The Adventures of Fleet Admiral Sarah: A Busy Mage

 This blogpost requires some familiarity with  The Adventures of Captain Sarah STO playthrough I've been posting on Youtube. At the very least, you may want to watch the three parts of The End of the World, detailing the final mission of Star Trek Online's The Iconian War storyline.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DfQ-Li5QBs

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUSKxcMVZtk

Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9Ik5gGoJaY

~

Observation Deck, USS Tenshi, Earth Orbit - Approximately 36hours after the Iconian War's end

For the first time since the war had unofficially come to an end, Fleet Admiral Sarah Triden could finally relax. Even though hostilities had ended, ships on both sides of the conflict had immediately engaged in frenzied search-and-rescue operations, sending medical responders and damage control teams to any ship that showed signs of life and signs of catastrophic failure. She had even, after informing Admiral Quinn of the Iconians' peace terms, hustled onto a shuttle and visited several ships. For the biggest moment in galactic peace, the pace sure felt like they were still at war.

But the war had indeed ended. Saying it had been won would imply anything but a miracle had convinced the Iconians to end their attacks. Even as things stood, a significant portion of the Iconian fleet - T'ket and her Heralds - had left Earth orbit for parts unknown to prepare for future battles with the Alliance. But the other Iconians - once Admiral Quinn of Starfleet, Chancellor J'm'pok of the Klingon Empire, and Representative D'Tan of the Romulan Republic had agreed to their terms - were willing to pick up the pieces of their fleet and return to Iconia to begin rebuilding their culture, thanks to the World Heart, the artifact Sarah and her allies had rescued 200,000 years ago.

Sarah chuckled. A war fought 200,000 years ago had seemed like just yesterday because, to her, it had been. Now that the worst of the immediate recovery operations had been taken care of though, she could stop for an hour to simply watch things happen. The Iconians had finished their own recovery and would shortly leave the Sol System. Under the watchful gaze of the Iconian L'Miren's massive dreadnought, the surviving Heralds and other servitor ships began passing through massive gateways that would take them back to Iconia.

When the dreadnought itself finally passed through the portal, every member of the Alliance - Starfleet, Klingon, and Romulan alike - let out a collective sigh of relief. With luck, no Iconian or Herald would be seen for a thousand years.

"Pretty impressive sight, all those ships leaving at once."

Sarah turned to see her tactical officer and older sister Commander Josephine enter the observation deck with a green glass bottle and two drinking glasses.

"There's nothing in that bottle that violates regulations, right?" Sarah asked, smiling.

"I dunno. Are we on a Klingon ship?" Josephine asked, popping open the bottle of wine. "It's...regulation-ish."

Sarah shrugged and accepted a glass from her sister, enjoying the sweet aroma before taking a sip.

"So what's next for us?" Josephine asked, taking a seat.

"Us? You mean me?" Sarah asked. "We're the Others now, Sis; you could get a new position anywhere in the fleet. Could even get your own command if you wanted."

"Yeah, but we're a team! You don't just split up teams!" Josephine protested. "Even if I COULD get a cushy patrol near Romulan space, swing by once in a while to 'resupply', and visit that Subcommander I met on shore leave..."

"It won't work out," a third voice said, that of first officer/younger sister Ariel. "He's got that straight-laced brother that won't abide fraternization."

"Hope you brought your own glass, Ariel," Josephine remarked.

She had, accepting a drink from her sister as she found a seat next to Sarah.

"Anywhere in the fleet I want, eh?" Ariel asked. "Do I get a promotion too? There's a few planets I'd love to clean up, but they don't listen to what commanders want."

"Sure thing. You can be Fleet Janitor of the Galaxy," Sarah answered solemnly. "With a broom made with the finest Iconian technology we can find."

The three laughed, letting out what seemed like a lifetime of tension, stress, and fatigued born from fighting a constant stream of wars against the Undine, the Vaadwaur, and finally the Iconians. It'd been ages since they could stop to drink and chat without the specter of war pushing in on their fun.

"I think I'll stick with you though, if that's alright, Sarah," Ariel admitted. "If I'm getting a command, I want it based on what I do on purpose, not what we somehow stumble into 200,000 years ago."

"Oh thank goodness," Sarah sighed. "Lack of transfer permitted. I'm starting to get tired of doing all those away missions."

"But they do you so much good," Josephine teased. "You get out, run about, and get to earn your root beer floats!"

"And for that matter, we're still not installing a replicator on the bridge."

The three sisters looked up as their other sister, head engineer and oldest sister Gloria, entered the observation deck. Carrying a glass of her own, they all noted.

"What do you mean, we?" Sarah asked again. "Last I heard, you were going to take a command of your own, cash in on being an Other."

"Nah. It was going to be the Carol and she can't take the irony of getting one of your hand-me-downs for once," Ariel joked.

Even Gloria laughed at that one. "I'd considered it, but there's an even greater responsibility for me here: keeping you three out of trouble. You blew up Planet Killers, dreadnoughts, and fleets WITH me here. What kind of trouble would happen WITHOUT me?"

"More of the fun kind," Jokesephined as she fist-bumped Ariel.

And so the four sat for a quiet moment, drinking wine and watching starships fly by. Sarah tutted as she watched several ships crawl along the hull of Earth Spacedock.

"Shame what happened to ESD. Mom had just finished patching it up too," she noted, leaning back.

The other sisters silently agreed. Many had been the time they had docked at Spacedock to receive promotions and a new vessel, staying long enough to celebrate at Club 47, leaving the next morning for some new assignment on the frontiers of space.

"So what ARE we doing now?" Ariel finally asked.

At once, Josephine, Ariel, and Gloria turned to Sarah, looking like they were expecting orders in the heat of battle. Sarah looked back, straightening her uniform robe as she stood up. It made sense, she supposed. Off-duty like this and with such a life-changing decision on hand, Sarah thought for a moment that Gloria would lead the discussion as she had when they were children. But while Gloria had been the de facto leader of the sisters while they were growing up, ever since Sarah had taken command of the Shelby after the Borg attack on Vega, she'd taken over that role with Starfleet approval.

Now, they looked to their captain and their sister for guidance.

"A great captain once asked his first officer 'Remember when we were explorers?'" Sarah said, beginning to pace around the observation deck. "Well, I think we need to get back to that. The four of us and the entire crew of the Tenshi have been all across the galaxy, fighting evil at every turn. Well, now I say it's time to get back to Starfleet's original mission: exploration and knowledge."

Sarah walked over to a large viewport and motioned at a pair of Romulan escorts towing a Klingon cruiser.

"Our actions have had amazing results. We're back at peace with the Klingons and at peace with the biggest Romulan faction in the galaxy. We've protected billions of lives and brought peace to distant corners of space! The wars are over; now we can get back to peace.

To that end, I've requested a transfer from the Tenshi."

That last statement brought surprise to her sisters' faces, but Sarah continued.

"We've had a good run with the Tenshi; it's survived more scrapes than her builders imagined she would. She's a vessel of war though, a carrier designed to bring maximum firepower and destroy the enemy.  We're without an enemy though. When the war with the Vaadwaur was beginning, Starfleet was already in the process of building a new class of science vessels based on a Delta Quadrant design. I've already requested command of one of the new ships and it's been granted to me. It's only got a serial number right now, NX-106716, but I get the naming rights. The new ship won't be as big as the Tenshi and it won't have nearly as much firepower, but that's okay. The old girl is already being reassigned to patrolling the Dyson Spheres; she's not retiring any time soon, just taking it easy until we need her again."

Sarah sat back down and took a sip of her wine.

"Knowing this, you're all still welcome to request transfers. Maybe one of you can have the Tenshi and go busting around the Dyson Spheres."

It took less than a moment for Josephine, Ariel, and Gloria to look at each other and nod.

"Nah."

"We're in."

"Sounds fascinating."

Sarah nodded. "Then start suggesting names for OUR new starship. Now that we're not pouring all our resources into fighting ships, they'll have it ready in weeks. I mean, it WAS going to take a month, but being the Other has its perks and..."

Suddenly, another new voice interrupted.

"This is the last new voice in this blogpost or I'm walking," Ariel muttered.

"Bridge ter Admiral Sarah. We've got two shuttles on approach and boff are requestin' dockin' clearance. The passengers are boff askin' ter meet wiv yer at yor earliest convenience too."

Sarah shrugged. It had been a nice reprieve from duty and it was good to know she had her sisters backing her up, but it was time to get back to work, she supposed. "Who are they?"

"One's a shuttle from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers, Admiral Celestia pilotin', and the uvver is from the USS Excalibur bearin' a Chief Petty Officer Alex...didn't give a last name."

Sarah suddenly let out a very un-officerly squeal of glee and rushed off for the shuttle bay. Ariel sighed, Josephine chuckled, and Gloria activated her combadge.

"Bridge, this is Commander Gloria. Grant both shuttles permission to dock, but Commanders Josephine, Ariel, and I will be meeting with the Admiral. The CPO is...ah...a priority guest of Admiral Sarah's."

"Affirmative, Commander. Bridge out."

The three sisters still in the observation shared a laugh as Sarah's footsteps faded. Whatever was in the past and whatever the future may hold, they were still together, continuing a tradition of boldly going where no being had gone before.