Junior Number One
Posted on Tue Jul 9th, 2019 @ 11:37am by Commodore Tyler Malbrooke & Gunnery Sergeant Flarn
3,159 words; about a 16 minute read
Mission:
Episode 7 - Home Again
Location: Turbolift USS Pioneer
Timeline: MD003 0800 hrs
With crew going on shore leave Tyler had the idea of getting to know the only child on board the Pioneer. Quinn had suggested that he get to know the little girl and perhaps his mind would change toward families aboard the ship. On top of this Katherine had been asking for Tyler to have a baby. So with her parents blessing Tyler thought he would give the girl a personal tour of the ship. They started on the bridge. "Well Enya you can see that the bridge is the nerve center of the Pioneer. That chair in the center is mine and the one right next to it, is the chair for your dad."
"Why does the ship have two command chairs?" She asked, knowing that some ships had one, some had two and other ships had three command chairs. She never understood the reasoning, for the extra command chairs. She liked the idea of a single command chair.
"It depends upon what the ship was originally designed to do. The Pioneer is designed to be an exploratory vessel. When exploring the unknown you want all of your most experienced officers on the bridge. Very often the Captain and Executive Officer will have to talk to one another so it is best to have them together. On other vessels, smaller vessels this is not needed. Would you like to try the chair out? Do you have any other questions about the bridge?" Tyler liked the young woman well enough. However, he was always awkward around children, he hoped this tour would change that.
"Dad does not let me try out his chair at home, not sure if that is a wise idea. And no Captain, I do not have any questions about the bridge, yet." She said, as her mind raced onto the next question she had. "How long have you been a Captain?" Enya asked, she was a little curious.
"I have held the rank of Captain for just over a year now. However, I have been in command of starships for more than five years." Tyler answered the question as he showed her around the bridge, making sure to point out each station as they got to it. He finished at the Science Console. "Here is where your Mom works when she is on the Bridge. From here she has access all the scientific data the Pioneer has to offer. She can also launch probes and review sensor data." He watched as she took everything in, and Tyler was appreciative of her inquisitive nature. "You know Enya you can call me Tyler if wish."
"But you are the Captain of the ship. I am one of your crew, am I not? Captain?" She asked him, as she looked up to him. She walked a little closer to the terminal, she was barely taller than the console itself. Or so she felt that way.
He was impressed with her, she viewed herself as a part of this ship, and it's crew, not just someone who was stuck living here. "So tell me, other than the Bridge is there any place else on the ship you would like to go see. The Captain is at your service." Tyler smiled at the young woman.
"Where do I begin?" Enya said with a big smile on her face. "Operations center, armory, brig, aeroship, engineering, after 11, auxillary control, cargo bays, sickbay, main delflector room. Just to name a few, Captain." She had a feeling the captain was going to tell her no to most of those places.
"All of that sounds reasonable. However there may be one hindrance. The ship is still under a lot of repairs. So if crews are working then we have to stay away. Sound fair?" He spoke with a smile as he motioned for the turbolift.
"You're the Captain, tell them to take five!" Enya said with a big teasing grin on her face, and a little giggle. She was happy, she was going to see some of those areas. She followed Tyler.
Once inside Tyler ordered the turbolift to Deck 11. "I think we will start with Main Engineering and the warp core. Perhaps we will tell them all to take five once we get there." He laughed with her, however, the laugh was short lived. It seemed that the turbolifts were not totally repaired. The lift car shook and shimmied and came to a harsh stop. The harsh movements tossed the two people inside and when all came to a stop the main lights were out and the emergency red lights flashed. Tyler felt the pain shoot up his leg but he had to make sure the girl was alright. "Enya, Enya are you alright?"
Enya was crying as she started to pick herself up. She was physically okay. But getting knocked down, hurt. She had a panic look on her face, as she heard a voice call out to her. "Yes, Captain." She said, as she crawled over to him. She was not sure, why she was crawling.
When he saw that she was okay, just a little shook Tyler was elated. "It seems that the turbolift needs some work." He added with a chuckle. "We are going to have to climb out and to safety. Do you think you can do that?" He saw the way that she was handling the situation, and all things considered she was top notch. Her parents would be proud.
"I'll need a boost up, but ya I climb." Enya said, as she started to wipe off her hands, from being a little clamy. She knew how to climb, it just was not her favorite thing to do. She looked to Tyler, to see when he would be ready to go.
Tyler gingerly got to his feet. He carefully placed some weight on his right leg and the pain instantly, he felt it most intensely in his ankle and his knee. Both may have been sprained. "Alright It is going to take me some time as my leg is injured. First I am going to pick you up and you can open the hatch." Tyler picked the girl up and the pain shot through his leg almost instantly. He gritted his teeth and placed her on his shoulders.
Enya got on his shoulders, and instantly reached for the ceiling, she had always wanted to do that. "Now what?" She asked, as she touched her hand on the ceiling, she noticed the hatch in the lift. She wondered if she was strong enough to open it.
He grit his teeth as the pain in his leg was becoming unbearable. It tried to support both him and the girl. Through those gritted teeth he spoke. "On the upper right corner of the hatch is an access panel. You have to push the red button so the locks will release. Once that is done push up and the hatch will open." Tyler glanced up as the young woman worked.
Enya did as she was told, and the hatch opened up. Enya was not sure what Tyler wanted her to do next. "Now what?" She asked, waiting for Tye to give her more instructions.
"Climb up through the hatch and sit on the roof of the turbolift. Tell me what you see..." Tyler could not take much more of her weight and of standing on the bad leg. If she did not go soon he would fall to the deck with her. If that happened he was pretty sure he would not be getting back up.
"I'm scared." Enya said, as she tried to reach up, but her own fear was starting to get the best of her. She hated feeling like this, but the lift was broken, and she rather be close to the Captain.
Her fear was so thick that it was palpable. Tyler needed to pep her up and fast if they were going to make it. "Enya I know that you are scared, heck so am I." He spoke as he guided her back to the floor and sat down next to her. He wanted to speak face to face and needed to get the weight off of his leg. Once they were seated on the floor next to each other he continued to speak. "Everyday all of us including your mom and dad are scared, but we don't show it. That is because of teamwork and courage. When you are on a team you can draw courage from your teammates to help you get through whatever is in front of you. Courage is one of the most powerful emotions that we can have. Right now you and I are a team. So, we have to help each other and draw courage from each other." He paused to look at her. He could tell that for a young woman she understood much. Tyler reached to his collar and pulled a pip off. "As Captain of the USS Pioneer I hereby make you an honorary Ensign. Now you are part of the team. So Ensign do you think we can get out of here?" Tyler placed a the pip on the girl's collar.
Enya was really nervous, a lot of pressure on her. She looked up at the latch in the ceiling. She was still scared, but she knew she had to get help. "Yes Captain." She said, as she started to suck up her pride, and replace it with courage and determination. She was going to do this, somehow!
"Right Ensign let's try again shall we." Tyler said with a broad smile. he stood up gingerly and picked the girl up again. "Okay when you are ready climb up through the hatch and tell me what you see."
"It's dark and smokey in here. I see a ladder, and some flashing lights, and a small jeffries tube hatch." Enya said, a little surprised to see a jeffries tube hatch. Would it open, she wondered?
"Look to the left and right of the turbolift car. There should be two large clamps, tell if they look damaged." Before Tyler could risk getting up to the rook of the car, he had to make sure that the emergency mag locks would hold. The Jefferies Tube was the answer. But could he get there?
"They're locked in, captain." Enya said, as she jumped on top of the cart, to get a closer look. She looked back down the hatch, to see Tyler limping a little bit. "Now what?" She asked, with a little excitement in her voice, but she was still mainly scared.
Tyler ran his hand through his hair as he weighed his options. On the one hand he was in no shape to climb up there under his own power. He stumbled slightly as the pain shot through his leg. On the other hand Enya was no wear near strong enough to lift him. There was only one option, Enya was going to have to leave him to get help. "Right Ensign you are going to have to leave me here. Take the Jefferies Tube and go get help."
"No no Captain, we should stay together. Your hurt." Enya said, trying to sound brave. Deep down, she hated the idea of crawling through the Jeffries tubes.
"Ensign remember I spoke of teamwork. It is because I am hurt that you must leave me. I know that you will not let me down, after all your an O Flannagain. Take the Jeffereies Tube straight down to the next juncture. When you get there you will turn left and few paces down you will find a hatch. Open the hatch and you should be on the bridge just below the MSD. I will wait here and you will bring help. That's an order Number One..." He smiled up at her through gritted teeth. He wanted more for the young woman, for her to enjoy her time on the ship and yet here they were. Tyler Malbrooke knew that despite the pain and whatever injuries he had, Enya would save him.
"Yes Captain." Enya said, taking a look at the jeffries tube, and then back down at the Captain. She started to walk away. "I'll be back soon." Enya said, as she started to walk over to the jeffries tube hatch. She opened it. The tube was very small, she did not like that. She started to crawl inside. She started to crawl as fast as she could. Before she knew it, she was back on the bridge.
Flarn had been manning the Marine station on the bridge. He was ordered to attend to the load in and storage of the new MARVEL-EAS. All was going according to plan, although not fast enough for the Tellarite when the hatch under the MSD opened. His left had went to an alert button on his console and hovered there as he turned his head. In short order a young girl emerged. He recognized her as the XO's daughter, the girl looked to be in a bit of distress. Flarn removed his hands from the console "Can I help you Ms O Flannagain?"
Enya was a little surprised by his tone. She had heard of the Tellarites, and even saw a few over the years. But this was the first time, she was face to face with one. She crawled out, and a little out of breath, when she said, "Captain is hurt, he is trapped in the lift, he told me to crawl to the bridge, to get help." She said, as she sat down on the floor. She raced as fast as she could, to get to the bridge. Besides being out of breath, her knees hurt, from all the crawling.
Flarn snorted as he knelt down to talk to the girl on her level. "Calm down and tell me what happened. What is wrong with the Captain?" The MARVEL will have to wait, the Captain came first and foremost to all orders as far as the Tellarite was concerned.
"We were in the lift, then heard a lot of strange sounds and the lift came to a stop, Captain leg is hurt. He is still in tht lift, you have to help him. You have to help him." Enya said, with panic on her face.
Flarn tapped his comm badge and ordered a medical team to the bridge. "Alright Enya take me to the Captain..." He motioned for the opening that she came through. Flarn was impressed the young girl was brave. She had a stout heart and that impressed a Tellarite to no end.
Enya started to crawl to the hatch, and started to lead him to stuck lift. She looked to Flarn, "He's in there." She said, as she got out of the way, and allowed Flarn to see the open hatch, and the wounded Captain.
Tyler saw Enya's face followed by Flarn's. It was an interesting and startling change. The cute cherubic face of the young girl, to the rigid angular face of the Tellarite. "Brava Ensign O Flannagain! Brava!" Tyler shouted as he clapped and tried to climb to his feet. However, he fell right back down to his keister.
"Sir do not move we will get you out. Just relax." Flarn took a quick look around and did not see anything that could assist in the endeavor. "Enya I am going to lower you in by your ankles. You are going to take the Captain's hands and I am going to pull both of you up. Do you think you can do that?"
"No, he's to heavy, he'll break my arms." She said, in a state of panic. Her small stature, and muscle tone could not support him, she knew that subconsciously.
"No you will be fine. I will have the weight. You will be like a rung in the ladder. Just a way to extend myself because I can't reach on my own. Together we are stronger. Do you understand?" Flarn said. It was a learning curve for the Tellarite as well. As it seemed that human children would get stricken with fear.
"Okay." Enya said, being very scared, as she crawled over to the opening. "Don't let me go." She said, as she looked down and say Tyler, looking up at her.
Flarn laid down on the deck and wrapped his large hand around the little girl's ankles. "Alright Captain sir. We are going to need you stand up and reach for Ms O Flannagain's hands."
"I will try my best Sergeant. But you are going to have to make this quick. This leg of mine is not going to bear weight for too long." Tyler replied. "Understood..." The Tellarite snorted back. Flarn exchanged a nod of readiness with Enya and he began to lower her into the turbolift.
Slowly Enya was lowered in and Flarn could see that they may not have enough length to get the Captain. He hooked his large muscular legs into the frame of the hatch and began to lower himself in. When Flarn was in the turbolift to his waist he lost sight of Tyler. "Enya do you have him?" He spoke as he concentrated on holding all of the weight and keeping the girl steady.
Enya reached down, and felt Tyler grab, her. His grip was a little to strong, she thought. "Yes hurry, he is to heavy." Enya said, as she wanted to let go. He was starting to hurt her. Not intentionally.
Tellarites are known for two things, the first being their gruff and up front attitude and the other is an exceptional strength. The latter did not fail Flarn now. He pulled Enya's legs toward him lifting Tyler from the ground. With one deliberate burst of strength Flarn managed to get both Enya and Tyler above the hatch in the turbolift. When Tyler's hand came within reach Flarn grabbed it and took his weight. This allowed Enya to slide out of the way.
Once everyone was in safety on the top of the turbolift the three sat there and caught their breath. "Thanks for the lift Sergeant." Tyler said with a smile and then looked toward Enya. "And really great work Ensign. Thank you for saving me."
Flarn snorted as he was first noticing the small pip on the little girl's collar. He also realized that the girl apparently outranked him.
"All in a days work Captain." Enya said with a big grin on her face, as the scene starts to fade away.
A joint post by;
Captain Tyler Malbrooke
Commanding Officer, USS Pioneer
Staff Sergeant Flarn
Rifle Fire Team 1 Leader, USS Pioneer
Enya Ó Flannagáin
Child, USS Pioneer
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