Primo Impressiones Manet

Posted on 04 Jun 2020 @ 2:29am by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Lieutenant Xu Chang Lau
Edited on on 04 Jun 2020 @ 2:31am

Mission: Mission 4 - Race against the machine
Location: Transporter room 3
Timeline: MD4 11:00
887 words - 1.8 OF Standard Post Measure

ON:

It had always been the intention of Starfleet to have Xu assigned to the USS Andromeda but the ensuing chaos, of which she was spotty at best when it came to details, had delayed the transfer itself from the ship that had carried her to the correct sector. Instead of transporting her over the ship itself had been pulled into a pursuit of some kind of... well, in truth she had no clue. Instead she had been sitting tight in her temporary quarters trying to adjust to the sound and feel of a ship and all of its workings underfoot once again. Spending a couple of years planet side had allowed her body to become accustomed to silence and a starship was far from silent.

The view from her window was almost directly forward of the ship, the stars warping around the small flotilla of ships, the Andromeda in the lead. She was a majestic vessel. Galaxy Class, one of the largest vessel classes starfleet had ever produced. The comm. system chirped and roused her from her wandering thoughts.

"Lieutenant Lau, please report to transporter room one for departure".

She stood swiftly and took the carry bag that had been waiting, the rest of her belongings being transported directly to Andromeda, or so she hoped, and moved quickly and quietly to the transporter room. The corridors seemed eerily quiet, a tension filling the air that was palpable. She wondered if the atmosphere on Andromeda would be the same? It wouldn't take long to find out. The journey to the transporter room was short, the room empty with the exception of the transporter operator.

"Am I the only one going over?" she asked of the young man who looked something akin to the old saying 'a rabbit caught in the head lights'.

"It appears so ma'am!", a waver to his voice giving away the anxiety he was feeling.

She stepped up onto the platform and before she could even give the word to engage the beam she was dematerialising.

"Sorry Maam," the Transporter chief said apologetically. "Theres not much time and once the Captain found out you were on that vessel he wanted you on here and it to get as far away from what we are chasing as possible. Is that all your kit?" he asked.

"Erm..." she stuttered trying to regain her equilibrium and failing miserably. "My other bags should have come across and been sent to my quarters".

She took a step down from the platform, the only indication the transport had taken place was the greenish walls and the male transporter chief was now Bajoran and not Human.

"May I ask, why the rush Chief?", she stopped just in front of his console. "The Captain of the other ship didn't have time to keep me up to speed with what was going on!"

"We are in pursuit of a Planet Killer they seem to think is on route to destroy Baku Maam," he replied checking the logs. "As you can imagine everyone's a little bit tense. Looks like your quarters are number 22 on deck 4 maam. You can of course go straight there you don't look to be rostered on a shift yet or your welcome to go report in to the XO. She might find you though she tends to go out of her way to welcome new faces. Chief Stevens nice to meet you maam," he said.

"And you Chief, and please stop calling me ma'am... I'm no English queen. Lieutenant, or even call me Xu. A pleasure to meet you Chief!"

It was a planet killer they were chasing!!! Her mind immediately went back to two of her history classes, both about the famous Captain Kirk. He had once come up against a doomsday devise and managed to destroy it but only by a hairs breath or again later in his career after he had stolen the Enterprise directly from Earth Space dock, when returning to Earth as a fugitive he had saved earth from an orbiting probe that was causing a planet wide extinction event... It couldn't be as bad as the Chief was making it sound... could it?

"You say planet killer? As in destroys planet?" she asked tentatively, "This isn't some kind of initiation is it?"

The man locked eyes with her deadly serious. "No Xu sorry. Its really happening. Not the welcome you were expecting I'm sure. I'm sure your department are in the thick of things working on a plan though. Do you know your chief? Its Aidan Datari if you want to report straight in and jump into the belly of it."

If ever she should have just believed what she was told, this had been that situation. Instead she now had her foot firmly inserted into her mouth. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment at both her blunder and the fact the chief had chastised her.

"I'm sorry Chief, and yes, I think I'd best jump right in".

She nodded her gratitude to the Chief before leaving transporter room in a hurry, still feeling the blood sting her cheeks as it continued to glow from embarrassment.

OFF:

Chief Stevens
Transporter chief
USS Andromeda pcnp Jonathan Reynolds

○● Lieutenant JG Xu Chang Lau
Assistant Chief Science Officer
USS Andromeda