Welcome, wagon

Posted on Sun Feb 7th, 2021 @ 12:27pm by Lieutenant Commander William Rogers & Lieutenant Commander Evelyn Rozia

Mission: New Beginnings
Location: Shuttlebay Three

The shuttlecraft Virgo was on final approach as Evelyn stood near the back of the shuttlebay waiting for the craft to land. The hanger chief had let her know that one of the other incoming senior officers was aboard, according to the manifest, along with some supplies and Evelyn had found herself at a few loose ends in her arrangements and decided to make her way down to make the acquaintance of yet another of her fellows.

She waited as the shuttle made a textbook perfect landing directly in the center of the assigned landing spot, rear hatch pointed towards the rear of the bay as requested by regulations in case of need of an emergency takeoff. She stepped up to where the hatch lowered and smiled at the red uniformed man who'd stepped out, the pips easy to read, "Lieutenant Commander Rogers?" She asked.

Rogers head titled to one side for a moment as he took in the officer greeting him. The yellow uniform didn't give him much clue about where she worked. Could be Ops, engineering or security. The pattern of spots on her head suggested she was a Trill and he reminded himself not to ask if she had 'a tequila worm'. That would be rude and probably a little bit racist. "That's me." He saluted before walking down the ramp and offering his hand. "Call me 'Buck'. What can I do for you, Lieutenant Commander?"

"Rozia, Evelyn Rozia, but call me Evelyn or Eve." She waved it away before reaching out to shake his hand, "Engineering, but I've been on board for a few months trying to get the ship ready and waiting for anyone else to join us. But the question is more welcome aboard and what can I do to help you, Buck? I know it's a big question, what with you just getting on board and all, but heck, I figure I'd best be proactive about it!" She grinned.

"Don't suppose you have a map?" Buck laughed. "This has to be the largest spacecraft I've served on. Worried I'm going to get lost just getting out the hanger, you know?"

"I suppose I could give you a map on a PADD, and don't get me wrong, I'll do that still, but then I'd just be sitting around twiddling my thumbs." She winked at him, "If it puts it in perspective, my old ship was about a third of the size of Astraea here, but I wouldn't trade back for anything! This baby can outfly, outshoot and outspeed just about anything out there, especially with anything her size."

Buck grinned. "Is guide a service you offer to all the new officers, or am I just lucky?" He chuckled with wry amusement and shook his head. "Ok, you're going to have to explain that to me. Speed and firepower I'll buy, but outfly? No way. My experience has always been that the larger you make a craft the less manoeuvrable it gets."

"Hence the caveat of 'anything her size.'" Evelyn pointed out carefully, "Of course an Intrepid or an Akira could easily outmaneuver us, but a Galaxy or Sovereign? I think with the right helmsman," She gestured to Buck, "We'd be able to handle them from whatever angle we want. That, of course, means I've got to be right on my own game making sure she can do all that jazz, but it's what I'm here for." Her eyes glittered, "And to answer the question, senior-grade officers get my personal touch, along with certain other people. I've got others playing bellboy for the junior officers and enlisted types. After all, it would be poor form to watch people get lost just trying to find their quarters, wouldn't it?"

"I might have missed that part." Buck admitted slightly embarrassed. "So what makes this flying city block so nippy?"

"Oh, just the normal." Evelyn demurred, "Impulse engines and maneuvering thrusters to aid in rapid maneuvers. I've got a couple ideas about how to use the warp engines to actually help in normal space maneuverability as well, essentially as high powered maneuvering thrusters, but that's a work in progress."

"That's it?" Buck asked, slightly disappointed. "Just more thrusters and bigger engines? That's not very high tech."

"It isn't the size that counts, it's how you use it." Evelyn stuck her tongue out, "More and bigger thrusters able to be utilized at more and different angles and variants. Also, rather than needing to activate individual thrusters or thruster sets, the controls for using them are far more intuitive and just by controlling your hand print size and pressure you can control power, number and direction of movement without having to consciously have to pick and choose."

"I read about that in the Trades. Didn't think it was ready to deploy fleet wide yet." Buck held up one of his hands and examined it. "They key it to biometrics in the end, or just a one size fits all interface?"

"Biometrics to activate it." Evelyn confirmed, "But it'll be keyed to all the senior officers in case you, buster, get incapacitated and your reliefs aren't available. Also all of your helm officers get keyed for it, which means that I've got to make sure about what? Twenty people all told to get settled on it? Right now, there are two helmsmen that may or may not be staying and myself." She looked at Buck sheepishly, "I may or may not have had some fun 'testing' the reactions of the thrusters... But no, it's definitely not fleetwide yet, but Astraea is the newest and best, so she's got it."

Buck laughed uproariously. "So come on then...how was it? I've done the training, but that was all virtual. Not the same as practical."

"I'm an engineer, not a pilot!" Evelyn raised her hands in surrender, then lowered them, "Jidressa, however... Now SHE was the pilot of the um... Family? I suppose I could call my past selves family. What she thinks is that she responds pretty well. No fighter, but for what she is, you won't have any complaints, or at least shouldn't. If you do, then something's broken and you call me!"

That answered Buck's question about if Evelyn was a joined Trill or not. He filed the information away. A small smiled tugged at one corner of his mouth. Amused recognition. "I'll bear that in mind. Jidressa have any advice? Test pilot to test pilot?"

It was obvious that Evelyn was communing with her symbiont for a moment, even though it would take a keen observer to notice any sort of delay, "The same way you get to fly anything: Practice." She reached out to gently touch his arm with a smile, "She prefers a joystick setup for fighters, because it allows for a lot of refinement with quick maneuvers. For this ship, keep your movements fluid, smooth and deliberate. The response speed is phenomenal for her size so you can lose control of your heading if you're not careful. I've got a flight simulation program that I'll have sent to your message queue before you get to your quarters. It'll work with the holodeck or any of the shuttle or fighter flight simulators."

Evelyn's communion with her symbiont goes entirely over Buck's head, before she gives her answer. He nodded, also preferring a stick over the future's touch panels. "Good advice. So how do I get to my cabin?"

"That question has three answers," Evelyn gave a maniacal smile, "I could either tell you how to get there, take you there myself or..." She patted a PADD on her belt, a small one, "I could give you the map I said earlier that I could give you. Take your pick."

"Leave you hear to take a joyride in one of my shuttles? I don't think so." Buck replied with a wink and gestured to where he hoped one of the exits might be. "Lead on Eve."

"Call me Evie, I like you." Evelyn corrected him with a smile and a laugh, gesturing over to a door just a couple off from the one Buck had indicated and leading him over that way from about half a step ahead and looked back with a twinkle in her eye, "Besides, the Virgo shuttle is the fastest. What? You don't think I didn't take out most of the craft in our inventory, did you? What sort of girl do you think I am?"