Yes, I'm cutting this chapter in half. I'm trying to get shorter, snappier chapters out now if I can.
Just as Kirk was about to cut the cake, he heard a bell-like tone from the communications console.
Quickly, Uhura sat down at her chair and checked one of her holoscreens.
"Captain!" she exclaimed. "We are being hailed by Starfleet Command! It's a Priority Two message, sir!"
Kirk raised his eyebrows. A Priority 2 message was one of the highest-priority forms of communications in Starfleet. Although it was not as urgent as a Priority 1 message, a Priority 2 message indicated that a serious event had occurred. It could not be ignored.
"Just before we receive this message," Kirk announced, "I would suggest that everybody take their hats of now. I'm sure Starfleet Command won't approve of them."
With a few chuckles, the bridge crew took off the conical party hats and returned to their posts.
Captain Kirk gently pushed the hovertable carrying the cake out of the viewscreen's range-of-sight. "On screen," he called to Uhura.
The young lieutenant tapped her holoscreen, and at once, the large viewscreen image changed from the grey curve of the Moon against the blackness of space to the age-lined face, blue eyes, and grey hair of a familiar Starfleet admiral.
"Admiral Pike!" Kirk exclaimed.
Christopher Pike, a rugged, experienced Starfleet officer, smiled down at James Kirk from the viewscreen. He had inspired and encouraged the young man to join Starfleet, guiding him through the process of becoming a Starfleet Officer. Pike had been the first captain of the Enterprise, and had entrusted Kirk with that command when the aging admiral stepped down from the role of starship commander. Now Pike was one of the elite members of Starfleet Command. But he remained a close friend and mentor to Captain James Kirk.
"Good to see you, Jim. Happy birthday," Pike said.
"Thank you, Admiral," Kirk replied respectfully.
"I'm sorry to disturb your break," the admiral said, turning serious, "but we have a problem. A heavily damaged starship has returned from a mission to Betelgeuse. We need you to return to Starbase 36 for an emergency briefing at 0923 hours."
"Klingons again?" asked Kirk. Betelgeuse was very close to the Klingon Neutral Zone. Tensions were high between the battle-thirsty Klingons and the United Federation of Planets, and a war had been raging for many years.
Christopher Pike shook his head grimly.
"Worse," he sighed. "From what we've heard, much worse."
Then the image of the aged admiral flickered to the default Starfleet graphic that followed all messages.
There was silence. Nobody said a word, uncertain of what exactly to say.
Finally, Scotty spoke up.
"Well," he said slowly, "I guess I'll be headin' back to Engineerin', then , Captain. If we've got a wee trip to make, the engine's will have to be primed."
"Good idea, Mr Scott," Kirk nodded.
Suddenly, Decker cleared his throat. Kirk turned around in his chair and looked up at his old first officer.
"Do you need another hand, Captain?" Decker asked.
Kirk smiled. "Certainly, Will. Welcome back to the Enterprise."
"Aye, sir," Decker replied, an ecstatic grin spreading across his face. Of course he was happy to be back on the Enterprise. After all, he had served on her ever since her commissioning in 2262. The Enterprise was his home, and he would always remember her.
In only a few minutes, the bridge of the Starship Enterprise had been transformed back to its formal, orderly state. The holographic balloons and banners had been shut down, and the hovertable with Kirk's cake was on its way back to the galley. There was just one more thing to do before the Enterprise could get underway.
Captain Kirk pressed a button on his armrest, starting a shipwide broadcast to alert the crew to their new mission.
"Attention, please," he announced, and his voice sounded throughout the ship, relayed by speakers to every part of the vessel.
"This is your captain speaking. At oh-nine-eighteen hours, Starfleet Command issued a Priority 2 message ordering us to return to Starbase 36 for an emergency briefing. At this point, we have no clue what is going on, but by the sounds of things, it's very dangerous. We are departing immediately for Starbase 36. Kirk out."
Suddenly, he heard a chuckle from behind him. Kirk looked to see cynical Leonard McCoy, grinning an amused grin.
"What?" the captain asked innocently.
"There goes your quiet birthday down the drain," the doctor said shrewdly.
Kirk laughed. "Come on, Bones. All I asked for was a few days break, and I got that."
"More like a few hours."
Suddenly, Scotty's voice came over the comm.
"Captain, we're all finished down here! Are ye gonna keep us waiting?"
"Not a moment longer, Mr Scott," Kirk called into the in-chair microphone.
Then he turned to Chekov, who was sitting at his console, fingers hovering just over his touchscreens, like a pianist preparing to play a masterpiece concerto.
"Mr Chekov?"
"Aye, Keptin?"
"Lay in a course for Starbase 36, please,"
"Happy to, sir."
Chekov's fingers danced across his screens at lightning speed, as he set a course back to Earth.
Kirk turned to his helmsman. "Mr Sulu?"
"Aye, sir?"
"Take us out."
Sulu smiled. "Aye, aye, Captain!"
Outside, small blue lights emerged on the sleek white hull of the Starship Enterprise. Her ion thrusters pushed the vessel around, so that she was facing the distant blue orb of the Earth, millions of miles away.
Then her impulse engines burst into a bright orange glow, pushing the giant starship away from the grip of the Moon's gravity. Slowly but surely, the Enterprise gained speed as she powered towards the Earth, until she was no more than a speck in the distance.
It only took a few minutes for the massive starship to reach Earth, a vast leap in speed compared to the three day mission that the Apollo crews had endured over 300 years ago. Now, floating a few hundred kilometres above the Earth, the Enterprise had reached the Thrusters Only Restriction zone that surrounded Starbase 36.
The planet Earth had not changed much since the beginning of the 21st century. Restrictions on burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees, mixed with pollution-removing technology had finally halted the rise in sea levels. And since the creation of the vast Lunar Cities, Martian Towns, and the formation of the Federation, the 20 billion-plus population of the planet was now spread across the Moon, Mars, and numerous planets light-years away from the Sol System, reducing the human population on Earth to around 5 billion people.
Through the viewscreen, Kirk, Spock, and the other bridge crew could see the shining form of Starbase 36 hovering above the deep blue Pacific Ocean. This spacedock was one of the newest Starfleet spaceports orbiting around the planet. It had a round, squat cylindrical body, from which ten docking piers protruded out. Up to 15 starships could dock at each arm at a time.
"Approach Control," Uhura radioed to the spacedock. "This is the USS Enterprise, requesting permission to dock. We are ready for docking manoeuvres."
"Affirmative, Enterprise," a voice crackled over the speakers. "You are cleared to dock at Arm 10, Position 3."
"Mr Sulu, lock on," Kirk commanded.
Sulu tapped his viewscreen. "Systems locked, sir."
"Starbase, you have control," Uhura called.
"We copy, Enterprise."
Spock raised his eyebrows at the short, business-like response of the approach officer. Normally, when they returned to Earth at the end of a long mission, the response was casual and welcoming. Of course, he didn't fully understand why.
Then again, it could possibly be that he had heard what exactly had happened. After all, it had been a Priority 2 alert. Humans were often emotionally affected by major events.
'Humans…so illogical.'
Slowly, the spacedock grew larger and larger on the bridge viewscreen. Their docking arm came closer and closer as well, with several gigantic starships, bigger than ocean liners, clinging to the gigantic silvery pier. Spock could identify two of the Enterprise's sister ships, a Miranda-class scout ship, and several triple-nacelle Liberty-class vessels.
"There she is," Decker said happily, pointing to one of the starships on the viewscreen. Spock checked, and, sure enough, the name Victory could plainly be seen on the saucer section of the vessel. "Beautiful, isn't she?"
"She is just like zat beautiful swan in ze famous Russian tale, 'Ze Ugly Duckling'," Chekov put in.
"That is incorrect, Mr Chekov," Spock said. "'The Ugly Duckling' was written by the famous Danish author, Hans Christian Anderson."
Chekov frowned. "Danish? No, I don't zink so,"
The Victory passed underneath the Enterprise, and more starships slowly passed by on the viewscreen. But as the new starship John F. Kennedy drifted under them, the bridge crew saw something clinging to its berth, hiding in the shadow of the spacedock…
Everybody on the bridge gasped.
"Fascinating…" murmured Spock.
It was the scarred, burnt, battered body of the USS Tempest. Only a week before, the Miranda-class starship had been pristine and unblemished as she set off for a routine patrol of the Klingon Neutral Zone borders, but now, she was a ruined wreck, a shadow of her former self.
Most of her port warp nacelle was missing, and huge chunks had been taken out of her rollbar. The saucer-shaped hull was dotted with black phaser marks and gigantic gaping holes.
"What could possibly do that?" McCoy asked in wonder.
"Not even the most powerful Klingon warbird could inflict that degree of damage," observed Decker, his eyes wide with wonder.
Captain Kirk watched the battered starship drift past on the viewscreen, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
Finally, he turned to Spock, who was studying the damaged Tempest intently.
"Spock, what do you make of it?" the captain asked. Spock could often give valuable information on situations like these. His analysis of every detail had saved the Enterprise and her crew several times.
"Much of the photon torpedo damage is concentrated around the weapons systems, impulse engines, generator section, and warp nacelles. Phaser damage is concentrated around the bridge and hull. The pattern of attacks indicates that the attacker desired to disable the vessel first, before targeting the most crucial areas to destroy it. Whoever attacked the Tempest knew exactly where to strike."
Slowly, the Enterprise coasted past the heavily damaged hull of the Tempest, and slowly turned towards the docking arm. The gigantic starship carefully approached the pier, inching closer and closer with every passing second.
Finally, it came to a halt at its berth. Several large docking clamps locked the starship to the pier, and a long enclosed walkway swung out from the spacedock to connect with the side of the starship Enterprise.
Lights shone through the windows of the spacebridge. For a few minutes, they blazed steady and bright. Then, suddenly, they dimmed, as several silhouettes moved down the walkway into the giant spacedock complex.
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