The Hansen Diaries
- Thread starter Tiberius
- Start date
They knew very well that even entering into Romulan space was going to provoke a fight. Rather than taking the more responsible route, they insisted on going rogue and flying into hostile territory. They could've set off a war between the Romulans and Federation, for all they knew! And for what??
It was explained that going the long way around would have put them so far behind the Borg that they wouldn't be able to catch them. They did their best to avoid detection - runnin g the Raven at grey mode, plotting a course to avoid populated systems as well as using the multi-adaptive shields to help disguise the raven as much as possible.
Besides, my hands were tied. In Dark Frontier, Erin says that they have crossed the Neutral Zone. I couldn't exactly leave it out.
Besides, my hands were tied. In Dark Frontier, Erin says that they have crossed the Neutral Zone. I couldn't exactly leave it out.
Distress Call
Field Notes, USS Raven, Stardate 30935.3. Ever since our little adventure in the Dargin System, we’ve kept the Raven at grey mode to avoid detection. So far, it seems to be working. We’ve seen neither hide nor hair of a warbird in two weeks. Unfortunately, we haven’t detected any signs of the Borg either.
*
It was late, Raven time. Magnus had been in the mess hall since dinner, reading the ship’s status reports. The repair crew of Deep Space Four had done a good job; the Raven hadn’t been performing so well since they left Earth. Fuel efficiency was the highest it had ever been, the port Bussard collector, while still only at ninety five percent, no longer shut down at random intervals, and that annoying vibration in the deck plating that had started every time they went faster than warp four point five was a thing of the past.
Magnus had realised that he was getting hungry at about eleven thirty, and he had begun exploring the new replicator files. He had tried pancakes made with Alvanian eggs, and had been surprised at their sweet taste. At the moment, he was nursing a raktajino.
The doors to the mass hall hissed open and Erin came in. “Magnus, have you been in here since dinner?”
“Yeah,” said Magnus. “Looking over the ship’s status report.”
“Oh,” said Erin as she sat down. “And what’s the verdict?”
Magnus put the padd on the table. “The ship’s fine,” he said. “Actually, never been better.”
“That’s great to hear,” Erin said with a smile. “You know, it’s past midnight.”
Magnus looked at her with a surprised look. “Really? I must have lost track of the time.” He lifted his mug and had another sip.
“Is that coffee?” asked Erin, sniffing the air. “Smells rather strong.”
“Raktajino,” Magnus said. “It’s a type of coffee that the Klingons drink.”
“I thought the patterns for coffee weren’t in the database,” Erin said.
“The crew at Deep Space Four installed it, and a whole bunch of other new programs,” Magnus said. “They put some other foods in there that you won’t believe.”
“Wow,” Erin said, sitting. “I knew they upgraded our computer core and installed a few new things, but I had no idea that they put new patterns into the replicator files.”
“Eight hundred new patterns,” said Magnus. “Give or take. And personally speaking,” he continued, holding up his mug, “this is one pattern that I like.”
Erin leaned forward and inhaled the smell of the dark, pungent liquid. Her face twisted in response to the scent. “Oh, God,” she said. “It’s amazing it hasn’t set off the dangerous chemical alarms. What’s it taste like?”
Magnus thought for a moment, but found he was unable to translate the taste into words. “Do you want to try it and see for yourself?” he said, and he held the mug out for her.
Erin backed away. “Uh, no thanks,” she said. She sniffed it again. “I take it that it’s stronger than regular Human coffee?”
“It’s Klingon, Erin,” Magnus said. “It’s strong enough to wake you up if you’ve been dead for three months.”
Erin chuckled. “Might be an idea to keep some of this stuff in sickbay then,” she said. “What other stuff have you found in our computer core?”
“Well,” said Magnus, “we got some new holo-novels.”
“I hope they gave us the new Trevis and Flotter one,” Erin said. “Annika would never forgive us if we didn’t get it.”
“It’s a good thing I asked them to install it then,” Magnus smiled.
“Annika will probably be in the holodeck tomorrow, trying it out,” said Erin as she rose and walked over to the replicator. “Hot chocolate please,” she said, and when it appeared before her, she picked it up and went back to the table. “I’ve been looking over some of the other improvements they made at DS4,” she said. “They enhanced the sensors and sickbay systems, and the computer memory has been expanded to over fifteen hundred isoquads.” She lifted the glass to her lips and sipped her hot chocolate.
“That’s a lot of memory,” said Magnus.
“We’re probably going to need it,” said Erin. “They also installed a few fractal algorithms in the navigational programs. It should increase the accuracy of the long range sensors by nearly fifteen percent.”
Magnus nodded. “Sounds good.” He held up the padd he had been reading when Erin came in. “I’ve been reading the status report on the warp and impulse systems. The driver coil assemblies have been recalibrated, the dilithium crystals have been realigned, and the warp coils have been depolarised.”
Erin took the padd and examined the display. “Looks good,” she said. “This should give us an extra eight per cent in our fuel efficiency.”
There was a soft beep, and Magnus and Erin looked up at the familiar female voice of the computer. “Attention. A distress call has been received.”
“Computer,” said Magnus, “tell me the origin of the distress call.”
“Bearing 028 by 315, range zero point five light years.”
“We’d better get to the bridge,” Erin said. She stood and headed for the door. Magnus took one last sip of his raktajino and followed her.
Magnus looked at Erin as they went out into the hall. “It has to be Romulan,” he said. “Computer, tell me if the distress signal is Romulan.”
“Affirmative,” came the reply.
Magnus stopped and took Erin by the shoulders. “Erin, we can’t.”
“We have to,” Erin said. “We can’t leave them to die, even if they are Romulan.”
“The Romulans are going to be sending a ship of their own, Erin,” Magnus said. “If we’re still there when the Romulans turn up, we won’t stand a chance against them.”
Erin pulled away from Magnus and continued walking. “You coming too?” she asked.
Magnus sighed and followed her. “Computer, tell me if there are any Romulan ships in sensor range.”
“There are no vessels within sensor range.”
Erin smiled in relief. “Well, that gives us twelve hours at least. We can be there in five.”
Magnus sighed again. “Okay,” he said, “but any sign of company, and we’re leaving.”
Erin nodded. “Agreed,” she said.
The doors at the end of the corridor opened and they walked out onto the bridge. Erin went to the helm, and Magnus sat at the tactical station.
“I’m going to yellow alert,” Magnus said.
“I’m laying in a course to the source of the distress signal,” said Erin. “It’s a planet, Class M. Engaging at warp eight.”
*
Erin’s practiced hand ran lightly over the helm console. “We’re approaching the planet,” she reported. “Federation astronomical logs list it as Delorea II. We’ll be in orbit in three minutes.”
“I’m scanning the planet to find the source of the distress call,” Magnus said from the tactical station.
Erin turned to him. “Will you be able to dampen the signal from orbit?” she asked.
“I’ll try,” Magnus said. His console beeped, and a flashing indicator showed where the transmission’s source was located. “I’ve found the source of the signal. It’s coming from a crashed vessel. Judging from the size of it I’d say it’s a shuttle, but I can’t dampen it. There seems to be some sort of ionisation effect in the atmosphere.”
“Can you detect lifesigns through the distortion?” Erin asked.
“Just one,” Magnus said. “It appears to be an adult Romulan male, but I can’t be too sure. He’s inside the shuttle. I’m also reading damage to the planetary crust. It’s nearly identical to the damage we saw on Tentak IV.”
Erin looked up at him. “It’s the Borg then?”
“Most likely,” Magnus said. “The shuttle is only two hundred meters from the attack site.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “You know,” he said, “the fact that the distress call is still being sent is actually pretty good news.”
Erin looked at him. “How so?” she asked after a moment’s thought.
“Well,” said Magnus in that tone he only used when he was about to make a flawlessly logical point, “this attack couldn’t have happened too long ago, or the Romulans would have already arrived and shut off the distress call. The fact that it’s still going means that it hasn’t been on for long.” Magnus turned back to the console and ran a scan. “The damage was done in only the last few days. No more than six days ago.”
Erin’s eyes widened. “We’re catching up to the Borg,” she said. “But how is that possible? We’ve been maintaining only warp six. We shouldn’t have been able to catch up.”
“The Cube may have slowed down,” said Magnus. “Or maybe taken a less direct course than us.”
Erin smiled. “Could be,” she said, “but whatever it is, if this was done six days ago, the Borg wouldn’t be any more than a week ahead of us now.”
“And we can get an eyewitness account of the attack as well,” said Magnus.
“Not until he gets treatment for his injuries,” said Erin. “And we’ll have to beam down if we’re going to treat the survivor,” Erin said. “The life signs are too unstable for us to beam him up to us.”
“We can’t beam down, Erin,” Magnus said.
Erin turned to him. “Magnus, we have to. He’ll die without help.”
“No, I meant the transporters won’t work,” Magnus said. “There’s too much ionisation in the atmosphere to beam anywhere. Believe me, Erin, I want to speak to this man just as much as you do.”
Erin regarded him for a moment, then her shoulders slumped. “Well there’s only one other alternative,” she said. “I’ll have to land the ship.” As soon as she said it out loud, she felt a wave of apprehension come over her. The idea of landing a twenty thousand ton star ship had her feeling rather anxious, and the strain was beginning to show in her voice.
“Do you think you can do it?” Magnus asked.
Erin was silent for a moment. “I’m not sure, Magnus,” she said. “A shuttle, of course, I could do it in a minute, but I’ve never landed a star ship before.”
“The choice is yours, Erin,” Magnus said. “But this could be our only chance to get an eyewitness account of a Borg attack.”
Erin wheeled on him angrily. The stress was building up inside her. “We have a responsibility to save this man’s life, Magnus!” she exclaimed. “It’s not just a chance for you to get more data!”
“Erin, calm down,” Magnus said gently. “I want to save this man as well.”
Erin took a deep breath to calm herself. “I’m sorry, Magnus. It’s just a lot of stress landing a starship.”
Magnus came over to the helm and put his hands on her shoulders. “I understand,” he said gently.
“Thanks, Magnus,” Erin said. “And it’s not like the Raven is a shuttle, after all.”
Magnus kissed her. “Erin,” he said, “I believe in you. You can do this.”
Erin smiled at him. “That means a lot to me, Magnus, thank you,” she said quietly. The helm beeped and she looked down. “We’re entering orbit of Delorea II.”
Magnus went back to the engineering station. “Ready to do this, Erin?” he asked.
Erin took in a deep breath and released it. “Yeah,” she said. “Let’s do it.”
“Okay,” Magnus said. “I’m taking the warp core offline and venting the drive plasma from the nacelles. Bringing thrusters online and going to blue alert.”
Erin worked at the helm console. “I’ve plotted a descent course,” she said. “We’ll have to land about a kilometer from the shuttle. The crust near the attack site might be too unstable to support the Raven.”
“Agreed,” said Magnus. “IDF is at maximum, landing struts are ready.”
“Descent course engaged. The weather ahead looks fine,” said Erin. “Shouldn’t be any turbulence.” She looked over her readouts. “The landing site is coming up fast. Two thousand kilometers, one and a half… I’ll put the landing site onscreen.”
The image came up on the viewer. A large plain stretched across the screen, with just a few outcroppings of rock. The site of the shuttle was clearly visible; smoke was pouring from its broken engine nacelles. But the one thing that dominated the viewer was the great gaping hole in the planet’s crust that yawned up into the sky. The amount of devastation was incredible. Erin checked her readout and gasped. The abyss before her was five kilometers across and over three and a half kilometers deep, a scale of destruction that seemed to dwarf the attack on Tentak IV.
“I’m extending the landing struts,” said Magnus. Vibrations rumbled throughout the Raven’s hull as the heavy mechanisms lowered into place. “Down and locked. Matching IDF to the local gravity.”
Erin looked down at her console. “Planet surface in ten seconds… five… Now.”
Under her hand, the Raven landed gently on the planet, and only the slightest shudder carried through the hull.
“Nicely done, Erin,” Magnus said. “I knew you could do it. Beautiful landing.”
“Thanks, Magnus,” she said, smiling broadly. “We’d better get going.”
*
Field Notes, USS Raven, Stardate 30935.3. Ever since our little adventure in the Dargin System, we’ve kept the Raven at grey mode to avoid detection. So far, it seems to be working. We’ve seen neither hide nor hair of a warbird in two weeks. Unfortunately, we haven’t detected any signs of the Borg either.
*
It was late, Raven time. Magnus had been in the mess hall since dinner, reading the ship’s status reports. The repair crew of Deep Space Four had done a good job; the Raven hadn’t been performing so well since they left Earth. Fuel efficiency was the highest it had ever been, the port Bussard collector, while still only at ninety five percent, no longer shut down at random intervals, and that annoying vibration in the deck plating that had started every time they went faster than warp four point five was a thing of the past.
Magnus had realised that he was getting hungry at about eleven thirty, and he had begun exploring the new replicator files. He had tried pancakes made with Alvanian eggs, and had been surprised at their sweet taste. At the moment, he was nursing a raktajino.
The doors to the mass hall hissed open and Erin came in. “Magnus, have you been in here since dinner?”
“Yeah,” said Magnus. “Looking over the ship’s status report.”
“Oh,” said Erin as she sat down. “And what’s the verdict?”
Magnus put the padd on the table. “The ship’s fine,” he said. “Actually, never been better.”
“That’s great to hear,” Erin said with a smile. “You know, it’s past midnight.”
Magnus looked at her with a surprised look. “Really? I must have lost track of the time.” He lifted his mug and had another sip.
“Is that coffee?” asked Erin, sniffing the air. “Smells rather strong.”
“Raktajino,” Magnus said. “It’s a type of coffee that the Klingons drink.”
“I thought the patterns for coffee weren’t in the database,” Erin said.
“The crew at Deep Space Four installed it, and a whole bunch of other new programs,” Magnus said. “They put some other foods in there that you won’t believe.”
“Wow,” Erin said, sitting. “I knew they upgraded our computer core and installed a few new things, but I had no idea that they put new patterns into the replicator files.”
“Eight hundred new patterns,” said Magnus. “Give or take. And personally speaking,” he continued, holding up his mug, “this is one pattern that I like.”
Erin leaned forward and inhaled the smell of the dark, pungent liquid. Her face twisted in response to the scent. “Oh, God,” she said. “It’s amazing it hasn’t set off the dangerous chemical alarms. What’s it taste like?”
Magnus thought for a moment, but found he was unable to translate the taste into words. “Do you want to try it and see for yourself?” he said, and he held the mug out for her.
Erin backed away. “Uh, no thanks,” she said. She sniffed it again. “I take it that it’s stronger than regular Human coffee?”
“It’s Klingon, Erin,” Magnus said. “It’s strong enough to wake you up if you’ve been dead for three months.”
Erin chuckled. “Might be an idea to keep some of this stuff in sickbay then,” she said. “What other stuff have you found in our computer core?”
“Well,” said Magnus, “we got some new holo-novels.”
“I hope they gave us the new Trevis and Flotter one,” Erin said. “Annika would never forgive us if we didn’t get it.”
“It’s a good thing I asked them to install it then,” Magnus smiled.
“Annika will probably be in the holodeck tomorrow, trying it out,” said Erin as she rose and walked over to the replicator. “Hot chocolate please,” she said, and when it appeared before her, she picked it up and went back to the table. “I’ve been looking over some of the other improvements they made at DS4,” she said. “They enhanced the sensors and sickbay systems, and the computer memory has been expanded to over fifteen hundred isoquads.” She lifted the glass to her lips and sipped her hot chocolate.
“That’s a lot of memory,” said Magnus.
“We’re probably going to need it,” said Erin. “They also installed a few fractal algorithms in the navigational programs. It should increase the accuracy of the long range sensors by nearly fifteen percent.”
Magnus nodded. “Sounds good.” He held up the padd he had been reading when Erin came in. “I’ve been reading the status report on the warp and impulse systems. The driver coil assemblies have been recalibrated, the dilithium crystals have been realigned, and the warp coils have been depolarised.”
Erin took the padd and examined the display. “Looks good,” she said. “This should give us an extra eight per cent in our fuel efficiency.”
There was a soft beep, and Magnus and Erin looked up at the familiar female voice of the computer. “Attention. A distress call has been received.”
“Computer,” said Magnus, “tell me the origin of the distress call.”
“Bearing 028 by 315, range zero point five light years.”
“We’d better get to the bridge,” Erin said. She stood and headed for the door. Magnus took one last sip of his raktajino and followed her.
Magnus looked at Erin as they went out into the hall. “It has to be Romulan,” he said. “Computer, tell me if the distress signal is Romulan.”
“Affirmative,” came the reply.
Magnus stopped and took Erin by the shoulders. “Erin, we can’t.”
“We have to,” Erin said. “We can’t leave them to die, even if they are Romulan.”
“The Romulans are going to be sending a ship of their own, Erin,” Magnus said. “If we’re still there when the Romulans turn up, we won’t stand a chance against them.”
Erin pulled away from Magnus and continued walking. “You coming too?” she asked.
Magnus sighed and followed her. “Computer, tell me if there are any Romulan ships in sensor range.”
“There are no vessels within sensor range.”
Erin smiled in relief. “Well, that gives us twelve hours at least. We can be there in five.”
Magnus sighed again. “Okay,” he said, “but any sign of company, and we’re leaving.”
Erin nodded. “Agreed,” she said.
The doors at the end of the corridor opened and they walked out onto the bridge. Erin went to the helm, and Magnus sat at the tactical station.
“I’m going to yellow alert,” Magnus said.
“I’m laying in a course to the source of the distress signal,” said Erin. “It’s a planet, Class M. Engaging at warp eight.”
*
Erin’s practiced hand ran lightly over the helm console. “We’re approaching the planet,” she reported. “Federation astronomical logs list it as Delorea II. We’ll be in orbit in three minutes.”
“I’m scanning the planet to find the source of the distress call,” Magnus said from the tactical station.
Erin turned to him. “Will you be able to dampen the signal from orbit?” she asked.
“I’ll try,” Magnus said. His console beeped, and a flashing indicator showed where the transmission’s source was located. “I’ve found the source of the signal. It’s coming from a crashed vessel. Judging from the size of it I’d say it’s a shuttle, but I can’t dampen it. There seems to be some sort of ionisation effect in the atmosphere.”
“Can you detect lifesigns through the distortion?” Erin asked.
“Just one,” Magnus said. “It appears to be an adult Romulan male, but I can’t be too sure. He’s inside the shuttle. I’m also reading damage to the planetary crust. It’s nearly identical to the damage we saw on Tentak IV.”
Erin looked up at him. “It’s the Borg then?”
“Most likely,” Magnus said. “The shuttle is only two hundred meters from the attack site.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “You know,” he said, “the fact that the distress call is still being sent is actually pretty good news.”
Erin looked at him. “How so?” she asked after a moment’s thought.
“Well,” said Magnus in that tone he only used when he was about to make a flawlessly logical point, “this attack couldn’t have happened too long ago, or the Romulans would have already arrived and shut off the distress call. The fact that it’s still going means that it hasn’t been on for long.” Magnus turned back to the console and ran a scan. “The damage was done in only the last few days. No more than six days ago.”
Erin’s eyes widened. “We’re catching up to the Borg,” she said. “But how is that possible? We’ve been maintaining only warp six. We shouldn’t have been able to catch up.”
“The Cube may have slowed down,” said Magnus. “Or maybe taken a less direct course than us.”
Erin smiled. “Could be,” she said, “but whatever it is, if this was done six days ago, the Borg wouldn’t be any more than a week ahead of us now.”
“And we can get an eyewitness account of the attack as well,” said Magnus.
“Not until he gets treatment for his injuries,” said Erin. “And we’ll have to beam down if we’re going to treat the survivor,” Erin said. “The life signs are too unstable for us to beam him up to us.”
“We can’t beam down, Erin,” Magnus said.
Erin turned to him. “Magnus, we have to. He’ll die without help.”
“No, I meant the transporters won’t work,” Magnus said. “There’s too much ionisation in the atmosphere to beam anywhere. Believe me, Erin, I want to speak to this man just as much as you do.”
Erin regarded him for a moment, then her shoulders slumped. “Well there’s only one other alternative,” she said. “I’ll have to land the ship.” As soon as she said it out loud, she felt a wave of apprehension come over her. The idea of landing a twenty thousand ton star ship had her feeling rather anxious, and the strain was beginning to show in her voice.
“Do you think you can do it?” Magnus asked.
Erin was silent for a moment. “I’m not sure, Magnus,” she said. “A shuttle, of course, I could do it in a minute, but I’ve never landed a star ship before.”
“The choice is yours, Erin,” Magnus said. “But this could be our only chance to get an eyewitness account of a Borg attack.”
Erin wheeled on him angrily. The stress was building up inside her. “We have a responsibility to save this man’s life, Magnus!” she exclaimed. “It’s not just a chance for you to get more data!”
“Erin, calm down,” Magnus said gently. “I want to save this man as well.”
Erin took a deep breath to calm herself. “I’m sorry, Magnus. It’s just a lot of stress landing a starship.”
Magnus came over to the helm and put his hands on her shoulders. “I understand,” he said gently.
“Thanks, Magnus,” Erin said. “And it’s not like the Raven is a shuttle, after all.”
Magnus kissed her. “Erin,” he said, “I believe in you. You can do this.”
Erin smiled at him. “That means a lot to me, Magnus, thank you,” she said quietly. The helm beeped and she looked down. “We’re entering orbit of Delorea II.”
Magnus went back to the engineering station. “Ready to do this, Erin?” he asked.
Erin took in a deep breath and released it. “Yeah,” she said. “Let’s do it.”
“Okay,” Magnus said. “I’m taking the warp core offline and venting the drive plasma from the nacelles. Bringing thrusters online and going to blue alert.”
Erin worked at the helm console. “I’ve plotted a descent course,” she said. “We’ll have to land about a kilometer from the shuttle. The crust near the attack site might be too unstable to support the Raven.”
“Agreed,” said Magnus. “IDF is at maximum, landing struts are ready.”
“Descent course engaged. The weather ahead looks fine,” said Erin. “Shouldn’t be any turbulence.” She looked over her readouts. “The landing site is coming up fast. Two thousand kilometers, one and a half… I’ll put the landing site onscreen.”
The image came up on the viewer. A large plain stretched across the screen, with just a few outcroppings of rock. The site of the shuttle was clearly visible; smoke was pouring from its broken engine nacelles. But the one thing that dominated the viewer was the great gaping hole in the planet’s crust that yawned up into the sky. The amount of devastation was incredible. Erin checked her readout and gasped. The abyss before her was five kilometers across and over three and a half kilometers deep, a scale of destruction that seemed to dwarf the attack on Tentak IV.
“I’m extending the landing struts,” said Magnus. Vibrations rumbled throughout the Raven’s hull as the heavy mechanisms lowered into place. “Down and locked. Matching IDF to the local gravity.”
Erin looked down at her console. “Planet surface in ten seconds… five… Now.”
Under her hand, the Raven landed gently on the planet, and only the slightest shudder carried through the hull.
“Nicely done, Erin,” Magnus said. “I knew you could do it. Beautiful landing.”
“Thanks, Magnus,” she said, smiling broadly. “We’d better get going.”
*
Magnus and Erin climbed down the ladder on the forward landing leg and stepped onto the alien planet. Above them, the sky arced blue, and the grass under their feet was a lush green. Just over a slight rise a line of trees marked the edge of a forest, and in the distance beyond them, a line of mountains stretched across the horizon.
Erin opened her tricorder. “The life signs are coming from that direction,” she said, pointing out towards the forest. “One thousand and fifty one meters away.”
Magnus held up his own tricorder. “It’s pretty rough terrain, Erin,” he said. “It’s going to take us a while to cover that distance.”
“There’s only one other route,” said Erin. “It’s over ten kilometers, going around that forest. We don’t have the time to take that route. If we do, he’ll be dead before we reach him.”
“Then we don’t have a choice,” Magnus said, hoisting the straps of his pack up over his shoulders. “Let’s get going.”
They set off walking, and gradually, the forest drew closer. They could see the branches that intertwined high above the ground, and there were small creatures that leapt among the branches and chattered noisily as they played.
“Are they monkeys?” Erin asked.
“Similar, yeah,” said Magnus.
“Hey, Magnus, look at this,” Erin said, walking off to the right. She stopped about ten meters away and knelt down to examine something on the ground.
Magnus hurried over to her. “What is it?” he asked.
“See the grass here?” Erin said. “It isn’t as green as the grass surrounding it, and it has been flattened somewhat.”
“You think it means something?” Magnus opened his tricorder.
Erin looked up at him, squinting in the sunlight. “I think it might be a road.”
Magnus scanned the surrounding ground. “I’m picking up a residual antigraviton signature,” he said. “You’re probably right. It definitely had traffic.”
“It seems to lead the same way we’re heading,” Erin said. “If we follow it, the going should be easier.”
“I agree,” said Magnus.
The road led them into the forest, and they could feel it instantly become cool as they entered the shadows under the high canopy. The sunlight that dappled down through the leaves created shimmering diamonds on the leaf litter that lay over the soft ground. All around them, they could hear the monkeys calling, and occasionally they could see sparrow-sized birds flitting between the trees.
“Annika would have loved to come,” Erin said wistfully, looking up at the leaves far above her.
“No way,” Magnus said. “Even if it wasn’t one in the morning ship time, I don’t want her anywhere near a Romulan, even if he is near death.”
Erin sighed. “I’ll try recreating the forest from tricorder data when we get back to the ship,” she said. “But still, isn’t this the most idealic setting you’ve ever seen?”
Magnus smiled. “I’d have to agree with you there.”
The road took a sudden curve around to the left when it reached a large outcrop of rock that stretched like a wall between them and the crashed shuttle. Magnus scanned with his tricorder, but the readouts gave him bad news. “It goes on for over five hundred meters in both directions,” he said, folding his tricorder and putting it back in his pocket.
Erin sighed. “What can we do now?” she said. Her tone revealed the frustration she was feeling. “We can’t go around, it will take too long.”
Magnus walked off to the right, looking up at the almost shear rock face. “We’ll have to go over the top,” he said.
“We don’t have time to go back to the ship for climbing equipment,” Erin said.
“I think I might be able to do it without the equipment,” Magnus said, turning back to her. “I’ve found an easier way over. The rock isn’t as steep over here.”
“You think you can make it Magnus?” Erin came over to him and looked up to where he was indicating.
“I should be able to make it,” Magnus said. “The rock wall is only a few meters high, and I should be able to help you up as well.”
“It’s up to you, Magnus,” Erin said, looking at him. “You’ve had more climbing experience than I have.”
Magnus went up to the base of the rock wall and reached his hands up. The rock was firm under his grasp, and it would take his weight. It had enough hand and foot holds to make the climbing easy, and he figured that with some scrambling they would be able to carry the Romulan back to the Raven. He reached up and found a small crevice, hooking his fingers into the hole and pulling himself up. Before long, he reached the top, and Erin started up after him. Magnus looked at the terrain ahead. The forest thinned out, and he could see the smoke rising up from the ground, revealing the position of the shuttle. It appeared to be less than a hundred meters from him.
“Magnus!”
He turned and looked down to his wife. “Need a hand?” he asked.
Erin glared at him. “If it’s not too much trouble,” she said through gritted teeth.
Magnus reached down and grabbed her forearm, pulling her up. She struggled over the edge of rock wall and collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. She turned over, and looked down over the edge.
“That must have been over five meters,” she said.
“Not that high,” said Magnus.
“I’ve got to work out on the holodeck more often,” Erin groaned.
“I’ve got a program that you’ll love,” Magnus said. “We’re not too far from the shuttle. We should be there in a few minutes.”
“Where is it?” Erin asked, lifting herself back up to her feet.
“Just over that way,” said Magnus, pointing towards the smoke.
“You don’t think it’s dangerous, do you?” Erin asked.
“Going after an injured Romulan in Romulan space with Romulans all around us, ready to decloak at any time?” asked Magnus. “Maybe just a little bit dangerous.”
“I meant danger from an explosion or something like that, and you know it,” Erin said with the faintest hint of a smile. “Come on, let’s get going.”
The shuttle was a sleek dark green shape that would have been very well camouflaged against the vegetation if it hadn’t been for the deep furrow it had dug in the soft ground as it crashed. It lay the right way up, but tilted at an odd angle that would make moving inside it very awkward.
“Dear God, she hit hard,” Magnus said to himself as they approached.
“Where’s the door?” Erin asked.
“I think I see it, just behind the cockpit,” Magnus said.
“It’s half buried,” said Erin. “It’s going to be hard to open it.”
“Let’s hope the mechanism still works,” said Magnus. “I’d hate to have to force it open.”
Magnus scrambled down into the ditch and made his way towards the door. The dirt was soft, and his feet sank in just enough to make walking difficult.
When he got to the hatch, he banged it with his fist. “Hello!” he called. “Is anybody in there?” He listened for an answer, but he heard none. He searched the area around the hatch for the controls to operate the mechanism, but when he tried to activate it, it only spluttered and spat a few dim sparks. “I’m going to have to phaser the hatch,” he said. “Keep back, Erin, and cover your eyes. Just in case.”
Magnus pulled out his phaser, and adjusted the setting. He fired at the edge of the door, and almost immediately, molten metal began to drip down towards the ground. It took almost a minute before the door was cut free, and it clattered to the ground, clanging against the hull.
Erin jumped down into the ditch and hurried up to the hole. She looked inside, then started to climb into the ship.
“Erin, be careful,” Magnus said.
“I will be, don’t worry,” she said.
Magnus climbed in after her.
The inside of the Romulan shuttle was very different to a Federation shuttle. They had emerged in a short hallway which ran down the central axis of the vessel. Opposite them was another hatch, presumably the entry door on the other side of the ship.
“Erin, the cockpit is just down there,” Magnus said, pointing to the left. “See if you can disable the distress call. We don’t want to attract any attention if we can avoid it.”
“Okay, Magnus,” Erin said.
“I’m going to try to find the survivor,” Magnus said. “Tricorder scans indicate he’s in the aft compartment.”
Erin headed towards the cockpit, and Magnus headed aft. The door to the passenger section opened when he hit the control panel, and Magnus stepped through. A Romulan man was slumped in one of the chairs nearer the door, dark green blood matting his hair and forming a rivulet that ran down his cheek and onto his chest. His right arm was horribly broken, the bone showing grey through a tear in his jacket.
“Magnus,” came Erin’s voice through his combadge, “I’ve shut down the distress call.”
“Erin, get back to the passenger section now!” Magnus called. “We’ve got a severely injured man back here!”
“I’m on my way, Magnus,” said Erin.
Erin entered the passenger compartment mere seconds later. “Oh, God,” she said when she saw the extent of his injuries.
Magnus moved away from the Romulan, letting Erin scan him. “Can you do anything for him?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” Erin said. “His injuries are bad, and they’ve been untreated for several days.”
The Romulan moved, his head lifted up, and he looked at them through tortured eyes. He tried to raise his arm, but it lifted only a few centimeters before falling back to his lap. “Please,” he said, his voice slurred with hours of pain, “make it stop.”
Magnus knelt down next to him. “It’s okay,” he said. “We’re treating your injuries.”
“Gone,” the Romulan muttered, looking off into a distance only he could see. “I saw… I saw it all. I saw them all go…” He tried to lift himself out of his seat, but once again, he failed.
“Magnus,” said Erin as she pulled a hypospray out of her medkit. “Keep him still. I can’t help him if he’s struggling.”
Magnus put a gently restraining hand on the Romulan’s shoulder. “Please, sir,” he said. “Try to keep still.”
The man fixed Magnus with a stare that seemed to look straight through him. “They must be stopped,” he said.
“Magnus, keep him still!”
The Romulan was pushing against Magnus’s hand, trying to get up. “They came… and… and…”
Erin pressed the hypo against his neck, and the man fell back into the chair.
“Is he going to be alright?” Magnus asked.
Erin looked up at him. “I’m not sure. His physiology is similar to the Vulcans, and that should make treating him a lot easier.” She picked the dermal regenerator from the medkit and passed it over the deep gash on his head. “The trianoline is helping the injury on his head, but his cardio-pulmonary system isn’t responding well. I’ll have to treat him on the Raven.”
“Is he stable enough to move him back to the ship?” asked Magnus.
“For the moment he is,” Erin said. “Let’s get the stretcher assembled.”
*
The Romulan lay on the biobed in the Raven’s sickbay, his eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face. Erin stood over him, a medical tricorder in her hand. She held the tricorder’s sensor over him. His nervous system had been treated with the neural regenerator and the broken bone in his arm had been set and healed.
Erin folded the tricorder and put it in her pocket, then turned to Magnus, who was standing a few meters away. “I’ve repaired the injury to his head,” she said. “But the damage to the cardio-pulmonary system is too great. All we can really do now is make him comfortable. I thought I would have been able to treat him as a Vulcan, but there are differences in the blood chemistry that make it tricky.”
“You did the best you could, Erin,” Magnus said.
Erin nodded. “I know,” she said quietly.
“Can he talk?”
“Yes,” Erin said. “But he’s in a bad condition, so only a few minutes.”
Magnus nodded. “Alright.”
Erin picked up a hypospray and pressed it against the Romulan’s neck. Slowly, the Romulan began to move. He opened his eyes.
“Humans!” he gasped when he saw them. “Where…?”
Erin placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re on the Federation Starship Raven.”
“We answered your distress call,” Magnus said. “We’re here to help.”
“You detected the distress call?” he gasped. “What are you doing in Romulan space?”
Magnus sighed. “It appears we have a common enemy, my friend,” he said.
The Romulan looked at Magnus tiredly for a moment before speaking. “They attacked the Federation too?”
Erin nodded. “Yes,” she said. “We are on a mission to find them.”
“We were hoping you could give us some information about what happened here,” said Magnus.
Erin leaned over close to Magnus. “Be easy on him,” she whispered.
The Romulan struggled to lift himself up on his elbows, but he was too weak, and he fell back to the bed. He moaned with pain. Erin moved forward with a hypo, but the Romulan shook his head and held his arm up to stop her. “I’ll be okay for a little while,” he said. “We Romulans are sturdy folk.” He sighed, the sigh of someone who had journeyed into the mouth of hell and had come through the affair with nightmarish souvenirs of the experience. “They came without warning,” he said quietly. “Their ship was so big, we could see it from the ground. Borg, they called themselves. From what I heard, they beamed down into the heart of our homes and we didn’t stand a chance against them.”
“You weren’t there?” Erin asked.
“I had gone to a place I like,” he said. “It’s a valley a few hundred kilometers north of here. I was there when I detected the distress call from our outpost. I came back as quickly as I could, but I was too late. By the time I got there, it was too late. I could see the ground lifting up, and the people screaming, but I couldn’t help them. The enemy had… I don’t know… There was a glow, green, a blood green, and it was everywhere…” He lifted a trembling hand to his face, wiping away the tears forming in his eyes.
“Was it a tractor beam?” Erin asked quietly.
The Romulan breathed deeply, and released it. The breath rattled in his chest. “I don’t know,” he said. “But whatever it was, it hit my shuttle, or I was caught in its effects. It interrupted my engines, and I crashed. I must have been unconscious for at least a day, and when I awoke the distress beacon was damaged. I tried repairing it, but I was weak, and injured, and it took I think two or three days.”
The Romulan moaned again, and Erin moved forward. “Magnus, let him rest now,” she said. She pressed the hypo against the injured man’s neck, and his eyes closed.
“I think I’ll head back to the shuttle,” Magnus said, heading for the door. “The information on the Borg tractor beam may be in the shuttle’s computer banks.”
“Okay,” Erin said, but there was something distant in her voice.
“Erin, are you alright?” asked Magnus. He went back to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I just wish there was more I can do for that man than just sit here and watch him die.”
*
Magnus hefted the portable computer access terminal up on his shoulder as he climbed the ladder on the Raven’s forward landing leg. The airlock cycled, opening the doors and letting him into the ship. The interior doors opened, and Erin was standing there.
“He died, Magnus,” she said. “About five minutes ago.”
Magnus sighed. “We should get ready to leave,” he said.
“What about his body?” asked Erin.
Magnus thought for a moment. “I’ll take him back to the shuttle,” he said. “We should let the Romulans bury him, or whatever they do.”
Erin nodded. “I agree. Did you get what you wanted?”
“Yeah,” said Magnus. “As well as that, I found data on Romulan ship activity in this sector.”
“It should come in handy,” said Erin.
“I hope so,” said Magnus. “I’ll download the data into the main computer. But first, let’s get out of here.”
Magnus took the Romulan back to the shuttle, and a few hours later, they had left the Delorea system far behind.
Erin opened her tricorder. “The life signs are coming from that direction,” she said, pointing out towards the forest. “One thousand and fifty one meters away.”
Magnus held up his own tricorder. “It’s pretty rough terrain, Erin,” he said. “It’s going to take us a while to cover that distance.”
“There’s only one other route,” said Erin. “It’s over ten kilometers, going around that forest. We don’t have the time to take that route. If we do, he’ll be dead before we reach him.”
“Then we don’t have a choice,” Magnus said, hoisting the straps of his pack up over his shoulders. “Let’s get going.”
They set off walking, and gradually, the forest drew closer. They could see the branches that intertwined high above the ground, and there were small creatures that leapt among the branches and chattered noisily as they played.
“Are they monkeys?” Erin asked.
“Similar, yeah,” said Magnus.
“Hey, Magnus, look at this,” Erin said, walking off to the right. She stopped about ten meters away and knelt down to examine something on the ground.
Magnus hurried over to her. “What is it?” he asked.
“See the grass here?” Erin said. “It isn’t as green as the grass surrounding it, and it has been flattened somewhat.”
“You think it means something?” Magnus opened his tricorder.
Erin looked up at him, squinting in the sunlight. “I think it might be a road.”
Magnus scanned the surrounding ground. “I’m picking up a residual antigraviton signature,” he said. “You’re probably right. It definitely had traffic.”
“It seems to lead the same way we’re heading,” Erin said. “If we follow it, the going should be easier.”
“I agree,” said Magnus.
The road led them into the forest, and they could feel it instantly become cool as they entered the shadows under the high canopy. The sunlight that dappled down through the leaves created shimmering diamonds on the leaf litter that lay over the soft ground. All around them, they could hear the monkeys calling, and occasionally they could see sparrow-sized birds flitting between the trees.
“Annika would have loved to come,” Erin said wistfully, looking up at the leaves far above her.
“No way,” Magnus said. “Even if it wasn’t one in the morning ship time, I don’t want her anywhere near a Romulan, even if he is near death.”
Erin sighed. “I’ll try recreating the forest from tricorder data when we get back to the ship,” she said. “But still, isn’t this the most idealic setting you’ve ever seen?”
Magnus smiled. “I’d have to agree with you there.”
The road took a sudden curve around to the left when it reached a large outcrop of rock that stretched like a wall between them and the crashed shuttle. Magnus scanned with his tricorder, but the readouts gave him bad news. “It goes on for over five hundred meters in both directions,” he said, folding his tricorder and putting it back in his pocket.
Erin sighed. “What can we do now?” she said. Her tone revealed the frustration she was feeling. “We can’t go around, it will take too long.”
Magnus walked off to the right, looking up at the almost shear rock face. “We’ll have to go over the top,” he said.
“We don’t have time to go back to the ship for climbing equipment,” Erin said.
“I think I might be able to do it without the equipment,” Magnus said, turning back to her. “I’ve found an easier way over. The rock isn’t as steep over here.”
“You think you can make it Magnus?” Erin came over to him and looked up to where he was indicating.
“I should be able to make it,” Magnus said. “The rock wall is only a few meters high, and I should be able to help you up as well.”
“It’s up to you, Magnus,” Erin said, looking at him. “You’ve had more climbing experience than I have.”
Magnus went up to the base of the rock wall and reached his hands up. The rock was firm under his grasp, and it would take his weight. It had enough hand and foot holds to make the climbing easy, and he figured that with some scrambling they would be able to carry the Romulan back to the Raven. He reached up and found a small crevice, hooking his fingers into the hole and pulling himself up. Before long, he reached the top, and Erin started up after him. Magnus looked at the terrain ahead. The forest thinned out, and he could see the smoke rising up from the ground, revealing the position of the shuttle. It appeared to be less than a hundred meters from him.
“Magnus!”
He turned and looked down to his wife. “Need a hand?” he asked.
Erin glared at him. “If it’s not too much trouble,” she said through gritted teeth.
Magnus reached down and grabbed her forearm, pulling her up. She struggled over the edge of rock wall and collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. She turned over, and looked down over the edge.
“That must have been over five meters,” she said.
“Not that high,” said Magnus.
“I’ve got to work out on the holodeck more often,” Erin groaned.
“I’ve got a program that you’ll love,” Magnus said. “We’re not too far from the shuttle. We should be there in a few minutes.”
“Where is it?” Erin asked, lifting herself back up to her feet.
“Just over that way,” said Magnus, pointing towards the smoke.
“You don’t think it’s dangerous, do you?” Erin asked.
“Going after an injured Romulan in Romulan space with Romulans all around us, ready to decloak at any time?” asked Magnus. “Maybe just a little bit dangerous.”
“I meant danger from an explosion or something like that, and you know it,” Erin said with the faintest hint of a smile. “Come on, let’s get going.”
The shuttle was a sleek dark green shape that would have been very well camouflaged against the vegetation if it hadn’t been for the deep furrow it had dug in the soft ground as it crashed. It lay the right way up, but tilted at an odd angle that would make moving inside it very awkward.
“Dear God, she hit hard,” Magnus said to himself as they approached.
“Where’s the door?” Erin asked.
“I think I see it, just behind the cockpit,” Magnus said.
“It’s half buried,” said Erin. “It’s going to be hard to open it.”
“Let’s hope the mechanism still works,” said Magnus. “I’d hate to have to force it open.”
Magnus scrambled down into the ditch and made his way towards the door. The dirt was soft, and his feet sank in just enough to make walking difficult.
When he got to the hatch, he banged it with his fist. “Hello!” he called. “Is anybody in there?” He listened for an answer, but he heard none. He searched the area around the hatch for the controls to operate the mechanism, but when he tried to activate it, it only spluttered and spat a few dim sparks. “I’m going to have to phaser the hatch,” he said. “Keep back, Erin, and cover your eyes. Just in case.”
Magnus pulled out his phaser, and adjusted the setting. He fired at the edge of the door, and almost immediately, molten metal began to drip down towards the ground. It took almost a minute before the door was cut free, and it clattered to the ground, clanging against the hull.
Erin jumped down into the ditch and hurried up to the hole. She looked inside, then started to climb into the ship.
“Erin, be careful,” Magnus said.
“I will be, don’t worry,” she said.
Magnus climbed in after her.
The inside of the Romulan shuttle was very different to a Federation shuttle. They had emerged in a short hallway which ran down the central axis of the vessel. Opposite them was another hatch, presumably the entry door on the other side of the ship.
“Erin, the cockpit is just down there,” Magnus said, pointing to the left. “See if you can disable the distress call. We don’t want to attract any attention if we can avoid it.”
“Okay, Magnus,” Erin said.
“I’m going to try to find the survivor,” Magnus said. “Tricorder scans indicate he’s in the aft compartment.”
Erin headed towards the cockpit, and Magnus headed aft. The door to the passenger section opened when he hit the control panel, and Magnus stepped through. A Romulan man was slumped in one of the chairs nearer the door, dark green blood matting his hair and forming a rivulet that ran down his cheek and onto his chest. His right arm was horribly broken, the bone showing grey through a tear in his jacket.
“Magnus,” came Erin’s voice through his combadge, “I’ve shut down the distress call.”
“Erin, get back to the passenger section now!” Magnus called. “We’ve got a severely injured man back here!”
“I’m on my way, Magnus,” said Erin.
Erin entered the passenger compartment mere seconds later. “Oh, God,” she said when she saw the extent of his injuries.
Magnus moved away from the Romulan, letting Erin scan him. “Can you do anything for him?” he asked.
“I’m not sure,” Erin said. “His injuries are bad, and they’ve been untreated for several days.”
The Romulan moved, his head lifted up, and he looked at them through tortured eyes. He tried to raise his arm, but it lifted only a few centimeters before falling back to his lap. “Please,” he said, his voice slurred with hours of pain, “make it stop.”
Magnus knelt down next to him. “It’s okay,” he said. “We’re treating your injuries.”
“Gone,” the Romulan muttered, looking off into a distance only he could see. “I saw… I saw it all. I saw them all go…” He tried to lift himself out of his seat, but once again, he failed.
“Magnus,” said Erin as she pulled a hypospray out of her medkit. “Keep him still. I can’t help him if he’s struggling.”
Magnus put a gently restraining hand on the Romulan’s shoulder. “Please, sir,” he said. “Try to keep still.”
The man fixed Magnus with a stare that seemed to look straight through him. “They must be stopped,” he said.
“Magnus, keep him still!”
The Romulan was pushing against Magnus’s hand, trying to get up. “They came… and… and…”
Erin pressed the hypo against his neck, and the man fell back into the chair.
“Is he going to be alright?” Magnus asked.
Erin looked up at him. “I’m not sure. His physiology is similar to the Vulcans, and that should make treating him a lot easier.” She picked the dermal regenerator from the medkit and passed it over the deep gash on his head. “The trianoline is helping the injury on his head, but his cardio-pulmonary system isn’t responding well. I’ll have to treat him on the Raven.”
“Is he stable enough to move him back to the ship?” asked Magnus.
“For the moment he is,” Erin said. “Let’s get the stretcher assembled.”
*
The Romulan lay on the biobed in the Raven’s sickbay, his eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face. Erin stood over him, a medical tricorder in her hand. She held the tricorder’s sensor over him. His nervous system had been treated with the neural regenerator and the broken bone in his arm had been set and healed.
Erin folded the tricorder and put it in her pocket, then turned to Magnus, who was standing a few meters away. “I’ve repaired the injury to his head,” she said. “But the damage to the cardio-pulmonary system is too great. All we can really do now is make him comfortable. I thought I would have been able to treat him as a Vulcan, but there are differences in the blood chemistry that make it tricky.”
“You did the best you could, Erin,” Magnus said.
Erin nodded. “I know,” she said quietly.
“Can he talk?”
“Yes,” Erin said. “But he’s in a bad condition, so only a few minutes.”
Magnus nodded. “Alright.”
Erin picked up a hypospray and pressed it against the Romulan’s neck. Slowly, the Romulan began to move. He opened his eyes.
“Humans!” he gasped when he saw them. “Where…?”
Erin placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay,” she said. “You’re on the Federation Starship Raven.”
“We answered your distress call,” Magnus said. “We’re here to help.”
“You detected the distress call?” he gasped. “What are you doing in Romulan space?”
Magnus sighed. “It appears we have a common enemy, my friend,” he said.
The Romulan looked at Magnus tiredly for a moment before speaking. “They attacked the Federation too?”
Erin nodded. “Yes,” she said. “We are on a mission to find them.”
“We were hoping you could give us some information about what happened here,” said Magnus.
Erin leaned over close to Magnus. “Be easy on him,” she whispered.
The Romulan struggled to lift himself up on his elbows, but he was too weak, and he fell back to the bed. He moaned with pain. Erin moved forward with a hypo, but the Romulan shook his head and held his arm up to stop her. “I’ll be okay for a little while,” he said. “We Romulans are sturdy folk.” He sighed, the sigh of someone who had journeyed into the mouth of hell and had come through the affair with nightmarish souvenirs of the experience. “They came without warning,” he said quietly. “Their ship was so big, we could see it from the ground. Borg, they called themselves. From what I heard, they beamed down into the heart of our homes and we didn’t stand a chance against them.”
“You weren’t there?” Erin asked.
“I had gone to a place I like,” he said. “It’s a valley a few hundred kilometers north of here. I was there when I detected the distress call from our outpost. I came back as quickly as I could, but I was too late. By the time I got there, it was too late. I could see the ground lifting up, and the people screaming, but I couldn’t help them. The enemy had… I don’t know… There was a glow, green, a blood green, and it was everywhere…” He lifted a trembling hand to his face, wiping away the tears forming in his eyes.
“Was it a tractor beam?” Erin asked quietly.
The Romulan breathed deeply, and released it. The breath rattled in his chest. “I don’t know,” he said. “But whatever it was, it hit my shuttle, or I was caught in its effects. It interrupted my engines, and I crashed. I must have been unconscious for at least a day, and when I awoke the distress beacon was damaged. I tried repairing it, but I was weak, and injured, and it took I think two or three days.”
The Romulan moaned again, and Erin moved forward. “Magnus, let him rest now,” she said. She pressed the hypo against the injured man’s neck, and his eyes closed.
“I think I’ll head back to the shuttle,” Magnus said, heading for the door. “The information on the Borg tractor beam may be in the shuttle’s computer banks.”
“Okay,” Erin said, but there was something distant in her voice.
“Erin, are you alright?” asked Magnus. He went back to her and put his hands on her shoulders.
“I’ll be fine,” she said. “I just wish there was more I can do for that man than just sit here and watch him die.”
*
Magnus hefted the portable computer access terminal up on his shoulder as he climbed the ladder on the Raven’s forward landing leg. The airlock cycled, opening the doors and letting him into the ship. The interior doors opened, and Erin was standing there.
“He died, Magnus,” she said. “About five minutes ago.”
Magnus sighed. “We should get ready to leave,” he said.
“What about his body?” asked Erin.
Magnus thought for a moment. “I’ll take him back to the shuttle,” he said. “We should let the Romulans bury him, or whatever they do.”
Erin nodded. “I agree. Did you get what you wanted?”
“Yeah,” said Magnus. “As well as that, I found data on Romulan ship activity in this sector.”
“It should come in handy,” said Erin.
“I hope so,” said Magnus. “I’ll download the data into the main computer. But first, let’s get out of here.”
Magnus took the Romulan back to the shuttle, and a few hours later, they had left the Delorea system far behind.
Yes just RL hectic plus have own stories to write, edit and post. Will get back to this later in the week. Big post. Though, quickly will say this: the Hansens really are awful parents, I mean they just left Annika when they set off to rescue the Romulan!
Oh I know she was safe on the Raven and it was better than being traipzed out looking for the Romulan. Just with the possible danger that other Romulans might come, etc. But I suppose rock and a hard place decision.
They would have been notified by the Raven's computer if the ship's sensors detected any Romulans approaching.
Anyway, I'll post the next chapter soon. You're probably going to hate it, it's another confrontation between the Romulan cruisers we saw before and the Raven. Although it starts with something interesting....
Anyway, I'll post the next chapter soon. You're probably going to hate it, it's another confrontation between the Romulan cruisers we saw before and the Raven. Although it starts with something interesting....
Oh just because it's another confrontation does not mean I'll hate it. I like seeing how the Hansens handle these situations being in a very vulnerable position. I know you're cornered by canon by having Annika along. So for that I know to check certain parental concerns/practicalities at the door.
Confrontation
When President Valenski arrived in her office, the first thing she saw was the blinking indicator of an incoming transmission. She tapped the panel on her desk, and the screen on the wall came on. On it appeared the face of the Romulan Praetor. “Good morning, Madam President.”
Valenski leaned back and took a deep breath. She’d been expecting this communication ever since Jameson had informed her of the Hansen’s apparent defection. At least she’d had time to prepare exactly what she was going to say. “Good morning, Praetor.”
“I’ve received some disturbing news,” said the Romulan. “It seems that a vessel has violated Romulan space, destroyed a relay station, and has stolen information from the databanks of one of our shuttlecraft.”
“That’s terrible,” said Valenski with false concern. “Is there anything the Federation can do to assist the Romulan Star Empire?”
The Romulan gave Valenski a falsely appreciative look. “Well yes, actually,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Perhaps you could clarify something.”
“Of course,” said Valenski.
“Our scans of the vessel indicate that it was a Federation ship.”
Valenski was silent for a short moment. “Indeed.”
“An Armstrong class vessel, to be exact.”
“Praetor,” said Valenski, moving forward, her chair creaking, “I can assure you that the Federation has not permitted any of our starships to violate Romulan space.”
“Our scans are accurate. It was an Armstrong class ship.”
Valenski smiled, but not too much. “Praetor,” she said, “the Armstrong class is merely a science vessel. Surely you aren’t suggesting…”
The Praetor leaned forwards, his hands on the table before him. “It was equipped with enhanced phasers, photon torpedoes and some kind of cloaking device.”
“Then it couldn’t have been one of ours,” said Valenski, leaning back again and letting her slight smile grow a little wider. “Federation ships aren’t equipped with cloaks, as the Romulan Star Empire is fully aware. And we have no science ships equipped with the weapons you’ve described.”
The Praetor was silent for a moment. “Perhaps,” he said thoughtfully, “the vessel has been stolen, or is in the hands of renegades…”
Valenski smiled. She’d known the Praetor would give her a way out, to admit that it was a Federation ship without necessarily drawing the Federation into the situation. She also knew that the Praetor would never buy it. It was a feeble excuse; the Praetor was only toying with her, trying to catch her out. She wouldn’t be deceived by it. “All of the Federation’s Armstrong class ships are on assignment,” said Valenski, “or otherwise in dock undergoing repairs. There are none in a position to be stolen. Besides, on the off chance that terrorists have stolen one of our vessels, they would have had to refit it in a private location and from private funds to match the ship you’ve described. We have ways of finding out things like that, and I can assure you that it hasn’t happened. Besides, what reason could anyone in the Federation have to attack the Romulan Star Empire after the two of us have had no official contact in half a century? And in a scientific research vessel, no less?”
The Praetor sighed with irritation. “The fact remains that a Federation starship has crossed our borders. We cannot tolerate that, and we will defend ourselves.”
Valenski pressed her palms together, her fingertips to her mouth. “Praetor,” she said, “I’ve seen no proof that the Federation is involved. Of course, the Romulan Star Empire has every right to defend its borders, but the Federation has no wish to become involved in this incident. Whoever is responsible for these attacks is certainly not part of the Federation, nor are they acting on our behalf. This has absolutely nothing to do with us. Good day, Praetor.”
She closed the channel, leaned forward, and sighed heavily.
*
When President Valenski arrived in her office, the first thing she saw was the blinking indicator of an incoming transmission. She tapped the panel on her desk, and the screen on the wall came on. On it appeared the face of the Romulan Praetor. “Good morning, Madam President.”
Valenski leaned back and took a deep breath. She’d been expecting this communication ever since Jameson had informed her of the Hansen’s apparent defection. At least she’d had time to prepare exactly what she was going to say. “Good morning, Praetor.”
“I’ve received some disturbing news,” said the Romulan. “It seems that a vessel has violated Romulan space, destroyed a relay station, and has stolen information from the databanks of one of our shuttlecraft.”
“That’s terrible,” said Valenski with false concern. “Is there anything the Federation can do to assist the Romulan Star Empire?”
The Romulan gave Valenski a falsely appreciative look. “Well yes, actually,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Perhaps you could clarify something.”
“Of course,” said Valenski.
“Our scans of the vessel indicate that it was a Federation ship.”
Valenski was silent for a short moment. “Indeed.”
“An Armstrong class vessel, to be exact.”
“Praetor,” said Valenski, moving forward, her chair creaking, “I can assure you that the Federation has not permitted any of our starships to violate Romulan space.”
“Our scans are accurate. It was an Armstrong class ship.”
Valenski smiled, but not too much. “Praetor,” she said, “the Armstrong class is merely a science vessel. Surely you aren’t suggesting…”
The Praetor leaned forwards, his hands on the table before him. “It was equipped with enhanced phasers, photon torpedoes and some kind of cloaking device.”
“Then it couldn’t have been one of ours,” said Valenski, leaning back again and letting her slight smile grow a little wider. “Federation ships aren’t equipped with cloaks, as the Romulan Star Empire is fully aware. And we have no science ships equipped with the weapons you’ve described.”
The Praetor was silent for a moment. “Perhaps,” he said thoughtfully, “the vessel has been stolen, or is in the hands of renegades…”
Valenski smiled. She’d known the Praetor would give her a way out, to admit that it was a Federation ship without necessarily drawing the Federation into the situation. She also knew that the Praetor would never buy it. It was a feeble excuse; the Praetor was only toying with her, trying to catch her out. She wouldn’t be deceived by it. “All of the Federation’s Armstrong class ships are on assignment,” said Valenski, “or otherwise in dock undergoing repairs. There are none in a position to be stolen. Besides, on the off chance that terrorists have stolen one of our vessels, they would have had to refit it in a private location and from private funds to match the ship you’ve described. We have ways of finding out things like that, and I can assure you that it hasn’t happened. Besides, what reason could anyone in the Federation have to attack the Romulan Star Empire after the two of us have had no official contact in half a century? And in a scientific research vessel, no less?”
The Praetor sighed with irritation. “The fact remains that a Federation starship has crossed our borders. We cannot tolerate that, and we will defend ourselves.”
Valenski pressed her palms together, her fingertips to her mouth. “Praetor,” she said, “I’ve seen no proof that the Federation is involved. Of course, the Romulan Star Empire has every right to defend its borders, but the Federation has no wish to become involved in this incident. Whoever is responsible for these attacks is certainly not part of the Federation, nor are they acting on our behalf. This has absolutely nothing to do with us. Good day, Praetor.”
She closed the channel, leaned forward, and sighed heavily.
*
A small indicator on the helm console started flashing, accompanied by a soft beeping. Erin turned to check it.
“Magnus, I’ve got a reading.”
She looked up from the helm, fixing her husband with a look of anticipation. Magnus, who had been studying the readouts displayed at the science station and looking for traces of the Borg, was snapped back to reality by the anticipation in her voice. The console continued to display the information Magnus had requested, but it was now totally ignored.
“Is it the Borg?” he asked. He stood and walked over to the helm. Erin brought up a tactical display of her readouts on the main viewer. The source of the reading was small, barely big enough to be noticeable, but it was enough to get Erin’s attention.
“Unknown,” said Erin. “It’s on the edge of sensor range. It could be the Borg, or it might not.” She shook her head. “It could be anything. It might just be a sensor echo from that star system up ahead.”
“Let me see,” said Magnus. He sat down beside his wife and brought up a detailed scan of that region. “It’s coming from the moons of that gas giant.”
“Sensors indicate rich deposits of polytrinic ore,” said Erin. “The Borg use polytrinic alloys. If it is the Borg, they might be extracting the ore.”
Magnus looked at her. “Do you think the Borg would mine like that?” he asked. “It doesn’t seem like their style.”
“They might do it in some circumstances,” said Erin. “The inhabitants of Kaldra IV never eat fish, but if there’s a solar eclipse, they fish like mad, then eat nothing but the fish. Then, after a week, whatever they haven’t eaten is thrown out. The Borg might do something similar.”
“True,” said Magnus. “You’re right here. It might not be the Borg, but we should take a look.”
Erin turned back to the helm and her fingers danced lightly over the panel. “Setting a course,” she said as she tapped the course into the console. The Raven banked gracefully and flew towards the moons.
Magnus went back to the science station. He tapped the controls and sent a sensor beam to examine the planet. “Gas giant, class-J, type 9 ring system , with over seventeen moons,” he reported. “With sensor readings this weak, we’ll be lucky to find anything. If there’s anything there. And with this many moons, we could be searching for ages.”
“Whatever it is, we’ll be there in a few minutes,” said Erin. “It’s less than half a million kilometers.”
“I’ll take us to yellow alert,” said Magnus. “The multi-adaptive shielding is online, the modified emitters are at one hundred percent.”
Erin looked at him. “Do you really think that’s necessary?” she asked. “The sensor data are very vague.”
“I don’t want to take any chances,” Magnus said. “We’ll proceed on the assumption that it is the Borg.”
“Agreed,” said Erin.
“I’m getting some definite readings from the object now,” Magnus said, his eyes fixed to the science readouts. “It’s there, no doubt. A lot of the other data are still jumbled, but I think it’s a space craft.” He looked over to Erin.
“But what sort?” she said.
“I can’t tell,” said Magnus. “I can’t even determine the size of it.”
“We’re approaching the planet,” said Erin. The Raven slowed and entered a standard orbit. “The readings are definitely coming from the moons. The second, if I’m not mistaken.” The display suddenly went blank. “It’s gone. No sensor readings at all now. Even what we had before has disappeared.” She turned to look at him. “There’s nothing here.”
“There must be something,” said Magnus.
“The sensors still say nothing,” said Erin, and then the sudden realisation came to her. “Shit, the Romulans.”
“Set a course back the way we came and take us back to our original heading,” said Magnus, running past Erin back to the tactical station.
A shimmer on the viewscreen behind her, and a pair of dark green Romulan ships materialized out of nowhere.
“Red alert!” said Magnus. “Erin, take evasive!”
Erin spun back to the helm and laid in the course as the bridge was washed in red light. The Raven turned and ran, trying to shake its pursuers with desperate evasive manoeuvres.
“We’ve got two D’Kalax class warbirds on our tail,” said Magnus, running across to the tactical station. “The Venator and the Eversor again. They’re hailing us. I’m putting them on.”
“Federation vessel,” came the voice of the Romulan Commander. “This is the Imperial Romulan Warbird Venator. Disengage your engines and prepared to be boarded. If you surrender now you will not be executed. You will not receive any further warnings.”
Magnus turned to Erin. “Like hell,” he said. “They’re charging weapons. Evasive pattern delta four seven.”
“Acknowledged,” said Erin. The Raven slid sideways, neatly dodging a blast from the Venator’s disrupter banks. Erin turned the Raven and went to full impulse. The starship shot away from the Romulans, but the two warbirds followed hot on the Raven’s exhaust.
“It’s not working, Magnus!” said Erin. “I can’t lose them!”
“Keep it up, Erin,” said Magnus. “They’re charging their torpedo launchers.”
Erin entered another sequence of evasive manoeuvres. “Magnus,” she said, “I won’t be able to evade a torpedo, not with the guidance systems they have.”
“I’ll try to disable their weapons systems,” said Magnus. “Firing phasers.”
A thin beam lanced out from the Raven’s aft phaser emitter. It sliced cleanly through space and impacted on the torpedo launcher on the bow of the Venator.
“The Venator’s torpedo launcher is offline,” reported Magnus. “The other ship is still fully armed. I’m locking target…”
But it was too late. A plasma torpedo burst forth from the Eversor’s forward section and arced through space towards the Raven.
“Evasive!” shouted Magnus.
“Too late!” screamed Erin.
“Brace for impact!”
The torpedo slammed into the Raven’s tail section, and the tiny ship was tossed, throwing them hard against the console. Panels on the bridge exploded into sparks and the red alert klaxon screamed in their ears. The lighting flickered for a few moments, then struggled to stabilize.
“Damage report!” called Magnus as he fought to steady himself against the bucking ship.
“Aft shields are down,” said Erin. “Impulse is at fifty seven percent, and the inertial dampers aren’t much better.”
The sound of crying came from down the corridor. “Oh, no,” said Magnus as he stood. “Erin, get us to that ring system,” he said. “We can hide there for a while, make repairs.” Magnus turned and called down the corridor, “I’ll be there in a minute, Annika!”
“Magnus, it’ll be a few minutes before we get to the rings,” said Erin.
“We’ll never make it like this,” said Magnus from the tactical station. “We’ve got to slow them down, or at least disable their torpedo launchers. Erin, you concentrate on flying the ship. Just get us into the rings. The dust particles should cloud the Romulan’s sensors, as well as disable their shields and cloaking device.”
“It’ll do the same to us too, Magnus,” said Erin quietly.
“Then we’ll be on equal footing,” Magnus replied. “I’m rerouting power from non essential systems to the inertial dampening field. Hopefully that’ll give us a bit more manoeuvring room.”
The Raven approached the turbulent planet, silhouetted dark against the green atmosphere. The tiny ship banked down towards the rings that rotated slowly in orbit.
“We’re entering the rings,” Erin reported and the Raven lurched; its artificial gravity flexed, trembled, and finally steadied. “Shields are losing strength, and sensors are on the fritz again. Estimating two minutes until shields overload and we begin taking hull damage.” She paused only long enough to enter commands into the helm. “I’m reducing speed.”
“The inertial dampening system is back on line.”
The Raven continued into the rings around the gas giant. Normally such a maneuver would be undertaken in a cautious manner, but now, the Raven ploughed in. The rings were made up of an infinite number of particles, ranging in size from the microscopic to mountain-sized. The navigational deflectors built into the Raven’s nose struggled to clear the dust and rocks from the ship’s flight path, and Erin’s practiced hand steered the Raven away from the larger asteroids.
“We can’t keep up like this for long,” said Erin. “Shields are showing strain.”
“Hold her together till I get back, Erin,” said Magnus. “I’m going to check on Annika.”
*
The door to the briefing room hissed open as Magnus approached. He waited a few moments at the door while his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
“Papa?” came Annika’s voice from the shadows.
“I’m here, puppet,” Magnus said quietly.
Annika sat up in her bed. Magnus could see redness around Annika’s eyes; she had been crying, but she had stopped. “Is it the Borgs?”
“No,” he said. “It’s Romulans, but we’re okay now.”
Annika settled back down into her bed. “Are the Romulans going to find us?” she asked quietly.
Magnus leaned over her and kissed her forehead. “No, they aren’t going to find us,” he said. “Not if I can help it. We’re hiding in a ring system, and their sensors won’t be able to find us in here.”
“What do they want?”
“Well, they don’t want us to be here,” said Magnus. “But we have to, because we think the Borg came through here.”
“Did the Romulans chase the Borg too?”
“I don’t know, muffin,” said Magnus. “Go back to sleep, honey. Mummy and I have work to do.”
*
“How’s it going?” asked Magnus as he stepped back onto the bridge.
“There’s no sign of the Romulans,” said Erin. “I’ve been scanning for any metallic objects. So far, nothing.”
“Even if we find them, we’ll have problems,” said Magnus. “In these rings, torpedo guidance won’t work. I’m going to have to use a class three probe, take out the chemical analysis sensors and replace them with an antimatter warhead.”
“How long will it take?” asked Erin. “Those Romulans are going to find us sooner or later.”
“Five minutes to remove the sensors, maybe seven minutes to hook up the warhead, another five to complete the connections,” said Magnus. “About twenty minutes.”
“Well then I’ll have to rely on my evasive maneuvers if they show up before you’re done.”
“Nothing too fancy though,” said Magnus. “It’ll be delicate work. I can’t do it if you shake things up.”
“No promises, Magnus,” said Erin.
Magnus headed for the corridor, leaving Erin alone on the bridge.
*
“Magnus, I’ve got a reading.”
She looked up from the helm, fixing her husband with a look of anticipation. Magnus, who had been studying the readouts displayed at the science station and looking for traces of the Borg, was snapped back to reality by the anticipation in her voice. The console continued to display the information Magnus had requested, but it was now totally ignored.
“Is it the Borg?” he asked. He stood and walked over to the helm. Erin brought up a tactical display of her readouts on the main viewer. The source of the reading was small, barely big enough to be noticeable, but it was enough to get Erin’s attention.
“Unknown,” said Erin. “It’s on the edge of sensor range. It could be the Borg, or it might not.” She shook her head. “It could be anything. It might just be a sensor echo from that star system up ahead.”
“Let me see,” said Magnus. He sat down beside his wife and brought up a detailed scan of that region. “It’s coming from the moons of that gas giant.”
“Sensors indicate rich deposits of polytrinic ore,” said Erin. “The Borg use polytrinic alloys. If it is the Borg, they might be extracting the ore.”
Magnus looked at her. “Do you think the Borg would mine like that?” he asked. “It doesn’t seem like their style.”
“They might do it in some circumstances,” said Erin. “The inhabitants of Kaldra IV never eat fish, but if there’s a solar eclipse, they fish like mad, then eat nothing but the fish. Then, after a week, whatever they haven’t eaten is thrown out. The Borg might do something similar.”
“True,” said Magnus. “You’re right here. It might not be the Borg, but we should take a look.”
Erin turned back to the helm and her fingers danced lightly over the panel. “Setting a course,” she said as she tapped the course into the console. The Raven banked gracefully and flew towards the moons.
Magnus went back to the science station. He tapped the controls and sent a sensor beam to examine the planet. “Gas giant, class-J, type 9 ring system , with over seventeen moons,” he reported. “With sensor readings this weak, we’ll be lucky to find anything. If there’s anything there. And with this many moons, we could be searching for ages.”
“Whatever it is, we’ll be there in a few minutes,” said Erin. “It’s less than half a million kilometers.”
“I’ll take us to yellow alert,” said Magnus. “The multi-adaptive shielding is online, the modified emitters are at one hundred percent.”
Erin looked at him. “Do you really think that’s necessary?” she asked. “The sensor data are very vague.”
“I don’t want to take any chances,” Magnus said. “We’ll proceed on the assumption that it is the Borg.”
“Agreed,” said Erin.
“I’m getting some definite readings from the object now,” Magnus said, his eyes fixed to the science readouts. “It’s there, no doubt. A lot of the other data are still jumbled, but I think it’s a space craft.” He looked over to Erin.
“But what sort?” she said.
“I can’t tell,” said Magnus. “I can’t even determine the size of it.”
“We’re approaching the planet,” said Erin. The Raven slowed and entered a standard orbit. “The readings are definitely coming from the moons. The second, if I’m not mistaken.” The display suddenly went blank. “It’s gone. No sensor readings at all now. Even what we had before has disappeared.” She turned to look at him. “There’s nothing here.”
“There must be something,” said Magnus.
“The sensors still say nothing,” said Erin, and then the sudden realisation came to her. “Shit, the Romulans.”
“Set a course back the way we came and take us back to our original heading,” said Magnus, running past Erin back to the tactical station.
A shimmer on the viewscreen behind her, and a pair of dark green Romulan ships materialized out of nowhere.
“Red alert!” said Magnus. “Erin, take evasive!”
Erin spun back to the helm and laid in the course as the bridge was washed in red light. The Raven turned and ran, trying to shake its pursuers with desperate evasive manoeuvres.
“We’ve got two D’Kalax class warbirds on our tail,” said Magnus, running across to the tactical station. “The Venator and the Eversor again. They’re hailing us. I’m putting them on.”
“Federation vessel,” came the voice of the Romulan Commander. “This is the Imperial Romulan Warbird Venator. Disengage your engines and prepared to be boarded. If you surrender now you will not be executed. You will not receive any further warnings.”
Magnus turned to Erin. “Like hell,” he said. “They’re charging weapons. Evasive pattern delta four seven.”
“Acknowledged,” said Erin. The Raven slid sideways, neatly dodging a blast from the Venator’s disrupter banks. Erin turned the Raven and went to full impulse. The starship shot away from the Romulans, but the two warbirds followed hot on the Raven’s exhaust.
“It’s not working, Magnus!” said Erin. “I can’t lose them!”
“Keep it up, Erin,” said Magnus. “They’re charging their torpedo launchers.”
Erin entered another sequence of evasive manoeuvres. “Magnus,” she said, “I won’t be able to evade a torpedo, not with the guidance systems they have.”
“I’ll try to disable their weapons systems,” said Magnus. “Firing phasers.”
A thin beam lanced out from the Raven’s aft phaser emitter. It sliced cleanly through space and impacted on the torpedo launcher on the bow of the Venator.
“The Venator’s torpedo launcher is offline,” reported Magnus. “The other ship is still fully armed. I’m locking target…”
But it was too late. A plasma torpedo burst forth from the Eversor’s forward section and arced through space towards the Raven.
“Evasive!” shouted Magnus.
“Too late!” screamed Erin.
“Brace for impact!”
The torpedo slammed into the Raven’s tail section, and the tiny ship was tossed, throwing them hard against the console. Panels on the bridge exploded into sparks and the red alert klaxon screamed in their ears. The lighting flickered for a few moments, then struggled to stabilize.
“Damage report!” called Magnus as he fought to steady himself against the bucking ship.
“Aft shields are down,” said Erin. “Impulse is at fifty seven percent, and the inertial dampers aren’t much better.”
The sound of crying came from down the corridor. “Oh, no,” said Magnus as he stood. “Erin, get us to that ring system,” he said. “We can hide there for a while, make repairs.” Magnus turned and called down the corridor, “I’ll be there in a minute, Annika!”
“Magnus, it’ll be a few minutes before we get to the rings,” said Erin.
“We’ll never make it like this,” said Magnus from the tactical station. “We’ve got to slow them down, or at least disable their torpedo launchers. Erin, you concentrate on flying the ship. Just get us into the rings. The dust particles should cloud the Romulan’s sensors, as well as disable their shields and cloaking device.”
“It’ll do the same to us too, Magnus,” said Erin quietly.
“Then we’ll be on equal footing,” Magnus replied. “I’m rerouting power from non essential systems to the inertial dampening field. Hopefully that’ll give us a bit more manoeuvring room.”
The Raven approached the turbulent planet, silhouetted dark against the green atmosphere. The tiny ship banked down towards the rings that rotated slowly in orbit.
“We’re entering the rings,” Erin reported and the Raven lurched; its artificial gravity flexed, trembled, and finally steadied. “Shields are losing strength, and sensors are on the fritz again. Estimating two minutes until shields overload and we begin taking hull damage.” She paused only long enough to enter commands into the helm. “I’m reducing speed.”
“The inertial dampening system is back on line.”
The Raven continued into the rings around the gas giant. Normally such a maneuver would be undertaken in a cautious manner, but now, the Raven ploughed in. The rings were made up of an infinite number of particles, ranging in size from the microscopic to mountain-sized. The navigational deflectors built into the Raven’s nose struggled to clear the dust and rocks from the ship’s flight path, and Erin’s practiced hand steered the Raven away from the larger asteroids.
“We can’t keep up like this for long,” said Erin. “Shields are showing strain.”
“Hold her together till I get back, Erin,” said Magnus. “I’m going to check on Annika.”
*
The door to the briefing room hissed open as Magnus approached. He waited a few moments at the door while his eyes adjusted to the darkness.
“Papa?” came Annika’s voice from the shadows.
“I’m here, puppet,” Magnus said quietly.
Annika sat up in her bed. Magnus could see redness around Annika’s eyes; she had been crying, but she had stopped. “Is it the Borgs?”
“No,” he said. “It’s Romulans, but we’re okay now.”
Annika settled back down into her bed. “Are the Romulans going to find us?” she asked quietly.
Magnus leaned over her and kissed her forehead. “No, they aren’t going to find us,” he said. “Not if I can help it. We’re hiding in a ring system, and their sensors won’t be able to find us in here.”
“What do they want?”
“Well, they don’t want us to be here,” said Magnus. “But we have to, because we think the Borg came through here.”
“Did the Romulans chase the Borg too?”
“I don’t know, muffin,” said Magnus. “Go back to sleep, honey. Mummy and I have work to do.”
*
“How’s it going?” asked Magnus as he stepped back onto the bridge.
“There’s no sign of the Romulans,” said Erin. “I’ve been scanning for any metallic objects. So far, nothing.”
“Even if we find them, we’ll have problems,” said Magnus. “In these rings, torpedo guidance won’t work. I’m going to have to use a class three probe, take out the chemical analysis sensors and replace them with an antimatter warhead.”
“How long will it take?” asked Erin. “Those Romulans are going to find us sooner or later.”
“Five minutes to remove the sensors, maybe seven minutes to hook up the warhead, another five to complete the connections,” said Magnus. “About twenty minutes.”
“Well then I’ll have to rely on my evasive maneuvers if they show up before you’re done.”
“Nothing too fancy though,” said Magnus. “It’ll be delicate work. I can’t do it if you shake things up.”
“No promises, Magnus,” said Erin.
Magnus headed for the corridor, leaving Erin alone on the bridge.
*
Magnus climbed into the torpedo bay and crawled forward towards the probes. He could feel the tremors in the ship as the shields failed and the friction increased. He trusted Erin’s piloting skills, but she would have her hands full trying to keep the Raven going as well as having one eye constantly on the tactical readouts.
But now was not the time to worry about such things. If he kept thinking about how Erin was going to manage to perform her responsibilities, he’d never be able to perform his.
*
On the bridge, Erin forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. If her thoughts became sidetracked when the Romulans showed up, and she knew they would, the Raven would be lost.
She kept her eyes on the sensor display in front of her. She couldn’t look at the viewer; it would just disorient her, and that was the last thing she needed. A split second of indecision and the Raven wouldn’t need a Romulan torpedo to be scattered all over space. A collision with an asteroid would do that just as well as any weapon.
“How’s it going Magnus?” she said.
Her husband’s voice came over the comline. “I need a few more minutes down here. Any sign of the Romulans?”
“None yet,” said Erin. “I’m scanning for metallic objects, but I’m getting a lot of interference from all the dust particles and boulders.”
“Keep your eyes open,” said Magnus. “I’m almost done, and I’ll be there in just a minute.”
A light on the helm console came on and an alarm began to call for attention. “Magnus, hurry up,” said Erin. “I’m reading a metallic object approaching, five thousand kilometers.”
“Romulan?”
“Maybe,” said Erin. “Probably.”
“I’ll be right up, Erin,” said Magnus. “Go to grey mode, shut down all non-essential systems.”
The alarm suddenly changed; it began screeching for attention. “Magnus, they’ve found us! Active subspace scan, origin 351 by 290! I’m also reading a second ship coming in as well. The first ship will intercept in forty seconds, the second, twenty seconds after that.”
“I’m done with the probe,” came Magnus’s voice. “I’m on my way back to the bridge.”
“Hurry, Magnus,” said Erin. “They’re almost on top of us.”
Magnus came onto the bridge and went straight to the tactical station. “I’m loading the probe into the launch tube,” said Magnus. “Erin set a course for the asteroid off to starboard, heading 065 by 012. Hopefully the blast will disable their engines and they won’t be able to change course in time to avoid the asteroid.”
Erin turned to look at him. “Do you really think that will work?”
Magnus smiled at her. “Can’t hurt, right?”
Erin smiled back, then turned to the helm and set a course towards the mountain of ice.
“The Romulans are closing,” she said. “They’re within two thousand kilometers.”
“I’m launching the probe,” said Magnus. He tapped the panel, and the probe burst out of the Raven’s torpedo launcher. It dropped under the starship and then fell back towards the Venator and Eversor, detonating between the two warbirds.
The blast spread out, the shockwave advancing on the three ships. The two Romulan vessels took the brunt of the explosion, and the Eversor’s engines overloaded. Disabled, the D’Kalax class ship hurtled toward the asteroid and destruction. The Venator fared slightly better. The engines came close to overloading, but remained functional at a critically reduced level. Almost crippled, the Venator continued the chase, leaving its sister ship to its fate.
“We’ve done it!” called Erin. “The Eversor’s done for, and the Venator is on the verge of collapse.”
“We’re not much better off,” said Magnus. “Our engines took a pounding, our shields emitters are severely damaged, and our targeting systems are out. We’ll have to aim phasers manually, and we’ve got at least a week of repairs before we’re fully spaceworthy again.”
The Venator struggled to stop its tumble through space. Relying mainly on its thrusters, it steadied itself and gradually started to close the gap between it and the Federation ship.
With the asteroid approaching fast, the Raven struggled to pull up. Its shadow washed low over the frozen landscape, and the Raven pulled away, barely missing the roughly contoured surface.
The Eversor had actually managed to re-initialise its thrusters, and it slowly started to pull up. However, it wasn’t enough to avoid the surface. The wing of the mighty warbird clipped an icy crag, and the Eversor was spun around, all control totally lost. Spinning wildly, the Eversor slammed into the ground and burst apart, the explosion burning a large hole in the ice. The engine core collapsed under the incredible pressure, and the artificial singularity nestled inside it bared its horrendous darkness to the outside universe. Freed from its confines, it started to slowly eat away at the asteroid, its massive gravity tearing huge chunks of rock and ice from the terrain .
The Raven was battered by gas and small particles slamming themselves against the starship’s shields. Great boulders and mountains tumbled towards them, pulled by the gravity of the singularity behind them, and the ship shook terribly. Erin’s hands were a blur over the helm console, ducking and weaving the Raven around larger fragments.
The Venator narrowly missed one of those mountain-sized projectiles; its impulse engines straining against the gravity of the miniscule black hole that had been released from the other warbird. Slowly, ever so slowly, the Venator pulled away and followed the Raven.
“The Eversor was destroyed, but the Venator made it,” said Magnus, looking up from the tactical station as both ships emerged from the ring system, battered and scathed. “Their systems are damaged, but not as seriously as ours. They’ve still got us out-maneuvered and out-gunned, and they’ll intercept in a few minutes. We won’t be able to stop them boarding us.”
“Any ideas?” asked Erin, turning to face him.
“I was hoping you did,” said Magnus.
“You don’t happen to have another loaded probe, do you?”
“Nope,” said Magnus. “Didn’t have time, and I was hoping that we’d only need the one.” He turned back to his station. “It may be possible to eject the warp core and use it as a mine,” he suggested, but the tone of his voice told Erin that he didn’t like the idea. “If I attach a proximity detonator…”
Erin suddenly sat up straight at the helm, her body posture indicating that she had just thought of a better idea.
“Magnus, there is that gas giant,” she said. “If we take the Raven into its atmosphere, we can hide from the Romulans. It might be possible to ambush them, or at least make some repairs.”
“Well, I like it better than my idea,” said Magnus. “Make it so.”
Erin turned the ship and urged it into the upper layers of the planet. The Raven shook gently, as if protesting this course of action, but grudgingly obeyed orders. It settled down into the turbulent atmosphere, followed moments later by the Venator.
Magnus left the piloting to his wife, not talking for fear of distracting her. Erin pulled the Raven into a hard turn to avoid detection by the Romulan. The Venator would be as blind as the Raven was; the plethora of particles, be it dust in the rings or gas in the atmosphere, created static that wreaked havoc with the sensors.
The Raven lurched as the ship drifted into a layer of the atmosphere with extreme wind speeds. Erin struggled to hold the Raven steady in the cross current.
“The torpedo launchers have just gone offline,” said Magnus. “I’m re-routing power to the phasers.”
“I’m detecting something,” said Erin. “Power readings off to port, sporadic. It might be an impulse turn.”
The Raven turned slowly, cautious under Erin’s fingers. She took the ship towards the upper reaches of the atmosphere where the interference was less.
“Phasers are coming online,” reported Magnus. “I can take over sensors now if you want.”
“Thanks,” said Erin.
Magnus activated the sensor readout on his station. “I’m picking up that energy signature,” he said. “It’s the Romulans. Bring us about on course 313 mark 016. I’m targeting their engines. In range in… twenty seconds.”
“I’ll bring us in slow,” said Erin. “I don’t want to be detected before we can fire.”
The Raven closed on her target, creeping up behind.
“We’re coming within range,” said Magnus. With the sensors giving only intermittent data, he was struggling to get a manual lock. He delicately aimed the phasers to match the location on the Romulan cruiser the computer indicated was the engine core. He strained to see through the static that clouded the display.
“Hold your course, Erin…”
And then the roiling atmosphere of the gas giant fell away from the Raven as though it were water tumbling off the back of a breaching whale. Ahead of them, on the main viewscreen, lay the Romulan ship, blind to the threat approaching it.
“There it is!” called Erin. “Dead ahead, range two hundred fifty kilometers!”
“Firing phasers!” Magnus sent the command through the panel and the thin bright orangeness of the Raven’s forward phasers sliced through the atmosphere, cutting their way deep into the Romulan vessel’s unshielded hull. The beam found its target, and once again the engine of the Romulan vessel was exposed to space. The warp core collapsed in on itself as the quantum singularity at its heart ran unchecked, and the Venator began to slowly collapse in on itself.
“Erin, reverse course!” said Magnus. “I’ll divert all available power to the engines.”
The Raven turned, banking around, the mighty impulse engines desperately pushing the Raven away from the dying Romulan vessel. Already, the tiny ship was beginning to feel the effects of the singularity. Normally contained safe within the Romulan engine core by a stream of anti-gravitons, the now loose singularity ran wild, greedily sucking in the gases of the planet’s atmosphere. As it consumed more material and its mass increased, its gravitational field would grow larger until it ran out of food. The singularity already consuming the rings of this planet was the tombstone of one Romulan vessel, and Magnus had no intention of becoming part of another.
The Raven strained, atmospheric friction from rushing gas adding to the gravitational pull of the rapidly growing singularity. The Raven slowed, stopped, and then, horrifyingly, the little ship started to slip backwards.
“Hull stress is climbing!” called Magnus.
“Engine overload in less than three minutes!” cried Erin.
“I’ll send an anti-graviton surge through the main deflector,” said Magnus. “That should disrupt its hold on us long enough for us to escape.”
“I’ll be ready, Magnus,” said Erin.
The Raven’s navigational deflector spewed forth a torrent of anti-gravitons, struggling to prise the gravitational grip of the singularity from the Raven. The tiny ship shuddered violently, the engines straining to push the Raven away.
“The graviton field is beginning to fluctuate,” said Erin.
“All engines at maximum!” ordered Magnus.
“We’re starting to pull away!”
Slowly, the Raven gained leeway from the singularity.
“The singularity’s graviton emissions are rising,” said Erin. “The engines need more power.”
“I’m sending you as much power as I can spare, Erin,” said Magnus. “I’m taking the warp core to one hundred twenty per cent. But with the damage we’ve taken, I can only keep it for up a minute or so.”
“Estimate we’ll be free from the effects in thirty seconds,” said Erin. “We’ll make it, don’t worry.”
Behind them in main engineering, the warp core raced like a heart pumping adrenaline as it struggled to provide enough energy for the warp nacelles and the anti-graviton beam.
“Twenty seconds,” said Erin.
“The gravitational fields from the singularity are beginning to stabilize,” said Magnus. “If we’re gonna do this, it’s gotta be now.”
“Just another fifteen seconds,” said Erin.
Beneath them, the Raven bucked, the long gravitational arms of the singularity reaching out for them, but the Raven tore free, wrenching itself from the dark force behind it. The Raven sped away from the gas giant, damaged, but still flying.
Magnus and Erin allowed themselves to relax for a brief moment as the planet behind them was slowly eaten by the two singularities marking the graves of the Romulan vessels.
Erin turned to Magnus from the helm. “Magnus,” she said, “We’ve depleted our reserves of antimatter. We need to refuel.”
“What’s our maximum range at the moment?” Magnus asked.
“Not far,” said Erin, casting a worried look over her panel. “We’re going to need to refuel soon. We used up a lot of antimatter with that little adventure.”
“Where are we going to find a supply of antimatter in Romulan space?” asked Magnus. “Romulans don’t use antimatter reactors. If they did, we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble just then.”
“How do you mean?” asked Erin.
“We wouldn’t have needed to spend so much energy escaping from those singularities,” said Magnus.
“True,” said Erin.
She thought for a moment. The antimatter generator wouldn’t be able to make enough; it was only a temporary measure. It was obvious that they would have to steal the antimatter from the Romulans, but finding a Romulan installation or ship that used an antimatter generator would be hard. Romulans tended not to use antimatter reactors very often. Quantum singularity reactors powered their starships and starbases. Erin went over in her mind what she knew about singularity reactors. The Federation had experimented with them, but they had required so much attention that they had decided to remain with the antimatter reactors that had been standard since before the days of Captain Archer…
“Relay stations!” Erin said in the same tone that Archimedes had once shouted eureka.
Magnus looked up at her, surprised by this uncharacteristic outburst. “What is it, Erin?” he asked. “What about relay stations?”
“Romulans would have to use antimatter reactors in automated relay stations,” Erin said.
“What makes you say that?” Magnus asked.
“Well, Romulans use singularity reactors for the most part,” she said. “They are cheap to run, don’t require much maintenance and are easy to repair. All you really need is an anti-graviton beam to keep the singularity contained and a matter stream to draw your energy from.”
“I know,” Magnus said. “The Federation tried them for exactly that reason.”
“But the Federation stayed with antimatter reactors,” Erin said. “You remember why?”
“The singularity reactors are very finicky,” Magnus said. “They needed constant monitoring.”
“Yes!” said Erin excitedly. “But on an automated relay station, there would be no crew to monitor the reactor.”
“They’d have to use an antimatter reactor,” said Magnus, realising what Erin was thinking.
“And,” said Erin, “it will be much easier to get the antimatter from an uncrewed relay station than a manned outpost.”
“Scan for the nearest relay station then,” said Magnus. “I’ll work on a way to get past the defence systems.”
But now was not the time to worry about such things. If he kept thinking about how Erin was going to manage to perform her responsibilities, he’d never be able to perform his.
*
On the bridge, Erin forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. If her thoughts became sidetracked when the Romulans showed up, and she knew they would, the Raven would be lost.
She kept her eyes on the sensor display in front of her. She couldn’t look at the viewer; it would just disorient her, and that was the last thing she needed. A split second of indecision and the Raven wouldn’t need a Romulan torpedo to be scattered all over space. A collision with an asteroid would do that just as well as any weapon.
“How’s it going Magnus?” she said.
Her husband’s voice came over the comline. “I need a few more minutes down here. Any sign of the Romulans?”
“None yet,” said Erin. “I’m scanning for metallic objects, but I’m getting a lot of interference from all the dust particles and boulders.”
“Keep your eyes open,” said Magnus. “I’m almost done, and I’ll be there in just a minute.”
A light on the helm console came on and an alarm began to call for attention. “Magnus, hurry up,” said Erin. “I’m reading a metallic object approaching, five thousand kilometers.”
“Romulan?”
“Maybe,” said Erin. “Probably.”
“I’ll be right up, Erin,” said Magnus. “Go to grey mode, shut down all non-essential systems.”
The alarm suddenly changed; it began screeching for attention. “Magnus, they’ve found us! Active subspace scan, origin 351 by 290! I’m also reading a second ship coming in as well. The first ship will intercept in forty seconds, the second, twenty seconds after that.”
“I’m done with the probe,” came Magnus’s voice. “I’m on my way back to the bridge.”
“Hurry, Magnus,” said Erin. “They’re almost on top of us.”
Magnus came onto the bridge and went straight to the tactical station. “I’m loading the probe into the launch tube,” said Magnus. “Erin set a course for the asteroid off to starboard, heading 065 by 012. Hopefully the blast will disable their engines and they won’t be able to change course in time to avoid the asteroid.”
Erin turned to look at him. “Do you really think that will work?”
Magnus smiled at her. “Can’t hurt, right?”
Erin smiled back, then turned to the helm and set a course towards the mountain of ice.
“The Romulans are closing,” she said. “They’re within two thousand kilometers.”
“I’m launching the probe,” said Magnus. He tapped the panel, and the probe burst out of the Raven’s torpedo launcher. It dropped under the starship and then fell back towards the Venator and Eversor, detonating between the two warbirds.
The blast spread out, the shockwave advancing on the three ships. The two Romulan vessels took the brunt of the explosion, and the Eversor’s engines overloaded. Disabled, the D’Kalax class ship hurtled toward the asteroid and destruction. The Venator fared slightly better. The engines came close to overloading, but remained functional at a critically reduced level. Almost crippled, the Venator continued the chase, leaving its sister ship to its fate.
“We’ve done it!” called Erin. “The Eversor’s done for, and the Venator is on the verge of collapse.”
“We’re not much better off,” said Magnus. “Our engines took a pounding, our shields emitters are severely damaged, and our targeting systems are out. We’ll have to aim phasers manually, and we’ve got at least a week of repairs before we’re fully spaceworthy again.”
The Venator struggled to stop its tumble through space. Relying mainly on its thrusters, it steadied itself and gradually started to close the gap between it and the Federation ship.
With the asteroid approaching fast, the Raven struggled to pull up. Its shadow washed low over the frozen landscape, and the Raven pulled away, barely missing the roughly contoured surface.
The Eversor had actually managed to re-initialise its thrusters, and it slowly started to pull up. However, it wasn’t enough to avoid the surface. The wing of the mighty warbird clipped an icy crag, and the Eversor was spun around, all control totally lost. Spinning wildly, the Eversor slammed into the ground and burst apart, the explosion burning a large hole in the ice. The engine core collapsed under the incredible pressure, and the artificial singularity nestled inside it bared its horrendous darkness to the outside universe. Freed from its confines, it started to slowly eat away at the asteroid, its massive gravity tearing huge chunks of rock and ice from the terrain .
The Raven was battered by gas and small particles slamming themselves against the starship’s shields. Great boulders and mountains tumbled towards them, pulled by the gravity of the singularity behind them, and the ship shook terribly. Erin’s hands were a blur over the helm console, ducking and weaving the Raven around larger fragments.
The Venator narrowly missed one of those mountain-sized projectiles; its impulse engines straining against the gravity of the miniscule black hole that had been released from the other warbird. Slowly, ever so slowly, the Venator pulled away and followed the Raven.
“The Eversor was destroyed, but the Venator made it,” said Magnus, looking up from the tactical station as both ships emerged from the ring system, battered and scathed. “Their systems are damaged, but not as seriously as ours. They’ve still got us out-maneuvered and out-gunned, and they’ll intercept in a few minutes. We won’t be able to stop them boarding us.”
“Any ideas?” asked Erin, turning to face him.
“I was hoping you did,” said Magnus.
“You don’t happen to have another loaded probe, do you?”
“Nope,” said Magnus. “Didn’t have time, and I was hoping that we’d only need the one.” He turned back to his station. “It may be possible to eject the warp core and use it as a mine,” he suggested, but the tone of his voice told Erin that he didn’t like the idea. “If I attach a proximity detonator…”
Erin suddenly sat up straight at the helm, her body posture indicating that she had just thought of a better idea.
“Magnus, there is that gas giant,” she said. “If we take the Raven into its atmosphere, we can hide from the Romulans. It might be possible to ambush them, or at least make some repairs.”
“Well, I like it better than my idea,” said Magnus. “Make it so.”
Erin turned the ship and urged it into the upper layers of the planet. The Raven shook gently, as if protesting this course of action, but grudgingly obeyed orders. It settled down into the turbulent atmosphere, followed moments later by the Venator.
Magnus left the piloting to his wife, not talking for fear of distracting her. Erin pulled the Raven into a hard turn to avoid detection by the Romulan. The Venator would be as blind as the Raven was; the plethora of particles, be it dust in the rings or gas in the atmosphere, created static that wreaked havoc with the sensors.
The Raven lurched as the ship drifted into a layer of the atmosphere with extreme wind speeds. Erin struggled to hold the Raven steady in the cross current.
“The torpedo launchers have just gone offline,” said Magnus. “I’m re-routing power to the phasers.”
“I’m detecting something,” said Erin. “Power readings off to port, sporadic. It might be an impulse turn.”
The Raven turned slowly, cautious under Erin’s fingers. She took the ship towards the upper reaches of the atmosphere where the interference was less.
“Phasers are coming online,” reported Magnus. “I can take over sensors now if you want.”
“Thanks,” said Erin.
Magnus activated the sensor readout on his station. “I’m picking up that energy signature,” he said. “It’s the Romulans. Bring us about on course 313 mark 016. I’m targeting their engines. In range in… twenty seconds.”
“I’ll bring us in slow,” said Erin. “I don’t want to be detected before we can fire.”
The Raven closed on her target, creeping up behind.
“We’re coming within range,” said Magnus. With the sensors giving only intermittent data, he was struggling to get a manual lock. He delicately aimed the phasers to match the location on the Romulan cruiser the computer indicated was the engine core. He strained to see through the static that clouded the display.
“Hold your course, Erin…”
And then the roiling atmosphere of the gas giant fell away from the Raven as though it were water tumbling off the back of a breaching whale. Ahead of them, on the main viewscreen, lay the Romulan ship, blind to the threat approaching it.
“There it is!” called Erin. “Dead ahead, range two hundred fifty kilometers!”
“Firing phasers!” Magnus sent the command through the panel and the thin bright orangeness of the Raven’s forward phasers sliced through the atmosphere, cutting their way deep into the Romulan vessel’s unshielded hull. The beam found its target, and once again the engine of the Romulan vessel was exposed to space. The warp core collapsed in on itself as the quantum singularity at its heart ran unchecked, and the Venator began to slowly collapse in on itself.
“Erin, reverse course!” said Magnus. “I’ll divert all available power to the engines.”
The Raven turned, banking around, the mighty impulse engines desperately pushing the Raven away from the dying Romulan vessel. Already, the tiny ship was beginning to feel the effects of the singularity. Normally contained safe within the Romulan engine core by a stream of anti-gravitons, the now loose singularity ran wild, greedily sucking in the gases of the planet’s atmosphere. As it consumed more material and its mass increased, its gravitational field would grow larger until it ran out of food. The singularity already consuming the rings of this planet was the tombstone of one Romulan vessel, and Magnus had no intention of becoming part of another.
The Raven strained, atmospheric friction from rushing gas adding to the gravitational pull of the rapidly growing singularity. The Raven slowed, stopped, and then, horrifyingly, the little ship started to slip backwards.
“Hull stress is climbing!” called Magnus.
“Engine overload in less than three minutes!” cried Erin.
“I’ll send an anti-graviton surge through the main deflector,” said Magnus. “That should disrupt its hold on us long enough for us to escape.”
“I’ll be ready, Magnus,” said Erin.
The Raven’s navigational deflector spewed forth a torrent of anti-gravitons, struggling to prise the gravitational grip of the singularity from the Raven. The tiny ship shuddered violently, the engines straining to push the Raven away.
“The graviton field is beginning to fluctuate,” said Erin.
“All engines at maximum!” ordered Magnus.
“We’re starting to pull away!”
Slowly, the Raven gained leeway from the singularity.
“The singularity’s graviton emissions are rising,” said Erin. “The engines need more power.”
“I’m sending you as much power as I can spare, Erin,” said Magnus. “I’m taking the warp core to one hundred twenty per cent. But with the damage we’ve taken, I can only keep it for up a minute or so.”
“Estimate we’ll be free from the effects in thirty seconds,” said Erin. “We’ll make it, don’t worry.”
Behind them in main engineering, the warp core raced like a heart pumping adrenaline as it struggled to provide enough energy for the warp nacelles and the anti-graviton beam.
“Twenty seconds,” said Erin.
“The gravitational fields from the singularity are beginning to stabilize,” said Magnus. “If we’re gonna do this, it’s gotta be now.”
“Just another fifteen seconds,” said Erin.
Beneath them, the Raven bucked, the long gravitational arms of the singularity reaching out for them, but the Raven tore free, wrenching itself from the dark force behind it. The Raven sped away from the gas giant, damaged, but still flying.
Magnus and Erin allowed themselves to relax for a brief moment as the planet behind them was slowly eaten by the two singularities marking the graves of the Romulan vessels.
Erin turned to Magnus from the helm. “Magnus,” she said, “We’ve depleted our reserves of antimatter. We need to refuel.”
“What’s our maximum range at the moment?” Magnus asked.
“Not far,” said Erin, casting a worried look over her panel. “We’re going to need to refuel soon. We used up a lot of antimatter with that little adventure.”
“Where are we going to find a supply of antimatter in Romulan space?” asked Magnus. “Romulans don’t use antimatter reactors. If they did, we could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble just then.”
“How do you mean?” asked Erin.
“We wouldn’t have needed to spend so much energy escaping from those singularities,” said Magnus.
“True,” said Erin.
She thought for a moment. The antimatter generator wouldn’t be able to make enough; it was only a temporary measure. It was obvious that they would have to steal the antimatter from the Romulans, but finding a Romulan installation or ship that used an antimatter generator would be hard. Romulans tended not to use antimatter reactors very often. Quantum singularity reactors powered their starships and starbases. Erin went over in her mind what she knew about singularity reactors. The Federation had experimented with them, but they had required so much attention that they had decided to remain with the antimatter reactors that had been standard since before the days of Captain Archer…
“Relay stations!” Erin said in the same tone that Archimedes had once shouted eureka.
Magnus looked up at her, surprised by this uncharacteristic outburst. “What is it, Erin?” he asked. “What about relay stations?”
“Romulans would have to use antimatter reactors in automated relay stations,” Erin said.
“What makes you say that?” Magnus asked.
“Well, Romulans use singularity reactors for the most part,” she said. “They are cheap to run, don’t require much maintenance and are easy to repair. All you really need is an anti-graviton beam to keep the singularity contained and a matter stream to draw your energy from.”
“I know,” Magnus said. “The Federation tried them for exactly that reason.”
“But the Federation stayed with antimatter reactors,” Erin said. “You remember why?”
“The singularity reactors are very finicky,” Magnus said. “They needed constant monitoring.”
“Yes!” said Erin excitedly. “But on an automated relay station, there would be no crew to monitor the reactor.”
“They’d have to use an antimatter reactor,” said Magnus, realising what Erin was thinking.
“And,” said Erin, “it will be much easier to get the antimatter from an uncrewed relay station than a manned outpost.”
“Scan for the nearest relay station then,” said Magnus. “I’ll work on a way to get past the defence systems.”
Oh dear, a risky gambit but one they sort of have to take I suppose. I liked the effort to include Annika here. More of such little interactions will help to make the story realistic enough so we don't get the impression the little girl is being minded 24/7 by a holographic program
Yeah, including Annika is something I'm finding very hard. While the scene with her in this chapter works, it's basically the same as the one we saw with Magnus and Annika in the flashbacks in Dark Frontier. Magnus comforting Annika and all that. I don't want that to be the limit of her involvement in the story. I'm thinking of including some birthday scenes, but I have no idea how to write them without the scenes being incredibly banal....
Been a while since the last update, but here's the next chapter. This is one of the longest chapters so far....
The Raven had been concealed inside a forming solar system for the last few hours, the accretion disk around the young star creating the perfect hiding ground. Magnus had, at first, been against this, for there were large chunks of rock and ice drifting nearby, but Erin had been able to match their orbit around the distant sun, and the risk of collision was small.
The cabin doors hissed shut behind Magnus, and he went to sit on the lounge. He tossed his padd onto the glass coffee table angrily.
Erin looked up, and when she saw the expression on her husband’s face, her own expression fell. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
“It’s bad,” Magnus said. He leaned forward, pushing the padd towards her.
Erin reached over and took the padd. It displayed the damage and repair report generated by the level two diagnostic that Magnus had run.
*
USS RAVEN DAMAGE REPORT STARDATE 31034.2
LEVEL TWO DIAGNOSTIC
TOTAL RUN TIME: 4:26:52
OVERALL VEHICLE PERFORMANCE: 40.38%
SYSTEMS CHECKED
Spacecraft Structures
Guidance And Navigational Systems
Computer Hardware Systems
Computer Software Systems
Warp Propulsion Systems
Antimatter Generation Systems
Impulse Propulsion Systems
Reaction Control Systems
Tractor Beam Systems
Replicator Systems
Internal Communication Systems
External Communication Systems
Transporter Systems
Long Range Sensor Systems
Short Range Sensor Systems
Navigational Sensor Systems
Weapons Control Systems
Phaser Systems
Photon Torpedo/Probe Systems
Deflector Shield Systems
Automatic Destruction Systems
Life Support Systems
Environmental Control Systems
Atmospheric Systems
Gravity Generation Systems
Emergency Environmental Systems
Waste Management Systems
Crew Support Systems
Medical Systems
Turboelevator Systems
Holographic Environment Simulation Systems
Fire Suppression Systems
Emergency Medical Systems
Lifeboat And Emergency Evacuation/Rescue Systems
SYSTEMS REPORT
Spacecraft Structures (Manual verification performed)
• Forward hull integrity at 87%
• Primary hull integrity at 74%
• Starboard warp nacelle pylon integrity at 92%
• Port warp nacelle pylon integrity at 89%
• Starboard warp nacelle integrity at 90%
• Port warp nacelle integrity at 87%
• Structural Integrity Field Systems currently operating below normal parameters at 83%.
Guidance And Navigation Systems
• Guidance and navigational systems currently operating below normal parameters at 64%.
Computer Hardware Systems
• Sections 00097–00201, 00905–01392, 02543–03097 and 09607–11326 of main computer core are fragmented. Possible loss of data contained in those sections.
• 156,297 bad sectors in main computer core. Main computer core operations currently below normal parameters at 89%
Computer Software Systems
• Computer diagnostic subroutines currently below normal parameters at 67%
• Defragmentation protocols corrupted beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Transporter control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall transporter control programs from backup files in protected memory.
• Replicator control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall replicator control programs from backup files in protected memory.
• Holodeck control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall holodeck control programs from backup files in protected memory.
• Communications and universal translator control package corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall communications and universal translator control package from backup files in protected memory.
• Communicator badge control package corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall communicator badge control package from backup files in protected memory.
Warp Propulsion Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Starboard bussard collector damaged beyond ability to repair, currently offline.
• Port bussard collector currently at 137% and falling due to strain imposed by attempting to compensate for failure of starboard bussard collector.
• Matter injector damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Navigational deflector damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline. Warp flight operations not possible until navigational deflector systems are brought to minimum 23%.
• Antimatter containment at 74% and stable.
• Antimatter levels at 14%, estimate maximum range 2.3 light years at warp 2.
Antimatter Generation Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Antimatter generator damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
Impulse Propulsion Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Impulse propulsion systems damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Driver coil assemblies damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Impulse fusion reactor 2 operating below normal parameters at 67%.
• Navigational deflector damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline. Impulse flight operations not recommended above forward velocities of 0.25 full impulse power.
Reaction Control System (Manual verification performed)
• Reaction Control System currently operating below normal parameters at 67%.
Tractor Beam Systems
• Tractor beam systems are currently operating within normal parameters.
Replicator Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Replicator systems currently at 28%, rated unacceptable to maintain foodstuff quality. Replicator systems offline. Emergency rations estimated to last for five months.
• Replicator control package corrupted beyond ability to repair. Reinstall replicator control package from backup files in protected memory.
Internal Communications (Manual verification performed)
• Internal communications damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Communicator badge control package corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall communicator badge control package from backup files in protected memory.
External Communications
• Communications and universal translator control package corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall communications and universal translator control package from backup files in protected memory.
• Primary subspace antenna damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Secondary subspace antenna currently operating within normal parameters at 87%.
Transporter Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Transporter control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall transporter control programs from backup files in protected memory.
Long Range Sensors (Manual verification performed)
• Long range sensors currently operating below normal parameters at 76%.
Short Range Sensors (Manual verification performed)
• High resolution optical scanner damaged beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Unable to compensate.
Navigational Sensors (Manual verification performed)
• Navigational sensor resolution currently below normal parameters at 78%. Unable to realign astrometric sensors, manual realignment necessary.
Weapons Control Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Weapons control pre-processor damaged beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Weapons control commands currently routed through section 00513 of main computer core, resulting in 13% loss of system speed.
• Connection between tactical station and computer systems at 36%, rated unacceptable, currently offline. Default secondary configuration enabled, weapons control currently routed through bridge engineering station.
Phaser Systems (Manual verification performed)
• EPS feed to upper port phaser emitter damaged beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Replace EPS conduit.
Photon Torpedo/Probe Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Photon torpedo/probe gas pressure chamber integrity at 37%, rated unacceptable, currently offline. Unable to compensate. Unable to launch photon torpedos/probes until repaired.
Deflector Shield Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Deflector shield systems currently operating below normal parameters at 67%.
Automatic Destruction Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Auto destruct systems damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
Life Support Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Life support systems at 42%, rated unacceptable, currently offline. Confine all personnel to forward hull and engage emergency life support systems.
Environmental Control Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Environmental control systems currently operating below normal parameters at 86%.
Atmospheric Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Atmospheric systems in forward hull operating below normal parameters at 57%. Emergency life support systems activated.
• Atmospheric systems in primary hull damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
Gravity Generation Systems
• Gravity generation systems currently operating below normal parameters at 77%. Shipwide gravity currently at 0.75g.
Emergency Environmental Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Emergency environmental systems at 92%, currently online. Confine all personnel to forward hull.
Waste Management Systems
• Waste management systems currently operating below normal parameters at 42%.
Crew Support Systems
• Crew support systems currently operating below normal parameters at 51%.
Medical Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Medical systems currently operating within normal parameters.
Turboelevator Systems
• Turboelevator systems currently operating at 87%
Holographic Environment Simulation Systems
• Holodeck systems damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Holodeck control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall holodeck control programs from backup files in protected memory.
Fire Suppression Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Fire suppression systems damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
Emergency Medical Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Emergency medical systems currently operating within normal parameters.
Lifeboat And Emergency Evacuation/Rescue Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Lifeboat and emergency evacuation/rescue systems are currently operating within normal parameters.
*
Erin tossed the padd back onto the table. “Goddamn it,” she cursed. “How long will it take to repair all this?”
“We can get most of the vital systems back up and running in a week or so, not including the systems damaged beyond repair,” said Magnus. “And that’s if we work double shifts. But it will be months before the Raven is fully spaceworthy again, and she’ll never be at a hundred percent again. Not unless we put in for a major overhaul at a starbase. And that’s obviously out of the question.”
“Well, we’ve got to move into the forward hull before primary life support fails,” said Erin. “We should do that now.”
“Yeah,” said Magnus. “You get Annika and whatever else you can carry. I’ll get ration packs, tools and whatever else I can find that we can use. Remember, Erin, only get the essentials.”
*
Magnus, Erin, and Annika had moved into the forward hull by midnight, setting up makeshift quarters in the briefing room. They deactivated primary life support, relying on the emergency life support systems to provide continued life support for the forward hull. After a dinner of emergency rations, Annika had fallen asleep on the bed that had been set up in there for her. Erin and Magnus went to the bridge to form a repair plan.
The bridge was dark with main power offline. Only a few terminals – the helm and the engineering station – were still illuminated, powered by their backup batteries. Magnus went to the engineering station, and Erin sat next to him at the tactical station.
Magnus called up the damage report on the screen in front of him. “We should start with the computer cores,” he said. “We’ll need the diagnostic subroutines at one hundred percent to make sure the systems are back online when repairs have been completed. When it comes to reinstalling the subroutines, most of it can be automated, but I’ll need to bypass the damaged sections before we can do that.”
“Agreed,” said Erin. “We should also concentrate our attention on repairing the multi-adaptive shields. I can get a start on them in the morning.”
“I think the weapons and engines should be our priority after the computers,” Magnus said. “Not the shields.”
“That would take too long,” said Erin. “And we’ve lost one of the phasers anyway, at least until we can get replicators back online, and we might have lost the torpedo launcher as well. We should be able to repair the shields much quicker than weapons and engines. They’re still online, only operating below optimal, so the repairs on them should only take a day or so. Once we get the multi-adaptive shields online, they should be able to hide us from any cursory Romulan sensor scans.”
Magnus was silent for a moment, then he nodded. “Point well taken. I’d still like to concentrate on our engines. The sooner we can get moving the better. But the damage to the navigational deflector is pretty bad. It could take days before it’s back online at sufficient strength to allow warp travel.”
Erin was thoughtful for a moment. “Once we get the shields back online, I think we can increase power to them and use them as a makeshift navigational deflector,” she said. “We won’t be able to go very fast, maybe only warp two, but it’ll be better than nothing. And when you get the navigational deflector back online, we can use the shields to enhance it until it’s back at full power.”
“If you can do that, it’ll be a great advantage,” said Magnus. “Well then, after I get the computer running properly, I’ll work on the warp core instead of the deflector. That way we can get the warp engines back online as well as main power, and hopefully that will bring a few other systems online as well.”
Erin nodded. “At least it will give us the extra power for the shields,” she said.
*
Continued on the next page....
Theft
The Raven had been concealed inside a forming solar system for the last few hours, the accretion disk around the young star creating the perfect hiding ground. Magnus had, at first, been against this, for there were large chunks of rock and ice drifting nearby, but Erin had been able to match their orbit around the distant sun, and the risk of collision was small.
The cabin doors hissed shut behind Magnus, and he went to sit on the lounge. He tossed his padd onto the glass coffee table angrily.
Erin looked up, and when she saw the expression on her husband’s face, her own expression fell. “It’s not that bad, is it?”
“It’s bad,” Magnus said. He leaned forward, pushing the padd towards her.
Erin reached over and took the padd. It displayed the damage and repair report generated by the level two diagnostic that Magnus had run.
*
USS RAVEN DAMAGE REPORT STARDATE 31034.2
LEVEL TWO DIAGNOSTIC
TOTAL RUN TIME: 4:26:52
OVERALL VEHICLE PERFORMANCE: 40.38%
SYSTEMS CHECKED
Spacecraft Structures
Guidance And Navigational Systems
Computer Hardware Systems
Computer Software Systems
Warp Propulsion Systems
Antimatter Generation Systems
Impulse Propulsion Systems
Reaction Control Systems
Tractor Beam Systems
Replicator Systems
Internal Communication Systems
External Communication Systems
Transporter Systems
Long Range Sensor Systems
Short Range Sensor Systems
Navigational Sensor Systems
Weapons Control Systems
Phaser Systems
Photon Torpedo/Probe Systems
Deflector Shield Systems
Automatic Destruction Systems
Life Support Systems
Environmental Control Systems
Atmospheric Systems
Gravity Generation Systems
Emergency Environmental Systems
Waste Management Systems
Crew Support Systems
Medical Systems
Turboelevator Systems
Holographic Environment Simulation Systems
Fire Suppression Systems
Emergency Medical Systems
Lifeboat And Emergency Evacuation/Rescue Systems
SYSTEMS REPORT
Spacecraft Structures (Manual verification performed)
• Forward hull integrity at 87%
• Primary hull integrity at 74%
• Starboard warp nacelle pylon integrity at 92%
• Port warp nacelle pylon integrity at 89%
• Starboard warp nacelle integrity at 90%
• Port warp nacelle integrity at 87%
• Structural Integrity Field Systems currently operating below normal parameters at 83%.
Guidance And Navigation Systems
• Guidance and navigational systems currently operating below normal parameters at 64%.
Computer Hardware Systems
• Sections 00097–00201, 00905–01392, 02543–03097 and 09607–11326 of main computer core are fragmented. Possible loss of data contained in those sections.
• 156,297 bad sectors in main computer core. Main computer core operations currently below normal parameters at 89%
Computer Software Systems
• Computer diagnostic subroutines currently below normal parameters at 67%
• Defragmentation protocols corrupted beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Transporter control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall transporter control programs from backup files in protected memory.
• Replicator control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall replicator control programs from backup files in protected memory.
• Holodeck control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall holodeck control programs from backup files in protected memory.
• Communications and universal translator control package corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall communications and universal translator control package from backup files in protected memory.
• Communicator badge control package corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall communicator badge control package from backup files in protected memory.
Warp Propulsion Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Starboard bussard collector damaged beyond ability to repair, currently offline.
• Port bussard collector currently at 137% and falling due to strain imposed by attempting to compensate for failure of starboard bussard collector.
• Matter injector damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Navigational deflector damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline. Warp flight operations not possible until navigational deflector systems are brought to minimum 23%.
• Antimatter containment at 74% and stable.
• Antimatter levels at 14%, estimate maximum range 2.3 light years at warp 2.
Antimatter Generation Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Antimatter generator damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
Impulse Propulsion Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Impulse propulsion systems damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Driver coil assemblies damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Impulse fusion reactor 2 operating below normal parameters at 67%.
• Navigational deflector damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline. Impulse flight operations not recommended above forward velocities of 0.25 full impulse power.
Reaction Control System (Manual verification performed)
• Reaction Control System currently operating below normal parameters at 67%.
Tractor Beam Systems
• Tractor beam systems are currently operating within normal parameters.
Replicator Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Replicator systems currently at 28%, rated unacceptable to maintain foodstuff quality. Replicator systems offline. Emergency rations estimated to last for five months.
• Replicator control package corrupted beyond ability to repair. Reinstall replicator control package from backup files in protected memory.
Internal Communications (Manual verification performed)
• Internal communications damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Communicator badge control package corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall communicator badge control package from backup files in protected memory.
External Communications
• Communications and universal translator control package corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall communications and universal translator control package from backup files in protected memory.
• Primary subspace antenna damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Secondary subspace antenna currently operating within normal parameters at 87%.
Transporter Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Transporter control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall transporter control programs from backup files in protected memory.
Long Range Sensors (Manual verification performed)
• Long range sensors currently operating below normal parameters at 76%.
Short Range Sensors (Manual verification performed)
• High resolution optical scanner damaged beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Unable to compensate.
Navigational Sensors (Manual verification performed)
• Navigational sensor resolution currently below normal parameters at 78%. Unable to realign astrometric sensors, manual realignment necessary.
Weapons Control Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Weapons control pre-processor damaged beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Weapons control commands currently routed through section 00513 of main computer core, resulting in 13% loss of system speed.
• Connection between tactical station and computer systems at 36%, rated unacceptable, currently offline. Default secondary configuration enabled, weapons control currently routed through bridge engineering station.
Phaser Systems (Manual verification performed)
• EPS feed to upper port phaser emitter damaged beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Replace EPS conduit.
Photon Torpedo/Probe Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Photon torpedo/probe gas pressure chamber integrity at 37%, rated unacceptable, currently offline. Unable to compensate. Unable to launch photon torpedos/probes until repaired.
Deflector Shield Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Deflector shield systems currently operating below normal parameters at 67%.
Automatic Destruction Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Auto destruct systems damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
Life Support Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Life support systems at 42%, rated unacceptable, currently offline. Confine all personnel to forward hull and engage emergency life support systems.
Environmental Control Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Environmental control systems currently operating below normal parameters at 86%.
Atmospheric Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Atmospheric systems in forward hull operating below normal parameters at 57%. Emergency life support systems activated.
• Atmospheric systems in primary hull damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
Gravity Generation Systems
• Gravity generation systems currently operating below normal parameters at 77%. Shipwide gravity currently at 0.75g.
Emergency Environmental Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Emergency environmental systems at 92%, currently online. Confine all personnel to forward hull.
Waste Management Systems
• Waste management systems currently operating below normal parameters at 42%.
Crew Support Systems
• Crew support systems currently operating below normal parameters at 51%.
Medical Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Medical systems currently operating within normal parameters.
Turboelevator Systems
• Turboelevator systems currently operating at 87%
Holographic Environment Simulation Systems
• Holodeck systems damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
• Holodeck control programs corrupted beyond ability to repair, currently offline. Reinstall holodeck control programs from backup files in protected memory.
Fire Suppression Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Fire suppression systems damaged beyond ability to operate, currently offline.
Emergency Medical Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Emergency medical systems currently operating within normal parameters.
Lifeboat And Emergency Evacuation/Rescue Systems (Manual verification performed)
• Lifeboat and emergency evacuation/rescue systems are currently operating within normal parameters.
*
Erin tossed the padd back onto the table. “Goddamn it,” she cursed. “How long will it take to repair all this?”
“We can get most of the vital systems back up and running in a week or so, not including the systems damaged beyond repair,” said Magnus. “And that’s if we work double shifts. But it will be months before the Raven is fully spaceworthy again, and she’ll never be at a hundred percent again. Not unless we put in for a major overhaul at a starbase. And that’s obviously out of the question.”
“Well, we’ve got to move into the forward hull before primary life support fails,” said Erin. “We should do that now.”
“Yeah,” said Magnus. “You get Annika and whatever else you can carry. I’ll get ration packs, tools and whatever else I can find that we can use. Remember, Erin, only get the essentials.”
*
Magnus, Erin, and Annika had moved into the forward hull by midnight, setting up makeshift quarters in the briefing room. They deactivated primary life support, relying on the emergency life support systems to provide continued life support for the forward hull. After a dinner of emergency rations, Annika had fallen asleep on the bed that had been set up in there for her. Erin and Magnus went to the bridge to form a repair plan.
The bridge was dark with main power offline. Only a few terminals – the helm and the engineering station – were still illuminated, powered by their backup batteries. Magnus went to the engineering station, and Erin sat next to him at the tactical station.
Magnus called up the damage report on the screen in front of him. “We should start with the computer cores,” he said. “We’ll need the diagnostic subroutines at one hundred percent to make sure the systems are back online when repairs have been completed. When it comes to reinstalling the subroutines, most of it can be automated, but I’ll need to bypass the damaged sections before we can do that.”
“Agreed,” said Erin. “We should also concentrate our attention on repairing the multi-adaptive shields. I can get a start on them in the morning.”
“I think the weapons and engines should be our priority after the computers,” Magnus said. “Not the shields.”
“That would take too long,” said Erin. “And we’ve lost one of the phasers anyway, at least until we can get replicators back online, and we might have lost the torpedo launcher as well. We should be able to repair the shields much quicker than weapons and engines. They’re still online, only operating below optimal, so the repairs on them should only take a day or so. Once we get the multi-adaptive shields online, they should be able to hide us from any cursory Romulan sensor scans.”
Magnus was silent for a moment, then he nodded. “Point well taken. I’d still like to concentrate on our engines. The sooner we can get moving the better. But the damage to the navigational deflector is pretty bad. It could take days before it’s back online at sufficient strength to allow warp travel.”
Erin was thoughtful for a moment. “Once we get the shields back online, I think we can increase power to them and use them as a makeshift navigational deflector,” she said. “We won’t be able to go very fast, maybe only warp two, but it’ll be better than nothing. And when you get the navigational deflector back online, we can use the shields to enhance it until it’s back at full power.”
“If you can do that, it’ll be a great advantage,” said Magnus. “Well then, after I get the computer running properly, I’ll work on the warp core instead of the deflector. That way we can get the warp engines back online as well as main power, and hopefully that will bring a few other systems online as well.”
Erin nodded. “At least it will give us the extra power for the shields,” she said.
*
Continued on the next page....
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