So, here begins the adventure… or, to be exact, this is just a continuation of the '90s comic "Starfleet : Academy"; I read it and I actually liked it, so why don't start it over again?
Prologue
Starfleet Command, San Francisco, Earth
The man who was looking through the force fields that separated him from the outside air looked indeed in deep thought. The golden pipes on his collar, in his black-grey standard Starfleet uniform, indicated he was a Vice Admiral. His face was the one of a healthy, well kept-off, fifty years old man, but his deep blue eyes were saying he had been through one of the realms all the races in the galaxy knew as Hell, and wasn't broken from it. The black and short beard that surrounded his mouth was adding to his calm aura of experience.
The door beeped. "Come in." said the man, not even making the move of turning around. Inside the office came another officer, a blonde female Trill. "Greetings, Commodore Zund. I am confident your trip here was pleasant!" said the man, turning and nodding to the woman. "It was boring, sir. As boring as you were when you were eight years old, and bothered your father with tons of questions about starships!" answered Zund, whose toneless voice contrasted sharply with her words and her smirk. The man chuckled. "You know, sometimes joined Trill do creep me out!" "You should be accostumed to this, Admiral. And you should remember my previous host was a great friend of your father's." "Yeah. Who once, to keep me in line, took out the phaser and made a burning hole near my head!" The Trill snickered. "The face you made… was priceless!" "But maybe has escaped to you, that know I am your superior, so I have many methods to make you sorry for that. What do you have to say to that?" "You would have already done that!" "Busted!"
A comfortable silence ensued, in which the man still eyed the Trill with a barely controlled smirk on his face. At last, he sighed. "Ok, now that we have run out of good ol' memories, let's talk about work!" "Very well, Admiral. How much trouble am I in?" The man laughed briefly. "My, my, pretty jumpy, huh? Don't worry, Commodore, you're not in trouble. I just wondered what you should say to this!" And he handed a PADD to her. She took it, and read it. When she gave it back, her expression was of total surprise. "Well? Can I hope in a more verbal response?" Zund breathed, then she said : "Well, I just didn't expect it. But it's a perfect choice!" The admiral eyed her suspiciously. "Are you sure? You know them way better than anyone, and this is no game. This is a serious thing, and if you have the slightest doubt that they aren't up to the job…" "I understand my responsibilities towards Starfleet, Admiral. But I couldn't be more sure : they are up to this. Most assuredly." The man looked straight into her eyes for a minute more, then he leaned back on the chair. "Very well, I was more than half-convinced about this, but your reassurance makes it. They're going for it!" The Trill looked excited. "Well, if you don't mind that from their ex-instructor and supervisor, thank you, sir! They deserve an opportunity like this!" "To do what? Go to Talos IV and receive a death sentence? To avert a telepath massacre? No, waitaminute, they already did that, didn't they?" They both chuckled, then the admiral stood up. "Now, since I just wanted to speak about that, why don't we have lunch? There's a good restaurant nearby!" "Ok. But I'll pick up the drinks!"
They exited the room, chatting like old friends. On the desk, the abandoned PADD lied there. On his screen, the letters were still formed into a series of names.
USS ZHUKOV NCC-26136 AMBASSADOR-CLASS HEAVY CRUISER
STAFF ASSIGNMENTS PROPOSAL
CO : CAPT. MATTHEW DECKER
XO/SCI : LT. CMDR. T'PRIELL
TAC/SEC : LT. CMDR. PAVA EK'NOOR AQABAA
ENG : LT. NOG
CONS : CMDR. EDAM ASTRUN
Here we go. The Omega Squadron members (still living, of course, but I'm thinking about taking the dear trespassed for a visit) assigned as senior officers to the same ship. They could make it as a team when they were cadets, now they're gonna have to do it as regular officers.
Ok, a few pointers : we are in my personal "Shatnerverse", so Kirk died on Veridian III but was brought back to life. He's gonna make an appearance here, but he'll become a regular in the next parts of my series.
For the ones who don't know it, CO means Commanding Officer, XO First Officer, SCI Scientific Officer, TAC Tactical Officer, SEC Chief of Security, ENG Chief of Engineering, and CONS Counselor.
