A small star, only a few hours into its artificial life, was already in its final death throes. Its nuclear fuel dwindling, gravity slowly gained the upper hand in the internal tug-of-war against the star's fusion process, and the star shrank. Finally, ignited by the incredible core pressure, the star exploded in a magnificent supernova, spraying heavy elements and neutrinos into the cosmos.
A day later, and in the privacy of his quarters, Admiral Pike watched his small desktop viewer in morbid fascination as it replayed the artificial star created by Kira Markos blew itself to subatomic smithereens, taking the two Kelvan Battle Planets with it. He knew thousands of Kelvans were killed in that blast, but he stolidly refused to allow himself to feel any sympathy for them. They had after all, been bent on enslaving the entire Galaxy.
The *Ronin* was currently holding station at the outer fringe of the subspace devastation caused by the Omega Bomb, and had every sensor system -- plus a few invented just for the occasion by Lieutenant Wang -- focused at the heart of the disturbance. So far, there was no sign whatsoever that any Kelvans had survived. Everyone was relieved at that, seeing as how they were fresh out of Omega Bombs.
Still -- and Pike was annoyed with himself for having these misgivings in light of their apparent success -- the entire campaign had seemed somehow... too easy. While on his old ship, the *Knight*, he and his crew had been subjected to an elaborate illusion test concocted by the Talosian race. In this test, the *Knight* had faced off with only a single Kelvan Planet, and had managed to stop them only after the Kelvans had ravaged half the Alpha Quadrant, and even then, only by sacrificing themselves in a last desperate suicide run. This time though, the *Ronin* stopped the Kelvan invasion of *two* Battle Planets, and without herself being destroyed.
Just then, a light knock at his door interrupted his thoughts. Grateful for the reprieve, Pike switched off the recording still looping on his small viewer and called, "Enter." As he suspected, Jamie Piper walked in. He smiled to himself. Somehow, whenever his thoughts was in danger of growing overly morose, he could always count on his faithful assistant to knock on his door, or barge into the room, or otherwise save him from himself. It was as if she knew somehow.... Pike was unaccustomed however, to see her as she appeared now -- *not* carrying an armful of PADDs. This must be a special occasion thought Pike.
Piper stopped just inside the door and held it open with the palm of her hand. "I just wanted to remind you, Admiral," she said with that sweet voice of hers. "The party's starting in the forward lounge."
"Hm? Oh, yes," he said. He had in fact, completely forgotten about the victory party, but he wouldn't admit that to Piper. He had to maintain the illusion that he could think for himself at least a *little*! Instead, he just said, "I'll be there in a few minutes, Miss Piper."
"Aye sir," said Jamie, and stepped back out of the doorway. Just before the panel slid shut, Pike caught a glimpse of her facial expression, and knew that he hadn't fooled her for a second. "Women...," he muttered.
A few minutes later, Pike strolled into the forward lounge. The place was already crowded with happy, celebrating officers. The stress of the last two weeks had been so intense, that they'd wasted no time getting the party started now that the danger was over. Through the crowd, he saw Ming and Markos standing with Ryan and Karissa, holding drinks and talking, and Talsmin was weaving around the room with a drink of his own, talking to anyone and everyone.
He went over to the counter and ordered a sarsaparilla from the bartender, then went over to join them. The Kelvans were gone -- it was time to celebrate!