2406
“So, this is Houston.”
Lt. Shayla Redwolf crossed her arms, leaning back in the shuttle’s co-pilot seat, and took it all in.
“Yeap, Gagarin-class … or at least she looks like one on the outside,” the pilot noted.
“Also not ready for active duty yet,” he added.
Nothing Shae didn’t already know as when researching her new posting, she’d learned that something about the experimental pylons the engineers fitted into her experimental design had caused a shimmying vibration that had grown steadily the faster they’d accelerated during initial space trials.
So, Houston had been forced back to drydock where ultimately those same pylons had to be removed and a different design installed.
The question now was if those different pylons could handle the forces generated by type of nacelle they were trying to use for this modified class.
But that was for the engineers to decide. She would be reporting to Capt. James Henry as his new CTO … aka. Chief Tactical Officer.
As if accenting the pilot’s early words, a shuttlepod separated itself from a starboard docking port, fired thrusters and closed the distance between them, passing rather close as it buzzed its way back towards … wherever it was headed to.
Pilot clicked open a channel.
“Johan, what did I tell you about trying to play chicken with me? You KNOW I’d rather crash the ship than lose.”
Shae’s tactical mind noted the conversation and shuttlepod somewhat absently, her eyes elsewhere.
“Can we do a visual inspection of the ship before heading in?” she asked at last.
“Sure,” the pilot said, hands moving across his board to alter approach.
“Anything in particular you wanna see?”
“Gunports and weaponry emplacements, followed by deflector array and shield emitters,” she answered, already pulling her pad from bag to make notes as they went.
It was precisely one hour, thirteen minutes later that she found her way to the captain’s ready room and reported in … at the appointed time precisely, it should be noted.
“Lt. Shayla Atsila Redwolf reported as ordered, Captain.”
“Pleasure,” the Captain returned, gesturing for her to take the seat in front of his desk.
The half Rigellian, half human named Capt. James Draljo Henry was half Rigellian, half human.
Something Shae respected as she herself was half human, half Romulan.
He accepted her offered padd that contained both orders and personnel file, placing it on his desk beside the mountain of such already there.
“You are Shallana’s daughter, aren’t you?” he asked, leaning back in his chair.
Shae cracked slightly, reminded of those she’d wish she could have shared this day with.
Nodding, it took a few seconds before she found words and could croak out a simple … “Yes, sir.”
“I served with her aboard the Verity during the Romulan evacuations,” he returned, his eyes taking on a sad cast.
“Both her and your father, Ahlan, actually,” he added. “Good people. … Was very sorry to hear of their loss a few years back.”
Shae looked towards the carpeting a moment before pulling herself rather quickly back together and raising her eyes back to those of her captain once more.
“Thank you, Captain,” she said, putting on a sad smile.
“They are part of the reason I joined Starfleet … Well, my mother anyway.”
In truth, her father had been an officer in the Imperial Navy before the destruction of the Romulan homeworld. After that, he’d managed to muster out and as a civilian, assist with aiding in the refugee evacuations.
That’s how her parents first met.
“Both … good, good people,” the captain repeated. “Your father may have been Romulan Navy, but her served with honor before he mustered out.”
And both would be proud of you right now, sitting in that chair following in THEIR footsteps,” he added.
“But they are not why I chose you specifically for this billet,” he said, moving on.
“Now, tell me about your time aboard the Lexington …”
2407
Things were going smoothly, so to speak.
It had taken another four months before they’d managed to get the Sam Houston out into space again and then another four months of fine tuning her systems, so they all played nice together.
The Gagarin-class was historically created to serve Starfleet and the Federation as a battleship … a ship of war.
It was a byproduct of the hawkish ones in Starfleet who had felt (in the wake of the Dominion War, destruction of Romulus and the Synth attack on Mars) deterrence was a valuable tool for protecting the Federation and it’s interests.
It had taken time but ultimately, cooler and more visionary voices had been heard in seeking more ships designed for being out there among the stars performing Starfleet’s original mandate of seeking out new life and new civilizations while learning all that could be learned, seeing all there was to see.
The Sam Houston was an attempt to use what they already had as a platform for doing just that.
So while still under construction, design engineers gathered around and sought ways to turn the Gagarian-class warship into a science spearhead geared for deep space exploration – Houston serving as the testbed prototype.
In addition to extensive new sensor arrays, she held a new type of deflector, engines and warp core just to name a few of the new bells and whistles.
Those fell mainly to the engineering and science departments aboard ship to worry about.
Shae spent more time worrying about the new weaponry being tested as well as how to help make those same tactical systems mesh well with the previously stated deflector, engines, warp core, etc., as if they didn’t play nice together. … Well, there was that time during a weapons test that one system overloaded several others and they had to be towed back into port to have it all ironed out.
But once the hiccups were smoothed out, the Sam Houston began purring.
From her station on the bridge, the newly minted lieutenant commander continued work on a new attack pattern she was developing that would better harmonize firing patterns with the new quickstep thrusters that helped increase the ship’s turn rate and maneuverability.
That’s when an alert sounded on her panel.
Up until now, it had been a relatively quiet day.
“Captain, sensors are detecting an anomaly forming along the northern edge of the Moskoe Anchorage,” she reported.
“Confirmed, Captain,” reported their Chief Science Officer, a Caitian named S’Rasian. “And it’s signature is very unusual with energy readings off the scale.”
The large feline looked over to Shae, “Are you seeing this?”
Shae’s fingers were busy attempting to merge the tactical sensors with those of science to cut through the interference being generated by … whatever it was out there.
“Trying to clear up the readings a little more, but it’s hard going,” she returned finally.
That’s when the second alarm sounded, sounding a bit more intense.
“Captain, we’re now getting readings not unlike those generated by the spacial anomaly investigated by Stargazer in 2401.”
And that was all the captain needed to hear.
“Get Starfleet Command on the horn and find out just what starships are within this region,” he ordered.
“We might need them,” he added.
Ever since the incident with the Stargazer, Starfleet realized just how much of a threat phenomenons like this might be.
Not just because of dangers surrounding the event itself, but what might come out of it.
Yes, with the Stargazer, what came out to say hello turned out to be friendly, but one can’t always assume that might be the case.
“Shae, take us to yellow alert and have your finger hovering over the red when we arrive,” Capt. Henry ordered.
“Helm, set course for the anomaly … Warp 8,” he said. “Want to give Command a chance to respond before we go charging in.”
Respectfully,
— Ka’nej Hauk
Out of Story
In the next posting from this story arc, things will begin to get rather interesting as events begin heating up.