Gamma Shift Excitement

Posted on Thu Mar 7th, 2019 @ 2:42am by Lieutenant JG Zoe Ellija & Lieutenant Quint

2,145 words; about a 11 minute read

Zoe was usually asleep during gamma shift, but the fact that there was literally nothing for the helm to do while the Endeavour orbited a giant dust ball in the tender and loving tentacles of a repair ship meant that she had free time. It also meant that Zoe's sleep schedule had gotten a little off, so she found herself heading to the bridge in the middle of the night to see if the helm console had been repaired. Walking out onto the bridge, she stopped short as she noticed someone sitting at the helm. In. Her. Chair. Walking over, she folded her arms across her chest and glared at the back of the Ferengi's head. "Alright bud, just what do you think you're doing to my girl here?"

Quint turned and looked at the newcomer over the rim of his shades. "Proper introductions of course." Quint said. "After all, we are going to to be one another's best mates." He nod. "I am the New Chief Helm." He winked. "Lt. Quint; or you can call me ... Quint, no need to be formal right?"

On seeing the lieutenant pips and hearing that the Ferengi would be her new boss, Zoe blinked. A Ferengi? She was so surprised that she literally said the first words that came to her mind. "You're f***ing kidding me," Zoe said in a shocked and surprised tone that indicated that she was completely expecting this.

"Sure as the shine of Latinum." He added. "And I would not wish to tarnish our working relationship with personal opinions or offers of friendship."

"I was not offering!" Zoe countered hotly. "I'm sorry, I just wasn't expecting this," she said.

"I am aware of your lack of an offer." Quint said. "But it did bring that line of Colorful slang to an end." He smiled. "Shall we start again?" he rose. "I am lieutenant Quint; the new Chief Helmsman and you are?"

"Petty Officer Zoe Ellija, senior helmsman, assuming I still have a job," Zoe said as she stared down into the lieutenant's eyes, not out of disrespect but because she wasn't sure how else to talk to him. "I'm sorry, I've been the senior pilot on the Endeavour long enough that I guess I just got used to it. I never expected that Starfleet would be sending someone else to take over. I guess I should have."

"As important we we are to the ship do you really think I would push aside an experienced Helm Officer." He chuckled and kept eye contact. "Without us at the Helm the fleet would be permanently parked at Space Dock." He nod. "Besides knowing you are at the controls leaves me one less headache of a Shift to worry about."

"Oh, God, please NOT gamma shift," Zoe practically begged. "Anything but gamma."

Quint raised an eyebrow for a second. "I am going to be on Alpha Shift so I need someone on the other shifts." he turned and put the controls back to default settings. "Show me what you can do for the Beta Shift Bid?"

"Really? You want me to prove myself in a simulated helm test?" Zoe nearly laughed. "I've a better idea. We take a shuttle and you can see how well I do in an actual flight."

If I wanted a simulation I would have a simulated thing I would have asked you to sit and call up your panel. I just put it on stand=by. I much prefer a shuttle flight to holodeck or Bridge simulations." He smiled. "I will even let you choose the shuttle for your best chances."

"Type 9, any that are available," Zoe said with a smirk.

"Shall we go see what is lying about on te Hangar Deck then?" Quint offered.

"By all mean," Zoe said with a smirk. She instantly forced it away, remembering and hoping that this wouldn't turn out to be another Nightingale incident. "I'm pretty sure the shuttlebay has a type 9 sitting on standby, and I don't think the captain would mind if we took it for a spin."

We could put it down as a dry run to chest the process of a routine shuttle launch?" Quint smiled and gesture to the Turbo Lift. "Ladies always first of course." He gave the polite human bow.

Zoe nodded and started towards the turbolift.

[Shuttle Bay]

Quint had allowed the lady to lead; as is proper according to his studies of human behavior. The fact she had request it and would pick the shuttle also played into his decision to allow her to go first.

Looking around the shuttlebay, Zoe noticed the she Azura was sitting there ready to go. Naturally, she gravitated towards the shuttle and ran her hand across the smooth hull of the shuttle before she boarded and sat down in the pilots seat. "So, how long do you need to make your evaluation?" she asked as she started pre-flight.

"Depends on how much you impress me I should think." Quint replied as he observed. "So far so good if that helps?"

Zoe grinned as she keyed the remote activation for the shuttlebay doors. The force field that retained the atmosphere remained activate, but as soon as the bay doors were open Zoe gave the officer a feral grin and tapped the controls. The Azura shot out of the shuttlebay like a coiled jackrabbit as Zoe fired the impulse thrusters. As soon as the shuttle was clear, she brought the impulse engines online and steadily gained speed until she was at top speed, then angled towards the planet and settled into her seat.

"Sling shot maneuvers might bend the space frame and not impressive." Quint noted. "They are fun so let's see how you play with the shuttle?"

"I had something else in mind, actually," Zoe said as she angled the shuttle down towards the planet. Grinning, she took the shuttle into the atmosphere and dove towards the planet surface at full speed, watching her readouts and the forward view port carefully.

"I like what Hue-Mons call an 'E-Ticket ride." Quint kept an eye on the readouts as well as the pilot herself.

"I don't know what that is but," Zoe grinned as the shuttle's altitude dropped steadily. "I hope you don't scare easily."

"The female my Parents tried to have me marry to build the family business... that is scary, nothing in Federation space has scared me since." Quint remarked. "Please continue."

"Don't say I didn't try to warn you," Zoe said as the shuttle dropped like a meteor. She didn't wait until the last possible moment although she did cut it a little close, but she finally brought the shuttle out of its decent and rolled the shuttle twice before she killed the engines and used the atmospheric braking system to slow the shuttle's speed before it dropped and slid along the sandy surface of the planet. Eventually, it skidded to a stop and Zoe settled into her seat as she started the engine systems up again. "I do have to admit that I've been wanting to get out and play around a little," she said as she reactivated the systems.

"Care to show me some of your more fine Flight Skills, the ones that might be called upon under more stressful conditions?" Quint asked. "I find knowing how one might perform under duress helps me better evaluate their strengths to support the ship."

"Well, do you care to set the situation up?" Zoe asked as she raised her eyebrows.

"Cut the automatics; simulate only half power from a Crashed landing and effecting repairs have given only 42% mobility to get off the planet and out of orbit to meet the Star Ship coming to rescue the shuttle. Kind of a worst case scenario." Quint suggested. "Get us past the moon and then next bit of fun."

Zoe shrugged and changed the settings to the shuttle systems. Taking a deep breath, she sighed and moved her seat forward before keying in commands. With the reduced power settings, the controls were sluggish and the drive systems less responsive, and she would have to fight gravity in order to break orbit of the planet. She suddenly grinned as a thought came to her. Keying the inirtetial dampeners down to the minimum safe limit, she added that power to the engines. The shuttle moved a bit better, gaining a bit of speed as she hugged the ground, slowly gaining momentum until she was satisfied with her speed, then angled the shuttle up and away from the planet, putting every bit of power to the engines. It was a rough go, but she finally broke away from the planet's gravity and towards the moon. Grinning, she turned towards Quint. "Got anything else, boss?" she asked.

"Don't you love sluggish climbs?" Quint said. "What say we have you have a little fun out here before we head back to the Hangar?" He suggested. "Seeing a person at play says a lot about them." He grinned.

"I've already had a bit of fun," Zoe said as she brought the power systems back up to full power. "But if you insist, don't say I didn't warn you." With that, she aimed the shuttle towards where the Endeavour and the repair ship were in orbit and accelerated the shuttle to maximum impulse.

"Is this going to have the Inertia lateral rotation to a perfect landing trick in it; I like that one with high speed approaches?" Quint said with a grin. "You have to really be good to do that ; or the downward drop with a flare just before touch-down?"

"Actually, I was going to buzz all three ships before returning to the shuttlebay," Zoe said with a grin. "But now that I've told you, I'm willing to bet that I won't be able to get away with it."

"Your flight plan I registered myself as a passenger." Quint smiled. "Less paperwork that way." He nod. "Have fun fore afterward I render the impressed fac-tor based on the fun I have had?"

"Well, you're not much fun sometimes," Zoe said as she banked towards the Endeavour shuttlebay. "I've proven that I can fly, and if you want I can give you my flight logs on the helm for when I've piloted Endeavour. Do I get to avoid the gamma shift?"

"I already assigned T'Lara to Gamma shift." Quint shrugged.

Zoe paused and gave the Ferengi a really dark almost evil glare. "You mean to tell me that we just did all of this for nothing?" she said. "If you weren't my superior officer...." she broke off and shook her head. "So. Yeah. Thank you. Sir," she said as she piloted the shuttle back into the shuttlebay. Killing the thrusters, she dropped the shuttle angrily to the deck and shut down the systems. Once that was done, she stood and started out of the shuttle, muttering something about Ferengi.

"You did very well and T'Lara did not make the cut, that is why you got it." He said as he followed her. "And I'll bet you had fun trying to scare me, maybe just a little?"

"I'll admit I had fun until that last bit," Zoe said. "Although you were right, right now's not a good time to cause the captain to be in any more of a bad mood than he already is. And buzzing the other ships might not have gone over real well. So. Who's this TLara chick that you already put on gamma?"

"A female Vulcan who told me she was ; and I quote, 't-h-e' Helm Officer assigned to the ship as a greeting and how my being the Chief made her ... not confidant." He shrugged. "I am an emotional guy so the 'You must understand my Logic' did not endear her to me either." He shrugged. "Let her get Gamma in shape and maybe learn the Logic of playing more nice?"

Zoe barked in laughter. "Another Vulcan but one of those arrogant stuck up logic pricks?" she laughed. "Ok, she can have it. I hate those logic bound Vulcans. The open minded ones aren't too bad though. We need one of them on board."

"I'll Talk to OPS about requisitioning one." Quint laughed.

Zoe stopped dead cold in her tracks and turned to give her new boss a hard stare. She didn't mean to, but the events of the Endeavour's previous mission were still too fresh. "That wouldn't be a good idea. Sir," she said in a strange voice before she turned and started off out of the shuttlebay.

"Okay" He shrugged. "I'll promote one of the new guys coming in with crew replacements."

Zoe nodded and shrugged. "Up to you, Sir," she said before she started walking away. "Have fun with your Vulcan."

OFF

Lt. Quint
Chief Helmsman

PO3 Zoe Ellija
Helmsman

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