Capt. Dominic Santos After all recent posts USS Vanguard - Shuttlebay Two "...now, remember, Ensign Burke was told she would be in charge of the warp injector diagnostic, and she may run a couple of days with it." Captain Dominic Santos half-walked, half-jogged down the corridor, with Executive Officer Soman Drath in tow, calmly nodding at what the commanding officer of the Vanguard said. "Lieutenant Patterson may push again for the MCARS-2 upgrade, but whenever he gets pushy, remind him that the MCARS systems have not proven to be fully functional aboard the Vanguard, so we do not want to push for any more changes until we have the current kinks worked out." As they rounded the corner, they ran into Lopez, Valentine, and Falcon, walking down the hall and chatting like first-year cadets. Santos stopped short of bumping into them. "Ladies," he smiled and nodded. "Captain," Falcon said. "We all hope you'll have a good trip," Valentine said, trying to hide a giggle. "Thank you," Santos replied cheerily, "I'm sure the Security Conference on Earth will be enlightening." The female officers rounded the hall and Soman watched them go. They giggled when they thought they were out of earshot. "...and, please, whatever you do, don't let McNally into the Tuscadero Room kitchen again; Chef has still not entirely recovered from the last--What?" Soman grinned at Santos, still thinking about Lopez, Valentine and Falcon. Santos looked around. "What?" he asked again. Soman shook his head. "Nothing. Please, sir, go on." As they approached Shuttlebay Two, Santos sighed and smiled. "I'm sure you'll have it all under control." "Thank you, sir," Soman said. Santos nodded and grinned. "The new captain will be very lucky to have you as his trusted right hand." Santos stopped. "And about that, Drath. You know how I felt. I requested that Starfleet put the Vanguard in your hands for the time being, but the Admiral felt it best to temporarily reassign her while you're on 'special' maneuvers." "Of course, sir. I was not put out." "Excellent." Santos nodded, looking at the Executive Officer. "You know, Drath, it won't be too much longer before I'm watching you leave for your first command." "We'll see, sir. Maybe the Vanguard is starting to grow on me." "Yeah," Santos said. "I know." They turned and the doors to Shuttlebay Two parted. Standing inside were most of the senior officers, minus Lopez, Falcon and Valentine, of course. "We've come to give you a little send-off!" Quetan said. She went up and pecked Santos on the cheek. "If I knew I was getting a kiss, I'd leave more often!" Santos said. Counselor Jaav E'thexx stepped between Santos and Quetan. "Now, sir, don't get greedy!" Everyone laughed. Droin stepped up and put two vials in his hand. "Take two of these and call me in the morning. There's a nasty case of Tempanan Flu [Last mentioned by Cmdr. Brin Madrek of the USS Falcon, on his mission to infiltrate Dominion-held Betazoid.] going around the earth." "What is it?" Santos asked. "One's the cure, the other's a fast-acting poison in case you catch the flu," Droin said. She winked. "I hope you remembered to label them." Desdemona put a wrapped package in his hand. "Your favorite: cold roast-beef sandwiches, a flask of orange juice and a slice of cobbler for dessert. I also uploaded some recordings you may like--rock'n'roll selections featuring the Liz Phair goodbye concert at the Orpheum." She stood on her toes and pecked him once on each cheek. "Au revoir, mon capitaine. Bon voyage." Santos's eyebrows went up. "Merci, mademoiselle. Bon chance." Santos made his way through the line, shaking hands and accepting good wishes. As he boarded the Coba del Rey, he nodded last at Cynan Mandrake. Mandrake smiled and said, "There's an old saying on Albion: 'May your journey's skies be fair, and may I follow your footsteps back to where you started.'" "Thank you, Mister Mandrake." Santos looked up. "Be good, all of you. And don't torment the new captain too much in my absence!" With that and the waves from his fellow officers, Santos closed the hatch and began the start-up sequence. A forcefield activated itself between the officers and the shuttle as he powered up. The shuttlebay door opened, and the captain's yacht eased forward. All the officers watched as the shuttle made its way out of the Vanguard. When the shuttle was ten kilometers from the Vanguard, it suddenly went to warp, darting into the darkness like a silverfish in the inky blackness of the ocean. Soman Drath turned and said: "All right, people, crew your stations. We need to prepare the ship for Captain Elis's arrival." With a few "Yessirs" in response, they turned and left. Soman watched after Santos's shuttle for a long time. [To be continued] __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com ************************************************************* USS Vanguard: http://ncv80221.netfirms.com/default.htm Vanguard Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/ncv80221 Gamma Fleet: http://gammafleet.trekplayer.com/ FreeLists: //www.freelists.org *************************************************************