Scout Force by Rodney Smith

was a lot still to be done, Blake could get a feel for the layout.   It was wedge shaped, with the pointed end of the wedge forward.   There were two positions forward and two steps down.   Helm was to starboard and, he assumed, navigation was to port.   The positions looked like two fighter cockpits side by side.   Aft and one step up from those two positions were weapons control, sensor control, and engineering.   Blake remembered from his research that the whole ship could be controlled from the bridge.   Each position had an integral seat with four-point harness.
           Aft and one step up from these three positions were three more.   The center position was the captain’s.   The port side position belonged to the senior chief, Chief Watson.   Kelly’s position was to starboard.   Each position had a multipurpose workstation, capable of controlling any function of the specialized consoles.   Kelly was especially happy to see full flight controls and weapon controls at his workstation.
           The captain asked, “What do you think of the bridge?”
           “It’s pretty roomy, compared to an F-53 cockpit.   It will take me a bit to get used to it.   I like the layout.   It’s logical and I like the redundancy in the three command positions.   I like the way that the three position sets are terraced.   Each level has an unobstructed view out front, to the sides, and above.   Coming from fighters, I appreciate having a glass view screen.”
           “This is a slightly different layout than we had before refit.   They implemented some of the recommendations we made based on our patrol experiences.   Before, only the captain’s position had a multifunction terminal and flight controls.   Because there is a traditional hesitance to sit in the captain’s chair, that position was wasted during all watches that I wasn’t present for.   Our solution was to make all three positions identical.   That way we have redundancy on top of redundancy.”
           “Now let’s get out of here before the yard chief gets on our butts for keeping his crews from working.”
           Chief Watson spoke up.   “Sir, I’m going to stay here and see what Chief Miller is doing in engineering.   There were a few things back there not quite in accordance with the schematics.   You know how he likes to tinker.   I’d better go see what he connived out of the yard crew.”
           LCDR Timmons headed down the gangway and back into the dock.   “Come on, let’s take a walk around.”
           Kelly trailed Timmons as he pointed out various components on the ship’s exterior.
           “This is our new dual particle cannon turret.   Each cannon has a rate of fire of one blast per second.   The cannons are set to fire consecutively.   That gives each turret an effective rate of fire of 120 blasts per minute.   Come forward.”
           Kelly followed him toward the nose of the ship.
           “If you look right above your head and you look real close, you'll see part of the sensor grid.   They’ve done a pretty good job of blending it into the ship’s skin, but you can just make out the circular indentions where the sensors were faired in.   Now, if we move to the bow, you can see the three forward-firing plasma cannons.   When they first laid out the plans for this refit, these three cannons were left off.   I convinced Admiral Craddock that even though we live by stealth, we die by lack of firepower if stealth doesn’t work.   So, we have a little more sting.   It gives us a bit more flexibility in tight situations.   We don’t always have to hide with pride.”
           “I can see where that could come in handy.   Tell me sir, is there a simulator for this class of ship on the base?”
           “As a matter of fact, that's our next stop.   Come on.   This is all there is to see here for now.   We’ll do a more