Flight Lieutenant Aidan O’Rourke
Flight Lieutenant Aidan O’Rourke sat at the control console at the front of the bridge.The control console was a wide semi-circular array of computers and monitors that flanked his chair on either side. With it, he had an unobstructed view of the bridge windows allowing him to see out along the main body of the Hyperion. The bridge was darkened, the soft orange and blue glows from the various monitors and buttons provided the necessary light for flight operations. The bridge was his home, Aidan felt comfortable here. His office was this personal circle of computers and no one could take that from him. He had been assigned as the Chief of Flight Operations on the ‘UNSA Hyperion’ meaning he was the senior pilot on board. For the first time in his life he felt damned important.
Aidan wasn’t even entirely sure how he even got that role. There were far more experienced pilots out there who had applied for the position and didn’t get it. It certainly wasn’t thanks to his personality evaluation report. The one thing he did know was that he was a damn good pilot. He had shown that in the Jupiter Pirate Raids. His piloting skills had saved the ‘UNSA Black Widow’ from destruction, it’s crew avoiding certain death. Hell, he had received a commendation from the Grand Admiral himself. Maybe that was it, maybe the Grand Admiral had put him here. Either way he was happy and proud to be where he was.
Aidan was awoken from his thoughts when his ear was flooded with sound from his headpiece. ‘Hotel-Yankee-Papa-One-Zero-Niner to the UNSA Hyperion requesting permission to dock, over’. Aidan straightened up in his seat and opened the shuttle hangar overview on his main console. ‘Hotel-Yankee-Papa-One-Zero-Niner cleared to proceed shuttle hangar Zero-Six, ground crews are standing by.’ Any moment now the radar and and the comms chatter would light up. Today was the day their journey began and anyone not already on board would now be making their way off of Luna towards the ships. The number of people not already on the three ships was so high that extra shuttles had to be borrowed from other vessels in the UNSA Navy. ‘That’s the problem with having so many damn civvies on board.’ Aidan said to himself. Many of the civilian passengers had been allowed commence boarding on the day whereas some core military personnel had been living on the ship for days already.
Aidan looked at his watch 05:42 Fleet Time. His hometown would be covered in darkness by now, and the graveyard shift would be finishing and the real fun would begin. Aidan had requested his shifts begin at 05:30. He enjoyed those quiet and peaceful thirty minutes before the rest of the day shift arrived. He used the time to look over flight plans and other reports. Also taking the liberty of a nice cup of tea at his work desk.
Now as shuttles started to appear on his radar it was evident there was already going to be a backlog of docking and departing requests. The radio burst into life as shuttle pilots fought to get into shuttle bays first. The real fun would be making sure that the shuttles from the Hyperion got back on the ship before they left Luna. The problem was there were more shuttles coming in than there were shuttle bays to dock them.