“Sir, the Bladerunner reports ready for launch,” Lieutenant Vendar Perkins, a junior officer who seemed to be at ops every time something important happened, reported.

“Hail the Bladerunner,” Captain Chris Harriman ordered. A picture of Lieutenant James Trikal appeared on the main view screen.

“I’m ready to go, bridge,” James stated.

Chris smiled and said, “Looks that way. Let’s hope it works.”

“Indeed, as it’s my rear end on the line,” James stated.

Chris smiled even deeper as he finished, “Let’s get this over with, I’m ready for a vacation. Dragon out.”

The view screen changed to show shuttle bay two. The Bladerunner was docked near the front of the immense bay. It suddenly lifted off of the deck.

Chris smiled as he thought, So far, it flies…

The Bladerunner was already pointed towards the exit, as Chris would make sure each fighter would be. It suddenly shot out of the bay at a speed greater than Chris would have liked.

“Trikal to bridge, every thing is working so far,” James reported.

“Right, keep an open comm link now,” Chris ordered. “Report in how she handles.”

“Well,” James began, “Quite well.” On the view screen, Chris could see the Bladerunner do a series of fast maneuvers. “I’ve never seen any Federation fighters do what this thing can do, that’s for sure.”

“How about weapons,” Chris asked. “We’ve been cleared to test the weapons systems on a few old mines that have been disabled for our use.”

“Just give me a heading and I’ll head over there,” James stated.

“Actually, check your sensors,” Chris ordered. “They aren’t more than a hundred thousand kilometers from your current position.”

After a minute, James said, “I see them. I’m on my way.”

Suddenly, the Bladerunner shot away at a great speed. Chris thought something was wrong and checked his console. He was relieved at what he saw, but also surprised.

“Captain, the Bladerunner is moving just under .2c’s the speed of light,” Perkins declared in a voice of awe.

“I see it,” Chris stated. The plasma drive obviously was greatly helping the fighter ship.

Chris wondered when the Dragon would be ready to leave dry dock again. It was to have many additions added to it. Plasma drives to the Captain’s Yacht, the cutting phaser cannons on the bottom of the saucer section, and a complete update of the computer core with information about this entire quadrant of the Kalium galaxy.

“Magnify,” Chris ordered. Immediately the view screen magnified to show the Bladerunner already in firing position.

“I love this ship!”

“Go ahead and take out the mines,” Chris ordered.

With that, a lethal barrage of pulse blasts emerged from the Bladerunner and began impacting several of the mines. Each one was ripped apart. This barrage continued for about thirty seconds before finally stopping.

After about a second, several miniature Quantum torpedoes streaked away, each heading for a different target. Each struck home, causing a chain of explosions. When the bright explosions ceased, all of the mines were gone.

Chris sighed as he thought, Well, all that’s left it testing the warp drive…

“Bridge, every thing was normal there. Replication of torpedoes was and is being successful while the pulse cannons didn’t even go a single degree above normal!”

“We see it,” Chris said. “Set your course bearing 122 mark 5 and head for the farthest moon. Engage warp engines to full speed. That should get you there in three minutes.”

On the view screen, the Bladerunner turned towards the moon, then streaked away. Chris waited the three minutes, anxious to find out what is happening.

“Bladerunner to Dragon, I’ve made it to the moon,” James stated. “I’m heading back to the Dragon now.”

Chris sighed in relief and thought it was time for a break.

“Lieutenant Perkins,” Chris began. “You have the bridge. As soon as the Bladerunner docks, have the rest of the crew go on shore leave…which includes you.”

Perkins smiled and stated, “Aye, sir.”



“Sarah!” Chris was jogging down the hall after her. She had packed a few things and was about to transport down to the planet’s surface.

She stopped as he stopped in front of her. “I was just about to head over to a planet they say is their vacation planet,” he started. “Want to join me?”

“I thought we weren’t to leave this system,” she replied.

Chris smiled and said, “There are many advantages to being a Captain. Some of which include being able to do things you told others not to do.”

Sarah smiled and said, “All right, let’s go.” They headed for the shuttle bay.

“Oh, and besides, I let a few of the other senior officers go somewhere else, too,” Chris stated. “Only fair if we go.”



Commander Kalia Tarkent, the ship’s chief engineer, smile and nodded back to the person who said ‘hello’ to her. She was on the planet surface of Hintaru three, the home planet for the Hintaru Alliance.

She hated being away from the Dragon for even a short period of time…especially when it was undergoing a major refit.

She also marveled at the technology of the Hintaru. This sort of refit would have taken six months at Utopia or Danzia. That and the fact that the Hintaru had to prepare their own ships for the upcoming war meant that they were pressed for people, which made their advanced technology so much the better.

She turned to her right and continued down the block, making her way towards a technology museum. She wanted to learn as much about the Hintaru as possible.

She figured she would be able to return to the Dragon in a week, knowing that a week of R&R would definitely be enough.

Suddenly, something caught her eye. She looked sharply to her left and saw, standing at an outdoor restaurant across the street, a person who looked all to much like a Bajoran…like the species she had seen on that planet with the Millennium Time Gate.

She looked both ways to see no ground or hover vehicles coming and jogged across the street. She kept a close eye on the ‘Bajoran’ so as not to lose him in the crowd.