Andromeda's Gates: The story of Yseult Brenneaux

Chapter 6: Darksight

Where have those eyes been? Haven't seen them in a long time. Yseult looked at her reflection in the mirror, stared, as if sizing herself up. She felt like she was looking at someone she used to know. I lost you... She snapped herself back. I can't be that person, it cost me everything. There was no denying how the test flights had made her feel. The freedom of flight hit her somewhere deep down, in her core. She'd missed that feeling but she had to be someone else now. She straightened herself up and adjusted the new flight suit: it felt uncomfortable but not as much as the first time she put it on. I'll get used to it... eventually, she thought as she re-adjusted the waist clip for what felt like the hundredth time. She picked her helmet up, the time for contemplation was past... It's mission day: time to fly.

She walked down the corridor towards the hangar receiving nods or casual salutes from the other pilots she passed along the way. After the gyrocube, she'd become quite popular. A way to mock me she'd originally thought, trying not to dwell on the vomiting heap on the floor she became after crashing into a planet. It turned out that Briskett wasn't that well liked and after the test, they all shared some sense of poetic justice had been had. The outcome of the simulation was not assessed by a Human, algorithms analysed every piece of data from the simulation: how long it took the pilot to react to every change and variation, what they decided and how effective it was. In his petty determination to make Yseult fail, he'd tasked her with a sequence of events so difficult that crashing was inevitable, but against what she had to contend with, the algorithms had scored her above the ninetieth centile. The other pilots, she was learning, respected grit, ability and being able to show up Briskett and in her, they saw all three.

Yseult entered what seemed like an unusually quiet hangar. A single clank echoing from the other side of the lone craft within it was the only indication that anyone else was there. She approached and inspected the vessel, a one-man reconnaissance craft built for speed in both atmospheric flight and in vacuo. It was unarmed: weapons affected weight, speed, maneuverability and range, all of which weren't for compromise. She'd flown this ship before in tests but it wasn't supposed to be operational yet. In fact, Yseult wasn't planned to fly any missions in it but orders had come down from executives, the mission was brought forward and Yseult was the only one with experience flying it. That put her in the pilot seat for the real deal.

At the back of the ship, a ladder shook as a body climbed down it, the source of the earlier clank, no doubt. The body moved to the nearside landing gear, ducking under the body, then kneeling up into the opening where the gear would retract to, their attention now upon something inside the rear of the ship. Yseult approached, curious. It was unusual to find only one tech in a hangar and she was naturally suspicious. She only got so far before a tool fell from the undercarriage emitting another loud clank as it hit the floor. The body bent down to pick it up, immediately noticing Yseult standing nearby. It belonged to a young woman with blonde hair, tied back into a short pony tail, save for a couple of loose strands dangling down one side of her face. Greasy dirt down one cheek belied what was otherwise a remarkably clean appearance considering.

The woman picked up the tool and came out from under the ship towards Yseult. "Hi", she said with a warm smile. "You must be my pilot" she continued, extending a hand. Yseult reciprocated. "Brenneux" she replied. Her native Aquitaine accent came through strong when she said her own name, even though in normal conversation it had lessened somewhat from a life working in space. "And you are?" she asked back. The blonde woman was trying not to hold back a grin, like she was playing some game. "Seyka" she said, then waited. Yseult wondered why she might know the name. Then it came, written down on the type-rating documents she'd been sent for the ship to use during the tests. 'M.A.N.T.I.S. TOP SECRET - Project Darksight. Project lead: FltEng Elliana Seyka'. I'm talking to the boss. She tried not to be surprised that the spritely girl of a woman in front of her was high enough up the chain to lead a project like this but Seyka seemed to be waiting for it. "You can call me Ellie" she said to break any emerging uneasiness. She gestured back to the undercarriage "You can come and help while you're here. She can't go out until the payload is secure". Yseult followed her back to the large hole for the landing gear. "Where is the ground crew?" she asked. The payload would normally be handled by a crew that would do all of the pre-flight prep and maintenance. It was unusual for the project lead to have to be so 'hands-on'. "There isn't one." Ellie replied. "Once the space frame was finished, everyone on the project got reassigned. There's only me, Big Sal, you and the original mission pilot know about this... Executive orders." Ellie shoved a mag-wrench in Yseult's hands and gestured to some large bolts. "These four here. Check the polarity of the bolt or the wrench will go flying out of your hands". She carried a wry 'Which is what just happened to me ' smile and while Yseult got on with the bolts, Ellie disappeared round to the other landing gear bay, presumably to do the other side. The mag-wrench was programmed to assist tightening until a determined torque level was reached, flashing green when the appropriate amount had been applied. Once they were finished, Yseult began disconnecting the cables and lines that fed the ship while it slept and before too long, it was time to get going.

Over the comm, Ellie guided her through the start-up procedure. Yseult had read the manual and knew what to do but she wasn't going to ruin the moment; this was Ellie's baby and she wasn't going to take anything away from her. The engines whirred into life and settled to idle speed, the electronics performed system checks and lit all the indicators green in turn. When Ellie gave her clearance, she activated the hover and increased the power gently. As the ship elevated off the hangar floor, Yseult felt the drift and gently eased the flight-stick to counter, gauging the sensitivity. "Stable hover" She informed Ellie. "Copy that" Ellie responded, "Traffic has been diverted along your climb, you're clear to depart... Good luck... And look after my bird." The afterthought made Yseult smile, she understood that feeling all too well. I'll do my best she thought but she didn't say it. She didn't want to make any promises. "Acknowledged." She responded as she increased the drive-engine power. With a surge, the ship powered out of the hangar and began to climb. Once clear of obstructions, Yseult increased the power to full and finally, the full force of Darksight's engines came to fruition and within what felt like barely a minute, finally after so many years, Yseult Brenneux was back in space.