Pilot, Reporting In!

Posted on 04 Dec 2013 @ 9:49am by Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Crewman Ash Rowe

1,816 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Flight Control Office
Timeline: MD 08 - 1420 hrs

[ON]

"...And that's the way they do it, when the warp core's gonna blow..." Ash sung to herself as she walked to the door with the rhythm of the song, her body half dance walking with it before hitting the chime. Now that things were starting to settle, spirits were slowly lifting. For the Betazoid, it made a difference, the mental white noise around her shifting and changing.

Lamar was busy sitting at his tiny desk with his face squinted at the LCARS screen when the door chime sounded. "Yeah...come in..." he mumbled, sorting through Galileo's inventory of spare and replacement parts while attempting to match them to the current repair demands.

Ash moved inside, her eyes looking around with curiosity. She cleared her throat. "Sir? Ash Rowe, reporting for duty. Well, technically I've been onboard since before the Borg, but, well, I sort of got injured in the first fight and have only just been released for duty. So - Ash Rowe, reporting in."

Waving her into the room absentmindedly with a casual motion of his dark hand, Lamar remained focused on the console in front of him while trying to discern the various pieces of equipment which were appearing on his screen. "Ash Rowe..." he mumbled again, letting the words play off his tongue. Finally he looked up at her and took in her very youthful appearance. At first glance she appeared to be no older than a teenage, but after closer inspection of her blue eyes, he realized she was most likely in her early twenties. The crewman rank pip on her collar verified her young age, and her gave her a tiny grin while nodding his head towards a nearby chair.

"Nice to meet you, Ash. I'm Larmar. Darius. Support craft pilot. Hope you didn't have too rough of a time killing these Borg?" he asked with smirk.

"I actually didn't get any Borg killing in. I was knocked out in the first round. Literally, knocked out and in Sickbay," she admitted with a small smile, taking a seat. "Is it a bad time, Sir? I can come back if you need," she motioned to his work with a slight frown. Everyone was still playing catchup.

He waved his large hand dismissively. "No, don't worry about it. It's never a good time around around here. At least, not lately." He tapped his console and the screen turned black, allowing him to turn and face the new crewman and give her his undivided attention.

"Well, I hope you're feeling better now. Sickbay was one of the safest places to be during the attack, from what I've heard. Probably for the best," he commented, recalling that pretty much everywhere else on the ship had been overrun with Borg during the assault. "So...you're reporting in, huh? To me? Or are you looking for Lieutenant Mialin?" he asked, a bit confused as to exactly which job within the Flight Control department she would be occupying.

"To you first, but I'll also report to the Lieutenant," Ash motioned to him with a half smile. "I'm here as a small craft pilot, so I was told you were the man..."

"Oh yeah? Another support craft pilot?" His ears perked up, realizing that suddenly he wouldn't be the only one on the ship responsible for all of the maintenance and flight duties for Galileo's small auxiliary craft. "Well shit, why didn't you say so earlier?" he laughed deeply and gave her a big grin. "I guess that does make me the man. The lieutenant isn't here right now but I can get you acquainted with our girls, if you want?"

"I'd love that," she perked up, nodding quickly, already on her feet. "To be honest, I'm all about the small birds. Or wheels. Feels more - personal. Raw."

The warrant officer grinned at her eagerness. "Not so fast, young lady," he teased. "All in good time. First, I need to check you into our system. I assume you have your transfer orders present? Or at least, some type of official document?"

"Uh huh..." Ash pulled the padd from her pocket, offering it over as she sat back down with a half smile at being called out. "I was always meant to end up here. I'm just sorry I wasn't any use during the battle. Still, I hope I can make up for it."

Taking the PADD from her hands and looking over the contents, Lamar noticed she was on her second assignment out of basic enlisted flight training at Starfleet Academy, following her original posting aboard USS Venture. She was young, to be sure, but it was a relief to know Galileo was not her first assignment and that she had prior experience in the cockpit.

"Looks good to me me," he commented while he browsed through her service record and file. "What types of support craft have you piloted in the past?"

"Well we're thrown into everything at some point during training," she laughed softly, rubbing the back of her neck. "But that's not what you mean. I've been out in the Wyvern and Argo as well as the shuttles and the Delta Flyer. Oh, and the workpods when needed."

"Any experience with Waveriders or modular transports like the Polaris?" he asked. "We've got both here on board Galileo and they're...well, kinda unique. Not your typical Type-9, that's for sure"

"Waverider, yeah I got a stint, Polaris? No, only the dip in the training," she admitted with a half smile, shaking her head. "I can't wait to get my hands on them though. They've all got their own personality, even within class."

Lamar looked around his cluttered desk for a moment, shuffling various items out of the way until he finally found the PADD he was looking for. Queuing up a manifest of all of the ship's support craft, he handed it over to Rowe. "Here's a complete list of our craft, their statuses, and their maintenance schedules. We...lost Virginia in combat about a week ago, so she's not with us anymore." It was sad because the trusty little Type-9 had been Lamar's favorite shuttle out of them all; Now she was just a hulk of debris floating around in space waiting for the next salvager to claim her.

Ash nodded, scratching her head with a frown as she concentrated to read down the list. She hadn't learnt to read properly when she was younger, and despite extra tuition during training, she still struggled with reading and writing. "Well I can roll my sleeves up and get dirty, Sir," she said lightly, half distracted. "Patching up," she added for good measure.

"Most of the important and larger repairs are already complete," he notified her, "but you're welcome to get started on some of the daily maintenance. Just be sure to put all of your work in the logs so know who's doing what in the different areas. We have two main bays instead of one like on most Novas -- the primary bay is aft on Deck 4 as usual, but the auxiliary bay is up on Deck 3. It's one of our cargo bays which we converted to house our extra craft. Not as robust as the main bay but pretty functional."

"Sounds like a great idea. More ships should follow suit," Ash smiled, nodding at the idea. It made life easier for everyone; pilots, engineers and the flight controller. "You've been here long, Sir?" she asked with curiosity.

"Long enough to see the ship go through hell and back," he answered. It seemed like almost yesterday when he had first been posted aboard Galileo, but that time was now many months in the past. Much had transpired on board the ship since his first role as Chief of the Boat, some for the better, some for the worse.

"So I'm not in for a boring ride then, huh?" she asked, but with a glint in her eye and a grin on her features, clearly pleased by the prospect.

Being the veteran serviceman that he was, Lamar had seen a lot of death and destruction during his time in the Corps, and even more much recently aboard Galileo. Seeing the young woman in front of him with a grin and such a carefree attitude towards what he had just referred to as 'hell and back' was a bit disturbing, and it reeked of naivety.

"I'd trade a boring ride for the past two weeks anytime," he replied with a serious tone. "It's dangerous out here, you know?" But she probably didn't. Her youthful features and crewman rank signified that she had not spent much time in the cockpit, and would have to learn the tough life lessons on the go.

Ash watched him with amusement. As a Betazoid, she picked up on his thoughts, but she kept silent on it. Growing up on a pleasure planet - ironically, it hadn't been pleasurable. She was young, but she knew it wasn't a holodeck programme out there. Oddly, for her, it was why she relished the danger and adrenaline so much. It burnt real life away. "Well I spent most of it unconscious, so I wouldn't know," she replied to a nod to him, neither disagreeing or agreeing with him.

Lamar's thoughts were his own; well, what little ones he had had. Most of it was simply reactionary deduction, not a steady stream of consciousness or inner-dialogue. He leaned back in his seat and stroked his goatee, studying the woman in front of him for a short moment before finally deciding to dismiss the crewman. "Probably for the better," he commented, "there'll be plenty of time to get your feet wet...I promise."

He cleared his throat then finished up by entering a service note in her record on the computer for the Mialin to look at when she got the chance. "Everything looks good on my end. Why don't you go find the lieutenant and report in to her, then you can start your shift with her approval?" he recommended, not wanting to overstep his department head's authority.

"Brilliant," Ash smiled warmly to him, reaching to slap his upper arm in a comradely fashion without even thinking about it. "Thanks so much for the intro. I can't wait to get stuck in."

"Don't mention it. I'll be seeing you soon, no doubt," he replied. "I don't have anything else for you right now so unless you have anymore questions, you're dismissed."

"Thanks, Sir," she cast a quick smile in his direction, motioning with a hand before hurrying off to get going.

[OFF]

--

WO Lamar Darius
Chief Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Saalm]

CN Ash Rowe
Support Craft Pilot
USS Galileo
[PNPC - Blake]

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