Chapter Title: Test Flight

Chapter Synapses: When a prototype Slipstream ship, the Nautilus class USS Delphinous, is stolen from Utopia Plenetia Shipyards, Starfleet Command believes an agency gone rouge is responsible for Delphinous' theft.

Written by: Seraph Koji

"Utopia Plenetia to Delphinous, why are you retracting moorings?" A Starfleet officer called from his station at the Utopia Plenetia shipyard, "Delphinous, respond." He paused, "Delphinous, you are not cleared to leave Utopia Plenetioa. You are still under construction. Respond!" He sat. No response. There was only one course of action. "Utopia Plenetia to Starfleet Command, we have a situation."

A man wearing the uniform of a Starfleet admiral, an Andorian, rather young for his rank, sat in the central chair of the Delphinous. "Bridge to Engineering, Lieutenant Mason, bring the Quantum Slipstream engine on-line." The admiral ordered. He turned to his pilot, "Ensign Taylor, once we are clear of Utopia Plenetia, transit to slipstream. Let's see if this bird can fly."

"Aye, sir." The ensign nodded.

Across light-years, Hyperion sat, studying a nebula. Starwind sat in relaxation on the bridge.

"Sir," An ensign standing at Operations addressed her superior officer.

Starwind hated being called 'Sir' these days, it just recently started to bug him, "Yes, Ensign."

"Priority communiqué for you. Coded as Captain's Eyes Only." The ensign reported.

Starwind began to walk toward his ready room, "I'll take it in here." Starwind walked in and sat behind his desk, turning the monitor toward him. "Authorization code; Starwind Gamma-Three-Echo."

"Authorization accepted, Victor Starwind." The computer replied, popping an United Federation of Planets logo on his screen. Starwind heard the speech that followed so often he recited it along with the computer. "This is a Starfleet Command priority communiqué. Information discussed here is on a strictly need-to-know basis only. Disregard of that policy could be considered treason." The logo was replaced by a Vulcan admiral.

"Captain Starwind, you are aware of Project Delphinous?" the admiral asked.

Starwind nodded, "Admiral Janeway offered myself and a few other members of my crew a position on Delphinous a while back."

"Good." The admiral said calmly, "Delphinous was stolen from Utopia Plenetia this morning at 0900 hours."

Starwind was silent for a moment, "Delphinous is equipped with Slipstream capability."

"Yes, Captain." The admiral responded, "We believe a sect of Starfleet Security has gone rouge, and there is reason to believe either Hyperion or Cosmos is at risk, as they have a prototype weapon, the Multiphasic Cannon, much like Delphinous has a prototype engine.."

"And since Cosmos is under heavy guard in low orbit of Sol V, Hyperion is the logical target." Starwind reasoned.

The admiral nodded, "Captain, Starfleet Command is asking that you find and capture these rouges if at all possible. Their suspected leader is former Vice Admiral Shran of Andoria."

"Admiral, considering my crew could be at risk, can I at least apprise my senior staff of the situation?" Starwind asked.

"Your senior staff only." The admiral was about to end the communication but stopped, "Also, Captain, Captain Jellico says 'Happy Hunting'. Starfleet Command out."

Starwind sighed and sat back, "Starwind to Collins, I want a meeting in one hour of all senior staff."

"So," West, as the others in the room now were, was apprised of the situation, "Some rouge Admiral stole a prototype ship, and Starfleet thinks we're next on his hit list?"

"Vice Admiral Shran." Talara looked rather disappointed.

"Friend of yours, Blue?" VonBach asked, rather insincerely.

Talara shot him a cold glare, "Actually, pinkskin, he was."

"Can't you two get along for five minutes?" Collins snapped at them both.

Starwind motioned for order, "Mister VonBach, I want a combat drill for all three duty shifts, starting with Alpha Shift tomorrow morning. Winters, help him with that. Bronski, I want you to fine-tune both internal and external sensors and get everything out of that engine you can. I also want you to aid Commander Talara in retrofitting a runabout with a Quantum Slipstream drive. Talara, I want a test flight on that runabout as soon as you're done. Commander Collins, I want you to get me a tactical analysis of a Nautilus class starship. West, I want psychological analysis on all crewmembers we got since our commissioning last month, and any potential security risks we got before then. I want regular briefings on everything given to myself or Commander Collins each shift rotation. Commander V;onBach and Commander Collins, if we have to engage Delphinous, I want a way we can take her with minimal damage to the ship. I also want all the Marines aboard to switch to active duty. From here until further notice, the ship is on constant Yellow Alert. If anyone asks, remember that it's classified. Any questions?" The room was silent, "Dismissed."

Across space, on the Delphinous' bridge, Shran turned to a person in the rank of Captain, "Captain Shelby, where is the Hyperion presently?"

"Off studying some nebula near the Onias System. Ten minutes in Slipstream." The woman replied.

"Taylor, now that we've got our new personnel, set course and transit to slipstream." Shran ordered.

"Captain's Log. We've been operating on Yellow Alert for three days now, with combat drills every shift. Collins has been comparing Nautilus schematics with material I've been able to get on the Delphinous Project. It appears Delphinous is a giant improvement on the Nautilus design, not only giving her a Quantum Slipstream drive, but fixing design flaws in the class. Finding a weakness might not be easy. As for our own Slipstream drive, the modifications to the Mustang class runabout Horizon are taking far longer than we hoped Who would have though building a Slipstream drive from scratch would have been hard? Regardless, when it comes to the Delphinous, it seems the ball is still in their court."

Red Alert sirens blared as Starwind, groggy and barely awake, entered the bridge.

"Sir, we detected a Slipstream event during a combat drill." Winters reported.

Collins was already in her seat on the bridge, "Captain, I have a few weak points, but, as you know, the Delphinous is not a normal Nautilus class. From what I gather from the documents I was able to get on her, Delphinous' hull and weapons compliment have been vastly upgraded. But she may still have a bad shield generator at her ventral hull. It's a design flaw we can exploit."

"Thank you, Commander." Starwind sat in his chair, while on the viewer a sleek silver ship exited from a burst of light. "Hail the Delphinous." Starwind paused a second, "I am Captain Victor Starwind of the Federation starship Hyperion."

Shran, the Andorian admiral, appeared on screen, "I am Vice Admiral Shran of the Federation starship Delphinous. You are ordered to stand down and transmit schematics of your ship and commission information immediately."

"Admiral Shran, I'm afraid I must ask you to stand down and prepare to be boarded. Our orders are from Starfleet Command, sir." Starwind said calmly, "Rumor has it, you stole Delphinous."

Shran forced a laugh, "About that…"

Talara shook her head, "Oh, Shran… it's true?"

"Talara?" He paused, collected himself, and continued rather professionally, "I represent the Federation Internal Defense Agency. Hyperion, prepare to be boarded yourselves. Delphinous out."

"They're arming weapons." VonBach reported, "Should I power up the Multiphasic Cannon?"

"No, we need that ship in one piece." Starwind thought for a moment, "Since it's all we have, prepare to execute Collins' plan. Talara, evasive maneuvers, get us a good shot at their ventral shield generators. VonBach, I want a weapons lock on those generators. I want phasers full spread, and once you have your opening, shove a photon torpedo into it's shield generators. Once their gone, disabling engines and weapons should be easy." The bridge shook with Delphinous' opening volley.

"Sure you don't want me to return fire?" VonBach sounded almost pleading.

Starwind glared over his shoulder, "VonBach, we can't destroy Delphinous. We can only disable her."

VonBach growled in frustration, "Targets locked."

"Blow out their shield grid!" Starwind ordered as a torpedo impact strongly jolted the bridge, knocking VonBach off-balance and to the ground, "Someone, fire phasers!"

Winters ran to VonBach's console, "Firing."

Three beams of light struck Delphinous' shields, and moved in a circular formation.

"Delphinous' ventral shields are beginning to fail." Collins reported.

"Our dorsal shields are." Winters gritted her teeth, "Locking photon torpedo."

"They have armed ventral torpedo bays." Collins reported.

"Winters, now!" Starwind saw four blue lights begin to grow on the screen as Hyperion spun round for another pass, "Brace for impact!" As one orange light streaked away, the four crashed into Hyperion, throwing the bridge crew around. Collins crawled back to her chair, "Dorsal shields are gone."

Talara crawled back to her station, "Hold on!" She called. Hyperion spun so she was ventral-to-ventral with Delphinous.

VonBach struggled to his feet and glared at Winters who stood at his station. Winters returned to her own, and VonBach stared at his console, "Locking ventral weapons on key systems."

Starwind, back in his chair, glared at the underside of the Delphinous on the viewer, "Fire!"

As torpedoes streaked space, the Delphinous began to move foreword, first slowly but ultimately streaking away.

"They've gone to warp." Winters reported from her station.

"Lay in a pursuit course?" Talara asked.

Starwind took mere seconds, but seriously considered it, "Only 'till they go to Slipstream, after that, there'd be no point."

"Delphinous is hailing, sir." Winters reported.

Starwind stood up, "On screen."

Admiral Shran appeared on the viewer, "Well-played, Captain. And some fancy flying Talara."

"Are you going to surrender, Shran?" Starwind asked.

Shran smiled, "Me? Never." He laughed, "Captain, you may have won the battle, but I am not about to hand over the war. You did some major damage, the reconstruction of Delphinous will take time, but rest assured, Captain, our quest to amass the technology to protect the galaxy is far from over. See you next game, Captain Victor Starwind." Shran grinned, "Delphinous out."

When the viewer returned to streaking stars, Delphinous was gone from it. Winters quickly reported what the screen made obvious, "Delphinous has gone to Slipstream."

Starwind sighed in frustration, "Talara, set course back to the Onias system. VonBach, stand down Red Alert."

"Go to Yellow?" VonBach asked.

Starwind shook his head, "This is your further notice. Stand down Yellow Alert, no more combat drills. I do still want the Horizon finished."

"A slip-capable runabout is easier said than done, Captain." Talara replied, "But I'll work on it."

"Collins, you have the bridge." Starwind stood up and started off for the turbolift, "Good job everyone. We live through another day." He entered the turbolift.

"Captain's log, supplemental. After our skirmish with Delphinous was reported to Starfleet Command, plans to construct the next ship of the Delphinous line began. Our orders in regards to Shran's sect have changed. Starfleet Command wants Hyperion to destroy Delphinous on our next encounter. Thankfully, damage to Hyperion was more or less easy to repair, and Hyperion will be in prime condition within the hour. On another subject, Commander Collins, who had me rather worried a week ago, seems to be better now, but appearances might be deceiving."

A few hours later, after the shift change, Collins sat in a holodeck-rendered late-20th-century type 'club'. As she sat back sipping her holographic drink the holographic band played. This program was like the Vic Fontane program at Deep Space Nine, except the band wasn't self-aware, and it was set a good forty years later. A chance to really kick back and relax, something she hadn't given herself so far on this assignment. It was the first time she had been a first officer, and to tell the truth, the job sounded intimidating. Especially under a captain as highly decorated as Starwind and with the word 'Classified' so many times in his service record The only one Collins had ever seen top that was Lieutenant Sarah Winters, who even had a classified place of birth. But somehow, she was sure everything was going to work out… somehow.

"Any more requests?" one of the holograms asked.

Collins shook her head, "Just play something." She replied with a smile.

West entered the holodeck and sat down with Collins, "Dorian! I've yet to talk to you, really, outside of work."

"So are you here as a counselor?" Collins asked.

"A friend." West answered.

"Such a ship's counselor response." Collins smirked.

West laughed softly, "Mind if I enjoy the music with you?"

Collins sipped her drink, "Enjoy away."