Captain Darren Price - UNSN Intrepid

UNSN Intrepid
By Adam Milton
5/9/07

Captain Darren Price – Log – Date 2441.9

The Tiburon has been in dry dock for longer than anyone of my crew have expected. There was a break through in engine technology and weapons. Out old Anti-Proton beams and Jacketed Photon Engines were being replaced by Ripper beams and Quantum Engines.

I was sitting in the gardens watched my ship being worked on when a Crewmen First class interrupted me and handed me my orders. Only important, or personal orders were transferred by paper anyone. The rest were sent electronically.

I took the orders and broke the seal. As I began to read my jaw dropped.

I have been in the United Nations Space Navy for a little under 16 years. I joined directly after the nebula conflicts with the Jaernar. After OCS I was posted to the UNSN Zeus, a fleet carrier, as operations officer. Only 4 years ago I was given command of the Tiburon. Now they had just told me to report to Admiral Holmes’s office to discuss my new posting.

I remember walking into his busy office, bustling with non-coms running from place to place with papers. The Admiral was an old man; he was a commander when the first boarder wars broke out. He was one of the most decorated officers in the fleet and how he was an Admiral in command of the dreadnaught Hercules.

He waved me into his officer. He sat be down and didn’t beat around the bush.

‘The Tiburon is going to be in dry dock for another 2 months. Then it is going to join the 6th fleet in a picket role. Lt. Patterson is going to be promoted to its captain.’ He licked his lips and turned to grab a glass of water. ‘Now son, we have watched your career and for a little while. You have guts and dedication and we want to give you a new command. What do you think about that?”

“Sir,” I started. “That would be an honor.” I stammered.

‘Have you heard of the Ticonderoga class Battleship?’ He asked.

“The new battle ship with…” I trailed off.

‘Yes the heavy mounted Wave Motion gun. Yeah it works, big time,’ His eyes lit up. ‘When that wave Motion Gun has that mount…it can do some serious damage. Not only that but you will have a full array of point defense, the most advanced scanning and target tracking technology. Not to mention the Quantum Reactor, you will never have to get supplies ever again. That sucker can product and recycle all of the water and food you could ever need.’

My mind was blown.

‘The Hercules is going to make a pass around the ship yards in about an hour, if you wanted to stay on the ship until you got a chance to see yours that would be fine. The mess hall has a nice view.’ He said.

“Thank you sir, thank you so much.” I said.

“Oh, Captain, you are now the CO of the newly commissioned Intrepid. Next week is the commissioning ceremony. Bring a cute girl.” He shook my hand and I saluted him.

I almost danced my way to the mess hall.

Captain Darren Price – Log – Date 2442.0

I have been on my ship for a total of 2 days now and after two nights of unpacking my personal things and saying my final good byes to old friends the Intrepid was starting to feel like home.

The Tiburon was originally built when Ion Engines were state of the art. It had been retrofitted and updated with new technologies more than once. It had seen more battles than most ships its size. Most considered it a lucky little ship. Now it was in dry dock and would be apart of something bigger.

Cruisers and anything below that size were considered escort ships. They were never the main force in a fleet; they only served in a support role. Battleships, Carriers and Dreadnaughts were fleet ships, and while in the bigger fleets the Dreadnaughts and Carriers were the lead ships in a fleet a Battleship could lead a fleet as well.

I was reassigned to the 9th fleet, expedition task force. I had two Light Cruisers directly under my command, the Hero and Majestic. Most of the time we spent away from the fleet exploring the fringes of the galaxy. Also on the Intrepid was a mapping and linguistics department incase we met any new races. If and when we are called to return to the fleet the Hero and Majestic were still to back me up, but my job was switched to protecting the Moore, a fleet carrier, when we entered combat operations.

The Bridge on the Intrepid had all sorts of new upgrades. On the Tiburon I sat in the middle of the room, towards the back, and on my right was my first mate’s chair. Directly in front of that was navigation and helm officers, and just to our right was the tactical officer and on the left was the communication officer. The bridge itself wasn’t very big, cramped by seats and consoles. The Intrepid had a much bigger bridge. The biggest difference was the fact that it had no view screen. Instead in the middle of the circular bridge was a holographic projector that could project a living 3D map up to three sectors away. I would sit directly in front of the hologram, next to my first. Surrounding us were the stand things, helm, navigation, tactical and communication.

The rest of the ship was sleek and new. It was nothing short of impressive in a lot of ways. Even the mess hall was newer and improved over anything I had seen. My quarters were over twice the size of what I was used to.

We left dry dock two days ago and we were now on our way out of the system towards the Dungar system. It was recently discovered system by a scout class drone. Our mission was to go into that system and make a detailed report of what is in it.

As I leaned back, I realized that this was going to be more than a home, for a very long time.

To Be Continued…