Stephen watched as Captain Bolerov laughed and shook hands with the visiting dignitaries, as though he had been with the crew the whole time. Never once did he even acknowledge the presence of the other crew, let alone give them... him... credit for the ship even being here. Statistically, Warlord should have lost the fight with the Reman warship. It was thanks mostly to the crews inventiveness and determination they won. Yet, there was Bolerov, smiling and schmoozing as though he had something to do with it. Kirk sat in his seat, staring straight ahead, breaking only on those rare occasions when someone from the press had a question to ask.
He didn't realize T'Nia was observing him until several minutes later. She had been reading his face and could tell he was upset. He was trying to cover it, he wasn't hiding it from her. This was going to be a rough first couple of weeks on Steve. He cornered her in the turbolift earlier this morning and relayed the discussion he had with the new captain. Certainly, it had been a poor choice of words on Stephen's part, but it had been an unwarranted reaction from the captain. She told Steve that, eventually, each would come to see the other's positive qualities, and the events from the past would bury themselves. It would seem they weren't quite buried yet. T'Nia had to admit she didn't prefer Captain Bolerov's leadership style, but she could understand the need for it. It was logical, simply not preferrable, but she could live with that.
Stephen eventually realized he was being watched by a rather intent-looking female vulcan. His gaze went from the viewscreen to her. Her expression softened a bit, an acknowledgement of understanding. He smiled at her. As he smiled, she simply turned back around to face forward, her job done. Stephen really wasn't sure what he would ever do without his friends. The raised voices on the bridge broke him out of his daydream. The visitors were being ushered off the bridge in preparation for the dedication ceremony and the 'new' inaugural flight.
The visitors safely off the bridge, Bolerov unhooked his collar. "Whew," he exclaimed. "Alright, people, by all means, you may remove your jackets. The 'meet-and-greet' is finally over." He took off his long red jacket and laid it over the back of his chair. Everyone else followed suit.
The captain turned to Tom. "Lieutenant Kelly, power up the thrusters and impulse engines."
He then turned to Elaine. "Lieutenant Davies, let the commander know when the passengers have left."
"Aye, aye, Sir." she replied. Elaine turned back to her panel, tapped a few buttons, then looked at her screen, which was fixed on the walkway.
"Oh," Bolerov continued, "put the front platform on the main viewer. I want to see the bottle break... if it breaks." He smiled.
Stephen was curious. "What do you mean, 'if it breaks', Sir?"
"Well, Commander," Andrei answered with a knowing smile, "as I have been told, the success of this dedication is based entirely on the throwing arm of the President's wife."
"How the heck do you miss a starship?" Tom questioned to no one in particular.
Bolerov shrugged. "It's been known to happen. They either miss entirely, or don't put enough oomph on the toss, so the bottle just bounces off the hull. I'm surprised the video of President De'Drea's wife isn't still floating around. It's been almost thirty years, but her throw went so wide to the right, she actually broke one of the harbor lights instead." The crew chuckled. That was more of the reaction he was hoping for.
They watched as the people all gathered outside the great ship to the floating platform where the President and his wife were standing. Another dedication speech was given. No one was really paying attention until they heard Captain Bolerov say, "Okay, here we go." Everyone looked up to see the President's wife holding a large bottle of champaign.
"I hearby christen you registry NCC 7-6-0-3-2, United Starship Warlord. May she reign supreme in the heavens." With that, she tossed the bottle straight at the ship. Her aim was off by just a little bit, but her arm was strong. The bottle impacted just below the top front running light of the saucer section and shattered, spilling glass and champaign everywhere. Stephen could just hear Box complaining that he'd have to clean it up. There was applause from the crowd as they were led back into Spacedock proper.
With the last of the audience evacuated, the ship shuddered slightly as the hangar was depressurized. Captain Bolerov sat back in his chair and turned to Kirk. "Commander, get us out of here."
"Aye, aye, Sir." Kirk replied. "Mr. Bristol, thrusters to stationkeeping. Mr. Davies, signal the dockmaster and request permission to depart."
"Aye, aye, Sir." Tyler replied. With a few taps on his console, the thrusters heated up.
"Aye, aye, Sir." Elaine replied. She turned to her computer and began talking to the dockmaster.
Stephen looked at Tyler. "Tyler, you know you have to rotate us on our Y in order to get out the door, remember?"
Tyler smiled, "Yes, Sir... I remembered that... just a few seconds ago, but I remembered that."
"Good man." Stephen concluded.
"Sir," Elaine began, "the Dockmaster is retracting the walkways and opening the door. We have permission to leave."
"Acknowledge that, Lieutenant." Kirk nodded to Davies. She confirmed the statement to the dockmaster. Here we go again, she thought. Stephen addressed everyone. "Just a quick note to everyone... remember we have a REAL computer core now, so the ship shouldn't lag any more. I know we got used to that before..."
"I'm sure they're aware of that, Commander." Bolerov interrupted.
The look of surprised realization on Bristol's face implied at least one person had forgotten.
Ignoring Tyler's reaction, Kirk merely replied, "Yes, Sir." Kirk wasn't about to let that interruption rattle him. "Lieutenant Davies, switch the main viewscreen to front view."
"Aye, aye, Sir." She tapped controls on her console. The main screen switched from the now retracting platform to the front view of the ship. Before them, they saw the massive double doors of the hangar opening.
"Front doors secure, Sir." Elaine relayed from her communications post. "So are the gangplanks."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." He turned to face the helmsman. "Ensign Bristol, forward thrusters to sixty kph. Get us out of here."
"Aye, aye, Sir!" He answered excitedly.
"Let us see what today holds for us, ladies and gentlemen." Captain Bolerov said with a smile.
With that, the USS Warlord slowly maneuvered out of the hangar; it's large, gray form reflecting the morning sun as it crept into sight of the open hangar. It slowly banked as it left the hangar then gently turned as it cruised into a high orbit around the Earth.
Warlord was officially deployed.
