Chapter 1

The lightsabers clashed, the sound resonated throughout the room, and yet, it sounded muffled. The duel continued and the younger man of the two turned to face someone at the door when a lightsaber was thrust through his chest. The color drained from his face, his eyes lost the same depth they had, and he collapsed.

Camilla shot up quickly from the dream, tears in her eyes. The memory of the duel on the Star Forge resurfacing once again. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't accept the fact that Jim Bullock, the one man she had ever loved, was gone. and not just gone on a mission or long voyage, but dead. She never had a problem with losing someone before. Her parents, her sister, and her fellow crew mates on the Lexington. But Jim was, in someway, different. She got out of bed and approached the replicator in her quarters. "Computer, coffee, hot, two sugars, light cream." There was a low beep and a mug appeared in the small crevice in the wall. Camilla took the mug and approached the large view port that looked out onto Earth. There seemed to always be air traffic arriving and departing from the spaceports and docks all over the world. And down there, somewhere was Jim's body, deprived of all life. More tears welled up in her eyes. Suddenly, the room became cold and she heard a whisper "Camilla". She turned around and looked around, trying to find where the voice came from. She dismissed the thought and went back to sleep, not noticing the ghostly figure of Jim standing by her bedside.

Camilla awoke to her desk communicator beeping, alerting her of a message from Starfleet Headquarters. She slipped out of bed and read the message. Her eyes lit up as she realized what it said:

Report to Starfleet Headquarters immediately for your promotion to Starship Captain.

As fast as she could, she freshened up and got dressed in her Starfleet uniform. She had been waiting for this day a long time, but wondered how she could possibly be promoted to captain so quickly. She was only an ensign during her short service on the Lexington. Then she wondered if the war against the Empire was as bad as she had imagined. Camilla dismissed the thought and exited her quarters, heading to the hangar bay. Her Firespray-31 class ship was waiting, the name Hell's Angel newly painted on the base of the ship. She took off, approaching Earth at a steady speed.

The ship touched down just outside Starfleet Headquarters. The landing ramp was lowered and she straightened her tunic, trying to look as official as possible. She kept her shoulders back and her head straight, looking at no one. The doors slid open with a slight hiss, opening into a crowded entranceway filled with beings of many races, many of which she was familiar with, and many of which she wasn't. "Probably the new allies from the New Republic" she thought to herself. She made her way to the office of Fleet Admiral Derm, the doors also opening with a slight hiss. She took a deep breath before entering, her heart pounding in her chest. On the far end of the room was Derm, next to him sat Captain Jean-Luc Picard, current captain of the USS Enterprise-E, and next to him was an odd looking creature. It looked very much like a fish, bulging eyes and all. "Ensign Heartfelt," Admiral Derm stood up and indicated the fish-man next to him, "this is Admiral Akbar, leader of the New Republic military forces." She looked over at him and gave a slight bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you, ensign" Akbar said in a gravelly, low voice. "Well, enough side-talk, lets get on with what you're really here for." Both admirals sat and faced Camilla, who took her own seat. "Camilla Heartfelt, in recognition of your service, dedication, and sacrifices to the Federation," she immediately flashed to the image of Jim dying in her arms, "you are now here-by promoted to the rank of captain. Do you accept this responsibility?" Derm already knew her answer, but Federation protocol forced him to ask. Camilla smiled and as professionally as she could, she answered, "I accept the responsibility of captain."

"Then may I be the first to congratulate you, Captain Heartfelt, on your new promotion" Admiral Derm and Captain Picard both smiled and stood up, Akbar stood up after them. Derm handed her a datapad with her new orders. "You are to report at 0900 tomorrow morning to the USS Atlantis. Shuttle Armstrong will be waiting at Docking Bay Four, Starbase 2. We will move your ship before launch." Camilla took the datapad and bowed to the three men. "Thank you admiral," she looked at Akbar and Picard, "Captain, admiral, it was a pleasure to be in your presence for this promotion."

"Save the formalities for space, captain. Right now, we can be familiar with each other." Picard said. The four of them exited the office, talking amongst themselves, weaving in and out of the crowd. Camilla looked up briefly and saw something strange. She blinked and the image was gone. She thought, "Great, newly promoted and I'm starting to see ghosts". The group continued on, the ghostly image of Jim following them, invisible to all except Camilla.

The USS Atlantis was a brand new ship, straight from the shipyards. The shuttle flew all around the Excelsior-class ship, examining every part of the exterior, from the tip of the saucer section to the ends of the warp nacelles. The shuttle finally docked in the rear shuttlebay, right next to the Hell's Angel. "Captain Heartfelt, welcome to the Atlantis." her pilot and navigation officer, Lieutenant Commander Wells, announced. "Thank you Mister Wells. I look forward to working with you." "Same here, captain." Camilla exited the shuttle and headed for the nearest turbolift. "Bridge" she commanded of the system controlling the lift. It made one other stop on Deck Fourteen. A familiar looking young woman entered with one pip on her collar, an ensign. "Oh, hello, captain" she became slightly nervous in the presence of such a high ranking officer. Somehow, Camilla had sensed this from her. "Nervous about your first assignment, ensign?" Camilla was just trying to make small talk with her. "Y-yes Captain Heartfelt. I've only just graduated from the Academy and now I'm on a starship. It's just so exhilarating!" "I know how you feel. By the way, what's your name?" "Joanna. Joanna Bullock" Camilla's heart skipped a beat at the last name. Now she remembered where she saw her. It was several months ago, at Jim's funeral. At least she thought it was the same person. "Tell me, Ensign Bullock, are you related to Jim Bullock?" Camilla mentally crossed her fingers, hoping she would say no. "Y-yes I am. I'm his sister" Joanna wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Really? Jim never said anything about a sister." Joanna took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Computer, stop lift. Permission to speak freely, captain?" Camilla looked over at her officer. "Granted"

'I'm really a clone of Jim. I was supposed to fulfill his position in case he died. The reason behind that is, Jim had some special abilities and part of the genetic structure that had those abilities was extracted from him, recreated, and thus I was created. So now, all of Jim's powers are in me. Or, at least some of his power. I chose not to develop them and went into Starfleet and, as you know, Jim started working undercover for the New Republic, and defended the region of space he was born in."

Camilla let this information sink in. "So he doesn't know about this at all."

"No. He wasn't supposed to find out, but he started to get suspicious and thats why I personally contacted a Jedi in the New Republic. I think his name was Rin. Rin something, I don't remember his last name."

Camilla cringed at the name. It was Rin who killed Jim. Rin who caused so much pain the past few months for Camilla. She started to say something but Joanna went on talking.

"Then I heard Rin was killed by an Imperial admiral by the name of Marx and he also killed Jim. I was devastated to hear that my brother, in a sense anyway, was killed. It was after that that my power began to diminish."

"Joanna, there's something you should know. It wasn't Admiral Marx that killed Jim, it was Rin. Rin became corrupted by the dark side of the Force and turned on Jim," Camilla's eyes started to well up with tears. "I was there during the battle of the Alpha Quadrant. I was on the Star Forge during the duel and watched the lightsaber pierce Jim. Somehow, he was given enough power to kill Rin and Marx, who was actually someone named Revan. I ran over to Jim as he collapsed and held him as Jim spoke his last words. In my arms he died. So close and yet, I was so far away from him, so helpless." Camilla wiped the tears from her eyes and reached into her pocket to hand Joanna a tissue.

"I'm sorry, Joanna. I am so sorry for your loss."

"I know it's worse for you. Since you loved him-"

Camilla just looked at her, surprised. "How did you know that?"

"Damn, me and my big mouth."

"You're Jedi senses are stronger then you told me. There's no other way you could have known that."

"Sorry for invading your personal thoughts. I just...my powers kinda compelled me to."

"It's all right. From now on, try to control your powers. If I knew more about the Force or even knew someone who knew more-wait a minute. Joanna, I think I know what our first mission is going to be. Even if Starfleet gives us one." Camilla smiled. "Computer, Bridge."

The Atlantis cleared it's moorings from drydock and began it's course to open space. "Mister Wells, keep our present course, let me know once we're out of range of Federation tracking stations. Ensign Bullock, recalibrate the sensors to pick up temporal anomalies. Lieutenant Forge, once Wells gives the all clear, bring us to Yellow Alert, raise shields and stand-by weapons," Camilla pressed the com-channel to open to engineering, "This is Captain Heartfelt to engineering, stand-by on maximum warp. Give me everything you've got, do you copy?"

"This is Commander T'Vor, engineering is ready."

"Ma'am, we're coming up on open space. In about thirty seconds."

"Copy that, Wells. Forge, on my mark raise shields, we can never be too sure of what's out there."

"We're clear captain."

"Excellent, Mister Forge, raise shields, Miss Bullock, full sensor sweep for any temporal activity within the past three hours."

The Atlantis came to a stop in the middle of the sector. The warp nacelles powered up, preparing for a quick escape if needed.

"Captain, I've got something. Temporal anomaly, approximately forty meters to starboard."

"Wells, you heard her, turn us starboard and bring us thirty eight meters forward. Ensign Bullock, can you have your sensor readings come up on the main viewer?"

"Yes, captain, I think so."

Suddenly, a blue image appeared on the screen with a reddish-orange slit in the middle of the screen.

"Thats it! He's there. Wells, take us forward the rest of the way into the split. Forge, raise shields to maximum. Activate bridge defensive forcefields."

"Aye, captain"

The Atlantis moved forward, being pulled into the temporal split. The ship was engulfed in a corridor of different colors and items that none of them had ever seen. The Atlantis came out of the temporal split in a different sector of space, only to be greeted by a full Imperial armada, getting ready to make the transwarp jump into Federation space. Camilla rose from her chair and stared at the viewscreen in shock. "I've doomed us all" she whispered looking at the fleet that stared down the single Federation ship.