Taking Possession - Part 2

Posted on 01 Jan 2018 @ 10:13pm by Captain Ricardo (Rico) Montoya
Edited on on 01 Jan 2018 @ 10:42pm

1,219 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: M-14 New Beginings
Location: Deep Space 5

Previously...
"What's with the Cardassian task force we saw on the way in?

"They turned up shortly after Pangea emerged. They claimed that since so many people were injured in the emergence that the Federation wasn’t capable of protecting its own interests let alone the lives of Cardassians. Its bull shit of course, they want the planet. The question is; are they willing to go to war to get it. The Federation won't initiate things so that leaves them harassing any shipping in international space that they consider 'suspect'. So far they've attacked a Bajoran ship, claiming self defense, and a civilian trade ship claiming they were smugglers. When the civvies scuttled the ship as the Cardassians were boarding, they had the nerve to demand we surrender the 'terrorists' responsible." She kept her sigh to herself. She wasn't sure there were any solutions either.

"Well at least they're consistent. I think the only time they cooperated willingly with the Federation was just after the war; but that didn't last long."


And now the Conclusion...


[Deck 150]

Arriving at their destination Rico, ever the gentleman, gestured for her to go exit first. Exiting the lift he looked out the large windows to the docking arm as the tugs maneuvered the Phoenix into position. The ship was completely dark, not even her running lights were on.

Something wasn't right and he said as much. "A ship isn't normally towed out of the yard like some derelict. What's wrong with my ship?"

"I haven't been advised, but I want to find out." Soran started down the docking arm to where the Prometheus class's outer doors were sealed. Robot arms were attaching the umbilicals and workbees were starting to swarm to begin the charging and victualling process.

The outer doors themselves remained stubbornly closed at their approach, and then there was a creek, and the doors were ratcheted open on the manual release.

An Andorian woman in an Operations mustard vest stepped through, saw the two officers and pulled up suddenly to attention. "Master Chief Sh'ziqot, sir, ma'am. I'm head of the handover team for Phoenix."

Hoping there was some simple explanation, though his gut told him otherwise and not consciously leaving her at attention, he spoke directly at the woman addressing them. "Tell me Master Chief, why was my ship towed in here like a carcass instead of leaving the yard under its own power?" Waving at his ship though the windows, his voice calm but frustrated, "I have crew arriving or due to arrive to a ship were the lights aren't even on."

"There is an issue with the initialization sequences." The Andorian explained. "We've not been able to track it down as the fail over means the assembly docks will automatically take over. We've got no space in the disassembly yards so we thought we'd bring her over here to work on it. DS5 won't trigger the fail over automatically and we can disable the umbilicals much more easily here for testing. Hopefully we’ll have it sorted shortly."

Rico was puzzled, "That ship has multiple power systems from multiple warp cores and multiple fusion reactors and none of them will fire up? I'd say we have a more serious problem than just initialization sequences."

"It’s the multiple systems that are the problem." Sh'ziqot explained. "Individually they all work fine. But without the initialization sequence their cycles are out of alignment and you get random surges and drop offs. Not what you want in the middle of beaming someone or playing chicken with solar flares."

"Getting things turned on in the right sequence IS important, but when varying sources of power are interfering with one another I would think you would want to double check the power transfer grid. There could be issues with the matrix converters or power stabilizers."

Stopping himself from going any further, he looked up as the ship light up as the umbilicals tied his ship into the stations power. He had never been one to micro-manage his own people and he didn't need to start with someone else's staff.
"Carry on Master Chief; I know my ship is in good hands. I'll be back later."

Turning back to the Station's Commander; “If we could return to your office there was one other issue I wanted to discuss...in private."

Surprised, she simply said "Yes, sir." The best thing to do would be to move back to somewhere less open than the main docking ring.

Once back in her office with the door closed he took a deep breath. "I have a personal request..."

"I'll help if I can." She wasn't going to volunteer any of people or systems before knowing what he wanted.

"It's about my wife..."

That was not the opening she was expecting. "I wasn't aware you were married, sir."

"There is no regulation preventing a Captain being involved with a member of the crew and we were married before I was assigned this command. However a Captain having family as a member of his or her crew can cause...problems. We've discussed several options and she was adamant that she doesn't want to resign her commission. That said, if things begin to get difficult for her...or if I should find my decision making compromised. I would like you to entertain the idea of a transfer if needed.

"We always have room for good officers, sir.” Soran said. "There's no end to the work keeping this place to peak efficiency."

"Thank you Commander." He hoped things wouldn't come to that but it was good to have options. With the station as his home port they wouldn't be too far away if things took a turn for the worse.

"If there is nothing else I will return to my ship. I promise not to harass your people too much."


Making his way across the Ops center towards the exit, the doors opened at his approach. On the other side of the doorway the familiar, and unexpected, face of Admiral T'Vel. He stepped back and out of her way to allow her to pass, his voice calm, but tight. "Admiral".

She acknowledged the greeting with a nod as she passed, followed by her staff.

Before leaving Ops he turned to one of the officers there. "Ensign, I have a station wide address. Announce that the USS Phoenix has been moved to the main docking facility, department heads currently on the station are to report by 1500, crew may begin boarding and are to begin reporting to their respective department heads by 0800 tomorrow."

"Aye sir."

The lift ride back to the Phoenix was uneventful except for the public address he had ordered. =^= Attention all personnel assigned to the USS Phoenix. The USS Phoenix is now docked with the station's main docking facility, docking bay 94. All department heads are to report to your commanding officer by 1500 hours. All crew may begin boarding and can begin reporting to their respective department heads 0800 hours tomorrow. That is all. =^=

The rest of the journey to the Phoenix was preoccupied by thoughts of Admiral T'Vel...why was she here and what was she up to.

---

Captain Ricardo Montoya
CO - USS Phoenix

Commander Maritza Soran
CO - Deep Space 5

 

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