Up on the Housetop...
Posted on Sun Dec 24th, 2017 @ 1:44am by Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Lynsi Mason
Mission:
'Twas the Night Before Christmas
Timeline: Around 0000 hours, December 24, 2392
“And that’s when he said, ‘The clown can stay, but the Ferengi in the gorilla suit has to go!’” A pair of groans could be heard over the radio in response to Ensign Wynn’s joke.
In the cockpit of her fighter, Lynsi Mason was shaking her head. “Jinjo, that has to be one of your worst ones yet. I don’t know where you find those.” She smiled, even if it wasn’t audible over the comm. “Still, I’m glad you do. Something has to make these graveyard shifts interesting.”
Mason’s flight was on their midnight shift rotation. Every so often, the late night shift would change so a single flight didn’t always get stuck with the short straw. This was their week, and it was about as exciting as one would expect from the middle of the standard fleet night. Since traffic was typically low, the pilots would often find other ways of keeping themselves entertained. Jinjo enjoyed telling jokes. Occasionally, the others enjoyed hearing them.
The gruff voice of Lieutenant JG th’Kerria came through on the comm channel. “How is that funny?” he asked innocently enough.
“Some would argue that it’s not,” Ensign Tegan “Firefly” Veillon replied with a hint of sarcasm.
Lynsi “Blaze” Mason chuckled to herself. “Rio, you’re not supposed to explain the joke. It loses it’s meaning.”
“Well, without the explanation, this one has no meaning to me anyway,” th’Kerria answered.
Jinjo laughed too. “Fair enough. Alright, Rio. The premise is pretty simple. The joke is that it’s not about a Ferengi at all.”
“I’m sorry?”
“Alright, let me break it down…”
Before Jinjo could get into his explanation, the proximity alert went off in their cabins. Firefly was the first to react. “Blaze, I’m getting something strange. Something’s nearing the inner marker. The outer marker must have missed it. Whatever it is, it’s very small.”
“It may be small, but I’m picking up life signs,” Jinjo added. “Nine of them, actually.”
“Alright, people. Let’s get eyes on it.” Blaze pulled her fighter around towards the direction of the signal. “Rio, you’re with me. Jinjo, Firefly, pull up in a flanking position, but keep your distance. If it’s a trap, I don’t want all of us getting caught in it.”
Three simultaneous “Ayes” were heard over the comm link as the four fighters got in formation. At high sublight speeds, they raced towards the target. Sensors weren’t picking up much. The object appeared to be smaller than a shuttle pod, and was registering as mostly wood with some metal. But once Blaze was close enough to see the object with her own eyes, she was nearly in shock. “Command, Blaze. We have something out here that I think the Captain would like to see.”
Liarra Von fought off a yawn as the turbolift reached Ops. Having been nestled in her bed, she was not thrilled with being woken at such a late hour. Von was still adjusting her uniform when she stepped into the station’s main operations center. “This better be good, Lieutenant.”
“It’s certainly something, Captain. Come take a look.” The officer on duty led her over to the traffic control consoles.
“Is that… what it looks like?” Von asked. Her tiredness went away, but was immediately replaced by confusion.
“It appears to be. I’m not sure how, but we’re detecting nine life signs, one of them seemingly human. But as you can see, there is no reason why they should be breathing. And we’re not detecting any power signatures of any kind.
Von studied the image on the viewscreen more closely. The mysterious object discovered by Lt. Mason and her wingmen was a small, but elaborate sleigh made of wood and steel. It was painted red, with ornate gold trimmings. In front of it, appearing to be pulling the sleigh, were eight tiny reindeer, the leather harnesses adorned with small silver bells. Sitting in the sleigh was a single man, a large round fellow with a snow-white beard and a red fur-trimmed coat and hat. And he appeared to be waving.
One of the traffic controllers turned towards Von. “Captain, we are being hailed.”
“Well, answer it,” Von ordered, still somewhat bewildered. She had heard of legends of such a man during her time in the Academy, but she had never seen him herself. “If he can fly that thing through space without a spacesuit, who are we to deny the hail?” Agreeing, the controller opened the channel. “Unidentified, uh, craft. You have entered the airspace of Starbase Three-Three-Two. I am Captain Von, the commanding officer of this station. Please identify yourself.”
The round man laughed, his whole body appearing to shake as he did so. “Ho, ho, ho! I go by many names, Captain. Some call me Saint Nicholas. Others call me Kris Kringle. But most people know me best as Santa Claus.”
The crewmembers around Ops looked around at each other, the humans taking greater note than anyone else. Von, however, was still mostly in the dark. “Well, whatever name you go by, you’ve left us with a lot of questions.”
“Some of which will be answered in good time, Liarra. I’ve heard that the people of this station could use some holiday cheer. I’m here to deliver.”
Von squinted her eyes at the viewscreen. “I never said my name was Liarra.”
“You didn’t have to. I know all about you. And you shouldn’t squint like that so much. You don’t want to get wrinkles.”
Liarra looked around Ops. While it was not out of the ordinary for someone to see her through a comm link, it was unexpected for someone who was not even looking at a computer screen to be able to see her. “What is it you want, exactly?”
“For now, my dear, I would like to just come aboard. My reindeer and I have flown a long way, and I know they are getting weary. Perhaps we can land. I know they would love some carrots, and I could always go for some cookies and milk.”
The dock controller looked at Von, still as bewildered as she was. “Captain?”
She signaled to mute the channel. “Grant him a berth, but I want security to keep an eye on him. And have someone replicate some cookies.”
“Aye, sir,” the controller replied.
Von nodded to unmute the channel. “We’ll make room for you, Mr. Claus…”
“Oh, Liarra. Santa will be just fine.”
“Okay, Santa. We’ll find a spot for you. Just follow the orders of the traffic controllers.” Von stepped away from the console, her hand rising to her temple. She still wasn’t sure what she just saw, but she had a feeling that it was about to be strange evening.
Captain Liarra Von
Commanding Officer
Starbase 332
