The Captain's Chair was actually a bit boring if you took it out of context. A simple high-backed chair with arm rests that contained a tablet and screen that could be pulled up whenever needed, that sat just a bit higher than any other on the Command Deck. Finley always had her's done in red and this time was no different.
The two chairs on either side had red armrests but cream backs like the rest of the chairs on the deck.
The chair to the right wasn't just another chair, it was the pilot's chair. The flight controls sat in front of shorter armrests and a consol of instruments displayed everything the pilot needed to know about the ship at all times. It sat at the right hand of the captain because of the pilot's importance on the ship. The only position on the ship that went through more schooling than those that went through the Command School were those who wanted to become pilots. They learned to fly every ship the Earth Sphere had and then took in-depth classes in engineering, chemistry, physics, and aerodynamics to ensure they understood how ships flew and why they reacted the way they did to environmental factors.
Like the Captain, they were expected to see two to three steps ahead of everything that was happening. Space travel wasn't exactly a predictable and the more knowledgeable and experienced a pilot was, the faster and safer they could react. Experienced, reliable pilots were almost as hard to find as good Captains, and Captains that had found them rarely let them go.
Finley had had the same pilot for the last seven years and she'd only backed down on making him Chief Pilot because she would have had to give up Evan as First Officer or Russo as Chief Security Officer. Negotiations over her command staff had been heated and vicious with the new command, who hadn't wanted any Federals in leadership positions, but didn't want Finley sticking around Earth while they were trying to build the new government and couldn't justify electing someone else captain when she was already on the ship. They'd even had the hairbrained idea of a shared command with two captains, Finley and a Republican, but they'd dropped it after she'd laughed in their faces and then spent an hour detailing exactly why that wouldn't work.
After that the only big sticking points had been Evan and Russo, but Finley had never not had them under her command, and she wasn't about to start now. She'd given up all the other command positions on the ship, minus Brandi. But Brandi had been a popular techno-singer before joining the military during the war and still had a strong following. It hadn't taken much to convince them that her fame would be an asset.
Everyone underestimated Brandi, even Finley had when she'd first met her, but there was a reason she'd been so successful, first as a singer and then managed to transition to the military and rise through the ranks.
The seat on the left belonged to the First Officer or whichever officer was in charge of the Command Deck at the time. In the first days of space travel the position of Captain was such an honor that no one else was allowed to sit in their chair, even just for a moment. Some captains still didn't allow it. Finley didn't generally care but she also didn't like when people sat in it without caring about what it meant.
The responsibility that came with it.
The first time she'd caught someone taking a selfie in it she'd had them scrubbing toilets until they could explain exactly what the Captain's Chair represented and after that very few people had ever asked for permission to try it out.
No one had sat in this one yet. It had been built brand new for the Loss and this mission and Finley admired it for a moment, while the rest of the Command settled into their positions on the Command Deck. Finley had made it a tradition on her ships that the command team conducted the first flight, so Beau was adjusting the pilot's chair the way he preferred, something every single pilot did before every flight, and Evan was fiddling with the tablet in the arm of the First Officer's chair.
There was no seat for the Chief Security Officer on the Command Deck, so Russo always stood behind Finley's chair.
In front of the Captain's Chair was a sprawling tabletop holo-screen that could display whatever Finley wanted in 3D. The Communication's Officer and the Science Officer sat on opposite sides of it. While the consols for the Deck and Weapons officers took up the walls on either side of the huge window that stretched around most of the Command Deck.
It was a less than safe design that had somehow hung on throughout the entire lifetime of humans in space. Finley loved it because she loved looking out at the stars, but even she knew it was stupid to wrap half of the most important deck of the ship in glass.
Tempered, treated, incredibly strong glass, but glass none the less.
Well, glass and acrylic plastic, but still.
It was a bit of the vanity humans were so fond of.
Finley smiled as she took her seat. Relaxing back against the ergonomic cushions and shifting until she was comfortable. Which almost wasn't possible in a damn dress uniform because the things weren't generally designed for sitting. Finley planned to stick it in her closet and never wear it again until the return to Earth whenever this Misson ended.
She tapped and brought up the screen from the left armrest, fiddling with it until it displayed the power schematics of the ship, and she could see the status of each section as they began to run up.
To her right, Beau finished his adjustments and slid into the Pilot's Chair with ease. He caught Finley watching him and winked.
~ tbc