Cut Off From...Everything

Posted on Thu Jan 12th, 2012 @ 12:58pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Admiral Lucius Hawke
Edited on on Thu Jan 12th, 2012 @ 12:59pm

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: Beta Quadrant / Delta Quadrant

* * * USS Lancaster - Beta Quadrant at the Iconian Gate * * *

~CO's Quarters~

Lt. Cmdr. Kent decided he had reached Nirvana. He looked up as Corinne, his wife, leaned down to kiss him and in that moment when her lips met his, he was absolutely convinced of it. At that point, Jeremy was sure he was hearing bells ringing. Ahh, such bliss. The chiming continued and he went with the fantasy for a bit longer till he realized it was not heavenly bells but a comm badge.

"Shit!" He sat up in a rush, tossing her unceremoniously to the side and the momentum carried her on to the floor in a heap. He already felt as if he were skating on thin ice, so he could not afford any slip-ups now. Only one person was due to call tonight, and that person far outranked him. "My comm badge, can you get it while you are down there??"

She scrambled through the knot of uniform parts, finally finding it. Pulling it off, she took aim, popping him square in the forehead with it.

"Ouch!" He rubbed his forehead briskly as he pressed the badge, taking effort to make his breathing and tone normal. "Trent here."

=^= Commander Trent, I hope I have not caught you at a bad time? =^= The voice of his officer at the conn crackled through the comm badge.

If you only knew, Jeremy thought. He made a note to check it out, perhaps the impact with his head had damaged it.

"Of course not, I was just finishing a little physical training." From the floor, Corrine rolled her eyes at him.

=^= We've made up a little time here, the storms have abated finally. We've activated the gate and will be into the passage shortly =^=

"Well, that is good news indeed, Lieutenant Behr. I'll be out as soon as I clean up a little. Kent out."

When the transmission ended, Jeremy let out a sigh of relief. First hurdle cleared. If he hurried, he could run though the shower before he got dressed and still make it up to the bridge in plenty of time to --

His thoughts came to a screeching halt right there as his gaze fell on Corrine. "Damn, honey, I'm sorry, it's just after Admiral Wegener's displeasure at our delay, I can't afford to make any mistakes. I didn't mean to toss you. Really." He smiled at her, the expression sappy and she had to relent.

"Very well, you get a reprieve. You don't have a lot of time, you'd better get going." With a wicked grin, she gave him a push towards the bathroom. "Can you get my pants while you are down there?"

All he could do was laugh.

****

Sitting in the command chair, Lt. Cmdr. Kent stared out at the viewscreen as the gate shimmered a vivid blue. It never ceased to amaze him that they could simply pass through an apparatus that seemed as old as time itself and instantly be transported thousands light years away. His eyes wandered to his XO, Lt. Alicia MacDonald, busily studying her screen. The gates had always fascinated her, he knew, and he suspected she felt like a kid in a candy store just now.

"Mr. James," he said to one of the men at the tactical station, "report."

"Everything is running smoothly, Commander. All systems read normal."

"Mr. Behr?"

Behr spoke up, his eyes glued to the image of the gate on the viewscreen. "Time to enter the gate five minutes, sir." Looking through the Iconian Gateway they could see, spread before them on the other side, the nebula that marked the entrance to the Delta Quadrant and the route through, dotted with the scattered storms it was noted for.

'Incredible." Kent nodded and walked on to the next station. "Meredith?" he said.

The science officer, Lieutenant Meredith Rossi, had known Jeremy Kent since he had been a jay-gee. They had been on a first name basis since then. "Nothing to report," she said simply.

He smiled, satisfied. They would see this ship delivered to SB900, then the skeleton crew would have a layover there before re-assignment. "This may be the shortest command I ever have and likely will turn out to be the quietest."

She returned the smile as he continued.

Stopping at an empty station he busied himself looking at the display. He changed the search algorithms several times just to see what wonders he could find in the oddity that was the gate and stopped cold.

"Meredith, can I borrow you for a moment?" he said as he kept his eyes on the console. "What do you make of that?"

She followed his pointed finger and furrowed her brow at what she saw. "I've seen it before," she said.

"As have I, but I can't remember from where," Kent replied. "A sample energy surge from the bridge officer's course, maybe?"

"I haven't had that," Meredith said, "but I've seen that power surge somewhere. And something about it makes my skin crawl, like it was..."

"Was what?"

"Like it was...something...bad. I'm sorry that I don't have anything better than that, but I'll start looking." With that, Meredith went back to her own station and began running tests.

"If I've learned anything from you, Meredith, it's that your gut feelings are rarely wrong." Kent turned to face the rest of the crew. "Helm, slow to impulse. XO, take us to yellow alert."

He grabbed the rail next to him as the ship slowed and the yellow lights began flooding the bridge with their glow.

"James, full security sweep of the immediate area for hostiles. Everyone else, I need to know what that anomaly is." He returned to his chair and sat beside his XO.

"What are we looking at here?" Alicia asked, studying the screen. There was nothing visible to the eye, but looking at her own small console she could see the power surge.

The lift doors behind them opened. Alicia turned to see the Betazoid CMO, Dr. Fen, entering the bridge his stride purposeful. He stopped on the upper level of the bridge, hand resting on the rail. "What's happening, Jeremy?"

Jeremy turned to face the CMO, not surprised that he had 'picked up' on whatever was out there. "On a routine scan of the area two minutes ago, sensors detected an unusual anomaly, an energy surge actually. It seems familiar to me, as it does to our science officer. The association is not a good one as she noted, though I cannot put my finger on it at the moment. We are currently scanning the area for signs of its cause and potential hostiles." He indicated the science console where the image of the surge was displayed.

As he stopped, the older CMO turned his attention to the science console and immediately frowned. "Your science officer has good instincts. I do not know if you have seen it in person before but if not, you likely studied it in the wake of Voyager's return." He stepped up beside Lt. Rossi and began pressing the control pad, his fingers moving swiftly over the keys. "Continue scanning and note anything in this range here or with this particular energy signature."

Beside them, Jeremy stood still, watching and when the association fell into place it was clear by his expression. "Interdimensional transport." His expression was grave. "No wonder it made your skin crawl, Meredith." Interdimensional transport meant one thing - Species 8472.

"Exactly. And if you detected it this recently, whoever it is either just left or are about to arrive."

Meredith interrupted then her tone sharp. "Ship appearing straight ahead, Commander, just on the other side of the gate. Time to intercept, less than one minute!"

"Red alert!" Alicia ordered.

Jeremy felt his pulse take off then, the weight of what they had discovered hitting him in an instant. "Prepare to engage if necessary but hold for my order. Given the nature of the technology, we cannot take any chances here."

Larsen at Tactical spoke up, his voice rushed. "Weapons coming online now."

"Continual scans on the area of that ship," Jeremy ordered. "James, I want to know everything about it as soon as possible."

"Aye, sir."

Opening a channel to the entire ship, Jeremy addressed the crew. "This is Lt. Commander Kent to all crew. There aren't many of us on here and we sure weren't expecting a battle, but our situation may put is in the middle of one soon. Give me one hundred percent and we may come through this alive." He paused. "Kent out."

"Inspirational," Alicia muttered dryly.

He shot her a glance but despite the sarcasm in her tone he knew she was just trying to bring levity to the situation.

"They're powering weapons and shields," Larsen reported from his console.

"Sir," James said said from the main Tactical station, "I'm getting something. That ship has no conventional weapons, it seems to be some sort of energy beam, well that's as close an approximation as I can give you -- her shields are another story."

"Quickly, Mr. James," Kent said impatiently, but it was too late. The ship was rocked by what could only be described as an energy blast. "Return fire, all phasers! Let's hear the rest of it, Lieutenant!"

"I don't recognize the specifics of the shields, but I am detecting primary, secondary and tertiary shield generators. They seem to be changing, like Borg shields, but the readings are very different."

"It's a stealth ship," Jeremy said. "Pound them with torpedoes. We have to break through those shields to get a better look inside while we convince them to bow out of this fight." He turned to the monitor to see the mystery ship on the main viewscreen.

"Their primary generator is out, their secondary is down to fourteen percent," Larsen announced as a volley of blasts bashed the Lancaster's shields.

"Our shields are down to sixty-two percent, Commander," Meredith announced. "And I'm reading some sort of energy fluctuation emanating from the ship."

"What kind of fluctuation?"

"Unclear. Their shielding is still skewing the results." She glanced at the Larsen. "If he can get a hole punched in their shields I'll tell you everything you want to know."

As if planned, Larsen replied, "Their tertiary generator is down to forty percent and Lt. James has damaged their main engines. They're not going anywhere fast."

"I found a hole in their shields!" Meredith announced excitedly as the Lancaster shook around her. "It's a ....she paused, her mouth open. "Oh dear god....it's a bioship."

"A bio --" Jeremy stood still as stone. They had studied them in the wake of Janeway's return of course, but it certainly had not prepared him for a real confrontation. As he recalled, they resided in fluidic space, accessed via singularities much like those that dotted the passage on the other side of the gate. Oh, shit. He turned to his XO. "MacDonald, Alert 900 immediately! Helm, how soon will we pass through the gate?"

"Thirty seconds, Commander."

Jeremy nodded. The gate was right upon them. "Helm, get us the hell out of here, everything we've got. Get us away from that gate so it will deactivate!"

They all felt the surge as the ship began to shift course.

"Forty five seconds and we'll be clear," Meredith reported.

No one said a word as the gateway loomed before them, shifted slightly to port as the helm worked feverishly to veer off. Meredith began to count down. "Forty seconds, thirty-nine, thirty-eight, thirty-seven..."

"Come on!" the CMO muttered.

"...thirty-six...thirty-five..."

"Alicia..." Kent said, hoping to hear something good.

" So far so good," she said.

"...thirty-four, thirty-three..."

"All systems showing stable," James reported.

"...thirty-two, thirty-one." Meredith looked up. "I think we might make it."

"Commander, that ship - there's an energy buildup, it's going critical!" Larsen shouted the words. "It's gonna blow!"

"Meredith, any chance of escaping the wake of the explosion?

She began checking her data. "We'll be on the outer edge of it. It'll rattle us pretty good, but we'll survive."

Kent nodded and tapped his communicator. "Bridge to all hands. Buckle up. It's going to get bumpy soon."

"Impact in five seconds," Meredith announced.

"900 has answered," came the word form the XO. "I've alerted them to the impending breach of that ship."

"Almost there, just a few more seconds, Commander." Behr's voice was tense. "Just a few more, and we'll be clear."

Alicia tapped her own communicator. "All hands, brace for impact!"

No sooner did the words leave his mouth than the shock wave of the bioship's warp core blast radiated out washing over the Lancaster. Those on the bridge took hold of whatever was at hand, bracing themselves to ride out the turbulence. The Lancaster itself first shimmied, then took a dip as the energy played hell with the stabilizers. Shouts broke out across the bridge as the klaxons began to sound. Larsen grabbed for the railing behind his station and held on for all he was worth. Down on the lower level, Jeremy hit the floor and wrapped
his arms around the base of the captain's seat. A loud thump came as Alicia was thrown from her seat and suddenly the ship began to list.

"Stabilizers are offline!"

"Navigation's hosed! We're drifting into the gate!"

"Hull breach imminent!"

"Warp containment field offline!" came a shout over the comm from Engineering. "Trying to compensate!"

There was a sudden silence in the wake of the news from Engineering. Those on the bridge sat in hunched expectancy, waiting for Engineering to come on again, tell them it was under control.

"Stations report!" Jeremy ordered. On the viewscreen the nebulae visible through the gate began to light up, brilliant flashes filling the screen. The ship seemed to be suspended in nothingness for a split second, then the explosions sucked it in as if it was weightless, pulling them to an intercept course with the massive gate.

"Helm! Engineering!"

Any that might have answered were lost to the blinding fireball that was once the Lancaster.


* * * Starbase 900 - Command & Control * * *


The shockwave radiated through the entire nebula causing a never-before-seen formation of something that even the best minds at Starfleet hadn't been able to fully understand.

"Sir."

Vice Admiral Wegener had taken the shift in Command & Control and had been enjoying what was a quiet night. "Yes, Ensign?" he said as he walked out of his office, a hot cup of coffee in his hand.

The ensign was now squirming in his chair.

"Spit it out, son! I don't have all day."

"Oh, God. Oh, God! Admiral--it's the Lancaster. They were just making it through the gateway and...they're gone, sir."

Rick froze. "Gone? Disappeared or....destroyed?"

The Ensign turned to confirm what he knew but was quickly interrupted.

"Admiral, very strange anomaly occurring at those exact coordinates," the Science jay-gee announced. "Shockwave incoming!" he added.

"Red alert!" Ricky announced. "All hands brace for impact. Shockwave incoming in..." he glanced at the jay-gee who held up ten fingers, "...ten seconds!" He turned to the jay-gee, trying to remember his name. "This is from the Lancaster? It's a bit big, isn't it?"

"No, sir. It's not just the Lancaster that's gone. It appears that they collided with the gateway on this side causing a warp core breach, which detonated the gateway and has now begun working on the soup that makes up the nebula around the passage. It's--"

The station rocked, not disastrously, but enough to knock someone off their feet if they weren't prepared for it.

"--it appears," he continued after ensuring he wouldn't fall, "that it's destroyed the gateway and the nebula is beginning to be affected."

"Affected how?"

"It's shrinking, sir," he said. "I believe that we're about to see the beginnings of a newly formed wormhole."

Rick didn't waste any time. Slapping his comm-badge he announced, "Captain qeraQ', assemble a scientific and engineering crew and report to the USS Hammond for study of this anomaly. Be ready to launch in twenty minutes."

=^= Understood, sir. =^=

"Extend our long range sensors as far as they'll go. I want every bit of this documented," he said. It was then that a trickle of fear crept up and tickled his neck. If the gateways were destroyed, would they ever make it back home? Were they locked in the Delta Quadrant forever? "And everything we've received since the Lancaster's first hail until just before the Hammond departs 900, I want it uploaded to their computer. They will need to have all of that information."

** Twenty Minutes Later **

Rick had spoken to his XO, Captain qeraQ', briefly over the intercoms as the senior of the two made his way to the closest observation deck to the anomaly. Slowly, as he watched, he could indeed see the nebula shrinking. It changed colors drastically, several times, and as the Hammond was launched towards it with its science officers no doubt going crazy at the amount of information obtained from this event, he watched the last of the nebula disappear.

It was then that an amazing thing happened. A blinding flash of light appeared and, once it was said and done, there was nothing left of the nebula, the passage route, or the gateway. The only thing there was a cavernous opening, probably double the size of SB900. Something that had never been seen before happened just before their very eyes. All that was left...was a wormhole.

Staring at it a few moments, he turned to walk away, then quickly turned back for one last look. "Well, it seems that I have an announcement to make," he said to himself as he walked away. "Home is where your station is, I guess."


*********
VADM Ricky Wegener

&

RADM Lucius Hawke

Starbase 900