Chapter 2

Houston, Apollo 11 . . . I’ve got the world in my window.

- Michael Collins

Dark. Cold. These are the first things that came to his mind. One man. Slowly it all came back. First the feeling in his limbs, then the smell. “What an awful smell” he thought. Charred, burning flesh. BURNING FLESH? His heart started racing. Then slowly light, more and more light. As the light was coming, so was his memory. The last thing he remembered was? He didn’t know. It had something to do with that burning smell. Was he at a campfire? Nope. Wait, He was fixing something. It was important, vital he remembered. Life or Death. It must have worked; he’s here isn’t he? Or is this the end. Is this life after death? He regained his eyesight, then it all came to him. He jumped up really quick realizing He was in a massive Explosion!

“Commander!” a Woman’s voice shouted from across the room

Henderson looked over at the girl rushing to him as he woke up, it was Ensign Charlene Carr, the Avenger’s helmswoman

Breathing really heavily from the adrenalin rush he got from remembering what had happened he responded “Wha....What.... What happened?”

Charlene Carr grabbed John’s hand and had shed a tear or two

“We thought you were gone! You gave us a few scares there!”

Henderson looks around the room to see who is there with him. He noticed a beastly Man. Mahoney he thought? Talking to him another tall man in an Admiral’s uniform. Interesting. And talking to them, was a lady that was clearly a doctor. However, she looked familiar, but he couldn’t get a good look at her face, yet she was really familiar. Then the Admiral looked over and noticed the Commander sitting up as a nurse walked in to check the commander’s vitals.

“Well” the nurse said “Your vitals look good, heart rate is normal, B.P is normal, just a few bruises and you are in tip top shape!”

How? Henderson thought to himself. Last thing he remembers is a massive explosion. There can’t be any way he survived? A Complete Engine core overload has been known to destroy entire ships! Especially a drive core the size of a Dreadnaughts should have at least taken out the Avenger Completely and produced a shockwave to do some more damage to nearby ships. That had to of what happened. Right? There was no explanation Henderson thought.

“How soon can he be put back to active duty?” A Tall Black man wearing an Admirals uniform walked in and asked right away.

“Well” the Woman Doctor said as she picked up his chart.

As she talked, Henderson knew that voice, but still couldn’t get a good luck at her. He knew her somehow. It couldn’t be, could it? Henderson thought to himself

“He didn’t suffer anything serious, just a few bruises and a few minor burns, Honestly He is good to go right now”

That was it! He knew who she was. Henderson jerked up with a surprised look on his face and blurted out the obvious “Mom! What the hell?”

Enter Elizabeth Henderson, Mother to John Henderson. She was also the Chief Resident at New York Mercy Hospital in New York City, New York. NYM Was one of the top hospitals on Earth, but was a civilian ran Hospital. How did Commander Henderson get here?

Doctor Henderson walked to her son, smiling with delight to see him relatively Unharmed.

“How many times do I have to tell you son, no heroics!” she said with a smirk. She obviously said this in a sarcastic tone, as she knew exactly what her son had done. If he hadn’t done what he did, it was likely he, along with everyone else, would be dead.

Mahoney and the Admiral walked in at the same time all looking at Henderson, smiling and happy to see their star awake and responsive. Charlene Carr let go of his hand at this point to allow John to sit up and talk to his visitors.

“Son” Stated the Admiral.

Henderson hated being called that, only his mother had that right. But coming from a Superior officer, Rear Admiral Jason Briggs to be exact, he knew not to say anything.

“How exactly did you pull off that stunt of yours? Whatever you did, you pretty much killed the Avenger. The strange part is, her Life Support systems were fried before the drive core blew, how is that possible?”

Admiral Briggs is right. The Life Support System on any Federation ship is completely independent from the main systems, it even uses its own energy core. It has so many backups that it is nearly impossible to fry a Life Support system. It was designed this way for situations that require the crew to survive when the ship itself, would be otherwise unable to.

“That was exactly it” Henderson begins to explain “I tied the hyper drive into the Life Support system”

What the brilliant commander had done, was an off the wall technique that no other person would of thought of. With the Avenger taking severe damage, the Main power relays had begun to fluctuate, causing numerous system failures across the board. The Hyper drive was one of them. The main Navigational computer, which also controls the Hyper drive, was fried due to a giant power surge through its main processors. Without the Nav computer, there was no real way to tell the Hyper drive what to do, let alone get power to activate the core. What Henderson did was simple, and effective. In the Engineering room, across from the Main Fusion Reactor there is two rows of panels. One side holds various controls, Including the Hyper drive system. The other row houses the Life Support relays along with other vital systems. The Life Support Relays held the main cable line that went directly into the main power generator for the Life Support, and the Life Support computer, it was the only system that was completely un-affected by the various explosions and damage the Legion was creating. Plus, it was conveniently close to each other! Commander Henderson simply took and merged the two systems into one, forcing the Hyper drive to feed off of the power generator off the Life Support, and running a series of commands on the Life Support Systems to initiate power transfer, and Hyperspace jump procedures. The Hyper drive requires a lot of power, more power than the Life Support system could handle continually, however in a short burst it was enough to kick start the Hyper drive core, and force it to start taking whatever it could off the Main Fusion Generator. It was enough to get the job done, as soon as he initiated the commands to start the Jump, the Life Support systems were fried.

“Are you telling me you deliberately destroyed the Life Support on a Federation Warship?” Admiral Briggs began to ask “. you do realize that by itself can be considered an act of Treason!” Everyone in the room looked at him, Mahoney was about to speak but the Admiral cut him off

“But, you saved three-thousand and fifteen lives by doing what you did, I have a feeling that little maneuver will go in future engineering manuals” Briggs gave with a smile.

At this point John stood up, still in his hospital gown, gave the men a Salute and simply stated “Orders sir”

Mahoney handed him a data pad that contained his new orders. It read “COMMANDER John Henderson IS HERE-BY ORDERD TO REPORT TO SPACEDOCK 14, MANHATTAN SECTOR, NEW YORK NEW YORK. HE IS THEREBY ORDERD TO BOARD SHUTTLE ALPHA-GAMMA-NINE EN ROUTE TO UTOPIA PLANITIA SHIPYARDS FOR FURTHER ASSIGNEMNT - PER DOCTOR RELEASE AND APPROVAL FOR ACTIVE DUTY”

This was strange Henderson thought. Utopia-Planitia? That is rumored to be the Federations Research and Development facility. Nothing came out of there that was not a prototype. But he didn’t think much of it, He accepted his orders and gave both men a Salute. The Captain and Admiral left the room leaving Ensign Carr and Doctor Henderson with the Commander.

“You know” Henderson began to say with concern on his face, facing toward both Carr and his mother

“How did I end up here?” The Commander finally said

“Well, All I know” Ensign Carr chimed in “is that Lieutenant Ramsey sacrificed himself, threw you into an escape pod and launched it right before the drive core blew.”

“Well that explains that, but still... How did I get HERE?” Henderson asked again emphasizing the ‘here’ part

“All I know is we received a request from central command, someone high up personally requested you to get treatment here” Doctor Henderson replied

This was strange indeed. Normally if an incident happens in orbit involving a Military Ship, the Injured get treated at the Earth Space Dock Medical Center in orbit of the planet. For Henderson to get transferred to a Civilian hospital, and requested by someone high up in the chain of command? This was something Henderson had to find out!

John Henderson had made it to the correct shuttle bay, wearing full Dress uniform he boarded the first shuttle. This shuttle was only designed to carry people from the planet surface, to an object orbiting the planet, and vice versa. Like a ship in orbit, or a space station. The shuttle had no power generator at all, simply relied on stored energy in power cells, and she only had enough energy to make it to escape velocity. Thus the first shuttle brought the commander to a relay station orbiting Earth. He hoped on the next shuttle which was designed for inner solar system flight only. It was only equipped with a sub light engine, no hyper drive.

The Flight was Fourteen hours. From Earth Space Dock to the Utopia Planitia shipyards. During the flight, John took in the view around him. Watching as Earth and Luna got smaller, and smaller. This was not his first time leaving Earth, but every time he did it, he somehow always thought it would be his last. He took in the Earths beauty every time. When Earth was no longer in view he watched the ships that he passed, one caught his eye. The FNV Justice. She is a fine ship, Henderson thought. Oh how he would do anything to command, or even serve aboard one of those!

The FNV Justice was a rare ship, and is considered to be Top of the Line. The Justice is the Flagship of the Navy; she is truly the Fist of the Federation. The Justice is a Federation Cruiser, The Largest, Most Powerful, and Deadliest ship the Federation has ever built! Cruisers are extremely rare, there is only five of them currently in service, with three more currently being built. They are rare for a few reasons. For starters, they are extremely expensive to build. Her size alone makes it expensive. A Cruiser is almost Triple the size of a Dreadnaught! They also carry a crew compliment of Fifteen Thousand!! Compared to the crew complement of a Dreadnaught, which is only Seven Thousand. The reason the crew is much larger on a cruiser is only partially due to her massive size. For starters the Cruiser has almost Thirty times more Weapon turrets, arrays, launchers, and silos than a dreadnaught. Which by itself requires a lot more crew to Maintain, and operate. A Cruiser also has a fighter complement of Ten Wings. Now there are approximately Thirty-Five fighters to a Wing group, so that is about Three Hundred Fifty fighters a Cruiser carries. Not as much as the Twenty wings a Carrier would carry, but much more than the mere Three wings a Dreadnaught carries. Not only that, a Cruiser holds Fifteen fusion cores, giving her firepower, and shields all the power it needs to survive any battle. Cruisers also carry the most advanced hyper drive in the Navy, with a cooldown of only 34 hours she can almost go anywhere when needed.

As he got closer to Mars, he started seeing less and less Civilian craft. Mars is a restricted area, only Military and Government personnel are allowed anywhere near it, which is why Henderson was surprised when he saw a lot of News ships hovering around the Utopia Planitia shipyards. Something is going on and he needed to find out!

As the shuttle docked he got out to be escorted to a chamber, where he saw Admiral Briggs among the Admiralty board with Captain Mahoney. This was very weird indeed, the Admiralty Board does not normally oversee the launch of a ship.

“Commander Henderson” one of the Admirals said as Henderson saluted and stood in attention in front of everyone.

“This is a rare moment, you currently are unable to take on your new assignment, However Captain Mahoney here can fix that” Admiral Briggs said

“Members of the Admiralty Board” Mahoney began to speak “It has been an Honor, and a Privilege serving under your command over the last Forty years, however my time has come and past. I hereby announce my current resignation from the Federation Navy, and hereby request for Retirement” Mahoney said officially

Henderson was surprised, He was hoping to serve under Mahoney again, however Henderson knew what was coming next and was very excited!

“Captain Mahoney, you have done nothing but Exceptional Service for us, we accept your terms for Retirement and wish you Luck for your years to come” Another Admiral stated

“That leaves the next task, we need a Captain for the crew” Admiral Briggs said toward Mahoney

“Admirals, my one and only recommendation to serve as my replacement, Is and always was Commander John Henderson. He has demonstrated Exceptional Leadership skills, and possess the ability to get the job done”

Henderson stared at Mahoney with a smile on his face, and a look that says ‘Thank you’

“Your recommendation is accepted; Commander Henderson please step Forward”

“Sir” Henderson said as he did what he was told

“Commander, do you accept the Duties and Responsibilities that comes with being a Captain in the Federation Navy?” Admiral Briggs asked

“Sir, yes sir” Henderson said

“Then, by the authority given to me by the Office of the President of the Federation, I hereby Promote you to the Full Rank of Captain, and all the Rights, Privileges that come with” Henderson saluted everyone as Briggs pinned the Captain patch on Henderson’s Uniform

“Now, we don’t have time to sit here and enjoy the moment, let’s go meet your new Command Crew” Admiral Briggs said.

Henderson Saluted and walled up to Mahoney really quick

“Sir, it was an Honor to serve with you, and Thank you for this” Henderson said to Mahoney

“No!” Mahoney cut in “The Honor, was mine! Without you by my side, I would not have made it Forty years!”

“Sir!” Henderson Saluted

“Don’t do that either, I am no longer an Officer in the Navy. Call me James” Mahoney put out his hand to shake John’s

Henderson took Mahoney’s hand and shook it “James, it was a pleasure, Keep in touch!”

“Always!”

In order for the new Captain and Admiral Briggs to get to where they were going, they had to walk threw a few corridors and an elevator. They finally got to the room and saw several people sitting down, and a few he knew!

“Officers on Deck!” one of them said as they all stood up and right to attention. Henderson saw several people standing in line, in Attention. Some new faces, some old. He also noted they were standing in order from highest rank, and duty to the lowest rank. All that stand here is only his Senior Staff.

His first person he greets is his Executive Officer, or X-O. “Commander Charles O’Connell, served aboard the Justice for a while, before being selected for this mission” Admiral Briggs begins to say

Henderson looks at his Data pad, then looks up at Commander O’Connell, the first thing he notices is how much talker O’Connell is, at least a foot taller. He is also the tallest man in the room, even a tad taller than Admiral Briggs himself who stood at an easy six foot five, Where John Henderson was a small five foot ten. Another notable aspect, O’Connell was at least forty years old, which puts him at least twenty years older than his new Commanding officer.

“Charles O’Connell, born Twenty-Two Thirty-Seven” stated Henderson “I hope that our, very apparent age difference won’t be a problem will it?”

It was a valid question, not many people who have been in the Navy for as long as O’Connell has been would appreciate being under the command of someone half his age, and with much less experience at that.

“Next in Line” begins the Admiral again “we have here Lieutenant-Commander Heidi Johnson, Second Officer, Chief Tactical officer and Squad Leader for the Infantry division”

Heidi Johnson was someone Henderson knew, Knew well actually. Unfortunately, it was not a friendly situation. He remembers her back when he was in the Academy, they both were in the same class, and were rivals. They hated each other, at least back in the Academy days.

“Lieutenant” spoke Henderson “I hope our past wont hinder the present” He asked

“No sir, It’s called the past for a reason, its behind us sir” Johnson said

“Good, and that goes for the rest of you” Henderson said to all the crew

“Some of you I know in my past, others I don’t. Some of you are older, whatever it may be I require the best out of each and every one of you, when you are called to duty you are not their honoring duty to me, you are honoring your duty to the Federation, and to Earth. Do I make myself clear?”

“Sir! Yes! Sir!” the crew shouted out

Next one in line was a familiar face, Henderson instantly recognized the face and brought a smile to his face.

“Robert? What the hell are you doing here?” Henderson said surprisingly

“Sir, that is for another time, real soon” Robert said

“Fair Enough”

“Lieutenant Robert Jackson, Operations Officer”

Henderson and Jackson saluted each other and Henderson moved on

“Next, we have Lieutenant Jeffery Donovan, Chief Engineer” Admiral Briggs said

Donovan and Henderson Saluted, then he moved on the last member. Another Familiar face. Ensign Charlene Carr Helm officer and Flight leader

After Henderson greeted the crew the admiral motioned them all into a shuttle. Henderson noted this was a short range shuttle, very small only capable of traveling from ship to station, or other orbital objects. The shuttle was much smaller than the others Henderson had been in.

Robert Jackson stood up just as the shuttle took off.

“Ladies and Gentleman, what if I told you, all our problems were solved. What If I told you, we could travel from here, to Orion, then immediately back without waiting, or what if I told you, we could traverse the stars without needing an address to ‘Jump’ too” Everyone was interested, Henderson was getting even more curious.

“Ladies and Gentleman, may I present to you, the Vox project. The FNV Vox”

Just as he said that, the shuttle made a turn and a ship came into view on the port viewing window, the Vox herself! She was a beautiful ship, one really Familiar to Henderson

“No.! No! How.” Henderson began to say as he saw this magnificent ship “you built her!”

Yes, John Henderson had designed this ship back when he had first entered the academy when he was 14 years old. He had also designed plans for an extremely efficient, and really cheap energy source. He had theorized a form of Cold Fusion. He had thrown out the designs because they were not practical, and at the time was impossible to create.

The ship was a true beauty. Not like any design the Federation has ever created. Henderson initially designed the ship to mock a Fighter, but be much larger, sleeker, and more fluid. The ship has a long Fuselage that acts as the inhabitable decks of the ship. The fuselage curves upward a little bit toward the center, then angles a bit down toward the nose, with the Aft section being at the lowest level. The Bridge is located at the nose of the ship, just above the forward most section, and right above a Navigational sensor array. The Nav array was big and bright, took up the entire face of the nose, and was a bright blue.

Coming down to about halfway point on the top of the ship, three large bay doors are hidden as much as possible, the hangar bay houses several shuttles, personal craft, and Three wings of X-252 fighters. Just above the Hanger doors lays a strip that goes from Port to Starboard, the strip houses several Weapon arrays, and launchers. All the way down to the end the ship lies two wings that angle down from the aft part of the ship, at the base of each wing it takes up a good quarter of the ships length. On these wings house Two engines each, and various Weapon arrays, launchers, cannons, and turrets. Including the Four engines on the Wings of the ship, there is a Fifth engine directly attached to the aft section of the Fuselage. Another feature of the ship, she has thousands of Thrusters all throughout the ship, making her the most maneuverable Starship in the fleet! The only actual ship that is more maneuverable, would be a Scout ship.

The Command Crew, along with Admiral Briggs, boarded the ship through the main Hangar bay. The Hanger was brightly light, the deck was filled only with Personal craft and shuttles as the fighters were on the bottom two decks. The first thing Henderson noticed after entering the ship was its interior design. This ship was not set up like any other ship in the Navy, it did not have a strong Military feel to it. Pipes, tubes, cords and wires did not line the ceilings of each Corridor, and the hatchways between each section are not small. The ships interior was not colored typical either, Instead of the Dark tone mix of blue, and gray the ship was covered with a bright brown, white, and teal colors. The ship was designed and laid out more like a Luxury Liner. Leather filled the corridors, walls, seats, Counters. Anywhere it would be appropriate. Instead of metal plates, and nobs attached to the doors, every single door was automated by a small touch panel on the side, it was clear this ship was not designed by the military.

Henderson looked right at Lt. Jackson “hey Jason, why is the ship not in the typical military style?”

“Well, she is built to accommodate long tour of duties, she was designed for a very particular mission! Something we are going to be testing here soon!”

As they walk through the Corridors of the ship, walking from hallway, to hallway, taking a few elevators downward. Henderson had continued to notice the interior beauty. The Entire ship was so bright! He even got a glance inside some rooms, Science labs, research stations, and some crew quarters. From just the quick glance inside a quarter he knew right off the bat the ship was designed to hold Families, and be very comfortable doing it.

As they exited the Elevator, Henderson noted the label on the wall. “Sub-Section 23, Deck 15” They were near the bottom, and rear of the ship. The ship only had 23 Decks. As they walked they came to a massive door in the middle of the corridor that simply read “Engineering” Henderson was wondering why Jackson brought him here.

Lt. Jackson pressed a button on the side to open the massive door. Behind that door was a massive room, filled with control panels, tubes, wires, and two massive cylinders in the center. This room was clearly not luxurious as the rest of the ship, this room had a very distinct military look.

“Welcome!” Lt. Donovan said as they walked into the Engine room

“This my friends, is the Heart of the ship! It’s what gives her life, what allows the energy to pulse throughout, like veins in the body!” Henderson looked at his crew with an odd look.

“I want you to meet someone” Lt. Donovan said while calling out a man, in a White Lab coat.

“This is Dr. Demetri Lankov” Lt Donovan introduced the Russian scientist

“Pleased to meet you all” Lankov said in his best English, which still was not good. He had a very strong accent.

“Let’s get straight to the point” Lankov stated in his thick Russian accent. “Me, You, we all here because of this, the Subspace Inversion Drive, or the SID for short!”

“It is the first True Faster Than Light drive system; it goes beyond that of a Hyper drive can do!”

“What the Doctor here is saying, we don’t need a Hyperboui, or a set coordinates to travel, there isn’t even a cool down. Granted we won’t get there instantly, but we can officially explore the galaxy far quicker than we ever thought!” Lt. Donovan was explaining

“It took the Orion Expedition One Hundred and Fifteen years to get to the planet, imagine doing that same trip, in Four days!”

“Four Days? That is amazing!” Lt. Carr bursted out

While Dr. Lankov was explaining everything, Henderson was fixed to a control panel, the one that displayed information on both the S.I.D core, and the main power reactor, or dubbed as the Vox Drive.

“This is Cold Fusion?” Henderson busted out

“Why yes, it is” Dr. Lankov replied, intrigued that Henderson had noticed that

“How did you solve the fluctuations on the subatomic level?” Henderson asked

“Simple” Dr. Lankov said with a smile on his face

“We had discovered a new element, it has strange properties, it is able to directly absorb the energy from any source when applied the right amount of current. The Vox drive is lined on the inside with it”

“Amazing” replied Henderson “Is the FTL system ready for a test run?”

“All set and ready sir, just give the order” Lt. Donovan came in

“Good, we are done here, we are going to proceed as planned”

“Yes Sir!” Lt. Donovan” saluted as the party walked out of the Engine room

As they left the Engine room to make the journey to the bridge, Henderson pulled Jackson aside to speak with him while the others proceeded on.

“Jason” Henderson said, not talking to him as his commanding officer, but talking to him as a friend would. “What the hell is this?”

“What do you mean?” replied Jackson. He knew this conversation was between long lost friends, and not superior officer to subordinate.

“I create blueprints for a ship, and theorize the possibilities of cold fusion, you disappear a month later, command tells me you were reassigned. Then Twelve years later, you show up out of the blue with the ship I envisioned, and a technology I had come up with.”

“Permission to speak freely sir?” Jackson asked. Even though Henderson was his friend, and this was a conversation between friends, Henderson was still his commanding officer. If he did not make sure it was ok to speak out of turn, he could face punishment from the military command.

“Granted” Henderson said.

“Sir, when I saw those plans in the trash that night, I knew you had something.” Jackson began to respond “For some reason no one thought this was possible, I know you got ridiculed by everyone, that’s why you threw the plans out. Then I took them, showed them to my father.”

“Your Father?” Henderson thought to himself “wait.” Henderson got a look of confusion

“THE Dr. Steven Jackson? Admiral Third class? Head of R&D?”

“The one and only sir, he saw those plans and knew right off the bat you had something. Unfortunately, we did not have the technology. Took us almost Fifteen years to build her.”

“That is something, too see a dream come to life” Henderson started to admire his handiwork “Well, I suppose this tour of yours can wait”

“Sir?” Jackson asked

“It’s going to take us Four days to get to Orion is it not?” Henderson asked

“Yes sir”

“Then we have Four days to take the Tour!” Henderson pointed out as he started walking toward the ships elevators.

The ship was astonishing. Henderson did not walk the entire ship, but just saw the passageways, corridors, and various rooms leading to the bridge. The Ship truly was large, not as large as a Dreadnaught, but larger than any ship in her class.

Henderson and the rest of the crew got to a large door which simply read “Bridge / Command and Control”

“Well, this is it” Henderson said as he stood there, admiring the door

“Shall we?” Commander O’Conner said with his hand out, giving the Captain the first to enter

Henderson nodded his head as he started to step forward. Just like any other door on any other ship, on any other building or facility, it opened up by sensing Brigg’s presence. In this case, his command Identification card he carries on him. Without the card, the door would not open. This is a new security feature the federation is testing out on this ship, among many other things!

Henderson walked through the door to an amazing sight. He had to stop in awe!

“Captain On Deck!” One of the crewmembers said, and the rest of the bridge staff stood to full attention. Henderson did not notice anything as he just walked in and admired the sight.

First thing Henderson noticed was the View screen. The Main screen was actually a window. No other ships in the federation had a window up front of the bridge, as it was blocked by the hull of the ship. The way the bridge was placed onboard the Vox, allowed for a new type of transparent alloy to be placed just in that spot to allow an actual view, along with a holographic projected image of anything they need. The window consisted of 3 panels, one in the middle and one on each side as it allowed for a slight curvature to go with that of the hull of the ship.

To the immediate left of the door he saw another small door, labeled “Observation Deck / Captain’s Office” Henderson noted this and decided to tour that later

The Bridge layout seemed to be symmetrical, what was on one side, the exact same layout seemed to be on the other side, yet each station served a different function. There was 2 small “office” like stations on each side of the door on the back wall of the bridge, each with its own main console layout in front, a seat for the officer, more panels on each side, and a large display behind them. The one on the starboard side was Tactical, Lt. Heidi Johnson’s station.

Tactical opposite station, the office on the Port side was Operations, or Lt. Robert Jacksons station.

Running down the side were two more stations, Port side held Communications, which was Commander O’Conner’s station. The Opposite of Communications was the Engineering and emergency systems station. Which would normally be Lt. Jeffry Donovan’s station.

Immediately in the front, with perfect view of the screens, centered perfectly center on the front and taking up the length of the front also allowing for the curvature of the hull is the Helm. Henderson and Carr immediately noticed this unique layout. On both sides were standard control panels, long panels that went from end to end. However, the center is what was unique. The center cut down into a small cubbyhole that formed the area needed, for a complete manual flight station. The station came complete with a full HUD Readout, flight wheel, yokes and levers for complete control over the ship.

“Oh my what in the !!” said Carr as she spotted her dream station

“I knew you would love that Lieutenant!” said Jackson “it was designed just like that of an SF-101 fighter, everything you need to control pitch, yaw, speed, x y and z axis, it is what makes this ship extremely maneuverable. Instead of pushing buttons and hoping the computer will understand what you want it to do, you have your body have direct control over the system just like in a fighter!”

“Carr ran to the station sat down and jumped right into the manual control station.

As everyone was settling in to their respected station, Henderson noticed where he belonged. Right in the center of the bridge.

The Captain’s Chair was raised a few steps, but what was unique about it, the captain’s chair came equipped with large control panels on both sides of it. The Panels were not attached to the chair, but the chair could rotate to get proper view of each panel. The Panels went all the way around the chair, even connecting on the back. The only hole in the half circle was in the front, where the captain could get in and out with ease.

Before Henderson took his seat, he noticed the crew was still at attention.

“Addiese Men” Henderson said as he slowly sat on his Throne!

“All systems are powered up and are functioning within safe parameters sir, we have the green light” Jackson said after punching some commands into his station

“Good” Henderson said as he started to turn his chair toward the Commander

“Charles, get Flight command on, let’s get out of here” Henderson gave the order

“Yes sir” O’Connell said as he punched in some commands on his station

“Utopia Planitia Flight Command, this is the FSS Vox, requesting clearance for departure” O’Connell broadcasted to the space station.

“Vox, Utopia Planitia” a Young woman’s voice came over the comm system “Clearance Granted, Safe journey good luck!” she said with a cheerful voice.

“Utopia Planitia, Vox. Roger that” O’Connell said as he closed the comlink.

“Sir, all hands report ready”

“Excellent” replied Henderson. Henderson stood up as he pressed a button on his panel

“All Hands, prepare for departure from Space dock”

Henderson looked around the room a little confused, as almost all of the bridge crew was looking at him, including his longtime Friend, Ensign Carr who was giving him a weird look.

“What?” Henderson said as he returned Carr’s look with his own of confusion, and interest.

Carr just gave a slight nod pointing her head to the crew. Henderson saw this nod and looked around the room at his bridge officers.

“What?” Henderson said again towards Carr, but before she had a chance to respond Henderson caught himself and knew what she was getting at.

“OH, you want me to make a speech?”

Charlene Car just raised her eyebrow slightly

“Char Car” Henderson spoke her long childhood nickname in front of the group, which made her blush in embarrassment slightly “. You have known me for how long now?”

Carr continued to give Henderson the same look.

“Ha!” The Captain gave off a slight burst of Laughter “Take us out Ensign” he said laughing slightly while sitting back down on his chair.

Ensign Carr gave a slight giggle as she turned back to her Helm station and started working the controls of the new and improved Manual helm station, which she was quite Enjoying “Aye sir”

Henderson gave a slight look to his left, and noticed his First Officer giving him yet another weird look.

“What?” Henderson simply replied.

The Ship came to life as Ensign Carr activated the thrusters, inertia dampeners, matter deflectors and other systems to get the ship going. Now with the Space dock doors wide open, there was enough room for the marvelous ship to fit through.

“Engaging aft thrusters at One third power” Carr started saying as the ship started moving forward. The ship could be seen from many angles, but the forward bridge view screen was the most spectacular. Most federation ships have a simple screen in the front of the bridge that displays Tactical, Scientific and various other data, also the current view of directly in front of the bridge. However, on the Vox, the front was not the only part of the bridge that was a view screen.

“Oh I forgot about this, Ha you are going to love this Sir!” Lt. Jackson started pushing a few buttons and the bridge came alive. The Walls from the view screen, all the way back all turned from their standard color, to an active view screen themselves. Each section displayed their respective position, so now the people on the bridge have an almost 360 Degree view of the ship. The sensors were placed at specific points; even parts of the ship could be seen in some sections.

“Amazing!” Henderson said admiring the view. However, his attention quickly turned to the Port side of the ship, where he noticed space dock was getting unusually closer on that side, and the Starboard side was drifting away as they were exiting. The ship was shifting to the Left!

“OH, Ensign?” Henderson said keeping his eye on the situation

“I see it sir, the Starboard thruster is giving me some trouble” Carr said

“I see it, there’s a problem in the power regulation, can’t compensate” Jackson said

“Initiate a power subsystem bypass” Commander O’Connell jumped in

“No!” Carr said “I got this, we will just come out a little fast!” She said as she adjusted power levels on the thrusters. All of a sudden the ship evened out and came flying out of space dock.

“Whoa!” Carr said surprisingly “She has some balls!!”

“Excuse me Ensign?” O’Connell asked in a slightly irritated voice

Henderson laughed a little bit at the Commanders response “its fine Commander, just an old expression!”

“Yes Sir” O’Connell said as he sat back down on his console

The Ship now was fully clear of the Utopia Planitia fleet yards above Mars.

“Sir, we are now clear of Dry-Dock!”

“Excellent work Ensign, switch to Sub-Light engines and go to bearing Two-Five-Nine Mark Four” Henderson ordered

“Eye sir, course laid in and engaged at Full Sub light”

All the engines at this point were fired up and running, the Vox whizzed past all the various ships in the area which consisted of several civilian Freighters, News Crew ships, and the FSS Independence, one of the first full sized Cruisers built by the Federation.

“Sir, Incoming hail from the Independence” O’Connell said

“Let’s Hear it” Henderson replied

“Vox! Good to see you off, man she is a Beauty!” Admiral Briggs replied on the other end.

“Thank you sir, we are on schedule and on course, proceeding with phase two in a few minutes”

“Understood Vox, we will meet with you at the Rendezvous in Four Days have fun!” the Admiral said as the comm cut out. Just then the Independence vanished into thin air, she had engaged her hyper drive and jumped to another system

Henderson picked up his microphone attached to his chair and pressed the button on it

“Bridge to Engineering” he said

Just then on the overhead speakers Lt. Jeff Donovan came on

“Engineering here sir”

“Are we good?” Henderson asked

“The Board shows Green, Containment is good, power output is good. The Fusion Core is holding stable, Temperature is holding steady at One Hundred Fifteen Kelvin, currently outputting at Twenty-Five Percent, FTL Conduits Are Active. I think we are good!” the chief Engineer read off the Vox core stats.

“Excellent, let’s keep it up. Bridge out” Henderson said as he put down the comm unit

“Helm, Status”

“Sir we are on course, and clear of the solar system. We are clear for FTL Jump” ensign Carr said as she carefully navigated the ship.

“Alright” Henderson said and sighed slightly.

“Well” he hesitated “I think now is better than any other time” The rest of the bridge crew was looking at him

“Helm, set a course for the Orion Colony, Full FTL” He finally gave the order

“Eye sir” Ensign Carr said as she shut down the manual control station, pulled her chair out and moved to the control panel that was attached, but slightly out of the way.

“Course plotted, and laid in, FTL Engines ready and set sir”

“Understood” Henderson Hesitated again, Henderson pushed a few buttons on his chair to open a coms channel to the ship “Ladies and Gentlemen of the fine Federation fleet, this is the moment, that shapes humanity to the next level! After today, we will have the ability to truly explore the stars! Each and every one of you will be in the history books! I hope you are ready!!!” The Captain gave his speech, as everyone on the bridge had a massive smile on their chair

“Ensign, let’s make her fly!”

“Eye sir!” Car said after hearing the command to go

Carr pushed one button, which was simply labeled “Go” and right after she did, the Sub-Light Engines shut down, and the ship accelerated at an unbelievable rate. The ship did not shake, she did not hesitate, it was simple. One moment the stars were there, the next they all whizzed past the ship too fast to see. There was a slight bump when the ship finally crossed the Speed of Light Barrier. They had Finally done it, Captain John Henderson and his crew, were the first Humans to ever actually travel Faster than the Speed of Light.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3