The shuttle skimmed the surface of the planet Earth, soaring over trees and lakes. There was hardly anyone around, and all seemed quiet.
Allison looked out through the viewport, scanning the large expanse. "There," she directed the pilot. "That's where it is."
The pilot of the shuttle, one James Kirk, set the shuttle down in the middle of what had once been a small town. There was the ruins of a gas station and three school buildings, as well as a bank and some old, battered, unreadable street signs.
The shuttle door opened, and Allison stepped out onto the soil of 23rd century Earth for the very first time. But she wasn't just any random place; she had returned home.
On the edge of town, most of a large house still remained. Allison walked toward it, applying vicious restraint to keep herself from bolting for the building at top speed. Kirk walked beside her, sensing her tension and saying nothing.
The duo finally reached the house, and Allison hesitantly reached out to touch the doorframe. The door was long since gone, but the walls mostly remained standing. She stepped through the opening into the darkened house, and was suddenly flooded with memories.
"Hey Allison, watch this!" The young brown-haired boy furiously manipulated the controls to the old Nintendo, playing Kirby's Adventure with a seriousness that was way out of proportion. "I bet you can't do this..."
A taller brown-haired boy with a blond spot on the back of his head called, "Allison, come here. I have something to show you." And then he would play music for her, make her laugh...
"Dad!" She ran into the welcoming arms of her father, safe and secure in his embrace...
"There he goes again," her mother laughed as, on the television screen, another woman threw herself at Captain Kirk. Her mother received a glare, and then she went back to watching her television show...
"Princess..." she sobbed, pulling the collie into a hug. The dog put a paw on her arm, trying to comfort the distraught girl as no one else would...
"The morning paper is reading like a scroll/Like the headlines from 2000 years ago/Everywhere I look I see the signs/My heart's telling me it's almost time..." she sang, as she cleaned up the mess in the basement left behind by the mob of youngsters. "Don't it make you want to go home/Run through those gates and fall in Jesus' arms/And all the cares of this world will be gone/Don't it make, don't it make you want to go home..."
~~~~~~~~
Before heading back to the shuttle, Allison managed to salvage a few books and CDs from the wreck of her room. She found some of her favorite civvies, mercifully intact and undamaged, along with her favorite red bandanna. There were a few other odds and ends, seemingly worthless but abundant with sentimental value.
As she carried her precious findings back to the shuttle, she threw one last glance at the house where she had lived for fifteen years. Then she turned her back on it and walked away, leaving behind a past that could never be again.
~~~~~~~~
The seven teenagers stood before the Admiralty, doing their best not to look nervous. The three Vulcans had the look down pat, but the others were having a bit of difficulty.
"We realize that you can no longer live in your century," Admiral Fitzpatrick said. "You are welcome to live in ours. However, you must all take a vow of silence on your knowledge of our future. You must never tell anyone about future events, no matter how important it may seem to be. You are now under Starfleet orders not to interfere with our timeline, in accordance with the temporal prime directive. Is that understood?"
Allison had a strange look on her face. Hands behind her back, she slightly crossed her fingers and said, "Affirmative, sir," in chorus with the others.
As they filed out of the room, a ghost of a smile flickered across her face and vanished. Setting her expression to "Vulcan calm," she walked out the door and into the future, her friends alongside her.
But the journey was just beginning.
Epilogue
"That is how we ended up in the 23rd Century, and that is why I am a Vulcan rather than a human. We seven Trekkies are destined to live in this timeline...but even so, we must change it. For the fate of the entire galaxy could rest in our hands..."
Lieutenant Allison switched off the log recorder and placed it in her safe, sealing it and protecting it with a passcode. Then she straightened her uniform, put the case containing her antique gold reading glasses into a pocket, and strode out into the hallway to start another day and embrace the future.
To Be Continued...In Star Trekkies #2: Yel'Hal-tor.
Well, that's all for Star Trekkies #1. Star Trekkies #2 will be appearing in this same forum, because even though it is about original characters it will still involve Kirk et.al. and the Enterprise on occasion. So stay tuned, because what's coming next is definitely NOT regulation.