2367: Foundation

(USS Nash – Bridge – 2367.11.07, 0812)

Captain Richard McKinley was glad to see Earth growing large on the viewscreen. His ship was crammed to the rafters with former colonists. These people had been living near the Federation-Cardassian border. But now there was an armistice with the Cardassians. And there were rumors that a more formal Federation-Cardassian treaty was in the works. And these people had not intention of waiting for that hammer to fail. So they had booked passage on the Nash.

"Entering standard orbit, sir," Lieutenant Hank McCoy, the Nash's Chief Pilot said.

"Excellent." McKinley said. "Beam down course and schedule on main viewer."

"Aye, Captain."

McCoy worked the console and the main screen changed. The view of Earth was replaced by a map with a red line on it. Said line was the Nash's course. Blue dots marked the places that they would be beaming people down to. Next to each dot were three pieces of information. First was the name of the destination, then came the time of the beam down and finally the number of people that would be going there. One name on the screen made McKinley frown. ~Nothing, Arizona ?~

It had been his grandfather, Brewster, who had crashed the SS Rusty Bucket near that town. After he had been treated for his injuries, Brewster had been sentenced to ten years in jail for a laundry list of charges. Ironically, it had been that prison sentence that had broken the McKinley curse. In jail, there had been no alcohol. And the jail staff had included an excellent therapist called Gerald Jones. Jones had helped Brewster deal with all the demons that had driven him to drink. Brewster had left jail in much better shape, physically and mentally, then as he had come in.

Two weeks after his release, Brewster had met Asami Kimura while travelling through Japan. The two of them had fallen in love instantly and gotten married less the two months later. And that had been that. Brewster had gotten his happily ever after and become the father of three boys and two girls, including Richard's mother Hoshi. Hoshi had married a Starfleet officer called Zachary Peters, who had passed the Starfleet bug to his son. And here he was, twenty-eight years old and already in the center seat of his own ship.

"Captain, is something wrong ?" McCoy asked, breaking his reverie.

"No, Lieutenant, I was just pondering what our chances for short leave were." The Nash and crew had been working for eight months straight. "I figure if we get everybody down there on time, maybe we can get a day or two off before our next run." He smiled at McCoy. "So, keep her steady and let's gets to it."

"Aye, captain."

McCoy turned his attention back to his station, while McKinley made a mental note call his parents later.

(USS Nash – Transporter Room – 2367.11.07, 1205)

Morack Wels was a Bajoran man. Until a couple of days ago, he had been a farmer on Volan Two. But when he had heard the rumors about a formal treaty between the Federation and Cardassians, he had decided to leave. He had no idea where he would settle, but Earth was the most distant destination available. And then he would take it from there. ~Well, technically, from Nothing.~ When he had booked his ticket, the system had asked him where on Earth he wanted to go. He had picked Nothing, Arizona because it was a ghost town in the middle of nowhere. Morack figured it gave him the best chance of beaming down alone.

So he was surprised to find three more people in the transporter room. Two of them were Humans, a male and a female, and the last was a female Vulcan. The Humans were wearing wedding rings. He stepped onto the transporter platform. ~Time to go.~ The transporter chief energized and…

(Earth, Arizona – Desert outside Nothing – 2367.11.07, 1206)

…the transporter room was replaced by the Mojave desert. And once again, Morack's expectations were not met. He had picked Nothing after reading the town's entry in the Federation database. And according to that entry, this place should have been dead as a doornail. But instead, there were desert grasses, cacti and even a few trees. Apparently, the local flora and fauna had recovered how they had been before the terraforming project. But none of this helped him with the big question. ~Now what ?~

Morack walked into the town, which was a mix of ruins and abandoned buildings. He found a house that was dusty, but intact. His plan was stay here until sunset, then head out. The house was a single room. There was a bed, a sink, a crude table with two chairs and hot plate. And all of it was covered in a thick layer of dust. ~It'll do.~ He dropped his bags on the floor.

"Are you staying ?" A male voice said.

Morack turned to see the Human male standing in the door opening. He was wearing a white shirt and jeans. Morack figured he was in this thirties. His eyes were green and he had blond hair.

"Hello, I'm John Wright," The man began. "What's your name ?"

"Well, on Bajor I would be Morack Wels. But since we're on Earth it's Wels Morack," He walked towards Wright. "And no, I intended to head out once the sun sets. What about you ?"

"My family used to life here. I'm not the first John in the family," He made a face. "A fair few of them were waiters in town's bar, the Old Tent. Me and my wife Amy are going try to get it going again."

"Good luck with that. But I don't think you'll get much costumers out here in the middle of nowhere."

"Well, if you want a drink, you're always to come by." Wright said.

And with that, John turned and left Morack. His wife Amy had picked one of the larger houses to become the new Old Tent. Cleaning the place would not be easy, because the place didn't even have running water. They did have some supplies, but without water those were useless. Fortunately, John had brought plenty of tools and supplies. He entered the house and grabbed a scanner, before heading out to do some research. The scanner was the model used aboard Enterprise NX-01. It was ancient, but it got the job done. He was running scans when a female voice broke his concentration.

"Your plan is highly illogical."

"That's the beauty of being human, you don't have to be logical if you don't want to," He looked up to see the female Vulcan who had beamed down with them. "I'm John Wright. And you are ?"

"I am V'Livaa of Vulcan. I am here to study the recovery of the local ecosystem. It is logical to set up my base of operations within this area."

"Good luck with that," John said, while suppressing a chuckle. ~You just said what Morack said to you to her.~

V'Livaa simply raised an eyebrow in reply. John shook his head and got back to work. Getting The Old Tent going again would not be easy. After the water, there would be the issues of electric power and heating. And he was sure that there were surprises waiting for them in the wings. So he kept scanning.

(Earth – Mojave Desert - 2367.11.07, 2105)

The sun had set, so Morack had become walking towards the town of Wickenburg. Once he reached the town, he would get himself a ride to Las Vegas. And from what he heard about the Las Vegas spaceport, he would be able to get a ticket to dozens of planets there. The reason he had not beamed down to Wickenburg was simple. He wanted to be alone. People tended to pity Bajorans. Morack knew they meant well, but it was annoying. So in his mind, the less people he met along the way, the better.

He was several kilometers away from Nothing when he noticed lights in the distance. And they were heading towards him. As they approached, he realized it was a group of people. Many of them were Bajoran like him, but there were also Humans, Andorians, Bolians and plenty of other species. He figured that there was about seventy of them. And besides being various species, they were also a mix of genders and ages. Morack figured that some of them were families.

"Night," Morack said.

"Is this the road to Nothing, Arizona ?" A Bajoran man, who was apparently the leader of the group, asked.

"Yes," Morack began. "But there is…" He snickered. "…nothing there. I mean, it's a ghost town without a services or facilities. Well, except for two crazy Humans trying to set up a bar."

"Sounds good to me." The man said.

Morack shook his head and continued on his way, walking out of the history of Nothing. The other Bajoran man, who was indeed the leader of his group, continued on his way towards ghost town. He had been born Daza Korav. But because people kept getting his name wrong, he now went through life as Korav Daza. Like Morack, he had been farmer on Volan Two. In fact, he had recognized Morack. But the man had always been a loner. So he had not pointed that out. And where Morack had decided to go at it alone, he had gathered everybody who wanted to leave and they had headed out together.

"Daddy, why are we going to this place ?"

Korav had married his wife Laren Day seven years ago. They had tried to have children, but their doctor had given them the heartbreaking news that Laren was unable to have them. It had put a strain on their relationship. But then their neighbor, a Bolian man called Hyatt Karos, had gotten involved. He had gotten the two of them to talk. Two weeks later, they had adopted three children. Quincy and Xavier were two Human twins, who were now twelve years old. Their third child was a Bajoran girl called Nerys. She was fifteen years old and had been the one who had asked the question.

"Why do you think we are going there, Nerys ?"

"I don't know. That's why I asked." Nerys bit her lower lip. "I mean, we're going to place that is, well, empty."

"So was our farm back on Volan Two. When your mom and I first got there, it was just an empty field. There was no farm, no greenhouse and no well. We had to build all of it ourselves," Korav said. "But there was on good thing about it. We could make it the way we wanted. Because the people who made the rules didn't show up until after we were done. And by then, it was too late."

"So, it's like one of mom's empty canvases ?" Laren was a painter.

"And we can paint whatever we want on it."

Nerys smiled at that. ~Nothing, here we come.~ Korav thought as they continued down the road.

(Nothing, Arizona – The Old Tent - 2367.11.07, 0815)

John Wright still had plenty of stuff to do. He had managed to get the water running. It had been nasty and brown at first. But after several more hours of tinkering, it had become clear. Today, he would see about electricity and then take it from there. John and Amy had just finished breakfast when there was a knock at the door. They exchanged looks, before John went to open the front door. He opened the door to find a Bajoran man. It was not Wels Morack.

"Welcome to the Old Tent, I'm John Wright." He said. "The lovely lady is my wife Amy."

"I'm Korav Daza. And I'm not alone."

Korav stepped aside and John stepped into the main street. There were people inside the houses, some where sleeping in the street. John smiled. Nothing, Arizona had just gone from being a ghost town to being a living, breathing place.

Next: 2373: Siana Thrax