A/N: This is an AU story set at some point after the close of the Dominion War but before the events of Nemesis (Which, itself should be struck from Star Trek Canon forever IMHO). Star Trek is the property of Paramount and folk – I'm just borrowing the setting.

The Ranger, her Captain, and her crew (along with a lot of other things in the story) belong to me. If you want to use her – please contact me.

Please enjoy, while this is not my first attempt at Fan Fiction by any stretch of the imagination, this is my first contribution to While there is plenty to start with – I expect to possibly double the current length as I have a fair amount of ideas I would like to cover in this story – I'll likely be somewhat slow in updating. Please R&R – it might help spur me on. Criticism is always welcome. So, without further adieu I present the first adventure of the USS Ranger NCV-1001.

The solo Eagle class Interdiction Fighter broke orbit as it entered Earth's dayside. Angling away from the planet it headed for the San Francisco Orbital shipyard, named for the city it sat in stationary orbit over. Flying the small craft was the newly minted Captain, Devin O'Connor, his right hand making a minute adjustment to the responsiveness of the ship's attitude thrusters as his left held the fighter on course. He had to admit he loved this little ship, who's designers had grudgingly admitted that a manual control scheme made more sense, at least while flying something as agile as the Eagle, as compared to Starfleet's usual reliance on the LCARs command system.

Allowing himself a small smile he tapped the 'rudder' pedals at his feet and felt the back end of the fighter wag slightly. It had taken a bit of training undoubtedly to get the pilots of these new craft up to speed with such an archaic flight control system, though for Devin it felt like coming home, and he had to believe that at least for some of them, it had actually been easier to master.

Ahead of him the massive shipyard came into view, large enough to support the refit or keel up construction of four Sovereign class vessels at once, it was only half again as large as the Utopia Planetia yards he'd spent his first years of the fleet in, but still impressive. Two keels were under construction, from a practiced eye, one looked to be a future Intrepid class and the smaller of the two a Norway. His destination however, was on the third ship nestled in it's dry-dock, the newly commissioned USS Ranger, first of the new Ranger class - named, appropriately after the first ship built by the United States Navy specifically as a Carrier.

Like its namesake, the USS Ranger was the Federation's first attempt at building a 'Carrier' class of ships. Various times within the Federations history small 'fighter like' shuttles had been devised, and even carried by the fleet, most notably during the Dominion War, and while they were reasonably successful, the mortality rate was astronomical, and no ship had ever been designed with a fighter squadron's needs in mind.

Thanks to newer shield designs, which were smaller, more efficient versions of the regenerative shield system pioneered on the Sovereign class, a couple of younger Admirals with some new ideas…

And a Starfleet that was beginning to understand that having a few ships in the fleet whose main role was combat in nature, the time had been ripe for the new design. The Ranger class Carrier, designation NCV-1001 was the result. Slightly smaller in overall mass then the Galaxy class, it was an impressive ship to behold. Built with the same 'streamlined' approach as the newest ships in the fleet, it most closely resembled - to some eyes - a gargantuan Intrepid class. However, this was a slight to the engineers who had designed her.

As Devin approached his comms board beeped, Hitting a control on the throttle grip he activated the voice only channel that came over the headset he wore. He remembered the young engineer who'd originally come up with VCom, as it'd been called it back then. It was now seeing wide use in certain parts of the fleet, especially the recently created Fighter Corps. "Frisco control to incoming Eagle Fighter, please state you destination."

Devin chuckled and tapped the headset, he'd left the voice activation feature off, for this flight, "Eagle 555 to Frisco control, this is Captain Devin O'Connor, I'm here for my new boat, assuming you folks are almost done with it." he responded, as he sent his command codes on a piggyback to the voice signal

"Good morning sir. Expected arrival confirmed, your codes check. You're clear through to the Ranger's landing bay, Ranger Control is operational. Contact them for landing clearance."

"Thank you Frisco, hope you don't mind if I take a closer look before I go aboard."

"No sir, the exterior work is complete, worker bee traffic is light, though you'll be on your own for avoidance."

"No problem Frisco, O'Connor out."

Closing the channel Devin throttled the fighter back and overrode the automatic braking thrusters, letting the small craft coast in as he slipped under the Ranger's keel. Swinging the nose around with the rudder pedals he took a close look at the hull as it passed before him, taking a moment to eyeball the two bulges along the lateral sides of the engineering section. Each one housed a fifty meter long magnetically accelerated launch tube, allowing the Ranger to 'fire' twelve fighters a minute from each tube. Each tube was large enough to handle any fighter or shuttle class that was onboard, though only the Eagle class Interceptor, the Hawk class Assault Fighter, and a newly designed Marine Landing Craft, or LC were outfitted to make use of it properly.

This meant that the Ranger could handle both retrieval and launch operations at the same time, without interruption. It was the only ship in the fleet with the ability.

Key to this was the fact that the Ranger's bottom two decks were completely taken up by the 'flight deck' to aft, there was the retrieval and landing section, which mostly resembled a standard shuttlebay, except for the fact that it went almost all the way through the ship. It was also almost twice as wide as any other shuttle bay in the fleet.

Braking the fighter to a stop Devin pitched over and started moving over the dorsal side, taking in the clean lines, and pausing for a moment to admire the name prominently painted on the hull. He'd been following the development of this class since the day he'd caught wind of it. And with his recent promotion to Captain, he had never in his wildest dreams believed they'd give him this ship. She wasn't quite finished yet, but word had found him, despite his vacation, and he'd left on the spot to join his new ship.

Finishing his flyby inspection he tapped the comms board and opened a channel to the Ranger, "Ranger control, this is Eagle 555, requesting permission to land."

"Eagle 555, this is Ranger; we've been expecting you Captain. Commanders Wellington and Nyes have been alerted to your arrival and will meet you on the flightdeck… you're cleared to landing at your leisure as soon as the retrieval bay doors finish opening. Welcome home, sir."

"Thanks control, O'Connor out."

Bringing the nimble fighter in line with the 'retrieval bay' Devin couldn't help but whistle as the massive clamshell doors opened. Knowing the figures in your head, and seeing them in reality was often two very separate and awe inspiring things. As soon as the doors finished their cycle a small green light flashed on in his heads up display, announcing silently that the Ranger had cleared him for landing. Nudging the small craft forward he guided it easily into the bay, stopping at a hover about ten meters inside he lowered the Eagle's landing gear and touched down. Moments later he followed the guidance of young crewman who was carrying a set of wands for directing traffic… yet another throwback to the ancient days of the sea. Following the crewman's directions he nudged his fighter into one of the parking locations, and set the brakes. After running the fighter through the shutdown sequence he hit the canopy release and chuckled at the young head that popped up to help him unstrap, "Easy son, I think I can handle taking off a seatbelt…"

The crewman, the same that had guided him to his parking location gaped as he spotted the four gold circles glinting at his neck, above the color of his flight jacket, "SIR! I… apologize sir."

Devin laughed as he saw the near look of terror on the crewman's face as he seemed to try to decide if he should salute, while standing in the fairly precarious position, perched as he was on the side of the fighter. "Relax Crewman. Look at it this way; it's not every day you get to tell the Captain where to go on his own ship."

Blinking the crewman took a moment to process this then chuckled himself and clambered down, "I'll have to remember that one sir."

"You do that." Rising out of the pilot seat Devin climbed down out of the fighter using the retracting handholds in the side of the fuselage before hopping the last foot or two to the ground. Straightening his leather flight jacket, he noted he'd have to get a patch for the Ranger made up. He had a patch for every other location he'd served at. Striding towards him across the massive flightdeck were two officers in command colors. Even from here Devin could spot the small embroidered wings just below the rank insignia of the one of them. This would be his new First Officer, Commander Caroline Nyes, who had a reputation as a by the book officer, and the ship's CAG, or Commander Air Group, Commander Gary "Griff" Wellington sole survivor and former Commander of the Death Angels one of the most decorated Fighter Groups to see combat in the Dominion War. He was known as an unconventional, but exceptionally talented leader. He was also the only other person currently on the crew roster besides Devin that had been certified in every 'support' craft the Ranger carried.

Devin was glad to have them both. Both Commander's stopped and came to attention a few feet from him. A single nod and both relaxed slightly, "Commanders, good to see you."

"Welcome aboard the Ranger sir… I have to admit you weren't expected quite so soon." Nyes replied, "We're at least a month away from leaving spacedock yet."

"True, but there is work to be done, and if two of my most senior officers are already aboard, I see no reason for me not to be. Especially since the ship still needs to be fully crewed and Department heads need to be found - among other things. Walk with me, if you would."

Both commanders fell in step with Devin one to each side, "So give me the straight word. Commander Wellington, where are my fighter squadrons?"

"Sir, the Rangers design order calls for a minimum of four onboard squadrons. Two squadrons of twelve Eagle class Interdiction Fighters, and two squadrons of twelve Hawk class Assault Fighters six of the Hawks are to be the R models." Wellington growled in response

"I'm aware of the design specs, and also aware that she can easily handle twice that number, if required. What I want to know is where are they?" Devin demanded, quietly.

Wellington's step never faltered, but a bit of the gruffness went out of his voice, replaced by a touch of frustration, "The Wildcards and the Reavers are currently dirtside, finishing up certification trials in the new fighters."

"That's two squadrons… both units I've heard of. Good records both."

"Yes sir… the other two squadrons… are still at Miramar"

That caused Devin to blink; Miramar was the new Starfleet Fighter Corps training base, named after the famous Top Gun school from ancient Earth. "We're getting raw recruits?"

"Well… yes and no, sir."

"Which is it Commander?"

"They're fresh fighter jocks, yes, but each of them has seen combat at the helm of a starship." Nevertheless, Wellington didn't sound overly happy with the prospect.

"What about squadron commanders?" Devin asked, looking over at his CAG

"Not picked yet. The brass intends to name the best pilots out of the group to the post." Wellington sounded even less happy about this.

"Negative. Bloodied in combat or not, we're not doing that. Commander, write up promotion recommendations for the ASC's from the Reavers and the Wildcards. They're to be transferred to the new squadrons as Squadron Commanders, rank and grade will stay the same for a moment. One pilot from each of the new squadrons will fill the open slot in the 'Cards and Reaver's flight roster. The Squadron commanders can name their new second at their discretion."

"The brass might not like that sir." Even so, from the corner of his eye, Devin could tell Wellington looked a good deal happier

"You let me deal with the brass. They gave me this ship; they better understand I intend to run it, my way." Devin paused to let that sink in, then continued "Get to it Commander, I want the necessary paperwork on my desk by 1700 ships time."

"Aye SIR." Splitting off Wellington headed for the nearest turbolift as Devin and Commander Nyes continued down the length of the flight deck, passing the second emergency clamshell door, designed to close if the outer door, and the magcon fields failed, and the flightdeck depressurized.

"Alright Commander, it's your turn. From your reputation I assume you already have a recommendation list for Department heads." Devin said, looking sideways at his new First Officer as they passed by a pair of Argo class shuttles and two of the Marine LCs. Four worker bees hung from an overhead rack.

If the Commander was taken aback by the statement, she didn't show it. "Aye sir, I have compiled a short list. I was just about to transmit it to Starfleet Command to have it routed to you, actually."

"Well then, why don't you drop it by my Ready Room, about 1500?"

"I'll do that."

"Good." Steering them toward the next turbolift, as he had already decided he could tour the rest of the flightdeck at his leisure, later, "What about our marine detachment?"

"Coming aboard in two weeks, they're currently at Utopia Planetia using the stripped out hulk of a Constitution Class for breach training. The LC pilots, marines themselves, are with them training up on contact and breach procedures." Nyes replied.

"Alright, is Major Bill Maddock still in command?" Devin enquired

"Aye sir."

"Excellent, how does the timetable look?"

"Final construction should be finished by the end of the month sir, then we start a rather lengthy round of tests before the first shakedown cruise, which is scheduled about two months from now… if all goes well we should be declared space worthy shortly there after."

"Sounds about like the schedule Command provided." Pausing as they stepped into the turbolift Devin addressed the computer, "Bridge…." and then waited until the lift started moving before continuing, "So, what are your concerns Commander?"

"Well sir, it seems like the repple depple is dragging its heels, I know we haven't determined Department heads, but we're going to need a full staff on hand, and soon. Department heads should be picked and brought aboard within the next two weeks. They need to get the lay of the land before their major staffs start to arrive. There's a lot to learn about this boat…. and I don't want to be under crewed." Nyes paused, seeming to consider something

Devin frowned, "Out with it commander" he said as they stepped onto the bridge, work here had been mostly completed, and a single ensign wearing the orange of Operations stood watch, lounging in the Captain's chair, apparently lost in a daydream.

"I… well, I get the feeling some in the fleet want us to fail, sir."

"Probably do." Devin nodded, fighters were not popular at headquarters, but here they were. At that the Ensign looked over and hopped up with a start

"Sir! Ensign Ellen Cormack reporting sir… all's quiet since you came onboard sir."

Devin chuckled, "At ease Ensign." he recognized the voice of 'Ranger Control' at once, "Continue as you were… but don't get too comfortable in that chair, I'm going to want it eventually."

Looking slightly embarrassed, the Ensign nodded, "Aye sir."

Taking a moment to admire the lines of the bridge, similar in structure though notably different then the Galaxy class bridge he'd spent so much time on, first as an Operations Officer, then eventually as a First officer. Finally looking back at the Commander, "Well then Commander, I'm sure there are things you need attending to. I'm going to get acquainted with my Ready room, should something need my assistance."

"Aye sir," Commander Nyes spun on her heel and headed for the turbolift.

With one last look around the bridge of his first command Devin smiled at the young Ensign who still watched him, uncertain of how to proceed in the face of her Commanding Officer. Heading for his ready room Devin looked back over his shoulder, "The Bridge is yours Ensign Cormack." as the doors to his ready room slid open, and he headed inside.