Together Again
Posted on 03 Sep 2020 @ 12:14am by Captain Corvus DeHavilland & Commander Calliope Zahn
Mission:
M1 - Emergence
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline: MD3 - 0945HRS
2013 words - 4 OF Standard Post Measure
There was no one seated in the executive administrator seat in the vacant lobby to the Executive Office Suite, so Calliope reached over the desk wall divider and, with her one free hand, buzzed herself through the doors. Calliope's other hand was held aloft supporting a hanging plant and clutching a padd to her side with an elbow.
When the entry door slid away revealing the corridor beyond, Calliope found it lit by emergency lighting only, since nothing here was currently occupied by support staff.
Calliope convinced herself not to shudder at the creepy vibe of a largely abandoned Stardock. She'd been on a few of these bases between missions and they were usually alive and bright and full of energy. This emptiness just evoked some kind of horror genre in her active imagination.
She paused before each recess in the wall, anticipating some kind of attacker or misty presence to emerge at her. But nothing did. Calliope felt as silly as a kid looking around the dark bedroom at night. Finally she just dashed the last half of the hallway. Who was there to save face with anyway?
She laughed at herself. "I should have just cut through the command center." Calliope found the guest entrance to the Captains office and rang the door, smoothing the belly of her service jacket, and re-securing the padd she carried under her arm.
The door the Captain's office hissed open, but not at Corvus' request, like it should have, but rather because she had walked towards it to convince the sensor to open since it didn't want to listen to her verbal command. In the grand scheme, this little glitch was low on the priority pole but it was certainly going to irritate the living junk out of her until it was fixed. But as the door hissed open, thinking she was leaving, to reveal her First Officer, she grinned.
"Finally, good news has arrived," she grinned.
"And bearing gifts!" Calliope said, hugging Corvus briefly and then presenting the plant. "It's from Galaus Colony. I got it off a botanist onboard the Paracelsus on my way out. I'm told it's supposed to flower if you mineralize it at the right time. There's directions stuck on the pot."
"Bribery already, I like your style," Corvus laughing, taking the plant. She turned about and started to walk to one corner of the room and then changed her mind and parked the plant on her desk, "I hope it likes dim lighting," she quipped.
"I wouldn't know. Two green thumbs and I still can't keep a damn houseplant alive longer than three months!"
Corvus pointed to one of the chairs in front of her desk. Rather than sitting behind it, she took the chair opposite, smiling like a kid who'd just been told she was going on vacation. "I'm glad you're here," she confessed, "It's..." she blew out slowly, looking away, "It's a bigger mess than I thought."
"Emphasis on the big, and the mess." Calliope had to agree. "I read the briefs on the Station loss and recovery and the summary of the skeleton crew's debriefings. Between passing off my tasks, packing, and making flight arrangements— and honestly, a long unintended nap where I might have drooled into the station manifest— I haven't had much chance to read more." She really had come running. "Catch me up. Obviously the generators are not tip-top. And they had me beam in from the shuttle because the bays weren't available, and I beamed in using the shuttle transporters." Calliope held out a finger for each strike against the systems that she'd encountered so far. "There's probably no point in asking about defensive shielding and phasers if the generators aren't pumping. Some of the decks on the turbo-lift ride were off limits, I'm guessing reserving life support to key decks was the order of the year here." She was on to counting fingers on the second hand. "Sensor arrays? Communications? Computer Core? Are we deaf dumb and blind?"
"It's. All of that," Corvus answered honestly, running her hands through her hair and then pulling it over her shoulder. "Most of the fusion cores are offline while the Corps of Engineers overhauls them. Commander Zayne can explain it, but basically they were overworked and under maintained. Just keeping them alive," she explained, "That's thirty-five percent power, leaving us enough to give shields fifteen percent. Weapons have a little bit available. Sensors are minimal. Comms are the only thing the Corps left fully powered. Not even the Corps of Engineers is stupid enough to take a working subspace amplifier offline for no reason," she chuckled darkly, giving Calliope a more serious look, "I need Lance, Cali," she said, "I need that big brain of his to get our systems back online. You and I both know there's not three of those Corps Engineers that can stand toe to toe with him. I don't expect it'll be long before some of the locals come calling."
"Well, you're in luck. I just saw him. He's finishing his coffee and paper on the veranda. I'm sure he'll be around to hand in his transfer orders shortly."
"Having a coffee? Maybe we'll have a little chat about urgency too," Corvus raised her eyebrows. "Bah, ignore that," she added immediately with a wave of her hand, "I'm just exhausted. Overwhelmed. Maybe just a little terrified I'm in over my head," she confessed, slumping back in the seat. Corvus took a deep breath, then sat up to focus on the task at hand. "Right. So we start with what we can control, right? What's your thoughts? Engineering we'll leave to Lance. Shuttlecraft, garrison vessels. Probably our next stop," she said, thinking out loud more than conversing with Calliope, "What do you think?"
"Absolutely. With station systems so compromised, our best defenses will be support craft."
"Agreed. I've already put out a notice to all Starfleet vessels in the area that we're compromised and that any support they can provide, even if it's just altering their course a bit to pass by the station, would be helpful," she nodded.
"I'm going to tap into the records on Obsidian Colony and see if there's qualified people right next door who we can temp contract for skilled labor on repair teams. Reach outside of Starfleet. The background checks will be a hassle but that can be farmed to another office." Calliope thought out-loud.
"I have a less popular suggestion, actually," Corvus said, titling her head as if it pained her to say it.
"How unpopular are we talking? Let's have it."
She sighed, started to speak and then stopped. "Look, I can't stand these guys, personally. But... I can see the JFC telling me to explore all angles, no matter what," she explained cryptically. "... there's a Marine outpost not that far from here. The 'mother-ship' so to say of the Marines that they're posting here. It's... possible... they would lend us some support."
Calliope sat back and looked thoughtfully neutral for a moment. "From Falkirk, you mean? No, that makes sense. They have specialists who can be tasked out to the various departments and every son-of-a-gun is combat ready."
"I just loathe having them. I don't understand..." she shook her head and waved her hand to dismiss the thought. She had waxed philosophic to Cali about her opinion on the Marines and how their existence could even occur in a pacifist organization like Starfleet, but now wasn't the time for that. They needed every hand they could get, and if Falkirk had a few to spare, she was willing to bite the bullet and take it. "I'll reach out to the General. It may take them a few days, but I'm sure they'll come," she sighed, "What do we tell him we need? Fighters? Garrison vessels?" she shrugged, "Any Marine that can run a terminal. Should be at least a pair of them," she smirked wickedly.
Calliope snorted in spite of herself. "With the raids in the old RNZ? I've had my bacon pulled out of too many tight spots by squaddies. I'd take whatever they can spare. Beggars and choosers and all that, aside."
"Right," Corvus nodded, shaking off her own distaste. "Right. I'll call the General," she declared with some measure of finality. Her professional facade faded for a moment, nudging her friends knee, "Happy to be in the same place with Lance?" she asked as a smile curled her lip. She of course wished she still had a someone like that to want to have around, but that hadn't been how it worked out for her. Not her fault, of course, but sometimes... when she was tired, or particularly raw, she felt that pain again and the longing that followed it. It helped her to see that not everyone was so unfortunate. Even across half a quadrant, Calliope and Lance had managed to keep their marriage together. Maybe here, together, it would be even more.
Reflexively, Calliope's heart swelled at the topic, her eyes lighting with the joy that she might get to be with Lance more than a long holiday's stretch of time, but her throat checked her with a hard swallow, for so many reasons. For Corvus' sake, first. Calliope had had ringside seats to the shit storm that was the end of Corvus' relationship. It was hard to tell someone who'd lost something that it was going so well for you in that same arena. It was even harder to bring up the niggling little things and sounded like you were complaining about your good-life. "I think... I will be happy." She said carefully.
"I really hope so," Corvus nodded, "Tactical maneuvers on my part not withstanding," she added. "I really hope so."
Calliope looked at her hands, turning her ring and combating something that felt like guilt, but expecting it would pass in time. "Lance doesn't like change. Not fighting this transfer? It might be one of his biggest gestures."
She smiled back, "I'm... sure I told you that my parents were in Starfleet. Science Officers - Stellar Cartography. Explains my name, right," she chuckled, "This one time, my dad got offered this big time position at a space observatory. It was a huge opportunity, but if he took it, he'd have to leave my mom and I behind. I was already a angsty teenager hellbent on Starfleet. Half the time I wasn't even with my parents; off at some prep course or camp or whatever," she continued wistfully, "Mom was still on the Zhukov and not likely to leave anytime soon. So she'd have been all alone, but they agreed. It was worth it, like you guys did. It was a chance to make a difference," she explained, clearing her throat briefly. It had been a hard few weeks with her parents as they wrestled that made even worse by the fact she'd been off world at a Starfleet summer program. "In the end, he turned it down, so he could be with my mom, and me I guess," she chuckled, "He said, 'what's life worth, if I can't share it with who I love'?" she added with a shrug, nudging Calli's knee one more time, "Might not be what he's saying, but I'd bet this station, that's what he's thinking."
"You'd bet *this* station?" Calliope laughed dashing away something damp in the corner of her eye. "In its current state? That and a slip will get you a rakdajino. Oh!" Calliope remembered the Padd she'd had along the whole time. She handed it over to Corvus. "Transfer orders you sent me. Brought them along for your signature."
Corvus took it and leaned over, setting it on her desk. "So what do you think? Make our first official tour as Captain and First Officer?" she asked with a million dollar smile.
"Let's take stock."
Captain DeHavilland grinned and stood up, adjusting the cuff of her uniform and then pointing to the door, "After you, number one."
