Chapter 1

Alpha Quadrant

Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards

Mars Orbit

Drydock #476

Year 2382

"Captain on the bridge!" Commander William Woskosky announced. All of the crew and engineers stood as their captain exited from the turbolift. Lane Xeroth had never been on the bridge... his bridge before.

Of course he had studied the schematics and he knew them like the back of his hand. Though nothing that he had studied about his ship was even close to comparable to the real thing.

He thought to himself as he looked at all of the men standing there, I've always imagined what my first command would be like, but now that I think about it, they were nothing compared to the real thing. He smiled slightly. This is much better.

"As you were." he said proudly to the crew of the Akira-class U.S.S. Preserver, NCC 79821

Everybody went back to work on the Preserver to get it ready for departure.

The bridge was a mixture of different hues of brown. Everything was on one level; recent ships had been outfitted, along with new technology, no stairs or ramps on the bridge. It had been deemed unnecessary by Starfleet ASDB.

He had entered from the turbolift at the center of the rear wall. To his right was the Operations station, with its own alcove, the entry to the Briefing Room and the Enviromental and Science stations, behind him were multiple stations for sensor readouts and ship's status. In front of him were the three central chairs and conn station, and to his left was the Tactical station, also with its own alcove, the entrance to the Ready Room, and the Engineering and Support stations. Xeroth smiled.

"Hello, sir."

Xeroth recognized the voice well. He turned in the direction of the voice to see one of his good friends.

Commander Woskosky had worked with Xeroth before, on the Enterprise-D. They had been separated since its destruction on Veridian III twelve years earlier.

"Will!" Xeroth exclaimed. They embraced each other. "I've been looking for you! Where have you been?"

"I've been realigning the sensors for a few hours now. Just came to see if you have arrived yet."

"I was so happy to see your name on the crew manifest."

"As was I." Both smiled even wider than they had before. "Well, I have to get back to the sensors."

"Alright. Meet me later in my quarters; we need to catch up on the past couple of years."

"Will do, sir." Will walked to the turbolift as Xeroth sat back into the captain's chair.

Lane walked down from the upper deck to the command chair. His command chair. The one Lieutenant Cache was sitting in.

Cache was an Soong-type android, created by Lieutenant Commander Data of the Enterprise, along with assistance of Starfleet, five years previous. Working on the chair's control panels, he neglected to notice the captain next to him.

"Excuse me?" Xeroth asked.

Cache looked up, his silver eyes meeting with Xeroth's blue eyes immediately as he stood. At six foot four, he was much taller than Xeroth. His hair was a sandy brown, and his skin had a light flesh-colored tone, unlike his "father's" light gold. The speed that he had stood attention caught Xeroth by surprise, causing him to take a step back.

"Hello, Captain Xeroth. I am…"

"Lieutenant Cache, I know," said Xeroth. "You're my science officer, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Cahce replied.

"I've never worked with an android before…"

"Not many have, sir."

Xeroth laughed. "Of course." After waiting a few moments, Xeroth spoke up again. "If you'll excuse me…"

Cache, confused, slightly tilted his head. Looking at the chair, then back to Xeroth, he nodded and stepped out of the way.

"Of course. I apologize, captain."

"Thank you…"

As he turned to sit, the bridge became silent. All heads turned to the captain.

When I sit in this chair, Xeroth thought to himself., my life will change forever.

As he sat in the chair, a loud appalause erupted from the workers. Xeroth smiled, and nodded. "As you were," he said, and the crew again returned to work.

Looking to his right, he saw three people working on the Enviromental station. He looked only a few feet to see the entrance to the Briefing Room, and on the bulkhead, the ship's dedication plaque.

Getting up, he walked to the plaque, scanning it with his eyes, his reflection looking back at him with the same look of wonder that he gave the plaque. He read the motto:

"As long as the Sun, Moon, and Earth exist, everything will be alright." Hideaki Anno

How true... Xeroth thought. How true.

Liuetenant Commander Sorn'ah, even being the very soft-spoken Klingon that he is, an extremely rare sight, could be heard all over Main Engineering.

"jIyajbe'! The conduit burst for the eighth time today! I swear it's a veqlargh!"

"Commander, please...I'm trying to concentrate on these diagnostics..." Lieutenant Junior Grade Melinda Griswald said calmly.

Sorn'ah took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Lieutenant. Some of those Klingon instincts, you know...they get the best of me sometimse"

"Don't worry, that's ok." They both smiled at

each other.

"Who is the Assistant Engineer?" someone yelled from the entrance. Griswald walked up to the loud man.

"Admiral Haugen...hello sir," she said.

"What do you call this?" He forcefully handed her a padd.

"It's...it's the warp core diagnostic I did two days ago, sir."

"Really? Sure doesn't seem like much of a diagnostic to me. From reading others from that same day, yours seems to be very flawed."

"But...how is that, sir? I had Lieutenant Commander Sorn'ah check it for me before I handed it in."

"Ah I see, so you need help with this."

Griswald couldn't help but show a small bit of anger on her face. "Well...he didn't make any corrections, sir...he never has had to..."

"You should know that there is a first time for everything, Lieutenant." Sorn'ah walked over with a forced smile on his face.

"What seems to be the problem, Admiral?" he said.

"Lieutenant Griswald here seems to have given me a faulty warp core diagnostic."

Sorn'ah took a quick look at the padd.

"I checked this myself, sir. It wasn't flawed at all."

"Not from looking at two other diagnostics from other engineers."

A regular Klingon would have threatened him to a fight to the death, for taking the word of a subordinate over their superior was a deep insult. Sorn'ah was not a regular Klingon.

"Who were those engineers, Admiral?"

"Lieutenant Honner and Lieutenant Commander Jonas."

Sorn'ah accessed their files. "I remember telling them to correct a few things in those reports." He brought up the diagnostic reports. "They don't appear to have done so. Sorry to say, sir, but you're wrong."

Admiral Haugen's face became red. "Fine

then...carry on." The admiral stormed out of Engineering.

Griswald sighed of relief. "Thanks, Lieutenant. He's been strict with me since everyone found out..."

"You're welcome." replied Sorn'ah. Griswald walked back to her work. "And Lieutenant...." She turned to Sorn'ah. "You can call me Sorn'ah."

Griswald smiled. "You can call me Melinda." Sorn'ah smiled back. They both returned to their work.

"I'm telling you, Selak, we need that power to test the phaser energy transfer conduits," Lieutenant Commander Kel T'Mol said. Her Bajoran half was getting the best of her.

Lieutenant Selak crawled out from under the helm. She stood up to put in commands. "Can you not wait, Lieutenant? I am almost finished."

Kel calmed down at hearing this. "How much longer?"

"One..."

Sparks blew out from under the helm.

"I stand corrected," said Selak. "Two hours."

"Two hours? You call that almost finished?"

"Yes."

Kel shook her head. Selak's Vulcan calm annoyed her. "Look, the phaser test will take me at least five hours, and we launch off in twelve. I still need to inspect the aft torpedo tubes and realign the shield emitters."

Selak turned to face Kel. "How long will each task take?"

"Well...the shields will be about four hours; the torpedo tubes will take about two..."

"Then can you not inspect the torpedo tubes while I finish programming the helm controls?"

Kel gave up. She had lost this argument. "Alright, you win. But you better be done in two hours."

"I give you my word."

"Good, I'm glad," Kel said sarcastically. She walked to the turbolift, having to dodge a few people before getting there. "Deck 9." The turbolift started moving. "I need a break."

The tingling ended. Xeroth appeared on one of the transporter pads of the Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards starbase. Admiral Haugen was in front of him, stern-faced as ever.

"Follow me," Haugen said, his voice very monotone. He followed him out of the transporter room to a turbolift. "Deck 12."

"What is it we need to discuss, sir?"

"Your mission, Xeroth."

He'd had been waiting for this since he first stepped onto the bridge; he was finally going to receive his first assignment as a captain.

The turbolift stopped and the doors opened with a small 'swoosh' sound. As they walked into the corridor, Xeroth asked, "What is our mission, sir?" He stared into the eyes of the admiral. There was no indication of emotions on his face or in his eyes.

He's better than most Vulcans, Xeroth thought.

"Let's wait until we get into my quarters, Xeroth." Haugen replied with a stern voice.

Both were silent until they reached the admiral's quarters. As they walked in, he saw models of the six ships on the wall that the admiral had previously commanded. He looked back to the admiral as he sat in his chair.

"Take a seat Xeroth."

"I'd prefer to stand, if you don't mind, sir."

"Sit down, Xeroth."

"Yes sir," Xeroth replied quickly as he sat in the chair.

"About your mission..." Haugen handed him a padd. "We recieved a distress call from the Hawkings Colony. Here is the transmission." Haugen pressed in a few command on his computer and the transmission started.

"My God... it's not like any thing I've seen before! People...air, buil...collap..colony be...ripp.. out...ground! Sarah, keep th…kids…the house! It's…my god no!"

The transmission stopped. Xeroth took a moment to absorb everything he had heard. He looked at the admiral, expecting to see sympathy on his face. Instead, Haugen was still stoned-faced. The admiral's apathy disturbed him.

"Starfleet Headquarters received the distress call at 0728 hours. As you can see, the transmission was severely damaged."

"If I may ask sir, do you have any idea you did this?"

"I have an idea, but I'd rather not disclose it at this time. The Preserver is to go to the Hawkings Colony and assess the situation. Dismissed."

"Yes sir." Xeroth rose from his chair to the door. Before he left, he turned to Haugen. "Sir, why do you not tell me your suspicions? Wouldn't I be able to carry out my mission easier if I knew what I was looking for?"

"I have my reasons, Xeroth. Now, please get back to your vessel and be ready to depart."

"But…yes sir."

Lane considered forcing the issue, but decided not to risk court martial. With his attitude, he wouldn't put it past him.

Not exactly what I expected…

He turned and left for the transporter room.

Hours later, Xeroth entered the bridge. The bridge crew stood and faced him.

"Captain on the bridge!" Woskosky announced.

The engineers that were working on his vessel were gone. All that were left are his crew, and he liked it that way.

"As you were," Xeroth said as he walked to his chair and quickly sat down. "Operations?"

Lieutenant Mark Norwood, the ship's operations officer, was daydreaming, a small flaw of his. "Oh, yes, ready sir," he said with his thick Australian accent.

"Helm?"

"Ready," Selak said.

"Tactical?"

"Ready," said Kel.

The sound of the umbilical cables disengaging from the Preserver echoed through the bridge.

"Xeroth to Engineering. Ready Sorn'ah?"

"Ready." Sorn'ah replied.

"Xeroth to Hemmingway. Ready medical?"

Commander Minerva Hemmingway, chief medical officer, was bored. She had completed everything well before the due time. She sighed. "Ready, sir."

"Ok, then. Helm, one-fourth impulse…"

The impulse engines, for the first time, powered up and could faintly be heard across the ship. As the ship started to move, the docking clamps detached from the hull.

Space appeared for the first time on the new viewscreen as they pulled out of the construction bay. Mars, the stars, and multiple drydocks could all be seen.

"Lieutenant Selak, set a course to the Hawkings Colony. Warp eight."

"Course set sir. We have left Utopia Planitia."

Xeroth smiled. "Engage!"

The mighty warp engines of the Preserver surrounded the ship with a warp bubble, propelling it to speeds faster than light.