War Stories (Book 2) - Keith R. A. DeCandido [1]
He made a note of these items, and then continued his research. One particular mission of the U.S.S. da Vinci conducted during the war against the Dominion piqued his interest….
U.S.S. Da Vinci
STARDATE 51993.8
Fabian Stevens materialized in a remarkably tiny transporter room.
At least this one can be called a “room,” he thought. During his last Starfleet tour, the young engineer had served on the U.S.S. Defiant, a warship that had a transporter room so small, they referred to it as the “transporter bay.” This ship—the Saber-class U.S.S. da Vinci—was only slightly larger than the Defiant, which gave it at least the capacity to have a proper transporter room.
He looked over to see that the Nasat engineer—she called herself P8 Blue, but told Fabian that “Pattie” was an acceptable form of address—and the golf ball had both materialized next to him.
It wasn’t really a golf ball, of course—unless the golf game was being played by creatures fifteen times the size of humans—but the spheroid’s resemblance to an outsized version of the ball from the Earth game was uncanny. Its surface was a glossy white substance of some kind, and covered with slight circular indentations. It had no visible seams; the small indentations enabled it to sit still on a flat surface without rolling.
“Welcome to the da Vinci,” said a steady voice from the mahogany-skinned Vulcan who stood on one side of the transporter console. “I am Salek, first officer of the da Vinci and commanding officer of the S.C.E. team aboard ship. You must be Stevens and Blue.”
The Nasat—who looked like a giant blue pillbug, albeit with eight legs—made an odd tinkling noise, then said, “Correct.”
“Reporting for duty, as ordered, sir,” Fabian added.
The tall, sandy-haired human who stood on the other side of the console from Salek grinned. “And that must be our new toy.”
“Yes, sir, it is,” Fabian said.
“I’m Kieran Duffy—second officer of the ship, second-in-command of the S.C.E. team. You’re looking for second-best, you come to me.”
Fabian smiled. “I’ll keep that in mind, sir.” He’d been worried when he found out that the S.C.E.’s CO on this ship was a Vulcan that things would be stiffer and more formal than he was used to. If this Duffy character was any indication, though…
Turning to the transporter operator, Salek said, “Chief Feliciano, transfer the device to the lab.”
“Yes, sir,” said the black-haired human.
Salek turned back to Fabian and Pattie. “Your personal effects—including your larvae,” he added with a look directly at Pattie, “have been sent to your cabins. The majority of the complement of the da Vinci share quarters. You will be sharing accommodations with our cultural specialist, Dr. Abramowitz, and Stevens will do likewise with our linguist, Dr. Okha.”
“Sounds chummy,” Fabian said.
One of Salek’s eyebrows climbed up his forehead. “In a word, yes. Duffy will escort you to your quarters. It is now 1432 hours. The entire S.C.E. team will meet in the lab at 1500 hours to discuss our mission.”
Pattie made another tinkly sound. “We’ll be there, sir.”
“Good. Come with me,” he said to the Nasat, and led her out of the room.
Fabian regarded the second officer. “A linguist and a cultural specialist? I thought you S.C.E. types built bridges and orbital platforms and stuff.”
Duffy smiled. “Only if we have to. Didn’t you read up on us before taking this glorious assignment?” he asked as they departed the transporter room and turned left.
“Honestly, no. Until two days ago, I thought I was being assigned to Utopia Planitia. Then I find out that there’s an opening on the S.C.E. team on the da Vinci—I didn’t even know there were S.C.E. teams on ships.”
“Yup. Have been for as long as there’s been a Starfleet. Right now, we’ve got four Saber-class ships that all have the same kinda setup. The Musgrave, the T’Pora, and the Khwarizmi are the other three. We gad about the galaxy, righting wrongs, saving damsels in distress, and reaping glory worthy of our exalted