Star Trek: Wings of the Renaissance

A Star Trek fanfiction by Andrew Joshua Talon

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan-based work of prose. Star Trek is the property of CBS and Paramount. Please support the official release.


Federation Starbase Deep Space Nine, Bajoran Sector

2370


The mission had ended. Commander Sisko had brought back a female alien named Eris. She called herself a Vorta, a prisoner of the Dominion. This was one of those moments where it felt like the Universal Translator had been giving them a warning, the Vorta's name approximated through the context of her own language. It was a warning given too late though: She was a Dominion Agent and had beamed herself out. The transporter signal had vanished, and they couldn't find a ship nearby for her to have beamed to. Later examination of Eris' skin samples had revealed a few things: Namely, she was a clone. A very sophisticated one, judging from the DNA traces.

Between this and the destruction of the Odyssey… Well. A picture was forming of what they were up against. A picture she'd worked on for the last three days. A picture she had some ideas for dealing with. It wasn't going to be easy though.

Keiko was in her guest quarters on the station, packing up and getting ready. Her computer and dozens of PADDs were scattered around her bed and her desk. She occasionally stopped and added a note to one of them, or uploading something new to her computer, or made a design. So many things to do. Never enough time.

The chime on her door rang. She paused, and took a deep breath. She looked up at it.

"Come," she called. The doors slid open, and Andross stepped in. He looked up at her, solemn in his dress uniform. Zira's funeral was in two hours, before they sent what they had left to her family back at her home.

"Hey," he said. Keiko nodded slowly.

"Hey," she said back. Andross walked up and stood at the side of her bed. He looked down at the PADDs and her computer. He looked back up and raised his eyebrows.

"Busy, I see," he said. Keiko nodded, making a few notes on her PADD. She looked back up, and set it down. She gave him a smile.

"Yeah," she said. "Getting invited to talk to the heads of Starfleet Command."

"You didn't come up with all of this in just three days, did you?" Andross asked, sounding like he believed she really could. The faith he showed in her made her smile and laugh, but she shook her head.

"No. All of this is… Well, it's stuff I've been working on for a while," she admitted.

"They're that scared, huh?" He asked. Keiko nodded.

"Yeah. I can't blame them for it," she admitted. "Commander Sisko told me to take the gloves off. Because we don't know what might help against them." She looked down, letting out a long sigh. She felt his arms go around her, and she tensed… Before leaning in.

"Everything you wanted?" Andross he asked. Keiko shook her face against his chest. She sucked in another deep breath.

"I didn't want this. Nobody wants this," she said. "But we have to." She sighed softly.

"I've seen a whole world die before, Andross," she admitted. "I failed to stop it then. I failed-"

"It wasn't your fault," Andross tried. Keiko laughed softly, gripping his uniform tightly.

"They told me that, you know. All the therapists, everyone told me that. And I know it isn't. I really do." She pulled back enough to look up at Andross. "That's not what drives me, Andross. What drives me is that… Someone has to speak for these people. Someone has to speak for Zira and Hajar. Someone has to speak for everyone on the Odyssey. They can't just have died in vain. It has to mean something." She looked back at her hands. The hands of an engineer. She took a deep breath and looked back up at Andross.

"I'll make it mean something."

"We all will," Andross said with a nod, eyes burning with a deep determination. He was doing his best to stay stoic, but she could tell he was putting on appearances. She hugged him. He hugged her back tightly.

"So, I'm going to go with Commander Sisko and Shran. Back to Starfleet. We're going to get some things together. We're going to make some changes."

"And then?" Andross asked. Keiko looked up at him, with a smile.

"Then we'll be back. And we'll make the Dominion sorry they ever tried to mess with us," she stated. Andross smiled back, happy but with a warrior's edge. She liked that smile.

"I… I'm glad," he said. "I mean, Jin's okay but I couldn't handle things on my own."

"You're admitting it? At last?" Keiko asked. "Are things really that desperate?"

Andross grimaced. "I didn't mean it like tha-"

"Well I'll tell you something, Lieutenant Gottschalk," Keiko said firmly, poking him right in the center of his chest, "you are not going to just butter me up and insult me with a lot of false modesty! Otherwise we'll stop improving. And that I will never allow."

Andross slowly nodded. Keiko smiled back.

"This is the part where you kiss me," she whispered cheekily. Andross raised his eyebrows.

"What makes you think I don't want to take my time?"

He kissed her nevertheless. He took care to push the computers and PADDs aside, before he pinned her to the bed. They didn't have much time before Zira and Hajar's service. They made it on time, holding hands. Everyone shot them knowing looks, but Keiko couldn't find it in herself to care.

She liked to think Zira would have approved.


More to come...