USS HORIZON: Opening Moves

The door to the conference room had a new nameplate next to from the last time Elliago saw it. It now read 'Main Mission Room'. The change had been so recent it wasn't updated with the registry of the ship yet.

As he entered the room, he could also see that it had been redesigned with the Captain's seat being back at the 'head' of a conventional conference table, easily indicated by the ship's Captain sitting in it.

"Hello Doctor Nasaro; sorry to call you in a few minutes early, but I thought we might want to compare notes."

"I see that you have made yourself at home, Captain Sir," the Deltan commented wryly as he noticed the new arrangement.

When Captain Kheren had been in command, he had discarded from the first day the modern banana table in favour of an old twenty-third century-style triangular one. The Andorian always felt the hierarchal order forced by the long table was detrimental to open discussion and initiative when meeting with his senior officers. He always preferred his officers to freely provide full input before making decisions. Redding's command style was more traditional, however; he seemed to be much less at ease with this open collaborative structure, more inclined with the standard order of ranks and positions found on board Starfleet vessels.

If there was one thing that could show how much a captain was the soul of a ship, this did.

Elliago thus sat at his right hand, as was proper for the first officer.

"No need to apologise, Captain; I'm even more new to this job than you are, captain. Those few minutes you are giving me will help me not make myself look like a complete novice in front of the others. Most appreciated I assure you."

His smile was one of confidence in his commanding officer more than in his own self.

As she approached the briefing room she could hear someone inside there, no it was two someones, as she approached the doors opened and she walked into the mission briefing room without battering an eye, she looks at the two already there.

"Hello Captain," she said with a smile as she walked up to the pair and directly spoke to the other person "hello Commander I am second Lieutenant Alexandria Somers the ships MCO and Strategic Operations Officer, I do not believe we have yet met?" she said holding out her hand.

The Deltan followed the human gesture with practised grace. his smile warm and his dazzling purple eyes lighting his handsome face with evident respect for the young human woman in her MACO uniform.

"Not this formally, Lieutenant," he admitted, as he had only addressed her on the bridge in passing as she had been called by their commanding officer to his briefing room earlier.

She had listened to his comment without replying but now was obviously more at ease with her new surroundings.

"Fortunately for you," he added, " my new responsibilities as XO forces me to be more practical and expeditious in my duties as CMO. And so, simply reviewed your latest medical record instead of submitting you to my evil medical probing. So you're safe from my doctoring side for the next six months... if you take good care of yourself."

He spoke with a delicate mixture of geniality and seriousness, knowing the infamous reluctance, feigned or not, of Starfleet officers for medical examination. With the constant monitoring of shipwide internal sensors and the excellence of Starbase Lotus medical staff, he could be that lenient for the time being. It seemed better to him in his new acting first officer role to ensure collegiality between them all than just do his usual "needle prodding" as some would say.

But he made it clear to her that her health was just as important to him as her proficiency.

Looking at him with a practised smile thanks to her father's diplomatic training he had forced upon her "thank you, Commander, I shall" she finished lowering her hand and turning to face the new arrival.

Joining the trio already in the newly dubbed Main Mission Room was Lieutenant Trea, who stepped in through the doors with a barely perceptible rhythm to her movements. The security chief had a small smile on her face, that faded only slightly as she tilted her head downwards and swept the room with her orange eyes.

The Praxiar woman fixed her gaze upon her new Captain, with acknowledging nods to Lt. Somers and the good doctor. "Captain, with joy and sincerity do I join this circle. I am Trea of the Praxiar, your new Chief of Security and Tactical. With ambition, I hope to become a worthy successor to the post."

Redding seemed a bit unsure how to accept her greeting.

"I'm sure you will make an excellent addition to the crew Lieutenant, you're tactical capabilities are top notch." and with a nod went back to checking his notes.

After her small conversation with Captain Redding, she turned to the MACO Strategic Ops Officer and said, "It is good to be within the senses of another sister!" Once more she introduced herself. "I am Trea, of the planet Relivar."

Alex offered  a friendly smile.

"Hello Lieutenant Trea of the planet Relivar. I am Second Lieutenant Alexandria Somers, Marine Commanding Officer and Strategic Operation's officer, how are you this day? I heard you are our new Security Chief, but I have never heard of your planet or species. Would you mind enlightening me on such things?"

Alex had been told she had the ability to be tactful and politic, but she was still a little green around the gills where actual interaction like this. When she had attended diplomatic functions with her parents, she seemed to be a natural at it, but here on her own, she felt like a fish out of water.

An easy grin spread across the taller woman's face.

"We are not so different..," began the automatic answer. Then she hesitated and tilted her eyes towards the ceiling. Then frowned a little. Finally, she looked back after a moment and began again. "We... are warrior-artisans. Instinct and intuition over thought and logic. The humans that visited our world and those at the Academy tended to think in corners. We think in curves." She smiled. "We are all women, and our world is ancient beyond antiquity. Does that help?"

Somers shrugged slightly.

"to a point, and that you come to a decision the long way around, where we human's come to one sooner, but I would need to see your world and culture first hand to truly understand it," Alex said with a smile. 

Redding tapped on the table to get everyone's attention.

"Okay then, everyone here? let's get started then."

He stood up.

"First I'd like to welcome you all personally as the senior officers for the Horizon, the Federation largest and most self-sustainable starship, essentially a warp capable star base."

He brought up the ship primary deck plan on the display. At one point two kilometers in lenght and a crew over two thousand and just about everything you could find on a starbase, including industrial replicators, an entire hospital deck, a MACO contingent, a full fighter wing and diplomatic corps, the Horizon could effectively function for decades without any help from the rest of the Federation. And transwarp drive allowed her to move to any point in the galaxy... and beyond.

As they watched, Redding continued.

"Our mission is a fundamentally an easy one to understand; return to the pocket universe beyond the Azimuth Horizon and locate the only space faring race we have encountered there, the Draxx."

He pulled up and the picture of a canine humanoid. They were tall, massive in the upper body but much less so below the waist, for all intent and purposes looking just like the werewolves of old human legends wearing sophisticated combat suits.

"You'll all be supplied a packet with what little information we have on them, I suggest you all commit to learning it."

He sat back down.

"We can expect others to have an interest as well, specifically the Ferengi and the Klingons, and although we don't expect to run into the Romulans it never hurts to keep an eye out for them."

He paused a moment before going on.

"Some of you have served aboard this ship before or under Captain Kheren himself, and might have noticed I took a few liberties with the conference room."

He patted the table.

"While I consider Captain Kheren a virtual paragon as a Starfleet officer, I am not he. I have been a Federation officer for more than two hundred years and I'm old and cranky,. This universe is not the place I grew up in and that sometimes annoys me." 

He shrugged.

"But I will adapt, and with your help, I will overcome this limitation, as I have done in the past. Indeed it is my more primitive notions that Starfleet command hopes will help with the upcoming Draxx negotiations, as I have developed something of a rapport with them."

He smiled slightly.

"Doctor Nasaro-Myth, as acting first officer do you have anything you wish to add?"

The Deltan smiled almost sheepishl hearing the title. But he was too familiar with Starfleet protocols not to reajust himself quickly to his new responsibilities.

"The Draxx already met you, Sir, and the Horizon; that should ease up interactions at the start. But we all have to keep in mind the nature of the Draxx, at least as much as we know it so far from our only encounter with them."

Shelly walked quickly, entering the Horizon's bridge through the starboard lift and turned to the conference room just to the right of her, before the science stations. Head down, reading again the alert on her PADD, she approached the door and it chimed at her presence. This would indicate to those inside of someone wishing admittance, but Rogers barely heard the noise, engrossed with the news on her PADD.

"Physically the Draxx are carnivorous mammalian and, despite their spectacular appearance, do not differ all that much from Humans; organs are essentially at the same place and, although physically about four times as endurant as Humans, strength is relatively comparable to that of Klingons and agility rather average. Their jaws are immensely powerful with serrated teeth capable of crushing a limb without much effort but their ribcage is rather fragile and their throat and neck larger. They are quite large, between one point eight and two point twenty five meters and between one hundred and one hundred fifty kilos of lean muscle and fur. Reflex response is point five higher than in humans and their senses are only barely bested by those of Andorians."

He shifted the display to show the image of a starship; it looked like a serrated knife with six points and twelve stunted warp nacelles placed in an encircling pattern behind the hull like the barrels of an antique terran gatling gun. The scale showed the ship to be several times larger than the Horizon herself!

"The Draxx are a highly advanced spacefaring civilization that lives as a nomadic people accross their space. They do not settle on planets but roam their cosmos, consuming resources from planetary bodies just enough to get them to the next solar system in a very ecological way, not depleting the planets they take them from and making sure it will be renewed by the time they get back. What you see here is their colony ship where one Pride of around fifteen hundred adults live with about six times that number of underaged individuals; at least what we sumrized from the scans of their ships and some short exchanges Captain Redding had with them. We believe there may be at least three dozens such colony ships forming a clan and possibly up to three dozen clans, making their overall population of slightly over a hundred million, all living in space."

On the floating display, the colossal ship divided itself into six smaller replicas of itself, again with six smaller points and each a pair of nacelles that looked again each like a gatling gun. About a kilometer long, each ship divided again in six smaller versions the sixe of heavy cruisers which in turn became each six light cruiser-sized replicas that subdivided into six escort class vessels from which launched six shuttles in a combat wing formation.

"This," Elliago described as they watched, " is a typical Draxx Pride fleet. As you can see, their technological level is easily a match for ours, much more advanced in coupling technology obviously, and arranged in a very peculiar way of "communal individualism;" the simplest way to describe it is, as you may guess, the wolfpack; each individual is expected to contribute to the whole but also to benefit direclty from the whole, all this through a meritocracy centered on the hunt and martial prowess. It might make you think of Klingons except that, in their case, war and violence are not the goal but just a mean to an end which is the survival and prosperity of the clan, not conquest and glory. A successful cattle breeder is just as revered in their culture as a war hero, because he contributes just as well to the clan's welfare. Thus we have found them quite aggressive but not warlike. Basically, we should handle them as we would wild dogs; but highly intelligent wild dogs."

He waited to see if anyone would have specific questions.

Almost begrudgingly Redding added "Any insights or questions? now's the time to voice them." He had to remind himself that this wasn't to be a border skirmish, and he would need their 'advice'.

"These Draxx," began Trea. "seem a very peculiar species. What is our intention with them in these negotiations?"

"Standard set up as I see it, make contact, let them sniff our hand and see if we can get them to join the Federation." Redding said dismissively then looked at the Doctor as if he might disapprove.

"As if anything about a first contact could be standard," commented Elliago with a dry smile.

"If they qualify for membership of course, but I'm sure they'll make fine additions to the UFP."

Redding sounded like he was reading a pamphlet.

"Alright people, one last point of business."

"On the matter of Ms. Shelly Rogers, I again want to stress that they should not underestimated. To THAT point I want Ms. Rogers to be closely watched as well." He let that settle in for a second.

"The Orions are legendary infiltrators and manipulators, it would not be beyond them to plant Rogers in with us, on the most advanced starship that will soon be completely cut off from support."

"You are suggesting she is not to be trusted?" asked Trea with a frown.

"I'm not even suggesting that she is doing this consciously or willingly, I'm only saying keep it mind.. watch out for it."  Then looked at Somers.

"Lieutenant, you seemed to hit it off with her, would you mind involving her in off-duty hours? not spying on her really, just getting a feel of her, so to speak."

She looked at Redding with a raised eyebrow.

"I see the logic in your request, Captain, but, to use a McCoyism, I'm a Marine; not a spy. "

Alex smiled.

"But will do, Captain." 

Okay first I return and my old captain is transferred to another ship, then I get assigned as a Strategic Operations Officer as well as MCO, now they want me to keep an eye on Rogers! Papa told me this day would come. I just did not think it would come this soon, Alex thought.

"Captain, with thought, I'd recommend we assign Ensign Danielle Foxlighter to Ensign Rogers in some non-threatening manner. As the Security Investigations Officer, her skills should encompass what is necessary for this manner of work."

"Agreed, see to it."

He stood up to better address them. 

"I don't want this to turn into a witch hunt but both Rogers, brother and sister, have something of a record for infiltration and ship swiping, we would be negligent in our duties if we didn't at least account for the possibility. That will be all. Prepare the ship for departure in thirty minutes. I'll be in my ready room, Number One. Report when we are ready to depart."

"Aye, Sir."

He waited for everyone to file out.

The next few minutes showed an increase to ship activity as all sections hurried to turn in their final reports to their section leaders. All areas were promptly secured and all stations manned. No one wanted to be the one to have to report a problem that would hold up the ship.

  Waiting for the senior officer's briefing to wind up had proved to be time consuming, so Shelly had decided to check out her other job duties. Arriving at the forward lounge she moved over behind the bar at the rear of the Nest, as the crew called it. Looking forward revealed the spectacular view out of the windows lining the forward wall above luxuriously cushioned seating. The on-duty bar tender welcomed her with a casual air, recognizing her no doubt by her unique Romulan/Human physique.

"Attention all hands; we are readying for departure. All stations report green. We are about to move out. Captain Redding to the bridge, please."

After about a minute's delay, Redding entered the bridge and made his way to the center chair.

"Ensign Saren, I take you already have our course plotted in?" he said to the Vulcan at the helm.

Saren paused only for a second glancing over at Lieutenant May at the science station, a Bajorian Female.

"Aye Captain, we presently have a heading of.."

But Redding cut him off.

"Good, standby to engage."  he said turning to face ops. "All deck broadcast if you please." 

"Shipwide channel open, Captain," Elliago confirmed from his XO chair after glancing at Shelley now occupying his former command chair on the left of the captain's. "Now hear this! Now hear this! The captain will adress you presently."

He could not help but smile at going through this antique Earth navy protocol. That one he had taken from the former commanding officer of the flagship; he was starting to understand why captain Kheren enjoyed such quaint historical references.

"This is your Captain speaking. The Horizon will be departing shortly but I just wanted to take this time to greet those of you new to the Horizon. She's the best, most advanced, and by far the biggest ship in Starfleet and if your aboard now, it's because someone thought that you also must be the best in Starfleet. Our mission ahead may well give you ample chances to prove them right, and I invite you to take those chances. Thank you for your service, Redding out."

He straightened out his top and sat facing the main view screen.

"Number One, if you're ready, you may take us out." 

"Ready when you are, captain Sir," the Deltan answered with a warm smile but a very serious stare.

He then nodded to Rogers so that the diplomatic aide sitting in the CMO command chair where communications where handled could open a channel to the station.

"Starbase Lotus, this is the Horizon; request permission for departure."

"USS Horizon, this is Flight Control; permission granted. All space traffic has been cleared for you, heading 045 mark 20. Please proceed following standard protocol. Good tide and fair winds, Horizon."

"Thank you Flight Control... but no promises. Horizon out."

Elliago winked at Somers and smiled at Rogers before addressing Saren.

"Helm, clear all moorings... and fire up the impulse engines."

"May i remind the Commander that undocking protocols require thrusters only until at a minimum distance of five hundred kilometers from docking port..."

"I said, fire them up, not engage them, Mister Saren," Elliago said with a smile and a headshake. "Just to have them sweat a bit... you Vulcans need to show a bit more of your sense of humor; and don't tell me you have none because I know better."

Saren arched an eyebrow but did not object.

"Magnetic clamps disengaged; tractor beams offline; we have cleared all moorings. We are floating free, no forward momentum. Thrusters and Impulse engines online and on standby."

"Thrusters at full, bearing 045 mark 20."

"045 mark 20, aye."

At five hundred kilometers per hour, the image of the huge starbase receded on the main viewer to a shiny star in a matter of seconds. When the Deltan saw on the helm readout that they were at the correct clearance, he nodded again to the Vulcan.

"Full impulse."

The titanic starship then jumped to a quarter of the speed of light, towards what looked like a distant orange and gold star. Even those who had never been there before knew however that this was no star; it was the now famous Azimuth Horizon, the tamed cosmic anomaly opening a portal to another universe one light year away.

"Ready to engage warp at your command, Sir," Nasaro-Myth said to Redding. "Transwarp on standby."

"ETA seventeen point one hours at cruising speed warp 8 or transwarp 2; twenty-seven point seven minutes at transwarp 3," announced Saren.

"Less than thirty minutes? I think I'd like to give the crew at least a little time to settle in, lets make it T2 please." He said with a shrug.

The familiar hum of the engines suddenly changed to a softer, lower-pithed one as the stars on the screen seemed to coalesce and explode in a flash of light much like the usual warp field view rendered by the computer on their main viewer. Once that flash dissipated however, the familiar field of streaking stars was replaced by a display of multicolored streaks of lights on a black field emerging from a center mass of points of lights much like a distant galaxy slowly loosing shooting stars. It was like the warpspeed image of old but not quite.

"Transwarp 2," confirmed the helmsman. "ETA seventeen point one hours... mark."

  As the tunnel-like star field swirled past the ship on the main viewer Shelly sat slightly mesmerized by the coalescing pattern. This was the first experience for her of transwarp propulsion and, although there had been rumors of this technology back in the Orion sector some few years back, her knowledge of the mechanics of this new speed factor was very sketchy. Her thought was it may be too fast for ship's to undertake, given her knowledge of ship stresses, which was somewhat limited anyway. Tearing her gaze away from the viewer she looked toward the two men seated to her right.