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Destry Steele

Right on the Money

"Whoooooo-eeeee!" Ellen yipped as the tractor beams broke free of the Arcadia's hull and the huge ship began its not-very-graceful but thankfully still somewhat gentle descent to the packed-rock ground beneath them. "Right on the money! Target the size of a pin we had to hit and we nailed it! Right on the frackin' money!"

 

"Lieutenant Fox, this isColeman--" "Yeah, yeah, I hear you,Sparky, beautiful work! Have everyone circle up round and get back into the shuttlebays if they can once the ship's hit ground...we blow any fuses?"

 

"No, ma'am, not that I can figure. The dust played hell with the fuel efficiency but everything's still holding together."

 

"Good. Let's get this little fleet down and take stock."

 

She switched off the comm and turned sideways to glance at Destry, who was still busy moving the yacht out of the way of the dropping Arcadia, and Ellen grinned at her friend with a cat-with-canary smile,an expression that always, no matter the circumstances, seemed to fight its way out when the machinery under her care did something particularly profound. "Get us up clear where we can see everything -- we put her down soft but that ship's still gonna make a hell of a bump when it hits."

 

"With pleasure." Destry's response was heartfelt and she wasted no time in maneuvering away and up. "We've done nothing but eat her dust for the past twenty minutes and I'm ready for a different view."

 

Once she cleared the dust cloud now enveloping the Arcadia, Destry held the yacht's position, and swiveled to face Ellen, her own smile one of enormous relief. "That was a very nice bit of coordinating on your part, Fox," Destry congratulated her. "Have to admit, I had my doubts for a couple of minutes there."

 

"Yeah, me too," Ellen said wryly, tipping her head back against her headrest, feeling the adrenaline of the last few minutes draining quietly out of her to puddle on the floor. "And it ain't over yet...still got to see about siphoning off the fuel from that Daedalus or it's all a bit of a moot point. But -- the worst is past!" she added optimistically, resisting the urge to add the I think hovering on the end of the sentence. "Nice flying by the way; I know she was in the mood to wrestle you back a bit."

 

"Hmm...yeah, she was, and thanks" Destry replied absently, her mind on the next phase. "She was designed for better things, though I can't argue with the necessity." Drumming the fingers of one hand on the armrest, she eyed Ellen for a moment, before asking, "Think there's going to be any problem with the transfer?"

 

Ellen caught her eyes, catching the mild concern in the gaze, and shook her head firmly. "Not enough to keep us on the ground," she said, with as much casualness as she could muster, though honesty compelled her to add softly, "There's always problems of one sort or another. I'm playing this one by ear, Des."

 

Destry waited a beat and then nodded. "Guess it's a good thing you live to solve these kinds of problems, then," she answered with a sharp grin before looking down at the Arcadia, the ship looking very white in contrast with the reddish rock of the planet's surface. "That just looks so wrong, doesn't it?"

 

Ellen pushed herself to her feet, moving to look over Destry's shoulder out the cockpit window, just in time to see the ship make contact with the ground with a light jolt that sent avisible ripple out through the surrounding desert. She winced sharply, hoping the inertial dampeners had held inside. "Even with an Intrepid or something, it's a bit off to see them out of the sky. With a Sovereign, it's just weird."

 

"I'm going to have to put this ship down so you can walk over and get started on the transfer," Destrysaid matter-of-factly. "I also need to check in with Sickbay though I doubt there have been any issues--it wasn't a rough ride."

 

"Nah, minus the near asteroid collision, everything went along pretty smoothly all told," Ellen agreed, leaning forward and starting to poke at the console again. "Really hoping this place doesn't start making that a habit, at least until we have actual power to the weapons systems again," she added with some asperity after a few moments' pause, remembering the tense few moments in which the ship had without warning expended much of what remained of its limited propulsion power.

 

"Yeah, that was something.There are quite a few impact craters on the surface so it's not just a once in a blue moon occurrence," Destry observed. "Not much of an existence for the inhabitants."

 

"Wouldn't pick it for my summer home myself," Ellen answered blithely. "Before you put down, can you circle round quickly and let me make sure we didn't knock any new holes in thehull?"

 

"I live to chauffeur you around, Fox," Destry replied mildly, her eyes gleaming with amusement, as she adjusted the controls and started the descent.

Edited by Destry Steele

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