Maiden Voyage

One

Prologue

Captain Ther'kev had little time to react. His ship was drained of seventy-five percent of its power. Weapons were offline and the strange six shuttles that appeared out of nowhere following the drain had commandeered six of his finest tactical officers. He never saw it coming.

Ther'kev stood face-to-face with the large alien ship on the main viewscreen to the bow of the U.S.S. Xerxes. A Destroyer class vessel. She had seen her fair share of battles. This adversary did not prescribe by any fair play nor honor doctrine. It had simply emerged from what science officer had described as a solar gateway. Xerxes' mission was to investigate the abnormal recent radiant energy bursts in the quadrant. The crew did not expect to be attacked on a science mission.

Yet here they were. Captain Ther'kev went around the bridge with his senior officers, asking for opinions on the best course of action. The Andorian captain and most of his crew all held the firm philosophy of , the honor code of duel to the death. That code was before them, but they had little options. Without options, the duel could have only one result. That would not happen. Nor would the Xerxes fall into the hands of this unknown enemy who had ambushed the one hundred and eight crew members and twenty officers that inhabited this proud space-faring vessel.

Immediately after a final Captain's Log into the record, as all communications with Starfleet had failed, they launched the distress buoys. Captain Ther'kev turned to his senior officers once more.

"We shall not let this ship fall into the hands of the enemy," he said with grim intent.

They all knew the meaning of this statement and how their futures have all crossed this path for the last time. Straightening his tunic, he sat down with his irrevocable act of dignified defiance. The final time he would survey his bridge crew with the admiration it had earned over its twelve-year commission.

"Computer, Ther'kev, Commanding U.S.S. Xerxes. Serial number SC 217 9122 CEC. Auto-destruct activate."

In the back of his mind, the power drain. Was there enough power remaining to destroy the Xerxes and her foe as well, or even enough to accomplish auto-destruct? He would know in the next four minutes and thirty seconds after Commander Shen'zu, the third and final officer required for the sequence to begin, entered his code.

On the exterior, the large alien ship turned sluggishly to port as a nearby gateway appeared from the center of a dead star. Into the mass of the opening portal, the ship shimmered only to re-emerge from a newly formed portal at the edge of the Xerxes position. Drifting across the hull of disabled starship, a great shadow fell, then wiped across, illuminated by the portal's light. Letter by letter, for one final time, the call letters of the ship shone brightly, U.S.S. Xerxes, NCC-505.

The hull shattered internally buckling outward, sending fragments of those letters towards the looming alien ship now crossing its starboard bow. Was it enough to complete the mission Captain Ther'kev had hoped for as his ultimate solution to this tilted match of Ushaan?

The disposition of ships and events of that day would not be revealed until weeks later, when another ship would happen across her shattered hull. That ship's investigation is the beginning of the end of the Xerxes encounter. That other ship will be named "Enterprise" and it will be part of her new captain's maiden voyage.

One

The crystal shards danced playfully on top of the light. Fluidly, they maneuvered under each of two large bezels. The direction dictated the shapes and colors displayed under the control of its operator. Initially, cobalt blue petaled flowers with red pistils, much like those found on the wind fields of Taltus Four. Their sweet fragrance that somehow heightened the other senses only matched their beauty.