Supernova (Part 2 of 5)

Posted on 20 Sep 2018 @ 12:41pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen M.D. & Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Azra Ghoc & Lieutenant Aria Rice & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Oliver Sylver & Petty Officer 1st Class Gabriel Stark & Verity Thorne & LuAnn Lovegood PhD & EMH Mark X-C "Shirley"
Edited on on 20 Sep 2018 @ 12:55pm

4,136 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Episode 15 - Emanation
Location: Rigel II - Avondale Shipyards, USS Galileo-A
Timeline: MD 146, 1737 hrs

Previously, on Supernova (Part 1)...

The familiar female voice of the ship’s computer interjected with, “ATTENTION. USS Galileo departing in T minus two hours. All personnel report to stations," interrupting Draia crisply.

“…Doesn’t look like you’ll be making that breakthrough today,” Lake said hurriedly. To listen to his voice, he sounded genuinely dejected at that thought. Back behind Draia's field of vision, Lake was already pouncing to his feet and scrambling to the door. “Sickbay beckons,” he said, by the time the doors to the corridor were sliding apart for him. “Gotta go.”

He was already in the corridor, by the time Draia finished with, “…Hear me.”

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

Deck 3, Security Office/Brig

Clad in his freshly replicated uniform Luke stood in his new place of work. Looking around he could sense that the ship was obviously new, even if he didn't have prior knowledge of the fact, it even smelt new. He had requested all security personnel to assemble in the Security office so he could speak to them all and lay eyes on the department before they broke into their duty shifts.

Amaranai had stepped into the Security office to do one more check on internal sensors and security systems. After being off a ship for a while - and this being a new design to her - Amaranai really wanted to make sure that she knew where everything was. When other Security personnel began to arrive, Amaranai stood up and waited for Luke to give his speech.

Aria Rice was practically skipping as she went down the corridors to the Security Office. The ship was so beautiful, with that new ship smell as she liked to call it. Full of people, all with a purpose and heading there in an orderly fashion. But Aria had never been much for orderly fashion so she was running. She had tied her hair back but today the hairband was in the colour of her department as were the streaks in her dark hair. Might as well embrace it all like a party! A big, flying, amazing send-off party full of great things. She turned a corner at more of a sprint before she got into the Security office, stopping and placing her hands on her knees as she caught her breath. Her blue eyes looked around with awe. So many shiny surfaces. Wonder how long this will last...knowing us Starfleet people . The thought crossed her mind for a split second as she straightened and practically grinned.

"I knew that was a back of an Aria I was following...." Gabriel Stark grinned as he rounded the corner after her, pointing to her with two fingers before moving them as if shooting. "I'd know a back of an Aria anywhere. Even with mustard striped hair. Looking good...I think we should make it required uniform for all Security."

"Thank you all for coming, I'll try to keep this short and sweet but I thought now is a good time to speak to you all before we spread to the four winds and start our duty shifts. I know that some of you haven't worked with me before but I hope as professionals we can get into a rhythm that has this department working like a well-oiled machine for the safety of each other and this ship. For those who I have yet to meet, I'll be using these first few days to speak to everyone individually and I am sure we can squeeze in a post-launch party. To that end expect me to do rounds throughout all the duty shifts. This first mission I'll be looking at each and every single one of you to see how you perform so lets please set the bar high?"

"ATTENTION. USS Galileo departing in T minus two hours..."

Luke paused as the notice to depart came over the shipwide intercom system, as if it had some physical presence in the room he looked up towards the speaker. The words that spilt forth left his hairs on end and his heart beating faster and at a slightly irregular beat in anticipation for finally leaving. He was glad to have had the time on Earth and teaching at the Academy but he was more than ready to get back into space, though that didn't help his feeling remorse for the people who wouldn't be joining them on this voyage. As the broadcast finished he shook the sad thought from his mind and resumed.

"So as you're now aware we are soon to be departing, I want there to be a security presence at each airlock to make sure we don't have any last minute uninvited guests trying to get a free ride into space. Once they have been secured, locked down and we've cleared the shipyards airspace we'll start a security sweep throughout the ship. Ensuring you pay particular attention to cargo bays, Labs and other areas which as of right now might not be normally occupied. I don't anticipate there being any stowaways but if there is, report it and bring them back to the bridge to be processed. It's just something we got to do and while unlikely it has been known to happen. With that said are there any Questions, regarding anything either you're not sure about or have any concerns with?"

Amaranai listened to Luke as he offered a basic introduction to their duties. They would change, of course, but for now, as they left spacedock and prepped for the coming mission, looking for stowaways and stragglers. It seemed silly to Amaranai, but knowing that in her own past she had stowed away on small transports to Earth Spacedock, she knew it was something that had to be paid attention to. And besides, as Assistant Chief, she had to follow Luke's orders regardless, unless the orders were putting people in danger. She looked to the assembled crew, waiting to see if any had questions.

Aria kept quiet, rocking back and forth on her feet, hands behind her back. Okay. So serious faces then, not party faces. She should not have been surprised...but part of her was gutted. Where was the excitement? Where was the fun! Where is the cheeky bowl of insanely boozy blue goodness?

Azra stood outside the open doors, listening to the security chief's instructions. He seemed to have a solid handle on things. As soon as his speech was done, she moved off to observe another area.


Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay

With the launch notification, Lt. Shizn performed some personal checks on the shuttles, auxiliary bay, and the Waverider. He then made his way to the Main shuttlebay, where he would wait for further instructions. He was currently on standby or the back-up Conn Officer. This location provided a turbolift to the Bridge, if he was called upon to take over Helm Control.

CWO Sylver smiled as he walked through to the shuttles, looking around. He moved to the side, checking the consoles there, bringing up the various specs they had for the shuttles. He spotted Lt. Shizn and gave a small nod in greeting. He was, more than anything, honoured to be here. He was still a bit taken aback with how neat and clean the ship looked. He had never served on anything like her before, everything had always had a certain amount of use and wear and tear. Here though...it felt as if he was on the holodeck with how perfect it all looked. No bumps anywhere, no scuff marks, no small spills that had been cleaned up by a semi-bored crewman who had then let some dry too long. It was...it looked perfect. But Oliver knew every ship had a personality and the Galileo would get hers soon.

Tris observed a Chief Warrant Officer who was looking all about. Tris had seen this same ‘look of awe’ on the face of several crewmen today. No doubt it was some kind of astonishment or admiration of the the new vessel. Shizn didn’t seem to have this factor. He could appreciate it, he guessed, but he was much more inspired by its expected abilities.

"Uh, Galileo this is Darius...approaching the auxiliary shuttlebay with the workbee, are you ready to receive me?" came Lamar's voice across the comm channel in the primary shuttlebay one deck below.

Tris leaned forward, looked at the display of the active sensors outside the ship and the situational awareness on his other screen for the Auxillary Bay. Shizn then activated the Comm, “Shuttle Control to Chief Darius. I have you on clearance to enter the Aux Bay.” Shizn activated the alert signal for the Aux Bay to expect arriving shuttle. “Proceed.”

"Cleared to enter auxiliary bay, Celeste copies," Darius confirmed over the comm.

Shizn glanced over to CWO Sylver, “Well Chief, would you mind giving Darius a hand and secure that pod before we go to warp?”

"Not at all, Sir," Oliver said and smiled, heading over to the auxillary bay. He waited until the signal before he got the doors open, touching the comm. "Doors open for you, Celeste."

Shizn monitored the approach from his console in the main shuttle bay. He was quite pleased by how Chief Darius was handling the small craft.

Oliver observed, watching the Workbee's progress. "Celeste, I need you to align up to the blue target, it will help guide you in. Once you reach your destination, we'll engage the lock."

The blue target, Lamar repeated in his head while he looked down to his navigational controls in the cramped single-person cockpit. He noticed the small auxiliary bay door adjacent to the cargo bay was now open and he could see the alignment markers for the tractor beam system which would pull his craft into the bay once he was in the correct position. His dark fingers tapped delicately on the RCS thruster controls to slowly intersect the correct velocity vector, then with a bit of forward thrust, he began his approach. "Celeste copies. Inbound on final approach, two-hundred meters," he called out.

From the main shuttle bay, Shizn monitored the approach, saying softly to himself, “Very nice. Very nice indeed.”

The small yellow workbee approached its mothership from the rear and started to pass in between the two large nacelles, one on each side of the cockpit. Darius' target was the small hatch above and behind the main shuttlebay and it took him a great deal of self control to keep his eyes focused and not stare at the new starship's shiny hull. When he came within fifty meters of the bay, he reached up to the cockpit's overhead panel and tapped a small button.

"Fifty meters," he called out to Sylver. "Retracting maintenance arms." The two silver mechanical arm contraptions attached to each cheek of the workbee started to compress and fold themselves into a compact arrangement tucked neatly beneath the craft.

Tris thought that Darius seemed to be a natural at piloting. He thought that they should sit down and go over common interests. Tris activated a side screen and brought up an exterior view from the Port Nacelle, displaying the shuttle bay doors at the bottom and the auxiliary at the top of the screen. He watched as the grappling arm retracted up under the Celeste.

Oliver kept an eye at what was going on, frowning slightly, but not because of anything that was wrong. He was focusing and keeping control of not just what was happening with the workbee, but also the other factors around them. "Keep steady Celeste>, you are doing good. Decrease speed at thirty meters. Please confirm."

Lt. Shizn became nervous. He realized that if anything happened during recovery of this small craft, he might be made responsible, being the senior officer. The thought of taking control from his location on a completely different deck, possibly activating the tractor-beam to stabilize the craft for entry. Tris had to stop his wandering fearful mind and focus on the facts. He knew this was all good. It was all happening as expected, and he needed to put real faith in the abilities of these crewmen. He took a breath and let it out and continued to watch intently with his hands behind his back.

"Thirty meters throttle back," Lamar repeated in confirmation. He was quickly approaching that distance with his current rate of closure and began to focus intensely on his navigational displays. "Ten meters per second...five...three..." As his yellow shuttlepod approached and slowed, the chief warrant officer flew into the landing bay's tractor beam engagement range.

Oliver nodded, smiling as he moved his hand to the console. "Engaging the auto-docking in three..two...one," he announced before he smiled gently, pressing the command and watching the result.

The professional docking and activation of the landing beam onto the small craft brought a slight smile to Tris’ face. He was very pleased with everyone’s performance. He didn’t feel his was the time, but later when they were gathered he would make a comment to them all.

Guided by the invisible tractor beam system, the workbee approached the small entrance to the auxiliary bay and passed through the middle of the forcefield protecting the interior of the hangar from the exposed elements of space. The final touchdown was hands-off, and when the small yellow craft touched down, Darius quickly powered it down.

"And we are locked down," Oliver smiled warmly and nodded as he engaged the locks. "Good work everyone." Because somehow it felt right to say it as he reached to push some hair from his forehead before he chuckled. "Not sure why my heart was beating that hard in my chest."


Deck 3, Sickbay

Allyndra lay on biobed three. "Computer, what is the analysis of current being occupying biobed three?"

[Unknown species] came the reply. Allyndra sighed. She was having trouble getting this bed to connect properly to the medical database. She turned her head.

This always seemed to be the way when new things were installed. As long as they met basic specs the assembly crew signed off. It was nice to have a bunch of new things, but then one had to work out the little bugs and considering that the expected voyage was going to long, then better now then when it would be more difficult. At least this time there was a nurse's station installed, so one could monitor the beds from a central location rather than have to drift from one to the other. As always the physical bay was small, but it was the size of the ship, but at least they had an extra bed. The laboratories were much better though, she loved that and could hardly wait to get to those. The equipment there would have to be checked out as well.

"Tuula how is the surgical bed doing? This one is still saying I am an unknown species."

"It's looking great," replied Tuula, pressing a couple buttons on the biobed to extend and retract the surgical support frame. "We clearly need to get a software update or two to work out all the bugs. And while we are at it, we will need to redecorate the place. It's nice, but it's so... sterile. You know what I mean?"

"Excellent then if you are mostly satisfied." Her attention was draw to the sickbay doors as they opened.

LuAnn was dressed in a Starfleet Blue jumpsuit with her rhubarb earrings--for luck--when she walked into sickbay. "Hello," she said, smiling at everyone present. "My name's LuAnn and I'm here to help."

"Make that... uh..." Lake ir-Llantrisant said, chiming in with his fellow counselor, LuAnn. "Make that two of us," he announced. Lake's declaration would have been more powerful if he had been standing by her side, or even a single step behind her, but he wasn't. Lake was a good five paces behind LuAnn, lurking closer to the doorway. His arm had gotten trapped while shrugged a pale blue medical smock over his uniform, and he continued to struggle with it.

LuAnn smiled beatifically.

Allyndra swung her legs off the bed to sit up. "Oh good, welcome to the new sickbay. If you wish I could use some help checking out the lab equipment and that it is specs, there is also the matter of physically checking supplies against the manifest."

With one last tug on the lapels, Lake was dressed smartly in his doctor's smock. Although neuropsychology had always been his specialty, Lake took efforts to keep current as an MD. Catching up with Allyndra and LuAnn, Lake sighed with great affront, "Do the biobeds still speak a different language than the medical libraries?"

"I don't know. Can the Chief Counsellor still not dress himself without assistance?" Alexion's voice was a quiet, low breath close to Lake's ear on his way past him. He cast a look back to him over his shoulder with a small smile of amusement and an arched eyebrow.

As if pulled on strings, Lake followed Alexion without thinking about it. He swept in close enough to softly reply, "Why would I want to get dressed alone?"

"I get the feeling you're not that used to it," Alexion murmured in reply to him with an arched eyebrow, a knowing look on his features and a touch of a smirk to the way his lips pulled and his near violet eyes shone.

"More used to it than you know," Lake replied, cocking his head to the right. He sounded wistful when he said those words for Alexion, and then he veered off. In a louder voice, Lake said, "At least I won't be pouring through the medical inventory alone."

"I love doing inventory," LuAnn said. "You can learn the most interesting things that way." She was pretty sure Lake would be of more use in sickbay anyway. Besides, that gave her a good chance to sing where no one could hear her.

"Too, our patients lives may depend on your inventory," Lake chimed in, circling back towards LuAnn. "Replicators are always the first system to go out when something goes wrong," he said. "The Main Cargo Bay should have additional provisions if we're low on anything."

LuAnn nodded. "Will do." She snapped a saucy salute and headed off to inventory.

Verity Thorne's gaze moved across the room as he entered Sickbay, a small smile coming to him at seeing everyone gathered...and at how easily they had all fallen right back into old routines. Their confidence could make it easy to forget it was a new ship. The size didn't. And neither did the glimmer and crispness to the new contents.

Allyndra waited and then said, "Well let's make sure the EMH is working shall we? We had a few bugs the last time as we did also with the EBH." She looked toward the ceiling which was not necessary but it was habit.

"Computer, please activate the Emergency Medical Hologram please."

The air ahead of Allyndra shimmered with photonic light, akin to heat haze. For a heartbeat, the buzzing reverberations of forcefields collected the light together into the form of a body. Of a slight build, the Emergency Medical Hologram had an almost pixie-like appearance, given her neon-red hair and impish grin. Only her Starfleet uniform sobered her appearance. "Don’t panic. Please be precise with your language," the Emergency Medical Hologram said in a sing-song. She stretched her arms out wide, as if she were stretching, or maybe as if she thought she had wings like Allyndra's. Given the recent adjustments to her personality matrices, the typical call-and-response of the EMH had evolved into: "What part of this medical emergency do you not understand?"

"What part of your department head and starting a new voyage do you not understand?" Allyndra replied tersely putting her hands on her hips. The last thing she needed was a belligerent hologram.

The form of the EMH's body visibly shrank at Allyndra's reply. She folded her arms over her abdomen, her shoulders rolling inwards, and she frowned in a sulking fashion. "I would have to say... all of it?" the EMH replied. She ended her statement with an upward lilt, as if she were answering a difficult question on a game show. "I don't understand any of it. How do I suture a new voyage?" she asked, and the question was genuine. There was no guile in her bearing. "What role do I play?"

Tuula sighed. While this hologram resembled Shirley, the old EMH, it appeared that they would have to start all over with introducing her to the way her and Allyndra run the department. Pushing herself a little closer, she looked up at the new EMH. "Hair isn't bad, I like the colour," she mused, appreciating the bright red, even though it was in stark contrast to her black with purple highlights.

"You are to provide aid and advice at anytime that you are needed. I suspect that may be a lot. As such, now that you are active, to help with making sure that everything is up to spec. Get familiar with the layout and the people."

"Affirmative, Doctor," was the EMH's immediate reply. It communicated submission, if not understanding. She looked left and she looked right, and then she scampered towards the first people she saw. Approaching Tuula, the EMH patted her palms on Tuula's shoulder and the side of her face. "Yes," the EMH said, "You're feeling more familiar already."

Alexion watched on with a frown, shaking his head before turning away and putting distance between himself and the EMH, busying himself on the other side of the bay. Holograms in a holodeck was one thing; a fictional creature in a fictional world. But one interacting in the real world, treating people, real lives in their hands? It didn't even have one soul, let alone two.

"Very good, everyone we need to be ready let us get to work." Allyndra nodded and put the biobed on the list and then headed for the laboratory to check the equipment functioning.

=^=Allyndra, to bridge, medical is ready for departure.=^=

"Medical, Bridge," the Orion captain acknowledged over the comm channel. "How's our EMH functioning?" she then asked in reply. After her recent previous adventure in the holodeck sorting out the EBH's programming glitches, she wanted to be sure the emergency medical hologram was fully functional and primed for duty.

"Captain, that's so sweet of you," chimed in the Emergency Medical Hologram. Her reply came effusively, as if she had just won a pageant, and she folded her photonic hands over an approximation of where her heart would be, if she had a heart. The EMH went on: "Taking time out of your busy schedule to ask about me? Thank you. I can report the Emergency Medical Hologram is operating within 0.05% of design specifications. Unexpected interactions with Galileo's computers have caused a couple of variances, but nothing unexpected. How are you feeling today, Captain?"

"...I..am fine? Thank you?" answered Saalm's confused voice, clearly surprised at the hologram's direct reply. "Commander?" she then said, asking Warraquim to verify.

"Just a few small glitches that need to straightened out, nothing that will prevent proper launching." Allyndra was hopeful that was all it was. She too was a bit surprised at the EMH response but then again she had told it/her/whatever to be more outgoing.

"Understood. Thank you, commander," Lirha replied. "We'll be underway soon."

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Saalm]

LTJG Tris Shizn
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Chief Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

Lieutenant Tuula Voutilainen
Deputy Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO1 Verity Thorne
Chaplain
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

PO1 Gabriel Stark
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

CW03 Alexion Wylde
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Blake]

CWO3 Oliver Sylver
Flight Control Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

Lt. JG Aria Rice
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vansen]

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A

CWO3 Azra Ghoc
Boatswain
USS Galileo-A

LuAnn Lovegood
Counselor
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Sandoval]

RSS Feed