"Whats our ETA?" asked Commander Niples to the young ensign at the navigation computer.
"Ermmm, what's that sir?"
"Estimated time of arrival fool! Its the first thing they teach you on the Navigation course at the JMC academy!"
"Actually sir, the first thing they teach you is the theory of space travel." replied the Ensign smugly.
"What about basic spacecraft manouvering? I hope to god you learned that!" said the commander.
"Actually sir, we learned the 'theory' of spacecraft manouvering, we never actually did any practical manouvering. All we had to do was write an essay on how it worked. They don't let us anywhere near a real ship in case we crash it, its all done with paperwork now."
"What?!" said Niples, shocked. "The academy has changed since I went there, they don't even teach you the basic controls of a starship now...." he paused and looked at what the ensign was pressing on the keyboard. "You do know what your doing don't you?"
The ensign looked at him blankly. "No sir, I'm just pressing buttons at random."
Posted August 24, 2000 by David Ball ( Read Post)
Navigation
The Navigation department are in charge of steering the Blue Dwarf, and also piloting the smaller support craft. The massive Blue Dwarf needs someone constantly plotting its journey through space, especially when programming in the location for the Blue Dwarf's rare Wormhole Drive and making sure the Blue Dwarf gets to where it needs to be.
The pilots are also required to ferry people around in Starbugs and various other support craft, taking them to and from planets or space stations.
The pilots are also needed in an offensive and defensive capacity, using the nimble Blue Midgets, Starbugs and Space Eagles to defend the cumbersome Blue Dwarf from enemy attacks. They have also been used for the purpose of attacks on enemy vessels.
Jay took a seat at the helm position of the drive room, it had been a while since he sat here, giving the job to his subordinates in the navigation department but right now a complex series of manouveres was needed and he didn't trust anyone else to do it.
"All hands" he said into the ships comm "This is chief of navigation Jay Chrysler, we will shortly be crossing the field of electromagnetic and gravitatonal disturbances into the galactic core, it's gonna be a bumpy ride so hold onto something!" he clicked out and took a deep breath then gripped his hands on the control stick.
Jay pushed forward slowly, tenderley on the throttle stick and the hulking space ship slowly set itself in motion.
Posted November 1, 2004 by Andy Longman ( Read Post)