Docking

Posted on 13 Dec 2023 @ 10:55pm by Captain Bane Plase

394 words; about a 2 minute read

Deep Space 9 rotated slowly around its central axis, the red lights on the three upper and three lower pylons blinking in unison. Far off in the distance, Bajor B'hava'el, the sun of the Bajoran home planet, shone brightly, little more than a bright spotlight in the darkness of space. At once, the great maw of the Bajoran wormhole appeared, bright, blue, circular. Just as suddenly, it closed and disappeared, the blackness of space reclaiming its rightful throne as ruler of the cosmos.

A bright flash of light, momentarily brighter than a pulsar, flashed against the fabric of the night, appearing the Starship Cygnus, and for a brief two second period, was moving at just under three hundred thousand kilometers a second before it reached its intended speed of 1/8th impulse power. Her nacelles, glowing white along the length of the tubed appendages, softened to a light blue. The red ramscoop collectors at the leading edge dimmed from a bright red to deep maroon. The starship had just come out of warp speed. The three impulse engines, one large center one, and two smaller ones port and starboard, began glowing red, the powerplants pushing the massive vehicle through space.

As the ship maneuvered its way towards its destination, it dipped below the X axis of the giant space station and began to turn to starboard, the right side of the ship dipped downwards, the port side coming up. The ship slowed even more as it leveled out, its bulbous stardrive section below the lowest point of the dorsal pylons of the gargantuan station, the massive saucer section coming even with it.

Small jets appeared in multiple locations along the entire port side of the starship, many of them cutting off, then coming back on in rapid succession as the ship slowed more, vectoring in perfect harmony for the minute changes the spaceframe needed to match the spin and orientation of the space station exactly. Slowing, inching its way towards the pylon, her docking port aligned perfectly with the docking port of the massive pylon.

The U.S.S. Cygnus had docked successfully with Deep Space 9. Within moments, the power on the ship flickered once, the telltale sign that shore-power was now being provided from the station to the ship.

She had arrived home, safe and sound.

OFF

RSS Feed