Star Trek Daedalus: The Dawn

[mthompson1701]

U.S.S. DAEDALUS

Smoke filled the bridge of Daedalus as the weapons rang out. “Got another one,” screamed Gonzalez.

“Celebrate later,” said West, “right now there’s a job to do.”

Matt Seaborne’s fingers danced over the Navigation console as he laid in a course to follow the ship in front of them. “I’d seal off their exhaust ports,” he said, “it would leave them without engines, and keep them from hitting the planet.”

“Matt,” said Hightower, “that would only work if we cut off their weapons as well.”

“Just follow them and fire,” yelled West, “worry about the rest later.”

The bridge shook again as the Romulan ship scored another direct hit. “Hull plating is almost gone on the front of the sphere,” shouted Shakana.

“Inform Engineering to keep power to weapons and engines,” said West, “Jess, Matt, keep the strongest parts of the ship pointed at the Romulans. Antonio, be prepared to fire from any point on the ship. Miranda, get in touch with any of the other Coalition ships, see if they found a way in yet.”

“I’m already on it,” she said.

“Engineering to Bridge,” came the voice of Nogura, Daedalus’ Chief Engineer, “Boothroyd and I can keep the weapons up, but we’ll have to trade engines to do it.”

Captain West looked to his helm officer, “Can you maneuver on thrusters only?”

Jessica bit her lip. She was unsure of what the right move should be. She knew that as the Executive Officer, she needed to point out alternatives, but right now she could not think of any. “Yes,” she replied.

“Do it Engineer,” said West as the comm channel closed.

The bridge shook again, but it was not from the Romulans, but from the engines being taken offline. “We’re a sitting duck now,” said Hightower. She watched the viewscreen as the Romulan ship was lined up for a straight shot at them.

“How’s the hull plating?” asked West.

“Fore plating is gone,” said Gonzalez, “Port at 19% starboard at 43% aft is holding at 55%.”

“Turn us around,” said West, “do it.” The ship began to move very slowly, but it wasn’t enough as the Romulan ship opened fire again. Just after the torpedo exited the Romulan craft an Andorian ship appeared taking out the Romulan ship with Enterprise not far behind as the torpedo crashed into link between the two sections of the ship.

Captain West gripped the arms of his chair trying to keep himself from falling out. On the viewscreen he could see the rest of the coalition ships maneuvering into position. He could see Enterprise still working on the Romulan ship that been attacking them. Ryan gasped as he saw the torpedoes that the other Earth ship was been firing. He opened a channel to Engineering, “Bridge to Engineering, get power to the engines, Enterprise is firing nukes at the Romulans.”

“Acknowledged,” said Nogura, “give me a minute. We’re picking up the pieces down here.”

“We may not have a minute,” said West as he closed the channel. He could feel the ship start to turn slightly as Hightower had already started the maneuvers with the thrusters. West could feel the ship creak as they were picking up speed. ‘Good going Nogura’ he thought as the ship now moved at full impulse. It was still shaky from the maneuver around the asteroid belt. The inertial dampers were only working sporadically.

Captain West turned in his chair as Doctor Marilyn Singh emerged from the lift. She walked over and whispered, “Sixteen injured, four of those badly. Twelve dead.” West had almost forgotten what the doctor’s voice sounded like. It was a bit raspy, but had a light almost musical quality to it. The Captain hung his head, for a moment before saying, “Be prepared for anything Doctor. Get me the names of the dead, I’ll contact their families the first chance I get.”

“I’ll see that you get it,” she said.

“Captain,” called out Miranda Hill, “Message coming in from Enterprise.”

“Put it through,” said the Captain, “Doctor, stick around.”

The image on the viewscreen changed as Captain Jonathan Archer now appeared, “Captain West, that was certainly interesting.”

“Got that right,” said West, “what took you so long?”

“Not all of us can maneuver around an asteroid belt very easily.”

“True, but at least we whacked three of the Romulan ships before you showed up.”

Archer cracked a smile, “You could have picked better music.”

“Thank your Chief Engineer for the suggestion,” said West.

“I’m sending Trip and five engineers over to help you with repairs while you’re extracting Victoria Reeve from the planet.”

“Thank you very much Jon,” said West.
We’ll secure Deneva once you’ve departed. Enterprise out,” said Archer as the viewscreen changed to the starfield and the planet before them

“Standard orbit,” said West, “I’m heading down to the surface. Commander Hightower, you’ll be in command.” Ryan then rose from the command chair as Jessica crossed over and took it from him. “Inform Major Balboa to have his team ready,” said the Captain to his Executive Officer. He then walked over to the Tactical station, “Antonio, I’ll need a phase pistol.”

A smile formed on the man’s face, “No problem. I’ll meet you at the Launch Bay.”

Captain West then crossed the bridge and was about to enter the turbolift when Lieutenant Hill approached him, “Captain, I’d like to go with you.”

“No deal Lieutenant,” he said, “I need you here.”

“What if there are some Romulans on the planet, you’ll need a translator.”

“Miranda, listen to me, you’re too valuable I need you where you are,” replied West.

Miranda then shook her head back and forth, “Please Captain, it’s the only way I’m going to get over losing everyone at my last posting.”

Ryan then entered the lift, and put his hand up along the door frame holding the door open. “You going to stand there or are you coming?” he asked as a smile formed on his face. Miranda then entered the lift. They both grabbed the handles as he said “Deck 6.” The lift moved quicker than the last time West had to use it as they exited the lift and walked along the link making their way into the engineering section. After a few meters of walking they could see the MACOs standing outside the Launch Bay with weapons in hand.

“Major,” said Captain West, “are we ready?”

“Yes,” he replied in a very bass voice, “Corporal Jackson will accompany you. I’ll monitor from the bridge.”

“That’s fine Major,” grumbled West as he looked over his shoulder to see Antonio approaching. “You have something for me?” he asked.

“That I do,” said the Armory officer as he opened a case and handed his Captain a pistol. West took it and looked at it for a moment before trying to hand it back to the man.

“This is not a phase pistol.”

“You are correct Captain,” said the Lieutenant, “it’s a Laser Pistol. UESPA can’t seem to get enough Phase Pistols produced fast enough to fight this war and to where they are practical. You know how they’re made it’s a long drawn out process. These can be made a whole lot quicker and pack a little more of a punch. The difference is the power source. I’ll explain that later. U.E. Military is making these standard issue now, but right now Captain, I’d suggest getting to the planet.”

“I agree,” said Major Balboa.

“All right then,” said West, “let’s go then. Miranda, get on in, I’ll be in shortly.”

“Aye,” said the Lieutenant as she left the men standing in the corridor.

“Captain,” said Balboa, “you’ll land on the roof, and storm the Governor’s Mansion. Based on that last distress call we received that is Ms. Reeve’s likely location. Extract her and the Governor and get back here. The teams from the other ships will be taking care of securing the rest of the system.”

“I think we can swing that,” said West as he turned to the nearby weapons locker. He reached inside to get a communicator. Ryan recalled that they had been redesigned for the Daedalus-class ships. What he pulled out was bulky, had a headset which connected to the transmitter on a belt. He quickly strapped it on.

 

[mthompson1701]

“Well gentlemen,” said West walking into the Launch Bay and climbing down the stairs into Shuttlepod 1, “let’s rock and roll.” Ryan walked through the shuttlepod and took the pilot’s seat and the hatch was then sealed. The doors opened and the pod was dropped into space as the mighty Earth starship orbited the planet below. Ryan then began to maneuver the shuttlepod towards the planet. He nearly jumped as Miranda tapped him on the shoulder, “Any idea what we’ll find down there?” she asked

“No clue Lieutenant, look sharp.”

“Captain,” said Corporal Jackson, “we’re primed and ready standing by. However, I’ve got a bit of an itchy trigger finger, if you know what I mean.”

“Take your finger away from it Corporal,” said West. He looked out the window as Shuttlepod 2 had now entered the atmosphere of the planet. Once they cleared, it was up to that shuttlepod to secure the grounds before the occupants of Shuttlepod One land on the roof of the Governor’s Mansion.

Captain West maneuvered the Shuttlepod but was thrown back as it was rocked by an energy blast. They fired at us from the surface,” said West.

“That was obvious,” said Gina.

“Watch it Corporal,” yelled West from the back as he maneuvered the shuttlepod out of the range of the surface weapons. It seemed to matter what he did it would not work as he tried some very simple maneuvers. Finally an idea hit him. He turned and yelled back, “If you’re not strapped in, you’ve got two seconds to be.” Captain West then banked the shuttlepod hard to the right and did a barrel roll.

“I think I’m about to throw up,” said Miranda.

“You volunteered for this gig Lieutenant,” said West as he heard the comm system chime. He quickly hit the button to open the channel.

“Daedalus to Shuttlepod One,” said Hightower.

“Go ahead.”

“There is an Orion ship on the surface. It’s about two miles northwest of the main city.”

“Daedalus be ready to open fire on that location . . .” Before West could utter another word he banked the shuttlepod to where he could see out the window at the ground beneath it. “I see it.” He checked his display, “We’re about 5000 feet up.”

Miranda then looked in the same direction, “uh oh. There’s a green figure running inside.” She looked at the sensor display, “The ship is powering up.”

West quickly did a sharp right turn with the shuttlepod. Into the comm channel he said, “Heading to the Governor’s Mansion, I’ll see you back on board. Once we’re clear try to take that ship down. Shuttlepod out,” West closed the channel to both ships as he maneuvered the shuttlepod to it’s proper location. It was less than a minute of flying time as he was now over the main city.

West checked his display before saying, “Corporal, trade places with Lieutenant Hill, she knows how to open the hatch,” ordered West as the two exchanged places. West brought the shuttlepod down slowly on the roof of the Mansion on a pad designed just for this. Miranda quickly opened the door as the five MACOs filed out slowly with the two officers behind them. Captain West drew his laser pistol from it’s holster and immediately took the lead.

“Excuse me Captain,” said Corporal Jackson, “but you are too valuable to Starfleet. I’ll take the lead.”

Ryan groaned internally, “Very well then,” he said out loud as he fell back with Miranda directly in front of him. They entered the door on the edge of the roof and walked slowly down a flight of stairs. Gina kept looking around with her rifle drawn as they were fired upon reaching the bottom of the stairs. They spread out each firing at the beings before them. “These Orions sure don’t know how to shoot,” yelled West.

Ryan saw out of the corner of his eye what appeared to be Miranda Hill take off down an adjacent hallway. “Miranda,” he screamed and took off after her.

Ryan then ran down and stopped behind a large column on the left side. He used it for cover as he readied his weapon and prepared it to fire. He was nervous about pulling the trigger since he had never fired it before. Captain West let his finger grip the trigger and finally pulled it toward him as a blast from the laser hit the Orion in front of him. The being vaporized on sight as the smoke began to clear.

West stood up. He was trying to remember a diagram of the Mansion he had studied while in the Mess Hall. “The Governor’s Office is straight down that hallway and to the left. If you get to the stairs you’ve missed it.” West then lead the way with no protest. They arrived at the two heavy wooden doors that were sealing the office shut. Ryan banged on them with every ounce of strength he had in him. The door swung open slowly as Governor McGarry whispered, “Oh thank God, it’s you.”

“Governor,” said West as the door opened slowly allowing them access to the spacious office. The five MACOs and two Starfleet officers entered the room.

“There’s more of them,” said the Governor, “they’ve been loading everyone on ships and trying to transport them out of here. We were the next ones slated to go . . .”

“Governor,” said Captain West, “listen to me, where is Victoria Reeve?”

“She’s . . .She is . . .” the Governor kept trying to say. All of a sudden there was a high pitched scream coming from outside. Gina ran over to the window and looked out. “One of the green people has her.”

“An Orion,” said West as he looked to the window. Victoria kept struggling with the man but he was too strong for her. He hit the button on his communicator to open a channel, “West to Daedalus.”

“Go ahead,” replied Jessica.

“Commander, one of the Orions has the President’s daughter on the front lawn of the Governor’s Mansion. From what the Governor has said the Orions have been loading up people and trying to transport them from the planet.”

“What’s been stopping them?”

“Stand by,” said West, turning to the Governor. “Governor McGarry, what has been keeping the Orion ships from taking off?”

“I’m not sure, but they uh keep trying to download our computers,” she said.

“Captain, allow me,” said Miranda as she walked over tot the computer station mounted on the wall with a giant monitor. Miranda set to work trying to decipher the screen. It was a language Miranda had not seen before. Curiosity was going to get her.

Into the comm West said, “Might have something to do with whatever they’re trying to download from the planet’s computers.

“Enterprise is off trying to catch the other ship that we couldn’t get,” said Hightower, “but there are over 30 Orion lifesigns currently on the planet.”

“Jess, I got a wild idea,” said the Captain after thinking for a moment.

“Tell me,” she said.

“Calculated laser strike from orbit,” said West, “shake things up a bit down here.”

“All that would do is . . .” Jessica suddenly realized where he was going with this. She turned to her colleagues on the bridge, “Shakana, where would we need to fire at to make it work?”

The Andorian brought it up on the viewscreen, “In order to effect the area around the Governor’s Mansion it would have to be a direct hit no more than 3 miles northwest of the city.”

“I can do it ma’am,” said Gonzales.

Balboa finally spoke up, “Anyone realize that all it’ll do is knock that Orion on his ass.”

“That’s the idea,” came the Captain’s voice through the bridge speakers, “take him all those other Orion life signs down with him,”

“I don’t like it Captain,” said Balboa, “but I’ll go along with it.”

Everyone on the bridge was crowded around the Tactical station as Gonzalez prepared to fire. He received the coordinates directly from Shakana and then was ready. On the surface Captain West turned to his companions, “Grab onto something,” was all he said as he ducked under the desk in the Governor’s Office. Antonio then hit the controls sending a laser beam from the starship in orbit. Captain West looked up as nothing happened.

“Bridge this is the Captain, what happened?” he said into the communicator.

Jessica sighed before replying, “You aren’t going to believe this, but we don’t have enough power to reach the surface. Chief Nogura tells me it’ll take some work to get it accomplished.”

“Copy that, we’ll find another way, West out,” he closed the channel.

“Captain,” called out Miranda looking up from the computer, “I’ve got an idea.”

“I’m all ears,” said West.

“We could try to talk to him. The universal translator unit just might work,” she said, “I heard you once say that diplomacy is a better alternative to fighting.”

“Lieutenant,” said Captain West, “that’s so far out in left field that I’m going to let you try it.”

“It should work,” she said kneeling down at the window and aiming the universal translator at the Orion on the ground below. The translator began to lock onto the Orion’s speech pattern as they could start to understand him. The Orion looked up and saw Miranda pointing the device at him. With Victoria in one hand he reached for his rifle and fired it at the young Lieutenant knocking her back against the opposite wall.

Ryan turned his head as he saw the slumped body of Miranda Hill lying against the wall. West crawled over to her as quick as he could. The wound was bad, she looked liked she was having trouble breathing.

“Captain, Earth, “she barely moaned, and with that slumped over. Ryan put two fingers from his right hand on her left wrist to see if she still had a pulse. West hung his head as the life had been sucked from her. He then turned to the MACOs, “Corporal, we’ll have to do it the old fashioned way.”

 

[mthompson1701]

“That was the plan,” said Corporal Jackson as she opened the window and began to line up her EM-35 laser rifle, “You realize the President’s daughter may die in the process.”

“I’m aware of that, it would be better for her than ending up in an Orion Slave Auction,” said West. The very thought of that scared him more than he let on.

Gina and the MACOs lined up their scopes and began to look for an opening. The Orion was still holding Victoria as she kept struggling. The Orion was big, but he kept moving his captive to where it would be impossible to get a clear shot. That’s when she had an idea, “Captain, I’m going to throw a flash bang you should run down there and once it clears pick up Ms. Reeve and get her to the shuttlepod.”

“As long as you knock down that Orion to buy me some time, you’ve got a deal,” said Captain West as he sprinted from the Governor’s office. He ran down the stairs, just as he approached the front door, the flash bang went off. He could hear Victoria scream as she hit the ground. Ryan ran out and picked her up carrying her back in the mansion just as the Orion was fired on by every MACO. The Orion fell to the ground with a large bang shaking the mansion. Ryan began going up the stairs to notice that Victoria was unconscious. He made a small detour back to the Governor’s Office.

Gina and the rest of the MACOs met him at the doorway. “Took everything we had just to knock him off his ass,” she said.

“We’ve got a bigger problem,” said West, “Victoria is unconscious, we need to get her back to the ship now.” He began to look around at the assembled group, “Where’s Miranda?”

Everyone looked around and realized that they had left her standing in front of the computer monitor. “Take her,” Ryan said to the MACOs as two of them grabbed the President’s daughter and started to carry her to the shuttlepod. Gina motioned for the rest of the team to follow as they went back into the office. “Governor,” said West, “once this war is over, I’m going to come back here and camp in the grotto.”

“Same goes for me,” said Gina.

“I’ve got a ship to return to Governor,” said West, “if you find out anything, please let us know.” West and Jackson raced out of the Governor’s Office up the stairs to the pad on the roof.

“We may never know what was on that computer that the Orions wanted so bad,” said Gina.

“I think Miranda just told us,” said the Captain as they climbed into the shuttlepod, with Captain West taking the pilot’s seat and Gina next to him.

“Sorry for the way I acted,” she said, “I was just doing my job.”

“You and me both,” he replied as Ryan hit the controls to take the shuttlepod up. He looked out the window and said, “Know how to open a channel to the ship? Of course you don’t it’s the third switch on the left.” Ryan looked out of the corner of his eye to see Gina flipping the switch. “Shuttlepod One to Daedalus.”

“Go ahead,” came the voice of Hightower.

“Tell Dr. Singh to prepare for surgery. We have Victoria but she’s been wounded, badly. Also track down Miranda Hill’s family.”

“Why? Oh no,” said Jessica as she realized what happened.

“I’ll explain later,” said Ryan as the shuttlepod began to enter orbit of the blue planet. “We’ll be docking in ten minutes.”

“See you then. Daedalus out.”

Ryan maneuvered the shuttlepod bringing into visual view with the mighty starship. It was only the second time he had seen the outside of the ship. The first when he stepped on board for the very first time. Normally he would not risk full impulse but felt the situation demanded it, and he pushed the shuttlepod to it’s limit bringing them to the ship a full three minutes early. He looked up as the grappler locked onto the shuttlepod and reeled them in. The shuttlepod shook with a jolt as it was finally lifted into the massive starship.

The door was opened and the MACOs lifted Victoria Reeve’s body from the shuttlepod to the waiting stretcher outside. Doctor Singh looked frazzled as she scanned the woman, “Take her directly to Sickbay and prepare her for surgery,” was all she said as she began scanning the passengers on the shuttlepod before finally scanning Captain West last.

“Captain, you and Corporal Jackson into de-con the rest of you are free to go,” she said.
“Excuse me Doctor?”

“Both of you came into direct contact with Miranda Hill, Correct?” The two nodded as the Doctor continued, “there was a virus going around Salem One that was reported just before it was destroyed. She should have survived that explosion, but it is a Rigellian virus upon contact with a human causes it’s nervous system to break down slowly over time. The slightest jolt causes the nervous system to shut down suddenly. It’s transmitted through direct contact and why Salem One never had a chance. I only know of it because more cases are being reported to Starfleet Medical, and we also know that it was engineered by the Romulans. Now Captain, Corporal, get in there before I relieve the both of you of duty, I have to be in surgery. Oh, this de-con chamber is different, so you want to wear as little as possible.” With that the Doctor raced off down the hall to head back to Sickbay. Ryan entered the de-con chamber next to the Launch Bay and looked up. “Great Gina,” he said, “showers, we won’t have to rub each other down then.”

“I wouldn’t argue with either one,” she said as they both began to get undressed. They next thing Ryan knew the partition between them had been drawn back, and Gina had a huge grin on her face, “I’ve never been one for modesty,” said Gina just as the jets from overhead started to come on

 

[mthompson1701]

February 2, 2156 11:00

Upon exiting the de-con chamber in a fresh uniform after being patched up by one of the nurses, Captain Ryan West came face to face with his Executive Officer.

“What took you so long?” asked Jessica.

“New equipment. Give me an update,” he said as they walked along the corridor.

“The Orion ship is gone. It took off and between us and Enterprise we couldn’t lock onto it in time to fire. However, thanks to Enterprise we’re now fully operational again. Enterprise is off trying to chase down the Orions. Victoria Reeve is still in Sickbay,” she said. Jessica then handed him a pad. “This came for you.”

Ryan stopped just outside the lift and pressed a button to read it. He read it once, and then a second time. “The Acting President demands my resignation unless we drop a nuclear bomb on Deneva for allowing this to happen”

Jessica’s jaw dropped, “Doesn’t he realize that it would do more damage than good. We don’t need a two front war.”

“I think he does, but I think the power of the office has gotten to him.”

As they entered the lift Jessica said, “He would rather we cripple shipping operations in the entire sector, rather than do the right thing. We’ve already lost too much.”

“Well we are members of the United Earth Military right now in case we’ve all forgotten, and we do take our marching orders from him,” replied Ryan as the lift began to move as he gripped the handle. Ryan kept shaking his hands as he said, “She’s on board she’s alive, let’s get the hell out of here and go home. I’m not going to be the one to lie to the President. I refuse to play God, I just can’t do it. They can drum me out of the service for all I care.”

“I’ve talked to the senior staff, they’re ready to stand with you,” she said.

“One step ahead of me, that’s what you’ve always been,” replied Ryan,

“Mark of a good Exec,” she said.

The lift stopped at the top of the engineering section as they began to walk down the corridor to the sphere. “He’s gone mad with power, Samuels has,” said Ryan, “Messing with nukes I don’t like it.”

“I would agree,” said Jessica, “however it would seem that he is in charge right now.”

They remained quiet as they entered the turbolift and arrived on the bridge. Ryan West stood somberly next to his bridge chair.

Captain West had trouble speaking as he said, “Someone, please open a channel to Earth, I want to speak directly with President Reeve, use the code name UEMEDRO, it’ll get through.”

Antonio Gonzales crossed the bridge to the Communications station and opened the channel. After a short while the face of President James Reeve appeared on the screen.

“Captain West,” he said.

“Mister President, I am pleased to inform you that your daughter is on board. She’s currently in Sickbay but she’s on board.”

“Why is she in Sickbay? What happened?” As soon as he asked his question the screen went to black.

Antonio spoke up, “They cut him off Captain, someone on Earth did.”

West thought for a moment, “I’ll be in my Ready Room,” was all he said, “Commander, you have the conn. Lay in an intercept course to Enterprise’s last known position, and engage and max warp. If Enterprise found them, I want to give Archer some support.” As Jessica Hightower took the command chair Ryan crossed the bridge and then entered the Ready Room. He took a seat behind the desk and turned on the monitor before him. He then turned the chair around and looked out the window seeing the stars streak by as the ship was at warp. After several minutes he finally decided to record a log entry.

“Captain’s Star Log February 2, 2156, we have completed our first objective for this mission. We have Victoria Reeve on board the ship. I did manage to contact the President, Reeve that is, but the signal was cut off at his end. Phase two, is getting her home. I have to admit that when this plan was drawn up, I had doubts. Truth is, I didn’t join Starfleet only to be absorbed into the military to fight a war. I feel responsible, I’m sure Jonathan Archer does even more so. I’ve ordered us to report to Enterprise’s last position where they were chasing down the Orion ship that left Deneva in a pretty big hurry. We’ve been unable to determine what it was they took from the planet since they were successful in crashing the Deneva computer network. Luckily though, no Denevan people were taken on board that transport. The cost was too high a price to pay, Miranda Hill, the last survivor of Salem One died trying to retrieve that information. I only wish she would have been successful. Before she died she said something about Earth, that’s all we know. End log.”

The comm terminal beeped and it almost made Ryan jump, “Bridge to Captain,” it was Hightower.

Captain West hit the button, “Go ahead.”

“Message coming in from Deneva, Governor McGarry wants to speak with you.”

“I’m on my way,” said Captain West as he got up and exited the Ready Room. He stood next to the now empty command chair. Ryan nodded as the channel was opened, “Governor.”

The frazzled face of Jane McGarry appeared on the screen, “Captain, I trust Ms. Reeve is alright.”

“She’s still in surgery, we’re hoping for the best.”

“I have some information for you, we know what the Orions were obtaining through the computer network, and what Miranda Hill died for.”

“That was fast,” replied West.

“I wish I could tell you that it was pleasant,” said the Governor, “but the truth is that it’s the location to Earth.”

Everyone on the bridge stood silent as the realization of what the Orions were really doing on the planet began to make sense. Captain West almost got choked up but tried to hold it back, “Thank you Governor. Good work, I mean what I said about the grotto.”

“I’ll look forward to it Captain, Deneva out.”

The viewscreen shifted again to show the starfield in front of Daedalus as it streaked across the stars at warp. “What are your orders?” asked Hightower.

Captain West was about to order the ship on a direct course for Earth when Shakana looked up from her viewer, “We’ve got something on the sensors. Over thirty Romulan ships headed this way. On a direct course for Earth. Five have broken off and are heading directly for us on an intercept course.”

“The Orions mission was to obtain the location and transmit it to the Romulans then,” deduced West. He took a seat in his chair, and opened a channel, “Bridge to Engineering, Chief Nogura, how fast can we take her to?”

“I can give you warp 6 right now,” said the Engineer.

“How long until the Romulans reach Earth?” asked the Captain of his Science Officer.

“Their warp drive isn’t as fast as ours, at least it’s not supposed to be. Best guess, three or four days,” replied Shakana.

West slammed his fist down on the arm rest of his chair, not realizing that he had disconnected the Chief Engineer. “Matt, lay in a course for home. Jessica engage at maximum warp. Soon as we can open a channel to Earth, do it.

“We should be there in another 36 hours,” said Jessica.
“I only hope it’s enough time,” remarked West. Before anyone could hit the controls Antonio spoke up, “There’s a ship on sensors. It’s Enterprise!”

“Hail them,” ordered West as the channel opened. Jonathan Archer appeared on the viewscreen. “Jon,” said Ryan, “looks like these Romulans are heading for Earth.”

“Good, then you found out the same thing we did. We chased the Orions to the other side of the asteroid belt. Thanks to Hoshi, we were able to eavesdrop on their conversation. They transmitted some coordinates, and the next thing we knew we saw it on sensors/”

“I tried to contact the President, but got cut off.”

“Then there’s only one thing to do,” said Archer, “head back to Earth and warn them. You’ve got the faster ship. I’m taking Enterprise to Vulcan.”

“Why there?”

“With the High Command dissolved now, they’ll need all the help they can get.”

“Good point Captain,” said West.

“Good luck Ryan, Enterprise out,” said Archer.

Epilogue

Captain Ryan West walked into Sickbay just as the double doors parted in the middle to allow him access. He looked to his left and saw Doctor Singh with a patient. Ryan then walked over to them. “Ah Captain,” said the Doctor, “someone wants to talk to you.” Marilyn nodded to him as she stepped aside to allow him to talk to the patient lying on the bed.

“Well Victoria,” said Ryan, “I didn’t exactly get you home yet.”

“Where are we?” she asked.

“Heading for Earth,” he replied, “we should be should be there in about thirty hours.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Ryan cleared his throat, “Victoria, there’s a reason I came down here.”

“Do you need help contacting my father?”

“That’s what I came to ask you,” said Captain West, “I tried to get through, but he was cut off for some reason.”

“That doesn’t sound like Dad,” she said, “who’s in charge?”

“Nathan Samuels. Your dad stepped down after word got out that you were on Deneva. I had assurances that Samuels was going to relinquish after we got you back to Washington,” said West.

“I see,” Victoria sighed before continuing, “rumor going around was that Samuels was going to run against Dad in the next election, but what he didn’t know was that Dad was planning on retiring.”

Ryan considered the thought for a moment, “It’s possible, however unlikely that Nathan Samuels is using this crisis to stay in office. I don’t know about you but the thought of that scares me.”

“It does me too,” said Victoria, “once Doctor Singh clears me to leave, I’ll be up on the bridge. I’ve got a few ideas.”

“That should be in about a day,” said the voice of Doctor Marilyn Singh from behind them. Ryan almost jumped out of his skin, he wasn’t expecting the Doctor to show up like that. “Right now,” she said, “Ms. Reeve needs to rest. I suggest you get some too Captain.”

Ryan then nodded, “I’ll see you tomorrow then Victoria.” Captain West turned to the Doctor, “Get her a padd in case she remembers anything that can help us.” He then turned and immediately left Sickbay. Jessica Hightower approached from the corridor behind hin.

“Ryan,” she said in a low voice, “Nogura says we need to start thinking about reducing our speed so that we don’t burn out the injectors.”

“Go ahead and do it,” he said, “drop to 5.6 it’ll still be fast enough to where we might do some good. Call it Captain’s intuition, but something doesn’t seem right. I can’t shake the feeling, but based on what Victoria told me there maybe trouble in the water at home.”

They then entered the lift as Jessica replied, “I’ll have to take your word for it I thought Romulans didn’t have fast enough warp drive in order to arrive at Earth by what our sensors were showing.”

“That’s what we’ll need to find out. We need something concrete in order to still have a shot at protecting Earth from a very bad attack.”

“Bridge,” said Hightower as they gripped the handles and it started to move, ”those were definitely Romulan ships on the sensors. Shakana has shown it to me three times. It’s why I came down here, I just happened to run into Nogura in transit.”

“I’ll take your word for it Jess,” said Ryan, “I’ll believe anything you tell me. I’m only going to be up here for another hour or so, Doctor Singh wants me to rest. Have Antonio take the night watch.”

“I’ll take care of it,” replied the XO.





TO BE CONTINUED . . .