An Extra Step

Posted on Thu Aug 27th, 2020 @ 10:41pm by Lieutenant Commander Shylow Vitari

Mission: Welcome Aboard!
Location: Starbase 234

Sometimes the universe simply conspires against you.

That was, Vitari had found, a simple universal truth and as she looked out at the majestic starship anchored in dock she was once again reminded of the fact. However she’d managed it, she had ended up on exactly the wrong side of the port to actually access the ship, it was going to be a long walk back across half the station to get somewhere so close... also it was too damn warm.

A quick glance told her that the temperature was still set at what was typically accepted as the universal norm, and once again, it was in her head. Much like far too many other things lately, and now, after several months on a ball of snow and a far too decadent - real honest to god - hot chocolate, the recently recommissioned officer was about to miss her boat.

“Totally worth it,” she muttered to no one in particular, as though the ancient idiom would somehow solve her current issue. She watched the ship a little longer, delaying her inevitable sojourn to its decks before she was idly struck by an odd sense of vertigo, as though the parallax of the docking arms drifting across its hold gave it the illusion of movement.

Or, she mused as she focused a little harder... not an illusion.

Scrunching her eyes for a few seconds, she reset herself, and stared across the yard, watching as the ship shed its moorings in a glacial series of soft, unheard hisses and pings, the slow movement of the clamps as they released the hull a final farewell to the vessel that had been held snug within their embrace during its stay and the soft wave of its sublight engines barely even active as it began its graceful drift deep into space.

It was at approximately that moment Vitari decided that boarding was going to become a little more complicated. Still, where there’s a will, she mused to herself as her gaze followed the ship barely moving, almost caressing its way from the stations hold.

Rolling the last of the rich molten beverage around the inside of her mouth she let out a soft sigh, placing the ceramic vessel on the table as she pondered her new problem. There were a number of solutions that came to mind - she could resign from starfleet, for example - although a few of them seemed more extreme than others... She gazed a little more closely at the vessel, judging its distance and speed before nodding to herself, if she was quick, maybe it would seem like she had made it on board as intended.

A quick skip across the promenade - with a cursory wink thrown to the somewhat caught off guard vendor of fine chocolate wares - brought her to the nearest turbo lift, “Transporter bay 6,” she chirped impatiently at the unmoving cell, nodding as the soft hum of inertia dampeners flooded the small space.

By her reckoning, if she could get there fast enough, she might be able to just slip onboard with only a few minor protocol violations, still nothing that couldn’t be overlooked under the circumstances.

The soft click of the lift preceding the slip of the doors broke her revierve and she stepped out into the wide room, its tall banks of industrial transporters arrayed along one wall and the dwarfed console manned by someone near asleep at their station occupied her vision. Her first glance confirmed that it wasn’t in use, and her second impression suggested it wasn’t about to be. Perfect.

She took a breath, clicked her heels just so to let the near silent doors lack of announcement be replaced by the sudden echo of her first step as she drew herself up to the off balance ensign, “Lieutenant Commander Vitari,’ she declared in introduction accompanied by the barest fraction of a nod in acknowledgement of the junior officer, “I require your services, transport of myself and my cargo, immediately, aboard the Liberty. Ideally,” she added with a faint smile, “before it hits warp, which I have heard can make things a little bit strange.”

The Ensign jumped to attention with such force the deckplates seemed to ring. Such a sudden arrival had evidently caught the luckless junior officer off-guard. They had to take a second to adjust their rebreather and head-unit before nodding to Vitari. “Right away, ma’am. Just… just need to confirm your ident.” Humming nervously to herself, the operator looked to her console, swiping a few times before strumming her fingers against the bottom rim of the unit.

After an agonizing pause, Vitari heard her commbadge faintly ping, as the ensign sighed with relief. “Okay ma’am, that’s your identity confirmed. Just need to establish a link with the Liberty’s transporter chief, check you’re cleared to board. It should just take a few minutes - have to make sure nothing strange is going on, they don’t have another Commander Vitari already on the ship, you know how it is, right?...” she trailed off, looking up at Vitari hopefully.

“On any other day that might be so, but right now,” VItari did a quick mental calculation, “Or at least within the next few seconds, that ship is hitting warp, and I need to be on it, lodge a complaint at my overwriting of protocol,” she gave an angelic smile, a brush of genuine warmth in the intelligence officers eyes mixed within the hint of amusement at her own expression, “and do me a favour, hit the switch? Consider it a direct order, for the sake of paperwork,” she added, with a light wiggle of her fingers, “The longer we wait, the more risky it gets, I’d really rather not end up the warpcore because we delayed...”

“Rrright. Time is pressing. Can’t have you not there for assignment.” The operator took a long breath, before quickly double checking the files. Everything she had was in order. She nodded. “Okay. Pad 3. I’ll see if I can get a lock.”

Grinning, with a small bow of acquiescence in her victory, Vitari held back a small prance to the unoccupied industrial platform, nodding her head in thanks as she awaited the soft thrum of power that would fling her through space, the vaguest apprehension that maybe she might have been better off with a more traditional approach being drowned out in the last moments of her time upon the station before she heard, at the edge of her fading awareness, “Huh. That’s interesting,” as the world faded away.