Chapter Text
She was never a morning person. She wasn’t even an evening person either. Catra was a wake up anytime you want person. However, bring in the military for so long, she’s overridden that part of her time and time again.
Case in point, when the call of sleep beckons to her, she ignores it. The glass door covering her pod opened unbidden and the cool air of the ship hit her nose. It was a refreshing scent having been in cryo-sleep for weeks. Forcing her eyes open, she was greeted with the dim glow of the overhead lights. She rubs her eyes to get rid of any thoughts of sleep. Catra pushes herself up from the uncomfortable pod and up onto her feet.
She walked into the bridge of her ship, The Fervor. As she does so, the lights lit up as she approaches the ship's bridge. The onboard AI greeted her as usual. Familiar screens pop up for Catra to review and the Fervor's systems show a lot of red or amber colorations on different parts of the ship. It looked like her ship went 12 rounds with 'Gallopta Giant' and won with barely any time to get away, which was surprising because she could have sworn she plotted the course correctly and would be a straight shot to her destination.
“Status report.” Catra says.
A deep staccato-like voice answered her, “We’ve sustained mild damage to the aft engine and to the starboard wing.”
Catra’s eyebrows furrowed to the news, "How did that happen? Were we attacked?"
"Negative, Captain. We've encountered an asteroid field and made several plot adjustments to avoid life threatening collisions."
Catra swiped her hand a couple of times to switch between screens of her holo-computer. It was true, their were indentions on the parts of the ship that the Fervor had mentioned that weren't there before. "Why didn’t you wake me up when this happened?”
“Our systems are more than enough to take care of the integrity of the ship without manual assistance. Should we think that we weren’t capable, we would’ve awaken you, Force Captain.”
She rubbed her face, “Okay... Okay, fine. So, are we on course?”
“Negative, Captain.” came the electronic voice.
“So we’re off course?”
“…”
“Fervor?
“Correct, Force Captain.”
Well, that's just great. Absolutely blasting perfect. They were lost and on top of that she was saddled with a dumb AI as her co-pilot. She didn't think that, that was possible! Catra sought out the captains seat. Not an hour in and she's about ready to go back to sleep. “Ugh, set a course for the nearest hospitable planet.”
“Already set, Captain. We’re approaching a water based planet, not yet under Hoard control.”
That's weird. A planet not yet under Hoardak's control. I mean, it wasn't that absurd for a planet to have independence, but usually those kinds of planets don't last very long without Hoard assistance. They'd be cut off from major supply lines and would fall prey to pirates, but if they can manage self-sustenance it could be possible. “Fine, whatever. As long as you can land.” Catra says.
“Affirmative, Captain.”
Catra sits on her seat at the center of the bridge, "And no more detours!"
No good bucket of bolts, Catra cursed to herself. She made a mental note to never let, Octavia pick out and prepare her ship for her. It’s a wonder it hasn't killed her yet. She feels herself start to get heated and took deep breaths to calm down. Octavia, her second, came to her already an established soldier. If it wasn't for Hoardak's favor toward her, Catra would've been second to Octavia. Catra remembers everyone's reaction to her getting Force Captain before Octavia had, who had been working literal years trying to become one. She realizes that she might have ruffled a few feathers, but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. This was a stepping stone to much bigger plans.
She waved her hand again, bringing up the display showing her a diagnostic of the planet. At first glance it was unremarkable, but the fact that it wasn't under empire control kept being brought up. Exactly how far off course are they? Catra expands the map to get a better look of the planetary system they were in. She doesn't recognize it. Most of the planets they passed were desolate. No life signs whatsoever, except for that one...
She swipes her hand again and several monitors filled the holo-monitor. Some of the cargo boxes that she left in there were tossed nothing to drastic, but Catra couldn't be sure if she actually went down there herself and checked, which she wasn't willing to do.
“Fervor?”
“Yes, Force Captain?”
She hits a few buttons on her chair and is promptly displayed another angle of the cargo hold. Just like the previous vid, it looks fine, but like she thought, Catra can’t be sure from where she’s was sitting.
“How’s the Cargo? Anything get damaged?”
“Rune stones are 88 percent structurally sound, Captain.”
Catra nods to herself, well, it wasn't bad, if she had to feel relieved over something it’s the fact that when she gets back she won’t go back empty handed. Hopefully, the inhabitants are more than accommodating to allow her to stop by and repair her ship as soon as they realize who they were dealing with and if they didn't, then she'll make them understand.
She sees the blue glow of the planet slowly approach. She’s never seen a blue-green planet. Always pinks or blues. It seemed almost natural, but she knew better. The different lights illuminating the planet tells her otherwise. That the inhabitants are at least civilized. Getting closer to the green orb, Catra notices that the lights were congested in some areas and other places weren't teeming with life. Why was that? Overpopulation? Or was it a machine-based planet?
Catra shifted in her seat. Whatever, she'll know the semantics soon, if she remembers to ask. For now her first priority is to make contact and find their nearest docking station. Catra sends out a series of codes meant for the signal tower and prepares to land, they had to have at least that right?
She leans back, ready for another routine landing on another planet. With any luck this new planet might even have another Rune Stone that she can collect.
Catra pulls up the planet's Bio and after much deliberation, she types in some characters. Well if it wasn’t named yet, she was going to be the first one.
‘Catra-1’.