Once More Unto The Breach
Posted on Tue May 14th, 2013 @ 6:35pm by Captain Vorn Krace & Commander Acle Walex & Lieutenant Commander Sara Archer & Lieutenant Kell Demar & Ensign Jesse Eckles
Mission:
Renewed Beginnings
Location: USS Iapetus - Bridge
Timeline: MD08 0800hrs
Captain Krace walked onto his new bridge to the sound of the chiming of consoles and the quiet murmur of Starfleet officers at work preparing for an imminent departure, and discussing their expectations of what was to come.
"Commander Walex," he said, his voice carrying the well-practised authority of command. "Are we ready to launch?"
Acle looked down at the small display at his side, carefully making sure that every department was reporting a green status for departing. He had already done so a few minutes ago of course, and the department heads themselves would still check in, but Acle usually felt that such occasions merited some formalities. "Aye Aye Captain. The ship is ready in all respects for launch" Acle replied formally, intoning the traditional response.
"Very good." The Captain tugged his uniform jacket down to pull out the few wrinkles out of habit before settling into his chair at the centre of the command centre. "Then begin departure preparations."
"Aye Captain. We have just received clearance to launch. They wish us 'God Speed'." Acle replied.
"Security and tactical, standing by." Sara was still settling into her new station. She would often be on the bridge during during missions, but usually her duties would keep her in her office reading reports. Now that her department had been absorbed by security, her old duties became part of her new ones. That put her on the bridge behind the tactical console, and gave her a new gold collar. She hadn't decided how she felt about the change, but she had every confidence in her ability to do the job.
Kell's hands glided across the science station's console. It was definitely familiar; almost comfortable to be back in such a familiar position. All the sensor systems were showing green, though the starboard ventral sensor array was showing a .325% variance compared to the spec readings for a Luna Class ship. He'd have to fix that.
"All sensor systems are in the green Captain. Not picking up anything odd between us and McAllister nebula either."
His all too simple report taken care of, he began to program the sensor systems to begin scans of the McAllister nebula as soon as they were in range. He didn't necessarily need to. The McAllister nebula wasn't some grand mystery, though the particle flux inherent to the nebula did present a challenge. Still, it was prudent to poke around. There was always something odd floating around in a nebula if you looked hard enough.
"Mister Eckles; thrusters ahead one third," the captain ordered.
Jesse had already been on duty over an hour by the time things started coming together for their impending launch. He'd taken full advantage of the time to familiarize himself with the layout of his workstation. This included making a few adjustments to the console interface settings so that it would be easier for him to keep track of all the incoming telemetry while still maintaining reasonable control over the flight and navigation systems.
"Aye sir, ahead one third," Jesse repeated, moving his hands across the surface of the helm to bring power to the Iapetus' maneuvering thrusters and impulse engines.
Acle watched silently, trusting in his captain to take the ship out in good order. He still maintained a watchful eye on their thrust and other vectors as they began to move away.
As the ship slowly cleared the cradling arms of the drydock enclosure, Krace watched the readout on his command chair, waiting until the time to give his next order. "Increase speed to half impulse. Take us out of the system, and lay in a course for the McAllister nebula; warp eight."
According to the information Jesse was seeing on the display in front of him, they had been cleared for a standard departure angle by the Proxima Centauri Yards. This meant most of the information the young flight controller needed was readily available in the Iapetus's navigational computer. Confident that most of the work necessary to reach the system's edge was well in hand, Jesse turned his attention to plotting the first major leg of their journey to the McAllister nebula. Knowing there would be at least a few subsequent adjustments to their course en route, as a result of both natural and artificial hazards, Jesse decided to settle for a straight shot departure and to worry about any corrections once they were underway.
"Let's get to work then, people," Vorn announced, as they cleared the outer edge of Proxima Centauri's controlled traffic zone. "Engage warp drive, Ensign."
The touch of a single button was all it took for the captain's order to be carried out. Within moments, the Iapetus' nacelles began to glow with superheated plasma as her mighty warp engines rapidly crossed the minimum threshold for faster-than-light travel. There was a hum throughout the ship and static view of open stars stretched to become the more familiar streaked lines associated with warp speeds. They were on their way...
Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer
Commander Acle Walex
First Officer
Lt. Commander Sara Archer
Chief of Security
Lieutenant Kell Demar
Chief Science Officer
&
Ensign Jesse Eckles
Chief Flight Control Officer
USSIapetus
