San Francisco, Earth
The towers stretched more than 20 kilometres into the air, covering the planet with a layer of alloys, transparent aluminium and forcefields. Most of the multitrillion-strong population of the planet lived in these towers, and hardly set foot on actual soil. These towers were obscured by sophisticated holograms, giving the impression that there was hardly any habitation on the planet. The only people who had reason to set foot on the ground were those who desired to see the historical cities that were well-preserved on the planet's surface, or those on federal or Starfleet business. As it happened, Captain Edward Stone was one of these people.
Captain Stone transported himself just outside the 200 year old compound, appreciating the lush greenery surrounding it. After numerous transporter-related terrorist incidents, most sensitive facilities had installed local-level transporter inhibitors that were active at all times, in support of defensive shields that were only activated in emergency situations. The captain always wondered why Starfleet Command adamantly insisted to use such an archaic facility as their headquarters, when most of Starfleet Academy had already shifted to the towers a long time ago. Still, he couldn't complain, as it was always refreshing for him, who was usually surrounded by high technology, to be in such a quaint environment.
Despite its humble exterior, the compound's interior was most certainly not. Most it had been converted into a massive holodeck in the late 2340s, which allowed it to accommodate tens of thousands of people with ease. As the captain stepped into the main building, the compound's computer isolated him in a little pocket of space that provided him with tactile, visual and audio input/output, allowing him to interact with fellow occupants of the building, who were likewise in their own pockets of space.
It was within this simulated environment that he stepped into the Operations Room. A cavernous space 3 kilometres in length, 2 kilometres in width and 10 kilometres in height (there were clouds near the ceiling of the room), it could fit 2075 galaxy class starships end-to-end within it, if it were real. Simulated sunlight filtered through the clouds onto the floor below, and patches of well-groomed greenery dotted the floor. The Admiralty sure loves its plants, he thought.
A human who looked about 200 years old approached him. "Welcome to Starfleet Command, Captain Stone! It's been a long time since you've come here," the man smiled affably, and extended his hand.
"It's good to see you again, Admiral Ramesh. You look as young as ever," Captain Stone returned the handshake warmly.
"Oh, don't remind me of my age! I feel ancient enough already," the Admiral replied, a twinkle in his eyes. "Jokes aside, the Admiralty have been waiting. Please, follow me."
Captain Stone was led to a monolithic tower in the middle of the room. As he rode the lift up the 200-metre tall building, he scrutinised the professionally landscaped environment below through the transparent wall of the lift. The view is pretty good from here, he admitted grudgingly. At the top floor of the room, group of admirals clustered around a holographic projection greeted his sight. This was extremely abnormal; admirals were rarely seen with one another. And there are at least 30 admirals here, he thought in surprise. The admirals had apparently been engaged in intense discussion before his arrival, but froze the moment his presence was registered. One admiral, a Fleet Admiral in fact, stepped out to address Captain Stone.
"Thank you for arriving here so promptly in spite of our sudden request. I'm sure you have a lot of questions, but first, please take a seat," the elderly Vulcan said as she waved his arm at a holographic chair. Captain Stone settled into the tall-backed chair, which quickly adjusted itself to conform to his body profile.
"Three hours ago, a Nebula class starship belonging to Starfleet left the sector block that it was assigned to, and began to travel on a trajectory that would take it beyond the Federation's borders in 1 day, 6 hours and 33 minutes, if its current velocity is maintained. Attempts to contact it have thus far failed," the Admiral stated with characteristic Vulcan precision as she zoomed in on a red dot on the holographic display in the middle of the room. "We believe the actions of this ship to have a high chance of becoming a destabilising factor in the quadrant. Numerous prewarp civilisations exist beyond the borders of the Federation, in addition to minor interstellar powers. As we know, a starship produces as much power as a mid-tier Type III civilisation on the human Kardeshev scale. If the technologies within that starship are procured by a less technically advanced civilisation, the politics within that region would be greatly altered. Numerous other situations of equal, if not greater, severity could be also be created. As can be seen, the ramifications are severe," she zoomed in even further, and the starship's registry was revealed for the first time to Captain Stone: the USS Munificent, NCC-5483940-C. Where have I seen that before? He wondered before it finally struck home. It's Captain Jaq's command!
He looked at the Admiral before him, beginning to say something, but she cut him off. "Yes, we know that you have amicable relations with the Captain of this vessel. In fact, this is one of the main reasons for your selection for this mission. We believe that there is a high probability that you will succeed in persuading Captain Jaq return to Federation space. No less important, however, is that, you have been one of our most outstanding captains in recent years, and your change of command to a sovereign class last year means that you have a ship that is suitably equipped for this mission, should the need arise."
Me? Convince Jaq to stop doing something that he seems hell-bent on doing? There's just no way, he thought. Beginning to stand up, he began, "I am extremely sorry, Admirals, but-"
The Fleet Admiral cut him off once again. "I recommend that you reconsider, Captain Stone. You are the last resort that we have, short of sending a fleet after Captain Jaq to destroy his ship. In addition, we will accost you with all related commendations upon your successful return."
He promptly sat back down. "I…I will accept this mission, sirs."
"Good. The full details regarding this mission will be sent to your personal account promptly."
Captain Stone stepped out of the hustle and bustle of the transwarp beaming hub. He never liked these places, but his ship was still undergoing maintenance at the Utopia Planitia shipyards orbiting Mars, and could not beam him straight up from Earth. Well, any old transporter can technically function as a transwarp transporter. But I'd prefer not to be beamed into some bulkhead, or into space, he mused. It was true. Early tests had found that the accuracy of ordinary transporters was too low to be used across long distances, thus necessitating the use of more precise equipment. The intra-Sol transwarp beaming network had been constructed a few years ago, after engineers were able to increase the reliability of transwarp transporters to the level of ordinary transporters. The network did not merely operate within the Solar system, however, for it also connected Sol to neighbouring star systems. Today, one could beam almost instantaneously between major settlements in the core worlds of the Federation. Starships were still essential, however, for though they travelled far more slowly than the network, they allowed travel outside of the network, and were the pillars of the Federation's defence.
He stepped into a shuttlepod and it took him along a programmed path towards his ship. A news feed began to play softly, filling the small interior of the shuttlepod with voices. "…supernova containment facilities around Sol have bow been completed. When they go into operation, these facilities would defend the Sol system from a supernova." He switched to another channel, which was harping on about a new sport named "interstellar soccer". The Federation Council had commissioned the construction of shield generator stations around the stars of core systems to contain the terrible energies released by the death of a star. Each station was approximately 10 kilometres long and 2 kilometres wide, and every star would have thousands of such stations orbiting it. Personally, Captain Stone felt that it was excessive, as a hundred starships could safely contain a supernova; even a single station would be overkill.
Within minutes, the slow-moving shuttlepod approached dock 11680, where his ship had just completed her routine maintenance. It was a Sovereign class starship, the same class as that of the famous (or infamous, depending on who you asked) U.S.S. Enterprise-E. As his shuttlepod drew closer, the docks surrounding his ship began to come into view. He looked on in awe at a block Vb Galaxy class docked just beside his ship. These Galaxy class starships were no longer the underpowered (for their size) starships that came out of drydock in the late 2350s; they had been given the refit known colloquially as the Defiant treatment. Most of its non-tactical facilities had been replaced with batteries, warp cores, torpedo bays, phaser capacitors and shield generators. In addition, the crew requirements were reduced drastically; from close to a thousand for the original to a mere twenty. This was only possible due to advancements in holographic and exocomp technology; as the entire ship was jam-packed with equipment, the crew relied on these tools to repair the ship (Starfleet had seen to it that they were not sentient). The entirety of the crew resided on decks 1-4, and were not expected to travel to other decks unless in the most dire of situations. This highly efficient use of space resulted in an extremely powerful ship: a block Vb Galaxy class could expect to engage and destroy 30 Sovereign class starships with minimal damage; likewise for 15 Scimitar class starships. An Intrepid class starship given the same treatment could safely take on 3 Sovereign class starships and defeat a Scimitar in a duel. The reason for this sudden change in paradigm for Starfleet was clear. At the conclusion of the Dominion war, the Klingon Empire, Romulan Empire and the United Federation of Planets signed a treaty that limited the number of starships that each nation-state could field. As a result, Starfleet was attempting to refit as many starships to this new standard as possible to increase the fleet's overall tactical capabilities even as the fleet ceased to expand as quickly. However, as of yet, only 95 thousand starships had been successfully refitted. Compounding this, some of the more pacifistic elements of society were already petitioning to halt the refit programme.
Personally, he felt that far too little had been done. As the Federation grew, so too did the list of credible threats to its safety. In the past two decades, the Federation had encountered two major interstellar civilisations (if the Borg could even be considered a civilisation), both of which had almost caused its downfall. And both continued to exist, with ample capability to complete the task that they had failed to accomplish previously.
He snapped out of his reverie, realising that he was already on the bridge. I've become so used to this ship. "Captain on the deck!" Commander Shan, a young Andorian man in his 30s called out warmly. "Welcome back, sir. The ship has been well taken care of while you were away."
"Thank you, First Officer Shan. The Bountiful is like a home to me." Captain Stone chuckled. "But we have a job to do. Starfleet Command has given us a new mission. A Nebula class starship has gone rogue, and our task is to persuade it to return. I'll send the mission file to your respective accounts, and we'll hold a meeting at 1230 to discuss our options." He turned back towards the turbolift, but remembered something. "Ah, and please request beta shift to relieve you. I would like everyone here to have some rest."
Once he was in the relative privacy of his quarters, the mask of confidence that he usually put on in front of his crew evaporated, and anguish replaced it with rapidity. Dammit. What the hell were you thinking, Jaq? What can be so important that you would be willing to sacrifice your life and career? Hell, your name will be tarnished even in death! Didn't you once tell me to treasure my life when we were stuck on that planet, and I was about to lose hope? Why?
Then he remembered how he had been so lost when he first entered the academy. His parents had been killed recently by the Dominion in their courageous defence of the people that led lives in the Federation. They were Starfleet to the very end; married while serving on the same ship, perished when the ship they were serving on was ripped apart by the ruthless hands of the Dominion. Lost and filled with grief, he enrolled in Starfleet Academy the instant he was of legal age. At the time, he hated Starfleet for giving him so little time with his parents; hated it yet more for tricking his parents to give up their lives. His juvenile mind found it exceedingly ironic that he ended up joining the organisation that had killed his parents. It was then that he met Jaq, his senior at the academy. Jaq showed him that being part of Starfleet was a way of life, and exposed him to the wonders; the sense of discovery that had drawn in his parents. He realised, then, that his parents had willingly given up their lives during the Dominion War; they had done so to allow people after them, people like him, to experience the things that they had. Jaq was always supporting him, urging him to look forward and go on; he was the person that the young Stone needed to push him towards the future.
I have to convince him, somehow. I cannot allow him to throw away his life. With newfound determination, he said, "Computer, contact the USS Munificent, NCC-5483940-C." A nervous-looking woman appeared on his holodisplay. "Please wait a moment, we have to verify something." After a few moments, her expression relaxed noticeably, and she spoke to someone on the other side. "It's Captain Stone!" Turning back to Stone, she said, "Please wait a moment sir, the Captain is coming to going to speak to you soon." Seconds later, the holodisplay disappeared, and a true-to-life representation of Captain Jaq materialised in his room.