Contributor: BinaryAgent

Kenna stalked away from the bridge to a small elevator that would take her to the gunner's seat. She rode the elevator up to a small room. She got out and crawled up a ladder, through a round opening, and into a worn seat. She tried to get comfortable in the chair, and strapped herself in.

“Garbage!” She shouted, as she buckled the harness. “They want me to shoot big chunks of garbage into little chunks of garbage so they can collect it!” She was fuming. “I did not train for twelve years in the academy to shoot at garbage!”

She grabbed the controls, but when she looked forward, she realized that there wasn't a windshield. In fact, the entire gunner's seat was enclosed by thick metal walls. Kenna rotated the small cockpit around with the joystick in her left hand. She couldn't see a thing! She flicked switches that brought several displays to life around her, but not one of them showed her the outside of her enclosed station. She began looking around for some lever or button that would move the plating out of the way so that she could see – but there was nothing, nothing but a crash helmet with a black visor.

“How do they expect me to shoot anything if I can't see?” She grumbled to herself as he pulled on the helmet. “Now I can't even see the inside of the cockpit!” She tried to move the black visor, but it wouldn't budge. As she was about to yank off the useless headgear, a blinding green light flashed in front of her eyes. A green word blinked on the inside of the visor.

“Initializing...” After a few seconds there was a beep and the words changed. “Command: 'See the inside of the cockpit.' Command Accepted. Initializing...” There was another bright green flash. Kenna squeezed her eyes closed. When she opened them, she could see the cockpit in stunning detail. It took her a moment to remember she was still wearing the helmet. The world around her, she slowly realized, was all an intricately crafted 3-D facsimile. She cleared her throat.

“Examine the outside.” She commanded. A green word appeared in the empty air in front of her face.

“Initializing...Command: 'Examine the outside.' Invalid Command.” Kenna slumped down in the chair. This may be harder than she thought. She cleared her throat and tried again.

“Look outside.” She commanded. Again, the string of green text materialized in front of her face.

“Initializing...Command: 'Look outside.' Invalid Command.” Kenna growled.

“I just want to see the outside of the ship!” She exclaimed angrily.

“Initializing... Command: 'See the outside of the ship.' Command Accepted. Initializing...” And with a bright flash, the cockpit vanished, letting Kenna see her entire surroundings. She slowly rotated the cockpit, and the digital rendition of her surroundings responded accordingly.

“Whoa! This is awesome!” She exclaimed. She grasped the joystick by her right hand. Green words appeared in front of Kenna.

“Initializing Guns...”

“See the inside of the cockpit.” Kenna commanded. In a flash, the walls of her small room reappeared. She reached forward and tapped on one of the many keyboards. A schematic of the Holgar's guns came up on the screen. “Now this is what I've been waiting for!” Kenna crooned.