The Rise of Atlantis

Author's notes: Lots of character and plot development, but no sex scene just yet. Sorry guys.

A special thanks to Kayline Blake for another great editing job!

********

Lyssa woke at 06:30 with Sue splayed out all over her and spooned up just as tightly against her as Sue had been the day before. Lyssa reached behind her and patted Sue's luscious ass then said, "Time to wake up Sis. Kendra's due here at zero eight hundred, and salvage operations are scheduled to begin at the same time. We need to shower, dress, and have breakfast before then because we won't have time to do it once our day really begins."

Sue leaned up and gave Lyssa a kiss on the cheek. "Good morning to you too Lys. God. You are such a taskmaster you know that don't you?" She grinned and rolled out of bed then continued, "You go first, I'll order us some breakfast while you're in the shower. What do you want?"

Lyssa stood, stretched, yawned, and then said, "Steak, two eggs over easy, home fries, toast, and some mocha coffee. It's gonna be a really hectic day today and I'm gonna need all the energy I can get."

"That sounds good I think I'll have the same thing," Sue replied as Lyssa walked away.

Both women had showered and were dressed for the day when the food finally arrived. Sue took the food cart and told the steward that she'd leave it in the passageway when they were done with it.

As they sipped their coffee after they were finished eating Lyssa said, "The salvage operation's your baby Sue. Get the Destructor resupplied first then go from there. In the meantime, I'll get the engineers working on salvaging a few battlecruisers. I think three more should be enough for now."

"You got it Sis. You know what though? I was thinking that it might be a good idea to try and get one of those battlecruisers fully operational. We could transfer Ron's crew and a few hundred more off the Destructor. That would give Ron a crew of about four hundred. I know it'd leave both ships shorthanded. But they'd have enough personnel to fight a battle and the extra firepower might come in handy. We really don't know anything about the Beta Quadrant and heaven only knows what we could run into along the way."

"Hmm, that's a good idea. But why not split the personnel evenly and give both ships a crew of about five hundred?" Lyssa replied.

"We can't do that Sis. We're gonna need the rest to man the other ships. There's no way a five man watch can handle them around the clock on a six month trip."

"Okay, you're right. I forgot about that. Anyway, I'll talk to the engineers and see what they can come up with. Damn, I wish Ian hadn't been such an ass! We could really use him right about now."

"Yeah well, sooner or later you're gonna have to decide what you're gonna do about him. In the meantime, why not just give Kendra the assignment? She's more than capable of handling it too."

Just then the door chimed. Sue yelled, "ENTER," and a smiling Kendra came strolling in.

"Morning Lyssa, morning Sue. What's on my agenda for today?" She asked with a grin.

"Pull up a seat and grab some coffee Kendra. Sue and I have an idea we want to run by you." Lyssa replied.

Kendra listened carefully as Lyssa explained what they had in mind then said, "Actually that wouldn't be hard to do at all. The Constellation is already orbiting Sylkar. She's only a few years old and all her weapons batteries are already back online. She needs some new shield generators and her shield design sucks. But that's easily fixed with a few modifications. I could also automate a few of her key systems to compensate for her being shorthanded. The whole thing would probably take about two days if I can pick my own engineering crew to work with me. The only problem I have is who's gonna guard you two while I do my thing with the Constellation?"

"Nobody. Sue and I will stay aboard the Victorious until you're finished. If something comes up and we absolutely have to leave the ship, we'll contact you and you can take a break long enough for us to handle whatever the problem may be."

"Okay, that works for me," Kendra replied.

"Great! In that case the Constellation's your project. Pick whoever you need to work with and get her done. Let me know when she's ready," Lyssa replied.

The conversation was interrupted by a beep form Lyssa and Sue's desk console. Sue rose and went to answer it. When she opened the channel, she saw it was Dr. Ross. He smiled at Sue and said, "Good morning Admiral Sullivan. I just wanted to inform you that Captain Lewis is out of the slime bath. He's still a bit sore and stiff but he's asking to speak with you and Queen Lyssa at your earliest convenience."

"Oh that IS good news, thank you Doctor. I'll send Lieutenant McNeil down to escort him to our quarters right away," Sue replied. She turned to Kendra and asked, "Would you mind going down to sickbay and escorting Captain Lewis back here?"

"I don't mind at all Sue. It'll be great to see him again." Kendra replied.

"Wait a minute. You two know each other?" Sue asked.

"Yeah. Ron and my dad were really good friends. I called him Uncle Ron for years. After my dad died, Ron helped my mom to make the arrangements for my dad's memorial service. Any time Ron's ship was in spacedock, he'd stop by to check on me and my mom and after the incident in my mom's lab, he made it a point to track me down just to see how I was doing any time he was planetside."

"That sounds like Ron all right. He's one of the nicest guys I've ever known. He was a year ahead of us at the academy, but he always treated us with respect and he always seemed to pop up out of nowhere whenever Sue or I needed him." Lyssa said. She arched an eyebrow and continued, "Well what are you waiting for? Go and get him, but don't say a word about the Constellation. I want to surprise him with that myself after we bring him up to speed on everything that's happened."

"Okay I won't say a word about the Constellation Lyssa. But if you're gonna surprise Ron, you or Sue should contact Lieutenant Thomasin aboard the Vengeance while I'm gone and let her know that I'm gonna need her engineering crews. That way I can be sure they understand and can handle any problems with the upgrades and modifications I'll be making."

"Are you sure they've been released from the Destructor's sickbay yet?" Sue asked.

"Ron lost some of his engineers during the battle. But there's still enough on board the Vengeance right now to make up two engineering crews. Amy and I are good friends. We were at the academy together. She called me just before I reported for duty to congratulate me on my promotion and to thank me for helping to repair the Vengeance. The first thing Ron's gonna want to do when he gets here is to talk to her and check on his ship. If you don't want her spilling the beans, you'll have to let her know ahead of time."

"Okay I'll take care of that while you're gone. Now, go already," Sue replied.

After Sue spoke to Lieutenant Thomasin, she had the galley send up two pots of coffee along with creamer, sugar, and another coffee cup. The coffee arrived followed a few seconds later by Kendra and Ron.

Kendra saw the four coffee cups. She smiled and said, "Thanks for thinking of me but I really don't have time for more coffee. As much as I'd love to stick around and visit with everybody, I've got way too much work I need to get done."

Ron sat at the table with a grimace then said, "You're just like Lyssa and Sue. You get your teeth into something and you just can't let go until it's finished."

Kendra bent down giving Ron a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks Ron, I'll take that as a compliment." She gave Sue a quizzical look.

Sue smiled and said, "All right Kendra, you're dismissed Lieutenant." She got up and went to the desk console to give Lisa and Jim orders to concentrate on getting the Destructor resupplied first and to let her know when that was completed. Then she returned to her seat at the table.

Lyssa and Sue spent the next hour and a half bringing Ron up to date on everything that happened since the final battle with the Groms. Then Lyssa said, "I'm promoting you to Rear Admiral and giving you command of the Constellation, Ron. You'll only have a crew of about four hundred so you'll be a bit shorthanded. Kendra's gonna automate some key systems and make some other modifications that'll help to make up some for the crew shortages. The remaining survivors from your original crew should be released from the Destructor's sickbay sometime later today. I'm sorry Ron but only a hundred and nineteen of your crew, including yourself, survived the battle."

Ron shook his head with tears in his eyes. "So Atlantia and Cronus are totally destroyed. Admiral Rodgers died a traitor. His son is in the brig and I've lost over forty percent of my crew? Well at least those Groms bastards paid the ultimate price. It's hard to believe they almost managed to take us with them. I don't know how the Destructor survived those gunboats but thank heavens she did. So, when the salvage operations are finished we're heading for the Beta Quadrant? At least the exploration voyage I made isn't gonna be the total waste of time I thought it was. Are you planning on assigning me any other duties besides commanding the Constellation?"

"We don't have any other plans for you at the moment Ron," Lyssa replied. "You know as well as I do that the systems aboard a battle cruiser are a lot different than those aboard a light cruiser. It's gonna take some time for you and your new crew to adjust to them and to each other. We'll be here for a couple of weeks yet. I suggest you use the time wisely. Kendra's positive that she'll have your new ship ready for you by tomorrow evening. You should be ready to assume command at that time. One more thing. Neither you nor Jim will have any say as to who stays aboard the Destructor and who goes to the Constellation. Sue and I will make those decisions. That way there won't be any hard feelings between you and Jim. Your new crew members will begin to report in tomorrow night right after you assume command and we stop salvage operations for the day. You'll have all their service records by the end of today. You can pick your own officers. But try to be fair and pick some from your new crew members as well as from your original crew. That's not an order it's just a suggestion to prevent problems among your crew. You're free to promote anyone you think can do the job, and you can give battlefield commissions to any NCO'S you deem worthy."

"I'll be ready to assume command of the Constellation whenever you want me to Lyssa. In the meantime, I'm gonna head over to the Vengeance. I've got a lot of packing to do and I've got to prepare what's left of my original crew for the changes."

"I wouldn't worry about your crew too much Ron. Most of them already know what's coming. The engineers that are helping Kendra to get the Constellation ready for you came from the Vengeance. Kendra insisted they work with her on it so that they would know and understand the changes she's making to the ship. I know you're anxious to get back to the Vengeance and check on your crew. Before you go though, I need you to brief me on everything you know about the Beta Quadrant including all the things you didn't put in your official report."

"Okay, but there really isn't an official record. The whole mission was classified top secret. As far as fleet was concerned; it never happened. Your father didn't want the Groms finding out we were exploring the Beta Quadrant. Mission security was our number one priority. The only reason the information was on your GO7 computer is because your father ordered me to draw up a short report and put it there the last time you were in spacedock.

We chose an entry point that roughly corresponded to the center meridian of the Beta quadrant relative to Atlantia. The fleet engineers had come up with some high gain, extended range forward and lateral sensor arrays that they wanted to test under actual field conditions. The good news is that the new sensors worked great. They increased our sensing range by at least twenty five percent with an equal gain in clarity of detail. The bad news is that the arrays consumed a horrendous amount of energy. Their drain on our power resources was so bad that we lost around ten percent of our total flight distance. That's the main reason why we couldn't get any short range scans of sectors seventeen and eighteen. We had to turn back when we did or risk violating mission security protocols by calling for a fuel resupply on the return trip.

As far as the Beta Quadrant itself goes; there isn't much to tell. Besides the three planets you already know about, there were half a dozen more along the route we took that had breathable atmospheres. They were all rejected for various reasons, not enough water, too much gravity, temperatures too far outside our comfort range, that kind of thing. All of the planets with breathable atmospheres showed signs of lower lifeforms, animals, birds, and fish. But only the planet in sector seventeen showed any signs of intelligent life. I can't say the whole Beta quadrant doesn't have any races with interstellar capabilities because even with the extended range of our scanners we were only able to check about a dozen star systems in each direction at any given time. I realize that you'll have three fully operational combat ready starships but it might be prudent to follow the same route I originally took just to play it safe.

I'd also suggest that you talk to the engineers about taking those damn tachyon cannons off of those Groms gunboats. You'll have a ready-made planetary defensive system whenever we get to whatever planet you decide to start over on. It may even be a good idea to see if some of them could be mounted on that Groms carrier. From what you've told me she's plenty big enough to carry most if not all of those cannons. She'd make one hell of a gun platform and she'd really boost your combat capabilities. I'm sure the engineers can work out some kind of semi-automated targeting and firing control systems. Which reminds me, I think you should give her an Atlantian name. It'll make the people serving aboard her a whole lot more comfortable."

"Thanks for the briefing Ron. You've made some great suggestions and you can bet your butt I'm gonna use every one of them starting with renaming that Groms carrier. I'm gonna rename her the 'H.M.S. Atlantia's Revenge.' The only problem I've got with turning her into a dreadnought is that I'm a little short on experienced officers to command her. Do you think your Lieutenant Thomasin would be up to the task?"

"Amy? Oh hell yeah! She's one of my best junior officers. She understands strategy and tactics as good if not better than most of my senior officers. She also thinks quicker on her feet than I do most of the time, which is why I'd hate to lose her. But unfortunately for me, Amy IS perfect for the job, and she would be my first recommendation."

"Well, with that kind of a recommendation, I absolutely HAVE to meet her. Have her shuttle over as soon as you board the Vengeance. But don't tell her anything except that I want her to report to me ASAP."

As soon as Ron left, Sue asked Lyssa, "How in the hell are you gonna pull this one off? You only have about two hundred and twelve people to spread between all the salvaged ships including the five man watches already aboard them."

"I haven't worked it all out quite yet. We have a total of seven ships to move. Ron's taking command of the Constellation. But his whole crew's transferring with him. So we break even there. Lieutenant Thomasin will be assuming command of the Atlantia's Revenge. That leaves us five battlecruisers and the Vengeance to worry about. As far as mounting and controlling those tachyon cannons on board the Atlantia's Revenge, I'm pretty sure we can do it. The Groms were using them on small patrol craft and our engineers are a hell of a lot better trained than theirs were."

"You're right about the cannons, I don't see any major problems there. If the Groms could do it, we can too," Sue replied. She sipped her coffee then asked, "Lain, do you think a class one battlecruiser could tow another one all the way to the Beta Quadrant?"

"I can't answer that with any certainty Sue. The engineering manuals do say that they're able to tow and be towed, but they don't cite a maximum distance. However, there are some recommended procedures to follow when towing. Both ships should have their structural integrity fields tied into their auxiliary engines which will increase structural integrity by approximately twenty five percent. Antimatter temperature should be constantly monitored on the towing ship and her warp core should be checked for signs of stress every six hours. If recommended procedures are adhered to, I'd estimate that the chance of success is around ninety percent. Both ships are capable of moving under their own power so you could just swap them around if the need arises. Although the engineering manuals don't say anything about a maximum towing speed, I'd recommend a gradual increase while monitoring critical systems until the optimal towing speed is established as well."

Sue looked at Lyssa and grinned. "A ninety percent chance of getting all six ships to the Beta Quadrant in one piece sounds pretty damn good to me Lys! We can have two of the battlecruisers tow the other two and the Vengeance is only a light cruiser so the fifth battlecruiser shouldn't have a problem towing her."

"Good thinking Sue! That's a great idea, I love it. I'll take ninety percent odds in our favor any day!"

The door chiming interrupted their conversation. Lyssa yelled, "Come in Lieutenant."

Amy Thomasin entered, strode purposefully up to the table, snapped to attention, saluted Lyssa, and Sue smartly then said, "Lieutenant Amy Thomasin reporting as ordered, My Queen!"

Lyssa smiled and said, "Stand easy Lieutenant, you're not in any trouble. From the reports I've received, you're an outstanding officer and a credit to the uniform. As a matter of fact that's why I've asked to meet you. We're in my private quarters and this is just an informal meeting, so please, have a seat and relax. In here I'm just Lyssa, and Admiral Sullivan is just Sue. Okay?"

Amy sat down, looked at Lyssa while chewing her bottom lip nervously then said, "As you wish...Lyssa."

Lyssa let out a soft, short chuckle then said, "It's okay Amy. We realize you're a bit nervous. Try to remember that Sue and I are only women just like you. I've re-commissioned that Groms carrier we salvaged. She's now the H.M.S. Atlantia's Revenge. I plan on turning her into a sort of dreadnought by mounting as many of those tachyon cannons as she can carry on her exterior upper deck and having the engineers install some semi-automated tracking and firing controls on her command deck. She's also gonna have the same defensive shielding as our battlecruisers. All in all, she's gonna be one hell of a flying gun platform. I need a commanding officer for her. Your captain tells me that you're not only ready, but that you're more than capable of handling the job. So, effective immediately, I'm promoting you to full commander and ordering you to assume command of the H.M.S. Atlantia's Revenge."

Amy sat in stunned silence as a quick telepathic message passed between Lyssa and Sue. Sue stood, walked over to a dresser, opened a drawer and took out a small three by three inch square box. She closed the drawer, strode back to the table and handed the box to Lyssa as she sat back down.

Lyssa handed the box to Amy and said, "These were mine. I hope they bring you as much luck as they have me."

Amy opened the box and her eyes grew saucer like as they misted over with unshed tears. "OH. MY. STARS. Your rank insignia! I...um... I don't know what to say. I'm honored, thank you. But why me? I've only been out of the academy for three years. There are other officers with far more experience than I have."