Author's notes:
Well I know that BGC/StarTrek has been done before, but
*not* the same way as the story that follows. The Bubblegum
Trek stories have featured the Knight Sabres in the STTNG
universe. What follows is my attempt to introduce several
people (not main cast members - my own characters), from the
Trek universe into MegaTokyo 2032. The trek characters will
not be engineering wizards (so don't expect phaser-equipped
hardsuits... well at least not right away) - I've decided to
use a few starfleet officers who are just out of the academy.
Alright well this story started (as with many of my
stories) as a RPG. I wuz playing the Star Trek RPG (and no, I
don't particularly like it as a role playing system - I was
playing it because I like trek:), and began to think about
introducing some of the game characters into the BGC universe
and well what's below is the result.
My first draft had some glareing errors in it, relating to
the fact that I was originally intending the crewmembers to be
from a Galaxy-Class starship called the Odyssey - it was destroyed
in an episode of DS9 (I had originally written the battle
sequences without seeing the episode - big mistake). Well anyway
I decided to go with a different ship and crew.
Hopefully this is an original idea (I don't like copying
anyone else's work), I don't know how far it will go - that
depends on what kind of response I get from people. The
setting for this is several weeks before the DS9 episode - The
Jem'Hadar.
-----Brett
-------------------------------------------------------------
A Trek Into the Past
by
Brett Handy
Chapter 1:
Assistant Chief Medical Officers Personal Log:
Stardate 47815.1
My first two weeks aboard the starship Endeavor have
been uneventful. Considering that this is the latest
Nebula-class starship to be commissioned by Starfleet,
the medical facilities practically run themselves. Dr
McAllister commented to me the other day that he felt
that having three fully qualified doctors on board was
overkill. As I recall the reason that we were assigned
by Starfleet command was that if the Endeavor was going
on a deep-space exploration mission, the more qualified
medical personnel, the better. Last night we passed
through the Bajoran Wormhole, after a brief stopover at
Deepspace Nine. Travelling 70,000 light years in a few
minutes really makes one feel small in the cosmic scheme
of things. On the bright side I've found that several
classmates from the Academy have been assigned on board,
I'm looking forward to having lunch with them this
afternoon.
Lt Conroy walked along the spacious corridors of the
Starship Endeavor, making his way towards the Ten-forward
lounge. Ten-forward was a fixture of all the Nebula-Class
starships (and most similar sized ships), it represented a
place to unwind after serving watch and as a place to sit and
talk with friends. The doors hissed open, revealing an almost
empty lounge, with the exception of several young officers
sitting at a table near the forward windows. As he approached
John noticed the swirling nebula that they were observing,
sitting serenely several million miles ahead.
"Glad to see you made it aboard Doc", said a smiling
Gregory Halman, gesturing for the man to take a seat.
John smiled and took the indicated seat. Around the
table sat the members of his 'squad'. They had been a study
group during their last year at the academy, and all but one
of them had been assigned to the Endeavor. Gregory Halman
wore the wine-red uniform of a command officer, with the
collar pips that indicate an ensign. Sitting opposite Gregory
was Mara Dunvar, she was assigned as an Lt(jg) in security.
Directly across from John sat Uslim, a Vulcan wearing the blue
of a science officer.
"So what's the excuse for being late this time doc?",
asked Mara, smiling slightly.
John shook his head, "Oh, Dr McAllister decided he wanted
to have an informal staff meeting, to discuss shift rotation",
he explained.
Uslim nodded slightly, "It is important to decide on a
correct duty roster early on, it reduces confusion on the part
of your colleagues', he said.
Everyone looked slightly bored as the Vulcan launched
into his much-used speech on efficiency. "Thats good Uslim,
how are you getting along with your workmates?", asked Greg
quickly, cutting off the Vulcan's dissertation.
"Quite well actually, one of them is Benzite, who
provides endless ways in which to improve efficiency", he
said.
Everyone except Uslim winced at the thought of having to
work with a Benzite - their quest for efficiency was well-
known throughout the Federation. The four talked for a while
about their various duties, who they liked and disliked in
their sections and what the Captain was like. "I hear that
the reason we've been sent out here is that there are rumours
of a new empire having been discovered", said Greg, leaning
forward, and whispering.
Everyone nodded, having heard the rumours themselves.
"Well any chance to visit the Gamma Quadrant is Ok with me",
said Mara.
"Oh, you just want to get away from earth and that old
boyfriend that followed you around", replied Greg teasingly.
Mara look at him indignantly, "Well you know what they
say: 'A man at every starbase'".
"Yeah, well I guess I'd better be getting some rest, I've
got a turn at conn on the next shift", Greg said reluctantly.
"I might join you", said Mara, standing, "I'm on the next
watch too".
The two stood, linked arms and walked towards the door,
"See ya Doc!", Greg said smiling.
John smiled slightly, looking at his two friends, "Since
when did *they* start dating?", he asked Uslim.
The Vulcan raised one eyebrow slightly, "From what I
understand they've been going out since before final exams at
the Academy", he replied.
John sat back in his seat, "God I must have really been
studying too hard to notice this", he thought. Not that he
was upset, quite the contrary, it was good to see Mara finally
dating again. John, Greg and Uslim had all noticed the change
in Mara after her boyfriend in Nova squadron was killed.
"I too must retire for the evening, while we Vulcans need
less sleep than humans, I have a project I must check on in
the Astrophysics lab", Uslim said, standing.
John nodded, "I'm sure I'll see your around", he said.
Looking at his empty drink, John, finally took one more
long look out the windows, before turning and heading back to
his own quarters.
*****
Dr John Conroy hit the practice mat hard. He lay stunned
for a moment, relishing the chance to rest.
"Oh come on Doc", said his tormentor, Mara Dunvar, "You
can do better than that".
John shakily got to his feet, "I'm *really* sorry I asked
you to teach me this", he said, with feeling.
The two were in the ship's gymnasium, practising martial
arts. John had commented five weeks ago (upon watching Mara
and Greg sparing), that he was interested in learning. What
followed was day-after-day of torture sessions. Greg and Mara
decided that if they were going to teach their friend, then
he'd get the best coaching available.
Mara dropped into a fighting stance, "Come on, let's try
that again", she said. Mara had won the Starfleet Academy
Martial Arts tournaments each year she was at the Academy and
Greg had been the runner-up.
John sighed and moved forwards, he was attempting to get
a hang of some Klingon techniques. He quickly snapped a jab
at Mara's head and followed up with a leg-sweep, unfortunately
the manoeuvre just resulted in him being flung across the room
again.
"Your getting there", Mara commented, picking up a towel.
John groaned and sat up, "I think I'm gonna have to write
myself a prescription of a week of bed-rest", he complained,
as Mara threw him his towel.
Mara sat down on a bench, with a sigh. John noticed and
joined her, "What's up?", he asked.
Mara shrugged, "I guess I'm getting a little bored", she
complained, "All we've been doing is travelling from star-
system to astronomical anomaly then on to the next star-
system".
John grinned, "What, Greg not keeping you busy", he
teased.
Mara smiled in response, "Not at all, it's just that
after graduation, I thought that this would be... well, you
know, exploring undiscovered worlds, seeking out new and
interesting races...", she paused noticing his expression.
John was trying not to laugh, "How long do you think it
takes to get to those unexplored worlds?", he asked, "Did you
think that it would be like a short hop from Earth to Vulcan,
according to the mission profile, we're not due back in
federation space for almost two years".
Mara nodded, "Well it will take you longer than that to
master these techniques, if we keep resting", she said,
standing again.
John sighed, "Do we have to?", he asked, "I'm quite happy
where I am".
******
The four Academy friends had made getting together a
weekly event. Greg was sitting watching the stars slip by,
event after all this time he marvelled at the beauty of warp
space. He had gotten the best table in the place, right at
the front, looking out into space.
He smiled as Mara and John walked into the room, the
Doctor was still limping slightly from their last practice
session. Greg had at first only agreed as a joke to try and
teach John some basic martial arts. But the Doctor had shown
some skill and Greg now looked forward to the practices.
"Hiya, can I get you a glass of muscle liniment?", he
asked John slyly.
John sighed and dropped down in a chair opposite him,
"Make that a pain-killer", he said.
Mara smiled, "So how was your last watch on the bridge?",
she asked Greg.
Greg's eyes lit up and he leaned forward slightly, "Well
at the moment we're headed towards a planet that is most
definitely inhabited", he said, "And from the rumour's we've
picked up there a part of this Dominion that we keep hearing
about".
John and Mara sat back in their seats, digesting the
news. For the last few weeks they had been hearing rumours of
a new empire, apparently it ruled this part of the Gamma
Quadrant with an iron fist. While they were waiting for their
drinks Uslim finally arrived.
"I apologise for being late, one of my experiments ran
overtime", he explained.
The conversation turned to less important matters and the
four friends enjoyed the meeting as always. Uslim kept them
informed of his studies of engineering theory (he had made a
hard choice picking science over engineering at the Academy,
but still kept up on all the latest developments theories).
Unfortunately everything must come to an end, the four finally
split up, John, Mara and Greg were all on the next duty watch.
"Well let's hope we find something interesting on the
next planet then", John added as a parting shot to Mara. She
just rolled her eyes and made her way down to security.
*****
The huge Nebula-Class starship slipped out of warp,
pulling into orbit around a M-class planet. Captain Ford
Harkam looked out over his new command thoughtfully. He had
only been commander of this starship for three weeks and
already he was wondering how he ever managed to get along
without all the new facilities. His ready room was immense
compared to that of the Ambassador-Class USS Resilient, which
was his last command.
"Standard orbit achieved", reported the young ensign at
conn.
"Thank you Mr Halman", he replied, sitting down in the
command chair.
"We are being hailed sir", reported his security chief.
"On screen commander", replied Harkam.
The main viewscreen lit up to reveal an alien face. If
Captain Harkam read it correctly, it was a very upset alien
face.
"Federation Starship, you have violated the boarders of
the Dominion, you *must* leave at once", it said.
"I am Captain Harkam of the Federation Starship Endeavor,
we mean you no harm...", he began.
The alien cut him off, "You must leave at once, you have
been warned", it declared. The viewscreen went blank.
"They've terminated the signal, Sir", said Security Chief
Louis.
"Hail them again", said Captain Harkam.
"I'm hailing again....", the security chief broke off as
he noted a new set of signals on his control panel, "Sir, I
have a several vessels, just entering sensor range, they are
moving on an intercept course with us", he said quickly.
"Scan them", said the Captain bluntly.
"Configuration unknown, their shields are up, so sensors
are almost useless", the officer at Ops replied, "There are
three of them sir".
"Yellow alert", he ordered.
*****
"You've really got to be more careful", said Lt Conroy,
after finishing up setting his patient's leg.
"Yes, we'll have to teach you how to use the Holodeck
again, imagine a young man like you attempting to climb
Everest", scolded the young boy's mother.
The boy looked tearfully at his mother, "I'm sorry
mum...", he began.
John smiled, "Well go easy on that leg for a while, if it
gives you any pain, come back and see me", he said.
"Thank you doctor", said the boy's mother, gripping her
young sons arm firmly.
The young boy and his mother exited sickbay, after the
door hissed shut, a laugh could be heard from the general
direction of the CMO's office. "I bet you never thought you'd
have to set the leg of a seven year old boy, hurt in the
Holodeck", said Dr McAllister.
"Fine for you to laugh, you didn't have to have the kid
screaming in your ear for the last five minutes", John replied
sourly. He and Dr McAllister had become friends over the last
few weeks and they often teased each other about the kind of
work they were doing.
A young nurse passed John a PADD, he noted that the boy
was quite healthy, no signs of infection or disease. He
quickly signed the injury report and passed it back to the
nurse with a smile. "Well another satisfied customer", he
remarked to her. The nurse smiled and left to continue her
duties.
John felt a hand grasp his shoulder, "That's my boy, stun
'em with your rapier wit!", said McAllister laughing.
Flushing red, John ducked away from the older man, "As if
I don't have enough things to do without thinking like that!",
he exclaimed in mock-anger. McAllister had been trying to set
him up with a girl ever since he'd arrived on board.
Grinning McAllister sighed and shook his head, "Come on
'Doctor', lighten up a little", he replied, "Your too serious,
learn to relax".
John was about to reply when then computer ended their
conversation. <*Yellow Alert!... Yellow Alert*>, it bleated
insistently.
McAllister tapped his communicator badge, "Problem
Captain?", he asked tersely.
"Stand by Doctor!", came the Captain's brief response.
The on-duty medical personnel began to file into sick
bay, in case of possible casualties. McAllister shook his
head, "Why are we the last to be told anything?", he asked of
the empty air.
John tapped him on the shoulder, "Why don't we use the
view-screen in your office", he suggested.
McAllister nodded and headed into his office, flicking on
the small view-screen. The screen lit up with a picture of
the approaching vessel. Looking at the vessel, John felt a
small spark of dread. From the little he understood about
starship weaponry, that ship looked to be bristling with
firepower. "Those weapon arrays from its bow look very
dangerous", he thought to himself. His thought was obviously
echoed by the Captain for a moment later klaxons began to
sound, "Red Alert, all crew man your battle stations", came
the first officer's voice.
McAllister was on his feet immediately, "John, you set up
a triage centre in the main shuttlebay", he tersely ordered.
Grabbing up a medical kit, John took one more glance at
the monitor only to see a sparkle of weapons fire from the
other vessel. He grabbed onto a bio-bed to steady himself as
the ship shuddered from the impact. He raced back into
sickbay, nodding at Dr Forbe, who was just arriving. "Good
luck Rodney", he said quickly, leading his medical team to
shuttlebay three. It had been decided by the three doctors
that if it came to a saucer separation, they had to have
facilities in the saucer section to take care of the wounded
in event that the battle section had to be abandoned. The
main shuttlebay provided a large enough space for the treating
of most injuries and the small medical team would also be on
hand if evacuation was necessary.
He hunched back in the turbolift, it was a tight fit, but
everyone was able to fit in reasonably easily. As a backup,
several members of the science section were assigned to meet
them in the shuttlebay, to provide basic first aid, when a
nurse could not be spared. John raced around the final
corner, and rushed into the bustling shuttlebay, due to the
red alert, two shuttles and a runabout were being readied for
launch. Wincing as another enemy blast shook the ship, John
waved his team in to being setting up the facilities. "Good
to see you doctor", came a familiar voice from behind him.
John turned around to see the familiar Vulcan face of
Uslim. He was leading a group from the science section.
"Where do you want us to help?", he asked calmly.
"If you could help us with setting up the temporary
triage, it would be most appreciated", John replied, glad to
see his friend.
*****
"Damn", muttered Ensign Halman under his breath. He was
busily following the Captain's battle orders, his fingers flew
over the controls, the huge ship responded, manoeuvring away
from the enemy vessels.
"Fire phasers", the Captain ordered tensely.
A pair of red-gold beams of light lanced out from the
Endeavor's saucer section, playing across the on of the enemy
ship's shields. "Their shields are holding, our own shields
are down to 65%", the Lt Louis reported from his position at
tactical.
"Continue phaser fire and load all torpedo bays", the
first officer ordered. The phasers traced intricate patterns
over the enemy's shields, sparking energy flashed out from the
enemy vessel, rocking the Endeavor baldy. The smaller ships
surrounded the Endeavor, weaving and dodging the cascade of
it's phaser fire.
"Our shields are down to 45%", came the still-clam voice
of the security chief.
"Fire all torpedoes, full spread, maximum yield - target
the lead vessel", called the Captain. A satisfying *chunk*
echoed throughout the ship as the photon torpedos raced from
their launch tubes. "New course, 180 mark 215, get us out of
here, maximum warp", the first officer ordered.
Halman shook his head, "Sorry sir, port power coupling is
down, warp engines not functional", he said anxiously.
"Best speed at impulse then", came the order.
Struggling to comply Halman glanced up at the view screen
in time to see the impact of the near dozen photon torpedos
they had launched a few seconds earlier. The enemy vessel
absorbed the first few impacts, but then it's shields
collapsed, a huge corona of light sprang up around it,
eclipsing the photon explosions. "What the hell is that!",
said the Captain.
"Sir it appears to be a subspace or temporal rift",
reported Stevenson from Ops, "It looks to be have been formed
by the photon explosions combined with the detonation of the
enemy vessel's warp core". He grabbed his panel as the ship
shook once again.
"We've destroyed one of them and the other two have their
shields reduced by nearly 50%, we've hurt them", reported Lt
Louis with satisfaction. The ship shuddered again, "Captain,
our shields are down to 5%, another hit and we will be
defenceless!", he said quickly.
"Continual fire, all weapons!", the Captain shouted.
The Endeavor was continually rocking, both for the launch
of her own weapons and the impact of the enemy's. The fierce
volley of torpedoes and now continuous phaser fire eliminated
yet another of the enemy vessels. An explosion rocked the
bridge, blowing out one of the science stations. Their
shields had collapsed and it was only the skilful piloting of
Halman that had saved them from becoming a large vapour cloud.
"Something's wrong, they should have finished us!", said
Lt Louis tensely.
Halman didn't comment, he just concentrated on avoiding
the incoming torpedoes. "Sir, I'm detecting transporter
activity from inside the enemy vessel!", cried Lt Stevenson.
******
John sealed a nasty chest wound, it closed quickly under
the tissue regenerator. "You'll be fine", he said
reassuringly. He quickly stood and moved over to his next
patient. His triage centre was admitting a good share of the
wounded from the saucer section. All the critical cases were
being beamed to sickbay, but he still had his hands full.
The whine of an unfamiliar transporter caused him to
turn, just in time to see a group of strange creatures
materialise. The looked vaguely reptilian, and the odd-shaped
weapons they were carrying spoke louder than words there
intentions. John threw himself to the side as a humming beam
of energy flash across the room, vaporising crew members as it
went. "Security to main shuttlebay, intruder alert", he
screamed into his commbadge.
******
Lt Mara Dunvar raced throughout the corridors of deck
four, crew members knew enough to get out of the way of the
five man security team. Mara held a type-II phaser ready, the
other four all carried phaser rifles. She and her team had
been making their way towards the computer core access on deck
five, when she heard Dr Conroy's cry for help.
Bursting into the shuttlebay, Mara ducked under a searing
beam of purple light. She rolled to her feet, her own phaser
emitting it's red-gold beam. It hit the intruder in the
chest, knocking it backwards. She ducked behind a shipping
crate, narrowly avoiding another blast. Two of her team had
not been as lucky, she had turned just in time to see them
vaporise. Swearing angrily, she changed the setting on her
phaser, this was for keeps, no quarter asked, none given.
Jumping and rolling, she changed position, nailing one of
the strange looking intruders, but receiving a bad burn to her
shoulder in return. She winced as she looked at the burned
flesh on her upper-arm, "And that was a near miss!", she
thought. Movement from her right startled her and she half-
raised her phaser. A wide-eyed Doctor Conroy looked up at her
from where he was crawling towards her on the floor. She
smiled at his ridiculous appearance, he was clutching a tissue
regenerator in his hand like a phaser.
He crawled over beside her, "Are you ok?", he asked,
noting her wound.
She nodded quickly, "Its fine!", she responded.
Crossfire passed over the top of the two, John grabbed
her arm, passing the tissue regenerator over it expertly.
"Well this might help", he muttered, ignoring her protests.
He almost lost his grip on the phaser when the ship
shuddered violently. <*Warning, outer hull breached!*>,
reported the computer, over the sounds of the battle.
Mara looked quickly around for something that might turn
the battle in their favour. Spotting the flight-ready
runabout she nodded in its direction to John. "I'm going for
it!", she said, scrambling up to her feet and sprinting for
the open hatch.
"But...", John began, he stopped when he realised he was
talking to empty air. He watched his friend diving an
rolling, avoiding the energy beams, she looked like a gymnast,
doing an impossibly complex routine.
A hand touched his should lightly, "I think we should
join her", came the suggestion from Uslim, who had crawled
over to him.
John looked up in surprise, he had given up hope of
finding his Vulcan friend after the first attack. A sudden
shuddering of energy drew his glance over to the open door of
the shuttlebay. The two huge forcefields that held back the
vacuum were shimmering unsteadily. "Oh no!", he thought.
******
Captain Harkam wiped the blood from his brow, one of the
exploding panels had slashed him in the face. He looked over
his should as his dead first officer and security chief.
Ensign Halman was attempting to manoeuvre the ship with what
little power they had left.
Harkam tapped his communicator, "All crew, abandon ship,
I repeat, abandon ship", he said quickly.
He gripped the shoulder of the young ensign, "Let's go
son, there's nothing else we can do", he said quietly.
Halman looked up at his Captain, and quickly stood,
making his way across the ruined bridge, to the escape pod
entrance in the conference room. Taking one last look at the
bridge Captain Harkam slowly followed the Ensign from the
room.
******
John Conroy was beginning to regret his choice to follow
his two friends to the shuttlecraft (in fact he was regretting
leaving earth in the first place), he felt the blistering heat
of a phaser as it screamed past his head. He was just
reaching the runabout's hatch when he heard the sound of a
transporter again. Glancing quickly over his shoulder as he
entered the runabout he saw the remaining aliens disappear.
He was just about to tell Mara and Uslim when he felt a
rushing wind trying to suck him out of the craft.
Luckily for John, the runabout automatically sealed as it
detected a change in air pressure. John watched in horror as
everything not bolted down was sucked out into the vacuum of
space, he closed his eyes tightly trying not to watch as crew-
member and packing crate disappeared into the void. Mara and
Uslim also looked away. Suddenly the runabout shifted, it was
rocked suddenly as the ship shuddered. That was all that was
needed, without further encouragement, the runabout lurched
out into space. John lost consciousness as his head connected
with a console.
The huge starship, a miracle of 24th century engineering
seemed to shrink in on itself, before a bright light
disintegrate the primary hull, the destruction continued,
moving forwards, the saucer opening up under the onslaught of
an anti-matter explosion. Bright light flared, blinding
anyone who might have been observing the battle. Escape pods
that had managed to escape flew in many directions, joining
them was a runabout, spinning wildly towards a huge rift,
which was contracting and expanding widely under the intense
energies released.
The Jem'Hadar battleship moved forward swiftly,
capturing or destroying escape pods as it went. They had
accomplished their mission, the Founders would be pleased.
This should truly send a message to the Federation to mind
it's own business.
*****
Chapter 2:
Leon McNicholl shaded his eyes against the harsh morning
light. He was sitting in the co-pilot's seat of one of the
ADP's search and rescue helicopters. They were several miles
from Mega-Tokyo, approaching the reported crash site. A huge
swath of forest was burning, the fire sparked by the crash of
some kind of spacecraft. "Geeze, what the hell crashed
here?", he said to the pilot.
The pilot shook his head, "No idea sir, looks big
whatever it is!", he said, bringing the craft in for a landing
near a large metallic object.
Leon jumped to the ground, looking around he was startled
at how the ground was blistered and blackened. Leon had
attended a number of crash sites, but the ground looked like
it was almost fused together. He stepped over to the hunk of
metal lying embedded in the ground.
"Careful Sir, it's probably still hot!", called the pilot
of the helicopter.
Leon cautiously touched the grey metal. It wasn't even
warm. Rubbing along the metal, he cleaned off the soot that
was marring the surface. He noticed that the metal wasn't
warped, or in any other way effected by the intense heat.
"What the hell is this thing made of?", he thought to himself.
"Sir, we've been ordered to leave the area!", called the
pilot.
Leon looked over his shoulder, "Let me guess, USSD?", he
asked, already knowing the answer.
The pilot nodded as Leon jumped back into the helicopter,
"How did you know?", he asked curiously.
Leon smiled, "Oh, I've heard this tune before", he said,
"It was like this when the Orca crashed last month".
The pilot nodded, he manoeuvred the helicopter up and
away from the crash site, heading back to the ADP
headquarters. Leon sat looking out the window, he noticed a
secondary scar, this one several miles distant, off towards
the north, near the coast.
******
Lt Conroy regained consciousness slowly, he tested his
body carefully, finding nothing too serious he opened his eyes
carefully. He was lying on the deck of the runabout, somehow
he had managed to get in the rear living-compartment. The
floor was littered with broken equipment.
"Computer, status report", he called out, praying that
the voice-activated system was still intact.
<*Main power offline, secondary systems functioning*>,
the computer reported.
John breathed a sigh of relief, as long as the secondary
systems were working they still had life support. Suddenly he
remembered that his friends were also aboard. Pulling himself
painfully to his feet, John carefully made his way forward to
the control cabin.
He grabbed for an emergency medical kit (finding one in
an overhead compartment). Gently turning Uslim around in his
chair, John carefully scanned him with the tricorder. Wincing
at the amount of damage his Vulcan friend had taken John
gently pulled him from his seat, laying him flat on the floor.
John then turned to Mara, she was slumped across the
control panels. He checked her over, sighing with relief he
also laid her out on the floor. He grabbed up the necessary
equipment from the kit and began working on Usilm.
******
John had finished tending to Uslim's wounds when Mara
woke up with a start. "Don't worry, your alright", he
reassured her quickly.
Mara groaned and shook her head slightly. "Where the
hell are we?", she asked.
John shrugged, motioning to the windows which were
covered in some kind of black substance that block out all
light. "I don't know - I've been concentrating on fixing up
our friend here", he said, motioning to Uslim with one hand.
Mara's eyes became concerned, "Will he be alright", she
asked worriedly.
John nodded, "He should be fine, I've fixed most of the
problems - but he should be unconscious for at least another
few hours", he replied.
Mara picked her self off the deck suddenly, "Well then, I
think we should find out where we are then", she said.
John nodded, "Lead the way Lieutenant Dunvar", he said
smiling.
Mara slipped into one of the helm chairs, "Looks like
we've got some bad damage", she said, examining the readouts.
"According to then computer we've got half impulse power
available", she continued.
John nodded, "Can you tell us where we are", he asked.
Mara nodded, her hands flicking over the controls.
Suddenly she frowned, her hands continuing to punch at the
panel. "Something *must* be wrong with the navigation
subsystems", she said in a confused voice.
John looked at her wearily, "why, where does the computer
say we are?", he asked.
Mara frowned again, "It's got to be a mistake", she
insisted.
John placed a hand on her shoulder, "Lieutenant, give me
a position report", he ordered her.
Mara flushed remembering that he outranked her, "Sorry
Sir, according to the computer our present position is the
Island of Japan, Earth, sector 001", she reported crisply,
"Actually according to the co-ordinates we're not far from
Tokyo where I grew up".
John's eyes opened in shock, "What!, that's not
possible", he said.
Mara shook her head, "That's what I just said", she
responded.
"Computer, what basis are you using for that location",
John asked curiously.
<*Basis for current location is star-fix on g-type star
in this system - it identifies as Sol*>, the computer answered
promptly.
Mara tapped the controls, attempting to get an outside
view. The small viewscreen displayed a scene of a burnt out
forest, they had obviously crash landed. "Computer, hail
Starfleet command, inform them of out position and request
assistance", Mara ordered.
The computer paused as it attempted contact. A moment
later it replied, <*Starfleet command does not respond*>, it
informed them.
Mara and John exchanged worried glances, "Scan all
frequencies", John ordered it.
<*Scanning*>, the computer responded, <*requested action
will take approximately two minutes*>.
John gestured to Uslim's prone form, "Lets get him into
one of the bunks in the back", he said.
Mara nodded, helping John lift her Vulcan friend. They
carefully placed him on one of the bunks in the living area,
John secured him to the bunk with a force field. Returning to
the main cabin they were both very surprised at what the
computer had to report. <*Scan complete, only subspace signal
found is that of a starfleet emergency beacon, multiple
broadcasts in the radio bandwidth numbering in excess of one
million signals*>, it reported.
Mara and John exchanged a worried glance, "Radio hasn't
been used in a long time", Mara commented.
John nodded, "Computer, can you identify the year", he
asked.
<*Working*>, the computer replied, and after a moment,
<*Cannot calculate exact year, time co-ordinates place the
date at approximately the mid 21st century*>.
John sat down heavily in his chair, three hundred years,
it was almost too long to contemplate. Suddenly he remembered
something, "Computer, locate the starfleet beacon", he said
quickly.
The computer responded at once, <*Beacon located at 118
degrees range twenty-five miles*>.
Mara looked at him curiously, "What are you thinking?",
she asked.
John turned to face her, "You know Starfleet regulations,
we cannot cause a change in history", he explained, "I say we
get whoever is in that escape pod and get the hell off the
planet".
Mara thought for a moment and nodded, "Your probably
right", she said, sitting down at helm.
John took the other seat, letting Mara handle the
controls. "I wish I'd taken that course in advanced shuttle
handling", he thought to himself, watching Mara's fingers
dance across the panel.
With a sickening lurch the runabout slowly pulled itself
from the ground, smashing it's way up out of the forest. John
blinked at the bright sunlight, it looked like a nice day.
Mara steered the runabout towards the emergency signal.
******
Major Hitomi levelled out her interceptor 50 feet above
the treeline. She was flying USSD's latest hypersonic
interceptor, it was the fastest and most manoeuvrable fighter
in the world today. "This is more like it", she thought to
herself. The speed-readout was approaching Mach 2 when she
noticed a strange blip on her radar.
"USSD command, we have an intruder inside the exclusion
zone", she reported. Her mission today was to keep away all
aircraft from the crash site that was being investigated.
"Omega 1-5, intercept and identify, over", came the
controller's response.
She smiled grimly under her facemask. "Roger, command,
I'm moving to intercept", she replied.
Hitting the afterburners she gained some altitude and
plotted a course to intercept the intruder.
Two minutes later the Major saw something that made her
jaw drop. She had just overflown something that looked like a
flying box! It had two strange - outrigger style - wings and
the whole thing looked as aerodynamic as a brick.
"USSD, I cannot identify the intruder, its like nothing
I've ever seen before", she reported breathlessly. Swinging
her plane around she turned and placed herself on a parallel
course, about 100 meters distant.
"Roger, Omega 1-5, proceed with caution, possible alien
craft", came the response.
Major Hitomi almost lost control of the plane. "ALIEN!!
What the hell do you mean ALIEN!", she practically shouted
into the microphone.
A different voice came over the radio, "Major, this is
General Korako, you are to keep in mind everything I'm about
to tell you is classified", he said.
"Roger general, I understand", Hitomi responded.
"The wreckage we are recovering is *not* from earth,
materials indicate that is of alien origin", he explained,
"The craft you are currently following is quite probably from
the same place".
Major Hitomi whistled quietly, "You must follow and
observe, do nothing else unless ordered", he finished.
Hitomi swallowed nervously, "What happens if they do
something first?", she asked.
"Do nothing with out orders", the general insisted.
"Roger, Omega 1-5, out", Hitomi said, wearily keeping an
eye on the strange craft.
******
John looked up from the viewer, the aircraft was still
following them, it looked like it was not going to take any
hostile action though and for that he was glad. "It's still
back there", he reported to Mara.
Mara nodded, "We're almost at the beacon site", she
replied.
The two young officers studied the readout carefully,
when it read that they were over the site, Mara bought the
craft to a hover.
John scanned the clearing carefully, "I think someone
beat us here", he said, observing the group of men surrounding
the shuttle.
Mara nodded, "But we can't let them have the escape pod -
the technology might change the past", she said quickly.
John nodded, "Computer, lock phasers on the escape pod
and prepare to fire", he commanded.
<*Weapons locked*>, the computer replied.
******
Major Hitomi flinched as a red-gold beam of light flashed
from the strange craft. What she saw next truly terrified
her. The smaller craft that some USSD troops had been
investigating started shimmering where they beam touched it.
A disruption started, centred around that red light -
spreading quickly across the little craft. When she next
looked there was nothing left of the grounded object.
"Command, this is Omega 1-5, the alien craft has fired on
the object being investigated by our ground teams", she
reported quickly.
"Roger 1-5, take no action until advised", came the
controller's response.
Hitomi grinded her teeth in frustration, and then turned
for a quick run over the crash site. She looked closely, and
saw that no members of the ground team had been hurt (or were
missing). "They can obviously target that weapon pretty
exactly", she thought to herself.
Suddenly the craft began to move, slowly at first, but
gaining speed quickly. Hitomi banked the interceptor over
sharply, engaging the afterburners in an attempt to keep up.
"Command, the intruder is moving off, accelerating away from
me, I can't keep up", she reported tersely. She watched as
within a few seconds it was gone form her radar.
"God, there's going to be hell to pay, when I get back",
she thought wearily, turning her interceptor back towards
home.
******
Dr John Conroy coughed as a cloud of black smoke wafted
through the runabout's cabin. "What the hell's going on?", he
wheezed.
"That phaser blast overheated the impulse circuits, we've
had a feedback into the main power distribution network, the
safety systems must have been damaged when we crashed", Mara
replied, trying to keep the craft level.
"Can you give that to me in English?", John responded.
Mara nodded, "That means, we're crashing again", she
said, "Hang on!".
The runabout gradually lost height, as it plummeted down
towards the ground Mara attempted to find a soft place to
land. They were just coming over a huge city. It was spread
out as far as the eye could see in all directions. "We won't
make it to the city outskirts", she thought to herself.
She noticed a glint of water ahead. Encouraging the
craft forwards, she aimed for the middle of what looked like a
harbour. The water would provide a good landing pad, and it
would also conceal them from prying eyes. Mara braced herself
as the water rushed up to meet them.
******
Priss Asagiri winced and covered her ears, as a sonic
boom shook her trailer, "What the hell was that??", she
thought to herself, looking out a window. She spotted a glint
of sliver in the sky, it was plummeting to earth, and looked
like it would land somewhere out in the harbour.
Several miles away Sylia Stingray was watching the
strange shape in it's downwards plunge. She had been lazing
by her pool, when the sonic boom struck the city, shattering
most of her neighbours windows. "I wonder what this means??",
she thought to herself.
******
Mara Dunvar woke suddenly, looking around quickly. The
deceleration had been too much for her body to handle, luckily
the inertia-dampeners had taken the brunt of the impact. She
looked over to the small window, noting that they were still
underwater. She quickly stood and moved over to the doctor.
Gently nudging his shoulder she spoke quietly, "Hey, come
on Doc, wake up".
Groaning John slowly sat up, "God, twice in one day...",
he muttered.
Mara nodded, "Yep, I bet we've set a record in Starfleet
for the most number of crashes in one day..", she said
smiling.
John smiled weekly in reply, before remembering his
patient back in the living area. He quickly jumped to his
feet and moved back into the ship. He sighed with relief,
noticing that the medical forcefields had held up. Just to be
sure he ran a tricorder over his unconscious friend. Suddenly
the ship jerked sideways and John had to grab hold of the bunk
to stay upright.
He stumbled back into the cabin, noting that Mara was
busy with the helm controls. "What are you doing?", he asked
quickly.
Mara punched in another command, "We can't stay here,
half the city saw us come down and the other half probably
heard the sonic boom", she replied, "We've got no impulse
engines, so I'm using what's left of the thrusters to move us
away from the crash site".
John quickly regained his seat as she jumped them further
away from the crash site, "How bad is the damage?", he asked,
noting one of the readout she was studying.
Mara turned to him seriously, "We've got no warp or
impulse engines, so that means we're relying on the fusion
generators for life-support", she explained, "The weapon
systems are almost gone, phasers are burnt out and our micro-
torpedo launchers are useless".
"How long can we maintain life-support", John asked
quickly.
Mara shrugged, "Oh for several months", she responded.
Noticing John's confused expression she stopped to
explain, "The life-support system's main drain on power, is
that it has to keep us warm in the vacuum of space, underwater
all it has to do is re-cycle the air", she said.
John nodded, "Well it looks like we're going to be here
for a while then", he said.
Mara nodded, slumping down in her chair, the rigours of
the past twenty-four hours had taken their toll. John noticed
her worn-out condition, "You should get some rest, I'll keep
an eye on things", he said, smiling at her and gesturing to
the living area.
Mara shook her head, "We might have some micro-fractures
in the hull, I'll have to check...", she began.
John placed a hand on her shoulder, "That's an order
Lieutenant", he said gently.
"Aye, sir", she responded slowly, making her way to the
rear cabin.
John sat down at the operations console, after making
sure she had really gone to have some rest. "Computer, scan
all radio broadcasts, attempt to find an exact time fix", he
ordered.
<*Requested function will take approximately ten
minutes*>, the computer responded.
"That's fine, I'm not going anywhere", he said quietly.
******
"What do you mean there's no trace!", shouted General
Korako.
Captain Shiro winced at the volume, "Sir, all trace of
the module was destroyed, even the lab boys can't even detect
it was ever there", he replied.
General Korako sat down behind his desk and glanced out
the window. "This is probably the most important find in
human history..", he said quietly, "the material we've
discovered is unlike anything on this earth".
The Captain nodded, realising the same thing. "Sir, what
do we do with the prisoners that we've captured", he asked
quietly.
Korako smiled, "I want you to bring them here", he said.
Captain Shiro frowned, "But why Sir?", he asked.
General Korako stood and walked over to the window,
"Don't you think it's strange that you find two humans in an
obviously alien ship?", he asked.
Shiro nodded, "I do find it strange, but there have been
rumours of abductions...", he began.
Korako shook his head, "I want them here, they might be
able to tell us something about the aliens themselves", he
explained.
Shiro saluted and turned to walk briskly from the office.
******
The USSD security convoy moved quickly along the highway,
it consisted of a small van, escorted by three APC's and a
quartet of K-12 power armours. The convoy was travelling from
the crash site in the Mega-Tokyo parklands to the USSD
headquarters on the outskirts of the city.
Major Hitomi yawned loudly, she had placed her K-12 on
autopilot and it was following the convoy along like an
obedient puppy. "And I volunteered for this", she thought
disgustedly.
After returning from her intercept mission, she had been
debriefed by several security officers. Having suffered
several hours of questions she had been allowed to return to
her unit. There she had that there had been prisoners
recovered, Major Hitomi had offered the use of her squad's
power armour for the security escort.
"Hey Boss, are you still awake?", came the voice of her
sergeant.
"Yeah, but not for much longer", she replied sourly. She
had been hoping to catch a look at one of the 'alien'
prisoners. The had just entered the outskirts of the city
when her sensors informed her that there were several cars on
the road ahead.
"Sergeant, check out that traffic ahead, this road was
supposed to be cleared for us", she ordered. Two of the K-12's
engaged their boosters and flew off down the highway,
accelerating ahead of the convoy easily, now that they were
airborne.
The K-12's were just intercepting the vehicles when an
explosion threw the Major's K-12 from the road. "A mine!",
she shouted into the radio. Unfortunately the APC's where not
as manoeuvrable as a K-12, two of them were blown to pieces
before the echo of her warning had faded.
The Van quickly stopped, as the driver hurriedly applied
the brakes. The remaining APC deployed it's troops around the
van. Hitomi was trying to get a message through to command,
but all the frequencies were being jammed. "Damn, get on the
other side of the van", she said to her partner. The two K-
12's took up flanking positions beside the van.
A pair of explosions from further down the highway
announced the end of her sergeant and his partner. "Oh god,
what the hell is going on?", she thought to herself.
She was warily watching the road, as a trio of figures
walked into the light of the van's headlights. Two Bu-12
combat Boomers and a C-55 Boomer walked into the light and
stopped.
"What the hell are they waiting for?", she muttered under
her breath. Another figure stepped up behind the Boomers, it
was a power-suit of some kind. A voice echoed out of the
darkness, "Surrender now... none of you will be harmed if you
give up your cargo", it said.
"Fuck you!", Hitomi growled, opening up on the Boomers
with an auto-cannon. She raced forward sidestepping a mortar
shot by one of the BU-12's. Her partner was not so lucky, he
took a round right in the chest, his suit exploding in a huge
ball of flame. The APC began firing it's mini-gun, and the
infantry troops opened up with their own rockets and gunfire.
Hitomi's heavy calibre rounds impacted into the C-55
before it could dodge, ripping it to shreds. She was
attempting to get a lock on the strange power suit, when one
of the Bu-12's managed to destroy the APC, leaving the van
almost defenceless. Swearing in frustration, Hitomi pounded
it with auto-cannon fire. Unfortunately the Bu-12 is has much
heavier armour than a C-55, her bullets did little damage.
"We can't win this", she thought to herself in
frustration. She felt the impact of a mortar round on her
left arm, it blew away from her suit. Thinking quickly,
Hitomi turned and ran for the van. The Boomer's wouldn't risk
shoot at her when she was so close to their intended target.
She reached the back of the van an ripped the door off.
Inside she saw two prone humanoid shapes, grabbing one at
random she stepped back, intending to destroy the remaining
prisoner, so that whoever it was attacking the would get
nothing. An explosion rocked her suit, as the Boomer's
realised what she intended.
The rounds were coming at her thick and fast, keeping her
away from the remaining prisoner. Hitomi winced as the last
of the infantry was destroyed, she quickly turned and engaged
her suit thrusters, blasting off towards the nearest USSD
base.
The two remaining Boomers watched the figure fly off. A
power-suit joined them. "Never mind, I'm sure Qunicy will be
happy with what we've got", said a voice from the power suit.
With that it picked up the remaining unconscious prisoner and
moved off. After a moment the two Boomers followed.
******
"How's that??", called John from the control cabin.
"Better, but still not quite right", replied Uslim.
Mara shook her head, they had been trying for hours to
get the impulse engines back on line - if only to provide more
power to the replicators. They had been under Tokyo harbour
for almost a week, working to restore the runabout's systems.
"Let's take a break", she called to them.
Uslim's head popped up from an access hatch, at the far
end of the living area. "Very well, I could use some food",
he said.
John walked in from the control area. "Yeah, me too", he
said. The three friends sat down at the small table, breaking
open some emergency rations. "Geeze, a week eating this
stuff, I'm beginning to think that a piece of optical cable
would have a better flavour", John said sourly.
Mara nodded in agreement. Usually the runabout would
have been able to provide them with replicated food, but due
to the fact that it took a *large* amount of power to run, the
replicator systems were shut down. Uslim, as usual, made no
comment and just ate his food in silence.
After they had finished eating Uslim spoke up. "I'm not
going to be able to fix the engines without some specific
components", he announced.
Mara and John looked at him carefully, "What do you
need", John asked.
"I'm going to need several class-c Isolinear optical
chips, to replace those that were destroyed, several meters of
optical cable and some kind of coolant mixture.", he
explained.
"If the engines were working we could just replicate
them", Mara said sourly.
Uslim nodded, "Yes, but at them moment we can't spare the
power, it's needed for life support", he said.
John sighed, "Could you use 21st century equivalents?",
he asked, already knowing the answer.
Uslim nodded, "Yes, but it would take a while", he said.
John stood up and walked over to the computer, "Computer
activate playback, subject: Boomers", he said.
Uslim and Mara watched the computer's report. <*Boomers
are robots that are used for warfare, construction and
hazardous work*> it explained, showing pictures of Boomers
engaged in all sorts of heavy work. <*According to media
reports, there have also been incidents of Boomers
malfunctioning and causing widespread damage*>, it cut to
another picture, this one of a Boomer destroying several homes
and attacking to police.
John halted the playback, "I discovered this a few days
ago", he explained.
"Where have they gotten the technology for producing such
advanced robots?", Mara wondered.
John shut off the monitor, "This is not *our* past", he
said bluntly.
Uslim nodded, "I had already come to that conclusion", he
said.
Mara nodded too, "Tokyo was never this big, even in the
24th century", she said.
"So the question remains, what are we going to do?", John
said, sitting back at the table. He had decided that they
should all have a say in what was to happen (besides he felt
awkward being in command).
Uslim frowned (a huge statement for a Vulcan), "*I* would
not be able to move around", he said, gesturing to his obvious
alien appearance.
"Could I find those materials for you?", Mara asked,
"that way we could avoid being asked any strange questions".
Uslim nodded, "That would be acceptable, I will prepare a
list and tune a tricorder to pick up the substances needed",
he said.
John frowned, "I don't think you should go alone", he
said to Mara.
"Come on Doc", she said, "I can take care of myself".
"I agree with the Doctor, you both should go", Uslim
said, "That way, the life support systems will be able to last
longer".
John looked down at his clothes, "Somehow I don't think
we'll fit in too well", he said.
"I'll beam you into a clothing store", Uslim said.
John looked worried again, "Won't using the transporter
drain our power reserves?", he asked.
Mara spoke up this time, "Yes, but with only one person
onboard, it shouldn't make much difference", she said.
Uslim nodded, "We Vulcans, do use less oxygen than
humans", he said.
Now that it had been decided, it took a surprisingly
short time to get everything ready for their exploration of
the city. John insisted that he be allowed to bring along his
medical kit (who knows how primitive their doctors are, was
his comment). Mara took a type-II hand phaser and a science
tricorder.
Mara and John stepped onto the transporter pad. "Good
luck, I'm setting you down in a clothing store one the edge of
the CBD", said Uslim, engaging the transporter. The two
shimmered and disappeared in a column of light.
******
Mackie Stingray was bored. He was minding the store for
his sister - again. He glanced around, not that he minded
taking care of the store, it was just that when there were no
customers it was rather boring. Sylia had taken the afternoon
off so that she could discuss some things with the others.
"It's not fair", he thought to himself, "I'm a Knight Sabre
too, and here they are treating me like a kid".
He was just thinking about closing the store early when
he heard a strange noise. It was a kind of whine. Suddenly a
pair of columns sprang up in the middle of the store,
shimmering with a silver light. Mackie sat shock-still, as a
pair of forms appeared within the light. As the light faded
he saw a man and a woman. The man was about six feet tall and
the woman was only slightly shorter. They were both wearing
strange uniforms of a similar design, the man's uniform had a
greenish-blue stripe across the shoulders, while the woman's
had golden stripe.
Mackie shook his head, "This has got to be a dream", he
thought. "Umm, excuse me?", he began.
******
Mara whirled at the voice, automatically bringing up her
phaser and firing - all in one motion. The young man who had
spoken dropped without a further sound, slumping over the
desk, stunned.
"What are you doing!", John practically yelled.
Mara slowly checked the store for signs of anyone else,
it looked empty, calmly she replaced her phaser in it's
holster. "He obviously saw us transport in, this way he will
think he was dreaming the whole thing", she replied.
John moved over to the boy, checking him over with the a
tricorder. "Well hurry up and find some clothes for
yourself", he said examining the boy.
A moment later Mara tapped him on the shoulder,
distracting him from the readings. "What?", he snapped at
her.
Now that she had his attention she gestured around the
store, he suddenly realised what kind of store this was.
"That's the last time I let a Vulcan tell me where to go
shopping!", he said under his breath.
Turning, the two Starfleet officers, walked out into the
nearly-deserted street.
******
-------------------End of Part 1-------------------
Well there you have it - I'll include a glossary
with the next part - it should help those not too familiar
with STTNG to understand what I'm talking about when I talk
about Isolinear Optical Chips, Type-II Phasers etc.
OK I will admit that this has been primarily a Trek story
so far - the Knight Sabres will take a *much* more active role
in the second part. Let me know what you think...
-----Brett (aka: DarkWind)
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Address: darkwnd@sv.net.au WWW page: http://www.sv.net.au/~darkwnd
"This is getting on my nerves, now that I have them"
- Q after being banished from the Continuum
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