Chapter 5 – Casting Off
A slight haze of burnt electronic smelling smoke hung in the air inside of the Test Shuttlepod. After the loud explosions that rocked the shuttlepod, the only sounds that could be heard were the arcing of the sparks on the shuttle's control panel and the Akatsuki's heavy breathing. Tension inside the shuttlepod grew as computer screens and lights flickered off and then back on again.
Itachi turned to his right and proceeded to study a computer screen that hung on the shuttle's wall next to his seat. Out of nowhere sparks arced across the computer screen and its buttons, which caused Itachi to move his hand away from the buttons. With eyes closed, he shook his head and his arm dropped back to his side.
"So what happened?" he heard Kakuzu ask.
Itachi opened his eyes and turned his seat so that he was facing everyone, "If I read that computer screen right, it seems that both oxygen tanks have been breached and heavily damaged."
As soon as Itachi finished informing his fellow members, another explosion rocked the shuttle and the control panel went up in flames. Kisame quickly rose to his feet and made his way to the front of the shuttle. With handseals formed, Kisame thrust his hand towards the flaming control panel and sent out a modified smaller version of his Water Shark Bullet Technique. With the fire extinguished, the control panel gave out a few feeble sparks and then completely stopped working. As soon as the shuttle's control panel went dead the light's flickered again before totally shutting down.
"Great, now that's just great! Not only do we not have oxygen tanks, we now don't have lights! What's going to happen next? Are we going to lose the windows and be sucked into space, un?" said Deidara.
"Are you tempting the great Lord Jashin Deidara-chan?" asked Hidan with sarcasm in his voice.
"No! I don't follow your Jashinism religion and stop using that 'chan' honorific, un!" Deidara snapped back at Hidan.
Tobi heard the escalating conversation between the two members and spoke up, "Stop it both of you! Fighting amongst each other is not going to get us anywhere at this moment. Now let's think of a way to get out of this situation."
Upon hearing their group leader's demand, Hidan and Deidara stopped their conversation and instead focused on helping their fellow members on trying to figure a way out of their current situation. Kisame moved back into his seat next to Sasori. The Akatsuki then huddled together and got to the task of figuring out what they needed to do.
Live video feed footage of what was happening inside the Test Shuttlepod flickered on a monitor screen that was being carefully watched by the middle-aged man and a Examiner. The footage of the shuttle shook and then plunged into darkness. A red light then flashed on the control panel in the room, alerting the middle-aged man of an incoming sub-space message.
"Shuttlepod NC-12 here reporting that all remote explosions on the Test Shuttlepod have been set off successfully."
The dark haired middle-aged man flipped a switch and sent a message back, " Control here. Your message has been received. Stay put and keep your sensors locked onto the Test Shuttlepod."
He flipped the switch off and went to back to watching his monitor screen. The screen no longer displayed a scene plunged in darkness. Instead it currently showed the group busy in each of their tasks trying to get their Shuttlepod in a operational condition.
"Well it seems they got the lights back on. What do you think of them?" he asked the Examiner with slight amusement in his voice.
"It's too early for me to say, really," she answered as she kept her eyes glued to the monitor screen. "But if you want my opinion right now, I say they have potential to be exceptional Starfleet Officers in the future."
After he was done getting the Test shuttlepod's completely dripping wet control panel dry, Tobi tossed his now wet Akatsuki cloak onto his seat and then turned to look at Kakuzu, "Now that the panel is dry, try to send some of your lighting element chakra through. Should give us enough power to get the engines back on and help us in making a large change in velocity so we can turn this machine around."
Kakuzu made his way towards the front of the shuttlepod and Tobi moved so that he was not in the way. With five hearts in him that gave him the ability to control each one of the five elemental chakra natures, this was a easy task for Kakuzu to do. He moved under the control panel and grabbed hold of two wires that the group had exposed earlier. Once he had gathered and molded his lighting chakra, he sent it through into the wires which then went into the control panel.
Kakuzu pushed himself out from underneath the control panel and got back up onto his feet. The lights and screens on the control panel flickered for a moment before half of the panel gave out again. While half of the control panel lit back up the group of shinobi heard the hum of the engines which indicated that they were back on and running. Allowing Itachi and Tobi to get back to their seats, Kakuzu moved to the back half of the shuttlepod and sat down in his seat.
Itachi was the first one to get back to his seat. Once seated he quickly started setting up any working navigational systems that he could find. He quickly glanced over next to him and saw Tobi in his seat, hands on the barely working steering instrument. He then turned his attention back to the tasks that he had to do.
Twenty minutes later the Akatsuki had successfully turned the shuttlepod around and kept its power and engines running for a bit before they gave out once again. However with the momentum that the shuttlepod did gain, it was enough to get the shuttlepod going in the direction that the Akatsuki wanted.
A red light flashed upon the Test shuttlepod's control panel. Noticing the flashing light, Itachi flipped a switch that was near it.
"Great job everyone in completing the third part of the exams. We have two shuttlepods that will be towing you back. See you back on Earth." informed the female voice of the Examiner.
Shuttlepods NC-06 and NC-08 moved into position after receiving orders from Control. Shuttlepod NC-06 moved to the left side of the Test shuttlepod and Shuttlepod NC-08 moved to the right side. The two shuttlepods then released their magnetic grapplers. The grapplers made contact with the Test shuttlepod and then locked into place. All ready to go the shuttlepods proceeded to tow the Test shuttlepod back to Earth.
Earth – Mill Valley
November 18, 2158
8:00 pm
Rain fell heavily as two gray cloaked people briskly walked down a street. They had just graduated from Earth Starfleet Academy earlier that day and were now going to meet up with some fellow graduated classmates. They soon reached the corner of the street and came to a door belonging to a reddish-brown brick building with windows in the front. Above the door hung a sign that read 'The 602 Club' in blue neon lights. A little bell chimed as the taller cloaked person opened the door and allowed the other cloaked person to step into the building first.
When they were finally in the building they both reached up and pulled their hoods down, revealing a purple-violet haired female and a orange spiky haired male. Both shrugged off their sopping wet gray cloaks, fully revealing new blue Starfleet uniform jumpsuits they wore underneath. Noticing their fellow classmates waving them over, the male and female hung their cloaks up on a rack that was on the wall next to the door and made their way over.
"So how does it feel, un?" asked a blond ponytail haired male in a blue Starfleet uniform jumpsuit.
"What are you going on about Deidara?" asked the orange haired male as he sat down at the table.
"Pain, I think he means how does it feel to finally be graduated and going on to our assignments." said Konan as she too sat down at the table.
"Exactly, un!" exclaimed Deidara with a smack of his lips as he finished the drink currently held in his right hand.
"Well I'm excited!" Konan said.
"I guess me as well." said Pain as he waved over a waitress.
A waitress by the name of Ruby noticed and made her way pass crowded tables. Finally arriving at the Akatsuki's table, "How may I be of service?" she asked, hand held above a small pad of paper ready to take orders.
"I'll have some green tea." said Konan.
"And I'll have some wine." said Pain.
Ruby nodded and wrote the two orders onto her pad of paper. The rest of the members of Akatsuki agreed to order wine as well. Once the ordering was done, Ruby told the group that their drinks would be coming and then walked off towards the direction of the bar counter area.
As they waited for their drinks, Tobi started a group discussion about the war that was currently happening. By the time the drinks finally arrived the group of shinobi had just finished talking about the Vulcans, Andorians, and Tellarites withdrawing from the war efforts.
"What are your assigned starships?" Tobi casually asked the other shinobi.
"I've been assigned to the Starship Endeavour." Konan answered.
"Starship Endeavour as well." added both Itachi and Pain at the same time.
"I was assigned to Enterprise." said Tobi, "How about the rest of you?" he asked the rest of the Akatsuki members.
Sasori opened his mouth to answer next but was cut off by the loud sounds of crashing and flesh hitting flesh.
Wanting to avoid any unnecessary trouble, Tobi stood up and started to pull on his own hooded cloak, "Well its been a wonderful night. Time to go guys." he said.
Everyone except Hidan and Sasori listened. While the others left the table and headed for their cloaks that were hanging on the wall next to the club's entrance, Tobi went after Hidan and Sasori.
"We don't need another court trial. Let's go! Leave them to their bar fight." ordered Tobi.
Hidan and Sasori turned away, grabbed their cloaks and then followed Tobi and the other members out the doors and into the dark rainy streets of Mill Valley.
Orbital Drydock Facility 314, Station 15 B
Starship Enterprise NX-01
November 20, 2158
Captain Jonathan Archer sat in his ready room reading a newly updated crew roster when he was interrupted by the ships comm system.
"Captain, the new Chief Engineer has just beamed up and arrived on-board." informed a female voice.
Archer activated a switch and replied back to his Vulcan Science Officer, "I'm on my way."
He then deactivated the switch, turned off his computer monitor and rose to his feet. Quickly he exited his ready room and stepped onto the main bridge of the starship. Archer gave a small nod to his fellow crew members and friends as he walked across the bridge and then walked onto the turbolift that connected the main bridge to the rest of the ship's decks.
The Enterprise had stopped at the Orbital Drydock for repairs and to pick up the new crew member. Archer had taken this down time to read up on all the info that Starfleet sent him regarding their new Chief Engineer. Now he was heading down to where the transporter was to meet and welcome the new crew member.
Once the turbolift had stopped Archer stepped off and made his way down the corridor that was to his left. He kept walking down the corridor until he reached the area of the ship that held the transporter. As he entered the area he glanced and nodded at his Science Officer T'Pol, who stood in front of the transporter controls that was located in front of the large transporter.
Archer focused on their new Chief Engineer next. What caught his attention the most was the mask. He found it rather odd for the young man to be wearing an orange mask that cover the whole face and had only one eye hole.
He walked up to the new crew member and held out a hand, "Welcome aboard the Enterprise! I'm Captain Jonathan Archer and over there by the controls is T'Pol my Science Officer."
The young man with the mask gave a small nod to T'Pol and then took the Captain's offered hand and shook it, "Nice to meet you. I'm Tobi."
"Well Tobi how about having T'Pol here show you a little bit around the ship and to your quarters before you start your shift?" suggested Archer.
"That would be nice." Tobi answered as he stepped off the transporter pad and followed T'Pol down the corridor.
After taking the turbolift back up to the bridge. Archer walked into the middle of the bridge and stood in front of the Captain's chair.
"Time to cast off. Ensign Sato contact the Orbital Drydock and tell them to release the docking clamps." he ordered an dark-haired Asian women named Hoshi Sato.
The young Communications Officer did as she was told and pressed a few buttons and switches on the panel in front of her to open up a comm link with the Orbital Drydock. A minute later the Enterprise swayed a bit as the docking clamps released their hold on the Starship.
"The Orbital Drydock relays that it's now safe to proceed and they also wish the Enterprise good luck." Ensign Sato informed Captain Archer.
Archer sat down in his Captain's chair, "Ensign Leydon, set course for our mission." he ordered the young female Helmsman that sat at a console a few feet in front of him. He then opened a comm link to the engine room, "Take us out of here at full impulse power."
Ensign Leydon imputed the coordinates and the Enterprise sped off towards its destination.
Orbital Drydock Facility 318, Station 12 A
Starship Endeavour NX-06
After going over a long extensive meeting and tour focusing on the ship and its operations with the ships new crew members, the Endeavour was ready to head off to her next mission. After contacting the Orbital Drydock, the docking clamps were removed and Captain Stephen Reynard exited his ready-room and stepped onto the bridge.
"Ensign Sasori, set the coordinates for our destination." ordered Captain Reynard as he sat down in the Captain's chair.
Sasori entered the coordinates into the console that was in front of him and then turned around in his seat to face the Captain, "Coordinates are set." he said.
"Good." answered Captain Reynard, "Let's go."
Orbital Drydock Facility 318, Station 14 A
Starship Intrepid NX-07
The Intrepid shook a bit as the docking clamps released.
"The Orbital Drydock informs us that it's now safe proceed." Hidan informed Captain Jason Lambert.
"All right, set the coordinates Ensign Kakuzu." ordered Captain Jason. He then opened a comm link to the engine room, "Chief Engineer Kisame take the ship to full impulse power."
"The Engines are at full impulse power now." Kisame's voice replied back through the comm link.
Captain Jason closed the comm link and leaned back in his chair, "Let's get going." he said.
Kakuzu entered the coordinates and the Intrepid made its way away from the Orbital Drydock and sped off towards the destination that was entered into the navigational system.
To Be Continued...
Crew Listings and Different Ranks
Ranks:
Ensign – A commissioned rank typically granted to new graduates of Starfleet Academy.
Lieutenant – A commissioned rank typically granted to those who have an intermediate level of experience.
Commander – A commissioned rank typically granted to qualified officers of sufficient seniority.
Captain – A commissioned rank/title held by the commanding officer of a Starship or Starbase.
Crew Listings:
Enterprise NX-01
Jonathan Archer – Captain
T'Pol – Executive/Science Officer
Hoshi Sato – Communications Officer
Malcolm Reed – Second Officer
Elrene Leydon – Helmsman
Doctor Phlox – Chief Medical Officer
Major Takashi Kimura – MACO Commanding Officer
Tobi – Chief Engineer
Endeavour NX-06
Stephen Reynard – Captain
Major Tim Collins – MACO Commanding Officer
Itachi Uchiha – Executive Officer
Pain – Chief Engineer
Konan – Communications Officer
Deidara – Science Officer
Sasori – Helmsman
Intrepid NX-07
Jason Lambert – Captain
Major Helen Baker – MACO Commanding Officer
Hidan – Communications Officer
Kisame – Chief Engineer
Kakuzu – Helmsman
Zetsu – Executive/Science Officer