“And when we got back to Federation space, the captain then found out that the Jem’Hadar attack ship that we were chasing, was actually on a top secret mission with some of our own on board. We almost screwed a very important secret operation against the Dominion, how crazy is that?!” Carter said to a group of people, which some laughed and others rolled their eyes. “What? Don’t believe me? Wait until you get the security clearance to look at those logs, then you’ll see.” Carter joked and then his gaze went towards the entrance of the Officer’s Lounge and saw a group of four he did not think would make it.

“Excuse me folks.” Said Carter as he made his way over to them. “Vakai! James! Sivol! Ashley! So good of you four to come!” Carter shook each hand as he smiled at them with joy. “I didn’t think you’d be able to make it.”

Vakai smiled right back, “We wouldn’t miss our former captain’s retirement party.”

Ryker shook his head. “Nope! So we left the Second Officer in charge of the Sovereign while we grabbed the Captain’s Yacht,” Ryker smirked. “And we high tailed it here as quickly as we could.”

Carter chuckled. “I really do appreciate you all for coming.”

“Come on, John. We wouldn’t miss this!” Said Ashley.

“We knew it was going to happen. We heard the announcement that they retired the Centaur.” Said Sivol.

Carter nodded his head. “Her entire line was retired. The Centaur herself will be in the museum. Best part is, I get to visit her as much as I want, to relive the old days.”

“That’s wonderful!” Said Sivol.

“Hey, come on now, this is a retirement party!” Said Ashley as she grabbed James’ hand and dragged him further into the lounge.

The three of them that were left behind shrugged and laughed before they followed. As the party moved along, everyone were enjoying the party in their own way. Carter was telling stories of missions that he had been on in the past. Vakai and James were playing darts, Vakai winning almost every time. Ashley found herself a fellow engineer and started to banter on who’s warp engines were better. And Sivol was telling her own story of how she ended up being a prisoner for some rogue Klingon group and how she was rescued.

After a couple of hours had gone by, things had changed up. Carter and James were arm wrestling, Carter winning and bantering that he may be old but not that old. Sivol and Vakai were playing 3D chess, Sivol only a few moves away from winning. And Ashley was telling a group about how her and her friends were strapped to some chair and in some virtual reality of some sort for over thirty years when only fifteen seconds had gone by in real time.

Another hour would go by and everyone had gathered around as Carter made a speech. He spoke about how he was honored to have serve Starfleet for so many years, how happy his parents were when he made the decision to join Starfleet and how he understood why some would transfer to other star ships, whether by choice or ordered to do so, he was glad that he got to remain on the Centaur until the very end. He spoke about his achievements and how there were a few moments during the Dominion War that he thought that they were not going to make it. Near the end of his speech, he spoke how proud he was that the last group of officers that he mentored and trained, had made it to where they are now.

“Even though I did enjoy mentoring and teaching new officers under my command, I turned down the offer to teach at Starfleet Academy. Me and Summer Carter, are going to take the opportunity that we had been waiting for.” He had not broken the news to any of his friends or former crew that him and Summer Pearce had gotten married. “Like I said before, we may be old but we’re not that old.” He winked with a chuckle, everyone else joined in with a little laugh here and there.

The party would resume with Carter, Vakai, James, Sivol and Ashley were in a circle with others. Vakai and the others were explaining what happened when they were en route to the Federation border with the Cardassians, how they found some hollow planet, sent three teams down and how it got real crazy. Then topics changed to the news that was going on in the Velorum Sector and how it will likely escalate and that the Fourth Fleet will get involved.

“Yep. Even though the Sovereign is performing her duties along the Federation-Cardassian border, we are prepared to respond when needed.” Said Vakai.

“Well hopefully it won’t turn out too bad. It seems like every three months or so, something crazy happens.” Carter chuckled before he took a sip of his glass of whiskey. Then an ensign came up and whispered into Carter’s ear which brought a big smile to his face. Carter then stepped away from the group, “Everyone. May I have your attention one last time.” He said with a raised voice. Then once he saw all eyes on him, he allowed the smile to grow on his face. “I was just informed that the Centaur is ready to depart. She will be leaving and heading straight for the museum. So if you wish to see her before she departs, I suggest we hurry over to the view ports over here!” Carter pointed with his thumb and in matter of seconds, everyone gathered up to the large view ports where they could see the Centaur in the dry dock, powered up and her running lights on.

Then, in a matter of minutes, the Centaur began to pull out of the dry dock in a slow, regulated manner. After she cleared, the ship shifted on axis to make a turn and began to start moving a bit faster as it approached its warp out point. As the Centaur made its way, the ship grew closer to the station where everyone in the lounge could see her up close as it passed by.

Carter took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled before raising his glass up towards his former ship. “Farewell old friend.” Said Carter. Everyone else toasted to the ship just before it reached its warp out point and jumped to warp. Carter took in one more deep breath and exhaled into a heavy sigh. He turned around to face his party guests. “Well everyone. That concludes my retirement party. I would like to thank you all again for coming and I promise to remain in touch.” Carter then looked to Summer with a big grin on his face. “Mrs. Carter. Ready to head to our new home?”

She smiled back at him and hooked her arm around his. “Of course, Mr. Carter.” While everyone else began to depart the lounge, John and Summer stopped before Vakai and the others. “Really, I am glad that you guys were able to make it.”

“Really, we wouldn’t miss it.” Ashley smiled at him.

“You better keep your promise.” Said Ryker.

“Oh I will make sure he does.” Said Summer.

“So where is it that you two are heading to?” Asked Sivol.

“We decided to purchase a home on Bajor. It’s out in the country, so it’ll be quiet and big for a family.” Said Carter.

Vakai raised his brows. “You two plan on having a family?”

Carter laughed. “How many times do I have to say it? I may be old-”

“-but not that old!” Said everyone before they laughed.

Carter then sighed, “Though I hate to admit. I would have loved to command the Centaur one last time, even if it was just to be a museum for a bunch of people to visit. Heck I might visit her myself, give some historical facts to the visitors, from my point of view of course.” Summer rolled her eyes at that one.

Vakai chuckled. “You take care of yourself, John.” He held his hand out towards Carter.

Carter took Vakai’s hand in a firm grip and shook it. “You do the same, Captain. You have a fine ship and a fine crew. So don’t let the past creep up on you too much, alright?”

Vakai nodded his head. “Deal.”

The four of them watched as Carter and Summer walked together out of the lounge and down the corridor, where they headed for the nearest turbolift to grab their bags and make their way to the civilian transport ship destined to Bajor.

A Type-14 Shuttlecraft lifted off the main shuttle bay hangar deck on the Luna-class starship and slowly departed through the forcefield. Once clear, the craft’s speed began to pick up as it banked hard to starboard-ventral to dive under the canopy of the drydock and be free in open space. Inside the craft were two personnel, the pilot and the passenger. The passenger was a Junior Lieutenant who had been reassigned to Starbase 93 to be one of the station’s new junior doctors in one of the smaller medical facilities. The pilot was an Ensign whose job was to get her to the starbase safe and sound.

Unfortunately, it seemed that the Junior Lieutenant had gotten herself a little distracted by her handsome pilot, who decided to stand behind him and run her hands over his chest. “They did not tell me I would have a young, strapping man be my chauffeur.”

Ensign Ethan Ryozo smiled at the attention that the Lieutenant was giving him. He cleared his throat before he answered, “I’m much more than just a chauffeur, ma’am.”

“Oh really? Are you one of those amazing pilots too?” She asked.

Ethan grinned, increased the shuttle’s speed higher than regulations allowed, and began to bank to the left and to the right to avoid other small crafts with incredible precision. He did this just to show off his ‘amazing pilot’ skills that she mentioned before leveling the shuttle out. He then looked up at her from his seat with a smile. “Something like that?”

She smiled as she began to lean down. Then, just before their lips touched, there was a sudden jolt to the craft. The Lieutenant was thrown to the floor, and her body was pressed against the side by the g-forces. “Oh my god!” She cried.

Warning alarms immediately brought Ethan’s attention to his instruments; one display told him that he had collided with a vessel, the other said to him that he had lost a port engine, and another told him that they were in an uncontrolled spin, which led to the inertia dampeners struggling to compensate. The computer then brought up another display to say to him that the direction of their spin had them on a collision course with a docked starship. But he was not going to have it.

As he grunted to keep himself from being thrown out of his seat, where he had not seen fit to fasten the seat’s harness because he had never expected something like this to happen. He grunted again as he strained to enter the commands he needed to regain control of the craft. He knew what he had to do; at the cost of burning them out, he shunted power over the limits the thrusters could handle and adjusted the ratio and the seconds he needed before firing them. The maneuver had stopped the shuttle’s spin, but it did not reduce the speed or the direction the craft was still on. With half of his thrusters burnt out, he quickly drew back the excess power and used what thrusters he had to avoid the starship in drydock altogether.

Ethan punched the comms button and selected Starbase 93’s Flight Control Center. “This is Ensign Ryozo of Shuttlecraft Nineteen. We have suffered damage from a collision, lost our port engine, and my reverse thrusters are gone. Requesting an emergency landing!” He then hit a button on his console that engaged the seat’s harness, which strapped him into his chair. He turned in his seat to find the Lieutenant just in arms reach, so he grabbed her arm, pulled her up to him, and pushed her back into the co-pilot seat. “Strap yourself in!”

“Shuttle Nineteen, you’re coming in too fast! We can’t get a tractor lock, and the net in the hangar won’t be enough!”

Ethan pulled up a master display of the shuttle and enabled the damage overlay, which told him what he had and didn’t have. “Control, I’m going for Hangar Three, then I’m going to swing the shuttle around and use the starboard engine to slow me down, but the damage has caused it to malfunction, and I will only be able to get a short burst before it goes out.”

“Then it better be enough, Ensign!”

“Are we going to die?” The lieutenant asked.

“Not if I can help it!” Ethan growled in frustration, more at himself for being an idiot. He cannot worry about it now, though; he had to keep his focus on the situation. Ethan knew he needed to time it just right, so he had to put all his attention on his job. When the shuttle was close enough, he fired the port forward thrusters that turned the shuttle around in a complete one-eighty. He then fired the starboard forward thrusters to halt the rotation. He also had a display with the rear sensor to show him the distance he was to the hangar. So when he felt that gut feeling that he was on point, he fired the starboard engine, which lasted only for a couple of seconds, which reduced his speed just enough that when the shuttle crashed and landed on the hangar deck, the emergency net that came up to catch it was able to bring it to a halt.

Ethan panted heavily as he slumped into his seat before looking over at the Lieutenant. “Welcome to Starbase 93.”

“What in the hell were you doing out there, Ensign?!” Maxwell shouted over his desk as he glared heavily at Ethan. “I have reports here that say you flew the shuttlecraft above the regulated speed, nearly collided with several smaller crafts, and then for whatever reason, did not see the merchant ship heading right towards you that you collided and tore off the port engine.”

Next to Ethan was the lieutenant who he had ferried to the station. “It was my fault, sir.”

Maxwell’s eyes which had started to burn holes in Ethan’s skull were now directed to the junior lieutenant. “Get the hell out of my office until I call you back in here. Now Lieutenant!” Maxwell barked and watched her speed walk right out through his office door. Once the door closed, he took a deep breath and sighed loudly and heavily.

Maxwell then smacked the padd down loudly onto his desk. “I cannot believe this. We just got that damn shuttlecraft, Ensign. That one specifically! It was one of a dozen brand-new Type-14 shuttlecrafts delivered to us hot off the manufacturing line. And what do you do with it? You break the goddamn thing.”

“Sir, if-” Ethan tried to speak but was immediately shot down.

“Did I give you permission to speak, Ensign?” Maxwell asked.

Ethan felt like he was back at the academy as a freshman, unsure whether to answer or not.

“It was a question, Ensign, directed at you. I expect an answer!” Maxwell barked.

“Yes, sir! No, sir. I did not get permission, sir.” Ethan answered.

Maxwell ran a hand through his hair as he turned around to look out of the viewport toward the ships in drydocks. One, in particular, was the Verity, as she was being prepared for an upcoming situation. “I am just about to leave, tomorrow for that matter, to Starbase 38 on a critical assignment for a critical situation in the Delta Quadrant.” Maxwell then turned to look at Ethan. “I expect to leave Starbase 93 in good, capable hands. In good, capable officers. Then you pull some stunt and nearly got yourself and that junior lieutenant killed.”

“With all due respect, sir. She admitted that it was her fault,” said Ethan.

Maxwell shook his head. “Again, speaking without permission. You think you’re here to give me excuses, Ensign?”

“Well, I-” Ethan was then cut off again.

“That was a rhetorical question!” Maxwell raised his voice in frustration. “Jesus. I don’t know what we are going to do with you.” Maxwell picked up the padd and held it up. “I have your records here from the academy back on Earth. You were doing just fine up until that incident in your last year. That race that you participated in. That was your first black mark on your record. I figured that, maybe, you had learned your lesson. But apparently, you did not.” Maxwell then set the padd back down and made his way around his desk to stand before Ethan.

Maxwell stared at him and let out a sigh. “You’re an excellent pilot. Your record shows it, and your scores at the academy show it. But, unfortunately, those talents come with the typical ‘I got to show off the ladies’ attitude.”

Ethan frowned. “But sir, I-”

Maxwell snapped his finger and pointed at him. “Shut up. This is the last time I tell you to stop speaking without permission.”

“Then permission to speak, sir!” Ethan kept his voice from rising.

Maxwell stared at him for a moment. “All right then. Speak.”

“I admit I was distracted, and I know it was a stupid, dumb thing to allow to happen. As a pilot, I should never, ever allow anything to distract me while I am flying. So yes, I showed off a little bit, I allowed my typical human weakness to fall for an attractive woman, but I should not have allowed her to distract me. I know that.” Ethan explained. “But I saved the shuttle and our lives as well as anyone else who could have been hurt in my mess.”

Maxwell nodded his head. “That you did. You violated some regulations and exceeded the safety limits of the craft to regain control, to stop it from spinning like a top. That shuttle will be out of commission for weeks while the maintenance team works on replacing every burnt-out thruster and relay that you fried. But in the end, you did save lives.” Maxwell said quietly, only to raise his voice. “From something that should have never happened in the first place!”

“Yes, sir,” said Ethan.

“I’m glad you understand the error. But that does not resolve you from receiving a reprimand on your permanent record.” Maxwell then walked around, so the desk was between him and the ensign. “I am also reassigning you.”

Ethan frowned. “Sir?”

Maxwell smirked. “As I said, you’re a fine pilot, but you have a problem. I discussed it with the outpost commander, and I think this place will help in disciplining you for your actions.”

Ethan’s frown deepened. “May I ask where, sir?”

Maxwell’s smirk turned into a grin. “You’re being reassigned to a border outpost, Ensign. A premade facility is in the process of further development, so you will have many responsibilities there. Think of this as your last chance, Ensign Ryozo. Because if you screw this up…you’re out of Starfleet. Understood?”

Ethan straightened himself in his position of attention. “Understood, sir!”

“You better. Now get out of my sight.” Maxwell ordered, and as Ethan turned around and made his way for the door, Maxwell raised his voice. “Lieutenant! Get in here, now!”

Ethan was not sure what would happen to that young doctor, but he felt that she might just get a slap on the wrist. Or worse. That was not his concern, though, at the moment. Instead, his genuine concern was that he needed to pack his things, read his reassignment orders, and be ready to depart for the outpost. He just wished he knew what this outpost was.

“All right, Ensigns,” Ward’s raised her voice to ensure the whole room could hear her, regardless that the junior officers were standing in a two-by-three formation before her. The first two were Ensigns Mizu and Ortiz, then K’Roll and Mazak, and then lastly, Kraten and Lane. “Welcome to your ship combat reevaluation class.”

Lane raised his hand.

Ward let out a small exhale of annoyance, she had anticipated questions but was keen to strict discipline. “Why are you moving in formation, Ensign?”

“I apologize, ma’am, but I thought we had more time for our next reevaluation?” Lane asked.

Ward looked directly at him and then at everyone else. “Correct. But I am the second officer in charge and it is my duty to ensure everyone on board the Sovereign remains efficient.”

“I understand. Again, my apologies ma’am, but if this is what I think it is…why does a nurse need to man a bridge console during ship combat?” Lane asked.

Ward glared at him for a moment then cleared her throat. “You’re an officer of Starfleet and on some occasions, the Command Staff of a starship may become incapacitated. When that happens and you’re on the bridge, you need to think on your feet and be ready to take charge. The lives of your entire crew may depend on it.” Ward explained to everyone.

Lane felt the lump in his throat grow from how anxious he had become from this information and swallowed hard in an attempt to force it back down.

“Right. As your instructor in this reevaluation class, I get to choose your tools and your battlefield.” Ward told them before she raised the small hand-sized padd and began to press a few buttons. Suddenly the hologrid around them changed to a bridge. “Ensigns,” Ward made sure she had their attention. “You are on board a Cheyenne-class starship. The year is 2353 and your ship is in charge of escorting four Federation Freighters with relief supplies to colonies affected by the war with the Cardassians. Get to your assigned stations.”

Everyone broke formation, Lane sat at the coms station and Elidia sat at the science station. Mazak took operations and K’Roll took weapons. The remaining two, on the other hand, stood in the middle staring at each other. Mizu grinned, “You want to take the conn?”

Ortiz shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t matter really, I’m sure we’ll get the chance to take turns.”

“Stations,” Ward expressed with more seriousness.

Mizu smirked and winked at Ortiz before she took the helm. Ortiz then walked over to the captain’s chair and sat down. “Ready, ma’am.” Ortiz notified the commander.

“We shall see. Computer, begin the simulation,” said Ward.

Ortiz rested his right arm on the armrest, taking care to avoid any buttons as he leaned into it with his left hand resting on the other. “All stations, report.”

“All quiet on comms,” Lane reported.

“No anomalous readings detected on our flight path,” Elidia reported.

“Weapons and shields are on standby,” K’Roll reported.

“The convoy is on course to our first stop, heading zero-three-zero mark zero-one-five,” Mizu reported.

Mazak was the last to report and he ended up being the one who cause a break in the chatter. Then Mazak turned in his seat to look at Ortiz. “Sensors are detecting three vessels coming in at high warp.”

“Bearing?” Ortiz asked.

Mazak turned back to his displays to sound off. “Bearing two-eight-zero mark four-five.”

Mizu turned in her seat to look at Ortiz. “That’s coming from Cardassian space.”

Ortiz looked at Elidia. “I need a full sensor sweep on our contacts.”

“Allocating all sensors,” Elidia reported before she looked at Ortiz. “We got three Hideki attack crafts inbound, Captain.”

“Red alert!” Ortiz ordered and looked at Lane. “Inform the Cardassians that we are on humanitarian aid.”

Lane tried to make contact but then shook his head after he turned to look at Ortiz. “No response.”

On the main viewer, they watched as three Cardassian Hideki patrol ships dropped out of warp and began to approach them at high speed.

“Their weapons are charged. They’re targeting the convoy!” Mazak reported.

“K’Roll, prepare to open fire,” Ortiz ordered.

“I’m always prepared, Captain,” K’Roll responded as he began to lock phasers and torpedoes on the targets.

“Cardassian ships have opened fired!” Mazak reported, “The convoy has no weapons to defend themselves, Captain.”

Two of the Hideki ships targeted transport-one and fired one beam each, taking the transport’s shields down to 60%. The third Hideki on the other hand was more prepared and targeted transport-four that was further back. It fired it launched a torpedo, inflicting heavy damage that took out the transport’s shields and fired its beam emitter twice, inflicting hull damage to transport-four.

“Transport Four’s hull integrity is down to 60%, Captain!” Elidia reported.

“Damnit. K’Roll, fire at will!” Ortiz ordered.

While Mizu turned the ship to intercept the three Hideki patrol ships, K’Roll locked onto one and fired their weapons. First, he launched a torpedo that struck the first Hideki, and then two phaser beams struck the first Hideki ship and destroyed it. One more phaser beam from the ventral array fired and struck the second Hideki ship.

“One target down. The second target’s shields are down to 40%,” K’Roll reported.

Ortiz looked at him. “Let’s keep that up, shall we?”

“Enemy is firing!” Mazak reported.

The remaining Hideki patrol ships decided to select different targets this time. First, the second Hideki targeted transport 2 and fired two torpedoes and a single shot from its beam emitter. The first torpedo took out the shields and the second torpedo, followed by the beam strike, destroyed transport 2 altogether. The third Hideki did the exact same to transport 3, two torpedoes, and a single beam strike, and the transport was destroyed.

“We lost two of our transports, Captain!” Elidia reported.

“Capacitor charged and launchers loaded. Firing,” K’Roll reported.

“Take out the weakest, then work on the rest!” Ortiz reported.

The two phaser beams lanced out from the dorsal array and struck the second Hideki ship, taking out their shields. Then two more phaser beams from the ventral away struck the second Hideki ship and destroyed it.

Ortiz took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, his attempt to remove the built-up anxiety he had. He then looked at Lane. “Mr. Lane. Open hailing frequencies.”

“Ready, Captain,” Lane replied.

“Cardassian vessel. I am giving you a choice. You took out two of our ships, and we took out two of yours. What we have, are nothing more than relief supplies that need to go to colonies affected by this war, colonies that never asked for this,” Ortiz paused for a second. “They’re innocent and all we want to do is help them. So please, return to your space and let us complete our mission.”

Mazak turned in his seat to look at Ortiz. “The remaining Hideki has powered down its weapons and is charging its warp engines.” They then watched as the last Hideki jumped to warp, heading right back to Cardassian space.

“Computer, pause the program,” Ward’s voice cut through the tension. “Congratulations, Ensigns. You have successfully repelled the enemy. Unfortunately, you lost valuable assets, but that is the cost of war.”

“If only I was faster,” K’Roll growled.

“No,” Ward looked at him. “It does not matter how much our systems have been automated. We are all beings of nature. We make mistakes, but we learn from them. We’re also limited. Our weapons were not as advanced as they were back then, as they are now. But even then, everything comes down to timing. Such as, how long it takes to charge the capacitors or how long it takes to load a launcher. Nothing is done instantaneously.”

“But, if I remember correctly, were we not more technologically advanced than the Cardassians back then?” Elidia asked.

“Doesn’t exclude the fact that they had numbers. Oftentimes, convoys like this one were struck by multiple Hideki or Galor class vessels. They rarely operated alone.” Ward told them. She then licked her lips and placed her hands behind her back. “Take an hour break, then report back here for another session.”

“How many sessions are we going to have?” Mizu asked as everyone got up from their seats and began to head for the door.

“Until I am satisfied that you are all prepared for any outcome,” Ward explained.

“What will our next session be about, Commander?” Mazak asked.

“You’ll see,” Ward grinned.