There is currently 1 episode of Star Trek: Ascension
Please read this first
This story is copyright of Mark Ball, it can be copied and distributed but must not be altered or changed in any way. Star TrekŪ is a registered trademark of Paramount Pictures, no copyright infringements intended. All content in these web pages are for entertainment purposes only.
Thank you. :) Theonion770@hotmail.com
Introduction -The story starts here
Rise of Evil -The first episode
Also you can view the Ascension gallary
"Transwarp scout Frenktarn. Ship’s log. Date: unknown, last entry.
This ship stands alone, we are the last survivors of the once proud Briori."
He sat alone in the room. The lighting was dull and a green gas was pouring out of a nearby conduit.
"The recent events have been, to say the least, disturbing. Within months my great, proud culture has crumbled before my eyes."
He reached for a hipospray and pressed it against his neck, his body stiffened as the fluid passed into his bloodstream.
"First came the plague. It came from no where, like the great scriptures had prophesised. Many of our people died, but not all at once, but slowly. The horror did not stop there, from the infinite ibis of the underworld came the punishment for all that we had done wrong. The small ones came first. They seemed to live by attaching themselves to our bodies and feeding, draining us of our life. They caused insanity in some, controlling them, making men kill their own wives and children."
He leant back on his chair and a small tear dropped from his eye and trickled down his once smooth face.
"Then came the demons.
We set up a network of stable, artificial wormholes to search every inch of every galaxy for a race that is immune to the devastating effect of our nemeses, a cure or even an effective weapon. We found none. Nor did we find any races as advanced as us. I have heard rumours of one promising race, from quadrant Alpha in the X261-3PQ galaxy, a planet they called Earth. We hope to find them, but we will be lucky to find any species.
This ship was our last, best hope of survival. We gathered the few non-affected men women and children on to this ship, we have the most advanced weaponry there is but it wasn’t enough to destroy the nemesis, they were too scattered, to mixed in with our own people. We had no choice but to destroy the main computer core, consequently all our colonies were destroyed too. All ships besides this one have a link to the master computer, so they will have been affected also. They will have lost life support, navigation and many other vital systems, this is the only ship left.
Our families died, but so did the nemesis." He sighed and lowered his voice almost to a grunt.
"Transwarp plasma is leaking all over the ship, it’s mixing with the excess Argon in the air, causing strange deformities among us. I know that we can only last another hour. It pains me to see my great culture crushed, I only hope that this log will be found, then at least a memory of us will live on.
The Briori are no more."
***
A few millennia later
On Stardate 43997, the Borg (a race of cybernetic aliens that take members of other species and assimilate them into their collective consciousness in order to bring them selves closer to perfection.) launches a direct assault on Earth. Their cube-like ship was intercepted by a fleet of Starfleet vessels at the Wolf 359 star system near earth.
"WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR VESSELS" The voice was harsh and dry. "YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS WILL BE ADDED TO OUR OWN, YOUR CULTURE WILL ADDAPT TO SERVICE US, RESISTENCE IS FUTILE!"
A swarm of Starfleet ships approached the Borg cube at high speed, many of them firing phasers. They all fired photon torpedoes at the same time, some fired a spread of atleast seven torpedoes, together it was probably enough to destroy several Romulan warbirds. The ships began circling the cube like killer bees, however this particular target was immune to their sting.
One ship, the U.S.S Capricorn was just joining the battle. Her problems were just beginning.
"Entering Wolf 359 system." Called Lieutenant Bross from the ops station.
"Load torpedo bays, arm phasers." Ordered captain Edwards, his face pale. He was clearly scared, Everyone was, exept the Vulcan science officer. This was Edwards’s first command, he was finding it hard. His Brother and niece were on board and it had been difficult for him to juggle his work and personal life.
Bross turned round from her console. " I bet you die before I do." She said in a friendly way. She was the only crewmember that Edwards knew, he didn’t really appreciate her kind of humour but he had learned to tolerate it in the three years that they had known each other. He called, "Fire all weapons." And they did.
The Capricorn swooped in, phasers firing, and joined the fleet. The Princeton and the Faragut were staying together, making close passes to the cube. The Magellan was just in front of them at present, also making circuits, inflicting heavy torpedo bombardment. She zoomed in to the cube at incredible speed, releasing yet another five torpedoes. She got at close as she could she could without crashing into the mammoth ship, she was a small ship but she looked puny to the great Borg fortress. Just before she collided with the cube, she pulled off to starboard and flew into the darkness like a spacefaring eagle, firing the phasers on her underbelly.
The Capricorn advanced in, spraying the metallic wall of the cube with torpedoes. The Borg completely ignored it and fired at the Magellan, which was moving away at great speed. The weapon hit the port warp nacelle causing plasma to leak rapidly. The Borg fired again, this time the Capricorn Moved into the line of fire and the weapon hit the lower decks of the engineering section. The Capricorn tilted on its side as it turned sharply right, the Borg fired again, this time it hit the saucer section. When the explosion died down it could be seen that it had blasted straight through from one side to the other.
The bridge was now busier than before. The atmosphere had changed from tense to extreme panic.
"Torpedo away!" shouted The Andorian at tactical.
He had to shout to be heard over the hullabaloo that had arisen. Two men stood behind the captain’s chair with fire extinguishers, the fire that they were trying to control had started when the navigational subprocessers overloaded, the flames were engulfing the entire rear wall. The fire was almost out when the science station exploded. Both men were thrown back, one hit the wall, the other was lifted off the ground and didn’t touch it again until he crashed onto the rail that surrounded the centre of the bridge, braking his back as he did. The flames rose once more.
Captain Edwards sat in his chair, gripping the arm rests as if they were stress relievers. "Status!" He shouted.
Bross was still at her station, she would not leave even though she was being covered in smoke from a ruptured pipe above. She answered, "That last blast went straight through section thirty four, decks four, five, six and seven! Structural integrity fields are in place and holding, but for how long I don’t know!"
Ensign Scott at communication called to the captain, "Sir! Transmission from the Magellan, they want to speak to you!"
Edwards straitened his back and said, "On screen!"
The screen blinked on to show a blond haired woman, the number of pips on her collar indicated that she was captain. "Captain Edwards!" She said. There was urgency in her voice and small explosions filled the room. "We’ve got a problem! Our chief engineer says that we have a warp core breach imminent!" The picture began to degrade, it was now almost impossible to see her. "It would be nice if you could beam us out of here." The screen filled with static and blinked off in a flash.
"Bross!" Captain Edwards called, "Beam them out of there."
"I can’t!" Bross tightened her brow and clenched her teeth. "Their shields are up! Our computer library should contain their
shield frequency, but to lower them we would have to initiate a computer link over the com lines!"
"The problem being?"
"Their communication network is broken!"
H stood in the centre of the shuttle bay, shouting up to the ensign in the control room. "Hey bozo!" H was a hologram designed by an advanced species to fight the Borg, he’d finally got his chance and he wasn’t going to miss it. He was different to other ensigns, not only was he a self-sustaining hologram, not only was he extremely clever, but he was excessive, he lived for kicks. He was average by looks but not mind. "Hey look at me!" He began to do the funky chicken dance.
The ensign in the control room didn’t realise that H was a decoy and peered through the glass at him, leaving him vulnerable to attack from behind. Chjoc, the fat Bolian, crept up behind him. Chjoc was also an ensign. He put his hands over the ensign’s eyes and jumped onto his back. The ensign tried to shake him off but his back was breaking under the awesome weight. The ship shook as the Borg hit once again, throwing Chjoc and the ensign into the wall. The ensign took the blow head on and was knocked unconscious leaving Chjoc wriggling on the floor, struggling to get up like an over turned beetle.
"Come on Chjoc!" cried H.
Chjoc used the control panel to open the shuttle bay doors and waddled down the steps from the control room, his fat stomach wobbling as he did. He and H headed for a shuttle each.
The USS Saratoga exploded in the background and the USS Firebrand came in to join the battle, closely followed by the Galaxy class USS Odessy. Two shuttles flew by it and headed towards the Magellan. The Capricorn drifted near it, still firing phasers but desperately trying to figure out a way to rescue the Magellan’s crew. The two shuttles believed they had an answer.
Chjoc sat in the seat of one of the shuttles screaming, "What do I do! What do I do!"
H called over the com line from the other shuttle, "Set the phasers on a rotating modulation. Tell the computer to fire randomly at the Magellan until it has used enough frequencies to work out the shield frequency."
"Are you crazy!?" Chjoc shouted. "We’re supposed to be helping them!"
"Trust me. I’m smarter than you are. After we do that we set the transporter to that frequency, piggyback the signal across both our shuttles, then finally into the Capricorn’s cargo bay where they will materialise." He took in a deep breath. Lord knows how he thought of it.
"Will it work?"
"There’s only one way to find out."
The shuttles closed in on the Magellan, firing phasers until one phaser blast went through the shields and hit the hull.
"That’s it!" cried H, configuring the transporter to that frequency.
Chjoc’s shuttle fell back into a position in-between the Capricorn and H’s shuttle.
"Energising." Said H. "…That’s all of them."
Next, the shuttles headed towards the Magellan and engaged their tractor beams. They guided it towards the Borg cube, then, disengaged and pulled away. The Magellan crashed into the cube just as it’s warp core exploded. The blast covered a huge area including where the shuttles were. All went quiet for a moment, then, two flaming shuttles came out of the blast like comets.
H had a huge smile across his face. "WOOH! YEEEEAAAHH!!" He’d never had as much fun in his life.
Chjoc was screaming.
Everyone on the bridge of the Capricorn was clapping, when they had calmed down Edwards spoke. "If you ever do anything like that again I might be forced to promote you."
The Borg hit once more. There was ships everywhere now, another ten ships had entered the system. The Odessy swooped around the cube, firing a constant spread of torpedoes. The Odessy turned to avoid collision with the Faragut but as a result crashed into the Capetown, both ships were destroyed.
The bridge of the Capricorn was still as noisy as before.
"Sir!" Bross shouted. "The Odessy and the Capetown have been destroyed! So has the Sutherland and the Columbus!
What do we do!"
"We stand our ground lieutenant!"
Five minutes later
The Capricorn tumbled out of control. She now had only half of her saucer section left. The Princeton hurtled by and then exploded. Every single ship lay either crippled or in pieces, other ships had come, but they too had been destroyed. One thing was for certain, they stood their ground.
"Fire torpedoes!!!" Edwards shouted.
Bross ran over to him. No one else on the bridge was alive. She grabbed his arm. "It’s over Daniel, this battle is lost! We’ve got to get out of here!"
* * *
"DADDY!!" the young girl screamed, but her dad wasn’t there. She tried again, "DADDY!!" This time she heard a reply. It was quiet and there was pain in the voice, she looked for him in the dark, smoke filled room. The flickering of live wires hanging above was the only light in the room. Then she found him.
He was trapped under a pile of metal and he had a stake impaled in leg, his face had a large gash down one side and it bled even more when he spoke. "Emily." He whispered. "Daddy’s going to be…alright. But you must get help." He was Jonathan Edwards, the captain’s brother. He took a few deep breaths. It was clear that it hurt him to speak. "Emily….I love you."
"I love you to daddy." A tear rolled down her face and she kissed him on the cheek.
Emily ran over to the door at the other side of the room. It was slightly open but not enough for her to squeeze through, so she started shouting. "Help! Help!…HELP!! PLEASE, SOMEBODY, HELP!! HHEELLPP!!!" She started to cry, only stopping to say: "Help!"
Suddenly a pair of hands gripped the edge of the door, they puled it open to reveal that they were owned by Captain Edwards with Bross by his side. He bent down in front of Emily. "Emily. Where’s you’re daddy?"
She turned and pointed. "He needs your help."
Captain Edwards ran over to him. He tried to lift the wreckage that was on top of his brother but it was two heavy.
Bross was using a computer panel in the corridor outside. "There’s an huge energy build up behind that wall, if we don’t seal this door in fifty seconds then the whole deck will explode."
"Go." The captain said. "Take Emily to an escape pod."
Bross shook her head. "No! I’m not leaving without you."
"DAMN IT KATE, THAT’S AN ORDER!!"
Bross sighed. She hated it when he did that, you could guarantee that every captain would do that at least once. She took Emily’s hand and pulled her off, all the time Emily was screaming and pulling back.
"Hey, don’t worry I’ll get you out of here." Captain Edwards said to Jonathan. He tried once more to lift the wreckage, this time he managed to throw aside a heavy bar. The weight, however shifted and more pressure was put on the metal stake inbeded in Jonathan’s leg, causing him tremendous pain.
"Daniel." Jonathan whispered. "Give this to Emily." He pulled out a golden locket. "It was her mother’s."
"You can give it to her yourself, when we get out of hear."
"Leave me… Save yourself."
Captain Edwards Realised that his brother was bleeding on his chest, so he ripped his uniform off to get to the wound.
"For God’s sake go Daniel. Respect the dead’s wishes."
"You’re not dead, your not going to die either."
"You will be as well if you don’t go."
The computer beeped and said: "Warning. Evacuate room and seal off entrance."
Captain Edwards hesitated for a while, then went. He turned round when he reached the door and pushed the seal button. As the heavy door slowly closed Jonathan spoke. "Tell Emily I love her." Then he saluted, and the door closed. The sound of an explosion filled the air. The door buckled under the pressure and then burst, flames filled the doorway and Captain Edwards lay on the floor. He could feel blood gushing through a wound in his head, every thing went blurry. He noticed that a light at the end of the corridor had gone off. He thought nothing of it, but, as he looked up, the next light along went off, and the next, and the next. He was terrified it was as if death was approaching, as if darkness was a demon. It was coming closer as each light went off. He wanted to run but he couldn’t. Now, only the light above him and the one next to it were on. The one next him went off and he laid his head back down and gulped. He was suddenly very tired, and as he closed his eyes, the last light went off. The demon was upon him.
Something didn’t feel right. Everything was black, he tried but he couldn’t even see his hand. Nothing felt right. Time had no meaning. A thousand times he told himself, ‘It’s over. My life has ended.’ A light appeared, forming a circle on the floor. Then, from the darkness came a figure, black, like death. The figure had no arms, it seemed to float. Its head and shoulders were covered in some sort of suit, the rest of its body was covered in a cloak. It floated in the light for an eternity, then spoke. "So you’re here."
"Where?" Thought Edwards, and said it. He heard his breath deep within his sole.
"Here." Replied the figure. "Where you belong." It tilted it’s head. "This is where you have always been." Silence. "This is where you have always belonged."
Edwards thought.
"You’re scared?" It said. "Why? Don’t be. This is your home." It seemed sure. "You have always been here."
"I wasn’t here a minute ago." Edwards said without moving his mouth.
"Weren’t you? Where were you?"
"I… I don’t know." He was confused. Where had he been, he knew it wasn’t here. Where was he?
There was something behind him. Another light. A figure stood in it, tall, hairy, like a sloth. It spoke. "You were in the game."
There was blinding light and a defining screech.
His heart was pounding and his hands were shaking. Edwards now found himself in a jungle. Bross was by his side, shooting a weapon, walking backwards as she did, "Fall back!" she shouted. Bodies lay scattered in the undergrowth, he found himself shooting as well but he stopped when he realised he didn’t know what he was shooting at. Then he saw them, small spider creatures scampering among the bodies.
Silence.
Another figure was with him now, it was also like a sloth but it wasn’t the same one. It walked round him for what seemed forever, and once more. "You’ve become small." It said. "You were once a great game keeper." It hissed at Edwards. "Go back to where you belong!"
He found himself back in the darkness.
The first figure spoke. "You must unite with us."
The second figure spoke and Edwards spun round to face him. The figure said: "It is the only way to defeat Evil."
"That figure I just spoke to, who is it?" Edwards asked.
"Evil!" The two figures said together. There was another flash.
Yo’maar held the staff high in the air and called, "Scactoo maar l’racrio, sillra dell spirits, sillari mock taar evil!" The air turned blood red. Edwards could see all of the sactoo maar’s open in the distance. The spirits had woken.
Edwards was back with the figures once more. "What was that?" He asked.
"Images." Replied the first figure, a small mouth hole in his suit opened as he said it. "Pictures of the game."
"Images of what will be." It was the second figure that spoke now, his whole body was covered in hair, yet he wore a cloak.
"You were in it." Edwards said curiously. "Your name is Yo’maar."
Bross sat on the bridge of the USS Vigilant, in the chair next to Edwards. "We’re stuck out here." She said softly, an invisible tear rolled down her cheek. "We’re stranded."
Another spotlight appeared. Into it walked a short man, he was different to the other two, he was Klingon. He stood proud with a bat’leth in his hand. "You ask to many questions."
Edwards recognised him. He didn’t know his own name, but this man was familiar, he felt he knew him. "You’re Khaless." He said. "And you." He pointed to the figure wearing the bio suit. "Your name is Kraq."
Khaless let out an annoyed sigh. "We should tell him."
"No! It is best that he learns it himself." They all looked at the new light that had appeared and the owner of it stepped forward. She was short, she looked only a mere child.
Edwards recognised her at once, but she was older than he remembered, she wore a Starfleet uniform. She had kind eyes, her long black hair covered her ears. She wore a golden locket around her neck. "Emily." Edwards said.
She looked at the others. "His heart will tell him."
There were four figures now, all in a circle around him. It was startling but he felt at home with these people. Who were they? Why were they here? Why was he there?
"Because you belong here." Yo’maar said.
"It…It’s evi. It’s evil! Ins mi! Is ins…ide me!" Clark lay on the biobed with sweat running down his face. He yelled out as loud as he could: "Kill me! Before it takes control of me."
Doctor Quinn ran up with a hipospray.
"AAAAGGHH!!" Clark knocked her back with arm that he’d managed to free from the restraint. "EVIL!!"
Everything froze.
"Evil must be stopped." Kraq whispered.
"What the hell is going on?!" Edwards was confused once more.
"I should have never brought us hear." Edwards said with a tone of failure in his voice.
"Damn it Daniel." Kate said. "You can’t blame yourself for everything, it’s not your fault."
Nothing made sense, he could feel blood rushing to his head.
"Daniel." Called Emily. "Calm down. Listen to your heart."
He did listen to his heart. It was beating loud and fast. Beating, beating, it wouldn’t stop."
"Daniel…" Said Emily once more.
Another light appeared. "Will someone please shut this girl up" The figure said.
"Q." Edwards knew the name, it came not from his memory but from his soul.
Silence. Edwards couldn’t even hear his heart. ‘Why am I hear?’ He thought.
"Because you belong here." Kraq replied.
"What?"
"You have always belonged here."
"You have always been here." Added Yo’maar.
"How did you know what I was thinking?" Edwards really was confused.
Q sniggered. "So corporeal."
Another eternity passed.
Khaless spoke. "Evil must be destroyed, for the sake of the game. Then we will feast on his heart together."
"What is this game you speak of." Edwards heard his voice echo in his sole.
Q laughed at his stupidity. "You mortals call it existence."
Kraq was unimpressed by Q’s ignorance. "He is only mortal because of Evil. We were all mortal and still would be if it wasn’t for Edwards."
"I was never mortal!" Shouted Q.
Edwards felt himself slipping away but the power of the figures kept him from returning to the game. Although, they either couldn’t or didn’t want to stop the visions.
Yo’maar tilted his head slightly. "You should not blame yourself. It is meant to be, the keepers have laid the path out for you."
"Who?" Edwards thought back to the vision he had six years ago but didn’t say anything.
"Many moons ago, I had a vision, one that I can not explain." He changed the subject back to the original one. "We owe much to you." He bowed his head. "Friend."
A new light caught Edwards’s attention. From the shadows, emerged a figure in a peach dress. It’s eyes were deeply indented into it’s face, large wrinkles stretched across it’s forehead. It was a changeling. "Don’t confuse him." She had a soft voice that filled Edwards’s heart. "Follow your heart my child and you will find us. Follow your hatred and you will find Evil. We will unite when it is time. But for now, you must find the energy to survive."
"I was cruel in my youth wasn’t I." She was Borg. A new light was surrounding her. Borg implants covered her shiny skin, she had no hair and the bright spotlight made her head look green.
"You must get up." Yo’maar said
"What?" Edwards asked, he answered the question himself. He remembered what had just happened. The Borg, the Capricorn, His brother. He saw himself lying there in the corridor.
"You’re in a coma." Said Q smugly. "Without our help your chances of survival are about the same as finding this boring bunch dancing round a mulberry bush on a cold and frosty morning."
"You must get up my child." Said the Changeling.
"We will fill you with the strength." Khaless boomed. He handed Edwards a small metal object, it seemed to be some kind of emblem. "Let the crest of my house stand as a symbol of your strength."
Edwards clipped it onto his arm.
"Wear it well, brother."
Bross sat on the bridge of the vigilant, in the chair next to Edwards. "We’re stuck out here." She said softly. An imaginary tear rolled down her cheek. "We’re stranded."
The lights were all around Edwards in a perfect circle. Well, almost perfect, one light was missing. As Edwards thought about it, it lit up. In it was himself, he wore the house of Khaless crest on his arm. He said: "Be vigilant."
***
Edwards awoke. The lights in the corridor were now back to normal, he was feeling groggy and, in his ignorant state, thought it must have been a dream. Then, he realised that the house of Khaless emblem was clipped to his arm. He was suddenly filled with enormous strength. It channelled through his veins and overcame his pain. He stood. The ship shook one final time and he stumbled over to the window down the corridor. As he looked out he saw the Borg cube moving slowly away, through the graveyard of destroyed ships. Edwards looked at the door that had sealed his brother in. He felt responsible, and as he looked out of the window at the cube once more, he whispered under his breath: "You bastards!" And made his way to an escape pod.
***
"What do you mean you’re engaged to him?!!"
Anger filled Captain Daniel Edward’s face and Emily knew she wouldn’t get what she wanted, if, that is, she knew what she wanted. His blessing maybe, or at least just a smile.
"What do you think I mean? She replied. "Anyway you’re not my Father!"
"No, but I am your uncle."
"That doesn’t give you the right to...."
"And if your Father were still alive, would you listen to him?!" All suddenly went quiet and Edwards watched Emily fiddle with her long black hair for a minute or two. Emily’s Father had died six years ago at Wolf 359. "Look, I’m sorry."
"No you’re not!" She turned to face the window of her Starfleet academy quarters, Edwards didn’t know if she was crying. She had a perfect view of campus and San Francisco, not that she was bothered at the present time. She sighed and said quietly. "Today was supposed to be special. I’ve graduated."
"Congratulations, Ensign." He tried to smile but, for some reason, his slightly tanned face seemed to fight back.
"You don’t care. No one does, except Jason."
"And that’s why you want to marry him?" He stood up and pulled his uniform straight. "Emily, look at me." She didn’t. "I said before, I saw him in the park yesterday with another woman."
"You’re lying." She stormed towards the door.
"Emily!" He reached out his hand to her and she turned round. Her face was filled with anger and her eyes burning with rage as she snarled, "GO TO HELL!!!"
* * *
"Captain’s log. Stardate: 50702.3. First entry. Captain Daniel Edwards in command of the USS Vigilant.
It is now one hour since my launch speech and our journey is underway. She’s a fine ship, Akira class and newly commissioned. When I first glimpsed the craft she was waiting patiently outside Starbase 11 with the light of Ross 154 outlining her hull. I knew from that moment as the shuttlecraft glided along her smooth underbelly that we were going to get along. The reason I chose this ship though, is the name. I had a vision six years ago. In the vision I saw myself say: ‘Be vigilant.’
My crew should be satisfactory, many have yet to arrive from the USS Jenolen, we are on route to rendezvous co-ordinates.
Starfleet have selected my senior staff, although I did have some say in the matter:
My first officer is Commander Kate Bross, half Vulcan half-human. Her and me go back years. She is the most well suited person I could think of for the role of first officer.
My security chief, Lt commander Karl Wood. He has an excellent record and a rather interesting collection of weapons.
My chief engineer Gr’Vorn is a Rilkan, a rather curious chimpanzee like race. Starfleet records say he is promising engineer but lacks social skills.
Doctor Quinn, a Narran. Unlike most of her species she shows psychic abilities.
Bollian helm officer Chjoc should prove interesting, his physical record isn’t the best I’ve seen.
Operations officer Lt H is an old friend of Chjoc’s, both of them I have served with on my last command. H is a self-sustaining hologram created by a species that he claims was assimilated by the Borg a number of years ago. He and Chjoc insisted on personally delivering our two new fighters, we have yet to hear from them.
Overall the day has been uneventful."
Two small objects exploded into normal space with a flash of blue light. A few seconds ago it would have been impossible for any bystander to see them as they were travelling at three times the speed of light. They were both still travelling very fast from a stationary point of view. The two fighters were dangerously close to each other, both going at relatively the same speed even though one was slightly ahead.
"Look at me! Look at me!" Screamed Chjoc as he took the fighter into a roll.
"Mind out P’Takh!" Shouted H as he pulled his ship into a loop to avoid a collision. He pulled up level with his friend and waved to him through the window.
"How long do we have to get there?" Asked Chjoc.
"Plenty of time, but remember our bet."
"I’ve been ahead of you since we went into warp!" Said Chjoc with confidence. Chjoc was a Bolian, his blue hairless skin looking darker than usual as his large figure was squeezed into a tiny cockpit, making him feel slightly ill, but still hungry. He took out a sachet of pressurised ice cream. In the speeding fighter next to his, H looked up from his console and glanced at Chjoc.
"That’s not the ice-cream is it?"
"Yeah, why?" Forgetting that the fighters did not have artificial gravity Chjoc teared the sachet open and thick pink goo erupted out into the cockpit. "Oh no!" he cursed as the large globules of ice cream completely engulfed the small area. H could only watch as the windows in the second fighter were splattered with pink ice cream. He listened over the radio as his friend screamed and swore to himself, H laughed out loudly and speeded ahead.
* * *
The door chime sounded and he looked up. "Come in." He called. In entered a short attractive woman with brown hair tied in a small pony tail at the back of her head. "Ah, Commander Bross." Said Daniel from behind his desk.
"Why so formal?" She asked.
"Well it avoids getting into a fight with you too."
"Ah, you spoke to Emily." Suddenly it made sense to her. He always went like that after ‘disagreements’ as he liked to call them. "She told me. She knew you wouldn’t be happy. So what did you say."
"I mentioned her Father."
"Not good. Anyway what’s wrong with this Jason?"
"He’s cheating on her."
"Not good."
"What did you want?" He was stroking Joey, his cat that rarely left his side.
"We only have half an hour before we meet the Jenolen. H and Chjoc just arrived."
He suddenly looked up from Joey "I trust they got our fighters here in one piece?"
"Well, what exactly do you mean, one piece?"
* * *
"Captain’s Personal Log. Stardate: 50702.3.
The day is not going well. After this last rendezvous, we will probably be called to the front lines and have our ship destroyed by the Dominion. At least the Cardasians will show their ‘usual mercy.’
For a crew I have been left with a psychopathic security officer, the only doctor to be awarded ‘Bitch Of The Year’, a short, hairy chimpanzee in charge of my engineering. Ah yes, and we can’t forget H and Chjoc, the two most un-funny comics in Starfleet. And worst of all, these damned new uniforms don’t fit."
The bridge was quiet. At the ops station sat Lt H, he was an average looking male with blonde tinted hair, parted down the middle. Next to him, at the helm, was Chjoc, his fat stomach barely fitting under his console. Both of them were chewing simultaneously. H thought for a while then said,
"Toffee."
Chjoc shook his head in disagreement.
"No...Caramel."
"Toffee."
"Caramel."
They stopped and noticed that, at the tactical station, stood Acting Security Chief, Lt Walker. He was standing in for Mr Wood, as he had not yet been transferred from the Jenolen. They got up and walked over to him. Chjoc pulled a sweet from his pocket and offered it to the Lieutenant.
"I bought them on Andoria Prime." Said Chjoc with a smug grin. The lieutenant took the sweet and placed it in his mouth.
"Hmm, Cardassian fudge?" He guessed. H and Chjoc each rose an eyebrow, then curled their lips curiously and both said
"Naah!"
The console bleeped and Walker snapped into action to determine what the problem was.
"We’re getting a distress call from the Jenolen," he said "It’s very faint. - I can’t get a fix on the position." He tapped his commbadge, "Captain Edwards please report to the bridge."
The captain strolled out of his ready room, closely followed by commander Bross. H and Chjoc hurriedly tried to make themselves look busy.
"I’m detecting a distress signal from the Jenolen, sir." Said Walker.
"Did it reach the rendezvous co-ordinates?"
"Negative, the signal is typical of a standard subspace relay probe."
"Where is the probe?"
"I am not detecting any probe at the point of origin, the transmission seems to be coming from nowhere."
The Captain turned to H who immediately stopped chewing.
"H, any ideas on where it’s coming from?"
As it is difficult to speak with something in your mouth, H decided to get rid of the sweet (preferably as inconspicuously as possible seeing as it is against regulations to eat on duty). H turned his back to the bridge crew and coughed his sweet into his hand where he clumsily dropped it onto the floor. He spun around with nervous grin and cleared his throat.
"The signal is being transmitted via a modified subspace radio," He said checking the tactical console.
Commander Kate Bross raised an eyebrow, well half an eyebrow seeing as she was only half Vulcan. "Modified?"
"Yup, it’s the same technique theorised by Cardassian scientists to communicate through the Bajoran Wormhole."
The Captain walked over to his chair and sat in it. H and Chjoc made their way back to their stations.
"As I recall that only worked because of an ion trail left by a comet." Added Commander Bross with a friendly smile. H turned at his station to face the Commander.
"That was an unusual wormhole and using combined Federation and Cardassian technology. The Jenolen may have found a way around it." The Commander turned her back on the Captain to face H.
"Ahh, I see you read Starfleet Intelligence reports. My sister writes many of them."
H turned into friendly conversation mode. "Did you read the one about the rebellion of the New age hairstylists on Vagris 3?"
"Yeah," smiled Kate. "When they broke into the royal palace and gave the Queen dreadlocks..."
The Captain stood up and interrupted. "Excuse me, we have a job to do here." Bross returned to her no-nonsense expression and H turned back to his console and continued working. Captain Daniel Edwards and Commander Kate Bross returned to their seats.
"What you’re saying is the Jenolen has stumbled into a wormhole?" Said Edwards.
"Well," replied H at his console. "They may not have stumbled into it." Chjoc turned around in interest and started picking his nose.
"What do you mean?" Asked the Captain.
"Call me suspicious, but..." Chjoc opened his mouth but H held up his hand to avoid the bad joke. Chjoc continued flicking his nostril.
"Call me suspicious, but I looked through Starfleet records and it appears there is no information on the USS Jenolen’s current mission."
"Hmm, a top secret mission." Sighed the Captain. "Get me Admiral Necheyev on subspace, I’ll take it in my ready room.
* * *
"...then the Vorta said ‘That’s not Ketracel white!" Everyone in the mess hall burst out with laughter and slowly returned to their seats. H got down from his table with a proud smile plastered to his face. He sat down opposite to his friend and took a slurp of his drink. He looked up and noticed that Chjoc had a puzzled expression on his face, so he asked him what was wrong.
"I don’t get it." Replied the bald Bolian cradling his synthahol.
H smiled at his slow-witted friend, he was just about to explain the joke when he noticed a short figure standing to his side. He turned and saw nothing at first, then he looked further down and saw a short hairy chimpanzee. This was no ordinary chimpanzee, for one thing he was wearing a Starfleet uniform, and for another he started to speak.
"You keep that up and crew morale will be the highest in the Federation." He spoke in a deep, rough voice that made him sound like he had a sore throat. H was shocked, he had lived a very long life and had never seen anything like this. First he was stunned, then he looked at his drink, and then back at the small hairy face looking up at him. He smirked. "Hi" he said after the moment’s insanity had sunk in. "I’ve never seen a talking monkey before." Chjoc made a quiet hissing noise and kicked his leg under the table.
"That’s alright," said the simian, climbing onto the chair next to Chjoc. "I’ve never seen a hologram outside of the holodeck before." Chjoc nearly spat out his drink, and H frowned curiously. The chimp held out his furry hand, "I’m Chief engineer Gr’Vorn, a Rilkan" He hesitated for a moment, you can touch me can’t you?" H firmly grasped his hand.
"H, pleased to meet you." The Rilkan did not let go of his hand, instead he felt it with his left hand.
"Remarkable," He said releasing his grip. "And not a holo-emitter in sight." H smiled curiously at the little chimp who seemed to know more than he should.
"How did you know I was a hologram?" He asked, sipping his drink and seeming not to mind. Gr’Vorn smiled smugly.
"I’m an engineer," he said as if that explained everything. "I have fixed more holodecks and holoemitters than there are Tribbles in the Milky-way." H smiled as he knew he was talking to someone who understood what he was, he knew that some people would think of him only as a hologram and not a real person, but Gr’Vorn was different.
A voice which neither H or Chjoc recognised came over the commline. "Doctor Quinn to Gr’Vorn" The voice was a woman’s and she sounded both mad and annoyed. Gr’Vorn sighed, tapped his commbadge and said in a mocking voice: "Yes my plum pudding?"
"I told you I needed my sickbay fully operational when we started our mission. I need a fully operational sickbay to work in, and if I don’t get a fully operational sickbay I can’t treat my patients properly, and then I get behind in my work and then someone might die. And who’s fault is it? Not mine, I was the one who wanted the fully operational sickbay in the first place. It’s your fault for not making sure I have one."
Gr’Vorn realised that everybody in the Mess hall was listening with interest as he was shouted at by his commbadge "Now hold on..." he said standing up and backing towards the door. Dr. Quinn carried on explaining his job to him as he said goodbye to H and Chjoc. "Stop by later and you can tell me all about being a holographic life-form." he said to H and walked out of the door and down the corridor saying "Yes yes woman I’m coming now, stop yapping"
* * *
Gr’Vorn trudged through the sickbay doors and leaned on the wall until he caught his breath. "These starships are too big." he said to himself.
"They were designed for more evolved life forms like us." said a harsh voice. He looked up.
"The kind that split off from apes millions of years ago." Dr. Quinn looked down at him. Her facial expression was not a pleased one, but not a sad one. Just a down to earth, no-nonsense expression. She always had an impatient look in her eyes, though Gr’Vorn sometimes thought he could see a twinkle in them when she was ordering people around. She and Gr’Vorn had been unfortunate to be assigned together on several occasions, so Gr’Vorn knew how much she enjoys getting her own way. Not that she ever seems to enjoy herself, come to think of it Gr’Vorn had never seen her smile. Not properly anyway. She had managed a few bitter grins sometimes, but never a happy smile.
"I want you to fix this." she said throwing him an object as if feeding an animal at a zoo. Gr’Vorn looked in his hand.
"A tricorder?"
"A MEDICAL tricorder." she corrected.
"You called the Chief engineer halfway across the ship to fix a medical tricorder. Why can’t you fix it yourself?"
"Damn it Gr’Vorn I’m a doctor not an engineer!"
"Look, we have Ensigns for this kind of thing!"
Quinn scowled. "You mean you can’t fix it?"
"I mean I WON’T fix it- Look lady, this vessel depends on me. I have to make sure this ship is at peak efficiency..."
"I need sickbay to be equally efficient as engineering." Gr’Vorn realised he was wasting his time. He threw back the medical tricorder and sauntered out of the door muttering angrily to himself.
Dr. Quinn watched the doors close and smiled cheekily to herself.
* * *
"You sent a starship through a wormhole without the authority of Starfleet command?" Captain Edwards was furious, he was shouting at a face on his computer screen. "worse still you did not know what perils lie on the other side."
"Captain!" Fleet Admiral Necheyev was infuriated that a mere captain had the nerve to address her in this matter, let alone question her authority. Edwards did not stop there.
"You put the lives of the Jenolen’s crew in danger, and now this ship cannot function properly because half of my crew was to come from that ship. That means that it is MY crew you endangered!"
"CAPTAIN!" This time she made it clear that she would stand no nonsense. "You are aware there is a war on." The captain’s cat Joey stirred due to the raised voices. He was currently curled up on the desk.
Daniel calmed down slightly. His face was still a bit pink. "What the hell has that got to do with this?"
Necheyev sighed. "More than you think." she said. "We are loosing this war, the Dominion have too many ships and a seemingly infinite supply of soldiers. We simply cannot build enough ships to replace the ones lost in battle, and the death rate is going off the scale." Her voice sounded urgent. "We need new allies and new technologies if we want to defend ourselves against the Dominion. Anything to tip the scales in our favour."
Captain Edwards felt an icy shiver go down his spine. He knew the situation was bad but he had never heard it sound so desperate.
Necheyev continued to explain. "When Captain Beuday contacted me to tell me that the Jenolen had found a wormhole I persuaded him to investigate."
"You mean you ordered him." butted in Edwards through clenched teeth.
"I gave him a choice, I knew this could be an opportunity too good to miss. The wormhole could lead to anywhere the galaxy, it could lead to another galaxy altogether. There was a chance the Jenolen could exchange technologies and bring back something we can use against the Dominion. I knew it was risky but I let the captain decide if the ship was ready for the challenge."
"I assume from the distress signal they wasn’t up to it."
The Admiral frowned. She had a lot on her shoulders already, every decision she seemed to make thesedays led to the deaths of more good people. She didn’t need this, not now.
Captain Edwards walked over to the replicator and ordered himself a Black hole. Whenever there was trouble afoot he needed a stiff drink to get him through.
"I’m sending a science vessel to try to communicate through the wormhole now." she said. "It will get to your position in eleven hours."
"Eleven hours?!" Spluttered Edwards, spitting out his drink. "We received a distress call, dammit! They could all be dead in half that time!"
The Admiral put her head in her hands and rubbed her tired eyes. "There’s nothing we can do, we’ve lost some good people. Now return to Starbase 128 to receive your new orders. I’m afraid we have a shortage of crewmen so you’ll have to..."
"No."
Necheyev was shocked into silence.
"What did you say?"
Captain Daniel Edwards stood his ground. "No. I can’t just ignore the distress signal and walk away as a shipload of good people die."
"Captain!" Yelled the admiral, furious. "We need every ship on the front lines. If you disobey me I will court martial you for desertion."
Edwards was moving his hand closer to the screen control panel.
"Then I’ll have to see you in court. Bye bye now."
"Insubordination!" Shouted Necheyev as the screen blinked off. Edwards grinned and finished his drink.
* * *