Joint Log SH Aegis Creek Dog & Pony Show (Part 1)

[Crash Calestorm 0]

Dog & Pony Show

A Command Staff Joint Production

Part One

 

===

Key:

Purple - Captain Ashton Calestorm, CO USS Comanche Creek

Green - Commander Audraya Wesley, XO USS Comanche Creek

===

 

While Captain Calestorm assumed that transporter technology hadn’t changed much over the past century or so, there had no doubt been upgrades and efficiency changes. It had been jointly decided among the ‘out of time’ and ‘future-era’ command staffs that travel to the USS Comanche Creek via shuttlecraft would be safest.

 

The Hanger Bay had been cleaned up, with most of the starfighters and equipment coming through the wild trip intact. The birds were angled along the main launch way, clean and bright. A combined Marine and Security Honor Guard stood at parade rest, Federation, Starfleet and ‘Creek colors unfurled and grounded. All departments – from the command staff to the technicians - were represented by senior officers, spread out along the sides of the flight deck. Various ribbons, medals and awards gleamed, pinned to uniforms; if ya had ‘em, ya wear ‘em.

 

Cale stood at the head of the receiving line, clad in Class A Blacks and trying not to sweat; it wasn’t every day one got to meet a future-era Starfleet officer. It boggled the mind, it did.

 

The gathered officers and crew maintained decorum, but there was an excitement permeating the air. A barked (well, yowled actually) order drifted over the assembly, and she glanced towards the noise. Junior Flight Squad Leader Honor-Scar was riding herd on several of the senior midshipman completing pilot training.

 

She smiled to herself. That felinoid firebrand is coming along nicely, and then the quick thought of regret, I wish someone had gotten a hold of me at her age and set me on the right track before…

 

With a subtle shake of her head, Crash banished that thought. It was never good to dwell on the past. That was then, this was now, and their immediate future was up in the air. And she had a guest to welcome.

 

Audraya stood next to Crash, eschewing the Class A trousers for skirt and boot alternative. After all, she still had the legs for them, if the landing party’s reaction at J’bba’s was any indication.

 

The ships that had pulled the Creek out of the anomaly looked nothing like their ships, although there were some similarities. Except for that Romulan battleship. There was, however, no starship in the fleet of their time namedRevenge. Sure, Intelligence had reported a few Klingon D-6s and D-7s might have that name, but nothing was confirmed.

 

But that Revenge spoke volumes that the Dread Pirate Roberts, a pain in Starfleet’s side for over a hundred years, was still up to his old tricks. Heck, he was a pain in the Cartel’s ass as well; she remembered some of the things she’d overheard on the Audacious about him. The communication transmissions still puzzled her. Why a Starfleet captain would be on that ship, was bothering her. And the Orion woman sitting in the command pit...it was almost like looking in a mirror. That was something else her 20+ year old memories didn’t jive. Roberts was either a loner or, at least in the hushed tales spoken in the slave quarters of the Audacious, on a quest to find his True Love with a side tale that was probably overly embellished about how he was sworn enemies with the Crown Prince of the planet Florin, but in nowhere were those fairy tales was Roberts’ “True Love” an Orion...let alone her.

 

Jumper’s yowling pulled her back to the here and now, and out of her musings. If anything, that damn Cait’s loud enough to be heard halfway down the hangar.

 

Wesley’s slight shift in attention caused Calestorm to glance at her Exec and smile. “...cat’s loud enough to wake the dead, huh Scooter? I sure wouldn’t want to be a Boot pilot on her bad side. Jumper’d put a couple DI’s I know to shame...” Her voice was low enough only for Audraya to hear.

 

Still in a low tone, she asked, “Got an opinion on this Wesley Roberts fella? Spotted him on that fancy Revenge bridge. Apparently the ‘Dread Pirate Roberts’ was harassing Starfleet as well as the Cartel a long time ago. If this is the same guy, I want to know what medicine he’s takin’ and can he share...or if it’s a relative...”

 

“All I know is from what I used to hear Litasha and Morohtar complain about when they’d pass by the slave quarters on the Audacious, and some of the stories we’d tell in the quarters. Usually in hushed tones. Like his career spanned at least into the earliest days of Starfleet, and always some kind of ‘frankenship’, but with superior weaponry, power plant and shields. But after a period of about anywhere from 5 to 10 years, his form would change. Some short and fat, others lean and tall, not always Human or caucasian. But always the Dread Pirate Roberts, always aboard theRevenge, always with a new crew...” Her voice trailed off. “And some of the stories, well the ones we’d tell each other, Roberts at some point in his career made an enemy out of the Crown Prince of Florin.”

 

Calestorm raised an eyebrow at the royalty comment, let alone the form changing bit. She also mentally noted the rare mention of the Commander’s former ‘career’.

 

“This one, I can’t tell. And that Revenge is most definitely not a cobbled together hunk of junk.”

 

She nodded. “Hell, I’d like to get my hands on that ‘frankenship’ helm and take Revenge for a spin. You get a load of those nacelles...”

 

“I’d rather take on the Imperial Navy with her. She looks like she could take them on all by herself,” Audraya noted quietly. “Either one.”

 

Calestorm muttered, her tone a bit on the prideful side. “...I know the ‘Creek can’t take her out...”

 

“Only if we rammed her, Crash.”

===

 

(To Be Continued in Part 2)