As the Phoenix Feather fell Down

Chapter 5

THEY HAD BEEN ABLE to shake off most of the ships for the time being, without too much trouble. The Starlight's shields were stable at forty-eight percent, by far enough to get out of there before the shields would give out.

'Admiral', Commander Tremeni chimed. 'The shuttle just arrived in docking bay two.'

'Fujita nodded and gestured for Ensign Reginold – who had replaced Ensign Stacy until he got back – to take off. 'Get us out of here, Ensign', she said. Fujita looked at the view screen and saw the vision of the stars being pulled apart into long lines, indicating that they had reached warp. Their mission was now to return the officer they picked up to Starfleet Command at Earth, a voyage that would take about a week – much shorter than it would have with any other ship, due to the Starlight's new type of engines, which she had designed herself.

'Captain', her combadge suddenly chimed, and she im-mediately recognized the voice of her Chief Medical Officer.

'Doctor McCoy, is something wrong?'

'You better get down here, sir.'

Fujita knew that tone of voice. Something was indeed wrong. Very, very wrong. She got up from her chair and rushed down to sickbay.

--

As soon as Fujita entered sickbay, Doctor Harold McCoy turned toward her.

'Captain, I'm sorry', he said.

A worried look had appeared on Fujita's face. 'What's wrong?'

Suddenly Jason Stacy joined in, clearly sounding panicked. 'We were nearly at the coordinates we had to go to, when he- when he was shot, and-'

'Ensign, calm down.' Fujita had already guessed what was happening. 'Where is the Commander?' she asked, though she knew what the answer would be.

'He was already dead when they got back', McCoy said with a sigh. 'I couldn't safe him, I'm sorry.'

'I'm sure you did everything you could, Doctor.'

'There was nothing I could do.'

Fujita sighed and tugged her uniform the way Picard always used to do on the Enterprise – even though it was years since she served with Picard, she still had the habit that she copied from him. 'I'll inform his family.' Fujita padded Ensign Stacy reassuringly on his shoulder and left sickbay.

Once she was outside, Fujita stopped and leaned against the wall. Bloody hell¸ she thought. Of course she had not liked the man, that was commonly known; yet she had not wished him dead. He was a capable officer, with any other captain he would even have been more than capable, in fact. He was just not the kind of officer she got along with. Too strict, he followed the rules too precisely. She liked people who could improvise, who did not dare brake the rules if it was for something they truly believed in, yet who did not break rules just for the purpose of breaking them. She liked officers who had a mind of their own, instead of one that had been imposed on them by Starfleet.

'Are you alright, madam?'

Fujita was startled when she heard the strange voice behind her, and turned around. She looked right into the face of an unfamiliar man wearing a grey, black and teal science uniform with command pips. His short blond hair danced as he came walking toward the Admiral.

'My sincere apologies, I didn't mean to startle you', the man said.

'Oh it's quite alright', Fujita responded, wondering who the man was. Could he be the officer they had just retrieved from the station? Probably.