The Voyage Home

Posted on Mon May 28th, 2018 @ 9:40pm by Captain Charybdis MacGregor & Lieutenant Commander Selune
Edited on on Mon May 28th, 2018 @ 9:40pm

0 words; about a 1 minute read

Mission: Operation: Risa!
Location: Risa and Risa Orbit
Timeline: 2265

"Shuttlecraft Jupiter, this is the USS Bonne Chance, do you copy?"

"I repeat, Shuttlecraft Jupiter, this is Bonne Chance, do you copy?"

Selune lazily rolled her chair around, powering up a few more systems as her time apparently drew to a close, she had been debating another orbit just for kicks but it seemed duty called. Not that she minded, she'd taken a good look at the planet before landing in the first place.

"Shuttlecraft Jupiter reporting," she answered back, "What can I do for you?"

"We have a departure from planetside to be picked up, Shuttlecraft Jupiter."

"Okay, forward me the details," she replied, sitting up somewhat straighter and reaching over to the navigation console before shrugging, who needs automated guidance anyway.

"Aestus Province Receiving Station," the communications officer informed her. "Pad twenty-seven, one passenger."

"Roger, I'll be there in a few minutes," she chirped, pushing the shuttle into a fairly safe landing vector and pretending the maniacal grin didn't belong to her.

The angle she had to pull to reach the station was bordering on safe operating parameters; that just meant it was fine as long as nothing went horribly wrong. The atmosphere didn't take long to heat up around the shuttle as she drove it in a steep dive directly towards the large orbital relay platform leaving a long plume of fire behind her before she leveled out.

Selune idly began to wonder if she should have used the navigation systems when the network of interconnected platforms began to unfold before her; turning from a blurry mass into a delicate spider web, interspersed with small and medium transports coming and going.

Apparently putting up giant letters that could be seen from miles away wasn't high on the designers list of priorities and it wasn't until she had bleed her speed down to what was relatively a standstill and began drifting across the latticework of landing pads that her eyes were drawn to the pristine blue of the Starfleet science department and a figure that couldn't be mistaken even at this altitude. Her hand, halfway to her navigation console in the act of giving up finding the elusive platform, once again pulled back as she banked sharply and dumped the shuttle in front of the wistful Vulcan. Thrusting at the perfect second to make the sudden landing smooth and almost silent, then popping the hatch and cheerfully calling out, "All aboard."

The cheerful commander chuckled as she hefted her bags and climbed aboard the shuttle. "I saw the flame trail and wondered just who would be pulling such a stunt, and then that landing clinched it. Are you already back on duty, Selune, or did they just grab you because you were in the air?"

Securing her bags in one of the cargo compartments, Charybdis gently lowered herself into the copilot seat and began strapping herself in.

"Oh you know how it is, never off duty once you're on duty," she joked, "I guess they just noticed that I was a hell of a lot closer than the ship so they called me up. I was tossing up going back to the ship anyway... need to get this ringing in my ears looked at."

The pointy-eared scientist looked abashed at that and sighed. "I'm really very sorry about this trip. I was hoping everyone would have a good time, but obviously I didn't plan on... well, so very much of it." Her body language had changed sharply, and it was not lost on the Caitan.

Selune laughed at that, a short sharp convulsion as the blindingly obvious facts washed out, the slight wobble in the shuttle's flight path drawing her back to the world, "Honestly, no one could have planned for that... It was going quite well before the disruptors, imprisonment, escape and sewers.. actually just the last part..." Selune visibly cringed at the memory, "Other than that and Risa's love of trying to deafen me it wasn't all that bad. The shopping was just plain fun, I still can't believe what you bought in the... uhmm... well, some of the things you found," her last words beginning to stammer as she realized her rambling was going no where.

"Well, that's definitely a positive then," he vivacious Vulcan smiled and seemed relieved, those big violet eyes switching between watching the atmosphere fade away and the pilot. "I was worried that you hadn't enjoyed yourself and that you were rather wishing you hadn't come along with us."

"Well... for a while in the sewer I did question my sanity in coming along," she winced slightly at the memory and the phantom smell that seemed to sneak up on her without warning, "But if I hadn't been there I wouldn't know that."

Selune paused as she tried to stop her mouth running away from her again, "I guess I enjoyed it, it wasn't my ideal idea of relaxation but," she shrugged, turning to throw her copilot a small grin, "at least now you know not to pull my hair."

Laughter was the answer to that comment. "Well, I had suspected before, but now I know for certain," the orderly officer expressed. "You will still have another five days at least, according to your rosters. Which reminds me... ooh, there's our girl."

As the shuttlecraft had come up into high orbit, the Bonne Chance had come into view, and the first officer's eyes lit up as if she had seen a long-lost friend.

"Can we take a few passes around her please? I hardly ever get to see her like this..." Her tone was soft, and she placed her hands on the dashboard and rested her chin on them to watch.

"Of course," Selune murmured, feeling more and more at home as space had enveloped them and the planet let them free from its grip. Slowly bringing the shuttle within touching distance of the glossy hull - muting the comms before the panicked cries from the bridge ruined the moment - and spinning till the disk formed a horizon in the viewport before drifting underneath and looping back towards the nacelles, "Anywhere in particular you want to go?" the would be tourist flight attendant inquired.

"Nope," the first officer replied quietly. "Just a few lazy orbits around my girl here, if you please, Lieutenant."

"By the way, I've decided to assign you one of those Nausicaan marauders as your own. We'll need someone competent with them to train others to fly them, and we'll be using them for wargame exercises. I plan to start drills this week while we're over Risa... no sense in wasting time in safe airspace. Helm will practice outflying Nav's ability to target and 'destroy'." Charybdis locked eyes with the Caitan pilot for a moment. "You need your time to cut loose, I think, and this is my solution. You'll be responsible for maintenance, upgrading, etcetera- but unless you are flying her in an official capacity all of that happens on your own time, as per the Captain's orders."

"Name her, customize her, fly her. Does that work for you, Lieutenant?" the Vulcan vixen asked with a smile.

A blank stare followed by the soft blare of, "collision alert, collision alert," was the only response Selune could muster, her hands casually adjusting their course even as her mind sat stunned a few moments longer, "I think... I can manage that," she stammered with a grin, "Those things look like fun. Ahem, they should make a valuable addition to our tactical knowledge and ability," she stated, coming perfectly erect with a dead straight face yet still unable to hide the slight glimmer in her eyes.

"Good. It's settled, then." The wistful Vulcan watched the tritanium hull slide by with a smile. "She really is pretty from out here... I enjoyed the vacation, but it's good to be home." She leaned back, put her hands behind her head and looked serenely relaxed.

"How about a quick tour of the deflector dish so I can inspect the outer sensor housings, Lieutenant, before you drop me off?" There was no 'please' in the statement, as Chary tended to always work hard to be polite... but in this case it was just a casual conversation more than anything else. "Any idea what you'll name her?"

Shaking her head in reply, Selune brought the shuttle back around, letting it slowly drift closer as she pondered the question, "By the way... when you said inspect, how close did you want to get...?"

 

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