The Final Frontier
submitted by P.A. Wilson

Based upon “Star Trek” Created by Gene Roddenberry

A re-imagination of a legend...

“The Final Frontier” is a re-imagination of the “Star Trek” universe created by Gene Roddenberry. “The Final Frontier” borrows Gene’s universe and re-creates it to tell stories to modern audiences, with the intention of making them just as relevant today as the original tales were to the people of the 1960s.

Some might ask, why a re-imagination? My answer to them is, why not? If it’s good enough for the likes of Batman, Superman, Battlestar Galactica & James Bond, why not for Star Trek? The last forty-plus years of the Star Trek franchise has been great... with a few exceptions -- I’m not saying throw everything away, we can still watch the adventures that have been created in that time - they’re not going anywhere. What I am saying is that it would be naive of us not to re-energize the franchise with what made it great in the first place -- great characters such as Kirk, Spock and McCoy; our home base, the U.S.S. Enterprise and storytelling which was ahead of its time.

The story

The Eugenics War...

Not since the mid-20th Century has humanity endured such a persistent, bloody conflict on a planetary scale. From 2249 to 2261 – Earth was embroiled in a struggle that ended up killing 800 million lives. The solution was the genocide of the aggressive genetically-engineered supermen that inflicted this bloodshed on the population. Out of the ashes of this cutthroat moment in history, rises a story of a starship, crewed by men and women that lived through the horror of these days. This starship is the U.S.S. Enterprise.

In 2266, five years after the end to the war, the U.S.S. Enterprise is to set off on her third five-year mission, initially under the command of Captain Christine Pike. Unlike “Star Trek”, Earth is yet to make contact with any form of extra-terrestrial life, with the exception of Captain Pike’s trusted First Officer, Mister Spock -- an alien of unknown origin discovered aboard a small pod, when he was only a baby. Along for the mission is the hot-headed weapons officer, Lieutenant Janice Rand; the pompous, but engineering genius, Lieutenant Montgomery “Scotty” Scott; the very youthful voice of Ensign Pavel Chekov at Navigation; the calm, but emotionally scarred helmsman, Lt. Commander Haruki Sulu and the forced-back-into-the-service special mission observer, Commander James T. Kirk.

All these characters, and more, will be thrown into the deep end, with their mission to become one of great importance to all of humanity, after the events of the first episode. Mankind will finally realize they are not alone in the galaxy and realize that they must grow beyond their years if they want any chance of surviving in the galaxy as a whole.

Characters

Commander/Captain James T. Kirk - Once an up and coming star of Starfleet, Kirk resigned from the service at the end of the Eugenics War. The guilt he felt at being a part of the Starfleet taskforce assigned to hunt down the remaining supermen is universally accepted as being the reason for his resignation.

Kirk returned to his home in Iowa – a large family ranch – one which he resided at alone. His only living relative is his brother, Samuel, an officer aboard a small Starfleet survey ship. Since the resignation, Starfleet have tried to lure Kirk back numerous times. They’ve never succeeded. He’s seemed content to spend the rest of his life at his lonely ranch – something that would have been unthinkable during the years he was in the service.

Kirk has always been a man of action. No tasks seem impossible to him. And when they are, he’ll always try to turn it around in his favour. As a captain, he is an incredibly strong leader – one of the reasons he rose through the ranks so quickly.

Commander Spock - The most unique members of the Enterprise crew – Spock was discovered inside a small craft of unknown origin, barely a year old, he was taken back to Earth as the first extra-terrestrial first contact mankind has ever had. He grew up inside a laboratory, where he was poked and prodded for answers to questions about his strange anatomy and copper-based blood.

During his first seventeen years, he grew up with a mentor, Eugene Holland, one of the professors studying him. Holland taught him to control his emotions through techniques not ever fathomed. He also taught him several meditations and tried to encourage him with his telepathy, signs of which were beginning to come through at the age of fourteen.

At eighteen Spock entered Starfleet Academy with a flawless test result on his entrance exam. It had been his hope that roaming the stars with Starfleet would help him find out where he came from. He finished at the top of his class with results not seen ever in academy history.

When off-duty, Spock comes off as extremely aloof. He doesn’t go out of his way to socialize with anyone apart from a select few. His mind works logically -- he doesn’t let his buried emotions get in the way of any decisions. With that said, he shows signs of extreme loyalty, devotion, honour and courage.

Doctor Leonard McCoy (appears in 1x02) - A product of the “Old South”. Following in his father’s footsteps from a very young age, “Bones” McCoy has gone on to become a fantastic physician, surgeon and exo-biologist. After completing his tour of medical school and Starfleet Academy, he served at several hospitals around the world near most of the major theatres of the Eugenics War. After the conflict, McCoy accepted a position at Starbase 4 as assistant to the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Exo-bioligist. Within three years he became the full CMO.

The doctor from the “Old South” maintains a much laid back lifestyle. However he’s a man who stays very true to his convictions. One of the very major points to McCoy’s personality is that you’ll always know where you stand with him. He’s not afraid to tell you exactly what he’s thinking, even if it’s the wrong time to do it. To some people it’s an endearing quality, to others is simply rubs them up the wrong way.

Lt. Commander Haruki Sulu - Haruki Sulu was born on the New Geneva Colony, on the distant world of Balracken II. Predominantly a farming colony, Sulu was brought up with a simple life on the barren plains of the faraway planet. It was there she began her love affair with piloting, by transporting around in her family’s “jumper”, as it was just about the only form of transport available on the planet.

She spent her youth with two parents who adored her and a younger sister that wished to be everything Haruki was. At the age of eighteen she left Balracken II to enter Starfleet Academy on Earth. While there a tragedy back home changed her life forever. Her colony was destroyed and her family butchered. She vowed to one day hunt down the criminal that did it. This pushed her through her studies.

On the exterior, Sulu is a calm and collected person. To the vast majority of people, she comes across as extremely friendly. Ever since the death of her parents she’s tended to bottle in a lot of her emotions, especially anger. So when she comes across something or someone she may not like she tends to keep it very much to herself. This however occasionally backfires and her darker side comes out for all to see.

Lieutenant Montgomery “Scotty” Scott - Born in Aberdeen to a middle-class Scottish family, like his father and his father before him, Scotty was pushed throughout his youth to one day become a Starfleet Officer. When he turned 18, Scotty was accepted into Starfleet Academy with a relatively decent score. With a pathway through the command ranks in his mind, or at least in his father’s mind, Scotty quickly discovered Engineering was his preferred option. Pulling things apart and putting them back together came to him extremely naturally.

After graduating he served at several assignments – a Starbase, two freighters, the San Francisco Fleet Yards and finally the U.S.S. Enterprise in the final year of her second five-year mission as a Chief Engineer’s assistant. It was during the closing days of that mission that Captain Pike discovered him to be full of untapped potential when he managed to pull the Enterprise out of a very tight situation. Pike decided to make him the youngest Chief Engineer in Starfleet history at the start of her third five year mission.

As a person, Scotty is a very hard character to read. At times his crewmates don’t know whether he’s joking or being downright rude. He can come across as extremely arrogant when it comes to his engine room, but he knows the only ways things will get done properly is if he’s a little harsher than the other PC officers roaming around the fleet.

Lieutenant Janice Rand - Janice Rand was born on Alpha Centauri, Earth’s largest colony. For the majority of her youth, her father Jonathan, a Captain in Starfleet, was always away from home on assignment. From the age of zip to her mid teens, she saw very little of him. At the time Rand turned 16, Jonathan Rand was promoted to Admiral and he finally returned home. However both he and Janice didn’t get along too well. Fights were consistently heated and arguments common. This led Janice to enlisting in the UEN Defence Forces on her eighteenth birthday and leaving Alpha Centauri to fight in the Eugenics War on Earth.

During her five year career in the UEN Defence Forces, Janice Rand served in just about every theatre of the war, from Africa to Asia, and even Eastern Europe. She rose through the ranks quickly with many commendations of bravery and courage. During the last days of the war on Earth, Rand was offered a position by Starfleet, one where she’d become a full officer after only two years at the academy.

Rand is nothing less than a professional when it comes to her work. She’s by the book in every sense of the word. If a superior asks her to jump, she will immediately ask how high. To her security staff she can be very harsh in the way she treats them. Because of her regimented career in the UEN Defence Forces, this kind of attitude has seeped into her social life. She’s not an easy person to get to know and is very guarded amongst other people. It’s said that she’s very much like her father in this respect... Something she hates being said of her.

Ensign Pavel Chekov - Chekov was born in Russia on Earth, to a relatively poor family in the countryside. At the age of eleven, large augment fighting was entering Eastern Europe from Asia and his parents didn’t want him anywhere near it, so they sent him off to school in England with the entire family savings. At the English school he excelled, especially at mathematics.

Upon returning home three years later, his house and the surrounding region had been bombed out of existence by the aerial bombardment during the final days of the Eugenics War. To this day he has yet to find any traces of his parents anywhere. It’s expected they died in the attacks. With nowhere else to go he accepted a scholarship to a school in Moscow and completed four years before entering Starfleet Academy. At the Academy he performed similarly to his earlier studies, breezing through the classes to finish in the upper echelon of his year.

Chekov can come across as a very vague kind of character for someone of his intellect. But he quickly comes out of his shell once he’s comfortable in his surroundings. To those who know him well, he finds himself with the reputation of being quite the ladies man.

Nyota Uhura (appears in 1x03) – One of the most “go-getting” individuals in existence. Born in the African Republic on Earth, Uhura has pushed her way through her life with the determination to become a journalist for the largest news network on Earth – ENet. One of her big breaks came at the expense of a young cadet, by the name of James T. Kirk. When the young cadet cheated on a simulator mission called the “Kobayashi Maru”, the young Uhura, who was an intern at a small time San Francisco newspaper, saw her chance at a story that would launch her career. It did.

Since that day, Kirk has never forgiven her for what she did to him. Uhura was deeply pained in doing what she did, but it was what she believe she had to do. Throughout her life she has come to depend on only one person, herself. That’s something she continues to believe in. She won’t let anybody stand in her way.

Episodes

1x01 We Are Not Alone - The U.S.S. Enterprise is sent into firing line on the first assignment of her third five-year mission, with the job of investigating the destruction of a deep space mining outpost and a Starfleet survey ship. Former officer, Commander James T. Kirk is temporarily reactivated into the service as an observer, by the request of Captain Christine Pike. What Kirk and the Enterprise find will shake the very foundations of the history of mankind.

1x02 Crossroads - The U.S.S. Enterprise arrives at Starbase 4 for repairs after their incident at Jensen-Orali V. Captain Pike, on life support, is taken to the surface where Doctor Leonard McCoy operates on the famous commanding officer. After being saved by McCoy, Pike asks her most loyal officer, Mr. Spock, to take her life. Commander Kirk is offered command of the Enterprise and Lieutenant Rand receives word from home that her father has died in a training accident at Starfleet Academy.

1x03 Call of Destiny - The Enterprise returns to Earth, with Commander Kirk accepting command and being briefed on a secret mission. The ship and crew is to set out into deep space and track down a signal that was picked up by a subspace transmitter ten years earlier. The goal: make peaceful contact with extra-terrestrial life in light of the incident at Jensen-Orali V. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Rand says goodbye to her father, only to find that his death may not have been an accident after all. Doctor McCoy and Spock help Captain Pike adjust to her new life and a flame from Kirk’s past makes an appearance, journalist, Nyota Uhura.

1x04 Ghost From The Past – The Enterprise launches from Earth after the completion of her refit. Captain Kirk, at the request of Lieutenant Rand, alters course towards a planet where she believes she can find the man responsible for the death of her father. After discovering that the killer is also the one responsible for butchering her family several years earlier, Lt. Commander Sulu takes it upon herself to hunt down the man and make him serve the justice she’s been wanting for so many years... his death by her hands.

1x05 Life... But Not As We Know It – Mister Spock, Doctor McCoy, Ensign Chekov, Uhura and a small scientific team investigate the strange gravitational field of a star system in a shuttlecraft, while the Enterprise is doing a survey of a nebula some five light years away. On their way back to rendezvous, Spock’s team discover an abandoned alien ship. They board her and find the unbelievable... the remains of its slaughtered crew. They soon realize they aren’t alone on the ship, when they’re shuttle is destroyed. On inspection of the ship’s badly damaged computer, they discover they’re on an Andorian zoological survey ship and that a lone predator is loose. The computer calls the animal a... Gorn.

P.A's pilot for The Final Frontier is available in PDF format.

Got a comment for The Final Frontier? Bang it over to the Among The Ruins Discussion Thread.

Nirvana
submitted by Vinicius Moraes

Once inseparable friends, Marlena Watkins, Jensen Krail, Victor Burton and Sara Coleman haven’t spoken to each other in two years. However, their lives once again collide when Jacob Breslin, a loved friend and the only one who remained friends with all four commits suicide.

Now the four teenagers who remained behind must continue on with their lives having to deal with the insecurities and the difficult process of growing up whilst mourning for the loss of a dear friend. Will the four be brought together by this tragedy, or are they simply two different, after two years apart, to the point where they don’t know who the other person is anymore?

Creator's Note

In a nutshell, this project came to be after some brainstorming around the idea of a different approach over the theme of adolescence. Basically, I fell in love with the idea of depicting this tough (more on that in a sec) phase of anyone’s life in a more realistic manner, with characters that weren’t stereotyped to their core and who had bigger concerns than sex in their lives. So then came the characters and I absolutely fell in love with the four protagonists of my story.

So what do I mean when I say that adolescence is a tough period of life? Well, I’m writing this for obviousness’ sake, as I believe that if someone doesn’t remember the pains of growing up, trying to find your place in the universe, mulling over ENDLESS insecurities, doubts, fears, the question of whether become a true, authentic individual to yourself or to ‘fit in with the masses’, then that person is either stupid or a victim of Alzheimer’s. Probably both.

So this is what this series would be about. In a nutshell, someone described this as a ‘darker take on the teen drama subgenre’. That’s not far from the truth, although instead of darker, I’d say ‘more realistic’ and instead of ‘teen drama subgenre’, I’d say ‘straight drama with teenagers as protagonists’.

Characters

SARA COLEMAN (Portrayed by Alexz Johnson)
When she was fifteen years old, Sara was diagnosed with clinical depression. Two years later, she still finds herself struggling with the disease, but trying to overcome it in her own pace. Using drugs and alcohol as forms of escapism, she’s also a kind, loyal friend, as she was to Jacob Breslin, whenever she allows herself to get close to someone to the point where she trusts them.

MARLENA WATKINS (Portrayed by Ellen Page)
Marlena knew Jacob ever since they were both five. In the past few years, she slowly developed a self-destructive personality, which didn’t get in the way of her friendship with Jacob, but which has turned her into a distant girl.

JENSEN KRAIL (Portrayed by Emile Hirsch)
Jensen is into sports. He could be called a jock were it not for the fact he hates jocks, preferring, instead, to have a personality of his own, hang with the people he considers real friends and simply be himself, high school rules be damned. Like he did with Marlena, Jacob considered him to be his best friend.

VICTOR BURTON (Played by Ed Westwick)
Closed, angsty, alone. Victor Burton’s life has taken a turn to the worst in the past couple of years. Once a friendly guy, his own doubts and insecurities have scared and haunted him to the point today he’s a shadow of the boy he used to be.

Vinicius's pilot for Nirvana is available in PDF format.

Got a comment for Nirvana? Bang it over to the Nirvana Discussion Thread.