Disclaimer: The rights to 'Star Trek' and 'Star Trek Online' are owned by its creators, Gene Roddenberry, CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Cryptic Studios. This story is based on the idea from Gene Roddenberry and is used for entertainment purposes only and written without expectation of monetary or material profit.

Notes: The plot of this story is based on the Star Trek Online (STO) plot from 'Season 1' during the initial release back in 2010. While the original prologue has long been changed from the initial release, to the new prologue which tells the story of a class of cadets who are on the wrong side of a distress call and are attacked by Klingons. If those who remember the original tutorial, this was not the case. We will start from the original released tutorial which tells of a different plot point.

Timeline: The Stardate for STO starts on 87695.52 or September 11, 2410, it also coincides with it's launch date of February 2, 2010. The Star Trek Stardates will also be used for anything before that Stardate. This timeline will be based on the fact that the current season started in 2409, with the latest being in 2411. I will use the date of May 20, 2405, or Stardate 81384.80 as the start of the story. This makes it easier to reference dates both with STO and with the original Star Trek series.

Warning: This story is self-beta'd. If there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, please PM me the paragraph.

Star Trek Online: Reign of Terror

By

RyanSlicer

Book 1: The Klingon War

Part 2: U.S.S. Kano

Markus sat at his new desk onboard Starbase 36. Commander Alexander had provided most of the crew of the Argon quarters based on their rank. Markus got one of the junior officer quarters which was a small fifty square feet room with two beds like in the Argon.

"Personal log - Stardate 82828.77.

The Borg attacked Vega IX in the Vega system yesterday. Apparently, they staged the attack by having a few ships in the Vega system and then warped to Vega IX. What we don't know is what they were doing. And what these new Borg are." He paused and tapped his fingers on the desk.

"They seem to have a unique quantum signature that's not related to our own quantum signature. Are these Borg from the future?" Markus stopped for a moment, thinking about his last sentence before continuing his log file.

"It looked like they were looking for something but they couldn't find it. But they decided to assimilate the whole planet. Maybe they figured they would find what they were looking for if they assimilated the entire planet." Markus then took a deep breath as he pondered about what happened next.

"I received the Lieutenant Junior Grade rank while the attack happened. The bridge crew and most of the senior officers were killed or assimilated. Eighty total people died. It wasn't under my command, even though I had been given command of the Argon while we evacuated Vega IX colony. It wasn't good either way.

I met an Andorian named Mirra th'Zarath and she is a very emotional person. She decided to drag me out at 0130 to get some food before we crashed. Somehow she got quarters near me, or at least close enough so she could drop by.

Commander Alexander wanted to talk today about the report and what happened. Mirra said she already went for hers and that my turn would happen in the afternoon. I'll see how it goes."

"Computer, end log," Markus spoke out before hearing the chime of the door. "Enter." The door slid open and Mirra entered the room, she noticed that Markus was sitting at the desk and was dressed in a grey t-shirt with loose black pants and black boots, his belt sat on his hips a bit lose but tight enough to keep his pants up.

"You ready?" Mirra asked, dressed in a white long sleeve shirt, the arms rolled up slightly to show her blue forearms. Her hair was cropped short and parted to her right and she wore navy blue loose pants, she wore flats with white across the top and a black line across the sole.

The PADD next to Markus chirped, he looked it over and saw that his appointment with Commander Alexander was set for 1530. "Sure. Lunch?" He asked, mostly because he was hungry and they had slept most of the morning off. Commander Alexander explained that while he wanted to get the report out of the way, he also let them know that he knew they were probably ready to crash as soon as they lay down. To which they did.

"Sure. We can hit the galley and walk through the arboretum until you need to get ready." Mirra explained before walking out of his room and waiting for him to follow.

Markus got up and pulled on his gloves, causing Mirra to notice them before Markus got to the door. They started towards the galley as Markus' quarters' door slid shut.

-LINE BREAK-

Both Mirra and Markus stepped out of the turbolift and turned the corner to one of the inner ring galleys onboard the starbase. The doors slid open to let them in and the inside looked like a standard restaurant, complete with a bar and kitchen next to the door. The kitchen looked like it was busy, with the line to wait for food about halfway around the bar. Instead of waiting in line, both decided to walk toward the wall-mounted replicators. As Mirra was ahead of Markus, she ordered first, "A red bat noodle bowl and a glass of glow-ale." Mirra asked the computer.

"Acknowledged, glow-ale will not contain any synthetic alcohol or natural alcohol." The computer chimed back

"Of course," Mirra replied as the meal and drink were created right in front of her. She picked up the tray before stepping away to allow Markus to order.

"Stroganoff, Beef with a glass of water, chilled with two ice cubes." The computer chimed again but didn't say anything as it replicated his order. Once the tray with the beef stroganoff and water was created, he grabbed his tray and they both walked over to a single table with two chairs on it. Weaving between the other tables until they got to their destination. As they sat down, Mirra noticed his hands again as they stretched once the tray was on the table.

"Can I ask what happened?" She asked.

"Sure. It's not like it's traumatizing." Markus remarked, "I was originally on a shipping freighter. My father was a security guard for them and I was learning about engines and the technical workings of a warp core when one of the EPS conduits started leaking plasma." Markus took a bite of his meal before he continued to explain what happened. "The engineer I was with grabbed one of the plasma conduit sealers and put it on before he got blown back." Markus paused again for another bite. Not really worried about what he was talking about. He knew he'd have to explain this if no one read about his record before joining Starfleet. "I don't know why he was blown back but I took the sealer and covered the leak as best as I could." Markus then took one last bite, swallowing it down with his drink next to him. "It was a defective sealer in the first place, or became defective when the engineer, Hiro, was blown back after trying to seal it." He held out his hands towards Mirra before replying, showing how he had grabbed the conduit sealer. "The plasma started leaking around the seal and was heating up the handles as I was holding it tight." Markus squeezed his hands slightly, wincing a bit as the gloves tightened to keep him from damaging his hands even further. "My hands were stuck there and were melted down to the bone before they could get me off of the sealer."

Mirra winced as she heard how much damage that conduit caused his hands. "They should have been able to fix it at a medical center." She wondered why the medical center or sickbay on the freighter didn't heal his hands.

"This was a freighter, and we were several hours away from a Starbase at the time." Markus tugged a bit on the gloves as he brought them back to finish his lunch. "They tried to keep it from being damaged even further, but by the time someone could see it, the damage was already done. They did some muscle rebuilders but it wasn't able to get back to normal. That was about 4 years ago." Markus took another bite as he watched Mirra.

"And the gloves are for?" She questioned, "I would assume that they're for keeping them covered."

"Strength mostly. I couldn't hold anything without them, and the muscles are slowly healing." Markus remarked, pulling the top part of his right glove apart to show the mechanical parts that helped him to close his hand as he flexed the same hand. Mirra watched with fascination at how the gloves worked when he moved his hand.

"Can you take them off?"

"The doctors don't recommend that I do, except to air them out and to clean them."

Mirra nodded and finished up her meal just as Markus did as well. Markus looked at the nearest clock on the wall of the galley and noted that he still had an hour before he needed to get ready for his meeting with Commander Alexander. "I've still got an hour before I need to get into uniform. Want to check the arboretum?"

"Yes, we can do that." Mirra nodded, both of them getting up and placing their trays into the replicator's disassembler. They left the galley and walked along the outer edge of the station corridors. "To think that traveling out here and seeing so many different things, and yet Starfleet still hasn't explored many areas of space."

Markus nodded, having looked at a few stellar cartography charts. "Our sensors on some ships can't penetrate some of the areas we would like to explore," Markus remarked. "Though stellar cartography is not one of my strongest subjects." He gave a small chuckle. "So don't ask me to pilot anything unless it's already charted."

Mirra laughed a bit at his honest opinion of himself and the subject they were recently talking about. "Neither am I, I'm more of an 'adrenaline junkie' that some of my classmates in the Academy said to me."

"Give me a warp core or a repair job. I'll take those any day." Markus replied, "Aside from the shooting range every once in a while."

They reached the door to the arboretum and watched as the door slid open into a small park location like in the cities of Earth. Only this served several purposes as it not only provided fresh oxygen on board the station, but the filtered air also ran through the arboretums across the station as another way of delivering fresher air by removing any additional carbon dioxide that was missed by the filters. While others tend to use them as places to relax and enjoy their time aboard the station, even if they are not able to get to a planet. "I've seen many trees and forests from other planets I was traveling through, they are all very different from Andoria's forests." She said as they entered. They took one of the main paths that showed them more of the park-like atmosphere. The overhead lighting provided the proper nutrients for the plants as they acted like a sun. "But none of our ships provide such things as this. They were built for battle, originally against the Vulcans."

Markus nodded, having remembered the early Starfleet history before the Federation came into existence. "I've seen Andoria from orbit on one of the freighters I worked on, docked at the local station to unload their goods." Their stroll took them to a different part of the arboretum, where a small pond was encircled by trees. "I never stepped foot on the planet though. I hear it's all ice."

"Yes it is completely covered in ice along with the other planets, the gas giant we orbit doesn't bring in a lot of light, unlike your sun. Mirra replied, sitting down on a bench next to the small pond. Markus sat down as well before Mirra looked over at him. "So what is your position going to be? I know that battlefield commissions last a year if you don't keep up with the rank requirements."

"Yeah. I had to confirm myself, but if I don't do the officer training courses at some point and pass, they'll bump me back down to ensign." Markus answered before taking in the arboretum's natural air, not like the scrubbed air on some of the ships he worked on, he took a quick look at the nearest clock and found out he had twenty minutes to get ready to meet the commander. "Sorry to cut this short, but we'll have to leave so I can meet with Commander Alexander."

"It's alright. I had a good time here." Mirra smiled and Markus stood up, along with Mirra as they finished their talk. Markus led them out of the arboretum and both he and Mirra began walking down to the closest turbolift, which wasn't far. They waited for the lift to arrive before Markus spoke up.

"I wonder what the commander will say about the report." Markus wondered to himself vocally.

"Just to go over a few things and tell you what your next assignment is going to be." Mirra replied, "He already gave me mine

"Thanks for the outing, it was fun. Maybe a trip to the holodeck next time if you're around?" Markus remarked. As this was the second time she took him somewhere and he did want to return the favor.

"Sure. Maybe a phaser range or something adventurous." She smiled, giving him a hint about something she would want to do.

Markus laughed, "Sure. But I'm warning you, I'm a pretty good shot."

"I saw on Vega IX, but that was against walking zombies." She gave a slight smile before opening his door, "Better get ready or the commander gets upset." She gently pushed him in before winking at him. "See you later." And with that, the door shut in front of him.

-LINE BREAK-

"Come!"

The door slid open with a soft swoosh as Markus entered Commander Alexander's office. The room was decorated with little momentums of different accolades the commander received throughout his tenure. A model of an Excelsior-class vessel, next to a Klingon dagger, was on the wall. Different accolades were set upon a bookshelf that was visible once you fully entered the room. On the desk was Newton's cradle going back and forth, giving that soft clink, clink sound. Commander Alexander looked up from the PADD that he had and gestured to Markus to sit in the chair in front of the desk. Markus sat down and looked over at the commander once again, "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

"Yes, Lieutenant Darmoth." Commander Alexander responded, "I'll just come to the point. With the Argon currently out of service, and will be in drydock for at least three months, the command staff all agreed to begin transfers of the crew to new ships." He tapped a few things on the PADD to bring up Markus' records. "You're one of the last few who needs to be transferred. We've selected you to be on the Kano." Alexander mentioned, sliding the PADD over to Markus. "She's on a routine patrol and Captain Tresh is a good friend of mine.

Markus picked up the PADD and looked over the transfer orders. He tapped on the Kano's name in the transfer, which brought up the ship's current status. "A Constitution-class Refit, Sir?" He questioned. "Permission to speak freely, Sir, but are we really pulling out ships from the mothball fleet? First, it was the Miranda-class ships, and now the Constitution-class?"

"This war has the fleet admirals scrambling to get ships out. The new ships are still being built, like the Exeter-class, Malachowski-class, and Steamrunner-class ships. Even with the shipyards, we have active turning out ships, but we still aren't ready. But we need something to keep the Klingons in order."

"Pretty much we need to make sure we're not caught with our pants down." Markus nodded, continuing to read a little bit about the ship and her namesake. "Well, she seems like a good ship, well in shape for her time."

"270 missions over the last ten years. 105 of those under Captain Tresh." Commander Alexander responded, "She's top of the fleet here in the Kassae sector." he gestured to the PADD, "However they won't be here for the next three weeks." Alexander then tapped his console before the PADD beeped with a response. "Right now you're going on permitted leave to rest up and talk to any counselor to help get past any PTSD since the Borg incursion." Commander Alexander stared at Markus. "I know it won't cure it, but at least it will help you in the future."

Markus looked down at the PADD as it beeped, noting that it had a list of counselors recommended for treating PTSD for Borg encounters. "I'll look them over and reach out to them," Markus replied, knowing that he might not do it, but if it was an order he couldn't deny it.

"That will be done today, Lieutenant. I want to see you assigned to a counselor here at the station and then transferred to the Kano." The commander responded, "I've seen some people who were at the battle of Wolf 359, and the Battle of Sector 001 and survived. They didn't fare well and had to be released from Starfleet under medical conditions because they didn't take care of it right after the battle." Alexander pointed to the PADD, "I expect a response to this no later than 1900 hours."

Markus stood up and saluted. "Sir. Yes Sir."

"Dismissed Lieutenant." And Markus turned around, striding towards the doors which opened up. Markus held the PADD at his side, walking down the corridor as he headed towards the nearest turbolift. When he got there, the lift doors opened and Mirra stood there in a command red uniform, reminiscent of the 2368 uniforms.

"Markus was just about to head over to requisitions. Need to return the phaser and rifle we had gotten from Vega IX." She stepped aside to let him in.

"That's right. I've got to do the same thing myself." Markus replied to her unasked question. "Let's meet there in about thirty minutes?"

Mirra gave a nod, "Sure, that's not a problem." The doors shut behind Markus before Mirra spoke up. "Computer, resume to the current destination."

"Acknowledged, continuing to crew quarters." The female voice of the computer chimed before the lift shifted to head towards the crew quarters deck.

Markus pulled the PADD up and started to read through the list of names, tapping on ones who might be able to help him with the Borg encounter. He figured he might as well follow orders, even though the commander was not his assigned commanding officer. But unfortunately, that commanding officer was assimilated and was shot during the Borg boarding attempt.

It was a quiet ride to the quarters and the lift stopped to allow them to leave. Mirra walked with Markus before splitting up to head to her quarters, "See you at requisitions." Mirra remarked.

Markus looked up from his PADD and nodded. "Sorry if I wasn't talkative. Commander Alexander gave me an assignment to complete, even though I'm not a part of his crew."

"Therapy sessions?" Markus nodded, "It's okay, he gave me the same assignment as well since I was with you during the invasion." She looked down a bit at Markus', being six-foot-two. Taller than Markus' five-foot-ten. "You'll be fine. And they will take care of you." She waved as she headed down to her quarters.

Markus waved back and entered his quarters. He walked over to the desk to drop the PADD on top of it and opened the locker where he had stored the phaser and rifle that he picked up from the Argon. He checked the power cells and removed them from the handle of the phaser and the stock from the rifle. Once he confirmed that both weapons were disarmed and disabled, he took both the weapons and power cells and placed them in the duffle bag that had his belongings in them before he put them away in his locker and drawers. He then started for the door, picking up the PADD and heading towards requisitions.

-LINE BREAK-

"One phaser type III rifle and one type II phaser." The young woman behind the desk at requisitions replied. "And both power cells were removed and received." She nodded as Markus handed both the weapons and cells to her. "Are you Lieutenant Matthew Johnson?" She looked at Markus, giving him a kind of stink eye as she saw the image of Matthew Johnson and looked at Markus' face.

"No, but he removed them from the Argon during a Borg boarding attempt for us to use."

The woman, a petty officer from the pips on her right breast, the uniform being the new Sierra variant that was recently released for use. "I see." She marked down the note and removed the computer tag that the computer read as assigned to Lieutenant Matthew Johnson. "As long as it was returned, we're good here. Thank you for returning it, we'll make sure it gets identified and sent back to the Argon once it has completed repairs."

Markus nodded and stepped away while Mirra went through the same thing he just did with the requisitions officer. He stepped out of the room and walked over to the kit requisitions. The kits, as shown on the display, showed them to be little chips and modules that could be attached to the personal tricorder or wrist display that rested on the forearm. Some contained pre-fabricated equipment to be sent to the user, while others allowed various scientific or medical applications to be used while in the field. While normally these kits would be only used and requisitioned before a battle, Starfleet saw the need for these kits to be available regardless of whether they were in battle or not. Markus looked at the different kits before Mirra walked up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Are you looking at the new kit system?" Mirra spoke up, looking over at some of the fabrication kits that he was looking at.

"Yeah, but I'm still using an old tricorder system. The Argon didn't get their requisitions in for the newer kit-based tricorders."

"Maybe the next ship assignment will upgrade yours to include kits," Mirra mentioned, gently nudging his shoulder with a soft touch of her hand.

"I doubt it, I've been reassigned to the Kano, which is an old Connie class." Markus looked back at the kits as he figured out which ones would work for him. He didn't see her eyes widen before a smile stretched across her face.

"Well, I was originally assigned to go to the Kano before the incident," Mirra replied as both Markus and Mirra left the kit requisitions. "But I doubt that they will head there now."

"Those warning beacons we heard were set up after we left so they should be heading to their next mission. Commander Alexander said that they wouldn't be arriving until at least stardate 82884.90."

"So we have some time. Maybe you could get requisitions to upgrade your tricorder." Mirra smirked as she nudged Markus with her shoulder.

"I might just take you up on your offer." Markus grinned as they walked off to their quarters.

-LINE BREAK-

Markus sat down, having picked up all the equipment that he got. His new tricorder with an installed kit to fabricate a bolt turret was sitting next to him, closed and waiting to be used.

"Personal Log: Stardate 82886.01,

That Kano will be arriving in a few standard hours to offload some supplies needed for the Delta Volanis Cluster. Another ship will be taking those supplies to the cluster for the colonies there. It seems like the captain does things by the book as they'll stay in dock for a bit during the offload of supplies and onboarding of new crew members." Markus paused and waited for a moment before he grabbed his new kit-supported tricorder. "At least I was able to requisition this. Captain Tresh notified all those who were joining his crew to have one ready and pick out a kit module before they berthed in spacedock." He grinned as he continued his log. "Mirra and I had a few more practice rounds before. Seems like she has a sore spot for missing so many targets." Markus chuckled, "I found a counselor here on the station as well as one on the Kano. They both are very good and willing to make sure that we all are taken care of if we were transferred to the Kano from the Argon." The door chimed. "That's probably Mirra, we're going to grab a quick lunch before the Kano arrives." Markus tapped the console, transferring the log to his PADD. He placed his PADD and his tricorder into his bag and closed it. He picked it up just as the door chimed again. "I'm almost ready."

"Hurry up there, Markus." The female voice of Mirra called out before the door slid open. "If you're not ready then we'll miss lunch and the galley might be closed on the Kano."

"Alright already." Markus gave a soft chuckle as the doors closed behind him while they walked to the closest galley. "You sound like the Kano is going to leave as soon as she gets here."

"No, I'm just hungry," Mirra remarks her bag on her shoulder as well. "Come on, let's grab our lunch, and if we make it we can watch the Kano dock."

"Interested in watching a ship dock?"

"Well, not really, but it'll be my first look at the ship I'm being assigned to so I would like to see her come in and dock."

Markus nodded, he kind of wished that he got to see the Argon dock, but he was transferred to the Argon by a transporter from a different ship. So he never got to see the ship from the outside until she was berthed at Starbase 36. But by then she was heavily damaged and didn't look as good as he saw in the holographic display of the ship. Still, he would be glad to watch this with Mirra, as he figured he could before indulge her curiosity as a friend. "Alright. Lunch and then a good place to watch her come in." Mirra gave a smile that lit up the hallway they were at before the galley doors slid open.

-LINE BREAK-

Both were lucky that afternoon as they had reached the docking bay area when they saw the starbase doors open up. As the doors fully opened, they caught a glimpse of the white and grey saucer section as it slid past the doors, that same white and grey color followed along the neck of the ship before ending at the main hull, where the deflector dish glowed a bluish-green color. Attached to the hull were two dark grey pylons, covered in a pattern that looked more like a crescent moon from front to back, attached to those pylons were large white nacelles, with tail fins at the end, that were nearly as long as the hull, stretching out past the end of the hull with that same bluish-green color from front to back as the deflector dish.

"She's a beauty." Markus smiled, glad that he didn't just beam over for this ship. Some of the 23rd-century variants of these modern ships, like the Exeter-class ships still held their own beauty as the newer and updated ships of their lines.

"You're drooling, Lieutenant." Mirra grinned, teasing her new friend about the fact that their newly assigned ship definitely looked very good.

Markus shook his head, and subconsciously wiped around his mouth. "I did not!" He jokingly growled at Mirra, knowing she was having at him as he did a few days ago on the phaser range. He happened to hit all his targets with the phaser rifle faster than she did, if only by a few seconds. Still, it was a good way to relieve tension and Mirra took the ribbing as it was intended. He did have an appreciation for her ability as she was a very good shot herself with the type II phaser, besting him every third round they did.

"You were." Mirra laughed, "Aren't you glad we did this?"

"I am now. Thanks for the suggestion." Markus responded. They both watched as the Kano was berthed at docking bay 12 and watched as the gangplank airlock was extended, and then attached. Afterward, they started seeing the crew and some of the supplies move off the ship towards the station. "Since they're off-loading, we might as well wait near the airlock," Markus remarked looking at Mirra for a moment. She nodded and they both picked up their bags and started towards docking bay 12's docking port.

-LINE BREAK-

Mirra and Markus arrive at the docking port and notice the line waiting to enter the connecting airlock. They came up to the line as they saw large quantities of provisions being escorted off by the crew of the Kano. As they stood in line, they noticed a few new ensigns talking about the new captain.

"Look, James, I don't know what the captain is going to do. I mean look at all the new recruits lined up. You'd think that this is going to be a training cruise from the looks of it." The woman in a blue-collar and grey jumpsuit, her ensign pips along her collar.

"Nasera, I just don't believe that the captain will have time to gather us all up and introduce us to the chief officers for our departments," James said as he responded to Nasera's comment. "Still, he would be a bit old-fashioned if he did that." The young man wore a gold collar and grey jumpsuit.

"Well, he did say that all new recruits were to meet on deck seven in the gym as they finished offloading the provisions," Mirra mentioned, both the young woman and man turned towards her and both Markus and Mirra got a good look at the two.

James was a human with light brown hair and stood just at five-foot-eight, while Nasera, who was actually a Trill, had rounded shaped spots over her forehead that trailed down her neck and past the collar of her uniform. As both looked at Mirra, they looked over at Markus and saluted him.

"Sir, we didn't mean to bad mouth the captain..." James started before Markus raised his hand.

"At ease, Ensign." Markus started. "I just got this rank less than a month ago." Both ensigns brought their arms down before they noticed Mirra's rank.

"Besides, we're part of those new recruits as well," Mirra stated, hoping that she let them relax by that remark. "Look, sorry we kinda scared you. I'm Ensign Mirra zh'Zarth." Mirra gestures to Markus to make his introduction.

"I'm Lieutenant Markus Darmoth, but I was just recently given this rank as I said," Markus replied before stretching out his hand. Both James and Nasera shook his hand, then Mirra's.

"Ensign James Perry. Are you in the operations division or engineering?" James asked Markus as he noticed the gold trim of his uniform.

"Engineering. You?" Markus replied.

"Engineering as well," James responded. He then grabbed his side as the young woman next to him used her elbow to hit his side. "Ow. What did you do that for?"

"You're being rude," Nasera answered before turning to Markus and Mirra. "I apologize for my colleague. I'm Ensign Nasera Jules. Medical division."

"Mine is tactical, maybe command if it doesn't work out very well." Mirra said, then she looked at Nasera, "Jules, as in the famous earth author, Jules Verne?"

"Yes, the same. It's not a normal Trill name, but it's because my mother married a human and they had me." Nasera replied. "So you think Captain Tresh is going to hold the all-hands for all the new crew joining?"

"The captain of the Argon did as a quick orientation, mostly just to get everyone to know who to reach out to," Markus responded to Nasera's question. James tilted his head to one side then nodded, mostly to himself, before he spoke up.

"You were one of the survivors of Vega IX weren't you?" James asked before both Mirra and Markus nodded.

"That's why Markus was given the lieutenant junior grade rank." Mirra quietly replied. "He even helped save most of the colony there. He definitely deserves it." Mirra smiled and looked at Markus, who nodded as well, knowing that this recognition was merited and that he had to acknowledge that.

"If you're uncomfortable with talking about it, we don't have to." Nasera deflected the next question James was about to ask, once again elbowing him in the ribs.

"Thanks. Not really much else to talk about that's not in the official report." Markus said, shifting his bag to his other shoulder. He noticed that the line started moving, "Looks like we're going on board." The small group started moving with the rest of the crew.

"We'll have to get together sometime after we've been given our assignments," Nasera said, looking back at Mirra and Markus.

"Sure, we can definitely look at getting together." Mirra smiled, glad that they were making some new friends.

"Of course. I'd be happy to talk to you two or get together again." James nodded as they got their chance to look at the inside of the Constitution-class ship. They entered the main cargo upper level and looked down at the workerbee shuttles moving cargo around for manual movement and onto the shuttlebay platform for other workerbee shuttles from the station to off-load the provisions too large for the airlock. One turbolift in front of them had a line and the other turbolift on the other side of the cargo bay also had a line of crew onboarding as well. When they got to the turbolift, they all were able to get into the lift without problems.

"Crew quarters," Mirra called out. The turbolift started to move as the group moved into more comfortable positions. As the door opened, the computer chimed out.

"Crew quarters, deck 5." The group stepped out and looked down at their PADDs to confirm their rooms.

"Looks like Nasera and I are in a bunk area together," Mirra spoke up, Nasera also nodded at that, glad that at least someone she knew, even if it was just several minutes ago, would be bunking with her.

"That sounds great. I'm down the hall from Mirra and Nasera with someone.." James responded, looking at his PADD, then over at Nasera's to confirm.

"Apparently, I'm in the room next to Mirra and Nasera." Markus nodded, looking at his PADD as well before continuing on, "Seems like I'm bunked with a Lieutenant T'Kiastrov."

"Well let's get ourselves settled and head to the gymnasium for that orientation," Mirra remarked as they all headed to their quarters.

-LINE BREAK-

"Welcome to the Kano. I'm Captain Tresh." A middle-aged human stood on a small podium so that all the new recruits could see him. His brown hair is lined with small patches of grey hair streaking. His command uniform was grey with his shoulders covered in red and the rest covered a grey jumpsuit. His command pips resting on his collar with four colored-in pips identifying him as captain. "I expect you all to adhere to the traditions of Starfleet and help us explore new worlds and civilizations." He raised his hand to the other officers sitting next to the podium. "Beside me are the officers in the areas you'll be assigned to." He turned to the first officer of the ship. "First Officer of the Kano, Commander Peter Rodgers." Rodgers stood up, a younger man, with light blond hair and a light mustache and in an operational uniform with gold yellow shoulders with the same grey jumpsuit as the captain was wearing. He stood just a few inches taller than the captain, even on the podium.

"Head of Operations, Lieutenant Ophelia Peroth." A middle-aged human woman, tall and fair, she held grace and poise as she stood up, long black hair tied into a high ponytail with the same gold yellow uniform as Rodgers.

"Head of Security, Lieutenant Patrick James." A young human male stood up, slightly shorter than Commander Rodgers.

"Head of Engineering, Lieutenant Commander Sophia DeSoto." A trill woman, about the same age as Lieutenant Peroth with short cropped hair down to her chin and pulled back around her ears, wearing the same gold yellow uniform of all the other department heads that wore them. She wore a calming smile that helped to relax you. Markus knew that he would grow to like her if her personality was the same as how she looked on the stage.

"And the head of Medical, Thomas Hayes." The last member of the primary officer group rose up and nodded, his peppered black and white hair combed back as he wore the same standard uniform with grey shoulders with a light blue collar.

"Each of you will be assigned to the associated heads, with Commander Rodgers assisting them in scheduling your shifts. Please note that your information will be listed on your PADDs and you will report to your department head for orientation and scheduled shift routines. Otherwise, I hope that you'll enjoy your time here on the Kano, and believe you'll be a fine addition to our family." A shrill whistle blew and the entire crew complement stood up and saluted, to which Captain Tresh responded with his own. "You are all dismissed, report to your department heads at oh eight hundred." And with that Captain Tresh, along with the rest of the department heads left the gym, heading back towards their respective areas or quarters.

-LINE BREAK-

"Personal log, Stardate 82887.36.

The Kano finally picked both Mirra and me up after three weeks. While I'm glad to be back on a ship, even if it isn't the Argon, I kinda miss the hallways of the Miranda-class ship." Markus leans back into the chair at the table, "However this Constitution-class ship has her own type of beauty."

"Still a big thing to remember, at least for myself, is that this is different from the freighters I was so used to working on. The warp core and other components of a freighter are smaller and more compact than this ship. I'll be reporting to DeSoto in the morning. Got to impress the boss." Markus reached out and tapped the console computer to shut down the log file before getting up and heading to his bed. As he laid down, the thoughts of Mirra, Nasera, and James as his first real friends and co-workers, along with Matt Johnson, the LTJG that got him through the Borg fight on the ship and helped get the ship out of danger until he was hurt from the last torpedo attack. He did hope to meet Johnson again.