Star Trek Dragon
Season 4 Premier

"Just three days ago," the news announcer began, "The gallant crew of the USS Dragon returned home to face the Borg threat that nearly reached Earth itself. In an amazing display of technology and bravery that has never before been seen, they swept in and nearly single-handedly destroyed both cubes. Unfortunately, her gallant acts resulted in the destruction of the starship…but she has earned a place in history.

"Now, after initial debriefing, the Dragon crew is put on trial!" To the rest of the world, this would be surprising news…and to who ever leaked the information to this news station…well, he, she, or it was in a lot of trouble.  "It appears that during the initial debriefing, the crew revealed that they had made several severe infractions on the Prime Directive during their stay in the Kalium galaxy.  We aren't sure just what those infractions are, but rumor has it that they are enough to warrant the resignation of Captain Harriman…and most likely put him in prison."

"Computer, turn off the damn monitor," Captain Chris Harriman ordered in annoyance.  Immediately, before the news announcer could say more, the screen flickered off.

He moved to the window in the small lounge at Federation head quarters and looked out.  Three days ago…he and his crew had finally set foot on Earth again.  After three long years…

He could still remember it clearly.  By request, he and much of his crew had been beamed down to the Presidio…and there was where they made it.  That was the place.  They…had come home…

A feeling of exhilaration still filled Chris, even just at the thought.  It was hard to believe that after three hard years of war and then exploration…after three years of calling the Kalium galaxy home…they were actually home!

But more than that…they had lost something.  The crew had lost their real home.  The Dragon.  Yet again, the Borg took much from the Federation.

It wasn't just the ship, either.  It was history…the past three years of history that the Dragon crew had made.  All logs, all technology they had acquired since their maiden voyage began…had been destroyed by the Borg.  The Dragon was destroyed, the Captain's Yacht was nearly destroyed, and every single Bladerunner fighter, all thirty of them…had been lost.

Of those thirty fighters…only two pilots had actually survived.  The ejection module of the fighters were not meant to be fast and maneuverable, they were only meant to be a last ditch effort that might mean the difference between life and death, even if only by a few seconds.

He shook his head, the faces of every pilot flashing through his mind.  But that wasn't all that flashed through his mind.  The faces of every crewmember he had lost under his command flashed through his mind.  The number was…astronomical.  Eight hundred seventy eight people died while on board the Dragon…under his command.  And he could see every single face.

From the start, he had made it his business to get to know his crew.  Although they had only left their galaxy with three-quarters of their standard compliment, roughly one thousand one hundred twenty five people.  He had actually managed to get to know each and every one before they were lost.  And then after words, when the crew was fully reinforced with Hintaru and Britar, he had gotten to know each and every one.  And then even more died…

On top of all of that, Q had decided to make things difficult.  Before, the USS Dragon had existed in another time line, what Chris thought was the proper time line.  But Q had made him and his crew live in that time line…and then gave them the opportunity to restore the proper time line.

When they did restore the proper time line…Q allowed the Dragon crew…to only retain memory of their previous time line.  Now Chris had to catch up, as did the rest of the crew.

So far, the most notable difference in the time line was the Dominion War.  Instead of ending just before the Dragon's launch…the Dominion war ended three years ago!  So it seems that the destruction of Deep Space Nine in the other time line…had caused the war to go very badly.

That had been hard on the Changelings who had somehow managed to find their way aboard the Dragon.  They still thought they were superior to humans.  But living in the Kalium galaxy, and hearing the Dragon's story after they left the Dragon…made them reconsider.  They were, even now, on their way to rejoin the Great Link.  Hopefully, Odo would show them what humans really were…

Another difference was the USS Excelsior.  In the Dragon's first time line, the Excelsior had been destroyed in the Marauder Nebula years ago...although really it was destroyed in the future.  That was the Dragon's first mission…  But that never happened.  Neither did the Dragon's encounter with Voyager after words.

It seems that, in this time line any way, the Dragon was called back to Earth to escort another starship with a diplomat on board to Deep Space Nine.  Before the Dragon could reach Earth, however…it vanished.

A week later, USS Voyager showed up…and the technology it came with was amazing.  Transphasic torpedoes and some new type of Ablative hull armor that formed around a ship.  The only bad part was that the armor seemed only capable of fitting around Voyager specifically.  They couldn't adapt the armor for some reason…perhaps a flaw Admiral Janeway from the future had purposely put in it?

To make things worse, Transphasic torpedoes have been called weapons of mass destruction.  They are limited to use only against the Borg.  However…Chris knew that would probably not last forever.

He looked up at the sky and stared at the cirrus clouds that had formed above Paris…  Several shuttles were flying over head…as well as an Intrepid class vessel.  Chris half wondered if it was Voyager…

As if somehow reading his thoughts, a very familiar voice startled him.  "You mean to tell me that you just got back to Earth…and your staring up into space?"

He smiled and turned around to face Captain Katheryn Janeway.  He shrugged innocently.  "Not really.  I just miss my ship."  Not to mention the people I've lost…

She smiled and nodded her head.  "I can…kind of relate to that.  I've grown quite attached to Voyager over the past seven years."

Smiling as she went, she moved to a small couch in the lounge and sat down, beckoning Chris to take the couch across from her.  He complied, anxious to have a conversation with someone new again.

"You and your crew has caused quite an uprising in the news," she said, motioning to the monitor.  Had she been standing at the door long?  "More than even Voyager did when she returned…which I find odd, considering how much attention we received before we returned.  It was like…some sort of build up.  But for you, you left, and a month later popped back with technology that's years ahead of anything the Federation has seen!"

Chris shrugged innocently…yet again.  "I think it has something to do with the fact that we came just in the nick of time to save Earth."

She smiled some sort of odd smile and shook her head.  "Most likely.  But then…Starfleet is never satisfied with a stellar entrance.  They still have to consider other matters."

The smile quickly faded from Chris.  "Indeed…"

The smile also faded from her face as a look of sympathy replaced it.  "When does the trial start?"

Chris looked over to a panel with a clock showing on it, then looked back.  "In about an hour."

She tilted her head to the side to get a better look at his sulking face.  "You know…a few years ago…I would have agreed wholeheartedly that they should put you on trial."  He looked up at her, wondering why she thought saying that would help.  But he let her finish.  "I even have a bad side that shows only when someone breaks the Prime Directive…as the Equinox crew discovered."

Chris was only partially familiar with that part of Voyager's encounters.  Apparently, they had encountered another Federation starship stranded by the Caretaker…the USS Equinox.  The crew was…killing alien creatures just to get home faster.  Janeway…had become vengeful when she discovered that fact.

"However…I can also sympathize with you," she added, surprising Chris.  "And I understand why you did some of the things that you did.  The Vorkalai war would never have ended if you hadn't helped them take out the Vorkalai.  The Kiklar…they seemed peaceful enough before they showed their hatred for humanity.  All the other minor infractions…I understand them."

He smiled again and looked down.  "Thanks…"

She leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder, making him look at her again.  "Just remember one thing.  When you're in there, don't let them make you question your decisions.  Stand by them, stand by them firmly.  If you show that you are unsure about some decision…then they'll be even harsher."

He clasped her hand and nodded.  "I'll be sure to do that.  Thanks, Captain."

She grinned and nodded.  "I'm there.  I can understand entirely because…I've gone through things similar to what you have gone through."

She leaned back again in her chair, allowing Chris to stand up.  He realized that he needed to leave now because they required him to be in the courtroom very early for some reason.

As he moved away, she added, "Good luck, Captain."

He didn't reply…he simply left the room and headed for the court room…

Lieutenant Commander Vendar Perkins sat back down as the judge in charge of this entire thing as well as Admiral Paris sat down.  Vendar wondered why Admiral Paris was in charge of this trial…wasn't he head of communications as well as the Pathfinder mission?

The courtroom was extravagant, clearly made for public trials.  It had row upon row of seats as well as a second level with even more seats.

Originally, the trial was not going to be public…but since news somehow leaked out about the trial against the Dragon crew, they made a last minute decision to relocate to this courtroom.

Everyone else was with her, the entire senior staff.  Waiting in various rooms of the courthouse were other Dragon officers…but the senior staff was the concern.  They were the ones who made the decisions on the ship, they were the ones on trial.

The judge opened a file on his data PADD and started reading over some parts of it.  A moment later, he set it down and cleared his throat to get everyone's attention.

Normally, a jury sat where the senior staff sat now…  Then again, this wasn't a normal trial, either.  It was a court martial.  So when looking at it from, say, a lawyer's perspective, the judge and the Admiral were the prosecutors and the senior staff was the defendant.

"I have here," the judge began in his rather sharp tone of voice, "a list of rather severe charges."  He looked over to Captain Harriman and raised an eyebrow, acting as if he were a Vulcan and not human.  If it had been a Vulcan…we probably would be screwed before the court martial even began.  "I believe you know the list very well, but I'll review it any way."

He picked up his data PADD again and started reading off of it.  "The first charge is a breach of the Prime Directive.  You took it upon yourselves to spread Federation technology…Quantum torpedo technology, to be exact, around a small area of the Kalium galaxy."

Vendar remembered that.  From what she had later heard, the senior staff had discussed it on end in the briefing room.  Eventually, they came to the conclusion that spreading the technology would be the only way to help them combat the Vorkalai.

"The second charge," the Judge continued, "was a breach of Starfleet protocol.  The Dragon assisted in an operation…that was meant to commit genocide.  Although genocide was never committed as your reports state that many Vorkalai are still alive in Federation prison…the fact is, you knowingly helped a government attempt to commit it."

That was the end of the Vorkalai war…about a year after the Dragon launched.  The only way the war would be won was by striking while the Alliance had the ships left to strike.  Destroying the Vorkalai home world, where the Vorkalai had gathered most of its forces, was the only way to end the war.