Starbase 1194
Captain McDonald sat behind his desk in his office. It was not a large office, but that was because he did not want a large one. He lived in a small house as a child, and he had many happy memories of his childhood. He and his family lived in just outside of San Francisco, and he often went into town where he learned all about Starfleet. The day that his seventh grade class went to Starfleet Headquarters as a field trip was the day that he decided that he wanted to be a Starfleet captain. Starbase 1194 is the newest starbase in the Federation, and the engineers who designed the base made Captain McDonald's office just the way that he wanted it. The captain looked at the clock on his desk. 18:57 it said. He just had to wait for one more report to come in, then he could return to his quarters and sleep. He was tired after working for more than twelve hours. He had arrived at the base early this morning to make an inspection of the Egret hangar. He had little knowledge of the work that went into designing the Egret, but some of his closest friends had spent many long hours perfecting it. Today they showed him the fruits of their labor. When he went down to the Egret hangar, as it was recently renamed, he was introduced to Starfleet's newest creation—the Egret. The Egret is an interplanetary defense fighter. An Egret has just enough room for one pilot, making them much easier and faster to build. Egrets can be deployed to deal with smaller problems, such as capturing an enemy shuttle or destroying asteroids on a collision course with a starbase, saving the starships for more important missions. Every Egret is equipped with an upsilon device, but using it would seriously deplete their warp cores, so the device is generally not used. Egrets are armed with standard phasers, and can be equipped with photon torpedoes, quantum torpedoes, or other weapons. Egrets have a powerful shield grid that can deflect most kinds of enemy fire for a reasonable amount of time. They were also designed to be able to operate very effectively in various types of planetary atmospheres as well as outer space.
Then the door bell beeped.
"Come," he said. A lieutenant commander entered the room. "Tell me, could you have taken any longer if you wanted to?"
"Sorry, sir," the man said. "Here's the report."
"Finally," Captain McDonald said and began reading it.
"Group Four is still down for repairs? They've been in that damn hangar for ages. Will you please tell the crews down there to hurry it up?"
"I did, sir. That's why I was late."
"Oh," the captain was pleasantly surprised. "Good work. I'm glad there's someone besides me who wants to get work done. Is your shift over yet, lieutenant?"
"Not yet, sir. I have an hour and a half left."
"I'm going straight home now. You're may do the same if you like."
"Thank you, sir."
Captain McDonald yawned. "Excuse me. You're quite welcome. Dismissed."
The lieutenant commander turned around and left the room.
In another part of the base, two security guards had just begun their shift.
"What was that?"
"What?"
"I thought I heard something from inside the cargo bay?"
"No, there couldn't be. How could anybody get in past us?"
"Yeah, that's true."
(A few minutes later)
"They could get in through this door that has been forced open!"
"Aw shit. Sound the alarm. Deploy security to this section immediately."
An alarm sounded throughout the station. Captain McDonald happened to be passing the security office on his way to the shuttle hangar to go home. He went inside.
"Hey, what's going on?" he demanded.
"Section 103 reports a security breach. A door has been forced into the cargo bay. I'm reading three life signs inside, but very faint. I think they were trying to hide the life signs, which is why they were not detected by the routine scans. They only show up on the advanced internally detection grid, which only operates when we activate it."
"Get them out. Now."
"Security has been deployed to that section already, sir."
"Good. Inform me when the intruders have been captured. So I can go home."
"Yes sir."
When the captain was just a few steps down the corridor, the alarms again sounded, signaling red alert status. The man from the security office yelled after him. "Captain, we have enemy ships closing on the base!" The captain ran back to the security office. "A small transport accompanied by several fighters."
"Whose are they?"
"Romulan."
Captain McDonald sat behind his desk in his office. It was not a large office, but that was because he did not want a large one. He lived in a small house as a child, and he had many happy memories of his childhood. He and his family lived in just outside of San Francisco, and he often went into town where he learned all about Starfleet. The day that his seventh grade class went to Starfleet Headquarters as a field trip was the day that he decided that he wanted to be a Starfleet captain. Starbase 1194 is the newest starbase in the Federation, and the engineers who designed the base made Captain McDonald's office just the way that he wanted it. The captain looked at the clock on his desk. 18:57 it said. He just had to wait for one more report to come in, then he could return to his quarters and sleep. He was tired after working for more than twelve hours. He had arrived at the base early this morning to make an inspection of the Egret hangar. He had little knowledge of the work that went into designing the Egret, but some of his closest friends had spent many long hours perfecting it. Today they showed him the fruits of their labor. When he went down to the Egret hangar, as it was recently renamed, he was introduced to Starfleet's newest creation—the Egret. The Egret is an interplanetary defense fighter. An Egret has just enough room for one pilot, making them much easier and faster to build. Egrets can be deployed to deal with smaller problems, such as capturing an enemy shuttle or destroying asteroids on a collision course with a starbase, saving the starships for more important missions. Every Egret is equipped with an upsilon device, but using it would seriously deplete their warp cores, so the device is generally not used. Egrets are armed with standard phasers, and can be equipped with photon torpedoes, quantum torpedoes, or other weapons. Egrets have a powerful shield grid that can deflect most kinds of enemy fire for a reasonable amount of time. They were also designed to be able to operate very effectively in various types of planetary atmospheres as well as outer space.
Then the door bell beeped.
"Come," he said. A lieutenant commander entered the room. "Tell me, could you have taken any longer if you wanted to?"
"Sorry, sir," the man said. "Here's the report."
"Finally," Captain McDonald said and began reading it.
"Group Four is still down for repairs? They've been in that damn hangar for ages. Will you please tell the crews down there to hurry it up?"
"I did, sir. That's why I was late."
"Oh," the captain was pleasantly surprised. "Good work. I'm glad there's someone besides me who wants to get work done. Is your shift over yet, lieutenant?"
"Not yet, sir. I have an hour and a half left."
"I'm going straight home now. You're may do the same if you like."
"Thank you, sir."
Captain McDonald yawned. "Excuse me. You're quite welcome. Dismissed."
The lieutenant commander turned around and left the room.
In another part of the base, two security guards had just begun their shift.
"What was that?"
"What?"
"I thought I heard something from inside the cargo bay?"
"No, there couldn't be. How could anybody get in past us?"
"Yeah, that's true."
(A few minutes later)
"They could get in through this door that has been forced open!"
"Aw shit. Sound the alarm. Deploy security to this section immediately."
An alarm sounded throughout the station. Captain McDonald happened to be passing the security office on his way to the shuttle hangar to go home. He went inside.
"Hey, what's going on?" he demanded.
"Section 103 reports a security breach. A door has been forced into the cargo bay. I'm reading three life signs inside, but very faint. I think they were trying to hide the life signs, which is why they were not detected by the routine scans. They only show up on the advanced internally detection grid, which only operates when we activate it."
"Get them out. Now."
"Security has been deployed to that section already, sir."
"Good. Inform me when the intruders have been captured. So I can go home."
"Yes sir."
When the captain was just a few steps down the corridor, the alarms again sounded, signaling red alert status. The man from the security office yelled after him. "Captain, we have enemy ships closing on the base!" The captain ran back to the security office. "A small transport accompanied by several fighters."
"Whose are they?"
"Romulan."