Forward
by President Hikaru Sulu, excerpt taken from his autobiography, "Written in the Stars" (2345)
A captain never forgets his first command, as the commander of any vessel from freighter to starship will tell you. It's often love at first sight, but not always. Greater thinkers than I have long wondered why we humanoids like to assign the characteristics of living beings to inanimate objects, particularly vessels. I like to think it's because of the relationship we form with them. We fight with them and we love them. To the outside observer, it's a one-sided thing. We give and give, and they take and take. However, they do give back to us, in subtle ways. They protect us from the harsh vacuum of space and take us to the boundaries of the universe and home, time and again. The bond I eventually formed with my first and longest command, the U.S.S. Excelsior, was no different. At times, it did feel decidedly one-sided, and yet, she and I took care of one another for many years.
I was first offered command of Excelsior in 2285, a full five years before I would actually assume her captaincy. Extenuating circumstances and all. Everyone in Starfleet knew about the Excelsior. She was The Great Experiment, Starfleet's newest supership and the testbed for the ambitious transwarp drive. Her captain could know great prestige as a result, but that's not what interested me. True, I had followed her development with great interest, but at that point in my life I just wanted a ship of my own... any ship would do. I would later learn that it was my former commanding officer, Admiral James T. Kirk, who had submitted my name as a candidate for the command of Excelsior. (That debt is one of many I still owe him.)
But in the interim, fate had intervened and my first command would have to wait, but that didn't prevent my first glimpse of Excelsior from being a momentous one. I hadn't had the opportunity to inspect her during the time I was her captain on paper, so in the end I first saw her along with the rest of the Enterprise bridge crew as we returned from Genesis. As the Enterprise glided to her berth inside Spacedock, we all beheld The Great Experiment firsthand, as she sat gleaming in her new thermacoat at the berth opposite ours. Uhura was the first to comment.
"Well, would you look at that!" she muttered. I noted the cynicism in her voice that many in Starfleet shared, although it's also possible my friend was intentionally downplaying it for the sake of my ego. Still, transwarp drive had been a dream for so long few believed it would ever be a reality. I was nonplussed, and continued studying Excelsior as we drew nearer.
"My friends, The Great Experiment," Admiral Kirk announced. "The Excelsior... ready for trial runs." I sensed a certain terseness in his voice. Jim Kirk could be a bit of a cynic at times, but he was hardly closed minded. Still, there was a certain apprehension that he seemed to have about the project that came through in his voice.
"She's supposed to have transwarp drive," I intoned, a bit agape and thus unable to contribute anything more profund.
"Aye," the heathered voice of our Scottish engineer intoned, "and if my grandmother had wheels she'd be a wagon!" I knew that Mr. Scott had already refused to participate in the Transwarp Development Project due to his skepticism of its success. Admiral Kirk turned, a bit playfully.
"Now now, Mr. Scott," he mock scolded. "New minds, fresh ideas. Be tolerant."
Scotty's skepticism didn't phase me. My mind was elsewhere. I was in love. The Excelsior was magnificent. For a moment, my heart sank as a I realized she could have been mine at this very moment, had it not been for the fickleness of fate. However, I was all too quickly consumed by curiosity. I desperately wanted to get aboard Excelsior and walk her corridors. I didn't know it yet, but again fate would soon intervene before I would get the chance to do so. Still, fate does always seem to have a plan, and for myself and the Excelsior, there was much yet in store. Even now, I still think back to that first moment I ever laid eyes on her, and wonder if it is possible that in that moment I could have possibly seen the great adventure that awaited us both.
