Part of USS Rome: Ashes of Deneb and Bravo Fleet: Ashes of Deneb

The Drop Off Pt. 1

USS Rome
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“So, Ensign, that wraps up our appointment for today.  I'll set your next one for next week, then.  Does Friday at 2 work for you?”  The counselor looked at Ensign Lisa Dritria.

“Yes, counsellor.”  Ensign Lice “Lisa” Ah left the counselor's chambers and made her way along the old ship's hallways towards her own room.  Most of the crew had been taking mandatory counseling sessions since the events of Frontier Day.  Apparently the elderly counselor survived by hiding in his room until it all blew over, which was the only reason the USS Rome even had a counselor at the moment. She shuddered thinking of the old man's eyes.  Looking into his eyes felt like he was boring into your soul.

Reaching her room, she paused, not wanting to disturb her suitemate.  They'd been recently put together after both of their previous suitemates… Well anyways, her suitemate, Ensign Aurellia, didn't seem to be taking things as well as Lisa had been.  Pressing a few buttons on the panel to make the door even quieter than it normally would be, and she snuck in.  Outside the window, the stars stretched as the ship jumped to warp.  The new captain had taken yesterday to get the ship organized, and she herself had been moved from astrometrics to being a helm officer.

For now though, she just collapsed on her bed, looking at the picture of her fiance, Mike.  She hadn't had the time to contact him since everything happened, and worry was eating away at her.  Picking up the PADD, she looked at her incomplete letter.  How could she ever put into words what happened to her, what happened to this crew?  They say it happened all over the Fleet, and she'd heard nothing of Mike's ship.  Could he have survived as well?


Counselor Oh watched as Ensign Ah left his chambers, stuck in thought himself.  Some might call him cowardly for his actions on Frontier day, but he knew his own limits.  Despite his rank, he'd gotten old. He knew that, in a Borg-controlled ship, his best chance was to be as unobtrusive and unseen as possible.  Luckily, his species was rather hard to detect on older Federation ships.

Having survived that, and now having to counsel the other survivors, left him with quite the mess to clean up.  In his own opinion, over half of the crewmembers of the USS Rome were unfit for duty, but in these times of short staff, they shall have to make do.

He looked out the window as the stars elongated, signifying the ship's departure into warp.  He leaned against the window, sighing “I hope we'll be able to keep our heads in the game.”


Despite the best efforts of her suitemate, Ensign Aurellia heard Lisa's entry into the suite.  She wriggled further into her sheets, not wanting to talk to Lisa at the moment.  She'd been best friends with her previous suitemate, and during Frontier day, she'd watched as her borg-infested self attacked her suitemate, and watched as her suitemate died crying out her name in terror.  She reached over to her bedside table, finding the medications the young doctor had prescribed her, taking them, and promptly falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.


It was early morning when Lisa awoke.  She blearily looked over at her clock, before starting, realizing she had less than thirty minutes before she was supposed to be on the bridge for her shift at helm.  Scrambling, she attempted to get ready at best possible speed, ordering and stuffing a pastry into her mouth for breakfast.


Captain Sky was in the captain's chair, looking over the mission brief for the day.  They were to deliver relief supplies to a beleaguered colony.  They were supposed to get these supplies a while ago, but the entire Deneb sector was unexpectedly plunged into a war the Sky was very familiar with.  The Rome was making her way towards the colony at warp 6, a leisurely speed for modern times, but one that the old ship could maintain practically forever.  The added bonus of it being so little of a strain on the ship that the reduced engineering personnel could continue getting everything in order was a mere bonus.

Just then the turbolift doors opened, and an Ensign rushed onto the bridge, hair all frazzled, and she took over for the current helmsman.  Sky looked at one of his PADDs, he was still learning all the names, this should be Ensign Ah, preferred name: Lisa.  She turned to him and offered an apology.

“No worries Lisa, you're actually early.  Your turn didn't start for another two minutes.” he consoled, then watched as she practically collapsed against her console.