Star Trek: Ongoing Elements

by Barrobroadcaster

Ships and Captains

Earth Orbit
Starbase One

Present Day

Paul Jones was a bit surprised. Rather than heading to the Admiral's office for a debriefing, Admiral Preston immediately invited the commander into another shuttle the moment he arrived. While he understood how grave the situation with Starfleet was he didn't know why he was being forced to board another shuttle craft right away. Still, Paul didn't question the Admiral's instructions as they both entered the small transport.

The craft detached from the interior wall of the space dock, floating freely for a short moment before its small engines activated. Starbase One was normally the berth for the Federation's first fleet, but with the current problems in the galaxy the enormous space station's dock was completely empty. All of Starfleet's ships had either lost power when they came in contact with one of the Milky Way Galaxy's 'poisoned' stars or been destroyed trying to valiantly provide a solution to the problem. It was indeed a dark time for all of the Federation; Starfleet had no starships.

The Acclimator had been used to evacuate Starbase 156's staff but she was still in a damaged state. Without the Enterprise-Z, there was no way to reach Equestria and retrieve the Arcacite. If they didn't find another solution and fast, the entire galaxy would go dark and die. Paul still struggled to grasp the sure magnitude of what was happening.

The shuttle craft floated through the empty space station, beginning a long, slow turn around the central spire that dominated its hollow middle. The berths of the various starships were all vacant; there were barely any lights on in the massive dock. It was like one giant, empty garage. Even the shuttle pod was silent as Admiral Preston stared out of the forward viewport next to Paul.

The Admiral took a deep breath. "We know you did everything you could, Jones," he said, breaking the silence.

"I..." Paul began, trying to say something. "We all did, sir. There were just too many."

"I read the report," the Admiral said, keeping his view forward. "These are dark times, Paul. Darkest I've seen. Losing Big E-Z... the crew... it shouldn't have happened like this. We should've been prepared."

"I don't know how you can prepare for stars dying, sir," Jones remarked, not trying to disguise his defeated tone.

The taller moustachioed man shot him a glance. "One things for sure, it won't happen next time."

That comment made Paul skeptical. "Next time, sir? We have no ships left, nothing to get more Arcacite with."

"No, Jones, there's always a next time," the Admiral replied.

"Sir, I'm afraid I don't know what you mean."

"We don't have time for much of a debriefing, son. We have to get you and the aliens that came back with you set up to continue your mission."

"The mission, sir?" Jones asked, now fully turning to the admiral. "So we're continuing the mission to travel to Equestria for the Arcacite? Are we taking the Acclimator?"

The admiral grinned at him which only served to make him more confused. "Acclimator's a science vessel and with the damage, she won't be going anywhere for quite a while, unfortunately."

"But sir, the Federation doesn't have any other ships."

"That's not entirely true, captain," Admiral Preston stated.

Captain? Did he just call him 'captain'? As the shuttle craft rounded the central spire, lights on the side wall illuminated the back of the space dock. "Sir, I'm afraid I don't understand."

The Admiral swept his arm outward and pointed out the viewport. "Captain Jones, your new command."

Paul Jones turned back to the viewport to see a single ship at the final birth. Other craft around it flew about, docking and detaching from the vessel. Unlike the rest of the station, this last corner was alive with activity like the starbase normally was. The shuttle craft approached the vessel and Paul was able to see it clearly.

"My... new command?" Jones repeated, trying to comprehend. Rather than getting a debriefing of what happened in his last disastrous mission, it seemed Paul Jones was being elevated to the rank of captain and being given command of a new ship. It was a lot to take in; Paul almost didn't believe he was seeing his new vessel.

The ship itself looked more like an antique. Jones could vaguely remember seeing the classification before but couldn't put the name to it at the moment. He thought he'd seen ships like that in books; they hadn't seen action in centuries. He found the fact that they had managed to refit a vessel like this astounding but what was even more astonishing was the name he read across the hull.

"Enterprise?" he asked.

The Admiral nodded. "A mission this important, there's only one ship we could trust to get the job done."

Paul looked at the vessel, reading the name again. But at the end of the name, there was no dash or letter to indicate its continuation of the line of ships that bore the name. There was nothing to indicate it was the next member of the legacy.

"There's no dash or letter," Paul commented, practically pressing his hands on the glass.

"That's because there never was any," the Admiral responded.

Paul turned to him. "Sir?"

"There never was any dash or letter on that hull, captain. She's the original."

Paul turned back to the ship as if seeing it for the very first time. "Original?"

"We thought we lost her over the Genesis world some centuries ago. But over time, our science teams kept bringing back pieces. If sentimentality is a crime, that's something we're all guilty of. Slowly, over the years we started piecing her back together. It took time, hundreds of years but eventually we found most every part. She's the original Enterprise, Captain Jones. The first ship of the NCC line to bare the name."

Jones couldn't take his eyes off the ship as the Admiral spoke. The legendary vessel itself commanded by Pike and Kirk was alive before him, waiting for him. It was like walking into history itself. He was at a total loss for words.

"The Equestrians are already onboard and your flight begins immediately. She's older, Constitution-class but we don't really have time for a shakedown run. Your crew is already on standby and as soon as you board, you'll be underway." He turned to face Jones. "I can't tell you how important this mission is, son. Get them home, find that Arcacite and bring it back. Or there won't be a home to come back to."

"I... I understand, sir," Jones said, his mouth hanging open.

The admiral turned to face him as the shuttle craft docked with the ship. "This is the last ship in the Federation, captain. The last Enterprise. It seems fitting, though. Whenever we couldn't afford to lose, we always place our last bet on Enterprise. Make us proud, Jones. Get them home."

"I will, sir," Jones replied, saluting. It was a lot to take in, a lot for him to process all at the same time. The doors of the craft opened and Captain Jones stepped aboard the USS Enterprise.

Author's Note:

J.J Abrams brought back Captain Kirk, the original captain(after Pike). I decided to bring back the original ship.

Comments

[Norm De Plume]

A few of us just got talking in the chat about what happened to Enterprises F - Y. Either it's been a *really* long time or the Federation is getting waaaay too careless with its flagship.

"Well, we lost M in a giant bread oven. Don't ask."

Enterprise-K: it got turned into a collection of antimatter particles

Enterprise-L: Got shrunk and put on display at an alien Comic-Con.

Enterprise-Q: The crew had a party, woke up thirty six hours later on a hub planet. Never saw the ship again.

Enterprise-O: Was the stir-stick for a very large alien's drink.

Enterprise-U: Engineering overthought portals.

Enterprise-G was eaten. Yes, eaten. We aren't quite sure what it was, but it apparently loves ion-drive engines

[Barrobroadcaster]

3396183 That's really funny. I think one should get lost in a bottle, the whole ship-in-a-bottle thing. That's probably been done but would be cool to see again.
But I wanted to bring back the original Enterprise because it's the only one that could do the ponies justice.

[admkline]

Very nice read. Two spelling corrections needed that I saw. Paragraph 2 Line 2: "birth" should be "berth". Paragraph 4 Line 2: "births" should be "berths".

[Barrobroadcaster]

3399344 I'll correct those, good spotting, thank you.

[cobeoe]

Very nice touchwith " the first ship of the ncc line" cause I was thinking of the nx-01 enterprise as the first starship to Cary the name enterprise

[Barrobroadcaster]

3400715 Trying to make this as canon as possible. And no matter what, I'll always think of the original NCC 1701 Enterprise as the original. J.J Abrams brought back the original crew(Pike included) so I decided to bring back the original ship. I love that ship too much to let it stay destroyed.

[Shadowkey392]

Oi! You ever gonna finish this?! It's really good!