Shuttle Trip
Posted on Tue Apr 16th, 2013 @ 9:07pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Ensign Jesse Eckles
Mission:
Renewed Beginnings
Location: Utopia Planetia / New Delta-class Runabout
Timeline: 1740hrs
"Place your thumb-print here Captain, and the shuttlecraft transfer will be complete," the lieutenant said, as he walked alongside the two officers from the Iapetus and handed the third PADD across to Krace.
Taking it and pressing his thumb against the control to confirm the transfer of the two shuttles that he had brought with them from the Iapetus to Utopia Planetia for eventual reassignment to another starship.
"Thank you Captain," the lieutenant answered, retrieving the PADD. "Your new vessel is just through there, in hangar bay three." With his job done, the lieutenant left the pair whilst they were in sight of the large door emblazoned with a red '3'.
"According to the specs," Krace said, talking now to Eckles. "The Delta-class ship should be capable of operating semi-autonomously. Means we could send some crewmembers off for weeks at a time on missions in it."
"Practically a runabout in most respects, sir," Jesse replied as they approached the door to hangar bay three. He'd had the opportunity to pilot a Delta-class shuttle once or twice during his time in the extended transfer pool and wasn't too concerned about being able to find his way around the craft once they were aboard. It was more the fact this would be his first real on-the-job experience with his new Commanding Officer that had him a little on edge.
"Well let's just hope that she's worth the extra space we had to clear in the shuttle bay for her," the captain responded, as the large bay doors opened to permit them entry. The bay had about five identical craft inside, as well as space to spare for more and various mechanisms to move the ships around on cranes and being more ships in from the factory. Their ship, emblazoned with the mothership's name and the shuttle's own NCC number, but no individual name for the small craft, was sitting right in the middle of the bay floor, ready to be prepped for flight. Krace could clearly see why it had cost him two of his old shuttles - the craft was far larger than most shuttles.
Once they climbed inside, the extra size was even more evident. With a rear compartment complete with workstations and retracting biobeds in addition to a cockpit that could seat four officers at work, it was certainly a big shuttle.
Jesse had entered the forward compartment slightly behind his Commanding Officer and, while it had been implied that his purpose on this trip would be to pilot the vessel back to the Iapetus, he did not want to make any assumptions as to who would be taking responsibility for primary flight control.
"If you want to take the CONN Ensign," Krace said, noticing the man hesitate to wait for instructions before heading down to the pilot's chair. "We'll get ready to make way."
"Of course, sir," Jesse replied, slipping past the man and making his way down the short ramp toward the waiting flight control station. He slid into the single chair and quickly began familiarizing himself with the shuttle's configuration. These particular control surfaces seemed to be set in the usual default arrangement which could then be modified by the pilot for further ease of access. "Initiating pre-flight sequence," he announced as he entered the first sequence of start-up commands.
Krace sat at the Operations console and began keying in sequences long since memorised and made automatic. "Powering up systems. Inertial dampeners, life support, sensors..."
The pair went through the routine like clockwork, each reporting to the other the steps they were taking in the power-up sequence, until the craft was ready to take off. "Clearance to depart received from starbase operations," the captain said as he read the incoming transmission on his screen. "Take us out, Ensign."
There was a hum of energy as the shuttle's thrusters came to life. Jesse slowly ran his finger along the thrust control, causing the shuttle to slowly rise into the air above its former resting location. Once he was sure they'd gained the necessary altitude for maneuvering, the young pilot moved his hands to another set of controls and gently eased the shuttle forward toward the open bay doors. Waves of blue energy rippled outward from where they slipped through the atmospheric forcefield into the open space beyond. Within a few moments, they had passed the first navigational buoy and were well on their way toward clearing the more densely navigated area immediately surrounding the shipyard.
"We've cleared the last navigational buoy," Jesse reported after about five minutes, "increasing speed to full impulse."
As the small craft cruised through space, Vorn sat back and thought about a few of the things that the events of the past few weeks had brought to light for him. Ever since the transfers of Jordan and Zim, he'd been forced to become aware of the fact that he had allowed himself to become comfortable with the friendships that had been created between himself and the most senior and long-serving of his officers - Acle, Sara, Jordan and Zim primary amongst them, and how different that was in comparison to the old days, during his command of the Lincoln and the first few years that followed. Back then, he had made an effort to connect with each of his senior staff as they came aboard, as opposed to allowing them to serve their tour with him without him spending any personal time with any of them. As they traveled through the Sol system on their way back to the ship, he made the decision that he would make a concerted effort to change that status quo, especially considering the loss of half of his close friends amongst the crew.
"So," he said, striking up a conversation in the slow pace of the moment of flying a shuttle through the safest territory in the galaxy. "Where did you serve your field assignment year during the Academy?" In truth, he found that he was getting a little out of practice at striking up conversations that didn't sound like an interview of his newest crew member, but it seemed to come out casual enough.
"The Pandora, sir," Jesse replied over his shoulder. People had always said he seemed to have a knack for dealing with social situations. In fact, unless you counted that run-in with the Academy groundskeeper, he'd never really had a problem being in control of his interactions with other people until...well, until he'd arrived aboard the Pandora. He knew there wasn't any reason to be overly nervous about spending time alone with the captain so soon after having reported in. The last thing he wanted to do, though, was to give his Commanding Officer the wrong first impression.
"Ah, Captain Iluvar's ship," Krace responded, remembering his once-time colleague fondly from back during the time when the Iapetus had been assigned to another fleet. "Or was it Admiral Iluvar by then? Did you know that we actually saved his life once, back when he was in command of the Tethys?"
"Can't say that particular detail ever came up in conversation," Jesse admitted as he made a slight adjustment to the shuttle's heading. The fact of the matter was that Jesse had spent most of his time working with the Pandora's Second Officer and Chief Medical Officer rather than the admiral himself, something which had taken the young man some time to come to terms with. "I take it you didn't hear about the trial," he said, unsure as to whether that bit of news had made it as far as the Iapetus' deployment in the Delta Quadrant.
"Trial?" the captain asked, wondering just what he had missed in the mass packets of data that had been burst-transmitted to the ship whilst in the Delta Quadrant. "I can't say I have," he elaborated, wondering what a man he considered at least a loose friend, if not one that he kept in close contact with, had done that could have put him on trial.
"It was kind of a big deal when it happened," Jesse explained, "the admiral was already pretty well-known because of what he did at the Battle of Altorus and I guess someone had an axe to grind or something..."
"Well, we've been gone for a while," the captain responded with a slight smirk. He was aware of a few details of that particular battle, though not much beyond the brief official de-classified record, as the Iapetus had been transferred to the fourth fleet before the event actually took place. "Any news that was ferried through the Iconian Gateway was fairly limited. Mostly statistical reports from Starfleet, to be honest."
Jesse couldn't help but chuckle a little. "It's...a long story, sir," he said, "sufficed to say, a board of inquiry was held. The prosecution must have said something convincing because they ended up removing him from his position as Task Force Commanding Officer and knocked him back to captain."
"As far as I know though, isn't he currently serving as a task force commanding officer within the eighth fleet?" Truth be told the thought to him up hadn't occurred to him whilst he'd been on Earth, but the captain had heard the odd mention of an Admiral Iluvar heavily involved with the efforts to assist the Romulans after the Hobus disaster - though he knew from his own sets of orders that he wasn't involved in the fourth fleet's own efforts.
"He is now," Jesse replied, "Guess you could say things have come full circle for him, in a manner of speaking."
"Well, either way it seems I have a lot to catch up on," Vorn said. Despite the fact that the ship had been in the Delta Quadrant for just less than a year, it had been a year where a lot had happened in the galaxy.
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer
&
Ensign Jesse Eckles
Chief Helmsman
USS Iapetus
