War Of The Worlds - Retrobution

by newdivide1701

What if man's trek to the stars did not begin with First Contact, but with the War of the Worlds? That is what Jake Sisko is writing in his new holo-novel in 2386 where he places a fictional USS Enterprise in 2190 that is launched into the unknown where loyalties are tested, lives will be lost, and Jake Sisko rediscovers himself while exploring the lost art of space opera.

1. Chapter 1

War of the Worlds: Retrobution

By

Jake Sisko

Timeline:

2005 – A vanguard of unstoppable invaders from deep space attacked Earth with the intent of wiping out the population, only to be destroyed by the common viruses that no longer affected the human population.

2021 - As Earth begins to recover from the invasion with less than 1% of the human population surviving, it was decided to commission a defence task force to protect Earth from other invaders from space to be known simply as Starfleet.

2063 – Renegade scientist Zephram Cochrane made world headlines as he not only discovered the mythical tachyon particle, but found a way to utilize it to warp space for faster than light flight.

2105 – A century after what was called the War of the Worlds, a sizable percentage of the people desired to use the possible faster than light drive to explore space and to colonize other worlds. However Starfleet's position remains that space material and technology should be used to defend the Earth and colonize Mars.

2147 - After so many years, Commodore Jonathan Archer finally convinced Starfleet to begin faster than light test flights to begin the exploration of space by saying it would be Earth's first line of defence from another invasion from deep space. And to discover the location of the Invaders as they are now called.

2151 – The battleship Phoenix, a ship with saucer shaped primary hull with an upper and lower cylindrical hulls had its lower hull replaced with the new warp nacelle to begin faster than light flight tests that took the ship to Neptune and back in 6 minutes.

2156 – Exploration of Proxima Centauri begins, yet with the nature of their mission was kept under tight wraps.

2162 – The warp ship Valiant was sent to the 40 Eridani star system when Earth received a signal from there that indicated a non-Terrestrial presence only to vanish without a trace.

2178 – It took many years for the pro-exploration Starfleet to convince the pro-defence Starfleet to continue with the warp program after the Valiant's disappearance when they detected another signal from 40 Eridani. Though Archer never lived to see his dream, this convinced the pro-defence Starfleet to commission a new starship with the equipment to explore the vastness of space and the firepower to defend Earth if needed. This was then the beginning of Project Constitution.

2190 – Today.

Captain Christopher Pike hated inspections; he wanted to take his new starship named the Enterprise, the first ship of the Constitution project, out on its maiden voyage already, or at least for a quick run around the block. "Quick run around the block," he mused as even the impulse battleships still take days to reach Jupiter at maximum burn. He was in an inspection pod with his friend, Commodore Robert April, seeing the final touches being put onto his ship. From the drydock, he saw the saucer shaped primary hull, the cylindrical secondary hull with the prominent deflector dish on the front, and the twin warp engines that peered above the saucer. Even though his ship is faster and stronger than anything Starfleet has in its arsenal, he still feels naked and unprepared for what lies next.

"You okay, Chris?" asked his friend. "You seem unusually quiet."

"Hm? Oh, sorry. Lost in thought," said Pike.

"The Valiant or Terra Prime?" asked April, since he knew his friend so well; he probably figured that was worrying him.

"Both," Pike replied, "Or neither. I'm not sure. I'm hoping it's just butterflies, but there is something that keeps nagging about this mission."

"Admiral Rittenhouse, of course," said April. "He can be pretty damned convincing. He'd make a hell of a politician if he didn't put his foot in his mouth so often."

Pike smirked at April's comment, thinking how often that was true. He wondered how far Rittenhouse would be able to go if he learned how to be tactful? It was probably why Commodore Archer defeated him in the debate. He learned to swear at Rittenhouse without actually using profanity, making him say what Rittenhouse didn't want to say. He looked into that speech many, many times, memorized it, and still it can't come out to the way to make his opponent to say what he doesn't want to say.

"It's not just Rittenhouse," said Pike. "I've heard the same speech ever since I enlisted in Starfleet. If we go out there, we paved the way for a hostile species to our planet. They say if you hear the same lie over and over again, you may start to believe it... or something like that.

"Nearly 300 metres long and yet some still think it's over 700 metres."

"Oh, before I forget. Have you selected a tactical officer yet?" asked April. Pike tapped on his PADD and handed it over to April which caused his eyes to bug out. He turned back to Pike in disbelief and looked back at the PADD. "Nice to see your sense of humour has returned."

"It's no joke," said Pike. "I think he is the best choice. It looks like the one running light isn't operating properly. I better get a maintenance team onto that."

"Captain James T. Kirk; MACO Bravo squad; Age: 27," April read off of the PADD. "You know there is still some fallout with the Mars food riots"

"I know."

"Chris, he disobeyed orders and assaulted his commanding officer," said April, "why him?"

"Look, Bob, Starfleet already pushed Ronald Tracy onto me. My first choice would have been Morgan Primus, but the pro-defence wanted one of theirs. So I want one of ours," said Pike.

April looked at the PADD with Kirk still displayed on it. He didn't exactly approve of Pike's choice, but there was something else that was nagging at him about Kirk. "Now I remember!" is what April said that peaked Pike's curiosity. "There was a George Benjamin Kirk on the starship Valiant."

"Was he...?"

"... James T. Kirk's father," said April when he interrupted his friend, "chief tactical officer to be more specific. Has he accepted yet?"

"I haven't made the offer yet," said Pike that took April by surprise. "I'm still looking for him."

"You know the Enterprise is supposed to launch in about a week," said April when he heard the news. "I hope you have other candidates in case you..."

"SD1 to Captain Pike," said a female voice over the intercom. "SD1 to Captain Pike, come in please."

Pike responded to the voice who then said, "Sir, we've found Captain Kirk. He's in the Bayview police station in San Francisco, California."

"I know where San Francisco is. That's where Starfleet Command is for Christ sake," is what Pike was about to say, but stopped himself to say, "Alright, have them hold him till I get there, and have a shuttle prepped for launch. We're heading back."

"Good, now we can go someplace with gravity," said April after SD1 signed off. "I've never been able to handle zero gravity."

"So naturally you became an astronaut," said Pike.

"When I joined, we had spinning space stations and graviton wind generators that pushed us down to the decks," said April without mentioning that Pike's smart mouth was back. He then surmised that the real source of Pike's trouble was finding Kirk.

2386

After reviewing the first chapter, Jake Sisko then put down his PADD when his nose began to detect something familiar. Fried eggs with bacon, one of his usual breakfasts he had with his Bajoran wife, Azeni Korena. But what alerted him that caused him to launch out of his desk was he recognized a mistake that nearly cost his grandfather's restaurant that his wife was about to make.