Vignettes
Posted on Tue Apr 19th, 2011 @ 1:06pm by Captain Elsie Halliwell & Commander Curtiss Drake & Captain T'mpest Michaels & Lieutenant Commander Eliza McAdams & Lieutenant Commander Dylan Blake & Lieutenant Alessandro Reynaldi & Lieutenant Cedric Shepherd & Lieutenant Jimmy Cooper & Lieutenant Gumalt Poxx & Lieutenant JG Richard Lay & Lieutenant JG Lucy Carter & Captain Alexsa Kendrick
2,360 words; about a 12 minute read
Mission:
Shoreleave
Location: USS Ranger
Timeline: Current
ON:
As the small object hung against the blanket of space in the distance, Halliwell nodded to the CONN officer as he relayed the spacedock’s opening hail. “Permission granted,†he punctuated his verse with as Halliwell relaxed back in her chair and informed him to bid both T’alaal and Northcutt, despite their ending differences, a thank you and goodbye.
The spacedock, Starbase 687, loomed as the Intrepid class Ranger sailed forward into her open cavity. As she was enveloped by the protection of Federation outpost, Halliwell felt a sigh of relief flood her body. It was usually the identical feeling that coursed through her when she stepped foot on her own vessel. That feeling of extended security. But with the recent skirmishes they had all encountered, regardless of the Fairfax’s masterly protection, and with the package they were now ferrying, all of her crew were on tender hooks.
The dock’s umbilical grapples latched onto the Ranger with a jerk and as Elsie gave the ship-wide order to power down; the soft, comforting rumble beneath their feet dissipated. She stood, nodded to her Executive Officer and then silently walked to her ready room to await the specialised security teams already dispatched to ship. Half of her wanted to be stood, hand hovering trepidatiously over the package as it lay secured in the Science lab, when the head of the security detail entered the room, but the other half relinquished it so freely that her own apathy disturbed her.
As the call from Shepherd trilled through her room, she took out her dusty bottle of port and poured a celebratory thimble of liquor. It sat on her desk untouched until she recycled it hours later in her own replicator.
Security
Shepherd watched the base security detail leave with the artifact on a gravcart, accompanied by a base science liaison and Doctor Mar, clucking anxiously at anyone close. The decision had been made not to subject the artifact to any further transporter travel, as its molecular structure was still unknown (Mar had nearly screamed herself hoarse when she learned how it was recovered from the QAR), so the detail had come aboard to escort it into the hands of Starfleet the old-fashioned way.
Mar hadn't said a word to him since their conversation about her encounter with Michaels, and he was more than a little relieved to have her off the ship. Though he still had her monstrosity of a complaint that he'd have to file now, her departure meant he didn't have to keep an ear to the ground about her activities anymore, which was calming all on its own.
"Think the thing actually works?" asked Master Chief S'teis, standing at his side.
"Part of me hopes not," Shepherd admitted. "Warp speeds are as good as they're going to get, and every government in the quadrant plans accordingly. Nobody's thought too hard about what to do with invaders who aren't limited by warp speed factors. The day we have to start planning for that," he shook his head, "it'll be a whole new arms race to nowhere."
S'teis grunted thoughtfully.
Main Engineering]
The Engineering staff bustled quickly under the whip of their leader as he barked orders with his booming Italian baritone voice. The walls seemed to shake as he bellowed from his constantly changing positions. He did so not to be an ass, which was his usual reason, but because the Engine room was very loud after the damage the Ranger had sustained from the QAR.
He walked quickly over to Lieutenant Jg Richard Dan, one of his propulsion specialists. He'd been monitoring the warp core while in flight and was providing the helm on the Bridge with extra technical support in case there were problems. "We're dropping out of Warp, sir." Dan reported.
"Good. Monitor those warp bubble shifts carefully, Lieutenant." Alex commanded, steepling his hands behind his back. "Port injector three and four have been flowing unsteadily. I'm sure the Captain wouldn't like us falling apart."
The large man nodded and continued with his work faithfully. After a few moments, it was announced by someone on the upper tier of the room that they were docking with the Starbase.
"Confirm moorings are locked and switch to external support mode!" Alex bellowed as he walked toward the console in front of the room, sitting on the red safety bar that encircled it. After a brief lapse in lighting which confirmed the Ranger was now working on station power, he ran his fingers swiftly across the console. "Core shutdown in three... two... one!"
The blue haze of the core spiraled slowly into blackness. Alex turned to face his department. "All sub-department heads, I expect reports to me in one hour."
"But sir!" Interjected someone from the line of engineers on one of the walls.
"No buts, Ensign. One hour, not a second more. If you don't have the time, I suggest you find it," he said loudly, even though the noise from the core had abated and the room was very much silent. "As for the rest of you... sip as many pina coladas as you can, because when we get back it's work time!" He chuckled gently, his unmistakable charm showing through for a second. "Have a good shore leave, Dismissed!!"
Lieutenant Blake chuckled softly observing the shocked, unhappy face of the Ensign as several of the other members of crew filtered out unable to hide their grins. Blake too was glad for some respite, some quality time with Sehra was called for as too were long layins and plenty of frolicking. Inputting the final computer codes into console having been called down to assist with the shutdown Blake rose, stretched the crick in his spine and cut a swatch to the exit.
T'kaarch's crew quarters
T'kaarch lay on his couch, his fur still singed at places and he had 21st century plasters all over his face, though that was more decoration then anything else. Presently, Holly appeared. Her arm was re-attached, and Captain T'alaal had used her holographic experience to improve her looks, and she had a surprise for T'kaarch, who hadn't seen her properly since the destruction of the QAR ship.
In fact, T'alaal had given her some sort of a metamorphosis. For one, she looked younger. Not that she had looked 'old' to begin with, but she was now really begin-twenties. Then she dyed her hair blue-black, with purple-pink highlights. She wore dark make-up, and her clothes were a strange combination of Starfleet Officer red shoulder trim, but where the uniform's black was supposed to be she wore leather. The picture was finished by 20-th century denim jeans and fitting boots.
T'kaarch was so shocked by this appearance, he almost called an intruder alert. Fortunately, his comm-badge was on the table, and Holly was in between it.
Holly grinned. "Last time I didn't know you, now you don't know me!" Her voice was still the same.
"Holly?"
"Yup, the one and only." She did a twirl. "What do you think? Isn't it cute?"
Cute wasn't entirely the word T'kaarch had in mind. "It... suits you."
"I knew you'd like it!" Holly hopped enthusiastically, then threw herself romantically into his arms, which T'kaarch used for the simple reason that if he didn't, they'd both fall on the floor.
"Ne," Holly said, close to T'kaarch's face, looking in his eyes, "Thanks for saving me!"
Without saying a word, T'kaarch held Holly's new appearance in his arms.
Sickbay
Lieutenant JG Carter was standing by a biobed as the EMH scanned Nurse Traho's abdomen. "The foetus is developing nicely," said the EMH as he snapped shut his neat medical tricorder, returned it to its holster and walked over to the console to enter his notes. Maria looked up at Lucy.
"You see, Luce? I told you it would be OK."
Carter's eyes widened. " 'OK', Maria? You are growing a baby to sell it!"
"I know, isn't it a brilliant idea? The EMH is going to help me with the intra-utero transfer, aren't you, doctor?"
"I most certainly am not, Nurse. I can't imagine where you got that idea." He prodded at the screen, a holographic frown on his forehead. Maria snarled at him. She was working on changing his mind.
"I want another hypospray for this bloody morning sickness, doctor."
The EMH sighed and picked up a hypospray and walked over to her. He regarded the top for a moment then twisted the end. "I can't give you any more sprays than this today, Nurse. You know it might harm the foetus." He pressed it to her arm and there was a short hiss as the canister unloaded through Maria's uniform. "And I am sure you wouldn't want to hurt your merchandise," he added, a touch of venom in his voice.
Halliwell’s Ready Room
Elsie had just returned to her desk having now poured the port away and sat awaiting the return of her Chief Flight Control Officer. It had seemed strange to her, to allow anyone else on his team to guide the Ranger into the spacedock. In fact, she had missed the confidence of knowing that Vladimir was at the helm when she sat in her own chair, surveying the bridge as she always did. But, word had reached her that the lieutenant commander had boarded his own ship once again and she was keen to welcome him back into the fold. As her mind wondered, the chime reverberated through her office, and she cleared her throat ready to greet her helmsman.
“Come in,†she offered as she nodded at his entrance.
Zhukov strolled into the Captain's office and pulled his tunic down straight and stood at attention in front of her desk.
"Lieutenant Commander Zhukov reporting back aboard for duty, ma'am," he said with a sense of relief. "If you'll have me back," he added.
Halliwell exchanged a smile with Vladimir and rose to her feet ceremoniously. "Welcome home," she said quietly, and gently eased herself back into her ready room chair. She allowed a moment of easy silence to hang between them before a crocked and unfamiliar smile broke upon her lips. "It's shoreleave for the rest of you now, Commander," she said, looking out to the internal workings of the station through her own window, "but you might want to take a look at your helm before you leave. See that your own team haven't scraped the sides of your ship in your absence."
Vladimir stood easy for the time being and replied, "I heard about Lieutenant Davizzi. I'd like to check on her in Sickbay before I take leave," he said to her. "I have to admit, I liked being in the XO position, Captain, but," he paused for a moment, "I think I missed being behind the helm more," he said with a smile.
"I will submit my formal report to you soon. Overall, my feelings are that the Vulcan will make a good Captain someday, but she definitely needs more seasoning before officially being given the big chair," he said to Halliwell, referring to Lieutenant T'alaal of the Archimedes. "She will make a good XO in the short term," he concluded. "Any news about what will happen to Captain Kerr?" he asked Halliwell.
Elsie fell silent for a moment and returned Vladimir’s look with her own. “He’s,†she hesitated, taking in a controlled breath, “decided to leave command… and the Fleet.†She looked again out of the window and then turned back to her helmsman. “It looks as though too many things were pushing up against his already strained life. I think he needs a break from the pressures and I hope it truly is the best for him.â€
The thought of Kerr leaving shocked the woman to the core, but she tried to not let that emotive response seep through her demeanour. “He was a good man and a fine officer. But, we must move on. All of us must from this.â€
Mailloux's Quarters
Adalyn paced the room. She was antsy and feeling more than a little claustrophobic. She knew that the feeling would pass, it always did. And it's not like she was planetbound, they were simply at a starbase; she'd simply need to find a lounge that had a view of the stars and she'd calm down. It wouldn't be anything like when she first went to Starfleet Academy. Before her first year at the Academy she had never spent more than 48 hours straight on a planet, after about a week she began to feel panicky and wanted to hitch a ride on the next transport to the moon. Luckily the counseling department at the Academy is used to the different reactions of freshmen. They encouraged her to take a few shuttles, to the moon, to Mars, to wherever, when she wasn't busy. It helped, but the first few months were some of the toughest in her life.
She'd found that anytime the ship she was stationed on docked at a starbase, or had shoreleave planetside, she always experienced a few minutes of irrational panic. Normally she just reminded herself that it was only temporary and things got better. But she really was a space monkey at heart.
She quickly stripped out of her uniform and put on some off duty clothes. She was going to head to the starbase and force herself to get past the panic.
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T'mpest was looking forward to shore leave for the first time ever. Normally she hid out in her room and read, or used the time to do some scientific exploration or other; but this time, she was looking forward to spending some time with Vladimir. Teegan Mar was gone and T'mpest felt like celebrating.
She secured her department, organized leave rotations and closed her office door. With a happy sigh, she headed for her quarters for a much-needed break.
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