Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in USS Calypso, 2394- When Things Go Awry

Posted by Lieutenant Robert Mason (Chief Engineer) in USS Calypso, 2394- When Things Go Awry

Posted by Commander Dira Myqian (Executive Officer) in USS Calypso, 2394- When Things Go Awry
Posted by… suppressed (2) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Dira gave him an apologetic look. It wasn’t really necessary for her to be right up front since the distance for her was negligible, but Franks also knew her well enough that she wouldn’t make a scene in front of the other crew. Still, Mason’s confusion was understandable as he hadn’t been on the bridge and as the away team commander, the Xo should have at least walked everyone through the situation. “Our sensors aren’t able to pinpoint the exact location of the of surviving mining team. In fact we couldn’t even get the life signs from the bridge, but I’m able to pick up their distress, so I know there are survivors down there. The hope is that it’ll act like a homing beacon for me and I can direct us where we need to go. But time is of the essence and we have a finite amount of it.”

Settling into the chair beside William, Dira adopted the most professional demeanour she could muster (not that it was that hard) and waited for them to take off.

~Lt. Cmdr Myqian, CNS

Well, that makes sense, Bob thought. Still, this was going to be a high speed intercept. He didn’t know Commander Myquan’s role in this mission but he did at least get some updated telemetry from the Bridge right before everyone showed up. This was looking like it was going to be a hard mission.

“Do we know how many people we’re potentially needing to rescue, Commander?” he asked Dira.

“There’s twelve people listed on staff and though I can’t be sure, I’m not getting enough… feeling for that many people.” Dira tapped her head. “I’m telepathic,” she explained. “The group I’m picking up feels smaller but it’s not terribly accurate under these circumstances,” she said with an apologetic shrug. Her abilities were the equivalent of throwing a dart blindfolded at the moment.

Might be a tight fit in here, Bob thought.

Less than a minute later, the shuttle lifted itself off of the deck, and then through the blue forcefield that lay between the protective embrace of the Calypso and the vacuum of outer space.

=/\= Denise away =/\= Franks said from the pilot’s seat. He looked over at Dira for a moment, his glance lingering a moment too long, as anyone paying attention would notice.

What was just a look to others- the young doctor (one Cleo Ramirez) in back definitely picked up- was much more for Dira because accompanying that look was his longing. She understood it, she did. He missed her. And it was understandable, but the space had been necessary for both of them. They worked too closely together as it was.

“Ok, here we go,” the first officer said, and suddenly opened the throttle on the impulse engines all the way. Dira would be able to see on the instruments that the distance between the shuttle and the asteroid was closing as the shuttle started reaching the nigh-relativistic speeds that were only possible at full impulse power.

– Lieutenant (j.g.) Robert Mason, Engineer and Creepy William the Calypso XO

“We’ll definitely need to be fully suited when we get down there. See if you can set us down in that little clearing right the main building,” Dira said, her ebony eyes sweeping the sensor readings. “Just watch the topography, it looks a little rough in spots,” she said, hoping to ease the strange bout of nerves she picked up from William. “You okay?” she said in a hushed voice so only William could hear.

~Lt. Cmdr Myqian, CNS

“Yeah,” William said quietly. “Don’t worry your pretty little head about it, I’ll get us down right on the nose.” He adjusted their course slightly to aim for the clearing that Dira mentioned, though the shuttle was still going at full impulse power.

His confidence was not shared, but he was acting calm and collected. Mostly. So for the moment, she pushed down the unease that simply being in such close proximity to him generated. And while she had the same basic piloting skills all officers did, flying was not something she did… ever. Still, she could read the sensors and understand what was going on for the most part.

=/\= Denise, Calypso.=/\= Dira would recognize the voice as belonging to Lt. Soto. =/\= Looks like you’re coming in a little fast. =/\=
=/\= Yeah, we’re fine. =/\= William very performatively rolled his eyes as the asteroid was now getting visibly larger in front of them.

There was a slight buzzing sound coming from the instrument panel, meant to alert both the pilot and the co-pilot that the surface they were approaching had an uneven gravity field. It was a standard warning; the kind that was really intended to remind the pilot of something they should already know and be prepared for. Bill didn’t seem to take any notice of it.

– Lieutenant (j.g.) Robert Mason, Engineer and Creepy William the Calypso XO

She wasn’t the pilot and there was that saying about ‘backseat drivers’ that Paige liked to tease her with. But the persistence of the warning meant that Dira’s concern deepened. “We have an differing gravity field, Commander,” she reported, at least playing the role of supportive co-pilot. Looking over her shoulder, Dira gave a small smile. “We’ll be landing in a moment. We’ll have to move quickly once we do.”

Lt. Cmdr Myqian, CNS

“Right,” Bob said simply from the back. He had actually started suiting up a moment earlier, thankful that he lived in an era when a person could put their own space suit on by themselves.

As Dira looked back at the controls, she would notice that Bill had completely stopped the impulse engines. They had been previously racing to catch up to the asteroid, but now they were very close to it. It completely filled the shuttle viewport, blacking out the perpetual night sky of outer space. They were, in fact, still approaching closer by the second; inertia and the asteroid’s own gravity were now pulling them towards the surface. The roof of the main building was now plainly visible if she looked straight up. It could have looked like a cardboard model at this distance, but it was also getting larger.

Of course, if Dira could see the roof of the building by looking straight up through the window, that would logically imply that an observer on the roof of the building would see the top of Dira’s head by looking straight up into the sky. But… that would mean…

=/\= Five Hundred, =/\= the computer softly reminded Commander Franks as he sat in the pilot’s chair. He didn’t actually seem to be doing anything, except watching his own readouts.

– Lieutenant (j.g.) Robert Mason, Engineer and Creepy William the Calypso XO