Story:Star Trek: Arcadia/Chapter One

Chapter One: Spacedock
As Crash starts to wake up he rolls over to see a flashing 12 on his clock. "Shit," says Crash. After looking down at his watch he says "Chase, get up!" "We need to be on the bridge in ten minutes Chase, get up." "Five more minutes," says Chase groggily. "We don't have five minutes," says Crash before pulling the blankets off the bed.

"Bridge to Captain," says Elisa over the comm. "Crash here, go ahead," replies Crash. "We need you on the bridge, sir," says Elisa. "Yea, I know, I'm on my way," says Crash. "Crash out."

"Get your ass out of bed Chase," says Crash. As she rolls over she says, "Fine, I'm up. What is it." "Clock isn't working. Beta shift is starting now, and neither of us is on the bridge," says Crash. "What happened? I thought you set an alarm," asks Chase. "I did. I'll shove my foot up D's ass later, you need to get up to the bridge right now," says Crash. "Alright," replies Chase.

After getting changed into his duty uniform Crash walks into Liz's room and says, "I can't believe you let me oversleep like that Liz." After getting her changed and dressed Crash grabs some supplies carries her over to her governess's quarters. "Sorry, I'm late, overslept, needed on the bridge, have to go," says Crash to Miss Winters, Elizabeth's governess.

Practically running at this point Crash gets to the turbolift and after stepping in he says, "Bridge." The turbolift hums for a second, maybe a second and a half, before the doors open. As he steps out he hears Elisa say, "Captain on the bridge." "Thank you Commander, for announcing my tardiness to the entire bridge." As he walks over to his chair he sees Chase get out of his and sit down in the one directly right. Taking his seat he presses a few buttons on his side console and an image in Engineering comes on. "Get me your boss, crewman," says Crash. "You are the boss, Captain," replies the crewman. "I mean D. The man in charge of engineering, get him on the comm." A few seconds pass and the view changes from main engineering to the chief engineer's office. "Yes, Captain," says Deajyl. "D. Your ass. My ready room. It had better be in there in 5 minutes," says Crash. "Sir, there's a lot going on, can't I just give you my report over the comm," replies D. "This isn't about your report, well maybe partly. You had better be in my ready room in 5 minutes D," says Crash before closing the comm. "Well someone isn't waiting long to put a boot in D's ass," says Chase. "Would you like a front row seat, Commander," says Crash. "Didn't think so, I'll be in my ready room, you have the bridge. I want reports from all stations in ten minutes." "Yes, Captain," replies Chase.

A few minutes later Crash hears the beep indicating someone is at the door. "Enter," he says. "You're late D." "Sorry, Captain. I had to make sure someone was watching the warp core's initialization process to ensure we don't blow up before we even leave spacedock," says D. "Want to explain why the alarm I set didn't go off this morning. I was late for my shift because it didn't go off," says Crash. "We had to reroute power from a couple of the decks to prevent an overload in the bio-neural circuitry of the ship. Deck 4, 5, and 6 had the highest risk, but there was a slight off-balance on deck 3, so I had it done there as well. And you just recently changed your personal quarters to Deck 3 from Deck 2. Captain, I'm terribly sorry about that," says D. "Alright, your off the hook this time. Next time I want a heads up," says Crash. Before he can say something else there is another beep at the door. "Enter," says Crash. "Captain, I have reports from all stations," says Chase. "And," says Crash. "All stations report ready, impulse standing by, warp drive coming online as we speak," replies Chase. "Very well. D, you are dismissed." "Aye, Captain." says D before exiting the ready room. "So, how'd the foot up his ass thing go," asks Chase. "According to him it was an accident, so it didn't happen, next time though," says Crash with a smile. "Anyway, what do you have to report, Commander," asks Crash. "Reports from all stations are in, everything is in the green, except for warp drive, it is being brought online at the moment, they will run the checks and get back to us within an hour or so," says Chase. "I want that report in half an hour, light a fire under their asses," says Crash. "Dismissed." "Yes, sir," replies Chase before setting down the padd and leaving the room.

Meanwhile on the bridge, "Commander, the starbase in this system is hailing us," reports Lieutenant Mason. Standing up from the center seat Chase says, "Onscreen." "Ah, Commander Davis, what can I do for you," asks Chase. "Where is your Captain, I need to speak to him," says Davis. "The Captain is preoccupied at the moment, can I take a message," replies Chase sarcastically. "No, what you can do is go get him, and un-occupy him. Now." Taking the center seat again Chase pulls the terminal up and says, "I'll send a message to him, but he is busy. I can not guarantee that he has time to meet with you right now." With a flash Crash sees a message pop up on his terminal saying, "Hail for you, Davis insists to speak with you, but I told him you were busy, he seems angry and aggressive. More than usual anyway. - Chase." Pulling up the projection keyboard Crash types a reply, "Tell him I will meet with him in a few minutes, but what I am working on is pressing so unless it is a matter of life and death he should take a chill pill. - Crash."

After seeing the message she stands up and says, "Put him back onscreen, Mason." "Yes, ma'am," replies Jordan. A second later Davis' face is on again on the view-screen. "The captain says what he is currently working on is pressing, he may be able to meet with you in a few minutes, for a small amount of time, but unless it is a matter of life and death you should and I quote the Captain, 'take a chill pill'." "Now then, Commander, the Captain will contact you when he has a chance, good-bye." says Chase quickly motioning for Jordan to kill the comm.

Back in his ready room, Crash goes over the reports, checking to make sure everything is within specs. "Everything looks good," he says. After pressing his combadge he says, "D, status report, now." "Impulse ready, warp drive coming online right now, eta 5 minutes," replies D. "Get it up," replies Crash. Pressing his combadge again Crash says, "Captain to Winters, status." "Something is wrong with Elizabeth, but I don't know what," says Miss Winters. "Sickbay," replies Crash. "I was just getting ready to call you and tell you," she says. "Alright, take her there, I have a few more things to wrap up, then I'll meet you there," says Crash.

Picking up his padd he walks out onto the bridge. "Commander, take us to blue alert. Hail the Commander, patch it to my padd," says Crash. "Yes, Captain," replies Chase as Crash walks to the turbolift. "Jordan, blue alert. Hail the station commander." "Taking us to blue alert now, Commander," says Jordan. Half a second later the overhead light switches from white to blue and all the LCARS switch to a blue theme. "Commander Davis is responding, putting it on-screen now," says Jordan. "What is it now Commander Wallace," asks Davis. "I am patching you through to the captain, one moment," says Chase.

Stepping out of the turbolift on Deck Four Crash pulls up the padd to see Davis on it. "Commander Davis, what can I do for you, and please keep it brief, I am very busy right now." "Fine, short version: We have a ship coming in that is heavily damaged and needs repairs asap, we need your drydock," says Davis. "We will be launching later today, they can have it after we leave," replies Crash while walking toward sickbay. "They have massive damage to critical systems, the ship might not last long enough to wait for you. Your ship is ready, I have the drydock reports right here, I can see the blue lighting behind you, you are ready, so give me the dock so we can get this ship repaired," says Davis. "We may be at blue alert, but warp drive is not online, and we are having some errors in the impulse drive, we aren't leaving until they are sorted out. That is final, Commander, good day," says Crash before dropping the comm.

Pressing his combadge Crash says, "Chase, I spoke with Davis, our impulse drive is malfunctioning, and warp is not online, okay," says Crash. "Okay, I'll be sure to stick to the story if he calls the bluff," replies Chase. After walking into the very small sickbay Crash says, "Kelly, report." "As far as I can tell it is a genetic disease along sections of her Romulan DNA," says Kelly. "English," says Crash. "It is a genetic condition inherited from her mother," replies Kelly. "From what little data is in the database it can lie dormant for years, it is treatable, but not me, we need a Romulan doctor, sir," says Kelly. "Then we will find one." he says. "Keep me posted," says Crash before walking out of the sickbay.

Back on the bridge Chase and D are speaking. "Wait. Wait. Wait. I just spent hours bringing the impulse and warp drives online and now you want me to take them offline," says D. "Yes, the Captain didn't go into details, but yes," replies Chase. "Absolutely not," shouts D. "Make it happen, D," says Chase. As Crash steps out of the turbolift and onto the bridge he says "Stand down from blue alert. Jordan, get the astrometric charts." "Yes, Captain," replies the helmsman. "Senior departmental staff meeting, 10 minutes," says Crash. "Commander, may I speak with you in private now, before the meeting." "Yes, sir," says Chase before following Crash into the briefing room. As they walk into the bridge-aside briefing room Lieutenant Commander Flores slides into the center seat and says, "Get those charts to the Captain, and stand down from blue alert Lieutenant."

"What's wrong," asks Chase. "Don't ask, not right now," replies Crash. Jordan walks into the room with a few padds in his hands, "Here are the charts you asked for Captain." "Thank you, you are dismissed Lieutenant," replies Crash. "What are you looking for," asks Chase. "I'm trying to find the nearest civilian medical station, that is also Romulan," replied Crash. "Why," asks Chase. Crash looks up at her but doesn't respond, Chase walks around the table and says, "Liz," to which Crash gives a slight nod. "What's wrong Jon," asks Chase again. "Dr. Abbott doesn't know. Just that we need a Romulan doctor," replies Crash. "Here, the Orinth system," says Chase. "Orinth... That system is pretty deep into Imperial Romulan space. It is only a handful of lightyears from the Rator system. I'm not so sure we want to be that close to the capitol of the Star Empire Chase." says Crash. "It's Orinth or nothing, everything else I can see is military, and you can be sure will have Tal Shiar or Star Navy guarding them. If not both," replies Chase. "And what do you think Rator will send when they detect us heading for a civilian hospital, that close to the capitol, forces leaving Rator III could be on top of us in less than two minutes," he says. "We can't take on the entire Star Navy. This ship may have a ton of firepower, but we can't take them all at once." "It's Orinth or nothing, we have to try," replies Chase. "Alright, we have to try," says Crash.

Hearing the doors to the briefing room open Crash says, "You are early, still three minutes til the meeting." "Better to be early than late," replies D. "Alright, take a seat everyone," says Crash. "I will keep this brief. I am rescinding our original orders post departure from drydock, the reason isn't important, but it is urgent." The ship's science officer speaks up, "What could be so important you are willing to tell Command to shove off." "Duncan, that is need to know," says Chase before Crash can respond. "Whatever," Duncan scoffs. "Alright, this does not leave the room people. My daughter, Elizabeth, is ill and needs a doctor, a Romulan doctor, something we do not have on this ship. So when we leave drydock, we are setting course for Romulan space," says Crash. "Jordan, get to the helm, go to Blue Alert, stand by to leave drydock." "Yes, Captain," replies Jordan. "That is all, get to your stations, people," says Crash.