Lifetime of a Life

2012 is around the corner
amusing how 2011 turned out
not sure what's going on anymore

so I sit and wait
wondering and thinking
everything and nothing at once

it's how I prefer everything to be
of course I don't, but that's how it works
it's life

New Years Eve

Tonight is New Years Eve
it's a magical night
a start of something new

Resolutions abound
most won't make it
others won't care

So Happy New Year
to you and yours
in this wonderful time of life

The Edge

Take me to the edge
all the way
over the top

Take me beyond
all the way beyond
where nothing makes sense

Make the pain go
have it all go away
blissful happiness is what I want

So take me now
and don't look back
just take me

New Years Eve Eve

Oh happy New Years
the alcohol is ready
ready to be poured

I am ready
to be drunken
as the New Years rolls in

So happy New Year
we leave the old behind
looking forward and onward
to something exciting and new

New Years

That bright new day is around the bend
when parties happen and people mend
New Years is the day I speak of
oh how fun and joyful

Resolutions round about
as people contemplate their doubt
thinking of the past for sure
wondering if this year will be pure

Something different will come their way
at least they hope with some ray
making wishes and making mends
are what people do at New Years

Projects

Another thing I plan on adding to this website are different Projects that I'm working on. I have a couple that I'm working on, but I need to organize them in some form or another.

Some of the projects that I'm working on include:

• HTML Utils - Simple HTML creating utils for a Java program


• Contact Manager - Written in ColdFusion, this will be a highly customizable Contact Management System. With the ability to upgrade it via plugins.


• WordPress in CF - Yep... I would LOVE to port WordPress over to ColdFusion, I think that would rock.

It's not much of a list at the moment, but eventually it will grow. But yes these are the first couple of ideas that I have in mind. We'll see how they all pan out.

Hello World In ColdFusion

Ah now we come to ColdFusion. Such a great language to be programming websites in. I figured since I created a Hello World sample app in other languages, why not here. Here's the most basic output for ColdFusion:

<cfoutput>Hello World</cfoutput>

Of course we can make it a bit more fun... by using a variable to hold the "Hello World" in and then output that variable. In the next example, we'll use greetings as the variable.

<cfset greetings="Hello World">
<cfoutput>#greetings#</cfoutput>

So yep that's that, simple enough.

Longing

Thinking of that moment... a perfect moment in time
never to come again as it was
only attempts can be made

Looking to that future, something realistic
yet something drastic
perhaps even foreign

Come back where you belong
check out what's changing
simply come back to me

Bored

Looking to my left
glancing to my right
thinking about me
bored

The ceiling is white
so many tiles
counting them is fun
'cause I'm bored

Bored to death
it sounds like fun
until it happens
yucky ucky bored

Insomnia

Can't sleep
it's common
something to look forward to

Eyes twitching
legs restless
it always happens like this

Staring up
at the ceiling
wishing the night would end

Tomorrow is a day
a bright new adventure
something worth looking to

Now sleep dear brain
go back to bed
get some shuteye
and some z's

Noises

Crash Boom
my heart races

Kaboom Kablam
something's afoot

Not knowing what's going on
I dash to the window
never understanding nothing
everything else gone

Bash Bam Boof
what the heck is a boof?
I wonder to myself
strange noises
deep in the night

Living Life

The day was simple
nothing too drastic
it was life

Treating like it was nothing
never made sense
so I continued forward

Looking to the future
down the road I went
trying to learn from the past

Final Log Entry

First Officer's Log, Stardate Unknown

I have been in the Breen Prison Camp for over a month now along with my fellow officers of the Tripoli. I have been in solitary confinement for fifteen to twenty of those days. Today I was allowed, by the Vorta, to make this entry. I will be executed tomorrow.

This could be the final entry I will be making as First Officer of the starship Tripoli under the command of Captain Burke.

I do not dare say anything that might give the Breen or the Dominion information that might aid them in their fight against the Federation, so with my words being cut short, I can only say the following to my fellow Tripoli officers: It has been an honor serving aboard the Tripoli and for Starfleet. I have never found another group that I would ever want to be affilated with, keep your heads held high and give the Dominion what they deserve.

Finding Her Own Path

Kelley Taylor looked at the sobbing man sitting in front of her. "I'm so sorry." She said, "Not every Trill is suitable for joining and It's not your fault."

The young trill looked at Kelley. "They said you would tell me that." He paused a moment to dry his eyes. "I guess they were right about you."

Kelley raised her eyebrows. "Right about what?"

"That you turn down every person that walks in through your door." The man accused, "You're second only to Curzon Dax."

Kelley was taken back. "Excuse me?" She said shocked. "Are you suggesting that I am biased against your joining?"

The man nodded, turned and exited the office.

Kelley shook her head and exited the other way towards the lounge. As she entered the lounge, her collueges gathered around. Juzan T'Jor approached Kelley. "Another one bites the dust eh Taylor?"

Taylor looked to Shana. "What?"

Another co-worker nodded. "How many turn downs is that for this month? Six?" He whistled, "And we're not even a fourth of the way through yet." He raised a hand asking for a high-five.

Kelly didn't return the gesture, instead she placed her hands on her hips and tried to look as offended as possible; which wasn't that difficult to do. "You think I fail these people on purpose?" Taking a deep breath, she continued. "How dare you. I take our work seriously, more serious than most people. I don't always fail people, I've been known to pass people now and again."

The man backed off, "Listen, all I'm saying is..."

"The truth." Juzan said finishing the man's sentence. "Face it, you don't like helping people out. You despise people that are joined because you aren't joined. You want people to suffer as much as you do."

Kelley walked over to a nearby couch and sat down. "I can't believe I'm listening to this. Just leave, all of you get out!"

The three scientists stood firm. None of them budged. They had as much of a right to use the lounge as Kelley did.

"Fine." Kelley said. "I'll go." She exited the room quickly.

As she walked around the grounds of the medical complex, the only thing that Kelley could think about was her career at the Symbiosis Commission. She had worked very hard to work there. After Kelley had been denied the option for being joined, she signed up and joined the Symbiosis Commission. At the time, Kelley felt that she could help people out. Both those who were selected for joining and those who were denied the opportunity. Mostly because she could relate. Maybe it was time for her to move on. But where would she go?

"Hi Kelley" a female voice said from behind.

Kelley turned around to see a familiar face. "Kim." She noticed that Kim was wearing a Starfleet uniform. "Kim? You're done?"

Kim Sudor nodded her head. "Yeah, Graduation was today."

Kelley looked confused. "Wait a second, when did you go to Starfleet Academy? What?"

Kim chuckled. "It's good to see you too Kelley. Mind if I walk with you?"

Kelley nodded, and they started walking around a large lake.

"I heard what happened." Kim said. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Kelley didn't say a word. She wanted to scream out loud, but knew it wouldn't remedy the situation. Instead, she just listened.

Kim picked up a rock and tossed it into the lake. It bounced six times before going under. "You're a great counselor. From what I hear, you're the best at what you do; and that means a lot."

Kelley nodded, she had heard that before from her family. Hearing it from her longtime friend didn't make matters better. It didn't make matters worse either, just the same. "I've been thinking of leaving the commission." She said. "But I'm not sure where to go."

Kim nodded. "What are you interested in?"

Kelley shrugged.

"What about Starfleet?" Kim said. "You could be done within four years and on a Starship."

Kelley stopped walking. "Starfleet? Me?" She had never thought of joining Starfleet let alone visiting Earth. "But..."

Kim put up her hands. "You don't have to go and join up right this second. But if you ever get tired of this place, you could give it a try. That's all I'm saying." She looked across the lake "Oh, I have to go. My transport leaves for Starbase 47 in a half hour. Don't want to be late." She reached out and hugged her friend. "It was good to see you again."

Kelley returned the hug. "Yes it was."

As Kim started to walk away, Kelley thought of what her friend had said. Maybe she would check out what Starfleet had to offer. Who knows what adventure it would bring. One thing was for sure, she would get away from the Symbiosis Commission for a while; and if she liked it... her life could turn out to be so much more.

Death of Mom and Dad

"Ready weapons." The scruffed voice of a Romulan said. "Fire." Johnny Burke watched as two officers from the Cargo Freighter Apollo were vaporized. He clutched onto his mom's hand harder for support. Being only six years of age, Johnny couldn't understand why the Romulans would kill such innocent people. Luckly their deaths were quick... he didn't know if they were painless. Of course Johnny didn't know what real pain was until he had been captured.

He had been in his parent's quarters, playing with a small shuttle that his grandparents had given him. He didn't remember the alert klaxon going off, everything happened too quickly. Before waking in the Romulan holding cell, the last thing Johnny remembered was his mom taking him to the nearest escape hatch.

Johnny and his mom had only been in the escape pod for maybe ten minutes when they were transported aboard the Romulan ship. Upon waking, from what his mom had called fainting, Johnny was laying in the arms of his father. Johnny's father had tried to comfort him, but it didn't manage to do any good. He could tell that something was wrong, and that something even worse was about to happen.

"Next." The Romulan Commander's voice brought Johnny's memories back to his present state.

He watched as his parents were forced by guards to line up against a wall. Johnny tried to run to his parent's defense, but was held by one of the Romulan officers.

"Not so fast pup." The Romulan officer said. 'Pup' was his pet name for the boy. Johnny didn't like the nickname and he even disliked the officer even more.

"Ready your weapons." The Commander again called. Three officers stood before John and Kathy Burke with their weapons pointed at the two.

"Fire." As the green beams of light reached their targets with dead accuracy, Johnny's parents fell to the deck.

"No!" Johnny yelled out. His cry echoed through the room. He too fell to the deck, but his falling was in remorse for his parents death. The Romulan officer that had been holding him reached down to grab Johnny up from the deck when his commanding officer spoke.

"No, I'll take care of him." The Romulan Commander picked up Johnny from the deck. Johnny of course started to kick and try to get free from the commander, but was unable to. The Romulan Commander took Johnny out into the corridor. As they walked, the commander talked to Johnny.

"I know how difficult this is for you." The man said. "I too had to watch as my parents were executed by the Federation."

Johnny didn't say a word. He kept replaying the images of his parents death over and over again in his mind.

After about five minutes, they stopped at a large door. Johnny didn't recognize the door. The Romulan didn't make a move. He just stood there in front of the door. "I could get in a lot of trouble for doing this." He said to himself. The commander punched in a command sequence into a nearby padd. The doors opened.

Johnny looked before him. It was a large hanger full of shuttles. He had only seen a room like that in diagrams of the cargo ship he had been on. He simply stood in awe with tears still running down his cheeks.

The Romulan looked to Johnny and then led him over to a small escape pod. "This will take you back to Federation space." He paused, "Remember this day Human. Not all Romulan's are evil."

Three hours later, Johnny's escape pod crossed into Federation territory and picked up by a Federation Starship. Johnny was now safe, and on his way to recovery.

School Daze

"Cadet Burke!"

John Burke stopped dead in his tracks and turned to face his instructor. "Sir." He said.

Commander Jacobson handed the cadet a padd. "Your latest results on your last conn test." He said allowing John to look over his scores. "I'm not impressed cadet" he continued while folding his arms.

John looked over the report. It was true, his latest Starship Flight Simulation hadn't gone quite by the book. "Sir, if this has to do with the Simulator Room being in shambles.."

Jacobson shook his head. "No no, we've seen much worse. I'm just concerned about your progress. If your scores continue to be like this, you'll be washed out next year."

John nodded as he handed the padd back. "Yes sir, I know sir."

"I want to see you succeed cadet." Jacobson admited "You have greatness within you, I can feel it; and if you want to be a captain someday, you're going to have to get through all of this."

Burke was shocked, he hadn't told anyone of his dreams of being a captain let alone the command division. "Sir? How did you know sir?"

The instructor just smiled. "Oh I can tell. But that's not important. You keep your nose clean you hear?" With that he walked away.

Burke stood there with a slight smirk on his face and thought about what his teacher had just told him. It was true, if he wanted to get through his Starfleet Career in one piece, he would have to get through his core curriculum. He continued walking to his next class.

From The Past

Commander Justan sat in his office in Main Engineering. He was going over several repair reports from his officers.

"Warning, port shield covering the warp core is failing." The computer said.

Justan picked up an engineering device and went over to the warpcore. He pressed a few buttons on the device causing a blue energy beam to eminate from it. He watched as the shield started to stabilize. "That should do it." He said, "Computer, current status of the port shield?"

"The shield is within normal parameters."

Justan nodded and started to pick up several tools on the ground. Over the past few days, he hadn't been able to keep the engine room up to the usual cleanliness as he wanted.

"Burke to Justan." The captain's voice came through the communications line.

Justan jumped, the internal communications array had been down for over two days. He tapped his commbadge, "Yes sir?"

"This thing's working again. What is the status of the warp core?"

Justan walked over to a station and read the readout. "We're running about eighty-five percent efficient." He said, "It sould be close to a hundred by the end of the day."

"Good." Burke said, "We're still in the nebula, and all of the other major systems have been repaired. Hopefully they won't attack us again."

Justan nodded, "That would be ideal sir." He paused, "Did you ever find out what the Romulans wanted?"

"Negative. I know we haven't been able to hold a staff meeting for the past few days to catch everyone up." Burke said appologizing to his officer, "We haven't heard from them in over a day, so either they left or are waiting for us to exit the nebula."

Justan felt the hairs on his neck stand up. He didn't like the situation they were in. Didn't like the fact that the enemy hadn't shown themselves in over a day. "They're still mad about our last encounter I suppose."

"I would assume so." Burke said, "Get that core back to specs, and inform me when you're finished. Burke out."

Justan nodded and went back to work.

* * *

A day later, the senior officers were in the Conference Room. Each of them were ready to report on their various departments, which wouldn't be too difficult since the Fresno wasn't too large of a ship with a crew compliment of only eighty officers.

"Where do we stand on weapons." Burke asked.

Commander Dobson looked up from a padd, "Our aft phaser bank needs to be rebuilt from scratch, but the other three banks are at ninety-five percent." He tabbed through a few screens of information, "The photon torpedo launchers are operating at specifications."

"How many torpedoes do we have?" Burke asked.

Again, Dobson tabbed through information, "Ten, sir."

R'Jor made notes on a PADD. "Where do we stand on warp power?"

Justan smiled, "We're ready to go sir." He said, "I managed to upgrade the deuterium injection tank, it's operating at better than specifications, now."

Burke nodded, "Good work." He looked to Taylor, "Doctor, where do we stand on medical supplies?"

Taylor shook her head, "Almost depleted sir." She said, "Apparently the Romulans managed to beam off several medical storage tanks from the cargo bay without our knowledge." She handed Burke a PADD, "Here is our current inventory."

Burke looked through the information. "Why would they want medical supplies?"

Tompson looked around the room, she didn't have anything to report and felt rather useless at the moment, but had an idea. "Sir?" She said, "What if they wanted to prevent us from helping our own people."

Burke looked to the ensign, "Maybe." He said, but paused. He turned his attention to the operations officer. "Commander Dobson, you were in charge of moving the medical supplies into Cargobay three last week?"

Dobons nodded, "Yes sir." He said "We needed the extra space."

"What was in Cargobay three before you put the medical supplies there?" Burke asked.

"Not much" Dobson said, "Spare parts mostly."

R'Jor folded her arms, "What would they want with spare parts?"

Burke shook his head, "I'm not sure." He paused, "There must be something else." He said, "Are you sure there wasn't anything else in the cargobay?"

Justan looked out the window, the nebula was on the other side pink as ever. He had been in the cargobay a few days before the Romulans attacked the Fresno. As he thought, the other voices in the room became distant.

"Commander Justan?" R'Jor asked waking the commander from his day dream.

Justan turned to face the officers, "What?" He said, "I'm sorry, I must of drifted off."

Burke nodded, he could understand the fatiuge the man must be feeling. Not having sleep for the past two days would make one tired. "Are you okay?"

Justan looked to him for a second trying to re-focus on the situation at hand. "Yes." He said. A few more seconds passed and he finally remembered what he had seen. "That's it."

"What?" Tompson asked.

"There were extra parts for our torpedo guidance system." Justan said, "That's what they must have been after."

Burke clasped his hands together. "Where are those components now?"

"Cargobay two." Dobson replied, "It has a higher level of security than three does."

Burke nodded, "Good thinking." He said, "We need to get back to Base Delta to complete our repairs." He said, "I need to know if that Romulan vessel is still out there."

"We could send out a probe." Dougless suggested.

"Yeah." Tompson added, "If they blow it up we'll know they're still around."

Dougless looked to the ensign and smiled, "Exactly."

Burke nodded, "Do it."

* * *

Captain's Log, Stardate 53461.2
We are en route to Base Delta. The Romulan vessel didn't follow us out of the Neutral Zone. It is uncertain if they left the area or if they just lost interest. Once we are finished with our repairs, we will head back to the Neutral Zone to complete our mission. End Log.

On the bridge, Burke watched as a small asteroid came into view on the screen. "Drop to quarter impulse."

"Aye sir, quarter impulse."

"Open a channel." Burke said. "This is the Starship Fresno requesting permission to dock."

The dockmaster didn't respond. Burke looked to his operations officer "Is our comm down again?"

Dougless checked his computer "Aye. Give me a second." After a moment he nodded "Give it a try now."

Burke stood from his chair "I repeat, this is Captain Burke of the Fresno requesting to dock."

That time around the dockmaster received the message allowing the Fresno entrance. On the station, many watched as the newest class of starship entered the large docking bay. She was a magnificant vessel that had a reputation to build and legends to be made.

On the bridge, Burke watched as his helm officer completed the docking procedure. "Thank you ensign" he said, and then to the rest of the bridge crew "I'll be going to the station alone, for the time being, you are dismissed from your duties." He exited the bridge.

Commander Dobson looked to the first officer "We don't get to go?" He sounded irritated. It had been a while wince any of them had any kind of shore leave.

R'Jor nodded "He's the captain." She stood from her chair and exited the bridge as well, giving no further answer.

---

John Burke materialized in a small conference lounge. Before him was a medium sized table. Two officers sat behind the table. As Burke approached them, he placed a PADD on the table.

"These are the repair estamates for my ship. If your crew has any questions, my chief engineer is available."

One of the men nodded "Does your crew require shore leave?"

Burke shook his head "No sir, we're pretty anxious to continue our mission."

"I see" said the man, "If you should change your mind, our facilities are at your disposal."

"Thank you." Burke said as he left the room.

As he exited, Burke couldn't help but look out a large window down the corridor where the Fresno was docked. He walked closer to visually inspect the damage done by the Romulans. They sure had a field day with her, he thought.

"And they will pay."

Burke turned to see who had interrupted his thougths. A woman in engineering garb smiled.

"I appologize for listening in" she said.

Burke nodded "You Betazoids are all alike." He had more than one run in with his operations officer, something he was slowly becoming use to. "What can I do for your crewman?"

The woman held out a hand "The name's Terry."

Burke didn't shake her hand. "State your business."

She hesitated "Your vessel will be ready in two days or so. You really should let your crew enjoy the station."

Burke's chest tightened. "Why so long a wait?"

Terry shrugged "Let's just say a starship that's more important than your own just put in for repairs." She dropped her hand down to her side giving up on trying to get a handshake.

Burke looked back out the window to see what ship she was talking about but the Fresno was blocking the rest of the base. "What's more important than my vessel?"

Terry ignored the question. "I insist you let your crew get some R and R while they're here. I promise you won't regret it." She turned and walked away.

Burke thought about her offer for a moment, she had a point. "Burke to Fresno."

---

In Main Engineering, Commander Justan was monitoring the warp propulsion systems. He was making a complete record of the engine status before handing her over to the starbase engineering detail. Commander Dougless was assisting him in the process.

"I hear they have a great springball court here, and their other recreational facilities are the best in the sector!" Dougless said.

Justan smiled "Considering it's the only Section 31 starbase in this sector." He pressed a few controls on a console "The intermix chamber doesn't seem right." Standing from the console, he walked towards the dilithium chamber and took a few readings with a tricorder. "Hand me a type six stablizer."

Dougless handed him a device. "Why are we messing with this? Isn't that what the station's engineering crew's for?"

"I don't want them messing up my engine room."

Dougless took hold of Justan's arm, "Come on. Work time's over." He dragged the engineer towards a turbolift.

"Where are we going?" Justan asked.

"The station."

---

The repair work went accordingly and after two days, the Fresno was headed back to the Romulan Neutral Zone.

In the conference lounge, Burke was listening to his senior officers report on their rest and relaxation.

"Aside from fixing a few bones" Taylor said glaring at Commander Justan "I was able to catch up on the latest medical technologies the Federation's investigating."

Ensign Julie Tompson smiled "Couldn't keep away from the springball court myself. Hope I didn't hurt you too bad commander."

Justan shook his head. "Only my pride ensign." He looked to Dougless "You could have warned me she was a pro."

Dougless shrugged his shoulders. "Don't look at me, I didn't know about it."

Burke chuckled "Don't worry commander, you're not the only one she's beaten." He turned his attention to his Tactical Officer "What about you Dobson?"

Commander Dobson slid a PADD across the table. "I received this information from one of the station's engineers. I'm not sure on what to make of it."

Burke looked the information over "This engineer, did she have long red hair?"

"Down to her shoulders, yes sir."

Burke nodded "She spoke to me as well." He thumbed through a few more pages of information before setting the PADD back down on the table. "It's none of our concern at the moment." Looking to Justan, he changed topics. "What's the status of the warp core?"

"They sure did a fine job fixing her sir." The engineer replied "Couldn't have done a better job myself. All systems are fully operational."

Burke nodded his approval. "What about the torpedo guidance system?"

Dobson nodded "I agree, the station did a fine job, but I would like to test it out on something before going into combat sir."

"No time like the present." Burke said "Ensign Tompson, take us to a good place for some target practice. Dismissed."

A half hour later the Fresno dropped out of warp near a dense area full of ship debris.

On the Bridge, Burke's senior offices prepared for the drill. "Shields up." Burke said, "Fire when ready."

Dobson activated a few controls on his console. "Detaching safeties on torpedo's one and two. Firing."

The torpedoes did exactly what they were programmed to do. Exiting the Fresno, they colided with the hull of a broken down vessel. Dobson continued the drill with two more torpedos at which point he was satisifed. With that completed, the Fresno cloaked and continued on its way towards the Neutral Zone.

Burke was sitting in his Ready Room reviewing various reports. He rubbed his head as he looked at the amount of new information that he and his crew needed to know. He picked up the PADD that Dobson had given him and reviewed the report again.

He didn't really know what to make of the information. Most of it was encoded to be released at a future date. He didn't know why the engineer had given Dobson the papers on the NX Class Starship in the first place. That type of vessel hadn't been used in a long time. He was curious about the encrypted information and what it might hold.

On the bridge, Ensign Tompson was seated at her duty station reviewing some upgrades to the helm design and trying to become ue to them. As in the past, she opted not to read the technical manual until it was absolutly necessary. She turned in her chair to the operations officer sitting on her left, "You know, I get use to a helm configuration and they go and change it on me."

Commander Dougless nodded and smiled "Yeah, tell me about it." He too was going though modification shock on the ops console.

"Why do they need these improvments anyway?"

Dougless shrugged his shoulders, "I think they're to help in the Neutral Zone. At least that's what Commander Justan said."

"Ensign, is there a problem?" R'Jor asked from behind.

Julie turned in her chair to face the First Officer, "No ma'am, sorry." Her panel made a beeping noise calling her attention. As Tompson turned to see what it was that alerted her, she noticed the captain exiting his ready room.

"All stop ensign." Burke said. He took the center seat and tapped his hand on his arm rest. "Commander Dougless what alerted the sensors?"

Dougless activated the sensor protocols. After a moment or two he nodded, "Sir, there is a long range communications array about twenty-five feet to port." He continued to make a few more scans, "From the looks of it, it's been there for over two-hundred years."

Burke shook his head, "Is that all." His voice was lower than usual, almost depressed. "Very well. Helm..."

"Captain." The tactical officer said.

Burke looked towards Dobson, "Yes Commander?"

The Bolian continued "The array is hailing us. It's an automated general hail."

Burke nodded, "On screen."

The view screen flickered as the comm array attempted the transfer. After it locked onto the correct frequency, the message played. A man wearing a uniform from the early years of Starfleet spoke. "This is Captain Allen of the United Space Ship San Francisco. If you are seeing this message, my crew did not complete their mission and we are dead."

R'Jor stood from her chair and took a few steps forward. Her mouth dropped open.

Burke noticed her out of the corner of his eye, "R'Jor, you OK?"

She barely allowed a nod. "I'm not sure, give me a minute."

The message continued. "You should be receiving our vessels' location. I request that you try and find our vessel. On behalf of my crew, please take our bodies back to Earth for a proper burial. Captain Allen out."

The captain's image was replaced with an older style image that said END TRANSMISSION.

Burke watched his officers give each other confused looks. "I'll be right back." John walked exited the Bridge into this Ready Room and came back a few seconds later carrying the same PADD he was looking over earlier. As he came back onto the Bridge he looked to Ensign Tompson. "Did we receive the coordinates as the message said?"

Julie nodded. "Yes sir."

"Captain" R'Jor said, "Permission to go to Sickbay, I'm not feeling well."

"Of course." Burke replied, he turned his attention back to Julie. "Set a course and engage at warp six."

"Captain, I must object to this course of action." Dobson said, "Another vessel can track down the San Francisco. We have a mission to complete."

"Your objection is noted." Burke said, "I doubt the Neutral Zone will be going anywhere. We have the time." He looked over the PADD, that engineer knew something and he didn't take the time to listen.

"Aye sir." Dobson said. The matter was closed and he wasn't about to object again.

An hour later, Burke was in Sickbay. He was called there by the Chief Medical Officer.

"What are you saying doctor?"

Burke was seated across from Doctor Tayler in her office. Doctor Taylor was telling the captain of some startling information she had just found out. "I'm saying that the R'Jor Symbiont is acting abnormally, the readings are almost off the scale."

Burke looked at her with disbelief. "What can you do for her?"

"I have the commander sedated for now." Taylor said. She stood and they walked out into the main surgical bay. "The computer's replicating an agent to counter act the symptoms. I should be able to administer it within the hour."

Burke nodded "What caused it?"

Taylor shrugged her shoulders, "It could have been a number of things. Too much stress is the most possible answer." She folded her arms, "We have been out in space for a while." She said, "To your knowledge, has she ever had these problems before?"

Burke shook his head, "Never."

Taylor nodded "I didn't think so. There's nothing abnormal in her medical history, except for the fact that she has had flashbacks from the Symbint that have confused her from time to time. But we already knew about that."

"What can I do for her doctor?"

Taylor rested a hand on the captian's shoulder trying to comfort him. "Nothing for the moment. I'll call you if her situation changes."

"Alright, I'll be on the bridge." He turned and walked out the door into the hallway. "Come on Kim, get through this." Burke said under his breath. The ship shuddered for a few seconds. Burke could tell they were dropping out of warp.

"Captain Burke to the bridge please." A voice on his commbadge said.

Burke tapped the badge, "I'm on my way."

As Captain Burke entered the bridge he noticed the view screen. On it was, what he assumed to be, the San Francisco. "Report."

Commander Dougless stood from the captains chair and sat back down at the Operations Console. "She's an NX class vessel in what appears to be perfect condition."

Burke checked a few readouts himself. "What are the power readings?"

"She's completely powered down. After this many years, I'd be shocked if she had any power left in her at all."

"Yeah." Burke said. He had never seen a vessel of that class up close before. It was exciting and mysterious at the same time. "Burke to Justan, you up for an away mission?"

"Name the transporter room." Justan's voice came through the commline.

"Number three, I'll be there with an away team shortly." Burke said.

"Right, Justan out."

Burke looked around the bridge, "Dougless come with me. Commander Dobson, you have the bridge."

The lift ride was a quiet one. Burke had half of his mind worrying about Kim and the other half was wondering about the San Francisco.

Captain's Log, Supplimental
We are beaming over to the starship that bascially called out to us from the dead. I can only wonder what awaits us over there. What is she still doing out here after all these years, why hasn't anyone else picked up her signal, not to mention the communications relay we ran into. These are only a few questions that I want answered. I don't even know if there will be answers for those questions. Dead crews don't usually have the ability to tell you what happened to them. End Log.

Burke, Justan, and Dougless re-materialized on the San Franciscos' Main Bridge. It was dark and silent. Because of the fact that there was no oxygen in the ship, they wore space suits. Burke looked to Justan, "Get some power in these consoles and the lights up."

Justan nodded, "Aye." He opened an engineering kit and went to work.

Burke made his way towards the captains' chair, which was still occupied by the commanding officer. Because of no oxygen, the bodies on the bridge were in the same condition as when the crew died. "What a way to go." Burke said, "Suffocation?"

Dougless nodded in agreement. He took out a tricorder and ran a scan on the armory officer, "Yes sir." Then he added, "They died at their posts."

Burke looked around the bridge, because of his palm beacon he had a limited field of vision. After a moment, the lights came on and the consoles activated. "Got it." Justan said with pride.

Beep Beep Beep. A cycling beeping sound filled the bridge.

"What is that?" Burke asked.

Dougless made his way over to the communications station. He carefully moved the body of a young man out of the way so he could access the controls. "It appears to be a distress signal captain."

"Can you shut it down?"

Dougless nodded, "I think so." He worked the controls as best he could, not use to pressing buttons, pulling levers, and turning dials. Touch screens were something he took for granted. The bridge went silent as the disress call was terminated.

Commander Justan walked over to the Science Station. Accessing the controls, he turned to Burke. "Getting the power up was almost too easy sir." He said.

Burke nodded, "What about life support?"

Dougless checked a few more controls, "I'm not reading anything. I'll run a level one diagnostic on ship systems." As he ran the scan he became more accustomed to the vessels sytems. "Sir the San Francisco's systems, except for life support, are running at almost one hundred percent."

"How can that be?" Justan asked. "She's been adrift for over two hundred years." He walked towards the turbolift. "I'd like to check out engineering. They only had a top speed of warp five, it would be interesting to examine their Matter Anti-Matter Reaction Chamber."

Burke held up a hand, "Negative commander. We need to get this ship back to a Section 31 Base, they can figure out the rest of the mystery and return the bodies back to Earth."

Justan nodded and walked away from the door, "Aye sir."

"Is she capable of warp tow?" Burke asked.

Dougless checked the diagnostic readouts again. "If we set the hull polarization to fifty percent, she should be able to handle the tractor beam."

"Get it done."

A half hour later, the Fresno and the San Francisco were in warp heading back to Base Delta. The senior officers were gathered in the conference lounge.

"They all died at their posts." Burke was telling the rest of his senior officers what they found over on the San Francisco.

Tompson shivered for a second. "Yikes."

"Captain," Justan began, "Not to be rude sir, but why didn't you want to investigate the situation further? This is probably the only NX Class vessel you'll ever run into and you didn't want to check it out."

Burke nodded, "Commander R'Jor fell ill because of that ship. Doctor Taylor still hasn't been able to figure out why the Symbiont is reacting the way it is. I didn't want to put your lives in danger as well." He rested his hand on the table. "Doctor, how is Kim doing?"

Taylor sat forward in her chair, "As well as can be expected sir. Base Delta might be able to figure out what happened." She passed a PADD down the table, "In case you were wondering, I was able to identify most of the San Francisco's crew. The computer is still working on the remaining six officers."

Burke read over the information, "Where are the bodies?"

"I placed them in the holodecks." She shruggedher shoulders, "I figured a simulation of a morge would be most appropirate for them."

"Good. We should be arriving within three hours." Burke said, "I'm not sure when we'll leave the dock, I need to have some questions answered. Another vessel will be dispached to clear up the problems in the Neutral Zone." He paused, "Commander Jutan, I have been given permission to allow you to check that vessel out. You will assist the engineering team with their work."

"Thank you sir." Justan said, "I appreicate it."

Burke nodded, "Dismissed."

The hours passed rather quickly. And Burke found himself back in the hallway where he had met Terry. As he walked down the hall, he found her standing by a window. The PADD with the information she had given Dougless was in his hand yet again.

"So, you found it huh?" The Betazoid asked.

Burke nodded, "Yes. Not to mention the questions that have risen because of it." He held out the PADD for Terry to see, "What's in the encrypted portion?"

Terry looked at the PADD and then back to Burke, "If you brought that ship back without knowing, you're too late."

Burke shook his head, "I followed procedure to the letter." He said.

"Are you sure?" She asked, "You didn't have your questions answered, you had to come all the way back to the starbase to ask me."

"My curiosity wasn't important."

Terry looked out the window at the NX Class Starship. "You've changed John."

Burke took a step back, something was familiar about how she said his first name. "Are you sure we haven't met before?"

She smiled, "Yeah earlier today."

"No, before that." Burke said.

Terry didn't reply, she just smiled.

---

In Sickbay aboard the Fresno, Doctor Taylor continued to make scans of Commander R'Jor. R'Jor was awake laying on the main bio bed. "What happened exactly?"

Taylor looked up from her Tricorder. "I'm not sure."

R'Jor sat up allowing her legs to dangle off the edge of the bed. "I have to go." She started to stand up.

Taylor held up a hand, "No commander, I need to run a few more tests."

R'Jor shook her head, "No, I have to go." She formed a fist and hit Taylor across the face. She went down to the deck unconscious. Kim exited Sickbay and headed down the hallway towards a turbolfit. Once inside, she gave the computer a destination. "Transporter Room Two."

---

On the station, Burke continued to try and get the information from Terry, but she wouldn't budge. "Come on, I know I've seen you somewhere before."

He turned to face the window and saw the San Francisco starting to leave the spacedock. "Burke to Justan, what's going on?"

"I'm not sure sir, the ship just activated her impulse engines. I'm on my way to the bridge to check it out." Justan's voice said over a static filled commline.

The ship continued its way through the spacedock doors and went into warp. "Burke to Fresno, lay in a pursuit coarse and beam me aboad." He vanished as a transporter beam took him away.

Once Burke was aboard the Fresno, he basically ran towards the turbolift that would take him to the bridge. What on earth is going on here? He thought. When the lift arrived at the bridge, he immediately went to his command chair. "Report!"

Dougless sat down at his console, "We are in pursuit of the San Francisco as ordered sir. We should reach up to her within five minutes."

Burke nodded, "Ready a tractor beam, and get me Commander Justan on the line."

Dobson's fingers danced across the tactical console. "Some kind of dampening field is interfering with our communictions sir. I can't get raise the San Francisco."

Burke slammed his fist against the arm of his chair, Come on Mark, talk to me. "Keep trying."

Aboard the San Francisco, Commander Justan arrived to the bridge. As he entered, he saw Commander R'Jor at the helm. The engineering staff of Base Delta were on the deck. Apparently the commander overpowered them. He approached the helm, "Commander?"

Commander R'Jor turned slightly in her chair, "What are you doing here?" In her hand was a phaser which she had trained on him.

Justan looked at the phaser and then back to R'Jor, "I might ask you the same question."

R'Jor didn't answer, she kept one hand working the controls with the other hand ready to fire if approached.

Justan walked over to the communications station and looked at the controls. He tapped his commbadge, "Justan to Fresno." There was no answer. Justan started to operate the controls trying to raise his ship, but had little luck.

R'Jor looked to Justan, "That won't work commander, I've disabled all communications. Even you can't bring them back on-line."

Justan sat down in a chair. He needed to figure out what exactly was going on. "Commander, what are you up to? Why did you comendeer this vessel?"

R'Jor didn't answer.

Justan ran his fingers through his hair. "Come on, there must be a reason."

Beep Beep.

Justan stood from his chair and walked to the station that was adject to it. He checked the readout to find out what was going on. "The Fresno." Mark said under his breath.

R'Jor looked to Justan, "No, I won't allow them."

The ship rocked slightly as the Fresno attempted a tractor beam lock. R'Jor changed course to avoid them from completing the task. "Let's see if you can handle this." She walked towards the armory station and brought the main Pulse Cannons on-line. Justan started to walk towards the helm. "Not there." R'Jor said, "The captain's chair." She pointed the phaser in his direction yet again. Justan took a few steps back and sat down in the command chair as ordered.

On the bridge of the Fresno the red alert klaxon sounded. "Incoming fire sir." Dobson said as the ship rocked from side to side. "Forward shields down to ninety-eight percent. Shall I return fire?"

Burke didn't want to, but knew it was necessary. "Target their aft Pulse Cannon. Fire."

The viewscreen lit up as the phasers found their target. "Direct hit sir." Dobson reported, "The cannon is off-line."

"Sir, the San Francisco is dropping out of warp." Dougless said.

Burke nodded, "Helm, drop to impulse. Tactical ready phasers." John stood from the command chair. "Burke to Transporter Room Two, can you get a lock on Commander Justan?"

"No sir. There is a dampening field in place. It will take a while to punch through it."

Burke sighed, "Understood."

"Sickbay to Captain Burke." Doctor Taylor's voice came through the commline.

"Go ahead."

"Captain, Commander R'Jor attacked me, I just came to. The computer says she's not on board."

"What?" Burke asked, "Understood. You might have incoming wounded in an hour or so."

"I'll be ready, Taylor out."

Burke looked to the ceiling. "Computer, what was the last known location of Commander R'Jor?"

"Commander R'Jors' last known location was Transporter Room Two."

"Where did she beam to?" Burke asked.

"The San Francisco."

Burke looked to Dougless, "Get me a transporter lock, I don't care how you do it get me a lock."

Dougless nodded, "Aye sir."

The San Francisco turned about and headed towards the Fresno. Deploying her forward cannons, she attacked the Fresno with an all out assult. Burke fell to the deck, "Report!"

Dobson's fingers again flew over the console, "Forward shields down to eighty percent, the port warp nacelle is off-line. Shall I return fire sir?"

Burke hesitated, he didn't want to destroy the vessel or harm his wife. But she needed to be stopped. "Aye. Fire at will, avoide the warp core."

Doboson nodded, "Aye sir."

The Fresno let several volley of phaser fire go disabling the San Francisco; soon the battle was over. The San Francisco's dampening field was destroyed allowing R'Jor, Justan and the engineering crew to be beamed safely aboard.

---

Captain's Log Supplimental
After two days, our warp engines are back up and running. We have retrieved our crewmembers and are taking the San Francisco back towrds Base Delta again. There is no explanation of why Commander R'Jor took the vessel or where she was headed. I've ordered her to Sickbay so Doctor Taylor can run a complete scan on both her and the R'Jor Symbiont, hopefully she will have some answers to my questions. End Log.

In Sickbay Burke was standing next to a bio bed where his wife was laying. "What's her condition doctor?" He asked.

Doctor Taylor shook her head. "I'm finding no trace of whatever was wrong with her two days ago sir. It's most puzzling." She ran a Tricorder scan of the commander, "She appears to be in perfect health."

Burke nodded, "Can you revive her?"

Taylor picked up a hypospray. "Computer, activate the restraining field."

"Field Activated."

She placed the hypo next to R'Jors' neck and activated the device.

R'Jor woke up startled. "What? What happened?" She looked up to Burke.

Burke looked to his wife. "Maybe you could tell us."

R'Jor closed her eyes, trying to figure out the scrambled mess that was going through her head. "Last thing I remember was being on the bridge of the San Francisco. What prompted me to steal that ship in the first place?" She continued to think and then opened her eyes after finding the answer. "That's it. When I saw the recording that Allen made I recognized him, and I knew that I needed to keep that vessel in space."

Burke was confused, "What do you mean? You were controlled by some kind of alien force?"

R'Jor shook her head. "No sir. That vessel was never meant to be returned to Starfleet. A previous host of mine was aboard that ship undercover from the Trill homeworld. Some kind of accident happened trapping that ship. It's what killed the crew. I can't explain it very well, the Symbiont's memories of the incident aren't very clear. The host somehow made it away from the ship and never returned."

"So you acted willingly?"

R'Jor nodded, "Aye sir. I expect I'll be reduced in rank because of this."

Burke didn't care about that at the moment. "Why wasn't that ship suppose to be returned home?"

R'Jor shook her head, "I'm not sure, I just know that she wasn't suppose to be returned to Starfleet. Or Section 31, it's dangerous."

"How so?" Taylor asked.

R'Jor continued to shake her head, "I'm not sure."

"Since you don't have any concrete evidence, I'll have to tow the vessel back to Base Delta. They can take care of it there. I'll give you a warning for now, but don't act upon previous host's actions again. Okay."

R'Jor hesitated, "But sir..."

"No commander." Burke said cutting her off. He turned to Taylor, "Is she fit for duty?"

Taylor nodded, "As long as she comes in for a physical tomorrow morning. She can go back to her duties."

Burke nodded, "Very well." He took Commander R'Jor by the hand and they exited Sickbay.

On the Bridge Captain Burke was ready to get under way. "Helm, set course for Base Delta once again." He paused, hopefully this will be the last time we see that starbase for a while. "Activate a tractor beam onto the San Francisco and Engage at warp five."

The viewscreen lit up as an explosion erupted destroying the San Francisco.

Dobson checked his readings "We have just launched two torpedoes at the vessel, she's gone sir."

"Dobson!" Burke yelled.

R'Jor stood from her chair, "It wasn't him sir. I authorized the launch."

Burke looked to his wife, "Why?"

"I told you, that ship is dangerous." Kim stood her ground.

Burke motioned towards his Ready Room. "Let's talk." They exited the bridge.

Tompson turned to Dougless "She's in trouble."

Dougless looked to the ensign, "As you were ensign."

In Burke's Ready Room, he stood face to face with his officer. "You disobeyed my orders commander."

R'Jor nodded, "Yes sir."

"If you can't follow orders, maybe you should step down and allow someone who will." Burke said.

R'Jor stood at attention. "I am prepared to accept whatever punishment you see fit sir."

Burke reached up and took off one of the commander's rank pips. "Commander Kim R'Jor, you are reduced in rank to Lt. Commander. After a period of time in the brig, you will remain in your quarters during your off duty hours." He tapped his commbadge. "Burke to Dobson report to my Ready Room."

A moment later, Commander Dobson entered the Ready Room. "Yes sir?"

Burke looked to R'Jor and then to Dobson. "Please escort Commander R'Jor to the brig."

Dobson nodded, "Aye sir. How long will she be in there sir?"

Burke sighed. "Until I tell you to let her out."

Dobson nodded, "Aye sir." He looked to R'Jor, "If you'll come with me."

R'Jor turned and exited the Ready Room with Dobson not too far behind. Burke looked towards the window, outside were the remains of the San Francisco. At least they were able to evacutate the dead officers who had died in the line of duty. There were still too many questions to be answered, and because of recent events he decided not to pursue those answers. He tapped his comm badge. "Burke to Bridge."

"Dougless here sir."

"Set a course for Base Delta and engage at warp five." Burke said.

As the Fresno went into warp, Burke felt helpless. He was angry that his wife would do such a thing. That she would violate his orders like that. It would have been easier if she had been under some kind of alien control, but it wasn't that way. She had done it by her own free will. He could not dismiss her actions or forget them.

The End

Tracking The Orlando

Warning: this is my first attempt at a first person story. Taking place in the mind and actions of Commander Kim R'Jor (The Fresno's first officer). I know it's not much, right now it's mostly just a log report of the first officer. In the future, I might make an expanded version of the story. But we shall see...

It's probably not that great, so read without care of correctness.

---

Offical Report
Commander Kim R'Jor
Section 31 - Rockledge Division

First officer's log, Stardate 53247.1. Commander Kim R'Jor Recording. Security lockout delta four enabled for this recording only.

I was ordered by my commanding officer (and husband) to make some kind of record to account for the lost Federation Starship Orlando. I must admit that this is highly unusual for Captain Burke to request a record be made, since our missions are not to be recorded in anyway whatsoever, but I will follow my captian's orders.

"Computer, pause." I said before beginning the actual report. I remembered all of the events almost too clearly. Remembered the orders, the chase and attack and that cadets look on his face. "Computer resume."

This whole mess began about three weeks ago. I was on the bridge, we were running some standard tests on the Fresno's main deflector dish. It had been giving us problems over the previous two days and Captain Burke wanted the dish up to specifications before moving the Fresno another inch. Because of the sector we were in, near the Romulan Neutral Zone, we were under cloak. Commander Justan had tried to inform the captain that the dish was nothing to worry about, but he insisted that it be checked into.

Anyway, back to the bridge. I was seated in my chair next to the captain's waiting patiently as Commander Dougless, the Operations Officer on duty, was almost finished with his calibrations. I watched as he worked through the calculations that would give the Fresno sight again.

Once he was finished, Commander Dougless looked back to my husband and reported "All done here sir, ready to bring the dish online."

John just nodded his head as usual then looked to me as if to say 'you want to do the honors?' I smiled and ordered Dougless to bring the dish to life.

After about three minutes of activity, a red alert klaxon went off. I immediately checked my terminal that was next to my chair. I reported that some kind of displacement wave was heading directly for the Fresno.

Captain Burke ordered the main viewscreen activated towards the location of the wave. As the viewer came to life, I could hear a few gasps across the bridge. I couldn't blame them, this was the first displacement wave we had ever run across since our being posted to the Fresno.

"Impact in forty-three seconds!" Dougless said. I watched as he ran his fingers across the control console and continued to make readings.

Captain Burke sat there and made a few calculations himself. After a moment, he stood from his chair and walked towards Ensign Tompson, our helmsmen. "Ensign, plot a course out of there and engage and full impulse."

I could understand why the captain didn't order for warp, no one would be able to predict what would happen if the ship went to warp. The field could destabilize the warp field and take us out within a matter of minutes. Don't get me wrong, Section 31's ship building was good, but not that good.

I'd have to commend the ensign, she kept a cool head and soon we were traveling away from the wave. After about twenty seconds, the captain ordered a course change and took us out of the wave's path entirely. That's when we noticed something strange.

I looked back to my console and for an instant I thought I saw a vessel appear from out of nowhere. Thinking it was a sensor ghost, I allowed it to escape my attention. But after another second or two, it appeared again.

"Captain, I'm reading a Defiant-class vessel on our six."

I turned around in my chair to face the tactical officer, Commander Mike Dobson. I hadn't been imagining things after all. As the captain ordered a complete stop, I checked the display again. Somehow the displacement wave had made their vessel visible. I don't know if it was invisible to our sensors before because of the problems we had been having with our main deflector dish, or if the displacement wave had something to do with it.

I stood from my chair and walked towards the aft science station. Running a few scans, I noticed something odd about the vessel and reported in. "I don't think she wanted to be found sir."

Captain Burke looked towards my direction, "What?" He asked with what appeared to be a confused look.

I continued to run sensor scans on both the vessel and the displacement wave. I found that the vessel was equiped with some type of cloaking device. It was not standard Romulan or Klingon issue and was having power fluctuations because of the displacement wave. I reported my findings.

Captain Burke looked at me with disbelief in his eyes. I could only think of what was going on through his mind. No one else in this sector should have a cloaking device. That could only amount to one of two things, either Section 31 was trying to keep tabs on us; or someone had found out about our existence and was investigating.

At the front of the bridge, Captain Burke looked at the viewscreen. "Visual." He watched as the viewer switched to a vessel phasing in and out of cloak. From my scans, they were having trouble operating the device. John looked back towards me, "Have they detected us?"

I shook my head, "Not to my knowledge sir."

John nodded and folded his arms. "Helm, take us out of this area slowly." He paused for a few seconds, "I don't want to aprise them of our position." At the helm, Ensign Tompson complied with her orders and we started moving.

After about twenty mintues, we were away from the vessel and on our way towards the Neutral Zone. My shift was almost over and it was almost twenty two hundred hours, I decided to turn in early to be ready for the next day.

I didn't get much sleep. Around zero three hundred, I was called to the briefing room. I remember thinking that whatever was disturbing my restful sleep had better be good.

As I exited my quarters and headed towards the turbolift, I ran into Doctor Taylor. Apparently, she had just been woken up herself. We usually don't get along, but that morning we had a better understanding of each other. Both of us were tired and wanted to strangle whoever had interrupted our sleep.

"Bridge!" Kelley said in a forceful tone. I didn't care how she said the command, either way it would take us to our destination.

Why couldn't they have waited till morning? I asked myself over and over again.

The doctor looked to me with some, "You ok?"

I decided not to complain about the incident because it might be something important. So I just shook my head and road the lift in silence.

When we got to the conference lounge, the rest of the senior staff were still in uniform. Kelley looked to me and shrugged, we weren't in uniform, "They said it in an urgent manner." I laughed and we sat down at the table.

"We have a problem." John said while tapping his fingers on the table. I Hated it when he did that, it annoyed me. Reaching out to his hand, I quieted it.

My attention was turned to the outside window where a Defaint-Class vessel was sitting, waiting for something. I pointed to the window.

At that time, Justan stood from his chair and walked over to the window. "She's the Orlando." The commander explained, "Full of cadets." He continued to tell us that the crew was aware of Section 31. They had made scans of our computer core and gatherd highly confidential information.

I looked to John, he knew what was going on through my mind. I opened my mouth to speak, but he put his finer up to his lips to keep me quiet. Justan continued his report.

"Our orders are to search the vessel destroying any documents about us and our organization. We let them go after wiping their memories."

I stood from my chair and protested. "We should destroy them now." That's when Dobson spoke up.

"We can't, they're equipped with a little more fire power than our vessel can handle." He slid a padd down the table towards me, I ignored the padd waiting to hear from him. "Apparently, she outguns us two to one."

I shook my head no. It didn't matter what they could do, it was our duty to destroy that vessel at any cost. We wouldn't have been following our mission if we let such a threat go free with the knowledge they had.

Burke apparently agreed with the rest of them. "I'm ordering a security detail to be..." As he was talking, the Orlando jumped into warp and left us in the dust. We immediately jumped from our chairs and headed towards our duty stations.

On the bridge, Ensign Tompson had the ship following the Orlando's warp signature before the captain even ordered it. Talk about efficient. We were soon on their tail, but things weren't adding up. Why would a vessel even bother to contact us if all they were going to do was run away?

My thought process was interrupted as they fired a shot across our bow. "Shield's down to eight-five percent." The computer said in a way that only the computer could talk. Cold and collected.

We fired back.

The fight lasted another thirty minutes before we were forced to power down our main phaser coupling. Our torpedos were still going strong, unfortunately the Orlando's shields were holding as well.

"I need a way to get through those shields!" John said to anyone within earshot.

After a moment of silent, Dougless turned in his chair. "Captain, I think we can initiate a deulonic pulse into their shields to drain them and bring them down."

I looked to Dougless hoping he knew what he was talking about. A pulse of that magnitude could wear our systems out as well. It was a major gamble but if it worked, we would have the ship in no time.

The captain orderd the pulse. Seconds later the Orlando's shields dropped and her warp field destabalized. She was dead in the water. The captain ordered me to board the vessel. With a phaser in hand, I with a security team materialized aboard the Orlando's bridge.

When we finished the materialization process, the bridge was empty. I figured the crew had probably gone to arm themselves. So we waited for them to come to us. After five minutes, the cadet in charge entered the bridge. He wore the rank of captain.

I remembered Starfleet's reports of the Federation Starship Valiant under the temporary command of cadets. Their regular officers were killed in an attack by the Dominion and so the captain, before he died, promoted a cadet to the rank of captain and gave him command of the vessel. I assumed something similar happened to this crew. But I didn't care about that, I had a mission to complete.

As the cadet in charge approached me he lowered his weapon. He addressed me as though he were of higher rank than myself. Which I didn't approve or recognize."

"Cadet" I said, "You will adhere to the Uniform code of Starfleet Justice and turn yourself over to my security guards." He didn't feel like cooperating.

The cadet stood still and rolling his eyes explained that his name was Chris Duncan and that he held the combat command rank of captain. Raising his phaser, he spoke to me. "Commander, you will return to your vessel at once and we will overlook this incident."

I ignored the phaser for the moment and walked closer to the cadet. "Excuse me?" I asked looking him in the eyes.

The cadet looked straight back and said "I said get off my ship!"

Things were starting to make sense by then. These were cadets, they knew nothing of combat and so their tactics were not up to spec. I smiled back at him, "Listen cadet." Using his proper rank instead of the one he had been given by a lucid officer who was near death.

Duncan simply became more angry with me. Pointing to the four rank pins on his collar he yelled at me, "It's captian. I outrank you commander." He stammered expecting me to flinch, but I kept my cool.

I took hold of the four pins and ripped them off his uniform. I told him that he should consider himself relieved of command and with a smirk on my face arrested him under article 47 section 3 for stealing information from our databanks and firing on us without provocation. I contacted my ship and requested a skeleton crew be requested from a Section 31 base to take the vessel back to Federation held space. They informed us to sedate the crew and tow the vessel to base 31 Epsilon who would take care of it. At first I thought we were going to have problems and a fire fight by trying to sedate the crew, but they calmed down after one of their classmates happened to befall an unfortunate accident.

A half hour later I returned to the Fresno. We took the Orlando in tow and dropped her off at base 31 Epsilon near the Romulan Neutral Zone.

End Log.

Welcome Aboard

Captain Burke stepped off the shuttle towards a small platform. He looked around the shuttlebay of his new command, a Galaxy-Class vessel. Burke remembered the day that Starfleet contacted him offering the newly designated ship and project to him. He remembered the last vessel named Fresno, an Intrepid-class that went down in flames. Starfleet had cleared his officers of all charges placed against them declaring they did everything under their power to stop the Fresno from being destroyed. After the trial, an admiral approached John and offered him another vessel.

Burke recalled the expression on the admiral's face. It wasn't that of complete trust, considering how many vessels John had lost over the years and the circumstances under each loss. He would have to prove to Starfleet that he would be up to the task.

Shuttlebay Two was full of officers in dress uniform waiting for Burke to take command. Some of them had been with him aboard his last vessel, there were too many new faces that he needed to get to know. Burke expected their loyalty. Ever since he left Section 31, Burke found it took time to grow accustomed to the way Starfleet wanted things done. But over the years, he was able to fall back into the routine of being a regular Starfleet officer again.

Too-wee-ooo. An ensign blew a small whistle. The room stood at attention.

Burke picked up a PADD and read from it. "To Captain John Burke. You are hereby requested and required to take command of Project Alpha One as of this date. The newly designated starship U.S.S. Fresno NX-14785 is cleared for this project. It is recommended that you use the Fresno for your research. Signed Vice-Admiral Alynna Nechayev, Starfleet Command."

Burke walked up to his senior officers. "Report."

Commander R'Jor looked to her husband. "The Fresno is ready for your inspection sir."

Burke looked to Commander Justan, "Even the engine room?"

Commander Justan smiled, "Yes sir."

Burke smiled back, "Dismissed." At his command his officers exited the shuttlebay leaving him alone. Burke looked around once more, it didn't feel like home yet. It would take time for the vessel to become familiar. Burke exited the bay to explore his new vessel.

---

Captain's Log, Stardate 53124.6:
I hereby take command of the newly commissioned Project Alpha One along with the likewise newly commissioned Galaxy-Class Vessel U.S.S. Fresno NX-14785. At first Starfleet was going to give the Fresno another registry number. After a brief talk that lasted for three days with the head of Starfleet, I managed to convince them to keep the name and registry number the same as the last vessel I commanded.

All of my Senior Officers from the former Starship Fresno have transferred over to this vessel with me. I am greatful that each of them took the opportunity to continue to serve under my leadership.

I only hope this Fresno will not meet her sister's fate.

The inspection didn't last long. In fact it went by rather quickly for the captain. He was sitting in his ready room looking over schematics for the Fresno, getting to know the vessel better. It was a tradition of his ever since his first command. Burke got lost on his first vessel and decided not to let it happen again.

"Bridge to Burke." His first officer's voice came though the commline.

Burke tapped his commbadge. "Go ahead."

"Engineering is reporting minor power fluctuations in the main impulse drive." R'Jor said, "I thought you might want to be informed."

Burke nodded, "Understood. Burke out." The impulse drive, he thought. Guess this ship's not perfect after all. Burke exited the ready room.

The Fresno's Engineering Section was full of activity. As Burke entered the section, several engineering crew members from McKinley station came from another direction.

"Report." Burke said.

Commander Justan approached his commanding officer. "The main impulse drive is having complications. I wanted you to know before we started running Speed tests." He paused, "She's not quite space worthy, yet."

Burke sighed, "How much time will it take you to complete your repairs?"

Justan walked towards the master situation monitor and called up a few readings. "About an hour. These guys from McKinley will help out a lot."

Burke nodded, "Keep me informed." He exited the section and headed towards the nearest turbolift. This was not the way he wanted this command to begin. You'd think that after all of their years in service, McKinley station would have been able to detect this problem and prevented it.

The turbolift stopped on deck 12. Burke stepped out of the lift and walked down a corridor. As he was walking, a young ensign bumped into him.

"I'm sorry sir." The ensign said, "I should have watched where I was going."

Burke smiled, "It's all right, ensign. Just be more careful." Burke didn't recognize the officer, probably stright from the academy he thought.

"Computer to Captain Burke."

Burke tapped his commbadge, "Go ahead."

"Incoming transmission from Starfleet Command"

Burke sighed, what did Starfleet want now? "Transfer it to the holo-buffers, I'll take it in Holodeck 3."

The computer beeped, "Transfer complete."

Burke walked down the hallway until he reached the holodeck. The doors opened allowing him to enter. A holographic projection of a captain was standing before him.

"John, good to see you again." The officer said.

"Captain Saunders, what an unexpected surprise." Burke responded.

Saunders nodded, "It has been too long." He paused, "I know Starfleet assigned you to what was termed Project Alpha One, but I'm dismissing those orders. The Fresno is on active duty. Your first..."

"Excuse me captain, but under what authority do you do this?"

Saunders smiled, "Sloan contacted me personally."

Burke was astonished, he hadn't received orders from Section 31 for almost four years. "Why didn't you warn me to go secure?" He said, "Computer, secure this channel and seal the doors. Make no record of this conversation, authorization Burke Lambda 4."

The computer beeped in response "Acknowledged."

Saunders continued to smile. "Don't worry about it captain, I've taken care of it, there have been a few improvements in Section 31 technology since you were last with us." He said, "I've encoded your orders and are waiting for your eyes only in your quarters. Brief your senior staff but no one else."

Burke nodded, "Understood."

"Any questions?" Saunders asked.

Burke stopped to think. "Yes. If Sloan knew my status in the Rockledge Division of Section 31 would be reactivated, why give me such a large ship? Last time, it didn't work out that great..."

"You'll see. Saunders out." The holographic image disappeared.

Burke exited the holodeck and headed towards a turbolift that would take him to his quarters.

---

Captain Burke was seated at the head of a conference table in the Fresno's conference lounge. Around the table were his senior officers. As Burke looked to them, he could feel their loyalty to him and the Federation. He wondered how they would respond to working for Section 31. Burke's staff knew about Section 31, but they didn't know how deep he had been involved in the past. None of his officers had served with him during his days of Section 31, but soon they would be.

Burke looked to his officers. "What I am about to say might offend some of you. We've been together for a little over a year now, and I feel as though I can trust you to do the right thing." He picked up a glass of water from the table and took a drink. "If any of you feel you might be offended, please leave the room now and you will be reassigned to another vessel."

Burke waited for a few seconds to see how they would respond. He watched as his officers exchanged lookes of confusion, but no one made any attempt to stand from their chair.

"Very well" Burke continued, "Computer. Run program Burke 471 Authorization Burke Lambda 4."

"Doors sealed." The computer said.

Burke's senior officers continued to exchange uncertain looks at each other.

Burke looked at the glass of water in front of him, it was half full in his eyes. It was possible that his crew would think otherwise. Burke passed out PADDs to his officers. "I am offering you positions with Section 31, read over these, ask any questions you have."

One by one his officers took the PADDs and started to read through them. It was a short briefing on Section 31, the general idea behind the organization. Burke watched as their mouths hung open in disbelief. It was the normal reaction to learning about Section 31 for the first time.

Ensign Tompson broke the silence. "So it is true..."

"Yes ensign." Burke said. "I need to know how you all feel about this. Under normal circumstances, each of you would have been tested to see if you're ready for Section 31, but these are not normal circumstances." He looked around the table to his officers.

Doctor Taylor continued to read through the information. Commander Justan just smiled, he didn't care one way or the other. He would follow Captain Burke, and that was that. "I'm with you sir."

Commander Dougless looked to Burke probing his thoughts. "This is for real?" He asked.

"Yes."

Dougless sighed, "I always thought you were hiding something from me sir."

Burke nodded, "It wasn't easy to avoid your telepathic powers." Burke said to the Betazoid, "But my years in Section 31 taught me discipline."

Dougless looked to the PADD once more, "I'm in."

After that the other senior officers fell into line, except for Ensign Tompson who still had a few more questions up her sleave.

"Captain." She began.

Burke looked to the end of the table where Tompson was seated, "Yes ensign?"

"It's not logical sir." Tompson said, "I mean, how many members of the crew know about this?"

Burke pointed around the room, "Just us ensign."

"You won't be able to keep it secret sir, from what I've heard Section 31 is pretty... unorthodox compared to Federation standards."

"And how do you know that ensign?" Burke asked, tapping a few fingers on the table.

"I've heard things sir." She said.

Burke didn't want to have to clear her memory and send her to another post, but he would if necessary. "I need an answer ensign, now."

Julie looked at the report, picked a sentence and read it aloud for all to hear. "Starfleet Command doesn't acknowledge or deny the existance of Section 31. What's that suppose to mean?"

Burke pointed to the PADD, "I think it's all self explanitory ensign, I need an answer."

Tompson read over the report a few more times and then finally nodded, "All right, I'm in." What would it hurt? She had been with these officers for a little while and learned to trust them. One question did stick in her mind though. "Captain, why would we have such a large vessel?"

"That's the quesiton I had too ensign." Burke said, "Once our mission's complete we get a smaller vessel a fourth the size and a different class. This vessel is specified for this mission only." He said.

"What is our mission?" Dobson, the Fresno's chief of security asked.

Burke stood from his chair and walked to a wall viewer at the end of the room. As he activated the viewer, several maps appeared. "We are to investigate a possible Dominion threat near the Neutral Zone." He said, "We've received reports that a Jem'Hadar Warship has crossed the zone into Federation territory."

Taylor looked to Burke with shock. "The Jem'Hadar? There shouldn't be any Dominion vessels in the Neutral Zone, let alone the Alpha Quadrant."

Burke nodded, "Yes I know. The war has been over for a little over a year. If it is a Dominion vessel, we are to either escort it back to the Gamma Quadrant, or destroy it." Burke looked to Commander Justan, "Where are we at with the impulse drive?"

Justan nodded, "It checks out sir. We're ready to go."

Burke looked to his officers "You are not to disclose this information to any of the crew, I've been assured that they will follow my orders without question.

Commander R'Jor, the first officer, looked to her husband. "And what if they don't?"

"Then they will be dealt with. Dismissed."

The other senior officers stood from their chairs and stared to leave the room. Burke walked over to Tompson "Ensign, a moment please."

Julie stopped in her tracks. "Yes sir?" She turned to face the captain.

Burke looked to the ensign, there was more to her past than she knew. Burke had only received word of it before the briefing when he got the orders. "Ensign, what do you remember before we met in that hospital room at Starfleet Medical?"

Julie shook her head, "I still don't recall the shuttle accident, if that's what you mean." She said.

Burke nodded. She had been trying to remember the accident ever since he told her that day in the hospital room. He wasn't sure how she would respond to the information he was about to give her. "Ensign, there's something you don't know." Burke began, "You weren't in a shuttle accident. Your first assignment was aboard a Section 31 vessel, the Fearless."

Julie sat down in a nearby chair. "What?"

Burke picked up a PADD from the table and handed it to the ensign. "Here are the full details, if you care to take a look."

Tompson accepted the PADD and looked through it. "They erased my memories?!"

Burke nodded, "Yes. When I met you, there were too many unanswered questions. I guess the admirals did their best to cover up what really happened, but didn't do that great of a job. It took me a while, but I was able to find out the truth."

"Why are you telling me this?"

Burke had asked himself that question before and could only come up with one conclusion. "I wouldn't be a good commanding officer by keeping anything else from my crew. My involvement with Section 31 was one thing, but when it comes to the personal lives of my Senior Officers, that's a different story, at least to me."

Tompson handed the PADD back to Burke, "What do you expect of me?"

"To perform your duties as you always have." Burke said, "Set a course for the Neutral Zone and engage at Maximum Warp."

Tompson nodded, "Aye sir." They exited the conference lounge.

Burke was pleased his officers accepted their new positions. He didn't want to dismiss any of them from their duties aboard his vessel. Of course that was putting it mildly. If his crew had decided not to join him, they too would have had memories erased as well as a new assignment in ore processing on the other side of the Federation.

As Burke entered the Bridge, he took a long look around. It was typical of a Galaxy-Class vessel. The horshoe-like tactical station, the aft duty stations, and the forward stations Conn, and Ops. He walked down the ramp and sat in his command chair. It had been a while since John had been aboard a Galaxy-Class vessel, he had grown use to smaller ships half the size and a bit more manuverable, but this would do.

---

Three hours later, the Fresno dropped out of warp. Burke was still sitting in his command chair on the main bridge, he hadn't moved at all during the entire trip. Burke looked to Commander R'Jor, "Let's see what we've got."

R'Jor nodded, "Commander Dougless, run long range scans of the area, report anything out of the ordinary."

Dougless, at the operations console, nodded, "Aye." After a few minutes passed, the vessel went to red alert.

Burke stood from his chair, "Report."

"A Romulan Warbird is decloaking directly in our path." Commander Dobson, who was standing at tactical, reported. "They are hailing."

"On screen." Burke ordered.

The face of a romulan commander appeared on the screen. He didn't look too pleased to see the Fresno so close to his home.

Burke spoke first, "Romulan vessel, I am Captain Burke in command of the Federation Starship Fresno, why have to crossed over into our territory?"

The Romulan's stare was blank. "Captain Burke, it is you who have violated our territory. We know about your patrol vessel from the Dominion, it will not be tolerated!"

R'Jor stood from her chair and approached the main viewer, "Our patrol vessel?" She asked in a low tone.

Burke looked to Dougless as if to ask him to probe the Romulan's thoughts. The officer looked back and nodded as if to say the Romulan believed what he was saying. "We have reports that the vessel was crossing the Neutral Zone from your space into ours." Burke responded, "It is not under our control."

The Romulan laughed, "Come now captain, you must do better than that. Do you honestly want me to believe that you didn't have anything to do with those attacks on our outpost earlier this year?"

Burke nodded his head, "We are the first Federation Starship to have entered this region of space since the war with the Dominion ended. I promise you, we have no plans on attacking your territory." He hoped the Romulan would believe him, for it was the truth; but Burke didn't think that would happen.

As the Romulan Commander was about to continue with another accusation, he was thrown across the deck of his vessel. The commlink closed. Burke watched with disbelief, "Report."

"A Jem'Hadar vessel just fired on the warbird sir." Dobson said.

R'Jor walked back to her chair and accessed the sensor logs. It was true, the Jem'Hadar came out of no where. "The Romulans are in retreat back to their own territory." She said, "They probably think the Jem'Hadar came to our aid."

Burke walked back to his chair and sat down, "Ensign Tompson, evasive manuevers pattern Delta."

"Aye."

Captain Burke leaned forward in his chair as the Fresno was hit by a weapons blast. R'Jor checked her console, "Aft shields down to 95 percent."

"Return fire." Burke said, "Target their weapons platform." As Burke continued to issue orders, he opened a communications channel "Dominion vessel, this is Captain Burke of the Federation Starship Fresno, you will state your reasons for being in the Alpha Quadrant. I order you to stand down."

The Jem'Hadar fired again. "Life support failing on deck thirteen," R'Jor said, "Nonessential systems affected as well. Looks like McKinley needed to run another systems check..."

"Helm, move us to coordinates 153 mark 4. Tactical, keep firing on their weapons array." Burke ordered. "Dougless, keep trying to open a channel."

After another minute or two, the Jem"Hadar's weapons array finally went down. They were defensless, for the moment.

"They are hailing us." Dougless said, "They claim we are in violation of their territory."

Burked stood from his command chair. "Open a channel."

The viewscreen flickered as a Jem'Hadar warrior appeared. "I am First Dutakiklan, you are in Dominion held space." He stared at Burke straight in the eyes. The warrior meant business.

Burke stared back at his new oponinent. There was no reason for a Jem'Hadar vessel to be at the Fresno's location. Was the Dominion trying to take over the Alpha Quadrant again? "The war is over," Burke said "You have no claim on this territory, not anymore." He paused, "Let me speak to your Vorta."

"He's dead." The Jem'Hadar replied.

Burke sighed, why do they always have to be dead? "What are you doing in this region of space?" He walked closer to the main viewer hoping to show the Jem'Hadar that he wasn't afraid of him. Burke wanted to show as much confidence in his vessel and crew as he could, which would be an easy task.

"You have violated Dominion held space, and must be destroyed." The commlink closed.

Burke turned to face his tactical officer, "Very well. They want a fight, they've got one." With their weapons array down, it shouldn't be too difficult to destroy them.

Dobson nodded, "Aye." He was about to fire again, but noticed something out of the ordinary. "Captain, I just ran a scan on that vessel. There are several Romulan citizens aboard, as well as Humans, Bajorans, Klingons..." The list continued on with a dozen more species.

Burke nodded, "Now we know why we have a big ship." He said sarcastically. The Fresno was clearly meant to transport the survivors from the Jem'Hadar's grasp. "What is the status of their weapons array, how long will it take them to repair it?"

"About an hour." Dobson replied.

Burke tapped his commbadge, "Burke to Taylor."

The doctor's voice came through the line, "Taylor here."

"Doctor, in an hour or less we will be swamped with prisoners of a dozen different species. I want blood screenings run on all of them. After they're cleared, have someone from your staff find quarters for all of them."

"Understood, Taylor out."

Burke looked around the bridge, "Burke to transporter room six."

"Transporter room here."

"As you may not know, there is a Jem'Hadar vessel off our port bow filled with people we need to rescue. What kind of transporter lock can you get on them?" Burke asked.

The transporter chief paused for what seemed the longest time. "There appear to be forcefields in place where the prisoners are being kept" he said, "right now I can't get anything. You'd need to bring down the fields."

Burke nodded, "Understood, Burke out." He tapped his commbadge again, "Burke to engineering, report."

Down in Main Engineering, commander Justan was monitoring the engines. "Justan here." He answered to the captain's call.

"What is the engine status?" Burke asked.

"Funny you should ask." Justan replied, "I had to take the engines off-line. The main impulse drive started acting up again, and flooded the main nacells with some sort of radiation."

"How's that possible?"

Justan shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not sure sir. I was surprised myself. It's going to take at least a half hour to correct the problem."

"Understood, keep me informed, Burke out."

Burke walked up to the ops station. "Commander, what level of force fields are they using?"

Dougless ran a quick sensor scan, "Level five."

Burke paced around, "What kind of defense do we have against a level five field?"

Dobson looked up from his tactical station. "I could do it with a type four phaser."

Burke hesitated, "You would have to be in close contact with the field." He said.

Dobosn nodded, "Right next to it actually." He paused, "I'm ready sir."

Tompson, out of concern, stood from her chair, "You can't let him go alone sir."

Burke pointed to the helm, "Take your station ensign. It's no time to be a hero." At his command the ensign sat back down.

R'Jor stood, "I'll go with him captain."

Burke nodded, "If you don't get it down within a half hour, get back here." He said, "And be safe."

R'Jor smiled, "Of course." She looked to Dobson, "Let's go."

The two officers exited the bridge.

---

Dobson and R'Jor materialized aboard the Jem'Hadar vessel. They could hear screams down the cooridor. The Jem'Hadar were probably torturing their prisoners.

As the two officers turned a corner, they ran into a Jem'Hadar. R'Jor fired her phaser and watched as the warrior incinerated before her eyes. "There might be others." She said.

Dobson nodded, "Agreed."

They walked a little further until they found one of the holding cells. It was full of Romulans. A man approached the two officers, "Who are you?"

R'Jor pulled out a phaser, "A friend. Stand back." The Romulans did as she ordered. R'Jor fired the phaser, after two minutes the field went down.

"We need to find the other." Dobson said, he pulled out a tricorder. "This way."

R'Jor tapped her commbadge, "R'Jor to Fresno, we have one field down. You can start beaming, R'Jor out."

After another few feet, several Jem'Hadar officers turned the corner, Dobson and R'Jor were trapped. The Jem'Hadar didn't fire, they just stared at the officers.

R'Jor looked to one of the guards. He was staring at her as if he was scrutenizing her appearance. What was he so interested in? R'Jor raised her weapon, ready to fire.

The Jem'Hadar officer spoke, "You are here to free them?"

R'Jor nodded, "Yes."

"Let her through." He said to his men. Dobson and R'Jor exchanged looks, why were they doing this? R'Jor watched as the Jem'Hadar officers lowered their weapons and allowed room for Dobson and R'Jor to pass.

Dobson looked to the officer, "Why?"

The Jem'Hadar showed no look of concern for them. "The first is wrong in staying in this quadrant." He said, "That is all you need to know." The Jem'Hadar paused, "Whatever you do, do it quickly."

Dobson and R'Jor continued with their task of freeing the prisoners and soon were back aboard the Fresno.

As R'Jor entered the bridge, Burke looked to her. "Good work commander." He said, "How did you do it without detection?"

R'Jor sat down in her chair, "We had help sir." She was about to explain what happened when a comm channel opened. On the viewscreen was the face of the Jem'Hadar officer who had helped the away team.

"Captain Burke." The officer said, "On behalf of my vessel, I offer an appology." He said, "The actions of the First were wrong." It was difficult for him to admit that the Dominion were wrong, but he had to.

Burke nodded, "We'll give you an escort back to the Gamma Quadrant."

The Jem'Hadar shook his head, "That won't be necessary." The commlink closed. On the viewscreen, the Jem'Hadar vessel exploded.

"Report!" Burke said.

Dougless scanned his console. "I'm reading a Federation signature from what appears to be a photon bomb." He said.

Burke looked to R'Jor who shook her head. "It wasn't us sir."

The forward turbolift doors opened. "No it wasn't." A man said as he walked out. "Captain, if we could talk in private."

Burke nodded, "You have the bridge commander." He pointed to the ready room. Both men left the bridge.

Tompson looked to Dougless, "I wonder what that was all about."

Dougless shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

In the captain's ready room, Burke sat down at his desk. "What do you want Sloan?" He asked.

Sloan only smiled, "You've already done what I wanted captain. You and your senior officers have proved themselves." He said, "Welcome aboard Section 31, you are assigned to the Rockledge Division."

Burke shook his head, "It was a test. I should have known."

Sloan nodded, "We have been watching your senior staff ever since you were first together. And after we terminated the Intrepid Alpha project and your other Fresno, we continued to watch." He paused, "You and your officers passed with flying colors captain."

"Was there ever a real threat to the Federation?" Burke asked, "Or was all of this fake as well?"

"Oh there was a threat captain, we didn't have time to plan a holographic mission for your crew." Sloan said, "The only thing fake were those officers aboard the Jem'Hadar vessel."

Burke was confused, "What?"

Sloan smiled, "The vessel was real, but the Jem'Hadar were other possible Section 31 operatives undergoing their testing." He said.

Burke hesitated, "You killed them?"

Sloan nodded, "Let's just say they failed the test." He walked over to the desk, "Your new vessel is outside." Sloan said pointing to the window. "I expect you to take command within the hour."

Burke was still a little confused, but allowed it to go for the time being. "What about the prisoners?"

Sloan smiled again, "I'll take care of them." He said, "Goodbye captain, see you around." Sloan activated a device on his uniform and transported away from the Fresno.

Burke stood from his chair and exited the ready room. As he entered the Bridge, another man waring the rank of captain approached him. "Captain Burke?" He said.

Burke nodded. "Yes."

The two men shook hands, "I'm Captain Donaldson. I've come to take command of this vessel."

Burke nodded, "Understood. Computer, recognize Burke Alpha Two clearance."

"Recognized." The Computer said.

"Transfer command of the Fresno to Captain Donaldson."

The computer beeped in response, "U.S.S. Fresno now under command of Captain Richard Donaldson."

Donaldson tapped his commbadge "Computer recognize Donaldson Alpha Two Clearance."

Again the computer beeped, "Delete the following crew records from all Starfleet files. Captain John Burke, Commander Kim R'Jor, Lt. Commander Mike Dobson, Lt. Commander Steven Dougless, Lt. Commander Mark Justan, Commander Kelley Taylor, and Ensign Julie Tompson. Also, delete the Fresno from all Starfleet records and change this vessels designation to Sacramento Registry Number NCC 94875."

"Enter authorization code."

"Authorization Donaldson Delta Six." Donaldson said, "There are to be no records of any of these officers."

"Acknowledged. This is the Galaxy-Class vessel U.S.S. Sacramento under the command of Captain Richard Donaldson."

Burke tapped his commbadge, "Senior officers report to transporter room six." He looked to Donaldson, "Safe travel captain."

Donaldson smiled, "You too captain."

---

Captain Burke sat in his ready room aboard his new ship. Sloan had been right in his orders, his new vessel was smaller than a Galaxy-Class ship, a lot smaller. He looked forward to getting to know what she was capable of.

Captain's Log, Supplimental:
I am back where I belong. I have just taken command of the U.S.S. Fresno, again. This vessel is a Fresno-Class starship, newly constructed. I can only hope that we will be able to protect the Federation as well as those that have come before us. End Log.

The End

Space. Endless, simply endless. These are the adventures of the U.S.S. Fresno under the command of Section 31, Rockledge Division in an effort to protect the Federation at all costs. So Federation Citizens may continue to live in peace and harmony.