Chapter 4 – Jon and the Checklist

"Jon?" Erika prompted, pressing her headset a little closer to her face. Part of her was hoping that no one else was listening in, but she highly doubted it. One of the newest additions to the entire program was an intercom system that allowed the higher ups to hear the communications loops between the control room and the simulators, all from the comfort of their own offices. The brass thought it was great. Erika thought it was a recipe for disaster, especially on days like today when the two pilots in the sim appeared to have forgotten that everyone's eyes were on them.

"Hmm?" Jon muttered distractedly.

"STM check?" Erika asked, repeating the request and glancing down at the next item in her checklist.

"Confirmed."

"STM beta?"

"Wait a minute…" Jon said and she could hear him flipping one of the toggle switches back and forth a couple of times. From what she could see on the master display, something wasn't working.

"Call a hold," she ordered, signaling the countdown officer to stop the clock.

"Damn it." Jon swore and tried to restrain himself from kicking something in their billion-dollar machine. He had already broken one of the earlier sim models and if he broke another one, Erika was sure he'd finally get kicked out of the fleet.

"Hang tight boys," Erika sighed. "We're going to try a remote restart of the beta." Jon could hear the exhaustion in her voice as the large countdown clock over his head came to a halt. It was hard to believe they were only fourteen minutes into the three-hour countdown and launch procedure.

"Roger that," AG confirmed, giving Jon an annoyed look. They had been sitting on their backs for hours in the simulator, running through the countdown over and over. Obviously, they didn't have the sequence right. Each time they resumed, one system or another began to falter and they had been forced to start over at least six times already. At first, Jon didn't see what the big idea was. It didn't matter which light switch he turned on first in the apartment so long as they all turned on eventually, he thought. Apparently, the NX prototype simulator thought otherwise.

He wasn't even sure why they were still having these problems. They had already broken the barrier, hell, six months earlier Rob had broken Warp 3. Obviously, the engine worked. Now the issue was transferring everything they had learned and developed for the engine into a practical working starship that would prove once and for all that their years of work on this project would actually have a tangible, meaningful impact on the world of space travel. But as he was just now beginning to understand, if you were going to sit more than two people in the ship, things got a lot more complicated.

"What?" Jon asked as AG continued to stare at him.

"What's up with you today? You aren't focused or anything."

"Erika's sister-in-law is due today," he said quietly.

"So?" his copilot grumbled, reaching to check a readout and mark it in their flight manual.

"So, I'm going to be an uncle," Jon said and he couldn't keep the smile off his face. Well, technically, he wasn't really going to be an uncle. He and Erika weren't even engaged yet, but they would be soon, he knew. But Simon and Maria's baby would be part of his family and from the moment he understood that, he had been a nervous wreck. They had gone down to visit the expectant parents the previous weekend and Maria had laughed outright at some of the things Jon had decided to worry about. She had reassured him over and over that everything was going to be fine, but it didn't stop Erika and her brother from teasing him mercilessly. It wasn't his fault that his experience around pregnant women was slim to none.

"Has she had the baby yet?" AG asked.

"No," Jon admitted.

"Is she even in labor?"

"No… but…"

"Then focus, Archer. We've got a job to do." AG gave him a slap on the back of the head, imitating the way Erika most commonly expressed her disapproval of whatever he was doing.

"Man if you are this bad when it is your girlfriend's sister-in-law, you are going to be terrible when Erika's pregnant."

"Are you two idiots done talking on the live channel or do you have any more words of parenting wisdom you'd like to share with the class?" Jon winced as he heard Erika's voice over the comm.

"Sorry, Rike," he said, reaching over to flip off the live mic.

"I swear to god, Jonathan…" she whispered before clicking her mic off.

"You don't have anything to worry about, you know," AG said, resting his hands behind his head and closing his eyes. Jon shook his head in disbelief. AG Robinson was the only person he knew who could relax in any situation. He had even fallen asleep in the launch chute before making his first historic flight. Jon had asked him about it once and AG had just shrugged and said he had been bored. When it was Jon's turn in the pilot's chair, he felt awake enough to power an entire city. Even after his flight, he was too excited to sleep, despite the fact that when he finally made it back to the test center, it was three in the morning. Even now when they had been sitting in the same dimly lit box for what seemed like an eternity, Jon wasn't even the slightest bit tired.

"I know," Jon sighed. "I can't really help it."

"Well, try to shut up for a little while so that one of us can get a nap in, okay?" AG said, draping his flight manual over his eyes. Jon couldn't help but laugh.

###

"He gets his impatience from you," Erika whispered as they sat down on the couch, glancing back at their son's room.

"At least he doesn't have your temper to go with it." Erika gave him a slap on the head. "Ow! You know its true…"

She laughed softly and he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "The girls both asleep?"

Erika nodded. "They are pretty excited about all of this too."

"It's the first time they've been home in quite a while," Jon admitted. "They probably aren't going to want to come back here when it is time to leave."

"I've been thinking about that," she sighed. "I'm not quite sure how to deal with that."

Jon thought for a moment. "We can be honest with them. This is a part of their lives that will be over before they know it. It is an incredible adventure but one that takes them away from their family and friends. But we'll be back. The President can't make me stay out here forever…"

"What comes next for us, after this?" Erika asked.

"What do you want to come next?"

"A regular desk job," she smirked and Jon caught the playful look in her eye. "I'd like to work up to one of the deputy chief positions in San Francisco," she admitted in all seriousness. "I liked the work I got to do when I was back there. None of it ever seems boring. One day you are working on deployment schedules and helping captains with their crew manifests and the next day you are overseeing warship development and the latest technological advancements."

"And you are putting out fires when two design bureaus get into a pissing match," Jon groaned, remembering his own tenure in position.

"I liked that kind of work," she admitted. "That is what I want to do next."

"Well, okay then."

"What do you want next?" Erika asked as she ran her hand through his hair.

"There's a council seat that will be open by the time my assignment here ends," he said quietly, not wanting to admit it. His wife caught on immediately.

"You want to run for the Federation Council?"

"I know, I know…"

"I think that is a wonderful idea."

"Really?" he asked, somewhat sheepishly.

"Really. I think you'll be perfect."

"Thanks, Rike," he sighed. "It's just an idea for now."

"I think it is a good idea," she said, leaning over to give him a kiss. "But you know… politicians have to deal with an awful lot of waiting around…"

Jon laughed. "Don't remind me."

###

"Hold," one of the control techs called and Erika signaled again to the countdown officer.

"Hold confirmed. Jon, could I speak to you for a moment?" AG gave Jon a look as he climbed out of the simulator, feeling his muscles sore from the lack of activity. He opened the hatch and hopped down the ladder to the sim control floor. Erika was waiting there, her arms cross and her face clearly displaying that he was in trouble. She grabbed his arm and pulled him into one of the empty computer rooms before closing the door.

"Are you a moron?" she asked.

"What?"

"Are you capable of doing your job? We just called a hold because you couldn't keep your eyes on the intermix chamber." Jon winced. Ever since they had broken warp two, keeping the intermix chamber in the green had been considered one of the easiest jobs on the prototype. And he had just messed it up.

"Do you think she's okay?" he asked.

"She's fine," Erika huffed. "Simon said he would call as soon as things start happening. First babies are always late. And no one is ever born on their due date."

"But it should happen today, right?"

"No one really knows, Jon," Erika said exasperatedly. "That is part of the whole process."

"Oh…"

"Don't make me ground you until she has the baby."

"You have that authority?"

"When it comes to you, yes," she folded her arms across her chest again. "Look, I know this is exciting. But we have a job to do. Focus on that, and I promise I will let you know as soon as I hear anything."

"And then we'll fly down to see them?" Jon asked.

"As soon as the baby is born," she assured him. "Now get your butt back in that simulator so we can finish this mess and go home."

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