New Command

Captain Aki Taybar stepping into Starfleet Headquarters for the second time in a week. The last time it had been to visit Commodore Linda Dietrich, the Judge Advocate General. As with all starship Captains who lose their ships, it was a formality to question all those involved and bring charges against the Captain. After all the investigating was complete, usually the charges were dropped.

So after over six months of investigation, Captain Taybar had formally been cleared of all charges that had been brought against her. She had been relieved, even though she had always been confident that she was innocent when the Commodore told her the news. She could now go and join the remainder of her crew at Utopia Planetia, where the new Leviathan-B was being retrofitted with its predecessors slipstream drive. It had taken the Starfleet Corp of Engineers nearly six month to remove the drive from the wreckage and bring it back to Mars.

Having been destroyed so far outside Federation space, there were few vessels capable of traversing the distances. But the drive was now back in its rightful place, on a Leviathan. Aki and Admiral Devore had both fought hard to get another Leviathan ready and to have it equipped with a slipstream drive. With the advances in transwarp drive within the Federation, the more advanced, but temperamental quantum slipstream drive seemed obsolete. But Devore had fought hard and eventually the powers 'that be' saw that slipstream propulsion could be a viable opportunity for the future.

Now Aki stood in the outer office of Admiral Devore once more, which was empty. She sat down on the sofa and started to read the Padd she had brought with her. After a few minutes, Lieutenant Owen came out of the inner office and noticed Captain Taybar sat down.

"Hello Captain." The young Trill remarked. "You're a little early for your appointment, but the Admiral won't be long."

She then moved across the office and sat behind her desk once more, starting to transfer the data from a Padd she had been carrying into the Starfleet Command database.

[Lieutenant. Has Captain Taybar arrived yet ?] The voice of Admiral Devore asked.

"Yes, sir. She was waiting when I left your office." Owen replied. "Should I send her in ?"

[If you would Owen.] Devore requested.

"Captain Taybar, you can go in now." Owen announced.

Aki rose from her seat and switched off her Padd. It had contained the latest updates on the new ship and some personal messages. As she stepped into the inner officer, Admiral Devore switched off the console he had been working at.

"Captain Taybar, how are you ?" Devore enquired. "I see the Leviathan is progressing well."

"So I hear." Aki replied. "It should be ready for the first tests in a month or so, I'm looking forward to getting back onboard and re-taking command."

Admiral Devore's face dropped and Aki knew that something was wrong.

"Is there a problem ?" She asked.

"Not a problem, just some bad news for you." Devore replied. "You won't be returning to the Leviathan, I've re-assigned you to another ship."

"Another ship, but I was under the impression that as soon as the Leviathan was ready to go out once more, I'd be in command." Aki protested.

"We have need for you elsewhere." Devore stated. "Have you heard much about the re-fits that Starfleet has started to perform on the New Orleans class ?."

"No." Aki replied. "The New Orleans class is a little out of date, they were OK when we were at peace, but there were several design faults discovered when they had to face the Borg and the Dominion."

"Well those faults are beginning to be ironed out, starting with their speed. Starfleet has started to re-fit the entire fleet with transwarp capabilities and the weapons systems have also been updated. With the updates, the class is now a light, fast, powerful escort, what it can't fight it can run away from." Devore explained. "The first vessel to launch was the USS Taurus and that is the ship that we want you to take command of."

"Why me ?" Aki asked. "And what happened to it's previous Captain ?"

"Commander Buford was seriously injured during his time aboard and has been forced to take a leave of absence. Currently the vessel is deep within Dominion territory looking for two Federation scientists who were taken by force from a Federation outpost in the Gamma quadrant." Devore continued. "They were abducted by what the Dominion see as a rogue element within their ranks. We think they're been led by an advanced Vorta clone, who escaped during the last months of the Dominion war."

"Dominion territory !" Aki exclaimed, realising now why the Admiral had asked for her. "You want someone with experience of the Dominion and the Gamma quadrant."

Although Aki had no experience of the Dominion, she had only just graduated when the war ended and had never visited the Gamma quadrant in her life, the previous host of the Taybar symbiont had. Captain Siz Taybar had been a Starfleet Captain before Aki had even dreamed of leaving Trill and joining Starfleet. She had been in command of a Nebula class science vessel, one of the first to explore the Gamma quadrant when the Bajorian wormhole was discovered.

When the Dominion war started, she became the Captain of a Galaxy class vessel, the USS Challenger. After the war, she was re-assigned back to a science vessel, a Nova class vessel, the USS Einstein which explored the Federation territory in the Gamma that the Dominion relinquished to the Federation.

"Your symbiont and its previous host has knowledge of the Gamma quadrant that no other Starfleet Captain possesses." Devore stated. "You're the best person for the job."

Aki, resigned to her fate gave in and asked. "So when will the Taurus be returning to the Alpha quadrant ?"

"It won't. The ship needs a Captain now, its XO in a capable, but inexperienced officer and it is her first command." Devore replied. "You'll leave in two days for the Gamma quadrant, here are all the reports from Commander Buford and the other senior officers."

Devore passed Aki a number of Padds to review.

"Which ship has been assigned to take me to the Gamma quadrant ?" Aki enquired.

"Now here's the good news." Devore replied. "Because of the location of the Taurus and the urgency of the assignment, you'll be travelling on the Hellcat."

Aki smiled for the first time since she'd entered the Admiral's office. The Hellcat was attached to the Leviathan, a vessel built by the crew of the original Leviathan as a small escort vessel, come shuttle\fighter. Since that time, the vessel had seen one major re-fit, which had included the installation of a smaller version of the quantum slipstream drive. The Hellcat could halve the time taken by a vessel travelling at maximum warp.

"Thank you Admiral." Aki said, rising from her seat.

"Good luck Captain." Devore replied.

Aki left the office and headed back to her temporary quarters that had been assigned to her, the Padds in her hand.