A Beauty and a Brute

Posted on Thu Mar 21st, 2024 @ 5:42pm by Captain Rylan Gray & Lieutenant Commander Harrison Knox

1,688 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Opening Moves
Location: Utopia Planitia Fleet Yard, Mars, Sol System
Timeline: MD001 - 1115

The church bordered a vast field of Bahiagrass, Bermuda Grass and Ryegrass on one side and on the other, a small cemetery with headstones dating back several hundred years. Vehicles were clustered out front but Rylan turned toward the field where a Starfleet shuttle sat with its hatch open. Rylan gestured for Possum to follow him and climbed aboard.

"So..." Knox said as he entered the shuttle and looked to Rylan for answers. Though getting anything out of his friend often took a bit of baiting, persistence, and patience. "We must be going somewhere of significant distance otherwise we would have used the public transportation terminals."

He settled into a seat. "Shuttle. We're leaving orbit then. Where are you taking, Ry?" Inquired Knox. He was still trying to figure out what big news there possibly was, what Rylan Gray was keeping concealed.

"Patience," Rylan answered at his enigmatic best. He settled back into one of the comfortable seats and closed his eyes. "We'll be there shortly."

Knox sighed and shook his head. "Not one of my strengths, Ry. I may be a virtuous man but patience is where I fall short" stated the lieutenant commander. They had served together long enough for Rylan to know that of Knox. Nevertheless, patience was sometimes a requirement whether or not one was good at it. "I fidget during long shuttle rides" he reminded his friend and superior officer.

"Papa never could be in a shuttle with me too long without givin' me the medicine as a child," prefaced the man nicknamed Possum. "Don't suppose you have a bottle of whisky 'round here?" he added, in jest of course, but with some insight into his childhood years.

Rylan shook his head slightly in response to Possum's adult version of the millennia old lament, 'are we there yet', but kept his eyes closed. Say good-bye in one moment, he thought, and say hello in the next.

[Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards]

A very short while later, the Fleet Yard came into view and the pilot called back, "Arriving now, Sir. Did you want to do a flyby?"

"Yes, thank you, Lieutenant," Rylan answered. "Just the thing."

The Akira class starship was an absolute marvel of modern engineering and it showed, in every bit of the starship, that years of careful designing were there before Possum and Ry. Knox let out a cat call of a whistle. "Damn, little lady has a set of nacelles on her and that dressed to the nines bow to stern," he said as though admiring the physique of a woman rather than an inanimate object.

His eyes were drawn up towards the pod, a weapons pod by the looks of her. "Oh she's ready to bash some spoonheads in, ain't she a deadly little darlin'," he added with a smirk. The under swept nacelles of the starship reminded him of the Ark Royal except they were not spaced as wide apart. This starship's support pylon were thicker and clearly more stable, an improvement over the Ark Royal's which were a structural vulnerability and tactical weakness. Yes, this ship is not for exploration, he surmised to himself.

When the shuttle took them close enough, he skimmed the name. "Thunderbird," he said aloud and looked to Rylan. "This is your command, Ry. She's a beauty and brute."

Like Possum, Rylan had been staring out the window as well though, as was his habit, he was quieter about it. Third of five in her Class. They pushed these through. If Wolf 359 taught us anything, it was that we needed more firepower and she can deliver. Along with three phaser arrays, she's got fifteen torpedo tubes, seven forward, eight aft and one each to both port and starboard. Can you imagine?" His expression turned serious again. "Though you are missing one important fact."

Knox looked to Rylan "What am I missing? Some feature on it I didn't see?"

"I suppose now is as good a time as any," Rylan said as he reached into his uniform pocket and pulled out a small black box. "It's not just my ship."

Possum studied the box and looked at Rylan. "I'd recommend buying me a drink first if you've brought me all the way out here to pop the question" teased Knox. "Not just your ship..." he waited for clarification.

Rylan arched an eyebrow and waited. While patience and Possum barely had a passing acquaintance, the same could not be said of him. "Open the box, Possum," he repeated. He smiled slightly. "On my honor, it's not a ring."

"I know," replied Possum. He kept the box closed though and looked at Rylan apologetically. "It isn't a no to whatever you are about to ask me, but I know you. I know what's in there and if I open it..."

He placed Rylan's hand atop the box and his own atop of Rylan's. "I have been in Starfleet a long time, bud. Longer than you. I enlisted at 17 and never dared to think about becoming an officer until I was pushed towards it, but I earned every rank patch and ever officer pip. Let me earn this one."

"According to Starfleet, you already have," Rylan said as he slipped the case back into his pocket. "For what its worth, I agree with you. I suspect its more a matter of optics than anything else but I felt it best that you make decision for yourself. Not the same with me, I'm afraid. I've been avoiding all of this for awhile now and well, its finally caught up to me."

"Ry," Knox addressed him informally. "Hey, if this is your way of saying they want me aboard that starship, I accept the assignment. I just don't want to be handed a field promotion. I want to get there on my own merits, and though Starfleet Command may feel I'm ready. They do not know me. I'm just a name on a PaDD that contains a list attached with it, a personnel file and a long service record with a few bells and whistles to make me stand out ahead of some others."

He ran his fingers over the three rank pips that he did wear, two full and the third, hollow. "I want to do this my way, the right way. I want it under examination conditions. I want to pass the tests and earn it. I can't wear that pip, Ry, not this way. If I do, it is just going to be reminder of the Ark Royal. I'll see it as a promotion because I lived when the Captain and others did not."

"I understand," Rylan said. "I"ll let Starfleet know you aren't interested." He turned his gaze toward the viewport again, looking at the Thunderbird, as the shuttle turned to fly back along the other side. "I've been ordered to take command of the Thunderbird and, well, the only thing holding me back was ... anyway ... I'm looking for an Executive Officer."

"I highly suspect you aren't looking for one so much as you are hoping that proposition is appealing to me," Knox replied. "If you are courting me for it, Ry, just ask me. I don't have the aspirations for command, but serving at your side would be an honor."

"Sorry," Rylan said. "I think part of me is still thinking about the Captain. I should be more direct. Yes, I was about to ask if you'd become my Executive Officer and as is often the case with you, you're there waiting before I get the whole thought out, with your answer." He smiled. "Your transfer orders will be waiting for you on board but you'll have to arrange to get your gear. For the next month, you and I will be learning everything there is to know about this ship."

Knox understood all too well. "He was important to you, to us both. The Captain always did enjoy his theatrics. He loved mysteries and making you... all of us go the extra mile to read between lines and problem solve. You were always better than I was at that stuff."

He would of course take this position. "He left us another problem to solve together. A starship the likes of which I've never seen, and we have to learn it."

"Yes, we do," Rylan answered. "Right after I find myself a nice cup of Yorkshire tea."

Knox shook his head. "We need to get you in touch with a good supply officer. Find you a lifetime supply of tea, not the replicates stuff."

"Do you recall the fellow we had on the Ark," Rylan said. "The man couldn't find anything. What was his name. Holden, I think."

"Couldn't hold on to anything. Lost everything. Tricorders, communication badges, we were just lucky he didn't leave his phaser on an alien planet."

"Did you know he's moved into Operations? Last I heard, he's signing on as a Quartermaster," Rylan said, chuckling softly. "Oh, not on the Thunderbird, we are spared that at least. On the Thunderchild, our sister ship." He found himself grinning at that. "Mitz's new command."

"Shuttle Egeria to USS Thunderbird. We are on final approach and be aware, we have the Captain and Executive Officer on board," the pilot said. As he spoke, his fingers danced across the console, preparing the shuttle for its final approach to the ship's unique shuttle bay configuration.

There was a slight pause followed by the sound of something hitting the deckplate. "Crap. Oh. Sorry Shuttle Egeria. You are cleared. Shuttle bay doors are opening. Someone will be down directly. Thunderchild, no I mean, Thunderbird out."

The pilot chuckled as he steered the Egeria into the shuttle bay and brought her in for a gentle landing. "We're here, Sirs," he said. "No crew on board yet. Just the engineering team and they've got a different way of looking at things." He flipped a switch and the hatch opened.

"Time to get to work 'X'," Rylan as he rose to his feet.

Knox sprung to his feet. "First Officer ready, Captain."

 

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