A new ship, and a new start

Posted on 10 Feb 2012 @ 7:38am by Captain Jonathan Holliday

1,406 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Episode 00 - Pre-Deployment
Location: USS Galileo Drydock, Earth
Timeline: MD-02 1000 hrs

Having left the mess hall, John was glad to be out of the command building, no matter how many times he came here, he never felt any more at ease. His breakfast with Saalm had gone well, he didn't think he had put his foot in his mouth too many times, and hopefully nothing he had said was going to stand against him.

She had struck him as being rather unusual, far too "by the book" for his liking, although most of that supposition he had gotten from reading her service record, not a single complaint, disciplinary, or negative comment in the entire file. These were the kinds of officers he usually butted heads with, those who thought that the only way to do things was by following what had been written by stuffy admirals and fleet commanders many years ago, to the letter, and with absolute blind faith. He secretly hoped that he would have the chance on this mission to prove that this was not necessarily the best way to act.

Stepping out into the corridor, the Commander started making his way towards the myriad of transporter rooms that lined this section of the building, with officers and support staff regularly beaming from place to place in order to speed up their daily tasks. Five miles from HQ to the drydock could be covered in a matter of seconds, and disappear in the blink of an eye.

Approaching the transporter room, he acknowledged the Transporter Chief standing behind the panel with a simple, yet courteous nod, and made his way onto the pad.

"One to beam to the Galileo drydock"

With a simple return of his own nod, the chief tapped a few controls on the panel, and soon the familiar whirr and bright light that one associated with being transported molecule by molecule could be heard, and John disappeared in an instant, before rematerialising elsewhere.

The drydocks were a very different place to the command buildings, instead of being lined with Federation symbols and potted plants, whilst swarming with flag officers, the drydocks were a much more spartan affair. Everything here had a purpose, nothing was just there to take up space, after all, the Starfleet engineers were nothing if not efficient.
A short walk down the main walkway brought him to the viewing platform, and his first glimpse of his new ship. Most of her running lights were still offline, the warp core not yet brought up to full power, afterall, it wasn't like that she would need weapons or warp engines sat in the middle of a dock! Yet even from here, he could see the familiar markings on the hull, the emblems of Starfleet, and there, in the middle of the saucer, the name USS Galileo .

Around him, engineers and support staff were busily attending to their duties, and every so often the sound of a plasma cutter could be heard, as the last few external components were being fitted. It was clear to anyone who had spent any time on a starship that this launch was being somewhat rushed, many more officers and staff than usual involved in making sure this vessel would leave on time.

Passing junior officers and engineers alike, he quickly found himself at the airlock, moored as usual to the dock, giving an easy point of entry to the ship. As he approached, he noticed security officers on duty, phasers on their hips, stood at attention waiting to challenge any and all individuals that might try to board.

"Can I help you sir?"

One of the officers caught his attention, a tall man with darkened skin and a shaved head, he didn't look much older than his mid twenties, and displayed the rank of ensign on his collar. His colleague, a man of similar build and size had not yet said a word, and had simply aimed his eyes at Holliday.

"Lieutenant Commander Holliday, I'm the new XO of this vessel, and you gentlemen are in my way"

For a moment, the two officers said nothing, before one of them moved to a small terminal to the right of the commander, and began looking through the crew manifest, to make sure that he was indeed who he said he was.

"If you could step this way sir, I need to confirm your identity"

Starfleet security measures had been ramped up in the few years, and many of the protocols developed during the Dominion war had been maintained. With a sigh, John moved towards the panel, and laid his hand out flat in the alcove as required, whilst the computer passed a scanning beam along it, checking for any tell-tale signs that the Commander might not be who he said he was.

After a few moments of waiting, the system bleeped, and a green light appeared under his palm

"Satisfied?" He said with an inclination of sarcasm in his voice.

"Thank you sir, welcome aboard the Galileo"

John lifted his palm from the panel and entered the airlock, watching as the doors snapped open in front of him, and he stepped inside. A few moments later, the system cycled, and the doors through which he had just passed dutifully closed, followed a few moments later by the doors ahead of him opening, and the vessel interior was revealed.

The ship was still far from finished, as he entered, he virtually tripped over a deckplate that had been lifted up so a nearby engineer could get at what looked like an EPS relay buried in the floor. He would have to watch his footing whilst the last few installations were done. He decided that the first place he was going to head were his quarters, afterall, right now, he was the ranking officer aboard, and he had already met his CO. It was time to get his belongings stowed, and take a look at how this Nova-class was shaping up.

It was a short walk to the nearest turbolift, and the doors slowly opened, before he stepped inside.

"Deck Two" He announced to the computer, which dutifully bleeped, and closed the doors, before the familiar movement of the lift began.

Looking forward to a short journey, the commander was sadly going to be disappointed, as the turbolift began to slow down, before stopping entirely, he knew there was no way they had reached deck two yet, and his suspicions were confirmed as the lights went out, leaving him with only the standard issue emergency lights in place.

"What the hell...."

He spoke, knowing full well he was the only one in the carriage. Examining the now-dead panel next to the turbolift doors, he soon realised he was going to have no luck getting this thing moving himself. With a sigh, he slapped the combadge on his chest impatiently

"Engineering, this is Lt Commander Holliday, what in blazes is wrong with the turbolifts around here?"

It took a few moments before a young female voice came back to him.

"Sorry sir, we're having a few problems with the power distribution systems...erm...hold on I think I might have managed to...wait...yep...got it!"

The lights quickly reappeared in the turbolift, and it began to resume its original course

"Much obliged....make sure you pass my regards onto the Chief Engineer when he gets here....seems there are still plenty of bugs to work on on this ship....."

And with that, he closed the comm channel, just in time to see the doors open ahead of him. His quarters were only a short walk from the turbolift, and he quickly found his assigned door number, thumbing the control as he approached, and watching the doors slide open.

Although a small ship, the quarters for senior officers were by no means spartan, in fact these were probably the largest quarters he had ever had. He headed for the couch in the corner, and sat down, glad to take the weight off his feet after his journey through the vessel.

"Computer...send a message to the Chief Engineer as soon as he comes aboard, ask him to report to me directly to discuss the status of this vessel."

The computer took a moment to record the data before replying

Acknowledged, message recorded and sent for immediate delivery."

And with that, he picked up a PADD, and began his first onboard log entry, hopefully, the first of many.

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