Introduction

If you've read other parts of the site--all 300 who have visited the site so far--then you'll know my opinion that fanfics are generally a lower art form not far removed from writing limericks on bathroom walls. However, sometimes they're good to let off a little steam and to stay in practice. In addition, I thought I'd try to write something for one of my siblings and my brother is a Trekkie, so here we are.

The real handicaps going into this are first off that other than watching 60% of "First Contact" on the Sci-Fi Channel I hadn't watched any Trek since Voyager went off the air. I hadn't read any of the novels or magazines or anything either. So my memory of all the Trek tech and aliens and whatnot was pretty rusty. The other handicap I faced is that the Trek universe overall is too nice. I always liked DS9 because it was the grittier series after the third season when it got into the Dominion War and all that. Really I think I should have done a Star Wars fanfic like I did in 1996 because you can be grittier with Star Wars because you have all the smugglers and such. The whole thing was just a mismatch and that's why it's probably not very good.

If you ever heard of the relatively short-lived "New Frontier" series of books by Peter David then this is a similar deal. We're not dealing with the main characters like Picard, Data, Sisko, Janeway, or any of them, although one or two might make an appearance in a minor role. Instead, I'm using my own characters in the Trek universe with the Trek technology--or what of it I remember.

As for the actual story, it concerns a disgraced former Starfleet captain named Brett Boutwell, who goes out to the Serparnian system (I recycled my aliens from the "First Contact" stories except I changed the spelling of names) and gets jumped by some very unfriendly natives. Brett escapes the ambush and winds up on a Starfleet ship whose first officer--Robyn Lichen--he used to date. When that ship comes under attack, Brett and Robyn have to put aside the past to save the future of the Federation.

I think I've done everything possible to dissuade you from reading it, but if you want to, please enjoy this Star Trek: Redemption.