A Time for Every Purpose

Posted on 30 Oct 2018 @ 4:32pm by Commander Terry Walsh & Lieutenant Commander Gemma Alexander & Ensign Aurilia Moretti

1,433 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Fractured
Location: Flight Deck

Having gotten his radiation treatment and a nice visit with the Medical staff, Terry was now back where he felt at home. The Deck and the fighters were more familiar to him than any other part of the ship. There were people milling about, most on their way to or from Sickbay. Others had already begun working on getting their things back in order. He gave a nod to those that addressed him as he walked through the deck. Sure, he could have been in his main office right now going over the reports that he was sure were starting to roll in. But Terry liked to get information straight from the sources. After all, a report on a PADD was only words. This way, he could see reactions, hear changes in vocal tone, really learn from those who'd experienced the reports. He didn't get this option often, but thought it would be best to make time for it after such an event.

Happy to be back on duty and in her proper time Gemma was heading for her craft when she saw Walsh. Smiling she shifted direction and, when she got within range, "Great to see you up and about Boss". She was actually relieved to see everyone, ghost ships were not her idea of a good time.

Aurilia entered after having been treated and the young pilot looked like she was positively glowing as she approached the tall bald Commander and Archer. "Hey you two," she said with a smile. "Ready to rock and roll?"

"Wow," said Terry, "you two seem in pretty good spirits after this...debacle. And thanks Archer. It's great to be up and about. And you, Tango, ready to rock it already? I must have missed something big in your timelines."

"Not really," the slender redhead said. "It was pretty depressing, but me and Archer got to shoot up a small ship that was parked near the Black Hawk while we were there. I'm just in a good mood to be back."

Archer nodded, the ghost ship and the dead bodies was not pleasant to dwell but it had been nice to feel like they were doing something by crippling the enemy ship. It also reminded Gemma of just how fleeting this all was. "It was pretty serious there for awhile." She admitted, a hint of seriousness in her voice, it affected her more than she let on but as usual tried to stay in the moment, "But we got through it, never gave up hope." Then her voice shifted into a wry humor, "I don't know if you know this but Starfleet people are stubborn, pilots are stubborn, Starfleet pilots?" She pretended to shudder.

Terry laughed. "We most certainly can be a stubborn bunch. But I want to hear more about this ship that you two got to shoot up and the situation behind it all." His mind went immediately to his and Kelly's escapades in their fighters. He wondered if the damage they had seen was caused by his own Squadron. "Was the Black Hawk involved in the firefight?"

"No," Aurilia replied. "The ship only got a bit damaged from space debris when the shields were down."

Archer nodded in agreement with the other pilot, "We found this craft in standby mode that we determined was how a couple of intruders got on board. We slagged it's weapons and engines but left it standing. It was an older, battered looking scout. About the size of a runabout." She paused, thinking on the timeline, "We were out there because the Senior Officer, Dr. Kij, figured we might have to evac on account of some radiation that might cause death so we were sent to scout around."

"Okay, lets take this conversation somewhere quieter," Terry replied. He nodded toward a nearby room and continued while walking. "Some things are starting to make a little more sense. I bet there won't be any records from the different times, but maybe we can piece some of it together. Ensign Khan and I were tasked with recon in our timeline. We saw some pretty interesting things out there."

So used to tuning it out was she, that until Walsh pointed out she'd not consciously noticed the usual controlled chaos around them. She glanced around and nodded then fell into step with him as he talked.

Aurilia followed the other two to the room and went in. "Wherever and whenever we were, it wasn't good," she said. "But we're home where we belong now."

"That's right. And I have reports to do on the whole thing," replied Terry. "Firsthand information is good for that. Especially while it's still fresh. So I hope you two don't mind some questions about it." He gestured to the table for the two female pilots to sit.

"Fair enough Boss." Gemma replied and took her seat, curious what he'd been up too but willing to wait to hear the story.

Aurilia took a seat and gave the tall bald Commander her attention. "I want to hear this."

"First of all, congratulations on taking care of the small scout ship. I saw that vessel in my time and it looked like it had been through a fairly decent battle. And now I know that it was my highly trained pilots hat did the job. Keep that up, you two," said Terry. "Now, you said intruders were on board. I don't recall knowing anything about intruders in our timeline. What happened there?"

Gemma glanced at Aurilia then back at Walsh, "Not much of a battle. We took out weapons and engines as a safety precaution." She was forced to admit but pleased at the preciseness in which they'd handled it. A bit too much energy or a millimeter off and they might have destroyed the little craft, "As for intruders Dr. Kij would know more we were on patrol at the time but as I heard it they hunted down three intruders who killed themselves rather then be taken." She stopped there somewhat annoyed the hard data had not survived the merging of timelines but supposed it made sense.

Terry nodded. "Then all of that intruder information will probably be in her report. Outside of that space not-much-of-a-battle, is there anything of importance that comes to mind that you think would need to be in a report?" The Commander was sure that he'd have plenty of things to read regarding this whole incident. And everyone would have their own specifics. If they were alive to experience them. This was his chance, however, to encourage two of pilots to think outside the box of 'this is my only job.'

"We need to utilize the generators in the Flight bay to keep the fighters ready no matter what if the power goes off again," Aurilia stated. "The pre-launch warm up took forever."

"I think we can arrange that," Terry said. "We might be able to request some extra to store down here, too. Good idea." He turned to Gemma. "Do you have anything?"

"Securing coms and sensors. We had no power so Winner and I had to get a makeshift sensor and com net using my fighter. I know being reliant on tech is the nature of our particular beast but if we can do something to lessen having to wing it..." Then she smiled briefly as she realized the pun before continuing, "I think we'd be better off."

"Okay, get me some plans that you and Winner used to build it," said Terry. "I'll get them to Engineering, but I can't say when they'll get to it. They have a lot of stuff on their plate right now. Big ship and all. I'll get an order together to have the generators better facilitated in the bay. Maybe stored closer to the fighters. If neither of you have anything else to add, I think we have plenty to keep us busy."

"Understood, Sir," Aurilia said before she turned and headed off to find the nearest crew chief.

Gemma smiled, "I can write a report with the boring details, I hope you'll do the same? I get bits and pieces from others but no full debrief yet." It might help them later to know and to be fair, she was curious.

Terry watched Aurilia leave and head off, he expected, to the busyness he mentioned. "Of course," Terry said, standing. "I'm sure there'll be lots of boring reports written and read over the next several days. In the meantime, we have a squadron to look to."

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