Farewell to Trek on TV, Hello to Trek the way I thought it should be.

Back in the day, I used to design my own Star Trek ships. Before the Next Generation, in between even numbered movies, I designed my first ship. A three-engined saucer section. I called it a "Dutchman" class, like the Flying Dutchman ghost ship of legend. I still have the print out from the awkward attempt I made at drafting the image on my old Apple II. Named after mythological warriors, the flagship was the Agamemnon.

When I heard that Voyager was ending, and that they were trying to figure out what the next series would entail, I had the perfect idea. In fact, I'm still convinced that it would have been an incredible series. I wanted to see the Trek universe from outside of Starfleet. I wanted to get inside the heads of people who weren't associated with the Federation government. I had it all worked out.

I never found quite the right name for it, though. Essentially my idea was to take a Federation trained pilot, and get him out of the Federation. William J. Durburough. "Wild Bill". Ex-Peregrine pilot. Joins a merchant crew transporting... well... anything. In the pilot episode, he and the crew find themselves shipless, looking for a new berth, when a Romulan offers them a ship, and a trade route inside the Empire. Normally, Will would jump at the chance, but it just doesn't feel right. Enter Will's brother, Christian. Starfleet Intelligence. He sees Will's situation as a chance to get more information on what the Romulans are up to at any given time. I thought this had everything. Intrigue, espionage, smuggling, adventure, economics. The possibility of romance. But then again, maybe it would never have worked. Roddenberry always said that there was no grease in Star Trek. Maybe that's the way it should be. But I'll always wonder what I could have done with that situation. I've tried writing it out as a short story, but never really been able to make it work, because I always felt that it had to take place outside the Trek universe (no grease, remember), and getting the right situation without referring too obviously to Romulans, Cardassians, the Federation, etc. always seemed too difficult.

I don't know. Star Trek: Prodigal would have been a cool name. And I always wanted to be connected with something that took on a life of its own, something that I felt would outlast me, catch the imagination of people.

Maybe with a little distance from the source material, I'll be able to get that down the way I want to. But I'll always remember that it was Trek that put the idea there in the first place.