[Starhawk]

2419.7 Remembrance:
Captain Yu Lin Pe walked the long corridor alone, she enjoyed the silence of the moment, to be allowed to be alone with her thoughts, probably for the Last time today, she paused and breathed deeply, recycled air of course but still it was new air to her, she had been in space for months with neither hide nor hair of planetary or even domed spaciousness or “new“ air, it was all the same metallic ship‘s smell, and finally she was in a wide open space by herself with “fresh air”, yet she had to hurry through it and meet her new command. She felt sorry that her brother was still in the 1st fleet and was too far away to have arrived here on time but at the same time she was oddly grateful for it as well, she could say hello to her new command and goodbye to her father all at the same time.
She had been invited to the shipyards of Mavin Parsis II months ago, so that she could arrive in time for the launch of the Royal Navy’s newest and for the moment most powerful warship class in Icaran space, normally the ship’s first officer would have taken her to the new commander but this was a special circumstance, this was the Last tribute Icara could give to a hero who fell all too early in the war. The HMS Yu Hing Pe, the first of the Admiral Yu Hing Pe class super dreadnoughts the first two of which had just come off the production line.
Both were being assigned to the 3rd fleet and Yu Lin had the honor to take command of the warship bearing her father’s name and become the new flag captain of Rear Admiral William Ross a thought which roused many confused feelings within the young woman, she and Ross had known each other since she was 15, now she was getting close to 40-though thanks to modern medicine she was in the same top physical condition (and youthful appearance) that she had been in when she was 19- they had always been close friends and she even tried kissing him once when she was 16 but he pulled away and left an awkwardness that Lasted for months, she had always been attracted to him and got the feeling he felt the same way, yet they never seemed able to discuss it….
She inhaled deeply, deliberately breaking her train of thoughts and began meditating as she walked, much the way her grandmother had taught her, though Yu Lin herself was not a Buddhist like her grandparents or parents she often meditated to calm her nerves or clear her thoughts.
Before she realized it Lin was standing in the main gallery of the shipyard, a bulky man in the formal tan uniform of an engineering corps Admiral walked forward and smartly saluted her, in the tradition of the Navy any captain receiving their command must be saluted by ANY officer bellow the rank of Grand Admiral or equivalent rank, she smiled and returned the salute.
“I am EC Admiral Tankers, Captain I must say it is an honor having a member of the Yu family here in person, and more then that taking command of a starship we built, especially one that bares the name of such a great man as your father.” The man smiled broadly at Yu and part of her became very curious when she noticed his eyes seemed to wonder over her body just a little bit.
“Well Admiral Tankers I look forward to taking her out, but at the moment I’d just like to see what she looks like if you don’t mind.” Tankers flushed a little as he realized that he had barely even let her step into the room before intercepting her.
The Admiral guided her to a camera that was overlooking the shipyard’s construction slip, Yu’s eyes widened and she felt herself smile as she caught a glimpse of the Yu Hing Pe she was 250,000 tons more massive and 100 meters longer then a dreadnought, and had an additional 500 crewmembers, she was sleek and deadly looking bearing a striking physical similarity to her smaller cousin.
“When can I go aboard” Yu asked gleefully as she stared at the massive and beautiful new warship.
“Actually Captain I was wondering if you would like to go aboard after the party, of course if you’d prefer you can go aboard later.” Tankers grinned at the glowing new Captain, it was like watching a parent with their new child he thought to himself as she practically fell over herself to confirm she’d like to board as soon as possible.

The “party” drudged on for two hours, to Yu it seemed like an eternity though she did enjoy the opportunity to meet Commander Jason Styles, her new XO, he was a witty if somewhat bookish man with an obvious flair for the comedic, he had even managed to make Governor Shaun (Stoney) Garret to erupt into a belly laugh that could have shaken the bulkheads. But the man was also a brilliant officer and had skipped two grades in promotion to achieve his current post as Commander at the young age of only 21 years of age, she still marveled at how easily he was able to excuse himself from a “mandatory” party without stepping on anyone’s toes and found she envied that ability as there were only so many blue blooded noble wannabes that she could talk to n a single night without wanting to blow her brains out with a pulser.
But finally the bore fest had come to an end and she was able to board her starship, she wasted no time whatever in making her way to the bridge.
It was a marvel of modern technology, the bridge was a similar two tiered configuration to that of a dreadnought except for the additional stations, including one in particular which drew Lin’s attention to it like flypaper. The Neural Interface was the most recent combat technological advance it allowed the officer to link minds with the other “linked” officers of a battle group (which of course meant there would need to be multiple super dreadnoughts in the fleet) and then connected those minds to the AI junction of a “linked” fleet increasing the combat reflexes of a starships offensive and defensive system as well as allowing more precise-and thus more stable-warp jumps.
The Super dreadnought was 4.1 kilometers long and Yu made sure to investigate almost every inch of it for six hours before her launch, she rendezvoused with the Warden two days after launch and then began their long journey to join the 3rd fleet in the war against the Phong.