[BACKPOST] Arrival

Posted on Mon Jun 15th, 2020 @ 11:23pm by

1,397 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Under A Glassy Surface, Where We Don't Belong...
Location: Earth/Various
Timeline: Before the ship leaves Sol System

[ON]

Andi was at home on the reservation of her people, she had made u with her father after graduation, but still retained the title of Clan Chieftain. She was enjoying the lack of technology when a young brave entered "Andi someone in Starfleet is on the communications for you" he said.

Andi growled as she was in the middle of dinner, she excused herself and headed to the only hi-tech building on the reservation, entering the building she entered the booth and opened the channel. As she waited a brief moment for the line to connect, she silently wondered what Starfleet wanted, she was on leave for her tribes yearly celebrations.

A moment later a Rear Admiral appeared on the viewscreen "ah Commander, good, you are there!" A dour Andorian said in a tone that was meant to be cheerful but failing spectacularly.

Thinking to herself 'Where else would I be he is such an idiot' she mused, but put on a diplomatic visage "hello Admiral, what can I do for you?" she asked.

"The USS Dreadnought is in the dock and they are looking for a new Chief of Security, I know you are keen on staying on the command track, but I am thinking you have cooled your heels here on earth and are probably itching to get back into space?" The Admiral said.

Andi took all this in and thought it through, it was true what the Admiral said she was keen on staying on the Command track but recent events had soured her, she looked at the Admiral "Sir, after my last two outings as First Officer on two failed commands, I would welcome a change of scenery and Department, Command will always be there and you are correct I have been on earth too long. Send me the details Sir and I will report to the ship ASAP" she said and saw the Andorians Antennae droop forward.

The Admiral looked at the Commander 'she does not dally with choices, analyzes consider and gets right to the result, she would make a good Andorian Imperial Guardsman' he thought to himself a little surprised as the quickness of her response, but he knew there were some in Starfleet who were not slow in thinking about things.

"I am sending the information on a subchannel Commander, good luck to you on your new assignment Starfleet out," He said as the data finished transferring.

She heavily sighed and left the communications room and returned to her parents and told them that she had been reassigned, her father was not happy, but he understood and her mother insisted that she would help her pack. For some reason, her mother found more things for her to take than what was really needed, but that's what mothers did she supposed.

0600 hours

The next morning Andi was at her Fighter packing it with what she had brought with her and checking the fighter over realising that while she was qualified to fly one, she had never been in fighter to fighter combat but she was okay with that. After a thorough check, she signed off on the inspection and climbed into the fighter, as she strapped herself in she initialised the start-up sequence after securing the hatch she runs through the flight checklist with the ground controller and apart from a small redline all was good and she was given permission to depart.

"Thank you control, clear the area activating hover jets," she said over the comms as the fighter raised up to a decent height "switching over to thrusters, all green across the board" she reported.

"Acknowledge Gryphon 4651, safe trip, ground control out" came the response and then silence.

The thrusters began to push her forward and up when she was high enough she switched over to impulse and shot into the sky, at this moment she was feeling free and understood why veteran combat pilots liked flying. As the light blue became dark blue and finally black she looked up to see a behemoth of a ship in high orbit "by the ancestors if it is that big at this distance, I can only imagine it is beyond big" she said to herself as she set a heading for it.

Andi knew that the resources required for such a ship was immense and expected that only one existed and there was the logistics of the thing to boot. The ship got bigger and bigger as the little fighter closed in, all too soon the computer told her she was in the fly zone of the ship so she opened a channel.

"Gryphon 4651 to Dreadnought Flight Control" Lightfeather begun.

Ravenloft leaned forward as she opened the channel, "Gryphon 4652, this is Dreadnought Flight Control," Ravenloft fingers flew across the console before her. Picking up the approaching aerospace fighter. "What assistance do you need?"

She continued to tap controls to bring up the scheduled flight schedules on arrivals and departures to see if any was scheduled. Then she was puzzled. A lone fighter out here.

"Landing clearance Dreadnought Flight Control if possible, please! I am the new Chief of Security recently assigned here" Lightfeather answered and fell silent while the flight controller was obviously checking things. Andi did not even know if the ship was notified that she would be arriving but was thankful that is was a short trip to the ship.

"You're cleared to land in Shuttle Bay 2. On the starboard side of the Dreadnought." Ravenloft calm voice, then with a hint of warmth. "Welcome to the Dreadnought." She moved the small listing of arrivals and departures off to the side of her console screen and sending the proper commands to the assigned shuttle bay for the newcomer's arrival.

"Thank you Dreadnought flight control, changing my heading to shuttle bay 2, I was told the ship was big, they did not say it was a large barn with engines," Andi said humour creeping into her words.

"More like a starbase with warp capabilities," Ravenloft replied unintentionally with a definite trace of warmth and humour. "And I get to fly it." With a bit of pride in her tone.

"Regardless it is massive, okay coming into shuttlebay two, switching to thrusters and slowing speed, control does I continue with manual or do I change to autopilot and let the ship bring me in?" Lightfeather said motionless just outside the shuttle bay.

"We got you via tractor beams. Release controls," Ravenloft replied as she has gotten the signal from Shuttlebay two that they had things under control.

"Acknowledged, switching to autopilot and handing over to you," Lightfeather said suiting her actions to what she said, then sat back, now she knew what it was like to be chauffeured if only in a limited fashion.

Shuttlebay Control activated the tractor beams and locking onto the approaching shuttle and deftly brought the craft into the well-lit bay. They settled the craft very gently onto the Ready Pad and had it faced outward. They sent the signal to the craft that it was clear to disembark from the craft.

Getting the notification that she was safely on the deck and secured, she shut down the engines and ran through the safety checks and made out a report and opened a channel. "Gryphon 4651 to Dreadnought Flight Control, all systems switched off and checks made, send you my flight log and maintenance check-list data now," she said pressing the send button.

"Acknowledged," Ravenloft replied. She leaned back in her seat going over the flight schedules of small crafts. Then glanced at the incoming reports from the newly arrived craft.

"Acknowledged flight control signing off and exiting the ship, Lightfeather out" Andi intoned and closed the link, she opened the fighter canopy and undid her harness and climbed out and stepped onto the provided steps and climbed down, the moment she was down the crew chief approached with a PAdd for her, she looked it over and signed off and spoke "he Chief, can you please see that the Cargo chief or whatever the department is called see that my stuff is sent to my quarters please?" She asked with a sweet smile.

The Crew Chief involuntarily smiled back "yes Sir" he said and with a nod left Andi alone to check the outside of her ship briefly, before heading off to see the First Officer.

[OFF]

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