Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Star Trek. Many of the characters in this piece are not mine either. This is also not related to the New Frontier books as I had no idea that the ship in that series was called Excalibur.

This is a whole different, yet familiar Star Trek. It features a cast of mostly original characters, and some minor characters from the different series, including Wesley Crusher, Alexander Rozshenko, and Vorik (from Voyager whom I am also pretending is Taurik from Next Generation). Several other Trek characters will drift in and out as the story progresses. This five chapter story is kind of like a pilot. The following stories with these characters will be separate and more episodic in format. Thank you for reading and please comment.

Aria Barclay felt as though she might spew the contents of her stomach at any moment. Admiral Janeway had just placed the Christopher Pike Medal for Valor around Ian's neck. Dr. Wight and Kana Mair were already smiling and eyeing the medals around their own necks. She would be next. She stole a glance at Wesley, who was sitting ont he front row. He was grinning back at her. She determined to look somewhere else.

She tried not to look Admiral Janeway in the eye as she placed the medal around Aria's neck. As the admiral shook her hand, however, Aria couldn't help but notice the wry smile the older woman gave her.

Admiral Janeway returned to the podium facing the thousands of people in the audience. "I must present the final award this evening to a great man," she began.

Aria suddenly felt the urge to bolt from the stage. Surely she wasn't going to announce this in front of half the Federation. Was this possibly Janeway's method of forcing her to take the assignment? She looked at Ian and the others. They seemed slightly uneasy as the admiral continued.

"Captain Jonah Bragg gave his life defending his crew," Janeway said.

Aria clenched her jaw remembering how the captain had pushed her away from a falling bulkhead.

"Jonah leaves behind no family and no children to pass on his legacy," the admiral continued. "And so tonight, I have the solemn duty of presenting the Starfleet's highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, to his successor, the new commanding officer of the starship Excalibur, Aria Barclay."

Aria felt rather than saw every eye in the place lock onto her. She struggled to maintain her composure as Admiral Janeway placed a small, mahogany box in her hands. Inside lay a silver star emblazoned with the Starfleet insignia.

"Take good care of her," Janeway whispered.

A tear threatened to escape from Aria's eye. "I'll get you for this," she promised.

Janeway smiled brightly. "You can try, Captain," she answered. "You can try."

Ian Lavenham rushed off the stage after Aria. "Aria, wait!" he called having to almost run to catch up. "Why didn't you say anything."

Aria quickly turned on him. "I hadn't accepted the assignment!"

Ian stopped so suddenly, Dr. Wight and Kana Mair almost bumped into him. They were all looking at Aria as though she were a different person from the one she was five minutes ago.

Quietly, Aria said, "They offered me Excalibur yesterday. I hadn't given them an answer, although, apparently one has been given for me."

"I can't believe you even had to think about it," Ian said rather boyishly.

Aria set her jaw angrily and tightened her grip on the small box in her hand. "Lieutenant, Doctor, Ensign," she said to each of the people facing her, "you should get to the reception before you're missed."

Kana and Dr. Wight each took a hold of Ian's sleeves and gently pulled him away. Admiral Janeway cautiously approached, her wry smile still present. Aria's grip on the box tightened even further to keep her from decking the woman.

"That's the way to handle things when you're angry," Janeway told her. "Just send them away."

"Why are you so determined to make me Excalibur's captain?" Aria asked, anger boiling into her throat and into her words.

"Jonah was an old academy friend of mine," Janeway began. "A few months after you were assigned to Excalibur, he was writing me singing your praises. He told me how you saved the lives of everyone in engineering including your first officer."

"It didn't do much good," Aria said. "He got himself killed in a shuttlecraft accident eighteen months later."

Admiral Janeway obviously suppressed a smile. "Commander Mattingly was...prone to such accidents. Jonah wanted to make you his first officer then, but Starfleet Command thought he was being a little rash. I was the only one who was supportive of his choice."

Aria's eyes widened in realization.

"After your actions in the battle, I was able to sway the rest of the admirals," Janeway finished.

Aria shook her head doubtfully. "Why would you put your reputation on the line for me?"

"I didn't do it for you," Janeway answered almost harshly. "I did it because that's what Jonah wanted, and I believe it's what's best for Excalibur."

Aria shifted her feet uneasily. Janeway held out her hand and revealed two gold pips that twinkled in Aria's eyes.

"These are going to bring you a lot of fame and notoriety, but they'll also bring you a lot of responsibility," Janeway warned.

Aria would be the youngest captain in Starfleet history at age 26. Even Jean-Luc Picard was nearly thirty when he took command of the Stargazer.

"I'll take that responsibility, Admiral," Aria answered solemnly.

Janeway smiled as she pinned the pips on Aria's collar. "Now it's your turn to get to the reception. Almost everyone will be wanting a moment of your time."

Aria smiled sheepishly and walked away. As soon as she was out of earshot, Admiral Ross walked out of the shadows and stopped next to Admiral Janeway.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Kathryn," he warned.

"I think I do, Bill," she answered sarcastically. "She'll make a fine captain."

"Did you tell her the truth," he asked, "that she and her crew are on a probationary period for one year?"

"That's not an official condition of her command," Janeway answered. "Besides, we need to see how she acts without threats of demotion hanging around her shoulders."

"I hope you're right about this girl," Admiral Ross said.

Admiral Janeway slowly turned toward him. Her anger was evident in her eyes. "She's a Starfleet captain, Admiral. She deserves as much respect as any other man or woman of that rank. I request you make sure she gets it."

Admiral Ross' eyebrows lifted at Janeway's stern tone. "Understood, Admiral."

A corner of Admiral Ross' mouth lifted as he watched Admiral Janeway march off.

"Captain Barclay, welcome to the party!"

Aria tried to hide a grimace. Captain Riker had obviously already had a few synthehols. Aria couldn't help but smile, however, when the large bearded man put an arm around her shoulders.

"Tell me, are you related to Reg Barclay?" he asked as he led her toward a gaggle of senior officers from the Titan, including Wesley Crusher.

"Yes, actually," Aria answered uncomfortably. "He's my half-brother."

"Really?" Captain Riker acted as though he were going to continue, but his wife's hand on his arm seemed to silence him. Aria breathed a silent sigh of relief.

"Captain," Aria said after a few moments of uncomfortable silence, "I wonder if I could borrow Mr. Crusher from you for a moment?"

"Just so long as you bring him back," Riker laughed.

Wesley smiled and followed Aria a few feet from the group. "Don't mind Captain Riker," he told her. "He's just not used to real champagne."

"Would you like a promotion?" she asked him quietly.

Wesley raised an eyebrow. "A promotion on top of a court martial for dereliction of duty; interesting concept," he said, grinning widely.

Aria rolled her eyes. The hearing for his court martial was the next day. He had a good story though. The last decade for Wesley read like a spy novel. He had returned to earth a broken man after the Dominion captured, tortured, and killed his mentor, the Traveler from Tau Ceti. He had been drawn to Aria for reasons he did not know at the time.

Aria too, was once one of the Traveler's students. She was brilliant-entering the Academy at fourteen and achieving her commission at sixteen. Unlike Wesley, she had stubbornly decided to follow her own path. Their shared abilities, however, linked them together inextricably.

Aria kept Wesley safe until he could function once more in the dimension he was born in. She then spoke with the Admiral she was working for at the time, and Wesley was quite unceremoniously readmitted to the Academy. He got on a fast-track and completed a year's worth of work in about a semester. His specialty was engineering, but Starfleet requested the use of his "abilities" in an intelligence operation, and Wesley once again seemingly disappeared.

Aria didn't hear from him again until two years after the Dominion War had ended, at which time she was working on Qo'nos. Wesley was out of the intelligence racket permanently, he hoped. He was at more serious, yet he was far more fun-loving than he had been for the whole course of his life. He was on temporary assingment at the Utopia Planetia shipyards. He was working on the new U.S.S. Titan. When it was completed, he was going to be serving on the ship under Captain Riker. Aria was delighted he had gotten back in touch with his mother and extended family on the Enterprise.

Wesley served admirably for the next two years, even earning a promotion to junior lieutenant, but his activities in Starfleet intelligence finally caught up with him. He was being followed and he knew it. He disappeared again after hastily leaving a request for an indefinite leave of absence on Captain Riker's desk. Riker granted it, of course, to save Wesley's career.

He was on the run until the radical Grey Hawks, whom he infiltrated a few years previous, caught him. He was tortured for weeks until the Romulans, Grey Hawk allies, requested him for experimentation. Excalibur managed to rescue him at a very high price.

"They're dropping the dereliction charges and you know it," Aria said finally.

"What's the catch?" Wesley asked.

"There'd be a transfer involved," she told him.

"You'd be my captain?" he said jokingly.

Aria jerked her head back toward Captain Riker's entourage. "Do you think you'd be able to finally leave your family?" she asked him.

Wesley's jovial manner suddenly became quite serious. "For you," he began, "I think I could."

"Come to my quarters in a couple of hours," Aria ordered. "I suppose this will be my first staff meeting. We're going to discuss promotions and open positions. I'll request your transfer from Captain Riker as soon as he's...sober."

Wesley laughed. "Are you gonna hold onto that thing forever," he asked, indicating the box containing Captain Bragg's medal.

Aria glanced down at it. "I'll have to find some place to put it. Along with this thing." She adjusted the medal hung around her own neck. "You have two hours, Wes."

"Yes, Sir."

Two hours passed at a snail's pace. Aria had glad-handed almost everyone at the reception, fumbling around with Captain Bragg's medal the whole time. She ripped off her own medal and her dress uniform as soon as the doors of her quarters slid shut behind her. She tossed the medals onto a nearby bureau unceremoniously. She made a mental note to find a display case or something.

Every muscle in her body ached as she put on her regular uniform shirt. She hadn't realized how tense she had been for the last few hours. She left the shirt open and plopped down in the nearest chair. She dimmed the lights and tried not to look at her surroundings. Her quarters were still strewn with PADDs full of reports and clothes and various little objects she hadn't bothered to pick up after the battle with the Romulans.

Aria ran the battle through her head for the thousandth time. She often wondered if she shouldn't have convinced Captain Bragg to enter the Neutral Zone. She wondered if there was anything she could have done to prevent the deaths of fifty-three men and women, including her captain. Explosion after explosion replayed through her mind in slow motion.

The door chime pulled her out of her reverie. "Come in," she called as she sat up.

All the air escaped from her lungs when the doors slid open. Embarrassed, she wrapped her shirt around herself and stood up. "I'm sorry for the state of my quarters, Captain. I haven't had a chance to really clean up."

She could see the smile spreading across his face as he stepped into her room. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"Don't worry, Captain," he told her. "These quarters won't be yours much longer anyway."

A shiver ran up Aria's spine. She hadn't thought of moving into Captain Bragg's quarters. Kana or Ian would probably wind up in hers.

"May I ask what you're doing here, Captain Picard?" she asked directly.

He indicated the sofa. "May I?" he asked.

"Of course," Aria answered as she reclaimed her own chair, holding her arms close to her stomach to keep her shirt closed.

"Do you think you're ready to command a starship?" he asked her quietly.

Aria felt a different sort of heat flushing her cheeks. She crossed her arms across her chest. "Why do you want to know, Captain? It doesn't seem to be any of your business really," Aria said. "Or did Wesley tell you he was going to transfer to Excalibur? You want to know what his new captain is made of. You want to make sure he'll be all right."

Captain Picard suddenly looked uncomfortable. Aria smiled slyly. "I'm not much younger than you were, Captain," she told him. "Were you ready?"

He looked her right in the eye. "Not at the time," he answered. "And I was only in command of a ship of fifty people. You'll be responsible for the lives of over five hundred."

"You don't care about those five hundred people, Captain," Aria answered. "You only care about Wes. You and his mother can rest assured he'll be all right under my command."

Captain Picard squirmed uncomfortably again at the mention of Wesley's mother. Aria had to supress a grin at seeing an almost legendary Federation hero squirm at the mention of a woman.

"Very few people attain the rank of Captain in the first ten years of their career," he told her.

Aria leaned toward him and said, "I'm special. I've been told that for as long as I can remember. Sometimes I think it's what drove my brother to take refuge in fantasy worlds."

"Reg Barclay is quite a bit older than you, yes?" Picard asked.

"Sixteen, no, seventeen years," Aria answered. "Same father, different mothers."

"I suppose your family affairs are none of my business," Picard said.

"I say we had different mothers," she continued undaunted. "What I mean is that two different women gave birth to us, but his mother, Arlena Barclay, treated me like her own. She's the one who realized I was different, that I was...brilliant. I think that's what hurt Reg the most, that his mother loved me as much as she loved him."

"What happened to your mother?" he asked.

"My biological one? I don't know who she is or where she is and I've never really cared," she answered. "Arlena died when I was seventeen."

Picard stood up. "I should probably be going."

"Captain, I do have to tell you one thing," she said, standing to face him. "If I've learned one thing from my family, it's that you don't make rash decisions. My father made a rash decision with one of his students and he wound up with me and a rift between him and his son that survives to this day. Arlena cautioned me about my temper when I was young. So, unlike some young captains, I am not reckless and prone to rash decisions."

Captain Picard actually smiled at her. He extended his hand and said, "Don't be too careful, Captain."

Aria returned his smile and took his hand. "Thank you, Captain."

She watched as the doors slid shut behind him. A day or two ago, Captain Jean-Luc Picard would not have even known her name. Today, he was offering her advice on commanding a starship. Her stomach started roiling once again.

The door chimed and Ian Lavenham appeared still in his dress uniform and a champagne flute in hand. "Was that Captain Picard I just saw leaving?"

"Yes, yes it was," Aria answered.