Departure (aka.. Back to work!)

Posted on Sun Dec 14, 2014 @ 12:38am by Fleet Captain Rhea Kennit & Lieutenant Samantha Raylen & Lieutenant Commander Miguel Torres & Lieutenant Penelope Naroot & Lieutenant AJ Taggart & Lieutenant Cassandra Kennings & Lieutenant Nicole Anderson

1,714 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: All this has happened before...
Location: USS Victory

[0715 - Bridge]

Entering the Bridge, a cup of coffee in hand, Captain Kennit walked towards the center chair as she said "Good morning! I don't know about any one else today but I am quite ready to get back into space and away from this station. It's a decent enough place but it's decidedly boring..."

Nicole stalked onto the bridge right behind her, grumbling as she passed. "...ridiculous protocol...should be in Sickbay in my office with my pile of padds..." She rounded the bridge rail and dropped into the Environmental station, pulling up the life science readings and ship's life support systems, running last-minute checks.

Alec rose from the center seat, turning at Rhea's entrance onto the bridge. "I think I can speak for all of us Captain, when I say we're all ready to get back to doing some exploring. So we would appreciate you giving the word."

"Hear, hear," Penny whooped from the helm, giving some applause.

Cassandra stepped onto the bridge a moment later, gliding smoothly to empty console by Mission OPS and sitting down, turning to face the Captain, giving her a smile and a nod.

The Captain turned in her seat to look over at her First Officer. "The word.." she mused softly. "And what word would that be?" she asked him. "Pigeon?" she asked innocently.

He gave her a 'what really?' look but answered anyway. "My mistake Captain. I meant to say two words." He bantered back.

"Given her first guess, is that much leeway for two words wise?" Penny said idly.

"Beep, beep, Penny," Cass said, trying to repress a laugh as she turned her back and fussed over the console in front of her.

Alec looked at Penny, "Good point Lieutenant, given the Captain's first guess she might say, Carrier Pigeon or Whooping Crane." He answered pleasantly while turning to look at Rhea and her take on all this.

Seated in her chair, legs crossed comfortably before her the Captain just fixed the First Officer with a wide-eyed, innocent expression as she said, "Bird brain?"

Nicole snorted, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. "Nitwit," she said under her breath.

"That's one word," Cassandra whispered. She sympathized with the gentle cuff to the XO's ego, but was inwardly highly pleased. Banter was a healthy thing in a relationship, and the Captain's retort was amused and deliberately said to jest, not hurt. She was glad to see whatever stumbling block had been in the way was removed.

Alec blushed scarlet and clamped his mouth shut and Rhea's rejoinder. He knew better than to get into a contest of trying to one up her especially on the bridge. Finally after several seconds he managed to grind out, "No."

The fact that the Captain was having herself a good time was evident in the sparkle in her eyes as she echoed with a shake of her head, "no?" with a soft "huh..." She then said, "well then, I guess it's time we got this big bucket of bolts moving. Contact station control and request permission to disengage docking clamps and depart from space dock."

Despite his embarrassment Alec managed a grin. He was glad to see Rhea enjoying herself even if it was at his expense. "Space control, this is Victory, requesting permission to disengage docking clamps and depart your humble establishment."

"Permission granted.. Safe travels Victory.."

Hearing that, the Captain said "Helm.. disengage docking clamps and then take us out. Maneuvering thrusters only until we're clear of the dock then bring up impulse drive and set course heading 20117 mark 214."

"Victory acknowledges. Thank you control we'll try not to scratch the paint either." Alec replied crisply.

"Docking clamps disengaged, clearing all moorings, thrusters, aye," Penny said. She pulled the ship backwards briefly and brought them around for a beauty pass of the station before swinging around. "117 mark 214, full impulse," Penny said as the ship kicked forward.

"Lets run some diagnostics on the impulse drive and power systems.." the Captain ordered. "Make sure everything is working as expected before we go to warp."

Thomas entered the bridge with a PADD in hand. A glance at the viewscreen told him the ship was already in motion and that his report was slightly late. Without any further delay, Thomas crossed the bridge to the XO's station and delivered the PADD to Commander Hunter. "Status reports from the enlisted chiefs," he explained. "Everyone's good to go, sir."

Alec accepted the PaDD and glanced at it and the information it contained. "Thank you Chief, that's good to hear and know. While you're here, why don't you stay and watch our departure from the station before we go to warp."

"Gladly, sir," Tom replied with a smile. Glancing around the bridge, he selected a spot near the forward Environmental Control station as to keep out of the eyesight of the officers doing their duty. He clasped his hands behind his back and watched the stars spin as Penny maneuvered the vessel. The left side of his lips curled upward to form a smirk. He was grateful to be again on the move.

Alec nodded as Tom took a place on the bridge. Turning back he handed the PaDD to Rhea, "Status report Captain. We are good to go." his tone even and professional as his eyes twinkled with good humor.

Penny's eye caught Thomas' as he started to smirk and she gave him a wink and a smile. "Helm's responding beautifully," she said. "Ready to go faster than 'full crawl' at your order, Ma'am," she said.

"All crew reporting in," Cassandra said, checking her console.

"Please, please stop shouting," Nicole groaned, rubbing her temples. She looked, bleary-eyed, at her readings. "Life support systems operational and fully functional, environmental checks all reporting standard and ready for deep-space support." She sat back in her chair and rubbed her eyes. So, let's follow our spirits, and upon this charge, cry — God for Harry, England and Saint George, can I go now?" she deadpanned, turning to look at Alec.

Alec caught her look and met her gaze, more importantly he heard the unspoken plea? for a moment he was tempted to keep her on the bridge but that would have been mean besides he might have need of her in the future and he didn't want her holding a grudge. Their relationship was already dicey enough as it was. "Doctor you're excused, you may leave the bridge and return to Sickbay."

"Cheers," she said, standing and walking to the turbolift. "Where I bloody well belong, anyway," she grumbled as the doors closed behind her.

AJ sat at the awkwardly facing Tactical Station and watched rather wistfully as Nicole walked off of the bridge. With his black coffee on his left and a PADD of assignments on his right, he monitored the weapons and shields. It never seemed that there was enough time to do what he needed to do. He had been awake since 2200 the previous evening trying to nail down an intermittent EPS relay failure on the starboard torpedo tube. Even through all of the diagnostics, he couldn't shake off the error.

Cassandra watched Nicole leave and then looked at AJ for a moment, before turning back to her station, transferring the systems Nicole had been monitoring to her station. She looked at AJ again, sizing him up, and as he glanced her way, turned back to her monitor.

Engineering

Miguel's attention was split between his status board and the view of the warp core in front of him. He had a grin on his face as he he listened to the purr that indicated the warp core was operating to his standards.

The comm chimed with an incoming message from the Bridge, "Bridge to Engineering." the Captain said. "What's the verdict?" she asked him.

"Warp Core is primed and ready for a long voyage." Miguel said. The smile on his face could almost be seen in the sound of his voice over the comm.

Bridge

Hearing the engineer's cheerful statement, the Captain allowed herself a slight cock to the head and a little shrug of her shoulder as she answered, "Well all right then. If anything overloads, shorts out, or blows up.. I'm making you pay the repair bill.."

"Oh so now not only would I have to fix it, but your going to make me pay for it? The injustice of it all." he replied with a laugh. The closed his end and waited for any further instructions from the Captain.


Turning her gaze towards the Helm, she then said "Lt. Naroot, if you please. A little faster than 'full crawl' as you put it. Set course towards the rendezvous point with the USS Bethesda, warp 6."

"Righty-o, Speed Warp Six, and here we go," Penny said, her fingers dancing on her boards. The ship swung around on course and shot through space, stars streaking past the viewscreen. "On course, Captain," she said, turning in her chair and beaming a smile.

"Very good Lt. Naroot. Steady as she goes...we have approximately 4 days to reach the rendezvous point.. Plenty of time to run the ship through a few speed exercises once we've given the warp system a little time to stretch after spending so much tLeaning ime in the dock.." the Captain said.

Alec nodded in approval at Rhea's words, a smile coming to his face, "An excellent idea Captain. I for one can't wait to see just what Victory is capable of and I'm sure Lt. Naroot is just bursting at the seams to put the ship through it's paces." The last said with a smile in his voice.

Penny looked at him curiously then pulled out her silver wand and ran it quickly over herself. "They're perfectly intact," she said matter-of-factly, turning back to her boards. "But, after four days I might be pulling out threads out. Sooner we can put the speed on, the better."

Tom, wearing a smirk while listening to the banter of the officers, took notice of Penny's response to the XO's sarcasm. "I second that, Captain," he added to the conversation. "And it'll be good to get back to work sooner than later."

"Preferably sooner," Cassandra said, gently. "I think everyone's getting a bit restless."

 

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