Six hours later Tom sat in the Mess Hall of the Trident staring out at the stars ad nursing his drink.
"Hey." Said a voice as he felt a hand on his neck. He turned his head to see his wife and smiles at her.
B'Elanna was out of her uniform and wore a red top and brown pants. Tom stared at his wife and smiled. B'Elanna had not changed in the Thirty Five years that Tom had known her, her hair was a couple of centimetres longer and slightly braided but she was still the same.
"I guess you heard about the offer I received from Captain Scott and Admiral Eden. My own ship. I really don't want to leave you.
"Well, I also got a new job offer. I have been offered the post of First Officer and S.C.E Team Leader on the USS PROTON, you're going to be Captain and I'll be right beside you, always."
Tom smiled and took B'Elanna's hand and held tight and smiled.
Two Weeks Later
Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards, Drydock 12 a Steamrunner class starship the USS PROTON NCC-92145, the newest S.C.E starship.
Tom Paris stared out of the window of his ready room window and touched his four gold pips. Captain of a starship, it was still unreal. Even at 58 years old he was still unsure about himself as a CO.
He turned and sat in his chair and entered a command into his consol and began to speak. "Captain's Log Stardate 60154.5. The PROTON is a masterpiece in my opinion and she's mine. She is also the first Steamrunner class to be equipped with a Slipstream Drive.
I have chosen several of my new crew. Doctor Tropp is my new Chief Medical Officer and an old friend from VOYAGER, Lt. Commander Mike Ayala is to be my Tactical Officer and Chief of Security and Kenneth Dalby who has gained the rank of Lt. is my Chief Engineer.
B'Elanna has chosen Lt. Commander T'Vok to be Second Officer and her second in command of her team. B'Elanna and I have spoken to Danny and he was happy for us but as Miral is on TITAN I haven't heard back yet. End Log."
'Bridge to Captain.' said the voice of Lt. Andrew Devro, Chief Operations Officer.
"Go ahead Lieutenant." Captain Paris said.
"Subspace message from the TITAN."
Tom closed his eyes and sighed. "Transfer the message to Commander Torres on Earth." Tom said and sat down at his desk and read a report.
Six Days Later
On the main Bridge of the USS PROTON Lt. Commander Ayala sat at his tactical consol at the rear of the Bridge behind the Captain's chair. He was running his standard security checks, keeping his checks regular was something he had learned serving under Tuvok on Voyager.
Ayala had left Starfleet to spend time with his family after returning from the Delta Quadrant, but when the Borg began their invasion, Ayala retuned to active service in Starfleet.
After the invasion his wife, Amanda, had encouraged to stay in active service as he was as Amanda had said that after his seven years on VOYAGER he was better in space than on their small house on the Cardassian border.
After serving on the USS SENTINAL for eighteen years as a security officer and after receiving the offer to join the PROTON's crew from Tom, Ayala just couldn't say no to his old friend.
Continuing his scans his sensors picked up a small vessel approaching and sending a request for docking and smiled as he touched the comm panel on his consol.
"Bridge to Captain".
'Go ahead Commander.' Responded the voice of Tom Paris from his quarters.
"There's a shuttle requesting to dock sir and they say that they would like to speak with you."
'On my way, Paris Out.'
=/\=
In the main Shuttle bay of the PROTON there sat two mark six shuttlecraft at the side of the bay, while the PROTON was scheduled to launch in just four days Tom had to admit that he was worried the ship would have to leave without the Runabout that he had requested from Starfleet to be added to the ships compliment of shuttles.
Currently the PROTON had four shuttles onboard two Mark six and two Mark Nine's. Both Tom and B'Elanna had requested new Shuttles so that when they were christened the names would be chosen by the Captain of the ship the shuttles were assigned to. Both Tom and B'Elanna had chosen to honour four friends who had been lost in service.
The two Mark Six shuttles were named after Lt. Joe Carey who had died on an away mission in the Delta Quadrant and had been B'Elanna's right hand on Voyager for nearly seven years. The other was named after Kulrag son of Grav. He had been the Klingon guardian of the Nursery on Borath and had given his life in defending Miral who had taken an instant liking to him when she was a baby.
The two Mark Nine shuttles were named after Admiral Janeway who had died on the Borg Supercube when she had been assimilated and forced to become the Borg Queen. The second was named after Jarem Kaz, a joined Trill who had become VOYAGER's Chief Medical Officer for the three years she was in the Alpha Quadrant and had died on VOYAGER at the battle of the Azure Nebula when the Borg armada attacked. B'Elanna had only ever met Kaz once when she was on VOYAGER when Miral had been kidnapped but Tom had known Kaz and knew him as a good man and a friend.
The Bay doors opening brought Tom out of his thoughts as a familiar sight greeted him as the DELTA FLYER flew threw the force field and landed in front of him. As Tom moved to the hatch he was greeted by two old friends. Captain Chakotay and Commander Kim of the USS VOYAGER.
