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Post by thevidiot on Nov 22, 2015 20:33:35 GMT -5
STAR TREK: Dark Angel The So'koth Chronicals "Bad Dreams - Altered Reality"
A short story by Daniel Ratterree
“Hello Captain, it’s been a long time!” Admiral Paris sat silhouetted by a star field, holding a Padd in hand. Much like So’koth had seen it before the Admiral’s desk was as usual piled high with Padd’s. One of the big reasons So’koth never wanted to make Admiral.
“Admiral Paris, to what do I owe the pleasure?” he said shifting in his own office chair. He looked past the monitor on his desk toward the door then back to his screen.
The admiral shifted and tossed a Padd on the desk causing a cascade of noise. “Time is precious Captain, I have a mission for you and your crew. I’m forwarding on a classified sealed set of orders to you, they are for your eyes only.” He shifted to stand and the camera panned with him as he walked around his disaster of a desk and toward the exit of his office. “Time is of the essence on this one, can I count on you?”
“Yes, Admiral!” he said noting the arrival of his orders. “You can always count on us!” he said in a sort of matter of fact tone. The admiral turned looking back toward the camera, his eyebrow raised. “Of course Captain. Paris out!” he said abruptly causing the screen to blink over to the usual splash screen of Starfleet Command. “Great!” he shifted in his chair and hit the keys to bring up the orders Packet. The scowl on his face made him look as if he had just stuck a lemon in his mouth. He let out a sigh as he hit his Comm Badge. “Captain to the bridge, I’m sending some coordinates to the helm. Change our course and make best possible speed!” he said gruffly. “Bridge here, aye sir. Changing course, best possible speed.” The Officer of the deck called back to him. The name of the man eluded him for the moment. He continued reading his orders. He could feel the ship turning and the surge of the warp core as they ramped it up to full power. The stars which were just lazily swimming by outside his window suddenly jumped and elongated more than they had previously. “ETA is going to be four hours sir at best possible speed.” “Very good, So’koth out!” he said as he leaned back in his chair. “Babysitting duty!” he shook his head allowing his eyes to close. He wasn’t supposed to be on duty technically for another six hours. But who needed sleep during a war! Four hours later… “Bridge to the Captain…” the voice was far away and fleeting. The slight trill of a doorbell made him flinch. He jerked upright in his office chair. Clearly he had fallen asleep. “Come!” he called. The doors parted to his ready room, his Executive Officer crossing the room. “Are you alright boss?” “Yes Nate, just a little tired I guess.” He shifted on his feet eyeing his Captain. “You need me to take this one boss?” He stood slowly stretching his limbs. “No,” he allowed a yawn to escape his lips. “I’m good now!” he moved over to the replicator. “Tea, hot!” he reached in and took the hot drink and started for the door. His executive officer followed him quiet as usual just observing, he had recently promoted the man to this position and so far he had not been mistaken he had met every challenge. He was very happy with this man as his first officer. “Status Report,” he eyed the man in his chair as he approached. “Mr. Phillips!” the name returned to his memory. Perhaps it was the tea, he took a sip from the hot liquid allowing it to work its way down warming him. “We are at stations keeping at the coordinates specified Captain. We arrived about eleven minutes early.” The young officer said vacating the chair. He moved over and dropped into his chair pulling open the console at his right, punching in a code to bring up the communications frequency, then sending it via the ships internal communications system to the Operations officer. “Mia, open a channel to that frequency.” “Aye, sir.” Her hands danced across the console and she nodded to herself. “Channel open!” He stood setting the cup on the arm rest of his chair. “This is Captain So’koth of the USS Dark Angel, we are on station and ready to receive you.” He stood there waiting for a long moment. The answer came as a streak of light snapped into being in front of the ship causing the vessels proximity alarms to go off. “Starfleet High Speed Carrier Calypso here Captain So’koth, we are ready for transport!” “Understood, energize when ready!” “Energizing now.” the vessel on the screen began to orient itself to another course its impulse engines roaring brightly on the screen. “Transport Complete, Thank you Dark Angel, Calypso out!” Just as the transmission ended, the ship disappeared from the screen. The transaction as over in a matter of moments. He turned and looked at his Executive officer. “You have the bridge Mr. Horn!” he said taking up his cup of tea and heading for the turbolift. “Captain?” his executive officer called to him watching him leave. He could hear a slight hint of concern in his first officer’s voice. “What do you want us to do in the meantime?” “I should have further orders in a moment!” he said as the turbolift doors parted to admit him. “I have to see to our visitors. Mia, assign two of the guest quarters to mystery guests one and two for the time being. Meanwhile I’ll go see what Thing one and thing two want us to do!” he said with a grin allowing the doors to close behind him. “Cargo Bay 2!” he said The lift ride was quick, depositing him on his desired deck. He turned a corner and headed right into the cargo bay. There were several new cases and barrels on pallets in the middle of the cargo transporter pad. Two people were hurrying through what he was certain was an inventory. “Welcome aboard!” he said taking a long pull from the tea cup. [/span] |
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Post by thevidiot on Nov 22, 2015 20:35:29 GMT -5
One of the newcomers turned and started toward him. “Professor McNeil,” the woman said as she approached with a hand held out. “Pleasure!” she said shaking his hand then stuffing a Padd into his hand. “Orders!” she said as she turned back toward the pallets. “That will detail what we need and who we will need for assistance.” She turned before pulling the top off another container. “Thank you Captain, your help is invaluable.”
He nodded looking down at the Padd as he adjusted it to see the display. He pressed a thumb to the biometric reader and allowed it to scan his finger and authenticate him. The new orders popped up on the screen. An eyebrow rose as he read through them. He looked up at the scientist and then hit his Com badge. “So’koth to the bridge!” he said.
“Yes Captain!” his first officer called back to him.
“I’m sending you coordinates and a crew roster, please have these individuals report to Cargo Bay 2 on the double. Make for the new coordinates on the double!” he said sending them to the helm.
“Aye Captain, we just got them.”
“The four corners!” someone said in excitement. “Seriously!”
“Yes! Best possible speed!” he said as he closed the channel letting some of his irritation bleed into his voice.
He turned and looked back to the two scientist. “Your requested crewpersons will be along shortly, were on our way to the coordinates!” he said and started back toward the bridge. He stepped into the turbolift which was again surprisingly empty. “Bridge!” he said and as he turned his first officer was standing there causing him to jump, splashing some of the remaining tea on his hand. He let out a curse in Klingon. “Nate! What did I tell you about doing that!” he eyed the man.
“Computer stop turbolift!” he said and the lift began to slow to a stop.
“What is it?” So’koth eyed the man.
Nate waited a long moment before beginning. “The four corners?” he shifted uneasy himself. “You know the last time someone was in there an energetic being attempted to steal a starship!” he paused for a moment considering something. “The great barrier is there for a reason. Not to mention no one has gone back in that place for a long time, I believe the last ship was the Enterprise!”
“Agreed, but were going because our orders say so!” he shook his head. “You know how this works.”
“I know!” Nate said abruptly. “But this is not right, it smells funny!”
So’koth Scowled a moment. “Agreed!” he shifted leaning against the back of the lift now. “So we need to be at our best!”
“Why us? We’re not a science vessel!”
“What makes you think…” he stopped seeing that Nate had the Padd he had previously slid into his pocket. “I hate it when you do that!”
Nate grinned reading the mission notes. “Yes, but I figure that it’s better to ask forgiveness than it is to ask for permission!” he looked up at his Captain and grinned. “But I don’t do either.”
“I don’t know. Perhaps that is why we’re being sent.”
Nate looked up from the Padd and handed it back. “This isn’t going to end well!”
So’koth studied the man for a long moment and the seriousness of the statement his first officer just made as well as the look on his face. “What makes you so sure?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. It just does! I cannot put my finger on it but something is not right here!”
“Computer, Resume!” he said. “We’ll have to look into this deeper.” He stepped out onto the bridge and headed for his ready room. “Call a Staff Meeting of the seniors involved in this project and make sure at least one of the scientist is there!” he said as he disappeared into his ready room.
Settling down he opened up a channel and requested an urgent communique with another of Starfleet’s Admiralty, someone he knew all too well but someone that he knew could answer his questions.
An older woman appeared on the screen she was still in her night cloths. “Admiral Wolfe, I apologize for disturbing you at this hour but it’s urgent I promise I will make this brief!”
“What is it Captain So’koth?” her voice held genuine concern as she settled into a chair.
He shifted in his own. “Are you aware of my current mission?” he asked bluntly.
She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry Captain I’m not!” she said frowning. “Is it something we should be discussing?”
He sighed and shook his head. “No, unfortunately its eyes only.” He shifted again. “I’ve been striving to get us off this detail of missions that Starfleet feels our expertise is good for, the strange and nearly survivable ones and this one has that feel to it. If you’re not read in I cannot discuss it, but perhaps you could look into this for me. I would greatly appreciate it.”
She yawned, and nodded. “Who gave you the orders?”
“Paris!” he said begrudgingly.
“You’ve had a love hate relationship with Paris more than most since you took command of that vessel, so I can understand your trepidation. I will see what I can find out but I cannot promise anything given the nature of the classification. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”
“Thank you Admiral, sorry for waking you.” He looked past the computer to the chronometer.
“Wolfe out!” she said and the screen went blank then splashed up the Starfleet Command Splash Screen. He was seeing these more and more these days.
He settled back into his chair, his mind racing on the technical details of what they were about to attempt to do. Playing with Nucleogenic Particles was not something one did lightly, and they were about to play with more than anyone should. He was trying to wrap his brain around around what they were about to do and in a place that was chaotic at best.
A few hours later…
“Captain, if you have a problem with your orders you should bring them directly to me, not to another member of the brass when you don’t agree with them!” Admiral Paris’s face was bright red, he was fuming mad. Behind him Admiral Wolfe was sitting in a chair watching him pace in front of her and the screen with what was likely his image. “I understand your concerns but Starfleet believe this experiment can have some amazing results and you will follow your orders and do as you’ve been instructed is that clear Captain?” he stopped staring at the screen intently.
“Yes Admiral!” he said, “And if during the course of executing this experiment I should deem it too dangerous to continue?” he asked abruptly. “I have no problem executing my duty Admiral, I’ve demonstrated that time and time again by taking my ship into situations knowing we might not come back without question. But this is something different all together! My ship is not even properly equipped to be doing this sort of experiment yet you have us on this missing of what is deemed upmost importance. Do you see my reservations? This could disable my ship inside an area where a distress signal may not be received.
“Noted! We will take the necessary precautions to have someone in the area to check in on you should you not report in twelve hours after the scheduled start of your testing.” He smiled mockingly. “Feel better Captain?”
So’koth could feel the warmth building in his face as his anger began to grow. “Yes!” he said somewhat sharply. “Thank you Admiral, will that be all?”
“No, when you are finished their come see me!” the image blinked and the screen went blank and then was filled with the Starfleet Command splash screen again.
He chucked one of the Padd sitting on his desk across his ready room causing it to shatter when it hit the wall. There were marks all over that wall where he had done this same routine so many times before. Sure helped keep his desk clean. “Damn!”
He stood up and crossed the room, as he moved out onto the bridge he stopped seeing the blue of the great barrier on the viewscreen. “Mr. Terry!” he said abruptly. “Take us in!” he said as he crossed to his chair.
“Didn’t go well?” Nate asked as he watched his Captain cross the bridge and drop in his chair.
So’koth eyed the man for a long moment and just simply shook his head. “Let’s be on our toes. Let’s record and monitor everything we can. No one’s been in here in over a hundred years.” He said looking back to the viewscreen. “How is our project coming along?”
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Post by thevidiot on Nov 22, 2015 20:37:27 GMT -5
Professor McNeil turned around from the Operations console and smiled. “Were about there, the modifications are working well with your systems we should be right on scheduled when you arrived at the coordinates.” She looked down at a large Padd she was carrying.
“ETA to position?” Nate asked from his usual purchase on the arm of the Tactical Station.
Van looked over his shoulder, “Just a few more minutes and we will be on station!” he said.
“Let do a series of Diagnostics and make sure we have a good baseline on our systems before we begin the test.” SO’koth leaned to the side in his chair. That bad feeling continued to grow in the pit of his stomach.
On the viewscreen a long dead planetoid approached, it was at the center of the turbulent area of space, it was merely a large rock in space. It was at the center of everything, where scientist had theorized the universe began. The marking place for the intersection of each of the four Quadrants that made up their galaxy. “Mia, what can you tell me about that planetoid!” he asked watching it grow closer.
“Strange readings, magnetic fluctuations, oddly it has an atmosphere that can support life but yet no life persists. Not even a microbe. It’s like the planetoid was wiped clean of everything but the base components.” He could hear the intrigue in her voice as she listed off these attributes.
He nodded inwardly, “So nothing remarkable other than that?” he asked quizzically.
“No, not really!”
Professor McNeil turned around from the science station. “Actually, if you perform a subspace resonance scan I believe you will find a different story. If you put it through the filters we’ve applied to your sensor subroutines.” She said with a matter of fact tone.
Mia’s hands flashed across the panel showing her years of experience, “Wow!” she said, and proceeded to put an image up on the viewscreen.
The view changed to what looked like a multispectral analysis, the vibrant colors of waves of subspace energies where converging on the planet, swirling around it much like a black hole would look as it pulled in everything around it. It was spectacular and almost frightening. “What exactly are we seeing here Professor?” he said standing and approaching the helm and operations consoles.
The doctor turned and walked around the bridge to stand next to the viewscreen. “To put it simply the planet is a convergence of known subspace energies that we’ve known existed for a long time, they don’t really affect us accept at warp and only interact with subspace phenomenon. We’ve been trying to find a place where there was enough that we could study it and see if we can get a sample of it, or see where it goes. Probes and other experiments lead us here!” she pointed to the planet.
“Fascinating!” he said, “But how does bombarding this thing with mutagenic particles help?” he was very blunt in asking this question.
She stared at him for a long moment. “It’s the only thing which we can track within the eddies that can tell us how this works, and will allow our scans to pull data. So were going to saturate it with Mutagenic particles so we can see what’s really going on in there.” She started back around the bridge to the Science station. “Shall we begin?”
He turned and looked to his first officer looking for any signs of concern, but got his usual monotone gaze back. “Very well, let’s begin then.” He glanced over at his Helmsman. “Plot us a course away from here just in case something goes wrong.”
“Nothing’s going to go wrong Captain, we’ve already run tests on this to ensure safety!” he heard the professor say.
“Never the less, I’m going to air on the side of caution.” He said.
Nate looked down at his console and then back up to his Captain. “We are in position, and Lynna has sent a rather…” he paused considering his words. “Expressive message since she’s not talking to you currently about this and listening to her requests to not do this letting us know she’s ready and if you damage her ship in any way… “He grinned. “Let’s just say it’s rather explicit!”
So’koth grinned and chuckled. “I don’t doubt it!” he said crossing back to his chair. “Professor, it’s your call!”
She nodded and turned back to her console and began bringing the modifications they installed online, a faint beam of energy could be seen extending from the ship toward the planetoid in the distance. “It will take about four hours for us to saturate the area with enough particles to get any readings back.” She said as she studied the readings on her console.
“Very well, I think I will take this opportunity to go have breakfast then. You alright watching the bridge for a bit?” he looked over at his first officer.
He nodded. “Nothing else to be doing, tell the kids I said hi!”
“Thanks Nate!” he got up and walked to the turbolift disappearing inside.
3 Hours later…
“Captain, were starting to get some readings back. I would like to launch a probe down the planet’s surface to get a second set of readings if that is alright?” the professor asked.
He looked up for a Padd he was reading which was some technical journal on new and up and coming computer modifications and designs. He was always fascinated by such things. “I don’t see any harm in doing so, go ahead!” he nodded to the Nate who was standing over at the Tactical Station. He watched as his first officer nodded as well and launched the probe.
The probed appeared as a silver flash at the bottom of the screen as its engines took it down to the planet, and through the atmosphere. Nate looked across the bridge to the Professor, “Telemetry should be available in two minutes once the probe lands and deploys.” He glanced back down at his station going back to whatever he was up too.
So’koth shifted in his chair, it had been a long day of just normal ship board duties, approving proposals from the Science and Medical divisions, avoiding his wife in engineering, and reading reports, and journals provided by his colleges at Starfleet. He had even gotten a letter from an old friend from the Academy who had recently been promoted to Captain of his own vessel.
The ship shifted under them suddenly, it was subtle but noticeable. Surprisingly no alarms went off but the bridge crew suddenly perked up, he knew each of them was searching for an answer. He didn’t even have to ask.
“Were still holding position!” Van said from the helm.
“No Damage Reported, Sensors are not detecting anything out of the ordinary!” Mia called from her station.
“Ok, then what exactly was that?” he looked to the Professor who was feverishly checking over her readings. “Professor?”
She turned around and began to say something then turned back to her console again. “I’m not sure, I detected a spike in readings from the anomaly but nothing definitive it was barely anything.” She said. The ship surged again, this time much harder.
“Forward momentum, we just moved four thousand Kilometers!” Van said glancing over at his Captain.
“Professor?” So’koth said her name a little more insistant.
“It was a subspace surge!” she said.
“A what?” So’koth said, now crossing over to her station to look over her shoulder.
“Here comes another one!” she said just as the ship swayed as if hit by a wave on the ocean.
“Mr. Terry, get us back into position!”
“That was eleven thousand kilometers!” Van said as he ran his hands across the station. “Reversing to put us back on station.”
“Professor, should we abort this until we can find out what’s causing this?” he said, concern filtering into his voice. “Are we in danger?”
“No, we are not in any danger. The eddies are just surging. They seemed to have calmed down now!” she pointed to the readings showing the last few jumps in subspace activity.
“Mia, run diagnostics let’s make sure everything is functioning as it should. We will continue for now Professor but if this gets out of hand were ending this.” He started to walk back over toward his chair when the rocked again, this time much harder, and it didn’t stop. He caught himself on the railing. “Shut it down Professor! Now!” he stumbled his way over to his chair.
“Captain, were being pulled toward the planet!” Van’s voice was suddenly full of panic.
“Full Reverse Mr. Terry!” Nate said abruptly over the alarms going off.
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Post by thevidiot on Nov 22, 2015 20:39:30 GMT -5
So’koth landed back in his chair only to be tossed from it to the floor as the ship suddenly surged again, sparks shot from a couple of places around the bridge and the lights dimmed.
“Structural integrity is dropping. Inertial dampeners are trying to compensate but there’s something interfering with them!” Mia’s voice called over the klaxons.
“Shut that damn thing off!” SO’koth yelled over the alarms, and suddenly the Klaxon’s stopped.
“I’m trying!” the Professor said as she struggled with the controls.
The light energy wave emanating from the ship suddenly began to grow rather than subside. “Professor, what are you doing” he glanced over at her console. “Mia, shut it down!”
“Van, hard to port, get us out of here now!”
“Power to the navigational deflector is fluctuating Captain!” Mia said.
“I’m trying Captain!” Van said.
The image on the viewscreen began to slowly turn to the port side, the planet slipping away, the energy eddy was somehow tethered as it seemed to bend itself to follow the planet. “Warp speed Mr. Terry!”
“Sir with the deflector compromised we will likely damage the ship!” Van said turning to look back at his Captain.
“Options?” he glanced over at his first officer.
“Launch a couple of warheads back toward the mutagenic field and try and destabilize it, or punch it and take damage!” he grinned. “You know me Captain!”
“Punch it Mr. Terry, Now!” he turned to look forward at the view screen.
“Aye sir, warp one!” he reached up and began to plug in the commands.
“Structural integrity at sixty eight percent and falling!”
“Captain I’m so sorry! I don’t understand what is causing this, it shouldn’t be happening!” the professor was up standing at the rail, pleading.
“Sit down professor, now!” he barked watching the screen. He saw Van’s fingers hit the engage button. Stars on the screen elongated and the ship surged, unlike most times everyone felt it the sudden acceleration and then everyone was tumbling forward as if the ship hit a brick wall.
So’koth picked himself up off the floor coming to his knees, he glanced over and saw the Professor laying against the forward bulkhead, her head was at a very unnatural angle, her eyes were a blank stare. “Medical team to the bridge!” he yelled hitting his com badge. “Mr. Terry, what just happened?”
“Our Warp field has destabilized!” Van said holding his bleeding nose with one hand while working the console with his other.
Mia was settling back into her seat, “Were slipping back toward the planet!” she said. “Structural integrity will collapse in four minutes!” she said watching the numbers tick down quickly on the display.
“Nate, load torpedoes!”
“Captain, I’m detecting a Warp Core breach in progress!” Mia called out.
“Try emergency shut down!” he hit his com badge. “Bridge to Engineering!”
“I’m busy down here right now!” his wives voice angrily called over the open channel.
“I know, get your people out of there, we may have to eject the core!”
She let out a growl, “Over my dead body!” she said and abruptly closed the channel.
“Torpedo’s loaded Captain!”
“Standby, we need to make sure we don’t have to eject the core first that will be enough explosion let alone a salvo of torpedo’s!”
Mia looked back over her shoulder, “Warp Core has been shut down Captain, Switching to Auxiliary power!” the lights on the bridge went out and then just the red emergency lighting came up casting Erie shadows across the bridge.
“Fire!” So’koth said looking over at his first officer who was just waiting for the command.
On the view screen which now showed an aft view, six streaks of blue light jetted away from the aft weapons pod. So’koth’s eyes grew big as he realized his first officer had just launched their remaining compliment of Tri-cobalt warheads. “Nate!” he said glancing at his first officer.
“Wanted to be sure!” he said shrugging.
“By Kahless, we had better survive this!”
“Structural Integrity at thirty percent!” Mia called out.
The bridge light up with a brilliant blue flash of light as the Tri-cobalt devices released their energy between the ship and the planet. Erupting in a ball of expanding angry energy the shockwave hit the ship with a teeth jarring force sending everyone sprawling about the bridge. Consoles erupted, and sparks shot from all over the bridge.
So’koth’s head was spinning as he picked himself up off the floor once again. “Damage Report!” he yelled as he scrambled back to his chair.
He glanced around the bridge watching his crew slowly get up and crawl or hobble to their positions, the bridge was steady despite all that had happened. The viewscreen was telling a different tale, there was an angry rift of boiling energy and gasses in the distance flashing and expanding and contracting.
“Power is fluctuating all over the ship, we appear to be free of th…. “the ship was sudden tugged on again nearly sending everyone from their chairs again. “Power levels are holding, structural integrity is holding at twenty six percent!” Mia called out.
“Impulse power is offline!” Van called out looking up at the viewscreen. “It’s pulling us in!”
“What the hell is that?” So’koth said watching as the ship was pulled around and toward the cloud which now took on the shape of a rift.
Mia looked up from her console, “No idea! I’m getting a null reading from it, it’s like it’s not their!” she shook he head. “I think the sensor grid is damaged!”
“Van, can you steer us out of the way using thrusters?” So’koth asked.
“Captain!” Nates voice called to him from over at the tactical station.
“No Captain, not enough power.”
Nate’s voice conveyed a serious tone. “I know what that is!”
“What?” So’koth looked over at his first officer.
“Better hold onto something!” he said watching it grow closer, gripping his console.
“Mia, divert whatever power you can to structural integrity and internal dampeners!” his finger found the ships intercom. “All hands, brace!”
What came next was almost indescribable. The ship hit the edge of the anomaly and everything seemed to calm down, slow down and began to elongate, words were exaggeratedly long to get out. It was like watching the ships bridge tumble down a hill as the vessel was pulled down the anomaly. Even the feeling of hitting the bridge ceiling, the wall, railing. Everything it was just pain and slow motion but somehow So’koth was able to keep his eyes on the viewscreen. A pin point of light appeared from the bridge blue of the anomaly’s interior, it was yellow and grew quickly. The temperature on the bridge went through the roof suddenly, the sound of warning alarms regarding hull stress tolerances, heat exposure and radiation rang in slow motion.
The ship burst through the yellow bright light and everything snapped back to normal and reality, alarms were blaring the temperature on the bridge was extremely high. Everyone slowly moved back to their stations, the feeling of disorientation was obvious.
“Captain, were registering Warp 9 and decelerating quickly.”
“Warp 9?” he said groggily. Everything hurt.
The ship began to shudder and buck as it decelerated and more to the point, the lack of a navigational deflector working correctly became a clear reality as the sound of micrometeorite’s hitting the ship’s hull started to sound like a light rain building to that of a thunderstorm. “Reverse thrusters!”
“We have no warp field, Navigational deflector is offline!” Mia called.
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Post by thevidiot on Nov 22, 2015 20:41:19 GMT -5
Suddenly the sound of metal stressing filled the air, then what sounded like a bullet as a rock made it through the hull and bridge causing the science station to explode and fire to erupt. The sound of rushing air filled the bridge but only for a moment. “Force fields are in place!” someone called.
Nate’s voice called out over the commotion. “I’m de-pressuring the cargo bays!”
“Good idea!”
“Where leaking drive plasma from the Starboard Warp Nacelle!” Mia called.
“See what you can do about locking that down!”
“Done!” she said quickly. “Where getting reports of hull breaches all over the ship!”
“Close the emergency bulkheads!”
“Aye,” she called out. “Done!” she said seeing that the computer was now registering all the emergency bulkheads were closed.
“Captain!” Van’s voice brought his attention back around to the forward view screen.
Earth was ahead of them and fast approaching. “How,” So’koth shook his head. “Open a channel to Starfleet!”
“Captain, I’m not reading anything on Standard Starfleet channels!” she said.
“What?”
“Nothing!” she said.
“Anything on any frequency?”
She seemed intent on her console for a long moment. “Yes…” she paused looking up at the viewscreen. “This might not be a good thing!”
“What?” he asked.
“Just simple radio and video transmissions. I’m reading a simple satellite network.”
Van looked back over his console then back to Sokoth, “Captain, were not going to slow down in time to achieve orbit or miss!” he said.
He reached up and hit his com badge. “Bridge to engineering!”
“You broke my ship again!” a very angry voice growled over the intercom.
“Not now chief, we need a miracle about now!”
“I used up my miracle saving the Warp Core!” she said angrily.
Looking down at the deck, racking his brain. “We need something else then Chief, were about to hit a planet at high speed!”
“I might be able to use the power from the antimatter generators to give you power enough to the impulse drives to slow us, but I doubt we will have maneuvering!”
“Better than nothing! Make it happen chief, bridge out!” So’koth said closing the channel.
“Van, be ready to go full reverse.”
“So, we should probably talk about that landing.” Nate said as he came to stand next to his Captain. “We might be able to reduce speed but were still either going to burn up in the atmosphere or explode on crash landing.
“Agreed!” So’koth said still thinking. “We can use the thrusters to try and angle the ship into a decaying orbital decent, and try and soft land her somehow.”
Nate handed him a Padd showing the damage to the ship’s hull and structural support. His heart began to sink.
“Captain, I’ve managed to figure out roughly when we are!” Mia’s voice called his attention over to her. He could see the earth growing closer in the viewscreen.
“When?” he said.
“Yes, based on radiological decay in the atmosphere which I can now detect at this range, it sometime near the end of the 1970’s.” she said.
“Great!” he shook his head.
“This presents a rather large concern.” Nate said flatly.
“Indeed!” So’koth said, the sound of rain began to lessen.
“Partial Power has been restored to the Navigational deflector.” Mia called out.
“Thank goodness for small favors!” So’koth said as he locked eyes with his first officer. “What do we do?”
“We have two options, we live and find a way to hide the ship, or we abandon ship and self-destruct it before we get that far, and go to ground using escape pods. We can make it look like a meteor shower and destroy the pods upon landing. Have the crew blend in with the populous.” Nate said.
“What about those of us who are alien? Or even part?”
“We still have shuttles, Runabouts, and Fighters.” Nate glanced at the viewscreen. “We could go the Vulcan. If any culture would take us in knowing our plight they might. Or we find an uninhabited world and colonize it.”
“We barely any supplied, that wouldn’t work. Vulcans at this time did not believe in time travel, how would we explain the technology?” So’koth asked him also glancing at the screen.
“Also a problem!”
“Mr. Terry, time to impact?”
“About six minutes!”
“Engineering to bridge, were ready down here when you are just signal for power!” his wife’s voice came over the intercom.
“Mr. Terry, if we were to come down on earth where is our most likely point of…” he paused considering his words. “Landing?”
“We might actually be in luck on this one Captain, we would be in the artic. No doubt about it. Either in the ocean or on the ice flow.” The young officer said.
So’koth considered all the options playing out scenario after scenario in his head. “Can we put her down safely?” he looked up at his first officer.
“I believe that I can help with that!” he nodded.
So’koth Nodded. “We need to be able to go back, and we won’t be able to do it without the ship. It may take a long time to effect repairs but we can certainly work on it. The next question, would we be able to get off the planet in one piece.”
“Yes!” Nate said with all certainty. “As long as we can restore the ship structurally I believe we can.”
“Ok then.”
“How will we hide the ship?” Nate asked.
“The snow!” So’koth said turning back to his chair dropping into it. “Alright Mr. Terry do your best to get us on the ice flow and as deep as you can.” He looked back at his first officer who was now suddenly adorning his organic armor. “Good Luck, Be safe!” he said to his first officer.
“If I was to be safe, we wouldn’t be doing this!” Nate said with a grin before the armor around his head closed up and he moved back toward the bridge’s rear airlock corridor.
He turned to look back at the viewscreen. “At your command Mr. Terry!” he said hitting the ships intercom button.
“Three minutes!” Terry called out.
“This is the Captain Speaking, All hands evacuate the lower four decks, all nonessential personnel are to head to the Emergency Escape pods and prepare to abandon ship. Secure all systems and prepare to brace for one hell of a landing. Good luck to us all!” he hit the close channel button.
The atmosphere of the planet surface was getting ever closer, the Earth took up the majority of the screen as they closed. “It’s been my honor to have served with you, each and every one of you. We will survive this and we will go back and make sure this is set right, focus on you tasks and we will make it just fine. I have every confidence in you. Good luck!”
“Engaging deceleration burn now!” Van called activating the command. The ship’s hull screamed in protest as the vessel suddenly decelerated against its own momentum and the pull of gravity. So’koth could see the speed indicator on the helm decrease quickly. There was a loud bang from deep within the ship, and a shudder followed running through the ship.
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Post by thevidiot on Nov 22, 2015 20:43:09 GMT -5
“Power is failing, switching to Emergency power, and battery backups!” Mia called.
“Were on thrusters only, here comes the Thermosphere!” Van called out over the alarms on the bridge which died out as Mia shut them down.
“Steady Van, you’ve got this!”
There was a sudden surge as the vessel entered the atmosphere abruptly. You could feel the change, as the pull of Earth suddenly increased. They were going extremely fast even for reentry for a vessel that was meant for this.
“Captain, the commander is signaling he’s in position!” Mia Called.
“Very good, how are we doing Mr. Terry?”
“Coming up on the mesosphere, it’s going to start getting a little bumpy soon!”
As if on cue, the vessel began to shake and shudder, the viewscreen started to show a faint glow to it. “Angle the ship, put the nose up to about fifteen degrees, the hull will heat up more but it will help slow us as we get closer to the denser atmosphere!” So’koths said over the growing rumble being caused by the vessel’s shaking.
“Aye!” Van called out.
The vessel jerked and bucked as it came down quickly, the viewscreen reverted back to its default setting showing the upper hull all the way out to the edge, which was now glowing a bright orange, just beyond it was the curve of the planet and space. “Mia, as soon as we can divert power from life support to Structural Integrity and Inertial dampeners!” he said.
She simple nodded, you could almost hear her teeth chattering from the vibration which was growing in intensity. The view suddenly slipped sideways as the ship suddenly changed directions. “Turbulence!” van called out as he worked to right the ship.
“Good job, once we hit the Stratosphere, start doing sweeping port and starboard turns and drop the nose to only an eight percent up angle. We will need lift but we still need to slow!”
“Aye sir!” Terry called feverishly working the controls.
So’koths mind drifted to astronauts of their time who had to do this in a much smaller vessel but far more fragile. He also was reminded of the deaths that happened trying to do this. He gripped the handles of his chair tightly. The angle on the viewscreen changed as the vessel began its long exaggerated turns to slow.
“Captain, Damage to the lower decks is pretty sever we are reading four major hull breaches and about six more minor ones. Bulkheads and force fields are helping to contain the damage but it may be much more server when we land.” Mia called over her shoulder.
The doors to the bridge came open and his wife walked onto the bridge stumbling along the way from the vibration. “You’re crazy you know that!” she said as she fell into the Executive officer’s chair, pulling up her Engineering displays on his console.
“Isn’t that why you married me?” he asked with a grin.
“You can joke, when were about to die?” she said quizzically.
He nodded. “We’ve been in worse spots!” he said and glanced back at the screen. “I’m glad you here!” he said watching as the ship began another sweeping turn. “He reached out and put a hand on her shoulder. “I love you!”
He felt her hand around his for a moment. “And I you!” she said in a sweet tone, and followed with “Please survive this so I can kill you myself!” she said in an angry teeth baring tone.
“Absolutely!” he said glancing around the bridge a moment, it was a mess. He felt right at home. They spent a long time during the Dominion War like this.
“Time to impact, one minute!” Terry said from his console, the nose of the ship was starting to come down, you could see the water below, icebergs zipping by at unimaginable speeds. “Were still a little too hot!”
“You did your best Van, that’s all we could ask!”
“I’m going to open the cargo holds again, there’s nothing in them anyway at this point. Perhaps it will shave a few kilometers per second off!” his wife said next to him.
“Good! Leve the ventral ones closed though!”
“I’m not a moron!” she said playfully back to him.
“Oh I know that, but you know I have to be sure, you have been down there and those traits do have a tendency to rub off!” he said watching the viewscreen intently. He could see the coast ahead coming fast. “Mr. Terry!” he said noting that they were likely to short the landing.
“I know,” he said. “Hang on!”
It felt like a giant hand reached up and slapped the bottom of the ship, it lurched forward as the vessel bounced off the water, he could see Van Firing the Dorsal thrusters, he was intentionally trying to bounce the ship to spill off speed. It was a gamble but it appeared to be working. He could see the water coming up again this time a bit faster.
“BRACE!” So’koth yelled gripping his chair hard.
The ship hit the water as if it was hitting Duranium, the sound as horrific as the ship stuck to the water the ships ventral hull was hydroplaning across the water the shore came quickly and as soon as they hit the shore the vessel lurched hard again even harder than previously. So’koth felt himself propelled forward, saw the helm console coming up fast as he careened off it and hit the forward bulkhead of the bridge right below the viewscreen. He could feel the vessel bouncing from side to side and up and down as it slid across the ice. The sound it made as the ventral hull was likely being shaved off or sheared off as they slid. Then came the abrupt stop, it echoed through the ship as they hit something hard. Look up at the viewscreen he could see a large crack running through it but it was functional still. The mountain looming over them was a cloud of ice and falling snow as an avalanche came down the mountainside, it was the last thing he was able to see before passing out.
19 Hours later…
So’koths eyes came open, he could see the familiar confines of Sickbay, Doctor Benham was working on the patient next to him, she was all bruised up most likely due to the crash landing. Nate was also standing there, he too was banged up pretty bad from the looks of him but he was up.
“We don’t have a choice, if we don’t do this we will all die!” the Doctor said as she finished whatever it was she was doing with the patient. “I wish the Captain were awake, he could help with this decision!”
“I am!” he said abruptly.
They both turned and walked over. “Captain!” she said pulling her tricorder open. “Good the swelling went down!” she said.
“I hate to cut to the chase Captain but we’ve an urgent problem and we have a solution, it may be a bit unethical, but it may be our only way to survive this mess!” his first officer said abruptly.
“Unethical is an understatement!” she snapped at his first officer.
“What is it?” he asked trying to get up, but the pain from his ribs, head and hip gave him pause.
“No Captain, you have to stay down. You were pretty banged up from the crash!” she said placing a hand on his chest.
“Were dyeing as a result of cellular decay. We have a potential solution but it would involve some drastic measures to let the crew survive.”
“I’m listening!” he said glancing around noting the amount of people in sickbay, it was overflowing.
“We’ve managed to determine that we are in the past but not just the past, an alternate time line, things are different here than from our own reality.” He said. “Because we are out of place here we are suffering from cellular decay, essentially what makes us alive here isn’t the same as there, it’s different enough that were breaking down on the molecular level. Essentially the crew has an average of about four hours to live unless we do something and we don’t have the technology here to help. I might if we had Pinnacle station but we don’t. The alternative which is something that we successfully tested by pulling foreign material from another reality and combining it with the DNA of something here, which allowed the cells to live.” Nate said.
“How would you manage that?” So’koth asked.
“We use the transporter to turn the crew back in time essentially, break them down to their base DNA and implant them into a newly fertilized fetus from someone in this timeline.”
“What?” So’koths face expressed his confusion. “You want to break us down to DNA and implant us into a fetus from this time?”
“Yes.” Nate said without hesitation. “It’s the only plausible way to survive.”
So’koth looked to the doctor. “Aside from the ethical issues, is this possible?”
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Post by thevidiot on Nov 22, 2015 20:43:59 GMT -5
“Based on the information he provided yes!” she said. “I do believe it can be done.”
“Were sure it’s the only way?” he looked between the two. They both nodded silently. He could see the doctor was uncomfortable with the idea. “How long would this process take for the entire crew?”
“I cannot believe were even considering this!” Angela said sternly. “Nearly three hours for the entire crew, and configurations and finding hosts.”
So’koth closed his eyes for a long hard moment. “We’ve already essentially effected this planet on the prime directive level as there is no way we can account for every piece that fell off this ship when it crashed not to mention that we most likely were seen entering the atmosphere.” He opened his eyes. “We have to ensure the ship is well protected while we’re not here!”
“I’ve got that taken care of!” a familiar somewhat childlike voice with an English accent said coming into view at the foot of the bed. “I will be here still, it’s not effecting me or the ship so were safe. I can do some things to help keep the ship up and primarily defend it from intruders.” She said.
“My young friend, you continue to contribute far beyond your agreed tasks.” He said the energetic being that called their computer system home.
“Claire!” she said in a matter of fact tone. “I chose a name finally from your database. I liked the name Claire!” she smiled.
“That is a beautiful name Claire. Very well, let us know what you need us to do and we will take care of it as much as we can for you!” he said laying back and closing his eyes as his vision began to swim. “It’s decided then, make it happen doctor. The burden of that decision is now off your shoulders!”
“I’m going to log my official protest in the log Captain, but seeing as this is our only plausible way to survive then so be it!” she said as his vision faded back into darkness. “The crew is going to hate him for this!” he heard her say.
“Yes, they will. I’ll get started on what Claire needs myself and then we will coordinate releasing the gas to knock out the crew. Might as well let the Captain sleep.” Nates voice grew distant. “Catch you on the flip side Captain!”
November 22, 2017, Everett Washington State
Highway Nine was backed up as it usually was, Andrew was on his way home from work a drive under normal conditions that would take about thirty minutes but now took hours because of the State Governments decision to toll one of the local highways not to mention the usual overflow of traffic from the States many inhabitants.
“What to eat tonight for dinner, I think it’s my day to cook again!” he nodded to himself as he passed another intersection, traffic clearing up around him having passed the Highway Two interchange now. “We had hamburgers yesterday, Taco’s maybe!”
“Taco’s give me heartburn!” a familiar voice called from the back seat of his Ford Explorer.
“Yeah, I know right. I hat… what the hell!” he turned in his seat to find a man sitting in the center of his back seat. He quickly turned back around to the front, then looking back again. “How the hell did you get in here!” he said angrily turning back to the cars in front of him.
“You ready to go home Captain?”
“Home? I’m trying to get home now!”
He adjusted the mirror so he could see the man in the back seat. “No, I mean our real home!”
“I don’t understand! Who are you!” hitting the blinker to signal he was pulling off to the side of the road and then hitting emergency flashers he pulled the vehicle to a controlled stop and put it in park, taking a deep breath turning to see the man. “Are you wearing a Star Trek costume?”
“No, I’m wearing a uniform!” he hit the com badge on his duster. “Claire, energize!”
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