Christening of Legacy

Posted on Sat Aug 25th, 2018 @ 3:00pm by Captain Cynthia Jackson & Lieutenant JG Eric Thornton & Rear-Admiral John Wheeler & Lieutenant Commander Charlotte Hudson & Lieutenant Naryi Avonavi & Lieutenant Azelya Korr & Lieutenant Cole Dering M.D. & Lieutenant JG Jasper Noakes & Lieutenant JG Alastair Hallewell II & Lieutenant JG Alec Toten & Lieutenant JG Neza Glenn & Ensign Martha Wachahunka

2,095 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 0 - Christening of Legacy and Crew Arrival
Location: Riverside, Iowa, USA
Timeline: 2261.185 1200

Whatever the venue, ceremonies always seem to take longer than the actual task requires. This particular Christening was no exception. There was a military band that played before the ceremony began and before the introduction of each successive Admiral, the band would again strike up an upbeat and jubilant tune. Throughout the ceremony, Cindy pleasantly smiled at the crowd and beamed at admirals as they wished her and her ship well on its upcoming journey.

She knew that the public relations officer was watching her and filming her with about a couple dozen other reporters that all wanted to be present on this historic day. As weary as she was of the PR officer and as confused as she was by Admiral Wheeler's appointment of same, she was not going to let any of it ruin hers or Legacy's day.

As the proceedings wore on, Cindy's excitement was starting to spill over. The parade of Old Fogeys was nearly done and she knew that the time for her speech was coming near as the final admiral took the podium on the stage. Admiral Wheeler, a man with thinning grey hair, who seemed hardened by countless battles, wearing a smile that Cindy thought was reminiscent of a toy soldier nutcracker. The gathered crowd hushed, as if debating whether Admiral Wheeler was going to pounce on them, was going to lift the podium and throw it at the crowd, or preparing to actually deliver a speech.

As Wheeler approached the podium, he took off his cap and put in under left arm. He smiled at the gathered crowd. “Welcome ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for coming on this glorious day.” He said as he gestured to the bright sun that beat down on them. “Today is a proud moment for Starfleet. The rebuilding program has been difficult but days like these make it a little easier.

“We launch the USS Legacy, a brand new constitution class vessel. She has the latest technology that Starfleet has to offer from bow to stern. Her crew has been specially chosen for the ship. She has the best and brightest crew since we launched the Enterprise.

“Today is a proud moment for myself, this is the first ship I’ve officially launched for Starfleet. It brings a tear to my eye to this duty, it’s an honour and a privilege. Anyway, that’s enough of me rabbiting on, I’ll pass you over to the Legacy’s Commander Officer, Commander Cynthia Jackson.”

Cindy beamed as she was introduced and gave Admiral Wheeler a proper salute before taking the podium. Her eyes were sparkling green and perhaps a bit glossy as she pulled out a small piece of paper. It fell as she pulled it out. She laughed, bent down, causing her dress uniform to emphasize her shape to those nearby, and picked up quipping happily, "And here, I wanted this day to be perfect." The crowd responded with polite laughter.

She then started, "We are here today to celebrate the Christening of the Legacy, a starship that has been pieced together from the remnants of ships destroyed at Vulcan. This is their rebirth, as it is ours. For today, we will once again take to the stars. It would have been easy enough for us to say that we have had enough. That life out there is too dangerous. That we must embark on a defensive military strategy to keep others out. However, in my opinion, Starfleet has made the right decision: to dedicate ourselves to exploring the unknown.

"In the words of C. Joy Bell, 'We can't be afraid of change. You may feel very secure in the pond that you are in, but if you never venture out of it, you will never know that there is such a thing as an ocean, a sea. Holding onto something that is good for you now, may be the very reason why you don't have something better.' Of course, it is a risk that there is something worse out there, as well. I do not believe that. I believe this is exactly what humankind and all of Starfleet was built for. As Henry David Thoreau stated, 'We need the tonic of wildness...At the same time that we are earnest to explore and learn all things, we require that all things be mysterious and unexplorable, that land and sea be indefinitely wild, unsurveyed and unfathomed by us because unfathomable. We can never have enough of nature.' I know that this is especially true for me. I cannot get enough of solving what we perceive to be unsolvable - the sheer nature and joy of discovery."

Cindy threw her long platinum blond hair to another side of her unintentionally dramatically. Cindy gave a wider smile when she realized what she had done and looked directly at the public relations officer meaningfully.

Looking back up at the audience, she continued to smile and restarted her speech. "Robert Frost said that there was freedom in boldness. And he is right. One must be bold to explore what has never been explored and amongst the vastness of space, the Legacy will be free to roam. However, freedom is not free. Sigmund Freud noted that 'Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.' Freedom, thus conceived, is a burden and a privilege - one for which I am grateful that Starfleet entrusted me. I will not disappoint Starfleet, my crew or those who died before me giving rise to this ship, Legacy, in exercising such responsibility. Thank you again to all of you Admirals, Starfleet and crew members for making this journey possible."

A few members of the audience started to applaud, and within moments there were many more. Cole was among them, smiling, really liking her speech. She's the full package, he thought to himself, and she's your captain, he had to remind himself too.

A sharp jab in the ribs managed to yank him back to reality, a crewman giving him a dirty look at pointing back at the podium. Alastair didn't return the look, as he knew it was warranted. Falling asleep during a speech was not something to be done.

He had heard this and many speeches before, mainly coming from his father addressing this or that and he had become totally numb to them. Even his commencement speech at Cambridge, while seemingly heartwarming and inspirational to others in the crowd, was nothing but tedium for him.

It was in moments like these that he remembered why he didn't become a counselor, the universe gave more than enough scientific problems to solve, people were complicated.

In a rear corner of the audience, a retired admiral, obviously past his first century, was dozing comfortably. He startled the female purple haired alien tending him by releasing a quiet but noisome bit of flatulence, waking himself up in the process. He looked around, muttered, "God save the Queen" in a slurred British accent, then went promptly back to sleep.

Off to the side of the officers, Azelya shifted from one heel to the other, glancing from side to side as she joined in the applause, taking in those who will be beside her for hopefully years to come. Her eyes always drifted back to the captain on the podium though, musing to herself as the applause died down. She's intimidating for sure... there's got to be a firm hand behind that smile. They wouldn't have chosen her for this if she wasn't ready... Hm.

Glancing up at the behemoth of a vessel, her stoic expression cracked as she took in the sheer magnitude of it as they readied to finish the ceremony. To think, we'll be ripping across the stars in that... Eyes dropped back to the crowd, and especially the nearby officers, and crew. ...And I have to protect them all. The smile slowly faded back off her face as she became lost in thought, eyes returning to the event.

Cindy walked away from the podium, the bottle of champagne was broken over the Legacy's bow, and the ceremony being concluded, the vast reception was opened with drinks and food flowing.

Graybeards and white hairs applauded and lauded. The hull of the pristine ship, streamlined and gleaming gray, seemed a perfect sloop to wind through those Thoreau-inspired wilds. The crowd milled, shuffled and shifted in the stifling heavy of an Iowan mid-summer, the expanse of rolling lands endless around the congregation. The sea of people had many different faces, many hues, and a sizeable number wore the warm grays of Starfleet's dress uniform.

Jasper was among them, somewhere along the inner fringe. He watched the Admiral and then the Captain, the perspective an old one. So was the energy. Noakes hated commemorations, anniversaries, christenings. He shied from them back in Conamara when his grandmother and father would speak on Founders' Day. Jasper as a child would be touted up onstage as another successful generation, in defiance of the challenges around them. The normally agreeable youth found these kinds of parties as one of the few things he hated. Truly hated.

But the ship was pretty. He couldn't argue, wouldn't argue, against that. She'd be exciting to see what she could do. Though he doubted the Captain was interested in her Helmsman doing a gravity vault over the moon of Io, now matter how fantastic the interaction between Io's plasma ions and Jupiter's magnetic field. He went there mentally though, a warm breeze kicking at the sweat in the humidity, and he found his smile again. When next he opened his eyes the crowd was starting to mill. He felt a strange, humming oscillation next to him. A glance over and he found on of the Press' drones hovering only a couple of feet away at eye level. It scanned him, a happy chirp doing little to help Jasper's feeling of invasion. These things. They milled the crowds on Founders' Day too, looking for that teary-eyed parent, that proud son, and daughter, the wistful old couple. Or worse, in Jasper's mind, the uniformed face ready to trod those untamed wildernesses.

Thankfully it only took a brief recording and hummed away, Jasper hoped for a much more interesting target than himself. He stood by as people started to break into their chosen groups, their cliques, and circles. Jasper belonged to none of them and hadn't met hardly any of the crew. He was going in blind to this whole thing. So he started to mill himself, watching for eyes and a friendly face that might want to talk.

A drone flew by Jasper and hovered.

**************************************************

Bec listened to Wheeler's short speech, then Jackson's long one, with a fake smile plastered on her face. She could hear the drones moving around the crowd, meaning she needed to mask her boredom so that PR guy wouldn't yell at her. And boy, was she bored. This whole ceremony thing was not her idea of fun. She wanted to skip this all together but was told it was mandatory.

Once the champagne bottle was broken and the crowd began to mill about, Bec took the opportunity to find a place to hide away from the inquiring minds. She'd hoped to stay out of the limelight but found a drone suddenly directly in front of her. She gave it a slight smile before turning her attention to the people nearby, searching for a quiet space to stand.

**************************************************

Neza had sat through the speeches, not that she was big on speeches to begin with. It hadn’t been that long ago that she’d had to sit through graduation, now this? She understood the importance of it, but hated them anyways. She applauded along with the rest of those that were gathered and then decided to look around a little. There was food there, and she’d dig in soon enough. Tugging at her sleeves, she walked the crowd. She wasn’t sure how many people here were actually going to be on the ship and how many were just there for the ceremony. With how many people the ship held, there was no way of really knowing, besides the big wigs that was. She did, admittedly, find her way to get a drink. She hadn’t grown up in this area, and it was a bit hot for her liking. So, a cool drink was necessary, right?

RSS Feed