[UF][FanFic] The Universe According to Chris, Part III

[Robotech_Master]

[Altiversal Studios, Inc.]

[In Conjunction with Eyrie, Unlimited]

[Presents]

[A Chris Meadows UNDOCUMENTED FEATURES episode]

----------

Once upon a time, I wrote a _lot_ of Undocumented Features
stories. I hung out regularly, every hour I was on the computer, with
the Eyrie gang on IRC. I had regular arguments with Gryphon that
likely moved him close to ulcers.
People change. Interests change. I've been doing a lot of other
stuff lately, and not so much UF stuff anymore at all. In fact, most
every writing project I've been involved with has been kinda stiffed
lately.
But even so, there's the occasional person who nags and pesters
me, "Hey, Chris, when's the next UF story coming out? I wanna know
what happened to Mako and Temper!" And I did still have the rough
drafts of the next three UF stories of mine partly written. So what
the heck? Why not finish one?
And so I finally got this UF story finished. And so to them, the
Legion of Naggers, is this story dedicated.

And other dedications:

To PCHammer, for helping write a scene.
To ReRob and R-Type, for letting me use their characters.
To Pearson "Doc" Mui, for being the only one of any of my
net.friends ever to telephone me regularly.
To Whitney Taylor, one of my biggest fans. :)
To Kimi Furi, from FurryMUCK, for guest-starring.
A great big good-natured Bronx Cheer to Philip Moyer--I finished
this story and you _still_ haven't finished Serendipity III! Nyah!

And last, and most of all, to Derek. I hardly knew you.

----------

THE UNIVERSE ACCORDING TO CHRIS, PART III

A New Beginning
or
The Return of Katie Tanner
or
Insert Your Own Title Here

By Christopher E. Meadows
With Help from Martin "PCHammer" Rose

[Note: This takes place during and slightly after the events
chronicled in Undocumented Features Part Four. If you're confused,
you might want to go back and reread that. It wasn't my intent to
retell the whole Battle of Zeta Cygni; that's been done already. All
I wanted to tell was the part relating to my characters. Thus, some
of what may seem like "gaps" in this story are simply things that I
didn't feel needed to be explained again, because you know what
happened already, they didn't have too much bearing on what happens
here anyway, and I didn't feel like rewriting huge chunks of stuff
when it couldn't have improved upon the original material or otherwise
added anything to this story. Have a nice day, Citizen. Trust the
computer. The computer is your friend.]

Chris stood on the upper deck of the _Tiger's Claw_ as it floated
a few thousand feet above the inner surface of the Zeta Cygni Dyson
sphere, the large metal expanse of one of the shipbuilding sections
spread out beneath him. If he looked far enough away, he could see
the green and blue patches of habitation areas. "You've done a fine
job by her," he remarked to the other human standing on her deck.
Lord Fahrvergnugen stood at the railing and gazed off into the
distance, a random breeze from somewhere playing dramatically through
his long, red hair (of _course_ it would be dramatically, Chris
thought). "On the contrary, my son," he said (by now he called most
of the Wedge Defense Force "my son," whether they were actual founding
members or not), "you are the one who headed up the redesign team."
"Ah, but it was _your_ team," Chris said. "_You_ were _really_ in
charge, remember? You must take the credit for this." I don't deserve
it.
As if he'd read Chris's mind, Lord Fahrvergnugen placed his hand
on Chris's shoulder and asked, "You still feel that you were
responsible for her original demise?"
"Damn straight. I _know_ I was. If we hadn't taken that point
recon patrol with most of the ship's fighters, the _Claw_ might have
had a chance against the Kilrathi. But they outgunned her, knocked
her down. Men _died_ in that debacle. It took me a long time to get
over that--ten years' study on Cybertron only dulled the pain a
little. It nearly cost me Katie--ten years is a long time to be
gone."
He turned and held up his hand to forestall Lord Fahrvergnugen's
next statement. "No. I've told you before and I'll tell you again
for as long as you press the issue. No. I will NOT be her captain.
Not the _Claw_, nor any other Claw or Bengal-class carriers. It would
be worse than pointless. All it would do is remind me of what I'm
trying to forget."
"But you helped redesign her," Wolfgang protested. "You know her
inside and out."
"So do half the other people on that design team. Choose one of
them. I only did it because I felt she deserved it after what I did
to her. No, I will not serve aboard her." In a lower voice, "I'd only
kill her again."
"Then will you serve aboard another _class_ of ship?" Lord
Fahrvergnugen asked, switching to Contingency Plan B. "You are prime
material for captaincy. It would be a tremendous waste to let you get
away."
Chris looked over at Lord Fahrvergnugen. "Okay, I'm listening."
But Lord Fahrvergnugen couldn't come directly to the point. His
sense of the dramatic wouldn't permit it. "Our records indicate that
you once lived in the Terran state of Missouri."
Chris nodded. "But that was a long time ago..."
"But you still feel a sentimental attachment for your home state?"
Chris nodded. "Yeah. I've been back there a few times over the
interregnum. And also the planet Missouri. I have indirect
descendants both places." Actually, with the number of generations
that had gone by since he'd left the Earth, he had indirect
descendants all over the cosmos.

<<<Jerry Goldsmith: "The Enterprise" _Star Trek: The Motion
Picture_>>>

"So, how would you like to command the _WDF Missouri_?" Wolfgang
turned Chris by his shoulder, and pointed up at the large starship
that was suddenly making a close pass, perhaps a thousand feet away.
Lord Fahrvergnugen's overdeveloped sense of the dramatic, again, Chris
thought.
But in spite of himself, Chris said, "Wow!" It passed so close
overhead that he could make out the individual escape capsule hatches
in its hull. "What is that, Alaska class?"
"Iowa, actually."
"Ah." Chris looked at it, looked back at Fahrvergnugen.
"Whoa...and it's the _Missouri_?" He could see the letters and numbers
on the hull: WDF MISSOURI, NCC-2318.
"Yes." They stood there for a few minutes as the ship passed close
by, then made a long, sweeping curve that showed off its lines. After
a while, Fahrvergnugen flipped open one of the old-style
communicators. "Fahrvergnugen to _Missouri_. Two to beam over."
Before Chris could protest, they were materializing in one of the
transporter rooms aboard the ship. "Permission to come aboard,
Lieutenant?" Wolfgang asked.
"Granted, sir," the lieutenant said, powering down the console.
Chris and Lord Fahrvergnugen walked out into the hull, Chris glancing
some more at the hand computer, and Lord Fahrvergnugen producing
another from somewhere on that suit of armor.
"It has a current provisional crew of 635, which number will
increase to around a thousand once all else is ready. Its complement
includes eight active shuttlecraft, two fightercraft, and sensory
equipment for long-range exploratory probes."
"I see." They walked into a turbolift, and Chris, who, unlike
Gryphon, had no qualms about talking to the equipment, said, "Bridge."
The lift started moving. "How close is she to commissioning?"
Wolfgang noted the shift in gender from neutral to female with not a
little satisfaction. He's hooked, Wolfgang knew.
Wolfgang checked his handcomp, punched a couple of areas on the
touch-sensitive screen. "The _Missouri_ could, actually, move out
right now. All that remains is crew selection."
Chris rubbed his hands together. "Excellent." The gleam in his
eyes spoke volumes. "Now, let's see the bridge."

Chris and Lord Fahrvergnugen stepped out of the turbolift onto a
small, yet not quite cramped, bridge. The main screen was configured
to a view straight ahead, of the other ships floating above the inner
surface of the Dyson Sphere. The duty officer looked up, noticed who
had just arrived, and said, "Lord Fahrvergnugen on the bridge!"
Chris looked around at the crew, who were wearing the royal blue
tunics of the Tactical Fleet (Chris himself was currently wearing the
white tunic and insignia of a Utopia Planitia worker), and noticed
that none was ranked higher than Lieutenant Commander. "Temporary
crew?" he asked Lord Fahrvergnugen, who nodded.
"Crew selection hasn't quite been finalized yet," he said.
"Ah...so I get to pick my own bridge crew."
"IF you accept the captaincy," Lord Fahrvergnugen qualified. As
if there was any doubt of that now, he thought smugly.
"Yes...if," Chris said, as if just then reminded. He walked
around the railing and down to the lower area of the deck. The Duty
Officer obligingly got up from the command seat and moved over to the
vacant Helm station. "Thanks," Chris said, sitting down. He glanced
over the two small control panels on either armrest, capable of
calling up status displays or assuming rudimentary manual control.
Lord Fahrvergnugen moved to stand beside the seat. "What do you
think?" he asked.
"Nice view," Chris said noncomitally. "I could get used to this."
He got up. "Yes, I think I like it."
"Then will you accept command?" Lord Fahrvergnugen asked. This
was it...the moment he was waiting for.
Chris looked ahead, looked around the bridge, then nodded. "Yes,"
he said. "Yes, I think I will."
"Excellent. I shall expedite the paperwork immediately.
Lieutenant Commander Furi, bring the Captain his new tunic and rank
insignia. I am certain that he will wish to get started right away."
The Duty Officer, whom Chris noticed for the first time seemed to
be an anthropomorphic fox, saluted. "Yessir." She walked back to the
turbolift and left the bridge.
"Uh, gee, thanks," Chris said, slightly confused. "Er...don't I
have to do anything, like appear somewhere to be comissioned?"
"Oh, yes, there will definitely be a ceremony, of course. But for
now, all you need to do is...sign here." Lord Fahrvergnugen punched
something into the handcomp and handed it over.
Chris skimmed the text--it was the usual vow to serve WDF
courageously, protect life everywhere, and all that stuff--and then
signed with the attached stylus. "Okay."
"Excellent. I shall see you at the commissioning ceremony, at
1800 on Thursday. Until then, farewell. I have other projects I must
return to." Chris stood, exchanged salutes with the Baron Lord, and
then returned to his seat as Fahrvergnugen swept off the bridge.

Deep in thought, Chris didn't notice when the Duty Officer walked
back up to him, carrying a neatly-folded blue jacket. "Here you are,
sir," she said, handing it to him. He slipped out of his rankless
white Utopia Planitia tunic and put the blue jacket on over his white
undershirt. Then she handed him a small jewelry box which contained
the rank pins.
Chris opened the box, looked at the pins for a moment, then lifted
them out and snapped them into place. He stood up, turned to look
around the bridge.
"Captain on the Bridge!" the Duty Officer announced. As one, the
bridge crew stood and saluted.
"At ease," Chris said. He turned to the Duty Officer. "Thank
you, Lieutenant Commander. You are?"
"Kimi Furi, sir."
Chris glanced at her. She was...a fox. In more ways than one.
She stood about 5'7", and was covered with deep red fur, with a white
area starting under her...muzzle? and extending down past the collar
of her uniform tunic and undershirt (whose mustard-yellow color
denoted a science branch officer). Her shoulder-length hair was
crimson to match her fur, and her sparkling green eyes peered back at
him as he looked her over. Her legs were plantigrade, that is,
articulated as human legs are, and she had a bushy tail peeking out
from the back of her uniform skirt. Her tail didn't stand still, it
moved constantly back and forth and up and down, and was, Chris
thought, rather distracting.
"You're a science officer," Chris remarked. "And duty officer
too, I see."
"Yessir," she said. "I'm currently the highest-ranking officer on
board. Naturally, it fell to me."
Chris nodded. "What's your permanent assignment?"
"I...don't have one yet," Kimi said.
Chris punched up her records on the handcomp. Steady rise through
the ranks, several commendations, Omega-2...definitely command staff
material...
"Right. I think that you would be best suited to head up the
Science division on board, don't you?"
"Head it up? I hadn't thought--I don't know what to say,"
Lieutenant Commander Furi replied awkwardly.
"Say? Heck, you don't have to SAY anything. Just get to work on
the personnel files. We don't have any kind of a crew at all right
now...just a bunch of temps. I want you to start assembling a
permanent Science staff. Get to it."
Kimi saluted. "Yes, _sir_." She walked back around the railing
and up to the Science Station, where she displaced the technician
seated there, called up her account, and began to work. Chris just
sat in the command seat, enjoying the view, until the comm-tech
announced, "Sir, I've just received a message from Planitia Control.
The starfighter _Constellation_ is approaching the Dyson Sphere."
"What? She's coming back? Wow!" Chris rubbed his hands together.
"We're on our way, then. Commander Furi, you're with me. Lieutenant,
um, Ichijo, you have the bridge."
"Hai!" The tousle-haired young man with Valkyrie flight wings
under his commbadge and rowelless spurs on his boots got up from
Tactical and dashed over to the captain's seat as Chris and Kimi
headed for the elevator.

<<<They Might Be Giants, "See the Constellation", _Apollo 18_>>>

The _Constellation_ rocketed toward the huge Dyson sphere at its
fastest sublight speed. Looking at this starfighter, it would be
difficult to imagine that it had actually at one time been a standard
Super Valkyrie. Now it was sleeker, trimmer, more curvaceous. And it
had the Autobot sigil on the nose, wings, and tail.
Katie Tanner, aka Temper, was ecstatic. She was going to see
Chris again! It had been almost eight years since they had parted
ways. Chris had just been assigned to work on the _Tiger's Claw_
redesign team, after having played a major part in salvaging the ship
from the planet where it had made a forced landing after nearly being
destroyed by the Kilrathi. Katie couldn't see sticking around the
shipyards for several years while the work progressed. She headed for
Cybertron, where she had already been accepted as a full-fledged
Transformer and had many friends. Not the least of whom was Blaster.
But all that was over now. She'd received word that the earth had
been taken by GENOM forces. This was it. She knew that the WDF would
not take this lying down, and she also knew that she HAD to be in on
it. She'd been in on the beginning. In fact, she'd been a PART of
the beginning--robbed of her human body at the same time the WDF was
robbed of everything it had. She'd sworn to remain in this metal body
for as long as Largo was alive. Now she felt that the end was near,
the circle was about to complete itself. She would have her human
body, be WHOLE again!
The Dyson Sphere entry hatch was near. Navigational transponders
were right where they should be, nav-tractors were ready to pull her
through the hatch if she requested. She didn't, preferring manual
control. She shot through the hatch, reoriented herself to the local
gravity as "forward" suddenly became "up," and transformed to
Battroid/Soldier mode. As she completed the transformation, the front
sensor plate on her head slid up, revealing a flex-metal Cybertronian
face.
"Hey, Temper!" The shout came over the subspace comm frequency;
Katie triangulated it almost reflexively and boosted over toward it.
"Mako! Great to see you!" She zoomed her optics in. He was
standing at one of the observation decks on a tower-like projection on
the surface of the sphere. "What's happening?" Then, noticing the
other occupant, "And who's that with you?"
"What's happening is I've just been assigned command of the WDF
_Missouri_!" Chris radioed back. "And this is my Science Officer,
Lieutenant Commander Kimi Furi."
It took Katie a moment to digest this. Then, "Congratulations!
You should have been a captain a long time ago!"
"Yeah, well, I'm trying not to let it go to my head. I wish I
could show you the interior of the ship, but, well..."
"Yeah, I know." Katie rocketed over to the tower, hovered by it.
"It's nice to meet you, Commander Furi..." she remarked coolly.
"I only just met her myself, Katie," Chris remarked, to make sure
that Katie didn't get any ideas. They had an understanding--each of
them knew that as long as Katie had her present body, there wasn't all
that much they could do, so neither of them minded if the other found
another partner in the mean time. Chris never had, even though he
knew about Katie and Blaster. And he didn't want Katie to think he
had, either.
Chris walked over to the handrail, vaulted over it, and landed on
Temper's waiting palm. He looked toward the surface, a thousand or so
feet down. Time was when this vista would have scared him silly. But
now, with 400 additional years of experience and time to get over
those fears, it was just a fascinating view.
"Commander Furi, I'll see you back on the ship. I expect you to
have the personnel reports ready for me by 1200 tomorrow."
"Yessir." Kimi tapped her own commbadge and derezzed shortly
thereafter.
Katie lifted Chris up to her shoulder. Her head slid forward and
a seat rose out of it. Chris sat down, strapped himself in, and slid
down into the cockpit. "Hmm, I notice you've gotten some additional
upgrades on Cybertron recently."
"Yes," Katie responded. "I'm trying out some new combat
innovations that Wheeljack came up with."
"Wheelja--oh, gods, don't even _tell_ me. I do _not_ want to
know, you hear?"
"Why Chris, what's the matter? Didn't you study Cybertronian
engineering under him?"
Chris groaned. "He's crazy. I don't wanna talk about it."
"Then what shall we do?" Katie asked from one of the cockpit
monitors.
"Oh, I dunno..." Chris said, reaching under the seat. Yep, the
fiber-optic cable was there, just where he'd left it. "How about we
go for a flight?" He jacked in, and slid into linkup with Katie
Tanner's mind.
*Let's do it,* Katie responded. Chris once again felt the
sensation of rigging a Valkyrie, one step removed, and Katie Tanner's
mind in close rapport. It had been far too long.
Katie transformed to Valkyrie mode, and they rocketed into the
clear blue skies over the sphere's surface. Clear in the sense of
their color, that is. Not in the sense of not being occupied. There
were dozens of ships of all classes in close proximity. To Katie
Tanner, this meant only one thing: SLALOM COURSE!!!
Quite a few bridge personnel were surprised as what appeared to be
some kind of starfighter "buzzed" their ships, passing so close the
sonic booms sometimes caused them to list several degrees. It was
fun, for the first ten minutes or so. Then Katie decided to go for an
additional challenge. "Engage holographic combat simulation mode."
Four super-equipped Valkyries appeared in the space nearby. They
began their attack runs, and Temper jinked and dodged out of the way
with the finesse of one long-accustomed to combat as a fighter jet
Transformer. Then she went to Gerwalk mode and did a full-stop,
letting the first Valk pass overhead. The EU-97C particle beam rifle
she was carrying slid from a holding rack on outside of her right
forearm into her right hand, and she raked holographic energy fire
across the Valk. Its shield collapsed, and a holographic missile
finished it off.
*Not bad,* Chris commented mentally. *If this is an accurate sim,
the power level on that thing must be up by over 30% since I last
worked on it.*
*Yeah, we're not talking Palladium here,* Katie responded,
launching herself to the right to avoid a GU-11 strafe attack, then
going to full Battroid and firing the particle beam rifle in a
120-degree arc that knocked the rear engine off of one of the three
remaining holo-Valks and clipped the wing of another.
*What about the other weapons?* Chris wondered.
*I still have the pulse lasers...* Katie replied, demonstrating by
firing them into the cockpit of the undamaged Valkyrie. *And then
I--YARGH!* One of the holo-Valkyries had come in behind her, in
Gerwalk, and fired a blast that hit Katie between the booster
nacelles. No serious damage, but rattling.
The next instant, the rearward phaser banks (located just above
the booster jet exhausts) fired twin beams backward to pinpoint the
Valk and cause it to explode in a holographic fireball.
*One more to go!* Katie announced gleefully. *Wanna take him?*
*Sure, why not?* Chris grabbed the controls and took over. He was
a pretty good pilot, after a few hundred years in which to practice.
Nowhere near as good as Katie Tanner, though, who had been better to
begin with, and after a hundred years in the body of a Valkyrie was
nearly unparallelled. They jinked and dived around some more ships,
until Chris finally blew the last holographic Valkyrie away right in
front of an old Constitution-class vessel which, Chris noted with some
irony, was the NCC-1017, the _Constellation_.
*Chris, there's a message coming in from Planitia Control. I
think they're pissed.*
"Right..." Chris unplugged the jack and straightened his tunic.
"On-screen."
Blip. "Captain Meadows, just what the hell is going on?!" It was
Captain Hutchins, and he _did_ look pissed.
"Um--er--it was--that is--"
"I was conducting a battle simulation," Katie interrupted. "I
wanted to be sure of my combat abilities within a fleet."
Gryphon growled. "_Don't_ do it again! I'm already up to
_here_," he indicated a level about a foot over his head, "in
paperwork. What I do _not_ need is to get complaints from fifty
different ships about the dangerous hot-dogging of a Cybertronian
Valkyrie!"
"Sorry, sir," Katie Tanner said contritely. "It won't happen
again."
"See that it doesn't. Mako, she's under your command so I expect
that you will...discipline her." He winked.
"Yessir. You can, um, count on it." Chris cut the transmission so
Gryphon wouldn't see him holding back laughter.
"Good." The admiral reached out, thumbed a switch, and terminated
the transmission. At his desk somewhere in the Planitia bureaucratic
section, Captain Hutchins allowed himself a brief smile before getting
back to the task of reviewing the captains of the Fleet starships.
Nice to see that Temper hadn't changed, even if her body had.
"I'm _what_?" Katie Tanner asked.
"Oh, that's right, I forgot to tell you. Commander Katie Tanner,
you are hereby assigned to work with the _WDF Missouri_, in the
capacity of defense starfighter pending your body's regeneration, and
as her First Officer thereafter."
"I--wow!" Katie managed. "But how--why?"
"I need a qualified first officer, and you're the best possible
choice I could think of. And--besides that--" He looked around, as if
to make sure that no one was listening, then continued in a
half-whisper. "--I love you, and I always want you near me. If you
think I'm gonna let you go to someone else's ship, you've got another
think coming."
Katie was silent, thinking this over. First officer of a Wedge
Defense Force starship. In a human body again! She felt a yearning
that she couldn't describe. She settled for saying, "I love you too,
Chris," with as much emotion as she could put into the words.

A few minutes later, they landed in the _Missouri_ shuttlebay. As
the canopy rose, Lieutenant Ichijo ran up. "Hi, Captain! Nice
Valk...don't think I've ever seen one like it."
"Like _her_, Lieutenant," Chris corrected, patting the Autobot
symbol on the _Constellation_'s nose. "This is Commander Katie
Tanner, aka Temper, starfighter and Cybertron liason officer. Temper,
this is Lieutenant Ichijo Hikaru, apparently one of the _Missouri_'s
starfighter pilots. Say, Lieutenant, why were you on the bridge,
anyway?"
He shrugged. "The ship is short of personnel; I was doing what I
could to help out. Nice to meet you, uh, Commander."
"Oh, one more thing, Katie," Chris said. "You're confined to
quarters for the time being, for that little stunt you pulled."
"Hey! Sir," Katie protested.
"Sorry, but I _told_ Gryphon I'd discipline you. So, I'm afraid
I'll have to insist that you stay here and not go anywhere else in the
ship 'til I say so. Is that understood, Commander?" Chris winked.
"Understood, Captain Mako sir," Katie replied, grinning inwardly.
If she'd been in robot mode, she would have tossed him a mock salute.
"I promise I won't go anywhere else on this ship."
"Good." Chris nodded to Ichijo. "We must have discipline. I
intend to run a tight ship."
Hikaru stared after Chris all the way to the elevator, unsure
whether to laugh or not.

A bit later, Chris was in the docking bay to greet the new crew
members as they came aboard. There were quite a few officers, some of
whom even held Lieutenant Commander rank.
One of these was Lieutenant Commander Hayase Misa (or Misa Hayase,
to use the English tradition of surnames last). He and she had worked
on the same ship a few years before, during the _Tiger's Claw_ salvage
operation. She'd only been a Lieutenant at that time, and he a
brevet-Colonel in the reforming WDF air wing, but they got along. She
was a comm-tech, and a damned good one. When Chris had noticed on the
personnel roster that she was available, he had requested her
immediately.
"Misa, it's good to see you," Chris said. "I was glad to hear
that you were available."
Misa nodded. "When I heard that there was an opening for a
comm-tech on board an Iowa-class starship, I was interested. And when
I found it was going to be commanded by an old friend of mine, I was
excited. I think I'm going to enjoy serving here."
"Well, we need you on the bridge. I would appreciate it if you
would start going over equipment requisitions and personnel files as
soon as you can."
Misa nodded. "Hai, I'll get right on it." She picked up her bags,
and Chris walked her to the turbolift. After that, he headed to his
quarters. He grabbed a quick snack from the food machine, then sat at
his desktop terminal and got to work. As much stuff as he was farming
out to his staff, he still had files and things to review as well, and
he figured he might as well get started.

At about 2100 hours by his watch, Chris's work was interrupted
when a pretty face appeared on his terminal screen, displacing the
datafiles he was trying not to fall asleep viewing. "Hey, Mako,
whatcha doing?" It was Katie Tanner's human face, projected from
within her Valkyrie body. She'd never stopped using it to greet Chris
with, though her communications to most others used her Cybertronian
flex-metal visage.
"About to fall asleep at the terminal. Hang on." Chris stood up,
yawned, and walked through the partitioned door to the other room. He
stepped into the entry foyer, accessed the food machine in its alcove,
announced, "Cafe mocha, extra espresso." Precisely twenty-seven
seconds later, the steaming mug materialized. "Ah, closed-circuit
transporters, gotta love 'em."
He walked back into the room, pulling a small remote control out
of a pocket. He pointed it at the telecommunication console at the
far end, and Katie's face popped up on the central screen. "I haven't
really had much of a chance to talk to you lately." He sipped the
drink. "Ow, hot."
"Yeah, don't I know it. We move in different circles, I guess,"
she smirked. Tossing her head, she said, "So, about ready to knock
off for the night?"
"Oh, I dunno...I've got quite a lot of stuff left to do..." He
waved a hand at the computer terminal, its screen full of various data
and text.
"Not anymore." The screen blinked out.
"Eh? How'd you do that?" Chris asked.
"I'm jacked into the main computer," Katie explained. "Your
passwords are so _easy_ to guess." She giggled.
"Hm. Why don't I just make you sysop and save myself some
trouble?"
"Oh, would you?" she asked. "Certainly would ease the boredom."
Chris thought for a moment. "Okay, it's done. Let me just
register it..." He turned toward the terminal.
"No need. I just did it for you."
"Eh?" He stopped in mid-turn. "You did?"
"Yeah. What's a sysop for?" She giggled.
"You--" Chris sighed. "I wish you were right here, in your human
body, so I could throw this at you." He pointed to the Nerf brick
sitting over on his workdesk by the computer terminal. "Aw, what the
hell." He grabbed the brick and tossed it at the screen. Boink!
Katie recoiled playfully, laughing. "Sticks and stones may break
my bones, but Nerf will never hurt me!" Then she turned serious,
having been reminded of her flesh and blood body once more. "I wonder
when I'll get it back?"
Chris sighed, and sank into a chair. Sipping at his drink, he
said, "Just as soon as we defeat Largo. And we know he's gonna show
up here sooner or later. After that, as soon as we can set it up,
we'll regrow your body in a Bio-Sculpt tank."
"Yes, I know, but..." Katie trailed off. She was, she supposed,
justifiably nervous about the prospect of changing bodies once again.
She'd gotten used to this huge metal thing that now housed her brain,
she was comfortable with it. Like it or not, getting another body,
even the same as her old human one, would take some getting used to.
"Anyway," Chris changed the subject, "what do you think of my
ship?"
Katie's eyes glazed over for a moment as she gave her attention to
the computer monitoring systems. "I like it. I think it'll be fun
being sysop, even if it's only for a little while."
"If you like the job, there's no reason you can't continue after
you get your human body back," Chris remarked.
"Oh, no. You're gonna give me Tactical, mister, whether you like
it or not." She giggled. "Which reminds me. I believe that there are
some personnel assignments and equipment requisitions I should be
doing."
Chris sighed. "Same here."
"Why don't you come down to the launch bay?" Katie suggested.
"Bring a portable terminal and a picnic basket and we can do them
together."
"That's an excellent idea," Chris decided. "I'll meet you there."
"It's not like I'm going anywhere," Katie replied before signing
off.

Despite Chris's initial trepidation, the assignment and
requisition forms were easy to complete. Almost before he knew it, he
was called to the bridge to welcome the new members of his staff.
As the men entered through the main airlock, two of them
immediately caught Chris's eye. One of them was a young,
nondescript-looking man in a Tactical Fleet/Command Staff uniform,
with a Colonial dufflebag slung over his shoulder. He had slightly
unkempt brown hair, and he was glancing nervously at the other person
Chris had noticed. Well, perhaps not _person_, actually. It was a
Cylon Centurion.
Then, when Chris noticed the Star of Kobol insignia on the man's
belt buckle instead of WDF insignia, it fell into place.
"Lieutenant...Jason, is it?" Chris asked. "And Ensign KV-42. Welcome
aboard. I'm Captain Meadows." He held out his hand to the Lieutenant.
"Th-thank you, sir," the young man said, with a slight Colonial
accent. His eyes flickered between Chris's face and the floor. "I'm
glad to be here."
"And I'm glad to have you. It's not every WDF starship that has a
Colonial Warrior aboard."
Jason looked down at his feet and mumbled something. "What's
that? Speak up, Lieutenant."
"I said, I'm not a Warrior, sir. I wanted to be, but they never
gave me the chance. Said I'd make a better bridge technician." He
looked up at Chris, took a deep breath, let it out. "And what do you
know, here I am. So, sir, if you'll just show me the bridge, I'll get
set. I've worked in simulators for a long time, and it will
undoubtedly be thrilling to see how my theoretical experience works
out in practice."
Chris turned to the Cylon. "And you must be Ensign KV-42."
"that_is_my_designation" the Cylon announced in its monotonous
voice.
"Do you have some sort of a nickname, a designation that would be
easier to say than KV-42?" Chris asked.
The Cylon appeared to consider, that little red light in its visor
sweeping back and forth. "my_reprogrammer_often_referred_to_me_as_
Kelvin" it finally replied.
"Good. Kelvin it is, then." Chris nodded.
"Excuse me, si--sir?" Jason asked. "What is--is this doing here?"
He pointed to the Cylon.
"What, you mean Ensign Kelvin? He's Alpha-shift helmsman," Chris
replied.
"I...have to work with that?" Jason glanced nervously at Kelvin.
"A Cylon???"
"Is that a problem, Lieutenant?" Chris KNEW that it would be--he
had almost assigned KV-42 to Beta or Gamma duty because of this--but
then he realized that it might be better to put the two of them
together and see just what kind of officer material Jason was. If
Jason could learn to lose any residual fear and hatred of Cylons that
he might harbor, then he would be able to deal with other prejudices
similarly.
Jason looked like he was about to say yes, but then he shook his
head. "N-no, sir. No problem at all." What would a Warrior do, he
asked himself? There was only one answer to that--a Warrior obeys his
superiors at all times. Unless he's Starbuck.
"Good. I'll show you to your quarters, and you can meet me on the
bridge in an hour. We--"
Then Chris was distracted by the sound of clinking metal and
footsteps, and turned. And looked up.
Towering above him was a _very_ statuesque blonde, wearing little
more than a metal bikini and leggings. She was probably over seven
feet tall, Chris thought. She carried a metal-shod staff with a blade
on the tip, and Chris could see a round shield and crossbow strapped
to her back. Then it all fell into place. She was a Praxian.
"Er, hello," Chris said.
The Praxian stood to attention and saluted with her staff. "I am
Lieutenant Kalyara. I was told that I am to be Chief of Security on
board this vessel. Sir."
"Er, um, right. Let me show you to your quarters..." As they
walked along, Chris remarked, "Can I ask you something, Lieutenant?
Do you always dress like...that?"
"My instructor at the academy told me that first impressions were
always the most important. Sir."
"Uh, right. I do expect you to wear a proper uniform while you
are on duty, Lieutenant."
"Of course, sir," she replied, shrugging. "They told me THAT at
the Academy."
"Ah, good."
As they walked down the corridor to the turbolift, Jason looked
from the Praxian to the Cylon and thought, oh my God, what kind of a
crazy ship have I gotten myself into?

Kalyara looked with disdain at the quarters she had been assigned.
This was no _warrior's_ home. This was even worse than what they had
assigned her at the Academy. It would need some redecorating, to be
sure. But there would be time for that later. For now, she dumped
the mattress off of the bed and lay down on it, began to breathe
evenly. It was time for her meditation, and then the four hours of
sleep that she had trained herself to require.
Lieutenant Commander Kimi Furi was thinking similar thoughts.
"This room is simply not suitable, not suitable at all..." she
muttered, tail swishing in an agitated manner. "Too plain. It needs
decoration," she decided. "Plants. Lots of plants." She keyed up a
menu on her desktop terminal to see what she might be able to get from
the Botanical Garden. Rank hath its privileges, after all...
Jason walked into his room, looked around. Standard WDF junior
officers' quarters, a bed, dresser, closet...typical stuff. Jason
shook his head. This was a lot better than the mass dormitory-style
quarters back on the _Galactica_. There'd been little privacy back
there, and when you don't have many friends...Jason had been very glad
on that fateful day when the _Galactica_ had finally made contact with
its fellow humans, the Wedge Defense Force.
Of course, the _Galactica_ had such a large crew that it had to
make as efficient a use of space as possible. He had heard that later
battlestars had been re-engineered somewhat to require less crew, so
that officers and crew could have individual quarters.
Jason shook his head. This was all he could ever ask for in a
room. He had heard that senior officers actually had food dispenser
units in their rooms. To him, that was the height of...decadence?
Well, perhaps that was too harsh a word. He certainly wouldn't MIND
having one, after all...
He put his duffle on the bed, opened it, pulled out a small
holographic projector unit and set it on his dresser. When he turned
it on, a small image of the _Galactica_ appeared in the air over it,
rotating slowly. He smiled. "I'll go back someday. I WILL have
Warrior training. Someday."
As for the Cylon, he simply walked into his room and plugged into
a power socket. That was it.

Chris stopped in at Main Engineering after meeting the new
crewmembers. The man at the central command console looked up. "Good
morning, Captain!"
"Ah. You must be Lieutenant Commander Jefferies."
"Yes, sir, I am."
Chris took a moment to size him up. Late twenties, brown hair,
slightly mussed, moderately handsome features, tricorder in one hand
and hydroservo phase desequencing tool in the other. He had a simple
air of quiet competence about him, and looked right at home in his
job.
And well he should be. Aaron Jefferies was the grandson of Matt
Jefferies, one of the scientists and engineers who worked with Android
on the original starship warpdrive project, and the cable conduits
known as Jefferies Tubes had been named in his honor. Engineering ran
in the Jefferies family--Chris understood that Aaron's father was one
of the engineering staff on board the SDF-23 _Wandering Child_. And
Aaron Jefferies had been with the _Missouri_ from the beginning,
supervising most phases of her construction. He knew the ship inside
and out, and had been the natural choice to become her chief engineer.
"I'm glad to have you aboard," Chris said, looking around.
Ensigns and Lieutenants were busily at work running diagnostics,
readying the warp engines. "I know the ship is in good hands."
checking the installation of various electronic components, and
"Thank you, sir," Jefferies said, turning back to the console and
punching some keys. "Lieutenant, stand by to power up the warp core.
Let's see if she's up to specs!"
"Anything I can do to help?" Chris asked. "I do know something
about starship engineering, after all..."
Jefferies looked up, and looked Chris straight in the eye. "No
offense, sir, but no, there isn't. That's not your job. It's mine.
Yours is to run the ship from up there. Mine is to run the ship from
down here. If either of us tried to do the other one, we'd just get
in each other's way."
Chris nodded. "You know, I'm even more glad now that I've got you
down here. Carry on, Commander."

The next day, the complete bridge crew met for the first time in
the _Missouri_'s VIP Lounge on Deck 4. Looking around, Jason was
somewhat startled. Other than the Engineering Lieutenant and himself,
everyone in the room seemed to be female. Except for the Cylon, of
course. He wasn't male or female; he just _was_.
While they were waiting for Chris to come in, Jason struck up a
conversation with the Environmental ensign. "So, this is some crew,
eh? A Cylon...a Praxian...a...er..." He stopped, not sure precisely
WHAT term to use to describe Kimi Furi. The foxy science officer was
standing to one side of the room, snacking on appetizers from the
buffet table with one hand while running her tricorder over the Cylon
with the other, her tail bobbing around but managing not to hit any of
the other crewmen. "...furry," Jason continued, finding the right
word at last. "I've certainly found an interesting ship to serve on."
"What about you?" the ensign asked, sipping from the paper cup of
Pepsi the lounge's food machine had delivered. "That symbol on your
belt buckle?"
"Ah," Jason said, taking a sip from the alcohol-free ambrosia he'd
ordered. "That's kind of a long story."
"It doesn't look like our host is in any danger of showing up,"
the ensign observed.
Jason shrugged. "Yeah, true." He looked around. "C'mon, let's go
sit under the viewport windows, I'll tell you about it." He walked
over to the stairs down into the observation porch and took a seat.
The ensign followed, sitting nearby in the patch of sunlight coming in
through the observation windows. Jason glanced at her. She had short
brown hair, green eyes, light complexion, and a Medical division shirt
on. "Medical?"
She shrugged. "Who else but a medic to handle the crew's
environment? But you were gonna tell me about you?"
"Yes, I--" Then Jason felt something warm and fuzzy around his
neck. He looked up to notice that it was a rather bushy fox-tail, and
it was attached to Lieutenant Commander Kimi Furi, who was coming down
the stairs beside him.
"Mind if I join you? I would be rather interested in learning why
a Colonial Warrior is serving on board a WDF starship."
Jason sighed. "I'm _not_ a Warrior, dammit! Why does everyone
assume that just because I'm a Colonial, I'm a Warrior? I--" He
sighed, realizing he was ranting at a superior officer. "Sorry, sir."
"No, no, it's all right," Kimi said. "I don't want to be just
your superior, I want to be your friend as well." Her tail wagged in a
friendly manner. "Excuse me." She shifted position so that she was
sitting sideways on the couch, so her tail would have more freedom of
movement. "Sitting on couches has been difficult ever since I got
this. But it was well worth it, let me tell you." She grinned,
showing some sharp teeth and a bright pink tongue.
"Did someone mention warriors?" It was Kalyara, in WDF uniform but
wearing her metal leggings and armbands and carrying her naginata. "I
think I would like to hear this," she smirked.
"I might as well listen in too," a voice said from out of nowhere.
Then a figure rezzed into existance in the middle of the sunken
observation area. She was just a bit under six feet, with a
Commander-rank Tactical Command uniform on, and had blonde hair that
reached slightly past her shoulders. And she was a hologram; Jason
could see "through" her to the viewports and stars beyond. He noticed
a small emitter mounted in the ceiling that seemed to be projecting
her image. "Since I will shortly be serving on the bridge along with
you if all goes well," she continued.
"Katie Tanner, I presume," remarked Kimi Furi. "By all means,
pull up a seat. Figuratively, that is."
"Thanks for the invite." Katie Tanner reached "behind" her,
produced a holographic chair similar to the real ones already present,
and sat down in it.
"Say, can anybody crash this party?" a voice called out from the
entry foyer. Jason looked up to see Lieutenant (JG) Ichijo Hikaru
coming in, resplendant in his old-style WDF flight suit, followed by
Lieutenant Commander Hayase Misa.
"If _you_ can, Lieutenant, I'm _sure_ anyone can," Misa remarked
drily, taking one of the remaining seats as Hikaru took another.
"Ah, good, you're all here," Chris remarked, stepping in.
"Great."
"Jason was just about to tell us how he came to be in the WDF,"
Katie remarked.
"Great idea!" Chris said. "I'm sure that we all have our tales to
tell--"
"Some of us have bigger tails than others," Jason remarked,
glancing at Kimi, who giggled, swishing him in the face with it.
"--and I thought that this would be a good chance to get to know
one another. After all, we're going to have to be able to work
together smoothly and as a team, so we might as well become friends,
right?"
Kalyara looked doubtful. "Friendship is not earned by talking
about things but by _doing_ things." She thumped the floor with her
staff for emphasis.
"That's right, Kalyara," Katie Tanner nodded. "And we will all
have plenty of chances to prove our friendship before long. But for
now, we should get acquainted. It's all part of being able to work as
a team."
"You do not need to explain teamwork to _me_," Kalyara sneered.
"I am a Warrior."
Katie nodded tactfully. "Yes, indeed you are. Now, I believe
Jason was going to speak?"
"That's right, I was..." He cleared his throat. "You've probably
seen the battlestar _Galactica_ or her sister ships in dock here, but
you may not have heard the story..."

<<<"Theme from Battlestar Galactica">>>

Jason told about the Colonial homeworld of Kobol, and the legends
of a missing colony planet called Earth, and about how Kobol's
civilization had been all but destroyed thanks to councilmember
Baltar's treachery. "Those of us who remained took to space in
whatever ships we could make work. Under the protection of the
_Galactica_, we headed in the direction of the last known human
colony, hounded by the Cylons at every turn.
"It was such a long time we travelled...I was only five yarrens
old back then, but I grew up. My earliest ambition was to become a
Colonial Warrior, like Apollo, or Starbuck--I pushed myself hard
through school so I could graduate to the Warriors' Academy. But it
seems that I'm naturally 'gifted' in the area of mathematics. So they
put me in a navigators' training school instead."
Jason shrugged. "Wasn't long after I graduated the basic courses
that we met up with the first WDF scoutships in the sector. They
helped us dispatch a pesky Cylon basestar--Baltar's basestar, in
fact--that had been plaguing us for the last ten yarrens or so.
"Once we made official diplomatic contact, and began learning
about the WDF as we let them learn about us, I was impressed by the
layout of your bridge designs." He nodded at Chris. "You see, the
_Galactica_'s bridge is set up differently from ships like this. The
ship is run from a central command platform with the Commander, his
aide, and one or two ensigns, with 40 or 50 others sitting at consoles
in 'pits,' doing the navigation, dispatching, damage control, and the
like.
"But in WDF starships, the bridge has maybe eight or ten people on
it. Each person has more responsibility, and is more likely to be
noticed and promoted. I could have worked for _years_ down in the
pits and not gotten anywhere, done anything. That kind of life was
not for me. So I arranged for a transfer as soon as possible."
"You spoke of Warriors," Kalyara questioned, idly polishing her
staff with a soft rag. "What are these Warriors of yours like?"
Jason leaned back. "They are the most respected people in our
culture," he began.
"As they _should_ be," Kalyara remarked.
"Quite. The Warriors are our infantry, our Viper fighter pilots,
our armed forces. They are men and women, well-trained in the martial
arts."
Kalyara sniffed. "Male warriors? I would like to see one."
"Jason, I thought that Colonials only had one given name. How
come your profile calls you Jason Argo?" Kimi wondered.
Jason chuckled. "When I needed a last name for the personnel
computer system, somebody with a sense of humor came up with that one.
I have an interest in the ancient myths of Earth culture, and I have
to admit it's a rather appropriate nickname, since I am a navigator
after all. I liked it, so I decided to keep it." He shrugged. "Any
more questions, anyone?"
Katie Tanner's image shrugged, after a few moments passed and no
one else spoke up. "Guess not. I guess whoever wants to go next
can."
"That would be me," Kalyara announced, standing proudly. "I am
Kalyara of Praxis. I was a lieutenant in Bela's army at the time the
decision was made to add our great strength to the WDF as it reformed,
and I was one of the first to enter the academy. There have been many
sacrifices along the way," and at this her face darkened momentarily,
"but it has been worth it."
"Is this your first post out of the academy?" Chris wondered.
"Out of the WDF academy, yes. But I served for years in the
Praxian Army before transferring here. I _will_ be able to perform my
duties!"
"No one was suggesting that you wouldn't," Katie said.
"Be that as it may..." Kalyara said, glaring around, "...I would
not want any doubt in my abilities. And as soon as we find battle, I
shall prove them."
Chris wondered if Kalyara would be like this for her whole tour of
duty. He certainly hoped not.
"Why don't you go next, Captain?" Kimi Furi suggested. "I think
that we would all be interested to hear some things about you other
than what we can learn in the history books. Such as why you wear
that Autobot/WDF insignia on your belt buckle?"
Chris grinned. "Well, that part is obvious. It's because of
Katie, here. Due to what happened to her, she became a full
Cybertronian citizen. And as her partner, well, I was just sort of
included in the deal."
"What did you do over the hundred years after the Wedge Defense
Force broke up?" the Environmental ensign asked. "It must have been
awful."
"Oh, it was," Chris said. He grinned. "But Katie and I, we got
through it. Spent time on Cybertron, cruised the galaxy some, just
the usual stuff."
"I see," the ensign said, seeing that Chris wasn't going to be any
more open with his answers (and not blaming him). "What about you,
Commander Hayase?"
Misa smiled. "I met Captain Meadows back when he was only a
brevet Colonel. I was just a Lieutenant in the Salusian defense
forces back then, temporarily assigned to a salvage vessel for the
retrieval of the _Tiger's Claw_."
"She was assigned as my aide de camp," Chris said. "She served
well, and I recommended her for a promotion. She was promoted, and
that was the last I saw of her. Until now.
"And I'm really glad she's on board." Chris grinned. Only Katie,
Misa, and Chris truly knew what Misa's help had meant to him. With
her steady nerves, cool temper, and finely-honed diplomatic skills,
she had cut through much of the red tape surrounding the salvage
mission. Without her, it might not have gone through, and this had
been a project of great personal meaning for him.
Misa inclined her head in sort of a half bow. "Thank you, sir,"
she said. "I will do my best to live up to your expectations."
"Who is this?" Kalyara pointed to Lieutenant Ichijo.
"Lieutenant Junior Grade Ichijo Hikaru, sir," Hikaru replied,
saluting.
"At ease, Lieutenant," Chris said. "We're being relatively
informal here."
"I served on Commander Hayase's last ship, a Bengal-class cruiser
outfitted with old Valkyrie fighters," Hikaru said. "She was the
tactical controller. I think I got on her nerves somewhat."
"He was a _constant_ irritation," Misa said.
Hikaru grinned. "You're only saying that because you like me."
Misa opened her mouth, then closed it again. Chris chuckled.
"Okay, okay...how about you, Lieutenant Commander Furi?"
The anthro-fox shrugged. "I joined the Wedge Defense Force
shortly before the schism. You might say I was fortunate, in that I
earned Omega-2 before we all went our separate ways.
"It was on Meizuri shortly afterward that I discovered there was a
darker side to having been in the Wedge Defense Force--I was attacked
by a gang of bikers." She shuddered at the recollection, and Chris
recalled what had happened to him during his brief visit to Meizuri
around that time.
"Fortunately, I was able to make it to the 3WA building, where
Yuri arranged some time in a biosculpt tank for me. For a disguise, I
chose physical alteration into my present form--I had been human, and
hadn't liked it." She smiled. "I like the way I am now much better.
It's warmer." She grinned at Jason, batting him with her tail. "After
the hundred years, I rejoined the WDF and was assigned here."
"That's just about everybody," Chris said. "Oh, wait--the medical
ensign! I don't even know your _name_..."
"Ensign Shelley McCrae," the ensign said, with just a slight
Scottish accent. "I'm probably the most boring person here--born and
raised on New Caledonia, studied pre-med and med school there, entered
the academy, and ended up here."
"Hey, we don't care if you're boring!" Chris said. "Why don't you
tell us about New Caledonia? Is it a nice place?"
"Oh, yes, very! It--"
Just then, the revelry was interrupted as the videoscreen blinked
on. All heads turned as people realized that it was a fleetwide
announcement by Lord Fahrvergnugen.
"All members of the Wedge Defense Force, your attention please!"
Everyone quieted down almost immediately. Announcements by Lord F
didn't exactly happen every day. "Our hated enemy Largo and his GENOM
fleet are on his way, and will arrive within the week!"
This announcement elicited a gasp from almost everyone present.
Chris didn't exhibit a startled reaction; he'd known from the frenetic
quickening of pace he'd seen recently that he couldn't be far. Katie
Tanner was likewise unsurprised.
"It falls to us, to _all_ of us, to be ready for the battle yet to
come, and I know that the majority of you are. Only a handful of
ships remain to be completed, and I am confident that work will
progress with rapidity.
"We will triumph over Largo's fleet--of this I am positive, for in
the end, good cannot fail to triumph over evil. However, we must not
become complacent. Within the days to come, each ship shall be
reinspected one final time for battle-readiness. By working together,
victory cannot fail to be ours. Thank you."
The screen dimmed, but the mood of the gathering had been lost.
Chris and the rest of the bridge crew exchanged glances. Katie Tanner
summed up the mood by saying, "I guess we all have things we ought to
be doing to help get ready."
Chris nodded. "Hey, everyone, it was nice to meet you. I'm going
to head back to my quarters, but I'll see you on the bridge tomorrow,
okay?"
"Sure!" "You bet!" "Right!" "Yessir!" A chorus of assents answered
him, and they parted. As Chris left, he smiled to himself. His
bridge crew was looking more and more like it would work out
perfectly.

<<<James Horner: "Enterprise Clears Moorings" _Star Trek II: The
Wrath of Khan_>>>

Chris tugged at his uniform tunic as the turbolift rose toward its
final destination. This was it. This was The Day. Or at least The
Time Period, there being no night in the Dyson Sphere or day in space
except that which humans defined.
All of Chris's concentration was going toward remaining calm and
cool, and to reviewing every starship strategy course he'd ever taken
in his head. He didn't think it was helping much.
Chris knew how important it was not to let self-doubt stand in the
way during a battle. But all the same, he'd never captained a ship
this size before, and here he was about to take it into combat with an
extremely large fleet of GENOM cruisers. The closest he'd ever come
to commanding a vessel like this was the time he'd been the CAG on
board the _Tiger's Claw_--and that wasn't something he liked to think
about that much.
The turbolift slowed to a stop, and the doors slid open. Captain
Christopher E. "Mako" Meadows stepped out onto the bridge.
"Captain on the bridge!" Commander Kimi Furi, the acting First
Officer, called out.
"As you were," Chris responded, taking his seat. "No time for
formalities. Commander Furi, status please?"
"Aye, sir. All systems report green." Her tail swished back and
forth in a manner indicating nervousness. "We're ready to move out at
any time."
"Commander Hayase, request permission from Planitia Control for
immediate departure, Gate 2."
"Hai!" Misa keyed in a series of commands at her console.
"Helm, ahead one quarter impulse."
"Aye. Ahead one quarter."
Slowly, majestically, the great starship moved forward, taking its
place in the line of starships moving out. To the right was the
NCC-2000 _WDF Excelsior_, ahead was the Yamato-class BVS-114 _WDF
_Tirpitz_, and behind was the _Maine_, NCC-2207, whose Alaska-class
design was similar in many respects to Chris's own Iowa-class ship.
It was a grim task that faced them all today, and Chris knew that some
or all of the ships around him now might not make it back. For that
matter, neither might the ship they rode within right now. It was a
morbid thought, and Chris tried to avoid it.
"Starfighters report ready to launch, sir," Misa reported.
Chris nodded. "Tell them to stand by." Chris knew that over two
hundred feet below them, the two starfighters were moving into
position on their magnetic catapults. Ichijo Hikaru's old Valkyrie
Veritech fighter, Skull One, to port, and Katie Tanner's stylized
Hyper Valkyrie body on the starboard side. Their engines were
powering up, and they were being loaded full of munitions with which
to contribute to the defense of the fleet. They would launch once the
_Missouri_ was clear of the Dyson Sphere.
"Thirty seconds to the gate," Jason reported.
"Stand by on shields, arm phasers and photon torpedoes." Chris
gripped the sides of the conn seat, watching the stars that gleamed
ahead through the giant hatch in the Dyson sphere's hull.
A minute later, "We're clear, sir," Jason reported.
"Here they come, sir!" Lieutenant Commander Furi reported.
"Ahead full impulse. Lock phasers on Ikazuchi carrier at two
o'clock and fire. Launch fighters; full power to shields!"
In the fighter launch bays, Hikaru and Katie received the command.
"Well, Hikaru, ready to go?"
"Let's go kick some GENOM ass!" Hikaru replied, punching in the
afterburners.
"That's the ticket!" Temper replied, punching full burners
herself. They streaked down their launch tubes, through and out.
"All right. Kelvin, evasive pattern delta. Tactical, stand by
torpedoes and phasers."
"by_your_command"
"Aye."
As the _Missouri_ veered to starboard, moving to flank one of the
Yamato-class ships, an Ikazuchi banked to intercept. "Phaser range in
ten seconds," the Tactical ensign reported. "They're charging their
main gun, locking onto us."
"Okay. Skull-One, Temper, it's about time you engineered a
distraction for us..."
"Hai!" The two-fighter element banked into an intercept course of
their own. The Ikazuchi's laser turrets opened fire, but the Valkyrie
and Victory duo were easily able to avoid them. Bumas, it should be
noted, have a very good endurance, but their weapons accuracy
sometimes leaves something to be desired. "Locking phasers and
firing!" Temper reported. Phaser beams lanced out from the forward
banks on the warp nacelles, striking several locations on the hull of
the Ikazuchi.
"Phaser range," the ensign reported.
"Lock and fire," Chris ordered. "Take out the bridge."
"Aye, sir." Phaser beams lanced out from the _Missouri_'s banks,
first blowing holes in the Genom ship's hull, then directly hitting
the bridge. "Bull's eye!" The bridge exploded, and shortly
thereafter, the ship's main gun overloaded and released its energy
internally, blowing the Ikazuchi to hell.
"One down, fifty kazillion to go," Chris remarked.
"Orders from Fleet Command!" Misa reported. "We're to cover for
the _Tirpitz_ as it fires its wave motion gun!"
"Got it. Move us to within a thousand meters."
"I'm reading an enemy ship approaching, bearing two-ninety, mark
forty," Jason called out. "Felgercarb! It's about to fire!"
"Evasive, full impulse." The _Missouri_ swerved out of the way,
just as a huge cannon blast streaked past. "Return fire, three
photorps."
"Aye." The Tactical ensign keyed in the commands, and the three
projectiles streaked for the enemy ship, severely crippling it. Katie
Tanner finished it off with an AIM-666XL3 missile from under her port
wing.
"The _Tirpitz_ is firing her cannon," Misa reported. "Severe
damage to enemy star destroyer."
"Let's move in and finish it off. Ahead full impulse."
"I'm reading multiple tie fighters," Kimi Furi reported. "At
least twenty."
"Lock phasers and fire. We'll take 'em out individually if we
have to. Target a spread of five torps on that listing star
destroyer; fire as soon as we've got a clear line of sight."
"Hai."
"Hey, Skull-One, watch this!" Katie kicked in full thrusters and
barrel-rolled, diving right into the midst of a nest of TIE fighters,
then four phaser beams lanced out from the fore and aft warp nacelle
emitters to cut across about eight or ten TIEs, which blew up quite
nicely all around her.
"Hey, some of us don't have phasers, here!" Hikaru protested.
"But if you wanna see some fancy flying, just check _this_ out!"
Hikaru performed a classic Fokker Feint, drawing two TIEs into
blasting range. A single GU-11 burst took them both out.
"Our phaser bursts have cleared the rest of the TIEs, sir,"
Tactical reported. "Torpedoes running." The first torpedo rocked the
ship, the third started the chain reaction that would eventually
finish it, and the last two just helped it along a bit.
"Yeah!" Chris whooped.
"Captain, I'm receiving a transmission--it's between Gryphon and
the enemy flagship!"
"Give me an inset view on the main screen," Chris decided.
Gryphon's face appeared in a corner of the screen. "GENOM
flagship, GENOM flagship, this is Captain Benjamin D. Hutchins of the
_WDF Concordia_. Cease hostilities at once, or you will be
destroyed."
Another part of the screen displayed another Gryphon, with part of
its face replaced by cybernetics. This, then, was the one who had
framed Gryphon for the murders such a long, long time ago. This was
the one who had been responsible for the one hundred year interregnum,
the century that the galaxy had chafed under Largo's iron-fisted
reign.
"So. It's 'Captain' now?" the replicant sneered. "Not only did
you manage to get out of the trap I laid for you so carefully, but you
got a promotion in the bargain?"
Chris was suddenly conscious of a great lull in the battle. On
both sides, almost everyone had stopped their fighting and was
listening to the confrontation that was taking place.
But not everyone. "Sir! I have an Ikazuchi maneuvering for
firing position at forth-three degrees mark seventeen!"
"Evasion pattern gamma, execute! Lock phasers and fire!"
On-screen, Gryphon was saying, "And you managed to get out of the
prison on Tantalus V and make your way to your masters, who gave you
command of this entire fleet? Largo is still too much the coward to
face us in combat when the odds are even, is he?"
The _Missouri_'s phaser salvo cut across the Ikazuchi. Dodging
random turret fire, Katie and Hikaru swooped in to render the coup de
grace.
Gryphon and the replicant continued their banter. "I'm reading
total shield collapse on the _Concordia_," Kimi Furi noted. "I'm also
reading massive energy buildup in their weapon systems."
"What's that thing armed with, anyway?" Chris asked. "To be using
that kind of power..."
Kimi shrugged. "It's classified."
"Last chance," Gryphon said over the com channel.
"I'll see you in hell!" the replicant screamed in response.
And then the Concordia fired, and blew GENOM's flagship apart.
"Wow..." Chris gasped.
"Where does he get those neat toys?" Katie Tanner asked. "I want
one!"
Drawing his mind back to the battle, Chris said, "Okay...set
course, seventy degrees mark five, full impulse, engage."
"by_your_command"
And so the battle continued. It was hard to say, later on,
exactly what had happened when. It all kind of faded into an
exhaustive, bloody haze of starships getting hit by weapons fire and
blowing up, colliding with each other or with the dyson sphere, or
simply blowing up where they sat. The arrival of the Silent Service
was a welcome relief, as was word that the SDF-23 _Wandering Child_
was on its way out. But when the AT&T showed up...
"Oh my GOD..." Chris gasped, gazing at the gaping hole that was
the aftermath of the death star-like battlefortress's first attack.
And then it began firing on ships...
"Evasive pattern alpha, full impulse, _now_!!!" Chris yelled as
the AT&T beam swept past them, vaporizing the Bengal-class HORNET.
Too late. WHAM!!! The bridge shook with the impact, and the
lights flickered and went out. "Damage report!"
Kimi climbed back into her chair and punched some keys. "It just
grazed us, sir...hull breach reported on all saucer section decks,
minor casualties."
Chris glanced at the screen. The saucer section now looked like a
cookie someone had taken a small bite out of. "Damn! Shield status?"
"Down to 27% and recharging," the Tactical ensign reported.
"Damn damn! Get us to a good firing position for a GENOM
ship--and someone get those lights back on!"
Largo came on the monitor spouting something megalomaniacal about
how he was about to destroy the Wedge Rats, blah blah blah. Chris
paid it no mind, being busy trying to figure out how best to avoid
being tagged by the AT&T's immense cannon. And then...
"Sir, the SDF-23 has cleared the Dyson Sphere!" Misa reported.
"They're opening fire with their reflex cannon!"
And so the rest of the battle went. The SDF-23 evaporated much of
the GENOM fleet; the AT&T's attempts to fire on the SDF-23 were
interrupted twice, and it did not fire again; the GENOM fleet
eventually retreated and Zoner called his council of war aboard the
_Wandering Child_.
The plan was simple...attack the AT&T with all fighters, and then
invade and take over from the inside while they weren't looking.
"Sounds good to me," Katie Tanner remarked from her motoslave remote
unit which was standing next to Chris in the briefing room. "So, you
want to go into action together one last time?"
"You couldn't keep me away," Chris grinned. Tapping the combadge
on his chest, he gave Misa the bridge for the duration of his absence.
"Let's go!"

TWO DAYS LATER...

Katie Tanner sat in battroid mode on one of the myriad grassy park
areas within the Dyson sphere, thinking over the events of the last
few days. The space battle had actually been pretty anticlimactic, as
far as the _Missouri_ was concerned. They'd taken out four Ikazuchi
carriers, but had taken some heavy damage to the saucer section
(including holes blown clear through from one side to the other in
places) which was currently being patched up in drydock.
This was pretty much it, Katie realized. GENOM had fallen; the
WDF was together once again. All the conditions had been met. She
was now free to return to her human body.
Only...was she sure she wanted to? She was surprised to find
herself somewhat reluctant to go through with it. She had grown
accustomed to this body, and the freedoms it granted her. She could
fly at ultrasonic speeds--even WARP speeds. She had an impervious
metal skin, and a body that could take all kinds of punishment. She
WAS a Valkyrie, a starfighter of the kind she'd always loved to fly
before. It was--it was any fighter pilot's dream come true.
And yet--there was Chris. She had immensely enjoyed their time
together, even after she'd been placed in this Valkyrie body. Being
the plane that he flew, the mecha he fought, had brought a new
dimension of closeness into their relationship. But now he was the
captain of the _Missouri_, with no time to waste, nor the authority to
waste it, in a starfighter--even one such as herself. She knew that
he would willingly give up the command of the _Missouri_ for her, but
he would never be truly happy that way. And she couldn't do that to
him.
Hearing some noises nearby, Katie Tanner became aware that she
wasn't alone in the park. She looked up, automatically zooming her
optics in on the three people a few hundred feet away
(autozoom--something else she'd allowed herself to get used to). It
was Vaughn and the two Iczers, who seemed to be engaged in a
collective ticklefest. "Help!" Vaughn gasped weakly. Katie giggled,
and zoomed back out again, not wanting to be voyeuristic.
Then Iczer-2 looked up. "Excuse me," she said. "I'll be right
back." She left Iczer-1 to tickle Vaughn all by herself, and walked
over toward Katie.
"You're Katie Tanner, are you not?" Iczer-2 asked, looking up at
her Cybertronian face.
"Yes, that's right."
"I've been meaning to talk to you," Iczer-2 said. "Since joining
the Wedge Defense Force, I've heard about you, and what GENOM did to
you."
"By now, I'd think that quite a few people would have," Katie
replied.
"Yes." Iczer-2 looked down. "And I feel compelled to--I must say
that--"
"You want to apologize?" Katie asked.
Iczer-2 looked up. "Yes. As part of the great evil that was
GENOM, I feel somewhat responsible."
"Why? You weren't involved with what happened," Katie replied.
"You left hundreds of years earlier. Besides, Kwai-Chang Caine
officially apologized on behalf of GENOM at the surrender ceremony."
"Yes, but--"
"Ah, I understand," Katie said. "Your sense of honor."
"And duty," Iczer-2 said. "As one of the sole remnants of those
evil days, I feel that it falls to me to help restore GENOM
Corporation to the honor it deserves, to right all the wrongs that it
caused. Or at least as many as are Iczerly possible."
Katie Tanner nodded. "I understand perfectly."
They sat there in silence for a while, and then Iczer-2 spoke up
again. "It's strange. Once I resigned from GENOM, I thought that
there would be no more challenges for me. After all, after conquering
most of known civilized space, what else is left? But I've been
surprised to find that a problem is still plaguing me, something that
I find myself ill-equipped to face."
"What do you mean?" Katie asked.
"I'm finding it hard to be--as one of the Wedge soldiers put it--a
'good guy'," Iczer explained. "I--it's hard to explain, but there are
times when I get so frustrated or angry that I simply want to--to--"
She fired a blast of energy straight up, out toward the center of the
Dyson sphere. "Kill!" she finished, eyes glowing slightly. But the
glow faded as she sunk back down to the ground. "But every time, I
tell myself that Vaughn wouldn't like that, so I stop myself. It's so
_hard_ getting used to these restrictions."
Katie nodded. "Changing alignments is very hard sometimes. But I
know you, I know that you have the strength to get through it if you
only put your mind to it."
Iczer-2 nodded. "That is true. But it just gets so _hard_..."
"Believe it or not, I know what you're going through." Katie
chuckled. "It's kind of funny, but I've actually gotten used to being
a Cybertronian, even to kind of liking it. I think of myself more as
a Transformer than a human these days. The change is going to be
really hard for me."
"But I thought you wanted your human body back," Iczer-2 said.
"Oh, I _did_, and I still do--I _think_. Chris has waited for me
all these years--a whole century! How can I turn my back on that kind
of faithfulness?" Especially when I haven't been so faithful myself,
she added mentally. "But on the other hand, I do so want to remain a
Cybertronian--there's something reassuring in being this gigantic
machine..."
Iczer-2 nodded, and stared off into space. She appeared to be
deep in thought. Then she jumped up. "That's it! I have it!" She
turned to Katie Tanner. "Temper, you say you are having difficulty
choosing between humanity and Cybertronianity. I believe that there
may be a middle ground!"
"What? What do you mean?" Katie asked.
Iczer smiled, and it was almost not a pretty sight. "Come along.
I have an idea."
"Where are we going?"
"The bioregeneration labs."
"Why? I haven't scheduled my regeneration yet."
"All the better. That gives us plenty of time." Iczer-2 launched
herself into the air. "Come. I shall explain on the way."
As Katie fired her booster pack and took off, Iczer began to
explain. "During the time I was...away...I was not idle. I took some
time to study those things that interested me. Among those things
were certain aspects of Cybertronian technology..." They flew off into
the distance.

The official victory celebration took place several days after the
battle. By this time, Gryphon had recovered enough from his bout with
Largo to attend, and enough of the starships that had been damaged in
the battle were repaired that the Planitia workers could stop working
double-shifts. The celebration took place for an entire 24-hour time
period, so that everyone on board would have an opportunity to attend,
no matter what his work shift.
The celebration was actually not held in any one location--there
wasn't any place big enough to hold all the thousands upon thousands
of WDF soldiers who would be in attendance. The core members of the
WDF, including as many survivors of the original SDF-17 crew that
could be found, were invited to celebrate in the huge auditorium on
board the SDF-23 _Wandering Child_.
And so Chris went. When he arrived, he found quite a party going
on. People were dancing, there was loud music playing. VERY loud
music, something by Nine Inch Nails. And Ben and Kei were moshing.
"Uh-oh," Chris muttered, being sure to stay as far away from them as
possible. After the song was over, Chris watched about a dozen
people, including Gryphon and Kei, troop out of the room to have
various injuries attended to. Three people had to be carried out on
stretchers.
Looking around, Chris spotted the auditorium's audio/video control
booth, and started working his way toward it. He thought he saw a
familiar figure in that booth--it HAD to be him, no one else was that
tall. No one with a male, human silhouette, anyway.
And when the next song that started playing was by P.D.Q. Bach,
Chris was positive. "Hammer! Hey, Hammer!" He shoved the door open.
"So this is where you're hiding!"
Hammer shrugged. "Okay, okay, you got me." He was sitting at one
of the consoles, and Blaster, in boom box mode, was in the seat next
to him, with cords running into and out of his auxiliary jacks.
"So, guys, you having fun? Where's Eiko?"
"Eiko is right down there." He pointed, and Chris followed his
finger to one of the seats against the wall, where Eiko was sitting
and talking with some other people in WDF uniforms. Reminiscing about
the good old days, no doubt. "She decided to sit out the last one."
Chris nodded sagely. Eiko moshing was even more dangerous than
Gryphon and Kei, due to her extremely high strength. "If you want to
go join her, you can. I wouldn't mind taking a board shift, it's what
I majored in. And it'll give me the chance to annoy Gryphon." He held
up the laserdisk that contained all of his myriad albums.
"Thanks, but I think I'll stay up here a while, if it's all the
same to you." He gestured. "Have a seat."
"All right." Chris sat down, and turned the seat to face Hammer.
He was silent as Martin cued up the next song and announced it.
"And now here's one for all you slow dancers out there," Martin
announced, as the music started. It was "Weird Al" Yankovic, "One
More Minute." He took off the headset he was wearing. "Blaster, cover
for me awhile, will ya?"
"You got it, boss."
Martin turned in his seat to face Chris. "How's life been
treating you lately?"
"Not bad...the _Missouri_ got six starship kills and God knows how
many fighter kills...Katie's getting her human body back...er...well,
that's partly what I wanted to talk to you about."
"What do you mean?" Martin asked. He could see that Chris was
very nervous about something.
"Well, I--we--wanted you to be the first to know. We're getting
married."
The news hadn't been entirely unexpected, but it startled Martin
just the same. "What? When did you..."
"This morning." Chris looked at the ceiling. "We talked about the
last hundred years a lot, and decided that it was well past time that
we did it. I was a fool for not marrying her a long, long, time ago."
"This is wonderful!" Hammer said. "When does it happen?"
"Next June sometime, as soon as she gets out of regeneration.
We're going to spend the next week or so planning it before she goes
into the tank."
"Congratulations. I'm sure you'll be very happy together," Martin
said.
"Thanks," Chris replied. "After everything we've been through
over the last hundred years, it's about time we had some happiness."

Over the next few months, the _Missouri_ stayed fairly close to
the Utopia Planitia sphere, so that Chris could spend time with Katie.
Gryphon was understanding about the situation and pulled strings to
get the starship shifted to reserve status. The rest of the crew
didn't mind so much, either, as it meant constant Planitia shore
leave.
The first couple of months were kind of dull for Chris; Katie was
maintained in a comatose state to speed the healing process, so there
wasn't really all that much to do except sit around in the medlab and
stare at the disembodied brain that was suspended in the biosculpt
tank. After a while, it got to reminding Chris just a bit too much of
ROBOCOP II, so he spent more time in the company of other old friends,
such as the remaining engineers from the time he'd spent under ReRob,
or the occasional _Tiger's Claw_ crewmate who popped up now and again.
Sometimes Chris would go down to the _Missouri_'s hangar deck and
climb into the cockpit of the _Constellation_. He would sit there,
try to get in touch with the sense of Katie's presence that he'd
always felt when she'd been here, and remember the hundred years of
fun they'd had together in this ship. It helped a little, but was a
poor substitute for the real thing.
Chris sometimes tried to remember what it had felt like just after
he'd put the _Constellation_ together for the first time in its
original form. He'd been so proud of it back then, so thrilled with
what his own mechanical engineering knowhow had wrought. Funny, he
couldn't get in touch with that feeling anymore; the Connie seemed
like just an empty body now.
During the third month, the medics decided that Katie had
recovered enough for a couple of hours of consciousness per day.
Fortunately, the biosculpt setup included a datajack, and thus Chris
and Katie could meet and talk in cyberspace.
The first time they talked, Chris jacked into the net in a state
of nervous anticipation. He was going to get to speak to Katie for
the first time in months, after all; it had been ages since he'd seen
her.
After just a few minutes of waiting, Katie rezzed into existance
in front of him. She wore the Commander-rank Tactical Fleet uniform
she was entitled to, but other than that seemed just the same as she'd
always been."
"Mako!"
"Temper!" They embraced (or at least their icons did). "How are
you?"
"As good as can be expected...still nothing from the shoulders
down, but at least I'm progressing." Katie called up a display image
of her body from the medlab security camera. "Yeesh, I feel like
Iczer Two."
"I guess there's no point in asking if you plan to quit while
you're still a head...ow, ow, hey, don't hit me!"
"Incorrigible as ever," Katie smirked. "So, how has the command
gone in the..." Katie glanced at a chron display. "...two and a half
months I've been out of it?"
"About the same as ever," Chris shrugged. "Gryphon got us an
assignment ferrying diplomats to and from various other star systems
in the local cluster. Not exciting, but it gives me an excuse to
stick around."
"And I'm not all the excuse you need?" Katie asked.
"Well, unofficially, yes...God, Katie, I've missed you."
"Even though it seems like last night to me last time I saw you,
I've missed you too," Katie said. "It's so good to see you again..."
All too soon, it seemed, the medical overrides cut in and
disconnected Katie from the net with the promise that they could talk
again in twenty-two more hours. They were among the longest
twenty-two hours Chris had ever spent. They all were.
More time went by. Chris and Katie talked, went for long walks in
the VR-replication of Utopia Planitia Park, even talked together in
the "real" world in one of the experimental new cyber/holodeck
gweepery/lounges. These new hot night spots among the gweeping set
utilized holographic/force field projection technology that had only
recently been perfected, and allowed cyberdeckers and computer
intelligences to interact with people in actual rather than virtual
reality for a while.
Chris enjoyed these times most of all. It had been so long since
he'd interacted with Katie in a physical body, even the illusion
thereof seemed a thrilling new experience. Chris couldn't wait until
Katie's body was ready.
As the regrowth progressed, Chris was rather amused and Katie
slightly embarrassed to note that her new body's appearance was
slightly different from that of the holographic image she'd been
projecting. It seemed that over the last hundred years of not having
a body, even Katie's own recollection of what it looked like had
gradually grown hazy. He kidded her about it good-naturedly, but even
so, he realized how nervous she was about her new body. Chris vowed
to be as supportive as he could be through what would likely be a
difficult time for both of them.
Eventually, the body regrowth was nearly complete, and the
physical therapy began. Katie Tanner had to learn how to use her new
body from scratch, after a hundred years of not having it. The
process was akin to a spinal-injury victim re-learning how to walk.
Thanks to the biosculpt tank's regenerative systems and Katie's Detian
physiology, the recovery time was vastly reduced, but there were still
a couple of hard weeks while Katie relearned how to move her arms and
legs while in the tank. During this time, her cyberactivity was
curtailed to cut down on conflicting signals during the learning
process, so Chris set up a cot in an unused corner of the medlab and
stayed there around the clock so that Katie would know that she wasn't
alone.
Gryphon and Zoner occasionally dropped by, as did Kei, Yuri, and
various other members of the WDF's top brass. One day as Chris sat on
the cot, going over the latest efficiency reports from LtC. Kimi Furi,
the XO pro tem of the _Missouri_, he was a bit surprised to see Iczer
Two walk into the room. "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked.
"We happened to be in this corner of the galaxy, and I decided to
stop in and see how Temper was progressing," Iczer Two explained. "As
I did have a part in configuring the regeneration program, I do like
to check up on her from time to time."
"You helped with the programming?" Chris asked, surprised. "I
never knew that..."
"I'm listed in the credits under my new name, Selene Sanjiyan,"
Iczer Two explained. "As I was originally a product of one of its
predecessors, I actually know a great deal about the operation of the
GENOM/Mann Systems 1001-series biosculpt tanks. Who better to oversee
the programming process?"
"I see," Chris said. "So, Iczer--excuse me, I mean Selene--how do
you think she's doing?"
"Quite well," Selene noted. "Regeneration is progressing
according to plan, physical conditioning is actually ahead of the
projections. She should be out of the tank within a matter of days."
"Um, good," Chris said. "She's looking well; that's for certain."
He looked up at the figure floating in the tank; she was currently
sleeping after several hard hours' work on moving her arms. Her body
was nearly complete, but her skin was the palest white from its lack
of exposure to sunlight, and the blood vessels threaded spidery
through it. She looked not unlike an adult-shaped embryo, Chris
realized, and in a way that was essentially what she was. The
biosculpt tank was kind of a surrogate womb for building or rebuilding
bodies. In fact, it had long been used by hospitals to complete the
gestation cycle of premature infants. In only a short amount of time,
Katie's own gestation would be complete, and she would be born again.
In Chris's introspection, he'd missed whatever Selene had just
said. "What?"
Selene smiled. "I said, I do plan to be around while Katie
recovers. It will be a difficult time for both of you, and I would
like to do all that I can to help."
"Hm. Um, no offense, Selene," Chris said. "But, um, why do you
want to be so helpful? It wasn't so long ago that you would just as
soon have disentigrated us as looked at us."
Selene looked down. "Yes, I realize that. I know it sounds like
what humans term a cliche, but I really have seen the error of my
ways, and want to try to make up for the damage I was a party to
causing. Besides," and here she grinned mysteriously, "I believe
Katie will have need of me once she gets back on her feet again."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Chris asked.
"Oh, nothing..." Iczer Two grinned. "Good day..." She turned and
walked out the door, waiting until she was far enough away from the
medlab not to disturb the electronics before teleporting away.

Katie Tanner knew that this was the day. There was a large
chronometer/calendar display on the wall opposite her that she could
read even through the distortive fluid that surrounded her. They'd
discussed it back when she'd been allowed to cyberconference, and they
had continued to tell her about it up to this day, even though she had
no way of responding. Well, she could blink her eyes in Morse code,
but even that got to be tiring after a while.
At least she _could_ blink, which was something else to be
grateful for. Her arms and legs were still leaden, reluctant to
respond. It felt like when she'd slept on one arm to wake up with it
totally numb and could barely twitch the fingers for the next several
minutes, only it felt like that all over her entire body. She knew
she'd get better once she had the chance, though, and for that she
couldn't wait.
It had been so, _so_ long since she'd been human. It felt so
strange. She could only hope she'd get used to it again. Well, at
least thanks to Selene's design options, she wouldn't lose _all_ of
her Cybertronian heritage...
Jenna and the medtechs under her command were coming up now to
drain the fluid and unhook her from the machine. She'd been warned
about this part; her lungs were going to have to expel the biosculpt's
pseudo-amniotic fluid and begin to breathe the air again. It was
something that every baby had to go through. She was just glad that
breathing was an involuntary reflex, and she wouldn't have to worry
about not remembering how. Still, she wasn't looking forward to it...
The fluid levels were falling now, past her eyes, her nose, her
mouth...as the air rushed in, Katie began to cough. And cough. And
cough some more. As she retched, the fluid rushed, then dribbled out
of her mouth, and she began to breathe. It was a good five minutes
before she'd expelled all of it, five minutes that were extremely
uncomfortable for Katie, to say the least. She felt as though she
were drowning, only in reverse. By the time the coughing fits had
subsided, the fluid had drained completely, and the last remnants of
it were rinsed away by jets of warm water at the top of the tank.
As the liquid trickle slowed, then stopped, the glass tube lowered
into the floor. Katie was now exposed to the open air, supported by
padded restraints that had activated as the fluid drained away.
Several medtechs in sterile suits helped lower her to a waiting
stretcher, and then wheeled her off to her room. Chris was following
right behind them, of course.
Chris stood back, watching as the medtechs set up Katie's EKG, IV,
catheter, and other medical equipment. Katie didn't move very much,
but her eyes did. Her eyes and Chris's met, and despite her lack of
any other expression, Chris could see the joy in them, and it buoyed
his spirits to where tears nearly came to his own eyes.
After they'd finished, the medtechs left the room. Jenna was the
last to leave. "Only a half-hour," she said to Chris. "We don't want
to overtire her on her first day."
"Understood, doc," Chris replied, pulling up the chair beside
Katie's medical bed. "Thirty minutes, and not one second more." As
Jenna left, he reached out to take Katie's hand. "Hey, Temper," he
said. "You look great." Her eyes moved to look at him.
"Jenna tells me it'll take you a day or so to learn to speak
again," Chris continued. "So, I figure hey, that's great. It means
I've got a captive audience." Was it his imagination, or did she smile
slightly? "I figure that you might be interested to see some of the
get-well cards that arrived while you were in the tank...I brought
them with me. Here's one from Thunder Force...see how they all signed
it with a message? Here's Blaster's...'Good luck with the
reconstruction. No matter what kind of body you're in, you'll always
be a Cybertronian to me.' Oh, and here's Hammer's..."
Chris showed Katie a few more cards, and talked to her some more.
He told her all about the latest goings on aboard the _Missouri_, how
Jason Argo and Kelvin were getting along, the state of Hikaru and
Misa's on-again off-again romantic relationship, and whatever else
came to mind. Then, as his chronometer beeped to indicate he had only
a couple of minutes left, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a
small jewelry box. "Jenna said it would be okay to do this, so..." He
opened the box, brought out a diamond engagement ring, and placed it
on the ring finger of her hand.
"Ahem." Jenna cleared her throat from the doorway, reminding Chris
that his time was almost up.
"All right, I'm coming." Chris got up. "Sleep well...I'll see you
tomorrow." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead, then
released her hand and walked to the door. He knew that the excess
moisture in Katie's eyes was almost certainly duplicated in his own.

Over the course of the next week, Katie progressed steadily,
growing stronger as her Detian physiology took over the work of
recovering. Jenna and Selene both agreed that she was making
remarkable progress...of course, there were moments that Katie
despaired of ever becoming physiologically competent again...
"Chris?" Katie said. "I, um, think I feel something..."
"What?" Chris asked. "Headache? Itching?"
"Um...I'm not sure...I think it's lower down." Katie looked
confused for a moment. "I...think I need to go to the bathroom."
"Oh! I'll go get Jenna, and we'll help you into--"
"Um...I, um, don't think I need to go to the bathroom anymore,"
Katie sighed, red-faced.
"Right." Chris playfully punched Katie in the shoulder. "You
know, you're going to be the only fighter pilot who wears Depends."
"Very funny, Chris."
Through it all, Chris was by her side constantly, or at least as
constantly as the doctors allowed. When he wasn't eating or sleeping,
he would be in the room with her, or waiting on the bench down the
hall from her door until the doctors would let him in. Since the
_Missouri_ was assigned to detached duty for the duration, his
paperwork was fairly light; what his staff didn't handle for him, he
could take care of with his handcomp. His bridge crew began to refer
to the hospital as his second office.
On the seventh day, Chris entered the hospital room with a rather
smug expression on his face. Katie smirked; Chris had never been able
to hide big surprises from her (or, for that matter, from many other
people). "All right, Mako, let's have it."
Chris's smug expression expanded into a grin. "Why, Temper, I'm
sure I don't know what you're talking about."
"Hey, hey, just because I was only decanted the other day doesn't
mean I was born yesterday," Katie said. "Er...well...you know what I
mean."
Chris smirked. "Well, in this case, it isn't actually an 'it' but
a 'him.' Or, rather, a 'them.'" Chris went over to the door, and
opened it.
Abruptly, the room was filled to bursting with the sound of a
marching band, playing some peppy, boomy anthem whose immediate origin
sounded very familiar. Katie didn't have time to contemplate its true
origin, however, before the reason it was playing came stomping into
her room, single file.
Katie gasped, her jaw dropped, and then her face lit up with a
brilliant smile. Chris began to smile all the wider himself, in
sympathy with Katie's. It had been far, far too long since he'd seen
a smile like that.
The group numbered no fewer than seven, and Katie recognized them
immediately as the Clay Pigeons. Hammer, in his violet Gizmonics
jumpsuit as always, led the remaining members of the team in a
fast-paced march, filing in almost as fast as she could identify them:
Eiko, then Danilia and Tom, with Dund's massive frame bringing up the
rear. They tromped a rapid circuit around her room, giving her time
to finally place the musical theme as a Sousafied rendition of "The
Merry-Go-Round Broke Down", before coming to a smart halt when the
music stopped. "Bed, FACE!" Hammer shouted, and the group spun on
their heels to face Katie, with a brief snaredrum roll.
Katie giggled helplessly. "Hammer! Everybody!" she managed to
say after about a minute. "Oh, it's so wonderful to see you all
again!"
Danilia's grin broke into a giggle. "Yeah, you too!" she started
to chirp, but the sound of Martin's throat clearing brought her back
to attention, if impishly-grinning attention.
"Now then," Hammer continued, his face locked in a deadly
seriousness that Temper knew wasn't anywhere close to sincere.
"Pre-SENT ... CAKE!" The sound of shuffling feet brought Katie's
attention back to the doorway, where Nadia, Hanson and Korren were
entering, with Nadia carrying a single, classically piston-shaped
birthday cake, covered in white frosting and bearing a single shining
candle.
Katie blinked. "But...what's this for?" she asked. "It's not my
birthday..."
"Ah, but it is!" Hammer insisted. "You're just counting on the
wrong scale." Nadia moved in closer and tipped the cake slightly
toward Katie, allowing her to see the frosting-portrait of the
_Constellation_ on the top, as well as the inscription: HAPPY BIRTHDAY
TEMPER--1 WEEK OLD!
"Just think, one week old and out of diapers already!" Chris said.
"Isn't that something? Why, I bet she'll just breeze through
kindergarten!"
Katie blushed. "I--I don't know what to say."
"Oh, you'll think of something, I'm sure," Eiko smiled. "But
you'd better blow out the candle before Dund and Korren start chewing
on your bed." Somehow, the two of them were now holding forks and
knives and looking hungrily at the tempting confection.
"Don't forget to make a wish!" Dani insisted.
"Okay, I'll try," Katie said. "I hope I'm up to this..."
"Like the lady said about whistling, just put your lips together
and blow," Chris said, producing an instamatic camera from somewhere
in anticipation of the moment.
Katie took a deep breath, held it for a moment of anticipation,
then released it. The flame danced, flickered...but didn't go out.
"Huh? I was _sure_ I..." Katie took another deep breath, tried
again...and the candle again failed to be extinguished. Katie peered
skeptically at Martin. "Hammer?" she asked sarcastically, with raised
eyebrow.
"Yes?" Martin replied, with a smile that seemed to scream for the
addition of a halo.
"Don't play the innocent, Hammer," Katie scolded. "Only you would
give me a birthday cake with a trick candle."
"Moi?" he replied, making an obvious effort to sound wounded.
"Don't be absurd! Maybe the third time'll be the charm."
Katie gave Hammer a long, dubious glare which had absolutely no
visible effect. She then drew as full a breath as she could manage,
leaning back a little as her lungs expanded to take in the sterile
hospital air, and, leaning forward, let it all go through
tightly-pursed lips, directed at the obstinate little candle-flame.
The fire fluttered, sputtered, and, surprisingly, died out. The
most surprising aspect of its demise, though, was that it was rather
obviously being blown _sideways_ from Katie's trajectory. Hammer
blinked at it for a moment, and then turned a slow gaze toward Eiko,
who was now rocking on her heels and whistling tunelessly, doing no
better at looking blameless than he had been earlier.
The moment was both interrupted and immortalized by a blinding
flash. "Isn't THIS a Kodak moment?" Chris asked. "So...is anyone
going to cut the cake?"
This request was quickly filled by Tom, who calmly drew a serrated
blade from somewhere behind himself, and, once Nadia had set the cake
down on the table where the diagnostic unit would normally reside,
proceeded to make short work of the cake.
Short work was also what everyone else made of the cake once it
was cut. In a manner similar to a troup of pirahnas, the Clay Pigeons
skeletonized the cake in under two minutes. Katie, having been
started on solid food two days before, was able to eat it, and her
coordination was good enough that she only dropped a couple of
forkfuls (though still bad enough that she half-wondered if she'd ever
be a fighter pilot again).
"Wow," Katie said, through half-full mouth. "That's a _good_
cake. I'd forgotten how good food could be...you know, that kind of
eases some of my worries."
"What worries would those be?" Chris asked, playing straight-man.
"Well, the kind of food they've _been_ giving me around here, I
was afraid my taste buds hadn't grown back in properly or something."
Tom nodded in his usual sagely manner. "It's a good thing we
came, then, to give you a more objective sample base," he stated with
a remarkably straight face.
After the plates had been cleared away, Chris turned to Martin and
stage-whispered, "So...now would probably be a good time to bring in
the esents-pray."
"Ah, ight-ray," the other replied in a like manner, covering for
the fact that he'd nearly forgotten about the presents waiting in the
hall. "Don't want to be too atant-blay about the ifts-gay for
Atie-kay."
Rising to his full height, Martin clapped his hands and produced a
quick series of utterly meaningless gestures, more akin to a Three
Stooges routine than Standard Sign. Naturally, the rest of the group
snapped to attention, saluting him with their tongues sticking out as
much out of habit as anything, and jogged out of the room in a quick,
organized single file, each returning only a moment later at the same
jog, bearing a gift-wrapped box in their arms.
Once again, the entire ensemble gathered around Katie's bed, and,
after Martin produced a pitch-pipe and sounded some random note, they
sang in a completely discordant unison:

"Happy birthday Katie T.,
Happy birthday toooo ya,
To suit your birthday perfectly
We give these presents toooo ya!"

Katie giggled helplessly. "Oh, you...you bunch of..." She laughed
until tears ran down her cheeks. "You always did know how to cheer me
up..." She paused for a perfectly-measured beat, then said, "So, what
did you get me?"
"That's for _you_ to find out!" Dani shot back, pushing her box
into Katie's arms.
"Ooh!" Katie tore into the decoratively-wrapped box, cursing her
poor-but-progressively-improving coordination. The wrapping paper
came off, the box came open, to reveal...
"Oooo, a Gizmonics jumpsuit!" Katie announced, lifting it
shoulders-first from the box, realizing that she didn't really know
her size at the moment, but everyone else probably did. "I haven't
had one of these since ... well, since I had a body that could fit
one!" She looked at it quizically for a moment. "When did you start
making them in hot pink?"
It was her idea, Dund signed. I'd like to say I was against it.
"Hey!"
"What?" Nadia smiled. "It _was_ your idea."
"It was a _good_ idea! We needed something in pink."
"Like another hole in the--" Korren began, but stopped when Dani
shot him another of her looks.
"I don't see anything wrong with pink," Hanson said rather
plainly, silencing the entire matter.
Katie held the jumpsuit up and looked at it. "Thank you! I'll
treasure this always--or at least until it gets so worn-out that I
have to throw it away." She folded it up as neatly as she could and
put it aside. "Okay...so who's next?"
"Mine, I guess," Korren offered, handing his package over, "for a
bit of contrast."
Katie accepted the box. "Thanks, Koren...this looks very nice."
She tore into the neatly-wrapped package, eagerly casting aside the
paper to see what lay within.
The gift-giving went predictably from that point; Katie's skill at
removing paper from wrapped boxes improved noticably as she received
the much-needed practice. It did come as a bit of a surprise to her,
though, that it was Dund who handed her the box of unmentionables.
At length, all the presents were opened, and Katie found herself
in the center of what was definitely a complete wardrobe.
"Wow!" Katie said at last. "This is wonderful! I just can't
believe that you'd all--"
"Oop, wait, waitwait," Martin said suddenly, snapping his fingers
and reaching behind his back. "One last little thing here..." He
momentarily produced a much smaller gift-wrapped box, in silvery paper
with a bright red ribbon, and handed it to Katie.
Katie glanced from the box up to Martin. "What's this?"
"You'll still have to find that out for yourself. But," Martin
paused, his smile turning a little sad, "it's from Noriko. She had a
gymnastics meet and couldn't make it."
"Okay..." Katie carefully unwrapped the small box. Her eyes
widened as she gently lifted one half of the box's contents into the
light for everyone to see--a dazzling silver earring, with a deep red
Autobot insignia etched on its face.
"Oh, and Blaster helped her choose it," Eiko added with a smile.
"Wow! Be sure and thank her for me next time you see her," Katie
said. "These are great! Thank you, thank you all...I should get a
new body more often!"
"Don't you dare," Chris said, grinning. "I couldn't hope to
afford the payments on your next one."
It wasn't long before Jenna's insistence that Katie needed sleep
brought the festivities to a close, so the Clay Pigeons said their
farewells and left the room. Katie sighed at their departure, then
smiled. "Thanks, Chris. That was just what I needed."
Chris grinned, pausing by the door on his own way out. "We aim to
please," he said, before turning off the light.

The ceremony was small and private, in keeping with Chris's
personality, with only a few dozen of his closest friends attending.
At Chris and Katie's request, Optimus Prime himself performed the
ceremony. Wheelie, the ringbearer, presented them with golden wedding
bands masterfully engraved with the Autobot insignia; Kup, standing in
as father of the bride, chatted amiably with best man PCHammer;
Danilia the flower girl stood by as Katie tossed the bouquet...and a
rather startled Selene caught it. "What am I supposed to do with
this?" she wondered aloud, to the amusement of all who heard. A
cheerful reception ensued, with much reminiscing from old friends, and
then...
"You know, you weigh a ton," Chris cheerfully informed his new
wife, as he staggered down the corridor of the _WDF Missouri_,
carrying her in his arms.
"You only had to carry me across the threshhold, silly," Temper
mock-chastened him.
"Well, hey, if I was gonna go to the trouble anyway, why not go
all the way?"
"Right, right." She grinned. "Oh, look, there's the door!"
"Would you get the keypad for me? My hands are kinda full right
now."
Katie giggled. "You got it!" She reached out and tapped the
button, and the door SCHWIPed open. "I've been waiting a hundred
years for this!"
"I've been waiting longer than that, Katie. A lot longer." Chris
staggered inside with his burden, and the door closed. A minute or so
later, the door opened a few inches and a hand reached out to slap a
post-it note on the door reading "JUST MARRIED. DO NOT DISTURB ON
PAIN OF PAIN." The door closed again, and didn't open for quite a
while.

<<<Credence Clearwater Revival: "Night Time (Is the Right Time)"
_Chronicles Vol. 2_>>>

"Captain on the bridge!" Lt. Cdr. Kimi Furi called out, as Chris
stepped out of the turbolift. Not too far behind him was Katie
Tanner, resplendant in her duty uniform. She still moved a bit
uncertainly, but it was almost invisible now, and the doctors'
prognosis was that she would have completely "normal" coordination
back by the end of the month.
"Right. Are we all ready?" Chris asked.
"No problems here, sir. Reading greens clear across the board,"
Jason Argo reported.
"All stations reporting fully-secured status," Misa Hayase said.
"We're ready to move out any time you're ready, sir."
Chris nodded, as Katie moved over to the vacant Tactical station
and took her seat for the first time. "Temper, you know your way
around the controls?"
"I studied them until I was blue in the face, Mako," she replied.
"There wasn't anything else to _do_, most of the time I was in that
tank."
"Gotcha." Chris stepped over to the captain's chair, leaned
against it for a moment. "Well, you'll all be happy to know we've
officially got our walking papers. Orders came down from Lord
Fahrvergnugen just today. We're moving out as soon as we've got
departure clearance."
"Which just now came through, sir!" Misa reported.
"Great! Mr. Argo, set course for the nearest exit."
"Aye, sir." Jason punched in the destination.
"As I was saying, our orders came through, and they should be ones
Mr. Argo can appreciate. After a quick stopover at Cybertron, we're
going to be back-trailing the Galactica, doing some more detailed
charting of some of the star systems they passed through on their way
here. We'll also be looking for any signs of renegade Cylons, or
possible Cylon scout parties. We never did find their homeworld,
after all."
Katie Tanner nodded. "Sounds good to me. Shall we get to it?"
"You know it, Temper. I think I could use a little excitement
now, don't you?"
"Just what the doctor ordered!" Katie turned back to the
currently-powered-down Tactical control panel, waved her arms over it,
and intoned, "Let there be lights!" The panel obediently lit up.
"Cool! Let's get going!"
Chris blinked, and was about to ask how she'd done that, but a
ping called his attention back to the status displays on his command
seat. He made a note to ask about it later. "There goes the
gate...let's get this show on the road!" Chris ordered. "Mr. Argo,
lay in a course for Cybertron, Warp Six."
"Course laid in and ready."
"Right. Mr. Kelvin, engage."
"by_your_command"
Chris grinned, sitting down in the Captain's chair. An exciting
new mission awaited them...but first, they were going home. Back to
Cybertron.

<<<Heart: "Back to Avalon", _Desire Walks On_>>>

THE END
and
THE BEGINNING

Next page...

APPENDIX

WDF TECH MANUAL SUPPLEMENT:

_WDF MISSOURI_/IOWA CLASS VESSELS

NOTE: Many of the facilities in the following list will be the same as
or similar to those found in MR. SCOTT'S GUIDE TO THE ENTERPRISE
(which it might be helpful to have in front of you as you read down
the list). However, there are also many differences. For example,
the bridge layout is quite different.

Deck 1 Main Bridge/VIP Docking Port
Deck 2 Captain's Office/Administrative
Deck 3 Main Security Level/Chief of Security
Deck 4 Officers' (VIP) Lounge/Mess
Deck 5 VIP staterooms/Junior Officers' Quarters/Upper Primary
Hull Phaser Banks/Upper Primary Hull Photon Torpedo
Launching System
Deck 6 Conference Room/Junior Officers' Quarters
Deck 7 Senior Officers' Quarters
Deck 8 Senior Officers' Quarters
Deck 9 Crew Quarters/Crew's Messrooms/Crew's Lounge
Deck 10 Crew Quarters/Elevator Maintenance Shop/Impulse
Engineering
Deck 11 "Main Deck Upper" Auxiliary Control/Main Briefing
Room/Science Labs/Sickbay/Transporter Complex 1
Deck 12 "Main Deck Lower" Chapel/Main Armory/Main
Brig/Secondary Briefing Room/Science Labs/Transporter
Complex 2
Deck 13 "Rec Deck" Holodeck/Gymnasium/Off-Duty Lounge
Deck 14 "Docking A" Departure Lounge/Primary Docking Port
Complex
Deck 15 "Docking B" Secondary Docking Port Complex/Auxiliary
Fire Control/Fabrication Center/Lower Primary Hull
Phaser Banks/Lower Primary Hull Photon Torpedo
Launching System
Deck 16 Gweepery Complex/Main Computer Housing/Electronic
Workshops
Deck 17 Primary Hull Circuit Breaker Room
Deck 18 Main Sensor Array Monitoring Station
Deck 19 Auxiliary Firing Computer/Primary Photon Torpedo
Launching System/Secondary Hull Forward Phaser Bank
Deck 20 Photon Torpedo and Space Probe Storage/Primary Photon
Torpedo Launching System
Deck 21 Port and Starboard Docking Facilities/Primary Photon
Torpedo Launching System
Deck 22 Warp Engineering
Deck 23 Warp Engineering
Deck 24 Warp Engineering
Deck 25 Aft Secondary Hull Phaser Banks/Emergency
Transporters/Engineering Support/Engineering
Offices/Landing Bay/Maintenance
Deck 26 Landing Bay
Deck 27 Landing Bay
Deck 28 Primary Shuttlecraft/Starfighter Hangar
Deck 29 Secondary Shuttlecraft Hangar
Deck 30 Cargo Deck/Upper Cargo Transporter Complex
Deck 31 Cargo Deck/Secondary Aft Photon Torpedo Launching
System
Deck 32 Cargo Deck/Secondary Aft Photon Torpedo Launching
System
Deck 33 Cargo Deck/Lower Cargo Transporter Complex/Recorder
Launch System
Deck 34 Botanical Garden/Simulator Arcade/Theatre
Deck 35 Crew's Messroom/Crew's Lounge/Matter-Antimatter
Containment Facility/Pool/Primary Tractor Beam Emitter
Deck 36 Waste Recycling Facilities/Lower Phaser Banks

Warp Nacelles Fore and Aft Phaser Banks

BRIDGE
Iowa-class ships, like all other Starfleet-style vessels, utilize
the standard WDF bridge module for both their primary and secondary
bridges. The Helm and Navigation stations are located centrally, to
port and starboard, with the commanding officer's seat, or Conn,
located on a raised dais aft of them. Directly aft of Conn is the
Science station. Considering the Science Station to be at the 12
o'clock position on a clock's face, clockwise are the port turbolift
(1 o'clock), Communication (2 o'clock), Engineering (3 o'clock),
Security (4 o'clock), the Main Viewscreen (6 o'clock), Tactical (8
o'clock), Environmental (9 o'clock), the door to the Bridge Head
(between 9 and 10 o'clock), the Bridge Gweepery (10 o'clock), and the
starboard turbolift (11 o'clock).
The Bridge Gweepery consists of a DEC 4150A X window terminal very
similar to those found in the Gweepery Complex on Deck 16. Included
are a 125-key enhanced keyboard, touch-sensitive screen, and
input/output peripherals including optical read/write drives, mouse,
joystick, stylus, hookups, and silent printer.
Bridge consoles are primarily pushbutton and switch actuated, with
standard functions hardwired into them to guard against keycode
erasure by accidental power failure. However, all stations also have
a programmable keyset, used for timesaving "macros" that may be
customized for individual operators. Video displays are
touch-sensitive. A stylus is typically used to actuate its functions
(though all screen "controls" are duplicated on the station's physical
control layout), or the operator may also use his finger.
In addition to standard controls, all bridge stations include
cyberjack connectors for direct interface, and also a DEC 4150A
slide-out keyboard with which to read electronic mail, netnews, etc.,
or manually program console functions (the Conn's keyboard and
flatscreen are mounted on an arm that swings up on gimbals to store it
behind the seat back, out of the way).

GWEEPERIES
On Deck 16 are the Missouri's four dedicated computer
laboratories, aka "Gweeperies," each with fifty standard DEC 4150A X
window terminals available for use and one master terminal, near the
front of the lab, staffed by a qualified Computer Science
officer/technician at all times. Each terminal includes a 125-key
enhanced keyboard (includes three rows of 12 function keys each, F1
through F36), touch-sensitive screen, and input peripherals including
optical read/write drives, mouse, joystick, stylus, and cyberjack
hookups.
Each lab also contains a text/graphics-to-data scanner (though
hard-copy-to-data conversion may be accomplished equally well with a
tricorder) as well as a hardcopy output printer. At the front of each
lab is a large display screen, which may be used for communication,
data display, or other purposes. Also available is a holographic
display tank. It is in a separate room, located centrally among the
lab quad, for display and manipulation of 3-dimensional data.
The primary purpose of the gweepery complex is for off-duty
electronic mail/netnews reading and other recreation. However, since
the user will have the same level of access available to him at his
normal duty station, duty-related tasks may be performed here as well.
In addition to the 200 terminals available here, crew quarters and
several of the off-duty lounges also have personal terminals for
off-duty use, many duty stations also offer computer access, and WDF
handcomps allow portable access from anywhere within range of the
ship. Game-playing is permitted, as long as it does not disturb
others or interfere with the performance of one's duties or normal
shipboard operations.
Hard copy may be obtained from the lab printers, or redirected to
print at the crew member's quarters or at a duty station such as
science labs or the bridge. By tradition, the ship's main printer, an
authentic reproduction of a 20th-century wide-carriage dot-matrix
printer, is located in the machine room elsewhere on Deck 16.

HOLODECK
Along with the Alaska and the Yamato, the Iowa-class Mark I boasts
one Holodeck facility, capable of simulating almost any environment
through a combined synthesis of holographics, force fields, and matter
transport. Because it requires a great deal of computer run-time and
power, use of the Holodeck must usually be scheduled in advance with
the Sysop. (All other recreational facility scheduling is handled by
the Recreation Officer.)
The Holodeck typically sees the heaviest use between 1800 and
2200, ship's time, when Alpha Shift is off-duty. Two lesser peak
times are 0400 to 0800, by Beta Shift and 1000 to 1400, by Gamma.
Holodeck use between the hours of 0800 and 1800 is subject to
interruption if the computer resources are urgently required for some
other project.

REPLICATION
During the "Golden Years" of the WDF, the idea of matter
replication and transmission was all but unheard of, considered by
some to be nothing but a pipe dream. There are food processors in use
that are often referred to as "replicators," but this is a misnomer.
Food "replicators" actually create synthetic food by blending various
nutrients and ingredients into food whose appearance, texture, taste,
and smell approximates that requested. The food is definitely not
haute cuisine, but it is a definite step up from what is served in
terran college cafeterias.
However, during the 100-year interval between the Musashi incident
and the reformation of the WDF, one of the few nondefunct subsidiaries
of Fahrvergnugen Industries, Inc., secretly carried on research into
matter replication and transmission, under the direction of one of the
most brilliant minds of the day, Andrew J. "Android" Petrarca. He
perfected the first feasible transporter system in 2369, and proceeded
to refine it further over the next several years to the point where it
could be included in WDF and Federation starships.
A byproduct of this new technology was replication. At the
present time, matter replication has only advanced as far as producing
elements and simple compounds. However, as the technology continues
to be refined, full-fledged matter replication cannot be more than a
few decades away.
The Mark I Iowa-class ship carries three replicator units. One
large unit is present in the fabrication center on Deck 15, used for
producing quantities of metals or simple compounds as needed in
production of materials. The remaining two, smaller units, are
located in the science labs on Decks 11 and 12, and are used in
experimentation and research.
Iowa-class ships also carry "Mark II" food processor
"replicators." Mark II processors are equipped with a miniaturized
closed-circuit transporter, for transportation of meals from a central
production facility. This allows individual snythesizer machines to
be small enough to be convenient in a number of places. The previous
model could only be located at a centralized facility equivalent to a
cafeteria.
Food processors are located at convenient points on each deck,
including the bridge, with miniature units in V.I.P. and Senior
Officers' quarters. Though there are also kitchen facilities, and
actual cooked meals are served in the mess, these food processors can
provide between-meal snacks or meals when there is no time to visit
the mess.

SHUTTLEBAY/HANGARS
The aft portion of decks 24 through 27 is occupied by the
Iowa-class ship's shuttlebay. Similar to the bays in
Constitution-class vessels, it contains necessary facilities for
takeoff and landing of the ship's eight shuttlecraft and two
starfighters. Also present are facilities for storage and
recharging/refueling of the ship's twelve workbees.
Located to port and starboard of the primary shuttlebay launch
deck are the two starfighter launch catapults. These catapults
utilize a magnetic-gravitic thrust system (similar to those used in
railguns or mass drivers) to propel a starfighter to launching
velocity in approximately three seconds. These catapult launchers
have separate external doors, allowing launch in combat situations
without exposing the whole shuttlebay. However, the starfighters
cannot land by this means and must be recovered normally.
The primary shuttlecraft hangar, Deck 28, normally contains four
of the Missouri's eight shuttlecraft as well as her two starfighters.
These spacecraft may be brought to a state of full readiness within
thirty minutes; however, it is standard practice to maintain at least
one and often two shuttlecraft at a state of urgent readiness in the
landing bay, within five minutes' launch readiness.
The secondary shuttlecraft hangar, Deck 29, contains the remaining
two to four shuttlecraft, which can be brought to full launch
readiness within two hours, as well as the Missouri's four travel
pods. Any miscellaneous mission-specific spacecraft are stored here
as well; there is room for four additional starfighter or
shuttlecraft-sized spacecraft herein.

SHUTTLECRAFT
The Missouri carries eight standard WDF shuttlecraft, each
equipped with a limited-range microwarp drive, fore and aft phaser
emitters, limited shields, and subspace communication systems. These
shuttlecraft, numbered 1 through 8, are used for long-distance
excursions and for pickup and delivery where transporter use would be
unfeasible or inappropriate. All WDF shuttlecrafts are operated by a
two-man crew.
Shuttlecraft number 1 and 2 are the larger shuttles, meant for
long-distance passenger or cargo transport. One is typically kept
configured for eight passengers and the other for cargo, but these
configurations may be altered as needed, usually within an hour.
These shuttlecraft contain two single-person transporter pads with an
approximate range of 10,000 miles, normally used only in emergency
situations due to the power drain they cause.
Shuttlecraft 3 through 6 are smaller craft with a more limited
range and speed, usually used for limited (6-man) passenger or cargo
transport or scientific surveys. They may mount a variety of sensor
systems, and are sometimes used to deploy instrumentation packages or
probes.
Shuttlecraft 7 and 8 are basically four-man (two crew; two
passenger) shuttlepods with small warp thrusters. Their warp engines
have a very limited range, and are typically used for extravehicular
operations and interplanetary or close intersystem flight.

SHUTTLECRAFT NAMES
Shuttlecraft are typically named at the discretion of the vessel's
captain, but those on Iowa and Alaska-class vessels tend to be named
after places or famous historical figures from the state after which
the vessel itself is named.

SHUTTLECRAFT NAMES (WDF Missouri)
1 Cassville
2 Springfield
3 Columbia
4 Harry S Truman
5 Mark Twain
6 Edwin Hubble
7 Saint Louis
8 Kansas City

TRANSPORTER ROOMS
Iowa-Class vessels are equipped with eight 6-man transporter rooms
and eight 22-man emergency transporter rooms on Decks 11 and 12, as
well as four 22-man emergency transporters on Deck 25 and two cargo
transport facilities, each with a 6-man capacity, on Decks 30 and 33.
Altogether, this provides a combined capacity of 324 personal
transporter pads, theoretically enough to evacuate the entire ship in
four combined beamings, if all personnel were perfectly coordinated
and equipment were operating at close to 100% efficiency. However, in
practice, it often requires six to eight passes before the entire crew
can be transported to safety.
It should be noted that the 22-man transporter platforms are
rather inefficient, compared to the 6-man rooms that are normally
used. Thus these emergency rooms are usually used only in extreme
emergencies, and are usually employed only to transport from the ship
to another location, rather than the other way around.

----------
[This story is copyright 1997 by Christopher E. Meadows and Martin
Rose. Permission is granted for Usenet distribution and archival in
the rec.arts.anime.creative archives and its complete mirrors,
including associated CD-ROMs. Permission for other archival,
including other CD-ROMs, granted BY REQUEST ONLY. Permission is
granted to make up a printed copy for personal use. Heck, even email
it to your friends if you think they'd like it. All other
distribution rights are reserved to the authors, so please ask us
first. Blah blah blah.]
--
Chris Meadows aka | Author, Team M.E.C.H.A., Crapshoot & Co.
Robotech_Master | on the Superguy Listserv (bit.listserv.superguy)
robo...@jurai.net | With a World Wide Web homepage located at
robo...@eyrie.org | http://www.jurai.net/~robotech/index.html