CMDR'S Log 15
04 Aug 2024User377553
02/29/331022:00 Galactic Standard Time
Location: Fleet Carrier L.L.V. Negotiator (V1J-L0K). Located in Hyades Sector GB-N B7-4. One jump away from Hyades Sector FB-N B7-6. Where Titan Taranis is located.
CMDR Eric Vons POV
Hubward drops out of supercruise 10km from the Fleet Carrier L.L.V. Negotiator. "Attention Commander. You have entered a no fire zone." The communication officer on the other side of the communication channel said broadcasting to my ship. "You must request permission to dock before you may land at this Fleet Carrier." They add. I casually ignored the message and brought the Hubward within 7.5km. "Tetco, dock the ship." I say. "Oh, so you expect me to dock the ship for you?" Tetco's voice says loaded with sarcasm and putting the heaviest inflections on the oh, me, and you. She sighs, then in a voice of resignation says "Ugh, Fine." My external holofac display panel switches from the system tab to the contacts tab then the selector highlighted the top contact. L.L.V. Negotiator. It switched to the sub tab then back before returning to the subtab and selecting Request Docking. "Requesting Landing Pad." Tetco announced as she toggled the all stop command. She then takes over the auto docking computer. "Do I need a license for this thing?" Tetco asks as she steers the L.L.V. Hubward to the it's assigned pad. "Delacy, Charlie, Echo, Victor. You are cleared for approach to Pad 04." The communication officer says, then adds. "Automated docking engaged. You are free to hand over control Commander."
The whole process from the second I told Tetco to take over to that point took about a minute and a half at most. "Landing gear deployed." Tetco said as the indicator light flickers on and the undercarriage rumbles and clunks as the landing gear deploys. "Tetco, did you send all of our clearances and credentials along with the request?" I asked. "Of course." She responded. "Landing complete." She said as the ship settled on the pad. "Touchdown confirmed. Feel free to disembark at your leisure Commander." The communication officer said before signing off. As the pad retracted into the hanger Tetco spoke. "Finally, time to go freshen up." Powering up the Holo Me system and using it to transfer herself from a digitized form in the ship's systems to her physical form, both she and Aurora leave the cockpit. I sit in my chair for a minute before activating the comm system and sending a message to Commander Daedalus Spyke.
"O7 Commander. I'm reporting in for the AX operation against Titan Taranis. However, I will be leaving two very important passengers aboard the Negotiator. The maelstroms no place for one of them and the other one is currently working as their security. I don't think it would be wise to annoy the Prism System's newest Senator. I am already slightly on her bad side." I checked the text message over and, then satisfied hit the send button. I rise from my chair and then slowly stroll from the cockpit stretching as I did so.
My insight HUD pings with a response. I check it and sigh with relief. "O7 Commander Eric Vons. I'm glad you could join us. The Captain of my carrier, Dara Whitfield-Vance, is already making the arrangements. I hear her face got a bit less color when she realized that someone with the status of senator is arriving on a Cobra mk lll instead of a Clipper or Cutter or another Gutamaya vessel. I'll be among the welcome wagon." Daedalus Spyke responded.
I glanced out the cockpit and checked to make sure that they were ready. After the brief glance I head through the ship until I reached the cargo bay and the primary entrance of the ship. Both Tetco and Aurora are there waiting for me. "I assume you are both ready?" I ask. At a look of annoyance from both I swiftly did a verbal backpedal. "Right, dumb question." I said. I pull up my insight HUD and see one new message. "We're ready." I acknowledge it. Then close the HUD and press the door release.
As the doors slid open I ventured out and down the steps into the hangar. The side entrance to the pad and lifts to the rest of the carrier was surrounded by purple banners bearing symbols of both the Empire and Lavigny's Legion. There was even a purple carpet leading to the lifts with the emblem of the both Lavigny's Legion and Arrissa Lavingy-Duval. There was also the typical honor guard and the department heads for the various different departments of the carrier. Including chief engineer, chief science officer, chief medical officer, chief of security, the captain, the XO, and Commander Daedalus Spyke and his crew.
Tetco exits next and joins me at the bottom of the front landing gear stairs taking the position on the right side. As I take the left side. After a minute Senator Aurora Quinta Rebia descends and joins us. "My Lady." I say bowing. Tetco follows suit after waiting for Aurora to acknowledge me. After Aurora has acknowledged both of us we fall in beside her as she heads for the rest of the reception.
Once we approach the rest of the group I click my heels together as a salute (The best that I could do without causing a slight to Senator Aurora Rebia.) to Commander Daedalus Spyke who bears the rank of Centurion in Lavigny's Legion and outranks me according to the Legion roster. "Centurion Spyke." I said before resuming a more casual and at ease stance. Daedalus Spyke doesn't respond right away. Instead he stands there staring at us. His gaze appears to be torn between both Tetco and Aurora. At least until he receives a sharp, hard, and not so subtle jab in the ribs by the elbow of his crew member Gladys after the more subtle method of stepping on his foot failed to have any real effect.
"Senator Rebia, welcome aboard the L.L.V. Negotiator." Spyke finally says in a voice that starts out strong, yet slightly hesitant as he tries to remember some of the finer points of formal conduct. Something he hadn't had to use for some time. "I'm Commander Daedalus Spyke, a Centurion in Lavigny's Legion. This is my crew member Gladys." He says gesturing to the blonde woman who had elbowed him in the ribs. "This is the captain of my fleet carrier. Dara Whitfield-Vance. And the respective department heads for the rest of the crew." He finishes gesturing first to a darker skinned woman with brownish/black hair before indicating the others.
"Centurion Spyke." Aurora said as acknowledgement of him before she acknowledged the others in order of rank. Based off of chain of command with a brief glance before she refocused on Spyke "I presume that you and Commander Eric Vons have a Titan assault to plan?" She asked. "Uh, yeah we do." He replied slightly awkwardly. "Well, make sure part of the plan includes bringing him back alive. And if his ship doesn't make it. Well I will be fine with that. Means I have a better chance of convincing him to upgrade to something more luxurious." Aurora said with a small smile gesturing to me. "Captain." Aurora said verbally signaling to Dara Whitfield-Vance that she would be the new diplomatic point of contact instead of Spyke. Her previous comment also served as a dismissal for both me and Spyke from the entourage. While they took the tour of the fleet carrier.
Spyke lets out a huge sigh of relief once they get far enough ahead. "How do you put up with all the looks and formalities all the time?" He asks. "I do my best. But more often than not when it's just us on the Hubward she has me drop them. Believe it or not, but even senators find it tedious at times." I answered.
02/29/3310
22:30 Galactic Standard Time
Location: Guest staterooms L.L.V. Negotiator. (V1J-L0K), Hyades Sector GB-N B7-4. One jump away from Hyades Sector FB-N B7-6. Where Titan Taranis is located.
Tetco's POV
The tour just finished and Captain Dara Whitfield-Vance left two legionaries behind posted outside for both security and so we could get directions when we needed to. Aurora wasn't exactly pleased with the idea but after a minute she saw the logic of it. As additional security is never a bad thing when you consider that Aurora is a senator and that makes her automatically a high value target. "Tetco, has the operation begun yet?" Aurora asked. "It should have." I responded. I request the information from the room terminal and get an answer. "They left three minutes ago." I answered reading the information displayed on the screen. "Keep me updated." Aurora said.
"I can do better than that." I said routing the incoming communications to the guest room. A second later a voice speaks. "Let's, go kick it." The voice says. A few other people chime in their agreement. The group drops out of supercruise and enters the maelstrom. "Operations, be advised I am entering the maelstrom now." Eric says over the commlink. "Confirmed commander. Good luck, and good hunting." An operations crewman says.
An hour later the legion calls an end to the operation. The communication channel buzzes with the voice of the fleet carrier communication officer. "O7 Commanders. You must submit a request to dock before you may approach the landing pads." It's followed by two requests. "My Lady, the commander has returned for the last time from the maelstrom." I say to Aurora. "Thanks Tetco. I hope the ship isn't too badly damaged. Despite my earlier comment we do need it." She said rising from the chair she was in. We left the staterooms and headed for the pads accompanied by the two legionaries.
As we reached the pads we entered the wrong lift and got sent to Daedalus Spyke's pad. His ship was a mess. As we enter the bay we overhear him talking with his chief engineer. "I can fix it, but could you please just bring it back in closer to one piece next time?" He said. "I think we got the wrong pad." I said to Aurora turning to leave. Spyke spots us and catches up as we head to the pad Eric landed on his chief engineer, Mac, follows us. As soon as we enter the bay area we stop. Mac slips around so he can see. Eric is striding across the bay towards us. "Well, that went well." He said. A resounding clatter and bang of metal on metal resounds from behind him. "And I am back in one piece as ordered, My Lady." He said bowing to Aurora. "Wha-. Commander Vons, please tell me that you don't seriously expect me to fix that!" Mac exclaimed. "You are even worse on your ships than Commander Daedalus. If I didn't know better I would say that you two have a bet on about who can bring their ship back in the worst possible condition!" He exclaimed. Almost immediately after he finished there was a loud creaking followed by a crashing noise. Everyone turned to look as all three landing gear gave out and the entire ship caved in a split down the middle forming a giant v when everything settled.
"Well, I would really appreciate it if you could. I'm sorta attached to that ship." Eric said. "You can't even call that a ship anymore!" Mac exclaimed his voice going so high in pitch that it actually went beyond the range of what his vocal chords were capable of. Spyke couldn't hold it in an more and began to quietly laugh. Gladys entered the hangar bay took one look at the sight and asked. "Tetco, does Commander Vons have you fix his ship?" She asks. "Sure, why?" "Has it ever been this bad?" She asked. "Not since I joined him." I answered. "Well then why should he expect our crew to fix it? If Commander Daedalus brings a ship back like this I make him scrap it." Gladys says glaring at Spyke who was trying to regain control of himself. "That is the second time someone referred to Commander Eric by his last name and Commander Daedalus by his first name." Aurora said. "Daedalus, Spyke's first name?" Gladys asked. "No Senator, Spyke is his first name. We're from the Yeng system. In our home system they put the last name first." Gladys said. Aurora's face changed to a mask. She slowly turned to face Eric her emerald eyes flashing dangerously ablaze with anger. Eric knew what was coming next and immediately cut her off.
"My Lady. I didn't know. I typically use a person's last names unless I interact with them every day or close enough to make it not be much different." He said taking a step back. "Do you realize just how much of a diplomatic incident I could have caused if I had been greeting an emissary for a diplomatic situation? You are lucky that it was me being the visiting imperial dignitary and I wasn't greeting another dignitary. You now owe me a ship commander. And do your damn research next time." Aurora said waspishly in a dangerous voice. She then turned and strode from the hangar bay heading back towards the guest staterooms.
"Well, that went really well." Eric said casually in a rather defeated voice trying to shrug off the incident and failing miserably. "I guess I had better go file a insurance claim and get Inter Astra to ship us a new Cobra mk lll and then I better get salvaging what can be saved." He said before departing. I stood there looking at the mess that used to be a ship. "He had better have a good way to make this worth it for her. He can't play the 'it's good for your reputation with the Patrons, clients, and citizens.' card forever to keep bringing her around to his point of view." I said.
Credit to CMDR Daedalus Spyke for allowing me to incorporate his carrier and characters as well as general assistance in writing this.