Departure (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 18 Mar 2018 @ 1:26pm by Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant & Lieutenant JG Tris Shizn & Ensign Callin Mastrel & Chief Petty Officer Crispin Snow & Charlotte Franklin & Calaban Bel Asher & Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Luke Wyatt & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Ensign Mimi & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Alexion Wylde & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class John Hollenday & Laeon Wylde
Edited on on 21 Aug 2023 @ 1:23pm

3,735 words; about a 19 minute read

Mission: Episode 16 - A Far Sun
Location: Rigel II - Avondale Shipyards, USS Schofield
Timeline: MD -14, 0600 hrs

[ON]

All across the various billeting at the Avondale shipyard promptly at 0600 communicators and monitors came to life with the following message: "Attention all personnel assigned to the Galileo-A. You are to report to dock eight, ring four no later than 0800 to the Oberth class USS Schofield. Briefing to be held at 0900 on ship wide monitors."
*Admiral T'klan*

A second more private message was sent out right after from same admiral addressed to Commander Blake, Warraquim, and Lt Commander Wyatt. "Due to the necessity of getting the Galileo-A operational Captain Saalm and Commander Ban will be required at the shipyard. Commander Blake will be in command, Commander Warraquim as first officer, and Lieutenant Commander Wyatt as second officer.”

Mimi was in the middle of her breakfast when the message came across; it was certainly a surprise for her to be suddenly ordered off to an Oberth. Finishing her breakfast she grabbed a couple of things and headed off to the docking bay of the Schofield.

“Finally!” Luke said as he slowed his run to walk checking his watch, he didn’t have much time to go back to his quarters; get it of his running gear changed and eat but he was excited enough that the time seemed to slow for him as he went about his routine.

Allyndra had always been an early riser, well actually a late going to bed person since she preferred gamma shifts to do laboratory work and had not changed much. The first message that came through was interesting enough if a bit cryptic but the second was surprising. She would be going back onto the bridge duties for a bit. She pulled the specs for a Oberth class ship and a small smile played on her lips. They were relatively small, not much defense and mostly just science scouts and most of all outdated. That seemed to indicate that this would be a relatively easy voyage. Well, she thought, enough speculation and time to report in. Command was usually required to set some example.

Amaranai and her sister were out for a run. Well, Amaranai was running and Charlotte was walking. Having just arrived at the station a couple of days ago, she was still adjusting to time without a sun. Amaranai, having lived on starships long enough, was trying to help the girl get used to the difference, letting her know that it would be similar once they got to the Galileo.

As she rounded a corner in an effort to pass her sister, her communicator chirped. She stopped and listened to the message and was curious why they would have to report to the Schofield instead of the Galileo. She shook the curiosity from her mind and moved ahead to find her sister, who had caught the message on one of the monitors in the hallway.

"So, I guess this is it, huh?" Charlotte asked.

"Guess so," Amaranai replied. "Let's head back to our room and get our stuff together. I'll check in and then let you know when you can come aboard."

Tris had just risen when he heard the announcement. To the Andorian it seemed very strange. As he dressed Tris considered the possibilities, an untested crew, using an old vessel ready for retirement to go on some kind of special mission. It all sounded uncertain and desperate to him. Ensign Shizn soon had all he needed over his shoulder and headed out of his quarters on the Galileo and headed to Dock 8.

Marisa was surprised when her combadge chirped, informing her that she needed to report to the USS Schofield. But the opportunity to spend a little time on an Oberth-class was intriguing. And, if other Galileans were to be there, she might have a chance to work with people she knew. So, she quickly got ready and headed to Dock Eight.

An undercurrent of excitement wasn't needed to explain Callin's good mood as soon as the message had come through. Having made his farewells already, and having spent the last weeks as ready as ever, it was a simple matter of depositing his bed sheets into the recycler, picking up his go-bag, and being on his way.

There'd be enough time to get to know people later, so for once the gregarious Callin spent more time looking at the Oberth-Class vessel that would be their ferry than he did speaking with the other officers and crew who would be heading for the Galileo too. This was it the moment was finally come. All the years of hard work, of sacrifice, to first get into the Academy and then to graduate as a Starfleet officer. He could sense from the quality of excitement that for almost everyone around him this wasn't their first step along this trail; Callin's journey was just beginning and that made the experience all the more precious as he took his first tentative and eager steps on board.

When Admiral T’klan’s message reached Lake ir-Llantrisant, the message was largely unwelcome. Lake scoffed twice and then he sneered at the Admiral’s visage, knowing full well that the message was being transmitted one way only. In part, Lake was irritated by Starfleet’s orders to report aboard the USS Schofield, because Lake had woken up in a contrary mood. Any orders were going to sound unpleasant and arduous to Lake. He was starting to experience buyer’s remorse at his decision to join the crew of the USS Galileo, and now joining the crew of the USS Schofield sounded, frankly, even worse. However, Admiral T’klan’s message was mostly unwelcome because Lake was nude. Every pore of his skin, and the pointed ears of his Romulan heritage, were being soothed by the gentle and moisturizing sonics of the shower in his guest quarters. Lake could think of a thousand faces, other than T’klan’s face, that he was in the mood to look at just then.

USS Schofield - 0800

Freshly washed, changed and fed Luke stepped into view of the Scholfield's docking bay with a smile. His eyes darted around looking for anyone he recognized. Other than a few operations officer and a security officer he seemed to be the first of the Galileo command staff to be there.

Allyndra arrived and spotted a person she knew, "Lieutenant commander, ready to stretch to command duties?"

“Ready as I’ll ever be I guess, what’s the mission?” Luke asked smiling at Allyndra, though Luke considered her a friend they hadn’t spoken much over the last few months. Perhaps he’d change that over the course of the next tour he thought.

"Not a clue, considering what ship class this is probably just something routine. At least no indication of cadets this time thankfully." She laughed her musical laugh.

A tall, somewhat chubby Risan ambled up to the docking gantry. And looked at the Ship. "Schofield." He said to himself. "Well, it could be worse."

"What could, Dr Asher?" Said a mild voice.

Calaban Bel Asher, Gentleman of Science, turned with a beaming smile. "Snow? Right?" he asked the petty officer in Starfleet mustard. "You've been sent on this trip too?"

"I go where they send me," Snow said cheerfully. He indicated the docking arm. "Shall we?"

"I didn't think you were the stargazing type." Calaban said as they ambled up to the docking ports, his flip-flops making soft splatting sounds against the hardwearing carpet.

"Someone has to get all the learned science types to the stars." Snow replied. "And make sure you can all actually see something when you do."

"True, true." Calaban nodded, "Where would any mad scientist be without his devoted Igor? Anyone who knows anything knows it’s the Igor’s who run the show."

"I'm not sure I can come up with a convincing lisp, but we do our best." Snow wasn't sure what to make of that statement, but he understood it for a compliment. Together the two men boarded the ship.

Ens. Shizn located the Schofield in good time and went directly to the bridge. He had no time for quarters. To him it was much more important that he check out the Helm control and see just how archaic this special mission was going to be. As he road up in the Turbolift, his thoughts drifted to the Skyship on the world of Akkadia. That had been ancient, yet not archaic. He hoped this would not disappoint him.

Marisa arrived at the USS Schofield and looked around at the others who were filing onto the ship. She took a deep breath and made her way onto the ship.

The other Starfleet personnel making their way aboard the USS Schofield obscured Lake ir-Llantrisant’s first glimpse of the starship's outer skin. He followed the pathway of the umbilical connection at a languid pace, allowing for other members of the crew to reach the open airlock before him. Judging by what he could see of the pastel bulkheads and the LCARS panels within, Lake supposed this starship looked even older than the USS Hathaway had been. He seemed to remember his grandparents cracking jokes about the Oberth-Class of Federation Starships in their most wicked Romulan dialects.

Pivoting his head from left to right, Lake’s gaze landed on Marisa Sandoval, striding ahead of him, and there was something about her form that struck him as familiar. He couldn’t be sure of his remembrance, though, because he’d never seen the woman who had introduced herself as T'ala wearing a Starfleet uniform. They had met in a Starfleet group therapy session, though, which meant it very well could be her. Lake couldn't yet imagine who else was assigned aboard this ancient vessel.

Seated in one of the small labs on board, with a station tied into the main sensor feeds since he didn't have a project or experiment to work on, Callin had an easy job for the time being just monitoring what was already coming through and filtered by the computer's automatic programs. That didn't stop the grin he wore though, as he waited for the briefing.

Amaranai checked into her quarters and contacted her sister to get aboard, figuring that the Schofield would eventually meet up with the Galileo-A, so it would be better if she were here. Once Amaranai finished talking to her sister, she headed to the Security Office. Knowing Luke would most likely be on the bridge and taking over Tactical, she would be better off in the office preparing the rest of the ship for its departure.

Marisa went to her quarters and checked to make sure all her belongings had arrived and recorded her voice and hand print with the computer. She'd have time to unpack what she'd brought later. For now, she wanted to get to the bridge and have a look around.


Bridge

With the Schofield docked, Tris assumed that all of the ‘skeleton crew’ must have exited, because when he arrived on the Bridge, it was vacant. Only the soft hum of active computer systems made any noise. The Andorian walked about the bridge glancing at each of the stations as he did so. He knew to expect the bridge on an Oberth Class to be small, but it was small than anticipated. Also he noticed that the curving walls lent the tone of this bridge to be from a different era than most other, more modern vessels.

Tris sat down at the Helm and was just about to do a diagnostic, when he heard the turbolift doors open and he turned to see had arrived.

After Allyndra found the assigned quarters she made her way to bridge as well. As the doors parted she smiled, "Well looks like someone is ready to fly this old ship out of here."

Tris’ jaws dropped in astonishment to see Allyndra Warraquim standing before the turbolift. After a long second the Andorian responded, “Commander!” And then stood up out of his chair, out of respect. Many puzzling thought flew through his mind, but he said, “If you are in command of this mission, then I am extremely excited, ... and at your service.” He made a slight, yet very respectful bow.

"I will only be subbing as First Officer, Commander Blake will be in charge, but thank you for your confidence. Almost quaint isn't it?"

The Andorian looked about the bridge for a second, then turning back to Allyndra and said with a touch of mirth, “Conservatively traditional?”

Allyndra laughed her musical sounding laugh. "Indeed, well this ship was from what I understand coming in for mothballing, best we make sure what is working and what is not."

Luke stepped onto the bridge and looked around, the ship certainly had a different older feel about itself compared to the Galileo and other ships he had been on in the past few years. "Well this is... Different" He joked slowly walking around the room before stopping in the center. "So where do I sit?” Luke asked.

It had been a couple of years since Marisa had worked at a bridge station. She walked onto the bridge and quickly found science. She ran her hand along the top of the station and logged in to have a better look at the controls. It was nice to see people from the old Galileo.

Allyndra turned slightly as two more people came onto the bridge. She answered Luke's question. "Oberth classes were not designed for any tactical of any sorts. However, what there is according to the specs is combined with part of helm. So I guess the seat next to Tris there is going to be it." She waved a hand. "Two seats at the helm station, one for the science, and the captain's chair and that is it." She laughed lightly. "I note that my quarters has a desk so I guess first officer office and quarters are combined as well."

“Well, I isn’t this just a quaint little ship,” Luke mused and with a smile walked over to where the Ensign was already sitting down at the two-man helm station. “Ensign,” he nodded as he sat.

Ens. Shizn glanced next to him and said, “Welcome Commander.”

"Isn't this cozy..." Scarlet Blake said softly as she moved onto the bridge, looking around with a small smile, arms folded as she walked. It awakened memories of her childhood and teenage years. It didn't trouble her. She'd survived in worse. Amusement flickered in her eyes for just a moment before she looked to the Captain's chair, the humor draining away. It should be Lirha there.

Mimi stepped onto the bridge; it was considerably more spartan that she thought it would have been. Seeing both Allyndra and Commander Blake she approached to make her report. "Almost all the crew are accounted for Commander, quarters are arranged, and most have found their duty stations."

"Thank you ensign," Allyndra replied. She was not much for formality, but on the bridge as acting first officer and in front of the acting captain, it was going to be necessary.

"I will.... chase up the crew we are missing,” Mimi added.

"Indeed, please take over the ops center," Allyndra replied.

She then turned to Tris. "Well sir, think you mind being my nav officer on my watch?"

Tris turned to Allyndra with a slight smile peeking in the corner of his mouth, “That would be very acceptable Commander.” Actually, Tris was very excited for the proposition. His activities and assistance to Com. Warraquim in the past had only brought intrigue and interesting opportunities.

"Very good, best get familiar with the navigation before then," Allyndra was positive that he had already learned most of what was there.


Sickbay

Striding into Sickbay’s intensive care unit, Lieutenant ir-Llantrisant visibly cringed at thought of meeting the entire medical staff. On this day, Lake wasn’t terribly sure he could stomach meeting new people. However, he suspected an Oberth-class starship would be lacking in a counseling department, and so Sickbay was where is journey was to begin. Keeping himself to himself, he fussed over the way his uniform jacket hugged his shoulders and he fussed over the placement of the pillows on the nearest biobeds. Really, he hadn’t even heard the doors to the corridor opening and closing for new arrivals, by the time he huffed to himself, and asked, “Where’s the nearest escape pod?”

"You would really trust one? If it is built the same way as the ship, I think I would rather take my chances here..." Alexion Wylde answered the question on his way past him, although he doubted that it was a question that needed answering.

"Do you think it is held together with glue and string?" a voice came from the doorway of Sickbay where a teenage looking boy looked in with a small smile.

Alexion cast a small quirk of a smile to him and there was undeniable fondness in his eyes as he looked to his son. He gave a single flick of his hand to motion him to leave.

Laeon Wylde grinned to his father and then to Lake, but with more question in his eyes at the man he didn't know. He lifted his hand in a goodbye before heading away down the corridor and back to their quarters.

"Even so," Lake affirmed dismissively, "dying in the void might be a better fate." Looking to Alexion, the expression in Lake's eyes communicated his deadpan humor, even if his voice wasn't quite so playful. "I don't think I've ever seen a starship that was so... so..." As he struggled for the right word, Lake's gaze drifted over the upholstery on the biobeds and on the accent wall panels. "Pink."


Engineering

Donald stepped through into the extremely spartan main engineering of the Schofield, he'd heard that the Oberth class had so much sophisticated automation (for its time) in its engineering bay that only a handful of crew were needed each shift rather than the several dozen on a typical ship. He hadn't expected one of his first ship assignments to an old Oberth, but it was still a nice change from building ships.

He looked towards the entrance as the doors opened and a fellow engineer walked in. "You know this ship is probably older than most of the crew put together." He said to John.

"Probably so, but then they are a whole lot easier to work on as well. Not as much of that fancy stuff and these old birds especially Oberths were built heavily. Maybe not armed well, but they were built when one took a ship like this into the eye of the storms. They can take a lot of punishment." John knocked on a bulkhead. "Well, let's see what the engines are up to."

"Well, let's find out what the mothball crew say about it." Donald headed for the main console and checked the information left behind for them. "Looks like we're only going to get warp 5 out of her and even that might be pushing it." He said.

"Yeah, but they did not care a whole lot, I bet we can nut buster her up another half maximum."

"Maybe, we'll see what she's like when fired up. Hopefully she'll purr like a good kitty." Donald chose his words deliberately; he'd heard a few rumors about John’s relationship with the feline Ensign from operations. "Computer begin warp core start up sequence."

"Sounds like a plan, alright let's get her going." John went through the sequence of getting the ship up and going. He nodded, "Looks like she had a pretty recent tune up on the engines. Think we will be good to go. You want to let command know?"

"Sure, I'll do it," Donald replied then tapped his combadge. =/\= Engineering to bridge. =/\=

=^=Bridge here=^= came the reply.

=/\= The warp core is starting up, you will have full internal power in approximately ten minutes. =/\=

=^=Thank you engineering.=^=

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical and Acting First Officer
USS Schofield

Commander Scarlet Blake
Commanding Officer
USS Schofield

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Chief Security Officer and Acting Second Officer
USS Schofield

Lt. JG Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Chief Security / Tactical
USS Schofield

Lieutenant JG Marisa Sandoval
Chief Science Officer
USS Schofield

Petra Varelli
Forensic Anthropologist
USS Schofield
[PNPC Sandoval]

Calaban bel Asher
Gentleman of Science
USS Schofield
[PNPC Derani]

CPO Crispin Snow
Operations Officer
USS Schofield
[PNPC Derani]

Lieutenant Lake ir-Llantrisant
Chief Counselor
USS Schofield

Ensign Callin Mastrel
Science Officer
USS Schofield

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer
USS Schofield

Ens. Tris Shizn
Helmsman
USS Schofield

PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineer
USS Schofield
[PNPC Mimi]

PO3 John Hollenday
Engineer
USS Schofield
[PNPC Allyndra]

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