[Glenn]

I can only apologise for the delay this has suffered in being posted. Also, due to the ongoing efforts, the gaps between episodes will be longer this time... expect a new episode once every three/four days. I'll keep you posted on the status of the season, but thusfar I've written the first half only.

***

STAR TREK: DISCOVERY - Season Two



Created By Glenn Scully

Based Upon "Star Trek" Created By Gene Roddenberry



Premise:
The year is 2373. After almost a year of being assigned to Starbase 499 in the remote Beta Quadrant, Captain Josiah Graves and the brave crew of the Federation Starship USS Discovery NCC-76240 are learning some hard facts. As a young, inexperienced crew they were filled with hope and innocence. Now, having faced dangers from Romulan spies, irritable Klingons and a terrible new enemy known only as the End, they are a hardened group fighting to survive. Can they pull together and outlive the storm that engulfs them?


Cast of Characters:

Intrepid-Class USS Discovery NCC-76240, Federation Starship
- Captain Josiah "Jed" Graves (human male)
- First Officer: Commander Valerie Archer (human female)
- Helm: Lieutenant Mitan (Bolian male)
- Operations: Ensign Jason Allenbach (human male)
- Tactical: Ensign Samuel Hunter (human male)
- Engineering: Lieutenant Commander Sakal (Suliban male)
- Medical: Doctor Carla Kenyon (human female)

Starbase 499, Federation Outpost in orbit of Sirrustra II
- Rear Admiral Leo "Boxer" Quarren (human male)
- Station Master Erica Mendoza (human female)

Starships assigned to Starbase 499 include the Oberth-Class USS Spearhead NCC-1224, the Miranda-Class USS Westminster NCC-2799 and the Steamrunner-Class USS Steamrunner NX-52126


Character Notes:

- Ensigns Allenbach and Hunter are in a same-sex relationship, one that Lieutenant Commander Sakal dislikes
- Captain Graves has drawn the romantic attention of Station Master Mendoza, yet harbours feelings for Commander Archer


Episode List:

2x01: "The End, Part 2"
2x02: "Assistance"
2x03: "Westminster Chimes"
2x04: "The Team"
2x05: "Downtime"
2x06: "Return"
2x07: "Revolution, Part 1"
2x08: "Revolution, Part 2"
2x09: "Natural Disturbance"
2x10: "Callsheet"
2x11: "Pain"
2x12: "Determination of Spirit"
2x13: "Tempus Futile, Part 1"

[Glenn]

SEASON TWO
EPISODE ONE



“The End, Part 2”





PROLOGUE

Last time on Star Trek: Discovery…

While returning to Starbase 499, in the Sirrustra System, for repairs and a maintenance overhaul, the Federation Starship USS Discovery NCC-76240 answered a distress call from the Pekeni people, a race they’d previously encountered on relatively good terms. The Pekeni were under constant fear of attack from the End, a vicious space-faring race grown by an unknown power for one reason only: galactic conquest.
Upon beaming down to the Pekeni capital city with an Away Team, Captain Josiah Graves was greeted with the horrific and shocking annihilation of the entire species at the hands of the ruthless End fleet. Suddenly, an End battlecruiser appeared in orbit and attacked the Discovery. When End soldiers began appearing on the Starfleet vessel, the firefights were desperate yet short-lived. After the dust settled, Captain Graves and his crew were left with twenty-four End corpses and an empty End battlecruiser to do with as they pleased. All the while, Captain Graves felt himself consumed by a level of rage he’d never experienced before, and it was all directed towards the End for being such cold-hearted murderers.
When Commander Valerie Archer discovered that the End fleet was heading directly for Starbase 499, Captain Graves left her in command of Discovery and gave her specific orders to join the fight in the Sirrustra System and save the Federation from a nasty invasion force. Meanwhile, he and Ensign Jason Allenbach used the captured End battlecruiser to plot a course deep into End space, to try and find some way of diffusing the conflict before any more innocent lives become lost…

…and now the conclusion.



ACT ONE

It was the last attack group. Six End fighters, moving fast.
Debris from the epic battle that had raged for almost two hours was smashed aside as the graceful lines of the USS Discovery tore after them. Their shields had given up trying to function some time ago, and now every impact, every shot, left a dirty gaping wound in the silver skin of the Intrepid-Class starship. Some of the wounds had even bled, not just energy sparks or decompressed atmosphere, but crewmembers as well. It was the part of the clean-up they were dreading: beaming the corpses of colleagues and friends back aboard to be identified and honoured properly.
On the bridge, an embittered Commander Valerie Archer ignored the smears across her usually beautiful face and the misplaced hair brushing before her eyes. She looked at home in the mess surrounding her. Lieutenant Mitan at the helm was bleeding after one of his LCARS interfaces had exploded in his face, but he stayed at his post, knowing full well that sickbay was overrun with injured and that Doctor Carla Kenyon would be busy with more serious, life-threatening problems right now. He banked Discovery past the burning hulk of an End dreadnaught… that had been a sweet victory, but they’d paid a rather steep price… no, there was no time for those kinds of thoughts. Grieving would come later, resolved the Bolian, focusing on his flying skills.
“Ensign Hunter,” growled Valerie, her hands balled into fists. “Target the closest fighter in that wing and fire.”
“Ventral phasers are down, Commander,” came the reply from Sam Hunter, his position at tactical steadfast as his dark brown skin sweated profusely. “I need a clear shot from the dorsal array… if you wouldn’t mind, Mitan?”
“With pleasure, Sam,” nodded the Lieutenant, obliging by dipping the nose of the battle-damaged Discovery. A moment later, they watched the flickering viewscreen together as orange phased energy beams lashed out and obliterated three of the six escaping End vessels. Turning with an expression of satisfaction, Mitan nodded towards Sam at tactical with a smile. “Good shooting, Ensign.”
“Thanks… what about the remaining three, Commander?”
There was an uneasy silence.
Valerie wanted to destroy them right there, to wipe out the End attack fleet that had begun to slaughter those aboard Starbase 499 and mount an invasion of the United Federation of Planets so mercilessly, so coldly… yet, throughout this entire war, her mind had been divided, split in two by the nagging pain she was experiencing at the loss of her commanding officer. Captain Josiah Graves was indeed a brave man, and the thing she respected most about him was his compassion, his pacifism… his mercy. The End certainly didn’t have any, but she was human, and she was Graves’ First Officer, and that stood for something.
“They’re running, so let them go,” she finally ordered.
“Understood, ma’am,” replied Sam, wiping the sweat from his brow. “I’m pleased to report, then, that it seems to be over. There are no more End vessels in the vicinity.”
They would have cheered were it not for the shock of the image dominating the viewscreen before them. Twisted chunks of macabre hull plating mingling with the floating dead, many of them the decaying faces of the enemy but a good number of them human, a good number dressed in red, yellow and blue shouldered Starfleet uniforms, their fate sealed by those they now drifted alongside between the stars. Through the graveyard beyond, Valerie could make out the USS Steamrunner, disabled thirty minutes ago and barely holding life support together. Then, of course, there was Starbase 499, the gargantuan structure still holding position above Sirrustra II. It had seen better days, but it was relatively intact.
At least that part of the mission had been a success.
“499 to Discovery… Commander Archer, can you hear me?”
“Yes, Rear-Admiral Quarren,” she said aloud. “This is Discovery.”
“Congratulations, and thank you. Letting those final three escape was a nice touch, too. I have to admit, from what we’d learned about them, I had no idea the End were even capable of escape. We must have showed them…”
“Sir, the Steamrunner is in a bad way. Are your tractor beams functional, or do you want us to tow her home?”
“Our beams are offline and the relays are shot to pieces.”
“Understood… we’ll get to it.”

Lieutenant Commander Sakal wished he could take back every complaint he’d ever made about being chief engineer aboard Discovery. From the modifications he had to oversee after being pushed out of Spacedock early, to the retrofitting of the Steamrunner herself at Captain Graves’ request… nothing compared to this. Almost every system aboard was damaged in some way. Warp drive had been offline for hours now. Everything was on the verge of catastrophic overload, and it was he and his team holding it together, despite several of his team being among the casualties of war.
Of course, however, the bridge was calling the shots. Ensign Sam Hunter burst into main engineering and surveyed the chaos for a brief moment before finding the Suliban Lieutenant Commander and heading right for him.
“Not now, Ensign,” Sakal immediately hissed with venom. “I’m busy.”
“Commander Archer ordered me to help you get the tractor beam back online. We’ve got to rescue the Steamrunner.”
“The tractor beam… yeah, because that’s more important than structural integrity or, oh, life support…”
“Listen, I know you don’t like me very much, and that you’ve got your hands full, but the Steamrunner is losing structural integrity and half the decks don’t have life support either, so with all due respect, sir, quit the attitude and help me get the tractor beam back online like the Commander ordered!”
Sakal was taken aback by Sam’s outburst. The young tactical officer was right about everything, too: he didn’t like him, and Steamrunner was facing a critical failure. It was the logical choice to save them before saving their own ship. Despite that, he was the senior officer, and he was about to spit back a retort when he noticed the tear running down Sam Hunter’s cheek. Stopping himself, the Suliban cocked his head and frowned, contorting his green forehead.
“What is it…?” he asked, oblivious to the circumstances.
“We’ve all got it bad,” Sam whispered, “and yet all I can think about is Jason, out there somewhere, in an alien vessel with the Captain… he could be dead and I wouldn’t even know… I’ll never know what happens to him, will I?”
Sakal grimaced. He, and indeed his people, had a major problem with homosexuality and, therefore, the homosexual relationship between this officer and Ensign Jason Allenbach. His personal history with Sam definitely didn’t support his attitude towards same-sex mating: half of the only gay couple he’d ever known had caused him serious injury in the past. Yet here, he was faced with the emotional breakdown of a fellow crewman, and like it or not, they needed a tactical officer right now.
“Will crying about it bring him back?” he asked, perhaps too forcefully, but he was trying nonetheless. “Look, Ensign Allenbach did what he thought was right, what he thought could save lives. Right now, we need to save the lives of those in distress, so either you can stand here and continue to cry, or you can help me get the tractor beam back online… Jason is a hero, and you can be too.”
Sam knew that had taken some effort. Being in a same-sex relationship, he knew which races had issues with his choice of partner. Nodding as he wiped the tear away, he picked up a nearby toolbox and gave a weak smile.
“Thanks…”
“Tell anybody I ever said that and you’ll be scrubbing deuterium filters,” Sakal growled, fetching his own tools. “Come on, let’s go.”



ACT TWO

“Captain’s Log, Stardate: 41221.5
Ensign Allenbach and I have been travelling aboard the captured End battlecrusier for several days now. We are definitely deep within the heart of their territory, with sensors showing we are closing in on their central command base. We have observed a massive build-up of ships and soldiers, all disturbingly pointed towards Starbase 499. Clearly, the battle there did not go well for them. Well done, Valerie… my mission now, however, carries much more weight than I expected…”

Tentatively, Josiah Graves sipped at his temporary coffee substitute. The replicators aboard the End vessel were severely limited to some kind of hideous battle ration, and so from memory, he and Jason had attempted to program some facsimile of coffee into the databanks, with limited success. Still, it was better than the disgusting green ooze that passed for some kind of drink among the enemy. Deciding that one sip every five minutes was more than enough, the Captain lowered his mug and tapped at the sensor console before him.
“Looks like we’re nearly there,” he observed.
“I’ve been trawling through their records,” Jason replied. “They don’t have a homeworld per se, but what we’ll be looking at is the fragmented remains of an ancient planet, Class-M. Here, take a look…”
Jason tossed the PADD he was reading over to Jed, who caught it and raised his eyebrows as he saw the image displayed. It looked like an apple core, the flesh of the fruit eaten away and leaving the inedible behind. Sticking from the centre of the dead planet, reaching out into space, were several vast mechanical arms. It was a starbase of sorts, clinging to the last desperate existence of the world’s still-warm heart.
“Wow… I’ve never seen anything like that before…”
“From what I can tell, all End ships, regardless of size, receive permanent data uplinks to that structure via a sophisticated subspace network. If we can find some way of shutting it down, all End vessels will automatically switch off.”
“No safeguards?”
“They don’t feel they need any. Their enemies usually get wiped out so ruthlessly, nobody’s ever managed to get this deep into their space before.”
“This almost sounds too easy,” Jed sighed.
“It does, and it isn’t,” the younger man told him. “The subspace network is regulated by a computer deep within the structure. Now, the structure also serves as the End’s primary soldier growth facility, meaning there could be thousands of the bastards between us and the off-switch. Sorry, sir, but we’re going to have some fighting to do.”
“You know,” admitted the Captain, “that’s less of a problem with me these days.”

The automated defence turrets were harmless.
The sensor grid surrounding the system was rendered pathetic.
The End battlecrusier carrying Graves and Allenbach was the perfect camouflage, drawing no attention from the computers regulating the various obligatory show of force. It was a token gesture, nothing more: as the Discovery operations officer had predicted, the End were arrogant in their own ability to crush opposition. It was an uneventful flight to the Central Core… yet spectacular to undertake. Two polar ice caps, connected by a tapering sliver of rock, the middle of which had been fused and mutilated to fit a mechanical structure and starport: the planet must have been roughly the size of Earth, the Captain estimated. The picture he’d seen earlier failed to do it justice.
“Oh my God,” he whispered.
“I’m setting a course for the nearest docking port,” Jason reported, taking the initiative without order. “Let’s hope there’s no welcome committee.”
“What about sensors?”
Ensign Allenbach hammered the alien controls with consternation. Systems were going offline, locking them and therefore locking him out. Jed noticed the reaction of his shipmate and repeated his question.
“Everything’s going offline,” answered Jason. “That massive structure is taking over ship functions… we’re the interstellar equivalent of a fish on a line.”
“I hope we’re a good enough catch.”
“Speak for yourself, sir. I wouldn’t mind being thrown back.”
When a gigantic mechanical arm reached out from the Central Core and seized the thick orange hull plating of the battlecruiser, Jed and Jason felt the lurch and immediately grabbed their phasers and tricorders. Like it or not, they were here. It was now their mission, their self-imposed mission, to find out just what drove the End. Whether they would end up negotiating a peace with it or destroying it remained to be seen. Despite the Captain’s newfound realisation that often violence was required, he was inwardly praying, to whatever God that would listen, that words would solve this instead of weapons. Together, he and Ensign Allenbach stood.
“Are you ready?” Jed asked of his subordinate.
“Ready to stop the slaughter of innocent civilisations…? Always, Captain.”
“Then let’s head out.”

[Glenn]

ACT THREE

Inside the Central Core was just as sinister as the exterior.
“No welcome committee,” observed Jason.
“Yet,” Jed added with pessimism.
Dark corridors branched off in multiple directions, leading into shadows which seemed to stare back at the two Starfleet officers with a seething menace. Maybe it was their own fear playing tricks on them, their trepidation making the hairs on the backs of their necks stand to attention, but whatever it was, they moved fast. Jason held out his tricorder, scanning all the while for the route they needed. A few steps behind him, Jed swept every corner with his phaser outstretched.
“Down there are the soldier growth facilities,” indicated the Ensign at one point. “We want to avoid there at all costs, sir. I’ve no idea if they’ll be conscious or not… Hell, they’re probably out in that fleet we monitored, but we can’t chance facing off against hundreds of End all by ourselves.”
“Agreed,” nodded Graves. “How far is it until we reach our destination?”
“It’s just a little further, Captain.”
Five minutes passed. Corridor after corridor after corridor… they all looked the same, and as they went, Jed started to notice things. Some of the bulkheads were dirty, cracked and eroded. The floor was littered with dust and debris. Rust was forming on the metallic components surrounding them, and as they rounded a corner wires were hanging down from a gaping hole in the ceiling, gone unfixed.
“It doesn’t look like anybody’s been here in a while,” he noted with a frown. “We passed the soldier growth facility, right?”
“Yes, Captain,” replied Jason quickly, his eyes still locked on the tricorder.
“And they go directly to their ships in the docking bays?”
“I believe so.”
Things were coalescing in Jed’s mind. Pieces of the puzzle, the diabolical puzzle that came together to create a picture of the End, were sliding into place. The Englishman wanted to avoid jumping to conclusions, but the evidence was all around him, the evidence of disrepair and abandonment. Just as he was about to flip open his own tricorder and run his own scans, the Captain was interrupted by his operations officer, who had stopped walking and turned to face him.
“This is it,” was the report.
A gigantic door blocked their path. Some frantic hacking on Jason’s part ensued, tapping into the locking mechanism and ordering it to relinquish control for just a few seconds. It worked, finally, and the Central Core was revealed.
It was just as Jed expected.
His suspicions were confirmed.
The chamber was a vast circle, like the sunken Roman gladiatorial arenas, but without the crowds baying for blood: imposing computer consoles and regulatory systems replaced them, humming and bleeping their own song. At least, some of them were. Others were shattered, broken and dead. The place was a complete mess. Cables snaked across the floor, leading from relays to terminals and keypads and throbbing with the last remaining energy from the warm heart of the dead planet around them. As he took in the sight, Jed finally let his gaze rest upon the finishing touch to the whole picture.
A body, a decaying, long dead body was slumped over a console.
“Ensign,” he said slowly, “I want this place quantum-dated.”
“Aye,” replied Jason, running his scans. “Got it: this room, along with the rest of the structure, is over six hundred years old… and our friend over there? He’s been dead just as long. We’re the first people to set foot in here for generations.”

Back in the Sirrustra System, repairs were well underway.
“Commander,” Sam Hunter called out from tactical, drawing the attention of Valerie Archer immediately, “incoming transmission from 499.”
“Put it up.”
“Valerie, this is Rear Admiral Quarren with bad news,” growled the comm system, energy from the viewscreen being diverted at this stage and therefore robbing the bridge crew of the USS Discovery of seeing his bearded visage. “Our sensor array just came back up and we’ve got more End ships on an intercept course. We estimate they’ll arrive at our doorstep in a little less than two hours!”
“Sir, we need more time!” exclaimed the First Officer.
“I don’t have any to give you.”
“How many ships are we talking about?”
“More than last time,” came the grave reply. “A lot more.”

Captain Graves closed his tricorder with a sigh.
“Agreed,” he acknowledged.
Between them, the two colleagues had managed to complete their puzzle. The alien corpse slumped over the controls of the Central Core was a vague DNA match to the recorded readings gathered from the End pilot Discovery had recovered during the opening stages of this sorry tale. Whatever species he was, it was long gone, probably decimated along with the world that once surrounded them. They had been growing clones, growing an army of vicious soldiers, to fight a war six hundred years in the past, a war now obviously long since finished.
“That means,” Jason was saying, “that this guy stayed behind to set the soldier growth facility on automatic. He stayed behind to ensure his race survived in the shape of those bastards, to ensure they won their conflict.”
“The End are nothing more than an echo of a long-dead race,” concluded Jed, running a tired hand through his dark hair. “They are grown, go straight to their ships and set about the only orders they were ever given: to conquer and prevail. No wonder they’re so strong, they’ve had hundreds of years to perfect their goal!”
Jason returned to his tricorder, waving it around the chamber.
“Captain,” he reported, “I have our solution.”
“What?”
“This Central Core… it regulates all the End ships in their fleet. There is a low-level subspace network connecting every vessel’s computer to this room, this terminal, right here. The closest thing I can think of is the way the Borg connect drones to the hive mind. If we can tap in, we could send an order to power down… or self-destruct.”
Graves felt like he’d been punched in the stomach.
“What about our escape route?” he asked. “What about the battlecruiser we used to get here? We’d be stranded!”
“I isolated her systems after we were dragged in. I didn’t like being at the mercy of this starport, so I took a precaution.”
Clever kid… no question.
It was incredible power, power no man should ever have in his grasp. With the push of a button, Captain Graves could slaughter an entire race of insane clones. But was that the way to look at it? Rather, he could end the suffering of millions of people, remove a dangerous threat to the Federation… no, wait. Even more importantly, he could save the Sirrustra System. He could save those he cared about, save Rear Admiral Quarren, save his ship, his crew… save Valerie.
“All it would take,” Jason continued, “is a phaser blast at that core.”
The blonde operations officer was pointing to the humming shaft in the centre of the chamber, the shaft to which all the computers were linked, to which all the cables and relays led. Was that all? Was that really it?
“I… I can’t…” stammered the Captain, wrestling his conscience. “Clones or not, they’re sentient beings!”
“They’re murderers, sir!” protested Ensign Allenbach with vigour. “They’re automatons, grown by a computer that, frankly, should have stopped working long ago! That’s why nobody has come down here, sir! That’s why we encountered no resistance getting here: they’re arrogant, violent, psychotic… and they shouldn’t be here!”
Jed felt his hand shake. It still had hold of the phaser. Slowly, devoid of an actual thought process, it began to rise. The End were devoid of thought process too, he considered, and devoid of any reprieve. They had declaired war on the Federation by attacking Starbase 499, and dragged Jed and Discovery out here before they were ready, ready for exploration, ready for combat… ready for this? Was Jed ready for this? He started to sweat. All it would take was a single push of the trigger.
“We’ll never get this chance again, Captain,” Jason pointed out beside him, his tone sympathetic to the moral ambiguity of the action yet firmly urging him on. “It’ll never be this simple again. Take out the core, and their fleet dies. Their ships stop, and break apart, and the End meet their end! We will have won this war with a single shot!”
The phaser wavered in his grip.
He swallowed hard. This was it: now or never, do or die.
“No…”
Feeling his arm relax, the Captain stumbled backwards. For all he had learned during his time in this corner of space, for the entire realisation that being a pacifist was not enough and that violence was sometimes required of him, he simply could not do it.
“Fine,” said Jason coldly, “then you can Court Martial me later.”
The operations officer raised his phaser.
“Wait, stop!” cried Jed.
It was too late.



EPILOGUE

Valerie Archer was having a difficult time comprehending it.
She sat in the ready room of Discovery, hoping her position in this seat would not become permanent and that Jed would return from his mission. It apparently had been a success: they had been minutes away from the most catastrophic space battle imaginable, hundreds of End ships blasting through warp towards the Sirrustra System, to the orbit of Sirrustra II with weapons armed. They would have systematically slaughtered the population of the planet, annihilated the starbase and wiped out every last ship, every last shuttlecraft and escape pod, every last person… but they stopped.
They had stopped, dropping from warp within spitting distance from their target.
They had stopped and then they had blown up.
Each battlecruiser, each carrier and each fighter had all suffered an immediate warp core breach, antimatter containment going offline in the blink of an eye. The resulting shockwave had smashed into Starbase 499 and the waiting Discovery, causing a few crewmembers to get knocked on their butts. Not a single End vessel remained.
Whatever the Captain had done, it had worked.
But at what cost…?
His own life, perhaps, or perhaps even worse… perhaps he was stranded.
“Bridge to Commander Archer: we have one End battlecruiser on an intercept course,” Lieutenant Mitan reported, his voice filling the ready room. “Sensors show it is the same battlecruiser the Captain took into their territory… and there are two lifeforms aboard. They’re human, ma’am.”
Valerie could have cried.
They’d made it… and yet the question still remained.
At what cost?



Written By Glenn Scully

***

Next time on Star Trek: Discovery
- 2x02: "Assistance"
Repairs need to be made. Not just to the ships that fought so bravely, but to the relationships wounded by the End. Captain Graves finds himself torn, however, when a new crisis begins to brew with sinister forecasts ahead...

[Ael]

Wow, Glenn.

I really liked it and damn, you write well! Those End sure are nasty. I wouldnt have minded being thrown back either! That line from Jason made me chuckle for some reason.

Looking forward to more. Great stuff!

[Glenn]

Thanks Ael! I was hoping you'd read it!

*bows graciously*

You're far too kind with your praise.

[Ael]

Nope, its all very deserved.

When Jason went to shoot the core I was like, OMG, is he really gonna...?

Really cant wait to see what you do next.

[Mrs.Picard]

Oooh I really really enjoyed this, Captain! But I still don't like Sakal's attitude. Can't wait to see what happens next!!!

[DaxFanDS9]

Much as I hate to use this phrase.... OMG!!!!

That was awesome. I think I will have to read it again to fully take it in. The only sense I Didn't get from that was the sense of how much time had passed during the episode, but that doesn't overly matter. It was definately worth the wait.

[Terilynn]

Ahhhhhh.

So great to see it back here. *pouts for Graves*....

Take your time though - this is one series I will definitely wait for eons to read - it's so good.

[DaxFanDS9]

forgot to mention before, but also loving the new poster banner thingy at the top.

and as Terilynn said (the member, not the Romulan), take your time writing it, we, your grateful public, will be willing to wait if it means the quality is maintained



PS; Why do I suspect that we will still see more of The End? I have a weird feeling they'll be like The Daleks in Doctor Who... which is no bad thing.

[Terilynn]

Nope - not bad at all!

[Glenn]

Blimey... I cannot help but be humbled...

I'm so glad you all enjoyed it. Admittedly I was in two minds about the conclusion, but I'm obviously happy with it now that your feedback has been so filled with praise!

DaxFan, thanks for the poster praise (there's a new one for each season).

As for the End returning...?






...anyway, moving on, Mrs.P I get that Sakal's attitude is somewhat nasty, but it's heading somewhere towards the end of the season, so do bear with it. Sorry if it gets a little nasty in places!

Just thank you, thank you to all for reading and enjoying! It means a lot to me, it really does!

*hugs all round*

[Mrs.Picard]

*hugs back* Don't worry, I will of course keep reading your stuff!!! It is so totally awesome and I just knew that Sakal's attitude was there for a reason! You're a much too wonderful writer for just writing something like that into a story and then doing nothing with it.

[Glenn]

Mrs.Picard, on Sep 5 2008, 09:29 PM, said:

*hugs back* Don't worry, I will of course keep reading your stuff!!! It is so totally awesome and I just knew that Sakal's attitude was there for a reason! You're a much too wonderful writer for just writing something like that into a story and then doing nothing with it.

Bless you...!

[Mrs.Picard]

By the way... I've totally been meaning to ask you this... the name Allenbach sounds very German. Did you choose this name on purpose? I mean what's the story behind that name? (I hope you didn't mention it already somewhere... it would mean that I'm getting old and that I start to forget things. )

[Glenn]

Mrs.Picard, on Sep 5 2008, 09:33 PM, said:

By the way... I've totally been meaning to ask you this... the name Allenbach sounds very German. Did you choose this name on purpose? I mean what's the story behind that name? (I hope you didn't mention it already somewhere... it would mean that I'm getting old and that I start to forget things. )

Okay, want the truth?

I picked it out of a list of surnames in the credits from a videogame manual. Sounded good with "Jason", a name I love.



Jason Allenbach is from Kentucky, but now you've mentioned it, I think I'll work in a backstory from Germany!

Distant relatives, perhaps...?

[Terilynn]

There is a big German community in KY!

[Mrs.Picard]

Oooh, look at the new plot bunnies in here!

If you need any help when it comes to Germany or German or whatever, feel free to ask, Captain! And by the way, I absolutely love how you came up with Jason's name!

[Glenn]

Consider that plot bunny captured!

Thanks to you both! You're just such awesome support... everybody is!

I shall remember your kind offer, Mrs.P!

[Glenn]

SEASON TWO
EPISODE TWO



“Assistance”





PROLOGUE

Veth Ka’Gagan was a troubled man.
The office of the Prime Minister had been occupied by him for almost three years now, and yet still he was astonished at the capacity for unexpected developments to assault his position. As political leader of his people, he was a figurehead: respected by some, reviled by others, voted in by a majority… well, that was a joke. Only fifty-six per cent of those eligible to cast a vote in the election had actually done so. Of those, just over half had given their fingerprint to the scanner beside Veth Ka’Gagan’s party. For almost three years, he had ruled Sirrustra II without a popular mandate.
The natural beauty of the morning did little to ease his headache. Sirrustra II was a simply gorgeous world: none could argue against it. The cityscape was designed in such a careful way as to blend in with the rolling hillsides and snow-capped mountains which surrounded it. Thick forests waved in the cool breeze as a stunning orange sun rose into view, bathing everything in a glistening haze. A dozen species of exotic birdlife provided the soundtrack to the breaking day. There was a reason for the capital being one of the most cosmopolitan destinations in the sector and, probably, the anchoring point for the Federation Starbase in orbit.
Ka’Gagan sighed a deep sigh as his short fingers massaged his temple. Hoping for a few moments of peace was futile, and sure enough…
“Prime Minister! Prime Minister!”
It was his Chief Aide, an all-too-eager young man.
“What is it…?” Veth growled.
“We have an incoming transmission from Starbase 499: they say the End have officially been defeated! We have prevailed!”
“You mean they have prevailed… seriously, calling to gloat…”
“They also request assistance in repairing their battle damage, and Rear Admiral Quarren was wondering if you could join him in orbit. He understands the domestic situation down here is delicate, but…”
Yes, Veth Ka’Gagan was a troubled man.



ACT ONE

“Captain’s Log, Stardate: 41233.2
As the repairs to Starbase 499 and the fleet proceed apace, I find myself reflecting on recent events with increasing anxiety. My return to the Sirrustra System was worthy of the most noble hero, and yet I feel anything but heroic in my cowardice. Thus far, nobody here as discovered the truth: that I bottled it, that I couldn’t bring myself to fire my phaser and destroy the End… and then, of course, there’s the question of Ensign Jason Allenbach. Do I punish him, or pin a medal on him…?”

Jed finished his log and finished his toast. Donning his red-shouldered Starfleet uniform made him feel, for the first time in his entire life, slightly wrong. There was a guilt attached to it now, or perhaps a shame: he found deciding difficult. He was still trying to process the incredible events of the trip to the End’s Central Core, debating with his own morality whether he should be shocked that he contemplated mass murder or shocked that he failed to undertake it.
“Bridge to Captain Graves,” the comm system chirped.
“Go ahead,” he responded, tapping his badge.
“You have an incoming message from Rear Admiral Quarren.”
“Route it to my quarters, would you?”
Making his way over to his desk, he let his tired body slump down in the comfortable chair and locked eyes with the desktop display. The seal of the United Federation of Planets was quickly replaced with the familiar face of the senior officer. It beamed back at him: it was the first time they’d spoken since his return from End space.
“Jed! You look like Hell, boy!”
“You can talk, Boxer,” the Captain smiled weakly. “What can I do for you?”
“I’ve got the Prime Minister of Sirrustra II on his way up. I want to make a good impression… I’m going to try and squeeze him for some resources while we make our repairs. If he could meet the man who delivered us from the End, y’know, the usual grip-and-grin, he could gain some political weight on his world. They’ve got some troubles down there… I was thinking mutual benefits all around.”
“With all due respect…” Jed began, rubbing his face slowly.
“I know it’s not your thing, my friend,” interjected Quarren, waving him off. “Listen, I promise, no more than an hour. 499 is in bad shape, not to mention your ship. Valerie used it like a shovel to whack those End… we need the Sirrustrian’s help.”
“You’re not leaving me much choice in the matter, sir.”
“No, I’m not, am I? Half an hour, then?”
“Bugger…”

Elsewhere on the Starship Discovery, another senior officer was waking up and questioning the uniform he was about to don. Sitting on the corner of his bed, staring at the orange shoulders and Starfleet commbadge, Jason Allenbach let his smooth young face fall into the cupped palms of his hand. He knew the truth of it all, knew what he’d done, known the risks and ramifications… and in the moment, in the heat of the moment, made the decision he’d considered to be right. Now, back in the security of his quarters, he doubted that decision.
Behind him, Ensign Sam Hunter stirred to consciousness. Slowly, as he opened his dark eyes and fixed them on his boyfriend, he sat upright. It took a second for him to wrap his arm around Jason’s shoulder, softly kissing the back of his neck.
“Hey…” the tactical officer whispered. “How long you been up like this?”
“Not long, honest,” replied Jason, lying badly.
“Want some coffee? Something to eat before our shift starts?”
“No… sorry, no thanks… I’m not hungry.”
“Not even my famous replicated pancakes?”
The joke failed to get a response.
It hardly required a Betazoid to notice the signs of a growing depression within the blonde Kentuckian operations chief. The previous evening, upon Jason’s return from End space with the Captain, both had been so wrapped up in seeing each other again to notice anything wrong: Jason relieved to discover Sam had survived the battle, and Sam relieved to discover Jason survived the belly of the beast. It was taking this pause in their emotional outpouring to allow an assessment of the impacts.
“What happened out there,” Sam asked gently. “Seriously Jay, tell me.”
“Nothing… I…”
“Don’t brush me off. If you don’t talk to me I can’t help you!”
Jason grew angry, physically feeling his blood pressure rise within him. The problem was, he was angry with himself, not Sam, and yet it was his partner who would bear the brunt of his outburst. He simply could not stop himself.
“Just drop it! Drop it! God, we’re safe… isn’t that enough?!”
Getting to his feet and snatching up the uniform he’d been staring at, using it as an excuse to get away from the inquiry facing him in the bedroom, Jason stormed into the bathroom to get changed. Sam, stunned at the eruption of rage from the man he loved, simply remained sitting in the bed. If his dark skin allowed visible blushing, he would have turned bright crimson.
That had never happened before.
It was then that something caught his eye.
Turning to the large sloping window behind him, Sam watched as a graceful vessel soared through the stars. It sported a tapered nose, sweeping back to three refined wings that combined around a powerful warp reactor, all covered in polished blue polyduranium alloy. It was an elegant vessel, to be sure, and recognisable in an instant.
The Sirrustrians were paying a visit to Starbase 499.
Sam got up. He’d need his uniform, too.



ACT TWO

“Captain Graves, this is Prime Minister Veth Ka’Gagan.”
Rear Admiral Quarren was giving the introduction. They stood collected at the main docking ring aboard Starbase 499. For some reason, it made more of a statement for the leader of the Sirrustrian people to travel aboard his personal starship rather than simply beaming up. Perhaps that was just one of the reasons for the troubles on the surface, grunted the Rear Admiral to himself, shaking the hand of the politician and smiling genuinely from behind his grey beard. They had worked closely together since the election, reinforcing the relationship between Sirrustra II and the Federation in their own small ways. It was, however, the first time Josiah Graves had met the Prime Minister. Their handshake was much more forced, the smiles absent of any feeling or personal messages and the short nods hardly appreciated.
“Captain,” Veth acknowledged. “I must thank you for stopping the End from overrunning our system. We are far from a warlike people and would not have lasted a day against such a destructive force. We owe you a great debt.”
“Prime Minister,” replied Jed in best diplomatic tones. “Your praise is entirely unrequired but appreciated nevertheless. What’s done is done: we’re here to discuss the here and now, and that debt you mentioned… well, we might have a small request.”
“Indeed. Leo already asked.”
Quarren beamed; he and the Prime Minister had been on first-name terms for quite some time. Leading the gathering to his private office, which included Ka’Gagan’s Chief Aide, they all took seats and shared a steaming pot of coffee. For Jed, it was his first of the day, his first of what usually became many. He was surprised to see the Sirrustrians drinking it: their palate consisted of mostly bland foods, nutritional value regarded higher than flavour. It matched their appearance, to be sure. Sirrustrians were humanoids, bipedal and of a similar range of skin tones as Terrans. Only a collection of short, stubby horns protruding from their foreheads, usually symmetrical and into the double figures, set them apart from their human friends… that, and their feral, irregular ideas about hair styling.
“So… how can we be of assistance?”
“Basically, we’re in bad shape,” admitted Quarren, facing Ka’Gagan with a deep sincerity. “Usually, our damaged starships could find respite here, but 499 is suffering some crippling set-backs. For example, Station Master Mendoza regrets not being able to meet you, but she’s down in our main power core fighting a plasma fire. We haven’t even begun to lick our wounds yet… and then there’s the starships themselves.”
“You have four, yes?” confirmed Veth.
“That’s correct, Prime Minister,” Jed took over. “My ship, Discovery, took the most of the fire from the End and therefore requires the most work: however, there are various other problems to deal with aboard all vessels. Steamrunner needs a completely new port warp nacelle and gravitational plating system. Westminster, our Miranda-Class scout and support, has a breach piercing the saucer section, and Spearhead…”
“…the Oberth-Class science vessel?” interrupted the Chief Aide, displaying his young ignorance through his eagerness to contribute. “What was she doing actively involved in a combat situation?”
“In case you weren’t watching,” growled Quarren, “it was somewhere close to one hundred enemy ships versus a starbase. We scrambled everything we had, and Spearhead sports two phaser arrays and a torpedo launcher. She did her duty like everybody else… and lost a lot of good people in the process.”
“My apologies,” the Aide retreated, bowing his head.
“It is a daunting list,” nodded Ka’Gagan with a sombre expression. “My condolences to you, gentlemen: you appear to have sacrificed a great deal in the name of peace. You have my assurance the Sirrustrian people will band together to repay our debt and fix any problems within our capability.”
On that note, the meeting concluded rapidly. As the two visitors finished their coffee and returned to the docking ring, Quarren placed his mug slowly on the table and leaned over to Jed, giving one final parting smile before the doors slid shut. The façade dropped from his face faster than a Vulcan could recite Surak, a sight which took the English Captain by surprise. He thought the meeting had gone well.
“What cheek…”
“I don’t follow, Boxer,” Jed admitted.
“The Sirrustrian people will band together?” laughed the Rear Admiral, echoing the Prime Minister’s words. “That man has about as much influence over his people as I do over the internal affairs of the Klingon Empire!”
“Tell me more…”

The trip had been ridiculously short… but it was his way.
Veth Ka’Gagan returned to the Prime Minister’s Residence on Sirrustra II immediately after the conclusion of the meeting with Quarren and Graves. Flying there and back had taken almost three times as long as the whole conversation had, and predictably upon his arrival home, he was assaulted by his critics.
“…and we have confirmed reports of the Prime Minister’s vessel landing back at his private hanger a few moments ago. I believe this speaks for itself, but as a political commentator, allow me to…”
He switched off the news channel with disgust. Nobody understood his life or his job, not one single person on the entire planet. There was his Chief Aide of course, but he’d been hired for his diplomatic phrasing of situations and gentle manner… nothing more, nothing substantial or helpful. Ka’Gagan exhaled, grasping the bridge of his nose with his fingers and wishing his headache would leave him in peace.
The Sirrustrians were growing tired with their political system.
Veth Ka’Gagan was the embodiment of the political system.
The Sirrustrians, therefore, were tired with Veth Ka’Gagan.
It had been a long time coming. A general apathy in political life had come about rather lazily, as the definition of apathy suggested. Sirrustra II was a world of bounty, of great sociological security and high quality of life. The Prime Minister existed to preside over the wonderful existence of his people and make sure it remained wonderful… and that task, Veth noted with sadness, had been performed without flaw. It was just his time, just bad luck, that he was the man feeling the brunt of the aftertaste.
Since everything ran so smoothly, there were those who wondered why the Prime Minister even existed. Quickly the voices shouting his support had been drowned out by the voices calling for the abolishment of the governmental structure. It was an expensive structure to run, to be sure. Taxes had been raised only because everybody could afford them, but with the arrival of the Federation and Starbase 499…
Yes, that had been it. What was it Rear Admiral Quarren used to say? It was the straw that broke the camel’s back… that was it.
The people of Sirrustra II saw that there was an existence available to them without money. It had happened on Earth: as society reached a pinnacle of achievement, money ceased to become an issue for the humans, and it had eventually disappeared. The Sirrustrians wanted the same, yet Ka’Gagan simply could not do it. What people failed to realise was that the economics of his world were being finely augmented by the government, so doing away with the government would lead to their collapse… but no, they wanted things like the new guys, and they wanted it now.
Ka’Gagan liked Quarren, counted him as a friend.
The Prime Minister realised, however, that the Rear Admiral might just as well have started a revolution on Sirrustra II.