"Our Baby"

[LeftEar JoNs 0]

09.06.09

USS Excalibur NCC-2004C

“Our Baby”

 

Two hours. She had about two hours to meet a Lieutenant Commander who was to be her lead senior officer for a new star fighter squad that she had been assigned to as the commanding officer, get the preliminary prep work started for her new assignment, and make her own farewell party at the bar and night club known as the Holy Grail located on the main entertainment promenade of the Camelot station.

 

Commander MVess ‘Left Ear’ JoNs was a Caitian. Not Speedy Gonzalez. Eppa Andole. Eppa. Senor.

 

But, anyway, one crisis at a time, as usual, and if you tried to get everything to fall all nice and neat into neat problems and solutions, you’d just end up driving yourself bonkers. And so, the brown furred new fighter squad Commanding Officer and soon to be former Executive Officer of the starship Excalibur was double timing it down to the station hanger bay in order to take care of some business of the red tape/new transfer variety.

 

The big cheese Admiral of the Camelot station had informed her that she’d be spearheading a special star fighter task force whose main purview of concern would be the protection of the station, and any sensitive missions as a result thereof. And, while she got to paw pick a few of her own officers and fighter jocks that would make up the members of the task force, her new Executive Officer was not to be her choice, and like her, had already been assigned to the expeditionary force. This senior officer was who she was heading down to the hanger deck area for an unofficial ‘meet and greet’ right now.

 

This was all moving way too fast…but then again, that was how the ‘Fleet operated, and there was that little matter of a tri-civil war between an ancient sentient scorpion species and their former slave workers and their former hunter slaves to contend with. It was wise for the Camelot station administration officers to plan for any sort of contingency if it were to be needed, and this new recon squad fell under that tactical umbrella.

 

Soon, the panther-like Cait had arrived at her destination, and she felt her blood pressure drop dramatically as her agitation went down a few degrees, because the smells and sights and sounds of the hanger bay command area were a welcome distraction: the old coolant fluid smell on the air. The sound of a drill being used to insert new screws and bolts. The back and forth yelling of the aviation technicians as they ran a star fighter through its diagnostic paces. Left Ear may have been leaving one home that she had come to know very well, but she was going to settle down again in a home (or rather a profession) that was even more familiar to her, and was returning to her training roots: piloting.

 

Her deep green and alert eyes searched the hanger deck for the contact officer that she had been briefed about. Although, it turned out that he the one who found her actually…

 

“Commander JoNs!” A tall and well muscled male human, dark skinned, with a high and tight crew cut that almost matched the severe haircut of her own mane, came jogging up to the feline. Like the felinoid, the Human officer wore the gray shouldered, red mandarin collared undershirt, and black uniform tunic and jacket of the command branch. “The Admiral commed over the station wireless and informed me that you’d be coming down to meet me and get a look at the fighters.”

 

The man offered a strong though welcoming hand with his greeting gesture, “Lieutenant Commander Utu Boondii, I’m pleased to meet you Commander JoNs. I’m looking forward to flying with you.”

 

She clasped the hand firmly in a paw and offered a slight smile. “Nice to meet you as well. And, let’s get this out of the way now -- when your booted feet and my paws hit this hanger bay decking Lieutenant Commander? It’s Left Ear. I work for a living.”

 

He grinned, showcasing brilliant white teeth that contrasted sharply with his deep ebony skin. “That sounds like a plan Commander, and I’m sure eventually I would have figured your call sign out all by myself with that gnarled ear of yours. My sign is Boone, and most everyone pretty much calls me by that in general.”

 

Boone had an easy way about him, and had the typical easy going personality that you wanted in a squad XO so that he could offset her spit and polish personality; Lefty could tell right away that he and her were going to make beautiful music together, so to speak.

 

“You been on station long Boone?”

 

“Two years Left Ear, with the Boudicca Squad.”

 

An ear flipped back. “So…you have a pretty good idea of what jocks we can grab from the rank and file if needed?”

 

A smile -- almost a good natured sneer, really -- lit across the Earth African’s high cheek boned features two seconds before he handed her the second data Padd that he had clipped to his utility belt. “I know you’re also going to pull in some people of your own…but, I took the liberty of drawing up a small roster of likely candidates that we can supplement from the Camelot ranks.”

 

Crisp efficiency. She loved it. “Mister Boondii, I do believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship.”

 

By this point, Feline and Human officer had walked over towards and now stood in front of a dark charcoal gray star fighter that sported brilliant orange ‘pinstriping’ along the side hull and top wing sections. The lieutenant commander wasted no time with launching into a description of the fighter craft, and it was obvious he had done his homework on the specifications and such.

 

“Allow me to introduce our baby, the Lancelot Morrigan Class star fighter. Upgraded, and perfect for station based defense, offense and patrol. A bit more juice in the intake and uptake vents, and the engines are more streamlined for dog fighting or sensitive recon missions and the like…”

 

JoNs’s feline eyes had lit up like a Human kid’s would have at Christmas-time on Earth. “Commander Boone, as a younger cousin of mine would say…that bird is b*tchin’.”

 

Boondii’s good natured and deep set laughter roared across the hanger bay. “I couldn’t have said it better myself Ma’am,” he chuckled again, made a notation on his personal data Padd with a stylus pen, and then spoke to her again without taking his attention off the flat data recording device.

 

“Okay Left Ear, so we’ll get you set up for a test run within the next week Commander JoNs, so you can take one of these bad boys out. Sound like a plan Commander?...Commander?

 

The lieutenant commander turned his full attention and gaze back onto his soon to be official squad leader and commanding officer and saw that…Left Ear JoNs was hugging the right wing of the star fighter and purring rather contentedly.

 

Boone Boondii had always appreciated a woman, of any species, who in turn had an appreciation for the finer mechanical things in the life of a flight jock.

 

“Miss JoNs, I do believe this is the start of a beautiful friendship…”