Chapter 1-Introduction
Chapter 2-The Victory
Chapter 3-Trouble at the Neutral Zone
Chapter 4-Court Martial
Chapter 5-Happy Days are Here Again
Chapter 6-The Death Blossom
Chapter 7-That's All, Folks
My name is Norman Nelson. I am a Starfleet officer and captain of the USS Death Blossom, a Dreadnought class starship, more powerful than the Sovereign class starship. This is the story of my previous command, the USS Victory, and how I came to command the Death Blossom.
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Chapter 2-The Victory
Captain's log, Stardate 15290.2. I have just
recently been promoted to captain and am
about to receive my first command, the USS
Victory, an Excelsior class starship. My first
officer I selected myself. He is an old friend of
mine; we've known each other since the
Academy, and I know that he'd be an excellent
commander. I'll be assuming command at
0900 hours tomorrow morning. I can hardly
wait.
The Victory was a pretty sight, even for an outdated design such
as what it was. I instantly fell in love with her. We'd have
some good adventures together, my crew and I, in the next five
years we'd serve on this ship. There's not really much to say
about these five years. Most of it was boring survey, research,
and exploration missions. We never saw much action on our five
year tour. Battles were few and far between. The only
interesting event that happened to the ship was that we fought
in the battle of Wolf 359 against the Borg. We were heavily
damaged; shields down and the warp engines were off-line for
days afterward. We also had heavy casualties. Over half of my
crew perished on that day. I'll never forget it. Luckily, my
second in command, Joshua Garcia, and I managed to make it back
with broken bones and heavy bleeding, but at least we were
alive. Others managed to make it, but they were in worse shape
than we were. Most of them died days later. Afterwards, the
Victory was patched up and refitted. An entirely new crew, save
the few of us, who lived, was assigned to the ship and
everything returned to normal. But, Josh and I would never
forget what the Borg did to the main fleet. They destroyed over
forty Starfleet vessels and seriously crippled many others. It
was a loss as well as a victory on our part.
The day that I took command of the Victory was one of the
biggest pivotal points in my Starfleet life. Little did I know
that, in five years, my life would flip upside down. I had no
foresight into what would happen five years later that would
damage my Starfleet career so severely that it changed my life
forever.
Chapter 3-Trouble at the Neutral Zone
It was nearing the end of our five-year mission. The Victory was
assigned to patrol the Federation side of the Romulan neutral
zone. Starfleet intelligence reported the possible likelihood of
Romulan D'deridex class ships functioning as scout ships.
According to the Treaty of Algeron, any Federation or Romulan
ships entering the neutral zone constituted a violation of the
treaty signed by both sides and reflected desire for war. This
was a big deal to the Federation, especially the possible threat
of war. This mission proved to be the one that would end my
Starfleet career, at least temporarily. If I had known this, I
would have probably declined and let someone more experienced in
these matters take command of this mission instead.
Captain's log, Stardate 15643.0. New orders
have just came in from Starfleet Command. We
are to proceed straight to the Romulan neutral
zone and patrol its border for signs of rogue
Romulan warships. This is an extremely
delicate operation, requiring the entire crew to
be fully alert at all times.
At 1330 hours, the Victory arrived at the neutral zone. For six
hours we scanned the entire area inside the neutral zone, but
did not detect any signs of warp signature or tachyon particles
that would instantly point out a cloaked ship. The whole thing
seemed to be futile when, from out of nowhere, a half dozen
warbirds decloaked right in front of us. Everyone on the bridge
was astonished at what we saw.
Then, the enemy ships started to attack us. Our shields held,
but were being drained rapidly. We fired back with all we could,
but we hardly even scratched their hulls. Finally, after what
seemed like hours, the shields buckled and completely shut down.
All our weapons were disable and useless. We were sitting ducks.
I didn't know what to do until our tactical officer announced
that we were being boarded by Romulan troops. I ordered all
hands to the escape pods. When it was just myself and Josh left
on the bridge, I ordered the self-destruct sequence to be
activated. The ship would be destroyed in seven minutes and
everyone on board would perish. Josh and I hurried to the final
remaining escape pod and blasted off. Seven minutes later, I
witnessed the beautiful yet sad sight of the Victory being
destroyed. It was then that I noticed that the Romulan ships
retreated back into the neutral zone from whence they came.
That was probably one of the saddest events in my life. I lost a
ship, a command, and my career thanks to these Romulan bastards.
I would never forgive them for what they've done to my life. Now
that I think on it, it was kind of ironic. A ship whose name was
the Victory had been destroyed. This was not a victory for my
crew or me. It would be the end of me until, years later, I
would get my life back.
Chapter 4-Court Martial
When we arrived back at Earth, Admiral Lonnie Nelson, my father,
greeted me. We never got along well, but at least we loved each
other. He was proud of me when I decided to attend the Academy.
I was following in his footsteps. At least this was something
that we had in common and could talk about. We never really
talked, father to son, that is. He couldn't be any happier when
I made the rank of captain. Now, he didn't look very happy. He
told me that I was summoned to go to the conference room
immediately and to bring Josh with me.
Josh and I ran to the conference room. What went on in there
really hurt my self-esteem. It turned out that I was being court
maritalled for declaration of war against the Romulan
government. Both Josh and I were surprised at this accusation
because we both knew what happened at the neutral zone. We
protested, saying that the Romulans initiated the conflict, but
nobody listened to us. There was no evidence to support our
claim, and the Federation had not wanted a full-scale war
against the Romulans. I was court-martialled, stripped of rank
and duty, and Josh was demoted to commanding a cargo ship.
Chapter 5-Happy Days are Here Again
Another long five years passed, and I wasn't in very good
spirits, as you can easily guess from what happened five years
ago. One day, in the standard Earth year 2365, Josh came over to
my place. I let him in, and we started to talk. He told me that
the head of Starfleet Command wanted to see me immediately. As
it turned out, my father pushed the council to look into the
neutral zone incident to try to clear my name and get me
reinstated in Starfleet. During these three or so years that
they've investigated this event, something extraordinary was
found. It turned out that the Romulan government was trying to
hide something from the Federation. The Romulan ambassador
confessed that his people had been working on a covert
operation. They managed to create a system that would mask any
warp signature and tachyon emissions from a cloaked ship. He
regretted that rebels that wanted to start a war between their
people and ours stole a few of these prototype devices. The
rebels were dealt with, and the Romulans reluctantly agreed to
halt research in this field and that no more of these devices
were to be built or used on any ships whatsoever. I was granted
to be in Starfleet again, as captain of another ship, and Josh
was to be my executive officer again. This was probably the
happiest day of my life. I was a Starfleet officer once more.
Chapter 6-The Death Blossom
She was a sight for sore eyes. I never thought I'd see another
starship this close to me ever again after the Victory, but
seeing one of the state of the line like this, I could hardly
contain myself. I was to be the captain of the USS Death
Blossom, the flagship of the Federation. Josh and I stared at
this dream ship from our shuttle at what seemed like hours when
we finally docked.
Once aboard, we headed directly for the bridge. I wanted to try
her out right away. I ordered the ship to leave dry-dock. My
life was whole again. I was born to live in the stars, and I
preferred no place else.
Captain's log, Stardate 18034.9. It feels good to
be in space again. After five years, I'm back where
I belong. I have been assigned the command of the
USS Death Blossom. I never would have thought that
I'd ever be able to command a starship ever again, yet
alone a Dreadnought class ship. They're state of the line
ships, the best in the fleet.
The next day, we got our first assignment. It was a relatively
easy one. All we had to do was to transport an ambassador to the
planet Delta Vega. En route, Orion raiders ambushed us. They
tried to hijack our ship, but we managed to defeat them. With
this kind of ship we were virtually unstoppable. But, I didn't
let that get to my head. The ship itself was designed to battle
the Borg and Dominion in case hostilities rose above our
existing defenses. I was fortunate enough to be allowed command
of one of these wonder ships. Another friend that I made at the
Academy, Jared Hoffman, was granted this special honor as well.
Chapter 7-That's All, Folks
Well, that's basically the story of how I came to be the captain
of the Death Blossom, one of the mightiest ships in the fleet.
Since then, we had been through a lot. The crew and I thought of
each other as an extended family. And now, here we are. I'm glad
that you took the time to read this and I thank you for it.
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