Chapter 2: Peter Clemmings
Much of the Federation lay in waste. The Dominion War had caused much destruction to the Alpha Quadrant. The defeated Dominion was totally destroyed, and many of its rogue ships still continued to harass the victorious Federation, Klingon, and Romulan Civilizations.
Victory is hardly a word for the victorious. Several major Federation plants were totally devastated by the war. But there was hope, there still was hope for a successful reconstruction, for the capital of the Federation—Earth in the Sol System still stood proud as the center of the United Federation of Plants. Its blue-green marble of the capital planet represented many of the ideals that symbolize the Federation—freedom, democracy, and equality for all.
The Federation was planning an expeditionary force to explore and colonize the depths of the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The return of the starship Voyager recorded many remarkable parts of the galaxy (as well as many technological advances) that made the curious nature of the Federation people grow even more.
This mission was a mission of peace and exploration—to explore whole new words, meet new alien races, and hopefully make new galactic friends. A small fleet was assembled near the Utopia Shipyards orbiting Earth. The warp capable civilization—a civilization that has the ability to travel faster than light. The ability to travel twenty times, a hundred times, a thousand times faster than light now seemed like a distant reality, for with Voyager's return, Federation scientists has discovered a new mode to travel—Transwarp.
The fleet of ten new ships were all equipped with the transwarp drive (an engine that is capable of traveling between the space-time continuum), updated defense and updated weaponry. Hopefully, however, this permanent mission will not result in the use of any such powerful weapons Starfleet, Federation's military force, has conjured up with, but the treat in uncharted territory is still great.
The flagship of this fleet was the U.S.S Vanguard NX-9844, a new class of starship, a larger and more powerful ship than any of Starfleet's previous models. The ship spanned over two kilometers in length, with an internal habitat dome for civilians, and all the latest technological advances that was spurred during the Dominion War…
"May I present Starfleet's newest class of small military craft—The Talon class fighter and bomber," said Admiral Ross over the audience who were to be on this mission, "The Talon Class Fighter [a life-size solid holographic model appeared in the large auditorium and started to rotate to give the audience the whole view of the craft], is Starfleet's fastest and most powerful fighter craft. In previous military engagements, Starfleet usually used larger flagships to engage the enemy; however, we all knew that this was our grievous fault. In the Dominion War, the Dominion used more expendable, more maneuverable smaller craft to engage our larger less expendable ships. This gave them an advantage over numbers. Thus, with our mission, Starfleet has designed the Talon Class Fighter, that is designed to engage in exactly the type of fighters I have described.
"The Talon Class bomber, on the other hand, is used first to draw fire away from larger hostile flagships and bombard them with quantum bombs. It is very maneuverable, however not as maneuverable as the fighter. And I would like to thank the Starfleet team for creating such masterful design to help us in this mission."
Ensign Peter Clemmings applauded with everyone else in the room. Admiral Ross continued to drone on about the mission. Peter was just promoted from cadet to Ensign right at the end of the Dominion War.
He was quite an interesting man, for one, his genetic or rather parental heritage gave him a great edge over his classmates during Starfleet Academy. He was endowed with the logic capacity of a Vulcan, for he was part Vulcan, but also with the sentimental values of Humans, the extremely fast reflexes from his Denebian great grandfather, and finally the telepathic ability from his Betazoid grandmother. This features expressed all of his heritage, and coalesced into quite a handsome man.
Peter accepted the mission because he wanted to do something great, and he knew that in this mission, he had the opportunity to do something great. Both his parents and his elder sister died fighting those blasted Jem'hadar Dominion soldiers. He wanted his parents, wherever they are, to be proud of him—and his senses told him, that this mission would make a great man.
Departure wouldn't be for another two days, and Peter had some farewells to say on Earth. He grew up here, on the luscious green planet of the Human homeworld. Peter had to pay a visit for his high school quantum physics teacher, for it was she who inspired Peter to join Starfleet. Peter had always had a little crush on Miss Sheener ever since he met her at the age of thirteen. She was an attractive woman in her early twenties back then, but Peter, having good senses knew that it was ludicrous to pursuit some romantic interlude in her.
Peter took his own vehicle, his parent's old shuttle-car and climbed in. "Computer, set a course for my old high school in England," he commanded the computer.
A almost seductive feminine voice responded, "Course set, my Peter." Peter always chuckled a little when he heard the voice on his vehicle. He was sick of the monotonous voice of the standard computer, so he had his friend reprogram it into the voice of a… well a seductive young woman.
"Transfer the controls to me, I would like to fly it," Peter told the computer. The computer chirped as Peter pressed a couple of buttons on the panel in front of him. The craft hovered slightly before accreting straight up into the California sky. He could set it on autopilot, but piloting the craft himself always gave Peter a little pleasure. His post was anyway to be a fighter pilot serving on the Vanguard.
There was much traffic in the sky that time. It was rush hour as people tried to get back to their family from work. Some even worked at Alpha Centauri, which was almost four light years away. They took the hourly warp transport to and from…
Peter landed his vehicle on the sky parking lot of his old high school.
He walked to Miss Sheener's office and knocked on her door.
"Come in please," he heard her voice say.
Peter walked in her office. It was exactly like he remembered. The pile of student PADDs lined neatly on her desk as she was grading their work. A large screen was on the opposite side of her desk with numerous physics equations and work. And there was a large window, giving great view of the modern London city. The school was actually two hundred stories into the air, and Peter greatly enjoyed the view from this altitude.
"Peter! It's so good to see you!" She exclaimed as she gave Peter a warm hug.
"Good evening Miss Sheener," Peter smiled and blushed slightly.
"Ah look at you… all handsome in that Starfleet uniform of yours… my it's been a long time… you're an Ensign already!"
"And you look just as beautiful as I have always remembered." NO! Retard! Peter thought to himself. He regretted his comment, for he didn't want his previous teacher to think of him as some… well… romantic admirer of her (even though this fact was slightly true).
"Well, I was just about to leave and go to the Sulu Bar tonight, but since you came… do you want to have dinner with me? We have lots to catch up my old student," she chuckled, "And don't call me Miss Sheener anymore, I'm not your teacher anymore, just call me Amanda."
"Sure… Amanda," it was odd for Peter to call her by her first name, "If you don't mind, I know this little restaurant on the Moon, I really enjoyed it there."
"Let's go, I haven't been to that rock in a month," Amanda laughed.
And so, they took Peter's ship and ate a hearty meal. They talked about Peter's Academy days, Amanda's teaching, and so forth."
"Meet any girls there at the Academy?" Amanda teased as she picked up a piece of Andorian lettuce with her fork.
"No… girls.. distract me from my study," Peter smiled.
Amanda gave a heartily laugh and said, "Always my studious student eh?"
Peter grinned, "Yep!"
"So, any special one on your heart right now?"
Peter looked down on his plate of Betazoid eel he forked it a couple of times and said, "To tell you the truth, Amanda, I had always had a little crush on you… you know… sort of a teacher fantasy thing—but now that you're not my teacher."
Amada laughed again. This was certainly a different side of his proper teacher, Peter thought, and he liked it. She said, "Older women?"
It was Peter's turn to laugh, "I guess you can say that."
There was a moment of silence in between, then Amanda asked, "What are your plans in Starfleet?"
Peter looked sad now, his eyes looking into Amanda's and said, "Well, I'm on the new Federation Expedition…"
Amanda placed her soft hand on Peter's and said, "Oh, so I guess I won't see you again…" She frowned.
"That's right… I'm… I don't know."
"Shh… it's alright."
They finished their dinner and Amanda still had her hand on Peter's as the walked out the restaurant. The biodome closed its shades, preparing itself for night, for this city was on the light side of the moon.
Peter walked out with Amanda, as they took the transit to the space dock. They exited the transit on the space dock station, only to find thousands of people were running towards the transit. The lights dimmed as a familiar siren of the red alert sound echoed through the station.
The intercom boomed, "All civilians please evacuate the area… a Jem'Hedar terrorist group is attacking the space dock. We shall begin transporter sweep immediately."
Peter just stood there, holding Amanda in his arms as the waves of people rushed towards the evacuating transits. Then he heard weapon fire all around… the blue beams randomly jumped through the area… killing numerous innocent civilians. Suddenly, the masses of people started to be transported out of this mess. Group by group, the people disappeared into a sparkle of white light. The transporter sweep was almost at Peter's group when a striking blue beam hit Amanda square on her chest.
"AMANDA! NO!" Peter shouted.
She was not gasping for air as Peter felt the tingle of the transporter beam. Everything became a blur and he saw himself in the streets of a different Lunar city.
"WE HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY HERE!" Peter shouted. He saw a Starfleet doctor run towards them.
Peter held Amanda, his teacher, his mentor in his arms. "Amanda no!.. Please…"
"Kiss.. me Peter…"
Peter bended his head as his lips touched hers. He felt her smile, and as Peter's lips backed away, he saw that his teacher was dead.
Much of the Federation lay in waste. The Dominion War had caused much destruction to the Alpha Quadrant. The defeated Dominion was totally destroyed, and many of its rogue ships still continued to harass the victorious Federation, Klingon, and Romulan Civilizations.
Victory is hardly a word for the victorious. Several major Federation plants were totally devastated by the war. But there was hope, there still was hope for a successful reconstruction, for the capital of the Federation—Earth in the Sol System still stood proud as the center of the United Federation of Plants. Its blue-green marble of the capital planet represented many of the ideals that symbolize the Federation—freedom, democracy, and equality for all.
The Federation was planning an expeditionary force to explore and colonize the depths of the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The return of the starship Voyager recorded many remarkable parts of the galaxy (as well as many technological advances) that made the curious nature of the Federation people grow even more.
This mission was a mission of peace and exploration—to explore whole new words, meet new alien races, and hopefully make new galactic friends. A small fleet was assembled near the Utopia Shipyards orbiting Earth. The warp capable civilization—a civilization that has the ability to travel faster than light. The ability to travel twenty times, a hundred times, a thousand times faster than light now seemed like a distant reality, for with Voyager's return, Federation scientists has discovered a new mode to travel—Transwarp.
The fleet of ten new ships were all equipped with the transwarp drive (an engine that is capable of traveling between the space-time continuum), updated defense and updated weaponry. Hopefully, however, this permanent mission will not result in the use of any such powerful weapons Starfleet, Federation's military force, has conjured up with, but the treat in uncharted territory is still great.
The flagship of this fleet was the U.S.S Vanguard NX-9844, a new class of starship, a larger and more powerful ship than any of Starfleet's previous models. The ship spanned over two kilometers in length, with an internal habitat dome for civilians, and all the latest technological advances that was spurred during the Dominion War…
"May I present Starfleet's newest class of small military craft—The Talon class fighter and bomber," said Admiral Ross over the audience who were to be on this mission, "The Talon Class Fighter [a life-size solid holographic model appeared in the large auditorium and started to rotate to give the audience the whole view of the craft], is Starfleet's fastest and most powerful fighter craft. In previous military engagements, Starfleet usually used larger flagships to engage the enemy; however, we all knew that this was our grievous fault. In the Dominion War, the Dominion used more expendable, more maneuverable smaller craft to engage our larger less expendable ships. This gave them an advantage over numbers. Thus, with our mission, Starfleet has designed the Talon Class Fighter, that is designed to engage in exactly the type of fighters I have described.
"The Talon Class bomber, on the other hand, is used first to draw fire away from larger hostile flagships and bombard them with quantum bombs. It is very maneuverable, however not as maneuverable as the fighter. And I would like to thank the Starfleet team for creating such masterful design to help us in this mission."
Ensign Peter Clemmings applauded with everyone else in the room. Admiral Ross continued to drone on about the mission. Peter was just promoted from cadet to Ensign right at the end of the Dominion War.
He was quite an interesting man, for one, his genetic or rather parental heritage gave him a great edge over his classmates during Starfleet Academy. He was endowed with the logic capacity of a Vulcan, for he was part Vulcan, but also with the sentimental values of Humans, the extremely fast reflexes from his Denebian great grandfather, and finally the telepathic ability from his Betazoid grandmother. This features expressed all of his heritage, and coalesced into quite a handsome man.
Peter accepted the mission because he wanted to do something great, and he knew that in this mission, he had the opportunity to do something great. Both his parents and his elder sister died fighting those blasted Jem'hadar Dominion soldiers. He wanted his parents, wherever they are, to be proud of him—and his senses told him, that this mission would make a great man.
Departure wouldn't be for another two days, and Peter had some farewells to say on Earth. He grew up here, on the luscious green planet of the Human homeworld. Peter had to pay a visit for his high school quantum physics teacher, for it was she who inspired Peter to join Starfleet. Peter had always had a little crush on Miss Sheener ever since he met her at the age of thirteen. She was an attractive woman in her early twenties back then, but Peter, having good senses knew that it was ludicrous to pursuit some romantic interlude in her.
Peter took his own vehicle, his parent's old shuttle-car and climbed in. "Computer, set a course for my old high school in England," he commanded the computer.
A almost seductive feminine voice responded, "Course set, my Peter." Peter always chuckled a little when he heard the voice on his vehicle. He was sick of the monotonous voice of the standard computer, so he had his friend reprogram it into the voice of a… well a seductive young woman.
"Transfer the controls to me, I would like to fly it," Peter told the computer. The computer chirped as Peter pressed a couple of buttons on the panel in front of him. The craft hovered slightly before accreting straight up into the California sky. He could set it on autopilot, but piloting the craft himself always gave Peter a little pleasure. His post was anyway to be a fighter pilot serving on the Vanguard.
There was much traffic in the sky that time. It was rush hour as people tried to get back to their family from work. Some even worked at Alpha Centauri, which was almost four light years away. They took the hourly warp transport to and from…
Peter landed his vehicle on the sky parking lot of his old high school.
He walked to Miss Sheener's office and knocked on her door.
"Come in please," he heard her voice say.
Peter walked in her office. It was exactly like he remembered. The pile of student PADDs lined neatly on her desk as she was grading their work. A large screen was on the opposite side of her desk with numerous physics equations and work. And there was a large window, giving great view of the modern London city. The school was actually two hundred stories into the air, and Peter greatly enjoyed the view from this altitude.
"Peter! It's so good to see you!" She exclaimed as she gave Peter a warm hug.
"Good evening Miss Sheener," Peter smiled and blushed slightly.
"Ah look at you… all handsome in that Starfleet uniform of yours… my it's been a long time… you're an Ensign already!"
"And you look just as beautiful as I have always remembered." NO! Retard! Peter thought to himself. He regretted his comment, for he didn't want his previous teacher to think of him as some… well… romantic admirer of her (even though this fact was slightly true).
"Well, I was just about to leave and go to the Sulu Bar tonight, but since you came… do you want to have dinner with me? We have lots to catch up my old student," she chuckled, "And don't call me Miss Sheener anymore, I'm not your teacher anymore, just call me Amanda."
"Sure… Amanda," it was odd for Peter to call her by her first name, "If you don't mind, I know this little restaurant on the Moon, I really enjoyed it there."
"Let's go, I haven't been to that rock in a month," Amanda laughed.
And so, they took Peter's ship and ate a hearty meal. They talked about Peter's Academy days, Amanda's teaching, and so forth."
"Meet any girls there at the Academy?" Amanda teased as she picked up a piece of Andorian lettuce with her fork.
"No… girls.. distract me from my study," Peter smiled.
Amanda gave a heartily laugh and said, "Always my studious student eh?"
Peter grinned, "Yep!"
"So, any special one on your heart right now?"
Peter looked down on his plate of Betazoid eel he forked it a couple of times and said, "To tell you the truth, Amanda, I had always had a little crush on you… you know… sort of a teacher fantasy thing—but now that you're not my teacher."
Amada laughed again. This was certainly a different side of his proper teacher, Peter thought, and he liked it. She said, "Older women?"
It was Peter's turn to laugh, "I guess you can say that."
There was a moment of silence in between, then Amanda asked, "What are your plans in Starfleet?"
Peter looked sad now, his eyes looking into Amanda's and said, "Well, I'm on the new Federation Expedition…"
Amanda placed her soft hand on Peter's and said, "Oh, so I guess I won't see you again…" She frowned.
"That's right… I'm… I don't know."
"Shh… it's alright."
They finished their dinner and Amanda still had her hand on Peter's as the walked out the restaurant. The biodome closed its shades, preparing itself for night, for this city was on the light side of the moon.
Peter walked out with Amanda, as they took the transit to the space dock. They exited the transit on the space dock station, only to find thousands of people were running towards the transit. The lights dimmed as a familiar siren of the red alert sound echoed through the station.
The intercom boomed, "All civilians please evacuate the area… a Jem'Hedar terrorist group is attacking the space dock. We shall begin transporter sweep immediately."
Peter just stood there, holding Amanda in his arms as the waves of people rushed towards the evacuating transits. Then he heard weapon fire all around… the blue beams randomly jumped through the area… killing numerous innocent civilians. Suddenly, the masses of people started to be transported out of this mess. Group by group, the people disappeared into a sparkle of white light. The transporter sweep was almost at Peter's group when a striking blue beam hit Amanda square on her chest.
"AMANDA! NO!" Peter shouted.
She was not gasping for air as Peter felt the tingle of the transporter beam. Everything became a blur and he saw himself in the streets of a different Lunar city.
"WE HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY HERE!" Peter shouted. He saw a Starfleet doctor run towards them.
Peter held Amanda, his teacher, his mentor in his arms. "Amanda no!.. Please…"
"Kiss.. me Peter…"
Peter bended his head as his lips touched hers. He felt her smile, and as Peter's lips backed away, he saw that his teacher was dead.