PLOT - JDL | Capt Ivanova, Cmdr Waterhouse, Cmdr Dahe'el - "Bye Bye Goodbye"

Posted on Thu Jan 15th, 2015 @ 4:16am by Admiral Rochelle Ivanova & Commander Amelia Waterhouse

1,988 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: A Spot To Kill

The bridge of the massive Discovery Class vessel was lit up like the fourth of July. Lights from the station mingled with those of consoles and atmospheric sorts and bathed the entire place in an almost sterile sort of coruscation. Rochelle knew that all eyes were on them, that the extra exterior lighting from Utopia had been put into play because of the media and thousands of people that had pressed against their window space to watch the behemoth depart. She was heading into the black, out to lawless space after having chugged in so very slowly after a skirmish with the universe's bogeymen. Romulans. Green blooded fiends that ran the stars nearly out of control. Their Praetor held on with short reins and feigned disinterest in the likes of what her pets did and didn't do.

Tr'Bak wasn't a pet, though. Tr'Bak was a rogue — or so they claimed. It was readily evident that the redhead wasn't quite sure she bought that party line.

"Commander Dahe'el, what is our status on getting underway?" She asked, flexing her fingers over the arms of her chair, and casting a small smile towards Amelia. Being back in command, taking to the stars, it was an incredible feeling not unlike that first taste of chocolate after going a long while without.

The bridge, it felt somewhat more natural to the Cardassian now he had been pulling the duty for some time, his console was his own little home away from home and hummed with the natural rhythm of the ship, the MSD dancing as the various systems reported their diagnostics, "We're green across the board, sir." Almar replied as he tapped in a few commands, "Main power is online and ready to take control from starbase umbilical, thrusters and impulse engines report ready, Warp Drive standing by and Slipstream drive should be warmed up by the time we hit Neptune."

Rochelle nodded, pleased by the happy sound of his report. "Thank you, Commander." She replied and stole a quick glance around the bridge. Helm wasn't a seasoned officer, young and fretful looking as the task of moving such a massive ship from a small place in high traffic, was left in the palm of their hand. "Commander..." She called again, "You built this bird, correct?" An eyebrow lifted and she offered Amelia a wink.

Surprised at the additional request from him, Almar looked up from his console again, "Yes, sir, from the ground up." he replied with a slight smile.

"That's what I thought." The Commodore did what she could to hide her grin, knowing that also meant he'd handled the ship in trials. That was always the task of an Engineer -- to handle and feel the ship always at the ready to diagnose whatever issues may come. "Transfer Helm controls to your console. I want you to take us out."

"Yes, sir." the Cardassian replied with a grin spreading across his face, he knew the reason she wanted him taking the ship out and secretly he was just was wary of letting the Helm officer taker her out. He could smell the fear emanating from the young officer, "Transferring Primary Engineering to Secondary, routing Helm and Navigational control to Primary Engineering." he reported as he began the process.

"Dock control has cleared us for departure, Starbase Umbilical detached, moorings cleared," the Bolian crewman announced from the Ops station.

Amelia monitored from her chair as usual, listening in to the conversation and watching the summaries of the readouts on the monitor on her chair. She eyed Rochelle and Almar with curiosity. She was still trying to figure out what was going on since Landon's return... it had complicated matters, but the two seemed just fine. Maybe Rochelle had managed to talk it out?

"Take us out, Commander Dahe'el. Three quarter impulse until we clear the system and then we have a fair bit to go..." Rochelle considered, catching Amelia's eye and hiking that quintessential sanguine brow a fraction of an inch as she spoke, "So let's give the ship her head, open her up and engage Slipstream until we reach the last known coordinates of the wormhole Admiral Archer left in record."

A few taps of the buttons on his console caused the mighty ship to glide gracefully forwards, emerging from the retracting arms of the shipyard, slowly inching forward until the tips of her nacelles emerged from their berth, a smooth and gentle gesture of the Cardassian's rough hands across the control panel caused the ship to bank slightly and angle away from the station, her impulse engines glowing bright red in stark contrast to the dull grey of the hull plating as they fired up.

The Vindicator continued picking up speed until the station was nothing more than a passing memory, an icon on a display as the ship moved ever closer to the edge of the system, traffic was redirected away and around the colossal Discovery Class ship as she slid to the outer edges of the Sol system.

"Recommend we stretch the warp drive, sir," the Engineer in him stated as he pulled up some of the reports and forwarded them to the console build into the command chair, "We can pull slipsteam online while we're at warp, I'd like to put the cores through their paces again, give them a good run in."

Settled deep in her chair, Rochelle watched as information poured in and stars and planets sailed serenely past the viewscreen once again. The extra light from the station had disappeared, slinking away into the cobalt distance behind them and allowing the Commodore's eyes to rest in the natural glow of her playground. The small console at her ready chirped to announce the presence of what the Engineer had slid her way, and she couldn't help but nod as he spoke, a small smile tugging at her lips. He knew his stuff. She hadn't expected any less than tenderness coming from him when it came to the ship. "Make it so, Commander." She gave the order, still all too aware of Amelia's gaze watching and studying every single move she made.

"Shall I let our helmsman take over for this part while I monitor the cores? Or would you rather I continue and have someone else monitor the outputs?" Almar asked as he began setting up the subroutines for monitoring every little detail of the Quantite Fusion Cores, the four miniature warp reactors that pushed the gigantic Vindicator to her limits and then some.

"No, Commander. She's in your hands, please proceed." The Phoenix almost chuckled. She knew all too well that he'd be monitoring every breath the massive ship took, every thrum of her heart as they put her through her paces. Vindicator responded happily, seeming to shiver off the dust that had collected and stepped out with gusto. For what Landon and Olan had once called a 'flying brick', she was responsive and powerful. Rochelle loved her for her ability to let that excitement catch on, for the personality she seemed to ooze with each passing second and in each unique situation she found herself in. Whoever tried to say that machines didn't have feelings was a daft and daffy son of a bitch. Simple as that.

"Very well, increasing speed to Warp eight, graduated from Warp six, cores three, four and one online, core two in hot standby," the commentary came from the Cardassian as the stars began to streak past them much faster on the viewscreen, becoming almost a field of blurs as they passed each warp threshold, Six point five was soon followed by seven and another point five, "Core outputs holding steady at Warp eight," came the report from Almar as the ship began to vibrate with the sheer power being pushed through her frame from the three cores running ad maximum capacity, "All systems are reading green, there's a minor fluctuation in the inertial dampeners, but nothing that isn't being compensated for by the computer," he added with a bright smile, his chiseled hand running across the top of his console, a loving touch as his ship continued to earn his everlasting pride, "Slipstream is available on your command, Commodore."

Amelia grinned wide as she followed the reports coming from the chief engineer. Everything seemed happily ship shape, which meant the time spent on Earth and at Utopia Planitia had been well worth it. She turned to look at Almar, enjoying the pride that painted his face.

With every word and every report showing that the Vindicator was feeling fine and fit as a fiddle, there wasn't any reason to sit idly by and wait. "Engage, Commander." Rochelle nodded and motioned forward with one hand. It was a timeless motion. One that seemed so very pivotal from the outside looking in, but a lost and forgotten nuance seconds after given.

Tapping his comm badge, Almar placed a hand on the authorization panel that came up with the entry command for slipstream travel, "Engineering, engage auxiliary structural integrity field and engage the slipstream drive on my mark."

"Waiting for your mark, Commander." The comm garbled back at the Cardassian. Even without super keen hearing, Rochelle knew what to expect and closed her eyes for the briefest of seconds. The feeling of excitement brewing in the pit of her belly nearly left her breathless. Such was the pride of a commanding officer as they sat and watched and felt the truly omnipotent power of their vessel surging through their own veins. Rochelle was no different and far from exempt of such emotion and sensation.

The ship juddered slightly as the auxiliary structural integrity kicked in, reinforcing the spaceframe and hull of the huge ship, preparing it for the transition into slipstream, "Mark," Almar ordered as his hands flew across the console below, calculating trajectory and estimated time til they needed to drop out of the slipstream, on the viewscreen the display became a brilliant blue and white cacophony of light as the Vindicator entered the slipstream.

A blink, measured in time as a split second, was all it took before the massive ship hurtled herself forward with nothing more than a small, carefree, buck that left Rochelle with a chuckle. She patted the arm of her chair and smoothed her hand along the butter soft leather as if to reward the beast of a vessel and there was no denying that the woman had given it anthropomorphic qualities that likely better suited an old, stalwart, high keyed war horse. The blue swirl of light was relatively new to her, having only experienced it once before with the ship, and she sat transfixed for several moments before the spell was seemingly broken and she found her feet. "Come on, Commander. We have work to do." The little redhead grinned and motioned for Amelia to follow her as she head towards the ready room, "Commander Dahe'el, you have the con."

Amelia's eyes lingered on the viewscreen as she silently followed Rochelle. Even if she'd seen slipstream in action dozens of times on intel ships, she still found the view beautiful. It was nice to see it from the bridge though, as field agents didn't usually visit the bridge when running between assignments. She had to consciously pull her eyes away from the screen as she reached the ready room.

"Computer, return Helm and Engineering controls to their default," the Cardassian mentioned in reply as he stood from his console and stepped down the bridge to the command chair, giving the two redheaded women a nod of respect as they passed, he sunk into the seat and the obsidian eyes regarded the beauty of the Slipstream as they fired toward their target.

---

Commodore Rochelle Ivanova
Commanding Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

&

Commander Amelia Waterhouse
Executive Officer
USS VINDICATOR NCC 78213-E

&

Commander Almar Dahe'el
Chief Engineering Officer
USS VINDICATOR, NCC 78213-E

 

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