Checking out the Ship

Posted on Thu Nov 5th, 2020 @ 2:16am by Commodore Mardel Shayron-Connor & Captain Dean House
Edited on on Thu Nov 5th, 2020 @ 2:18am

3,025 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Refit and Restock
Location: The Aldrin at the Mars shipyards
Timeline: End of Shore Leave

Joint Log
Captain Mardel Shayron-Connor
Commander Dean House


Mardel arrived at the transport pad on the Mars facility and waited for Dean. They were going to be the first two on the upgraded ship. She was curious what they had done to it, what they added and changed. She knew they were remodeling some of the crew quarters and offices and labs as well as adding new systems and adding the flight deck for the delta flyer squad and the R&D labs. She was anxious to take a look around.

Dean gave a little yawn as he came into view. Giving a little glance to the transporter chief and a little nod. Moving over to Mardel and giving her a light hug. “You ready to do this?”

“Yes, I think I am. I have some items I need to check on and I want to see what we have to work with.” She returned the light hug. “I hope you had a relaxing vacation.” She nodded to the transporter chief to energize when they were both on the pad.

“Items? What kind of items?” Looking at her curiously, as he moved onto the pad. “Yes, the vacation was excellent, I hope yours was as well.”

The transport beam surrounded them and then a few seconds later deposited them on the bridge of the Aldrin. “Mine was….interesting. Daniel and I were able to spend some time together. And those items are none of your business, not even Daniel knows what they are. They are sacred and from my home, that is all you need to know.” She looked around the bridge. “Well, it doesn’t look like too much has changed here….” Her chair was different and when she sat in it, it had a holographic display as well as the view screen. “Well, this is different.” She said.

“Okay then. Fair enough. I’m not gonna pry about it. Besides, if you want to tell me, you will tell me.” Giving a glance around once they got to the bridge. “Not quite really that much, except for, yes, that. That’s new.”

“See if any of the other positions have been upgraded to the holo display as well as the physical console.” She asked as she went over and peeked into her ready room. Nothing much changed there except the color scheme, it was blue with an aquatic theme.
“That was my idea as well.” Moving up around to behind the command chairs and have a check at Tactical. See if that changed also.

Mardel watched as the holo displays could be toggled on or off depending on who was using it and what they wanted. “Okay then. New toys on the bridge. Where do you want to check out next? I want to see the arboretums and bazaar and the lounges, as well as medical, engineering, the new R&D and the fighter deck.” She started to head to the lift and then stopped. “Wait, Dean, what did they add weapon wise and defense wise?”

“Checking.” Moving his fingers over the console to turn the holo display on. Checking what it said. “Lets see, upgrades on all the phasers. An upgrade to the shell armor. The lance phaser. We have a cloaking device, of some sort.”

“Well, Sheme will have fun with that.” Mardel moved around to look as well. “What is that, down there in the corner? The little clock icon?”

“Probably and there’s a few other things, but I’m not going to look into all the details just yet.” Giving a look to what she was talking about, “What clock icon?”

Mardel pointed to it and then pushed it. On the display showed the current location of the ship as well as the stardate it was in. “Ah, I see. Killian said she was going to give us some extras. I am going to assume that this will tell us what stardate it is, no matter where in time and space we travel, as well as what our spatial coordinates are. That could be useful.”

“Hmm. Well, yeah, that is pretty useful. If it works right. We’ll see whatever they have done. Wonder what they’ve done to the engines.”

“Then let’s go find out.” Heads to the lift. “Are you getting excited to be back on the ship, or are you dreading it?”

“Why would I dread it?” Moving to join her in the lift. “Because of the apparent reputation we have as a death ship?”

“I don’t know. Some people burn out being in space for so long and after such a long vacation, don’t want to go back. I was just curious how you felt about it. Personally, while I enjoy being on a planet, I always get antsy and feel like too many people are watching me. So I like being in space where I only have to deal with so many people staring at me. It isn’t easy being green, you know.”

“I’m fine with it and I know my loved ones will be here, considering I don’t have much in the way of them here on Earth. You are right, a vacation here and there is nice.”

The lift stopped at main engineering and they got out. She paused as she stepped into main engineering and lifted both brows. “Wow, two warp cores active?” She walked over to the main engineering console and found the same holo-display and toggled it on and looked. “Okay, I guess they don’t want us to run out of power. They have dedicated generators for medical with back ups, also for the new weapons systems and defense systems, including the cloak. Dang. Anything else you see, Dean?”

Dean raised an eyebrow. “Okay...two..what the..” Moving over to them to look at them. “Interesting. Maybe we have Slipstream now as well.” He gave a poke a moment then came back behind the screen to the main Engineering console. “How long did they take to do this?? Check it out.” Motioning to the bio-neural gel pack display.

“Well, they have had a little over a month and full crews working on it around the clock. This is pretty amazing. It looks like we are pretty advanced at the moment. Makes me wonder what else they have upgraded. We should probably check out medical.”

“You know how many relays that they had to replace to do that though? I want to see what they have done for Science actually. We can check Medical first though.”

“Okay, let’s do science first and then medical and stop by counseling so you can check it out for Teaya.” Mardel said with a smile and headed back to the lift. “While we are in science, we should also take a look in on the new R&D labs.”

“I don’t see why they would have changed anything for Teaya to be honest,” Dean followed her yet again. “We can do that, then we can get to the other places you really wanted to check.”

Mardel chuckled softly. “You don’t know Teaya very well yet if you don’t think she didn’t ask for a few changes.” She waited until the lift opened on the science and R&D decks and looked around. Well, plenty of science labs. And I like the science symbol painted on the walls, letting you know where you are.”

“What do you mean I don’t know her that well?” Looking at her curiously, also at the science equipment. “That’s nice.”
“You will have to figure that out on our own, Dean.” She opened the doors to the R&D spaces and stopped. “Oh my. You could build your own small ship in this space and this is just one space. I am sure you will be wanting one of these spaces.”

Dean gave a nod, “Well of course. I do have that doctorate in a number of fields after all for it.” Smiling lightly and moving to look around. “Wow.”

Laughing, Mardel stood back and let Dean wander and look at all the available tools and programming to help the up and coming inventor bring their dreams to life.

Puts a tool and and holds his hands up, “Okay we just need to go. Otherwise I’m going to be in here for six days.”

“If you say so, Dean. Anything else you wanted to see in science?” She asked, still smiling over the child at Christmas look on Dean’s face.

Dean just shook his head. “I’ll look again later. Let’s keep going and see what else.”

“Okay then.” Mardel moved back to the lift and asked for medical. “So, what is going to be your first project?” She wondered what he would say or if he would say anything at all.

“I’m not sure to be honest. I hadn’t really thought about it yet. I suppose I should, however.”

“Hmmm, only if you want to.” The lift stopped and they stepped out at medical and looked around. “Ah, Nightwing will be so happy. They remembered her herbal garden and meditation wall with the running water. And look, there are now several EMH’s in both main sickbay as well as in the triage centers and overflow. More rooms for recovery and a dedicated nursery with a window for people to look in at the newborns as they walk past. Yes, she is going to be so happy.”

“They might have well just made us a new ship. All of this has been so renovated it's not even funny.”

Mardel nodded and walked over to the counseling rooms and stopped. “Oh wow, Teaya is going to flip over this.” In the middle of the main room was a small fountain and a zen rock garden around it. In each of the treatment rooms were soothing noise makers, tools of the trade, comfortable seating, and flameless candles that were scented to help soothe the mind. The entire department was now a calm and welcoming place that people wanted to visit rather than avoid. “Yes, Teaya will love this.” She said as she ran her fingers in the water of the fountain and then flicked it at Dean.

Dean made a little face at the flick, but also chuckled a little bit. “Yes she will, though I’m not sure about wanting to come to Sickbay part. Just the word most people don’t like.”

“Yes, but this isn’t sickbay, this is counseling. Sickbay is across the way and down the corridor. I am sure that there will be plenty of traffic between the two departments, but they are very different now. Nightwing has her ways of soothing people and Teaya has hers. Both are effective. Any other place you want to check out before we head to the arboretums and lounges and bazaar?”

“Well I need to check the hanger and inspect every craft but I can do that by myself later.”

“No, you are right, business before pleasure. Let’s go check out the fighter deck and delta flyers.” She smiled at him, and into the lift they went. “So, you and Daniel will be commanding the flight wing together. Are you ready for that?”

“Why wouldn’t I be, but really, it’ll take hours to inspect those and make sure everything is in order.”

“I believe you, Dean. But I still want to stop in and see what they have set up and see the flyers first hand.”

“I don’t see any problem with that. I can do all that later.”

The lift stopped and they stepped out on the new flight deck. She looked around and saw rooms with simulators for practice and places for those who would work on the ship. Then she went through the doors and stopped. “Oh, those are large. I wasn’t sure what to expect.”

“The actual fighters? Yeah a little bit. The flyers need the extra room for more people though.”

“I see. Well, I will leave you and Daniel to inspect these and such.” She slowly backed out of the room, not sure she liked the look of them and glad they were on their side. “Let’s head to Mystique now.” She said softly.

“Of course,” Dean turned on heel to head back to the turbolift. “You want to fly one don’t you?”

Shaking her head. “No, I really don’t. I leave that to people who enjoy such activities. I know that you and Daniel enjoy that kind of thing so I am happy to leave it in your capable hands.” She said with heartfelt sincerity. Then she joined Dean in the lift and headed to Mystique.

“Fair enough then.” Smiling to her.

She stepped out of the lift and into Mystique and took a deep, cleansing breath. The tropical arboretum with the hot springs and sandy pathways and over sized undergrowth and pletheria of blossoms made her feel as at home as anyplace other than Orion. She always loved this arboretum and was happy they hadn’t changed anything. “It’s beautiful, as always.”

“Yes, it is.” Taking a slight walkabout from Mardel to look and then rejoin her.

“Are you going to be bringing Teaya here, Dean? There are private hot springs, with concealing screens if you want.” She said with a smile and then since they weren’t that far, rode the lift to Salty Whistle. She was happy with the changes. The bar was beautiful and there was a large kitchen behind the doors behind the bar. There were booths, music on demand, pool tables, dart boards, and seating at the bar. It was wonderful.

“I would assume at some point that we’d end up coming here. Why wouldn’t we?”

“I hope you do. It’s a nice place for a date.” She said. “I’m happy to see the improvements to Salty Whistle. I only hope it doesn’t change the clam chowder. I think we’ve seen enough. I’m happy with the improvements. What do you think?” She asked him, sitting at the bar.

“It looks a little better,” sitting next to her. “Why would they bother your clam chowder? That would be blasphemy.”

Mardel laughed. “I would certainly think so.” She looked down at her hands. “Dean, I’m pregnant again. I know you have probably guessed, but now I’m confirming it. I have another five months before I give birth. Will you be able to help out during these next few months?”

“What do you mean again? Really? Okays. Well of course I will be able to help out. Why do you think you made me your Executive Officer after all.”

“Yes, again. I lost the first one, a year ago. We tried again. This is my second pregnancy, I am hoping to carry to term. It’s why I haven’t said anything to anyone yet. I wanted to make sure I made it into the second trimester. And thank you, Dean, for being willing to help. Well, I think we should give the green light to allow the rest of the crew and civilians to come aboard. Are we ready for our next adventure?”

“I am sorry about that. I knew about this one, remember. I figured it out before anything was said.” Giving a nod, “Yes, we are ready.”

“Okay. Let’s go meet them in the transporter rooms. Oh wait, before we go there, let’s split up for a moment. I need to check out my quarters and you should check out yours. Then we will meet up in transporter room one. Okay?”

Dean’s eyebrows came together a little bit, why would he need to check his? “Sure, we can do that. Fifteen minutes?”

“Sounds good.” Mardel said and left for the captain’s quarters. She knew that all the senior officer quarters had been remodelled. She opened the door to her quarters and smiled. It was now built for a family with several bedrooms, a couple of offices, the living room, a play room, a kitchen, a dining room, and two bathrooms, one attached to the master suite. She went to the special room she requested and found it exactly as she asked. Then she took her special crates and put them in the room. She didn’t bother opening the crates just now. Then she walked out and locked and secured the door so that no one but her could get in. She stopped to look at the colors and was satisfied. Then she left to go meet Dean at the transporter room.

His wasn’t near as big. It was there however to be expanded on if necessary. Just the main room was bigger than his whole quarters before. It was really good and more room both. There wasn’t much flair to it, but that could be for them to talk about when Teaya gets to see it. Moving her in was going to be nice. She certainly have room to work with. Locking things up and heading to rejoin Mardel.

Mardel greeted Dean with a smile. “Do you like your remodeled quarters? I think the idea was to make sure the crew was happy. I do believe all the crew quarters had small changes in them to make them feel a little more like home.”

“Mine has sections for add-on modules just in case.”

“That is good to know. I’m glad you like it. Okay, I’ll let you send the signal. Let’s get the crew on board.” Mardel said and waved to the control panel to let Dean work the magic.

“I think they will all be happy with it.” Dean gave a nod and moved over to play with the controls, the holographic pop-up. Setting the locators for everyone and linking them to the ones in the cargo bays as well. That way it won’t take as long to get everyone on board. “All ready.”

“Energize.”

 

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