Star Trek Reimagined.

[Charles Markov]

During the course of the four years war the Africa class cruiser was developed into several subclasses and variants, Saratoga, Yorktown and Ticonderoga. These were essentially enlarged and more combat orientated versions over the mostly scientific and peacekeeping orientated Africa. These ships performed well in the war and were the equal to the Klingon D-5 and D-6 cruisers, and especially against C-7 and C-8 class light cruisers.

With the war over in 2445 however the fleet began a massive reform of its structure and tactical doctrine. It was realised that the small and nimble prewar cruisers had been easy pickings for the Klingons and the larger command cruisers had fared equally poorly due to their lumbering size and poor speeds. Frigates while useful for missions away from the battlefleet were found to be poor screening units and scouts for large scale formations as well.

In the new doctrine that Starfleet eventually adopted several new types of ship were adopted and a fleet doctrine and deployment based on battlefleets, battlegroups, task forces, squadrons and flotillas were developed. In this new doctrine battlecruisers, massive ships boasting massive ship to ship firepower and enough space to carry a significant ground contingent for planetary assaults and defense were designed. Heavy cruisers packing sufficient firepower to stand in a line with BCs were also envisaged. With the wartime Saratoga and Yorktown classes shuffled into the light cruiser category and the Ticonderoga being reclassified as heavy cruiser.

Frigates remained largely unchanged in their intended roles prewar where they served as border and trade protection vessels, internal security and couriers. However their role as scouts and screening units for fleet formations was diverted to the new destroyers which were developed in the 2450s. Scouts to experienced a fairly limited change in role from before the war. Being used to blaze new spacelanes and discover new star systems, transport people and information throughout the UE and Federation and perform a myriad of other roles.

To fill out the new fleet a massive expansion of Starfleet was proposed with numerous new classes of ship to be designed and constructed. A force of at least twenty four Battlecruisers, fifteen heavy and fifty light cruisers, fifty both frigates and destroyers and one hundred scouts were planned. Much of this force could be made up of existing ships. But at least sixteen battlecruisers, twelve heavy and ten light cruisers, twenty frigates and thirty destroyers would be needed. In addition to one hundred scouts would be needed due to combat losses and the retirement of many prewar scouts.

In various forms new ships were designed in the late 2440s. The Majestic class BC, Constitution CA, Trafalgar CL, Nelson and Hermes class frigates, Saladin and later Gazelle class DDs, and Capella class scouts would all be designed in this period and would enter service in the 2450s. In many cases the designers of the new ships chose to work off of existing types, particularly those built during the war. In other cases, such as with the Majestic and Trafalgar classes totally new designs were developed.

Constitution class development. 2447-2449
Even before a new class of heavy cruiser was ordered designers at the San Francisco orbital shipyards of Earth knew that the Ticonderoga class, of which only three examples were built, would likely serve as the template for the next heavy cruiser. With this in mind from 2445-46 the shipyard created a small team composed of many of those responsible for the Ticonderoga design and tasked them with the early stage development for a new heavy cruiser.

Initially the team designed their new ship as a simple improvement over the Ticonderoga. Mounting the new FNM-7 Phaser ball turret over the preceding FNM-5 and FMN-6 phaser cannons of older ships. Additionally the new Mark 14 Shooting Star and Mark 15 Impact photon torpedoes were planned to include in the ships using the Ordinance Launcher type 16 torpedo tubes. The stronger Model 2446 shields then undergoing development were also planned for the theoretical ship. A maximum speed of WF 8 and cruising speed of WF 6 was also planned.

This design was to at first displace in the ballpark of one hundred and forty thousand tons. A ten thousand ton increase over the Ticonderoga, and a fifty thousand ton increase over the Africa class that started the lineage. However as the designers recognized that any new ship they built would likely need longer range and increased versatility over the ships that preceded it. This lead the design team to early in 2446 to drop the concept of modifying the Ticonderoga hull for a new build ship.

The hull form eventually chosen was very close to the original Ticonderoga. Only at almost two hundred thousand tons standard displacement the ship dwarfed all other cruisers before her. She also packed almost thirty percent greater firepower, forty percent greater shielding and stronger engines than the Ticonderoga. Much of this being due to the decision to increase the number of individual Phaser mounts and adopt the new SSCR generation three Chimera 7 (SSCR standing for Shipboard Spherical Cavity Reactor) from the Yoyodyne propulsion company. This allowed for increased shield power, weapons power, stronger sensors and the mounting of the new Sabre MK II warp nacelles onto the design.

Internally the new ship was very spacious and modifiable. Needing a three hundred man strong crew for general starship operations. However provision for up to two hundred additional mission personnel. Be they scientists, medical specialists, or even ground troops. Large amounts of internal space were left open for easily constructed laboratories, enlarged sickbay space and surface warfare vehicle equipment and command centers were also provided allowing the type to perform a wide range of missions on theoretically very short notice.

When the Starfleet board of Research and Development submitted a formal order for designs for a new heavy cruiser the SF yard was quickly chosen due to their forethought and the project proceeded at a very rapid pace for the new ship. It had been hoped that a full fifteen ship order would be placed and the Ticonderoga class reclassified as light cruisers. However Starfleet R&D only ordered twelve ships. Formal orders were submitted in 2447 and the first hulls were laid down in the first months of 2448, with final delivery for Starfleet acceptance trails expected sometime in 2453-54.

Block One.
The SF dockyards delivered on their contract and the first ship of the class UES Constitution was delivered in 2454 with the remaining ships of the class all delivered before 2458. All block one ships were named after famous American and British aircraft carriers, mostly from Earths second world war. The type represented a major shift in the posture of the fleet. Being the first ships in the fleet to match the new Klingon D-7 Battlecruisers in open one on one combat.

The type quickly was assigned to a vast array of missions. From exploration to border patrol to diplomatic missions, disaster relief, acting as part of task forces and battlefleets and participating in many of the Federation Naval reviews and war gaming exercises of the 2460s. Often times the ships were deployed unescorted. Using their weapons to defend themselves from anything faster than themselves, and superior speed to outrun anything that outgunned them.

Block one ships
UES Constitution
UES Constellation
UES Yorktown
UES Enterprise
UES Hood
UES Excalibur
UES Ark Royal
UES Black Prince
UES Intrepid
UES Furious
UES Glorious

Block Two
By the time that Starfleet had received the first ships of the Constitution class it became apparent that an arms race with the Klingon empire had become inevitable. As a result a new wave of ship classes were ordered, notably battlecruisers, light cruisers and destroyers. However due to the perceived success of the Constitution and Nelson classes Starfleet decided to simply order additional ships to an improved design. These block II ships featured many of the same systems as their predecessors. But incorporated improvements and new technologies developed since the launch of the older ships.

For the block two of the Constitution class, of which eight were ordered, these changes were mostly in the forms of new SSCR Generation Four and new sensors. The improved Sabre IIIa nacelles were also added to the class late in development. All ships in the class were named for famous American and Japanese aircraft carriers of the second world war. The first ships of the class would be laid down in 2460 with delivery planned to begin in 2465 and conclude in 2467.

The new ships performed very well in service. Supplementing the block one ships and leading to an increased Starfleet presence along the borders when it was needed most following the return of the Romulans, first contact with the Gorn, Tholians and increased Klingon hostility. Following the loss of the UES Constellation, Intrepid and Hood further ships of the block II were ordered and received the designation Block IIa in Starfleet manuals.

Block Two ships
UES Lexington
UES Bonhomme Richard
UES Wasp
UES Hornet
UES Soryu
UES Kaga
UES Akaga
UES Hiyo

Block IIa ships (ordered to replace UES Constellation, UES Intrepid & UES Intrepid)
UES Leyte Gulf
UES Essex
UES Shinano

Block Three
The arms race continued as the Klingon fleet continued its massive expansion programs as it made a serious bid to outnumber and outgun the combined Starfleet. In order to keep up the fleet began development of a new cruiser design to further increase the size of the fleet. However initial estimates for the new class placed it to be field ready by the mid 2470s. A stopgap heavy cruiser was needed to serve until the new ship design could be ready.

It was unsurprising that Starfleet chose the Constitution class to serve as this stopgap in a modified form. In fact SF dockyards had already begun to develop just such a ship and a design was in the final stages of completion by the time Starfleet ordered the block three ships. Of which ten were ordered. Fortunately soon after this the team tasked with the development of the block III ships became aware of several developments related to the Miranda class development project in its early stages at San Francisco dockyards.

The first of these developments was the SSCR Generation Four Titan reactor produced by McDonnel Douglas and Fokker jointly. The other was the creation of the new Arrow nacelle built by the Sukhoi design bureau, the first functional rectangular warp coil design. When combined the new reactor and nacelles could push the ship ahead at speeds as high as WF 10 with a cruising speed of WF 7.5. The decision to incorporate these new components would lead to a radical redesign of the block III ships.

For starters the spaceframe would undergo significant modification. The saucer and secondary hulls being massively modified and significantly enlarged to accommodate the new systems. Allowing room for new shields, sensors, torpedoes and phasers. Notably the new Mark 16 Starstreak torpedo and FMN-9 Phaser ball turrets. All designed for the Miranda class. The FMN-X Phaser cannon was also installed aboard late in development, as was an enlarged shuttlebay and cargo bay.

The changes were so significant that SF dockyards initially planned to classify the new ships as a completely new class. However thanks a refusal from the UE assembly to fund two new cruiser programs Starfleet chose to keep the Block III monicker, with clever winks exchanged between officers when discussing the new ships. The gimmick worked and approval for all ten ships was given in 2469 with the first ships to be delivered in 2472.

Unlike with the block II ships it was not initially planned to refit any preceding ships to the new standard. The changes made to the hull were seen as to significant to make such a practice possible without essentially ripping the refitted ship down to her basic structural members and starting over. However following the battle of Chandria the heavily damaged UES Enterprise was earmarked for refit, becoming the first ship of the Block III designation to see service.

The ships would be so successful in service that the trouble laden replacement class was cancelled in favor of a further Twenty ships of the Block III class being ordered. These ships designated as Block IIIa would be laid down in 2477 with the first ships completed in 2481. The ships largely replaced the vessels built in the four years war and served as a visible sign of the expanding militarism which ran rampant in the fleet in the 2470s and 80s.

By far the most numerous variant of the Constitution class these ships would serve for upwards of forty years in the fleet before the new wave of vessels mounting the Vertical Injection Reactor Tube (VIRT) totally replaced them in service. The class soldiered on for many decades more in service in various support and training roles in Starfleet, while many other ships would be sold to other Federation member states or UE protectorates. The Trill systems Republic operating the type well into the 2570s. Today numerous ships of the class have been preserved as museum ships and some vessels still serve in private hands as prospecting ships, transports and habitats.

Block III ships
UES Enterprise
UES Nimitz
UES America
UES Queen Elizabeth
UES Charles De Gaulle
UES Normandie
UES Pytor Veliky
UES Dimitri Donskoi
UES Nagato
UES Kongo

Block IIIa class ships
UES Graf Zeppelin
UES De Ruyter
UES Poltava
UES Minas Gerias
UES Seydlitz
UES Dreadnought
UES Arizona
UES Kuznetsov
UES Victory
UES Hiryu
UES Enterprise-A
UES Valley Forge
UES Ticonderoga
UES Leonardo Da Vinci
UES Courbet
UES Charles Martel
UES Astute
UES Sverige
UES President
UES Potemkin

 

[Charles Markov]

Figured I would have a quick break from the Wednesday biographies I wrote a history of the Constitution class cruisers. Hopefully keeps your interest, and I do hope the pictures show up, I don't really have good luck with pictures on this site.

 

[Charles Markov]

“I have a bad feeling about this!” Spock shouted as an explosion went off somewhere at the far end of the room, blowing shrapnel in all directions where it often intersected with both Klingon and Larsan alike.

“Is the exit clear?” Uhura said as loudly as she could. Over the din of the battle that had erupted here voice was almost inaudible.

Spock chanced a look and was met with a near miss from some kind of energy weapon. Plasma based judging from the din. “It does not appear so.”

“Great. Just perfect!” Uhura said looking around for another exit. She didn’t find one but there was what remained of a Klingon shock trooper a few meters away with a mostly intact disruptor rifle and pistol still clutched in his arms. All that separated her and Spock from the weapons was a gap where a table had collapsed.

“I have an idea!” She shouted turning to face Spock.

“I do not like the way you said that!” The half-breed Vulcan shouted back. His face changed from grim to alarm as he caught sight of the singed corpse and the weapons.

“I`m smaller than you, stay here!” Uhura yelled before unceremoniously diving for the weapons despite the protests of Spock who felt strongly that she should have remained while he fetched the weapons.

Her dive brought her most of the way over to the next table. She landed flat with just her legs showing. Fortunately there was no one paying attention to her area that moment as she was able to pull her legs away without getting shot.

“Made it!” She shouted triumphantly holding the weapons for Spock to see. Spock signed his congratulations a look of alarm and unhappiness still on his face. A look that grew more unhappy when Uhura threw the pistol over to him.

Uhura was not in a mood to argue. She had other issues on her mind. Like who to shoot. The Klingons, who had as far as she could tell not yet shot at them, were out of the question.

But what Larsans were shooting at them and what Larsans where shooting at the Larsans who had shot the first Larsans was the question. A confusing one, but the question nonetheless.

She had not seen who it was who had fired the first shots and so had no way of knowing friend from foe. Or perhaps potential foe from actual going to kill her foe. After a few seconds of thought she decided to only shoot at those who shot at her.

The next question Uhura asked herself was how she and Spock were going to get out of the hall and to a safer place. Hazarding another look around no exits in easy reach presented themselves. And then an idea came to her.

Looking down at the disruptor rifle she took a moment to go over the various controls and power settings of the weapon. Doing her best to translate the Klingon characters into their English equivalents as she did so. Finding the setting appropriate for her plan she set the weapon, took aim and fired.

A gaping hole appeared in the wall and through it another room, some form of closet or food storage area. Most importantly no shots came through it into the banquet hall. A good sign that it was unoccupied.

“What are your intentions lieutenant?” Spock asked the concern in his voice going to a slight panic as he lost control of the situation. Something that happened often when he was in company with the ship’s communications officer.

“Getting out of here!” Uhura thundered back. “Go on I will cover you!”

“No, you go first, and I will cover you,” Spock ordered. “I am in a better position to do so and you are closer,” he added when she appeared ready to argue the point.

With Spock firing at something Uhura closed her eyes and rushed for the hole she had created, leaping through and hitting the ground in a ball before hastily rising and taking cover facing back towards the hall.

“Ready!” She shouted to Spock who at once got up and rushed along to the hole and rushed past Uhura, dropping to one knee and turning around to make sure he was not being shot at. And to shoot anyone who was about to before they could have the chance.

“Now what?” Uhura asked looking around the room they found themselves in. It was indeed a food storage area, the butchered carcasses waiting for the kitchen hanging from the ceiling being the tipoff. On one side there was a door. If all went well on the other side there would not be anyone trying to kill them.

“Cover me,” Spock offered holding his borrowed pistol and moving towards the door. Behind him Uhura took up position ready to follow the commander through if no one started shooting.

“This is not how my day was supposed to go,” Uhura muttered under her breath as she followed Spock out of the freezer rifle trained to the left as Spock searched the right.



The Larsans had indeed known how to drive the vehicle and with a little bit of trouble with the universal translator Kirk had managed to get the point across of what he wanted to do. Amounting to going as far away from the shooting as possible it had been fairly easy to convince the Larsans to take Kirk, Averof and the injured Klingon.

It proved harder for Kirk to talk them into driving around the area to look for Spock and Uhura however and Kirk had to resort to flashing his disruptor pistol to convince them. Nothing as open as saying he was armed, just bringing the thing into view to remind them that he had it.

“See anything leftennant?” Kirk asked scanning the building where the firefight between the Klingons and Larsans raged. Kirk suspected that the attackers belonged to a resistance group which was against the alliance between the Union and empire. Whether or not they supported an alliance with the federation or not was beyond Kirks guess.

“Nothing on my side sir. How about you?” Averof asked looking over every inch of the building.

“Try that alley,” Kirk commanded the Larsan at the wheel of the vehicle. Or what would have been the wheel on an earth designed car. On the Larsan vehicle it consisted of a joystick mounted between the legs of the driver with a series of levers and dials on its sides.

“Safe this not is!” The Larsan hissed the translator keeping pace with his words but mangling all sense of grammatical correctness out of his sentence. Kirk got the gist though.

“Just a minute more,” Kirk pleaded knowing he could not continue to wave the disruptor around to get his way. “My people are still inside.”

Apparently his words came across to the Larsan who simply hmphed and settled deeper into his seat. The vehicle moved in the direction Kirk had pointed out slowly, all four occupants scanning the area for possible attackers.

Kirk was just about ready to give up, nearly convinced that Spock and Uhura were still trapped inside, when Averof shouted “there sir!” Kirks head swivelled and his eyes focused on the area he was pointing at.

He saw a smouldering hole in the side of the building and rubble strewn about the alley. Emerging out of the hole however was Spock, followed closely by the lieutenant. “There!” He cried, startling the Larsans. “You have to stop! Averof get their attention.”

Averof hoped out of the vehicle and ran over. Coming to a stop some ten meters away when Uhura raised a Klingon disruptor rifle in his direction. She lowered the weapon when she saw who it was and both she and Spock ran over to the waiting vehicle.

It was a tight fit, seven beings in a vehicle designed for perhaps five at the most. But comfort was not exactly high on their list of priorities at the moment.

“Captain I am glad to see that you and leftennant Averof made it out of the fighting safely.” Spock said once again slipping on a mask of passive non-emotion.

“As am I to see that you both are alright. We were worried.” Kirk said trying to maintain a degree of decorum and not break down. This had been the first time an away mission had ended like this. And the thought that any of his crew could have died was not a pleasant one.

The sound of distant disruptor fire reminded him that death was still very much a possibility. “Go we must now! Or wound may we get!” The Larsan not driving said

Without further comment from the front seat the vehicle sped off at what Kirk estimated had to be at least a hundred kilometres an hour. The wheels of the vehicle were apparently not connected to a suspension system intended for this level of abuse and so the little thing bumped and shook all over the road.

City streets and buildings became a single blurred mass out the windows at sharp turns and screeching halts caused the occupants of the vehicle to bash into each other. By this point Kirk was almost certain that the warrior was beyond hope. He had almost completely stopped making any noises and his pulse had grown very weak. He and Uhura had managed to fashion a basic bandage for his wounds. But it was he feared too little too late.

The two Larsans, the driver and his companion, chattered back and forth so fast that the universal translator had trouble making any sense of what they said. Uhura did her best. But was able only to translate bits as she recognized a familiar word here and there.

Spock monitored the communicator intently not wanting to miss the moment when the interference cleared and they were able to raise the ship. Averof scanned ahead for any signs of danger Uhura`s borrowed rifle at the ready.

Kirk asked at one point if there was any place the driver was taking the vehicle. But apparently he was not noticed by the two Larsans who were to busy arguing about something themselves.

Finally the vehicle began to slow. Looking around Kirk could see a few buildings. But they were out of the urban sprawl of the city center when the banquet hall had been. Infuriatingly though they were still in range of the comms interference. Spock posited that perhaps the attack was part of a much larger assault against the city itself. And that the firefight in the banquet hall had been just one part of a much larger attack.

Something about Spock’s theory didn’t sit right with Kirk. It seemed off somehow. But he did not have any theories of his own to counter with and so he said nothing.

“Captain I think we are stopping!” Averof said

“I believe you are right leftennant,” Spock said having noticed the vehicles engine beginning to throttle down. Its hum growing quieter as the vehicles speed decreased.

The driver stopped in a small courtyard belonging to a decent sized house. Kirk guessed they were somewhere in the suburbs around the city, likely a fairly affluent neighbourhood judging by the architecture and general appearance of the buildings.

A group of Larsans exiting from a door at the far end distracted him and he focused on them. Numbering six in total they shouted something to far away for the translator to catch at the driver and his companion who answered back something that was translated as something happened not right.

Alarm bells sounded as Kirk saw one of the Larsans with a handheld weapon of some kind bring it up to bear in their direction, “look out!” Escaped his lips before he could think up a proper order to arms. But the point got across.

Averof and Spock raised their weapons while Kirk fished his out from the seat beneath the warrior who by now was almost totally still. “Stop right there!” Kirk shouted as loudly as he could finally powering up his disruptor pistol and pointing it at what appeared to be the group leader.

The Larsans responded by raising their own weapons. A surprising arsenal considering Kirk had originally seen just the one pistol. Each individual had their own beam weapon and now that Kirk looked harder he saw that each also carried some form of bladed weapon. Perhaps the ceremonial weapons Raj`je had mentioned what seemed like days ago.

This impasse held until the driver suddenly grabbed at Kirks pistol shouting. Averof was upon him before the translation could get through, but eventually a shout of “danger not, friends of Starfleet they are!” reached his ears in English.

“What was that?” Kirk asked holding Averof off the Larsans who now had eyes the size of moons and glanced about in confusion and mild terror, his companion glued to the side of the cabin trying to be invisible.

Averof followed orders quickly and gave the alien room to breath muttering apologies to his captain. The Larsans fear dissipated and he collected himself before speaking. “Friends of Starfleet and federation we and they are. Contact you during treaty thing we wished. Men extreme in their views attacked first, run we did and stumble into you we did while carrying friend of us to safety who was injured.”

Kirk took a moment to process. Spock spoke first, “I believe that these two men were supposed to contact us during the banquet. But that others who were more violent in their opposition to the treaty signing attacked before they could speak to us. It would appear that these others are also a part of the group that wished to contact us.”

Kirk nodded. He had reached the same conclusion but was just slower putting it into words than Spock. “What is it that you wanted to speak to us about?” Kirk asked.

“For help of Starfleet against Klingon and other Larsans their friends are,” the driver answered eyes darting to the other group which had gotten much close while this conversation had been going on.

“All is well now, no weapons needed for violence!” He shouted outside relief flowing into him. He suddenly grew almost limp. Sinking deep into the chair and sighing loudly.

It was a feeling Kirk could well understand. The driver’s words sounded clearly like a plea for help. If he could just get one of the members of the group to explain what had happened and the extent of Klingon involvement. And then get at least one of them to return to star base twelve with him he could likely get the federation to take action in favour of the Larsans. Meaning his defying of orders had not been for nothing.



They were brought into a house. From the looks of it a simple residential dwelling and not the more ornate domicile of a high placed official. Not the sort of place one would expect a major attack to be orchestrated and commanded.

Hastily installed monitors and plotting tables dotted the main rooms of the house while armed guards swarmed the area. Missile and laser emplacements guarded the sky and off in the distance a row of aerial combat vehicles could be seen parked along a basic runway.

The basement of the house held a war room. The kind of hodgepodge and quickly assembled place normally portrayed in film as belonging to the underdog rebel cell which was used in their war against the evil empire.

It was a trope Kirk could well appreciate, the grizzled man before him also fit well the stereotypical rebel leader. Gruff and scarred a line of cauterized skin ran along the side of his face as a grizzly mark of some grievous injury. Judging by the wounds freshness it was gained fairly recently.

“Glad we are to see with our eyes you.” The man said in a strained and throaty voice. Likely having something to do with damaged vocal cords.

“I must apologize for your near-death experience, others wish to destroy the Klingon leadership and their puppets through any means necessary. They did not know of your presence at the banquet and would likely not have cared if they did know it.”

Kirk was somewhat taken back by the mans switching to English, but recovered quickly, “we are most grateful for your agents, without them all four of us may likely have perished,” he said grateful that he would not have to put up with the translators butchered translations any longer.

“I am Puv`le Kraksom, former member of the government before those supportive of an alliance with the Klingons launched their coup. And now current leader of the movement which wishes to restore the legitimate government to power.”

Kirk nodded, “I am captain James Tiberius Kirk of the starship Enterprise,” he said. He turned and gestured to his officers, “this is commander Spock, Leftennant Averof and lieutenant Uhura.” Spock stepped forward.

“Greetings member,” he said nodding his head slightly.

“Camandey Spook,” Puv`le said mulling the strange words over for a moment. “Cepten Kurk,” he said as well before seemingly abandoning the effort to pronounce Human and Vulcan names. “Have you been able to contacy your ship?” He asked instead.

Kirk shook his head wondering if the Larsans understood what the movement meant. “No we have not been able to reach our vessel since beaming down,” he said.

 

[Charles Markov]

“We assumed as much. Jamming has effected most of this continent and the string of battles that have erupted have merely made things worse,” Puv`le said shaking his head in sorrow.

“We do have a tie in to the military communications network however you could use to contact your vessel,” Puv`le offered. “It is somewhat patchy with all that is going on, but you should be able to hold a brief voice only communication.”

“Thank you,” Kirk breathed already looking for the station.

“Captain a moment?” Spock asked diverting Kirks attention. “Lieutenant Uhura can raise the ship.”

“What is it mister Spock?” Kirk could see that his first officer had a question at the tip of his tongue, though he did his best to hide it.

“What do you intend to say once the ship is raised? Knowing that the channel may well be tapped by the Klingons and their supporters. And as you have yet to determine the intentions of our hosts.”

Spock had a point. Kirk did not really have any plan for what he was going to say. He did not even know if the men around him would even want federation help. Or if at this point if the federation would have any interest in helping the union.

But then the past few hours had gone along well enough without him having time to think up a plan. And he trusted that the trend would continue for the near future.

“Member may I ask you a question?” Kirk asked mentally crossing his fingers.

“Of course captain,” Puv`le said suddenly looking concerned at the others change in tone.

“If I were to offer official help to your faction in restoring legitimate government to the union what would that entail?” Kirk asked.

“We would not expect the aid of your federation until one of us has had the chance to petition your council on the matter. We would also of course plea for admission into the federation as soon as law and order is restored. And pledge to hold ourselves to the ideals such a position would demand.”

Kirk breathed another silent sigh of relief, that was just what he wanted to hear. “In that case,” he said, “I offer federation support to you and your colleagues and request that you assign a delegation to accompany us back to our ship.”

Puv`le was quick to respond, clearly he had been expecting more struggle to get such an outcome, “On behalf of my government and people I accept, six of us will accompany you back to your ship.”

“Thank you,” Kirk said feeling a weight come of his shoulder as he finally accomplished at least half of what he had set out to do.

It took some time longer for Uhura to raise Enterprise. She was unfamiliar with Larsan technology and her helper did not speak English like Puv`le. Making communication over translator difficult.

But she managed and before long a familiar voice crackled over the speaker, “Captain are we glad to hear from you!”

Kirk could not help but smile, “its good to hear a familiar voice mister Scott. Sorry it took so long for us to get in touch.”

“Danne mention it captain, just glad your safe. Its not been looking good from our vantage point.”

“I can imagine,” Kirk said wondering how widespread the fighting was. But he did not have time to ask, “mister Scott we don’t have time for chitchat, out communications may be cut off at any moment. We have eight to beam up immediately if your willing.”

Scotty was willing and five minutes later Kirk and seven others, his original landing party and four larsans, materialized aboard Enterprise. Having just beamed down to the planet a few hours previously Kirk found the experience almost unbearable. He nearly fell over as a wave of nausea hit him. Spock had to prop up Uhura with one arm.

One of the larsans, Kirk had not even learned their names, retched onto the deck. Soon another followed while the other two of the delegation ran from the transporter pad and to the doors trying to stay away.

The bioscanner detected no foreign bacteria or anything harmful to the ship or its crew and with the blink of a green light the doors slid open silently and admitted the two Larsans spilling out into the anteroom of the transporter complex.

“Captain sir,” Yeoman Rand said from beyond the door eying the Larsans with a curious eye. Behind her a somewhat disgruntled looking crewman moved into the transporter room and began to clean up the vomit.

“Were we detected by the Klingons yeoman?” Kirk asked not having time for pleasantries. If the Klingons knew, or cared what Enterprise was doing their mission could be in jeopardy. Kirk silently hoped the Klingon forces were so thrown into chaos by the fighting that they were paying Enterprise hardly any intention at all.

“I don’t know captain, so far they have been mostly concerned with the capital and the fighting there. Apparently most of their senior officers were in the hall when the fighting broke out and they have yet to account for all of them. They have been sending down a steady stream of drop ships and air support the past few hours though.”

Rand eyed the group with obvious relief. “You all made it out ok it seems though.”

Kirk attempted a smile, “more or less,” he said wondering how dishevelled he looked. Going off Averoff or Uhura he looked pretty rough. Spock somehow appeared none the worse for wear. At least his hair and uniform were still presentable and not bloodstained and tattered like Averofs.

“Yeoman would you be so kind as to show our guests to quarters, Averof accompany her. Commander, Lieutenant would you follow me?” Kirk said jumping into captain mode. He imagined Scotty would have much to say once he made it to the bridge.

Rand and Averof nodded and moved off while the three others made their way out of the transporter room and to the nearest turbolift. Leaving a transporter operator and crewman alone in the room.

“Captain on deck!” Scotty thundered as Kirk and company entered the bridge. Kirk waved the salutes down and got to business.

“Status mister Scott?” Kirk asked sitting down at the conn and glancing around the bridge to get a gauge on the feelings of the crew. They seemed alert. Not at all scared or alarmed at the ship’s situation. A good sign Kirk decided.

“Could be a lot worse captain, the Klingons have been worked up into a frenzy the last few hours. It seems like they have been fighting a losing battle down there judging from the flurry of shuttles and what communications we have been able to intercept.”

“Have you been able to decode much of what you have intercepted?” Spock asked already at his station and signing into the computer to get access to the sensor data Enterprise was taking in.

Scotty shook his head in a negative, “we have not. Klingon codes are still quite good. However one of the smaller cruisers has already left the system at high warp.”

Scotty moved over to the helm and leaning over Sulu`s shoulder he keyed up a report and looked over it before nodding to himself. If it was important he did not say anything about it before he moved over to the bridges engineering console. There he keyed up another report and read through it.

“Anything to tell me mister Scott?” Kirk asked wondering what his chief engineer was up to.

Scotty sounded almost conversational, “well sir I was just checking a program I was running on passive sensors trying to track aerial traffic on the planets surface.” Scotty huffed, “haven found anything terribly useful yet,” he reported.

Kirk nodded wondering what use he had for this information. He himself keyed up a report on the ship’s current situation. Scotty had been right one of the Klingon vessels previously in orbit was gone. And it looked like another was in the process of powering up its own engines to follow.

The report went on further to say that a small nuclear weapon in the ten to twenty kiloton range had been detonated around a city on the southern continent. Fighting had also spread to much of the world and even the system with some warships firing weapons at one another.

In summary the system was a warzone. A warzone with many different factions if what he had heard from Puv`le and his delegation was true. It was so far fortunate that no faction had decided to target the Enterprise. Though a few shots had been already taken at the Klingon vessels. Likely a major reason for the retreat of Klingon forces from the area.

In short, the situation was chaotic and changing rapidly for the worse. And who knew if the Larsans, or even Klingons would soon turn their attention to Enterprise.

“Mister Sulu I see a course is plotted for star base twelve?” Kirk asked deciding that it was best if the ship did not wait around long enough to give the opportunity for an attack to either the Larsans or Klingons. Sulu nodded hand hovering over the board.

“Please enter it in and execute as soon as you are ready,” Kirk ordered knowing it Sulu would have it done likely before he had even finished. As if on cue just moments later Sulu commented, “course laid in for star base twelve at warp six.”

“Engage mister Sulu!” Kirk said eager to once again feel the vibrations of the ship’s engines under his feet. Vibrations that told him the ship would be traveling far away from Larsa and all its troubles.



Captains log stardate 309044.18

Enterprise managed to leave the Larsan Union without major incident, although the Klingons seemed suspicious at our sudden urge to leave. With envoys aboard we will arrive at star base twelve in a few days where hopefully they will be able to garner Federation support for their moderate faction in what seems to be a full-blown civil war.

As for myself I find it likely that our actions will not be looked upon well by Starfleet. However captain’s prerogative and initiative being well ingrained into the service it is unlikely either myself or members of my crew will face any punishment for their actions.

If it should come down to it I shall Endeavor to protect my crew, holding that it was my orders they followed and thus my butt that should be punished. However again, as we have managed to give the federation a cause for aiding the union I doubt it will come to that.

Kirk ended the entry there. It still needed work. And a lot of it at that. The entry seemed to much like he was justifying himself and mentioning to often that he would likely not face punishment. Almost as if he was saying that just to hope it was true. It also made it seem that he only cared about intervening in the civil war tearing the Union apart.

He then wondered for not the first time if that was such a good thing. Allowing the federation to get involved in the Larsan civil war could conceivably result in a quick win for the moderates like Puv`le. Also it could result in a massive long-lasting intervention along the lines of Starfleet’s current intervention in the triangle and other historic interventions like the American war in Vietnam or French efforts in equatorial Africa during the 2130s.

And then there was the question of if the Klingons would support a side in the conflict. Such an occurrence would make the parallels with Vietnam even more pronounced. And there was also the possibility of what happened if Klingon and Starfleet came to direct blows. The Eugenics wars showed how that could likely turn out.

Another sigh, this time deeper and much longer. Dammit to hell! Kirk swore to himself. He had been supposed to open the process that would admit the Larsan Union into the Federation. Not try to undermine the Klingon position by contacting resistance movements. And certainly not get dragged into a civil war in its early stages.

He swore again at himself for enjoying the whole thing so much. Covert sensor sweeps, made up pretences for involving the ship in Klingon affairs, and the deadly firefight. He felt alive. Like he was doing something important. It was a feeling far more invigorating than escorting a convoy of merchant men or taking part in diplomatic exchanges.

He finally turned off the computer and dimmed the lights. This train of thought would get him nowhere. Better to get some sleep and work on the log entry in the morning when he wasn’t feeling so negative. Any other work he had could also wait a few hours as well.


​

 

[Charles Markov]

They approach ever nearer! One of the beings said. Well, not so much said as thought. Communication between beings of pure energy and light is a difficult thing for mere physical mortals to comprehend.

We must destroy them as we have done to others! Another being also of light said urgently. Before they grow to important that their destruction does not cause a total collapse. I warned you all these races represent a clear danger! Yet no one listened then. Take heed now!

A third being scoffed. He had heard this all many times before. And always the outcome had been the same, he had no reason to believe this latest threat would be any different.

They dislike one another immensely. Perhaps they will make war upon another to their joint extinction. A fourth being said thoughtfully putting forth a plausible end to the threat. And one that required no intervention on their part.

The third being sensed words on the very edge of another’s tongue, or what passed for a tongue in the realm of thought-speech. What is it young one? He asked putting an abrupt end to the argument with his words. He was to be respected by all and once he spoke all stopped talking themselves to listen to what he had to say.

Cautiously this new voice spoke. He was young compared to the others and normally would lack a voice in any discussion. His inclusion into the current debate was highly unusual, and he knew that but was determined to be heard.

They are an interesting species. Combining violence and passion with calculation and cunning in a fascinating manner. Our study of them has not even lasted a cycle. We should continue to learn from them.

The room burst into uproar as the phrase “learn from them” was processed. Uproar began with many insults being shouted back at the speaker. Words just as hurtful over thought as with traditional sound waves.

And yet behind the uproar the senior being could sense something else. He sensed that the words of the young one was hardly unique amongst others of his age. Increasingly calls had been put forth for greater exploration of the races around them. Many pointed out that their home was well hidden enough that they would remain safe for many millennia to come. Why spend that time holding races back when you could observe them.

Silence! The senior being boomed turning the space around him quiet. This one’s idea has merit. At least for the Humans which are the far more fascinating species. For now, we will observe them in their natural environment.

He had spoken, and all knew that further argument was impossible. Conversation now turned to how best to observe the Humans. All agreed that only small-scale observation, perhaps aboard one of their starships was for the best. It was also decided that the vessel would need to be subjected to both macro and micro level tests to fully understand Humans.

Eventually it was worked out that a single observer would be dispatched to interact with the chosen vessel and its crew. And that it would be he that would execute any and all tests the vessel was subjected to. He would then report back his findings.

But until such an individual could be selected and trained a few large tests were to be performed. Some new, others time tested. One or two of which had even been conducted already on Humanity, or at least Human vessels.

After much debate all agreed and the tests were ordered to begin at once. As soon as a vessel was selected. One with a suitably large crew to give the tests as big a pool as possible to see the results.​

 

[Charles Markov]

Stardate 309063.8

Enterprise has left star base twelve after spending almost two months in berth while a hearing was held over our actions in the Larsan civil war. Both myself and vessel have been cleared of any blame for the events of that mission by a board of inquiry and we have been assigned a mission to star base ten to deliver hard copies of Starfleet command orders for the sector.

Enroute to the star base we received a message from the UES Antares, a scoutship which recently returned from a survey of the Priester cluster. In their message they claimed to have a survivor of a crashed civilian surveyor which suffered engine failure over one of the planets in the cluster. Due to our higher speed they have asked if we can take the survivor to star base ten. However, they have so far failed to give us any further information.

Antares is approaching Enterprise quickly and we shall take custody of this person as soon as the two ships have assumed a parallel course with one another. I wonder how this survivor managed to live for ten years on a barren and lifeless world like those of the Priester cluster. Surely this individual will require extensive physiatric treatment.

“UES Antares has confirmed parallel course with Enterprise sir,” Lieutenant Commander Hikaru Sulu the ships flight officer in charge of her helm and navigation reported.

Kirk, who could see the same readouts as Sulu simply nodded and rose from his seat. “I will be in the transporter room to meet with the Antares captain, you have the conn mister Sulu.”

Sulu nodded to this and rose to take the control chair in the center of the bridge. “Yes sir,” was all he said as he began to transfer over control to himself.

Kirk disappeared into the turbolift at the back of the bride and ordered it to deck eight. As the doors closed he rubbed his eyes fighting a headache, something that despite hundreds of years modern medicine had yet to find a cure for.

It was a short ride from the bridge to deck eight and soon the lift slid to a halt and the doors opened. Kirk walked the short distance over to the transporter room and entered into the anteroom where he was greeted by Spock and a transporter tech.

“Captain,” Spock said nodding to his commanding officer with either indifference or Vulcan lack of emotion.

“Good morning mister Spock, have you sorted out the fluctuation in the matter flow dilator?” Kirk asked returning the greeting and looking over into the small room where the transporter control pad and hardware were located.

“The problem if fixed, it was discovered that one of the dilator processors was flawed. It has been replaced with a new module and all tests indicate the transporter will function properly.”

Kirk hoped Spock was right. At the best of times a transporter made him uncomfortable. And although irregular when they did occur transporter malfunctions were horrible. Either the device never rematerialized the individual, or did but in gruesome fashion. Every time he used the device pictures of malfunction victims came to his mind.

But Spock was not one to do anything half-way and if he said something was working then it more than likely exceeded Starfleet standards by a healthy margin. And the technician, a young woman named Albrecht, was quite capable as well.

“Antares signals ready captain,” Albrecht said shortly after a beeping alert sounded on the control pad.

“Energize,” Kirk ordered mentally crossing his fingers that the transporter worked.

He had nothing to worry about. In a blinding shimmer of light and energy the forms of three individuals materialised on the transporter pad. Two men wearing Starfleet uniforms, the ships captain and first officer, and a young teenager who looked out of place in somewhat large civilian clothing.

The three staggered as the transporter pad powered down, the full effect of being torn apart atom by atom never being a pleasant experience. However they seemed to recover quickly, the two Starfleet officers likely through training while the you man through the strength of youth was able to remain upright.

“They check out as clear sir,” Albrecht reported. Kirk nodded in acknowledgement. From one Starfleet vessel to another the chances of foreign bacteria being discovered by the bio scanners built into the transporter were rare.

“Would you let us through miss Albrecht?” Kirk asked. She smiled at the question, as captain Kirk had no need to ask for anything ever, but he had long ago found that asking often got better results than simply commanding.

The doors from the anteroom into the transporter room proper swung open with a slight hiss of pressures matching and Kirk and Spock walked to the waiting visitors from Antares.

“Captain Fergusson?” Kirk called as the senior most of the two officers caught sight of him and Spock. He gave Kirk a look of slight surprise. A look he had become quite accustomed to over the past three months as much older captains saw how young he was.

“Kirk?” The older man called as if not quite believing that the man before him was captain of a heavy cruiser. Kirk nodded.

“My first officer commander Spock,” Kirk said gesturing to his right where Spock had taken up position.

“My first, commander Lebance,” Fergusson said the sight of a thirty-year-old captain and Vulcan in a Starfleet uniform beginning to register. Kirk wondered if the captain of Antares had even bothered to look up Enterprise.

Fergusson finally shook off the odd look from his eyes and placed his hand on the shoulder of the youngest man in the room. “This is Charlie, only survivor of the civilian surveyor Heralder.”

The young man, who could scarcely have been much past fifteen smiled uncertainly, “captain,” he said weakly.

It was Kirks turn to stare. Antares had not mentioned anything particular about the survivor they had found. Saying only that the away team had found a man amongst the wreckage.

Kirk ran through some mental math. Assuming he was fifteen then that would have put Charlie at a mere five years old at the time of the vessels crash. He tried not to judge the boy’s parents to harshly for bringing a child out on a potentially dangerous mission to deep space.

The fact that there had been a survivor at all was astounding. But that he should be so young and seemingly so healthy was another matter in and of itself.

Kirk sensed some uneasiness on the part of Fergusson and Lebance, as if neither was telling everything they knew. Looking at the two Kirk also gathered that they would not be staying long.

As if reading his counterparts mind Fergusson spoke, “we must be getting back to Antares, we have been delayed significantly by this little diversion and must finish our survey mission.”

“Of course,” Spock said stepping forward to fill the void between the two groups of officers. “Do you have any medical records from your sickbay you wish to send over?” He asked eyeing both Charlie and the Antares crew with a cold eye.

Lebance spoke for his captain, “our medical department should have already sent a data packet over radio.”

“Confirmed sir,” Albrecht reported from the operator room. “Communications reports a message being sent about a minute ago that was marked for doctor McCoy.”

That was not all that unusual. But something still made Kirk think Fergusson was not telling him everything. He refused to make eye contact and shifted his weight between feet constantly.

Perhaps sensing that Kirk had further questions he was not willing to answer Fergusson turned to Charlie, “these people will care for you now. They won’t hurt you.”

To this Charlie merely nodded, a look on his face somewhere between discomfort and joy. Fergusson and Lebance exchanged a glance Kirk could not see and then the captain of Antares spoke, “now we must be getting back. It was good to meet you captain.”

“And you as well,” kirk said not entirely sincerely.

“You may beam us back as soon as you are ready,” Fergusson called to Albrecht who looked to Kirk. Without any reason to keep them he nodded to her.

It took a moment to warm the transporters back up and get a positive lock with the transporter room aboard Antares. When this had been done she signalled ready from her console.

“Energize!” Fergusson commanded and soon both he and commander Lebance had left the pad. Likely facing extreme discomfort as they rematerliazed back aboard Antares. Two uses of the transporter in such quick succession were not something the human body could bear on a regular basis.

Kirk and Spock were left alone in the transporter room with the boy Charlie who looked between them with some slight confusion. Finally he asked, “why are your ears so weird?”

“I am a Vulcan,” Spock said stiffly. Eyebrow raised.

“He is not of Earth, the commander is an alien,” Kirk said unsure how much Charlie understood of the galaxy and its many races. He could not have learned much in his time alone.

“I know what a Vulcan is!” Charlie exclaimed excitedly. “You see I used the ships memory banks to learn as much as I could. I bet I know lots more than most people seeing how all I had to do was learn.”

Kirk wondered how the memory banks and at least one monitor from the Heralder had survived the crash. A thought Spock apparently shared, judging from the look he gave Kirk. But he decided this was not the time to ask about it. “You must be exhausted,” he said instead. “We will have to do some medical scans and then we will assign you some guest quarters to sleep in.”

Charlie nodded in understanding. His nod ended suddenly when yeoman Rand walked into view, his head jerked suddenly to one side and his eyes bulged.

“The yeoman will show you to sickbay,” Kirk said returning Rand`s polite smile and shuffling the boy her way.

Charlie jerked back into reality, “you’re not coming?” He asked in surprise.

Kirk did his best to ease the young man’s fears, “I have other things to attend to, but the yeoman here is more than capable of taking you to our sickbay and then quarters.”

He could tell his words had little effect, “I want to stay with you,” Charlie protested.

Rand stepped in and took charge of the boy, “captain Kirk is a busy man with an entire starship to run, I won’t hurt you. Promise.”

Charlie seemed still uncertain but moved to follow Rand giving the yeoman a thorough lookover as the two left the transporter room.

“Curious,” Spock commented as soon as the two had moved off.

“Its like he expected me to show him around personally,” Kirk said in agreement.

“I was not only referring to the boy, the actions of captain Fergusson also lead to some questions.” Spock gestured to the now vacant transporter pad.

Kirk was glad he was not the only one to sense something was off with the two other officers, “can you think of any reason the captain and first officer of the Antares would beam over to Enterprise, deliver a child and then beam back seconds later?” Kirk asked.

“They did claim to be in some hurry to get back to their survey mission,” Spock suggested.

“Have you ever known a scout to be in a hurry to get back to a survey mission in a lifeless star cluster?” Kirk asked pointedly. Spock shook his head slightly after thinking for a few seconds.

“I have not, although perhaps Antares is involved in some pursuit that is not entirely legal in the Priester cluster and wish to get back to whatever it is as soon as possible.”

Kirk, who had thought the same thing nodded, “certainly something to mention in a report,” he said just before the comm panel beside the door beeped.

Walking the short distance Kirk thumbed the acceptance key, “Kirk here.” He said in as formal a voice as he could manage.

“Captain this is the bridge,” Sulu`s voice came through the speaker. “Just wanted to inform you that Antares has left our proximity at high warp and wishes to send you their regards.”

“Acknowledged bridge,” Kirk said. The notification was hardly unexpected given Fergusson’s apparent hurry. Nor was their sending him regards, it was in fact something of a tradition within Starfleet. “Anything else?” He asked.

“Mister Scott request your presence in the reactor room, something about a minor field adjustment he wants to make.” Sulu said with a hint of boredom coming into his voice. Kirk only smiled.

Commander Montgomery Scott, Enterprise`s chief engineer, was always wanting to make some adjustment or modify some piece of the ships hardware to give it marginally increased performance. Often somewhere in the range of a one to five percent boost. Kirk had grown used to such requests in the months since he first assumed control. “Tell him commander Spock and I will be down in a few minutes.” He said.

 

[Charles Markov]

Ok so the first episode wrapped up and no a new one (but not really) starts!

 

[Charles Markov]

Montgomery Scott

Born: 2405 Linlithgow Scotland.

Parents: James and Molly Scott.

Siblings: Leia older sister, John and William younger twin brothers.

Attended Aberdeen Royal College: 2427-2433.

Graduated: 2433 with masters in warp field dynamics, M/AM reactor certification, Field modulation theory.

Entered Starfleet Academy: 2438 Edinburg campus.

Graduated Starfleet Academy: 2442, assigned UES Crusader as 2nd Lieutenant and serving as reactor specialist. Awarded commendation in 2443 for service during battle of Mackensen II for restoring primary power following damage sustained by Klingon disruptor fire, wounded in action, losing part of middle finger. Awarded Victoria Cross 2445 for service in Canberra during unrest on planet.

Promoted to Lieutenant: 2445 at wars end and assigned to Starfleet Academy Cochrane Alpha Centari campus as engineering instructor.

Assigned Constitution Class Development Project: 2451 as warp reactor assembly specialist.

Promoted Lieutenant-Commander: 2451 and assigned UES Yorktown as Engineers mate.

Promoted Commander: 2457 and assigned UES Enterprise as chief engineer. Turned down posting to Jupiter Station 2460 due to desire to remain in deep space posting.

Biography:
Montgomery Scott, known as Scotty to many, was born in Linlithgow Scotland, a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, in 2405 to parents James and Molly. His early childhood was occupied primarily with farming, as both his parents had retired from careers in starship engineering some years prior when his elder sister Leia was born. At four years old he became and older brother with twins John and William joining the family in 2409. On a number of occasions the family took vacations, or traveled to give lectures at a number of prestigious universities. Notably Cochrane University in Bozeman Montana in 2418 where Montgomery would see warp field modelling demonstrated.

With interest in engineering and all things mechanical instilled in him from a very early age Montgomery would work on various vehicles and read extensively on starships while attending highschool. After graduating he would enroll in Aberdeen Royal College in 2427, Scotland's leading school in the field of starship design and operations. He quickly proved an exemplary student and juggled multiple degrees, managing to graduate as the top student in his class in 2433 and pursuing a job briefly as engineer aboard the civilian flagged Polaris liner Mercury before a former classmate showed him operations aboard UES Rossiya in 2437.

Scott enrolled in Starfleet Academies Edinburg campus in 2438 and quickly climbed to the top of his class due to his prior experience and college education. He graduated in time to serve aboard the UES Crusader in a number of battles of the four years war. Serving as a reactor specialist he would receive numerous commendations from his captain for his service and prompt action in a number of battles, he would be wounded in the battle of Mackensen II, losing his right middle finger. As a citizen of the Commonwealth Scott would be awarded the Victoria Cross in 2445 for helping to stop a terrorist situation on the Crown colony of Canberra in 2445.

Post war Scott was assigned to the Academies Alpha Centari campus in the city of Cochrane and would serve as an instructor in engineering. He would serve in this position, writing a number of papers on starship and warp field design and modulation before receiving a new posting after frequent request to the Constitution Class Development Project where he led teams installing warp reactors aboard the first Constitution class ships. Following this, in 2451 he would be promoted to Lieutenant-Commander and assigned to UES Yorktown as engineers mate. Serving on the ship in this capacity for five and a half years.

In 2457 Scott would be reassigned to UES Enterprise as chief engineer and promoted to Commander following the early retirement of the ships former chief engineer. He would serve in this position for the remainder of captain Christopher Pike's command of the ship and after the end of her five year deployment in 2460 he would oversee the refit of Enterprise, turning down an offered posting to Jupiter Station in order to continue at a active station.

 

[Charles Markov]

Well I figured it was time to get back to character biographies as Wednesday updates. I was torn between Scotty, my favorite TOS character, or McCoy. But I decided to work my way down through the ships crew by rank. Next week should see Sulu, followed by McCoy or possibly Uhura. And then we will see where we are after that.

 

[Charles Markov]

“That wasn’t so bad was it?” Rand asked Charlie as the two of them left sickbay behind.

Rubbing his shoulder Charlie disagreed, “those needles hurt,” he complained.

“Yes, but you lived through it and now doctor McCoy can say for sure that your healthy and none the worse for wear after going through what you did.” Rand pointed out still maintaining a friendly tone. It was something she had found came in handy when she had dealt with her nieces and nephews during family reunions.

“I didn’t like the doctor, he was mad,” Charlie said still refusing to cheer up. “And I don’t like needles. They gave me a few shots on Antares bigger than those and they really hurt!”

Rand guided Charlie to the turbolift and tried to come up with a suitable response to his outburst. None came to mind and instead she ordered the lift to deck five, the forward section.

“You actually have pretty good quarters, towards the front of the primary hull with good views and you will be very close to the forward recreational deck.” Rand said trying to casually change the subject.

“Recreational deck?” Charlie asked the word sounding unfamiliar to his ears.

Rand was momentarily stunned, but then remembered the circumstances of the boy’s life. “You know, fun, games and food. I`ll show you,” she offered as the lift came to a stop.

Charlie was unsure but followed Rand out of the lift and to the short distance to the forward recreational deck. Informally known as Red One by most of the crew save a few holdouts.

As the doors opened Charlie gasped at the vast open space that appeared before him. The room was a massive two deck space with an upper promenade containing mostly dining booths overlooking both the three massive windows looking out to the space ahead of the ship, and the gaming area below on the lower deck.

“Its huge,” he finally managed to say eyes still glued to the room before him.

“It’s the largest room in the command hull,” Rand said watching the excitement in the boy’s eyes. She had felt something similar when she had first seen rec one, and to be honest the amazement had not yet entirely faded.

She showed Charlie a few of the different games that could be played at the big tables, he watched with intense interest with all of them. But he seemed to pay special attention when a cube building game came up. He even played it for a few minutes before moving on to the next game.

She also showed Charlie how to order different food from the automated system. The variety of dishes available to him seemed to good to believe and he spent perhaps twenty minutes doing nothing other than ordering again and again off the menu until eventually one of the cooks came personally to the table and asked him to stop.

That was the que for them to leave and with minimal prodding Rand managed to get Charlie out of rec one with promises that he would be able to go back many more times before they reached star base ten. She led him down the main corridor to a block of empty guest quarters.

She stopped in front of one of the larger cabins and used her authorisation to open the doors. “Its not the largest cabin we have, but it has a good view out ahead of the ship and easy access to the lift and rec one depending on where you want to go.”

Charlie peered in the open room for a moment before he stepped in. Rand turned on the lights and showed him around, the room was rectangular in shape. With a small bedroom on one end separated from the main living space by a thin wall and a head complete with shower on the other end. The living space in between was big enough for a couch and entertainment centre with a little bit of floor left for walking around. It was about average for officers’ quarters, and was far larger than her own quarters, which she shared with two other people.

“This is all mine?” Charlie said eyes wide. He wondered aimlessly around the room and finally plopped himself down on the couch and looked around. “Its so big.”

Again Rand smiled, she was doing a lot of that, but Charlie was so sweet and innocent. Looking at every little thing in open wonder. Even little things like the shower seemed to be incredible to him.

“If you need anything use the comm, I will be off duty in a half hour, but someone will be able to help you.”

“Your leaving?” Charlie was up off the couch and to the door in one nervous instant.

“I can’t stay here,” Rand laughed. Charlie sunk back into the chair dejectedly. Almost as if he was deflating. Rand could not help but feel sorry. “Look,” she said moving to sit down next to him. “I will be back tomorrow afternoon to check up on you. You can go to rec one for breakfast if you like and meet me back here noonish,” she suggested.

“Ok, I can live with that,” Charlie said clearly not entirely happy to be separated from practically the only person he knew on the ship, but he seemed to accept that Rand could not spend every second of every day with him. “Just please don’t forget about me,” he pleaded.

“How could I forget about you?” Rand asked shaking her head. “Trust me you are the most interesting person I have met since I was assigned to Enterprise. It will take me a lot longer than a night to forget about you.”

Charlie again brightened and walked Rand to the door, he was already chatting about what he would do in the morning once he woke up, Rand gave him access to the ships computer, basic level, before she left and Charlie spent some hours reading as much as he could about the ship and making plans for what he would explore in the morning.

So engrossed was he in what he was reading that he fell asleep at the computer terminal hunched over the display. Sometime in the middle of the night he woke up with a start only to realise what he had done and move to the bed. Where he soon fell back asleep.



Charlie woke up early the next morning and after consuming nearly a dozen fried eggs, quarter pound of bacon and a litre of coffee in the span of fifteen minutes he left rec one and began to wonder around the ship. Not every section of the vast Enterprise was accessible to him, which Charlie thought made sense. Wouldn’t want just anybody wondering into what had to be really dangerous places.

He eventually got the turbolift working and it took him all around the ship, where he was allowed to go. He visited the sickbay again, though only long enough to watch the doctor perform a quick exam. He then wondered around the scientific department for around an hour, looking into the various laboratories and speaking with a number of crew when he saw them.



Captain Kirk was making his daily inspection, really just wondering around from one department to the other and speaking with the personnel on duty for a bit. It was nothing as official as a dress inspection or even his weekly reviews and all he spoke to were well at ease, not really worried about impressing their captain to much. Just doing their job and answering any of his questions.

In each department he spoke with the senior most officer in overall charge of it. Engineering had seen Kirk walk with Scotty for almost an hour, while the ships quartermaster had warranted only a ten-minute walk.

The science department under Spock Kirk hoped would take somewhere in between the two extremes. Located on decks two, three, four and five most of the science labs were close together and hardly staffed this early in the morning.

They had just toured the stellar cartography and planetary geology labs and were on their way to the biosciences department when they encountered Charlie around a corner. The young boy was startled, but recovered quickly and stammered out a greeting to Kirk and Spock.

“Exploring?” Kirk asked seeing no one with him. Not that anyone needed to accompany the child, there was not really much trouble he could get into that Kirk could think of in the primary hull.

“Yes sir, miss Rand said we could have lunch together in the afternoon and that I may like to see some of the ship before then.”

It was a good suggestion, and one that the yeoman had likely made thinking it would be good for him to adjust to his changed circumstances if he were aloud some time alone. Spock obviously thought otherwise. “You have been simply walking the corridors of the ship? Without any guide or destination in mind?” He asked.

“I had hoped for a look at the bridge, but I could not get there. The computer said something about clearance,” Charlie answered looking not at Spock, but at Kirk. “Could you give me a tour captain?” He asked brightening. Kirk noted that he seemed to go from low to high rather often. A side effect of the years of isolation?

“I`m afraid I have some other business to attend to currently. Maybe after you have lunch with yeoman Rand you and her can meet with me? I should be free and would love to give you a tour of the ship. How does that sound?”

“It sounds great!” Charlie yelled, startling Kirk and resulting in a raised eyebrow from Spock who looked over the child with an examining eye. Charlie noticed and gave back a look of his own, frowning at something.

Kirk glanced at the old-fashioned watch he usually wore on special occasions but had put on this morning. “You had better head for rec one soon, its almost eleven hundred and thirty hours,” he said wondering if Charlie, or Spock for that matter knew how to read a watch with hands. In a completely digital age it was a rare skill for a person to have.

Charlie jumped and excused himself from Kirk and Spock’s company. He did not want to be late, he even asked for the best way to the turbolift as he ran off. Not waiting for Spock’s answer before he had disappeared down a long hallway.

“He seems quite attached to the yeoman,” Spock said once Charlie was gone. “And also, you.”

I think he may have a slight crush on Rand, she is very pretty. But he will get over it once he gets to star base ten and meets girls his own age. And I have no idea what you are talking about,” Kirk turned back towards the direction of biosciences and shook his head. Though Spock did make a point, Charlie seemed very happy at the idea of Kirk giving him a tour.

“He may even look up to you as a father figure, the boy seemed not to like captain Fergusson all that much.”

Kirk had noted Charlie`s seeming dislike of the captain of the Antares as well, but he did not think Charlie saw him as anything other than a starship captain. And he was not comfortable of anyone seeing him as a father. A feeling which had nothing to do with his age.

“I think you have no idea about fathers,” Kirk said not wanting to talk about it anymore. Deciding to change the subject he asked, “who is on duty in biosciences right now?”



Charlie had just about made it to rec one when he realised how he would look if he went storming through the door’s red in the face and out of breath. Stopping to take a breath he pushed his mind ahead and into the massive room ahead. A trick he had learned during his time as a castaway, a term he had learned in an old book.

Charlie smiled at the memory of learning the trick, his benefactors, another word he had learned from old books, had taught him it when he was rather young. Likely not to long after initially climbing out of the escape pod. The ability to extend his mind around him had come in handy a number of times since then. Allowing him to sense dangerous predators long before they could even see him. And to sneak undetected upon prey.

When he had been first rescued he had assumed all humans had this ability, but after spending time on Antares with its mean captain and crew he had decided otherwise, not only did they seem to lack the ability, but they seemed unaware he possessed it at all.

Antares had been a bad place, its crew were all older and grumpy. They did not like him, and after he tested some of his abilities on the ship’s surgeon. Nothing serious, just a prank, they had become terrified of him, the ships captain had even threatened him if he did anything like that again.

When he learned he was going to be put aboard Enterprise he had decided to hide his abilities from these new people and had taken steps to prevent Antares from relaying any mention of his abilities.

All this thinking was disrupting his concentration and so, breath nearly caught, he focused on Rand. Her mind was happy, appearing as a warm light. But underneath it was a nervousness, likely her wondering if he would come. Wouldn’t she be surprised to hear where he had been.

He entered the room and looked around, he could sense she was close, but he had never been able to clearly see where a being was. Regardless he soon located her and he stopped dead in his tracks.

She was with a group of people, three to be exact, two men and another woman. And then Charlie got a clear sense on her emotion, it was happiness, but not at the thought of seeing him, rather she was happy about being in the presence of one of the men, the tall dark haired one sitting in front of her.

 

[Charles Markov]

Rand was enjoying a breakfast with her roommate Nancy and two others, one of whom, Steve Pratt, she had dated a few times, while she waited for Charlie. A scream at the back of rec one caused her to raise her head. She saw Charlie storming her way red faced and sputtering.

She rose to meet him confused and mildly scared. She tried to ask him what was wrong, instead he simply brushed past her and continued on to Steve. Grabbing the much taller man it initially appeared to Rand that the boy was biting off more than he could chew. Not that she understood why he was doing it in the first place.

Steve clearly thought so as well and tried to pry himself away from the much smaller teenager. When that failed, and Charlie proved to have to tight a grip he grabbed the young man and tossed him to the ground, “call security,” he told Rand standing over Charlie. Rand turned and ran to the comm panel mounted in the wall.

She turned when she heard Steve suddenly scream. She had just time to see her friend consumed in pale red light, clearly in agony, and then in a blink of red-white light he was replaced with a small lizard which scampered away towards the safety of the dark recesses underneath the tables.

“You can’t love him!” Charlie screamed as chaos engulfed rec one. Men and women rushing to get away from whatever Charlie was. The smell of fear and panic filled the room and screams from at least one woman could be heard.

“I had to!” Charlie moaned moving towards Rand. Thinking only that she had to get away she turned and ran as fast as she could, pursued by Charlie who cried for her from a few meters behind her.

She had not idea how long she had run for until Charlie`s screams ceased to follow her. But eventually she ran into the captain and commander Spock who had likely just finished their tour of the ship.

Kirk reached out and grabbed her, she nearly ran right past them. “What is it yeoman?” He asked noticing the fear in her eyes.

Rand struggled for a moment, but eventually she realized she was safe. Collapsing into Kirks embrace she sobbed, “Charlie! Charlie saw me with Steve and turned him into a lizard!”

“A lizard?” Spock asked somewhere between disbelief and shock. Rand did not have time to correct him as alarms throughout the ship began to blare as reports of the occurrence reached the bridge.

“Where is Charlie?” Kirk asked.

“I don’t know, last I saw him he was following me up the stairwell between E and F deck.” Rand was frightened by the alarms, but managed to regain some of her composure. She shook off Kirk and took a deep breath. “Would you like me to help look for him?” She asked, not out of any desire to be anywhere near him. But because she followed orders, no matter how they made her feel.

Kirk had other ideas, “get her to the bridge, she can help search for Charlie,” Kirk ordered Spock. “I`m going to try to talk to him, maybe I can calm him down.”

Spock moved to comply, guiding Rand towards a turbolift. But he had to ask, “what makes you think you will be able to calm the child?”

“You said that he may see me as a father figure, maybe I can use that to calm him.” Kirk felt silly answering, but he had to try talking to him before resorting to a more permanent solution. Spock understood that and nodded.

Kirk ran to a comm panel and keyed for the bridge. “Captain we were just trying to alert you! It seems that Charlie has some kind of mental powers,” Lieutenant Samuel, a ranking weapons specialist who had been acting as interim tactical officer said in a blur of words.

“I know, I have sent commander Spock and yeoman Rand away, they will be on the bridge shortly. Work with mister Spock and see if you can locate Charlie, also send a security team to the forward stairwell on E deck. I will meet them there.” Kirk said cutting off anything else Samuel had to say.

A moment pause and Samuel spoke again, “yes sir, a team is on their way and we will be waiting for commander Spock.”

“Thank you!” Kirk said into the comm before rushing off in the direction of the stairwell. Alarms ringing in his ears he felt naked running towards something that could potentially be dangerous without a weapon. Then again, he did not know how Charlie would respond to seeing him with a weapon in hand.



Charlie had stopped chasing after Rand about halfway to the stairwell and began to cry. He did not really know why, partly it was out of anger at himself for using his powers in such a public way. Partly it was out of regret for his actions, he had basically destroyed any feelings Rand may have ever had for him.

Mostly he cried for the likely repercussions for his actions. He could never live a normal life now. They would take him and study him, or throw him into prison. His benefactors would not be happy either, they had warned him that he should be careful using the gifts they had given him. Make sure he never used them obviously or to give himself to great an advantage. This counted as an obvious use of his powers.

But then again, his benefactors had warned, not threatened him. Perhaps he was beyond their reach now. Afterall he had not heard anything from them since leaving the planet. Perhaps he could use his powers and not attract their attention.

A thought suddenly occurred to him, the tales of past conquerors of the past came to mind. Alexander the great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Genghis Khan, Khan Singh and others. They had each amassed huge empires through personal power and military might. And not one of these men of the past had wielded the power he had.

As a young boy living in exile he had dreamed of becoming one of these conquerors. With millions, perhaps billions living under his control. Without a single person to talk to for so long it had seemed like an impossible dream. But now?

Further thoughts were interrupted by the sense of a person coming his way fast. Extending his mind towards the individual Charlie knew it was captain Kirk. He was worried, worried but not frightened. Which both confused and somewhat angered Charlie. Why should Kirk not fear him? He had already demonstrated his tremendous mental powers, even if only a fraction of their full potential. Any normal human should be cowering in some dark corner from him.

It was strange Charlie thought. Just minutes prior such a thought as people cowering before him would have caused a massive panic attack. Now? Now such thoughts made him smile.



Kirk paused a sudden chill running down his back. The stairwell had been empty, without even a trace of the boy. Now on E deck something moved around the corner ahead of him.

It was Charlie, tears streaming down his face. Kirk abruptly stopped some four metres away. “Charlie,” he said putting as much compassion and concern as he could into his voice. Charlie to came to a stop and looked up at him. Kirk gulped in a breath of air.

“I don’t know how you did it, but you need to turn the man back from a lizard if you can,” he said getting no reaction from Charlie. “You aren’t in any trouble yet, but you will need to explain how you have these powers. Are you really human?”

Something about Kirks mental sense shifted in Charlie`s mind. And there was something in the way he had said human, in his mind Kirk saw Charlie as different. Which he was.

Still it was this feeling of segregation, or differentness that the captain and crew of the Antares had felt towards him. And from the mental sense of other members of the crew Charlie knew that all felt the same way.

Well, this time he could not deal the same way with Enterprise as he had Antares. Even if he could get aboard another vessel he doubted he could exert the necessary control from a such a great distance over so many minds. He didn’t have the mental discipline for it. No it seemed that people would see him this way from now on.

Charlie didn’t even care, he had grown in the past few hours and come to realise that if he couldn’t be one of them he could just as easily be their leader. Using the same fear as Rand had he could control millions, while with his closer companions he could use a more direct control.

“I am human captain,” Charlie said finally. Another shiver ran down Kirks back, the boys face and voice had changed. His posture as well had become straighter, more confident. It was as if he had made a sudden decision. Kirk had a feeling it would not be pleasant.

“Perhaps human is not the right word captain,” Charlie continued. “You see I am human in body, but mentally I am far superior. Perhaps superhuman. Like the heroes and villains in old comic books.”

Kirk was familiar with some of the stories he spoke of, and Charlie was talking more like a Villain. One without a corresponding hero to best him. “Don’t do anything further, we can help you,” Kirk offered. Charlie laughed.

At that moment four security personnel came around the corner weapons at the ready. Charlie heard them coming, he had been distracted by Kirk. Turning he caught sight of the weapons and reacted. The four men plus Kirk suddenly dropped to the floor gasping in pain as waves of flame engulfed their bodies. Or so it felt to them.

Charlie smiled. He had done this illusion before on the small animals around the wreck site. With some disappointment he felt that the feeling was much the same as those tiny creatures had felt. He got the sense of pain and fright, not anything more advanced. Their bodies also wriggled in much the same way as animals.

Charlie watched them for a few minutes as he contemplated his next move smiling throughout their intense agony. Only after making a decision did he leave them, putting them to sleep with a wave of mental energy and leaving them in the hall where they had fell. Weapons and all, he had no use for such things.



On the bridge things were not going well. The ship was in turmoil as frantic reports came in from all sections, flowing the comms board and forcing Uhura to call in an assistant to help her sort through the volume of reports.

There was no word from the captain. In fact the security team he had asked for was also overdue for a report. Spock had sent another team to investigate. But they had yet to find anything.

The only thing Spock was sure of was that Charlie was not anywhere near rec one. Possible not even in the primary hull. Or even the ship. Spock had locked down all sections immediately after arriving on the bridge, and begun a section by section search of the ship for the child. However Enterprise was a big ship. And only ten percent of the ship had so far been searched.

On top of it all Uhura had received a report from the UES Tijger, a destroyer which responded to a distress call from UES Antares. Tijger reported the entire ship destroyed, apparently in a reactor meltdown. There were no survivors.

Spock did not have time to consider the loss of Antares. Although he considered it odd that a ship belonging to a class with a generally excellent reactor safety record. Indeed, reactor meltdowns of the type which had consumed Antares were exceedingly rare, Spock was far busier with other business and so filed that away for future contemplation.

Lieutenant Uhura caught his attention and he put down a report from the ships gunnery department which said Charlie was nowhere in their section and came over. “They found the captain and security team on E deck. They were on the floor and unresponsive. The team reports they have been rushed to sickbay.”

“Were their any wounds or phaser burns apparent?” Spock asked hoping the boy had not managed to somehow get his hands on a phaser. Such a weapon in the hands of an inexperienced user could be disastrous. Fortunately Uhura shook her head.

“It doesn’t appear so, and the team reported that all four phaser rifles were with the original team and the captain.”

“The team and captain were together?” Spock asked. Uhura nodded.

“Yes sir they were, though the team and Kirk were facing eachother. Perhaps they found Charlie and he did this to them?” She suggested. Spock had come to the same conclusion.

“What is their condition?” He asked.

“Sickbay just says they are unresponsive, doctor McCoy is trying to revive them, he warns though that he is not sure how much stress that would cause. Apparently their nervous systems have taken quite a beating.”

Spock made a decision, “Inform doctor McCoy that I will be there shortly, and that he is to do everything he can to resuscitate the captain and security team. They may have information vital to our apprehension of the boy.”

Spock did not consider his order overly harsh. McCoy would not do anything that would kill them. And any brain damage could be repaired once they reached star base ten.

Unfortunately doctor McCoy did not think along similar lines to Spock. “I won’t do it!” He said for the fifth time by Spock’s count. “Its dangerous and I won’t do it!” A sixth time. Spock did not have time to debate the matter and so with a sigh brought his full demeanour to bear.

“Doctor I haven’t time to discuss this matter with you, if you do not comply with my orders I will relieve you of duty and have one of your orderlies wake them. And before you mention and regulations which you feel may hold me back from such action I remind you of regulation 223C, which gives me complete authority in situations where the captain is dead or otherwise incapacitated.”

“This is going in a full report!” McCoy shouted. But the desire to argue had left his eyes and he had injected Kirk and the four security men with a powerful stimulant which quickly brought them into full consciousness.

Blinking at the sudden rush of light Kirk gasped suddenly for breath and thrashed around only for McCoy to be by his side hypospray at the ready. “Easy Jim its ok, your fine,” the doctor said managing to calm the captain without using whatever was in the hypo.

“What happened?” Kirk asked a confused look on his face as he took his change of surroundings in. “Last thing I remember was Charlie using some kind of torture on me, it felt like I was being burned alive!” He tore at his shirt to get a look at his chest, only to see pale unburnt skin.

“Curious,” Spock muttered from beside Kirks bed. McCoy shot him a dirty look, Kirk turned, something about the tone of his first officer.

“Something on your mind mister Spock?” He asked.

Spock hesitated, it had really only been a passing thought. And an ill-advised remark. But he could not tell his captain it was nothing. “A thought captain about the boy Charlies apparent mental abilities.” Kirk prodded him to say more with a look of impatience. “Humans possess some basic level of telepathic and mental abilities, about the norm for most beings. Far below the abilities of the average Vulcan.”

“What a nice way to mention your superior mental capabilities, do you have a point?” McCoy asked. Spock decided it best to ignore him, casting simply a disparaging glance and raised eyebrow his way before continuing.

“It is unlikely that the boy developed these abilities on his own during his years of isolation. His demonstrated abilities outstrip even the strongest Vulcan mental powers that I am aware of by a significant margin. He had even showed substantial ability to project his power over vast distances.”

“He had?” Kirk asked trying to think of an example where Charlie had done that.

“You were unconscious at the time captain, but we received word from the UES Tijger that Antares suffered an apparent reactor malfunction. Normally such a disaster would be assumed to be the result of a tragic accident or faulty engine components. However, given Charlies apparent dislike or even hatred for the ship I find it unlikely that this is a coincidental destruction.”

“How far away was Antares Spock?” Kirk asked a knot forming in his chest as he pondered the true power of the boy.

“Anywhere from sixteen to thirty lightyears captain. It is difficult to day given our two divergent courses and uncertain timeline.” Spock answered without a moments pause.

Playing back the conversation he had just had with Spock as a way to make sure his brain was working Kirk caught something, “you said you thought it unlikely that Charlie developed these powers on his own. How would you guess he got them?”

“Many older spacefaring species speak of a highly advanced civilization whose members possessed impressive mental capacity. Tales of vaporizing warships, controlling weather with mere thought and teleportation without any visible technology are spoken of.”
“Your blaming all this on the bogey man Spock! You must be grasping at straws!” McCoy said as he walked away towards the beeping comm.

Spock waited for the doctor to be out of earshot before continuing, and even then he studied Kirks face intently. He fully realized that what he was saying sounded like a thin answer, and it was if he was being honest with himself. But it was the only thing he could think of that began to make any of this make sense.

“You think some remnant of this ancient race survived and imbued Charlie with these powers? Perhaps even his essence?” Kirk asked before Spock could speak.

“I do. It is also possible that whatever gave Charlie these powers intended for the boy to behave this way as a means of accomplishing some ultimate goal.” Spock frowned, something about the way McCoy stood over the comm gave him pause. Unable to make out any words from his conversation Spock stopped talking to observe McCoy`s body language.

Kirk caught on and he to turned his head to watch the doctor. “something the matter?” He asked after a moment. McCoy flinched and hastily severed the connection to whatever he was listening to.

“Charlie is on the bridge, that was Sulu asking what your condition was. He came in while I was telling Sulu that you were more or less stable, all I heard was Sulu calling his name and then screaming.” McCoy said ashen and shaking.

Before anyone could say anything further a shipwide alert sounded, causing both Kirk and McCoy to jump.

“ATTENTION THIS IS A SHIPWIDE ANNOUNCEMENT INFORMING YOU THAT I, CHARLIE HAVE TAKEN OVER ENTERPRISE AND AM SETTING THE SHIP ON A COURSE FOR EARTH.”

Dazzled looks were exchanged between Kirk and McCoy, Kirk turned to Spock to see that the other was paying rapt attention to the speaker, eyes almost glazed over. Suddenly he jerked sideways and nearly fell to the ground. For a moment Kirk wondered what was going on, he was about to ask Spock if he was alright when Charlie began again.

“I HAVE DECIDED TO USE MY POWERS, A MERE FRACTION OF WHICH YOU ARE AWARE OF, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE HUMAN RACE. HEREBY I DECLARE MYSELF EMPEROR OF THE GALAXY AND CHAMPION OF HUMANITY.

IT IS MY INTENTION AFTER GAINING CONTROL OF EARTH TO LEAD US IN A CAMPAIGN AGAINST THOSE WHO WOULD DEFY MY RULE. ANY AND ALL WHO OPPOSE ME WILL BE SWIFTLY DESTROYED. THAT IS ALL FOR NOW.”

 

[Charles Markov]

Hikaru Sulu.

Born: 2434 san Francisco Earth.



Parents: Isoroku and Ayumi Sulu



Siblings: Older sister Miwa, Yuzuru younger brother.



Enlisted Starfleet Academy San Francisco campus Earth: 2454-2457



Graduated Starfleet Academy as Ensign: 2457 as Ensign.



Assigned aboard UES Sào Paulo: 2457-2458



Promoted 2nd Lieutenant: 2458 following service aboard Sào Paulo.



Assigned UES Ark Royal: 2458 as second officer, navigation department.



Assigned UES Caesar, promoted Lieutenant: 2459 as department head of navigational department.



Promoted Lieutenant-Commander: 2460 following action against Klingon vessels along Federation-Klingon border.



Assigned UES Enterprise: 2461



Biography:

Hikaru Sulu was born to Isoroku and Ayumi sulu in San Francisco in 2434 while his mother was lecturing at Yale University, shortly afterwards he and his family returned to their family home in Tokyo and were joined by Sulu’s older sister Miwa, in 2441 the family was joined by Yuzuru, the youngest child of the family.

Both of Hikaru’s parents were historians specializing in Imperial Japanese history, his mother was an expert in the history of Japan during the Tokugawa period, while his father Isoroku was the expert in the Meiji and high Imperial periods, especially focused on the naval history of Japan in the period 1900-1945. Unsurprisingly then Sulu took an early interest in the history of his island nation, and history in general. Aviation being a particularly favourite subject of his.

In school Sulu displayed an early aptitude for mathematics, specifically advanced geometry and trigonometry. He was also very good as virtual reality simulators, especially aerial combat simulators where he excelled in dogfighting. Seeming to know his opponents moves even before they made them and always finishing in the top percent when the game was complete.

Very shortly after his graduation from school Sulu enlisted in Starfleet academy, scoring very well in his entrance exams, his mathematical skill and piloting abilities got him into advanced courses on navigation and starship piloting. Further high test scores and natural aptitude soon got him placed into advanced courses.

These courses culminated with his early graduation and promotion to Ensign in 2457 as part of a fast track program initiated by the admiralty after the four years war with the Klingons to ensure that gifted officers who showed promise were given the experience and opportunity they needed for future conflict. Sulu would be assigned to the UES Sào Paulo as a junior officer in the ships navigational department.

After less than a year aboard Sào Paulo Sulu was reassigned to the UES Ark Royal in 2458 with a promotion to second Lieutenant. He would be the second in command of the vessels navigational department and would gain much experience, as well as flying time. Earning more hours at the helm of the ship than anyone else in the department during his short time aboard.

And it was short, after eight months Sulu was again reassigned. This time to the light cruiser UES Caesar as head of the navigation department, alongside a promotion to full Lieutenant. Sulu would serve aboard Caesar during the vessels difficult patrol of the Klingon border from 2559 until very late 2460 when the vessel found herself in a skirmish with a Klingon C-9 cruiser and a E-10 scout. His actions during the battle resulting in his promotion in 2461 to Lieutenant-Commander with an assignment aboard the UES Enterprise to command that vessels navigation department.

 

[Charles Markov]

“Emperor of the galaxy?” Kirk stammered unable to even comprehend what Charlie had just declared. With a sickening thought he realized that Charlie likely thought himself fully capable of backing up such a claim.

He wondered at the silence in the room and looked around. Only to see that everyone besides him and Spock was lying motionless on the floor, including McCoy.

Spock looked around him, “Curious,” he muttered breathlessly.

“What has he done?” Kirk asked running over to McCoy and shaking him violently in an attempt to wake him. “Bones!” He screamed in his friends’ ear to no avail. It did nothing, but at least Kirk could feel him breathing.

Taking the more pragmatic approach Spock was scanning nurse Chapel, McCoy`s chief assistant, with a bioscan instrument. “Steady pulse, regular breathing and normal brain activity.”

“He didn’t kill them he merely put them to sleep.” Kirk finished for Spock setting McCoy down as gently as he could back onto the deck. The doctor was his friend, but Kirk wasn’t about to lift that much deadweight onto a bed.

“I wonder why you are unaffected,” Spock wondered aloud. “I felt him probing me for a moment, but it would appear that he is unable to control me as he controlled the rest of the ships crew.” He gave Kirk a very peculiar look. “Did you feel anything odd during the announcement by our new emperor?” Spock asked.

Somewhat taken aback by what he assumed was an attempt at humour Kirk thought back. “Now that you mention it,” he said shivering. “I did for a moment feel like someone was watching me. Almost like someone was right behind me and I could feel their breath on my neck.”

“Perhaps your proximity to me renders Charlie unable to control your brain?” Spock theorised. Something Kirk knew the half Vulcan did not like to do without at least some evidence.

“I`ll stick close to you,” Kirk said moving to stand less than a metre from Spock in case his theory was correct.

“That would imply that you have a plan of action to neutralise the boy,” Spock said not being entirely comfortable with the look in his captains’ eye. “Would that assumption be correct?” He asked.

“Kirk looked around. “You could say that,” he said not giving anything away that he may be planning. He doubted Charlie would be listening, but it was still he felt a safe precaution. “We need to move, preferably as out of sight as possible.”

“The Jeffries tubes?” Spock suggested. Kirk paused. Although the Jeffries tube network connected virtually the entire ship it was a tangled mess and it was easy to get lost.

However, he was with Spock who in addition to having served for over five years aboard Enterprise also had an eidetic memory and habit of memorizing different parts of the ship. And the worst thing that could happen was that they were caught and killed. Hardly a different fate from being caught still in sickbay.

“Let’s go,” he said looking around sickbay for some form of weapon. A phaser would have been nice, but he settled for a scalpel. Casting a last look back as Bones he hoped Charlie was not controlling any of the crew, and that he would not force any of them to try to kill either him or Spock.



Charlie smiled as he sat down in the captain’s chair in the center of the bridge. Around him the ships crew worked like automatons to carry out his bidding, bringing the ship to the center of human civilization. Earth, where his reign over the galaxy would begin.

His announcement had sent a surge of adrenaline through his body, never before had he done anything like that. Speaking to so many people and controlling so many minds. It had been hard, he had not even been sure he could do it. But though he strained to his mental limits he succeeded in gaining control over the hundred or so minds he needed to operate the ship and incapacitate those whom were unnecessary.

He had learned some important things from the experience and was eagre to put what he had learned to the test upon the next ship he encountered.

For instance, he learned that he did not need to exert complete control over every mind he touched at all times. Simply taking over and giving them a task was sufficient, after their task was completed the person would stand quietly until given a new job. Helpful if he were to take over entire planets and fleets of starships. He was working on making it so when their task was completed the individual would carry on with their lives to prevent someone he forgot about just standing there until they died. But for the moment it worked just fine.

He had also learned that his mental powers were not universal. During his announcement he had sensed some resistance to his power from one person somewhere in the ship, however he had been to distracted to pay much attention to this individual.

Now though he had ordered a shipwide search. Charlie doubted that one lone individual could do much to the ship, but still it would not do to have someone running around the ship that he could not control. Charlie had ordered that all crew be accounted for to determine who it was that he could not control. The count was still underway, but Charlie had his suspicions as to who it was.

The alien, Spock. Charlie had been unable to read his mind on their first meeting, even pushing back his own mental probe with apparent ease. Charlie had severed the connection before the other learned anything, but it was enough to leave an impression.

Charlie had read all he could on Vulcans, there wasn’t much. The ships database not being an all-encompassing encyclopedia of galactic knowledge. But it had mentioned that Vulcans possessed some limited psionic powers.

Once he was caught Charlie would like to see if he could force control over him. Or if Vulcan mental abilities were to strong for him to overcome. It would be a useful test before any attempts were made to take over the Vulcans which it seemed possessed a large empire of their own and a military to match. If he could not take over their minds directly it may be better to conquer other races and build up his strength before taking them on.

But that was not something that he would have to worry about for some time. For the moment Enterprise was still days away from the nearest Earth outpost. And months away from the planet itself. There would be plenty to do in the meantime. Charlie would be happy for the moment with just the single Vulcan to play with.



Enterprise was big. Very big. Kirk had never really known the true size of the ship until he was crawling through her maintenance crawlspaces on his hands and knees with only his first officer’s hind quarters to look at. Every time he began to doubt that Spock knew the way the commander would say something to the effect of “we are passing beneath the water processing plant” to calm Kirk.

They had just climbed down eleven decks from the primary hull to the service hull which housed the ships reactor, shuttle bays and cargo handling areas. All the while being neither found, nor running into a sealed bulkhead.

Kirk wondered at that. If it were him and he were looking for someone the first thing Kirk would do is seal off all Jeffries tubes to prevent anyone using them to evade search teams. The fact that this had not been done implied that Charlie was directly controlling the minds of the ships crew and that they were not able to suggest any possible courses of action.

“We are nearly there,” Spock said suddenly coming to a stop at an intersection. Kirk had not been paying all that much attention and nearly ran into the Vulcans feet. And not for the first time either.

“How much farther?” Kirk asked. His knees hurt, his arms hurt, and his neck hurt and he was becoming increasingly claustrophobic surrounded by the metal of the Jeffries tubes.

“Not to great a distance, we are just passing the deflector control room, auxiliary control should be just a few more meters ahead and then a few decks down.” Spock was confident, much more so than Kirk.

His first officer was correct however and in just a few minutes they emerged cautiously from the Jeffries tubes and into the corridor outside of auxiliary control, the ships backup bridge buried deep inside the ship. No one was guarding the entrance, something Kirk would have done for certain.

The doors were not even locked either, admitting Kirk and Spock with a quiet hiss of equalizing atmospheres. For a moment Kirk entertained the notion that Charlie had done this deliberately to trap them both. But as both he and Spock began to call up different ships systems he realized that the boy was either unable to control the people necessary to do that or had not considered the possibility.

“Captain may I inquire at this point what exactly you plan to do now that we are in auxiliary control?” Spock asked without even looking up from the engineering station which he was in the middle of bringing online.

This was going to be the difficult part, neither of his plans were especially good ones. But he had been unable to think of one that was better in the time it had taken them to crawl their way here. And if Spock objected now or refused to follow Kirk, he was not at all sure what he would do.

Giving it his best shot Kirk answered, “I have two plans mister Spock. One of them which I will call plan A does not involve us dying. The other and far less appealing, which I have named plan B does involve our deaths. Which would you like to hear first?” Kirk asked.

If Spock felt any surprise at the frankness of his captain he hid it well, “lets begin with your plan A.” He requested finally turning to face him. Kirk said a silent prayer and began to explain his plan. Spock just listened and when it was done agreed to start with plan A and see where that got them.



“Your mightiness!” Sulu said almost drunkenly from the helm station. He had been at his post for roughly fourteen hours by this point that Charlie knew of and his body was beginning to protest, his mind as well. In his own mind Charlie could feel Sulu`s body ache.

And he was not the only one to be in such a position. All around him, not only on the bridge, but the rest of the ship as well, crew which had been at their posts for double or even triple shifts urged to be relieved of their duties and sleep. However Charlie could not do that as the strain of compelling so many minds to sleep while simultaneously calling replacements to pick up their slumbering comrades shifts was too much for him.

Truth be told Charlie was in little better shape than those under his control. He had not slept just as long as Sulu, and his mind had been under significantly more stress during that time. He was struggling to keep his own eyes open.

“What is it?” He asked wondering how the ship would manage while he slept.

“Mightiness someone seems to be attempting to access the ships control systems from auxiliary control. I am being locked out of my station!” Sulu said slurring his r`s while his s`s at the same time degenerated into a single drawn out hiss sound.

Charlie doublechecked Sulu only to find that indeed someone was accessing the ships systems from Enterprises auxiliary control room. And doing a very good job of it as well. Just as soon as Charlie had confirmed what was happening his console went dark, its functions transferred over to auxiliary control.

Mind racing Charlie tried to think about what was going on. He knew from looking through the ships manuals that it was impossible for the ship to be controlled entirely from the bridge, he assumed the same was true of auxiliary control.

However, with control of the ships systems a few people could send or receive messages via the ships communications equipment. Or shut down certain systems remotely.

“Tell the engine room to shunt all computer functions into backups!” Charlie roared reaching over Sulu`s shoulder to do it himself. A dozen other orders flew in the next minute both verbal and mental. Adrenaline allowed him to work almost as fast as usual and soon he was receiving reports that his efforts to block out auxiliary control from the ship had succeeded.

Without computer control it would be impossible for anyone to do much in the auxiliary control room. A team of the ship’s security team were awoken to trap whoever was in the room there until Charlie arrived.

After ensuring that the ship would continue on its course Charlie left the bridge in the care of its half-asleep automatons and made his way to auxiliary control. Only getting himself lost twice but managing each time to get back on track before he was too far away.

 

[Charles Markov]

Given the length of the episode there will be a special additional part to the episode next week. On Monday the last part of the episode will be put out, Wednesday another character bio will follow, and on Friday I will probably out something else out. Not sure what yet, but something...

 

[Charles Markov]

Badha`a! Kirk swore putting the limited Arabic he knew to good use for once. He had just been locked out of the main computer and alerts showed that other ships systems had been shunted to backups from the bridge.

“It would appear that plan A has failed captain.” Spock said sombrely, far more sombre than usual.

Kirk swore again, this time using stronger language. Plan A had involved crippling the ships engines and shutting down the turbolifts across the ship. Perhaps even jettisoning the bridge module from the ship and then sending a signal to Starfleet command informing them of recent developments.

But without computer control that was impossible. Another spat of cursing, this time English and Spanish profanity lacing the earlier Arabic, lasting some seconds before dying down.

“Plan B?” Spock asked voice deep.

Without any plan C springing to mind Kirk nodded, plan B.” He said moving over to the console directly behind the compact helm/conn station in the center of the bridge. There they began to input a series of codes into the computer mainframe.



Charlie arrived outside of auxiliary control with a frown on his face. This was clearly the work of the Vulcan, the one called Spock. Extending his mind into the room Charlie could sense him working, sense him notice his presence and disregard it. And could sense the cold resolve behind the mind.

Charlie could sense something else in the room as well. Another. Although he was unsure of the identity of this additional man Charlie was certain that his proximity to the Vulcan was the reason he was not under his power.

“Mightiness what are you orders?” The leader of the security team asked. He and his men stood ready just outside the entrance in a clump. Phasers trained at the door and primed.

Charlie was cold in his reply, “destroy them.”



“A nice little trap isn’t it?” Kirk asked smirking at the monitor which showed a mass of men standing outside the door to auxiliary control. Clumped like they were they would be an easy target for the flash grenade Kirk had placed outside earlier.

“Indeed,” Spock said putting in the last of his codes. Silently the computer flashed once before asking for final verbal confirmation of the orders input into it. A final failsafe designed to give the people giving the order time to reconsider.

Kirk breathed in deeply and said what would likely prove to be his final words. “Computer begin autodestruct of main reactor.” He turned to face Spock.

“Confirm computer.” Spock said. The computer again blinked and a ten-minute countdown, enough time for the ships crew to evacuate to escape pods, began.

“Are you ready sir?” Spock asked. Kirk nodded.



Outside the flash grenade did its job well. Sending most members of the team off in many directions and knocking most of them out instantly, though not killing them.

Standing some seven metres away Charlie was spared the worst effects of the blast, only belatedly realising that he should have spread his security team around the door. Head ringing, he two figured walking calmly out of auxiliary control. Face white with pain and rage he charged them sending waves of mental power the way of the Vulcan and Kirk.

Kirk fell to the floor, Spock’s shielding vanishing beneath Charlies onslaught. Again it felt as if her were being burnt alive. On his right Kirk could just barely make out Spock who appeared to be undergoing a similar amount of pain.

Neither had counted on Charlie being there. They had both taken the gamble that no further security personnel would be outside the blast radius of the flash grenade. And that both of them would have time to make it to the escape pods further down the hall.

Truthfully Kirk had not felt as if either he or Spock deserved to survive after condemning the ship and her crew to death. However, Spock had argued that someone would have to survive to explain what had happened. Kirk had taken comfort in the fact that even in the unlikely event their pod was found it would likely be months after the fact. By which point both would have likely died from lack of oxygen. A pod having only enough for a few weeks.

At least this way Kirk thought, he would die before his crew and likely Charlie would have no idea what it was that killed him and put a stop to his plans for galactic domination.



Charlie reached Kirk and began to pummel him. Kicking, punching, gouging and biting the man even as he writhed on the floor incapacitated from his mental torture.

Reading his thoughts Charlie knew the ship was doomed. Its crew doomed. And he alongside it. And there was nothing he could do about it. So far as he knew there was no way to stop an autodestruct sequence once it had begun.

And so, he hit the captain a dull sense of defeat tugging at his throat making him want to cry. But Charlie had read that for a man to die crying he was not a man at all. And so instead he decided to beat first Kirk, and then Spock to death until the ship exploded around him.



The pain was incredible. Spock had trained to withstand a fair degree of pain. And typically Vulcans had a high pain threshold to begin with. But this was something else entirely. To Spock it felt like every single atom in his body was being ripped apart all at once. Dimly Spock wondered if pain worse than this could possibly be felt.

Suddenly the pain ceased and Spock collapsed in a heap outside of auxiliary control. He nearly passed out when he noticed someone else still screaming. Turning first to Kirk and seeing that the captain was also on the floor immobile he then noticed a pale pink light.

Eyes straining Spock looked at the source of the light. Less than two metres in front of him Charlie was hanging suspended in a tangled web of energy screaming and pleading with some unseen power. And that was the last thing he saw before passing out.



YOU HAVE GONE AGAINST OUR ORDERS AND USED YOUR POWERS LIKE A GOD! A voice thundered in Charlies ears. Writhing in pain he struggled to shout back.

“I was protecting myself!” He managed weakly mind reeling to badly from the pain to think up a better defence. The voice was unconvinced.

IT WAS WRONG OF US TO BELIEVE YOU READY TO LIVE AMONGST HUMANS. THE POWER WE GAVE YOU IS TO MUCH FOR ANY MORTAL TO WIELD. FOR YOUR CRIMES YOU WILL RECEIVE A SERIOUS PUNISHMENT.

Charlie had never heard his benefactors this mad before. He wondered how much they knew. He did not wonder long though.

FOR YOUR ATTEMPTED GALACTIC CONQUEST, the voice sounded bemused, MANIPULATION OF THIS VESSELS CREW AND EXTERMINATION OF A HUMAN STARSHIP YOU SHALL BE PUNISHED. WE WILL RETURN YOU TO THE PLANET WHERE WE FIRST FOUND YOU. THERE YOU WILL BE PUNISHED.

Charlie attempted to fight back. Attempted to being all he could do when confronted with the awesome power of his enraged benefactors. In a whirl of pain and light he disappeared from Enterprise and emerged in the pouring rain of his home world.

YOUR PUNISHMENT BEGINS the voice announced. Charlie felt himself suddenly grow smaller. Not physically for he remained in the same body as before. But rather he felt his mental power suddenly vanish. And then he understood that his benefactors meant to let him die here alone and with no one to remember him. And then with no one to turn to he began to cry.



Captains log stardate 309072.11

Enterprise has been directed to star base six due to our course change. A full report has been made to Starfleet though I feel that I am inadequate to properly describe the events of the past few days.

Those effected by the boy Charlie were returned to their own minds by the child’s disappearance and I and commander Spock were able to shut down the ships self-destruct sequence with three and a half minutes to spare.

Yeoman Rand has not said a single word of her ordeal, thought I suspect it has left far more of a mark on her than she lets on. Something which could be said about several of us. I have decided to bump Rand up on the list for shore leave at our next port of call. Hopefully some recreation time will help her.

Kirk paused the entry as Spock and McCoy’s argument reached a new level of volume, mostly from the doctor. Resigning himself to finish his log entry following the arguments conclusion Kirk listened in.

“You really don’t expect me to believe that Charlie was part of a plan to destabilize the federation do you?” McCoy asked.

“I merely suggest a theory which would begin to explain the events of the past few days,” Spock answered levelly.

“Well I don’t buy it!” McCoy declared.

“Very well then what is your explanation of the past few days?” Spock asked. McCoy stammered before pulling an explanation out of somewhere.

“Maybe something on the planet gave him the power.” He retorted knowing full well that he was grasping at straws and had likely lost the argument. But he refused to give up.

Kirk took the moment to weight in, attempting to put a stop to the argument before it could grow truly out of hand. “I think we should hold of making any decisions about what caused Charlie to have his powers until an expert can give their opinion.”

Both turned towards him. Kirk looked innocent. “What?” he asked. “Its not something that has an open and shut answer like…” he strained for an example. “Like who shot JFK, the American president.”

Kirk had hoped the reference was obscure enough that neither Spock nor McCoy would get it. He was wrong and soon a new debate had sprung up over who had shot the long dead American president of some half a millennium earlier.

Kirk threw his arms up into the air and attempted to get some work done. Opening up a report he began to read, doing his best to tone out the bicker sons in his ear.

 

[Charles Markov]

Well as promised the fifth and final part of the episode. A little later than I typically post but stuff got in the way and so hopefully no one misses this.

 

[Charles Markov]

Leonard Hughes McCoy



Born: 2409, Atlanta Georgia.



Parents: David, Rachel McCoy.



Siblings: Peter, William older brothers, Loretta younger sister.



Attended school: 2429-2434, University of Mississippi.



Married: Samantha Cole McCoy 2433.



Graduated: 2434 with degrees in surgery and experimental medicine.



Practiced at Atlanta City Hospital: 2435-2441.



Daughter Born: Joanna 2438.



Divorced: 2441.



Enlisted in Starfleet Academy San Francisco Campus: 2442-2444



Student Instructor: 2444-2446 teaching medicine and emergency medic training for all cadets.



Instructor at Starfleet Academy: 2446-2458 with promotion to Lieutenant.



Assigned UES Nautilus: 2458 with promotion to Lieutenant-Commander.



Assigned UES Enterprise: 2461 with promotion to Commander.



Biography.

Born to David and Rachel McCoy Leonard McCoy was the couples third of four children and grew up on the family farm roughly two hundred kilometres outside of Atlanta. The young child showed an early interest in medicine and animals. Spending much time with his uncle Charles, who was a veterinarian. In School Leonard showed a stubborn streak that would become a defining personal trait for the rest of his life, although he excelled at science, especially biology, he lagged behind in mathematics and language.

Upon graduating from primary school Leonard applied to a number of colleges, being refused from schools in Atlanta and Richmond before being finally accepted in the university of Mississippi and attending from 2429 until 2434. It was while attending university that McCoy would meet and marry Samantha Cole in 2433 after a year long courtship. The were in the same graduating class, Samantha having taken courses in biology and xenobiology, graduating in the top of her class.

The couple soon found work at the Atlanta city hospital soon after graduating. McCoy soon found himself climbing up the ranks as his skills as a surgeon were put to good use. A daughter, Joanna, was born to the couple in 2438, even as their marriage unravelled. The two would separate in 2440 with Samantha taking Joanna. A bitter divorce would follow which resulted in McCoy loosing everything, though Samantha fared little better. Constant fighting during the divorce led to McCoy being fired from the hospital just before the divorce was finalized in 2441 and he found it difficult to find employment elsewhere.

McCoy was approached by a former classmate who had enlisted in Starfleet medical after graduating. Interested McCoy took the Starfleet entrance exam, his degree and work experience putting him well ahead of others in his class. He attended the academy as a student from 2442 until 2444 when, at the top of his class he was promoted to Ensign and made a student instructor for the remainder of his academy service.

Following graduation McCoy was selected to act as a full time instructor at Starfleet academies san Francisco campus. Teaching medicine to cadets he quickly earned a reputation as a tough instructor feared by his students, though graduates of his class scored much higher than those who were taught by other instructors.

McCoy would teach as an instructor at the academy for twelve years in total from 2446-2458, giving a number of lectures and writing several papers in the meantime as he strove to remain a part of the medical community.

His abrasive and sometimes insubordinate attitude made McCoy a number of enemies at the academy and in 2458 he was assigned to the UES Nautilus as revenge by Academy faculty who had grown tired of him. Upon being reassigned he was promoted to Lieutennant-Commander, making him the second highest ranking officer aboard Nautilus. An unusual rank for a medical officer aboard a lowly destroyer, but not for an officer with twelve years’ experience.

McCoy served for two years aboard Nautilus, developing a close relationship with the vessels captain, a young James Tiberius Kirk, following the loss of Nautilus McCoy would earn a promotion to Commander and with Kirks insistence was transferred with him to the UES Enterprise, assuming the duties of chief medical officer aboard the vessel in 2461.

 

[Charles Markov]

Federation Council

The premier law making body of the UFP the Council is comprised at present of twenty one seats each of which is held on a yearly rotating basis by all Federation member governments with the exception of the Vulcan Assembly, Andorian Empire, United Earth and Tellarite Union which have their seats in perpetuity.

The council is tasked with making important decisions that effect the whole of the Federation, such as diplomacy with foreign governments, trade deals and exploration initiatives. The body also votes on issues brought to their attention by the Assembly to determine whether or not they pass into law or not.

Federation President

Largely a figurehead the position of President is held by one representative from a member government for a term of one year. When his or her term has ended a new president is elected by the Assembly and confirmed by the Council, the President cannot be currently sitting on the council.

The duties of president are simple and straightforward. Opening Assembly sessions, putting motions to a vote, though he himself does not vote, and counting the results. He is also responsible for bringing motions that passed to the Council for a final vote.

In times of war the position of President takes on far more power. The President is responsible for coordinating common defence and integrating member militaries to protect the Federation as a whole. He is also the one tasked with negotiating peace terms with a warring nation.

Federation Assembly

The largest of the governing bodies of the UFP the Assembly acts as the common voice of the Federation. With each member government sending a single representative to the Assembly, terms in the Assembly are decided upon by the government sending them. The exception to this is again Vulcan, Earth, Andor and Tellar which send four representatives each. One of whom usually sits on the Council.

The Assembly is the arena in which matters concerning individual members can be discussed. Such as requests for assistance in disaster relief, modernization, technology transfers or anything else. Disputes are also discussed and laws are debated and sent to the Council for final approval. When a member nation has a seat on the Council their representative to the Assembly assumes joint duties in both bodies.

Currently the Federation Assembly has thirty seven members and forty nine seats. Some governments that are closely associated or considering applying for membership are also given seats on the Assembly, though representatives from these nations cannot vote or bring motions to the floor for debate. On occasion though these representatives are permitted to speak on the floor to make their stance on certain issues known.

The Assembly, perhaps most importantly, is also tasked with voting on whether or not a foreign nations request for membership into the UFP will be accepted or not. The Diplomatic corps and member-state militaries report on the nation requesting membership, their technology level, societal development, military capability, relations with neighboring nations and recent history. Informed the Assembly then takes a vote. Only with a one hundred percent vote can the Council veto the Assemblies decision.

Federation court

Given the daunting task of dealing with all legal matters involving more than one member government, or citizens of more than one member government, the Federation court is comprised of judges sent by twenty one member worlds, with positions on the court being handed out for yearly terms on a rotating basis, with the exception of Vulcan, Earth, Andor and Tellar which have permanent seats.

The court in addition to its duties as a supernational legal body is also tasked with settling any and all disputes between member governments. Such as border disputes, economic disagreements and settling rights in various systems.

The court also as a final duty is tasked with dealing with member-state citizens whose actions damaged the Federations image with its neighbours. Such as pirates, smugglers and other criminal elements. Or, military personnel who are determined to have provoked aggression by foreign governments.

Diplomatic Corps

The final and perhaps most confusing of the Federations chief branches of government the Diplomatic Corps is comprised of teams of diplomats under the joint control of the Federation Council and Assembly. It is tasked with dealing with foreign governments as a united front and also with developing closer ties with non-member governments.

As an unstated role the DC also acts often as the unofficial intelligence arm of the UFP, scouting our foreign governments, forging ties with notable people and investigating foreign states for potential threats to Federation security, though the body stops short of being a proper espionage organization by not undertaking black ops or covert operations to foreign states.

 

[Charles Markov]

“Captain!” Yeoman Rand shouted from behind captain James Kirk. He turned around to see her walking as fast as she could to catch up to him. A notepad in one hand.

“Good morning sir,” she said breathlessly as she handed him the notepad which had a message from commander Spock scribbled on it. It never ceased to amaze Kirk just how bad the handwriting of his first officer was.

Normally that would never be an issue as under normal circumstances there was rarely a reason to see another persons handwriting. Computer messages being sent in digital letters only. People only used handwritten notes on rare occasions. Such as the ships comms network going down just as they reached starbase six.

Seeing that he was struggling to read the half Vulcans handwriting Rand relayed the message verbally instead. “Commander Spock wishes to say that the last of the ships crew have been taken on. Although he adds that a few stragglers have not yet arrived on station yet, though the missing personnel are not mission critical.”

Kirk nodded, grateful for the help. “Thank you yeoman.” With the comms down getting messages back and forth between different stations, departments and officers was a real pain. Kirk was just glad that Enterprise finally had the majority of her compliment of four hundred and thirty.

Eighty persons had been missing since Enterprise had been dispatched to the Larsan Union and it had taken Starfleet many months to get around to assigning Enterprise her missing crew.But now with few exceptions that was over. Enterprise now officially carried four hundred and twenty four men and women aboard.

The lights suddenly turning off, flooding the deck in darkness brought Kirk out of this line of thought. Kirk hid a sigh as he groped around for something to guide him along. The ships systems had been experiencing some problems since the incident with Charlie, a boy with impossible mental powers who had been recued by the now destroyed UES Antares only to try and takeover the Federation once aboard Enterprise. Gravity plating had failed, lighting bugs plagued the ship and now the comms were out.

Commander Scott, the ships chief engineer had done a marvellous job repairing the ship as best he could. But really the ship needed a stopover at a starbase for a combover of all her systems to ensure that the failures did not grow to serious.

The emergency lighting came on, illuminating the deck in a pale blue glow. Bathing everyone’s faces in otherworldly shadows which gave all a slightly demonic appearance.

“Mister Scott also wanted to speak with you sir,” Rand said sprawled across the floor where she had fallen as the lights failed. Kirk had nearly stepped on her.

“Lets hope the turbolifts don’t fail halfway there,” Kirk said helping her up before walking off. In this section he had quite a ways to go before he found the lift. But once he got there everything seemed to work just find. Taking him smoothly down to engineering with just one stop along the way.

“Excuse me,” A tall alien wearing the uniform of a Starfleet engineer said as he walked into he lift pod. Kirk hid a gasp.

The man over two meters tall and thin, not gaunt but thin. Kirk got the impression of a steel beam. His skin was a dark, very dark blue, and his eyes when he looked at Kirk seemed almost to glow a deep purple. The creatures chiselled face seemed impossible flat and almost hard, as if made from stone rather than skin.

“Captain,” he said voice gravely recognizing Kirks rank and position.

“You must be lieutenant Commander Rajan,” Kirk said. He had never met a Laconian before, nor had he heard of all that many in Starfleet. So Kirk could be fairly certain he was speaking to the ships engineering mate.

“I am,” the man said bowing a polite nod. “Commander Scott had left me a message asking that I meet with him as soon as I beamed aboard.”

Kirk nodded, “He probably needs all the help he can get,” he said. “We have been experiencing some systems hiccups since we arrived in system.”

“Hiccups?” Rajan asked before apparently deciding it wasn’t important. “Were these the result of your encounter?” He asked instead.

Kirk nodded, he had wondered how far news of Charlie had spread outside of Enterprise, apparently pretty far. “nothing to critical has been effected, but what was has been somewhat inconvenient.”

“I can imagine, cancelling an autodestruct often has that kind of feedback effect on non-critical systems. Something about the way the sequence is wired into the coding of the ships processors.” Rajan caught Kirks odd look, “Commander Scott and I have been in correspondence for some months ever since I was assigned to Enterprise,” he explained.

The door opened, putting a stop to further conversation. Kirk for one did not approve of Scotty writing to someone off the ship about classified events. Although Rajan being technically assigned to the ship meant that it wasn’t illegal.

The two walked out into the upper deck of the ships reactor control room. A vast two level space which acted as the primary control center for the ships matter and antimatter annihilation reactor. A massive sphere located just beneath their feet.

“Captain!” Commander Montgomery Scott, the ships chief engineer thundered from the left gantry as he caught site of who it was that had come 0ut of the turbolift. Grabbing the ladder rails he slid down and slammed onto the deck below with a practiced ease that made Kirk envious.

“Sorry about all the lighting trouble on E and D decks sir, we just got the comms back up and running and it looks like it bled into the lighting programs in a bleedback circuit.” He said before Kirk could return his greeting.

“Its quite alright,” Kirk said but Scotty had already moved onto Rajan.

“I was not expecting you to look quite this terrifying!” Scotty said examining the lieutenant commander in a manner that would have made Kirk uncomfortable. The Laconian merely laughed.

“You would be surprised how often I get that,” he said shrugging. “Actually I get that quite a bit from members of my own species.”

“Not a looker are ye?” Scotty asked laughing so hard he had to gasp for air. Rajan shook his head no.

Suddenly shifting to serious Scotty grabbed Rajan by the arm and steered him over towards Kirk. “Do you know anything about this mans career?” He asked. Kirk had to shake his head.

“Very little,” he admitted.

“When you get the chance read his career. Its fascinating stuff. He worked on the development of the Constitution class and a few other projects, written in technical journals and even was loaned to the Vulcans for quite a bit.” Scotty said listing a few achievements.

“I also clean and cook.” Rajan said before Scotty could go on. He was looking around the engine room with a practiced eye Kirk noted. Taking it all in and letting it wash over him. “You said you had a bleedover to the lighting programs?” He asked walking over to one of the ready use terminals along the right bulkhead.

Scotty suddenly remembered he was on duty and with a jerk followed his second in command. “Right!” He exclaimed. “Sorry captain I will tell you more later, right now I have work to do!” He said. Soon he and Rajan were chattering quietly between themselves as they went over a solid screen of code piece by piece.

Kirk did not wait around all that long before he left for the bridge. Once again he had little trouble with the turbolifts. A smooth ride the entire time without so much as even a single stop along the way.

“Captain on deck!” Sulu thundered as Kirk walked in. Wondering how the helmsman always seemed to announce his presence with his back turned opposite to him Kirk waved down the salutes.

“Report!” He ordered once settled into the conn, the control station as it was technically known. Little more than a chair with readouts and controls on either arm it was chair from which the entire ship was commanded and Kirks personal station where he spent much of his time.

“The comms have come back on line as of around twenty minutes ago, all sections have reported in and we are cleared with orbital control, and the last of our stores and fuel has been taken aboard.” Sulu said handing Kirk a notepad with a proper report written on it.

“very nice handwriting,” Kirk commented leafing through the paper document.

“Thank you sir, I thought I would give it a go. Having to write all these messages got me in the mood to actually write out a report for once.” Sulu answered pleased at the compliment.

Kirk finished reading the paper report and handed it back to Sulu with his signature. He then noticed that the comms station was unmanned and a large amount of backlogged messages were piling up in the unread folder. “Where is the communications operator?” He asked.

“Lieutenant Uhura was down in the subspace radio room working with the technicians there to try and bypass the faulty circuits in the network. She must not have made it back yet, it is her shift,” Sulu said moving over to the helm station and working his controls for a moment.

“I just checked sir, she is still down in the subspace radio room. Shall I have her come to the bridge?” Sulu asked.

“Please do,” Kirk said. “I don’t know about you but I haven’t the slightest idea what any of the comms section controls do. If we get an important message then we would have no way of answering it even if we knew what it was.”

Sulu smiled, but said nothing as he wrote a short message and sent it to the lieutenant. With luck she would be on the bridge in a few minutes. Until then any messages the ship received would just have to wait.



Lieutenant Nyota Uhura was in a rush. With the comms you would be excused for thinking that there would be nothing for the ships communications department to do until they were fixed. Maintenance was afterall not the job of the department, but rather engineering. You would think that.

But as it turns out you would be wrong. Completely wrong. It had been nonstop work for her and her people since the comms had went down. First internal communications had broken, followed quickly by the ships subspace communications and then old fashioned radio systems. Uhura and her meagre fifteen person strong department had worked nonstop with engineering to try first to fix the systems. And then to find a workaround for them. All without success.

Scotty down in engineering had managed to finally fix the ships internal comms and radio, but the subspace communications equipment remained inoperable. And Uhura and her team had been working nonstop to try to fix it before Enterprise was inevitably called off for a new mission.

And now the captain wanted her on the bridge. Sulu`s note had mentioned a large pile of messages waiting to be looked over. But someone else could do it! Couldn’t the captain ask for someone other than her?

She pushed that line of thinking from her mind. That was no way to think. Captain Kirk was doing his job. And it was not up to her to decide how he did it, or why he did certain things. She was just a lieutenant after all. And all she had to worry about was following orders.

She called the turbolift and was surprised to see commander Spock and someone else she did not know in the uniform of a tactical department. They made room for her and said they also were headed to the bridge.

“This is lieutenant commander Chekov, the ships tactical officer. He is one of our new arrivals.” Spock explained after some moments of silence. The young man smiled and offered a hand.

“Pleased to meet you lieutenant,” Chekov said in a heavy Russian accent. To her ears he sounded like he was from either Moscow or Saint Petersburg.

“Glad to finally meet you, are you any relation to admiral Chekov?” Uhura asked knowing full well that he was.

“She is my grandmother. Captain Chekov of the Potemkin is my father,” He answered with what he likely intended to be a modest answer.

“The lieutenant commander recently graduated from the Newport Naval College,” Spock added. Again it was something she was well aware of. And again Chekov nodded in what was either a genuine attempt at modesty or a poor impression of it.

They were on the bridge before anyone could say anything else. And Spock introduced Chekov to Kirk in repeat of his conversation with Uhura. She could not be sure, but she thought she saw Chekov roll his eyes at the attention.

Without anyone noticing her Uhura made her way to the communications station and began to arduous task of sifting through the huge number of messages the ship had received since he comms had gone out.

She had got through around two hundred of them by the time she saw any meaningful messages. Mostly they had to do with the crew that would be coming aboard. All were useless as the crew transfer was already over.

A new message appeared on her board marked urgent and she opened it. “Captain sir,” she called.



Kirk was speaking with Spock and Chekov, who was a lot more unassuming than a man of his family and career usually was, when he heard Uhura call him. He looked over and nodded for her to continue.

“Sir we have a message from admiral Harris requesting that you contact him immediately.” She said hand hovering over the key that would call the admiral.

“Please try to raise him then,” Kirk said with a sigh. He settled into his chair, dismissing Chekov with a polite nod. He then prepared himself to speak with a rather prickly character in the form of the admiral.

Uhura worked her controls and was promptly put on hold by the admirals secretary. And she remained on hold for the next sixteen minutes as the admiral was contacted and informed that Enterprise was wishing to speak with them.

And then finally his secretary said the admiral was ready. And asked for a moment longer. A moment that quickly turned into five as the admiral apparently found something more pressing to dot than speak with the ship that he had asked to contact him.

“Your on sir,” an exasperated Uhura finally announced.

“Thank you lieutenant,” Kirk said as an image of a short and balding middle aged man replaced the view of the starbase. He was almost glaring at Kirk.

“Admiral you wished to speak with me?” Kirk asked unsure of what would be a proper greeting in this circumstance.

That was not the correct way. “I sent a message to your ship ffteen minutes ago captain. Long enough had passed that I had just sat down for my dinner.”

“I am sorry,” Kirk was doing his best to loo genuine in his apology, but days of such treatment were beginning to wear rather thin. “Our communications equipment was out of order and we only just got it back online. Your message caught us offguard.”

“I am aware of your technical difficulties captain,” nothing Kirk could do seemed to bring him out of his perpetual bad mood. “You informed my secretary of them when you arrived. But I had thought the problem had been solved by now.”

Harris seemed to loose interest in this line of conversation as he changed subjects. “I called because I have a mission for you. A Tellarite freighter, I`m not even going to try to pronounce its name, the data packet we are sending you will include it, anyway it went missing some fifteen to twenty lightyears from here without a trace. No distress calls, nothing.”

He saw Kirk was about to say something and raised a hand to silence him, “I am sending Enterprise along with the seventeenth scouting group to search for the ship.”

“How long before the group begins their search?” Kirk asked through clenched teeth.

“They are leaving now, you will follow as soon as you have finished with your personal transfer and taking on your supplied.” Harris answered with a wave of his hand.

“We finished taking on supplies and our crew a few minutes ago.” Kirk said teeth yet to unclench.

Harris was unconcerned. “Then leave with the seventeenth scouting group, and good luck,” he said almost casually. Kirk did his best to be polite as he signed off. As soon as the image of the displeased admiral was gone Kirk took a moment to silently curse the man.

He was exactly the sort of person that did not belong in the fleet. Entitled, bored and without any desire to do his job. His father had been a decorated captain during the initial skirmishes with the Minoans before the border was fixed. And his son, the present admiral, had rode through his entire career on his father’s fame.

Kirk had little patience for these men and women. They had no love for the service and only joined the fleet because they felt it a safe career move. Kirk spared a moment to look at Chekov`s back. He potentially was just such an officer. Coming from a very long line of distinguished service going back to the pre Romulan war United Earth Stellar Navy. Likely he would be able to coast along to admiral on his name alone.

But from what he had read of the mans record Chekov was not that sort of a man. Top of his class at the academy, served with distinction aboard UES Vixen and recently worked through the Newport Naval College. One of the most prestigious spatial warfare institutes in the entire United Earth.

Perhaps sensing the scrutiny Chekov turned around and cast his captain a quizzical look, “Something the matter sir?” He asked.

“Nothing lieutenant, I was actually just going to ask Sulu to get us underway.”

Sulu needed no further prodding and had soon called up a new course to bring the ship out of the system in the vague direction of the Tellarite ship and matched course and speed with the five frigates which formed the seventeenth scouting group.

It was not long at all before Kirk gave the order and with a faint humming of her engine the Enterprise suddenly sped away from the starbase driving hard to the gravity limit that, once passed, would allow her to make the jump to high warp.

 

[Charles Markov]

Pavel Andrievich Chekov.

Born: 2439 Novgorod, Russian Socialist Republic.

Parents: Andrei and Dima Chekov.

Siblings: Pytor younger brother.

Attended Saint Petersburg Naval Academy: 2456-2458

Attended Starfleet Academy Sevastopol Campus: 2458-2460

Graduated Starfleet Academy: 2460 with emphasis on starship combat tactics and naval gunnery.

Assigned UES Zhukov : 2460 as 2nd Lieutenant for six month training cruise.

Assigned UES Enterprise: 2461 as tactical officer.



Biography.

Pavel Chekov comes from a long line of Starfleet officers, able to trace his ancestors all the way back to the pre Romulan war United Earth Stellar Navy. Both his parents served with Starfleet, his mother Dima even commanding the UES Arkansas during the battle of Axanar in the closing phase of the four years war.

Much of Chekov’s early life was spent with his father as his mother was off on the front fighting. Andrei was a logistics officer tasked with ensuring that the fleets engaging the Klingons had access to sufficient fuel, food and other supplies needed to prosecute the war. The two would move repeatedly to a number of starbases and stations as the Federation war effort began to retake territory lost to the empire at the start of the war.

Post war the family moved back to the family’s home in Novgorod Russia where Chekov attended primary school, getting good grades, though he did struggle to make friends.

Upon graduation from primary School Chekov took the entrance exams, and passed with high grades, for the Saint Petersburg Naval Academy. Attending for two and a half years from 2456-2458 before moving to Starfleet Academy where he finished at the top of his class. Academy instructors placed the young graduate on the fast track for command, assigning him to the UES Zhukov as a 2ndLieutenant for a six month long training cruise.

In 2461, following the completion of this cruise Chekov was assigned to the UES Enterprise as the ships tactical officer. Command of an entire department so fresh out of the Academy was unusual, but as the fleet expanded in the face of ongoing Klingon aggression more experienced officers were in short supply.

Shortly after commissioning aboard Enterprise Chekov was diverted to the colony of Novoya Ukraina to fill in as a temporary Academy instructor for a period of six months until a permanent replacement could be found.