"Miss Katie Mitchell, this is Carl Scott, the Chief Engineer."
"Pleased to meet you Katie." They both extended hands in greeting.
"Pleased to meet you too."
Carl was in his fifties with greying hair and a rounded belly. From the first moment she laid eyes on him, Katie couldn't help but be reminded of the character "Scotty" from the television series Star Trek. A big smile came across her face.
"Before you say it, I have nothing to do with the transporter system, so I don't want to hear any - beam me up Scotty wise cracks." He said as his cheerful expression turned forbidding momentarily. It was a nickname amongst his subordinates and he detested it greatly. As far as Carl was concerned he had no resemblance to the television character, despite what his staff seemed to think.
"Okay Carl." She said while trying not to laugh. "I'll try to refrain myself." Katie gazed at the spectacle through the window. "You have a very impressive view from your office."
"Yes it is, I never get tired of it." He said as the smile returned to his face.
"Everything is on such a grand scale, I can't believe how big those engines are."
"Each of the warp drive engines generates one point four billion gigawatts of power. That is, each can power every home on the planet." Carl said.
"How fast does it go?"
"Warp factor twelve."
"What does that mean in English?"
"Twelve times the speed of light or three point six million kilometres per second."
"That's pretty fast, I beat it gets lousy mileage."
"It runs on an electro-chemical conversion of the crystal conductor tubes that you can see. The beauty of it is, the resultant material can be transformed to the original crystal just by applying heat and the heat you need is what's developed from the engine. So as the engine runs, it provides thrust while reforming the fuel it needs. Once the engine is started it will run continually forever. It's a shame that man won't find the technology for another four hundred years, and it's even environmentally friendly."
Although Katie understood little of what Carl said, she was still very curious and she could tell that Carl loved to talk about his work. "Where do these crystals come from, some place far away in space I suppose?"
"No, the closest deposit is found on Pluto. In fact most if the planet is made of it."
"Pluto! We could reach Pluto with our current technology."
"Yeah, too bad you can't tell anyone. Let me show you something even more amazing."
He directed them to a door that was opposite the engine chamber. The door slid aside and revealed an air lock to another room. As they entered, the door closed behind them and a scanner passed over the room, immediately a synthesised voice spoke. "Unauthorised personnel, Corporal Mitchell is denied entry."
"Override." Commanded Carl.
The door before them slid aside and they entered the next chamber. The chamber was forty metres square and thirty metres from roof to floor. Within it was a large sphere containing a number of energy beams that projected from the centre to a continually shifting location on the sphere's surface. Apart from the three new arrivals, the chamber was void of any operating crew.
"What is it?" Katie Asked.
"This is the dimensional displacement energy modulator, or D.D.E.M. for short. It allows us to travel to any place and at any time instantaneously."
"Like a time machine."
"Yes, a time machine. What it does is generate a black hole that puncture's the time-space plane, then we pass through the black hole to our destination. When we come out the white hole on the other side, we close up again leaving no trace of gravity residue. A clean, instantaneous transport system with little risk involved. It was invented by Admiral Williams's father, John and developed by the Admiral and a previous member of Intersect, Professor Stephen Bane."
"Bane!" Katie said in shock.
"You know of him, a most despicable character. He was a brilliant scientist but several cards short of a full deck if you ask me."
"We found his secret base a few hours ago and blasted it off the planet, so you won't have to worry about that creep again." Adam said proudly.
"Despite who he was, it was thanks to him that we have the D.D.E.M. fully functional. Now, travelling over vast distances will take no time at all."
"Certainly is an amazing device." Katie exclaimed.
"Thank you for giving us a guided tour Carl, we better be heading off."
"Okay, Adam. It was pleasure to meet you Katie, hope you enjoy your stay."
"Thanks Carl, it was nice to meet you too."
Katie and Adam left the D.D.E.M. chamber and returned to the transporter.
"Where to next?" Katie asked.
"To show you the true passion in my life. Launch Bay Twelve."
With a flash of light they disappeared.
********************
Again the scene before her eyes changed, this time they were in a large chamber like that Katie and Ryan first arrived in, only smaller. The only ships that filled this chamber were the front line attack weapons for Intersect - the Starfighters. Upon the wings of all the crafts was the same symbol of two intersecting arrows that Katie assumed was the Intersect emblem. There was no one else to be seen in the Launch Bay including the maintenance crews. Until the onset of war, this area was to remain inactive. Adam directed them towards a particular fighter where Katie got her first look, close up at one of the sleek, smooth-lined spacecrafts.
The styling was of natural curves that gave it the appearance of a bird in flight. The nose resembled a bird's head while the canopy replaced the eyes and behind the short neck, two delta wings swept back to its tail. Above two large circular exhaust ports, a single tail fin disrupted the bird-like ensemble.
"This is the X2000 Starfighter. The X1000 was the front line fighter for the Federation back in the thirty first century and since then we have made some improvements. She can reach a speed of Warp three for up to two hours and because of the shield system she can do Mach fifteen within an atmosphere like Earth's. She has a fuselage construction of a ceramic alloy that you can fly into a mountain without damaging it and manoeuvrability greater than a Harrier Jump Jet. The weapons are limited to the two photon cannons you can see on the wing tips and the missile launcher that is housed in the belly. We have a wide range of missiles to choose from and she has a maximum missile load of twenty. With this single Starfighter, I can destroy the entire United States Defence Force in one day without them taking one shot at me."
"That is one hell of a machine! Is this yours?"
"She is called Betty, after a girl I liked at school. Say hello to her."
"What, talk to the plane?"
"Yes, she can hear you."
Katie was starting to think that Adam had lost his marbles, so she decided to humour him. "Hi Betty." No sound was emitted in reply but the navigation lights flashed in response. The action made Katie jump. "It's alive!"
"She likes to think so." The navigation lights again flashed in response but several times in an aggressive nature. "Sorry Betty."
"Can you have a conversation with her when you flying?"
"Yes, she is the flight computer. We regularly converse during the flight."
"That is incredible, a plane with a personality."
The transporter flashed behind them and Ryan stepped out. "I hope he isn't boring you with fighter talk."
"It's amazing, the planes talk to you."
"Most of the ships have a conversing flight computer. It helps to make the long hours less tedious."
"How did you know where to find us?"
"Easy, I just asked Mac."
"Who is Mac?"
With his vast computing power, Mac generated an image of his computer simulated face before them and spoke in a large booming voice. "I am Mac."
Katie screamed in horror and clung onto Ryan's arm. "What is that thing?"
Ryan introduced them. "Mac, this is Katie Mitchell. Katie this
is Mac, the Master Access Computer. If there is anything he doesn't know, it isn't worth knowing."
"It's about time someone introduced me, I was becoming concerned that you all had lost your manners." Said the phantom face.
"That's the face I saw on the computer screen, back on Earth."
"I am sorry if I scared you."
"Just don't make a habit of it." Katie replied.
"We had him cancel your access. You were breaching our security if you remember." Ryan reminded her.
"He makes a good guard dog. How does he do that? I mean turn his face on and off wherever he wants."
Mac's face moved to confront Katie. "I can generate my image in any place that is within the reach of my sensors, but I am limited in how far I can manoeuvre my image when the distance from the Endeavour becomes too great. Please don't hesitate to ask for anything. I am looking forward to getting to know you better."
"You can hear me anywhere in the ship?"
"Yes, just call me and I'll be there."
Ryan turned to his Colonel. "If it's okay with you Adam, I'll take over the guided tour from here."
"I have some business to attend to anyway. See you around Katie, it was a pleasure."
"Thank you for an enlightening tour."
"Anytime." Adam entered the transporter, then vanished.
Katie looked around for Mac but he had disappeared as well. "He's gone."
"Back to the many thousands of duties he performs every second." Ryan responded.
As they entered the transporter, Katie asked. "Where to next?"
Ryan replied with two words. "The bridge."
********************
They beamed into a wide shallow room that contained several other transporter units and the opposite wall contained several doorways that entered the Bridge itself. Unlike Launch Bay Twelve, this room was a hive of activity with many different ranks of staff darting in and out of transporter units to their various destinations. Ryan and Katie passed through the central door that was marked ‘Helm’ and Katie's eyes were presented with a spectacular view of the ship's bow and a picturesque scene of the Sun setting behind the Earth. As her attention was brought to the Bridge itself, she realised how big it was and the multitudes that operated it. The bridge was thirty metres deep to the expansive window, eight metres to the roof and a hundred metres wide. The Bridge was tiered in four levels and the level they stood on was the highest. Each level contained a different rank and the lower the level, the lower the rank. The Bridge staff numbered eighty in all. There were a number of screens mounted high on the roof that displayed different views of the surrounding space scape and incorporated in the displays were various types of flight data.
In the centre of the helm level was a lone chair where the Captain of the vessel commanded the massive Endeavour. Katie wondered who the Captain was. Beside the chair was the First Officer who noticed Ryan's arrival. "Admiral on the Bridge!" He shouted as he stood at attention. In response, so did the entire Bridge crew.
Ryan's voice echoed across the now silent Bridge. "At ease." The Bridge returned to its previous clamour.
"Does this happen every time you enter a room?" Katie asked in surprise.
"Yes."
"It would drive me nuts if it happened to me."
"Tell me about it." Ryan answered with a roll of the eyes.
Charlie, who was seated to the right of the helm, approached Ryan. "The Cruisers are bordered and ready to launch."
"Good, stand by for the disengage sequence."
"What's happening?" Katie asked in curiosity.
"We are sending a welcoming committee for the Warrians. Stay behind my chair, the show is about to begin."
"Which is your chair." Katie asked as she glanced around at the several chairs in the surrounding the helm. Ryan walked to the helm and sat down. "I should have known." She announced.
The monitors showed a view of the forward sections of the port and starboard landing complexes and a view of two smaller bridges similar to that of the Endeavour's. Under the left bridge was displayed "Reliant", and under the right "Valiant".
In the right monitor, a senior officer spoke to the unseen scrutinisers. "Valiant ready to disengage."
In the left monitor, another senior officer did likewise. "Reliant ready for disengage."
Charlie turned to Ryan. "At your command Admiral."
Ryan leaned forward in his chair, being in command of so much made the adrenalin pump. "Open port and starboard bay doors." He announced.
A hatch at the end of each landing complex opened slowly to cast sun light on a Battle Cruiser housed inside. The bow of the Cruisers were shaped like an arrow head. The hard sharp lines gave an inkling to the deadly purpose of these vessels.
"Bay doors open Admiral." Announced the First Officer.
Ryan gripped the chair and prayed that his next command would be executed without error or failure. The disengaging of such large ships was fully automated and controlled by precise computers, but such an intricate procedure was open to many hazards. "Disengage."
The forward view of the Cruisers changed quickly between the multiple restraining structures that released their captive to the void of space. Seconds after the release was the charge of the two Cruiser's duel engines. From behind their heads, a distant rumble echoed throughout the Endeavour as the millions of gigawatts of energy were released from their propulsion systems. Slowly, the twenty kilometre long Cruisers crept from their holding bays out towards the sunset. The raw sunlight illuminated the full extent of their superstructures. The fuselage of the Cruisers was elongated with two stubby wings on either side that held the main engines. When they were clear of the Endeavour's superstructure, Ryan sighed with relief and proceeded with his next order. "Close bay doors." Silently the gigantic doors closed behind the Cruisers as they came into view of the Bridge's window. Majestically, they banked to the left to the trajectory bearing for the jump to hyperspace.
"Valiant at trajectory point and ready for hyperjump." Announced the Captain of the Valiant. Moments later the Captain of the Reliant confirmed his position. "Reliant at trajectory point and ready for hyperjump."
Ryan spoke to his Captains. "Good luck you two and remember, as soon as you detect any abnormal high energy readings coming from any of the Warrian vessels, get the hell out of there. I don't want to hear any hero stories of you two taking on the entire Warrian fleet. Just do what damage you can and we'll see you back here in twenty one hours."
The Captains saluted and the twin bridge images changed to an external view of each Cruiser. Their exhausts brightened to large balls of fire, then the Valiant and Reliant dashed out of sight leaving only a tranquil starry night.
The hush on the Bridge was returned to the normal clamour while Ryan stared for a moment at the last position of his Cruisers. He wished he could be with them as they tackled the overwhelming force of the Warrian Empire, but the need of his services was far greater with the Endeavour and the final preparations for the main battle. Their daring strike was a courageous and possibly a foolhardy one, but it had to be attempted. He remembered his unconscious state when he arrived in this time frame and hoped it would affect the Warrians likewise, but a Warrian mind is not as frail as his human counterpart. With countless generations of Warlords in their blood, the possibility of them being effected by the harsh nether-world of a black hole was more remote. His two prized battle Cruisers could be flying into a fleet of fully armed and ready Warrians, and worst of all the Emperor himself. With the Rings of Venal at his disposal, he could destroy them with the point of a finger. Despite the overwhelming odds they faced, Ryan had to try his bold scheme. Even if one of the many Warrian ships were destroyed, his plan would have paid off. Ryan had been over the tactics a hundred times to weigh every possible outcome and always came to the same conclusion. So there was no point now in debating the issue any further. He tore his mind away from the Cruisers, then stood from the command post and returned to his new recruit
.
Katie noticed the excitement on his face had disappeared and was replaced with great concern. "Will they be okay?"
"If they follow their orders. The Warrians will be momentarily vulnerable after the black hole exodus and during those few moments they will have a chance do some real damage." Although his words were confident, Katie could see that he was still concerned about the Valiant and Reliant's future. "General Clark, you have the conn." Charlie nodded and returned to his seat at the right of the helm. "Come, I have something else to show you." Ryan led Katie to the transporter and they left the command centre of the Endeavour for the next point of call.
********************
They appeared in a transporter unit that faced a long corridor. Ryan led her to the end of the corridor where a lone door stood. On each side of the door was a circular window that arched around until they met far away on the other side of a huge abyss. Within the abyss was a large chamber that appeared to have no other entrance apart from the one before them and behind the door was a long access tube that connected to the chamber. Consistent bolts of energy projected from the central chamber and arched to varying points of the circular abyss that surrounded it. Upon the door were a number of signs marked ‘Off limits, grade one personnel only’. Katie became concerned about where Ryan was taking her!
Ryan placed his hand on a circular plate that was beside the door and in reaction, it pulsed with red light. The door swiftly slid into the roof revealing a two and a halve metre metal giant with Viking like horns projecting from his head. He unsheathed a mighty sword and swung at Katie's neck stopping millimetres away. In response she screamed at the top of her voice and fainted.
********************
Her eyes opened to behold Ryan's concerned face, "Are you all right?"
She looked at her body then felt her neck. "Is my head still attached?"
"Yes, you're still in one piece. You fainted."
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