Maya stepped off the lander and into the pilot chamber of the fighter. "Bozhe moi! It's so gross!" She exclaimed as she lifted her foot back out, a gooey substance stretching out with it. She looked up at the command booth at the top of the fighter bay. "I still don't get why this has to be in here Matushka!" She shouted.
Up in the booth her mother clenched her jaw tightly. She leaned forward and cued the intercom. "That's Major Chesnokov. Is that clear First Lieutenant?" She said.
There was a pause and then an eventual reply. "Yes ma'am." The Major looked over at the flight mission crew sitting at their consoles.
"Platform green." Natasha nodded and cued the intercom once more.
"Are you in the chamber yet Lieutenant?" She asked. Down in the bay Maya was kneeling in the goop filling the pilot chamber. A flight technician on a platform to the right of the fighter was affixing connector patches to the shaved, right side of her head.
"Yes m...Major." She replied, catching herself. "Connectors attached. Donning helmet." She said as she placed the snythfabric over her head. There was a light click as the connectors and the hard points on the helmet made contact. Maya looked up at the command booth and made a face before plunging head first into the pilot chamber. After sinking down about a foot she reached out to a small lever. As she pressed it down the top part of the plane extended from its raised position above the rear of the the fighter and locked into place above her.
"I'm in Major." She said. There were only a few lights from emergency equipment with her in the darkness of the sealed chamber. "Synchronizing." She said, squeezing her eyes tightly. When she opened them her vision showed her kneeling on the floor of the fighter bay. She blinked but the sight never went away. A tow drone clipped its cable to her "knees" and pulled her to the runway. As she sat on the runway Maya hummed a tune from her childhood. It helped calm her nerves as she clenched her fists. Ahead of her she could see a burst of rail fire streaking out across the runway toward the red horizon.
"Lieutenant! Cease fire!" A voice shouted over the comms.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Said Maya.
"Prepare for launch in three. Two. One." May extended her legs and arched her back, her head lifted up. She could see herself shooting forward across the runway and lifting off the ground. In a minute she was soaring above the red, Martian soil. She laughed at the absurdity of it.
"Breaking atmosphere in six, five..." Came a voice on the comms. She kept her body in the same position as she flew higher and higher. Seconds later Maya gasped. She could see Mars below her, the atmosphere a haze. She looked around, nothing but pure black dotted with white. Her laughter ceased abruptly. As she floated, weightlessly in the endless night.
"Head to check point alpha." Said one of the mission crew. Maya didn't respond. She moved her arms down and legs to the left. The fighter banked sharply as it headed away from Mars. The flight crew erupted in communication spikes toward the inter-orbital fighter.
"Ma'am! I have a sudden increase in salt and water in the pilot chamber!" Said the lieutenant siting at the Biometrics station.
The Major smiled, something no one had seen in years. "It's fine. It's tears." She replied, looking at the screen indication the fighter's position.
