Inheritance Series - a Star Trek fan fiction about children who take command

''Name:'' Alexander Wood
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' First Officer, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' White skinned with blond hair that tends to be extremely curly and green sparkling eyes, Alexander has a easily likeable face. He is also averagely built and usually loosely dressed.

''Psychological Description:'' Alexander has an average personality that speaks of inner self-confidence and self-control. He is not brash, but can be quick to act; not chatty, but can be outspoken; and not too shy, but can easily see when to stand down. Alexander likes to start conversations and makes new friends easily. As such, Alexander is respected throughout the Athens Elite as someone who is liked by all.

''Notes:'' His mother, Harriet Wood, is a security officer on the starship, while his father died sometime back on a mission while they were on Starbase 45. His mother and him transferred to the Athens to start a new life there. Alexander doesn't like to think about what would happen if his mother would die, so he doesn't think about his father that much either.

//Captains Log.
We have found an alien derelict apparently left abandoned in space. It is a surprise it wasn't picked up by the Ferengi. The vessel is quite small, about the size of one of our runabout's, and seems heavily damaged, although it does seem to have minimal life-support.//

Captain Kathorn walked towards the main viewer in order to get a closer look at the alien derelict. It was black, and shaped like the letter W with a large middle and a curved rear. He couldn't quite make out what had happened to the vessel from the current visual.

"Magnify", he commanded, and seconds later the viewscreen jumped to a closer look at the vessel. There were battle scars all over the vessel, and these could just be seen at this magnification. The fact that the colour of the scars were a darker shade of the ship's hull, an ever darker black, had made it harder to view before.

"Life signs," he asked his Ops Officer, Lt Commander Creek.

"No sir. Nothing," Creek replied. "The ship truly is a derelict."

"Is the air breathable, Mr Creek? Any hull breaches?"

Creek paused for a few moments to study his console, before replying. "The air is breathable, Captain, and there are no hull breaches in the front of the ship. I believe it is safe to beam across in that area."

"Commander," Kathorn turned to his First Officer, James Olivian. "Prepare your away team."

"Aye sir," Olivian replied, "Robinson, your with me," he said motioning to the Chief Tactical and Security Officer. Olivian then touched his comm. badge.

"Lt Commander Martins. Dr Creek. Please report to Transporter Room 2."

=A= "Aye sir," =A= came the response, one after the other.

{{{ * * * * *}}}

The Away Team materialised in the largest area of the derelict, which appeared to be a gathering area of sorts. There were two comfy sofa's against the wall's, and a large rug with an equally large table in the center. The crew materialised just next to the table. Everything was covered in dust, there were no lights save from the flashlights of the crew, and there was an eerie silence.

Commander Olivian moved away from the table and into the next room, which happened to be the cockpit. There was a range of computer terminals stretching across in front of him, and the large windows above them showed a clear view of the Athens.

"Mr Martins," he spoke clearly back into the other room, and moments later the Chief Engineer appeared.

"Sir," Martins responded.

"Can we tap into the main computer from here?"

"We might be able to," Martins knelt down and began to examine the terminal's underneath. After a thorough examination, a reached out and the terminal popped open, the panel falling to the ground with a loud clank. Martins stretched underneath and started examining the conduits.

Olivian turned around and walked back into the main room. The Doctor was examining the furniture for any DNA that might have been left behind, while the Chief of Security stood in the center of the room flashing her flashlight around.

"Report," Olivian requested.

"I am picking up traces of cellular residue, though it's all dead, long dead. I think it's going to be no use Commander, it's all decayed," Dr Creek answered.

"And there are no bodies?" Commander Olivian asked.

"None in here, sir," Lt Robinson answered. "Should we check the rest of the ship?"

"Yes, I think it might be wise. I will remain here to ensure we get the logs."

As the Dr Creek and Lt Robinson set off, Commander Olivian went back into the Cockpit. Martins had begun to download the logs from the terminal.

"I seem to have full access to the Main Computer from here, Commander," he said as noticed Olivian, "the logs are not protected."

"I see. And would it be as easy for anyone else wanting to get hold of the logs?" Olivian asked.

"Yes sir," Martins replied.

"Hmm, you know that might be what the attackers were after. Hopefully these logs might give us an answer."

"We've got to get through the language barrier first though, sir," Martins replied.

Commander Olivian was about to answer when a scream pierced the air from behind him. He whipped around and raced back into the main room. At the opposite side of the room was another door, which led into a corridor.

=A= "Athens to Commander Olivian." =A=

It was Lt Comm. Creek. Olivian tapped his comm badge as he raced through the main room.

"Standby!"

He raced into the corridor, and saw the Lt Robinson standing by a door to the left holding a rather shaky looking Doctor.

"Doctor, are you all right? You look like you've seen a ghost!" Olivian asked.

"I did," Dr Creek gasped.

"You did?" Olivian replied, then remembered the Athens. "Hold on..." He tapped his comm badge.

"Olivian to Athens. Report."

=A= "Commander. We detected a single life-form, alien, in the middle of the ship for about two seconds. Confirm please?" =A=

The Doctor got in before Olivian could answer.

"Marcel. I saw... something! A life-form, I'm sure of it. Are you picking up anything else? I dropped my tricorder and I can't find it."

=A= "No Barbara, I'm not. Save from you, the ship is derelict... again. Are you OK?" =A=

"Yes, I'm fine, a little shaken, but fine."

=A= "Good", =A= Captain Kathorn's voice came over the link, =A= "As soon as you have collected the logs then return to the Athens. Kathorn Out." =A=

As if on cue, Lt Comm. Martins appeared at the doorway to the main room holding the box that contained the logs.

"All done, sir. Is everything OK here?"

Commander Olivian nodded, "Yes, thank you Martins," and tapped his comm badge. "Commander Olivian to Athens. Four to beam back."

|[[Next Chapter >|Alone Chapter 2]]|

Captain Kathorn had once again assembled his senior officers in the conference room. They still had a lot to discuss.

"Now, I have spoken to Starfleet regarding these Stealthant's and they are adamant that we should make first contact," Kathorn was speaking, and stood up from his chair as he continued. "As these are a space faring race, and we already have a member of their race on board, Starfleet feels it's necessary to let the government know what happened here."

Kathorn looked out of the window at the stars and wondered whether the Stealthant's were as kind and easy going as Rylan was. Not that Rylan didn't have some anger in him, but even then it seemed to be more distant then other races he had encountered.

"I don't think we can communicate with the Stealthant government over long range," Counsellor Lions was saying behind him.

"So, you think we should proceed further into Stealthant territory?" asked Commander Olivian.

"Well, if Rylan doesn't accept asylum," Counsellor Lions stated earnestly, "then we will have no choice either way."

"We will be making first contact with a species that can hide itself. Rylan is just a child. He may not know the political intricacies of his people," Commander Olivian argued back.

"Then we'll have to take that risk," Captain Kathorn injected, turning round and ending the argument, "we can't keep him against his will on this ship, and even if he decides to stay, we should inform the Stealthant government of their missing crew. We should give Rylan the choice."

The table was in silent agreement after this statement, as Kathorn walked round and sat down in his chair.

"What should we do with the ship?" Commander Olivian asked.

"Well, we've run the high resolution sensor sweep on the alien ship," Lt Commander Creek responded, "as well as accessing the shuttles main computer and broadcasting a message of peace in the native Stealthant language. We haven't found any other crew nor have we found any potential threats."

"It is big enough for it to fit in our shuttlebay," Lt Commander Martins answered. "It's only slightly bigger then one of our runabouts after all. I suggest we bring it onboard, and take the ship home as proof. We could also conduct additional tests on the systems as well."

Kathorn thought for a bit, before nodding, "Very well, bring the alien ship on board and prepare to depart. Lt Commander," he said, looking at Creek, "how long will it take to get to the Stealthant homeworld?"

"At Maximum Warp," Creek montioned, consulting a PADD in front of him, then looking up, "16 hours. But we can't maintain maximum warp for that long."

Captain Kathorn nodded slowly, before making his decision, "Very well. Set course for the Stealthant homeworld as soon as we have our cargo and engage at Warp 6. The extra time will give Rylan a chance to sort out his decision... and this isn't really an emergency fitting of a higher warp factor. Dismissed."

Kathorn followed his crew out, heading to his ready room as he did so and leaving his First Officer in charge of the ship. As he entered, a thought struck him.

"Lt Commander Creek, please report to my ready room," he ordered.

The Athens Elite were still in Holodeck 2. They had another twenty minutes of scheduled time before they had to relinquish it to another person. Rylan had by this time sat down on one of the sofa's, and the rest of the Elite formed a semi circle around him, sitting on the other sofas and haphazardly replicated chairs that had been created.

"So, do you have any family?" Mission was asking Rylan, "any friends who would be missing you?"

"No," Rylan spoke softly, "I have grown up in state orphanage all my life. So my family are my shipmates, and my shipmates were captured by Odions." Rylan shook his head. "They're dead now. Odion La'Park!" he spat the last word, then looked up to see more surprised faces. "Do you not have enemies you also hate?" he asked.

Silence followed this question as they all thought of an appropriate answer to their feelings. Alexander was the first to find one.

"Well, we all have our own personal enemies, of course, but we don't dwell on the fact. Life is dangerous anyway, there will always be opposites to what we are... we just have to hold on to who //we// are, and to our family and friends. For as one, things will overpower us; but as many, we can succeed."

Rylan looked silently at Alexander as he spoke, and was silent afterwards. Then, he smiled. "You are as wise as you are kind," he said, which brought laughter around the room. When the laughter had subsided, Rylan continued. "But I have no family and I've never had friends. My time spent with Stealthant Navy didn't really bring me any. Sure, they were my shipmates, but I was just cook, nothing more."

"Well, perhaps one day you can join us and become our friends" Jane said energetically, and this brought a chorus of agreement around the room.

"I would be happy for you to join us," Dagan agreed. "And you should know, our group is forged by bonds of friendship. You will become our friend if you join, not just our shipmate."

"And I can't wait to try your food. We could do with a good cook!" added Theodor.

Rylan grinned around at the enthusiasm that was being passed around the room. The energy here was completely different from that found on his own ship, on which he was seen as nothing more then a scullery maid; someone who prepared their food and accepted their jibes and insults on occasion. But these people; he had only just met them and already he was beginning to feel more at home and at peace then he had felt anywhere else. He couldn't help but grin.

"Well," he began, and paused as he recognised the room had gone silent waiting his reply. "I guess I like it here too," he finished, causing the room to feel with the sound of cheering, which made him grin even more. Once the cheering had reduced to a level to which he could talk again, he continued. "Only problem is, I think your crew are more interested in sending me back."

Dagan nodded, but it was Mission who answered. "That's true," she replied, "but you could always request asylum."

"Asylum?" Rylan asked, sounding out the word with a quizzical look on his face. Either the Universal Translator didn't know the word properly, or more likely, Rylan didn't know the Stealthant word for asylum.

"Asylum is a process by which you can formally request to stay in the Federation," Alexander stated.

"Asylum," Rylan tested the word, before nodding, "I want asylum then," he said, "I've lost all my friends I used to have, although I do not think of them as real friends," he added quickly.

"Er, Dagan, we should leave. Our time is almost up," Frederick announced.

"OK," Dagan replied, "I'll take Rylan to see the Captain. I'm sure he'll be interested to hear Rylan's admission."

The Athens Elite filed out of the holodeck, leaving Frederick to clean up. Mac and Fagan also stayed behind.

"So, Frederick, what you doing tonight," Mac asked.

"Yeah, what you doing?" Fagan repeated.

"Computer, End Program," Frederick stated, and the holodeck turned to it's inactive state. He turned his attention to the twins next to him. "Not much, so yes, you can come round and we can do some Engineering study."

Frederick had been teaching the twins more advanced engineering techniques, as he himself knew how to engineer almost inside out. Mac and Fagan had been wanting to follow in his footsteps, in case they got called upon to perform more complex tasks.

At his response, Fagan and Mac high-fived each other, and followed Frederick out, with eager grins on their faces. After all, everyone loves crawling through Jefferies tubes...

Captain Kathorn was sitting calmly at his desk in his ready room as the Athens entered warp, the alien ship tucked neatly in Shuttlebay 3. Glancing up at his window, he watched as the stars began to move past faster and faster, until the ship reached Warp 6 and they travelled past at a regular pace.

His comm badge then beeped. "Dagan to Captain Kathorn."

Usually, Kathorn wouldn't have expected to receive a communique from one of the children on his starship, but that was before the Athens Elite had been formed. Now, he was beginning to recognise that he might soon be forced to treat them as regular crew members.

Regardless of the fact, he vowed to keep them as far out of danger as he could, and to respect their parents wishes. He couldn't let the Athens Elite override the fact they were children simply because they had managed to form such a group.

"Kathorn here," he responded simply, waiting to see what Dagan wanted.

"Captain. Rylan wishes to request asylum," Dagan replied.

A brief glance of surprise flashed across Kathorn's face, which was masked by professionalism befit of a Captain hiding those feelings almost as quickly as it had appeared.

"Very well, Dagan. Report to my ready room," he replied.

{{{* * * * *}}}

Dagan and Rylan walked across the main bridge, feeling the eyes of the senior crew on their back. Dagan kept his eyes pinned forward, but Rylan glanced round at those watching, smiled, and gave a little wave. Commander Olivian watching them from the command chair smiled back, nodded at Rylan's wave; and a few other crew members smiled at the passing children also, but no-one made to wave back.

Dagan walked up to the Captain's ready room and pinged the bell.

"Come in," Kathorn's voice echoed, and the door opened to admit them entrance.

Rylan was suddenly brought back to memories of those few times on his own planet when he had been forced to visit the Orphanage Master, for whatever reason. It was usually those times when he had disobeyed rules or orders, and was walking in to receive condemnation. The mood was usually sombre, and his smile faded into a serious face again, looking as distant as he had when he had first viewed the Athens crew back when they had found him.

Dagan's expression was also serious, as it had been through the walk on the bridge. He was preparing to talk on behalf of Rylan, to give him his support, and face the Captain. Even though he was closer to the Captain then he had been before, the Captain still gave the same aura of respect that he had given before they had 'inherited' the starship, so to speak.

And it was these serious expressions that Kathorn saw as the doors parted, and they both walked in as if facing the headmaster of a school.

"Well, you both look... serious," Kathorn admitted, which brought smiles to both the boys standing there as they realised they probably did.

"I'm just nervous," Rylan replied, matter-of-factly.

"I hear you want asylum," Kathorn said, also matter-of-factly.

"If that really means that I get to stay here with Dagan and his friends," he said, glancing quickly at Dagan who glanced back at him, "then yes, I do."

Kathorn nodded. "On behalf of the Federation, we will do everything in our power in order to keep you."

Both boys grinned thoroughly.

"Now," Kathorn added, "We are on our way to your home capital, Rylan, following the coordinates we obtained from your ship, thanks to your help." Rylan nodded, his grin fading again as things turned back to business.

"So," Kathorn continued, "I suggest you go and rest, as we may need your help sometime in the future again."

Rylan nodded again. "I will help you as well as I can," he replied.

Kathorn nodded, pleased. "Very well. Now I have one final thing to discuss with you, as you are here." He tapped his commbadge. "Lt Commander Creek, please report to my ready room."

"Aye sir," Dagan's dad replied, and then walked into the room. Dagan smiled up at his Dad as he walked in. "Hello Dagan," Marcel Creek smiled back.

"Rylan," Kathorn began, standing up, "Marcel Creek is Dagan's father. Since I thought you might request asylum, I spoke to Dagan's father about the possibility of you joining Dagan's family. As an adopted child, from the orphanage of yours."

As the words filtered through, Dagan opened his mouth in surprise. If that was true, then he would have an alien brother! Rylan also looked surprised, but he was also smiling. This was far more then he had expected.

"Captain, Mr Creek, I... I do not really know what to say," he admitted. Kathorn and Lt Commander Creek both laughed, which eased the tension a bit, and both boys smiled.

"Just remember, it's just for the journey at the moment," Kathorn spoke quickly, "It will be confirmed once we talk to the Stealthants."

"Dagan," Lt Commander Creek turned to his son, "why don't you show Rylan our new bedroom. Same deck, section 21 alpha."

Dagan nodded. They had new quarters too, obviously with room for Rylan now. "Yes Dad, I mean, sir. Captain," he said quickly, and then motioned for Rylan to follow, and both boys left the room in the hurry.

Kathorn turned to Creek. "That went well. If you have any problems, then Counsellor Lions and I are here to help."

Creek nodded. "Thank you, Captain. We are thrilled for this opportunity. I just hope the Stealthant's will let us keep him."

"Time will tell," Kathorn replied. Creek nodded slowly, and then walked out the ready room.

Kathorn turned and walked to his window, watching as the stars flew by. He hoped he had made the right decision in pairing them up, but he wanted Rylan to get a feeling of what it was like to be in a family. It was, after all, probably something he hadn't experienced before, and may not experience again if they couldn't persuade the Stealthants to release him.

The Athens continued it's passage towards the Stealthant homeworld.

|[[< Previous Chapter|Alone Chapter 11]]|{{{To Be Continued...}}} [[Teaser|Inheritance III - War's Doorstep]]|

Meanwhile, Dagan Creek stood outside Holodeck 2. He was quite excited; apparently Frederick had created a place for them to meet up, "in comfort" were the words he used. Dagan smiled as he touched a few commands on the panel and the Holodeck opened up.

There was a roaring fire on the far-side of the room which was directly under a large 24' ' screen that stretched across the wall. Old fashioned lights were dotted around the remaining walls, with lightbulbs that looked like flames but were specifically designed to be extremely eco-friendly. The room was furnished with huge sofa's gathered around a large circular glass-looking table in the center of the room, opposite the fireplace. The table had a plate of sandwiches on them, half full, and 12 glasses filled with milk. Bookcases lined the wall to the left stretching up and around the lights.

Gathered around the table were the rest of the children who all looked up as he entered.

"Dagan!" piped Alexander excitedly, "isn't this place so cool!"

"Sure looks like it," replied Dagan, "Well done Frederick."

Frederick smiled. "Well, I did get a little help."

Dagan smiled back and took a seat on one of the large sofas, leaving the holodeck door to close and fully immense them in the room. Dagan noticed that the place where the arch was stationed didn't have a single thing on the wall.

"Oh no, Dagan," said Frederick, "over there," and he pointed towards a single plush chair that was facing towards the screen. Dagan walked over and sat on it.

"Right," he announced, and all eyes turned on him, "It's been exactly one week since I stepped down from command. And we've discussed this many a time. But now it's time to put our discussions into action. Who wants to form our group?"

All hands went up.

"Excellent," and Dagan stood up. "Then I hearby formally announce the creation of the Athens Elite. You all maintain your current positions. I am the Captain, and Alexander is my First Officer as I had none before."

He then went round all the crew members stating their positions. Once he had finished, he sat back down again.

"Well, that's grand," Mac was the first to speak.

Fagan, not wanting to miss out on the action, grinned at Mac and then joined in, "Yeah, after all, there's great fun to be had engineering stuff that doesn't need engineering."

"He's got a point," Liam laughed, "We don't really have the same control of the Athens as we did before."

"And I doubt we will again," Alexander added. After all, he thought, I got the short stick last time.

"It's true that we won't ever be involved with the Athens directly again," Dagan admitted, "but it doesn't stop us learning for the future and having fun in the process. After all, how many children out there can say they had the same experiences as we did?"

A murmur of agreement went round the room.

"Plus, we can always go on simulations," Olivia stated bluntly.

"Hey, that's a fantastic idea," Jane said, quickly gulping down the sandwich she had bitten into moments before. "I am sure we can go on all sorts of adventures."

"I will look into creating something," Frederick said. "I'm sure I can teach those who are interested in programming for the Holodeck along the way. After all, it's not as hard as realigning the warp core, and that's relatively simple."

"Yeah, for you it is!" Jane laughed.

"Well, that's settled then," Dagan said, then stretched his legs, stood up and began making his way to the bookshelves lining the wall. "Now, what sort of books do we have over here?"

"Report," Captain Kathorn turned to his First Officer. The rest of the senior crew, including the away team, were piled down the conference table having returned to the Athens.

"We got the logs," Commander Olivian answered, "the terminal was completely unprotected, but the logs aren't in a language the Universal Translator acknowledges."

"Can we decipher them?" Kathorn asked, turning to Martins.

"I think so, Captain," Martins replied, "I've got a team working on it now."

Kathorn nodded, then turned to the next point. "And the life-form?"

"It hasn't reappeared, Captain," Marcel Creek answered, "I've ran various diagnostics on sensors and there are no malfunctions."

"What did the sensors see?" the Captain asked.

"A humanoid, Captain. It wasn't that specific as I didn't have time to center the sweep."

Kathorn considered the matter. "I want you to keep an eye on the ship, Lt Commander. First sign of a life-form, I want you to find out as much as the sensors will allow."

"Aye sir," Creek replied.

"Martins, try your best to get the logs to a standard where we can understand them."

"Aye sir," Martins replied.

"If there are no breakthrough's, we will meet again tomorrow at 0900 hours. Dismissed."

The crew filed out leaving the First Officer and Captain alone.

"Yes Commander?" Kathorn asked, having seen the Commander's intent to talk to him.

"You approved the Athens Elite then, sir?" his First Officer asked.

Kathorn leaned back in his seat thoughtfully, before replying. "I saw no reason not to, James. Being left in control of a starship is an extremely daunting task, and then going through what they went through in command... it's only natural for them to want to form up as their crew to keep the bonds they have made."

Olivian nodded slowly. "I agree fully, Captain. Did Counselor Lions talk to you about her intentions?"

"In counseling the children in their experiences?" Kathorn asked almost rhetorically, and Olivian nodded. "Yes she did. I've told her that she should speak to their parents first. If they agree to it, then proceed as she would any other member of the crew."

Olivian nodded again. "Good idea." A moments silence followed. "Thank you, Captain."

Kathorn nodded, and then they both left the conference room, leaving it empty again.

The short meeting in Holodeck 2 had come to an end as well. The Elite had browsed through a few of the books available, before James had realised they were all out of their scheduled Holodeck time.

The newly formed Athens Elite filed out the holodeck, Dagan and Alexander walking behind them. As the two walked down the corridor to the turbolift, Alexander noticed that Dagan was looking extremely thoughtful, more then usual.

"Are you OK, Dagan," Alexander asked, pulling Dagan out of his reverie.

"What?" he replied, startled, "Oh, I was... just thinking..."

"About?" inquired Alexander lightly, looking around afterwards as if he was trying to put Dagan at ease.

"Erm, well... it's not something I'd really like to discuss," Dagan answered.

They had reached the turbolift. They both entered and stated their desired decks. Then Alexander spoke up.

"Stop turbolift." As the turbolift came to a halt, Dagan looked even more startled. Alexander turned to Dagan. "Come on, Dagan. You're not usually this quiet. What's up?"

Dagan sighed. "Look, you weren't there on the ship when I was in command. You wouldn't know what went on."

"Hey!" Alexander retorted, "I've read the report you wrote, that the Captain asked for. I know //everything// that went on. As your First Officer, I request that you tell me what's up."

Dagan sighed again, then looked towards Alexander. "OK, but just between you and me." Alexander nodded. "Well... you know the Borg, right? I've... been having nightmares about them."

"Now you look," Alexander said, "you're not the only one that's had nightmares about the Borg. I know for a fact that Jane and Mission have, I heard them talking about it with Olivia."

"They have?" Dagan looked interested.

"Yes. So you're not alone. And I know Captain Picard, that legendary man, had nightmares about it too."

"You do? Where did you hear that?"

"Nowhere," Alexander grinned, "but I know Picard got assimilated. So you can count on the fact that he had worse nightmares then you."

Dagan grinned as well as Alexander continued. "The Borg isn't a threat anymore. You destroyed them and if need be, I'm sure we can destroy them again."

Dagan nodded slowly, thoughtfully, then turned towards Alexander. "Thanks. That helped."

"It was nothing," Alexander replied.

"No. Thanks," Dagan insisted.

This time Alexander just shrugged, then asked, "you going to take up the Counsellor's offer?"

Dagan looked thoughtful, then replied, "maybe I'll get her to come to one of our meetings. She can talk to us then."

"But isn't she supposed to ask parents first?" Alexander asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Dagan replied, "resume lift." The lift began to move again. "I will make sure she speaks to the parents before she attends."

Alexander nodded. Then both boys fell into silence all the way back to their quarters.

Captain Kathorn walked onto the bridge from his ready room having been summoned by Commander Olivian, and glanced towards the rear where Lt Commander Martins, his Chief Engineer, was busy at work. It was almost 20 hours since they had boarded the vessel, and Engineering had been working hard to decipher the message. Kathorn hoped they had made some progress.

"Report," Kathorn said, looking back to Olivian, who looked at Martins, redirecting Kathorn's glance back up to Martins.

Martins had turned around to face the Captain. "We have got a ninety percent match on the logs, Captain. I think we will be able to play back the last entry with little misunderstanding. However, it's audio only sir."

"Audio only?" Kathorn inquired.

"Yes sir," Martins replied, "there is no visual data in the logs."

Kathorn nodded. "Very well. Play the last log entry."

Martins turned to his console and typed in a few commands.

//"Log of the Captain, day 2, 1500 hours. We have entered the Laktori system, to prepare for the final test of our ... //<static>// ... two hours before we will meet up with our friends and fight our skirmish. This will definitely be a time of glory for ... //<static>// ... so we are all looking forward-"

A second voice breaks into the log. "Captain! Incoming vessel! Odion!"

"Full Alert! Prepare to fight! Evasive-" the Captain replies, before there are large explosions in the background.

A third voice comes into the log. "Captain! Direct hits to our shield array, shields failing already! Heavy casulties on ... //<static>// ... Sir! We're being boarded!"

"This is the Captain! Everyone hide, now!" the Captain's voice yelled in obvious desperation.

There are a few sounds of gas escaping, like the opening of a few rather large fizzy drinks, before silence ensues. There is a 15 second gap before another sound erupts, that of more gas escaping, this time at a slower rate. This is followed by cries of surprise, before the sounds of fighting can be heard clearly over the log, which eventually closes to static.//

"That's it, sir," Martins said after a few seconds of silence on the Athens bridge. Kathorn had walked up to where Martins was standing, and stood there with his hands behind his back, looking extremely thoughtful.

"Senior staff, conference room, now," he finally said, and followed the rest of the senior staff into the room. Kathorn sat down and looked over his crew, waiting for the last stragglers to make their way into the room. When everyone was seated, he straightened up and glanced around at them all. "Ideas?" he asked.

"Well," Olivian began, "the people who attacked them, these... Odion's, obviously weren't who that Captain was expecting. Yet the crew seemed to know exactly who these invaders were."

"Indeed," Kathorn acknowledged, "and we also have a possibility as to where the crew have gone. They were captured by the invaders."

"But what about their 'hiding'," Creek spoke up, "that was a bit unsual. The Captain ordering everyone to hide."

Kathorn shook his head. "I know... Martins, replay that last section again."

The senior crew listened in silence again as they heard the last statement of the Captain to hide, and all that pursued it. After it had finished, there was silence again, before Olivian spoke.

"Well-" he didn't get far.

"Bridge to Captain Kathorn. The lifeform's returned sir!"

The senior staff all stood up and walked as quickly as was possible onto the bridge, taking their respective stations.

"Report," Captain Kathorn asked.

"It's definitely humanoid, sir. And it's not disappearing."

"Commander. Get an away team down there now," Kathorn ordered as lightly as he could in an effort to contain his excitement.

"Aye sir," Olivian answered, "Robinson, you're with me. Dr Creek, Counselor Lions, report to transporter room 3."

The away team materialised back in the seating area of the alien vessel, almost in exactly the same place as before. Olivian spread his flashlight out over the room, pulling out a tricorder as he did so.

"Here," he said, leading them out into the corridor. The corridor looked almost exactly as it did before. Olivian stopped and consulted his tricorder. The life-form was in the same room as the Doctor was when it had first appeared.

Olivian approached the door steadily, willing the life-form to stay a moment longer, and eventually reached the door. The sensors above the door obviously still worked, as the door swung open.

Olivian stared in to the room and realised he could see things. The room was lit up by a source of light at the far end of the room which hadn't been there before, on top of a large cupboard-looking object. In the centre of the room were five beds, stacked together, and on top of the centre bed was the humanoid, sleeping.

It looked like a male human-child, except with black skin like charcoal and black clipped hair. It was wearing what looked like a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, both a dark green, and had both it's eyes closed tight.

"Dear lord," the Doctor started, quietly, "he looks completely burnt."

"Or it may be his skin colour, Doctor," Olivian muttered back, and turned towards the creature.

As Olivian started to walk towards it, it started to stir, as if alerted to their presence, and then it sat bolt upright in the bed, staring in shock at the away team with bright yellow eyes.

"Hello, we come in peace," Olivian started, letting the universal translator do it's work, but no more had he spoken before the life-form uttered a shriek, and disappeared, with the light sound that came along with air moving to fill a rather sudden new vacuum. The doctor also gave a shriek, for she had not expected the life-form to disappear so quickly. It had simply been there one second and gone the next.

After a moment's quiet, Olivian checked his tricorder. No life-signs. He looked up and a thought struck him. Could it be possible for someone to //hide// from both visual and sensor recordings? It would fit the facts, although how that could be the case he wasn't sure.

He turned to see both the Doctor and Counselor looking to him for guidance. "I do believe the life-form is still here," he whispered to them, "just //hiding//."

"Speak slowly, and clearly. Don't use big words, it'll help with the Universal Translator," Counselor Lions whispered back.

The Commander nodded, and turned back to the room.

"We are not Odion's. We are from another world. We come in peace. Please, show yourself."

Silence pursued this comment, and after a while Olivian thought he would try again.

"We want to know what happened to your ship, and to help you if we can."

Again silence pursued this comment, and just when Olivian was about to speak again, the Counselor stepped forward.

"Please, we are friends," she spoke clearly, in a calm and soothing tone, "We just want to help."

This time there was a reaction. The alien creature reappeared, much closer to where the crew were standing; and then spoke to them.

"You speak truth. You are not Odion's," it said, glaring at them accusingly.

"No. We are friends," Counselor Lions answered, gaining confidence from the fact that she was the one to have made it reappear.

"We want to help," Olivian added. "May we?"

The creature eyed them up, and then nodded slowly, and Olivian motioned the doctor forward. The creature watched the doctor suspiciously as she approached and began to run the tricorder over him.

"What is she doing?" it asked.

Olivian noticed the fact that it referred to the doctor as a female. Or at least that's how it came through the Universal Translator...

"She is checking to see if you are hurt," he answered. The creature nodded solemly, and continued to watch the doctor.

"I take it you are a child?" Olivian asked, hoping to clear something up. The creature looked back at Olivian with a startled expression, and nodded again.

"A boy?" Olivian asked, and the creature nodded once more. The doctor finished with the tricorder, which stopped making noise, making the creature look back at the doctor.

"He's got a very similar biological layout to us," she said, a lot calmer then she was a few seconds ago, "and he's fine, a few scratches but otherwise unhurt."

"What's your name?" Olivian asked.

"Rylan," the boy replied.

"Are there any more of your kind here?" asked Doctor Creek, and this time Rylan looked towards the floor.

"No," he said, "they have been taken by Odion scuukt!" the last word not making it fully through the translator.

There was a few seconds of silence as the away team wondered what to say next, before Rylan looked up expectantly.

"Where in space is our ship?"" he asked, suddenly full of energy, "Do you have ship? Is it safe to go there? Can I leave this place and go with you?"

Olivian smiled at the stream of questions coming from Rylan, and nodded. "We can take you to our ship and answer any questions you have. I'm sure you'd like it better then here."

Rylan nodded, and for the first time smiled, although quite weakly. Counselor Lions smiled also, and whispered to Olivian, "looks almost human to me."

Olivian nodded. "Almost," he whispered back, remembering Rylan's ability to hide. Rylan didn't notice this interchange, as he was being directed by the Doctor to come and stand next to the away team.

When everyone was in position, Olivian tapped his comm-badge. "Commander Olivian to the Athens. Four to beam over."

After a few seconds, all four dematerialised, leaving the empty room and the now empty ship behind them.

As Captain Kathorn entered sickbay, he took in the scene before him in mild surprise. The doctor, counsellor and his first officer were surrounding a bed to the right of the door. And sitting on the bed was the life-form, named Rylan.

Rylan was sitting up holding a cup in his hands, which he was drinking as the Captain entered. He lowered the cup to turn to the Captain with the yellow eyes he had.

Kathorn had been warned about Rylan's skin color, but he was still surprised about just how black his skin was. It was as if he was part of space itself, although with a very humanoid appearance. He even had black furry looking hair to match!

Rylan inclined his head slightly as Kathorn approached, with respect. "Captain," he said, before anyone could speak, "It is an honour to finally meet you."

"The honour is mine," Kathorn answered. "How are you feeling?"

"Thanks to your medical crew," Rylan replied, glancing at the doctor, "I am more then healed."

Kathorn nodded slowly. "Good," he said, "We will need to ask you some questions."

"Captain, my patient needs some time to adjust himself to the situation," the Doctor protested.

"It is OK, Doctor Creek," Rylan spoke up. "I am free to answer questions," he looked at the Captain, "your crew has been extremely helpful in answering my own, I can only offer same to you, Captain."

"Thank you, Rylan," the Captain smiled warmly, before proceeding with his first question. "What were you doing on your ship alone?"

Rylan seemed to contemplate the question before speaking. "When young Stealthants get to a certain age, -"

"Stealthants?" Commander Olivian inquired.

Rylan looked at the Commander. "I am a Stealthant," Rylan said, and without waiting for acknowledgement he continued from where he was interrupted, as if there hadn't been one.

"We have to prove ourselves worthy of being a Stealthant. Before, we used to go on long treks into the wilderness, and come back after with tales of our adventures, but no longer. We now trek into space, as our lands have long turned to desert," Rylan paused for no more then a second. "We were supposed to meet up with another Stealthant ship, but we were attacked."

Rylan took another sip of his drink before continuing. "The Odion's attacked our ship. They are another race who we have been at war with for some time." Rylan's next words were filled with anger which even the universal translator couldn't mask. "It was they who turned our planet to desert, they who forced us into hiding, they who have killed millions of our people, including my parents. And we will bring the fight to them, and drive them away from our lands!"

Silence followed this statement. Kathorn really didn't know what to say after that speech. But he knew he should continue the conversation.

After a moments pause, Kathorn asked, "How long ago was this attack?"

"About a couple of days ago," Rylan replied, although Kathorn knew he couldn't be sure if Rylan's days were the same length as his own. But he still hadn't answered his initial question.

"So, your ship was attacked? What happened? Where are your crewmates?"

Rylan frowned. "Isn't it obvious?" he asked, "they were taken by those Odion's. They are probably dead now. I only survived by hiding in a cupboard and locking myself in. They didn't know I was there."

Kathorn didn't want to make their guest feel too uneasy for too long, and as this seemed a sour subject, he quickly asked another question. "So what position are you on your ship?"

Rylan's frown turned into a grin. "I used to be Chef," he smiled, his yellow eyes glittering in the light as he looked back up at the Captain, his immediate past apparently forgotten. "I can really cook quite well."

Kathorn smiled also. //Perhaps some parts weren't as sour.// "Well, maybe you could cook for us sometime," he said.

Rylan's grin grew larger. "Yeah, that would be great! You should see my Sitoph Soup! It's one of my best!"

Kathorn nodded. "Some other time, perhaps. A few more questions... firstly, your ability to hide... how do you manage it? I take it the Odion's were able to find you."

Rylan simply nodded, his grin subsiding slightly. "I am not sure how we manage it, to be honest. Stealthant's have always had an ability to hide from this dimension, to completely disappear off scanners. It takes energy to hide, and energy to reamerge. Our hiding environment is difficult to describe... it feels like moving in sludge, or very large gravity. I can explain more later, if it helps.

"As to how the Odion's found us, I don't know... they simply pulled us out. It was quite scary," he finished simply.

Kathorn nodded. "But you reappeared to sleep?"

"Some Stealthant's can sleep in other dimension, most cannot. It's not best of environments to sleep in."

"Thank you, Rylan. Take some rest now, you deserve it," Kathorn replied.

Rylan simply nodded, and took another sip of his drink. Kathorn pulled his first officer and counsellor aside to have a quick discussion.

"Impressions?" he asked them, once they were a safe distance from Rylan.

"Well, I've given him everything he's asked for Captain," Commander Olivian answered. "He now knows where he is, and he's provided us with coordinates of his home planet. As for the other Stealthant ship, there are no ships on long range sensors. And Stealthant ships aren't able to cloak, according to him."

Kathorn nodded. "Very good, Commander. Counsellor, what do you make of him?"

"As far as I can tell, Captain, he's lost a lot," Counsellor Lions answered. "First his parents, then his crewmates, and all to these Odion's. He holds a lot of hate towards these enemies of his."

"I have to agree Captain," Olivian responded, "He is treating us as if we were friends, though, and doesn't seem to blame us at the present time. We should ensure it stays that way for now."

"Aye. Perhaps we should offer him asylum, Captain?" Lions asked softly.

Kathorn thought for a while, before nodding. "Yes, I will offer him asylum at a later time... should he wish to take it, it will be his choice of course. But for now, I think it's best we give him some new friends, so he can feel more at ease during his stay here..."

"What are you thinking of Captain?" Olivian asked, after the Captain was lost in thought.

"Why, the Athens Elite," Kathorn answered, looking up, and both his first officer and counsellor silently nodded their agreement.

The Athens Elite were back in their holodeck room, having yet another meeting. This time it wasn't in their schedule of a weekly meeting. As Dagan was Captain, and Alexander his First Officer, both had the right to call a meeting on any day, as long as it was at an appropriate time.

Dagan looked up from a PADD he was holding and counted the number of people present. All his crew were here.

"Thank you for attending," he said. "I am calling this meeting together to have a frank discussion on an issue I think needs to be dealt with from within. At least, first." Dagan paused to collect his thoughts before continuing, "recently, as Alexander already knows, I have been having nightmares about the Borg."

Dagan paused again, this time to let anyone who wanted to have a jab at his admission have their jab without interrupting his speech. No-one spoke, and as he looked around he realised that quite a few others had also had such nightmares; he could see it in their faces. //He wasn't the only one.//

Dagan continued, "I think it's only fair we discuss this, so we can move on and away from such fears. Now, we all know the Borg still exists. We all know the Borg can come back. But as Alexander pointed out to me earlier, we are stronger then they are. They have attacked us again and again, and yet we still survive. And more then that, we prosper."

Every eye was on Dagan now, every ear was listening to his words. Dagan was slightly moved by this effect as he noticed it. //Wow, they really do respect me//, he thought, and this brought a surge of confidence into Dagan that he didn't know existed. A surge of pride, and respect for the respect given to him.

"I think it's time we admit what we fear, so that we may put our fear in the Elite, and in the Athens, and in the Federation, and gain our confidence back. The Federation has survived the Borg before, it will survive the Borg again, and we will survive with it!!"

A cheer went up from the rest of the Elite. Dagan turned to Alexander, and saw him smiling. Alexander thought it was a superb speech, bringing together the entire Federation into giving confidence to the Elite was a good idea. Dagan himself felt his fear draining away as well. At least until they met the Borg the next time...

=A= "Captain Kathorn to Captain Dagan Creek. Please report to Sickbay immediately." =A=

The room fell silent as the crew listened to the Captain. Kathorn had never called Dagan Captain before, even since he knew about the creation of the Athens Elite. Something was up.

As soon as Dagan had found his voice again, he tapped his communicator and answered back. "On my way, Captain. Dagan out." He then turned to Alexander. "You're in charge, Alexander."

Alexander simply nodded in response, and Dagan walked out of the holodeck with his crew's piercing eyes on his back.

"What do you think the Captain wants?" Jane asked as soon as Dagan had left.

No one had any answers.

Dagan walked into Sickbay and stopped in his steps. The Captain, Counsellor and his Mum, Dr Creek, were standing around a boy in the middle of the room. And it was this boy that made Dagan's mouth open.

Rylan turned as Dagan entered Sickbay, and saw his obvious surprise at seeing him. He smiled uneasily. It wasn't a thing he was used to where he was from, but he supposed it was only normal. After all, he was just as shocked when he first met them.

Rylan stepped forward, and held out his hand as the Counsellor had taught him. "Captain Dagan," he said, "it is an honour to finally meet you."

Captain Kathorn smiled as an almost identical greeting to his own was spoken by Rylan, and stepped forward. "Dagan, this is Rylan. I want you to take him into your group."

Dagan closed his mouth, and put a smile on his face, then held out his hand and shook Rylan's. "I would be honoured to, Captain. Please, this way," he motioned Rylan out of Sickbay. Rylan nodded slightly and followed Dagan out of sickbay, looking back just once to get affirmation from the Counsellor, who had run him through a crash course in human customs.

As the door closed, Captain Kathorn turned to his CMO and Counsellor. "Well, that went well," he said, and before they could respond, he tapped his comm. badge. "All senior officers to the Conference Lounge immediately."

{{{ * * * * *}}}

Dagan and Rylan exited the turbolift on Deck 11, and made his way along the corridor towards Holodeck 2. As they did so, Dagan spoke up for the first time since they left Sickbay.

"So, your name is Rylan, right?" he asked.

"Yes," Rylan confirmed, then turned to Dagan, "why do you humans always ask obvious things?"

Dagan laughed. "I guess we always want to confirm the facts," he said, "it helps when we're thinking."

"And what are you thinking now?" Rylan asked.

"I'm thinking of how I'm going to introduce you to the rest of my group, the Athens Elite," he said slowly.

Rylan nodded carefully. "I understand. Perhaps it would be best for me to hide before we go in?"

"Hide?" Dagan asked, assuming he meant using conventional means, "no, I don't think that'll be necessary," he said.

Rylan simply nodded as they walked up to the doors of Holodeck 2. Dagan reached up and pressed the button. As the doors opened, all eyes of the Athens Elite turned towards the newcomers.

"Everyone, I want your best behaviour, please," Dagan started, "and I would like to introduce a new friend. This is Rylan."

"It is an honour to meet you all," Rylan said, smiling around at the looks of smiles and shocked faces around the room. This was going to be interesting...

''Name:'' Oliver Kathorn
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 42
''Position:'' Captain, USS Athens
''Rank:'' Captain

''Physical Description:'' Oliver Kathorn has a face filled with experience, and a calm and relaxed output. He has dark eyes and short brown hair that's starting to grey. He places pride in wearing his uniform and ensures he is always in top-form, but wears in in a relaxed manner befit of someone with his experience. He is also quite strongly built for a man his age.

''Psychological Description:'' Strong, confident, calm, relaxed, extremely outgoing and extremely put together, Captain Kathorn is everything a Captain of a starship should be and more. Kathorn loves to get to know his crew and is often found down in Ten Forward with a few of the crew members. The crew see Kathorn as a man who is easy to get to know, extremely friendly, and with a good sense of humour.

''Name:'' James Olivian
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 38
''Position:'' First Officer, USS Athens
''Rank:'' Commander

''Physical Description:'' Short, clipped, black hair with dark blue eyes, Commander Olivian is often seen by his opposite sex as being down right handsome. Nearing his forties, he looks half his age, which big muscles and a confident stride.

''Psychological Description:'' Commander Olivian likes procedures, but is very relaxed about them. He sees them as strong guidelines into how proper behaviour and action is to be taken, but like all guidelines they are dependent on the situation at hand. As such, more often then not he is found ensuring that normal procedure is followed, but is more then happy to accept that sometimes procedures can't be followed. Olivian is professional, calm, but strict.

''Name:'' Dagan Creek
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Captain, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' White skinned, black clipped haired and brown eyed, Dagan is strongly built and extremely confident in his demeanour.

''Psychological Description:'' A confident, outspoken and extremely intelligent young man, Dagan likes to assume command of situations and doesn't like things he can't control. As such, if any situation were to come up that Dagan didn't like, he would be one to ensure that it was brought back under control; as soon as was convenient.

''Notes:'' Dagan's father is the [[Chief Ops Officer|Lt Commander Marcel Creek]] and his mother the [[Chief Medical Officer|Lt Barbara Creek]] on the Athens. Dagan has followed his mother and father around on many different assignments, until they both got accepted onto the Athens together. As such, Dagan always saw himself as the privileged sort and wanted to follow in their footsteps.

[[The USS Athens]]

''Name:'' 
''Race:''
''Sex:'' 
''Age:'' 
''Position:'' 
''Rank:'' 

''Physical Description:'' 

''Psychological Description:'' 

''Notes:''

''Name:'' Fagan Naylor
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Engineer, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' Fagan, an identical twin to his brother [[Mac|Mac Naylor]], is quite small for his age and his short brown hair and bright blue eyes. The twins are quite skinny, and usually wear overly big clothing, and large smiles.

''Psychological Description:'' Fagan, like his twin, has a fiery and offbeat personality. Always happy, always the optimist, the twins revel in the fact that they are unique and are inseparable. Wherever you find Fagan, Mac is always not far behind...

''Name:'' Frederick Li
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Chief Engineer, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' Clearly of Chinese origin, with sleek black hair that always seems to be neatly brushed, and shiny, and dark black eyes, Frederick's stride is full of confidence and calm conviction. He maintains a strict dress code, and often has black shoes on that shine as much as his hair.

''Psychological Description:'' Frederick is confident and calm, and is rarely spooked by events. He loves working, and spends his free time studying engineering journals and 24th Century DIY books. He love mathematics, and is extremely good at it. His greatest strength, though, is being able to clearly organise the knowledge he attains in order to bring it correctly into the situation at hand.

''Name:'' Garry Brandenburg
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Ops Chief, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' Garry has short, brown hair that is often quite ruffled, depending on the situation. He has pale eyes and is often dressed sporadically, wearing all sorts of garments. He is considered quite skinny even though he eats quite a lot.

''Psychological Description:'' Garry rarely speaks, but when he does it is with conviction and purpose. He is always very methodical and logical in the way he performs actions, and always wants to ensure the situation is under his control. Garry doesn't like situations not under control and can get quite nervous in such situations, although he often hides these feelings away as a show of strength.

[[Humans|http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Human]] are one of the two space-faring races to originate from the planet Earth. They are one of the core races in the United Federation of Planets, and Starfleet headquarters is positioned on their home planet.

The original Inheritance story, where the children of the USS Athens assume control of the ship when the rest of the crew disappears.

__Chapter List__
[[Chapter 1|Inheritance Chapter 1]]
[[Chapter 2|Inheritance Chapter 2]]
[[Chapter 3|Inheritance Chapter 3]]
[[Chapter 4|Inheritance Chapter 4]]
[[Chapter 5|Inheritance Chapter 5]]
[[Chapter 6|Inheritance Chapter 6]]
[[Chapter 7|Inheritance Chapter 7]]
[[Chapter 8|Inheritance Chapter 8]]
[[Chapter 9|Inheritance Chapter 9]]
[[Chapter 10|Inheritance Chapter 10]]
[[Chapter 11|Inheritance Chapter 11]]
[[Chapter 12|Inheritance Chapter 12]]
[[Chapter 13|Inheritance Chapter 13]]

Captain Oliver Kathorn had been the captain of the USS Athens for around 2 years now, and he hadn’t regretted a single moment of it. Sure, the life aboard a Galaxy Class Starship was difficult, but that didn’t mean he didn’t enjoy his job. He thoroughly enjoyed the work, and that included even the regular jobs too.

The current assignment of the USS Athens was not regular, however. They were charting new sectors of space on the edge of Federation Territory, and they hoped to expand the Federation’s borders if it was suitable.

The Captain stretched back in his chair and stared at the ceiling in his ready room. He examined the total cleanliness of the ceiling, something he really couldn’t get over even after all those years. He had spent his earlier years back on Earth lying on his bed staring at the moth balls and the many spider webs that lay around his ceiling, and here he was now, Captain of a starship.

He relaxed and looked back down at his work, and no sooner had he done so, his communicator piped up with the voice of his first officer, Commander James Olivian.

“Commander Olivian to the Captain!”

“Kathorn here. Go ahead Commander”, responded the Captain.

“Sir, there is something out here you probably want to see.”

“Very well. I’m on my way. Kathorn Out.”

Kathorn stood up and smiled, before walking towards his ready room door to the bridge.

{{{ * * * * *}}}

Down in Ten Forward a party was in full swing. Alexander Wood, the birthday boy, was strolling around the room chatting merrily with nearly all the children in the USS Athens, who happened to be around the same age as him. So far, they had played all sorts of different games, including Pin the Tail on the Captain, Pass the Tricorder, and Musical Chairs, which involved the transporter room getting involved with a very co-ordinated effort from the Ten Forward bar staff.

“OK, people, listen up!!”, yelled Marianna, who was in charge of Ten Forward. “I’m afraid that we’ve run out of time. So collect your party bags here, and thanks for coming!! Don’t forget to wish the birthday boy a happy birthday!!”

Alexander leaped down and stood at the door to say goodbye to all his guests, his curly blond hair waving and his bright green eyes sparkling as he did so. As they filed out one by one, Alexander shook their hands and smiled.

First came Dagan, a very outspoken boy and the son of the ships Ops Officer, Marcel Creek, who shook his hand and smiled at Alexander. Then came Fagan and Mac, the two twins, who both tried to shake Alexander’s hand at the same time. James and Theodor were next, both brothers together, with James being two inches taller and two years older then his brother Theodor, and also the oldest child at fourteen years of age. Garry strode up next, a quiet boy who never often spoke, but managed to say a happy birthday before he quickly walked out.

Frederick came next, a very calm and collected Chinese boy, who shook hands quite quickly with Alexander. Liam came next, a burly lad who was always pretending to play shoot-em-up’s with his fellow mates, and who shook Alexander’s hand up and down with so much force he thought it might fall off.

Finally, Jane, Olivia and Mission strode up, chatting merrily with each other. Jane was a very forceful girl, while Olivia was very bright. Mission was quite sentimental, and often quiet, but she was just as lively as the other two, who were reliving the moments when the Tricorder erupted into noise while being passed around. They both said a quick goodbye to Alexander, as they walked out, still chatting noisily.

Alexander sighed. Another year gone by. He picked up his own party bag, and waited for his mother to say a thank-you to Marianna. Together they walked back to their quarters.

“Did you enjoy that Alexander”, his mother, Harriet Wood, said softly to him. She was a security officer aboard the ship.

“Yeah, that wasn’t too bad Mum”, he said. “I particularly enjoyed the Musical Chairs this year”.

“Yes, it was nice of the Captain to authorize the use of the transporters, wasn’t it? I thought that added quite a bit of fun to the game. A couple of times I saw you try and sit on a chair only for it to demateralize beneath you!”

They both laughed, remembering the game. As they turned left, the ship suddenly shook, and the blaring announcement of Red Alert began to pierce the laughter. His mother groaned.

“Alexander, you carry on. I have to go”, and with that she was off, running back along the corridor to the turbolift. Alexander shrugged, and walked over to his quarters, which was two doors on his left. As he entered the room, the ship lurched, and he was flung to the floor. As the ship lurched a second time, Alexander was thrown back and saw a blinding flash of white light, before darkness took him.

|[[Next Chapter >|Inheritance Chapter 2]]|

Liam had been thrown across Engineering where he was standing with Frederick, and had hit the side of a console quite harshly. Frederick had turned off the program in the Holodeck when Data and La Forge had finished showing him how to do the phaser banks, and had returned to Engineering to try and keep the ship in one piece for as long as possible, and the ship had only survived by Frederick patching through non essential systems into the shields at the very last minute.

“How is he?” he now asked, looking down at him on the bed he was laying on.

“He’s fine, just a little shaken”, said Dagan. “Olivia did a great job on him before I arrived. So I think he’ll recover quite nicely”.

“Heh, thanks Dagan”, said Olivia, her brown eyes sparkling under her long brown hair.

“Now, what’s the damage like?”

“It’s not too bad actually,” Frederick said. “We’ve lost shields, even though I had them up to 45% before they fell again, and we’ve lost those phaser banks I brought up, but luckily we’ve still got Warp 5, and Impulse. We also have a couple of hull breaches, but they are sealed until we can deal with them. How did you know about those mines, Dagan? Even I didn’t know about them! That cargo bay was classified and locked!!”

“Yeah”, said Dagan, “but my Dad’s in charge of Operations, you know. We were going to deliver them to Starbase 87 after we’d done our chartings in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, cargo bay 3 was out of bounds to all unauthorised personnel. I heard Dad explaining to Mum the other night.”

“Ah”, Frederick replied. “Neat”.

“Yeah”, said Dagan. “Now, let’s get back to the bridge. Olivia, keep me informed of his progress. And Theodor, stay here, OK?”

“Sure”, said Theodor. “I seem to be staying here quite a lot. And I can’t say Olivia isn’t bad company either”, he finished, winking at Olivia, who blushed.

“Right”, said Dagan, walking out and into a nearby turbolift, followed by Mission, Garry and Jane, all who had had their injury’s looked at. “Bridge”, he said.

Frederick, James, Mac and Fagan were seen making their way to the other turbolift to get to engineering as the turbolift door closed. The journey up was quite quiet, and when they reached the top, Mission spoke.

“Should I found out where we are now, Captain?” she asked.

“Good idea, Mission. Get on it”, he smiled at her, and watched her walk to her console. It took a short while before Mission responded excitedly.

“Sir! We’re along the Federation Cardassian border!! Right back near where we started from. Just a couple of hundred sectors away.”

“A couple of hundred sectors is hardly near! Well, at least we’re in a place we know now”, said Dagan, relieved to hear the news. “Computer, open another ship wide communications link”.

“Link opened”, replied the computer.

“Everyone, this is the Bridge. We’re back in Federation space!! I don’t know where that Borg ship came from, but luckily they drove us back home!! Just thought you’d like to know!! Dagan Out”.

The brig of the Cardassian ship was very dark, and was obviously packed.

“Sir, why are we prisoners?” asked Alexander to the Captain, the moment they materialized into a separate hold of their own.

“I think we need to explain quite a lot, Alexander”, said the Captain. “You must be perplexed. Well, let’s all say that this mess is down to a race called the Q. Especially a particular Q that has been plaguing the Federation for ages now. He decided it was funny to see what would happen if he split the crew up. So he left the majority of the children on the ship, and teleported us away to some Cardassian planet, obviously in different areas of the planet. Luckily, we found the town down in the valley quite easily, after a couple of days work. Goodness knows what’s happened to the Athens now, though.”

“Oh, they’re quite alright Captain,” said a voice, and in walked a man in his late thirties, “Quite safe, although a little beaten after a quick visit from my friends, the Borg!”

“The Borg, Q! What meddling mind tricks are you playing now!!”

“Mind tricks!! This is reality, Captain, get used to it!! And as for the Borg, I just brought them there to test the Children. None of them got hurt… much…”

“What do you mean by much!!”, snapped the Captain.

“They’re fine Captain, and you should really be looking into your current situation. Still, the Athens under the command of Captain Creek have yet to perform one final finishing task to end their shower of glory. Then, Captain, my mind tricks will be over, and you can get back to your reality.”

And with that, Q snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash of white, which Alexander thought, looked very similar to the flash he saw when the Athens became under attack before.

A couple of hours had passed on the USS Athens, as the shields were brought back up to 50%, all forward phaser arrays were brought online and the crew celebrated their return to Federation space.

“Now all we need to do is locate the spot where we entered warp, etcetera, and then we should be able to find the rest of the crew”, said Dagan.

They were once again sitting round the Ten Forward table. Liam had recovered from his previous unconscious state and other then shaken up a bit and a slight headache, was none the less feeling better then before.

“But what if we can’t find them?” muttered Jane. “Then what do we do?”

“Then, we go back to Starbase 87. It is early, but that’s where we are supposed to go next, right Captain?” replied Frederick.

“Right”, said Dagan. “Although we must be careful when approaching the sector. We don’t want to get caught by that mysterious white flash again.”

“True” replied Liam. “Whatever that flash was”.

“We better get back to our stations now”, said Dagan, “and prepare to leave for the sector.”

The group got up and split up again into three, Olivia and Theodor heading for Sickbay, while James, Frederick, Mac and Fagan headed for engineering. Dagan and the rest of the crew made their way up to the bridge.

“OK”, said Dagan, settling into the Captains chair. “Let’s get moving. Jane, set-”

“Sir!”, piped up Mission. “I’m detecting a Cardassian ship off the starboard side. It’s moving along the ~Federation-Cardassian border.”

“Indeed”, said Dagan, thoughtfully. “Can we scan them?”

“Sure can, Captain. Hold on while I remember how to work this…”

A few seconds passed as Mission typed away at her console, before responding.

“Sir, I’m getting a reading. There are quite a lot of lifeforms aboard. I’m detecting 492 Cardassian lifeforms and 1,200 Human lifeforms. Why are they carrying that many humans?”

Dagan looked puzzled for a moment, before it hit him, and he smiled.

“I don’t know, Mission”, he said. “But it might just be the answer to all our problems. I don’t see why we can’t confront them. Open a channel.”

“Hold on,” snapped Jane, looking around. “Why are we talking to them?”

“It’ll be fine, Jane”, said Dagan. “They won’t attack a Federation ship in her own space. Right, let’s open the channel, Mission.”

“OK… Channel Open, sir. They are responding, I think. Patching them through”.

The screen filled with the face of a Cardassian.

“I am Captain Dagan Creek of the Federation Starship Athens. Identify yourself,” Dagan said sternly. The Cardassian laughed.

“Ah, I will never forget this day. You are the youngest Captain Starfleet has ever presented to me. Still, I am not here to fool around, so go your own way and leave us be!”

“I repeat, identify yourself. And identify your mission.”

“Captain, your ship is no threat to mine, in such a condition as it is. Please, move along.”

“Captain. If you have nothing to hide, then I really don’t need to order the Klingon warships I have standing by to uncloak”, Dagan bluffed.

The Cardassian examined the boy. Was he telling the truth? It was a bit weird that Starfleet should place an entire Starship’s crew on a planet, and then for him to be ambushed by the youngest Starfleet crew ever. Maybe the Captain in his brig’s warbling about a mysterious Q thing was right… still, if this Starfleet menace wanted a battle, then he would end him once and for all. First though...

“Captain. I will identify myself. I am Gul Kartek. May I enquire if you’ve had any… previous Captain’s to your position? Such as… Captain Kathorn, perhaps?”

The Cardassian seemed so laid back that Dagan literally jumped at the bait.

“I knew it!! You know Captain Kathorn?? Is he alright??”

Gul Kartek grinned. So, there was a connection. “Oh, the Captain’s fine," he replied, "But I don’t think you will be soon enough!!”

The Cardassian ship cut communications.

“Sir, they are raising shields and weapons systems!!” piped up Garry.

“Red Alert!! Shields Up!! Evasive Manoeuvres!! Target them and attack!!” Dagan spoke clear and calm.

“Aye sir”, replied Jane, Mission and Garry simultaneously. The Cardassian ship opened fire with a volley, which made the Athens shudder slightly.

“Shields at 43%, Captain! Returning fire!!” Mission added.

The Cardassian ship was sprayed with Phaser fire from the forward bank arrays.

“Moderate damage, Captain. I can’t see that I’ve done much!!”

“Try and pinpoint the Shields, Mission!!” said Dagan, calmly. “Dagan to Frederick. Get to the transporter room!! I want you to try and get a lock on the humans in the Cardassian ship!!”

“Aye sir. On my way, Frederick Out.”

Mission then almost shouted in excitement, as she exclaimed, “Sir!! Two Klingon Warships warping in!!”

“Klingon Warships!! Not a moment too soon!” said Dagan. “I hoped they might be patrolling through here. Father said that we might bump into Klingons while charting the area.”

The Klingon warships opened fire and brought the Cardassian ship’s attention off the USS Athens. The Cardassian ship returned fire, before the Warships opened up with a shattering retaliation and destroyed the Cardassian ship’s shields, which then opened hailing frequencies.

“Klingon scum!! Why do you attack us?!”

“We come in defence of our Federation allies as you attack them in Federation territory!! Stand down at once!!” came the Klingon reply.

“Hmph. Very well”, Gul Kartek muttered. “We will be on our way.”

“Klingons! We thank you for your assistance”, spoke up Dagan, in desperation, “but the Cardassians have taken some of our crew hostage.”

“Cardassians!! We order you to pass over the hostages, or we will be forced to take them by force!” the Klingon leader roared.

Gul Kartek looked quite annoyed as he considered the options.

“Very well. We will pass over the Federation prisoners. Just ensure they do not enter Cardassian space again.”

Captain Kathorn was very pleased when the Gul announced their transport back to the Athens.

“Brilliant. That makes a big difference. I wondered what the fighting was about.”

He soon materialized in the transporter room, where Frederick Li was standing at the controls.

“Welcome aboard Captain!! You may have to reassume control of the ship, I think-”

“Captain Dagan has control, yes I know”, said Captain Kathorn. “Chief, take control.” He motioned the Chief Transporter who had also just beamed over to the controls, and then pulled Frederick aside.

“We need to all talk. Gather up everyone and meet me in the Observation Lounge.”

{{{ * * * * *}}}

The Observation lounge was packed, but that did not make a difference to the people within, as the children met up with their parents, all trying to talk at the same time to tell their adventure. As Alexander Wood walked in, Dagan let out a yell.

“Alexander!! Great to have you back, where did you end up?”

“Middle of nowhere, top of a hill!” laughed Alexander, “how about you?”

“I became Captain”, said Dagan, which made Alexander look obviously jealous, “trust me, it was hard. But we had no choice. What exactly happened, Captain?” he asked, turning round to face the Captain.

“Sit down, please Dagan. And your crew. Then maybe we can piece together what happened bit by bit.”

“OK”, said Dagan, sitting at the end of the Observation table. The room fell quiet as everyone else took seats, or stood around facing the Captain.

“OK”, said Captain Kathorn, “it all started when we encountered a particular race called the Q. They have superhuman abilities, almost god-like, and spend their time plaguing other races.”

“Why?” Alexander asked.

“Who knows why,” continued the Captain. “Anyway, he managed to materialize a rather large and dead looking spacecraft in front of the ship, before materializing onto the ship himself. He then laughed, and explained in very slow terms that he was going to put someone different in charge of the ship for a while, and then he disappeared again. That was when the ship opened fire.”

The Captain grew thoughtfully quiet, and so Ashley Robinson, Mission’s mother and the official tactical officer aboard the Athens, took over.

“The ship opened fire with some kind of energy weapon, but we still don’t know what. It shook the ship, slightly, and it happened to be a lock or a tractor beam or something. The next thing we knew, we were catapulted around in an arching movement. That was the first lurch, before it brought us to a quick stop, the second lurch. We then saw a blinding flash of light, before reappearing on the enemy’s ship itself, to watch the Athens continue being catapulted away and disappear in a very large warp flash.”

“Yes, I remember that”, Dagan said quietly, and grew louder as he saw people were listening. “I thought it was warp, but it was much faster then Warp 9. So I couldn’t be sure.”

“Faster then Warp 9?” replied the Captain. “I don’t think that’s possible. It might have been Warp 9.9 or something similar, but… I will check the logs later, I think.”

“No point,” replied Frederick. “They’ve been corrupted.”

“Oh, very well”, the Captain said. “I won’t then. Anyway, we figured out that only the senior members of the crew were on the black ship, which then went to warp itself. It came out of warp about an hour later around a Cardassian planet where it crash landed onto the planet, a fair distance from the town, which we saw clearly as we landed down. A day’s walking took us to the town, where we were greeted by some Bajoran townfolk and a rather annoyed looking Cardassian, who had only just arrived himself. He said he was there on charges on a Federation spy.”

“Yeah, that’s what they thought I was”, said Alexander, on cue.

“Indeed”, replied the Captain. “Anyway, we were trying to convince him that we didn’t know where we were, and to see this Federation spy, when the Gul of the Cardassian ship in orbit, announced over the com to the Cardassian on the ground to take the Federation spy prisoner.”

“It was only when the Cardassian on the ground mentioned us did we find out where the rest of the crew had materialized to. Straight into the brigs of the Cardassian ship, much to the Cardassian’s annoyance,” Commander Olivian said. “Luckily, the Gul spent a little time listening to our own story about a Q, which he didn’t seem to take much attention of, before ordering us to take control of the spy and get ready to become prisoners.”

“And that’s when you found me,” said Alexander, now munching on some ham sandwiches that had been replicated. “Except I had appeared some way back, got captured quite roughly, drugged and was taken prisoner. And all on my birthday too.”

“Most unlucky indeed. I presume you are alright?” replied the Captain.

“Yes, I’m fine sir,” answered Alexander.

“Good”, Kathorn replied, taking a ham sandwich himself, before settling back in his chair. “And that’s where you found us, Captain.”

Captain Kathorn smiled at Dagan, before continuing.

“Would you mind telling us your side of the story?”

Dagan nodded, and promptly went about telling everyone what happened on the USS Athens, in very precise detail. The Captain smiled as Dagan finished off with the confrontation with the Cardassian’s.

“Well, it appears you have taken commanded well, Mr Creek”, he said. “I am most impressed. And with everything thrown against you, I expect you and your crew deserve a very long break.”

“I expect so, sir,” Dagan replied. “And your story was just as impressive, Captain, and I was particularly interested in yours too, Alexander. It all makes much more sense now.”

“You sound like a true Captain, Dagan”, laughed Captain Kathorn. Lt Commander Creek and Dr Creek smiled warmly down at their son.

“I intend to be one when I’m older, sir”, Dagan replied.

“Indeed, I think you would make a great Captain. And well done to the rest of you all. I am very glad to have you aboard the USS Athens, and you shall all get the highest award I can place on you.”

Smiles went around, before a clapping sound came from behind the Captain, who turned around to look behind him.

“Q!”, muttered Captain Kathorn. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh nothing, Captain, just saying a nice farewell. I hope you don’t mind!” and with a smile and a tip at the cowboy hat he was wearing, he snapped his fingers, and disappeared in another flash of white.

{{{ * * * * *}}}

Dagan and his friends met again in Ten Forward at the end of the day.

“Well”, said Dagan. “Apparently we’re back to charting space again. We only have to chart a smaller region of space now, but, it’s coming along”.

“Well done, Dagan”, said Jane. “You really were a good Captain.”

Dagan was surprised and happy. Jane wasn’t one to normally give compliments.

“Thank you, Jane”, he replied. “You were all very helpful in my success”. And he smiled round at his crew, Liam, James and Theodor of security; Frederick, Mac and Fagan of engineering; Dr Olivia Gale, and his Tactical Officer Mission Robinson, as well as his Ops Officer Garry, and his Helm Officer Jane. And finally at Alexander, the birthday boy, and the one who got captured.

“Yes, we all deserve a clap on the back”, piped Frederick, sealing everyone’s same thoughts with a single comment at a job well done.

Dagan had only just got back into his quarters when the ship shook the first time. His Mother was lying down in bed trying to read a book.

“Darn it”, she said. “Just what I need”

His Mother was the Chief Medical Officer on the ship, while his father was in charge of Ops, and she was currently off-duty. She jumped up and began to quickly grab a few things. As she headed for the door, the ship lurched, and both Dagan and his Mother were thrown to the floor. Dagan began to get up when the ship lurched a second time. This was followed by a blinding flash of light, before he could see again. He stared out the window, trying to see where the source of the light was, and was met by an astonishing sight. The ship was obviously at warp, but the stars were whipping by the window at a rate that Dagan hadn’t seen before, even at Warp 9!! How fast were they doing? And why such a speed??

He was about to try and stand up again before the ship lurched a third time, the most violent of all. Dagan was thrown across the room and was slammed against the wall.

Slightly dazed, he called out “Mum!”, to no response. He looked at where he last spotted his mother, and she wasn’t there. He stood up and looked at the window. There were a few stars dotted here and there, but not too many, and at least they weren’t at warp anymore.

He called again. “Mum! Mum!! Mum, are you here?” When he was sure that there was no-one else with him in the room, he spoke to the computer.

“Computer, locate Barbara Creek”.

“Barbara Creek is not aboard the Athens”, the computer responded. What?!?, he thought, where’d she go?

“Computer, locate Marcel Creek”.

“Marcel Creek is not aboard the Athens”, the computer responded again. Dagan began to panic.

“Computer, is… is the Captain aboard the Athens?”

“Captain Kathorn is not aboard the Athens”, the computer spoke again. Dagan rubbed his head. Maybe he was having a dream. As a last ditch attempt, he said:

“Computer, is //any// crew member aboard the Athens??”

“There are no crew members aboard the Athens”, the computer responded. Dagan sat down. It was too much for him, he really couldn’t think. Suddenly, a noise came over the communication box in the room. A voice he instantly recognised.

“Garry to Dagan!! Dagan come in!!”. It was Garry, and he sounded pretty scared.

“Dagan here, Garry”, Dagan replied, his voice sounding just as quaky as Garry’s. “What the hell’s going on here? The computer just announced I was alone!!”

“I don’t know!!”, Garry replied. “My parents just…vanished!! I can’t get through to them. We ought to meet up”.

“Hold on there Garry, will get back to you on that. Dagan Out”. His brain had kicked in now he knew he wasn’t alone, and he had had an idea.

“Computer, how many //civilians// are aboard the Athens?”

“There are 11 civilians aboard the Athens.”

“And how many of those are… above the age of 18?”

“There are no civilians aboard the Athens that are above the age of 18”, responded the computer.

//Great//, he thought. //That leaves the children.//

“Computer, who is in charge of the Athens?”

There was a pause, before the computer responded, “there is no-one aboard the Athens who is able to command”.

“Then I want to take control of the ship. I can do that, right?”

“Access Codes required”, the computer responded.

“I don’t know any access codes!!”, Dagan shouted back.

“Access Codes required”, the computer repeated.

“Fine, cancel command request”, Dagan responded, angrily. “Open a communication link with the ship”.

“Link opened”, the computer responded.

“This is Dagan Creek to all members of the ship. There are only 11 of us, so if you’re here, you know who you are. Please meet me on the Bridge as soon as you can make it to discuss our current circumstances. Dagan Out”.

Dagan picked up his Mum’s tricorder and phaser that she had dropped, and quickly glanced at the mirror. He’s short black hair was ruffled, but other then that he didn’t look too hurt. Still, it wasn’t time to sort out his hair, not in the current circumstances anyway.

He made his way out of the room to the turbolift at the end of the corridor. As the turbolift opened, he spotted both Garry and Liam in the turbolift, chatting animatedly about the flash of light that had followed the second lurch.

Garry’s short brown hair was just as ruffled as Dagan’s, but Liam’s black hair was quite long and always looked ruffled. As they spotted Dagan, they both began pounding him with questions. Dagan held up his hand as he walked into the turbolift.

“Bridge”, he said. “Look, I don’t know what has happened, OK?”

“Oh”, said Garry. “I thought you might of known…”

“You think I know everything, don’t you Garry”, Dagan smiled.

“So, what now?”, asked Liam.

“We go to the bridge now”, said Dagan.

There was a short silence as the turbolift slowed, and then the door opened, and 5 other voices started asking questions of Dagan.

“Look, stop!! Stop right now!!”, Dagan almost yelled, which brought silence onto the bridge. Dagan quickly looked round. They had come up from the back of the bridge. He had never been to the bridge before, but it looked quite impressive. He quickly did a head count; the three girls and the two twins. Fair enough.

“We will discuss this when everyone arrives,” he finished.

“I thought you said-”

“I did Garry. I don’t know what happened. That’s why we are going to discuss it. See if we can piece together the facts.”

The lower turbolift opened, and Frederick, James and Theodor walked in.

“What on earth is going on?”, asked Frederick, his Chinese accent coming strongly through, with his sleek black hair shining in the light, and his black eyes looking piercingly at Dagan. “Where is the Captain?”

“I don’t know”, replied Dagan. “All I know is that we are the only ones left aboard the Athens.”

“Woah”, said Garry. “James, your hurt!”

James had blood coming down the side of his face. He had short dark brown curly hair and dark brown eyes, and was the oldest and tallest of the children.

“Urgh!!”, said Jane, “that’s gross!!”

“It’s nothing, really”, said James.

“Let’s take a look, James”, said Dagan, waving his mothers tricorder at him. Silence fell over the bridge as Dagan worked at the controls. “I think it looks fine”, he said finally. “Just a cut”.

“You think?” replied James.

“Yeah”, said Dagan. “I’m not a doctor, you know”.

“Well, I could be dying and you wouldn’t even know,” James began.

“Oh, be quiet James”, said Jane, her long brown hair falling down around her shoulders as she spoke. “We are missing nearly all the senior crew. What do you expect we should do?!”

Before anyone could answer, Garry piped up.

“Hey, where’s Alexander?”

Silence fell over the bridge.

“Computer, locate Alexander Wood”, Dagan said.

“Alexander Wood is not aboard the Athens”, the computer responded. Dagan shook his head in shock and wonder.

“What? What does that mean??” asked Mission, who had long black hair and bright green eyes, quite a big contrast.

“It means he’s not on the ship, stupid!!” replied Jane.

“I know that!” said Mission. “But why is Dagan shaking his head?”

“Because Alexander is the only child missing”, replied Dagan. “And I don’t know why”.

Silence once again fell over the bridge.

“What do we do now then?” asked James.

“Well, Dagan called us here, right? And his father was the highest in rank”, said Liam. “Dagan. Do you know what we should do?”

Dagan looked thoughtful.

“First we should pick positions for everyone, so we each have a task to do. Then, we need to find out where we are, and get back to where we entered warp.”

“We entered warp?” asked Frederick.

“Yeah”, said Dagan. “Or at least I thought it was warp”.

“We need to have a look at the logs”, said Garry. “That will help us to find out what happened”.

“No”, said Dagan. “Let’s pick positions first. I will be the Captain.”

“Why you?” asked Jane. “I mean, I know you called us here and everything, but why are you being the Captain?”

“Because”, Liam answered for Dagan.

“Because what?” replied Jane.

“Just because”, said Liam. “He knows what he’s doing. I think he would make a great Captain. Who agrees?”

Everyone put up their hands, except for Jane.

“But”, started Jane again,

“Zip it, Jane”, snapped Olivia, whipping her long blonde hair around to face Jane, and Jane fell silent.

“Right”, said Dagan. “Let’s continue. Liam, I choose you as my first officer”.

“I think he should be security”, said Garry.

“Yeah, I prefer Security”, said Liam. “Pow pow!”

“Right”, said Dagan again. “You can be Security Chief. Who wants to join security?”

“Yeah, OK”, said James. “How about it Theodor?”

“Yeah, OK”, said Theodor, almost identically to his brother. Theodor basically looked a smaller version of his brother too, with the same dark brown curly hair and brown eyes.

“OK, good”, said Dagan. “Now… engineering”.

“Definitely Frederick”, said Olivia.

“Why thank you, Olivia”, said Frederick.

“And us!! Don’t forget us!!”, almost shouted Mac. The twins were identical, with the same short brown hair and the same bright blue eyes.

Dagan laughed. “Right!”, he said. “So, you two help out Frederick then. Frederick, you’re Chief Engineer.”

“Sure”, said Frederick, as the twins gave a high-five together.

“What can you see about crawling through jeffry tubes?” Jane pouted.

“Now we need a tactical officer”, said Dagan, ignoring Jane’s comment. “I think the Tactical officer is stationed at the back of the ship. Ok, who’s up for tactical?”

There was silence that followed.

“Hmm”, said Dagan, “how about you, Mission?”

“Well, OK”, said Mission softly.

“Great”, said Dagan. “Frederick, teach her how to use the controls”

“Aye aye, Captain!” Frederick replied.

“And finally, we need a couple of people to work at Helm and Operations, down there”, Dagan said.

“Well, I want to be a Doctor”, said Olivia. “My mother is a nurse. Was a nurse.”

“Yes, so she was. And we don’t know if she’s dead yet, so don’t start thinking that. Before you do… OK, you can be Chief Medical Officer, Olivia. If you need help, you can ask me too. And Garry, you can do Ops. Jane can be Helm”.

“Do I have to?” Jane replied immediately.

“Yes, Jane, we all need to pull together”, said Dagan. “And I don’t have a first officer anymore. Well, as you are Security Chief, Liam, I guess you can also be my first officer too. But I will run the ship, of course”.

“OK, Dagan”, was Liam’s reply.

“Good”, said Dagan.

Silence followed, except for the explanations of Frederick to Mission at the back. Finally, Jane broke the silence.

“Well, what are we going to do?”

“Right”, said Dagan. “Well, let’s find out a few things. Computer, where are we?”

“Current position is unknown”, replied the computer.

“Ah”, said Dagan. “Well, are there any ship systems damaged?”

“Shields, offline. Weapon systems, offline. Warp engines, offline. Impulse engines at 70%. Life Support, damaged.”

“Well”, said Dagan. “Let’s get things going. Looks like you have a lot to do, Frederick”.

“Heh, yeah”, said Frederick. “Mission knows how to use the controls now, Captain. So we’ll just head over to Engineering.”

“Hold on”, Dagan said. “We need communicators. Wait here”.

Dagan walked over to the Captains Ready Room. As he approached, the door beeped.

“Ah”, he said. “We need Access Codes to get control of the ship”.

“No we don’t”, said Frederick. “I found a message encrypted in Tactical with all Access Codes in it”.

Again, Dagan was amazed. Why was that in there, he thought.

“Very well”, Dagan said. “What’s the Captains Access Code?”

“Alpha Zeta 9976 Gamma”, said Frederick.

“Right”, said Dagan. “Computer, I want to assume command, access code Alpha Zeta 9976 Gamma”.

“Access code granted. Thank you, Captain”, replied the Computer.

“That was easy”, said Dagan.

“Too easy”, said Frederick. “I don’t get it”.

“Neither do I”, said Dagan. He paused for a bit, thoughtfully, before disappearing into the ready room. He came out with communicator chips.

“Get these configured, Frederick, and hand them out. Then get down to engineering and get things sorted.”

“Aye aye, Captain”, Frederick replied.

“What about us?” asked Jane.

“Well, let’s see”, said Dagan. “Go to your controls and get used to them each of you. Security go with Frederick to engineering in case something funny happens. And make a stop at the armoury along the way, if we have the access code there too”.

“We sure do Captain”, said Frederick. Dagan shook his head. Things were just weird.

Alexander Wood opened his eyes. His head felt dull, and he couldn’t see. He tried waving a hand in front of him, and was surprised when he saw it wave in front of his face. He touched the ground beneath him and felt damp, cold grass… was he on the holodeck?

He slowly sat up and looked around. He was on top of a hill at night, in the middle of nowhere. Perhaps it was Earth. He stared up at the sky, wondering where the stars were, and couldn’t make out anything. It was still as black as before. He stared back at the landscape before him, and saw just trees.

“Computer, End Program”, his voice sounded quite small and distant, but nothing happened. He tried a couple more times, but nothing changed.

He stood up, and almost got knocked over from the brisk wind whistling over the hill. He began to take a proper look around him, when he spotted there was a flicker of light on the other side of the hill, through a gap in the trees. He wasn’t sure whether he should try and get to the light, or stay where he was, so instead he sat down again to think it through.

He didn’t know where he was. And there was life over there. And the more he looked around him, it looked like Earth. So he guessed that if he made his way to whatever the light indicated, then he would probably find a kind person waiting to help him get back to his ship. Wherever that was.

He stood up, and the wind hit him again. He slowly made his way towards the light, comforting himself with the fact that at least he was wearing a woolly coat. That made him stop. Why was he wearing a woolly coat? He didn’t even own a woolly coat, still, that would explain why he wasn’t getting too cold from the wind, wherever the coat came from.

He continued towards the light, and slowly began to make it out as a fire. The fire illuminated a couple of houses here and there. Alexander put his hands into his pockets, and his hand fell across something, which he pulled out. A Federation tricorder. Hmm, where did that come from?

As he looked up again, a hand came over his mouth, another hand grabbed him round the middle and someone hit him in the stomach, it seemed all at once. He gasped, trying to take in air, trying to run, but the grip from behind was too strong. He felt someone stick something into his arm and he yelled, pulling as hard as his body would let him, but it didn’t seem to make any difference, and he was falling, falling, and blackness once again consumed him.

Two hours of work had passed, and Frederick had successfully fixed the damaged impulse engines and the small damage to the life support, as well as bringing the shields up to 50% power, which meant that the ship at least could move and defend itself from the average attacker.

A sensor sweep of the area by Mission had shown that there really wasn’t anything to be seen, and as they really didn’t know where they were, Dagan had them keep tight while broadcasting a distress call on all frequencies.

Down in Ten Forward, the area wasn’t quite clear from the party that seemed like a distant past. However, chatter could be heard as the now diminished crew settled down for a quick bite to eat.

“It shouldn’t be long before I can get shields to full power, Captain”, Frederick said. “Mac and Fagan are to thank for helping me get things up and running this fast, though. They’ve been superb”.

“Excellent”, said Dagan. They were all seated around a very long table they had put together, with all three security officers carrying rifle’s slung over their backs.

“And Jane has finally got the hang of Helm control”, said Garry. “It really isn’t that difficult.”

“Well done Jane,” said Olivia. “And thanks Dagan. That medical lesson really was quite helpful”.

“Well, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it”, said Dagan. “Helping each other out to get this ship running properly”.

“We should have a look at the logs, Captain”, said Garry.

“Oh yeah, you mentioned that earlier, didn’t you”, said Dagan, thoughtfully. “Why not after we’re done here?”

“Sure, Cap!” was Garry’s quirky reply, and that made everyone smile.

After dinner, they all went to the Bridge, and stood around staring at the screen.

“OK, let’s try this”, said Dagan, “and it shouldn’t take too long, Frederick, then you can get back to your jobs. Computer, show the Captains logs before we went into Warp”.

The log showed Captain Kathorn going on about yesterday’s scans, and the fact that they had found nothing. He also happened to mention the sectors that the ship had passed through.

“Well, not much in there about what happened”, said Liam as it finished, “but at least we know where we’ve been”.

“True”, said Dagan, “Computer, show visual logs of the front view ten minutes before the ship went into warp”.

The computer started playing the logs, which just showed the stars slowly going passed, and the USS Athens scanning for any possible planets that could be colonized. When the log reached 2 minutes before the end, the computer stopped playing the log and announced

“Further log entry is corrupted. Unable to play back”.

“Ah”, Dagan said. The bridge fell silent.

“Well, at least we know where to go, sort of”, Garry considered.

“True”, Dagan replied. “Frederick. Get down to engineering and see if you give us shields and warp.”

“OK Captain. Shields should be at full power in about an hour, if we’ve got this right. Then I’ll give you an estimate on the warp engines”.

“OK, Chief”, Dagan replied. “Good luck!”

Dagan watched as the Chief engineer walked out of the Bridge, then he sat down in the Captains chair for the first time.

“Getting settled in, Captain?” laughed Liam, staring at him with his feet up on the seat.

“Yeah”, grinned back, Dagan.

“Hey!” said Mission suddenly, “I think something’s coming. I’ll try and get a sensor reading on it…”

Dagan’s grin fell to a stern look.

“What could be out here?” he asked.

They waited for Mission to do the scan, with bated breath. Finally, Mission replied, her voice shaking.

“OK, apparently, it’s a Borg vessel. A diamond.”

“Oh”, said Dagan, apparently lost for words. Silence fell over the bridge.

“Captain”, said Mission, “what are we going to do, Dagan?”

Dagan remained silent for a few more seconds, before replying.

“How long do we have?”

“According to this, with its current speed and heading, it will come around in weapons range within 4 hours. That is, if it doesn’t increase its speed.”

Dagan stood up, and touched his communicator.

“Dagan to Frederick”

“Frederick here. Go ahead, Captain”, his Chief Engineer replied.

“Frederick. We need shields and warp engines as quickly as you can bring them online. We have a rather nasty confrontation approaching. The Borg.”

“Aye, sir. I also suggest we go to Red Alert, and keep shields and engines offline. I would also say weapons, but they aren’t fixed yet. And keep a close eye on the diamond’s movement.”

It was amazing how Frederick’s voice still remained calm and collected even though they knew well enough what the Borg was capable of.

“Will do. Thank you, Frederick. Dagan out… Right, Red Alert!”

The ship began its usual red alert noise, which Dagan listened to for a little while, before turning to Garry.

“Make sure shields and engines are offline, Garry. And cancel the distress signal. We don’t want them intercepting that, if they haven’t already.”

“Right-o, Captain”, said Garry, “both shields and engines are offline anyway. But I’ll make sure they stay that way, for now”.

“Distress signal cancelled”, added Mission, her voice still a bit shaky.

“Good”, said Dagan. “Now we have an even more pressing reason to get away fast.”

Another two hours had passed, with people frantically trying to get systems online. Frederick had everyone except from Mission and Liam, who remained on the bridge to check on things, working on bringing the warp engines online. Shields were back at full power, and Frederick was very proud of having done this with only the ship’s computer as a guide. However, even with the ship’s computer guiding him through the procedures, it was very difficult to locate the problems with the warp drive, and therefore progress on getting the warp engines online hadn’t gone very far even after the entire’s crew co-operation for the past hour and a half.

Added to that was the fact that Mission from the bridge had said that the diamond ship had increased speed in a direction very close to where they were currently sat, which meant that they only had another hour before the diamond arrived.

“I don’t get it”, said Frederick. “That should have bypassed that faulty array by now. Why isn’t it happening?”

“By the looks of things, it seems that the array we passed it onto was also faulty. So in fact, that procedure was successful,” promptly replied Fagan, staring at a console.

“Yeah, what he said”, said Mac, who happened to be underneath another console staring at what was there.

“Oh”, Frederick replied. “OK, computer, bypass faulty array 765 and pass on to a non-faulty array”.

“Unable to comply. Manual repair is required."

“Now how did I know you were going to say that,” chuckled Mac from under the console.

“OK, Mac, get out from under there and go and bypass that array”.

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Mac replied, bumping his head on his way out from underneath the console.

“Ask the computer”, said Frederick, rubbing his head. “Man, this is annoying”.

Meanwhile, Dagan and Garry were winding their way through jeffry-tubes, hoping to find a broken terminal.

“If I was really the Captain, I would hope to find my way around without consulting the computer. Because really, it is quite a slow progress getting anything out of the computer”, Dagan was saying.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t know how Frederick manages in engineering, but he’s very good,” Garry replied.

“Well, I hope we manage to get the warp engines online soon. That would be helpful”.

The next half-hour passed quite quickly, and finally Frederick managed to exclaim that he’d got the Warp engines online. Now it was just bringing it up from Warp 5 to Warp 9. Dagan, now back on the bridge, received the news with great earnest.

“Excellent work, Chief!” he said, “now, can we go to Warp 5 while you work to bring it to Warp 9?”

“Yes, Captain”, he said. “And thank you. You’re helps been invaluable.”

“Ah, we work together well Frederick. Get Jane up here as soon as possible. Dagan Out”.

Within minutes, Jane appeared at the back of the ship.

“Jane, you’re the only one who knows how to work this helm control. Now, take us in the opposite direction of the diamond ship, at Warp 5.”

“OK, Captain”, said Jane, and she typed a couple of commands into the console. The ship began to turn, and then suddenly the warp engines roared to life and the ship was away.

“Dagan. I mean, Captain”, Mission spoke up.

“Yep”, said Dagan, looking round. “Either will do”.

“OK, well, the Diamond ship will still catch us up. It’s doing Warp 8.”

Dagan felt his heart sink. The situation still got worse.

“OK”, he said, trying to sound brave, “how long we got now?”

“About 45 minutes”, said Mission.

“Dagan to Frederick, you’ve got 45 minutes to give us Warp 9.”

“Oh, why Captain?” came through Frederick’s response.

“Because the enemy can still outrun us”, Dagan replied. “Any questions?”

“No, just...", a hesitant pause, before, "I hope I can do it in time.”

“Of course you can, Frederick”, Dagan replied. “Dagan Out”.

//Let’s hope I can//, thought Frederick, //otherwise we’re all dead.//

Alexander woke to a dull thudding in his head. There was chanting noises nearby, and he couldn’t see very far. Then he realised that that was because his eyes were closed, so he opened them. They were quite stiff, but they eventually lifted, and he looked out at an inside of one of the huts.

Suddenly, a voice near to him started speaking in English.

“Hartold, I told you Starfleet would come! I told you they would send a spy!”

Alexander tried to see who was speaking, and spotted a couple of people in the dim light standing along the other side of the wall.

“He’s not a spy, Jitin. He’s a kid. I know Starfleet, they wouldn’t send a kid as a spy!”

“Well, it doesn’t make any difference, Hartold, kid or not. He’s from Starfleet, right? You saw the Federation tricorder he had with him. And it had all the layout of our town, right down to each hut’s purpose!! He’s a spy!! And until I believe otherwise, he’s a danger to this town!”

Silence followed, and Alexander decided to try and show he wasn’t a spy. He tried to stand up, only to fall down again with a thud.

“He’s awake, Hartold.” There was a soft thudding of footsteps, and a Bajoran-looking lady stood over Alexander.

“Who are you? What are you doing here??”

“I’m not a… spy”, muttered Alexander. “I don’t know … how I got here…”

“Jitin, leave him”, said Hartold, from the side of the room.

“He’s a spy, can’t you see it!” exclaimed Jitin, motioning down at Alexander.

“Leave him”, repeated Hartold. Jitin stared down at Alexander, then back at Hartold, grunted, and stormed out of the hut. Hartold walked slowly to do the door, then looked back at Alexander.

“I will get you some food”, then he walked out of the hut as well, leaving Alexander alone.

Dagan had started pacing up and down on the bridge, watching the Borg Diamond on the screen. It had been put up there not moments ago, and he wasn’t enjoying its presence one little bit. It was now known that the Diamond knew they were there; it had already broadcast its terrifying intent to assimilate both their crew and technology. And they were still only doing Warp 7.

“How long now, Mission?” he said.

“5 minutes until they are within range, Captain”, Mission said softly. Her hands seemed to fly over the console, as she tried everything her mind could throw at her to try and figure a way to escape. But in this deserted part of space, she really couldn’t think of what to do. There were only asteroid fields, and she knew they would just get into more problems in those...

“Frederick to Captain. I’m on the Holodeck”, came through Frederick’s voice.

“What the hell are you doing there, Frederick?! This isn’t time for games!!”, snapped back Dagan, looking quite surprised.

“I’m not playing games, Captain. I’ve got up a little bit of help to help me sort things out. I’ve got some of the best here, Captain, of the Enterprise crew.”

Dagan didn’t know what to say. He’d just snapped at Frederick, and Frederick happened to be doing something amazingly bright.

“Thank you Captain”, Frederick’s voice came back, taking the silence as a compliment, “We should have Warp 9 capability momentarily.”

“Indeed we will Captain, just hold on”, came another voice.

“Oh, that’s the Chief Engineer of the Enterprise, Captain. We also have Commander Data here too. Both are very friendly and seem to be helping us out quite a lot.”

“Good, good”, Dagan replied. “Now we need to figure a way out of this mess!! Keep me informed. Dagan Out. Jane, increase to Warp 9!”

“Sure thing, Dagan!! I mean, Captain!”

The stars began to shoot by as the ship accelerated away. And Dagan suddenly realised that they might outrun the Borg vessel.

“Mission, can we outrun them now?”

“No Captain”, Mission replied. “They’ve matched our speed, and are now going Warp 9.4”.

“Oh”, Dagan sighed. “Great”.

“They’ll be within range within a couple of minutes”, Mission said. “And they are hailing us sir”.

“Don’t put them on screen, please. The first time will give me nightmares enough.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Can we restart our distress call?” asked Dagan, remembering they turned it off after the Borg ship had appeared.

Mission typed a few commands, too a few dull beeps, and then replied bluntly.

“No, sir. They’re blocking all communications.”

Silence followed, as Dagan hoped that Frederick had something up his sleeve. He started pacing again, wondering what on earth they could do now, but there really wasn’t much they could do.

“Captain”, Frederick’s voice came through again. Dagan’s heart leapt.

“Go ahead, what’s up?” he said eagerly.

“We’ve managed to get the forward phaser banks online. Thanks again to my new found friends, but that ain’t gonna make a dent in their shields, sir. I really don’t know what to do now, but we can at least give them a beating before we go down.”

That’s not what Dagan wanted to hear. And it’s obviously not what Jane wanted to hear either.

“We’re gonna die, aren’t we!! Oh, I don’t want to die, Dagan, I don’t want to!!”

“Calm down, Jane!” Garry said from the Ops console. “We ain’t gonna die!”

“Thanks, Dagan Out”, Dagan said sternly, an idea coming to mind. “Now, quiet, Jane!! We need your composure now more then ever. I have a plan. It may work, but I need your support. Do I have it?”

“OK, OK, what should I do?”

“Mission, what else is in range”, asked Dagan.

“Just another asteroid field, sir. It’s to our port side.”

“Good. Jane, let’s go."

“OK, OK, which sides Port?”

“Left, Jane” said Garry.

“OK, we need to drop out of warp, but I’ll do it”, she said, noticing Dagan’s look. With a quick move, the ship dropped out of warp, pivoted left and entered back into warp.

“Sir, the Diamond’s within firing range!!” yelled Garry.

“They’ve let go a volley of torpedoes at us!!” yelled Mission.

“Make sure shields are up!! All hands, prepare for impact!!” Dagan yelled, settling into the Captains chair. The ship shuddered slightly as the torpedoes hit.

“Moderate damage to the aft shields. Somehow, I don’t think that’s all they’ve got”, said Mission.

“Of course not. How far until the asteroid field?”

“Almost there, Captain”, said Jane. “What do we do once we’re there?”

“Get in there and turn the ship around quickly, Jane. Mission, load up the forward phaser banks. Put them on full intensity. Garry, prepare to open Cargo Bay 3!! We need to expel the contents into space as soon as we enter the asteroid!!”

“What’s in cargo bay 3, Captain?” Garry replied.

“Federation standard mines. I only just remembered, we received a new shipment at Starbase 145 the other week!!”

“OK, Captain. I’m on it”, replied Garry.

“Sir, I’m dropping out of warp. We’re not far now!!” Jane said, excited now there was hope.

“Sir!! Another volley!!”, yelled Mission, before Dagan could reply.

“All hands prepare for impact!!”, yelled Dagan, and a few seconds later the ship shuddered even harder then before.

“Shields at 75%”, yelled Mission. “I’ve finally got phasers sorted. Ready to fire on your command, Captain!”

“Good… OK Garry, release Cargo Bay 3 Now!! Jane, prepare to turn the ship around!!”

A few seconds passed, before Dagan’s communicator chimed.

“Frederick to Dagan. I’m in engineering. I’ll try and get the shields up! Frederick out.”

“Cargo Bay’s goods are clear, Captain!!” piped up Garry as soon as Frederick had finished.

“Now, Jane!!” swiped Dagan.

The ship turned 180 degrees quickly and effectively, and turned to face the approaching diamond.

“Full stop!! Target the cargo and prepare to fire when that Diamond gets close!” yelled Dagan quickly.

“Aye sir. Incoming volley!!” yelled back Mission.

The screen showed the volley coming towards them, and as they hit the ship it lurched back, throwing everyone onto the floor. Mission was the first to jump up, and quickly ran her fingers along the console.

“Shields at 15% sir!! The Diamond’s almost there!! Almost there!!”

Dagan stood up and looked at the screen at the approaching ship, which suddenly let loose with another torpedo volley!

“Prepare for evasive manoeuvres!!” yelled Dagan. “Fire now!!”

“Sir!” yelled back Mission, and obediently hit the fire button. The ships phasers let loose at the cargo, which exploded, destroying the torpedoes that were imbound and the Diamond ship, but also making the Athens lurch horribly backwards again, the sharpest of all. Dagan was thrown across the bridge and hit the side wall. Consoles sparked and the bridge became a darkened red glow.

When it became peaceful again, Dagan opened his eyes. He felt blood running down his temple, and looked around the bridge. Jane was by his Captain’s chair, with Garry on top of her. Mission was at the back, blood going down her arm, but still at her console. //She must have got up quickly//, thought Dagan, //so much for evasive manoeuvres.//

“Frederick to Captain, we have a medical emergency here!! It’s Liam. I don’t think he’s very healthy sir.”

Alexander had waited for what seemed like hours before anyone returned. There had been a lot of noise outside, a lot of shouting and talking. He had thought of going out and seeing what was going on, but whenever he made it to the door, his nerves took hold of him and he went back to sit down. When finally someone did come in, it was not who he expected.

Captain Kathorn.

“Captain!” he said standing up.

“Indeed, Alexander Wood, I presume?” asked the Captain calmly.

“Yes sir. Where are we?”

“Well, we’re not in our ship, for certain. Anyway, I’ll explain how we got here later. For now, let Doctor Creek look at you.”

Alexander only just noticed other people standing by the Captain, and recognised them as the senior crew. Commander Olivian, Lieutenant Robinson, Lt Martins as well as Mr and Mrs Creek. Mr and //Dr// Creek.

Dr Creek made her way over to Alexander, and scanned him with her tricorder. “He’s not too bad actually. Slightly dull, and I expect hungry, but otherwise fine. He’s been drugged a couple of times.”

“A couple of times?” Alexander murmured.

“Yes, the drug only lasts for a couple of hours”, said the Doctor. “Now, come on, we don’t have time.”

Alexander was lead outside the hut, and saw that the place was filled with Bajoran looking people.

“Where’s the rest of the crew?”

“Apparently orbiting around this planet in a Cardassian ship”, explained the Captain. “This is a Cardassian planet, you know…”

“What? I thought they were Bajoran people?”

“They are, Alexander,” replied Commander Olivian. “But this planet is still in Cardassian territory.”

“Oh”, replied Alexander.

An obvious looking Cardassian came over.

“Are you ready, Captain?”

“Yes, very well. I don’t see we have much choice.”

“Excellent. Galrod to Gul Kartek. We are ready to beam up with the rest of our prisoners!”

“Prisoners!” exclaimed Alexander, as they dematerialized to the Cardassian ship’s brig.

The Athens encounters a strange alien derelict in the middle of space while the children form the Athens Elite and recover from their experiences. However, not all is as it seems on the alien vessel...

__Chapter List__
[[Chapter 1|Alone Chapter 1]]
[[Chapter 2|Alone Chapter 2]]
[[Chapter 3|Alone Chapter 3]]
[[Chapter 4|Alone Chapter 4]]
[[Chapter 5|Alone Chapter 5]]
[[Chapter 6|Alone Chapter 6]]
[[Chapter 7|Alone Chapter 7]]
[[Chapter 8|Alone Chapter 8]]
[[Chapter 9|Alone Chapter 9]]
[[Chapter 10|Alone Chapter 10]]
[[Chapter 11|Alone Chapter 11]]
[[Chapter 12|Alone Chapter 12]]

The Athens makes first contact with the newly discovered Stealthant race. As they begin negotiations, however, they are attacked by the Odion's. Can the Athens crew stop the war between the Stealthants and Odion's, without involving the Federation and while maintaining the Prime Directive as well?

{{{Coming Soon...}}}

''Name:'' James Kemmer
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 14
''Position:'' Security Officer, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' The oldest member of the Athens Elite, James has short dark brown curly hair and dark brown eyes, James is of average build and average height of someone his age. He likes wearing dull coloured clothing.

''Psychological Description:'' James has a very energetic personality, always liking to get his hands into the thick of things. He is very protective of the people he loves, and this is particularly evident with his younger brother [[Theodor|Theodor Kemmer]]. However, he is more then happy for others to take the lead in things not of his immediate concern.

''Name:'' Jane Watson
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Female
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Helm, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' Jane is almost the opposite of [[Olivia|Olivia Gale]], in that she has long brown hair, brown eyes and a good body. She, like Olivia, likes to wear very feminine clothing, but does like to put on makeup regularly.

''Psychological Description:'' A forceful girl who doesn't like change, work, or anything that isn't part of her small reality of fashion and parties, Jane is very talkative but isn't considered very smart. Her intelligence instead comes from being able to spot things other people would normally overlook, although it's often quite difficult to separate random facts from informative points.

/***
|''Name:''|LegacyStrikeThroughPlugin|
|''Description:''|Support for legacy (pre 2.1) strike through formatting|
|''Version:''|1.0.2|
|''Date:''|Jul 21, 2006|
|''Source:''|http://www.tiddlywiki.com/#LegacyStrikeThroughPlugin|
|''Author:''|MartinBudden (mjbudden (at) gmail (dot) com)|
|''License:''|[[BSD open source license]]|
|''CoreVersion:''|2.1.0|
***/

//{{{
// Ensure that the LegacyStrikeThrough Plugin is only installed once.
if(!version.extensions.LegacyStrikeThroughPlugin) {
version.extensions.LegacyStrikeThroughPlugin = {installed:true};

config.formatters.push(
{
	name: "legacyStrikeByChar",
	match: "==",
	termRegExp: /(==)/mg,
	element: "strike",
	handler: config.formatterHelpers.createElementAndWikify
});

} //# end of "install only once"
//}}}

''Name:'' Liam Bale
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Security Chief, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' Quite strongly built for his age, with black hair that is quite long and always looks ruffled. Liam's choice in clothing differs on a daily basis, but is usually just a simple shirt and trousers, with 24th Century trainers.

''Psychological Description:'' Liam has a very laid back and casual attitude to life, and likes 'going with the flow'. However, he takes his responsibilities very seriously and is always willing to lend a hand when required.

''Name:'' Ashley Robinson
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Female
''Age:'' 29
''Position:'' Tactical/Security Chief, USS Athens
''Rank:'' Lieutenant

''Physical Description:'' Brown hair that hangs in a ponytail behind her head, black eyes and an expression that means business, Ashley Robinson is a woman who looks like she's come from the Army rather then Starfleet. She is quite skinny compared to normal people, but this is usually accredited to her high metabolism and constant preparedness rather then lack of food.

''Psychological Description:'' Always on the ball, always alert, Ashley's eyes never stop glancing around looking for the next sign of trouble. Ashley loves procedure, and loves challenges, always looking for the next hurdle. Her one big desire is to one day become Captain herself, but for now she is content just to jump in front of Kathorn to save him from an enemy Romulan's blaster.

''Name:'' Barbara Creek
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Female
''Age:'' 30
''Position:'' Chief Medical Officer
''Rank:'' Lieutenant

''Physical Description:'' Long black hair with brown eyes, Barbara Creek has an average body but always has a twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face.

''Psychological Description:'' Energetic, easy-going, fun-loving, and motherly; Barbara is loved by all the crew who know her as someone they just get along with. She also has an extremely firm grasp and great love of her work, which often rubs off on her family members.

''Notes:'' [[Dagan Creek's|Dagan Creek]] mother; [[Marcel Creek's|Lt Commander Marcel Creek]] Spouse

''Name:'' Daniel Martins
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' 36
''Age:'' Male
''Position:'' Chief Engineer
''Rank:'' Lt Commander

''Physical Description:'' Not too tall, with a medium build, black hair and dark green eyes, Martins wears his Chief Engineers uniform with pride. Always ready for action, he usually has a serious expression on his face while working, but loves to joke around with his friends in his spare time.

''Psychological Description:'' Serious at work, easygoing in his spare time; Martins manages somehow to turn Engineering a ship from a dull, complex process to an entertaining, interesting and understandable activity. His best friends are all in the Engineering department and are all extremely loyal to Martins, something not often found on a starship.

''Name:'' Marcel Creek
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 35
''Position:'' Chief Ops Officer, USS Athens
''Rank:'' Lt Commander

''Physical Description:'' Short clipped black hair with pale blue eyes and white skin, Marcel is of average build and a sharp face.

''Psychological Description:'' Marcel is calm, collected, and intelligent. He is very methodical in the way he performs his tasks, ensuring that they are performed to the highest of their ability. He knows basic First Aid due to his wife, and her enthusiasm for her work and her friends ensures Marcel stays on his feet.

''Notes:'' [[Dagan Creek's|Dagan Creek]] Father; [[Barbara Creek's|Lt Barbara Creek]] Spouse

''Name:'' Mac Naylor
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Engineer, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' Mac, an identical twin to his brother [[Fagan|Fagan Naylor]], is quite small for his age and his short brown hair and bright blue eyes. The twins are quite skinny, and usually wear overly big clothing, and large smiles.

''Psychological Description:'' Mac, like his twin, has a fiery and offbeat personality. Always happy, always the optimist, the twins revel in the fact that they are unique and are inseparable. Wherever you find Mac, Fagan is always not far behind...

__Information__
[[The USS Athens]]
[[The Senior Crew]]
[[The Athens Elite]]

__Story__
#[[Inheritance|Inheritance]]
#[[Alone|Inheritance II - Alone]]
#[[War's Doorstep|Inheritance III - War's Doorstep]]

''Name:'' Mission Robinson
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Female
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Tactical Chief, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' White skinned and black haired with bright green eyes, Mission likes to wear dark green clothes and black shoes. Her hair usually falls lightly around her shoulders, and she has quite a slim figure.

''Psychological Description:'' Often quite quiet, Mission has a relaxed and kind personality that means she doesn't speak too often. When she does speak, however, she can become quite animated and lively. Mission always likes to ensure everything is working the way she wants it to work, and as such takes her work extremely seriously.

''Name:'' Olivia Gale
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Female
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Chief Medical Officer, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' Blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and a good body, Olivia is clearly the daughter of a model. Olivia often likes to wear very feminine clothing, although only rarely does she put on makeup, as she doesn't think she needs it to enhance her already apparent natural beauty.

''Psychological Description:'' Confident about herself, and extremely bright, Olivia is an outgoing and talkative girl. Although she prefers to spend her time looking at various fashion magazines, Olivia is quite happy to be Chief Medical Officer and is complete unfazed by the medical profession. Although not as good as [[Dagan|Dagan Creek]] at current, she knows that if she put her head down she could become just as good or even better then Dagan in years to come.

''Name:'' Rebecca Lions
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Female
''Age:'' 28
''Position:'' Counsellor, USS Athens
''Rank:'' Lieutenant

''Physical Description:'' Rebecca has long, brown hair with a soft face and sharp, brown eyes. Most of the time she wears a serious, almost Vulcan expression on her face, but she always manages a smile when the situation asks for one. Rebecca is of average build, and likes to work out on a regular basis.

''Psychological Description:'' Rebecca Lions is calm and serious to the extent of almost being Vulcan, but still manages to show emotion when it counts. She is seen as being extremely kind, always willing to talk to anyone who wishes to talk to her, and her conversation clearly shows how human she is.

@@color:red;''Warning!'' This character is related to the storyline. If you haven't met him, it is highly advised you wait until you have before you read this bio, as it may give away the storyline.@@

''Name:'' Rylan
''Race:'' [[Stealthant|Stealthants]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' In Stealthant terms, unknown; but in human terms, 13.
''Position:'' Head of Intelligence Operations, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' Rylan is like any normal child of the Stealthant's. He is humanoid, with skin as black as charcoal, equally black clipped hair and wide yellow eyes. He usually wears t-shirt's and shorts, rather then the standard Federation civilian acquire, making him stand out even more. His ability to disappear completely from visual and sensor contacts is usual among his people.

''Psychological Description:'' He has a quiet personality, often just happy to watch things happen then to speak out loud, but he is also very curious and often asks questions about things. Having seen a lot in his life he can also be quite mature for a child, but does like to play games that are strategic over games that are brash. Rylan doesn't like combat, always thinking that looking for a peaceful way to follow through with something is better, and if all goes wrong: retreat and hide!

''Notes:'' His parents were killed in a battle between the Stealthant's and their enemies, the [[Odion's|Odions]], when he was little, so he never knew them. He has been an orphan all his life. He was found aboard a derelict Stealthant vessel, where he was on a training mission with a few of his friends, although not much else is known.

a Star Trek fan fiction about children who take command

Inheritance Series

Stealthants are from the planet succinctly labelled SK-427 by the Federation, due to the fact it harbours no life nor looks like it is possible of harbouring life. It is also called Skilto-rio by the Stealthants. The planet was turned to dirt by the ongoing war between the Stealthants and their arch-enemy, the Odion's.

Stealthants are humanoid, with skin as black as charcoal, and bright coloured eyes ranging from yellow, to green, even reaching as far as reds and blues. Their ability to complete disappear into a different dimension is not completely understood, although a very useful trait indeed.

Stealthant ships are almost invariably black and contain cloaking technology fitting of their manner to hide.

|Position|Name|h
|Captain|[[Dagan Creek]]|
|First Officer|[[Alexander Wood]]|
|Tactical Chief|[[Mission Robinson]]|
|Security Chief|[[Liam Bale]]|
|Security Officer|[[James Kemmer]]|
|Security Officer|[[Theodor Kemmer]]|
|Operations Officer|[[Garry Brandenburg]]|
|Chief Engineer|[[Frederick Li]]|
|Engineer|[[Fagan Naylor]]|
|Engineer|[[Mac Naylor]]|
|Chief Medical Officer|[[Olivia Gale]]|
|Helm|[[Jane Watson]]|
|Head of Intelligence Operations|[[Rylan]]|

|Position|Name|h
|Captain|[[Captain Oliver Kathorn]]|
|First Officer|[[Commander James Olivian]]|
|Chief Ops Officer|[[Lt Commander Marcel Creek]]|
|Tactical/Security Chief|[[Lt Ashley Robinson]]|
|Chief Engineer|[[Lt Commander Daniel Martins]]|
|Chief Medical Officer|[[Lt Barbara Creek]]|
|Counselor|[[Rebecca Lions]]|

''USS Athens'' - a [[Galaxy Class|http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Galaxy_class]] starship ([[Technical Specs|http://techspecs.acalltoduty.com/galaxy.html]]).
[img[USS Athens|Athens.jpg]]
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''Name:'' James Kemmer
''Race:'' [[Human]]
''Sex:'' Male
''Age:'' 12
''Position:'' Security Officer, Athens Elite
''Rank:'' Civilian

''Physical Description:'' With the same short dark brown curly hair and dark brown eyes as his brother, [[James|James Kemmer]], Theodor is two inches shorter then his brother but also of average build and average height. He is normally found wearing slightly brighter colours.

''Psychological Description:'' Theodor, like his brother, has a very energetic personality. He is very loyal to his brother and likes to think he follows his directions; however there have been a rare few times when he has gone against his brothers interests to follow his own.