CHAPTER ONE: NEW HORIZONS (part 1)

          CHAPTER ONE : NEW HORIZONS

Captain Kheren rode the turbolift towards Ops with a sense of trepidation 

he could barely control. His antennae on the top side of his thick white-

haired mane were swinging wildly, a sure sign of it despite his frozen indigo

face and straight-staring silver pupils. He had been summoned to the office

of Lotus Fleet's Exec, Fleet Captain Allen Samji, commander of the Hromi

sector starbase.

The huge, kilometers wide space installation had been recently rechristened 

Starbase Lotus to honor it's decisive action in both the recent Borg War

and the universe-threatening Azimuth Horizon crisis. This heralded a lot of 

changes to the elite division of Starfleet, especially with the Klingon border

tension, Romulan uneasy demilitarized situation and Undine peace resulting

in the latest event.

The ships of the fleet were first and most notably swept by those changes. 

The aging Intrepid refit flagship USS Lotus was to be decommissioned, the

barely newer Akira class USS Spectre and Defiant class USS McKenzie were

to be reassigned to border patrol; only the Prometheus class USS Alsea

remained at base and only because it needed major repairs after Operation

Horizon.

And of course the USS Artemis, the venerable eigthy years old refited

Ambassador class explorer, the Stalwart Guardian of the Federation, had

sacrificed herself to help Operation Horizon succeed.

The Artemis... his ship... his first command... now gone.

Amost our months had passed since that glorious but terrible loss. There

has been a board of inquiry of course, but Starfleet had not only

exonerated him of any blame, it had commended him for his actions as a

starship commander and Starfleet officer.

Still, the Andorian felt... cold... empty... lost.

The Artemis had been his first command; tragically thrusted at him

following the death of her assigned commanding officer, but then

becoming the central part of his life. After all those months, he had

somehow come to terms with the loss, at least intellectually; after all,

he had lost none of her crew during the dramatic last days of his ship.

And gaining two wives and their support in the process had lighten the

burden somewhat. His decisions and actions were now heralded as

textbook examples of command. But on an emotional level, he still felt

odd, sad, angry even; it was like he was acclaimed for having sent his

wife to die in a fire to douse it...

He shook the thought out of his mind when the turbolift doors opened on

the vast control center of the starbase. He would have sacrificed his own

life if duty had required it; he almost did... And as a commanding officer, he

was expected to send people to their death if it meant saving others.

And that was exactly what he was expecting now. Rear Admiral Kotari had 

mentionned at the end of the inquiry that Captain Kheren was to be

reassigned to another command. And right after that, Fleet Captain Samji

had taken him aside to tell him that this command would be rather... peculiar.

There was a highly experimental, highly classified vessel that would be in

need of a very special commanding officer and crew. But it was not ready

yet. In fact, it would not be ready for maybe months... if ever. There has

been some kind of unpredictable accident with it's stardrive, a tragic one it

was rumored. So, the status of that command was now in question.

In the meantime, Samji had said then, it would be almost as tragic if they

let one of their captains twiddle his thumbs... or antennae... waiting for a

ship that might never be launched.

As he came before the door of Samji's office, that was all Kheren knew.

He chimed his presence and readiness to report to duty.

The Indian base commander opened the door and, with both hands clasped

behind his back, gave the Captain a curt nod, as he was now familiar with the

Andorian enough to be aware of his discomfort when it came to shaking hands.

He merely gestured to Kheren to take a seat. He knew the Captain would

rather stand but he did not feel like doing so for this meeting and did not want

to deal with the difference in eye levels throughout the entire meeting.

"Good morning, Captain, " he said when both of them were seated. "I trust

you are already mostly aware of what I want to discuss here today, so I will

skip the pleasantries and introduction and just get right to the point. You are

aware that we have a new ship, the USS Horizon, that needs a Captain. With

Captain Gould moving on to bigger and better things, I can't think of anyone

more suited or qualified to take on the responsibility of commanding the

Horizon than you."

Kheren looked at Samji, blinking.

"The flagship? That is... an unexpected honor and privilege, Sir, especially

considering that there are still more experienced captains available, like

Captain Crist and Captain Summers, to name but those already assigned to

Lotus Fleet."

The Andorian seemed to look inward for a moment before continuing.

"Of course, I expected you to assign me to a new command... but... the

flagship of Lotus Fleet? And quite a ship at that. This is... I must say, a bit

overwhelming. Quite a challenge."

Fleet Captain Samji and Rear Admiral Kotari had of course discussed the

decision at length and they had both considered the captains that Kheren

had mentioned. They certainly had more experience, but Samji and Kotari

felt that they were more comfortable with the statusquo on the ships they

were used to. Kheren provided a fresh perspective and a Captain who was

willing to take risks and come up with or use creative solutions. Samji felt

that solution he and his crew developed to get their impulse-only capable

ship back into the Operation was ingenious and only possible with his

leadership.

Of course, he would never degrade the other captains publicly, even in

confidence to the captain before him.

"We had our reasons for choosing you, Captain," he simply said and left it

at that, knowing that professionalism would dictate he not ask any more

questions about it.

Samji's eyebrows rose then as he continued.

"And it is a challenge, indeed. As the biggest vessel we've ever had to

deal with, both in pure size and amount of crew, your responsibility will

be quite incredible. We are confident, however, that you will handle it

quite well."

He motioned briefly to a PADD before him.

"As you are well aware, you will have the help of Lotus Fleet's best and

brightest. Of course, you may select the officers you feel will best

serve you in this, but we have two important officers already in mind."

Kheren's antennae perked up. Usually when Command decided upon

certain officers to be assigned regardless of a captain's position and

preferences, it meant one of two things: either they wanted something

specific to be done and make sure it would be; or the captain needed

someone to temper him or hold his hand... or all of those. It usually 

meant for an unpleasant working atmosphere, especially if the captain

was headstrong or proud.

Fortunately, Kheren had a firm hold on both attitudes within himself.

But that didn't mean that it would be either easy or pleasant. It all

depended on whom Samji was about to speak about.

Samji glanced at the officer who appeared to be intently interested in

who he would present, but said nothing. So he began by speaking

about the first officer.

"Captain Kheren; are you aware of an officer Rear Admiral Neil Redding?"

For a moment, the Andorian stood very still. he did remember the name.

And it was not a fond memory.

"I never served with him, Sir. In fact, since I joined Lotus Fleet, I never

even met Admiral Redding."

He didn't want to say more. Speaking of a senior officer, especially one

not present, was a touching matter at best... especially when you did

not have the best of sentiments towards him.

But to Kheren, just assigned a prestigious command, it meant more; the

USS Horizon was so huge, it was defined as nothing less than a miniature

mobile starbase, able to accomplish and sustain the deepest exploration

missions for the longest period of time. It was looking like they felt a

senior command officer was needed to look over the shoulder of their

"chosen" captain ...

Just as he feared. And so, he let Samji lead the conversation about the

Admiral where it would have to go.

Samji muttered a "hmm" sound, detecting that Kheren had more to say

on the matter than he was letting on. Clearly he was aware of the officer,

at the very least. Beyond that, Samji wasn't sure.

"Well, Captain, you may also be aware of an incident involving the

Millenium project we previously spoke of. It is highly classified, but I

am aware that some rumors have floated around regarding an officer

who was lost during one of the experiments. This is in fact, true, and

the details are being currently declassified as we speak."

The Millenium experiment...

Kheren knew of it only by it's name and the fact that it involved a

new kind of starship that he would be expected to take command of...

but that was under so much secrecy that he himself had been warned

of immediate expulsion and imprisonment in a penal colony if he but

even breathed the name to anyone else but Kotari, Samji and "select 

officers and personnel that will be made known to you when needed."

But this was a small universe. There has been rumors of Starfleet

experiments and tests all over the quadrant... and at one time or

another, rumors of failures, even accidents and disasters... like the

one that had led to the Omega Directive. And being "one-in-the-

know" even with as little as he actually knew, he had indeed learned

that something had gone wrong with the latest work on the project.

But what exactly, of course he knew not.