If you stare too long into the Abyss, it stares back

Posted on 26 Jan 2017 @ 3:24pm by Captain Jasmine Somers FCapt & Captain Maia Sterling & Lieutenant Commander Sheela Swiftpaws & Lieutenant Solan Jekkar & Lieutenant Commander Remington Dodd & Lieutenant JG Akuhl K'Tel

3,132 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: S02 Episode 2: Once More Unto the Breach (Main Story)
Location: USS Tomcat/Various
Timeline: Mission Day 0-1

[ON]

- Bridge -

After she had briefed her crew, there was a mixture of excitement for various reasons and she sensed wariness from Maia, she did not blame her, for she too felt unease at returning to the place that caused the ship many officers. Some vanished without trace others died, so the memories were not pleasant, now as she sat reading status reports her bridge crew began to arrive it was within the hour, she looked up to see a Klingon in Teal arrive on the bridge. She gave her a friendly smile and indicated the helm station, she looked around to see all the crew that needed to be on the bridge was.

"Okay, all stations sound off readiness?"

Commander Sterling sat at science one, that was normal for the XO. "Science station reads normal captain deflectors and sensors reading five by five Sir". Maia stated.

Swiftpaws was at her usual bridge station at Secondary Communication with her equipment attached. "Communications ready." Keeping her answers short as she was routeing intelligence report to her Data storage to look at later. Regular communications being forward to their respective recipient.

"Medical and life sciences report ready Captain". Dr Cahill replied.

Solan stood by at the Tactical Station. "Tactical is green, all defensive systems standing by for your word." The Andorian said with a nod.

"Everything is ready, Captain," Akuhl reported. "Just tell where you want to go."

"Engineering is go for launch and internal power is primed for the switch over. All propulsion systems are at your command." Dodd replied.

"Good here, Captain." K' Muss replied. "Showing all systems are green."

With the polling done Jasmine turns to the Conn, Ensign Barker had moved over to Navigation while K'Tel took the helm, Jasmine was feeling a little better now that she was on the move and doing something.

"Activate the warp core and switch to internal power and batteries, then disconnect the power cable and secure all outer hatches and disconnect the umbilical report when done," Jasmine said.

"All outer hatches secure and locked down, we are cleared to detach the umbilical and moorings when ready," Solan said as he relayed the information from the Starbase.

"Ship's sensors are reading all is well for hull integrity." Dodd added, "Taggert is standing by in main engineering and has reported all is smooth with our staff."

"My board shows green, just give the command, Ma'am," Akuhl said.

"Life support systems read green, Captain". Cahill reported

Dr Cahill turned to the Captain and went to the Bridge railing, "Captain, all systems are normal and we are ready to depart. I plan to check something in the Sick bay then go to Engineering and look at the life support systems section. Will be there for a little while." With that, she went to the turbo Lift and proceeded to Sick Bay.

- Medical -

She checked on a few patients and was getting ready to leave when Dr Smith went to her to sign off on discharging some patients. Once done she we to Engineering.

- Engineering -

As she entered she saw the new engineer was on duty. "Hello I am Dr Cahill welcome to the Tomcat Ensign Taggart, I need to double check the Life support setting and then take care of She went to the Life support section of Engineering to double check the settings. Once done she went back to the turbo Lift and returned to the Bridge.

- Bridge -

Once back on the Bridge she went to the Captain. All life support systems are normal and operating at peak performance. Thanks to our great Chief Engineer. As she passed her tablet to the Captain."I like to look myself when the life Support systems are first set to work after leaving the Space Stations Hope there is no offence taken Lt Dodd."

"No offence taken, Lieutenant Cahill. I hope you found everything in engineering satisfactory." Dodd responded. "I too like to check things out in person before a launch from spacedock."

"Sheela contact Sierra flight control and get us permission to depart," Jasmine said looking at the Mousian

The Communications Officer next to Sheela spoke up. "We've permission to depart. All connections to the station have been released."

With that done the Tomcat was only tethered by docking clamps as she was now under her own power, the ship now came to life as she checked her armchair readouts and smiled.

"Commander Status on my ship?" she asked'

"Captain all station's report ready. Activating main view screen. Dockmaster has given us clearance to depart. Departure angle on the viewer". Maia stated.

"Excellent, disconnect docking clamps and Mr K'Tel take us out one-quarter impulse then switch to thrusters after we broke inertia" Jasmine really hoped the Klingon was up to this as the start speed was not exactly legal.

"Docking clamps disconnected, the vessel is floating free Captain". Maia replied.

"One-quarter impulse and then switch to thrusters after we break the inertia, aye," Akuhl said, her hands moving smoothly over the controls.

"Ma'am, I need to step off the bridge for a moment and check some things in engineering personally. May I be dismissed for a few moments?" Dodd asked of Captain Somers.

Swivelling her chair around to face her Chief Engineer she smiled "go ahead Chief" Jasmine said and watched him leave the bridge as she swivelled front again just as confirmation came in that all was ready.

- Engineering -

Having gotten a few of her things put away in her quarters, Ensign Taggert immediately got to work in her new ship. She headed for engineering first, finding the two-deck bay expansive, reminding her of the Sovereign-class in its size. Deck 15 would be a place she would spend quite a lot of time, she knew.

Taggert had a clean, pressed uniform, and was eager to start. Her golden blonde hair was done up in a bun, to keep it out of the way, and she found one of the engineers working on the 'pool table', half hid in the table, just a lower torso hanging out.

She took a second glance, finding a purple, pointed tail pulling a circuit scanner down off the table. Giving a ruffled brow, she knelt down to see who it was.

"Hello?" she called to the faceless person. Then the purple-skinned engineer pulled herself out.

"Hi, there!" she said with a smile.

oO Very cheerful Oo thought Nicole Taggert with a smirk.

"I'm Ensign Teela Tjaansz," she said, holding out a purple hand. "Pleased to meet you, ensign..."

"Ensign Nicole Taggert," she replied, shaking the hand of the pointed eared, purple-haired ensign. "What're you doing here?"

"Just recalibrating the isoliner interface here," Tjaansz replied. "Ramon Machado and I are trying to fix up the last of the damage from the last mission and we're almost done."

"Well, let me get in there," Nicole said, as she took off her uniform jacket, and dropped it on the top of the console, and grabbed a tool. "I like getting my hands dirty."

"An assistant chief who likes to get in the trenches I think I might like you," Teela said with a smile. "Have you met the chief yet?"

"Not yet. I just got on board, and I like getting a feel for where I'm working, so I just went here straight after dropping off my gear," Nicole said as she and Teela got right to work, verifying isolinear integrity, and making sure circuit connections were valid, and fixing those that weren't.

After a number of minutes, Nicole got a tap on her feet. "I'm almost done," she replied, not knowing who it was.

The Chief Engineer had been dismissed from the Bridge for a few moments to tend to matters he had in Engineering and so he decided to take a moment to at least get a face to put with the name of his Assistant Chief.

oO She has no idea who just tapped her, and so this is a good sign I will like her once I see her reaction to who I am. Oo Dodd thought as she was replying to his tap.

"Oh, excuse me sir!" she said as she saw who it was. She stood up and straightened herself out, and saluted crisply, as Teela also stood; following her lead "Ensign Nicole Taggert, reporting for duty, sir!"

"At ease, Ensign, while there are formalities on the ship, we do not have to be that formal all the time, I like your spunk. I am glad to meet you in person. I am Lieutenant Remington Dodd. I have read your file already and thus looking forward to working with you." Dodd stated to Taggert. "I see you are already being part of the team. I will be tending to things on the bridge for the first leg of our trip so I will leave the main engineering to you. Once I get relieved from the bridge, I would like to have a meeting with you so we can work out a proper duty roster for our engineering team. Is that all right with you? Dodd asked of the Ensign.

oO I can sense she is full of loyalty and devotion to her skills. I feel we will make a great team. I also sense her nerves are calm for just getting started. I think, she will be great we get into a bind in the future because she is very level headed so far. Oo Dodd thought but from all the nervous feeling of his own. However, he was not aware his empathic abilities were reaching out for any emotions he could read from her or anyone.

Taggert felt something in her head, not sure what it was. oO Maybe he's a telepath Oo she thought, oO I felt the same when Gianna Raal, that Betazoid counsellor who helped me after the Bellringer station Oo. She got that feeling now when a telepath tried getting in her head. The images of the Orion’s and the Bellringer station flashed in her mind, but she buried them as quickly as she could.

"That would be just fine, Lieutenant Dodd," she said with a nod. She realised she was a bit unkempt and zipped her front up, not wanting to give a bad impression to her new boss or give too much a look.

"Don't feel like you have to be all prim and proper, as engineers we are supposed to get dirty from time to time," Dodd replied to her actions but he was also sensing she was aware of is unintentional scanning of her thoughts and emotions. He needed to meditate soon to help him keep his mind from reaching out without permission of others.

oO I hope I have not made her uncomfortable. I need to meditate on my break so I can refocus my mind, as it is easy to let it drift on a ship with so many crew members. Oo Dodd thought as he told Taggert to not worry about her appearance.

"I thought it best to just get started here, yes sir," she replied. "I've never been in an Akira class before, but I have the blueprints on my roll-PADD and I've been memorising layouts since Admiral Galt sent me over here."

"I also memorised the schematics of all the systems on this ship before I came onboard. This is a nice ship and I hope to make her be the best ship in our sector while on this mission." Dodd responded.

"I guess our captain is pretty busy right now, but I'd be willing to meet her whenever she has a moment," she answered. First female captain, she served under, so that would be new. Nothing wrong with new, she figured.

"No there is nothing wrong with new as change is what makes life happen. Yes, the captain is rather busy. That is one reason I am working from the bridge terminal. I will be sure to call upon you if I need a quick fix in engineering as I am certain you will likely already be on top of the fix." Dodd replied. "I will get you up to the bridge soon to meet the captain once the opportunity arises. Also, can you send me any thoughts you have for a four shift rotation? I have really only done three shift rotations, but would like to get Tomcat on a four shift so when something happens we are able to push through it since we would not all be overworked all the time and it would help the morale of the team. I will talk to the captain about it before we do it but wanted your input since you are my new right hand. It was great to meet you at least for these few minutes. I have to get back to the bridge. Do not hesitate to reach out if you need to." Dodd stated. "So please excuse, me as I really must get back.

"Of course, sir," Taggert replied, giving him a firm handshake. A little bit of a German accent slipped through to her consternation. "I'll hold down the fort here with Tjaansz and get everything in order for you."

"Alright, Taggert, I feel good knowing you are helping out the team here while I am on the bridge," Dodd stated as he walked to the turbo-lift.

- Bridge -

Jasmine looked at the lift doors as they opened and Dodd returned "All good down in engineering Mr Dodd?"

"All is good, thank you for letting me leave the bridge," Dodd responded. "I got to meet in person my new Assistant Chief, while I was down there." Dodd resumed his spot at the engineering workstation.

"Excellent, okay Mr K'Tel it seems we are clear, Mr Barker set coordinates for Starbase Omega in the Hydaransz system warp six," Jasmine said.

"Coordinates set Captain" Barker responded.

"Okay Lieutenant K'Tel, Engage"

"Warp six, engaged," Akuhl said and engaged the warp drive.

With that the USS Tomcat jumped to warp, as the ship entered warp she turned to Sheela "Commander Swiftpaws, the moment we arrive link up with your compatriots on Omega and get us a tactical update, then scan for any Orion signals" Jasmine said.

"Squeeah. Already made the appointment with mez counterpart before wez even left the docks." Sheela responded with a brief glance at Captain Somers on her way off the bridge with her data storage device.

"Ma'am, I would like to have my assistant chief come up to the bridge to work the secondary engineering station. I can then get her to cover the bridge when I need to elsewhere. If that is alright with you, Ma'am?" Dodd asked the captain. Now that the were travelling at warp, he was monitoring the engine systems and could have Taggert here to work on other things, like getting engineering on four shift rotation if the manpower could work out.

Swivelling around in her chair to look at Dodd "by all means Lieutenant, make it so" Jasmine said and swivelled around to face the front again.

- Engineering -

oO This might be a good posting Oo Taggert thought to herself, as she let out a breath she didn't realise she was holding in.

"Four shifts, huh?" said Teela, who was leaning over the pool table on the main area of engineering, scanning through isolinear chips, verifying data integrity and program validity before re-inserting them into the centre pop-up portion of the workstation.

"I guess we've got something big coming soon," Taggert said. "So, you heard the man. Let's snap to it."

She pointed at three separate engineers, calling them close with a wag of her finger. "I'm a bit new, so it'll take a while for me to get everyone's names and areas of expertise. But the ship's likely going to be putting itself in danger soon. We're going four-shift over the standard three eight-hour shifts."

"Thompson," said the first man, a tall, handsome half-black man with short-cropped hair and a deep voice, as she looked at him. "Power systems."

"Thank you. Thompson, I'll need a register of all engineering duty personnel and their areas of expertise, so I can split them up effectively so we're not short-staffed at a critical moment. I'm assuming the Chief will be in Alpha Shift," she said, as he nodded. "Let's double-check our plasma transfer conduits and reinforce any areas showing any signs of stress."

The second, a 5'4" woman with long blonde hair in a ponytail, replied, "Ensign Southern, ma'am. Warp fields."

"Thank you. Southern," Taggert nodded. She was a cute girl and gave a sense of competence in how she carried herself. "Let's make sure the engines can take sudden acceleration. In the event we really go into battle, I want to make sure we can give the captain what she needs."

"Aye, sir," Southern replied. It was regulation, even though she was a female, to refer to her as 'sir.'

"Johnson," said the third man, brown hair, hazel eyes, and a friendly face. He had the slightest Georgian accent, making him seem like the friendly type. "Structural integrity and damage control."

"Perfect," Taggert said with a smile. "Johnson, let's make sure we balance out all our DC and SI engineers across all four shifts and double-check what we have on the pylons and outriggers. There are crew quarters up there on decks 1 and 2 in the outriggers, so I want to make sure they're safe in case of high-speed turns or inertial dampener failures."

"Hopefully it won't come to that," Johnson said with a smile.

"Exactly. All right everyone," Taggert said with a clap of her hands. "Let's get to work. Teela, you're with me here. Let's make sure the computer's able to handle what we might come up against."

"You got it, chief," smiled the purple ensign as her tail swished behind her, and she tucked some purple hair behind her ear that had fallen out of the hair-tie.

"If I were Perry White, I'd say 'don't call me chief'," Taggert joked with a little giggle, intending a chuckle, but she was used to the giggle by now.

"What?"

"Nothing. Twentieth-century comic book reference," Taggert dismissed. "I'll tell you later off-shift."

[OFF]

Captain Jasmine Somers
Commanding Officer
USS Tomcat

Commander Maia Sterling
First Officer/CSO
USS Tomcat

Lt. Commander Sheela Swiftpaws
Chief Intelligence Officer/Communications
USS Tomcat

Lieutenant Alexanderia Cahill MD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Tomcat

Lt. Jg Solan Jekkar
Chief of Security/Tactical
USS Tomcat

Lt. Jg Akhul K'Tel MD
Doctor/Helmsman
USS Tomcat

Lt. Jg Remington Dodd
Chief Engineering Officer
USS Tomcat

Ensign Nicole Taggert
Deputy Chief Engineering Officer
USS Tomcat

2nd Lt. K'Muss
Marine Commanding Officer
USS Tomcat

 

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