All Aboard!

Posted on Tue Feb 28th, 2012 @ 6:00am by Captain Alexander Gunning & Captain Liarra Von & Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax

Mission: The Mystery Men of Mira
Location: Captain's Yacht "Carnegie" - Shuttlebay 37 [Deck 2402]
Timeline: MD02 - 0700hrs

[ON]

Captain Gunning stepped out of the turbolift into what seemed like an alien world. The lights on Deck 2402 seemed dimmer, the air seemed that little bit thinner. There was nothing on this deck except the support corridors for the three seldom-used Shuttlebays on the deck. He ran his finger along the wooden handrail that lined the corridor. It was dusty. Not thick with it but still enough to put someone on report.

He sighed as he followed the line of the corridor towards his destination. He wouldn't be putting anyone on report for neglecting something that, by its very nature, was neglected. He imagined that he would have been the only person to come down here since the last security patrol which was probably days ago.

He passed through the large shuttlebay door into a giant chamber full of force-field covered pits cut out of the floor, each with a control panel on the side. He felt as though he had been walking for ten minutes before he finally reached the hole which was marked with a large '8'. He approached the small console and entered a code before standing back to take a look.

The force field deactivated and the sound of heavy machinery filled the section of the chamber he was in and a glistening Captain's Yacht rose up out of the dug out. It was one of the privileges that being a Commanding Officer granted you. Your own "yacht", which was essentially a large shuttlecraft with a higher warp capacity. Although the Starbase had five in its garrison, this one was to all intents and purposes his.

He had christened it and its dedication plaque bore the name that he had chosen for it. The Carnegie named after the 19th Century Scottish philanthropist. The mechanism locked in place and the main hatch of the vessel opened before him.

He stepped through the ingress and placed his small pack in a corner before moving into the main cockpit. Compared to most shuttlecraft and runabouts, it was quite spacious with a large table in the middle. Around the outside lay a number of consoles, quite a lot more than the small, three-cabined vessel could actually accommodate. He often wondered about reconfiguring the cockpit but it would involve more engineers than he should really be assigning to a personal project.

The Captain dropped into a chair at the front of the cockpit to wait for his companions.

Prax was the first of the two women to arrive next, stepping through the open hatch at the rear of the yacht, her duffel bag carrying her spare uniforms and some civilian clothes in her hand. She'd even packed some of the more 'standard' uniforms, in case she needed to blend in more with the Starfleet populace at Cestus, considering that the Starbase was one of the first assignments to trial the new uniform in the field. "Morning Alex," she said quietly, as she stowed away her bag and moved into the forward section. Heading to the replicator, she pointed at it. "Want anything?"

"Cup of tea would be nice actually." Gunning replied as he turned to face the Trill. "Did you find the place okay? I'd forgotten we even had this many decks."

"White tea, hot, unsweetened. Raktajino, hot, double-sweet." As the replicator whirled to accommodate her requests, she reached in and took the two newly-coalesced mugs from the receptacle and handed one to the captain.

Liarra wandered in shortly behind her, a duffel slung over shoulder and her long overcoat flowing behind her. She stashed the bag and made her way to the cockpit, where she received looks from the other two officers. "I have to test all the new fashion options," she replied to their stares. "Besides, I needed the long coat. It gets cold on the lower decks."

Nilani couldn't help but laugh at her fellow Trill as she took the co-pilots seat, and tapped a few controls with her one free hand to start the automatic pre-launch checks. "I'd personally prefer it if Starfleet could just make up its mind and stick to one uniform," she commented. Over her years - or rather, over Prax's years - she had observed Starfleet progress through no less than seven changes in uniforms; probably even more, considering that her earlier hosts hadn't had that much contact with Earth or the Federation during their lives.

"I quite like it," Gunning replied, "at least I will when they get the fit right."

The computer made a couple of bleeps as the pre-launch checks completed. "We're ready to go," she reported. "Have you seen the other class of uniforms that Starfleet are hoping to start trialling on assignments in the next year?" She'd looked over the brief when she had been told that they were trialling this uniform. The 'Class A' uniform proposal was harking back more to the pre-war uniforms, with the top half above the stomach the division colour of the wearer, though the rank pips were set in the same place as on the uniforms the trio of officers wore. "They remind me of the uniforms I -" she stopped herself, closing her eyes for just a second before continuing. "Omar used to wear on the Farragut."

"Unfortunately for you, Nilani, Starbase crews barely ever find themselves with the Alpha Uniform Variant," Gunning said as he took his seat in the co-pilot's chair. They'd all be doing their fair share of flying on this journey so it was only fair that he took a stint. Plus, it was nice to be doing something.

He spent so long having things done for him that he'd forgotten what it felt like to pilot a shuttlecraft or any of the little things that having a staff of eighty thousand precluded one from doing. This might not be such a bad trip after all.

"I personally like these uniforms better than the Alpha variant anyway," Liarra added from the copilot seat. She was doing the last of the pre-flight checks. "The other uniforms are almost too colorful for my tastes. It looks like we are all cleared to launch. Whenever you're ready, Alex."

"Okay," Gunning said as he took over primary control of the craft, "let's go."

[OFF]

Captain Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer

Commander Liarra Von
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Nilani Prax
Chief Science Officer / 2XO
Starbase 332