Editing Olen Rhinehart (section)

==USS Rosenante==

In early 2408, the crew officially stepped aboard their new vessel, the [[USS Rosenante]]. The ship resides on the bleeding edge of the state-of-the-art, and is a marked departure in almost every regard from the Champlain's modified Galaxy-class spaceframe. Within Starfleet, the Rosenante has come to respresent the renaissance of Starfleet's roots in the wake of the war, and it is hoped that its planned mission of exploration will demonstrate Starfleet's best intentions to the Federation as a whole.

===A Fine and Private Place===

Almost immediately upon his arrival on the new vessel, Rhinehart was blind-sided by yet another change. Last minute roster shuffles had removed Captain Rivers' first choice for third officer. Instead, the role was offered to him, along with a promotion to full lieutenant and several decorations for his part in the war's final, decisive battle. Perhaps sensing his moral ambivalence about Starfleet and his future within it, the role was offered on an 'acting' basis until he felt comfortable adopting the mantle completely. Preparations for Rhinehart's bridge command exam were hastily completed, and he passed the test with few apparent problems, although he himself felt it was one of the most difficult experiences of his career so far.

Meanwhile, the Rosenante took aboard a committee comprised of survivors of the Ivor Prime debacle, including the outspoken Dr Laura Schell, who, since Rhinehart had last seen her, had received a nomination to overall leadership (pending full election) of that colony's survivors. In keeping with their mission of exploration, the Rosenante was to undertake a systematic survey of suitable class-M worlds as candidates for resettling the Ivor Prime colonists, and, ever mindful of the precarious PR position of Starfleet in the aftermath of the war, they traveled with Hal Stanza, the award-winning FNN correspondent who had lionised the 52nd Fleet and won the admiration of many pre-eminent Starfleet officers with his report on [[The Final Flight of the Champlain]].

After a brief launch ceremony, the Rosenante departed for the Optima system. En route however, they were diverted by a horrifying distress call, picked up during the early portion of Rhinehart's third-ever bridge watch.