...to Something New

Posted on Sun Jul 5th, 2026 @ 8:03pm by Lieutenant William Lancaster III & Captain Kaede Kayano

2,965 words; about a 15 minute read

Mission: Back Into Action
Location: Deck 7, Main Shuttlebay
Timeline: 2030 Hours

"Yamato Flight Control, this is the runabout Tyne. Requesting confirmation and clearance to land."

"Confirmed, Tyne, cargo shuttles are out of the way and you are cleared for Main Shuttlebay. Welcome to the Yamato."

"Thank you, Flight Control. Beginning final approach now..."

Billy heard the regulation chatter of the pilot and the ship's personnel as the solid old Danube-class runabout banked in its flight path, and the future, his future, came into view. He couldn't help a small, brief smile.

His dark brown gaze roamed over the ship with expectation and a keen eye for detail. The vessel was clean and powerful-looking. Both elegant and somehow aggressive, she was unmistakably Starfleet, yet her lines carried a refinement that bordered on the predatory. He'd always thought the Sovereign-class represented the pinnacle of Starfleet engineering. Starfleet had never built a finer class of starship.

The faint blue tint beneath the gray of the hull. The proud, warm running lights. The steady glow from rows of windows, their light spilling softly into the dock. Though engines and deflectors were powered down at the moment, the swept-back nacelles made the elliptical saucer section look even sleeker, giving it the profile of a racehorse straining forward.

She felt perfect.

"Hello again," Billy said softly under his breath, as the Sovereign-class cruiser was centered through the wide forward viewport and they closed the distance. The runabout slowed as it reached the open doors of the main shuttlebay, and Billy could see the deck personnel within rushing about with purpose. A pair of personnel were hauling large cargo containers off on antigrav hand trolleys deeper into the ship, while one of the Type-9's was off to the side in a maintenance bay where it looked like the impulse engines had been partially disassembled for inspection.

He was indeed familiar with this ship, though he'd never served on board himself as a member of her crew. Not until now, at least. Up until yesterday, Billy had been one of the refit team leads here at Spacedock, the repairs and upgrades to the Yamato had been his responsibility. The proud vessel had been the worse for wear when they brought her in to port; damaged and abused, but not broken, it had taken so many sleepless nights to restore her to her rightful glory. After all that hard work, the way he looked at the Yamato was almost possessive, and he supposed that now, with his transfer and new position confirmed, in a way she was his. Commanding officers and engineers, he'd heard it said, came to know a vessel in such deep and personal ways.

Billy's eyes darted around as the seconds wound down on the approach, eager to see how the work on finishing the repairs to the ship was proceeding. The panelling on the nacelles was all in place after the replacement of the warp coils. The thousands of hull plates seemed to be in order, the long and curved phaser emitters polished until they gleamed in the reflected lights from the shipyard. Escape pods were being put in place by workbees, carefully inserted into their recessed berths along the saucer. Soon, all he could see was the shuttlebay ahead though, and he turned his neck to watch as the runabout slipped through the atmospheric pressure curtain. A flicker of blue sparks slid back along the vessel, accompanied by a low, almost subharmonic pulse.

A couple of seconds later and the Tyne set down with barely a shudder that he could feel through his boots. Hopefully the name of the ship that brought him here, reminding him of his home country on Earth, was a good omen. The universe knew, he needed it.

Billy was one of the first off the runabout as the rear hatch opened. Other personnel disembarked just behind, followed after by a cargo shipment of personal belongings of various crew coming on board. He had a dufflebag slung over one of his shoulders, and shouldn't have to be in such a hurry. It was getting on into evening by the ship's clock, and he wasn't officially supposed to report for duty until the following morning. Billy had his own reasons for arriving early though, but instead of heading towards his quarters to settle in, he reached into his bag to pull out a tricorder in one hand and a hyperspanner in the other. A few moments later, he was at the forcefield that kept the atmosphere inside making minute adjustments to the emitters.

Standing near the door, was a woman. She was leaning against the doorframe as she watched the new crew disembark from the shuttle. Unlike the others around her uniform had white shoulder, and on her collar shone four silver rank pips. It was almost like she was watching and had been waiting for the shuttle to land.

As several of the new crew approached the door, many hesitated to pass her, instead gathering in front of her unsure what to do.

After a few moments, Billy nodded at his work with approval. "And stay tuned, this time," he muttered at the field emitters. Satisfied, he slipped his tools into a pocket rather than back into his bag. Who knew what else he might find along the way to his room that could use a little attention?

Captain's pips. He paused too as he spied her in the white-shouldered uniform. For a moment, Billy hesitated. She didn't look intimidating right off.

From the back of the halted queue for the door, he cleared his throat. "Why don't we get out of the Captain's way?" he said in his 'engineer's voice', the one he used to be heard over the sounds of construction and repair efforts, which easily cut through the din of the shuttlebay. A few people jumped, glanced back, a pair of junior crewmen practically dashed through the main doors that led into the rest of the ship.

The Captain smiled. "None of you are in the way here." She said simply as she stopped the junior crewmen. "In fact, the reason I came down here is to welcome you all aboard the Yamato." She paused momentarily. "As many of you have probably already workec out, I am Captain Kaede Kayano." She looked around at all the new young faces as if taking in every feature.

"Apart from the standard rules and protocols that I am expecting from you as Starfleet officers, I have three rules that apply as extra on ny ship." She told them. She held up a finger. "Rule one. This is not just an assignment. We will be out in space for weeks, perhaps months at a time between starbases and shoreleaves. That makes us more than just a Starfleet crew, it makes us a community. A community made up of all species, beliefs and traditions. So, rule one is to remember that and to try to be a part of this community as best you can."

She held up another finger. "Rule two. I may be your captain for your time here. However, my second role is that of a community leader. Being in space can be scary and overwhelming. Many of you will find personal issues that may arise on our journey across the stars. Therefore my door is always open to any member of this crew if you should find yourself in need of help with your issues. I cannor promise you that I can solve them, and I am not a trained counsellor. However, regardless of rank and position I will always be happy to listen to any of you. No one struggles here on the Yamato, because if you're thoughts are elsewhere, you are not st your best and thats how accidents happen and people could get hurt."

She then holds up a third finger. "For those of you who don't know, or have never met me before. My role of Captain is not my first role in my life. I have two things that I am always first. The mother of my daughter along with the wife of my husband. Plus, a doctor. These two will always be me first." She looked around giving them all a smile. "If you can accept these, then welcone to the Yamato. I look forward to working alongside you." She then gave them a polite bow and moved to the side to allow them to depart the shuttlebay.

Billy waited at the back of the group as the queue began to file out. He didn't mind being corrected, it was her ship. He was just glad he was among those whose transfer had been accepted. A mother and a doctor, not just a leader. It wasn't what he'd been expecting. Then again, he wasn't exactly sure what he expected. Yamato had been his first choice not because he knew the crew well, but because it was a ship he'd help to repair and it was set to leave soon.

Still, as he drew closer to the woman, he cleared his throat slightly before speaking. "Sorry, Captain, if I was presumptuous."

"No problem at all Lieutenant." Kaede smiled. "Lieutenant Lancaster correct?"

He didn't smile back, but he did square his shoulders, lift his chin, and snap to for her to show some respect, "Yes ma'am. May I take a moment to thank you for accepting my transfer? It is a pleasure to be here, and to meet you." He relaxed a moment later, slightly. Both his tone and his posture remained rather formal.

"Hmm," Kaede said. She she looked the engineer up and down. She reached out wirh both hands and gripped his shoulders gently. She then pushed them down gently, returning them to a relaxed position. She gripped a little, pushing her fingertips in slightly. Not enough to hurt, but enough to feel.

His eyes went wide and he resisted at first. What was going on?! Then he got the point, and while he didn't quite slump, he didn't look like he had a duranium rod holding him upright. A slight flush hit his cheeks.

"There we go. Thats a more relaxed posture." She told him as she removed her hands from his shoulders. "You know, you've got some tension in your shoulders too. Seems like you've been doing so heavy lifting. You should get that checked out before you damage your muscles." She explained to him. "Right. Now that you're a little more relaxed, and more like you than some terrified first year cadet... Why not try that again huh? "

The man's mouth worked for a moment, and no sound came out. Then he blinked, cleared his throat, took a deep breath, and told himself he was just following orders. If he looked at the woman like he might a particularly dangerous Klingon at the moment, well... "William Lancaster, ma'am." That still wasn't that good of a relaxed introduction, so he added, hoping it might suffice, his best attempt at loosening up a little, "Though I go by Billy. Sorry, Captain. I uh... you could say that formality has been more than a little drilled into me."

Kaede couldn't help but smirk. "You know, the amount of people who instantly become statues when I walk into a room, or happen to spot me is rather disturbing. So answer me this before we continue." She paused for a moment. "What is Starfleet to you? Is it a militaristic organisation where you simply follow orders, do what you superiors say and don't question them? You do what every good sheep does and obey the commands of the sheep dog herding you into a pen?"

She looked him square in the eyes. "Or, is it an organisation founded to explore space, seek out new life. Expand our knowledge of the universe and continue to witness beautiful and fantastic things no matter how small? All which leads to our own self discovery and driving the natural curosity to find out more, not just about what we see ir hear, but about ourselvea and how we feel?"

"Captain?" Billy was so confused, and a little frustrated. He tried to hide both, and while his face remained smooth and respectful, it was easy to see in his dark brown eyes what was going on in his head. He knew what his father, the admiral would want him to say - that following orders was necessary disicpline, that without it the whole organization of Starfleet would come crashing down.

Still, he shook his head and answered the question to the best of his ability, put on the spot like that and hoped that it would be the kind of answer that got him out of this. "I don't think we're exactly a military. Our mandate is discovery, and our mission is peace. I do follow orders, Captain. But I do like to think for myself too and I speak up if I have reason to believe my commanding officer might lack important information."

"Hmm...." Kaede replied raising her hand to her face, bringing her chin to rest between her forefinger and thumb. There she stood pondering for a few moments. ""Thats a good answer. I can accept that." She told him eventually with a smile. She thumbed towards the door. "Walk and talk?"

That more than anything made the engineer actually start to relax some, accepting his answer. He even flashed a very shot return smile for a second himself, there and gone. "Yes ma'am." He almost, almost gave her a slight bow and gesture to the doors to let her lead the way, but at the last second thought better of it and instead fell into step next to Kaede instead.

As they walked, Kaede turned her head to look at him. "So, you oversaw the refit. How did you find it?" She asked casually. "The old girl give you any trouble?"

For the first time, he gave an honest smile, no holding back, as the clever woman went right to the topic that was closest to his heart. "Oh, no ma'am, the Yamato was one of the most gracious ladies I've ever had the pleasure of working with," he said fondly, eyes roaming the corridors he'd already worked though under those different circumstances. Familiarity settled into his long-legged gait, an ease of movement borne from trust in the ship itself.

"It might sound silly, but I could tell just how much more she had to give the moment she was moored. She'd been wounded, maybe one of the roughest treatments I'd seen a Sovereign-class take, but you could feel it without even setting foot on board. She wasn't nearly done. Still isn't."

It was the most unspecific and untechnical sort of thing he'd said to a superior officer in who knew how long. No talk about the details of the refit itself, the long nights without sleep, the technicalities of what had gone into repairing and restoring the vessel. He could have talked about the new warp coils, the engine overhaul, EPS conduits, or any number of things, but Billy went right for the soul.

Kaede stopped for a moment, running a single hand down the frame of a bulkhead. "The Yamato was my first command." she looked back at him. "Well, technically, the first Yamato was my first command. But, this ship still carries the same name, same number and the same crew as the first." she explained. "Then, I gave her up and retired."

She gave him a smirk. "It was very boring. And, then stuff happened. So I came back. After fourteen years, I never thought I'd be back aboard this ship."

"Neither did I," he said, without really meaning to. Billy winced. That came too close to things he didn't want to talk about. Maybe he could steer the conversation to the future rather than the past. "Here we are though. Do we have a mission yet, Captain?"

"Yes we do. However, I can only reveal that to everyone. That'll be later. Right now we have to get this ship back where it should be." She pointed towards a viewport down the corridor. "Out there, amongst the stars."

That was good enough for him. He didn't snap to again, but he did draw himself up with squared shoulders once more, proper British decorum and a sign of respect again for his new commanding officer. "I'll see to it that my team and I, and the Yamato, are ready to go when you give the word, Captain. We'll take good care of her, I promise."

"Oh, I'm more than aware." She smiled. "After all, I've read your file. And listened to how you speak. I can tell that this ship is in good hands." she told him as they approached a turbolift. Its doors opened and Kaede stepped inside. "Go do what you're good at." Before he could get another word in, the doors swished closed as the Turbolift zoomed away behind.

Bemused, Billy waited for the next lift to head to his quarters. She'd read his file, but made no mention about why he'd requested this transfer, what he was leaving behind. For that, she had his gratitude and instant loyalty - not that she needed to ask for the latter of course. But it meant something that Captaine Kaede not only had accepted his request to sign on, but she might be willing to ignore the past too, let him start over here, and build something new.




Lieutenant William Harper Lancaster III
Chief Engineer
USS Yamato (NCC-71807-B)

Captain Kaede Kayano
Commanding Officer
USS Yamato (NCC-71807-B)

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