Fate Be Told

It was 09:00 hours. The day shift was just beginning on the Nebula Class USS Eisenhower. Captain Wright was just settling into his chair as the turbolift door opened.

Lt M'eko J'ross, the ship's second officer came out and greeted the crewmen who were by the door. She strolled down the slight drop in the Bridge level to the executive officer's chair and promptly sat down. The ships XO was on leave, so she was the acting as the Eisenhower’s XO until he returned.

"Morning, M'eko." Wright said as he turned to give her a quick glance. "Today, we are going to be diverting to DS9 for some routine upgrades. Starfleet feels our computers are out of date."

M'eko pulled up the display on her chair's left armrest. "We'll get there in three hours at warp nine, sir. Too bad we’ve never been in line for a Transwarp drive upgrade, Starfleet seems to be installing all over the fleet." She said with a hint of disappointment. "We would get there in less than an hour."

As they continued to have a light talk about what was going to be upgraded, the Conn officer picked up a signal. "Captain, we have a message from DS9 coming through for you only." The Conn officer stated without missing a beat. He was two months out of the Academy and was still somewhat nervous with the prospect of manning the Conn during the dayshift.

"Send it to my ready room, Ensign." The Captain said as he stood up to leave. "M'eko, you have the Bridge".

"Aye, sir." She replied as she moved into the Captain's chair.

In his ready room, Captain Wright was listening to the message from DS9. He had a look of loss in his face as he understood the message. But then he started smiling as he realised what it meant.

Tapping his comm badge he stated. "Lieutenant J'ross come to my ready room, please." before tapping his commbadge once more to close the channel.

M'eko got up from the chair. She was about to say something, but looked over at the young Conn officer. "Ensign Williams, you have the Bridge."

Of course, he stared in disbelief for a moment.

"Relax, Ensign. We're in Federation territory and approaching one of our starbases. Besides, this shouldn't take too long." She said as she gave him a wink.

He slowly stood up and looked around. Then he walked up to the chair and very carefully sat down in it.

"....Comfortable.." He said with a voice that was starting to sound a little less nervous.

Captain Wright was waiting at his desk with a PADD in his hand as Lt J'ross walked in. "You wanted to see me, Captain ?" she asked very straight out.

"Yes, M'eko sit down, please." He motioned to the chair with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice. "I just got this from DS9 and they got it from Starfleet." He said tapping the PADD in front of him. "You know anything about New Orleans Class starships ?" He enquired with a small smile.

"Well, they are small escort frigates basically." She replied. "Small crew, sturdy design. They can make for a hell of a fight if anyone wants to try and pick on a small ship, but vulnerable to large scale attacks. I heard that Starfleet had withdrawn them all, something about a re-fit."

"That’s correct, the entire fleet of New Orleans vessels are being re-fitted with trans-warp drive and enhanced weapons system." Captain Wright said, almost smiling now as he handed her the PADD "And you’re about to get to know a whole lot more about them. Since you're gonna be the new XO of the USS Taurus." M'eko was looking the PADD over almost in a state of shock. Starfleet had estimated her appointment time to at least four more months.

"Congratulations, Lieutenant. You formally made it to command." Captain Wright said as he reached out to shake her hand. "When we dock at DS9, you will be staying to wait for the Taurus. She is across the damn galaxy now, but they will be bringing it in soon. Looks like I have to get a new second officer now." He stood up and looked at her "M'eko, be careful out there."