Eros Port Control about our berth?" Mickey asked, pushing off from the rear bulkhead until his mag boats connected with the deck and he 'clunked' into a walking stance. "I don't want to say the Captains getting twitchy about our on-time bonus, but I ain't not saying the Captains getting twitchy about our on-time bonus."

They probably shouldn't have been, but Ally's booted feet where propped ankle over ankle on the panel. This was part of the job that didn't require too much work, overly. There was nothing popping up the the screens in front of her, at least nothing of great importance. Earphones sat cockeyed, half on her head and have off with a bit of what had been dubbed as outlaw country had her finger tapping along. Her gaze swept past the plethora of hula girl bobble heads and small cutout pictures of palm trees and beaches to touch briefly on the screens.

Realizing she wasn't alone, Allegra leaned forward, deftly tapping the music to pause as the voice reached her ears. She twisted slightly in her perch, focusing on the XO, "Not just yet, but ya know that don't mean much of anything."

On a sigh, Ally let her feet drift away from their perch as she straightened to tap at the one of the screens. Can't have the Captain getting twitchy. Twitchy didn't bode well for any of the crew. But they all knew an on-time bonus was a good thing to no squander. "Still waitin', sir."

Mickey made a noncommittal noise somewhere at the back of his throat, pulled himself a little closer over the back of Ally's crash coach and tapped one of the displays, switching it to a volumetric hologram. In the middle of the spherical volume was the ugly slowly spinning potato of Eros Station, and then spiralling out from it like the arms of a drunken starship were the blinking transponder codes of a dozen ships all lining up to dock. And the little light bead for the Albatross was nowhere near the front.

"Well we're still early, so that's something I guess," Mickey said, not really sounding like he believed it. "Rush order like this, you did great getting us here with reaction mass still in the tank. I think I speak for the Co when I say you earned your own bonus regardless of what the client says. Then again, big score for the whole crew. Plus a week of demi luxury in one of Eros's more roach free casino hotels & brothels."

It really wouldn't do to roll her eyes at the XO, but given that he was still there behind her, how was he to know if they rolled upwards a bit. Which they did at the noise. And then again as he pulled himself over, clearly invading her personal space. Which, earned him another roll of green eyes as she shifted slightly in the chair. A quick retort of 'do you mind' died on the tip of Allegra's tongue as he pulled up the current docking situation and she chose instead to wave a hand in the air in a 'see' gesture.

"I know." Because well, she was great. Even if a thanks would have been more appropriate. But then the words slowly registered. It should have been the compliment that stuck out, or the week of off time, but no...it was the simple little detail about the client. "What the client says...what does the client says? I get the job done. We're on-time, early even."

"Early yes, docked no. The small print says 'on delivery', double-checked the wording myself." Mickey rubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin. "And with that monster of a Mao-Kwik bulk freighter tying up every tug on this dock, we'll be lucky to get a berth before days end."

Even through the camera feed, the immense bulk freighter looked like a mountain of cargo containers someone had convinced to sit atop a very small looking firework. Whereas the Albatross could sprint along at 15G's is the crew didn't mind risking stroking out from a blood clot, a big haulier like that was lucky to max out at a 3rd of a gee. 3 weeks from Saturn to Earth for the Tross, would be 3 months for something with the word 'Kwik' in the name.

"Huh," Mickey said. "Comm me the Dock Control, I've had an idea that might get us a parking slot."

As he said it, he switched sides behind her chair, reached out and pushed the Maunver Warning button. A two-tone chime rang throughout the ship, warning people that floors and walls might begin moving around as the Albatross got under thrust. Buckle in or get the bulkhead facelift you always wanted.

She knew that he was going to say before the words ever left his mouth. Of course the fine print read 'on-delivery'. Of course. But how was just supposed to get that hauler out of the way? And the clever way he'd just bypassed her question? Typical. "Copy that." If Mickey could get them a slot than she wasn't going to complain. Especially not since he'd mention that week of demi-luxury. Allegra opened the Comm with few quick taps and buttons presses, "Are you pressing my buttons again, sir?" Green eyes slid sideways in his direction.

Mickey winked at her.

"Comm Established, XO."

"Eros Port Control, this is private courier ship Albatross." Mickey said into his ear mic. A few seconds later the static laced reply came through.

"Private courier Albatross, this is Eros Port Control. Are you declaring an emergency?"

Mickey frowned. The voice had a distinct Earth accent, not the usual twang and beat of a Belter. Eros might have been run by an Earth backed UN Governor, but you didn't ship out Earthers to do the scut work of manning the port traffic desk.

"No. No, we are not declaring an emergency as such, but I have time-sensitive cargo-"

"Albatross this is Eros Port Control unless you are declaring an emergency our dock yardmaster can varify upon docking you will wait in line behind everyone else. Todays a busy day, the port's running at maximum capacity. So very kindly cut your broadcast except for transponder and emergency beacons."

"Friendly sort," Mickey said with a hand over the mic before responding. "Control, look I don't want to tell you how to do your job but the contract Protogen pushed on us has some pretty steep failure clauses."

Ally muffled a snicker behind her hand.

Static and silence ruled the airwaves for a moment. Then a second. And then longer than the lag between Earth and the L5 stations.

"Ken or Wulf working on the transmitter today? Did they just hang up on us?" Mickey asked, waving a hand over her shoulder. "I don't want to push more buttons than my allotted two for the day."

"Hmmm." The sound came from thinking, as she chewed on the inside of her lip. Allegra shook her head, turning her head to side, "Nope. Not that I can recall, sir." And then clearly because she didn't think better, "When's that stopped ya?"

"I dunno...just something not sitting well. I-" Before Mickey could continue to expand upon his misgivings, which given the rations packs in the galley could be lunch related, the cockpit displays blinked to life. Vector diagrams, guide path, and the navigation beacon for a docking slip.

"Private courier Albatross, this is Eros Port Control. You are cleared for Slip 15 Kappa. Port speed past the inner marker is 5 meters a second, thrusters only. Welcome to Eros Station."

Then the line cut off with a squelch of static. On the radar display, a trio of light codes representing ships further along the line suddenly broke formation, rolling on their thrusters. One of them was a medium Belter freighter, a few hundred thousand tons of ore in what amounted to a mesh bag: Mickey was glad he was not paying the repair bill for the dents that one would get.

"Ooh pretties!" Allegra sat up a little straighter, her attention now focused on her screens and radar. Radar that was had lit up like a brothel's sign after learning a MCRN ship had docked.

"See, magic touch," Mickey said with a shrug. "You heard the nice guy from Port Control: thrusters only, no main drive. We're here to park, not melt. Just let me get a handhold back here fir-"

Maybe she should have felt bad about skipping to the front of the line, but having clients like they did had to have some perks. Ally snorted at the XO's comment -Magic touch indeed. Or something. "Sure. I heard." Didn't mean she had to one hundred percent listen now did it. "Buckle up buttercup." The words barely out of her mouth before she keyed up the thrusters and edged the ship forward before knocking the speed down.

The comm united pinged, and a pleasant automated female voice began to speak.

"You have been fined for violating Eros Station Civil Aviation Ordinance 457c, excessive delta vee within a shipping lane. Your fine has been added to your docking berth ledger and is payable to the office of the Dockmaster. Have a pleasant stay."

Allegra cringed, ever so slightly that it would be missed unless one were looking, "Whelp. Guess thats comin' out my pay, too." More statement than question.

"Huum, considering we're docking a day earlier than I expected, we'll bill it to ships expenses. This run we can afford it," Mickey said, clunking his way back to the ladder hatchback down to operations. "Besides tourist trap like Eros it'll be chump change next to running power and water from the dock. Especially after the Cant went up."

He paused before he got to the ladder, and turned back to Allegra.

"Word of advice, given the winds blowing down from Ceres, you might not want to advertise being Martian. Ever since that damn fool James Holden went on the air telling every ear with an axe to grind who blew up that water haulier, people are not opting for calm discussion," he smiled. "Just like during the MCRN Blockade of Far Way Station, you got my number on your terminal. Things turn septic, you call. You know Ken doesn't like shore leave without sending someone to the medicos."

Thankful, she decided to keep her mouth shut and toss out the quip that was hanging onto the tip of her tongue. Especially not if there was the possibility that the XO would change his mind about the find coming straight from her pay. Sure, he was right, it was probably just a tad bit of chump change, but still, Allegra liked not having fines come out of her pocket.

She tossed a quick glance over her shoulder, the words of warning ringing loud and clear. Could it really be that bad? "That I do, Mickey-Lou, that I do." Things got rough and hairy, Ally knew the crew would come through for her, if it was indeed that bad on the station. Hopefully she wouldn't have to spend the whole time tucked away in her room. "Think it's gonna be a rough one?"

"Dunno Allegra," Mickey said as he began to make his way down the ladder. "And that's what's worrying me."