Short Fiction: the Orville - Shit Happens

 Part 15: Shit Happens

"How long..." Marcus, tired of just standing, sat in the Captain's Chair that overlooked Ops and found it oddly less comfortable than the Sofa in their family quarters on the Orville. Marcus Sighed and extracted himself from the seat. It wasn't going to be comfortable any time soon. He watched Ty walk toward the Synthesizer. "...do you think Captain Mercer will be gone?"

"Iced Coffee please." Ty indulged in the caffeine hit and gave a shrug before giving a best guess reply to Marcus's Question. "As long as Mom in the bathroom?"

"Captain, we are ready to activate the Ops transition to ship mode." It was Alara's Voice and Marcus became focused on memory of the Swish of her hair before returning his attention to the Ops systems. "You should see a flashing Ops lit on the Station condition display."

"Ty, do you see it?" Ty examined Ops Console and pointed at the flashing part of a symbolic space station nodding to Marcus. Marcus pushed the flashing image and somewhere mechanical systems began moving. "What do you think that did?"

"Alara said ship mode?" Ty stared at the console and nodded at Marcus. He was sure it was now in ship mode. "Yep, Ship mode activated."

"Engineering systems say the transformation to ship mode is correct." Marcus smiled and patted Ty on a shoulder at their achievement. "You should be able to set course for the Krill System using the Ops Navigation display which should now be available."

"Ty, do you know how to set a course for Krill?" Marcus couldn't identify the Navigation display. Something appeared on the Ops controls displacing something else from the visible display area leaving an anchor tag at the edge of the Ops control board display area. "I don't know how to do that."

"I'm not sure..." Ty thought about the time he saw Isaac set a course in the shuttle before bringing up a list of nearby systems and setting course for the Krill system. "I... this is it. Okay."

"So..." Marcus stared at the drive system ready to engage Faster-than-Light for Krill and stared at Ty for an okay to go. "...do I just push the button?"

"To shift back to Station mode you need to first purge any navigation presets." Alara's Voice interjected allowing Marcus and Ty to exhale and de-stress. Marcus pulled his finger away from the button of certain death. "You need to find the anchor tag at the edge of the nav display and drag it across navigation until it displaces the nav system."

"Okay," Marcus examined the edge of the Navigation display and dragged the anchor tag across nav displacing it from his field of vision. Marcus felt a lot surer of himself. "Done."

"From there you just push the Ops in Bridge mode on the station condition display and it should transform back into a Station." Marcus followed Alara's instruction and Ops pivoted through to Vertical. "So, how did that feel?"

"Yeah, we are good here Alara," Captain Mercer, leaning against his Captain's chair, interjected taking Ty and Marcus by surprise. How long had he been there? "How is Chief Newton?"

...

"He'll be fine Captain." Claire interjected, looking up from Chief Newton. "I'm going to retrieve a medbed to move him to medical."

"Stay with him Claire." Claire was confused by the suggestion. They needed a medibed to transport Chief Newton to Medical. Was he planning on leaving Ops? "I'll have Marcus bring one down to Engineering."

...

"Uniform, Marcus Finn, Junior Grade Technician." A uniform appeared on the synthesizer and Captain Mercer tossed it to Marcus Finn who immediately began changing. "Change in the Lift, and don't forget the Medibed from Medical."

"Yes Captain." Marcus stumbled to the lift and entered the moment it opened, immediately attempting to change into his new uniform. "Medical."

"Okay..." Captain Mercer, satisfied that Marcus Finn was now heading in the right Direction, turned his attention to Ty standing by the Ops control. "Alara, let's take it through the Transform sequence one more time and we will head for the Krill System."

****

"Microjump three hundred and twenty..." Gordon quickly set the new course target received from Isaac on the Orville and having made the short jump to Faster-than-Light, disengaged. "...Complete."

...

"Debris field is rotating Gordon," Captain Kelly Grayson was satisfied it was going to plan. The Debris of Kaylon Prime had pulled toward the now rotating toroidal. Isaac interjected. "Debris field is undergoing Fusion."

"Captain," Bortus seemed quite concerned at just how fast the radiation levels were climbing. "Radiation levels are climbing rapidly."

"Gordon," Captain Kelly Grayson watched the toroidal develop a glow as its rotating debris field achieved critical plasma mass. "You need to get back to the Orville now."

...

"Copy that Captain." Gordon turned the shuttle's course accelerated toward the Orville, the shuttle, avoiding the scraps of debris pulling towards the Glowing Toroidal. "On my way."