TG Raoul - Alexandus Rex - Green and Eager
Alexandus
Member
"Hey, Cadet, up and at'em" Said the shuttle pilot, chuckling a bit as the Cadet was nodding off in the co-pilot chair next to him.
"-I'm, I'm awake." Said the Cadet, still in his academy uniform. He was freshly graduated and on his way to his first assignment. A shuttle pilot assigned to Starbase Georgiou. "How long was I out?"
"Probably about an hour, but...we're approaching the Carnac System." The pilot said as he reduced power from the warp engines, preparing to switch to impulse power.
"I see it...reducing to impulse power." shaking himself from his sleepy state, the Cadet helped with the controls, bringing the shuttle out of warp and reducing to one-half impulse power. It was not long before the Starbase came into visual range. The comm chimed with the sound of an incoming hail. It was station control.
"Incoming shuttlecraft this is Federation Starbase Georgiou. We have you on scanners and visual."
The pilot, looking over to the cadet, motioned a hand towards the controls, prompting him to respond, "Uh-...this is Shuttlecraft Beta 3-1 on approach, here with a crew transfer. We should be on your manifest for arrival." It didn't take long for the station to respond to him, "We have you on our schedule. You are cleared for docking bay 2. Once secured, please meet with Lieutenant Daniels. He will be standing by."
The Cadet chuckled lightly, something he did when he was nervous. He had a chuckle for nearly every emotion he could express, "Copy Georgiou, shuttlecraft out." The pilot switched the main controls over to the co-pilot's terminal, allowing the new Cadet to pilot the shuttle in, "You might as well get used to this now Cadet, hopefully you end up being able to do this in your sleep." He laughed a bit, thinking of how he had just woken the Cadet up from doing just that.
After touching down, the Cadet grabbed his PADD holding his transfer orders and his bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he thanked the pilot and stepped out onto the docking bay floor. Standing by was Lieutenant Daniels, his hands clasped behind his back and a smirk on his face, seeing the fresh-faced Cadet.
Approaching with PADD in hand, the Cadet held it out for the Lieutenant as he handed it over and then snapped to attention, "Cadet Rex, reporting for duty, sir!"
"Alright, alright, you're not in the academy anymore...save it for the brass Cadet...Alexandus Rex." Said Daniels as he looked over the PADD, "Top 10th percentile in your class? Not bad..." He said as he read over the information on the cadet contained within, "And you get to join our illustrious crew as a shuttle pilot. This everything you thought serving in Starfleet would be, Cadet?"
"Everyone has to start somewhere...sir..." Said the Cadet, wondering if this was some sort of test. He kept his eyes straight, not making eye contact with the Lieutenant. Daniels was annoyed at this and snapped his fingers in Rex's face quickly, "Cadet, come on..at ease. Didn't your mother tell you its rude to not look someone in the eye when you're talking to them?"
"Yessir, I just...I was trying to follow protocol, sir, for reporting for duty." The Cadet was visibly sweating. He felt like everything he did was being scrutinized, and it was.
"Alright, everything checks out. Welcome aboard Cadet. Take the lift to the crew quarters in the blue sector and head to room 109. Your bunk is in there, along with your uniform. Afterwards, report to ops at 1900 for your first assignment. That gives you three hours to get situated. Understood?"
"Yes sir!" The Cadet snapped to attention again. The Lieutenant took a step to the side, allowing the Cadet to hurriedly pass by. After the Cadet was gone, the Lieutenant activated his commbadge, "Daniels to Ops. Our newest Academy graduate has arrived safe and sound." A voice on the other end responded, "And? How is he?" Daniels chuckled, "Just as green as the rest of us were, but he'll be fine..."
Comments
Day 6 of Cadet Rex's New Assignment
The comm chimed in the room where Cadet Rex was asleep, along with the other members of the crew. It was 0300 hours station time. "Ops to Cadet Rex."
Rex reached for his commbadge, slapping it as if to silence an alarm clock, "C-...hmmm, Cadet Rex here." The groans from his crewmates who were also now awake was audible.
"Report to docking bay 2 immediately. There has been an emergency and we need another pilot to assist with transporting medical supplies to the surface." The Cadet, now awake at the urgency of the mission, quickly began to get dressed as he called out, "Right away. Rex out." The other crewmen grumbled a bit and rolled back over to try and sleep. Meanwhile, Rex was already out the door, running to the turbolift as he adjusted his uniform on the move.
Running into the docking bay, the nearby Lieutenant Commander pointed to a Type-8 Shuttle, "Rex! Shuttle 3-1 is yours, coordinates are already programmed in, get down there to the survey team." Rex ran into the shuttle before poking his head out to respond with a "Yes sir!" Another crewman was securing the supplies as Rex activated the engines. Navigational computers already had coordinates locked in for a mountainside. In front of him, Cadet Rex saw two other shuttles already leaving the docking bay. Comm chatter was filled with officers giving clearance to shuttles and approach instructions,
"Ops this is Shuttle 3-1 requesting departure clearance." Rex called out with a but of urgency in his voice. It didn't take long for Ops to respond, "Shuttle 3-1 you are cleared to depart at 1/4 impulse until you are cleared the station, then rendezvous with the survey team at given coordinates. Atmospheric interference not only caused the distress call but is making transporters impossible to use. Fly safe."
"They must have a Beatzoid at ops, thats exactly what I was wondering." the cadet thought as he left the station and made a beeline for the planet. There was a massive storm that could be seen from space. The scanners ahead of him showed two other shuttles on their way and were in high atmosphere, making their descent. Alexandus hailed the lead shuttle, "Shuttle 2-4 this is Shuttle 3-1. Do we know what's going on down there?"
"Rex, that you? its Caden!" Came across the comm channel. Ensign Caden was a team leader among the lower ranking crew members on the station. He was always nice and seemed genuinely pleasant to talk to. Caden was one of the first to welcome the Cadet to the station, after the Lieutenant he met on the docking bay floor.
"Yeah, its me. Woke me up for this one..." Alexandus said as the shuttle began to rock a bit as he entered the atmosphere.
"Well, get used to it when you're on call." Caden began, "Just when...going to sleep for the night...." Heavy static began to interrupt the comm channel. The storm was making communciation and navigation difficult. Ensign Caden however made pretty much everything look easy.
"Say again!?" Alexandus shouted at the comm. His shuttle began to shake a little more now as the Type-8 shuttle entered the storm. Lightning flashed all around him. Rain battered the front viewport heavily. Rex needed to rely on instruments for his navigation now.
"I said..." Caden tried again to talk through the interference, "....and thats when.....I'll speak to you on the surface!" The Ensign said through garbled static. Rex closed the channel and held on tight as the wind and rain and atmospheric pressure messed with the inertial dampeners. Each adjustment Rex made to the shuttle had to be done again to compensate for the rocking of the craft. This continued for almost a minute solid before Cadet Rex was below the cloud level.
As Alexandus descended, he saw the shuttles landing at the given coordinates. A team was already trying to move rocks and debris away from where a landslide had recently occurred. Landing beside the others, Alexandus grabbed the pallet that was secured in his shuttle and brought it out to the working crew. Ensign Caden looked over to Rex and smiled, "I was wondering who had the medical supplies. They're going to need them here in a minute."
"What happened?" Rex said as he looked to the group that was making a quick excavation mission happen. Phasers cut away at large rocks and allowed the larger pieces to move to the side. Others worked with hand tools to dislodge other large rocks, all the while rain battered down upon them. Thunder rumbled as lightning rolled along the clouds at regular intervals. The excavation team leader called over to Caden and Rex, "You two, keep your shuttles primed! We're going to load the survey crew in your shuttles to take back to the station, this storm wont allow transporters to get a solid lock!"
Caden looked over to Alexandus and thought for a moment, "Wait a minute...I dont think we'll need to do that at all." The Ensign ran into his shuttlecraft and came out with a small toolbox looking object. He opened it and smiled as he produced a pattern buffer, "We'll use these. They'll be able to hopefully lock on each team member and beam them out. See if your shuttle has some!" The Cadet answered by running to his shuttle and producing the same box that Ensign Caden had which also had in it a handful of pattern buffers.
"Nice job Alex, now lets see if-"
"We have them!" The excavation team leader said as the rocks and dirt gave way to a collapsed cave entrance, where the survey crew was waiting.
"We have wounded!" One of the survey team members shouted. Ensign Caden and Cadet Rex ran over with their pattern buffers and attached them to the injured team members. Cadet Rex tapped his commbadge, "Rex to Starbase Georgiou..." there was no answer. He tapped his commbadge again, "Rex to Starbase Georgiou, come in!" Looking over to Ensign Caden, Rex shook his head. The Ensign looked to the excavation team leader, "We need to load the wounded into the shuttles. We'll get them above the storm and beam them out from there."
"Good idea." Replied the team leader. Together, the excavation team, Ensign and Cadet loaded the wounded onto the shuttles. It wasn't long after that they lifted off, ascending slowly through the storm. Alexandus diverted all power to the inertial dampeners to try and make the ascent as calm as possible. Once they were above the clouds, the shuttles hailed the starbase.
"This is Starbase Georgiou, what is your status?" Ensign Caden replied for them, "This is shuttle 2-4, scan our shuttles and beam aboard everyone but the shuttle pilots directly to sick bay. The survey team has been recovered and need immediate medical attention. We have attached pattern buffers to them to assist with transport." A few moments later, their shuttles were empty as the survey team was beamed to the starbase. The shuttles soon afterwards made a return to the Starbase docking bay.
Seeing Cadet Rex as he stepped out of the shuttle, Ensign Caden called out to him, "Not a bad bit of flying there Alex." Rex chuckled a bit as he shook his leg, some water falling onto the floor, "Thank you...I'm just glad that we got to them in time."
"Oh I'm sure they would have been fine, but at least they wont lose any limbs. That was what we really saved for them. A cave in can be a death sentence." Caden sighed a bit as he tried to shake the thought.
"Think you'll be needing me anymore?" Rex said as he stretched a bit. The adrenaline was beginning to wear off and he let out a yawn to show for it.
"I think you're good to head back to your bunk. I'll report in to Ops and let the Captain know I dismissed you. Everything else will be in my report."
Shaking hands, Rex and Caden went their separate ways for the night. If nothing else, the Cadet felt like he truly earned his sleep this night.