Zero hour, 9AM....
"We done?" asked Ptolemy over the comm.
"Yep," came the reply. "Hata shuttle loaded in and ready. Good luck, sir."
"Uh, thanks," said Ptolemy and switched to another signal.
"Is that it? Can we go now?" came a voice from behind him.
"Yes, Lilith," he said without turning around.
"Good," said Mari. "I have some experiments to get back to now that the shuttle's loaded." "Oh man, not again..."
Ptolemy sighed as he heard the door whoosh open and shut behind him. It was going to be an interesting trip, he thought. The door whooshed open again. Speaking of interesting...
"Have we gotten clearance to leave yet?" said Storvik.
"Cool yer jets, just getting to it," said Ptolemy. "Starbase control, this is the Marlowe. Requesting permission to leave the station."
"Permission granted, Marlowe. Good flying, and y'all come back now, y'hear?"
As he went through undocking procedures, Ptolemy reflected on how this might go down as his oddest assignment ever...