Post #2 - The move begins

Posted on Sat Mar 25th, 2023 @ 8:58pm by Lieutenant Commander David Wallace
Edited on on Sat Mar 25th, 2023 @ 9:07pm

Mission: Mission 10. Move to the Lagoon Nebula.
Location: USS Thomson
Timeline: First hours of work prior too the move.

On:

David materialized in the transport room of the engineering ship Thomson, a yeoman and the transporter tech both snapped too attention "Sir, I'm Yeoman Ellis I'll escort you too your quarters."

David was puzzled, "At ease."

"Follow me sir." Ellis said as the doors opened.

David was more confused, as he exited the transporter room he saw dozens of every engineering specialty you could think of, from technical types all the way through fabrication specialists. A few paused and stood at attention, others nodded acknowledgement. They entered the turbolift. The dull hum was interrupted, "First time aboard an engineering ship?"

"Yes, I don't get to see many of the specialized ships as an intel officer." David replied

"Not having rank pips makes most of the technical staff jump around here, and seeing intel grey is a rare thing for us."

David didn't realize the lack of rank pips let alone the fact he was in a standard field uniform and not the variety of engineering uniform issue was such an ordeal. He wasn't about to drop the normal uniform, "I don't bite."

"Noted sir, if I could ask sir, why is an intel officer helping coordinate a starbase move?"

"I know your captain from a past mission and the station commander feels that I'm qualified for whatever his reasoning is." David said vaguely.

The turbolift stopped at the proper location and they exited, David unconsciously made a note that his assigned quarters were one section over from Maria, he kept the intel poker face as the stopped and the door was opened for him, "Captain Blumenberg should be on the bridge and there is a recreational holodeck on deck 5, the lounge is three sections over it has a larger menu than the replicators."

David set his bag down on the couch and turned to face the yeoman "Thank you Mr Ellis."

With that he exited and David was alone for the moment, the door chime sounded. "Come in."

Captain Blumenberg entered, her coppery red hair was tied back, "David!"

She lunged forward and hugged him, "What do you think of my fancy ship?"

"It's impressive, but I think I scared quite a few of your crew."

Maria laughed "We've had one other intelligence type on the ship, and he was just hitching a ride too starbase 228, plus I noticed you can't shake the intel habit of no rank pips and your in full field uniform."

"Force of habit is my only defense, if it'll make the crew feel better I'll wear my tactical vest instead." David laughed

"Don't bother with the replicator beyond coffee, our lounge has a full kitchen." Maria said "Besides the captain should show the new arrival too the lounge."

"I assume the PDA is going to have to be kept professional when we're not in quarters?" David said with a smirk,

"Sadly, other than the counselor and a nurse no one knows about us, plus I don't think your CO does either, and I don't want to get us in trouble." Maria said "I know it's not against the rules but I like the privacy for now."

David turned putting his hands on her hips "Then I'd better get this out of the way before we go." leaning in for a kiss.

Maria reluctantly pulled back "It's soon lunch time in the lounge, we should make an appearance before the talking starts."

"I'll keep the sense of mystery for now aside from your senior staff." David joked.

The lounge affectionately called 'The Harmonic Dish' was surprisingly not busy, there were groups of a variety of crews sitting in small clusters eating various concoctions and discussing a number of topics, David surveilled the room then looked at the menu board, a few dishes looked to be tempting, one dish called 'Lunch on the run' looked interesting, a soup choice, sandwich options including pastrami, and beverage. He noticed Maria was doing that so he followed suit and ordered the same. They made their way through the maze of tables too a small booth near the large view port and sat across from one another, "Not the most romantic thing, but we'll save that for when the station move is under way." Maria commented.

Switching to business for a moment and to keep curious ears bored "How goes the prep work for the move?"

"One of the sections near shuttle bay four needed some manual persuasion before the cross members were secured, the electrical work was done in what I'm assured is a record of some kind." Maria paused to take a bite of the sandwich "Some of the remote systems are taking longer to integrate but it's just a case of making the proper modifications."

"So we're more or less on schedule, that'll make Commodore Sureth happy." David said plunging his spoon into the soup

"The tug captains have started crunching their numbers for the pull, they think it'll take possibly ten to twelve days to do the majority of the move maybe two to get the station placed properly and removal of the reinforcement structures, plus three days of maintenance before we can get on too whatever comes next." Maria said looking across at David trying to resist the urge to take him back too her quarters.

David could sense the fired up feelings she had for him, they were hard to miss even for someone whose betazoid abilities were as undeveloped as his were, he smiled then "I'll get an update on the evacuation plans for the full time population."

Maria stood up with the empty tray, "I have to get back too the bridge, we're doing the testing on the drones for the move."

"I have reports to file and I should check in with the station." David said as he stood up next.

End