First Contact: WarpStar

18

'CLANG.' A loud ringing sound appeared over the 2MC.

"Con. Sick-bay, sir, the alien has awakened, and he is asking for the captain," the doctor called out on the comm system.

"Sick-bay, aye, I will be a few minutes," replied John.

John handed a datapad to a young bridge officer as he walked towards the back of the bridge. At the very back was a small corridor that had two slightly curved staircases on either side, and a door at the end which clearly was labeled 'Lift'. The doorway above the staircase to the left was labeled 'Wardroom' while the other staircase was labeled 'Captain's Office.' This was Deck 1, the Wardroom and the Captain's Office.

John walked in to his office, locked the door and sat at his desk, clearly exhausted.

"Sir, we have a problem," exclaimed Donovan as he placed a piece of the Drive Assembly on the captain's desk.

John caught the issue right away without needing to think about the broken piece. "Well that's not right. Main pathways have been altered, this is not supposed to be designed like this."

"Exactly, it was meant to blow. I don't think we were meant to survive exiting F.T.L.," Donovan said.

"We had an extensive systems check before we left Dry-Dock. This would have shown up," the captain said with a worried look on his face. "Whoever did this must still be on board. Keep this between us for right now. Can you get the ship in orbit?"

"Sir, she's ready now, I bypassed the Drive Assembly for now, she won't be smooth but I can get her into orbit for a proper Hyperspace Jump."

"Good, start making your preparations to leave orbit."

"Aye, sir," Donovan said as he stood up and saluted, the both of them made a hasty walk to the bridge.

"Alright, kids," Henderson said jokingly. "Let's make our rounds!"

Everyone in the room starts going through their final checklists, but just as the Ex-O makes his order, Lt. Jackson speaks up.

"Sir, if I may."

"Go ahead, lieutenant," replied Henderson.

"Sir, I believe we should stick around longer, study this place. This is the biggest discovery the human race has made since the discovery of the Hyper drive."

"As much as I agree with you, Jackson, the ship is in no condition to mount a research expedition. Plus the Federation has no idea our status. We will be back," replied Henderson.

"Aye, sir," Lt. Jackson replied as he continued his duties. With a major interest in archeology and history, Robert always found discoveries extremely fascinating, and sometimes fell victim to their distractions.

Swoosh the light sound of the bridge doors opened up, and Doctor Lamar entered.

"Sir," replied the middle-aged African female doctor. "Our guest wished to be present on the bridge, I didn't think it was much of an issue."

"Excuse me? Non authorized personnel are not allowed in system critical areas; the bridge is one of them," Chief of Security Lt. Commander Watney replied.

"It's okay, commander, I invited him," Henderson said in response.

"Sir, this violates regulation."

"Watney, this is my bridge, he will be fine."

"Aye, sir."

The alien walked slowly up to the captain's chair to observe his new friends and their command of such an awe-inspiring vessel. Although he comes from a world that has had thousands of years to develop stunning technology, their race has never truly mastered military organization, tactics, and structure. Their technology may be superior, but they lack the command required to make the technology superior, he was amazed at the discipline the crew of the WarpStar was showing.