Rura Penthe #142"
By: Ian Hunter, Commanding Officer, [PC]
Giuseppe Silvio, Chief Engineer, [RNPC]
Randi Dorton , Warp Core specialist , [NPC]

Stardate: 58207.2 0930

"A Date with Peg"

Silvio stood and watched out the observation window as the station's crew continued their work on the Zion. He had an unexpected meeting scheduled with the station's Shipyard director. He was about to enter the operations center for the ship yard when he spotted Captain Hunter approaching, "Did Harry call you to this meeting too," he asked.

Hunter arched his brow, "yeah," he said, now curious about what was up.

The two of them entered the operations center and made their way to Harry's office. They found him talking to two technicians. He quickly dismissed them and gestured for Hunter and Silvio to enter. "Thanks for coming," he said.

"Is there a problem with the Zion," queried Hunter.

"No, the repairs the the Zion are going according to schedule," he replied, "I have something else I wanted to talk to you about." He paused for a moment, "Actually, something I want to show you."

Harry stood up and walked to a second door. Silvio had assumed that this was a conference room but when Harry punched in a security code the door opened to reveal a small bay. The room was a smaller version of the shuttle bay on the zion. There was an opening protected by a force filed that exited into the main docking bay where the Zion was.

In the middle of the room was a ship. It was much bigger than a scout or a fighter craft, but smaller than a runabout. It was a sleek wing shaped craft, dark in color. There was no visible hull plating, it was smooth and seamless. If it were not for the navigational deflector array visible beneath the ship, it would not appear to be Maquis at all. Its smooth skin glimmered in the spotlights that shined on it.

"This is the Pegasus," said Harry with a small measure of pride in his voice. "We have been designing her for quire a while. She is almost done."

Hunter noted the torpedo tubes and the oversized phaser array. It also had klingon distruptor canons mounted to the wing tips.

Hunter arched his brow at Harry, "a larger fighter craft?"

Harry chuckled, "No, it is a short range attack ship, with a fully sized and functional warp core."

Hunter looked over at Silvio who had a surprised look on his face.

"How did you get a full sized warp core in that," said Silvio gesturing towards the craft.

Harry smiled and led them up a small ramp. "You'll see," he said as he entered an access code that opened a small air lock.

"This is deck two," he said once they were all inside. "Here you will find crew living space, and a customizable mission module." Harry led them up a ladder and onto the bridge.

Silvio followed along, however, he was distracted. In this ship he could indeed feel the thrum of a full sized warp core, even on the bridge, but this one felt different, so different that it set his teeth on edge.

Harry noticed Silvio's face and said, "You get used to it."

From the back of the bridge, the deck sloped slightly downward toward the front. Bridge crew consoles and seats were set of by and the decks were level there. The helm and ops station were joined together in the center near the front. A circular bench seat which could comfortably seat 4 was positioned aft of the helm control. Hunter frowned slightly, there was no captain's chair.

It was notable that the deck itself were really access hatches and grates. Beneath the grates, blinking and glowing components could be seen.

The outer rim of the bridge contained spartan station consoles. Hunter looked up at the walls and ceiling.

"Are those holoemitters?"

Harry nodded, "This ship will only have a crew of about 4. One of things I want to design for her was a holographic AI interface to assist them," Harry paused, "I just have not found anyone capable of designing one to my liking."

Hunter nodded at Silvio. Certainly he was thinking the same thing.

"So far I like what I see," interjected Hunter.

"This ship is too small," saild Silvio. "How much matter/anti-matter storage does it have? Can't be very much."

"Under normal conditions it could run for 6 months before needing to be re-supplied," he said, "It is designed to be based off a ship or a star base and only do short range missions."

"Let's see the rest of it," said Hunter.

Harry led them from the bridge down a flight of metal stairs to deck two. "Deck two holds crew living areas. IT also hold the computer core and a small transporter room." They entered the crew quarters.

Hunter stood in a small room that was rectangular approximately 4 meters long. On the opposite walls across from the corridor were 8 narrow doors that enclosed a single bunk each.

Hunter activated one of the doors which slid open and walked in. There was just enough space to stand along side the bunk. Several storage bins were built in above the bunk making the space seem even smaller. The bunk itself, was standard issue.

"Very small," said Hunter.

On the other wall, were larger entryways. Hunter looked in the first one, it was a head with a sonic shower in the corner. Behind the other door was a similar sized area for dressing.

"Very close quarters," said Silvio.

"They will get to be a close team I think," said Harry.

They crossed the corridor directly opposite the crew quarters and entered the recreation area. This space was the same size as the areas on the other side of the corridor combined.

It contained food storage areas and a replicator. It had a couple of comfortable seating areas and a mess table in the center. Hunter smiled as he noted the center of the table had a hologame table built into it.

"Virtual Dabo anyone?" mused Hunter.

He opened one of the food storage areas that would normally hold rations, "For rations huh?"

"Yes, depending on the type of mission they are involved in it might be prudent to use rations rather than replicators," answered Harry.

"Let's see the engine room," said Hunter

Silvio agreed whole heartedly with that suggestion. He wanted to see just what was setting his teeth on edge with it's strange warp pulse. It was unnatural, he thought.

Back in the corridor, they walked down toward the engineering deck.

When they entered they saw the deck had two levels. A grid deck was suspended over a horseshoe shaped warp core. The curve of the core was on the aft side of the ship. In the center of the curve was the dilithum matrix chamber. A ramp lead down toward the engineer's console. It was positioned in an area that surrounded by the core itself. On either side of the ramp were the Matter/Antimatter injectors.

A woman was seated at the console she turned around and waved at the men.

Silvio looked around and all complaints about the pulse vanished. WHat he was looking at was astonishing. "Incredible," he said aloud.

The woman got up from her chair and turned toward them, "thanks," said the woman smiling as she looked around, speculating what the seasoned engineer might be thinking.

"This is Randi Dorton," said Harry doing a quick introduction, "She is the Chief designer of the warp core on this project."

Silvio stretched out his hand and shok Randi's hand, "I am Silvio," he said, "This is fantastic. What kind of power output are you getting from this configuration?"

She smiled, tilting her head slightly in a confident gesture, "4.9 million terrawatts."

Silvio let out a low whistle, "That is pretty unbelievable," he said. OOC: we shoul dbe careful not to make it too overkill.

"Come see for yourself," she said inviting him down into the engineer's pit.

Silvio smiled and eagerly followed behind her.

It has almost the power capacity of some of the older galaxy class ships. But this vessel doesn't have the tankage unfortunately, You won't get far at full power."

Silvio nodded, "Very nice."

Hunter turned to Harry, "It is impressive." Hunter paused, "You mentioned needing an A.I?"

"Yes, with such a small crew I really want to have a more physical presence for the computer," said Harry, "Both the b ridge and engineering here are capable of supporting a holographic image." Harry shurgged, "I just have not found anyone who can give me what I want. I want mroe than a EMH."

"I might now someone who could do that."

"Max," said Silvio jumping right into their conversation, "She can give you what you want. She is very talented."

Hunter nodded, "She has an AI she uses already..."

"Thank you," replied Harry, "I will see what she has to say." Harry paused, "There is one more thing," he added, "I was wondering if we might use a couple of your pilots to do some shakedown flights." Harry felt that the Zion had the best pilots and he wanted the best for this test. He was secretly hoping to utilize the Caitian pilot on board. His reflexes would be well suited for the peg.

Hunter smiled, "sure, why not." said Hunter.

"Excellent," said Harry, "I will forward you a preliminary testing schedule so you can brief your pilots."

Hunter looked around. "It looks like a good ship."

7

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