The Reveal

[Bob Martens]

[Private Quarters, Deep Space 6]

"I never thought I'd see you again," Bob said as he embraced his old XO.

Commodore Jason Long smiled wide at seeing his old friend. He flicked at the pips on Bob's collar and laughed, "I knew they'd kick you to the curb, but never thought they'd stick you at Lt. Commander. Do they have you swabbing the decks and taking out the trash for some young captain?"

Pulling the pips off his collar, Bob just smirked. "Not quite. I'm sure you know that already, but it did make for some fun conversations in the mess hall on our way here."

"Nothing like hearing about what they really think of the senior staff again," Jason said as they finally stepped inside the quarters. "So how long are you staying on Deep Space 6?"

"Straight to business … happy to see you haven't slacked as they keep adding responsibilities," Bob stroked his chin a little. "I don't really know. All I was told was to report here and go from there. I was hoping that maybe you would have some more information on what we are supposed to be doing."

Jason walked over to the replicator and grabbed himself a glass of water. "There's something I should probably show you." The grin at the corner of his mouth was all that needed to be said.

"Shall we get going?" Bob asked with excitement.

[Within Deep Space 6]

"So we've been talking with some remnants of the Romulans to see if there is any common ground so we can maybe get some more supplies flowing across the border again. Needless to say, things have been slow-moving. They're obviously very distrustful of the Federation and without the Borg as a unifying enemy anymore, we're having to actually work diplomatic channels again to try and get things greased enough to see progress."

Bob smiled, "you sound like a real flag officer. Dealing with all of these complex relations can't be an easy thing."

"Not in the slightest. It does provide for some comedy at times … with so many people tip-toeing around one another as to not offend, but mostly it is busy work. We had a real scare when that Borg invasion was happening … tracking three cubes inbound for here with only a single vessel to defend us, but we consider ourselves lucky considering what happened out there. Still a lot of shaken people around."

"Understandable. Not a day goes by when I don't remember some of those terrible times … but we're here, and that's good enough for me at the moment."

They rounded another corner and Bob could tell they were really in the bowels of the ship at the moment. It wasn't just a change in the number of people around, but a change in how the place looked as well.

"Guessing not a lot of people get down here too often," Bob said with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"You could say that. The station has lost a fair amount of its crew complement, not to mention the general population because they are at home still rebuilding, so we've been able to just leave some areas alone for a while … let's us focus on cleaning stuff up in the areas that matter. We'll, of course, get back to using everything again once the rebuilding winds down, but with the Romulans still in such disarray, not too many people coming here looking for commerce either."

"Hence talking with the factions."

"Exactly. We're in no danger of getting shut down, just not high on the priority list at the moment, and that works fine for me. Keeps those stuffy admirals out of my way."

Chuckling a little bit, the area became a little dimmer again as they rounded another corner. They were obviously in a docking facility, but everything was in power-save mode or shut completely off.

"Jason, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were going to lead me into a docking bay and just send me on my way."

"The thought had crossed my mind, but we're almost there. I think you'll understand once we get there."

They finally came to a large door with no markings on it. "We had them removed," Jason said as he typed in some commands and the door opened with ease. Inside was a flurry of activity, in stark contrast to where they had been.

The two stepped inside and went to the railing that overlooked the oversized hanger. Small craft moved around the hanger, obviously working on what was below, and Bob stepped forward as Jason extended his hand forward to invite him to take a look.

Peering over the railing, Bob took in a sharp breath as he took it all in.

Sitting in the midst of the large hanger was a partially completed Defiant class starship, obviously being repaired. Hull plating was missing across the entirety of the hull, but you could make out the ship without any issue.

Crews were moving around it like bees working in a hive. Sparks flew up from various places and steady glow came from inside the vessel, obviously testing some power systems.

Finally, his eyes came near the bridge and he caught site of the name of the ship.

"Excalibur."

His heart skipped a beat and a huge smile came across his face as he stared for only a second.

I'm home, he thought and then turned to Jason behind him, who was leaning against the bulkhead.

"The Pendragon took quite a beating in one of the final battles against the Borg, but she was able to see it through and was towed back here at my request. We were planning on just fixing her up, but some other orders came down just six months ago so we got to work. We're about a week behind schedule at the moment, but she's going to be a different ship once we're done with her."

Bob just smiled a looked back at his ship, his home.

"Well … would you like a tour?" Jason finally asked after a few silent seconds.

"Honestly, that's a dumb question."

They headed off to take a look inside.

Sincerely,

Bob Martens

http://bobmartens.net

@boblmartens