Liftoff (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 22 Jan 2013 @ 3:56pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Commander Pola Ni Dhuinn M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Coleman & Lieutenant Commander Dea Mialin & Lieutenant Theron Rhodes & Lieutenant Kiri Cho & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Ensign Jessica Wilson M.D. & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Senior Chief Petty Officer Anthony Davis

2,531 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 02 - Resupply
Location: USS Galileo - Bridge, Various
Timeline: MD 16 - 2320 hrs

[ON]

For over two weeks, the tiny starship Galileo sat on the surface of Vega IX in her original landing site while the crew participated in some much-needed shore leave. Her previous mission was taxing both on her personnel and the ship, but after many days of diligent work by Starfleet's Corps of Engineers and Galileo's engineering crew, the Nova Class had been fully restored to operational status. Using a series of large mechanical cranes and support beams, a makeshift dry dock had been constructed and the damage to the ventral hull and landing struts had been repaired. In addition, several system and component upgrades had been installed, turning the small ship into the Federation's most advanced and refitted Nova Class. Now, sixteen days after her original crash landing, Galileo was ready to depart and head back out into the galaxy to continue her primary mission objective; To serve as a specialized scientific platform for Starfleet's exploratory and research operations.

As her official departure time approached, the remaining support craft, dock workers, and engineering crew began to depart from the landing site, leaving Galileo once again by herself on the planet's surface. The hour was late and the sun had already set, leaving the ship's shiny hull illuminated by the soft blue glow of her nacelles and strobe lights. A few final shuttlecraft deposited the last of Galileo's crew at the port loading ramp, then quickly whisked back off into the atmosphere and back to their motherships in orbit.


Vega IX: Medical Center

"Energize," Liyar said, still standing in front of Vega IX's medical center. In his hands were the civilian Vegan reports he'd gathered on hand to give to the captain as soon as possible, his only real task had been to coordinate any monetary or economic breakdowns, and ensure that the Vegans did not resent any Starfleet personnel who had gotten themselves into trouble, which had occurred to some degree, but not as much as he'd suspected. The credits system wasn't that bad. Aside, of course, from the traded resources they'd given in exchange for the help in repairing Galileo's systems.

In any case, he knew he was cutting it close to return. He had barely enough time to change into uniform at the medical center before beaming to the Galileo before their departure. Lest he remain behind, he appeared on the transporter pad looking as haggard as he had at the medical center. The psi-cuffs were now securely around his wrists, but other than that he forced himself into a reasonable facsimile of blank, emotionless Vulcan comportment as he made his way down to the turbolift.


USS Galileo: Bridge

On the bridge, Lirha paced back and forth in front of her chair with a slight hint of nervousness, noting that their upcoming departure felt strangely similar to their original launch from San Francisco almost a month ago. She looked down at the PADD in her hands which contained the latest ship's status reports and double-checked them one last time to make sure everything was in order. From what she could see, her ship was now operating back at 100 percent operational status, which gave her a much-needed feeling of comfort and relief. Glancing around the bridge, she noticed that her senior staff was beginning to arrive and man their stations, and she decided that now was as good a time as ever to begin the takeoff sequence.

Turning back to her chair, she leaned down and delicately tapped several buttons on her armchair console which opened the intra-ship communications channel. "All hands, this is the captain. Report to your stations and prepare for departure." she began, hearing her voice echo loudly throughout the comm system across all decks. "Secure all docking ports and hatches. Senior officers, report your status."

Jeremy stepped off the turbolift and onto the bridge, forcing himself to remember to let Sidi off first to avoid the bottling of the two of them in the opening. Sidi walked next to him, his head held high as he sniffed the air and scouted out the room. Jeremy led him down to the area in front of the Tactical station. He waited until Davis signed off before he could situate Sidi and take his seat. However, he realized this was the first time he'd even seen the Captain, much less interacted with her.

"Boss?" Davis said, nudging Jeremy. "Gonna be kind of hard for the rest of the Bridge crew to understand orders."

"What?" Jeremy asked but followed Davis's gaze. Sidi had jumped up into the Captain's chair and was sitting there, his tongue lolling as he looked around the Bridge.

"No!" Jeremy said, brushing past the Captain. He knew he should have used the short lead! "Out!" Jeremy commanded. Sidi climbed down slowly, almost as if reluctant to give up the chair. Jeremy turned to his station and began inputting his access to bring it to life for him. He made sure to keep Sidi at his side, even though he watched the chair again, apparently wanting to reclaim the spot for himself.

"Security reports green across the board. We're good to go, Captain," he said, still standing.

Dea had been sitting at her station on the bridge preparing Galileo for departure. The last time she'd been manning the flight control console on an official basis, it had been a very tough day. A quick survey of all systems gave her the data she needed. Turning to answer Captain Saalm, "Flight Control is green. We're good to go Captain."

Pola's voice suddenly echoed around the bridge as she responded to the ship wide announcement made only moments ago.

=^=Sickbay to bridge; All systems are reporting green Ma'am. We are ready to go.=^=

Liyar exited off of the turbolift next and onto the bridge, posture straight and uncompromising. It took him only a few seconds to determine where mission operations was, and he passed the rest of the crew with only bare acknowledgment before he sat down and brought up the computer terminal touchpad, eyes scanning over the star system information. "Vega colony reports all incidents pertaining to both criminal detainment and trade transaction have been resolved adequately to their satisfaction, Captain. They welcome the Galileo to return at any time and have added a notation of," he paused at the message on his screen, "Farewell, and safe voyage." The Vulcan quoted it flatly.

Jeremy pulled Sidi back, once again giving him the 'stay' command as the dog turned and stepped toward Liyar, his brown eyes taking in the Vulcan, but even more so his powerful nose taking in the man's smell.

Sidi snuffled, not liking the smell of the man. He smelled sick. He walked around Jeremy, to the right side and sat between the Tactical and Conn stations, looking forward for a moment, before he glanced back at the big, comfortable chair.

Liyar glanced down and over, sensing the presence of... well... an animal, as far as he could tell. A canine. Security teams were rarely equipped with animal handlers as far as he understood, at least aboard spacefaring vessels, but he could not help but be curious. He could feel the odd mixture of disturbance as people recognized the animal's presence, though personally he figured as long as it wasn't hurting anyone, there was no reason he could not remain. He did not, apparently, enjoy hospital. Liyar could sympathize.

The new Chief Engineer hurried out of the turbolift, sweat soaking her spine. Faulty parts and unpleasant surprises had not been the way she'd wanted to bring in her first departure, but the Galileo had withstood the test and Lilou's small, but eager Engineering team had managed to catch all the sprung leaks the idiots from the Corps had left behind. Her previously pressed dress uniform was rumpled and her breath was shallow, but she was there. Glancing down, she noted a puddle of black lubricant on the toe of her shined boot and quickly rubbed it off against the back of her other leg, jerking her tool belt off as she crossed to the Engineering station.

Searching the readouts and cross-checking them against her PADD, she cleared her throat, "Engineering is a full go, Captain," Lilou reported, only slightly breathless. "We can take her out whenever you're ready." She shut her eyes, resting her fingertips on the bridge console. Just like we talked about, sweetheart, she prayed to the ship. Nice and easy, up, up, and away.

The final member of the senior crew to arrive was of course the XO, who quickly disembarked from the lift and headed towards his new chair, more comfortable than it's predecessor, and far less stressful for him to settle into as the last time that Galileo had left a dock of any sort. Taking a deep breath, memories of the XO's first days aboard the ship came flashing back, as he remembered the honour he had felt at launching their little vessel from the dock when they left Earth as a newly christened member of the fleet.

"Ma'am. Final preparations for departure are complete. All ship's systems are at your disposal."

Kiri was still getting used to the new bridge layout, her station was more or less the same though. Access to the sensors and science networks all over the ship, she could see where people were and her own copy of the main computer use. Right now she was checking the results of the last set of weather readings from the Vega colony Meteorological Service. She'd been checking their own sensors as well until she was completely sure, it was a little odd to be getting back to normal work for her. Work was important though, it let the young woman keep her mind off the events of the night before. The bridge was safe though, all these people around, it was safe. Directly ahead was the view screen and the stars, back to where she wanted to be.

"There are no clouds in the sky and minimum wind, a high pressure system is moving in from the south and planetary orbit appears to be clear," Her officer persona allowed her to hide how she felt, right now she was very glad of that. It felt that she had managed to fail everyone on the ship that morning.

Looking over to see a dog between her station and Tactical Dea shook her head. "The bridge is no place for a dog, especially during critical Flight Operations." Being distracted by an animal during their departure from Vega was the last thing Mialin needed right now. Turning to face Stone for a moment, "If he's yours get him out of here now."

Jeremy scowled at the woman sitting at the station next to him. There were many reasons he liked the old configuration of tactical that didn't place him front and center. "He is a member of my department and takes his orders from me. I do not take orders from you," he answered simply.

Jeremy dismissed the matter and continued with his own preparations. Perhaps, later he could review the bridge station layouts and determine a better system for tactical.

Dea was far too busy to get into a deep discussion about Stone's lack of respect towards her and her request. There would be discussions with people who could do something about that later along with the matter of a dog being allowed to interrupt key proceedings on the bridge. Purposely not appearing flustered by Stone's comment but it wasn't easy. However she had a job to do so Dea continued her departure preparations and look in Stone's direction. He'd crossed an unacceptable line as far as she was concerned professionally.

Maenad arrived on the bridge from her office, where she had spent all of her time since returning from the hospital. She saw Liyar standing there, whom she had not seen since he had reassured her it was alright to leave him in the doctors' care. She agreed, albeit reluctantly, on the condition that he let her know when he got back; his presence on the bridge made everything more manageable right now.

She took her station and ran her hands over the console, figuring out its configuration in a matter of seconds. "The science department and all related devices are fully operational," she reported without taking her eyes from the screen. After several seconds, she noticed that Stone was there and she resented it. If Holliday had made time for her, he might not have been so smug with that... Maenad blinked. Dog? Stone had a dog with him on the bridge? And nobody seemed to care. She narrowed her eyes to herself, meanwhile digging a fingernail into the skin around her thumbnail. It stung; she wasn't dreaming. She wanted to start yelling, but she only crossed her legs instead and returned her darkened eyes back to her console.

Evelyn arrived on the bridge shortly after Maenad. She headed straight for the auxiliary station to the side of the bridge and halted when her eyes caught the canine beside the Security Chief. She blinked a few times and then shook her head. Dog on the bridge...that's a first, she thought to herself as she sat down in her chair.


Sickbay

Pushing back from her desk, Pola straightened her uniform before heading out into main sickbay. There was no point in her being on the bridge at this point, given her small size the CMO knew that she would just be in the way. She would have enjoyed seeing her first planetside launch but she would have to do with the view which her monitor's offered. Smiling as she spotted Jessica, she nodded her head towards the door, "Why don't you head up to the bridge? Unless someone hits a tree during take off or crashes, there's no real need for you to be here. I can stay and manage the stations."

Jessica glanced up with excitement. Her first week or so aboard Galileo had been rough to say the least, full of ups and downs, and although she had got through it, well it had been a difficult period of time. She was more than happy to head up to the bridge to watch her first, ever, planetary take-off by a Federation Starship, shuttles and the like didn't count.

"Aye-Aye, Ma'am." Jessica nodded happily.

Smiling at Jessica's enthusiasm, Pola went back in her memory as she tried to remember the new bridge layout. "You know yourself what the layout of the bridge is. I'll have a live feed to the bridge, so unless you feel something needs to be done on the spot, I'll take care of the rest.

"Thank You, Ma'am," Jessica smiled.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

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