SUPER-DREADNOUGHT: Part I: Chapter II:

McGinnis turned over in his sleep, and then snapped wide awake. He reached over to hit the com switch, opening a channel to the Bridge.

"McGinnis here," he said.

"Sir, you asked for notification when we were one hour from launch," replied Data's voice.

"Thank you, I'll be up in thirty minutes, I want all senior staff on the bridge at that time."

"Yes sir, I will ensure that everyone is here."

"McGinnis out."

After a quick shower and change of uniform, McGinnis left his quarters for a quick snack on his way to the Bridge. Ever since the dimensional transit several years previously, he had always been too nervous to eat full meals during his ships' first voyages. He had been a young, inexperienced commander then, and the physical and psychological stress of that mission had been quite enough for an entire lifetime. Most of his crew had spent a number of weeks in hospital, and it had been more than six months before they had been permitted to return to duty.

The doors of rec-1 opened silently as he approached, and he was just as glad. Although Alpha shift would be going on duty any minute, the room was somewhat crowded with crew as they either relaxed or lined up to throw their dishes into the recyclers. McGinnis moved quickly to the bank of replicators placed near the door. Although the bar was open, he didn't have time to chat, and he didn't want to interrupt the other shifts' relaxation with his uniformed presence. Though he didn't usually demand tremendous discipline from his crew when they were off-duty, seeing him in uniform often caused all of his crew to treat him with what other commanders called "Captain on the Bridge" manners. Now, there was no reason for it, and so he tried to avoid bothering them, while still gauging their stress level as the ship's launch time approached.

After ordering a quick BLT and salad, he turned to leave, so that he could eat in his small ready-room, located a short distance from the main bridge. Just before he could slip out the door, a young crew member moved to intercept him.

"Sir," she asked somewhat timidly, "I was wondering, what do you think our chances are?"

McGinnis looked at the slender young woman, whose face was lined with stress.

"Chances of what? ensign, he asked, knowing full-well what she meant.

"Of surviving our mission against the."

"Well, that isn't our mission as yet, Although the plan to attack, I haven't received orders to help them yet, and we're still hoping to keep them from going. I think we've got a good shot."

"I hope so, sir, I want to come back from this."

McGinnis sighed to himself, wondering for the thousandth time, why Star Fleet Command had insisted on sending mere kids on this mission, and on this ship. Kids deserved the chance to grow up, and this ship wasn't meant to keep them out of danger. It might be the best protection ever built once there, but it was always best to avoid battle whenever possible. Even if that avoidance meant threatening the other side with guaranteed destruction, a threat that this ship was quite capable of backing up.

"Ensign, we all want to come back, and I, for one, feel that not coming back is simply unacceptable. You know your duties well, so do them to the best of your ability, and we all will have a better chance of getting back."

"Aye sir," she said, still somewhat unconvinced.

McGinnis made a mental note to check with Commander MacLeod to see how she was doing when they reached the Klingon home planet.

He quickly left Rec-1, and entered the turbolift.

"Conference 1," he said and the turbolift began a sideways motion.

After his small meal, McGinnis rose and walked down the slightly curved corridor that led to the main bridge entrance.

"Admiral on the Bridge," said Data as he rose from the command chair and moved to the first officer's station located in the semi-circle of stations surrounding the central well of the bridge.

"At ease," said McGinnis as he sat in his chair, placed at the center of the semi-circle of stations; "All stations report."

"All computer systems show green, all processors on line, security board is green, all auxiliary systems available," said Data.

"Weapons control systems show green, main ring, rapid fire phasers, auxiliary collimators and plasma torpedoes at standby. Phase cloak at stand by, all shields show ready for activation." said Schultz.

"Helm and nav systems show ready," said Thale, the Andorian lieutenant at helm/nav station.

"Engineering systems all show green, except for the auxiliary generator," said Commander Anders. "All communications systems show green, save main communications in the engineering hull, but optical links are now up."

"All sensors available, all science departments reporting ready for

launch," came T'Mayek's report from the science station. "good, I want to brief you all on the upcoming mission. As you know, the Klingon fleet has been built up to levels not seen since the Klingon/Federation hostilities ended seventy years ago. Their build-up is in direct response to the attack on their space more than four years ago. Nearly sixty vessels were lost, and a period of political instability has ensued. Many of the' internal political problems are still on, so be ready for surprises. House Durass has been pressuring for a renewal of the old Klingon/Romulan alliance, and their views are being heard, particularly due to the fact that Federation assistance, in the Klingon view, was limited. As you know, we lost less than ten ships in those actions, including two defender-class ships and the flagship. This vessel, along with a large number of other ships is to proceed to the Klingon home planet in order to show them that we will support their offensive against the Borg should that become necessary. Since Captain Picard's death, there have been few officers whom they respect. Largely because of our successful prosecution of the campaign against the Cardassians last year, we have been ordered to head the fleet with this new ship, in order to attempt to convince the to hold their attack. This is my intention, but I want all of you to know that I think it unlikely that we shall succeed, and I want all crew members to begin full testing of the new armor suits that we are carrying. Should we come into contact with the, I suspect that they will be necessary. This ship is well equipped, and its technology is different than anything that we have confronted the with in the past. However, this does not mean that you should be over-confident, or that you should expect that we will give quarter to the, should be succeed in doing significant damage to any forces that we should meet. If we can do so, we will destroy their ships without question, and there will be no exceptions made. Until further notice, all of us, plus Commander MacLeod will be on stacked shifts duty, so that at least two command-chain officers are on duty at all times. We are going into an unstable situation in the Klingon Empire, and I need say nothing more about the. Are there any questions?"

"Yes, Sir," replied Data, "Will we be trying to capture technology?"

"Yes, my orders do provide for that possibility, and that is much of the reason for the training in the new armor suits. We will only try to get hardware, no "members", will be taken, as I don't want to risk having the rest of the Collective tracing our location through any prisoners that we may take."

There was a pause, while all of the officers sat considering what they had just heard. Despite that fact that most of them were from defense command, and not exploration or science headquarters, talk of all-out war was uncommon. Furthermore, talk of breaking every treaty and moral regulation that governed the Federation's many civilizations was a bit hard to digest. However, the were an unusual enemy, and if they were to be defeated, unusual methods would clearly be necessary.

"Are there any further questions?" ... "Very well, we are now less than half an hour from departure, so please double check all systems, and notify me when you are ready. I will be in engineering. Mr. Data, you have the conn."

McGinnis entered the ship's great engineering deck. The room, one of the largest pressurized contained-volume structures ever build in space, was nearly half a kilometer long, a tenth that broad, and twenty meters deep. The great main energizer ran much of the length of the room, a glowing crystalline tube that split at the saucer-end of the engineering hull into a rough Y-shape with a great ball at the apex of the three sections. Beyond this ball, the entire hull began to narrow until it was closed off by another ball-shaped structure, the ship's primary auxiliary power generator, the forced quantum core.

It was toward this end of the room that McGinnis moved, in search of Robert MacLeod, the ship's chief engineer. Finally, after some searching, McGinnis found him working near the main control panel for the auxiliary power core.

"Chief, we're less than half an hour from launch, and I'd like you to be on the bridge when we depart if possible."

MacLeod turned to his commander, and one of his closest friends.

"William, you know that I'd not miss it if I could, but these repairs are going to require my main attention for at least another two or three hours, and with the schedule that we have to keep, I'd like to get them done before we get to Klingon space."

"If I didn't know you better, I'd think that you were having some kind of a premonition," said McGinnis with a small smile.

"No, no premonition, just the expectation that we won't get to the Klingon home planet without trouble. , Romulans, its really all the same, they may operate differently, but their intentions are more-or-less the same; and as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to let a cranky system make today my day to die. Especially when I have the ability to fix it."

"Very well, but don't over work yourself now, I suspect that all of us will have more than our fair share of work over the next weeks."

"Agreed, and the more that I can do to ensure that the work's in the hands of tactical, the happier I'll be."

"Well, good luck, and at least try to watch the departure on the monitors, we have optical up, in case your staff was avoiding you."

"As a matter of fact," said MacLeod, now grinning too, "Lieutenant Furgisson did say something about that, I'll have to make sure that she doesn't talk to me while I'm working, something like another officer I know."

"All right, All right, I'm going," said McGinnis laughing.

"I'll see you later," replied MacLeod turning back to his work.

McGinnis left engineering, satisfied that the work there was proceeding well, and that MacLeod wasn't driving his staff too hard. With the high level of automation, there were comparatively few jobs for the crew to carry out directly, and so as long as the computer-controlled repair systems were functioning, the ship could be handled by as few as two crew members, with little loss in efficiency. However, some engineers, MacLeod included, liked to have their people check the computers' work, while it was progressing. This often meant that the engineering staff was run ragged during the ship's barely-completed construction phase. McGinnis had heard some of the younger engineers say that they were looking forward to the mission, simply so that they would have to do less work. he hoped, for everyone's sake, that they would be proven right.

The turbolift doors opened, and McGinnis stepped in.

"Weapons-control center," he said to the computer.

The lift accelerated sideways as it traveled nearly the entire length of the engineering hull. It then shot up at a flat angle, passing the ship's plasma torpedo bays, through the dorsal connecting main and engineering hulls, and then began to decelerate as it entered the main hull through one of the struts connecting it to the mega-collimator ring surrounding it. The doors opened, allowing access to the airlock that was one of the four physical access points to this room, the most heavily shielded location aboard ship.

McGinnis entered the smallish room, which was about the size of the main bridge. Computer stations ringed the entire room, allowing interface with any of the ship's seven-dozen weapons and defensive systems. When in battle, a full staff was located here, in order to take over from the bridge, should it be compromised in any way. Between the nearly two-meter thick armor, transporter shielding, and built-in phaser defenses, this room was considered nearly impregnable to anything short of the, and even these would need time to break into this room.

McGinnis sat at the main status board, and requested a full computer and weapons status check. Almost immediately the computer responded with a report far more detailed than that obtainable from the Bridge. It showed that all primary, secondary, and distributed computer systems were fully available, weapons were all operable at maximum efficiency, and that primary, auxiliary, and secondary shielding was all available. All power transfer systems were clear, and all switching hardware was available, should it become necessary. Beyond its architectural benefits, the room's equipment was voice-controllable, making it possible for a very small number of people to handle the task of fighting the ship, should that become necessary. McGinnis had never fully understood why such capabilities weren't a part of the Bridge as well, but the "standard" explanation that such controls might loose efficiency in the higher activity of the Bridge would have to do.

After completing the status check, he returned to the Bridge, and saw that there were about ten minutes before launch.

"Admiral on the Bridge," said Data as he returned to his station.

"At ease," said McGinnis somewhat absently.

"All stations, a brief final word before we go. This is the newest in Federation technology, and despite the problems that we are still having with the quantum generator, I am highly confident in this ship's ability to handle anything thrown at her. As no other ships are scheduled for departure, and we are loaded and ready to go, I suggest that we get under way... Helm, stand by thrusters, engage navigational deflectors. ..., notify dock control that we are departing early, and that this vessel,

USS Ticonderoga, NX4000, is hereby commissioned by me, as of Stardate 56217.4"

"Aye Sir," replied Thale and Anders.

"Dock reports clear for launch, and congratulations. They wish us good luck sir," said Cmdr Anders.

"Helm, ahead one quarter maneuvering power, as soon as we exit dock, come to 128.35 mark 23, and set main velocity at warp 9. ... Tactical, engage phased cloaking device immediately."

"Phased cloak is now engaged," replied Walter Schultz.

"We are now clearing dock, entering course 128.35 mark 23, our velocity is set at warp 9."

"Mr. Thale, ... You may proceed," replied McGinnis.

The ship, already invisible, accelerated to warp 9, on its way to beginning a mission that would probably be critical to Federation history for the remainder of the century.