A Turbulent Ride

Posted on Saturday January 19th, 2019 @ 15:55 hours by Mayterial Droz & Alexandria Farron
Edited on on Saturday January 19th, 2019 @ 15:55 hours

Mission: Pixie Dust
Location: Bridge, Deck 1, S.S. Fawkes
Timeline: MD01 - 16:00 hours
1377 words - 2.8 OF Standard Post Measure

Mayterial had felt her mood improve all day. She'd been around to the recreational area to talk with some of the passengers, had a good breakfast and was now going through some of the reports she was given by the Bosun and Engineer. it felt good to be underway, to have a destination, to get some credits in return for reaching that destination. She stepped out of the turbolift and was intent on going back into her quarters before she thought she might want to check in on the bridge and the navigator currently keeping an eye on the auto-pilot. Stepping onto the small bridge she looked around to find Alexandria.

The navigator was right where she should be, which may have come as a surprise. She was the only other person on the bridge, which didn't seem to bother her any. In fact, little seemed to bother her, going by her present state. Half-slouched, half-curled up in her pilot's chair, Alexandria appeared to be wearing... pajamas. A dark charcoal onesie, it looked very cozy. Only slightly baggy, it had a hood, which was drawn up, and was footed... though she did have her pair of utility boots next to her chair in case she actually needed shoes. Some of her silvery hair spilled out of the hood in a state of general disarray... which for her was saying a lot. It was clear she'd done little, if anything, in the time between rolling out of bed and showing up for her shift. Alexandria had a small tablet in-hand, where she was playing a game of mahjong--Chinese tiles. She did appear to be attentive to her console, but the game ensured her mind was alert and that she wouldn't nod off.

"Hello, Captain May." Alexandria said, recognizing the sound of her steps. She didn't look over her shoulder to confirm this, but she did pause her game and lower her tablet to her lap.

"Good morning, Miss Farron." Mayterial wondered if she should say something about the young woman's appearance but decided against it for now. "How are we looking?" She slowly walked forward to come onto the bridge as far as the centre chair.

Alexandria set down her tablet to lean up against her seat and sat up straighter to access her console. "We're still on course." She said as she drew back her hood and idly ran a hand through her hair. She made a face, as if just realizing that she'd forgotten to brush it. "Still another... sixteen minutes until our next scheduled long-range sensor scan." She leaned back in her chair, not bothering to ask if the captain wanted to deviate from schedule and conduct the scan a few minutes early. Why would she? No sense in scanning the same patch of space twice, even if it was only a few minutes of travel.

"Good to hear. Make sure to get Canaan here when you conduct the scan. He has a lot to learn." Mayterial didn't want to make Alexandria responsible for educating the young man but since he had taken up the spot of Signaller it was a good idea to have him interact with the Navigator. Their jobs were very interconnected and despite Alexandria possibly being a bad influence, she was a highly qualified pilot. "Let me know if there's anything I can do."

The navigator sighed. She couldn't figure out why, but the captain seemed to have it out for her, ordering her to... interact with other members of the crew. She had nothing against the signaller... he'd joined her for breakfast earlier in the day. Why the captain would have her train people when she could barely manage to dine with them without incident was beyond her. Just look at what had happened during the last crew dinner. She would never be able to eat a meatball again without reliving that memory. Alexandria visibly shuddered just thinking about it. Maybe it was because May had finally found out that she was still married... why did she even care? It wasn't like May was interested in her.

"Aye, Captain." Alexandria said. She was hesitant to ask the captain for anything, for fear of further sparking her ire.

Mayterial was about to turn and leave when the ship shook. A small jolt, which normally wouldn't worry anyone aside from the fact that the internal dampeners should catch that, especially during warp flight. "What was that?" She stepped into the console to the back of the bridge, usually reserved for the XO.

"Some kind of subspace turbulence." Alexandria said quickly, looking at her console. She looked more alert than she had a moment ago, but clearly she was not one to get wound up tight over a little turbulence. She didn't make any move to put on her boots. "Can't determine the source with passive scans. Looks like we'll be doing that sensor sweep ahead of schedule."

"That seems like a wise decision. Did any trouble show up on our preliminary sweeps?" Mayterial wondered out loud, not remembering any active turbulent patches on their initial route.

"No, but that's not surprising." Alexandria said. "Sensors will only pick up evidence of very recent turbulence. And depending on the source, sometimes its only triggered by other ships passing through the area." Alexandria looked at the captain, one of the few times she actually made eye contact. "I didn't see much in the event logs in the Guild database either, but then again, this isn't exactly a popular travel route."

Mayterial nodded, not everyone really took the guidelines in regards to travel with older warp cores to heart, and they all knew the effects of those things on subspace. Which is why she never really ordered travel over warp five, even though the core could do it, at a push. "Alright, let's see what's out there."

Alexandria began the sensor sweep, which momentarily caused the lighting to dim. She almost thought she saw a nearby console spark, but it was possible she was mistaken. She was too busy concentrating on her own workstation.

"Umm... there's a fair bit of turbulence ahead. Nothing severe, but we're going to start feeling it pretty soon. We could try and head around it, but who knows how large the distortion front is... we could spend hours moving to scan a new sensor grid and find out its just as bad as this one." She shrugged, not looking too concerned. Those were two things she missed about Starfleet ships. They were faster, and their sensors could scan so much farther.

"So, your advice is to keep going?" Mayterial trusted her Navigator to make the right decision, but hoped that it wouldn't cost them extra time to get to their destination.

Still facing her console, Alexandria pursed her lips. On one hand, she didn't like being put on the spot... called upon to make a judgement call that could lead to unpleasant consequences later on. But on the other hand, who didn't like having their words carry weight? As a professional she couldn't have one without the other... power and responsibility. She tried to make her decision as if the Fawkes was her own.

"At the moment my advice is to keep going. The risk is preferable to a detour and delay. But that may change once we get closer to the distortion front." Alexandria didn't seem very worried, and she hadn't made any move to put on her boots.

May nodded, it sounded good to her, "Alright then, steady as she goes." She stepped away from the console, "Don't forget to get Canaan involved when you do the scheduled scans. He needs to learn these things." She moved towards the exit, "if you need me, I'll be checking in with the Bosun to make sure all of our cargo is secure for the upcoming bumps in the road."

"Understood." Alexandria said, already drawing her hood back up and finding a more lounge-worthy position in her seat. She flashed May a peace sign as she neared the exit, and didn't even bother waiting for her to leave before picking up her tablet to resume her game.

[OFF]

Mayterial Droz
Captain

&

Alexandria Farron
Navigator

"Into all lives a little turbulence shall fall"

 

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