Memoirs of a Fallen Age

[Ziona]

Prologue

I remember looking up at the stars at night, sighing at their beauty, and wondering, " Will I ever be there with them? Exploring the reaches that are beyond human understanding a knowledge?" I remember those days as a child, sitting on the front porch on a breezy summer night, thinking of how wonderful it would be to be free and... and lost up there in the sky. I would sit there for hours, watching as comets flew by. I remember wondering what it would be like to pilot a Starfleet ship up there in the heavens. And I would always wonder, " what would I find? Who else is up there?"

Those were days so much more innocent than the days I live now. I can't help but sigh and wonder " where did those days go" when I think back on them. Why was I so ignorant? Why did I dream so much? Why was it me who was destined to be a Starfleet captain?

Such questions have tasked my mind for years upon years... they have worn me down to... to nothing. But I still am who I am. A Starfleet captain. And I still quest for that peace I felt when I was a child, staring up at the skies and wondering how it would feel to be up there with them, dancing in the heavens and looking down on Earth.

What I would give to be a child once more. So easy to be pleased. So easy to be content. So easy to be happy. What I would give to be carefree once more... to lay down on the porch one breezy summer night and watch the stars dance in the distance, and wonder what it would be like to be lost in the heavens.


~Memoirs of a Fallen Age: Captain Ziona~

[Ziona]

"You still look at the stars, don't you?" My father chided me from the front porch, his arms crossed on his chest. I did not turn to look at him from my spot in the grass, staring up at the summer sky. " What do you find so interesting about them? They're only stars."

" You've been up there, dad." I spoke carefully, rolling onto my stomach to watch my father.

My father always impressed me, even though I saw him most every day. He was tall, with black hair and dark eyes. He reminded me a lot a man I long remembered and respected. He reminded me a lot of Commander Chakotay of the USS Voyager. I still remembered the day that the Voyager made it home. I remember it even though I was but five years of age.

I was eighteen now. And more than anything else I wanted to do what my father did... discover the stars and dance among them in the heavens. My father was an Honorary Commander in the Starfleet ranks, working as an ambassador between the Klingon's and Starfleet. My mother was also a Starfleet officer; a great counselor on the USS Rakien. I hardly saw her. I hardly knew her. I just knew she was on a ship, traveling through the great expanse of heaven.

I want to be there. Traveling through the unknown... learning new things... experiencing new alien races. A sigh escaped my lips and my father looked puzzled for a moment.

There was a silence between us, only broken by the whipsering of the winds and the crickets singing their sad songs. He opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it and closed his mouth again. I stared at him, our dark eyes clashing and I waited... I knew he had something to say.

" You don't want to be up there." He finally spoke. " I know you think you do, but it isn't the life for you." He seemed hesitant to speak such words. I simply watched him. " It is dangerous up there. Too dangerous for you. I don't want something to happen to you."

" You let mother go into the stars again." I spoke carefully. A sadness came over his face and for a moment his eyes left mine.

" I don't have a choice in that matter, Ziona. I wish I did. She does as she pleases, and there is nothing in this world that is going to stop her from that." At this he turned on his heel and headed into our small house. I watched him as he closed the door. For a moment I was silent.

But the stars began to call my name again and I turned my eyes to the skies, searching them, wondering where my mother was and what she was doing. Did she ever think of me? Did she ever think of returning to us? It had been seven years since I last saw my mother. She had left when I was eleven and she had never returned. I didn't really miss her. I hardly remembered her.

I scowled slightly and watched as a comet shot through the sky.

~~~

It was later that month that we recieved the news. It was later that month that my mother's body was returned to us. It was later that month that we buried her. It was later that month that my father took his own life. And it was later that month that I turned to Starfleet and began the journey towards the Admiral that I am today.



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