<div class="floatleft">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/f/fa/Mars_test.jpg)</div><table class="bbc_table"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Character name:</strong></td><td>Lt Colonel Louise Cotter</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Location:</strong> </td><td>The Cockpit of the MA-001</td></tr><tr><td><strong>With:</strong> </td><td>Amber</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Doing:</strong> </td><td>Taking a breather.</td></tr></tbody></table><br/><hr/><br/>The Mars Colony's mission commander nodded as her co-pilot noticed the pressure sensor. "Mmhmm. Keep an eye on it, would you? We have too many important people on this bird to risk a crash. We can haul whoever didn't recalibrate it properly over the coals when we get back to base." Louise shook her head and accessed the calibration software. Sure enough the setting was a hundred times higher than it should have been. "Vee, I don't think it's going to cause a problem, as long as the fuel system on number two doesn't spring a leak and start spraying Lox everywhere. If that happens, we might not notice for a few minutes, is all. Bring the back-up system on line just to be safe, okay?"<br/><br/>Triple redundancy was the name of the game, with two back-up systems and an emergency "WAGTOD" system. The Wagtod system got it's name from a comedian on Mars Mission Two, the mission that had built the main base and almost everything in it. He had been one of the engineers who had built most of the base equipment and designed many of the redundant systems, and his acronym was based on the fact that, to use his own words, "If this one comes into play, then everything that can go wrong has gone wrong, and We're All Going TO Die!"<br/><br/>At first the flight was exciting, but after about two hours of staring at the rolling orange horizon that never seemed to get any closer, Louise began to feel the need for something else. "Vee, take over would you? I need a wizz." She unbuckled and stood, stretching, feeling her joints pop. The aircraft was flying itself anyway, hammering through the thin Martian atmosphere at maximum altitude and maximum speed, Louise pulled the data cable from the back of her neck and watched as the telemetry of the craft vanished from her brain.<br/><br/>Picking up her helmet, she stepped out of the cockpit and headed for the toilet. After relieving herself, a sly grin spread across her face.<br/><br/><tt class="bbc_tt">Colonel Hotpants requests the presence of Major Sexybutt, in the port-side restroom, to inaugurate membership of the Martian Mile High Club</tt><br/><br/>She used the aircraft's own comm system to send the private message, as they were well out of range of the New Sydney relay system and sending a direct signal to her lover's implant was against regulations while in flight. Of course the signal was broadcast, but all anyone else would get was a burst of static on their implants. Those with military grade implants would get a message, that would be addressed to Maj Hicks, and would be total gibberish. Only Laura herself had the correct code-key to decode the secret message.