Starlog, September 18, 2154

[Commodore Moose 0]

Starlog, September 18, 2154

 

"Drop to impulse," ordered Commodore Moose.

 

"Aye sir," said the navigator, sounding a little disappointed. It seemed that he had just taken over his station from Commander Moore, who had the honor of piloting the ship out of drydock. Moore finally retreated to Engineering, which was so busy that no one had heard a peep out of the Chief Engineer from the moment the engines fired up. And now it was time to drop back to impulse. But the Alpha Centauri system was only 4.3 light years from Earth. And even though Challenger failed to hit the Warp 5 mark, the trip was still relatively short.

 

Sol's nearest neighbor, Proxima, filled the large viewscreen front and center on the bridge. It's sister stars, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, were filtered out of the image.

 

His large hand slapped the button on the arm of the command chair. "All hands, this is Commodore Moose," he said into the newly opened comm channel. "We have successfully arrived in the Alpha Centauri system." He paused for a moment, letting the significance of that statement sink in around the ship. "We made it, folks," he finally said. "Congratulations everyone." He didn't need the comm channel to hear the cheers that emerged from all decks. He was proud of them all, and willing to let them have their moment, but this was only the first milestone and there was much work to be done.

 

"Mr. Giovanni, begin the scans. Mr. Rex, open a channel to Earth. Download all data from the sensors and await their confirmation. If our readings match the baseline readings at Starfleet Headquarters, then the sensors will be cleared for duty."

 

He heard a chorus of "Aye Sir", but wasn't sure who they were from. He had already moved on to the next issue. If they were performing an initial charting survey, then they would have been here for a full week. But Alpha Centauri had been scanned many times. This was just a baseline sensor test. Proxima was meerly a dim red dwarf, and would be complete in about four hours. Centauri A and B were much larger and would likely take ten hours apiece to chart. That gave them 24 hours before it was time to fire up the warp drives and head out of the system. But to where?

 

If Engineering couldn't fix the warp field issue, they would be forced to return the ship to space dock. This was doubly true since the protein resequencers were also off-line. No one would fault them for returning home. They had built a starship in just under three months, and they had taken it to another star system. If they spent another three months in space dock, it shouldn't matter. Their mission had succeeded.

 

But it did matter, at least to him. Too many people had worked their carcases off for this dream, too many people had given their lives for it. Moose was too stuborn to claim victory in their name under a technicality. This crew embodied the most determined and tenacious spirits that Starfleet had to offer, and it was time for them to prove their mettle.

 

They had been given a 24 hour extension. He expected this ship to reach warp 5.0 as it was designed to do, and he expected to head out into deep space. He would accept nothing less from this crew. The "Bull" Moose was prepared to live up to his reputation, and heaven help the crewperson who wasn't prepared for the challenge.

 

Commodore Fitzgerald M. "Bull" Moose

Challenger, NX-05

In the Alpha Centauri System