While the Alexandria was on its way back to Earth, Hilary Kazarick wrapped her fingers around the badly damaged EPS conduit and forcefully yanked it out of the blackened wall. It was just one of many ruined conduits in main engineering, and as it fell, a shower of sparks blanketed the floor.
"It's going to take months to get this ship back together." She said Commander Zofchak.
His face was smudged with soot and his brown hair was peppered with spots of ash, however, he was not at all discouraged by the bleak prediction. "With the war over, we get to go into the rebuilding phase."
Kazarick reached into the open conduit and yanked out a charred gel pack and handed it to Zofchak, who in turn tossed it into a rather large pile of burned out gel packs. As far as they could tell, all of the damaged components were removed and all that remained were the ODN relays and a few isolinear chips that helped run the secondary systems.
"Fortunately, most of the damage in engineering is superficial and we can have it repaired by tomorrow. However, the rest of the ship is a whole other story." Dustin said. "The senior officers are going to be meeting together in the observation lounge at fifteen hundred hours. I'm going to place you in charge of engineering during that time."
"You got it, sir."
The Alexandria had returned to Earth and Captain Allensworth beamed down to Starfleet Headquarters. He stood next to Captain Stork as well as Captain Picard and Captain Sisko. In front of them, Admiral Janeway, Admiral Ross and Admiral Ellison sat at a table across from the Emperor and Empress of the Terran Empire. Allensworth could tell that the empress was a descendant of Hoshi Sato, who in their universe had proclaimed herself as empress after she obtained control of the USS Defiant that had disappeared in Tholian space in 2268 and ended up in the Mirror Universe back in the year 2155.
The Emperor of the Empire signed a document, finalizing the end of the war and slid it over to Admiral Ross. "The war between the Terran Empire and the Federation is now over."
Admiral Ross stood up and spoke. "Four hundred years ago, a victorious general spoke the following words at the end of another costly war: 'Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended…we have known the bitterness of defeat and the exultation of triumph, and from both, we have learned there can be no going back. We must move forward to preserve in peace what we've won in war."
Captain Sisko grinned as he knew that Ross had said those same words at the end of the Dominion War. The Emperor and Empress stood up and both nodded to the three admirals and walked out of the room with a security escort.
A short time later, the senior officers as well as other crewmembers stood in Ten Forward of the Alexandria-A. Captain Stork and Lieutenant Commander Trinn stood with them as well. In front of the windows was the torpedo casing that held the body of Jason Sparhawk. Empty torpedo casings also served as caskets to officers lost in the line of duty. Each officer held a glass of Chateau Picard and raised it once Allensworth raised his.
"To absent friends."
Each one took a sip from their glass and none of them really spoke afterwards.
"I remember having Jason as my Operations officer and then this guy over here decided to take him and make him his first officer."
Allensworth smiled at the playful jab Stork gave him. "He was a hell of a first officer."
Stork nodded in agreement. Allensworth thought back when he read Sparhawk's record. The man had lost his father in the battle of Wolf 359 and then lost his step-sister during the Dominion War. He knew what it was like lose family members and his heart went out to his mother, who right now was crying her eyes out at the loss of another family member.
The officers all shared their own stories of Commander Sparhawk with each other. Allensworth's attention went from one to the other. His own memories went through his head. He was going to miss him dearly. He raised his glass one more time, this time towards the casket.
"Here's to one of the finest Starfleet officers I've had the honor of serving with. To Commander Jason Sparhawk." Everyone raised their glasses and then took a drink from them.
"He's really not dead." Doctor Plumley said. "As long as we remember him."
Allensworth smiled as he stared at the casket. After a few seconds of looking at the casket, he walked over to Alex Merriell who was standing next to Counselor Nycz and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I know he'd be proud to have you as his successor."
Alex returned a weak smile. "I know, sir. On a more positive note, although I'm not used to it but red does look good on me."
"Yes it does, Commander. Have you decided who would replace you at Ops?"
"One person I had in mind was Lieutenant Commander Ra'chel Johnson."
Allensworth nodded. "All right, as your first duty as first officer, make sure she knows the ropes of being part of alpha shift."
"Yes, sir." Alex said.
Allensworth turned and left. He walked out of the room and headed for his ready room. He was still mourning for his former first officer but Sparhawk did his duty to save the ship and its crew. The needs of the many out weight the needs of the few or the one. It was because of his sacrifice that everyone else on the ship now lives to experience another day. Plumley's statement was correct; Jason was not completely gone as long as people remembered him.
A smile crept along his face as he thought about what lies ahead in the ever changing future. He now had a new first officer and operations officer. He knew then just as he knew now, that everything will be all right.
The End