About February 10^th, 2378

Stardate 55110

She's our home, all right, Commander Chris Harriman thought to himself.  Immediately, he felt at home in his quarters.  Like much of the ship, his quarters were primarily a…dark shade, a dark mood…but not in a negative way.  They were calm, peaceful.  They reminded him of the bridge on the Dragon-A…

The only qualm he had was that his office was in his quarters.  They were one and the same.  It was a smaller ship, true, and it didn't have room to give any of the senior staff their own office…but that wasn't what bothered him.  What bothered him was the fact that his office wasn't up on deck one…next to the bridge.  For three years, that's where his office had been.  He was going to have to get used to having it in his quarters now.

Chris looked out the window at the Open Sector of the Danzia Construction yard.  Next to the Dragon was a Sovereign class starship under construction…and for the most part, it appeared completed.  USS Typhon Chris read to himself.  Must be named in honor of the Typhon fleet…

He would have actually preferred having a Sovereign class starship named the Dragon…they were bigger, faster, and more powerful than the Intrepid class.  The Intrepid class was a mission-by-mission type of starship…when they launched, they were assigned to one mission or another.  Sovereign class starships were multitask…like the Galaxy class, but not quite as capable…and very good at defense.

Chris was startled by the door chime, but recovered immediately and turned around.  "Come in," he ordered calmly.

The doors parted to reveal Lieutenant Commander Vendar Perkins.  She smiled and nodded as she entered and the doors closed behind her.  "Sir."

"What can I do for you, Vendar?" Chris asked as he walked around his furniture.

"You asked me to inform you fifteen minutes before the Captain was due to arrive," she stated simply.

Chris frowned and nodded his head.  "Yes…I did.  But you could have told me that over the comm system."

She hesitated at this suggestion and looked down at the deck.  She seemed to ponder a question for a moment…before looking up at him.  "Well…for three years, I have been friends with the Dragon crew.  Now we basically have a whole new engineering crew, except for Vicki."

Chris nodded, urging her to go on.  She hesitated even further…but continued.  "Well…the original Dragon crew is all I've known since I've come out of the academy.  I guess…I guess my question is…do you think everything will be OK?"

Chris stood there for a moment with a blank expression, considering the question himself.  Vendar had once confided in him that she hadn't taken on any other 'famous' posts because she was afraid of adding an unstable element to a finally stable crew.  Now…there was a whole new engineering crew…and a whole new commanding officer.

He sighed, hesitating in his answer…  She had a very good, and very warranted question.  Choosing his words carefully, he said, "Well…if there's one thing I've learned in life, its that change is inevitable.  All good things come to an end."

She considered that statement for a moment, then shrugged and nodded her head…two contradictory actions that somehow made sense in the current situation.  "I guess that's true…"

Chris smiled and shook his head, moving past her.  As he did, he patted her shoulder.  "And with the first Klingon captain ever in Starfleet…this change is going to be one hell of an obstacle."

With that, he left his quarters, Vendar trailing behind, and headed for the turbolift.  As he did so, he pressed his communicator.  "All senior officers report to the shuttle bay.  Prepare for the arrival of the commanding officer."

He pressed his communicator again to close the channel, then stopped in front of the turbolift and pressed the command key.

"You know…even in this day and age, people tell horror stories about Klingons," Vendar commented as if she were only half speaking to Chris.

He laughed a little at the suggestion.  "Yeah…but then again, you'd be surprised about the rumors that were being told about me when I first took command of the Dragon.  Did you know that people said I was one-tenth Romulan and that I was planning on turning the Dragon over to the Romulan Empire?"

She smiled and nodded her head.  "Yes…I remember hearing about that one.  Never believed it for a second."

He nodded and smiled at her, then entered the now-open turbolift doors.  When Vendar followed, he commented, "Besides which, I'm actually one-tenth Cardassian, and it was the Jem Hadar that I planned on handing the Dragon over to."

She frowned and shook her head, not even bothering to look at him.  "Right, and I'm half Bolian."

Chris angled his head questioningly.  "Seriously?  You know, the Bolinas were one of the first species we planned on destroying after we got through with Starfleet."

She looked at him with a dumb expression on her face.  "You know, you're not very good at lying."

He looked up sheepishly, then looked down at the deck of the turbolift.  "All right, you got me…they're the second species we want to destroy.  The first are those damn telepaths, the Betazeds…they annoy the hell out of the Founders."

She playfully hit him in the stomach…only to find that the turbolift doors had opened just as she had done so…and standing there was a Klingon wearing a red-collared uniform with four pips on it.

Both Chris and Vendar's eyes went wide before they snapped to attention.

"Commander, are you letting this lesser officer assault you?!" he asked in his gruff, deep voice, sneering at Vendar like she was some child.

Feeling like an instructor at the Academy was lecturing him, Chris let a little smile creep onto his face before he answered, "Uh, no sir…I was just teaching her how to defend herself."

The Klingon's face did not change expressions at all as he looked from Chris to Vendar and back again.  Then, from out of nowhere, a huge smile overcame his face.  He burst out in an echoing laugh as he slammed his hand on Chris's shoulder, causing a slight pain to shoot through his torso.

"I like you already, Commander!  You must be my first officer, yes?"

Chris smiled and relaxed.  "That's correct, sir, Commander Chris Harriman."

"I am Captain K'Taul, son of Mulsod," he stated proudly, as if just being the son of that person were the greatest honor in all of the galaxy.  "I am your new Commanding Officer."

Unexpected, Chris thought to himself.  He never expected a Klingon officer to be so…friendly!  "Sorry for being late in attending your arrival, sir," Chris stated, half expecting K'Taul to suddenly change attitudes and lecture him.

"Do not be troubled, I arrived early," K'Taul stated, moving into the turbolift to let the doors close.  "Bridge," he added, causing the turbolift to move again.

Chris nodded, uneasy about his new commanding officer…  He looked around as if the turbolift were the most impressive part of the ship.  "So, what do you think of the Dragon?"

K'Taul looked at him and smiled a toothy grin.  "She's a decent ship, excellent for combat," he stated proudly.  "Not to mention the upgraded version has excellent sensors and an astrometrics lab."

Chris nodded nervously.  "Yeah, she packs a punch and can tell you what happens to every micron in a battle!"

K'Taul looked curiously at him with a frown on his face.  Chris immediately looked away, realizing that his nervousness was probably very evident…

"Why are you nervous around me?" K'Taul asked, curious.

Chris looked at the deck, wishing he weren't so transparent.  "Well…it's been three years since I've had a commanding officer."  He looked K'Taul in the eye.  "Admirals never make me nervous, but it's…awkward to suddenly not have command of the vessel I'm stationed on."

K'Taul's face only became more curious.  "You mean to tell me you are not nervous because I am a Klingon?"

Chris frowned questioningly, never even considering anything like that.  "No, sir, other species do not make me nervous.  The only exception would have to be the Borg."

K'Taul nodded approvingly with a smile on his face.  "I see."

The turbolift finally stopped and opened up onto the corridor.  They quickly moved through the corridor and through the doors onto the bridge.  "Captain on the bridge!" he stated crisply, knowing that he should follow all standard procedures unless K'Taul states otherwise.

"At ease," K'Taul said, moving quickly to the command chair.  Vendar moved to her station to the left while Chris followed K'Taul to the command area.

"Give me a readiness report," K'Taul ordered.

Chris didn't even have to bring any data up; he already knew the status of everything.  "The last of the construction crew left the ship over half an hour ago.  All outer access hatches have been sealed, which means we are running on our own life support now.  Warp core is online and functioning perfectly.  None of the propulsion drives have been tested yet.  Deflector control is online and ready to engage the deflector dish at any moment."

K'Taul nodded approvingly.  "Thank you, Commander."  He looked to Lieutenant James Trikal, who had just come back from the shuttle bay, and added, "Helm, engage starboard, port, aft, and forward thrusters…put them at station keeping."

James nodded as he sat down and began keying in the command.  "Aye, sir, thrusters at station keeping."

Chris opened a ship-wide channel.  "All hands, go to condition blue.  Prepare to debark."

The lights on the bridge turned a blue tint, indicating atmospheric flight was imminent.

"Thank you, Commander, I'll give the orders now," K'Taul stated, seemingly annoyed that Chris had taken the initiative.  Hey, I know when to give orders and why…

"Open a channel to the yard control officer," K'Taul ordered.

After a moment, Vendar replied, "Channel open, sir."

"This is Captain K'Taul of the Dragon," he said proudly.  "Requesting permission to debark."

"Permission granted, Captain," the officer replied.  "Good journey to you!"

K'Taul nodded his head.  "Bring the view screen online, forward view."

Immediately, the dry, desert like surface of the crater as well as the Akira class starship ahead came into view.  It was a bright, sunny day in the open sector…

"Helm," K'Taul finally managed to say.  He was hesitant; no doubt like Chris was when he first took command of the Dragon.  "Engage lateral thrusters…take us out!"

James keyed in the command…and with that, the ship slowly began to lift off.  A few people working on the outer hull of the Akira class starship started waving to them as the Dragon lifted above them.  A sort of pride overcame Chris for a moment.  It may not be his ship…but it was the Dragon, his home.  Once again, a Dragon would be among the stars…

"Engaging aft thrusters," James added.

The shadow of the Dragon engulfed the Akira for a moment as she passed overhead.  The nose of the Dragon pointed towards the sky…towards the stars.  She sliced through the thin atmosphere…and within moments, the blue sky disappeared, replaced by the blackness of space and the vast ocean of stars.

This was where a starship truly belonged, among the stars.  They were finally, truly, at home.