Star Trek: Daedalus, A new Era
Posted: 2007-03-17 06:44pm
And now, here's that fanfic I was talking about:
"A New Era"
01/17/2162
The Andorian frigate wandered the edge of the Andorian region of the
new United Federation of Planets, followng an old course along the
Andorian/Romulan border.
Captain Thorindar felt both relieved and bored about the end of the
Earth-Romulan War. On the one hand, the Romulans were devastating to
the Skorr and Tellarites, almost wiping them out utterly, and exhausting
the Vulcan and Centauran mililtaries quite a bit, making them weak
and unable to put up much of a fight. the Humans were adequate
warriors with very advanced ships, easily fighting back the Romulans
despite their vile tactics of surprising and tricking the enemy into
a vulnerable position, such as in the outer edge of a gas giant
or a very tightly packed asteroid belt.
The Romulans almost brought the Andorian Hegemony down itself...
"Captain!" The new young science officer called, a sprightly young
woman named Tania.
Prodded into awareness, and surprised by this constantly dull patrol,
Thorindar climbed out of his command chair and walked over to her
station.
"Analysis?" The aging captain asked, secretly worried about any new
threats, considering the exhausted, now marginal Andorian military.
"Unknown. It is massive, at about 1.5 Kelaxbase in diameter." the
calm, serene young officer reported.
What? Such an object COULDN'T have drifted in at sublight!
There wasn't anything around for a few Palans!
"How could a Warp vessel be that huge? And it would HAVE to be a vessel,
this is one of the emptiest areas we've mapped!"
"Suggestions, sir?"
The captain strode quickly to the helm.
"Intercept the object, full impulse. L. 124, M. 92."
"Ayach."
The helmsman then began to operate his board, looking into a rubber-fit
brown viewer to determine the course.
The small, almond shaped gray vessel began moving when it's small, dual,
impulse engines began to light up.
As it arrived near the huge object, it appeared to be a huge asteroid,
at least three kms in diameter, and certainly not appearing to have
warp capacity.
"What? An asteroid? it couldn't have gotten here that fast!"
"Understood, sir. But it is here."
"Sir! I'm reading a power buildup in the asteroid!"
Thorindar was surprised, and slightly disturbed at this.
"What?"
Tania swallowed and said: "I'm reading Matter and Antimatter signatures"
"Then it might be a kind of ship. Torak, contact laser control teams.
This thing might attack."
"Aye, sir." The Communications officer began relaying the required
message to the laser control room crews.
After a few, slow Aanths, Torak said "They are ready to fire, Captain."
"Excellant."
"Captain, some kind of energy buildup is occurring!"
"What?"
The captain looked at the screen, shocked.
/10/2162
Makoto Takashi walked through the busy interior of Starfleet HQ,
wondering where Admiral Baker was, finally getting bored.
He was a patient man, but he despised having to wait over and
over for someone...
"Takashi!"
He turned, relieved to see the black with silver trim jumpsuited
Admiral striding towards him through a large, thick crowd of Humans.
"It's about time. Why did it take you so long to get here?"
"Oh, I had to do a lot of supervising. It's tying up quite a lot
of my available time, this new Federation."
"You could have simply talked to me from the wallscreen."
"I wanted to actually see you again. We haven't seen each other
for a few decades, since we were on the Olympic!"
"You say that as if it were true. We met when the Galileo was getting
refitted..."
"But it was a BRIEFING, and we barely even saw each other, let alone
get together and talk thououghly in private!"
"This isn't private."
"Oh, goddammit... Let's just chat and go to the Cinnabon!"
"You're desperate, aren't you?"
"Yes Tak, because I swear I could have lost you there..."
"Admiral, if I had known you missed me that much, I would have tried
to keep in touch..."
"Well, considering what we went through before, I would have hated for
it to simply just... end like that. Without me seeing you again."
When they arrived and ordered, Takashi looked out through the window,
seeing all of a sudden, two Tellarites amidst all the Humans... or
all the Human looking beings... He loved Aliens, but was only used
to seeing them on decade-spanning voyages, not on Earth, when ten years
before, the only aliens tended to be ambassadors and their staffs,
hardly accessible in San Francisco.
After Baker arrived with their food, he looked at Takashi and said
"Hey, the food's here! ...Whaddya lookin' at?
Takashi turned his head and said "When did you see a Tellarite on Earth?"
"Oh, well it's going to be a common sight, someday. After all, we are now
one nation, not a bunch of gradually mellowing neighbors."
"I can't imagine. The Vulcans have been pretty closed off to us."
"Nah, they just do a little bit periodically, in conjunction with us,
but it's hard to say what the hell the Vulcans are like, except that
emotionless deal... I don't think it's anything other than a show..."
"Settle down. They haven't appeared to be anything sinister."
"Well, it bugs me that they KEEP hiding so much about them, letting
only a few humans periodically travel to Vulcanis and not letting
them go very many places... Jesus! I can't help but question that!"
"Well, they'll probably get more involved with us someday. It's probably
a matter of time."
"When hell freezes over."
"Come now, Admiral. We worked well on our combined probe project with
the Centuarans. They probably just want to hide some silly scandals."
"Heh heh, well that's a laugh!"
"They will probably get more involved, and even join Starfleet!"
"What? They declined our invitations for an exchange program twice
before! It... Jesus, Tak, you act like this will all CHANGE!"
"Things have already changed, more and more."
"I'm not convinced... And the Humans now are almost the only ones
with a working fleet!"
"Give it time... And the fleet isn't fully active yet anyway..."
"So, it's fun to see Andorians and Tellarites on Earth?"
"Yes. I'm used to seeing them on various OTHER places... I never dreamed
I'd see them just walking around casually."
"Yep."
"Look at you... They STILL haven't created a new UNITED uniform?"
"You'll see yours soon. But it hasn't been officially introduced yet."
"When will THAT be? I don't like the idea of a Human dominent
Federation!"
"Settle DOWN! And we're still using a lot of Earth ships! They'll be
around for a long time! Let's eat first!"
They ate in silence, Takashi not feeling bothered, but uneasy just the
same...
When they were done, Admiral Baker asked "All done?"
Takashi nodded and Baker said "come with me."
When they left, the Admiral took a small rectangular light gray device
from his pocket and holding it vertically, pressed the pulsating red
rectangular button near the top of the device.
Soon, a small aircar arrived, and Baker said "Okay, let's go."
A little confused, Takashi followed him into the Aircar, which soon
took off.
Later in his office, Takashi, sipping Darjeeling tea and sitting in
a comfortable chair asked "What is this about, Admiral? The Daedalus?"
Looking through the blinds, the Admiral turned around.
"Yes. It IS going online soon."
"When? It's been over a year! It couldn't be going through MUCH of
a refit, now is it?"
"No, it's just been a BEAR moving things along, and we have been
checking the new science facilities on the Daedalus, to prepare
the ship for it's upcoming mission."
"Oh, so it's not a WARSHIP, anymore?"
"Stop that, Captain! We were AT WAR. And we needed every ship,
including your old surveyor, the Socrates. And the Daedalus
only conducted a little bit of scouting before the war was over.
It's fine to abhorr bloodshed, but fighting is sometimes unavoidable."
"Although too MUCH war isn't necessarily a good thing, either."
"How often were we at war after the Kzin raids?"
"What about the Andorian Conflicts?"
"*chuckle* Right, where both sides were spent travelling most of the
entire war? Well, despite your worries of a militaristic Starfleet,
we haven't even BEEN in much, the Romulan War being about the only
exception. I wouldn't worry. It's like you say, give it time."
"...Indeed."
"The Daedalus will be launched in an official ceremony tomorrow."
"What?"
"I'm sorry captain, but-"
"I can't believe that you would take so long to TELL ME!"
"I've been BUSY!"
"With what? Many of our UESN ships are MILITARY vessels, maybe the
Daedalus can be an exploration ship along with it's sister ships,
but what about the USS Dauntless?"
"SETTLE DOWN! We will take TIME, to get settled in our new United
Starfleet, and I know how concerned you are, but it's like you won't
even get rid of some of your old prejudices! The Military isn't just
full of Warmongers, just like some SCIENTISTS areen't all PEACEMONGERS,
and as I said, if this becomes a military dictatorship in five years,
then fair enough, but you're carrying the same old adversarial crap
TOO FAR."
Silence.
Then, finally Takashi said "Fine, Admiral. I am sorry. But look at the
UESPA when it was absorbed into the UESN. It was like it was just
a tool."
"Be patient, Takashi. We don't need to assume yet. It's only the
beginning of a new era!"
Takashi groaned and paused before saying "Will my old crew be on board?"
"Some of them will. Macintyre will stay on, and so has every other
senior officer except chief engineer Venizelos."
"What? He's leaving? Who will be replacing him?"
"Some young fellow, almost a 'boy genius' type."
"What's his name?"
"Ronald something, I'll E-mail it to you later. What's your address?"
"Reachforthestars@Maxas.com"
"Okay."
4/11/2162
When he arrived at Starfleet Headquarters, Makoto Takashi found a lot
of people there.
"Excuse me, are you Captain Makoto Takashi?"
The voice came from a young man, hair almost gone, his voice crackly.
He was holding a narrow box.
"Yes."
"Here. Admiral Baker sent me here with instructions to give you this."
Takashi raised an eyebrow.
"And what is it?"
"It's your new starfleet issue uniform. Here."
He handed the box to Takashi, who eyed it and then moved towards the
bathroom, opening the box.
He gradually put on the uniform: a Cage-era dull gold sweater with
a button-clasp gold collar and silver bands around the wrists, and
a patch resembling a flying man with a command star at the center
on the left breast, followed by a pair of black pants and a pair of
soft, easily flattened black boots made out of something leathery he
couldn't identify.
He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.
"Damn. I always wondered what the new uniform would be like."
Soon after he left, he saw Admiral Baker coming toward him in a gold
tunic with a sparkly silver collar and tall, vertical connecting
strap going down to the waist from the center of the collar.
There were a pair of strange medals on his left breast: a hollow
centered triangle, and a hollow-centered square, both of which were
dangling.
"Takashi! Damn, you look handsome in that! The new uniforms came in
just in time! Whaddya think of them?"
Takashi looked neutrally at his tunic and said "...Interesting. Where
will the shuttle be?"
Admiral Baker said "Easy, guy. We will hold the commissioning ceremony
at Starburst field, and when we're done, we'll have the shuttle parked
nearby."
Takashi shrugged and said "Okay. When?"
Admiral Baker said "At about 1400, so you're early."
Takashi said "Understood" calmly, and the two walked off together,
chatting.
At Starburst Field on 2 PM, crowds arrived. Humans, Centaurans, Skorr,
Vulcans, Andorians Tellarites, Rigellians and Cygnians.
All of them sat down in a huge collection of folding chairs, divided
in half by a red carpet, many appearing to be excited and the Vulcans
naturally looking calm.
After several minutes of waiting and the humming of small conversations
went on in the audience, Admiral Baker finally arrived at the podium,
clearing his throat and speaking into the microphone, looking into his
prompter:
"Greetings, new citizens of the UNITED... FEDERATION... OF PLANETS!"
The crowd suddenly went silent. Admiral Baker paused and then said:
"We are now at peace after the tiresome struggle with the Romulans.
We have grown tired of being picked apart and facing annihilation, and
now that we have declared a cease fire, we can now move on to other,
more meaningful pursuits!"
Makoto Takashi snorted as Admiral Baker said this. He, along with his
old XO, Daniel Macintyre, new chief engineer, Ronald Fielding, and
Medical Officer, a latino woman named Sandra Dayton.
"Such as... Exploration!!!" A large holographic display lit up behind
Baker. "And now, we have a new fleet of exploration vessels, getting
ready to fly off... from Earth's orbit... into the final frontier!!!"
The holographic display showed a primitive, simplistic, CGI rendered
Daedalus flying through space.
"And the first of these will be remembered forever, as the NCC-150,
USS... DAEDALUS!!!"
The crowd roared with applause as the vessel on the display suddenly
zipped away, not stretching or distorting, but apparently going to
warp.
"And now, this first crew will be on their way... To seek out and
contact strange, alien life forms, and to quote the inventor of Warp
Drive, Zephram Cochrane, To boldly go... Where no man has gone before."
The holographic display slowly shut off.
"And now, it's time for the senior officers of this new star cruiser
to arrive at their vessel shortly!"
Takashi and the rest of the officers slowly got up from their chairs,
and walked off the stage to a nearby Class B Shuttlecraft
After they got in and sat down, The pilot turned his head
around and said "Okay guys, get buckled in".
The passengers of the shuttle connected their seat belts and chest
harnesses.
The passengers were jostled and pulled against their harnesses as
the shuttle took off and travelled upward, eventually escaping the
sphere and going to space, travelling towards an orbital dock.
Soon after the passengers took off their harnesses, Takashi asked
the young Ronald "So, Lieutenant Commander?"
He chuckled at that.
Ronald asked, a little uneasy "Yes, sir?"
Takashi said "I assume it's Lieutenant Commander, those stripes
are unclear to me. Is it?"
Ronald said "Yes, sir. Although I am rather young to have that rank."
Takashi nodded. "I understand, LCDR. How did you earn that rank?"
Ronald said "Well, I enjoyed studying warp flight in high school
and college, eventually I joined the stellar engineering corps,
and my little doodles were hammered out, with help, into what
gradually became the Warp 4 drive."
Takashi's eyes widened. "I see, interesting! I just thought that
a team of white haired old scientists developed it!"
Ronald said "I didn't create it ENTIRELY, I had help from a few others
to flesh it out truly."
Daniel laughed and then said "Damn. And here I thought you were a boy
genius."
Ronald continued. "And last year, when Starfleet was formed, I joined
up. They were a little low on chief engineers."
Takashi raised an eyebrow. "And they needed one of the best
developers of the Warp 4 project to be the Daedalus's new chief
engineer?"
Ronald shrugged and said "I guess, although no one said it to me
directly."
Takashi asked "Have you even been ABOARD a vessel before, let alone
a starship?"
Ronald said "Nope, but i've been looking forward to it."
Takashi smiled "You're in for a treat."
The shuttle slowly arrives at the bay, where the back of the USS
Daedalus is facing it.
A voice calls from the ceiling speaker.
"Shuttlecraft, you are almost ready to land."
"Acknowledged. Open bay doors."
The doors of the Daedalus began to part, revealing a small, gray
bay, forcefields keeping in the atmosphere, and another, almost
identical Class B shuttle was parked facing the doors.
The shuttle flew to the opening, passing through the forcefield,
and landing on the hangar deck on the number one pad.
The pilot said "Okay, everyone, get out!"
The officers got out of the shuttle, looking around and stretching
out.
The officers soon walked to the ladder and climbed up to the shuttle
control tower, and proceeded from it to the turbolift, passing
the crew members operating the hangar doors.
As they entered, Takashi said "Deck 8, Cargo Bays".
For a little while, the turbolift car continued to move onward,
Ronald staring at him, confused.
Then, Takashi smiled and said "You'll see."
Soon, the car stopped at Deck 8, and the officers stepped out.
Ronald saw a bunch of bunk-like structures, each one holding two
stasis booths. There appeared to be about 36 stasis booths in all.
Ronald's eyes widened: "STASIS CHAMBERS?!? I knew the old sleeper
ships had them, but I didn't think-"
Takashi chuckled. "Well, these aren't cryogenic chambers."
Ronald looked at him, puzzled. "They aren't? What else could they be?"
Takashi cleared his throat, and then said "Over a decade ago, these
new stasis chambers were designed to be a more effective, safer way
of preserving the crew, although the Daedalus didn't originally carry
them, they were fitted in as a way of preserving much of the crew,
in anticipation of this cruiser's new mission. We will travel
for a little while at Warp 3, and give the engines a chance to
'warm' up, and then go to Warp 4, where much of the crew will go into
stasis, and then, six months later, they will be let out, and we will
begin regular life aboard."
Ronald, still puzzled, asked "How are these not cryogenics?"
Takashi groaned and said "They actually don't freeze the body
cryogenically, they place a time flow shield around the person, and
following Springfield's law of stasis, it manages to freeze time
within the chamber, so much like x-rays cannot penetrate lead,
time cannot penetrate the stasis field. They are more likely, as
the old 2149 tests show, to preserve the living being without
causing any physical dmage, or even death, as cryogenic booths
tend to do. For you, time will cease to exist, and it will seem
that only a second will pass by before you are freed from stasis,
and you would have had a quantum probability of zero."
Ronald blinked, amazed.
Takashi said "I guess you're more well versed around warp drive."
Ronald said "I guess, but there wasn't any stasis use in the last
decade, so I was amazed that stasis was still part of the plan."
Takashi said "Well, this could easily take decades, and I think that
unlike this and future voyages, the 2150s ships never really had to
journey more than 20 light years away from old Earth."
Daniel asked "Captain, who will stay awake during the trip?"
Takashi turned and responded to his old first officer "Well, Dan,
it will at least be the CMO-"
"Me." said Sandra, pointing to herself.
"Yes, Sandra. She will monitor the occupants periodically, and
you, Ronald, will also stay out, to constantly monitor and adjust
the engines. The marines will also go into stasis, but not on this
deck. There are some other booths on deck 5."
"What about you, sir?" Ronald asked.
Takashi said "I will also go into stasis, and so will Daniel."
Daniel smiled and said "Yes, we will, and it will be an...
interesting experience, although instanteous."
Takashi said "Well, in a few minutes, we're probably going to be
on our way, let's go to our positions, people."
The officers headed back into the turbolift.
The audience from the speech were now in rooms of Starfleet HQ
which had chairs, refreshments for various species, and a wallscreen
showing the Daedalus in the orbital dock from aways away, thanks to a
camera mounted on a CommDrone.
An announcer's voice soon came on the wallscreen speaker:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, now we are witnessing a historic event!"
Makoto Takashi, Daniel Macintyre, Arinda Asephas,
Paul Larson, and Chang Lee are at their stations, Takashi at his
captain's chair, Daniel at his science station, Arinda at her
communications station, and Paul and Chang at navigations and the
helm, respectively.
Takashi nodded and spoke: "Mr. Lee, begin taking us out."
"Aye, sir." The Chinese helmsman began operating his console.
The Daedalus began moving forward.
The announcer yelled out "AND THE DAEDALUS IS BEGINNING TO LEAVE
THE ORBITAL DOCK, THE FIRST STEP... TO A HISTORICAL NEW VOYAGE
IN THE MAKING!!!"
Takashi said to his helmsman, "Go on."
The Daedalus moved gradually faster out of the dock, it's sphere
going past the edge of the orbital facility, than the neck,
and then the stardrive and nacelles...
"The Daedalus is soon going to go to warp!!!"
Takashi look at the back of his navigator's head and said "Paul,
Plot a course, at the edge of known space, past the Rigel system."
"Aye, sir."
The Daedalus now exited the dock entirely.
"And Mr. Chang, go to Warp 3... Engage."
"Aye aye, sir!"
The Daedalus's nacelles soon began to light up, and the vessel went
to warp.
"AND NOW, THE DAEDALUS IS ON IT'S WAY, OFF INTO THE FINAL FRONTIER..."
Makoto Takashi eventually got up.
"Daniel, is there anything to report?"
"No, sir. Just fairly empty space."
"Good. I'll be in the Rec Room soon. We may as well enjoy ourselves
for a little while before going into stasis."
"Aye, sir."
"A New Era"
01/17/2162
The Andorian frigate wandered the edge of the Andorian region of the
new United Federation of Planets, followng an old course along the
Andorian/Romulan border.
Captain Thorindar felt both relieved and bored about the end of the
Earth-Romulan War. On the one hand, the Romulans were devastating to
the Skorr and Tellarites, almost wiping them out utterly, and exhausting
the Vulcan and Centauran mililtaries quite a bit, making them weak
and unable to put up much of a fight. the Humans were adequate
warriors with very advanced ships, easily fighting back the Romulans
despite their vile tactics of surprising and tricking the enemy into
a vulnerable position, such as in the outer edge of a gas giant
or a very tightly packed asteroid belt.
The Romulans almost brought the Andorian Hegemony down itself...
"Captain!" The new young science officer called, a sprightly young
woman named Tania.
Prodded into awareness, and surprised by this constantly dull patrol,
Thorindar climbed out of his command chair and walked over to her
station.
"Analysis?" The aging captain asked, secretly worried about any new
threats, considering the exhausted, now marginal Andorian military.
"Unknown. It is massive, at about 1.5 Kelaxbase in diameter." the
calm, serene young officer reported.
What? Such an object COULDN'T have drifted in at sublight!
There wasn't anything around for a few Palans!
"How could a Warp vessel be that huge? And it would HAVE to be a vessel,
this is one of the emptiest areas we've mapped!"
"Suggestions, sir?"
The captain strode quickly to the helm.
"Intercept the object, full impulse. L. 124, M. 92."
"Ayach."
The helmsman then began to operate his board, looking into a rubber-fit
brown viewer to determine the course.
The small, almond shaped gray vessel began moving when it's small, dual,
impulse engines began to light up.
As it arrived near the huge object, it appeared to be a huge asteroid,
at least three kms in diameter, and certainly not appearing to have
warp capacity.
"What? An asteroid? it couldn't have gotten here that fast!"
"Understood, sir. But it is here."
"Sir! I'm reading a power buildup in the asteroid!"
Thorindar was surprised, and slightly disturbed at this.
"What?"
Tania swallowed and said: "I'm reading Matter and Antimatter signatures"
"Then it might be a kind of ship. Torak, contact laser control teams.
This thing might attack."
"Aye, sir." The Communications officer began relaying the required
message to the laser control room crews.
After a few, slow Aanths, Torak said "They are ready to fire, Captain."
"Excellant."
"Captain, some kind of energy buildup is occurring!"
"What?"
The captain looked at the screen, shocked.
/10/2162
Makoto Takashi walked through the busy interior of Starfleet HQ,
wondering where Admiral Baker was, finally getting bored.
He was a patient man, but he despised having to wait over and
over for someone...
"Takashi!"
He turned, relieved to see the black with silver trim jumpsuited
Admiral striding towards him through a large, thick crowd of Humans.
"It's about time. Why did it take you so long to get here?"
"Oh, I had to do a lot of supervising. It's tying up quite a lot
of my available time, this new Federation."
"You could have simply talked to me from the wallscreen."
"I wanted to actually see you again. We haven't seen each other
for a few decades, since we were on the Olympic!"
"You say that as if it were true. We met when the Galileo was getting
refitted..."
"But it was a BRIEFING, and we barely even saw each other, let alone
get together and talk thououghly in private!"
"This isn't private."
"Oh, goddammit... Let's just chat and go to the Cinnabon!"
"You're desperate, aren't you?"
"Yes Tak, because I swear I could have lost you there..."
"Admiral, if I had known you missed me that much, I would have tried
to keep in touch..."
"Well, considering what we went through before, I would have hated for
it to simply just... end like that. Without me seeing you again."
When they arrived and ordered, Takashi looked out through the window,
seeing all of a sudden, two Tellarites amidst all the Humans... or
all the Human looking beings... He loved Aliens, but was only used
to seeing them on decade-spanning voyages, not on Earth, when ten years
before, the only aliens tended to be ambassadors and their staffs,
hardly accessible in San Francisco.
After Baker arrived with their food, he looked at Takashi and said
"Hey, the food's here! ...Whaddya lookin' at?
Takashi turned his head and said "When did you see a Tellarite on Earth?"
"Oh, well it's going to be a common sight, someday. After all, we are now
one nation, not a bunch of gradually mellowing neighbors."
"I can't imagine. The Vulcans have been pretty closed off to us."
"Nah, they just do a little bit periodically, in conjunction with us,
but it's hard to say what the hell the Vulcans are like, except that
emotionless deal... I don't think it's anything other than a show..."
"Settle down. They haven't appeared to be anything sinister."
"Well, it bugs me that they KEEP hiding so much about them, letting
only a few humans periodically travel to Vulcanis and not letting
them go very many places... Jesus! I can't help but question that!"
"Well, they'll probably get more involved with us someday. It's probably
a matter of time."
"When hell freezes over."
"Come now, Admiral. We worked well on our combined probe project with
the Centuarans. They probably just want to hide some silly scandals."
"Heh heh, well that's a laugh!"
"They will probably get more involved, and even join Starfleet!"
"What? They declined our invitations for an exchange program twice
before! It... Jesus, Tak, you act like this will all CHANGE!"
"Things have already changed, more and more."
"I'm not convinced... And the Humans now are almost the only ones
with a working fleet!"
"Give it time... And the fleet isn't fully active yet anyway..."
"So, it's fun to see Andorians and Tellarites on Earth?"
"Yes. I'm used to seeing them on various OTHER places... I never dreamed
I'd see them just walking around casually."
"Yep."
"Look at you... They STILL haven't created a new UNITED uniform?"
"You'll see yours soon. But it hasn't been officially introduced yet."
"When will THAT be? I don't like the idea of a Human dominent
Federation!"
"Settle DOWN! And we're still using a lot of Earth ships! They'll be
around for a long time! Let's eat first!"
They ate in silence, Takashi not feeling bothered, but uneasy just the
same...
When they were done, Admiral Baker asked "All done?"
Takashi nodded and Baker said "come with me."
When they left, the Admiral took a small rectangular light gray device
from his pocket and holding it vertically, pressed the pulsating red
rectangular button near the top of the device.
Soon, a small aircar arrived, and Baker said "Okay, let's go."
A little confused, Takashi followed him into the Aircar, which soon
took off.
Later in his office, Takashi, sipping Darjeeling tea and sitting in
a comfortable chair asked "What is this about, Admiral? The Daedalus?"
Looking through the blinds, the Admiral turned around.
"Yes. It IS going online soon."
"When? It's been over a year! It couldn't be going through MUCH of
a refit, now is it?"
"No, it's just been a BEAR moving things along, and we have been
checking the new science facilities on the Daedalus, to prepare
the ship for it's upcoming mission."
"Oh, so it's not a WARSHIP, anymore?"
"Stop that, Captain! We were AT WAR. And we needed every ship,
including your old surveyor, the Socrates. And the Daedalus
only conducted a little bit of scouting before the war was over.
It's fine to abhorr bloodshed, but fighting is sometimes unavoidable."
"Although too MUCH war isn't necessarily a good thing, either."
"How often were we at war after the Kzin raids?"
"What about the Andorian Conflicts?"
"*chuckle* Right, where both sides were spent travelling most of the
entire war? Well, despite your worries of a militaristic Starfleet,
we haven't even BEEN in much, the Romulan War being about the only
exception. I wouldn't worry. It's like you say, give it time."
"...Indeed."
"The Daedalus will be launched in an official ceremony tomorrow."
"What?"
"I'm sorry captain, but-"
"I can't believe that you would take so long to TELL ME!"
"I've been BUSY!"
"With what? Many of our UESN ships are MILITARY vessels, maybe the
Daedalus can be an exploration ship along with it's sister ships,
but what about the USS Dauntless?"
"SETTLE DOWN! We will take TIME, to get settled in our new United
Starfleet, and I know how concerned you are, but it's like you won't
even get rid of some of your old prejudices! The Military isn't just
full of Warmongers, just like some SCIENTISTS areen't all PEACEMONGERS,
and as I said, if this becomes a military dictatorship in five years,
then fair enough, but you're carrying the same old adversarial crap
TOO FAR."
Silence.
Then, finally Takashi said "Fine, Admiral. I am sorry. But look at the
UESPA when it was absorbed into the UESN. It was like it was just
a tool."
"Be patient, Takashi. We don't need to assume yet. It's only the
beginning of a new era!"
Takashi groaned and paused before saying "Will my old crew be on board?"
"Some of them will. Macintyre will stay on, and so has every other
senior officer except chief engineer Venizelos."
"What? He's leaving? Who will be replacing him?"
"Some young fellow, almost a 'boy genius' type."
"What's his name?"
"Ronald something, I'll E-mail it to you later. What's your address?"
"Reachforthestars@Maxas.com"
"Okay."
4/11/2162
When he arrived at Starfleet Headquarters, Makoto Takashi found a lot
of people there.
"Excuse me, are you Captain Makoto Takashi?"
The voice came from a young man, hair almost gone, his voice crackly.
He was holding a narrow box.
"Yes."
"Here. Admiral Baker sent me here with instructions to give you this."
Takashi raised an eyebrow.
"And what is it?"
"It's your new starfleet issue uniform. Here."
He handed the box to Takashi, who eyed it and then moved towards the
bathroom, opening the box.
He gradually put on the uniform: a Cage-era dull gold sweater with
a button-clasp gold collar and silver bands around the wrists, and
a patch resembling a flying man with a command star at the center
on the left breast, followed by a pair of black pants and a pair of
soft, easily flattened black boots made out of something leathery he
couldn't identify.
He looked at himself in the bathroom mirror.
"Damn. I always wondered what the new uniform would be like."
Soon after he left, he saw Admiral Baker coming toward him in a gold
tunic with a sparkly silver collar and tall, vertical connecting
strap going down to the waist from the center of the collar.
There were a pair of strange medals on his left breast: a hollow
centered triangle, and a hollow-centered square, both of which were
dangling.
"Takashi! Damn, you look handsome in that! The new uniforms came in
just in time! Whaddya think of them?"
Takashi looked neutrally at his tunic and said "...Interesting. Where
will the shuttle be?"
Admiral Baker said "Easy, guy. We will hold the commissioning ceremony
at Starburst field, and when we're done, we'll have the shuttle parked
nearby."
Takashi shrugged and said "Okay. When?"
Admiral Baker said "At about 1400, so you're early."
Takashi said "Understood" calmly, and the two walked off together,
chatting.
At Starburst Field on 2 PM, crowds arrived. Humans, Centaurans, Skorr,
Vulcans, Andorians Tellarites, Rigellians and Cygnians.
All of them sat down in a huge collection of folding chairs, divided
in half by a red carpet, many appearing to be excited and the Vulcans
naturally looking calm.
After several minutes of waiting and the humming of small conversations
went on in the audience, Admiral Baker finally arrived at the podium,
clearing his throat and speaking into the microphone, looking into his
prompter:
"Greetings, new citizens of the UNITED... FEDERATION... OF PLANETS!"
The crowd suddenly went silent. Admiral Baker paused and then said:
"We are now at peace after the tiresome struggle with the Romulans.
We have grown tired of being picked apart and facing annihilation, and
now that we have declared a cease fire, we can now move on to other,
more meaningful pursuits!"
Makoto Takashi snorted as Admiral Baker said this. He, along with his
old XO, Daniel Macintyre, new chief engineer, Ronald Fielding, and
Medical Officer, a latino woman named Sandra Dayton.
"Such as... Exploration!!!" A large holographic display lit up behind
Baker. "And now, we have a new fleet of exploration vessels, getting
ready to fly off... from Earth's orbit... into the final frontier!!!"
The holographic display showed a primitive, simplistic, CGI rendered
Daedalus flying through space.
"And the first of these will be remembered forever, as the NCC-150,
USS... DAEDALUS!!!"
The crowd roared with applause as the vessel on the display suddenly
zipped away, not stretching or distorting, but apparently going to
warp.
"And now, this first crew will be on their way... To seek out and
contact strange, alien life forms, and to quote the inventor of Warp
Drive, Zephram Cochrane, To boldly go... Where no man has gone before."
The holographic display slowly shut off.
"And now, it's time for the senior officers of this new star cruiser
to arrive at their vessel shortly!"
Takashi and the rest of the officers slowly got up from their chairs,
and walked off the stage to a nearby Class B Shuttlecraft
After they got in and sat down, The pilot turned his head
around and said "Okay guys, get buckled in".
The passengers of the shuttle connected their seat belts and chest
harnesses.
The passengers were jostled and pulled against their harnesses as
the shuttle took off and travelled upward, eventually escaping the
sphere and going to space, travelling towards an orbital dock.
Soon after the passengers took off their harnesses, Takashi asked
the young Ronald "So, Lieutenant Commander?"
He chuckled at that.
Ronald asked, a little uneasy "Yes, sir?"
Takashi said "I assume it's Lieutenant Commander, those stripes
are unclear to me. Is it?"
Ronald said "Yes, sir. Although I am rather young to have that rank."
Takashi nodded. "I understand, LCDR. How did you earn that rank?"
Ronald said "Well, I enjoyed studying warp flight in high school
and college, eventually I joined the stellar engineering corps,
and my little doodles were hammered out, with help, into what
gradually became the Warp 4 drive."
Takashi's eyes widened. "I see, interesting! I just thought that
a team of white haired old scientists developed it!"
Ronald said "I didn't create it ENTIRELY, I had help from a few others
to flesh it out truly."
Daniel laughed and then said "Damn. And here I thought you were a boy
genius."
Ronald continued. "And last year, when Starfleet was formed, I joined
up. They were a little low on chief engineers."
Takashi raised an eyebrow. "And they needed one of the best
developers of the Warp 4 project to be the Daedalus's new chief
engineer?"
Ronald shrugged and said "I guess, although no one said it to me
directly."
Takashi asked "Have you even been ABOARD a vessel before, let alone
a starship?"
Ronald said "Nope, but i've been looking forward to it."
Takashi smiled "You're in for a treat."
The shuttle slowly arrives at the bay, where the back of the USS
Daedalus is facing it.
A voice calls from the ceiling speaker.
"Shuttlecraft, you are almost ready to land."
"Acknowledged. Open bay doors."
The doors of the Daedalus began to part, revealing a small, gray
bay, forcefields keeping in the atmosphere, and another, almost
identical Class B shuttle was parked facing the doors.
The shuttle flew to the opening, passing through the forcefield,
and landing on the hangar deck on the number one pad.
The pilot said "Okay, everyone, get out!"
The officers got out of the shuttle, looking around and stretching
out.
The officers soon walked to the ladder and climbed up to the shuttle
control tower, and proceeded from it to the turbolift, passing
the crew members operating the hangar doors.
As they entered, Takashi said "Deck 8, Cargo Bays".
For a little while, the turbolift car continued to move onward,
Ronald staring at him, confused.
Then, Takashi smiled and said "You'll see."
Soon, the car stopped at Deck 8, and the officers stepped out.
Ronald saw a bunch of bunk-like structures, each one holding two
stasis booths. There appeared to be about 36 stasis booths in all.
Ronald's eyes widened: "STASIS CHAMBERS?!? I knew the old sleeper
ships had them, but I didn't think-"
Takashi chuckled. "Well, these aren't cryogenic chambers."
Ronald looked at him, puzzled. "They aren't? What else could they be?"
Takashi cleared his throat, and then said "Over a decade ago, these
new stasis chambers were designed to be a more effective, safer way
of preserving the crew, although the Daedalus didn't originally carry
them, they were fitted in as a way of preserving much of the crew,
in anticipation of this cruiser's new mission. We will travel
for a little while at Warp 3, and give the engines a chance to
'warm' up, and then go to Warp 4, where much of the crew will go into
stasis, and then, six months later, they will be let out, and we will
begin regular life aboard."
Ronald, still puzzled, asked "How are these not cryogenics?"
Takashi groaned and said "They actually don't freeze the body
cryogenically, they place a time flow shield around the person, and
following Springfield's law of stasis, it manages to freeze time
within the chamber, so much like x-rays cannot penetrate lead,
time cannot penetrate the stasis field. They are more likely, as
the old 2149 tests show, to preserve the living being without
causing any physical dmage, or even death, as cryogenic booths
tend to do. For you, time will cease to exist, and it will seem
that only a second will pass by before you are freed from stasis,
and you would have had a quantum probability of zero."
Ronald blinked, amazed.
Takashi said "I guess you're more well versed around warp drive."
Ronald said "I guess, but there wasn't any stasis use in the last
decade, so I was amazed that stasis was still part of the plan."
Takashi said "Well, this could easily take decades, and I think that
unlike this and future voyages, the 2150s ships never really had to
journey more than 20 light years away from old Earth."
Daniel asked "Captain, who will stay awake during the trip?"
Takashi turned and responded to his old first officer "Well, Dan,
it will at least be the CMO-"
"Me." said Sandra, pointing to herself.
"Yes, Sandra. She will monitor the occupants periodically, and
you, Ronald, will also stay out, to constantly monitor and adjust
the engines. The marines will also go into stasis, but not on this
deck. There are some other booths on deck 5."
"What about you, sir?" Ronald asked.
Takashi said "I will also go into stasis, and so will Daniel."
Daniel smiled and said "Yes, we will, and it will be an...
interesting experience, although instanteous."
Takashi said "Well, in a few minutes, we're probably going to be
on our way, let's go to our positions, people."
The officers headed back into the turbolift.
The audience from the speech were now in rooms of Starfleet HQ
which had chairs, refreshments for various species, and a wallscreen
showing the Daedalus in the orbital dock from aways away, thanks to a
camera mounted on a CommDrone.
An announcer's voice soon came on the wallscreen speaker:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, now we are witnessing a historic event!"
Makoto Takashi, Daniel Macintyre, Arinda Asephas,
Paul Larson, and Chang Lee are at their stations, Takashi at his
captain's chair, Daniel at his science station, Arinda at her
communications station, and Paul and Chang at navigations and the
helm, respectively.
Takashi nodded and spoke: "Mr. Lee, begin taking us out."
"Aye, sir." The Chinese helmsman began operating his console.
The Daedalus began moving forward.
The announcer yelled out "AND THE DAEDALUS IS BEGINNING TO LEAVE
THE ORBITAL DOCK, THE FIRST STEP... TO A HISTORICAL NEW VOYAGE
IN THE MAKING!!!"
Takashi said to his helmsman, "Go on."
The Daedalus moved gradually faster out of the dock, it's sphere
going past the edge of the orbital facility, than the neck,
and then the stardrive and nacelles...
"The Daedalus is soon going to go to warp!!!"
Takashi look at the back of his navigator's head and said "Paul,
Plot a course, at the edge of known space, past the Rigel system."
"Aye, sir."
The Daedalus now exited the dock entirely.
"And Mr. Chang, go to Warp 3... Engage."
"Aye aye, sir!"
The Daedalus's nacelles soon began to light up, and the vessel went
to warp.
"AND NOW, THE DAEDALUS IS ON IT'S WAY, OFF INTO THE FINAL FRONTIER..."
Makoto Takashi eventually got up.
"Daniel, is there anything to report?"
"No, sir. Just fairly empty space."
"Good. I'll be in the Rec Room soon. We may as well enjoy ourselves
for a little while before going into stasis."
"Aye, sir."