Godspeed Captain

[Cptn Neptune 0]

Neptune turned to exit the conference, along with the rest of his crew, when he felt a hand against his arm. He turned, to see the face of Admiral Noavonna. “Commander,” her baroque voice said gently. “The admiralty would like to speak to you.”

 

A sudden wave of uncertainty overcame him. Had it been his speech during the meeting? Were they kicking him out of Starfleet? Perhaps they were going to ask him to be reactivated as an Ambassador. “Of course,” he said a bit weakly. “May I inquire as to the purpose?”

 

Noavonna smiled, “Your future with Starfleet Command.”

 

What was that supposed to mean? He hated cryptic responses like that one, but she was an Admiral, what was he to do? “When do they want to meet with me?”

 

“Right now, if you’re available.”

 

“Of course.”

 

It was a short walk from the auditorium to the lift that carried the Commander and the Admiral to the much more private and smaller briefing room of Starfleet Command. After being nodded in by Noavonna, Neptune passed through the double the doors.

 

The room was richly decorated with hues of navy blue and maroon. An ovular marble table rose out of the floor in the center of the room. Opposite him, three admirals sat looking over paperwork, barely aware that Neptune had entered their sanctum. After a few moments, a female seated in the center to table noticed him.

 

“Be seated Commander.”

 

He took his seat with a nod, “Thank you Admiral.”

 

Admiral Scarlet Thompson looked towards her peers then to Neptune before speaking. “Commander,” she stated his rank for the second time in less than five minutes. “Quite honestly we’ll be keeping this as short as possible, I do hope you understand.”

 

“I am sure you’re all very busy.”

 

“That would be an understatement,” Thompson said with a slight, languid smile. “Commander, as you know, the fate of the Challenger command staff has been torrent and unfortunate. With Commander Cole’s accident and the loss of Captain Moore, it’s left us with quite the predicament.”

 

Neptune merely nodded, allowing the Admiral to continue. “Which is why we’ve decided to keep you as commanding officer of the Challenger, and to promote you to the rank of Captain, effective immediately, with all the rights and privileges deserving of your new rank.”

Opening and closing his mouth a few times, Neptune felt his cheeks flush. “Surely there are more qualified candidates.”

 

“Candidly,” the Admiral responded flatly. “Yes, there are. However, due to our current situation with the Romulans, it would be difficult to train a completely new command staff.”

 

He leaned back into his chair, letting all of that soak in; never in his wildest dreams did he ever believe that he would be the Captain of a Starship, let alone one of the lead starships of the United Earth Starfleet. He supposed though, that with the loss of Meteora, that Challenger was as close as home as he had anymore, after all he’d not lived on Earth in over three years.

 

“Thank you,” he finally said. “May I inquire as to who will be my first officer?”

 

Looking down to her stack of notes, Thompson nodded her head. “I realize that you’d suggested Lt. Commander Gamble as the new Executive officer…”

 

“But,” he finished what he knew was coming.

 

“But, Commander Gamble’s been out of the fleet almost as long as you have, to say nothing of the toes he stepped on when he went off to find himself.”

 

Neptune pursed his lips, and released a sigh. “I do hope you’re not planning on throwing me some new Commander, with all the crews been through…”

 

Thompson waved her hand, “On the contrary Captain,” she addressed him by the new rank. “The Admiralty has chosen Lt. Giovanni as your new Executive officer. Other than yourself and a few others, he’s been with the Challenger project from the beginning.”

 

A broad smile crossed his lips, “That will be more than acceptable.”

 

“Excellent,” Thompson said. “I’ll leave it you to give Commander Giovanni the good news.”

 

Neptune nodded. “Is there anything else Admiral?”

 

“Yes,” she said, her tone rapidly changing to more businesslike. “Starfleet Command and our Allies have made a decision on how best to respond to what we are now nearly sure is a Romulan attack on the Coalition. Fleet Admiral Gardner…”

 

“Fleet Admiral?”

 

She nodded. “The Admiral has assumed Command of all UES forces, and jointly with Tellerite Admiral Koresh is now the Supreme Allied Commander.”

 

“I see,” Neptune said distantly. So much for giving peace a chance.

 

“As I was saying,” she continued. “Fleet Admiral Gardner and Admiral Koresh have approved of a plan proposed by the Andorians to form a new defensive perimeter bolstered by coalition forces.”

 

“A sound plan.”

 

“Yes,” Thompson agreed. “However, several of our colonies are beyond the proposed line. And we’re not about to leave them to fend for themselves.

 

“Which is why, Captain, that you will be leading a task force to evacuate one of those colonies.”

 

“Are we planning on evacuating all the colonies beyond the new peremiter?”

 

“Of course,” she said dismissively, though not harshly. “You however only need to worry about one colony.”

 

“Which is?”

 

“Our colony on Seti Lo VII.”

 

“Understood.”

 

“You’re task force consists of five Y-class transports, the NX-class Pathfinder and the Intrepid-classed Agamemnon and Ajax as well as the Andorian cruiser a’Naor.”

 

Neptune nodded his understanding. “How many colonist are we talking?”

 

“Just under 35,000,” the Admiral said softly. “You’ll be evacuating them to the nearest base behind the line, which is the Vulcan starbase in the Kheti Belt.”

 

“35,000.” He stated flatly. “It will take more than one trip.”

 

“We’re aware of that, Captain. We only have so many transports to go around. Get as many colonists as you can in the first trip, and then get back as quickly as you can.”

 

“And if the Romulans decided to crash our party?”

 

“Then you’re to defend yourselves,” she said sternly. “But do not engage if you are overmatched, the safety of our warships and our colonists are paramount.”

 

“Understood.”

 

“I also thought you’d like to know Captain,” she said. “The Vulcans arrived at Meteora a few hours ago…there was nothing left. I am very sorry.”

 

He took a deep breath. “Thanks.”

 

“In seventy two hours, their will be an official declaration of war upon the Romulan Empire from the Coalition governments—we want your ship ready to go by then, Captain. You’ll rendezvous with your task force in orbit of Pluto as soon as the announcement is over. Understood.”

 

“Yes, sir.”

 

“Then Godspeed Captain.”