Nige sat in his quarters holding a cup of cold coffee. He had been sitting, thinking of Dinara. He had found out that she was on a transport to a refugee site on a planet four light years from Bajor. He had made plans to get there on a transport, leaving in three days to go and see her. What should I say to her? he thought. At that moment his thoughts were interrupted by the sight of Banshee Squadron flying past the window. Nige new it was time. He put down his coffee and walked into his bedroom. He picked his uniform off his bed and looked at it. He held it there for a while as something that Tumock said to him earlier resurfaced in his mind.
"Just think about it before you throw everything away." Was he throwing everything away? Was he doing the right thing? he thought as he began to put his uniform on. He stepped towards the mirror in order to have one last look at himself. He turned away quickly and exited his quarters, grabbing his earring on the way out.
Nige hurried into the shuttle bay, where he found Ensigns Beckett and Harris speaking to each other.
"About time you showed up," said Beckett walking towards Nige. "Are you ready to leave?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," said Nige.
"I see you're wearing your earring," pointed out Harris.
"I thought I should. Shall we go?" said Nige pushing through the middle of the two officers. Beckett and Harris stepped aboard the Congo while Nige boarded the Mekong. He sat down and began to power up the shuttle.
"Nige to bridge."
[Pike here.]
"Commodore, we're ready to leave."
[Good luck Nige.] At that, the bay doors slowly started to rise. Both runabouts rose up and hung there. The containment field dropped and the Mekong quickly flew out, closely followed by the Congo. The two small ships buzzed around the Knight a few times, it would be Nige's last chance to see the Knight, and then rendezvoused with the shuttles that had been launched from Orion and the Gettysburg.
[This is Lieutenant Commander Thomas to runabout Mekong,] came a voice.
"Go ahead Commander," responded Nige.
[What is the battle plan?]
"I'm uploading it to all other craft now."
[I hear that you are considered somewhat of an expert on the Kelvans, Lieutenant.]
"You could say that, I guess."
[I feel a lot safer now that I know you're leading this attack.]
"But, I'm not exactly leading the whole fleet."
[I meant the shuttles. I'm sure the other pilots feel the same as I do. And on behalf of all of them, I officially thank you. If it wasn't for the Knight coming back in time, we'd never have been able to stop the Kelvans.]
"I..."
[Good luck Lieutenant! Thomas out.] It would seem that Nige had earned a great deal of respect in his short career. It was a shame that it was all going to end prematurely.
"This is Lieutenant Tyran to all shuttles. I know you all have a lot of respect for me, but I don't need it! Save it for someone else. I'm afraid it would be wasted on me as I'm going to leave Starfleet after this mission. I would just like to say that it is a great honor, to be flying my last mission with people who have such a high respect for me." The commlines were silent, so Nige gave his last order; "Deploy yourselves in the specified attack patterns, bring Han'gosian technology on-line, shields up." The small ships buzzed around the three starships and came to a halt in front of the Knight, which was ahead of the other two. "Good luck everybody!"