=Captain's Ready Room=
=U.S.S. Lancelot=
Four weeks earlier …
Captain Trent Rodgers sat quietly in his ready room with his guitar in hand. Minutes earlier, he had been going over tactical and logistical reports from the surrounding sectors. Because of the loss of the command ship Quattlebaum and her commanding officer less than a month ago, he had been given temporary command of the small task force manning this area of the front. It was a command he had not sought, and looked forward to the day Starfleet found a suitable replacement.
Anyhow, after looking over the reports, they seem to become repetitious. Romulan ships would appear out of nowhere, attack either a ship, outpost or planet, then disappear before reinforcements arrived. It was one of those raids, a massive one, that led to the loss of the Quattlebaum. The reports had become so repetitious that he needed a break. So, he sat with his guitar, which he found relaxing. But he was unable to play anything. He just wasn't inspired at the moment. He placed the guitar to the side and sat back in his chair.
+tap+ "Bridge to Captain Rodgers."
+tap+ "Rodgers here."
+tap+ "Sir, we're receiving a distress signal from the freighter Windsor Peace. They say they are under attack."
+tap+ "Who's the nearest ship?"
+tap+ "We are. We're six minutes out."
+tap+ "Lay in a course at maximum warp. I'm on my way."
'Here we go again,' Trent thought as he stood and quickly walked out to the bridge.
"Sir, the Walker and the Malta have confirmed they have received the distress signal and they are at least 25 minutes away," Lalya Jalann said as she stood from the captain's chair and moved over to the XO seat.
"Understood. So, it's up to us," Trent said. "Any idea what we're dealing with."
"The Windsor says that it's just one D'deridex class warbird," the chief tactical officer replied.
"Well, where there's one warbird, there's usually three or four more," Trent muttered, finally talking a seat.
Just before the Lancelot was to arrive and assist …
"Sir, we've just lost contact with the Windsor."
The Lancelot dropped out of warp, only to be greeted by a debris field.
"Damn it!" Trent slammed his fist on his arm rest. "Any life pods."
"No, sir."
"Sir, we have the Romulan ship on sensors."
"She hasn't cloaked, yet?" the Bajorian XO asked.
"No, sir. There seems to be some damage to her cloaking device. Apparently the Windsor was better armed than most freighters. The warbird, though, has gone to warp."
"Lay in a pursuit course," Trent ordered.
"Aye, sir."
"Inform the Walker and Malta to also intercept."
"Aye, sir."
After several minutes of chasing the warbird, the Lancelot caught up with the slower vessel.
"Fire at her engines," Trent ordered. "We don't want her to flee into Romulan space."
The Lancelot fired her weapons and both ships dropped out of warp. A battle followed, but the Lancelot was able to get in a few lucky strikes and the warbird exploded. Just as Trent was about to congratulate his bridge crew, all hell broke loose.
"Sir! Three more war birds have decloaked off our starboard side!"
To bring the point home, the Lancelot was hit with a hail of disruptor fire.
"I hate always being right," Trent muttered. "Return fire and get us the hell out of here!"
"Captain, engineering reports that the warp drive has been knocked offline!"
"Tell Mr. Santos to get it back online," Trent said.
"Aye, sir."
"Evasive maneuvers, Mr. Shuite," Trent ordered his chief helm officer. "We need to give Santos time to get that warp drive back up and running."
"Sir, shields down to 44 percent and dropping fast," the chief tactical officer said.
"Throw all reserve power into the shields," Trent said.
The fight continued as the Katana-B class ship tried to fight off the three warbirds the best she could. They managed to even severely damage one of them, but the numbers were too great.
"Engineering has been hit."
"We have hull breaches on decks eight and nine!"
"We've lost shields!
"We're losing impulse drive!"
The Lancelot had been able to perform miracles before, but Trent didn't see one happening now.
"Abandon ship," Trent reluctantly ordered as smoke and sparks and small fires filled the bridge, along with a couple of dead crewmen.
"All hands, abandon ship. All hands, abandon ship," Jalann said over the ship wide comm system.
Trent remained seated as the rest of the bridge crew fled to nearby escape pod.
Jalann turned back and looked at Trent.
"You're not thinking about going down with the ship, are you?" she asked.
Trent allowed a slight grin to cross his face.
"No, commander," the captain said as he pulled himself out of his chair. "I have no intention of going down with my ship."
"Good," was all that she said. "Lets get to your yacht."
"Wait!" Trent said as he walked through the debris on the bridge and disappeared into his ready room. He returned, holding his guitar.
Jalann gave him a puzzled look.
"I lost my favorite guitar when the Archer was destroyed," Trent explained. "I have no intention in losing this one."
The XO shook her head as they departed the bridge.
As the pods shot away from the Lancelot, two more ships appeared on the scene … the Walker and Malta. They opened fire on the warbirds, destroying the severely damaged one and forcing the remaining two to flee. The captain's yacht just cleared the Lancelot when explosions began to rattle the saucer section before whole ship went up in a big bang.
Trent shook his head as he looked out of the window at what remained of his ship.
"Captain," Jalann said. "Captain … captain …"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Captain? Captain?"
Trent was in deep thought when he shook away the fog and looked up. He was no longer in the Lancelot captain's yacht. Instead, he was in a waiting room. A young lieutenant looked down at him.
"Yes, lieutenant," Trent finally replied.
"Sir, the admiral will see you now."
Trent nodded, "Thanks."
Moments later, he entered Leland Jefferson's spacious office and saw the older man standing behind his desk. The admiral quickly walked around to greet Trent.
"Captain, it's good to see you again," Jefferson said, shaking Trent's hand. "How's your family doing?"
"They're doing well."
"How's your new son?"
Sarah gave birth to Gregory a week ago.
"He's doing just fine. Sarah and I, though … well."
"Crying all hours of the night, huh?" Leland smiled.
"No, just most hours of the night."
Leland laughed, offering Trent a seat and a drink.
"Sir, I know you didn't call me in to talk about Sarah and the children," Trent said.
"No, captain, I didn't," Leland handed Trent a drink and returned to his seat behind his desk. "I know you have more time off coming to you with the loss of the Lancelot and everything, but I have an assignment for you."
"I was under the assumption that I was going to resume my old duties as chief of security for the council."
"You know what they say about assuming, captain. Anyhow, Major Han is doing an excellent job running security at the Federation Council. No, captain, I have something else in mind."
"A new ship?"
"No. Not quite. What do you know of the First Special Forces Task Force?"
"A little. The Lancelot worked with some of their ships on joint missions."
"What about their commanding officer, Commodore Shane Guzman?"
"I've met him a few times. He was my brother's CO on the Chimera and is his CO now. He was also at his wedding."
"What do you think of the him?"
"Well, he's my brother, so I …"
"No, captain. What do you think of Guzman?" Leland interrupted.
"He seems to be a good enough officer. My brother always thought so. What's with the questions, admiral?"
"Captain, the First Task Force has been without an executive officer for a few weeks now. Since you have a strong security and tactical background, and with your command experience, I believe you would be the perfect choice to fill that job."
"Sir, with all due respect, I …"
"Captain, I'm not offering you anything. I'm ordering you to Starbase UNITY. We are in the middle of a war, after all."
"I understand, sir," Trent really wanted to say, 'go to hell, admiral', but kept his cool. He still gave the admiral a cold stare.
"Trent, I apologize for being abrupt with you. But I don't have time to hold a job search. You are the only experienced officer I have, and who knows what the hell he's doing that doesn't have a current assignment."
Trent nodded, "Again, sir. I understand. Though, I'm certain my wife will not be as understanding."
"She can join you later if she wants. They have excellent childcare facilities on UNITY and I'm sure a doctor with her experience would be useful there."
"We'll see," Trent said, though he wasn't too fond of the idea of his children leaving the perceived safety of Earth.
"Very good. We will head out first thing in the morning."
"We?"
"I need to get away from Earth for a few days, so I plan on paying UNITY a visit."
"Great," Trent muttered.
"What was that, captain?"
"Nothing sir."
"Very well. If you will excuse me, I need to inform Commodore Guzman that's he getting a new XO."
Trent walked out of Jefferson's office, not a happy man. Even if he would be reunited with Ricky, he didn't want to be pulled away from his wife and kids again.
Captain Trent Rodgers
Former Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Lancelot
And
Rear Admiral Leland Jefferson (npc by Rick)
Deputy Commanding Officer
Joint Defense Command
and other npcs by Rick
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