First Star on the Right, Straight on Til Morning

Posted on Friday 10 August 2018 @ 09:07 by Captain John "Apollo" Barstow, M.D. & Commander Cale Llewellyn DSci & Commander Save'ena (Sav) Tillatix & Lieutenant Marbim Rejal & Lieutenant Michael Ki MD & Lieutenant JG Saren Barel & 1st Lieutenant Cara O'Reilly MD & Lieutenant Colonel Kachiko Bayushi

Mission: The New Collective
3286 words - 6.6 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

Commander John Barstow sat in his command chair and held his head with his hands as he sat in his command chair, "who's idea was it to serve Romulan Ale..." he said to the empty Bridge.

John had gotten up at 5 a.m. to do his prelaunch inspection tour. Not to check up on his crew as much as he was following tradition. For him, whenever it came to launching for a new mission he walked every corridor, crawled through every jefferies tube to silence the ghosts of fallen crew and to let the ship know he still knew every nook and crany. Barstow always thought that this showed the ships "spirit" he and his crew cared and would never sacrifice her without cause. Captains and their ships he thought with a chuckle and sat back, remembering a lecture given by a well decorated Starfleet Captain.

In Main Engineering, the newly minted Chief Engineer was surprisingly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, in spite of her appearance. She was out of uniform for one thing, wearing a well-worn over-sized t-shirt with picture of a large bolt on it, emblazoned with the phrase 'Engineers Screw Better' and a pair of bike shorts. Her hair was up in a tight pony tail that seemed off kilter to the left side of her head. She had much the look of someone who couldn't sleep and had gotten out of bed in the middle of the night. Additionally, she had an air about her of a child on Christmas Morning. She was moving from station to station in the Engine room, examining things, moving things around, and generally annoying the absolute crap out of the third shifters who couldn't really refuse her anything.

Michael had awoken with a small hang over. Lucky for him he worked in Sick Bay and it would be easy for him to get a remedy. When he arrived at Sick Bay he was happy to see that Cara's renovations were just about done. The place was looking less like a construction site and more like a medical facility. Michael sat down at his desk, rubbed his temples, and placed a picture of his beloved Japan on his desk. Then he administered his own personal brew remedy for hang overs. "What a way to start a new life on a new ship." He said to the empty room.

Cara stepped off of the medical transporter pad and gave the operator a thumbs up. She was dressed in a pair of Engineering coveralls that were a bit too big so the sleeves and pant legs were rolled up. There were dirt smudges on her face and strands of her red hair had fallen out of the ponytail. She had been working along side the engineers all night to get the new Medical Department up and running and had just completed three test runs on the new Medical Transporter.

A Petty Officer from Ops and one of the last base engineers still on the ship approached her. "The Medical Comms are working," the Petty Officer announced. "Here's your comlink," he said, handing Cara a small earwig.

Cara took the device and stuck it in her ear. It fit perfectly and she hardly noticed it was there. "And there are enough of these for the entire Medical Staff?" she asked.

"Yes and ten back ups," he answered.

"Perfect. Thank you. I'll take the CMO his," she smiled and held out her hand. With the device in her palm she headed for the CMO's office to put it on his desk. She nodded to some of the nursing staff coming through the doors for the A shift and smiled as they looked around at the new Main Suite and were all smiles. She walked up to the CMO's office door and was surprised to see Michael already at his desk. Knocking on the open doorway she said, "you're here early, Boss."

“It is the early bird… or something like that.” Michael chuckled and winced in pain as the laugh made his head hurt more. He took a sip of his tea and looked toward Cara. “Cara I wanted to say thank you for all that you have done with the Sick Bay. It has made the transition to this ship so much easier and I know it could not have been done without you. Now what brings you here so early.” He smiled and sipped his tea again.

Cara laughed as she walked across the office and stopped in front of Michael's desk. "I've been here all night," she said. "The engineers from the base have just signed off and our wrenchers have hooked up the last biobed and are calibrating it as we speak." She held out her hand and placed his earwig on the desk in front of him. "The medical comms are up and running and this is your conlink. Everyone has one and there are ten backups. The transporter works fine...I tested it myself three times and...I think I'm in one piece," she said with a chuckle. "Staff schedules are in your inbox and I am off to bed," she concluded with a mock salute.

In his quarters on the Merlin, only slightly smaller than his when he was XO, Cale awoke to an odd sight. The bartender from the ceremony last night padding around naked. "Good morning, Commander. How are you feeling?" the muscular man asked.

"Ugh. I feel just fine thanks and you, Doug?"

"Me? I'm a-OK," the man said as he bobbed over to the bed holding a steaming cup of peppermint hot chocolate and handed to the second officer. "I've got to get, Cale. I'm expected back on base. So I'll be taking my leave of you but the next time you're in the area, look me up."

Cale merely nodded and thought to himself, You can count on that. Cale then got up and moved towards his bathroom and said, "Computer, activate shower and set it to water, cold." After he had finished his shower, Cale got dressed and made his way to the TIC. This would be different for him not being on the bridge. As he walked around the expansive room, he nodded to several of the non-coms there before tapping his combadge, "Llewellyn to the Commander Barstow, TIC is up and running at 100%. We're prepped and ready for departure.

"Copy that, Commander," Apollo replied and took a breath, "I need your department to start monitoring comm traffic and keep an ear open for any attacks on Starfleet bases near us or and chatter about Merlin herself."

Aye Sir. We'll get right on that," Cale said over the com. Then he turned to one of his staff and said "You heard the commander. Ensign Stone, get on monitoring the com chatter as Commander Barstow instructed. I'll be on the bridge. Lieutenant Nguyen is in command till I return." Cale then turned to leave. Moments later, he was on the bridge taking the seat to the left of Commander Barstow. He turned to greet Barstow.

Meanwhile, the ship's Executive Officer was on the lift with Cadet Senior Cai Sun, the pale green girl looking down at her aunt, "Auntie, are you sure he'll like me?"

Kachiko sighed, "Yes, CaiCai. I'm sure that he will be just fine with you, sweetie. I'm sure that he will like you, too."

The hatch slid open and the Niece and Aunt stepped out onto the bridge. Kachiko blinked at seeing only the Captain there. She then nudged Cai and the green girl moved around to stop at attention in front of Barstow, "Captain Barstow? I'm Senior Cadet Cai Sun and I was sent here for my Cadet Cruise and to work as your yeoman."

Barstow winced but stood up, "Cadet, good to meet you," he replied and gave a smile, "you'll have to excuse my hangover, I forgot I'm not twenty anymore," he joked, wanting to make sure any pained look he had wasn't due to her, "you're Commander Bayush's niece, aye?" he asked.

"Yes, sir," the young Cadet replied. "My mother is the Captain of the Shanghai and my other mother is the CAG on the Shanghai. My half-Orion mother is the Commander's half-sister. I grew up on Starships, sir, and I'm looking forward to learning from you."

John nodded, then chuckled "I may not be the best role model, my idea of diplomacy is ground the Ambassadors in a room until they kill each other or agree," he replied with a smirk, "glad to have you aboard, Cadet, why don't you take that aux station," he said and pointed to the right and behind him, "that should let you watch everything while we depart."

The Cadet nodded with a smile, "Aye, sir." Cai had heard that Captain Barstow was a flyboy, which made her like him even more. Her Half-Orion mother, Commander Lylyl-Llytherraias, was a fighter pilot and her Chinese mother was a former fighter pilot. Like Barstow, Captain Sun had been a Marine pilot but moved to the Fleet in order to take command.

Saren walked on to the bridge and went to his station. Although a touch tired from staying out, he had gotten up early to review the various science stations to make sure all the new crew were ready.

He adjusted the bridge station to his liking, almost changing the readout to Romulan characters. He decided not to; if someone needed to take over in an emergency, switching the readout would take time that could be needed.

"All required science stations are at the ready and there are no anomalous readings", Saren reported.

It was rare that there was anything to be concerned about in space dock, but there were some incidences in Starfleet, Romulan, and he assumed Klingon databases of there being issues. One had even caused a catastrophic event in a Romulan shipyard. He had a captain that skipped small protocols in departures. He wondered when using impulse speed departing would catch up with him. Regardless, Saren was a scientist and did not skip protocols.

While waiting for departure, Saren ran commands to do a computer base-line system usage reading. Departure from space-dock was one time that almost 100% of systems got a work out, even briefly, even waste disposal, as systems checks were done.

While in the lift Miles stares absently at his padd, his steaming zero-g stein of Raktajino in his other hand. His hair is in a tight braid this morning, and his van dyke beard is trimmed as ever. As the lift doors open onto the bridge his jaw drops, and he says something aloud in Cardassian, quickly switching to English, "She's beautiful!" Nodding to the Captain and the others on the bridge, Miles will head to his station. Like Saren, he set about moving where some of the readouts where, and he did switch two into Cardassian - power output to the shields, and the phaser arrays. Once he is settled he will run a diagnostic to ensure he is receiving all the information he needs to process before alerting the Captain, "Operations is at the ready Captain. I'm showing positive outputs of energy to the nacelles, and the warp drive is purring like a kitten, so to speak."

Apollo nodded, "excellent," he replied with a nod, noticing his voice echoing around the huge Bridge module, "let's see if we can wake everyone up," he said and triggered the internal comms, "this is the Captain, all crew to stations, department heads, report go, no go status to the exec," the CO called, his voice echoing throughout the corridors of the ship.

"This is O'Hara. Th' warp core an' I are now on a first name basis, and Sarah says she's happy t' go to work whenever ya need her." She giggled over the open comm line. She sounded positively giddy. "Engineerin' is a go."

Stephanie looked at a group of officers and made a collective gesture. "You lot hold down th' fort f'r like 10 minutes. I need t' go change."

Kachiko responded to the engineer, Stephanie's exuberance bringing a smile to her lips, "Thank you, Engineering. Bridge Out."

In her quarters, CFCO Save'ena Amilia Tillatix was woken out of her sleep by the all comms call from the Captain. She looked about the room, then her bedding. It was intact, which made the fifth night in a row. She was definitely doing better, even though she realized she really needed a roomate to sleep with. When sleeping with Kachiko, or Rina, she never shredded the sheets or had really bad nightmares. She would address that later. First though, was the Captain's call to duty. She slipped out of bed and her pj's, did a quick sniff of herself, then donned her duty uniform. She had a shower before going out the night before, and as she had paced herself with her drinks, was feeling fine.

Ten minutes later the turbolift doors opened onto the bridge and Sav stepped onto the bridge. She made her way to the empty Helm position and turned to face the Captain, saying, "Commander Tillatix Reporting for duty as ordered, Sir."

The CO nodded, "good to have you back, Commander," he replied with a smile and motioned to the station to the left of the main viewscreen, "take your station."

Sav sat down at her station and touched the right side of the console with her right hand, then began a check with her left. In truth, she linked with Merlin and ran through the myriads of Helm and control station checks. She now called out to the XO, "Commander Bayushi, Lieutenant Commander Tillatix reporting status. Main Helm 100%, Aux Helm 73%, Fighter Control Bridge 54%, Auxiliary craft complement missing one runabout and one repair, all fighters in inventory. Request getting missing ships requisitioned and Aux Helm to 80% before thinking of leaving the Starbase. Fighter Control Bridge is on a as needed basis, and Merlin is reporting all modules available to get that Flight Control Bridge to 100%."

"Excellent," Kachiko nodded to the Mephetian Helmsman. She felt happy, for once, to be putting back out to space alongside the excitable woman. Sitting at the Tactical station herself, she rose to allow a Tactical Officer to replace her, "Phasers indicating 99.835 percent efficiency, Captain. The yard transferred a full complement of quantum torpedoes and the small number of Tri-Cobalt devices."

"All critical systems report green, Captain," Kachiko finally reported.

As the efficiency of the phasers is discussed, Miles will mutter something in Cardassian, then switching to English he says, "I will attempt to get them at 100% once we are underway sir. I also still need to have a conversation with Chief O'Hara about the phasers and an idea I read about while at the academy."

Cale nodded to the XO and said, "Strategic Ops is at 100%, Commander. The department is currently monitoring com channels for any sign of attacks near our current position."

Sav now called out, "Runabout and Repair Pod being loaded now, Sirs. Final modules for Auxiliary Helm have been loaded. Flight Deck reporting all secure."

Barstow stood up and nodded as he looked around the bridge, the layout more like a cross between a Galaxy and Defiant with the command staff having a view of every officer from the command station, "outstanding," he said and took a few steps forward to stand in front of the viewscreen, "helm, get us cleared for launch, ops, switch to internal power and disconnect all mooring. Engineering, lets get those warp engines primed, I want us at warp six once we're clear...Commander Bayushi, all other departments prepare for launch," Apollo ordered in a practiced way, "helm, as soon as you have clearance take us out, half impulse."


At that moment, an average looking blond female appeared in a red-uniform without any rank insignia, the current default appearance of the ICOS hologram.

"Captain, per Starfleet regulations and my programming, I can not allow elements of this order to be implemented as it would put the individuals on the ship at unnecessary risk. Neither the ship nor the starbase are at a condition level that justifies speeds greater than full thrusters while departing or entering space-dock", the ICOS said.

Apollo raised an eye brow, "computer, override," he ordered then shook his head, "if she materializes wearing a skin tight outfit I'm so reprogramming her," he said and shook his head.

"Over-ride noted and reported to Starfleet Command per operational procedures", the ICOS stated and almost seemed to look annoyed before disappearing.

Michael heard the request from the bridge and responded that Sick Bay was standing by and ready for departure. "Sirs with all due respect. I hope to not hear from you for quite some time." He added with a chuckle.

"Thank you, Doctor," Kachiko smirked. "I don't believe that we shall endeavour to need your services anytime soon."

Sav called out, "Aye Aye, Sir." She now linked to communications and the Starbase for final departure situation. She got the sit rep, then called out, "Sir, Seven minutes to all clear of starbase personnel and worker bees. We are cleared for launch after verification of all moorings disconnected. Awaiting OPs for all clear."

Stephanie arrived back in Main Engineering, This time in full uniform. She found woman with an MCPO rank and pointed at her. When she had her attention, Stephanie tossed a Tricorder at the woman and said "Come wit' me." As they walked she said "Th' deuterium flow is a little over ratio. I wanna get th' curve evened out b'fore we hit warp."

The MCPO stopped at a console and pressed a few controls. "It's within tolerances," She explained.

"What's yer name, Chief?" Stephanie Asked.

"Hale. Elizabeth Hale."

"Well, Lizzy, in m' engine room, good enough never is. Now let's get t' work."

With the final clearings given, Sav called out, "Shifting into clearance lane, sir." The Merlin moved up and away from the cradle Sav had deposited her into when they first arrived. The ship nary drifted in any direction, maintaining a vertical line upwards as though an elevator. Of course, they were facing the wrong way. The Merlin now performed a pirouette with an 180 degree horizontal shift as she was rising. She was now facing out instead of in and had missed ships moving about to moorings within SB306. She halted and began slowly moving forward towards the main starbase door as ships cleared out of her way. When she reached those doors, she was going at the high rate of speed of half impulse, about 37.5% of light speed. Behind her, the starbase sped away as the Merlin headed out-system in order to go to warp.

Sav called out, "Merlin at half impulse, ETA to system edge for Warp is 2.57 minutes, mark."

Kachiko moved up behind the helm station, moving to Sav's side and setting a hand on the headrest of her chair. She looked back at Barstow, "Do we have a destination, Cap'n?"

Barstow smirked, "first star to the right and straight on til morning....."

Grinning from ear to ear Miles adds, "Classic, sir, classic."



OFF:


Commander John "Apollo" Barstow
Commanding Officer
USS Merlin
Task Group 47-A Commanding Officer
Task Force 47

Lieutenant JG Marbim "Miles" Rejal
Chief of Operations
USS Merlin

Lt. Commander Save'ena Amilia Tillatix
Chief Flight Control Officer
Bridge Command Specialist
USS Merlin

LTjg Stephanie O'Hara
Chief Engineer
USS Merlin

LTJG Saren Barel
Chief Science Officer
USS Merlin

Commander Bayushi Kachiko
Executive Officer, USS Merlin

Lieutenant Commander Cale Llewellyn, DSci
Strategic Operations Officer
Second Officer
USS Merlin

LTJG Michael Ki MD
Chief Medical Officer, USS Merlin

2nd Lieutenant Cara O'Rielly
Medical Officer
USS Merlin