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Stardate: 2253.78

Former Cadet Laline Hawenno, now ensign, sat in the passenger compartment of a shuttle as it flew out of Earth’s atmosphere and into orbit. She was quickly going over information on her PADD, refamiliarizing herself with command procedures of a first officer. She tried to do so quickly so that she could quickly rejoin in the palpable excitement that she shared with her fellow passengers that surrounded her. And why shouldn’t they be excited? This day was one to be especially proud of and one that would stay in their memories forever. They were the class of 2253 at Starfleet Academy and have just graduated from their studies to become full-fledged officers. And it was particularly special for herself too, being one of the first of her kind to be admitted into Starfleet. Her people, the Veliriens, were born explorers, traversing the waves and oceans of their watery world Veliri since before their civilisation even began, first on canoes, then outriggers, longships, multi-mast explorers, steam ships and electric vessels. So much of their history and development, the knowledge that was gained, the materials used to build and trade, the stories that formed their culture and identity, all of which lead to them forming into a society had been driven by the journeys of brave, sailing wayfarers who journeyed on the tides.

To now get the opportunity to be among the first of her people’s wayfarers to travel the Galaxy, in a organisation such as Starfleet that was dedicated to exploration of the stars themselves was both an honour and a dream come true. Her people had only recently encountered the Federation thirty ago, just after they had discovered the wonders of warp travel as part of their hope to secure rich minerals on the edge of their solar system that were urgently needed back on their homeworld. As the seventh mission solving this shortage was being conducted, a Starfleet ship made contact with those bringing back the minerals and from there, her people were introduced to the knowledge that that there was indeed life, so much life in fact, living out across the Galaxy and among them was the Federation, a group of such life united in common cause with each other, which wished to welcome the Veliriens into their alliance as well if they wished it. There could not have been a greater moment of shock to her people than this and now, after years of discussion and debate about how to make use of this incredible information and what her people should do next, it was the hope of Veliri’s leaders that by sending some their own to join Starfleet and prove what they could do, eventually the paving their way to a speedy but efficient entry into the Federation, which would grant them access first to badly needed resources that were beginning to dwindle back home, and then to consolidate themselves with as a true spacefaring people with whole new colonies and a leap in technology unparalleled to what they have now. Laline had herself dreamed of becoming a wayfarer since she was a child, and had looked to the stars in particular to be the ocean she would sail. She never really thought that she would get that opportunity, for a time being content in serving in one of her nation’s submersibles as it charted the depths of their world’s oceans. But now, she realised it was actually going to happen.

Having finished reading the last of page of the First’s officer’s operational manual, she was finally able to get back to the revelry of her fellow graduates. Among those packed onto the shuttle were a number of her friends that she made at the Academy. Sitting beside her was ensign David Armstrong, a human man from the United Americas who had been part of her class throughout her tenure. He was one of the first friends she had made since arriving at Earth and the first that was Human. While theory allows one to know of a thing through raw facts and form a professional impression of what is and what it can do, it was thanks to David that she was able to learn much about Humanity and their homeworld while she was studying on Earth in a more practical way, through actually experiencing it’s cultures and by travelling around it while they were not attending classes. He was assigned as a shuttle plot for the training cruise, exactly as he had wanted.

On her other side was Sylvia Tilly, who was a junior in the year behind her, but one who had demonstrated an unusual prowess in handling information and engineering projects. While she was somewhat…withdrawn at times, she had a creative mind and skill in shifting through data, even that which proved highly complex. As Velirien society placed high value on the sciences and on understanding the world around them, Laline had been taught to think like this herself from a young age. With this common ground, the two were able to appreciate and bond over this shared trait and had gotten along well as a result, despite being at different stages in their studies. She had been offered an early spot in a cadet cruise as a result of her work, but would return to the Academy afterwards to finish the last year of her course. Seated in other rows were several others from her year that had become her friends over time while at the Academy, such as Evelyn Savea, Ian Kwon, Garry Lifeson, Keero, Tamav, Irez, Peart and others, all of whom she had just lead a “toast” before leaving Earth in honour of their hard work and to their new futures, while the rest of the shuttle’s passengers were other cadet graduates from her year. Most were talking with each other, or staring out through the shuttle’s windows as they approached a cluster of drydocks.

As they approached closer, Tilly began to speak up.

“I can’t believe we’re finally doing this!”

“I know” Laline responded with a smile. “I was just thinking about how strange it is that we’re finally here.

As Tilly looked back out of the window, she noticed something. “Oh, look over there!” she pointed towards a drydock complex they were approaching. In the bay closest to them was stored a ship, one typical of one of the types of frames utilised by Starfleet, with a saucer, a neck, an engineering section with a deflector dish emerging at it’s forward end and two warp nacelles. It was however different in several ways, with a number of indentations filled with grilling marking several sides of the saucer, a more bottle like shape defining it’s engineering section that made it widen further along the back and it’s nacelles placed horizontally alongside this, rather than curving above or below as was typical.

That’s the Glenn, a Crossfield class I think they’re called.”

“Crossfield? Never heard of them.” Laline responded, not able to place the type of ship down as any she knew about.

“Me neither,” added David” “Which is weird, I know a lot about ships, especially the ones Starfleet uses.”

“Not surprising actually, no one really knows much about her, or her capabilities. Well…no at Starfleet Academy anyway.”

“Looks like she’s made from a Baton Rogue class if I had to guess, but one that been extensively modified. Could be it’s a new refit we haven’t heard about?” David speculating, looking over the ship up and down. Laline was curious as well. It was strange that both Tilly and David didn’t know much about it, usually information about the ships used by the fleet was generally accessible for Starfleet cadets to access, just not certain reasonable elements like their more sensitive equipment they may utilise or specific types of missions they may go on. But that they both were drawing a rather large blank on knowledge in general regarding this ship was…unusual.

“Could be. Oh hey, maybe we’ll work on a ship like that someday.” Tilly stated.

“Maybe, though I’d like to find my way onto a Constitution one day. Those things are works of art.”

Tilly gave that thought some consideration herself, clearly not finding it an appealing idea as well before turning back to Laline as the Glenn moved across the window as their shuttle passed by. “What about you Laline, got any favourites you like among the fleet.” Laline shook her head.

“Honestly, I’m just happy to have an opportunity to even be on any ship out here. It’s all beyond what we have back on Veliri. But we also believe that with ships, it doesn’t matter about things like how big it is or what it can do. For many of us, they are not just a way for us to travel, but also our home, one that you put your trust into so that it’ll be able to guide and protect you. As long as one can do that, then the ship you have will give the best it can provide in return.”

Tilly and David considered this before thoughtfully nodding, taking the point into consideration. Tilly looked out the window once, another smile forming on her face. “Well for now then, our ship’s here”, she stated, gesturing with her hand towards the window. As they all looked out, another ship now came into view. It was smaller than the Crossfield, lacking it’s dedicated engineering drive, instead with a funnel like structure stretching across the centre of it’s saucer. In the centre of both the funnel and the saucer was the ship’s bridge module. At the front of this was located the ships deflector dish while at the rear, the funnel tapered into a compartment for a shuttle bay, with two pylons holding up the ship’s warp nacelles. Flanking the bridge module on the saucer was the ship’s name and registry.

“The USS Strider. She’s a Bonaventure class. Captain Schaefer’s pride and joy.”

David whistled at this. “Bonaventure? Now that’s one for us to start our careers on. I remember reading about these not too long ago in class. They’re classics.”

“I do too,” added Laline. “They’re the ship class that paved the way for the fleet’s current design philosophy, correct?” Laline asked.

“Yeah, that’s right. They were revolutionary at the time when they were introduced forty or so years ago. They served as a test bed for most of the modern technology our fleet uses now, like the next generation Cochrane/Archer warp engines, upgraded hull alloys and lineal vector transporters, they even helped to test out Dr Daystrom’s duotronic computer systems before they were installed fleetwide. The higher ups also wanted to make sure that these components would work on any design, thus why it’s using the tried-and-true type of design frame that stretches back to the original NX.”

“Didn’t you train in tactical rather than engineering?” Tilly asked as she turned back to face David, her eyebrow raised at his knowledge and her voice betraying the barest hint of jealously at being beaten to the punch at explaining something that was usually in her field of knowledge.

“That’s what I thought too. He was in a lot of my classes.” added Savea sarcastically, who until this point had been content to listen their conversation and then proceeded to playfully punch David in the arm. David just smiled in response as he took the hit and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure did. Doesn’t mean I’m a meathead like you want to be Evelyn. Piloting a ship actually means you have to know some things like how it works and how it operates when you fly it.” Savea punched his shoulder again, a little harder this time.

Uh-huh. Real smart guy, aren’t you Dave?” David just rubbed his shoulders, half mockingly, half for real. He then turned back to face Laline.

“So yeah, I overlapped into more fields than just tactical. That’s why I bounced about a few different classes. Though honestly, I’d already read-up on so much of this stuff before I even set foot on campus. I always liked it since I was a kid, so it comes naturally to me.

Laline gave David a curious look “They’re special for you, aren’t they?”.

David looked back at her, a little confused at first by her question as he considered it, as if no one had ever actually asked him directly about it before.

“I guess they are. As someone who always wanted to fly, I love how these things pushed the limits of what ships could do. They leapfrogged us into a new age of space travel. Starting to show their age maybe, but that doesn’t take away that they’ve had a good run.”

Laline smiled. She understood what he meant. As she had already said to them, treating one’s ship on Veliri as family for common. Sailing the seas was the major way of life back home and had shaped practically all of it’s history. She had seen hints since coming to Earth of how other species appreciated their vessels as well, a welcome point on which she could share common ground with others. And now to see that reverence among her friends here and now, as they were about to set foot aboard their first posting, was comfortingly familiar and helped to reassure her even more that this sentiment was indeed true, that her people did share a bond with other life in the cosmos, proof for her that they could work and live together.

“Sounds like you already understand ships in a way my people do.”

He blinked at that, then made the connection to their earlier conversation.

“Uh, guess I do. Never thought about it in that.” He chuckled a little bit.

Well, starting out on a classic will be good then.” Tilly began again, “She’s got good speed for her class, definitely manoeuvrable. A stout, solid, battle-proven design for sure.”

Battle proven? Now there was concerning thought. Tilly probably didn’t mean it, though Laline was not surprised that war was in people’s minds, even if subconsciously. Only several months away before graduation, war had been declared by the Klingon Empire against the Federation. Everyone had been taken aback by the news. Laline was still not entirely sure what had prompted this, as were most everyone else, as accurate information was difficult to come by from a warzone. From what she understood though, the Klingons, after several decades of rising tension between themselves and the Federation, had ambushed a Federation fleet at the border and then attacked the colony of Archanis, declaring that they would no longer tolerate the Federation’s expansion of its territory and culture into space they felt belong to them. And so they had decided to write this statement with blood and plasma. She had even heard rumours that there may have been a mutiny by one of the officers of a Starfleet ship that was involved during the first battle but she wasn’t entirely sure of this, though was stunned by the implication.

The idea of having to go to war, after only just achieving her long held goals, made her unsettled, never mind the fact that the enemy they would face would be Klingons, a species she was now quickly learning were among the fiercest warriors in the known Galaxy. She had fought before when she served in her people’s navy back home so she did have combat experience, but this was always against small bands of pirates, not a whole nation of trained and deadly warriors who revered the entire concept of armed conflict. However, the Federation was renown for its ability to find ways to end conflicts peacefully, to negotiate with others and to find common ground with them. After all, Humanity had done so with the Xindi after they had attacked Earth. The Andorians, Vulcans and Tellerites, once bitter rivals and enemies, came to become the closest of friends and joined as a single people under the Federation’s banner. Surely something could be done in the same way with the Klingons today. There may be conflict for a time, but hopefully the Federation would eventually come to find a solution to end the blood spilling. Until then though, she understood her what her new duty was asking of her and accepted this. When called upon, she would defend the Federation, it’s people and any innocents in harm’s way with everything she has, as she sometimes had to do on once on Veliri.

Laline was pulled out her thoughts as Tilly spoke once more. “I can’t wait to see what she can do. Let’s land and find out!” To that Laline was looking forward to. The shuttle’s pilot flew above the Strider approaching it’s docking bay, about to make an about turn to enter it.

“Hey Laline, since your going to be the first officer for this cruise, just do us a favour and don’t have whoever’s at the helm take the ship out without detaching us from the drydock first.” Savea joked. You already crashed us when we took the Kobayashi Maru, don’t think we need to go through with that for real.”

Laline rolled her eyes. It seemed that she was never going to live that down with her classmates, especially Savea. While her friend, she did like to think of herself as the group’s “jokester”, whatever that term meant, and had brought up how Laline had decided to ram her ship into an enemy’s during the test as for humour several times. Laline thought that, with no other options for victory or escape, their wasn’t much else she could do. The strange thing was that Savea actually agreed with her about it, she just liked to tease her about how uncharacteristic it was for someone usually considered quite peaceful.

Laline proceeded to hold up her PADD displaying the operational procedures for first officers, pointing at it with her other hand. “As one of your phrases I’ve come to learn says: “Already ahead of you.”

With that, their shuttle swung about to face the Strider’s shuttlebay, it’s clam-shell doors opened for their arrival.

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From the archives of the United Federation of Planets Historical Society; in collaboration with Memory Alpha: narrated by Professor John Gill circa 2262.

Stardate: 2253.78

The Bonaventure represented a decisive sea change in Starfleet’s and the Federations starship design and production. Introduced at the start of the 23rd century and named in honour of one of Earth’s first warp capable craft that sadly went missing during it’s exploration of the Delta Triangle, the Bonaventure was at the time of it's launch the pinnacle of Federation achievement through the shared innovation, technology and co-operation of its member races. It’s design and technology has gone on to influence almost the entirety of Starfleet’s spaceborne vessels up to this day, including the venerable Constitution class. For many years, the Bonaventures were among Starfleet’s premier explorers that helped chart most of our current borders and was a prestigious posting for an officer.

By the outbreak of the Four Years, these ships were beginning to wind down in their service, with half of those that were active now being decommissioned, while the remaining half were allocated roles closer to the core such as cadet training, courier duty and police patrols.

During the war, most ships of the class remained on these duties, serving one last vital role as much needed (but often forgotten) workhorses complimenting Starfleet’s logistical supply chains while their successors battled against the Klingon invaders. One ship of this class would stand out though during this conflict. Pictured here is the USS Strider, a training ship originally under the command of Captain Anton Schaefer, passing by Earth, it’s orbital platforms and the newly refitted USS Hannibal (NCC-512) as it departs the Sol system for a training cruise of both newly graduated and undergraduate Starfleet cadets two months after the outbreak of war. Among the crew was newly minted ensign Laline Hawenno, a member of the semi-aquatic Velirien species and among the first of her kind in Starfleet, having been sponsored in her admittance into Starfleet Academy by her people’s government as part of their goal to build ties with the Federation in the hope of eventually requesting membership. Hawenno, having taken the command track at the Academy, was selected by Captain Schaefer to take the role of XO for the duration of the cruise.

With the Federation now at war with one of its most powerful neighbouring powers and having already taken losses from the Battle of the Binary Stars, Starfleet was keen to accelerate it’s training and recruitment programmes as it suddenly found itself in extra need of capable officers. As such, it was deemed important that cadets and newly graduated officers receive practical training and experience on ships, starbases and planetary bases as soon as possible, under the supervision of experienced and well-regarded teachers such as Schafer. This was the goal of the USS Strider as it left Earth and proceeded to Vulcan for what should have been a routine journey around the proverbial block.

Unfortunately, the Strider and it’s fresh-faced crew would find themselves facing the savagery of war far sooner than they expected…

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So finally something new on the FYW front, and an introduction to a few new officers. Wonder where thing's will take them?

If you've played the Discovery era tutorial campaign in Star Trek Online, then you'll have a pretty good idea. As Discovery itself is being readjusted into this interpretation to better line up its chronology, lore and aesthetics, so too are the events of that campaign of the game and it's depiction, which showed a different perspective of the conflict. That said, the events in the game, as in Discovery, only takes place over a a year or so. This interpretation will take it over four. And it will be a rough four years at that.

One advantage with adding this into this story is that it helps to flesh out the conflict even further with more perspectives. Afterall, Starfleet is composed of a fleet, with thousands of officers. As we have the view from the likes of the crews of the Enterprise and Discovery, we'll also see how the war is handled by the likes of the crew of the Strider, a ship that as has been described here, doesn't fit as much into the role of hero vessels like those other two, at least for now. This ship and crew aren't meant to take on secret missions or test experimental technology. For the most part, their only newly graduated officers meant to be doing milk runs but due to the circumstances they find themselves in, they now have to handle these high stakes and dangers in their own way, often reacting to the big decisions made by others and the consequences of those. But that doesn't mean their own lives or stories are inconsequential. It'd be not unlike following a crew of background ship that you see time from time on any of the series. I find it interesting following characters in what are "adjacent" stories to a "main" plot and it's characters.

But who knows, with time, maybe the Strider will find it's own claim to fame someday, as the professor has implied.

Credit for this Commission goes to
for creating the commission. 😀
Star Trek is copyrighted and property of Paramount and CBS Studios.

Description

Stardate: 2253.78

Former Cadet Laline Hawenno, now ensign, sat in the passenger compartment of a shuttle as it flew out of Earth’s atmosphere and into orbit. She was quickly going over information on her PADD, refamiliarizing herself with command procedures of a first officer. She tried to do so quickly so that she could quickly rejoin in the palpable excitement that she shared with her fellow passengers that surrounded her. And why shouldn’t they be excited? This day was one to be especially proud of and one that would stay in their memories forever. They were the class of 2253 at Starfleet Academy and have just graduated from their studies to become full-fledged officers. And it was particularly special for herself too, being one of the first of her kind to be admitted into Starfleet. Her people, the Veliriens, were born explorers, traversing the waves and oceans of their watery world Veliri since before their civilisation even began, first on canoes, then outriggers, longships, multi-mast explorers, steam ships and electric vessels. So much of their history and development, the knowledge that was gained, the materials used to build and trade, the stories that formed their culture and identity, all of which lead to them forming into a society had been driven by the journeys of brave, sailing wayfarers who journeyed on the tides.

To now get the opportunity to be among the first of her people’s wayfarers to travel the Galaxy, in a organisation such as Starfleet that was dedicated to exploration of the stars themselves was both an honour and a dream come true. Her people had only recently encountered the Federation thirty ago, just after they had discovered the wonders of warp travel as part of their hope to secure rich minerals on the edge of their solar system that were urgently needed back on their homeworld. As the seventh mission solving this shortage was being conducted, a Starfleet ship made contact with those bringing back the minerals and from there, her people were introduced to the knowledge that that there was indeed life, so much life in fact, living out across the Galaxy and among them was the Federation, a group of such life united in common cause with each other, which wished to welcome the Veliriens into their alliance as well if they wished it. There could not have been a greater moment of shock to her people than this and now, after years of discussion and debate about how to make use of this incredible information and what her people should do next, it was the hope of Veliri’s leaders that by sending some their own to join Starfleet and prove what they could do, eventually the paving their way to a speedy but efficient entry into the Federation, which would grant them access first to badly needed resources that were beginning to dwindle back home, and then to consolidate themselves with as a true spacefaring people with whole new colonies and a leap in technology unparalleled to what they have now. Laline had herself dreamed of becoming a wayfarer since she was a child, and had looked to the stars in particular to be the ocean she would sail. She never really thought that she would get that opportunity, for a time being content in serving in one of her nation’s submersibles as it charted the depths of their world’s oceans. But now, she realised it was actually going to happen.

Having finished reading the last of page of the First’s officer’s operational manual, she was finally able to get back to the revelry of her fellow graduates. Among those packed onto the shuttle were a number of her friends that she made at the Academy. Sitting beside her was ensign David Armstrong, a human man from the United Americas who had been part of her class throughout her tenure. He was one of the first friends she had made since arriving at Earth and the first that was Human. While theory allows one to know of a thing through raw facts and form a professional impression of what is and what it can do, it was thanks to David that she was able to learn much about Humanity and their homeworld while she was studying on Earth in a more practical way, through actually experiencing it’s cultures and by travelling around it while they were not attending classes. He was assigned as a shuttle plot for the training cruise, exactly as he had wanted.

On her other side was Sylvia Tilly, who was a junior in the year behind her, but one who had demonstrated an unusual prowess in handling information and engineering projects. While she was somewhat…withdrawn at times, she had a creative mind and skill in shifting through data, even that which proved highly complex. As Velirien society placed high value on the sciences and on understanding the world around them, Laline had been taught to think like this herself from a young age. With this common ground, the two were able to appreciate and bond over this shared trait and had gotten along well as a result, despite being at different stages in their studies. She had been offered an early spot in a cadet cruise as a result of her work, but would return to the Academy afterwards to finish the last year of her course. Seated in other rows were several others from her year that had become her friends over time while at the Academy, such as Evelyn Savea, Ian Kwon, Garry Lifeson, Keero, Tamav, Irez, Peart and others, all of whom she had just lead a “toast” before leaving Earth in honour of their hard work and to their new futures, while the rest of the shuttle’s passengers were other cadet graduates from her year. Most were talking with each other, or staring out through the shuttle’s windows as they approached a cluster of drydocks.

As they approached closer, Tilly began to speak up.

“I can’t believe we’re finally doing this!”

“I know” Laline responded with a smile. “I was just thinking about how strange it is that we’re finally here.

As Tilly looked back out of the window, she noticed something. “Oh, look over there!” she pointed towards a drydock complex they were approaching. In the bay closest to them was stored a ship, one typical of one of the types of frames utilised by Starfleet, with a saucer, a neck, an engineering section with a deflector dish emerging at it’s forward end and two warp nacelles. It was however different in several ways, with a number of indentations filled with grilling marking several sides of the saucer, a more bottle like shape defining it’s engineering section that made it widen further along the back and it’s nacelles placed horizontally alongside this, rather than curving above or below as was typical.

That’s the Glenn, a Crossfield class I think they’re called.”

“Crossfield? Never heard of them.” Laline responded, not able to place the type of ship down as any she knew about.

“Me neither,” added David” “Which is weird, I know a lot about ships, especially the ones Starfleet uses.”

“Not surprising actually, no one really knows much about her, or her capabilities. Well…no at Starfleet Academy anyway.”

“Looks like she’s made from a Baton Rogue class if I had to guess, but one that been extensively modified. Could be it’s a new refit we haven’t heard about?” David speculating, looking over the ship up and down. Laline was curious as well. It was strange that both Tilly and David didn’t know much about it, usually information about the ships used by the fleet was generally accessible for Starfleet cadets to access, just not certain reasonable elements like their more sensitive equipment they may utilise or specific types of missions they may go on. But that they both were drawing a rather large blank on knowledge in general regarding this ship was…unusual.

“Could be. Oh hey, maybe we’ll work on a ship like that someday.” Tilly stated.

“Maybe, though I’d like to find my way onto a Constitution one day. Those things are works of art.”

Tilly gave that thought some consideration herself, clearly not finding it an appealing idea as well before turning back to Laline as the Glenn moved across the window as their shuttle passed by. “What about you Laline, got any favourites you like among the fleet.” Laline shook her head.

“Honestly, I’m just happy to have an opportunity to even be on any ship out here. It’s all beyond what we have back on Veliri. But we also believe that with ships, it doesn’t matter about things like how big it is or what it can do. For many of us, they are not just a way for us to travel, but also our home, one that you put your trust into so that it’ll be able to guide and protect you. As long as one can do that, then the ship you have will give the best it can provide in return.”

Tilly and David considered this before thoughtfully nodding, taking the point into consideration. Tilly looked out the window once, another smile forming on her face. “Well for now then, our ship’s here”, she stated, gesturing with her hand towards the window. As they all looked out, another ship now came into view. It was smaller than the Crossfield, lacking it’s dedicated engineering drive, instead with a funnel like structure stretching across the centre of it’s saucer. In the centre of both the funnel and the saucer was the ship’s bridge module. At the front of this was located the ships deflector dish while at the rear, the funnel tapered into a compartment for a shuttle bay, with two pylons holding up the ship’s warp nacelles. Flanking the bridge module on the saucer was the ship’s name and registry.

“The USS Strider. She’s a Bonaventure class. Captain Schaefer’s pride and joy.”

David whistled at this. “Bonaventure? Now that’s one for us to start our careers on. I remember reading about these not too long ago in class. They’re classics.”

“I do too,” added Laline. “They’re the ship class that paved the way for the fleet’s current design philosophy, correct?” Laline asked.

“Yeah, that’s right. They were revolutionary at the time when they were introduced forty or so years ago. They served as a test bed for most of the modern technology our fleet uses now, like the next generation Cochrane/Archer warp engines, upgraded hull alloys and lineal vector transporters, they even helped to test out Dr Daystrom’s duotronic computer systems before they were installed fleetwide. The higher ups also wanted to make sure that these components would work on any design, thus why it’s using the tried-and-true type of design frame that stretches back to the original NX.”

“Didn’t you train in tactical rather than engineering?” Tilly asked as she turned back to face David, her eyebrow raised at his knowledge and her voice betraying the barest hint of jealously at being beaten to the punch at explaining something that was usually in her field of knowledge.

“That’s what I thought too. He was in a lot of my classes.” added Savea sarcastically, who until this point had been content to listen their conversation and then proceeded to playfully punch David in the arm. David just smiled in response as he took the hit and shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure did. Doesn’t mean I’m a meathead like you want to be Evelyn. Piloting a ship actually means you have to know some things like how it works and how it operates when you fly it.” Savea punched his shoulder again, a little harder this time.

Uh-huh. Real smart guy, aren’t you Dave?” David just rubbed his shoulders, half mockingly, half for real. He then turned back to face Laline.

“So yeah, I overlapped into more fields than just tactical. That’s why I bounced about a few different classes. Though honestly, I’d already read-up on so much of this stuff before I even set foot on campus. I always liked it since I was a kid, so it comes naturally to me.

Laline gave David a curious look “They’re special for you, aren’t they?”.

David looked back at her, a little confused at first by her question as he considered it, as if no one had ever actually asked him directly about it before.

“I guess they are. As someone who always wanted to fly, I love how these things pushed the limits of what ships could do. They leapfrogged us into a new age of space travel. Starting to show their age maybe, but that doesn’t take away that they’ve had a good run.”

Laline smiled. She understood what he meant. As she had already said to them, treating one’s ship on Veliri as family for common. Sailing the seas was the major way of life back home and had shaped practically all of it’s history. She had seen hints since coming to Earth of how other species appreciated their vessels as well, a welcome point on which she could share common ground with others. And now to see that reverence among her friends here and now, as they were about to set foot aboard their first posting, was comfortingly familiar and helped to reassure her even more that this sentiment was indeed true, that her people did share a bond with other life in the cosmos, proof for her that they could work and live together.

“Sounds like you already understand ships in a way my people do.”

He blinked at that, then made the connection to their earlier conversation.

“Uh, guess I do. Never thought about it in that.” He chuckled a little bit.

Well, starting out on a classic will be good then.” Tilly began again, “She’s got good speed for her class, definitely manoeuvrable. A stout, solid, battle-proven design for sure.”

Battle proven? Now there was concerning thought. Tilly probably didn’t mean it, though Laline was not surprised that war was in people’s minds, even if subconsciously. Only several months away before graduation, war had been declared by the Klingon Empire against the Federation. Everyone had been taken aback by the news. Laline was still not entirely sure what had prompted this, as were most everyone else, as accurate information was difficult to come by from a warzone. From what she understood though, the Klingons, after several decades of rising tension between themselves and the Federation, had ambushed a Federation fleet at the border and then attacked the colony of Archanis, declaring that they would no longer tolerate the Federation’s expansion of its territory and culture into space they felt belong to them. And so they had decided to write this statement with blood and plasma. She had even heard rumours that there may have been a mutiny by one of the officers of a Starfleet ship that was involved during the first battle but she wasn’t entirely sure of this, though was stunned by the implication.

The idea of having to go to war, after only just achieving her long held goals, made her unsettled, never mind the fact that the enemy they would face would be Klingons, a species she was now quickly learning were among the fiercest warriors in the known Galaxy. She had fought before when she served in her people’s navy back home so she did have combat experience, but this was always against small bands of pirates, not a whole nation of trained and deadly warriors who revered the entire concept of armed conflict. However, the Federation was renown for its ability to find ways to end conflicts peacefully, to negotiate with others and to find common ground with them. After all, Humanity had done so with the Xindi after they had attacked Earth. The Andorians, Vulcans and Tellerites, once bitter rivals and enemies, came to become the closest of friends and joined as a single people under the Federation’s banner. Surely something could be done in the same way with the Klingons today. There may be conflict for a time, but hopefully the Federation would eventually come to find a solution to end the blood spilling. Until then though, she understood her what her new duty was asking of her and accepted this. When called upon, she would defend the Federation, it’s people and any innocents in harm’s way with everything she has, as she sometimes had to do on once on Veliri.

Laline was pulled out her thoughts as Tilly spoke once more. “I can’t wait to see what she can do. Let’s land and find out!” To that Laline was looking forward to. The shuttle’s pilot flew above the Strider approaching it’s docking bay, about to make an about turn to enter it.

“Hey Laline, since your going to be the first officer for this cruise, just do us a favour and don’t have whoever’s at the helm take the ship out without detaching us from the drydock first.” Savea joked. You already crashed us when we took the Kobayashi Maru, don’t think we need to go through with that for real.”

Laline rolled her eyes. It seemed that she was never going to live that down with her classmates, especially Savea. While her friend, she did like to think of herself as the group’s “jokester”, whatever that term meant, and had brought up how Laline had decided to ram her ship into an enemy’s during the test as for humour several times. Laline thought that, with no other options for victory or escape, their wasn’t much else she could do. The strange thing was that Savea actually agreed with her about it, she just liked to tease her about how uncharacteristic it was for someone usually considered quite peaceful.

Laline proceeded to hold up her PADD displaying the operational procedures for first officers, pointing at it with her other hand. “As one of your phrases I’ve come to learn says: “Already ahead of you.”

With that, their shuttle swung about to face the Strider’s shuttlebay, it’s clam-shell doors opened for their arrival.

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From the archives of the United Federation of Planets Historical Society; in collaboration with Memory Alpha: narrated by Professor John Gill circa 2262.

Stardate: 2253.78

The Bonaventure represented a decisive sea change in Starfleet’s and the Federations starship design and production. Introduced at the start of the 23rd century and named in honour of one of Earth’s first warp capable craft that sadly went missing during it’s exploration of the Delta Triangle, the Bonaventure was at the time of it's launch the pinnacle of Federation achievement through the shared innovation, technology and co-operation of its member races. It’s design and technology has gone on to influence almost the entirety of Starfleet’s spaceborne vessels up to this day, including the venerable Constitution class. For many years, the Bonaventures were among Starfleet’s premier explorers that helped chart most of our current borders and was a prestigious posting for an officer.

By the outbreak of the Four Years, these ships were beginning to wind down in their service, with half of those that were active now being decommissioned, while the remaining half were allocated roles closer to the core such as cadet training, courier duty and police patrols.

During the war, most ships of the class remained on these duties, serving one last vital role as much needed (but often forgotten) workhorses complimenting Starfleet’s logistical supply chains while their successors battled against the Klingon invaders. One ship of this class would stand out though during this conflict. Pictured here is the USS Strider, a training ship originally under the command of Captain Anton Schaefer, passing by Earth, it’s orbital platforms and the newly refitted USS Hannibal (NCC-512) as it departs the Sol system for a training cruise of both newly graduated and undergraduate Starfleet cadets two months after the outbreak of war. Among the crew was newly minted ensign Laline Hawenno, a member of the semi-aquatic Velirien species and among the first of her kind in Starfleet, having been sponsored in her admittance into Starfleet Academy by her people’s government as part of their goal to build ties with the Federation in the hope of eventually requesting membership. Hawenno, having taken the command track at the Academy, was selected by Captain Schaefer to take the role of XO for the duration of the cruise.

With the Federation now at war with one of its most powerful neighbouring powers and having already taken losses from the Battle of the Binary Stars, Starfleet was keen to accelerate it’s training and recruitment programmes as it suddenly found itself in extra need of capable officers. As such, it was deemed important that cadets and newly graduated officers receive practical training and experience on ships, starbases and planetary bases as soon as possible, under the supervision of experienced and well-regarded teachers such as Schafer. This was the goal of the USS Strider as it left Earth and proceeded to Vulcan for what should have been a routine journey around the proverbial block.

Unfortunately, the Strider and it’s fresh-faced crew would find themselves facing the savagery of war far sooner than they expected…

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So finally something new on the FYW front, and an introduction to a few new officers. Wonder where thing's will take them?

If you've played the Discovery era tutorial campaign in Star Trek Online, then you'll have a pretty good idea. As Discovery itself is being readjusted into this interpretation to better line up its chronology, lore and aesthetics, so too are the events of that campaign of the game and it's depiction, which showed a different perspective of the conflict. That said, the events in the game, as in Discovery, only takes place over a a year or so. This interpretation will take it over four. And it will be a rough four years at that.

One advantage with adding this into this story is that it helps to flesh out the conflict even further with more perspectives. Afterall, Starfleet is composed of a fleet, with thousands of officers. As we have the view from the likes of the crews of the Enterprise and Discovery, we'll also see how the war is handled by the likes of the crew of the Strider, a ship that as has been described here, doesn't fit as much into the role of hero vessels like those other two, at least for now. This ship and crew aren't meant to take on secret missions or test experimental technology. For the most part, their only newly graduated officers meant to be doing milk runs but due to the circumstances they find themselves in, they now have to handle these high stakes and dangers in their own way, often reacting to the big decisions made by others and the consequences of those. But that doesn't mean their own lives or stories are inconsequential. It'd be not unlike following a crew of background ship that you see time from time on any of the series. I find it interesting following characters in what are "adjacent" stories to a "main" plot and it's characters.

But who knows, with time, maybe the Strider will find it's own claim to fame someday, as the professor has implied.

Credit for this Commission goes to
for creating the commission. 😀
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