p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Chapter 1/span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"A sea of people calmly walk forward, all hoping to get a good seat in the auditorium. Celia Murray is one of the first people on the scene. When a disciplinary hearing is called, you might as well have a good seat so you can hear what's happening. She scrunches her nose as all the bodies around her press against everybody. Celia finds a seat near the front. A little further ahead she sees James Kirk sitting next to Leonard McCoy. They are talking about something./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia closes her eyes for a moment, as she waits for the people in the back to find a seat. After a while, the murmurs subside and it becomes very quiet. Celia opens her eyes. Their teachers are filing in the room. In a moment it will become clear why they are all here. She's curious, and ready./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Admiral Richard Barnett, the head of Starfleet Academy, leans forward to address the situation. em"This session has been called to resolve a troubling matter. James T. Kirk, step forward."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia breathes in sharply in surprise. She knows James Kirk, he's a cocky guy in her year. At the moment he's studying to become a Commanding Officer. She occasionally helps him out, for example during his first go at the Kobayashi Maru simulation. It was a tense situation, and they failed the test. She remembered how pissed he was after that, and she heard later that he went back twice after that. Twice!/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Kirk steps forward, and he seems ready to defend himself./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Yes, I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly." /emThe cheek of him! Celia can't believe it. But the Admiral allows it, and a fellow in grey approaches the podium. Celia knows him, he's the Vulcan known as Commander Spock./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"To be honest, both Kirk and Spock have a good point. She understands what the purpose of the test is, the fear thing, but she admires how Kirk keeps trying. She remembers the simulation, it was bloody terrifying! No matter how good they were at their job, they lost anyway. Celia remembers coming out of the building on that day, feeling utterly drained. It was like a rite of passage, this can't be a Starfleet officer unless you went through that horror show./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Footsteps bring Celia back to the present. As she opens her eyes, she sees an aide walking to Admiral Barnett. Suddenly the energy level in the room rises. Everybody's hairs stand on end. The man bends down and whispers something to the Admiral./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"We've received a distress call from Vulcan."/em Admiral Barnett states. em"With our primary fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, I hereby order all cadets to report to Hangar One immediately. Dismissed."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks down at the Vulcan Commander. It's just a nervous response, and then she looks behind her at a filled auditorium. It's going to take ages for her to get to Hangar One./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"-/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Marrow, Seth... USS Vader. Mitchell, Fergus... USS Hood. Murray, Celia... USS Enterprise. "/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia makes her way to shuttlecraft Gilliam, which will take her to the USS Enterprise. The man in front of the shuttlecraft is taking names on his little clipboard. She shuffles up at the end of the line. After a few minutes, it's her turn./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"With a deep breath, she announces herself. em"Lieutenant Murray, Security Officer."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The man types on his little pad and says em"Chief Security Officer, actually."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks up, but she's not very surprised. She knows her teachers think she's very competent, and obviously they need to fill some empty positions. She would have liked a little warning though, but she's keen to get started./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She ducks and walks in. As she passes all the nervous faces, she notices Uhura clicking her safety belt in place a little further ahead./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Hey."/em Celia says. Uhura looks up and smiles when she sees who it is./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Hey! Lovely to see you. Strap in!"/em She motions to the empty seat to her right. Celia sits down and reaches for the belt./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The look on Uhura's face is a mixture of nervousness and excitement. em"I'm very glad we managed to get on the Enterprise. I think it's the best ship."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"One click later, and Celia looks up. em"I think you're right, This is the nicest ship to be assigned to."/em She hesitates for a "Can I just be nervous to you for a second?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Uhura looks at Celia. She can see her friend is anxious. em"Sure, what's wrong?" /emShe asks./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"They made me Chief Security Officer."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"This makes Uhura's face light up like a candle. em"That's great!"/em She pets Celia's knee affectionally. em"You deserve it girl."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"I'm just a bit nervous. It's a big ship, and it'll be my job to lead an entire team."/em Celia breathes out, shakily./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Didn't you do that on the two last missions we flew?"/em Uhura responds, obviously trying to make her friend more at ease./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The tannoy creaks to "Prepare for take off."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks forward. Her nerves have gone down a little bit. em"I'm sure you're right. Thanks love!"/em Suddenly the shuttle craft starts humming gently, and they come loose from the earth. With a hum and several sumach's dropping, they fly up towards the sky./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"They quickly make their way to the black void that is space, and both Uhura and Celia gasp in admiration as they approach the Enterprise. It's the most impressive ship they have ever seen. It's absolutely enormous and so smooth. They look at each other in glee, happy to finally go on an important mission. This is what they have studied for all these years./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The shuttlecraft lands in the shuttle bay. The people inside hear the craft hiss as it lands onto the platform, and Uhura and Celia look at each other./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"You're ready for this. Just relax."/em Uhura tells her friend./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia smiles at Uhura. em"Thank you. The best of luck to you! You know you can pull this off."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Disembark and find your stations."/em they hear over the tannoy. em"Lift off in 10 minutes."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia sighs. em"Fantastic. 10 minutes to get the team organised. Is a little notice too much to ask for?"/em She smiles at Uhura as she gets up. em"I'd best get to it. Good luck!"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia quickly makes her way through the crowd in the Shuttle Bay, looking for the team of red shirts she's now in charge of. She takes out her Communicator, and flicks it open./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Lieutenant Murray for Security crew."/em The little blue ball flickers to life. em"Report at room O75 in 2 minutes for the preliminary briefing. Murray out."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia takes a deep breath as she puts the Communicator away. She's nervous. When she arrives, most of her team is already there. She recognises most of them, and notices how Hendorff is glaring at her. She realises he had hoped to lead the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"No such luck, Celia thinks, as she takes a deep breath./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"You should all have received the department you are responsible for. Make sure you stay in pairs and keep your communicator at your person at all times."/em She looks everybody in the eyes and goes "We don't know what will happen when we reach Vulcan, so take a look at the team of red shirts around you."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She pauses as everybody looks at their neighbours. There are some awkward smiles, and a few soft whispers./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"This is your team now, and we are going to make sure no threat enters this ship. I am going to report to Captain Pike. Good luck all."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She stays near the door, so she can politely nod at her team when they walk past. You know, like a powermove! Once everybody is gone, Celia quickly makes her way to the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She walks past people in blue and red, all scurrying around and being busy. She walks into the bridge and sees Captain Pike walking in his yellow shirt. He sees her approaching and nods./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Security report, Lieutenant Murray."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She takes her communicator out, pushes some buttons, and looks up into his blue eyes. He's waiting, patiently./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"All of my operatives are in position throughout the ship." /emCelia tells himem. "I have a team of 2 on standby close to the bridge."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Captain Pike nods, smiling. em"Well done Lieutenant. Keep them in line."/em He then looks to the main screen and dismisses her. em"Mister Spock."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks on as Mister Spock gives his report and Captain Pike sits down in his chair. She takes her place on the bridge and takes control of one of the screens. She gets in contact with all of her operatives in the ship, and they all reply. Everything is in order. But of course, they haven't actually taken off yet. It would be really bad if they were having issues at this point./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The ship doesn't quite take off. Something has gone wrong. Celia tears her gaze away from the status reports from down in Engineering, and looks over her shoulder. Hikaru Sulu, Helmsman McKenna's replacement, is having some issues. Poor bloke./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Spock weights in, and obviously he's giving the right answer. Sulu turns, presses some buttons and looks a little embarrassed. em"Ready for warp, sir."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Captain Pike responds with em"Let's punch it."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"And then they enter warp. It's always a nice feeling when that happens. There is a sort of pressure that you feel in your chest, but it quickly goes away. When your body has adapted, you can start to walk around again. Celia turns back to the screen. She has a status report to check. Behind her she hears Chekov make his announcement./span/p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"A sea of people calmly walk forward, all hoping to get a good seat in the auditorium. Celia Murray is one of the first people on the scene. When a disciplinary hearing is called, you might as well have a good seat so you can hear what's happening. She scrunches her nose as all the bodies around her press against everybody. Celia finds a seat near the front. A little further ahead she sees James Kirk sitting next to Leonard McCoy. They are talking about something./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia closes her eyes for a moment, as she waits for the people in the back to find a seat. After a while, the murmurs subside and it becomes very quiet. Celia opens her eyes. Their teachers are filing in the room. In a moment it will become clear why they are all here. She's curious, and ready./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Admiral Richard Barnett, the head of Starfleet Academy, leans forward to address the situation. em"This session has been called to resolve a troubling matter. James T. Kirk, step forward."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia breathes in sharply in surprise. She knows James Kirk, he's a cocky guy in her year. At the moment he's studying to become a Commanding Officer. She occasionally helps him out, for example during his first go at the Kobayashi Maru simulation. It was a tense situation, and they failed the test. She remembered how pissed he was after that, and she heard later that he went back twice after that. Twice!/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Kirk steps forward, and he seems ready to defend himself./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p3" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Yes, I believe I have the right to face my accuser directly." /emThe cheek of him! Celia can't believe it. But the Admiral allows it, and a fellow in grey approaches the podium. Celia knows him, he's the Vulcan known as Commander Spock./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"To be honest, both Kirk and Spock have a good point. She understands what the purpose of the test is, the fear thing, but she admires how Kirk keeps trying. She remembers the simulation, it was bloody terrifying! No matter how good they were at their job, they lost anyway. Celia remembers coming out of the building on that day, feeling utterly drained. It was like a rite of passage, this can't be a Starfleet officer unless you went through that horror show./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Footsteps bring Celia back to the present. As she opens her eyes, she sees an aide walking to Admiral Barnett. Suddenly the energy level in the room rises. Everybody's hairs stand on end. The man bends down and whispers something to the Admiral./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"We've received a distress call from Vulcan."/em Admiral Barnett states. em"With our primary fleet engaged in the Laurentian system, I hereby order all cadets to report to Hangar One immediately. Dismissed."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks down at the Vulcan Commander. It's just a nervous response, and then she looks behind her at a filled auditorium. It's going to take ages for her to get to Hangar One./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"-/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Marrow, Seth... USS Vader. Mitchell, Fergus... USS Hood. Murray, Celia... USS Enterprise. "/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia makes her way to shuttlecraft Gilliam, which will take her to the USS Enterprise. The man in front of the shuttlecraft is taking names on his little clipboard. She shuffles up at the end of the line. After a few minutes, it's her turn./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"With a deep breath, she announces herself. em"Lieutenant Murray, Security Officer."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The man types on his little pad and says em"Chief Security Officer, actually."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks up, but she's not very surprised. She knows her teachers think she's very competent, and obviously they need to fill some empty positions. She would have liked a little warning though, but she's keen to get started./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She ducks and walks in. As she passes all the nervous faces, she notices Uhura clicking her safety belt in place a little further ahead./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Hey."/em Celia says. Uhura looks up and smiles when she sees who it is./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Hey! Lovely to see you. Strap in!"/em She motions to the empty seat to her right. Celia sits down and reaches for the belt./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The look on Uhura's face is a mixture of nervousness and excitement. em"I'm very glad we managed to get on the Enterprise. I think it's the best ship."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"One click later, and Celia looks up. em"I think you're right, This is the nicest ship to be assigned to."/em She hesitates for a "Can I just be nervous to you for a second?"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Uhura looks at Celia. She can see her friend is anxious. em"Sure, what's wrong?" /emShe asks./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"They made me Chief Security Officer."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"This makes Uhura's face light up like a candle. em"That's great!"/em She pets Celia's knee affectionally. em"You deserve it girl."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"I'm just a bit nervous. It's a big ship, and it'll be my job to lead an entire team."/em Celia breathes out, shakily./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Didn't you do that on the two last missions we flew?"/em Uhura responds, obviously trying to make her friend more at ease./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The tannoy creaks to "Prepare for take off."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks forward. Her nerves have gone down a little bit. em"I'm sure you're right. Thanks love!"/em Suddenly the shuttle craft starts humming gently, and they come loose from the earth. With a hum and several sumach's dropping, they fly up towards the sky./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"They quickly make their way to the black void that is space, and both Uhura and Celia gasp in admiration as they approach the Enterprise. It's the most impressive ship they have ever seen. It's absolutely enormous and so smooth. They look at each other in glee, happy to finally go on an important mission. This is what they have studied for all these years./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The shuttlecraft lands in the shuttle bay. The people inside hear the craft hiss as it lands onto the platform, and Uhura and Celia look at each other./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"You're ready for this. Just relax."/em Uhura tells her friend./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia smiles at Uhura. em"Thank you. The best of luck to you! You know you can pull this off."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Disembark and find your stations."/em they hear over the tannoy. em"Lift off in 10 minutes."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia sighs. em"Fantastic. 10 minutes to get the team organised. Is a little notice too much to ask for?"/em She smiles at Uhura as she gets up. em"I'd best get to it. Good luck!"/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia quickly makes her way through the crowd in the Shuttle Bay, looking for the team of red shirts she's now in charge of. She takes out her Communicator, and flicks it open./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p4" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Lieutenant Murray for Security crew."/em The little blue ball flickers to life. em"Report at room O75 in 2 minutes for the preliminary briefing. Murray out."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia takes a deep breath as she puts the Communicator away. She's nervous. When she arrives, most of her team is already there. She recognises most of them, and notices how Hendorff is glaring at her. She realises he had hoped to lead the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"No such luck, Celia thinks, as she takes a deep breath./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"You should all have received the department you are responsible for. Make sure you stay in pairs and keep your communicator at your person at all times."/em She looks everybody in the eyes and goes "We don't know what will happen when we reach Vulcan, so take a look at the team of red shirts around you."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She pauses as everybody looks at their neighbours. There are some awkward smiles, and a few soft whispers./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"This is your team now, and we are going to make sure no threat enters this ship. I am going to report to Captain Pike. Good luck all."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She stays near the door, so she can politely nod at her team when they walk past. You know, like a powermove! Once everybody is gone, Celia quickly makes her way to the class="Apple-converted-space" /span/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She walks past people in blue and red, all scurrying around and being busy. She walks into the bridge and sees Captain Pike walking in his yellow shirt. He sees her approaching and nods./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"Security report, Lieutenant Murray."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"She takes her communicator out, pushes some buttons, and looks up into his blue eyes. He's waiting, patiently./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"em"All of my operatives are in position throughout the ship." /emCelia tells himem. "I have a team of 2 on standby close to the bridge."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Captain Pike nods, smiling. em"Well done Lieutenant. Keep them in line."/em He then looks to the main screen and dismisses her. em"Mister Spock."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Celia looks on as Mister Spock gives his report and Captain Pike sits down in his chair. She takes her place on the bridge and takes control of one of the screens. She gets in contact with all of her operatives in the ship, and they all reply. Everything is in order. But of course, they haven't actually taken off yet. It would be really bad if they were having issues at this point./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"The ship doesn't quite take off. Something has gone wrong. Celia tears her gaze away from the status reports from down in Engineering, and looks over her shoulder. Hikaru Sulu, Helmsman McKenna's replacement, is having some issues. Poor bloke./span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Spock weights in, and obviously he's giving the right answer. Sulu turns, presses some buttons and looks a little embarrassed. em"Ready for warp, sir."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"Captain Pike responds with em"Let's punch it."/em/span/p
p class="p2" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000; min-height: 14px;" /p
p class="p1" style="margin: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; font-family: Helvetica; -webkit-text-stroke-color: #000000;"span class="s1" style="font-kerning: none;"And then they enter warp. It's always a nice feeling when that happens. There is a sort of pressure that you feel in your chest, but it quickly goes away. When your body has adapted, you can start to walk around again. Celia turns back to the screen. She has a status report to check. Behind her she hears Chekov make his announcement./span/p