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     Lt. JG Maiko D'rall |
((Set just after Smith's 'skydiving w/o a parachute' log on April 1st - clearing out a backlog of ideas.)) "Xanadu can certainly be rated as one of the creepiest places I've ever been. After all, there's this... emptiness I feel when I'm in there. Sure, it's a little cramped compared to open space and hard to fly in sometimes, but it still feels so desolate." - Excerpt from "For This I Get To Wear A Phaser?", Autobiography by Maiko D'rall --- "I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing this." The sudden voice behind Maiko made her jump slightly, startling her from her staring out the window. She had gotten into the habit of sitting in this chair weeks ago, looking out the window at what she jokingly referred to as 'the scenery of the week'. With the emergency shelter no longer fully needed, the space was freed for her to resume her vigil. She turned, not entirely without eagerness; truth be told, Xanadu spooked her a little. Whether it was because of Coronado's first encounters with it, or the fact that it had somehow *moved* all this distance... well, it was something she tried not to think about. "Ensign?" The shifting figure before her - that of a Terran male in his late 20s with a slightly receeding hairline standing 5 foot nothing - was Ensign Edward 'Call me Ed' Donegal. "Ma'am, just letting you know Ensign G'laro's on duty. And to let you know we're docked to the Onyx." A beat. "Oh, and we have a Romulan on board now," he added, a grin on his face. Maiko blanked out for a moment before she picked up on his comment. "Probably nothing to be worried about. I recall reading something about there having been a Romulan officer onboard Coronado before. She's the adopted daughter of Admiral Wallace or something." She shrugged, the tension of the last few days and the losses incurred making her weary with fatigue - which reminded her to take a moment to check up on Commander Smith. "Probably just on some errand or taking a moment to 'see the old homestead' or some mission from the Admiral. You know the types, the people who are always running here and there and back again." Another pause, this one a little more uncomfortable before Maiko decided to bring up another topic. "Thanks for handling the Beta Shift for now Ed. I wasn't sure who I was going to be able to schedule with Ensign Kerman out on medical and Sarah being gone now... I feel a little bad since when Ensign Kerman comes back, it'll knock you back to Beta Relief..." "Don't Lieutenant," he said, smiling now. "Frankly I'd rather be relief. In all honesty, I hate flying shuttles, and when you're on relief, you rarely have to unless it's an emergency." He laughed. "Sounds crazy, I know, but I can't help but think of those things as mobile coffins." Maiko cracked a smile at the morbid joke. "Funny you should say that. I don't suppose you realize that so far you've posted the highest score on the Atmospheric Interface Challenge, even with the difficulty set to 'Advanced'? Not many of the people onboard could pilot a ship through interface without its thrusters or shields, at least not with destroying the shuttle." Ed Donegal shrugged. "Like I said, flying coffin. What you see as good piloting, I see as getting it on the ground so I can get out of it that much faster." For the first time in days Maiko truly laughed. When she finally recovered - her trademark grin back in place after being away for so long, and Ed chuckling - she got up from the chair. "Ed, the next time I wallow in sadness, make a point of seeking me out." "Deal, but only if the next time you need a shuttle pilot, you find someone else." They both chuckled over that even as Maiko finally began to look at the future again and not the past events of the last few days. |