Tom was the first to speak. "So, exactly what's going to happen while we're all enjoying our week off?"
Stephen smiled. "Well, from what I was told, the Starfleet corps of engineers will be repairing the hull. We'll also be getting most of our missing pieces, too. Oh, they'll be fixing some of the interior damage, too. That's about it. The admiral told me they wouldn't install anything until you and your team came back."
Tom smiled and nodded satisfaction with that statement. "Good. I wouldn't want her touchin' my girl without me here." Doctor Rass shook his head.
"Will we be able to see the damage to the ship once we're outside?" Lieutenant Davies asked. Part of her wanted to see it... part of her didn't want to know how close they had come to their mortality.
"Well," Kirk started, trying to remember the layout of the Spacedock. "not from the walkway. Once we get into Spacedock, you should be able to walk around and see it from the windows. It's like that for the other hangars. This area may be secured, but the windows all looked open to me. I'm kind of curious to see what happened myself."
The doors to the turbolift opened, almost expelling its passengers in the process. The nearest hatch already had at least thirty people lined up. An engineering ensign was already at the hatch controls. Upon seeing the bridge crew, they all stood at attention. "At ease." Commander Kirk said, waving his hand. "What's our status, Ensign?"
The young ensign replied excitedly, "They've attached the catwalk and pressurized it. The decontamination beams are powering up. They should be giving us the green light..." Just then, a red light above the hatch turned green. The hiss of escaping gas came from the side of the door near the hinges. Slowly, the inner door backed itself into its housing and slid into the wall. The outer door had already slid back. "The door's secured, Sir." The ensign replied weakly.
"I noticed that." Kirk said with a smile. He raised his voice a little. "Alright, everyone. Let's be professional about this. Everyone out... nice orderly fashion." Eagerly, the line filed into the white-lit walkway. As expected, there were no windows. As each person walked forward, they were all progressively scanned with red beams, green beams, yellow beams, and finally orange beams. There was an air of excitement among the crewmembers with animated discussions of where people were going, who they were seeing, and how they intended to spend their week off. There wasn't a single discussion of the award ceremony being held in just over a week for the Enterprise and Warlord crews. "This is a well deserved break." Stephen thought to himself. "We had to grow up a lot over the past couple of months."
As the group rounded the turn into the station itself, they were greeted with applause from a number of enlisted men and officers who were standing by the door. Among them was Admiral Angus Leonard. He was taller than most, but slightly stooped in his old age. Yet, his wrinkled eyes still had a twinkle left and his short, well-trimmed beard only partly hid his smile. Other Warlord crew were coming down this hallway as well, presumably from the other walkways further down the hall. Admiral Leonard made sure to greet everyone with a "Welcome home," "Well done," "I'm so proud of you," or 'Congratulations." Somehow, despite all his other responsiblities and his advanced age, the admiral still called almost everyone by name. It was amazing to see the weariness on his crew's faces vanish like turning on a light at his presence. As the crew walked past him, they seemed to stand a little straighter. That was Admiral Leonard, though. Although Stephen had his share of detractors among the upper eschelon of Starfleet, he was never among them. Always encouraging, always positive- there were times when Stephen thought of Angus more like a second father than a superior officer.
As Stephen finally advanced to Admiral Leonard, he saluted. The admiral, however, offered his hand. With a smile, Stephen took it. Immediately, Kirk felt better. The admiral had done it again, and he hadn't said a word yet. "Commander Kirk," Admiral Leonard started with a mock stern tone, "I lost money on you."
Cocking his head to one side, Kirk questioned, "How's that?"
With a wink, the admiral replied, "I had bet you'd have dispatched that Reman beastie in twelve minutes, and it took you almost twenty!" The admiral gave a haughty laugh, followed by everyone around.
Stephen couldn't help but laugh. "My apologies for your loss, Sir. I'll try to get your money back next time."
"You better. I don't intend to change the amount of my wager, nor whom I'm betting on, any time soon." Leonard's tone lightening considerably. "I'm sure I'll talk to each of you before the ceremony next week, but until then...enjoy your time off!" The crew cheered and went on their way. Leonard continued greeting each of the crew as they passed by.
As the crew continued walking down the main corridor, they noticed several crewmen staring out the nearest window. Upon reaching the window, they looked out themselves and gasped. Warlord looked terrible... much worse than the interior condition would indicate. Scorch marks riddled the exterior. The left front of the saucer section had been completely smashed inward. Two long burn marks ran down the underside of the remaining saucer section. The main body took the worst of the attack, partly due to the explosion of the starboard cannon. The starboard nacell had come completely off. To the rear left of the main body was a gigantic crator where the prefire chamber of the starboard cannon used to be. The explosion also warped the fin holding the dorsal nacell to where it looked visibly crooked. There were two other holes in the main structure as well, near the front. Each one was mere meters from hitting the deflector array instead.
Stephen looked in shock, almost disbelief, at the vision before him. "Dear Lord," he said quietly.
Tony whistled. "Look at that. No other vessel in Starfleet would have survived that."
T'Nia looked back to Tony with a raised eyebrow. "That conclusion is illogical, since we all know that Enterprise survived as well."
Tony quipped, "Only because the commander of the Scimitar wanted the Enterprise crew alive. The commander of the Rapier just wanted us dead."
T'Nia considered his words, "True enough." She admitted.
Their spider-like friend came up behind them, having finally made his way past the admiral's welcoming committee. As he looked at the ship before him, Box slowly shook his head. "Hhhhhhi told them we needed a warantee."
Tony shot Box a sideways glance. "Nobody likes a smart alec."
Box shook and chimed with laughter. He put several of his arms around his friends, both old and new. "Hhhhhhwho's hungry for Chinese?" He asked with a giant, toothy grin.
