Good-bye Stell

Lexi, Farrah, York, and Prise are relaxing during the repairs of their equipment. Their chaise lounges are situated in a semi-circle with room for more sisters if they arrive. At each lounge is a small table to place their drinking goblets. Their battle armor lay resting at the base of their chaise. As sisters go, they sharing their experiences with the places they have been and the captains that serve them.
York and Prise are considered veterans for their extensive encounters and battles, mostly York. While Prise usually deals with the Klingons, which she thought they were clumsy in battle. York was dealing with the Romulans, which she didn't like. When York would deal with a Romulan warrior it was like fighting with herself, they were tough, resilient and cunning. York was giving Prise information about their tactics, knowing she would eventually run into them patrolling the neutral zone.

Prise got up and started pacing, she have a lot on her mind and more to tell her sisters. At that moment Netty (Hornet) slowly walked in, almost dragging her armor, with the look of weariness on her face.

"Nettie what happened to you?":asked Lexi as she got up to support her to one of the empty chaise.

"I just came back from almost being sucked into a black hole, it took all but one of my dilithium crystals to pull away."

Nettie droped her armor in fatigue and allowed Lexi assist her. Prise rushed over to support her weight.

Farrah rushed as well, and handed Netty a drink.

"I've been on impulse for over two weeks, that hole took out our primary warp drive and computer systems."

Just then Cygnet 14-Hornet wobbled in distress and sat at a nearby table for repairs. She looked just as bad as Netty. York went to attend and serve Cyg/Netty tea, all Cygnets prefer tea versus ale what the warriors like to drink. York didn't mind serving in the name of sisterhood, all Cygnets fought along with them.

The sisters slowly watched Netty drank her ale and it gave her strength.
Netty started to feel better and sat up to greet her sisters. "Thanks for the support, I'm starting to feel better already."

Netty looked around and noticed that a lot of her sisters are in the repair dock.

"Wow, this must be the biggest family reunion ever, I've never seen so many of us at one time!"

The rest chuckled in agreement. Farrah and Lex returned to their chaise, and while Prise returned to pacing.

"York was telling us about her Romulan encounters," :said Lexi, then she noticed Prise pacing and sat up again.

"Prise what's wrong?"

They took notice of her pacing as well, Prise stopped and turned to her sisters.

"I have something to tell you and it's not good."

The women sat up and gave Prise her attention, she took a deep breath as she started: "We lost one of our sisters."

"Who was it Prise?":Lexi asked sadly.

Each woman held their breath, the death of any of them brung great sorrow and grief. They were warriors, who fought in deep space, exploring and fighting foes. Centuries before, they fought on oceans and seas, it was confined space. But now the universe is vast and open to more adventures.

"It was Stell."

The women went into shock and sadness instantly at the loss of a great sister.

"Constellation is gone? Totally destroyed?" asked York.

"Yes"

"She was the closest to Connie (Constitution)" :said Farrah.

"They were practically built at the same time, yeah they were very close.":sighed Hornet.

Each sister started to weep, for the loss of one of them. Constellation was one of the oldest, but the girl could fight. She instructed the rest of them to survive in space and trained battle tactics. Stell demonstrated a pillar of strength, among them all. She showed them how to age gracefully and accept replacement.

Netty turned to Prise and asked: "What happened to Stell?"

Prise paused for a moment and starts to tell the story:[1]

"We got a distress call from System L-370, it was bad transmission but Stell was assigned to that sector. We proceeded there, when I entered that sector, I noticed there were asteroids or debris everywhere. Which was strange because we charted seven planets there last year, according to the Vulcan. As I continued against the debris, I saw Constellation in the distance, she wasn't moving just laying there ..motionless. As I drew closer... I noticed her wounds, she looked so lifeless. I knelt to pick her up, she was barely alive, I removed her helmet and Stell's face was swollen, her sides bleeding. Whatever it was, she put up a good fight, her shield was cracked in half, and her sword was broken. Stell opened her eyes and recognized me, I asked her what happened. She could only say that she tried her best to defend herself, that her commander was not well, the decision he made came with a price, and it was a great loss. I asked Stell what was it that attacked her. She said it was a massive beast. Stell used all her battle tactics against it, but it did nothing the thing. The beast struck her so hard that the warp and impulse drive were gone instantly, her shield buckled and collapsed along with her sword.
I was carried her in tow, and she continued to tell that all the planets except two were destroyed, and the humans had died on one of the destroyed planets. That made things worse for her to realize that the monster was after her because of her energy. As they continued moving towards the next solar system to get out of harm's way. I was struck from behind and lost Stell from my grip. I watched Stell drift away from me, and I turned to see what hit me. I saw this massive long projectile-machine approaching me, I stumbled from the shock and tried to maneuver around to get a better position against it. I was able to move away from its path for a better view. I watched Stell continued to drift away from me and I tried to maneuver back to her, and then I noticed that the Vulcan was gone from my guidance, and another commander took over. I wanted to go get Stell, but it was too dangerous to move from my position. I decided to distance myself from Stell to draw it away from her. I felt abandoned and without merit, I started charging the beast without a plan. I drew my spear and held up my shield for defense, it approached me with fire shooting out of it's maul. I was hit on the side and I started to feel weak from it, the machine drew power from me as I became closer to it.
I started to strategically my footing against the beast. When I struck the beast with my spear, nothing happened as it vibrated in my arm with shooting pain, I continued to strike at it with no result. Whatever this thing was made out of, nothing could penetrate it. Then the beast struck at me again and I lost so much energy from the attack, my warp drive was gone, and I was wounded from the beast.

Prise took a deep sighed, looked into space and continued:

"It started to pull me in the dark hole of its mouth, I was powerless. I wondered why Captain Kirk and the Vulcan abandoned me to this fate. I couldn't save myself, the thing had a hold on me and pulling me into its massive mouth. I attempted many times to maneuver with all my strength, without success. Then from out of nowhere, Stell came to rescue me from its jaws, she struck it with her sword and the monster released it's hold on me. I escaped to reposition myself and I struck at it again. While Stell tried to retreat and the beast followed her. I struck several times on its broad side of the machine with no impact, it was useless and I had the beast chasing me again! The best I could do was to lead it away from Stell, I was happy to see her fight for me, but she was still severely injured. When looked at Stell again, I noticed she was able to maneuver away from the beast, but her energy was still low---very low. But the beast continued to chase me again which was better than going after Stell, and I was able to outmaneuver it from its grasp. I contacted Stell to rendezvous outside the galaxy and try to get more help or warn the other systems of the impending doom that was coming."

Prise held her head down as she told the next part of the story:

"Then I saw Stell veer towards the beast, I screamed at her to what was she doing? Stell turned to me with sorrow in her eyes and then explained that many galaxies depended on us for safety and something must be done. She wanted me to tell my sisters that she fought with honor and dignity and will die that way. I thought she could make it safety, but Stell knew she couldn't make it on barely impulse power."

Prise also knew her captain was on that ship, guiding Stell to her destruction against the beast. Her heart was worried that she would never find another man like him. Prise watched her sisters cry as she continued:
"I watched Stell go down the beast's mouth and swallowed her, then a great explosion occurred on the inside, that shook the beast and spewed out its last fire. I fell on my knees in great sorry for our sister."

Prise stumbled to the bar and grabbed a goblet and poured ale and drank it. She turned to watch her other sisters gather their emotions.

Lexi stood up first with her goblet and gave a toast to their fallen sister.
"To Constellation, the greatest warrior and leader among us!"

The others stood up too and saluted the toast with Lexi. Prise held up her goblet to the air, as a tear fell from her eyes. It's hard to watch a sister die and sacrifice for the common good, and Stell did that. Prise was grateful that her captain survived the battle, his leadership saved the galaxies and countless civilizations.

"Do you think they will build another Constellation?" asked York.

Netty turned to Cyg-netty: "Cyg is there any plans to rebuild Constellation?"

She stood up and addressed them: "To this date; only refitting of other procedures are on file. There is a possibility of another battlecruiser is in planning. Unknown name at the present time."

"I think we should celebrate the life of Constellation with music and singing." :said Farrah.

"Yes, I agree." :added Lexi as she walked to a cabinet and opened to reveal an assortment of musical instruments;
hand harps
tambourines
lutes
flutes.

Netty was able to get up and retrieve a harp, so did the other women selected an instrument of their choice and they start to play merry music to celebrate the life of Constellation. They created ditties of their experiences with her and danced in her honor.

As Prise was strumming her lute, she was still deep in thought of another story to

tell her sisters. Another loss.