A Surprise for the CAG

Posted on Thu 24th Nov, 2016 @ 5:31pm by Lieutenant Colonel Brooklyn Wellington

955 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Murder on the Silent Night Express
Location: Promenade
Timeline: MD01

For the first time in since arriving here, Brooklyn felt some weight off her shoulders as she toured the promenade before reporting for duty. The department had two full squadrons of combat-ready craft. However, the ground support crew and engineers were the heroes--sacrificing their time, blood, sweat, and tears to get the fighter craft aboard the station back to full capacity.

The thought swelled her with pride as she passed the lingerie store "Victoria's Secret." She was almost immediately was slammed to the deck hard. Something big and hairy was on top of her, realizing it was a person--with a lot of skin "Ow! What the hell?!" The person got off of her and she twisted onto her elbows just in time to see a large, almost nude--save for a well placed Santa hat, obese Tellarite male run off with shouts of disgust coming from the store. She then saw station security tackle the Tellarite. With a sigh, she flopped back onto the deck, looking at the ceiling high above her. "That did not just happen..."

A familiar feminine laugh caught her attention as the face of 2nd Lt. Rose O'Malley came into view. A face that was now turning red from laughing so hard. "Are..." Rose tried to find her voice from the laughter. "Are you alright, ma'am?"

"Being tackled by a streaking Tellarite was not on my to-do list today...but yes, I'm fine," Brooklyn said as Rose offered a hand to help her to her feet.

Brooklyn steadied herself as she got to her feet. "One word of this to the department and I'll have your hide, lieutenant."

Rose bit her lip, fighting back laughter. "Aye, ma'am." Clearing her throat, Rose continued, "I was actually coming to get you, ma'am. The ground crew has a surprise for you in the fighter bay."

"Surprise?" Brooklyn asked. "What sort of surprise?"

Rose grinned and shook her head. "Can't say, ma'am. But I can assure you it doesn't involve a streaking Tellarite."

"Sure, lead the way, lieutenant," Brooklyn gestured with and open hand towards the nearest turbolift.




The turbolift finally came to a halt. On ships, the turbolift was often just a moment's ride to anywhere you wanted to go, but aboard a base as large as Starbase Vanguard, it often took several minutes for the lift to complete a journey which is why many people preferred to take the inter-station transport system or a more comfortable transit capsule. But for military and restricted areas, a turbolift was often used for obvious security reasons.

Brooklyn followed Rose past the pilot briefing room, where she saw several pilots crowded around the large viewing monitor at the front of the room. Brooklyn was horrified by the footage on the monitor, which was security footage of her being tackled by the Tellarite. The room instantly filled with laughter. Brooklyn stepped into the room. "I'm sure we have better things to do with our time, and turn that off."

The group bowed their heads to hide the smiles on their faces as they filed out of the room, turning off the monitor. Brooklyn turned to Rose. "They're not going to let me live that down, are they?"

"I doubt it, ma'am," Rose replied with a grin.

Brooklyn sighed. "God, help me. So, where is this surprise, lieutenant?"

"Right this way, ma'am." Rose led the way into the fighter bay where ground crews and a few pilots were gathered around something covered with a large white cloth.

"Attention on deck," called an Andorian ground crewman. The assembled pilots and crew instantly came to attention.

"At ease. What is this about, Gunnery Sergeant? S'harn" Brooklyn asked.

S'harn stepped forward with a proud grin. "Ma'am, we're all honored to serve under you...and with some research and around the clock work, my crew and I were able to restore this," he turned to several ground crew near the cloth and nodded.

The crew pulled at the cloth, unveiling a black Valkyrie-Class Attack Fighter with red Starfleet insignia and stripes. Brooklyn instantly recognized it as the same fighter she flew in the Dominion War. She was silent as she approached the craft, her hand reaching out to touch it, as if seeing a long lost family member for the first time in years. She closed her eyes as she fought back tears. It wasn't the craft itself that was emotional to her, it was the memories that it brought back. The memories of countless missions flown with a very dear friend of hers that was also her Weapons Officer, 2nd Lieutenant Kant Orsar, an Orion, who was lost when Brooklyn was shot down by the Breen. She thought the fighter had been lost after she was forced to eject. Now it was here in front of her like a ghost from her past. She looked at the name on the pilot slot. It read: Captain Brooklyn "Tellarite" Wellington. "Tellarite?" she questioned to a roar of laughter behind her. It was customary that a pilot would earn a callsign due to an attribute or event that happened to that pilot. Sometimes the callsign changed when pilots transferred to different units and other times it remained the same. Apparently the news of Brooklyn's encounter had spread like wildfire. She bowed her head and shook it. "You sons of..."

The laughter continued as Brooklyn turned with a grin at Gunnery Sergeant S'harn. "Thank you, Gunny, it means alot to me. I'll have to take her up for a spin tomorrow."

"You're welcome, ma'am, and I look forward to seeing how she performs," S'harn replied with a huge grin.

"Carry on with your duties," Brooklyn ordered as she made her way to her office.

 

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