The Swallows Boldly Go

Ensign Roger, seven, and no longer the youngest in the family, was inside the station. Technically he had no need of his EVA suit, but Captain John had told him he needed to practice if he was to be included in the away mission. When he saw his mother, he was tempted to release the maglocks as she clearly had a communique from Starfleet Command, but Titty had warned him that even though mother was a civilian, it did not mean she wasn't an academy instructor in disguise, so he carried on. Finally, once he judged that he was near enough to their quarters to have demonstrated that he was competent, he became just Roger again and ran to her.

'What does it say, are we allowed to go?'

'Transmission from the Star ship withheld for security reasons: Better decompressed than duffers, if not duffers won't decompress,' replied mother.

Roger had not yet learned officer code so was at a loss. 'What does that mean?'

'It means the mission can precede if you prove to be space worthy.'

Roger remembered that he was a junior officer and asked if he should report to the Captain.

'Yes, where are they?'

'In Stellar Cartography observing the Darien Belt!'

Mother, kissed Roger in a most un-Starfleet manner and told him to make sure they were all back in time to not disturb the ship's baby (whose current designation was Vicky, for reasons Roger couldn't grasp).

Roger went as quickly as possible to the view screen halfway across the station where he knew he would find the rest of the ship's complement. They were looking at the asteroid belt, but more thinking beyond it to the moon of a Gas Giant that lay beyond it.

When they had first gone from Earth to meet mother, they had been excited to be on a space station but had quickly discovered that this was a very minor station with scarcely no traffic, and no aliens, as far as they could tell.

Lieutenant Titty had read of Deep Space 9 and was hoping for Ferengi and Cardassians but reflected that their present station was no more interesting than being on Earth, but without even having oceans and mountains.

This all changed when they found the planet (Commander Susan reminded them occasionally that it was actually a moon, but they ignored that). Once they had discovered a virtually deserted planet with a breathable-ish atmosphere, how could they be happy with a mere space station?

Roger delivered his report as soon as possible, 'Better decompressed than duffers, if not duffers won't decompress.' The Captain and First officer looked as confused as Roger had been, but Lieutenant Titty, as befitted someone who was going to be a Starfleet communications officer instantly deciphered the code.

'Daddy is saying that we're better dead than incompetent, but as we aren't, we won't die.'

Captain John instantly reflected on the responsibility of his command. He trusted the First Officer as much as himself, but the Lieutenant and Ensign really were quite green. As much to reassure himself as anything he asked Commander Susan to give a report of the ship's complement. His first officer had been giving this some thought and replied:

Captain John Walker: Helmsman and Chief of Security of the Star ship Swallow and the away mission to observe unknown planet.

Commander Susan Walker: First officer, Medical officer and Cook of the above ship and mission.

Lieutenant Titty Walker: Officer in charge of Communications and Cartography.

Ensign Roger Walker.

'Number 1, what is your opinion of the capabilities of the crew?'

'The best that Starfleet has to offer,' replied the Commander, ignoring her superior officer's look.

Not entirely reassured, John went on to more confident grounds,

'A ship's crew is only as good as its ship, let's go and inspect the SS Swallow' …...

Crew Manifests, though important, are but a small part of the success of an away mission.

The next morning, the Swallows and Mother went to the docking ports to inspect their ship. The Swallow was an obsolete Type 5 shuttle, with its weapons removed and only capable of Warp 3, but to them it was the finest ship in the fleet.

Lieutenant Jackson, who was in charge of the craft owned by the station, had initially been sceptical of the wisdom of lending a ship to children, but their father was an eminent Captain of a Galaxy-class Starship, so his opinion did not much matter. He had quickly realised however that the eldest son was clearly destined to be an officer of renown as well, so had become an enthusiastic supporter of their mission.

They had been inside the Swallow many times, but 'looking around a shuttlecraft' and 'inspecting the ship in which you are about to embark on an important away mission' are two very different things. Mother allowed them to enjoy this before asking to enter the ship.

'Permission to come aboard, Captain Walker!'

'Absolutely, you're the Admiral coming to inspect the ships under her command,' replied John, suddenly realising the responsibility he now had. 'Should we go on a test flight now?'

'Yes, I'd like to be with you the first time.'

John had helmed ships at low impulse many times, so was not nervous of his ability to pilot the Swallow for a short journey around the station, but an Admiral was now onboard, so he was determined to do things properly.

'Number 1, are the crew ready to proceed?'

'Aye, aye, sir' came Susan's slightly nervous response.

John asked, and was granted, Lieutenant Jackson's permission to leave the station and slowly steered the Swallow away. The only problems leaving the station would be other ships being around, but this being a very minor space station there were no other craft about.

John knew that Mother was mainly watching for his ability to return the ship to the station, so after taking a leisurely orbit of the station, he headed towards the docking port and concentrated on remembering everything he had practiced on the holodeck. It was all about getting the speed right, the direction perfect, and asking for the right permissions at the right time. He had gone over this with Lieutenant Jackson many times.

On their safe return, they went straight back to their quarters. John's main part of the preparations had ended, it was now Commander Susan's time to prove that the mission was viable.

Susan regarded replicators as cheating. They were for food when you couldn't be bothered to cook. So, whilst she had checked that they were working on the Swallow and that it was equipped with emergency rations, she consulted the station's computer for practical advice on actual food that she could take. John and Roger were confident that they would be able to hunt native food successfully; but Susan was not entirely convinced, so was planning ahead.

Between them, Mother and Lieutenant Jackson got together all the equipment the Swallows hadn't thought of. Whilst she had told them to sleep in the Swallow, Mother remembered her own childhood and made sure that emergency shelters for sleeping outside the ship were in perfect order.

All this time, Lieutenant Titty had not been idle. She'd searched out charts for their journey and possible alien species they might meet along the way (admittedly very few). She alternated between wishing that the planet was completely deserted and hoping it was full of a previously unknown intelligent species that she, with the help of the universal translator, could make first contact with.

Her main task though, was composing the first log of the mission, and she finally felt she'd got it right on the eve of the mission:

'Stardate 47201.2, this is the maiden voyage of the Starship Swallow, it's mission to explore a strange unknown world.'