'She is a proud ship.' Jesa thought, looking around the deserted bridge. There were only three people left on the Isannah, Callen, Johnson, and Keeves. Somehow the ship felt empty, maybe it was just the bridge being deserted which made Jesa feel that way. Maybe it was the ship herself who felt empty, Jesa wasn't quite sure. Jesa moved up to between the Helm and Conn. chairs, laying one hand on each.

It had been a last minute decision to pilot her out herself. She had been intending on simply retiring to her quarters for the night. But with coming back for Stephi, then proceeding to hand her off to Terah. Well, it wasn't quite so sterile as she made it sound, but the truth was, she would have to deal with that problem later. For right now, she had other things to occupy her mind.

She looked at the viewscreen, displaying a view of the inside of the Starbase. 'I'm responsible for her now.' Jesa thought, turning to look around again. Right now she was waiting for Johnson's readiness to leave dock, and truth be told, she was enjoying the quiet time. Though in that moment she yawned, holding a hand over her mouth; it reminded her of the increasingly urgent need to get some sleep.

Jesa walked up the ramp that led to the back of the bridge, and just looked around, trying to preserve the memory of the Isannah as she was now. The woman laughed as she realized part of her feared this refit, that she'd be betraying the Isannah somehow, that she'd lose some intangible quality that Jesa couldn't understand.

Her eyes caught the dedication plaque of the ship, and she walked over, examining it in depth for the first time. 'Memento Mori' she read, thinking about it. She thought over the events of the last month, the chase, the explosion, the towing back to base, the deaths, the funeral, the speech she gave, Buck's return... 'No, it should read... Memento Mori, Memento Vivi... for we must remember life too.' Jesa nodded in self-satisfaction. 'That is what it shall be changed to.'

At that instant, her comm. badge beeped. "Johnson to Callen."

She slapped it out of habit. "Callen here, go ahead."

"We're ready to pull out anytime you are." He paused for a moment, "thrusters only, of course."

Jesa almost rolled her eyes. 'Of course. Only thrusters.' She mentally commented. 'I'll sure be glad when she's patched up.'

"Understood. Callen out." She returned simply. Jesa descended the ramp and brushed her hand against the conn.'s chair as she passed it, then took a seat at the helm. She tried to remember the last time she was at this post, when she piloted the ship last. Upon considerable thought, she concluded that it must have been at least a few years ago. "Been too long." She spoke quietly, to herself.

Her hands worked quickly over the console like it was simply yesterday when she last touched it. It felt so natural to her. Then she opened a comms which would be heard in the docking port airlock, which was showing empty on the panel. "The Isannah is leaving port, I repeat, the Isannah is leaving port. Clear the airlock." She played her hands over the console again, shutting off that link and starting another one. "Isannah to Starbase 120 Flight Control. Permission to leave base. Flight plan has been filed."

"Affirmative Isannah, you may proceed when ready. Have a nice, if short, flight." The warm voice returned.

"Thank you, Flight Control, Isannah out." Jesa returned. If another had been at the helm, she would have shot out the customary orders, release docking tunnel, release docking clamps, one quarter thrusters to the bay doors... but all this Jesa carried on silently, slowly prepping the thrusters.

Her finger touched the control, and the ship groaned slightly in protest. "Hold together, old girl... we're not going far." She spoke, slowly easing off the starboard thruster and engaging the fore. Slowly, the Nebula-class ship backed away from the docking port, and turned.

The ship trembled slightly and Jesa hit the comm. "Johnson, we have some tremor in the port thruster, see if you can dampen those vibrations. With the structural integrity field down, we don't want this ship shaking to pieces."

He replied to the affirmative, as Jesa slowly guided the ship towards the bay doors. She took the moment to peek up from the panel and look at the viewscreen. Somehow it was just nice to be hands-on again, it was Jesa's first instinct and it was also something she had fought for quite a bit of time as of late.

"Try that, it should be better." Johnson's voice came back.

Jesa worked her hands over the panel. "Yes, that does it, thanks." She said, as they neared the opening of the doors. Without incident, the ship slowly glided through. It was neigh on two am, and Jesa was beginning to feel quite fatigued. But without thinking much about it, she reset the course and brought the thrusters up to half power---all that was working reliably for the moment.

"I'm wondering if I'm supposed to sing a song or something." Jesa said aloud, musing to herself.

"What was that?" Johnson asked, Jesa winced, she had forgotten the link was still open.

"Nothing, just felt like this trip was disturbingly without ceremony. Drat, I've actually gotten used to pomp and protocol." Jesa said, passively.

She heard Johnson stifle a chuckle on the other end. Jesa shook her head as they crawled... slow as snails, off into the night.

It took over an hour for the ship to move from the Starbase to the Docking facility. A trip that normally would have taken five minutes at one quarter impulse... something about that simple fact annoyed Jesa, and put her on edge.

Finally, they slid within the open framework of the drydock facility, and she felt the tremor of metal against metal as the docking clamps slowly took hold of the ship. Jesa tapped her fingers across the helm and shut down the power systems. She tapped her comm badge.

"It's all yours now, Johnson. Remember, I want to see her back in one piece, so take 'er easy."

"So you keep reminding me."

He replied. She smiled slightly. "I'm going to be heading to the base to get some sleep, I suggest that you do the same."

"In just a while, sir. I want to check out a few more things before heading back to base."

"Alright. Callen out." She said, turning to walk towards the turbolift.

Just as she reached the threshold of the door she stopped. Slowly, she turned around and surveyed the bridge. It was the last time she'd see it like this. The last time she'd see the bridge like she had served on it for her entire career thus far.

Yet, something still didn't let her leave, there was still something for her to do. Jesa's eyes searched the bridge, trying to figure out what it was. Her eyes rested on the Isannah's dedication plaque. Without hesitating, she walked over and removed it from the wall, tucking it under her arm. Then with one last look around the bridge, she left.

Loaded: 04.07.2004