Old Faces

Posted on Wed Mar 17th, 2010 @ 6:16pm by Captain Alexander Gunning

Mission: Commissioned
Location: Sickbay
Timeline: MD -1, 1700

[ON]

Sydney let out a deep grunt as she pulled the biobed upright and glared down at it as though she had vanquished it at last. Then again maybe she had and as her eyes roamed over the still torn apart bay she realised just how much she had left to do. Maybe she had won the battle against that particular overturned bed, but she was certainly not yet through the war. Not for the first time she wondered why she had agreed to leave Earth for this, but only with the sort of vague discontent that comes when you're doing something you know is going to make you happy, but hasn't quite started doing it yet. She found herself singing along as the musical interlude the computer had playing came to an end and the strong tones of Judy Garland came over the speakers, joined occasionally by Gene Kelly. At least there were no other doctors or (god forbid!) young nurses to complain about it.

"You know, doctor." Came a voice from the doorway. "I've heard sickbays are supposed to be restful. It sounds like you're wrestling a Ta'argh in here. Albeit one that enjoys a good sing-song"

Alex moved into the sickbay and took the biobed from the doctor, turning it upright with a little more effort than he'd have liked. His eyes began to scan the tiny space. Less than twelve hours until launch and K'Sette hadn't bothered his backside to assign any engineers to help a doctor to put her sickbay together. Bloody typical.

"Gunning, you son of a bitch." She grinned and landed her hands on her hips. "I should have known that only you would drop me in a bloody mess like this." She offered him her hand. "Computer, pause music."

Alex took a few seconds to savour the eerie silence that now hung over the darkened sickbay. He shook the woman's hand before motioning around the room. "Well, I like to keep you on your toes, Doc. How have you been?"

"Still in one piece." She grinned. "You're looking well."

"Thanks very much. It's amazing what bellowing at engineers will do for someone's complexion." He replied with a chuckle. "I feel like all I've done is victimise people in gold tunics this week but it's been a bloody nightmare just trying to get the ship into this level of disrepair."

Sydney laughed. "Well, if the rest of the ship looks anything like this place, I don't think they got the message," she said seriously. "Who the hell did you piss off to get stuck with this bucket?"

Alexander thrust his arms out and span round. "Bucket, doc? Bucket? Never. As soon as she is complete the Jackal will be one of the most state-of-the-art escort ships in the entire Federation. However, it would seem that providing the Eleventh Fleet with a new escort for Galactic South isn't particularly high up the priority list for Starfleet at the moment."

"You sound surprised?" Jaro chuckled. "Although I hope the engine room is in better shape than this place, or we won't be escorting anyone anytime soon."

"I've yet to go down there. With the amount of gold collars kicking about this ship you'd assume at least some of them would be able to find their arse from their elbow and get the engineering deck in order." Alex sighed. "You'd think. I'm not convinced, to be honest."

The doctor laughed. "You didn't harangue some poor sap of an old friend into whipping them into shape? I'm not sure if I should feel honoured or screwed."

"The list of potential engineers is massive, unfortunately. It's going to take a bit more whittling down before we can get someone into the position. We're due at 11th Fleet HQ in less than a week so the assignment may have to wait until we reach Galactic South." Gunning replied.

Sydney frowned. She wasn't sure how eager she was to be flying around in a half-working ship without one of the tech geeks around to keep it in one piece. Instead of thinking about this she changed the subject. "So any word on where we'll be headed?"

"Not as yet, no. All I know is we're to report to 11th Fleet HQ as soon as we can before we receive any specific orders. I believe the voyage there will count as our shakedown cruise." Alex sighed. "Which will be a laugh if we don't have an engineer. We'll just have to float there."

"Float there?" Sydney almost asked if that were even possible before realising that he was making a joke. She laughed but only a moment too late. "I hope not," she finished quickly, hoping he hadn't noticed her slip.

"Well you never know. I wouldn't have too much trepidation going into it. I'm quite sure the good people of Antares will assign us some yellow-collared idiot with no starship experience to come aboard and break more systems than we would to begin with." Alex replied to her with a sigh.

"And I'm sure they'll find plenty to injure their sorry asses in the process." She growled, but suddenly smiled, straightening herself. "I suppose I should at least pretend to be professional." Her smile widened. "Was there anything else you needed, Captain?"

"Nope. Just fancied a moan, Doc." He replied with a chuckle. "I'll leave you to get on. If you need any help getting the yellow-collars to work a bit harder then just give me a shout. I'll be on station for a little while trying to get the engineering candidates sorted out."

The Doctor chuckled, leaning over to gather up an assortment of debris. "Anytime, Captain. Bitching and moaning is what I'm here for." She grinned and the way she'd said his rank sounded more like a nickname than a title.

"I'll bear that in mind, Doc. I'd get this place ship-shape. Your assistant will probably be here soon." He called back through the hatch as he headed back to the bridge. It was good to have some faces from his past to support him in this new endeavour. He'd never commanded something with such a limited role before and it was making him hellishly nervous.

[OFF]

CMDR Alex Gunning
Commanding Officer

LT Sydney Jaro
Chief Medical Officer
USS JACKAL