Star Trek: Voyager ReBoot - Far From Home This is the beginning of a little piece based in my Voyager: ReBoot universe. It is based around the crew of the Nova-Class U.S.S. Equinox and how they arrived in the Delta Quadrant, then begun their journey home. As this is my ReBoot, things are a bit different from the TV Series, as such Captain Ransom isn't in command of the Equinox. * * * * * Bridge, U.S.S. Equinox Black Nebula, Sector 87761, Alpha Quadrant Stardate: 48072.3 (January 27th, 2371) Rachel Liu was determined to unlock the secrets of the Black Nebula. A small but dense gaseous anomaly, with a high concentration of dark matter—though that wasn’t the origin of its name, that came from the stellar cartographer who had first discovered the phenomena over fifty years ago, Doctor Sarah Black of the Daystrom Institute. Dark matter anomalies were rare, so the chance to study one intensively for three months was every astrophysicists dream. A sensor relay chirped further down her console, so she gripped the edge and wheeled herself towards it. She opened the display and began looking over the new data. “Anti-protons? Where’d you come from?” she muttered, not aware that she’d spoken aloud. So engrossed in her new readings and scans, Liu never realised that others of the Bridge crew were glancing at her, among them Commander Laura Kellogg—who moved up to the upper level and perched herself on the banister, watching the scientist. “Rach, you do realise talking to yourself is the first sign of madness.” Startled, Liu jumped and quickly turned her chair round to look at the First Officer. She looked behind the other woman and noticed some of the looks she was getting, then felt her cheeks start to burn. “I was doing it again, wasn’t I,” she stated, knowing the answer already. Smiling, Kellogg pushed off from the railing and stood beside Liu, where she rested a hand on her blue-clad shoulder. “Yeah, you were. But all great scientists are a little odd, so we tolerate it,” she said in good humour. Liu smiled up at her, feeling her cheeks beginning to cool. Kellogg kept her hand on Liu’s shoulder for a few moments longer than most would, as her deep brown eyes looked into her. It was one of the few instances when Laura showed her true feelings when on duty—though their relationship was far from private (it was impossible to keep a secret on a ship they shared with eighty-three other men and women), neither of them wanted to flaunt it when on shift. Kellogg removed her hand, then with one last little smirk turned and headed back to the command arena where she slipped back into her chair. Liu Looked after her for a moment longer before returning her attention to her anomalous discovery. She had been checking, analysing and validating her findings with the astrophysics and cartography labs for almost thirty minutes when an alert sounded. Quickly addressing the new display, something far more curious was displayed. “Commander,” she called over her shoulder, not taking her eyes off her display, “sensors have just registered a coherent tetryon beam scanning us.” “Confirmed ma’am,” Lieutenant JG Zrey added from ops. “Origin?” Kellogg asked a note of caution in her voice. Liu checked her readings again but shook her head. “Unknown. No ships, stations or probes in range.” Several alarms sounded from just about every sensor. Lieutenant Burke at tactical got to it first. “I’ve got a massive displacement wave moving towards us.” “Visual.” On the viewscreen a massive bank of bright white energy appeared. It was in complete contrast to the navy-black nebula they were deep inside. Kellogg slowly got to her feet. “Captain Sokell to the Bridge,” Kellogg called. “Rach, analysis. Time to impact?” “Present speed, three-point-three minutes,” replied Burke. The doors beside her console opened and Sokell stepped onto the Bridge. The Vulcan, middle-aged by their standards, headed straight for the Kellogg in the middle of the command arena. “Sir,” Liu spoke up, interrupting Kellogg’s prompt debriefing, “sensors show it to be some kind of polarised magnetic variation, though it’s in some kind of flux. My readings are constantly changing.” “Two-point-seven minutes to intercept,” Burke stated solemnly. “Conn, move us away. Full impulse,” Sokell ordered. He gave a subtle nod to Kellogg. “Max, sound red alert. Divert all power to the shields.” A second after the order was issue the lights dimmed, alert panels flashed and the klaxon sounded. Liu bit her bottom lip and glanced over her shoulder at the command arena. Kellogg looked up at her, and she could see the tension in her partners’ usual confident face, traces of worry in her dark eyes. “Wave is accelerating, sir. Intercept in ninety-five seconds,” Zrey announced, the young Bolian’s voice was heavy with fear. “Warp?” Kellogg asked. “We can’t create a stable warp field within the nebula, Commander,” replied Ensign Oranis at the conn. Sokell stepped closer to the two forward consoles. “Mr Zrey, do we have time to generate a graviton pulse?” “I’ll need to configure the particle emitter and then fifteen seconds to charge it.” “Proceed,” the Captain confirmed calmly. Zrey worked fervently. Liu could just sit and watch as the displacement wave drew closer to them. She tried to run a variety of scans on the anomaly, but none of her readings made sense. Like the tetryon beam, she couldn’t even determine its point of origin. The Black Nebula was close to the Tholian Assembly, but relations with them had been stable for over a decade now—maybe that was just a ruse, and this was some new kind of weapon they had been developing in secret? She shook her head to clear it of such thoughts. They weren’t helping. “Graviton pulse ready!” exclaimed Zrey. “Impact in sixty seconds. Mark,” Burke announced. “Initiate graviton pulse.” Liu kept her eyes glued to her monitors as the Equinox emitted the pulse. It took only a few seconds to reach the wave. She held her breath, waiting to see a reduction in the wave’s energy emissions, or some other positive change. But to no avail. “The pulse had no effect, Captain,” she informed them. “Forty seconds.” “Sokell to Garibaldi.” “Go ahead,” came the anxious voice of the Chief Engineer. “Lieutenant, divert warp power into shields and structural integrity.” “Already on it, sir.” “Understood,” Sokell replied and then moved to his chair, Kellogg following his example. “Twenty-five seconds.” Once seated, the First Officer tapped her companel. “All hands, this is the Bridge. Brace for impact!” Liu gripped the edge of her console and said a quick prayer to any benevolent deities that were listening. Not for the first time she wished Starfleet had installed seatbelts. As ready as she ever would be, she looked down at Laura and found that she was looking up at her. There was only a three meters between them, but it might as well have been three parsecs. “Ten seconds. Seven. Five. Four.” As Burke announced ‘two’, Laura mouthed, “I love you.” Liu managed to tell her the same, just before all hell broke loose. * * * * *
Nice work, Bry. I can't wait to read more. And it's good to ready something by you again. Keep it up.
The first thing Liu was aware of was the smell of scorched ozone, mixed with melted plastics and metals, but none of that was enough to mask the unmistakable stench of burning meat. She coughed heavily; smoke filled the Bridge which meant that the environmental systems were offline. She opened her eyes and found that the only illumination was coming from the intermittent red alert. Taking a moment, she flexed all her limbs and made sure that nothing was broken and no major areas of pain or discomfort. Rolling over, she pushed herself up and slowly got to her feet. The Bridge was a mess. Most of the consoles were dark, a couple having exploded—the origin of the conglomeration of awful smells—the viewscreen was filled with static, whilst slowly others began to rise up from the deck. Gripping the railing for stability, Liu stepped down to the command arena. Both the chairs were empty, though she found Laura, lying on the deck just in front of her chair. She wasn’t moving. Her heart in a vice and her stomach clenched tightly, she couched down next to the First Officer and gingerly reached out towards her long neck with two fingers. Part of her didn’t want to touch her partners’ smooth skin, terrified at what she might not find. But she couldn’t put it off. She had to know. Liu paused for a second, her fingers just a couple of centimetres away from where her pulse should have been. She bit her bottom lip before moving in to check. Her fingertips just made contact when Laura suddenly inhaled deeply, before having a coughing fit. Tears rolled down her cheeks, as a small grin tugged at her lips. She moved her hand and rested it on Kellogg’s shoulder, as the other woman struggled to force herself to sit up. When her eyes focused on Liu, she smiled. Liu cupped her face with her free hand, looking her over and relieved to see that she looked uninjured. They took the moment to hold each others look, both relieved the other had made it, and neither of them able to put into words what was rattling through their heads. “No!” the shocked gasp of horror broke their moment, drawing them back to reality. They both looked towards Oranis, who was crouched next to a prone humanoid form. Liu helped Kellogg to her feet and then they stepped towards the young Betazoid woman. Before Laura could ask what was wrong, Oranis looked up at them, moving so that they could see Captain Sokell wedged against the deck, his neck forced into an unnatural angle by the steps down to the forward consoles, green blood trickled from his ears and nose, whilst his eyes were fixed on a distant point. Looking down at the Captain’s corpse, Liu felt nauseous and quickly had to turn away. Eyes closed she tried to breathe deeply, to calm her stomach and shock at seeing his body. “All...” behind her, Kellogg’s voice was hollow and empty. She tried again, this time trying to restore her normal commanding tones. “All stations, report in status.” Liu quickly looked back at Kellogg, who was removing her jacket and set it over Sokell. She looked up at Liu, her grief battling out with her duty and training. This would be something that the crew would have to get through together, but in the meantime, they had to know how bad things were, they had to focus on the living and ensuring their survival. Though reluctant, she moved back to the upper level, righted her chair and began to look over what data the working sensors had collected. “Shields are completely gone,” began Burke. “I can’t charge any of our weapons and none of my sensors are operational.” “Max, have security teams begin salvage and rescue of survivors.” “Warp drive is offline, as is the navigational array and primary helm functions. Impulse is at thirty percent,” Oranis stated, sounding tearful. “Main and auxiliary power are out, we are on emergency batteries. Hull breach on deck four, section eighteen—cargo bay one. Six power conduits have ruptured throughout the ship; we have plasma fires and system failures on all decks. Life support is out on decks four and seven. Long-range communications and sensors are both out, as is the main computer. Casualty reports coming in from all decks,” Zrey called out. “Fatalities?” Kellogg asked her voice soft. “Unclear as yet, Commander.” “Dispatch repair crews to all critical systems,” she instructed, then took a few steps closer to Liu. “Rach, what you got?” As all the reports had come in, Liu had been trying to patch together what sensors they had left to try and gather as much data as possible. So far what she had wasn’t promising, she could barely run a passive sweep and the results they brought up weren’t very clear. “I’m not sure, Laura. The sensors are pretty much useless. I’m not showing any signs of the Black Nebula or the displacement wave. I’m getting sporadic metallic signatures, there could be something else out there, but I can’t clarify the readings.” Kellogg looked back at the viewscreen then down at Zrey. “Lieutenant, can you get me a visual?” “Standby.” Liu glanced back at her sensor display, but the telemetry was just as confusing and muddled, before looking towards the viewer. As she watched, the display began to clear to show an empty starscape, unfamiliar stars shone against the darkness of space. The image then shifted to another one of empty space, with a variety of different constellations. Two more visual sensors showed nothing more than empty space, but the fifth one was dominated by a massive silver-grey structure. Silence filled the Bridge as Zrey reduced the image until the entire thing filled the forward monitor. It was unlike anything Liu had ever seen before, with a variety of arms jutting out from the main hull. From the lowermost point on the hull, brilliant white balls of energy were expelled—their purpose, a bigger mystery than the station itself. She tore her eyes away from the viewscreen and focused on her sensors once again, directing what little she had to scan the alien construct. “What is that?” Zrey asked in awe. “Unknown,” Liu answered. “Our sensors can’t penetrate its hull.” “Mr Zrey, hail them.” “Aye sir.” The ops officer worked his console for a few moments then shook his head. “I’m not getting any response.” Just then, the dull red alert panels were replaced by the ships emergency lights and most of the consoles glowed back to life. All it did however was to show them just how badly damaged the Bridge was. Kellogg looked up at the lights and seems to take strength from them, though battered and bruised and dwarfed by an unknown station in an unfamiliar region, they were working hard to get back on their feet. Slowly, she looked around at all the grubby and frightened faces, her own set with determination and hope. “Alright, let’s get to work people! I want everyone with a level four engineering qualification and above to get down to Engineering and assist with repairs. Cover the basics; get us back on our feet. Anyone who is a rated emergency medtech will assist Sickbay with the injured. Oranis, Mor, you two remain on the Bridge. We’ll see to rerouting the main controls and get things patched here. “Snap to it,” she finished, bolstering the crew around her with her confidence and certainty. Liu started to feel cautiously optimistic as she watched Kellogg take charge and focus them on the task at hand. We’re going to be alright. With Laura in charge, we’ll get through this, she told herself. An alien transporter hummed to life and Rachel Liu dematerialised from the Bridge of the Equinox. * * * * *
For a few seconds, Liu found herself standing alone in the middle of a park. The sun high in the sky, the air warm, but with a slight breeze to keep her cool which rustled the trees and bushes. A wide variety of colourful plants were in full bloom and bees buzzed around them. She was turning around on the spot, looking around, trying hard not to panic. She was looking at the large pond, on which ducks peacefully swam, when the transporter whined again and Lieutenant Zrey appeared, then Burke, Kellogg and the other Bridge staff, quickly followed by the rest of the crew. They were looking around at their new surroundings, all of them on edge and anxious. Liu moved closer to Kellogg, wanting more than anything to take her hand and draw strength from her once again. The crew had been milling around for only a few moments when a young girl, who was no older than eight or nine, dressed in a light summer dress, her hair in two braids, skipped down the path, humming a little tune and smiling as she approached. As she neared the amassed crew she stopped. “Hello,” she said cheerfully. Kellogg stepped forward. “Hello,” she replied, crouching down to get at the girls eye level. “Can you tell us where we are?” The girl gave her an odd look. “You’re here, silly,” she said with a giggle. “Come on, the faire is going to start soon! You won’t want to miss it!” With that the girl continued skipping down the path, the crew watching her leave. “Commander?” Burke asked. “You’re guess is as good as mine, Max.” Liu looked around her again, relieved to see that the majority of the crew were alright. It was then she spotted Petty Officer Jimenez, who had a tricorder strapped onto his belt. She moved over to the computer analyst and gestured at the device. “Jimenez, would you mind?” He pulled it from its holster and handed it to her. “Of course not, Commander.” Flipping it open and began to run a full scan. Kellogg must have heard the device, as she moved over to Liu and waited patiently for her to complete her sweep. “I’m not picking up any stable matter. This must all be some kind of holographic projection.” “Can you make out anything about this station? Crew, computer systems, anything?” She tapped a few more controls, but the scans came back negative. “The bulkheads are preventing me from scanning outside of their holodeck. I’m not picking up any other lifeforms, other than the crew.” Kellogg moved in closer and lowered her voice. “How many are here?” “Seventy-five.” “Damn,” the First Officer muttered. They had lost ten people when they’d been hit by the displacement wave. The tricorder suddenly chirped. Liu quickly studied the small screen once again. “I’ve just picked up a Sporocystian lifesign. Thirty meters that way,” she stated, pointing in the same direct the girl had gone. “I guess we’re going to the faire,” Kellogg said humourlessly. She took in the crew for a moment. “I want everyone to fan out, see what you can find out about this place. Nobody goes anywhere alone.” There were a variety of confirmations and nods from the assembled crew. “Commander, Burke. You’re with me.” Her orders given, Kellogg led the way down the path, Liu and Burke following close behind. Armed with the tricorder, Liu felt a little more at ease. The device allowed her to gather and analyse data, it made her feel useful and gave her something to focus on other than her anxiety. They followed the path the girl had skipped down and found an assortment of tents and stalls, some with food, others with games, and a few with other attractions, whilst a ferris wheel slowly turned, music played, children cheered and the amassed crowd moved between the vendors, enjoying the day. “This is just unsettling,” Burke told them. The three officers moved into the crowd, making sure to stay close together. They did their best to question the holographic inhabitants, but none of them could tell them anything useful—everything they had to say was about the faire or the park. Liu’s scans showed that the anomalous lifeform was somewhere in the throng of people, but it was too localised to pin down to a specific person. They neared a cart, where a cheerful old man was selling balloons. He looked at the three of them, before settling on Kellogg with a wide toothy grin. “Hello there, could I interest you in a balloon? A little memento of your day.” Kellogg shook her head. “No, thank you. Could you tell us why we’re here?” “Same reason as everyone else,” he told her, gesturing to the crowd, “to relax and have a grand day out. Are you sure you wouldn’t like a balloon?” “Quite sure,” she reaffirmed. They moved away from the balloon seller and stood together, looking around at the faire and the crowd. “We’re not getting anywhere, Commander,” Burke proclaimed. “I know Max, but without anything more to go on, I don’t know what our next move should be,” Kellogg admitted. “This station must be what brought us here—wherever ‘here’ is—and if it can do that then we are seriously outmatched.” As Kellogg and Burke ran through what their options were, Liu continued her scans, watching the crowd as she did. But none of them paid much attention to the Starfleeters, a few friendly smiles and polite greetings, but nothing more than that. She was about to suggest that they reassemble the crew and try to come up with a new approach, when she spotted the balloon salesman. He was looking in their direction, though more specifically, right at Laura. Liu looked at Kellogg, to balloon man then back again. He was scrutinising her, as though he knew her from somewhere. Then a faint smile crept on his face. A feeling of dread gripped at her stomach. She whipped her head around, calling out, “Laura!” just as the alien transporter whined again and she blacked out. * * * * *
Didn't expect to like this ... and yet I did. So far this really is an Equinox reboot instead of a Voyager reboot which is not a bad thing at all. I was however hoping that your next project was going to be a space station based story set in the Star Trek: The Motion Picture era. Not that I'm complaining or nothing.
Currently suffering for severe writers block, so trying to force my way through it. I opted for this little piece as I wanted some backstory for the Equinox in my ReBoot Universe. So I just sat down and forced myself to write, coming up with the character names and what not as I went along (which is where the relationship between Kellogg and Liu came from, hadn't thought about it, but it just seemed right to me). About to post the next installment. No promises on when I'll get this finished, but will be my damnest to make sure it is.
Waking up once again on the hard deck of the Bridge, Rachel Liu felt better rested than ever before. But the feeling quickly evaporated as she got to her knees and looked around. The Bridge was still heavily damaged, but the smoke had cleared and the lights remained on. Around her, the officers and crew were once again getting to their feet. She looked down to the command arena but found it empty. She quickly glanced at each face: Burke, Zrey, Oranis, Mor, Plaq’or, Cho. Everyone but Laura. In an instant she was on her feet. “Where’s Commander Kellogg?” The others stopped and looked around at each other, suddenly realising that the First Officer was missing. Burke quickly got back to his station and began working the controls; Zrey quickly followed his superior’s example. The security chief looked over at her. “I’m not picking up her combadge signal.” “Sensors show seventy-four lifesigns onboard, Commander,” stated Zrey. They were only missing one from the station. They were only missing Laura. “Sir, the chronometer shows that we were over there for three days,” the Ops Officer added in disbelief. The six men and women on the Bridge all turned and looked at her, their expressions a mixture of expectation, uncertainty and trepidation. They were all thinking the exact same thing she was: What do we do now? With Captain Sokell dead and Commander Kellogg missing, it fell to Liu, as the ship’s Second Officer, to assume command—something she was never overly comfortable doing in the past, even with her superiors available to relieve her. But now, she didn’t have that safety net and seventy-three people were relying on her. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she tried to draw on confidence she didn’t have. “Commander Kellogg may still be over there. Burke, ready a security detail. You’ll be with me. Mr Zrey, the ship is yours. Ensure that damage control teams begin work on all affected areas and maintain transporter locks on the away team.” “Aye sir,” both men replied in unison, before setting about their tasks. The rest of the Bridge crew followed their example and set to work. Once Burke was finished getting a couple of his security guards together and arranging someone for the transporter room, he nodded at her. She headed for the turbolift and he joined her. As they headed down Burke cast her a quick look, a mix of support and sympathy. “We’ll find her, Commander,” he told her, with a firmness to her voice that made her believe what he was saying. She gave him a single nod as the carriage stopped and they stepped into the corridor. It was a short walk to the transporter room, where she found Crewmen Barrett and T’Vel waiting for them, kitted out with phasers, tricorders and rifles, whilst Petty Officer sh’Vohris stood at the controls. It took them only a minute to equip themselves, check the settings on the phasers and rifles—something she had never touched outside of the firing range. Once they were ready, the away team wordlessly stepped up onto the transporter dais. Liu looked at Andorian manning the controls and nodded. “Energise.” It took them seven seconds to materialise in the middle of the faire in the holographic park, but this time the place was deserted. The team swept their beam in site with their phaser rifles, but nothing came at them, nothing moved except for the brightly coloured balloons in the gentle breeze. The balloon man. He has to know something, she told herself. The way he’d looked at Laura told Liu that he knew more than the other characters had. She lowered her rifle and flipped open her tricorder. Slowly she began to scan the area, but the small device showed that there wasn’t any other lifesigns but their own—not even the bizarre sporocystian bio-signature she’d discovered on their first trip to the station. But it had to be somewhere onboard as well. “Spread out, search the area. Set you tricorders for active scan and look for any signs of the Commander, or a computer terminal we could patch into,” she instructed, trying hard to sound as confident and commanding as Sokell or Kellogg. “Alpha-three search grid, stay together and report in every ten minutes,” Burke added. The two guards nodded and moved off down the path to begin their leg of the search. Liu looked at Burke and gave him an appreciative smile. If there was one person she could count on to keep the rest of the crew safe, it was Maxwell Burke. “Let’s get moving.” * * * * *
Over two hours searching and they had turned up nothing—hell, they couldn’t find the exit for the holodeck! The two teams had searched the entire bay thoroughly, taking scans as far as they could, but there were no humans or aliens in range. Reluctantly, Liu had been forced to call off the search and the away team had beamed back to the Equinox. She was pleased and surprised that they were making progress with repairs. Sensors, communications and impulse were completely repaired, shields and main power were up to fifty percent, whilst their warp drive and weaponry would be functional within two hours. Back aboard, she had ordered their shields up and to pull back from the station to outside transporter range—though seeing as how the base had ripped them out of the Alpha Quadrant she did assume that it would do much good, but it gave her a little piece of mind. Burke and his security guards had gone to assist with repairing the weapons array, whilst she had remained on the Bridge and begun an analysis of the station and the region of space they now found themselves in. It had only taken her five minutes to discover that they were in the Delta Quadrant, over seventy thousand light-years from their previous position at the Black Nebula. She did her best to push that fact to the back of her mind, the last things she needed was to dwell on the fact that they were so far away from home, ten people (including the Captain) dead and now one missing. Instead, she focused the repaired sensors onto the station and began to run every scan possible on the facility. But none of them gave her anything conclusive, the material is was made of dumbfounded the sensors and kept the secrets of the station to itself. She was able to get more information on the pulses; massive bursts of radiant energy, at least eight times the amount of energy their warp core could produce. They were being expelled towards the fifth planet of the neighbouring system. They could’ve been used to beam Laura off the station, Liu mused as she looked at the pulses. She tapped the intercom. “Bridge to Engineering.” “Engineering, Garibaldi.” “Lucian, how long until you have restored warp drive?” There was a brief pause, no doubt as the Chief Engineer checked the latest status reports. “Repairs are complete. We’re running a series of diagnostics. If they check out then I’ll sign off on the core.” “How long?” “I’ll need another five minutes until the diagnostic is finished.” “Understood. Thank you, Lieutenant. Keep me posted. Liu out.” She quickly tapped a command into her console and transferred the details on the pulses destination to the Conn. “Ensign, I want you to input these coordinates into navi—” She looked over her shoulder at the Betazoid pilot and stopped in the middle of her order. The younger woman, was sitting hunched over her console, shoulders shacking as she silently wept. Liu got up from her seat and moved down to the lowest level, where the forward consoles were situated. She slowly sat in Zrey’s chair and leaned forward. “Adayna?” she asked, her soft voice lost in the quiet of the Bridge. Oranis looked up at her, tears running down her cheeks. She shook her head and closed her big black eyes. “I...I’m sorry, Commander.” Liu rested a hand on the younger woman’s shoulder. “You’ve got nothing to apologise for Adayna. I’m just as scared and uncertain and anxious as you are.” Opening her eyes, Oranis looked up at her. Liu saw in her eyes everything she felt and knew it would be worse for the other woman, she had to suffer the feelings of over seventy other people as well as her own, which for any telepath—let alone one who’d only graduated from the Academy nine months ago—would be a heavy burden to bear. “We’re going to find Commander Kellogg and then find a way to get back home, I promise you that Adayna.” Oranis gave her a small nod. “Aye sir.” “Garibaldi to Liu.” Liu glanced up to the ceiling and the comgrid that was concealing within. “Go ahead.” “Commander, I’m pleased to report that warp drive is at your disposal.” “Excellent news, Lieutenant. Thank you. Liu out.” She looked back at Oranis. “Set the course please. Once repairs are completed, we’ll get underway.” The ensign nodded looked back at her console. After inputting the commands she announced, “Course locked into the navigational array, Commander.” * * * * *
Well, so far this is closely following events of the Voyager pilot. I'm curious to see if some of these characters are going to make different decisions, considering that we have 20/20 hindsight.
Second Officer’s log. Stardate: 48083.1. All essential repairs have been completed and we are en route to the fifth planet. Our ETA is in approximately one hour. So far all scans show that the planet must’ve suffered some kind of ecological disaster, rendering it a desert. We’ve yet to pick up any lifesigns, human or otherwise. In addition to the ten officers and crew who were killed in transit, Doctor Ryder reports that fifty-eight others were injured—four of whom remain in critical condition in Sickbay. He reports that there is evidence that all the crew have undergone some kind of medical examination, exactly why is a mystery. All our sensor sweeps of the region haven’t picked up any contacts. It would appear that most of the indigenous species give the station a wide berth, which I can understand. Despite this, we have gone to yellow alert and will keep shields up and weapons on standby—just in case. * * * * *
Re: Star Trek: Voyager ReBoot - "Far From Home" I'm working under the assumption that all the ships the Caretaker kidnapped would have occured in the same manner. As for the searching for missing officers and following leads, that is most definatelty a Starfleet MO--besides, Liu has a vested interest in finding Kellogg. That I'm not altogether certain of. I like the idea of a tiny science ship operating far longer that it is meant too, having its ass kicked on a regular basis, dwindling resources and heavy crew losses (especially in my ReBoot, when they have lost their Captain as well), and seeing how they would respond. Will they violate the PD in order to survive? Will the ship be destroyed?
Interesting. I could almost see this version of the Equinox achieving its own life separate from the Voyager series. Run with it, Bry. I am enjoying this, immensely.
Kellogg is more than the brand name on cereal. It can be the name of a character. What's wrong with that?
I'm well aware its a name, but it isn't the kind of name you normally find in a tv show and for good reason. Its fairly laughable sounding. Getting a good "tv name" can be an art, "Kellogg" is a very bad one. The fact is, when people hear it they WOULD think of the cereal and it just doesn't sound good. There are infinite names that sound better Commander Knight Commander Matthews Commander Lawson Commander Wiseman etc etc Commander Kellogg also has some kind of cheesy alliterative sound too, not good at all.
I had originally decided to have the main character as Lieutenant Commander Rachel Kellogg, but changed it as I was typing. The name isn't intended to be a "good tv name", but just a name. Not everyone will have a name that sounds good with their rank or title, as in real life. Whenever I do some writing I always try and make the universe feel real in my head, which means looking at all the mundane little things that happen in a normal day-to-day life on a starship (its not all battles and anomalies), and part of that also includes trying to come up with normal names for characters--they can't all be Captain Ulysses Thaddeus Chase IV If Kellogg's name is the only gripe you have with this little story however, I'll take it. More to come soon, hopefully.
*snicker* I once wrote a Star Trek story in which one of the characters yearned for the day he would be promoted to Lieutenant - because his last name was Jensen!
I had never thought of that Timewalker! Did he ever get his promotion, or was he doomed to stay an Ensign for the rest of his days?