Shuttle B

Posted on Thu Apr 13th, 2023 @ 5:24am by Captain Callisi Verra & Lieutenant Obav th’Villos & Cadet First Class Pallas & Lieutenant JG Willow Wales (Kosugi)

Mission: The Goddess
Location: Space/Planet
Timeline: Current
2212 words - 4.4 OF Standard Post Measure

ON

Willow listened to the interplay between the pilots their joking/flirting with each other, and she was amused. And then there was the exchange between Obav and Timia about which was longer the antennae and Calissi's ears. Then the flirting? Teasing between Timia and Obav. She hid a smile but her amusement was evident in her eyes.

Willow remembered seeing the tenseness shown by Timia's body language, when she got into the shuttle. She glanced back over to where Liala and Pallas were just to observe their reactions to what was going on. Then her gaze went to the quiet Lydia. What could the woman be thinking right now. Willow wouldn't know as she wasn't a mind reader.

A thought came to Willow and she broke her silence, "A question, do you think these people who have our people will have any sort of defense against incoming craft?"

"I believe our squadron of fighters and bombers are going to be flying ahead of us to soften them up and a small fighter escort will go down with us to protect us. We also have our own shields and weapons," Obav glanced back at the shuttle's occupant who'd spoke up. "At least that's what I think is going to happen."

"Always best to assume you're going to get shot at." Callisi called up from her position at the front. The rabbitess seemed very casual about her flight pattern, controlling the ebb and flow of the shuttle with ease. Even to the point of manual control of the inertial compensator to allow for the shuttle to more evenly flow in its movement, rather than simply moving. It was an interesting sensation, hard to describe to those who had become accustomed to the lack of inertial motion. But to actually FEEL the ship gently move, it wasn't an unpleasant feeling.

"Hence a good reason to depend on who ever is at the helm, and hope they are really good in their skills. I've been in some shuttles where.. I don't know who trained them, but they were piss poor." Willow remarked. "I know by the manifest what your names are but, how long have you beeh with the crew?"

"Long enough." Callisi commented, "Before this, I earned my Red in the Navy. Served my Three doing grey op drops behind Koldaran lines airdropping marines and picking them back up on a dust off." Callisi recounted her military history with pride. "Only one thing kept me from re-upping after my three." she turned and looked at Willow, her cyclopean glance heavy, "One."

She paused, "Yes, I got hurt on a mission. Yes, I got the prosthetic on the field. Yes... I brought my soldiers home."

Willow gave a nod, "I wasn't going to query about your eye. That would have just been plain rude. And am glad you were able to bring your people back." Willow not flinching at Calissi's words. I can also tell the difference with the flying done here, and compared to the others. You have skills a tremendous amount."

"Combat always takes a toll, many scars are not on the surface," Obav glanced over at Callisi, before looking back at the readouts. She was flying and he was playing engineer and copilot. "Speak of, looks like we have some surface-to-air defenses powering up."

Callisi turned her attention to the readouts. "Hmmm, thirty eight fifties." she mentioned, a callout to the series of defense arrays. "Similar to the Koldaran quark arrays. Their sensor locks are fooled by mass displacement." the rabbitess commented, before turning over her shoulder. "Everyone secured? Good."

She turned, and started to work on something, then stopped.. "Obav..." she took a breath, "... adjust the inertial compensator to six mark four, minus ninety. Tune the gravity plates to point eight." she glanced over towards the Andorian, taking the moment to include him in the moment. She had to accept that she wasn't flying solo anymore.

"That should put our mass shadow about ninety feet to the starboard. You'll feel a pull in that direction, I'll compensate. Their sensors will either read the mass shadow as a duplicate reading, and lose solid tracking, or they'll target the shadow itself. Should draw their fire." Callisi offered, before tilting the ship gently to adjust for the inevitable pull.

"Drop bags are under your seats." she called back to the crew behind.

"As long as they're not using a flak field," Obav glanced over at his copilot, his fingers already working on the controls. "I'm going to use the deflector to enhance the gravity projection, we'll want to keep our weapons cold in case they have any gunners worth a damn to track the energy signature and I'll need to extra power. We could drop down to the deck and punch it."

She gave a nod. "Divert from the opposite axis, double up what you need." she offered up. "And if it were up to me, we'd be cold the whole way down, just using the inertial field as a gravity hiccup, and essentially *fall* the whole way in." she knew her stuff, and demonstrated it well. "If we're keeping the power running, we can polarize the hull and see about repelling flak that makes it through the shields."

"If we need to punch it, we drop all pretense and we just go."

"Oh, now you're just being a tease," Obav's antenna wiggled with excitement, he tapped a few commands and looked over at her. "I'm ready to cut the power when you are."

Willow quietly chuckled as she listened to the conversation between Obav and Calissi. Those two certainly had confidence in what they were doing. And Willow was taking comfort from that very thing. She looked over towards Pallas, Timia, and Lydia once more to see how they were doing.

Then what Calissi and Obav were talking about clicked in Willow's mind. "Are you talking about cutting the engines and letting us drop like a rock before erm, engaging the engine once more? I dont' know if I am using the proper terminology, but is that what you will be doing?"

Callisi shook her head, "No, it's an IF, not a WHEN. Targeting systems on most systems look for powered systems, powered targets. If the rain gets too heavy, we cut the power and glide in through inertia and gravity, just make like a rock in space." she sighed, "Seriously, Starfleet has been compensating inertia for so long they forgot how to use it."

She turned her attention to Obav, "Do not cut power." not a stern warning, more of a declaration of how NOT overwhelmed they were. The rabbitess knew how to bank and sway a shuttle, sliding their perceived center of gravity from point to point to let the shuttle not so much turn, but almost drift from checkpoint to checkpoint. The anti-air fire was heavy, but apparently not heavy enough to concern the cyclopean pilot. That same pilot spared a glance back to her charges, her soldiers....

Pallas....

The cadet, looking a little pale, brightened a bit as Callisi looked her and the other passengers over. She managed to force a smile and flash the pilot a thumbs up.

Before she gave a nod and returned her attention forward. Nervous faces back there. Time to break the ice. "So this one time I was dropping a Slate geovisionary, a priest of their people. They worship planets with warm cores, you see." she started. "Quiet ride, cause they can't speak like we do. We were heading to a mining site, so that their rituals could be done to send the spirit of the planet core off to be reborn in a new gathering. Part of the treaty. So I asked him, at least I THINK it was a him, how he was enjoying the ride. So he responded."

"It took him half the ride to the planet to respond, and the rumble of his reply set off...." she paused, to swerve around another salvo of incoming defensive fire. "... his reply set off the engineering maintenance signal. Rattled something loose." she snickered, "And after all that, three MINUTES of rumble and response, the translator said...... Fine." she paused, for effect. "He thought, the ride was............. FINE."

Willow broke the ensuing silence at the finish of that story. "All he said was that the ride was Fine? Oh well at least it didn't take a long while to answer. " Willow feeling herself relax. There was a flash of something which caught Willow's attention, then a voice came over the comms.

=/\=One of the defensive towers has been blasted away. The others should follow suit. =/\=

"How many other towers?" Pallas asked no one in particular, not realizing that the message was for Obav and Callisi, not for those like her who were just along for the ride. She checked her gear again, then her extremities. All fingers and limbs accounted for, for now at least.

Right after that question was asked, a signal came in, a coded message, it was from Wales with it came some numbers. This is the code to get through the shielding and make you seem like friendlies- Wales

Willow was gripping onto the seat, as she was trying to steady herself with the movement of the shuttle."

"Maybe one day, you'll get to meet one of the Sl.." Callisi started, but then the incoming comm came in to interrupt her. She turned to her side, to Obav, "See about that code. I'm hesitant to take my hands off the controls."

Wilow was ready to get out of this shuttle and go help those in need. She reached out towards Pallas, "Hang on we're almost there." feeling herself start to get slightly anxious, and prepping herself for what was going to happen next, and sending up a prayer to her ancestors that travelled the stars to watch over them.

The cadet took Willow's hand and put her other one over it. "We made it this far, Ensign... we will make it the rest of the way. Remember those names, we are going to honor them today."

Willow smiled warmly, just the words and the slight contact from Pallas plus that bond they made when honoring those who had fallen, gave her comfort. "Thank you, Pallas. You have soothed some of my anxiousness."

With the digital smokescreen in place, Callisi found the rest of the moment quiet. While she would comment that it was a 'little too quiet', that was the entire point of the codes they received. Unhindered, the shuttle slid through the void of space, to land and begin the infiltration, and exfiltration of their people.

Touchdown, as the shuttle landed. "Alright people, we're down."

Pallas unbuckled herself from the seat and looked about. She would let the officers, Doctor Whitlock and Ensign Callingbull, lead the way. Taking the moment before they made their way toward the door, the cadet stepped swiftly to the cockpit and gently, and only for the briefest of moments, placed her hand on Callisi's shoulder, giving her a gentle and intentional squeeze. Pallas knew now that a touch such as this to the Ts'usugi was significant, and hoped her appreciation was communicated clearly. "Thank you for getting us here in one piece," she smiled. "See you in a bit."

Gently, for a brief moment, a hand made its way to rest on a hand.

"Anata nashide wa hanaremasen." she said, softly. "I..." a pause, from the normally unflappable Daughter of Ts'usu. "... This shuttle waits for you." there was a weight to her words. A meaning.

"I look forward to reuniting then. With the shuttle, that is," Pallas said with a wink, before letting go, fingertips lingering, and then turning back to rejoin the others as they began to exit the shuttle. The cadet drew her phaser and took a deep breath.

Callisi tapped a few commands into the console. Shutting down power signature after power signature, minimizing their sensor profile. Seemed this was standard op for the pilot, or at least, motions she was very used to doing. She kept the proverbial engine running, though, but adjusted the low-running power system to match the background hum of their destination. Blending in, as it were, was easier on a station that produced its own background noise.

"I'll keep the ride home hot." she stated to Obav, drawing a phaser from a tactical holster on her side. "Go have fun." she said, letting them off the hook with guard duty.

Willow stepped out of the shuttle, her kit bag with the supplies, she looked at those with her. It was now go time. She thought that they would be meeting up with the others. She looked at Calissia, and gave an acknowledging nod. "Keep safe." she remarked to the Rabbitess.

Obav's antenna bent back as he went over his kit and shouldered the phaser rifle he'd brought with him. "I'll try to bring back everyone in one piece. If you run into trouble, signal."

Callisi gave a nod, prepping her phaser and turning to face the rear hatch, closing it once everyone was on board. The ride would be here when they returned, and if it wasn't.... then neither was she.