Eleventh Hour Arrivals

Posted on Fri Apr 11th, 2025 @ 12:33pm by Lieutenant Commander Andrew Star & Commander Katrina Chance & Lieutenant Gabrielle 'Gabi' Shimoda

2,151 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Impending Midnight
Location: Transporter Room, USS Missouri

ON

Gabi tapped her foot as she studied a Yeoman, a young Petty Officer, carefully review her transfer orders. It was a careful study from the blue haired non-com across from her who seemed to check every detail, no doubt with painstaking scrutiny. Strong security, but not exactly efficent.

"It looks like everything is in order, ma'am," The Yeoman said, returning the PADD containing her orders. "Permission to come aboard is granted."

"Thank you, Petty Officer," Gabi nodded.

"You're assigned to officer's quarters on Deck 4. Would you like an escort?"

"No, I'll see my way down." Gabi replied. "Thanks again."

"Any time, ma'am."

The Lieutenant went back to her PADD, her steps slow as she neared the transporter room's exit. However, she halted when the transporter pad lit up and, from the corner of her eye, she noticed a hint of concern from the transporter operator. The room was aglow as a figure shimmered into existence, the room humming as energy was transmuted to matter. She glanced over, halting in her tracks when that figure materialised into something unexpected. Her eyebrow arched in disbelief as the diminutive figure stood on the pad.

Science uniform. Check.

Lieutenant Commander. Check.

A child. Hold on.

This was going to be good. She skulked into the corner, simply to observe how that slightly officious Yeoman was going to handle this one.

The red-haired stepped down from the transport pad that had powered down, yes he appeared like a Human child but carried no bags, 'Never judge things by their appearance... even carpetbags. I'm sure I never do.' Is what Mary Poppins said, and he often quoted it to people. He approached the specialist standing behind the transporter console, shocked and unaware of who he was transporting aboard. "My transport peppers," he said, standing on his tippy toes, arm stretching until the PADD he held was taken from him.

The Spectlist took the pad, his Deltan humanoid fingers played on the console as if he was a pianist and the console sang in binary beeps. Andrew Star noticed he was being watched by the Woman in the Doorway, whose loose stands of hair that had escaped the knot of chestnut brown hair that was lassoed up, which fell perfectly down her face. Andrew nodded towards her direction, a nod of acknowledgment and greeting.

"Uhm... Lt-" He slightly began to stutter as if he was new, lacked confidence "-Lt Cmdr... Permiss...Permission to come aboard granted... Green light sir," He finished with a nervous chuckle. Andrew slightly felt pity on the stranger as he stretched back up to take his PADD back.

Andrew quickly stepped up to the Woman in the Doorway, "Hi," He said softly, his fading Scottish accent peering through. "Enjoyed the show?" he asked rhetorically. "I'm Lt Cmdr Andrew Star, Science Chief," and his bone hand shot out across to the Women in the Doorway, looking to be shaken and greeted.

“Lieutenant Gabi Shimoda. Intelligence Chief. A pleasure.” She shook the hand of the apparently young man. His red hair and thin stature reminded her of a young man she used to explore the wilderness beyond Pike City with. Memories lost to history, now. In this moment, the acceptance of the transporter room’s welcoming committee was enough to delay questions at this stage, despite the obvious curiosity from all corners. “I was about to check in. I’m sure we could economise our superior’s time if we reported together.”

Andrew wanted to present his departmental plan to the XO given how many predecessors he had, to show the command structure he had a game plan. "Let's" he motioned for her to lead on. "Looking forward to your new posting?" He asked, making small talk, maybe evening building a friendship with the spook.

"It certainly presents a new challenge. Though, I have to admit, I'm still somewhat bemused by my assignment to the ship," Shimoda admitted, leaving the transporter room, the pair walking in lockstep as they made their way though a buzzing corridor full of technicians working away like bees collecting pollen. "Honestly, I was expecting to head back to Starfleet Tactical on Earth. I anticipate this will be a temporary assignment. Where have you come from, Commander?"

"The Magpie," Andrew reiterated, remembering the Oberth Starship whose refits kept getting pushed back. "Gorge Marsh's ship," Naming a Sceinsit to a Spook, it would send him into shock if she knew the legendary scientist. "Aging pile of junk. You?" He asked presuming she worked at a Federation embassy on Alien soil.

"Starfleet Tactical on Earth; mostly advising on fleet formation and tactical deployments. I do a little work for Starfleet Intelligence on the side; interviews, analysis." Gabi replied. They rounded the corridor, dodging more work teams. "So, an Oberth Class. What was it like serving on a relic of Starfleet's past?"

Andrew stopped walking, taken a bit back he knew the class the Magpie was but he quickly caught up with her. "Terrible," he reiterated "All modern tech eats all the power, one minute your partial accelerator is running the next, shutting down and destroying all your research... I think it's scheduled to be dismantled at the end of the year."

"Sounds like good riddance," Gabi opined. The pair arrived at a turbolift, the doors opening as soon as they arrived. The two officers boarded. Gabi ordered the trurbolift to Deck 2 and looked across- and down at the deceptively small officer. "A new ship should open your horizons a little, the power infrastructure aboard these vessels is quite extensive."

"I can wait! A fully equipped lab with Motion Fusers, Valtu's Accelerator, and OooOoo a Avogadro Scanner. The child was clearly excited to be serving aboard the Missouri. "First thing I'm going to do is make Raspberry purfome"

Gabi agreed to the redheaded Commander's point as the turbolift whirred away, jetting upwards.

Until.

The turbolift screeched. The pair suddenly felt incredibly light, then incredibly heavy. Then they were pulled to the floor. Then shot to the ceiling. Pinned against the roof of the lift like grasshoppers in a blender, they bore the brunt of some prodigious g-forces and stomach churning, before the turbolift stopped dead.

Still glued to the top of the lift, Gabi winced nauseously and looked across to Star. The doors opened. The turbolift gave a little ding-- you have reached your destination.

Katrina had been patiently waiting for the lift. She had intended to go down to engineering and check on things there when she had a moment. As she waited, she thought she heard a strange sound coming from the turbolift shaft, but she couldn't quite pin it down. That was until the turbolift stopped on her deck with what looked like two officers pinned to the roof, only to be thrown to the floor like rag dolls when the lift opened. Bemused, she stepped forward, peering at the two bodies on the floor. The faces were not officers she recognized. New transfers, perhaps?

Stepping into the lift Katrina offered a hand to each officer to help them both up, remarking in a synthetic monotone, "Welcome to the Missouri, Commander, Lieutenant. Perhaps you had best steer clear of the turbolifts, for the time being.""

"You might be right," Gabi agreed, getting off the floor like a giraffe who had just learned to walk with the assistance of the Commander. Unsteadily, she joined the First Officer in offering Science Officer Star a hand. "Are you okay, Commander?"

"...That was a terrible rollercoaster... No loop de loop," he said, trying to make light of the situation, as he took their hands of assistance, he jumped to his feet and dusted himself down, checking for bruises and blood at the back of his head. "Yes, looks like I'm heading to sickbay to check in and get a concussion check." There was a brief pause before Andrew opened his mouth, "Oh, I'm Andrew Star, Science Chief!"

While anyone ele might've been surprised by Mr. Star's appearance, Katrina wasn't. She wasn't exactly normal herself, and this was Starfleet after all. She nodded, releasing Andrew's hand now that the officer was upright, only to extend it for a proper shake. "Commander Katrina Chance," she introduced. Then she looked between the two officers, and pointedly to the turbolift car they had just emerged from. "Remind me to call park maintenance at a more opportune time."

"Well, I have to admit, this is the first time I've feared for my life before a new ship left port." Gabi felt her body returning to equilibrium, her twitching muscles and adrenaline subsiding. She extended a slightly shaky hand toward the XO. "Lieutenant Gabrielle Shimoda. Intelligence."

"I've had worse," Andrew said with a shrug of the shoulders. Talking about his experience as an engineer for hire, the worst was EVA suit walking to flip the exterior manual override on the sensors, not many ships have a child's EVA on standby.

Katrina took Gabi's hand and gave it a proper shake, then withdrew her hand. "I wish we had time to get better acquainted," she lamented, "But the Missouri is heading into a combat scenario very soon. I'm on my way to the ship's library. Your orders, please?"

The XO knew that officers typically carried a PADD with them, on which was contained the confirmation of transfer orders. It was to serve as verification for new assignments, and even though she didn't have extended time to review them, she could at least verify where these two officers were meant to fit in and from there, direct them on what they should spend their next few hours doing."

Gabi picked her PADD up from the floor, the device resting next to the duffle bag of all her worldly possessions, “Yes, Commander. You’ll find everything there.”

Andrew too handed his PADD over for the XO to sign on the dotted line. He was curious, though if the "time to get better acquainted" applied to him too, he was always done for making new friends!

Katrina took the PADDs in her hands and examined them both. Lieutenant Commander Andrew Star, chief science officer, and Lieutenant Gabrielle Shimoda, chief intelligence officer. Assigned straight out of the field, it looked like. She nodded, pressed her thumb to first one PADD, then the other, and handed each of them back to its designated owner. "Lieutenant Shimoda, I suggest you head to the ship's intelligence suite and research the Lazaro system and an entity known as I-400. You may wish to coordinate with Mr. Star here, to look for ways of taking it out. Or, at the very least, disrupting its communication capabilities in the short term. We will need every advantage we can get at Lazaro."

"Sounds like a plan, Commander, I'm interested to see the facilities here," Gabi replied. "Well, Mister Star, it sounds like we're hitting the ground running."

Andrew nodded in agreement with the XO, so many had failed, and so much was in jeopardy. "Totally!" He exclaimed in childlike joy, "I've always wanted to see an Intel suite". Guess his plans of reforming the science department had to way another day.

"Grand," Gabi nodded. "Astrometrics is on the same deck, Commander, so this may well be a one-stop-shop. Perhaps we can pool our resources?"

Tag Star

"As much as I hate to rush the both of you, there will be a briefing at 1700 hours," Katrina informed the pair, her face straight and serious. "That gives you less than half an hour to familiarize yourselves with what you can. While I would normally not endorse such a thing, I suggest you two run." She barely even waited for a response before she too was off, searching for another turbolift and hoping that she would not be the third officer to have a close encounter of the ceiling kind. "If you need me, I will be in the ship's library! Dismissed!"

"Thank you, Commander Chance." Gabi nodded. As the XO alighted, Gabi gave a sideways glance to Andrew. "Running would be... irresponsible, would it not? Especially after what we've just been through."

The Ginger kid watched as the XO disappeared down the windy, bendy corridors, waiting for her to be out of earshot first before answering Gabi. "You on!" He exclaimed and began to bolt in the opposite direction from where the XO was heading down. Despite a headstart, he wasn't sure where the Intel suite was.

OFF

Posting by

Cmdr Katrina Chance
Executive Officer
USS Missouri
NCC-78316


Lt Cmdr Andrew Star
Chief Science Officer
USS Missouri
NCC-78316


Lt Gabi Shimoda
Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Missouri
NCC-78316

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