The Best and the Brightest

by Susan Wright

Prologue

Summer, 2371

WHEN SHE HEARD THE NEWS, Jayme Miranda was in exocellular biology class, part of an intensive summer course at Starfleet Academy. At first the rumors seemed unlikely, an exaggeration of a severe battle. But even that was frightening enough to send her running to the comm to try to reach her great‑aunt, Marley Miranda, an admiral at Starfleet Headquarters.

As Aunt Marley’s image appeared on the screen, Jayme could have been looking at herself in forty years–all the Mirandas had the same straight, dark hair and strong‑boned face. Jayme knew her family considered her to be the “excitable” one, so she didn’t bother concealing her fear as her aunt confirmed that the EnterpriseD had crashed on Veridian III. Even worse, a fatality had occurred during the battle with a Klingon bird‑of‑prey commanded by the Duras sisters. While they were talking, an official statement was released notifying the United Federation of Planets about the crash of Starfleet’s flagship.

“Who was killed?” Jayme asked her aunt. “Was it . . . Ensign Moll Enor?”

“The name hasn’t been released, pending notification of next of kin.” Before Jayme could insist, her great‑aunt added, “I don’t know, Jayme.”

“How long before you find out?” she asked, feeling frantic inside. “It’s been hours since the crash.”

“As soon as I hear, I’ll call you,” Marley assured her, looking concerned herself.

Jayme managed not to panic as her aunt signed off. Instead, she tried every trick she knew to get hold of Moll via the starship Farragutor one of the other starships assigned to the salvage and rescue of the Enterprisecrew. But over one thousand crewmembers had been on board the Enterprise, and Starfleet was requesting that only family members contact Veridian III.

Later that evening, another cadet poked her head into Jayme’s room, interrupting her efforts. Jayme glanced at the chrono, hardly able to believe that, this time yesterday, Moll and the Enterprisehad been perfectly all right.

“Did you hear?” the cadet asked her.

Jayme was nodding, but the cadet added in a hushed voice, “They’re saying that the crewmember who was killed was someone we know from the Academy.”

Jayme couldn’t even answer, choked with the same foreboding she’d had for weeks, ever since Moll had told her about Jadzia Dax. Dax, an old friend of Moll’s from the Initiate Institute, had been forced to return to the Trill homeworld because of a serious symbiont malady. Jayme had been studying Trill physiology ever since she met Moll, fascinated by the joint humanoid and symbiont species, yet fearful of the many things that could go wrong with the delicate balance.

But this–Moll killed during a battle with Klingons! It was unbelievable. Why, barely four weeks ago they were vacationing in Rahm‑Izad. Jayme kept trembling with suppressed agony and rage, afraid that it would be true, that Moll was . . .

Jayme got on the comm again, determined not to quit until she spoke to someone who could officially confirm that Moll Enor was alive.

Bobbie Ray Jefferson had been on an airboat trip for a few days with friends, cruising down the Canadian River, when he returned to his parents’ environmental bubble‑spread in the Texas panhandle. The bubble‑spread overlooked the vivid blue waters of gorgeous Lake Meredith, reflecting the endless sky overhead. As he tried to find his parents among the crowd, he overheard guests talking about James T. Kirk, killed on Veridian III at the same time the Enterprisehad crashed.

It was easy to pick out his mother, the only Rex among a group of humans seated near the fireplace. Her fine, golden brown fur was covered with a hooded cloak, and she towered head and shoulders above her friends as she gracefully held court.

“Darling,” his mother called, gesturing him closer. This bubble was having a gentle snowstorm, but for once she didn’t seem bothered by the way his dirty shorts and tank top clashed with the decor. “You know people on that starship, don’t you?”

“Sure,” he agreed, knowing his mother loved having ac direct connection to things. “Three members of my first Quad‑”

“That must be a record!” she exclaimed, looking at the others as she made her point. Her long fingernails were painted bronze, complementing the dark fur around her face. “ Threemembers.”

“Sure, Moll Enor, Nev Reoh, and Hammon Titus.”

One of the guests, a young Kostolain who had been trying to catch his eye, asked, “Aren’t you worried about your friends?”

“On the Enterprise?”Bobbie Ray countered, laughing at the idea. “What’s to worry about?”

“But it crashed,” she insisted, smiling now that she had his attention.

“It’s still the Enterprise,”he reminded her. “It’s built like a brick . . .” His mother’s disapproving eyes made him think better of finishing the sentence. “Look, Mom,” he continued, more decorously. “The only thing that’ll happen is that Titus, my old roommate, will bore everyone sick with his stories. I would have been on the Enterprise, too, if I had gotten that field assignment–”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” his mother assured him, shuddering.

“They’ll probably build another Enterprise,”Bobbie Ray told the Kostolain. “It’ll be in commission by the time I graduate.”

“I’m sure you’ll serve on it someday,” his mother blithely contradicted herself, completely missing the interplay going on between him and the Kostolain. “You always distinguish yourself, darling.”

Bobbie Ray grinned to himself as he left the group, swiping some meat puffs on his way out. He and his mother might as well speak two different languages, but he couldn’t get upset, knowing that he would never have gotten into Starfleet Academy without his parents’ connections in high places. Even though his family had accepted the local customs and he had been born on Earth–in Texas, in fact–he still needed a high‑ranking Starfleet officer to vouch for him, since the scattered Rex population had never joined the Federation.

Bobbie Ray knew he could have stayed and charmed the Kostolain a while longer, but in spite of his assurances, he wanted to find out exactly what had happened to the Enterprise.s He knew it was dangerous sometimes being in Starfleet, but that was the trade‑off you made for living life more intensely. He had already seen it and experienced it for himself during his field assignments. The people in Starfleet were getting more from every moment than anyone else in the galaxy, and he was glad to be part of that.

Starsa found out about the Enterprisewhile she and some fellow cadets were backpacking through the six inhabited planets of the Rigel system. They all heard the news shortly after disembarking from their transport, standing in the Stargazer Lobby of Starbase 34 with their gear piled haphazardly around them.

Starsa, like the others, quickly accessed the communiquйs waiting for them at the starbase. Jayme hadn’t sent a message, which was strange. Usually Starsa got all her inside information from Jayme, who would surely know the identity of the crewmember who had died on board the Enterprise.

Starsa couldn’t stop thinking about Nev Reoh’s last message (they arrived like clockwork every month, ever since he had graduated a year ago). He had mentioned he might transfer to a post at Starfleet Academy at the beginning of the school year. Starsa couldn’t understand why the Bajoran wanted to leave the best ship in Starfleet, and she hadn’t answered him. Now that she thought about it, she hadn’t answered the past few communiques. Reoh was much better at sustaining their friendship than she was.

Without waiting to find out where her companions would be staying on Starbase 34, she ran to find a comm so she could send Reoh a message. Every nice thing the older cadet had ever done for her flooded back–helping with her science assignments, taking care of her when she had acclimation sickness, and explaining why Riker and his girlfriend got upset when she wandered into his room to watch them. She had thought they were just wrestling–how was she to know any different?