Star Trek: The New Frontier

Stardate 53012.5: Leaving Spacedock

When I was at the helm of a starship, a junior officer working her way up the ranks in the hopes of one day becoming a first officer and then a captain, I only ever knew my captains as a distant authority figure. While some were friendlier with the crew than others, there was still that essential distance between him and the rest of the crew.

An essential difference, I'd assumed--become too close to the crew, and you might invite a mutiny. Look at what happened to Captain Georgiou during the 2250s: she became too close to her first officer and then she had a mutiny on her hands. One of the only mutinies in Starfleet history, in fact; but one that had effects on Starfleet's foreign policies for decades.

This wasn't the case with Captain Reed. He introduced me to every single one of his senior officers--Lieutenant Commander Thy'queth Borass, the Andorian chief engineer; Lieutenant junior grade Gonees Ker, the Trill helmsman; Lieutenant Tania Faraji, the chief of security; and Lieutenant Commander Ronald Thompson, the chief medical officer.

You never would have known that he didn't know all of these people intimately, as if they were his close friends. Some of them he did know quite well of course, because he'd requested they'd be brought over (and promoted to get the position, if need be) from the Lucina, the Constellation-class ship that was his previous command. Others he'd met only a few hours before he'd met me.

I think this was the most notable aspect of his character. He didn't want you to respect him just because of his rank or his reputation, he wanted you to respect him because of who he was as a person as well.

That's something that's left out of most of the media obituaries that were written about him--he wanted to know you. He wanted to learn your culture; to learn about how you thought and why you thought that way. He was the living embodiment of the Starfleet ethos in that way, because it wasn't enough for him to discover new worlds and new alien civilizations; he had to explore them as well.

The day after I joined the ship, I walked onto the bridge. Captain Reed was standing there, looking at the turbolift.

"We're due to leave the dockyards in half an hour," he said. "But I think we're just about ready to leave now, don't you, Commander?"

"Yes sir," I said as I walked over to my chair beside his. "So long as Ensign Gray is onboard and not trying to win the affections of that Vulcan shipbuilder."

Lieutenant Ker looked around. "He's onboard," he said. "He was heading down to engineering when I was coming for my shift."

"Good," said Reed. He looked over at Lieutenant Faraji. "Lieutenant, signal the Antares Shipyard docking centre. Tell them we're ready to ship out."

"Aye sir," she said. She looked down at her console, and then a moment later looked up and said, "They've given us permission to leave the dock. We're to follow the U.S.S. Amsterdam out."

"Very good," Reed said and sat down. "Lieutenant Ker, follow the Amsterdam."

"Aye sir," Ker said as he began to press buttons.

On screen, we saw the Amsterdam heading out. She was a Nebula-class ship; the very first of her class to have been completed since the war ended.

"I knew her," Reed said.

"Pardon me?" I asked, looking at him.

"The captain of the Amsterdam," he said. "Captain Silvak. She went to the Academy at the same time I was there. I served with her for a couple of years too later on. She's a damned good science officer, and I'm sure she'll make a damned good captain as well."

I looked at the console on my side and typed up her ship. "It says here that her orders are to perform planetary catalogues along the furthest edges of the occupied territories. We've never had much chance to send ships out that far before, sir; except to fight Cardassians."

He nodded. "Then perhaps I'll get the chance to meet her again," he said.

On screen, the Amsterdam was now leaving the spacedock doors on thrusters.

"We'll be clear of spacedock doors in forty-five seconds, sir," Ker said.

"Good," Reed said. "Set course for the occupied territories, warp five point five."

"Six point five?" I said. "I would remind the captain of regulations limiting warp speeds to warp five and under--"

"Noted, Commander," he said. "But those rules don't apply to Intrepid-class vessels like the Sisko. Due to how the warp core of a ship of this class is built, we can go up to warp six without causing major damage to subspace environments."

"Noted Captain," I said.

The Amsterdam had completely left spacedock at this point. We were out a moment later, and watched her jump into warp.

"Ready to go to the occupied territories, Captain," Ker said. "Course set and we're ready to engage at warp five point five on your order."

"Engage, Lieutenant," Reed said.

"Captain, we're receiving good luck messages from both the Antares Shipyards and the Amsterdam," said Lieutenant Faraji.

"Thank them both for their wishes," he said.

"Aye sir."

"Commander, would you care to join me and Commander Borass for dinner tonight?" he said to me.

"It's always an honour to dine with my captain," I said.

"Good. Meet me in the captain's dining room at 1830 hours."