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Posted on Sun May 21st, 2023 @ 11:30pm by Captain Ethan De Havilland

615 words; about a 3 minute read

Mission: Ethics, Morals & The Prime Directive.
Location: Bridge
Timeline: Current

Ethan had received word that his launch date had been brought forward 12 hours and while the time itself was not an issue, this would be the first real command moment since assuming command. For the most part the ship was ready, a few tests remained on going but, the large vessel was ready for it's first stretch in a while.

Walking onto the Bridge seemed as new to him as the first time he walked through it not long ago while heading to his Ready Room.

Taking the centre chair he sat, letting the moment sink in, he'd not sat in it till now but in doing so he got to see the whole of the Bridge before him. The vast workspace before him with officers manning every station, displays showing different things, streams of information, and from time to time flashes of sections of the ship.

Ever since getting the schematics to the ship to study and learn from and sitting in the chair, the truth of the saying that blueprints didn't do anything justice was never more clear.

"Captain, we have been approved to depart. Vector has been cleared for us."

"Very well." Ethan spoke knowing now it was the moment. "Lieutenant Swiftpaws, set a course along the departure vector, bring impulse engines online, navigational shields and sensor suits."

He opened a channel to Engineering. "Captain to Engineering, bring warp propulsion online and standby for warp speeds. Close all external hanger bay doors and secure the escorts for transit."

The viewscreen showed the forward view as ships were ushered and cleared out of the way. Clearly, the civilian ships enjoyed a view and a vessel this size was sure to draw some attention. "Helm, engage impulse engines, 1 quarter impulse speed if you please."

The departure vector would take the ship out of immediate Earth space control, past Starbase 1 then out of the system where they could then engage warp speeds. The transit alone would take approximately 28 hours once they were cleared for full impulse speeds, then it would be Warp 5 all the way to the mission area.

The mission area held many unknowns and vague facets to be comfortable, a missing freighter, people and the submitted reports all painted a puzzle but right now the pieces didn't fit, a piece was missing. Even though his orders were clear it felt like he was wading in mud that threatened to deepen in a single moment.

He was, however, confident that the Dreadnought and all its capabilities would rise to the occasion. He planned to deploy the fighter wing to search, and the escorts to act as mobile command and control to the fighters while away teams went to the planet. He knew answers would not just be found in space and he wanted to talk to the colony administrator and get answers and updates.

The experiments they were conducting were too important to just let slide to the sidelines and the investments made it to costly too ignore so it was to be expected that when something happened, someone might take notice.

The one thing that bothered Ethan mostly was the lack of a First Officer. It was customary for all vessels to have one but as it stood he didn't even know the name of who he'd be assigned, or when they would be joining the ship which meant he'd have to rely on his senior officers even more.

Yet the more he thought about it, the more he considered looking at the options himself, certain that someone on the promotion board at Starfleet Command would have the skillsets he required and as Captain surely he'd have some say in who he'd get.

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