Dawn sat at the helm controls of the small Federation transport she had been transported to from Starbase One. She still wasn't one hundred percent sure what was going on, but she did know that finally after six months of moving from team to team within Special Ops, she had finally been assigned to a team on a permanent basis.
Her orders had come through the day before, the same day that news of an invasion by the Mullurans into Ferengi space had reached Earth. Dawn speculated that her sudden re-assignment had something to do with the news. However, she had no idea why she had now found herself onboard what on the outside appeared to be a very old, well-worn planet-hopping transport.
Her orders had been simple; report to Starbase One and transfer to the SS Axel. Once there, she was to await the arrival of her new Commanding and Executive officers. As soon as she had come onboard, she had started to explore the small vessel. There was a small, but usable living quarters and a set of four bunks. The engine room looked to be in much better shape than the outside of the vessel. Finally she had found all the Special Ops equipment in a storage locker at the rear of the vessel and something amazing in the cargo hold.
The Axel was definitely a Q-ship, designed to look like a civilian vessel, but really a wolf in sheep's clothing. Exploring the ships systems in more detail, Dawn discovered enhanced shields and phasers, some kind of sensor deflection system, hidden torpedo launchers and a narrow-band three-person transport pad. Suddenly an alert on the console activated and Dawn moved to check it.
[This is Captain Jonathan Franklin to SS Axel,] a male voice announced. [Two to beam up.]
Rushing off the command deck and heading towards the transporter pad, Dawn locked onto the source of the signal from the planet below and activated the console. Moments later, two officers, one male, the other female appeared on the three-person pad. Like Dawn, they were wearing the light-blue uniforms of Starfleet Special Ops.
"Ensign Dawn Chase, Captain," Dawn introduced herself, standing rigid to attention.
"Relax, Ensign," Jonathan stated. "Captain Jonathan Franklin and this is Commander Rebecca Franklin, my XO."
"It is a pleasure to meet you both," Dawn replied. "All systems are ready to leave on your command."
"Then let's head for the command deck and set off, Ensign," Jonathan suggested.
Eager to please her new Commanding officers, Dawn quickly turned and headed back to the command deck, leaving Jonathan and Rebecca behind.
"Rather eager, isn't she?" Rebecca commented.
"Green as the day she was born," Jonathan replied, picking up the equipment they had brought with them and stowing it in a locker. Once their gear was secured, they both headed for the command deck, where they found Dawn already sat at the Tactical station. Rebecca moved forward to the helm position and Jonathan moved to sit to her right. The cockpit wasn't exactly large, but the three of them had enough room to feel comfortable.
"Setting course for the Cardassian border," Rebecca announced.
"Engage when ready," Jonathan replied.
Moments later, the small transport jumped to warp and headed out of the solar system.
"Cardassian border!" Dawn exclaimed. "Why are we heading for Cardassian space?"
"There'll be plenty of time to go over the mission," Jonathan stated. "We've got a three day journey ahead of us."
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