The Precipice of Forever Captain's log: Supplemental. The Toronto has docked at San Francisco yards in orbit of Earth. After our battle with the USS York, we took major damage. The estimate is that we'll be here for another week at least. We've already been here for 6 weeks. Unfortunately, the warp core took heavy damage during the battle and we limped back home at impulse speed for most of the embarrassing journey. It was rather sad to see us limp into space dock barely able to move. On another note, we will be getting our new Operations Chief and my new XO. Unfortunately due to the war, I will be unable to choose my new officers. I just hope I don't get a guy who has been riding a desk for most of the war. We've been out of commission for the past 10 weeks and I'm anxious to get back and avenge what the Dominion has done to me. Lieutenant Jenkins walked down one of the many halls of the Starship Toronto, wearing only the under portion of the top of her uniform. On her belt, was clipped her lucky phaser. In her right hand was the report and she was ready to kick some enlisted ass. She continued along the dark passage at a brisk rate. The engineers from Earth were still trying to fix the secondary power coupling for decks thirty-eight to one-oh-one. She turned the corner and saw a group of five engineers working on an open panel on the side of the wall. "Hey," Kristina yelled. "Yes, sir." One of the engineers responded with his focus still on the wall. "When will you be done?" Kristina asked in a diplomatic tone. "At least three hours, sir." "Three hours, my ass." Diplomacy flew right out the nearest air lock. "Get this done now, or I'll have you five on report before you can back to your little shit lives at the docks. Banging any sailor that comes past you. YOU GOT ME?" "I got you sir." "I want this done before the end of the hour. If it isn't, god help you all." Kristina yelled and walked back away from the workmen. She got no farther than five meters from them where her COMM badge chirped. "Jenkins here," She said to the air. "Lieutenant," Captain Larson's voice came through, "Our new XO is about to arrive, can you meet him at Air Lock six? I'm kinda busy at the moment." "Aye, sir. What's his name?" "He is Lieutenant Commander Michael O'Leary." "On my way sir." "Thanks, Kris. Larson out." Damn Kristina said under her breath. The Ship was running so smooth without any men on the Command Staff. Since the departure of Commanders Dubins and March, the Starfleet Command Staff of the Toronto was all women. Major Hummel did not count because he was a marine and did not consider himself and member of Starfleet and thus didn't accept that he was supposedly a member of the command staff. Jenkins walked out of the turbolift towards the airlock. The shuttle pod was about to dock with engineers and the new Executive Officer. "Shuttle pod thirty-two, has docked. Welcome about the Toronto." The computer automatically said when the doors slid open. First out where several engineers who walked right past Jenkins her. This surprised her, because she always felt that the Grey under shirt made her upper body look better than it was. Although many would disagree with her, but there were many times where Kristina did not believe that she was attractive. She may be a good officer, and a good pilot, but she was not able to approach a man that she thought was attractive. She could flirt, but was unable to do it when it counted. Commander O'Leary was the last out of the Pod. Kristina walked up to him and saluted. He returned it with a smile. "Welcome aboard the Toronto, sir. I am Lieutenant Kristina Jenkins, the CONN officer, and the third in command." "Thank you for your greeting, Lieutenant. I am looking forward to my tour of duty on this impressive battleship. I just have one question." "What's that sir," Kristina said looking up at her superior officer. "I was wondering. Do the officers aboard this ship even acknowledge the uniform? Because you are not even wearing half of it." "Well, sir. Captain Larson does not believe that the way to have a good crew is to be a hard ass, so when we are in dock she allows us to wear what we want." "Well, I think I'll have to speak to your captain. Now, could you please lead me to the captain?" "This way, sir." Jenkins lead on, Jesus Christ, we got the XO from hell. Act I Lieutenant Jenkins led her new XO along a long hallway which lead to the Captains quarters. Kristina was glad she didn't have to make small talk to this son of a bitch. As they got closer to Captain Larson's quarters Jenkins started feeling better, soon she could be back in her quarters drinking and listening to music. They both stopped at a door that was labeled, "Captain Melissa Larson UFP, CO-USS Toronto". Jenkins rung the bell and waited for it to open. Once the doors slid up she walked in with Commander Hard Ass on her tail. "Captain Larson, may I present Lieutenant Commander Michael O'Leary." Melissa was sitting behind her desk reading some reports. Her room was a bit darker than usual, Kris noted. "Thank you Kris. That's all." Jenkins turned and left. "Have a seat Commander," Melissa said taking a sip from her coffee. "Thank you sir." Michael said as he took his seat. "I've been reviewing your record. Last posting as XO on USS Ra, before you were the XO on the Lancelot." O'Leary just nodded. "Welcome aboard Mr. O'Leary. Now, what do you like to do for fun?" "Excuse me sir?" "What, do you paint, write, draw, ride horses. Catch my drift?" "Oh, I see," he laughed, "well sir, I like a bunch of things, but my favorite would have to be fishing, sir." "Fishing, not exactly my favorite sport, but hey, to each her own, eh?" "Yes, sir." O'Leary shifted in his seat. "Do you have any questions, Commander?" Melissa said looking at him while taking another sip of her coffee. "Yes sir." "And?" "I was wondering why you allow you senior officers to disregard the uniform, if this were my ship I would want all my officers in full uniform." "Exactly, commander. If this were YOUR ship you might, but it isn't your ship. It's my ship." "Yes, sir." "If that's all, report to Engineering for your first shift in 3 hours." "Engineering, sir?" "Yes, the bridge is being reconstructed at the moment. I can't even get into my fucking office." "Aye, sir." "Dismissed commander." Michael O'Leary stood up and walked out, Melissa got back to her work and thought, Jesus, Starfleet has given me Mr. Rogers here. * * * Captain's Log. Supplemental. I get my bloody bridge back today. * * * The command staff walked out of the turbolift doors and on to their new command center. It was nearly the same except along the sides of the command platform was a trench about a meter and half deep. Down there was where the communications center was going to be for the marines. Apart from this, the bridge was the same. Sitting in Captain Larson's Command chair was Lieutenant Susan Harkness, the sister-in-law to the Late Admiral Harkness. "Captain," she called from the center seat. "Lieutenant. I'm assuming the bridge is mine again?" "Yes, sir." "Thank you," Larson replied walking towards her ready room. The rest of the command staff walked to their various positions to do a check. "Lieutenant Harkness, would you come with me?" Larson said as she left the bridge. Susan was right on her heels. They entered the ready room and Melissa sat behind her desk and motioned to Susan to take a seat. "What can I do for you, captain." "Melissa," she corrected, "well, I haven't had a chance to return most of Charles's stuff. So I thought I'd give it to you, to give to Mike." "Thank you Melissa." A pause, "Both Michael and I appreciated the letter you sent after Charles died." "Yes, well, I thought it was the least I could do." Melissa said uncomfortably. "Well, I have a lot of work to do, and I'm assuming you have as well." Melissa turned her chair around 180 degrees and punched in a code on a little LCARS panel. A small door slid open, behind it was a single box. Melissa took it out and placed it on the desk. "This is most of Charles stuff. If its no problem with you or Michael, I'd like to keep two things. This small Canadian flag, " Melissa pointed to it on the desk, "and the hockey jersey." "Its no problem. From what Charles said about you to Michael and I while he was last home, he thought of you as a good friend, I think he would want you to have something." "Yes, thank you. You don't know what it means to me." Melissa said standing up. "Well, it was nice seeing you again Susan." "Likewise, Melissa." The shook hands and parted company. Melissa settled back into her chair and turned on her monitor. "Computer: Display biography of O'Leary, Lieutenant Command Michael." The computer monitor chirped as the file was loaded. Melissa got up and walked over to the replicator and ordered a cup of tea, with honey she got back to her desk and continued to scroll. "Jesus, this guy has never been in battle." She said leaning back in horror. * * * "Commander O'Leary," Lieutenant Jenkins called from Ops, "Go ahead, Lieutenant," O'Leary said with out looking up from his panel. "Sir, we just lost power to decks one-forty-three and one-forty-seven." Jenkins reported, knowing what to do, but she wanted to see how the newbie would react. "Why are you telling me, Lieutenant? Tell the CE." "But sir, you have to direct them what to do." "Tell them to fix it now." "Aye, Commander asshole" she muttered the åasshole' bit under her breath. Jenkins continued to work at her console, while keeping a single eye on her new illustrious executive officer. "Damn," he yelled. "What is it sir?" A Yeoman asked while working on the marine console. "How do you reroute power?" "From where, sir?" "I need power for the internal force fields." Jenkins over heard this and ran to the command platform. "What are you doing?" She asked in a condescending tone. "You heard me. Lieutenant." O'Leary said looking up at her. "Well, Sir, if you were up to date in ship systems you would know that we have the internal force fields offline." "Yeah, well. I'm going to change that. What if we are boarded?" "We're in bloody space dock. As of right now, the fucking Jem'Hadar could take the ship for all I care. We are crippled, it will take a god damned miracle for us to even fire a single phaser." O'Leary looked up to Jenkins and glared at her. "Watch your language, Lieutenant. Might I remind you that you are a Starfleet officer and not a Kilingon. With language like that I find it amazing that you've been commissioned." Jenkins was pissed now. "Excuse me, Mr. O'Leary, you know SHIT about this ship and this crew. I've read your bio; you've spent the war working on new ships. You haven't seen battle in over five years and even then it was a goddamned Packled ship. I don't know whose cock you've been sucking to get this posting, but you better damn well, remember that this is a ship of war. Designed to kill. The crew is trained to react in a crisis situation, and if you don't understand that, I suggest you ask for reassignment. Now, if you would excuse me, I have to get back to work on making sure the Life Support system doesn't fail on the lower decks again, SIR." Jenkins put a lot of emphasis on the åsir'. O'Leary just sat there, surprised that a young Senior Lieutenant, who if there weren't a war, would still be an Ensign, had just dressed him down. * * * Lieutenant Commander Robin Lefler walked into her office adjoining main engineering. The office was kinda bright, but that's how Robin liked it. It was a regular size office à a bit smaller than the Ready Room à but she loved it. It had everything she wanted: A desk, a big monitor, its own head, and a display of everything on the ship, which was her favorite. She could see what was happening with all the systems. Right now, decks ninety-three through one-fifteen were all coloured black. They were still trying to restore power there. Fortunately, the only things on those decks were the storage compartments, all empty. Usually they held spare parts for the Halifax gun ship, food rations, nothing too valuable. But what Robin liked the most was that the board showed what was happening, that if someone was hitting the head, it showed up here as a green line from the particular head. Of if someone were using his or her replicator the little purple dot would appear on his or her quarters. She loved being able to see what was going on. Robin settled into her chair and rolled up to her desk. She turned on her computer console and checked her e-mail. Nothing of interest, just a report from the Chief Engineer at the San Francisco yards telling her that the new crystals would be delivered in three days. Which was three days later than they said they would be in. But it didn't matter. The Ship wasn't going to be going at warp speed for at least another week. She leaned back and closed her eyes. It was about 15:15, her shift was nearly over. "Computer: Lights dim forty-five percent." She ordered. She started to doze off when a sound from console awoke her. An email from a friend on the space station. She opened it and read the contents. Hey Robin. It was a great party last night. I just woke up, hung over like hell. Well, I was doing a search for the News Service on how soldiers passed the time back in the late twenty, yeah well; I attached a folder of stuff they used. I enjoyed it, I hope you do. Robin opened the attachment and looked at the strange title. She tried to figure what it was when the computer made the same sound. Robin opened the email again. Robin, its me again. Those attachments are videos, I suggest you watch them with some friends. CYA, Louise. Act II Doctor Michelle England stood over her patient scanning him with the tricorder. The young ensign had burned him self while trying to weld in a new bulkhead. "So, Doc, how is it?" He asked looking up at Michelle from his bio-bed. Today was unusually busy, so this young officer was lucky to get the CMO as his physician. Michelle had just come back to active duty after having Melissa, it had only been 10 weeks, but Michelle needed to get out of her quarters for at least a few hours a day. Michelle looked down at him and ran a dermal regenerator over the burn to his hand and arm, "Its not too bad, barely even second degree burns. You'll be back at work within the hour, or if you want, I can get you two days off." Michelle smiled. "Umm, lets see, two days off or twelve hours of fixing bulkheads? Tough decision. I think I'll take the days off." He said with a smile. Michelle laughed, "good choice, I'll do the paper work before you leave," she looked up to the male nurse, "will you finish this Jason?" He walked over and took it from her hands. Michelle walked away from the bed and towards his office. All of the thirty-eight bio beds were filled in Sickbay One, Michelle looked at the status of the other two and it was similar in each one. Most minor injuries, only two surgeries were planned for today, and they were simple. Michelle was glad she allowed Starfleet Medical School to send up their best students for some on sight learning. She only wished when she went through Med. School that she was able to get a few hours on a ship, to supplement her Clerkship at Mercy General in San Francisco. She entered her office, about the same size the Main Engineers office, sorta the same lay out except she didn't have the power distribution map. Instead she had a layout of the ship, which showed the quickest way to a medical emergency. She sat down behind her desk and pulled out a PADD, and brought up the proper forms for a Two Day R&R session for Ensign J'Kall. She dictated some brilliant bullshit about the stress of the injury and that he needed at least two days for a full recovery. Once she was finished she put her thumbprint on and leaned back in her chair. She would pass this on to the nurse when he came to get Michelle to sign the chart for J'Kall. "Lefler to Doctor England." Robin's voice filtered in through Michelle's COMM badge. Michelle sighed as she hit it, "yeah, England here." "Michelle, I got this video in from a friend. Its from the Twenty Century, she said it was good. You want to come over tonight and watch it with me and Kris; I'm going to ask Melissa after you? I bet you could do with a few hours out of the house?" Michelle smiled as she leaned back. "Yeah sure. What time?" "1700." "I'll be there." "Thanks, Lefler out." Michelle leaned back into her seat and smiled. She sat there inert for a few minutes till she remembered something, "Oh, shit, almost forgot." She yelled. * * * Commander Michael O'Leary sat at his post, still trying to figure out the tutorial for the XO position on this ship. He didn't want to look any worse than he already did. On the LCARS display unit a little animated dog jumped around to the different buttons, in O'Leary's ear piece - New standard issue for the CO, XO, MCO (Marine Commanding Officer), and all communications officers in "the Pit" as the bridge crew started to call it. à The little animated dog spoke and gave a brief summary of what the different buttons did. O'Leary figured that this was for cadets if they ever served aboard this ship, he felt silly using it, but kept it to himself. "Now this button here called the åhail button' is used to hail other ships. The captain at times will want to speak to other ships, and it might be your responsibility, but it is up to the captain whether or not she wants you to send the message, but just in case, you should know how to do it!" The character on the screen jumped to another button and began with it summary as O'Leary's COMM badge beckoned him. "Commander O'Leary, this is Doctor Michelle England, CMO, you are hereby ordered to Sickbay for your medical exam. I will except you here in the next 20 minutes, commander." Michelle closed the link. Commander O'Leary stood up and pulled his uniform into its proper position. "Lieutenant Jenkins, you have the bridge." He ordered as he walked towards the turbolift to her left. Kristina didn't even bother ask where he was going, to be honest, she could care less. She was just happy that he was off the bridge. Jenkins walked over to the XO position to see if what he was doing before he left, a smile went across her face to see the animated dog jump around the screen, she always liked seeing scruffy, it had been about a year since she designed him for the ship. Originally she did it for a time killer but once she finished she uploaded it into the computer. This was the first time that anyone had actually used it. She looked at the bridge, from the position and resisted the urge to laugh out loud, but she needed to tell someone. "Ensign Slorvak," one of the many Vulcan's on board. He was actually the most junior one, "you have the bridge, I'll be with the captain." "Aye, sir." He responded in an emotionless Vulcan tone. * * * "Come." Melissa called, leaning back in her chair with her feet on the desk, music in the background blaring away. Kristina walked in and sat down across the desk from Melissa. "Computer: music off." Melissa ordered pulling her feet off the desk. "Was that Nine Inch Nails?" Kris asked. "Yeah, Downward Spiral album. Haven't listened to it in a while." Melissa stood up and walked to the replicator. "You want anything?" "A coke." Melissa placed the order, "Melissa, have you had the opportunity to work with our new XO?" Kris asked as Melissa came back with a tall glass with a dark, bubbly liquid and a coffee à double cream double sugar, as usual -. "No, not really. I've been in here for the past little while. Why you have a problem with him?" Kris took a sip, "Well, ya. The guy has no idea what he's doing. Remember that tutorial I made last year." Melissa nodded as she took a sip of her coffee. "What about it?" "Hey was using it today." Melissa laughed, "your kidding. I thought that was a joke program." "It was!" They both laughed. After a few seconds of laughter, Kristina looked back at Melissa and lost the smile. "Melissa, you've known me for nearly two years now. Have you ever known me to scared of another crew member?" Melissa lost her smile as well. "He's that bad?" Kris nodded. "Well. Take him to the holodeck; see what you can find out about his ability to handle a crisis. It's on my authority, so you can take anyone on the starbase." Kris finished the drink and stood up, "thanks for the drink. I'll take him over as soon as he's done his medical with Michelle." She turned to leave, "Oh, you going tonight?" Melissa looked up, "Oh but of course. Its not often we get to see videos from the 1990's." She smiled. "See ya then." Act III "Take a deep breath." Michelle ordered O'Leary. He inhaled and held it for a second while the instruments recorded his lungs. "Exhale," Michelle ordered as she walked away typing into her PADD. She walked over to the wall and started fumbling around with bunch of instruments; Michael just sat there wondering what she was doing. "Fuck, where are they?" He could hear Michelle cursing. She finally turned around with two specimen containers. She walked up to the bio bed. Michael just looked at the two containers. He could figure out what one of them was for, but not the other. "Here take these." Michelle handed them over. "Hey, I haven't had anything to drink today, I don't think I'll be able to fill the whole container, and I let alone the second." Michelle just looked back at him, inside she was cracking up, but on the exterior, she was cold as ice. "You only need to use one for urine, the other is for sperm." "Sperm?" He balked. "Yes, Sperm. Your old ship didn't send your full medical report, so I need everything." "How, what?" "Its simple, Mister O'Leary. It goes like this. You go into that little room over there," Michelle pointed off to the right beside the medical cart, "where you sit down. You have a fantasy, followed by an erection, which is then followed by masturbation, and then it ends with ejaculation into this cup. Do I need to draw a diagram?" He just looked at her and got up. Once he entered the room, Michelle cracked up laughing. Kris had already bitched to her about the new guy and this was Michelle being a good friend. Doctor England walked back into her office and sat down with a cup of tea with honey à as usual à and signed some charts. She didn't hear Kris walk in through door. "Hey Michelle, where's our illustrious first officer?" She asked sarcastically. "Oh, he's just jerking into a cup, he'll be out in 10 minutes, maybe." Kris smiled at this and walked to the replicator. "Large Iced Moccachino, no whipped cream." She walked over to the desk and sat down across from Michelle who was reading a status report from her head nurse. "How's Melissa," Kris asked taking a sip of he chocolate coffee. "She's doing good. But it's nice to get out of my quarters every once in a while. But she's doing great." Kris smiled, "I'm not sure if I could have a kid. But the way my love life is going, I don't think I have to worry too much about that, eh?" Michelle looked up from her report, "how long has it been since your last date?" She asked with a concerned voice. "I'm not sure, a while. But I get by. You gotta love those holonovels." Kris smiled. Michelle sat there thinking but was interrupted by someone yelling "Oh Shit," from the main triage area. Both Kris and Michelle stood up and to see what was going on. When they got into the triage area, they saw Lieutenant Commander O'Leary lying on the floor. Both specimen containers on the floor, but only one full à the urine -; O'Leary just laid their inert cursing him self. Lucky for him, the Sperm was only on the floor and not him. "Help him up," Michelle ordered. Michael just looked at her; "I don't have to do that again, do I?" Kristina broke out laughing and quickly made her way back into Michelle's office, Michelle just looked at him, biting her tongue. "No, your med. Record just came in two minutes ago." O'Leary just looked at her, he was pissed, but he wasn't going to do anything about it. * * * Kristina stood there facing her soon to be opponent, Michael O'Leary. She stood there studying him from head to toe and pitied him in their battle. She explained the rules; this was going to be a battle simulation exam. The first part would take place on the bridge of a Toronto class vessel. He had full command over a holographic crew, and Kris would rate his performance. The second part was going to be Kris fighting him; she would be on a different holodeck commanding another Toronto class. It would be easy for Kris, she'd commanded the Toronto in battle, and he hadn't. "Tell me again, why you're doing this?" He asked from the other side of the turbolift. "Because it says in your record that you haven't been in combat for five years, and the captain is concerned because then you only fought in a Excelsior class ship." Jenkins said in a patronizing tone. He looked at her for a second, "What does it matter? A ship is a ship." Jenkins bit her tongue to stop herself from laughing. "You're kidding right? The Toronto is over two thousand meters long. You know, two fucking kilometers. She weighs about fifty million metric tonnes. She is one big ass of a ship. Fifteen rapid-fire quantum torpedo launchers. All of which can fire ten in a single burst. We can fire four hundred and fifty torpedoes a minute. Plus there are around twenty phaser cannons; there are phaser strips all over the ship. The six main ones on the saucer are as powerful as a Galaxy ship. Each one of them. So in one phaser blast, we can hit a Dominion ship with as much firepower as a fleet of Galaxy class. So don't you ever think that the Toronto is just like another ship." Kristina stopped and turned away from him. This was the second time in the last two hours that she had made him feel like a first year cadet again, she loved it. The turbolift finally came to a stop, "level thirty-eight. Section Grey-alpha." The computer reported as the doors slid open. The two officers walked along the passage towards the holodeck deep beneath the surface of the Earth. They were about five kilometers underneath the city of Toronto. This was the less known part of the Starfleet's base of operations in Toronto, Canada. Not many knew that the base extended underground fifteen kilometers. Here, officers tested their wits on the training simulators. The last time Kris was down here was just before her posting to the Toronto. She had just finished the Command Course and was doing her final exam on the bridge of a Defiant class simulation. Her task was to command a fleet of thirty ship of the same class. She had graduated first out of a class of over eighty. Many cadets tried every year to get in, but the Command division of the Academy took only two hundred and forty seven. The average number of cadets passing was only forty-one. This had been a good year, only sixty-four of the cadets washed out. They reached the doors to the simulator marked "Toronto alpha One." There were three simulators devoted to the Toronto. The doors parted and they entered. The bridge was exactly the same as the Toronto in orbit. Kristina took out a PADD and typed for a couple seconds and looked up at O'Leary who was looking around the bridge. "So, what's the test?" He asked sarcastically. "This is to test your command abilities, and see how you use the Toronto. If you fail, it doesn't much. You'll just get more training onboard. So, if you'll take the center seat, I'll begin the game." Jenkins ordered. She walked to the back of the bridge and leaned up against the back panel. "Computer: Load holographic crewmembers." Within a second the bridge jumped to life. About thirty fictional officers and enlisted men and women appeared, in a static position. "The simulation will begin once you engage impulse speed. Computer: Bring simulation out of pause mode, now." Kris ordered. The bridge jumped to life. "Where do you want to go, Captain?" The young CONN officer asked from the middle of the bridge. "Your choice, ensign." She plotted a course into the computer and hit the engage button. The holographic representation of the ship shuddered as it went into warp. A few seconds after they left normal space, the ops position started to beep. "Captain," The ops officer called, "I'm picking up a distress signal. It's from a Civilian transport ship." O'Leary looked over, "What's the nature of their distress?" "They say that they are under attack from a Romulian War bird." "Helm, plot an intercept course, maximum warp. Don't answer them. Weapons. Ready the torpedo bays and charge are phaser emitters. Engage helm." O'Leary ordered. Jenkins just stood at the back and smiled to her self. "Lamb to the slaughter", she thought to herself. The Holographic XO character's position started beeping, "Sir," he said from O'Leary right, "I've lost the signal." "ETA?" "Twenty-one seconds." "Shields up, RED ALERT," he ordered as he stood up from the Command Chair. "On screen." The screen jumped into place and showed an extremely damaged civilian vessel, lying dead in space. There were small glows along its hull from plasma fires. They were too late to help the crew of the ship, but since it was only a simulation, it didn't matter too much. "Where's the Romulian's?" O'Leary asked himself. As soon as the words came out of his house the massive green ship decloaked on screen. "Hail them," he ordered. Jenkins noticed the stress in his voice raise. "They're charging phasers," the XO called. "Lock phaser and quantum torpedoes on target. Inform them that we will fire." "Aye, Sir." A few seconds passed still no response from them. "POWER SPIKE, THEY'RE FIRING!" The Ops officer called. "Return fire, full phasers and quantum torpedoes. Evasive maneuvers." The holographic ship shook beneath him as the simulated phasers hit its shields. The screen showed the green vessel's shields absorb the first barrage of phasers, but a hole was punched in it as the torpedoes hit. Within three seconds, the Romulian's were destroyed. "Damage report." O'Leary ordered. "Minimal damage." The XO responded "Drop shields and transport any survivors from the cargo ship." "Aye, sir," the ops officer replied. O'Leary rested sat back in his seat, confident that he had just beaten the simulation. He closed his eyes for a second and rested his head. "SIR," The ops officer yelled but it was too late. All around Michael consoles exploded, the screams of the holographic crew pierced his soul, and with in a second it was all gone. He turned to look at Jenkins who was leaning up against the wall. "What happened?" He asked in shock. "You just had your ship blow up under your ass." Jenkins said with a smile. "But how?" "Simple, you let your guard down." "But I destroyed theS" "You destroyed one, in this simulation, there were fourteen warbirds." "So how was I supposed to beat it?" "Simple, the Toronto is a carrier, you should have launched a couple squadrons of fighters. They could have diverted the attention of the Romulian's while you sent out an APC." O'Leary was still in shock, "um, I guess?" "Its okay O'Leary, about forty percent of the officers who take this test fail." "Did you?" "No." Kris said sharply. "Computer: Time" "The time is 16:45." The cold computer replied. "I gotta go, Commander. Same time tomorrow." Jenkins turned and left the holodeck. Act IV Michelle England sipped her Vodka and Orange Juice as she leaned back in to Robin's couch. Her quarters were about half the size of the captains stateroom, and about the same size as the other senior officers quarters. It was more than enough room for the four girls and their enjoyment of the movie that Robin's friend had found. Melissa was sitting on a chair facing the one-point-five meter screen; she was in civilian clothing, blue jeans and a green tee shirt. Lefler was over at the replicator getting another round for the girls. There had already gone through three screwdrivers all ready, and were well on the way to have a tipsy walk back to their respective quarters. The only person who was missing right now was Kris, but it was not quite 1700 yet. "Michelle," Lefler asked from the replicator, "You want another screwdriver, or something stronger?" "Bring, on a screwdriver!" Michelle yelled, already slurring her speech. As Lefler walked back with the drinks, the doorbell chimed, "Come," she ordered as she sat down beside Michelle who quickly inhaled the drink. Kris walked in she had just enough time to change after she had humiliated Commander O'Leary. As soon as she walked in, she headed straight for the replicator and got a Rye and Coke. Once she had her drink she sat down on the couch in between Michelle and Robin. "So what is this movie?" She asked as she took a sip of the drink. "I think its called åGood Will Humping', but I'm not sure." Answered Robin, "Computer: Play movie in åLouise File Alpha' Skip opening credits." "Acknowledged," The cold female voice of the computer stated. All four of the girls watched the screen intently; the sound from the screen was of a cheap guitar and a lot of moaning. "My god, I could never get my legs that high," Kris yelled, "I don't think I've ever been that limber." Melissa, Michelle and Robin laughed at that comment. "I know what you mean. Ack! I don't think I'd ever want it up that particular orifice." Melissa screamed with laughter. Michelle kicked back another screwdriver. "Done that," she said without looking up at the screen. "My God, I want a boy friend," Robin said as she watched the screen. "How long has it been?" Melissa asked, without taking her eyes off the action. "Too long," Robin mumbled back. "I've got you all beat," Kris laughed. "Yeah right, Kris, you're the youngest one here, your probably doing this stuff every night." Robin replied. Kris laughed, "Yeah, I wish. Last time I had sex was about two years ago." The three other girls turned towards her in horror. "Two years?" They said in unison. "How the hell do you survive?" "Holonovels!" Kris laughed. "And I thought I was bad, it's only been three months for me," Melissa added. The initial shock from Kris's confession had worn off and Robin was back to watching the screen. "Three months, Melissa. I got you beat, nine months." "The last time I had sex was about eleven months ago." Michelle added. "That's because you were pregnant. I don't think I could do anything pleasurable if I had a fucking basketball in my womb." Robin joked. Michelle got another drink and watched the screen intently. "Well, I couldn't, anyway. The last man I was with was Charles." "True." Kris said, taking another sip of her rye and coke. "Oh my god!" Melissa yelled, "She has to be faking. No one is that good, at least no one I know!" * * * Melissa stumbled along the hallway towards her quarters, the last time she checked, it was just past 0445, they'd had been at it for most of the night. The hallway around her kept on moving back and forth, so she had a tough time staying in the center. Lucky for the captain, the hallways were usually empty at this time during the night. All repairs had been done and only a few other people walked along this section à most in the same state as their illustrious captain. Melissa walked around the final corner on the route to her home. She was less than fifteen meters away from her bed. When she came into eyesight of her door, she noticed that an officer around the same age as her new XO was leaning against the wall. She was about five foot nine, maybe one hundred thirty pounds. Melissa just eyed her down as she tried to remain in an upright position. As she closed in on the mysterious officer, Melissa stumbled and had to grab the wall. "Oh, shit." She cursed as her hand clutched on to the bulkhead. At that moment the officer noticed her new CO and stood to attention. Melissa pulled her self off the wall the wall and continued towards her door, she paid no attention to the officer right behind her. She finally reached the door and hit the Panel to the side, and the door opened. She stumbled through and fell on to the couch. The officer outside whom was a bit curious craned her neck to see in, but remained at attention. After a few minutes of standing there she decided to speak up. "Captain, Lieutenant Jessica Lee, reporting for duty." Melissa rolled over on the couch, "Sssh!" She called out. "Sir, are you okay?" Jessica replied. "Huh?" Melissa slurred. "Can I come in?" Melissa just sighed and put her face into the couch cushion, Jessica took this as a yes and walked in. "Captain?" She called. "What, what it is?" Melissa slurred out, without looking up. "I am your new Operations Officer." "Good for you." Jessica took a step back at this, she realised that the captain was drunk but she didn't expect Melissa to be a bitch. "Well, I just got on and was reporting to you." "Who are you?" Melissa finally pulled her self to an upright position on the couch. "I am your new operations officer." Jessica said walking towards the couch. The only light coming into the room was the reflection off the Earth, which gave only enough light to figure out where the walls were. As Jessica advanced she walked into the coffee table, "damn," she cursed under breath. "Computer lights on." The computer replied with a hum as the artificial lighting came on. "Ah, lights off, lights off." Melissa yelled. "Dim to fifteen percent." Lieutenant Lee ordered. "Coffee," Melissa muttered. "What?" "Coffee," The drunken captain pointed to the replicator. "Cream and sugar." Jessica walked over and fulfilled her new captain's request. "Thanks, now who are you?" "I am your new operations officer." "No, WHO, your name!" Melissa barked. "Oh, Lieutenant Jessica Lee." "You don't look Chinese?" Melissa slurred. "Because I'm not. I'm actually from Ottawa, Canada." "Oh. What time is it?" "Just past 0500." "Then what the hell are you doing here?" Melissa asked. "I wanted to report to you." "How nice. Not many offffficers do that anymore. They all go to bed." Melissa still feeling the affects of the whisky continued. "You done good by coming here. Now let me tell you, personally, I haven't been laid in four months!" Jessica didn't quite know how to respond to this. "Well, I'm sorry captain, I'm not a lesbian." Larson broke up laughing at this; "I don't want to be laid by you. I'm straight. I just wanted to tell you." "Umm, thank you captain." "Its no problem. When was the last time you were laid?" "Huh? What?" "Laid, you know, had sex, been fucked. Had a cock in ya? Cummed?" "Last night, if that is your business, Captain. And I don't see how it is." "Its okay. I won't tell. You lucky bitch. You had sex. You want to met my sex partner." Melissa lifted her right hand, "Say, hello hand!" Jessica had to bite her lip from laugh aloud, she knew where the captain was coming from, but didn't know why she was being told this. "That's nice captain." "I know, but it's no cock!" "I know." "Oh, yeah, what did you want Lieutenant?" "Just wanted to report to you, but now I'm having the feeling that you won't remember this tomorrow morning." "You're probably right, but thanks for coming anyway." "I just wanted to do it captain, shall I come back tomorrow, around 0800?" "Yeah sure. Good night Lieutenant, you lucky bitch. Dismissed." Jessica turned and walked out the door, once she was clear she started laughing, "My God, I heard she was one of the best captains, but what the fuck was that?" She muttered to her self as she walked towards the turbolift. * * * "The time is now 0745, this is your wake up call, Captain." The cold female voice of the computer chirped at Larson. Melissa just laid there in fetal position, inert, not paying the slightest attention to her wake up call. Another fifteen minutes passes, and Melissa was still asleep on her couch. Hadn't moved a millimeter after she got home last night. She remained in the same position she passed out in. She finally came to after a few more minutes of sleep. Just in time to hear Lieutenant Lee ring her doorbell - for the fifth time. "What!" Melissa yelled while trying to get up from the couch. Her head felt like a phaser had just hit it. Lieutenant Lee walked in. "Oh shit!" Melissa blurted out. Jessica walked in a stood at attention. "I'm assuming you remember last night, Captain?" Jessica asked. "Be quiet!" "Aye, sir." Jessica said, surprising her laughter. "At ease." Melissa said trying to focus her attention at the brown hair women before her, she could feel her stomach going around in circles, at about the same speed as the room around her. "Welcome aboard the Toronto, Lieutenant. I hope you enjoy it, blah, blah. Consider yourself a member of the crew. Dismissed. Oh, please forget last night. Oh yeah, your first bridge shift is at 1000. See you there." Act V. Melissa sat behind her desk looking over the recent fleet deployments Starfleet Intelligence sent her. This was the one thing she hated about being a Captain, too much reading. Her head was still hurting a bit but that would soon go away thanks to magic pills she got from the pharmacy on her way to the bridge this morning. As she sat there sipping her coffee and reading which ships were destroyed or presumed destroyed from the night before she wondered if the Toronto would appear on this list any time soon. Out of the Toronto class ships built, Toronto had faired the best. The USS York had been destroyed two months prior. Eight JemåHadar fighters, three Jem'Hadar, battle cruisers and ten Cardassian Galore class destroyers had ambushed the USS Arthur Currie. She managed to destroy about three-quarters of the dominion fleet, but one of her warp cores breached taking five thousand and thirty seven officers and enlisted men with her. She put the PADD down and took another sip of her coffee. "Engineering to Captain," Commander Lefler's voice filtered in through the COMM system. "Larson here, go ahead Commander." Melissa replied while taking another sip. "Captain, we have just installed the primary warp core. Secondary should be in by this time tomorrow." "Very well, Commander. I'll inform Starfleet Command. Larson out." Melissa stood up and left her ready room. "Lieutenant Lee, open a channel to Starfleet command." She ordered as she sat down in the command chair. "Aye, sir." Jessica hit a few buttons on her control, "channel open." The screen changed to the insignia of Starfleet. "This is Starfleet command. How may I direct your call." "This is Captain Melissa Larson. Commanding Officer USS Toronto. Pass code åLarson-Alpha-two-seven-zero-eight-pi'. Get me Admiral Paris." "Please stand by." The automated voice replied. After a few seconds of staring at the screen, Melissa began to become impatient. Finally the screen changed to a man in his late fifties. "Captain Larson. What can I do for you?" "Admiral. Just reporting that the Toronto's warp cores will be ready by this time tomorrow." "Thank you for the update Toronto. I'll keep that in mind for the scheduling for Thursday." "Thank you, sir." "Very well. Paris out." The screen went back to Earth beneath the huge ship. Melissa sighed again. She wanted to be back in combat, destroying the enemy. She hit the COMM button on her left-hand computer console. "Engineering, Bridge." "Engineering here, bridge." Lefler responded. "Commander, is there any chance you can have the second warp core in by the end of the day?" "Yeah, if I call in everyone in. I can." "Do it. Bridge out." * * * Captains Log: Supplemental. The repairs to the Toronto are now complete. We are just waiting for the Admirals to get off their fat asses and assign us some combat. * * * "Yo, Josh." Lieutenant Murray called as he walked through the Marine Barracks on the Toronto. "Hey, Clint, what's up?" The big man of over six feet replied. He was still in his flight jacket. He had just landed his Halifax fighter fifteen minutes prior. "Nothing much, I was thinking of hitting Sky Dome and get a couple drinks." "'Kay, when you leaving?" "After I shower and throw this shit onto my bunk. Say twenty minutes?" "I'll meet you here. Cya." * * * Lieutenant's Clint Brenner and Josh Murray walked in through the doors of Sky Dome, the bar of the USS Toronto. They were in their camouflaged marine uniforms, with a phaser clipped to one side of the belt and a handgun in a holster on the other. The walked, they're big black boots hitting the deck hard. They found a table and went to sit down at it. They were no less than two meters away from it when two Starfleet Ensigns sat down. They both stopped in their tracks and looked at each other with shock. Josh quickly started towards the two, male ensigns in their blue uniforms. He walked up behind one of them and crossed his arms. The second one turned looked up at him. "What can I do for you, sir?" He asked in a normal. "First of all, you cal give me your seat. Second you can buy my friend an I a round, to show that your sorry for taking our table." "Wait a minute, your table? I didn't see you piss on it. Isn't that the standard way for dogs to mark their territory?" The second ensign responded. The first who was right under Josh just smiled and took a sip of his drink. "Oh, we have a joker in our midst." Josh said to back to Clint, "how's this for a joke, fun boy?" Josh said as he took out his gun and cocked it. Commander Lefler who was sitting at the bar having a drink with Kristina looked over at this moment and saw the gun being pointed at the young ensign. "Kris, look over there." Kris looked over and dropped her drink. They both ran over to the table. "Hey, drop that weapon, Lieutenant." Lefler yelled. "Stay out of this Starfleet." Josh replied shoving the gun into the second ensign's face. By this moment a few other people started to notice what was happening and started to come over. "Lieutenant, I just gave you a direct order. If you'll notice, I am a Lieutenant Commander, which is the same as Major. Now when I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it." "Look, I don't want to shoot you as well, Starfleet but this asswipe stole my seat." Kris drew her phaser and pointed at Josh, "its not worth it Lieutenant." Josh looked over at Jenkins and saw that she had her finger right on the trigger. "I guess you're right, sir." He turned toward them and put the safety on his gun. As he turned, he jumped towards Lefler, but before he could hit, Kris fired her phaser, stunning him instantly. Clint saw that his comrade was just shot by a Starfleet pig attacked Kris as she stood there looking over him. He slapped her across the face. "You bitch, you killed my wingman." As they hit the ground several other marines joined in the fight, attacking Starfleet officers. It turned into one big brawl. Lefler hit one marine officer in the gut and as he was doubled over she kneed him in the face, breaking his nose and knocking him unconscious. She pulled away from the fight, as she watched, she saw a marine NCO throw a Starfleet Officer over his shoulders on to one of the glass tables, shattering it. "Lefler to security. Brawl in Sky Dome, red alert." As soon as she finished saying that a chair was thrown at her, and narrowly missed. She pulled out her phaser and fired at the marine that threw the chair at her. He fell to ground in slump after being stunned. "Fuck it," she put the phaser on wide beam and fired at everyone in the room. Within a second most of the fighters were stunned on the ground. The rest had stopped fighting and were looking at Lefler who had a phaser pointed at them. "Oh the ground, NOW!" She ordered. "Hands behind your head, lock your fingers together." They complied. A couple seconds after she said this; security came running through the doors both Starfleet and Marine MP's. All armed to the teeth. "Escort all marine personnel to the barracks, I'm sure Major Hummel will want to speak to them. And have all Starfleet line up against the bar." Lefler ordered while wiping some sweat from her forehead. The Marine MP's moved all thirteen marines out of the room, while the Starfleet security officers picked the Starfleet officers and enlisted and threw them against the bar. "Lieutenant Jenkins and I will be back in a few minutes after we decide what to do with the lot of you." Lefler led Jenkins into the hall, and leaned against the wall once the door was closed. "What the hell are we going to do with them?" She asked. "I have no idea. This would be what the XO is supposed to do, but O'Leary is a complete idiot." Jenkins replied. "Well, you better know Kris, remember you are the second officer." "Thanks for reminding me." She smiled, "okay, how's this. For the next forty-eight hours, they are confined to quarters when they are off duty?" "Sounds good." "Okay, lets go." They walked back in threw the doors. "Attention!" A security officer yelled as they came to the middle of the room. "Lieutenant Commander Lefler and I have decided not to press charges on any of you. But your fight does have a repercussion. For the next forty-eight hours, when you are off duty, all of you are confined to your quarters. That's it, dismissed!" Act VI Captain Larson walked through the halls of Starfleet command; by her side were Lieutenant Command O'Leary and Lieutenant Jenkins. As they walked through the halls, they shared a common thought, What are our orders. Right now, they were about two kilometers beneath the city of San Francisco and were around one hundred and fifty meters away from Fleet Command's offices. They continued along the hall, officers and NCO stood to attention as they passed, they were getting closer. The security had gotten tighter. There were cameras all over the place, armed guards every ten meters. This made O'Leary uneasy, but he hid it well. They finally came to two big black doors marked "Fleet operations, authorized personnel only." To the right of the door were a hand print reader, a keypad and a magnetic strip reader. Melissa placed her hand on the reader. "Larson, Captain Melissa." She stated coldly. The doors slid open after a couple seconds and they entered. The room they entered was around the same size as the conference room behind the bridge, but that was the only similarity. The room was very dark and cold; it felt like a basement. At the other end of the room there was a Monitor which had a static picture of the Starfleet insignia. In front of Melissa was a big circular conference table. Seated around it were several other officers. About twenty men and women were all staring at Larson and her officers. "Captain Larson. Thank you for coming," an admiral at the head of the table stated. "Thank you Admiral." Larson responded. "Captain, would you and your group wait outside for a few minutes. This meeting is going a bit long." "Of course, sir." She replied and turned around. After about twenty minutes of waiting, the big black doors slid open again and the officers who were in there emerged. All squinted from the light. Larson stood up, Jenkins and O'Leary followed in suit. As the officers walked past, a couple of them had a pale look on their face. These were the new captains. Right now in Starfleet, the average age for a commanding officer was just over thirty-four. This was much different than five years before, Melissa thought. Back then, the average age was over forty. The admiral walked out through the doors and smiled at Melissa. "Captain Larson, Command O'Leary and Lieutenant Jenkins. Thank you for coming." He greeted, while shaking their hands. "Its no problem Admiral. We are just anxious to get back into battle." Melissa replied with a smile. "I bet you are Captain. Please, follow me." He led them into conference room and gestured for them to take a seat around the table. The admiral took a seat in front of the big screen. "Captain Larson, Commander O'Leary and Lieutenant Jenkins, I'm going to make this short. I know the Toronto has just completed repairs and has had many new systems integrated. Normally after a refit like this one, a ship would go on a shake down cruise for about a month. But we need the Toronto and her carrier abilities. Right now, the Toronto is the only ship in the fleet that has the capability to do this mission. The Romulian's are having a bit of difficulty in this system." The admiral hit a button on the desk and the monitor behind him switched to a map of the Milky Way Galaxy. It quickly zoomed in on a purple line, which divided the border, as it was now with the Dominion Empire and the Federation, Romulian, Kilingon empires. The map then zoomed in on a system, which was directly on the line between the Romulian Star Empire and the Dominion Empire. "This is system D-459, the Romulian's have a base of operations here, which has the capability to launch an attack into twenty Cardassian systems. Most of which have supply depots. "We knew about the Romulian base here, hell, we helped them build it. Right now, this is where the twelfth fleet will be based. The twelfth fleet is going to be the first fleet in this war, which has components from all the major powers. Starfleet is very interested in making this work. The commanding officer is going to be Admiral T'Nerk, a Vulcan. We agreed on this since T'Nerk is one of our better strategists. Right now, his fleet is going to be over eight hundred ships strong. Two hundred and sixty eight from Starfleet, two hundred thirty seven from the Kilingon Empire, two hundred and ninety two from the Romulian's and twenty-one ships from the various other species. This is going to be the second largest fleet in the whole war. The largest of course is the Fifth fleet. "The Toronto's mission is simple. You are going to take a task force made up of thirteen other Federation vessels, three Romulian Warbirds and three Kilingon Attack Cruisers, and reinforce the system. It has been under constant attack over the past two weeks. The first ships will be arriving for Twelfth Fleet will be in three weeks. I know it isn't that long, but this system has lost about a half the original vessels stationed there to protect it. It's not going to be easy Melissa." Melissa leaned back into her seat; this was exactly the mission she wanted. "Who will be in command of the task force, admiral." O'Leary asked. Still in shock that his first combat mission was this. "Captain Larson will be in command of the entire fleet." Larson glared over at O'Leary, who quickly decided not to pursue that question, any further. "Admiral, which ships are in my fleet," Larson asked, still smiling over the mission. The admiral picked up a PADD and looked down at it. "This is the list of the ships and they're commanding officers. He slid across the table to her. "If that is all Melissa, you should get under way. The fleet is right now gathering at Utopia Planita, and is expecting to get under way in about thirty-six hours." Larson stood up, "Good hunting Melissa," The Admiral said walking over and shaking her hand. "Thanks Jim." Act VII Captain's Log: Supplemental. The Toronto has docked at Utopia Planita, and I am about to meet the other Starfleet captains. * * * Captain Larson walked into the conference room and looked around. As she entered, twenty-six eyes locked on her. She headed for the head of the table and sat down, and placed her cup of coffee to her right. "Welcome aboard the Toronto," she stated in a dull tone. The other captains just nodded. She looked around the room; most of them were older than she was. But the most menacing of them was Captain Edward Jellico of the USS Cairo. He just sat there at the opposite end of the table, piercing holes into Melissa with his cold, dark black eyes. She took another sip of her coffee and began. "I'm sure your wondering what your particular role's are on this mission. I'll go over them. The Toronto is the command center for the fleet. All decisions will come from here, understood?" They nodded, except for Jellico. "Okay, this is how it's going to go. This fleet is going to be like the Carrier battle groups the United States Navy used in the later half of the twentieth century and early part of the twenty-first. Each of your ships is here for a specific role. Well, in fact, there are 2 or more ships for each role. "The USS Aspro and USS Pargo along with the Romulian and Kilingon ships are the only ones with cloaking capabilities. You guys will be providing recon. Plus we'll also call on you as our secret weapons." The only two special OP's captains around the table nodded. They stuck out like a sore thumb in their black uniforms. They didn't bother Melissa too much, since they were both only twenty-seven. Plus she thought Captain Ray (The Captain of the Aspro) was kinda cute. "The USS Xia and the USS Han, our two Defiant class ships will be providing close support to our bigger ships. We are relying on you two. Especially, us, we can hold our own, but we are big, and can do with a couple of you guys helping us cover our big ass." Melissa smiled. "The USS Huworth and USS Berkeley, the Miranda class, are our light cruisers, you like the Xia and Han will provide support for our bigger ships." Captain's Han and T'lax nodded at Larson. "The Wasp and Boxer, the New Orleans class, are going to be are medium cruisers, you'll be patrolling the fringes of the system along with the marine Halifax gun ships from the Toronto. "Now that brings me to our big guns. The Cairo, under the command of Edward Jellico one of Starfleet's best. The USS Majestic commanded by Captain Bell. The Garibaldi and the La Feyette," Captain's Ramus and Hunter both nodded while they looked at the PADD's in front of them. "The Galaxy class ships that make up the rest of the Armada. Then of course there is the Toronto. Do you understand your roles?" Melissa asked. No one spoke; everyone seemed pleased with they're assignments. Except for Jellico. He was the oldest in the room. He'd been a captain for about ten years, and Melissa assumed he didn't like her because she was only 31 and in command of this armada, while he was in his mid fifties and still in command of an old rust bucket like the Cairo. "Well, if there is nothing else, you are all dismissed. We set sail at 1900 hours." Melissa stood, took a final swig of her coffee and left. * * * "Captain on Deck," the Marine NCO positioned to the left of the Larson's ready room yelled as she entered the bridge. She walked straight to her command chair and sat down. The Captain looked around at her bridge for a second and finally reached her earpiece and mini Mic. After it was in place she hit the COMM button on her right hand computer console. "This is the Captain. Get ready to get underway. All personnel report to action stations. Captain Larson out." She looked around at the bridge again. All activity had stopped as she made her announcement. "Commander O'Leary, open a channel to the fleet." She said looking down at him. "Aye, sir." He responded. After a few seconds, of fumbling around his computer control he finally found the right button. "Channel open, sir." "This is Captain Larson of the Toronto. All ships assume position for warp travel. Good luck, Toronto out." Larson took one last look at the Red Planet on the view screen. "Lieutenant Jenkins, plot a course for the Matrix system, warp 8." She ordered in a confident voice. "Course plotted, captain." Jenkins replied in timely fashion. "Lieutenant Lee, request clearance from Mars command." "Aye, sir." Lee responded quickly, "clearance granted captain. Mars Command wishes us a speedy trip." "Engage, Jenkins." * * * "Captain Larson," Lieutenant Lee announced, "we've reached the destination that you specified." Melissa looked up from the PADD she was reading, "Thank you lieutenant." She turned to the right LCARS display panel and hit the button that activated her Mic. "This is Larson, all stop, I repeat all stop." She cut the link. "Helm answering all stop, sir." Lieutenant Jenkins responded back to Larson. "Lieutenant Lee," Melissa said shifting in her seat. "Send the following transmission. OERight about now.'" "Aye sir." Jessica responded with a curious twitch of her left eyebrow. A habit she picked up when she was younger. Her family was on Vulcan for about two years. "Sir, I'm am receiving two transmissions coming from 242 Mark 112 Mark 004, and 042 mark 221 mark 240." Jessica said. "Put the first one of speakers." Larson responded. The speaker came to life, "The funk so brother." Was the first, Melissa nodded over at Jessica and the second message came on. "Check it out now, the funk so brother." Melissa smiled to her self; her armada was now complete. "Captain, I'm detecting ten ships de-cloaking. Four Romulian warbirds, three Kilingon Bird of Prey's and three Vor'Cha class attack cruisers." This shocked Melissa, Starfleet said that there would only be three Kilingon ships, but she didn't mind, the more the merrier. "Open a channel to the fleet." Melissa said sitting down in her seat. "Channel open," Lieutenant Lee responded. "This is Captain Melissa Larson of the Starship Toronto. Welcome to the fleet. I hereby request that all the Commanding Officers come aboard the Toronto at 1800 hours for a dinner and briefing. That is all." Jessica's panel started to chirp, "the fleet has responded sir," she said with a bit a smile. "Very well. Lieutenant Lee you have the bridge. Mr. O'Leary and Ms. Jenkins please follow me to my ready room." Melissa stood and walked down her hall, the two officers following her. Melissa walked through her door and quickly sat down behind her desk, both Kris and Michael we're quick to follow in. They both stood at attention in front of the desk. "At ease, take a seat." Melissa said gesturing towards the two chairs in front of her desk. "I've come to the decision, that will affect the both of you. Mr. O'Leary, you are no longer going to be the second in command of the ship. Lieutenant Jenkins is now that. But you are going to continue your role as XO. You are going to direct the security on the ship, just in case we get boarded. I know that Lieutenant Jewison will be extremely busy keeping the ship out of danger, and won't be directing internal activities. I know, Commander, this isn't exactly what you wanted. But you're not ready to be the XO of this ship. She runs differently then any of the ships you've been on." Michael just looked down at his feet. "With all due respect captain." He said looking up, "I've been in Starfleet for seventeen years, and what makes you think you know what I'm capable of doing. Your what? 31? If you're not the youngest captain, you are one of the younger ones. It boggles my mind that you were able to get command of this warship. By all rights you should still be a CONN officer on an Excelsior class ship, but not in Command of a Toronto class." Melissa just leaned back into her seat. Kris knew that the man beside her just made a fatal mistake. "Well, Commander. See these four pips on my collar, which makes me a Captain. Look how many you have. Three and a half. Which makes you Lieutenant Commander. I got promoted because I worked my ass off at all times in my career. I never slacked off. I've looked over your record. Its true you're ten years older than I am, but that's because you're not a great officer, your not even good. You're a middle of the line officer. I find it surprising that you got posted to the Toronto. If that's all Commander, dismissed." O'Leary stood up and headed for the door, Melissa just rolled her eyes at him. "By the way, Mr. O'Leary, I am not the youngest Captain in the fleet. The youngest is Captain Phillip Reming of the Condor. But you were correct about one thing; I am one of the youngest. And I'm damned proud." "Aye, sir." He walked out the door. Melissa leaned back in her seat and rolled her eyes, "damn, he's an asshole." She muttered to Kris. * * * Captains Log: Supplemental. I've asked all the Captains in the fleet to prepare a list of what they have and what they need. I am about to do the same with my staff. * * * Captain Larson walked into the conference room to see her senior staff all sitting around the table. She was late, and they knew it, but since she was the Captain, it didn't matter. She circled around the table en-route to her seat at the head. As she passed the replicator she ordered her usual large coffee with cream and sugar. The rest of her staff just sat there sipping their drinks and going over PADD's. Melissa finally sat down with a sigh. "Okay, you all know why we're here. So lets make this short. Robin, how many engineering crew do you have?" Robin looked over her PADD, on a smaller ship, she should know by heart, but this was different, an average ship would have an engineering crew of only about a hundred. "Four hundred and fifty seven. But I need most of them Captain, so I strongly suggest that if anyone in fleet asks us for some help, we give them forty at most." Melissa punched what Robin reported into her PADD. "Michelle, how many medical staff do you have." "Okay, I have forty eight surgeons, including me. Twenty-two general medical. Just you're typical emergency staff. Not surgeons but they could do it in a pinch. We also have seventy-one surgical nurses and thirty-six regular nurses. Also with the Marines, we have just over two hundred and ten medics." Michelle reported without looking at her PADD; this was what she loved about her photographic memory. "In a pinch, Michelle, how many can you spare in case the other ships loose parts or all of their medical staff." Melissa replied as she took a sip of coffee. "Well, for this type of mission, I can expect many casualties. I think I can give up at most eight surgeons, twenty-five surgical nurses, five GP's, and ten general nurses. We can give up seventy medics though." "Very well. Major Hummel, how many marines do we have on board that are not part of the fight crew?" "Sir, we have approximately one thousand three non flight crew marines." He responded in his usual authoritative voice "How many do we need for the ship?" "I'd say five hundred sir, considering we all carry side arms." "How many fighters do we have?" "Seventy-two sir. Each has a crew of three." "How many APC's?" "Twenty-two, Captain." "Okay when we enter the system, I want all fighters deployed, and I want the APC's ready to get out there at a moments notice." "Very well." "Okay, that's it for the personnel. Any other suggestions?" Melissa asked typing into her PADD. "Well Captain," Lieutenant Lee spoke up, "I was thinking sir. If we get boarded, we should put up force fields in every corridor. So we can trap the Jemmies into one part of the ship." Melissa leaned back into her seat, "sounds good, make it so." She sat in that position for a few more minutes, "Any thing else?" "Well, Captain, I was thinking." Doctor England said looking down at her PADD, "what if we brought the EMH programs online. We have four of them, and if we did, it would make it easier for my staff. We can post one of them in each of the most critical areas. One on the bridge, one in Engineering and two in Sickbay. It would save us having a doctor on the bridge and in engineering. We'd have medics in both areas, but an MD would help out." Melissa took another sip of her coffee. "Sound good. Very well, dismissed." Act VIII Commander Michael O'Leary leaned back into his leather chair, while sipping a cup of coffee. The monitor on his desk still showed the symbol of the USS Cairo, he hated the hold feature, which so many people in Starfleet used. "C'mon, Edward, answer my message!" He muttered to himself while he starred at the screen. It had been about fifteen minutes, and O'Leary still hadn't given up. The one good thing that his BIO said was that he was persistent. O'Leary looked around his office; he still hadn't had time to unpack most of his stuff from the Ra. Of the few things he did have was a model of a Defiant Class ship sitting on a pedestal. On the wall behind him he had pictures that his nephew had drawn for him while he was last on leave. Jason claimed that it was an alligator, but to Michael it looked more like a blob of green paint. But he said he loved it and well, what could he expect? Jason was only three years old. "Michael, sorry for the wait." The monitor finally had some life from it. "Captain, its no problem." O'Leary responded to Jellico, "so, how are things?" "Going pretty damned bad, you?" Captain Jellico responded in his usual voice. "Same, Captain Larson is being really bitchy towards me. Hell, I'm not even the XO anymore. She gave the job to her CONN officer, Lieutenant Jenkins." Michael said in a frustrated tone. "I see, I don't really know Larson that well, all I know is that she is a young and inexperienced Captain who is command of a mission which she isn't ready for." "No kidding, is there anything you can do?" Michael was now desperate. "I'm not really sure, I'll be over there in about an hour. Our young leader has summoned all the Captains for a dinner tonight. I'll mention something to her then, and if that doesn't work, I would really like to have you back on the Cairo. You were one of my best officers." "Thank you sir, you're too kind." "Don't be modest Michael, you're an excellent officer who should have a command by now, I have no idea why Starfleet hasn't given it to you yet." Jellico turned his head for a second as a subordinate give him a PADD. "Mike, I gotta go, talk to you later. Jellico out." The screen went black again. * * * The doors to Sky Dome parted as the Commanders of the fleet walked in. Most of them had arrived at the same time. Captain Larson was already in Sky Dome sitting at a table with a glass of wine in front of her. "Welcome, come on in." She said with a smile as she stood up and walked towards her comrades. "Ladies and Gentleman, I welcome you to the Toronto." She said with a big smile. This was more for the Romulian and Kilingon Captains than the Federation, since they were all ready aboard for a briefing. She walked up to the first Kilingon Captain, big guy, Melissa guessed he was well over 6 and half feet tall. Not uncommon for Kilingons, though. "Greetings, I am Captain Melissa Larson," she said extending her hand. "Captain Maknot of the Battle Cruiser Lameth. It is an honour to meet you, sir." "Thank you." Captain Maknot turned back to the other Kiligons behind him. "Captain Larson, this Captain Jar'Tek of the Bird of Prey Kehlest." A tall Kilingon female bowed to Larson, Melissa returned the favor. "This is Captain Kurns of the Vor'Cha Class battle cruiser Jaron." Another Kilingon bowed to Larson. She was starting to feel extremely small. "And Captain finally here are Captain's Q'Takh of the Bird or Prey Murk, Captain D'kath of the Attack Cruiser Varlon and of course Captain J'Tall of the Battle Cruiser Tak" The three Captains bowed in unison. "It is an honour to met you all." Melissa said in an authoritative tone. She finally turned to the Romulian's. "Greetings, I'm Captain Larson." She said to the lead Romulian officer. "Greetings, I am Commander Sorlon of the Warbird J'Trell. This is Commander Toloran of the Warbird Remus and finally this is Commander Tellerian of the Warbird Morlowe" The three Romulian commanders bowed to Larson. "Now that we've dispensed with the usually bull, lets eat." Larson said with a smile as she gestured for the large table set up in Sky Dome. * * * Captain Melissa Larson sat at the head of the dinning room listening to small talk between the various captains around the table. It was the usual. The Kilingon's talking about their success, the Romulians talking about how they are the only reason why the Federation and Kilingon Empires are still around. She looked down at her plate of Fettuccine and played with the noodles. She finally took another sip of her Romulian Ale, and looked around the table. They've been here for 2 hours and have yet talked about the mission ahead. "Excuse me," she said with a cough. "The Romulian ale a bit strong for you Captain?" Commander Sorlon said with a smug smile. "Of course not. I was just wondering if you guys would rather continue with your pathetic attempt at looking good in front of each other, or we talk about the up coming mission?" This caught everyone's attention; they all stopped talking and looked at the Captain. Most of the Federation Captains had participated in the conversation, with the exception of Jellico. He just ate his stake and listened in. "Well, I was wondering if you had any ideas?" Melissa said while sipping her ale. The room remained quiet. Finally Captain Maknot spoke up. "Will this be the same as we did at Chin'Toka. I assume?" "Remember we had our asses whipped at Chin'Toka just recently." Captain Ray Orwell said while he sipped his Ale. He and Captain Mike Bluestein were the youngest in the room and were also the only ones who stuck out, because of their Uniforms. Larson liked the all black uniform of the Special Ops group. "Yes, but we held the System for close to a year, remember that, my young friend." Commander Toloran replied. He seemed to be the most level headed man in the room at the moment. "Yes we did, but the fact remains that we have no idea how to counter the new Breen Weapon. Our only chance is if the Kilingons can hold their own and protect us if they use it." Captain Hunter said leaning back in his chair. In front of him remained only a few scrapes of his meal and half-finished glass of Romulian Ale. "We will prevail, the question is if our Pa'Tok Romulians can do their part?" One of the Kilingon captains spoke up. "I don't think we have to worry about our performance. We've got more at stake in this mission than anyone else has. Remember this system is in our borders." Commander Sorlon said with his smug smile. "ENOUGH!" Larson finally yelled as the bickering went on. "Remember who is in Command of this mission. That's me! Got it?" The table went quiet. "I've had a few ideas," Larson continued, "2 of the Warbirds will warp away from the Armada and cloak. After two standard hours you will join the fleet again but will remain cloaked. The three bird of preys and one of the Vor'Cha class will do the same. Once you return to the fleet you will send a message to us. Just a simple one, like OEhey'. "When the armada reaches the system, the cloaked ships will remain cloaked. You guys will take different positions. You're our ace in the hole. If we are overwhelmed you guys will de-cloak and help us. "If that's all, then I'll leave it on this note. Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow, we die. Enjoy dinner and feel free to raid the bar. I know I will." Melissa leaned back into her chair with her glass of Ale and sighed. Act VIII Captains Log Supplemental: We've just reached our destination, this place, its like every other system we've been too since I took command 10 months ago, but yet, somehow it feels different. The crew is more or less the same. Jessica Lee is a great addition, I couldn't be happier with her, but Commander O'Leary is what bothers me. He doesn't seem to care about the ship. Ah well. He's not my XO anymore, so I don't really care. Funny, care, recently it seems that I don't care much anymore. I'm looking at being in command as a chore, rather than a privilege. I remember when I was promoted 10 months ago, I was really happy then. What happened? I still hadn't taken command at that point. When did I start hating this job? What am I going to do? I love this ship, but I don't like being here. Maybe it's the war. Maybe I'm sick of killing people I've never met. Maybe I just need to be laid? I don't know. Whatever the answer is, I'm sure this mission to will help me find it. End Log. Captain Larson leaned back into her chair, staring at the ceiling. The ceiling looked directly back at her, boring holes deep into her mind. Sitting there staring mindlessly at the ceiling, Melissa began to think about her life and how much it sucked at the moment. She was in Command of the Federations Largest Battleship, yet, she still felt like her life was meaningless. She had the best crew underneath her, and still she felt withdrawn from her friends. Melissa turned around in her chair, "This isn't my office" she said aloud, this wasn't her ship. This was Charles's ship, the rightful commander of this vessel was Charles Harkness, but yet, he was dead now. There was nothing she could do but keep the chair warm. But whom was she keeping it warm for? She didn't know, all she knew was she didn't feel right. The past 10 months haven't felt right, it felt like she was doing something she didn't want to do. She doesn't want to command the Toronto; she wanted something else. But what did she want? A Galaxy class starship? Or maybe another Toronto class? Melissa didn't know. All she knew was the Toronto wasn't right for her. But the thing was, she loved it here. She had all her friends here this was her ship. "Captain Larson to the bridge," the filtered voice of Lieutenant Jenkins came through. She stood up and walked out her door on to Charles's bridge. "Report." Captain Larson ordered as she took her seat. "Three Jem'Hadar gun-ships on long range sensors, captain." Lieutenant Lee responded. Melissa fumbled while trying to put on her headset. "Larson to all ships. We have incoming. Defensive pattern Alpha three-seven-niner. Weapons are hot. Toronto out." She turned to her computer display and typed at the LCARS display. "Time till they enter the armada's range?" She ordered still looking down at the computer terminal. "10 minutes, twenty-eight seconds. First ship in range will be the USS Majestic and Xia." Lieutenant Lee said from Ops. "On screen," ordered the captain. The screen jumped into place with a diagram of the system, on it were several blue, green and red dots which represented Larson Armada, but just on the outside of the system there were three yellow triangles moving quickly. "Zoom in on the Majestic and Xia, and display weapon ranges." Larson barked. As she said it, three rings appeared around both federation star ships. The small fleet of Jem'Hadar ships entered the Majestic's range and within seconds had opened fire. The Majestic replied with a volley of torpedoes. "Major Hummel," Larson said looking towards him, "send out a squadron of Halifax's." "Aye, Captain," he said punching in the Command into his display. "Lieutenant Lee, send a message to the Xia to de-cloak and help the Majestic." "Aye, sir." One of the yellow triangles representing the Jem'Hadar ships started to fade in out of the screen. "Sir, the Majestic's shields are at 34%." Lieutenant Lee yelled from Ops. The Xia came in from behind the remaining Gun ships and opened fire. Within seconds a second Jem'Hadar ship disappeared from the diagram, and seconds after that a third disappeared. It was now a Galaxy class starship and a Special Ops ship against one gun-ship. "Captain, we are receiving a message from the Majestic." Lee announced. "Put it through to me." Melissa replied without looking away from the screen. "Toronto here, Majestic." She said into her mouthpiece. "Toronto, we have heavy causalities. Request permission to retreat back to the fleet." "Request granted. Get your asses back here. Toronto out." Melissa leaned back into her seat. "Sir, the fourth Dominion ship has been destroyed." Jenkins said from the helm. "Very well, Lieutenant Jenkins you have the bridge. I'll be in my ready room." Melissa got up and left the bridge without looking back. She got into her ready room and headed straight for the replicator and quickly ordered a Long Island Iced Tea. With drink in hand Melissa walked over to her desk and sat down, pulled out an unused PADD and pressed the record button. "Day One: Four Jem'Hadar Gun-ships destroyed." She put down the PADD and took another sip of her drink, "Eat drink and Be Merry, for tomorrow we dieSumhow true." She muttered to herself. * * * Michelle England leaned back in her chair, just thinking of why she became a doctor, the simple answer was because she wanted to treat people, she joined Starfleet so she would be able to come in contact with new races. She was always interested in studying new races, her mother always said that her curiosity would lead to her downfall. In retrospect, she could still be proven right. She was in the middle of a war, a war which might end any time soon, the last time she checked the Federation was still loosing and the Dominion was getting stronger and stronger at every turn. Hell, they had that new weapon which had already destroyed the Federation outpost in the Chin'Toka system, at least now they had a counter measure against it, but Michelle still went to sleep every night worrying that the Toronto would be destroyed when she awoke. She hated being at war, she hated everything, she would give everything that she had gotten out of it back. If it wasn't for the war, Michelle would not have met Charles and they wouldn't have had a child. But again the war took that away from her. "Sickbay to Doctor England," one of her duty nurse's filtered voice came through the COMM system. "England here, what's up, Laura?" Michelle responded after a sigh as she tapped her badge. "Sir, we have wounded coming in, three marines who were just in battle with the Dominion. ETA 10 minutes." "Ah shit, thanks Laura, page trauma teams 2 and 3, tell them to be ready. You guys shouldn't need me, but page if you do. England out." She leaned back into her seat and sighed, was this the reason why I joined Starfleet? She asked herself? NO, was the response. Act IX "Red Alert, all hands to battle stations," Melissa yelled at the top of her lungs, "Toronto to all ships, attack position alpha eight-eight-two-pi, fire at will, fire at will." She spoke into her MIC. Captain Larson looked around at her bridge, it still looked somewhat normal, no fires had been lit yet, all the panels were working everything was fine, but she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach, that it would not be like this for much longer. "8 Jem'Hadar Gun-Ship just entering phaser range, Captain." Lieutenant Lee yelled from her ops position, "correction, make that 10." "Weps. Ready phasers, make it a wide spread, make sure to hit all of them." "Aye, Captain." The young marine NCO yelled from the weapons position. "Firing phasers." The screen showed the fleet of little Jem'Hadar ships coming directly for them, within a second a sweep of yelled phaser fire had destroyed two of them and a third was listing in space crippled. "Lock quantum torpedoes, wide spread. Fire!" Melissa yelled again as the deck shook beneath her boots. "Shields holding at 94%." An engineering officer yelled. "Jenkins, all head <= impulse," Melissa said as she typed into her computer console, "bring us to 214 mark 320 mark 009." "Aye Captain." Jenkins yelled without looking back. "Breen destroyer coming from a stern, they're firing." The deck shook as Jessica reported. "Lock aft phaser cannons on the Breen and fire at will." "Aye, aye captain." Weps responded. The deck shuddered again as they were hit with yet another volley of Jem'Hadar and Breen energy weapons. "Shields down to 82%, EPS conduits blown on decks 9, 12, and 95." The engineer reported again. "Captain, the Breen destroyer has been destroyed. All other Dominion vessels are either destroyed or crippled." Lieutenant Lee said with relief in her voice. "Very good, stand down to yellow alert." Melissa tapped a COMM panel to her left, "this is the bridge, all sections report damage to Ops, bridge out." She hit the button again, "what's the status of the fleet?" Jessica pushed a few buttons on her console, "Sir, the USS Majestic has been destroyed along with the Kilingon battle cruiser Varlon. The USS Xia has reported heavy damage and is requesting help from us." "Very well, tell them they can dock. Bridge to engineering." "Lefler here." "Robin, the USS Xia is coming in, I want them out ASAP." "Aye, sir. What's their ETA?" Melissa looked over at Jessica with a questioning glance, "ETA 22 minutes," She said looking down at her panel. "You got that Robin?" "Yes sir. Engineering out." Melissa took a sigh and looked around her bridge, one console had been blown out a small fire was burning where the monitor used to be, apart with some smoke marks around the console the bridge looked fine. She stood up and looked around, "You have the bridge Lieutenant." Melissa started for the turbolift when the deck shuddered beneath her. "What the fuck," she said as she was thrown towards the wall. She quickly got up and walked back towards her seat. "Report!" She ordered as a few more consoles exploded behind her. "Sir, a Jem'Hadar battleship has dropped out of warp." Lieutenant Lee yelled as the console behind her exploded pushing her over her LCARS display. "Return fire all weapons, bring us about half impulse!" The deck shuddered again as the massive ship on the main viewer fired another volley of torpedoes. From the port two yellow phaser beams hit their shields with a minor explosion. "Fire at will." Melissa yelled above her ship exploding. "Shields are at 65%" Commander O'Leary reported from his station, the first time he had spoken in a while Melissa noted. "How many ships are helping us?" "Three, captain, the Romulian Warbird Sorlon, the USS Garibaldi and the USS Wasp are engaging the Dominion battleship." O'Leary responded while typing in his console. Melissa looked over at the ops position to see Jessica slowly being helped to her feet by one of the Marine Medics, her uniform was ripped along her right arm and was badly burned. Her face looked okay except for a cut right above her right eye, which was gushing blood like a gazer. "Get her to sickbay," Melissa said looking over, Jessica heard her and looked up. A small smile went across her face. She'd only been part of the crew for a little while, but she felt accepted already. "Captain, the Jem'Hadar shields are down to 23%." O'Leary reported. "Very well, inform the other ships to back off. Weps load torpedo bays 2, 4, and 6 with Tri-Colbalt Torpedoes. Lock phasers and quantum torpedoes on the Battleships impulse generators and fire." "Firing Captain," on the screen 8 phaser beams fired and hit the shields of the battleships a few seconds later a volley of 8 quantum torpedoes hit the shields in the same spot, bringing the giant vessel to a stop. "FIRE!" Melissa ordered. She didn't even bother looking at the screen, she knew that the Dominion vessel in front of her was about to be destroyed, but that's what those Jem'Hadar bastards deserved. "Ship destroyed Captain." O'Leary said frantically from his post. "Jenkins you have the bridge, I'll be in sickbay." She said walking away. * * * Captain Larson entered main sickbay and took a moment to look at the human cost of the last engagement. The medical center was filled with wounded officers and crew. All the bio beds were filled injured crewmembers all in pain. This was the true cost of war, and Melissa had enough of it. To her right one of the Toronto's many doctors called out "Okay, I'm calling it. Time of death for Ensign Darren Hicks, 18:22." those words echoed through the captain's mind. "Captain," a nurse said as she looked up, "anything I can do?" "Yes, thank you. Can you tell me where Lieutenant Lee is?" "Lieutenant Lee?" The nurse responded as she went through the list of names. "Lee, Jessica?" She asked looking up. "Yes, what's her condition?" "She was released about 10 minutes ago, a minor head Lac, and a slight concussion." The nurse replied in a calm voice. "Head Lac?" Melissa asked in a confused tone. "Head laceration. She's okay now, I believe lieutenant Lee is in her quarters." "Oh, thank you Ensign ^ " Melissa was cut off by a couple marine medics coming in through the main door. "Incoming wounded." The nurse talking with Larson yelled over her shoulder "Captain, if you'll excuse me." "Yes of course." Melissa walked over the corner as she watched the injured Marine get taken care of. The doctor who had called the death of Ensign Hicks less than 2 minutes ago was back in action on this marine. "Sarge, report." The doctor said as he walked over, "Sir, his fighter took heavy damage while fighting the dominion, he ejected, but the cockpit didn't get far enough away from the explosion. He took shrapnel to the lower abdomen; third degree burns to his right arm and upper chest. His right leg was blown off." The medic reported as he helped guide the anti-grav stretcher to a bio bed. "How much blood loss?" "Best guess, close to 4 litres. I gave him a hypo of lyboset." "Good work, Sarge. Okay, rapid-infuse 4 litres type O whole blood. Let's get to work people." The doctor yelled as he looked down at the abdomen, "Jesus fucking Christ. What the hell did they do to him?" Melissa stood there in shock as she watched the young doctor go through the chest of the young man. She felt an uneasy feeling in her stomach and she knew she had to get out of there. Melissa quickly made her way towards the door and left with her hand over her head. The young doctor looked up as she left the room, "I guess some people don't have the stomach for this shitSum damnit! We've got a pumper." * * * Michelle fell on to the couch in her quarters. She had just spent 29 hours in surgery trying to save a young marine pilot's life. But it was all in vein; after a marathon session, he gave up and died on the table. She put her legs up onto the glass coffee table that was directly in front of her white leather couch. On it were various reports from Starfleet medical and a couple medical journals that she received every month. She hated them, but everyone in the Federation College of Surgeons received them. She leaned her head back and began to reevaluate her role in Starfleet. Being on a Battleship was good for a while but now? For the first time in her life Michelle began to loath coming to work. She hated being away from little Melissa. "I can't be CMO on a battleship and be a mother at the same time" Michelle said aloud. Right now her daughter was back on Earth away from her mother. And at that moment a thought went through her head, a few weeks ago, she had received a report about a new Medical Ship being constructed and should be entering service soon. Michelle quickly looked over at her table looking for the report. She lifted up a couple PADDs and threw them to the floor after a closer look. Michelle picked up a PADD and began to read it aloud. "USS Pasteur, Olympic class hospital vessel. Still in need of crew. If you are interested in working on the newest member of the Starfleet Medical Fleet, don't hesitate in sending your resume to Admiral Martin VanDorf MD. Remember if you have a family and are a lieutenant or above you can bring a maximum of 4 family members aboard." Michelle smiled as she stood up to get her self-a drink. Finally something was going right for her, she thought as she reached the replicator "Computer: Large Chocolate Milkshake" ordered Michelle. Dr. England took her sip from her drink as she walked back to the couch. "Oh shit, computer: Has the USS Pasteur left space dock yet?" She asked thinking that this was too good to be true. "Negative, the USS Pasteur is still 5 months from completion." The computer responded in its usually dull tone. Upon hearing this Michelle reached over to the table on the right of the couch. She picked up a PADD and typed in a transfer request. Act X Captains Log. Supplemental: We've been out here for 10 weeks now. And everyday we've done the same goddamned thing. Fight. We've held off the enemy, but in doing so, our fleet ^ MY fleet has been decimated. We had 22 ships 3 weeks ago, right now; we are down to 3. The Toronto, Cairo, Aspro were the only Federation ships that have survived this far. Right now, I doubt we can last much longer. The Cairo is running at 38%, the Aspro is even worse. The Toronto right now is doing fairly well, shields are holding at 84% most systems running, but we've had to shut down many things. The crew is not only fighting the Dominion now, but they are fighting their own sense of doom. In the past 10 weeks, 2612 people have died, among our "honoured" dead are Lieutenant Lee, and Major Hummel both were killed two weeks ago. Another 894 are in sickbay right now. The fighter wings have also been crushed. We are down to one wing left, which only has four working fighters. Morale on the ship is at an all time low. And frankly I don't blame them we are fighting something that seems unstoppable. 10 weeks and they've been pecking away at us little by little. I've sent many messages to Starfleet command asking for help, but they've gone unanswered. I am starting to think that the Federation might have been defeated. I haven't heard anything. True we went to radio silence, but they said that we would get reinforcements after a few weeks. Oh shit, here we go again! End recording. Melissa got out from behind her desk. And ran for the door. "Report" she yelled as soon as she got out. "Captain," Lieutenant Jenkins reported, "The USS Aspro's warp core is about to breach. We've beamed all survivors aboard." "Very well. Move us away full impulse." Melissa replied looking down at the deck. The bridge was totally different than what Melissa remember it when they were in space dock. The carpet back then was a nice purple colour; now, it was just covered with black soot, and was now burnt in many places. The bulkheads were Grey when they left and now, like the carpet, were burnt and black. In some places there were gaping holes, which exposed the interior circuitry. The ship was tough shape; most of the consoles on the bridge had been blown out. Melissa looked over at the ops position, where two weeks ago Lieutenant Lee had been blown to bits when it exploded. She could still remember it; it was an image burnt into her brain. She'll always remember the flash of light and then the bloody rain of bodily fluids, which fell upon the rest of the bridge. The wall behind the position was still red from the splatter of blood. Melissa looked to her left to see the acting Marine CO; Lieutenant Brenner had taken over for Major Hummel after his fighter was destroyed. Clint looked in tough shape, he had only just graduated from the Marine Academy 3 months ago and now he was commanding the marines, Melissa felt for him. Everywhere Melissa looked was the place where a comrade had worked, and is now in the morgue on the planet they were trying to protect. This was not how it was supposed to be the thought that kept on going through Melissa's head. The Federation was at war, but war isn't supposed to be like this, not in the 24th century. "Captain," Commander O'Leary said from his position next Melissa, he too looked in rough shape. He had finally become a good officer, Melissa thought to her self. He wasn't as green as when he came aboard. "What is it, Michael?" Melissa asked in a tired voice, she didn't want to do this anymore. "Sir, I am detecting 3 warp signatures just coming into the system, they seem to be Jem'Hadar, but the sensors could be fucking up." Melissa started to laugh, while she looked down at Michael in his little pit. He finally looked up, "what's so funny?" O'Leary asked in a confused tone. "Well, Michael, this is the first time since you've come aboard that I've heard you swear, I just thought it was kinda funny." Melissa said as she shrugged her shoulders. "Whatever," Michael said as he looked back down at his display. Melissa pushed a button on her right hand computer access terminal. "Attention all hands. I have just been informed that there is yet another fleet of Jem'Hadar ships coming into the system. This means we are probably going to be attacked again, which means we have to kick their fucking asses. I don't care anymore about this goddamned war; I just want to survive. I have the feeling that the rest of you feel the same way. So let's have some fun. Captain out." Melissa stood up after looking around the bridge again, "Red Alert. Bring all weapon systems online and raise shields. Order the Cairo to do the same." She ordered. What remained of her bridge crew followed to the orders to the tee. "Shields online, Phasers at 100% and quantum torpedoes are loaded, they will enter optimal firing range in 13 seconds." O'Leary said from his position. "Kris, go to full impulse. Let's charge them, hopefully the sight of the Toronto will scare the shit out of them." Melissa ordered as she took her seat again. Larson looked around at her bridge, it was still burnt to the crisp, but it still worked. The crews were all tired, but they still fought on. The only thing left to do was to win. "Fire all weapons," Melissa ordered as she watched the screen. "Torpedoes away, phasers firing on full spread" O'Leary called out while typing into his LCARS. The deck shook as the shields were hit by phaser fire from the Jem'Hadar. "Shields down to 56%" yelled O'Leary. "Continue on course Kris, fire at will. How's the Cairo doing?" "She's taken three direct hits. They've lost impulse power and they're now listing behind us. The Jem'Hadar are ignoring them now." Melissa didn't even respond she was just clutching her chair as she watched the Dominion vessels on the screen get bigger and bigger as they moved in. A volley of quantum torpedoes flew towards the enemy vessels; Melissa watched their every move as they closed in. As they hit the shields they exploded destroying the first ship, the other two took major damage as they flew towards the Toronto. Six phaser beams hit the port ship cutting off its starboard nacelle. It started to spin in circles as the plasma that once propelled the ship to faster than light speeds bled into the vacuum of space. It finally exploded after doing a couple summersaults. The other ship flew directly towards the Toronto. "Captain, it's on a collision course," Kris yelled from the CONN position. "Fire at will, transfer all power to the forward shields!" Melissa yelled in a frantic voice. "Done!" O'Leary called, "fifteen seconds till collision, and sir, I'm detecting two sets of warp signatures. They are both about five minutes out, but I cannot id them." Melissa heard this but concentrated on the task at hand. "Continue firing, bring us hard to port." "Its no go Captain, we're too big." Kris said as she tried to move the massive ship. This was the last sound Melissa heard before the explosion. The bridge around her seemed ignite in burst of firecrackers, the moans of the ship tearing apart were the only sounds that Melissa could hear. Every where she looked all she saw was fire and carnage. The under her boots shook violently, it was as if the Toronto was starting to come apart at the seams. What seemed like hours to Captain Larson, where in fact just seconds, she closed her eyes as the bridge exploded around and when she opened them again, all the remained was a bridge covered in rubble. The bulkheads had been blown apart, console had been blown out. Conduits had exploded, spewing their deadly, but necessary fluids. All around her was death. To he right, Command O'Leary's charred corpse was bent over the console, his head was nothing more than a black ball of burnt flesh. The same fate had come to Lieutenant Clint Brenner to her left. She looked around, disoriented. In font of her, the Helm position had exploded like most of the consoles, lying in front of her Kristina, she had somehow survived the explosion and was starting to get to her feet. All along the sides of the bridge were dead officers and crew. Melissa head started to spin, she felt like that it is about it to come off, she looked from side to side trying to figure out what was happening, but soon. Everywhere she looked all she saw was death and destruction. The bridge kept on spinning around her she felt as if she was going to pass out and then finally, blackness. * * * "Damage report!" Kris yelled out as she looked around at what was left of the bridge. No one replied, "For fuck's sake, someone respond!' Her cries for help went unanswered; the bridge was still smoking around her. "Goddamn it!" She said to her self. Jenkins pulled her self to her feet and started to walk around, she finally turned around to see her mentor, friend and commanding officer slumped over her right hand console. "Melissa?" She called out, no response. On her forehead was a gaping cut, which was pouring blood on to her face. Her face was black from soot, but so was Kris's. Jenkins finally moved her hand to check for a pulse on the neck. After searching for a couple seconds she finally found one. Kris breathed a sigh of relief. Jenkins looked around the bridge one last time, no one was an alive, there were only six people to begin with and she could only see two bodies. She knew where the other two were and looked over the Auxiliary control consoles. All that was over there was a massive red mark on the wall and a couple bloody fragments, she knew that they were both very dead. Kris walked back over to her console and tried to access the sensor readings, she hit several buttons and all she got was silence. Her console had been destroyed. She looked around, to find all the other consoles the same. The only thing that seemed to be working was the massive view screen. On it was a picture of the Cairo, plasma fires along the hull lit it up like a Christmas tree. And in the distance, Kris noticed another ship coming towards them. After a couple seconds she recognized what it was. "Son of a fucking bitch." She yelled at the screen. Jenkins looked around the bridge again, "well guys we're about to join you." The ship on the screen came closer and closer, the haunting image of a Jem'Hadar battleship. It flew in closer and closer; Kris was only able to stare at her executioner. Seconds felt like hours as it came closer and closer till it finally came to a stop. "FIRE YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" she yelled after it stopped. The Jem'Hadar battleship didn't move, it just stopped and held position. "Why the hell aren't they firing?" Kris said aloud. "Because they're toying with us," Melissa replied from her seat, she had become conscious just in time to see her death. The Jem'Hadar just floated there, above the crippled Cairo, not moving, till finally, both Kris and Melissa watched in horror as she opened fire. The image of what seemed like millions of torpedoes flew towards them in slow motion; each centimeter took hours. They watched as it came closer and closer and finally the last minute another ship flew in front and took the torpedoes, a Federation ship. Its shields absorbed the abuse and the ship returned fire. A Volley of quantum torpedoes and phasers hit their shield causing them to buckle, and collapse. The Jem'Hadar battleship quickly turned and started to run away, but it was closely followed by a fleet of three small Hornet class ships, their sleek, arrowhead hulls flew towards the Dominion vessel firing torpedo after torpedo till finally the hull gave way and exploded in giant fireball. Melissa looked watched the screen till the fireball dissipated, a small smile went across her face. She then put her head down and passed out. Act XI "Enter," captain Larson said without looking up from her desk. The door to her office in San Francisco Yards slid open as a young crewman walked in leading an anti-grav unit. "Begging the Captain's pardon, but I have your personal items from the Toronto". He said in a nervous tone. He remembered back to two years ago when he had piloted the last captain of the Toronto to the ship. That was an experience he never wanted to repeat. "Thank you, Crewman. Please set them over there in the corner." Melissa pointed to the left-hand corner to her office. This office wasn't that big, it was more like a closet. Very modest as well, it didn't even have a couch. But this was just a temporary set up. "Captain, could you please thumb this?" The crewman asked after unloading a couple boxes. "Ya, no problem" Melissa said taking the PADD, she looked it over and smiled, as she placed her thumb over the reader. "Thank you, you are dismissed." "Aye, sir." Melissa went back to her reports and transfers she had to approve. Since they had gotten back to Earth, Melissa had done more paper work than she had done in her entire career. But if this was the price for peace, she would take it. While she was being treated on the Gracchi, Mathew Dubins had told her that while they were fighting, the Dominion had surrendered after a task force had surrounded Cardasia Prime. Melissa continued on her reports, these were her last official acts as Captain of the Toronto. Her transfer papers had come in; she was to take command of the USS Kepler in five days. The Kepler was a deep space explorer, much smaller than the Toronto, but even more advanced. She finished writing her last report and leaned back, she was done. Melissa closed her eyes and rested a bit. Finally after about five minutes, her doorbell chimed. "Enter," the door slid open as Michelle, Kris, and Robin walked in the sole survivors of the Toronto's senior staff. "Hey guys." Melissa said with a smile, "take a seat, if you can find one." Larson hadn't told them yet of her transfer, and this was probably the best chance she would get. "Melissa, how's the head?" Kris asked, "Fine," Melissa responded, she lied through her teeth; it hurt like a bitch still. "Good," Kris smiled. There was an awkward silence for a couple seconds till Melissa could find the best way to say. "Well, guys, I'm not sure how I'm going to say this, so I will just blurt it out. I've been transferred. In five days I take command of the USS Kepler." The news hit them like a brick wall. Kris was the first to speak up, "who is going to command the Toronto, now?" She asked in a saddened tone. "I don't know yet, they've asked me to submit a name for my replacement. I was thinking of putting your name in Kris, but I doubt you'd get it, since you're only a Lieutenant. I think you can handle it." "Thank you, Melissa, but what about Robin?" Kris asked. "Well, Robin, this came in for you. You've been transferred to Utopia Planita, according to this they want you to work on starship engine design. Feel free to reject this offer." Robin smiled, "Well sir, I don't know. I've always wanted to that." "So take it, it's a once in a life time opportunity. Just take this PADD and decide what to do." Melissa handed over the PADD to the gleaming Lefler. Larson looked down on her desk and picked up another PADD, "And for you Michelle, you've been offered Command of the USS Pasteur." Michelle's face lit up once she heard this, "thank you Melissa," she said taking the PADD, "Congratulations Michelle." Melissa said with a smile. "C'mon guys, let's go have a drink together." Melissa said standing up. Michelle, Robin and Kris walked to the door, "hey, guys, I'll met you in the bar, there's something I got to do." She said from behind her desk, "Fine," Kris said and they walked out the door. Once the doors closed, Melissa walked over to the boxes she that was just delivered, she reached into one and took out a bottle rye that was in Charles's safe when he died. Melissa looked over to her window of the space dock, and walked over. About 3000 meters away was the charred hull of the Toronto, several gaping holes made the bowls of the ship visible. On the top portion of the hull just before the bridge, remained in huge black letters, "USS Toronto NX-711867", if by a miracle, those were the only parts of the ship not covered by black scorch marks. "You may look like shit now, but you're one hell of a ship. You brought us to the precipice and back thank you. " Melissa said while lifting the bottle of rye to her. "I love you." She said taking a sip from the bottle. Melissa looked out at her, which will soon be Kristina's ship and smiled, "good-luck."