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====== Story: Haunted Heart ======

===== Haunted Heart I =====

UPDATE 8.22.1 for Lysander Loxley-class light freighter, Mark II flight control system\\
APPROVED 19.4.4400 for general release by Civil Spaceflight Authority

Installation:

Ensure the ship is stopped or landed in a safe location.\\
Shut down the engines and flight control system.\\
Open panel C-17, on the wall next to the left pilot’s seat.\\
Locate the system override switch in panel C-17 and set it to “MAINT”.\\
Insert the update USB drive into any flight console port.\\
Instruct the ship to run the update package from the USB drive. You will need to provide administrator permission, or identify yourself as a registered crew member.\\
Wait for the ship to finish installing the update.\\
Remove the USB drive, set the system override switch to “OFF”, and reseal panel C-17.\\
Bring the flight control system back online.\\
Instruct the ship to check the flight control system calibration. Recalibrate if necessary.\\
Bring the engines back online.\\
Ensure the flight control system is functioning properly by making controlled maneuvers at a safe distance from any traffic or hazards.\\

Update notes:

Fixed a bug that could cause the flight control system to auto-restart when passing waypoints in areas with no star charts.\\
Fixed a bug that could make it impossible to change the flight control system UI colours.\\
Added the ability to colour-code and shape-code waypoints.\\
Updated charts and ATC information for 4.4400.\\
Fixed a bug that caused the flight control system to forget route planning set while in MAINT mode.\\
Added an option for the flight control system to respect shipwide night mode settings, except for warnings.\\
Added compatibility mode for quadrocular vision.\\
Removed a non-functional UI control intended for military systems.\\
Security updates.\\

This update has passed beta testing and is safe to install for commercial use.\\
The next update for the Loxley Mk II flight control system is expected to deploy in 8.4400.

===== Haunted Heart II =====

Let me tell you about the first time I met Kate Geiss.\\ 
Sometimes when people talk about their spouses, it’s all “oh, it was love at first sight, it was destined to be!”. Honestly? Not for us. Well, maybe for Kate, I’ve never asked her. I took some convincing.\\ 
I was in the dockmaster’s office in New Bournemouth, on Paratine. Don’t worry if you’ve never heard of it, it’s not worth going. I was crew on a scrap hauler, and someone had screwed up the permits we needed to have to take off with our cargo. I didn’t have anything to do with it, but the captain was friends with the idiot that should’ve had to fix it, so I got the job. The dockmaster appreciated my predicament, but not enough to skip any of the red tape. I’d been there for like two hours.\\ 
So there I am, about to scream from under a mountain of paperwork. Some of it actually on paper, like some kind of pre-Space Age office. Suddenly, the door slams open - it was a big old bulkhead door so it’s a hell of a slam - and in comes Kate, tool bag over her shoulder and swearing up a storm. Everyone basically jumps out of their chairs. Some old guy in the corner nearly starts running before he realises it’s not the police. Kate’s got oil and dust and crap all over her, like I can’t even tell she’s pretty under all of it. Came to regret that mis-apprehension, let me tell you.\\ 
Anyway, turns out she’s the pilot of this little old light freighter. She’s scheduled to lift, but some bastard’s cracked open the EVA panels on her engines and stolen a lot of things that are kind of important. She’s furious. She wants the whole place searched, security footage reviewed, the works. I don’t blame her, but the dockmaster doesn’t care. That would be effort, and she isn’t going to pay him for it. If she wants anything done, she needs to start a criminal complaint with the police. Everyone knows that’s not going to happen.\\ 
Now, I’m listening to all this. I’m thinking about how the same system that’s screwing me is screwing her. How we’re both doing penance for someone else’s actions. How I work on a ship full of old mechanical parts.\\ 
So I wander over and make her an offer. Hi, I’m Tery. This sucks, right? Tell you what. I’ll let you poke through the holds on my ship and help you find what you need. I’ll get the dockmaster to reschedule your launch window in exchange for me not wasting any more of his time on my paperwork. I’ll even help you fit your new-old parts. All you’ve got to do is take me with you.\\ 
Honestly, my plan was to just ride as far as her next stop, then find a new crew. Sounds cold, but I was thinking in opportunities, not feelings. But two days into the flight, I made dinner for us - you know, as a courtesy - and she told me she loved it. And there was a look in her eyes that hit me deep.\\ 
When we docked at Malinovka Orbital the next week, I didn’t ask to stay with her. I didn’t need to, we’d already planned our next job.\\ 
It wasn’t lust, I’ll tell you that. I mean, god, she’s hot. But what we had was just like two gears slotting together. Our routines matched. Some days we don’t need to say a single word to each other to make the whole day run perfectly. It just worked. Still does.\\ 
It was a bad decision. Ditched my job and half my stuff to help out a grease-covered solo pilot I’d never met before that day, and ride with her to a place I’d never been. I was an idiot. Seven years later and I tell you, I’m the luckiest idiot in the world and that was the best decision of my life.

{{tag> story}}