New arrival

Posted on Thu Aug 12th, 2021 @ 5:09am by Lieutenant Commander Tyler Driskill & Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: The Boneyard Heist
Location: Shuttlebay One

The flight to his new assignment had been a long one. He had forgotten how cramped most shuttles were. He gave a quick "good bye" to a young lady who wasn't getting off the shuttle and exited quickly. It seemed like the second he departed the shuttle, it was taking off again.

Driskill had been assigned as the Executive Officer aboard the USS Chimera a role he last held sometime ago. Ignoring the hustle and business of the shuttle bay he requested "location of the Captain" the computer gave it's standard reply and location of the ships Commanding Officer.

****Shuttlebay One****

Tyler only knew he was to report to a Commander Calypso Skyie and that the Commander was in the smaller of the two shuttle bays the Chimera housed. Shouldn't be too hard to find a Commander in a shuttle bay, Tyler thought to himself.

She was underneath the Razor Interceptor, low slung and perhaps a foot off the ground. All that could be seen was a pair of legs and a hand that was trying in vain to reach a pair of pliers that were sitting a couple inches out of reach. "Come on..." She muttered to herself, looking out where a beagle was also laying on the floor, a bright yellow tennis ball trapped between her muzzle and a leg, watching her. "Artemis, come here and get this for me." The female voice commanded, pleaded even.

The beagle just watched her, huffed once and didn't move. "All right, be that way, dumb bitch..." The voice called. Then the dog's head moved, coming up and turning to watch Tyler as he approached, tail twitching slightly, though it was trapped beneath her body. Her nose twitched, sniffing the air and decided that Tyler was no threat and laid her head down, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. From underneath the fighter, Cally saw the pair of feet moving and Artemis's movement, "Hey, hey you! Can you hand those pliers to me? I'm holding something in place, and I just can't reach."

"Sure" he looked around at the several set's of tools laying out and grabbed the requested tool. "Here you are" he said reaching through and handing the tool to the young woman working on the fighter.

"Thanks!" The voice under the craft exclaimed, "More useful than that one over there." She used the pliers to point at the hound, who took that time to let out a loud 'Snrrrrrx' of a snore as if on cue, then they vanished and a slight sound of stressing metal was heard before a sigh and a blonde slid out from underneath the craft and sat up, "Thanks again." She looked up, "And helllllll-oo, how can I help you?" She was wearing a flight suit, unadorned with anything that could resemble identification.

Tyler gave a smile because of the remark about the dog and then locked eyes with the blonde that slid out from under the fighter. Raising an eye brow "I was actually looking for Commander Skyie" he had a tone to his voice, hoping she could point him in the right direction.

Calypso began to chew on her lower lip as she looked into his eyes, then reached down into one of the many pockets on the flight suit and pulled out a couple pieces of candy and popped it in her mouth, holding one out towards him, "Want one?" She asked, then continued on, "Well, this is Commander Skyie's fighter, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask who's looking for her?"

Tyler shook his head, declining the offer of the candy. He had to take a deep breath and remember to keep his cool, he had been out of the game far to long "I'm reporting in as First Officer." There was a pause "Do you know where she is?" he asked, really just wanting to get this over with.

Cally shook her own head to clear it, "You've found her." She hauled herself to her feet and stood up, finding that she still had to look up several inches, "My you're a tall one..." She worked to remember what all was in the file she'd been sent on him. She used chewing on the candy as a way to buy some time, tucking the other one back in the pocket. Older than her, was at the Academy? She shook her head again, because it was all fuzzy, "Sorry, wool-gathering a bit.. Feeling peckish? Want something to eat, to drink? We can discover the replicator together if you'd like?"

"I could use something to drink" he replied and shook his head remembering she was his superior so he quickly added "ma'am."

"Don't worry about that ma'am bullshit." She remarked, glancing down, then just left the tools where they were. There wouldn't be any harm in it, "Artemis, come." This time, the beagle hopped straight to her feet, grabbed the ball and trotted up to her right side, ready to go, tip of her tail flapping back and forth, "Especially without anyone else on board but those maintenance weenies... Gods they're annoying, they don't want to do anything that they don't have planned out and we lose them in under a week." As they started towards the door, she stuck her hand out, "Calypso Calliope Skyie, call sign was Calamity, so just call me Cally, it's the best way." She flashed a smile, "This one here is Artemis, my fearless hunting dog. So you're Lieutenant Commander Tyler Driskill, my Exec and essentially alter ego." She gave him a look, "Been that rank for about fifteen years, right?"

Tyler let out a laugh "that I am" she leaned down and gave Artemis a quick scratch on her head and then turned his attention back to Cally. "It's a long story" he tapped the rank pips on his collar and looked over at Cally.

Cally chuckled at that, "Aren't they all? Mine's very much the same way, long as hell. I'll make it shorter though: I started off as a Marine, just an ordinary troop, before I started flying shuttles, then fighters, then after a really rough crash, learned how to fly starship and got a transfer to the Fleet and been beached for the last year and a half after my last Exec slot got blown away with the Perseus while we were pirate hunting." She shook her head, "Admiral Towers gave me Chimera here and I know he's trying to make me fail to achieve my orders, but I'll be damned if I do that." She grinned, "How about you?"

"Security and Tactical were my paths" he paused and looked into her eyes "had to step into XO spot when one of my superiors was killed, so I held onto to the XO spot for a few years and here we are."

There was definitely more to that story, something he wasn't ready to talk about to someone that was barely more than a stranger, so her solution: Don't be a stranger. "Tyler, it's all right if I call you Tyler?, I play a lot of tennis, it's just kindof fun for me, I swim for a couple kilometers every morning just to get myself moving in the right direction. Do you swim?"

"Not regularly" he replied with a smile. She could call him whatever she wanted she was the boss.

Calypso stopped dead in her tracks before they reached the mess hall's sensor range to trigger the doors and turned to face him, "I'm Betazoid." She told him, "No, I can't read your mind, I can only feel some base... Feelings, here and there, when I'm 'active', call it. I don't do that much, I'm not doing it now, because back when I was an assault shuttle pilot, I used that ability for the thrills and I felt an entire company of troops I was landing die in an instant. All at the same moment." She placed a hand on his chest, "And even without using that, I can tell you're tense and holding back."

She clenched that hand into a fist, "Right now, we're the only two of the crew on board and you and I have to trust each other. I don't mean just on a professional level, I mean one hundred percent all or nothing trust. That's not me talking as Commander Skyie, Commanding Officer of the USS Chimera, that's me talking as Calypso, as Cally. I'm not a spring chicken, neither are you, so stop trying to protect me from you or you from me. Trust me, you are going to learn things about me and my past that might horrify you, why? Because I need you to know about me. I need you, as my Exec, to be able to guess what I'm about to do or what I would do if I'm not right there. WE are a team. And believe me, there's nothing you can tell me about yourself that can scare me. I was in the front lines as a troop during the Dominion War, I've faced Jem'Hadar assaults with nothing but my fellow Marines and a pulse rifle in my hands. So I want an answer: Is it all right if I call you Tyler? If you'd rather not, that's fine, but answer The. Damned. Question." She punctuated each of the last three words with a soft thump to his chest.

"Tyler's fine" the Executive Officer replied with a nod.

Cally exhaled deeply, patting him twice, "Thanks, Tyler." She said quietly, "I swear to you, I'm not crazy, I'm not broken down, this is my first command. It's my one shot, so said Towers, and I don't want to fall short." She finally let them keep going into the mess hall, "I'm not a dictator, I'm not going to torpedo someone's career because they make a mistake, or because of what happened in their past. Can you let your defenses down with me? We've got nothing but time, well, I'd say a couple days before the Admiral's first round of reprobates gets here?" She smiled up at him, eyes glittering with amusement.

He liked Cally "You've got it." he said making eye contact with her. Something about her made him feel he could trust her with his life and the rest of the crew.

She grinned, "Right, then..." She glanced around the mess hall, obviously ignored by the maintenance crew, dust and dirt everywhere. She sighed, turned on her heel and left the room without a second glance, "My quarters, which are near your quarters, at least I know THAT'S cleaned up... By the way, how do you like your coffee?"

"Black" Tyler replied with a smile and followed Cally.