You Can't Park There! (Part 1)

Posted on Mon Jul 8th, 2024 @ 10:40pm by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Lieutenant Rea & Commander Thomas Johnson & Commander Chisato Nishikigi & Lieutenant Jasad Yuvek & Lieutenant Jesse Leon & Lieutenant Sarah Graesyn & Lieutenant Talia Johnson & Lieutenant JG Nezuko

1,308 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Starship Graveyard
Location: Various

It had been ten days since Captain Aisaka had sent out her envoys to the survivors of the other ships around them. However there was still one final problem in their plan to build the boosters from their engines and that was the Tokyo itself. The ship was still where it had crashed, bow deep in a towering sand dune. It was time to finally move the ship into a better position so that extra engine 'boosters' could be constructed and attached to the hull.

Taiga sat in her command chair as the ship was at Red Alert. The crew had reported to their stations, and for once the bridge was back to being busy and felt alive again. The plan was simple, the Tokyo was going to use the phasers to 'sweep' away the sand dunes that trapped them, then they would move the ship to a flatter area using the thrusters and in a controlled manner re-position the ship.

“I really hope this works” Talia looked at Taiga. “Crew morale is finally popping up, a blow now could be devastating.”

"Cross your fingers and hope for the best, Counselor," Chisato stated optimistically.

Thomas looked over to his wife. Gave a reassuring smile. "Sand and heat creates glass... I doubt we want to walk out there once its all said and done wtihout any steel tow shoes out there." He paused turning over. "Tactical report on phaser array..."

Standing at his station, Jesse was taping around his console quickly, "Phaser sweep programmed and ready to go. We'll start with quick rotating bursts that should loosen the dunes. Failing that," He shrugged, "I guess we're making glass."

Taiga chuckled to herself. "Fire away."

The Tokyo began its program of precision phaser fire into the sandy embankment in front of them. The shots penetrated deep into the dunes and there were rumblings of movement - yet, not enough to free the whole ship just yet.

"Increasing intensity." Jesse commented as he tapped at his screen once more.

"Jased," Taiga said turning her attention to the Cardassian. "Give him a hand with moving some sand. Fire up the ships other thrusters and see what you can blast away." She ordered.

"Aye, ma'am,' Lt. Yuvek responded dutifully. However, personally, he wasn't too excited about the idea of activating ship thrusters while it was half buried in meters of stand and rocks.

With the combination of the thrusters and phasers, anyone watching the Tokyo from a distance would see the ship suddenly disappear in what looked like a sand storm. Sand and dust rose high into the air, swirling and dancing around in various directions.

A tremendous roar echoed across the dunes. It was louder than any animals, and prouder than a lion protecting its pride and territory. Slowly from amongst the sand and dust something began to emerge. First a dim glow of blue, followed by many smaller glows of white and finally glows of orange as the shape of the Armitage Class Starship began to break through.

After a few moments the sand began to settle, and there hovering about twenty meters off the ground was the Tokyo. Its thrusters keeping her steady above the ground. Their blue blasts keeping her airborne and stable. Sand which had been lifted with the ship was rolling off the ships smooth surfaces, falling off in small streams like in an hour glass. Her once grey and lifeless nacelles once again glowed brightly, as did her deflector dish. She was hovering proudly over her crash site, now just a imprint of where the ship had been sitting for these last couple of months.

[Bridge]

"It's working!" Chisato exclaimed with visible excitement. "It's working!"

Taiga couldn't help but smile. The gentle hum of the ships engines back online and with the Tokyo once again airbourne once again felt fantastic. It was like the ship was back to being what she was, a Starship. Although, they still needed to set down safely and in a flatter location to begin construction of the 'boosters'.

"Mister Yuvek. Keep us nice and low. Take us to a flatter area where we can put her down properly." Taiga ordered. "Nice and easy. I know you've already got a few locations you've already picked out."

Lt. Yuvek began to guide the ship forward. Navigating such a massive vessel in the weightlessness of space was significantly easier than trying to keep it afloat on a planet surface with a significant amount of gravity. In space, Jasad would not have to divert so much power to attitude adjusters just to keep the ship floating and remaining parallel to the planet surface. However, here he had to not just move the ship forward, but also keep it afloat high enough to avoid any debris, dunes, or other obstacles.

The Tokyo gently moved off from its current position and began to move over the dunes. Leaving the NX Class 'Endeavour' to sit alone once more. Slowly the Armitage class made its way over towards a large flat area a short distance away from their crash position.

The sand there was much firmer, flat like the American deserts. Occasionally there were rock formations even a few desert plants. Taiga opened a comm line to the flight deck. "Bridge to TIC," she said.

"TIC here," the voice of Roromiya replied.

"Secure everything on the flight deck. Get everyone out of there, we're going to tip all that extra sand out for you."

"Aye Captain," Roromiya replied simply and cooly.

Taiga looked over at Nezuko. "Nezuko. Disengage inertial dampners and artificial gravity on the flight deck and open the forward launch bay doors," she ordered simply.

The sand had been a problem all over the ship, and Nezuko had been working to clear the flight deck of it not long ago. Now they were finally in a position to do it in one fell swoop. She deactivated inertial dampers and artificial gravity for that deck, opened the forward back doors, and watched as the ship's vibrations and gently downward slope loosened the sand and started it spewing forth from the ship.

"Ok." Taiga smiled. "Jased. Hover is here for a moment, lower the bow on a fifteen degree down angle. Hold her there for..." she pondered forv a moment. "Two minutes, that should allow most of the excess sand time to pour out the forward doors."

"Yes ma'am," He replied. During his time at the academy he recalled hearing one of his human classmates describe a ancient Human vehicle known as a "dump truck". Its purpose was unclear to him, but evidently it picked up large amounts of the earth from one location and deposited it in another in a very similar fashion to what the Tokyo was doing now.

Sand began to pour out of the flight deck doors, falling down like in an hourglass onto the desert below. The Tokyo hovered there for the allotted time, slowly the sand began to slow until the once steady stream disappeared.

"Right then," Taiga said with a smile. "Find a nice flat spot Jased, put her down nice and smooth. Keep her level and straight."

She opened a ship wide communication. "All hands this is the Captain. We have cleared the sand dunes. We will be landing the ship shortly on a flatter area. However this ship was never intended to touch down on a planet, so this could get bumpy. Secure all equipment and brace for touchdown."

Thomas sat back in his chair. watching on his display the incoming ground. "At least this time we have control over how and where we land."

Talia nodded as she held on ready for landing. "It's definitely boosted morale having the ship in the air again though."

To be continued...

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