Chapter 4

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."

~ Marcel Proust

John

The brown and red bulkheads of the station were a testament to Martian engineering. As the newly appointed captain walked the corridors of drydock facility, marveling in the construction by the once enemy nation of the Federation. Walking past the galley, he saw the Martian flag on display next to the Federation Flag, proudly displaying Mars, Deimos, and Phobos being held up high by the Greek God of War. John had to chuckle to himself after seeing the red flag. He stood at awe at the tenacity and spirit of the Martians. Despite the minor Martian Civil war, if it was not for the red planet finally making peace with Earth, Russian Republic forces may have overwhelmed the blue world and taken it over. It was the Martian military that stepped in and defended Earth during one of the bloodiest Russian invasions they had ever attempted. Some believe the Roman God of War himself personally leads the Martians everywhere they go. John didn’t know for sure, but the one fact he could observe was the brilliant and fantastic construction and engineering that went into everything the Martians built. His new ship, being constructed by Martian spirit, sweat, blood, and tears, he had no doubt would be created for war!

“Credentials, sir,” a Marine snapped to attention and requested as John walked up to the main airlock hatchway. “Thank you, sir, you may proceed.” The Marine saluted and let the captain pass. As the captain walked through the umbilical, he enjoyed the view with clear viewports every few feet giving the passengers a look at the marvels tucked away in the giant shipyard.

John stood for a moment just outside the airlock hatchway, which read “F.W.S WarpStar SDDE 01” Chills ran down his spine. The moment he has been working hard for his entire career was just ahead, just beyond the pitch-black airlock door. Every navy officer had dreamed of command sometime throughout his or her job, and most who pursued that dream had the chance at it. No one had John’s vision, no one had the opportunity to command a starship that they designed. John felt like the king of the universe as he went to press the hatch release button.

“Taking in the sights, sir?” a voice grabbed John out from the trance he had unknowingly put himself into.

“Just enjoying the moment!”

“Well, she is a beauty! You will enjoy the command!” John had to take a moment to think about who he was talking to—an enlisted member of the Navy shouldn’t be having a casual conversation with his commanding officer. However, the voice came from a civilian scientist, an astrophysicist. A civilian onboard a navy warship, a concept John would have to get used to. The WarpStar was designed for exploration; in order to accomplish that goal, you would need to have scientists onboard, which the WarpStar carried a healthy compliment of almost every field of science. Just like Doctor Anders, every member of the civilian science team was trained in the navy discipline, and damage control positions.

The hatch made a loud, deep groan as it slid open, allowing the guests entry. The scientist went first, presenting a small credential pad to the Marine guard, who actually had a “WarpStar” patch on his uniform, which had the phrase “Into the Cosmos we go!” John had a broad smile as he read the catchphrase of the ship, and waves of pride flowed through him. He had not come up with the patch or the phrase, but it felt oddly appropriate, and John was proud to see others wearing it.

“Authorization, please,” the Marine asked John with his hands out, ignoring a salute.

“Here you go,” John handed the small credential pad to the guard, who then inputted it into his security terminal.

A look of surprise came on his face, followed immediately with a salute. “Welcome aboard, sir!”

“Thank you, Sergeant,” John replied with a salute of his own.

“Attention: WarpStar arriving.” A male robotic voice could be heard over every speaker onboard the ship as the computer announced the arrival of the ship's commanding officer.

A typical navy starship had little effort in designing the interior with anything other than functionality and efficiency. Pipes, cables, relays were all visible for easy access for repair, corridors were just wide enough for two people to walk past. Rooms and passageways were minimally lit, providing only enough light where needed. Atmosphere scrubbers performed the bare minimum to remove Co2 from the air, where the smell of oil, grease, and other odors lingered. One could hear the vibrations and humming of the various equipment and fans running around every corner.

The WarpStar was different, she was built with exploration in mind. The corridors and rooms were well lit, with lighting bars running the full length of every passage on the ceiling, and strips of lights running down each bulkhead strut. The walls were not bare; they had grey metal panels covering the pipes, wires, and relays, with computer terminals every few feet that lit up when someone pressed a specific corner. A blue stripe ran down the center of each side of the corridors. Displaying the Federation’s logo every so many feet, accompanied by the ship’s logo along with F.W.S. WarpStar Into the Cosmos. The air smelled fresh, lacking the stench of a typical warship. Every deck had gravity plating, creating a 1g environment on the entire ship. The only sounds that could be heard were the faint humming of the grav-plating generating that weak gravitational field.

After slowly strolling the halls of his new ship, observing the crew working their day-to-day operations, and taking in the beauty of the brand-new ship, John finally arrived at the lift towards the bow of the vessel. An electronic “whine” was just barely audible as the doors opened then closed to allow John passage into the tiny compartment. He selected the top button on the control panel, which was labeled ‘Deck 01 – Command’. The command deck consisted of; The Bridge, C.I.C, Command offices, and the Wardroom.

The lift hummed a quiet song, as John felt no motion a tribute to the gravity plating, and inertia stabilizers working in conjunction with the lift systems to quickly transport its occupants to their destination. The doors whined open to a small corridor with five hatchways, one directly in front and four on either side. To John’s left read ‘Executive Officer’s Office’ and to his right read ‘Head and Locker Rooms.’ The far-left hatchway read ‘Wardroom,’ which had a curving staircase that led to a room that took up the entire top section of the deck. The hatch to the far right read ‘Commanding Officer’s Office,’ which had another set of curving stairs that led to a moderately large room on the top section, with a marvelous view of the exterior. Straight ahead with big, bold letters above the hatchway directly in front of him, at the end of the small corridor, taunting him, read ‘Bridge.’

John stepped close to the hatchway, and the system automatically read his credentials, then displayed “Authorized – Commanding Officer F.W.S WarpStar” on the readout to the right of the hatch, which triggered the door to activate. More groans emitted from the heavy bulkhead hatch as it opened, exposing the primary command center of the ship. The bridge was marvelous, shaped more like an egg at its thickest point being the rear hatchway, the outer perimeter was filled with workstations. Every six feet held a different style terminal and chair, with a crewman operating it. After walking in from the hatchway, directly to the left, and right were two stations that had their own cubby with terminals surrounding the crewman occupying the stations. These were Ops and Tactical stations. Right in the center of it all was the Command Island, where the Captain’s chair and Executive Officer’s chair were surrounded by terminals, consoles, and switches above and below eye level. Directly in front of both the command chairs and recessed a bit between them was the Island's central display unit, which could display anything from a map, to ship readouts, to videos. The Island itself could project a holographic image of almost anything above it, as well, making tactical views easier to understand.

In front of the Island and almost all the way forward in the bridge was the helms station, a feature unique to the ship, as most destroyers do not have Helm stations. The helm for any starship was usually just a small terminal large enough for a pilot and co-pilot to instruct automated controls. The WarpStar class has an indented cockpit of sorts, with two rows of standard panels on either side of the rear of the cockpit. The rows of terminals on either side allow for a pilot and a co-pilot to control the destroyer the traditional way, with the pushbuttons, switches, and levers with fully automated A.I. assisted controls, without the need for a manual flight controller. During situations that called for it, determined by the pilot, he or she can use their seat to enter the cockpit. Going a tad below the eye level of the rest of the bridge to enter manual flight mode complete with a separate H.U.D, comprehensive controls, and a flight yoke complete with pedals for full and total control of the highly maneuverable starship.

Wrapping almost a full 360-degree view, from the back of the tactical station following the perimeter all the way to the rear of the ops station, lies a unique viewport. The panels are large, capable of input controls and multiple displays. The rear panels from the center of the bridge and back can be toggled to display terminal readouts specific to each individual screen, or a projected view of outside the ship of the respected angle as toggled. The front panels, from the center of the bridge all the way to the bow, can not only display readouts, and display main bridge viewport H.U.D and communications, but are also complete translucent panels that show the outside of the ship, allowing the panels to be opaque as needed.

“Captain on the Bridge!” an older voice said, breaking John out of his trance.

“Commander O’Connell, It's nice to be here!” John returned the salute.

“Thank you all.” the ship’s commanding officer walked to the center of the bridge next to his command chair, beginning to address the room. Taking a quick glance over everyone there, he noticed a lot of unfamiliar faces but landed on the most familiar of them all. Standing at full attention, with a giant grin on her face, right where she belonged, Ensign Charlene Carr stood next to her Helm Station.

“It truly is an honor to be standing here with all of you today,” John continued, returning the wide-eyed grin his helms officer was giving him. “Many of you don’t know me, and that will change. I will get to know each one of you, but for now, we have to impress the press. The brass has us on a timed schedule, we are getting this bird out of our cage in forty-eight hours. We will then be taking a short hop to Orion and back. And please, you don’t have to stand at attention each time I walk in. Thank you. At ease!” The commanding officer sat in his chair, marveling at the view while the crew got back to work.