Lynn smiled to herself slightly, looking out into the void
of space, the stars off in the distance. It had been a very long
time since the fighter jock had been able to get outside of the
ship, and it felt awfully good to her. Laid up in the sickbay she
had been kept out of the last battle, almost going stir crazy in
there while the battle raged on outside.
"Ack!" Lynn cried out as she was thumped hard on the back of
her helmet. Whirling around she saw who had thumped her and quickly
swallowed her angry words.
Major Tanya gave her a wry smile, "I know it's a nice view,
but there's work to be done." The green haired woman pushed off,
drifting towards the transport containers, grabbing one and moving
out into the debris field from the battle.
Lynn smiled to herself wryly, moving over to grab a recovery
container herself. It was bad enough to be caught dozing, but being
caught by the Major made it feel twice as bad! The lady was one of
the best, most of her pilots firmly agreed, and all of them fought
to live up to her standard. Hers, and the captain's.
A blush brightly colored Lynn's cheeks as she thought of the
redheaded Captain Gail. Trying to banish those thoughts she gathered
up salvageable components as she worked forward slowly, the armor
gauntlets of the suit shielding her hands from the toxic radiation
and the damaged edges of the parts she was collecting.
Only a few short weeks ago it looked like the ship was going
to be destroyed and the ship's tactical officer Lieutenant Danielle
had ordered the abandoning of the fighter wings. No one out in the
battle could have blamed her, they all knew in the larger scheme of
things the fighters were considered expendable. But the Captain
countermanded that order, laying down waves of weapons fire to get
as many fighters as possible back into the ship before they warped
out.
Lynn had defied orders and left the sickbay, limping down to
the fighter bays. Working with anyone who was available they pulled
pilots out of battered, wrecked fighters. Meris had followed her
down from the sickbay, the blonde lecturing her about taking care of
her injury even as they worked together to help all the injured.
Major Tanya was pulling a pilot out of a wrecked cockpit
when she froze, then finished off what she was doing. The green
haired woman gently set the girl down to the deck, completely
ignoring the blood that was still trickling down from her forehead
as she walked towards where Captain Gail was helping another pilot.
"Why?" Major Tanya's voice was raspy, and she cleared her
throat before continuing, "Why didn't you just leave us behind?"
"Because we've lost too damn many people already," Captain
Gail's answer was soft. She smiled to herself grimly as she looked
over the battered fighters filling up the launch bay, "No one gets
left behind."
Lynn nodded to herself slightly as she finished filling the
container. 'No one gets left behind,' she mused, 'there were worse
battle cries.' She floated back towards the ship even as she heard a
communication come over the suit's systems.
"It's exactly twelve hours before we move out," Major Tanya
said crisply, "so head in and get some rest." A pause and her voice
carried some amusement, "And whatever you do for the next twelve
hours, don't be hung over when it's time to go." A certain amount of
laughter came over the com. system at that, and Lynn just had to
grin.
'She knows us pretty well,' Lynn mused as she made her way
back to the ship.
In the vessel's sickbay Meris puffed out a breath in a sigh.
The tall blonde looked around her nearly deserted domain, for a
moment wishing there was something more to do.
'Of course,' Meris firmly reminded herself, 'when I'm busy
the ship's usually under fire.'
As the head surviving officer of the Medical division Meris
had worked hard the past few days to prepare the medical bays for
the voyage ahead. Supplies were stocked up, the diagnostic equipment
fully checked and the emergency stations around the ship carefully
maintained. She thought they were as ready as she could make them..
The door to the sickbay swished open, and Meris' eyes
widened as she saw the redhead walk inside, looking around casually
in her uniform. 'What's the captain doing here?' she wondered.
Captain Gail strode across the sickbay, offering Meris a
little smile. "Doctor Meris, it's good to see you," she said.
"Captain," Meris found herself saluting reflexedly.
Captain Gail smiled wryly, "I wanted to speak with you."
Meris gulped, wondering what she might have done
wrong. "Come into my office," she gestured to the enclosed area
usually belonging to the chief medical officer. With her dead along
with the second in command, it had fallen to Meris to attempt to
fill those shoes.
"You've done good work down here," Gail said gently, seeming
to catch on to her apprehension as they walked inside. She smiled at
her slightly, "You're no longer acting CMO."
Meris pushed her blonde hair back, feeling a moment of
relief, then she realized the captain wasn't finished just yet.
"I'm promoting you to lieutenant-commander," Gail continued
on crisply, "and officially making you the ship's CMO, effective
immediately."
Meris gaped at her, trying to absorb the information. "I
can't," she finally managed weakly, "I'm not qualified to be the
chief!"
Gail gave her a measuring look, then she nodded towards the
desk. "Take a seat," her tone of voice not making it a request.
Meris went around the desk and settled into the seat. still feeling
vaguely uncomfortable about sitting in what she still thought of the
boss' chair. Gail continued on, "We only have one nurse and a
doctor, you, left. We need a CMO, both officially and for ship
morale."
Meris clenched her jaw. "You know why I was transferred off
my last ship." she said softly, "you know about my problem, and you
still want me to be CMO?"
Gail smiled grimly, "You haven't had a relapse since you
transferred aboard, Meris." She pushed a hand through her hair, "I
have a staff meeting in an hour, our last before we take off, and I
need to have you there, doctor."
Meris met the captain's eyes, realizing how tired the woman
was. She was fighting to prepare the ship for battle, and she needed
her. A deep breath, "All right, I'll be there."
"Thank you," Gail smiled as she moved to leave the office.
She paused in the doorway, "Requisition a new uniform, there's an
authorization already in the ship's computer."
"You knew I'd accept," Meris murmured.
"No," Gail shrugged slightly, "but I had high hopes."
Commander Allaine sat in the command chair, looking out the
viewscreen at the massive debris field, and just beyond that the
three paranoid ships. The dark brown haired woman looked calmly
confident, as if she were certain that they were going to succeed.
Almost her opposite was Lieutenant Lauren, who looked as
tightly wound up as a spring as she sat there at her helmwoman's
position. The slim blonde softly muttered to herself, "Why don't
they do something!"
"Lieutenant," Allaine's voice had a certain chill to it, "if
they were doing something, it would mean out electronic counter
measures had failed." She gentled her voice a bit, "I can understand
a bit of impatience, but we're moving out soon enough."
"Yes, ma'am," Lauren sounded sheepish.
'How the captain got messed up with that one I'll never
understand,' Allaine thought to herself, keeping any of her thoughts
from showing on her face. She had a very good poker face, the only
officer she knew who could see through it was Gail herself.
Lieutenant Danielle slid from her position at the tactical
station, the cool and capable young woman walking to her side. The
black haired officer smiled slightly, "I just received a report from
the salvage crews." At Allaine's inquiring look she
continued, "There's been no luck in salvaging a bank of the
targeting computers."
"Which means manual targeting," Allaine sighed. "The fighter
pilots are not going to be happy," she added grimly. The targeting
computers helped prevent them from shooting their own fighters, and
with only a partially effective system the fighters were far more at
risk.
"We'll do all that we can to protect the pilots," Danielle
said seriously.
A soft chime over the bridge, "Senior officers to the
briefing room."
"Let's go," Allaine climbed out of her seat, quickly
collaring Lauren and Danielle with her eyes. All three walked into
the briefing room, as the other members of the senior staff trickled
in from different parts of the ship.
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