A single bead of sweat began to slide down Unico's brow as he pumped the pedals. That was the first one, there would be many more to follow. As his legs moved the wheels round and round, they turned a tiny generator, forced a magnet around copper wire. Slowly but surely the crude battery began to charge, and hours of pedaling later Unico collapsed off of the stationary bike and allowed the generator to whirr to a stop. Taking a long drink of water from a tall metal cup, he wiped his face and checked the status of the battery. It had been charged far less than he'd anticipated. With a sigh he connected the battery to the intricate energy converter he'd built onto the back of the replicator and programmed the machine to produce a loaf of bread. The replicator still worked smoothly somehow, despite the obvious trauma to the original machine and his own heavy modifications. It stood out in the world really, there was little left on Earth since the Federation had fallen.

It had been a surprise. No one would've expected the Romulans to regroup so quickly after their home planet was destroyed, but the ensuing battle with the Klingons had left Star Fleet weak and vulnerable and the Romulans, who'd been building ships and armadas and new technologies while the rest of the galaxy thought they'd been struggling to preserve their own culture. Earth had fallen relatively easily after the Fleet's hollow victory over the Klingons. The Romulans plundered the Earth and all of the Federation's other planets. Annexing Vulcan into their own empire and enforcing a Romulan government while mining every remaining resource from Earth had left little to the Federation. For two years, the Federation was no more, but for three years Stephan Unico had lived in these caves, scavenging for parts and food, developing a method to condense water from the humid year and surviving alone. It had been three years since the first human member of the Vulcan Science Academy had been unceremoniously removed by his father and brought back to Earth. Three years since his father had died bringing him back.

"We have one ship." Admiral Jenkins paced around the room which had once been a cafeteria but now served as the briefing area for the few remaining high-ranking Star Fleet officials. "One ship, she's more a salvage job, an old Constitution class starship. She's been refit with whatever we have left. Modern shield generators, advanced phasers, every photon torpedo left in the bay… We've replaced the di-lithium crystals but it still has the same warp drive. She's a beaten ship, but she's a ship. Now obviously we're not going to go out there and enter battle. No this will be a very quiet mission, a covert goal. Which is where we have our ace in the hole: a cloaking device installed and ready to go. I think it stands without saying that the Treaty of Algeron has been… nullified. It will be this vessel's mission to explore the Pretium sector of space, a relatively unexplored area. You will need to scout and find resources, find potential allies and find a way to keep the Federation alive. Let me be clear here, there will be no violation of Star Fleet's principles simply because of the situation. No violations of the Prime Directive will be accepted, and for obvious reasons, confrontations must be avoided at all costs. Captain Narsa, you're with me. We're going to discuss a small matter of your crew."

"Commander Vanessa O'Hara here Sir, ready for duty."

"Ms. O'Hara." The Captain nodded, "Betazed… Useful" he flipped back some pages on his PADD, shut the screen and looked at the officer before him. "You don't see many 27-year old Commanders in Star Fleet."

"Admiral Spauker promoted me recently sir. He said that it this was a game for the young, not the old."

"Well let's…. hope he remembers that... Anyways, Ms. O'Hara, it's my understanding that you're to be my First Officer aboard USS Mercium."

"That is correct sir."

"They've almost got that thing ready to go, it's up on stilts about 2 clicks from here, I'm guessing you can find your way over there yourself. Now I'd like you to head out there and take a look. The bridge crew has not yet been chosen, but there are already numerous lower-level crewpersons preparing the ship for take-off and exiting the atmosphere. I want you to…"

"Report on anything and everything that might be of interest. On it sir."

"Ms. O'Hara, telepathic or not… Don't finish my sentences."

She winced and twirled her hair around, "Sorry Sir! Force of habit."

Narsa shook his head and muttered to himself under his breath. This was going to be a very interesting chain of command.

"Now listen Narsa, I don't give two shakes about first to do this, first to do that. I don't want a kid in such an important position. There are plenty of fully capable officers for the position, too many really. We have ourselves neck deep in them, there's not much for them to do here really."

"And that's my point exactly Admiral Spauker. We're in crisis here, on Earth and all of these so-called scientists are up to nothing. These men and women are hardly even scientists by the loosest of terms. They just sit around and do nothing. I want a real scientist. I want someone who takes risks, who experiments with new ideas under crisis, someone creative and quick-thinking. Not someone who wrote a paper thirty years ago. This kid is the one. Commander O'Hara told me that you said so yourself, it's a young person's game."

"Now this young Narsa… I just can't see him being a dependable-"

"He's an adult sir. Now I've let you choose my Betazed First Officer, I've let you choose my Bjoran navigator, my Cardassian chief of security and my Andorrian coms officer. Now decades ago, that bridge crew would've seemed just as ludicrous as having a 19-year old as science officer. The kid is of a genius level intellect, he embarrassed his rival Vulcan students. I need this kid. You want me for this job, the kid goes too."

"Captain I have immense respect for you. Your 10 years at Star Fleet have been exemplary to say the least. But you yourself are in your thirties, you just mentioned how young your first officer was, I need some experience on this vessel."

"The kid's survived on his own for three years Sir. What more experience do you need?"

The Admiral looked the Captain up and down, grimaced and sighed before responding. "I hope you know what you're doing Nick. This could either be the beginning of a new era for Star Fleet, or the last mission we ever fly…"

Unico was practicing his Suss Mahn when the alarm went off. The alarm hardly surprised him. He didn't consider himself Vulcan, no far from it, and he was hardly a calm and emotionless individual, but his time on the planet had taught him more than mathematics, science, philosophy, martials arts and the works, it had taught him to control his fear in times of duress. He calmly flipped a switch which activated his security cameras. The alarm had better not be a dud, he'd be losing out on dinner because of this. Now Stephan Unico might have expected to see Ferengi traders, Klingon warriers, heck maybe even some Romulans, he had not expected to see a very diverse group of men and women in Star Fleet universe on his doorstep.

"Hello son, Captain Nicolas Narsa." The Captain held out his hand, he was standing well outside the caves about ten minutes after the alarm had gone off. Unico had perhaps expected to be arrested when he exited the vast labyrinth of caves but instead he'd been greeted.

Ignoring the hand, but not appearing altogether too hostile, Unico responded, "How did you find me?"

"Truth is son, the Federation has put a considerable amount of resources into knowing what you're up to and where you're doing it. You represent a valuable asset to the Federation, and to humanity."

"'A valuable asset,' lovely."

"Sorry son, thought I'd be… logical."

Unico smirked, "I really wouldn't be talking to me like I'm a Vulcan. It'd be a bad idea."

"I can see that Commander. Anyways I'm here to offer you a position upon my ship, the USS Mer-"

"Commander? What? Look guy can we just get whatever it is you need over with so I can go back to not eating dinner?"

"Captain, if I may." The Bjoran navigator stepped forward after the Captain nodded and was about to say something to Unico when she was interrupted by a large Cardassian man.

"Oh for… Don't let the damn Bjoran do the job, we'll be here until the 29th century."

"Well maybe you…"

"Ensign Huck'na, Lieutenant Hurzah I remind you of your positions and duties. And please don't argue when we're trying to recruit someone… Really… It makes us look bad." He turned back to Unico, "What would you say if I told you I wanted you as my science officer on the Mercium. I'd immediately advance you to Commander."

"I'd say you were bat-shit crazy but as long as you've got working replicators on this USS Mercium, which is an outdated constitution class ship if I remember the hacked Federation database I memorized a few years ago, then I'm definitely in."

Narsa smiled, "Oh we've made some improvements here and there."