Notes
This is the first book in the trilogy Truth, Justice, and the Federation Way, which includes the following books (included in the parentheses is the time frame during which each book takes place):
Book 1 A Future That Was (2418-2419)
Book 2 Welcome to Paradise (February, 2393)
Book 3 Truth, Justice, and the Federation Way (March, 2393)
All Star Trek Arcadia stories are the collaborative effort of a group of like-minded writers who love story telling as much as we love Star Trek. Our stories focus on the adventures of Captain Oliver a. Lee, his crew, and the starship Arcadia. (Some might notice that Oliver is an admiral in A Future That Was. What's with that? Read on and find out!)
Anyhow, each of our writers takes on one or more characters and work together in a process best described as collaborative writing, or simming. The actual writing takes place on our website ( ). Each story, or episode as we call it, progresses in the form of posts by one or more writers.
All the chapters in this book are organized from these individual posts, and the authors and their characters are listed at the end of each chapter. Please also note that while our stories takes place in the Star Trek Universe, all our characters are original creations of their writers.
Chapter 1 – Idols and Whispers
[Time] 2418
[Location] Above the Planet Betazed
As the shuttle soared through the atmosphere towards the massive space dock in orbit, Admiral Oliver A. Lee looked pensively out of the window next to his seat.
The serene and beautiful view reminded him of the first time he came to Betazed. He was only ten and fell in love with the planet and its people, who took him in and gave him everything after he had lost everything.
A little more than a decade later, fresh out of the Academy, he came back and attended the University of Betazed as a T'Lor Scholar. He was just an ensign back then, and the Federation, having left behind the shadows of the First Dominion war, was so inspired by the return of Voyager that it eagerly embarked on a new age of exploration. It was an age of possibilities. An age of wonder.
Now, another three decades later, he was an admiral in charge of an entire sector, and the Second Dominion War had been raging for thirteen years. Thirteen years. The first war was finished in two. And despite all the destruction, all the lives lost, there was still no end in sight.
The old man sighed and reminded himself that today was a special day, a day for old friends and family.
"Sir," Captain Nami Ishikawa interrupted his thoughts.
Turning to his chief of staff, Oliver smiled slightly. "Yes?"
"Would you like me to send a gift as usual?" Asked Nami. Seeing the puzzled look on the man's face, she added, "For Terri's birthday. It's tomorrow."
"Ah, yes, of course." Oliver nodded. "Thank you, Captain."
Then he looked out of the window again.
The truth was, he would rather not to be reminded of the girl's birthday. He had lost too much on that day twenty-four years ago. Too much.
"There she is, sir." said the Ferengi pilot as he brought the shuttle around to the other side of the massive space dock.
Oliver stepped over to the cockpit and rested his hands on the back of the empty co-pilot's seat. As the USS Themyscira came into view, the man beamed brightly, something he rarely did these days.
"How long has it been, Captain?" he asked without looking back at the Trill, his eyes fixed squarely on the Luna class ship parked at one of the station's external docking ports.
Nami remained in her seat as she answered.
"Fourteen years, two months, and five days, give and take a few hours."
Oliver nodded.
"And she's as beautiful as she was the first time I laid my eyes on her."
The Themyscira was his second command after the Bunker Hill and his last before his promotion to the admiralty, and the eight years he spent in her captain's chair were some of the happiest in his life. But that was a different time. A happier time. A time before the war.
"Ensign Salus, bring us in."
The Ferengi nodded and opened a channel to the much larger destroyer - they used to call her an explorer.
"This is Shuttle SC-021 to the USS Themyscira. I have Admiral Lee and Captain Ishikawa on board, requesting permission to land."
=/\= Shuttle SC-021, you are cleared for landing in the main shuttle bay. =/\=
::Main Shuttle Bay, USS Themyscira::
Oliver walked through the opening hatch of the shuttle, followed closely by his chief of staff. The sight of a line of Starfleet officers and crewmen waiting to greet him reminded the old man of how much he used to love ceremonies like this; these days, however, he found them more of a chore than anything else. But protocols were protocols, and he had no intention of setting aside centuries of Starfleet tradition just to satisfy his own preference.
Stopping before the Bolian at the head of the greeting party, Oliver addressed him with a formality befitting the occasion, "Captain Tobin, permission to come aboard."
"Permission granted." responded the ship's commanding officer in an equally formal tone. Then he broke into a big grin and stretched out his right arm. "Welcome home, sir."
Oliver smiled and shook the offered hand. "It's good to be back, Kell. And a belated congratulation on your promotion to the big chair. Guess I owe you a crate of Kantorian wine after all."
"Yes, you do, sir." said the Bolian captain.
Many years ago his old skipper had made the bet with him as a means to encourage him to pursue a command track. Back then he was still a lowly security officer on the Bunker Hill. It's little things like this that endeared the admiral to everyone who had ever served under him.
Turning to the woman next to him, Tobin said, "May I introduce Commander Fatima Karim, my first officer."
Smiling, Oliver shook the XO's hand. "Commander."
"It's an honor, sir." said the eager young woman. She had always admired the man, not the least because he was the one who liberated her home colony of Theria IV and saved her entire family from certain death. But more important, he was a good man. She would never forget what he said to her and the dozen other survivors of the labor camp.
"Starfleet failed you. I failed you." She remembered his remorseful voice. "I can only ask for your forgiveness and give you my word that never again will you be abandoned to suffer these horrors."
Fatima never quite understood why the then Rear Admiral Lee had felt the need to apologize - he was not the one who had abandoned them to the Dominion - but the sincerity in his voice was moving and comforting; he gave her hope. So when she heard the newly retrofitted Themyscira was to become the admiral's flagship and Captain Tobin was looking for a first officer, she immediately put in a transfer request. Five anxious weeks and two grueling interviews over subspace later, she finally found herself in the XO's seat of the Lunar class ship. She was beyond thrilled.
Nami rolled her eyes as the Themyscira's executive officer held onto Oliver's hand just a tad too long. The man certainly had a knack for inspiring admiration and loyalty in people, but Karim might have taken it just a little too far into the idol worship territory. There was no mistaken it; it was all in the commander's eyes. She would know; she once idolized him, too, until she realized one day how weak and how selfish he could be. Yet, even now she would do anything for him. Anything. Such was the man that Oliver Antoninus Lee was.
Captain Tobin chuckled slightly as he finally realized why his second-in-command had wanted the position so badly. He didn't blame her, of course. No matter what the detractors might say - and the admiral had many detractors - his old skipper was a great man. He was a good man.
Clearing his throat, he signaled to Fatima that it was time to let go of the admiral.
"Sir, there is someone else that would like to meet you."
As if on cue, an Andorian female in her late twenties materialized before the group.
"Themie," Oliver grinned. "You haven't aged a day. And Is that a uniform you are wearing?"
The ship's artificial intelligence rolled her eyes in her commanding officer's direction. With a mock sigh she said, "Well, Captain Tobin insisted on formal wear, so . . ."
The Bolian chuckled. "Alright, if you have the Admiral's permission, you can go back to that dress of yours."
His former captain had always been rather indulgent with his crew so much so that he even allowed the ship's AI to pick her own outfit when she took her holographic form.
Oliver shook his head.
"Your ship, your rule, Kell."
Turning back to Themie, he said, "Besides, you look fantastic in that uniform."
"Oh, my, thank you, sir. I think I might . . ." Pausing abruptly in mid-sentence, the AI tilted her head to the side. "Sir, your office just contacted me. There is a priority one transmission waiting for you."
Oliver had been looking forward to this little homecoming for quite some time and had hoped that it would be spared of any interruption. But there was a war going on, and interruptions had become a norm for him.
Turning to Tobin, he asked, "Mind if I borrow your ready room for a minute, Captain?"
"It's all yours, sir."
::Ready Room::
Oliver sat down in the seat behind the desk and ran his hands over the armrests; it felt different. They had refurbished his old ready room along with the rest of the ship, and everything felt a little more spartan and somber. It seemed that not even aesthetics was immune to the cold reality of war.
With a nostalgic sigh and a few presses of the holographic interface controls, he opened a secure channel.
"Themie, pass through the transmission."
In compliance with privacy and security protocols, the ship's AI acknowledged with an old-fashioned beep without manifesting herself in her usual holographic avatar.
The Ktarian woman who appeared on the virtual display clearly had no patience for any pleasantries.
"We have a problem."
"Nice to see you again, too, Deputy Director Zame. How's the weather in Munich?"
Zame rolled her eyes. The man's penchant for small talks had always annoyed her, but there were probably far worse things to open a subspace communication with. Besides, the human never insisted on the small talks going both ways.
"According to my sources inside Starfleet Command, there have been quiet whispers of a coup going the rounds."
Oliver frowned. "You have spies inside Starfleet Command now?"
"Please, we have had spies inside Starfleet for as long as Starfleet has had spies inside the FIS. Now, can we drop the inter-agency rivalry and get back to the important stuff? I do believe I mentioned something about a coup?"
"Fair enough." Oliver nodded. "How reliable are your sources?"
"Very. And you know how I know? Because they are all dead. Someone really wants to keep this under the wrap."
"Have you talked to Director Stein or General Bolanus about this?"
"Are you kidding? For all I know they are the ones that silenced my sources."
"For all you know I could be the one who's planning to overthrow the government."
"Oh, please, you don't have the guts for it."
"I think I'm hurt." Oliver retorted with feigned disappointment
"Don't be. It's a compliment. I'm sending you everything I have, which is admittedly not much, but maybe you can do more with it than I can from here."
"Have you told President Ji'vek?"
Zame sneered at the mention of the president.
"Ji'vek is already paranoid enough. If I go to him without more concrete evidence as to who is behind the plot . . . things could get far worse than a mutiny."
"What do you expect me to do? I can't just go around asking questions."
"I don't know. But do something. We can't afford fighting ourselves and the Dominion at the same time. That would be the end of us all."
Oliver sighed quietly. She was right, of course, but the fact that the Federation had come to a point where it had to fear its own defenders as much as it feared its enemies . . . it was not supposed to be this way.
"Why me?"
"You have three fleets under your command and your sector is one of the closest to the Sol system. But more important, you are the only one I can trust not to stab me in the back with the intel I just gave you."
With a sigh, Oliver opened his mouth and was about to say something, but decided against it.
"Stay safe, Jhmal." he finally said.
"You, too, Oliver." The Ktarian reciprocated the gesture before terminating the transmission.
As the image of the FIS's deputy director was replaced by a slowly spinning Federation seal on the holographic screen, Oliver fell back into the seat and ran his fingers through his graying hair.
A sigh.
He wished that Jhmal had not told him about the coup plot. In fact, he wished he had never joined Starfleet in the first place. The truth was, he only went to the Academy because his grandfather wanted him to. All he had really wanted was to make a name for himself as a historian, and to be with someone. He had found that person in Korra, and then Michaela, but he lost Korra twenty-four years ago, and now even Michaela was slipping away from him.
No, there were far more important things at stake than Oliver Antoninus Lee and his miseries, the man reminded himself.
. . . . . .
[To be continued in Chapter 2 - Wisdom]
Authors/Dramatis Personae
Roger
Admiral Oliver A. Lee, Commander, Kalandra Sector
Captain Nami Ishikawa, Chief of Staff, Kalandra Sector Command HQ
Captain Kell Tobin, Commanding Officer, USS Themyscira, NCC-85430
Commander Fatima Karim, Executive Officer, USS Themyscira, NCC-85430
Themie, Artificial Intelligence, USS Themyscira, NCC-85430
Jhmal Zame, Deputy Director, Federation Intelligence Service