What Goes Up...

Posted on Sun Jun 27th, 2010 @ 9:50am by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola

738 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Transitions
Location: Shuttlebay 1
Timeline: Current

ON

CWO Jeri Morgan was working on the Danube, doing a quick inspection while the Calypso was still at Starbase Typhon. It gave her time to make sure the ship was in tip-top shape before they left on their shakedown cruise.

The ground below her jumped, which she found disconcerting. They were docked, there should be no movement -- and definitely no bumps. All of a sudden she found herself floating off the ground and heading for the ceiling. She uttered a few expletives and grabbed onto the shuttle which, fortunately, was clamped firmly to the hangar deck. "Hey," she yelled. "What's the idea? I'm working here!"

Kaj had been in the shuttle bay hurriedly getting things stored in another runabout. Since he was sitting down programming navigational markers into the computer he didn't notice the lack of gravity until a couple of small tools floated by his face. Only then did he notice that his legs were holding him in a seated position rather than artificial gravity, and as he looked out into the bay he could see the slow chaos that resulted from a sudden loss of gravity.

Chuckling a bit to himself he easily dislodged himself from the console and did a few quick soft rebounds to the starboard hatch, catching himself and holding himself in the frame easily, a feat learned from many years aboard zero-g platforms and construction areas.
"Hey, I don't mind it but somebody really ought to call engineering and fix the gravity well generator on this deck. While we wait who's up for a game of Ricochet Ball?"

Jeri noticed a few of the officers using the lack of gravity to 'swim' through the bay. She wasn't about to join them. Too paranoid. She knew that any moment the gravity would return and they'd have a nasty fall. She opened the shuttle door and pulled herself inside, holding on to the doorframe as she did so.

Kaj could have hung there in low gravity for an entire roration but he needed to get going, so he let go of the frame with one hand and tapped his commbadge.
"CFCO to Engineering, we have a gravity well out in the main shuttlebay, could we get a repair team up here ASAP?"

Two minutes later, the gravity kicked back in. Jeri grabbed tightly to the doorway and used it to ease her fall. Still, her arms took a painful jerk and she landed hard on the floor of the shuttle. She let out a few more expletives and stood, rubbing a sore hip. Then she went outside to see if anyone were injured.

"Hey, Lieutenant, are you okay?" she asked Kaj.

Kaj had fallen noisily and uttered his own expletives, but other than a bruised ego he was no worse for wear.
"Just fine Chief, make sure everybody and everything else is in working order, didn't hear anybody scream too loud or a crash that sounded heavy and expensive, but I'll give you an assist in checking things out."

"Thanks. I'm just glad all the shuttles are locked down. That's a mess I don't want to think about," she groused.

"Not a problem, and I agree, I've seen it happen more than once on the same ship. Eventually we got the idea that anything that could be locked down should, especially during hard maneuvers."

Kaj took a roughly parallel course to Morgan's while he did his own visual inspection.

"Of course to be fair it's kinda hard to remember to lock every single thing down when you're trying to get away from two Jem'Hadar attack ships bearing down on you, but that's another story for another day, uh boy there's a full blown mess over here, the shuttle repair crews are not gonna like that."

Kaj simply stopped and stared at the jumble of tools and handheld diagnostic devices in one of the machine shops. The fact that there had been several larger fabrication and diagnostic devices that were uninstalled and had come crashing down didn't help either.

Jeri saw the mess and swore. "That's going to take days to straighten out." She ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "I'll start on this. You make sure it doesn't happen again," she said as she began to pick up the pieces.

OFF

Lieutenant JG Kaj Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Calypso

Chief Petty Officer Jeri Morgan
starcraft mechanic
USS Calypso

 

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