Departure

Posted on 25 Jan 2014 @ 9:03am by Commodore Harvey Geisler & Lieutenant Harper Dane & Lieutenant JG Harold Sherman & Lieutenant Commander Landon Milo MD & Lieutenant Commander Jason DeVries

1,057 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Echoes
Location: USS Black Hawk
Timeline: December 28, 2387 || 1255 hours

The clock was ticking, counting down the time left in the Alpha Quadrant. "Switch viewscreen to forward view," he ordered, not sure if the helm or Operations was currently managing the viewscreen.

Tapping his combadge, he added, "Senior Officers, report readiness for departure."hi

Jason was in his quarters, sitting at his desk and looking over some of the shift reports from the evening previous when the comm system went off and he heard the captain's voice. He reached up and tapped his comm-badge, "DeVries here, sir. Ready to depart here."

"Thank you, XO," Harvey replied, moving out of his chair to let a newly arrived engineer to get the creak out. "You're welcome to come up to the bridge to see us off."

Finchley tapped his COMM badge and simpley said "Aye."

In Sickbay, Landon lightly tapped the communications badge on his uniform. "Sickbay is standing by, Captain. My staff and I are ready when you are."

Jason didn't bother to reply, he knew the rest of the crew would be checking in and didn't want to step on anyone's transmission so he just turned off his terminal and walked out of his quarters making his way to the bridge.

Ensign Harold Sherman was looking over the recent manifest logs from the Quartermaster of recent deliveries with in the last 12 hours as he heard the question. As almost as it was second nature, he change the view screen to the requested view, "Aye, Forward view. Operations is ready to go.", from the Ops Station.

"Thank you," Harvey said, gazing unto the stars. He could see a small transport enter the Bajoran wormhole. He marveled at the beauty of the wormhole, spiraling in a sea of blue hues. And then, with a flash, it was gone. Harvey had heard traveler's tales and rumors of the wormhole's magnificence and subterfuge. The potential for mishaps in the wormhole were marginal at best, nevertheless, it was still a factor to consider. He wasn't worried. In fact, he couldn't wait to get underway.

Soon. Very soon.

Jason walked onto the bridge just in time to see the blue swirl of the wormhole as it briefly flared into life. He walked across the bridge and took his seat beside the captain. "I've seen that a couple of times before and it still just gives me such a feeling of awe." He said as he sat down.

For Hal it was the first time he has been able to see the Bajoran Wormhole. Like so many things in his short time as Starfleet Officer he was always little amazed at first sight. Granted he had been the system for a while, but it was the first time he let himself look and actually soak it in. Then he quickly recovered hoping no one noticed.

Harper was in main engineering. She'd been on board long enough now to have the pulse of the ship and some long hours from her and her team made her ready to report to the Captain. "Captain, Lieutenant Dane here. We're green across the board which is a colorful way of saying that from an engineering standpoint, we're ready to depart. No problems down here."

"Good to hear," Harvey replied, looking back to his chair to see the engineer was nearly finished. A glance at the chronometer behind his Ops Chief told him it was time to go. It was customary for the Captain to give the first order to disembark. Harvey would have been eager to do so, provided the Black Hawk could go directly to warp. They'd be unable to do so until passage was completed through the wormhole. He'd wait until then to issue his first order.

"XO," the Captain said at last, taking his repaired seat. "Take us out."

Jason heard the Captain's orders and looked up to the helm, "Helm, take us into the wormhole, maximum safe speed." he ordered and watched as the ship began to accelerate away from the station and towards the passageway. A few seconds later the wormhole opened again, engulfing the ship in it's beautiful blue glow as they entered the aperture and left the alpha quadrant behind.

Hal was torn between watching the view screen and paying attention. He knew he could replay this all later in the Holodeck, but you get to see this live once, but duty called for him to monitor the various system. So he kept to his duty.

Harvey's eyes remained fixed on the viewscreen, held in awe as multicolored energy moved around the Black Hawk as she glided through the wormhole. This leg of the journey was more interesting than he thought. He could see why so many people enjoyed standing on the Promenade to watch the wormhole in action.

It didn't last forever. A couple short minutes later, the viewscreen traded the spectacular hues of the Bajoran Wormhole for the star-studded black velvet of space. "Helm," he said, leaning back in his chair and gripping the front caps of the armrests with both hands. "Set a course for the Altair system, Bearing two-four-five Mark zero-seven-zero. Warp Seven."

Harvey sat and watched as the helmsman entered the coordinates. The starfield on the viewscreen rotated, moving the Black Hawk into position for warp. Suddenly, the ship jolted forward, launching the ship and everyone aboard into warp.

Harvey turned to his XO. "And so begins Day One of the rest of our lives."

Jason looked over at the Captain, "Here's to hoping at least a few of the missions are routine. You just never know what could happen out here in the Gamma quadrant." he said, dividing his attention between the view on the screen and the other man's face.

(( Main Engineering ))

Harper watched the readouts and didn't realize at first that she was holding her breath though she was. She inhaled and worried her bottom lip between her teeth and she checked first one reading and then another until finally, she relaxed. Completely relaxed for the first time since coming on board. They were on their way and the ship was performing admirably. No sudden surprises. Life was ... good ...

"Good work, everyone," she said and saw as well as felt the wave of relief and pleasure sweep through the room. "I'll be in my office setting up the preventive maintenance roster. Carry on."

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