“Captain, we are in position with the USS Cygnus,” said the First Officer, Commander Ellen Dawson. She was the Executive Officer of the USS Calgary.

“Very well,” Captain Leejan stated, Commanding Officer of the Calgary. He looked up at the ceiling, an old habit from his days when he first joined Starfleet, more than a hundred years ago, then looked back to the officer sitting in front of him, the spare chair opposite his desk in his ready room. “Captain, you and your officers are free to beam over at your convenience.  We will be here for two hours, 15 minutes beaming and shuttling supplies and materials over.” It wasn’t a precise measurement of time, but he had learned over his century of service that most of the time, people that were not Vulcan did not like to be given the amount of time down to the second something would take. They preferred generalization, which baffled him.

Captain Bane nodded.  “Thank you for you and your crews hospitality.  It has been nice to see another crew in action, and to see how another Captain commands. I’ll be taking some of these lessons to the Cygnus,” Plase said, smiling.

“Indeed,” was the simple reply from the Vulcan Captain. Inwardly, he thought that it was the natural course of action. “Fair thee well, Captain Bane.”

“And to you, sir.” With that, Bane left the Ready Room and headed for the nearest transporter room.

Several minutes later, he found himself on the USS Cygnus, having beamed over with 5 other people, all of which would go to either the Science Department or to Medical. Bane understood that in the current configuration, the Cygnus was set to the Sciences, which was fine by him. Making his way to the Bridge, he stepped onto it, finding neither the Captain nor the Executive Officer. He stepped to the Operations station and tapped the young man on the shoulder. “Where is your Captain?”

Lisald turned around and found himself looking at someone he had read about when he was still in school. His face hadn’t changed a bit. “Uh, Captain Stafford and Commander Pope are both in the Captains Ready Room, sir. Lisald noted that this Captain was holding two PADDs in his right hand. “Right in there, sir.”

“Very well.  Thank you Lieutenant. As you were.” Bane stepped over to the Ready Room and tapped the chime plate and awaited to be admitted. Behind his back, Lisald Vaat mouthed ‘Wow!’ to himself, having to spoke to Captain Bane first hand.  It was a good day.

Inside the Ready Room, Captain Stafford and Commander Pope had been discussing the finer points of First Contact when the chime interrupted them. Both knew the new personnel, as well as supplies and equipment were being beamed and shuttled over, so the chime was unexpected. They knew the crew would be working hard to get everything stowed and inventoried and all new people put in quarters and added to the duty rosters. Both looked to each other in confusion for the interruption. “Come,” Stafford said, putting the PADD down he was holding.  Pope turned in her chair to see who the interloper was.

Bane stepped into the Ready Room.  “Captain,” he said in way of greeting, then looked to Commander Pope. “Commander. I am here to relieve you both of your duties on the Cygnus,” he said flatly. “Your orders sir, Commander.” He held the PADDs out to them both.

Stafford, surprised, sat back in his chair. “Being relieved, you say? Why? Who are you?”

“I am Captain Bane Plase. I am not sure why Starfleet Command has decided now to relieve you of command, Captain. All I know is that you are to report to Starfleet Command in San Franscisco as soon as you are able to get back. The USS Calgary is scheduled to Betazed after they are finished here. I am sure you can get passage on another ship from there to Earth. As for you, Commander, you are being promoted.”

Helena stared at the screen on her PADD that Bane had given her, the transfer order required her near-immediate departure. The USS Calgary would be rendezvousing with the USS Denmark next week, she had less than 2 hours until she left what had become her home. She wasn’t happy about it, but she also knew she couldn’t fight it.

‘She wasn’t happy about it’ She realized the feeling was there despite getting what she wanted for years. Her own command.

The USS Denmark had been undergoing repairs when EPS relay on the bridge ruptured, the ruptured caused a breach in the deck, emergency forcefields weren’t fast enough and the ship lost its Captain and First Officer. With both officers killed and a relatively green senior staff, a new command team was being brought in. Helena was sure her mother had some role in this, but at the end of the day she was a Starfleet officer and she would serve where they sent her.

She expected she would have been more excited, but she hadn’t realized that she had settled in as much as she had. She had started assuming that at some point in the near future Stafford would likely be promoted and she would take command of the Cygnus, she had wanted the Cygnus to be her first command. Starfleet had other ideas, the Denmark was a good ship.

The Argonaut-class ship had also been refit with the latest engines designs which got its cruise speed up to amongst the highest for ships their size. It had been the ship’s main drawback when compared to its Intrepid-class predecessor. She tapped a few commands and downloaded the briefing package that had been included to a PADD.

She had a lot to do and not much time to do it.

Stafford looked at his own orders. It said, “You are hereby requested and required to relinquish command of the USS Cygnus to Captain Bane Plase upon receipt of these orders and reports to Starfleet Command for new orders, herewithin classified Yankee White, at your earliest possible opportunity, using the USS Calgary as your first leg of travel to Headquarters Command.” Stafford looked up to Bane.  “Classified Yankee White? That is almost at the very top of the classifications,” he said.

“It is. I am curious what you will be doing, Captain,” Bane said.

“That makes two of us,” Stafford replied. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled heavily. He looked around his office…this office, he amended, and felt a strong pang of regret. He had grown to love the Cygnus, and thought of her as his home. He didn’t expect, in the slightest, to be reassigned so soon after taking command, and certainly not in the middle of a mission. “You know the mission we are on, Captain Bane?”

“I do sir.”

“Good.” Stafford looked at Pope, who was still going over her orders, then looked back to Bane. “Who will be your Executive Officer? There are no officers aboard the Cygnus with sufficient rank or command training,” he thought of Lisald, but he was too junior ranked, and still had not completed his extension course, “That can fill the spot.”

Plase pursed his lips. He was hoping there would be someone. “I guess I wont have one until Starfleet can get one assigned here. How is the rest of the senior staff?”

“As solid as they come. Your chief Medical Officer is Dr. Elodin. He is pretty devout to The Prophets, but an excellent doctor. In Security, you have Lieutenant Carson. I do not know much about him; he only came aboard at Deep Space 9 when we were on Shoreleave. In Operations, you have Lieutenant Lisald. He is a hard charger, eager and willing. In Engineering, you have Dr. Anna Cohen. She…”

Bane interrupted him. “Ah, she is being reassigned too.”

Stafford raised his eyebrows. “Command is really stripping you of all your key players on the ship, aren’t they. Well, we just got an Assistant Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Anderson, I believe. Like Carson, she is new to the ship. She actually brought us one of the Runabouts in the Shuttlebay. In Science, you have Ensign Albert Spangler. He is smart, exceedingly so, but he is a bit odd. Never could form a decent connection with him.”

Bane waited several moments, expecting Captain Stafford to keep speaking. When he didn’t, Bane spoke. “Thats it? Those are all the senior officers? You weren’t kidding about being stripped! Its like being on the west end of Larkarian City after dark.” Bane, Stafford and Pope all laughed a bit at the joke.

Stafford tapped his commbadge. “Stafford to Micca. Abrum, pack us bags. I’m being relieved of command and being sent to Earth.”

=/\= Oh, you’re funny, my dear husband. To what do I owe this pleasure in the middle of the day?=/\=

Stafford looked to Bane, then spoke again. “It isn’t a joke, Abrum. Captain Bane is standing here right now to assume command.

=/\= What?! This is ludicruous! Wait until I get my hands on those bast–=/\=

Stafford cut him off. “That is enough. Please, do as I ask. I will be there shortly to help. We will need to catch the USS Calgary and head back to Earth. Stafford out.” He tapped his commbadge off, then spoke again. “Computer, please transfer all command codes and functions to Captain Bane Plase as of this time and stardate, command authorization Stafford Epsilon 9-4-7 Delta Omega.”

The computer chirruped. “Command authorization approved. Captain Bane Plase, please input authorization code.”

“Computer, I accept command of the USS Cygnus, authorization Bane Bravo 9-9-0 Echo Alpha.”

The computer chirruped longer. “Command Authorization approved.  Command of the Starship Cygnus now under the command of Captain Bane Plase.”

Captain Bane held out his hand and shook Captain Stafford’s. “I relieve you, sir.”

Stafford nodded. “I stand relieved, sir.” He looked around again at his office…well, Bane’s office.  He would have to send for all of his belongings once he was on Earth.  Looking back at Bane, “Permission to disembark, sir?”

“Permission granted, sir,” Bane said in return.

Easy as that, Captain Bane was now in command.

OFF

A JP between:

Captain Stafford

Commander Pope

Captain Bane