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| Sir. We're be at The Inflict in about 20 minutes. |
Great. Say, I'm not familiar with this class of shuttlecraft.... |
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| It's a Hazard Class Assault Shuttle, Captain. Purpose
built for the Red Ball class troop transports, including The Inflict. |
It has no warp capability, but can make trips between orbit
and surface almost automatically, with surface mobility and a varied arsenal. |
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| The custom onboard is to name
them in honor of Away Teams lost in the line of duty. |
After the officer in command? |
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| No, sir, final transmission. |
Oh. Like, 'USS Oh, Hell!' and
'USS What was that noise?' |
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| Yessir. This one's the
'USS IT'S IN THE AIR VENTS!' |
The full list is available in the computer, sir. |
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| Huh. Been
on The Inflict for long? |
I helped take
it out of mothballs last month, sir. |
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| Well, I'm looking
forward to seeing it. This transfer's been really hurried, I haven't had
a chance to study the Class yet. |
The Inflict
is in visual range, now. On this screen. |
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| Looks like a
Galaxy Class ship. Looks a LOT like a Galaxy
Class. |
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| It's about 40
years older than those. It was a very ambitious building project
for Utopia Planitia, then. |
But they took
the main hull design for the Galaxy project. |
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| So who all has
reported aboard? |
Most of the
Engineering department's been there since decanting, the Navigator has
been installed, Medical has been prepping sickbay for a week. |
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| (...Installed?...) |
Inflict,
this is IT'S IN THE AIR VENTS! on final approach. |
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| Vwooooooshhhhhhhhhhhh-klunk-klunk. |
XO Rackunder?
Permission to come aboard? |
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| Granted Captain
Faith. |
Welcome aboard,
sir. Good to be here, XO.
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|
So what's our status so far?
Well, the drive's 98% functional up to 87% design
speed. We should have that fixed soon. Hull integrity
tests 63% complete. Fuels and consumables 98%.
|
Crew?
Um...well, there's been people here and there. I'm
on my way back to Engineering. Lt. Fisher here will take you around.
Yes, sir. Right this way.
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| Hello? Down here, sir.
|
Oh. You're
a Horta. Yessir. Lieutenant Fisher. Pleased to
meet you.
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| Lt. Fissure? Is that
some kind of crack? |
No, sir, humor like that
would be rock bottom. |
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| Well, it's hard to tell, as you
have such as stone-face delivery. And your gravelly voice promotes
trust. |
Thank you, sir, but i'd prefer
to cement our interaction before attempting levity. |
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| Yes, no silliness. I've seen
that being silicon ruin a good relationship. Transporter room... |
Of course, sir, and we want a
solid foundation that we can chisel a special connection out of. |
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| Excellent. Uh, were you nervous
going through the academy? |
Yes, sir, I almost s*** a brick.
This is our conference room. |
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| Well, that would have been mortar-fying.
You know, talking to Junior Officers is often just like talking to a brick wall. |
No sir, that would be my family
photo. |
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| Nice one. Say, why is a talking
rock that eats rocks named 'Fisher?' |
One of the miners on Janus IV
suggested it when Mother was trying to come up with names for all of us.
Just lucky, sir. |
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| Lucky? |
You have any idea how many hortas
of my generation are named after Kirk, Spock or McCoy? |
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| Yes, and that's an honor. It's
a sign of an exceptional first-contact when the natives name their kids
after the officers that made contact. |
Tell that to my bin-sister: 'Dammit-jim.' |