Getting Underway

Posted on Wednesday 18 May 2016 @ 09:05 by Captain John "Apollo" Barstow, M.D. & Lieutenant Commander Gregory Alein & Captain Melody Jones & Lieutenant JG Velin Ikiri & Commander Caroline Miller & Commander Cale Llewellyn DSci

Mission: Old, New Ship
Location: Multiple
Timeline: Current
2744 words - 5.5 OF Standard Post Measure

OOC: Just starting the log to get us going out of dock. This wont be going out until next week, so, you still have time for the j/l's you have going :).

Commander John Barstow stepped out of his ready room after finishing up the last of the personnel and equipment approvals. The Bridge was bustling with activity in preparation for the ships departure. Voices both on the Bridge and over the internal comms were mixing, footsteps and taps on various screens could be heard. And as Barstow stood at the back of the Bridge taking it all in it all sounded like music to his ears. The Merlin CO took a breath and moved down the ramp and around the oak railing to the command chair platform and stepped up the stair before turning and taking a second before sitting in the command chair for the first time. He let his arms rest on the armrests for a moment before relaxing and smiling, "well, ex, are you ready ready for this?" he asked and looked over to Alein, using an abbreviation for executive officer, every CO had a nickname for the post or the officer and ex was his.

Greg entered from the back of the room, fresh from his morning's rounds and ready to get the ship out and on her own. He glanced around the bridge, a part of him wondering if this was still all a dream. The bridge was a bundle of energy as crew members darted from here and there attempted to make final preparations. Hearing the Captain, Greg walked over and took his seat beside the man, "That question should really be addressed to you," he joked, "you sure you're ready for whatever happens from here out?" He slide the side console into place as he pulled up the latest department reports. "I know I am," he answered the question.

Cale emerged from the starboard turbolift and he was stunned. He never knew the central control hub of a starship could be so big. As he reigned in his first year cadet feelings, he began looking for his post. He noticed a bank of consoles to the starboard side of the captain's chair that read "Tactical II and Science I". So he proceeded towards those consoles. He stepped closer to them and took a seat on Science I. From here, he could monitor the entire science department including each and every lab. He began to think how much he was going to like it here. He looked expectantly towards the captain and smiled. "Yes I am definitely going to like it here," he said aloud if only a little to aloud.

Caroline walked onto the bridge and headed towards the seats in the middle. It was too important an event, their first trip out in the Merlin for her to be cooped up in sickbay and miss it. She walked forward nodded at the Captain and the XO then turned towards the helm. She swore she could feel the gaze of the xo still obviously annoyed at her insistence that he be dry for 6 months, burning into the back of her head as she leant forward to Melody.

"Good luck, try not to make me too space sick," she winked at her new friend.

Melody grinned and glanced back over her shoulder "Don't worry, I'll make it a smooth ride."

Turning back she walked to the vacant seat next to Barstow. She was not aware they had a chief counselor yet but still she needed to ask. "Is this seat taken sir?"

"More than ready," Barstow replied to Greg with a chuckle then looked over to Miller, "no it isn't, please," the CO replied with a smile and motioned to the chair before looking back to Alein, "alright, lets get final go, no go's from all departments, Commander."

Greg looked up at the Doctor, a part of him disappointed she'd opted to view this from the bridge. No patients to torture, he jokingly told himself. "Doctor," as all he managed to say.

Caroline took the seat, crossing her legs and shimming back into it as far as she could getting comfortable just in case Melody did how was it described? "Punch it." A brief look at the Gregory Alein confirmed she wasn't any further endured with this man and how had Jess described it, his "Infamous charm" that supposedly flowed off him.

"Helm ready Sir. Quartermaster has cleared us for departure." Melody chimed in. "Standing by to sever umbilical and clear all moorings."

Greg looked up at the HELM Officer then back to his own chair, "damn no seat belts," he smiled.

Velin walked onto the bridge and stopped a moment surveying the bridge before continuing to his station, "Captain engineering is prepared, as this is the first warp flight of this vessel since the upgrades a low warp factor is strongly recommended. I will adjust the warp field geometry as we go to stabilize our flight."

John looked to each officer as they gave their reports, "excellent. And understood, Lieutenant, low cruising speeds to start," he repeated so Velin knew the CO had heard and also so the engineering chief could correct him if wrong.

Greg read over the newly reports from the departments as they gathered on his terminal, there was minor hiccups here and there but nothing that wasn't expected. "Green across the board," he commented to the Commanding Officer as he watched the Helm Officer, waiting for some of that fancy flying she had been bragging about.

"So sir," Caroline addressed the Captain. "Where are we going? Or is it a case of past the second star and carry on until morning?"

Velin nodded as he brought up the field geometry specifications as well as several other systems at the same time. "Confirmed, Engineering ready." He kept his eyes on the console waiting for them to disembark.

At the helm, her hands danced across the controls as Melody made the final preparations for departure "Deflector field initialised, all Moorings cleared. Initiate Impulse pre start sequence. Awaiting Port gates from this mark. Thrusters at station keeping."

She then turned to the captain, eager to get underway "Sir?"

John chuckled, "actually, Doctor, that's pretty close. We're headed for the proving grounds, to make sure we don't explode," he added with a wink before leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, "engineering, switch to internal power and life support systems, helm, disengage umbilical and retract the gangway. Lieutenant Llewellyn, could you take ops? Request permission for departure" he ordered then smiled as he looked at the screen, "Jones, as soon as we have clearance take us out, one quarter impulse then warp four on course two-seven-five mark zero-four-two as soon as we're clear."

Melody knew that regulations specified thrusters only while in space dock, but then again she also knew better than to argue with the captain.

"Aye Sir," Melody replied "One quarter impulse power."

The great space doors opened as the Merlin slowly started to ease forward out of its berth, under the careful guidance of Lieutenant Jones. She slid easily out of the protective environment of the space dock and back into the vast expanse of the unknown.

"We have cleared space doors and are free to navigate." Melody reported, then added "Course and speed laid in, warp drive in 3.....2.....1....Now"

And with a burst of light the Merlin shot into warp speed.

Melody checked her readouts "Warp 4 on heading two-seven-five mark zero-four-two Sir." Then turning to the engineering station "Lieutenant Ikiri, could you please re align the navigational gyros, thrusters are a bit sluggish and could you also just check the torque sensors." Melody cocked her head to one side, listening "I'd say they were out of alignment by 6 or 7 microns."

Cale moved to the Ops station and took to the station that he hadn't touched since his training cruise. But he availed himself of the chance to make his captain proud of him. 'A little too eager to please, eh Cale' he said to himself trying not to be heard by anyone let alone the captain. His hands appeared to be flying over the screen of the console.

Velin had already seen the gyro problem, "Adjusting field geometry and resetting navigational gyros." His hands flew over the controls preforming complex warp field manipulations on the fly the ship shuddered as the gyros reset and the field geometry stabilized, "One moment." He said as things settled into place and the shudder dissipated. "Now realigning torque sensors."

"Thanks Lieutenant, that's a lot better." Melody responded.

Cale sat at Ops wondering where their Ops Officer was but then remembered not seeing one on the final crew manifest. How could a ship leave spacedock without one of its most necessary posts filled? he thought to himself. But he knew that he would fulfill his captain's wishes no matter what post he needed filling. He would show the captain that he was a team player without seeming over eager at the same time.

Melody leaned over from the helm "Hey" She whispered "You ok? You seemed lost in thought there."

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I suppose I was lost in thought there for a bit. I am Cale Llewellyn the chief science officer and you are?" Cale asked the young woman next to him.

"I'm Melody, Melody Jones. The new chief flight control officer and it's very nice to meet you." She said giving him a smile. "So was it anything good?" She asked "What you were thinking about?"

"I was just waxing nostalgic about my first time on a starship and the role I played. It was the Republic and I was the ops officer there too. I am having fond memories of that cruise too. I am the first on my class to make it to a chief position. A fact that I am extremely proud of."

"I'm sure the rest of your class are proud of you too. This is my first assignment out of the Academy. I just wish my parents could see me now." Melody remarked, getting briefly lost in the moment as well.

Caroline's eyes flicked on the chief engineer sadly for a moment. She shook herself out of it. She would be seeing this man a lot. She had to get over the fact he looked like Tolan. She wondered what the proving grounds were but didn't want to ask out loud. She was not giving the XO the pleasure of having something, although small and most likely not something a CMO would know to criticize her over.

Greg could see a slight flicker on the Doctor's eye, perhaps it was the glimmer of leaving space dock, or the start of a new adventure, but something else told him there was a little more to it. "Something on your mind, Doc," he asked?

"I'm just taking it all in Commander, that's all," Caroline replied back neutrally.

Velin noticed another sidelong look from the CMO he would have to discuss with her what the problem was if any. She seemed preoccupied. He finished his in flight calibrations at least for now and said, "Captain you are cleared for all warp factors at your discretion. With your permission i will proceed to primary torpedo to control to provide final safety checks on the Gatling quantum torpedo systems before we reach the firing range."

John listened to the chatter around the bridge and just watched the viewscreen, "it's good to be back out here," he said to himself with a smile then turned to Ikiri, "copy that, Lieutenant," he said with a grateful nod before standing up and stepping down behind and between helm and ops, "Jones, let's see what she's got, take it warp eight."

Velin stood and said, "Thank you sir, it would be inadvisable to engage the torpedo systems until i report in.turned walking towards the turbolift from the bridge, he still had much work to do.

The captain stepping up behind her broke her reverie and Melody was working the controls before the captain had finished speaking "Aye Sir" She replied with a grin "Increasing speed to warp 8"

Caroline felt herself pushed further back into the chair she was sat in as Melody effectively "Put her foot down". She frowned as a slight waver of sickness run over her. Internally she thought to herself, "I am not space sick, I am not space sick .....". Her face paling slightly told otherwise.

Barstow could feel the deck vibrating slightly and could feel the force pushing against him as well, "ops, adjust the inertial dampeners," he called, "what's our ETA to the proving grounds?"

"Aye, Sir," Llewellyn said as his hands flew over the strange console. It was taking him longer to get this done since it wasn't one of his normal duties as science officer but he was determined to follow the Captain's orders. "I've reset the inertial dampeners to baseline standards, Sir"

Melody replied "ETA to The Proving grounds is 4 hours 38 minutes."

"Excellent," John replied with a nod then turned to Alein, "ex, let's use this time to run security and Marines through some drills. Doctor, I'd like medical in on those as well with mock injuries around the ship. Let me know what initial response times are," he said before returning to his chair, "and Commander, if the Marines and security start tripping over each other you have permission to shoot both leads," John added with a smirk.

"Lets hope it doesn't come to that," Caroline quipped. "Security and Marines can make some of the worst patients."

Greg really didn't speak while the exchange of ideas and mission discussion was taking place; mentally he was still taking it all in. It was a lot of change in the past few days and there was a small part of his that expected the other shoe to drop at any point. He caught the Doctor's last statement and let a small chuckle creep past. Considering his former position he really couldn't disagree with her, after the way his first visit went. Suddenly Greg realized what the Commander had said, "Shooting Marines, Security, and Doctors who can't get along," he winked at the CMO, "got it."

John chuckled, "I'm sure you can make them cooperate, Doctor. I had a doctor when I was a Marine who...reminded me why we be nice to medical," he said with a smirk and visible shudder then turned to Jones and Llewelyn, "Lieutenants, I have s job for you both as well. After our test run we are being sent to The other side of Romulan space to explore sector five five two. I'd like you two to plot a course along a route that'll give us a few scientific stops along the way."

"Commander is there something wrong with your eye?" Caroline deadpanned at the ridiculous wink he felt the need to bestow on her, joking about shooting doctors at her expense. Turning to the Captain she smiled her prettiest smile. The one she only let out for rare occasions. The one those close to her laughed she did not understand its power.

"Everyone cooperates in my sickbay sir. Or I put them under house arrest until they simmer back done," she said loudly enough for everyone to hear, heading back to the turbolift. "I have a lovely little isolated room, a clown picture, lots of beige ..... the nurses don't like going in there. They think the pictures haunted ......." Unfortunately no one could tell if she was joking or not. "I wonder who will be the first to earn a stay. Commander?" she stopped suddenly looking back to the XO. Caroline let just enough of a beat go by to make everyone think he could be first on that list before continuing on with, "I will be in sickbay getting things ready. Feel free to notify me when your exercise commences."

Melody had a quick glance at the local star chart on her display. "Aye Sir. I'm sure we can find some points of interest along the way. There looks to be an unexplored Mutara class nebula, there is a red giant star just formed and it looks like one of the near by star systems has an M class planet that is as yet uncharted. What do you think?" She asked, glancing towards the ops console.