File #3 - "Tension"
The crew board the new Republic but a surprise is waiting in store for them.
File #3 - "Tension"
The new Republic held everyone in awe as they approached the vessel in a small shuttlepod. The blue tint of the walls of the Earth Spacedock reflecting seamlessly against the hulls of the many starships docked there.
"What class is that?" asked Chief Muraco as he out the shuttlepod at the totally unfamiliar design, trying not to bump his head on the low ceiling of the shuttlepod that he was crammed into, despite his large muscular frame. .
Greyfell looked a little surprised that the Chief Engineer did not recognise that particular class of starship. "It's a Stargazer Class." he said, missing the advanced systems of the Warrior already that he had become so accustomed to.
"Oh..." replied Muraco, still looking at the usual four nacelled design of the vessel. "It looks like one of those old Constellation Class starships from the history books."
"That's because it was inspired by that design." interjected Commander Tempest who looked back from his position flying the small shuttlepod.
"The old Republic was a Century Class starship and this is what Starfleet gives us!?" exclaimed Doctor Braveheart, sat in the other seat at the front as Captain Greyfell looked out to the overworked vessel, standing directly behind him.
He was not wrong. Starfleet had given them one of the older ship designs from the 2381 Fleet Initiative. They might as well have given them a one hundred year old Excelsior Class in comparison. The Stargazer Class had been an attempt by the Advanced Starship Design Bureau to capitalize on older designs in an attempt to update them for modern Starfleet.
The Stargazer Class proved to be too ambitious a design, attempting to capitalise on the multiple redundancies of having four warp nacelles but double the nacelles that ships normally possessed only proved in reality that double the amount of problems could happen.
By modern Starfleet standards, this was an old class of ship.
"Can we not just wait for the Warrior to be repaired?" asked Counselor Mewsin, standing behind Tempest.
"Unfortunately not..." replied Captain Greyfell, trying to appease his crew. "The Warrior is due an extensive three month overhaul and Captain Edwards assured me that this was the only ship available."
"Nice of them to name this old rust-bucket Republic." said Doctor Braveheart sarcastically.
"I actually requested that." remarked Edwards from the back of the shuttlepod. "I thought it might make you feel more at ease about this mission."
"Let's see... We are heading into unknown territory in an underpowered and old starship. What's there to feel uneasy about?" replied the Doctor.
Greyfell just smiled as they approached the rear of the four nacelled ship and entered the shuttlebay. The ship itself was not much larger than the Warrior but he immediately noticed the older designs of the bulkheads when they docked.
There was a single human male waiting for them in the shuttlebay as Commander Tempest landed the shuttlepod and the crew began to clamber out of the small hatch in the rear of the shuttle.
"Captain Alexander Greyfell?" asked the man. He was tall, even for human standards and had dark ebony skin with striking brown eyes, appearing to be somewhere in his early thirties. He stood perfectly still as the crew approached him.
"At ease" replied Captain Greyfell, looking over to him with interest as Counselor Mewsin tried relentlessly to help the much larger Muraco climb his way out of the shuttlepod, which was proving rather awkward because of his size.
"Commander Imani Uba" replied the man, speaking a thick African accent. "I will be serving as your First Officer."
Captain Greyfell frown and then shot a look at Commander Tempest, who looked like he was somewhat in shock. "Excuse me." replied Captain Greyfell. "But Commander Tempest is my First Officer."
Commander Uba looked somewhat blunt as he held out the PADD he had been holding in his hand, giving it over to Captain Greyfell. "Here are Starfleet's assignment orders. No offense to the Commander here but I have served on this vessel for almost seven years and since the loss of our Captain, have been in temporary command."
Captain Greyfell could not believe this, shooting a rather harsh glance at Captain Edwards as he looked over the assignment orders. He had worked with Commander Tempest for over six months, he trusted him implicitly and he had saved his life when they had discovered the ruins of the Cetacean homeworld. He owed him a huge debt of gratitude and he could not just abandon him.
Commander Tempest just stood there silently. He was unsure how to react at the situation while Doctor Braveheart unloaded all his medical supplies from the shuttlepod once Muraco had been freed from his confinement.
There was a palpable tension in the air and Commander Uba looked at both officers with a nonchalant expression. It was not apparently obvious to Captain Greyfell or Commander Tempest but there was resentment present there. Commander Uba had commanded this ship for almost a year since the Republic, originally named the U.S.S. Mayflower, lost her original captain during skirmish with the Orion Syndicate.
He knew the people under his command and to have Starfleet arbitrarily decide to rename his ship and give command to an outsider, it enraged him inside. He struggled to cope this decision and wondered if Starfleet would do that to such prestigious ships such as the Enterprise.
"So what capacity am I supposed to serve here?" asked Commander Tempest, looking to Command Uba and then back to his Captain. There was no use protesting if Starfleet had made their mind up about this, besides he would be back on the Warrior soon enough...
Hopefully...
"It says that you are assigned to Chief of Operations" read Greyfell with a somewhat glum expression. He was on the verge of getting back into the shuttlepod and going to tell Admiral Quinn to shove his requisition orders up his Trill arse but he decided against it. He saw this as his last chance as a Commanding Officer, if this mission failed, he would probably been discharged from Starfleet for sure.
"I... eh... understand" replied Commander Tempest, trying hard to hide his disappointment at Starfleet's faithlessness under a veil of professionalism.
Greyfell felt he had nowhere else to go. "Very well Commander." he said, looking at Commander Uba and trying not to feel that much resentment towards him. Which was difficult at this moment in time. "How long until we are ready to get underway?"
What he did not realise was... the feeling was mutual on both sides.
"We are bringing the last of the supplies onboard now, we should be able to get underway in about an hour." he said, pausing for a second, his eyes narrowing as he prepared himself to say something he really did not want to say.
"...Sir."