Captain Clara Burton stared at the images on the view screen of her nearly completed operation center. To an untrained eye, it was a jumble of unrelated gobble de goop but to her, it was a complete break down of work in progress on her new command. Just over three months ago, she had lost her previous command, the Akira-class USS Repulse. It was her first major loss in an otherwise stellar service record. She had taken it hard. Had it not been for their unique situation, she might have had spent months with a therapist working the demons out of her system. That was the level of her attachment to the ship and its crew. The Repulse hadn't been just a ship but was more like a cherished family member or perhaps a loyal friend. Now all she could do was take solace in the fact that her ship had gone down fighting to the very end.
That was in the past. She was in command again and was determined to make the most of it. Granted, it wasn't as sleek or sexy as the Repulse but she wasn't going anywhere fast, for this was the new station they were building. Although the project was quickly taking shape around her, it was far from complete. Only now, her construction crew was completing the major components of the facility. She wished she had more people working for her so she could complete this project quickly and on time. But that was just wishful thinking. It was a minor miracle that she had been able to pull so many engineers and construction crew from their small fleet. None of the other captains wanted to part with any personnel and only her masterful negotiation and captain Payne's direct orders had netted her with what she currently had. She was glad for it.
She walked over to one of the newly installed monitors and punched in some commands. "Fantastic!" she thought to herself. Green team was ahead of schedule. They had just finished installing the power grid that would supply the phaser banks in sector one. She made a mental note to congratulate the team.
Next she made her way down the corridor to conference room one, which was being used as project headquarters. There she met Lt Commander Edgar Mosely who was the project lead.
"Morning Captain," he greeted her. "What can I do for you this beautiful morning?"
"Morning Commander," she replied. "Chipper as always I see."
"You know me Captain,"
"Yes I do mister Mosely. Yes I do. So how is everything coming along?"
"Well, Green team's done with the power grid in sector one ahead of schedule. Blue and yellow are right on track. Red team ran into some problems earlier but is back on track. Only thing bothering me is progress with the white team. Some of the driver elements on the structural integrity field they are installing in sector four wasn't produced to spec and has to be completely replaced. That's holding up the next phase of project in that sector. Hopefully, they'll have that sorted out by the end of the day."
"Sector four, that's the general habitat section," she reminded herself. "Sounds like you have everything under control."
"Isn't that what you pay me for captain?" he shot back with a grin.
"Yes Mister Mosely, that's what we pay you for," she replied playing along.
Satisfied that he had everything under control, she started to leave when he Mosely asked, "How's Captain Payne's project coming along?" He was asking about the new Danube class runabouts that Captain Payne's team was building.
"I believe the first batch is ready for flight test. They should be taking it out for a spin later today."
"Wow, those guys must have been working on it night and day."
"I'm sure they were commander. I'll be glad when it's all completed."
"Both you and I Captain. I thought we had a bunch of raving lunatics in our neck of the woods but these people here sure take the cake."
"Seems that way doesn't it. Hopefully we'll find some friendlier ones next time."
"I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you Captain."
She laughed at that but she knew he was right. Going by their experience so far, it was far more likely that the next encounter would be just as unpleasant as any of the previous ones. "In that case mister Mosely, you'd better get back to work. And while you're at it, you might want to take a page out of Captain Payne's team's playbook. I want this station up and running ASAP."
"Yes sir," he replied in mock seriousness, knowing full well that the captain knew they were already pushing it.
Shankar Nair ran the diagnostics one more time on the newly finished Danube class runabout. Everything checked out fine as he expected. "Good," he thought to himself. He wanted everything in order when they took it out for its first test flight later that day. "Everything checked out ok, Bob. Go ahead and inform the bridge that we are all set for the test."
"You got it. What about the other one, did they find out what's wrong with it? Joyce was running into all kinds of problem with it earlier."
"I don't think so. She said something about the plasma injection manifold. Might have to swap it out completely."
"Bummer! We don't have a spare and the last time I talked to one of the replicator guys, he told me they can't take any new orders until tomorrow."
"Well, they're gonna to have to. Captain wants both there birds up and running by the end of the day."
"I know, I know. I told them but they told me to go to hell."
"Well, then go and talk to Lieutenant Burke. He should straighten those guys out."
"Can't you do it? I don't think the Lieutenant likes me very much."
"I don't think he likes anybody. Not even himself."
That got a few laughs from the crew within earshot. Lieutenant Burke sure had a reputation.
Captain Payne had just gotten off the line with Captain Burton when there was a knock on his door. "Enter," he ordered. It was Commander Sato.
"Captain, engineering just informed me that the first runabout is ready for its test flight."
"Good, inform the Lieutenant Taggart that his ride is ready. You can start the test at your discretion commander."
"Aye sir."
"By the way Commander, have you found enough people to crew all the runabouts?"
"Not yet sir. So far, I have only a dozen men who are qualified to pilot a Danube class runabout. That's not counting the regular flight crew but none of the captains will part with them."
"I don't blame them. Their priorities lie with their own ships. How long before we can train more pilots?"
"Well, we have twenty-two more who have current flight certifications but they are not qualified on the Danube class. They've already started their training and should be flight qualified in the next couple of weeks."
"That's not bad at all commander. Better than I expected."
"Yes sir. I'll have the pilots ready as soon as the boys in engineering can get me more runabouts."
"Good job Commander."
"Thank you sir."
Lieutenant Hermes J Taggart or Herm as his friends liked to call him walked around the newly constructed runabout, tugging, pushing and poking at the various parts that made up the outside of the ship. He wasn't expecting to find anything out of place but this was an age-old ritual amongst pilots. Even in this day and age of super computers, nothing was trustier than the old Mark I eyeballs or that's how the saying went. Finally satisfied he walked into the cockpit where his co-pilot, Ensign Vladimir was going over pre-flight checks.
"Everything check out ok?" he asked
"Yes sir, the engineering guys seem to have been very thorough."
"We'll find out soon enough Vlad," he replied settling into his chair. "Flight Control, this is Runabout Test Flight 1. Requesting permission to take her out."
"Runabout Test Flight 1, this is Flight Control, you have permission to take her out. Good luck with the tests"
"Thank you Flight Control," he acknowledged. With that he started the engines, which came to life with a muted hum. He listened to its rhythmic beat for a moment. Satisfied with what he heard, he gently eased the ship off the floor and out of the hangar where she had been built. Once clear of the ship, he gently opened the throttle and increased speed.
"Passing one thousand kilometers per hour," Vlad called out as the runabout passed the mark. "All systems are green."
"So far so good," he spoke aloud. After checking to see if the area was clear he continued, "Increasing speed to quarter impulse." With that he pushed the throttle even further and the ship responded to his command.
"Inertial dampers are slightly misaligned, I'm compensating for it" Vlad pointed out. He was right. For the briefest moment Taggart had felt a powerful force pressing him back into his seat. Had the misalignment been off by just a bit more, the consequence could have been disastrous. He'd heard enough horror stories from bygone era where entire crew had been killed when their inertial dampers had failed. Thank god those days were over. Modern inertial dampers were some of the most reliable pieces of equipment around.
"We're at quarter impulse," Vlad read out again. "All systems are still green."
"Good, how's the plasma temperature in the impulse engine?"
"It's running just a bit cooler than I like to see it, sir. It's comprising efficiency."
"Well, make a note of it. Give those engineers a reason to tear this thing apart again."
With that, he moved on to the next system. The list was long and tedious. He knew it would take most of his day going through it one by one.