Out in the Black
06 Jul 2020Anden Beliam
The Halestorm's FSD charged and was locked onto the next system, Skaude VM-V b35-12. I sank a little deeper in my CMDR chair as the drive initiated and the sweeping views of the black passed by. A Neutron Star sped by, just a glimpse was caught and I chuckled as I wondered why the nav computer hadn't plotted along the route. Not that it mattered. This trip out to Colonia was not going to be the shortest route possible. It was the reason I had taken my Krait MkII. I love the view from the ships command deck. As an added plus, my quarters were a little more luxurious than on the Raven. The Halestorm dropped into the system and I let the scoop refuel off the star as I began the FSS charge to scan the system. The horn sounded as the system info of unexplored planetary bodies listed up on screen. Flicking the screen away, I pulled away from the star and distanced the Halestorm a little ways away before dropping safely out of supercruise. I let the the CMDR controls fold away and stood up stretching. I pressed a gloved hand against the canopy, staring out into the black. The density of the stars had begun to cloister closer and closer over the last few hundred light years. It was nothing compared to the view in Colonia, but in comparison to Shin, it was breathtaking. Turning slowly on my heel, I made my way to the coffee machine and pressed for some brew. I was glad to have topped off on some before starting my long journey.
Grabbing the cup as soon as it had finished, I made my way back to my chair and de-activated the ships thrusters and everything else except the shields and life support. I sat sipping my coffee and enjoying the silent, expansive view of being out the stars.
"Hale, select a random playlist will you?" I said, speaking the ships voice recognition computer and the taking another sip.
"At once, sir."
I didn't recognize the first song. I looked to the ships central comm screen and saw the title of the song was Sabotage by a group called Beastie Boys. I liked it. Hale had downloaded thousands and thousands of songs from all generations from earth time and later from the Galnet. It had been the best thousand credit add to the computer I had ever spent. Standing and stretching, glad once again I had splurged just a little on adding the artificial grav package upgrade to life support systems back at Jameson. The rear command deck door hissed open as I made my way to my quarters.
A desk filled one corner of the room, it's holographic screen dormant despite the continued drum of the playlist. Light reflected off portions of various crystaline clusters secured in different sized shelves along the walls and the reflections lit up points along the floors and ceiling. My bed awaited as I placed the now empty mug of coffee on my bedside table.
"Hale, dim the lights will you?" I spoke out just load enough for the sensors to pick up my voice patterns.
"Gladly, Cmdr Beliam. Would you like some restful inducing music for a while?" Hale had been programmed to anticipate such responses with my weight on the bed. It was yet another thing I was grateful to have added or programmed in before leaving on this trip.
"Yes, Thank you, Hale. And...dim the lights to the ten percent blue lights. Wake me with the normal routine in five hours will you?"
"Of course. Enjoy your rest, sir." Hale responded back.
It was odd how much having the upgraded voice, voice recognition and response programming had helped on this trip out into the black. I knew that it was just a bunch of 1's and 0's, governed simply by sensitive panels, sound inputs and other means to make my long distance trips exploring and traveling more comfortable.
And it had been worth it.
As I closed my eyes, I thought of how much I had come to count on Hale over the last few weeks. He had been a great companion during the voyage out with the Fleet Carrier, Vesuvius. Especially now that I was forging ahead of the Vesuvius and away from the other commanders. Hale had now become my lone companion. A voice to keep my mind active and a little less mad out in the black.