Southern Cross by Windstar

The First Guardian smiled as she followed Julie over towards the Guardians crash couch located
in the center of the circular command center. Taking a seat and strapping herself into the
temporary chair, which had been installed next to that couch, she grinned.
"It will take as long as it takes. Don't try to rush it Julie. Just do what I told you, visualize the
gravity eddies and then shift them."
"Easy for you to say."
It, of course, was not as easy as Emie had said, but it was close enough to get Julie started.
Making certain that the straps were tight, Emily settled into her chair. Not that she was that
surprised, but despite whatever Julie might think, she was doing a great job so far. The last
attempt had nearly succeeded, and that had been only after three hours of attempts. A good
hundred thousand kilometers behind them, North Star sat patiently. Waiting while the First
Guardian coached the newest Guardian through her ship builder's trials.
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"Easy for you to say."
Grumbling to herself, Julie finished strapping herself down in preparation for what she was about
to do. Forming an artificial wormhole was not an easy proposition. No artificial intelligence had
ever succeeded in what Julie was now training for. She'd heard it described a dozen different
ways. Warp Gating was the basis of Tiri space travel, for without this way of circumventing the
light speed barrier; no ship could have traversed the vast distances between the stars in anything
even resembling a decent amount of time.
In the simplest terms, a Warp Gate was, for all intents and purposes, an artificially created
wormhole. The fabric of space itself was folded in on it's self, much as one would fold a piece of
paper until two points were touching on it. The shortest distance between two points, in space at
least, was not a straight line, but a fold. She understood all the theory and had passed her training
courses back at the Guardian Trainee facility at the old air force base in Plattsburgh New York.
Still, it was one thing to understand the theory, and quite another to actually do it in the real
world.
The fact that Emily was finding the entire situation amusing was not helping at all either.
"You know, you could at least pretend to be sympathetic to what I'm going through here."
That only brought a wider grin from the raven-haired First Guardian, and blue eyes danced with
amusement. Strapping herself in as well, the taller woman stretched out her legs and got
comfortable.
"Try not to force it so much Julie. Remember, it's as much an art as it is a science."
Muttering, Julie let her headrest back against the cushion of the couch and closed her eyes.