And a full tank of gas to boot
Posted on Fri Jan 9, 2026 @ 10:40pm by Civilian Mathias McPhee & Civilian David Scarlet
1,334 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
Chicken Run
Location: OWL
Timeline: MD 02 Late Aftrnoon
Scarlet could hardly believe his eyes, or nose for that matter, once the air lock slid open to the now repaired ship that had been his lifeboat.
Zero Double U El.
He ducted down below the now humming piece of machinery and continued down the narrow corridor. He realized after the fact that now that it was in the right place, he hadn't actually needed to duck. Old habit. It was narrow, but surprisingly it felt a lot more open than it had before. It wasn't a coffin anymore.
"Mathias!" He called back through the corridor. "It's a lot safer than it was at least."
"Yes it is." Mathias answered his buttery smooth baritone voice resonating down the corridor ahead of him. "They have done rather fine work on the Owl." running his hand along the wall as he caught up with Scarlet.
"Do I call you Captain Scarlet?" giving his friend an impish smile.
"Depends on how close you are to the air lock." Scarlet grumbled. He continued forward, impressed by how clean the ship now was. The damaged consoles that had been dangling by a cable were now in place and showing proper information. Scarlet stopped at one spot and ran his fingers along the newly installed bulkhead. For most of his journey it had crinkled and moved like aluminum foil. It was solid now, safe.
Mathias laughed. "Okay, okay I won't call you that." as he wandered in further. "I do love what has been done. I remember what the OWL looked like earlier. Beautiful. Glad you made it here in one piece. Also proves just how determined you are."
A question came to his mind but, Mathias was loathe to bring it up. It was about Cara, did David find her?
Scarlet looked back at Mathias and raised an eyebrow. "OWL? He paused and thought over the name. "Owl..." He rolled the word around on his tongue. "Owl..." Finally he shrugged. "Eh, Better than Zero Double U El or Deathtrap..."
"I'll get a bottle of champagne to christen her later." Scarlet said thoughtfully.
Walking through more of the OWL, Scarlet stopped at the small mess hall. It had been such a mess before that he hadn't used it. Now it was all shiny and new. There was even a replicator.
"Computer, Coffee, black." He said as he walked up to the replicator. The panel lit up and began humming before a sudden thump seemed to stop everything cold. "What the?"
Suddenly the panel next to the replicator fell to the floor and a family of three raccoons raced out and down the hallway.
Scarlet looked back at Mathias. "Why are there raccoons in the bulkheads?"
"That is rather strange that the trash pandas were here, didn't those who worked on the OWL see them before?" Mathias frowned. "I think they do need to be caught though." heading down the hall to go see if he could track them down. "I don't know if Brianthe wants racoons down upon the planet below. "
"We may want to see if there is anything else on the ship" Mathias mumbled, "Okay what was it racoons loved to eat. I should know this. Eggs--fruit--"
"Everything Mathias. They eat everything. And chew through what they can't actually eat to get to the food." Scarlet grumbled.
"Computer, How many non-humanoid lifeforms are on the vessel?" Scarlet asked aloud. He waited for a moment and was about to walk over to a panel to speak into thinking the computer wasn't voice activated.
"There are seven non-humanoid lifeforms on currently being tracked." A soothing male voice replied. "Locations vary throughout the vessel."
Scarlet sucked in a deep breath and then released it slowly as he unclipped the distruptor pistol from it's holster on his hip. "Really? I get a functioning ship and it comes with vermin on the first day? Check around for something to kill raccoons Mathias."
Mathias pondered for a moment. "Hey David, instead of killing those things,since they are being tracked by the computer get the station to transport them into a holding cell. Let them send the critters to a place where they can live. Sound good? Quick clean and would save us having to smell disrupted racoon, that is one of the foulest scents one can smell."
David looked back at Mathias and narrowed his eyes. "I almost forgot what a killjoy you are."
He holstered the disruptor pistol and with a sigh, put the panel back. "Computer... Can you isolate the raccoons for transport?"
There was a pause before the male computer voice responded. "Tracking is adequate, however the vessel does not have adequate transporter capabilities for site to site."
"Whatever, Interface with DS5 Operations and send them the tracking information. Tell them if they want their raccoons back to transport them off my ship."
Mathias gave a twisted smile to David, "Unnecessary to kill them." he remarked as he turned to send the message to the station. The racoons were swept up by the shimmering effect of the transporter.
"There no fuss no muss. And yes on certain matters I will be a killjoy." raising an eyebrow towards David, and a firmness in his gaze.
"Remind me to not tell you where I go on dates." Scarlet muttered as he looked around the rest of the room before continuing on to the next.
Walking along the rest of the Engineering deck, Scarlet took the stairs down to the crew level and touched the bulkheads in the corridor and looked into the rooms; six crew each. Even with just Mathias here it felt crowded. He wasn't sure about getting a full crew as long as he could pilot it by himself. A cold shiver went across his back as he considered having people under his command once again.
"Glad to hear that there are dates in your future." Mathias responded with a chuckle. "If I were to know where you were going on a date, I'd avoid it. I wouldn't want to kill the date for you."
He looked inside the crew quarters, then looked at Scarlet. "Do you intend on getting crew for your ship. Though, I do think that with your experience you don't need any crew unless you absolutely need it." he gave a shrug as he continued to observe. "I think between you and I, we can keep this ship running."
Scarlet stopped dead in his tracks and slowly turned back toward Mathias. "We is it?" The grim visage of his face cracked with a grin. "Can't believe you'd volunteer to be part of my crew."
Mathias gave David a scrutinizing firm gaze, raising an eyebrow. He was dead serious when he answered, "Why not? I'm footloose and fancy free. I'm sure you could use my talents" then his eyes crinkled with a smile and one formed next, broadening into a full blown grin.
"I've got quite a few skills, David, that could be utilized. What do you say?" Mathias holding out his hand to shake David's.
"I can't promise you won't get shot at." Scarlet said as he took Mathias' hand firmly. "But welcome aboard."
Mathias chuckled, "I know, and I am better at dodging now." giving a wink, "And I do know how to shoot and fight, someone had made certain that I learn and I got even more training. " smiling fondly at David. "A particular friend gave me the incentive to become more than what I was back then, and I thank you for that. If it weren't for you, I probably wouldn't be speaking to you right now." having a rather serious expression. "Now before I go rather maudlin, want me to check on the rest of the ship? To see if there are anything else that needs to be checked on? I definitely want to get to know the ship, and check on the OWL's systems. And make certain there aren't any other stowaways."
David Scarlet
Civilian
DS5
Mathias McPhee
Civilian
DS5
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