On the Road Again (2)

Mala's hands flew with expert precision over the Arcadia's flight command console, as the ship sailed out of slipstream, into the Beta Quadrant.  The region was an area on the other side of Romulan and Klingon territory, in one of the vast unexplored tracts of space that the Federation charted two centuries ago, but had only just begun to explore.

"We're secure from slipstream," she called out.

"Thanks, Mala," Jordan Rampart said.  He had taken to informally calling most people on this ship by their first names.  He liked that better than rank or title and surname.

Just as he liked to be on his feet, rather than sitting in the captain's chair.  He was the captain now, but for some reason, every time he looked at that center seat, it had the words 'Stephen April' written all over it, and he couldn't bring himself to sit, anymore than he had to.  More than that, though, he just liked to stand.  He was a little like April, in that respect – always on his feet, ready for anything.  Came from his days being a first officer, leading away missions, then with the Cadre, an ongoing away mission.

He leaned with his hip on the flight console; when Mala glanced at him as he called her by first name, he grinned.  He was in fact a lot NOT like Captain April – now Admiral April.  Whereas April reeked of precision and formality, Rampart stood with his weight on one foot, hands in the pockets of his trousers, regarding the whole atmosphere casually.  "Turn the viewscreen on and take us to the coordinates."

Mala nodded, and complied.  The viewscreen activated automatically, as the computer monitored for such verbal commands.  But Mala did her part in carrying out the new captain's orders, setting the ship on course, at maximum warp, towards their destination.

She said, "We'll reach the Vortex in twenty-nine minutes."

The reason they didn't come out of slipstream straight on top of the Oniiri Vortex was due to its dangerous quantum effects on the surrounding subspace region.  Even warp would be tricky, as they got close; they would have to drop to impulse, as closely as they could, in order to still have time to get where they were going.  Via wormholes and slipstream, they made the jump to this region in that time.

The ship's department heads and senior staff had gathered at their new captain's summons.  Rampart stood at the head of the table, almost looking like he wished he was somewhere else.  He ran a hand over his shaven head; was he nervous?

"Uh... hi folks.  If you don't know me yet, I'm your new captain... name's Jordan Rampart...."  He offered a slight grin.  His approach to command style often raised eyebrows among those with whom he served, in the past – as it was doing now, as various heads at the table exchanged glances.  Most crews expected a stiff, or someone more formal.  "Try not to overdo it on the 'sirs', though," he said, "or call me 'captain' anymore than you have to.  I'm not all that comfy with it yet, myself.  Okay.  No more small talk.  We've got a mission, and it sounds simple: Rescue."  He glanced at the tabletop controls, before the chair where he was supposed to be sitting.  He guessed that about now he should be using them, activating the holographic controls, to show them the ship and the layout of the area and all the other stuff they would be dealing with.

He didn't use them.  This ship had state-of-the-art advances out the wazoo, but he preferred an old-fashioned approach.  Leaning on his arms on the back of the chair, he looked over the different faces.  Two months he had been assigned to this ship, and he hardly knew any of them; most of that time had been spent sitting in dock, and he didn't get out much, except in the company of his Romulan wife (which drew stares on occasion) or privately 'guarding' his father-in-law.  One of the faces that he would have known, Kelly Nacin, was not present; she had taken leave, recalled to Earth to deal with some family emergency at the last minute before the Arc left dock.  That left the oddly Klingon counselor, Lieutenant B'Eryn, in her place.