Into the Rabbit--er, Wormhole, Part 2

Posted on Wed Apr 11th, 2012 @ 1:40pm by Admiral Ricky Wegener & Captain qeraQ' & Major Patrick Smith

Mission: Sections of the Delta Quadrant
Location: USS Hammond

The USS Hammond shook as it reached the interface. The Wormhole's violent creation having created a gravity well in the surrounding area, albeit one that only seemed to exist on one side, ready to pull craft in. The inertial dampers were doing there best to anticipate the sudden jolts and acceleration, but they were struggling.

"Reduce speed to 1/4 Impulse and direct additional power to the inertial dampers and the Structural Integrity field. Mr. Smith, what do you see?"

Pat looked at the readings in front of him showing what was affecting the movements of the ship, "Looks good from here sir. Very little interference or turbulence. Quite surprising I would think."

"Captain, we are inside the Wormhole." the Helmsman announced, and it was confirmed by a large reduction in the buffeting."

"Let us hope this is not the quiet before the Targ charges from the undergrowth..." qeraQ' mused, "Any indication as to the exit path yet?"

"Approximately six minutes until we make the exit, Captain," the ops officer responded, then her fingers flew quickly over her console as alarms began beeping. "Sir, some sort of...turbulence, for lack of a better word. Intertial dampeners are compensating for us but I believe the fighters are getting the brunt of it."

Smith nodded. "Have the fighters follow in our wake. It may reduce the turbulence for them."

The fighters modified their formation and found it a bit easier riding behind the Hammond. The next six minutes played out quickly and they approached the end of the wormhole. "Wormhole exit dead ahead, Captain. Should we move from yellow to red alert?"

qeraQ' pondered the situation for a minute, with no communication to Starbase 900 they were on their own, but at the same time going in with weapons powered was an invitation for attack, especially as they would appear suddenly from nowhere.

"Negative, we will remain on Yellow Alert. We don't know what we will find but we will face it as Starfleet should, coming in peace to explore. Set course for the opening and increase speed, let's see what's out there."

The ship shook as it maneuvered towards the exit with all the grace of a rhino on ice. The gravimetric distortions played havoc with both the directional thrusters and the inertial dampers, making for a most uncomfortable ride. Eventually, however, they were greeted with a star-scape once again. One more beautiful to the crew of the small Federation ship because of the harrowing journey.

"Report" qeraQ' began after scanning the tactical sensors for threats, "Where in the Universe are we?"

"It'll take the computer a minute to work it out off the stars," Smith replied. "Anything on long range sensors?" he called over to the crewman at the science console.

"Captain, we're being hailed!"

"On screen," qeraQ' said, waiting to see who had found them so quickly.

The face on the screen, and the ship in the background, were both obviously Starfleet issue as confirmed by the next words. "USS Hammond, I am Captain Samantha Philips of the USS Shrike." She paused to smile. "Welcome to the Beta Quadrant."