Chapter 1
Utopia Planitia, Mars
Captain Jonathan Kirk sat starring out of the port side window on board the shuttle craft Workhorse as it traveled from Space Station Explorer orbiting Mars to Utopia Panitia ship yards. It has been a tradition for Starfleet Captains to take one last look at Mars before boarding their ships at the ship yards. The NX-32283 USS Darkhawk was a marvel of Starfleet's newest ship designers and engineers at the Advanced Shipyard Design Bureau. She was a newly designed ship based on the battle proven Defiant class star ship. This variant of the Defiant's design is labeled the Picard sub-classed Defiant star ship, due to Captain Picard pushing the designers into producing a bigger version of the Defiant capable of deep space exploration with out the need to be confined to a space station.
The Darkhawk is 200 meters long in total length, an increase of 60 meters from the original design. Along with the new over all length the Darkhawk has two more decks making a total of six decks to the ship, giving the Captain of the ship a much needed ready room, and conference room; more affectionately known as the 'war room'. Captain Picard wanted more fire power for the ship so the Darkhawk is armed with a total of six forward firing pulse cannons and two Type X Collimated Phaser Arrays, one located around the top of the ship by the bridge and one below the ship near the shuttle bay. Completing the armor meant are six total Quantum torpedo tubes, four forward firing and two rear firing.
"Don't you want to see her sir?" asked the crewman piloting the shuttle craft.
Captain Kirk was lost deep in thought and did not hear the crewman's question. Kirk's mind drift away from the shuttle craft, away from the mission he was just given by Captain Picard to join him at Deep Space 9. He did not fight his wandering mind; instead he welcomed it.
Voices. Kirk started to hear voices in his head, they started out very quietly and rose quickly to an almost ear-shattering roar. They were voices that he has tried to forget for the longest time; voices that kept coming back to him in his dreams. Kirk never flinched at the unexpected eruption of sound; the voice of the collective was all too familiar to him.
Having been assimilated into the Collective at the battle of Wolf 359, Kirk had a personal vendetta against the Borg, or at least that is what all the counselors told him when he returned to Starfleet with the Starship Voyager. The truth is Kirk just wanted to move on with his life and try to restore the humanity that the Borg stole from him. Starfleet had also made that hard by assigning him to shore duty for the last two years instead of another starship.
His vision flashed, and now he saw lips moving in the dark, speaking words he could not hear, speaking to somebody he could not see. His vision flashed back to the shuttle craft. Kirk had that same dream every night since his return from the Borg Collective, no matter what he did those images would not leave his mind. Upon returning to active duty with Starfleet Captain Kirk had to under go therapy to make sure he was not having any negative mental affects from his time with the Borg. He told the counselors what they wanted to hear; it was a good thing they were just humans and not Batazoids or else they would have been able to see right through Kirk's rouse.
"Sir?" The crewman called out.
Kirk was still looking out of the window and not listening to the young pilot. The young crewman extended his hand and touched Kirk on the shoulder bringing Kirk's wondering mind back from the stars to the cabin of the cramped shuttle craft.
"Sorry sir," The crewman said with a careful voice, "We have arrived at your ship."
Rubbing his face with both of his hands Kirk began to message his forehead like he was trying to rub out a headache. His left finger ran across his left eye brow touching the ocular implant attached to his brow, continuing across his temple and ending just under his left eye on his cheek bone. Kirk touched the implant again and felt the cold metal on his finger tips; each groove and bump sent a million memories racing through his mind. A chill ran through his body when he thought about the amount of lives he has taken, the amount of people who he dragged off screaming in horror or for mercy as he stuck them with his assimilation nodes sending thousands of Nano-Machines racing into their bodies. It was a horrible reminder of a part of his life he wish he could forget, but now, being permanently scared with this obvious reminder on his face, it keeps his morality and his humanity a number one priority.
"Not to worry crewman, I must have dozed off," replied Kirk getting up from his chair, "The ride was very comfortable."
With out saying another word Kirk reached down and grabbed his bags from in between himself and the crewman catching the crewman's gaze.
"Thanks for the ri..." Kirk was cut off by the horrified look on the crewman's face.
"My God..." blurted out the crewman, "I mean, sorry sir, I just..." The crewman was trying desperately to recover from his blunder.
"Never mind it crewman. It's not your fault; this is not the first time this sort of thing has happened to me," Kirk said trying to ease the tension in the small shuttle craft.
Kirk stood over the crewman and looked down on him for a second. Taking a deep breath he walked to the back of the shuttle craft and turned to face the front of the shuttle. Kirk took one last look over the shuttle to make sure he has everything he needed.
Kirk pushed on his COM Bage and it came to life with the standard Federation chime. "Kirk to Darkhawk."
"Darkhawk here Captain."
"One to transport."
"Aye sir." Responded the voice over the COM Badge.
Looking one last time in the crewman's direction Kirk noticed the pilot was now getting the shuttle on route back to the space station and was no longer paying any attention to him. Kirk felt bad for the young crewman, he probably thought I was going to assimilate him. Kirk thought.
"Have a safe trip back crewman." Kirk said breaking the silence in the shuttle.
"Uh...thank you sir," replied the crewman who struggled for the words and did not bother to look back at Captain Kirk.
Kirk kept his composure at the blatant disrespect the ensign was showing him. Striking his COM Badge again to open a channel with the Darkhawk once more, he stated simply, "Darkhawk, Energize."
The command brought the blinding blue and white light of the Federation transporter system around Kirk and instantly transporting him from the shuttle craft to the small transporter room on board the Darkhawk. The Darkhawk's transporter room was a great deal smaller than any other starship's transporter room. It was also darker, something that Kirk felt he would have to get used to and quickly. The transporter Chief stood no more than 10 feet away from the transporter pad which could only transport 4 people at a time. The glow of the transporter pad died down to reveal a woman standing waiting for Kirk to arrive along side the transporter chief.
"Welcome aboard Captain." The woman said with a welcoming voice and a smile.
As Kirk's eyes began adjusting to the low light levels in the transporter room, he could start to see the woman who just welcomed him aboard. She was a woman of normal height, about 5 foot 8 inches and weighting in around 120 pounds. She had long, blonde hair which was pulled back into a bun, a very uptight look for a Starfleet officer. Kirk noticed the 3 pips on the woman's collar and knew this was his first officer. All attraction he had for the woman was instantly gone with the realization of her position on the ship.
Kirk stumbled off the transporter pad still not fully used to the low light levels, he held out his hand and said, "Commander Kesloh, it is a pleasure to meet you, I am Captain Jonathan Kirk."
"It is good to meet you, Captain," She said shaking his hand, " If you follow me please."
Kirk and Commander Kesloh walked out of the transporter room and into the main corridors of the ship. Kirk took quick notice of the space dock engineers still working on consoles mounted to the walls of the corridor, he also took notice of the dim lighting through out the entire ship. Walking past a few engineers Kirk gave them a nod as they passed by; the engineers nodded back taking quick notice of his obvious Borg implants.
"Tell me Commander," Kirk said breaking the silence, "Is this ship going to remain this dark or can I turn on the lights soon?"
"As soon as the engineers leave the light levels are going to be turned up to Starfleet standards," Replied the Commander.
Kirk nodded when he heard the answer he was looking for. It was not that he had a hard time seeing in the dark it was the fact that the low light made him feel too much at home; too much like a Borg drone. He felt safe in the light, safe from the 'evil' that resides all through out his body.
"Captain we are scheduled to depart from the shipyards in one hour and start our shake down cruise to Deep Space 9 where we will be re-supplied while the rest of the crew boards the ship. From there we are to head to Deep Space 12 at maximum warp and meet the Enterprise along with the rest of the fleet." Informed Commander Kesloh
"Commander," Kirk said stopping in his tracks to face Commander Kesloh, "I am fully briefed on our mission, I just spoke to Captain Picard before boarding."
"I see," Kesloh said sounding on edge. "Permission to speak freely?"
"Granted. From now on I wish you to speak openly whenever we are in private Commander. You are my first officer and I will always want your input."
"Thanks you sir," Kesloh said catching her breath to begin her next sentence. "To be honest I do not think that Captain Picard's choice of command of this ship was wise. I do not feel a former Borg drone should be the second in command of the Borg Defensive Fleet. It just does not make sense from a security stand point."
Kirk stood where he was thinking about what to say to the Commander's rather harsh and unexpected words.
"Lets get one thing straight here, Commander. I was already an established Starfleet Captain before the battle at Wolf 359, and I don't know if you've done you homework or not, but I do remember a certain Captain's face looking at me and 39 other ships straight in the eyes and telling me 'resistance was futile'. Nobody thinks Picard is not a capable commander, but everybody thinks I should remain on shore duty just because I have a few obvious Borg Implants attacked to my face! I have been hand selected by Captain Picard because of my experience and knowledge gained on those ships I was forced to serve aboard." retorted Kirk was a heavy, angry voice.
Kirk was looking straight into Commander Kesloh's eyes the entire time he was speaking. Kirks passion and fire threw Kesloh for a loop, she was expecting a Captain who had been tainted by the Borg; a nervous and unsure leader, instead she was faced with a Captain with conviction and fire. Commander Kesloh started to feel ashamed with her words towards her Captain. It was now obvious she was wrong about the man and it started to show on her face. Kirk took a long deep breath and exhaled loudly. In doing so he adjusted his shoulders and began to relax.
Putting his left hand on her Kesloh's shoulder his eyes caught hers and a mutual understanding started to form at that moment, they both could feel it.
"Thank you for your honesty, Commander. I can see why Captain Riker thought so highly of you and fought so hard to keep you aboard the Titan."
"Thank you sir," Kesloh said continuing to look into Kirk's eyes.
Kirk pulled his hand off Commander Kesloh's shoulder and gave her some room so she would not feel like a cornered animal. Kirk could now see the Commander looking for something to say, but was unsure of what or how to say it. Kirk started walking and Commander Kesloh followed suit. They walked for a good ten seconds before Kirk broke the silence again.
"Would you do me a favor Commander?"
"Anything sir."
"Go to the bridge and supervise the final pre-launch preparation. I want to get myself better oriented with the ship as soon as possible. I will make my way to the bridge at 0800 hours to depart for Deep Space 9."
"Aye sir."
Kirk watched the Commander continue on with out him to the turbo lift. Kirk looked around at the now empty corridor, he knew his heated conversation with the Commander must have scared the rest of the engineers in this section to high tail it for the time being. Walking over to a wall console Kirk pushed on it and searched for his quarters.
At least my quarters are on the same deck as the transporter room. Kirk thought.
Kirk continued to walk towards his quarters and admired the ship and all it had to offer. It was not a Sovereign Class ship, but it was a great improvement over the Miranda Class starship he last commanded before he was assimilated. It was clear that Starfleet's ship design and engineering had improved ten fold.
I thinkI am going to love this ship. Kirk thought as he entered his quarters throwing his bags at the closest couch to him. They were nice quarters, nothing like he had seen on the Sovereign class vessels, and nothing like the lavish comforts that Captain Riker has aboard the USS Titan. Kirk pushed the privacy control on the door to lock any un-welcomed guests out as he kicked off his boots and sat down in a chair next to a window with a view of Mars.
Welcome 'home', He thought looking out the window at the big red planet.