All Ahead Full

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Star Traks: Waystation
Episode name All Ahead Full
Season Stardate 57---
Episode number 2
Writer(s) Alan Decker
Year 2380
Stardate 57115
Chronology
Previous in series Lost The Way
Next in series Short End Of The Stick
Previous in timeline Lost The Way [WAY]
Next in timeline When The Music Stops [VEX]


President Bradley Dillon is back, a new doctor is on the way, and an unwelcome guest from the USS Explorer is trying to become a permanent resident. These are the days when Captain Lisa Beck wishes Starfleet wasn't so picky about who she was allowed to kill.


Summary

As Captain Lisa Beck is attempting to defuse an argument in her office between Baughb and Mr. Auditmi, she is interrupted by a comm from Fleet Admiral Nosira Ra'al informing her that President Bradley Dillon is no longer missing and will be returning to Waystation the next day. Since Bradley commandeered Starfleet resources to travel back in time for unknown reasons, Ra'al no longer trusts him and orders Beck to keep tabs on Bradley and send Ra'al weekly reports. Beck is less than thrilled at the idea.


The next day, Beck and Lieutenant Commander Craig Porter have just enough time to greet their new Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Diantha, who is from an avian species known as the Keetooans, before they have to race off to meet President Dillon and the officers from the USS Explorer who are with him. Beck tries to ask Bradley about what happened to him, but Bradley puts her off, saying that he will explain everything in a speech to the Federation soon.


Lieutenant Commander Sean Russell finds Diantha to be difficult to deal with. She's cranky and rude and then she ends up frightening several guests in the arboretum when she attempts to use it as a place to fly. When Russell stops her, she tells him that she will be taking the issue up with the captain. The next morning, Beck learns that not all of the USS Explorer officers left the station. Counselor Kelly Peterman has remained on board and wants the post of Waystation's counselor, which has been vacant since Counselor Ray Miller left. Knowing that Peterman will probably just go over her head anyway, Beck gives her the counselor post. As soon as Peterman leaves, Diantha storms into the office demanding a place to fly. Beck tells her that she will work on it.


Bradley learns that several members of the Federation Council (several members who don't like him) have formed a committee to investigate his jaunt into the past. Bradley cancels his speech and instead has his aide line up the networks to broadcast his meeting with the council members saying that if they want to have an inquisition, they can do it in front of a live Federation audience. Later that day, Russell and Diantha have another run-in, this time because she is flying around Starfleet Square Mall. Again Diantha says that she will be discussing matters with Captain Beck.


The next morning Peterman visits Beck in her office again and asks the captain about Bradley Dillon. Peterman tells Beck that Bradley went back in time out of love for Leximas but now he's acting like nothing happened. Beck informs her that Bradley may be a little preoccupied due to the inquest by the Council committee scheduled for that afternoon. Peterman quickly leaves and immediately Diantha enters to complain about being evicted from the mall. Beck tells her that she will work something out to allow Diantha to fly in the mall airspace.


During the inquest, Bradley reveals that he was sent into the past by the Directors, which completely stuns the committee members, who assumed that Bradley had been acting out of the desire for personal gain. Peterman interrupts, insisting that Bradley did it all for Leximas, which Bradley denies. The Waystation command crew watching from Ops laugh at this idea, except for Commander Walter Morales. Peterman is removed, and the inquest soon ends.


Beck informs Fleet Admiral Ra'al that she won't be spying on Bradley anymore. Morales goes to see Bradley and tells the president that he lied for Bradley today. Morales remembers a conversation he and Bradley had about lost loves a few years earlier, so believes that it all really was about Leximas. Instead of saying what he knew, Morales remained silent. Bradley tells Morales that he owes Morales a favor. This doesn't improve Morales' mood.

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Also Featuring

Author's Comments

Obviously this story is the flip-side of Station Keeping from Vexed Year Seven, but when I wrote "Station Keeping," I had absolutely no idea that I was going write this story. At the time my thought was that I would either post a link to "Station Keeping" in the middle of this run to explain Bradley's return or just skip it entirely and mention it in passing in the next story. As I got to work planning this run, though neither option really felt satisfying. "Station Keeping", while it is set on Waystation and involves the crew, isn't about the crew. That's when I decided to write about the events from their perspective and show the bits that weren't described in the first story. Of course, this would have been a heck of a lot easier if I had written "Station Keeping" with that in mind. Instead, I had to basically deconstruct that story and figure out where I could fit in the ideas I had for "All Ahead Full." Again, pre-planning is the way to go. If you look at the Next Federation Arc in Lost Years, this is a place where I actually did some of that planning in advance. Rydell, Dillon, and Hawkins see Agents Samantha Dallas and Batyn from The Traks Files run by in one scene. It took me another couple of years to write the Traks Files story that got to the same place, but I knew where I was going. The pieces had already been laid out. Either way, it's difficult, but this Waystation story was definitely more of a pain than that was.


As for Dr. Diantha, we haven't really seen any Avians in Trek, so I thought it'd be fun to show one. Besides, I exhausted all of my fish jokes with Batyn, so it's time to move on to bird jokes. Only the best for you all.


Links

All Ahead Full