Starfire
Copyright© 2025 by Mark Randall
Chapter 26
After Katie explained her plan to Operations, Burt Lane came on the air. “Katie, are you sure about this? I’ve never really done anything like this outside of simulators.”
Katie could tell that Burt was nervous. True be told, Katie wasn’t feeling all that confident either. “Calm down, Burt, it’s easy. You use your targeting sights to aim and then launch your grapnels. Then, after you get hooked up, you just let the winch pull you in. Easy peasy.”
“Oh God, I don’t know about this.” Burt was still having trouble.
Katie spoke slowly and calmly. “Look at it this way, Burt. You’ll be getting the experience for when you go rock hunting.”
“If I make it that far”, Burt grumbled.
They were interrupted when Seward operations came back on the air. “OK, Red eight, you’ve got approval to try your idea. But if, for any reason, it appears unsafe, you abort. Got it?”
“Copy Seward, Wilco.” Katie paused, then took a deep breath. “OK, Burt, we’ve got a green light. What we’ll do is have you lead off. I’ll keep an eye on you and talk you through it. Then, when you’re securely docked, it’ll be my turn.”
A sliver of confidence seemed to come back to Burt. “OK, Katie, I guess I have no choice about it.”
Katie chuckled, “Nope, you’re in it whether you like it or not. Now, step one: we head in the opposite direction from Reggie’s path. You come in from above and to the port side. I’ll come in from below and starboard.”
“The opposite direction.” Burt questioned, “Why is that?”
Katie replied, “It’s simple, our heaviest thrust is from our mains, and we’ll need all of that thrust to stop Reggie as fast as we can.”
“I think I see. We’ll be like really big retros, right?” Burt asked.
“Correct.” Katie agreed.
As Burt and Katie were discussing their plans, they had maneuvered into position. Burt then called Katie and said he was ready.
Katie was now all business. “OK, Burt, that’s good. Now we need to go slow and easy. Remember, we’ve got all the time in the world for this.”
“Got it,” Burt replied. “Slow and easy. I’m lining up on my trajectory now and closing, and closing, closing. I’m in range now and I’m launching, now.”
Katie watched as Burt’s grapnel slowly snaked out and contacted Red nine.
“OK, Burt, that was great.” Katie said, “But there’s a problem. Your grapnel is too far aft. You need to disengage and try again.”
“Ohh geez, I knew I’d mess this up.” Burt moaned.
“Come on, Burt, man up. You can do this.” Katie gently chided.
Burt’s second try satisfied Katie.
“OK, Burt, now it’s my turn. Don’t do anything until I tell you.”
“Can I ask a couple of questions first?” Burt asked.