Reapayment Part 9
Posted on Thu Mar 22nd, 2012 @ 6:34am by Petty Officer First Class Tanner Willeg & Melody Johnson
976 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Mission 78 - Colonial Uprising
Location: The Blaze & Capella
Timeline: 3 Days After Repayment Part 8
Melody woke up early. Before she went to the cockpit she checked on her sleeping co-pilot and passenger. Seeing that they were still sound asleep she went into the common area and replicated a cup of coffee then casually strolled to the cockpit. As she sat down in the pilot's seat she said, quietly, “Good morning, Blaze,” then took a sip of her coffee.
=^=Good morning, Capt. Mel. You are up early.=^=
“Couldn't sleep,” Melody responded and took another sip of her coffee. “Bring up the star charts for the area, please,” she said, still speaking softly so her voice didn't carry and wake anyone up. While she waited for the Blaze to comply she rolled herself a cigarette and lit it. A couple of seconds later a holographic map of the area around the planet Capella in the Alpha Quadrant appeared above the control panel. Melody studied the map and sipped at her coffee. “What's our ETA to Capella?” She asked, taking a long drag off of her cigarette and blowing a smoke ring towards the ceiling.
=^=Two hours, 16 minutes and 45 seconds.=^=
“Locate the city of Tulmar, please,” Melody said and took a sip of her coffee.
=^=Will we be landing, Captain?=^=
“No. I will be beaming down with Garth and escorting him to the final destination,” Melody answered. “Tanner will be in charge while I'm gone.”
=^=I see.=^=
Melody quirked an eyebrow, questioningly. “Do I detect an attitude there buddy?” She asked.
=^=I am an artificial intelligence and incapable of having an attitude.=^=
Melody chuckled. “Yeah. You keep telling yourself that enough and maybe someday you'll believe it,” she said and took a drag off of her cigarette.
=^=I do not think Miss Willeg likes me very much.=^=
“She just doesn't know you,” Melody said as she studied the layout of the city she would be beaming into. Tulmar was a small city located at the base of the Marulian Foothills which rose up out of the desert like landscape of Capella. Melody pointed to a spot in the foothills above the city. “Mark these co-ordinance. That's where we'll beam down,” She instructed.
=^=Co-ordinance marked.=^=
An hour and three more cups of coffee later and Melody cleared all of the holographic images from above the control panel and said, “Blaze...go ahead and wake Tanner up.”
=^=What about our passenger?=^=
“No. Let him sleep. Then I won't have to listen to his complaining,” Melody answered. “And I keep telling you, he's NOT our passenger. He's our cargo.”
=^=Aye, aye, Captain.=^=
A few seconds later Melody could hear the sound of an alarm clock coming from Tanner's quarters.
Alarms in any form were things Tanner naturally associated with disaster, and she bolted up and made it from sleeping quarters to cockpit before she realized it was a simple wake-up call.
“We'll be dropping out of warp in an hour,” Melody announced. “I'm going to get another cup of coffee. Can I get you anything?” She asked as she got out of her seat.
"Coffee is good. Black."
Melody headed back towards the common area but she stopped at her quarters first. She changed from the sweat pants and tank top she had slept in to her “work clothes”...a pair of cargo pants (with a multitude of pockets), a form fitting long sleeved high necked shirt and her boots. She put on her phaser pistol holster and strapped her hunting knife sheath to her lower leg and covered it with her pant leg. Then she went to the common room to replicate another cup of coffee.
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Because she was awake had a suspicion that ship and Captain might want to catch up, Tanner disappeared into the lower deck. She wanted to see the engines while they were running, and also felt less at odds in the small room filled with noise and motion than staring at viewers and scanners waiting for time to tick by.
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As soon as the Blaze dropped out of warp Melody could see Capella in front of them She took hold of the controls and headed for the planet.
“Bring those co-ordinance up again, please, Blaze,” she said then to Tanner she said, “maybe you should go wake Garth up. We'll be ready to beam down in about ten minutes.”
A holographic map of Capella and their current position appeared above the control panel and Melody quickly reviewed her route. She shut down the hologram and concentrated on piloting the Blaze to the opposite side of the planet. Other than dodging a few satellites that were orbiting the planet she had “clear sailing” around the planet and it wasn't long before the planets one moon loomed ahead of her. It was a beautiful moon. A planet blue in color due to the fact that 90% of the moon was water. Melody flew close enough to it to be able to see the planets ocean. This was one of the major perks to doing what she did for a living. She got to travel around the galaxy and see sights that most people only dreamed about. She allowed herself a few more minutes of “sight seeing” then piloted the Blaze toward their destination.
Suddenly an alarm on the control panel began to sound and Melody looked down at it.
=^=I have detected three ships approaching from the stern. And, Captain, they have powered up their weapons.=^=
“Activate shields,” Melody ordered and barrel rolled to the left. When the Blaze straightened out she accelerated and headed back towards the moon but one of the ships broke formation and got between Melody and the moon and fired. Melody put the Blaze into a steep climb to avoid being hit. She looped backwards and leveled out. “Tanner get up here!” She called over her shoulder. “Blaze! Identify the ships,” she ordered.
To be continued
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