Heading Out!

Posted on Tue Apr 20th, 2021 @ 4:24am by Commander Liala Ziyal & Captain David Hawkins & Lieutenant Commander Mel Torma & Lieutenant Commander Timia Svidi & Captain Brenda Sinclair & Commander Raiden Kosugi & Lieutenant JG Eira Cortez & Lieutenant Colonel Johnathon Hayter (Hawkins)

Mission: Global Lockdown
3417 words - 6.8 OF Standard Post Measure

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Moving down the hallway, John Hayter and David Hawkins had their four legged canine's near playing around with one another as the two talked to one another. The men both had holsters on their hips with side arms, but only one of them, the marine in fatigues, had a bug out bag over his shoulder. Their was no doubt that they had their seminaries, but that stopped as the older was in red, with different responsibilities now a days. The marine, on the other hand, was now just coasting with what he had before him.

"Take it easy on them, John. Yes, you are skilled and seasoned, but the Commander is in charge. You are on this to just to show them some of the training and capabilities of non-lethal animal skills," David explained.

"Yeah yeah, I know, Davy," Hayter replied as he adjusted his bag. "Though it is kind of unusual that they wanted this out of all the other things we have to offer. It just feels almost like a placement being filled on the away team, if anything else."

"Well, don't think to much through it. You are just here for show, nothing else. Captain Sinclair is in charge of security," the captain reminded him.

"Hey, that makes my day, less to worry about in the long run!"

This caused David to chuckle before whistling. "Let's go, Niko."

With that, the male Shepard dog paused for a moment, looked at the female, almost like mentally saying good bye, before turning and sprinting back to his owner's side. Meeka, the female canine's tail lowered slightly as she watched the brother go off before huffing at her owner. Hayter leaned enough to pat her neck as he continued down the hall to the shuttle bay.

The massive bay doors opened to the main shuttle bay which had all the runabouts, most of the shuttles, and half the worker bees. It was like a have of activity with technicians moving through the area while he and Meeka made their way to the assigned runabout. As he came up to it, he nodded at one of the technicians, who waved and smirked at him.

"Hey Colonel, that ale I owe ya. I got it stashed away for ya," the andorian technician called out over the overwhelming work going on causing it hard to hear.

"Tell you what, blue eyes, you and the boys have a couple rounds on me while I'm gone. You deserve it. But keep a bottle for me. After we get back, we can see who really can put it back. Sound fair?"

"You are on pink skin!"

"Oh such a flirt," John called back as he and Meeka walked up the ramp and into the runabout. Deep down, he wanted to do some relaxing, but this was a request from Hawkins and this gave the canine the chance to enjoy some field work as well.

"Who is flirting?" Doctor Noah Hayden asked from inside the runabout. He had his medical kit open on his lap rearranging it, as he hated the standard lay out. "Because I might want to get in on that action." he said peering out of the shuttle, leaning over his kit.

"Just some friendly friends. Nothing to serious," John remarked with a slight shrug. "But you are more then welcome to come and enjoy a drink or two with our group. We have a great time. Good chance to unwind."

Brenda entered the Shuttle bay, with Privates Lyssa Nyseth, Sonok, and Gunnery Sergeant Walken. All four Marines had Phaser rifles slung over their backs, and holstered hand phasers on the hip. "Remember, we're here to protect the Away Team, but try not to look too imposing. We're friendly." She was saying to the Marines as she climbed into the Runabout. "Colonel, Doctor."







Meeka sniffed around and looked up at the new arrivals. It took a moment before she fully turned and sat hear Hayter on guard, but kept her place.

"Captain. I see you have gotten your group together. Young. Interesting," John noted as he patted the canine before moving to a side to allow the marines to make their way.

"According to the Brief, this should be a fairly simple mission. Gives a chance for some experience. Without needing to walk into a flaming turd pile."

"That is a very colourful description Captain." Liala said as she walked on to the shuttle, a small gift for the Sucarians in her hands. "This is hopefully a straightforward diplomacy mission. I have been told most of the 'heavy lifting' as you Humans say is done and we are there for final review and sign off."

Liala looked at the canine that sat at Hayter's side. For some reason she was uneasy around these animals but not for any great reason other than she had not really been around them before.

Kosugi was doing the last minute checks for the runabout, making sure everything was ready. He looked to where people were prepping for them to get underway. He also had a stir of excitement, thinking of being able to at the very least step planet side of a place he'd never been to before.

He made a remark over his shoulder, "The canine, she looks like she's related to the Captain's, I think his name is Niko." he turned slightly to get a better view, sort of making a head count of all that were coming.

Leaning over a bit to notice that the Lieutenant was in place for piloting the runabout, he smirked as he leaned back. "That would be the captain's pup and this one's brother. This one is a girl, and her name is Meeka," John explained as he patted her on the side before taking a seat in part of the spacious sides of the runabout.

This type of class, the arrow class runabout, was a very unique in its own way. The ramp was lowered down from the center just behind a chair which was the commanding officer’s chair. Laid out similar like a small starship’s bridge, was the helm and operations stations, while on either side were several stations designed normally for weapons, tactical and engineering stations. Behind the main ramp of the runabout was a section which had a couple transporter pads with three replicators around it. Off to either side were heads. Then there were a hall to the rear of the small ship which had been modified for this mission. With now a couple crew rest areas, space for full size torpedoes, and storages areas for marine equipment, along with gifts for the Sucarians the commander thought would be a good fit.

Noah held his hand out to the dog and smiled, "Been thinking about getting a dog. How do they seem to adapt to life on a ship?" he asked the Marine.

The canine leaned slightly back and watched the marine. She was used to the uniform and the type of personal, but just watched him. “Easy, Doc. Service dogs are not designed to be friendly with strangers,” Hayter remarked as he looked over in time at him. The colonel rested his hand on the canine and looked her over. She wasn’t threatened by the new member, but was curious, and watchful. “Friend, easy.” He offered a new mindset for Meeka, in which looked at her master, before leaning in and sniffing the free hand of the doctor. “If you give them enough time, energy, and space, they can do quite well. But with Meeka and Niko, they know the difference between starships, stations, and planet side. Still, most dogs are more concerned about being with their pack, and with Meeka and Niko, more of their pack is either on this ship, or on the Gladiator.”

The next pair of feet on the deck were a pair of pair of feet. The plural form of Mel Torma approached the shuttle, a few instruments in a carry back slung over one of her shoulders. Sure, it was just a mission, but that didn't mean she couldn't snag a few readings or take a few pictures. Though that was far from the first on her list. "Is that a Meeka?" Mel said in a sing-song voice, knowing full well it was.

Dalacari didn't keep pets, not pets in the same sense as humans did. Only humanity would be crazy enough to take a vicious predator, give it a cute name, and feed it socks while training it to roll over. Only humanity would turn a vicious predator into a Corgi, and then back into a vicious predator. Though, Meeka was so cute!

The attention that was focused on the doctor was cut short as Meeka shifted her body, barked in excitement and looked up at Hayter for permission. Giving her the 'free' command through their linked chips, John watched as the dog trotted over to the twin form that was Mel. The animal didn't know the details of the Dalacari species and their twin form sharing one consciousness but saw it as twice the attention. So she rubbed up to the commander's two bodies with her furry tail slapping one or the other bodies.

And the pair knelt down to be on the shepard's level, and gently scratched and pet the canine. Big tough canine, big confident Dalacari, both were just goobers now. "Why hello there Meeka, who's a pretty dog?" she asked all of the obvious questions, but a dog didn't care how open ended the questions were. Meeka's tail wagged back and forth, and even Mel's tail started to twitch at the very end, a sure sign that the Dalacari felt safe and was extremely happy.

"Meeka, you're the only one that gets me, predator descendant to predator descendant." Mel giggled, "Okay, you go back to your post, I gotta find my seats." one commented, while the pair moved in to find herself some seating. She gave a pair of smiles to John, "Look, she's the only one that gets me sometimes. Sharp teeth, and everyone's giving her veggies. Tail. We're practically best friends really." she giggled.

The canine gave a soft bark as she circled Mel one last time before slowly moving back to her Alpha. As she did, she lowered and rested on Hayter's feet and huffed.

"Little sassy," the colonel remarked as he chuckled. "Good to see your twin smile. Liking your new digs on the fancy new ship?"

"Oddly enough, it reminds me a little of home. Not in the architecture, or the layout, but in the space. Dalacari ships are big, because we enjoy our personal space..."

"... so it's nice and big, not going to trip over myself like the last few bathtubs you had me in. I mean like, in smaller ships. Not in actual bathtubs. Oh Dia's knees Mel..."

"... just stop talking. Oh boy you're making it worse. Ummm.." she took a breath, "So yeah, I like the ship. It's big and spacious, and when I die from embarrassment they'll.."

"... never find my bodies, which will be a comfort. I think." she giggled, one form brushing some hair out from her face. "I like it. It's comfortable."

"How are things up here Lieutenant Kosugi?" Liala asked. "Are we cleared to depart? We have everyone we need on board."

Raiden was letting the conversation wash over him, listening to their chats and it giving him more of an idea of what people were like. he checked once more, getting the all-clear. He smiled and turned to Liala. "Yes, Commander, we are ready to depart." Turning around in his seat, Raiden had the engine online and the runabout lifted up from the deck and moved forward, out of the shuttle bay and into the velvet blackness of space, which was littered with stars. He had placed in the coordinates of where they were going and moved in that direction. Keeping a lookout for any sort of problems, something he was used to doing when he flew diplomats to their destination.

It was like almost instinct that he piloted the shuttle to where they were to meet, the Sucarian's.

Noah clutched his kit as the shuttle got moving. He did alright on larger ships but shuttles always made him a little queasy. It was annoying. Once they were in space he let out a long breath. "Nice flying there dude," he called up. "I didn't actually get sick this time." he chuckled.

Raiden looked back, "Thank you for the compliment, um.. Dr... I am sorry I think I have forgotten your name, Sir. " giving an apologetic smile, before turning back to the stars before him. "From what I can see is it's going to be a few hours before we get to our destination." Chasing away a stray thought of doing a spiel that old-time flight attendants used to do at the beginning of a flight.

With a few hours to kill, Brenda pulled out her weapon servicing kit and began the process of stripping down the rifle. The Type 3 compression phaser rifle was designed to be easy to disassemble, maintain, and put back together. Any Marine could do it blindfolded, and Brenda was no exception.

With the pieces laid out as best she could in the space available, the Marine officer set to work double-checking connection points in the circuitry, foreign material fouling connectors, and generally going over everything. With that done, and the weapon reassembled into one piece, along with the power pack securely attached, she moved onto the Type 2 hand phaser.

"Well done, fly boy," John remarked as he stood up and walked over to be standing behind the helmsman. He patted the lieutenant on the shoulder. "Not bad, but you are no Solid Snake."

Raiden looked up at John, "Sir? Solid Snake?" Wondering if he was referring to the game or the book of the former green beret character in the book or game. "Are you referring to the hero in the Metal Gear Series of books and old video games?"

"Hey, you may be some salvaging yet," the colonel smirked as he looked over his shoulder to the marines, before looking back at him. "Maybe we have a sword for you to use and some wigs."

Raiden laughed. "Good one sir, good one. I take it you have that in your kit?" going along with the humor.

"Something sharp and pointy... marines have those types of tools," he countered with a shrug.

"I like to carry things that are sharp and pointy as well. And glad the Marines have those type of tools in their possession as they are certainly rather useful." cracking a grin. "Hey sorry about earlier at the briefing I got a bit hot under the collar."

Shrugged as the colonel looked down at the pilot. "Pish posh, fly boy. It was more fun than anything else. Besides, you almost had your nuts cut by the doctor, in there."

Raiden nodded, "I think she mistook my well, standing up for her, as my thinking she was a frail flower of femininity. Nope, she isn't frail, she is beautiful and dangerous."

"You seriously do have the hots for the good ol' doctor, don't ya?" John smirked as he cocked his head. He clicked his tongue and shrugged. "Sounds like you seriously have your work cut out for yourself. I wish you well, in that ball of craziness. She may neuter you if you aren't careful."

Raiden raised an eyebrow at that, "Sounds to me like you've got the hots for her, sir. With how you are talking about her. You two would make quite the match." cracking a smile. "However, it will all depend on her. She's got a lot of depth to her."

"Oh she is all yours, lover boy," John shook his head. "Besides, if I get in that ring, you wouldn't have a chance. So knock her dead."

Raiden glanced at Hayter then made the comment, "She's not a piece of meat to just hunt down, if there's anything there, it will have to be something she wants. I'm not sure if she'd be interested, and relationships be that friendship or otherwise, they can't be forced. And the moment I am.. feeling uncomfortable talking about this where others can hear. Just not... in my make up."

Eira had been watching the exchanges between everyone with great interest but didn't move to start up a conversation with anyone. She felt kind of out of place until she saw Kyle and then noticed someone walking over to her with a smile.

Liala moved towards their newest edition to the diplomacy team, Eira Cortez and sat down beside her. She smiled softly at the woman, "I am glad you are coming with us Lt. Cortez, sorry to hear you were stuck in the conference with the Diplomatic Corps at the same time as our briefing, I know how they can be. I'm happy to have another set of eyes on the Sucarians down on the planet and I think you will be a great asset to us down there. Have you done much research on them?" she asked.

Looking at the Lieutenant Commander, Eira smiled back. "Please call me Eira. I'm still quite new to the Diplomatic side of things so I'm actually finding it all quite interesting. I haven't had much experience with the Sucarians unfortunately, so I'm learning about them as I go." She shook a padd that held some data on it.

She placed a hand on her chest "Liala." She said more so just for notification of her name but also she hated titles. So much so she never used the title of Doctor when she was practising.

"They are an interesting people. A crime-free society." Liala said as she crinkled her nose a little at that thought. "Crime free always feels too good to be true." She admitted.

"So that's definitely an indication that something is wrong then, right?" A crime-free society would be perfect but alas reality is often harsh.

"There has been no evidence of crime even from our teams there." Liala shrugged. "So even digging by us has found nothing. It is a gut feeling as Humans say. Something is just niggling at me." She said as she flipped to their physical specs. "I can't get used to seeing children with beards. No matter how many times I see it." She said as she stared at the image for a second before shaking her head swiping through some more.

"Give me a few and I'll look into it a bit more so I'm up to date before we get there." Eira responded with a nod. Not meaning to be rude, she went back to looking at the data in front of her.

Mel's glances turned towards Hayter and Raiden, "Between swords, knives, wigs, and gear, an eavesdropper is likely to miss what in Dia's graces you're both talking about." she gave a pair of smirks.

Raiden leaned over to see around Hayter, "I suppose it would sound rather odd." giving a grin towards Mel. He moved back to look back out towards space and checking sensors. He didn't mind chatting but he also wasn't certain just how safe this area was at all. And even then so called safe spots are not always safe.

"Odd indeed." Noah said as he shifted towards the Marine and pilot. "Can't say I've ever participated in those games or books, but I do like talk of swords. I've been dueling all my life, and not just that fencing stuff, I go all out." he said. "Its a great workout, a lot of fun, and I can get real dangerous in a fight. And hey. after the fact I can stich ya up!" he tried to joke with a sloppy grin.

Raiden looked back towards Noah, "Glad you have that knack of stitching us up. Would be rather be nice to have it happen if you give us a cut or two." he chuckled. "Maybe I would like to see your skills with swords sometime." giving a friendly smile.

The next little while the chat continued. Soon they would come up on their destination and begin those final talks with their newest prospects.