From above so small those below

Posted on 24 May 2021 @ 11:32pm by Lieutenant Commander Roman Kavalar

Mission: M2 - Sanctuary
Location: Environmental Ring - Upper balcony
Timeline: MD04 - 0634HRS
970 words - 1.9 OF Standard Post Measure

From high above he stood there and just watched intently, there was little movement on his part. An occasional sip from his mug, the cool air turning the wispy vapours of his tea to flow past the sides of his face until he lowered the mug again. Snatches of conversation floated up as well but his interest was just observing. Standing on a balcony high up over the environmental ring afforded him a view of the greenery and people below.

In the weeks that followed the battle, there had been long flight hours on patrol, making do with what parts that had been available to keep the fighters and auxiliary craft of the starbase up and running and of course there was the repairs to the station itself. They had been short handed on all fronts but over time their numbers had swelled in the small corner that was the aerospace world. More pilots and fighters was a great relief, more personnel to fill out the supporting roles improved things as well. Still they were still short handed but it was getting better.

The people looked so small from where he stood as they moved about, internal lighting shining down simulated a new day had arrived as it increased in luminosity, the intention he assumed was to give the denizen of the station the familiarity of night and day as if they were planetside. The sound of barking was heard for a few moments and the pilot attention zeroed in on what he assumed was a dog and its owner, the owner teasing the dog with a ball for it to chase after when he threw it and dog in its impatience to play this game was making its feelings heard that they get on with the game.

It was somewhat of a surprise that the parklands were less affected than other parts of the station after the battle but then again he reasoned there was little tactical value here so were afforded a level of grace. Still if he recalled rightly there had been a number of vegetation brought in and there was also an element of artificial turf to fill the gaps since the station had gone from returning from the lost void to the place that needed a LOT of TLC.

More people were arriving, some walked or ran, some exercised and others just sat, still he watched on, his mind at peace no single thought held for too long. He knew it would be time to leave soon, to leave his perch. One more sip from his mug, the tea cooling, the cool breeze on his cheeks a reminder it was a little brisk.

The chirp of his combadge breaks the moment, his gaze reluctantly turns away from the scene below, his eyes returned to their hooded expression, duty calls as he leaves the balcony into the small sparsely furnished office and places the mug into the replicator alcove so its atoms can be recycled. The chirp was an alarm, hes been up since 4:00am, there were no other alerts, no business to attend to that couldn't wait. A routine was forming, that seems to be the developing norm around here. They were still short staffed and under resourced across the board but its getting better and this place, its like an attracting light in the cosmic dark and people are coming.

On the move as he strode purposefully down the corridor and heading for the nearest turbolift, its possible to site to site transport but only for priority situations which this was not. Still the speed of the turbolifts are fast as he arrives at his destination and hes out the door.

Down the corridor a short way through an access point to one of the flight deck control rooms, each flight deck has one to over see local flight operations. Hes back in his world again, the muted conversations of the operators, lighting is dimmed and there are data filled screens constantly updating. Just beyond are view ports looking out to the flight deck. On this occasion a fighter is rising from a deck opening on a hangar lift and is soon taxing its way off ready to move into launch position. On this occasion its a slow launch straight off the deck, nearby are the launch tubes for the fighters, used in times of combat operation where launch times are a priority.

Coming to a stop behind one of the operators who glances up at his presence, Roman glimpses at the aerospace ops. deployments on the operator's screen. A slight nod on his part to indicate he was satisfied with what he saw, the situation was normal. The additional squadrons meant they had more fighters out there in larger numbers on assigned patrols and still enough back in reserve to respond if needed.

"Boss ?", the voice he recognized straight away with its laid back manner and southern drawl as he turned around to be greeted by his chief engineer SCPO. Rhys Cooder. In his hand was a padd raised for the Aerospace leads attention.

"Hmmm", was all he said as he scrolled down the contents of the padd. "Is this the state of the auxiliary crafts aboard station ?", of course it was, Cooder while shabby in appearance was a diamond in the rough and had proven himself countless times before to him as he looked back up at the other man.

Cooder shrugged in response, "As expected we're short on numbers but the bulk of them are operational and need lots of work done on them but we'll get them functional first before we make them pretty, assuming we have enough replacement parts", finishing with a smirk.

Roman handed back the padd to the engineer, "Yes if we have enough parts..", he echoed.