Arrival at Deep Space Nine

Posted on Sun Apr 27th, 2025 @ 10:07am by Captain Lukas Fredricks & Commander Naois Mercy MD & Lieutenant Amelia Fox & Lieutenant JG Toareth Darqa

908 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: R&R
Location: Bridge

The Britannic was cruising along at warp 5. Deep Space 9 was somewhere Amelia had not visited before, which meant she could visit now. She had heard about it from Melody and it sounded interesting. Maybe she might try a few hands of Poker in Quarks and possibly sample the Kingon restaurant she thought to herself. An alert from the helm broke her reverie, and she reported. "Approaching the Bajoran system Captain."

"Drop us out of warp, Lieutenant Fox." Fredricks ordered as he slightly adjusted his seating position.

Toareth was at her medical station and switched the screen to view external sensors; Britannic closing in on DS9's location. She thought about the last time she was on DS9, not overly long ago. The war was waging and she was on the run, away from Lynch, away from what she had done, and was hoping to find passage into Romulan space. Toareth had one purpose for going into Romulan territory. While on DS9 awaiting a ship going that way, she had a random encounter with DS9's resident counselor, the Trill named Dax. Ezri was no telepath and certainly no empath but somehow surmised Toareth's objectives through a single conversation. Toareth's one purpose, then, had suddenly become one of two purposes.

Toareth shot a glance at Amelia, who was busy are her station, then she looked back at her own medical reports after switching back from external sensors. She wondered if she had, in her future which also happened to have been Amelia's past, if she had told her about returning to DS9. Toareth decided to rid herself of the thought and swore to never inquire into it. Temporal Prime Directive worked not just one way, but many. She knew her and Amelia would be friends in the future, but what did Amelia already know about her that Toareth did not. She swore under her breath upon realizing she was already working against the vow she had just made for herself.

Bringing the ship out of warp the space station came into view just as a departing ship was entering the wormhole to the Gamma quadrant, traffic having resumed at the end of the Dominion war.

"Captain, Ops has cleared us for docking at Upper pylon 2."

Naois, sat in the XO chair next to the captain , turned his head towards the chief medical officer as he seemed to sense something, his sensitive hearing catching the muttered expletive. "Everything alright doctor?" He asked quietly.

"All is well, sir," Toareth said. "Just...it's been some time since I was last here. Wondering if I will see a familiar face." She was also wondering if she would not see any familiar faces.

"As you wish doctor," Naois replied with an acknowledging nod. "And who knows, do you have someone waiting for you?"

"Take us to upper pylon 2, Lieutenant. Take us down to thrusters only once we pass the inner marker. Let's try not to scare Operations with going too fast." Lukas said with a cheeky smile.

"Aye Sir." Amelia replied with the same good humour in her voice. Melody had always told her stories of scaring the living daylights out of not only her CO but the docking crew as well. She wished she had her natural flare for flying. She also wondered what she was doing right now.

"Cutting impulse engines now. Manoeuvring at docking speed. 100KPH. The docking connection looked small....disturbingly small. But the computer was there to get everything lined up just right.

Truth be told, this was the first time Amelia had docked a starship, and she was nervous. She thought about what Melody had told her. "Make it look easy, even if it isn't. Fake it till you make it."

She took a deep breath. "Docking in 3..... 2........" There was a slight bump. "Now. Inertial dampers synchronising and locked. Collar secure. Thrusters offline. Docking complete Captain."

Toareth wasted no time. "Adding aerosolized umbrella vaccine particulates to the airlock pressurization protocol," she said as she tapped away at her console. "Anyone off or onboarding should suffer little to no effects of anything floating about DS9, or anything we brought with us."

"Excellent work everyone." Fredricks said as he stood from his chair. "Everyone has some R&R time now. I believe Commander Mercy has made a temporary duty roster for a skeleton crew to remain on board. Please make sure you check before you leave the ship, I'd hate to call Security to have you brought back to the ship." Lukas smiled, hoping his little joke would make a few people at ease. "I've taken the liberty of booking a table at Quarks for a few drinks for the senior staff tomorrow evening. Last thing, Happy New Year everyone, welcome to 2377!"

Amelia had to bite her tongue before she could let slip out "Again....." under her breath. She quickly advised engineering of docking and that all engines could now be taken off line. She secured the helm and started to look over the temporary roster.

Though Amelia's response was inaudible, the emotion behind it was strong enough for Toareth to pick up via empathy. She straightened and held her breath a short moment as the emotion hit her unexpectedly. She did not look away from her station at Amelia nor at anyone or anywhere else.

"Dismissed everyone. Enjoy the well earned break." Fredricks said before stepping down from the command chair and headed towards his ready room.

 

RSS Feed