Star Trek: The Next Generation
The Prime Directive
Chapter Six
Captain's Log: Stardate 53072.5
For two days the delegations from both the Northern Alliance and Southern Coalition have been onboard the Enterprise and I can honestly say that it has been the most difficult peace negotiations of my career to date. The level of mistrust and hatred between the two powers of this world dates back for centuries however, I believe that we have negotiated a cease-fire between the two powers.
Although the cultural contamination left behind by the USS Copernicus has been extensive, I predict a bright future for this species, assuming of course that they can put aside their differences and work towards their common goals.
In response to this, the remains of the Shuttlecraft left by the Copernicus and those of the bodies of her crew have been returned to the Enterprise for analysis and eventual return to Earth. I now face myself with an unusual request from Colonel Galen Antos with regards too his future.
Standing side-by-side in the transporter room of the gallant Starship, the Regent of the Northern Alliance and First Minister of the Southern Coalition shook hands with a large smile on each of their faces before they bowed with the traditional respect and salutation for the Captain of the Enterprise as he stood wearing his white dress-uniform. With their respective advisors transported down to the planet moments before, it was now their turn to return to the transporter coordinates together as a symbol of peace between them, the small island where Colonel Galen Antos had lived in isolation for many years.
"Captain Picard, you are a most wise and honourable man. You have done what Generations of my family could not achieve. Given our combined peoples a chance for peace for the first time in centuries"
"Madam Regent, I regret that we most have met under these circumstances" Picard said politely.
"As are we both Captain Picard…" She replied. "This is a most, impressive vessel Captain. Perhaps one day we will meet again under more… peaceful circumstances?"
"Captain Picard, may I offer my apologies once again for the way of which your crewman had been treated by my forces?"
"Noted First Minister, and thank you. The Ensign has fully recovered and has returned to his duties"
"That is good to hear sir" The First Minister replied slowly with a nod and smile on his face.
"Galen, my old friend" The Regent aid slowly. "Are you sure of your choice?"
"Yes ma'am, I am. Captain Picard has granted me permission to remain onboard his vessel, with the authority of his own commanders. I can do more for our combined people from here my old friend, with the Captain's permission, we now have a voice within their Federation. Continue with your peace talks and finally put a formal end to the Cold-War, and work together for the first time. When you both finally work together there is nothing that can stop us and I have no doubt that the Federation will be waiting for our people to take our place in the galaxy"
As the signal was given for the two guests to depart the vessel, Galen walked towards the Regent and against all protocol, hugged her gently before shaking the hand of the First Minister. Finally stepping onto the transporter platform, the boatswain's whistle echoed through the transporter room as Galen saluted the two guests and held the salute as the dematerialised and left the ship for the last time. With a nod from the Captain, Galen lowered his salute and smiled slightly as he shook the hand of his new superior officer. Although not a Starfleet Officer, he had been granted the rights of Observer from his own people.
"Well Colonel, welcome aboard"
"Thank you Captain Picard. I shall return to my quarters and await your orders sir" Galen said with a smile.
"Why the wait? You have a lot to learn. I have to ask one thing though" He said as he walked out of the transporter room with Galen at his side. "You side that Enterprise meant something in your native language, what is it?"
"Enti'Prix. Roughly translated Captain as Bovine Excrement" Galen said with a slight smile on his face. "Lieutenant McDonough say's 'Bull-Shit'"
Captain's Log: Stardate 55043.2
After three years, the Enterprise is currently enroute to the planet where we had once negotiated a cease fire between two rival states since contact had been lost almost one year ago. I regret that it had taken this long to return to this most promising world, however recent events within the Federation had warranted Starfleet's absence. Three days ago, we rendezvoused with the USS Charleston for the transfer of two passengers, the recently promoted Commander Alison Macdonough and Colonel Galen Antos, surprisingly enough, her new husband.
Entering the bridge of the Federation Flagship, Colonel Galen Antos nodded to the captain and his new First Officer, Commander Martin Madden as he stepped towards the helm of the ship he had once called home for a brief time.
"Eager to return home Antos?" Picard said with a smile.
"Yes sir. However, the loss of communication is troubling. Last reports from the Regent said that everything was going well, they where sharing all of the technology they had discovered from the shuttle with the Coalition"
"I've read up on this case Captain. It's very… tender subject with Starfleet, almost classified" Said the First Officer.
"It was Commander, since it dealt with a very dangerous violation of the Prime Directive. A stalemate had occurred on my homeworld as they both pointed anti-matter weapons at each other. I just hope that…"
"We have entered the system sir, dropping out of warp" Called out the helm officer.
"On screen Lieutenant" Picard replied slowly.
Switching from the streams of stars at warp speeds to the image of a distant planet, it was instantly magnified as a horrific image filled the main view-screen before them. Galen's jaw dropped as he looked up at the sphere that he once called home, a once blue and green planet with oceans which circled the globe with the acceptation of two large land masses near the equator and a spattering of small islands which had now been reduced to little more then an ugly brown and chaotic looking planet which had been covered with high speed winds.
"What the hell?" Galen said slowly. "Check the coordinates, this can't be right"
"The coordinates are confirmed sir. This is A'kara"
"No, this isn't right, what the hell happened?" Galen said as he felt sick to his stomach.
"Sensors are detecting Anti-matter contamination in the upper atmosphere, it appears to be the result of…"
"They did it! They actually did it. Those Stupid BASTARDS!" Galen yelled.
"I am detecting life signs sir. Northern continent, close to the northern polar region"
"Captain? If some of my people are still alive…"
"Contamination in that area?" Picard said.
"Weaker sir, but still at dangerous levels" Replied the Science officer.
"Commander Madden, assemble a team. Colonel?"
"Are you kidding me Jean-Luc? Try and keep me away. This is all my fault…"
"We all share an element of blame here Colonel…" Picard replied instantly. "… Go!"
After moving the Starship into a location above the survivors, a small away team of four had beamed down to the location of the life signs which was inside a small cave network deep inside a frozen wasteland of the planet's northern pole. Instantly reaching for their Tricorders, the Enterprise away team scanned the immediate area as a Lieutenant began to walk around, only to be quickly grabbed and pulled aside the Colonel himself.
"Lieutenant, you will survive longer if you look where you are walking. Do you see those mounds under the snow? They are land-mines. Step on one of those, and you kiss your ass good-bye"
"Thank you sir" She replied with wide eyes of fear.
"From now on, everyone step where I step, in my foot-prints exactly. Am I Clear?"
"Tricorders are not picking up any land-mines Mister Galen" Madden replied quickly.
"They wouldn't. They are… let's just say shielded. Now, follow me carefully or I will have to take you back to the ship in a bucket. Am I clear?"
"Crystal sir" The Lieutenant replied.
Slowly and carefully they followed the Colonel's footsteps into the cave network as the cold and biting air blew through them, wearing large padded jackets for warmth, the Enterprise away team followed the alien deeper into the network until the could finally walk free from the fear of the land-mines which lined the cave entrance and inner chambers. On many of the walls, blood and charring marks from earlier detonations could be clearly seen as they walked freely, shivering while the Colonel wore only civilian clothing along with his Starfleet Comm-badge and Phaser.
"How can you not be cold Galen?" Complained the First Officer.
"Are you kidding me? This is exhilarating, I had almost forgotten what it felt like"
"He lives in Alaska Commander. Apparently, he loves the cold" Smiled a Lieutenant.
"My species loves the cold… Shhh… That way" Galen said as he pointed towards a cave to his left.
Following what appeared to be a light source along with the sounds of conversations, they finally entered a large cavern filled with hundreds of people. Smiling widely, Galen approached one of the survivors with his hands held out before him as he spoke.
"I didn't think it was possible"
"I do not recognise you, or any of you. Who are you?" Said an elderly woman.
"Galen Antos, this is Commander Madden. What happened here?"
"Galen?…"
Quickly turning towards a child at her side, the elderly woman spoke with a whisper before the child nodded and ran away as a large group of the survivors walked towards them holding anything they could in their hands as weapons.
"YOU! I know of you. You did this to us, to all of us. You dare to show your face here?" The elderly woman said with a deep hatred in her voice.
"What? We are here to…"
"Gloat? You have finally returned from your Space-Vessel, from your luxury to observe the suffering of your own people?" She said as she pushed him hard fuelled with her own anger.
"Madam, we had lost contact with…"
"Yes-yes-yes Commander Riker, I know all about you and your Star-fleet. Come to claim this world as your own? You can have it. What is left of it"
"Actually, my name is not Riker. He took his own command, I'm Commander..."
"STEP AWAY FROM THEM!" A voice called out. "Galen, is that you?"
The large gathered crowd slowly moved aside as two figures approached the away team slowly, shock devoured the Colonel as he saw who stepped before him as he spoke.
"Regent, Jared. What happened here?"
"These are honoured guests, I expect that you would all treat them as such" Jared said quickly. "Follow us, we will explain everything"
The Enterprise away team sat inside a large ice-cavern as the Regent and former enemy of the Alliance told them the full story of what had happened, how the cease fire had lasted for six months between the two powers and how the Alliance had given all of their research freely to the Coalition with nothing in return. After requesting that all of the Southern Coalition would give a copy of their own research, they had refused and in return they had launched an Anti-Matter warhead at the Alliance which impacted in the desert wastelands to the north of their Capital city and within one hour, the Alliance had retaliated with their own weapons of mass destruction leading to an all out war which lasted mere hours and devastated the planet itself, costing billions of lives on both sides.
"Ohh my god!" Galen said in disbelief. "Why would you do that! Why?"
"We have spent years asking that very same question" The Regent said slowly and with regret. "With Billions dead and our forces decimated, our cities vaporised… we headed north away from the radiation. We lost thousands of people on the way here Colonel, we finally found this place. A Cave deep enough for us to survive away from the radiation…"
"The South was worst hit, I gathered as many together as I could in a small squadron of transports and headed north away from the contamination. I had only enough fuel to reach the capital city of the north, we refuelled and I found more survivors, they said that a few headed up here… I brought who I could fit in the transports. Galen, a riot started, we could not fit the all inside and take off safely. We left them, I left them to die. We found this place with seventy-nine people… hundreds more left to die from the effects of…"
"You did what you had to do Jared" Galen said slowly. "How many are left? Jared. How many are left?"
"Sixteen thousand four hundred and fourteen at the last count, four months ago. We are all scattered out across the cave networks" The young former Regent replied.
"Commander, is there anything you can do for them?"
"Galen, we can't take that many people with us, as much as I sympathise with their situation, we just can not carry that many people onboard the ship" Madden replied.
"Commander, they WILL die here if you do nothing. Are you not sworn to help those in need? Look at them, they are in need now"
"Galen, we simply can not accommodate this number of refugees"
"Then FIND A ship that CAN!" Galen replied as he grabbed the commander's jacket and lifted him off of his feet.
"I was warned about you Galen. Madden to Enterprise, we have a very large problem down here"
Captain's Log: Supplemental
Evacuating the survivors of the planet has become a difficult task as eight vessels including two personnel transports and three medical vessels had arrived to assist, yet still pushing our resources to breaking point, especially since we had located over four thousand more survivors in isolated pockets around the planet which has taken the number of survivors to well over twenty thousand. The contamination in the atmosphere of the planet has made it impossible to reverse, we now in the process of relocating the entire species to a nearby and suitable M-Class Moon, roughly thrity light-years away from their former homeworld.
Travelling at the low speed of Warp 5, the fleet of Starships as led by the USS Enterprise had finally reached the small star system of three planets and more specifically, the M-Class moon which orbited a Class J gas giant, deep inside Federation Space. It was a vision of solitude and beauty as the ships slipped into orbit around the sub-tropical moon which had been locked around the gas-giant itself, in a perfect orbit the moon always face the singular main sequence star at the centre of the system bathing the planet in a warm and live-giving glow to the lush moon itself which was almost identical in size and conditions to their former homeworld.
Sat on the bridge of the Enterprise with the first officer in the centre seat, Galen leaned forwards slightly with a large smile on his face as he examined what would become the new home world of his species along with the majestic vision of the large ringed gas-giant behind the moon.
"My god, it's beautiful"
"Helm, inform the fleet to take us into orbit around the moon" Madden said with a slight smile of agreement. "We should begin transport of the equipment down to the selected area as soon as we are in position. Colonel Galen, please inform your people that we have arrived"
"Yes sir" He said with a nod. "I estimate it will take at least seven maybe eight days to have the new colony ready for the survivors. Things may move a lot quicker if my people can help?"
"Make it so!" A more then familiar voice called out as the Captain exited the Turbo-lift.
"Thank you Captain. Have you taken my request into consideration Captain?"
"I have, follow me please Mister Galen, Number One, you also" Picard said as he stepped into his ready room with the Colonel's new wife at his side.
Walking around his desk, the Captain sat slowly in his chair as the doors slid closed behind while Galen stood to attention as he always did when the captain was around. Although not a part of Starfleet nor under is command, he had once mentioned to the Captain that it was a sign of respect for his rank and the man he had come to admire and respect in the three years that he had known him.
"I remember the brash and unusual Colonel who once demanded my assistance in putting an end to a war which could have devastated his homeworld. Shortly afterwards, he requested to remain onboard the Enterprise, which he once told me meant 'Bull-Shit' in his native language. Remaining onboard and after clashing several times with Commander Riker, he instantly began to shake things up on the Enterprise, even challenging the Commander and the Chief of Security to a war-game, a 'Man-Hunt' If I recall correctly"
"Yes sir, not to mention that fact that I spent seven days on that planet, avoiding the Commander, your Chief of Security and Fourteen of your Security teams"
"Indeed Antos. I have a lot of respect for you and your abilities. Needless to say, I even requested that you trained Starfleet Officers at the Academy in your unusual techniques" Picard smiled as he leaned backwards in his seat and folded his arms. "And now, you are requesting to leave as an Observer to help with the rebuild of your civilisation?"
"Yes Captain, I have learned a lot from you, your crew and Starfleet. Teachings that I feel I can now pass on to my own people. They need me sir, as it will not be an easy task for them Captain, with so many from the former Northern Alliance and Southern Coalition now forced to live and survive together, old rivalries may soon reappear between them. I can't allow that to happen Captain" Galen said as he stood at ease, in military fashion.
"Your wife has also requested a leave of absence to assist you. I can not allow that…"
"But Captain I…" Galen protested.
"… Allow me to finish Colonel. A leave of absence is not possible under the current circumstances, however with the approval of Starfleet Command and the Federation Council, you and your wife will be assigned as a Federation Observers and Liaison Officers to your people for the foreseeable future. You will both send bi-monthly reports to Starfleet Command on the progress of your colony. You will be given one Starfleet Runabout for official use along with twenty-eight industrial replicator units…"
"Thank you Captain" Galen said with a large smile.
"Know this Colonel, your people will be monitored by the Federation now and you and your people will be expected to abide by the Rules and Regulations of the Federation itself whilst we assess your situation. As of this moment, a Federation Starship will return every six months to monitor your situation" Picard said sternly.
Slowly standing, he tugged at his uniform tunic with a slight one-sided smile on his face as he continued to speak as he shook the hand of the alien Colonel before him.
"Good Lucky, Colonel Galen, Antos"
Slowly walking through the newly constructed Colony as the large gas giant remained motionless in the skies above, the away team from the Enterprise herself where the last to leave the planet after delivering a single Danube Class Runabout for the sole use of the Starfleet Officer herself. Equipped solely for her purpose, under the prevision that only she would pilot the vessel, it had been placed in a secured location away from the civilians of the Colony itself. Stood by a large complex, constructed as a medical centre which had been equipped with supplies by one of the Medical vessels in orbit, Picard slowly looked around at the growing colony around him as he nodded slowly to himself.
"Well Colonel, you have a lot of work to do"
"Yes Captain, Jean-Luc. It has… been an honour to know you. You will be honoured by our people, all of you as saviours of our race. At any time, you are all welcome to return to this world…" Galen replied with pride in his eyes.
"It would be interesting to return to see what you have accomplished. I understand that your people want you to stand as their leader?"
"It's a great honour, but I've turned it down… I'm no leader Picard"
"Of that Galen, you are wrong. You once said that you wished to teach your people, this is your opportunity. Commander Macdonough, are you sure that you wish to remain behind?"
Turning towards her husband slowly with a large smile on her face, her left hand slipped his as she nodded slightly and spoke without taking her eyes off of her husband.
"For Antos sir? I never been more sure of anything in my life. And my name is Galen sir, Alison Galen. I am a Scientist Captain, the chance to study a growing civilization first hand without hiding? can not be ignored. I will be fine Captain, I'll send my first reports through in one month once everything and everyone is settled in here. We have already picked out a place to build a home, just on the outskirts of the colony, Galen enjoys the silence and I must admit, I've become accustom to it myself"
Slowly walking towards the Captain with several children following him, the First Officer nodded towards Galen as he reported the status of the fleet above and the Colony itself.
"Well Galen, we must be leaving. Good luck Colonel"
"And to you Captain, Commander. It has been a real pleasure… next time that you are in the area, drop by and say hello"
"Of course Colonel, Commander… Picard to Enterprise, away team to beam up. Energize!"
Disappearing before them as the children waved goodbye as the vanished from sight, Alison turned once again towards her husband as they both walked into the newly built medical centre with a gentle smile on their faces while Alison spoke softly while she picked up a tricorder of older design.
"Did you tell them?"
"No, I didn't, I thought it would be best to leave the news for awhile…"
The End…