About June 12^th, 2378
Stardate 55447

“You know what I miss most about the Dragon class?” Commander Chris Harriman asked.

Lieutenant Commander Vendar Perkins looked away from the window in the galley and at Chris.  “What’s that?”

He smiled slightly.  “The crew.  I mean, it’s nice that almost all the crew on this ship is from the Dragon-A…but that’s only over a hundred, and an almost entirely new engineering team.”

Ensign Tal Celes, who was sitting across from them in another couch, along side Lieutenant Commander Tom Halkrat, frowned.  “How big was the crew on the A?”

Chris let his smile widen a little.  “Well, it was supposed to have a standard crew of about fifteen hundred, but it almost never had that many aboard.  Once that I can recall for sure that it had that crew count, and that was after it’s refit after the Vorkalai war.”

Her eyes went wide with surprise.  “Fifteen hundred?”  Everyone else nodded.  “That’s more than a Galaxy class!”

Chris again nodded.  “Yeah, and believe me, it was hell trying to get to know each and every crew member.”

She was about to say something, then stopped herself and simply shook her head.

After a moment of silence, Vendar added, “I think I mostly miss the look of the inside of the ship.”  She looked around the galley with a frown on her face.  “I still don’t think I’ve gotten used to this ship.”

Tom looked at her curiously.  “It’s been four months since we launched and you still don’t like it?”

She shrugged her shoulders innocently with an innocent-looking frown on her face.  “After three years on the A, I guess I had just gotten used to it…”

Chris nodded slowly in agreement.  “Yeah…I mean, even the Captain’s quarters are half the size on this ship!”

Everyone laughed at the comment, which amplified after Tom’s comment of, “Yeah, you practically had an entire apartment on the A!”

The laughing continued for a moment, then all became quiet again.

Then all eyes fell upon Tom, who hadn’t said what he missed yet.  He stared longingly at the coffee table between the two couches, his eyes distant.

“What about you, Tom?” Tal asked.

He smiled and looked at her, then at Chris.  “I miss the sense of family we had on the ship.  The bond that had formed between all of us, including the Hintaru and Britar officers.  It just…doesn’t feel the same here.  Especially with all of the engineers and Terry gone.”

Chris nodded, as did Vendar.  “Yeah…it just isn’t the same any more.”

“I guess that’s what makes those times so precious to us,” Vendar said.  “The fact that they were great times…and the fact that they’ll never come again.”

Chris again nodded his agreement and looked out at the stars.  The Dragon wasn’t in warp at the moment, which brought a frown to his face.  Suddenly, the stars flickered for a moment…then disappeared entirely as a very familiar shape took form.

He felt his jaw drop as he slowly stood up.  “What the hell?”

Tom frowned and slowly turned his body enough to see out the window, as did Tal.  Both of them stood up in surprise.

“Everyone to your stations,” Chris ordered, knowing that the Klingons wouldn’t use a cloak unless they really felt it necessary.

“Bridge to Commander Harriman,” Lieutenant Commander R’Sharn’s voice suddenly spoke up over the intercom.  “A Klingon Vor’Cha class starship just de-cloaked ahead of us.”

Chris glanced at the ship one more time, then moved around the couch and towards the exit.  “I saw it, we’re on our way.”

“Have they hailed us yet?” Chris asked the moment the turbolift doors opened.  He stopped where he was and looked over to R’Sharn at Ops.

She nodded her head, looking at Chris with her eyes but at her console with her blue antennae.  “Yes, but it was level ten only.  I already sent the transmission down to the Captain’s quarters.”

Chris frowned, wondering how Klingons would know Federation encryption sequences…  Have negotiations gone so well with them that Starfleet has given them the ability to view and send encrypted transmissions?

His curiosity didn’t stop, but he couldn’t do anything about it for now.  As Vendar replaced R’Sharn at Ops, Chris moved around the railing and to the command chair, where he sat down.  For nearly fifteen minutes, he could see on his console that the transmission was still active.

Finally, the transmission ended, and a moment later, Captain K’Taul’s gruff voice came over the intercom.  “K’Taul to bridge.”

Chris pressed a button on his console to open a channel.  “Go ahead, sir.”

“I’m about to transport over to the T’Nalan.”  His voice seemed very edgy, or rather, more so than it usually was.  Something was wrong…  “I’m afraid something has come up and I’ll be required to take leave for a while.  While I’m gone, I want you to take command of the Dragon.  I’ll transfer all command codes over to you before I depart.”

Chris frowned, the information hitting him all at once.  “Sir?”

“You heard me, Commander!”  He most definitely wasn’t happy.  “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, but considering travel time, I could be gone two to three months.”

Chris’s frown never flickered.  “Aye, sir…”

“K’Taul out.”

Chris looked back at Vendar, who shrugged and shook her head in equal confusion.  He looked again at the Klingon ship on the view screen…but no answers were coming, and he could tell that it would be a long while before he would get any…

Science officer’s log, Stardate 55455.07

            It’s been three days since the Captain left us, still no word as to why he left.  Currently, we’re back on our regular patrol after investigating another rogue comet passing through the Lauss sector.  With the Paris and the Enterprise both in the surrounding sectors, I certainly have felt a lot safer.  We don’t seem so alone any more…

Tom checked the chronometer on the command console, his eyes starting to tire already.  01:44…wonderful.  I’m tired and I still have several hours to go.

The graveyard shift didn’t usually bother him, but after investigating that comet for over eighteen hours straight, trying to penetrate its Hylomethane layer with sensors…he would have preferred more than four and half hours of sleep before tackling this shift.

“Ensign, what’s our current course and speed?” he asked, trying to keep himself awake.

After a moment, the helmsman replied, “heading two-one-four mark oh-seven…speed warp seven point five.”

He felt like changing something, their speed even…but he knew he shouldn’t make decisions like that.  Then again, technically, with the Captain gone, he was temporarily first officer on the ship.  But then Chris didn’t want to change any of the scheduling, so here I am, still stuck on this shift…

He wanted to talk to someone, any of the night bridge officers, but what was there to talk about?  The most recent news was the comet, and he did not feel like talking about that.  He simply sat in the seat and continued to stare at the time on his console, slowly ticking away.  01:48…

What a way to be spending the night…

An alarm sounded on the ops station, which was about the only other break in silence the entire night.  He turned his head around to look at Lieutenant Riley.  “What’s up?” he asked.

Riley examined his console for a moment, then frowned.  “I’m reading some sort of odd energy signature directly ahead of us.  I’m not positive…but it almost looks like some sort of stealth field, almost like a poor-man’s cloak.”

Tom stood up, slightly alarmed by the news.  “Can you detect anything hidden by it?”

Riley shook his head.  “No.  It almost looks like it’s a natural subspace gap…but its too symmetrical to be natural.”  He looked up at Tom.  “I don’t get it…I can’t even figure out what’s generating it.”

Tom looked down at the deck for a moment, then back at Riley.  “How long before we intercept?”

Riley looked at his console again.  “Less than thirty seconds.  I’m not entirely sure why our sensors didn’t detect it earlier…”

He shook his head.  “This is…just peculiar.”  He turned around to look at the view screen and paused there for a moment, staring at the streaking stars as they passed by…  “Yellow alert,” he finally said.  “Raise shields.  Drop us out of warp fifty thousand kilometers from the gap.”

“Aye, sir.”

He looked again at Riley.  “As soon as we drop out of warp, perform a metaphasic scan of the gap to see what’s in it.”

He nodded.  “Ok.  Configuring for metaphasic scanning…”

Unable to keep his scientific curiosity under control, Tom decided not to wait for an answer, but rather he moved around the railing and up to the Ops station.  He walked around and into the station, then came to a stop next to Riley and examined his readings.

“From what I can tell,” Riley said, the scan already almost finished, “there really is nothing inside of it.  However, I am detecting a small generator on the edge of the gap.”

Tom frowned and nodded once at the console.  “That…looks like a quadraphasic subspace current that’s sending power to the generator.”

Riley nodded, equal confusion on his face.  “Yeah, who ever is doing this is well versed in subspace mechanics.”

Tom nodded in agreement.  “You think it could be the Lauss for some reason?”

Riley frowned and shook his head.  “Though they have advanced enough technology to do this…wouldn’t they use their technology to hide the signal?”

Again, Tom nodded.  “You’re right…but if it isn’t them…”  Then realization hit him.  “Wait a minute…we’re sitting her investigating this…like sitting ducks…”

A sensor alarm suddenly sounded from the tactical station.  Tom looked over to Lieutenant-Commander Perry Cantor who immediately checked his readings.  Horror crossed his face.  “Some sort of subspace damping field just went up, it’s blocking long range sensors…and short range sensors are showing a vessel de-cloaking five hundred kilometers away!”

Tom moved out from the Ops area and stopped halfway between the two stations, fearing that it was exactly who he thought it was.  “Identify the ship!”

Perry frowned at his console, no doubt waiting for the de-cloaking sequence on the ship to finish…then he looked up in horror.  “It’s a Vrol battle cruiser!  They’re already powering up weapons and locking on!”

Damn…  “Battle stations!” Tom said, walking as quickly as he could around the railing and down to the command area.  “Power up the phasers and load all torpedo bays.”  The alert klaxon began wailing its alarming cry as the bridge darkened and bulkhead panels turned red.