Colonial Administration

Posted on Fri Mar 24th, 2023 @ 2:35am by Commodore Loatha Targaryen & Commander Ash Randall & Lieutenant Commander Lily Snow PhD, MD

1,214 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Short Treks
Location: Bridge, USS Copernicus
Timeline: 2430-10-02, 11:00

If one word could describe the Bridge of the Federation Starship Copernicus it would be compact. Heavily influenced by the design of the Defiant Class escorts from the previous century, the Bridge of the Copernicus featured only a handful of workstations and was half the size of its predecessor design by omitting the multipurpose mission-planning area and replacing it with a traditional Master Situation Monitor and wall mounted mission operations workstations. The center of the bridge featured a single Captain's chair while the flight control panel sat between the Captain and the viewer.

Both the port and starboard walls housed two large workstations that mirrored one another. While the original Defiant had two Tactical stations, the Copernicus design featured mirrored Science stations due to its scientific orientation with the starboard console usually displaying data on both internal and external operations and the port station focusing on shipboard investigations. The port bulkhead also incorporated the Engineering Station, which allowed monitoring of the various systems vital to the operation of the ship, while the starboard housed the Tactical Workstation in the module closest to the viewscreen.

Commander Yeaca sat at the primary Science Station built into the starboard wall, reading over reports from the Cultural Anthropology team as they reviewed the Federation's knowledge of the Talosians. While Yeaca was the ship's First Officer, as the Copernicus was a smaller vessel the First Officer maintained secondary responsibilities among the ship's company. His workstation featured detailed information on all operations being completed by the Copernicus, both internal and external to the ship, and gave him an unchallenged view of the unique mission that they were undertaking.

"We're approaching New Talos, Commander," Lieutenant Jedda said from the Helm.

The XO looked over his shoulder at the Benzite woman at the Helm, "Slow us to one-third and prepare for orbit. Ensign Paine, please alert the Captain to our arrival."

Their Security Chief, Ensign Ephraim Paine, nodded from the console to the XO's left, "Alerting her now. Would you also like me to alert Commander Randall?"

Yeaca nodded, having remembered that the Chief Engineer of Deep Space 12 had been assigned to join them at the last minute, "Please."

Commander Randall acknowledged the alert from the bridge and waited for orbit to be established before making her way the, relatively, short distance from the engineering space to the shoe box that was the bridge of the Copernicus.

Snow was sitting in her office reviewing everything about the Talos and their culture. She acknowledged the alert and headed for the bridge. Once she walked onto the bridge she spoke. "Report."

"We've arrived at New Talos, Captain," the XO informed as he rose from the Command Chair and walked toward his own. One the viewscreen several construction ships and an old California Class vessel orbited the planet.

About 30 seconds after Captain Snow arrived on the bridge, Commander Randall arrived and moved to the Engineering station at the port bulkhead to sign in.

It was only a few more seconds later that Fleet Captain Christopher Pike followed behind and onto the small Bridge of the Copernicus. The silver haired, retired Starfleet Officer looked around the Bridge with a smile. "Now this looks familiar."

Ash glanced the direction of fleet Captain Pike and smiled to herself. The engineer wasn't, quite, sure why she was along for this, particular, ride but, an assignment was an assignment, and this wasn't the first time she was detailed to a vessel without knowing why.

Yeaca nodded, "It's probably a welcome view for you, Captain. This new world will be a great place for the Talosian Colony."

Pike smiled, "I'm sure it will, but I was meaning the Bridge, Commander."

"Welcome back." Ash directed to Captain Pike, in a genial tone.

The former Enterprise Captain smiled, "Thanks, Commander." Chris then turned toward the Commanding Officer of the Copernicus, Commander Lily Snow, "So, Captain, are we ready to begin the colonization process?"

"If everything is clear of hostiles then, please begin." Snow said in her cold tone. "Are you heading down with your people Commodore?" She asked looking at the man.

Christopher Pike kept looking at the planet, staring at it intently for far longer than he expected to. It was a beautiful world, surprisingly uncolonized despite its splendor. He wondered what natural creatures lived there. More to the point did they have horses?

"Huh?" He realized that they had been talking to him. "Ah, yes. I will be living on the surface with Vina. They need a leader to help stabilize the planet in its early days." He looked around the Bridge, "After that, well who knows."

Snow simply nodded at the man's statement. She stepped over to a station on the Bridge to supervise the deployment of the Colony ships.

Chris continued, "Commander, do you have plans for the creation of the colony?"

Ash looked to Fleet Captain Pike. "Yes sir. The habitability index of this world is, very, high; abundant resources both on world and close at hand in the system itself allow for a, nearly, autonomous status for the colony in twelve to eighteen months utilizing automated mining on the asteroids for the raw materials with co-located processing and manufacturing. All, fairly, mundane, really. The colonists should be out of the temporary habitation within a few months. Not that there isn't a lot of hard work ahead and the usual dangers of colonizing a world, far from it, but this is about as ideal a planet and system as you could want." The engineer, detailed, quietly, not going into huge detail.

Yeaca turned from the Science Console, "Considering most of your colonists are children, well clones of people who essentially are children, it'll be like herding cats for a while for all of you. The Federation Colonial Administration has been forthright with the challenges you'll likely face, so Starfleet Command has arranged for the Berkeley to remain here on a long-term basis. Our challenge is going to be establishing your defensive structures," the Rigellian transferred a starchart to the main viewer, "This system, while featuring many of the same characteristics as Talos, is relatively close to Klingon territory in the Maelstrom. Part of our responsibilities will be to install the planetary shield grid." The Commander looked at Ash and then the Captain, wondering if he'd spoken out of turn.

Ash chuckled, "Planetary shield grid, long range sensor array and system defenses, amongst other things." The Engineer added, with a look at the star chart for a couple seconds and then to Captain Pike. "Noisy neighbors..." She mused.

"I hope that you nice people didn't have anywhere else to be," the former Starfleet Captain said with his typical boyish charm. "I'm sure I speak for all of the Talosians when I thank you for what you're doing. Without you this colony wouldn't be possible in more ways that one." Pike looked at the Captain, "I defer to you, Captain. It's your show."

"You are the Planetary Governor of New Talos, Commodore." Snow said. "Everything is already underway." She added walking back over to the man. "We will remain in Orbit, unless we are called away."

Pike smiled, "I never really cared for the bureaucratic types in my career. Never imagined I'd end up as one. Let's get this started."

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