Saucer Included

Posted on 13 Apr 2013 @ 6:05pm by Captain Sarah Sutherland (KIA) & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm

1,758 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 03 - Frontier
Location: USS Venture: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD4 1500

ON:

Sarah led Lirha inside her ready room, after giving the Galileo's Captain a personal guided tour of the Venture. "I confess when I first received command of a Galaxy-Class vessel I felt completely overwhelmed." She commented as she made her way to the replicator. "But you get used it...eventually." She smiled at her counterpart, "Would you like anything to drink, Captain?"

Lirha settled into the ready room's comfortable couch and leaned back into the cushions. The tour which her fellow captain had just given her was a nice touch, and Lirha was secretly happy to be back on board a Galaxy Class starship. She had spent two years aboard a similar starship, USS Athens, and during that time had become quite accustomed to the large and spacious accommodations of the Federation's premier exploration and diplomatic cruiser. "Hot chocolate, please." Lirha answered with a polite smile, then commented on Sarah's observations. "Yes, I felt much the same way when I first served on Athens. It took me about two weeks before I stopped getting lost on a constant basis." she joked.

Sarah smiled at Lirha's experience, "I got lost once or twice on the Gemini, of course being the Captain I had the perfect cover." she winked as she made her way to the replicator. "One hot chocolate, and one coffee, black." she ordered.

With a familiar hum, two mugs materialized. She picked up her coffee by the handle while lifting Lirha's hot chocolate by the cup plate. Sarah made her way over to the Orion and handed her drink. She sat down beside her taking a swig of the hot liquid. "Mmm coffee. Best thing ever discovered."

Lirha picked up her mug and took a long sip of the warm and frothy drink, then licked her lips and set it back down on the plate. "Yes, I have noticed that Humans are quite fond of coffee." she replied with a grin. She wasn't personally very fond of the taste or the large concentration of caffeine, but it wasn't her place to judge someone who enjoyed the beverage. "So...has Venture detected anything on long range sensors recently? I assume your patrols have been uneventful thus far...?"

Sarah shook her head, "No. My Strategic Operations office is keeping a close eye on the situation, and our fighters haven't detected anything. However should something happen, we'll be more than ready." She smiled taking a sip of her coffee. "One thing we have been noticing is this system is larger than we thought. The asteroid belt alone is twice the size we estimated."

"Yes, it is quite large. A celestial treasure box, of sorts." the Orion captain replied with a nod of agreement. "Galileo's scans have been picking up large amounts of dilithium and deuterium deposits within some of the C and M class asteroids. Very promising, I must say." she added with a soft smile.

Sarah nodded, "Yes my science chief even asked me the other day if this nebula survey was even important." she chuckled, "Even caught his eye, which made me thinking, you guys will need help with the survey. I am contemplating separating the Venture and leaving the Saucer Section as a science base for your mission."

Lirha raised an eyebrow at the thought and quickly contemplated the idea. Venture, along with all Galaxy Classes, had the fortunate ability to separate herself into two strategic elements, and the idea seemed appealing. "And you will take the stardrive into the nebula to conduct the survey?" she wondered.

Sutherland nodded and took another sip of her coffee, "Correct, considering Stellar Cartography is the only department even remotely interested in the nebula, more of their labs are in the star-drive section anyway, makes sense. In this case it's your mission, Captain, so the Venture's Science Department will be at your Science Chief's discretion. I'm sure your Science Chief would be thrilled."

"Hmm..." the Orion captain mumbled, then picked up her mug and took another big sip from it while she pondered the decision further. She had to admit, Maenad would probably be quite pleased to have the entire resources of a Galaxy Class saucer section at her disposal in addition to Galileo's own resources. "I agree, and I think that is a wonderful idea." she finally decided with a genuine smile. "May I watch?" she asked, wanting to witness first-hand the rare separation of a huge Galaxy Class hull.

Sarah looked at the Orion and smirked, "Well the Galileo would have a front row seat however if you want to experience the processes on board, I suggest viewing it from the battle bridge."

"Excellent." Lirha replied with an even bigger smile. During her time aboard USS Athens, she had never once participated in a saucer separation, so she was quite pleased to be able to view and participate in one from such close vantage point. "And...if you need assistance, I will be happy to man a station for you." she added. "I am assuming you would like to do this sooner rather than later?"

Sarah stood up and returned her coffee mug in the replicator and looked at the Captain. "Well, I have already given the order." She winked, "You can join me on the battle bridge."

"Of course." the Orion happily answered, then stood from her seat and grabbed her mug of hot chocolate. "After you." she said, waiting to follow the blond captain's lead.

Chuckling while walking out of her Ready Room, Sarah looked over at her first officer. "Commander, we'll be separating slightly ahead of schedule, notify the science department they have five minutes."

"Yes Ma'am." Replied Sutherland's first officer.

Sarah walked towards the turbolift, entering it, waiting for her Orion companion to join her. "Battle Bridge."

Lirha followed Sarah and stepped into the lift after her, then moved to the far wall and clasped her hands behind her back. "Will this be Venture's first separation?" she asked, wondering how often such a procedure took place on the captain's ship.

"Third actually. The first time was a practice drill; the second time however, we were needed in two places at once. We were in orbit of a colony in need of upgrades, and then we received a distress call from a supply freighter. So we separated and handled both jobs."

"Your are quite lucky to have such a capable starship." the Orion commented. "Even a Nebula Class does not possess such functionality, despite the custom mission pods they carry.

"I can tell you, I enjoy having the option." Sarah smiled as the lift doors parted to reveal the battle bridge. Sarah walked in and smiled at the officers who manned the stations already, "Well Captain, you don't get much of a front row seat than this." She stood beside the command chair, offering it to Lirha.

Taking a seat in the central chair which was offered to her, Lirha smiled up at Sarah with thanks, then looked down at the armrest console and tapped several commands into it to display a status report of the separation sequence. "Ready when you are." she informed the captain.

"You're the one in the center chair Captain, give the order." Sarah smiled giving a nod to the various bridge officers at the scene. She looked down at Lirha, seeing the excitement in her eyes, she felt the Orion Captain deserved some fun.

"Very well then." Lirha replied, happy to take command of the operation. Thumbing the ship's internal comm button with her finger, she notified the crew of the impending procedure. "All hands, this is Captain Saalm of the Galileo. Please stand by for saucer section separation." she said, her voice sounding throughout the large Galaxy Class.

A quick double-check back down at the console revealed that all systems were standing by. "Begin auto-separation and switch the viewscreen to external angle two-five." she called out to the officers on the battle bridge.

As the crew began to busy themselves with their various assigned duties, Lirha looked back up at the viewer which now showed a detailed side-angle view of Venture's neck. The docking latches released their grip on the saucer section, and after a few short bursts of maneuvering thrusters, the large silver disc now floated free of the stardrive.

A few more calculated bursts of the more-powerful RCS thrusters caused the saucer to delicately maneuver away from the rest of the ship, and finally the two sections had taken up a standard formation roughly a hundred kilometers from each other. Looking down at her display, Lirha nodded in approval then looked up at Sarah with a satisfied smirk. "Separation complete, captain. Both sections are holding position." she reported.

Sarah smiled, rubbing Lirha's shoulder, "Good job." She looked over at another officer, "Contact the Saucer, tell them to engage to the designated coordinate and await instructions for Captain Lirha." She looked down at her Orion friend, "Lets go to my read room here, and discuss this more."

Lirha rose from the command seat with a certain satisfaction rarely shown. Her green eyes were bright after just completing her first ever saucer separation, and she happily agreed to Sarah's terms. "Of course." she said with a content smile, then followed the taller captain to the battle bridge's ready room. The door swished open and Lirha sat her herself down on the couch, then leaned back against the cushions to relax. "That was lovely."

Sarah joined Lirha on the couch, "You said you wanted a front row seat, and you offered to help, so might as well have you give the order." She grinned, "now, in a couple hours I'll be talking the stardrive section to the nebula. I suggest you set up a meeting between you, your chief Science officer, and mine. Lay the ground rules of what you want, and how you want to utilize the Venture's science labs. As for security concerns my Strategic Operations Officer has been ordered to coordinate with your officers."

"Yes, of course. And thank you." the Orion sincerely replied, then closed her eyes for a brief moment while taking a deep breath and pondering how she would distribute the duties between her own officers and Venture's.

[OFF]

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CAPT Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

CAPT Sarah Sutherland
Commanding Officer
USS Venture
Played by Sarah

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