"Nice to see you got here on time!" Daniels was seated at the wooden conference table as Rell and Lisa waked in, though his slumped pose indicated that if he’d been the only one here, his feet would have been propped up on it. He was grinning madly. "You’re lucky the Captain isn’t here yet. Thought she’d be early today!"
"She’ll be here." Ian, who’d been chatting quietly with Grieg, looked up from the inset display they’d been poring over to affirm this.
Grieg, in the meantime, had seen the somewhat tentative steps the Engineer moved with.
"Rell?" he said with concern, standing upright as though he was going to approach him. "Are you…?"
No sooner had he started to express his concern then the bridge doors opened once more, allowing the Captain, resplendent in her cranberry uniform, to sweep in as though she had already taken care of a number of things that morning and was ready to take on the rest of her workload.
She was exactly on time.
"We all here?" she asked as they all came to attention by their chairs - even Daniels. "Yes, I see everyone is. Please, take your seats."
So they did, though Rell’s movement was marked by a small grunt.
"With any luck this shouldn’t take too long." she assured them as she took her seat. "It’s not as though we’ve got any space time under our belts yet, is it?" she smiled.
"I’ve had word from Starfleet that our departure from McKinley has been reset to three hours from now, though we are not to actually leave the system until they give us official sanction." she continued, "So James, I need you to begin recalling the shoreleave teams as soon as this meeting is over."
"Aye." He nodded acknowledgment.
"We’ll rendezvous with the Kingston en route to pick up Doctor Pendehar; they’ve signaled they’ll be at the pick-up point in a week..
"Once the formalities of our departure are over, we’ve been ordered to Gorin Prime to report on the situation there. Apparently the rebels are interested in peace talks - we are to establish whether this is in fact the case and make recommendations based on what we find. K’Teira, I’m going to need all we can find on their current political situation and culture, and Daniels, I need you to look into their laws and tactical capabilities, both on the rebel and governmental sides. Anything else you people can come up with about them would be appreciated as well."
"Captain," Grieg began. "The Gorinni are known as a prideful people that don’t suffer fools gladly. I’ve heard that there are factions within factions, even within the government itself, and all of them have their own agendas. We can assume deception on all sides."
"Sounds like a terrific first assignment, eh?" Daniels snorted. Eyes glared at him from all around the table.
"The Gorinni are also well known to do what is needful for their own gain." Elek smoothly supplied. "The need for peace may outweigh their need for revenge and territory gain in this instance."
"That’s what I need to know." Susan replied. "I expect your reports as soon as possible.
"Ok." she added. "I need you all to be alert in your divisions now - watch for problems that might crop up in your divisions. Something, Mister Rell?"
She hadn’t missed the quick look the Bolian had shot the Klingon, and leaned forward to hear.
"Nothing I can discuss in a public forum, Captain." Rell explained. "Just a slight problem with one of my crew."
"The matter is being dealt with, Captain; you may rest assured of that." K’Teira concluded. "I will prepare a full report for you."
Susan nodded.
"Understood. But as I was saying, and as I think has just been evidenced, this is our first time out and some of our components are untried. Also, some of our people are recovering from their shoreleaves."
Slowly she surveyed her senior staff. Some of them seemed so young! Others; well, they were more familiar than time itself - that male Australian with the expression trapped somewhere between smug and proud overlaid with the desire to mask it, in particular.
"Some of you, like me, have only just arrived, and as such our roles are still feeling a little new on some of us, and that’s going to be true amongst the ranks as well. I know I don’t need to be telling you this, but I’ve said it to every new command so you get it too: understanding goes two ways. Here we’re all new, so if a superior looks as though they’re doing something wrong, tell them; but be polite about it. And if someone tells you you’re doing something wrong, listen to them."
"Uh, Captain - aren’t you our superior?" Daniels asked lazily, but a catch in his voice warned of other things.
"I believe you’re right, Mister Daniels, but that’s not an open invitation, either. Use your common sense in this, of course.
"Now, does anyone have anything else they’d like to say?"
"I do." Ian looked towards Elek. "Commander, would you be able to spare some of your personnel to help us get the imaging chamber online?"
"Aaargh." Rell shimmied forward, painfully leaning across the table. "I forgot to tell you. Lissen will be there this afternoon, Ian, and has been instructed to take her shifts with you until further notice. She’s the best holotech we’ve got."
"I believe we can spare three of Operations’ holotechs." Elek added. "I will temporarily assign them to sciences until the imaging chamber is operational. Is that satisfactory?"
"Absolutely. Thank-you both."
Then silence fell, as no one had nothing else to add.
"That’s it, then." the Captain announced. "This meeting is adjourned."
As one the group got up and began moving for the doors, each intent on his or her goal, Susan sat back and watched. She saw Rell’s slow movements and the officers who gathered around him, and she had to interrupt.
"What’s going on?" she asked, getting to her feet and walking over to them.
Rell’s face twisted into an embarrassed grimace.
"A severe case of sunburn." Lisa explained before he could say anything. "He’s just about to go back to sickbay for the rest of his treatment."
"Why weren’t you inoculated?" For a moment Mother overtook the Captain inside her.
"In short, stupidity." he replied self-effacingly. "I remembered it only when it was far, far too late."
"Well, I’m not going to make it any worse by telling you how stupid that was - I think you’ve punished yourself enough." she told him, then turned to the attending physician. "But I want you to see to it that everyone is up to date with their vaccinations and physicals, Doctor."
"Yes, Captain." Lisa replied.
"Thank-you." Again she turned to Rell. "Next time you want to sunbake, Commander, I suggest you take all the necessary precautions. Now go and get healed, Chief." She smiled. "Even though you’re such an attractive shade like that!"
"Respectfully, Ma’am," Rell countered, "You sound like Daniels."
"Hey!" Daniels, who had amazingly kept quiet as he snickered at the side of the group. "I don’t deserve that kind of abuse!"
"What kind would you prefer?"
Susan smiled smugly as she left the group either laughing or fuming, depending on who they were.
Commander Grieg’s roster reports were concise and well thought out, though that hadn’t made them any more interesting after reading them over and over. Captain Randall had made her slight queries after the first scanning and had approved the three shift system soon after, so there really wasn’t anything more she could do with them. She did wonder at how he’d prepared them so quickly, but that was the only spark of interest they held for her at the moment.
She could always take another tour of the ship - an inspection tour this time, but what could she inspect that she hadn’t looked at yesterday?
There were all the other reports; maintenance schedules, fleet deployments, mission data, division reports, security drill schedules; but how many could she read in one hit before she was driven insane?
Now she knew why a Captain was usually transported to a ship just before it departed upon a mission - it stopped them from having to report to Sickbay for regeneration of fingers where they’d been gnawed off during this enforced inactivity.
Life was so boring whilst trapped in dock!
Any other captain in this situation might have already ordered the ship away, she considered, drumming her hand on the marbled desk top as unconsciously she bit her other hand’s thumbnail. Yet she hadn’t wanted to start off on the wrong foot with Starfleet, nor had been confident enough perhaps to risk their wrath.
"Bugger it!"
Abruptly she strode out and on to the bridge, attracting the eyes of everyone there with her determined stance and stride.
"Mister Grieg," she said to the man getting to his feet in the central seats as she strode out towards him. "Is everyone back from shoreleave?"
"All are aboard and accounted for, Captain." he informed her, an excited gleam in his dark eyes contrasting his impassive pose.
"And the number of McKinley personnel? How soon can we be cleared of them?"
"There are still seven McKinley personnel currently aboard the Fairburn." Elek reported. "They can be cleared in a matter of minutes."
"Please inform them they are to leave at once, Elek. Mister Daniels, please signal McKinley Operations of our intention to leave and tell them to release docking clamps when all of their personnel are clear."
"Aye, Captain!" Quickly he implemented the order, fingers dancing over his panel in his eagerness to obey.
"Bridge to Engineering - how are we for power?"
"’Most everything’s available, but don’t go to warp; McKinley’s still attached!" came Rell’s jolly tone; the burns, as promised, having been completely healed.
"We won’t. Out!"
"All McKinley personnel are clear." Elek reported, her fingers still working her Ops panel as she spoke. Almost as soon as she’d finished saying this, Daniels said,
"McKinley Operations reports we are cleared for departure from the station, but we are not to leave the system until further notice from Starfleet."
"Docking clamps have been disengaged."
"Clear all moorings."
"Aye."
"Send the station my thanks for its good work, and move out from the station’s confines at quarter thrusters." The Captain could hardly contain her delight. Let’s go!
"Aye." No one saw Lieutenant Barlok’s beatific grin as he input the command.
Out in space, the spider-like legs of the station had retracted, allowing the graceful monolith of the Fairburn to glide free of its grasp, its cage no longer imprisoning them in a mindnumbing orbit of the planet. Finally they were free.
"We are free of the station." Grieg reported. "Your orders, Captain?"
She smiled thoughtfully to herself.
"Set a course out of the system, Mister Grieg." she replied.
"Captain, Starfleet…"
"I know what they said, Commander." she countered. "We’ll just give them a shock. We won’t actually be leaving the system."
"Aye." He smiled. "Mister Barlok, set course zero-eight-seven mark three-five, full impulse." he commanded, anticipation heavily in the air now as Randall slowly took the central position, arms resting lightly beside her as she seemed to draw the moment out, to savour every last drop of tension and expectancy before commanding,
"Engage!"
All it took was a light beep at the Conn. console for the huge ship to rocket away from the Earth’s blue iridescence and out into the greater black. Anticipations were met, tensions lifted as throughout the ship all felt the comforting thrum of engines working to propel the starship through the void.
Down in Engineering, Rell led them in a cheer.
In Stellarcartography, Ian paused from scanning the guts of the imaging chamber and grinned at his team.
In the arboretum Carmen grunted and kept on with the pollinations.
In Paris, Chianeé began experimenting with a new drink and purred contentedly to herself.
In Sickbay, Doctor Willbanks muttered, "About time!"
On the bridge, the pleasure at leaving was interrupted by an urgent hail from Daniels’ panel.
"Message coming in from Starfleet, Captain. Admiral Grainger." he sighed as he checked the readout.
Randall leaned in towards her First Officer.
"Thought this might get their attention." she murmured. Louder she ordered, getting to her feet, "I’ll take it in the ready room. You have the bridge, Number One. Don’t let us go beyond the orbit of Pluto."
"Susan! What in God’s name are you doing?" Grainger was livid, her normally pale face suffused with pink as she glared over the link. "You know that the media were going to send up a shuttle load of journalists to cover the launch from McKinley, and now you’ve destroyed all of that!"
Susan laughed, leaning back in her chair.
"Well if they hurry they can cover us leaving the system…"
"I should have known you were going to pull something like this, Captain! And you are a captain again. Don’t forget I can order you to turn your ship around and head back for dock!"
"I haven’t forgotten. But it’d be a bit of an anticlimax now, wouldn’t it?"
Grainger fumed.
"You smug… You haven’t changed, have you? Not in twelve years, and not even after working for me…"
"No, not really." Susan considered. "A little greyer, a little wiser and with a larger family than before. But you didn’t want me to have changed too much, did you?
"And don’t worry, we weren’t going to go beyond Pluto, so you will still have plenty of photo opportunities. I’ll even get Lieutenant Barlok to do a loop between Pluto and Charon if you like. You simply shouldn’t have left me here in the dock for so long with a fully functional Starship beneath my feet. Makes a Captain itchy!"
"I won’t allow that mistake again; of that you can be certain." Grainger growled, but from her pinched nose her old friend could see she was also fighting the urge to laugh. "You’d better be there in orbit of Pluto when we get there. That’s an order."
"Aye, sir." Susan replied. "But you and the brass had better be fast - my Conn. officer might just be itchier than I. Fairburn out."
Anyone else and she would have been up on report for that little conversation, or at least be looked down upon, but now that the engines under her feet were more than idling and she could see the movement beyond her windows once more, she felt giddy, she felt good, she felt more herself than she’d been in twelve years. And she knew that Kaarin would know, too.
Snatching up a PADD, she turned her chair around and studied it by ever changing starlight.
The huge Starship loomed over the tiny set of twin planets, the light from the far off sun little more than a pin prick of light from this distance so its running lights had come on, illuminating its identity and outlining its graceful shape. Before this image, on board an Oberth class vessel quickly fitted out for this occasion, Commander in Chief Shalote Delaniea faced the mass of the media, her unearthly beauty contrasted with the bleakness of the space behind her.
"Welcome to this, the launch of the first Galaxy class vessel since the Borg incursion at Wolf 359." she said softly, her deep voice full of a gentle power. "The Federation has weathered one of the greatest threats it has ever faced; but not only weathered, but triumphed over it. And the launch of the USS Fairburn will prove that we cannot ever be defeated whilst the ideals of the Federation and Starfleet exist. We are, and always will be here. As long as we continue to strive to overcome our differences and foster a sense of community and harmony, we will prevail.
"The Fairburn exists as an example to us all. Commanded by Captain Susan Randall, the Fairburn boasts one of the most racially diversified crews in the Fleet. With thirty-nine separate races aboard at this time, and with less than half of that complement Human, she is a shining example of what the Federation can achieve.
"Now, are there any questions? Please remember that our time is short and so I will only answer a few."
The media scrabbled amongst themselves until finally the CinC pointed to one of the milling group.
"You there. Yes?"
"Are we able to hear from Captain Randall?" this one asked breathlessly to the agreement of her fellows. Delaniea sighed.
"Unfortunately not. While she is monitoring this broadcast, the Captain is at this time preparing for the Fairburn’s departure from Earth space and their first mission, and so cannot be disturbed. However, there are some pre-prepared words from her in your kits…"
"Can you tell us about their first mission?" another eager beaver cried.
The CinC smiled sadly.
"You know I can’t do that." she said indulgently.
"Anything at all?" shouted another. "Come on, give us something to work with!"
The woman’s eyes blazed momentarily, then settled into an amused twinkle.
"A diplomatic mission." she told them. "I can’t go into details."
"What is the origin of the name of the Fairburn?" another asked. "After all, with the exception of the Yamato, the other Galaxys have been named for epic voyages of the self or mind - the Enterprise and the Odyssey, for example."
"You aren’t from the usual run of the mill holorag, are you?" the CinC asked mirthfully. "But to answer your question, the Fairburn is a transliteration of a High Haaliian concept-word meaning honour, bravery, life and harmony. Again, you may find the exact translation of the word in your kits, as well as the story of how the naming team came to decide on this title for her.
"But I think we’ve kept her from her journeys long enough now, don’t you? So it is thus we bid the Fairburn bon voyage…" She tapped a control on the podium before her, and all saw the engines on the vessel ahead of them roar into life and propel the ship in a wide arc around Charon. "…And bid her well on her long mission ahead."
As the ship swung into view again, having gained speed using the gravity of the planetoid, a woman’s voice, strong and true replied over the link,
"Acknowledged. We of the Fairburn thank you. We won’t let you down."
The ship loomed over them, spun horizontally and launched into deep space, its warp engines flaring blue before it disappeared.
Silence, then came an awed clapping from the assorted journalists. Over the top Delaniea said,
"That was Captain Randall aboard the Fairburn. Our thoughts go with her and her crew at this, the beginning."
"Jondalar, you have no idea what they’re calling you over on the Garamond!" Daniels snickered as the irate complaints came in across his board. Randall held her head whilst Grieg did the duty, having already heard both Randall’s remonstrances and Rell’s shrieks from below.
"Lieutenant, what was the meaning of that maneuver? I ordered you to execute a simple slingshot around Charon and to go to warp once outside the gravity field! I did not order you to buzz the Garamond!"
The Mantanan turned from his panel contritely, though his eyes sparkled.
"I’m sorry, sir, but it seemed too good an opportunity to waste. After all, we were trying to showcase the power of the ship, so I felt it was appropriate."
"No, it wasn’t." Randall added, her eyes snapping coldly. "Effective though it was, you weren’t ordered to do it; Engineering was unprepared, and the Garamond is still in hysterics! You understand why you’re on report, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, Ma’am." he replied softly. "Am I to be relieved?"
Susan looked to her First to answer.
"No." he decided. "Continue on now that you’re here. Just be aware that any further actions like that will see you suspended from the bridge."
"Yes, sir."
He settled back into his seat again, thoughtfully surveying the bridge and its crew. It’d been a long time since the day he’d faced that Warbird…
When the Captain glanced his way, she noticed immediately the wall of isolation around him, the calm introspection; something she wasn’t really expecting from someone who’d just delivered a dressing down on a first run mission. Ire, maybe; angry thoughts… but not this coolness.
"Thoughtful." she commented when she caught his gaze.
"‘Reshiin di melaan ren tis dellan Beh’." he quoted reverentially, eyes deep pools of wonder as he gazed back out towards the unknown. "‘The night sky is full of possibility…’ I was just thinking about that."
Her pale hand touched his for a moment, her flesh cool to touch.
"We all are, James. That’s why we’re here."
Captain’s Personal Log, Stardate 44608.5
On the surface our first assignment to the Gorin system looks as though it’s going to be relatively easy, though sometimes these diplomatic missions can be more than they seem. Despite the apparent desire on the part of both parties for peace, we will go very carefully given the dishonest nature of both parties in the past.
I wonder what the ramifications of our little early withdrawal and Jondalar’s astrobatics will be? Knowing Kaaren she would have left us there in McKinley to stew for a while…
I wonder how the kids are doing?
Finally we’re moving, we’re going, and I feel like a Captain again! I wonder what we’re going to find out here?fin
