Joyless Ride

Posted on Mon Mar 3rd, 2014 @ 9:45am by Lieutenant Trishna Durani & Lieutenant Joanna Masterton
Edited on on Mon Mar 3rd, 2014 @ 9:45am

1,198 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Episode 2 - Whispers in the Clouds
Location: Unification Shuttlebay
Timeline: Day 2 - 1900

Trishna could never stand how uncomfortable the type 9 shuttle was. It seemed as though during it's development Starfleet had forgotten that several of its member species would actually have to fit inside it. One of those species being human. With Lieutenant Masterton, and a pair of Security Officers it was already quite cramped. Added to that everyone was wearing an EVA suit as well. The goal was to get inside the Cassiopeia, and to do that the shuttle was going to have to fire it's weak phasers as the shuttlebay doors in order to force them open so they could land. With the Cassiopeia's main computer offline it was doubtful the force fields were active, so the shuttle team would have to hoof it in the bulky EVA suits until they could get out of the other ships shuttlebay as well. All in all was looking to be a very unfun ship. Simply getting inside the Type-9 in an EVA suit had been painful enough, Trishna really didn't want to have to experience trying to get out of one in a vacuum, where you really didn't want to snag part of it.

One of the Security Officers was piloting the shuttlecraft, and doing a far better job of it with the suit's gloves on that Trishna would have thought possible. The other Security Officer was seated right next to him, while Trish and Joanna stood in the back. At Trish's side was the standard phaser pistol, and in her left hand was the data unit containing everything that would be needed to get the Cass's computer back online. Hopefully. Trish didn't really know if it would work, because she didn't know the state of the Computer Core. That and she wasn't an Engineer, if anyone was going to figure out how to get the computer back online it was going to be Lieutenant Masterton. Gently it glided out of the Unification's tiny shuttlebay, and sprinted off in the direction of the Cassiopeia. It was a short jaunt, but stressful nonetheless. A computer virus had already crippled one massive starship, and threatened to do so to another. Not to mention the reports of boarding parts on the Cass. Having someone take a pot shot at you when you were in something as flimsy as Type-9. but the shuttle made it without any problems, and was soon parked n space right outside the main shuttlebay of the Cass. The bay was in the same location as that of a Galaxy Class, but a little more tricky to get to without computer navigation help due the tower structure that held the ship's mission pod aloft, abstracting the most direct approach.

The Security Officer seated next to the one piloting the shuttle began manipulating the controls in front of him, causing the shuttles phaser to light up and a distinct hum to fill the interior which Trish could hear even with the helmet on. The phaser drilled in the metal plating of the shuttlebay door, but did not penetrate it immediately. It was designed to prevent this exact sort of situation, and so it took minutes before a hole was cut that the shuttle could pass through. But even then it would still be another few minutes as the shuttle drilled another hole in the shuttlebay door. The first hole had caused all the air, and some of the equipment in the back to rush out through the opening. Once out the debris simply floated outside the hole, and several larger pieces of equipment or cargo container obstructed the passage directly. So the shuttle entered through the second hole when it had finally been cut, and glided smoothly in the interior. The Security Officer pilot, parked it right next to a Danube Class runabout. Now there was a smallcraft suited for this exact kind of work. Spacious interior, transporter pad, replicator. Not something Trish would want to spend weeks in, but it sure as hell beat the crap out of spending a single second in a type nine.

When the shuttle came to a rest, the hatch opened up at the rear for the team to exit out of. Trish checked to make sure the EVA's internal life support system was online so she wouldn't suffocate trying to get into the Cassiopeia proper. In normal circumstances the rear hatch was spacious enough, at least for a person to enter and exit without problem. With the EVA suit on though it felt much more like trying to squeeze through the cracks as Trish slipped out of the shuttle, followed closely by Joanna and the Security Officers. As they moved into the shuttlebay there was little conversation. No one could actually listen in on them if they talked, but the darkened shuttlebay illuminated only by the lights of the squad made for such an eerie scene that even when Trish or the others spoke up it was almost at a whisper. Together they made their way towards one of the doors, sealed shut to prevent the atmosphere from leaving the corridors of the ship that lay on the other side.

After working out a plan to open them, Trish drew her phaser, while the Security Officer's moved to either side, and Masterton kept a look out. Opening fire with the phaser, Trish cut the door right down the middle where it was split naturally, but did not penetrate it fully. She hadn't expected to, and didn't really want to in the first place. Physics weren't her strong suit, but she didn't want the doors flying off from some kind of explosive decompression. Together the Security Officers gripped handholds on either section of the door and pulled. Air leaked out, aiding them, and the entrance widened to where they could actually step through. Once everyone was inside the corridor, Joanna and one of the Security Officers worked on setting up a portable force field generator to prevent more air from leaking out. While they did that, Trish and the other Security Officer headed off in opposite directions to open the doors to the corridor and let more air in. Unlike the shuttlebay doors these ones were relatively easy to open thanks to a manual release that was absent from the shuttlebay doors to prevent anyone from doing something exceptionally stupid. Handling the release with the glove on felt strange to Trish. Zero-G, and other training in EVA suits had never been her strong suit. It wasn't something that really came up often in Intelligence work outside of holonovels. With the door open air rushed back into the corridor. As she walked back to meet up with her companions Trish pulled her helmet off and took a deep breath. The air tasted funny, probably from particulates of smoke and other things that had mixed with the O2 as a result of the battle damage. Still, Trish judged it was better than having her head stuck in that helmet for another minute.

Taking in another deep breath, Trish started working on getting the rest of her EVA suit off, and helping her companions do the same.

When they finished that the real work would being.

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