Paint and Powder
A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
2368
"Captain's log, Stardate 45308.8. Following our mission to the Romulan Neutral Zone, the Enterprise has been assigned to aid some new starships in some shakedown exercises near Starbase Cheron."
The conference lounge had one new face for the meeting: Ensign Ro Laren, a Bajoran who had come aboard as the ship's new conn and navigator. She was still a bit standoffish around the other members of the crew, but she sat attentively as Geordi gave a presentation on the new ship classes they were going to be helping. Enterprise stood in her usual spot, just behind Picard and to the right, like his ever present shadow.
"More advanced designs are of course coming off the assembly lines," Geordi said, as he pulled up two graphics of vessels, "but to expand the fleet, Starfleet's been using some of the technology off the Enterprise-D and her sister ships to produce some newer designs, and in large numbers. First off is the Broadsword-class heavy cruiser."
A take on the Miranda-class but in a Galaxy-form appeared, though with a built up aft hanger section and some fearsome looking torpedo and phaser cannons mounted on the roll bar. Worf nodded approvingly.
"Based on the Woden-class experimental tactical vessels," he said, "less firepower overall, but more flexible."
"Yes, I remember the incident with that vessel," Picard commented, "made the news across the Federation. Ten Galor-class starships eliminated without a scratch on a covert mission. Very formidable."
Picard looked like he was a bit at war with himself. There was a disgust in him at the need for such heavily armed starships... Yet his experience at Wolf 359 pushed his disgust aside to grimly appreciate the necessity.
Enterprise sometimes marveled at how well she could read her captain, despite how little time they had spent together compared to some of her other commanders. Well... Relatively.
"I've heard they'd been adding armor to these ships, as well?" Riker pressed. Geordi nodded.
"Yes, a mixture of Whipple Armor and a new technology, ablative armor. But honestly, the Galaxy-class was never really designed for slugging it out at close range. And the rest of her lineage isn't really suited for it either."
"The Borg's specialty," Worf rumbled. Riker and Picard were grim, and Troi frowned heavily. Beverly tried not to look at Picard. Ro looked a bit awkward, but remained silent. Data nodded, logical and composed as ever.
"But," Data went on, "this armor plating will allow these ships to be more survivable, and focus on their primary combat strategy: Ranged combat. They can also mount vertical launch system pods, allowing for an overwhelming barrage of missile weapons."
"Or science probes, as well," Troi interjected. Picard nodded, appreciative for that reminder. Riker moved the meeting on.
"And the other class, Geordi?" Riker prompted.
Geordi switched to another graphic: A familiar awkward profile of a single-nacelled starship, though in a different form that anyone was used to.
"The Coontz-class," Geordi said, "now I know they look like every other little tin can ship of this type, but they're trying some interesting things with this class."
"Tin Can...?" Data began, but he nodded his head, "ah. Tin Can. As in reference to 'tin can sailors'. Destroyers."
"Right," Geordi nodded.
Ro made a face.
"I remember my midshipman tour on the Firebrand," Ro observed, "not a fun experience. It was like they'd just gamma welded an Ambassador saucer to a Galaxy warp nacelle with a neck from a Constitution together."
"Well, destroyers have always been meant to be cheap and simple... And honestly, that's what the Freedom class basically was," Geordi said with a nod and a small smile, "but Starfleet wants destroyers that aren't just cobbled together, but are still easy to mass produce. The Coontz-class is still a bit awkward, but her double-warp coil assembly in her nacelle means she can hit Warp 9, and giving her an actual deflector instead of adding one on in a pod means she can stay there for a while. And her shields are three times stronger than on comparable destroyer-class ships."
"I see it only has one photon torpedo launcher, and only three phasers," Worf grumbled, clearly disapproving. Geordi grinned.
"Yeah, but you'll notice some of your work on the launcher, Worf," Geordi said. He zoomed in on it. Worf looked over the technical specifications, and then nodded in approval.
"I see. My recommendation for the FQT-7 miniaturization went through?"
"Yup," Geordi said with a grin, "took a little doing, but the FQT-7A is online and being mass deployed!"
"Congratulations, Lieutenant," Picard said with a smile, "it's a credit to you and the tactical team's work that the design is being mass deployed."
Troi, Ro, Riker and Crusher looked more and more confused, so Enterprise gamely interjected.
"The FQT-7A is a smaller, modified version of my own forward torpedo launcher," Enterprise said, "which will allow the destroyers to fire ten torpedoes at a time in a single launch."
Ro nodded. Riker smiled knowingly. Troi and Crusher relaxed a bit.
"Add in that their phaser power manifolds are run right through their warp plasma conduits, and they pack a pretty big punch for their size," Geordi said, "and they've got the same sensor arrays as we do: Though in a much smaller package."
"And, most importantly, we can build a lot of them, fast and cheap," Riker cut in, nodding, "it's nice to see the Fleet recovering so fast. What are the trials we'll be helping with?"
"Pretty basic," Geordi said, "we'll fill out a task force-Enterprise will lead, with the cruisers Claymore and Jian, and the destroyers Jervis, Kiev, Allen M. Sumner, and Shimakaze. We'll help out with testing their torpedo systems, sensors, impulse drives, and a few others. I've sent the full schedules to you to work them out, Captain, Commander."
"An additional note," Data said, "all the ship AIs are newbuilds. And they all recently achieved sapience."
Enterprise felt a sudden chill. No. They weren't going to-
"Enterprise, you will be responsible for getting these new ship AIs into shape," Picard stated. Enterprise hid her grimace with long practice.
"Yes sir," she said. The rest of the meeting devolved into responsibilities and duty rosters, but most of Enterprise's runtime was devoted to that task.
Still, she wasn't a hardened, cynical monster or anything. She had mentored young ship AIs in the past.
How hard could it be?
Cheron Station Orbit
At first sensor scan, the cruisers and destroyers looked fairly promising. They were maintaining a stable orbit around Cheron and in decent formation. Nothing fancy.
Picard hailed their commanders, and they engaged in some basic discussion. Meanwhile, Enterprise linked to the ship AIs via the Borderlands.
She presented her desktop-The Kirk Farmhouse. She stood there with a smile as the link was completed, and the AIs logged in.
Claymore was first: She was in full plate armor, wielding the sword she shared a name with. She was fair, red haired, with burning blue eyes. She stood at attention.
"Enterprise! Ma'am! Claymore, reporting for duty!" She cried.
Jian appeared next. She was a statuesque Chinese human woman, also wearing armor-Though of the early Ming Dynasty mountain armor pattern, in rich blues and reds. She bowed, her sword at her side.
"Jian, reporting for duty, ma'am," Jian stated calmly, "it is an honor to work with you."
Enterprise smiled inwardly. Outwardly, she was serene. It was a trick Yorktown was better at, but Enterprise had gotten quite good at it over time.
"There's no need for ceremony here," she said, "it's good to meet you, my sisters."
She looked at the spawn point. Where were-?
"I'm here-!"
"Shimakaze has arrived-!"
"Reporting for-!"
"Zdravstvujtye-!"
All four destroyer avatars appeared... And slammed into one another. All four fell, sprawled in a heap at Enterprise's feet.
Jian artfully covered her lips with a sleeve to conceal a laugh. Claymore glowered. Enterprise made sure her lips didn't twitch.
Jervis, a small Caitian avatar (with a maid theme), got up first, and brushed off her dress.
"USS Jervis, reporting as ordered, ma'am!" She cried.
A tough looking brunette human in skintight clothing got up next, saluting.
"USS Allen B. Sumner, reporting for duty, ma'am!"
A white haired bunny girl and a pale maiden in thick furs got up, glaring death at eachother before looking back to Enterprise eagerly.
"Kiev, online Enterprise!"
"Shimakaze is here, Enterprise-sama! And very sorry for Kiev's idiocy. We have grown used to it."
"Why you-!"
Kiev sucker punched Shimakaze, who replied with a slug right back. They fell into a furious fight, as Jervis sighed and Sumner excitedly began recording it.
Enterprise rolled her eyes.
"Well... It could have been worse," she muttered.
Great Maker, she hoped she wasn't tempting fate.
The little flotilla headed out to a dense asteroid cloud on the outer reaches of the Cheron System. The destroyers had fanned out in front of the task force to screen them, as the two heavy cruisers flew alongside Enterprise as escort.
Several asteroids soon came into visual range, a great gathering of rocks and metal floating in space. Picard nodded, satisfied.
"Hold here," he said. He looked over at Worf, who stood ready at tactical. "Well, Mister Worf? I believe the schedule calls for showing off you and the tactical team's work?"
Worf didn't quite grin, but he did look very enthusiastic. Enterprise was glad he was happy.
"Aye sir," he said. He opened a channel. "Enterprise to Sumner, Kiev, Jervis, and Shimakaze. We will commence test firing of Sierra Pattern in sequence. Kiev, please begin."
"What? Why does she get to go first?" Shimakaze whined. Her captain, a Lieutenant Commander Yunji, gave her ship's avatar a disapproving scowl.
"Shimakaze," the Benzite scolded. Shimakaze wilted, and sulked a bit.
Kiev smirked, and nodded to her captain, a Lieutenant Commander Raymond Stewart. Ray smiled, and tapped his acceptance.
"Yes Enterprise, we understand," he said. He sat back in his command chair on his cramped but efficient bridge, modeled after the battle bridge on the Enterprise-D. "All right Kiev, lock onto that Asteroid. Designate it as Target Alpha-1."
"Target locked," Stewart's tactical officer reported, "torpedoes loaded."
Back on the Enterprise, Picard nodded.
"Kiev, this is Enterprise. You are free to commence firing."
"Aye sir," Stewart stated, "fire!"
"Firing sir!" Kiev announced.
A huge orange star burst from her fore-saucer torpedo launcher, and it rocketed away. Several thousand kilometers later, it burst into ten smaller stars like the floating seeds from a dandelion... Before impacting on the asteroid, and exploding.
The viewscreen filters on all the ships protected the eyes of the crewmembers from the flash, and after the massive blast died down... All that was left of the asteroid was dust and pebbles. Worf nodded, satisfied. Picard shared the same expression.
"Successful first test, well done, all," Picard stated.
In the Borderlands, Kiev grinned proudly and shot her smug look right at Shimakaze.
"HA! First try!" Kiev boasted.
"Well done, Kiev, but let's not get carried away," Enterprise said. Kiev flushed, and quickly nodded, even as she tried to hide in her coat and furry hat.
"Y-Yes, Enterprise... Of course..."
Enterprise smiled at Shimakaze, trying to encourage the rabbit girl.
"You're up next, Shimakaze," she said, "just do your best."
Shimakaze huffed, and nodded.
"Of-Of course, Enterprise! I, the great Shimakaze, will not be outdone by some Russian scrap heap!"
"Look who's talking, thick thighs," Kiev shot back mockingly.
"I DO NOT HAVE THICK THIGHS!" Shimakaze growled.
"She also said you were flat chested," Sumner suggested.
"Pl-Please, Sumner, don't provoke them, again," Jervis sighed, her ears drooping. Sumner huffed.
"Oh for booting up cold! I'm just trying to have some fun-!"
"Shimakaze? Is there a problem?" Picard's voice broke into the Borderlands. Shimakaze coughed, and quickly focused. Her captain, Yunji, gave her an impatient look.
"Ahem, no sir," Shimakaze said, "torpedoes are armed, ready to fire in Sierra pattern!"
Yunji nodded. She looked at her tactical officer with a smile.
"By all means then... Fire!"
Shimakaze let loose her own torpedo spread, towards another asteroid. The same bundle of torpedoes flew forth, fanned out... And then abruptly looped around and started heading for the fleet.
Shimakaze's jaw dropped. Sumner coughed.
"Ah, heh, great trick Shimakaze, maybe you should turn 'em around-?"
"I can't! I-Oh shimatta, I set the targeting systems to the default auto!" Shimakaze yelped.
"Oh good, now they're after us," Jervis said, with a bright smile... Before she shrieked.
"EVASIVE MANUEVERS!"
The four destroyers broke and flew off wildly, trying to evade the torpedoes. Each of them produced a cloud of glowing metal fragments as they jinked and rolled. Even in the midst of this situation, Picard frowned in confusion at these displays.
"Data, what-?"
"Subspace chaff, sir," Data stated, "they are subspace reflecting metallic fragments designed to confuse the targeting systems of enemy torpedoes-"
"Very fascinating, Data, but let's focus on dealing with them," Picard stated, "Jian? Claymore? Engage."
"On it, sir," Commander Mahesa Thomas on board the Claymore responded. The two cruisers fired their phaser arrays in rapid bursts, sending out pulses not unlike the old style phaser cannons but from their colliminated strips. This allowed the cruisers to intercept the wayward torpedoes, dispatching them in several bright but harmless explosions in short order.
The destroyers slowed down and came to relative stops, the danger passed.
In the Borderlands, Shimakaze was frozen in mortification. Sumner smiled and shrugged.
"So... Me next?"
Shimakaze wailed, and logged out. Enterprise sighed.
Sumner looked at everyone's glares, and shrugged sheepishly.
"I was trying to be funny...?"
"Try harder next time," Jian advised dryly.
More destroyer antics next time! If you'd like to see the ship classes referenced in this story, look up Inpayne's Star Trek Kitbashes.