From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Jun 13 2008 - 02:05:13 PDT
=Homecoming=
(cont'd from "You Can't Catch Me...")
LOCATION: Shuttlecraft
SCENE: Interior
STARDATE: [2.8]0613.0200
The buzzing roused Jacob Crichton from his sleep. Moments before, he had been dosing in his chair, as he had done since he'd programmed the wormhole approach vectors after leaving Starbase Nine. He was still tired from his trip- whisked all the way back to Earth, then shipped back out again to a remote part of the Delta Quadrant, then two weeks of... well, technically, Crichton wasn't supposed to talk about it, and the men who'd debriefed him when it was all over made it pretty clear they'd rather he not *think* about it either. The whole incident would go in some classified file somewhere, but truth be told Crichton was glad to just be done with it.
Then, after another week of "debriefings", Crichton was finally allowed to leave. He quickly arranged to return to GATEWAY, hoping not too much had changed since he'd been gone. And while he'd been tired enough to nap on the way over, his final approach to GATEWAY Station was something he wanted to be awake for.
He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and straightened in his chair. GATEWAY had already detected his approach- a blinking light on his console signaled an incoming transmission, audio only.
[[Shuttlecraft EDISON, please power down your engines and identify,]] came the voice of the traffic-controller on the other end, sounding more than a little bored.
"GATEWAY Station, this is Lt. Jacob Crichton," Jake replied. "Requesting permission to come aboard. Transmitting identification codes now."
[[Roger that, lieutenant,]] the controller droned. [[Codes received. It will take us a moment to verify, please stand by.]]
Crichton sighed, a little annoyed by the high security. Of course, it was a necessary evil during wartime, especially when the people you're at war with can mimic anyone's appearance and infiltrate the highest levels of your command structure. Still, he'd put up with it the entire trip home, and by now he'd been "verified" so many times that he almost wished he *was* a changeling, if only to break up all the monotony.
[[Codes have been authenticated,]] came the controller's voice again. [[You are clear for approach, lieutenant. Welcome back.]]
"It's good to be home," Crichton said, but the controller had already cut the transmission.
=================================================================
NRPG: Sorry it's so short, but I wanted to get Crichton back on the station before we go off chasing any renegade pirate vessels. ;-)
I should have a longer post out by Monday, though.
Good to be back!
Shawn Putnam
a.k.a.
Jacob Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
From HyperNews_at_youth.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Nov 19 2008 - 03:10:53 PST