Sisters In Arms
Posted on Fri Nov 3rd, 2023 @ 1:53am by Commander Irene Vincent "Rally" & Lieutenant Commander May Hopkins
985 words; about a 5 minute read
Mission:
Season 1, Episode 1: Wanted: A Few Brave Men
Location: Deep Space Station K-9
May Hopkins stepped off of the transporter pad of the station Deep Soace K9. She looked around and sighed. The old station looked more run down than she had expected. "Where is Rally?" She asked.
The transporter operator looked a bit confused. "Um... you mean Commander Vincent?" he replied.
May nodded. "Yeah. Where is her location?" She asked.
"She should be in her office up on Deck 9," the Transporter operator explained. "Can't miss it; the moment you step off the Turbolift, it'll be immediately to your right."
"Got it" May replied as she made her way towards the door. The station looked very run down and not cared for. Panels were hanging off walls, there were even exposed wires and conduits. Eventually she reached the commander's office. She did try the door, but it didn't open. So she knocked instead.
"Just a second!" a familiar voice on the other side could be heard shouting.
Without warning, one of the heavy steel doors was forced open, revealing none other than Rally Vincent, looking about six years older than when May had last seen her and now sporting the command variant of the traditional Starfleet uniform.
"May Hopkins, you sonofabitch!" she grinned, reaching out through the crack and wrapping May into a bear hug. "Where you been these past six years?!"
Well, May wasn't expecting that at all. "Well... You know. Here and there..." she said as she tried to breathe.
"Come, in please! We've got lots to discuss," Rally explained, ushering May into her office and shutting the door behind her. "I would hope Commodore Foy has had the good sense to debrief you on the situation with the House Khartan?"
"House who now?" May replied.
Rally stopped dead in her tracks. "They didn't tell you?"
"They might have mentioned it. But I might have been distracted..." she said with a not so innocent smirk.
Rally chuckled at that. "Well, I see that side of you hasn't changed..." she muttered, before switching things back on topic. "Okay, so fill me in; what do you know about the situation so far?"
May shrugged. "I told you, I wasn't paying much attention. I do know I need to fix up this station," she replied giving her an innocent smirk.
"Well... that hardly scratches the surface," Rally sighed. "Let's see... on our ever-growing to-do list, we've got Travelator motor controls that only sporadically work as intended, door retraction gears that have seized up after nearly two decades of neglect, a hot water condenser that leaks like a sieve, non-functioning torpedo tubes, damaged phaser emitters, optical filaments, monitors, and transceivers that are all past their prime... at this point, I'm surprised that life support hasn't been giving us any trouble yet."
May sighed. "So, a lot of work. How many staff do I have?" She asked.
"Approximately 35 Enlisted personnel, all of them on loan from the Alliance," Rally reported. "I know it's not much at the moment, but Commodore Foy promises me we should see more permanent staff trickling in in the coming weeks. Whether or not he can follow through on said promise... well, let's say I'm a bit skeptical."
"Thats not a lot Rally..." May moaned. "Do you really expect me to get all this working with only such a small team? If this was a starship then yeah, I might be able to swing it. But a Starbase, thats a much bigger project!"
"You don't think I'm already aware?" Rally grumbled. "Seriously, this shit would be halfway done by now if Starfleet Command stepped up to the plate and allocated me the personnel that I actually need around here, and instead we're barely at 10% operating capacity!"
She rubbed her temples and sighed. "God... is this what working in Starfleet Command is all about, May? Bitching to the higher-ups every time we get the short end of their priority allocations and hoping it spurns them into getting their shit together?"
"Pretty much" May said as she flexed the muscles in her arms. "That's why I'm just a greasemonkey." She grinned.
"I envy you sometimes," Rally chuckled before pulling up an itinerary on her PADD. "Let's see, what else is on the to-do list... Well, the good news is that Starfleet Command has been kind enough to allot us with a garrison vessel, but the bad news is that said vessel has been mothballed for the better part of..." She paused for a moment to crunch the numbers in her head. "What was it, ten years now?"
"Let me guess. Its an old wreck of a ship that you want me to fix up?" May sighed. "What class?"
"Lancaster-Class," Rally explained. "While the good news is that these types of ships are famously easy to service and repair... the bad news is that the entire warp drive's seized up from neglect and we've had to order ourselves a replacement."
May sighed. "That means more work!" she said. "Seriously, how does Starfleet expect us to get all this up and running with hardly no staff?!"
"You and me both..." Rally grumbled.
"Well. I best get to work then..." May said with a small smile.
"Eh, it can wait a few minutes, May," Rally insisted as she got up and made her way over to a jerry-rigged food processor in the corner of the room. "You just got here, so no one's expecting you to get to work right away; what's say we take twenty and catch up over some Lou's?"
May smirked. "Sure Rally."
Posting By (In Order Of Appearance):
Lieutenant Commander May Hopkins
Executive Officer/Chief Engineer, Deep Space Station K-9
Commander Rally Vincent
Commanding Officer, Deep Space Station K-9
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