Limited Options

Posted on Mon Jan 19th, 2026 @ 8:06pm by Engineering Officer Mei-Lin & Senior Flight Officer Cormus & Science Officer Lindsy

1,029 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Acquisitions & Contracts
Location: Astrometrics, Deck 5
Timeline: Date 2380-01-05 at 0900

The astrometrics lab on Deck 4 was starting to feel like a real hub instead of a forgotten workstation. The curved walls glowed with drifting holographic star charts, constellations sliding lazily overhead like slow moving fireflies, and the main console gave off a soft, steady pulse as it pulled in fresh sensor data. Lindsy had claimed the space early and unapologetically. Her portable holo projector sat beside the primary display, tuned just the way she liked it, and the faint, comforting scent of spiced tea lingered from the mug resting near the console edge.

She was deep in the middle of refining a local route, fingers moving with quiet confidence, when the door hissed open.

Cormus stepped in first, flight jacket slung over one shoulder, a half eaten protein bar in his hand. He looked energized in that particular way pilots got after a good run or a good idea. His eyes immediately lifted to the drifting starfield overhead, and his grin widened.

“Morning, Lindsy. Or whatever time it is up here,” he said. “This place looks like a planetarium got drunk and decided to live on a starship. I mean that as a compliment.”

Lindsy glanced up, smiling easily, the kind of smile that made people feel welcome without her having to say it. “Morning, Cormus. Grab a spot. And please tell me that thing isn’t dripping on my deck plating.”

He laughed and wiped his hands on his pants before stepping farther in. “All clean. Scout’s honor.” He nodded back toward the door. “Mei-Lin’s on her way. Said she wanted to run numbers with you before anything gets handed up to Zedd.”

As if summoned by name, Mei-Lin slipped through the doorway, engineering PADD tucked under one arm and a fresh mug of tea in her other hand. She looked more put together than earlier, clean coveralls and neatly tied hair, but there was still a trace of focus in her eyes that suggested she had not really stopped working at all.

“Hope I’m not interrupting,” she said. “I brought the latest sensor power estimates. Figured it was better to argue here than after Zedd’s already decided he loves a route.”

Lindsy chuckled and gestured toward the secondary console. “Perfect timing. Sit. We are still in the throwing ideas around phase. Nothing carved into hull plating yet.”

Mei-Lin settled in, placing her mug carefully out of the way. “Good. I like decisions that still breathe.”

Cormus leaned against the main display, crossing his arms and rocking slightly on his heels. “So what’s the damage? I can fly anything you point me at, but I would prefer the warp core not stage a protest halfway through.”

Lindsy rotated the hologram so all three of them could see it clearly. Trade lanes glowed yellow as they wound between clusters of red hazard markers, while pale blue legacy corridors threaded through the map like half remembered shortcuts.

“Erabus is the calm option,” she said. “Steady commerce, low patrol interference, predictable traffic. Transit at cruise is about eighteen hours, and fuel burn stays well within comfort margins.” She shifted the display. “Tautine is more complicated. Mining traffic, debris fields, higher chance of something going sideways. But the contracts pay better, and transit drops to about twelve hours if we use your slingshot idea.”

Cormus’s eyes lit up immediately. He reached out and adjusted the projection, zooming in on the third moon’s gravity well. “I keep telling you, that slingshot is beautiful. Hit the angle right and the ship practically does the work for you.”

Lindsy overlaid his vector in green, watching the projected numbers update. “You are not wrong,” she admitted. “That cuts a lot of time. The turbulence at the exit still makes me nervous though.” She glanced at him. “You comfortable flying point if we send a scout first?”

Cormus’s grin turned almost feral. “Comfortable? That’s the fun part. Give me a couple hours to prep a Type Eleven and I will get you real data on that turbulence. No guessing.”

Mei-Lin leaned closer to the display, studying the routes with a faint frown. “Tautine means higher power draw,” she said. “Constant active scanning for debris and traffic. With the crystals we have now, sustained load like that adds stress. Erabus keeps us in a safer range while we keep hunting parts.” She paused, then added, “If we do go Tautine later, I can tune the sensors to focus tighter. That should trim the load.”

Lindsy nodded approvingly. “That helps. We will flag both for Zedd. Erabus as the conservative call, Tautine as the higher reward option with a lot of fine print. He can decide how brave he feels.”

Cormus snorted, finishing off his protein bar. “Zedd’s default setting is curious trouble, but yeah. Erabus first makes sense. Lets me break in the helm without breaking the ship.”

Mei-Lin added a few notes to her PADD. “I will have the maintenance bots running extra checks while we are underway. Live monitoring on the conduits. If anything spikes, we pull back early.”

Lindsy closed the hologram with a smooth gesture, the stars fading back into the walls. “Then we are aligned. I will package both routes as recommendations only and send them up. No pressure, no commitments.”

Cormus pushed off the console, already buzzing with energy. “I will get the Type Eleven ready for scouting. She will be itching to fly by lunch.”

Mei-Lin stood and gathered her PADD. “Thanks for looping me in. It is nice working with people who actually listen to what the ship is telling them.”

Cormus chuckled as they headed for the door. “Oh, she talks to me all the time. Mostly about not scraping her paint.”

Lindsy’s laugh followed them, light and genuine. “We will keep her looking good. For now, let’s get her moving just enough to remind her she is alive.”

The three of them filed out, leaving the astrometrics lab quiet once more. Outside the viewport, New Ferenginar continued its slow, steady turn, unaware that a small crew above it was already beginning to chart their way forward.

 

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