Commodore Kalianna Nicholotti - The Arrival

[Marissa Jeffrey]

((Bridge, USS Excalibur - A))

Stars had long ago turned into trails that streaked by on the viewscreen, but the Commodore wasn't particularly focused on the view. Her crystalline blue eyes might have been pointed in that direction, but they were unfocused and hazy. The raven-haired woman, though sitting with her typical command stance, stared into the void as she so often did as her thoughts took her to places that no longer were. 

The USS Eagle...Kali had served a short stint on the ship before she had been transferred to her sister ship, the Victory. It was there that she was forged into the officer that she was. Like the tiny Novas, Intrepid class ships had a special place in her heart. It was aboard an Intrepid bridge that she had taken a stand between two warring factions to aid in the establishment of the Thracian Alliance. It was on an Intrepid bridge that she had taken her first steps into command. 

And it was on an Intrepid bridge that she had experienced her first real loss.

If there was one thing that she was certain of, it was that the universe had a funny way of coming around full circle. First had been her return to the Resolution. Now she would return to the Eagle, and she could only hope that it would go better than it had aboard the tiny Nova that had become a planet.

A chirp from the helm station pulled her consciousness back into the present. As she cleared the glossed-over look from her eyes and focused on the officer giving her the report of their arrival, Kali shifted and put both of her feet flat on the deck and rested her hands on the arms of her chair. Letting the feeling of the chair and of her Vesta-class bridge sink into her memories, she nodded if only to herself. Now looking at the viewscreen she saw the stars once again become points of light, fading from view as they drew closer to the Ring.

They had arrived at Denali Station.

Nicholotti: Very well. Initiate docking procedures.

An acknowledgement from the helm station was followed by a brief exchange with the station's traffic control. Slowly, the Excalibur pulled in closer and the Ring grew around them. As the process continued, Kali stood and nodded towards her now former first officer.

Nicholotti: Let them know I will be transporting down within the hour.

And with that she turned on her heel and smartly stepped off the bridge and into the lift for what she figured would be the last time.

TBC

--

Commodore Kalianna Nicholotti

Commanding Officer

USS Eagle

R238605KN0