StarDestroyer.Net BBS

*The first part in a series depicting the aftermath of the Imperial Invasion of Earth, and the struggles faced by one special survivor*

CITY OF DYING DREAMS
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San Francisco, approximately one year after the Battle of Earth

It was dark, even the light of a full moon couldn't help that much. Even the focused eyes of Mark Allen couldn't penetrate that deep into the shadows. But Allen knew the place well; he had called this deserted area home until a year ago. Pulling the light out of his pocket he studied the worn piece of paper given to him by an old friend. The ink was starting to smear but the time and address written were still readable. Quietly, Allen turned off his light and ducked behind a pile of rubble to make sure no one was watching. After a minute or so he ducked down and ran swiftly across the road and began to walk along the shadows.
At last he arrived, the former Federation Embassy Complex on Cochrane Street. It was here that hundreds of diplomats and representatives from all across the United Federation of Planets came to do business directly with one another. The Embassy Complex also had a large apartment complex that could accommodate a representative and his family comfortably during their time on Earth, however long they needed to stay. It used to be a glorious place.
But when the first enemy bombers made their raids over the city the Embassy Complex was targeted and over one hundred government leaders were dead. The once proud building now looked decrepit. Deep underneath the facility, the Federation had built emergency bunkers to protect the government officials there against a possible Klingon attack. Those bunkers were Allen's destination, a carefully concealed entrance to the first floor of the complex had been dug out along the eastern side of the building would get him inside, from there he would have to find an old turbolift and climb down using the maintenance rungs along the side of the shaft. Then, at the bottom of the chamber, he would find the meeting place for the Free Earth Underground.

Before he could get down the last few rungs on the ladder, Allen heard the distinct beeping sound of a phaser, a phaser that was being set to an awfully high level. He jumped the rest of the way down and landed in a crouching stance. He heard footsteps coming from behind him, silently wondering if he had been followed he glanced over his shoulder only slightly towards the noise. A voice came from the corner, commanding him. "Where do you come from?" asked the voice. Allen brushed the dirt off of his jacket and gave the reply, "Riverside, Iowa", birthplace of the legendary Captain Kirk. The figure stepped out of the corner and approached Allen.
"Welcome friend, I’m Lt. Matthews, you'll head straight down this corridor about 30 meters or so and enter the conference room on your left. Was there anyone else behind you?" Allen's voice was raspy from a lack of use as he replied. "I came alone, there were no Imperials in the area I could see but I can hear their damned craft in the sky." Matthews' voice grew solemn, "Ever since they built that airbase and garrison over in Oakland you hear those all of the time, I heard they've just stationed a wing of fighters over there." Allen nodded, thanked the Lieutenant for the information then began his walk down the hall.
It was musty, after over 100 years of isolation the chambers were finally being put to good use. As he entered the room two men in blocked his path worn out Starfleet uniforms carrying phaser rifles. After a quick scan from their tricorders he was allowed to take a seat. Allen took a seat in the corner to the left of a makeshift podium. He hated meetings; the formality was a waste of time. The lieutenant he had spoken with earlier entered not more than five minutes after him and motioned to the guards that the coast was clear and it was time to begin. The crowd hushed as a woman who had the rank insignia of a Lt. Commander took the podium and nervously wiped some sweat off her brow. She looked rather young to have such an advanced position, but if she had been working in San Francisco then it stood to reason she was on the fast track to some desk job far away from the responsibilities of actual command. Now, Allen thought, she was going to have to fulfill a duty she would never have to perform, leadership.

"Greetings fellow officers and citizens alike, I know you have all risked much by even considering attending this meeting. For those of you meeting with us for the first time I am Lt. Commander Karen Quentin. I would like to start the meeting with a few words of hope. We are not alone in our fight here on Earth, all across the world there are groups of resistance working hard to restore the democracy that we once knew. The purpose of tonight’s meeting is to pool what resources we have and develop an overall strategy to combat our oppressors. I yield the podium to Lieutenant Frederick Matthews, who has been monitoring the news broadcasts as part of our intelligence gathering. Lieutenant if you would.” Allen looked forward and noticed Matthews looked a lot different under the artificial lights. The left side of his face was severely scarred and the hair on that side of his scalp was singed and ruined, but Allen could still detect a hint of sadness in his face, as if his news would herald the end of the world. Too late for that, he thought.
“Comrades, I am saddened to report the current state of the war, nevertheless it is best that you all know what is going on so that we can make our plans as fully informed as possible and so we do not harbor false hopes which could sabotage our efforts. No less than 36 hours ago the Empire ambushed and destroyed the Fourth Fleet at Deep Space Nine. Also at that battle, the Enterprise was destroyed and Captain Jean Luc Picard was imprisoned. The destruction of the Fourth Fleet has effectively wiped out Starfleet as an entity in the galaxy. The news isn’t all depressing though, some of our sources indicate that…”
Allen began to tune Matthews out. The elimination of Starfleet wasn’t entirely unexpected and this news about fierce resistance by the Klingon Empire was probably overrated in its importance. What mattered to Allen most was what kind of resources these other freedom fighters could bring to the table, and whether or not they were smart enough to use them. Allen’s attention to the meeting returned when a man stood up on the other side of the room.
“Our group has done all it could to disrupt Imperial activities in the area, before the Empire constructed the Oakland garrison we were able to hijack a transport full of supplies heading for the command center there. We haven’t opened the cargo to be sure what is in there, but according to the markings on the side we believe they may be some sort of weaponry.” Allen’s brain clicked into action, something in his gut was telling him that something about this guy wasn’t right. He let the man continue to speak as he put the pieces together in his mind. “We’ve also manage to salvage quite a few hand weapons from the battle a year ago, both Federation and Imperial…” Allen’s eyes shot wide open, the words escaping his mouth before he could adequately choose them. “Did you bring those crates here?” Allen practically yelled the words. The man who had hauled them replied, startled by the outburst of noise from the other side of the room. “Well, yes we were hoping to have the Lt. Commander inspect the contents herself.”
Many of the people in the room grew puzzled by the exchange of words between the two, wondering if what Allen had brought up was significant, a few others looked toward Allen in disgust. Lt. Commander Quentin asked for order, her voice rose over the commotion in the room and regained control. Perhaps both of you should identify yourselves to the audience first. Allen looked back at his adversary, “My name is Mark Allen, and I was never officially a Starfleet officer.” The man moved closer to the podium, “Wade Maxwell ma’am, Ensign assigned to Headquarters’ security attachment. My people have been serving with me for a long time and we’ve been loyal to the Federation despite the recent war with the Empire.” Allen’s anger began to rise; it forced its way into his voice as if it were trying to control him. “It isn’t your loyalty I’m questioning, it’s your intelligence. Have you even done a basic security screen? What if those crates are lined to explode when opened by unauthorized handlers, or worse yet, what if they have tracking devices in case of theft?” Maxwell stood stunned at Allen’s comments before he came up with his reply, as if the ideas Allen proposed had never even occurred to him. “As interesting as your theories may be, we have had these materials for nearly a week, and they’ve been in this location for over two days. The Empire would have show up by now if they had those sort of extreme measures in place.”
Allen had heard enough; he immediately took off through the door at full speed. A few others hesitated at first, then followed him out the door, to them the security of the place had been shattered enough to make it uncomfortable. They emerged from the ruins only to see Allen taking off at full speed, veering off Cochrane Street on to Phoenix Avenue, which would take him towards the fringes of the city. He ended up in a neighborhood where Imperial walkers had trampled nearly every home. Coming to a residence still largely intact, Allen stepped inside and nearly collapsed from exhaustion. Suddenly, the roar of aircraft shattered the silence of the devastated suburb. Allen looked out a broken window and saw four silhouettes against the moonlight. “Looks like the Empire found the complex…”
Four TIE Bombers cut through the sky, tracking the signal frequency given to them back at the base. Every Imperial cargo container contained a basic broadcasting unit designed to prevent supplies from being diverted from their original destinations by smugglers. The cargo was fairly important, a new supply of Merr-Sonn/BlasTech EWHB-10 Heavy Repeating Blasters, capable of basting through heavy barriers and mowing down infantry. Those were not a cargo that should have ever been seized by the rebels, even these second rate rebels found in the new galaxy. Two Imperial officers had been executed as a result and now a flight of bombers was being dispatched on damage control duty. The bombers were loaded with free falling thermal detonators and ordered to drop every last one of them. Following that, a Sentinel class shuttle carrying a squad of stormtroopers would go through and confirm the kill.
*
The lead bomber flicked the switch on his comm unit. “This is Grey leader to Grey flight, the target is now 5 klicks ahead of us, adjust your vector to the coordinates I’m sending and prepare to drop everything on the first pass, we can’t give them a chance to escape.” Barely a minute later the bombers had unleashed their payloads and the ruined Federation Embassy Complex was crumbled down to its foundations. Gamma flight then transmitted the confirmation signal to the attack shuttle. IF anyone was left alive down there, they were trapped prey for a squad of some of the deadliest soldiers in the Empire.
*

The explosions could be felt a good distance away, Allen cringed as he realized that if everyone had still been in the bunker they were probably dead. For all their faults they were still just trying to change the world for the better. Allen swore to himself that those people wouldn’t be minor footnotes in a long Imperial history. He gathered some things from a small stash of supplies he had been saving under the floorboards in the house. A hand phaser, some rations he acquired for his last datapad, and a couple bricks of latinum he had saved that he hoped to convert to Imperial credits. First things first though, he needed to find some competent allies. No one took on the Empire alone and lived to achieve victory.


Starfleet Academy, San Francisco, around 24 hours before the Battle of Earth

“Get back here you pointy eared bastards!” A group of Vulcans from the senior class had performed what had become an unofficial ritual among senior Vulcan students. Break in to a human student’s quarters and perform some kind of sabotage. These pranksters had decided to use a mind meld on Allen’s roommate Chad Ellis to get the security combination inside. Then they used some heavy duty surgical gel normally used for thoracic surgery and glued him to the ceiling. By the time Allen had arrived, the gel had dried and Ellis had to be cut down out of his own clothes. The Vulcans had waited until Allen had arrived and laughed through the entire spectacle. Allen had noticed them out of the corner of his eye and was eager for some retribution.
“Choose your words carefully human, your emotions are getting the better of you.” The lead Vulcan was about three inches taller than his cohorts, it was obvious that he was going to do all the talking, and probably did all of the planning for this assignment. “Your arrogance is getting the better of you if you think you’re going to get away with this.” Meet me in the gym later and we can settle it then? Or are you going to do the smart thing and just back out?”
The three Vulcans turned away laughing but not before Allen followed them into the quad and then put his foot against the lead Vulcan’s back and pushed, causing him to fall face first in the fountain much to the delight of the few dozen students enjoying a break between classes. “You insignificant little ape!” The Vulcan stood up immediately and brushed some water out of his eyes, apparently expecting Allen to run off like a coward. Allen came in with another kick, this time leaping into the air and knocking his adversary backwards into the fountain again. As Allen looked down at the now soaking wet Vulcan he lashed a third time, this time with his words. “You high minded Vulcans, preaching your logic and sitting in your ivory towers, yet you’re still nothing more than heartless racists. Now if you decide to apologize to my friend back there I’ll be glad to apologize to you.” The Vulcan stood, silent at first, but then he reached forward in a conciliatory gesture. Allen looked into the Vulcan’s eyes and saw nothing different from usual, the emotionless gaze of a Vulcan hardly ever changed. But Allen could feel that something wasn’t right. As he reached forward to shake hands the Vulcan’s arm changed and rather than reach for the hand he began to reach for Allen’s neck. Allen was furious at the treachery and he braced himself for the famous nerve pinch, only the powerful hands of a Vulcan were capable of this technique. The anger rose in Allen as the Vulcan’s fingers clamped down, nothing happened. Allen didn’t even notice the burning sensation in his shoulder as the now frightened Vulcan tried to make the technique work. Allen reached forward and put his hand around his opponent’s neck. “Now you will know emotion, now you will know hate.” The Vulcan dropped to the ground, clutching his neck and gasping for air while his cronies got between their fallen leader and Allen. It was no more than an hour later that Allen found himself in the headmaster’s office.
“Mr. Allen, how good to see you’re still…enrolled here. I take it you’ve been on your best behavior these last three weeks?” Headmaster Cameron remarked. He was one of those people that just seemed to enjoy tormenting those who upset the fragile social balance of his school. He did however, have his favorites. “I was reluctant to believe this report at first. That you assaulted our top graduating cadet, the Vulcan Ambassador’s son not to mention, and were able to walk away from the encounter, let alone the fact that you beat him badly enough for him to require medical attention. I don’t know how you did it but you’ve managed to invoke emotion in one of the future leaders of a species that hasn’t even smiled in at least a thousand years!” The headmaster’s tone grew angrier, probably because he had to explain to the Vulcan Ambassador as to how his son was thoroughly beaten by a young human student.
Allen sat in the chair; his rage had subsided when the officers had taken him to the administrative building, but the old man still irritated him to no end. “Sir, I was the one who was provoked in this case, those three…” Allen was interrupted by a casual wave of the hand. “Yes I know of what happened to Cadet Ellis in his quarters, a harmless prank I am told, this doesn’t mean you can go around assaulting every student that does something so trivial. Before he could continue Allen stood straight up and yelled right at the headmaster, something that had probably never been done since the headmaster was himself a cadet. “Listen you fool, I don’t consider holding a guy down and forcibly raping his mind trivial. And as for breaking and entering then gluing a student to a ceiling is assault in itself. Those damn Vulcans should be put in the stockade. But I guess you don’t care about mind reading and physical assault since I see that cute Betazed cadet in here after 1500 hours every day anyway. What’s her name anyway, Lianna?” “Allen spit on the desk before finishing his tirade. “Sir.”
Cameron turned his chair so his back was facing Allen. “That was you last and final mistake, I was hoping we could get out of this by you apologizing to the Ambassador’s son here today. But now I have no choice…” he turned again and practically grinned. “You will meet with the disciplinary committee tomorrow at 1300 hours. Pending that hearing you will be confined to quarters under constant surveillance, is that understood cadet?” Allen casually walked out of the room, before the headmaster could comment on the lack of a salute Allen turned and extended his hand, using an archaic, vulgar gesture from Earth’s 21st century. Stuck in his quarters for nearly a day with nothing to do wasn’t so bad, the only problem he would have is explaining to his parents how he got kicked out of the academy for beating up an ambassador’s kid. Or so he thought.

It was mid morning when a violent explosion rocked Allen out of bed, he shrugged it off as another earthquake before pulling the blanket back over his head. He had been through a few before, then another explosion, louder this time and very close. Ellis ran into the room gasping for air, he was carrying a pair of phaser rifles. “Damn it Chad are you trying to get us both in trouble? Those are illegal on campus and I’m in the fryer as it is!” Chad struggled to form the words as he tossed one of the rifles to his roommate. “Listen there isn’t much time to explain but the Academy is under attack, no the Federation is under attack!” Allen struggled to his feet and threw on some civilian clothes he had laid out the night prior. “Is it the Romulans? The Borg? The Dominion? Who the hell am I supposed to be killing?”
Ellis fumbled through his closet and fumbled with a small recording device. He stuttered as he spoke. “I…Chad Ellis…being of sound mind and body, declare this to be my last will and testa…” Allen walked forward and slapped Ellis clear across the face. “Chad, get a hold of yourself, you’ve got to fill me in!” Ellis was near tears as he tried again to record his will. “A large fleet of ships from some group called the Galactic Empire entered orbit this morning, they blasted every ship out of the sky and have begun landing troops on Earth. There’s about a hundred thousand soldiers marching towards San Francisco now, we’ve got to get out of here!”
Allen Grabbed the Phaser and ran out into the hall, if this were some sort of joke he would find out in a second. Running into the Quad area of the dormitory again he accessed a data terminal, hacking his way into the mainframe and giving himself security clearances most Commanders would die for. It didn’t matter if he were caught this time since he was already meat in the eyes of the disciplinary council. Apparently no more than a few hours ago large ships from an extragalactic entity known as “The Empire” attacked vital installations all across the Alpha Quadrant. Suddenly the screen went blank, the walls began to shake and suddenly a part of it caved in. Allen watched as soldiers wearing faceless white uniforms began pouring through the new entrance. Cadets in the area raised phasers but were immediately mowed down by the onrush of enemies. Allen set the phaser rifle to overload and tossed into the fray and bolted towards a hallway that would take him closer to the main complex.
Another terminal presented itself to Allen in the hallway leading towards the mess hall. He regained his clearance easily, a sign that Starfleet was in such disarray that they were ignoring all of their computer security. The Empire wasn’t using any sort of transport scrambler in this area, but there was enough interference that he wasn’t going to make it much further than the city limit. He bolted towards the transporter room with the smell of burning flesh and sounds of agony not far behind him.
The transporter room had been abandoned, usually there was at least one armed-guard to prevent late night incursions across the planet but the guard had abandoned his post, probably ordered by some gutless pig like Cameron to escort is evacuation no doubt. Allen punched in some coordinates that would get him outside of the city, near the suburbs hopefully if he remembered right. There he could find some transportation and get towards Federation controlled areas, if there were any left. Suddenly, a spark ignited in his mind that something was close to him, as he turned he noticed a white armored figure rounding the corner into the hall. Allen reach under the transporter console and found one of the phasers the guards kept on hand and began firing down the corridor. He then finished the transporter sequence and leaped onto the pad just as a series of red blaster bolts was about to hit him.
When he materialized he found himself in a residential neighborhood just outside of the city. Before he could stop for a breath though a large armored walker literally stepped on a house no less than 30 meters away. Smaller walkers flanked the large walker, with two legs instead of four. And there were countless small tanks and troopers marching towards the Federation Headquarters. The residential areas were being largely ignored save for the collateral damage. Allen rushed over to the crushed house, the occupants weren't inside when it was crushed and their personal transport remained unharmed while parked in the driveway. Allen climbed in and forged himself an access code for the vehicle. He started the vehicle up and headed east as fast as he could. As he drove off he looked into the sky and saw at least a dozen dagger shaped monoliths in the sky along with hundreds of other ships, small fighter craft that were to numerous to count were escorting other ships that Allen guessed were troop transports.
Former Starfleet Cadet Mark Allen had no love for the establishment that the Federation had become, but he did believe in what is once stood for and for what it had brought humanity. Maybe he was less than an hour away from being expelled and banned from civil service, but when he saw fellow cadets lay dead and dying back in that dormitory he vowed to avenge them somehow. They were devoting themselves to bettering their species, and he would be damned if their sacrifices were in vain.

*shame;ess thread bump*

agh this must suck! I'll buy myself a second chance, but if it dies now it dies for good!

it doesn't suck. it's pretty good actually. keep it going, people are reading it, you just have to understand, you posted it the day stravo posted his latest chapter of starcrossed and everyone is fawning over that.

So you're saying i'm doing what Paramount did to Nemesis (releasing it next to TTT) except my shit don;t stink? cool.

Dont' despair, if you write ite it, they will read it

Personally, I think it's good. Nice take on the Vulcans. Good to see that one of the sheep is a goat (sorry, he doesn't qualify as a sheepdog yet, maybe later)

Not bad, not bad at all I like it I look forward to reading more of this fic.
LT.Hit-Man

*the first Episode, A Man Stands Alone, is at the top of this thread*

Episode Two: the Unforgiving World

the Far Eastern side of San Francisco, about 12 hours after Mark Allen’s escape.

The road was long and the constant fear of an Imperial patrol was beginning to wear on Allen’s psyche. In better days this road would have flourished with transport, public and private. Finally, the weary rebel’s legs could take no more and he decided to rest at an abandoned transit station. He toyed with the idea of cobbling parts together and salvaging a transporter unit from the public units but dismissed the idea as quickly as it came to him. Somebody out there would detect it, whether it was the Empire or of those damned mercenaries who came to Earth seeking profit by scouring out Federation rebels.
The station was a large open space supposedly an above ground version of the subways of the mid 22nd century prior to the development of transporter technology. When the people left San Francisco though, the transporters and train traffic disappeared with them. Allen sat down and pulled out what little food he had left. According to the label on the ration’s wrapping the contents would be good until the 25th century, thanks in part to modern preservation techniques. Allen thought that if they had invested the time and research for better weapons than in keeping barely edible food fresh they might have lasted longer than a few days. The rumbling of Allen’s stomach nearly deafened his ears as the ration bar made its way towards his mouth. A sound from the corner startled him though, what he had mistaken for a pile of refuse was actually a human being resting underneath some tattered rags for warmth. She stared blankly back at him, eyeing the rations as if they were some long lost treasure. Allen smiled a bit and tossed the bar over to her. “Take it,” he said “I’ve never liked these things anyway, not enough flavor.” The girl sat still at first and then lunged toward the food as if it were prey. Allen walked over to the girl, she couldn’t have been much younger than he was and if she had the chance to wash her face, could be very beautiful.
“What’s your name, don’t worry I won’t hurt you, I’m not with the Empire.” The girl retreated to her corner again and Allen watched as she clutched something close to her. It was a small kitchen knife she must have scrounged up from a residence. “Listen, if it makes you feel any better I used to be a Starfleet cadet. If the Empire ever finds me I’m a dead man, plain and simple.” The girl looked up in wonder after he mentioned the word Starfleet. “Ok then, I’ll go first. My name is Allen, Mark Allen.” The girl’s eyes kind of rolled before her lips dry as desert sand finally moved. “I’m Trina, my dad…he was a Captain…on the USS Katella. They were just leaving Earth when...” She broke down and started crying uncontrollably. Allen then removed a small flask from his jacket pocket and handed it to Trina. “Here’s something to wash down that ration bar with.” She took a drink, and then handed it back to Allen, still whimpering slightly. “You’re almost out…I’m sorry.”
Allen looked down into the flask and shrugged. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be okay once I get going again. There has to be something within walking distance of here, I’m on my way out of town anyway.” Trina’s voice rose sharply, Allen heard what it actually sounded like now. “You can’t! I mean, you wont be able to get anywhere without a vehicle.” Allen’s eyes trained on the girl, his mind intrigued by her words. “How do you know this for sure?” The girl pointed to the other side of the station towards a wrecked piece of machinery. “I came from Seattle hoping to find out what exactly happened to my father, I was hoping he might not have been on the Katella when Earth was attacked. That was our family transport, one of those civilian Argos. I pulled into the station to find some shelter for the night but the vehicle crashed and I can’t get it back on its side let alone fix it.
Trina led Allen over to the craft; he looked over the damage and walked over to the vehicle’s side. “I’ll have it running within a few hours, these things are structurally sound enough to survive a crash like this, it should still be working good enough to get us out of here towards greener pastures.” Trina gaped, “you’re going to flip that thing by yourself?” Allen closed his eyes and focused. “I’ve got a talent for this sort of thing, before the Academy exploded I was about to be expelled for beating the tar out of a Vulcan who happened to be the Academy arm wrestling champion for three years running.” As he pushed against the overturned jeep his muscles began to burn, as the hulk just wouldn’t budge, he tried to push harder and still it wouldn’t go. As he recognized his failure at not being able to accomplish the task his mind began to scream at his body. It chastised his muscles for being to weak to move the inert object, it screamed at his lungs for not giving him enough air, it yelled at its feet for not giving enough footing, and it showed fury towards his heart for being so weak.
The inner conflict began to boil until the sings of rage were evident on his face. Suddenly, with a mighty burst of strength Allen pushed forward and suddenly the vehicle was slightly off the ground, Allen was nearly overjoyed at that fact but Justas he started to grow confident he began to lose his place. The Argo was about to crash back on top of him. A sudden upwelling of fear pumped adrenaline into his body like a river, and with a rush it was tilting back the other way. With a loud thud the Argo crashed on top of its four wheels. There was minor structural damage that wasn’t going to affect the operation of the machine and other than that it was in good condition.
Trina was in shock at first, she then clutched the knife and began muttering, too fast for Allen to understand at first. “Slow down, I can’t understand a word you’re saying.” Her cries became clearer as she projected her voice. “Just take the jeep and stay away, you’re an Imperial spy I knew it! Just take the jeep and go I’m not who you’re looking for!” She screamed again until Allen walked forward, slowly. “I told you, I’m not with the Empire. Look, how would you like to drive me back to Seattle. You’ve got nothing here except that knife and some ragged blankets. All I want is to go somewhere where there aren’t any undergrounds operating. I need to rest, plus I hear Puget Sound is nice this time of year.” Trina smiled a bit, not many Imperials probably knew what Puget Sound was. “It is beautiful, the sunsets are amazing...” She climbed into the drivers seat, her passenger next to her. “No time to waste right? You’ll get plenty of rest if you want, you can stay at my house. Mom won’t mind, she owns a restaurant in Tacoma and she’s there quite a bit these days catering to Imperial customers. Not her favorite idea of earning credits, but we have to survive somehow.” Allen nodded as they sped out of the station and back onto the road.
After a few miles Allen looked over at the console. “It looks like the battery has enough charge to get back, if we don’t though do you have any sort of solar chargers we could use?” Trina nodded her head sideways, “No but I have a small emergency battery pack. That would get us an extra 50 miles or so before we had to refuel.” “That’s good, I would hate for us to come all this way and still have to walk.” In the faint light of the rising sun Allen noticed how beautiful the girl really was. Short blonde hair with eyes that glittered like a sapphire, her body was proportioned well, she was taller than average too, about 5’10. A year ago Allen would have been stumbling over his feet just for a chance to talk to her, nowadays there was no time for anything like flirting. Not until he had a life again. Trina looked over and caught him looking her over. Allen then caught himself and turned his head slightly embarrassed. “So Allen, how old is you? You said you used to be a cadet?” “I’m 20; I was in my next to last year at the Academy. When the Empire’s troops landed I fought my way through the building and made it to a transporter. I finished most of my training except for the political and philosophy course, I was saving those for my senior year.”
The jeep bounced over a hole in the road, “That might explain why you don’t act much like a cadet, frankly my father never cared for those courses himself. He always told me that you couldn’t just indoctrinate people into a way of thinking like that. He said when he was at the Academy things were different; there was a lot of creative thinking and ideas. He also said that the Federation and our democracy wouldn’t survive for long if we kept moving towards such a socialist lifestyle. “You weren’t planning on joining the fleet were you?” Trina’s eyes welled up she fought back the tears but her voice showed much sorrow. “I had been accepted to the Leonard McCoy Medical University on a scholarship, in San Francisco of course.” Allen bowed his head slightly, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked” “It’s okay I’ve learned to accept it. Now I work at my mother’s restaurant and one day I’ll inherit it, unless the Empire takes that too.
The Sun was now above the horizon; the early morning sun warmed the world around the travelers. “Mark, can I ask a question?” “Go ahead, we’ll be separating soon anyway. “You’ll be staying with me until I’ve repaid you for the jeep and that’s that! But tell me, what made you go back to San Francisco? You had to know it was a pile of rubble, what in the Quadrant would possess you to do that?” Allen looked up at the Sun. “It’s a long story…”




Nevada Desert, Four Days after the Imperial Invasion.

The sun bore down on the cadet. The heat tore into his skin like locusts into a harvest. All around him there was nothing but sand and stones; the stretch of ancient highway was the only land route to civilization in this area. Allen had traveled east for a time until he sighted a series of Imperial transports heading the same direction. He then turned south and found himself in Nevada, where his vehicle had given out on him.
Allen moved into the shade the borrowed sedan gave him and shut his eyes. After all he had been through it would be fitting for him to die in the desert from thirst and exhaustion. Before thoughts of certain death crossed into his mind though another vehicle crawled over the horizon into his view. It was a large transport, a hover-bus like the one he remembered from his early school years. It pulled up next to Allen and a
Man got out. He wore an ensign’s insignia on a clean and well-tailored Starfleet uniform. “Is there anything I can do to help you sir?” Allen stood and weakly saluted. “I should be the one calling you sir, Cadet Mark Allen, third year sir.” The ensign nodded in approval, “If that’s the case then you should probably get on the bus. All personnel have been ordered to report to the Field Training Center near Las Vegas. Orders concerning our future are going to be decided pretty soon and we’ll find out what role we’ll have in the new government.” Allen wanted to spit, guessing that there must not have even been a counterattack or an organized retreat. Not knowing what else he could do, Allen stepped onto the bus. The passengers all looked tired, as if the souls had been drained out of their bodies through their faces. Allen walked down the aisle towards the back. He sat down next to a lieutenant that didn’t seem completely conscious as he looked out the window, not even trying to hide the fact he was depressed “Sir, my name is Allen, I was a cadet at…” the old Lieutenant suddenly snapped back into reality, his tongue as sharp as a bat’leth. “Listen kid, I don’t want to know you or anything about you ok? I just lost everything I ever cared about and I don’t want new friends to die just like the old ones.”
The broken man then reached under his seat and pulled out a fairly large sized bottle of a blue looking liquid. “One good thing about the federation gone,” he pointed at the ripped portion of his uniform where his communicator used to be pinned, “is that now I can drink all of the Romulan Ale I want to forget.” Allen didn’t want to talk to the drunk any longer, but he was stung by the comment. “What do you mean the Federation is gone, there’s still over 150 member systems not including countless other inhabited worlds within our borders.” He tried to sound as naïve as possible, it worked. “Bah, what would a kid like you know? I saw it all myself. I saw what happened. The Empire, they hit everything at once, they have these, engines that move faster than we could ever hope to have, and they blasted Vulcan into molten slag before we could send a ship! Pretty much every last one of them is now on their way to some Kessel planet I heard of. A real nasty Imperial prison back in their own damn galaxy. They’re going to be slaves.” Allen cringed and he wondered whether the Vulcan ambassador and his son were among that number.
Time passed and then a commander towards the front of the bus stood and prepared to address the passengers. He was the highest ranking officer Allen had seen other than Headmaster Cameron in over a week. “My name is commander LaForge, in about thirty minutes we will arrive at the Starfleet field research training facility. Most of you remember training for off world away missions and ground combat missions here. We’ve been ordered by Admiral Janeway to meet there to discuss our role in rebuilding the planet. She has negotiated a treaty with the Empire that protects us from the military and will allow us to live peacefully in exchange for our help in redeveloping the infrastructure. Allen shuffled nervously in his seat; Admiral Janeway was not his favorite officer and it was widely known that she had been promoted to Admiral and put in charge of bureaucratic duties in order to get her out of the command structure. Now it seemed though, that the fate of the Earth and the Federation citizens on it lay in her hands. The drunken lieutenant started grumbling again. “That bitch, you know she’s so anti-violence that she didn’t want any of her staff to shoot back at the Imperials during the invasion? That’s why she’s alive though, the Empire sticks her in as leader of the puppet government for now and uses her bleeding heart to get us all into one place and then WHAM! We’re all going to die kid!” Allen turned from the stench of alcohol, contemplating the merits of dying alone in the desert.

(Episode 2 to be continued)

Good songs to listen to while reading this fic:

-Deliver Me by Sarah Brightman
-Redemption Song by Bob Marley
-Damn You Logic by North to Alaska (an indie band based in Iowa City / Cedar Rapids area, maybe Spanky has heard of them.)
-Welcome to the Machine by Pink floyd

anything to enhance the reading experience for what few fans I have