Southern Cross by Windstar

"All hands, prepare for Transition attempt. Artificial gravity shut down in three, two, one.
Artificial gravity shut down, transition attempt in five minutes."
Swallowing she resisted the urge to reach out and take hold of Emie's hand. The older woman
would take her hand, she had no doubt, but she wanted to do this on her own. That and a part of
her was still uncomfortable with showing that much affection out in the open, especially on her
command deck.
Instead the red head surveyed the region of space around her ship self. Specialized sensors
became her eyes and she mapped the gravity flows and eddies through the hundreds of
kilometers around her. Opening a warp gate was a tricky bit of art and science. She was
determined to open one this time though, despite whatever Emily thought about how long it
should take her.
The sliver of her self that was still aware of her command deck kept track of the constant flow of
reports from the section heads. She was also quite aware of exactly where Emily was sitting,
down to the centimeter. It was comforting to have her friend so close by, and she found herself
drawing strength from that closeness as she studied the spatial fluxuations around her.
Southern Cross's massive computer arrays spun into action and aided her in defining everything
that her sensors were showing her. Biting her bottom lip as a bead of sweat appeared on her
forehead, she cautiously began focusing the massive amounts of energy her Warp Gate
generators had stored up. It was tricky, like poking a small hole through rubber and then folding
it back out onto itself without ever letting go of it. Every time she had tried this before, she had
mentally slipped, and the small hole she had managed to open had closed before she could do
anything. This time though, she managed to open the first hole without any problem.
Making certain that she took a deep breath, it was easy for a Guardian to become lost in her Ship
Self when she sank this deep into the bond, she carefully widened the hole in the fabric of space.
A warp gate was, essentially, a controlled wormhole, with a known destination. Hers was only a
few thousand kilometers away, a brief hop and a skip in terms of Warp Gating, but it was still
taking enormous amounts of energy.
Finally though, she had it, a fully opened Warp Gate, stabilized and ready for Transition. Feeling
her face form into a grin, she eased the five kilometers of her ship self forwards and then coasted
through the warp gate.
Transition was not a pleasant experience for most people. For a single instant Southern Cross
was in the impossible balance point of gravitation forces strong enough to alter time itself. To
Julie, it was beautiful, a play of sensor ghosts and actual readings, which bathed her mind in a
glimpse of what perfection must look like.
Then it was over.
Green eyes met amused dark blue eyes and Julie smiled wider, even though two of her command
crew was dry heaving.