Crusade ch4
Captain Snyder watched as the last vestiges of his hand picked crew filed into the common room of Dock twelve at the Utopia Planitia shipyards. Most of them were all crowded around one another, making small talk and the like. He noticed a few old acquaintances meeting each other again, as well as some new friendships already forming. He stayed up on a slightly raised platform, which was a way of politely refusing to engage in any serious discussions, while making him just tall enough to watch the turbolifts as more people filled the room.
During the last three days since his new assignment, Snyder had been slaving over as many crew reports he could get his hands on almost immediately after his ship arrived at this dock. He made sure to get the best he could, concerning the nature of the mission and the time constraints. Fortunately, his task wasn't as difficult as might have thought; the full crew compliment of the Ulysses was only one hundred and twenty people, so the actual picking of the crewmen went pleasantly fast.
Snyder was especially pleased when he saw the first Vulcan step out of a turbolift. He recognized the face of lieutenant Solvek, a brilliant warp theorist and a pretty good engineer. Too bad he had that one little "tick" that kept him away from Starfleet these last two years. His talents would have been greatly appreciated.
**********
Solvek stepped out of the turbolift that brought him to the common room at Dock twelve. He was privately astonished to see what looked like the entire ship's crew in attendance, at least one hundred people. Solvek made his way through the crowd, intent on finding the commander of this mission and tell him just how big of a mistake he had made in taking Solvek from his place at the temple. For all anyone knew, that simple act might have caused him serious psychological harm, if not any other serious medical problems that might emerge over the course of the mission.
Unfortunately, before Solvek could get too close to the captain, the crowd suddenly tightened around Solvek, crushing him and an unlucky crewman behind him, against the wall. When Solvek looked up, the captain was standing on the same raised platform, and was trying to quiet the crew down. The assembled crew slowly turned their attention to Snyder as he began to address the whole crew for the first time.
"Good morning, shipmates," he began with an extremely casual manner, "As you know, I am Captain Martin Snyder, and I will be your commanding officer for this new mission. Starfleet gave me the rare opportunity to select each and every one of you for each of the ship's many positions. All of you are an essential part of the whole that is the staff of our new vessel. For many of you, this is your first voyage," the Captain looked at a few people Solvek didn't recognize, "And for others, this will just be another day on the job," this time, Captain Snyder looked directly at Solvek and then quickly moved his eyes away, "But you are all equals in my book. For me, though I have a pretty distinguished career, this is my first actual command of a starship, so I'm just about as green as some of you are." That comment brought some chuckles from a few crewmen.
Solvek, defeated for now in his plans to rid himself of this completely undesirable position, just relaxed as much as he could considering he was nearly crushed against a wall, and listened to the rest of the Captain's address.
**********
Jacob Norman suddenly found it very hard to breathe when the captain began his speech. It took his senses some time to regain their composure before he realized that he was nearly flattened against a wall, with a very heavy Vulcan standing between him and oxygen. Norman did all he could to try and pry the Vulcan away from him, but the combined strength of the crowd as well as the alien's weight made it an almost impossible task. When Norman tried the diplomatic approach, deaf pointed ears met his overtures for air. With all other options exhausted, Norman just adjusted himself for a long time without a lot of air and began to weather the storm.
Norman had spent some time looking over the padd concerning his entry into Section 31. Even during his last meal with his family he thought about it, with the effect of making every conversation short and generally unappealing. Norman's parents probably thought he was just sad over the prospect of leaving for so long after just finishing training, so they didn't pry too much, thankfully.
Ever since he got the letter, Norman had been weighing the pros and cons. On the pro side, he would be securing the future of the Federation by means that no ordinary person might have dreamed of. On the con side, he would have to forsake some of the values and ideals he held dear just to accomplish the mission. It was that thought that scared Norman most. He always had thought of himself of at least a moral citizen. Sure, he was no angel, but nobody really was. But some of these missions would require him to go so low on his moral scale, and he wondered if he could ever bring himself to do that.
One of the oddest things about the message was that, while it asked if he was interested, it didn't explain how he would be able to respond with his yes or no answer. Norman thought for a while if the return path was in the forwarding section, but, to his surprise, nearly half of the names listed on the addresses were of people either Norman had known or met, even the sender was from Norman's own address at the academy! He could tell when he saw it that it was just a security measure, not a puzzle or riddle that would show him how to respond. He knew that such a shady group probably really used those names to send the message in a full loop from his room to his room, so any potential hackers or sneakers would either overlook the message or dismiss it as normal family communication.
Either way, Norman still had no idea if he wanted to join Section 31or not. He eventually decided to wait until an easier way to solve his dilemma presented itself.
**********
Captain Snyder had been waiting for this moment ever since his new ship had arrived at dock twelve three days ago. Before anyone arrived at the common room, Snyder had dimmed the lights overlooking the dock as well as putting a large curtain over the window that provided a great portside view of the entire facility. He wanted to surprise everyone with the new ship at once.
When the ship first arrived, Snyder thought to himself that there could not be an uglier ship in the known galaxy. But, after hours of seeing it being fully stocked and refitted while he chose his crew, the ship grew on him, just as it would to the crew.
"Everyone," he began, "I would like to now introduce you all to the last member of the new team." It had taken Snyder six hours to come up with the right line to introduce the ship to the crew. And with a mighty heave, Snyder yanked on the rope that held the curtain at bay, and immediately after, punched the wall console that turned on the lights at dock twelve, revealing the ship in her full glory, a few startled work bees moved away from the ship as fast as possible, trying not to obstruct the view.
Some crew were immediately shocked, as witnessed by the sudden intake of air by some of the crew. Other stared in wonder and awe, while some, a large group actually, looked on with an attitude that was far from pleased.
The ship that was resting in front of them looked like some demented child had taken model kits of three distinguished Starfleet ships and jammed them together, forming a completely new, and ugly, ship. The most obvious parts of the ship were the primary hull of an Intrepid-class vessel, onto which, an Akira-class engine strut manifold had been attached, and to top it all off, instead of modern Starfleet warp nacelles, the long monsters of an Excelsior-class ship filled the role of warp nacelles. And under the Intrepid primary hull, the secondary hull of that same Excelsior had been attached, making the ship appear to have a distended "belly". Snyder had heard once that this kind of shipbuilding technique was called "kitbashing", or, the systematic cannibalizing of two or more ships to build one for a specific set of mission parameters.
Snyder reminded himself that, if it weren't for kitbashed ships, in all their ugliness and ungainly specifications, such desperate times like the Dominion war and the first Borg invasion would have been total losses. These ships commanded at least some respect.
Fortunately, most of the crew was mannered enough to keep their opinions quiet about the ship. There were a few who showed their displeasure with obvious facial expressions, and others who made sly remarks and derisive comments about the general shape of the ship, all of which were not lost on Snyder's ears. Each comment and movement slowly lessened his hope that the crew would eventually accept the new ship.
**********
Solvek stared at the totally abhorrent design of a ship that was proudly displayed in front of him. Fortunately, his higher Vulcan teachings taught him to keep his opinions to himself, for he would not affect any kind of ship changes by simple outbursts alone.
Unfortunately, the small human caught behind him had other ideas.
"What kind of monster is that?" Yelled Norman at the top of his lungs, which was at least twice as loud as the previous noise of the crowd. That outburst turned just about everyone toward Solvek's direction, including the captain. Solvek stood as still as he could. Surely they did not think he was the one who said such a rude and immature comment.
"Ensign," Captain Snyder began calmly, at least Solvek was relieved to know they didn't think he said that, but the childish human behind him, "I was not aware that your opinion was important enough for all of us to hear."
Norman turned a deep red at the Captain's retort, but the huge Vulcan kept that fact hidden. He mentally kicked himself for that outburst. He was a Starfleet officer now, and should show some maturity. Norman regained as much of a composure as he could and simply replied, "Yes, sir."
The captain continued his speech, "You will all be assigned quarters on the hour, and we will depart once everyone reports to their duty station. I will brief you all over the finer details of our mission when we are well underway and settled in."
And with that, Captain Snyder stalked off the raised floor section and went straight for the turbolift, so he could be aboard his ship before anyone else.
**********
It took at least three hours before the whole crew was shuttled or transported to the ship and they had all settled into their quarters. Norman had a small bedroom connected to an equally small bathroom, but all were adequate for his needs. After all, his duty assignment was the day shift tactical officer, which meant he would be spending most of his time there with the rest of the command crew as they went about their mission. Norman didn't stop to think for a moment how odd it was to have such a lowly ensign assigned to one of the most dangerous positions on a starship. Just one wrong button pushed and BOOM! The entire cache of photon torpedoes would explode, taking the ship with it.
Norman also didn't notice a small crate sitting at the foot of his bed, either...at least, until he tripped over it on his way to the window. With a loud "OOF!" and a sharp thud, Norman was lying on the floor face first.
"What the...?" He asked, slowly reaching for the box. Outside it seemed like a normal small cargo box for personal items and such. It didn't even have a latch mechanism. But Norman realized why it didn't need one. All it contained was a single padd, with a short text message addressed to him on it.
Dear Ensign Jacob Norman,
We are extremely pleased to note your interest in joining the thirty-first section of the Starfleet charter. As you know, Section 31 is an organization designed for the explicit purpose of protecting the Federation from any and all enemies that provide a larger security risk than any normal institution could combat. If you are fully committed to the ideals of protecting the Federation, note your interest by placing this letter atop your bed at your next port, and we will do the rest. If you are not, then simply throw this letter into the refuse and forget it ever existed.
We hope you will make the right choice,
CS Davis, head of Section 31
Norman didn't know just how to respond at that moment to the letter, so he simply placed it back in the box and placed it into the empty closet, which was later filled with his other clothes and belongings that didn't seem to fit anywhere else in the room.
**********
Solvek found his junior officer's quarters quite satisfying. While much larger than his room at the temple, he still could keep it as sterile and free from distractions as his old room. The only complaint he had was the softness of the bed. For the past two years he had slept on a simple slab of wood softened by a single layer of thin cloth. This was the only change that Solvek would have to endure.
Solvek only stayed in his new quarters for a few minutes, packing some things and arranging others in places where he would need them. When he finished, he walked from his quarters and began familiarizing himself with the route he would take every day to engineering. Along the way he was stopped several times by confused junior officers about the whereabouts of certain systems and places, which Solvek had to admit to having less than perfect knowledge about this design.
It took Solvek only one minute to get from his quarters to engineering, an acceptable timeframe. When he got there, he noticed that there was only one other person in the large room, the chief engineer, Brian Denning. He was a rather large human, with short dark hair and a quite becoming earring on his right ear. Solvek recognized it as a Bajoran earring, but what was it doing on a human?
Denning looked up from his console and noticed Solvek staring at his one piece of adornment.
"You like it?" he asked with a very calm demeanor, "It was my wife's idea."
"Oh, so you have a Bajoran wife?" Interspecies marriages were becoming more prevalent ever since the end of the war, so it was not news that particularly shook Solvek.
"Actually, I had a wife," the engineer replied, hanging his head low for a moment, "Elana Traynil, first officer aboard a Bajoran cargo ship. It was destroyed by the Dominion just before the war, claiming that the vessel was 'too far off the projected course'."
"I am sorry."
"No, it's alright. I was on the ship that destroyed the Dominion cruiser that attacked her ship. I made sure that we gave as much mercy to those Dominion bastards as they gave to her." The human looked toward Solvek for a moment, a flash of anger momentarily marred them, but it was gone in an instant, "We beamed aboard a piece of the ship after the battle as a personal request. I have it in my quarters now."
"But why would you have such a grisly reminder of such a terrible pain in your life?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's just a way to remind myself that Starfleet exists for one purpose, to make sure that tragedies like my wife's never happen again."
Solvek offered as much condolences as he could before bidding Denning a good day and walked over to his station across from him. They both worked until Denning spoke again.
"Hey, I never got your name."
"My name is Solvek, sir." He said without looking from his console.
"It's gonna be nice working with you, Solvek, I just have a feeling."
Solvek personally smiled at that. Humans constantly talked of their feelings as if it were some kind of ESP. If only they had an idea of what true mental prowess was about. Solvek cringed at that; he didnt know what true mental prowess was about, either.
**********
Captain Snyder stood alone on the bridge, staring at the viewscreen. He had even forsaken looking at his quarters for the chance at being the first to look upon the new bridge.
Everything he knew a starship bridge should have was there, the center seat, a helm console in the front, and twin consoles behind his chair for the tactical and operations officers. Of course, there were other things on the bridge, a science station, the master systems display on the back wall, and of course, the dedication plaque.
Snyder looked toward the small brass plate, and walked up to it. On it was imprinted the normal information that such a plaque should have: USS Ulysses, Noble Class, launched stardate 51531.5, and the listing of the officers and design team responsible for the birth of the vessel. And there, at the very bottom was the traditional quote that the designers felt embodied the design of the ship. Snyder ran his hand over the small line of text, sounding it out under his breath:
"The only light in the darkness is hope."
There was always some hope left in the universe, no matter who tried to stomp it down. And this ship was going to bring it to them whether they liked it or not.
Captain Snyder watched as the last vestiges of his hand picked crew filed into the common room of Dock twelve at the Utopia Planitia shipyards. Most of them were all crowded around one another, making small talk and the like. He noticed a few old acquaintances meeting each other again, as well as some new friendships already forming. He stayed up on a slightly raised platform, which was a way of politely refusing to engage in any serious discussions, while making him just tall enough to watch the turbolifts as more people filled the room.
During the last three days since his new assignment, Snyder had been slaving over as many crew reports he could get his hands on almost immediately after his ship arrived at this dock. He made sure to get the best he could, concerning the nature of the mission and the time constraints. Fortunately, his task wasn't as difficult as might have thought; the full crew compliment of the Ulysses was only one hundred and twenty people, so the actual picking of the crewmen went pleasantly fast.
Snyder was especially pleased when he saw the first Vulcan step out of a turbolift. He recognized the face of lieutenant Solvek, a brilliant warp theorist and a pretty good engineer. Too bad he had that one little "tick" that kept him away from Starfleet these last two years. His talents would have been greatly appreciated.
**********
Solvek stepped out of the turbolift that brought him to the common room at Dock twelve. He was privately astonished to see what looked like the entire ship's crew in attendance, at least one hundred people. Solvek made his way through the crowd, intent on finding the commander of this mission and tell him just how big of a mistake he had made in taking Solvek from his place at the temple. For all anyone knew, that simple act might have caused him serious psychological harm, if not any other serious medical problems that might emerge over the course of the mission.
Unfortunately, before Solvek could get too close to the captain, the crowd suddenly tightened around Solvek, crushing him and an unlucky crewman behind him, against the wall. When Solvek looked up, the captain was standing on the same raised platform, and was trying to quiet the crew down. The assembled crew slowly turned their attention to Snyder as he began to address the whole crew for the first time.
"Good morning, shipmates," he began with an extremely casual manner, "As you know, I am Captain Martin Snyder, and I will be your commanding officer for this new mission. Starfleet gave me the rare opportunity to select each and every one of you for each of the ship's many positions. All of you are an essential part of the whole that is the staff of our new vessel. For many of you, this is your first voyage," the Captain looked at a few people Solvek didn't recognize, "And for others, this will just be another day on the job," this time, Captain Snyder looked directly at Solvek and then quickly moved his eyes away, "But you are all equals in my book. For me, though I have a pretty distinguished career, this is my first actual command of a starship, so I'm just about as green as some of you are." That comment brought some chuckles from a few crewmen.
Solvek, defeated for now in his plans to rid himself of this completely undesirable position, just relaxed as much as he could considering he was nearly crushed against a wall, and listened to the rest of the Captain's address.
**********
Jacob Norman suddenly found it very hard to breathe when the captain began his speech. It took his senses some time to regain their composure before he realized that he was nearly flattened against a wall, with a very heavy Vulcan standing between him and oxygen. Norman did all he could to try and pry the Vulcan away from him, but the combined strength of the crowd as well as the alien's weight made it an almost impossible task. When Norman tried the diplomatic approach, deaf pointed ears met his overtures for air. With all other options exhausted, Norman just adjusted himself for a long time without a lot of air and began to weather the storm.
Norman had spent some time looking over the padd concerning his entry into Section 31. Even during his last meal with his family he thought about it, with the effect of making every conversation short and generally unappealing. Norman's parents probably thought he was just sad over the prospect of leaving for so long after just finishing training, so they didn't pry too much, thankfully.
Ever since he got the letter, Norman had been weighing the pros and cons. On the pro side, he would be securing the future of the Federation by means that no ordinary person might have dreamed of. On the con side, he would have to forsake some of the values and ideals he held dear just to accomplish the mission. It was that thought that scared Norman most. He always had thought of himself of at least a moral citizen. Sure, he was no angel, but nobody really was. But some of these missions would require him to go so low on his moral scale, and he wondered if he could ever bring himself to do that.
One of the oddest things about the message was that, while it asked if he was interested, it didn't explain how he would be able to respond with his yes or no answer. Norman thought for a while if the return path was in the forwarding section, but, to his surprise, nearly half of the names listed on the addresses were of people either Norman had known or met, even the sender was from Norman's own address at the academy! He could tell when he saw it that it was just a security measure, not a puzzle or riddle that would show him how to respond. He knew that such a shady group probably really used those names to send the message in a full loop from his room to his room, so any potential hackers or sneakers would either overlook the message or dismiss it as normal family communication.
Either way, Norman still had no idea if he wanted to join Section 31or not. He eventually decided to wait until an easier way to solve his dilemma presented itself.
**********
Captain Snyder had been waiting for this moment ever since his new ship had arrived at dock twelve three days ago. Before anyone arrived at the common room, Snyder had dimmed the lights overlooking the dock as well as putting a large curtain over the window that provided a great portside view of the entire facility. He wanted to surprise everyone with the new ship at once.
When the ship first arrived, Snyder thought to himself that there could not be an uglier ship in the known galaxy. But, after hours of seeing it being fully stocked and refitted while he chose his crew, the ship grew on him, just as it would to the crew.
"Everyone," he began, "I would like to now introduce you all to the last member of the new team." It had taken Snyder six hours to come up with the right line to introduce the ship to the crew. And with a mighty heave, Snyder yanked on the rope that held the curtain at bay, and immediately after, punched the wall console that turned on the lights at dock twelve, revealing the ship in her full glory, a few startled work bees moved away from the ship as fast as possible, trying not to obstruct the view.
Some crew were immediately shocked, as witnessed by the sudden intake of air by some of the crew. Other stared in wonder and awe, while some, a large group actually, looked on with an attitude that was far from pleased.
The ship that was resting in front of them looked like some demented child had taken model kits of three distinguished Starfleet ships and jammed them together, forming a completely new, and ugly, ship. The most obvious parts of the ship were the primary hull of an Intrepid-class vessel, onto which, an Akira-class engine strut manifold had been attached, and to top it all off, instead of modern Starfleet warp nacelles, the long monsters of an Excelsior-class ship filled the role of warp nacelles. And under the Intrepid primary hull, the secondary hull of that same Excelsior had been attached, making the ship appear to have a distended "belly". Snyder had heard once that this kind of shipbuilding technique was called "kitbashing", or, the systematic cannibalizing of two or more ships to build one for a specific set of mission parameters.
Snyder reminded himself that, if it weren't for kitbashed ships, in all their ugliness and ungainly specifications, such desperate times like the Dominion war and the first Borg invasion would have been total losses. These ships commanded at least some respect.
Fortunately, most of the crew was mannered enough to keep their opinions quiet about the ship. There were a few who showed their displeasure with obvious facial expressions, and others who made sly remarks and derisive comments about the general shape of the ship, all of which were not lost on Snyder's ears. Each comment and movement slowly lessened his hope that the crew would eventually accept the new ship.
**********
Solvek stared at the totally abhorrent design of a ship that was proudly displayed in front of him. Fortunately, his higher Vulcan teachings taught him to keep his opinions to himself, for he would not affect any kind of ship changes by simple outbursts alone.
Unfortunately, the small human caught behind him had other ideas.
"What kind of monster is that?" Yelled Norman at the top of his lungs, which was at least twice as loud as the previous noise of the crowd. That outburst turned just about everyone toward Solvek's direction, including the captain. Solvek stood as still as he could. Surely they did not think he was the one who said such a rude and immature comment.
"Ensign," Captain Snyder began calmly, at least Solvek was relieved to know they didn't think he said that, but the childish human behind him, "I was not aware that your opinion was important enough for all of us to hear."
Norman turned a deep red at the Captain's retort, but the huge Vulcan kept that fact hidden. He mentally kicked himself for that outburst. He was a Starfleet officer now, and should show some maturity. Norman regained as much of a composure as he could and simply replied, "Yes, sir."
The captain continued his speech, "You will all be assigned quarters on the hour, and we will depart once everyone reports to their duty station. I will brief you all over the finer details of our mission when we are well underway and settled in."
And with that, Captain Snyder stalked off the raised floor section and went straight for the turbolift, so he could be aboard his ship before anyone else.
**********
It took at least three hours before the whole crew was shuttled or transported to the ship and they had all settled into their quarters. Norman had a small bedroom connected to an equally small bathroom, but all were adequate for his needs. After all, his duty assignment was the day shift tactical officer, which meant he would be spending most of his time there with the rest of the command crew as they went about their mission. Norman didn't stop to think for a moment how odd it was to have such a lowly ensign assigned to one of the most dangerous positions on a starship. Just one wrong button pushed and BOOM! The entire cache of photon torpedoes would explode, taking the ship with it.
Norman also didn't notice a small crate sitting at the foot of his bed, either...at least, until he tripped over it on his way to the window. With a loud "OOF!" and a sharp thud, Norman was lying on the floor face first.
"What the...?" He asked, slowly reaching for the box. Outside it seemed like a normal small cargo box for personal items and such. It didn't even have a latch mechanism. But Norman realized why it didn't need one. All it contained was a single padd, with a short text message addressed to him on it.
Dear Ensign Jacob Norman,
We are extremely pleased to note your interest in joining the thirty-first section of the Starfleet charter. As you know, Section 31 is an organization designed for the explicit purpose of protecting the Federation from any and all enemies that provide a larger security risk than any normal institution could combat. If you are fully committed to the ideals of protecting the Federation, note your interest by placing this letter atop your bed at your next port, and we will do the rest. If you are not, then simply throw this letter into the refuse and forget it ever existed.
We hope you will make the right choice,
CS Davis, head of Section 31
Norman didn't know just how to respond at that moment to the letter, so he simply placed it back in the box and placed it into the empty closet, which was later filled with his other clothes and belongings that didn't seem to fit anywhere else in the room.
**********
Solvek found his junior officer's quarters quite satisfying. While much larger than his room at the temple, he still could keep it as sterile and free from distractions as his old room. The only complaint he had was the softness of the bed. For the past two years he had slept on a simple slab of wood softened by a single layer of thin cloth. This was the only change that Solvek would have to endure.
Solvek only stayed in his new quarters for a few minutes, packing some things and arranging others in places where he would need them. When he finished, he walked from his quarters and began familiarizing himself with the route he would take every day to engineering. Along the way he was stopped several times by confused junior officers about the whereabouts of certain systems and places, which Solvek had to admit to having less than perfect knowledge about this design.
It took Solvek only one minute to get from his quarters to engineering, an acceptable timeframe. When he got there, he noticed that there was only one other person in the large room, the chief engineer, Brian Denning. He was a rather large human, with short dark hair and a quite becoming earring on his right ear. Solvek recognized it as a Bajoran earring, but what was it doing on a human?
Denning looked up from his console and noticed Solvek staring at his one piece of adornment.
"You like it?" he asked with a very calm demeanor, "It was my wife's idea."
"Oh, so you have a Bajoran wife?" Interspecies marriages were becoming more prevalent ever since the end of the war, so it was not news that particularly shook Solvek.
"Actually, I had a wife," the engineer replied, hanging his head low for a moment, "Elana Traynil, first officer aboard a Bajoran cargo ship. It was destroyed by the Dominion just before the war, claiming that the vessel was 'too far off the projected course'."
"I am sorry."
"No, it's alright. I was on the ship that destroyed the Dominion cruiser that attacked her ship. I made sure that we gave as much mercy to those Dominion bastards as they gave to her." The human looked toward Solvek for a moment, a flash of anger momentarily marred them, but it was gone in an instant, "We beamed aboard a piece of the ship after the battle as a personal request. I have it in my quarters now."
"But why would you have such a grisly reminder of such a terrible pain in your life?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's just a way to remind myself that Starfleet exists for one purpose, to make sure that tragedies like my wife's never happen again."
Solvek offered as much condolences as he could before bidding Denning a good day and walked over to his station across from him. They both worked until Denning spoke again.
"Hey, I never got your name."
"My name is Solvek, sir." He said without looking from his console.
"It's gonna be nice working with you, Solvek, I just have a feeling."
Solvek personally smiled at that. Humans constantly talked of their feelings as if it were some kind of ESP. If only they had an idea of what true mental prowess was about. Solvek cringed at that; he didnt know what true mental prowess was about, either.
**********
Captain Snyder stood alone on the bridge, staring at the viewscreen. He had even forsaken looking at his quarters for the chance at being the first to look upon the new bridge.
Everything he knew a starship bridge should have was there, the center seat, a helm console in the front, and twin consoles behind his chair for the tactical and operations officers. Of course, there were other things on the bridge, a science station, the master systems display on the back wall, and of course, the dedication plaque.
Snyder looked toward the small brass plate, and walked up to it. On it was imprinted the normal information that such a plaque should have: USS Ulysses, Noble Class, launched stardate 51531.5, and the listing of the officers and design team responsible for the birth of the vessel. And there, at the very bottom was the traditional quote that the designers felt embodied the design of the ship. Snyder ran his hand over the small line of text, sounding it out under his breath:
"The only light in the darkness is hope."
There was always some hope left in the universe, no matter who tried to stomp it down. And this ship was going to bring it to them whether they liked it or not.