Chapter Eleven
Captain's Personal Log.
For three days we have been orbit of Romulus while the cure for the Langaran Plague has been disseminated throughout the Empire, so far all results look promising.
Ambassador Sarek is close to completion of his negotiations with the Romulan Senate, it looks like there is an end in sight to this long and costly war which has been in effect for almost 150 years. Six hours ago, the Praetor himself had granted Doctor Selana a pardon for her actions during her defection to the Federation and granted her the rank of Romulan Ambassador to the Federation, a role which she is uniquely qualified. With the medical ships now positioned throughout the Empire, it looks like we have finally beaten this deadly plague once and for all.
On the upside, Doctor McCoy is looking forwards to returning home to Earth. However, I think he's considering retiring from the service.
Once back onboard the USS Enterprise, Captain Kirk and his team where finally returned to their normal appearance thanks to Doctor Walsh and his medical staff.
"Lieutenant Uhura, contact Romulus and request clearance to depart"
"Already done sir, the Praetor's Pride will escort us to the… the Neutral Zone sir" She smiled.
"Very well, Sulu… take us out of orbit, warp six"
"Aye sir, Warp six" Sulu smiled.
"Take us home…"
Slowly leaving orbit of the Romulan homeworld, the Enterprise gracefully slipped into warp with the former enemy vessel close behind, it felt unnerving for the crew to have such a powerful enemy ship in close formation with the Enterprise. Although her weapons and shields where not active at this time, the Romulans could easily change their minds and turn on the Federation Starship at a moments notice. With his finger ever ready to activate the weapons and shields of the Enterprise, Chekov kept a close eye on their escort for any sign of a change in their systems. With Sarek and the new Romulan Ambassador onboard, the Enterprise could be considered a prime target for any vessel or Empire willing too destroy the trust Kirk and Sarek had worked so hard to create between the two powers.
As they approached the Neutral Zone, the signal was given too the Enterprise that the Romulan Flagship was approaching the end of their assignment as Kirk leaned forwards in his command chair and smiled slightly at the screen while the face of the Romulan Commander appeared on screen. In some way, it was almost eerie for the crew to look upon the face of the Romulan Commander, in many ways he was almost an exact double of the Vulcan Ambassador himself, even his voice and mannerisms where identical, obviously due to some family line somewhere in the deep past.
"Captain Kirk, we have reached the end of our territory"
"So I see. Thanks for the escort" Kirk smiled.
"I wish you a fair journey Captain Kirk. Ambassador Sarek, you have charged with a great honour, your name will live on amongst my people"
"I am honoured, but it is Captain Kirk and Ambassador Selana who deserve such high honour, without their involvement, this would not have been possible"
"So it is…" He nodded. "Perhaps sometime in the near future, we can sit down together and attempt to trace our family history… we appear to be more then mere brothers… at least within our species"
"Someday, anything is possible"
"Admiral… Please inform the Praetor that I will continue with this… meeting on Earth and I look forwards too his presence to formalise our treaty"
"It shall be done. Fair journey Enterprise and good luck"
Nodding slightly, the screen returned to the image of the stars passing by at warp as Enterprise returned to Federation Space and leapt into high warp towards its destination, Earth.
Returning too a hero's welcome, the Enterprise slipped into orbit above her homeworld along side many Federation Starships of various designs, knowledge of the possible end to the war had echoed around the Federation as a possible end in sight for the long conflict between the two great empires of the Alpha Quadrant. For the first time in over two years and since his capture by Romulan forces, Doctor McCoy set foot on his homeworld to a large reception at Starfleet Command in his honour as a hero of the Federation. The ever grumpy and moaning doctor refused to take his position amongst the Federation's greatest heroes and quickly retired from Starfleet service to take up a private practice in his home town for a brief time.
After completing the remainder of his five year mission, Captain James T. Kirk was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral and made Chief of Starfleet Operations after the promotion of Christopher Pike. Quickly establishing himself within the Admiralty, Kirk ordered a refit of the USS Enterprise lasting over two years as once again the legendary vessel was launched under the Command of the newly promoted Captain Spock and his new wife, Uhura. Successfully completing another five year mission, the USS Enterprise was eventually lost in battle over the Genesis Planet while attempting to protect its secrets from the Klingon Empire along with eight other Starships including the latest Starfleet vessel, the USS Excelsior and her commanding officer, Captain Hikaru Sulu.
After the destruction of the USS Enterprise NCC-300-A, a new ship was quickly commissioned. Based on the same design, and originally designated the USS Yorktown, the new USS Enterprise NCC-300-B was launched under the Command of Captain Willard Decker, after a less then successful first mission, Decker left the service in shame, forcing a now living legend to take up command of the new ship. Taking a voluntary demotion, James T. Kirk returned too the bridge of a Starship as Captain once more.
In 2293, the final preparations for the treaty between Earth and Romulus where completed after over twenty years of negotiations by Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan and Ambassador Selana of Romulus near the Neutral Zone, present was the Klingon Chancellor Gorkon a peace treaty which redefined the galaxy in ways that no one could have imagined. However, during the treaty signing ceremony, a large black vessel of unknown origin attempted to attack and end the signing of the Khitomer Accords, a vessel that was eventually stopped by a combined Federation, Romulan and Klingon fleet led by the USS Enterprise NCC-300-B on what was her last mission.
After a short service life, the NCC-300-B of only ten years, the aging space vessel was swiftly retired, and placed in a position of honour along side her lineage vessels. Three months later the NCC-300-B was replaced by a larger sleeker looking new vessel designated USS Enterprise NCC-300-C under the Command of Captain John Harriman. Considered the largest and most powerful vessel created to date, she was launched in a large ceremony attended by the surviving members of the Enterprise crew along with James T. Kirk, Pavel Chekov, Montgomery Scott, Leonard McCoy and Spock. Serving with distinction and honour, the Enterprise NCC-300-C was eventually lost in action near the Klingon Neutral Zone, the cause of the loss was never fully discovered. Years later, a new Enterprise was launched.
In 2344, under the command of Captain Rachel Garrett, the USS Enterprise NCC-300-D was destroyed in combat while protecting a Klingon Planet, Narendra III from a fleet of unknown black Starships. The origin of the dark vessels where not discovered for many years to come.
In 2363, the latest in a long line of vessels named USS Enterprise was eventually launched. Under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the largest and most powerful vessel ever created by Starfleet and pushing design limits beyond anything previously seen, she was launched with full Starfleet honours, given the registration of NCC-300-E, the large sleek Sovereign Class Starship was once again granted the converted position of Federation Flagship and launched on a long voyage of exploration across the galaxy. With the ever present threat of attack from the still unknown starships, it would a matter of historical record that the long history of the USS Enterprise and her centuries long association with the Romulans and the Langaran Plague was far from over.