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SD242008.06 - Joint Duty Log - "Fun in Space"

Posted on Sun Aug 16th, 2020 @ 1:40am by Lieutenant Commander Ky'La De'Lenn & Brigadier General Jonathan Grey

1,552 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: The Sincerest Form of Flattery
Location: Versailles
Timeline: Current

=^= Dock 4 =^=

A cluster of civilians had gathered near the dock, eyeing the Security staff from the USS Craic. Keen to escape, as many here were, they could see the open port where the Starfleet ship was docked, and were muttering to each other to decide if it was worth the risk.

The clumping sound of heavy footsteps grabbed their attention, turning heads towards a side corridor that led into the large hall. As the noises grew louder, a cluster of space-suited (not to mention heavily armed) marines burst forth from the opening, sending the civilians running down another corridor.

Shortly afterwards, the trio of engineers arrived as well, joining the five marines in the docking hall. Breathing hard, silence reigned for a few moments as everyone caught some air.

"Ok." said Sergeant Banes, getting the attention of his fire team and their engineering counterparts. "This is an engineering problem, so; Donovan, Gleason, Simmons." he stated, recalling the names of the engineers. "This is your party. Where do we start, and where do you need us?"

"I hate spacewalks!" piped Charlie. Suddenly a hand clamped on his shoulder. "Oh shit, I know that hand!"

"You should Charlie" Ky'la said sternly. "I hate spacewalks too but it must be done. Now get your asses into those suits and let's get started" she said looking at Barnes.

"Ok marines let's go for a walk", turning to look at the crowd, "If any of you fools try to get stupid, think again. Security and Mr. Kerr is due to arrive" Ky'la said grinning.

Seeing that she was actually given the lead in exiting first, she had to make sure that the EVA suit was on properly. Since it was like only her third time wearing the blessed thing, she managed to mess up with the bottom part yet again. "Bloody hell!!! Barnes, Charlie, anyone lend a hand here, I screwed up again," Ky'la said laughing. If you can picture the pants of the EVA suit, with one leg in the right place and the other leg part twisted around the one good leg....well it was funny to say the least.

Barnes watched the Commander clowning around with her space suit, and wisely elected not to say anything. Instead, he gestured to Stackhouse, sending the older Corporal to assist in his stead. While things seemed light for now, he had no intention of being within arms reach of the half-Klingon CEO in case she suddenly decided she looked foolish and tried to rip his head off.

Behind him, the rat-faced Marine Davies started to chuckle at the hijinks before him, only to get a stony look from the Sergeant.

"Commander, where do you need us?" Barnes asked, wondering if he needed to start cycling his marines through one of the unoccupied ports and into space.

"No need to push your people out through other ports Barnes. They can go through here", she said putting on her helmet. Finally she deftly walked out the air lock into open space. "Ooh my god freedom!" she yelled as she activated her magnetic boots and a sharp clanking sound was heard as the boots connected with the station.

"We will start here. The work bees have placed the patches and you need to weld them in place. Charlie you and Gleason get over to those busted umbilicals and get them fixed. The rest of you come with me and Barnes. We're going for a walk!", Ky'la said chuckling.

Cutting shapes in the hard vacuum with his hands, Barnes directed his fire team to follow him. Clanging their way across the hull, the team of metal-suited marines looked like robots on parade. And not the modern kind either. The sort that alerted Will Robinson to danger, mixed in with a dash of Satan's Robot.

Watching his group struggle, Barnes frowned and tugged a tricorder out of his hip-pouch, pushing a few buttons.

"Commander, the Craic is meant to be protecting us from the black hole's gravity with their inertial dampeners, but I'm detecting a minor variance. If it gets too high, we could get pulled off the hull."

"Fek'lar," Ky'la growled. "De'Lenn to ops, GET OFF YOUR BLOODY ASS AND FIX THE INERTIAL DAMPNERS BEFORE WE GO BYE BYE!!" she yelled. Talk about a Klingon female getting mad.......whoa! If she were in OPS she would have already had the poor guy by the throat. That was the type of CEO she was, on the job, no non-sense, off duty was a different story.

Moments later, the wobbly line on the Sergeant's tricorder flattened as the inertial dampeners were recalibrated.

"Urgh, they're doing something to the gravity Sergeant!" signalled the scarred Bolian marine behind him, who had both hands on his gut.

"Stand fast. We needed it stronger and more stable to keep from falling off. It shouldn't change now. Press on." he told them, keeping his eyes on the objective.

As the band made their way over the hull, something occurred to the Sergeant.

"Commander, where are we going?" he asked, tucking the tricorder back into his pocket.

As soon as Barnes said that, they came upon one of the twisted umbilicals. "This is our first stop! This must be fixed quickly because that ship there," she said pointing to the stationary starship 100 meters from the station, "Is the reason we are out here" Ky'la stated smiling.

"Yes Commander." Banes replied, wondering just how many umbilicals they had to fix here. With Charlie and Gleason previously dispatched to handle an umbilical closer to the port, he had assumed there was only one. It seemed he was wrong.

Thinking back to Charlie and Gleason, he realised something.

"Markham. Stackhouse. Go back and lend the other engineers a hand. If they don't need help, run protection detail."

Two identical-looking space suits saluted him.

Turning back to the Commander as two of his marines walked away, Banes looked at the twisted umbilical and quickly determined that he didn't know what to do. Habit and training saw his remaining two marines ordered to bracket the Commander, looking for threats across the vast expanse of the hull.

For a moment, Banes looked up for more threats and spied the black hole dominating the "sky" above him. Swallowing hard, he looked sharply down. Stay focused on the job, he told himself.

Ky'la started to fix the twisted umbilical by replacing the arm assembly and attaching the umbilical hose itself to the new arm. Testing out how it worked, found another problem and fixed it. The station gave a slight vibration as the forces of the black hole reminded them it was still there. "We need to hurry and get this station away from this monster hole" she said looking at Barnes. They were going to have to get all these umbilicals fixed if they were going to have any hope of moving the station out of danger.

"Yes Commander." said Barnes, dividing his attention between the actions of the engineer and the space around them. While it was unlikely anyone would attack them out here, he was well aware how short a marine's life could become when they assumed they were safe.

Seeing no immediate threats, and checking that his men had a clear view of the surrounding area, Barnes put his full attention on the umbilical.

"Is there something I can do to help, Commander?" he asked, clipping his rifle onto his back.

"Yes, pull this down while I untangle the cord. It should then be in the right position for me to replace the arm. Once that is done I can put the new one in place and we can ove o to the last one" Ky'la said as she untangled the cords.

With Barnes help the umbilical was repaired and they moved on to the next umbilical and repeated the same process. Once the umbilicals were repaired, she told Barnes to get his people inside so the ships could teather and supply the station with power.

=/\= De'Lenn to Grey, umbilicals repaired. Tell the ships they can Dock and supply power to the station Ky'la out=/\=

=/\= Roger that Commander. Sending them the word now. =/\=

Moments later, one of the dark patches in the "sky" above them seemed to grow larger; lights on the station's hull illuminating the ship as it cruised into position. The silence was disquieting as the sheer size of the incoming ship blocked out nearly all of the starscape.

Barnes, allergic to all things "incoming", took a few steps backwards as the ship aligned itself with the port; the deck shivering underfoot as the vessel clipped onto the station.

In front of them, the mechanical arms unfolded. Compact by design, their sleek, silvery forms extended and clamped down on the ends of the umbilical tubes. They drew the tubes from the station like hose from a reel; stretching out into space and slotting the ends into the matching ports on the ship.

=/\= Ops says we're already getting a strong power input. Good work Commander. =/\=

=/\=Outstanding Ops. All in a days space walk=/\= Turning to Barns, "Don't like incoming things huh? Come on time to go home, " Ky'la said heading for the access hatch.


=^= End of Log =^=

Sergeant Barnes & Team
Marines
Starbase Versailles

Lt. Cmdr. Ky'la De'Lenn
Chief Engineering Officer
Starbase Versailles

 

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