Captain Serala: Secure from Space Operations
Serala
Serala sat in her seat watching the Sol System glide by as Lyara steered the ship toward Spacedock One, also known as Earth Spacedock. The station had been magnificently repaired following its decimation the year before. She was excited to be home, and in what was a first for her, Spacedock Operations had ordered them to enter through the main bay doors. She'd assumed they'd be placed in a parking orbit until one of the drydocks became available, but it seemed that was not to be the case.
She took note of the fact that McKinley Station was full, as were the San Francisco Shipyard. In addition, a number of other vessels were in parking formation near them, or in parking orbit around Earth.
In short, it was crowded, even for Earth.
Ever since Frontier Day 2401, Starfleet had been on a rebuilding footing, redesigning vessels, making upgrades, creating new classes that would meet the needs of newer threats and areas of exploration. The Starfleet Corp of Engineers had even begun re-designing older vessels to function in a modern fleet. Several older classes had already received the green light for upgrades. And Starfleet had been quick to purge the Fleet Formation software. The idea was good on paper, but the practical experience had shown the pitfalls of such a system. She was just glad that Admiral Crusher had perfected her scanning technique and they could be confident that there were no more Changelings infiltrating their ships.
Not that it couldn’t happen, but it was much more difficult now.
Serala: Lyara, slow to one-half impulse and turn toward Spacedock. Nice and slow.
Lyara: Response
As the ship entered the bay, she took note of one of the older class vessels that had received an upgrade. Matter of fact, it wasn’t just a refitted vessel; the entire class had been refitted and redesigned. The ship she was seeing was the new and improved version of an Achilles class starship. She didn’t know all the specifications yet, but much like the Chin’toka, it was supposed to be able to carry a small contingent of fighters.
Not that she was envious. Serala had been in love with the Chin’toka since the first day she’d had to assume command for its intended CO on its inauguration day. In her mind, this had always been her ship. Mei was just keeping the seat warm until Command saw fit to give it to her officially.
Spacedock Command: =/\= Chin’toka, cut your engines and allow spaceport control to take over guidance. =/\=
Neshala: =/\= Chin’toka acknowledges. =/\=
Serala: You heard the man, Lyara. Cut engines and sit back and enjoy the ride.
Lyara: Response
As soon as the thrusters were cut, tractor beams locked on and began to guide the ship toward the docking bay it had been assigned to. With numerous guiding beams, the control over the ship was far more fine-tuned than was possible even from helm control. One direct computer control would have been more precise. But Frontier Day had made people skittish about that. Once the Chin’toka was in position, the boarding gate came out to latch onto the airlock and formed a seal.
Lyara: Response
Serala: Very well, Ensign. Good job. Commander T’Ama, have Engineering shut down the Engines and place the ship on shore settings.
T’Ama: Response
Serala tapped the comm button on her chair and spoke to the air, knowing the microphones would pick up her voice and carry it throughout the ship.
Serala: =/\= All hands, this is the Captain. We have docked. Secure from space operations. All departments may begin shore leave rotations. =/\=
Serala stood and smoothed her uniform before turning to her First Officer.
Serala: Number One, schedule shore leave rotations for senior staff. And make sure you take some time yourself. I’ll report into Command and give them my logs and ship reports.
T’Ama: Response