Organization: Penn State University
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 09:28:52 EDT
From: <LEN101@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: STTNGU: THE VIGILANTE

STTNGU: Star Trek The Next Generation Universe

    The following is PART 1 of the first draft of a story I
started this summer.  It is my first attempt at writing a STAR TREK
Universe Story. I say Universe because familiar characters make
only cameo apperances.
     The way its going the length should be about 4 parts of
similair length.  1 and 2 are done and 3 is started.  I am extremely
interested in comments.  Since it is a 'Fist Draft' I am open to
suggestions.  Also because of the length I will wait to see
responses (if any) before posting the rest.
                            Lawrence E. Nagy
                            LEN101@psuvm.psu.edu


I have no doubt at all the Devil grins,
    As seas of ink I splatter.
Ye gods, forgive my "literary" sins-
    The other kind don't matter.
                        R. W. Service

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

General Disclaimers apply.

All poetry taken without permission (but with great respect) from
_The Collected Poems of Robert Service_.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


                  T H E   V I G I L A N T E
                          (part 1)


Have ever you heard of the Land of Beyond,
    That dreams at the gates of the day?
Alluring it lies at the skirts of the skies,
    and ever so far away;
Alluring it calls: O ye the yoke galls,
    and ye of the trail overfond,
With saddle and pack, by paddle and track,
    Let's go to the land of beyond! ....
                        Robert Service
                        "THE LAND OF BEYOND"




    The Tau-Epsilon star system was remote even by Star Fleet
standards, of course this was one of the reasons it was
chosen.  It was also a very crowded system with twelve
planets and 6 different asteroid belts.  The five innermost
planets were 'rocks' with the rest being gas giants.  The
system also had a very uneven planetary plane making the
inner planets a little bit more difficult to approach.
    The fourth planet from the yellow Tau-Epsilon sun had a
barley breathable atmosphere.  In years past there had been a
small mining operation on the planet but it had been
abandoned for a more profitable system.  The habitats left
behind, however, had made a great base camp for the project
now nearing completion.
    Star Fleet didn't normally make a habit of constructing a
star ship in such a remote location.  This ship however was
extremely unique not only in its design but also in its
mission.
    The flat black of the space dock girders hung in a close
orbit around TE-4.  Inside the frame work was a truly
different star ship.  The large saucer section and warp
engines made it unmistakably Star Fleet.  The saucer section
was obviously old, even the lowest cadet at the academy would
know that it shouldn't be tied to the new style warp engines
especially four of them.  There were also a number other
things that a trained eye would pick out wrong with this
ship.  Some were that they shouldn't be on a saucer section
that old and others that simply were not Star Fleet standard.
    Along the girders were a number of obviously
prefabricated buildings.  All habitats for the workers and
equipment were contained in the buildings set up along the
girders.  These accommodations would normally be provided for
either planet side or in a nearby space station, however that
was quite impractical here.  Once the space dock was
completed the workers were grateful to be away from the old
mining habitats.  The VE-4 space dock had become a self
contained world with but one purpose, build the ship.
    Most of the construction and workers were no longer
visible as they had moved inside the ship to make it space
worthy.  A few white suited workers could be seen along the
girders and in and around the ship tying up loose ends.
Standing alone barely noticeable against the black of the
girders and the continuous night about them stood a lone
black pressure suit.  As construction neared completion the
man came and stood here more often staring at the ship.
    Captain Anthony watched his ship near completion, and
thought of the mission ahead, it was suicide by it's very
nature.  This however hadn't detered him from accepting
command.  It also didn't have an effect on volunteers to crew
the ship even though no one knew the ship, its name its
design or its mission.  All that was known was that it was
extremely hazardous duty with only single, unattached and
experienced personnel considered for duty.

    Anthony glanced down at the displays in his helmet, the
Enterprise should be arriving soon he thought, it had entered
the system just before he had stepped out.  The security for
the sector and the system was extremely tight.  The
Enterprise would approach so as always to have TE-4 between
it and the Space Dock.  The fewer people who saw the ship or
even knew about it the better, the consequences of
information falling into the wrong hands Picard and the
officers of the Enterprise knew all too well.
    This is why Enterprise was the only ship that visited
TE-4.  It is also why there were no records being kept of the
visits and the sensors were never used to check the
construction site.  Simple beacons and indirect
communications were the only proof the Enterprise had that
anything was here at all.  The only reason Picard went along
with this was that he knew the basic, ultimate mission of
what ever was happening here, that was enough.

    "Sir, approaching minimum distance to beacon signal." A
young navigator said as the Enterprise entered orbit about
the barren TE-4.
    "Thank you, Ensign" said Captain Picard.  He then turned
to his first officer and said "Number one, inform our guests
to gather their belongings and report to their designated
transporter....."
    The navigator pushed a strand of her red hair off her
forehead and stared at the planet on the view screen.  In the
background she could hear the conversation of the bridge
crew, however unless she picked up something pertaining to
her or her job she just filtered the noise out.
    Ensign O'Malley was a dreamer and self proclaimed
romantic.  She was born in the feral colony on Vega-5 and
adopted when she was twelve by Doctor Peter O'Malley.  The
ships physician of the first star ship to visit V-5 in over
200 years.  Many of the warlords of V-5 rejected Star Fleet
claiming the colony was settled before the current Federation
charter was signed therefore they were protected by the Prime
Directive.  After months of negotiations Star Fleet finally
pulled out but not before little Janice had been adopted.
    She had been on board the Enterprise for quite some time
but rarely worked with top bridge crew.  Her normal shift was
usually second or third by the ships schedule.  The only
times she worked with them was in special situations when the
captain's presence was required during her shift or an
emergency arrived.  The only problem was that during
emergencies she was usually relieved for the more experienced
first shift navigator.  This was one of those rare occasions
when something important enough was happening during her
shift to bring the Captain out of his hole but not important
enough for them to bring the whole fisrt shift crew to the
bridge.
    Janice O'Malley always dreamed of what lay just out of
sight.  She had that desire to open a closed door, turn just
one more corner, to look to the other side of the horizon.
This caused great conflict in her during these missions for
she greatly wished to conjecture to her shipmates her ideas
as to what was on the other side of this horizon.  However
for security reasons all talk on the subject was prohibited.
    During the first trip to the system Ensign O'Malley had
noticed that the automatic navigation log had been disengaged
prior to her shift.  When she brought this up with the
officer of the shift he reminded her of the no record order
by Star Fleet and all automatic logs had been deactivated.
It was highly stressed that no one should talk about or enter
personal logs that revealed any details of the mission.

    Standing along the corridors of one of the lower decks
was a long line of assorted Star Fleet personnel with bags
packed and mostly looks of irritation.  They had been
relegated to one small (comparatively) area of the ship than
basically quarantined.  The regular personnel had no contact
with them and they were not permitted in other parts of the
ship without an escort.  Even though the need for extreme
security was carefully laid out to them there was still
enough complaining from a few to make the whole lot start
feeling discontentment.
    "I can't believe it, they keep us holed up in one area of
this enormous ship for the whole trip than they don't even
have the decency to use all of their transporters to get us
out of here quickly.  Its like first they don't want us here
than they don't want us to leave." The man sounding off was
one of the usual complainers.  He was a large, bearded human
who was apparently some sort of expert in weaponry but no one
was quite sure since he boasted proficiency in just about
everything.
    "Mr Dolittel why don't you bless us with your silence
for once.  We're finally getting somewhere and we still must
listen to you babble on."  The speaker was about ten places
down the hall from Dolittel.  She was a dark skinned humanoid
who could look Dolittel square in the chest.   She was slim
and well proportioned compared to a human female and wore the
yellow uniform and insignia of security.  She was not tall by
any means but was well muscled.  She had a high forehead
reminiscent of a Klingon but wasn't one.  Her long black hair
was pulled into a braid and hung down the middle of her back.
    "Commander Tarva, Sir, I didn't see you there." Dolittel
mumbled and turned back toward the transporter room.
Dolittel's griping had come to a halt, at least for a while.
    Tarva stood patiently with her satchel at her feet.  Her
stance was a classic military at-ease posture.  Though a Star
Fleet Academy alumni her up bringing and background on her
home-world was very strict military.  It was this strict
military background that helped her quickly move up through
the pseudo-military Star Fleet.
    She could hear the constant hum of the transporters in
the room ahead as the line slowly moved forward.  Suspicious
by nature and profession she could not help but feel they
were lined up like 'algots going to the slaughter'.

    As the Enterprise's transporter room dissolved around
her, a new one took its place.  The room was extremely large
maybe ten times the size of Enterprise's if not larger.  Her
background immediately showed it self again as she figured
one could transport nearly a whole Kalonian battalion at one
time from here.
    "I told you, they could have transported us here in a
quarter of the time if they wanted to" of course Dolittel
would be the first thing she'd hear upon arrival.
    Standing in front of the control panel for this section
of the transporter was tall slightly balding human with long
black gray hair pulled back in a pony tail.  The man was
wearing a loose fitting black uniform with no visible sign of
rank but some standard Star Fleet insignia.  The uniform had
several large pockets on the jacket and more on the pants,
even on the lower parts of the legs.
    The shoes seemed out of place with the obvious utility of
the uniform, they were soft low cut with a sole that could
barely be described as firm.  It occurred to Tarva that these
were not standard for the uniform but were in fact boot
liners for a pressure suit.  The realization made her smile
and think "I'm going to like this man".
    A man in white coveralls of a construction worker stepped
forward and asked for their I.D. cards.  These he handed to
the man in the black uniform.  The man looked at each card
and though it was obvious he had done this with every person
who had come aboard he still actually read at least the name
on each card.  It was not as if he were looking for someone
it was as if he were trying to match everybody's name and
face the first time by.
    "Welcome aboard" he said as he handed the cards back to
the man in the coveralls.  "I'm Captain Anthony," the hum of
another portion of the large transporter could be heard next
to them. "please follow this gentleman he'll show you to your
quarters.  Be patient, this ship is still under construction,
some things aren't working yet and your also going to have to
share quarters with more personnel than they were designed
for until others are ready".  As they gathered their
belongings and stepped off the transporter a woman in white
coveralls asked the new arrivals on the other transporter for
their I.D. cards.
    "Commander Tarva" the captain said as Tarva turned to
exit with her group.
    "Yes, Sir." she said and facing the captain and coming to
attention.
    "Please report back here after you get settled."
    "Yes Sir" she repeated as the captain turned his
attention to the new batch of I.D. cards and the transporter
pad she was just on hummed with new arrivals.  Many people
would have thought Captain Anthony rude with them or at least
curt.  Not Tarva, her only impression was that this man was
extremely busy.
    Too much was happening around Tarva for her to fully
appreciate it.  Workers in different styles of the white
coverall worked all around, bunches of optical cord hung from
open ceiling panels, sparks flew from welding torches..still
under construction was an understatement.  She also thought
of the captain's order to report to him as soon as she was
'settled' she wasn't quite sure how soon this man expected
her, she'd just have to do things one at a time.  The first
would be to unpack then find her way back to the transporter
room.  She still couldn't help wondering what the captain
wanted with her perhaps he had an assignment for her.  It
would have to be important to signal her out perhaps Chief of
Security.  This wasn't too much to expect since she was Chief
of Security on the Eclipse.  Even if it was an escort ship it
was still a responsible position.  What ever it was it had to
be one of the top security positions, her background was too
extensive to be simply standing guard on the transporter
room.
    A cabin door slid open and the man in white said that
there was room for one more in these quarters. "and remember"
he said "these are just temporary until the rest are
completed." Somehow Tarva found herself standing at the front
of her group, so she stepped in.
    "Do you believe this, they have eight of us crammed into
what is obviously meant for four.  This is a freaking
enlisted barracks.  What kind of chicken outfit is this
anyway?"  The all too familiar voice came from what was
apparently the head.
    Tarva walked over to the one bunk that was slightly
separated from the rest, it was without a doubt the prime
real estate of the room.  All other occupants were at their
own bunks, the only other empty one was a built in top bunk,
the least desirable in the room.  Tarva picked up the
equipment all ready on her bunk of choice and dropped it in
the middle of the room and placed her own in its place.
The other occupants in the room were Dolittel's regular
companions but they said nothing, just did their best to
ignore her.
    A chime sounded on one of the walls and a name appeared
on a computer screen.  "That's mine" one of her room mates
said and got up to retrieve a stack of folded black cloth
from a drawer that came out of the wall as he approached.  He
then joined Dolittel in the head.
    "What's that?" She asked, somebody had to say something
eventually.
    In response a tall blonde haired woman sitting on the far
side of the room tossed her a laminated card.

Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Vigilante.

--- There will be a mandatory meeting for all personnel at
    0830 in shuttle bay 1.  This should give all a chance to
    get settled.  All crew assignments will be handed out at
    this time.

--- Ship's uniforms are available from the replicators in
    each room just program required size.  Standard Star
    Fleet issue boots are appropriate. (a slight wait may be
    necessary, full power is currently not on line)

--- Please make yourself as comfortable as possible,
    as soon as more quarters are finished they will be
    assigned.

Tarva checked her time piece, 0600, they had plenty of time
to get the whole gang over from the Enterprise even at the
current rate.
    "Who put my stuff in the middle of the floor?!" Dolittel
bellowed as he emerged from the head wiping water from his
face with a small towel.  He was already wearing a black
uniform identical to what the captain had.  His shoulders
filled the doorway he stood in and his hair brushed against
the top of the frame.  His gaze then shifted to the bunk he
had claimed with his gear.
    Tarva smiled slightly and said "I honestly think you'll
be more comfortable on one of the regular beds, these
temporary cots are quite lumpy".
    Dolittel looked at his friends and for a moment, it
seemed as if he would stand up to Tarva.  Instead he picked
up his bags and threw them on the empty bunk.  "What are you
doing here, Sir?" he said to Tarva.
    "Everyone must make sacrifices, Mr. Dolittel." She
responded.  Then said "Computer".
    "WORKING" replied the generic female voice.
    "Commander Tarva requesting complete ship's uniform" said
Tarva she then gave size and other particulars.
    "Your going to have a wait we've all placed our orders
and only two have come back so far." said the tall blonde.
    Just then the chime rang again and another of the gang
said that it must be his.  As he approached the drawer he
looked at the screen and saw Tarva's name flashing.  "This
things fouled up" he said "It says here its her stuff" and
gestured toward Tarva.  He held up the pants they were too
small for anybody in the room except for Tarva.
    "Thank you." she said and took the bundle to the head.
She stood in the door way looking inside.  The crewmember who
had just went in to change came out immediatly.  He was half
dressed and wore only the baggy uniform pants and black tank
top type under shirt.  The rest of his uniforms he had
obviously gathered quickly and had them bunched under one
arm.
    "There's got to be some mistake, this thing's got the
rest of us qued up in the same sequence we placed our
orders." said the lieutenant by the replicator.
    "Typical of this place," said Dolittel "even the computer
doesn't know what the hell its doin. But don't worry I'll get
things straightened around soon as they let me get to work."

    Tarva stood in the restroom in front of a full length
mirror her yellow standard uniform lay in a pile near her
feet.  She looked at her self in the mirror.  All she was
wearing was a tight black tank top and matching mid-thigh
shorts.  On her right shin was strapped a black sheathed
mean looking knife, with what appeared to be a bone handle
and flat black blade, obviously not regulation.  She studied
the scars visible on her shoulder, arms and lower legs.  Many
a human doctor had offered to remove the scars for her but
none seemed to comprehend the pride she took in them and the
battles they represented.
    She looked closely at her left cheek and neck, there was
a fine line, were a scar should be, extending from above her
left eye down her cheek and neck to her shoulder.  An over
zealous human doctor had matticulesly repaired this wound.
For all the years humans had been in space they still treated
all cultures by human values.  It had never occurred to him
that a Kalonian would view a scar such as this differently
than a human.  She however couldn't feel too bad towards the
doctor since he served on the star ship that rescued her from
the escape pod after the Eclipse was destroyed.

    Commander Tarva had been aboard the USS Vigilante exactly
30 minutes when she walked into Transporter Room II to report
back to Captain Anthony.  The room was empty of new personnel
only the captain and workers were in the transporter room.
Most of the workers were busily doing something with both the
transporter pads and the control panel.  Captain Anthony
looked concerned as he studied the output on a tricorder a
skinny man in a white uniform was showing him.
    Captain Anthony looked up at Tarva as she walked in and
smiled at her.  "Welcome back Commander," he said "I hope you
found your quarters acceptable for the time being".
    "I don't expect I'll be spending a lot of time there will
I?" she said as she walked up to him and stood at attention.
    "Commander as you may have suspected my current staff is
quite slim, in fact before today I was the only crew assigned
to the Vigilante to arrive.  That leaves me in the unique
position of selecting my own staff out of a relatively small
pool of volunteers.
    "I have gone over the records of all the personnel
assigned to the Vigilante and personally selected the
assignments for each crew member.  Most decisions were easy,
someone is a navigator or an engineer, they have specific
rank and basically fall into place.  Top command staff is
never that easy however Chief Engineer, Chief of Security and
others require a little more intuitive thought." He paused to
check the skinny man's tricorder again.
    "This is it" Tarva thought, "he wouldn't be telling me
all of this if I wasn't getting Chief of Security."
    "The reason I'm telling you this" he said turning his
attention back to her, "is that I had a difficult choice to
make for Chief of Security.  A man named Simon Norton is
boarding as soon as we get this thing fixed.  He's been head
of security on three different Star Ships most recently on
board a Galaxy Class which he is giving up to volunteer for
this mission.  I know this man, he has no desire for any
other command position.  He is one of the best when it comes
to security."
    Tarva could feel her world shaking, she had been so sure
of getting the position in never occurred to here that
someone with such credentials would volunteer for a blind
suicide mission like this was rumored to be.
    "I know this may be slightly disappointing to you
Commander." this was a major understatement and he seemed to
know it.  "I couldn't however put someone with your record
and diverse background in an ordinary position. That is why I
have chosen you as my First Officer.  Congratulations."
    "Thank you Sir" she managed to utter in complete shock.
He had done this on purpose set her up for the fall pushed
her over the edge then caught her at the last millisecond.
This man had a vicious sense of humor, she was going to
really enjoy working with him.
    "Now Commander we have work to do.  One of the positions
I haven't filled yet is Chief Engineer we have several
qualified personnel," Captain Anthony pointed to the mess
around them in a sweeping gesture "I suppose now is as good a
time as any to make that decision.  Your first assignment
will be to get this mess working and give me a call when your
ready to continue the transfer process."
    "Sir, why doesn't the Enterprise just transport the
remainders?" Tarva asked as she took in the whole transporter
room.
    "In order to keep the minimum distance we need the power
of both transporters and these two pads are the only ones on
this ship that currently work.  Now decide on a Chief
Engineer and get this thing working.  We've got to have it
working by 0700 if everybody's going to make the meeting."
with that Captain Anthony left the room with eight white
coveralled workmen looking at Tarva.
    Before the door had slid completely shut First Officer
Tarva's hand was on the intercom "Lieutenant Commander
Dolittel report to transporter Room two immediately".

    Transporter Room II was soon filled with Tarva's
roommates plus a few others.  Dolittel's feet stuck out from
an open access panel under the transporter pad. His cursing
could be heard across the room.  He slid himself out and sat
up.
    "What the hell is this thing?" he said "I've never seen
circuits like this."
    "It is state of the art in transporter technology." came
a woman's voice from an open transporter room door. She was a
medium height brown haired humanoid.  A slight ridge along
her upper cheek bones making her eyes appear sunken was the
only obvious nonhuman feature. She wore the standard white
coveralls of the other construction workers.
    "Doctor Cembera, I should have known you were behind this
mess."  Said Dolittel as he stood to greet the new arrival.
"If this thing is your doing, where have you been while we've
been trying to get it back on line?"
    "I was detained in engine room one installing a new style
dilithium crystal chamber." she said as she approached the
troublesome transporter pad.  She then turned to Commander
Tarva who had been running diagnostics at the transporter
control panel.  "First Officer Tarva, I'm Crystal Cembera
chief engineer in charge of construction of the Vigilante.
I'm glad you were finally able to join us here at TE-4."
    "I'm glad to finally be here." Said Tarva "Now if you
could help my Chief Engineer get these things on line."
    Doctor Cembera looked at Dolittel with a slight grin and
said "That shouldn't be too hard".
    Dolittel and Cembera obviously had a history but this
didn't seem to stop her from ignoring Dolittel as easily as
everybody else did.
    Doctor Cembera started running a diagnostic on the
transporter while pointing out certain details of the new
technology to Dolittel.  "The main idea is to boost the
effective range three to four times."
    "This is a great step forward", Dolittel said "you've got
the largest transporter room mockup I've ever seen".
    "The next supply ship should have the parts we need to
get all three transporter rooms working properly." Doctor
Cembera said ignoring Dolittel's comment's "the technology is
so new its taking quite a while to get the chips made."
    "Then how in the world did you get these two pads to work
if your still waiting on the chips?."
    "I had to make my own chips,"
    "That's probably what failed." Dolittel muttered.
    "and is why we only have two pads working." she said
still ignoring his comments.  "It was a long and exhausting
job, I can only guess that something came loose." Doctor
Cembera crawled under the pad and disappeared into the
workings.
    She soon emerged from under the pad and handed Dolittel a
blackened fist-sized component.  "Both pads were down, so I
figured it had to be power related since they each run on
their own computer circuitry." She said as she reached into a
panel that opened from a near by wall.  The panel contained
several different kinds of parts, obviously spares.  She then
retreated back under the transporter pads.
    When she came back out she said "OK fire them up".
    With that Dolittel pressed a couple of buttons and the
transporters lit right up.  "Well" he said "Looks like I've
got a bit to learn before I can be an effective Chief
Engineer".
    "Well don't worry, you seem to have a good teacher."
Tarva said.
    "And quite a while before we'll even be ready to begin
space trials." Cembera added.  Then said "Come on John, I'll
give you a tour of your engine rooms".
    "There's more than one? And what's this about a new style
dilithium ..." Dolittel could be heard saying as the door
slid shut behind him.
    Tarva frowned as she realized Dolittel just walked out
with out being dismissed.  As more people arrived, she would
have to make sure proper Star Fleet regulations were
maintained.  She then pressed the intercom button "Commander
Tarva to Captain Anthony, transporters back on line, sir."
    "Thank you Commander" he replied "I'll be right there.
Please inform Enterprise that we're back on line.  Out".

    Tarva's tall blonde room mate was working the transporter
controls, it turned out she was a top rated operator, when it
happened.  The last group was transporting from the
Enterprise when there was a general abort warning issued from
engineering.  The warning was almost immediately followed by
a massive power surge.  If it wasn't for Chief Swanson's
reflex action to the warning all eight of the personnel in
transport would surely have been lost.  She was able to
reverse the beam before the surge got through the
transporter.
    The surge did catch personal pad number one.  The result
pulled the person out of transport in a crimson flash.  The
crew had no chance to cover themselves from the resulting
gore.  The whole transporter room was immediately splattered
in red.  On the pad lay a writhing mass of tissue and bone
with blood spurting from what had once been organs.
    Transporter Room II immediately emptied with the
construction workers and crew racing for the doors.  Many
were losing their last meal on the way, others slipped and
in the blood.  Chief Swanson, Fist Officer Tarva and Captain
Anthony were the only ones to hold their ground.  Captain
Anthony and Chief Swanson had gone ghost white with shock,
Commander Tarva looked to the captain for instructions, all
he could say was "Get rid of it".
    Tarva walked over to a security panel removed a phaser
and pointed it at her former crew member.  Her only thought
as she pushed the trigger was "I wonder who it was".  It was
exactly 53 seconds since the alarm sounded.

    Captain Picard sat in his ready room with the Image of
Captain Anthony on the monitor in front of him.  Captain
Anthony had several drops of blood on his face and he looked
slightly ill.  Behind Anthony a worker in red stained white
coveralls was cleaning blood off a wall.  The view was so
tight on Anthony this worker was only occasionally visible.
What ever happened there Picard thought, had to have been
unlike any transporter accident he had ever heard of.  What
ever new technology they're using on this project has to be
radically new and dangerous.
    "According to my records, Ensign Shertz was to have been
my primary navigator". Anthony was saying "Now, I am without
anybody who is currently qualified for the position.  Captain
Picard, I'm aware that a ship like the Enterprise is likely
to have several officers qualified to fill this position..".
    "Captain Anthony," Picard Said "Are you suggesting that I
assign one of my junior officers to your project?".
    "Not at all." Was the reply "I was merely suggesting that
there may be someone in your crew qualified for this
position, who also falls under the other criteria, willing to
volunteer if given the chance."
    Picard thought for a second then said "I'll put the
request before all qualified personnel."
    "I'll trust your decision, let me know when or if you've
found a navigator for me.  Anthony out."
    The screen immediately went black and Picard sat and
stared at the silence for a minute then said "Computer list
all ship's personnel qualified as navigator for a star ship."
    "WORKING" the generic female voice said then immediately
displayed a list of over 30 names.
    "Now delete all personnel who are married or have known
living family."
    Three names remained on the list:
                  Commander Data
                  Ensign Janice O'Malley
                  Ensign Ro Laren
    Captain Picard sat and looked at the three names neatly
printed on the black screen.  Who would it be?  If they knew
the mission of the project they would all jump at the chance.
That however was against regulations, all he could tell them
was that it is an extremely dangerous mission perhaps even a
suicide mission.
    Since if any of these three officers knew they were only
one of three qualified for this project once again they would
all certainly volunteer.  Picard decided to post a general
notice to all thirty from the original list.  Perhaps by some
slight chance the only one he felt he could replace would
volunteer.  If not, he would cross that bridge when he came
to it.  This was a strictly volunteer mission and he could
not make anyone in anyway feel obligated to volunteer.
    Within minutes of posting the notice there was a signal
at the door.  It was Commander Data.
    "Sir" he said "by your notice I believe I am the most
logical choice to fill the navigator position.  Unless you
count Lore as a living relative.  I know that Star Fleet does
not recognize him as my next of kin."
    "Data" Picard Said "I was expecting you, I tried to
figure out a way to turn down your request with out giving
you what little more information I have about the project.  I
decided however that to properly satisfy you I must fill you
in with what little more information I have."
    Five minutes later Data left the ready room fully
satisfied that it would be extremely hazardous for him to
transfer to this project.  As he left he passed the red
haired Ensign O'Malley on her way to meet with the captain.
It occurred to him that she too was on the list of qualified
navigators.
    This was too good to be true, Janice thought as she
walked in to see the Captain Picard.  A chance to transfer to
a secrete project, a dangerous mission this had to be good.
No more boring star charting,  no more hauling diplomats
around, no more Ensign Ro taking over for her every time it
was just getting interesting.  When the tour ended she would
surely be assigned as primary navigator some where.
    "Sir" She said almost before the door closed behind her
"have you had any volunteers for the navigator position?"
    "Yes, just one" he said "however upon close scrutiny of
his record we decided he was not appropriate for the
assignment."  Picard sat back and watched her face light up
with excitement.
    "Sir, I respectfully request a transfer."
    "Ensign O'Malley I feel it is my obligation to tell you a
little more about this mission" Picard said "The notice has
always stated hazardous duty however since you are
approaching this as a last minute replacement I think you
should know that most consider it to be a suicide mission."
    "Sir, this is a suicide mission?" O'Malley said quite
taken aback.
    "No, I did not say that. I said that it is so hazardous
that the few people who know about it consider it a suicide
mission."
    "What do you think of it sir?" she asked still a bit
confused by what Captain Picard was trying to say.
    "If it works it will be well worth the costs" he said
"All else I can say is that I have a personal interest in the
success of the mission."
    Picard took a deep breath and looked at the beautiful
young woman standing in front of him.  Her large gray eyes
looked back at him expectantly.  Finally he said "If your
still interested I'll arrange transportation.  Go start
packing your gear."
    "Thank you sir" she said and snapped to attention.
    "Dismissed" he said.
    Ensign Janice O'Malley turned sharply and exited the
ready room.  As she left Captain Jean-Luc Picard looked at
her personal file that was on the screen during the whole
conversation.  On it was noted the time and circumstances of
her adoptive father's death.  "It looks like we all have a
date with destiny some time in our lives" he said to himself.
    It was finally happening she was getting to look on the
other side of a forbidden horizon.  Janice could feel great
apprehension though.  Stepping into the unknown was always a
bit scary.  She could feel her pulse race with anticipation
as she packed her few belongings.
    Being a third string navigator on any ship never rated
the larger quarters.  Ensign O'Malley however was a woman of
few possessions.  Vega-5 if nothing else had taught her to
approach life as a minimalist.  She had very few belongings
and really didn't care for a larger billet.  The last thing
she packed was an old style picture in frame.  It was a
picture of her father and her taken during her first visit to
Earth.  She was still young maybe fifteem earth years, too
old to be considered a child but not yet quite a woman.  They
were standing in front of some ancient ruins in a country her
father claimed his family name originated.  She wrapped the
picture carefully in a uniform and placed it in her case.  Of
her few possessions this would always be her most treasured.
    She wondered how she would transfer to her new
assignment, the survivors of the transporter incident had
been shuttled by a very odd looking shuttle.  She wondered if
they would send it all the way back to get her.  She wasn't
really sure what had happened with the transporter only
something had gone wrong on the other end and someone, a
navigator, had been killed.  They did not expect to have the
transporters working anytime soon.  At the current distance
the Enterprise could not transport her on its on.
    Just then Chief O'Brien's voice came over the intercom
"Ensign O'Malley, please report to transporter room 3, with
your gear.".
    "I thought" she said to Chief O'Brien upon entering
transporter room 3 "that we were unable to transport until
they got they're system back on line."
    "I thought the same thing." He said "but they gave me new
coordinates for a different transporter.  Apparently they had
shut it down for being in an unused area.  They brought it
back on line to help tie up the loose ends before the
Enterprise's departure."
    Janice hesitated stepping onto the transporter pad.
Though she had done this many times before it had never been
immediately following a fatal accident.  She looked to
O'Brien and he just smiled and nodded his head.  So she
stepped onto the pad stood at attention and waited.
    The Enterprise's transporter room dissolved around her
and was replaced by a smaller more sparten room. In front of
her behind the transporter controls stood a man in white
coveralls.  "Welcome to T E four space dock" he said
"We'll be ready to transport you to the ship in a few
minutes".
    To her right Janice could see a large space station style
window.  From her vantage point she thought she could see the
hull of a ship.
    "Would you like to take a look at your new assignment?"
the man asked.
    Ensign Janice O'Malley put her bags down in place and
stepped down to the window.  Outside was something she had
never seen, a star ship in space dock.  This was unlike any
star ship though, a small older style saucer section dwarfed
by four new Galaxy style warp engines.  The saucer was
attached directly to a boulbus main body without the ussual
neck lifting it away.  The impulse engines appeared to be
raised up from the main body just behind the saucer.
    There were other things wrong, the color wasn't the
standard star fleet white, it was more of a dull gray.  There
was no name or number designation anywhere to be seen and she
had a clear view of the top of the saucer section.  There
were other anomalies: antenna pods, miss placed orifices etc.
that were not indicative of either the old style saucer or
the new style engines or anything else for that matter.
    "What is it?" she asked the man now standing next to her
also admiring the ship.
    "She's called the U.S.S. Vigilante" he said.
    "What kind of name for a star ship is that?" she asked
not really expecting an answer.
    "Don't ask me" he said "all I do is work on
transporters".
    "I hope you weren't running the transporter last time."
she said with a slight smile.
    "No, Sir" he said "Besides that was caused by a power
surge from engineering."
    Just then there was a signal from the intercom.  "Whelp
the captain's ready for you, time to report for duty" he
said.
    "I guess so" she said as she returned to the transporter.
    The small transporter room dissolved from view and this
time was replaced by a much larger one.  In front of her
stood a tall man with long gray/black hair that was thinning
on top and was pulled back in a pony tail.  He wore a
slightly baggy black uniform with several large pockets.
Though he wore no obvious insignia this man must be in some
kind of authority.
    Once she could move again she stood at attention and said
"Ensign Janice Louise O'Malley reporting for duty, Sir."
    "Welcome aboard the U.S.S. Vigilante, Ensign" the man in
black said "I'm Captain Anthony, did you bring your personal
file?"
    "Yes Sir" she said and handed him a small computer disk
from an outside pocket of her bag.
    "Very good" he said as he slipped the disk into the
tricorder he was holding.  "Now leave your bags here, they
will be delivered to your quarters.  Right now we are late
for an already postponed meeting.  Please come with me."
    As they left she finally noticed that there were several
people in blood stained white coveralls vigorously cleaning
the transporter room.  Another in clean coveralls approached
her bags as soon as she left the transporter pad.  She also
noticed that a personal pad to her left was shattered and
blackened.  She could feel nausea catch in her throat, what
ever happened here must have been  horrifying.
    All through the corridor the men in white coveralls were
hard at work.  Many areas where exposed to the superstructure
some she could see down through several decks of framing.  At
one point they had to edge along exposed girders to keep from
falling to the next deck.  This was the same area a work man
had given them each a hard hat to wear while passing through.
    "If we weren't so late I would have taken the safer but
longer route." the captain said as they edged along the beam.
    When they finally arrived at the shuttle bay it was
filled with more than a hundred black uniformed crew.  Ensign
O'Malley never thought she would feel out of place on a
federation star ship while in uniform.  Now while surrounded
by the crew dressed in the baggy black uniform she definitely
felt out of place.
    The Captain walked her up to a short dark skinned woman
with a high Klingon type forehead and a long braid of hair
down her back.  "Ensign O'Malley" he said this is my First
Officer, Commander Tarva.
    "Commander Tarva" Janice said in greeting.
    Commander Tarva shook Ensign O'Malley's hand and said "At
least you've lasted longer than our last navigator did."
    "Your attention please" the captain said into a loud
speaker.  "Once again I'd like to personally welcome you
aboard the U.S.S. Vigilante, the most unique craft ever
conceived of by Star Fleet.
    "First thing I'd like to say is to remind you of the
mission you volunteered for.  Our intent is an extended
hazardous duty mission.  We may be on tour for several years
or more with no or little contact with Star Fleet.  In fact
many analysts believe we will not be heard from again.  Now I
want you to reflect on this, because in a few minutes when I
tell you our exact destination there will be no transfers or
shore leave off the Vigilante until after the mission is
completed.
    "If you have second thoughts leave now, collect your
belongings and report to transporter room 2.  The Enterprise
is currently standing by to start you on your way back to
your last assignment."
    There was a stirring among the crew, as this sunk in.
Several groups discussed this amongst themselves.  Finally
three individuals step forward and announced that they had
second thoughts.
    "Very well" Captain Anthony said "I want to thank you for
the dedication that got you this far.  You will be returned
to your previous position and no mention of this incident
will appear on your records.  I must also remind you to never
talk about this project, all details are considered top
secret.  Also anybody who persists in questioning you about
it must be reported to Star Fleet Security.  Finally you must
never even discuss this project amongst your selves once you
leave this ship it never happened is that clear?"
    "Yes Sir" they said together.
    "Dismissed" Captain Anthony said and watched the three
exit the shuttle bay.
    "As some of you may have guessed the U.S.S. Vigilante is
not a ship of peace," Captain Anthony began "it is a ship of
war.  We are at war, that's right we are at war and the
Vigilante was designed to take the war to the enemy.  In
order to hasten the construction of the Vigilante parts were
used from the destruction of the first battle.  The enemy we
face is one of the strongest and most irresistible the
Federation has ever faced.  The enemy we are going to meet is
the Borg."
    At the revelation a slight murmur rose from the crowd.
Finally a voice came from the crowd.  "Sir how do we expect
to accomplish this,  over 30 ships were destroyed fighting
just one Borg cube.  Now you plan to attack them with just
one ship made up of junked parts.  What have we gotten
ourselves into?"
    Captain Anthony smiled at this it was just the reaction
he expected, since it was the same one the project committee
got when they originally approached Star Fleet with it.
"Listen to me" he said "the superstructure maybe made of old
parts however the technology put into this ship is cutting
edge.  In every area you will notice parts and functions you
do not recognize this whole ship has become the proving
ground for radical new ideas.  It will be our job to test and
use these new ideas.
    "As we already know as we use the new components of the
Vigilante things may go wrong.  You have all been accepted
for this mission because you are some the best.  I am
confident that working with the designers of the Vigilante
you will all learn the new technology and be become as
confident as I am in our ability to actually pull this off.
    "I am sure you are also aware of the Borg's ability to
gain knowledge from our computers and prisoners.  Therefore
it is imperative that we do not unnecessarily discuss
functions of our departments with other departments.  There
are new designs in all areas of this ship.  Technology we
know that the Borg do not attribute to the Federation.
    "Another unique feature of the Vigilante is the computer
systems.  Though there is a central computer for the day to
day needs of life on a star ship, each area has its own
separate computer system.  These systems are totally
inaccessible by the central computer.  This does create a
problem, a galaxy class star ship can actually be operated
with as few as five crew members when in automated mode.  The
Vigilante needs over fifty highly trained crew just to keep
it maneuvering in warp."  This was a bit of an exaggeration
but he wanted to keep them on their toes or what ever it was
that they may pass for toes.
    "By now all crew have received there assignments, you are
to work with construction personnel preparing The Vigilante
for duty.  I know there is a lot of work left to do and
little time to do it, but I am certain if we work together we
can have the ship ready on schedule.  I also expect that you
should know this ship inside and out by the first space
trials.  Now lets get to work.  Dismissed."

    When Simon Norton had entered the meeting room he was
last as usual.  He had a great propensity for being late.  It
never seemed to be of his doing however.  It wasn't his fault
that the transporter failed twice before he ever got aboard
the ship.  The last time it left him stranded on the
Enterprise.  The trip to the Vigilante was an eye opener.
The transport sent to retrieve them was by no means a
shuttle.  It was a troop carrying 'drop' ship designed for
rapid deployment of personnel to transporter protected
landing zones.  Only Star Fleet's few anti-terrorist units
carried this kind of ship and even they carried standard
shuttle craft.
    It was strange that he was the Chief of Security on a
Star Ship that he had no idea what design it was.  He didn't
know its class or it's layout.  He knew it was something
different, the large size of the shuttle bay told him that.
Also the narrow corridors and small rooms suggested something
different about the Vigilante.  He only wished that the drop
ship had windows.
    Captain Anthony was sitting in a small room with his
command staff when Commander Norton finally got around to
joining them.  The room like the rest of the ship was painted
in gray and other drab colors.  In the middle of the room was
a large dark gray table with straight edges but slightly
bowed to fit with the bow of the room.  Around the table were
ten high backed chairs securely fastened to the floor, they
were also equipped with emergency restraints and belts.  In
front of each place was a computer terminal sunken into the
table.  At one end of the room was a large display screen
obviously for presentations to the group.  The outside wall
had several windows looking over the port side of the saucer.
Along the top of each window the bottom of the blast shields
could be seen.  The shields all over the ship would snap shut
during red alerts and when in 'silent running'.
    In the early days of Star Fleet before advances in
deflector shield technology blast shields were installed on
ships meant for some heavy action.  If this ship was destined
to confront the Borg it would need them.
    The small amount of time Norton had been on duty he had
spent his time reviewing the files of the other officers.  If
he was to properly over see security he would have to know
with whom he was working.  Now sitting next to Captain
Anthony in the Command Staff Meeting room was First Officer,
Commander Tarva and across from her was Lt. Commander
Dolittel, Chief Engineer.  The fourth in the room was a tall
female humanoid in the white coveralls of a construction
worker, she was sitting next to Dolittel.  Commander Norton
had been unable to find any information on the construction
personnel in any of the computer files.  This had distressed
him for he felt it best to know everyone he had dealings
with.
    "Ah, Commander Norton" The Captain said, "glad you were
finally able to join us.  I believe you should be familiar
with every body here except Doctor Cembera.  Doctor Cembera
is the chief engineer in charge of design and construction of
the Vigilante."
    "Doctor." Commander Norton said and slightly bowed his
bald head towards her.  He then took a seat close to the
door.
    "This meeting is intended to fill you in on some of the
specifics of the U.S.S. Vigilante." said Captain Anthony and
pushed a button on his computer terminal.  On each terminal
and on the main screen a detailed picture of the ship
appeared and began to rotate slowly.  "I believe I'll leave
this lecture to Doctor Cembera".
    "Thank you Captain" Doctor Cembera said as she stood up
and approached the screen.  "The U.S.S. Vigilante is designed
with three main features in mind: speed, fire power and
stealth.  To quickly build the ship we decided it necessary
to use some space frames deposited at Memory Alpha.  Most of
the parts used were in fact taken from the ships destroyed by
the Borg.  We have however completely refitted the ship with
new technology from the material used in the hull to the
drive systems.
    "I'll start with the hull, the original 'skin' of all
components was removed and replaced with a new composite
material.  This material is much less penetrable and
detectable by all known or encountered scanning devices.
This makes us virtually invisible on long range scanners and
appear much smaller to closer range sensors.  Windows however
can not be made of the new material so all windows have been
fitted with old style blast shields.  If power to the main
deflectors is ever lost windows without the blast shields
would be extremly volnurable to detection.
    "It is a known fact that Star Fleet has a policy against
the use of cloaking devices on its ships.  This policy does
not however preclude the research in cloaking technology.
The main goal in cloaking research has been to develop
adequate detection of cloaked ships.  This research added to
what we have learned from the Klingons I believe has created
the most sophisticated cloaking system ever implemented.  The
technology has been installed in the Vigilante.  Together
with the new hull material we call the combined system A.C.T.
that is Advanced Cloaking Technology.  With A.C.T. the
Vigilante should be completely invisible to the Borg and all
others for that matter."
    Commander Norton interrupted "If Star Fleet has a policy
against cloaking how did we get a whole ship built around
cloaking technology?"
    "Star Fleet regulations have very little influence over a
ship that officially does not exist." responded Captain
Anthony.
    Norton sat back to cotemplate the implications of what
the Captain just said while Doctor Cembera continued.
    "The next obvious feature of the Vigilante" she said "is
the number of warp drives.  With new technologies and
alignments these four engines should jump the Vigilante to
warp 9.6 from sub-warp speeds in less than a second.  You
should then be able to hold warp 9.6 for an extended period
of time.  Next.."
    "Excuse me Doctor." Lt Commander Dolittel said.
    "Yes Mr. Dolittel" Doctor Cembera said with a bit of a
frown as if anticipating what was coming next.
    "I've been doing some research on these new technologies
and alignments as you call them." Dolittel said "and aren't
they actually old ideas that have been tested and found to
create uncontrollable worm holes around the ship using them?"
Dolittel finished with a troublemakers grin.
    "Is this true?" Commander Tarva asked.
    "Yes" Doctor Cembera replied.
    "Your saying you've built this whole ship around theory
that has already been proven to be flawed?" was Tarva's next
question.
    "This was to be my next topic," Doctor Cembera said "if I
may continue I think I'll be able to answer your questions".
    "Please continue Doctor." the Captain said knowing what
was coming next.
    "Your absolutely right Lieutenant Commander Dolittel" she
stressed Lieutenant knowing how much that elusive promotion
irritated him.  "This technology does tend to produce an
uncontrollable worm hole.  The elimination of the worm hole
effect has plagued me and other scientists for years.  Not so
long ago I was discussing this problem with a colleague in
front of my young daughter and my daughter actually came up
with the idea that has made this all possible" she said
proudly.
    Doctor Cembera's audience looked at her blankly. She
continued on ignoring the looks. "what my daughter asked was
why don't we control the worm hole.  To tell you the truth
this had never occurred to me mainly because travel through
the warp generated worm hole can be extremely unpleasant."
    With the word unpleasant a couple of people took a second
look at the restraints on all of the chairs and began to
realize what Cembera was getting to.
    "These worm holes can also throw a ship many light years
off course if not further.  If we can control the worm hole
and get it to deposit us were we want to go, even with the
unpleasant effects, it could be quite useful.  In other words
we could get the worm hole to place us in minutes where it
may take us a year at warp nine to reach."
    "You keep using the word, us, are you planning to join us
on our planned journey?" it was Dolittel again.
    "I use the word merely as a figure of speech, Sir" Doctor
Cembera answered crisply.  Then Continued "We have
implemented the new drives in an older test ship.  Once again
like all technology we're using it involves complete
replacement of the main systems plus extensive reworking of
other systems.
    The results were extremely promising, the vessel ended up
within the desired sector.  There was however a bit of a side
effect caused by the worm hole, a great deal of the outer
hull was ruptured in transit.  This however should not effect
the Vigilante since the technology has been refined a great
deal and the hull and shield strengths have been greatly
increased.
    "Finally, there have been a number of modifications in
the shield generators, weapons, and transporters to make the
Vigilante actually several generations more advanced than
even a Galaxy class Star ship."
    "Don't you think your being just a bit over optimistic
with that last statement." Dolittel said as Cembera reclaimed
her seat.
    "And" Tarva interjected "do you think only a couple of
generations are enough to defeat the Borg where they live?".
    "Allow me to answer that." Captain Anthony said "Our
mission is not to defeat the Borg but rather to collect
extensive information about them in the hope of being able to
defeat them the next time they arrive in our little arm of
the galaxy.  Okay any other questions?"
    Captain Anthony and Doctor Cembera began to field
questions about different aspects of the mission and details
of the ship.
    During the meeting Commander Tarva examined Commander
Norton.  He was a large humanoid about the same size as
Dolittel.  His size was due as much to genetics as it was to
an obvious attempt on his own part to maintain a highly
muscled physique.  She could see highly defined muscles
reaching up to his neck it even appeared that his face was
muscled.  His ears were pointed and his forehead slightly
pronounced like a Romulan's.  Tarva's background told her
that this man was at least part Romulan.  Her background also
told her that the Romulan/Volcan traits were extremely
dominant and all he needed was one hiding somewhere in his
family tree for him to show these kind of features.  Another
oddity about this man was his totally bald head.  It was
obvious, at least to her, that he shaved his head which was
not consistent with any cultures she could readily attribute
to him.

    Ensign Janice O'Malley piloted the gray Drop Ship through
one of the Tau Epsilon far asteroid fields.  Next her sat a
very cocky acting young man in white coveralls named Picback.
They were both properly strapped into their seats but his was
turned slightly and leaned back so he could place his feet up
on an empty area of the control panel.  "I still don't see
why I'm out here flying this can around."  she said "I'm a
navigator not a shuttle pilot."
    "First of all this is not a shuttle or a can" Picback
said with a smile. "It's a highly sophisticated troop drop
ship.  Second from my understanding they don't have much need
for a navigator on the Vig for the time being.  Third all
navigators should be trained as pilots and these are the only
things to pilot or navigate for the time being.  I guess
their just trying to make you earn your keep."
    Just then something beside rock appeared on the scanners.
"That must be our target," Picback said "remember with the
cloaking he can't see us so keep your distance.  We don't
want him running into us after dropping off our package."
    From their position they could watch the tug disconnect
from the cargo pod after placing it in close proximity to a
large asteroid.  It then lifted away from them and their own
sensors told them it was doing an intense sensor sweep of the
area.
    "What's he doing that for?" she asked Picback.
    "His instructions are very strict,  he's not to leave the
cargo if he detects any other activity in the area."  He
replied as if extremely bored with the whole process.
    Ensign O'Malley continued to track him as he high-tailed
it out of the system.  Once the tug had entered warp she
began to approach the cargo pod.  Picback now sat in normal
position and began to work his own controls.  The Drop Ship
slowly approached the giant cargo pod and was soon dwarfed by
it.
    "This thing looks longer than the Vigilante it self" said
O'Malley as she moved ever closer to the pod.
    "Well they were originally designed to haul a couple
Galaxy style warp engines around in, with room to spare.
This should be our last delivery." Picback said as he powered
up the magnetic cargo couplings that had been retrofitted to
the Drop Ship.
    "What do you suppose is in it" Janice asked her companion
trying to make conversation.
    "You know the regs" he said with a smile "we're only
allowed to discuss matters directly related to our jobs.  I
can make small talk with you about anything to do with a drop
ship or flying one.  Believe or not we are even allowed to
discuss details specifically related to any current
assignment."
    With this dissertation Janice laughed and said "You could
have just said, I don't know."
    The couplings clanged into place slightly jolting the
ship.  "OKay" Picback said "ease the power up slowly this tub
is a lot more powerful than a wimpy star fleet shuttle and
remember we have a lot more mass now."
    "Mr Picback I am not fresh out of the Academy." Ensign
O'Malley said slightly irritated "I have maneuvered the
Enterprise through an asteroid field on more than on
occasion."
    "The Enterprise's deflector shields probably gave you
quite a bit more room for error, huh?" Picback returned just
as they jerked forward. "What was that?"
    "Just slipped the accelerator a bit" The Ensign said.
    "How can you, slip the accelerator a bit?" Picback said
worryingly "You better let me have control I've done this a
lot more than you have."
    "Don't worry" Janice said with a slight grin Picback
didn't notice "I can handle it." and pulled back on the
control stick to start the maneuver to arc them out of the
asteroid field.  "But you know its been quite some time since
I've piloted anything with a control stick."
    "Why didn't you tell me this before we hooked on to this
monster" Picback said trying not to show the panic he was
starting to feel.
    "I tried to." Janice said "But you said I had to earn my
keep.  Now's its too late, huh?" she sounded as if she was
trying not to panic which didn't help Picback's new state
of mind.
    A proximity warning began to flash on the scanner
console.  Ahead of them they seemed to be about to ram a
rather large orange asteroid.  Picback locked his arms and
legs and shut his eyes bracing himself for the collision,
which never occurred.
    "What happened?" he said after more than enough time had
passed for them to have hit the asteroid.
    "You were right," Ensign O'Malley said with a smile "this
thing does have a lot wider turning radius than I'm used to."
    They than passed between two extremely close asteroids as
the proximity warning flashed again.  Before Picback had time
to react again they were clear of the field.
    "Whew," Janice said and feigned wiping sweat from her
forehead. "I didn't think we'd make that last one".
    All Picback could do was sit there and hope he didn't
draw the red head as a partner again.
    The huge cargo pod sped through space with no obvious
means of propulsion as the Drop Ship remained cloaked.  As it
approached TE-4 Ensign O'Malley had to place their cargo in to
a predetermined orbit.  The velocity and orbit had to be
precise in order to eventually get the pod in a matching
orbit with the space dock.  The idea was to place the pod in
a high orbit and brake it down to the matching orbit with the
dock.  She had been braking since passing the orbit sphere of
TE-5.  Now she had to drop into a high orbit and begin heavy
braking hopefully the space dock would catch up with them as
they reached its orbit.
    An untrained observer would have thought the procedure an
easy one.  As the cargo pod entered it's high orbit it began
making increasingly lower orbits over the space dock.
Eventually the pod just seemed to drop into space over the
space dock.  It was then maneuvered into its place in the top
of the framing directly over the Vigilante.
    Picback and O'Malley had been gone just over two days and
four hours when they maneuvered their ship into the shuttle
bay.  As soon as the ship came to rest the airlock door flew
open and Picback jumped down, fell to his knees and kissed
the deck.  A man in a black crew uniform stood at a nearby
control console watching the scene and looked at Picback as
he quickly walked by.
    "Don't ever, ever put me in a ship with her again. She
was doing barrel rolls on our way in." Picback said to the
shuttle bay chief as he passed.
    The shuttle bay chief then watched Ensign O'Malley ride
the slowly descending Drop Ship stairs as they lowered in to
place. Her combed back short red hair was slightly messed
from the long trip and she carried her uniform jacket
casually over one shoulder.  As she walked up to him she put
her jacket on and fastened it properly.  When she reached him
she handed him the ships log.
    "What was wrong with your technician, Ensign" he asked
her.
    "I have no idea, Sir, I guess he's a bit high strung."
she said with a bit of a smile.
    The Chief checked the log and looked up at the young
woman standing before him.  "Okay, dismissed" he said.
    "Thank you, Sir"
    The Chief smiled as he watched her walk out and thought
"I knew we'd have problems with cloaking these things during
routine missions."
                                   (..to be continued)