A Peek On Beyond

Posted on Mon Jul 22nd, 2013 @ 4:12am by Commander Patrick Leroy

Mission: Breaking New Ground
Location: Secondary Hangars

Down the service corridor Patrick leaned on the portal giving sight to the hangar. He watched the engineering crews busying themselves with maintenance and unloading cargo. Not far from them, on a solitary landing pad, his Runabout stood.

Odissey… What an odd name for a Runabout. The engineer of the registry must have been drunk.

That was the one he requisitioned to reach the Ialnalyn station four-three-nine where he’d been invited to partake of a great experiment, at least that was the promise in Ialnalyns’ words.

The whole thing intrigued him. It had the taste of a little vacation from all the problems SB900 had undergone lately. Leaving Rutheridge in charge of everything made him feel quite lighter on his shoulders. Still he had set up very tight schedules for all the tasks currently being managed by Galileo Center.

The only thing he could not control in its manifestation, was the anomaly bringing up visions to many people around the base such as the terrifying one of Thumb, the ruthless assassin, coming back to threaten Kh’ali.

Even if happy to leave for a while he could not forget this latent threat, for Kh’ali and for anyone else on the base. So he had been very specific with Rutheridge and the staff to the point of stirring a hint of impatience from them or so it seemed to him. Rutheridge went to the point of telling him that he needed some well-deserved rest and this experiment was a great opportunity for that.

Unbelievable.

Yet Rutheridge’s tone had been akin to his own when relieving some over-stressed member of the department to avoid having delicate researches ruined by some mistake born of weariness. His suggestion stung deep within him but he had to acknowledge he was right.

A few days away from the Galileo wouldn’t have hurt anyone and then he would have been back to work… And that was the maximum Commander Leroy was willing to concede himself and to anyone else for that matter.

His gaze returned to the runabout being serviced, wondering of the trip to come.

“Thought your shoreleave was over by a while Lieutenant. This is not becoming of you…” The voice addressing him jokingly.

Someone had come unheard to his back, no corridor doors hiss, but that wasn’t the worst of things… A shiver went down Patrick’s spine as he slowly turned to face the interlocutor, hoping to be spared from his fears.

He was not.

“Is all well Lieutenant? It seems you’ve seen a ghost.” Captain Johansen smiled to him.

“Yes. Er… No Sir.” Patrick managed to reply.

“Well.” Johansen reprised “The Berkeley is about to leave moorings, as you know, we’ll be making a Nebula roundabout ending with the ‘corridor’ recording the major quantity of data possible. Starfleet is particularly concerned about having the corridor stabilized, you know… Find out a method to predict plasma outburst from the Nebula and making the passage safer for ship travel. This is where your department comes in Lieutenant.”

Lieutenant…

Patrick’s mind strived to find some answers and a correct way to respond avoiding some fatal mistake. It seemed to him that Johansen was oblivious of the current situation on SB900 and his leaving the Berkeley to be Department Head on the Base with promotion to Lt. Commander and, especially, he was well oblivious… To be dead.

“You really seem distracted Lieutenant. Are you sure is everything well?” Johansen remarked again coming closer and eyeing the berth outside the window.

“O-of course I am Commander… Er… Captain.”

He had skipped the pips at first sight but something in this Johansen’s reality must have happened as he spoke of the Berkeley now as his own ship.

“I’ll be ready in a few Captain.” Patrick swallowed hard deeming better to play that game.

“That’s my Leroy. Good Lieutenant, I’ll be waiting your report in aboard the Berkeley in half a hour.”

Patrick wondered where the Berkeley could have been right now. Then turning his eyes away from him he fought with the need to know what happened in that other reality about that cursed mission that costed Johansen’s life here.

“I still remember our very first mission with the Berkeley Captain, sometimes it still haunts my sleep.” He dared avoiding to make a direct question.

“You mean about Nosferatu planet, as it has been renamed following Li Hawke’s and yours suggestion…” Johansen responded.

“Yes Sir, right that one.”

“A close call, Lieutenant. I remember it too and I have to tell you in confidence, it haunts my sleep too once in awhile.”

Patrick’s mind went back to that day when a strange signal had brought the Berkeley and an Away Team to that forlorn planet to present them a great discovery and disaster. Until the moment they where forced to run for their lives, abandoning their Number One under tons of crumbled rocks…

******

…All of them felt the punch in the stomach as the virtual gravity hand pressed them inside the seats, then the light came as bright as a million suns.
The sound followed shortly after, its reverberation vibrating through the shuttle metal hull. Instinctively they braced themselves waiting for the inevitable.
The force of the explosion reached them sending the shuttle like a dead leaf in a storm. The ship structure shook with force for long moments threatening to go to pieces until it managed to come out of the mesosphere

“Next stop the Kàrmàn line and then USS Berkeley.” Stated Rush with relief in his his voice. “I’m hailing the ship now.”

A relief well shared by all the others, though short lived as a gloom descended on them. Nobody spoke their minds but it was clear, in the way they eyed each other, what they were thinking.

No one down there could have survived such destruction.

No one.

******


“Perhaps there is something you should know Captain…” Patrick managed to say after what seemed an eternity.

The hiss of closing doors brought him back to reality. Looking up he saw two surprised ensigns staring at him. Johansen wasn’t to be seen anywhere.

Harrumphing he straightened his uniform as the couple walked past him exchanging glances.

“That was Commander Leroy. Wasn’t he? Speaking alone?” the girl whispered to her companion as he quickly pulled her away.

Flushing with disappointment Patrick left the corridor his hand tapping the badge “Science. Leroy here. Think we have to file a report to Commander Winter Department.”




*************
Patrick Leroy
Disgruntled Visionary