Chapter 38
[ DS7 ]
Commodore Chi was waiting for Captain Lake and company with a baggage cart at the ready. Seeing everyone materialize a short distance away she smiled “Good you’re all here. Please place your duffels on this cart and we’ll have them brought aboard your new Ship” she instructed and they all placed their two duffels each on the cart; when finished the Ensign wheeled the cart away then onto the new Ship.
With a smile “If you’ll follow me I’ll take you to your new home” Rebecca ordered then they all walked onto a nearby lift “Docking Arm B-25” came the request. Minutes later the doors swooshed open as Rebecca led the way. Then turning towards the massive window “Here she is, the new USS Vigilant…..so what are your first impressions” as the Crew just stood for a few moments taking it all in.
“With respect Commodore it sort of looks like a X-11 Shuttle on steroids” Commander Reese commented with a slight laugh.
Rebecca grinned “Actually that’s not far from the truth; let me explain. In order to keep the sleekness of the X-11 we pretty much made the Ship much larger. So now instead of being 16 meters in length it’s now 48 meters, the width went from 9.78 to 19.56 meters including Nacelles, and the height is now 13.5 meters. That gave us room for 3 decks with a moderate sized warp core, along with a Quantum Slipstream Drive or QSD. Also there are 3 lifts; 1 fore-starboard, 1 aft-starboard, and the last middle-port. These are just a few of the improvements made. So enough talk lets go aboard” she concluded with a smile.
[New USS Vigilant ]
Walking aboard the Crew couldn’t believe their eyes; this was a highly sophisticated state of the art Ship as James spoke up “This is a real beauty!” as he eyes raced around the area “It’ll be interesting how she handles out in space.”
“I think you all will be pleasantly surprised what we’ve been able to accomplish in this small ship” Chi replied with a grin “Here’s a quick rundown of what’s what……Deck 1 has of course the Bridge followed by Transporters, next is a Conference/Offices, Science area, and lastly Medical with a complete Sick Bay with an EMH. Deck 2 is comprised of Quarters, Bathrooms, a Lounge, one Holo Suite, and a Mess Hall with multiple Replicators. Deck 3 has Engineering, Intelligence complete with a Brig and full Armory, Quantum Torpedo magazines, and finally at far aft a Cargo area. So that’s the basic layout of your new home.”
“This is logically a very well thought out layout” Lieutenant T’Sol stated in his usual Vulcan manner.
“Lieutenant you may interested to know our Chief of Design for this endeavor is a Vulcan” Chi replied with a grin.
Raising one eyebrow at the information “Indeed.” The others had to stifle a laugh at T’Sol’s response.
Ok, I have to be elsewhere for a meeting so take the rest of the day to get settled in, your belongings are in the Mess Hall along with a Department specific PaDD for each of you” then looking towards James “Please feel free to have any meetings you fell appropriate. I will be by about zero nine hundred tomorrow with the other two remaining members of your Crew. At that time I’ll go over the next steps for you, your Crew, and this Ship” the Commodore concluded.
“Thank you Commodore; we’ll have a brief meeting on Deck 2 in the Lounge then all of you can get settled in your new Quarters” James stated.
“Very good so I’ll leave you all to it then and please enjoy all the amenities this new Ship has to offer” Rebecca replied before leaving the Ship.
Racheal spoke up “Well I guess we should try out these new Lifts and get things going” she commented with a smile.
Soon everyone walked into the Lounge and sat on the three couches as James started “Since there are ten separate Quarters, it looks like everyone will get their own; you will of course have to share a bathroom with your neighbor but that should’t be a problem after living on the Wave Rider Ship. All the rooms are the same so I’ll take room 2-1, Commander room 2-2, and the rest of you go down the line by rank” he ordered “Take two hours to get settled then we’ll meet in the Mess Hall for our evening meal then after that please feel free to explore the rest of the Ship to familiar yourselves with what is located where. So any questions.” Not hearing anything “Good you’re dismissed” as everyone grabbed their duffles and went to their new Quarters to get settled.
Two hours later everyone assembled in the designated area “Please feel free to grab dinner and relax” James stated watching the Crew replicating their meals. James of course sat beside Racheal “What do think of your new home” he inquired as be began to eat.
Swallowing her food “They’re really nice and seem like their going to be quite comfortable” Racheal replied “And yours James?”
“I agree they’re pretty nice considering the size of this ship” he answered before addressing the rest of the Crew “Everyone happy with your Quarters?”
The entire Crew all gave nods of approval as Katlyn added “They’re actually nicer than what we had on the Station and that’s saying a lot.” They all continued with their meals while chatting just like they did on the original Vigilant which pleased the Captain greatly; it seemed like old times once again.
“Before we clean up and you start touring the rest of the Ship there are a couple of things. Now I know I don’t need to say this but I will anyway, “Please make our two new Crew members feel right at home when they arrive tomorrow morning. Also let’s meet for breakfast at zero seven hundred since the Commodore will be arriving at zero nine hundred; also take some time to look over your provided PaDDs for each of your Departments. The sooner we become familiar with all the Ship’s nuances the better’” Lake concluded.
“I’ll second that Captain; we want them to integrate as seamlessly as possible into our existing Crew” Racheal commented “I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m itching to checkout the new Bridge.”
“Nicely stated Commander so with that in mind you are dismissed and free to check out our new home” James interjected with a grin.
< Engineering >
Lieutenants Herek and Zebot made their way to the heart of the Ship. Walking in Daniel stood for a moment surveying his new domain then turned to Katlyn “Now that’s quite the Warp Core for a Ship of this size” he stated seeing a tall Core that went up into the second deck being aglow with a light blue color. There were four Stations each with a specific function and beautifully designed.
Looking around Katlyn walked over to equipment she had never seen before in engineering. Turning to Daniel “So this must be the QSD I assume” she inquired in awe of the design.
“Yes I believe it is” Daniel replied “I’m very glad we have an Engineer coming aboard that specializes in that. I have a basic knowledge but nothing that would allow me to mess with that thing” he replied with a grin.
Surveying the area further Katlyn saw a door labeled Computer Room. Keying in her security code she walked in looking around this rather large room. Seeing a Terminal she accessed it as she whispered “Ok sweetheart, it’s you and me now so do me proud.”
< Intelligence >
Lieutenant Nox and Ensign Mark Benna entered the secure Intelligence area “Wow! Look at all this new tech” Nox stated as she unlocked the protective doors then started looking at everything carefully.
“Yup; you’re like a kid in a candy store with this stuff” as Mark gave a light chuckle, although he was as impressed as she was.
Turning with a smirk “Smart-ass. I know you’re as impressed with this tech as I am….admit it” Nox replied.
“You got me!” Mark answered with a chuckle “That is some amazing tech to be sure.” They both spent the next thirty minutes looking everything over. Looking at Nox “Let’s check out the armory” as they both walked to the next room. Keying in his security code the door opened then they entered “There’s enough weapons here to start a war” Mark commented as he picked up a new phaser rifle “Sweet.”
Nox couldn’t help herself and laughed “Now who’s the kid in a candy store” as she tried to even the score with Mark. He just turned with a big grin at her statement.
< Bridge >
James, Racheal, T’Sol, and Maria entered the Bridge of their new Ship each just looking around at the moment was James spoke “Well this sort of looks familiar enough; although the area is quite a bit bigger than the Wave Rider was” as he grinned “So Helm/Nav seems to be at starboard front, and Science is behind him against starboard. So Command should be port front which would make Tactical/Comms behind Command against the port side. Alright let’s get to our Stations and you know the drill” he concluded with a grin.
James sat in the Command chair and powered up his Station. Looking things over he could see everything was well thought out and the majority of the controls were where they should be.
T’Sol sat at Helm looking everything over before noticing a few controls for slipstream. He knew from his training that most of the time they’d be in slipstream the Computer would have control of the Ship; even a Vulcan couldn’t respond as fast as a Computer could. Turning towards James “I find this most adequate” as the rest of the Crew stifled a snicker or two at his remark.
Racheal loved the new Science Station noticing it had a better layout than anything she had used before. Turning towards James “Captain the Science Station looks to be so much better than previous ones I’ve used; this should make my job much easier” she commented.
Maria smiled at Racheal’s remarks “Mine is as well and it gives me more control over weapons and their deployment” then she paused “And Communications isn’t half bad either” as she grinned while looking at Rachel.
“Good, I’m glad you all like the new Bridge since we’ll be spending a considerable amount of time here” then James paused “For future reference when Helm activates slipstream the ship will automatically go to ‘Black Alert’ then the Computer will make the required adjustments to fly the Ship. We of course will still have to call out the other two Alerts as we always have.”
After a hour of everyone getting acquainted with the Bridge James commented “If you all feel comfortable with your Stations, feel free to check out the rest of the Ship and/or go to Deck 2 and relax; the rest of the day is yours.”
As they left the Bridge Racheal secured the area before walking along side James “I think this Ship is a good move for us and I’m thrilled to have the gang back together again; even with two new Crew coming aboard tomorrow.”
James smiled “I totally agree and if I know Rebecca, the new Crew will fit in quite nicely; she seems to have a knack when it comes to assembling a Crew” he replied with a smile.
