As Ryan walked along the old stone street, the wind chilled his face and the rain soaked him through to the bone. The weather was pretty bad for the end of April, even by British standards. He finally reached the cemetery and pushed the large iron gate open. He walked in past the hundreds upon hundreds of graves. Finally, he came to a stop in front of one and knelt down before it. On it read
"Benosk,
Lieutenant JG, USS Ronin"
Died February 19, 2384
Died
serving his Captain, his ship and the Federation.
A true example of the finest breed of Starfleet officer.
Although
you had no home on Romulas,
A home you always had aboard the Ronin.
Rest
in peace Benosk,
You shall not be forgotten and missed always
"I'm sorry I haven't had time to come and see you before Benosk" began Ryan. He felt a bit silly talking to a grave stone, but it was nothing unusual. "I've been really busy though. Things haven't been easy lately. There have been a lot of problems and dificulties. I had been removed from command and had my ship taken away from me. Now I find that my ship has been destroyed." He sat back on the wet ground. "If only you were here with me now, I would have at least one friend left. It's just me and Tricia now Benosk. Everyone else is dead or gone. I, I just wish there had been another way out on that Proletarain ship. God, if I ever get my hands on Heim I swear to God I'll make him pay for this. I don't know if you can hear any of this, Benosk. I hope you can. Tricia would no doubt come to see you too, but she is on the verge of death herself. Watch over her.. make sure she is ok?" Ryan paused and then pulled out a smal box from his coat. He opened it and inside was a communicator and two pips for a Junior Grade Lieutenant. He placed tehm just underneath the grave stone and stood up. "Rest in peace my friend"
Ryan got up and left. As he walked toward the gate he saw a figure standing against the wall under an umbrella.
"It's time to go Ryan" the figure said.
"Well lets get going" answered Ryan as they walked back off down the road.
Soon the view of a transporter room materialised in front of Ryan. He and his
companion stepped off the transporter pad and removed their dripping coats.
"Let me take those for you sirs" said the Ensign hurrying to get them.
"Thank you" said Pike. "Well Ryan, your ship awaits, let's get going."
The two walked through the endless corridors of the orbital station and finally came upon the airlock where their shuttle was awaiting them. The pilot stood to attention as the two approached and saluted.
"At ease ensign" said Ryan.
"Admiral Geoofrey Pike, Captain Ryan Evans for transport to the USS Federation?" he asked
"Thats right Ensign, so if you would be so kind as to step in and take the controls, we will be under way" said Pike.
The three entered the small shuttle. The ensign at the helm piloted the shuttle hurriedly out of the station and out towards the dry docks.
"Keep within the speed limit Ensign" smiled Pike as he noticed they were travelling at over 3/4 impulse.
"Sorry sir"
"Quite alright Ensign."
"Sir, what is the Federation exactly?" asked Ryan
"USS Federation is a brand new state of the art ship. Intrepid II class. Slipstream drive, improved sickbay, stellar cartography lab. Standard weapon compliment of 400 photon torpedoes, 250 quantum and 100 tri-cobalt torpedoes. Two forward type XVII phaser arrays and to aft. An Isokinetic cannon, as well as a trilithium explosive. Metaphasic and refractive shileding. All the extras, 3 holodecks, hydropaunics bay, 1 raquet ball court, top of the range science equipoment..."
Ryan couldn't help but be impressed by the description of his new ship. He couldn't wait to get aboard, but deepdown he knew he shouldn't be getting a ship with this much power after he'd been on Earth undergoing psychiatric evaluations for inability to command.
"Admiral, why exactly have I got a ship that Is so powerful when I've just come out of psychatric evaluation. Even I know this isnt right"
"Captain, There were two ships available for you. The Federation, or the Tolkes."
"Which was?"
"A Nova class. I though even after the psych eval, you shouldn't end up with a ship less powerful than the one you had before. Besides, I'm not just doing this as a favour to you. I also had Tyran, Kira and Dinara in mind when I gave you this ship."
"Well thankyou anyway Admiral. I really appreciate this."
"I just hope you won't let me down."
"I won't Admiral."
Ryans attention returned to the view outside of the main window. The dry dock loomed up out of the darkness and in it was one of the most amazing sights Ryan had ever seen. There was the Federation, hanging there motionless. The pilot took the small ship inside the latice frame and flew around giving the two command officers full view fo the ship. After the second pass, Ryan and Pike agreed that they would rather get onboard than fly around all day. So the ensign took them into the shuttle bay and landed the shuttle with a slight thud. Ryan and Pike stepped out of the back of the shuttle once atmosphere inside the shuttle bay had been restored andtook a look around.
"What is that?" asked Ryan walking over to a shuttle larger than a runabout in the centre of the shuttle bay.
"That is a Delta class shuttle. Named after the quadrant that it was originally designed and tested in."
"You mean this is a Delta Flyer?"
"It sure is"
"Admiral, you certainly didn't leave anything out on this ship." said Ryan looking around. There were two cochrane calss shuttles toward the rear as well as a runabout.
"That I didn't. I even swapped that runabout with another ship for you."
Ryan walked over and looked at the name on the runabout. "The USS Cleddau" (The Cleddau was the river running through Ryans home town) "Admiral, I don't know what to say."
"Don't say anything, you have already thanked me and that will do for now. The only other way you can thank me is to make this one last." he said with a smile.
Pike then took Ryan on a guided tour of the entire ship. To say Ryan was impressed was an understatement. The tour ended up on the bridge. There were a few work cres pottering round at a few of the bridge stations, but this didn't spoil the moment for Ryan. He stepped out into the middle of the bridge staring at the view screen. he turned and found the Captains chair. He hesitated for a moment before sitting in it.
"Feels good doesn't it?" asked Pike, remembering the when he first boarded his old ship the Knight. "I'll leave you too get aquainted with your ship. I have to sort a few things out on Earth before we can leave."
"Ok, see you in the morning Admiral"
"Sleep well Ryan."
Ryan stood up and headed for stellar
cartography. He brought up a chart of the Alpha quadrant. The map showed the
position of the Federation and DS11. Ryan calculated the time it would take
to reach there using the slipstream drive. It would take just under three days
for him to arrive at DS11. He just hoped that the duplicate crew, Kira in particular
wouldn't show up before he did. Another thing that worried him deeply was the
duplicate Kira. He had Tyran and Pike with him now who knew more about Kira
than most people, but the only way to stop the duplicate would be the original
Kira who was recovering in the infirmary on DS11. *I really screwed up last
time I was there. From now on, no more screw ups!*
