Author's Note: These stories are a rewrite of my Odyssey series. Some stories will be combined or slightly altered. Some characters have been slightly altered from their Odyssey counterparts. However, most things will remain the same. I will keep Odyssey on the site because some people seem to like it.
Star Trek: Final Frontier
Alexandria
The air was perfect for baseball in Boston, Massachusetts. It was a steady 75 degrees with the sun shining down on the field. The Boston Red Sox were facing the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Red Sox were up 7-3 at the beginning of the ninth. The crowd was ecstatic, with the exception of the few Pirates fans present. One of those fans was sitting with annoyed look on his face because the Pirates were down by four runs. His friend was standing up and cheered on the Red Sox.
They both wore the standard Starfleet uniform, all black with gray shoulders and the yellow colored Operations division turtleneck underneath. They both wore lieutenant commander pips on their collars. The one standing, Alex Merriell, looked down at his friend, Dustin Zofchak.
"You don't look like you're enjoying the game," he said.
"I was until two innings ago when Pittsburgh gave up its three run lead."
Alex and Dustin first met years ago when Alex was serving on the USS Farragut and it had served as part of a rescue unit for the Enterprise-D crash survivors on Veridian III. Dustin was one of the survivors.
Both were offered promotions when asked to join the crew of the newly built USS Alexandria. Dustin was at first hesitant about leaving the Enterprise-E but he felt it was time to move on and grow as the crew of the Enterprise was changing after the battle with the Scimitar two months ago. He was now chief engineer of the Alexandria and Alex was now second officer and the Operations officer.
The Pirates had two on base with one out. Dustin stood up in time to see the Pittsburgh batter knock it out of the park. The score was now 7-6. Dustin clapped and cheered. The stadium had quieted now that the score was now close and the Red Sox victory was no longer certain. The next batter stood at the plate and readied himself for the pitch. The pitcher threw a fastball and the batter swung, nailing the ball and sent it deep into left field.
Suddenly the players, the fans and the field all shimmered out of existence. Dustin and Alex looked around with confused looks on their faces surrounded by the walls of the holosuite.
"What the hell?" Alex said.
A voice came over the intercom. "Your time is now up. Vacate the holosuite for the next patron."
"I knew we should have used the ship's holodeck," Dustin said. "Quark charges too much to use the holosuite. Now we'll never know who won that game."
The two lieutenant commanders walked out of the room and into Quark's Bar. There were many other Starfleet personnel occupying the room, most of which were part of the Alexandria crew. They saw Amanda Plumley, chief medical officer aboard the Alexandria and Christine Nycz, the ship's counselor. The two were playing darts. Christine and Dustin graduated from the academy together and were close friends in those days.
"Ladies," Dustin said. "How about a game between guys and girls?"
The two women looked at each other and shrugged. "You're on, Commander," Plumley said. "Loser buys the next round."
Captain Jermaine Allensworth sat in the crew lounge aboard the USS Thunderchild. The ship was currently at warp heading to Deep Space Nine where he would take on his new assignment as captain of the USS Alexandria. Across from him was Captain Blaine Stork of the Thunderchild.
"Have you gotten used to that fourth pip yet, Jermaine?"
Allensworth reached up and ran a finger across the four pips on his collar and smiled. "No, not yet."
"I must admit, I'm a bit envious," Stork said.
"Why's that?"
"You are getting to command one of the Sovereigns. Don't get me wrong, I like the Thunderchild. She's a good ship but Akira class starships don't have the firepower or overall scope that Sovereign class ships do."
Allensworth smiled. "Just lucky I guess."
Stork nodded in agreement as he took a sip of his raktajino. He felt his combadge vibrate and heard the chirp a half of a second later. "Stull to Captain Stork."
Stork tapped his combadge. "Go ahead."
"We're entering the Bajoran system and will be approaching Deep Space Nine in a few minutes."
"Slow to impulse. I'm on my way," he said before tapping his combadge to end the communication. "Care to join me on the bridge to get a look at your ship?"
"Sure thing," Allensworth said getting up.
The two captains stepped off of the turbolift and onto the bridge. Lieutenant Commander Stull stood up from the center seat as Stork approached. On the screen was the Cardassian built Deep Space Nine. The former Cardassian space station that was once position in orbit above Bajor now took residence in the Denorios Belt, only a thousand kilometers from the event horizon of the wormhole after the Cardassians withdrew from the station and Starfleet took control. It gained fame during the Dominion War that lasted for two years. Allensworth was spared the horrors of that war by being stuck in the Delta Quadrant with the rest of Voyager's crew.
As the Thunderchild neared the station, Allensworth's attention was on the ship docked at one of the upper pylons of the station. The USS Alexandria, NCC-2547.
Allensworth and Stork beamed aboard Deep Space Nine. Allensworth needed to speak with Colonel Kira and Captain Stork wanted to have a drink at Quark's to "properly" welcome Allensworth into what he called the "Captain's Club."
Allensworth stepped into Kira's office. The office hasn't changed much since the days when Captain Sisko was in command of the station. Kira had adorned the office with Bajoran decorations, a fit of irony considering what the station was used for when it was built and who controlled it then. Allensworth noticed a baseball was displayed on the desk. He didn't take Kira to be a baseball fan but if memory served, Sisko was a huge fan of baseball, particularly of Buck Bokai and the London Kings. Kira stepped around the desk and shook his hand with a smile. She sensed a familiar aura about Allensworth. We she first looked up when he entered, she had originally thought that Sisko had returned from the Prophets. She had to do a double take to be sure that it was Allensworth and not Sisko. Aside from the same skin color, Jermaine resembled Sisko in various ways such hair style, that being shaved and sporting a goatee. He also presented an aura of confidence that was similar to that of her previous commanding officer.
"Welcome to Deep Space Nine, Captain. Congratulations on your promotion."
"Thank you, Colonel, if you want to call it that," Allensworth said with a sly grin. Kira let out a small laugh.
"I understand you'll be traveling into the Gamma Quadrant for your first assignment as captain."
Allensworth nodded. "Yeah, I think it will be good for the Alexandria to stretch her legs over there. Which is what I came to talk to you about. This is my first time in the Gamma Quadrant and I would like your advice."
"Well...be wary of the Dominion, especially of the Jem'Hadar. The war has been over for five years and even though they have to abide by the rules set by the Treaty of Bajor, they still like to be a little aggressive towards other species. The Vorta do well honoring the treaty but there have been cases where Jem'Hadar have rebelled against their Vorta commanders. To my knowledge, no battles have occurred but nevertheless be on your guard around them. To be honest, I haven't been over there too often since I took command of the station. Is your mission just standard patrol and exploration?"
"Yeah. I'm not complaining though. I was assigned to Voyager and we all know how its first mission went. I'll be completely satisfied with exploring a planet or two and charting gaseous anomalies."
Zofchak and Merriell continued their game against Nycz and Plumley, to which they were losing...badly. Zofchak threw a dart and hit a spot that wasn't exactly in his favor. Nycz and Plumley smiled at their apparent victory.
"We can do one more throw," Nycz said. "Double or nothing. Whomever hits the bulls eye first and you can go first."
Zofchak glanced at Merriell who held up his hands in surrender.
"Don't look at me," I've been playing poorly all night."
Zofchak let the conditions float around in his head for a few more seconds before looking at Christine. "Sure, why not?"
Zofchak took a stance, holding up the dart with his left hand which Alex thought was strange because Dustin was right handed.
"Uh Dustin, are you going to shoot left handed all night?"
Dustin smiled and repositioned himself. "What would I do without you?" He tossed the dart and hit the bulls eye much to the surprise of Nycz and Plumley. The group walked over to the bar just as station counselor Lieutenant Commander Ezri Dax and station security chief Ro Laren walked into the bar.
"I always found Ezri Dax to be a rather cute," Zofchak said. "There is this sense of adorableness to her but she's also sexy."
"I agree," Alex said. "Plus she's a Trill and I would like to see how far down those spots go."
Nycz turned to Plumley. "Can't they see that we're right here?"
Dustin and Alex turned back around to their shipmates.
"Don't give me that, Christine," Dustin said. "There were days at the academy that you'd say the same thing in front of me to your female friends."
"But we weren't an official couple then," she replied.
"And we aren't now," Dustin shot back. "We're just colleagues with a past."
"And there is our new captain," Plumley said. The other three turned their attention to the door as Allensworth stepped into the bar and made his way over to Captain Stork.
"I think he looks like Captain Sisko," Zofchak said.
"I never met Captain Sisko," Nycz said.
"I met him a few times. The first when the Enterprise was docked here in sixty-nine when Sisko first took command of DS Nine and a few times during the war. Nice guy."
Christine picked up something in Dustin's voice as he mentioned the war. It was as though he was reminded of something. Zofchak downed his drink and set it on the bar.
"Well if the captain is here then that means I should head back to the ship and make sure she's ready when he is."
Christine watched him walk off. She suspected there was something more than needing to make last minute checks aboard the ship.
After being "officially accepted" into the Captain's Club, Allensworth materialized on the transporter pad aboard the Alexandria. As the room came into view, Allensworth saw the transporter chief behind the controls and his first officer standing near the transporting pad.
"Commander Jason Sparhawk," Allensworth said extending a hand out to him. Sparhawk shook the hand of his new commanding officer.
"Welcome aboard, sir." Sparhawk said. "If you follow me, I'll show you to your quarters."
"Lead on, Commander."
"Lieutenant Commander Zofchak reports the ship is ready for departure," Sparhawk said as he kept his eyes on their location. He wanted to make sure that he didn't pass up his captain's quarters while leading him there. It would be nothing short of embarrassment. Luckily, Sparhawk had memorized the location of the Captain's quarters for this situation but he feared his slight anxiety of wanting to make a good first impression would impede his clear thinking. After turning down another corridor, they reached their destination.
Allensworth took several hesitant steps into the dark room before him. Nothing was visible to him except the stars out the plethora of windows along the back wall. The room was several degrees below standard, the air was stale, and given the haunting echo that followed his every footstep, it was probably empty.
"Computer, lights," Commander Sparhawk called out from amidst the darkness.
Within seconds, the quiet whoosh of power feeding the lighting system filled the air, followed promptly by the aforementioned illumination. When the lights finally reached maximum luminosity, Allensworth held back the reaction of allowing his jaw to drop in awe.
"Are you sure this is the right room?"
Sparhawk was a little surprised by the question. "Why? Is something wrong?"
Allesnworth nodded negatively. "No," he said slowly. "It's just a bit larger than I had anticipated," he admitted after a moment.
"Thank you, Commander. These quarters will do just fine. Definitely bigger than my previous quarters."
"I'm glad you like them, sir."
Allensworth stepped closer to the window. The view was magnificent. As he peered out the large window, he could see several other ships that were either docked at the station or circling it. A few of them were Federation starships, one of which was the Thunderchild. He only knew it was the Thunderchild because that was the only Akira-class ship here at the moment. He didn't know the name of the Excelsior class ship that was also circling the station. He would need a computer to identify it.
"Here is the duty roster for all four duty shifts," Sparhawk said as he handed Allensworth a PADD.
"Excellent," Allensworth said as he took a glace at the PADD before turning his attention back to his first officer. "I will officially take command in one hour. Thank you, Commander. That will be all."
Sparhawk smiled and nodded before leaving. The doors slid shut as Allensworth looked around his new home, taking it all in.