[Galaxy] Nov 3, 2161 DL Lt R Yeager "Daedalus Rising"

[Kate Nicholson]

// Jovian LaGrange Point, Sol System //
// Cold Station Whiskey Seven Delta //


"She may not be the prettiest girl at the Ball,
but wait til you see how she moves on the dance floor."

                  --Anonymous helmsman, Project Daedalus


She hung there, cradled within the frame of the Dry Dock's scaffolding.  Her
white hull gleaming under the work lights along the frame.  The vessel was,
by majority acclaim, also the ugly duckling of the Fleet.   But, like her
fairy tale counter part, she had the potential to lead to greater things.

The man looked past his own reflection in the viewport's transparent
aluminum to follow the vessel's lines.  Short, at less than half the length
of one of the top-of-the-line NX'ers.  Stubby, with a habitation hull sphere
scavenged from now defunct, boomer class design.  The sphere was connected
to a plain, ribbed cylinder by a spindly tubular connector.  The only
feature that resembled a starship was the paired nacelles rising from the
cylinder of her secondary hull.  A mottled collection of parts put together
for a special reason.

The man's eyes lingered on the cylinder.  Within it, was what made this ugly
duckling a real nascent swan.  An engine.  A very special engine.  Larger
than the vaulted Archer Warp Fiver of the last decade, it wouldn't fit
within any of the existing hulls in use today.  So the only solution to
prove this new design would work was to custom build a ship around it.  The
twin constraints of limited time and budget meant aesthetics was a secondary
consideration.

"Daedalus," said the pilot from the front of the Pod, "Shuttle Zed Four
Three on approach.". The turned away from his vantage at the side viewport
as the craft's trajectory shifted, robbing him of his view.

=^=Acknowledge, Zed Four Three,=^= came the reply.  =^=You are cleared for
gantry bay, four.  Follow the green indicators, over.=^=

"Roger, Control," said the pilot, craning his neck thru the canopy's bubble.
"I have the markers in sight.". He made a quick glance over his passenger
slid into one of the seats just behind him.  "On final approach now,
Lieutenant," the pilot said.

Richard Yeager.  Former test pilot with the Warp Five center out Montana.
Ex-Helmsman of the UES Intrepid.  Now a Lieutenant with the Fleet Testing
and Evaluation Service.  Alternately known, in a nod to history, as the
Skunk Works.

"Thanks, Bud," he said, leaning back.

"I heard they were lifting some of the security black out on us, Sir," the
other man said, turning back to his controls.

Richard smiled, remembering his own briefing a few hours earlier.  "Yep," he
said.  "There's some big-wig conference going on back on Earth," he
continued, glancing out the small port by his seat.  A flash of ivory lost
in the clutter of the Dock.  "They're announcing some of the mods to the
line ships that have come out of what we've been doing here."

"So...," the Ensign piloting said in a long drawl, "we're still behind the
scenes, huh, Sir?". There was an almost perceptible disappointment in his
voice.

Leaning forward, Yeager patted the younger man on the shoulder.  "For now,"
he said, "but be patient.  We'll have our moment in the spotlight, too."

The tiny Shuttle Pod glided around the aft end of the Prototype.  Richard
caught a glance of the open shuttle bay in the tail.  The twin noses of the
vessel's assigned Pods visible as well as a number of metallic suited
figures.  His smile grew at the sight.  If the Pods were being loaded, that
meant the Ugly Duckling was about to go out again.

The sight wasn't lost on his chauffeur, either.  The Ensign looked up as he
flew them toward the flashing green of the indicated Bay.  "Think we'll do
it this time, Sir?"

It.  A simple word that should have been in all cap's.  Accented with neon
for good measure, too.  The /IT/ they had slowly been building up to.  The
next big leap for Earth.

Warp Seven.

A clear, clean, and sustainable Warp Seven.  Other vessels had come close.
And damn near rattled themselves apart doing it.  If the Prototype and
Project Daedalus lived up to expectations, it meant the once junior members
of the galactic community would now be in the big leagues.

Richard let his eyes drift up the the vessel's stubby nacelles, alight with
the slightest hint of azure ghost fire.  His smile didn't waiver.

"Yeah," he said, "I think we will."


Tbc

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Richard Yeager
Lt, Starfleet
Project Daedalus