Archer Was Here

Posted on Sun Sep 4th, 2022 @ 10:53pm by Ensign Archer Logan VI & Lieutenant Commander Aarix Teral & Ensign Sara Richards IX
Edited on on Tue Nov 29th, 2022 @ 3:48pm

2,457 words; about a 12 minute read

Mission: The Song Of Silver Wings
Location: Starship Mooring Delta
Timeline: 2404

It was Delta shift on the Delta mooring. No one would be around, of that Archer was sure. The ship's launch wasn't scheduled for weeks, but word had it the window had been moved up significantly. It was now or never.

With his enviro-suit crisp and tightly wound up just like his nerves, Archer continued his spacewalk to the exterior of the starship where the mooring met the hull. The hyperspanner in hand would allow him to literally leave his mark.

Admittedly it was a stupid tradition, one that Archer was pretty sure the other senior cadets had made up at his expense, but he didn't want to prove them right in their assessment of his cowardly state. No, he would prove them wrong. He was more than Fart-cher Slogan the Posterboy for Planet Shitheel. And future crews of the USS Daedalus would know that too.

"ARCHER LOGAN VI WAS HERE," the message read. It was only 100cm by 1m in area and not visible from all but the closest inspection, but anyone near enough to this particular hull plate would be unable to miss it.

"And you're sure the couplings are to spec?" Aarix asked. He and two other engineers were in a shuttle doing an exterior inspection to make sure everything was in place. If the ship was going to the Delta quadrant and possibly beyond, they needed to be sure everything was in order because turning around was not an option.

"Aye sir, they can go ten years before needing replacement," a crewman responded.

Aarix nodded, taking notes on the PaDD in his hand. "And you're certain we have replicator files for them?"

Sara, an ensign from the starbase tasked to assist in the construction of the ship, was about to respond when the shuttle's sensors beeped. She took a look at the console, "sir, sensors picked up someone on the hull."

"A hull walk wasn't in the schedule," Aarix frowned, looking first at the console then out the window at the ship. Squinting, he could barely make out the enviro-suit against the similarly-colored hull. "Open comms," he said to the engineer at the helm. "This is Shuttle Orion hailing the individual on the hull of the ship. Identify yourself and your intentions."

"Shale..." The word echoed over the comm channel. Evidently the speaker did not realize it was already open. "Um. Yeah, hi. This is..."

Archer took a deep breath. What would Taline do? No, that was the wrong question. What was the right thing to do? Confess? Well, there was outright confessing and then there was softening the blow, especially to an unknown observer.

"This is Ensign Archer Logan, Sixth of My Name, Assistant Chief Engineer of the USS Daedalus conducting...exterior...reconnoitering of the, eh, ship's hull. What, uh, what are you doing, Orion?"

This is my assistant chief??? Aarix knew who was in his department, at least by name, but he had yet to meet his assistant chief until now. The nervous pauses combined with what he knew was a lie made him think Archer was doing something suspicious. Knowing this, Aarix wanted to make the man sweat a little. "We are performing a scheduled inspection of the hull. Surely if you're out here, Ensign, you have found something we should investigate in more detail."

"Uhh... negative, Orion. Just finished up the inspection." Archer stowed the hyperspanner in his thigh strap and shifted his weight away from the shuttle. "The hull is solid, all safe and sound. No shale here. I'll, uh, just head back to the airlock..."

"The ship's chief expects nothing less than perfect for the Daedalus' first flight, Ensign." It felt weird referring to himself in the third person, but he didn't want to give himself away just yet.

"Sir, you're..." Sara started, only to stop talking when Aarix held up a hand to stop her.

Aarix gave Sara a wink, a nonverbal sign to follow his lead. "The chief wants us to be very thorough, and this is good practice for Ensign K'Taya to land a shuttle on a ship. Stay where you are, we will be there shortly. Orion out." Reaching for the console, Aarix cut the comms before turning to said ensign, a Vulcan sitting in the back of the shuttle. "Take us in, Ensign. Just don't damage my ship."

"I would never intentionally do such a thing, Lieutenant Commander," came the usual flatlined response. K'Taya rose from her seat and approached the front, giving a silent nod to Sara before approaching the helm. She knew her piloting scores weren't great but he didn't have to single her out over it.

Internally, Aarix cringed at the reminder of his rank. The extra half pip was still very new and foreign to his collar. He spent four years as a Lieutenant, and it was like his comfort zone. Yeah, he didn't have as much leeway as he did now, but he was ok with it, as long as he could still do what he did best. He was almost disappointed to get his promotion, since it was one step closer to desk work.

Archer gulped hard as the channel closed before he could further protest. He looked left, then right, and then dialed down his maglocks so he could run to the next hull section as fast as he could. It was one thing for future generations to see his autograph, but getting caught red-handed was quite another.

Damned maglocks did not fully disengage, though, which led to him rolling his right ankle and nearly tearing the ACL muscle. He gave the release a firm whack, which did finally let him go, yet it fully disengaged and sent him adrift.

"OH FUSION!"

Carefully yet clumsily unwinding the tether about his waist, Archer cast it toward the hull and hoped that magnetic lock didn't fail. It didn't, nor did the recoil cam. Archer slammed hard enough against the hull plate to knock the wind out of him clear through his EV suit.

Sara was starting to give up her seat when she saw movement out the window, just in time to watch this Ensign Logan drift away from the ship, then tether and procees to eat it on the hull. She gave a brief chuckle, "someone forgot about the recoil cam."

Aarix turned back when Sara spoke, seeing her staring out the window. "What's going on?"

"I think the Ensign just tried to make a run for it, but tripped and almost floated off instead," Sara reported as she finished clearing the seat for K'Taya. She felt secondhand embarrassment for the kid... who the hell made him assistant chief? Aarix sure had his hands full if this was going to be the norm.

Aarix looked out the window as well, seeing the man laying on the hull of the ship, and sighed. He really hoped this was a first time incident. In any case, if he was up to something then it ultimately reflected back onto his leadership skills.

K'Taya, uncaring about some Ensign's clumsiness, took the helm and laid in a path to the ship's hull. She didn't understand why Starfleet would put ensigns into leadership roles like department heads or assistant chiefs. None of the ensigns she graduated with were even remotely mature enough for such a position. "Course laid in. We will land in one minute."

"Excellent," Aarix responded. Turning to Sara, he said, "let's prepare for a hull walk then."

Not wanting to disappoint, Sara straightened. "Aye Sir!"

Archer groaned as he fumbled at the maglock controls in hopes of getting back to his feet without floating away or eating shit again. Once he stood up, he clearly favored his right foot.

A minute later, the shuttle hovered over the hull of the ship before easing onto the hull. Inside, the shuttle trembled as it contacted the hull, and even K'Taya couldn't help a slight wince at the rough landing. This was different than connecting to a dock or landing in a shuttlebay. "Magnetic clamps engaged, sir," she reported.

Aarix and Sara, clad in their own enviro-suits, both put hands to the wall of the shuttle when it landed. "A challenge for you, Ensign: disengage the magnetic clamps once Ensign Richards and I leave and do your best to stay on the hull. Don't worry, a shuttle won't dent the plating, but you will hear if you're being too aggressive." Putting on his helmet, he turned to see Sara doing the same. "Ready?"

"Aye, sir!" Sara answered, her own voice slightly muffled by the suit's comms. She didn't admit it, but she was a little nervous about the spacewalk. When she did this at the Academy, she had to clean the training suit afterward.

There they were. Archer dry swallowed the lump in his throat. He had not gotten too far from his autograph on the hull, but he hoped it would be far enough.

"I need your credentials before I can permit access to the ship systems," Archer said into his communicator. "Rules are rules."

The Ensign had a point. It made sense on missions, but the ship was docked at a starbase well inside Federation space. The odds of intruders stealing a shuttle just to look at some Ensign's handiwork on a section of hull plating were quite low. Aarix tapped the communicator on his wrist before moving to raise a containment field between them and K'Taya. "Lieutenant Commander Aarix Teral, Chief Engineer of the USS Daedalus. Joining me is Ensign Sara Richards assigned to me from starbase by Commander Hatfield." It was obvious in his voice that he was starting to get impatient, and his eyes flicked toward the helm to see the containment field go up. "Do I have permission to board my own ship, Ensign?"

"Th-duh-da-uh-th-fr-fa-ta-ta-umm-uh-so... yes?" Archer bit his lip to stop the stammering.

If she weren't in her enviro-suit, Sara would have pinched herself to keep from laughing at the poor Ensign's situation. Instead, she opted to firmly press her lips together so her laugh wouldn't go through the suit's comms. Subtly, she sent a message to Archer's suit that read: you better fess up to whatever you're doing, he's a busy man today and you put him behind schedule.

Once Aarix made sure K'Taya wouldn't get sucked into space, he told the computer to decompress their side of the shuttle before opening the hatch. It was always a sight to see the ship while standing on the hull. It's how he imagined walking on Earth's Moon: a grey and lifeless expanse. The curve of the hull made it seem like one was on a desolate metal planet that would trick them into walking in circles. Once the catch fully opened, Aarix led the way off the shuttle, Sara close behind, and did the awkward half-body turn to locate Archer.

"ENSIGN ARCHER LOGAN THE SIXTH REPORTING FOR DUTY!"

The repeated identification said at a tone and pitch altogether too high made Archer out to be pure extra, but he couldn't help it. No sooner had the words come out than he realized the Chief Engineer was about to walk on the VI of his name. Would they notice?

Aarix winced at the loud and sudden voice in his suit. If the technology weren't as efficient as it was, surely there would have been feedback. "At ease, Ensign," he said. "Report, what was the problem?"

"No problem, sir, no problem at all!" Archer's body stiffened as he tried to stand at full attention despite the confines of the EV suit. "Happy to report full structural integrity and green across the board! Permission to ride your shuttle back to dry dock!"

Sara, who was standing just behind Aarix, happened to look down entirely by chance as she willed herself to not get space sick, and noticed that there was a mark on the hull. Right under Aarix's foot. She followed the marking to see what clearly looked like someone had taken a hyperspanner to the hull, the name happening to match the ensign they currently detoured for. Her mouth opened into an 'o' shape as she gaped at this man's stupidity, then looked up at him with her jaw still slack. She knew of the Academy prank to try and engrave the hull of a ship, but she had never heard of anyone who had done it and got away with it. What a madman! Sara's gape turned into a grin as she silently gave him two thumbs up, knowing Aarix wouldn't see it.

Aarix noticed the hyperspanner attached to the man's thigh. "Well, whatever you fixed, make sure to log it. If you're going to be my assistant chief, know that I expect detail, especially from you." Reaching to his wrist, he summoned the shuttle back to their location. "We still have an hour of inspection left, so if you really want a ride you have to sit through the inspection. We don't have time to detour back to dry dock just to drop you off."

After Sara's thumbs up, Archer didn't hear a word Aarix said. He stared at the other ensign wide-eyed and frantic. His jaw quivered up and down, but no words came out, just gargled sounds from his sudden and intense heavy breathing.

"Ugh..." The groaning began to form words. "... don't... so good..."

Then, with no further warning, he vomited inside his EV helmet. The faceplate was totally obscured by what appeared to be some sort of stew.

"I think I need to go now," Archer said.

Both Sara and Aarix were surprised to see Archer's faceplate change from a view of his face to the now former contents of his stomach. Aarix frowned, partly from the disgusting thing he just witnessed but also in plain disappointment. "Teral to Orion," he said, forcing himself to look away from the mess. "Lock on to Ensign Logan's signature and send him to sickbay please."

"Better lock onto me as well, K'Taya," Sara added, feeling her stomach churn at seeing Archer vomit. It was bad enough that she was prone to space sickness, but seeing someone else hurl was almost enough to send her over that edge. But she couldn't stop staring at the stew-y mess that occupied Archer's faceplate.

Aarix turned to see Sara looking close to losing it as well and sighed. "Ensign K'Taya, send Ensign Richards to sickbay as well. You and I will finish the inspection."

"Aye, sir," came the reply.

The two ensigns vanished in a blur of bluish light.

 

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