Her New World

Posted on Fri Mar 19th, 2021 @ 7:42pm by Lieutenant JG FalenvralLi Zh’kyhrihr & Lieutenant Commander Thy'lissa Shan
Edited on on Sat Mar 20th, 2021 @ 10:38pm

Mission: By Artemis' Bow
Location: SB621 - USS Athena
Timeline: MD-01
1524 words - 3 OF Standard Post Measure

"Starbase 621 Traffic Control, this is Ensign Li returning in the shuttle Miyazaki along your bearing 111-mark-4 requesting a berth in main shuttlebay." She watched the display for any unusual traffic patterns along her regular approach as she returned to the station that had been home for the past two years. Yet another milk run. Dropping off a trade delegation on one planet, picking up supplies from another depot, then back to do it - or something similar probably - tomorrow. Not that she minded the company on the way out - or the freedom to play whatever music she pleased on the way back.

After a delay about 10 seconds longer than she'd expected, Control responded, "Acknowledged, Ensign. I have you lined up for berth 17A, Main Hangar. Report to the Chief before you go off shift."

She frowned at that. She'd been 'on shift' for over a day now. Usually when she checked back in from a routine trip out she was free until she had to report to the Chief for her next assignment. She drew in a slow breath to respond, "Understood, Control," and settled the shuttle in for the Station's tractor beams to finish her landing. There wasn't much to debrief, but that was the boss's prerogative. Not like she'd done anything to get into trouble. Right?

Once the deck crew had cleared her shuttled and she’d signed off to release it, she strolled along the walkway between berths and the launch area, unzipping her flight suit. The hanger was usually comfortable enough for most Federation species. A little warm for her, but tolerable. Now she was starting to sweat.

“Hey!” shouted the gruff voice of one of her fellow pilots. “Cong-” a member of the ground crew prepping his shuttle elbowed him and said something. “Welcome back, Li,” he finished with a grin.

She waved, confused, and proceeded to the Chief’s office. “Boss...es.” she said, seeing that in addition to Lt. Boule, the Chief of Flight Ops for the station, Ensign T’ara, the CAG for her shuttle wing, was in the little office. “What’s up?”

“Come on in, Li. I’ll let you get off duty and into a shower soon, this’ll just be a minute. We got some news about you while you were out that’s going to impact all of us.”

Li counted 5 full in-and-out breaths of them sitting there in silence waiting for him to continue. Finally, it was T’ara that couldn’t take it any longer. Not breaking her stoic facade, she whispered, “Sadist. Just tell her!”

He broke into a grin. “Your transfer orders came in. All that fighting I did to get you into the CAG spot before they brought T’ara in with her ‘spotless record’ and ‘the XO’s full trust and confidence' and you’re leaving us.” He handed over a PADD showing her new orders.

“The Admiralty is honored to… Flight Control Officer on the Athena!” She looked up from the PADD, from one officer to the other. “That’s a Prometheus, isn’t it?”

“I didn’t check,” the Chief shrugged. “She’ll be your ship to fly now though, so you’d better study up. They’re scheduled to dock here for repairs in a couple days.”

“Read on, Li. There’s more to the message,” T’ara said. The Ensign ducked her head and scrolled through the message while her Chief pulled something out of the desk drawer.

“I took the liberty of replicating these for you. Congratulations, Lieutenant.” He pushed the small, open box toward her. One gold pip. One hollow pip.

After her shower, It didn’t take long to pack. As much as this had been home for two years, she’d spent as much time on shuttles as she had in the room she shared with 5 other Ensigns. Some personal clothes, a couple uniforms and flight suits, a handful of mementos. It wasn’t much, but then real value didn’t come from things you could pack up and take with you.

She spent more time saying goodbye to the friends she’d made on the station. Some fellow pilots. Flight crew that had kept her flying safe. Other people from the station she’d spent long, fun off-shifts with. She even managed to grab some holo time repeating the toughest recorded descent using traditional skis on Rura Penthe, cutting her personal best time by a solid 3 seconds. Plus studying and running sims against her new ship.

When the time came for her transfer to be effective, she put on a uniform sporting shiny new LTJG insignia, shouldered her duffle, and walked along a docking ring she'd been around countless times. Then she turned left at a dock she'd never passed through before and entered her new world.

The sentry scanned her in, welcomed her aboard, and directed her to Lieutenant Commander Shan's office. She knew the way so she confidently strode to her new boss's door and triggered the chime.

Thy'lissa summoned her in with a quick call, rising from the desk and smiling professionally at the young Andorian woman in front of her. It was pleasing to see another of her species on board; it was a rarity to encounter another out in the fleet.

"Lt Zh'kyhrihr." She tilted her head and shifted her antennae in a friendly - if formal - greeting. "Welcome aboard. I trust the transfer was smooth? How are you feeling about stepping-up into the big leagues?"

As soon as she saw the Andorian officer behind the door, Li’s gaze shifted to the floor, her antennae nearly quivering with wary attention. Hearing her clan name from blue lips again felt like a twist of her antennae. “I beg your pardon, Commander. It’s… it’s Lieutenant Li, ma’am.” She glanced up into the boss’s eyes for a moment, assessing her reaction - to being corrected in general and to her own approach to an Andorian name in a Starfleet form of address - before resuming her attentive, submissive stance. “Reporting for duty as Flight Control Officer on Athena.”

"Of course - Lieutenant Li." Evidently the new arrival was a little more traditional than Thy'lissa expected. Not always a bad thing, but useful to know about. "Welcome aboard. I'm told the Captain asked for you specifically - though it's not been made clear why. He has a whole speech about 'competent, capable and courageous' that he likes to roll out for the new arrivals. Could be that he sees something of that in you. Either way, the roster has you on the alpha shift which means during most alert situations you're going to be the one at the helm."

Li’s eyes darted left and right as she processed the news that her new Captain had asked for her. After the starbase’s XO had blocked her advancement several times she had assumed that her transfer had come through simply because the right billet came up while her request was active, not that someone had actually wanted her specifically. “I appreciate that, ma’am. And I look forward to the opportunity.” She dared a look into her superior’s face for a longer moment, seeing none of the judgement she feared there. “If he was looking for an ace at the stick, he found one.” She didn’t think of herself as a braggart - certainly not compared to other pilots - but it was a comfortable space and she found herself grinning.

"Let's hope your flying is as fast as your tongue then, Lieutenant; No doubt you'll get a chance to prove it before long. It's not quite the same as flying fighters and shuttles, but you're qualified enough." Thy'lissa smiled. "You should make sure you introduce yourself to some of the people you're working with of course. Chief Engineer Keating would be a good start - since you'll be needing her to keep your engines running."

“Copy that, Commander,” Li began, using her bravado to fake a level of comfort she still didn’t feel. Her grin faltered though before she confessed, “Actually, as to that… um. You know, on the starbase I mostly dealt with the flight crews who were working in the bay beside me. And before that it was a lot of small craft so, again I was right there with an engineer or a mechanic. How does that work on a ship this size? Should I make an appointment to see the Chief Engineer? Would that be the right approach?”

"I'm not sure you need an appointment, Lieutenant. Go drop in, I'm sure she won't mind - it's a lot like what you're used to. The flight bay is just a lot...bigger...in this situation." Thy'lissa motioned to the bulkheads. "A few more walls is all."

"Right. I'll be sure to do that then, thank you. I guess you can run all the sims you want of a control panel but some stuff you just have to figure out."

"Words to live by, Lieutenant," Thy'lissa smiled. "That will be all."

 

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