Sunday, August 18, 2013

Star Trek Falcon Episode 101.2 - Spread your wings

Title: Star Trek Falcon – Episode one: Spread your wings
Chapter: 2 of 10
Rating: Fiction K+
Summary:
Captain Danielle Dolch has just received her first command, the newly upgraded USS Falcon. While the last few updates and tests are being conducted she and her crew arrive at the space doc for their mission of exploration near the Neutral zone.

Disclaimer: The Star Trek universe belongs to paramount pictures; I’m just borrowing it and using it as a playground.

Author Note:
Wow, it’s been a while since I had time for my fanfictions. I’ve been so busy lately I didn’t have any time to be at my computer, let alone write anything. Thankfully I have more spare time now so I’ll be picking up where I left off. Please note (for the people who read the first chapter a while ago) that I’ve changed the name of the Captain to Danielle (Dani) Dolch, somehow it seemed more fitting. As always I’d really appreciate it if you left a comment after you’re done reading. Constructive criticism is always welcome as well as ideas for later chapters and episodes.  


Chapter two - Flight to the Falcon

Emma still couldn’t believe she had been selected to serve aboard a vessel of exploration like the USS Falcon, let alone she’d be selected to be the Science Officer. An inexperienced Ensign like herself on the senior staff, wow, she just didn’t have words for it.

She had read the message over and over again, not quite believing what it said. She had always wanted to serve on a starship. As a matter of fact, it had been the main reason why she had joined Starfleet after she graduated from high school. But she had imagined starting out as a member of the science department, not as the head of it. When she had called Captain Dolch she still half expected it to be a prank pulled on her by one of her friends, but it wasn’t. She accepted her assignment shortly after meeting with the Captain.

For weeks she felt like she was walking on sunshine. She had told anybody who would or wouldn’t listen about her new assignment. She was quite sure she had driven her roommate mad as well as her colleagues, but shutting up about it had proven to be too much for her. So she had happily rambled on. It even became worse after she received details on her assignment. She was to investigate a small M-class planet near the Neutral Zone. The goal was to determine whether it would be suitable for establishing a colony. She couldn’t have been more pleased, Geology was her field of expertise after all.

Another pleasant surprise presented itself later that week when she received the list of crewmembers who were assigned to the USS Falcon. When she scanned the list for familiar names she discovered Mick Dolch was the newly appointed Chief Engineer. She had worked with the handsome engineer when she was temporary assigned to a research expedition. They had required assistance from a nearby Starfleet vessel when the cold had affected their systems. Mick had been part of the away team that came to their rescue. The two of them had immediately hit it off and she had felt sorry when he had to leave. She hadn’t expected to ever see him again. After all, the universe was a big place.

Now she found herself waiting for the shuttle that would bring her to the USS Falcon. Due to upgrades to the ship the transporters would be off line the whole week prior to departure, giving the crew the rare opportunity to take a shuttle to board the ship. Emma had been told the view was amazing so she hoped for a window seat. She smiled briefly at a flight attendant who passed her on his way to the gate. It probably wouldn’t be much longer now.

“Attention please, this is a call for Ensign Zinck of the USS Falcon. Please report to gate four immediately. I repeat, Ensign Zinck, please report to gate four.”

It took a few seconds for the message to sink in, but when it finally hit her she bolted to her feet. “Oh shoot!” The flight attendant who had just passed her looked up. Emma threw him a hasty look as she collected her things. “Wrong gate!” She exclaimed before she hurried off to the other side of the space station.

As she tried to speed up her pace she wondered what she had been thinking when she decided to wear heels that morning. With every few steps she took she tripped over her own feet. It wasn’t exactly contributing to the elegant image she had been aiming for. After a near collision with a plant she decided it had been enough and she stopped to take off her heels. At least she could actually run now.

When gate four finally came into view the man who made the final boarding call was getting ready to close the doors. Emma quickened her pace again. “Please wait!” She called out to him from the end of the hall. He looked up and watched with amusement as she came closer. Emma felt slightly embarrassed but did her best not to be too obvious about it. She slowed down and straightened her back. “Thank you.” She tried to brush her hair away from her sticky forehead but it didn’t really make any difference.

“Ensign Zinck I assume?” Emma studied the man closely. He had vivid blue eyes and half long curly blond hair. He was kind of short. Even on bare foot Emma easily had a few inches on him. She extended her hand.  “I’m so sorry.” She apologized, “I was at the wrong gate.”

 “No problem, could happen to anybody.” His handshake was firm, but not too much. “I’m Ensign Spinn, Helm Officer.” Emma smiled as she let go of Spinns hand. “I’m pleased to meet you.” She paused to look around. “Am I the only one who’s late?”

“I wouldn’t worry about that really, I waited half an hour for the Captain and the First Officer when they were boarding the Falcon. Fortunately they came to the right gate, otherwise it could’ve easily been hours.” Emma was unsure whether he was joking or not but laughed anyway, it was something about the way he described the scene. She could totally picture the captain running around the space station with her First Officer right behind her, just like Emma had done just moments ago. For some reason though, she pictured them still wearing their shoes. Speaking of which, Emma still wasn’t wearing any. She put her bags down and steadied herself to put her right shoe back on.

“All things considered” Spinn continued as Emma sought support of the wall while she stepped back into her other shoe. “I’ll be happy when Commander Dolch gets the transporters back online. I’m sick of being a bus driver.” Spinn held open the door to the gate. Emma picked up her bags again and nodded her thanks as she entered the gate. Spinn closed the doors behind her and followed her to the shuttle.

The shuttle was a slightly older model belonging to the USS Falcon. The interior was a little worn down, but for some reason it seemed fitting. It added character to the shuttle. Spinn closed the shuttle door behind her. “Just find a seat.” He told her before he sat down at the controls. Emma thanked him again and made her way past the occupied seats. Many of the crewmembers were talking to each other and Emma greeted some familiar faces as she passed. All the way in the back she found an empty seat by the window.

As she sat down the engines roared to life. She could hear Spinn checking in with the board computer and contacting flight control for further instructions. The flight to the Falcon would only take a couple of minutes since space dock was right next to the space station. Emma leaned over to her window to see if she could catch a glimpse of the space dock, but it was nowhere in sight. Instead she had a gorgeous view of Earth. She smiled to herself. It didn’t matter how many other amazing planets she saw, Earth would always be the most beautiful.

As the shuttle started moving Emma did her best to catch a last glimpse of home before it went out of view. For a while she only saw stars. Finally space dock came into view. “For anyone interested, we’re approaching space dock. If you look at your right you should have a pretty good view of the Falcon.” Spinn called over his shoulder. The voices went quiet as everybody turned their attention to the windows. Emma suppressed the urge to press her nose against the cool glass.

It was just as pretty as anybody had said it would be. There was a certain sense of peace to the ship as it just sat there. The Falcon wasn’t as big as most other ships going on similar missions. Captain Dolch had told her the Falcon had been build years ago to test whether smaller exploration vessels would be more efficient. Emma guessed it wasn’t, seeing the newer ships were all bigger.

“USS Falcon, this is shuttle one requesting permission to land.” Spinn sounded a little bored but Emma didn’t really pay any attention to him. Now that they came closer she could see a team of engineers working on the hull of the ship. She found herself briefly wondering whether Mick would be amongst them but quickly dismissed the thought. As Chief Engineer he probably had better things to do.

“Shuttle one, you have permission to land.” The shuttle turned and for a while the stars were all Emma saw through her window. When she straightened her back a little she could catch a glimpse of the front viewing screen. The shuttle was approaching the open doors of the Falcon’s shuttle bay. She looked out of her window again. That was going to be all she would see for a while, lots and lots of stars, slowly moving away from her. She could think of worse things.

The landing was so smooth Emma barely noticed the shuttle had set down at all. Spinn turned around to face his passengers. “Welcome aboard.” He said as he got up to open the shuttle doors. Emma got to her feet and gathered her things. Her adventure was about to begin. 

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