Leaving the Nest

Posted on Sun Sep 11th, 2011 @ 1:08pm by Lieutenant JG Martin Cook & Lieutenant JG Emily Hamson

Mission: The Fate of the Swiftsure
Location: Shuttle Bay

After being given their orders, the officer's had departed the ready room and started preparing for their given assignments. Martin was to pilot one of the shuttles with the chief science officer, Emily Hamson. He hadn't really met her yet. He saw her briefly when they arrived on board and the only thing he had learnt about her since was that she used to be Borg.

In the Iapetus's shuttlebay, the chief flight control officer was going through some preflight checks with the engineers.

Emily entered the bay and walked over to who she presumed was Lieutenant Martin Cook.

"Lieutenant Cook?" she asked.

Martin looked up from his padd, turning around to see the ex-drone stood before him.

"Yeah, that's me," he said, giving a warm smile as he did. "You must be Lieutenant Hamson? I'll be piloting the other shuttle when we do our flight later."

Emily nodded "I'm honoured." she stated.

He walked over and extended his hand for a handshake.

"It's nice to finally meet you."

She took hold of his hand and shook it "And you. I hope we can work well together." she said and tried to smile but feared that she looked stupid.

Martin returned the smile, "I'm sure we will." He noticed she looked uncomfortable but wasn't entirely sure why. He thought maybe he had come across too strongly.

"Are you ready to get started? We're just running some preflight checks before we start loading up the equipment."

"Yes. Do you require my assistance with the preflights? If not, ill begin organising the equipment and configuring the scanners and sensors to the correct frequency." She stated firmly.

Martin nodded in approval of Emily's firm tone. "I'll run the flight checks and let you work your science magic. We'll be ready to go in no time," he said with a reassuring smile. "I'm sure this will be the start of a team to be reckoned with," he said with a hint of humour in his voice.

"Call me Martin by the way."

"As you wish. You may call me Emily." she replied and smiled again as he was trying to ease the tension between them using humour. She felt that she needed to do something nice to.

He moved over to the first shuttle and walked up the ramp expecting her to follow. Taking a seat near the front of the shuttle, he started to go through the pre flight checks. Mostly going through the status of the main systems.

Emily sat at front as well and removed a pannel from below the main console so she could gain access to the sensors.

"So, are you enjoying your time on the Iapetus?"

"Yes. The crew are very nice and they seem to have adapted to my presence quicker then the first crew I interacted with on my first assignment. And you?" she asked.

She removed some chips and put them back in a different order before used her tricorder to enhance the scanning radius of the sensors. They wouldn't be as efficient as Borg sensors but she was determined to make them as efficient as possible.

Martin smiled, watching the science officer swap the chips around. "Yes, from whom I've already spoken with at least. I even had a dancing lesson. It was, very interesting to say the least, but a lot of fun."

He leant back in his chair, looking over to Emily and asked, "What made you decide to do this? Join Starfleet I mean."

Emily stopped what she was doing and gave the answer some thought. "I am Borg. I belong in space and I feel this is the best way to make up for what I've done in the past." She said truthfully "And I was a science drone so becoming a science officer seemed Logical."

He squinted at the term 'drone'. "You still refer to yourself as Borg, even though you're no longer in the collective? I didn't realise the Borg had 'science' drones. I guess I always figured them to be the ultimate 'multi-taskers'. I mean don't get me wrong, I know all about drone's having surgical tools on their arms, I've just never given it much thought."

"I may not be part of the collective but I am still Borg as well as human, I cannot ignore that part of my life even if I want to. Each drone has a specific purpose to serve the collective. There were tactical drones, medical drones, science drones, combat drones and repair drones that repair damage vessels." she explained, she didn't mind talking about the Collective.

"Well you make a fine human, if I may say so." He said offering a light in the rather grim subject.

"Thank you." She said softly, she wasn't use to people giving her compliments, it felt quite nice.

"I suppose that makes sense. My sister was always fascinated by the Borg after Wolf 359. She was too young to understand the severity, and with the curious nature of a child, well, you can imagine the rest."

He tapped on the panel in the middle of them twice to bring up a blue print of the shuttle. "Have you piloted this model before?"

"No but it won't be much different to the model I have piloted before. I will adapt." She said firmly and took a few minutes to study the blue print.

Martin sighed and continued. "If it were that easy, we'd all be pilots, and I wouldn't have a job. She's got new thrusters. Doesn't sound like much but they are alot quicker to respond to your commands. They can also be controlled individually if you need to make any sudden maneuvers. However, that's pretty much it, and I'm sure you'll 'adapt.'" He said, ending with a nod of approval.

"How's the 'hot-wiring' going?"

"Almost completed. After this, I will add two data nodes to the system to increase the data banks capacity. Is there anything you would like me to do?"


"Sounds generous to me."

Martin gave it some thought and feeling sure there was nothing more required he replied with approval in his voice. "I think we're good."

Emily nodded and continued changing the scanning radius.
"Why did you join Starfleet?" She asked suddenly. She wasn't good at small talk.

"Oh, it's genetic really. My father was an engineer, turned captain. My mother was a chief medical officer, and my sister has followed in her footsteps. She's onboard the U.S.S Remedy right now. She loves it."

He smirked, "I joined because they let me play with new technology."

"So your parents made you join?" She asked.

"No, not intentionally anyway."

Martin brought out a PADD and began second checking the readouts on the console with what was required in the starfleet database. He had only flown them twice so he wasn't as confident as he was with the type eight shuttles yet.

"I think it was more familiarity," he continued. "Besides, Earth has been explored. There's far more things out there to see and do. I'm just glad to be apart of something interesting here, rather than be on some Oberth survey vessel in the beta quadrant. I would've had to really piss off one of the instructors at the academy for that to happen." He chuckled.

"Can't say my parents were disappointed with my sister and I joining though. They were very proud."

"Its good that your parents supported you." She stated.

Martin nodded in agreement. "It is." He was reluctant to delve into information about her parents as he wasn't sure how she'd feel talking about them. So, he improvised. "I don't suppose Elena has gotten you involved in dancing on holodeck yet then?"

"No. I do not enjoying dancing. I prefer to read, study and observe scientific anomalies. However, the holodecks does have interesting qualities."

"Sounds... fun. Maybe you'd find it a challenge? Curious though, what do you mean by 'interesting qualities'"?

"It can be very beneficial for a person then just through recreation. It can help with medical care, physio, psychology purposes aswell for scientific and engineering needs. Most people forget its other qualities."

Martin squinted, "Yes, but speaking of psychology, a bit of fun is healthy for the mind, or so I'm told. Maybe if you want I'll show you one of my programs sometime. However for now I think we're good to go." He placed the padd down and looked over to her.

"Perhaps." She replied and was happy for the shuttle to departe.

He nodded in agreement and prepared the shuttle for departure.