Onward (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 16 Apr 2016 @ 10:56pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Commander Andreus Kohl & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant Wilhelm Von Haeften & Lieutenant Benice Gyce Ph.D. & Lieutenant JG Natalya Kirilova & Lieutenant JG Noah Khoroushi & Lieutenant JG Randolf Eklund & Ensign Miraj Derani & Ensign Lia Circe & Ensign James Langley & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Greg Mitchell & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Petty Officer 1st Class Rebecca Williams
Edited on on 16 Apr 2016 @ 11:01pm

1,575 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: USS Galileo - Various
Timeline: MD 95 - 1750 hrs

[ON]

The turbolift came to a slow halt at its intended destination and the large doors softly swished open to allow its occupant to exit. With several light steps into Galileo's bridge, Lirha paused for a moment to take in the scene around her. A small group of maintenance technicians were bustling about and finishing up their final inspections, but for the most part, the bridge looked exactly as she had remembered. It was being viewed through a different lens this time, however, and she felt a strange twinge of delight to be back in command of the Nova-class. It seemed like an eternity since she had last issued orders as the vessel's captain -- well over a year, and now she found herself welcoming her past responsibilities back into the fold. Her light green eyes scanned the rest of the room to take note of the various officers and enlisted crew present. Her gaze eventually settled on John who she approached and stood next to in the middle of the command center. "Nice evening to get underway," she mused to him.

"Admiral on the Bridge." stated Quinn as he was walking about the Bridge, helping some of the enlisted with pre-flight duties.

Turning to face the return of his former-now-once-again Commanding Officer, Holliday leapt from the Captain's chair and stepped a few paces backwards, remaining at attention as he prepared to return to his old chair.

"Admiral. I...kept her warm for you. The Bridge is yours." He acknowledged.

Lirha sat down in the captain's chair and settled herself into the seat, albeit with a bit of an adjustment to accommodate her slightly-bulging belly. It was a minor inconvenience that she didn't pay much mind to, but that would most likely change over the coming months. Looking down towards her armrest's small digital display, she tapped her fingers on to the device to brig up the ship's latest operational reports. Several workbees were departing from the auxiliary cargo bay after having just unloaded their supplies, and it seemed that Galileo was fully stocked for her pending expedition to Celes III.

Miraj had gone through the all the pre-flight checks, twice, and was now chafing at the bit, to get underway. The ship was waking up, she could feel the docking umbilicals being disconnected and withdrawn back to Jupiter, and the first stirrings of the conduits as the engines were prepared for coming online. This was what she had come here to do. She was more than ready to fly.

Noah's gaze slid over the readout before him. Everything was set; the Galileo was reacting beautifully to her start-up. Across his screen systems lit up green - not a single caution to be noted.

Natalya arrived on the bridge and took up her position facing starboard-aft. She would rather have been down in engineering to oversee things there personally, but she had faith in her people and there was little she couldn't do from the bridge except talk to them face-to-face.

Rebeca stood back, her eyes taking in all around her as she stood in a relaxed stance awaiting any further orders. Her eyes had watching the changing of the guard as such as the Admiral had relieved the Captain of the command chair, the yeoman unable to stop the swell of worry in her mind as she noted the Orion's ever changing abdomen.

The double doors to the deck one passageway slid aside once again, making way for the ship's Second Officer, Andreus Kohl. The Argelian hesitated at the threshold, his foggy mind frozen by the a flash of cognitive dissonance. As his sapphire eyes scanned around the bridge, the familiar clashed again the unfamiliar, in the way dreams can sometimes do. Given how Kohl had recently starting spending his gamma-shift "days" in the Galileo's Captain's seat, this was ostensibly the middle of the night for him. But there was no chance Kohl was going to miss out on this tough little ship taking flight. Kohl's first hesitant steps onto the bridge were angled towards the forward Science station. His stride faltered. As comfortably familiar as the Chief Science Officer's post was to him, it was no more his place than the Captain's chair on this day. After taking a deep breath, and tightening his grip on his spill-proof mug, Commander Kohl strode across the aft of the bridge to take his post at the Mission Ops I console, just behind the Operations station. He looked over to the Admiral, taking a heartbeat to admire how she looked in that chair, before he logged in to his LCARS interface.

Craning her head to look around as the last of the bridge crew arrived, Lirha wiggled her feet then crossed her legs to prepare for the countdown. She tapped a command into her console to open a ship-wide broadcast. "All hands, this is the captain," she began, her voice echoing throughout all of Galileo's corridors and rooms, "we will be departing Jupiter Station in ten minutes. Secure all stations and set condition blue. Our orders are to rendezvous with the colony ship USS Semmes which will be arriving from Earth shortly. We will then escort Semmes to the Celes system where we will assist with colonial deployment and development for a period of thirty days. Stand by for further instructions once we are underway. Saalm out."

Galileo's alert lighting darkened and blue strobes pulsed throughout the ship, bathing it in a comforting cerulean hue. Lirha closed the channel then tapped her commbadge to open another one to the various chiefs. "All department heads, this is Saalm. Report your status for departure."

"All members of Security are accounted for," Gyce announced as she did a quick scan of combadges in her department, on her screen from her office.

Allyndra had everyone no matter their shift in sickbay. It was a matter of routine just in case something went wrong which it had never happened.

As the call came in she responded. =^=Medical all accounted for and ready.=^= The big LCARS screen now reinstalled about the new nurses station was there for anyone who cared to watch.

At Science Station I, Wilhelm Von Haeften twirled his chair around to face the Admiral. "Science standing by; all sensors operating within parameters, full complement of probes confirmed, and all SCIDEP personnel accounted for Admiral." the German reported.

"Engineering is go, Admiral. The warp core startup sequence is complete, we are ready to disengage from station auxiliary power." Natalya said from her console next to the master systems display.

"Auxiliary-Tactical are a go." stated Quinn.

"Operations are showing all systems online and in order, Admiral," Noah offered from his post.


Intelligence Offices

Tyrion looked around at his gathered staff. All were turned towards the monitor, watching the ship's departure from Jupiter station. "Faye to bridge, Intel reports ready," he announced, giving a smile to the officers gathered.

Lia smiled back at Tyrion as she leaned against the console, "Are departures always this grand on the ship?" She asked, feeling the wave of excitement from all over the ship.

Tyrion nodded. "Admiral Saalm likes to make the grand departure, and give everyone a chance to see the ship leave dock. I think it's to create a sense of unity, because everyone able is watching the same thing."

“Goodbye shoreleave. Goodbye unabated freedom. Goodbye parties that start at The Pinnacle of Beauty club on Ganymede and end at the Attempt No Landing Here bar on Europa.” James' voice was oozing in sarcasm. Whether he was genuinely crushed or just having a bit of fun no one could tell. “Yup, we're all unified alright. We can all say goodbye to fun and hello to drudgery.”

Lia looked at James, "You don't get out much, do you?"

“Just enough,” came a sharp snip back.

"Now now...play nice," Tyrion warned gently, "we're all meant to get along here and work together. And there's nothing wrong with not going out much. Some are meant to be out there, and some are meant to be stuck in an office."


Security Office

From his station in the brig, Terje heard the check and confirmed. All was in order for departure. "We're outta here."

"Master-at-Arms, confirm all lockers are secure," Gyce told to her assembled staff.

"Final check complete, boss," Taliesin said, crossing his arms over his chest after making one final glance at the inventories and logs on the PADD he carried. "All replacement weapons and ordnance has been accounted for. We've a full complement once again." Not that they'd get a chance to use it during this mission. Thalat him sideways, babysitting colonists sounded boring.

"This is where the fun begins." Greg joked to a security officer next to him.

"Let's just stay sharp. We're going to be going into a temperate climate," Gyce told her people.

Randy had opted to oversee the final arrivals and departures in the shuttle bay. As the last cargo drone left and the bay doors closed, he tapped his badge. "Eklund to Benice. The final transfers are aboard. The last shuttles have left for Jupiter Station. Shuttle bay is secure. I'm heading to the Security office now."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

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All Crew, USS Galileo

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