Private/Closed USI HORIZON: Deep Space Exploration

[Frontier Master]

Commander Alexander J. Xavier had not initially followed the construction of the HORIZON’s central frame or initial outfitting closely, glancing over the occasional progress report or design memo. That all changed when the ship was delivered to Stellar Seven Shipyard, an orbital refitting station in Geostationary orbit above Titan, the station had once been a personal home away from home for the then 21 year old Alexander as a recently commissioned Ensign awaiting a more permanent assignment.

It was at this stage in HORIZON’s development that the commander’s interest and involvement in the ships development increased exponentially. His influence on the ship’s design and additional outfitting had been crucial to the inclusion of Lateral Guidance Thrusters and inertial dampeners, allowing the HORIZON to make planetary landings should the need arise.


Stepping onto the Bridge for the first time, a mere 2 months later, had been a somewhat unique experience for Xavier, being not only his first maiden ship but also the first for which he had personally overseen the refitting and customization of. The smell of the new command stations left a synthetic fresh odor hanging in his nose for many hours but the Commanding Officer had no issue with it. As requested the Central Command Module sat elevated in the centre of the bridge allowing him to rotate his chair and observe all critical systems.

“She’s a real beauty” was all he could say temporarily awestruck by the sudden reality of HORIZON’s rapidly approaching embankment upon its momentous voyage.


— 3 Weeks Later —


“All hands, Captain on the Bridge!” Yelled a junior ensign when the bridge doors opened for Commander Xavier to make his entrance.
“At ease ensign, alright people begin pre-launch checks, all stations sound-off, we can do introductions later” he smiled as he took up his seat in the central command module glancing around at his new crew.

 

[XanthousXatu]

Mitja Korosec was getting a little anxious at their mission. Deep space... He slowly made his way down to the Medical Den through the ship's elevator system. Once he made his way down, he ran to his desk and looked at some of the computers on it. "High-tech...", he said, pointing out their efficiency. Mitja navigated towards the ship's Life Support Systems, pushing buttons until it read 'STABLE'. Now that the pressure of that was out of the way, he could relax and look out the window! Mitja pushed his chair over and gazed outside. Earth, Mars, Uranus, Neptune and the rest... Would he ever see them again? He looked with determination into the giant, burning ball of gas known as the Sun. Somehow, someday, surely the pilot would bring them back to this beauty of a Solar System... With that optimistic thought, he sat back in his chair, completely relaxed.

 

[Dark Soul]

Lieutenant Commander Nine Hsu Cho finished her analysis of all of Horizon's on-board weapon systems, activating them when all readouts turned out within acceptable parameters. Phaser arrays stood ready to be charged, torpedo loading mechanisms and hatches displayed no faults, and ten decks below her feet, the ship's proudest armament hummed to life; the modulated ion pulse cannon, a weapon the size of a building laid flat that could decimate a ship in one shot- or a few, if it had particularly powerful shields.

It also painted a target on the front end and bottom of the ship, Nine had thought on her shuttle's first approach to the Horizon. Any tactician worth their salt would be trying to fire down the barrel or on their pulse generators, Nine included. Still, between the ablative plating and top-of-the-line deflector shielding, she could hardly ask for more. The ship's specifications had played a large role in her choice to join the mission. It was a prize piece, a bold experiment on the precipice of the USI's new generation of starships; and she had to be there as it ran the gauntlet so that future excellency could be arbitrated.

Within the ship's confines, she had an armory fully stocked with decent if bog-standard personal armaments, and a full complement of trained security crew to wield them when necessary. After the Cormorant, the USI stopped undervalueing on-board security, though it'd taken her years of campaigning still to have protocols set for every ship in the fleet.

She looked to Xavier, who'd sat down and seemed to be taking in the room with a satisfied smile. According to senior reports, he'd personally had a hand in some of the ship's outfitting; most prominently, some interesting enhancements to inertial dampening systems and cross-atmospheric trusters. He'd seemed a pleasant man in the few times they'd met, one who took his responsibilities seriously, but there was a slight sense of boyish wonder in his expression now. His skill in leadership remained to be seen, as she hadn't served with him before. Nine was intimately familiar with Xavier's father's work, if nothing else.

"All weapons nominal and ready, Captain." Nine's stern voice resounded through the bridge. "Shields steady."

 

[Void_Nugget]

Kasai was staring out the front of the ship, he wasn't really looking at anything he was just staring. He looked down at the control panel in front of him, he was doing preflight checks on the fuel and Max speed, he was pretty thrilled to be on this ship, he had had some issues with his last ship and wasn't sure he would be granted a place on board. He turned around as Xavier entered, "Fuel is at maximum and thrusters and ready and waiting Captain" he gave a mischievous smile and a small wink "awaiting your orders, sir." His father had said to be more serious when speaking to a senior officer, but Kasai couldn't help himself.

 

[Frontier Master]

Kal-dur Torres had been assigned to HORIZON before construction had even begun. She had played a part in every stage of development in some way shape or form. Everything from the ship’s layout and power relays, to the shuttle bay refitting and the ship’s most famous addition the heavy ion cannon, all of it had Torres’ personal stamp on it. Though the latter was definitely her proudest moment, she had personally modified the Heavy Ion cannon to allow the armament to charge passively off the ship’s engine emissions, when not in combat, or to charge directly from the Power core when necessary, bypassing the energy formatting arrays and in doing so had reduced the ship’s energy loss ratios. She had performed a similar engineering miracle on the ship’s shielding, allowing it to run directly off of the cores unformatted output in an emergency.

Her first meeting with the man who would eventually go on to become Captain of HORIZON had been interesting to say the least. The reflective man had immediately requested the addition of new guidance thrusters and atmospheric inertial dampeners, a feature Kal-dur had been intending to include onboard anyway. But now this new captain would not only be given credit for the addition but such credit would also reflect badly upon her for seemingly ‘forgetting’ an important feature.

Despite this though, Commander Xavier had approached her after the meeting asking if there were any additional features Kal had struggled to receive approval for, projects which might benefit from the recommendations of a senior commanding officer. This had at least tempered the fury Kal-dur had for the captain, though she was still far from friendly with him.

—Launch day—

Kal-dur stood at her primary station in main engineering, closely watching the ship’s power cores output levels as the various primary systems spurred into life.
Technically she could had done all this from her station aboard the bridge but she preferred to be closer to the action, ready to clamber into a maintenance tube should any issues arise during the ship’s launch checks.
Kal, happy with the core’s stability gently tapped the communications badge located just above her left breast
“Torres to Bridge
Power core output within ideal parameters, magnetic interlocks all green. I’ll continue to monitor the output levels, just take it easy with the primary system start-ups. Last thing we need right now is an overload” she spoke plainly to no one in particular, though she had little doubt it would be Xavier to respond.
“Understood lieutenant, we’ll try to keep the start-up sequences staggered and in check” replied Commander Xavier, eyeing the output levels on one of his command displays
“Torres Out” with a second tap of the communicator the audio feed ended and Kal-dur went to work running additional diagnostics on the ship’s robotic repair bots or worker-bees as she liked to call them.

 

[Nombre De Usuario]

Kagaku was analyzing on a previous data sample, before he walked near the shield's data output, all seems to be fine, he gazed outside, Jupiter his home planet, he wasn't worried or hesitant about his actions, he went back to the shield output staring at it, a few minutes passed, with nothing to do he scribbled an alien, this thought made him realize he could scientifically engineer and make a new existing alien with data to collect, he smirked and pinned the idea in his notebook.

 

[MihajloJedi]

His last few hours on Earth, Michael spent in storage room on USI Evolution. He calculated everything for 100 times, it wasn't necessary, but he didn't want to forget anything. Then he heard commander came on the ship and he ran out of storage room. He met him in main hull.
"Captain, most of the resources are in storage room, I wasn't told how long our mission will last so I wasn't sure how much food, fuel and other resources we will need. We brought as many as we could, I don't know for how long, but as soon as I calculate, I will notify you."Michael said to Captain with relief.

 

[Frontier Master]

“All systems online sir, we are ready for departure” said the disembodied voice of Lieutenant Torres over the communications system of the bridge
“Very well thank you Ms Torres” replied the captain smiling as he himself tapped his communication badge for a shipwide hail. “All hands prepare for departure, helm take us out of Orbit and set course for Eris, Full Impulse. In the mean time get used to your stations, it’s going to be a long journey but we can’t afford to stumble out of the gate. All department heads to the Captains Conference room on Deck 4 once system checks completed, Xavier out”.

 

[Void_Nugget]

Kasai nodded briskly to the captain before turning his attention to the ship's controls, he steadily brought the ship out of orbit and brought up their destination on his screen, he set to plotting the course, that would get them there fastest and then activated the temporary autopilot. He then got up from his station and head to the conference room, he knocked calmly and loudly, announced himself and then entered the room taking a seat.

 

[XanthousXatu]

Mitja was slowly falling asleep before hearing the announcement. Frantically, he pressed the same button he did before for life support, and it maintained to 'STABLE'. He speed-walked his way to the elevation system, which was used to go from deck to deck. He waited for the system to take him to the Fourth Deck. Once he arrived outside of the conference room, he took a deep breath. As serious as he could, he entered the room. Underneath, he just wanted to laugh at how abrupt he entered, though maintained a normal expression.

 

[Dark Soul]

Satisfied that weapons systems were holding stable even as the impulse engines kicked to life, Nine locked up the controls so that only those with proper clearance might access them. She knew it'd be found odd if discovered- a sign of distrust and paranoia, but she could hardly care less.

She accompanied Xavier and Douglas into the lift that would take them from Bridge to Deck 4 in seconds. As the doors closed she crossed her arms, ignored the ever-present urge to keep a ready hand on the sidearm clipped to her belt. With each new ship, she had to shake off the memories doors opening and revealing armed marauders.

As indeed the walk ended without incident, she took her seat at the Captain's left in the surprisingly spacious conference room, just in time to see the towering figure of Doctor Korosec enter.

 

[Frontier Master]

Torres heard the ship-wide hail and simply rolled her eyes ‘this guy must really love his meetings and conferences’ the thought to herself as she grabbed a mobile display unit and transferred a few command functions to the small device, primarily so she could monitor the reactor core as the ship’s secondary and tertiary systems completed their start ups.

She boarded her own lift from Engineering to Deck 4 alone, as most department heads utilized their bridge stations as opposed to their individual department zones. Entering the conference room behind Doctor Korosec
“Tell me again why this room needed to be so large? It seems like an... inefficient use of space.” murmured Torres as she walked the length of the room before taking an admittedly comfortable seat next to who she assumed to be the ship’s tactical chief.
“Well lieutenant, when you’ve got a ship with a weapon the size of two entire decks, it helps to have a nice conference room to assure them we don’t intend to invade their planet. I find it easier to discuss diplomatic formalities in a nice airy conference room as opposed to the confined space of my ready room” remarked Commander Xavier once Torres had taken her seat.
Torres bit her lip nervously “Ah we’ll yes, I guess that makes sense, apologies Sir... I still think the gelato machine was overkill”
“Oh definitely but it’s also a subtle reminder that our mission is advantageous, it is by design absurd but it’s real. Much like the presence of a 20th century designed gelato machine in the conference room of a 23rd Century Spaceship” Xavier simply smiled at the slowly expanding team of department heads.

 

[MihajloJedi]

After Michael reported to Captain, he went back in storage room as loading team brought last packages.
"That would be it sir, that are last boxes" said one of them.
"Great. Thank you for your help, now you can go." Michael said and loading team left storage room.
Michael done last few checks if everything is on its place and then he also left storage room and went in Conference room. Michael was one of the last to arrive, so he took a seat at the end of the table.

 

[Nombre De Usuario]

Kagaku was still working on his research when he heard the announcement, he got up and quickly went to the conference room, on the way, he should've been nervous, but he wasn't, most people get nervous before things like these, as he arrived he managed a straight look on his face and took a seat.

 

[Frontier Master]

As the last of the department heads took their seats Xavier spurred the display screen into action, showing HORIZON’s course out of USI territory into the unknown sectors.

“Well now that we’re all here, it’s time to get started. As you would all be aware HORIZON’s mission is the first of its kind for the USI, it will also be the furthest USI officers have ever ventured from the home systems. We have no idea what awaits us in the unexplored sectors, as such all interactions with known or unknown species must follow first contact protocols, HORIZON should have no problem protecting herself if provoked but our primary objective is to form alliances and ensure peace not start a full scale war. Miss Torres, I believe you had some technical specifics you wished to go over while we were all assembled”


Torres nodded and swiped a display of HORIZON from her MDU up onto the display. Bringing up a 3D model of HORIZON with its various decks and systems highlighted accordingly.

“Yes, thank you captain. As we can all see here. HORIZON is the the pinnacle of USI technological advancement, her category one systems have been modified to run directly off the fusion core’s unmodulated output when necessary, so even if backup power fails, Shields, life-support and the engines should still function. The new system has been cleared for use, but it is still a work in progress so there may be the occasional hiccup, but it’s highly unlikely that the system will fail entirely.” Torres gave a confident smile before tapping her MDU again and showcasing the ship’s 12 individual deck layouts.

“Now in terms of layout these spaces highlighted in yellow are the engineering systems and areas. Red is the tactical systems, weapon caches and security. Anything in blue is designated as Science so sensors and labs and the like. Med-bay and life support systems are in green. Anything Orange is personal quarters or common rooms. Grey is a storage area or cargo bay. and finally White for command centers. The Primary power core, seen here, stretches from decks 5-7 with the secondary core located on deck 10, this is all available to you on your private consoles. Any questions?” Torres had essentially rambled her way through the briefing, she hated public speaking, give her a ruptured power core with extreme coolant leak any day and she’d be fine. Ask her to talk at department meetings and she’d ramble through the meeting making a fool of herself

 

[XanthousXatu]

Mitja thought back to the Med-Bay. He didn't even need to order anyone around. At least he had a good crew. He just felt empty and cold-hearted about possibly abandoning their solar system. With uncertainty, Mitja took a deep breath in, waiting for the meeting to come to an end. While he was doing that, he thought back home. The sun's light was meaningless. Does that mean the sun is meaningless? Out of all the stars in the two galaxies, does it? Surely, it supported life! But nowadays, sentient lifeforms could be waiting for us at any corner we turn...Trying to think of an optimistic thought, he leaned backwards in his chair, clearly oblivious at what anyone was saying.

 

[Dark Soul]

Nine steepled her fingers and spoke up after Torres finished her virtual exposition. "All of you would do well to remember the locations of security caches in your respective departments, and make sure your people do too." She gave every colleague at the table a stony gaze. "In case of a hostile intrusion where my security forces are not already in place, your employees will be expected to open them and arm themselves. They contain the standard USI firearms that anyone with basic Academy training has handled."

She turned her attention to the Captain. "While the Horizon is on a mission of discovery and diplomacy, any extrasolar lifeforms we may encounter could greet us with hostility. Whether it's out of fear, thirst for dominance or simply a lack of understanding of our ways is unimportant to the fact that we have to be prepared to defend ourselves. To that end, Captain, I must commend you on the level of armament the ship is equipped with." She gave a curt nod to Xavier.

"We will be working well out of the reach of USI backup on this journey. If and when we see combat, we will be fighting on our own. To make sure we are prepared to work efficiently in emergency situations I am instating weekly security drills for all personnel. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated. I will be sending you the necessary manifests through intranet later today."