Heading to the Gamma Quadrant

Zack sat in the co-pilot's chair of the Runabout Thames looking out of the windows as he headed away from Earth and into open space. He felt odd not being at the helm of the runabout, but that was the job of Ensign Taylor. The Thames was going to take Zack as far as DS9 and from there he would have to take the next vessel into the Gamma quadrant and make contact with his new ship the USS Taurus.

It was also odd for Zack to be in a Starfleet uniform once more, having resigned from Starfleet and spent the last five years searching for answers to questions he had carried around with him for all of his life. Now he had some of those answers, but those had only led to more questions, questions that he couldn't answer alone. He hoped that at least one of those answers was on the Taurus.

So he's re-enlisted into Starfleet and as always he got his own way. Many would have said that he was lucky in his life, things always seemed to go his way. He was heading for the USS Taurus and the Gamma quadrant. Initially however, upon his re-commissioning, he'd been assigned to the USS Comfort, a hospital ship but at the very last moment he was assigned as helm officer on the Taurus instead, if that wasn't luck then no-one knew what it was.

The reason for Zack's resignation five years ago had never been clear to anyone, not even his adopted mother. Zack had been adopted on Kritarus when he was three years old. He had a fairly normal childhood and his adopted parents loved him as if he was their own. Things got hard when at the age of only nine, Zack already underdeveloped physically started to lose his hair, leaving him bold by the age of thirteen. That made him a target for the bullies at school and he suffered many taunts and abuse until one day he fought back.

A highly intelligent child, we completed all his schooling by the age of sixteen and even took the Starfleet entrance exam and passed. His age prevented him from attending the academy and so instead his parents managed to send him to the Vulcan science academy for the intervening two years.

Whilst there, he was learning with Vulcan children and adults upto twice his own age and keeping up with them. As well as his academic studies, Zack learnt about the Vulcan Institute of Defensive arts and attended many of the public demonstrations held there during his stay on Vulcan. He also managed to get onto the alien exchange programme run by the institute and learnt many of the basic self-defence techniques practised by the Vulcans.
He flew through the academy and graduated in 2376, having taken command and helm control. He'd also found an interest in both science and medicine and took supplementary course in field medicine and stellar cartography.

He served for four years on the USS Appalachia, gaining a field promotion to Lieutenant (Junior Grade) after a surprise attack by a Romulan warbird. Then in 2380, just after his father's death, he suddenly resigned from Starfleet and disappeared, only occasionally contacting his mother.

Five years on, he'd walked into Starfleet and requested to be reinstated. After he had been debriefed about where he had been for the past five years, his request was granted and he was given his old rank and position back.

"We'll be reaching DS9 in about three days sir." Ensign Taylor commented. "We just have to make one brief stop on the way."

"Would you like something to eat ?" Zack enquired. "I'm starting to feel a little peckish."

"No thank you Lieutenant." Taylor replied. "But thanks for the offer."

Zack rose from his seat and headed into the back of the runabout to get something to eat.