Though the April had been dropped out of warp only eight minutes from Starbase 80, being limited to warp 4 for the remainder of the journey, turned it into a 2+ hour trip. Captain Wong had spent most of that two hours in his ready room, filing reports and speaking to the Task Force CO, Captain Aloran.

As the ship was making its docking approach to the old dilapidated station he received a call from Starfleet Command, and a non-descript Commander who identified himself as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel Management informed him they had found new assignments for the entirety of the crew, as it appeared as though Lt. Tesa’s conclusions had been true, and the April would need at least a few months in a Shipyard undergoing repairs to her overworked and burnt out systems. To help deflect any potential backlash against him or his Chief Engineer(for the non-regulation upgrades she had performed on the ship’s warp drive and several other systems), Danny had already filed the paperwork recommending her for a Meritorious Service Medal.

“So, I assume you will be sending me a list of the new assignments for my officers and crew then Commander?” Wong said.

“Indeed, but it won’t be much of a list really. A newly commissioned Alita class carrier is slated to arrive at Starbase 80 shortly, and they are currently on a shakedown cruise with less than a full crew complement, so we’ve assigned the entirety of your roster to help them out. You’ll be in command and the specific staffing arrangements will be left in your capable hands Captain. Your mission details will be forwarded to you by Starfleet Operations in the next few days. Congratulations, sir.”

“Uh, wow, uh, thanks. I certainly wasn’t expecting to be able to keep the entire crew together if we were reassigned, so this is great news…if you don’t mind my asking, does the carrier have a name?” Wong inquired.

“Yes, silly me, apologies, it’s the USS Trenton, and a new Expeditionary Wing, the 6th, will be constituted aboard, and comprise the new flight group for it.” The Commander smiled, being privy to the fact that Wong and the crew of the April had been the ones to discover the wreck of the old Daedalus class Trenton only a few months before.

“The Trenton? Wow, you don’t say. That’s about as close to serendipity as could be then. Well, thank you for reaching out so promptly Commander. Was there anything else?”

“Uh, no, that’s about it. The Trenton is currently under the command of a…LCdr Traan, and has a yard crew from the Starbase Bravo Shipyard aboard, as they’ve been conducting a shakedown cruise while enroute to ‘80. When the ship arrives, they have orders to transfer over to the April and begin an initial survey of repairs that will be needed, and will travel aboard the April, under tow, back to SBB. I’m sure Commander Traan will be in touch with you shortly to arrange the particulars. Oh, I see a note here about your attached specialist Intel team as well, they will be receiving orders to relocate to the Trenton too, apparently they’ll be forming the nucleus of a Joint Special Missions unit aboard in the next few weeks.”

“Excellent, sounds good. Again thanks for the heads up.”

“Of course Captain, good luck with your new assignment.” The personnel officer replied with a smile before closing the channel.

“Well fuck me runnin’, that’s about the best we could have hoped for.” Wong muttered aloud to himself. He tapped his comm badge, “Commander Mee IH, and Commander Ingram, please report to my ready room.”

“All of us? Well that’s an uncommonly logical and rational decision from the paperpushers back at HQ. The ship must be really understaffed if they were able to assign the whole roster to cross deck to the new ship.” Ingram replied after Wong had informed his two most senior officers.

“Tell me about it, I was just as pleasantly surprised as you, Vaughn. Apparently they have 349 officers and crew currently aboard not counting the temporary staff and shipyard crew, so they have room for all 80 of us and then some. Now, you two aren’t going to believe this, but the new carrier was slated to be named the USS Nimitz, and apparently someone decided at the last minute to have her christened the Trenton the day before she was officially commissioned.”

“Wow, well either that’s evidence of the existence of Karma, or maybe we’ve got some folks upstairs who are either looking out for, or playing a joke on us all Cap.” Mee IH chuckled.

“Or both.” Ingram added.

“So, we’ve got about a day and a half to pack our things and get ready to report aboard the new Trenton I assume?” Mee IH was already considering the logistics and scheduling timetables.

“Basically. I’ll make a ship wide announcement here in a few minutes, but I wanted to make sure I brought both of you up to speed before I did. I’ve only had a chance to take a cursory look at the senior officers already assigned to the Trenton, but I’d like to keep both of you on as members of my command team.” Wong looked directly at Ingram and grinned, “It looks like the Wing Commander billet is currently vacant, and I can’t think of any reason to not offer it to you Commander, unless of course you’d prefer to remain in the Ops department.”

“As much as I’ve enjoyed learning about maintenance plans, power allocation, and delegating system and computer resources, I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t miss being in the cockpit. Wing Commander Ingram, hmmm, definitely has a nice ring to it, offer accepted sir.” The Polluxian hybrid eagerly replied.

“Did you happen to notice anything about the Trenton’s Cetacean Ops Department? Being a fleet carrier, I know the pools and aquatic quarters are going to be more numerous and spacious than the April’s.” Mee IH allowed himself to wax a bit to the selfish side.

“Actually, I did notice that there were already three cetaceans on staff. An Orca, a Dolphin, and a cybernetically augmented Narwhal as I recall.” The Captain looked at a padd to confirm the info.

“Interesting. Sounds workable though, I know the Alita’s are equipped with pool, tank, and living space for up to eight mid-sized cetaceans. And it sounds like we’ll only have the one larger(the Orca) officer and five of us smaller species.”

“I’m forwarding the info on our new ship to both of you now.” Wong tapped a few buttons on his padd and placed it back on his desk as he stood up.

Mee IH momentarily flipped down his headset eyepiece, “Looks like we’re due to dock in about six minutes sir.”

“Just enough time to share the news then gentleman.” Wong straightened his tunic and followed his XO and Second Officer back out onto the bridge.

“All hands, this is the Captain. We will be docking at our destination shortly. The IET and Security department will be focusing on transferring our detainees to Starbase 80 for processing and repatriation to their own realities. I have also just received new orders from HQ informing me that we are all being reassigned to a newly commissioned vessel that will be arriving in less than 48 hours. A team of yard Engineers will board the April and travel with the ship back to Starbase Bravo for repairs. Official orders, including crew roster and quarter billeting will be sent to each of you within the next 24 hours.” Wong finished his address to the crew over the intercom PA system.

A few moments later the April made a hard seal docking at one of the secondary airlocks at Starbase 80. And within another few minutes, work was well underway transferring the fugitive Displaced detainees over to the station. Mr. Gallifray was also one of the first to disembark from the vessel, doing so with little fanfare as he had already said his farewells a few nights before.

Meanwhile the Doc and Chief Patron were helping their impromptu wards Sam and Lynn pack their meager luggage and escorted them to the Counselors office on the station where they would be introduced to Lt. Sindulla who would be responsible for the two underage kids until their parents were rescued and reunited with them. Much to Doc Buckets surprise Lynn was quite upset when she learned that the exocomp would no longer be looking after her, though the cybernetic surgeon did promise to male sure to check in with her and her brother before they departed on the Trenton.

Back on the bridge of the April, Lt. Singh received an emergency priority one signal from the Sector JAG officer.

“Sir, we’ve just received urgent orders to immediately arrest and detain Mr. Gallifray. The message from the JAG states that the Investigator is an imposter who is wanted on dozens of charges going back several decades.”

“I knew something was fishy with that guy! Slimy son of a seagull. I tried warning you Cap!” Mee IH exclaimed from his pool.

“Computer, locate Mr. Gallifray.” Wong barked.

“Senior Investigator Butler Gallifray is not currently aboard the April.” The computer replied.

Wong sighed, “Send word to the station immediately Lt. Relay the message from the JAG to them and all nearby vessels.”