Title: Crossing Over
Author: Drey'auc475
Rating: PG for now
Spoilers: none for this chapter
Setting/Season: season five
A/N: here's the next chapter… enjoy.
-----Chapter One-----
Freya woke in her bunk aboard the Hellbird VI with a start. She sat up and slowly threw the blankets off. She swung her legs over the side of the bunk and rubbed her eyes.
'What a dream,' she muttered to herself as she got up off the bunk and went to the basin and washed her face.
She struggled to remember the dream she had had. It was foggy and details were becoming hazy. The dream was slipping away like water through a strainer.
Finally giving up she towelled her face dry and got changed. She pulled on a pair of suede jeans, followed by a black tank top, which hugged her figure, and a black leather vest with heaps of zips and buckles. She then pulled on her commando boots and strapped her pistol holster around her waist and buckled it around her thigh.
She left her short black hair un-brushed and headed out towards the kitchen. Grabbing an instant meal from the microwave she headed for the cockpit where Birdie was running diagnostics.
'Good morning, captain,' Birdie said to Freya as she sat in the pilot's seat. Birdie only ever called her 'captain' for fun.
'Morning,' Freya replied draining the juice and placing the can on a control panel. 'Are we ready for another day?'
'Affirmative,' said the Hellbird A.I.
Birdie was an android, an avatar of the Hellbird. Though the Hellbird VI was a small cargo barge it was still a little too much for Freya to handle by herself. She didn't have enough money to hire a hand, but saved up enough money to have a man build an android to help her out. 'Hellbird' just didn't sound right for a female avatar so Freya called her 'Birdie'.
Birdie was fashioned after a friend from Freya's past back on Shantu. Birdie had blond and red hair, fair skin and pale blue eyes. She wore clothes similar to Freya's but without the gun.
Birdie sat in the co-pilot's seat and punched buttons to prepare for launch.
Freya strapped herself in and pulled the seat up to the controls and engaged the engines. The ship moved forwards and Freya manoeuvred it around the asteroid they had taken shelter behind from the blue giant in the system.
'Heading to the nearest slip-point,' Birdie reported. 'Engines are fuelled and Life Support and the A.G. Field are in perfect condition.'
'OK. I'm gonna go check the cargo,' Freya said and unbuckled herself. 'I'll be back in a tick.'
Freya was a cargo runner in the Andromeda Galaxy. She was well respected and had a good reputation. She was reliable and had never missed a delivery. At the moment they were hauling copper-ore to Sinti and some new computer parts to the Hakintow Drift.
After Freya had made sure that everything was accounted for, she headed back to the cockpit, jumped back in the pilot seat, just as they reached the slip-point.
'Transiting to Slipstream,' Freya reported as the ship lurched forward as they entered Slipstream. Freya piloted the ship with ease, well used to this route. They passed three systems in several minutes and finally arrived at Sinti.
After delivering the cargo, several hours later they took off towards a Dry Dock, in orbit around Sinti. They re-fuelled and restocked on supplies.
Freya and Birdie joked around back on the Hellbird as Freya ate her lunch.
If either of them had known that this was to be the last time they would ever be like this again, Freya would have thanked her for everything.