Night fell over the city of San Francisco as the Vulcan T'Lana awaited her old friend and former lover in the restaurant they once frequented, over the years she had gotten used to being stared at by males of many species although few knew her true heritage as a Vulcan since it was rare for a Vulcan to have blonde hair, even more rare for them to show emotion in the way she did. Graciously smiling to her waiter she took another sip of the glass of champagne she had ordered for the occasion as he leaned in and spoke to her softly.

"Stood up? If you don't mind me saying so miss, he is an idiot"

"He'll be along, he's never been one to keep great time" He smiled graciously.

"Well, if no one shows up. I get off shift in half an hour…"

Smiling slightly she took hold of his left hand squeezed slightly as his legs buckled and he fell to the floor wincing in pain.

"Go away…"

"Y-yes ma'am" He said in pain.

Across the restaurant Franks leaned against a door frame with a smile on his face as he watched, holding back his laughter he walked towards her and sat down with a slump.

"You're late" She said.

"Traffic you know?" He laughed.

"What are you smiling about? How did your meeting with Foster go, are we expecting Starfleet security guards to burst in with an arrest warrant?"

"Funny, been working on that joke awhile?"

"Five minutes or so, how was the delivery?" She mocked.

"You're damned crazy… even for a Vulcan. Anyway… I have something for you"

Smiling he reached into his pocket and pulled out a box with a Starfleet Command logo on top, with a questioning look she picked up the box and examined it slowly.

"Well it's a bit heavy for a ring Franks… what is it?"

"You have to open it T'Lana" He mocked.

Smiling slightly she opened the box and almost laughed as she looked inside.

"Commander pips? These have your name on them"

"What? Ohh sorry… this one is yours"

Smiling slightly he slid an identical box towards her as he picked up the first box.

"What are you upto Franks?"

"Nothing, Foster couldn't stop apologising to me after… well that's a long story…"

"Tell me anyway, just for fun"

"Alright… well it happened like this…"

Two Hours Earlier…

A dark smile came over the Admiral as he looked directly into the eyes of the Lieutenant.

"Really? Not entirely Lieutenant. I have a little job for you, it was going to go to Archer and Enterprise… but I have a little job opportunity for you"

"What?" He sighed heavily.

"Follow me"

Quickly with a smile the Admiral stood and walked towards a star chart on the far wall, pointing to a star system on the edge of Starfleet controlled space he looked back at the young Lieutenant and spoke with no concern in his voice.

"Two weeks ago we lost a ship in this region, it was ambushed by a Klingon vessel… however our ship got off a few good shots and crippled the enemy ship. It's far enough away that the Klingon Empire would have a hard time recovering the ship, but deep enough inside our territory for one of ours to get too it first…"

"What does this have to do with me?" He groaned slightly.

"You speak and read Klingon fluently right?"

"Almost… not perfect but I can get by"

"Good enough for me kid" He mocked.

"So you want me to jump on the next ship out and help bring it home?"

"Almost… we have a… ship standing by, we got a crew but no C.O… I want you to command it. You've proven that you can handle yourself against the Klingons…"

"In case you're either blind, stupid or both Ben, these are Lieutenant pips…"

"Yes, your demotion. Effective immediately… I'm reinstating your rank of Lieutenant Commander, with a Promotion to Commander. You are ordered to report to dry-dock tomorrow morning to take command, get me that Warship Commander, we need it"

"Commander? Me?"

"Yes…"

"What about a command crew, can I pick my own?" He asked with a smile.

"Some, most of your crew are already aboard however you are short a Chief Helm and Pilot…"

Thinking quickly as he smiled he looked at the star charts and nodded.

"I'll take it, I got just the person for the job…"

Present Time…

T'Lana almost burst out laughing as she listened too his tale, perhaps it was a practical joke he was so fond of pulling, but something in his eyes said it was the truth.

"Ohh no… I've been offered a posting on a Vulcan ship. I intend to take it"

"As what?" He mocked as he sipped his drink.

"Relief Helm, third officer"

"Really? Wow. Well that could beat my offer as Chief Helm and First Officer. I need you T'Lana, you're the best pilot I've seen… well next to me of course"

"Screw you" She laughed.

"You'd be miserable on a Vulcan ship… all those rules and regs to follow. Join me… you wouldn't even have to salute or call me sir. We'd be the same rank, this is everything you've trained for, well it's not the Captaincy but it's close. What do you say, wanna take a chance on a fools errand?"

A slight smile crept across her face as she looked down at the box with three shiny new Commander pips before her.

0700 hours.

(The Day After)

Beaming onto his new command for the first time he looked around the transporter room and smiled slightly, since he took the offer he knew he was being placed in command an NX-Class ship but nothing could prepare him for the size of the vessel he was ordered to command. Although it was the same basic design as the NX-01 Enterprise it somehow seemed a little larger, dressed in civilian clothing he walked the corridors of the ship and found his quarters, stopping for a moment he read the label on the door. 'Commander William J. Franks. Commanding Officer' Smiling slightly he opened the door and threw his bag inside before making his way towards the bridge, upon entering he looked around at the new design of the bridge, although similar to the NX-01 it had a few minor differences. Nodding too himself with a smile he stepped onto the bridge and took a deep breath as he stopped near the weapons console, looking down at the controls he saw an eager young Lieutenant glaring at a uniformed blonde female officer.

"Hey, check it out. She could bounce her torpedoes off me any day" He whispered with a wink.

Smiling to himself he leaned closer to the young officer and replied with a whisper.

"I wouldn't let the Captain hear you say that, from what I hear, they are old… friends"

"The Captain ain't here, I've been checking her out since I got here…"

Miming too himself 'Ouch' He smiled as the she turned and walked towards the young Lieutenant with her eyes a flame.

"What was that Lieutenant Junior?"

Seeing the rank insignias on her jacket he snapped to attention as she stepped around his console and pushed past Franks quickly, standing almost nose to nose with the frightened young man she looked around as the bridge fell silent.

"What is your name?"

"Umm… Andy… Andrew Cortez Ma'am"

"Well Andy, Andrew Cortez. You may refer to me as COMMANDER T'Lana, First Officer or Ma'am"

"Y-Yes Ma'am" He stuttered.

"What was that about torpedoes?"

"N-Nothing Ma'am. Forgive me ma'am"

"Ohh come on, I've heard them all before. Swab my deck, Fly my flag, Fire my weapons… anything else?"

Smiling slightly Franks leaned in towards her and whispered. 'bounce her torpedoes off me' Smiling slightly she looked into his eyes and replied.

"That's actually pretty funny Mister Cortez… I was wrong, I haven't heard them all"

"Ohh lighten up T'Lana" Franks said in a mocking tone.

"Allow me some fun Franks"

The young Lieutenant's eyes darted to the man in civilian clothing as the blood drained from his face, he had not only aggravated the First Officer, but made lewd comments to his Commanding Officer also. Laughing slightly Franks stepped onto the lower deck of the Bridge as he spoke aloud.

"For those of you who don't know, this is Commander T'Lana, the First Officer. She has one hell of a sense of humour, however if you piss her off and she'll tear you apart. Annoy her and you annoy me, Your Commanding Officer"

"Ohh I forgot…" T'Lana said aloud winking to the young Lieutenant. "Captain is now on the Bridge"

"Thank you… As you where" He said Aloud. "T'Lana… leave the kid alone. Back to work Cortez, we'll let it go this time"

"Aye sirs… ma'am… Commanders…"

"Calm down kid" T'Lana laughed.

Shaking his head slightly Franks walked past T'Lana as he spoke aloud.

"Cortez since I only know your name for the moment, you have the bridge. Have the Chief Engineer send someone up with a full report, I wanna be out of here as soon as possible, XO… with me. Who is the Coms officer?"

"She hasn't reported in yet sir, Command is having trouble finding someone" Cortez said with respect.

"Damn it… Alright, umm… who is second of that department?"

"Petty Officer Alexis Wailer sir, she's currently planet side"

"Get her up here, tell her she's promoted to Department Chief. I have a little assignment for her" He smiled.

"Aye sir" Cortez nodded.

With a little wink to the young officer T'Lana followed her old friend into the Captain's officer just off the main bridge, stopping at the door slightly he looked around and nodded to himself as he spoke.

"This'll do. When you have done torturing that kid out side, what do you think of our ship T'Lana?"

"It's a complete piece of shit… it's practically falling apart. I bet the engines can't push warp three"

"You could be right. But do you have any idea how valuable this Klingon ship could be to Starfleet?"

"I'm aware of that, are you aware of which vessel this is?"

"The Colorado… yeah I know. She's been renamed Excalibur…" He laughed for a moment. "…Ohh come on, you don't believe this ship is cursed?"

"No… okay a little, I've heard the stories about this ship" She mumbled.

"Wow! I heard the stories too babe, apparently they had some tradition of breaking a bottle of champagne on the keel of the ship before anything else was done…"

"Bill, it took them three tries before it broke…"

Laughing slightly he sat down in his chair as he looked at the computer display before him as he spoke with a laugh in his voice.

"I tell you what T'Lana… if you see anything you consider cursed, let me know"

"Remember what happened the last time you took the piss out of me"

"How could I forget… well I could use a coffee, hopefully that idiotic Admiral has sent everything up here"

After a few moments he handed his new First Officer a cup of hot black coffee. Taking the cup she breathed in the aroma as she raised an eyebrow slightly.

"What is this?"

"A trader came through the Outpost a few months ago… he had a strange coffee he claims came from the… Klingon Empire, I can't even pronounce it. Be careful with that, it has a little spice to it"

Taking a little sip she smiled slightly as she looked over his shoulder at the screen.

"Not bad, what are you looking at?"

"Schematics for this Klingon vessel, very impressive. They call it a Bird of Prey class. Assuming we can get their first… wanna command her?"

"You speak Klingon, I don't" She laughed. "Besides I really don't think you would have it any other way"

1015 Hours…

As many of the crew had reported on board as possible as the interception time had been cut in half since word reached Admiral Foster that the Klingons were closer then expected, the untested crew had little choice but to leave Spacedock early in order to reach the vessel before it's owners found her. Sat for the first time in his seat Commander Franks looked around as his crew listed off their status to launch.

"Tactical Ready…"

"Communications Ready…"

"Sciences Ready…"

"Environmental Systems Ready…"

"Engineering Ready…"

"And… Helm Ready, lets do this"

"One quarter Impulse power Commander, once we're clear take us to full impulse. Set course out of the system, then go to best possible warp"

"That'll be about warp three for the moment Franks" T'Lana smirked.

"Lets do this!"

The two large impulse engines at the rear of the ship ignited and pushed the large vessel forward with a jolt, smiling slightly to himself he looked around at his Engineer and nodded.

"Nice… the dampeners are a little sluggish"

"On it sir" Called out the Irish Engineer. "Sorry about that"

"We'll ignore the court martial this time" He laughed.

Once clear of the Solar System the large ship disappeared into warp towards it's destination, a stranded and abandoned Klingon Bird Of Prey.

Ship's Journal, Date… umm… I forgot, been one of those weeks.

Starship Excalibur.

Commander William Franks Recording…

We've been at Warp Five for almost Six Weeks now, although we still have a long way to go before we reach the Klingon Bird of Prey. I can only hope that we reach it first, Intel reports Romulan ships moseying around the sector… I really don't want to take us into a fire fight just yet.

End Entry…

For weeks at Warp, the ship travelled closer and closer to the stricken Bird of Prey until finally it dropped out of Warp in the Star System as the command staff entered the bridge.

"What've we got?"

"Nothing sir…" Reported the Science officer.

"What? According to intel we should be at least detecting a ship, wreckage of a Starfleet ship or a Klingon vessel"

"I know sir, but nothing… no ships, not even residual energy traces… nothing at all"

"T'Lana, check the co-ordinates are we even in the right place?"

Quickly she moved towards the Helm and checked her readings, slowly she looked up and nodded.

"According to the Helm, we're exactly where we should be"

"Run a full check on the helm… something doesn't add up. This system shouldn't have a binary star"

"On it…" She nodded.

"Cortez, sound battle stations, I got a very bad feeling about this. Have all crew issued with side arms… T'Lana, can you find someplace to hide the ship?"

"Not a problem, see that Asteroid field? I can take us in that. Cortez have as much power diverted to Hull Armour as possible"

"On it"

1354 Hours…

Studying the Star charts in the situation room off too the rear of the bridge Commander Franks looked puzzled as he ran over as many star systems as he could, yet nothing matched the system they had entered only three hours ago. Running his fingers through his hair he slammed his fist down on the display as a soft female voice caught his attention.

"Sir… I have… news"

Slowly he looked up as a young female Science officer walked towards him with a worried look on her face.

"What do you Ensign?"

"I've checked everything possible… Commander T'Lana is double checking her own readings…"

"What is it Ensign?" He growled.

"If my calculations are correct… someone has reprogrammed the navigational computer with false star charts…"

"What?" He yelled. "… T'Lana, get in here"

"I'm afraid so sir, the readings are all wrong, we could be anywhere. I can't even pin point our current location"

"She's right Bill, we got a major problem… The helm has been tampered with, I can't plot us a course home if I don't know where the hell we are"

"Why not just turn around and go back the way we came?" He replied.

"It's not that simple… Once we exited Warp the helm wiped it's self clean. If I just simply point the ship in the direction of Earth… and off even by the thickness of a hair, we could end up anywhere, we've been at warp for six weeks Bill… do you have any idea the distance we've travelled?"

"Alright… we'll have to do this from scratch. Have all department heads up here in five minutes"

"Of course" The Ensign replied as she left.

"We're screwed Bill… nice work. I knew this ship was a idea" She growled.

"T'Lana…" He called out as she left him alone in the situation room.