Star Trek: Fortune's Glory
Chapter One: A Fortune of Hardship

Utopia Plantia Shipyards

From the reviewing compartment of Cradle 37G of the Utopia Plantia Shipyards in orbit of Mars Rear Admiral, Lower-Half P'Vel considered the starship that was maneuvering to enter. Behind her was a delegation of twenty Starfleet Officers and Senior Enlisted who had come to pay their respects to the oldest active starship on the day she was to be decommissioned for what they all hoped was the last time. She considered what she knew of the 102 year-old Constellation-class star cruiser U.S.S. Hathaway NCC-2593, and of its current commanding officer, acting-Lieutenant Landon McAllister while she relayed the facts about the ship to the gathered men, women, and transgender delegation.

Commissioned in 2285 at the Copernicus Ship Yards on Earth's moon the U.S.S. Hathaway had been tasked with patrolling the neutral zone between Federation and Klingon space, serving with distinction in that function. As the ship aged the warp nacelles had been replaced and key systems updated, but eventually the time came to pull it from the front and the Hathaway was given new assignments, mostly resupplying the ships that replaced it on the front. In 2364, at the age of 80 years, orders came down for the ship to be decommissioned. The crew of the starship had abandoned it as soon as their orders came through, with only a few remaining on station to guide her into the maintenance cradle at the Proxima Ship Yards. Crews from Proxima were the ones to remove the warp core and strip the ship of weapons, but before they could finish the Hathaway was called into service again.

Operation: Lovely Angel had been a training exercise, consisting of a series of mock battles staged between the Captains of active starships and their First Officers, with the First Officer using the Hathaway as the second ship in the exercise. First up had been the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, under the command of Jean-Luc Picard, and it had been his crew who reactivated the aged starship. Many other Captains would run through the scenarios using the Hathaway as well, and for two years it served in a training function.

"The entire class as a whole is unlovely to behold, under powered, and frequently out-paced and outgunned by passing commercial freighters," Captain Picard muttered affectionately from his place in the delegation. He had served 22 years as the Commanding Officer of the Constellation-class U.S.S. Stargazer NCC-2893, and seemed nostalgic about the entire series of Constellation starships.

After Operation: Lovely Angel concluded in 2367 orders had come through to decommission the 82 year-old ship, and the crews at Proxima had gotten as far as ejecting the warp core before the ship was once again called into service. The core was replaced with a newer model, the training weapons replaced with live torpedoes and actual phaser banks, and a crew assigned. Admiral P'Vel's experience with the ship began here, as she joined the new crew as the Helmswoman – the assignment being to support a fleet of starships led by the U.S.S. Enterprise tasked with creating a tachyon detection grid between the Klingon and Romulan borders in hopes of preventing the escalation of a Klingon civil war. The House of Duros had instigated the war with the backing of the Romulans, so preventing supply shipments and documenting proof of House Duros' treachery had been the primary purpose of the fleet. Unable to assist in the grid itself, the Hathaway was assigned supply runs – gathering needed supplies that the newer starships could not retrieve themselves because they had to remain on station.

It is unknown how much the Hathaway's involvement affected the success of the operation, but full war was averted in the Klingon Empire, and the 83 year-old starship was sent back to the shipyard. Unfortunately, later that same year Starfleet was devastated by a Borg invasion, the single greatest disaster coming at the Battle of Wolf 359 in which 39 ships of the line were destroyed by a single Borg cube under the command of an assimilated Jean-Luc Picard. Though the threat was eventually destroyed, the damage to the fleet was such that even Constitution-class vessels were pulled from storage and refitted for active service. P'Vel would continue her service aboard for the next seven years, moving up in rank and position until she was the Executive Officer at the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

Like before, as soon as the decommission order came down the crew started abandoning the ship, making their way to their next assignment. The Captain led this defection, staying long enough to officially place P'Vel in acting-Command and charging her with seeing the ship safely delivered to the Utopia Plantia Shipyards in Mars orbit. With just a skeleton crew she had accomplished the task, but as soon as she ship was secure the remainder of the crew departed. P'Vel's next assignment was an attaché position at Starfleet Command, on Earth, and as she did not have to go far she chose to take her time in packing up her quarters.

She was therefore surprised when an alert had been called over the internal communications, and she made the short walk to the bridge to ask the crew from the shipyard there what was going on. Unfortunately, they were as clueless as she was, so moving to the Operations Station she requested the information directly from Utopia Plantia control.

"A Borg cube is being tracked on a course for Earth, Vice Admiral Hayes has assembled a fleet in the Typhon Sector, but all warp capable starships are to stand by incase the Borg made it through the fleet," control responded.

Checking, she noted that the warp core had not been ejected and responded, "Control, the U.S.S. Hathaway is warp capable and stands ready. Please release the maintenance arms."

A moment later the attenuated arms that were holding the ship to the maintenance cradle were removed, demonstrating the seriousness of the situation.

To the crew of enlisted men and women on the bridge she announced, "Until further notice you are the crew of this ship. Take your posts."

None of the crew moved, and one even demanded, "This is a Vulcan joke, right? You can't seriously believe that an 88 year-old starship has even the slightest possibility of making a difference in a shootout with the Borg!"

A Jeffries tube access plate popped open then, and a young Trill in Starfleet Academy gold crawled out to explain, "The Commander knows that, and she's not asking us to go into combat – we are standing by to provide rescue and recovery services for the ships of the line. Right, Lieutenant Commander?"

One of the Petty Officers leaned over to look inside the maintenance shaft, perhaps checking for more cadets.

"That is correct," she'd answered, wondering how anyone could have misunderstood her reasoning in the first place.

"Well then, Third Year Cadet Landon McAllister reporting for duty, Captain," the Cadet said, snapping to attention. She'd found his family name interesting in the moment – half-Trills were quite uncommon, having come onto the galactic stage a half-century earlier, and to have a human family name meant that he was either a hybrid or had been adopted into a human family. The obsidian black of his iris' were a testament to the first option, or perhaps both; he was also quite young for a 3rd year Cadet – perhaps 18 years old, meaning that his test scores had been sufficient to warrant early admission to the Academy - but she'd had neither the time nor the inclination to pry in the moment.

"Take OPS, Cadet, and open a channel to all stations," she ordered, moving to the command chair. "This is Lieutenant Commander P'Vel on the bridge: until further notice I am taking command of this ship. After six years the Borg are attempting to make a second attempt to assimilate the Federation, and we have been ordered to stand by. We will not be engaging in combat operations; instead, prepare for rescue and recovery actions. Please secure your stations for departure. Bridge out.

Officers began to arrive, relieving the enlisted men of the bridge positions, but when an officer attempted to take Operations from the cadet she ordered, "No, let him stay at the post." Checking the list of stations that had reported in she ordered, "I need you down in Engineering."

"Aye, Captain," the officer said, clapping McAllister on the shoulder before departing the bridge.

"Helm, one-quarter impulse power," she announced while taking her seat at the middle of the bridge, "once clear of the maintenance cradle make for the storage containers in Blue Alpha. Tactical, contact Starfleet Medical and have a medical team assembled on Mars – beam them directly to sickbay. Operations, Cadet McAllister, search Utopia Plantia's inventory and beam aboard any parts you feel would be essential to the repair of modern starships."

He nodded, looking a little green, but tasked the computer with giving him a list of components most likely destroyed during combat while the ship continued to maneuver.

Beaming aboard not only essential components but additional work crews, the U.S.S. Hathaway had been ready for when the Borg cube managed to reach Sector 001, the remainder of the fleet in close pursuit and the ships from the various shipyards and Space Dock all converging to engage. Remaining on the fringes of the battle, P'Vel and her impromptu crew evacuated personnel from critically damaged ships and beamed essential components and personnel to those ships that could be saved, including the U.S.S. Defiant and U.S.S. Enterprise, among other notable starships. In the end it was determined that the actions of the Hathaway resulted in the rescue of 982 Starfleet officers and enlisted, and the successful recovery of 6 ships of the line.

For her part, P'Vel had been offered a promotion of Commander with the promise of a further promotion and a new command when one became available. Twenty-seven ships had been lost to the Borg, and new ships were in short supply with several Captains and Commanders ahead of her on the list of Command Postings, so she had requested that the U.S.S. Hathaway be made available until a new ship could come up. She'd also made the request that Cadet McAllister be allowed to finish out his Cadet Cruise on board, serving as her Operations Officer – a major posting for someone who hadn't graduated the Academy.

Half-Trill, and a quarter-Betazoid and Human, McAllister was a 'touch-empath', capable of reading what he called 'residual empathic residue' on objects. P'Vel had been skeptical, but the proof had mounted as the Cadet identified and repaired defective maintenance performed by her previous crew. His motto being that repairs should be made with the understanding that the component would be replaced in the future; whereas the motto of the old crew had been that the ship would be decommissioned before their repairs would need to be replaced. The difference was marked in the performance of the ship and morale of the crew.

Months later the Gamma Quadrant government known as the Dominion, sensing that the Federation was weakened, declared war on the entire Alpha Quadrant. McAllister returned to the Academy where he completed his studies, graduating with honors and given the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. With his experience and test scores he could have served on any ship of the fleet, but he accepted an invitation from P'Vel to return to the Hathaway. For the remainder of the Dominion War the ship crossed the length and breadth of the Federation, resupplying and providing aid to the ships of the line. It even participated in Operation: Return – the joint taskforce assigned to regain control of Deep Space Nine.

At wars' end in 2375 P'Vel had been promoted to Captain and assigned command of the Intrepid-class U.S.S. Sarek. While not strictly a 'new' ship, the Sarek did fulfill the conditions promised. Her own Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Ryken Tan accepted a promotion to Commander and a post as the XO of the U.S.S. Farragut. The Vulcan officer had been conflicted over personnel decisions, particularly in the case of Lieutenant McAllister. Over the course of the war she'd promoted him to Lieutenant Senior Grade, and placed him as 2nd Officer in addition to his duties as the Chief of Operations. His service under her command had been exemplary, and she considered bringing him with her, but had decided to make the pragmatic choice to leave him on the 90 year-old Hathaway to provide continuity for the new Commanding Officer. She did, however, leave a recommendation for her replacement that McAllister should be promoted and appointed XO.

She'd lost track of her first command in the rush to recover from the war, and learned of what had happened next after the fact. Command had been given to Command Ronald Drake with the same promise of a promotion and new ship when one became available. Drake had chosen to ignore her recommendation and instead promoted his friend, Lieutenant Commander Jrr'kyr to the post. Both had been Peregrine fighter pilots during the Dominion War, stationed aboard the Akira-class U.S.S. Thunderchild, and had come up through the ranks quickly.

As Captain Picard had said, the entire class had been underpowered from the start, and even with Lieutenant McAllister and the chief of engineering, Lieutenant Geert, making modificaitons that drastically improved the ship's performance the U.S.S. Hathaway could not compete with newer designs – a fact that dragged on Commander Drake. P'Vel could clearly remember the warped deck plates and the way the turbolift would jerk as it became momentarily stuck between decks. Focused on making Captain before he turned 30, Drake felt that his career was stalling, and the longer he spent onboard the more crippled his career was. This mindset prompted the Commander to make questionable command decisions, including the foregoing of scheduled maintenance in order to engage in alerts that sent the ship back and forth across Federation space. He engaged the ship in combat actions, and it was only though the care of the ship's crew that it managed come through these conflicts at all.

Worried about the direction Drake was taking, Lieutenant McAllister confronted his CO in private, stressing that the ship could not survive in the long term if the Commander did not change his course. Instead of listening to the counsel of the ship's Operations Officer the Commander brought McAllister up on charges of Insubordination and Dereliction of Duty, citing every time that McAllister had argued an order, but withheld the specifics. Drake also contacted his friends at Starfleet Command and had them block any other information concerning the Lieutenant. With only the negative reports in hand it would seem that the Operations Officer was inciting insubordination and dragging down the morale of the Hathaway's crew, so Command agreed with Commander Drake's recommendation that Landon McAllister be reduced in rank to Ensign and relieved from the position of Operations Officer.

This had two affects onboard ship – one: it reduced the efficiency of the ship as no one knew the modified and patchwork systems better than its former OPS Chief, and two: it decreased the morale of the crew, who all liked and respected McAllister.

Serving as an Ensign, McAllister was assigned to Engineering, and Lieutenant Geert was given orders that the junior officer was to be given the worst assignments – tasks like mucking out plasma conduits and deuterium tanks. They were the types of assignments usually assigned to the lowest of enlisted crewmen or as punishments. Geert, a Tellarite, did as he was ordered, keeping the Ensign working 12, 14, sometimes 16 hours, but he also kept a log of every assignment, and was sure to make note whenever McAllister exceeded expectations. Beyond the punishments, Geert began instructing the Ensign on the finer points of engineering that an Operations Officer would have had no business knowing. It wasn't long before the two were engaging in the Tellarite national sport – Debate!

Their arguments could get pretty involved, but it never turned to blows, and for the Engineering crews who understood the subject of the debates it was both entertaining and educational. As his understanding of warp theory improved Ensign McAllister actually managed to win some of the arguments.

Meanwhile, as the performance of the ship continued to drop off, Drake's questionable command decisions continued to escalate, coming to a head in 2378 when the U.S.S. Hathaway responded to Admiral Paris' call to arms to head off a third Borg assault on the Alpha Quadrant. The Admiral anticipated heavy casualties, so he ordered Drake to provide support, but by this point the Commander was so desperate for recognition that when the Borg Sphere exited the trans-warp conduit he moved his ship into attack position, blocking the firing solution of several larger ships. Despite the fact that the fleet was saved from damage by the U.S.S. Voyager destroying the sphere from within, the action disturbed Admiral Paris. Following the encounter the Admiral requested an inquiry into Commander Roland Drake and the Hathaway.

When the investigator arrived he was presented with the reports from every division chief, and the personal logs of almost every crewman aboard, and within a week the decision was made to remove Drake from the ship entirely while the investigation continued. Lieutenant Commander Jrr'kyr was tasked with assuming command pending an outcome, and the Cathar officer sensed that his friend's career was essentially over, so he chose to distance himself from the command style of his superior officer. After discussing the situation with the Command Staff Jrr'kyr chose to follow their recommendations and gave McAllister a field promotion to Lieutenant Senior Grade, followed by appointing the hybrid to acting-First Officer.

Although neither action was confirmed by Command, the gesture had the effect of improving morale aboard ship, especially among the Operations and Engineering Divisions. Working together they pair began to turn the ship around by seeing to the repairs and maintenance that had been ignored in favor of Commander Drake's agenda. Before the end of the investigation period the crew had begun to characterize their service aboard the 93 year-old starship as a 'Starfleet Heritage Cruise'.

"I mean, where else can you serve where 23rd century components are married to 24th century counterparts in a way that actually works!" one crewmember would argue.

Humans would characterize it as ironic that Commander Drake's friends at Starfleet Command had been postponing his promotion and transfer until a Sovereign-class starship became available, but P'Vel just characterized it as a waste.

By 2379 the performance and morale onboard the ship had been completely turned around when an alert was posted – the U.S.S. Enterprise was engaging the I.R.S. Scimitar, the flagship of the Romulan Pretor Shinzon, at the Bassen Rift. Lieutenant Commander Jrr'kyr listened to the advice of his XO and Command Staff, pausing only long enough to take on critical components and additional engineering teams before going to the aid of Starfleet's flagship. Even though they did not engage in combat operations the components and personnel made it possible for the heavily damaged Enterprise to make the trip to a shipyard where more through repairs would be made. Captain Picard even filed a glowing commendation for the LTC and the crew of the Constellation-class vessel.

This commendation had prompted Command to promote Jrr'kyr, and the Cathar was offered the position of 2nd Officer aboard the U.S.S. Prometheus, which he accepted.

Unfortunately, this left the Hathaway in something of an administrative limbo as McAllister had not been confirmed in either his rank or position by Starfleet Command. The ship continued to receive orders that sent it across Federation on every axis of the grid, and at the request of the Command Staff Landon McAllister assumed the position of Commanding Officer. Modifications were made that kept the ship operational while other ships of the Constitution-, Constellation-, and Miranda-classes were pulled from active duty until the U.S.S. Hathaway had the dubious honor of being identified as the oldest ship in active service.

This would continue for 7 years, over which time most of the crew would be transferred and replaced, ending in 2386 when P'Vel was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral Lower-Half and assigned to Starfleet Command, having served a total of 10 years aboard the U.S.S. Sarek. It had been her intent to invite Lieutenant McAllister to be a member of her staff, but she had been shocked to learn that even though it had been proved that Drake's reports had been falsified the accusations had not been pulled from McAllister's record: as far as Command was concerned the brilliant officer she had worked with was still an ensign assigned to engineering. She had requested her own inquiry, which had brought to light the fact that the Hathaway was outperforming all expectations for a ship over a century old.

Starfleet Engineering was intrigued, and sent orders for the ship to be decommissioned for study – even outside active service the Hathaway would have a duty.

McAllister began pulling every favor he'd accumulated over the years, ensuring that his current crew would have assignments that each individual would find favorable: Deep Space Nine, Jupiter Station, Space Dock, Starfleet Command, Starfleet Academy, Embassies and starships, including 3 postings aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise! Even with those choice assignments waiting none of the crew abandoned their post as previous crews had done – in a staggering show of loyalty they all remained aboard to take part in the official decommissioning ceremony. She had made sure to point the actions of the crew out to her superiors.

In the present the U.S.S. Hathaway glided into the maintenance cradle that would be her home for the foreseeable future, achieving full stop and maneuvering for station keeping so that the attenuated arms of the cradle could secure the sip in place. She could see that all attempts had been made to make the outer hull of the ship appear new, the lights were on in every window and the running lights blazed. As a pressurized boarding tube was extended the Admiral admitted to herself that the ship had never looked so good in all the time she'd been aboard it.

Leading the precession she paused at the airlock to be piped aboard, taking in the appearance of the crew flanking the hall – all in their best dress uniforms. Stepping aboard she noted that the warped floor panels had been replaced, the side panels as well and all the overhead lights provided steady illumination. The only thing she found lacking was the appearance of acting-Lieutenant McAllister, noting the gold oval with the two black bars that represented his rank, and the gold piping of the Operations Division on his uniform. Despite that the man seemed to be in good spirits as he stood at attention and announced, "Welcome back to the Hathaway, Admiral. Would you like a tour of the ship?"

"I would not," she answered, going on to explain, "While I am sure that your crew has worked hard to make the ship shine I am also certain that they are eager to begin the next phases of their own careers. However, members of this delegation would likely be educated by a tour, but Captain Picard, yourself and I, have business on the bridge."

He nodded, gesturing for her to lead and saying, "I believe that you know the way."

She led the way to the turbolift, through the clean corridors that had a somewhat antiseptic smell, and the turbolift itself moved smoothly and quietly – something she hadn't expected. When they reached the bridge McAllister stepped out first and called the officers to attention. Like the crewmen she had seen in the corridors the command crew, including the Chief of Engineering – who should have been in engineering anticipating a formal tour – wore their dress uniforms. The acting-Lieutenant had anticipated her decision, and planned accordingly.

"As you were," the Admiral called after she'd taken a moment to survey them. "I apologize for this, but before we conduct the decommissioning ceremony there is something that I feel compelled to take care of first. Operations; please open communications to all stations."

"Aye, Admiral," the young woman at the Operations station called back, "Channel open."

"Attention to orders," she said for the whole crew to hear, "This is to certify that all charges filed against Lieutenant McAllister by Commander Ronald Drake have been dropped, and that he is retroactively returned to the rank of Lieutenant Senior Grade as of the day of his demotion. Furthermore, he is retroactively promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and confirmed as Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Hathaway NCC-2593, starting the date he assumed command from Commander Jrr'kyr."

Stepping forward she removed the gold plate from his collar and replaced it with two solid gold circles and one gold circle with a black core that combined would identify his rank. There was applause throughout the bridge, which was probably being echoed in every corner of the ship. Waiving for quiet and then waiting for a count of 10 for the rest of the crew to quiet down she added, "Lieutenant Commander Landon McAllister, in response to your excellent service as Commander of the Hathaway these past 7 years you are hereby promoted to Commander."

Removing the spotted circle and replacing it with a solid one she added, "Congratulations, Commander McAllister."

"Thank you, Admiral," the junior officer said, unable to help himself from reaching up to touch the symbols that as far as she was concerned should have been there for years now.

"Now that we have that taken care of, Captain Picard, Commander McAllister, please input your codes to eject the warp core. Operations, confirm with Utopia Plantia Control that worker-bees are standing by," Admiral P'Vel ordered.

"Status of worker-bee shuttles confirmed, Admiral," the OPS officer reported.

Both of the officers she'd identified entered their identification codes on a Library Computer Access and Retrieval (LCAR) screen to authorize the release, and then it was her turn to enter her code, causing a section of the hull to detach so that the ship's primary power source could slide out under vacuum pressure. The main view screen showed small yellow shuttles snag both the hull plate and the core, removing the core from the area while replacing the plate.

To the crew she announced, "This ends the decommissioning ceremony of the U.S.S. Hathaway: I am aware that for many of you this has been a difficult assignment, but it is through adversity that character is revealed. Also certain is that the skills and knowledge you gained on board will serve you well in your service to Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets. Save for those conducting tours, the crew is released to make their way to their next assignments. Admiral P'Vel out."

"The channel is closed, Admiral," the Operations officer announced, beaming as she rose from her position to congratulate Commander McAllister, and a moment later the turbolift door opened to admit another group of officers and crew, all come to pay their respects to their now former commanding officer.

Placing her hand on his shoulder P'Vel told him, "Landon, please meet me in the ready room when things calm down."

"Yes, Admiral," he answered, surprised by the familiarity, but he was soon mobbed by crewmen all wanting to shake his hand and have photos taken.

The captain's study was separated from the bridge by a single door – small by any standards the room actually seemed larger than when she'd occupied this space because there was not a single decoration to be seen, and even without empathic senses the Vulcan woman suspected that McAllister had refrained from putting a personal touch on the room. He had likely been waiting for a command that would have returned him to Ensign and likely ended his entire Starfleet career. Moving to the desk she cued up the information she wanted to discuss on the LCAR screen, then looked out the window to the next maintenance cradle over.

It took nearly an hour, but eventually the Commander entered, saying, "Admiral, Commander Landon McAllister reporting as ordered."

"At ease, Commander," she said, turning and gesturing to the seat next to the desk rather than the one in front of it, seating herself as he did. "You've come a long way from the Cadet who stepped so dramatically onto that bridge 14 years ago."

He smiled at the memory, admitting, "I never did collect the fungal growths I was tasked to be gathering that day."

"Command recognizes how far you've come, too, Landon," she told the junior officer, sliding a personal access data device across the desk for him to review, "They are at something of a loss as to just where to place you next, and I requested that you be given the choice."

Taking the PADD he reviewed the information, muttering aloud some of choices, "2nd Officer, U.S.S. Prometheus; Executive Officer, U.S.S. Sovereign; 3rd Officer, U.S.S. Enterprise; Chief of Operations, Deep Space Nine; attaché position, Starfleet Command, assigned to your office, Admiral?" She nodded, and he continued down the list to "Command, U.S.S. Fortuna? I don't understand, you just promoted me to Commander; or was that supposed to be retroactive, too?"

"I'm afraid that the position does not come with a promotion," she admitted, gesturing out the window to the next maintenance cradle over. "The U.S.S. Fortuna NX-77721 is an experimental design that unfortunately does not have the support of SFC – it has been what humans call 'moth-balled' and left lingering here at Utopia Plantia."

"She looks like a squid," McAllister mused as he looked out in the direction she'd indicated.

The ship did indeed resemble a cephalopod, having an ellipsoid body fronted by a spade-shape and possessing four long pylons that were completely disproportionate to the size of the ship, topped by warp nacelles that were almost as long as the ship itself. "By that logic all starships look like squids," she countered, "But, yes, it does bear a more striking resemblance to that Class of creature than most starships."

"With nacelles that large it would be able to put up a huge warp envelope – far larger than a ship that size would need," he commented, showing far more incite than when he'd been her OPS officer, and tasked the PADD to learn more. "What was she designed to do?"

"'She' was designed during the Dominion War to perform high-risk rescue and recovery operations," Admiral P'Vel said, choosing to anthropomorphize the ship as he did with a feminine designation. "The idea was that the ship would warp into a combat zone and evacuate the secondary hulls of critically damaged vessels."

"But the war ended before the ship was complete," the Commander noted as he reviewed the data. "Just 12 decks, Spartan accommodations, most of the internal space taken up by an oversized warp core, sickbay and cargo space; I can understand why officers would turn down the command. No holodeck, that means that most crew would turn down the assignment as well; so, no crew and no command staff."

"The first order of business for any Commanding Officer would be to assemble a crew, and the next would be to travel to the Beta Anteries Shipyards to retrieve the secondary hull from the Nebula-class U.S.S. Leeds. The Leeds has recently developed a defect in its warp drive and is being pulled from active service while the fault is tracked and repaired."

"Nebula- and Galaxy-classes share the same saucer section," the Commander considered, shaking his head. "The secondary hull would have five times the internal space as the primary hull." He sounded disgusted, and she could tell that he was imagining the broad oval of the saucer section connected to the long-legged engineering section of the Fortuna. The upper and lower nacelles would barely clear dish.

"It does, however, possess the laboratories and crew amenities needed to make the U.S.S. Fortuna a credit to the Federation," she reasoned. "Whoever takes command will have to face many difficulties, but the right person can overcome those difficulties. While I would be pleased to have you as part of my staff, Landon, it would be a disservice to Starfleet for me not to say that I believe you would be the right man for this post."

He scratched the back of his head, an unconscious gesture, before admitting, "I have to think about it, Admiral. My plan was to take some time off to consider my options, and you've given me a lot more to think about."

"Take all the time you need, Landon," she told him, rising and extending her hand in fellowship, "But don't take too long, and please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns."

"I will, Admiral, thank you," he replied, shaking her hand, "But I've got a sense that everything I've faced before will be nothing compared to what I'm about to get myself into."

End Chapter One: A Fortune of Hardship