Cascade – Arrivals and Departures
by Arrival John Quinn
Post Details
The S.S Perth slowly started to make its final approach towards Deep Space Five. The civilian transport ship had been in a holding position for what had felt like days, as it waited for an open docking port to become available.
A soft gentle chime played over the internal comm system of the S.S Perth.
"Attention all passengers, this is the Captain speaking: docking with Deep Space Five commencing. Please remain on board until connection is secured. Crewmen will assist with the transfer of cargo and belongings. We hope you've enjoyed your flight on board the S.S Perth today, and on behalf of all the crew, wish your stay on board Deep Space Five a friendly and positive experience."
Even in the 24th century the voice of the in-flight pilot over the comm was hard to fully understand, outside of the intense feeling of confidence and smugness. The communication was enough to trigger a burst of activity on the transporter. Seasoned travellers remained in their seats, while eager first time travellers started to gather their belongings, standing in the aisles, blocking access for Crewmen and others. Without fail, on all the trips John Quinn had been on over his life time, the same song and dance would break out whenever a transport ship was getting ready to dock. Everyone wanted to be the first person on board, even though it made no difference. You might be the first out, but you’d just be the first stuck in line for processing.
Processing was the worst part, the part they never told you about when you travelled from one place to another. Bio checks, ID checks, inventory checks, flight list checks, all part of the galactic mayhem to slow down the process of moving from A to B.
“Will we see him soon?” Jamie Quinn asked her Dad.
John paused in his reply, he didn’t like lying to his Daughter, but sometimes you just had to twist the truth a little. Jamie had acted pretty well during the 5 hour flight from their previous posting, only squirming enough to annoy the person sitting in front and behind them a handful of times.
“Soon.” John replied without looking at Jamie.
She shuffled in her seat again, her agitation growing at not being allowed to get up and move around the shuttle. She watched as more and more people started to gather their items, getting in each other’s way and generally annoying everyone around them.
There was a soft gentle nudge, followed by a hollow sounding lock as the docking clamps connected and secured the transport. They had docked with Deep Space Five.
“Welcome to Deep Space Five…”
John Quinn blanked the welcome out; it was generally the same song and dance regardless of where you went. A brief overview of the Station Time, Internal Temperature, Internal Gravity Settings, who liaison officers would be, where ‘VIPs’ were to go and everyone else had to go, and so on. For the Quinns they had to go to one of the longest lines that would form – the good old ‘immigration’ queue, as John called it, processed to become a member of the station’s civilian number. He always found it odd that civilian visitors were processed rather quickly, yet people who were going to live on the station had to jump through a million hoops.
Safety is safety, he thought to himself.
It took at least 30 minutes for them to leave the transporter and find their belongings, a small group of cases that kept personal items. Most clothes would be replicated when or bought when they were settled in, for the most part the cases held keepsakes and memories. For Jamie the cases contained the only real memories she had of her Mother, and what for her was the most important case of the all in recent years... their pet dog a miniature schnauzer, Chromie.
It seemed to take another 30 minutes before they even reached a liaison officer. In truth the officer was a crewman, probably from the Operations department, checking names on his PADD separating them into the various queues and lines for further processing.
“Wait.” A yellow shirt crewman said, holding up his hand to stop James in his tracks. “Is that a… dog?” He pointed to the container in John’s hand. A small wet nose was poking out of the gap in the front.
“Aye.” John replied.
“Nothing on here about a dog. Did you register it before travel?”
John didn't reply, but turned and looked at his daughter. She returned the glare without blinking, her big bright white eyes throwing him the 'puppy dog' look. He wasn't going to fall for it. Much. She was a teenager now, and wasn't nearly as adorable as she when she was younger. She was taller for a start, only a foot shorter than her father, which was always a reminder to John that his little girl was growing up.
"You had one job, to do." John said sternly. Before they left he had asked Jamie to make sure they had registered Chromie's travel from their last posting to the current posting, otherwise they'd have to...
"Sorry," The Crewman paused as he looked at the PADD. "Mr. Quinn, but that creature -"
"It's a dog, man! A dog!!" John replied, his frustration becoming clear. Two security Crewman stepped forward from their observation position to the side of the checkpoint.
"- that creature, sir, is an unregistered guest upon this Station. Please place the crate on to the yellow zone on your right. The creature will be placed into quarantine for 6 weeks, upon completion of quarantine..." The Crewman continued with his by the book response to a situation, but John's attention was elsewhere. Jamie was pulling on his sleeve.
"Dad, what are they going to do with Chromie?"
"Observe him for 6 weeks. Make sure he's not carrying any Ferengi Worms... One job." He held up one finger. "Just one job."
Jamie frowned and looked away. Two other crewman had appeared to take the crate with Chromie away, his little nose poking out of one of the holes.
The rest of the processing was done in silence between Father and Daughter. James briefly spoke when he had to to the processing crewman. Jamie spent most of her time making a determined effort not to look at her Dad, and spent most of her time looking in the direction of where Chromie had been taken. The 10 minutes it took to finish processing seemed to last an hour, however it finished without any further incident.
"Welcome aboard Deep Space Five, Mr Quinn and Family." The crewman handed over a welcome PADD, and waved for the next in line to come forward to start their processing.
The Quinn family had arrived on Deep Space Five.
by Arrival John Quinn
Post Details
| Title | Arrivals and Departures | |
| Mission | Cascade | |
| Author(s) | Arrival John Quinn | |
| Posted | Tue Mar 19, 2013 @ 1:38pm | |
| Location | Docking Port | |
| Timeline | Current |
A soft gentle chime played over the internal comm system of the S.S Perth.
"Attention all passengers, this is the Captain speaking: docking with Deep Space Five commencing. Please remain on board until connection is secured. Crewmen will assist with the transfer of cargo and belongings. We hope you've enjoyed your flight on board the S.S Perth today, and on behalf of all the crew, wish your stay on board Deep Space Five a friendly and positive experience."
Even in the 24th century the voice of the in-flight pilot over the comm was hard to fully understand, outside of the intense feeling of confidence and smugness. The communication was enough to trigger a burst of activity on the transporter. Seasoned travellers remained in their seats, while eager first time travellers started to gather their belongings, standing in the aisles, blocking access for Crewmen and others. Without fail, on all the trips John Quinn had been on over his life time, the same song and dance would break out whenever a transport ship was getting ready to dock. Everyone wanted to be the first person on board, even though it made no difference. You might be the first out, but you’d just be the first stuck in line for processing.
Processing was the worst part, the part they never told you about when you travelled from one place to another. Bio checks, ID checks, inventory checks, flight list checks, all part of the galactic mayhem to slow down the process of moving from A to B.
“Will we see him soon?” Jamie Quinn asked her Dad.
John paused in his reply, he didn’t like lying to his Daughter, but sometimes you just had to twist the truth a little. Jamie had acted pretty well during the 5 hour flight from their previous posting, only squirming enough to annoy the person sitting in front and behind them a handful of times.
“Soon.” John replied without looking at Jamie.
She shuffled in her seat again, her agitation growing at not being allowed to get up and move around the shuttle. She watched as more and more people started to gather their items, getting in each other’s way and generally annoying everyone around them.
There was a soft gentle nudge, followed by a hollow sounding lock as the docking clamps connected and secured the transport. They had docked with Deep Space Five.
“Welcome to Deep Space Five…”
John Quinn blanked the welcome out; it was generally the same song and dance regardless of where you went. A brief overview of the Station Time, Internal Temperature, Internal Gravity Settings, who liaison officers would be, where ‘VIPs’ were to go and everyone else had to go, and so on. For the Quinns they had to go to one of the longest lines that would form – the good old ‘immigration’ queue, as John called it, processed to become a member of the station’s civilian number. He always found it odd that civilian visitors were processed rather quickly, yet people who were going to live on the station had to jump through a million hoops.
Safety is safety, he thought to himself.
It took at least 30 minutes for them to leave the transporter and find their belongings, a small group of cases that kept personal items. Most clothes would be replicated when or bought when they were settled in, for the most part the cases held keepsakes and memories. For Jamie the cases contained the only real memories she had of her Mother, and what for her was the most important case of the all in recent years... their pet dog a miniature schnauzer, Chromie.
It seemed to take another 30 minutes before they even reached a liaison officer. In truth the officer was a crewman, probably from the Operations department, checking names on his PADD separating them into the various queues and lines for further processing.
“Wait.” A yellow shirt crewman said, holding up his hand to stop James in his tracks. “Is that a… dog?” He pointed to the container in John’s hand. A small wet nose was poking out of the gap in the front.
“Aye.” John replied.
“Nothing on here about a dog. Did you register it before travel?”
John didn't reply, but turned and looked at his daughter. She returned the glare without blinking, her big bright white eyes throwing him the 'puppy dog' look. He wasn't going to fall for it. Much. She was a teenager now, and wasn't nearly as adorable as she when she was younger. She was taller for a start, only a foot shorter than her father, which was always a reminder to John that his little girl was growing up.
"You had one job, to do." John said sternly. Before they left he had asked Jamie to make sure they had registered Chromie's travel from their last posting to the current posting, otherwise they'd have to...
"Sorry," The Crewman paused as he looked at the PADD. "Mr. Quinn, but that creature -"
"It's a dog, man! A dog!!" John replied, his frustration becoming clear. Two security Crewman stepped forward from their observation position to the side of the checkpoint.
"- that creature, sir, is an unregistered guest upon this Station. Please place the crate on to the yellow zone on your right. The creature will be placed into quarantine for 6 weeks, upon completion of quarantine..." The Crewman continued with his by the book response to a situation, but John's attention was elsewhere. Jamie was pulling on his sleeve.
"Dad, what are they going to do with Chromie?"
"Observe him for 6 weeks. Make sure he's not carrying any Ferengi Worms... One job." He held up one finger. "Just one job."
Jamie frowned and looked away. Two other crewman had appeared to take the crate with Chromie away, his little nose poking out of one of the holes.
The rest of the processing was done in silence between Father and Daughter. James briefly spoke when he had to to the processing crewman. Jamie spent most of her time making a determined effort not to look at her Dad, and spent most of her time looking in the direction of where Chromie had been taken. The 10 minutes it took to finish processing seemed to last an hour, however it finished without any further incident.
"Welcome aboard Deep Space Five, Mr Quinn and Family." The crewman handed over a welcome PADD, and waved for the next in line to come forward to start their processing.
The Quinn family had arrived on Deep Space Five.