The USS Intrepid

The Ships Meet

Lieutenant Commander Ezri Dax, ship's counselor of the USS Constellation, stretched as she woke up. Looking over she saw that her husband was already up. That wasn't unusual, being a ship's doctor meant responding to a medical emergency at times, especially if one is the chief medical officer. She smiled at the thought of last night, when they were in one of their playful moods, then got herself ready for the day.

The man Ezri was thinking of, who brought a smile to her face, Lieutenant Commander Julian Bashir, was at that moment in sickbay, taking care of a crewman's broken leg and having him rest a while before discharging him. It wasn't a big deal, someone else could have done it, but he was already up and answered the hail. He wanted a chance to use the newly acquired surgical device and see what it could do. He liked the more intuitive controls which enabled finer tuning, not so important for a broken leg, but he envisioned more complicated procedures that would be better controlled now.

He noted that it was too late to have breakfast with Ezri in their quarters, so he went to her office, and saw she was alone for the moment.

"Hello, my love," he greeted her as he walked in.

"Hi", she answered, smiling. He loved that smile.

He shrugged and looked chagrinned. "Sorry, I thought I'd be done sooner, it took longer than I thought. How does your day look?"

"Fairly busy, actually, I'll be in sessions all day, assuming no cancellations," she answered. At that moment, her first appointment showed up, signaling to enter.

"Okay, I'll see you tonight, then," he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. He smiled when she blushed, thinking it cute that she still did that after all this time together.

She gazed at him as he left, then turned her attention to her first appointment. There was tension on the ship, it was scheduled to join the conflict occurring at a region on the edge of Federation space. It had been going on for a while now, she was surprised the ship wasn't called in already. So soon after the Dominion War, she reflected.

Julian went to his desk in sick bay and brought up the displays to show the statuses of the various projects he had going on. Even in the modern era of medical miracles, there were still pandemics and plagues afflicting various Federation worlds, as well as chronic conditions that were worthy of study. He had already created numerous treatments and cures, but there was always more work to do.

He was scrutinizing the results of an analysis when heard the page, "Would Doctor Bashir and Commander Dax please report to the captain's ready room, please?"

Just as Julian was about to go, he heard, "correction, Commanders Bashir and Dax to report to the ready room at 0900 hours, repeat..."

Julian went back to his analysis, smiling to himself. Obviously, Ezri informed someone, possibly the captain himself, that she was having a session and was available in an hour.

Two weeks later, the USS Intrepid, a prototype starship, came upon an unusual sight.

Harry Kim stared intently at the viewscreen at the scene ahead as the Intrepid closed in on the drifting ship that they discovered. The design was interesting, three toroids at different angles connected to the ship's stern. It had some damage, possibly evidence of a battle, but looked intact except for the toroids themselves with pieces missing. There was debris scattered and drifting away from the ship, presumably a result of the damage. By all indications its engines sustained heavy damage and no indication of a working warp drive. There were lifesigns, and it appeared the ship's life support system was working, it's internal environment similar to a typical Federation starship. The external lettering looked like English, a designation that read "ECV-197 Orville".