Manual Practice
Posted on Thu Sep 14th, 2023 @ 7:01pm by Lieutenant JG William Verhoeven & Fleet Captain Maxwell Culver & Lieutenant Rowena "Rena" Campbell & Lieutenant JG Aurora House of Kor & Lieutenant Commander Chester Ripley
Edited on on Fri Sep 15th, 2023 @ 12:37pm
1,891 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission:
First Contact
Location: USS Intrepid: Bridge
Timeline: MD1: 1500 hours
With the senior team briefing over, Max waited as many of the officers exited before speaking up. “Counselor Campbell, Lieutenant Aurora, join me on the bridge please?” He asked, catching them above the din of those departing. He knew how to make his voice carry when needed.
Aurora froze for a moment, then followed the two with a gulp.
Rena looked at S'Tera, but shrugged. She wasn't going to go over with the others-her skills may be needed later, but for now, she would just be an extra body. She fell behind, turning around.
"Yes, sir..." she was only a little worried. He'd only once before called her out separately from the group. And it was to address a temporary spell of mouthiness she had when doing safety training in the old pools. The whales were cute but apparently deadly. How was SHE supposed to know?
Max settled into the center chair. Motioning with his right hand, he basically pointed to the Executive Officer’s chair. “It wouldn’t be the first time you were on the bridge and at my side,” he told Rena. “Why break that fun little tradition, huh?” he added, knowing it might cause her some tension.
Rena smiled. "Alright," she said, settling into the XO's spot. "Commander Lorut has kept it nice and warm, I see," she said. "What are we doing?"
“I am going to be ordering manual docking procedures of the starboard side, saucer section’s airlock. You will be observing in the event, for some reason, you’re required to dock our ship with another. Plus, it’s fun bridge duty observation.”
Rena nodded. That made sense. She relaxed a little. "Thank you. That will be fun," she said. "I DO know a bit about the Science console. We're crossed trained on that, but just one semester," she said.
“Lieutenant Aurora, would you take the Operations station and get us through this manual docking procedure, please?” Max asked pleasantly.
"Ooooo heck yeah!!! Er...I mean...oh who am I kidding, HECK YEAH!!!" Aurora howled as she raced to the Operations stations and set the ship in motion!
Max chuckled aloud. “Take your station then, Lieutenant.”
“Ensign Verhoeven, adjust Intrepid to match the current pitch and rotation of the alien craft.” Max touched the console on his armrest, revealing a display of what each officer was doing.
“Alright,” Max said as they stabilized their rotation with the other ship. Lieutenant Aurora, identify the five visual stabilizing locks for docking.”
Rena watched and listened carefully. She knew that this was majorly important, and she remained calm but prepped to take notes.
"Let's see here then! Hm...Locks on umbilicals three, four, and five are behaving...but...Oh shoot! Sorry, Captain, I accidentally hit 'Lock' on Locks one and two instead of 'Unlock'! I reckon I was a little too excited to be in the 'driver's seat'!" Aurora chuckled softly as she readjusted the lock settings and detached the ship.
“Alright, Lieutenant Aurora, let’s try it again. Remember, if you get three of the umbilicals locked, don’t release the locked ones. We’ll either go for a retry on the other two or work with the three we have.”
"Yes, Sir...sorry, Captain. Ok...here we go again!" Aurora grinned sheepishly and got ready to the next attempt.
“Ensign Verhoeven, how are you holding up?” Max asked, bringing up his biosigns for review. Max could barely make out the beads of sweat at his collar, but they were there.
“Staying on pitch and rotation, captain,” Will reported, refusing to wipe the sweat from him forehead. He needed Aurora to get this next shot right. Not everyone could be so lackadaisical, and friends with the captain, and get away with it! “Making a minor adjustment to assist with Lieutenant Aurora’s next go round with the umbilicals, sir.”
Max closed the hologrid he had displaying for him to see. Instead, he got up and moved down the stairs and into the pit of the starship’s core of helm and operations. Putting a hand on Will’s shoulder, he could feel the wave of tension and…aggravation. “Easy Will, you’re doing great. You’ve got Aurora set up perfectly for her next shot. Everything is stable and no one is in danger with you at the helm,” Max said to the stressed ensign.
Will was shocked that the captain noticed he was stressed, going so far as to reassure him that everything was fine. He rather hated it.
Max felt the emotional shift in Will. Enough to get his mind off of his flying and Aurora’s giddy goofiness. Crossing to her station left him at a disadvantage to provide the same hand on the shoulder type of pep talk that Will needed. Aurora needed a different captain. “Lieutenant Aurora, as much as we love your happy-go-lucky attitude, I need you to pull it together on the bridge. This will be your last chance at the manual operation before I assign it to someone else who needs the practice.”
Aurora gulped at the 'Captain voice' then took a deep breath and made some final adjustments.
Max stood between the pair and just ahead of them, letting them know he had full confidence in them that he didn’t need to monitor their progress while he used his wrist device to display their mutual progress on his left eye.
“I’ve moved us ten meters closer to the Helivan ship, sir, for optimal umbilical locking alignment, sir.”
“Fire when ready, Lieutenant Aurora. All five locks in one shot. You can do this, Lieutenant,” Max ordered, not asked.
Rena smiled lightly, but slightly manipulated the air in Aurora's direction, to calm her down a little bit. "I am ok, Aurora," Rena said. "If I am, so are you," she tried to be comforting-she WAS the Counselor, after all. She calmed Will down, too. She had to be careful-she knew that Max now knew she did that, and while she wouldn't overdo it, she was aware that he knew.
Aurora felt the air shift and glanced back at Rena, not sure what was going on per say...but she somehow knew it was Rena's doing, and it made her feel better, so she wasn't opposed to it.
"Aye, Captain. Umbilicals launching, Captain. All five locks attaching in three...two...one," Aurora's hands glided over the console with practiced grace and the ship responded instantly.
With the locks placed, the procedure was operationally completed from there as the five tractor beams secured the two ships together. Max turned and headed up the stairs, winking at Rena, having heard her encouragement for Aurora. From a personal lockbox built into his chair, from the small compartment he pulled a handkerchief.
Walking forward, he leaned down and handed Will the cloth, embroidered with Max’s initials in red. “Never let them see you sweat,” he whispered into the young blond’s ear before handing him the cloth. He made it appear he was pointing at the console, giving tips.
Rena smiled, and gave Max a small nod.
“Alright, Will and Aurora, take us to a full stop, then secure the gangway. Good job, guys, I really mean it. There are senior officers who couldn’t do what you’ve just done.” He walked over and placed his hand on Aurora’s shoulder. “You’ve made me proud today.”
Max finished his talk, walked back to his chair and closed his locked door. “Inside was still the shot of alcohol for one of those days he needed it.”
“Not too bad for a manual run, eh, Rena?” he asked her proudly.
"Not bad at all," she said. The satisfying sound of the Helivan starship settling in was a nice change. A sound she hadn't heard in a LONG time. "I kind of missed this," she said. "Ship duty, I mean. Let's get the team over. I'll be in Medical if anyone needs me," she said. Her particular set of skills might be handy once their guests were onboard.
“As you wish, Counselor. You’re probably right, we don’t know how long these people planned to be in stasis, four months might be a long time and a non-Romulan crew might be just as startling. Good luck,” he wished her well as she walked away.
As Rena left via the port turbolift, Chet came on through the starboard turbolift. “Isn’t your shift about over, Cap’n?” the jovial Chester Ripley asked, far too awake for his afternoon shift. “It’s ten minutes to 1600, sir. Time for me to take the big chair.”
“Chet, you wouldn’t have noticed the starship out your window and docked to the ship, would you?” Max asked rhetorically.
“You know I sleep with the shades down. So, starship, huh? Cool! Couldn’t possibly be something I could handle, could it?” Chet asked, trying not to sound too pressed to get the CO off the bridge.
“Not a chance in hell, Chet…but,” Max paused as his smile widened. “Why don’t you take the helm until the afternoon shift arrives in full.”
“Aye, Cap’n” Chet crossed down the bridge and relieved the ensign from his station and Will informed the senior officer he was just holding the ship in position. Chet nodded and settled behind the helm station for a little while.
Looking confused, Will turned to his captain. Standing beside it, Max offered the center seat to the ensign. “The ship is yours for ten minutes, Captain Verhoeven.”
Excited beyond belief, Will had to pull himself together to walk up the stairs and sit in THE chair. Captain Culver sat next to him. “How does it feel, Captain?”
“A little big,” Will managed to get out without a squeak. “But, uh, it’s really comfortable, Captain,”
Max gave a tsk of shame. “Now since there’s only one captain, I have to insist you call me XO, number one or just Max”
A soft chirp interrupted Will’s time as Captain. He opened the communique. “Apparently we have an incoming transwarp shuttle with our permanent Chief Security and Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Desha, Max.”
Max smiled and nodded. “Commander Ripley, please inform the dock master that we have inbound traffic and where they might best like them parked.”
“Aye, Captain Verhoeven, contacting now,” Chet responded, using the time to shoot over a text to its designated recipient. It might be minutes or hours. Chet didn’t know and that would be the problem. He would send more information when the captain - well, Max - left the bridge.
“Okay, Captain Verhoeven, you have the bridge until the end of your shift or until I get back,” Max said more for Chet’s ears. Max couldn’t wait until Aurora got her time at the captain’s chair. Only fair for the wunderkind to have their time in the chair independently.
Stepping down and past Aurora, he quickly promised, “You’ll get your chance in the big chair soon.” Me smiled and nodded at the blue scaled woman before adding, “I’m off to meet our new Chief Security and Tactical Officer, Lieutenant Desha.” Max nodded to the crew, saluted his acting captain and left the bridge.
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