AN: Hello to all my fans been a while since I've written something meaningful and I'm not going to make some bullshit excuse I just lost my muse to write. But after being laid off from work I've had a lot more time to think about what I can do while I look for another job and I finally got my muse back together after writing several drafts here it is this story will eventually replace my two Star Trek Online fanfics but I'll leave that for another time after I get a few other chapters uploaded if this one takes off! Oh and another thing all I own are my OC's anything else is owned by their respective owners references and all!... So please Enjoy this is GrimReapersLostSoul signing off.
The Federation of Planets have survived the Iconian War, however our losses have affected the entire Alpha and Beta Quadrants, we need to project our forces in such a way the enemies of the Federation will see that we're still here and that we're here to stay. – Admiral Beck (Section 31)
Stardate: 97215.25 [19th March 2420]
Japori – Rator Sector Boarder
The U.S.S. Venator NCC-92990, a Jupiter class Fleet Carrier could be found adrift in space within a debris field currently she was in a counter clockwise lateral spin after her bow starboard thrusters were jammed open, breaches were abundant on multiple decks her crimson Leo pattern war paint had been scorched and blistered by torpedo and phaser impacts, out of her four nacelles two had been ruptured during combat and her impulse drives had taken a hammering.
However in the end the Venator was still standing while her battlegroup and the Borg fleet that had engaged them had been destroyed, in a rather short lived but intense battle Daise and Virinat systems where an abnormally large temporal and highly unstable rift had formed.
Aboard the Venator's bridge the crew had been knocked unconscious while being launched from their posts, two unfortunate crewmen had been crushed by collapsing debris and fires continued to burn from exploded conduits, eps grids and overloaded consoles.
The first to awaken from unconsciousness had been the ships second in command Captain Hstokk M'kellu a female tan furred Caitian donning the Kelvin verse Starfleet uniform all crewmen aboard the Venator wore, Hstokk hissed in pain as she used a nearby console to lift herself from the floor, standing at six foot on her lithe digitigrade legs and clawed bare feet, Hstokk quickly swept her keen eyes across the bridge looking for her charge she quickly located him.
Fleet Admiral Liam Spruce, a caucasian male human with dark brown military cropped hair, who donned a crisp white Kelvin Verse Admiral uniform which was snow scorched and covered in blood, the Admiral had been one of the few officers to climb to the rank of Fleet Admiral during the turmoil that had been the Iconian war personally being accredited for successfully causing the destruction of four Vonph Battleships and their supporting craft above Earth.
Quickly making her way over to the downed Admiral she used what medical knowledge to quickly assess the Admiral's condition, seeing that his wounds were light and he was in no current danger Hstokk quickly made her way to the helms console and quickly removed the medical kit placed underneath it.
Removing its contents she soon found what she had been looking for, smelling salts, by far the worst thing any Caitian could be subjected to due to their physiology she barred her fangs as she opened the repugnant case holding it to the Admirals nose.
Quickly launching myself upright at the burning sensation my nose was suffering from I found Captain Hstokk knelt beside me holding a case of smelling salts in one of her furred hands, while she was trying to seal the lid back onto the salts as her amber eyes watered. "Jesus Hstokk please tell me we got the number of that Unimatrix Dreadnought that hit us?" Hstokk quickly picked on my dry humour and cracked a small smile.
Forcing myself to stand up waving off Hstokk as she tried to assist me I closed my eyes for a scant few seconds. "Hstokk we need to wake up the crew, is there another case of smelling salts?" I asked quickly catching the case Hstokk had just sealed up, I nodded to the Captain as we made our way to each crewman, within minutes the bridge crew were back on their feet putting out fires and bringing the ships systems back in order, eventually reports were coming in as more crewmen were waking up on all decks assisting others that they found.
"Helm, Navigation correlate our last know position with this one, see if we ended up getting pulled into that temporal anomaly while we were unconscious, communications try and find out if we have a line with FltCom or NavWarCom if you can get me on a priority line." The three officers quickly got to work with a chorus of "Aye Sir!" between them, the Helmsmen was an Ensign Andorian Male named Shran however instead of the snow white hair all Andorian's were known for his was a rare grey, beside him sat a Female Klingon Junior Lieutenant Navigations officer with subtle head ridges and braided black hair all Klingons were known for.
As for the comms officer Lieutenant he was a Japanese human with cropped black hair and matching goatee beard, looking towards the view screen debris drifted past some fragments of Federation and Borg vessels impacted against the hull luckily the fragments were rather small compared to most of the other remains scattered about.
"Captain, Admiral, the Damage Response Teams have isolated the open thrusters and have restored some of our manoeuvring capabilities." Reported another female Caitian this one held the rank of Lieutenant while donning the traditional yellow uniform for engineers and operations crewmen.
"Thank you Lieutenant Hirowe." Responded Hstokk as she looked over her shoulder as she spoke to her fellow Caitian. "Helmsmen stabilise our position!" She barked out to the Andorian helmsmen who instantly followed through with her order.
She soon realised that she had given an order without asking permission of her superior and looked rather abashed, blushing slightly as I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Go ahead Captain she's your ship, they're your crew, to be honest I thought you were scared to speak up." I smiled, before standing up. "I'll be in the ready room, come and get me if there is something to report, otherwise We'll rotate shifts every four hours."
I gestured to the command chair, Hstokk quickly made herself as presentable as she could before making her way to the command chair before saluting me, taking her seat back as I walked to the ready room.
Making myself comfortable I grabbed the ready room's medical kit and took off my scorched and blood stained dress uniform shirt off and began fixing up any wounds I could by applying medi-patches and letting my colony of Borg nanites heal my wounds over the next coming hours, looking at the terminal I quickly logged in and began writing up an emergency report and began requesting that the department heads send a report to both myself and Captain Hstokk within the next four hours, before setting an alarm to wake me up in three and a half hours' time.
Quickly getting some shuteye I slept a dreamless sleep for a few hours, before being disturbed by my comm-badge chirping away, shaking away any grogginess I tapped the comm-badge answering the hail. "Admiral Spruce here." I answered waiting for a response. "Admiral this is Chief Engineer Wilder I wanted to report that the ships main reactor is coming online, and that primary power systems should become operational momentarily." Spoke a female Scotsman over the comm-badge. "That's excellent news Chief what's the state of our weapons and shields?" I asked. "Minimal to moderate sir, it could go either way considering weapons and shields might short out entire sections of the ship sir." Chief Engineer Wilder responded. "Keep me appraised Chief."
"Aye sir." The comm-badge cut off, looking towards the terminal I found I'd been woken fifteen minutes early, loosening up I quickly re-donned my dress uniform shirt on before making my way out to the bridge, which since I had left had become a lot more livelier since I had been in the ready room, the two deceased crewmen were being tended to by medical staff lifting them onto stretchers and being taken away, meanwhile engineers and operations crewmen were busying themselves repairing what could be done in a short amount of time, some new faces were dotting the posts of some of the bridge crew while Hstokk was busying herself with a data slate, quite possibly looking at the countless reports coming through.
"Admiral on the deck." One of the bridge crew shouted, before anyone could respond I quickly responded to the call. "Carry on!" Allowing the crew to keep to their duties, stepping up to the command chair I watched the female rub the bridge of her nose with her free hands thumb and forefinger. "Casualties'?" I asked. "Moderate everyone has bumps and scrapes for the most part but as far as its been confirmed 119 of the crew didn't make it, it's expected 27 more won't make the next couple of hours, all CMO T'vrell can do is ease their suffering as best as she can before they pass.
Well shit, losing crew was always hard, but everyone signs onto Starfleet knowing the risks, it sucked balls but you always had to keep a stiff upper lip and lead with a clear head. "Any word on our position?" The face she gave me said it all. "That bad huh, well shit…. The anomaly?"
"Destabilised and dissipated well before I came too, sensors recorded a Borg sphere leaving the Unimatrix before the anomaly collapsed they cut their losses and ran, the good news is we'll have main power back online any second and we have survivors in the bigger wreckage, I'll have the Calisto's launched as soon as we can lower the primary blast door to the fore hanger." That was something to be sure, battlegroup X-ray consisted of two refit NX class Heavy Escorts, a Brigid class Multi mission Surveillance Cruiser and a single Sovereign class fleet Assault Cruiser refit, as well as the Venator as the battlegroups command vessel.
"Did any of the ship survive in a decent enough state that we'll be able to salvage?" I asked hoping for a positive answer. "Luckily the Acclemator, our Brigid class surveillance cruiser survived relatively intact she lost a nacelle and took a real beating before the challenger took the worst of it." I nodded. "Have the Calisto's strip the Challenger once we've rescued everyone we can, have them find the Acclemator's nacelle hopefully the Borg nanites colonies can take care of the major repairs, seeing as there's plenty of material they can breakdown into resources I'd reckon we'll be here a week at the least."
At that moment the ships systems positively hummed as main power came back online. "Well Captain it's your turn to stand down for four hours rest up while you've got a chance I'll handle things from here."
Stardate: 97234.37 [26th March 2420]
Un-Named Sector
Admiral's Personal Log: It's been one week since our skirmish with the Borg fleet on the Japori – Rator sector boarder we suffered mass casualties across the entirety of Battlegroup X-ray the USS Challenger USS Haven and USS Say My Name were complete losses, the USS Acclemator however was salvageable and has since been upgraded using the ablative armour of the Challenger and has been put under the command of Hstokk's former Commander Zodez a steadfast Klingon female who under my authority has been given a battlefield promotion to Captain, the survivors of the three lost ships have been allocated places to fill the losses of both ships and all those who died in the line of duty will be having a proper Federation Navy send off, the crews of the Venator and Acclemator need a new focus while I figure a way to get a hold of any Q from the Q continuum.
As a personal side note Captain Hstokk and I seem to be bonding more so then should probably be allowed by Starfleet regulations but seeing as we could be here for some time I have taken the liberty to relax the regulations to those the USS Voyager Implemented during its foray through the Delta Quadrant, though this is only probationary if things get out of hand, the regular regulations will be put back in force, though if both crews can keep professional about it we shouldn't have a problem.
Walking to the bridge from my personal quarters, the repairs implemented by the nanites colonies aboard both the Venator and Acclemator had been completed as of a few hours ago it had been decided between Captains Hstokk and Zodez and I that the remains of the Borg fleet needed to be destroyed before we continued to seek out intelligent space faring life, since the odds were that Warp was an unfounded method of FTL to whatever this verse had as its substitute, stepping around the hustle of the main corridor to the nearest turbo-lift with my steaming cup of tea in my personal Darth Vader mug, I couldn't help but smirk as the Human crewmen laughed at the sight of it, as the computer proceeded to play the imperial march throughout the corridors where I walked.
Even better when the ever crowded turbo-lift proceeded to play the cantina bands iconic song during the journey to the bridge, stepping onto the bridge the crew stood to attention. "Dark Lord of the Sith on the bridge." A human male Lieutenant barked out causing those who got the reference to chuckle. "Carry on, Lieutenant remind me to put a positive remark in your roster." I spoke as I walked past the yellow wearing operations officer. "Aye sir." He replied as he got back to work. "Captain, how go the preparations?"
"We'll be ready to send off the lost in the next system we reach, both the Venator and Acclemator have Quantum Torpedo's loaded and we have a positive lock on the remaining Borg debris Admiral." I nodded in response. "proceed with the clean-up Captain, then get us underway to the next system, it's about time we give the dead a proper send off." Hstokk nodded before replying. "Aye Sir." Both the Venator and Acclemator opened fire with a full spread of quantum torpedo's destroying any Borg remains in system before both the Venator and Acclemator jumped to the nearest system the advanced sensor suite of the Acclemator had mapped.
It would be another hour before both the Venator and Acclemator would drop out of warp in the system newly named Reach, Zodez Hstokk and I were stood amongst the vast majority of the crew leaving a skeleton crew to run the ship during the service while the Crew of the Acclemator watched the service via terminals and data-pad the spiritual preacher of the ship had set up various religious items on stands before the crew, those who had faiths or means of worship prayed while those who didn't held their silence in respect. "Please spiritual deities look after our fallen brothers and sisters as you and they watch over us during these coming trials."
After the crewmen muttered their respective prayer phrases, I looked left and right, an Idea of what to say already forming in my head as I recited one of the most Iconic speeches spoken in old media. "So. Say. We. All." The crew looked stunned but muttered the phrase. "So. Say. We. All." I barked again the crew picking up on my que replied with a bit more energy. "So. Say. We. All." I said again as I walked amongst the rows of dead towards the preacher. "So. Say. We. All." The crew replied with as much energy as I did. "Are they the Lucky ones? That's what you're all thinking isn't it?" I paused for a moment. "We've travelled far beyond what any Starfleet vessel has ever done so before. We have no ally's, no relief and no hope of returning home for the foreseeable future." The crew gave an uncomfortable shuffle in response. "Maybe It would have been better to have died a quick death amongst friends' during our skirmish with the Borg, Instead of travelling through the depths of dark space." I turned quickly towards the preacher. "Preacher tell me what does that uniform you wear represent?"
"The Federation and its founding principles." I smiled. "We're here alive, some of the best and the brightest Starfleet has to offer, I will say this, we will make it home, we will see our families once more, but while we search for our answers, we'll seek out new life and new civilisations while we do, we will live to tell the younger generations that we…. We were here and we were the first, every new horizon we see, every surface we stand upon, every record we make will show we were the first! So mourn the lost for today, but hold your heads high tomorrow, you are all Starfleet officers and remember that they are watching over all of us! So we had best do them proud as fellow officers." I walked back to my place amongst the officers. "So. Say. We. All."
The crew had become energised some hope and a sense of duty restored, the journey ahead was going to be a trial by fire that was a certainty, but like I said the crews of the Venator and Acclemator we're some of the best Starfleet had to offer, it would take another hour for the Venator to position itself towards the sun with well over a thousand coffins laid upon her primary hanger floor the air pressure had been dropped enough that a thousand or so coffins wouldn't be launched from the deck at ballistic speeds, this was one of the largest single send-off's any Starfleet vessel had completed and it went off without a hitch. Every crewmen saluted the dead as they made their way towards their next great adventure.
I stood by the main window of the Venator's ten forward. "It was a fine speech Admiral." A slightly familiar voice spoke beside me. "I just re-used and adapted a speech I saw once as a twelve year old." I replied honestly looking to my right I looked upon the newly promoted Captain Zodez. "I know two Klingon's amongst the dead would've been honoured from the words you spoke, they weren't too soft spoken, they had power, meaning and a modicum of grace to them, much like a Klingon burial song." I was actually stunned a bit by Zodez's words. "Thank you I thought Klingon's only did a warning war cry during the death of a fellow Klingon, no offence intended."
"None taken Admiral, Burial songs are familial in nature unique and intimate they are only sung amongst blood of the deceased." Zodez responded, as I was mentally filing that tad-bit of information for myself. "Ah sorry for intruding Admiral I must return to my duties." I saluted Zodez who responded in kind, before making her way to one of the two rear shuttle bays where a shuttle from the Acclemator was probably waiting for her to depart back to the ship. Looking at the glass of whisky I had in my right hand I gave an informal salute to the dead before downing the last of the drink.
"Time for me to try and get some fucking answers, that temporal rift had Q's name written on the bloody thing."
To Be Continued….