Arrival

Posted on Thu Sep 10th, 2009 @ 9:22am by Captain Vorn Krace

Mission: Into a Devil's Heart
Location: USS Iapetus - Bridge
Timeline: MD04 1315hrs

As Vorn sat in his chair on the bridge of the Luna class vessel, he watched as the officers around him went about their duties, noting silently the number of them who would soon be replaced by more senior officers in their alpha shifts when they reached the station. He also noted dryly that he was still without an officer at the helm - something he would bring up with Starfleet Personnel - as he watched Crewman Tom Cook (NPC) turn in his chair to face him.

"Captain, we're approaching Starbase Ronin."

The Captain nodded, directing his attention back past the crewman and his console to the large area currently blank on the forward wall of the Bridge. "Take us out of warp. On-screen."

As the image snapped onto the holographic projector, it blurred momentarily as the ship continued its rapid deceleration from faster-than-light speeds, a shift which went unnoticed thanks to the powerful inertial dampeners onboard. On the viewscreen was the distinct disc shaped station that was known as Ronin, though it's official designation was Starbase G-47, former flagbase of Task Force 22. The flagbase had long since been relocated to that shared with the fleet's headquarters, Starbase 386, but Ronin still remained an important outpost in this area of Federation space, and its shipyards were often used when those at 386 were otherwise occupied with more pressing assignments.

"Receiving a hail from the station, sir," reported William (NPC) from the ops console. "They're directing us in; we have an approach vector."

"Direct the approach vector through to the helm," Vorn ordered. The procedure for docking with a starbase was well known to everyone there, and they could easily perform it without any speech whatsoever. But speaking and confirming vectors and orders was all a part of the procedure, and it was comforting to many, Vorn included, to go through them.

"Vector received," Tom reported from the conn. "Bringing us in to docking bay 4. The station has requested that we remain at half impulse power until we are 100 meters from the bay, then they request we reduce to quarter impulse, before transferring to thrusters for final docking procedures."

"Well, we don't want to upset anyone, do we?" Vorn asked, rhetorically. "Reduce power to half impulse. Bring us in."

Vorn remembered a time when it was a necessity that ships fly no faster than half impulse around the station, for the sheer amount of traffic one had to navigate through. Now, the speed restrictions were all just protocol, and were more to keep those in docking control happy rather than for any ship safety reasons.

As the station slowly grew larger on the screen, Vorn could easily pick out the charred markings near docking bay 3, where Peter had set off the shuttle's warp core to mask his vector from sensors, and make sure the tractor beam's targetting scanners couldn't get a fix on him. The damage looked minimal, but the explosion had done it's job. The Lincoln's dry dock in orbit of the planet with it's parent station looked a distinct different kind of empty to the couple of other unused docks - this one had maintenance equipment, workbees and parts floating around and attached to it; signs of the halted work on the vessel's refit, as much a part of Vorn's memories as the last time he had visited this station.

The Luna-class ship slowed even more as it got within range of its assigned bay, where Vorn could pick out the details of the machinery inside, along with a few EVA-suited technicians around the outside of the bay's entrance, working on maintenance. As the ship lined up with it's bay, Tom cut all power to the impulse engines, and let the momentum drift them through the opening, using short bursts from the thruster jets to keep them going straight, and slowing down just enough for them to come to a gentle stop next to the umbilical equipment. As the bay doors closed silently behind them in the vacuum, the docking clamps engaged, and the fuel, power and personnel lines were attached to the various locking points on the ship.

"Docking procedure completed." Tom reported.

"Setting condition blue," William added from Ops. "Sir, the station commander is requesting a meeting with you in his office - immediately." The young officer added the last word hesitantly, as if it were he insisting on his Captain, not the commander.

"Tell him I'll be right there," Vorn said. "Captain Krace to all hands," he tapped his combadge. "Remember; we are not here for shore leave. As soon as we can pin-point where Peter went, we'll be leaving. You can make use of your off-duty hours on the station, but I want everyone to be ready to go at a moment's notice - so synth-ale only. Krace out."

With that said, he stood from his chair and headed for the exit. "Tell transporter room 1 to be ready for me," he said. Then, under his breath; "Critchley wanted immediately, I'll give him immediately."

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Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer
USS Iapetus

Crewman Tom Cook (NPC)
Flight Control Officer
USS Iapetus
Played by Captain Krace

Lieutenant JG William Biggins (NPC)
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
USS Iapetus
Played by Captain Krace