Star Trek: The voyages of the USS Apollo

Chapter Twenty Nine: Integration

September 17th 2412

"Rear Admiral's Log: Star Date 389288.144. It's been two days since two Acadian refugee ships chose to join us in our journey home. Initially there weren't enough qualified people on both the Sanctuary and the Exodus to fully man all of the ships. But we found a nascent colony on an L Class planet consisting of ten thousand or so Acadians. We managed to recruit some of them to the Fleet and now all five ships are fully manned. However the entire assembled Crews of all ships is now one thousand two hundred and sixty people and one thousand one hundred and fifty eight of them are Acadians. While this has caused some worry among the Fleet, many are confident that the integration can work. Much like the Maquis and Starfleet integration on the U.S.S Voyager during their long journey through the Delta Quadrant."

Onboard the now U.S.S Sanctuary, young Acadian children aged five to eight were being taught by the ship's Elder about the days before "The Great Departure." In which the Acadians were forced to leave their beloved home world after it was invaded by the Cardassians Empire. The Elder turned a page in the circle shaped book and read from it "For thousands of years our people had looked up at the stars and seen them as gods. But as we became smarter and more knowledgeable, we realised that there had to be people living among the stars who were like us. So we sought to reach for the stars and meet those people." The children listened intently as the Elder spoke. From the window in the wall of the classroom and in the hallway on the other side, Rear Admiral Rivers looked on at the children and said "I wonder how these kids will fare in a Federation school?" Captain Jakoro stood next to Ethan, now in full Starfleet uniform and sharing similar concern as he said "Well it will be a big adjustment for them. They've been raised on this ship their whole lives and will finally be able to live on a planet like we always said." Ethan looked at the children with great concern in his heart. These children had been forced to live on the Sanctuary ever since Acadia was invaded by the Cardassian Empire and they had only been on a planet every few weeks or so whenever the ship had landed to get as many resources as they could before headed for the next planet to try and build a colony. It had been hard for them. But at least they would finally find a permanent home after crossing the Bajoran Wormhole.

As Ethan thought about what planet the Acadians could settle on, his com badge let out a small beeping noise as the voice of Lieutenant Toral Laren said "Rear Admiral. A few Acadian members of the Crew have set up a game on the holodeck that I think you should see." Ethan pressed his com badge and said "Alright then. Describe it to me." Laren then answered "They set up a kind of tower with collapsible platforms and have to get to the top as fast as possible. It appears that every platform they jump onto earns them a point and whoever earns the most points wins." Upon hearing Laren mention the details of the game, Captain Jakoro recognised it and said "Rear Admiral. That sounds a lot like a tower race. It was a very popular sport back on Acadia before the invasion." From the holodeck on the Apollo, Laren heard Jakoro say that the game was popular and said "Well it does seem popular. About half of the Acadian Crewmen who aren't on duty are either playing, or just enjoying watching. By the way I think that Ensign Carlaya is gonna win." Ethan had a slight smile on his face as he said "Well in that case why don't we come over and watch?" Laren smirked and said "Yeah. Watch me beat the rest of these people in the next round." Ethan chuckled and said "Alright then. I'll see you there."

The holodeck was abuzz with activity as many Acadians were inside enjoying a tower race. The game had been very popular on Acadia before the Cardassian Empire invaded and had now become a huge morale boost for the Crew. The holodeck had been made to show a forest with huge mushrooms for trees and at the centre of the clearing was a hexagonal tower that had platforms built around it. Acadian men and women had to jump from platform to platform and with every platform they jumped onto, they earned points and whoever got the most points won. The platforms started with ten points and when a person jumped onto them, they had ten seconds before it collapsed and with every second that passed, another point would be deducted from the platform. Once they jumped to another platform, they would earn however many points were left on the small panel and the panel would reset to ten when someone new jumped onto it. In total there were ten platforms and one hundred possible points in total. Around the tower many Acadians were cheering the contestants on and many Human members of the Crew had come to watch the tower race.