"Captain's Log, Stardate 60868.54"
"The Knight is in orbit above Zorana IV. We have picked up forty-seven Bajoran survivors from a ruined Cardassian labor camp. The Bajoran government has been informed, and several Bajoran militia vessels are on their way to continue the search and retrieve the remains of the dead Bajoran nationals for burial on Bajor."
"The Runabouts have all returned from their investigations of the other planets in the Zorana system. Their most intriguing discoveries were both made inside the Zorana Nebula. The first was the discovery of large concentrations of ethyl-preotine, used in certain medical procedures. We are scheduled to transfer the ethyl-preotine to a Borellian transport in just under two hours for delivery to Deep Space Nine."
"The second discovery was that of a mysterious alien artifact that appears to be more than four million years old. Where did it come from? How did it come to be floating in the center of a nebula? The science labs are studying the object in hopes of possibly uncovering clues as to its origin."
"On a sadder note, several crew members will be transferring to the Borellian transport for reassignment back inside the Federation. The reasons for their leaving are personal, and they will be missed: Lieutenant Sevan Lantree, Ensign Frank Flemindale and Ensign Shatora."
The stars streaked past at superluminal speed, relativistic effects stretching them from points of brilliance into bright lines. Suddenly, they tilted violently to the left, then shifted to the right. Flashes of tachyon backwash blazed through the forward window indicating radical and abrupt changes in velocity.
The stars whipped from the top of the window to the bottom as the small craft did a tight combination loop-the-loop/barrel roll/scissors maneuver. Its pilot was pressed back in her seat and only the emergency inertial dampers kept her from having the breath completely squished out of her. Finally though, the unorthodox maneuver brought her into her adversary's 6 o'clock blind spot. Her targeting computer locked on a half second later, and she squeezed the trigger on the flight stick.
Twin streams of blue energy flashed in rapid fire from the wingtips of her fighter toward the enemy craft -- a Jem'Hadar battleship. It's shields flashed and sputtered and then failed altogether under the sustained onslaught. The Jem'Hadar swerved insanely in a desperate attempt to escape its attacker, but it was no use. A pair of quantum torpedoes quickly traveled the distance between the fighter's belly and the battleship, which promptly blossomed in a fiery orange ball of expanding plasma.
The fighter punched through the fireball, a little scorched but otherwise no worse for the wear. It did a tight victory roll, and if it were possible for sounds to travel in space, you would have heard a wild "Yaaahooooooooooooo!!!" coming from the cockpit.
The ship had performed beyond her expectations. Lee Carter leveled the controls and slowed to normal cruising speed. She was satisfied, her modifications seemed to be working perfectly.
"Computer. End program." Immediately, the interior of the fighter cockpit and the stars beyond disappeared and were replaced by the walls and grid of one of the Knight's holodecks.
During the time the Knight had been docked at Deep Space Nine, Carter had 'appropriated' a holo-program from Quark. It was a custom program she had had Quark design just for her, of a simulation of a standard Peregrine fighter ship. Since then, Carter had spent every last second of her free time down in engineering, picking the brains of the engineering staff, making modifications to the program's simulated ship. Now it was ready, and it was time to show it to the Commodore.
Carter took the program's data rod from the control panel, and headed off to the bridge.
Captain Neil turned to look who was coming off the turbolift. It was Lieutenant Carter. She walked down to the lower level of the bridge and said, "Captain Neil. Is the Commodore in the ready room?"
"Yes he is, Lieutenant," answered Neil. "What do you need?"
"I just need to talk to him for a minute," replied Carter. She walked over to the ready room door and rang the chime. A voice from inside called, "Come in!" and she entered. After a minute, Pike's voice came over the intercom, "Captain Neil, please come to the ready room."
Neil got up. "Mr. Churok, you have the con," she said just before she stepped through the ready room door.
The ready room door slid shut. Pike was seated behind his desk. He motioned to one of the other chairs and said, "Have a seat, Captain. Lieutenant Carter was just about to make a proposal to me and I think you should hear it too."
Neil sat. Carter was already seated in the other chair. As soon as the Captain was settled, she began her sales pitch. She handed a PADD to Pike and slipped her precious data rod into a slot on the desk. The lights dimmed a little and the holo projector above the desk came to life. The three-dimensional image of a Starfleet fighter ship hovered and slowly rotated above the surface of the desk.
Pike recognized the design immediately. "It's a Peregrine Class escort vessel," he said. "I'm a little surprised at you, Lieutenant. Admittedly, these ships played an important role in the Dominion War, but that was ten years ago. These craft aren't exactly cutting-edge any more, if they ever were. This is the type of ship you propose we requisition to back us up out here?!?"
"Commodore!" said Carter, a little hurt. "If you'll let me explain!"
Pike thought about it, then nodded.
Carter looked relieved, then continued her presentation. "This is not a standard Peregrine fighter, sir. I've thought about this a lot over the past ten years, and I've been working on it with the engineering staff since we left DS9. This is exactly the type of ship we can use out here in the face of the unknown. It's a highly modified Peregrine. It uses some of the technical innovations from the Defiant class, plus a few of my own ideas."
At that, Neil raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Can you be a little more specific, Lieutenant?"
"Yes ma'am. The new Peregrine has dual linear intermix chambers." At that, even Pike's eyebrows went up, but before he could say anything Carter continued. "The first is a standard warp core and is dedicated to propulsion, shields and all other ship's systems except weapons. The second core is dedicated 100% to the new Defiant style rapid-fire phaser pulse cannons that would replace the old Type IV phaser arrays. The mini-photon torpedo launchers are replaced by quantum torpedoes. The hull is reinforced with tritanium and an enhanced structural integrity field system...."
As Carter spoke, the holo-display above Pike's desk turned and zoomed in and out in response to her words. Ship systems were highlighted and detailed as Carter went over them one by one. As her presentation progressed, Pike began to like the idea more and more.
Finally, Carter's pitch ended. The holo-image faded and the room's lights came back on full. Carter sat, looking expectantly from Pike to Neil and back again.
"I can tell you've put a lot of thought into this Lieutenant," said Pike.
"Yes sir."
"Very well. Leave the data rod with me. I'll study your idea and let you know. Dismissed."
"Aye sir," said Carter. If she felt any disappointment that the Commodore didn't immediately grant her request, she hid it well, she simply stood and left the room.
After Carter left, Pike turned to Captain Neil and said, "Well? What do you think, Kara?"
Neil shrugged her shoulders and replied, "Well, it seems a waste to have one of Starfleet's best fighter pilots aboard our ship and not make use of her talents. Maybe we should let her try her idea. The specs for her Peregrine II Class ship looked like they checked out. And it shouldn't be any trouble at all getting Starfleet to send us one -- they're not exactly in much demand any more. The only problem I can think of is modifying our main hangar deck to accommodate a larger ship."
Pike nodded. "I agree. Send off the requisition to Starfleet, and then look into what it would take to modify the hangar.
"Yes sir," said Neil as she stood to leave.
After the ready room door slid shut behind Neil, Pike sat back in his chair and pondered. The Knight was charting unknown space every day. No one knew what they would find out here beyond the Federation's borders. He would feel better if he knew he had a little backup in case they ran into hostiles. This Peregrine project was a step in the right direction.