Children of Earth - Part 6
#5 of Children of Earth
Children of Earth - Changing Direction
Davis looks ahead at the view screen. His ship had been out in space, exploring the sector of space they received from the elves for the past six years. It was aging. Now they were returning to Earth after being gone so long, and the site brings a tear to his eye. From the dark side of Earth, South America shines in the darkness, the lights alone showing the human race was recovering nicely. Above it are the familiar lights of North America. Orbiting over Washington DC in a geosynchronous orbit was Starfleet Command in Starbase 1. The large structure was just as stunning in the darkness when only her lights were visible as it was in the light, where all her curves and lines were visible. His com officer gets clearance for the ship to be put into dock. They were retiring her.
Five days later, Davis is sitting in his home down on the planet, filling out a little paperwork and enjoying the view of a blue sky. The closest thing that had come to the splendor of a sky with clouds rolling lazily by had been a blue nebula they had found a few light years away from Shanxi. It had taken them three months to completely scan it. He looks at a picture sitting next to his computer screen. His son, now six, had drawn it. Him waving goodbye to his old starship, he had told him. He smiles at it. It was to be a museum for early explorations, they said, showing everything from artifacts left over from the early colonial ages, to the US expansion into the west. The original space shuttle Enterprise was going in her fighter bay, along with early models of aircraft. His crew was enjoying downtime on the planet.
"He's quite the artist." Saphyra says, surprising him as she comes up behind him. Davis simply nods and sighs. "I wonder if growing up on a ship will make him any different from those kids growing up here." She says, looking across the street at an elementary school. This one was actually named after him. Go figure. Children were playing in the play ground, the screams of surprise and the pleasing sound of children laughing helps him when dealing with these papers. Some were requisition orders, others were simple disciplinary action reports. A few were requests for awards for exemplary crewmembers.
Davis shrugs. "I'm sure it won't. At least not any more than being a prince will." He says, grinning at her. She thumps him on the shoulder and looks down at one of the papers, picking it up.
"Isn't this the same guy who sealed that hull breech?" She asks. Davis nods. "If I recall right, you said you were going to decorate him yourself."
Davis simply grins at her. "And I am. He's gonna get his third DPC." He says. He signs the recommendation with his name, and sends it off in the mail. "Could you get me a Pepsi, love?" He asks.
Saphyra smirks and gets up, going to the replicator. "One can of Pepsi and one green tea." She says, clearly. The machine hums to life and makes the requested drinks. For all the glory of having space ships, for all the knowledge and humility knowing other races exist in the universe gave mankind, it was the invention and dispersal of replicators that finally did in the capitalistic systems of market on Earth. Some capitalism still exists, alright, dollars are still used and earned for luxury items, but it's not so important anymore to have money, since you no longer need it to buy food, electricity, water, or fuel for your vehicle.
Davis sips on his drink after it's given to him. "How is our son doing in school, anyway?"
"Our Little John is doing just fine." She says. "Solid Bs and As. None of the students really notice him as anything special anymore, which is really what he wants." She smiles and looks out at the school, rubbing her belly. "I'm sure this one will be a girl." She says. "I'll have her follow me as Queen. I think your boy wants to go into space like his dad."
Davis smirks and sits back, looking at the television display. Glen Beck's program was on, pointing out some of the mistaken ideas done in the past. He had done good with that during the 2009 to 2011 area, enough that Fox was having him continue in that, and he still has a record for staging the 'cleanest' rally in history, two hundred thousand in DC and not one scrap of garbage on the ground after. Like him or hate him, he knew how to throw a rally. It's the ticker that catches his eye however: USS Caroline docked at Starbase 1, Replacement to be launched within the week - Dept of Starfleet. That can only make him grin. He was going to see it this afternoon, and he'd promised to bring his son with him.
Two hours later they were on a flight heading up into space, Davis watching one of the few programs on Fox News he doesn't watch for the news, the O'Reilly Factor, in particular the Pinhead and Patriot section. Today the pinhead was a Senator from Mexico who had done something stupid, drunk driving. The patriot was a man who volunteered to take an experimental treatment for cancer. Because of it, mankind was now free of cancer, in all its forms, forever. "Sir, we're coming up on the space dock now." The pilot of the shuttle tells him. Davis nods and stands up, shaking his son, John, awake.
"Son, we're here." He says. John snaps to full alertness and rushes over to the viewing window. The shuttle comes over the curve of Starbase One and the construction dock comes into view, with the new Caroline sitting inside. "We sure came far, fast." Davis says, admiring the sleek lines of the Sovereign class vessel. He can't help but smile at this. Every ally they had at this point had pitched in some piece of technology that was used to make this and five other ship classes. The raptors gave them a sturdy, high powered warp drive and an excellent shield system. Human ingenuity had gone into creating the armor and metals used to make the ship, the Rodenberry Shipwrights and Shipyards had created the design and built the ship, and the Dwarves had given them superconductive biomechanical technology to aide in the rapid transmission of information all across the ship.
So he tells the reporters swarming over him as he takes them on a tour of the ship the very next day. First stop was the bridge; the next stop was the warp core, looking almost exactly like it did in the movie. "This is because, in an effort to save on prices, the Roddenberry Shipwrights used existing schematics they had leftover from the movies." He says.
A reporter from CNN speaks up. "Isn't this very coincidental? A decade ago they came up with the ship design, and now it's actively in use?" He asks.
Davis grins. "Well, many companies put forward designs to be used for our military. These ship designs won out because they're proven in combat, we had Mirandas and Constitutions in the later parts of the Elven Conflict, and, most importantly, its parts are universal. Because of this, every ship, regardless of their sizes, uses the same equipment; it's easy to have a larger ship give its spare equipment to a smaller ship that is damaged. In our old ships that we had during the Elven Conflict, the equipment used, for example, to repair an engine in a battleship was very different from the equipment used to repair an engine in a carrier." He grins at the reporter, who is writing quickly. "Before stuff based on Star Trek was a luxury, like the flip open cell phones. These ships are as functional as they are pretty. Moving on!" He says, and leads them to the fighter hangars, where twelve F22s were moving into their hangars. One of them was facing down a practice range, and at a command, a phaser fires from just over top of what would be the jet intakes in atmospheric flight. The crew goes into action after the shots end, calibrating the aim.
"The Excelsior class before this ship carried two fighter squadrons and one bomber squadron." He says. "It was classed as a standard carrier because of this. The new Caroline, and all Sovereign classes after her, are actually called Assault Carriers. They have the weapons to deal with ship to ship fighting and, as you can see, fighters. The new Caroline will have a full compliment of one Raptor squadron and one Warthog squadron. The A10s aren't here yet, so we'll skip over them for now." In truth the A10s were in the asteroid belt, completing their final training exercises.
The next stop was a tour around the crew quarters, including stepping into the quarters of a few random crewmen who were picked before the tour came in. "These seem pretty spacious for crew quarters." The reporter from MSNBC states, his camera sweeping over the entire room.
"Indeed." Davis says. "A space ship is not the same as a naval ship. Anything will naturally float in space, as opposed to open water, where the buoyancy of the craft must be able to keep its weight afloat." He says, smiling. 'So, we have larger ships here, with bigger crew quarters. This houses two. Now, let me take you to the communal area." He leads them all down the hallway to an open area, sailors are seated here, talking, drinking, eating, playing cards or other games. There were a few closed glass doors leading to open courts. A few guys were playing baseball in one of them. The reporters are generally pleased with this. As they head out, the reporter from Fox speaks up. "With all this stuff in it, the ship must be larger than in the movies."
Davis looks to the reporter and nods. 'It is." He says. "I'd say it's just over double the size. In the series, a Sov has a crew of about 800. In reality, it's about 2,000. We've got a Starfleet crew of 400 that runs the ship itself and her fighters, then we have 1,600 Army personnel onboard that deals with a myriad of small things when on the ship and who land when needed on the surface. It's called an AAU, or Army Assault Unit. They're like a Marine Expeditionary Unit, except the people needed to keep them running aren't needed here, since they're directly supported by the ship's resources, so they don't need their own fighters, they don't need a lot of logistics vehicles or personnel. " The reporters nod, writing this down. "They've got six Apaches for close support, a pair of Blackhawks, and they've got eight Abrams tanks and sixteen Bradleys stored on the ship." Davis looks up as something catches his eye. "And there's our AC-130." He says. The Fox reporter lifts an eyebrow.
"How do you store all of this?" He asks.
Davis smiles. "I thought you'd ask that. You saw the fighter bay. You remember the large doors in the back? They lead into the saucer section, where every one of our aircraft are stored and maintained along with all the Army's equipment."
The CNN reporter sticks up his pen. "How many dragons are in your crew?" He asks.
Davis has to think about that one. "When we set out, we'll have thirty dragons aboard. Twenty will be in the combat wing, including Saphyra, and ten will be around for shipboard security and external repair." He looks at his watch. "This concludes your tour. You can talk to some of these people for the next half hour, then it'll be time for you to leave so we can begin making ready to leave dock."
Davis is relieved when the reporters leave him to talk to the crew of the ship. The one from CNN sits with the one from Fox to have a drink and chit chats with him, a soldier joining them. "Good God, I thought they'd never leave you alone." A deeper voice says from behind, and Davis turns to see Draco standing there, smiling to him. Davis smiles and offers his hand, which Draco shakes happily. "Good to see you, sir." He says.
Davis nods. "Likewise. What brings you here?" He asks, genuinely surprised to see the dragon here.
Draco shrugs. "They say you're not only the captain here but a political figure as well. Whether or not you like it, you're the Queen's husband, which makes you King."
Davis waves that off. "Nah. They haven't bothered me with that since it first came out that I was bonded to her. I'm pretty sure they won't start up on it now." He knew otherwise, they wouldn't to his face, but he was referred to as the King as well. Politicians knew to respect his military analysis when he gave it, since he was, as the press had said it, 'Serving his country on the front lines like the great Kings in human history had done during their time.'
"Still, Command decided your security staff should be Ghosts, former or current." Draco says. "So I'm your head of security again." He breaks into a wide grin. "Looks like your kid and my sis will be going to school together." By now they had wandered over to a table and were seated, the replicator in the center of the table giving them each a drink they asked for.
"Yeah, and Wedge is my first officer again. Go figure." Davis says, taking a sip from his sweetened tea. "They seem to be putting all the best on my ship instead of spreading them around like they ought to. Not that I'm complaining, but how can we improve the quality of the fleet all around if we have all the good people sitting on one boat?" He asks. The answer to that comes even as Draco starts to spew it out.
"We improve the quality by rotating our personnel." Draco says, quoting the book. "They serve under good officers who serve under a good Captain, and that quality is circulated about as they bring it to new ships."
Davis scowls and downs another drink, wishing he hadn't asked. "Ah, speak of the devil. Wedge! Over here!" He says, waving Wedge over to him. The man sits down, grinning, and orders his own drink. He has a deck of cards on him.
"Honey!" Saphyra calls out. She was out in front of their house, standing in full natural glory, armor covering all the right parts. Hey, dragons have to cover up too! A sense of modesty had come to the dragons when they had bound their race, with all its magical glory, to the human race. "John Davis, you get out here!" She watches the front door. A few seconds later a small boy comes running out, backpack on his back, toy ship in his hand. The ship had only finished being built five weeks ago and there were already toys out about it.
John gets lifted up by his mom to her chest, where he slips into the kiddie bubble put into the Draconic Civilian Assisted Flight system, or DCAF for short. A civilian armor made for dragons so they could cart people, their children most of the time, around rather than take a car or bus. Ground transit was still preferred over air transit, at least for daily commutes. Vacation traveling, or business travel across continents, had medium altitude air lanes for air cars. Airliners were still used for intercontinental flights, since it was hard to put a fuel station up in the middle of the ocean. The light clicks over on the outside of her bubble to green and she takes to the air, John playing with his toy all the way up as Saphyra heads into the skies and towards the space docks.
Fifteen minutes later they land in the fighter bay of the USS Caroline, John rushing out happily to meet with his father, and tell her about how his mom cut off three different lanes of traffic flying up into the atmosphere. Davis chuckles and leads his family to their new quarters. Everyone had to have a purpose aboard ship, even Saphyra, who took her role she had previously, during the conflicts around and on Earth. She was the commander of the draconic attack squadron, twenty dragons trained in combat both in space and in atmosphere. Other dragons onboard were crew doing onboard tasks, though there were some main corridors that were big enough for one of them to shift into natural form in case of boarders. "I'll be in the gym." Saphyra tells him, not shifting down yet. "I need to exercise in this form. This trip tired me more than it should have." She says, then sticks her head up to the top floor and looks at the duty officer. "Can I get a site to site to the dragon gym?" She asks. The man nods and looks down at his console. Saphyra is enveloped in the blue light of transportation and vanishes, reappearing a few decks above in the gym, where she gets to work on exercising.
After getting his son settled in, Davis returns to the bridge. Final preparations were complete. The ship was ready for her launching. It was not her maiden voyage; a shakedown was done a few weeks ago to test everything with a skeleton crew. Now it was for real. The ship was ready, everything was fine tuned, and the entire crew was onboard and ready. "Helm, take us out. Maneuvering thrusters." Davis orders. The helmsman does as ordered and the ship heads out, with the same coverage on the news as before. Once clear of the space dock, the large impulse engines kick on and push the ship out and away from dock. Their first stop is the asteroid belt, in particular the dwarf planet whose orbit is in the asteroid belt. The ship stops just above Ceres, the base on the dwarf planet was almost the same size as the planet, and was the main base for training fighters and bombers in space. Once there, the A10s come aboard the ship. While landing operations are underway, Davis is in his ready room, going over orders he just received. He pushes the CIC button. "CIC, it's the captain. I need Saphyra and Wedge in my ready room." He says to the operator. The female voice comes in as the ship comm chimes in. "Saphyra and Wedge, please report to the captain's ready room."
A few minutes later, both come in, Wedge in his uniform, Saphyra in a gym outfit. She had to shift down to come over here. "Take a seat." He tells them, motioning to the chairs. Both sit down and look to him, Saphyra has a little grin on her face. She had missed this. And now her bonded was the one in charge of her orders, someone she could trust to not send her to do something stupid! "We have orders to proceed to the shipping lanes between Earth and Theria, roundabouts the halfway point. There have been a lot of pirate attacks. We're to find the pirate base and eliminate it. Wedge, have the fighters on hot pad, Saph, your dragon flight as well. I'm betting there's a planet out there they're based on. As soon as we have the Warthogs and AAU onboard we'll set a course and head out at warp six. Wedge, go and supervise their landings." He says. Wedge nods and gets up immediately to go do so, a smile on his lips. The space exploration, while it's fun, isn't as exciting to a military man as combat operations are.
Saphyra watches him go with a smile. "Our crew is working extremely well together." Saphyra says, having paid attention to how everyone was acting. "I'd say that our populations have fully integrated, finally." She smiles and goes around to him, nuzzling his neck as she leans against the back of his chair. "We're more than ready for anything the cosmos throws at us." She says. "And this ship will disprove all the rumors floating around about our two races."
Davis grins. "Yup, they're about to see that humans don't leave dragons hanging to save humans, and that dragons aren't staying with humans because we do everything for you." He stands up and goes to the window, looking out over the small ball of rock floating in space, the lights of the base glowing and blinking on it. "Things are about to get tense, either way." He says. "We're going to have a hell of a fight for these first few years as we secure our trade routes and our space." He notices the light on his table is blinking saying the CIC is trying to contact him. "Go for Davis."
"Sir, McLintock is arriving with his troops." The operator says to him immediately.
Davis nods. "Good, we're fully crewed."
Sorry for the long delay folks. I had a lot of stuff spring up in my life, including two deaths. I'll write at least two chapters before I'm finished with this spurt this time. Before you start off about the sudden leap forward in time, it was necessary. I only introduced the Excelsior Caroline for timeline's sake. I do take requests for certain scenarios to write about in the next few chapters! In fact, the next one is based off a user requested scenario. Don't be afraid to speak up!