The Enterprise NX-01 was accelerating to the fantastic superluminal speed of warp five in the direction of Bubble Ring I, an unexplored area of the Orion arm of the Milky Way about 300 light-years from Earth, so named for the density of neutral hydrogen at least ten times lower than the galactic interstellar one and probably caused by the stellar wind of a supernova exploded millions of years earlier.
The fundamental objective of the first spaceship five-year mission was to map with the utmost accuracy all the star systems updating the maps of the Federation, without neglecting any contact with an extraterrestrial race capable of traveling in space, but avoiding disturbing the natural evolution of civilizations still confined on their origin planet and therefore unprepared for the culture shock deriving from an encounter with aliens.
Archer was in his command seat carefully observing the activity buzzing on the bridge with all his officers who were really giving the maximum effort to fulfill their duties in the best possible way: in front of him the helmsman Mayweather fumbled with the controls of his console, to his right the tactical officer Reed was checking that all the ship's systems were in order and the chief engineer Tucker was looking apprehensively at a monitor, to his left the science officer T'Pol with an expression absolutely indecipherable seemed intent on checking some data on the screen and the communications officer Sato was trying to open a subspace channel to report the situation to Vice Admiral Forrest.
The clear but soft light of the bridge instilled in Archer intimate tranquility and absolute certainty about his ability to carry out the prestigious mission entrusted to him, to bring humanity to its rightful place in the galactic community and to encourage technical and scientific progress, in short going bravely where no man had ever gone before. Yes, Archer confessed to himself, I feel fine, I'm home, the Enterprise is my home, I've always wanted to command a starship and discover strange worlds and new life forms.
"Captain!" Tucker called turning to look at him with a triumphant smile, "we just hit warp five!". "This is a very important event for us" Archer remarked emphatically as he stood up "and I would like to commemorate it by applauding the Starfleet men and women who allowed us to experience it firsthand", he concluded starting to clap his hands.
All those present imitated their captain and T'Pol too standing with the others was not applauding because surprised by what was happening, noticing how serious and involved the entire crew was responding to the invitation to celebrate the solemn moment.
It was by no means a noisy exhibition of poor discipline as she had initially judged, but the demonstration the human race wanted to continue along the path that would lead it to the full legitimacy of its ambitions. T'Pol narrowed his eyes in concentration because for the first time she sensed the danger of the human race, perhaps able in the near future to undermine the supremacy of Vulcan, exploiting the union of the exaltation of individual characteristics with a tenacious collective organization.
Meanwhile, Archer felt a deep sense of well-being because he was aware not only of being at home, inside his Enterprise, but also among his family, his crew. He could not and did not want to disappoint anyone and would have done everything possible to do his duty, he pondered while smiling and applauding, but when he saw the hard and impassive gaze of the vulcan suddenly he no longer wanted to continue.
"Very well" he said sitting back down, "let's test the full propulsion and see how long we can maintain it. Hoshi, call Vice Admiral Forrest and let him know the Enterprise has reached the expected maximum speed without any problem."
"Immediately captain," the pretty Asian replied, typing the transmission code on the keyboard. "Captain" now was Tucker speaking "with his permission I would like to go to the engine room to control myself the engineers work."
"Granted and thanks for a great job, Charles" Archer nodded pleased that everything was going well.
He had been so doubtful about the not so selfless vulcan help he hadn't taken for sure the Enterprise would respond so well to commands on the first trip, but now he felt he had to change his mind realizing the perfect functioning of the first warp engine ever made by mankind. Certainly, the Vulcans had a more advanced and powerful type of antimatter propulsion capable of warp seven, that is up to 656 times the speed of light, while warp five was equivalent only to 214 times the speed of light and therefore it was too obvious admitting it was not possible to confront them yet.
But by now the core technology was well known and Archer felt confident the future Earth starships would soon close the performance gap. Their mentors, not to mention guardians and indeed overseers, were an ancient and proud race that seemed satisfied with the level of civilization achieved, while humanity had just appeared in the Universe and was eager to redeem itself from the disasters caused on their home planet and to make up for lost time with other civilizations, even hoping to surpass them one day.
"Captain" his digressions were interrupted by T'Pol's steady and controlled voice and he turned to the left listening to her.
"I would also like to go to the engine room to lend my assistance as a science officer."
"Very well T'Pol, give Commander Tucker all the help you can get, we need to know how long the Enterprise is able to keep going this warp speed." The vulcan woman with a nod of assent got up getting closer to his chair and heading towards the turbo-lift.
Archer immediately averted his eyes forcing himself to look forward casually, but winced slightly as the Vulcan's soft right hip touched his left arm. The camouflage tights wrapped her gorgeous body in a really too provocative way, it was not possible to resist any longer and Archer admired her magnificent firm big butt while the two large breasts bounced, establishing a harmonious balance that enhanced the swaying walk.
All the people observed in awe T'Pol, bewildered by such an exciting beauty moving with feline elegance and even Hoshi, while pretending to study the monitor in front of her, had looked up in astonishment until she came out.
I need to organize a meeting with all the officers as soon as possible to warn them about T'Pol's real intentions, Archer promised himself. It's incredible how she displays all her physical gifts and even the sweet Sato doesn't seem to be immune to this perverse charm. But one thing at a time, he said to himself shaking the head, I take care of the Enterprise first because we have to check all the ship's systems and therefore the complete dedication of my crew is required, I can't say we have a vulcan whore on board who wants to test their virtue.
T'Pol walked down the short corridor leading to the engineering section, allowing herself a brief smile at the thought she was about to meet the human Tucker, his embarrassment was evident and very funny when watching her. This time, however, she was determined to really test his ability to resist a direct sexual approach and she was convinced that it would be impossible not to get excited. As soon as she came close the front door opened sideways without emitting any sound signal, certainly, the last one entered had not activated the lock. Maybe it was Tucker who had forgotten it in his haste, T'Pol was looking with impatience searching for her prey.
The great engine room was about forty meters by fifteen meters wide, mostly occupied by the matter-antimatter reactor representing the heart of the starship, capable of pumping the enormous energy necessary to reach the warp speed and create a distortion of the spacetime to jump into subspace, thus significantly reducing distances in conventional space.
In the reactor's warp core matter was annihilated with antimatter and the energy production was controlled by dilithium crystals, a mineral antimatter could not disintegrate, which catalyzed the reaction aligning the two beams of particles and antiparticles. The energy plasma generated was sent through conduits to the warp nacelles to create a warp bubble contracting the space in front of the ship and dilating it behind to obtain the warp speed.
