Copyright © 2025 by Julien Gregg
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The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this production are fictitious. No identification with actual persons (living or deceased), places, buildings, and products is intended or should be inferred.
Star Trek Lexus
By Julien Gregg
Chapter Six
Kirk Personal Log Stardate 57836.4
Today is the day that we receive our first Red Squad assignments. I'm still not clear what to expect. Kathryn has been so successful at making sure that none of us find out anything. Even our fellow Red Squad Team cadets know nothing about what will be expected of us or taught to us.
We've hung out with the others on the team quite a bit. The entire team took a tour of Lexus and asked us many questions about what they saw. It was the second time that Chad and I had returned to the ship and it was just as hard to leave this time as it had been the time before. I really miss that ship and it's crew.
We were moved out of our dorm rooms at the academy while we were on break. Red Squad cadets room with each other so Chad and I are finally in the same dorm room. Quinn kept his roommate but we were moved to an entirely different section of the campus. The rooms are bigger with more closet space and private bathrooms. I'm very happy about that.
Dressed in their new uniforms with pips on their collars Chad and Jim made their way to the Science Lab with the others close behind them. When they got to the lab they saw that the room had been divided into two sections with signs that indicated that one side was for Team Alpha while the other was for Team Bravo. They made their way into the Alpha section and were surprised to see Kathryn sitting at the desk in front of the bank of chairs. There were also a number of other cadets already sitting in the room though they weren't wearing Red Squadron uniforms. They were dressed in regular cadet uniforms and were from various grades.
"Welcome, gentlemen," Kathryn said, smiling at them as soon as they'd taken their seats. "I'm the coordinator for the Alpha Team and I have your orders. Now you may notice that there are seventy-two other cadets in the room. The reason for this will become clear once I have gone over your orders.
"Each cadet not belonging to the Red Squad that is sitting in this room has shown elite status in one area or another. I welcome all of you to the Red Squad Alpha Team.
"In a few minutes we'll be leaving the academy and heading over to Starfleet Command and board a shuttle that will take us to the space docks at the Moon Dock Station. There you will board the ship that will carry this team to it's mission. The data pads in front of you are filled with schematics and deck explanations for the Nova Class Starship Leviathan. If you'll open them and take a look we'll begin."
She waited while they all looked over the information on the data pads, paying special attention to her three charges. She was happy for them that they were about to get their wish to return to space. It wasn't going to be on the ship they wanted but the Leviathan would house them for the second term of the semester. She was sure that they would grow to love the ship.
It was a lot smaller than even she was used to. Her first posting after graduation was as Science Officer aboard the USS Al-Batani under the command of then Captain Owen Paris. She smiled as she remembered her blunder that knocked out power on six decks of the Al-Batani. She'd misaligned the ships posistronic relays. She hoped that Cadet T'Zar had better luck as Science Officer than she'd had.
The young Vulcan cadet was sitting in the second row, looking over the schematics of the ship. She'd expressed the desire to learn aboard a Starship shortly after completing her Freshman year and she was about to get her wish.
"Admiral," said Jim, looking up from his pad. "We're going to be serving on this ship for the rest of the semester?"
"That's right, Mr. Kirk," she said, beaming at him. "And you will be in command."
"Command," he said, musing.
"I'll be on board to help if and when you need it," she said in a reassuring tone though she didn't think he had cause to be worried about commanding the ship. "I'll be there for all of you if need help."
"What's the mission?" asked Jim, smiling at her as he thought he should have asked formally by calling her Admiral.
"We'll be going to a space station just outside of the Neutral Zone to carry back an important Ambassador," she said. "This could be done by Starfleet but they decided this would be good for our first training mission. We'll be in space for about a month and then we'll wait here while all of you take a special class and then we'll find out about our next mission."
"And we leave in a few minutes?" Jim asked, smiling again at his slip of formality.
"Yes, Mr. Kirk," she said, smiling back. "As soon as everyone has had a chance to look over their pads we'll head over to the shuttle.
"Incidentally I think it's a good idea that we all remain informal for this mission until we pick up the Ambassador," she said, smiling at Jim again. "We're going to be working together and titles can be a bit hard to remember in a crunch."
"Thank you, Admiral," he said, smiling again.
"Well if you're all ready," she said, standing. "Let's head on out to the transport vehicle and get going. All of you uniforms have been packed in stasis cases and are already on the transport vehicle along with whatever articles of clothing and mementos you had in your rooms."
They all stood and followed her out of the room and through the halls to the entrance in a single file line. Just as she'd said they found their stasis cases in the seats of the transport vehicle. They were silent on the ride to Starfleet Command.
Jim didn't know what to think about being in command of the Leviathan. The ship was so much smaller than Lexus. That was what was really on his mind. She wasn't Lexus. It was command though. Sure it was Cadet Command but it was still command. He would be in command of a starship and Starfleet had sanctioned it. His excitement built quickly once he thought about it that way. The Leviathan was a smaller ship but it was a starship. He was returning to space and this time he didn't have to worry about what Starfleet would say when they found out that he was acting Captain of the ship.
The others talked excitedly as they carried their stasis cases off the transport and boarded the shuttle. For most of them this would be their first taste of what being Starfleet was really like. They talked about everything from their quarters to what it was going to be like to live on the ship for the month.
They had a three hour shuttle ride ahead of them and Jim and Chad discussed what it was going to be like to be back in space. Chad was more excited than Jim had expected him to be after their time on the Lexus. Chad had been scared out of his mind through most of that voyage. Now he appeared to be almost over excited to be in space again.
"It'll be different this time," he said when Jim brought up the difference in his attitude about space. "We won't have to be constantly worried about dying."
"No," said Jim. "I don't think we'll have that worry this time. I'm just happy to be off the planet again."
"You get to be a captain again," Chad pointed out.
"Yes and you're still not my First Officer," replied Jim.
"I never wanted to be First Officer," laughed Chad. "Flying is where its at."
"Well have fun Fly boy," laughed Jim.
"Oh I plan to," said Chad seriously. "Jim, learning to fly for real was like nothing I ever even dreamed of. It was one thing to have the video game controls on Lexus but on that shuttle I had an actual Starfleet console under my fingers. It was amazing!"
"I'm happy that you're finally excited," laughed Jim. "I haven't seen you this excited since we were on the holodeck on Voyager with Lieutenant Kendrick."
"I missed those days like crazy for a long time," said Chad. "This is different though. I'm the only Dodds in existence here and I want to be the Dodds in space, Jim."
"And you are," replied Jim.
They were quiet for a little bit and then Jim started to think about his parents and friends he'd lost when he went into stasis on their Earth. He remembered his neighborhood in San Francisco and how much fun he and his friends had playing baseball in the street in front of the building he'd lived in with his parents. He missed that. He missed it a lot.
But this was great too. He loved being in the academy knowing that when he graduated he'd be a member of Starfleet. He'd grown up wanting to be in Starfleet. It was just sad that it took cryo stasis and Q to make it happen.
"You got quiet," said Chad, breaking into his thoughts.
"Thinking about what life was like before stasis," he sighed. "I really miss it sometimes."
"I do too," replied Chad. "Even as sick as I was all the time I miss it."
"But then I look around me and this fits too," said Jim. "It's confusing sometimes but I miss home and I love it here. It would just be better if I had someone that I belonged to. I miss my parents."
"Believe me no one knows how you feel better than I do," said Chad. "I miss so many things about life before stasis, the biggest is my parents."
"We're in the same boat there," laughed Jim, trying to tramp down his feelings about missing his parents. "We still have the Lexus family."
"Yeah," Chad said with a smile. "And some day we'll be with all of them again."
"Ladies and gentlemen," said Kathryn, gaining everyone's attention. "If you look now you'll see the Leviathan."
Excited gasps ran through the group of cadets. Jim imagined that the shuttle carrying the second half of the crew of this ship were just as excited. He was excited to see the ship. It was so much smaller compared to the Lexus but it was a ship. It was a ship and in a small way it was his ship.
Unlike Lexus's white hull the Leviathan was silver. It glistened in the filtered rays of the sun and it's name, stenciled across the hull, stood out as if the ship were proud. Jim thought that next to Lexus she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. He couldn't stop smiling.
"We'll be beaming over to the Leviathan in groups," she said once the shuttle docked with the station. "Please make sure that you don't leave anything behind on the shuttle. The shuttles will be waiting here until we return from NEZ-5. They won't be guarded however so any personal belongings left on the shuttles may not be here when we return."
They filed off the shuttle, stasis cases firmly in hand, and followed the admiral to the transporter rooms. They smiled at the transporter technicians and waited as the second shuttle docked and the rest of the crew took up their waiting stances outside the transporter rooms.
"All right," said Ensign Marry Ballanger, a tall young woman with long bright red hair and the greenest eyes that Jim had ever seen. "We'll beam you over in groups of six. The admiral has asked that as you beam over please wait in the corridor outside of the transporter room."
A thumb print scan was required before they could set foot on the transporter pads. Jim placed his thumb on the pad and waited while it scanned his DNA. When it took longer than he expected Ensign Ballanger explained that it was older software that hadn't been upgraded so far. He smiled at her and nodded.
"James Randal Kirk, Starfleet Academy, Junior Grade, Red Squadron Alpha Captain of USS Leviathan," said the computer. Jim's heart quickened at the sound of Captain after his name. It didn't matter that all of the rest of it was attached to the beginning of the title. He removed his thumb from the pad and stepped up on the platform, moving to the back left pad and waited.
"Quinn Janeway, Starfleet Academy, Junior Grade, Red Squadron Alpha Commander and First Officer of USS Leviathan," said the computer after Quinn's thumb had been on the pad for a few minutes.
Chad was next and the computer named him Lieutenant and announced his pilot status for the ship. The trio stood and listened as Johnathon Barclay was named Ensign and announced as Science Officer for the ship. Each member of the cadet crew was named for the station they held. Kiernan, a trill in Senior Grade, was named Lieutenant Commander and announced as Chief Engineer for the ship. Then it was Travis and Ryan.
"Prepare for transport," said Ensign Ballanger when Ryan took his place on the final pad on the platform.
"Energize," said Admiral Janeway and then they were on the Leviathan.
It took nearly two hours to transport everyone to the ship. The Leviathan had only one transporter room so there was no going faster. Then Admiral Janeway assigned crew quarters, having Jim and Quinn stand and wait until she was ready to show them to their quarters. She also said that the two of them should be the first members of the crew to set foot on the bridge of the ship. They waited just over three hours and the wait was starting to get to them. Jim sighed as the last of the crew headed for the lift and their quarters.
"All right, gentlemen," said Kathryn, smiling at them. "If you'll follow me. Be careful the corridors are a lot smaller than you're used to."
"I'm sure we'll get used to it," said Quinn, smiling at Jim.
They went to Quinn's quarters first and Jim waited outside with Kathryn while he put his things away and looked around his small three rooms. When he came back out he had a smile on his face so Jim thought the size of the quarters couldn't be that bad. They went on to his quarters next and he stepped inside.
Jim looked around his quarters, noting that they weren't even half the size of his quarters on the Lexus and sighed. He hung his uniforms, places his socks, underwear and other clothing in the drawers under his bed and sat his awards on the small desk that held his computer console. He took one last look around and then left the room.
The bridge of the ship was round and seemed a bit squashed to Jim as he looked around. The two chairs that sat in the center of the bridge were his and Quinn's. They both went to those chairs and sat down, looking around the bridge from that vantage point.
Nothing was what he was used to. Each station was smaller than it's counterpart on Lexus. Some stations simply weren't there. He wondered about that for a moment before he decided that he'd just have to learn this ship. The main view screen was a lot smaller than he was used to as was the console that could be slid around in front of him. He sighed and then smiled at Kathryn.
"Not what you're used to I know," she said. "But you have to start somewhere."
"I'll be all right," he replied. "This is just going to take some getting used to."
"I'm sure it will," she said. "Now if you'll call your alpha shift to their stations we can begin pre flight checks."
He tapped his comm badge and spoke in a clear voice, "Attention all personnel, alpha shift to stations, senior staff to the bridge. Prepare for flight."
"Very good," she said, taking the special seat that had been added to the bridge while it was docked here for modifications.
The others began to file onto the bridge, taking their stations as they did so. Chad looked at his station, turned and shrugged at Jim with a smile and sat down. He tapped his console and checked all of the readings before lifting his head.
"All systems check ready, Captain," he said.
"Leviathan to New Moon Station," said Jim. "This is Captain James Kirk, reporting all clear. Requesting permission to disembark."
"New Moon Station to Leviathan, our systems show the ship ready to disembark," came the voice over the comm. "Permission to disembark granted."
"Mr. Dodds, take us out," he said. "Quarter impulse."
"Aye, Captain, quarter impulse," said Chad as his fingers flew across the console.
The ship moved slowly forward through the docking rings and Jim sighed. He was starting to feel like a captain again. He watched on the main viewer as the ship cleared the rings and smiled at Quinn.
"Plot a course for the NEZ-5," he said.
"Course plotted, Captain," replied Chad after he'd programmed the conn.
"Warp three, Mr. Dodds," he said. "Engage."
The ship lurched slightly as it jumped to warp and then the stars were flying past them as they raced toward the Neutral Zone and NEZ-5. The first mission of the Red Squadron Alpha Team was underway.
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