Star Trek: Catalyst

Stardate 4082.3

Ensign Toby Owen adjusted the strap of his suitcase and tugged at his mustard yellow uniform. The single gold pip on the right side of his collar itched; he resisted the urge to do so. He ran a hand through his dark brown curls and sighed. His new assignment was so close.

The docking bay stood empty. Toby had arrived here two hours early, just in case, and he had been spending the last hour and a half waiting for his ship, which, by the looks of it, was going to be right on time.

A sound of light footsteps echoed off the walls of the bay. A woman in a scarlet uniform and a black hijab with a suitcase like Toby's came and stood by him.

"Hello," she said, "have you been waiting long?"

"No sir," Toby said. "I just got here early."

"Waiting for the Catalyst, then?"

"Yes." Toby turned and almost did a double take: the woman had the rankings of a Starfleet captain! "Ensign Toby Owen."

The woman smiled. "Captain Yarah Sayed. I would say welcome aboard, but I haven't seen this ship before."

"Me neither. I've just studied the diagrams. I do want to make engineer eventually."

"Excellent choice. In my younger years I was an engineer."

"Warning: bay doors opening. Stand clear and prepare for boarding," a lilting, computer-generated voice announced over the intercom.

Toby gripped his bag even tighter. This was the moment. His moment.

At 120 meters long and 34 meters high with thirteen decks, the Catalyst was dwarfed in size by larger starships such as the Enterprise or even the Voyager, but to Toby Owen it seemed massive. Its windows glowed with light, and the warp nacelles dimmed as the ship came to a stop.

"All aboard, then," Captain Sayed said. "I hope there's not a welcome party."

A small shuttle detached itself from the ship and landed meters from the two. Its door swung open and out stepped a tall man with deep auburn hair in a scarlet uniform matching the Captain's.

"Commander Joshua O'Fallon," he said, stepping forward and shaking each of their hands.

"Captain Yarah Sayed," the Captain said, shaking his hand. "You'll be my number two, then."

O'Fallon nodded. "You must be the new ensign."

Toby shook his hand. "Ensign Toby Owen."

O'Fallon waved a hand at the shuttle and another person stepped out. Their uniform, yellow like Toby's, fit much better on them than on Toby, and their wavy black hair was impeccably styled away from their forehead.

"That'll be Ensign Kieran Reed," O'Fallon said. "They flew us from the ship."

Reed nodded.

"Alright then," said Captain Sayed. "Let's get going."

"I'll introduce you to the rest of the main bridge crew when we get up there," O'Fallon explained. "It shouldn't be too hard to remember the rest: we only have about fifteen crew members currently; thirty people on board in total. Your communicator badges should be waiting in your quarters for you."

Before long the shuttle docked in the Catalyst. The four crew members stepped out into the shuttle bay. Directly outside of the bay's doors stood a turbo lift; the four of them stepped inside.

"Deck 1," O'Fallon commanded. "I assume you two have already studied the schematics of this ship?"

Captain Sayed and Toby nodded. Toby already knew that deck 1 was the bridge, decks 4 through 11 housed the various science stations, deck 2 was for crew quarters, and that deck 3 was the medical center. The computer core was on deck 13 and main engineering, at the center of the ship, took up most of deck 12 along with the two shuttle bays.

"Good. After the Captain's introduction Ensign Reed will take you and show you your quarters."

The turbo lift slowed and the doors opened onto the bridge. The room quieted as the new captain stepped onto the bridge, but no one stared. O'Fallon cleared his throat. "Welcome to the Catalyst, Captain Yarah Sayed." He led the four of them down to the front half of the bridge.

A blond young man sat at the navigation console. "Lieutenant commander Luka Poulsen, navigation," he said.

Reed nudged Toby. "Most ensigns aren't this lucky," they said. "I didn't get a tour and an introduction to the bridge crew when I joined."

Toby grinned and followed O'Fallon to meet some of the other crew.

"Lieutenant T'rena, science officer." A dark-haired Vulcan who gave Toby a curt nod.

"Doctor Elsie Marsh, chief medical officer." A short, tanned woman with golden brown corkscrew curls.

"Commander Sam Gordon, chief engineer." A stocky person with wavy dirty blond hair.

"That will be all, ensigns," O'Fallon said. "Owen, you will begin your duties tomorrow at 1000 hours."

"Yes sir."

"C'mon," Reed said as they walked out with Toby. "I'll show you your quarters."

The turbo lift carried them quickly to deck 2. "Ensigns share rooms," said Reed, turning to the left down the corridor. "Everyone above that gets their own. If we had a larger crew more people would have to share, but lucky for them only the ensigns are stuck with it."

"Lucky us," Toby mumbled. "So who'm I roommates with?"

Reed grinned. "Me, of course!"

Toby had neatly unpacked his things. Two beds were placed against the left and right sides of the room, across from the door. A door to the left led to a simple bathroom, and a door to the right led to a small closet. Each bed had a night table, and a six-drawer dresser with a replicator stood between those.

He sighed and pinned the communicator to his uniform. He'd already checked his data pad; tomorrow he would assist in engineering. He was looking forward to it a little, but he could already tell that life on a starship would be ten times harder than life at the academy. After eating a light dinner from the replicator, there was nothing to do but wait.

Sleep came and went quickly. Toby had been on the ship for twelve hours now, but it had felt like two. He dimly remembered Reed stumbling into the room halfway through his "night" to collapse on their bed, and when Toby left at 0930 to make his way to engineering they were still knocked out.

Toby nervously polished his pip with one finger as the turbo lift carried him downwards to the heart of the Catalyst. The doors slid open, revealing the brightly lit engineering section.

"Ensign Toby Owen," Commander Sam Gordon said, meeting Toby outside of the turbo lift. Xe extended xer hand to him.

Toby nodded and shook xer hand. "Reporting for duty," he said.

Gordon clapped xer hands. "Great! I'll start you off with Ensign Ortega. She'll explain everything to you."

"Understood." Toby walked over to where the other ensign stood.

The engineering's intercom crackled to life and Captain Sayed's voice rang throughout the ship. "Attention all crew and personnel: we are charting a course to the class M planet Carilia 075, in the Kiara system. The objective is to transport science team alpha to the planet's surface for an archaeological survey."

Toby inhaled sharply. My first real mission! he thought.

I am Ensign Toby Owen of the USS Catalyst.