Lt. Cmdr. Quentin Collins - Wide Awake at the Wheel

[Nolen Hobart]

Reading @Quentin Collins III's latest brought a big smile to my face. I love seeing a Star Trek character who's as big a Star Trek fan as the rest of us. I never had model spaceships or airplanes hanging from my bedroom ceiling, but I always wished I had.

Hope y'all enjoy it as much as I did.

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((Interior. U.S.S. Arrow, Deck 1. Bridge.))

 

Collins: New contacts! Bearing 4-5-mark-8! It's...its Federation callsigns!

The timely arrival of the Peregrine Warp Fighters thrilled Quentin Collins to no end. He even had to admit a dark satisfaction to seeing and experiencing Ol' Tamazotz being caught so completely, utterly unaware by the unexpected support. Here he was, thinking he finally had his great quarry dead to rights...

 

And now...he was being closely buzzed and patrolled stringently by some of the best and brightest Starfleet Flight Academy had to offer. Quentin allowed himself a tight, but warm smile. Decades previous, he had various models of the Mark 2's, alongside the Dominion War workhorses they would escort hanging across the ceiling of his room at Collins House. Dreaming one day that he could see one up close.

 

And now...here he was, decades since...PILOTING one of those workhorses and seeing the shining, gleaming chassis of the Mark 5's flying along side him just outside his window.

 

oO And they say dreams don't come true...Oo he thought sunnily as he diligently kept them holding their position across from Tamazotz and his thugs. From behind him, the knowing voice of The XO connected to the wing leader.

Singh: =/\= Arrow this is Valkyrie One. We are prepared to engage on your order, Captain Shayne. =/\=

Quentin was no war hawk...nor was he the sort to relish fighting in any capacity...but the idea of having this amount of power and support suddenly on their side...well, let's just say he totally "got it" in that moment. But also understood the great responsibility that came with such. Sister Sara would have been proud of him at that moment. It seemed those thousands of ancient sequential serialized art books he collected over the years HAD taught him something.

 

Thankfully, Quentin was slightly absolved of the decision. Now that The Captain had returned and had clearly some understanding with The XO, all he had to do was keep them in the air as it were. 

Niac:  Sir, the Sheliak seem a bit paralyzed.  They can't seem to decide if they want to target us or the fighters and the fighters aren't making it easy.  Perhaps the Sheliak will be more receptive to...compromise at this point.  

Shayne:  RESPONSE

 

Collins: Tamazotz is a lot of things, Commander, but he's not suicidal. I would hope ANYone would back down in the face of a whole flight wing.

Any Bridge: RESPONSE

 

Hobart: ::tired, almost a whisper, hopeful that it's the last time he'll have to say it:: Warp factor four. Maximum.

 

Quentin turned and tightly smiled to himself. He had remembered the Ensign's warning once he had taken the station, but resolved himself to not give the lad any more heart attacks today. He had purported himself admirably throughout this whole affair and reasoned to himself that he had earned the easy flight back to recognizable space. Quentin Collins aimed to give it to him...and them all in turn.

 

Thankfully, The Proteus Ring would give them a pretty smooth and fast ride. Quentin started to pull up the recall unit buoy it was equipped with and got...a NULL signal? Quentin frowned at the Helm control and started a dradis scan for where they had hidden it...now was it the nebula to the left or...?
 
Singh:  =/\= Captain, be advised your Proteus ring was located by the Sheliak and destroyed before they got here.  We're prepared to escort you back to the new barn, sir. =/\=

Quentin's heart suddenly dropped! The Ring...DESTROYED?! His sharp despair heated suddenly with a rising anger at the continued callousness of the Sheliak. Not only had they turned their own complex and allied ship into so much glass at the drop of a hat...but to destroy a free-standing piece of highly specialized equipment such as The Ring!? The...the...THE BRUTES! THE BULLIES! Of all the clodhopping, bullish things to do! 

 

Quentin then suddenly remembered that it might actually be small potatoes compared to other things. They were, after all, STILL all holding hefty gold bounties on their heads. Bounties that, at last examination, had been steadily increasing since their placement. But still...Quentin knew how much Roxy Wilde and her team had worked on The Ring, alongside the wondrous and near-impossible aid it had provided them in the last months...as far as where Quentin sat, it was a loss. 

Shayne:  RESPONSE

A few more tense moments crossed the space between them and the Sheliak. Quentin held his hands expectantly over the Helm controls, just waiting for something to happen, something to break through...and when it finally did...Quentin felt the weight of a thousand stones lift effortlessly from his shoulders.

 

Realizing his lack of power position, Tamazotz and his support vessels broke off. Ceasing their attack vectors and turning harmlessly into the expanse away from them. Jotting quickly away at a low Warp. Quentin only wished he could have heard the noise Tamazotz made realizing they had to retreat. The XO confirmed what the Main Viewer displayed.

Niac:  Sir, the Sheliak vessels are breaking off and heading away.  I'd recommend we signal the Valkyries and do the same.  

Shayne:  RESPONSE

 

Collins: I don't mind at all, Captain. Breaking toward local space, 1/4th Impulse.

Any Bridge:  RESPONSE

The sounds of haptics being tapped chorused Quentin's careful flight up and out of the planetoids' now metal-sufficed asteroid belt. Once he had leveled off, the flight wing surrounded them in a thickly secure escort. Quentin couldn't help another smile as he saw the position the flight leader and his wingmates took across the fore hull. 

 

The exact same way he had positioned his older models, hanging on fishing line from the ceiling of his room. He prepared the ship for prolonged flight, but couldn't allow the opportunity for another look behind his shoulder.

 

Collins: Ship prepared for debarkation, sirs. Warp Factor 2, per Mister Hobart's advice, I should think...

 

Quentin Collins turned back to the Main Viewer, ready and waiting to fly them into whatever awaited...

 

oO Hopefully, whatever or wherever it is, it comes with drinks...Oo

-- 

TAG/End Mission for Quentin!

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Lieutenant Commander 

Quentin Collins III

Chief Science Officer

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U.S.S. ARROW NCC-69829

ID: E239512QC0

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F.N.S. CONTRIBUTOR

(SB118 Forums) 

ARROW WIKI OPERATOR

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Nolen Hobart

[Kirsty L. Carpenter]

You just made my day, midshipman.