Chapter 1 Four years later Admiral Nechayev called Captain Kataka back to her office for reassignment. "Captain, do you know why I have call you here today?" inquired the woman admiral. "Frankly I am not all to sure, but I do have an idea," answered Kataka who started to perspire because he was called directly after one of his courses and had no time to change. "I have called you here because a command has just opened up on a new starship and there are no captains with the experience that I need to command this ship and the mission that I am sending you on," she explained. Surprised at what she had said he could feel his heart leap into his throat and now he was once again whole. "Thank you Admiral from the bottom of my heart, thank you again," he exclaimed with joy. "Captain you are to report to earth San Francisco Fleet Yards where your new ship and crew waits for your arrival. "Two more things before you leave captain," she told him. "I have already sent out the orders for your executive officers from the Roddenberry to be assigned to you again, because it is my belief that you work well together under pressure, plus I am also aware of your involvement's with Lieutenant Commander Kelli Chilec your chief engineer." "Ugh, you are?" Kelli was a young smart blond woman who was extremely beautiful. She has fallen in love with the captain when he had given his first order to her on the Roddenberry when she had assumed the title of chief engineer. This had all happened about two years before the destruction of the ship. "Before calling you to my office, she gave me the information when I sent for her, telling that you will be commanding the ship," the admiral explained, "Before you leave I'll send your orders to you once you get aquatinted with your new ship and crew. You are dismissed, Captain Kataka." With that he walked out of the office and boarded the next shuttle to his ship with his new science officer Lieutenant Harry Leafhire. The shuttle arrived in the main shuttle bay in 15 minutes from the time he had boarded it. When he exited the shuttle he was greeted by Commander Diana Leeworth, Chief engineer Lieutenant Commander Kelli Chilec, Chief of Security Lieutenant Commander Stephen Schwartz, Operations Manager Lieutenant Commander Jarvon, Helmsman Lieutenant Jack Aloota, Doctor Lindsay Kirrmanno and Tactical Officer Lieutenant Emma Anderthol. It was a long time since each of them saw each other except for Commander Chilec, which the Captain saw almost every weekend. After his arrival he toured the ship with his executive officers, meanwhile trying to get reacquainted with them. "So what have you been doing since I last saw you, at Starfleet Headquarters?" he asked the commander as they were walking down the corridor to main engineering. "Well Anthony, before being assigned here I had a desk job at Starbase 259, which meant that I had no fun most of the time, like I use to back on the Roddenberry," she said with a hint of enjoyment at being back on a starship. "The rest of you, what have all of you been up to for the past 3 years?" "I was assigned to the Orion as a science officer for a year, then I went back to Vulcan for Pon Farr," said Jarvon with no emotion at all, as he was a Vulcan. Everybody else explained that they had gone off and done something different, as they made their way to the observation lounge, then to the bridge for the first time. The bridge differed a lot from the one on the Roddenberry. This bridge was very spacious the command chairs were large and upholstered with tan coloured leather that they were not used to. It was totally different because there were consoles lining the walls left and right of the chairs. Anthony tested out the feel of the chair and the layout of the room so he would not be confused with the other bridge layout. "Wow! This is amazing, the chairs are quite comfortable aside from the stiffness that they have now," said Anderthol with amazement. "I find this layout to be very effective and a logical evolution in bridge design and layout," said Jarvon. Before Kataka went into his ready room, he noticed a large rectangular hole in the bulkhead. 'That must be the place that they are going to be putting the dedication plaque', he thought before entering his ready room where he looked around and took account of what was in there and the position they were in. He then exited and toured the rest of the ship and unpacked his bags in his quarters. The door chimed which startled Kataka because he was unprepared for it, because it was just after twenty-two hundred hours. "Come in," he declared to the person standing at the door. The doors swooshed open revealing Kelli in a form fitting dress who had stopped by to see how he was doing. "Hi Anthony," she said with a grin, "It's been a long time since you have been in a captain's chair and in space, but I know you'll get used to it quickly as you always do. That's what I like about you, is that you adapt to your surroundings very quickly." "Yeah I know, and now since we're back together on one ship we won't have to keep beaming to the other side of earth to see each other or reschedule our plans," in saying that Kelli unzipped her dress and let it fall gently to the floor, reviling a naked form standing in front of him. She stepped out of the bundle of fabric that lay on the floor and stepped closer to him until they shared their first kiss together in a long time. He led her closer and closer to the bed, where she stumbled over a bag that was in front of it. She fell backwards onto the bed and they let go of each other so that Anthony could catch himself, before he crushed her. They laughed and started to kiss once again, he shed his uniform and threw it across the bedroom, pulled the covers over Kelli and himself. Then they started to make love with each other. * * * The next morning she woke up at 08:15 hours, in his bed after having spent the night making love with him. Anthony had waken up fifteen minutes earlier but didn't wake her because she looked so peaceful laying there in her sleep that he didn't have the heart to do so. That day was a special day because it was the day that the rest of the crew would come aboard and assume their roll as a member of the Hawking. It was also the day the ship would be officially commissioned by Starfleet. The stardate was 54265.3. * * * It was fifteen hundred hours the time scheduled for the celebration. There were a lot of high ranking officials and the Hawking design staff was on hand to see this marvel boldly go out into the cold depths of space where they would never see it again for a very long time. Anthony looked quite handsome in his dress uniform, which was hanging in his closet in his apartment for a very long time, sitting in wait for this moment. He didn't think much of it but it was for tradition's sake and to gain respect, from the junior officers as they passed by him at the reception in the mess hall, which was beautifully decorated. "Admiral, it is a pleasure to see you again," Kataka greeted Admiral Nechayev. "How do you like the ship and your new crew?" she asked with a small sip from her Champaign glass. "Admiral, it took some time getting used to being in space again but from what I have seen of the ship and crew I hope this will be one of the most memorable times that I have on this ship serving as captain," he answered her. On the bridge of the ship, that same night the dedication plaque was unveiled. The quote read, "Let's see what's out there. Engage!" the plaque also bore the names of the people responsible for building the ship. * * * When the reception finally ended, it was about 00:00 hours in the morning, the guests departed and the crew went to their assigned quarters. This time Anthony and Kelli didn't spend the night together, because they were too tired to do anything but get ready to go to bed and sleep. * * * The next morning at ten hundred hours Admiral Nechayev hailed the Hawking. "Captain there is an encoded subspace message from Admiral Nechayev," came the voice of his Vulcan friend. "I'll take it in my ready room commander, you have the bridge Diana," he ordered the two of them, they did as they were ordered to. "Kataka- beta-9-4-8-gamma-omega-1," he told the computer to gain access to the message coming in. "Captain the Dominion has just attacked one of our starbases in the Beta-omni system, and you are the only ship that is not off on another mission. Starfleet has given you permission to exceed the warp five speed limit, in order for you to rendezvous with the Iota squad. You will be the lead ship in the attack. Those are your orders for now, Nechayev out," the admiral explained with a worried tone of voice, which was hidden from view by her years of experience in Starfleet. Kataka walked out of is ready room in a hurry that the doors almost didn't open as he approached. "Executive officers to the observation lounge on the double," barked the captain through the comm. system. The room was quiet until Captain Kataka broke the silence, "The Admiral has just informed me that the Dominion has attacked Starbase 275 and that we are to rendezvous with Iota squad and engage the Dominion." "At maximum warp our ETA will be approximately to six hours, 24 minutes to reach our destination," Jarvon informed the captain. "It is estimated that there have over been 200 deaths so far. We must stop the Dominion from invading Federation territory. Dismissed," he told his closest friends and they all walked out on to the bridge. "Mr. Aloota, set course for the Beta-Omni system. Maximum warp. Engage," he ordered. "If you want me I'll be in my ready room. Commander you have the bridge." In his ready room he had already adorned it with his personal belongings, a scale model of the U.S.S. Roddenberry, some museum pieces of twenty third-century Starfleet equipment and a picture of his family, whom he was very close to. While in his ready room he was looking at previous fights with the Dominion to see if there was any way to defeat them. Now with a new ship with the most advanced technology developed by Starfleet, he had devised a plan of attack with assistance from the computer and information given to him by the admiral. "Captain we are closing in on the rendezvous point," came the disembodied voice from the bridge. "Hail the fleet," ordered the captain as he walked onto the bridge. "Hailing frequencies open sir," stated Jarvon. "This is Captain Anthony Kataka, of the Federation Starship Hawking. I am taking command of the fleet. You are to proceed to these co- ordinates and wait for my signal to open fire on the Dominion ships. We are to re take the Starbase, rescue the survivors, and run the Dominion out of this sector," he told them over the sub-space communications link with the other ships. The Starbase was heavily damaged and under heavy attack by the Dominion attack fighters. Debris hung in space like dust along a gravel highway. The ships that were at the starbase for repairs were all but destroyed when the fighting broke out about a day ago. From the appearance of the starbase there was nobody left to tell the story of about what happened, because the sensors indicated that life support was limited to the command areas. What was left of the weapons on the starbase fired at the attacking ships wildly and nearly missing one as it came around for another attack. "The targeting sensors must be off line," commented Commander Leeworth, in disbelief that the Dominion would attack this far into Federation territory. "Lieutenant signal the fleet to start firing at the ships, on my signal," ordered the captain with worry in the pit of his stomach "The fleet has responded," Jack told him. "Fire!" came the one word order. The ships in the fleet started to fire. "Lieutenant, attack formation delta-omega-one," he ordered again as his ship was hit with disrupter fire. He was almost knocked to the floor as the inertial dampers went off line for a split second. "Shields down to eighty-nine percent," shouted Jarvon from his station. Four Dominion ships plotted a direct course heading toward the starbase and they impacted with a large explosion destroying themselves and more than half of the starbase. The decks could be clearly seen on the view screen. "Captain, life support is failing on the starbase," Aloota told him in utter disbelief. "Beam the survivors to sickbay, and watch out for weapons fire while our shields are down," ordered the captain in a stern voice, which was very uncommon. "We got 26, the starbase's complement was over 4000," Jarvon told the captain. "Captain the last two Dominion ships are retreating!" yelled Aloota surprised. "Damage report," ordered the captain. "We have a hull breach on deck six section four and the starboard nacelle is buckling," stated Leafhire. "Jarvon, hail the fleet," Kataka ordered. "Hailing frequencies open sir." "To all ships, report to Deep Space Nine where Captain Sisko will inform us on the Dominion's activities and how we are to proceeded. You are ordered by Starfleet to engage at maximum warp. Kataka Out," he ordered. "Aloota set course for Deep Space Nine, maximum warp, engage." * * * Looking over the ship's design specifications Kataka discovered that there was a file that he didn't have access to, but he did discover that the ship had metaphasic shielding which could deflect direct weapons fire. With this equipment the Federation will defeat the Dominion and the Jem'Hadarr with no problem even with their larger ships. * * * "Hawking to Ops, do we have permission to dock?" asked Commander Leeworth. "This is Ops, Kira here. You have permission to dock at upper pylon two, welcome to Deep Space Nine, Hawking. Ops out," announced Major Kira. As the ship docked and the captain made his way to the docking hatch on deck 15 he was accompanied by his senior staff because Captain Sisko wanted to brief them on the Dominion's activities in the Alpha Quadrant. "Captain Kataka, Captain Sisko and Admiral Nechayev want to see you in the ward room immediately, we have just learned what the attack on the starbase was about," Kira told the captain and the senior staff as they exited the airlock and entered the dimly lit corridor. "Captain if you will follow me," Worf told the group standing in the middle of the corridor. They followed him to the turbo lift. They got off and walked about fifty meters to a door where two security guards were standing guard. Commander Worf instructed them to enter as he did. When they entered the room they all sat down at the large table in the middle of the room, where Admiral Nechayev, Captain Sisko, Lieutenant Nog, Chief O'Brian, Constable Odo, and the rest of Deep Space Nine's senior staff sat. "Good afternoon, I believe you all know why I have called all of you here today," the admiral addressed the senior staffs. "As you know Starbase 275 has been destroyed which was one of our major repair installations near Dominion held territory, we also lost a lot of good ships and personnel in that disaster." she once again explained to them, "There is another reason why I have called you here, which is that the Hawking and the Defiant have both been outfitted with a blade of armour and they also have Federation cloaking devices, which allow you to fire all weapons while cloaked, they are also phasing which means that the ships can pass through normal matter, they also have permanent metaphasic/regenerative shielding." "So that's why the shields held up so well against the Dominion fighters," Commander Chilec whispered to herself. "If we've developed our own cloaking devices doesn't that mean Starfleet has broken the Treaty of Algeron?!" questioned Captains Kataka and Sisko. "Everybody at ease!" the admiral shouted over the commotion that she started. "No that doesn't, because Starfleet and the Romulan Empire have signed a secret agreement which states that we can develop a cloaking device. This agreement has been kept classified ever since the Dominion has become a threat to the Alpha Quadrant. With the technology that we developed sixteen years ago with the Pegasus, we have further developed the cloak into what you see here," Nechayev explained as a diagram of the cloaking device came on to the large screen behind her. "How long has the cloak been on the Defiant?" asked Chief O'Brain. "The cloak on the Defiant has been in service for about six months, but the program the initiate the phasing and the weapons firing of the cloak hasn't been installed until the Hawking was launched two days ago," the admiral told him. "What are our orders concerning the Dominion?" asked Worf trying to hold in his eagerness to fight again. "Your orders are to find the ship building facility in their space and destroy it. Our source has located the facility to be in the Orias system. Your two ships are able to battle the fighters with the equipment that is installed. One more thing, your sensors are specially aligned to detect where the other ship is, so you won't decloak inside each other's hulls. Once you have completed your mission you are to report back immediately. Those are your orders. Dismissed," she ordered with concern. ************************************************************************ Sorry to cut it off here, but wait for next weeks edition. If you have any comments please E-mail me at ncc_81221@hotmail.com, or go to my homepage, you know where it is. Star Trek and all registered trademarks belong to Paramount Pictures Inc.