“You want me to what?” Asked Casey incredulously.

  “I’m going to turn off gravity in the ship, and match vectors with a broken satellite. Your maneuvering frame will give you a personal sensation of gravity and keep you on the floor. When I get it into the cargo hold, you are just to reach out and grab it. Then put it on the floor and tape it down. Tape is over there.”. Peggy put another outline of light around a door on the forward bulkhead.

  Casey fetched an elaborate looking tape dispenser.

  “This looks over-engineered.”

  “It’s just over-engineered enough so that you never have to fumble with trying to find the edge of the tape roll with gloves on, because, you know, the vacuum of space.”

  Casey hooked the tape dispenser onto a convenient ring on the maneuvering frame and waited as Peggy did whatever she was doing with all the air.

  “So how do your people do this whole space-walk stuff?”

  “While our species is capable of grasping and manipulating objects with our, eh, tentacles…” Casey could hear the eye roll in Peggy’s hesitation “we typically have always used remotes for the more fiddly tasks. Also, space suits are a big technical challenge for us. Our bodies have a degree of stretch and flexibility that is hard to match with suits you can seal. We have them and use them as needed, but they are like wearing a onesie that is a size too small.”

  By this time Peggy had the large elevator hatch opened, this time configured like a ramp instead of lowering straight down from the floor.

  “We are approaching at an angle due to the orientation of the solar panels.” Peggy supplied helpfully. “Hold it as far out from you as you can so it doesn’t get caught in your frame’s gravitational reference. Also, move slowly so I can more easily keep up with reconfiguring said gravitational reference.”

  The satellite meandered slowly up the ramp, relatively speaking, and Casey carefully swung it around and to the floor, before going wild with the tape.

  “This thing looks like it is in pretty good shape.” She observed.

  “Yeah, absent going over it with a micrometer I am not detecting any damage. It probably just had a component failure. I am closing up now. Keep the suit sealed until you are back in the airlock, as I am keeping the hold in a vacuum.”

  “Worried about what may be on or in this thing?”

  “Not overly much, this is just standard protocols for things you don’t have complete technical specifications for. Develop good habits in training, express good habits in operations.”

  “So now down to Florida?”

  “Yeah. We are going to go the scenic route though, because I want to give the Patrick SFB flybois in the jets a chance to intercept us and show off.”

  “Are you being my wingman here? I haven't forgotten about the night out on the town you have in mind.” Casey lectured.

  “Look, have some fun with me up here, and then go hang out on the flight line in your ship suit there and you will have some Space Force junior officers falling over themselves to show you a good time this evening.”

  Casey had an epiphany.

  “You're not just trying to get me laid are you? You’re recruiting!”

  “I knew your people picked you for a reason. I’ve explained that our species doesn’t have a sex drive, so my interest in yours is purely academic. Although, surprisingly, charting the jumps in your vitals every time I bring it up is more fun than I thought it would be. To the heart of the matter though, the mass of resignations from your space force, where 100% of the members have never been to space, is going to be EPIC. Popcorn for everyone.”

  “Well, I do suppose you came to shake things up.” Casey said as she entered the airlock and started removing the extra equipment.

  “We’re slowing, and will be in position to hit the atmosphere in about twenty minutes. I am already talking to the relevant folks in Houston so do whatever until reentry.” Peggy advised. Casey decided to get more coffee. She placed her cup in the washer when Peggy gave her a five minute warning, and headed to the pilot compartment to strap in.

  “OK, we are slowed to about two hundred and fifty nautical miles per hour, and we are going to just nose over into the atmosphere. There won’t be any aerobraking, so none of the heat and turbulence you would expect from your old way of doing things. We will drop to an altitude of about ten thousand feet and come in low and slow. Your F-35s should catch up when we are about one hundred and fifty miles off shore.”

  “Cool, cool.” Casey added helpfully. She wasn't nervous. “I do have to ask though, why your people picked potential submariners for this instead of astronauts.”

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  “That has to do with mental attitudes, operational environments and command structures more than anything else.” Peggy supplied as the view out the ports skewed wildly. “It is easier to teach the Navy orbital mechanics than it is to teach a flyboi the isolation of the deep black, and an Ensign with no specialty training has no bad habits to unlearn.”

  Descending at a steep angle, it was only a few minutes before they leveled out and dipped lower at a more casual rate.

  “That was your first reentry, are you OK?”

  “A little excited, but yeah.” Casey affirmed. “What now?”

  “Some lazy circles until our new friends get here. Should be another 10 minutes.”

  “Unidentified.. eh, flying object…. This is Space Force F-35 on Guard frequency 121.5 approaching from your West. Please identify and state your intentions.” Casey heard as Peggy piped the radio communications into the compartment.

  “SF F-35, this is Harseese Two, heading into a nice casual landing at Patrick to meet with some egg-heads. Switching to one three zero point zero.” Peggy responded.

  “Harseese Two, what is your flight plan?” the pilot replied after a few moments.

  “We are going to head North for a few minutes while we talk to the tower and then West to the runway. We have some time to kill though if you two want to finish your approach and get a good look.”

  “Maintain airspeed and heading, Harseese Two.”

  After a few minutes, one of the planes slipped in to a formation ahead and to the left of the ship. Casey saw on her screens that the second was behind and to the right.

  “What that extra-chonky B2 do?” Came over the radio. Casey saw on the screen that the plane behind them lit up, indicating it was the one transmitting.

  “Embarrass you, if you want to wave your genitals around in that little toy where you can't do anything with them.” Peggy returned aggressively.

  “Let's not say anything we can't take back.” Casey mediated.

  “No, I kinda want to hear more.” Came back from the other plane. Casey was surprised that Peggy had included her in the conversation.

  “I can pull maneuvers at any G you could name and not even feel it, and both my acceleration and top speed in-atmosphere is limited only by my desire to keep the sonic booms under control. But do please keep taunting the happy fun ball.” Peggy had apparently taken the chonky comment personally.

  “I would advise that in the future you not make comments about the lady's weight.” Casey added.

  “Our apologies ma'am. Heading change due West in 30 seconds… Mark.” The lead pilot said sheepishly.

  “Roger heading change; we will turn casually, at a rate of 10 degrees per second.” informed Peggy.

  Several minutes and some negotiation with air traffic and ground control later, Casey was unstrapping herself from the seat.

  “I deployed the landing legs and touched down this time, so can you please get outside quickly and make sure no-one touches me?” asked Peggy.

  Casey hopped up and moved expeditiously to the rear, but the door to the cargo hold remained closed. Instead, a circle lit up on the floor of the airlock. Standing on it, Casey saw that there was a second, smaller, lift down to the ground. Hopping off at the bottom, she looked around for anyone nearby.

  “You!” She indicated an Airman (Spaceman? Lol) nearby. “Get me in touch with the control officer.”

  “Yes ma'am” the Airman saluted. Casey returned it and he began talking on his walkie-talkie. “He is on his way, Ma'am.”

  “Carry on.”

  “Yes ma'am.”

  Before long a Space Force branded SUV pulled up and a Lieutenant got out. Casey saluted.

  “How can I help you?” The Lieutenant asked after dropping his return salute.

  “Ensign Trainor sir, US Navy.

  “Captain Alvarez.”

  Casey had forgotten for a moment that the different services did that with their ranks. Stupid practice, in her opinion. A Captain should be an O-6.

  “I need a cordon around Peggy here for safety. I haven't been told that anything about her is classified, but since no-one has been trained on how she works no one lays hands on her.”

  “You can look and take pictures, but if anyone tries to touch me I will be forced to resist.” added Peggy from a concealed speaker on Casey's collar.

  “I can't have unauthorized live weapons on my flight line.” warned the Captain.

  “If anyone tries to touch me I will just push them into the ground at five gees.” Peggy compromised. “And if they make me stop being polite about it I will push them in some other direction at five gees.”

  “Seriously?” warned Captain Alvarez.

  “Peggy doesn't answer to us, sir.”

  “Fine.” the Captain sighed. “How does it work?”

  “Request permission to alter gravity around your person, sir?” asked Casey, since she wasn't sure if Peggy would.

  “What? Yeah, sure.” said Alvarez before he suddenly took a knee. “Wow, ouch.”. He stood back up.

  “That was two gees.” supplied Peggy helpfully.

  “Alright, I'll log it. On an unrelated note, the two pilots who met up with you out there asked if you were going to be around when they land.”

  “I've got nothing going on until the NASA guys get here, so yeah.”

  “Then you do whatever you need to do while you wait and I'll get some cones over here.” he got back in his SUV and drove away.

  “I suppose we have some checklists?” prompted Casey.

  “Yeah. I have sensors on everything, but we typically use remotes to verify the readings. Good practice for you.”

  “Let's get started.”

  Peggy helpfully sent a small six legged drone from a charging cabinet in the airlock which scrambled over the hull like it's feet were magnetic and shined a light on the things Casey needed to look at. They were at it for about thirty minutes before they heard someone call out from the ring of cones that some Airman had circled Peggy with while they worked.

  “Request permission to enter the secure area?” It shouted.

  Casey poked her head down through the hatch she had climbed up into in order to verify some gizmo she wouldn't be able to pick out of a lineup later.

  “Come on over, but consider every physical object you see a big red button.” She called out. A Lt. JG and a Lt walked past the cones. Rather, a 1st Lt. And a Captain. She would get used to this. She swung herself down and out of the hatch and dropped to the ground.

  She introduced herself again while saluting. The two officers tried not to make bug eyes at what she was wearing.

  “Captain Tanner, First Lieutenant Brinks.” Saluted the Captain. “I would have brought flowers for the lady we offended, but they don't stock them on the flight line.”

  Casey held her arms out to indicate the ship. “May I introduce Arpeggio, AKA Peggy. Heir to Hive Harseese.”

  The Captain made a small circling motion with his hand that encompassed all of the ship. “Like, the ship is Peggy?”

  “Peggy is a fully sentient intelligence that controls the ship, so yeah. Close enough.” explained Casey.

  “That is the coolest thing I think I have ever seen.” understated Lieutenant Brinks.