The holiday is over

Posted on 10 Oct 2016 @ 3:27pm by Commander Paul Toddman

Mission: Prelude; Breakfast at Curmudgeon's
Location: Toddman Residence, Earth
Timeline: MD-1: 07:30hrs

'The time is 05:00'. The computer's voice was shrill and unwelcome. Monday mornings were not Paul's favourite, being the first day of the week and all. The 30 something human stirred in his bed. 'The time is 05:00' the computer repeated, with a tone that drilled into Paul's head like an ice pick. "OK, thank you computer" he croaked as he threw his blanket off of him and swung his legs out. Casting a bleary eye gaze across his bedroom, Paul noticed a 'Message Waiting' status flashing on the view screen on the wall opposite him. He considered reading it for a moment, but lost interest once his stomach announced it required breakfast. He got up and headed out of the door, setting a course for the kitchen downstairs.

It had been a long, very overdue shore leave. 752 Days in total. Paul would normally have split it into three or four portions, but he had had a burning desire to get back to Earth and spend some time fixing up the old family home. The property sat on a hillside overlooking Loch Leven. A small but picturesque Scottish Loch in the eastern county of Fife in Scotland. It was only 20 miles from where he had been born. As much as he loved Starfleet and serving aboard starships, this place was and always would be home.
After the events leading up to, during and after the Dominion war, Paul had needed some space away from the hubbub of active duty. A holodeck wasn't enough. He had lost a lot of friends, some so dear they were practically family. With the destruction of his last posting, the USS Lancelot, he had also lost his mentor and surrogate father of sorts, Sebastian DeVries, the commanding officer of the Lancelot.

Paul reach the kitchen. He had set it up complete with an old fashioned food refrigerator. In the age of the replicator such a device was not needed. But he had taken advantage of a local farmers market that sold fresh food which needed storing correctly. Sure a stasis chamber would have done the job, but it just seemed a little off to Paul, so he had a refrigerator replicated for him.
The kitchen wasn't completely out of the pages of history however, it too featured modern technology, one item of witch was a computer screen which was also flashing with a 'Message Waiting' status. Paul rolled his eyes and relented to the will of whatever force had sent the message.

With a touch of a button, the screen displayed the message. The header read 'From Cowell, Nathan. Commander USS Arizona'.

A frown grew across Paul's face, "Ah, what the fuck does that old curmudgeon want?!".

Aside from the usual formatting of Starfleet orders, the message was short and sharp; 'Toddman, P, Cdr. is requested and ordered to report for duty aboard USS Arizona immediately'. The personal message from Cowell was even more curt; 'Get here now'.

“Three words” Paul scoffed "Anastasia could have done that in one!".
“Heel!” he barked, impersonating the fearsome woman.

A smile grew across his face. He hadn't thought about Anastasia Vandergrift for a while. She was a woman of incredible ferocity and femininity. A walking, talking contradiction. She commanded the respect of the fiercest Nausicaan but would also be warm and inviting when the occasion called for it. He missed her deeply.

Paul turned the screen off with a swipe of his hand and headed for the sonic shower, breakfast would wait. The shuttle ride up to Spacedock would be long enough.

“Computer, uplink to the shuttle's systems, conduct preflight and warm up the engines” He said as he walked back up the wooden stairs he had only just come down on.

“Acknowledged, preflight in progress” came the obedient response.

It only took Paul 10 minutes to shower and get a uniform on. Not bad considering it was an actual water shower. He smiled as he opened his wardrobe to reveal 5 sets of brand new uniforms. He had had a friend make them from scratch, tailored to him exactly. Apart from the test fittings and final fit check, this would be the first time he donned a uniform in over 2 years. It was stiff from being brand new and had that new material smell. Something the replicated examples lacked.
Paul opened a draw and removed a red velvet box. He opened the box to reveal 3 brass rank pips and his comm badge. He carefully attached the pips to his red collar, making sure to space them evenly, before placing the comm badge in its regulation position on the left of his chest. A quick check of his uniform confirmed all was prim and proper.

After packing his spare uniforms, boots, civilian clothing and a few choice personal items, Paul headed downstairs. He went into a storage room and retrieved a small grey and black cuboid object, he opened the jacket of his uniform and attached the small object, which was about the size of a standard domino piece, to the inside of the jacket. He patted it lovingly then headed for the front door.

“Computer, set residence into storage mode”

“Acknowledged”

Paul opened the front door and exited the building, his Shuttle that was sat out front, humming as it waited for him. It was an older Type 6 shuttle which Paul had acquired some time ago in a game of chance. He had named it Baird after John Logie Baird, a famous Scottish engineer, innovator and inventor from the 20th Century.

45 minutes later, Paul's shuttle approached the massive hulk of Space Dock.

“This is shuttlecraft Baird, requesting access to main docking lobby for rendez-vous with USS Arizona” Paul requested, having opened a change to Space Dock ops.

The reply came swiftly. “Permission to enter main lobby granted, shuttlecraft Baird. Please follow shuttle track 12 Alpha through the main doors and dock with USS Arizona main shuttle bay, you have been cleared straight through to parking position 4 Port. Welcome back”.

“Thank you very much, have a nice day”. Paul closed the channel and punched in the commands into his helm console to route along track 12 Alpha.

The shuttle gently whisked passed the gargantuan space doors. The interior main docking lobby was a hive of activity and completely full of starships of various types, most notably two Galaxy Class vessels. It was not often you saw two of them in the same place at the same time during peace time.
The shuttles systems had identified the Arizona and displayed her position on a map for Paul to see.
Shuttle track 12A hugged the outer wall of the space dock interior with exit points at major docking port as it made its way around the entire circumference. The Arizona was docked at the far side from the doors currently being used for entrance and egress, behind the famous docking island in the centre of the massive docking lobby. After finally reaching the Arizona's docking port, Paul peeled of the pre-determined flight track and bee-lined for the sovereign class starship's main shuttle bay the sat directly behind the command structure on the dorsal hull.
The shuttle gently glided through the forcefield holding in the atmosphere on the shuttlebay and hovered over parking bay 4 on the port side before gently settling down.


As the shuttle's ramp came down, Paul caught site of an operations officer waiting for him with a PADD.

“Permission to come aboard” Paul requested of the young ensign”

“Permission granted, Sir. I have your quarter assignment and duty roster for you. The Captain is in his ready room and expecting you”

“Grand” Paul said with a smile. It was good to be back on a ship and in uniform.