Chapter 2
by Starsinger
Some explanations: this is mostly for those who haven't gone beyond the universe of ST2009/ID. The Joshua has the beginnings of technology available in eighty years, at the time of Star Trek the Next Generation. Intership transport has been perfected and is used regularly ie: beaming from a planet/ship/other object in space to someplace other than a transporter pad on the ship, like an away team from a planet directly to sickbay, and even inside the ship itself. From ST2009, you could see that this was a little tricky. Turbolift is still more often used. People walked in, told the lift where they wanted to go, and off they went. Communicators are the badge insignia on their chests. Riker tapped his chest insignia in "Encounter at Farpoint" to get the Enterprise's attention to beam him up. Last, and here is where I'm getting your attention, the Enterprise D had a battle bridge. It was a separate bridge that the command crew went to in times when the crew went into battle that they knew was coming. Why did they do this? Because they had a lot of civilians aboard that needed protecting. Are you asking "Huh? What did they do with the civilians?" The saucer section of the Enterprise separated from the ship and carried the families of the military personnel on the ship to safety. Okay, that didn't work so well in Star Trek Generations, the saucer section crashed into the planet, but most of the population was saved when the warp core exploded. Now, the Joshua doesn't have a battle bridge, per se, but it has a command and control center that might have one day evolved into a battle bridge. I am such a Trekkie, sigh.
The three men looked at each other, wondering what to do when the room buzzer went off. "Enter," Kirk called. In walked Bones, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, and Marcus.
"Wow, who gets to sleep here," Uhura asked.
"I do, I mean Carol and I do," Jim said, somewhat embarrassed.
The first person to disappear was Scotty. Captain Liptak stopped by, "I thought you'd like to get your hands on the engine room, Mr. Scott."
"Well, she's no Enterprise, but I'll be more than happy to take a look at her," despite Scotty's words, his hands were rubbing together in anticipation. Steve grinned as he escorted the engineer out of the room.
A young man, who introduced himself as Lieutenant Commander Randy Gill came next. "Captain Spock, Commander Marcus?" he asked. "I'm Sci-Med chief, Randy Gill." Randy was young, reasonably good looking, with a mop of blonde hair and blue eyes that sparkled. Jim sat up straighter.
Carol leaned over and whispered, "He's married," pointing to the wedding band on the man's finger.
Bones looked confused, Randy grinned at him, "Don't worry, I'm sending over one of my top medical personnel for you. I deal mostly in Science." He winked at Kirk. It was a jaunty wink that told him that he'd have competition in the "charm" department if he was interested.
Next up Lieutenant Keith Alguire came for Uhura. He was nice, and competent, he and Uhura got along off the bat, as they talked about the various languages they'd encountered over the years. Another Lieutenant Commander, Melissa Solomon, showed up for Bones, much to his relief. Small, dark, and also wearing glasses, her acerbic nature was more than a match for the good doctor. "Dr. McCoy?" she asked, standing directly in front of him. He looked up at her, she had her hands on her hips. "Well, come on, I have work to do." Bones, wide eyed and feeling a little bullied, followed in the wake of her forceful personality.
Kirk, Sulu and Chekov sat still waiting. Not sure who would show up next. Fortunately, it was a familiar face. "Alright, all three of you, come on. John's ready for you in the CnC," Kris said. She smiled as she led them out of the room. They entered yet another turbolift where Kris announced, "Battle Bridge." Kris always seemed to have her hands full of stuff. Notebooks, paper, pens, all old-fashioned writing materials that bespoke her old-fashioned notions.
"Battle Bridge?" Kirk asked.
"Years ago, when we first started off on this ship, we tried everything to find the CnC, Command Control, Deck 9, that place that controls everything. Finally, a former Captain, Sean Caughman, renowned for his ability to get lost, got in a lift one day and said, 'Battle Bridge' and ended up there. He was trying to get back to his quarters." She said trying to stifle laugh.
The turbolift doors opened to reveal one of the most efficiently laid out bridges any of them had ever seen. A forward viewscreen still sat in the front. Instead of a single captain's chair, three chairs sat below a horseshoe shaped panel ringing behind them. In front of them was weapons and navigations. The horseshoe contained tactical. A kind of direct line of sight for what was going on outside the ship. Science, Communications and Engineering could be accessed in the panels at the back.
Captain John Coward stood in front of the command chairs, a striking, tall, red haired woman behind him, "Fleet Captain Kirk, welcome to Command and Control."
Sean was also our Chief of Navigation, which became Ten Below, for many years. He earned his notoriety by missing Waco, Texas three times in the same night. He never lived that down. He died of a heart attack in Iraq three years ago. I miss him. I am open to suggestions, or even if you'd like to add yourself to this unusual band of misfits. Of course you could also go to the Joshua website and join, hint hint.