Chapter 9: Arriving at the USS Shake!
Captain to the bridge! Falo said into his communicator. On my way Christ replied. He walked from his quarters and went into the turbo lift, As he walked onto the bridge falo turned to him. Captain, we are now entering the antares system! he said with twinkles in his eyes. Christ noticed the viewscreen showed blackness. Drop to impuls and on screen number one Christ said. He wached the screen with anticipation. As the screen came to life it showed a few dots flying around a big boxlike shape. Magnify to fill screen! he ordered. Ezri punched some controlls and suddenly an amazing sight filled the viewscreen.
The big boxlike shape was the shipyard ittself with in it s clutched the USS Shake. A site everyone who saw it was baffled by. The slick lines of the carrier were a far cry from the shapes they d imagined USS Shake to look like. From the little they could see of the hull through the docking arms holding the vessel they could make out the shape was actually very attractive. No saucer section could be found on it, undeniably indicating the changes in starfleet design. As everyone looked closer at what they thought to be shuttles hovering around the yards they saw they were actually defiant class vessels. Suddenly 3 of the defiants swirved and formed up. They arched backward and shot towards the destroyer IKD Qugh. Open hailing frequencies! Christ ordered realising they were in a Klingon destroyer. We re being hailed captain. The answer of the communications officer came before Christ had finished ordering. On screen! he replied.
This is Well Captain! Welcome to Antares! Nice ship you ve got there! The face on the viewer said recognising the crew of the Destroyer as being starfleet. Thank you, it is a nice ship but I do think I like our new home better allready. Chrust replied. Hell, you ain t seen nothin yet Captain, you wait until we get close to it! the officer in command of the Defiant said. Follow our lead to outer docking bay 38. You can dock the destroyer there. Everything is ready for you sir, with the crew you ve got there we re allmost there. Only 2 more passengers left to pick up. The officer finished.
The destroyer followed the lead defiant as the 2 others picked up an escort position. The sight on the viewer became more baffling and stunning as they got closer. They could clearly see now the 2 forward docking bays for the battle command cruisers. There allso were 10 docking bays at each side of the vessel for the defiants. Each had his own bay so repairs could be done independent of eachother. Most of the bays were closed but 4 of them were opened. Through the shipyards clamps they could see a bussltle of activity, mostly on the systems around the bay as apposed to the vessels the bays held. Christ left the docking to Falo. He felt he needed to get onto his vessel as soon as he could and wanted to be ready to board it when docking completed
As the doors of the airlock opened and Christ stepped onto the shipyards outer docking clamps which were holding the USS Shake he was greeted by the shipyards commanding officer, Commodore Alesru, and an officer Christ did not know. "Welcome to Antares C aptain Christ van Silfhout. We are happy to report that the USS Shake is completed and supplied. All crew except for you and the ones that came with you on the USS Deuzige... eeh sorry about that. I still can't believe the Deuzige was destroyed a few hours away from DS5 bt a single brird of prey. I ment to say IKDQugh ofcourse." the commodore said shaking his hand. "What? Destroyed? By a klingon bird of prey? Are you sure about that?" Christ asked in disbelief. "I'm sorry sir, i assumed you knew because usually we get to hear everything last." was the commodore's answer.
"Any survivors?" Christ asked. "Only 1 sir. Only the battlebridge survived and the only person on it was the ships Chief engineer mr. Idamha."
"That's terrible. We should have destroyed the bird of prey. I feel a certain amount of responsibillity." Christ said more to himself than to others. "Things happen wether we want them to or not son. Don't worrie. If you did detroy the bird of prey i'm sure something else would have happened to the vessel. But anyway... Life must and will go on. Do you want to take command of your vessel now sir? The bulk of the crew is waiting in the theater sir." the commodore said. "Very well. I;m very curious about the theater. It's the first theatre on a starship of starfleet isn't it?" Christ replied. "Well, the first real one opfcourse. So far there were only ones in holodeck programs." the answer came from the unknown officer. "How rude of me. Captain may i introduce you to the last additon to your bridge crew. Lt. jr. Illenafuz. She will be your UADSA operator.
The commander picked up. Nice to meet you captain Assena said. I will be your eyes across an entire sector. There is almost nothing that escape s UADSA s scanners she followed her greeting. Welcome to our crew. Hope you will enjoy your time with us. I do fear we ll be having a rough ride. Being the first with anything is always hard. Christ said while shaking Assena s hand. He looked at the short round alien woman. She looked kind of odd with her skin reflecting the light making it shine like metal. The skin was reddish in coulour and had no texture at all. It was really like metal all the way. Even to the touch,
Christ noticed when he shook the hand. He followed the commodore and went through some passageways and was greeted by his first officer. He suspected he d transported over to the ship before he would get on. Just like Falo to keep things by the book. They went through the official traditional procedure for handing over ships to their new commanders. And then they went to the Theatre.
It was much bigger than Christ imagined. 300 people were gathered to finally see their commander. Their Captain, the man they d have to trust to keep them alive. Christ was directed to the centre stage and his communicator was switched to a shipwide channel as well as to the theatre s sound system. He spoke:
Man and Women of Starfleet. You have been selected to become part of Starfleet and indeed The Federation s history. You shall be part of the largest single starship s crew ever. You will serve on the greatest power that Starfleet ever has been able to unleash on anything. Not only are we the greates military force but a scientific force as well. We have new technology in sensors in weapons and in propulsion.
The USS Shake will go down in history no matter what we ll do. It is up to you and me to make sure we go into history a great success instead of failure. I pledge to you to do whatever lies in my power to keep you and the ship safe in accordance with the directives, general orders and morals and principles of the United Federation of Planets. All I ask of you is that you follow the same directives orders morals and principles in carrying out your duties. I know you will not let me down, as I know we will go down in history as the most successful vessel ever to serve in Starfleet.
A moment of silence worried Christ. He had hoped not to sound stupid but somehow he felt he d not been successful. Then there was a rumbling muffled sound of chears going up around the ship, which overflowed into the Theatre. Everyone stood and cheered. They got the message! Christ thougt.
Okay people. Let s get final preparations for departure underway shall we? Christ said after a while. I ll go get our orders and I ll inform you all of them as soon as we are on our way. Number one, please have wings DEF 1 and 2 commence standard patrols. Assenav, fire up the UADSA as soon as we re clear of the shipyards. Falo, contrary to tradition I want you to take the Shake out for hir maiden voyage. I ve got an admiral to talk to. Christ followed. DISMISSED he said and suddenly the crew sprung to life, everybody leaving to their stations.
Walking the rather long distance to the turbolifts Christ was surprised of how little people there were in one place at the same time. On starships at time of departure from shipyards or starbases there were always people running to be on time, and people working on last minute quirks and problems in consoles. There was no sign of that here. On his way to the turbolift he saw only 5 people, leasurely walking to whatever their destination was. In the turbolift he was joined by Ezri. Well, what do you think about this vessel Christ? she asked casually. It s not really all registering. The sise of it is amazing! Christ said. Yeah, it s really something And you re in command! She said. Huh,,, ever since I saw this vessel for real I ve been wondering wether I m the right guy for this job
Christ, all I can say is the same thing you said to me when I doubted my assignment: You have proven you are a valuable officer and make the right descisions I am proud and lucky to have you as my commanding officer and I have every confidence in your ability to perform your duties as such." She said to Christ, looking him straight into his eyes. Christ looked down into those eyes and smiled. With you as my science officer, what can go wrong! he said. The two officers looked into each others eyes motionless for a few moments and were brought back to reality when the turbolift doors swished open and showed the bridge of the USS Shake. It was large and as apposed to normal Starfleet design it was triangular. In the middle of the bridge were 3 chairs. One was somewhat larger and had a few more controls in the armrests as the other two. The one in the middle.
Captain on the bridge! The young Yiridian yelled as she saw Christ and Ezri come off the turbo lift. As you were was Christs standard replie. He walked to the centre seat, his seat. He moved his hand over the leather coverings and the armrests. The chair was one that would be more approptiate for an easy reading chair in one s quarters. It looked comfortable but instead of trying out the chair Christ walked on to the captains ready room. He had an Admiral to talk to.
As the doors swished open he noticed the ready room was also a lot larger than the ones on other Starfleet vessels. The feeling it was large was espescially enhanced by the smallness of the Klingon Destroyers ready room he d grown used to the past few weeks. The triangular shape of the bridge was also used for the ready room. The captains desk was at the back corner of the room. Christ took a seat and noticed the layout of the desk was almost equal to the standard ready room desk of any starship except for 2 extra consoles. One showing the status of the defiants and the Advanced tactical battle cruisers. The other showed the status of the two hullpieces out of which the carrier consisted. Christ turned the screen of the desks main console towards him and said to the computer:
Get me Admiral Picard on a secured channel the computer chimed acknowlaging Christs request and seconds later the bald headed legend appeared on screen. The face Picard had on worried Christ, I m afraid you ll be doing the test runs on your way on your first mission Captain! Picard opened. I m afraid we re in more trouble than we can handle! he followed. Can t be much worse than the dangers the federation s been in before Christ started to say but as he saw the anguish in Picards face as he said that he knew he was wrong.
The borg? Christ asked. Yes. We think so. We ve detected a very small Borg vessel in Federation Space. The Enterprise under Captain Will Riker and the Velociraptor, a modified Defiant have been dispatched to investigate. The vessel sent a burst transmission though to a location near the edge of the Alpha and Delta Quadrants. There the transmission was received by something or someone but that s all we know of it. We don t know what the message said, or why the Borg vessel is here in the first place. We need you to track down the receiver of that message, and find out as much as possible about the reveiver, the message and the Borg. The Federation is concerned that the Pathogen Voyager introduced into the Borg collective has not been as effective as we d all hoped. This would undoubtedly mean the Borg are headed to our sector in full force with the soul intent to destroy us once and for all. Eliminating their gratest threat to date Apart from species 8472. Get underway to the message s target location at once. Report when you are underway. Picard out
Picards words were still ringing in Christ s ears as the screen went blank. He couldn t believe this. Was the Borg threat never going to stop? He stood up and walked to the doors separating the bridge and the ready room. As the doors swooshed open he noticed one of the advantaged the new disign held. From the doors he could oversee the entire bridge. He could see on the main viewer they'd allmost cleared the antares system and that they were ready to go to warp. Falo, set a course for the following coordinates and engage at full warp. Inform the crew we ll not be going to test run the vessel, but we re going straight into active duty . In unexplored space. Christ said as the destination coordinates were being sent through to conn and the science and tactical stations. I want to have a staff meeting as soon as we re underway. Councellor, could you please arrange this? I ve got something else to tend to . He continued and then sped off the bridge." Captain, it s a petty you couldn t be there to see the departure. Falo said as the captain came in for the meeting. So am I. I m allso sorry for the reason for that. I was talking to Admiral Picard. He informed me of some very bad news. Christ said to everybody. Sir, priority one message from starfleet. It s a live feed from the USS Enterprise E sir. Aerdna interrupted. On main viewer! Christ said.
The viewscreen changed from black into a view of a planet, a spherical shape and 2 starfleet vessels. The 2 vessels approached the sphere which was very small in sise compared to the 2. Suddenly 2 beams came from the sphere, enveloping the 2 ships from stem to stern slowly but doing no damage. Then a beam shot out into nothingness. The 2 starfleet vessels took up attack positions, but before they could fire a single shot the sphere vanished into a huge explosion which swallowed up the 2 starfleet vessels. Then the transmission broke up.
Aerdna, contact starfleet and find out what happened. Allso ask for orders. Christ yelled at the comms officer. eye sir she answered startled and punched a few keys. Incomming transmission sir She said after a few seconds. It s Admiral Picard sir! She followed with a smile on her face. Before Christ could order it the head of Picard appeared on the viewscreen.
He d moved to his Ready room, which was a complete mess. The ceiling had partially collapsed as far as could be seen on the viewscreen. Picard himself showed some cuts and bruises and his face was grimm. Admiral, are you allright sir? Christ asked. Yes I am, but only just. The explosion of the Borg automated reconnessance vessel destroyed the USS Disintegrated and damaged the Enterprise extensively but fortunately we were not destroyed. I see your crew is there as well. Good. Listen carefully.
The location you are now heading for is the location that last beam from the Borg vessel was directed towards. It was a burst transmission. Find whatever that received the transmission and after reporting your findings to us you are to go to the Delta Quadrant as far as needed to find out the status and intentions of the Borg. The federation cannot afford to be surprised by the borg again. But the most important thing of all is that you survive to fight the borg if needed. Picard spuwed his message out allmost without breathing and then terminated the transmission.
Okay people, I think that was clear as a bell. As we are going into unexplored space we need to be ready for anything. Assennav, what s the status of the UADSA? Christ said after a few moments of silence in which the message of the bald headed legend sank in.
We are ready to put the UADSA online for the first time any time we drop from warp sir. I had preferred to do this in a sector of space we know everything about just in case we need to recallibrate some sensors but in theory this is not neccesary. She answered. Very well, as soon as this meeting is over I want you to get prepared. I ll order us to drop to impuls so you can do what you need to do. I want to know whats in a place before we get to it. Nesnaj, I want you to take the USS Authority and the two wings and fly point for the Shake whenever we are not at warp from now on.
We need to make sure we don t run into any surprises even with the UADSA operating. I d like to have you out there as a security polocy. Naj Treeg will give you his preliminary work on manouvers. You ll allso have an opertunity to do some on the job training with your crews and your wings. Christ ordered his security chief. Your sensors will send their data straight into the UADSA as well as into your own computers. You lll receive the UADSA s information on your consoles unless you specify otherwise manually Assenav added.
Thank you. Ezri. When we find anything we want to investigate on the UADSA, we ll send you out with the USS Commander to investigate it. We ll keep the USS Shake as far away from anything we don t know as we possibly can. We ll use the Tactical Battle ships s close range sensors to increase resolution of the UADSA s scanners. Ezri, as soon as we drop out of warp I want you to start drills and exersises for your crew and for your wings. Naj Treeg will assist you the same way as he does Nesnaj. Falo, I want you to get to your station for a test of the hull seperation sequense and the USS Dutch. We re now still inside of the space explored by the Antares mission 20 years ago so we should still be in safe space.
We can do some drills to see where we need to pay attention to. We don t want to find things out during a crisis situation. I want all of you to do as many things as possible at least once so we know if it does or doesn t work. There s a lot of astroids around here so we ll use them for target practice if they re uninhabited ofcourse. Dismissed. Councellor, meet me in my quarters in 1 hour. Christ spewed out the orders very fast as usual but they were clear. This would be a crash test.
Dropping to Impuls sir Naj Treeg informed the bridge. All vessels deploy deploy Christ ordered. What came next would be a site never to forget though in fact noone could see it from any perspecive showing the whole picture. From the front of the huge vessel two Tactical battle cruisers slowly moved forward. The saucersections preceding the clearly recognisable defiant base. From both sides of the carrier, simultaniously there were 10 defiants shooting out incredibly fast from each side. Forming 4 wings of 5 vessels each they arched backwards and took up an escort position each along one side of an advanced tactical battlecruisers. Then, the USS Commander arched up, and slightly to the right, to come to a position under the carrier to the right.
When it came into position suddenly a fissure could be seen between the lower parts of the carrier. The fissure grew larger and as one part of the hull was broken af for a reasonably large distance away from the greater part it suddenly arched down, and moved away from the carrier, followed by the USS Commander. The first ever successful launch of the carriers vessels and It s hull section the USS Shake, the USS Dutch was a fact.
Congtatulations to all! You have all just paricipated in HISTORY Christ spoke into an open channel to all vessels and all crew, Okay. Falo, take the USS Dutch out to maximum warp for a few moments, log all internal sensor data for Larek and return to redock. Then the USS Commander is free to take it s wings for an 8 hour Battle drill. Nesnaj, you are free to commence your 8 hour drill at once. Success to you all. Christ ordered.
The USS Dutch arched away gracefully, escorted by the USS Commander and 2 wings of 5 defiants each, and jumped to warp. A mighty sight, leaving all who d seen it struck with awe. The USS Authority arched in the exact opposite direction but instead of jumping to warp it set a course for a nearby starsystem which had 4 planets orbiting it. It was lifeless and had an asteroid belt around it .. Perfect for some tactiocal games, or at least Nesnaj seemed to think so.
Dnevel, please come to my quarters right away. Christ ordered looking at the young security officer. Christ left the young peljanite in charge of the bridge and ordered the UADSA officer to bring the UADSA online and run all diagnostics on it. As Christ reached his quarters he saw Dnevel allready waiting for him. Reporting as ordered sir. Dnevel said as he saw his captain approach.
Dnevel, come in, I need to talk to you in private. Christ said, leading him into his quarters living room. Take a seat. As Dnevel sat down, so did Christ. As you might know, we are going after Borg . This means there is a large risk that the Borg will attempt to assimillate us. I don t think I need to tell you we cannot allow that to happen. We might need to make contingency plans for a situation where there are Borg inside the carrier and we cannot do anyrthing directly to drive em off. In a scenario of that sort, I might call upon you to completely isolate a section of the vessel to beam it into space . Killing whoever s in that section, no matter who it is. I wanted you to, secretly, train your men in that. This means that when I give the order, noone, absolutely noone gets of of the section I give the order for. And that security teams set up structural integraty forcefields around it at once, not concidering who s on that perticular section.
Do you understand? Christ said to his security chief. Does this apply to sections where you are captain? he asked. Escpescially when I am on a section I order to be shot off! Christ emphasised espescially so Dnevel would understand. And once I have given the order, it is unreprable. Not even I can recall that order, do you understand that? He asked. Yes sir, I do. Dnevel replied shortly and to the point. I will not let you down he added. That s all then.. We ll call it Security order Zeta. This will stay between the two of us .. That s an order! Christ said. Dismissed. He said.
Right as Dnevel was leaving the councellor showed up at the door. Come in Lucyanna. Great timing. Christ greeted her. You wanted to see me about something? Lucyanna asked as she took a seat. Yes I did. I want to ask you something. Christ replied. You want to know if there are any members of the crew for which the Borg hold a special meaning of which you should be aware? Lucyanna asked. Christ looked somewhat surprised but then remembered the last conversation he had with her. Yep. That s exactly my question. Christ confermed.
Yes there are. All of them. The Borg are the greatest threat to the federation and all other living species to have ever existed. The encounters with the Borg we ve had cost so many lives that everybody in starfleet lost someone they knew. I m more worried about Admiral Picard though than about anyone aboard this vessel. His encounters with the Borg may now cloud his judgement She said, not looking at Christ. Then she looked him deep into his eyes. How do you feel about going straight to the Borg as your first mission? She asked. I don t think I need to answer that .. You know how I feel! He replied. That ll be all. He finished.
8 hours after the drills had started the several vessels all returned to the Carrier one by one. Christ had Lucyanna keep a close eye on the returning crews and had asked her to tell him if there were any crewmembers that felt uncomfortable with the way those drills went. She hadn t sensed any yet. The UADSA pre-startup diagnostics were also almost complete. Within the hour they would know what it would do. Christ became more and more worried as things progressed so easy. He expected more problems to have arisen during the drills, as everyone else did. None occurred. The tactics that Nesnaj and Naj Treeg had suggested seemed to work fine in the drills and so did all systems on all ships. Dnevel had some security drills done but even they went off without a hitch. Christ couldn t get murpheys law out of his mind though.
Christ went to the console in his quarters and punched in the controlls to get Picard on the line. The legends face appeared in moments. Well, Captain. How far along are you? Picard asked. Not far at all sir. I thought it nessecary to conduct some drills and tests and have the UADSA brought online before we entered unexplored space sir. I just called you to inform you that There were absolutely no problems or anomalies at all Which is worrying. Christ replied. Picard smiled. I see the new building techniques and protocolls used during the Shake s construction have payed off. I m pleased to hear it. How long until you can get back underway? he said.
Well, the drills are over and we re preparing to dock the USS Dutch with the Shake in 5 minutes. The UADSA will come on line any moment now, so we should be at warp speed within the hour sir. Christ reported. Very well. You mustn t take this urgency to litterly Christ. In contrary to what some might say, it is just as important you map out and record whatever you come across on your way to the Gamma Quadrant. We need to make an assessment of how fast the Borg will be able to move through the area s. But we do need to know as soon as possible though. Picard out. And black was the screen. Christ hated it when Picard did that. Cutting off the conversation right after he d spoken his last words without giving any chance for response.
Christ walked through his quarters through the door to the turbolift. Usually the Captains quarters were the ones closest to the bridge but this vessel wasn t usual, even in that. Christ entered the unusually large turbolift and stated a firm Bridge and waited as the doors closed.