Commander's Log:
It's been nearly fifteen years since I sat in this ready room. It still smells like my coffee. Despite being refit and remodeled numerous times over the past half decade during various post battle repairs, it still has the telltales that it was mine. The deck plates behind the desk have the same little bumps that kept my chair from rolling back too far if we were hit. The fold out couch in the wall still has the same wear pattern. Only thing that changed was me. No uniform, no ranks, just the mission. Save my son. Take out my counterpart.
The Tigris has served me for nearly three decades, I've lost her, reclaimed her, rammed her into other ships, taken her into more battles than I can count, and what's left of her still can do it all. Admirality board declared that she be retired, Sovereign class replacement parts were getting harder to come by and what we didn't have in storage had to be fabricated and short of a massive overhaul, it was more cost effective to make a new, more modern ship replace her. Something we could more easily maintain. But sitting a museum wasn't what she was designed for. If it was going to go out, it was going to go out in a blaze of glory or it was going to remain mine. I'm not a very possessive man, I gave up my position as President without much protest. I gave up my rank as an Admiral to be President without any real hesitation. I even gave my daughters and my sons free reign, as much as I wanted them close, I let them follow their own paths, even if they came back around. Yet there are only two things I will hold onto even with cold dead fingers. This starship, which I never should have given up in the first place, but it wasn't my call. And one other thing.
--
"Commander?" Daisy said as she tapped on the door with a padd. "I got the engineering reports, warp drive is within tolerances, cloak is holding, but the phase part... JR thinks we should only engage that if we really really have to."
"Thank you Yeoman." Nick said as he paused his log and cleared his throat. "Been a while since you've been on a starship huh?"
"How can you tell?" Hill replied with a raised eyebrow.
"Inertial damper bracelet." Nick pointed out. "Give 'em to all the rookies to space travel."
"Oh... yeah... guess I'm just not used to high warp. We punched it out of Impulse and I felt like I left my stomach back on Terra Alpha." Daisy said as she smiled weakly. "We'll get Jack back sir... for Kinsey's sanity we have to."
"Care about her a lot don't you?" Nick said as he poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip. "You know, you could have been promoted a while ago, but you wanted to remain on her staff."
"I know sir, but she needs me and I enjoy being the sane one in the office at times." she chuckled lightly. "We'll get him back."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Nick said with a raise of his coffee mug. "Send Talon and Kinsey in here, we're going to be nearing our first stop in about... three hours."
"I'll get them sir." Daisy saluted and headed out.
Nick chuckled and shook his head. He looked at his 'war monitor' and had what scans and maps they had from his rescue and what they had from the old records. There was a planet that was used as a way station by many of Dominus forces, yet he kept his real HQ hidden, rumor had it they moved the old Starbase Python to a section of space that would shift enough that only if you knew the pattern, you could find it, if you didn't know the pattern, you'd end up who knows where. Vella Cava station wasn't Jackson's old station after all, even though he had stolen modules from it, it was moved from it's usual position guarding the Slot that lead into the sector from 'normal' space.
For the first time in five years, he was firmly back in the Black as they used to call it. He just hoped that he'd get everyone back home intact.
