Tell Me The Story Again.

Posted on Wed Aug 6th, 2025 @ 12:06am by Lieutenant Faith Hawkins

1,676 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: R&R
Location: Hawkins Quarters.

“Mummy?” asked Meredith, sat on the sofa. She observed her mother, who was cradling her baby sister, sit down on the settee next to her. Dinner had not long been consumed. Faith had returned the used crockery to the replicator to be recycled. “Yes, Meri?” replied Faith.

“Can you tell me the story again?” was the response. Faith turned to face Meredith, using her free hand to pick up a glass of orange juice. What story might that be? thought Faith, knowing exactly which one it was. “Which one?” asked Faith, taking a sip from her glass.

“The one about where…” Before Meredith had a chance to finish, Faith nodded. Yes. It was that one again. She decided that this time though, she would go into more detail, rather than the truncated version of the story she’d given last time.

“Okay.”

May 2156.

“The Admiral will see you now, Captain.”

Beatrice Langley rose from her seat, and headed for the Admiral’s office. She was expecting a full dressing down. She only did what she thought was right. By altering course to go to the rescue of a stricken Starfleet ship which had been attacked by a Romulan warship. They hadn’t arrived in time to save the ship, or the freighters it had been escorting. However, some lives had been saved, returned to Earth. Their families. “Admiral.”

“At ease, Captain.” said the Admiral, shortly. “Take a seat.” His hands clasped together.

Beatrice did as she was instructed. The seat on her left was chosen, her hands rested in her lap. The view over San Francisco Bay was quite something. It was a beautiful spring day. The sun had reached the highest point in the sky, surrounded by nothing but clear blue skies. Beatrice loved the spring.

“What do you think you were doing? You were ordered to go directly to Alpha Centauri.” asked Gardner.

Beatrice replied. “As anyone else would do in my situation.” she began. “We received a distress call from a nearby Starfleet ship, Yorktown. It and the freighters it was escorting had been ambushed. I expressed a desire to go to their aid.” A pause for breath, before continuing to recall what took place at the time. “I offered to note any and all objections from those on the bridge at the time in my next log. None were forthcoming. I therefore instructed my helm officer to alter course.”

“By doing so, you put the lives of your crew and your ship in severe danger. We can’t afford to just throw away starships and lose even more people than we have already.” Gardner retorted.

Leaning forward, Beatrice then tilted her head to one side slightly. “But Ark Royal wasn’t destroyed. Damaged, yes. But had I not taken the course of action I chose, everyone on Yorktown and those freighters would have died.” A pause. “For the record.” Another pause. “I stand by my actions, and I know for a fact if the roles had been reversed...”

“…any one of those ships would have done the same for you.” said Gardner, deciding to stop Beatrice there with a raised hand. “Your moral compass is admirable, Captain Langley. But you were ordered to go directly to Alpha Centauri. No exceptions.”

“Yes, I was. But, I would do what I did again.” replied Beatrice, her posture changing. She got it. Gardner, Starfleet Command wanted to know why she made the decision not to follow direct orders. “With respect Admiral, if you threw the book at every single commanding officer in Starfleet for disobeying orders for the right reasons, we’d have a pretty high turnover.” a pause. “I did what I did to save lives. On this occasion, 56 of them. The rules about helping those in distress and in need of rescue aren’t different because we’re at war. Nor should they be. So, if you want to throw the book at me for that, then throw it at me as hard as you can.” a final pause. “But leave my crew out of it. Maybe I wouldn’t have had to disobey orders if that convoy had been escorted by more than one ship.”

After Beatrice’s last comment, Gardner had heard enough. “I think we’re done here. You’re dismissed Captain Langley.” he said, curtly.

August 2156.

Her hands on the balustrade stretching across the rear of the bridge, Beatrice looked ahead through the view screen. The ribs of the dry dock, then open space. A work bee hovering around the deflector dish. To each side of Beatrice were secondary consoles, behind her, the situation room. The noise created by the engineering team working behind and to the left of Beatrice masked the distinctive hiss of the turbolift door opening behind her.

“Is it break time already?”

Beatrice recognised that voice. “Lieutenant.”

Francesca strolled around to the tactical station, and enthusiastically began to reel off the various tactical systems now at her disposal. Not for the first time either. Further uprated phase cannons. Burst-fire photonic torpedo launchers. Of course, this wasn’t for the sake of it. Earth was now at war with an enemy whose face it had never seen.

“I asked if they’d let me wait for one of the next pair, but I accepted oh-six when I found out it was being fitted with the same tactical systems as oh-seven and oh-eight.” replied Beatrice. The former was currently under construction. The latter would follow, immediately after NX-06 launched. Francesca gave Beatrice a grin, knowing her commanding officer had previously said something similar to Commander Quinn about her now having a warp five engine to take care of instead. Francesca watched as Beatrice moved around to, sat in the command chair. “Comfy?” asked Francesca.

Beatrice nodded, stretching her arms out on the armrests. “Very.” she confirmed, activating the pop-up status display in the right armrest. With the ship due to launch the next day, it still hadn’t quite sunk in for Beatrice yet. Even after three months. Ark Royal was sturdy, capable. But it couldn’t hold a candle to the NX-class starship she was now in command of. She was the first British officer to command an NX-class, and after Captain Hernandez of Columbia, the second woman. Fifteen or so minutes later, the construction team who’d been working on the bridge announced their departure. The team leader gave Beatrice a brief summary of the work they’d completed, then left.

“Are you okay?” Francesca asked, watching Beatrice gently swing from side to side in her chair. They were now the only occupants of the bridge, so Francesca knew she’d get a more honest answer.

Beatrice stopped the chair, turned it towards the tactical station. “Yeah.” she replied, before looking Francesca in the eyes. She rose from the chair, then stood in front of the tactical station. Her right arm extended towards Francesca. “As long as I have you.” a pause, as Francesca took Beatrice’s hand in hers, interlocking their fingers. “I’ll be okay.”

“You’ll always have me, Bea.”

-

The command crew assembled aboard the Henry Archer Complex, a facility built in 2154 to enable the construction of two NX-class starships at once. Two five-ribbed docks were connected by a central structure. Each of the docks featured an observation lounge, one of which was now hosting the launching ceremony for the sixth vessel of the class to be built. A short speech was given by Admiral Gardner, with various delegates present. Mostly from Starfleet Command. Then, one of the attendees was called forward to perform the naming ceremony.

A button mounted next to Gardner’s podium was pressed, causing the clamp located above the ship’s bow to release the bottle of champagne in its grasp. Away from prying eyes, Francesca held, squeezed Beatrice’s hand reassuringly. This calmed her nerves a little, as she was conscious of the centuries-old superstition. A bottle failing to smash at an ocean-going ship’s launch was an omen of bad luck. Moments later however, it floated into and emphatically smashed against NX-06’s hull.

“I christen this starship Endeavour. God speed.”

A sigh of relief breathed, Beatrice joined in the applause echoing around the lounge after Francesca released her hand. After catching each other’s attention, Beatrice and Gardner exchanged nods. Several seconds passed. She then proudly led her command team to the front, before they were accosted by a reporter to pose for a photo with Gardner. This was much to Beatrice’s displeasure, although she decided against protesting. Then, it was back to Endeavour. In a matter of minutes, United Earth’s newest starship would be underway.

Sat in her chair on the bridge, Beatrice had received confirmation Endeavour’s moorings had been released and all systems were ready for launch. While most of her senior staff from Ark Royal had joined her on Endeavour, there were a couple of new faces. The science officer, communications officer both arrived on the back of glowing recommendations. Beatrice took a few moments to look at each station and their respective occupants, then finally to the view screen ahead. It would be a brief shakedown cruise, then right in at the deep end.

“Let’s get this show on the road.”

January 2377.

“So.” concluded Faith, largely confident she’d remembered everything she knew about her great-great-great-great-great grandmother becoming captain of Endeavour. “That’s why your sister is called Beatrice.”

Meredith was surprised how much detail Faith went into this time. Previously, her mother had kept things much more brief. “Can we go and see Endeavour? Please?” she asked, knowing the vessel had been preserved after leaving service. Unlike Enterprise, Endeavour had been returned to its pre-refit condition. One of each. “Do you have any more stories about Great Grandnana Beatrice?”

Faith nodded, smiling. She had plenty more stories about Captain Langley to tell, but a trip to Alpha Centauri would have to wait.

 

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