Highway to the Danger Zone
Posted on Tue Jan 9th, 2018 @ 8:53am by Captain Mrazak & Lieutenant Colonel Storr Garlake & Lieutenant Commander Kiril Nevin & Gunnery Sergeant Roderik Kos & Ferrofax & Lieutenant Reno “Reno-gade” Van Straten
1,873 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
S1E1: Bynars Be Bygones
Location: uss Phantom
Timeline: MD 1; 22:00
"It's... beautiful."
Mrazak stood at the threshold of the Phantom's bridge. It wasn't the command chair that held his rapt attention, but the flickering consoles surrounding it.
"Nothing can stop us now. Nothing will hold us back."
He stood in awe, letting the moment soak in while others came and went with flight checklists and other assorted duties. The late hour did not bother him, nor did he note whether any others took umbrage. Nothing would spoil this moment.
"Currently four tungsten and duranium locking bolts are holding the Phantom in place to the docking pylon! Unless safety governors are disengaged there is a great deal of inertia that will, indeed, be holding us back!"
The voice was a combination of eager, preppy, syrupy sweetness and puppy dog intensity that its piping call nearly broke a window. With a click of disconnecting power adapters, a floating pyramid of glossy black metal the size of a softball gently flew towards Mrazak.
"Greetings! I am Janus, field logistics and ECM's for Memory Theta artefact retrieval teams! I am here to assist you!" the cheery, bubbly feminine voice said, the upward pointing face nearest her audience glowing green with every statement. Then the whole device flipped over, its tip pointing down as a red glow flickered to life.
"But only 'cause Ferrofax told me he'd put me through matter reclamation again if I didn't," was a much more sullen, grumbling of speaking suggesting Janus was two seconds from storming to her room and jacking the music up to full volume.
Mrazak snapped back to reality. "Ah, very good, Janus. Please say hello to the governors' subroutines to ensure their imminent compliance."
"Affirmative! I will endeavour to do as you ask!" Janus said, before adding in a darker tone. "It's not like I have other things to do."
The disembodied hologram was dismissed from his mind almost as soon as it left his sight. His rapturous attention was once more taken in by the glorious consoles. His field team specialists were familiarizing themselves.
The station commandant sat at an auxiliary station in a chair he swore was only large enough for Balok, his normal duty position on Memory Theta itself. Normal. That word took on a whole new meaning in light of the freaky carnival that this assignment was turning out to be. Why couldn't his first assignment as a married man be more...well, normal? His mind wandered over the events of yesterday (had it only been 24 hours?!) and as the generic information flowed across the LCARS display at a middling pace, Storr's eyes began to droop. Suddenly, a lively, disembodied voice warbled over his shoulder.
"Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone!" Garlake started, mumbled a quick curse and looked around, only seeing a black tumbling pyramid flitting away leaving what he swore was a snigger in its wake. The Lieutenant Colonel shook his head and thrummed his fingers on the console, his other hand unconsciously running over the leather holster at his hip. This was going to be a trip for the books and it hadn't even started yet.
Stepping past the Commander, Rodi walked to the Security/Tactical station. His fingers stroked the glass console for a moment. The LCARS sprung to life, identifying him through biometric information. The various weapon systems glowed offline, shield generators ready and standing by. He sat himself in the chair and started rearranging his workspace.
Van Straten looked over from the helm, where he was making final adjustments to a flight plan for the best route to the Beta Magellan system. This was his first voyage there and it looked to be challenging, with a nasty little Black Hole to dance around.
An alert chimed from Mrazak's personal PADD. It was the special tone. Clearing his throat, Mrazak opened the alert and read it. His eyes widened above a slow, creeping smirk. Mrazak left the bridge and everyone on it to their duties. He had business in the infirmary.
Though the Phantom was a mere four decks, it boasted amenities and facilities beyond most Defiant class vessels. Within the ship's cramped quarters, the skeleton crew had access to forensic labs that covered every field from computer programming to astrometrics. Lieutenant Kiril would undoubtedly prefer the biomedical station in the forensic lab section of Deck 3, but as the ranking Medical officer on board, his first stop would be the infirmary.
"How is she?" Mrazak stepped lively to join the other man near the middle of the room.
Nevin had his hands on his hips, looking around the room. "She looks brand new," he said.
"There is nothing new," Mrazak said, admiring the sheen of the bulkhead. "Only repurposed. This vessel is an amalgam of multiple others, disassembled, modified, and reassembled. There is truly none like her in all the fleet, and yet her parts are nearly as old as you."
"How can I help you, Mrazak?" Nevin asked, breaking his view from the room he was standing in.
Mrazak twitched at his own recollection. "Oh, yes. We will be making a detour before our final arrival to the Beta Magellan system. There's another addition to the team who couldn't make it to the station, so we're going to pick him up. I will go alone, as it is a secure facility, so as my second the ship will be yours for the duration. Will you be comfortable with that?"
If Nevin were being honest, he wasn't sure how he felt about that. It was one thing to be medically responsible for a team of people, which he knew he could do without issue. But commanding a team and a ship? He had only just gotten used to being second in charge. But he simply nodded in response.
"You will do fine," Mrazak said reassuringly, "Should only be a few moments, and I'll be back with a new playmate. Just be sure Ferrofax's pet Janus doesn't exercise the same predilection for testing the auto-destruct protocol."
Mrazak patted the man's shoulder in leaving.
As if on cue a holographic flicker appeared in the ceiling of the bulkhead, and a three-dimensional green pyramid began to lazily drift down towards the deck.
"It appears as though my holographic spatial stabilisers are malfunctioning!" Janus reported excitedly before the little pyramid flipped over and glowered in ruby hues at them. "Maybe I'll drift out of the lower hull and save you all the bother of saving me?"
Mrazak paused at the door and raised an eyebrow. "Janus, is it? Perform an auto-diagnostic and mute yourself until it has completed." He spread his fingers in salute at Nevin before taking his leave.
"Ferrofax ordered me not to listen to commands that go against my primary directive of offering informational aid!" Janus replied with the sort of grating cheer that got people mugged in the streets. The red pyramid that appeared next blew a very elaborate raspberry as it drifted through the floor.
After leaving the infirmary, Mrazak made his way toward main engineering to await the final countdown to launch. A handful of officers were undergoing final checklists and confirming power levels in communication with the bridge. Mrazak ignored them all, enamored by the lush array of rainbow colored rods and filaments lining its outer coils. When he closed his eyes, he could almost feel the hum of the phase variance merging with the deflector systems. It was nonsense, of course, but the feeling could not be denied.
"Oh, yes," he whispered, eyes closed. "Tell sa-mekh how you like it." He leaned forward and pressed his cheek against the QSD panel in a wide, loving embrace.
An engineer cleared his throat and coughed into his hand. "Um, sir. It's unadvised to stand so close to the... drive."
Mrazak smiled, eyes still closed. "I'm getting acquainted. My baby here is going to open the doors of opportunity and discovery, and she needs to know I love her."
The engineer gaped at the mouth but said nothing. There were no words. That is, at least, until a comm chirp came in from the bridge.
"Energetic neutrinos cause sterility!" Janus could be heard gleefully shouting from the corner of Engineering where she'd drifted and become enraptured by dust motes.
"Helm to Engineering! Go to internal power. I'm dropping the umbilical in five..." Reno announced "Command staff to the Bridge for departure!"
Mrazak acknowledged the announcement and made for the bridge.
Everyone sat in their places--even the reluctant Lieutenant Kiril had found his way to the bridge. Mrazak assumed the command chair and tried to get comfortable. It... would take some getting used to.
"Take us out," Mrazak ordered. "Steady as she goes."
He'd always wanted to say that.
"Aye, sir," Reno said. His hands danced across the helm as the Phantom responded to their motions. "We are clear of Overwatch station. Going to full impulse."
The inertial dampers strained to keep up with the overclocked engines. G-forces pulled Mrazak back into his seat for just an instant, then comfort. "Did we just go to warp?"
"No, sir," Reno replied absently. "I'm still plotting a course through the worst of the plasma storms. Warp travel won't be advisable for another hour or two at minimum--likely several, depending if the Badlands is in just a bad mood or a nasty one."
Mrazak scowled. "That is too long." A mischievous grin slowly overtook his face. "I suppose it might be time to test out the quantum slipstream's transwarp capabilities."
"But Commander," Reno said, hazarding a nervous glance away from the conn at Mrazak. "Won't that put us at risk of being mistaken as a Borg vessel? A transwarp signature could bring half the fleet after us!"
The scowl returned to Mrazak's face, though this time it was directed entirely at his helmsman. "Naturally we will mask our warp profile so as to be undetected, Lieutenant. I am not, as you say, a 'moron'."
Reno dry-swallowed at the terse response but said nothing more. There wasn't anything left to say, and navigating the Badlands would require all of his attention.
Before the Phantom had cleared the plasma storms, Mrazak had grown bored with the command chair. He had eventually given up and returned to the Science console with which he was more familiar. The Badlands were old hat for him after so many years, but something about passing out of them in the Phantom just turned him giddy.
"You are my home-away-from-home," he whispered sweetly to the console. "Nobody will ever take you away from me."
"Statistical analysis suggests a 69% chance you will suffer a violent psychotic episode during your tenure as Field Team Leader!" Janus cheerful replied from where she'd jammed herself into a bulkhead corner. From green to red she flicked. "And then the men in white coats will take you away."
"Janus," Mrazak said with his overbearing command tone, "you should know that I personally abhor violence."
"One moment, syncing multiple redundant back ups!" Janus chirped. "Its not the first time I've gone out an airlock meat sack."
Despite his irritation at the little pyramid, Mrazak allowed the corner of his mouth to pull into a tight half grin.
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