Vincent was having a coffee in BLACK. He had been there all morning helping with the clean up. He and Bobbi-Lee had actually enjoyed the hard work. Bobbi-Lee and Mary-Lou were actually joined by some children in the city as they swept the front of their shops.
Vincent smiled at the site because of the number of Jarada children that were out there now. The children did not seem to notice that the insect like peope were helping. Children have the very best view on all this stuff.
Amy walked in with a pack over her shoulder making deliveries. She walked up and got a coffee. She turned around, "Vincent, I mean, Commodore Viceroy, Commander Teero has been looking for you all morning. There is some sort of orbital beacon on the operations screen at the Federation Complex. Something is orbiting the colony in low orbit."
Vincent stood up, "Bobbi, I gotta go. There is a problem."
The pair kissed and Vincent headed for the complex.
"Commander Teero, what is it?", Vincent asked.
"It appears to be a cargo carrier, like one from a large ship.", Acrylos pointed to the board.
"One of ours?", Vincent asked.
"No. Federation equipment issues a certain comm signal. This appears to be Talosian.", Acrylos explained.
"How do we get it down?", Vincent asked.
"We don't have a ship capable of the speeds necessary to grab a box that large.", Acrylos said.
Vincent looked at Acrylos, "What about the Queen Elizabeth II?"
"The Jarada just started building her, sir. She is not ready for that.", Acrylos responded.
"What about a shuttle?", Vincent asked.
"Too slow.", Acrylos responded.
"What about crashing a shuttle into it and having them both fall from the sky?", Vincent responded.
"And somehow catching them.", Acrylos picked up on Vincent's logic.
"Who would fly such a dangerous shuttle mission? If you get it wrong, you will assuredly be killed.", Acrylos looked at Vincent.
"Laaker could do it.", Vincent responded.
"Sir, I am not sure I want my brother to do it.", Acrylos responded.
"He is the damage control specialist.", Vincent responded with a more stern tone.
"I will contact him immediately, sir.", Acrylos knew that Vincent was now more serious.
Laaker met the two gentlemen outside the outpost.
"Just so I understand, I am going to crash a shuttle into a high speed low orbit container. The two object, me included will fall to the desert outside the city.", Laaker smiled.
Acrylos patted him on the shoulder, "Don't worry, brother. I will not let you fall to your demise."
The Bajorans shared a moment. Laaker boarded the shuttle.
Fire Chief Phillip Lexington, a hero of the occupation for not letting the cities burn came walking up to the command, "We are ready, Gentlemen."
Vincent turned around and looked at the mostly Caitian fire crew, "We are good to go.", he hollered.
The Shuttle banked hard and Laaker gave her a good workout going by the group and slowly rolling in a barrel roll. Acrylos was not impressed. Laaker however wanted to have a good feel before ramming the box in the sky.
Laaker called down on the COMM, "Tell Hyla, she has my love."
The words only made the fears in Acrylos heart feel worse. What if he could not catch his falling brother. Watching the on the monitor, everyone held their breath.
CRASH!!!!!!
The shuttle rammed into the box, both fell hard from the sky. Acrylos engaged the localized tractor beam. Everyone held their breath. It caught both falling items but they still hit the ground hard. The fire crews rushed over and began to douse both the crate and the shuttle.
Laaker came out first. He was shaken up but fine. He gave a thumbs up to Acrylos and then put his hands on his knees and puked violently on the desert sand. Acrylos came rushing over.
"Don't worry, dear brother, it is just broken ribs.", Laaker tried to laugh but collapsed to his knees.
The support staff were putting him on a stretcher for the trip to McCoy. Acrylos held his hand, "Sorry for not doing better."
"You did fine, my brother. I could be dead.", Laaker tried to laugh. It hurt bad.
Commodore Viceroy walked up to the crate. It finally was broken open.
About 150 orange suited primitive head covered EVP suits walked out. One of them slowly removed his helmet.
Commodore Viceroy looked at the Talosian, "Hell of an escape pod."
The Talosian stuck out his hand, "I am Crusoe Armstrong. When the Vulcans came, we created the launch from Tokyo. Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do."
"Welcome home, Mr. Armstrong. Welcome home.", Commodore Viceroy clasped his hand and shook it with great joy.
Posted by:
Commodore Vincent Viceroy
Governor
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Fleet
Commander Acrylos Teero
Chief Engineer
Phoenix Colony
Phoenix Fleet
