Chapter Twelve
Stardate - Unknown
SS Eku
Sector - Unknown
Dr. Octavius Castille moaned softly as consciousness flowed into his pounding skull. He gingerly lifted his hand to his forehead, fingering the cold compress that covered a rather painful bump. He winced as his fingers explored the goose-egg.
He opened his eyes, squinting at the overhead lights and blinking to re-focus. He was somewhat surprised (and slightly miffed) that no one was paying him any mind. Everyone's attention was glued to the viewscreen.
Castille shifted up on his elbows to see what was so damn fascinating.
"Oh crap," he whispered when he finally glimpsed the screen.
* * *
Stardate 54259.5 (15 April 2377)
USS Bluefin
Sector 04341 – Near the Lesser Riven nebula
Ship's Log, Stardate 54259.5 - Commander Inga Strauss in temporary command.
It's been nearly five hours since the Eku was pulled through a trans-warp conduit, taking Captain Akinola, Lt. Commander Simms, Dr. Castille, Lt. Rune and Senior Chief Brin with it. Thus far, none of the other 'prodigal' ships, as they've been named, have disappeared. Still, with the possibility lingering, we are hesitant to place any personnel on these ships.
Captain Rodenko notified me that Starfleet is dispatching the USS Schuylkill, a specialized sensor vessel, to help in our search for the Eku. Hopefully they can track where the ship may have gone.
For the moment, the location and fate of the Eku remains a mystery. While the transwarp conduit seems to indicate Borg involvement, I am forced to agree with Commander Gralt's assessment - this is totally unlike any tactic we've seen from the Borg. We remain hopeful that our friends will return to us safely . . . and soon.
Strauss closed and saved the log entry and picked up her steaming mug of Raktajino. She sipped the strong, hot beverage and allowed her eyes to close for just a moment.
The chime of the door annunciator interrupted her brief respite.
With a sigh, she placed the mug back on the desk. "Come in," she called.
The ready room door slid open and Lt. Bane entered, carrying a data PADD. Inga noticed dark circles under his eyes and his trademark cocky grin was absent. He slumped down into one of the leather chairs and placed the PADD on the desk.
"Anything?" she asked.
Bane rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn. "Not much. We did find a few trace chroniton particles, but that may just be normal for these conduits - we've never really studied them to any degree."
"True," replied Strauss. Generally, when the Borg were about, one was more concerned with survival than with collecting data on interesting phenomena.
"So," Bane continued, "That just adds another variable to the mix. We not only don't know where they are, we can't even be certain of when they are."
Inga rubbed her temples. "Nigel, this whole thing seems senseless to me. If it was a trap, it was pretty inefficient - all that effort to snag five people?"
"Yeah - I've wondered about that too. Why not snag the others as well?"
"It's almost like Captain Akinola and his group were targeted somehow," she continued.
"What? By the Borg? Not to sound disrespectful, Inga, but why would the Borg care a fig about the Skipper? He's never had any direct contact with 'em. Now if it were Captain Picard who got snatched, well, that might make some sense . . ."
She nodded, conceding the point. "I guess you're right," she replied, her brows furrowing in thought.
"What?" queried Bane.
"Well, someone initiated that transwarp conduit and pulled in the Eku! If not the Borg - who?"
* * *
Stardate - Unknown
SS Eku
Sector - Unknown
"Why don't they do something?" whispered Commander Simms, still staring wide-eyed at the six Borg cubes on the viewscreen.
Akinola shook off his initial shock and frowned. "Good question. Lt. Rune - have they hailed us?"
K'lira forced her gaze away from the viewscreen and turned her attention to the comm panel. She turned back to Akinola and shook her head.
"No sir. The comm system is functioning, but we've received no incoming transmissions of any kind on any frequencies."
"That's damned peculiar," Akinola murmurred, as he ran the tip of his tongue over his lower lip. "Lieutenant, see if you can patch your tri-corder into the ship's sensor grid - try to get a reading on those cubes."
Solly looked at Akinola. "What are you thinking, Skipper?"
Akinola shook his head fractionally. "I've never faced the Borg before, but from what I've read, they aren't usually so reticent."
"Maybe they want to observe us first," chimed in Castille as he rose unsteadily to his feet. Delta moved quickly to help him to a chair.
"Maybe . . ." replied Akinola, but his tone indicated doubt.
"Sir!" Lt. Rune interrupted, "I've tied in my tri-corder to the sensor grid." She turned, her expression both hopeful and perplexed. "According to these readings, those cubes are dead in space - I'm only getting minimal energy readings."
"Maybe they're in regeneration mode," suggested Simms.
Rune shook her head. "No, I remember that they maintain normal energy levels for the cubes, even when regenerating - there's barely enough power on those cubes for minimal life support."
"Just the same, keep an eye on them, Lieutenant," ordered the Captain, "Maybe these Borg just like to conserve energy. Delta - see if you can get our bearing and locate the Bluefin and the other ships."
Simms and Rune turned their attention back to the operations panel. Castille rubbed a hand over his eyes, his face was pale and haggard.
"You okay, Doc?" asked Akinola.
"I've felt better," he admitted. "But I sure wish I knew why I passed out."
"We all did. You just happened to hit your head when you fell. Lt. Rune checked you with your scanner - said you had a mild concussion."
Castille picked up the bio-scanner and checked the display, grunting in approval.
"Nice to know someone besides me can read this thing," he said. He reached into the med-kit and pulled out a programmable hypo-spray. Dialing in a healing agent, he pressed the device against his neck. His color began improving quickly. He turned his gaze back to the Captain.
"So what do we do now?"
"What we are doing, Doctor - trying to determine our situation and finding the Bluefin. The good news is the Eku seems sound and has power. We've also got food and water - enough to last for weeks, months if we're careful." He neglected the detail of the mysterious way the power came on.
Castille frowned. "You expect us to be here that long?"
"Right now, I have no idea what to expect."
"Captain?" called out Simms. "Could you come here and look at this?"
Akinola joined the auburn-haired officer at the navigational plotter. She pointed into the three-dimensional representation of the surrounding stars.
"Does any of that look familiar?" she asked.
The Captain frowned. "No . . . no it doesn't," he replied quietly. Solly and the Doctor joined them.
"So, where are we?" asked Castille.
Delta gazed into the physician's eyes. "That's just it, O.C. I have no idea!" She pointed at the plotter. "Those stars are completely unfamiliar to me - they don't corelate with any of the onboard star charts!"
"Wherever we are," continued Akinola somberly, "we're definitely not in the Alpha quadrant."
* * *
Stardate - Unknown
SS Eku
Sector - Unknown
Dr. Octavius Castille moaned softly as consciousness flowed into his pounding skull. He gingerly lifted his hand to his forehead, fingering the cold compress that covered a rather painful bump. He winced as his fingers explored the goose-egg.
He opened his eyes, squinting at the overhead lights and blinking to re-focus. He was somewhat surprised (and slightly miffed) that no one was paying him any mind. Everyone's attention was glued to the viewscreen.
Castille shifted up on his elbows to see what was so damn fascinating.
"Oh crap," he whispered when he finally glimpsed the screen.
* * *
Stardate 54259.5 (15 April 2377)
USS Bluefin
Sector 04341 – Near the Lesser Riven nebula
Ship's Log, Stardate 54259.5 - Commander Inga Strauss in temporary command.
It's been nearly five hours since the Eku was pulled through a trans-warp conduit, taking Captain Akinola, Lt. Commander Simms, Dr. Castille, Lt. Rune and Senior Chief Brin with it. Thus far, none of the other 'prodigal' ships, as they've been named, have disappeared. Still, with the possibility lingering, we are hesitant to place any personnel on these ships.
Captain Rodenko notified me that Starfleet is dispatching the USS Schuylkill, a specialized sensor vessel, to help in our search for the Eku. Hopefully they can track where the ship may have gone.
For the moment, the location and fate of the Eku remains a mystery. While the transwarp conduit seems to indicate Borg involvement, I am forced to agree with Commander Gralt's assessment - this is totally unlike any tactic we've seen from the Borg. We remain hopeful that our friends will return to us safely . . . and soon.
Strauss closed and saved the log entry and picked up her steaming mug of Raktajino. She sipped the strong, hot beverage and allowed her eyes to close for just a moment.
The chime of the door annunciator interrupted her brief respite.
With a sigh, she placed the mug back on the desk. "Come in," she called.
The ready room door slid open and Lt. Bane entered, carrying a data PADD. Inga noticed dark circles under his eyes and his trademark cocky grin was absent. He slumped down into one of the leather chairs and placed the PADD on the desk.
"Anything?" she asked.
Bane rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn. "Not much. We did find a few trace chroniton particles, but that may just be normal for these conduits - we've never really studied them to any degree."
"True," replied Strauss. Generally, when the Borg were about, one was more concerned with survival than with collecting data on interesting phenomena.
"So," Bane continued, "That just adds another variable to the mix. We not only don't know where they are, we can't even be certain of when they are."
Inga rubbed her temples. "Nigel, this whole thing seems senseless to me. If it was a trap, it was pretty inefficient - all that effort to snag five people?"
"Yeah - I've wondered about that too. Why not snag the others as well?"
"It's almost like Captain Akinola and his group were targeted somehow," she continued.
"What? By the Borg? Not to sound disrespectful, Inga, but why would the Borg care a fig about the Skipper? He's never had any direct contact with 'em. Now if it were Captain Picard who got snatched, well, that might make some sense . . ."
She nodded, conceding the point. "I guess you're right," she replied, her brows furrowing in thought.
"What?" queried Bane.
"Well, someone initiated that transwarp conduit and pulled in the Eku! If not the Borg - who?"
* * *
Stardate - Unknown
SS Eku
Sector - Unknown
"Why don't they do something?" whispered Commander Simms, still staring wide-eyed at the six Borg cubes on the viewscreen.
Akinola shook off his initial shock and frowned. "Good question. Lt. Rune - have they hailed us?"
K'lira forced her gaze away from the viewscreen and turned her attention to the comm panel. She turned back to Akinola and shook her head.
"No sir. The comm system is functioning, but we've received no incoming transmissions of any kind on any frequencies."
"That's damned peculiar," Akinola murmurred, as he ran the tip of his tongue over his lower lip. "Lieutenant, see if you can patch your tri-corder into the ship's sensor grid - try to get a reading on those cubes."
Solly looked at Akinola. "What are you thinking, Skipper?"
Akinola shook his head fractionally. "I've never faced the Borg before, but from what I've read, they aren't usually so reticent."
"Maybe they want to observe us first," chimed in Castille as he rose unsteadily to his feet. Delta moved quickly to help him to a chair.
"Maybe . . ." replied Akinola, but his tone indicated doubt.
"Sir!" Lt. Rune interrupted, "I've tied in my tri-corder to the sensor grid." She turned, her expression both hopeful and perplexed. "According to these readings, those cubes are dead in space - I'm only getting minimal energy readings."
"Maybe they're in regeneration mode," suggested Simms.
Rune shook her head. "No, I remember that they maintain normal energy levels for the cubes, even when regenerating - there's barely enough power on those cubes for minimal life support."
"Just the same, keep an eye on them, Lieutenant," ordered the Captain, "Maybe these Borg just like to conserve energy. Delta - see if you can get our bearing and locate the Bluefin and the other ships."
Simms and Rune turned their attention back to the operations panel. Castille rubbed a hand over his eyes, his face was pale and haggard.
"You okay, Doc?" asked Akinola.
"I've felt better," he admitted. "But I sure wish I knew why I passed out."
"We all did. You just happened to hit your head when you fell. Lt. Rune checked you with your scanner - said you had a mild concussion."
Castille picked up the bio-scanner and checked the display, grunting in approval.
"Nice to know someone besides me can read this thing," he said. He reached into the med-kit and pulled out a programmable hypo-spray. Dialing in a healing agent, he pressed the device against his neck. His color began improving quickly. He turned his gaze back to the Captain.
"So what do we do now?"
"What we are doing, Doctor - trying to determine our situation and finding the Bluefin. The good news is the Eku seems sound and has power. We've also got food and water - enough to last for weeks, months if we're careful." He neglected the detail of the mysterious way the power came on.
Castille frowned. "You expect us to be here that long?"
"Right now, I have no idea what to expect."
"Captain?" called out Simms. "Could you come here and look at this?"
Akinola joined the auburn-haired officer at the navigational plotter. She pointed into the three-dimensional representation of the surrounding stars.
"Does any of that look familiar?" she asked.
The Captain frowned. "No . . . no it doesn't," he replied quietly. Solly and the Doctor joined them.
"So, where are we?" asked Castille.
Delta gazed into the physician's eyes. "That's just it, O.C. I have no idea!" She pointed at the plotter. "Those stars are completely unfamiliar to me - they don't corelate with any of the onboard star charts!"
"Wherever we are," continued Akinola somberly, "we're definitely not in the Alpha quadrant."
* * *
