Two Loves

Posted on Tue Dec 7, 2021 @ 8:25pm by Lieutenant Jaro Antos

Mission: Mission 2 - A World With A Bluer Sun
Location: Deep Space Four
Timeline: Before the start of M2

With the tense situation between the Klingon Empire and Gorn Hegemony now decidedly behind them, Antos was grateful for the reprieve from war and the rumours of war. Since they left the Cestus system behind them, he had spent most of his time equally split between Aiko and the shuttle project.

While it was true that the initial impetus behind the shuttle project was to have a functional shuttle to aide the ships carrying out evacuations in their last mission, the flight department had never quite managed to get the shuttle functional in time. As with virtually any significant engineering project with multiple workstreams, they had been plagued with delays and technical issues that had stymied the work.

The good news however was that with the evacuation mission over, there was less urgency to the shuttle project, which meant that his team now had considerable time to meaningfully review every inch of the project to recalibrate but also to try to isolate the causes of the various technical issues.

The bad news, however, was that the lack of urgency meant less interest from some people, which invevitably leads to a reduction people power. And since this was not a mandatory project and Antos was reluctant to use his power as department head to force people to work on the project, he had settled for the few who had remained as volunteers.

Aside from himself, Antos had only been able to count on ch’Thranne, his crew chief, and two of the other flight ops ground crew with strong engineering backgrounds. They were a small team, which Antos realized he preferred. Since they were all very dedicated to the project, they had been able to make significant progress, including completing modifications to the type 8-shuttle, Astrae that was to be their prototype.

Antos was thankful for their arrival on Deep Space 4. When he was not on duty, he had spent as much time on the shuttle as he could to the point where Aiko had jokingly teased that he was cheating on her with the shuttle.

There was some truth to that, Antos realized. After all, he had two loves in his life presently- Aiko, the irrevocable and unwavering love of his life and the shuttle Astrae- a recent addition that was more of a tryst evolving from the shuttlecraft’s exquisite curves.

They had been able to make significant progress on the project to the point where they were now looking at field testing, which was a positive development. Antos had eagerly volunteered to be the test pilot, which was of no surprise to anyone not that he would have entertained any objection.

The project aside, the time on Deep Space 4 had also been good for Aiko and Antos as they also got more face time together than had been the case since the start of the last mission. Antos knew his long hours at work were an issue, even if Aiko was patient enough not to directly raise it. He also knew, despite her outright denial of it, she was fast becoming bored of playing housewife and wanted her own set of responsibilities.

Antos was looking for something she could do on the ship that would still be fulfilling or rewarding to her. She was a career diplomat who had extensive training in public policy and service. He suspected there was very little opportunity for her to stay in that field on the Hornet. However, he was also hopeful that there were other civilian opportunities that she might find rewarding.

He resolved to broach the subject with the captain whenever there was an opportunity.

Until then, Antos’ dream for the time they had at Deep Space 4 was to catch up with his two loves, keep them happy and enjoy the reprieve before the businesses of a new mission.