Where No-One Has Gone Before
Posted on Sun May 10th, 2015 @ 12:39pm by Captain Aidan Rackham & Commander Ashley Kennedy & Commander William Carver M.D. & Lieutenant Lhravitelim th'Endirhc & Lieutenant Rianna DiMarco & Lieutenant Duncan Harper & Lieutenant David Windsor & Ensign Daisy Skie-Cloud
Mission:
The Night Cries
Location: Main Bridge [A Deck, USS Farragut]
Timeline: 2278.48: 1000hrs.
Rackham took a deep breath as the doors to the main bridge of the USS Farragut sighed apart in front of him. The excitement was welling in him as he heard the thrum of activity from the officers preparing for launch.
The whirs and beeps from the bridge consoles rang in his ears as he stepped off onto the alloy deck plating which clanked reassuringly under his boots.
Ash heard the turbolift door open and turned to see Rackham step onto the bridge. She almost leaped out of the captain's chair and stood at attention. "Captain on deck!" she barked.
Rackham looked around approvingly as the officers on the bridge all snapped to attention. By the looks on most of their faces there were clearly some mixed emotions- the death of Captain Gunning and the excitement at getting out there into the unknown was a heady cocktail.
Carver followed Rackham out of the turbolift and onto the bridge. Really he was well out of his element. He had really had no business being on the bridge, but seeing that this was the last that they would be seeing of a Federation world in a long time, he might as well come up and take a look. It's not like there was anything going on in sickbay.
"Ack!" Came from Daisy as she was yanked off balance from the headset she wore as she moved to stand at attention, crashing onto the her console. She quickly removed the headset from her and stood at attention looking sheepish and apologetic with her hair pulled free from the ponytail. She had been playing around with the console's controls to get a better feel of them.
DiMarco straightened up as she put aside the multi-tool that she'd been using to close up a small gap in a panel. She hadn't intended on being on the bridge at all, it was just timing really. She figured that her place was in the pit with the rest of her knuckle-draggers, giving them the run down of the-law-that-would-be in engineering with them setting off for so long a cruise. She smiled at the newly minted captain anyhow in her own lopsided fashion.
th'Endirhc stood in a fairly loose approximation of 'at attention', waiting for the new captain to simply give him the order to get the ship underway. He had hardly been that enthusiastic about any mission before Captain Gunning had talked him into accepting the posting on the Farragut, and he was equally as apathetic now, setting off without her.
The first officer took a step away from the chair and resumed her position at the weapons console. It felt good to be at her familiar station, easily the second best seat in the house for the adventure that awaited them all.
Captain Aidan Rackham took a seat in the centre chair for the first time. He had been tempted in the few hours before the briefing to come up and try it out but he decided to save it. It wasn't quite as comfortable as he had hoped but he had five whole years to break it in. Five years out there and five years in this chair.
Provided he wasn't next to take a bullet. He shook the thought out of his head. This wasn't the time to worry.
He spoke for the first time as the official commanding officer of the USS Farragut "All stations, report readiness."
"Weapons in low-power standby mode," Ash replied over her shoulder. The chances that they would be required were slim to none, but it was her job to make sure they would be ready no matter how long the odds. "Tactical systems at the ready."
"Coms ready and standing by. Clearance has been given for departure. Captain." Ensign Skie-Cloud spoke as she resumed her seat while returning her hair back to the regulation ponytail.
"Security all set and ready." Duncan said to Rackham, the Security Chief commented as he stood in one of the corners of the Bridge out of the way.
"Engineering's on par," Ri answered with a slight shrug. She was always at a slight loss for how to answer a status report in short order being as there were so many systems to report on. A simple 'nothing's falling apart and we won't immediately blow up' never seemed fitting, so she had a repertoire of ways to say 'just don't worry'.
"Science is ready and awaiting orders, Captain," David replied with a nod and an excited smile from his station.
"Helm ready," Telim reported slowly from his station.
Medical had nothing to report, so Carver stayed quiet. He leaned leaned against the bulkhead next to the science station, behind and to the right of the center chair. He mostly watched the viewscreen, but kept a close eye on the new captain as well.
"Lieutenant th'Endirhc. Lay in course two-one-five mark three-two-seven for the Delta Triangle." Rackham ordered. "Prepare to break orbit and take us to warp factor two."
"Laying course two-one-five mark three-two-seven, aye," Telim answered in a simple monotone, as he went through the motions on his console. He prepped the engines to take them out of orbit and pre-loaded the sequence for the warp drive.
The Captain allowed himself a look around the bridge at the faces of his crew. Behind him, Lieutenant Windsor busied himself at the science station beside which stood Doctor Carver and Chief Vane, two refugees on A Deck who had turned up to lend the occasion some circumstance.
On the other side, Ensign Skie-Cloud, the wild child kept her finger planted in one ear, clearing the signals from her earpiece. DiMarco and one of her assistants seemed to be monitoring something which he hoped was minor.
On the other side of the bridge sat Lieutenant Harper, the security officer who was the only one in his department not usually found wearing the standard issue body armour. The guy was in for five years of close shaves, perhaps more than any of them.
Then there was the two officers whose heads he was now looking at the back of. The sarcastic Andorian th'Endirhc and the woman he was going to rely on for the next five years. Ash Kennedy. He hoped he had made the right choice.
Then there was him. Was he the right choice? Here he was sitting in Captain Gunning's chair, taking her crew out on her five year mission. It didn't matter if he was the right choice. He was the only choice they had.
He settled his attention back on the bridge's viewscreen, realising that all eyes were on him. They were waiting for his his order to get out there. He decided there and then that he would give it in the way his mentor would have.
"Execute."
Captain Aidan Rackham
Commanding Officer
Commander Ashley Kennedy
First Officer & Weapons Officer
Ensign Daisy Skie-Cloud
Communications Officer
Lieutenant Duncan Harper
Security Officer
Lt Rianna DiMarco
Chief Engineer
Commander William Carver
Chief Surgeon
Lieutenant Telim th'Endirhc
Helm Officer
