Battle Bridge.
Captain Evans and Lieutenant McMillan arrived on the Battle Bridge, stepping
out of the turbolift and onto the Bridge itself.
"So what do you think ?" Ryan asked.
"It's much smaller than I thought it would be." Tricia replied looking around the small room. About the same size as the Defiant Bridge I'd guess.
The centre of the room had two seats, for the Captain and First Officer.
Three sets of consoles were positioned behind the command chairs, forming a semi-circle. Forward of the command chairs, a second slightly larger semi-circle was positioned, again with three consoles. Along the back wall either side of the turbolift door, more consoles were positioned, three on each side.
"Engineering, Security and Science stations are behind the command chairs." Ryan explained, pointing out the three consoles. "Each console is mirrored on the consoles across the back wall. Over to the left are the sleeping quarters, each with two bunks, plus the sonic showers. To the right are the living quarters and a briefing room. There’s also a small medical bay, linked to the EMH system."
"How many people can this Battle Bridge support?" Tricia asked.
"Thirty nine. Three shifts of twelve, plus the Captain, First officer and Chief Medical officer." Ryan stated. "We can survive for weeks in here, heavily shielded and impervious to transporters. Would you like to take the helm position, see how it feels." Ryan suggested.
Tricia walked towards the forward position and took the central seat. Settling down into the seat, she quickly scanned her eyes across the consoles.
"Tactical is to your left and Ops to your right." Ryan stated.
"Cosy." Tricia replied. "But it makes sense, in an emergency any one of the three officers can take control of the other consoles."
All the controls in front of Tricia mirrored those on the Helm position on the main Bridge.
"I think we can work with this." Tricia replied. "But you didn't bring me down here to see this."
"No." Ryan replied. "We've had a request from the Valarian's. They've requested some specialist equipment, but as the Ronin has another assignment, I'm giving you the task of transporting the equipment to Valaria. You're to take the Delta Flyer, it's the only vessel aboard with a large enough computer system to hold the active computer program."
"Active computer program ?" Trica enquired. "Exactly what are we transporting ?"
"A complete holographic system." Ryan replied. "Including the program itself."
"We'll need someone to install it." Tricia stated, "I'm no Engineer."
"I've not assigned anyone else to the away team yet, but we still have an under-strength crew. At the most, you'll be a team of three, yourself, an engineer and maybe a security officer." Ryan said "Plus one passenger."
"A passenger ?." Trica enquired.
"I've had a word with the Valarian liaison officer, and he's agreed to give our friend Klara safe haven on Valaria." Captain Evans explained. "Make preparations for a two week stay, we'll drop you off near the Pluroria asteroids."
"When do I leave ?" Tricia asked.
"We should reach the asteroid field tomorrow morning. I'd suggest that you get yourself acquainted with the Flyers systems. Take it out for a test flight if you like." Ryan stated rising from the command chair and heading back to the turbolift. "The equipment is already in the ships computers awaiting transfer, but there's no hurry to get it loaded."
Tricia remained seated at the helm controls, examining the console. "That's a good suggestion, from what I've read about the Flyer, it's quite a shuttle. I'll stay a little longer, have a good look around here, then I'll start preparing the Flyer for flight."
Two hours later, Tricia entered the main hanger and walked across to the Delta Flyer. Feeling along the hull, she thought to herself.
*You and me are going to be good friends.*
"A fine ship isn't she." A voice said from the other side of the flyer.
She looked across the front of the Flyer and saw Lieutenant Gregholt standing on the other side.
"She certainly is." Tricia replied.
"Tetraburnium alloys sub-structure with parametallic hull plating, retractable Warp nacelles, Iso-magnetic power distribution, impulse thrusters, unimatrix shielding. The list goes on and on doesn't it." Steven said. "Plus the improvements that have been made on the original design, most of the systems have been improved. The Voyager crew had limited resources and it's amazing that they managed to built such a vessel."
"Actually they built two Flyers, the first was destroyed by the Borg." Tricia replied, smirking at Gregholt. "Why are you here ?"
"Captain Evans requested that I assist with the transfer of the cargo to the flyer. Plus I've set-up an optronic link between the ship and the Flyer." Steven replied. "They're wanting to transfer some holo-program directly into the computer system. Any ideas what that is or where the equipment is going ?"
"We're taking it to Valaria." Tricia replied.
"Valaria, Why go back there ?" Steven asked.
"I don't know." Tricia said "All I know is that we've been asked to transfer and install the equipment when we arrive."
"So who's assigned to the away team ?" Steven enquired.
"Myself so far, the Captain's not told me who's joining the away team." Tricia replied.
"If you'll excuse me Lieutenant, I think I need to see the Captain." Gregholt replied.
"What about the cargo and the computer transfer ?" Tricia asked.
"The links already in place, they don't want to do the transfer until tomorrow. All the cargo's arrived, we just have to load it onto the Flyer." Gregholt replied.
"I'm going to check over the Flyer and take her for a quick spin." Tricia replied.
"If you can give me an hour, I'd like to come along if that's OK." Steven requested.
"Sure, it will probably take about an hour to check all the systems out. I guess I'll see you in an hour." Tricia replied.
Lieutenant Gregholt left the hanger bay, leaving Tricia and the Flyer alone again.
Opening the rear hatch, she climbed aboard and headed for the flight deck.
Tricia had heard much about the Delta Flyer created by Tom Paris whilst the USS Voyager was lost in the Delta quadrant. However, she was glad that the engineers had removed all the knobs and levers that Lieutenant Paris had installed. All that remained were the two joystick controls, which were installed on the New Delta Flyer.
Tricia went through the pre-flight checks before initialising the Flyer's power systems. Slowly the main systems came on-line, propulsion, weapons, sensors, environmental controls, and computer systems. Now the Flyer was ready to make her first flight.
Just then Lieutenant Gregholt arrived on the flight deck.
"Well you've got one member of the away team fixed. I'll be coming along." Steven said.
"Great." Tricia said "Now take the Ops station and prepare for launch.
Gregholt took the seat behind and to the left of Tricia and checked the Ops console.
"Everything reads green here." Steven said.
"Then here we go." Tricia remarked. "Delta Flyer to Bridge."
[Bridge here.] Captain Evans replied.
"We're ready to take the family car our for a spin." Tricia replied.
[Bridge to Flyer. You're cleared for launch.] Ryan replied. [And bring it back in one piece, young lady.]
Tricia smiled at the Captain's joke.
"I'll be careful. Flyer out." Tricia replied.
As the shuttle bay doors opened, Tricia slowly manoeuvred the Flyer out of the hanger and into open space.
"Now let's see what this baby
can do." She remarked.