Star Trek: Production, a behind the scenes view of the process that has brought Star Trek: Exodus from the pages of a fan fiction archive on the internet to the small screen. This story is written by Hideout Writer, with the permission of RobertCanary, the creator of Star Trek: Exodus. Star Trek is owned by Paramount Studios, and any recognizable names belong to whoever they belong to. This writer is simply fooling around on the keyboard, making no profit from this venture.

Everything depicted here is fictional, and bears little to no account on real life. With that in mind, please enjoy this story.

The young man was twenty years old, and looking for work. One would think that practitioners of magic should be able to find work a bit easier than this, but it couldn't be helped. The rules were the rules, and he had to abide by them. At least he was able to keep food in his stomach, and stay warm at night. The same couldn't be said for an unfortunate number of others who existed in the dark places in the cities.

With a sigh, he sat down at the computer, and went to fan fiction. He had met someone online who was writing some Star Trek stories, two of which currently used characters he had created. In the dark recesses of his mind, an idea began to form, and after kicking it around, he decided to chase it. The idea was simple: produce Star Trek: Exodus as a television series.

He sent an email with an arcane tracer in it, and waited. Twelve seconds later, he pulled out a world map, and picked up a small crystal on a chain. He swung the chain several times, to get the rhythm going, and then swung it over the map. He methodically swept the area, and came upon California. He went to his collection of state maps, and performed the search again. This led to an even closer map, which showed major streets. Pulling up Google maps, he printed out a page, and circled one final time. The crystal landed on a street address, and he entered the query on the computer. Once he had a solid image of where he wanted to be, he closed his eyes and concentrated.

For several brief moments, he saw the universe, in it's entirety, before his vision became distorted. When it cleared again, he was near the street. He was half a mile away, hidden under an arrival cloak, designed to hide his appearance. It would quickly dissipate as he left his landing spot, so he waited for a moment, conjuring a Starfleet jacket from the Voyager era of Star Trek, and a black fedora. The jacket was obviously not standard Starfleet, as the shoulders were a stunning shade of emerald green. The black slacks and shoes were already Federation uniform-compliant, and he began walking, casting a minor notice-me-not so that people wouldn't notice him appearing out of nowhere.

He was approaching the address when his notice-me-not charm finished fading away, though nobody really seemed to take any greater notice of him.

At his knock, the door opened after a few seconds. His head was bowed slightly, to keep the rain from dripping down the back of his shirt, and he imagined that he looked somewhat dangerous.

"Can I help you?" he asked warily.

"Yes, I'm looking for RobertCanary?"

"That's me." came the reply. "Please just call me Robert though."

"Very well. My name is Alex, though I've also been known as Hideout Writer, you are using a few of my characters, specifically, Amaranth, Ajax, and Stratton Briggs." Alex said.

"You might as well come in, it's cold out here." Robert said.

"Thank you." Alex replied, entering.

They sat down in a comfortable living room, and Robert turned to Ajax. "So, what is it you want?" he asked.

"Well, I'm looking to turn 'Exodus' into a TV show, with your permission, of course." Alex replied.

Robert's eyebrows went up. "Okay…" he said, drawing out the word. "How do you intend to do that?"

Alex shrugged noncommittally. "Magic." he replied carelessly.

"You can do magic?" came an excited voice.

Alex and Robert turned to look at the newcomer. "Now is not the time." Robert said gently. "Daddy is in a very important meeting right now."

Alex smiled at the youngster, and casually conjured a flower, which he handed to the child. "Run along now." he said, before turning back to Robert. "I intend to produce one season, and deliver it to Paramount, at one quarter the standard price for a season, as a trial. If they like it, we can continue. If not, I'll be forced to find another project to work on."

"What's your budget?" Robert asked.

"Unrestricted." Alex replied. "I've got the ability to come up with working props at a moment's notice. Basically, you'll be the main writer, with me occasionally doing scenes, but for the most part, I'll be directing and producing."

"So…what do you need?" Robert asked.

"Your permission, for starters." Alex said, opening a slim leather file case. He shuffled through the papers for a moment. "Ah, here we go. If you would simply sign here and here. This is your copy, and this is my copy, for legal purposes in the unlikely event of a disagreement between us."

"Unlikely is right." Robert muttered.

"As far as I'm concerned, this is your thing." Alex said. "I'm just doing the heavy lifting. I might write a few scenes, but when it comes down to it, you make the decisions."

"Here I thought I was signing this over to you." Robert chuckled.

"Hardly." Alex scoffed. "I'm doing this as a way to have a job. If it works, I'll be able to get some money out of it, if not," he shrugged. "Better luck next time. Besides, you're the one who started this. I'm just working along side you."

"Works for me." Robert replied, shaking Alex's hand.

"Do me a favor." Alex replied, smiling. "Don't hold back because of me. I want it to look better than the original Star Trek shows."

"I understand." Robert replied, smiling in return.

"Oh, and one more thing…do you want to be a character in Exodus?" Alex asked as he packed his things.

"Are you kidding?" Robert asked. "I'd love to."

"Who?" Alex answered.

"Zeb Macahan." Robert answered.

Alex nodded. "Very well. I want a full write-up for Zeb Macahan, including a picture of the person you would have cast for Zeb. That's all the way from head to toe."

"I'll have it to you within a week." Robert promised.

"Thank you." Ajax replied. He put the fedora back on, and slowly turned to look at the child who he had handed the flower to. He nodded slightly, then touched two fingers to his forehead. A moment later, he had disappeared.

"That was strange…" Robert said. He shrugged, and filed away the contract agreement in a safe place.

_Scene_Break_

Alex reappeared in an alleyway near Paramount Studios, but didn't enter. In fact, he stood there for several minutes, thinking about what he planned to do.

"Who're you?" a gruff voice asked.

Alex slowly turned around, his head still bowed to keep the rain from getting under his clothes. "I'm nobody you need to worry about…" he said, his voice slurred and spaced out.

"How much money you got, fancy-pants?" the voice asked, a sneer mixing with the gruff tone.

"Not enough for you to get a breath-mint." Alex replied. "Which you really, desperately, need. Goodbye." he said, his voice suddenly crisp.

"Oh, no. You aren't going anywhere." with that, the owner of the voice stepped into view. He was rough, and anybody could tell he was bad news. "Yer gonna give me that nice jacket of yours, and I might let you go free."

Alex smiled. "Good luck with that, stranger."

The roughneck pulled a rather large handgun, and Alex's hands went up. "That's what I thought." the roughneck smiled. His eyes narrowed as Alex didn't raise his right hand all the way, instead, two fingers touched his forehead, and just like that, he was gone, without a trace.

Alex appeared in his living room, and got out his maps, zeroing in on the northern regions of Europe. He obtained a local location, though not as precise, but chose not to pursue it, instead, he returned to his computer. The clock indicated that it was late, approximately nine thirty in the evening. Any contact he wished to find in Northern Europe would have been asleep. He opened a word document, and began putting together a character profile. Having written with the character for quite a while, Alex found the task easy to do, and had the profile completed and polished by ten.

He printed it out, and found a fresh manila folder. On the front, he stenciled the name 'Amaranth' as well as such terms as 'for production use'.

One of the pages was a full page picture, printed on glossy photograph paper. In the picture, an emerald green dragon was landing on a small hill, it's head somewhat turned to face the point of perspective. The colors of the sky indicated that the sun was setting, though it was behind the perspective. The sunlight created a dazzling sparkle effect on the scales of the dragon. Somehow, despite the presence of the dragon, the entire scene appeared to be peaceful.

Alex smiled as he placed the various pages into the manila folder, then placed the folder in the leather file case. With plans for the next day already whirling through his mind, Alex retired to his bedroom for a good night's sleep.

A/N: It is my hope that this idea…this story, will be well-received by it's target audience. I'm placing this under Harry Potter, because of the magic, but it's not really gone into very much. As for Star Trek, this went to TNG because…Star Trek, that's why.