The Hardaways' Hardware (Part 1 of 3)

Posted on 22 Jun 2012 @ 9:50am by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Captain Jonathan Holliday & Lieutenant Commander Chauncey Remington III (KIA) & Lieutenant Lilou Zaren & Command Master Chief Markum Quinn & Anthony Hardaway Ph.D. & Eric Anderson

1,773 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 4, Shuttlebay
Timeline: MD 07 - 1430 hrs

[ON]

Lirha was the last one out of the conference room and she hastily stepped out into the bridge as the rest of the senior officers moved towards the turbolift. She grumbled to herself and shook her head, still angry at the undisciplined nature of some of her senior staff. Moving quickly to catch up with the rest of them, she looked around to make sure all personnel were present when she noticed that the assistant engineer was missing. Lilou was probably still down in main engineering, she thought. "Is Warrant Officer Peers on her way?" she asked Markum with a tug on his sleeve, wondering if he had summoned her yet to the shuttlebay. As they entered the turbolift, the captain waited patiently for the rest of their team to assemble.

Quinn nodded to Lirha. "She should be along any moment, Skipper. She was finishing up on a diagnostic on the replaced relay, just precautionary to be sure it's holding alright."

As soon as the diagnostic was finished, Willis shooed her out of main engineering. It wasn't that Lilou wasn't enthusiastic about the prospect of meeting the scientists on 152, or more - seeing the Sienna and what it was actually capable of. But she always got edgy in shuttles; on them was fine. In them, she felt trapped in a way that no access hatch or turbo lift had ever confined her. Muttering happy thoughts to herself, she resecured her tool belt and holster, triple checked her tools, gloves, and safety lines, and hurried up to the shuttle bay. As she raced through the door, she saw Quinn standing and talking to the captain and scuttled over to stand at attention, decidedly not thinking about the shuttles or the memories associated with them. "We are still in the green, Chief," she reported.

In contrast to Peers, Remington was quite the opposite. He didn't trust transporters with a dog, let alone himself. Safer to stay in one piece on the shuttle and so news of transporter status was one thing on this mission that the operations chief liked the sound of. He was ready to go with a utility belt stuffed with PADDs and a tricorder and a few other gadgets that might come in handy but probably wouldn't.

Lirha glanced around the spacious yet crowded shuttlebay. It was one of the largest open areas aboard Galileo, but still small enough that it could only house the smaller Type-9 shuttlecraft, of which two were currently on the pad awaiting departure. At the end of the shuttlebay, the ship's launch doors were already open, revealing the twinkling starlight of space beyond the metallic bulkheads. Only an invisible force field protected the crew from the vacuum of space, and even to the trained Starfleet captain it was still a sight to behold. With a final glance to check that her team was assembled, Lirha walked briskly through the crowd of Operations and Security personnel, and towards their designated craft. Stopping at the side of the large vehicle, she tapped the keypad on the door's outer hatch. With a soft hiss, the airlock safeties disengaged and the door opened, accompanied by a small ramp which deployed in front of her feet. The captain stepped inside the shuttle and took a seat at the port console, where she began the shuttle's pre-flight sequence as she waited for the other officers to step on board.

Quinn followed in directly behind Lirha, sitting in the seat at the starboard console, powering up engines and readying thrusters. He looked over toward the port console. "Last time we did this together Skipper, the space was a lot less. Looks like our second date is less personal." he said with a chuckle. "Engines coming online. Checking thrusters."

Lilou rubbed her palms against the fronts of her thighs, steeling herself as she ducked into the shuttle. Her stomach felt tight, and only got worse as she heard the shuttle power up. Tiny vessel, infinite space, and no matter how many checks and rechecks of the damned things she did, she still didn't trust them. She took the booster seat behind Quinn, strapping herself in and gripping the handles on either side of the seat in a white-knuckled grip. New science. New scientists. Quinn at work. she reminded herself. Focus on the good things.

Commander Remington sat down in the seat across from Peers. "You all right, Lil?" he asked her kindly, slipping with practiced ease into the reassuring tone he had come to rely on when working with younger officers in stressful situations. It was a pleasant sound. "You know shuttles are perfectly safe... at least you know you're in one piece, not scattered into a matter stream by transporter buffers."

She blew out a steady breath from her nose, embarrassed that he'd called attention to her discomfort. "At least you're only a matter stream for a few seconds," she murmured, unwilling to touch upon the real reasons the shuttles gave her the shakes.

His arm reached out across the aisle and his hand came to rest upon hers as it gripped her seat. "We'll be fine," he assured her firmly, giving her hand a quick squeeze before drawing it back to his own armrest.

"If we're not, I'm holding you personally responsible," she tried to smile at him, though the longer she was in here, the worse she felt. Just get me to the other side and back without having a panic attack, she willed herself silently. Pretty please.

Lirha's console chirped signalling the completion of the pre-flight checks and the captain tapped a sequence of buttons, causing the rear ramp to retract and the door to shut with a soft hiss as the cabin compartment pressurized. A quick glance behind her revealed everyone present and accounted for, and she turned back to her console to begin the lift-off process. The shuttle's nacelles glowed bright and a jetwash of exhaust formed underneath the craft as it rose off the landing pad and hovered several meters off of the ground. With delicate taps of her green fingers on the manoeuvring thruster controls, she piloted the shuttle slowly out of the bay, through the force field, and out into open space. Once they had cleared Galileo, they made a slow arching turn to port and headed for the starbase. It would only be a few minutes before they arrived and docked.

Turning in her chair to face the rest of her team, she informed them of her intentions. "Once we land, I must meet with the admiral. I want you to go on without me and start transferring the prototype. I'll re-join you as soon as I'm finished." she said, then paused to push her hair back from her eyes. "The best way to accomplish this will be to find Doctor Hardaway. He is Sienna's lead scientist and his assistance will save us valuable time." she said.

With a check in from team three completed, John decided that it was going to be best to check in with the senior most team that had been deployed, containing the bulk of the Galileo's senior staff. It took only a moment for him to change settings on the arm of the captain's chair to switch communications from one shuttle to the other.

=^=Galileo to Away Team 1 - all other teams appear to be proceeding on schedule, how's it looking over there?" =^=

Lirha heard the lieutenant commander's voice echo through the shuttle's comm channel. At the present moment, there wasn't much to report since their craft had yet to dock at the starbase, however she was glad to hear the other teams were proceeding as scheduled. Turning her attention from the crew members in front of her to the shuttle's communications panel, she tapped a button to open a frequency to the starship. "Team One to Galileo," she responded, "We're about to start our approach to One-Five-Two, we should be on the deck shortly."

=^=Understood Team One - be advised that once within the facility communications and sensors may be affected by local security concerns. Recommend regular check-ins using starbase comms. Galileo out =^=

A soft chirp sounded in the main cabin of the shuttlecraft, signalling the end of the transmission and closure of the comm frequency. Lirha silently grumbled to herself, annoyed at the inconvenience of the starbase's operating procedures. They were necessary, of course, especially given the covert and secretive nature of the station...but nonetheless, they were an inconvenience to her ship's personnel and did nothing to help expedite the evacuation process.

Turning in her chair to look back to her team of personnel, Lirha made sure everyone understood their roles in the upcoming transfer. "Is everyone aware of their responsibilities once we arrive at One-Five-Two?" she asked the group, hoping that they were prepared to jump into action the minute they landed.

Lilou nodded in answer as she held on to her seat. "Yes, sir," she asserted, though her voice was a little reedy.

Remington echoed Peers' words. "Am I to have command of the away team, captain?" he asked.

"Yes," Lirha replied simply with a nod, "You will be in charge of the team until I rejoin you." she said. Though she had never openly admitted it to anyone, even her XO, the gold-collared lieutenant commander was one of her most dependable senior officers, the reason why he had been chosen to become Galileo's second officer.

Markum made sure the crafts functions were set for standby, then turned in his chair next to Lirha, "I'm ready to get my greasy paws dirty Skipper. Just give the word."

"There will be plenty of time for that, Chief, I promise." she replied to him with a small smile. She quite liked his colorful use of language, and she thought back to their first shuttle ride together while they inspected Galileo's hull in the San Francisco Fleet Yards dry dock. It had been an enjoyable experience, and she had been happy to have had his company in their small shuttlepod.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

CMDR Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo

Eric Anderson
Sierra Scientist
NPC'ed by Polaa N Dhuinn

Anthony Hardaway, Ph.D.
Project Sienna
played by Chauncey William Remington III

Lt Cmdr Jonathan Holliday
Executive Officer
USS Galileo

Lt. Cmdr. Chauncey William Remington III
Chief Operations Officer
USS Galileo

Chief Warrant Officer Markum Quinn
Chief Engineer
USS Galileo

MWO Lilou Peers
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
USS Galileo

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