StarTrek: Evolution
Space: the final frontier…These are the voyages of the last starship Enterprise. Its final five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before. I am Captain William J. Blakes of the Federation starship NCC 2701 Enterprise. This is the first and, as the fates will have it, the last starship to bear the designation 2701. However, if you would to tell me that I would have an important place in history when I received the orders placing the ship under my command, I would have punched you in the face. Many of you may think I am simply joking, and I can't say that I wouldn't like to think I was too, but unfortunately, I have never been the kidding type. Space: not the final frontier…
Our first mission was the routine test of a new ship and our launch included all the normal fanfare. There was absolutely nothing special about what we were doing. Sure I was the captain of the latest ship to hold the name Enterprise, but I had so many predecessors who have so many different great things in command of the flagship of Starfleet that I really didn't think much of the new position. Both the Klingons and the Romulans had long since joined the Federation. The Cardassians and their former Dominion allies were both vital members in the alliance. Starfleet assaults, with the help of the newest member of the Federation, Species 8472, against the Borg had succeeded in wiping it from existence; freeing countless planets and peoples who pledged their lives to the Federation. The Beta quadrant was fully explored, and it too soon fell beneath the peaceful curtain of Federation rule. The utopia found on Earth had been brought to every member world in the entire galaxy, so there was quite simply no struggle and nothing to do. Being captain of the Enterprise was now little more than a glorified term for baby sitter. The battle against everything evil or bad or even unpleasant had been won…
Or, so I thought. It really is amazing how quickly paradise can turn to mush in the most unexpected of ways. Centuries ago a group of humans, Vulcans, and Klingons became dissatisfied with the status quo and life without struggle or any adversity. They had left for parts unknown, and by my time they had become nothing more than a footnote in an obscure history book which no one chose to read. I don't know where they had been or what exactly happened, but what I do know is that the galaxy would never be the same. That was our first mission, meeting the representatives of the "Con-Federation" as they called themselves. Their leader was a Klingon, I think. The Federation Science Council said that after years of interbreeding among the three races there really weren't three races anymore, but I could tell that this one clearly favored his Klingon roots because of the way he addressed himself to me. He declared himself High Chancellor K'Phan and immediately challenged me to a fight to the death when I told him that we should meet in person. It took some convincing, but he eventually settled down and beamed over to my ship. I thought he had calmed down, until he challenged my android, model Soong XII, science officer, Cylon, to a similar duel. I had grown tired of K'Phan's antics so I gave the go ahead. It was quite amusing to see K'Phan beaten to an inch of death; killing the leader of a new civilization is bad for business. He was calm from that point on.
After some debate about the shape of the table in the conference room, I finally sat down with K'Phan and opened official diplomatic relations. He had only one "simple" request. He wanted the entire Federation to sign an unconditional surrender to him. I was shocked to say the least at such a bold statement. All I could think of to say was the ancient cliché, "You and what army?" The irony of those words is still something that I think of with shame, because as soon as I said that K'Phan motioned to his guard and the largest fleet assembled since the Dominion Wars of the 24th century decloaked right in front of my eyes. I didn't know what to think. Seeing countless ships gathered before me was truly awe-inspiring. If not for my Vorta first officer Luaran, I think I would have stared at that fleet with my jaw wide open for hours. It is during this time, I'm told, that K'Phan beamed back to his ship. My Andorian tactical officer's, Telev's, antennae moved erratically when he uttered the second phrase which will haunt me for the rest of my life, "We are outmatched, sir." No sooner had he said that than I ordered the ship to return to Earth and Starfleet Command at maximum warp. Even before we reached our destination, we received the terrible news. Romulus, Remus, Qo'nos, and Cardassia all defected to the Con-Federation. It seems that none of those planets enjoyed the peace the Federation brought and desired the battle and war that the Con-Federation would most definitely bring.
This was not the first time in history that the Federation faced impossible odds, but it would be the last. The admirals at Starfleet Command had decided a few decades before that there was no reason for their ships, my ships, to be armed anymore. They spouted such rhetoric as, "We are explorers," or, "Why waste the time and effort making weapons? That is simply going to encourage the next hot shot captain to use them to prove his bravery. The best thing we can do is to arm none of them so that our personnel will be forced to find better options than war," or, the worst of them all, "We come in peace, not war. We mustn't prepare ourselves for something we will not let happen." You can tell that those admirals had been behind their desk for far too long. They no longer were able to see that the galaxy is a big place, and one never knows what will happen. All they saw was an opportunity during peacetime high atop the acropolis that is Starfleet Command to further their own personal moral agendas. I guess I shouldn't be too hard of them; after all, this policy did work. The reunification of Romulus and Vulcan had gone much more smoothly once the Romulans discovered that their negotiators were completely unarmed. The Vulcans appreciated the logic of a peace-seeking race having no capacity for war and were much more willing to make compromises. Whatever the circumstances of the disarmament and the positive outcomes, we were defenseless now. However, Starfleet was the only major galactic power to do this. The Federation had tried to convince the other three major powers in the galaxy to follow suit, but they wouldn't or couldn't comply. The Klingons had a proud militaristic tradition; the Cardassian economy was so heavily invested in the military, that they couldn't disarm, and the Romulan Tal'Shiar maintained a large, if secret, fleet. Understandably so, these were the three worlds that joined the Con-Federation. They would see all that my processors like Archer, Kirk, Picard, and even Roberts, captain of the Enterprise during the Temporal Cold War, destroyed for no other reason than their love for war.
I asked Telev if there were any emergency modifications that we could use to create any weapons on our ship.
"We could reconfigure a few of the shield generators to direct their energy into a focused beam, but that would significantly weaken our shield grid, and I don't know how powerful it would be."
"Right now shields aren't going to help us. We need a weapon, and we need it now. Begin the modifications. Use whatever manpower and resources you need to get this done. You need to get this done."
This plan of his was a long shot, and Andorians have never struck me as an ingenious people, but I trusted Telev. He always had a knack for survival that I knew I could count on. Looking back on it all now, one moment of his inability to let himself die stands out. We were exploring a cave on a world that had a history of seismic activity. Sensors orbiting the planet had not registered an earthquake for a century and suspected that there may be evidence of an ancient civilization from a period of similar geological stability, so Starfleet sent orders to investigate. Their predictions were wrong, very wrong. As soon as we entered the cave, the ground beneath us started shaking. Years of training for the worst possibly scenario and even more living them couldn't have prepared either of us for this. In moments we were thrown all the way to the other side of the cave where there was a significant drop in elevation. I grabbed a rock jutting out from the ground and held on waiting for the after shock. He accused me of being an overly cautious pink-skin and began to walk out of the cave. That was when the after shock came. He was thrown once again to the back, and I thought he fell to his death down the cliff. After the earthquake was completely over, I looked. He was hanging on to the edge of the cliff with his antennae. I dragged him up and out of there, and when we returned to the ship, he bought me a drink. From that day forward, I knew that when trouble starts to stay close to him because he will survive, if only by the skin of his antennae.
I never liked surprises. There just isn't a point to them that I ever saw. If something was important enough or special enough for me to want to see it, the fact that I see it is much more important than its delivery. That's why I have always really hated this week. Sunday, the orders transferring me to the Enterprise were delivered by a flamboyant and overly enthusiastic admiral who for some reason took a liking to me ever since the academy. Every single time I got a promotion, a medal, a commendation, or even a citation for good service, he was there, and he always gave me a surprise party. So, by this point I really was tired of it. The party was okay; I suppose if not for the admiral's daughter. I've started to think that is why the admiral takes a special interest in me. His daughter is absolutely in-love with me. I have tried to let her know time and again that I am simply not interested in her. She is pretty, nice, and sweet enough, but I have never been attracted to her. I have told her this many times, but she is her father's daughter, very persistent. Now that I am in my thirties, the admiral keeps pressuring me to settle down and get married, specifically to his daughter. At least now I will have an excuse for not doing so. Like those who captained the Enterprise before me, I am married to the ship and can never leave her. At least, that is what I thought back then. Tuesday was the day I met the High Chancellor of the Con-Federation and the big surprise of his gigantic interstellar battle fleet. Thursday, the biggest surprise of them all revealed itself to me. Someone new boarded my ship. This wouldn't be the first time he has terrorized Enterprise captains, but I really hoped that I wasn't important enough for him to bother annoying me. My luck that week was really bad though, because when he made his big entrance, as a pirate, he announced he wasn't planning on leaving.
"Greetings Captain, I would just like to formally introduce myself to you and all of your swashbuckling sailors. I arr Q."
"Why the hell are you on my ship? What gives you the right to continually annoy and belittle Starfleet captains?"
"Now, now, Blakey-Boy, I really hope you aren't nearly this rude to all of your guests, especially one such as myself who is here to join your motley crew. I want to sail the seven seas in this 'ere fine sailin' vessel."
"Are you telling me that I will have to endure your presence for an extended period of time?"
"Aye, I am tellin' you this. I'll even let you in on a little surprise you scurvy dog you. You will have an important place in history as captain of the Enterprise."
I punched him right then and there. I told you that I wasn't a kidding man.