The crew complied.
Fleet Admiral Williamson stood at the top of the staircase, and then faced the crew.
"Cadets, this is the moment you've been waiting for. You've been trained on how to communicate and work with each other; now you are going to briefly learn how to use the computer equipment you've each been assigned. The people on that planet need to be rescued soon, and you're pressed for time, so we need to make sure you know how to do your jobs before you launch to improve the odds of your mission ends as successfully. The recordings you see in front of you will teach you how to operate your computer stations. You are to listen to the recordings, do everything they tell you to do, then surrender your recording when you're finished." he turned to the command platform. "Pick up your recordings then press play. Hold your recording in the air when you're finished." he faced the bridge. "Begin."
Aaen's recording was shared between him and the cadet to his immediate right, who operated the ship's external scanner. Two pairs of over-ear headphones were tied to one playback unit. Aaen pressed play. The recording featured an introduction to the ship's Chief Engineer, Tex. He has a southern accent, Aaen noted. Next, a virtual tour of both cadets' computer stations and their respective responsibilities ranging from Aaen's being responsible for reading and announcing what is on his screen and the scanner officer keyboarding identities of possible sensor contacts and then scanning for sensor contacts. The recording lasted about five minutes, Aaen estimated. Both he and the scanner officer raised their headphones into the air. Something must have gone wrong when they were assigning jobs. This is not what I was trained to do, and far less than what I'm capable of. Either there was a mistake made somewhere in the system . . . or someone is underestimating me. He was confident he knew the answer . . . Aaen observed the communication officer taking intermittent phone calls from the convoy, writing down a series of numbers on a single piece of paper.
Fleet Admiral Williamson collected the recordings from the rest of the bridge promptly as they were finished over the course of fifteen minutes. He stowed them in a trio of black plastic drawers on the far side of the bridge at the top of the downward staircase. Aaen waited patiently for the ship to launch, relishing the soft hum of the ship's translight core through the bridge deck plating, and the faint beeping echoes filling the bridge. The Main Computer was finishing routine pre-launch diagnostics on all of the ship's systems. The tactical screen showed a 3D diagram of the ship rotating at different angles in a precise sequence with a translucent rectangle passing through the diagram at each angle. Everything was working perfectly. Good, Aaen thought, grinning lightly.
Aaen looked around the bridge. Training was finished. Fleet Admiral Williamson stood once again at the top of the stairs, facing the cadet assigned as the ship's Captain.
"Captain, is this your first time commanding a starship?"
"Uh . . . yeah?" he replied.
"Are you nervous?"
"Uh . . . yeah."
"You should be." the rest of the bridge crew briefly chuckled. "Remember, Captain. You don't have much time. Get to that solar system and rescue those people!"
"Okay," he replied, hesitantly. Aaen glanced at the captain through his left peripheral—the captain was already starting to sweat a little. Aaen's grin shrank.
"Captain, I'll be leaving the ship before you launch. If you have anything you'd like to say to your crew, perhaps a few words of encouragement you are free to do so now. You have your orders. Good luck."
Fleet Admiral Williamson turned sharply away from the command platform then walked off the bridge down the far staircase near the recording drawers.
"Umm . . . everybody go a good job?"
The crew laughed, mistaking the captain's hesitance for a poke at sarcasm.
Ten seconds later, the intercom whistled.
"Engineering to Bridge! Engineering to Bridge! You got Tex, do you hear me up there, Captain?" the call echoed through the bridge like crisp rolling thunder.
"Uh . . ." he stuttered, finishing with a subtle, "yeah."
"Captain, howya doin' today, sir?"
"I'm okay."
Aaen glanced again in the captain's direction through his left peripheral. The captain looked awe-struck at the sight of the rest of the class on the two levels of the bridge below him. His torso was stiff as a bedpost; he was grasping onto the armrests as if hanging onto the edge of a cliff for dear life. The rest of the bridge was focused on the main view screen.
"Captain, I'm the chief engineer, I work down in the engine room at the bottom of the ship. If there's anything you need, just say, 'Hey, Tex!' and I'll be happy to help you in any way that I can."
". . .Okay."
"Captain, from what I can see we're all ready to get underway. We just need to get the translight engine's goin', and we'll be on our way."
"Who does that, again?"
Embarrassed, Aaen covered his face, pretending to rub his forehead and the inner corners of his eyes.
"Sir, that's Adam's job. He sits on the left side of the bridge. Just say, 'Adam, translight speed!'"
"Adam . . . 'translight speed'!"
"There are nine of them, sir!" Adam replied.
"Okay . . . translight . . . factor . . . three!"
How random, Aaen thought, rolling his eyes behind his palms before resting his hands on the blank white desktop between him and his computer screen hidden behind black plastic.
"Excellent choice, sir!" said Tex.
Adam clicked the button to carry out the captain's order.
"Speed change: translight-factor-three. All hands brace for translight insertion." the Main Computer announced over the intercom. The Main Computer's voice sounded like someone trying to speak up over a loud background noise while plugging their nose.
A thin, bold mechanical whine gradually grew to a fine roar as an explosion of swirling light lit the main view screen. The stars streaked into the corners of the screen, followed by a thundering boom. The stars then appeared as fine white streaks of light passing by.
Aaen's screen flashed several times; then the screen displayed a grid that filled the screen with a small Federation logo in the lower-right-hand corner, slowly moving to the opposite corner. A long vertical gray bar on the right side of the screen displayed a long list of black text.
"Aaen, what does your screen say?" the captain asked.
Aaen read the text aloud.
"Now en route to the destination. ETA: seven minutes. Detecting eight ships in pursuit of this vessel. Clear space ahead."
"Uh, Sensors, who are those other ships?"
Oh, good grief. Aaen thought. Those are the ships that are going to take the people on the planet!
"Scanning," the cadet sitting immediately to Aaen's right said. "Sir, according to the Main Computer's analysis of those ships' transponders, they are the ships that are going to take the people on the planet."
The printer to the left of the internal communications officer activated, a paper document slid out of its front port. The cadet picked it up then took it to the decoding station to the right of the next officer to the right.
Five minutes later, the cadet walked up a two-piece staircase in the middle of the bridge, and then approached the command platform, giving the paper to the captain. "Sir, this is from Spacefleet Command."
The captain read the document, then gave it to the first officer who flagrantly tossed it into a trash can under his desk.
"There's another ship in the area; it's headed in our direction." the captain mumbled to the first officer.
"What are we going to do when it gets here?"
The captain shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know!" he whispered loudly.
"Is it going to attack us?"
"How am I supposed to know? Ask the scanner officer."
"Scanner officer, is that ship going to attack us when it gets here?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."
Aaen leaned toward the scanner officer. "Scan that ship for its vessel type and trajectory."
"Isn't the captain supposed to give the orders?"
"Yeah, and he would have if he knew what he was doing. Just do it."
He gasped before performing the scan. His screen flashed moments later.
"Captain, the approaching ship is Ferenian, and they're on an adjacent course relative to ours."
Aaen's screen changed almost immediately. He compared the readings on his screen with the new information on the scanner's screen, then snapped to his left to look over his left shoulder at the captain, appearing alarmed.
"Sir, at the Ferenian's current speed and course, they'll collide with us in approximately one minute. I recommend either adjusting our course and that of the fleet or contacting the Ferenian'sand warning them!"
A series of beeps echoed through the bridge.
"Sir, we're being contacted on the Ferenian Priority Frequency!" said the center communications officer, loudly.
"Okay, um . . . let's talk to them!"
"Should I put it on speakers, sir?"
"Sure."
Beep
"Captain, Ferenian vessel now coming into visual range!" said Aaen.
The main view screen showed a long silver hulk gradually entering the upper-right-hand corner of the screen, moving toward the center, stars streaming around it.
"This is the captain of the Ferenian ship! We claim this region of space; you must leave, immediately!"
The captain looked at the first officer. Wide-eyed, he held his palms in the air in uncertainty. "What do I say?"
"Tell him we're on an important mission and we're not leaving."
"We're on an important mission and we're not leaving."
"Are you sure you don't want to leave? We are prepared to use force!"
"What do you mean?" the captain asked.
"We are prepared to do battle!"
"Can we take them on?" the captain blurted out to the tactical officer, sitting on the left side of the bridge. Aaen dropped his head and cringed. That's not what you want to yell out loud! He thought.
"Yeah, we've got plenty torpedoes, sir!"
Aaen looked at the first officer and turned his head, in short, small bursts.
The first officer stepped down from the command platform and came to Aaen's station.
"What, Aaen?" he asked sharply.
"Sir, if that planet goes into that asteroid field while we're still taking on passengers, we're going to need every torpedo we've got to keep us from getting pulverized. The Voyager's a big ship with strong shields and plenty of muscle, but she's not indestructible. Besides, the Ferenians know attacking a Federation starship could lead to an 'incident,' and we have better technology than they do, and they know that, which means they're just trying to scare us. If they attack, we could lose ships, and you know we can't afford that. I strongly suggest calling his bluff. If even one ship leaves the convoy . . . say . . . the Odyssey—that could doom this mission."
"You think we should avoid fighting the Ferenians?"
Aaen nodded.
The first officer returned to his seat then tapped the captain's shoulder. The captain leaned in his direction as he whispered something into the captain's ear. He nodded, wiped his forehead then sat upright. Aaen peered over his station at the communications officer; he looked like he was a little over halfway done with whatever computations he was working on.
"If you really want to fight us, then do it."
Aaen rolled his eyes. His screen flashed.
"Aaen, what . . . what does your screen say?" the captain asked.
"Ferenian ship has adjusted course to fly parallel with this vessel," he replied, pausing as another grid appeared on his screen, including a cluster of Federation icons led by three larger icons to the upper-right-hand corner of the screen as the first screen. The leading icon—the Voyager—was briefly neighbored by a Feren icon for several seconds.
"Feren ship has entered transporter range!"
"Yellow alert!" the first officer yelled. The lights immediately changed color, followed by a grumbling alarm. The light looked stern against the bridge stations.
The sound of a transporter echoed through the bridge.
"What happened? What was that?" the captain asked.
"Intruder alert!" said the Main Computer over the bridge speakers.
"Confirmed, detecting one additional life form on board!" yelled the left security officer.
"I get the same reading, sir!" yelled the engineer.
"Security, find the intruder!" the captain said, rubbing his forehead.
"Captain, the Fereni ship is moving away!" Aaen yelled, reading his screen.
"I wonder why they suddenly broke away?" asked the first officer.
"I'm just glad they're gone." the captain said.
Aaen's screen flashed.
"Captain, three minutes until we reach our destination!"
The left communication officer stood up and looked at the captain in shock.
"What's wrong?" the captain asked.
"Captain, I just compared the occupancy numbers from the convoy with the latest probe data on the planet. Sir, we don't have enough room in the entire convoy to take the entire population!"
*****
Steve Hale of Portland, OR told Jordan Foutin,
"You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
Make sure to check out StormTeam's official website, Like and Follow the official StormTeam Simulations Facebook page, @StormteamS, and @JordanFoutin for the latest!
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