Come Ride with Me, Part I

Posted on Fri Jul 23rd, 2010 @ 10:36am by Lieutenant Commander Delon Tovan & Chief Petty Officer Shalie Montgomery

1,908 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Peace, or Something Like It
Location: USS Calypso - Lift
Timeline: Current

[USS Calypso - Lift]

Tovan turned to Shalie as they approached the lift and asked. "So, any place in particular you would like to see first?" The lift was taking longer than usual to arrive and in this case that wasn't a bad thing because it gave them an acceptable amount of time to think of what would be their first destination. He could show her the critical areas such as the bridge, sickbay, engineering which he has already done so. Or they could visit the areas that were meant more for recreation. For example, the holodeck.

Shalie shifted her weight from one foot to the next as she thought about the question for a moment. "Well...I am assuming the bridge is on the top of the ship...so that I can find...so lets go with something fun." She smiled as she answered the question she was slowly falling in love with the Galaxy Class.

Tovan cracked a brief smile at her comment. She already knew where the bridge was, and there had been a place he had wanted to visit but haven't had the time. This seemed like a perfect time and place to do it. So once the lift doors opened to invite them in, they stepped in and Tovan gave the command for deck 15. "How do you feel about plants?"

"They are pretty..." Shalie started with a smile. "And sometimes smell good." She was slightly sarcastic but up to the idea. "I am guessing the Arboretum?" she asked easily as she took a stance against the lift wall.

Tovan shook his head. "Actually no, I have heard that the science department was running an experiment in one of the labs on deck 15. From my understanding they were splicing the DNA of the plants and combining it with others in order to create a completely new type of plant. But it seems that something had gone wrong and they had made a talking one."

"Oooo..." Shalie started, her interest more then piqued by the thought of a talking plant. "I am totally up for seeing that." She smiled as she glanced down at the floor for a moment then back around the lift slightly. She was an engineer at heart after all.

Tovan held in a laugh. The truth was that there wasn't such a thing and their destination really was the Arboretum that she had guessed right away. "Me too..." Tovan added. However, before he could say anything else the lift suddenly stopped, causing each of them to lose their balance. And then started to free fall.

Shalie felt the herself begin to fall to the side just as the lift itself began to fall. Had she been a normal female the she may have given into her desire to panic. She did her best to run all the situation of what could be the problem though her mind, but lifts were not something she worked on often. She looked over at Delon, not sure what she expected to see.

There have been reports that have crossed his desk concerning different issues aboard the ship but he had thought that they had fixed all of those. Why was the lift acting the way it was? He didn't panic one bit, but his softer side that he had showed for most of the evening had disappeared and he was serious once again. He made eye contact with Shalie as he pushed himself off the wall and to the panel on the side. It was hard to keep their balance but he managed.

He attempted to key in a few commands that would override the automatic control of the lift and allow him manual control but that didn't work. "This isn't good." He said more to himself as he knew that there was safeties in place to keep them from crashing into the bottom of the ship the problem was that he wasn't sure that they would fire and do what they were suppose too.

Shalie's mind ran over everything she could think of. She could tell by the look on Delon's face that he didn't have any more of an idea what was going on then she did. "Right now I wish I knew more about lifts" She did her best to move next to Delon. The only thing she could think of was to call in reinforcements. She tapped her comm and nothing happened. "Shit".

"Doesn't look like we will be calling for help..." Tovan said with a hint of disappointment in his voice. The com signal was being jammed somehow. The situation was getting worse by every passing second. In matter of seconds they would be to the bottom or even worse they would collide with another lift that crossed their path. He looked over at Shalie. "Sorry, but it looks like our tour is being cut short." He smiled at her a little bit as he stepped in closer to her.

Shalie looked over at Delon before she spoke. "I don't know if you tried this already, but is there anyway to get the safeties to fire early...I know they kick in based on a sensor reading." She looked over at him before losing her balance and ending up using him to keep herself upright.

Before he was able to get a word out she had lost her balanced and came at him. He grabbed onto her in order to keep her upright, he was successful in this but during it he lost his balance as well and they had been slightly tossed around the lift. They eventually found themselves pinned to a wall holding each other as the lift approached the bottom. "I'm not sure there is anything we can do to stop this thing, expect for maybe..." Delon looked up at the access door at the top of the lift. "It will be dangerous..."

"I am good with dangerous..." Shalie said as calmly as she could. If she was going to die, she would rather it be trying to avoid death then giving into it. "What do you have in mind?"

"There are emergency brakes on top of the lift, that if we can get too we can engage them manually and get the lift to come to a complete stop." Tovan was still holding onto Shalie as they kept falling. "It's very dangerous as the lift is moving rather fast. If there was another other way there is no way I would suggest this. But it doesn't look like we have much choice."

"Well what are we waiting for?" Shalie started with her eyes turned up towards the emergency hatch. "Just tell me what you need me to do." She looked back at him waiting for further instruction.

"It's harder than it sounds." Tovan added as his glance with the ceiling port parted and he looked at her. "You need to climb on top of the lift and engage two breaks manually. There should be on one each side of the lift."

Shalie barely waited for Delon to finish speaking before she started using the wall to make her way to the hatch. She opened it and could feel her heart racing in her ears as she watched the shaft blur by. She regained her composure quickly keeping her eyes on the brakes she needed to engage. She was careful in ever hand hold she used as her hair flew up around her face. She set to work on the first break. It was as simple as activating the magnetic breaking system. When the first break began to slow the lift, she moved on to the next.

Tovan stood near her as she climbed up making sure to catch her in case she fell, but lucky for both of them even with a bumpy ride that they were having she managed somehow. He watched her disappear to the top and waited for something. A few moments later the lift began to slow down just a bit. She must have engaged one of the breaks. He continued to watch the opening in the ceiling waiting to see what happens next.

Shalie moved a little too quickly as she crossed over to the second break and slipped slightly. She managed to catch herself and pulled herself back up. She moved as quick as she could, but with more care then she had shown before. She finally made it to the second break and breathed a sigh of relief as it too began to slow the lift. She remained on top of the lift until it came to a stop. She had no idea where they were in relation to the ship, so she dropped back down into the lift. She laughed as she straightened her hair and look at Delon. "Well that was fun..."

When she had slipped on top he had heard it. He grew worried for a moment but soon after that he heard her footsteps back on top and knew that she was okay. Once the lift stopped and she dropped in. He smiled at her. "Good job." He looked over to the door. "Let's just hope we don't have to do this again sometime soon."

Shalie laughed. "Yeah if this is what it is like to be around you..." She started. "I may have to avoid you from now on." She sank down to the floor as her body shook slightly from the adrenaline that coursed through her mind. "Good thinking with the break system though." She had to give it to him, they might still be falling if he hadn't thought of risking her life.

Tovan had attempted to get the door open but it was jammed. It looked like they were closer to the bottom than he had anticipated. Good thing she got to stop the lift. He turned to her. He noticed that she was on the floor so he kneeled in front of her gently grabbing her hand in his and looked at her. "Are you alright...?" He would have climbed up but he was bigger and heavier than her. It was a logical choice for her to do it, even if he wasn't about to tell her that. He was concerned for her safety the whole time.

"Oh I am fine..." Shalie started as she held out her free hand to show the shaking. "Near death experiences are great at getting the blood pumping." She smiled as his concern emanated from him.

"I understand." Tovan nodded lightly as he looked away from her for a moment to scan the lift. He continued to hold onto her hand as he did so. "We have another problem, but this one won't be hard to solve." He looked back to her with a reassuring smile. "We need to climb up to a Jeffries tube in order to get out of here."

Shalie laughed where she sat using her free hand to once again manage her hair. She looked up at the opening above them. She gently took her hand from his and touched his face reassuringly. "Well at least this time it isn't falling." She moved herself into a standing position and once again found pushed herself to the top of the lift. She lowered down and offered her hand to Delon.

=/= To Be Continued =/=

Lieutenant Delon Tovan
Chief of Operations
USS Calypso

Petty Officer 2nd Class Shalie Montgomery
Engineering Officer
USS Calypso

 

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