Michael reached up and pulled the black rectangular melt box from his fighter's fuselage. The box was seamless as if it were little more than a solid block. The only indications that it wasn't were the power couplings on the ends of the box. This was the Terran's mysterious power core. It was surprisingly small considering its power output. In fact it was really only just big enough to fit a couple plasma rifles inside. After letting the power core go so it could float in the Zero G he reached back into the fuselage to remove two more parts the technician next to him directed him to remove. The technician then handed him the Frayin equivalents to replace them.

Working in Zero G like this wasn't exactly easy. You had to use your entire body just to turn a bolt. As hard as the work was he was glad to have it to keep his mind off the events of a couple nights ago. Tali walking into the room completely naked and then sitting in his lap was not something that he could easily forget. If Tiara and Amara hadn't interrupted when they did, he would probably be having a very awkward conversation with a lot of different people. He could think of at least one person who would be more upset than his father.

Oddly though outside of a few changes in her body language that indicated she was attracted to him, for the most part she acts like it never happened. Really the only changes were that her tail flicked back and forth anytime she was looking at him and that she always positioned herself closer to him than any other female that happened to be in the room, admittedly with one exception. This being if Tiara was in the room. At which point she would stay by Tiara's side whenever possible.

There was a loud click as the shield encoder he was installing finally locked in place. Now all that was left was to put the power core back in and they would be ready to run an ignition test. So gently he moved it back into its previous position and connected the power lines. The technician gave everything a quick once over before giving him the go head to the cockpit.

As he was slipping into the fighter's cockpit Dock Sergeant Koplek landed next to him. "Right remember you need to prime the core using the internal battery." He didn't respond the the Sergeant's helpful reminder though he was glad for it. The fighters had a semi complicated startup procedure to begin with, even without having to reactivate the core. Which wouldn't be much of a problem if hitting a switch in the wrong order couldn't cause one of the four drive engines to explode.

Running through the order one last time he played his hand on the power core primer and took a deep breath. With a quick fick a whirling hum began to imitate from the power core behind him. Once it was up to speed and the power readout was showing a good flow, he started to move through the startup. Each switch he flipped brought a small increase to the hum of the core. Finally he was down to the last switch. If he had done everything in order and correctly reinstalled the power core, when he flipped this switch the main drives would spark to life. If he had missed anything though then the engines would likely explode before any of them could react.With bated breath he reached forward and flipped the last switch.

There was a loud roar from the engines and for just a moment he thought they were about to explode. Except the explosions never came and the engines settled down into what might be called a gentle purr, as the energy projectors stabilized. He couldn't help but smile. Every readout was stable and they were even showing an increase in efficiency from the convertor they had installed. Just then a small roar came from another fighter as it sprung to life. Tiara looked up with a triumphant smile from the fighter's cockpit.

"Alright then! Michael! Tiara! Go change into your flight suits!" Lieutenant Colson yelled out as he entered the hangar. "Yes Sr!" The both responded before lifting themselves out of their respective ships.

Once in the locker room they removed their uniforms so they could change into the nearly skin tight flight suits. just as he was finishing zipping up his own suit Tiara called out to him. "Would you mind helping me zip and seal my suit?" She asked in the most innocent voice he had ever heard her speak in.

When he turned around he found her standing with her back facing him. Her long silver hair was thrown over her shoulder and she was looking back towards him. She fluttered her eyes as they made eye contact. He took a gulp of air. Tiara had always teased and flirted with him but never in any serious fashion. That was definitely not the case here. She was deliberately going out of her way to make sure he understood her intentions.

So without a word he stepped up behind her and snapped the top of the zipper together at the top of the collar. Then he slowly pulled it down while using his other hand to smooth the thin strip of soft fur running down her back so it wouldn't get caught in the zipper. His face felt like it was on fire by the time he reached her tail. She gave him an awkward thanks, her own face a bright scarlet, before working to finish sealing her own suit as he did the same. A few moments later they both returned to the hangar somewhat more composed then they had been before.

They quickly moved to their fighters which had been moved to launch positions. As soon as he got in, a technician helped him with his helmet. As soon as he had it on and sinked with the fighter's comms, he was greeted by the soothing female voice of the Command Controller.

"Fox one we are showing the exit corridor is clear and you have been cleared for a hot launch." She then shifted to giving way points and navigational data before suddenly addressing him. "Fox seven. We all up here in the Command Center here would like to wish you a happy birthday and hope you have a wonderful little shakedown cruise. " He had honestly completely forgotten that it was his birthday. It was kinda funny to think that he was now considered a full adult. The C and C didn't give him too long to muse about what it meant to be a full adult. "Now Fox twelve I'll need you to listen up on this along with Fox seven. In front of you is a set of red lights on the ceiling. In a moment they will turn yellow. When they do, I want you to slowly increase your engine power until the landing gear's magnetic locks give you a flashing yellow light. Once you see that light I want you to flip the primers switch right next to it. Once ya goat all done just wait till I give ya the signal then throw the throttle to full power."

As she finished the red light shifted to yellow and he started to slowly push the throttle forward. He started to get a little nervous as he pushed it past the 50% mark as the magnetic locks winned in protest to the strain they were now under. Finally as the throttle hit 75% the warning light came on he flipped the switch next to the light and it turned a bright blue. In front of him he could see the bright blue white glow of Colson's engines. It was nerve racking to know that all that power that he was looking at now, was also behind him struggling to be released.

It felt like an eternity but it must have been only seconds before the C and C came back over the comm. "Stand by stand by. Fox Squadron approved for launch. All pilot's go on call sign." The smooth voice now showed some urgency to it. Thus was it and there was no going back or room for error. "Fox one, Fox one, cleared, Launch!" As soon as she finished Colson's engines flared and the fighter was suddenly propelled forward out of the hangar. He didn't have time to marvel at what had just happened because as soon as Fox one was clear the comms sparked to life again. "Fox seven, Fox seven, cleared, Launch!" As soon as he heard the word launch he threw the throttle to full power.

He was immediately thrown back into the pilot's seat as his fighter blew out of the hangar at a fraction the speed of light. In the five seconds it took him to realize what was going on he was halfway to the orbit path of Terra's moon. It took him a moment longer to register the screams of delight coming over the comms from Tiara. "Wooo! That had to be the best way to launch a fighter in all eternity! Can we do it again!?!?" He couldn't help but smile. It might have been the adrenaline talking but he wholeheartedly agreed with Tiara. This was a birthday he was not going to forget.