One Way Ticket.....to Somewhere?

Posted on Sun Apr 25th, 2010 @ 1:40am by Lieutenant JG Randall "Iceheart" McGraw & Commodore Samantha York

1,029 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: What Lies Beneath?
Location: Space
Timeline: Current

Ensign McGraw looked over once again at his companion in the shuttle craft and smiled. He had been on long distance trips before and even though this one was just a ferry mission essentially, he had never had a better looking flight companion. He was sure she was probably not interested anyway so he chuckled slightly and checked the controls in front of him again.

"I bet you're ready to get back to the Starbase, aren't you? You know instead of having to ferry people around right?"

The woman glared at first, but then sighed and chuckled. "At least I get to log some flight time out here. I should have gotten the same job you did, but they figured I would be better being a courier pilot on a starbase. I don't get nearly as many hours as I want out here, and I love the view."

Randy stared out the view screen for a moment, mesmerized by the stars flying by at warp speed, and laughed. "Yeah it is a one of a kind sight. It's why I joined Starfleet to begin with, flying around with my parents, and I knew this is where I belonged." His face softened slightly as he knew his parents would be proud of him, but missing them all the same.

Lenora saw his face drop a bit for only a moment, and she wondered what it had been about. "So were your parents there for the ceremony when you graduated? Mine were never prouder in their lives as they were the day I graduated and received my first assignment." She watched carefully out of the corner of her eye as she asked her question.

Randy sighed and smiled sadly as he answered, carefully avoiding her gaze. "They would have been, if they were still alive. I've been an orphan since I was 17, due to an incident in deep space." He shook his head and stared at the controls. "According to this, we should be in communications range of the Orion here in 2 minutes. How long till we drop out of warp?"

She cringed inwardly as she realized she might have said something inadvertently hurtful. She quickly latched onto his observation to bypass the awkwardness of the moment and scanned her controls. "Yes, I make the time at about a minute now. We can go ahead and signal them now, see if we can't raise them."

"Orion this is the shuttlecraft Doppelganger, I have inbound personnel on-board, do you read me?"

"Doppelganger, this is the Orion. You're cleared to land in shuttlebay 1," came the reply from the ship.

"Orion, we will dropping out of warp in one minute, just off your starboard nacelle. We will proceed on a vector shuttlebay 1 at that time. Doppleganger out." With that Lenora deftly ran her fingers into an almost memorized pattern, readying the ship to drop out of warp.

As they dropped out of warp, Randy couldn't help but let out a breathy whistle. Every time he saw a starship up close, he couldn't help but be overcome with awe and a sense of overwhelming beauty and grace. "Isn't she a beauty," he whispered to himself.

She shook her head slightly as she grinned. "Never gets old, does it? No matter how many times you see it, it is always a thing of beauty and grace." She quickly brought them around and gracefully turned into and landed in shuttlebay 1.

"Well, this is where we part ways, good luck to you." She offered him her hand as she popped the hatch.

"If you ever want to get off that dusty old mothball of a starbase just look me up." He smiled and took her hand firmly.

As Ensign McGraw stepped off onto the Orion, Lenora couldn't help but laugh. He certainly had an infectious sense of humor, and if he was as good at his work as he was with his humor, he would go far. 'Who knows,' she thought to herself. 'I might just take him up on the offer.'

Randy looked around to see if there was anyone around to greet him as he looked around the shuttlebay.

Ronnie had just come off shift on the bridge and decided to swing by the main shuttlebay to greet the new arrival. Although she didn't hold any real authority, the XO was ghezun hunting and the CO and 2nd Officer were on Tiberius IV, so she decided to make herself the default reception committee.

When she saw the officer step off the shuttle she smiled. "Hi. Welcome aboard the USS Orion."

Randy grinned, and shouldering his duffel, he walked over to her. "Hey, Ensign Randy McGraw, the new Wing Commander. How are ya?" With that, he thrust his hand out in greeting. "Where would I be able to find the Commander, and which way to the Fighter bays?"

Ronnie shook his hand in return. "Ronnie Lancaster, assistant chief science officer," she said. "The Commander's on Tiberius IV with the away team. Commander Sheridan, the XO, is running round hunting ghezuns -- nasty little voles that are chewing on the power relays. We're having some trouble because of them. And the fighter bays are on deck 4. Anything else you'd like to know?"

Randy grinned and shook his head. "I don't think so, but if you wouldn't mind, could I ask for you to show me the way to whoever assigns quarters on this ship?"

"That would be the quartermaster on deck 7. Come on, I'll show you where he's at. He likes to be hard to find -- if you don't know where he's located. His office is open from 0700 to 2300. He likes to think of himself as the Orion's convenience store."

She led the way to a large office in section 11. "Here you go. He can issue you quarters, a uniform, whatever you need."

He chuckled and thanked her warmly, then walked in to find the quartermaster, and get what he needed. 'I think I am going to like it here.' he thought to himself.

OFF

Ensign Randall McGraw
Wing Commander
USS Orion

Ensign Ronnie Lancaster (NPC)
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Orion

 

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