A New Command

Jan H. Kobarg

This story is also available in German (Diese Geschichte ist auch auf deutsch verfügbar.)

Commander Tenev left he bureau and with a hissing sound the doors closed behind her. Almost in the same moment she released a disappointing sounding sigh, had a look over her shoulder and went for the lift.

That was not the way I imagined it, thought the Andorian by herself when she was trying to make her way through the crowd of fleet officers in red uniforms.

Next to the lift's door a small set of officers from several different races had assembled and did wait for the next lift. One of them was a human officer who did only wait for her. His name was Albert Martine who was looking at her with the most eager face she had ever seen on this planet. His impatience grew even stronger when she came closer and was clearly visible by seeing how he held his belt.

"Now tell, what is it?" he did ask when she was in hearing range. "A destroyer or a frigate? Well you look so different, did we really get an Excelsior?" With the last words his hands did rise in the sky and he rolled his eyes in excitement.

But the blue skinned women was standing in front of him without saying any word or giving an reaction. Seconds did pass until she finally replied to him.

"They gave a class II cruiser to us," did she say in a manner as if the human was responsible for it.

The man who would become her first officer let his hands drop. All his excitement was gone within the second and carefully he asked: "Which class?"

He did hold his belt again, wishing that it wouldn't come worse.

"Enterprise."

"They are still active?" he exclaimed and causing several officers around to look at him which made him silent again.

Tenev did enter the lift after the old passengers had left it. Her puzzled and shocked looking officer followed her. They stayed close to the exit in the large lift in order to exit a few decks later to the transporter room. Albert suddenly did wish he could have been with her in the assignment meeting thinking with him at her site they wouldn't have betrayed her.

He knew the Constitution classes had served half of her service life when he was born, most vessels of that class did defend the Federation against Klingons, Romulans, Kzinti and Klingons again. On the other hand he knew that the Excelsior classes demoted those vessels to second class still when he was at the Academy...

"I didn't expect it would come that way," were her first words after a long period of silence.

"Well, yes, I thought we would receive a frigate, maybe the Marseille..."

"Commander Shi won't resign his commission yet, trust me," she said with a smile. Tenev knew very well that Albert dreamt from the very beginning to once serve or better command the vessel named after his hometown. "My father did serve aboard a vessel of the Enterprise class when he met my mother. Back then they were just refitted."

She added the little anecdote and had to realise that not every Starfleet career would produce heroes and there were not enough vessels to serve aboard the most distinguished ones. But neither of the two did wish to serve aboard a vessel which class was already in the state of being decommissioned by the end of the decade.

When the lift did stop both officers exited without saying a word. Only when they were standing in front of the doors of the transporter room from where they would beam over to their vessel Albert asked the question which he hadn't asked by now: "What's her name?"

"What?" asked Tenev after they had passed through the doors with played lack of concern.

"Our ship, what else," he replied and rolled his eyes while Tenev was handing the Ensign at the controls her padd with the orders.

"Ah, that..." she hesitated and raised her chin a bit looking at her friend from the side. Seeing that he was losing his patience she said, "Atlantis."

Next to her Albert was stunned and couldn't bring out a work and Tenev finally considered that she would command the vessel on which a decade ago the most famous officers of Starfleet ended their career: Captains Chekov, Sulu, Uhura and Scott, as well as Ambassador Spock and James Kirk, the man known in the entire universe. The missions of all those men and women are lectures at the Academy.

With a smile on her face, knowing that she would inherit their former ship the two commander stepped on the platform and prepared to be disassembled. A static voice was hear able suddenly: "This is 1747 Atlantis, we are ready to receive the captain. On your mark."

Commander Tenev nodded into the direction of the ensign. He and his assistant began to flip their hands over the controls. "Attention Atlantis, energising."

Both officers turned into a sparkling tube of light and would become part of Starfleet history when they re-materialise.