Lightyear Strikes
Posted on 02 Oct 2020 @ 4:25pm by Captain Corvus DeHavilland & Major Declan Finn & Commander Calliope Zahn
Edited on on 05 Nov 2020 @ 10:24pm
Mission:
M1 - Emergence
Location: Alpha Spacedock Port Seven
Timeline: MD04 - 1621HRS
1918 words - 3.8 OF Standard Post Measure
"Why do I feel like we're never going to see this whole station?" Corvus asked as they walked along the corridor towards the docking exit. To the left, the floor to ceiling viewports showed the dark interior of the docking ring, the view partially obscured by the tail end of the Vesta-class vessel docked at bay number seven. She looked over at Calliope, walking with her, shaking her head. "I won't lie though, I am looking forward to the enviro ring being functional. Between the desert down there and the cage in here, I'm going to need some green," she smirked.
The arrival of the Exeter was a windfall that they needed more than anything right now. Good news was something in short supply. With the power shortages, and the lack of the simplest creature comforts to ease the way were going to wear on everyone the longer it went on. The simple fact was that they were so overwhelmed with the rest of what needed to be done to be worried about that. Corvus was hopeful that the influx of Marines to supplement them would be a huge boost to morale.
"Looking forward to it myself. Especially the courts. I'll have to get a new tennis racket. My lucky one was lost a couple transfers back." Calliope traced the length of the Slipstream ship as they walked. COs on these birds were handpicked. The fleet footed. She'd yet to meet any of their commanders yet, but it made her curious what kind of people the Fleet found suitable for the role and if there were a kind of rhyme or pattern between them. She knew only that she, Calliope, was not the kind of officer that would ever be counted among them, though Corvus should have been. They must have been gifted in some combination of science, tactics, diplomacy, leadership... By their very nature of being first on the scene, they had to present both the best face of the UFP and it's fiercest. Out of the corner of her eye, Calliope looked at Corvus and wondered at all of the ribbing they'd shared lately about Corvus making Station Commander. Commander of a station so big that she was probably right— they were unlikely to ever see it all themselves. It was no less than the key position of the 9th fleet— they just had to play it down between one another because of how outrageous it felt other wise.
Calliope doubted Xoldon had ever had to manage imposter syndrome though. Not by the way he comported himself.
Up ahead through the viewport they could see the docking arm connecting to the starboard side of the vessel and as they approached they could see as much as hear a huge commotion as the ship's occupants were disembarking. But it wasn't the generally controlled chaos that Corvus expected of a Starfleet vessel coming to port - it was far more coordinated. As they reached the docking corridor they saw why.
The corridor itself was the better part of a hundred yards long and about half that wide and connected with the starboard side of the ship where the bulkheads had been opened to let the occupants out. Traditionally, the docking berth was made near the bow of the ship, and if you looked on through the viewports you could see another docking arm ahead and above. One much narrower and longer. This docking arm, the one designated as the main dismbarkation point, was connected to the aft section of the vessel almost directly into the shuttlebay. Generally used for supplies and heavy equipment, the bulkheads opened wide to let that large equipment through.
The entirety of the corridor was filled with Marines, but not a gaggle of green-shirted individuals trying to disembark, but perfect formations of them formed along the bulkheads with a path between them that led up and down the corridor. They were streaming out of the shuttlebay of the Exeter and forming up into the various units without a word to anyone else, and then waiting at parade rest with the rest of their fellows as they all made their way out.
"Seriously?" Corvus whispered to herself, certain Calliope heard her.
It was easy to see them as a mass of calibrated movement; it took just a little more focus to pick them out as individuals. The variety of people types among their ranks was the only thing that broke up the otherwise homogeneous ranks they formed. Different, but united in common cause. Calliope felt a swell in her chest. "Very Seriously."
What stuck out to her the most was that they weren't in the standard Starfleet duty uniform, or one of the variants like the vest jacket she was wearing with her red shirt. They were in tactical vests, bloused boots and almost every one of them had a sidearm on their leg, and not the everyday Starfleet phaser. These were the Marine combat variety. They might have been here to help but she she sure wasn't happy about that. The last thing she needed was a bunch of jack booting, rootin' tootin' Marines on her Starbase. They had enough to deal with.
"Right. Let's do this," Corvus said, setting her jaw.
They walked into the corridor, trying to look like they belonged there. Even though this was her command she couldn't help but feel like they'd stepped into the twilight zone of sorts where she wasn't the ranking officer and they didn't belong here. They'd not gone very far when a brown-haired man stepped into their pathway, effectively blocking their way.
“G’Day. You must be Captain DeHavilland," he declared, his voice low with a hint of an Australian accent, "I'm Captain Finn," he said, offering his hand to her. "The Major General assigned me as the officer in charge of this detail," he explained.
Corvus shook his hand, not expecting to find a person in charge of all the Marines outside of her, nor that he would be handsome. She chided herself immediately for such a schoolgirl reaction and shook his hand professionally, "Corvus DeHavilland," she greeted him, gesturing to Calliope, "My First Officer, Commander Zahn."
"Nice to meet you too," he shook Zahn's hand as well, now gesturing to the Marines and the Exeter. "We're almost all disembarked. We'll make sure everyone's accounted for and then we're all yours, Captain. What are your orders?" he asked.
She'd expected resistance, typical Marine swagger and a general arrogance to anything Starfleet. She hadn't counted on simple subservience right out the gate. It took her so much by surprise she didn't have an immediate answer for the Marine and instead looked to Calliope, half stunned and half expecting her to save her bacon. Had she completely built up the Marines in her mind and wasn't aware of the realities, was Captain Finn just a different sort of Marine or had the Major General said something that made this all possible. That all seemed to ramble around in her head in the few seconds she was standing there and Finn was expecting a response.
"Captain Finn..." From the quick side glance, Calliope read Corvus' call for help. "We've got a list of assignments to man damage control and maintenance teams in support of Ops and Engineering, to fill out security's rotations, bring medical up to capacity, and to assist with reopening the shuttle bays. Not to mention an enormous amount of grunt work on clean-up and janitorial duties. I understand you have EVA gear? The majority of the station's decks have no life support and need maintenance work on their power grids in order to be brought back online." Calliope handed him a slim padd with the team assignments she'd been working at. "These are the officer leads on each task group."
Finn took it with a nod, activating it and take a brief glance at it. “I’ll make sure everyone squares away their EVA kit,” he said finally with a sideways smile, “Is Major Mazur aware her old company is here?” He asked, gesturing to the unit formed toward the end nearest the ship. They were the only group that was a bit more Starfleet standard - a mishmash of greens and science blues mixed in. “5th Medical Company,” he added by way of clarification.
“I haven’t spoken to the Doctor today, so no,” Corvus shook her head in answer, “Should I be concerned?”
“Nah,” Finn replied dismissively, “She’ll be tickled, I’m sure.”
“I’m not sure it’s possible for her to be tickled, Mr. Finn,” DeHavilland replied with a shake of her head. If anything, she wondered if the Doctor possessed a soul at all. But then she was biased to Marines - especially those that got on her bad side immediately upon arriving. Calliope hadn’t said otherwise, but she got the impression that she wasn’t the biggest fan either.
"Just sadistically amused," Calliope said, hoping it would pass off as dry, overstated humor despite her perfect seriousness. "Probably the most brutal marine I've met yet, pound for pound, in any case." She certainly had Calliope's number.
Finn just smirked back, "We have a few housekeeping things to take care of and then I'll deploy the details accordingly," he said, wagging the PaDD in his hands. "It'll take us a little while to get all eight-hundred of us out of here, but is there somewhere I can set up shop after that? Are the Marine decks anywhere near habitable?"
Corvus gave a shake of her head, "No. The Marine decks were sealed off when the station went into the void and they haven't been accesssed since. As we didn't have any Marines assigned yet, bringing those decks online hasn't been a priority," she explained, glancing over at Calliope, "In all honesty, it still isn't. There are plenty of units in the habitat rings that are habitable and unoccupied. Just have your Marines pack up any personal belongings that they might find."
"If it's all the same to you, Captain, if the Marine decks aren't habitable we'll kip out in the Cargo Bay," Finn countered. To his mind, if they couldn't be functionally together in the pre-designed decks meant for Marines, then they'd just treat it like field exercises until then. If it things were as bad as she was making it out to be, then it would be to all their benefit if they setup in the Cargo Bay like this was just another field exercise. He'd made sure they had the kid for it.
"Ready out of the box. That's probably best for everyone then," said Calliope. "We can get to functional even faster if we're not splitting man hours on accommodation efforts."
“Right,” Finn declared with finality, “Best I get to it then. Captain, Commander,” he said with a polite nod to them both before turning sharply about and heading for the nearest formation to give orders.
Corvus watched him go, both flabbergasted at how easy that had been. She was staring blankly after him, her mind working through fifty other angles until Calliope nudged her, bringing her back to her senses.
"Flight Control to DeHavilland." Calliope spoke low, "Where are you at, Captain?”
Corvus blushed immediately and turned to Calliope, gesturing to leave. She cleared her throat and tried to act nonchalant, but as her First Officer looked at her she blushed even more. “What?”
