Star Trek: Trident
A proud member of the Shared Universe Project
A proud member of the Shared Universe Project
1.1 - Maelstrom
By Brydon Sinclair
By Brydon Sinclair
Motoko Kimura woke with a start the instant the red alert klaxons sounded. They were quickly followed by a jolt that vibrated through the bulkheads and deck plating. A few seconds later there was another. Before the second jolt, she was out of bed, stepped straight into her boots, grabbed her combadge and was halfway to the door. Fixing the Starfleet delta to her pyjamas she tapped the device, as she exited her quarters and was jogging towards the turbolift.
“Kimura to bridge, what’s going on?” No one answered. “Bridge, this is Commander Kimura. Report.” Again no one answered. “Computer, status report.”
“We are sustaining multiple hits from directed energy particles.”
“Someone’s shooting at us?”
“Affirmative.”
“Who?”
“A Cardassian Hideki-Class strike ship, bearing one-eight-nine-mark-zero-two-six.”
Kimura increased her speed. What the hell is going on? she asked herself. They were on standard patrol in the former Cardassian Union, ensuring the safety of the relief convoys that were going between the various supply stations along the border and the numerous planets and moons that had been hit hard by the Dominion ‘occupation’ of Cardassian space.
“Computer is there something wrong with the comm system?”
“Negative.”
“Then why can’t I contact the bridge?”
“Anesthizine gas was released into the deck one ventilation system fourteen minutes fifty-three seconds ago.”
“Released on whose authority?” she asked, rounding a corner and seeing the lift straight ahead.
“Command code authorisation gamma-six-six-echo-nine.”
Kimura almost tripped over her own feet at hearing the very familiar command code. It only belonged to one man; the question she asked herself was why? She reached the turbolift, and fortunately there was a carriage waiting for her. “Bridge.”
“Unable to comply,” the computer droned. “That location has been secured by priority one lockout.”
“Dammit! Deck two then.” The lift chirped and ascended. As it moved she hit her combadge again. “Kimura to security.”
“Security. Go ahead.”
“I want a full security team to deck two, bridge access Jefferies tube. On the double!”
“Aye sir,” was the prompt response.
The lift slowed and stopped. The doors opened and she ran out onto deck two, heading for the same point she had ordered the security team to. She passed several officers and crewmen as they headed for their own duty stations, most were like her, dressed in pyjamas or nightgowns, a few were pulling on uniform jackets and zipping up their trousers as they darted through the ship. All of them look confused and anxious, but remained focused. It wasn’t the last time the crew of the Maelstrom had been in combat—in the Dominion War almost every ship had seen its share of combat, some more than others, and the Steamrunner-Class ship was no exception.
She reached the Jefferies tube hub and stepped inside. Crawl spaces went off in three directions, whilst a ladder was in the middle of the confided space with a hatch on both the floor and ceiling through which it disappeared. She climbed up to get closer to the deck one access. As she suspected, it didn’t open.
“Computer deactivate security lockout at Jefferies tube hatch eighty-four. Authorisation, Kimura-alpha-nine-one-zero.”
“Unable to comply, all command codes have been scrambled.”
She uttered a string of curses in the seven languages she spoke fluently and climbed back onto the deck.
“Sir?” a cautious voice asked from behind.
She spun around to see a four-man security team, each one equipped with type-two phasers. She knew the team leader a junior lieutenant by the name of Baxter, but the others were a mystery to her—which she found annoying, as she prided herself on knowing every member of the ship’s complement, but wasn’t surprising as the Maelstrom had taken on twenty new replacements less than a week ago.
“The bridge is flooded with anesthizine, we’ll need breathers.”
Baxter looked at a young naturally tanned ensign, who looked barely old enough to shave. “Martinez, get to the equipment locker in the adjacent section and get five breathers and a phaser for the Commander.”
“Aye sir,” he replied, and then was off like a shot. The two security crewmen, a Napean and a human looked about, unsure. The ship rocked hard.
“Computer, what hit us.”
“A shockwave caused by a matter/antimatter implosion.”
“The Hideki’s warp core?”
“Affirmative.”
Martinez returned a moment later, no signs of being out of breath. He handed her a phaser and a breather, which she slipped on as he distributed the others to his team-mates. When she was set, she stepped over to an access panel for the power distribution network. She pried it open, and in less than twelve seconds set it to run a feedback pulse through the system in the Jefferies tube.
They quickly stepped out and pressed themselves against the wall on either side of the door. From inside the hub there was a loud burst of lightning, and a rumble as the noise echoed down the crawlspaces. Afterwards there were soft sparks and hissing. Kimura pushed off the bulkhead and stepped back in. A small smile tugged at her lips when she saw that it had worked, and the forcefield that had been covering the ceiling hatch was no more.
“Come on,” she ordered and led the charge up the ladder.
The hatch opened out on the bridge, between the viewscreen and the Conn and Ops consoles. She was the first one out, and as soon as she was there was a screeching whine of a phaser. Kimura managed to flip out and roll behind Ops, narrowly missing the thin phaser beam—the heat of which she could feel on her skin as she moved.
From her relative cover behind Ops, she peeked out and looked up at Tactical. Standing at the console, breather over his nose and mouth and phaser pointed towards the front of the bridge was Captain Thomas Logan—the man whose security codes had been used to release the gas and lock out the bridge.
“Captain, what are you doing?” she called. He fired off a half dozen more shots, pinning the security team in the Jefferies tube. “Sir!”
“We have to stop them Kimura! They’ll just start all over again. We have to break them. Break them so they can never be fixed! Those murdering bastards deserve no less!”
She glanced at the viewscreen, on which she could see four Cardassian freighters trying desperately to veer away from the Steamrunner-Class ship. The Hideki must have been their escort, carrying either supplies or refugees to the colony in the Vertras System. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Baxter crawl through the hatch and quickly dart behind the Conn. All of Logan’s shots missed the petite security officer, but scorched the carpet. The weapon must’ve been set to kill. She looked back out at Logan.
“Sir, those are minimally armed freighters. They pose a threat to no one. You need to stand down, Captain.”
“No! That’s just what they want you to think. They’re far from weak and harmless! They have to be stopped!” He fired off another blast and from the hatch she heard an agonising, gargled scream.
Kimura looked just in time to see Martinez drop back through the opening, crashing into the two crewmen, and then all three slamming into the deck below with a loud thud. She hadn’t seen where the ensign was hit, didn’t know if he was just wounded or dead. Behind the Conn, she saw Baxter lean out and take a shot. Logan dodged it and returned fire. He missed Baxter, but the beams burned into the back of Ensign Fitzpatrick who was slumped over the console. It was then that she noticed blood on the carpet next to Ops, and looked at Chief Petty Officer Trowg. The Tellarite had been shot in the side. There was no chance he had survived.
Logan had gassed the Gamma Shift crew and then murdered them. She thumbed her phaser to full stun and fired off three shots. Baxter followed her lead. Both of them aimed at Logan, but he dropped down behind Tactical.
“I’d never have thought that you of all people would be in league with them Commander! But your betrayal will be punished! You will die with your friends out there! Computer, command alpha-zero!”
The computer chirped an acknowledgement before another klaxon sounded. “Autodestruct sequence activated. Four minutes to autodestruct.”
“CAPTAIN!” Kimura shouted, standing straight up.
Logan looked out from where he was hiding; looking straight at her she could see his wide frantic eyes. He gripped the phaser tighter. She flicked the power setting to maximum and fired at the console he was hiding behind. It only took a second for the damage to be done and the ODN relay to overload. The explosion was a small one, but very effective. Logan lay sprawled out on the deck.
She stepped around Ops and looked over the displays. None of which were overly promising.
“Autodestruct sequence initiated. Three minutes forty-five seconds to autodestruct.”
“Computer, deactivate autodestruct.”
“Unable to comply. All command codes have been scrambled.”
“Frak!” she cried, smacking the console. She looked up at Baxter, she had moved to Tactical.
The security officer shook her head. “The Captain’s dead.”
Kimura nodded and looked back at the viewscreen. “All hands, this is Commander Kimura. Begin evacuations. This is not a drill. All hands to escape pods!” She quickly tried to open up a commlink to the Cardassian freighters, to tell them to move out the way, but everything had been locked out. She tried a twice more to gain access to communications, but to no avail. She then looked back up at Baxter, who was surveying the dead at the aft consoles.
“Lieutenant, we have to get out of here!” Baxter trotted down to the hatch and Kimura waited for her to go through first. She knew that four minutes barely gave the crew time to evacuate, let alone get to minimum safe distance.
Back on deck two, she found Martinez lying in a pool of blood—little remained of the young man’s neck. The other human had been the last on the ladder, and the weight of his two team-mates had caused him to fall off and land awkwardly against the bulkhead. The Napean sat is shock, looking between the two of them. Baxter grabbed his arm and hauled him back into the corridor.
They headed towards the escape pods, just like every other member of the crew, all of them baffled as to what was going on, but they kept chatter and speculation to themselves, and instead focused on the evacuation. For many of them they had survived the Dominion War onboard the ship, they hadn’t expected the need to evacuate during peacetime—unless there was a serious engineering problem, not the ship’s own self-destruct.
“Autodestruct sequence initiated. Three minutes to autodestruct.”
They reached the deck two escape pods, and she immediately set about getting everyone into a pod and ready to be jettisoned. Throughout the ship other officers would be doing the same, co-ordinating and organising the procedure. Though they went through continual drills for emergency protocols, the real thing was always different.
“Autodestruct sequence initiated. Two minutes to autodestruct.”
“Computer, status of evacuation.”
“Twenty-five percent of escape pods have been launched.”
“Damn,” she muttered to herself. That should have been at least thirty by now. She looked down the corridor and noticed a group of ensigns carrying duffle bags. “Hey! Drop them and evac. NOW!”
The rookies quickly threw their bags to the group and proceeded to a pod that was as far from her as possible. As they moved she scowled at them. What were they teaching at the Academy these days?
As the seconds counted down, the crowd thinned. Her checks with the computer showed that the evacuation had sped up and they were on schedule once again. Hatches closed and the lifeboats were launched with a dull thud.
“Autodestruct sequence initiated. Twenty seconds to autodestruct.”
“Computer, is everyone out.”
“Negative. One lifesign detected on deck two.”
That was her. She stepped into the last escape pod, slipped into the last seat as the crewman at the controls sealed the hatch and activated the launch mechanism. The six occupants were jostled by the g-force as they were hurtled out into space, where the thrusters took control and they manoeuvred away from the Maelstrom.
Kimura looked around at the others in the pod. “Braces yourselves, this is going to be rough.”
Seconds later, there was a bright flash in the tiny viewports. She counted her heartbeats until the shockwave hit. She had just gotten to six when the pod was slammed hard. Metal groaned but held firm. The lights flickered but returned to normal a moment later. After another three heartbeats of eerie stillness she let go of the breath she’d been holding unconsciously.
“Everyone alright?” she asked. There were acknowledgements and nods all round. She looked at the pods designated pilot, a Bolian from astrophysics called Zems. “Signal all pods to form up on us, and begin transmitting the distress signal.”
“Aye sir,” he replied and set to work.
“Commander,” spoke up Lieutenant Pierson, the Senior Computer Management Officer, “what happened?”
Kimura looked at Pierson, and then around at the others—all of who were looking at her expectantly. The look she had seen in Captain Logan’s eyes sprung to the forefront of her mind, and she tried to piece together what he had said, trying to find some hidden meaning she hadn’t pick up on before. But nothing came to her. All she could do was shake her head. “I don’t know Lieutenant. I really don’t know.”
END
