Getting Underway

Posted on Thu Jan 6th, 2011 @ 10:50am by Captain Nathan Cowell MD

Mission: Hippocratic Hijacking
Location: Bridge, USS Arizona
Timeline: Two hours after 'Brief Briefing for those to be Briefed'

As the two hour window Captain Nathan Cowell had given his crew to prepare for departure came to a close, the bridge had gone from the nearly dead compartment it had been when they first docked to the hub of bustling activity. As the Captain exited his Ready Room, he took note of the numerous bodies that were now filling seats, making the last minute adjustments to the ship and equipment within that were required to go from a docked state to a fully self-sufficient status.

"Where are we at, Ms. Marion?" Doc Cowell asked as he stepped around the small railing that flanked his chair.

As Nathan settled into his chair, the Operations Officer began her report, "Engineering reports our warp core is powered up and we are now running under our own power. Umbilical supports have been released, and docking clamps are standing by for your order. All primary ship systems are up and functioning normally."

"Excellent," Doc Cowell said as he swiveled slightly to regard the back of Ens. Akron's head, "Helm, set your course for the last known position of the North Star, maximum warp."

"Aye sir," the Ensign said as he made the appropriate inputs into the navigational computer, "Course plotted and laid in, Captain."

"What's our estimated arrival time?" Nathan asked out of curiosity, never having bothered to learn how to make such grandiose calculations in his head.

"Approximately one day, seven hours at maximum warp," the man replied.

"Good..." the Captain said, leaning back and swiveling to regard the back of Lt. JG Marion's head once more, "Liz, release the docking clamps."

The woman smirked at the familiar abbreviation of her first name. She'd been with Captain Cowell since the Nobel, though she'd been enlisted back then. Her ability to not only ignore her Captain's off the wall commentary but also to play along when it mattered had earned her a good deal of respect from Nathan, and a fair few opportunities she wouldn't have had otherwise. The one thing she didn't have to worry about was the feeling that she hadn't earned everything she'd gotten while in his service. Familiarity aside, Marion worked twice as hard because of Nathan's preference to have her around as 'back-up' to expel the notion that she was indeed nothing more than his 'pet'.

"Docking clamps clear, sir," Elizabeth replied without looking back to him.

"Ensign, take us out... and try not to rub up against anything, this is a new paint job..." Cowell grumbled.

Ens. Akron's fingers began to shake slightly, the sudden weight of the Captain's expectations crashing down upon him. This would be the first time he'd actually disembarked from a station under Nathan's watchful eye, and Akron was petrified of the prospect of looking like a fool in front of him. Lt. Marion looked over and took notice of the nervous tremor and reached over to cover his left hand.

"Relax, he's not going to kill you..." she said with a reassuring smile.

Despite his skepticism regarding the truth of that statement, Akron could feel the tension slipping away from his body and he managed to follow his orders without scuffing the paint.

The Arizona slipped out of the docking area and into open space effortlessly, the skilled piloting of Ens. Akron ensured that they didn't run aground of various protrusions of the station as well as other vessels in and around the complex. Once at a respectable distance, the familiar 'spinning up' of the warp nacelles could be heard, followed by the unmistakable recoil as the ship catapulted itself into high warp. The entire procedure took less than two minutes, and the USS Arizona was well on her way toward the Braken star system and the mysteries that awaited her there...