Wagons roll

Posted on Thu Aug 1st, 2024 @ 10:08am by Captain Taliserra Tigran & Lieutenant Commander Jack Slattery & Lieutenant Anthony Edwards Ph. D & Lieutenant Helena Wells & Lieutenant JG Ash Rowe & Lieutenant JG Summer Wyse & Lieutenant Magnus Volsung
Edited on on Fri Sep 20th, 2024 @ 4:03pm

2,475 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: A marathon not a sprint
Location: Various
Timeline: MD01 1630hrs

Sitting in her command chair Taliserra looked over the course her chief helmsman had proposed for their twelve day trip to the shipyards of Dakala; it was simple enough almost an entirely straight line straight through a well used area of space that often saw trade ships of all kinds manned by species of all sorts travelling across the federation, to an outside observer it would just look like two starfleet ships heading in the same direction, a somewhat common occurrence. She spared a glance out of the window where the USS Marathon sat in its construction berth, her warp nacelles and deflector dish were lit up in brightest blue, it had already passed the estimated time it would be ready to go given by its Co and she hoped the ship would be able to move under its own power. The Wolff could tow her at warp speed all the way if it came to it but it would be an ignominious beginning to the ships story.

Sitting beside her, Lieutenant Commander Slattery was instead looking at console in the armrest of his chair. "Captain, we have an incoming hail from the Marathon," he said, looking at her. Hopefully it meant that they were ready, it certainly would make life easier for them.

"Here we go." Taliserra gave a small smile to Jack. "On screen."

"The Marathon has passed her tests and checks and we are ready," Commander Munro said, cutting to the chase. Even so, there was a pleased look on his face that spoke of some odd sense of pride.

"Excellent news, we will start a steady course to the edge of the system, undock and follow us at your leisure." Taliserra instructed. "Then we'll see if the Marathon is ready for warp speeds."

"Very well. We'll keep ship to ship communications open. Marathon out," Munro said and the screen went black.

Ash took that as her cue. Laying in a course, she made sure to keep to the Captain's word and started the ship on a slow and steady drift away from the station, sending the course plan over to the Marathon for good measure. "I'll make sure we don't get too far ahead," she assured.

Arriving a little bit later than she’d planned, Summer took her seat. She wanted to be on the bridge for this even though morning sickness was rearing it’s ugly head.


==== USS Marathon ===

On the Marathon Commander Munro looked over at his security officer before he looked ahead. "Winter, get permission to undock. Liaise with the Wolff for specific coordinates." He reached to press a button for shipwide communication. "This is the Captain. We are undocking and will start our journey. The Wolff is keeping an eye on things, so let us make sure we do this smartly. It may be us driving this bus to its station, but remember that this too is an important step towards a new frontier. You've all worked hard on this and I know I am proud of the work we have done so far. To your stations. Captain out." He turned it off and let out a breath. He hated putting on a show.

Finally, Ethan Winters went through the motions of the undocking procedures, making sure they had the green light before even moving to set his course. His eyebrow quirked with irritation when he saw the course had already been sent through by the Wolff's helm's officer. As if he weren't capable of following a sizeable starship. His tapping managed to take on a terse edge as he set it all the same. "Ready, Captain."

Munro nodded, taking a slow breath. "Take us out, Winters. Steady as she goes," he said, the last with a smile at what was a phrase that had little meaning out in space. Yet it was a touchstone to other times, ancient times. He would be lying if he did not get a kick out of this.

"Aye, Captain," Ethan looked up from his console, preferring to see the view as he eased them out and away from dock. The stout ship managed to move forward with a certain amount of grace despite its design, taking its time to manoeuvre outwards. The hum throughout the ship was consistent, even if a slightly different pitch to experienced ears, and the ship showed no sign of trouble as it closed the distance to the Wolff.

Kyle Poe considered it an honor to be present during the undocking procedure and watching the two ships and crews interact with each other.

After the Engine was running quietly and powering the ship Matthew Cronauner had made his way up to the bridge and was working the engineering console after a few minutes of looking over the console and the information it was giving him he said "Captain Sir, Engineering is good to go!"

Despite everything else, HG had gotten permission to go over to the Marathon. While it was more to help with anything that might come up with science station or sensors, she knew that there was always the possibility of problems with other things and she might have an idea or two if it came down to it.

Dario nodded at the words, a small mile coming to him. "Let's see what we got going then."


==== USS Wolff ====

Taliserra had set the viewscreen to watch the Marathon undocking and steadily catching up to her ship. "Looks like her impulse engines are working well enough." she said to no one in particular.

Summer offered a brief smile, she still needed to properly talk with Taliserra about her pregnancy, she’d mentioned it at the briefing but that was all. “Let’s hope for a smooth, trouble free journey.”

"That would be the best outcome for everyone!" Anthony to neither but both ladies at the same time.

"Binea monitor the Marathon, call out any problems you can see." Taliserra instructed.

"Aye Captain." Binea replied. She already had several of the sensor arrays watching the Marathon and assumed a lot of the others were keeping a close eye on the prototype ship too.

"Ash, increase to full impulse and throw in a few manoeuvre's see if the Marathon can keep up." Taliserra instructed loud enough that her words would be picked up by the open comms channel to the Marathon

Ash grinned at the way she'd put it, nodding briskly as she fired the engines a little more. She deviated from the plans she'd sent over, veering off course to give enough space to bring her back to task in a much sharper arc.


=== USS Marathon ===

From his place at the helm, Ethan Winter's eyes widened at hearing the Wolff's captain. See if the Marathon can keep up...? he thought with disbelief. "Cheeky ba..." he bit off the rest of the inaudible mutter, shaking his head as he set out to follow the other ship, anticipating the manoeuvre and matching his own to swoop under and past the path of the Wolff.

Munro raised an eyebrow at the words, tensing a little as well. So. He hoped she meant that purely from a technical point of view.

=/\= Marathon, recommend you increase primary Idf generator output by 12%.=/\= The voice of Lt Binea came over the open channel.

Munro looked over at Carter, giving a nod. "Increase the Inertial Dampening Field generator output by 12 percent..." he ordered before he gave a small smile. "Heaven forbid someone stubs their toe after all."

"Aye, Captain," Leo glanced down at his console to make the change, but was soon looking back to the tense figure of their helm's officer. "Captain, perhaps we should be focussing on getting from A to B...?" he voiced with concern at how Winters might be tempted to answer the challenge that the Wolff had issued.

If Ethan had heard him, he completely ignored him. He was focussed on the helm, or more, showing the pilot on the other ship that he was plenty capable of matching whatever they might throw down. With a few taps of the screen, the Marathon's port side veered upward, the robust ship gliding into a neat, sharp turn that made it almost look as if it were drifting into place behind the Wolff.

Matthew Cronauner looked into the Inertial Dampeners and logged the issue through the Engineering log, it might be a little issue at impulse, which would be a little worse at warp but as the Marathon was going to be a trans warp experimental vessel that would make twelve percent very dangerous. "I've logged the IDF issues Captain, and we'll keep an eye on it."

Munro frowned, giving a small nod at that. "Thank you. Mister Winters, do what you can to get us from A to B without appearing like we've all had too much fun on shoreleave. Whatever you deem necessary."

"What I deem necessary," Winters replied firmly, his head tilted slightly as he clearly took a slightly different meaning to that turn of phrase than perhaps intended. Either way, he wasn't going to be outpaced by the other vessel.

"That'l do Ash, resume our original course, stay at full impulse." Taliserra said after her helmsman had finished another series of maneouvres. "Your ship handles itself quite well Commander, lets hope its warp engines run as well as its impulse ones do."

Ash chuckled softly to herself, but nodded all the same to the new order, clearing her throat as she straightened up. "Understood," she assured as she settled the ship back to the original course she'd sent over.

"Only one way to find out," Munro said as he sat back. "Winters, plot in the course...and let's wait to get going until the Wolff let's us know."

Winters' shoulders shifted in a suppressed sigh as his hands moved to follow the order. Just what he'd wanted....more waiting....

Being quite a small planetary system it wasn't long before both the Marathon and Wolff were close to the edge of the system. "Commander Munro, engage warp engines when you're ready, the Wolff will follow close behind."

Matthew listened as the call came in from Captain Tigran on their escort vesselUSS Wolff. He knew the chances of something going drastically wrong were higher with a brand-new untested engine, and moreso if a cold engine was jumped high. Commander Munro probably did too but as the duty Engineer on the Bridge right now it was his point to make in Munro forgot. "Captain I would suggest with a cold engine we reach for warp two a most and give the core and nacelles some time to warm up before we try for anything higher. Its a long walk home at impulse speed!"

"Very well. Wolff, we are going to start at warp 2 for a bit, will let you know when we get...warmed up," Munro said, a small smile coming to him. "Are we all ready?"

"Engineering is good to go on Warp two." Matthew responded.

Winters was in two minds at the helm; was he happy to finally get underway, or frustrated at being held back at warp 2. He decided there was nothing wrong with being somewhere inbetween. He tapped the console obediently all the same, and the viewport showed the tell tale streaks of light. "We're off, Captain."

"Good," Munro smiled as he nodded, taking a deeper breath. "One step closer to where we need to be."

==== Marathon Engineering ====


"Here we go." S'Ralor said as the warp core began to thrum louder and more frequently, he watched the display on the engineering console as the ship passed through the warp one barrier. "Warp 1.3. 1.5, Indra watch the pressure gauge on the matter injectors, it's looking a little high."

"I'm on it." the Orion called back

"Warp 2."

"Pressure is still increasing but slower."

"Try cycling the injector pairs."

"Standby." Indra tapped at the control panel shutting off the first set of matter injectors and opening the back up pair, after a few minutes the pressure change stabilised. "That's better."

S'Ralor smiled. "Alright keep an eye on it. We don't want to blow an injector before we've even got going." He tapped out a message to transmit to Cronauner on the bridge.


==== Marathon bridge ====

Matthew watched as the message appeared on his screen. He quickly reviewed the numbers and then made his statement to the commanding officer: "Captain, Chief S'Ralor says the Engines are handling Warp 2 nicely, and the Warp bubble is stable and holding, and we are good to go for faster now."

"Winters, get ready to increase our warp...once the Wolff tells us what speed they'd like to have," Munro nodded, before hailing the Wolff. "This is the Marathon, we are good to go beyond warp 2," he said, to let them know...and for them to set the pace.

"Then by all means Commander, increase speed at your discretion." Taliserra's voice returned over the comm system.

Munro smiled at the words, raising an eyebrow. "Winters, let's go to warp 3. Matthew, let Engineering know, and if they have an objection...they can tell me."

"Yes Sir!" Matthew said and then sent the message to Engineering, "Chief S'Ralor, Any issues with the Engines, and you can contact Commander Dario directly."

Ethan Winters had to fight back the urge to growl softly with frustration. "Aye, Captain," the slight drawl to his voice didn't quite hide it though. He followed orders all the same, edging up to Warp 3, but was chomping at the bit to give her more of a push.

The stars began to pass by quicker as the two ships flew faster through space.

Matthew worked on the Engineering station for thirty minutes, as he worked and watched it no problems came across the screen and he decided it was clear for warp six. "Commander Dario I believe we are clear for Warp five now sir!"

Dario smiled at the words, taking a deeper breath. "Sounds good to me, let's go for Warp five," he said before leaning forward. Every Captain had their own way of doing this, and Munro was no different. Like most, he had dreamt about it. "Winters...make headway," he said, motioning ahead.



OFF:

Captain Taliserra Tigran
Commanding Officer

Lt Anthony Edwards
Chief Science Officer

Lt. JG. Ash Rowe
Chief Flight Control Officer

Lt. JG. Ethan Winters
Flight Control
USS Marathon
(PNPC Rowe)

Ensign Leo Carter
Security
USS Marathon
(PNPC Rowe)

Lt. Commander Dario Munro
Captain
USS Marathon
(PNPC Slattery)

Lieutenant Commander Jack Slattery
First Officer

SCPO S'Ralor
Engineer [Pnpc Taliserra]

LTjg Binea
Ops officer [Pnpc Taliserra]

Crewman Matthew Cronauner
Engineering Crewman
[PNPC Edwards}

LTjg Summer Wyse
Counsellor

Lieutenant Hope Ross
Chief medical Officer

LTjg Ethan Winters
Medical officer
[pnpc Ross]

Lieutenant HG Well
Science Officer

 

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