Eyes on the Horizon (Part 2 of 2)

Posted on 05 Feb 2025 @ 1:26am by Commander Morgan Tarin & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Lieutenant JG Bellona Juventus & Lieutenant JG Sofie Ullswater & Ensign Mimi & Ensign Amanda Turell & Chief Warrant Officer 2 Kalliste Bacri & Chief Petty Officer Afthinam Naime & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Petty Officer 3rd Class John Hollenday & Yukime Frost & Nesh Saalm & Theo Winters & Petty Officer 3rd Class Giles Wentz

2,745 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 20 - Reconstruction
Location: USS Galileo-A - All Decks
Timeline: MD 12, 0754 hrs

Previously, on Eyes on the Horizon (Part 1)...

"Fine, fine, I'll put in a word for you with Zalloah and that will mean I'll just have to fight with Owen for rock samples." A geologist he was not, but Selon knew more than enough about sediment, chemistry and composition from his archaeometry classes and guessed that was where his expertise as a scientist would be put to use on the upcoming mission.

Mateo let out a quiet breath, lips twitching at the edges. “See? Negotiation. This is how we avoid workplace violence.”

He glanced back at his console, tapping idly through Enus V’s biosphere reports. “With an entire ocean planet to pick apart, I think we’ll all get our turn.” His brown eyes flicked to Selon, a smirk still ghosting on his lips. “Guess we’re all fighting for something.”

And Now, the Conclusion...

[ON]

Deck 7, Main Engineering

The engineering staff, bathed in the warp core's friendly glow, had been scrambling for the last couple of hours to have everything ready for departure. There had been a couple of delays but Chief Naime was confident that they had got there. Things were going smoothly. She allowed herself a private little smile as she watched the other three NCOs buzzing around. Then came the expected message over the comms:

"Confirm, Chief Naime, that ships' systems are fully operational."

Tapping her badge Naime quickly responded "So far so good, ensign. We are fully operating on internal power, green across the board. Hold for warp core status." Naime tapped her badge again to close the channel and called out across the room to the one of her bees closest to the warp core "Hollenday, what's the warp core status?"

"We've got a slight misalignment, but unless we're going to attempt to go to absolute maximum warp, nothing that should make any problems," John called out.

Nodding in response Naime reopened the channel to the bridge. "Ensign, we confirm fully operational and ready for departure."

With the checks complete Naime clapped her hands together to grab the attention of the other engineers. "Hope you all got your fill of shore leave because departure is immanent. I'm not entirely sure what Class O is but I'm sure it's a delightful destination for this honeymoon cruise."

John was surprised. "Class O? That's a water planet or mostly one." He did a little dance. "Hey, surf city here we come."

"I didn't know you surfed." A whole planet of water? Naime instantly a whole lot more interested in the mission. She'd never seen a whole planet of water. "Is it difficult? Maybe we could all give it a go."

"Well you do need a beach for the waves to break on. Is it difficult? Depends on if you like standing on a slippery piece of wood with a wave pushing you," John replied.

"Class O planets can be fun, so long as you can swim." Donald remarked. "Just hope whatever we're gonna be doing there doesn't involve the ship going anywhere near water."

"If it's Class O, there's almost no place without water being nearby." John took a wide-legged stance. "Baten down the hatches! Set the mainsail, swab the deck and let's go hunting the white whale!"


Deck 4, Main Shuttlebay

Chief Warrant Officer 3 Lamar Darius rounded the corner of the mid-sized shuttlecraft Virginia which was situated atop its elevator pad on the tarmac of the support craft bay. A light swipe of its pristine eggshell-hued outer hull with his fingertips came away with no grime or cosmic dust present, much to his satisfaction. "Bridge, shuttlebay here. All support craft present and accounted for and in operating condition. Good to go, B-K."

B-K. Sobriquet? Well, it was better than some of the names she had been called in her life, that was for sure. "Roger that, Chief." Kalliste responded.

"All lines are secured, weather conditions are favorable. Awaiting your command, Captain."



Deck 3, Security Office/Brig

Coming through the doors into the security office just in time to hear Tarin's 'department heads report' announcement Amanda looked at her new boss. "Decks 5 to 8 swept, everything checks out." She told her.

"Good. And the others?" Bellona asked, having returned from the upper decks for her own sweep of the ship's decks.

"Petty Officer Wentz has decks 1 to 4, if nothing came up he should be back..." Amanda stopped as the door opened. "About now."

"All secure En.." Giles began before seeing the slightly taller magna roman behind Amanda. "..Lieutenant, nothing unusual."

For a single, dangerous moment, Bellona's nostrils flared slightly - before she seemed to drop the idea of scolding the petty officer entirely. "Understood. Take up your tactical gear, all of you. We will commence a departmentwide drill shortly." Bellona took the next moment to retreat into the duty officer's office and contact the bridge:

=/\= Lieutenant Juventus to bridge. Deck three reports all green.=/\=


Deck 2, Mess Hall

Nesh looked about her newly pristine galley now glaringly clear of piles of dirty pots. Well, her department--such as it was--was as ready for departure as it was going to get. Tapping on her commbadge and barely keeping the nervous giggle at bay, Nesh chimed out, "We are stowed away down here in dining services, ah sir."

"Very good. And our fresh food stores?" inquired Tarin over the comm. "Did that trader I bartered with last week finally deliver the full complement of eggs requested?" Given the scarcity of Earth poultry in the Pleiades Cluster, the promise of a suitable chicken substitute was dubious yet she still held out hope.

"Well...ah..." Nesh looked over to the small crates that held a number of 'Delaware' hens who were softly clucking. "I've got a full complement, alright. Now, If I have done my research right, we should have at least a dozen fresh eggs daily."

The commbadge's sensitive audio transmitter on the young Orion's chest transmitted the background noise of several bucks and an intermittent squawks. Unseen through the distance within the ship, Tarin's eyes narrowed with perplexity. "Miss Saalm, do you have...live chickens in the galley??"

"Currently? Yes. The trader said something about teaching a man how to fish when he delivered the crates. I don't understand the reference." Nesh responded, now glaring at the birds whose ongoing commentary alerted the captain of their presence. Stupid commbadges.

An extended silence emanated from the captain while she leaned her head back, closed her eyes, then rubbed her forehead as if to soothe the multiple headaches this new 'acquisition' would no doubt produce over the coming weeks and months. "I don't suppose there's also a rooster in the flock? A larger bird with long tail feathers? Thicker legs with spurs?"

One of the chickens chose, at that moment, to unleash a most good awful sound that made her wonder if the animal was forcing its internal organs out of its mouth in a gruesome, self-terminating kind of way. "Is that the male?! Yeah, I see a bigger white one with long black feathers - it looks like it's still alive, too. Phew. I was worried."

Theo who wasn't Terran, but still knew something about poultry had been trying not to laugh. When the hen started clucking loudly, if it really were clucking, he lost it and started laughing.

Once he had gained control of himself, he slipped behind the rooster and picked it up.

The results were less than spectacular. He wound up dropping the bird before he lost a finger or something more than once more started laughing.

"In that case, you have some homesteading to catch up on," dryly remarked the captain over the comm. "Get with Ops to acquisition food, shelter and everything else you need for them. These birds reproduce quickly...it won't be long before you'll need a full blown coop constructed."

Nesh looked at the birds--and Theo--in mock horror. Homesteading? Oh no, no, no. However, she wasn't about to voice that to Captain Tarin. Wisely, she replied, "Aye Captain. I'll...figure something out."


Deck 1, Bridge

Methodically and with practiced competency, all ship-wide departments finished their final reporting. Tarin had meanwhile settled into her chair within the recessed command well and diligently tapped away at the center console to verify a final systems readout and input new coordinates. "Hail Administrator Frost on Regula I," she instructed mission ops.

"Aye Sir." Mimi called out, she turned her chair a little and tapped at the console for a few moments. "On screen Captain."

"Ah, Captain Tarin, getting ready for departure." It was a statement not a question.

The large holographic viewscreen at the fore of the bridge quickly shimmered then presented the image of the research starbase's platinum-blond civilian commanding officer. "Galileo's standing by for system egress, Frost," Tarin gave her counterpart and former overseer a curt nod of respect. "I've transmitted a copy of our deployment orders and projected course to your console in case you need to contact us. Want us to bring back a souvenir for you and your teams from this new planet?"

"I'm sure that some of the scientists here would be very interested in what you can bring back, within reason. Certainly, they would love to look over some of the data." The holograph bent a moment to look at something that was off screen. "Received the information, captain. Well, you have permission to depart and safe flight. There's not a lot out here that we can send to help, but if need be, I'll figure out something."

"Understood and Galileo acknowledges. Let's hope this one's a clean survey with a scrupulous research team. We'll see you again in several weeks. Tarin out." The main viewer blinked then displayed the nebulae-spotted local starfield directly fore of the ship's bow. A curt wave of the captain's hand to the yeoman precipitated a diligent order. "Zeror, make a note in the ship's log to confirm our departure stardate and projected arrival at the Enus system then transmit a copy to Starfleet Command."

Taking a large format PADD from under her arm Jeysa began to type out the log entry Tarin had asked for, after less than a minute she slipped the PADD back under her arm. "Done Captain."

Tarin performed a final survey of the compact but populated bridge, glancing over each shoulder to survey both new and familiar faces. This time it felt different; the budding experience and familiarity with this crew, however brief, continued to build her confidence in the ship and its specialized mission. Her lean index finger tapped the internal comm button one more time. "All hands, prepare for departure and warp run-up once we clear the asteroid field."

The captain glanced to her new first officer then to the Centauran conn officer. "Helm, break station-keeping and maneuver toward the asteroid belt. Take us to impulse once we're clear of Regula I and through the gauntlet."

"Aye, captain," Allyndra replied. Allyndra watched as the ship started its movement away from the station toward the circling pieces of rock that stood between it and their intended destination. The course had all been pre-planned, but one never knew exactly what might have changed. Gravity tended to change courses slightly. She had confidence in the navigator, and they didn't have to move at high velocity. The ship entered the field and nimbly shifted up and down, side to side, including some banking to maneuver around some of the larger pieces. Small flares indicated where smaller pieces hit the shields. Allyndra checked over those, but the shields remained high.

"Watch how close you get to some of those out there," Allyndra sat forward as the ship dodged a couple orbiting and tumbling pieces.

"Aye sir. Eyes on the horizon." Kalliste responded making continual small adjustments to maneuver through some of the spicier 'surprises' that the gauntlet had to offer. It wasn't that the plotted course was difficult to navigate...it was just start-of-race jitters, and she managed to iron them out completely by the time Galileo's final course adjustment was entered and the small ship counted another successful gauntlet transit.

Galileo’s well-maintained hull gleamed where the running lights illuminated parts of the silvery ‘wrapping’ against the backdrop of space. The ship accelerated to full impulse power and expediently navigated through the gauntlet that was Remidia system’s asteroid belt. With the backdrop of the surrounding star forming nurseries filling the viewscreen, Kalliste almost forgot she was driving through a rather unforgiving environment. “There are worse sights to behold…” Kalliste said in a sense of awe; this would never get old.

'Goodbye Regula One, we hope in a short while to see you again' Jeysa thought to herself as the ship got further and further away from the station.

Allyndra continued to watch the movement through the field. She thought the flying was excellent and that was from someone who naturally flew. Soon the field thinned and they were on the other side.

"Good flying. Captain we are clear and can go to warp."

As they passed out of the asteroid belt Sofie felt no sadness to see Regula I disappear from view. She was glad to be done with shorelave, glad to be back on the bridge again and glad to be heading out into the unknown. She was useful again, performing her function again. And this time it was just going to be surveying a planet. It would be fascinating, she would be in her element and there was no way than anything could go as badly wrong as it had on their last missions.

Galileo was finally out there, doing it's mission. No Ferengi or Tholians or nightmares from another dimension, it was going to be investigation, observation and documentation: the things they came here to do. Ullswater couldn't wait.

Tarin crossed one of her long athletic legs over the other then settled her upper extremities into the sides of her chair's forearm rests. The new conn officer seemed competent enough - all basic navigational procedures through the rocky obstacle course had been followed according to SOP which reflected both competency and discipline on the chief warrant officer's behalf. And now, the next chapter of the ship's adventure lay in front of them...through the vast starfield projected across the main viewscreen. "Set course for the Enus system, warp 7. Number One, the word is yours."

"Set course. All decks, prepare for warp. Helm, engage." Allyndra gave the command. It was different to be here during a departure.

"Been waiting for the 'ask,' sir." Kalliste said with a grin as she finished plotting the course, and engaged the warp drive.

The color reflected off the hull began to shift to a steadily intensifying crimson and the ship entered warp with a blur and a flash, leaving nothing but a trail of agitated particles in its wake.

The small Nova-class starship USS Galileo-A snapped away from the Remidia system and toward its new distant destination. Future's present had been changed, lives altered, and relationships forged through bonds which transcended time and space. A new adventure now awaited but would it be benign in nature? Or was the final frontier destined to reveal its unforgiving soul once more...

[END EPISODE 20]

--

CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A

CMDR Allyndra illm Warraquim
First Officer
USS Galileo-A

LTJG Sofie Ullswater
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-A

ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A

CWO2 Kalliste Bacri
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC M'Lyr'Zor]

CPO Afthinam Naime
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Ullswater]

PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

PO3 John Hollenday
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Warraquim]

PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]

CWO3 Lamar Darius
Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Tarin]

ENS Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC mimi]

LTJG Bellona Juventus
Deputy Security Officer
USS Galileo-A

PO3 Giles Wentz
Security Officer
[NPC Mimi]

Nesh Saalm
Sous Chef
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC M'Lyr'Zor]

Theo Winters
Crew Family
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Serran]

Yukime Frost
Station Administrator
Regula I
[PNPC Warraquim]

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