Warp Factor CH 1
Earth, Specifically San Francisco in the year 2403 is one hell of a time to be alive, especially if you were one Ensign Rose, less than two weeks post-graduation from Starfleet Academy. The time just hit seven in the morning and a somewhat obnoxious noise started to emanate throughout the room.
"Computer, that's quite enough, please reset the alarm for five more minutes?" Ensign Rose pleaded to the computer in her apartment.
"Negative, The snooze functions of your alarm were disabled last night" The computer answered back
"Under whose orders?" Ruby asked
"Under the orders of Lieutenant Junior Grade Xiao Long" The computer added "I was also told to remind you that you had to report to Starfleet Command by oh-eight thirty today for your first duty assignment"
Ruby sat up in her bed hurling her blanket and sheets violently into the wall "How in the hell did I forget that. Computer Replicate me a hot coffee using my 'Rose one" instructions Please!"
"Understood, the coffee will be ready for you after you get out of the shower" The computer replied as Ruby already on her feet.
As Ruby peeled off her nightclothes and turned on her shower getting it to just the right temperature she had a pang of regret that this might be the last time in a while she'd be able to enjoy a hot water shower. If she was assigned to a ship she would be consigned to a life of Sonic showers for the next few years at the very least.
Ruby took a second to get a good look at herself, she brushed her shoulder-length hair aside to look at the metal aperture over her left eye and the mechanical contraption that attached the scope to her head.
Ruby was a former member of the Borg. She was told she was assimilated some fourteen years ago and while she barely spent three weeks as a drone by best estimation, it was long enough to strip away the twelve-year-old girl she was, and any memories she once had of her past and replace it with the cold unfeeling mechanical noise of the collective.
After she was "Liberated" from the collective when a federation vessel managed to disable to small Borg ship she was part of. The Starfleet crew had managed to rescue a small handful of the recently assimilated Borg drones on the hive using many of the techniques used to liberate a Borg called Seven of Nine some thirty-odd years before. Ruby, now just a scared 12-year-old girl given a name by the ship's doctor based on her natural hair color.
The Doctor's name, Was Summer Rose, who would adopt her into her family and gave her a new home to grow up in.
Ruby sighed and reached into her medicine cabinet and loaded a hypospray with an anti-rash injection she took regularly as the implants would otherwise itch and cause her to break out in hives. She slipped into her Command division black and red uniform, carefully attached the delta-shaped combadge over her left breast, and put on her ensign pip over on the right side of her neck where the pattern of the uniform was designated. After she got a good look at herself she smiled satisfied.
"Looking sexy, ensign Rose," Ruby said to herself before she laughed at her own admittingly bad joke.
Stepping out of her bathroom and letting her hair stay loose she reached over to the replicator and grabbed her coffee to go before wishing the computer a good day. A second later she stopped and said "Computer, actually depending on how this goes I might be sending someone to get a few things… if I end up shipping off tonight you know?"
"Understood, good luck Ensign." The computer replied.
Fifteen minutes and a quick transporter to Starfleet command later Ensign Ruby was entering the assignments office of Starfleet command, she was taken back by the sheer number of people in the large pavilion-like hall scrambling to the various manned and unmanned Kiosks with Padd's in hand as they tried to help other officers get assigned to postings.
Ruby felt a wave of overwhelming pressure wash over her for a moment as a few officers walked past her doing double-takes at the short woman with the obvious borg implant in her head. Not sure what to do she froze until a familiar voice called out to her
"Ensign Rose, punctual as expected!" Shouted the tall busty woman with blond hair as she approached confidently wearing her operations division yellow highlighted uniform.
"Yang- I mean Ma'am!." Ruby said as she quickly snapped to attention in front of her superior officer.
Yang looked at her adoptive kid sister for a moment before she cracked up "Chill out sis, I still work for a living." Before she walked over and put her sister into a headlock
"Yang, stop, not in front of the other officers!" Ruby pleaded
"Not in front of the officers…?" Yang replied
"Ma'am! Not in front of the officer's Ma'am!" Ruby replied.
Yang laughed as she let her sister go "So I have your padd, you left it at my apartment the other night, and I figured I had better hunt you down. Wouldn't want you not to have your forms all filled out and ready."
Ruby sheepishly took the padd from her sister "Uh… thanks."
As Yang started to lead her sister along she smiled "I'm a little surprised, I know you liked flying but I figured you would have applied for a bridge position."
"Well yeah, I mean as nice as it would be to sit at the controls of an almost 200-year-old Miranda class ship, I kinda wanted to fly something that's a little more… seat of my pants," Ruby said.
"Yeah but a Peregrine wing?" Yang asked, "At least you put a ship's helm position as your second choice."
"I know, I won't sit in a captain's seat from the fighter cockpit sis," Ruby said, "But my instructors did say I was damn good at flying small and fast ships."
"Hey it's your enlistment, not mine, but you'll get bored spending most of your time at a starbase you know."
"Maybe, I don't know, I'll see what happens right?" Ruby said with an overly enthusiastic grin on her face.
"Yeah, I guess we will…" Yang said as the pair finally ended up at the front of a Kiosk where a tired-looking Catalin officer was waiting for them.
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Xiao Long and Ensign Rose, reporting for Duty," Yang said as the pair saluted the Commander
"At ease you two, let's see your pads okay?" The Caitian said as he took the pads from the pair and started to copy their assignments over to the pad.
"Looks like you both hit the jackpot, You both pulled the Beacon." the feline officer said
"The Beacon sir?" Yang asked
"The U.S.S Beacon, one of the only five Jupiter class ships Starfleet is going to be fielding as part of a test-pilot program." The officer said with a slight hint of Jealousy in his voice.
"I… Don't understand sir, I had requested an assignment to a Peregrine Wing." Ruby meekly said.
"Oh, well-read your orders ensign, you did get assigned to a fighter wing under the command of Commander Polendina." the Caitian officer said before he chuckled. "Right, So the Jupiter class is a carrier ship, The first Fleet carrier of its kind in Starfleet. It's a massive beast as well, which is why we only have five of them, you could almost make two heavy cruisers for the material cost of one."
Yang shrugged "Well, looks like you're stuck with me after all rookie, at least I'm finally getting off Earth for a tour."
Ruby on the other hand looked like she was barely containing her excitement over the assignment, she, a fresh-faced nugget was being assigned to an experimental fleet carrier. To Boldly go and fly a fighter to her heart's content!.
"Alright, so your next assignment is to catch Shuttle 229 in… hell, 30 minutes to take the flight to the Utopia Planitia space docks at Mars." Sorry, kiddo's they didn't really give you two a lot of lead time, I can have you beamed to the shuttle yard if you want?"
"Don't worry about it, I want to make sure the Academy finally whipped this ball of cookie dough into shape, Start jogging ensign, we can make it if we run!" Yang said with a smirk
"Yes Ma'am," Ruby said with a Wink as the pair started to run from the Assignment center.
As the Caitian watched the pair leave he tapped his combadge "Alright commander, I got the borg ensign assigned to the Beacon as you requested, is there a reason you wanted her specifically"
"Need to know my friend…" The male voice from the other side said
"And I don't need to know, Got it…" The Caitian said back.
"See, this is why you should consider a position change" The voice chuckled
"Hard pass. I want nothing more to do with your 'department' than I already do."
"Your choice, enjoy the rest of the shift commander." The voice said before ending the call
29 minutes and 30 seconds late the pair of sisters had made it padd's in hand to the shuttle yards. They were quickly checked in by the exhausted-looking Pilot and quickly loaded onboard the shuttle before he said "Alright, the five of you are the last official crew shuttle headed to the Beacon, estimated flight time to mars is one hour, and we don't do in-flight movies, so sit back and get friendly, I won't be taking questions"
Ruby tried to size up the situation, sitting in seats was in no particular order, a felinoid girl in a black and red command uniform with an ensign pip on, a blue and black uniformed Vulcan with an unusual white hair color, and a blonde hair man leaning back in his seat with his eyes closed in a command division uniform with a commander rank on his uniform.
"Fascinating, I had not heard we were getting a former Borg officer on this ship," The Vulcan woman said.
"Uh, hi, I'm Ensign Rose," Ruby said slightly bashfully.
"Ensign Schnee, Science division." The Vulcan said back, This is Ensign Belladonna from one of the outer colonies.
"I know, I don't look like any species you're aware of, my father was a Caitian and my mother was human." Ensign Belladonna said.
"She's volunteered that fact to everyone who's so much as made eye contact with her." Ensign Schnee responded.
"Well, People keep looking at me trying to figure out why I have Caitian ears and a tail." Ensign Belladonna responded.
"Well let's cut the rank crap out then, I'm Yang, the overly shy Borg is my younger sister Ruby, and I'm told she doesn't have the tubes so she won't assimilate any of you," Yang said as she spoke. "She's going to part of the fighter wing, and I'm going to be ship security.
"Which wing?" the previously quiet Blonde-haired commander said.
"I'm, sorry?" Ruby said.
"The Beacon is going to have two fighters wings of six fighters each, with another dozen pilots and fighters on reserve." the commander said.
"I'm sorry I…" Ruby said as she skimmed her pad nervously "I'm supposed to report for Commander Polendina once I'm on ship?"
The commander flashed a warm smile "Ah Penny's wing, yeah they had a dire need of pilots" The commander said. "I'm sorry I haven't introduced myself, Commander Arc, Second officer of the Beacon" Commander Arc said as he extended a hand to Ruby.
"Um yes sir, likewise," Ruby said as she shook the tall broad shoulder man's hand.
"Relax Ensign, you made it as far as the shuttle, as long as you don't do anything that kills any fellow officers or makes me have to fill out any paperwork, you'll do just fine." the commander said.
Ruby straightened up "Yes sir!"
Yang reached over and dope slapped Ruby "So if you're here then who's taking your old post back on the Atlas Jaune?"
"Not my problem, I'm just glad I'm not answering to Admiral Ironwood anymore." Commander Arc Said.
"Uh, you two know each other?" Ruby asked.
"Yeah, the commander here mentored me for a while in the Academy before he shipped off to the Atlas." Yang said "Oh by the way, did I mention that this is my younger sister commander"
Jaune chuckled "Lordy I get my ass busted for a relationship once…"
"With the daughter of an ambassador from Betazed…" Yang interrupted.
"she was not part of my chain of command," Jaune added. "I don't date anyone with fewer pips than me"
"Who taught you that one sir" Yang asked
"That would be Admiral Ironwood actually… right before he ordered me on a punishment detail for a month painting the ship after my normal shift." Commander Arc said as he glanced at the Other Girls on the ship who were growing increasingly flabbergasted.
"At ease, you two, did you guys forget that we are all, how did you put it, Yang, 'cutting the rank crap'?" Jaune said
"Sir, yes sir," Yang said with a playful smirk.
Commander Arc smirked "Now if we're telling stories I could tell the others about that one thing with Ensign Nep-"
"Sir I will gladly accept the court-martial if you finish that sentence," Yang said as she covered the commander's mouth.
Ruby stammered "Yang… you're threatening a Su-Superior off-officer!"
"Relax ensign, it's an old inside joke between us." Commander Arc said. "Jeez did you not tell her anything?"
"I wanted her to take her time at the Academy more seriously than I did," Yang said.
"You're a security officer, most of your training was point and shoot and learning the regulations." Commander Arc said
"I'm also a Tactical station certified as well, that took a bit more effort to achieve," Yang said back.
Jaune was about to say something when the pilot shouted back "Commander Arc, we are preparing to dock, might want to have to get your professional faces back on."
"I'm impressed, that was supposed to be an hour flight, we were only flying for about forty minutes," Jaune said.
"Well don't tell anyone I went a hair above the speed limit to get you lot off my shuttle!" The pilot clapped back.
"Well excellent work regardless of the reasons," Jaune said. "If the four of you will join me on the starboard side you can get a first look at your new home."
The four officers rushed to the other side of the shuttle and gawked out the windows. They got the first good look at the Beacon as they were flying past it. The Ship itself was massive, being larger than even a Galaxy-class vessel, and looked like one could fit an entire Intrepid class vessel in the main Hull. Not sporting a traditional Saucer section onboard, instead the main full had a look of almost like a flying bathtub with a lid on it with a pair of Sovereign-style vaccines on the back
Yang gawked at the sight of the ship "God that's a big ship"
Jaune said back, "Damn right it is, when you consider it's designed to house two fighter wings with spares, or two small support frigates, it has to be massive, it also has to be massive to house the warp core needed to power the damn thing."
Blake asked "Sir how does she handle?" the rookie conn officer asked
"Honestly? She makes the Galaxy-class feel like a damn Saber-class by comparison" Jaune said. "It takes about a full minute and change to bring her about. But considering she's only there to get the fighters into the fight and hit back with its phaser banks, front, and rear torpedo launchers, and a minelayer, you don't need to turn on a dime."
Blake got a look of apprehension on her face "And I'm going to fly that monster…"
"You'll be fine Ensign, you came highly recommended and you showed off some serious skills at flying cruiser hulls at the academy," Jaune said back.
"You won't be bored either my quiet Vulcan friend," Jaune said "We have a full Astrometrics suite and state a state of the art sensor grid that can be used to scan all kind of weird multicolored clouds we fly near when it's not being used to direct fighter traffic."
Ensign Weiss simply raised an eyebrow "At least my talents will not be fully wasted on this assignment then."
As the ship made its last pass around the ship, as is tradition, the shuttle started to turn towards one of the Beacon's two large forcefield openings on the side of the ship leading to a truly staggering fighter bay. Ruby openly gawked watching the inside of the window as a pair of fighters flew in from the other side and pulled into berths specifically designed to host them.
"The Main drive section of this ship is about 650 meters long, and yes I am aware that the nose to nacelle length of a Galaxy Class vessel is a few meters shy of that, the hanger bay itself is about 500 meters long and doubles as a shuttle bay, loading and unloading bay for cargo and takes up two full decks of the ships 30 decks," Jaune explained to the officers.
"I'm in heaven…" Ruby said
"Enjoy your time in it, once the honeymoon is over you're hopefully going to find the assignment slightly dull," Jaune said, patting ruby on the shoulder. "Meanwhile I need to report to the bridge, I'll leave you all to find your way to your quarters to unpack."
As commander Arc left leaving the four junior officers standing around gawking, they glanced at each other. "Ruby, maybe you should go report to the CAG commander, I need to go check into security."
Ruby was already so far gone she didn't even hear her sister.
Yang smiled as she walked off with Weiss and Blake…
Welcome to the first Chapter of Warp Factor, a Crossover between Rwby and Star Trek, I wasn't planning on incorporating any canon characters from the Star Trek universe outside of some name drops so I didn't feel like it would have been appropriate to flag this as a crossover fic. this story however is going to reference events from the various parts of Star Trek lore otherwise so if any questions come up and you don't want to look at a wiki, drop them in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them as they come. I plan on dividing up this story into a pair of separate stories. Team Rwby serves the sort of "Lower decks" crew, while Team JNPR serve as the Traditional Bridge staff the shows tend to reflect off of.
As this is the first chapter of this fic, I don't have any comments to respond to, so i'll use this spot to plug my recently complete fic "A Silent and Monochrome world" also the same site, and if you like how this is starting, I invite you to stick around and see where the Voyages of the U.S.S Beacon take our heroes.