A Change of Venue - Part Three

Posted on Sun Jun 30th, 2024 @ 8:40pm by Captain Samantha Walking Bear & Fleet Captain Heather Walking Bear & Colonel James "Gryphon" McTaggert

Mission: Mission 120: All Along the Watchtowers - Part Two
Location: Various Locations - High Orbit, Utgarde IV
Timeline: 1115Hrs - January 26th, 2394

McTaggert turned his head. A soft smile on his face. "Departure clearance has already been granted, ladies. B'Elanna, why don't you sit up front here? Heather. She's yours to fly." He vacated the pilot's chair with a smile as his wife replaced him. "It's not often I get some stick time with my husband." Walking Bear commented before she realized the double entendre in her statement. She then let out a sigh. "That comes later."

B'Elanna simply smiled at the comment. "So you do have a sense of humour. Excellent," she commented as a joke of her own.

Walking Bear turned her head as she closed the aft hatch. She then checked the system and it was now fully airtight. "Alright.." she then tapped the com system on the shuttle display. "Shuttle Two Eighteen to the tower. How do you read me?"

"Reading you five by five. Screamer." came the response.

B'Elanna wasn't expecting the response. She smiled as she regarded Walking Bear in silence. "Copy that. I'm requesting permission to depart?" Walking Bear commented. Now fully in the moment as a pilot first and foremost.

"Understood. Clearance granted. Thirty seconds and then you're ready to taxi to the start point." there was a momentary pause. "You're out after shuttle nine, which is next out," he added.

"Copy that." Walking Bear activated the engines as the shuttle gently lifted off the ground. She then gently brought the shuttle around to face the exit. "B'Elanna. One must be aware of their surroundings at all times," she commented as the shuttle in question went out of the hangar and into space. Suddenly the controller. "Shuttle two eighteen?" came the request.

"Copy. Go ahead?" Walking Bear commented.

"You are cleared to depart Starbase Vanguard airspace. Happy flying and safe journey." came the response as Walking Bear gently flew the shuttle out of the hanger. Once they were outside and free to fly, she kicked in the impulse engines. "You never use impulse engines in a planet's atmosphere. It causes way too many issues for you. Most notably rapid acceleration to about point five cee. In short, extreamly fast. But you'll be dead as it'll be like flying into a solid wall." she commented. "But going that fast will cause unbelievable levels of destruction to whatever planet you're flying on."

"Oh?" B'Elanna inquired. "How bad?"

"Enough to write off the entire planet for about a million years." Walking Bear commented. " But thats the best case. The worst case is that you write off the planet forever. But doing that means you'll need to impart some real insanity like shattering the crust of the world in question."

"Is trhat even psosible.?" B'Elanna inquired with a suprised look on her face.

"Oh yes, honey," McTaggert answered quietly. "What's worse is that there are worlds where it's been done. These grave words will never harbour life again," he explained. "Galorndan Core is an excellent example of this. What was worse was it was done as an act of spite. Draylaxx was another one. Billions were slaughtered by the Romulans. All of this was during their war with humanity before the founding of the Federation." he sighed softly.

Walking Bear paused as she turned to the Klingon teenager. "I can only guess as to your opinion of the Romulans," she commented as if she already knew.

B'Elanna slowly smiled as she took a moment to consider what she wished to say at this point in time. "Believe it or not but I don't really have one. Mom decided that I did not need my species-wide hatred of the Romulans. She tried to keep me away from it as she raised me away from the Empire." B'Elanna explained. "Mom took a rather dim view of unreasonable hatred and decided I didn't need to see it. Oh, she explained it to me and why it was there, but she made it clear that it did not affect her or me. So I was more or less immune to the issue." she added.

"Fair enough," McTaggert commented.

Walking Bear flew the shuttle into the atmosphere. "We're coming up on atmospheric entry interface. Ten seconds, folks," she reported to her passengers. She did a quick check of her numbers and then made a small adjustment. The black of space began to brighten as the shuttle entered the atmosphere. The blackness of night brightened towards shades of blue while it brightened. The streamers began to appear before they faded away after a few moments. The shuttle then passed through the clouds. "Destination in two minutes, five seconds." Walking Bear explained. "Honey?"

"On it," McTaggert responded with a nod of his head. "The garage door is open. The beacon is active."

"Copy. I have it." Walking Bear answered. "Destination in sight," she added. "Home, sweet home," she added. "Cutting thrust," she added while she landed the shuttle inside of the garage. "We are home, guys." she turned to the Klingon teenager beside her. "I hope you'll settle in easily B'Elanna. But there are now a dozen people here, and it can get rather loud and noisy." she paused. "If it gets to be too much, then we can make arrangements for you. okay?"

"Okay," B'Elanna answered while she gathered her bags.