The beginning

Admiral's log, February 17, 2161. My first mission as a flag officer is a bittersweet one. I am to bring Enterprise home, to be decommissionned. For ten years, Enterprise was my home. Not just an assignment, not just a tool of our mission... she was a home for all of us. Most of our family have already left the nest. Maybe it's time for me to move on just as well. Yet I feel that this is not the end... it's a new beginning. Coalition talks are going nicely, something big is coming. A more perfect union for a more perfect future. All I hope for is that the world'll remember that at the forefront of the future, there was a small ship that boldly went where no Human has gone before. This is the final entry of Jonathan Archer, commanding officer of the starship Enterprise.

Enterprise returned to Earth on February 17, 2161. A few months later, the United Federation of Planets was charted. This great union continues to grow, bound for the future.

Jonathan Archer was appointed Admiral and Chief of Starfleet Outbound Missions. He married Hoshi Sato a few years later, something that came as a great surprise to the old NX-01 crew. Archer later said that it was a surprise for them as well. Hoshi continuted to develop the Linguacode Matrix, her efforts earned her both the Nobel Prize and the Zee Magnees Prize. Jonathan later moved toward politics, becoming Federation President in 2185. He lived long enough to see the launch of the first Federation starship named Enterprise, commissionned under the number NCC-1701.

Trip Tucker remained the Captain of Intrepid throughout the remainder of his Starfleet carreer. After the NV class was phased out, he resigned his commission and continued his life as a civilian engineer. Many of his designs were implemented in future starship generations, including the venerable Constitution class. Trip married T'Pol and the two moved to her ancestral home on Vulcan.

T'Pol was appointed Captain of Endeavour NX-06, soon to be re-commissioned as USS Endeavour NCC-06, one of the two surviving NX class starships. Her exploration and diplomatic missions helped to define the methodology of the new Federation Starfleet. After her marriage to Trip Tucker, she remained on Starfleet's reserve roster.  They had two children, T'Mir and Lorian.

Malcolm Reed was appointed the Captain of the USS Pioneer. He played a crucial role in what became known as the Great Integration, the largest sharing of technology in known history. The Pioneer's advancements with Vulcan, Andorian and Tellarite technology paved the way of newer ship designs. Malcolm was later given command of the USS Samsara, the second Bellflower class explorer.

Travis Mayweather served as Reed's first officer before being given his own ship, the freshly refitted Daedalus class USS Exeter. Following the path of his mentor Jonathan Archer, Travis became an explorer and diplomat, establishing first contact with numerous species, expanding the Federation. His settling of the Kanassan Civil War earned him legendary status in that region of the Galaxy.

Phlox went on to become Starfleet's first Surgeon General. He returned to Denobula to continue his research and to finally spend time with his large extended family. He had sixteen children and, as he put it, more grandchildren he could ever count.

The NX program was declared a major success and discontinued a few weeks before the founding of the Federation. After ten years of exploration and war, Enterprise was decommissioned. She was restored to her original appearance, with most of her advanced components transplanted into T'Pol's USS Endeavour. Admiral Archer chose this ship as the Federation's first flagship, partly because he felt that Enterprise continued to live on this way. The Endeavour became the first of the post-War Columbia fleet, following the technological and spiritual path of Enterprise. The NX-01 was preserved as a museum ship and was declared the Federation's first Historical Landmark. Her legacy lives on, in the name, deeds and that unexplainable sense of hope that is the USS Enterprise.

Models by me
Moon rendered in Terragen, Earth rendered in 3DS Max