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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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