The Lembava Limp
21 Jun 2020Garrett Altharian
Recently I was flying with my second, a guy by name of Kirazak. He's still a raw recruit when it comes to flying, but I've taken it upon myself to help train him up properly.At the time I was on contract with Li Yong Rui, moving cargo and helping him make his own power plays. I asked Kirazak to make it to Lembava and we'll get some wing time. He opens up a channel with me about half an hour into his journey, my fifth run of the day out of home port.
"Hey, Garrett," He said, "What does 'oxygen depleted in 6 minutes' mean?"
I could scarcely believe it. I told him to drop out of super cruise immediately and run a reboot/repair. The reboot seemed to have restored his life support proper, and the reason why was hilarious. As it turned out, his fuel scooping wasn't as slick or practiced as most. Heat damage to his Cobra Mk III was the cause, and he had fried most of his modules to sub 10%. He limped the last 8 jumps to Lembava, scooping, rebooting and jumping again.
It's been a long time since I graduated from the Pilot's Federation academy, and even longer since the Imperial Flight Academy. What are they teaching pilots these days?