Star Trek: Task Force Alpha

Chapter Two

USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A
Sol System, Earth Orbit
June 28, 2410

High above Earth orbiting the planet was a large magnitude of starships, some Federation Starfleet, some Vulcan High Command, and some from other races either seeking refuge from the war-torn sectors of space thanks to the conflicts with the Klingon Empire and the newly fractured Romulan Star Empire and the Romulan Imperial State. Starfleet's primary starbase in the Sol System was receiving a lot more traffic than usual but Earth Spacedock was designed to handle it in dire emergencies. On the other side of the planet in a stationary orbit over the North American continent were several Starfleet shipyards full of highly advanced starships getting refits and retrofits of various proportions from minor system upgrades to re-workings of the hull plating and shielding. On the farthest outskirts of this field of shipyards was an Odyssey-class Tactical Cruiser, the USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A.

In Main Engineering, the commanding officer of the Jasmine II, Admiral James Terranova was overseeing the installation of the starship's new Field Stabilizing Warp Core Mk. 10 along with the newest of starship technology that incorporated multiple system configuration batteries. These batteries were to enhance her shields, auxiliary systems, weapon systems, and her engine systems. With the incorporations of this new technology, the Jasmine II's Impulse Drive and Warp Drive would be further enhanced to sustain the ship better in flight and in combat situations. There was only one catch, the USS Jasmine II NCC 93785-A was going to be the ship to test bed all of these new pieces of advanced technology on the frontlines in the conflicts the Federation was facing with the Borg, the Klingons, the Romulans and the Undine (Species 8472).

Many decks below Engineering in Sickbay Admiral Terranova's Andorian wife Tala was in the middle of the most special moment of her life and wished that her husband could be there with her by her side but she knew his duty to the ship and Starfleet Command's dammed schedule for the installation of the ship's new Warp Core and other upgraded systems didn't correspond to her body's internal clock and the moment when she'd be giving birth to her first child and the first ever Andorian-Human Hybrid. The birth of her child was in fact a historical moment for an entire war-torn quadrant of the entire galaxy if not the entire known universe. Tala closed her eyes, pictured her husband next to her holding her and her hand and prepared to give birth with the only medical doctor aboard the ship that knew about Andorian physiology, the Emergency Medical Hologram Mark IV (aka "EMH") that was designed on a Female Human Template as what some still considered to be a "walking medical encyclopedia"; yet the EMH was truly the most qualified to be there for Tala and her unborn child. Two and a half hours later, Admiral Terranova was able to join Tala in Sickbay and when he arrived, she was hold a new born in her arms and singing lullabies to the baby in her Andorian language, when she saw her husband she said "It's a girl and I've been thinking we should call her Andoria; if you agree."

All he could do was agree well holding his newborn daughter and seeing the beauty in her peach-blue skin and her two antennas on the top of her head pointing towards him. "She's beautiful Tala," started James smiling at his wife then kissing her on her lips, the tip of her nose and on the top of one of her antennae. Turning to the EMH he asked "Is it alright for Tala and Andoria to leave Sickbay with me?"

"I don't see why not," said the EMH. "On two conditions; one that Tala takes it easy and nurses your daughter about every three or four hours, and two is that the two of you take some hours bonding with your daughter before returning to duty after all, within a few hours after birth its crucial for the survival of Andorian children to bond to their parents if they're expected to survive, you being human Admiral further makes it crucial after all, this bonding isn't just because of the ice cold frigid temperatures on Andoria where to parents use the time after birth to bond with their newborn children for them to feel warmth."