SUPER-DREADNOUGHT Part I: Chapter I

By: Tony E. Aguilar

Command Log: Stardate 56215.4: Admiral William McGinnis,

Commanding USS Ticonderoga reporting:

We will be ready to launch this new ship in less than a day. The ship is the latest in Federation design, and unfortunately, its powers may not be sufficient to successfully prosecute our mission. I will command this vessel in her first, and hopefully not last, mission. If we succeed, the quadrant will be safe. If not, all of the civilizations in the area are likely to fall to the…

Admiral McGinnis shut off the recorder, and prepared to leave his quarters. Where the old-class ships had been powerfully armed and heavily shielded for their times, this ship was the best-armed, best-shielded ship in space, without exception. "Their times," god... he thought to himself, it was only thirteen years since he had taken command of the new defender-class ship called.

Although the ship had been built as a warning to the Federation's enemies, with far heavier weapons than anything of its time, compared with this new vessel, was a light-cruiser at best. It had been a long thirteen-year period, highlighted by the attack on the Klingon home system, which had brought the to their decision to break the treaty of Algeron. Their fleet had barely defeated the single cube, and had suffered staggering losses in the effort. Now, they were building up their forces in preparation for an offensive against territory. The Romulans, not believing the' effort would end against the had also exceeded treaty limitations with their newest ships, and, fearing that it would be left behind, the Federation had begun building a new fleet, with the new Ticonderoga class as its centerpiece.

These ships carried phase-cloaking technology, a new hyper-accelerated collimator ring capable of three times the destructive output of the old-class technology, rapid-fire phaser batteries with independent power supplies, contained-plasma torpedoes, triple shielding, and, most importantly, a back-up forced quantum singularity generator, capable of fifteen-minute bursts of power, sufficient to power the ships' vastly powerful weapons and shielding. Each of these ships could handle twenty of the old war-bird class ships, given proper circumstances... The question, simply put, was could they handle a single (or more likely), multiple ships.

McGinnis sighed as he left his quarters, it wasn't really his job to worry about design specs. His job was to go to the Klingon home world, in order to meet with Gouron in order to plan allied strategy, against both and Romulans. Star Fleet hoped that this brand new ship would be as powerful a sign of commitment as the presence of Jean-luc Picard's Enterprise had been in the first battle, four years previously. Unfortunately, Enterprise had been destroyed in the battle, and it was rumored that some of the ship's officers had been taken by the. McGinnis sincerely hoped, for their sakes, that they had not.

The bridge doors opened, admitting him to Ticonderoga's heavily armored command center.

"Admiral on the Bridge," said Lieutenant-commander Walter Schultz, Tactical officer, and third-in-command.

"At ease, ... report on status of our undocking preparations?" said McGinnis as he moved to the center seat.

"All systems have been checked, all power conduits and back-up systems show clear, computer is on-line, weapons at standby, warp drive is available, phase-cloak is available, and torpedoes are still being loaded sir.", said Captain Data, who had been loaned to McGinnis' command after Star Fleet realized that there were no officers aboard Ticonderoga who had any significant experience with the. Such experience, it was thought, would be critical, particularly in the planned meetings with the Klingon Command.

"Thank you, Captain. Operations, do you have a listing of the other ships that will rendezvous with us at the Klingon Capitol?"

"Sir, Star Fleet reports that they can not give us a complete list, but three task forces are expected to arrive within twenty-four hours after our arrival. They will be commanded by captains Shelby and Stromgren, and Rear-Admiral De. They expect a minimum total of four dreadnought-class, five cruiser-class, and eleven support vessels. All have had the new sensor modifications installed, and most are carrying phase-cloaking devices. However, they will be able to provide comparatively little fire-support, and the have already suggested that this vessel is the only one in which they are interested."

"I see, the smaller ships may prove a liability, but I really don't like the' dismissal of them out-of-hand. Commander, forward the information concerning our fleet strength to the Klingon council, and tell Gouron that I will want to discuss the use of the smaller ships with him immediately on our arrival."

"Aye sir," replied Janet Anders as she turned back to her console.

McGinnis sat back in his chair, thinking about the tremendous change that had come over Ms. Anders over the last few years. She had come aboard a young lieutenant junior-grade, who was impatient for results, believing that things could be had if you wanted them badly enough. The last years had molded her into a fine officer, patient, cunning, and compassionate. Assuming that all of them survived the upcoming mission, she would make a fine ship's commander. However, more important matters awaited them at the moment.

"Mr. Data, what is the current report on our earliest possible departure time?"

"Assuming that all of the loading is proceeding at the projected rate, we should be able to depart the dock in thirteen hours, eight minutes fifteen seconds."

"Thank you, ms. Anders, please have dock ready to clear us in fourteen hours. Until then, I want all of you to take added time off, because after we leave dock, I suspect that none of us will be getting much rest for quite some time."

At this moment, a lieutenant from engineering hastened onto the bridge, and reported that engineering com systems were down; that this was related to a slight instability in the quantum core; and that Commander Macleod thought that repairs would take about four hours. Until the repairs were complete, it would be impossible to generate anything more than 25 power from the auxiliary generator.

"Lieutenant, Tell him that since we won't need the added power until after we leave Klingon space, I suspect that he can fix the problem in transit. If he has further concerns, have him report to me directly, and make sure that someone finds a work-around for the comlinks, since the optical controllers aren't up yet, we're totally dependent on our communicators."

"Aye Sir," she said as she rushed ac into the turbolift.

"Unless anyone has other concerns, I'm going to be in my quarters, you can reach me there, ...Mr. Data, you have the bridge." said McGinnis. He rose and left the Bridge, glancing over his shoulder to make sure that all was in order before he left.