STAR TREK: PHASE ONE
Launch!
October 31, 2050, would be the day that future calendars marked as the day the first manned mission to Mars was successfully sent underway. There had been three delays, but after three weeks of them, the go command was given and the Enterprise prepared to move out of the large dock, in orbit of Earth, that had been its home during construction for nearly seven years.
As billions of people watched on their TVs, and computers, and Ipads, and all other forms of media, they could see one of the dockworkers, clad in a space suit, waving at the large ship as it gracefully slid out of dock, and into the vastness of space, with Earth in background.
It was a rare occasion when the people of Earth had something they could all cheer for, but on occasion it did happen. But no other event in the history of the world, even when peace finally came to the Middle East, had caused as much harmony as this, the first mission to Mars.
The people of Earth also knew the urgency of the mission, to destroy the comet that was heading toward Earth. Though no one knew for sure if the Enterprise would be successful, all could feel the hope that was generated by the fearless crew, and the charming, but magnetic captain, James Tiberius Kirk.
Captain James T. Kirk and his command Bridge crew were all at their posts. Kirk sat in a special command chair that was positioned in the center of the bridge.
The bridge itself was a circular shaped operations center. Kirk, sitting in the middle, in a pivot chair, would primarily be facing the large view screen, which displayed live camera feeds, as well as data streams. Attached to the left arm of Kirk's chair was the special interface to the S.P.O.C.K. unit.
The Spock Unit was the Captain's special device that allowed him to converse with the A.I. aspect of the Enterprise that kept all systems running smoothly. Up to this point, Kirk found no reason to talk to the Spock at all. Though, with Daystrom onboard, Kirk was confident that Daystrom would insure that Kirk used the Spock Unit.
Just forward of Kirk, on the same lower level, and closer to the main screen, were the Helm station, manned by Lt. Sulu, and the Navigator's post, which was next to Sulu, to Kirk's right. Navigation was manned by Lt. Nadya Chekov.
Until the planned upgrades were made, the weapons systems were integrated with Chekov's post as well. At first it had been thought that Helm would have the collateral duty of weapons, but it was passed over to Navigation upon further review.
Along the outside of the lower ring, along the upper level, were the supporting stations which were manned by various crew members.
Lt. Commander Nyota Uhura manned the communications post, which were situated on the upper ring of the bridge and aft from Kirk's command chair. Her computer panels, and controls, extended to her left and merged with Gary Mitchell and his station.
Commander Mitchell's primary duty was ops, and overseeing all other duties of the command crew. Which meant, at any moment, Commander Mitchell could take over, from his post, any of the other bridge stations.
To Uhura's right, and past the entrance to the bridge, was the satellite engineering station, which was, for launch purposes, manned by Lt. Commander Scott.
The Enterprise was over five hundred feet long. Its cylinder shaped hull contained seven decks, which included specialized sections throughout. The crew of the vessel slept on the fourth deck, which was the most inner deck. It was constructed this way so that if the special hull, which lined the outside of the ship, were compromised by lethal space radiation, in all its forms, the crew could retreat to the fourth deck which had special lining built into the walls for such emergencies. There was also an auxiliary bridge on this level as well.
Doctor McCoy sat in the modern sickbay, which was located on deck three, and monitored the life signs of the bridge crew. In fact, all members of the crew were continually wired to the ship's net via wireless devices. This allowed constant medical evaluation, which assured the most rapid response from McCoy and his ready to go med crews, if and when they were needed.
The Enterprise was also equipped with a very advanced elevator system called turbo-lifts. They were magnetically driven travel pods which could hold up to five passengers, standing up, comfortably. The cars traveled silently at speeds up to two hundred miles per hour, and not only traveled vertically, but horizontally as well through an elaborate web of travel conduits.
As McCoy was watching the life-signs of the main crew, he was also finishing up on some administrative issues as well. He sat at his computer and closed out the personal file of one of the life-science departments crew members. The file belonged to Lt. Carol Marcus, who had to transfer back to shore duty due to her finding out that she was a month pregnant.
McCoy frowned, he actually like the young woman's work ethic. He hoped, someday, that she would find her way back to active space duty down the line.
Captain Kirk was very proud of his crew. They had handled the launch from space dock quite well. The next part of the mission would be the most risky part.
The power to the experimental engines would be beamed to the Enterprise via two special satellites that would remain in orbit of Earth, but that would send two highly powered beams directed at the Enterprise. Two collection plates would transfer the energy from the beams to the Ionized Graviton Jeffries Chambers, which would then segment the energy to ships support systems, and more importantly, to the ships engines.
Once the ship gained maximum speed, at nearly forty percent of light speed, which would take seven hours to accelerate to, the beams would be cut off from the satellites back at Earth, and the ship would continue on with it stored energy reserves. Once it neared Mars, a journey that would take nearly twenty-seven hours, two satellites in Mars orbit would repeat the process and beam two beams at the Enterprise, causing gradual slowdown. The braking systems would cut in, and the deceleration process would only take two hours.
The risks were simple, but the crew of the Enterprise knew that risk was part of their mission. If the lasers powering the ship were aimed wrong, just slightly, and the beams came into contact with the primary hull, the beams would slice through the ship, killing all aboard. Even as they faced risks, Captain Kirk was confident they would succeed…
Continued…