Shuttle Service
Posted on Mon May 13th, 2013 @ 3:35pm by Ensign Natalie Kurtzman & Ensign Jay Lugh & Ensign Soren McArthur
Mission:
Renewed Beginnings
Location: Earth & Shuttlecraft 04
As the Iapetus' only remaining Type-11 shuttlecraft touched down on the designated landing pad in one of Starfleet's many facilities surrounding it's main HQ building in San Francisco, it's pilot tapped a control on the console to interface with the port's loudspeakers in the waiting area. "Personnel to transfer to NCC-83721 to landing pad three. That's personnel for transport to the USS Iapetus."
"Landing Pad Three, Three, Pad Three..." Jay made the words into a little song in his head, because he had a horrible sense of direction and would probably bumble onto some Klingon ship headed for war and glory. He preferred the freedom of exploration over the down and dirty trenches, but as a Starfleet officer he would do as he was ordered. But he didn't have to worry about ending up on a Klingon ship, because he found landing pad three with little trouble.
As the officers each came aboard, Natalie turned in her seat enough to look at them all whilst still touching the controls preparing them to take off again. "Welcome aboard Shuttlecraft Four," she said, implying that the ship was far grander a vessel to board than what it actually was. "I'm Ensign Kurtzen and I'll be your flight attendant for this evening," she joked. She always felt on these runs like she was one of the old flight attendants from the days of Earth's passenger aviation's "Golden Era", and so she may as well act like it. It wasn't as if she was picking up any of the ship's senior officers or any brass after all.
Soren stepped aboard the Shuttle Four, slinging his pack onto one of the overhanging racks. He nodded to Ensign Kurtzen "Greetings Ensign, I do not remember Starfleet have a flight attendant division." Said with a humorous expression. He stretched, and it could be heard that various bones popped into position. He reached into a slip of his bag and retrieved a old looking book and he began to read. It was faded but the title said "Klingon, rituals and rights".
Jay came onboard the Shuttle, copying the other recently aboard gentleman by slinging his pack up next to his. He was nervous, with the squirmy feeling in his stomach, but he was also empathically picking up on the woman's cheeriness, and it started to effect him as the nervousness melted and he suddenly relaxed into a seat. "What's the in-flight beverage, if I may ask?" He joked back.
"Romulan Ale, if you can find it," Natalie smirked, turning back towards her consoles to prepare the ship for lift-off again. "Water if you can't."
With everyone she was picking up on this flight around now aboard, the pilot hit the control that would seal the outer hatch. Local traffic control had sent her her flight clearance to take off almost as soon as the last occupant had entered. "Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times," he said to her passengers, adopting her mock flight attendant's voice once again. As the larger-than-average shuttle lifted off from the landing pad, she arced its trajectory to take them out over the bay before adjusting the angle of ascent to take them up to orbit, thereby avoiding most of the civilian traffic routes. The journey to orbit barely took a couple of minutes after that point, and before long they had left the Earth's gravity well and were on their way to the safe point from which she could initiate the warp drive.
"We should arrive at Proxima in about six hours," she said, turning briefly back to her passengers to give them the news. "Lanes look pretty clear around the yards, so we should be able to dock fairly quickly after we've arrived." As she turned back to her controls, she saw the flashing notification telling her that she was allowed to engage her warp engines, and kicked the shuttlecraft to maximum warp.
Soren finished reading and began to rummage around his duffle bag, not finding what he was looking for, he reached into a seem pocket and found the tin whistle he brought everywhere with him, he strode to the pilots car and seated himself across from her.He nodded at the other officers "Seems they are back from shore leave, all their skills are dulled" This last remark was followed by a somewhat sullen face.
Natalie shrugged as she glanced back around at the rear compartment again. "I don't recognise all of their faces," she said, though that wasn't overly strange on a ship with hundreds of crew to it. "I think some of them might be fresh from the Academy. Speaking of which," she turned her attention back to Soren. "I don't think I've seen you aboard the ship before. Ensign Natalie Kurtzman," she said by way of introduction.
Soren nodded, "I remember some of them from the bars around the shuttle port, loud, brash and ceaseless, Ensign Soren McArthur, just came out of medical leave from the war."
Jay remained in his seat for a while, looking around at the other passengers. He was quite content, with this many strangers around, to stay quiet - but watching, always watching. He had always been a man who would seize an opportunity. Not in a negative way, he would never do intentional harm, but he was good at jumping in at just the right moment... usually. Maybe not at this time... Jay left his seat as he noticed someone talking to the pilot. He would really like to talk to her, too, see if she was a flying nerd like himself. But he was stumped as to how he could slip himself into that conversation. He came up to them just as Ensign McArthur was speaking. "I'm one of those brash and ceaseless ones." He said by way of introduction. "And that is one pretty control panel. I can't wait to get my hands on my first official duty shift controls."
Soren glanced at him, "My apologies Ensign Lugh, my words were careless, now if you do not mind." Soren reached to the long package he had brought on bored the shuttle and sat with his back to the pilot's seat and began to unwrap a plasma rifle casing, he glanced up at the two. "Do not be alarmed, I received permission to wield this"
"Just so long as they didn't give you permission to shoot us all with it," Natalie said, trying to stop herself from staring at the rifle. She turned her attention instead towards the other ensign who had come up front to talk, to try and stop herself from asking too many questions about a weapon that obviously had some sort of personal significance. "What is your duty station?" she asked. The man wore red, which meant either the command decision or her own department, flight control, but she didn't have a clue who any of her passengers were before they boarded. Personnel lists weren't exactly her area.
Soren noted her nervousness about the rifle "That would be against regulations, and would most likely I would be court-marshalled" Soren glanced at the ensign " Ensign Lugh, duty station assistant flight control officer. A good score at flight school if I remember correctly. Soren removed the plasma manifold from his rifle and began checking it "Blasted manifold has failed again." He glanced at Natalie, "Ensign Kurtzman, would there be a replicator on board?"
"Over by the transporter pad," Natalie said, gesturing with a jerk of her head the general direction of the unit. She looked over at Lugh as Soren went to replicate his part. "So I guess I should be calling you 'sir' then?" she said, trying to keep jovial but wondering whether or not the other man would insist on the formalities of his higher position.
Soren begins to define what he needs from the replicator, though twice he had to scrap what it produced, and finally on the third try it worked for him. Soren called over, "Thank you ensign, my thanks should be at your feet. The small bag."
Jay grinned widely at Natalie, "Oh I'm just an Ensign, Flight Control. Assistant Chief Flight Control, too, so I'm not even really important, just the backup." He looked at her for a moment, trying to find her eyes with his. He didn't really do eye contact much. "You can just call me Jay. Or Ensign Lugh if we're around anyone who's fond of protocol."
"Sounds good to me," Natalie responded, setting the controls so that she could take her hands away for a few moments to reach down into the bag on the deck near her chair. "I hope it's not a grenade or anything," she joked, curious as to its contents.
Soren smiled thinly " I checked the shuttle store, and it lacked any kind of decent drink so I carried my own" In Natalie's hand was a ten year old bottle of premium grade blood wine. "I have an old friend who sends me three bottles every three months, it would be a shame to waste them."
"You know," Natalie said, as she studied the rather plain looking bottle with the Klingon print along its side. "I've never actually tried any of this stuff. I've heard that without an alcohol inoculation, it's strong enough to knock most humans unconscious."
"Entirely correct, it hits you as badly as a enraged Klingon who has had their honour insulted; my advice is to take it when you have no duty's for the next two hours or so. Though I have drank it while on the battle-field, immense saving on hypo's."
"I'll try some the next time I have some time off then," Natalie said, as she put the bottle back down in a place where it wasn't likely to start rolling around the shuttle. As she did so, the console bleeped at her. "We're approaching Alpha Centauri now," she told her passengers. "Bringing us out of warp and returning to impulse."
As the streaked stars out of the forward viewport resolved to their usual white dots against the inky blackness, the features of the system also resolved themselves. Immediately forward of the ship was the Proxima Maintenance Yards facility, and cradled within one of its drydock enclosures was the Luna class USS Iapetus.
Natalie piloted the smaller ship around in an arc to approach the Iapetus from behind and transmitted the code to request the opening of the starship's shuttlebay. "We'll be docking just a few minutes," she told them.
Soren strolled across to view port and gazed out at the Iapetus . "Very first time I have seen one of these Luna class ships. Not as dainty as I first thought, I just hope it has a good holodeck."
"It has three of them, as a matter of fact," Natalie responded, her tone boastful as the shuttle passed within the shuttlebay and the curved bay doors began to shut behind it. "The stellar cartography lab is also definitely something to see, if you can get Bonnie to let you in. The room's a perfect sphere; all of the displays are holographic, and it has independently adjustable gravity. You could practically float through solar systems in there." As the shuttle touched down in the centre of the bay with a soft whoof, she started powering the systems down. "Well, that's the end of the line, folks," she said.
Soren glanced at Natalie, "If you do not mind me asking Ensign what are you going to do now?"
"Well," the pilot responded, as she tapped the various controls on her console. "I need to see to the shuttle first. Make sure all of the post-flight checks are done and it's stored away properly before I can sign off. After that, I'm not sure. Not much need for a shuttle pilot when we're in spacedock. How about you?"
"Nothing much, I have to have my parts tuned by the ships doctor, I will help you with all of this, I have nothing to do until the tune up." Soren raised his shoulders in half shrug, not wanting to be slovenly.
"Sure," Natalie replied. She began the power-down sequence of most of the shuttle systems aside from those they would need to re-position the shuttle for storage as she waited for the rest of her passengers to disembark.
Ensign Natalie Kurtzman [PNPC - Krace]
Shuttlecraft Pilot
Ensign Jay Lugh
Assistant Chief Flight Control Officer
&
Ensign Soren McArthur
Infiltration Specialist
USS Iapetus
