Starfleet Year One
Chapter One
Commander Bryce Shumar couldn't believe his turbolift had gotten stuck again.
For a moment, he just stood there, trying to remain calm -- hopeful that it was just a temporary malfunction. Then his patience was rewarded as the narrow, dimly lit compartment jerked and labored and resumed its uncertain ascent.
The damned thing hadn't been running as smoothly as he would have liked for several months already. The cranky, all-too-familiar whine of the component that drove the compartment only underlined what the commander already knew -- that the system was on its last legs.
Under normal circumstances, new turbolift parts would have appeared at the base in a matter of weeks -- maybe less. But lift parts weren't exactly a tactical priority, so Shumar and his people were forced to make do with what they had.
After a few moments, the component cycled down and the commander's ascent was complete. Then the doors parted with a loud hiss and revealed a noisy, bustling operations center -- Ops for short. It was packed with one sleek, black console after another -- all of them manned, and all of them enclosed in ... read full excerpt from Star Trek: The Original Series: Starfleet Year One ebook
