by Diane Carey
“The Constitution speaks of our posterity. This means, my friends, that we owe these rights not only to ourselves, but to our descendants. It means we have the obligation to keep a peaceful and secure present, that our children may have a peaceful and secure future. That document, centuries old now, was an investment for the future. These [332] Constitution-class starships must carry its sentiment as they carry us outward.
“We’ve Learned valuable lessons over recent years, both about our technology and about our conscience as one of the first known races to explore our galaxy for exploration’s sake. We now know, at great cost, that we have a responsibility. To the galaxy we open up, we owe justice and choice. To ourselves and those who join us in years to come, we owe strength and the courage to use it. To everyone everywhere, we owe care in choosing wise individuals to mete that justice and that strength.
“The council has accepted my recommendation, and it is with highest pride that I announce my successor to the captaincy of our flagship. Upon recommendation of two close and respected consultants of mine, as well as my own acquaintance with his common sense and sense of adventure, I pass along my legacy to Captain Christopher Richard Pike, and entrust to him the command of the United Federation Starship Enterprise.
“Under Captain Pike, a very special ship and a very special crew will soon embark on the first of a series of exploratory assignments in deep space. With them they take our hearts, our hopes, our support, and our trust.
“It’s a thrilling concept, isn’t it, my friends? Space ... the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her five-year mission—to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life, new civilizations ... to boldly go where no man has gone before.
“Thank you all. And farewell.”
Captain Robert April
Address to the United Federation
of Planets General Assembly,
October 2, 2192
Epilogue
THE EARLY INCIDENT in Romulan space was kept secret, known only to those few aboard the Enterprise who really understood what had happened. The decision was made not to log the incident because it had become clear that the two budding civilizations were not yet ready to meet. How they would eventually rediscover each other, fate alone could tell. Other than the rescue of the S.S. Rosenberg, no log was filed of the first voyage of the first starship.
Captain Christopher Pike took the legacy of Robert April’s dreams and turned them into reality in deep space. The exploration program, spearheaded by valiant people aboard the fleet of starships, changed the course of the Federation and its growing policies into a truly functional, strong, and unified body. The marriage of exploration and defense proved both wise and workable in the practical application of Federation policy, and ultimately became the most attractive element to new races who were courted as potential members.
A Federation consultant from the private sector, civilian botanist Cale Sandorsen, was foremost in the development of Federation inter-system policy and diplomatic precepts. Almost singly, he provided the precedent for ambassadorial ethics between races. His example made humanity a truly noble and open-minded race, whom other cultures soon learned to trust, and even to emulate. He became known in inner circles as the father of Federation justice.
[334] Robert April went on to become one of the Federation’s great early explorers, discovering many alien civilizations on many worlds, several of which he convinced to join the Federation. Sarah Poole April went with him, and made up for her dislike of space travel by pioneering the evolution of space medicine to include unfamiliar life forms and unusual biological conditions.
George Kirk remained in Starfleet to serve as Sandorsen’s military adjutant and adviser, which enabled him to remain near or on Earth until his elder son, George Jr., entered the Graduate Academy of Biosciences and his younger son, James, entered Starfleet Academy as a junior midshipman. Shortly thereafter, he was on board a Federation vessel on special diplomatic assignment when the ship mysteriously disappeared with all hands.
The Enterprise continues.
ON THE DIGNITY OF EXPLORATION ...
Space has been midwife to the birth of a new global consciousness. Two decades ago, with my first serendipitous sighting of a satellite, I was one of the lucky few to be touched for a moment by this philosophy. The children of the future, however, will be raised with the benefits of these space-age lessons ... With this new education, we may provide our progeny with a delight and an insight we ourselves have not yet experienced. When they travel in their spacecraft, creating the illusion of falling stars across the heavens, perhaps they will look down on earth and think, with reverence, of the tiny creatures making Stardust in the sea.
—Jacques-Yves Cousteau
ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES ...
The Constitution is more than literature, but as literature, it is primarily a work of the imagination. It imagined a country: fantastic. More fantastic still, it imagined a country full of people imagining themselves. Within the exacting articles and stipulations there was not only room to fly but also tacit encouragement to fly, even the instructions to fly, traced delicately within the solid triangular concoctions of the framers.
—Roger Rosenblatt, Time Magazine
ON THE MORALITY OF DEFENSE ...
No man may initiate the use of physical force against others. No man—or group or society or government—has the right to assume the role of a criminal and initiate the use of physical compulsion against any man. Men have the right to use physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. The ethical principle involved is simple and clear-cut: it is the difference between murder and self-defense.
—Ayn Rand
Author’s Note
By coincidence or by omen, the final revisions of this novel—the last time the manuscript was worked on in our home—happened to be done on September 17, 1987, the 200th birthday of the Constitution of the United States. All Patriots please rise.
Diane Carey
About the e-Book
(NOV, 2003)—Scanned, proofed, and formatted by Bibliophile.
