[center][img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/383674146426454019/736347733446885436/Untitled-2.png[/img]
[img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/383674146426454019/738100534451372042/art.png[/img][/center]

There it was. The world Artemie had only glimpsed.

Not a beautiful blue marble but hauntingly striking in its own right. She couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been different once, that the surface she saw now was a remnant. It wasn’t anything she could have put into words. But she couldn’t shake it, nevertheless. She parted ways from her colleagues with a nod and crossed the hangar with growing purpose. 

On the way her eyes passed over the machines to her left and right. Some of them were familiar; she spied a couple G-Falcons and an artillery that bore a close resemblance to units she had seen before. But others… Brand new (to her) and gleaming in the hangar light, every inch lethal and efficient. And of course… Her brows furrowed a little at the red one. It was small, it was… Alien. In appearance. Its striking paintjob and design certainly drew the eye. It didn’t look anything like the others, but its design was naggingly familiar. Something about its aesthetics and layout, the design ethos behind it, was exactly like something she’d seen one before. Her hair stood on end when she crossed in front of it because she heard the diminutive Orbital raise its voice, a thing of infinite familiarity and a bottomless uncanny valley.

[color=ed1c24][center][i]'Now it shall be said of Jacob and Israel;
What hath God wrought?'
Pre-flight checks are now complete.
Anemoi-001 is now alive.[/i][/center][/color]

Well that was… Foreboding. Rushing in where angels fear to tread for certain, huh? 

But none of them were the machine she waited to see. Bay after bay, all full, until the very end of the row… And there she was. IS-049. [i]Voyager[/i] hadn’t gotten quite the same spitshine the others had Artemie had to admit. Came from having no dedicated flight crew. Someone had given her the onceover but not the same personal touch.

But that was alright. Artemie’d fix that.

She slipped her foot into the loop and gripped the line, letting the winch pull her up to the hatch on Voyager’s side. Unlike most Orbital cockpits which were accessed through the chest, Voyager’s would have been blocked by the emitter in place. [i]Last[/i] time she entered through the back; her stasis chamber had been docked there, and she had gotten into place through its airlock from the ship that ferried her to Pluto. But that module wasn’t in place now. There was no need for it. The boosters were still in place but she was accessing the cockpit through the hatch near its ‘ribs’. She swung her legs in first and wriggled sideways into the cockpit hearing it ome alive the moment she was detected.

[color=darkgoldenrod]“Arty,”[/color] the computer began in a low, playful voice. [color=darkgoldenrod]“Been a while. Seven years, five months, and twenty three days. You don’t write anymore.”[/color]

[color=7e5e7f]“Kinda been asleep, Starlight,”[/color] Artemie said absently settling into her seat. The cockpit was pristine. Not that surprising, she hadn’t spent very much time in it. When she wasn’t on an EVA she’d been waiting in the stasis chamber. Or [i]asleep[/i] in the stasis chamber. [color=7e5e7f]“But you’re still chatty, huh?”[/color]

[color=darkgoldenrod]“Always. Sleep well?”[/color]

[color=7e5e7f]“Like the dead.”[/color] The Lunite answered, turning her attention the controls in front of her. Starlight’s personality matrix was pretty basic, but having [i]someone[/i] to talk to had been nice on her voyage. And the stock computer voice always felt too cold. Even a little basic intonation went a long way to giving it some life, and she’d had a while to tweak it. [color=7e5e7f]“But it was a relief to wake up again. How’re we looking?”[/color]

[color=darkgoldenrod]“Tiptop, boss. [i]Pyxis[/i] pushed out a navigational update to all units based on the data we’ve got so far. Reactor is operating nominally, and [i]Voyager[/i]’s capacitors are at one hundred percent. As are Dauntless boosters one through four.”[/color]

[color=7e5e7f]“Good…”[/color] Her voice trailed off as she flipped through the weapon systems, running circuit tests on each in turn. The three emitters along [i]Voyager[/i]’s body glowed faintly as theirs were completed, illuminating the golden letters on its chest. Nothing came up wrong. As far as she could tell, everything was good to go.

For the first time in twenty years she picked up her helmet and twisted it carefully into place.

[center]**[/center]

“Alright, folks!” The Chief of Orbital Operations, a tall woman with her arms crossed, shouted. “You heard the skipper. The scientists are all loaded up, you’re launching first. Staggered launch, I don’t want any screwups just because you’re all feeling rusty. Those of you without flight capabilities, your crews rigged up entry and escape assist boosters. You should all be checked out on them. Deploy your boosters and heat shields on time during descent, and fire those boosters again when it’s time to leave. You can ditch ‘em down there if things get hot, we’ll reattach ‘em or get you back up here another way.”

“Once on station, I want those of you who can fly in the sky keeping an eye out. Artillery units, you guys’ll establish a defensive perimeter with your peers. You all know the drill. Eyes peeled, ears open.”

“Proceed to the catapults when ready. Flight Ops will handle timing control. Get going!”