The Final Voyage of the Cavalier? (Part II)

Posted on Thu Mar 16th, 2023 @ 9:25am by Commodore Peter Murphy & Cadet Senior Grade Daniel Weaver & Cadet Senior Grade Meghan Stefani & Lieutenant Commander Vladimir Borovich & Cadet Junior Grade Renae Villanova

1,129 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: The Cadet Cruise

[CONTINUED]


[Below Decks]

Renae Villanova was happy to be in the science department for launch--mostly. Part of her would love to be on the bridge, but Commander Borovich terrified her. He rarely smiled and his glare when you messed up was fierce. And, if she were honest, her grades were just good enough to get her on this cruise and she was happy to be here at all. She watched the screen to make sure nothing hiccupped. Later, she was sure, she'd have time on the bridge--when she wouldn't be under as much pressure as she would be at launch.

While the bridge crew began went through the process of getting the ship underway, Thal was down in the sickbay with Lieutenant Commander Janvier and the rest of the medical staff and cadets. They’d spent the last hour or so in the Commanders office, as Janvier walked Thal through the CMO’s role.

[Bridge]

Cadet Weaver took his place by the Tactical Station, behind the Captain and First Officers chair. He saw no other place to be in this situation. He was as eager to get this tour on the way as anyone else. At most, just get the day over with. Daniel wasn't sure whether he needed to blow off some steam or just get off the bridge all together.

Meghan watched Daniel take his place, then quickly looked back down to the console in front of her. She was not going to cause the other cadets to start talking about her crush on Daniel--even if it was true. Although, if she was honest with herself, it was more than a crush.

As soon as the door opened, the XO announced, "Commodore on the bridge!"

Commander Murphy walked out of the Ready Room. Immediately, the officers and Cadets on the bridge stood at attention, as he made his way to his seat.

"XO... Status report?" Murphy said firmly as he stepped in front of his chair and looked toward the main view screen.

"All departments report ready for launch, sir."

"Very Well." Murphy replied. He took a moment to look around the bridge, looking at every Cadet and Officer there, before he began to speak firmly. "Cadets... What you are about to be a part of is a standard procedure. The simple docking and undocking of a Starship from its port. You have probably read and gone through this procedure on a holodeck many times. This is not a simulation. This is not an educational PADD. This is the real deal. One wrong move could not only damage the ship, but may put a fellow officer in danger." He paused for a moment, before looking around again, raising his voice slightly. "There is no need to rush this procedure. If it is done, by the book, there should be no problem. Am I understood?"

"Sir, yes sir!" Meghan replied swiftly. She had such a short time on the Cavalier and she wasn't going to start off by getting on the commodore's bad side."

Emma stood behind the tactical console on the bridge. She nodded in response to the Commodore. She quickly tapped on its surface to check the security status of the ship, all seemed green for now.

Commodore Murphy took one more look around at the Cadets, recognizing some eager and cautious faces. He seemed to smile inside before walking over to his captain's chair and taking a seat. "First Officer... Let's see what these Cadets can do."

"Aye, aye." The first officer turned to helm. "Take her out, nice and easy."

"Yes Sir, taking her out," Saskia said, taking a deeper breath before she took the ship out as ordered. She almost gasped at how the Cavalier felt under her touch, how smooth she obeyed the instructions. Of course, she knew her instructor was right over her shoulder, ready to step in the moment she did something wrong.

[Main Engineering]

Deck 6 was the location for the Main Engineering workstation aboard Steamrunner vessels like the Cavalier. Lieutenant Kurt Penhallow was currently training cadet K’tarra daughter of Smythe. The Klingon woman was excited to get underway. A nearby terminal piped in a one-way transmission of the bridge’s communication. Penhallow thought it was only fair for K’tarra to be present in that moment.

“Okay, we’re showing off”, LT Penhallow told the cadet. The schematic map of the Cavalier took up a large view screen alongside the pulsating warp core. “Watch how the EPS flow changes as we get underway. Let’s say an emergency happened and we needed to bring more power to the engines. What would you do?”

K’tarra thought for a moment, looking up and down the visual representation of systems. “Urgh”, she grunted in thought “Sir, uh. I would realign the plasma flow regulators… Here.” She paused to flash a toothy grin. “Or manually at each junction if systems were… Damaged.” The tall Klingon woman often paused while carefully choosing her words. This seemed to especially happened when speaking with a superior officer.

“Keep an eye out for any systems which looked strained”, the lieutenant told the cadet. He moved away from the panel to watch the core, checking the pace and tone of its vibrations.

K’tarra had not learned the subtle instinct for connecting with an engine yet. She couldn’t help but watch the trained engineer with curiosity. He seemed to know so much about the field. They listened as the bridge staff continued the undocking process.

Meghan glanced around the bridge at the other cadets, smiling at any she made eye contact with. She wished them all well, but she especially wanted to see how Daniel was doing.

Daniel stood just off the Command area of the bridge. He let out a sigh and looked over to Meghan. Part of it was because he was relieved the Commodore didn't request him to make the order to send them off. The other part was because he was grateful she was there.

"Well, Cadet," Commander Borovich said in a soft Russian accent, "You've done well. Now, unless there are problems, you can watch the final launch of this fine ship."

"Yes, sir," Meghan said to her mentor. So far, everything had gone as it should. She was going to appreciate the moment, as she knew there would be plenty of challenges ahead.

OFF

Cadet Senior Grade Meghan Stefani
Science

Cadet Junior Grade Saskia de Jager
Flight Control

Cadet Senior Grade Thalainian Th'Thane
Medical

Lieutenant Commander Vladimir Borovich
Chief Science Officer

Cadet Junior Grade Emma Mendez
Security/Tactical

Commodore Peter Murphy
Commanding Officer

Cadet Senior Grade Daniel Weaver
Command

Cadet Junior Grade Renae Villanova
Science

Lieutenant Commander Janvier
Chief Medical Officer

 

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