I arrived at the naval spaceport just outside the headquarters. A general purpose Navy shuttle was preparing for lift-off. It's pilot was walking around the shuttle, doing a visual check-up before the flight to Low Mars Orbit. I approached him.
"Is this the shuttle to Pavonis shipyards?" I asked.
"Can't you rea-" he lifted his head, saw me and swallowed up his words. "Yes, sir."
"When will we take off?" I asked.
"We should be underway in around ten minutes." he said. "Please let me place your trunk to the cargo hold."
"Here." I said, and gave the trunk to him. He went to unlock the cargo hold as I stepped into the shuttle. Inside the shuttle, there were many Navy officers; I had never seen most of them before. All the passenger seats were occupied, so I went ahead and sat in the co-pilot's seat.
"Long time no see." someone just behind me said. I turned around to look at him.
"Aris!" I said. He was my friend from the academy. After our graduation, we were separated and he was sent to Earth with a diplomatic convoy, and we had never seen each other again. "You didn't even change the slightest... How have you been?"
"I've been doing great, babysitting all day in the embassy. But you tell me, how is it to serve aboard an actual spaceship?" he said.
"Well, I've been busy staring at an empty console the whole time, but other than that, the feeling is great." I said. "Wait, don't tell me... Are you assigned to Lodos too!?"
"I wish I was..." he said. "Unfortunately, they decided to assign me to the Pavonis orbital shipyards."
"That's sad..." I said. He turned his head and started looking out of the window.
The pilot of the shuttle sat on his seat.
"Fasten your belts ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to the glorious Martian Navy."
I fastened my seatbelt like everyone else. The pilot then turned to me.
"Okay, would you mind starting the APU system? The switch should be right next to that panel over there." he said. I looked to the panel on my right, and found the switches. "Here we go." the pilot said. I could hear the systems slowly powering up.
"Electric bus A to C, check... Propellant mix rate, one for two and a half, check... Nozzle gimbal, twenty degrees, check... Radiator temp, two hundred and ninety two Kelvins, check..." The pilot was now reading the outputs for me to double check. Despite being a sensor post officer, I had basic flight knowledge, so I could sit in the co-pilot's seat in confidence.
"All go." I said at the end of the little before-flight checklist.
The shuttle's underside engines fired up, and we started lifting off of the starport's landing pad. After the shuttle started hovering thirty meters above the pad, I raised the landing gear. The pilot slowly turned the ship's nose upwards, and fired up the double main engines located at the back of the shuttle. Everyone was pushed back against their seats as the shuttle rose into the sky and begin accelerating to attain orbital velocity. Soon enough, we were high above the denser parts of the Martian atmosphere.
I turned back and looked at Aris as the shuttle was ascending. He was still looking out of his window, but with a little sadness, which he was trying to suppress.
"Hey, at least you will get to see my ship before we depart." I said. He looked back at me.
"Yeah, that's cool." he replied. "How old is that ship anyway? A hundred and fifty years?"
"Two hundred and ten." I said. "It is an Independence War veteran. But she went through a lot of refits during it's lifetime, so I don't think there are any original parts left anymore."
"Still, that's impressive." he said. "Two hundred and ten years in service..."
Lodos was indeed a very old ship, in fact, it was the second oldest ship still serving in the Martian Navy. It was constructed just after the Martian War of Independence broke out, and it had survived many battles. Although it's technology was outdated and it's armaments were outpowered by modern ships, it had somehow managed to stay in service until this day.
Contrary to most other warships, Lodos was the hybird of two different classes; it served as a light carrier and a missile cruiser at the same time, unlike most Navy ships which were dedicated for a single purpose. It was less deadly than a dedicated missile cruiser and less effective than a dedicated carrier, but it could do both jobs; which was what made the ship special. It was also quite a unique design, being one of the only two ships of it's kind. Together with her older sister Oyashio, they were the oldest ships of the Navy.
After some manuevers and orbital rendezvous, we began approaching Pavonis orbital shipyards. The warship Lodos and refinery ship Cassini was docked to the shipyard. There were little tugs flying all around the shipyard like a beehive.
"Pavonis traffic control, this is Navy shuttle Pitya. Requesting approach and docking permission, as planned." the pilot contacted the shipyard as we were getting closer.
"Shuttle Pitya, please maintain relative position for a security scan." Pavonis traffic control replied. We slowed down our approach for a few seconds.
"Shuttle Pitya, request granted. Keep relative velocity under 50 meters per second and navigate to docking bay 3-3."
"Copy that, docking bay 3-3." the pilot confirmed the instructions. I changed the head-up display to docking mode and enabled high-precision sensors for approach.
"One hundred meters for contact."
I wasn't even paying attention to the flight computer anymore. I couldn't take my eyes off of my old ship Lodos. My life aboard that ship... They were my best years in the Navy. The ship itself was amazing on it's own, but I think the crew members were the most influential people I have ever encountered.
"Twenty five meters for contact, relative speed 1.75 m/s."
We were about to come to a stop at the docking bay. A few seconds later, after the final fine-tuning manuevers; the shuttle smoothly connected with the shipyard's docking port.
"Contact... Airlock secure. Welcome to Pavonis orbital shipyards. Service teams have been dispatched. Please switch to starport services frequency on 114250. Traffic control out."
The shuttle's door opened and everyone started getting off the shuttle. I got off the shuttle as well, got my trunk from the cargo hold and started walking with Aris.
"I didn't know the Lodos was this big. I always thought of it like a small corvette." he said.
"It is 1.2 kilometers long." I said.
"That's bigger than some modern capital ships." he said.
"Yes, but since it's equipment is outdated, it has to make up with superior numbers." I said. "Perhaps this is the only reason why it's still in service."
"I see..." he said. We came to an intersection. On the right was warship Lodos, and on the left side, the shipyard administration. "Look, we have to part ways here, so I might not see you again for a long time."
"Oh." I said. "Well, if you say so... Take good care of yourself."
"You too. Try not to die too early." he said.
"I will try." I said. We waved at each other and went the opposite ways. I made my way to Lodos' boarding gate. A security officer in front of the gate asked for my Navy ID and scanned me.
"Go ahead."
I walked through the gate and stepped into the warship for the first time after years. Luckily, the interior had not changed too much, so it was rather easy to find my way around. I qucikly found my assigned room and placed my trunk there. Just after that, I glanced at the new lieutenant commander pin on my uniform. It was feeling... different.
I left the quarters and made my way to the bridge.