--------------------------- Dorothy A. Mozart Commanding Officer Stardate 49901.24 "Getting ready for Departure" --------------------------- Captain Mozart glanced through the viewport, taking in the elegant form of her ship. Countless service pods were hustling back and forth across the glistening white hull, doing some last minute repairs where the last diagnosis hadn't shown 100 percent efficiency. Several walkways and power conduits reached across the empty space, connecting the Darwin to one of the outer docking facilities of Earth Station McKinley, almost like giant umbilical chords. Just as she was admiring her ship, the blue form of Earth rose behind her as the station slowly turned in its orbit around the planet. Amidst the hum of activity and against the background of the planet buzzing with life, the Darwin appeared to be asleep, gracefully resting while waiting for her great day. It would only be a short time now until she as well was buzzing with activity. Soon her engines would be powered up for the very first time and her beautiful while hull would be decorated with all sorts of lights, some colorful and blinking, others illuminating her decals, proudly telling everybody who she was. In the light emitted from the docking pylon, the Captain could already make out the giant letters on the top of the saucer section: U.S.S. Darwin, NCC-18013, United Federation of Planets. Forcing herself to turn away from the impressive sight she resumed her walk toward the nearest walkway. Coming from a meeting in the office of the station commander where they had gone over the last formalities, she was now ready to take formal command of the U.S.S. Darwin. As she rounded the next corner, she briefly wondered how long it would be until she would see her ship from the outside again. 'Funny,' she mused, 'we spend most of our time inside them, we think we get know every last corner and plasma conduit and we almost take it for granted that they become a part of us as much as we become a part of them...and yet we are overwhelmed every time we have the chance to look at them.' Shaking off the thoughts, she walked past several maintenance workers and finally stepped through the open entrance hatch at the end of the walkway. Almost immediately she felt the energy pulse below her feet. Although she had supervised most of the construction process and been on the ship countless times already, she felt different this time. The engines hadn't been powered up, and yet the ship hummed with this special kind of energy that told her captain she was ready, eager to go out there and make a difference in the vast expanse of space. Stepping into one of the turbolifts already running on auxiliary power, she called out "Deck one!" and waited as she was taken to the bridge. * * * Nodding toward the group of station personnel gathered around one of the consoles in the back of the bridge, she approached her ready room. The doors swooshed open and she stepped inside the scarcely furnished room that was to become her sanctuary. Picking up a PADD lying on her desk, she sat down. It was only a couple of hours until the last members of the crew came on board, until the warp core was activated for the first time. Only a couple of hours until she activated the ship-wide comm system and held a speech to formally welcome the crew aboard and give the command to take the ship out of orbit. A speech she had yet to write... ::to be continued:: ------------------------- Capt. Dorothy A. Mozart --- CO U.S.S. Darwin Cmdr. Deis Leah, M.D. --- AMO U.S.S. Lexington k'Taris, Liaison to Romulus --- Empok Nor ------------------------- allegretto@gmx.net --- leah@startrekmail.com ------------------------- http://members.xoom.com/ussdarwin ------------------------- "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."