A Surprise Addition to the Kit

Posted on Sat Nov 8th, 2014 @ 3:00pm by Lieutenant Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell & Commander Eliana Masters & Lieutenant Commander Adria "Tempest" Desoro & Lieutenant JG Rayleigh Carver

Mission: Bloodpath
Location: Masters' Office

Flight Operations was busier than Rosaleen could remember since arriving on the station. As she weaved her way around people rushing of to perform various tasks, she had to detour three times on the way to Master's office. In no way did she envy his job. It was like babysitting three admirals. Finally, after having to detour around an anti-grav pallet jack that had broken down while fully loaded in the middle of the room...why it was there was anybodies guess...she spotted Master's office just a few yards away. Through the open door, she could see that the CAG was in her office as well, which made her work that much easier. Walking up to the door she politely got their attention.

"Excuse me...Commanders? Do you have a moment?"

Adria turned to the doorway, "What can we do for you Commander O'Donnell?" Lately it seemed Tempest had been spending more time in Flight Operations or the TIC than anywhere else.

"Plenty of time," Masters nodded happily. There seemed to be a correlation between Rosaleen's presence and change. Thus far, the only times that the three of them had been in the same location, it had been to discuss mission briefings, as guests of parties, or to discuss the fleet of auxiliary craft at the station.

"Apologies for the pallet by the way," Ellie motioned outside the door. "Someone didn't balance the load properly. Too much stress on one anti-grav circuit and kaput," she added some sound effects and gestures to her explanation.

"Anyway, what can we do for you?"

Rosaleen walked in and had a seat by the desk. "I wanted to share this with you, even though it's not official. But, you can pretty much put the odds at 99.9 percent. I'm sure you two are familiar with my personal craft that was provided to me by my father. What you are probably not aware of is that it is actually on loan from Norcom Aeronautics as a test unit, one that I will be keeping after the trials are over...which is as of this morning. That craft now has been certified for use, and been given a new designation...the Arrow Class. And we will be getting several of them assigned here for a full operational test, including a ridiculous amount of modules for them. You see..." She handed a pair of PADs to them. "... they are completely mission adaptable and customizable. Additionally, all of the specifications were provided to Cerberus Logistics, and they are going to start development on Modules as well."

The trend with Rosaleen was continuing.

"I was wondering why that bird was still here. Beautiful machine, and from the looks of what you've brought us, a fair sight more capable that just about every other runabout on the station. Seems like modular design is the new way forward. A regular Swiss Army Knife," Masters quipped, seemingly out of character for the El Aurian.

"I think the only reason they gave me one was so I could sway my fathers vote. But they didn't need to worry...it sells itself. I have no clue on how many we will be getting, but even a couple would be a helpful addition. I have never seen the other modules either, so I can't tell you anything more than what is on the PADDs, but that in itself is impressive." Rosaleen pulled out her own PADD and scanned over the module list. "And yes...modular systems seems to be the new trend fleet-wide and in the private industry as well."

"Good. Can we talk you into taking us for a flight?" Ellie figured it was worth a shot.

Rosaleen caught Eliana's surface thoughts and smiled. "Oh I believe that we can arrange for that at any time you would like. I've only piloted her a couple of times, but she is a tiger, let me tell you." She paused for a moment, thinking. "No, that's not quite right. More like a falcon."

Masters continued to scroll down the list, reading through the general overview of the class. In her head, she was already wondering if she would have a new favorite auxiliary craft to fly before noticing a second tab on the display.

"Oh look! There's one with a tactical loadout, what do you think of that?" The question was directed at Adria.

Adria had been reviewing the technical specs herself. "Looks very very interesting to me. I'm always up for seeing how a new craft handles in flight. This modular thing is very intriguing."

"We're a pretty easy sell when it comes to bringing us new equipment, it has to be said," Masters laughed as she put the PADD down on the table. "What's the timeline for the acquisition of these new frames? How much time are we going to have to get a crop of pilots trained and certified to handle these things?"

Adria laughed as well, "Yeah we all know if I didn't have operational matters to attend to I could play with new equipment all day. But Masters does have a good question about the pilots. I've been wondering the same thing."

"Timeframe is...well, they are probably being loaded onto a McPherson as we speak. Three days at standard warp for delivery from their facility on Hormanis." Rosaleen was strangely quiet for a moment. "As for pilots...well, that is a bit of a bigger issue. At this time, not additional personnel have been approved for transfer to our facility. However, I have requested and have full expectations of receiving the holo-suite trainer sim programs. Plus the entire tech manual series and maintenance documents will be in our system by tomorrow morning."

"So we have to certify pilots from our current contingent of pilots?" Adria commented. That would complicate things but it could be done.

"For now, yes." Rosaleen replied, but her eyes held a mischievous glint. "But that shouldn't be a problem for two superstars like yourselves now, should it?"

"Ohhhh, we'll figure something out," Ellie practically sang. There was a challenge to look forward to yet again.

Adria couldn't help but smile as Master's response. It appeared they both likes a good challenge. She just hoped they wouldn't reach a point of not being able to properly deliver on a promise.

A soft chime sounded on Rosaleen's PADD, and she reached down and retrieved it from it's hidden pocket in her dress. As she read the message, a smile spread across her face. "Well it appears your challenge is accepted. The Cailey Rose left twenty minutes ago with our shipment. Estimated TOA is 71 hours plus or minus." She shut down the PADD and placed it back in it's pocket. "So much for not being official. It would appear that my father worked some serious string pulling with this one."

"Well, well, well," Adria replied with a smile, "Seems someone sees a need for us to have these sooner rather than later."

"Sounds like it. We'll have to get our instructors up to snuff first, so I'll let Lieutenant Carver know at some point. I don't want to overload the newest member of the team, but somehow I think she can handle it," Eliana replied.

"Handle what?"

"Oh, speaking of which," Masters continued. "Lieutenant Carver, this is Commander O'Donnell. You'll learn pretty quickly that her presence means something is afoot. Today, it's good news. More stuff!"

"Hello Commander, it's a pleasure to meet you," Carver introduced herself. "Good to see you again Tempest."

Adria turned at the sound of Carver's voice, "Good to see you too," a smile appeared as she spoke, "Masters is right though about O'Donnell's visit."

Carver took the PADD that Eliana offered her and glanced through the overview. She put it back down quickly, seemingly before she had been able to read through any of the details of the new Arrow Class.

"I had heard a rumor about these," Rayleigh explained. "I didn't think we'd ever see them. You know how they can come up with a concept, the final product never looks anything near as cool as when they started, but this. . . this looks great. I'm glad we're getting them, when do we start?"

"Seventy some-odd hours or so."

"Sounds like fun! Oh, speaking of which, I swung by to drop off the new training curriculum. It's a combination of the Academy curriculum combined with some of the new training facilities that are being installed. It's not often you get the high-fidelity motion trackers in the holodecks, but since we've got them, we might as well use them."

"Agreed, and impressive work." Ellie had to admit, it was a start in the right direction. "Well Commander, anything else while you've got the fly-girls together in one place?"

"Not at the moment. There are going to be a lot of unique ships passing through here with regards to the Taranok crisis, so you might want to let your shop guys know to be prepared for repair and maintenance taskings from virtually anything built the last 200 years."

"Not too specific, I like it. It gives me the right to be a bit sassy whenever the mechanics come complaining, because all I ever hear down on the ramp is people complaining about how they 'never get to do any real work anymore' and 'everything is grey and the same and I hate it'. Well, we'll see if they were just blowing smoke," Masters smiled, a playful look on her face.

"I'll going to get the wheels turning on this one. Take as much time as you need in the office," Ellie headed for the door.

Rosaleen nodded at Masters, then turned to Adria. "We need to configure a couple of your Scimitars for scout duty. Any thoughts?"

"Follow me and I'd be happy to show you what I've worked up so far. At this point its was designed as preliminary if needed plan so we may have to alter things a bit to make it operationally viable but it will give you a good idea of the best option we worked up on paper," Adria gestured to the door.

"After you." Rosaleen replied, then followed as Adria exited the room. She wasn't quite sure what to expect, but knowing Desoro...it was going to be both unique and brilliant.

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Commander Eliana Masters
Director of Flight Operations
Second Officer
Starbase 80

Lt Commander Adria "Tempest" Desoro
220th CAG
Starbase 80

Lt Commander Rosaleen O'Donnell
Commodores Personal Assistant
Starbase 80