Departing Typhon

Posted on Tue Jul 27th, 2010 @ 2:17pm by Commodore Samantha York & Lieutenant Commander Karma Sinclair & Colonel Damon Raine & Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola & Lieutenant Lorne Jaxara & Lieutenant Commander Delon Tovan & Lieutenant Commander Leanne Bowen & Lieutenant JG Kalyka Meral & Lieutenant JG Kalyka Meral

1,351 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Peace, or Something Like It
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Current

ON

Sam walked out of her ready room and took a seat in the Captain's chair. She was slightly nervous as the ship embarked on its maiden voyage. Her first as Captain of her own ship.

"Contact Typhon. Tell them we're ready to leave," she said.

Jaxara, standing at the Security console. "All hands aboard, Captain. Starbase Security confirms we are stow-away free." Jaxara said with a nod.

"Thank you, Lieutenant." The last thing she wanted was to start a new ship and a new mission with stowaways. "Ask for clearance to depart. And have all departments report in."

Damon stood off to the side and checked on the Marine barracks via one of the consoles.

"Marine's look good, Captain." He said, looking at the panel.

"Thank you, Major," Sam replied, smiling at Damon. It was nice having him on the bridge.

Karma turned to the display on his chair and nodded. "Reports coming in now, Skipper. No concerns at the present time."

Through the monitor in sickbay, Doctor Bowen notified the Captain that all medical personnel is counted for and all equipment is stowed away.

Kalyka tapped her commbadge. "Engineering here. Everything running smoothly. Try not to break it, Captain."

Kaj checked and re-checked all of his charts readouts and dials before reporting his own status.
"All engines and thrusters are in standby mode, shuttlebay is primed and ready for rapid launch, Flight Control is go skipper."

Sam turned to the helmsman. "Kaj, set in a course for Turkana IV."

Kaj had his head slightly turned when Sam gave the order, so his slight nod was visible before he turned to his console and verbally confirmed the order.
"Aye skipper, departing starbase Typhon and laying in course for Turkana IV."

He made one final check of his readouts to confirm that all umbilicals were detached and all docking ports were completely disengaged and retracted. Although the basic framework of the departure was detained the intervening maneuvers had to be changed. Traffic had picked up around Typhon and that would require a little more finesse rather than an about-face and leaning on the impulse engines as soon as they were clear of the starbase.

Still, first things first, and the first thing that was needed was to get away from the starbase before attempting any sort of turn. It was also the simplest maneuver in this entire series, for in this case he simply engaged the port-side maneuvering thrusters for ten seconds then cut them out, letting the new inertia do the work.

When all of the proximity indicators had clicked off the time for the second breakaway maneuver was at hand, so with a few more inputs Kaj "blipped" a few of the maneuvering thrusters and coaxed the Calypso into a slow graceful spin along it's axis while still slowly moving away from the station.
With a practiced hand and a trained sense of precision and balance Kaj then re-engaged more maneuvering thrusters and "caught" the Calypso in mid-spin, bringing it to a gentle stop from its spin before activating all aft maneuvering thrusters to full output.

He had time before one last maneuver had to be made, so he busied himself with re-checking for any errant signals from any of his displays as well as priming the impulse engines to activate after the last turn. Still, it wasn't enough to fully shut off his subconscious from coming out, this time in the form of slowly whistling the first strains of a very familiar tune, an old Irish tune by the name of "Johnny We Hardly Knew Ye."

After one last small turn to port in order to avoid an incoming Nova-Class at full impulse Kaj finally engaged the impulse engines, running them up to 1/2 output as he punched in the proper coordinates and routing for Turkana IV.
Finally all was set. No incoming ships at warp and they were well away from any danger zone of the station itself. Turning to Sam in his seat he gave her the good news.
"Course laid in skipper, ready to engage at any velocity."

Sam nodded. "Engage. Full impulse until we're far enough away, then warp 7 to Turkana."

"Relaying tactical scans to your console." Jaxara noted. "We've got quite a few busy trade routes along the way, and I've logged the probable ships we might intercept along the way, with waypoint markers in the course."

Kaj nodded in acknowledgment to both Sam and Lorne
"Roger that, ETA thirty seconds until we're clear to engage warp, tactical scans received and being interlayed with navigational charts."
A small flurry of button taps with one hand was all that was needed for Kaj to pull up Lorne's' tactical scans and compare them to his own navigational charts. For the most part they matched his own route and in fact caught a freighter crossing along a trade route that his own scans hadn't picked up earlier. However there were quite a few more waypoints than his own navigational charts, and while one or two of them were prudent, the rest added at least a couple of hours onto the journey. With that in mind Kaj split the difference, adding a couple of waypoints that took the least amount of time off of the journey while retaining most of his original route.

Fortunately by the time he had re-programmed the navicomputer and logged everything in the Calypso was well clear of Starbase Typhon plus any surrounding ships and in the safe zone for the transition to warp.
"Course locked in skipper, transitioning to warp in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... transitioning now."

His hand had been hovering over the bright crimson panel that was lit, and when his fingers came down and lightly but definitively touched it there was a signature rumble then dull roaring thrumming right before the stars suddenly surged forward into their long streaks that eventually gave way to the bright blue flash and "tunnel" effect that warp speed generated.
Apparently whomever had done the last overhaul of the Calypsos' engines had been a stickler for details and refinement because the big Galaxy-Class explorer had the most linear acceleration curve Kaj had ever seen. There was absolutely no surges or bogging down at any point to the journey to Warp 7, which came rather quickly thanks to the relentless acceleration.
"Cruising at Warp 7 Skipper, smoother than Tholian silk."

Tovan had been sitting in his station silently monitoring all of the instruments as they ship moved away from the starbase and entered the warp speed. Everything was going to accord to plan.

"Receiving prescribed flight plans of vessels beyond scanning range from Typhon. I'll patch you in approximates, and adjust it as we get into scanning range." Jaxara said with a nod. "Be advised, there are Orion 'trading' vessels along the way, which may not necessarily want to see us."

"I don't necessarily want to see them, either," Sam said.

From the front Kaj chuckled. It seemed slightly insane to him. They were charging into an unknown and likely dangerous situation with little or no information and the main concern at the moment were some Orion vessels that were not as flagged. He shook his head a bit before turning slightly to face the skipper and the tactical officer.
"Unless one of those freighter captains gets the bright idea to suddenly veer directly into our course, we won't see them. I overlayed the tactical scans with my own route and adjusted it. Its still efficient but steers us around any danger-close passes with any ships in the vicinity.

Long story short, the closest we will get to one of those Orion ships is about five million kilometers, and that's allowing for spatial drift."

"Confirmed." Jaxara said with a nod. "Though I'll keep a scanner eye out for 'em, just in case."

OFF

Commander Samantha York
Commanding Officer

Lieutenant Commander Karma Sinclair
Executive Officer

Major Damon Raine
Marine CO

Lieutenant Kaj Mikkola
Chief Flight Control Officer

Lieutenant Lorne Jaxara
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant Delon Tovan
Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant JG Leanne Bowen
Chief Medical Officer


Lieutenant JG Kalyka Meral
Chief Engineer

 

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