Captain's Log, stardate 50983.1 - We have completed a diplomatic mission to Ottoia, a remote Federation world near the Romulan-Daltari Border, and are proceeding to Starbase 23 for a week's leave until our next assignment. I am looking forward to a moment's rest, though this mission has been a welcome change from the Borg a few months ago. Our crew have recovered, as has the Enterprise, but I still feel uneasy - as if we are not finished with them yet.
Captain Picard strode onto the bridge from his ready room on the starboard side of the bridge, pausing at the conn and ops stations. A blue-shirted Trill officer was on the flight controller station.
"Lieutenant, where's my flight controller?" Captain Picard asked.
Commander Riker piped up before the brunette Trill could answer. "Captain, this is Lieutenant Kell Perin, whom we picked up at our resupply point. She's getting her flight time in while he have some downtime before returning to her duties as science officer."
"My apologies, Lieutenant. Welcome aboard," Captain Picard smiled as he put his hand on the console before moving to his captain's chair. Sitting down, he straightened his uniform and asked for the ship's status from his First Officer.
"We're running quiet so far captain," Riker said as the regular conn officer, Ensign Helmsley, resumed his station for the remainder of his shift. The young ensign was a top candidate for the posting on the Enterprise, and was glad to have gotten on the flagship. "We're fully stocked, and on the way back to Starbase 23. Data believes we might have the opportunity to detour for a neutron star in the Alghani system."
"The Alghani system?" Picard asked.
"It's an uninhabited system approximately 4.3 light years off our course," Data chimed in, turning around at his station. "It would require a minimal course correction and take only 8 hours to chart the anomalies I've detected on long range sensors."
"Anomalies?" Riker asked, taking an interest.
"Yes sir," Data said, glancing down at the inner side of his console and bringing up a schematic on the main viewer. "It has been at random intervals in a sweeping motion, but I have noticed some distortions that appear to break down space-time in a roughly parabolic fashion, and I am attempting to ascertain if this pattern will continue, possibly endangering the neighboring system, the Gioverno Colony. There is an odd chroniton signature left in the wake of these anomalies."
The graphic on the screen showed the course and destination of the Enterprise in a straight line, with an alternate route plotted branching off the course into the Alghani system.
"Is there any danger to the ship?" Picard asked, assessing the possibilities.
"I cannot say for certain, though keeping us at the outermost range of our short-range sensors will mitigate any possible temporal risks," Data said, calculating the odds in his positronic net.
"Lay in a course near the last anomaly, Mr. Helmsley," Picard ordered. "Maintain speed. Let me know when we get there. And ask our new science officer to prepare the science labs for our little diversion."
"Aye, captain," Ensign Helmsley replied, altering course, with the on-screen graphic showing the Enterprise, the small outline of a Sovereign-class vessel, altering heading to the Alghani system. Riker also noted for the new science officer, Lt. Perin, to begin the sensor pallettes for the new assignments.
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"Captain, we are nearing the last known anomaly. We will reach that position in twenty minutes, present speed," Helmsley reported.
"Excellent. Picard to Perin," Picard called, tapping his comm channel.
In science lab 1, the new Lieutenant tapped the control in reply. "Perin here, captain. Go ahead."
"We're approaching the last position of the anomaly. Would you like to coordinate from the lab or the bridge" Picard asked.
"I'd like to coordinate the labs from Science I captain, if I may," Perin replied.
"Understood," Picard replied, closing the comm channel.
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As Perin entered the bridge, she passed over to the science station facing the viewscreen and entered her data, preparing the science labs for the sensor sweep. They only had a few hours to do this. As she did her setup, she noticed out of the corner of her eye the captain walking over to her.
"How is your progress, Lieutenant Perin?" he asked her.
"It's almost ready for the first scan, J.L. Just a few more moments," she answered, using his initials without thinking.
"J.L.? No one's called me that since...Admiral Perin, during my Stargazer days. He was the one who promoted me to captain," Picard remembered, smiling. "He was your father?"
Perin looked up at the captain, and smiled, "That was the gutsiest report I had ever read after your captain had been killed. I can see you turned out well."
"Perin? Of course," Picard remembered reading that then Ambassador Faelin Perin had passed away last year. "Last time I saw you you were an old man."
"Well, I can still beat you as an equestrian," Rivo taunted a little, keeping it quiet.
"After we reach Starbase 23, you're on - old man," Picard smiled as he returned to his seat.
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"Captain," Perin said as she and Data monitored the two science consoles. Two hours had elapsed, and the readings were changing, and not for the better. "We're getting readings...random fluctuations."
"Data?" Picard asked his Operations officer, whose hands sped across the console.
"Confirmed," he answered. "The readings are consistent with...."
A sudden jerking motion threw everyone in the ship about. The Master Display in the aft of the bridge sparked as a plasma transfer conduit exploded behind it. The screen registered bright swirls reminiscent of the vortex Picard had seen only a few months ago fighting the Borg.
Riker could've sworn he saw another ship pass them in the vortex, but he was too busy holding on as the ship groaned in its wake.
"Data! Report!" Riker yelled out to be heard over the noise.
Data had been flung over the railing, and was crawling to his station, having better luck than Picard or Riker would have had. Getting into his station, but barely, he tapped a few commands before giving the readout. "We're caught in a tear in space-time captain. There appears to be spatial displacement occurring."
"Can we get out of it?" Picard asked, his voice similarly raised, straining to bring himself up to his seat.
"Unknown captain," Data replied. "The shearing forces are straining the ship. If we do not stop soon it is likely we could tear ourselves apart."
"Helmsley see what you can do to straighten the ship out!" Picard ordered.
The ensign was just climbing back to his station when the ship snapped again and slowed, as if coming out of warp. Everyone was jostled again, a little less than the first time, and started getting back to their stations.
"What the hell just happened?" Riker asked to no one in particular.
"That's what I'd like to find out myself, Will," Picard said, his face showing his determination to get to the bottom of whatever it was. "All departments, damage reports, on the double!"
"Captain, shields minimal, phasers and torpedos offline," reported the tactical officer, Micah Shapiro, a tall sandy-blonde Lieutenant from Idaho. "I can get them back, but engineering is saying two hours minimum."
"Mr. La Forge, what's your status?" Picard called over the intercom.
"Captain, we're picking up the pieces here. Warp engines are fluctuating. Whatever that was, it messed with us making a stable warp field. We can give you warp in about ten minutes. It looks like it's dissapating, whatever it was," Geordi replied.
"Give it your best, Geordi," Picard replied, cutting the channel. "Picard out."
Picard walked over to his Conn and Ops stations, resting his arm on the Conn. "Now let's see where we are," he thought out loud. "Perin, check the stars with all known stellar configurations."
"Calculating," she reported, entering the commands as quickly as possible. She tucked her hair behind her ear, revealing a cut across her cheek. "This can't be right. Captain, we're over 40,000 light years from our last position. We're in the Delta Quadrant."
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Theme song here and Credits
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Questions, comments, concerns?
And happy holidays.
