Ready for Launch

Posted on Saturday December 15th, 2018 @ 11:46 hours by Mayterial Droz & Canaan Serene & Alexandria Farron & Richard Fitzsimons & Samantha Jenkins & Ami Lewis

Mission: Smugglers Need Not Apply
Location: Bridge, Deck 1, S.S. Fawkes
Timeline: MD 7 - 1800 hours
1160 words - 2.3 OF Standard Post Measure

There were nerves gathering in Mayterial's stomach. She didn't know why. They had done this hundreds, if not thousands, of times. Maybe it was the fact that the entire ship needed to be overhauled before they could even start it up. Perhaps it was the fact that she didn't know any of the people on her boat before a week ago. She pressed the button on her chair's armrest to open up a channel to the entire ship.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we're about to depart Starbase 72 and set off on what is sure to be a long and dull journey. Which is just the way I like my cargo runs." She smiled a bit to herself. "We'll be heading for Langley Station at a comfortable Warp 5. The way ahead is clear and we should arrive in about 2 weeks. To our passengers, I want to say, welcome aboard. Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!" She closed the channel and looked over to the navigation seat in front.

"Miss Farron, please request permission to disembark and take us out on a nice and easy quarter impulse."

Alexandria almost sighed. She'd thought that since leaving Starfleet her days of being called 'Miss Farron' were now behind her. She was wrong. She fought the urge to glance behind her. Droz had been looking at her strangely lately. Was it because she'd fallen asleep on her couch? She'd gotten her work done first, at least. And she hadn't touched any of her stuff, like May had asked. She tugged at her too-tight coveralls, wishing she'd worn something more comfortable. But they were the only thing in her closet that looked remotely utilitarian... at least in a freighter crew-person sense.

"Aye, Captain." She deadpanned, and tapped away at her console to query starbase control for permission to depart. Some people liked conversing with random people over comms, but Alexandria wasn't one of them. A faceless, voiceless conversation suited her just fine when it would suffice. She didn't have to wait long for a reply.

"We have permission to depart, taking us out." Alexandria said as she fired a few manoeuvring thrusters to ease them away from their docking berth. It took about thirty seconds until she was confident they were far enough away that the plasma exhaust from the Fawkes' impulse engines wouldn't leave scorch marks on the station exterior. Folks tended to not like that. She engaged the impulse drive and started putting distance between them and the station.

Canaan's arrival on the bridge was unassuming; he slipped in quietly and mostly unnoticed, taken aback by the number of crew congregated in the relatively small cabin. The greenhorn sidled past one of the rear consoles, making his way to the vacant station at the fore of the bridge. Without saying a word, he slid into the chair, its gray surface coating cracked and worn with age. Gently tapping at the biometric interface of the controls, the displays came to life and started to stream real time data.

The greenhorn familiarized himself with the numerous readouts, committing each to memory while making subtle adjustments here and there. Although this was his first time sitting behind a communications station, it was evident Canaan was more than a little comfortable with the Cardassian technology.

Reaching below the console, Canaan plucked one of the two earwigs from the integrated charging dock and cleaned the earpiece before slipping it over the pierced helix of his left ear. He activated the device, carefully tuning it so as to monitor nearby communications traffic.

Ami stepped silently out of the lift onto the bridge. She settled herself in a corner and watched.

Rich sat idlly on an empty chair he’d managed to commandeer though he fully expected at some point to have it pointed out he could do with helping out. He hasn’t wanted to miss this...a maiden launch of such. As much as this baby could be a maiden with her enriched history. It was an opportunity to watch how both ship and crew managed to work, to see if they were all going to be blown to smithereens or if the woman who hated her food being touched was a better pilot than her willingness to share.

Standing at the back of the bridge, but near a window, so she could watch outside Samantha felt happy. Not that you could tell from the look on her face, just as serious as always. She'd been on a bridge a number of times, but this would be the first time she could experience a maiden launch of a vessel for the first time.

Mayterial waited until the distance between them and the station was sufficient, "Lay in the course for Langley Station and punch it."

"Aye, Captain." Alexandria said, knowing not to take the order too literally. She was guessing May meant 'best possible speed,' and not actually punching their destination. With this being her first time at the helm, it would be touch and go finding out exactly what best possible speed was. The ship's computer would say one figure and the engineer another. Alexandria suspected that after so long in port, the ship would tell them that it really wasn't in the mood for either estimate well before either figure was met.

After setting the course, Alexandria fought the urge to look around over her shoulders. The bridge was so small. Normally she liked small spaces, but not when they were crowded with a lot of people. She could almost feel the crew breathing down her neck. The thought made her want to squirm in her seat. With the course set, she double checked the forward sensors to make sure their path was clear, then engaged the warp drive. Hopefully, the crew weren't all up here to see that... just a typical jump to warp speed. The thought that this could be a new and novel experience for some of them filled the helmswoman with unease. But then again, making her feel uneasy was not a difficult thing to do.

Mayterial held her breath as the commands were put in to bring her vessel into warp and underway to Langley Station. There was a bit of a stutter between the command and the actual activation but the sound of the warp drive kicking into gear was a familiar one. She sighed a bit in relief and looked around her to see everyone gathered around the bridge. Clearly she hadn't been the only one that was a bit anxious about this departure. "Well then. Don't just stand there. Get to work!" A broad smile was plastered all over her face and it wasn't going to disappear any time soon.

[END]

Mayterial Droz
Captain

Samantha Jenkins
Boatswain

Alexandria Farron
Navigator

Canaan Serene
Signaller

Ami Lewis
Ship's Physician

"If you make the mistake of looking back too much, you aren't focused enough on the road in front of you"