Meanwhile Cpt. Martin was held captive in the detention block of Romulus’ Senate chamber. “ATTENTION!”, Martin was startled. He suddenly stood upright in his, what the guard had called, bed. It was rather a block of hard wood, with some sheets firmly attached to its surface, which had probably not been cleaned for years. The steps were coming closer. “Stand up for the Praetor!” The Praetor? Was he that important? What information could he possibly have, that the Praetor himself would come and interrogate him. “Release the human!” The Praetor’s voice was hard and one would not dare to disobey it. Craig Martin’s handcuffs were taken off and he was led out of the cell. The Romulan emperor stood face to face with the captain and said in a very calm voice: “Captain Martin, I would honestly like to apologize, for what trouble my subordinate had caused you. Please, walk with me.”

“Commander, Romulus is dead ahead.” - “Standard orbit Mr. Taylor.” - “Aye, standard orbit.” - “Hail the Romulans.” Jade was ready to fight an argument to the end. “Too late, Commander. They are already hailing us.” - “Well, put them up then.” The screen cleared, revealing the face of a romulan civilist. “My name is Tvarek. I am the leader of the romulan underground movement. We have heard about your captains abduction and we are currently trying to free him.” Jade made a gesture, which told Jerry to cut the line. She then turned around to face the crew: “Am I hearing right? Since when is there such a thing as a romulan underground movement?” Solak was the first to answer: “There have been reports of such kind, but no proof up until now.” - “So you say, I can either trust him, or not. But I can’t make my decision upon hard facts.” - “I suggest we advance with extreme caution.” - “Sure. Open the channel.” - “Nice to meet you. I am Commander Jade MacKinnon of the federation starship Orion. May I ask how you plan to free our captain.” - “We already are in the midst of the operation. We sent the Preator to get him.” He said the words “the Praetor” with a certain tone in his words, that suggested to MacKinnon that it probably was an impostor, a look-a-like serving the needs of the underground movement. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to beam up to your vessel and discuss the matter in person.” - “No, not at all.” - “Then I will meet you shortly. Tvarek out.” The screen went black and Jade went off, telling Alexa to escort Tvarek to the situation room, once he arrived.
“We are in a position to cause the romulan empire enough trouble to force them to overthink their attitude. The underground movement knows, that the empire has old fashioned opinions and standpoints. There is no future for our culture, as long as there is no u-turn in the governments minds.” - “Excuse me.”, Jade interrupted him, “I don’t want to be blunt, but how do we get our captain back?” - “He already is in our custody.” - “When can I see him?” - “You’ll see him. Soon enough.”

“I - WON’T - TELL - YOU - ANYTHING!”, Cpt. Martin shouted at the top of his voice. “There is no need to be rude, Captain. Just tell us what we want to know and you are free to go.” - “Ha! You don’t believe that yourself, do you?” That last sentence sounded almost a bit sarcastic, if it weren’t for the situation Martin was in. “Look”, Jarun sounded very calm, “we can play this game otherwise too, but I don’t want to mistreat you, honestly”, he obviously did his best not to kill the Captain where he sat. Cpt. Martin sighed: “OK! All I can tell you is, …”, he stopped midsentence. “WHAT?”, the Romulan was in rage. “Ah, nothing. Nothing at all!”, and he grinned blue-eyed in the aliens face.

Captain Martin felt very uncomfortable in the chair, the Romulans had tied him to. Jarun entered the room and pulled himself a chair to sit opposite to Martin. “What do you want from me?”, Craig demanded to know. The Romulan Commander asked his counter-question:”Well, what do you want to talk about.” - “Oh, there is much I do want to talk about. For example: Why does the rain always fall down, instead of falling up to the heavens?” - “That was not what I meant.” Jarun was obviously trying very hard to stay calm. “Let’s talk about the Klingons.” - “I barely know them”, Martin answered momentarily, “The have a certain reputation, you know”, and in a slightly lower voice, “Giving me the creeps!” - “Don’t try to fool me, Terran!” This outburst of Jarun’s was it, that Martin gave the certainty, that he had the Romulan right where he wanted him to be. Know everything he said would be taken for granted, because humans are known to react to threats in a very particular way, they always tell the truth, when under stress. Jarun thought so too.

“We have the Warbird on long range sensors, Commander. They must have disengaged their cloak.” - “Very good. What is their E.T.A. at the border?” - “About five hours thirtyseven minutes.” - “And how long until we catch up?” - “Five hours and fourteen minutes, at our current velocity.” Solak’s cold mathematical calculations lacked every bit of concern about the captain’s abduction. Jade called engineering:”Commander Jefferson; Is there anything more we can get out of the warp engine?” - “I could give your warp 9.3 but I wouldn’t suggest to travel at this speed for more than two hours.” - “Solak; how much closer would that bring us to the Vex’ra?” - “It would take approximately 1 hour 58 minutes off our trip.” - “Jefferson; Do it!” - “As you wish, Commander.”

Jarun shouted:”Bring the cloak back online, you idiot!” - “I can’t! Our cloaking device is laden with antiprotons. We will have to purge it first.” - “Do it.” - “We would have to make a full stop to perform the necessary operations.” - “Well then we have to go on without a cloak. Maximum velocity!”, Jarun was angry, angry about his useless crew. Never again he would let somebody else make suggestions on which crewmembers he should choose. In the meantime Martin managed to free himself from his restraints, but he stayed where he was.

“The Romulans are now travelling at warp 9.35, Commander.” Jade hammered on the intercom and demanded:”Engineering; I need warp 9.4 for as long as possible, otherwise the Captain will be lost.”

Meanwhile back on the U.S.S. Orion

Cmdr. MacKinnon was sitting in the big chair, when Lt. Lantrys spoke up: “The Romulan ship is hailing us.” - “Put them on the view screen.” The picture cleared up and Cpt. Kostavos came into view. “Captain Kostavos. What can we do for you? Is everything alright?” - “I am afraid not everything is alright, Commander. We offered your Captain a little snack, which obviously was not to his likings. He is currently in our medical bay, where our doctor is treating him. There is no need to be concerned.” - “Can I speak to him?” - “Oh, I am sorry, but that won’t be possible right now. He is, ah, how shall I put it, … choking his guts out. I will let you know, when his condition is back to normal. Vex’ra out.”
That was not what Jade had anticipated. “Lieutenant Lantrys!”, she called, “would you please check the starfleet record on that Captain Kostavos?” - “Right away, sir.” A few moments later, Alexa had found the record: “Commander. Captain Kostavos was reported missing four months ago. His ship was on patrol near the romulan neutral zone, when their sensors picked up an unusual signal. Captain Kostavos was leading the away team to investigate, when he was beamed off the shuttle, by a cloaked vessel. His crew conducted an extensive search of the area…” - “Are you saying, that he was abducted by the Romulans?” - “I guess it comes to that, if you put one and one together.” - “So either Kostavos was turned around by the Romulans, or it’s an impostor, that just looks like Kostavos, or maybe we are being tricked another way.” She reflected for a few moments, on how the issue could be resolved, and then suddenly called out: “Get me Kostavos on the screen, or whoever he might be!” - “The Vex’ra is not responding to our hails, Commander.” - “Open a channel! This is Commander MacKinnon of the Federation star ship Orion. I demand to speak to Captain Martin immediately!” - “You have nothing to demand female”, came a voice out of the speakers. Then the Warbird had gone to warp and had activated its cloaking device.

As soon as the turbo lift doors slid open on deck 1, I shouted: “Report!” - “A Romulan Warbird has entered this sector and is heading directly for the station.” - “Cloaked or uncloaked?” - “Uncloaked.” - “E.T.A.?” - “five minutes 21 seconds.” Solak took on the conversation: “Fascinating. This behaviour is quite unusual for Romulans. Normally they stay cloaked as long as possible, before attacking.” Jerry intervened:”They’re hailing us.” - “On screen!”

The Romulan ship’s captain didn’t look like a Romulan at all. He looked rather human. “This is the Romulan Warbird Vex’ra. I am Cpt. Andrej Kostavos.” - “I’m Cpt. Craig Martin from the Federation starship Orion. Excuse me sir, but… How did you get to command a Romulan vessel?”
Kostavos told us, that he was fighting off the very same ship, he was standing on right now, a few days ago. His own ship, the U.S.S. Franklin, took heave damage, and as the Romulans were boarding the Franklin, he and his crew beamed over to the warbird and sped off at high warp. The remaining Romulan crewmen, were detained in the brig.
“That was one hell of a manoeuvre, Captain.” - “Thanks, but we have to hurry and investigate the Romulan technology, before they have repaired the Franklin and come searching for us. As soon as that happens, I want to be as far away from this Warbird as humanly possible.” Solak piped up:”Federation regulations on exploitation of foreign technology are quite clear Captain.” - “Arrgh, I know. But I wish I could get my hands on their cloaking technology.” - “We could prepare an away mission, though, which could provide us, with a little insight, on how Romulans work and how they build their community.” That was the best idea Solak had had since we’ve left spacedock. “Captain Martin?” - “Yes.” - ” I would appreciate it, if I could have a few words i private with you, before eighty percent of your crew come for a visit.” - “On my way”, I said already on the way to the turbolift. Moments later I found myself in the transporter room, on the platform and finally on the Romulan Warbird.

“Welcome aboard”, said a very self-satisfied voice behind me. As I turned around, I stood face to face with four Romulans, who were pointing their disruptors at me. It was a trap.

We have reached SB12 and station’s technicians have begun their work.

“Could I have a word with you in private, sir?”, Jerry asked.
I replied: “Sure! What’s on your mind?”
“I was just thinking about our hyperwarp trip.” - “What about it?”
“What if there is a way, that we can do such jumps from time to time, in a more controllable manner.” - “I always thought, that speed beyond warp 9.9999 was theoretically impossible”, I asked. “Theoretically yes, but…” Jerry paused.
Somehow I couldn’t get rid of the feeling, that I would regret the next word rather early: “But?” - “We know Orion can do it. Request permission to search the sensor logs for anomalies which could have caused our hyperwarp speed.” - “Well, we should be stuck here for a few days. If you have nothing better to do?” -  “No, sir.” - “Permission granted!” - “Thank you sir.”

With Ens. Taylor researching our trip, everyone is covered in work. Solak, Jade an I will be assisting Lt.Cmdr. Jefferson in restoring maximum warp efficiency.

“Solak, could you please deactivate the force field on that conduit?” Jefferson was pointing at the door to the conduit on his left. With a short blink of blue light and a silent buzzing noise, the force field was disabled. Tom opened the door and slid inside. “The high warp capacitor we replicated after the attack, could make it another month or two, but we’d better have it replaced.” - “I’ll tell station’s personnel, that we need one. When do you think, we can resume our course?”, I asked. The chief engineer told me, that it would take another three days to complete the repairs. He also mentioned that we would have to go an additional day at impulse speed, until all of the new upgrades were integrated into Orions systems and fully calibrated.

All of a sudden, we experienced something, we still had to get used to…

“Attention all decks! Red Alert! This is not a test! All hands - Battle Stations! Captain Martin to the bridge!”

Once we cleared Klingon space, it felt just like we were flying home to earth. The course would have brought us home, but we were due for an inspection at star base 12. This was the first time ever, I experienced something like homesickness. I would never mention something like that in front of my crew, but as I came to discuss with Alexa, she confided in me, that she was a little homesick too.
I mean, it is not as if we were crying home for our mummies, but we clearly felt the urge to call someone, just to know if everything was alright.
With our first month in space to look back upon, I would say, that we were doing a pretty good job so far.

I hope that we will be getting some of the new upgrades on our dilithium matrix, as well as on the isolinear chip banks in main engineering. Altogether the upgrades should make Orion a bit more aggressive and agile.

I am also looking forward to meeting one of my friends from the academy. He should be with the sec-staff at SB12. We went through some crazy times together and I had him lined up for my own sec-team, but he turned me down, for SB12.

Looking back on our visit to Q’onoS, I’d have to say, that I would not dare that again. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want to have missed one single minute of the adventure. Except for the part where I was unconscious, but I missed that already, didn’t I…

I hope that the repairs will not consume to much time, so we can be ready, when our next assignment comes in.

After arriving at Qo’noS we had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to visit Shakespeares’ Hamlet in the Klingon original.
The show had nearly cost me two of my crew-members, who were engaged in a fight, after they had complained about the English the actors were speaking. After we had made it clear to them, that it wasn’t English at all, but Klingon, we all had a good laugh.

Chancellor K’mpec although held us responsible for his son in law’s H’egh baT. “If humans were just a little like Klingons”, he said, “you would have sent him to Sto’Vo’Kor the first chance we had, to open fire.” He also complained, that we would have made him apologize, which was the reason for his suicide in the first place.
I thought it would be best to let him speak his heart and be done with it, because if I even mentioned, that we did no such thing as “make him apologize”, it would only lay the light of cowardliness on us, and more dishonour on his beloved family. At the end of his speech he demanded, that I shall be held responsible in persona and therefore deserved to be punished.
At least I could decide between a Bat’leth fight to the death with a member of the chancellor’s own house and the traditional ceremony, which is normally held off, when young Klingons come of age: The rite of ascension.
I chose the latter.

So there I stood in the midst of all these Klingons holding their painstiks. The odds were quite against me living through this ritual, but nevertheless, I had to try.

“Today I am a warrior. I must show you my heart. I travel the river of blood”

It was a kind of pain, I had never experienced before. Almost agony fell  over my body, as I stumbled between the lines of Klingons. Always repeating the same words:

“Today I am a warrior. I must show you my heart. I travel the river of blood”

Shakespeare’s words suddenly came to my mind: “To be or not to be”, “taH pagh taHbe”. They never seemed so real as in this very moment.

I don’t know how I got through that ritual, but I was now an official adult and I had to swear upon my honour, that the next time we met a Klingon ship in battle, we would guide them to Sto’Vo’Kor to meet Kahless the great warrior.

Doc Sorenstrom had me restored within no time and we were leaving for the Orion.

Upon our arrival Jade and Alexa had arranged an authentic Klingon snack, to welcome us back to, what we call home, from time to time.

Q’pla and eat your Gagh.

Now that we have our warp reactor back, we are travelling at maximum warp towards Qo’noS, the klingon home world. The captain we encountered lately has felt it necessary to take his life as self justice and follow the great warriors to Sto’Vo’Kor.
Unfortunately the honourable young man was the son in law of the klingon chancellor K’mpec, who holds us responsible for the death of his son and now demands to know, what exactly happened.

As we are travelling, we take chances to test our core to the limit, and so we will push it a little beyond suggestions. Although Tom advised us not to go beyond 9.5, for we won’t know how stable our dilithium matrix will be, after our recent incident.

Personal Log - Lt. Thomas Jefferson

I felt a little strange about pushing the warp engine to the limit, without having it examined at a space station first, but orders are orders and so I did the best I could. Up to 9.3 there was nothing worth mentioning, but suddenly I felt very uneasy in my stomach. As we were approaching 9.5, I called the bridge and advised them not to go any faster, but who ever listens to what an engineer is saying? The logical consequence would have been, to simply shut down the engine and use the momentum to ride all the way to the klingon home world. I am proud not to be vulcan, so to hell with logic and go as fast as it goes. Suddenly the acceleration took a leap, which I could not explain. The readings were off the scale, and the computer calculated, that we had to travel at a momentous speed of warp 13.7. No humanoid being ever travelled at such a speed. I can’t tell why our warp field remained stable and our warp nacelles still were attached to the ship (for that part: Thanks to the stable construction of the Nebula class). All that I could tell from observations that we passed Qo’noS by at a mind blowing speed of a couple of thousands lightyears per hour. We left our galaxy within minutes and were en route to the next one, which we left behind in a time not worth mentioning. It seemed we were heading for the outer most rim of the universe. According to starfleet’s motto: “To boldly go, where no man has gone before”, we were just about to find out, if the cosmos has a boundary, and if so, where is it.

Personal Log - Lt. Solak - Science officer on board the U.S.S. Orion

Never since the days of Surak has a vulcan had the opportunity to travel to the rim. Surak himself told us in his teachings, that one should be aware of the rim and every vulcan should avoid it, for there is no logic beyond this boundary.

Captain’s Blog - Supplemental

We’ve come to a halt.

According to our sensors we were travelling a couple of billions of lightyears within half an hour. That what seemed impossible is now proven to have it’s rightful place in our universe. Solak will be analyzing the data, we’ve collected during our “trip around the block”. Hopefully Tom can find out what was causing this behaviour in our engines, so that maybe we can reproduce it at some time in the future.

Personal Log - Lt. Jefferson - Supplemental

I have no idea why the engine went nuts. I hope the captain doesn’t want me to explain everything, because I…, well what could I say?

Personal Log - Lt. Solak - Supplemental

After examining the sensor data, I have come to the conclusion, that there will be a logical explanation to all this and I am going to find it. After all it is proven, that one can look on the back of his own head, if he looks long enough in the same direction of space.

Thank god our computer core is up and running again. While we were in the battle tests with U.S.S. Galaxy, a coincidentally crossing klingon battle cruiser, thaught we were actually attacking the Galaxy, and in return attacked us. They fired upon us, with all they had, before we could convince them, that we are just simulating. Thanks to Galaxy’s captain, we were not completely blown out of the skies. It took Tom nearly two days to bring the main computer back online and we are still missing some parts of our database, which will be restored next time, we will be at a space station.

While we were restoring our own ship, Jade and Solak and Alexa went over to the Galaxy to discuss the outcome of her performance tests.

I think we can expect great things from this new class.

The klingon appologized for his overhurried attack on our ship (which was the first time, I heard a klingon say something that sounded a little like “I’m sorry”). At last we wished the klingons Q’pla and let them resume their course.

 As hopefully will we, once our warp core is back up.

We are due for a rendezvous with the newly commissioned U.S.S. Galaxy. She is supposed to be the prototype for the new exploration vessels which can hold up to 1400 people.

We will test her abilities in combat and pursuit. Since the Galaxy-Class and the Nebula-Class are not so different in construction, apart from the overall design, we should be more than a match for Galaxy.

I am also very eager to take a look at the new warp 9.5 engine.

After hours, the message that came out of the universal translator, was not what we expected it to be:

“We are the Borg! Existence, as you know it, is over! We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own! Resistance is futile!”

What was that all about?

As we demanded answers from federation headquarters, they told us, that the U.S.S. Raven, a Scientific vessel, which is in private hands and belongs to Magnus Hansen, was reported missing, while following one of the Borg ships. He and his wife have claimed to be experts on the Borg. They have followed the Borgs trail and tried to find out more about these Borg.
From what they told us, Orion was the first ship, which was presented with, what Mr. Hansen used to call “The Speech”, and still lived to tell. The Borg are a hybrid race, who have made much effort to integrate computercurcuits and mechanical parts into their bodies and nervous systems. Federation commanded us to not follow the sphere under any circumstances.

It seems after all, that we were very lucky to escape “humanoid and fully biological”.

We were investigating the debris of a vessel, which was obviously blown out of the sky a few hundred years ago. Oddly enough, that the cloud of debris did not drift apart as expected, but stayed rather were it had formed a starship of enormous size. It had to be five times Orion’s size and ten times it’s weight. The hull was constructed out of mostly unknown materials, which our scientists could not wait to get in their hands. The findings they made are remarkable. If Orion would be built with that material, we would crash on the first planet we would come across, because the gravity would not allow us to maintain a steady orbit.
Lt. Solak and Lt. Lantrys called to meet, to discuss something urgent:

“Captain, we received a distress call!”, Alexa told me rather nervously. I answered: “So, what is the problem? Starfleet ships receive distress calls all the time. What should be so different about this one?” Solak told us in his unemotional vulcan voice: “The call originated in the center of the debris field, Captain.” “Is there another ship in there?”, I asked. The answer was no. There was no other ship within the next two lightyears. “So who sent the distress call?”, I demanded to know. They told me, that the signal seemed to come from “some sort of emergency escape pod”. I was startled. “What? An escape pod? How long is has this thing been out there?” “Approximately threehundred and thirty years.”, according to Solak’s calculations. I wanted to know, if there were any lifesigns. Solak said:”Our sensor cannot penetrate the pods hull.” “I would suggest, we prepare the ship for a security alert, Captain.”, added Alexa. I told her to do so, but to also keep in mind, that who ever sent the signal, might require our assistance.
We put together an away team, to do further investigations by shuttlepod. The debris field was more than eighthundred miles in diameter, so we knew that it could take a while to get to the distress calls source.
Jade led the team, consisting of Lt. Lantrys, Dr. Sorenstrom and two security officers to the main shuttle bay and they left the Orion.

Log of the shuttle Gauss - Cmdr. MacKinnon reporting

It took us nearly three hours to get through to the escape pod. Obviously something in here was interfering with our sensors. As we established a tractor beam to the pod, most of our energy resources where drained. We could cut the beam just before complete discharge. We were about to give up the rescue mission, as something happened inside the pod. It sent out the kind of blink and beep, that always had made me nervous, even in cinema. Shocked by that experience, we headed back to the Orion.

Captain’s Blog - Supplemental

While the away team was heading back for the ship, some strange things happened inside the debris cloud.
All of a sudden, all fractions of the ship started to move toward each other and together they aimed for the center, where the rescue pod had been. As the shuttle reached the Orion, the spectacle was speeding up. Parts hurtled through space converging in one point. There was a series of loud clanking noises, when, as it seemed, maglocks were put into place and something was forming in the middle.

It tool a few minutes for the whole ship to assemble and in the end, it didn’t look like anything I had seen before, but it clearly had become some kind of spaceship. Our comm system recorded a short message, which we are still decoding and just seconds later the ship went to warp and out of our sensor range, literally at the same time.

I wonder who they were and if we will ever meet them again.

Yesterdays events are still reverberating in our minds. Was that ship really there beside us? For the official report to starfleet, we gave her the name “Defiant”, after the phasing ship on which Captain Kirk nearly was lost on Stardate 5693.2.
We all are excited as to what the fleet headquarters have to say about our findings.

Captain’s Blog - Supplemental

The answer from starfleet was a shock for us.

We were pulled of from our current assignment and we were ordered to leave the sector immediately.

So we are bobbing around in space again, until we get our next assignment.

Needless to say, that we are all frustrated.

I swear it was there. Some of the others had seen it too.
We were flying at half impulse in the vicinity of a binary star system, when I had noticed just a short flicker on the view screen. It had been barely there, so I discarded it immediately. Then the sensors picked it up and we had got messages from all over the ship, that others witnessed the same blink not only from screens, but also through windows.
After a few seconds Solak perceived a pattern. He was able to calculate, where the next occurrence was to be, and we focused our sensors and the view screen on that particular area. It happened; just as Solak had anticipated.

First there was nothing.

Then we all were startled, just to observe the vastness of nothing a moment later.

For a split second it had been there and our sensors had detected it.

From what I had seen, it was a space ship, furthermore it looked like a federation ship.

But we ought to be the only federation vessel in this region and this ship … was it even really there? It had sent neither its designation, nor could we detect its shield or weapons configuration. From the looks of it, it had to be an Oberth class ship. From one shot out of the recordings, we were able to get a glance at the registration number NCC-53847. That’s  were the odd things had reached their climax. According to our database, there is no ship bearing that registration.

We watched the appearing, disappearing and reappearing for nearly 3 minutes, before it faded into nothingness for the last time.

It sure was a great show, but I doubt that we will ever find out, what this was all about.

After our bumpy start into space, the needs for a little R&R are getting stronger. So, we decided to designate the Main-Holodeck to its purpose. The other two smaller Holodecks are still non-operational, therefor the more people wanted to take part in our first “shore-leave” on the working one. Imagine, we went to Lake Tahoe, even though we were millions of miles away from earth. Even though I have been witness to many holographic simulations on earth, I still find it a very intriguing technology.
We had a picnic at the lake, with campfire, marshmallows, singing and all. Oh it was a wonderful afternoon.

I think the crew is starting to know each other, hopefully they will learn to trust in time too.

For tomorrow Lt. Lantrys has scheduled the first security alert tests. Then we’ll see how fit and well trained the crew is in distress.

After leaving our solar system, we all were very eager to test our drive to the limit.

Lt.Cmdr. Jefferson let us know that, with our current engine status we should not go beyond warp 7.5, because the dilithium matrix still needs a little calibration. So we keep bobbing around at warp 6.
According to the specs of a Nebula class starship, we should be able to go warp 9.5, but I guess this will take more time. But why the hurry, we’ve just set out on our quest and we have still got plenty of time until we reach our destination.

The rest of the day passed by rather uneventful, the crew is new to each other and needs to bond before we go to encounter any major difficulties.
The only occurrence worth mentioning today is the lasting outage on the foodreplicators in the front refectory on deck 3 of the tactical section.
I hope they will fix that soon, there’s nothing worse on a starship than hungry tacticians.

To the officers and crew of the U.S.S. Orion - NCC-63742,

as of Stardate 34867.0 we give command and responsibility of the U.S.S. Orion to Captain Craig Martin. May you all travel save and boldly go, where no man has gone before.

Admiral Nacheyev, Starfleet Command

 This was it!

The letter from Admiral Nacheyev was short, but it served its purpose. The reception afterwards was gorgeous. Jade introduced me to the rest of the bridge crew. There are a bunch of colorful types among them.

First Officer: Cmdr. Jade MacKinnon
Chief Engineer: Lt.Cmdr. Thomas Jefferson (he claims to be related to “the” Thomas Jefferson, but as of now, I doubt that a little)
Chief Medical Officer: Cmdr. Mick Sorenstrom
Science Officer: Lt. Solak
Chief Of Security: Lt. Alexa Lantrys
Helm: Ens. Jerome “Jerry” Taylor

So with all the official part left behind, I will be preparing our departure right away.

Captain’s Blog - Supplemental:

“Take us out, Ensign!”, it feels so good, saying those words for the first time. Presumably it won’t be the same for me ever again. Our first assignment takes us on a survey mission near the so called “Wild Duck”-cluster. Let’s see what adventures our voyages will unfold. “Helm, course 87.5/127.2, warp 7″

“Engage!”

Tomorrow is the big day!

The ceremony has been postponed, because a few of our new crew-members couldn’t make it in time. I’m really looking forward to getting underway.

The crew checkups turned out ok, so there should be no delay on our departure. As of now, Jade and I are in constant contact with starfleet command, to give them updates on the status of our preparations.

I suppose, that some admirals and other big shots will be attending the celebration in honor of our virgin flight.

We are all curious where our first assignment will take us and what our mission will be…

The new ship’s a mess!

It seems that the engineering crew just had those passageways cleaned up, where I was supposed to go through. But anyplace left or right, was in complete disorder.

But, nevertheless, we got an awful lot of work done this weekend. The view-screen has been installed and the warp core has passed it’s final test. If things go on just as smooth, we should be on our way within the next 3 days.

Jade is preparing the transfer-orders for the rest of our crew. Hopefully they will all be here for the great ceremony.

Upon my first “official” arrival at the shipyards, I was taken aback by the vastness of space taken by this facility. I was introduced to the construction chief, who showed me the blueprints for the Orion. After that, we boarded a shuttle and headed off towards the ship. I always wondered, what it must be like for a commanding officer, to see his ship for the first time… Gosh, I can tell you… It’s beyond amazing. A little like falling in love and exam nerves at the same time, only in a much higher potency.

The sound that we heard, as the shuttle docked to the lateral port, was reverberating in my head for minutes. There was this solid “clonk” as the mag-locks stopped in their final position. For the first time I was connected to my ship.

I will never ever in my life forget the first view of the ship’s interior, as the doors slid apart. I was startled to such an extend, that I nearly forgot to speak every ones famous first words upon entering a vessel: “Permission to come aboard?” “Permission granted”, answered a young lieutenant and asked me in. He guided me to the bridge. The passageways and corridors were still quite messed up, but everybody had promised to be ready within a week.

The bridge was nearly finished. The only thing missing was the view-screen. I did not dare to sit in the chair in the middle, although, now as I think about it, I can’t remember why I didn’t try it out. You can call me superstitious, but I think of it as a symbol of respect, might an leadership. At the end of my first tour we visited the conference room, the wardroom and the captain’s quarters. They seem to be quite comfortable.

I was very sorry to leave, but I will come back for the ceremony in a few days. Time enough to let the first impressions ooze in on my mind.

Tomorrow Jade and I will be negotiating with our future shipmates. Hopefully we will find some able officers and crew.

I could hardly await that, which had come to me today…

My transfer-orders.

I find it to be very intriguing, to hold the pad in my hands at last and read the words, that will change my life for ever.

I called up my parents at home and told them about the transfer. Dad seems to be proud, but inside I know, that he is hoping, that everything will turn out for the best. Jade and I are going to meet for dinner, later on. She’ll be the second to know, befor we set out tomorrow to assemble our bridge crew.

I was told, the Orion should be ready for departure within the next two weeks, so we will have the opportunity to observe the final steps in the completion of a new vessel.

I am looking forward to boarding her for the first time.

The Woman who is going to be my first officer, Cmdr. Jade McKinnon, seems to be quite a nice girl. She gives me the peculiar feeling, that some members of our crew could have little problems restraining themselves from time to time. Luckily they don’t know that she has earned 7th Dan in Judo, which, as she told me, cannot be achieved through tests, but can only be awarded for outstanding techniques and superior fighting. Jade graduated from the academy two and a half years ago, so she should not be much younger than I am.

One may think, that it is a little early for gathering ones crew, if one does not have a command yet, but I am in a good mood and I have my hopes set high, that everything will turn out just the way it seems to.

Today I visited my old friend and mentor Admiral Howard. We talked a little about new ships, that are being built and how desperate starfleet is to find young people, that are willing to take the trip and go for command school. Although there is a high drop out rate and, not to mention the responsibility coming with a post such as captain of a starfleet vessel, the risk of getting blown away by a hostile ship is rather high these days, I did graduate from command school two years ago. After being first officer on a small med-ship for the better part of this time, I am now eager to take command myself. After all, the Admiral told me to “expect the unexpected” (Whatever that means).

Today I did a little bit of sneaking around at the shipyard. Although there is still no message about my transfer, I just can’t stop thinking about the new ship. Ever since I’ve signed up for this job, I’ve dreamed about commanding a ship like this one. I should start to think about assembling a crew.

Rumour has it, that I shall take command over Starfleet’s newest Ship - the U.S.S. Orion.

So, let’s see what the next week will bring…