Faith, Hope, and Fick

Posted on Sun Jun 21st, 2020 @ 5:19am by Captain Nycolas Temple & Lieutenant JG Vecon Fick
Edited on on Tue Jul 7th, 2020 @ 1:24pm

Mission: Into the Wild
Location: Captain's Ready Room

A Mission Post by Ensign Vecon Fick & Commander Nycolas Temple
Mission: Into The Wild
Location: Captain's Ready Room
Timeline:
Wed Jul 19th, 2017 @ 4:50pm


The captain of the Pandora was in a dour mood. The ship's much-anticipated first foray into the Inconnu Expanse had not gone to plan. After a long absence from the region, Starfleet had insisted upon a simple scientific and diplomatic expedition into the Expanse to learn of any new developments and hopefully find answers to some of the existing mysteries.

Instead, Commander Temple had flown them into a trap.

"Well bloody done." Nyx grumbled as he walked into his Ready Room and off the Bridge, deciding to take a brief recess from looking at the debris field and dark matter storm they were now surrounded by. On the Bridge, he had been focused and resolute, now alone he was feeling more foolish and surly.

He didn't like this feeling, and decided - as he often did - on the whim of a good idea, to find a way out of this mess. After searching through his crew files, he believed he had the answer. Both to their predicament and his mood.

Nyx pressed his badge, =/\= Temple to Ensign Fick. Please report to my ready room. =/\=

Fick sat up on his bunk and stared at his comm badge. Out of habit a million things he had done since arriving on the ship went through his head, trying first to think if he had done anything wrong. =/\=On my way, Captain.=/\= He hopped down, checked himself in the mirror and headed out the door. It shouldn't have taken him long, but he managed to get lost. All of the Academy in the world could not prepare him for finding his way around an actual ship. He was eventually successful at finding the bridge and the ready room, but he felt a little like he'd probably gone around his elbow to get to his... He pressed the door buzzer and tried again to think of anything he might be in trouble for.

"Enter," Nyx called flatly from his desk, though he stood to greet the Ensign as he walked into the room.

The Captain held out his hand, but for a moment couldn't help but regard the young officer's face, realizing just how fresh-out-of-school the pilot was. "Ensign Fick? So glad we could finally meet."

Fick stepped into the room and snapped to attention then noticed the Captain's outstretched hand. Color rose a little on his cheeks and he relaxed out of the salute and shook Nycolas' hand firmly. "Thank you. I'm glad to meet you as well, sir. I'm sorry it took me a little bit to get here. I... well... I got a little lost," he admitted. It was hard for him not to stare around the ready room, but he remembered that people talking to you usually liked to at least feel like you were paying attention to them. He smiled apologetically. At least Captain Temple was rather dashing.

"That's alright, it's a big ship," Nyx replied with a smile. He indicated to Fick to sit in the chair in front of his desk, as he sat also. "Now, I'm sorry we don't have time to get to know each other, as you know we're in a dire situation at the moment."

Fick sat down in the chair, a little surprised and totally curious as to what this meeting could be about. He nodded in response to the Captain and then could hear his father in his head saying "I can't hear your head rattle..." "Yes, sir..." he responded.

"And as you may be aware," The captain continued, "Our original Chief Flight Officer transferred back to Carnwennan Station. Since then, the helm team has been sharing the management duties until a permanent replacement could be arranged. However, given the predicament we currently find ourselves in, I am expediting the process."

He looked to the screen on his desk, "Now, you've just graduated from Academy and this is your first posting, correct?"

"Yes, sir, it is." He nodded with the words this time and sat up a little in the chair. "I stayed an extra year though and took Advanced Flight courses. I know I'm new to all of this, but I really am a good pilot." He regretted how desperate his words sounded almost immedately. "I mean... I am." 'and that sounded too cocky. Shut your mouth Fick,' he admonished himself in his head. "Expediting the process, sir?"

"A captain's prerogative," Temple replied with an eyebrow raised, "I believe the Advanced course covers more dangerous spacial phenomena? And I see from your academic record that you excelled at your studies and graduated with honours."

At that moment it occured to Fick that he might not be in trouble. He nodded again. "Yes, sir it did and yes sir, I did. I'm willing to work hard with a certain amount of obsessive dedication." He smiled a little and also relaxed.

"Well then," Nyx smiled as he turned off his screen, giving the young officer his full attention, "I am going to take a leap of faith here, Ensign. This may be your first posting but I believe your abilities and additional training will more than qualify you to head our Flight department as its Chief Officer."

Fick's eyebrows shot up and he blinked slowly at the Captain for several moments before he could say anything. "Sir?" His face didn't seem to be able to decide how it should look for a moment. "Chief? Sir?"

Nyx reached out his hand once more, "Yes, Chief. And I don't wish to rush you, Ensign, but time is against us. If you think you're up to the job, I need an answer right away."

Fick practically lept out of his chair. He shook the Captain's hand vigorously with both of his own. "Thank you, sir! You won't be sorry, sir! I mean... yes, I accept! Thank you! I won't let you down!" He said all of this in a rapid rush of words and then snapped to attention and saluted Nyx. "Thank you. You really won't regret this," he repeated, this time with a definite serious tone.

Temple couldn't help but give a polite laugh, sure that he was just as excited at his first promotion, many moons ago. He knew to take the young man's eagerness as a testament to his professionalism.

"Very good," Nyx replied as he stood. "Now, you might not be so eager once you see the mess we're in. I'm going to need you on the Bridge right away to help navigate our way out of the dark matter."

"Yes, sir. Of course, sir. Right away, sir." He started to follow the captain to the door, but he paused as what the captain was saying sunk in slowly. "Dark matter, sir?" He had of course heard of dark matter. Theoretically, it made up all of space that wasn't stars or planets, but for some reason he was pretty sure that the Captain was not talking about that kind of dark matter, although even the kind of dark matter that filled space could be dangerous. Pockets of dark matter could cause an absence of gravity normally associated with planets and stars. Most of space theory and travel relied on a certain amount of gravity, even if it wasn't perceived gravity or normal gravity. His eyes were on Nyx. "What kind of dark matter?"

Nyx furrowed his brow, "We believe it may be a surrounding nebula of particularly violent dark matter, which has been used to contain ships into a form of a trap. Many ships have either fallen into or been lured into the trap, given the large debris field we just encountered. We don't know how big the nebula may be at this stage, but I'd prefer to do a further analysis once we're on the other side."

"Scary," Fick commented, heading for the door of the ready room. He knew that when dark matter surrounded a nebula it could definitely be volatile. Large amounts of dark matter could even indicate the beginning of a planet or a star when it surrounded a nebula. Beautiful and amazing, yes, but very dangerous for anything that was too close. They would have to make it through without getting caught up in the waves. It was tricky, but Fick felt confident in his ability. He also felt it was a chance to prove to his Captain that he had not made the wrong choice.

"We've been bombarding the area with photon torpedoes and believe there's a way out. But the space around us is volatile and the opening rather tight." The Captain turned towards the door, holding out his hand for Ensign Fick to follow, "I'll need you on helm straight away." He said as the headed back to the Bridge.

OFF