Part One
The Crew
Space warped, time bent and a small ship warped in from subspace.
"Katana to Earth control." intoned a gravel like voice from the tactical station in a corner of the cramped bridge.
"This is earth control, go ahead Katana,"
"USS Katana NCC-76034, requesting orbit permission and a repair dock queue status."
A voice responded after a moment, "Katana, orbit permission granted. But all repair docks are shut down for the ceremony tonight."
"Understood. Katana out."
The Katana was different from most saber class ships, different from most ships in Starfleet for that matter, it had an integrated bridge, no turbo lift was needed to leave it.
Touching a control to shut down the subspace channel the owner of the gravel voice turned from his station, strode to the rear of the room and exited into a long corridor, walking until reaching a specific door. Pressing the admittance key he entered when the door opened and stood at loose attention.
The man inside looked amused at the lieutenant's entrance. No matter how many times I see that it still brings a smile to my face. The first thing one would notice about lieutenant Orrourak was his size, he was an imposing 2.15 meters tall and while his size would grab your attention it was the rest of him that kept it. He, well, he looked like an oversized koala, a seven foot tall, wire haired, harness wearing, robust, koala. Black nose, beady little brown eyes, fluffy ears, yea, a huge koala. Anyone that spent any time with him though could tell you he was anything but a koala. His strength was disproportionate to his size, he could probably punch a hole in the deck if wanted to and then there was that fur, that thick, dense, wiry, cream colored fur. Fur that could take the punch out of a phaser blast.
But the captain said nothing, just smiled as the seven foot furball called Orruorak stooped slightly and sidestepped to enter his room.
Flipping a large oversize drafting PADD toward him he asked, "What do 'ya think lieutenant?"
After studying the diagram a moment, that concrete scraping concrete voice that was heard reciting poetry as often as tactical reports responded, "It looks like an Acadian slug."
The captain sighed, "Everyone's a critic. So what's up? Are we there yet?"
"We entered the Sol system a few minutes ago and we have been cleared for orbit."
"I'm sensing a 'but' there."
"But, all the repair slips are shut down, some kind of ceremony, whatever it is the whole system is at yellow alert."
Reaching across his deck the captain retrieved a normal sized a more normal sized PADD and handed it to Orruorak, "Read this. It's why we're here instead of our normal haunts at Starbase 24 ."
After reading the message on the device he set the thing down and composed his thoughts on the contents, Orruorak snorted his reply, "No wonder the whole system is under high alert." he paused but went on when the captain made a little 'go on' motion with his hand, "and the rest, is cryptic."
The captain slid back further into his chair and nodded, "Yes, that was my impression also."
"Will it affect us again?"
"No. I think not. Well, no more than it taking longer for our repairs."
"Ah, angling for shore leave." Orruorak guessed.
"Exactly." he smiled back
Orruorak's reply was cut off by the chirping of the captains' combadge.
"Bridge to captain Kayetan."
"Kayetan here, go ahead Chief."
"Sir, the USS Ajax is hailing. Mastermind wants to see you." said chief Inuzaki, the helmsman, with more than a note of glee in his voice. Mastermind referred to Captain Alexander Tanton, an old friend of Kayetan's and something of a legend among the crew as Kayetan liked to tell stories about their days at the academy. The Mastermind was a private nickname, referring to a joke they'd played on an instructor.
"I'll take it on the bridge, chief."
"Alright sir, I'll tell him you'll be a moment. Bridge out."
Upon reaching the bridge Kayetan saw the blue green orb that was Earth filling the view screen, its myriad of satellites, manmade and otherwise orbiting like a pack of angry bees.
Well, thought captain Kristoffer Ingram Kayetan, commanding officer, USS Katana, I'm home for what that's worth, but instead he said, "Put him on."
By the time they got everything squared away and got to the 'party' it was in full force. But they were still there before everything was set, other groups were still arriving and a work crew was putting the final touches on the decorations. The whole crew was here, somewhere. Only Orruorak, Commander Hiss'toor Sharr Lallal, Lieutenant Tarna Raden, their Bajoran operations officer and Kayetan stayed in a group.
It was a large outdoor area, a courtyard in the middle of starfleet command, right on the shore stretching out over the water on a jetty. That part had struck Kayetan as odd, not the jetty itself but the dais was on it, a large platform had been erected and seating for about a hundred people set on top. I would have put it front of the headquarters emblem. He thought, referring to the twenty meter Starfleet delta that covered the front of the main building.
There were over a thousand sentient's here already, mingling, talking, eating, drinking. News crews from all corners of the Federation had people here, even some from outside the Federation he amended as he noticed a group of Breen in their armored environmental suits.
Their little group had snagged some drinks off a passing waiter's tray but they otherwise hadn't mingled. No surprise there. Their numbers included Orruorak, who's massive bear-like bulk was enough to make anyone think twice about approaching. And then there was Commander Hiss'toor, he was not even a meter and a half tall but it wasn't his height that was imposing. It was just hard for some people to get used to a being that looked more like an over-sized, armored Terran gecko than anything else.
It wasn't that unique physiology that so amused Lieutenant Tarna right now. It was watching her three superiors interact with each other and the crowd. At some point after the three had met, they decided that it was their sacred duty to comment on the action of the universe around them, often with an undertone of the wry humor they all shared. And for that end they had for the last few minutes watched, and commented on the Tellarite delegation as they slowly chased the Andorian delegation around the square.
"Red alert." said Kayetan. "Andorians moving again."
"Hmmm. Yess. The hunt beginss again." replied Hiss'toor as the Tellarites moved to intercept.
"The prey moves confidently as they are stalked across the arena of diplomacy." Orruorak stated as if announcing a sporting event, "They must have something up their sleeves." he finished narrowing his gaze as the blue skinned aliens 'drifted' deeper into the crowd.
"I think you're right," responded Kayetan, "they're moving towards the Klingons."
"Hmm. Like one of thosse wolveriness you told me about taking refuge with a bear." summed up Hiss'toor turning to the captain.
"Exactly." affirmed Kayetan.
The Klingons had arrived not long after the officers of the Katana had and immediately started to drink, slugging down everything from blood wine to saurian brandy. It went without saying that most of the partygoers were giving them a wide berth.
"What would drive an Andorian to take refuge with Klingons?" mused Orruorak.
"When that Andorian is trying to avoid finalizing giving away the rights to a large portion of a wealthy asteroid belt." Cut in a smooth voice from behind them.
Turning around the four of them saw a green skinned woman near them standing near two other women who were obviously related to her. Actually, the three of them together looked rather like a time elapsed photograph of one woman growing taller and greener as she aged.
They were Tala, Zillianna, and Cartia; Alex's Grandmother, mother and sister, respectively.
Kayetan smiled back, "I was beginning to wonder if you three would show"
"Of course we would, you boys are like family." said Tala smiling all the wider. She looked toward Tarna and raised an eyebrow, "and who is this lovely woman?"
"Tala Dionisio, may I present Lieutenant Tarna Raden, my operations officer." Kayetan started holding an indicating hand toward Tarna. "Tarna Raden, ambassador Tala Dionisio, to her left is Zillianna Tanton her daughter and to her left is Lieutenant Commander Carita Tanton, Alex's sister."
"It's a pleasure." said the Bajoran woman shaking hands with each in turn and taking her chance to smile.
Kayetan noticed that Tarna seemed immediately at ease with the three women, they'd always had the ability to do that and it had always fascinated him. He supposed it was because he had never been very outgoing, oh he kept a close circle of friends, mostly those who had been able look past his rather plain, bookish, and rather uninteresting outward appearance to find a loyal friend who would stay by your side and try to keep things interesting.
But these women were just the opposite, they made friends easily, and often. They, the two older ones that is, had often poked fun at Alex's rather old-fashioned take on love and romance, they would flirt with most any thing that came near, even a rather shy engineer named Kristoffer that Alex had brung home with him one summer vacation at Starfleet Academy. Alex had nearly died from the perceived embarrassment.
Kayetan though had noted one thing about their 'philandering', as much as mother and daughter had gone on about what they would do to their 'conquests' they had never actually seemed to do what they'd been threatening even after their husbands had died in the Dominion war. It seemed to Kayetan that after Alex's father and grandfather, they had never really wanted anyone else but just liked to tease. Stir the pot of the upper social crust events they often attended as it were.
Tala had been one of the finest Orion ambassadors ever seen, she had overseen the final stages of Orion integration into the Federation. She was also the first Orion woman to openly practice a profession without the screen of pretending her husband was the power but she had still been married, as is the custom. After the death of her first husband she decided to end her career and marry a human man by the name of Alejandro Dionisio, a warp-propulsion specialist. This was a bold move as highly intelligent men were still considered taboo by most Orion women.
Tala had one child with Dionisio, a girl named Zillianna who in later years met and married a human named Connor Tanton. Connor and Zillianna then had two children, Alexander and Cartia, both of whom serve in Starfleet; Cartia as the chief engineer on the Cobalt and Alexander as a the tactical officer on the Andromeda and then more recently as the CO of the Ajax.
Kayetan knew the elder women through both Cartia and Alex; Alex from the academy and their first posting on Starbase 12, and Cartia from the Proxima fleet yards, where they had both been engineers. And had dated briefly. For some parents that might have been a problem, seeing their girl and then breaking up but the Tanton women were not as 'stuffy' as some and Kayetan had stayed friends with all three of them.
Kayetan though suddenly noticed something, looking around he asked, "So where's Alex?"
"He's 'helping' with the festivities." responded Cartia.
"He'll be on stage." added Zillianna.
"Ass part of the sscenery?" interjected Hiss'toor, at which Tarna snorted into her drink, a laugh stifled by the champaign in her mouth. She had only met Alex once, when the Katana made a rendevous with the Ajax about a six months ago. She had been, impressed, at his size. Alex Tanton was huge but with not an ounce of fat on him, so much so she had even wondered how he sat in his command chair. He was short, barely a meter and a half tall, very thickly muscled with squared features, more like a large block that had some how achieved sentience. All this was topped off by a thick mane of bluish-black hair and layer of greenish-tinged tan skin.
"My brother has a small part, I suppose you could say he's part of the scenery." Was Cartia's reply as she looked over Tarna out of the corner of her eye.
Kayetan shook his head, "Fine, keep it your secret then." he shared a smile with Cartia, her gleaming white teeth shining over her greenish skin in that winning fashion that she had been known for, much nicer than his softer closed lipped one.
It was as they stared at each other, words on her lips unspoken as she sized him up. He looks a lot better than the last time I saw him. Every time their paths crossed after their first meeting it seemed as if he aged past his years somehow, but now he looked right, a little grey in his close cropped brown hair and the slight wrinkles around his face had become full fledged laugh lines. He had aged further yes, but now it was a cultured, well worn look, not a result of hard living and stress. Still, it was a far cry from the naive young bright eyed engineer that summered at her home when he was at the academy.
"Kristoffer," said Tala interrupting Cartia's musing, "A moment please, I need to bend you ear, as you humans say."
Nodding, he spoke to Hiss'toor, "Commander, the party is yours, keep it together while I'm gone." the commander's response was to stick out his tongue, no small gesture, as it was a little over a quarter meter long.
Winding their way through the crowd she led him to a bar covered by an awning and immediately ordered drinks, "Two Tahitian sunrises."
"You'll like it, I promise." she finished handing him one after it had been mixed.
Fruity, he thought sipping the drink but aloud he said, "So what has you sounding so serious?"
"You." was her concise reply before going on, "I have learned recently that your name has been moved to the top of a very short list. Kayetan started to speak but she held up a hand and continued, "don't worry, this is not necessarily a bad thing."
Kayetan narrowed a questioning brow, he had never been good at subterfuge and insinuation, in fact, he was down right horrible at it, any attempt at subtly or distraction in the social arena tended to go right over his head.
Tala on the other hand was a successful diplomat with a long record of expertly out-maneuvering her opponents. She could infer a world of meaning from one word and lie with the best of them, both good qualities in a politician. At first it might seem strange that she would like the younger man and originally she had been suspicious of him when her grandson had brung him home from the academy. It was because of a quality she had seen in him after a few weeks, the reason for his seeming naivete; he was a truly honest person. So much so that he had been nearly incapable of seeing the dishonesty in others. Some had just thought he was dense or socially retarded but she declared that it was a breath of fresh air to her. In her line of work one had to sift through thousands of terra-quads of information to arrive at one truth and even then it was to be doubted. But with Kayetan, 'Kick' as he had been called by everyone but her, what you saw was what you got, to use the human phrase.
"I know you're having a meeting with admiral Janeway after the announcement here. I don't know what exactly it is she wants from you, but I do know she needs you and for whatever reason that gives you an edge."
Kayetan thought for a moment, this was dragging up things he'd rather not have drug up. "So what do think I should do?" he said after a moment.
Tala laughed softly, "I'm not trying to tell you what to do. I actually have no advise on that. Only you can know what you want from this. I just want it to be clear to you that you have an opportunity to gain something for yourself here."
Something for myself?, he repeated in his mind as more memories surfaced in the dark pool of his mind.
But before he could respond there was loud sound, a bosuns pipe electronically enhanced to sound over the whole crowd. There was a loud call of 'admiral on deck' and every starfleet officer turned to the podium where a group was advancing toward the seats set there. And behind that, what in the world? It was a line of starfleet officers, five in all and each wearing a different uniform. The first was a human, probably, he couldn't see details at his distance and he was wearing a United Earth Starfleet uniform, the four pips of a captain gleaming on his right breast. Right behind him was a Vulcan in a later starfleet uniform, a kind of pasty-gold shirt with black pants that were flared at the bottom, the same uniform James Kirk wore during his famous five year mission. Next was another human, female this time, who wore one of the so called 'pajama top' uniforms. And there, his width causing a slight disruption in the uniformity of the line was Alex Tanton, just behind the two officers modeling more modern uniforms. The five anachronistic officers came to attention on a raised platform just behind where Admiral Janeway finally made it to the lectern.
Setting a PADD down she spoke, "Thank you all for coming tonight. As some of you may know I'm not one to beat around the bush so I will get right to the point. To day, as most of you know, is the two-hundred and thirty-second anniversary of the signing of the Federations' initial charter." she paused looking around at the crowd, "But that's not why were here. We are here because that day also marked the start of a new age of exploration, an age of knowledge when people like, Archer, April, Kirk, Spock, and many others blazed a path to the unknown." the admiral paused here, scanning the crowd, "It is in their memory that I ask Admiral Picard to give the order to start the nights events." she nodded to the older man sitting near her.
Rising, looking upward and touching his commbadge he said in a crisp accent, "Commanders, you may begin your landing."
There was a moment, many looked upward to see where Picard was looking and then there was a collective gasp. It was a large shape as it came in low, most likely had been skimming the surface till called for. All the starfleet officers almost immediately knew exactly what it was, the engineers a little bit sooner because the warp core of that ship was required study.
"Gathered sentient's, I give you, The Enterprise, as flown by Commander Geordi LaForge." proclaimed Janeway.
The ship did a lap around the gathering and then landed on a platform that had rose from the water nearby, grappling arms rising from the barge to cradle the three hundred year old ship onto its bulk.
But it wasn't over yet, there was a droning sound and a low booming and an even larger shape came towards the crowd. It took the same route the smaller ship did, all though not as elegantly, it was an explorer, its massive bulk not made for planetary maneuvering in any circumstance. Kayetan's eye was sharp enough to spot the antigravs attached to the hull to make the landing possible.
Janeway spoke again, "USS Enterprise-A, as piloted by reserve Admiral Montgomery Scott and Captain Steve Whorl, Starfleet core of engineers."
The ship landed in its own platform that was rigged with struts to hold the saucer section in place in the gravity.
Then there was the loudest rumbling yet and huge form blocked the sun from view and a great silver beast settled into the bay without a platform and began to move slowly toward the jetty where the podium was.
"And, of course, the U.S.S. Enterprise-E, piloted by Captain William Riker." finished Janeway as the massive bulk actually docked with the jetty and a cargo hatch hissed open revealing a cargo bay set up with more tables and party supplies.
"These ships are a testament to the Federation and all it stands for, they represent the quest for knowledge and understanding we have undertaken across the universe. Some of you may note that ships from ths historic line are missing; NCC-1701, NCC-1701-B, 1701-C and D, these four were destroyed in the line of duty, doing as their designers envisioned, a testament to the cost of exploration. Some would say that that cost is too high, that we should move slowly through space and the uncharted. Were April and Kirk moving slowly as they moved through the beta quadrant? When people look back on the past the usually see the 'greatest eras' as the eras we pushed outwards just to see what was there. And so after much deliberation, advise from the Federation council, I and the other Starfleet chiefs of staff have decided to reintroduce the five year mission exploration plan."
At that point one could hear pin drop from a thousand meters and then, one of the starfleet officers stated clapping and another, and one more and then the whole crowd was involved. There had been talk of something like this, it had been floating around the starfleet net for weeks, but no one thought it was this serious. Kayetan was wary of it, he had seen every empire building admiral who wanted to make a name for himself start some half-assed 'exploration' plan; they would call in a few favors, gather some ships and send them off to chart some distant nebula somewhere. These plans usually sounded good but the admiral in charge always seemed to end up micro-managing them into the ground with weekly reports, constant supervision, all these 'starfleet revitalization' plans had ended with the hand picked crews falling apart and having a huge lapse of judgment. But his line of thought trailed off as the applause died down and Janeway continued her speech.
"This will not be the long-range scouts we have been performing for the last few years nor will it be a 'wave the flag' exercise; volunteer crews will head out into the Gamma quadrant for independent mapping and exploration duties lasting no shorter than five years or events force a return, they will be the First Exploration Fleet." she looked over the crowd scanning the faces there and finished, "All in all it is going to be a very interesting next few years and I look forward to sharing it with you."
Kayetan stared at the podium as the admiral left, not really seeing the next speaker come forward, 'may we live in interesting times', I wonder if she knows about that curse. He thought as he swirled the remains of his drink.