Chapter 1: "The Departure"

His eyes were fixed upon the hull of the ship before him as the shuttle craft moved closer. He scanned over it, thinking that at any moment he could wake up from his dream. The four warp nacelles glinted under the lights of the dock the ship was held in and he could hardly believe that all those years of work had finally paid off. His achievement was floating in space before him and he couldn't help but smile as he saw the classification on front of the ship: USS Omega, TX-01. His smile was not unnoticed by the woman sat next to him, she smiled back at her nephew, brushing some of her hair behind her ear, "It paid off." The words were enough for him to know that she was proud of him, not that she didn't tell him often but at this moment in time things were professional, she was an Admiral, one of the most decorated in Star Fleet's history, she had managed to overcome incredible odds and bring back Voyager from the Delta Quadrant, she was Admiral Kathryn Janeway.

The truth was he was more proud of his aunt than she could ever be of him. What had he done but create technology based upon specifications she gave him? She had saved the lives of her entire crew, she had reduced the Borg to nothing more than a passing nuisance and she had given Star Fleet technology that advanced them well beyond their rivals and it meant everything to him that she was handing over the ship to him.

"We are cleared to dock Admiral." Dawson turned to face his Aunt as he smiled.

She nodded, "Thank you Captain, now take us in nice and steady, I wouldn't want to see you put a dent in your new ship." Kathryn laughed. She looked at her nephew as he scratched his head of blonde hair, slowly guiding the shuttle craft into the shuttle bay and bringing the ship to a safe halt on the shuttle bay floor. Though she'd never find the confidence to tell him he was the son she'd never had and being able to marvel at his achievements meant everything to her. The two disembarked the shuttle and headed towards the doors, as they closed behind them Dawson scanned the hallway in awe. Officers hurried past him in their new uniforms, a change from Star Fleet's former style that he was still sporting he noted. The grey of the uniforms had been done away with for a full black top, minus two stripes up the left hand side of the uniform, displaying the colour of the officer's expertise. One of these stripes disguised the zip of the jacket and both held the new comm. badges securely in place. He of course recognised the comm. badge as the one his Aunt had said her future self had been wearing when she came back to save Voyager and it gave him some comfort that even though he was going to be apart from his Aunt something she had done would be on his chest where ever he went.

As they walked down the corridor's the smell of fresh paint hit him, the entire ship was new and was a break from the more traditional Star Fleet designs. The wall panels were white, and as the warning lights were tested Dawson noticed that these too were a new colour, blue. He thought of the idea of calling for a red alert and having blue lights flashing but shook his head and continued on walking, he wasn't so much interested in the corridors, it was the command centre that interested him. They entered the turbo lift at the end of the corridor and when the command was given white lights flashed up the walls marking the lifts passage through the ship. No sooner had they entered than the doors opened and Dawson took his first steps on the bridge.

Two stations stood at the front of the ship, helm and operations whilst behind the three chairs which took pride of place in the centre of the bridge were a further two 

stations, tactical and temporal, surrounded by a wall of consoles containing various science and engineering stations. He ran a hand over the temporal station, it was hard to believe all his hard work had come down to this console.

"Congratulations Captain, this is a wonderful ship, and it wouldn't be here without your hard work." Admiral Janeway hugged him and nodded towards the door on the left of the bridge, "Your office Captain." She held her hand out, leading the way for him. Dawson looked around the room in awe, his desk was in front of him, to his right were windows looking out onto the space dock and down to earth, there were sofas in front of the windows, pointing towards a console on the wall, currently displaying the star fleet insignia. Behind the desk were shelves, all bare. There was a lone console on the desk. At the other end of the office were another two doors and a replicator.

"Now I'm sure you'll agree Captain this is an interesting feature." Kathryn walked over to one of the doors and pressed a button next to it, "Your own private turbo lift. It will take you to engineering, temporal control and even your quarters, what more could you ask for?"

"The bar?" Dawson laughed, "Thank you Aunt Kathy, it's more than I could have asked for, I just wish the cost of it wasn't so high."

Kathryn bowed her head, "I know it wasn't easy Dawson but maybe that's what gave you the drive and determination to perfect the temporal core, maybe if it hadn't happened we wouldn't be standing here today."

Dawson nodded, "I just wish she could be here to see this."

Kathryn hugged her nephew, she knew how painful it was for him to think about what had happened and she wished there was something she could say to make everything ok, she was unaware that the hug was enough.

The door chimed disturbing the two. Dawson turned to face it, "Come in."

A woman stepped inside, she had long blonde hair held behind her head, her black uniform was spotless, the two red stripes down the upper half led the way down to the baggier trousers, which still managed to show off her flawless figure. The star fleet issue belt held up the trousers of her uniform, with a red background to the star fleet insignia on the clasp. On the right hand side of her uniform three silver pips marked her rank, "Commander Annika Hansen reporting for duty." The woman stood at attention, arms behind her back, staring at the wall in front of her.

Dawson smiled, "At ease Commander."

Kathryn nodded at her old friend, "Seven," she stepped forward and hugged her. It was more of a maternal hug than the two women would admit even after all these years, but being motherly was something Kathryn wouldn't admit to her own nephew, she certainly couldn't to Seven.

Seven nodded at Dawson, "It's good to see you again Captain, it's been too long."

"It has Seven, at least we can fix that now." He smiled at her, a smile filled with hope, hope for the future, not that he realised it yet."

Kathryn looked at the two of them stood before her, they were both like children to her and she was so happy she could send them on this adventure together. "I better be leaving you both, I'm sure you have plenty of preparations before you depart." She hugged them both once more and headed for the turbo lift at the side of the office. She smiled as the doors closed behind her, a smile full of pride and both Dawson and Seven were aware of it.

"I never got a chance to thank you," Seven began, "For choosing me for this assignment."



He smiled at her, "How could I not? I doubt Aunt Kathy would have let me have anyone else for my First Officer."

Seven nodded, "But surely Lieutenant Murphy would have made a better choice?"

He tried not to laugh, "I don't think I could have worked with him as my first officer Seven, we would have butted heads at every turn, it makes much more sense for him to be on board as the temporal officer."

"I'm not quite sure how that one is going to work out myself though."

"Neither am I." Dawson replied shaking his head, "Although Star Fleet aren't ready to have the temporal technology under the control of any of the other officers just yet, you've seen all the security procedures in place around them?"

Seven nodded, "A wise precaution considering what has happened bef..." Seven cut herself off before she could finish her sentence, she looked towards Dawson as he turned away to look out of the window, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have said anything."

He shook his head, "Not at all Commander, what's happened has happened. If there weren't accidents now and then we'd never progress."

"Did anything ever come of the search?" She asked, already knowing the answer but feeling obliged to engage in the idle questioning around the subject.

"Nothing, no ships, no warp trails. If it was the Borg then they just disappeared and took my wife along with them."

Seven bowed her head as she thought of her past as a Borg, she'd almost feel shame that they'd done this to her friend if she hadn't come a long way since she saw herself as Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One. She still had the nightmares, which was understandable, but she was Annika Hansen now. All that remained of her past was her nickname, and that didn't bother her so much. It was just when the reminders were straight in front of her face like now that it became a little hard to remember.

"It's best we don't dwell though Commander, it's best we look forward, and this anomaly will be a good outing for us on our first mission." Dawson smiled at Seven, tears were in his eyes and the smile, she recognised, was for nothing more than show, but she accepted it, along with the change of subject.

"I read the briefing but as much as the readings appear to be similar I find it hard to believe that an accident whilst testing the first temporal core could create an anomaly similar to this one which is in an entirely different sector of space to where you were testing the core before."

"Ah yes, but that is why we are investigating it Commander. You're lucky to be on a ship with three people who were there when the accident occurred, believe me we'll be able to tell you if it's the same anomaly."

Seven laughed, "And what if it is?"

Dawson shrugged, "I think we deal with that one when we come to it, I don't think Star Fleet had even considered the possibility but Admiral Janeway was adamant that there were too many similarities so she naturally insisted on sending her nephew on his first mission as a Captain to investigate."

"Naturally." Seven laughed again, "It's fitting that we're investigating it in this ship however, a mark of your achievements since then."

"You flatter me Seven, they weren't just my achievements, a lot of people adapted the scans Voyager took of the Krenim ships they encountered into a functioning temporal core, not just me."

She nodded, "But no-one else lost so much."

Silence filled the room for a moment, but silence on a star ship is a luxury as Dawson would come to discover. "Bridge to Captain Xavier, all crew members are 

on board and accounted for. We have received our clearance to depart upon your order."

Dawson smiled at Seven and the two headed towards the bridge. As the doors opened officers rose from their stations, two of the faces on the bridge Dawson recognised, his old friend Mark Murphy, the first temporal officer in Star Fleet was stood behind the temporal station, and his other close friend Ensign Diane Goodram was stood in front of the left hand chair. The other faces in the bridge were new to him, but all as he had been informed were highly capable officers. As he took his seat in the centre of the bridge the other officers followed suit. He turned to smile at Seven and then turned to smile at Diane.

"Lieutenant Murphy bring the temporal core online, helm set a course for the temporal anomaly, temporal warp 7." He paused for a moment and looked at the view screen, Omega made its final movements away from the dock and into open space. He smiled to himself, "Engage!"