et cetera.

Silence.

Voice, similar to 'Riker' from 'Parallels': "The Federation's GONE! The Borg are EVERYWHERE!"

*pull back on a battered starship which has obviously seen much better days, limping through unknown star system.*

Voice-Over:
"Captain's Log, Stardate _____._ (whatever, some years in the future). It's been two years since the Final Borg Invasion. Two years, since we lost it all.
"We are, as far as we know, the last Starfleet ship in the galaxy. The sole survivors, of all our worlds."
"These are the logs... of the Starship Endeavor. It's mission...."
"TO SURVIVE."

*Heavy-Percussion military rush music, followed by plaintive french horn coda.*

So, how bad is this?

------------------
Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson

It is highly unlikely that (if the UFP was gone) they could have rebuilt it from scratch with only one ship.

------------------
So small,
So innocent, so young, So delicately done
Grown up in your poison.

First of Two, may I ask your permission to use this scenario as the foundation for an on-line RPG?

(Oh, and Prakesh, I've thought of about fifteen ways for the Federation to rebuild after an almost total defeat like this just since I read your reply... and I'm no Brannon Braga; those kind of things are his specialty!)

------------------
Dane

"...and there was war in heaven..." The Bible, Revelation 12:7

Paramount will never wipe out the Federation or take it out of the show completely. After 3 years of no Fed on Voyager, they had to start doing shows with the Alpha Quad in it. I would suggest that the ship is way the hell out there, cut off from any other ships. I realize this cuts some of the dramatic punch your idea has. Maybe the ship could be one of the FEW ships left or be trapped in the alternate quantum reality where the long-beard Riker was from trying to get out.

Just some humble suggestions. I really like the idea.

Since this seems as good a place as any, may I post the opening tag for my idea? (I bet this whole thing is going to get moved to the Creativity Forum anyway but...)

*Female Voice*
Space...the frontier.

And from its depths came the galaxy's most loathsome enemy...the Borg!
* At this point the starfield begins to be filled by a slow moving closeup of the underside of a Borg ship like in FC*

They have killed and destroyed and brought terror to us all, and we have fallen back. Not again!

The stakes are laid, the line has been drawn, and we will make them pay for what they have done...

*A definant class with other ships close behind zooms in with cannons blazing and punches a hole through the Borg ships destroying it. From the fire and ashes appear the words...*

STAR TREK: COMBATANT

The series would be about a small fleet of ships lead by the Defiant class Combatant on a dark ops mission to seek and destroy all Borg activity. They're headed for the Delta Quad so plenty of opportunity for exploration. Also the Prime Directive and many other regs have been recinded as they relate to the Fleet's battling the Borg. Basically anything goes!

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"A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx

Prakesh: The future is fluid, not fixed. Who says that the timeline can't be altered?

Anyways, I also sort of objected to eliminating the Federation entirely. I suppose the seventh season could contain a story arc in which they finally return things to the status quo, but at some horrible cost.. but then, I hate reset buttons, too.

Or, they could always find a way to defeat the Borg, drive them out, and begin rebuilding. After all, the 29th-Century Federation never said how many planets it controlled or how many people were in it, or even if it were the same Federation as before. Funny how 29th century vessels only seem to pop up in the Delta quadrant...

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Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson

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I feel more like I do now, then when I first got here!! :)

- Alshrim Dax
The Other Dax;

I really think this has a lot of potential. I'd agree that they're probably not the ONLY Starfleet ship left; there are still isolated pockets of resistance throughout what used to be the Federation, some planets that haven't been assimilated, perhaps even a Federation government in hiding... all of these things could be discovered throughout the seven-year run.

At first, it would probably be appropriate if they THOUGHT they were the only ones left... It would give them some time to search for other survivors, plus allow us to look at some familiar problems (such as the Prime Directive) from a much more desperate perspective. Plenty of possibilities.

As I thought about this today, it occured to me to put it, say, five to seven years AFTER Voyager returns to Alpha Quadrant... and have Seven of Nine as the First officer aboard the surviving ship. She'd be a perfect cross-over character for this concept.

------------------
Dane

------------------
So small,
So innocent, so young, So delicately done
Grown up in your poison.

This would be a total departure from the Star Trek that we know, but I think that at the same time, it would give the writers a chance to explore the human adventure from a different angle.

------------------
"A gathering of Angels appeared above my head. They sang to me this song of hope, and this is what they said..." -Styx

That was some of the question.. what such desperation, even worse than Voyager's, now that there IS no home to go to... what would happen to the Prime Directive, to Starfleet Protocols, to the chain of command, on a ship with a different captain?

What of the aliens?
Did the Klingons all die a glorious death fighting the Borg, or are some who ran away still skulking around, and how would they react to being found?

What once-noble races might resort to piracy?
How do the Ferengi deal with a race that doesn't deal?
Whose side are the Romulans on?

Why didn't Q, or any other superrace, interfere?

etc.

------------------
Calvin: "No efficiency, no accountability... I tell you, Hobbes, it's a lousy way to run a Universe." -- Bill Watterson

I propse a slightly different twist, however. I just don't like the idea of the Federation being destroyed. It just doesn't sit right. With what the Federation represents, it's utter destruction would probably not be a good message to send to the world.

What I propose is that the ship, or ships, or small Armada, or whatever the hell we go with here, is part of a small division of Starfleet, the division that deals with mirror-universe crossovers. They operated far from the Federation core, since their research was hidden. After the Borg sweep through the Federation and assimilate it, the people begin trying to find a new universe. Meanwhile, the Borg are closing in on the, eager to assimilate the technology to travel between universes.

Their ultimate goal will be to make it through to the universe that we've been seeing, without bringing the Borg with them. If they succeed, we could have lots of neat moments, not unlike the one where happy, clean-shaven Captain Riker is confronted by desperate, wild-eyed Riker.

?

And great idea First!

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Daniel Henderson
Senior Babylon 5/Crusade Editor
http://www.myrkr.com