New!

The career of Captain Aurora duBois had been spent, until very recently, on a variety of ships far older than her thirty-four years. There had been two ships of the Miranda class, an Excelsior, a Cheyenne - and then there had been the Bonaventure. An Akira-class starship, the Bonnie had been Aurora's first posting as a command-track officer, first as an away-team specialist, then as chief engineer. She had then followed her commanding officer, Twaiheak Sh'abbas, then just promoted to the admiralty, into the Avenger-class starship project, where she had served as second officer and chief engineer aboard the USS Warspite. The ship had proven itself throughout the fighting against the Iconians, playing a direct role in the Federation Alliance's success in that conflict, as well as leading to her being promoted to Captain.

And so she found herself commanding USS Minerva, a ship of the Jupiter-class, and one of Starfleet's newest fleet carrier vessels. Minerva was an exceptional, if somewhat flawed, design, in her estimation, and she hoped to be capable of all the tasks that were left for her. Aurora's experience with the development of the Avenger-class starship, coupled with her experience aboard smaller carrier types, meant that Starfleet wanted to use what she knew to trouble-shoot some of the major issues with the new class of carriers. She felt confident in saying that her insight would prove helpful, even appreciated. After all, that was how she came to be given command of Minerva in the first place.

Instead of relying exclusively on its own phasers, sensors and engines to accomplish its mission, Minerva was the launch platform for a variety of smaller auxiliary craft - shuttles, work bees, its two wings of Valkyrie-type attack fighters - to support the achievement of its objectives. It also housed a set of larger vessels, which Aurora fondly referred to as 'pinnaces' but which Starfleet officially classified as 'frigates', that could deploy instead and go into the tighter corners of space.

This was one of the main reasons the bridge, where Aurora was at the moment, sitting in her captain's chair, was so different. Most Starfleet bridge modules had a spherical shape, with the conference room and ready room rounding off a central command area featuring seated consoles for things like 'operations' and 'engineering'. Minerva's bridge was more of an extended oval shape, with flight tracking holo-grids visible on either side - one forward-looking, the other aft - and a slightly rounded viewscreen taking up the front. The observation lounge and meeting room was accessible through either side, with the important distinction 'Captain's Ready Room' marking a door aftwards. The pilots of the two squadrons each had their own ready rooms on Deck Five.

Having more than just probes and a small set of onboard shuttlecraft led Aurora to a very different way of thinking about tactical dispositions than she had experienced previously. The Minerva's two main strengths lay in area defense and denial of access, and relied upon the pilots and their support crew, such as repair teams and flight deck officers, to maintain that strength. As well as upkeep of the fighters and other small craft, the well-being of all of those personnel ultimately relied upon her. And there were a lot of people relying upon her. The launch bay alone held five times the number of small craft that the Warspite had carried, which gave her greater flexibility as a mission commander and a starship captain. It also created a lot more pressure than she had ever experienced before.

And it was all so new! She was the first commander of the Minerva, the only person to sit in its captain's chair since launch. And it was such a nice chair - not exactly comfortable, since it perched her right in the center of the room, but it was really pretty with its wood inlay and the lights of the armrest consoles twinkling. Leaning back in it somehow felt inappropriate, like she was sitting at the teacher's desk during class. At the same time, it felt like something she had been waiting to experience for her whole life. She and her sister Bianca had grown up in a family that revered the human experience of flight, both having helped their father re-construct an ancient flying craft called a Spitfire. Now she was in command of Minerva and her wing of their space-faring equivalents.

Whether the ship's name would go down in Starfleet history for some daring engagement or for some less-dignified reason would all depend on her. And then there was the fact that the ship itself wouldn't be new for long, especially if they were involved in combat. And they were expected to be involved in combat. It was their mission. The experience she'd had to date had involved plenty of combat - combat of the kind that led to banged-up starships with components in need of maintenance, replacement, and so forth.

It was easy to get herself overwhelmed thinking about it. It was also really easy to forget how she had once been a fresh young duty officer, straight out of Academy threads, working the controls of a Federation starship. This was the case for her helm officer, Ensign Dorina Staunton, who was all of five-foot-four, dwarfed by the horseshoe-shaped flight console that encircled her. While this forward flight console resembled one that might be found aboard a Defiant-class starship, it was also attached to a far less nimble starship. She wondered if she had seemed so small at that age, even if she had never been a starship's pilot. Staunton looked so vulnerable as she leaned in and reached across to maintain the controls that sustained the carrier's forward flight.

Behind her, a pair of stations, one on either side of her, held the tactical and operations consoles. Over her right shoulder, Lieutenant Ralani sh'Thras perched at tactical. She was a very typical Andorian - aggressive during combat drills, and a relatively closed book outside of them. This was just how Andorians dealt with anxiety, her ship's counselor had suggested - by proving their worth by creating a sense of the routine upon which she would come to depend. Still, Ralani had come highly recommended and her Starfleet record of seven years' service was impeccable. Besides, after so many years serving with Admiral Sh'abbas, Aurora was reassured. Having an Andorian at tactical felt right to her.

Operations was vacant, but was usually occupied by Ralani's complete opposite, her first officer, the jovial, talkative Narad Tuxx. The Bolian lieutenant commander had served with distinction during the Iconian War, co-ordinating a small flotilla of shuttles that had evacuated from Starbase 234 in an orderly fashion, one of few things to go right on the day the starbase had been destroyed. He had been chosen as operations officer precisely because of his knack for details and for being proven able to manage small craft operations without any prior experience. He was an acquired taste, Aurora felt. Too bad she had yet to acquire it. She'd felt more like his mother than his commanding officer during their first few weeks, and only now was he starting to settle.

The Minerva was en route for Vulcan, having just completed their third mission in as many months, a forward patrol in the Donatu sector. They were scheduled to spend a few days at Vulcan Spacedock, resupplying and getting ready for their next patrol, a sweep for Herald forces through the Narendra sector. Aurora had completed her reports on their mission. They were as bloodless and tedious to read as they had been to experience. Of course, the added benefit of hindsight took the anxiety out of it - knowing nothing was going to happen sure made it hard to pretend otherwise for the reader's benefit. But these sorts of reports were intended to be written as bedtime reading for insomniacs, so-

There was a humming, urgent noise from the operations console. Ralani beat Aurora in crossing over to respond. "We have an incoming distress signal," Ralani told her captain. "It's... this can't be right."

Aurora gave a quizzical look. "What is it?"

"It's coming from Andoria," Ralani responded, her antennae extending aloft in concern.

"Is there audio?"

Ralani nodded, then initiated playback. "This is Captain Kuumaarke of the LSS Reskava. My research group is under attack in the Andoria system. We believe the attackers are allied with House Mo'Kai, in service to Matriarch J'Ula. Their flagship is using some kind of... superweapon... we've lost three ships to it already! To all vessels within range, please - we require immediate assistance! We can't last much longer against -"

"Signal cuts out at that, Captain," Ralani added.

Aurora furrowed her brow. "The LSS Reskava..."

"It's the flagship of the Lukari."

"Yes, I know. It's just..." Aurora shook her head. "House Mo'Kai..." Her eyes met Ralani's. "Those would be the last people I'd want the Lukari to meet."

"And they brought a superweapon," Ralani continued.

"I'm surprised we haven't encountered them sooner, if I'm being honest." Aurora turned towards the helm. "Ensign Staunton, alter course - for Andoria, maximum warp."

"Aye, Captain," Staunton replied, her voice trembling a little.

"Take us to red alert, Ralani."

"Yes, ma'am," Ralani replied.

Aurora gripped the armrest - carefully, so as not to press any buttons. So this would be the moment when her pretty new command would see its first combat. And against the latest group of Klingons to test the Federation's strength, no less. This big new starship of hers was about to see what it could do.

And right in the Admiral's backyard, no less, she thought to herself. Here's hoping we don't let her down.

She took a hard swallow and tried to look confident that things would turn out for the best. She also took a moment to appreciate the comfort of the captain's chair. It was a safe bet that, for the next little while, she'd be on the edge of her seat.