"A Smooth Mission."

[FredM 0]

"A Smooth Mission."

Captain's Personal Log

Stardate 0308.02

Captain Fred Michaels

 

 

      Fred sat in his cabin, his feet propped up on a desk, as he leaned back and scrolled through pages on a padd. While most would take the opportunity to read some type of fiction, maybe a drama or murder mystery, Michaels was actually involved in reading some type of technical journal on an old twenty-third century Starfleet ship design. As a former engineer, the Captain had always been interested in the progression of technology throughout the Federation's history.

 

      Yet the document he was reading had never caught his attention. In fact, given the volumes of failed Starfleet ship design projects that existed, it was surprising it would catch anyone's eye. However, after assuming command of the Reaent, Michaels' had taken an interest in the design. It had apparently been a critical part in the history of the ship he now commanded, some hundred years later. Ah...the joys of several days without anything going wrong...

 

      The Reaent was still at least two days away from Deep Space 6. Yet, even before their departure from Starbase 345, Fred had already been tipped off as to what their next assignment was going to be. For a change, it wasn't going to be anything hectic. No exploding ships, exploding moons, mysterious creatures on abandoned Romulan outposts...just a simple science mission. While he was quite certain many of the crew thought their transfer to Deep Space 6's theater of operations had something to do with the Romulans, he was equally sure some questioned the timing.

 

      In fact, the refitted Ambassador Class's transfer had been something the Captain had heard rumors about for some time. The demand of ships designed for deep space exploration had once again become a problem for Starfleet. While many ships were capable at defense and patrol, vessels with sensor packages prime for handling exploration were not as numerous.

 

      To some degree, the Ambassador Class was becoming the next Excelsior Class. While a new ship of the design had not been built in a little over twenty years, the remaining forty-one ships of the class had all be slated for an entire superstructure refit. Evaluations on the twenty-seven ships that had completed the refit, one which was commissioned the Reaent, had shown the ships still had life left in them. In some cases, certain system upgrades caused several efficiency ratings to surpass even those of brand new Sovereign Class vessels.

 

      In some respects it was funny that a ship class developed over half a century earlier would still be operational and serving it's primary function, exploration. Fred only hoped that for once, their next mission wouldn't involve something blowing up or his ship's cargo bay being filled with bodies. That thought alone caused the Captain to toss the journal he was reading onto the desk and sit up. "Let this be a smooth mission...," he muttered slightly, "cause I'm growing tired of the other ones."