"Lieutenant…set a course for Deep Space Nine…” K'Taul smiled his toothy grin as he stared at the stars…  "Warp seven."

"Course laid in, sir."

He nodded simply and said, "Execute."

Execute?  Chris never did like that word…but oh well.  He wasn't in command now.

The wings on the Dragon folded up…and a moment later, the stars were streaking by…

Commander Kalia Tarkent stood up slowly, having to stand before a crowd once again.  She was never comfortable giving speeches…she did what she did, and that was the only time she felt comfortable being the center of attention.

Everyone was in the Mess Hall…well, everyone that could fit, all of her closest friends.  The entire senior staff, Vicki, who was the only other original engineer from the Dragon on board, as well as various other officers.  They were all here…to say goodbye to her.

"Well…" she began hesitantly.  "It most definitely has been an interesting three years!  We've all gone through so much together…I almost wish I would not have accepted."  She looked down at the deck and shook her head solemnly.  "Each and every one of you have been there for me when I needed a friend the most…you've inspired confidence in me…"  She looked up to Chris…  "When it seemed like there was nothing to be confident about."  He smiled and nodded to her, knowing that she was primarily directing the comment at him.

She shook her head, realizing she felt lost now…  Feelings of regret and hesitance coursed through her body…  If only Terry had been assigned to the Dragon…but then the Intrepid class starships don't generally carry counselors…

"I…know that none of you want me to go."  The words were becoming smaller, weaker, as her emotions became more intense…  "I don't want to go either.  You've all become my family…and this."  She motioned to the ship around them.  "This is our family's home, even if it only became our home recently.  It still is the Dragon…our protector.  She's carried us into the unknown, taken us through hostilities…and brought us all out of it.  What more could you want from a home?"

She smiled as she realized something.  "You know…on all of my other posts…I never became so attached to a ship…or its crew.  I never really even cared, one ship was just…just another ship."  A tear started to slowly form in her eye…  The entire mess hall was staring silently at her, some of them also forming tears.  Three years together...three years of hardship and fun...  "This...was the first time that I felt like I…I belonged…I belonged here, on this ship."

Everyone nodded in agreement with her.  She did belong…but everyone also knew why she wasn't staying…and they all respected that.  They didn't make any more objections; they didn't make leaving any harder for her than it already was…they were just enjoying what short time they had left with her.

"I'll never forget any of you," she stated, the tear finally starting to stream down her face…  "And one day…I would very much like to join you all again."

She left it at that and sat down quickly, feelings of sadness coursing through her…with a hint of longing in it.  She hadn't even left…yet she wanted to come back…

Chris looked at the deck for a moment…then looked at her.  "You know…you'll always be welcome here."

She smiled at him for that comment…and knew it to be true.  It was her family…they would let her come back any time she wished…because she belonged.  Everyone leaves home eventually…now was her time to do so…

For now…she would leave home…but then and there, she swore to herself that one day…she would return.  One day, she would come home again.  One day…she would belong again…

K'Taul nodded respectively to Colonel Kira Nerys as he entered her office next to Ops.  "Captain K'Taul," she stated, standing up respectively.  "It's an honor to meet the first Klingon captain in Starfleet."

Sitting down in a chair in front of her desk, followed closely by Chris, he replied, "The honor is mine.  I heard of your actions on Cardassia near the end of the War."

She nodded and then sat down herself.  "We don't have a lot of time," she immediately started.  "Five hours before the Dragon launched from Danzia, we received a distress call from unexplored space.  Now the unusual part of this transmission is that it uses a highly-developed subspace carrier signal…it reached Earth in roughly five hours."

K'Taul let his surprise show on his face.  "Five hours?!" Chris asked, astonished.

Kira nodded in confirmation.  "Yes, five hours.  The USS Sovereign was sent to investigate the distress call from Starbase 514, she was the nearest ship at the time…that was a day ago.  The last report we heard from her was when she entered a sector that the distress signal originated from…and we've not heard from her since."

K'Taul frowned curiously.  "So there are a couple of possibilities.  What ever attacked the source of the distress signal destroyed the Sovereign…or someone else who intercepted the distress signal met them in-system."

Kira nodded solemnly.  "That last guess is what we are guessing it is."  A display on the wall suddenly flared to life at Kira's command.  On it was a tactical display of Cardassian, Federation, and Romulan space, basically the major powers that were around the 'top half' of Federation space.

"As you can see," she continued, "the distress call originates to the galactic east of Breen space, above Federation space."  The map expanded slightly to show Breen space, which was ‘north’ of Cardassian space.  "Eight hundred twenty light years from here.  We've basically ruled out the Ferengi simply because they don't possess the technology to destroy a Sovereign class starship…unless they have some new weapon.  It could be the Breen, Cardassians…or even the Romulans, which would fit."

The tactical view zoomed in on Romulan space, close to the Typhon Expanse and Deep Space 4.  "Several Romulan starships, mostly scouts, moved to this area of Romulan space.  One Romulan War Bird, the D'Raul, cloaked the moment it reached the area…and hasn't been seen by sensors any where else."

"So our primary suspects are the Romulans?" Chris asked.

She nodded in reply.  "That's right."

"So they are sending an Intrepid class starship in where a Sovereign class has failed?" K'Taul asked, knowing that the Federation was not that ignorant when it came to tactics.

"No," she stated simply.  "The Dragon is simply escort for another Sovereign class starship, the USS Shauny."

That was a little better…but considering they lost contact with a Sovereign class starship, K'Taul expected something more around the lines of an Excalibur class starship.

"The Shauny arrived just after you did, but her captain was already briefed.  They are waiting on the Dragon to leave."

K'Taul nodded and stood up.  "Then we should leave."

Chris also stood up then, followed quickly by Kira.  She extended her hand, a human gesture that K'Taul had become used to.  He shook her hand as she said, "Good luck to you, Captain."

"Thank you," he stated.  With that, he turned around and headed for the exit, Chris following.  Deep Space Nine was…different without Sisko being in command.  Last time K'Taul had been here, the entire crew was still here, during the Dominion war.  Much had changed since then…

It didn't take K'Taul and Chris long to reach the transporter room, and minutes later, they were on a turbolift.  Both had been silent as they traveled, contemplating the mission…wondering why only one extra ship had been assigned to something obviously dangerous…

When they reached the bridge, they wasted no time.  "Commander Perkins, hail the USS Shauny and tell them we are ready to depart.  Helm, prepare to debark.  Once we're clear of the station, follow the Shauny at maximum warp."

"Aye," both Vendar and James stated.  "Releasing docking clamps…"

James popped his head into the recently opened doors leading into engineering.  Directly ahead was the many blue colors of the warp reactor.  He looked around for her…but couldn’t find her.

Yet the computer said she was here…so he entered and decided he’d look for her himself.

He looked at all of the engineers walking around, working at stations…none of their faces were familiar.  They were all new people…

He then noted that this engineering was a lot smaller than the Dragon class.  Compared to them, this one was…almost claustrophobic!

Someone suddenly caught his eye as she walked by, and he nodded to her…only to pause.

As she walked by, he turned around and said, “Excuse me.”

She stopped and looked at him, a smile on her face.  “Yes?”

This person…was an ensign…yet…

Hoping he wasn’t crazy, he hesitantly asked, “Are you, by chance, related to Vendar Perkins?”

The smile vanished from her face and formed into a frown.  Uh oh…  “Yes, I am related to Vendar!  Why?”

“Amazing!” he stated, looking hard at her face.  “You look just like her!”

“But I am not her,” she stated, clearly annoyed.  “My name is Kristine Scott!”

He immediately recognized her name.  “Hey, I remember her talking about you!  You’re her cousin, right?”

“That’s right!”  She was annoyed about something…but before he could ask what, she asked, “Am I excused now, sir?”

Taken back, all he could do was simply nod his head.  She spun on her heel and marched out of engineering.

“Don’t take it personally, Lieutenant,” another voice spoke up from behind him.

James spun around to see who had just talked to him.  There he saw what he guessed was the new chief engineer.

“Sir?” he asked curiously.

The Ktarian smiled and nodded after Kristine.  "People have been, for all accounts and purposes, prodding at her like some science animal.  She’s gotten sick and tired of everyone comparing her to her famous cousin.”

James looked over his shoulder, then looked back to the Ktarian.  “I see…I’ll have to apologize to her later.”

The Ktarian stuck out his hand then and stated, “I’m Jurand Sall, the new chief engineer.”

James grinned and took his hand.  “Nice to meet ya, sir.  I’m James Trikal, the helmsman.”

Frowning, Jurand asked, “The same from the T’Laulland incident?”

James froze when Jurand asked that question…  “Uh…yes, sir.”

He smiled at pat his harm a couple times.  “Don’t worry…I don’t think any less of you because of that.  Just, uh…don’t do it with this ship, or at least while I’m engineer.”

James smiled weakly, but he didn’t like being reminded of that…incident.

“Any way, what are you doing here in engineering?” Jurand asked.

The incident forgotten, James started to look around again.  “I’m looking for Vicki, actually.”

Jurand nodded knowingly.  “Ah yes, the only remaining engineer from the last Dragon.”  He motioned his head back and up.  “She’s up on the second deck running an injector diagnosis.”