Leaving the ship
Posted on Saturday 18 June 2022 @ 18:54 by
Mission:
Disaster!
Location: Merlin/Pegasus
Timeline: Just after the evacuate call
1606 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure
Down in the shuttlebay, Jack was keeping himself busy checking each of the shuttles docked there in case they might be needed. Just as he was finishing up on one of the Type 2 shuttles, the bay was filled with a red hue as the call for abandon ship came through. Looking back to Pearl, He hoped she might know what was going on, “Hey Bijoux, what’s happened?”
Pearl checked the chatter and got word, "Jack, life support systems had just gone offline!" she yelled out. “They are doing transporters and getting everyone off the ship, don't know how long that will take but, I think we need to make our own way out of here. Think you can jury rig the door to open and we get out?"
Looking over at the shuttlebay doors, Jack took a deep breath as he thought it over, “I mean yea sure, but without the forcefield this entire bay will depressurise the moment I do” he said before an idea came to his head, “but I can get around that. Right, get that runabout ready to leave” Jack ordered before running back to the last type 2 shuttle he’d looked at. After a few minuets, he emerged wearing one of the stored space suits without the helmet on, “ok, here’s the plan. Once the doors are open, you take off and get to a safe distance, I’m gonna jump and see how far I get”
"You will not be doing that without an EV suit, Jack so get one on then you can do your leap into action." she laughed. "Matter of fact I'm putting one on myself right now." a grim note came into her voice.
Jack looked over at the runabout where he assumed Pearl was, “wait, why are you suiting up? You’re flying the shuttle”
"Just in case, Jack. I don't believe in not being prepared. You never know what may happen." Pearl pointed out. "So hence my suiting up. Makes sense?" looking at him.
Jack was about to argue, but figured he’d just be wasting air, “fine, just get the runabout ready to go. We may need to pick up some escape pods if they end up launching them” he said as he turned to head over to the shuttlebay doors, “oh and run a quick check on the warp core while you’re at it”
"Right will do so." Pearl running the scans from the runabout. "Let me know when we are ready to go!" she called out. "Warp core of the Merlin looks good, no danger of it exploding but with what hit us still a lot of work that will be happening."
Hurrying over to the door controls, Jack put on his helmet, magnetised his boot before getting to work on opening the shuttlebay doors. After almost 5 minutes, and more then a few work arounds, Jack activated his suits comm system and connected it to the runabout, “right, door’s ready. It’s now or never” he said as he triggered the door to open without waiting for a response. Almost immediately as the door creaked and groaned it’s way open, the air from within the shuttlebay began to be sucked out into the void of space.
Jack held tightly to a handhold near the door controls and started praying that his boots and fingers would hold out until the air pressure had equalised with the outside pressure.
Pearl had the runabout ready and moving forward, as the air that was inside the shuttle bay whooshed out towards the vacuum of space. She looked with concern towards Jack, seeing his struggle to keep his feet. However, he told her to get the runabout out, and so she did. When it was sufficiently away, she brought up the view screen to keep watch on him. And had the transporter ready to go locking on his signal. She wasn't going to let him die. She'd have had enough of seeing others dying.
As soon as the runabout was clear of the bay, Jack triggered the doors to close, de-magnetised his boots and jumped out into the black. “Alright, let’s see how well these suits fly” he said to himself, even though the channel to the runabout was still open. Bringing up his helmets HUD, Jack waited for it to make a quick scan of the area ahead of him “right, so I’ve got 13 barrels and 6 crates between me and you Pearl. Are the transporters on that thing still working?”
"Yes they are and I've got a lock on you. You ready to come in or are you planning on playing leap frog with the flotsam and jetsam that is out there?" Pearl quipped.
“While I’m sure that might be fun. I think getting away from the Merlin is the priority right now. So please beam me aboard, these suits only hold about 6 hrs of air I think”
"They hold 12 hours, but who wants to be in there for that long. Beaming you in now." Pearl informed Jack. She watched as he materialized upon the transporter pad of the runabout and feeling rather relieved. "Shall we head for the Pegasus? It looks like there are no escape pods being deployed." Turning her head back to look out towards the general area surrounding the Merlin.
Taking off his helmet, Jack looked a little confused as he stepped down off the transporter pad, “that’s strange, it sounded like a general evacuation.” He said looking out at the other Starfleet ships that had arrived, “I guess the other ships might have something to do with that. Alright let’s head for the Pegasus”
Pearl gave a nod towards Jack and maneuvered towards the Pegasus and to where they would be staying until they got to their destination. "I wonder what will be happening while we are on the Pegasus. From the communications I have picked up we'll be heading towards DS21, which is the closest place the Merlin can be fixed up. I am thinking while the ship is being worked on, we're probably going to be getting some shore leave. Its going to be weird, most times I had been sent to another place to be before there was a shore leave. This is going to be my first official shore leave being a part of the marines on the Merlin."
“Well maybe you should find out if the others have anything planned. Maybe get together at a bar or something like that” Jack suggested, taking the copilot seat. He had to admit, Jack was tempted to ask Pearl out on a date while they were in the station, but perhaps right now wasn’t the right time for it.
"I could do that." Pearl remarked with a shrug, "Maybe go get drunk, see what I can do in a holo-suite... I seriously don't quite know what I will be doing. Maybe actually get a dress? I will have to go find someone to go with me to do that. I've not got the head for fashion, for me its been a marine uniform and civilian wise, jeans and a tee shirt plus boots or a pair of joggers. Or even sweat pants. Oh can't forget dress uniform." she paused and looked over at Jack "Sorry, that might be too much information I'm giving out. At least I didn't get into the und...." she blushed, "Never mind..." Pearl looked back out towards the area of space, her mama had told her never to talk about underwear with a man. She almost did.
Jack smiled, “you should try thongs….i mean flip-flops” he said, catching his wording. He often forgot that most of his colloquialisms could come across as a little or suggestive then intended, “they can be very comfortable and you don’t have to worry about laces when taking them off and on”
"Flip Flops I hadn't thought of that, though I was considering on some moccasins, or even some slip on shoes... just something comfortable. If I could I would walk around barefoot." she chuckled. " But wouldn't be a good thing to do unless on a place with dirt or grass or water." she gave a slight sigh. "I do miss wading in a creek or at the river's edge. Gotta be careful though when walking in a swamp though. Oh I remember once walking on a beach and in the waves. That was when I was really small."
"why don't you use the holodeck and go for a swim once in a while?" Jack asked
Pearl glanced at Jack, "I've never really thought about doing such, just been working on training. Grubbing through muddy and watery scenarios, terrain training scenario's. I really want to improve myself, have to do so, I don't want to disappoint the Major. He's the one who gave me a new perspective of my not being trash." she gave brief laugh. "and I thought that of myself, a lot."
“Of course you’re not trash, you’ve just had a few knocks and needed to get back onto your feet” Jack said before figuring why not just ask her out, “well, while we’re waiting for the engineers to fix the ship, do you wanna grab a drink?”
"I would love that." Pearl replied with a smile, and a touch of a red in her cheeks. "Hey look there's the Pegasus. Time to get to safety and then off to DS21." guiding the runabout towards that ship.
Lance Corporal Pearl Bijoux
USS Merlin
CPO Jack MacGyver
Operations Specialist
USS Merlin
