The New Saucer

Posted on Mon Mar 2nd, 2020 @ 3:41am by Admiral Jake Yamaguchi & Division Admiral Thomas Lasky & Commander Moni Nasao PhD & Fleet Captain Torilla Yamaguchi

Mission: Mission 40: Thirty Pieces of Silver
Location: Various Locations - USS Roanoke / Starbase 12
Timeline: 1200Hrs - August 6th, 2391

Roevin Kurkiv looked out the main viewscreen as he saw the Roanoke get pulled in to spacedock by the Dreamcrusher. Where her pod was, all there was was a burnt out stub of the pylon, and the stardrive section had several holes in it. "Wow, that ship has gone through hell."

Captain Andrew Del Rio, whom was on the bridge making final preparations, looked out the viewscreen. "That's Zara Tane's command isn't it."

Roevin Kurokiv nodded, "Yeah."

Del Rio shook his head, "Yeah, she may be the drunk captain of the fleet, but even she doesn't deserve another disaster like this. It was only 9 months ago where she lost over 200 people on that one colony, and lost her XO."

Roevin sighed, "Yeah, anyone whom has to put up with that, of course, she does get screwed over by admiralty a lot.." He then looked over at Del Rio, whom replied, "I know how that feels."

Roevin shook his head, "And why did Nechayev demote you to captaining a tugboat again?."

Del Rio sighed, "Because I couldn't properly control that damn computer virus from infecting the EMH and infecting Nechayev with Norwalk. Though to be honest, the bitch deserves it." He then picked up his PADD, saying, "Well, the saucer is over to you guy's, I'm returning to my ship."

Roevin nodded, "Thanks Captain." he then hailed the Roanoke, and waited for a response.

Commander Torilla Yamaguchi's face appeared on the screen. "This is the Roanoke. Commander Torilla Yamaguchi, presently in command... what can I help you with?" she inquired.

Roevin responded, "Yes I'm Commander Roevin Kurkiv, from Starfleet R&D, we have Roanoke's next saucer section that will be given to you, if you don't mind, I'll come aboard and brief you guys on how your repair schedule will go."

Yamaguchi nodded her head. "Sounds good. The Admiral and I will greet you in transporter room Three. At your convenience." as she tapped her combadge. "Yamaguchi to Yamaguchi. Admiral. you're presence is requested in transporter room three."

"I'll be along presently. Thanks... Yamaguchi out." and with that Torilla smiled. "I will see you shortly." she added. "Roanoke out."

Roevin looked at his three companions and the four of them went to the transporter room. Teval and Karryn where both behind Torilla on the bridge of Roanoke, while Karryn commented, "Huh, that guy is a Seai Sevekian, hey Torilla mind if we come with?."

Torilla nodded. "Sure.. by all means." as she rose to her feet. "Mister Lasky, the bridge is yours"

"Yessir." as Lasky went over to the command chair that Torilla had just vacated as he regarded it.

Moni Nasao tried not to chuckle as she regarded him. "It won't bite.."

"No... I just..... never sat in the big chair before."

"You'll be fine Tom." Torilla commented. "But it takes a little getting used to."

Torilla smiled as she retreated into the turbolift. Minutes later she and her two companions followed her, as soon as the door closed behind them it opened and in walked Jake Yamaguchi. "You rang?"

"We're going to have guests." Torilla responded. "Has our visitor signaled yet?"

Karryn nodded as she operated the transporter console," Yeah they are beaming over now. Karryn looked up as four figures beamed in. Once she got a good look at them, her Jaw practically dropped to the floor in shock, "Ryuukei."

Ryuukei Akavai, one of the Kurokuri whom was just beamed in, dropped his PADD in pure surprise, "Uh,... Hi Karryn,... um, didn't expect to see you here."

Teval looked over at a very surprised Karryn, whom replied softly, "How, did you get here."

Torilla shared a look with her husband as Jake smiled. "You guys know each other?"

Karryn nodded," Yeah." She then looked at the others, and it finally hit her, she recognized all of them. The other Kurokuri present was Weyai, Ryuukei's sister, and she recognized both Roevin and his sister Lynn. "So how did you all get here."

Ryuukei rubbed the back of his head nervously," Well, funny story actually, we where riding on a Fighter Force Transport Shuttle, and our bird came up behind the colony ship and the Battlecruiser you guys where on when that damn wormhole came in and sucked our bird and its escort drones into the wormhole along with you guys. Then when we hit that temporal anomaly sitting outside the other end, it threw our craft in different directions. and we have been wandering about the federation ever since."

Karryn nodded, then it hit her," Wait, Temporal anomaly, what are you guys talking about."

Ryuukei shrugged," Yeah, this reality has temporal anomalies it seems. Our bird was largely unharmed by it."

Teval shook his head," That's strange, because our Battlecruiser took a beating from the anomaly."

Ryuukei shrugged again," Yeah I don't know why that happened, but we didn't get sent as far by the temporal instability, so we where able to go back and examine it before it collapsed. Turned out is that the anomaly sent us back in the past by about 60 years in this universe, though it took us years of examining the data to find that out. Either way, that 60 years is almost up. By my calculations the Noble will start looking for us very soon, so we are almost out of here."

Karryn nodded, "Nice, well its nice to see you again, what are you doing now."

Ryuukei showed the rank badge strapped to his arm, showing the command warrant officer Rank, "Eh, just killing time with starfleet R&D, I decided to stay warrant, since I am already an officer in the Akurian military, I decided against it here."

Karryn nodded, "So it was you guys who brought us the new saucer."

"Yeah," Roevin replied, stepping off the transporter pad, "It contains a fair amount of defensive missile launchers and an expanded hangar bay."

"Nice," Teval added, "Well it is the saucer that has the most internal structural Damage."

Torilla leaned up against the wall as she listened to the banter in silence as Jake stood next to her. Likewise enjoying the silence. "So... what exactly would this new saucer look like... any design and structural changes?"

Roevin looked over at Torilla, "Appearance wise its not much different, except for several VLS missile modules on the external hull, but the main hangar has been expanded to support additional Scorpion class Bombers, expanded ordinance magazines and the like. any last remaining science facilities have been eliminated and a number of space saving measures have been taken. As its set up, the Saucer can support up to 3 squadrons of scorpions, as its new hangar will be as big as the new pod hangar, and, the Valkyries are being replaced with the New Gryphon class fighter, and the new pod hangar will be able to support 120 of them, along with 12 AWAC flyers. Its a much larger capacity that what we have had in the past, owing to the fact that the Gryphons can be triple stacked in the new 18 meter tall hangars."

Jake Yamaguchi nodded. "Sounds almost too good to be true... considering we were told we'd have to wait three quarters of a year because we weren't on a combat assignment."

Torilla kept her silence but the look on her face spoke much.

Roevin shook his head, "Nope, R&D is here to rebuild Roanoke, to use her as an example for future Nebula class carriers. With Roanoke's age, she makes the perfect ship to use as a testbed, so total time for rebuild should be little more than 3 months."

Torilla nodded her head. "Sounds good to me. Proceed at your discretion." she responded bluntly. "I don't think Zara Tane will care about it... she's probably medicated right now.." there was something in her tone of voice.

Jake raised an eyebrow. Now this was a surprise.

Roevin raised an eyebrow, while Ryuukei cocked his head to the side, raising one ear, "Medicated?"

"You do not want to know." Torilla answered, a soft growl. "She's liable to come in here and assume you are cartoon characters from Earth entertainment from several centuries ago." as she growled, not from distress but from rage.

Roevin sighed, while Teval just facepalmed. Ryuukei, sensing Torilla's rage, slowly approached her, saying, "You look like you need a hug, well if you want to pick me up and cuddle me, I don't mind, a lot of people do."

Torilla blinked. "Wait... I thought you guys hated being picked up.." she paused. "Well I guess its a matter of individual preference." before she gently picked up Ryuukei before she cuddled with him. "Gods I need a vacation." she muttered.

Weyai just chuckled lightly, "Well I don't know whom you have been hanging around, but most Kurokuri love a good cuddle."

"I can thank Hakaya for that one." she sighed softly.

Weyai and Ryuukei both looked puzzled, with Weyai adding," If you mean Hakaya Vakar, she is one of the sweetest and cuddliest Kurokuri I know. What changed."

"Hakaya and the terms 'Sweet' and 'cuddly' are not used in the same sentence lightly." Torilla paused. "She's a rage case if someone picks her up. She's wounded more then a few people in her time... Also... she is exhibiting signs of PTSD.... other then that. I can't say much.."

Teval gave a small glare in Torilla's direction, thinking, ' like your much better.'

Yamaguchi regarded his wife. "Torilla... You're worse then she is... because while she keeps to herself..... you don't," he responded quietly. "You need to get out more.." Jake commented quietly.

"I do..." Torilla responded softly. "I hate.. this ship.," she added in a dark tone.

Ryuukei looked positively puzzled, looking over at Teval he asked," What changes since your time on the noble."

Teval sighed and replied, "I can't really answer that, as when we hit that temporal anomaly, our battlecruiser got pretty beat up. Both me and Hakaya suffered severe head injuries, and while our brains regenerated, our memories did not, we have no memory of our previous life."

Torilla spent most of her time in a dark place these days as Jake commented. "Is there any way to get those memories back?"

Ryuukei and Weyai both shrugged "Not entirely sure, but it isn't likely."

Roevin interrupted," Well anyway, if you guys don't mind, I would like to at least see the captain, so I can explain the situation."

Yamaguchi tapped her combadge. "Yamaguchi to Tane. Please meet us in the Green Dragon... We must talk.." and with that she turned and went out the door.

Yamaguchi sighed as he regarded the smaller beings. "What she means to say is... that we can have this over lunch in the Green Dragon... We have very little in the terms of foodstuffs but I'm sure the Sergent Major will happily make you something good." and with that he walked out the door.

"I'll be there," came the nonenthused voice of Tane.

Zara was not medicated, but with her red eyes and shakes, once could she wanted to give in as she passed people in the halls.

Roevin was the first of the group to enter the green dragon, and Teval led them over to Zara. Karryn, Ryuukei and Weyai went to the bar to pick out orders, while Teval introduced Roevin. " Zara, this is Roevin Kurkiv from Starfleet R&D, he and his team are the ones that will bring Roanoke a new hangar pod, and they brought the replacement saucer section as well."

"I must of missed that memo," Zara acknowledged as she ran a hand through her hair. Stressed beyond belief. "How'd you get SF Quartermaster HQ to comply?"

"SF Quartermaster?", Roevin asked, puzzled, "Well I didn't deal with him personally. I just know that we have had a saucer with expanded capacity waiting for a ship to be put on. Since the saucer is older its not compatible with the newer nebulas. So Roanoke is the perfect choice. The test pod is an ongoing project, meant to be a demonstrator for future Nebula carriers. We just haven't found a home for it, until now. It may have been a simple paperwork mix up, R&D and the Quartermasters sometimes don't always communicate well."

Zara gave a dubious stare. For all she knew, April could of done some creative paperwork again. But this was a blessing, regardless. So Zara took a reluctant sip of water before she prodded one with, "Tell me more, please."

Jake and Torilla meanwhile also sat down around the table as Duval quietly kicked everyone else out of the Green Dragon. He first activated the closed sign on both entrances then he told everyone that the lounge was going to be emptied in five minutes so he could clean the place.

Roevin replied to Zara's comment," Well that's pretty much what we are here for, that and to train the crews on the new missiles that are being supplied. A good chunk of my R&D staff will be on Dreamcrusher for her final fitting out phase. Some will be here on Roanoke to train your fire control department on the missiles as well. But i can tell you this, at this moment in time, starfleet seems to be leaning to putting more of their faith in the battleship and battle-cruiser concepts, and they seem somewhat less inclined to put their trust in carriers, so there is quite a bit riding on this."

Jake raised an eyebrow. "Well in our defense.. We've only been at this for several months... its too soon to really decide if carriers suck." he commented.

Roevin shook his head," Carriers sucking is not the problem, its manpower. If you remember right, starfleets biggest issue in the dominion war was a manpower one, that's why there has been such a huge drive to reduce manning requirements for starships. We where able to produce starships three times faster than we could man them. Both the latest models of Nebula and Sovereign classes, which used to require about 750, have now been reduced to about 600 in terms of manning requirements, but a carrier nebula still requires almost twice that number. Even the new Pathfinder 3, like Dreamcrusher has had its manning requirement reduced to about 900, compared to the 1300 of the previous classes. Not to mention this accident is going to raise even more unpleasant questions on the matter. Now Starfleet is happy to invest in fighters as an inexpensive colony defense unit, as long as colonies help foot the manpower bill, but carriers they aren't so popular among the admiralty."

Yamaguchi nodded before he took a seat at the table. "I remember Song of the East's crew requirements which fluctuated from twelve hundred to as high as seventeen hundred. Depending on the mission."
he shrugged. "The Courageous carried fighters during the war.. and last I heard while she was refitting... they were looking at converting her into a carrier."

Roevin nodded, then turned back to Zara, "Also worth noting, we will be up armoring Roanoke, and replacing the shield system with a transphasic shield system. Plus although Roanoke will be losing its normal torpedo loadout, the standard anti fighter Quantum missile that Roanoke will be fitted with, can double as an anti-ship weapon."

"Why not also add this...." Zara pulled out her personal computer and opened up a file. "Manuel pod ejection system along with an independent computer core, so that the pod can function on it's own in the even of ejection from the ship."

Roevin nodded," Yeah, I was thinking about that. Its not in the original plan, but one can be designed. Also as a bonus, the Hangar pod will get its own small sickbay due to the number of accidents that tend to happen there."

Zara pulled up the blueprints of the ejection system. "This is a beta design, more or less because my captain duties have taken a lot of my time... But maybe these will be a good starting point."

Roevin took the blueprints, "Yeah I can use these." he commented. "They will assist with my efforts.

Ryuukei, Teval and Weyai walked over with their respective drinks, with Ryuukei adding, "Yep, when we are done with Roanoke, she will almost feel new again."

Teval meanwhile was still struggling just trying to hold his own drink. With one hand gone because of the hangar fire and the other in bandages and a brace, he had a lot of issues to deal with still, which prompted Ryuukei to ask, "How did that happen by the way."

Teval sighed, "In the hangar deck fire, I overused my abilities, unfortunately it burned my left hand so badly it had to be amputated. Its a good thing. They didn't have to amputate the right one, but it will still be a couple of days before the bandages come off."

"I'm actually surprised Furban hasn't figured out how to speed up the cellular regrowth," Zara spoke with shock.

Teval shrugged, "Well its a bit of a problem because of my species. At least in a few days I'll have full use of my right hand again. But it will be many months before the left one grows back."

"Let me know if you need anything," Zara assured her second officer. "I want to get us back out of port as fast as we can."