Breckinridge: U Haul We haul Pt 4
Posted on 03 Jan 2023 @ 2:25pm by Master Chief Petty Officer Callan McNeil CallSign: FishSmoke & Lieutenant Commander Esazi Zh'Athrun & Chief Warrant Officer Braedyn Tann
Edited on on 15 Jun 2023 @ 6:11pm
Mission:
Ongoing Mission - Planet Obsidian
Location: Planet Obsidian
Timeline: M3 D06 1220Hrs
3680 words - 7.4 OF Standard Post Measure
After handing over the young Romulan girl to one of the colonists McNeil made his way back out through the tunnel to the spaceport and his waiting ship.
Stepping out on the open pad the full heat of the sun beat down on him as he crossed to the Arrow. By the time he reached the hatch he was soaked in sweat, thankfully Stevens was waiting at the door with a bottle of cold water. He gulped it down. "Damn this midday heat is intense here!"
Walking forward he called out. "Ok, let's get back to Oh-Cee, they are ready to take the colonists. Get us in the air Jingles"
Two minutes later they were air borne and lifting into orbit.
Returning to their Hanger they found a scene of chaos. There was a large crowd of refugees clustered around the waiting Arrows, but nobody was boarded and there appeared to be an argument going on between the crews and the refugees.
Jumping down from the hatch McNeil pushed his way through the crowd to the center of the group Chief Toni TadpoleReynolds, Breckinridge's second pilot, was trying to calm down several excited refugees.
"- hear what you're saying but we don't have any orders to move livestock!" She said, rolling her eyes to McNeil when he arrived
"But we brought our flocks and animals!" A refugee shouted back "We will not leave without them!"
There were loud shouts of support and people began sitting down on the hanger floor in protest.
"What is going on Tad?" McNeil asked over the commotion
"They claim they have a whole bunch of animals Fish!" She explained "But we only have transport manifests for them and their luggage"
"Animals?"
"Yes! We have our sheep, goats, pigs, cows, fowl and donkeys!" A refugee interrupted
"Where are they? You didn't have any animals up on the Enviromental level this morning" McNeil countered, he would have seen them when he went up there earlier.
"No, no, no! They were unloaded into a cargo bay when we got here!" The refugee insisted. "They are Romulan rare and heritage breeds! We will not leave without them!"
McNeil held up his hands placatingly" Okay okay! Just let me go check alright? We were not told anything about animals, just people"
"We are not going!" The refugee put his hands on his hips "Without our animals!"
"Look just relax. I'll go and find out where they are. And we will make arrangements for them to be transported, okay?" McNeil replied "But you've got to calm people down and we need to start boarding, otherwise we're not going to get everyone down today"
"Not without our - !"
"I got that!" McNeil stopped him "Work with me here alright? Do you know which Cargo Bay they were in?"
"I don't know, they didn't tell us! The Vetanary Doctor said they were going to quarantine!"
"The Vets have them?" McNeil grasped at that detail "That gives me a place to start. Here's the deal, you get these people to calm down and I'll find your animals, alright?"
"You promise?"
"Sure, just let's be reasonable here, we're not having a sit-in in our hanger, it's dangerous and unsafe"
“Very well!” The refugee raised his hands and began shouting in Romulan, eventually people began calming down and getting on to their feet
“That’s better, thank you” McNeil said once it was quiet Raising his voice so they could all hear him, he continued. “We were not informed about your livestock. But I will find out where they are and we will make arrangements to get them down to you.” He looked around trying to make eye contact with as many as he could.
“For now, we need to get people loaded and start the first runs, so my crews have lists and we will be calling out your names. Please, go to the Runabouts when you are called. We are going to be making eight trips, so we will have the situation with your animals resolved before everyone leaves. Help us out here people”
There were some glances back and forth between the refugees and then Reynolds began calling names from a PaDD ”Alright, you heard the Master Chief. I need the Jenthar Family over here! : She pointed to one of the Arrows
"This ship, Breckinridge Three C’mon folks Jenthar family this way please! There should be six of you”
She started walking over to her Runabout. A family group moved forward and began following her. ‘There you go. Okay..."
She counted them off “Three, four, five and Grandma, let’s go on and board the ship. We’ll help Grandma with the steps” She waved the family aboard
McNeil caught Reynold’s eye and mouthed Thank you Tadpole!”
She winked back “Next, we need the Manida family, three of you? Manida family, this way!"
Soon other pilots and crews began calling forward their passengers and steadily they loaded people aboard for the first departures.
McNeil went back to his Runabout, Bell was at the hatch. “Livestock? Really? How did those Transport pukes know, but nobody told us?” Referencing the jokes at the morning shift briefing
“I have no idea, but we need to find out where they are” McNeil replied “Start getting our first lot boarded and I’ll go find out”
He made his way out to the Hanger control room and got on to the internal communication system. He found the station’s Veterinary department was a subdivision of Medical and a few moments later had made contact and explained the problem.
“Oh yes, we have them housed in Cargo Bays One Two Two – Six and One Two Two – Seven” the Veterinary technician informed him. “Several different species of Romulan domesticated animals, many are heritage breeds. They have all cleared quarantine and can be transported down to Obsidian”
“er.. just how many animals are we talking about here?” McNeil asked
The technician consulted her terminal and read off a list. “Let me see… thirty-two sheep; twenty-seven goats; four bovines; thirty-five chickens; six boars and seven miniature donkeys. The bovines, chickens and boars all have shipping containers. The sheep and goats travel as flocks and the donkeys individually”
“Can’t we just beam them down to the settlement?” McNeal asked hopefully
“Oh, no the sunspot activity is too high, let me check” She consulted another terminal. “It will be at least four days until the radiation levels would be low enough to safely transport the animals”
“Great” McNeil muttered “So how do we move them?”
“Well, they came in the cargo holds of the ship which brought the refugees here. They would be fine like that, or you could load them into the cargo bays of the orbital transport shuttles. That would be acceptable for a short trip”
McNeil thanked the technician and switched channels over to the Tower Control
McNeil did not recognize the female person who replied, Who’s the new gal? he wondered, not hearing Lex’s usual mellow tone.
“So, that’s thirty-two sheep; twenty-seven goats; four bovines; thirty-five chickens; six boars and seven miniature donkeys, we need transported down to the Itonian Settlement, planetside” He explained “They can all travel in one of Two-Fifty-Six’s orbital transport ships, but we’ll need a pilot”
Esazi sighed. Nothing was ever simple. "Standby," she said. "I have just the person for the job." She asked one of her petty officers to locate the person she was looking for. Braedyn was going to love this. Well, no he wouldn't, but he'd do it with a minimal amount of bitching and whining, if any.
"Um... you want me to do what now?" Braedyn replied when Esazi had explained what she needed him to do.
"You heard me correctly, Mister Tann," Esazi said. "I want you to pilot an orbital transport carrying thirty-two sheep; twenty-seven goats; four bovines; thirty-five chickens; six boars and seven miniature donkeys to the Itonian settlement." Esazi willed herself to keep from cracking up until after Tann had left.
"Riiight," Braedyn said. "Sure. Why not? I'll be sure to wear my farmer's overalls and rubber boots. Get the Farm animals to the hangar and we'll fly them where they need to go. " Tann tapped his commbadge. "S'Resh, Tann," he said.
"Tann, S'Resh," came the FC2's reply. FC2 S'Resh had been one of Tann's students and his co-pilot on the trip to Obsidian Command. "What's up, Boss?"
"I need a co-pilot for an orbital transport," Braedyn said. "Meet me where the 256th keeps its birds. And S'Resh," Tann grinned an evil grin. "I hope you like the smell of manure."
"Copy tha--" S'Resh started to say. "Wait, what?!?"
Braedyn had S'Resh do the pre-flight while he found McNeil. "Master Chief?" he said when he found the NCO. "Chief Warrant Officer Braedyn Tann, Captain of what I have temporarily named the 'USS Old MacDonald'. We'll be ready to go no later than the time the livestock is all loaded up. I promise not to have a cow or tell anyone to go lay an egg while we're waiting."
McNeil nodded and introduced himself, "Yes sir, McNeil, Callsign FishSmoke. I'm Flight Leader for Breckenridge Search and Rescue.
Due to the crew shortage, we were retasked to general transport this morning. This came out of nowhere, we just received orders to transport PAX down to the El Aurian settlement, nobody told us the refugees had a menagerie! Thanks for helping out"
Braedyn chuckled. "Not a problem, Master Chief," he said. "This isn't the first time I've transported livestock and it probably won't be the last. My co-pilot is Caitian, though, a young PO2 pilot. His nose is more sensitive that yours and mine. I intend to take perverse pleasure in teasing him about the smell the whole ride down and back. RHIP, even for Chief Warrant Officers."
McNeil chuckled. "So, not sure if you've had chance to go down planet-side yet, Sir?
There are a couple of atmospheric conditions to be aware of. The ionic radiation is bad, it can be localized or widespread. Currently there is a high-density disturbance over the Taragi-Shar mountains, been there for a few days. Our destination, Itonian Bajada is in the southern foothill so best to take a vector east of the range to stay clear of the disturbance.
Also, there are always a lot of thermal wind shears just below the mesosphere down to the tropopause and those extend all the way down to the atmospheric boundary layer. They get worse during the afternoon, when the heat is highest, which is when we'll be there.
Get some fluctuating jet streams, mostly running North-South, those can get pretty strong too. And, of course, sandstorms can blow up at any time, but so far, the operational area looks clear for the next six hours.
It's pretty hot down on the pad there, probably best to taxi right over to the east side, near the cliff. There's a tunnel runs through the rock to the settlement, that way the animals won't be out in the sun for too long.
We'll make sure there are some of the refugees to help unload once we're all down.
Animals are currently in Cargo Bays One Two Two – Six and One Two Two – Seven. I guess you could get Ops to transport them into your hold once you'er ready?"
Braedyn nodded and tapped his commbadge. "Tower Control, Tann," he said. "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!"
A snort came over the comms. "Really?" Esazi said. "Earthling fairytales? What do you want now, Mister Tann?"
"If I ask really nicely and promise to refer to you as 'Oh Wise and Wonderful Queen of the Tower', would you be willing to have those farm animals beamed into the hold of our orbital transport?"
"What you call me in the privacy of your own mind is your business, Mister Tann," Esazi said. "But if that phrase ever makes out of your brain into the world again, it's hrisalni at dawn. I'll have them beamed aboard when S'Resh notifies the tower that pre-flight is complete. Esazi out."
Braedyn grinned. "Well," he said. "I'd better not say that out loud again. The hrisal is really not my jam and she's supposed to be damned good with one."
"Hrisal? That some kind of Andorian sword?" McNeil grinned "You need a nice heavy Claymoor" His Scottish heritage showing through. "Right, we'll see you on the ground, sir"
"See you on the ground, Master Chief," Braedyn replied
McNeil returned to Hanger Three. The first flights had departed and the remaining refugees were now calmer and waiting patiently. He clambered abord the Arrow and shut the hatch. The passenger cabin was packed with people, Stevens and Lonj were making sure they were all strapped in and McNeil passed then enroute to the cockpit.
As he strapped into his own seat Bell started the engines and completed the checklist. Three minutes later they were airborne and leaving the hanger bay.
"Who got stuck with Animal Farm?" She asked once they were on course and descending into the atmosphere.
"New guy, a Chief Warrant Officer no less!" he replied "I'm sure he's gonna be popular with the maintenance guys who get to shovel out his cargo bays when he gets back"
Bell snorted
"His first trip planet side too, gave him the dope on weather and radiation"
"Huh, he runs into one of those ionic depressions over the Taragi it won't just be the cargo bay needs hosing out" she came back.
"Don't gloat, I recall we've had our own fun with that stuff" A few months ago, on their second trip down to Obsidian, the Arrow had been tossed around by thermal turbulence coming off the Sea of Glass, they'd been pushed off course into a radiation eddy. That had knocked out their flight control sensors and it had taken all their skill to keep the craft airborne until the system could reset.
"Don't remind me!" The crew had spent several hours in sick bay getting radiation treatment after the exposure had left them all nauseous and sick.
"I promised the Cee-DubU-Oh we'd have some refugees ready to help unload their livestock, so when we get down, we'll taxi over to the tunnel and keep our PAX aboard until he arrives"
"Copy that Fish"
"Ready?" Braedyn said to his Co-Pilot, FC2 S'Resh. S'Resh nodded.
"Good to go, Mister Tann," he said. "Sooner we're out of this manure transport, the better."
Braedyn chuckled. "Attention Tower Control," he said into comms. "Orbital Transport Old MacDonald ready for take off. Requesting clearance."
"Old MacDonald, Tower Control," Esazi replied. "You are cleared to disembark. Safe travels. If you lose your bearings, just remember: your destination is somewhere on the big round thing out there."
Braedyn laughed. "Old MacDonald copies clearance to disembark, safe travels, and terrible directions. Eee ai eee ai oh and out." Braedyn turned to S'Resh. "You have the helm. Take us out nice and slow, just like I taught you."
"Copy that, sir," S'Resh replied. He gently lifted the transport off of the deck and started to maneuver it towards the hangar doors.
"Tower," Braedyn said into comms. "Old MacDonald is light on the skids."
S'Resh guided the big ugly transport towards the hangar doors and gently through them. Maintaining a steady course and moderate speed until he cleared the doors and got clear of the station's orbit.
"Free and clear to maneuver, sir," S'Resh said. "Did you want to fly it down."
"Not at the moment," Braedyn said. "Approach the planet and begin our descent. If one or the both of us thinks you're in trouble or just need a bit of help, I'll jump in. To maintain a relaxed feeling, go ahead and think of all of those poor, innocent, defenseless animals you're going to brutally murder if you bend this bird."
S'Resh winced. "Thanks a lot, Boss," he said. A short while later, the Old MacDonald approached the planet and S'Resh took her down. The turbulence became more intense as they got closer.
"Increasing power to structural integrity field," Braedyn said. "You're doing great. Steady as you can."
"Copy that," S'Resh said.
S'Resh kept the controls for most of the trip, which surprised him, but not Braedyn, who knew that the young Caitian was an excellent pilot. But when things got really rough, Braedyn took over as pilot-in-command and S'Resh switched to co-pilot. The latter, Braedyn insisted on. Braedyn was a superb pilot. It was likely that there was very little that would shake him. But part of his success as a pilot was knowing when to show off and when to take things seriously. There was a lot going on for this trip down to the planet, a lot of moving parts. Two sets of hands would be safer than one. But that wasn't the only reason. Braedyn made it his mission to encourage, rather than discourage younger, less experienced pilots, both because he felt he had a responsibility to do so and because sometimes they taught him new things. Technology was always changing, if not always improving. He couldn't afford to get lazy about staying current.
Finally, the landing field came into view. Braedyn looked at S'Resh and indicated that he should take over for the landing. Giving the controls to the Caitian, Braedyn got on comms.
"Tower, Old Macdonald, 44782 Heavy," he said. "Coming in with a full load of livestock that we'd like to keep in one piece and with the same number of broken bones they started this trip with. Request a nice and easy landing path."
"Old MacDonald, Tower, 44782 Heavy," Tower replied. "Standby for landing directions."
A moment later, their landing instructions popped up in the system. Braedyn looked at S'Resh and raised an eyebrow. S'Resh nodded, indicating he'd keep flying this part as pilot-in-command. Braedyn nodded his approval.
"Tower, Old MacDonald, 44782 Heavy," Braedyn said. "Landing instructions received. Beginning our landing run now. Please advise Master Chief MacNeil that we'll see him on the tarmac."
"Old MacDonald, 44782 Heavy," Tower replied. "Will do."
Gaining clearance from the settlement tower they landed and rolled out across the pan, a long strip of hard packed sand and mud. There were two buildings, a couple of small cargo craft were parked near the solitary hanger building at the far end.
McNeil taxied off to the side, bringing the Arrow as close to the tall natural rock wall that hid the settlement as he could, coming to stop some fifty meters from the entrance tunnel.
"Shut her down Jingles" he clambered out of his seat. "I'll go show our PAX the way"
Coming back into the cabin he found Stevens and Lonj helping the refugees getting ready to disembark. There was a a buzz of excitement as they looked out of the windows at their new home.
"Ok folks" McNeil announced "We are going to open the hatch and take you over to the entrance to the colony. Your livestock is on the ship right behind us, so we are going to need some people to help unload and get them over as well"
Several people stood up or raised their hands and as they began to unload a group of them gathered under the shade of the wing while the rest of the families made their way across the pan to the tunnel entrance.
A few moments later the orbital shuttle came into view.
Not long after, S'Resh set the Old MacDonald gently on the tarmac. Braedyn left S'Resh to do the rest of the landing scut work and exited the shuttle. He waved at MacNeil and walked over to him.
"Howdy, Master Chief," he said. "Here's your livestock, safe and sound. Do me a favor, will you? Tell S'Resh how impressed you are. I let him do most of the flying, until it got really, really hairy. And even then, I didn't take the stick alone. I had him actively co-piloting."
McNeil nodded, when the Caitian Petty Officer joined then he asked "How was that? Atmosphere here can be a little tricky, if that was your first trip to Obsidian, looks like you handled that trip like a pro"
S'Resh grinned. "Thanks, Master Chief," he said. "I learned from the best."
"Alright let's see about getting the farmyard critters unloaded" McNeil called over to the group of refugees. "C'mon over folks Petty Officer S'Resh here is going to get his shuttle hatches open, so you can unload your animals"
He noticed several looked a little warily at the Caitian, Romulans probably did not encounter too many in the Empire. "And don't worry he didn't eat any!" he added with a grin.
S'Resh chuckled. "It's a pleasure to meet you folks," he said. "Come right this way."
S'Resh went over to the Old MacDonald and opened the hatches. He turned to the lead Romulan. "There you go."
The man gave the Caitain a cautious nod, not sure if the pilots had been joking about him eating their animals or not "Thank you"
He waved the others forward. they board the shuttle, began opening the pens and herding up the various different breeds.
Braedyn watched and nodded with approval. S'Resh was going to make a great senior NCO or warrant officer some day. He might even be able to earn a commission.
Some twenty minutes later the livestock had all been unloaded and led off down the tunnel into the colony.
"Thanks for the help Sir" McNeil nodded to Tann. "We'll see you back on Oh-Cee"
