[FANFICTION] INTRODUCTION TO THE "WHAT IF: A STAR TREK SERIES" PROJECT

What If: A Star Trek Series is a series of stories sets in the time span seen between Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager (plus the TNG films related).

During the events narrated through the various stories that will be set in the series, we will see old and new faces: beside Jean-Luc Picard and William T. Riker from TNG, Benjamin Sisko and Kira Nerys from DSN, Kathryn Janeway and Chakotay from VOY, with their respective crews, new characters (created ad hoc for the series) will make their appearances, with major or minor roles during the events that'll take place from 2369 onward. Roles and importance that’ll change with the events and necessity of the moment.

One of the original characters created for What If: A Star Trek Series is Starfleet Officer Eva Ferrari, an Italian woman, born in Italy in 2348, who attended Starfleet Academy between 2365 and 2369, before sign for a two-year project as test pilot at the Zefram Cochrane Space Flight Center on Earth.

Other than her, we have the Andoran Chaan Thissen ch'Vatross, a year older than Ferrari and one of the members of the testing squad at the Zefram Cochrane alongside the woman; the French human Nicolas Rouest, a young Cadet who also served for a while with Ferrari and ch'Vatross on Earth; the Caitian male R'Mau, XO aboard the Europa (one of the first Sovereign-class starships launched in early 2370s) and CO of the Leonidas (one of the new Ares-class starships); and oh so many other characters who, I dearly hope, will enrich the beta canon of Star Trek.

Every piece of the puzzle will be insert in a sort of sub-series (The Zefram Cochrane Space Flight Center; The Gamma Quadrant Exploration; The Dominion Cold War; The Dominion War; Project Prometheus, Project Pathfinder and the U.S.S. Prometheus; Aboard Voyager; The U.S.S. Excalibur: the first command and the final frontier).

The stories will be not written in chronological order, so you may find yourself aboard Europa exploring the Gamma Quadrant and, in the following story, witness the fall of the Dominion or the critical operation performed by Bashir to save the Dax symbiont, Jadzia and Eva Ferrari herself.

But it doesn't end there! In fact, two prequels (a series of one-shots titled The Europa's Legacy and a series of short stories under the name of Starfleet Academy) will be developed as soon as possible: in The Europa's Legacy we will see the various iterations of the NCC-1648 from the 23rd century and the Klingon War to its latest incarnation, the Sovereign-class, shortly before its destruction by the Dominion forces at Qu’Vat. In Starfleet Academy, on the other hand, we will see some of the adventures experienced by Starfleet Officer Eva Ferrari during her four years at the Academy, thus delving into the character's past, right up to her taking up her post at the Zefram Cochrane.

I hope you'll enjoy the reading!