Editing You Can't Always Get What You Want
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Standing now on the bridge of ''Exeter'', my heart ached with the knowledge that she couldn’t see it. I knew how much she’d yearned for a fast ship, a shiny ship like she’d flown for half her adult life. On ''Exeter''’s bridge, it took little effort to imagine ''Harbinger''’s. It would have been much like this one. The pilot’s seat took pride of place, its yoke and console centered on the deck. Helm and copilot sat at the bridge windows forward, flanked by Comms and Engineering. With all the consoles up and running, it was blazing away like Christmas. I couldn’t bear to look at it. I gave it my back and walked aft to engineering.<br><br> | Standing now on the bridge of ''Exeter'', my heart ached with the knowledge that she couldn’t see it. I knew how much she’d yearned for a fast ship, a shiny ship like she’d flown for half her adult life. On ''Exeter''’s bridge, it took little effort to imagine ''Harbinger''’s. It would have been much like this one. The pilot’s seat took pride of place, its yoke and console centered on the deck. Helm and copilot sat at the bridge windows forward, flanked by Comms and Engineering. With all the consoles up and running, it was blazing away like Christmas. I couldn’t bear to look at it. I gave it my back and walked aft to engineering.<br><br> | ||
| − | It felt exceedingly strange. Nothing was familiar and yet … echoes of ''Janus'' tugged at me. Aside from the bridge, it was nothing huge or strikingly alike. It was the little touches. The framing of the corridors. The paint job on the deck and bulkheads. The fixtures. The way the atmo smelled. All subtle, but packing a punch. I trailed my fingertips along the walls and listened to the engines as I drew closer. | + | It felt exceedingly strange. Nothing was familiar and yet … echoes of ''Janus'' tugged at me. Aside from the bridge, it was nothing huge or strikingly alike. It was the little touches. The framing of the corridors. The paint job on the deck and bulkheads. The fixtures. The way the atmo smelled. All subtle, but packing a punch. I trailed my fingertips along the walls and listened to the engines as I drew closer. _C, G, middle C, and E._ It was a chord that had sung me to sleep, soothed my hurts, and fed my spirit for three years. I’d missed it. And yet …<br><br> |
''Stop. Don’t go there. She’s gone. They’re both gone.''<br><br> | ''Stop. Don’t go there. She’s gone. They’re both gone.''<br><br> | ||
| − | I didn’t see the conference room or the crew quarters on my way back. The crew lounge barely blipped on my radar. I hit the aft corridor and scaled the four steps to the engine room and stood on the threshold listening. | + | I didn’t see the conference room or the crew quarters on my way back. The crew lounge barely blipped on my radar. I hit the aft corridor and scaled the four steps to the engine room and stood on the threshold listening. _C, G, middle C, and E._ Say what you want about Potemkin, he knew how to keep his ship running well. Or maybe he hadn’t had her long enough to make a botch of it. With a bastard like Potemkin, it was hard to tell.<br><br> |
The engine room was much like the bridge. Bigger. Beefier. More bells and whistles. More like what Nika and I had known and loved before. Normally I’d be like a kid at Christmas in the middle of all the shiny but Christmas had come on the heels of a funeral. ''Summer’s Gift'' was a blasted-out hulk. Nika’s were eyes beyond repair. The ship’s engines sang in the voice of my first love lost. I leaned on the jamb and crossed my arms and tried to shut it out. But ''Exeter'' hummed through the deckplates, sang through my bones, and there was no escaping her or the memories she stirred, past and present. So I stood and bore it and waited for the pain to pass.<br><br> | The engine room was much like the bridge. Bigger. Beefier. More bells and whistles. More like what Nika and I had known and loved before. Normally I’d be like a kid at Christmas in the middle of all the shiny but Christmas had come on the heels of a funeral. ''Summer’s Gift'' was a blasted-out hulk. Nika’s were eyes beyond repair. The ship’s engines sang in the voice of my first love lost. I leaned on the jamb and crossed my arms and tried to shut it out. But ''Exeter'' hummed through the deckplates, sang through my bones, and there was no escaping her or the memories she stirred, past and present. So I stood and bore it and waited for the pain to pass.<br><br> | ||
