Towing Odysseus

Posted on Tue Nov 2nd, 2021 @ 6:34am by Ensign Duncan McManus & Lieutenant Samantha Leyton

Mission: Mission 4 - Eden
Location: Main Shuttlebay
Timeline: Sometime Between Day 167 16:30 & Day 168 11:30
1196 words - 2.4 OF Standard Post Measure

Shuttlepod Odysseus was lifted higher than normal on it's magnetic docking arm, creating space below it for Aalox to work. He was attaching a tow harness to the underside of the pod in preparation for moving it to the port cargo bay and machine shop for repairs. Quite a number of smaller parts have already been gradually stripped off the craft over the past hundred days, including both of the hatches. Those were removed to ensure it depressurizes with the shuttlebay. Don't want to be adding additional pressure cycles to a compromised pressure vessel. They were quite a pain and a half to carry through all the hatches on the Atlantis between here and the machine shops.

Samantha stepped into the shuttlebay to see that Shuttlepod Odysseus was finally being worked on. The shuttlepod had been down for quite some time as the engineers had mostly been busy with keeping the ship going. She recalled the last time she had visited the shuttlepod, she had smashed several consoles in anger and frustration. Spotting a figure underneath the shuttle, she made her way over. "Good to see the Odyssey finally getting repaired."

Aalox torqued down the last tow strap and rolled out from under the Odysseus. “We’ve actually been working on her off and on for months. We’ve just been focusing on the smaller components we brought over to the machine shop. Figured if she is going to be a ‘hangar queen’ as Ensign McManus calls her, we might as well keep her here, out of the way, as much as possible, until all her parts are ready to go back on.” he began running the power/data connection from the magnetic docking port strapped to the bottom of the shuttle pod through the hatch to the command console. He then stopped and stared at the damaged console. “Huh…”

"Yeah...sorry about that. Took my frustrations out on the shuttle. It gave as good as it got though, since it sent me to Sickbay," she grinned sheepishly upon seeing Aalox inspect a damaged console that she recalled had been her doing.

"Well, no sense crying over spilt milk as you humans like to say" he smiles back at her then turns to examines the console and attempts to activate it. "Seems superficial," he says as it powers on, data being displayed through the cracked acrylic. Then half the screen starts flashing between cyan and magenta. "Well, at least I can see what I need," he says pointing at indication of a good connection to the additional docking port that was occasionally flickering. "Would you mind helping me move her to the port cargo bay? Should be able to dock the Aeneas to her underside and give the Odysseus a, hog, back, ride?" Aalox says, a bit unsure about that last human saying.

"Sure," Samantha smiled at the engineer. She currently wasn't needed on the bridge and doing something different was a welcome relief to the monotony of everyday life aboard a stranded starship, decades from home. Looking over the shuttle, she let out a small sigh. "What do you need me to do?" She was by no means an engineer, only knowing the basics due to her training as a helmsman.

“Well,” he said, exiting through the missing hatch of Odysseus, “How well can you fly a Shuttlepod, with a dead Shuttlepod on its back?”

Samantha shrugged nonchalantly. "It's fairly easy to do in space. It's when you do it in a gravity environment is when it gets a bit tricky."

“Perfect,” Aalox said climbing into Shuttlepod Aeneas. He pulled up the comm system and radioed Ensign McManus over in the port cargo bay / machine shop. “Duncan, is the cargo manipulator all ready for the Odysseus?”

McManus looked up from where he was busing away and pressed the comms unit next room. "Has been ready for ten minutes." He said good-naturedly as he moved to watch and process the shuttlepod.

Following behind Aalox, Samantha sat down into the pilot's seat and began to power up the shuttle and run through the preflight checklist. The hatch sealed shut and pressurized the compartment as she completed the start up procedures. "We're ready to begin," she stated.

"Great, go ahead and depressurize the cargobay and open the ventral door. The Queen is on her way." Aalox replied to Duncan, switching transmit frequencies he called up shuttlebay control. "Aeneas ready for departure to relocate Odysseus. Please open doors 1 & 2, and extend Aeneas docking arm.". "Rodger, opening doors 1 & 2, lowering Aeneas" came the response. The doors under both shuttlepods opened and the Aeneas was lowered from Atlantis. Turning to Samantha. "Now we just need to .. Chassé .. over to the Odysseus and grab our partner. Do you like to fly listening to music?"

“Long live the queen,” McManus said over the comms before starting the process of depressurisation on the cargo bay. It was a familiar process to him having done it many times thanks to damage control training. He was pretty sure he could do it in his sleep now.

"Sure, why not. What's your fancy?" Samantha asked as the Aeneas detached from the docking arm. She glanced at the sensor screen as she moved the pod into position slowly underneath the Odysseus.

"Was curious what you might enjoy. I was thinking since we have a partner" Aalox says, nodding towards the Odysseus, "A waltz seems appropriate." He searches through his console as they approach the underside of the Odysseus. "Ah, here we are, An der schönen, blauen Donau", and the violins and horns begin.

"Personally, not my cup of tea, but it will do," she commented offhand, keeping her eyes on the sensors just as a thump resounded throughout the pod, indicating they had come into contact with the other shuttlepod. "All right, disconnect the docking arm from the Odysseus."

Aalox tapped into what was left of the Odysseus’ systems through the temporary docking systems power/data connection. He released the Odysseus’s main docking port. “She’s free” he responded. “So what is your ‘cup of tea’?” he asked, enjoying the novel humanism.

Samantha grinned, casting a sideways glance at him. "I grew up on Rock and Roll," she replied as she drifted down and away with Aeneas on top of them. It caused more power consumption from the thrusters but nothing the shuttlepod couldn't handle as she began to manoeuvre towards the repair bay. "Kenny Loggins, AC/DC, and The Eagles are among some of my favorite artists." Her smile grew as she recalled the time she blasted the AC/DC song Back in Black out her Starfleet Academy dorm window, causing several Vulcans to lodge complaints.

Aalox began to search through the music database for ‘The Eagles’. “I’m not sure that tea would be the beverage of choice for rock and roll, ah, this one sounds appropriate.” The horns and violins had just finished the first accelerando when they suddenly got cut off, replaced by the first electric guitar chord of ‘Take It Easy’.

"No, tea isn't normally the beverage of choice for rock," she commented. "I take it you have studied human history then?"

TRUNCATED