((http://stararmy.com/wiki/doku.php?id=ne ... ss_banning))

Captain David Sebstrano felt the familiar lurch as the NSS Banning exited hyperspace. The small Red Hill-class freighter had just arrived from Nepleslia on an urgent supply mission. They were hauling several fresh PAs to the NSS Thunderchild to aid in the war effort. Once the turbulent had subsided, the short Nepleslian captain instantly shouted out in his bass voice, “Alright, ladies! Let’s get this heap of trash you call a freighter to the our destination!” With that, David forced the ship forward into the system. He glued one eye down at the sensors console. The last thing that they needed was to walk into an ambush. His voice boomed down at the young Geshrin at the communications console, “Hey, you! Err… Whatever your name is, inform the boys on the frontlines of our arrival! We’ll need a flight path to evade the fighting, too!”

S2C Valen Sasorix straightened a bit as he received his orders. He had just been transferred to this freighter a few weeks ago. So it was no surprise to him that the captain would be forgetful. Valen soon busied himself with the transmission.



The message was then sent through the endless void of space.

((OOC Note: Uso has given permission to start this sub-plot. Banning is an Irish name meaning “fair and small”, nothing more. All characters currently aboard are NPCs except for Valen Sasorix, whom is already an approved character. Other PC characters will be introduced later in the plot once they have been approved.))

The calm voice of a flight controller onboard the NSS Thunderchild was quick to respond.

“Alright NSS Banning. Your ID checks out and I am uploading a safe flight path to your computer. Please position yourself above us and we will connect your ship to our rear launch bay for unloading.”

Valen nodded to himself before realizing that the flight controller couldn't hear him nod. "Understood, NSS Thunderchild," he replied as the flight path data was received by his console. He then forwarded it to the captain so that he could maneuver the freighter along the designated path. David smirked as he stated, "Well, so far so good, ladies." The four other bridge members, including Valen, all chuckled half-heartedly. They all knew that this freighter wouldn't last long against even a single veteran Red PA.

Approximately 30 minutes later...

The NSS Banning slowly approached the NSS Thunderchild and prepared to dock. The captain carefully positioned the freighter above the LHA-class destroyer. David signaled Xanatos, who in turn contacted the flight controller again, "NSS Thunderchild, this is the NSS Banner. We are ready to dock whenever you are." Then, all that they could do was wait for the response and docking.

The docking procedure took about ten minutes. Once that was over with, Valen could let himself breathe a bit easier. No sane person would attack a ship the size of the Thunderchild. The Geshrin then sent another transmission to the destroyer, "We are ready to hand over the toys to you, Thunderchild." He smirked as he recalled that these 'toys' were very lethal. He'd be glad to finally get rid of them.

As the NSS Banning made final docking preparations, a team of cargo personnel were quick to get into position to begin unloading the goods. Using some muscle and a little heavy-lifting equipment, the unloaders dove straight to work the moment they got the chance.

As the workers did their business, the dockmaster waltzed slowly up to the side of the vessel, his uniform well-pressed and proper, and the datapad in his hand held firm. With a quick series of button-presses, the armorer summoned a channel to the captain of the NSS Banning's bridge.

"Greetings, NSS Banning. I have some documents you need to sign before this transaction is complete."

Captain Sebastrano sighed heavily as the dockmaster called for him. He opened the channel on his end, "Alright, alright. I'll send someone down to take care of it." After abruptly closing the channel, he searched the room for a victim. "You," he pointed to Valen, "Get your ass down there and sign those reports so we can get the hell out of here." Valen saluted his captain and left the bridge as soon as he could. He didn't want to encourage David's wrath... even though this was a tedious task.

Valen finally made it down to where the dockmaster was waiting. He hoped that this would be a simple sign-and-go type deals. He walked up and saluted to the dockmaster. "Reporting to sign off on this cargo, sir!" he said, hoping that his eagerness didn't show through. The faster that he signed the forms, the faster the Banning could leave this system for the moment.

The chief armorer gave Valen a nod of respect and outstretched his datapad, a small stylus held in between the device and his thumb, offering Valen to sign the page to confirm the transfer.

“Good work captain. My superiors would like to know if you are willing to do another transport job for us, while you are in the general vicinity and have proved to be reliable.”

Valen was a little surprised at the armorer calling him 'captain' and even more surprised at getting another mission. "I... I'm not exactly the captain..." he said as he took the pad and stylist from the chief. "I was ordered by the captain to sign the papers, but he didn't mention anything about a new mission." He was curious about this new mission, though, as he signed the release forms for the cargo.

“Ah. I…see,” The armor raised an eyebrow as he retrieved his signed datapad. He was a little miffed that the captain himself didn’t come down to greet him in person…but he hid it well enough. “Well. Could I speak to him? We have a shipment of military equipment and a few personnel on Starbase Hayes that need transport to one…” the armor looked back down at his datapad to confirm his answer. “…to one NSS Alliance, DD4-class Destroyer. I need to know if the captain is able to do this job for us. There will be payment upon completion, of course.”

Valen simply nodded and reached into his pocket for a communicator. He spoke into it, "Captain, the chief wants to speak to you about maybe accepting another mission..." Captain Sebastrano's bass voice could be heard over the communicator, "What? Grr.... Fine! Let me speak to him." Valen handed over the communicator to the armorer with a grim smile.

The chief armorer accepted it, an odd little gaze of confusion glimpsing at Valen as he reached out and retrieved the small communication devise. “Greetings, Captain. My superiors in Nepleslia High Command wish to offer you another assignment…”

A few minutes later, after all the unloading had been accomplished, the NSS Banning was ready to take off again, this time with a new mission. On Dock 32F of Starbase Hayes, orbiting over the planet Nepleslia, a shipment of military equipment crates, as well as a handful of twenty or so personnel awaited their transport vessel. All of these things were en route to a single ship, the end-point of the NSS Banning’s newest assignment: The NSS Alliance.

Captain Sebastrano had not spoken since his discussion with the chief armorer. He was contemplating the next mission. Getting back to Nepleslia would be no problem, but the NSS Alliance probably had enemies all around it. Slipping past those enemies would be tricky. Shortly after Valen had returned to the bridge, the captain finally spoke, "Alright, ladies! Let's get going! We will be getting a bonus for another mission! Unfortunately, this next mission will bring us straight back here again... We'll need to prepare for the worst! Let's go!" With that, he and the rest of the Banning's crew began the undocking procedures. The last of the cargo had been moved onto the Thunderchild, so everything was ready.

Upon entering orbit around Nepleslia, the NSS Banning docked with Starbase Hayes immediately. A message was broadcasted throughout the hangar, "All personnel designated to board the NSS Banning en route to the NSS Alliance in Kennewes, please do so now." The freighter was fitted with supplies in its cargohold as the personnel boarded.