trans_9 | Reacquainting [OPEN, COMMAND CREW INVITED]

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Reacquainting [OPEN, COMMAND CREW INVITED]

Picard was in the Sensoriums. It wasn't an unusual spot to find him by any means, but unlike much of the time when he relaxed in a smoky jazz club, or walked along the streets of Old Chicago or New York, the captain was not dressed as Dixon Hill. He wasn't smoking or drinking, either. Instead, he simply stood on the bridge of the Enterprise, listening to old reports, Captain's and Senior Officers' logs, and even going so far as to recreate some of the memorable moments on the ship. Now wanting to try and use the hologram as some kind of emotional crutch, he even had the simulation make an artificial version of himself, playing through the events exactly as they'd occurred.

Taking a sip from his tea, the captain gazed out of the viewscreen to the expanse of space before him. It made for a very pretty picture, no doubt about it, but it was not why he was here. No, Picard had the unfortunate self-assigned duty of reacquainting himself with every case of temporal discrepancy and every judicial dispute and every interdimensional boondoggle the Enterprise and her crew had ever been involved in.

He did laugh, however, when he read the regulations and operating procedures for the Department of Temporal Investigations. He almost pitied them, having to deal with so many temporal disputes involving James Kirk.

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"Oh?" Kirk quirked an eyebrow, leaning against one of the rails, "And what exactly were you reading?"

He recognized it alright and he was trying to think of which escapade Picard might be referring to.

"In my own point in time, there's a new branch of Starfleet known as the Department of Temporal Investigations. They help maintain temporal continuity and try to repair any damage done to the timeline by Starfleet vessels and crews. You're quite popular in their records," he explained, still grining, "with seventeen temporal violations. It's a record that has yet to be broken, and has led to standard operating procedural changes. The most notable of these changes is that any ship's crew registered as part of a temporal event is asked if they encountered Captain James Tiberius Kirk in their travel." Picard held out some of the reports for Kirk to take. He was aware of the potential ramifications of revealing the future, so he made sure to only hold up any reports from the first two years of the original Enterprise's five year mission.

Edited 2009-09-20 03:38 (UTC)

"Well, glad to know that I continue my fine tradition of following my instincts," Kirk chuckled, taking the reports and sifting through them for a moment. They were familiar. He still remembered a few of them as if they'd happened yesterday.

He looked up with a wry grin, "Also glad to hear that I can at least hold something over the new generation."

"I'll be honest, Jim. You can keep the record. The less I have to tamper with the timeline, the better." Picard's smirk took a wry twist at that last thought, and slowly turned into a more rueful smile than anything. He hadn't lied; he really didn't want to touch timelines anymore than necessary. Who decided what was necessary, however? Suppose it was possible to bring back a lost friend, and maintain continuity...

Picard forced his mind to pull away from thoughts of his departed friend, turning back to Kirk instead. "Would you say everyone's ready for Worf's first exposure to the Kobayashi Maru, Jim?"

Lafiel's heart had positively lifted since she'd been accepted to the security team. There was a spring in her step, almost as if she were walking in the half Earth-standard gravity she was used to. Leon had efficiently pointed out the places she needed training in, and they were less than she'd thought they'd be.

Her klanyu swung jauntily from its improvised holster as she opened the sensorium pod.

Her breath caught, then did a kind of slightly melancholy inhale. It was a spaceship. The blinking, plasticine interior was instantly recognizable, the clean lines and displays, presided over by uniformed figures.

She almost forgot for a moment that it wasn't real.

She snapped a quick salute.

"Captains, my apologies. I didn't mean to interrupt, I just didn't realize this pod was occupied."

"Well, it's not that I wanted to tamper with the timeline. The fate of Earth was at stake, you know," he responded with a grin, "And yes, I think Mister Worf will do just fine... although I wonder if we should change them from Klingon battle cruisers into something else."

He was about to postulate further on the matter when Lafiel traipsed in. He returned the salute, almost on reflex, "At ease, commander. It's perfectly fine."

He remembered that she'd thrown herself in front of him down in the city, without regard for her own personal safety. He didn't want her to make a habit of it, but he was grateful, all the same, "Doing alright, are you?"

"Generally, the Kobayashi Maru takes place in the Romulan Neutral Zone anymore, but with the recent diplomatic and peace talks with Romulus, perhaps Borg or Dominion space would be most appropriate." He turned from Kirk to regard the newcomer, his grin wry and welcoming.

"Hello, Miss Lafiel. I'm just reacquainting myself with some regulations and records from back home. Nothing to worry about."

Lafiel unstiffened slightly but did not sit down just yet.

To Kirk, she nodded. "I have been accepted to the security team."

To Picard she smiled in silent solidarity. Even in her society, where they almost never used paper and military and government were one, there were still an irritating number of forms that needed signing and filling out for a captain.

Her eyes cast about. A small console was available at one of the chairs nearby so she plopped down in it. Her hand danced over the keys, which brought a tiny scale model of the ship up in holoprojection. The design seemed a great saucer, onto which had been bolted a dipping strut which ended in a rounded engine (she wondered how it could maneuver with an engine that small in comparison to the ship) and what appeared to be two tubes housing weapons systems. It rotated in space, a pretty picture, but it told her nothing of the ship's name, size or capabilities, only the status of the systems.

"What kind of vessel is this?"

"I'm glad to hear that."

And truly, he is. She probably needs something to do. They all need something to do. Sitting around without action tends to make people jittery, at least in his experience. He watched her bring up the holo-projection and frowned for a moment. It looked like his own Enterprise, but sleeker, faster. Deadlier.

He glanced over at Picard, "I'm not quite familiar with future designations, Captain. Perhaps you could explain?"

There was an image Picard never tired of seeing. He walked up beside Lafiel, enlarging the hologram until it filled the available space on the bridge.

"That," he said, "is the United Star Ship Enterprise, registry number NCC-1701-E. It's a Sovereign Class starship, built for galactic exploration and combat if needed. We're in the saucer section right now, on the main bridge here." The bridge of the Enterprise glowed red for a moment in response to his gesture, and he continued explaining.

"The main body houses Engineering mainly, with personnel quarters, holodecks and the shuttle bay occupying the main saucer and its 'neck'. This is the main deflector dish. It deflects small particles and debris that the ship might otherwise impact with at warp speeds." He was mainly explaining for Lafiel's benefit, aware that Kirk already knew the basics of starship design. Still, perhaps Picard would touch on something new, something Kirk didn't know.

"Those large horizontal pillars are warp nacelles. Warp nacelles house the warp coils for a starship, which allow us to create the subspace displacement field we need to travel at Warp speeds. Warp itself is a form of FTL travel, and the primary one in our (myself and Captain Kirk's) reality.

"The Sovereign Class can travel at a maximum speed of warp nine point nine nine, which translates to seven thousand, nine hundred and twelve times the speed of light." Finally, he turned from the vessel back to Lafiel and Kirk, smiling lightly as he showed them what made the Enterprise.

"There's more I can teach you about this vessel, if you're interested, Miss Lafiel."

Lafiel was impressed. Where she the whistling type, she would have.

"That is a fifth longer than my Basroil and we are not equipped with the ability to travel faster than light from anywhere we want...in fact, noone in my home universe is, we must all use a sord gate. Tell me, what number of crew is needed? How is it armed? And are these manual controls..." She gestured with a slender, pale hand at the banks of controls. "...The only control system?" She didn't say this with disdain but perhaps a bit of confusion. She knew intellectually that United Mankind ships were controlled this way but to her using exclusively manual controls seemed a bit like trying to program an interface with a typewriter. It especially struck her as odd that her society seemed to be the only one here represented that had invented anything like the froce system.

Kirk listened, suitably impressed by the future Enterprise. Of course, she would never be the same as the original, but what was? He glanced over the bridge, then chimed in, "Well, if it's anything like my ship, the controls are manual, but the computer actually handles quite a bit of the processor work."

"Computer, raise the manual steering column." He gestured to the column (http://i342.photobucket.com/albums/o428/Hypercons/reference/Manual_steering_column_Sovereign_cl.jpg) as it rose, walking to it and setting his hand on the joystick-like apparatus.

"The Sovereign class can run completely manually when needed, but in general the computer helps with much of the navigation. We never developed anything like neural connections if that's what you mean, however. With so many different species serving aboard Starfleet vessels, it would be impossible to design a neural uplink system compatible with all central nervous system builds.

"Typical crew complement is eight hundred and fifty five, though in cases of emergencies and evacuations we can hold a maximum of sixty-five hundred people. As far as weaponry goes, the Sovereign class is armed with sixteen phaser arrays, one forward quantum torpedo launcher, three forward photon torpedo launchers, and six aft photon torpedo launchers. Each torpedo launcher carries its own complement of fifty torpedoes. Quantum torpedoes are armed with plasma warheads, while photon torpedoes are matter/antimatter weapons."

Lafiel at first nodded, further impressed with the Enterprise (although always keeping in mind that nothing could ever beat the engineering of the Kin of the Stars). "That's quite an impressive compliment. The hull of Basroil is built around an anti-proton cannon, with laser turrets for point def..." Then when he mentioned the crew, her big, dark eyes became even bigger. Her mind worked feverishly trying to make sense of that, but in the end she just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "But what do they all do?"

Kirk raised a brow as Lafiel noted some of the specifications of her command, "Lasers? We phased those out years ago. In fact..." He blinked, interrupted by her outburst. He glanced at the hologram of the ship and then back to Lafiel with a grin.

"Well, we need at least three shifts, so everyone can actually have to rest and sleep. Not to mention the engineering and damage control crews, the command deck, shuttle-bay, and security. And then, of course, you have to remember she's not just a warship. It's a ship of exploration. Of science. We typically carry scientific staff as well."

"Precisely. It's still far fewer than the Enterprise-D had, with a complement of over one thousand." Picard continued, explaining crew functions to Lafiel. "However, many of those were civilians, as Starfleet began allowing families aboard Federation vessels." His smile dropped, however, as he explained further.

"A significant defeat of the Federation changed that idea, however, and it was dropped. Now all Starfleet vessels are manned entirely by Starfleet personnel. The Enterprise-E has a larger crew than normal because of our extended shuttlebay." Picard gestured to the open shuttlebay at the back of the hologram's primary hull, almost connected to the secondary hull.

"It extends up three decks and not only houses numerous shuttles and shuttlepods, but can also store several runabouts, each with their own registry independent of the Enterprise."

Lafiel continued to boggle a moment. Her brain cast about a moment and finally seized on a similarity. "Oh! Abh families are allowed to live on second line ships. It comes from the time we were nomads...But then with a crew of twenty one on an attack ship or freighter, that isn't much of a problem." She paused a moment. What kind of research are you conducting that you need to carry so many?"

"All kinds," Kirk replied, "Our primary mission isn't to fight - although we are the Federation's first line of defense. My mission - the mission my ship is on - is to seek out new life and new civilizations. To go where no man has gone before. To study the galaxy, to map it."

"That remains the mission of the Enterprise, even to this day," Picard said. He gestured to the communicator he had placed on his plantsuit. "The Enterprise is perhaps even more of an important multipurpose vessel than most. Ever since the days of Captain James Kirk, the Enterprise has been Starfleet's flagship, to the point where the original Enterprise's starship crew icon was adopted as the general symbol for Starfleet itself."

Flagship of the... Lafiel practically jumped. "Your Highnesses, my sincerest apologies. I had no idea. What are your full titles, including the planetary domains you oversee?" To her, Captain of the Flagship was synonymous with Crown Prince.

Kirk has to stifle a laugh, "Commander, we don't have nobility within the Federation. We're a republic."

He pauses, "To be more accurate, we're a group of allied nations, working together towards a common cause. Some of our members may have nobility - but Starfleet and the Federation government aren't run based on the titles you were born with."

"Even governments like the Klingon Empire are taking a more democratic approach to their ruling council and executive powers. The Federation believes in progression, and one of the ways we approach that philosophy is by allowing every citizen an equal say in how the governmental system is run." Picard did chuckle at the title Lafiel gave him, however.

"It's enough being captain of the Enterprise; I can't imagine being royalty on top of it."

Lafiel practically jumped again. A group of allied nations... She reminded herself that Captain's Kirk and Picard were good men, that they meant her no harm and the nation they were from was much different from the United Mankind she'd been fighting since she was 13.

Sufficiently calm, she managed to speak again. "We run on a system I believe you would refer to as noblesse oblige: It is the responsibility of the royalty to protect the ground worlds under their domain while not interfering in their societies. Royalty must serve in the military and the officer of the royal family who makes it to the rank of Grand Admiral is automatically the next crown prince/ss." The sound was layered, as Stacy's translation was converting an Abh word which was gender neutral. "So if not a domain, what reward do you receive for all your service?"

Kirk raised an eyebrow, "That sounds very similar to what we would call the feudal system - one that hasn't been in use on Earth for several hundred years."

He paused, resting a hand on the arm of the command chair, "Reward? I get the privilege of commanding one of the finest ships in Starfleet. The ability, the chance to see strange new worlds, to explore. To see the universe!" The smile on his face is broad, "The Federation does give us room, board, and some form of recompense, of course. But really... it's privilege and honor to serve in Starfleet. It's not easy to make it through the Academy, let alone get in. Even just enlisting as a crew member takes time."

"And the Enterprise only accepts the finest Starfleet has to offer."

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