Difficult Decision

Lieutenant Logan McQueen stood in the briefing room awaiting the arrival of the other senior officers. He’d called the six most senior member of the Taurus crew together to discuss the situation they had found themselves in.

The first to arrive was 1st Lieutenant Floten, the command Marine on the ship, who was closely followed by Lieutenant K’Lin, the Taurus’s Chief Intelligence officer and Ensign Voktur the senior tactical officer on the ship. Lieutenant Lune, the ops chief was next, followed by Ashraf Kahfre the senior science officer and finally the Taurus’s CMO, Rahel Kahfre. They all took their relative positions, apart from Logan who remained standing at the head of the table.

"I’ve checked the regulations on this kind of situation and we’re faced with a tough choice." Logan started. "By now, you will all be aware of the event that happened less than an hour ago on the planet’s surface. We lost Ensign Ward and almost lost the Commander too."

"Commander Buford is stable for the moment, but he’s lost most of his right leg." Rahel reported. "We don’t have the facilities onboard to create him an artificial limb, so until we return to the Alpha quadrant, he’ll be confined to sickbay. He’s also suffered a severe head injury and for the moment, we’re keeping him under sedation."

"Which brings us to our problem." Logan continued. "Usually in cases like this, it is the XO or the second officer who would take command. As we have no second officer and our XO is dead, then the next most senior officer should take command. Myself, the Doctor, Lieutenant Lune and Lieutenant Kahfre all hold equal rank so it is between the four of us."

"But none of us have any command experience." Lieutenant Lune exclaimed. "We can’t take over the running of the ship."

"We all have our own responsibilities." Rahel added. "There is no way I could leave sickbay, especially with Ensign Ward now dead and the rest of my staff still recovering from the escape attempt by the Jem’Hadar prisoner."

"Which means we need another solution." Logan announced. "Which is why I have brought you all here. A couple of hours ago, the Captain received a communication from Starfleet informing him that they had just assigned a new XO to the Taurus. They are currently en-route to DS9 where our new chief science officer and chief tactical officer are also waiting. Command has requested that he replies and provides them with a rendezvous point. What I’m going to suggest is that we return to DS9 and pick up the new crew now. It will take at least three days for another vessel to reach us, whereas we can be back at DS9 within two."

"We could lose the trail of the rogue Jem’Hadar if we return to DS9 now." K’Lin stated. "Do we take that risk and return to the Alpha quadrant."

"I think returning to DS9 is the only logical choice." Voktur stated, his Vulcan logic showing through. "The ship needs a commanding officer, not a committee."

"I agree." Rahel confirmed. "Sickbay is already understaffed which has obviously been hindered further by the injured staff. Returning to DS9 would allow us replace the more seriously injured off the ship."

"Does anyone disagree with us returning to DS9." Logan asked, looking around the room. No one showed any hint of disagreement. "Then we are together in this. We head back to DS9."

The staff rose from their seats and returned to their own jobs. Rahel was the last to leave, walking upto Logan.

"It wasn’t your fault." She said.

Logan knew deep down that she was right, but it still didn’t relieve his feelings that he’d let the Commander down. He returned to the Bridge and enquired about the status of the Dominion battleship.

"The ship is already in the upper atmosphere, hull temperature increasing." Ashraf stated. "The ship is starting to break up."

"Helm, break orbit and take us out of the system."

"Course Lieutenant ?" Ensign Davis enquired.

"The Bajorian wormhole and the Alpha quadrant." Logan replied. "Maximum speed."