What happened to my Asteroid? Section 16:

“Well that settles that.”  The commander punched the red button for the intercom directly with the captain. “Captain, this is T. Ops.”

“What’s the problem Kim?” the captain responded.

“Transport 6 just blasted out of the bay and is rocketing off at close to twice the authorized speed.  It looks like they knocked out the regular pilot so we have no idea who is flying that thing.”

“Who was scheduled to be on that transport?” the captain grumbled.

“Looking it up now…”  The commander punched some buttons on her console “It’s the Russians.  It makes no sense, at some point they are going to have to come back.”

“It’s not like logic is the Russians’ strong suit.” The captain pondered “Ok, keep tracking them.  What is their ETA with the asteroid at current velocity?”

“Approximately 20 minutes.”

“Alright, I’ll be on the bridge in 15.  Let me know if anything changes.”

“Aye, sir.” She looked up from her console and took a look around outside the station.

“Commander, Transport 1 wants to know if they have to delay launch.” Lt. Brown inquired.

“No.  Let them launch on time but remind them to keep to the authorized acceleration curve and velocity for their own safety.” The commander was checking the flight paths.

“Aye, Ma’am.” Lt. Brown contacted the transport and informed them to launch on schedule.

“Lt. Xi, plot the projected path of transport 6 and superimpose it on the authorized flight patterns.”  The commander was looking around outside the station “Let’s see if we can make sure everybody is as safe as possible.”

“Already done,” Lt. Xi had been tracking the transport since it launched “It is available on your display now.”

“Well done.” The commander was not condescending; she was acknowledging an officer that was one step ahead of the commands.

“Transport 1 launching now.” Lt. Brown announced.

The transport gently drifted out of the docking bay, the thrusters firing in a gentle dance slowly accelerating the ship away from the station.

“Transport away.”

“Inform transport 2 they are authorized for launch in T minus 5 minutes.”

“Yes Ma’am.” Lt. Brown was on top of the procedures “And I will make sure they are aware of the safety measures we have in place.”

“Very well.” She wanted to tell the staff just how proud of them she was, but that would break discipline so it would have to wait until some sort of ceremony sometime in the future.

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