This is another ship featured in my fiction writing. At this point, I don’t plan on writing more about this ship/crew, but I’ll keep it on file just in case I need it.
TIMEFRAME: TOS-era, after "Balance Of Terror" and before "Errand Of Mercy" and "Arena".
SHIP: Federation Patrol Cutter "James McShane". This is a good ship with a problem.
PATROL AREA: Police District Four, in the north-west region of the Federation.
If you look at a map of the Federation oriented with the galactic center to the “north”, there are three known star empires neighbors: Romulans to the south-east, Klingons to the south-west, and Kzinti to the north-west. The Tholian holdfast is due-south. Contact has yet to be made with the Gorn to the north-east. When the Federation Counsel unilaterally declared the Federation perimeter to be 4750-parsecs radius from Sol/Earth, Star Fleet built a series of space stations and deployed fleets to protect the border. The central core of the Federation is well developed. This leaves a “middle ring” that is still largely unexplored, still very much the Wild West. Star Fleet does not have a strong presence in this region; rather, the Federation Consolidated Law Enforcement Service, aka Space Police, has set up patrol zones.
The First District covers the central “home worlds” core and extends north / northeast. The Second, Third, and Fourth Districts cover the south-east, south-west, and north-west, respectively. The Fifth District is being carved out of the northern half of the First District. Districts are broken down into five or six Precincts, and each Precinct will have a squadron of five or six patrol cutters plus a support frigate.
Captain: Lieutenant Commander Marcus Maxwell is a kindhearted and fair man with 24 years of service, 12 as an enlisted Gunner’s Mate. He believes in giving second chances, but even he has his limits.
Executive Officer: Lieutenant Jonathan Wu is a man with 14 years of service. He is a quiet man by nature who dislikes personal confrontation.
Operations Officer: Lieutenant Cynthia Harris has 12 years of service, but this is her first space-duty assignment. She spent two years as an Academy instructor and then a year at a small ground station before joining the McShane four months ago.
Intelligence Officer: Lieutenant Edith Grossman is a very book-smart woman. She is confident in her job but not her personal life.
Tactical Officer: Lieutenant Duncan is an Alpha Centauri man who could be mistaken for a Norse God. (NOTE: Tactical Officer is not the same as Weapons Officer, but rather is the head of the Tac-Teams, combining the duties of what on a Star Fleet ship would be the security detail and Marine detachment.)
Chief of the Boat: Senior Chief Reactor Technician Lucille Cohen is the crew’s mother hen. She will protect her troops from injustice to the bitter end. She has little tolerance for stupidity and will quickly adjust the attitude of any troop so in need.
PROBLEM: The ship has a serious morale problem that can be summed up in two words: Cynthia Harris. She has been described as a Witch with a capital “B”. People who served with Harris in her early years say that she was the nicest person you could even meet. That all changed when she arrived at the Academy, and nobody knows why. What few people know is that she went on a classified special duty assignment just prior to her time as an instructor -- it appears that “something bad” happened during the mission that transformed Harris.
TIMEFRAME: TOS-era, after "Balance Of Terror" and before "Errand Of Mercy" and "Arena".
SHIP: Federation Patrol Cutter "James McShane". This is a good ship with a problem.
PATROL AREA: Police District Four, in the north-west region of the Federation.
If you look at a map of the Federation oriented with the galactic center to the “north”, there are three known star empires neighbors: Romulans to the south-east, Klingons to the south-west, and Kzinti to the north-west. The Tholian holdfast is due-south. Contact has yet to be made with the Gorn to the north-east. When the Federation Counsel unilaterally declared the Federation perimeter to be 4750-parsecs radius from Sol/Earth, Star Fleet built a series of space stations and deployed fleets to protect the border. The central core of the Federation is well developed. This leaves a “middle ring” that is still largely unexplored, still very much the Wild West. Star Fleet does not have a strong presence in this region; rather, the Federation Consolidated Law Enforcement Service, aka Space Police, has set up patrol zones.
The First District covers the central “home worlds” core and extends north / northeast. The Second, Third, and Fourth Districts cover the south-east, south-west, and north-west, respectively. The Fifth District is being carved out of the northern half of the First District. Districts are broken down into five or six Precincts, and each Precinct will have a squadron of five or six patrol cutters plus a support frigate.
Captain: Lieutenant Commander Marcus Maxwell is a kindhearted and fair man with 24 years of service, 12 as an enlisted Gunner’s Mate. He believes in giving second chances, but even he has his limits.
Executive Officer: Lieutenant Jonathan Wu is a man with 14 years of service. He is a quiet man by nature who dislikes personal confrontation.
Operations Officer: Lieutenant Cynthia Harris has 12 years of service, but this is her first space-duty assignment. She spent two years as an Academy instructor and then a year at a small ground station before joining the McShane four months ago.
Intelligence Officer: Lieutenant Edith Grossman is a very book-smart woman. She is confident in her job but not her personal life.
Tactical Officer: Lieutenant Duncan is an Alpha Centauri man who could be mistaken for a Norse God. (NOTE: Tactical Officer is not the same as Weapons Officer, but rather is the head of the Tac-Teams, combining the duties of what on a Star Fleet ship would be the security detail and Marine detachment.)
Chief of the Boat: Senior Chief Reactor Technician Lucille Cohen is the crew’s mother hen. She will protect her troops from injustice to the bitter end. She has little tolerance for stupidity and will quickly adjust the attitude of any troop so in need.
PROBLEM: The ship has a serious morale problem that can be summed up in two words: Cynthia Harris. She has been described as a Witch with a capital “B”. People who served with Harris in her early years say that she was the nicest person you could even meet. That all changed when she arrived at the Academy, and nobody knows why. What few people know is that she went on a classified special duty assignment just prior to her time as an instructor -- it appears that “something bad” happened during the mission that transformed Harris.
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