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flightofthebelluewood.p1
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1995-08-20
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Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!uunet!news.inhouse.compuserve.com!news.production.compuserve.com!news
From: Laura Lea Smith <75371.3562@CompuServe.COM>
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: Flight of the Bellue Wood Pt 1
Date: 7 Feb 1995 03:10:28 GMT
Organization: via CompuServe Information Service
Lines: 165
Message-ID: <3h6ob4$mop$3@mhadg.production.compuserve.com>
Xref: tivoli.tivoli.com alt.startrek.creative:5736
Captain Jessica Talon watched the status display scroll on
the monitor of her command chair as Commander Khan paced from
station to station around the bridge. She knew she should say
something to him; at two meters tall and three hundred pounds her
Caitian first officer was making people nervous.
Commander Taylor, Command Intelligence and Operations
Officer, watched the seven Intelligence and Operations
Specialists under her command move about the three meter wide,
five meter long room that, in addition to her duty console on the
bridge, would be her "office" during her tour of duty. The Bellue
Wood was one of the first vessels to have a true Intelligence
department. Granted they had science officer duties as well but
the Bellue Wood was a combat vessel and providing the Captain
(and the Marine Force Battalion's commanding officer) with update
information on threats and local information was her top
priority.
Back on the bridge Lt Commander T'Pok moved blue hands
swiftly over his console, acknowledging the diagnostics being run
on the ships weapons and shield systems. His antennae twitched
with anticipation as he contemplated the power at his fingertips.
The Bellue Wood was the first of a new class of ships based on
the Excelsior. Her quarters and facilities weren't quite as nice
as the original but then her mission was different. She was a
warship meant for short intense conflicts.
Her shields were as strong as the Excelsior but with more
power reserve. Her primary phasers, fired from a dorsal phaser
array along the rim of the saucer section, were Class X, like the
Excelsior, but her secondary banks were only Class VII. She had
two banks of two torpedo tubes in the fore and one bank of two
aft. She carried a load of five hundred torpedoes, nearly twice
the normal amount. one fifth of those could be modified to fire
as probes.
Less than two meters to T'Pok's left sat Colonel Maxwell,
commanding officer of the ships complement of five hundred
Starfleet Marines. Though a Starfleet Vessel, the Marine Force
Battalion was the Bellue Wood's reason for existence. A Marine
Delivery Vehicle, the modified Excelsior class carried a reduced
ship crew and less luxurious quarters than say the Enterprise but
then she wasn't meant for the long haul exploratory missions. She
was a rapid response vessel. A warship.
The Battalion consisted of two infantry companies, each with
a commando platoon for reconnaissance and special operations, and
one armored company. There were hangar deck-sized ready rooms and
platoon sized transporters, as well as banks of vehicle
transporters allowing several armored personnel carriers to beam
down at once. There were also several platoon sized shuttlecraft
in case transporters were unusable.
Though normally operated independently, for major or
prolonged operations the Bellue Wood became the center piece of
the 103rd Marine Expeditionary Force. A command vessel, two more
marine delivery vessels, an Excelsior class battleship, a fast
supply vessel, a hospital ship, and several destroyers completed
the task force. An MEU was capable of military actions of
indefinite length.
In one of the ready rooms, the size of a football field,
Lieutenant Roga Danar straightened his Starfleet uniform,
midnight blue with maroon piping. He realized that, even with the
credit he received from the Tarsian War, receiving command of a
Commando Platoon right out of the academy was quite an honor.
He watched his marines store the suits of cyber armor and
Fisher rifles. Phasers were fine for the rest of Starfleet but
kinetic energy was still the best weapon. The mission to rescue
Federation hostages from Fisher IV proved that in a terrible way.
The indigenous inhabitants of that planet had an innate ability
to redirect the energy from the phaser rifles and nearly 200
marines were massacred.
The plasma rifles in use today were nicknamed for that
incident. The assault rifle fired 4.5 millimeter rounds of
superheated plasma; a minigrenade launcher was mounted under the
barrel. There was no stun setting but then the Marines were not
diplomats. Not 'policemen'. They were a lethal force, a last
resort. They were the dogs of war, unleashed only when diplomacy
had failed.
The rifles and armor could have been replicated but it was
Marine tradition not to replicate uniforms armor or weapons.
"Captain, Commander Sisko is hailing us."
"On screen."
"Its private Captain."
She sighed, "Very well, I'll take it in my ready room."
Once seated she activated the com link to DS9. "Yes
Commander, can I help you?"
Talon knew she sounded curt but she was impatient. She was
anxious to get underway; she was about to get her wish.
"Message from Starfleet Captain. Your to proceed into the
treaty zone and head to the 'badlands'."
"What? Why?"
"Voyager has disappeared."
Talon paused. She knew Janeway. She didn't like her,
personally, but she knew her. Janeway was a good Captain. She
shook her head and said, "Bellue Wood is a marine delivery
vehicle, not a cruiser, and we're not at full readiness at that."
"She's an Excelsior Class, she's more than a match for
anything either the Maquis or the Cardassians can field. Besides,
your the only ship in the area."
"Isn't that always the way."
Talon went straight to her command chair and lowered the
armrests to "tactical" position. The bridge crew noticed. Kahn
was already moving as she said, "Prepare to get underway, primary
crew to the bridge, all stations: status report."
Two Miradorn twins came off the turbolift and headed for
their positions at helm and navigation. After a quick check they
both turned in tandem and said "Helm and Navigation at one
hundred percent Captain."
Over the com-link came the voice of Commander Clark, the
Bellue Woods Chief Engineer, "Engineering at ninety percent
Captain."
Commander T'Pok looked up from his station, "Tactical at
ninety five percent Captain."
"Operations at one hundred percent Captain."
There was a pause. Talon glanced at her display. "Medical,
report."
"Uh, Medical here, Captain...Medical at ninety five
percent."
Talon glanced at Kahn as she said, "Who is this?"
Lieutenant Marcus, Captain, Chief Nurse."
"Where's Commander Krieger?"
"Uh, well, Captain, he's..."
Talon grew impatient and broke off the signal. "Computer,
locate the Chief Medical Officer."
"Commander Jung Krieger is in the main shuttlebay."
Kahn headed for the Turbolift, "I'll get him."
"No," Talon said, getting up from her chair, "You have the
conn, I think its about time I met my Chief Medical Officer."
When Talon found out her Chief Medical Officer was a
Tellarite her first concern had been about his bedside manner but
now she wondered what kind of discipline problems Tellarites
would offer. Would he challenge her authority? If he did he, like
others before him, would regret it.
Krieger was in the middle of the bay with a set of golf
clubs. There was a line of golf balls at his feet and as Talon
approached he yelled "Four!" and whacked one of the balls. It
sailed down the bay bouncing off one of the shuttles.
"Doctor, hat the hell do you think you're doing?"
"Hello Captain. Practicing my drive, I've got a mean
tendency to slice I cant shake."
Talon was incredulous. "Why aren't you in sickbay?"
"I tried that, I kept bouncing the balls off the lab
equipment."
"Krieger! We've gotten orders to get underway, you should be
getting sickbay on line!"
Krieger finally looked up. He was very calm for a Tellarite.
"Captain, with all due respect, there are one hundred medical
personnel on board this vessel. They are al very capable people.
They're doing a fine job and they don't need me looking over
their shoulders giving them orders to do stuff they already know
has to be done. If there was a problem they'd call me. And when
we do get underway I'll inspect sickbay personally and give'em
all a hearty 'well done'."
Talon shook her head, "I have a headache."
"Maybe YOU should be in sickbay."
Talon looked up sharply, "Doctor we get underway
momentarily. Report to Sickbay now. That's an order."
"Yes Captain."
--
Laura Lea
-----------------------------------------
Im not bad, Im just drawn that way