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The following story takes place after "Needs of the Many"

Star Trek: Maximillian

Strength In Darkness

The following story takes place in the year 2381, four years after the events in BEYOND THE FINAL FRONTIER. Captain Kelvok of the Maximillian, along with his crew, has uncovered a strange new form of life, a plant creature that nearly takes over his ship. The creatures make their way to an isolated planet where they begin to multiply quickly. Kelvok's first officer, Tamak, acting unlike himself, damages the Maximillian, inadvertently killing one officer before control is returned to the Captain. It is quickly decided that the only way to eradicate this creatures completely is to destroy the planet before they can find a way off world.

Following these events, Captain Kelvok steps down from the Captaincy rather than face a long and damaging series of questions. He has strongly recommended that LCDR Critch Starblade take control of the ship. Admiral Blobbin is optimistic, but Admiral T'Kill has his reservations, remembering only too well what happened four short years ago…

PROLOGUE

As it was night on the United Star Ship Maximillian, at least what could be considered to be night on a ship surrounded by endless darkness, silence overpowered everything. The strange quiet extended through the empty halls, through the darkened sickbay, to the Engineering bay where only a sparse night shift worked. It had been decided long before that even on a ship of this size, keeping the traditions of the home worlds of the Federation was very important, hence, a lightened duty shift, allowing most members of the crew to have a work shift, an off shift, and most importantly, a sleep shift.

Almost all the members of the Maximillian, from the Horta Xenobiologist Nirathi to Zen, the Vulpes Sapien chief of morale required a long period of rest of some sort. The main exceptions were the two Soong-based androids, though they slept at times in search of dreams, locked away in their strangely developed neural nets.

One other android of another type had recently drifted off into a period of recharge and relaxation, a period that had been too long in coming. For Critch Starblade, the past few months had been more tiring than almost any time he could remember in his history. After the incidents with Captain Kelvok and the now dead planet Cirrus Theta, most of the bridge crew of the Maximillian had been debriefed extensively. At times, there were rumors that none of them would be left in the fleet to serve on the Max. The death of a once-thriving planet, caused by a desperate action in order to save the rest of the galaxy from an unstoppable race of strange plant-creatures, demanded answers, especially from the few survivors, many of which had pledged their lives to destroying their planet's murderers.

It was an extreme act of self-sacrifice that led Captain Kelvok to choose not to maintain his Captaincy. While he maintained his rank, he accepted the blame for what had happened and accepted a new role, that of Wing Commander on board the very ship he once captained. In his place, Lieutenant Commander Starblade was promoted up the line; however that was not accomplished without putting Critch through a barrage of questions and challenges, some of which were ongoing. Admiral T'Kill, who held the Maximillian as his flagship, was keeping a very close eye on the android. Despite the loyal service since the events with the Marconian invasion, save for a brief stint as a Communications officer on the now lost Asgard (Destroyed during the Dominion War at the Battle of Rashanar. Source: "A Time to Be Born"), T'Kill still seemed to not fully trust the decisions of the unique android, and only grudgingly accepted that he could become Captain, if only because of the urgings of Kelvok, and fellow Admiral Blobbin.

However, it didn't mean he had to make it easy on Starblade…

As the night moved slowly past, Critch fell deeper and deeper into his recharge cycle. He really only needed to rest for a few hours every couple of weeks, however, he preferred to take his rest period seriously, with several hours every night. He had not yet thought that the raising of his rank might not afford him such opportunities. There was a sudden loud beeping throughout his quarters, serving as an alarm clock for the exhausted android. Sighing, he lifted an arm, and tapped a small panel above his head. Never one for protocol, he simply rasped out a sleepy "What?"

"Critch, you're needed on the bridge, we've received a distress signal and…"

Commander Jaydin was cut off. Critch sighed as he closed his eyes and began to drift back off. "So tell the Captain, I'm off shift." He spoke, ending the discussion, quietly switching off the communicator. What was she thinking? He had no authority in these matters, just being a glorified pilot and all. It was like she thought he was…

He jolted upwards in bed, remembering everything suddenly, and groaned to himself.

"Oh yeah…I'm the Captain."