From the Flame
Prologue
“Captain’s log, supplemental; this is likely to be my last log entry. Three weeks ago, Captain Benjamin Sisko and the crew of the Defiant led elements of the Second and Fifth fleets, along with some vessels from the Klingons, to retake Deep Space Nine from Dominion forces.
“He was unsuccessful.
“Thousands of Dominion ships poured through the wormhole and Bajor was the first to fall. The Bajorans are mounting an impressive resistance but they are no match for the Jem’Hadar. Other outlying worlds fell quickly and the Klingon Empire was almost completely reduced to rubble, but those few ships that survived the initial onslaught still fight where they can. Over the last two weeks, the Romulans, Tholians, Gorn and Breen all announced their alliance with the Dominion, spreading Starfleet forces thinner and thinner. At zero eight hundred hours this morning, the President announced the official surrender of Federation forces to the Dominion alliance in an attempt to save billions of Federation citizens.
“Starfleet Command denounced the surrender as cowardly and vowed to fight until the last Dominion ship was destroyed. The core worlds are under siege as the Dominion solidifies its hold on the Alpha and Beta quadrants but Starfleet are leading hit and run attacks in an attempt to drive them out of our territory.
“I called my entire crew to the shuttlebays at zero nine hundred hours and asked if they were willing to surrender to Dominion forces or die trying to protect what was left of the Federation.
“The decision was unanimous.
“The crew of the Enterprise will continue to fight until we can fight no more.
“History will never forget the name, Enterprise!”
***
Lomar Tenn watched the faces of the people around the table as they absorbed this recording. They all looked surprised and shocked and realized that a new era was about to begin.
Kilok broke the silence. ‘I always believed the Federation was a myth, and the Enterprise was nothing more than a legend.’
The others nodded but Lomar had another ace up his sleeve, though he was loath to reveal it just yet.
‘Where did you get this, is it authentic?’ asked Belemi.
‘It is authentic,’ Tenn answered.
‘How can you be sure?’
The moment of truth had come. ‘I know it’s real because I downloaded it from the Enterprise’s memory banks.’
‘You found her?’ asked a hooded figure in the corner.
‘I told you I would,’ Tenn stated. ‘Now it is your turn, stranger among friends. Reveal yourself.’
The hooded figure extended golden hands from within the sleeves of his robe and pulled back the hood, yellow eyes watching everyone in the room.
‘What are you?’
‘Who are you?’
The golden-skinned man looked around at the faces of the men and women who had risked their lives to rescue him.
‘My name is Data.’
