Launch
AB vigorously shook Tilly's shoulder. "Hurry, wake up! The final countdown is about to start."
"Wwwhat?" Tilly blinked sleepily and waved her arm in the air, trying to push away whomever was disturbing her.
"The launch. It's in an hour. Get dressed so we can get a good spot." AB urged.
Tilly looked confused. "Launch? What moron would leave at this hour of the morning?"
AB laughed merrily. "Evidently Captain Moron. You should ask him about it sometime." She pulled Tilly into a sitting position. "Up or I am leaving without you."
A male voice announced over the public address system, "Ensign Vaughn and Cadet Tilly report to the bridge."
"Did I hear that right?" AB asked
"Us? Bridge …" Tilly started and then unable to complete her sentence, nodded, looking petrified and thrilled at the same time, which until now AB thought was impossible.
"Heavens to Betsy, I've never been on the bridge. Are you a VIP? The daughter of an Ambassador or Admiral or something like that?"
Tilly shook her head, still unable to speak coherently.
"For goodness sake, don't keep the Captain and First Officer waiting. Get yourself into a pressed uniform and let's go!" AB implored.
Tilly dressed quickly and AB helped tame her curly hair into a somewhat neat bun. Once AB pronounced them ready, they sprinted to the nearest turbolift. Crewmembers were gathering in front of the viewports. AB tilted her head towards them, "It's an event when the flagship leaves port."
When the lift came to a stop at the bridge and the doors opened, Tilly held back, feeling awkward and unsure. She peeped around the corner like a child checking to see if the coast was clear or as if she had been caught wandering where she was forbidden. AB rolled her eyes and dragged Tilly out of the lift and into the nerve center of the ship.
Which was buzzing with activity as officers and crewmembers crisscrossed the space and called out information. In the center stood Captain Pike, serenely directing the complex production, answering simultaneous queries directed at him without missing a beat.
"Engineering reports plugs out test complete. Space dock reports checklist is complete. All boards green. Ready for departure."
Commander Una motioned for AB and Tilly to stand in the far-right alcove, out of the way off the scurrying crew. From there they could see and hear everything. Tilly craned her head trying to take in every detail. The bridge was much larger than she imagined, with stations and viewscreens lining the walls. Each station was occupied with a backup standing behind the main operator. The navigation and helm positions were forward, free standing, in the front of the room. Various crew approached the Captain and First Officer, handing off PADDs and retreating after an answer or instructions were given. On the main viewscreen there were over a dozen remote specialists providing updates from other areas of the ship and central traffic control.
"Secure from space dock. Begin final launch sequence. Main screen forward." Pike ordered.
"Aye sir, umbilicals released. Space dock jetways retracting."
"Airlocks now secure."
The main screen switched to an external view. Lined on either side of Enterprise's pathway were various types of Starfleet and commercial ships with their running lights illuminated.
"What are they doing?" Tilly whispered to AB.
"Rendering honors," was the reply.
The turbolift opened and a grey-haired officer in Medical blue exited and stepped down to stand beside the Captain. "Damn foolish time to be leaving," he commented, "like waiting until 08:00 so everyone could get a decent amount of sleep and a cup of coffee would have made a difference."
The Captain chuckled, "Good morning to you too Phil."
"Medical reports ready. Shuttlebay preparations complete, forcefield backups online." Over the next twenty minutes each department reported status.
Commander Una took over the helm. "Ship reports ready for departure," she announced.
"We are ten minutes ahead of schedule Captain." Spock remarked.
"Traffic control requests we wait until all the VIPs are assembled," the comms officer added.
Pike rolled his eyes. Spock and Una raised an eyebrow at the same time. Phil laughed and said, "Priorities, priorities."
The Captain drummed his fingers on the railing as they waited out the rest of the countdown. At zero he ordered. "Let's go. Thrusters until we clear the space dock perimeter then half impulse until we are out of the system."
Una carefully guided the ship out of the mooring cage and set the Enterprise's running lights to blink, answering the other ships. Once in open space, she engaged the impulse engines and reported. "Clear of the system sir."
"Set course, warp two." After Una nodded the Captain added, "Hit it."
Tilly leaned over to AB and whispered, "That was incredible."
ooooo
"There are always parties on the first night out of space dock. We need to decide which one or ones to attend." AB said to Tilly over dinner. "Engineering has the best booze, Medical the best music, Security the best food, and Science the best entertainment because, well, at some point they will try to solve a logic problem. Last year they almost set a lab on fire demonstrating their answer to the coins and limited trips across the river problem."
"Really?" Tilly asked, eyes wide.
AB nodded. "An ensign decided the best approach was to melt several drinking straws together to form a raft big enough to hold all the coins and therefore requiring only one trip across. He failed to play that tape to the end."
"What did the Captain do?" Tilly asked.
"Ignored it. He's pretty lenient about the first night out. Who did your security briefing today?"
"Commander Nhan. I liked her. And I saw Matthew … I mean Lieutenant Zali again in Sickbay."
"Oh yes, Marvelous Matt. It must be beyond amazing to have a lover who can read your mind. Too bad there are so few folks from Betazed serving in the fleet."
"He's dreamy."
Before AB could respond a woman, about a foot tall, flew in and landed on the table. She held out a tiny hand. "Hello. Sorry I missed your first day in Engineering. I'm Phrantasxia. One of your roommates."
Unsure how to safely return the handshake, Tilly held out her forefinger. Phrantasxia laughed, which sounded like bells tinkling, and shook the finger.
Tilly started, "Prhan…"
"Call me Pixie, my name is difficult for your species."
"You're glowing!" Tilly exclaimed. "You look like …"
"Tinkerbell?"
Tilly nodded, thinking to herself, what a fantastic first day – seeing the launch of the flagship from the bridge, the most freaking amazing engineering section ever, and, well, a fairy!
Pixie harumphed. "Yeah, my people visited your planet during your late dark ages and sparked a series of wildly inaccurate theories about what they called 'fairies'. Culminating in the character featured in Peter Pan. I assure you I can express more than one emotion at a time, and we do not steal babies, nor do we dance with young men all night giving them consumption. Though I am always up for dancing all night. Which party are we going to first?"
AB looked at Tilly. "Definitely Engineering, our cadet needs a drink."
ooooo
"You were right." Chris said to Phil as he handed the doctor a drink. "I've made, well not peace yet, but … I've accepted it."
The Doctor raised his glass. "To both of them."
Chris matched the gesture. "To both."
The intercom chimed, "Captain, incoming transmission from an approaching ship. It's a private vessel."
"Send it to my quarters."
The viewscreen changed from the communications officer on the bridge to the pilot of the small runabout. "Captain Pike, I am Commander Michael Burnham. May I dock? I have new information regarding the Romulans and the Tholians."
Pike sighed. He had expected to tangle with Leland during this mission, but not this soon.
"Very well Commander, permission granted." He ended the transmission.
"Was that?" Phil asked.
"Michael Burnham, the mutineer? Yes. Section 31 secured a pardon after recruiting her."
