EPISODE 1: "ANTARES DAWN"

Written By Alex Matthews

Created by Jonathan Crosby-Bromley 
and Alex Matthews

Based on 'Star Trek' 
created by Gene Roddenberry

“Star Trek and all related marks, logos and characters are solely owned by CBS Studios Inc. This fan fiction is not endorsed by, sponsored by, nor affiliated with CBS, Paramount Pictures, or any other Star Trek franchise, and is a non-commercial fan-made film intended for recreational use.  No commercial exhibition or distribution is permitted. No alleged independent rights will be asserted against CBS or Paramount Pictures.”

Copyright (c) 2019

Produced by Sojournerverse Productions

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CAST

Vicky McClure as Lieutenant Daniela Reese
with
Marcia Cross as Captain Helena Tel
Steven R. McQueen as Commander Solan
Indira Varma as Commander (Dr.) Maggie Campbell
Hannah John-Kamen as Lieutenant Mitchell Hanover
Kit Harrington as Lieutenant Eitan Dayan
and
Michael Fassbinder as Commander Xerxises Cinaran 

GUEST CAST

Joshua Shea as Charlie Cinaran
Sendhil Ramamurthy as Michael Hassani
Nicole Kang as Ensign Min-Cho Ye

SPECIAL GUEST STARS

Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Doug Wert as Lt. Commander Jack Crusher

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Atop the black backdrop of space hangs Deep Space Four. A massive facility that lives up to its designation of Immense-class. Starships of all types buzz around it like flies, many of them belonging to Starfleet, a smattering of civilian craft alongside. 
One ship, her four nacelles aglow and cooling down from only recently dropping out of high warp, slowly approaches an open docking vestibule. As the Constellation-class starship passes through the hanger door, running lights pick out the name on the pristine hull: U.S.S. STARGAZER, NCC-2893.

*           *           *

Personal Log, stardate 30126.9: Thanks to a good friend, I’ve made it to Deep Space Four with time to spare. My reassignment from the Academy faculty to a training vessel was a little abrupt, but that’s the life I chose. I’m looking forward to seeing the next generation of Starfleet officers put their lessons into effect. I’m also excited to get my space legs underneath me again and meet my new shipmates.  

“I really can’t thank you enough, Jack,” Daniela Reese gushed, as she walks side by side with the second officer of the Starship Stargazer. Adjusting the carryall across her shoulder, the petite brunette looked over at Jack Crusher’s characteristic wry grin. 
Like her, he was wearing the new duty uniforms that had been introduced over the last few years, the body-fitting one-piece replacing the previous two-piece jacket and trousers look. But whereas Reese wore the gold of security/engineering, Crusher wore the cranberry-red of command. 
“It was no biggie, Danni,” Crusher responded, “We’re were headed here for re-supply anyway, before heading out on another patrol run. This just gave us a chance to get here early.” His grin widened with unabashed glee, “Besides, any chance to spend more time with Bev and Wes is a good thing as far as I’m concerned.”
As they walked through the docking aperture that connected the Stargazer to DS4, Reese soon spotted two figures waiting just inside the starbase’s main interior commerical concourse. Reese stood that little bit straighter as she recognized one as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the Stargazer’s C.O. The other was a handsome and strapping man in his early 40’s, wearing a science-blue one-piece that fitted him in all the right places. His dark eyes as clear and bright as she remembered. 
“Xerxises Cinaran, you old space-dog, it’s been too long!“ Forgetting protocol for the moment, Reese quickly wrapped her arms around the tall Betazoid, and squeezed him tightly. 
He reciprocated with enthusiasm, “Good to see you too, Danni.” They pulled apart, as Crusher and Picard observed them with interest. Reese grinned as she explained, “Xerxises and I have known each other for over 15 years.”  
“I was the T.A. of this spitfire’s third-year Quantum Mechanics course,“ Cinaran added, grinning just as widely as she was, “and she acted like every single class was a living hell.”  
Crusher whistled with awe, “Professor Fassbender’s class? I barely passed that!” 
Picard nodded in agreement, “It was one of the more challenging classes of the Academy.” 
Reese laughed, “Well, if it weren’t for Xerx’s determination, I probably would not have passed.”
Cinaran raised an eyebrow in mock-annoyance, “What do you mean, ‘probably’..?” 
“Jack!” The excited call from across the concourse got their attention. Standing across it, waving her arm was an elegant red-head who looked trim in her medical-blue jumpsuit.  Holding her hand tightly, his eyes gleaming with eagerness, was a small five-year-old boy. Jack’s adoring wife Beverly and their son, Wesley.
Crusher’s face lit up at the sight of his beloved family. Reese knew better then to keep him away from them while they were so close.  “Well, don’t just stand there, you big oaf. Go!” She gave him a smile and a slap on the shoulder for emphasis. 
He shot her a brief smile, all the goodbye she needed, before he raced across the concourse and whisked up Wesley as the young boy ran at him full speed. As he spun him around with great whoops of joy, they were soon joined by the laughing and tearful Beverly, all three embracing each other with delight at being reunited. 
Picard watched. The briefest flicker of emotion pass over the young captain’s face, before he squared his shoulders and offered his hand to Reese. “Lieutenant Reese, good luck on your new assignment,” he said, as Reese nodded with thanks, “I hope it provides you everything you are looking for out here.”
“Thank you, Captain Picard,” she replied with sincerity. Picard gave them both one final nod, before he headed off towards the turbo-lift emplacement, most probably off to meet with the docking chief to discuss the Stargazer’s upgrade schedule.
Reese faced Cinaran, crossing her arms, eyeing the third full pip on his collar, “Congrats on the promotion, by the way,” she said, “I guess I’ll have to get used to calling you ‘sir’ from here on out..?”
Cinaran waved it off with little care, “Please, I think we can stick to first names most of the time.” He shrugged, “That said, the Captain does like to keep a certain level of decorum. She runs an efficient ship.” He paused, “As long as we keep to schedule, she's happy.” His grin returned full force, “Come on, let me show you where you’ll be calling home.”

A short time later, Reese stared through a large viewing window into the Docking Arena, Deep Space Four’s internal dockyard. It was half-filled to capacity with all manner of ships, but the only one she had eyes for was the U.S.S. Antares. She took in every detail of her new ship, as she half-listened as Cinaran gave her the detailed rundown.
“She started out as one of the old Soyuz-class border cutters, but we’ve stripped her back to the basic Miranda-class space frame,” he gushed, bursting with pride at what had been his pet project for the last year or so. “All her systems have been upgraded, retrofitted with the latest technology, even a brand new bridge module.”
Reese nodded absently, as she continued taking it all in. She recognized the Miranda-class design well enough - like the Excelsior and Oberth classes, she was a staple design of the times, a workhorse in the truest sense. They were slowly being supplemented by the newer classes coming out of Federation shipyards, but were still the prevalent designs of Starfleet. 
“But we’ve also added a few extras,” Cinaran continued, pointing out the large delta-shaped pod that was attached to the Antares’s rear dorsal hull via a squat strut, in place of the usual roll-bar design. “A brand new design of sensor pod, taking what we’ve learned on the design process for the Nebula and Chekov classes”
“She’s beautiful,” Reese breathed, loving how the lights of the dock picked out the Antares’s name and registry. She half-wondered if Cinaran had arranged for that, to add a little extra bedazzle, “What about the crew?”
“The majority of them will be junior ranking officers and enlisted crew,” the Betazoid replied, “The cadets and interns assigned on board will be there to learn and assist under their purview.”
Reese was curious, “But I’ll be responsible for monitoring their academic and professional development onboard overall?” 
Cinaran nodded in the affirmative, “When it comes down to it. You’ve got the best mix of shipboard knowledge and practical know-how for this job.” He grinned, “That’s why Captain Tel accepted my recommendation of you in the first place.” Reese felt a tinge of pride - it was nice to know her work at the Academy had been taken note of. 
“Aunt Danni!” Reese spun around, looking through the packed mass of people coming and going through the Docking Concourse. That was a voice she hadn’t been expecting to hear. Oh my God, it couldn‘t be?! Could it? 
Heading their way, wearing the grey uniform of a Starfleet Academy intern, was a young man of around 15 or 16, his light brown hair scruffy, his dark eyes gleaming with excitement as he approached her. “Charlie?” Reese managed to utter breathily, “My God! Look at you!”
Charlie Cinaran, her god-son, the apple of his father’s eye, beamed at her as they wrapped themselves in each other’s arms in a tight squeeze, “It’s so good to see you, Aunt Danni!”
“You too, kiddo,” she replied, amazed at how much he had changed since she had seen him last. Was it really only 3 years? And what the hell was he doing on Deep Space Four?!
Cinaran soon took pity on how clueless she was, “Charlie’s been accepted into the Academy Prep Program,” He beamed with pride, “He’s been assigned to the Antares.”
“How many strings did you pull to make that happen?” Reese blurted out, incredulous, but also a little impressed. 
Cinaran threw his hands up in surrender, “Hey, Charlie earned it all by himself,” he protested, giving his son’s shoulder a confident squeeze of support, “Highest test scores of his class.”
Charlie turned beet-red, “Come on, Dad, it was only by 2 percent.” He smiled up at his godmother, “It’s going to be such a cool assignment, though, Aunt Danni. We’re using the new sensor pod to make the most accurate and up-to-date maps of the entire sector!”
Reese found her smile came easier then she figured. Mapping missions were not exactly her forte, but it was hard not to get caught up in the enthusiasm of the two Betazoids. “Well then,” she said, “Maybe you better get me stowed aboard, huh? Can‘t have the ship leaving without us, can we?”

*           *           *

“I say again, Red Alert! All hands to battle stations.”
Captain Helena Tel lived for these kind of moments. As she sat in her command chair in the centre of the Antares bridge, watching several of her senior staff go about the duties with the efficiency of tried and tested officers. Others, the younger ones either recently graduated, or with only a few years service under their belts, did the best they could to follow through on her abrupt orders. 
As she counted down the seconds it took for them to respond to the threat of attack, she pursed her lips with annoyance. She was not impressed, to say the least. Time to end this debacle.
As Tel stood from her seat, hands clasped behind her back, she didn’t make an iota of effort to hide her disdain for the bridge crew’s performance, “Cancel Red Alert, Mr. Solan. All hands stand down from emergency readiness drill.” 
The shaven-headed Vulcan man manning the navigation station silenced the klaxons with a gentle touch of his console, “Acknowledged, Captain.” Her Executive Officer, Solan was the picture-perfect image of calm under pressure. Although he looked barely in his 30s, Tel knew he was almost the same age as she was, “Bridge crew response time has improved by 12%.”
Tel shook her head, “Still not good enough, Commander.” She made a point of looking around at the crew of her bridge, meeting their eyes. She knew she was a hard taskmistress, but there was a good reason for it, and she wanted to make it clear to them, “We’re going out into the unknown here, ladies and gentlemen. Many of you for the first time. We need to be ready for anything, no matter what our mission parameters may be.” 
She deliberately avoided adding ‘at this time’. Given the border skirmishes going on with both the Talarians and the Cardassians, war was a very real possibility on the horizon. But she was in charge of a crew of newbies, cadets and interns, she didn’t want to scare the beejesus out of them just yet. 
She could see the collective wind being taken out of the sails of many of the crew. Tel wasn’t one to coddle her crew, but it was still early days with these people. She patted her helmsman on his square shoulder, “Your personal reaction times were impressive, Mr. Dayan. Well done.” 
Dayan nodded in acceptance, “Thank you, ma’am,” His clipped British tone was sombre, but Tel heard the faint tinge of relief behind his words. 
The doors of the port-side turbo-lift next to the forward viewscreen hissed open, and Tel watched her science and second officer, Commander Cinaran, step out onto the bridge. Tel recognized the woman next to him as Lt. Daniela Reese, the last member of her senior staff to arrive. Once Cinaran had made introductions, Tel offered her hand to the other woman, “Welcome to the Antares, Lieutenant Reese. Good to have you aboard.” 
“Happy to be here, Captain,” Reese replied easily. She returned the handshake with gusto and strength, which reinforced for Tel she had made the correct decision. 
“We should discuss mission duties before we get underway.” Tel looked over her shoulder, “Solan, you have the bridge.” Solan nodded with the usual grace she’d come to expect from him already, as she led Cinaran and Reese towards the port-side aft egress. 
Leaving the bridge behind, they made their way to her small but functional ready room, Tel heading behind the desk, ignoring the small pile of PADDs that awaited her attention. Instead she took the seat, and waved at her guests to do the same, “So, Lieutenant. You came highly recommended by my second officer.”
Reese shot Cinaran a quick, unnerved glance, one that didn’t escape Tel’s attention. She knew the two were old friends, but she trusted Cinaran enough to value his opinion and judgement when it came to command-level staffing. “You’re officially assigned as my Chief of Security, but given our mission parameters, you will more then likely spend the majority of your duty shifts serving as the T.A.C. Officer for our little entourage.” 
“I understand, Captain,” Reese commented, “I’m looking forward to it.”
Tel nodded, allowing herself a small smile. This hadn’t exactly been a plum assignment for her, playing den-mother to a bunch of children, even if they were prospective cadets and future officers that could very well one day serve under her command properly. Hell, she’d never win any awards for her mothering skills, just ask the grown-up son she rarely spoke to. But she had to admit, the idea of helping mould them into exemplary Starfleet officers had an appeal. “Be that as it may, in the event of alert or battle situations, you’re place is on the bridge. Is that clear?”
Reese nodded firmly, “Of course, Captain.”
“Good,” she responded, “In that case, I think we have duties to attend to.”
Cinaran and Reese both stood, understanding the dismissal she’d implied with her words. They offered her a brisk nod each, before exiting and leaving her in relative peace. She turned her attention to the PADDs, muttering a whispered curse as she surrendered to the unforgiving and unrelenting ‘paperwork’ that even a starship captain could not escape…

*           *           *

As the hour of its departure grew ever closer, the collection of worker-bee service craft and space-suited dock workers that swarmed around the Antares began to peel away. 
Running lights became active, illuminating both the name and ship’s newly emblazoned registry: NCC-9844. The fusion reactors in her impulse engines ignited and began to build up the power needed to move her forward on her journey through the void. 
With deliberate care, the docking aperture released it’s hold on the Miranda-class vessel, retracting into the innards of Deep Space Four. For the first time in over a year, the Antares floated free…

*           *           *

Helena Tel surveyed her bridge. It had  the usual design features prevalent in Starfleet vessels, with the latest developments in LCARS interfaces and is linear technology, but was also a nostalgic melding of 23rd and 24th century designs. 
Ahead of her command chair was the forward combined helm and navigation console, manned by Lt. Dayan and Commander Solan. Both men operated their touch-screen interfaces with practiced ease as they readied the Antares for it’s imminent departure.
To her starboard was the free-standing communications and operations station, manned by Ensign Min-Co Ye, her senior ranking specialist for that section. Behind Ye stood a non-commissioned engineering tech, manning the auxiliary systems and environment stations. 
To port were the science and mission ops stations, currently manned by Cinaran and his number two, Lieutenant Tabitha Clarke. 
Immediately to Tel’s rear were the engineering and emergency manual monitor displays, which were flanked on either side by the two egresses into the rest of deck one, including her ready room, the bridge mess and the Deck One airlock. Reese, with no station to call her own, had claimed a spot at the railing behind Tel’s chair since entering the bridge a few moments ago. 
Tel’s eyes drifted to the small chronometer on the astrogation plotter that divided the helm and navigation stations. It was time. “All hands, prepare for departure.”
Everyone jumped to their respective tasks. 
“Impulse engines at standby, Captain.”
“All sensors and scanners ready.”
“All section chiefs report ready, including Medical.”
“Ship systems read nominal. Chief Hanover report we‘re go for launch whenever you‘re ready.”
Tel smiled inwardly, keeping her features schooled. In the short time she’d worked with Mitchell Hanover, she’d come to recognize the engineer as a mechanical genius, but one whose ability to interact with people was mediocre at best. The Antares’s commanding officer was pretty sure that the tech was ‘translating’ Hanover’s more colourful comment into something appropriate for the bridge. 
After a few final moments, Ensign Ye looked up from her console, fingering the transceiver in her ear, “All decks and department heads report ready, Captain.”
Tel nodded briskly, “Signal Dock Control, Ensign.”
“Aye, Captain.” A moment of silence, aside from the background chirps of consoles, and the growing sense of anticipation among the crew, before, “Cleared for launch, Captain.” She frowned for a brief moment, “Captain, I’m also getting a message from Captain Picard of the Stargazer.” She looked over at Tel, confused, “He offers us ‘fair weather and following seas’..?”
Tel chuckled. That sounded like Picard. “Acknowledge the message with my thanks, Ensign.” She faced the forward view screen, savouring her next words. “Take us out, Mr. Dayan,” She was unable to hold back the tiny quiver of excitement in her voice. It had been too long since she’s given that order, “Nice and easy.”

*           *           *

From the inner belly of Deep Space Four, the Antares emerged like a new-born foul, graceful and strong. She moved forward, out of the comforting embrace of her home port, out into the cold and endless darkness of space. 

*           *           *

On the main view screen, stars replaced the cool lights of the dockyards. Tel felt a familiar surge of adrenaline burn through her veins. There had been a time she thought she would never feel that again. 
“We are free and clear to navigate,” Solan reported calmly, “Course heading, Captain?”
Tel looked over at Cinaran, who met her gaze. His dark eyes blazed with eagerness, as he offered her a slight nod.
“Set our destination for the Typhon Sector, Commander. Warp 4.”

*           *           *

The nacelles of the Antares glowed with unearthly energies for several seconds, before the Miranda-class starship shot forward and stretched into infinity for the briefest of moments before vanishing into a burst of light…