Chapter One
It was a brisk January day. Twenty-one year old Captain Jim Bullock stood over his father's memorial plaque: "In Loving Memory of Admiral Roy M. Bullock. United Federation of Planets. January 5, 2330-January 19, 2381" it read. Jim knelt down and placed his father's Starfleet communications badge on the plaque. "I will avenge you, father" he whispered to himself as he stood up. He truly was the last of the Bullock family. After losing his mother, older brother, and now his father to merciless Romulan attacks, he vowed revenge and was ready to command a starship of his own. He was not aware of the challenges he would have to overcome as the captain of the newly modified USS Lexington.
The shuttlecraft brought Jim around the Sovereign-class starship, giving him a full view of every part of the ship from the tip of the bow to the end of the warp engines. Jim had seen many of these ships before. This tour was more for the crew members aboard the shuttlecraft that were reporting for their first assignment. He looked at each of the ensigns' faces and how they were amazed at the ship, except for one. A young woman named Camilla Heartfelt, no older than Jim, was sitting reading a datapad of tactical information about the Romulans. "Not interested, Ensign?" asked Jim as he approached Camilla. "No, sir. I have seen plenty of these starships. And with all due respect, sir, I would like to get back to my reading. This information could prove useful in a tight situation when in combat with several Romulan warbirds.", she replied sternly and then returned to her datapad. Jim sat back in the co-pilots seat and kept looking at Camilla. "Beautiful, isn't she, sir?" asked the shuttle pilot looking amazed himself at the ship's construction. "Yes she is.", said Jim. He quickly turned back to the main viewport after realizing he was still looking at Camilla when he answered the pilot's question.
A fleet of fifty Imperial Star Destroyers awaited the order to activate the newly constructed wormhole generator from Admiral Marx aboard the Super Star Destroyer Incinerator. "Are all ships in position, Commander Stark?" asked Marx. "Yes, sir. They are awaiting your order to commence with the operation." he replied. "Excellent. Activate the wormhole generator, inform all ships to divert all unnecessary systems to shields. They're going to need all the power they can get." The fleet moved closer together for the shields to overlap and reinforce each other. The event horizon of the wormhole opened before the fleet. The Incinerator moved forward followed by the rest of the fleet. Each ship experienced massive amounts of turbulence, causing shield damage and mild outer hull penetrations. "Keep the ship steady! One minor course change could destroy the entire fleet!" yelled Marx to his crew. Suddenly, the wormhole closed and they stopped moving. The generator had shorted out, stranding the fleet where they were. "Where are we, admiral?" asked Stark. "I don't know, commander. I honestly don-". He stopped mid-sentence and looked out the bridge viewport. A strange ship appeared out of thin air in front of the Incinerator. "Shields up. Ready weapon systems. Prepare to fire all forward turbo-". The ship fired and hit the Incinerator's shield generators and weapon systems. Then, out of nowhere, a second ship, much different in shape and design from the other, flashed into the area and fired what appeared to be laser beams down on the other ship. None of the Incinerator crew had seen anything like this before, and didn't know who to fear more. "Command the fleet to target the new ship and fire. I rather destroy the more powerful ship and face off against our original attackers." said Admiral Marx. "If its a war they want, its a war they'll get."