Reminiscing

Posted on Mon Jan 30th, 2012 @ 10:28pm by Captain Vorn Krace

Mission: Heart of an Explorer
Location: Starbase 900
Timeline: MD03 0945hrs

As Captain Krace circled one of the levels of Starbase 900's promenade, he came to a stop at one of the viewports looking out into the Solaria Nebula, and turned to rest his hands on the railing that stood just a short distance out from the transparent surface. As he watched the swirling gasses and the distant flashes of a plasma storm, his mind trailed back to the various other stations he had visited in the course of his career.

Of course, there had been many, as was the nature of Starfleet life aboard a starship; even ships equipped with replicators and matter reclamators and holodecks needed to stop and resupply every now and then. There were however, just a few which stood out in his mind.

Deep Space 5 was the first such station. He had been assigned as its Chief Strategic Operations Officer and Second Officer back in 2381, after his tour aboard the Johnson. He'd only been assigned to the station for just over a year, but it was a year filled with memories. The station had been situated near enough to the Romulan Neutral Zone for scenarios, intelligence and other reports from the Empire to occupy much of his time, whilst at the same time he helped fight off pirate raids from the race he would come to know as the Elyshans; a race which would come back to hold him and members of his senior staff hostage on Bevrud, years later.

The next station that was vivid in him memory was Starbase Ronin. Though he had since visited the station a number of times whilst he was assigned to the 8th Fleet, he had rarely had any chance to spend much time around the station itself. The event which made it stick in his mind was when he stood at a viewport - just a little smaller than the one he stood at now - and looked out upon the white-grey hull of the Ambassador class starship which he would call his home for the next two years; the USS Lincoln, his first ever command.

Starbase 386-B was the next such station, and the final one of note. A Cardassian hulk of a station that had been re-purposed by Starfleet, who had completed the interior of the station, it had come to serve as the 8th Fleet's headquarters, and it was there that he had first set eyes upon the USS Iapetus, though at the time he hadn't known that the ship was to become his next home, shortly after he had received word of his promotion to captain.

That thought brought his mind back to old times. The Lincoln had served him well, and he had fond memories held up within that ship, as well as of the crew who had served aboard her with him. Almost all of the original Lincoln crew had transferred with him to the Iapetus, but very few of them now remained. Of the originals, only Commander Walex, Petty Officer Cook and Counselor Duvall seemed to be left aboard the Iapetus now. The others had all either moved on, or left Starfleet. Far too many had shared Lieutenant Maxwell Reynolds' fate and had been lost in the line of duty.

The captain wondered what had come of his late ship. He had been reassigned to the Iapetus because the older ship was due to undergo an extensive period of refits and upgrades. That had been three years ago now... he wondered whether the ship was still sitting in drydock, being fussed over by countless engineers as they replaced almost every piece of hull plating, or whether she had since been assigned a new commander; a new crew.

His reverie was disturbed by a sharp yap of a bark from around his ankles, and he looked down to find the young beagle pup, Evans, staring up at him. Obviously the young dog had grown bored with the break in his walk and wanted to carry on moving again.

The human knelt down next to the canine, and ruffled the pup's fur on top of his head. "I'll never be able to live down agreeing to bring you with me, will I?" he said. The pup had been one of the litter that his mother's beagle - who he himself had bought her after his father's death - had produced, and during his last visit to Earth on the way to the Union Gateway, she had insisted that he take the pup along with him. It had taken quite a while for him to finally decide upon a name for the pup, and even then 'Evans' hadn't seemed wholly suitable, though it'd do.

"Come on," he said, standing. "Let's get back to the ship."

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Captain Vorn Krace
Commanding Officer
USS Iapetus