Yesterday, 12:57 AM
With control now seemingly restored, Jenny shifted uncomfortably in her seat. One of the downsides of being in command, she had been told, was that you had to let the others do the things you were once used to doing. When she was First Officer of the Artemis, even when she was Captain of the original Yeager, she had been able to get a decent amount of "stick time". Now, however, she was relegated to a back seat role, observing and directing rather than actually doing the work herself. Every move Chertstone, and before him, Black had made on their own initiative, she had wondered whether she would have done it differently, or if she could have done it better.
Da Vinci had said it best, all those centuries ago, when he had uttered the words "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." Jenny knew that it was unfair for her to compare herself to the newer pilots, or to believe she could do the job better, or even to be jealous of the fact they now got to zoom along at Warp Nine while she was, in essence, merely a passenger. That it was unfair didn't prevent any of it from happening, though.
People always said that they promoted me as a punishment. Now I'm beginning to see what they meant...
“I’ve lost sight of three Wairara ships. Scanning for evidence of wreckage now. If we detect any life signs, I recommend that we beam them immediately to sickbay, though we may need to lower our shields in order to do so.”
Jenny nodded her affirmation, though she doubted they would find anything. One had fallen behind at the starting line, one was likely a dark smear or smoking crater on the comet by now, and the other was likely adrift in the interference that had been messing with the Yeager's engines. No, it was a three-horse race now, and the ship with the home-field advantage was currently extending their lead while their "rivals" in the Os'rusa were rapidly making up the distance.
"If we have any discretionary power left, dump it into the engines and inertial dampeners. Put us in front of the Os'rusa. When they move, match it to block them. Do not let them past."
The ramifications of what would happen if the Cardassian Union were seen as better engineers (and pilots) than the Federation weren't something Jenny wanted to think about; losing out on the ability to study the temporal rift would be a disaster, but an alliance between the Wairara and the Cardassians would make this system the ideal jumping-off point for a Cardassian invasion of the area known as the Taurus Reach. Cait, Pacifica, Antede, all at immediate risk, even Cestus if the Cardassians were bold enough to push as far as the Klingon border. While the Tholians might not appreciate such a move, they wouldn't necessarily intercede on the Federation's behalf either, instead making their own inroads into the area that they still claimed as the "Shedai Sector".
That wasn't going to happen, not on Jenny's watch.
Da Vinci had said it best, all those centuries ago, when he had uttered the words "When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return." Jenny knew that it was unfair for her to compare herself to the newer pilots, or to believe she could do the job better, or even to be jealous of the fact they now got to zoom along at Warp Nine while she was, in essence, merely a passenger. That it was unfair didn't prevent any of it from happening, though.
People always said that they promoted me as a punishment. Now I'm beginning to see what they meant...
“I’ve lost sight of three Wairara ships. Scanning for evidence of wreckage now. If we detect any life signs, I recommend that we beam them immediately to sickbay, though we may need to lower our shields in order to do so.”
Jenny nodded her affirmation, though she doubted they would find anything. One had fallen behind at the starting line, one was likely a dark smear or smoking crater on the comet by now, and the other was likely adrift in the interference that had been messing with the Yeager's engines. No, it was a three-horse race now, and the ship with the home-field advantage was currently extending their lead while their "rivals" in the Os'rusa were rapidly making up the distance.
"If we have any discretionary power left, dump it into the engines and inertial dampeners. Put us in front of the Os'rusa. When they move, match it to block them. Do not let them past."
The ramifications of what would happen if the Cardassian Union were seen as better engineers (and pilots) than the Federation weren't something Jenny wanted to think about; losing out on the ability to study the temporal rift would be a disaster, but an alliance between the Wairara and the Cardassians would make this system the ideal jumping-off point for a Cardassian invasion of the area known as the Taurus Reach. Cait, Pacifica, Antede, all at immediate risk, even Cestus if the Cardassians were bold enough to push as far as the Klingon border. While the Tholians might not appreciate such a move, they wouldn't necessarily intercede on the Federation's behalf either, instead making their own inroads into the area that they still claimed as the "Shedai Sector".
That wasn't going to happen, not on Jenny's watch.