Landing Shuttle One

Posted on Sat Sep 4th, 2021 @ 9:50pm by Captain Natalya Markova & Captain Calypso Skyie

Mission: The Boneyard Heist
Location: Shuttle Bay One

Calypso watched the shuttle come in for an easy landing and spin expertly in midair to land gently on its skids, but the designation was right, which meant this one had a very important person in board. Cally reached in and grabbed a hard candy and popped it in her mouth as she waited for the hatch to open, assuming an at ease stance. A Marine officer, with a record that she herself sort of understood, flaws and all.

Nat hated shuttles, and transports, and small craft in general. Throughout the trip, she had been antsy, and restless, fidgeting the whole time. When the ship had come into view, she had breathed a sigh of relief.

The departure from Earth had been partly a decision, and partly forced. The recent altercation in the bar had woken her up to the fact she could no longer stay on Earth, stay around civilians. Stay... in one place. She had hoped that living in London, and working in Paris was enough of a separation to allow her past to stay dead. Nope. It had found her. Found her, and tried to beat her to death.

When the offer had come in for a transfer off-world, Nat had jumped at it. Well, 'offer' was a stretch. Transfer or resign. Those were the choices. She had chosen to leave Earth, and get lost amongst the stars. Even if it meant getting in a shuttle.

Now, with the softest of landings, and the rear hatch descending, the marine picked up her duffel bag, grabbed her smaller shoulder satchel, and headed down.

She saw one person waiting, and once Nat was close enough, she set everything on the deck, and came to attention. "Ma'am, First Lieutenant Natalya Markova reporting for duty " While the nose was still slightly crooked, she was thankful that the swelling in her eye had gone down enough to be... somewhat presentable. A darkened shade told of the bruising that had been there.

Calypso returned a parade-ground salute to the marine, quickly, but precise, “Welcome aboard Chimera, Lieutenant, I’m Commander Calypso Skyie, boss-lady on board, but more importantly, I used to be a First Lieutenant myself, a flier rather than a ground officer, but we marines need to keep the rest of the Fleet on their feet, don’t we?” She quirked a smile, “May I show you to your quarters?” Reaching out a hand for a shake.

Taking the woman's hand, Nat offered a smile as she relaxed her stance. "That we do, ma'am. Someone's gotta be there when they drop their ass into the fire." No-one mentioned the fact her new skipper would be a former marine. "Gotta love a flier too, getting everyone out of dodge." The memory did cause a mior twitch through her facial expression, but she wiped it as quick as she could. If the Commander was being this nice, odds are she probably hadn't gotten to Nat's cluster-fuck. She wasn't eager to open up that dialogue on day one.

“We’ll, there’s a reason I’m in the Fleet rather than flying for the Corps anymore.” Cally admitted, reaching down to grab the duffel for her new arrival, “And it goes along with my call sign of ‘Calamity.’ My last mission flying a fighter ended up with me misjudging my landing path trying to nurse my damaged Razor back onto Essex. Made a bit of a mess of the flight deck, about the same of myself and grateful the ship had a good doc.” She sighed, “And other reasons for not flying assault shuttles anymore as well, though for those, it wasn’t…” She cut herself off, changing the subject, “I’ve already gotten word on your troops’s arrival, by the way, they’re on the way along with a company we’re just transporting to the starbase, your senior non-com will be riding herd on them. I was wondering, could I use the troops to help do a thorough cleaning of the ship? We’re not in the best shape yet.”

In some ways, it was nice to learn the skipper was just as fallable as she was. Natalya relaxed a bit more as they left the shuttle bay. "We all have our flaws, and make our own mistakes." She said, with a wry smile. "And I daresay, we all get into our own scrapes, and indeed need a doc or two along the way." As they walked, she took a look around. There was certainly a sense that the ship had been left, and although the air processors were working, she could have sworn there was still a trace of dust in the air. "My marines are your marines, commander. We follow your orders."

“I figure the company should be able to do a fairly decent job of getting at least the worst out the airlock.” Cally said with a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t have been beyond ordering it, but someone willing to work with her on first meeting? That was always good. "So, Natalya, what made you come to this particular ship? I noted that it was a transfer request rather than a designation for assignment when I got the notification.”

There it was. Nat cast a sideways glance at the woman walking beside her, and wondered how best to answer. "Had to get away from Earth, mostly. I just needed some space, pardon the pun, and when the offer for the Chimera came up, I jumped at it."

There was more to it and Cally didn’t even need to loosen her death grip on her empathic sense to know it, but she also recognized that she didn’t NEED to know what it was, at least not yet. “Well, normal we’re the booby prize for personnel, at least that’s what the Admirals in personnel have made their desires known as. Of course, I don’t intend for us to be that way. Once we can get underway and start becoming a true crew, get rid of the really bad apples and shine the rest up, I’ve got no doubt we’ll be able to handle anything thrown at us.”

Nat offered a genuine smile at that. "Trust me, Commander, this ship is far from last place for me. I would have taken anything to get away from Earth. Though, if Starfleet wants to send us their rotten apples, let's make apple pie, and show them what we can do "

“For now, I’ve decided to put you on this deck, with the rest of the senior officer quarters, but once we decide where we’re going to set up your own armory, shooting range and the like, you will obviously have the option of relocating down to that location if you so desire.” They stepped off the turbolift and to one of the closer doors, chosen by Cally to give the marines CO the shortest path to where her troops would be quartered in the interim, “Take today to get settled in, get used to the layout of the ship, but by the end of first watch tomorrow, I’d like to have your idea on where you want your people located and we’ll get working on setting it up.” Cally smiled brightly, “Of course, if you’d rather, you can always hunt me down and we could figure it out together, we’re finally at the point that I’m doing less of the actual work myself, so I’m more available.”

Nat's eyes actually sparkled at the thought of getting to find her own corner of the ship, so to speak. "Thank you, Commander. I'll take a look around during my morning jog." It had been awile since she had had the chance to really let loose. St James' Park in London was... okay, but way too open. She needed a tight circuit, a loop that had an exact length. Order. If she was to use this opportunity, nad let her bad habits, and past behind her, she needed discipline again. "I will be sure to come find you when I have an idea."

“My door is usually open, my comm is always on, Natalya.” Cally let her know as they reached the door, holding the duffel bag out into its owner, “But I’d get that shiner looked at before you hit the sack tonight, it’s good to know you can take a hit and keep on ticking, but I don’t want anyone thinking you’re an easy target.” Her eyes glittered slightly, “And please don’t put any of the Fleeters in sickbay if you can help it? Unless you want a crack at my list of… Troublemakers?”

Natalya gave the woman a warm smile. "No Fleeters were harmed in the making of this." She said, waving a hand to her eye. "Only a couple of civilians who wanted a punching bag." And even then, only one was injured, and not severely. "I'll definitely get myself into sickbay before I bunk down, thank you. If you have any serious... Troublemakers, I'm sure something can be done. Might not even have to hurt them, either."

"Perhaps, I just want to make sure they know we're serious, though." Cally patted her on the shoulder, "If you need anything, let me know."

"Will do, Commander." Nat answered as she watched the woman ead off. Placing a foot on the end of her duffel bag, Nat slid it into the room and stepped in after it, letting the doors close behind her. "Home sweet home, as they say." She said to the walls around her.