The deck plates underneath Milam's feet rocked as the nimble Halifax dodged, as best as she could, the shots of the Borg cube that currently continued to streak towards the planet ahead. "Attack pattern Delta-2. Engineering, divert power to the shield grid. Take it from life support as necessary!" Milam ordered even as searing lances of pain continued to shoot through his body. A falling pylon had pinned him helplessly to his seat and had crushed his femoral bone in the process.
The crew did not bother with the usual chorus of "Aye sir," as would normally issue forth under such circumstances. If the fact Milam was ordering things through clenched teeth, barely controlling the pain that lanced through him, were any indication he really did not want to hear their replies, but rather wanted to see quick and efficient action on their parts. The Halifax gracefully arched to port and lashed out with a series of bright blue, quantum torpedoes and phaser blasts. In return, the Borg retaliated with another round of shots at the small Intrepid–class starship.
"Is that convoy out of here or not?" Milam asked once again, as the ship shuddered with more shots. The Borg, were dead centered on their goal of annihilating life from Alpha Quadrant that they didn't even think for a second about the small ship that continued to harry their fire.
"Yes sir they just entered warp!" The science officer replied as she continued to coordinate with tactical on bringing the monstrosity down.
"Then with all bloody haste, helm, get us out of here!" Milam ordered with a bit of a grin on his face. It was true he had just sentenced a colonial world of millions to death; however, they had already begun evacuating hundreds of thousands by the time the Borg had been detected on approach. The convoy that had just entered warp had been the last of the ones who had wanted to flee, the rest were willing to "meet their maker" so to speak in the harrowing coldness of the Borg. "Set course for anywhere but here. Tactical, give them a last series of parting shots, attack pattern foxtrot-alpha."
The Hermat helmsman set to hir work quickly and efficiently. It had been thanks to hir hands that they were even still alive to be escaping at this point still. "Course plotted for the Romulan Neutral Zone, coming about now!" Hir called out as (s)he brought the wounded Halifax in front of the Cube once again, giving the tactical officer a clean, parting shot at the cube.
Just as the Halifax lashed out with the last of her might…all hell broke loose. The next thing Milam knew all he could hear were the screams of agony and the series of explosions. The sharp assault as hundreds of minds screamed in pain, all of which rang clearly through Milam's sensitive empathic mind. He could hear someone screaming…
..."QUIET!!" The primordial scream jolted Captain Milam Calhoun, Commanding Officer of the USS Hephaestus, awake in his quarters realizing that the scream had come from him. Sitting up in his bed, his hands crossed onto something damp, turning around he could see that the bed linens were covered in his cold sweat. The screams and explosions could still be heard ringing in his ears even as he instinctively pulled the covers off his legs, and patted his sweat drenched torso to verify that he had, in fact, been dreaming. Yeah…definitely, a dream Milam said to himself as he noted the fact his once real right leg had been replaced by a prosthetic. He even tapped it gently to verify it was what it should have been. Seeing how he was now mostly awake, Milam put his legs over the side of his bed and ran his hand through his hair, which was wet also. "Computer, what is the time?"
"0600 hours." The computer replied in its standard, effeminate voice. "Alpha shift starts in two hours."
"Grozit." Milam foully cursed in his native Xenexian, "Might as well get ready for the day ahead…" he muttered as he made his way to the bathroom. About an hour later, Milam emerged looking a bit more normal and collected. His hair styled, his face cleanly shaven, and his intensely colored, lilac eyes clear. "Computer, raise lights to sixty percent." Milam called out as he made his way to the replicator unit in his quarters. As the lights came up to the level specified, Milam keyed up his usual order of a coffee and raktajino mix, which still was not as strong as the "coffee" that he had before entering Starfleet Academy.
Once the drink appeared in the slot, Milam made his way back to his room and donned a fresh uniform. It had been less than two weeks since he had finally been released from the Medical Ward aboard Starbase 001 in orbit of Earth, but he had already gotten back into the swing of things, with a few adjustments of course, as they had been aboard the Halifax and the other ships that he had previously served on. With a quick glance over in the full-length mirror in his quarters, Milam returned to his anteroom, where he had left his drink on his desk. What was the point of staying holed up in his quarters for another two hours anyways? He had a ship and a new staff to harangue, as he had been trying to do for the last two weeks. With his PADD in pocket, Milam set off for Main Engineering, the heart of the Prometheus cruiser that he was now master and commander of, he still had yet to meet the "brains behind the works" that was so intent on getting the Heph into service finally.
After a very brief meeting with the Chief Engineer, Commander X9 Green, who was essentially a walking potato bug from Earth, Milam made his way up to the Lounge, he needed more of his morning brew. Entering the largely quiet lounge, Milam found himself stuck in a cheerful discussion with the Lounge owner who also doubled as the bartender during the 'witching hours' of the ship. After meeting with her, and in an ever-bettering mood, Milam exited the turbolift onto the Bridge.
Just as an overzealous ensign was about to pipe up with the regulatory "Captain on deck" Milam held up his hand to silence the ensign, it may have been 0755 hours…but it was still too early in Milam's book. "Captain," Lieutenant Zaden Thein said as he straightened out his uniform and rose to greet the Captain. "You are early, again."
"You act like it's a sin against the deities, Mr. Thein." Milam replied with a chuckle as he came to the center of the austere bridge. To Milam the bridge seemed so empty, then, of course, he was the one that accepted the assignment to command the fourth Prometheus-class ship in the fleet. It was not exactly designed to be a deep space explorer anyways; rather it was a fast-response tactical cruiser or in other words, a warship. "Has anything changed?"
"Yes sir." Was the young Betazoid man's response, "My department reports we are ready to ship off. Our supplies are aboard and so is most of the crew. You also received a communiqué late last night, from Command."
"Let me see it." Milam replied he had to admire the young Lieutenant: he knew what to do and not to do during his first week aboard a new posting. One of those is to never awake a captain if it is not an emergency.
Zaden turned away for a second to grab a PADD, "I took the initiative to upload it to a PADD already. Locked only to yourself, Captain." He quickly added.
Milam skimmed the text-based message from Fleet Command, it was their first mission and it dealt with the Tzenkethi, lovely. "Very well then, schedule a senior staff meeting at 1200 hours." Milam said just as the chronometer struck 0800 the start of Alpha shift. Like clockwork, the turbolift doors opened to reveal many members of the senior staff, who easily took over for their gamma shift counterparts.
Zaden, ever the traditionalist, grabbed Milam's attention, "Captain, I turn command over to you."
"You stand relieved Lieutenant." Milam replied in the tradition, even though it was not exactly true, Zaden still had to work Alpha shift, right when Milam planned to ship off.
With that last statement, Milam slid into the center seat of the Hephaestus and pressed the ship-wide com in his arm console, "I would like to welcome everyone to the USS Hephaestus. I know we have all suffered much from this last war, and we have only started rebuilding our lives. However, the charter of the Starfleet still stands 'To explore strange new worlds, and to seek out new life and new civilizations.' I plan to carry that mantle to the last day, and I hope all of you will also. We are now departing Spacedock, stand down from blue alert and begin operating at normal running operations. The USS Hephaestus is officially at Green Alert." Milam could feel the general enthusiasm of the crew rise by three notches ship wide as he ended his announcement, "Please remember to keep all appendages within the ship at all times and enjoy your stay aboard the USS Hephaestus. Captain Milam Calhoun, out."
Milam then turned his attention to the red headed female who sat in the lowered section of the bridge, which housed the Flight Control and Operations posts. "Mr. Thein, stand down from blue alert, take us to green alert, disconnect us from station power. Ms. Nelan, fire up the impulse engines and ready the warp drive." Milam crisply ordered as the Hephaestus got ready to get under way. "Ms. Brose, contact space dock control we're ready to go."
"Aye sir." The three officers responded unanimously. "Mr. Green, status of drive systems?"
"Within normal parameters, sir." The Nasat said as he watched the readouts from his rear station on the bridge of the Hephaestus. "We're ready to go at any time." The Nasat said, waves of excitement emanating from him.
"Space dock says we're free to go, sir." Lt. Commander Brose reported from her station as she brought the sensors online, and watched the incoming data as well.
"Excellent." Milam responded as the turbolift doors opened once more to reveal a single occupant, a beautiful female Orion whose green skin contrasted quite sharply to her Command red turtleneck and the three solid golden pips on her collar. Milam glanced over and smiled, "Ah Ms. Imaru, how nice of you to join us."
"Thank you Captain." She replied with a disarming smile, "Are we ready to depart?"
"Yes. Ms. Nelan, plot course for Starbase 621, all ahead 1/8 impulse until we clear the yard, then gradually increase to full impulse until we clear the system and then gradually increase speed to maximum warp."
"Aye Captain; course plotted and laid in for 621. Detaching moorings now and engaging impulse engines. One-eighth impulse achieved." She responded as the arrowhead shaped Hephaestus slid out of her mooring in orbit of Mars. Her four nacelles glowed brightly as the drive plasma flowed in her warp grilles giving them that distinctive blue glow. A few seconds later Milam could feel the deck plates vibrate more as the impulse engines kicked into gear and the Hephaestus gradually increased speed. With a content smile, Milam took his seat once again in the centre seat and regarded his efficient crew. He could hear every word they said as they kept each other updated and consulted with their department deputies. Milam watched with curious interest as X9, verged on shrieking and screaming at his deputy over the communications system.
Milam quietly turned his attention to the Vulcan male who stood by his console. His collar was black, a clear sign he was an Intelligence Spook. A quiet and severe one at that, from what Milam's empathic senses could tell. All Milam knew about the man was that his name was L'Tan, your typical Vulcan from Shi'Kahr, which now lay in ashes on the surface of Vulcan, however from the moment he had graduated from the Academy onwards to his assignment was completely blacked out from Milam's security clearance, except for the occasional line. Milam made his way over to the tall Vulcan man and started conversing in low tones with L'Tan; it would be a shame to shatter on this happy moment for most of the bridge crew, "So what does Intel have on the Tzenkethi as of late?"
L'Tan regarded Milam before speaking, "Intel has tons of information however for much of it, I would prefer not to discuss in present company." He started simply, his voice as droll as ever, "I can tell you they have stepped up their continued harassment along the Cardassian border and the Federation border. Starbase 621 has also reported some minor run-ins with them as of late."
"Get a full briefing and put it on my desk within the hour. Also, prepare a senior staff appropriate briefing to be given after we depart from 621. That should give you enough time to communicate with your field agents in the meantime."
"Aye sir." L'Tan replied as he turned his attention back to his console.
"Good." Milam said as he moved over to the tactical console where Lieutenant Commander Neyal Aryn, a Bajoran female operated her console. Well, what you could call operating in such monotonous conditions as these. With shoulder length brown hair, Aryn was a naturally extroverted Bajoran who could knock you out in three swift moves if you tried something funny with her. "So how are things looking for you, Ms. Neyal?"
"Quite good, skipper. My department could use a bit more training, but I think we're all ready for whatever you throw at us, or at least the Tzenkethi." She replied smiling a smile that could disarm an insane Klingon.
"Excellent. Carry on, and try not to look so bored." Milam teased with a smile as he moved back to the center seat. Sitting back with a content smile, which Milam could not help but do, Milam crossed his legs with a tug at the edges of his uniform and waited for the actual fun to begin.
"Take us out of warp, Ms. Nelan." Milam said as he rose from the centre seat. After a couple of days at high warp, the Hephaestus had arrived at 621, right on the edge of Tzenkethi claimed territory. With a barely noticeable tug, the Hephaestus dropped out of warp and back into the normal space-time continuum. Under the careful hands of Kara Nelan the ship angled and glided to a point along the station's docking ring. With another gentle tug the ship came to a complete stop and Milam could here the gentle thud as the airlocks established a connection with each other.
"Stand down to Blue Alert, Mr. Thein." Milam ordered before toggling the ship wide comm button once again, "All hands, shore leave is now granted for a period of one day. Do not be late or we'll leave you here." Milam added with a grin and a pause, "Just kidding. Enjoy your stay at 621."
"The core is now offline, Captain. I'm going to be doing some minor adjustments to the other cores before we depart." X9 said without preamble, before slipping into a turbolift and descending for one of the three engineering sections in the Hephaestus. Each of the three were designed to support each of the three multi-vector, warp capable sections of the Hephaestus and were only activated during times of emergency or battle.
With a shake of head, in general disapproval of the Engineer's attitude, Milam watched as the senior officers quietly disappeared into the lifts and watched as more opened to reveal system technicians from both Operations and Engineering as they set to work performing some minor adjustments on the systems on the bridge. With a random and slight chuckle, Milam entered his Ready Room and picked up the Intel PADD Commander L'tan had delivered earlier. Even though this was the fifth time Milam had read the reports he still re-read them looking for anything he might have missed.
The reports though simple and logical in their progression, much in the style of the Vulcan who had delivered them, still contained many blackened out sections that required security clearances much higher than he had to access what was on the documents. However, from the sections Milam could read the Tzenkethi had been, just as L'tan, had said causing ruckus along both the Cardassian and Federation's borders by launching numerous attacks on ships and planets themselves, even 621 at one point. Though what concerned Milam the most was the fact that there was still much left to be answered, he couldn't do what Command had sent him to do if he didn't have all of the facts.
With a sigh, Milam gathered a few PADDs and headed for a Lounge on 621. He needed a drink, made with real alcohol, and a place to think. After a short lift ride down to Deck five and another lift ride on 621, Milam made his way to the Captain's Lounge on Deck 15 of the base and settled in with an Aldebaran Whiskey. Still not as strong Xenexian Homebrew, nothing ever was strong enough in Milam's opinion; the whiskey still had a nice bite and a strong alcoholic kick. Taking a seat by one of the large transparent aluminum windows Milam set to work enjoying the quiet sounds of other captains talking in the Lounge. Milam took out the PADD with Command's orders and another that had yet to be filled with info and used that to lay out his thoughts. So, Command wants us to conduct field tests of the MVAM; run patrol along both our and Cardassian borders; and conduct battle drills with 621. Are they serious? Milam thought to himself as he reviewed the orders. With a scratch of his head, Milam began laying out his plans…