Episode 1
She was running through the corridors, blind to whatever could be in her way, people walking, carrying things. She was oblivious to a science officer carrying a tray full of equipment; she only heard the crash and mumbled, "Sorry," as she ran by. Her hazel eyes were full of tears and her lip was quivering. Her light brown hair was a tangled mess and her clothes were in a bit of disarray. She bolted into the turbo lift and said, "bridge." She didn't realize that there was another person in there, the first officer of the ship.
He was a tall man with very light blond hair and blue eyes, he hailed from Norway on Earth. He stood proud and tall from his long years in Starfleet, but he had a kind eye, and this kind eye was very concerned at the young woman's appearance.
"What's wrong Lizzie?" He said, putting a hand on her shoulder. She tried to turn away, ashamed at the fact that she was so emotional and she hated to show her emotions. The tall man wasn't going to take her pushing comfort away, so he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sure that everything will be fine and all of your troubles will go away. Computer halt turbo lift!" She sobbed in his arms for a few moments.
She then took several deep breaths and began to compose herself. "Thank you Pieter. I needed that." She began to wipe the tears from her eyes with her hands. "Computer, resume."
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked. She shook her head. "I see, the first officer isn't good enough for you, got to go and see the Captain."
She chuckled. "Well, he is my dad. He's who I've always gone to when I've been upset." The turbo lift doors opened and she saw the rounded outline of her father. "Daddy!" She cried and ran towards him. He turned and could see her red eyes, so he opened his arms to her. They enfolded her into a warm and almost crushing embrace.
She started crying again, this time more profusely than before in the turbo lift. "Come on sweetie, let's go into my ready room." And with that he guided her to the rear part of the bridge to the captain's ready room. He guided her to the couch, where the clung to him and cried even more intensely.
"He broke up with me!" was all that she could get out between sobs. He just held her, holding her closely, and felt completely hopeless. He knew how things like this could be, and he knew that he couldn't really do anything but hold her and try to comfort her.
"It's alright, Daddy's here and that boy wasn't good for you anyways." He soothed to her. He started humming to her a soft sweet tune, and slowly her sobs turned to deep breaths. She turned her face to look up at him, this time with sleep in her eyes instead of tears.
"You're going to make me fall asleep Dad," she chuckled and rested her head on his chest. He leaned back, keeping his arms enfolded around her.
"I'd rather have you asleep than crying." He said softly. "Do you want to tell me what happened? Or shall I just kill him now?"
"Don't kill him," she mumbled. "He broke up with me, saying that I was too bossy and too crazy for him to handle."
"He called you bossy and crazy!" He gasped. "Yes you can be bossy sometimes, but you're being groomed for being a Starfleet Officer, being bossy is apart of the job, along with listening and controlling your bossiness. But crazy! No Riker has ever been called crazy!" She laughed.
"You know Dad, it's a good thing that I do have this intense dream of Starfleet, even though I won't get into the Academy this year," she mutter sadly.
"Because of you're grades?"
"Yep!" she sighed. "I'm just not one to care about engineering or advanced physics. I like history and literature! Not numbers and formulas."
"Next year you'll get in and you will do fabulously at the Academy, top of your class!" He chuckled. "And until then you get an extra leg up on all of your classmates by having a real starship experience!"
"I've been having a real starship experience ever since I was born! I was born on the Titan as you recall! Except for the couple of years I was with Aunt Kate after Mom died." She became quiet then, she had never known her mother, who had died shortly after her birth.
"If your mother were here she'd probably counsel you and get you going on your feet again! She always got me back my feet in the short time that she and I were married," he leaned back, bringing his hands behind his head. She sat up and leaned back beside him, copying his movements. He chuckled, "the sad thing is that you have none of your mother's qualities. You are just like me!"
"Meaning I will be destined to be a decorated Starship Captain? I like that idea!" She laughed and wiped some tears from her cheeks. "Now if only I could just get over that asshole."
"Don't curse," he barked, to which cocked an eyebrow and sighed. "Although any man who breaks your heart deserves that name." He chuckled. "How about you take a break from your schooling and do bridge duty for a while?"
She jumped up, "really?" He nodded, "Oh thank you! Thank you!" She was smiling and her red eyes were slowly turning back to her normal color. "Can I start now?"
"If you're up to it." He smiled and placed a hand on her cheek. "I sure do know how make you feel better even on your worst days." She smiled and beamed at him happily. "Go now and relieve Ensign Kenny." She bounded up, after giving him a kiss on the cheek.
"Let me just go change into my uniform first!" She said, grabbing it from the small closet that was in the ready room.
He got up from the couch and then sat down on the desk. "We're on route for the edge of Federation space. This is a region of space that we have yet to explore, so I think that you will enjoy this, we're likely to encounter things that we've never seen before!"
She stepped out of the closet half dressed. "You always say that!" Her pants of her uniform were on but her shirt was not, she wore only her bra.
"And you are out of uniform!" He raised an eyebrow.
She shook her head, "For Christ's sake we sleep in the same bed! Always have ever since I was a little girl afraid of the monsters!" She stepped back in the closet, pulling on the undershirt and the top shirt. She came out of the closet and began pulling her hair back into a tight ponytail. He turned and looked at her, smiling. She looked nothing like her mother, but didn't resemble him as much either. She was almost a spitting image of her grandmother, her namesake, dead when he was 2 years old. She had auburn hair that was thick and unruly, usually it was a mess regardless of whether or not she had it loose or tied up. Her eyes were hazel, but he swore that they changed depending on the light. Her face was smooth and round, she wasn't a skinny girl, but more of a fit girl. She wore no makeup and rarely ever did, her grandmother Luxana had tried to teach her how to use makeup. It didn't end very well, and she had never worn makeup since.
He chuckled to himself, and thought how much she had grown, from the small child afraid of monsters the first night that she spent with him in his quarters on the Titan, to the strong-willed and fierce young woman who now stood before him, with an incredibly bright future ahead of her. He smiled. She noticed his smile and placed her hands on her hips.
"Am I going to expect you to be all fond and cuddly over me in a moment?" She said, her voice mocking him.
He smiled wider, "would you expect me not to! Come here my little girl!" She laughed and then grabbed a small pillow from the couch, throwing it hard at him. He ducked and jumped around the desk, cornering her and enveloping her in a great big bear hug. She snuggled up to his warm body, feeling safe and comfortable. "I was just thinking about how much you've grown, and how much I love my little girl."
"I love you too Daddy." She whispered. "And now I need to go and take my post!" He smiled and held her at arm's length, admiring her once more.
"Alright, I'll let my little girl go out into the big, bold world!" He chuckled. "Go on!" He let go of her, "I'll be out on the bridge in a minute." She smiled and walked briskly to the bridge.
He sat down again at his desk and sighed, "What am I going to do when she goes off to Starfleet?" He shook his head, worried. He took several moments to compose himself, before stepping out onto the bridge. He nodded to his senior officers on the bridge and then sat down in his fancy Captain's Chair. He breathed carefully, remembering when he first sat down in his own captain's chair, technically it had been when the Borg had abducted Captain Jean-Luc Picard, but he didn't consider that to be the first time. He remembered his first day as Captain: she was still alive then. He breathed deeply, "Alright Ensign Riker, what's our heading?"
"Heading 3207 Mark II at Warp 3, Captain," he heard Lizzie's voice say so perfectly, "We are on route to the Federation Border. We will be there in approximately 2 hours."
"Good, anything on our sensors?"
"None sir."
"Good, smooth sailing then!"
Suddenly the ship lurched, the crew was pitched forward suddenly as the momentum was stopped. "What the hell happened?"
"We were forced out of warp, but by what I don't know!" He heard her voice and suddenly became afraid, he was never easy when they were in situations like this. She turned, "I don't have any sensor readings."
"Neither do mine," said the Operations Officer, a Vulcan with lines in his forehead. "There seems to be some sort of dampening field out there, Captain. I cannot seem to break it."
"Keep trying. Shields?" He turned behind him where tactical officer stood.
"Shields are functioning normally sir."
"Is there anything out there that we can physically see?" He yelled, turning around to his crew frantically. He knew that he was supposed to remain calm, but his thoughts continued to trail back to the young woman at the helm.
"My sensors are picking up some sort of thing out there, I'll put it on the view screen," Lizzie said. She displayed the image on the screen, it was a very large ship of some sort, it was longer than the even the largest starship by at least two full lengths and taller by even more lengths. It was brownish green and had a sleek design. The bridge crew stared at it silently, until Lizzie turned back to face her father and said, "What is it?"
"Some sort of ship, hail them!" He said.
"No response."
"Hail them until they do." He called. "Can our sensors pick up anything?"
"Nothing other than size and the fact that it is a ship. Other than that we cannot detect anything," the Vulcan replied. "There is no record in the Starfleet database of a ship of this size and shape. We are dealing with a new species of aliens it seems."
"They don't seem to want to deal with us however."
"Captain we are being scanned it seems. I am getting reports from all over the ship of some sort of scanning ray." At that moment a red beam suddenly appeared and ran throughout the bridge, stopping occasionally when it hit a person. After the scan the Vulcan continued speaking, "I cannot determine what sort of beam that was, our sensors are not picking its origin up, but we can assume it is from the ship."
"Are they responding to our hails?"
"No sir."
"Can we tell if they are charging weapons?"
"No sir."
"Can we tell anything more about them other than what we know now?"
Lizzie turned, "Do we really have to answer that question?"
Her father smiled but then went grim, "Your humor is not helping much, Ensign, but I guess that is more of a rhetorical question." Lizzie beamed proudly even though she was scolded, she loved being called Ensign. "Can we get out of here?"
"Our warp drive is nonfunctioning, our impulse drive is also down. I can maybe try to give you thrusters to get out of whatever this is, maybe it's a tractor beam."
"Do it!"
As she worked the controls the ship started to shake. "Whatever this is, it breaks our hull integrity when we try to get out of here. We need to stop." She turned to face her father. He nodded. The ship stopped shaking.
"Well this is frustrating," he stood up, making his way to the helm station and placing a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "We can't go anywhere, and we can't figure out a way to fight back because we know nothing about these people. Nor can we even figure out why these people are holding us."
"Engineering to bridge."
"Go a head."
"Sir, some of the crew members down here just vanished."
"What do you mean vanished?"
"One second they were here, and the next they were gone. Our sensors didn't pick up anything."
"I'll be right there. Commander, you have the bridge. Ensign Riker, you're with me." Lizzie stood and followed right in her father's footsteps into the turbo lift. "Engineering," he said and then turned to Lizzie, "I know that I seem like an overprotective parent sometimes-"
"Sometimes, Dad, most of the time I wonder if you think that I'm going to die every single time something remotely not good happens. I feel like you want to wrap me up in bubble wrap," she sighed frustratingly.
"Computer freeze turbo lift," He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I lost your mother and I don't want to lose you. You're the best thing that's happened to me and if I ever lost you, I don't think I could live with myself."
"Dad, I'm 18! I'm not a child and I can take care of myself!" She backed away. "How many times do I have to tell you that I'm going to be ok?" She sighed and thought for a moment, "Although if your overprotectiveness means that I have to be in your constant sight then I shall be grateful to be the Captain's Shadow. Heck I have more bridge experience than most graduating cadets!"
"That's another reason why I asked you to come with me. Partly because we have a giant ship out there that we know nothing about and we have crew suddenly disappearing and I want to make sure you're safe, and partly because you get to see some action!"
"I'll keep telling myself that's the only reason," she shook her head. "But I can take care of myself. I'll be ok, I promise." She smiled and hugged him. She backed away and then prompted the turbo lift to resume. "Hopefully more than half of engineering is still there."
"I hope so." The doors opened into a corridor and they walked down it towards the doors for engineering. When they opened and walked through, they saw a very different engineering from what they were used to. They were used to people at every station bustling about, and lots of noise and activity. But there was no noise, and only a few people were left. "Where is everyone?" Riker asked the nearest person, a stricken looking ensign
"They disappeared, Chief Engineer, most of the officers, everyone but the ensigns and crewman are gone."
Riker scowled, his face grooved deep with lines. "Try to get the sensors back online, or least get them where we can figure out what is going on and what is out there." He shook his head. "Did anyone see what happened when these people disappeared?"
The ensign shook her head. "No sir. We just turned around and they were gone."
"Alright. Come on, let's get back up to the bridge, and maybe we'll see one of these disappearances." He put a hand on Lizzie's back and guided her up to the bridge. Before they reached the turbo lift however, a slender woman with long black hair and tan skin came running to her.
"Lizzie, what is going on? We can't move or see anything and people are disappearing! I'm scared!" The woman had round blue eyes and ridges in her forehead. She had Klingon blood in her, yet her temper was nonexistent, she was almost passive during conflicts.
"We don't know Miral. Dad, do you mind if she comes to the bridge with us?" She turned to her father and touched his arm.
"Why not? You alright?"
"Shaken," Miral said steadily. "I'm worried that I'm going to disappear."
They walked into the turbo lift. They reached the bridge and Riker began walking to his chair. "Any updates?"
"Same as before, we know nothing." His first officer said. Suddenly, a beam of blue appeared around him. He seemed to panic.
"Internal sensors on him now!" Riker yelled, and he attempted to grab his first officer, but it was too late. The light blond, blued eyed man who had been a brother to Lizzie was gone. "Did we get any info on what beam they used?"
"Some sort of particle beam sir, I can't determine what kind."
"Computer, how many crewman are still abroad? And any officers still onboard?"
"There are seventy-three crewman remaining. All officers with the exception of twelve Ensigns and Captain William Riker remain."
"Damn! That's half our crew gone! And most of our officers!" He gripped the chair. "What the hell is going on?"
Suddenly a blue beam similar to the one that had taken the first officer surrounded him. Lizzie spotted it first and jumped towards it, trying to reach for something to hold onto. She screamed as she leaped into the air, her arms reaching into empty space. There was a moment when their eyes met and sheer terror filled the both of them. He could hear her voice but slowly it was draining away. He was screaming too, terrified of what was going to happen, terrified of what these unknown beings were going to do to his daughter. His vision of the bridge faded until it was no more.
Lizzie hit the ground hard, she rolled to her feet and looked around. There were only four other crewman on the bridge. She climbed to her feet and tried to breathe deeply. She closed her eyes and gripped the back of the Captain's chair, his chair. She opened her eyes, hoping he would reappear, but he didn't.
"Daddy?" She whispered softly, unaware to the people around her scrambling in chaos, unsure of what to do.
Miral was the first to approach her. "What do we do, Lizzie?"
Lizzie straightened her body and stood tall. "Are there any other officers on board?"
"None, it's pretty much just us! And most of us are a bunch of young kids, we're scared."
Lizzie breathed deeply, "Do we have sensors back? Do we have anything back?"
A red-faced Bajoran answered back, "Sensors are now online."
Lizzie walked several steps away from the Captain's chair and stared into the view screen. "Good, let's see what's out there. Put whatever we've found on the view screen!" The view screen just showed normal space, like they had seen before the strange vessel had held them captive, taking their officers and crew. "Is there nothing out there?"
"No sir." The Bajoran replied.
"Don't call me sir, Aunt Kate told me to ignore that Starfleet political correctness," She turned sharply, and then remembered what her Aunt Kate would anticipate next.
"No, ma'am?" The Bajoran asked uncertainly.
"I don't like that either." Lizzie said, she sat in the Captain's Chair. The Bridge was quiet, no one was saying a word. Lizzie looked at Miral, she was hoping for answers from her best friend, why were people suddenly listening to her as if she was in charge.
"Shouldn't he just call you 'Captain?'" Miral suggested. "I've heard that lecture before, she's my Aunt Kate too!"
Lizzie stared blankly at her friend, studying the Klingon forehead ridges. She took several deep breaths and then shook her head in disbelief. "You just are assuming me as Captain? But we don't even know if our real Captain will return in a little bit! No, I can't accept this!"
"Captain William Riker is gone." Miral stated, "All of the officers but a few ensigns are gone. We won't get any of them back if we don't have proper leaders. I'm the best engineer left, so I guess I'm Chief Engineer." She gestured to the Bajoran standing behind the tactical position. "Ensign Dal is the best tactical officer left, so I guess he's Chief Tactical Officer. You're our best command officer, since you've had more real life experience than any of us, so I guess you're Captain!" She glared down at her reluctant best friend. "You're sitting in the Captain's Chair! You've basically accepted command!"
"I've never gone to Academy! I haven't had the training! All what I know I've learned from my dad! Who could be halfway across the galaxy at this point! And sitting here arguing over whether or not I should be Captain is wasting time!"
"Yea it is wasting time, but we need a leader. You have the experience and the knowledge of Captain's daughter living on Starships almost her whole life. You've been to planets that we have just dreamed of going to! You've seen stuff that we've only read about in our studies. You also have been given knowledge from your dad over the years because you wanted to be a starship captain. He gave you so much knowledge and lessons about being a Starship Captain that could've only be gained by experience. From the time you were an infant you sat on his lap while he was captaining this ship. You of all of us have a lifetime of experiences." Miral kneeled in front of Lizzie and placed her hands on her knees. Lizzie knew she was in for a lecture from Miral.
"You're also our Captain's daughter. You are so much like him in so many ways, and because of that we trust you. We trust you. We know that you won't lead us astray and we want to follow you." She gestured to the remaining bridge crew, "Did you notice how we quickly followed your orders even though our Captain is gone? That's because we have a new Captain to follow that we trust. We-"
"Alright, alright! You've made your point. I'm the best option it seems and you guys are willing to follow me." Lizzie breathed deeply and looked out towards the region of space in front of the ship. She then turned back to Miral, "Well if you're Chief Engineer then I need you in Engineering, get your butt down there!"
Miral beamed, "Aye Captain!" She made her way towards the turbo lift.
"I want a report once you get down there. If we have any damage get repairs crews working on it immediately. Make sure we have weapons and shields first though. I don't want to be a sitting duck here."
"Aye Captain!" Miral left the bridge
"Who's on Ops?"
"No one, Captain."
"Who's good at Ops?"
"Ensign Arok, she and I were good friends the Academy," Ensign Dal replied. "She's on board, my sensors are picking her up on Deck 5."
"Call her up."
Within seconds a lovely Vulcan woman appeared on the bridge. She approached Lizzie and said very calmly. "I am Ensign Arok, you request my presence.
Lizzie swiveled in her chair over towards Arok. "Yes, there has been a change in command, Captain William Riker was kidnapped by whatever alien species we encountered. I have assumed command. I was told by Dal that you are a pretty good Ops Officer and I need someone as Chief Ops. Will you assume your new position?"
"I shall serve with the best of my abilities, Captain."
Lizzie smiled and watched as the elegant woman assumed her station. "Miral, what's your report?"
"We've got engines, weapons, everything. It's like these aliens just sort of shut us down and started us up."
"Interesting, keep me updated of any problems." She turned to her new Ops officer. "Arok, what is our position?"
"These aliens transported us approximately ten lights years away from our original position. I am detecting several vessels approaching. They unknown to us."
"Hail them. They might have some answers."
"They are responding."
The view screen changed to show a regal looking alien. His facial features showed that he had some cranial ridges that were similar to Klingons, however they were more refined and did not look very warrior like. "You had better have a good explanation from ventured within two light years of the Khaterian Royal Yacht!"
Lizzie stood up, "This is Captain Elizabeth Riker of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We've recently encountered an alien species that have kidnapped more than half of our crew, including our previous captain." She paused, gulping as she suddenly remembered who that was. "We don't mean any harm, but we're wondering if you have any information on this species."
"I am King Rovik. And we have encountered no such peoples. You will vacate the area at once or you will be destroyed."
"Right now I'd really like a Betazoid." She muttered to herself. "You heard the man, let's get out of here. Set our coordinates for our last known position before we were kidnapped." She bowed to the King and said, "Thank you for your cooperation Your Majesty."
"Wait a minute, you said that you were apart of a Federation of some sort. Could you explain this?"
"Yes, the United Federation of Planets. It's a Republic of Planets that all have similar ideas." She breathed deeply, she really wanted to continue on her search for those aliens and get back her father. But of course, now she was Captain, she couldn't just ignore certain aspects of being the Captain.
"I am interested in this Federation. Could my worlds join in it?"
"Yes, after careful review by the Federation. We don't just let anyone into the Federation. You are welcome to meet with me aboard the Enterprise and we may discuss membership in the Federation."
"I would very much like that. However my culture has certain requirements for meeting with new peoples. I do not trust other species to know and carry out the requirements, can I request permission to send over my people to carry out these requirements? You would just have to sit back and relax and let my people take care of it."
"Certainly. We're a bit understaff anyways. As I said before, most of our crew was kidnapped by those aliens I mentioned before."
"I see. We will keep in contact. I look forward to meeting you." The view screen changed to showing the Khaterian vessels. Lizzie sat back down in her chair.
"Arrange for our guests somehow. And while we're at that I might as well figure out who's going where. Because it looks like we're not going to be chasing after our fellow officers for a while." She stood up. "I'll be in my ready-room."
As she entered she felt like it was not her own ready room. The decorations were her father's, it was mix of Betazed and earth culture, a trombone in the corner by his desk, a Betazoid necklace that had belonged to her mother hanging on the wall. She sat down at the desk and began working at the computer, feeling awkward. This was not her ready-room, it was her father's and for some reason she could not get that feeling out of her head. She then remembered that her father wasn't here, or anywhere that she knew, he was out there somewhere, and at that moment she missed him incredibly.
Miral entered the ready-room and found her crying on the couch. She sat down next to her lifelong friend and wrapped an arm around her. "Hey sis, it'll be alright."
"This isn't my ready-room. It's Daddy's!" Lizzie sobbed.
"Why don't we make it yours then?"
Lizzie looked up at her friend, "How?"
"We'll just take out his stuff and put in yours." Lizzie started crying again. "And we'll put it all back once we find him, ok?"
Lizzie looked up. "Yea, that could work. The trombone in the first that needs to go. I'll keep Mom's necklace." She stood up and wiped her eyes. "There's a small closet in her. Maybe I can put his stuff in there." She opened it and found it empty save for a few clothes. She placed the trombone and a few other items into the closet. Miral sat as Lizzie reorganized things or created certain things from replicator and put them where she wanted them. One of them was a sculpture of a horse, another a model of the USS Enterprise, the aircraft carrier that had served the United States so dutifully during the 20th and 21st centuries, and then finally, a photo frame.
"Computer, access all files containing images of Captain William Riker and myself." She browsed through all of the hundreds of photos taken between them and finally came to one that she liked. She reproduced it and put it in the frame. She then handed it to Miral. It was an image taken in France, about a month before. They had gone there for her Uncle Jean-Luc's annual party that celebrated Lizzie's birthday. The famous Jean-Luc Picard had shown a great interest in being involved in her life. He was her godfather and he lived up to any and expectations, including holding a big party for her at his vineyard in France. Everyone who invested in Lizzie's life was there, Aunt Kate, or the famous Kathryn Janeway, gave her a Claddagh ring then. Her Aunt Kate had been her godmother, as she and Lizzie's mother had been pregnant about the same time and grew very close. Kate lost her child in birth however, and Lizzie lost her mother, so her Aunt Kate was the closest thing that Lizzie ever had to a mother.
The image was of the just her and father. She was beaming, so happy to see all of her family at one time. Everyone had commented on how beautiful she looked and how much of a lovely young she was. Uncle Jean-Luc said that he was looking forward to seeing her at the Academy shortly, Uncle Worf just smiled as best he could and said that she was becoming a great warrior. In fact, Lizzie had just laughed at something her Uncle Geordi said and in the midst of it, Aunt Kate asked her and her father to look at the camera. In the picture, both of their eyes were laughing, and they looked so happy.
Miral handed the image back to Lizzie and smiled. "I think it looks great! Especially this! Where are you going to put it?"
"Right next to the computer console. It'll be a reminder for me to next forget where I came from." Lizzie smiled.
Miral nodded. "That was a fun day!"
"It was! As I recall, your dad got a bit drunk on the wine though and though that he had forgotten to teach me how to fly!"
Miral laughed. The two girls had been friends since Lizzie was born. Miral was several years older than Lizzie, and had already gone through Starfleet. She was the daughter of Captain Tom Paris and his Chief Engineer/wife, B'Elonna Torres. Like Lizzie, she had also grown up on Starships, and she also called Kathryn Janeway her aunt, as Paris and Torres had served under her in the Delta Quadrant on Voyager. The two girls had grown close to each other through their Aunt Kate's influence, and the girls considered each other to be at least cousins.
"Didn't we try to make Worf laugh at one point?"
"Yea, Guinan wanted us to try because she had never seen him laugh before. Snarl, but not really laugh."
"I'm glad that you accepted the position here. If you weren't here right now I don't think we would have done any of this, we'd probably still be wondering what to do."
"Thank your dad for requesting that I serve here! He was the one who got me the posting." Lizzie grew silent, almost somber. "We'll find him. I know we will." She smiled and placed a loving hand on her friend's shoulder.
Lizzie nodded. "Shall we go over the remaining crew and figure out who should go where?"
"Yea. Does that mean I'm your First Officer too?"
"For now. I mean, you're more of a Chief Engineer, but temporarily I think we'll split the duties of a first officer until we can find a better suited one." Lizzie got up and stood next to the replicator, "Mint tea, hot." She turned to Miral, "You want anything?"
"Coffee, black. I swear Aunt Kate brainwashed me into becoming addicted to coffee!"
"Uncle Jean-Luc tried to get me into Earl Gray, it's nice and all, but I like mint tea better." She took a sip. "Did you know it was my grandma's favorite?"
"Luxana?"
"No, Betty, the one I look like."
"Yea I always wondered how your mom with her raven dark hair and your dad with his dark brown hair produced an auburn! Although people always mistake you and Aunt Kate as mother and daughter. Maybe she really is your mother?"
"Nah! I got some Betazoid empathy. I can sense the feelings of people close to me. Dad never cared to get me training so I never adapted it very much. I never cared much for training either. I just wanted to Captain a Starship!" She sat down at her desk, Miral across from her.
"Captain Riker, the Khaterian Ambassador is here to see you," Arok's voice sounded through into the ready-room through the Comm system.
"Alright, bring him to the Conference Room, have all senior staff, or I should say, you, me, Miral, and Dal meet us there." She looked at Miral, "I think we need more senior staff!"
"Should we activate the EMH?"
"Not yet, we haven't had any causalities, and if we do, I want to activate the Mark I if we can. You know how fond we are of our Doctor!" Lizzie smiled.
"Alright, let's hope we don't have to use it, you know how I annoyed I get with him!"
"You and your mother both!" Lizzie chuckled as they walked out of her new ready-room.
The Khaterian Ambassador had informed the makeshift senior staff of what to expect when they met the King of the Khaterians. Lizzie tried to listen and to remember as much as she could. She remembered her father lecturing to her on the importance of First Contact and how to make it as successful as possible. She had been on First Contact missions before, but always under the guidance of her father or another senior officer. She never had conducted one on her own, she was nervous.
Ten minutes later, she and Miral went into the transporter room to greet their guest. She shifted back and forth on the balls of her feet while they waited for the coordinates to be sent to them. Miral noticed and just shook her head. Lizzie noticed this.
"I'm nervous and a bit bored! That's all! I've got a king coming to visit me interested in joining the Federation. This is awesome but I just want to get this over with so we can search for the rest of our crew!" Lizzie began pacing. "What's taking them so long?"
"Look, it'll happen when it happens. You're a Federation Captain now, even if it's just acting Captain until we get back to Headquarters and we get more crewmembers. And besides, we might not be able to find who took our crew without the help of Starfleet. We barely know anything about them." Miral sighed. "Just chill, ok?"
"Isn't it funny how I'm so impatient and headstrong like your mom and you're so relaxed and sensible like how apparently my mom was?" Lizzie shook her head while she paced.
"Captain, we are receiving the coordinates."
"Energize." Lizzie stopped pacing and watched as shapes were forming on the transporter pad, but they weren't figures of people. It was a box of some sort. Just one box. "Crewman, what is that?"
"I'm detecting ion explosives. My guess is that it's a bomb and it's about a to detonate!"
"Beam it off now!" There was a blast of light as the transporter barely got most of the bomb off of the ship, the remaining light was what the transporter had not managed to get off the ship. There was an explosion just off the port bow, where the crewman had transported the bomb. The ship rocked as the shockwaves hit her. Lizzie and Miral were thrown to the ground. The ship rocked even more as phaser fire began to hit her hull. Lizzie bolted to the bridge while Miral darted to Engineering.
"What's going on?" Lizzie demanded as she entered the bridge.
"The Khaterian's are firing at us!" Dal yelled.
"No shit! Can we get out of here?" Lizzie stumbled into her chair, a plasma conduit exploded at the rear of the bridge, sending sparks everywhere.
"We're surrounded by them."
"Then make a hole or something! I don't know, blow them up!" Dal fired off a spread of photon torpedoes, destroying one of the ships. "Get us out of here!" The ship lurched as she sped into Warp. "Let's go back to the last known position where we saw that big ship that took our crew. Then we won't have to deal with any crazy Kings again, maybe!"
When the ship reached the coordinates she dropped out warp with jolt. Lizzie stood up from her chair and walked closer to the view screen. The ship was still there, its large brown hull seemed to loom over them with a foreboding presence. She turned to Dal and said, "Do we have sensors?" Dal affirmed that sensors were working. "Arok, can we pick up anything from them? The crew maybe?"
"My sensors are picking up the crews comm badges, but not life signs. We do have transporters."
"Can we get a lock on them?"
"Affirmative."
"Start beaming them over. Start with Captain Will Riker's badge and beam him directly here." Lizzie sat down in her chair. For this brief period of time she was really enjoying being Captain and was a little bit apphrensive about the fact that her father might be coming back. She was extremely worried for his safety, but was afraid that she might not get to enjoy being Captain again, but perhaps he would make her a regular part of the crew, maybe even apart of the senior officers. Certainly he would be proud of her for acting like such a good Captain.
The transporter only brought over the comm badge. It lay on the floor, not attached to its owner. Lizzie got up and kneeled to pick it up. She picked it up and examined it. "Hail them," was all she could say.
"They are not responding."
"Charge weapons and fire at their shields."
"Captain," Dal cried, "They're charging their weap-" He was cut off by a jolt as the enemy ship fired some sort of weapon onto them. The ship suddenly went dark save for the emergency lights. The crew was forced to the floor as the impact sent the ship rolling through space.
"What the hell happened?" Lizzie cried as she got up, she slapped the comm badge to her chest, along with her primary comm badge. She fell once more as another weapon hit the ship. Plasma bursts sent sparks throughout the bridge, lighting the room in bursts.
Dal climbed to his feet and crawled to his post. "They fired some sort of weapon at us, our sensors have never seen it before. They've knocked out most of systems, except life support is completely undamaged. The damage to our systems are extensive, we're pretty much dead in the water."
"Damn! Do we have casualties?"
"It seems like we do."
"Alright. Arok, I want you to come with me, we're gone go down and help Miral set things back up. Dal, you have the bridge."
"Aye Captain?" He said sheepishly as Arok and Lizzie made their way to where the Jefferies tube was. "Wait, I have the bridge? But I'm just an ensign?"
Lizzie turned sharply, "Dal, it looks like we're going to be without the rest of the crew for a while. We've got major damage and you're my new tactical officer. I have a feeling by the time we get back to Federation space you'll be a Lieutenant Commander!" She and Arok then climbed through into the tube.
Lizzie led the way, "So Arok, where are you from?"
"Vulcan, if you haven't noticed."
"Yea I did, but I didn't know if you were born on a colony or something. How long have you been serving with us?"
"This is my first assignment since graduating from the Academy."
"What degree did you get?"
"Systems Engineering, much to the dismay of my family. They wanted me to serve the Vulcan Society, not Starfleet."
"Well I'm glad you're here. How'd you like the Academy? Or shall I say, what was it like?"
"You did not go to the Academy? Then how did you gain the rank of Ensign and then take command of the ship?"
"Do you know what my last name is?"
"You are Elizabeth Luxana Riker, daughter of Captain William Thomas Riker and Commander Deanna Troi. I should have guessed that your family connection would gain you rank and privilege."
"I've been on Starships all my life. I was born on the Titan, my dad's first command. Well second technically if you don't count the first Borg Invasion where my dad had the Enterprise-D at his command when my Uncle Jean-Luc was kidnapped by them."
"Your Uncle is Jean-Luc Picard? But your mother and your father have no siblings?"
"My mom had a sister, but she died young. Technically I do have an Uncle Tom, he's basically a Transporter clone of my dad. He served in Starfleet before joining the Marquis. He was spared the Maquis massacre and served a couple of years in a Starfleet penal camp before deciding to settle down with a nice girl from Mississippi on Riesa. I think they have a little bed and breakfast there. Dad and I have visited him there a couple of times and he comes to my birthday at my Uncle Jean-Luc's every year."
"You did not explain your relation to Jean-Luc Picard."
"Ah, he's my godfather. I've got a lot of famous people in my extended family. Admiral Janeway is my godmother and is basically a mother to me. She took me in after her baby was stillborn. The Chief of Starfleet Medical is my Aunt Bev. The Aries Captain and Chief Engineer are my Uncle Tom and my Aunt B'Ellona, who are also the parents of Miral Paris-Torres. My Uncle Data died just before I was born, so I never got to know him, but Before is pretty cool."
"Do you always like to talk about your famous family?"
"Yep! My Uncle Worf is a member of the Klingon High Council! My Uncle Geordi is the Captain of the Interceptor. Um, let's see, who else is famous in my family. There's Uncle Tuvok, and of course Uncle Neelix. Neelix lives pretty far away, but he would always read me bedtime stories when my dad was too busy to read me them."
"You're family talk is tiring me."
"Then why don't we talk about your family?"
"I prefer not to. Perhaps another subject of conversation, because you seem like you wish to talk a bit at the present."
"I'm nervous." Lizzie sat back, exhausted. "My dad has been kidnapped and I don't know if he's ok or not. I've been thrust into being Captain of this ship and I'm afraid I'm going to mess up. I'm also nervous that when we get back to Starfleet I'm going to have this command taken away from me because I'm really enjoying myself." She sighed. "I usually don't talk this much, but I've a bit nervous."
"Your reasons are logical, you have a lot of risk at hand. However your feeling of nervousness is not logical."
"Because you're a Vulcan and all emotions are illogical."
Arok sat beside her. "That's not why your feelings are illogical. They are illogical because I see no reason why Starfleet would take away your command. You have done nothing but proved to be a worthy Captain. You have taken command in a very trying situation. You have gotten away from not one but two dangers and now you're being resourceful in guiding us back to our track. You also made a somewhat successful First Contact, even if they were only trying to trap us."
Lizzie nodded. "I got out of that didn't I!"
"Indeed you did. And for this being your first day as Captain you have done a fine job, especially since you have had a lack of proper training."
"I guess if I get out of this I would like to go to the Academy. I think this would prove I'm worthy of it!"
"I would write you a letter of recommendation. Now shall we continue?"
"Carry on!" They continued on until they reached engineering, which was a mess because of what the weapon had done. When they reached Miral, she already looked haggard and tired. "Miral, what can we do?"
"Lizzie you know nothing of engineering so I can't say you're much help. Arok, do you know anything about engineering? I could use a hand!"
Arok stood tall, as usual of a Vulcan. "I am skill in engineering."
"Good, I need you to help me get main power back online. What the hell happened up there?"
"The Khaterians fired at us."
"I know that! But what knocked us out?"
"The same Aliens that kidnapped our crew. They have some sort of weapon that pretty much knocked all but life support out."
"Remind me when I meet them to not rip their throats out. I'm having a hell of a time getting things running." Miral dragged Arok to another console.
"Miral what can I do?"
There was a burst of light from one of the consoles. "Well I've just got the replicators back online. Maybe you could bring us some food or something. I know it's not very Captainy of you but-"
"Rule #1 of being a Captain, 'Always look out for your crew!'" Lizzie exclaimed. "What do you want?"
"Where did you get that rule?" Miral stared her.
"I just made it up! And if getting you guys food takes care of you then I will do it!" Lizzie smiled. "Now what do you want?"
"Some sort of finger food, something I can grab easily while I'm working. And I really don't care what it is! The replicators that working normally are in Ten Forward. I'd go there to get everything."
"Got it! Chicken fingers good?"
Arok stared at Lizzie. "Chickens do not have fingers."
Lizzie shook her head. "It's an earth expression. Miral?"
"That sounds awesome! Maybe some dip of some sort? Something that won't set off a plasma burst though?"
"You got it!" Lizzie turned to the rest of the engineering crew, which was only about a dozen people. "Anyone else want food? Anyone?" Several people suddenly surrounded her with orders for food. She returned quiet a few minutes later, with a cart of food. Thankfully by that time the turbo lifts had been power, but there was still much work to do. Lizzie was greeted with great appreciation from the crew down in Engineering.
After delivering the food, she realized that she was more of a disturbance in Engineering and decided to go back up to the bridge. When she reached there, the regular lights were back on and the emergency ones were shut off. She asked for a report from Dal. Systems were slowly coming back online fairly quickly, with production increasing shortly after Lizzie brought the food to Engineering. Communications was back up and Miral was giving regular reports when things were being fixed. Repairs were finishing up sooner than expected.
"Either I have a damn good Engineer, or we overestimated what actually happened!" Lizzie commented to Dal. She was helping me get the shields back up from the bridge.
"With almost a skeleton crew you'd think that we were super being or something!" Dal commented. "Hey can you hand me that plasma alignment tool?"
Lizzie handed it to him. "It's a shame I didn't pay much attention to engineering, then I would feel more helpful." She sat back onto her heels.
"You're doing fine, and besides, the Captain shouldn't know everything about engineering, they should just know enough to lead and the limits of their crew and ship." Dal smiled. He was raven black hair and astonishing blue eyes that danced when he smiled.
"I guess I'm just being a bit insecure on my first day as Captain. This has never happened to me before!" Lizzie said as she stood up. The tactical panel came back on. "And it looks like we're back in business!"
Dal climbed out of the little hole where he had been working. "Looks like! Good job Captain!"
"Good job Dal! Now we've got sensors back online it looks like! Good job Miral!" Lizzie started accessing the sensor files. "We're a little bit closer to Federation Space. Once we get warp back online we're going to go back to Earth. We can't continue the search for Captain Riker and the rest of the crew with barely half our crew. Plus we might need some repairs at the dry dock there."
"And you'd prefer to go back to Earth?"
"Well I'll also petition to Starfleet Command to keep all of us at our current rank, which by the way once we get everything back up, I'm going to promote everyone."
"I appreciate that Captain, I didn't expect that I would be promoted so soon!" Dal laughed.
"And I didn't expect to be Captain when I'm only 18!" Lizzie chuckled. "I'll be in my ready-room. I've got to figure out where everyone is going to be promoted to!" She smiled as she strode away into her ready-room.
About a day later, they had finally brought the Warp Engine Online. The crew had decided to gather in Engineering surrounding the Warp Drive for the Captain was about the make several announcements. Captain Elizabeth Riker stood on a small little platform just in front of the warp drive so that she could see everyone surrounding her. Her uniform had changed from the typical Ensign Uniform, for she now had the four stars on her collar befitted to her new rank as Captain. She stood proud and tall with her hair tied back into tight ponytail. Miral stood to her right, with her thick Klingon hair braided back behind her. Dal stood to Captain Riker's left and Arok stood next to him.
"Ladies and Gentleman. This is technically our first crew meeting I guess you could call it." Lizzie smiled. "I'm new to this whole Captain business so I'm not exactly sure how to start." She took a deep breath. "First off, my hearty thanks and congratulations go to Miral Paris-Torres and the entire Engineering crew bringing all of our systems back online, as well as the rest of this crew who have been working around the clock to repair us as much as possible. Enterprise is now back to where it was before the Aliens took a good part of our crew, and I didn't expect it to be that way so soon."
Lizzie paused, thinking about what she was going to say next. "Before I go any further, I'd like to do basically a mass promotion. This crew of crewmen and ensigns have proved themselves more than worthy of being equal to a first rank starship crew, and I believe that all of you deserve a promotion. While everyone will be receiving a promotion, I'd like to start off with the big ones. Ensign Miral Paris-Torres has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and Chief Engineer. Ensign Dal Rovis has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and Chief Tactical Officer. Ensign Arok has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and Chief Operations Officer." She paused. "The rest of the promotions will be announced by your department heads. As you notice I have yet to decide my First Officer. Well, let's just say I'm wanting to find the right one. So for a while now, I'll be evaluating potential candidates from this crew and other crews."
She paused and swallowed hard. "As for the remaining crew, the crew who is not here. We will continue searching for them. We will continue to find who stole them from us and we will get our loved ones back. At the moment we cannot continue the search, as we do not have the resources, but once we acquire them, we will be able to continue the search once more. We will not give up, but we will also not give up the Missions that Starfleet gives us, because for all we know, each mission could bring us closer to solving the mystery of where our crew members went and who took them.
"I for one, will not assume that they are dead or lost to this world. I have a personal need to fulfill by searching, and that is finding my father, our beloved Captain William Riker. I will not give up the search for my loved one, nor will I expect any of you to give this up, for we have far too much to lose by not searching for our friends and family.
"I do not expect you to follow me until the ends of the Galaxy, but I would appreciate your following me until we have found our lost crew members. It would mean a great deal to me personally, to know that I have your backing. I also do not expect you to support me against Starfleet, who may for all I know demote us all and send us back to being ensigns and crewmen. I hope that you will though, because I will be eternally grateful. In this short time I've been your Captain, I've thoroughly enjoyed being your leader, and having your trust in me." She gazed throughout the faces of her crew, she saw a few tears in the audience, which she did not expect.
Arok spoke up, "Captain Riker, this past couple of days have proved to me that you are a worthy leader. You stood up when you were needed and you have led us from danger, despite your inexperience. It is logical for us to support you when you have proven yourself worth of command."
Lizzie smiled and mouthed a thank you. Dal then spoke up, "I'm convinced that I should follow you to the ends of Space and Time. Starfleet won't be our worst adversary. Remember, we've got this mysterious species, the Borg are still out there, Cardassians, Ferengi, the Khaterians, a whole bunch of very scary enemies, and I'll be honest, they don't seem all that scary when we've got you in charge of this ship.
Lizzie was touched. "Jeez! I've only been Captain for a couple of days and you guys want to follow me no matter what! What is up with that?" She threw her hands up in the air.
One young man in an engineer's uniform said, "Well I mean, you did bring engineering food, and you've promoted us for our hard work. How could we not want to follow you? You've proven to us that you care about our well-being and you want us to succeed! We like that."
Lizzie smiled. "Alright, alright. I have a totally awesome crew who will follow me anywhere. I give you guys that credit though!" She then placed her hands on her hips, "Now why don't we get on the road and fire up this Warp Engine! Miral, are helm controls relocated here?"
"Yes ma'am!" Miral smiled. "Ensign Kenny is managing the controls, just waiting for your orders!"
Lizzie smiled. "Alright." She brought up her right hand, "Set a course to Earth, Warp Factor 7." She dropped her hand in the same fashion she had seen her Uncle Jean-Luc many times do. "And in the words of my Uncle Jean-Luc, 'Engage!'" She was greeted with cheers and applause as the ship lurched into warp, speeding toward Earth.