The Night Generation
A/N: Okay this is the first story in my series on the night crew of our gallant ship; I may even do one on the Enterprise D :). This one will probably be the only one that has this many characters at once, so the rest won't be quite so confusing.
Don't own Star Trek, However all the night crew save Morgan Wesley are my own original characters.
As my Shuttlecraft nears the valiant ship I check the crews roister once again. It's odd to think that the only crew member I am familiar with is Mr. Spock, and even odder to think he has my previous position. I have reached the Enterprise and begin docking procedures. My position is head of the night crew. It is a bit of a demotion; however after my injury it is only logical to take a less strenuous position. I grab my luggage and head out of the shuttle. There are four officers in the shuttle bay entrance who compose my welcoming party; Mr. Spock; my new Captain, Kirk; the chief engineer, Montgomery Scott; and the Chief Medical Officer, McCoy.
"Good evening Lieutenant Commander Wesley, I am Captain James Kirk. Its good to have you back." Captain Kirk flashes me what must be the signature smile that all the woman keep talking about. I grab his proffered hand and give it a strong shake.
"Nice to meet you Captain Kirk."
"Now Jim, don't forget to introduce the rest of us, my name is Leonard McCoy ma'am." my, it was truly amazing how much of a southern drawl he spoke with.
"Nice to meet you Doctor McCoy." Captain Kirk glanced over at me then over at the other two officers.
"Umm, this is Mr. Scott, our Chief Engineer, and of course you already know Mr. Spock."
"Yes Captain, I do know him, however I do not know Mr. Scott." I shook Mr. Scotts hand and gave Spock the Vulcan salute. After a moment I decided to ask about my quarters.
"Captain, would you show me to my quarters please? It was a long and taxing journey, and I would greatly appreciate a rest before my first shift."
"Of course Ms. Wesley, if you will follow me." He turns around and started down the corridor. we stopped a little while later in front of my new quarters.
"Thank you Captain, if that is all." I don't wish to sound rude but I really prefer solitude after journeys. It gives me a chance to meditate and prepare for my duties.
"Very well Ms. Wesley, I will see you in two hours for the start of your shift." I nod my approval and head into my room. However before I can move Doctor McCoy grabs my arm.
"Ms. Wesley, you will be due for a physical tomorrow, let me know what time you would like to take it." Physical, I forgot about my physical. Well, Doctor McCoy is certainly an efficient doctor, if not an annoying one.
"Very well, is 0900 hours alright with you?"
"Perfect, see you then." At least I will get it out of the way.
~~ooOoo~~
My alarm has just gone off it's time to get ready for my first shift. I get up and get in my new uniform, a bit more form fitting and far short than I would like. I wonder what the logic behind these uniforms is. They prove distracting for the men and uncomfortable for the woman. Why do they not just make one uniform for both sexes? Oh well there is no sense in worrying about something I can not change. I leave my cabin and head for the bridge. Time to check out my crew.
"Good evening Lieutenant Commander Wesley, you have command. Now everyone except for Officer Serek are new at their post." Captain Kirk eagerly got up from his chair and headed for the turbolift. I notice three more of the night shift crew get off of it. Five minutes later the last of my night shift has arrived.
"Good evening, I am Lieutenant Commander Wesley, I have been reassigned to the Enterprise and shall be your chief night officer. All night personal are to report to me. Now I shall need to learn all your names."
A blond officer wearing a red uniform stepped forward. She seemed extremely excited and rather young. I judged her to be about twenty one. "My name is Lucida Lownes, I am the night communication officer."
"Very well, you may take your post."
A man that I judged to be half human, half Vulcan stepped forward. He also appeared to be in his twenties. "My name is Sepek I am the night science officer."
"You also may take your post." I looked around and noticed that I was the oldest person on board.
"My name iz Marissa Hermann, I am a console officer." She was young and had brown hair, she was also already at her post.
"My name is Jennifer Manson, I am the tactical officer." She was a tall with brown hair that was tied in a bun, she appeared rather prim.
"My name is Elizabeth Crowl."
"And I am Helen Paren."
"Y'all may take your posts."
"I am Jake Rosef, I also am a console officer." I couldn't help but notice the similarity between Marissa and Jake, they must be related.
"Ma'am." Sepek came up beside me and showed me a duty roister. "You shall also need to know the night engineer, Mr. Timothy Kelly, and the night medical officers. They are Nurse T'Pau, Dr. Mark Baker and Nurse Chelsea Nutsia.
"Thank you Mr. Sepek, you may return to your post. Ms. Hermann, what is our current heading?"
"Ve are heading towardz Delta Reticuli III at varp speed four." Well, that was new; we were supposed to be heading towards starbase V.
"Who gave the order to head to Delta Reticuli III? "
"I do not ma'am, I thought ve vere headed towardz a starbase, but the concordancez vere changed before I took over thiz com." I checked over the duty roister, Captain Kirk had not made any notes about this course change.
"Ms. Lownes, check the communications, have we received any orders recently?" Lucida pressed a few buttons, and then listened for a moment.
"No ma'am, we haven't received any new messages in the last five hours."
Well logically there was only one course left. Very well, Ms. Hermann change our heading back to starbase V."
Marissa pressed some buttons, waited a second and pressed them again. She then leaned over and whispered something to Jake. He looked at her com and then pressed some buttons. He shook his head at her and she turned around.
"Ma'am, there seems to be some sort of problem vith our coms, ve cannot change the headingz." Really, well that was fascinating.
I reached over and pressed a button on my captain chair. "Lieutenant Commander Wesley to Engineering."
"Engineering, Kelly here."
"There is some problem with the coms, can you change our heading back to starbase V?"
"Sure thing ma'am, just give me a minute. " A few moments later he returned. "Ms. Wesley?"
"Yes."
"I can't change our heading; we seem to be caught in some sort of pull. Trying to pull away is putting a critical drain on our engines. As of this moment I have no idea what's causing it." This was unexpected. Well, the next step in procedure was to alert the captain.
"Lieutenant Commander Wesley to Captain Kirk, you are needed on the bridge." I waited a moment, "Come in Captain Kirk." I looked around the bridge, this was odd. It was highly unusual that a captain wouldn't respond.
"Does anyone know where Captain Kirk is?" Nobody offered any suggestions, apparently they did not. Right at that moment engineer Kelly walked in the room and transferred engineering controls to his computer.
"Nice to have you with us Mr. Kelly, have you found out anything pertinent?"
"No ma'am, I haven't. We are still experiencing that power drain- and I can't figure out what is pulling us."
I tried to reach the Captain again, to no avail. I decided to try Mr. Spock, since he was the first officer he might be able to help. I could not reach him either though, it was rather odd. There was no logic in him avoiding my summons, something must be wrong. "Ensign Paren keep paging all members of the senior staff. If anyone answers tell them they are needed immediately on the bridge."
"Ma'am" Jake sounded rather worried.
"Yes?"
"Our current course has us going through the neutral zone." Well now this was getting ridiculous.
"Ensign Crowl go down to the Captains quarters, see if he is there. If he is not check Spock's quarters. If you fail to find him check the rec rooms of each deck. Jennifer, put us on yellow alert." Crowl got up from her computer display and headed for the turbo lift. She stopped in front of it, it didn't open.
"Umm, Timothy, something's wrong with the door."
"Really Liz? It worked a second ago." He went up to the door and waved his hand in front of the sensor, nothing happened. "That's strange" He went to the control panel and hit manual override, the lift doors opened.
"Thanks!" Crowl walked forward to the lift and was immediately stopped. "Tim, something's not right, I can't get in it." I turned my chair around to see what exactly was wrong. Just as I turned Kelly reached out to the lift, his hand was stopped by an energy field.
"Now that is weird." Kelly went over and grabbed a tricorder. "This is pure energy, but I can't find out where it's originating from. Sepek, come over here and take a look."
"Fascinating, it is pure energy, however I can not discern its origin either."
"Are you saying that we can't leave the bridge?"
"ma'am, for all intents and purposes we are prisoners on this bridge." Some first command. This was all going down hill fast.
"Okay, Paren start paging everyone and anyone, see if you can get hold of some one out side the bridge. Lownes keep trying to get that message through to Starfleet. Manson, we are probably going to need you on tactical. We will try to avoid a confrontation if at all possible; however it would be wise to be ready for the event that a battle does ensue. Hermann, how long will it be untill we reach the neutral zone?"
"Approximately fifteen minutez ma'am."
"Kelly, can you shut down our engines?"
"No ma'am, I've lost all contact and control of engineering, I can't do a thing."
"Well that doesn't give us much time. I know that most of you are new to your position; however I have complete faith in your abilities. You wouldn't be on the flagship of the federation if you were not the best. So let's prove why we all deserve our positions by getting through here without any incidents." My crew looked at me for a moment and then turned back to their stations. They all looked ready for anything.
"Ma'am, I got through to sickbay." Well, that was news; I hadn't expected her to reach any one.
"Very well Paren, whose there?"
"Just Nurse T'Pua, Dr. Mark Baker and Nurse Chelsea Nutsia, they said their situation is the same as us. They can't leave sickbay and no one can get in." Well now this was just getting worse, our entire ship was disconnected and we were about to be at the neutral zone.
"Ve are at the neutral zone ma'am." Strike that, we were at the neutral zone, things couldn't be much worse.
"Manson, can you get hold of tactical?"
"No ma'am, I already tried." she sounded unnerved, quite frankly I didn't blame her, this was highly unusual.
"Sepek, anything new?"
"Yes ma'am, the further we go in the neutral zone the weaker the pull on us becomes. We still can't break away but we should be able to soon." Well at least there was some good news; we may get out of this odd predicament yet. "Lownes, anything yet?"
"No ma'am, just static, it's really odd. There is nothing out there; it's as if our ship has been cut off from the rest of Starfleet." Or the bridge has.
"Okay, Kelly, your current sole focus is on getting control of engineering back. Sepek, figure out what is causing the energy fields, and how to disable them. Parne keep trying to reach the Captain or Mr. Spock. Lownes keep trying to get our message through. Manson, Hermann, and Rosef, be ready for evasive action." my commands were greeted by a chorus of 'yes ma'am.' This was it, we were getting deeper in the neutral zone, and there would be no easy retreat. By now we were undeniably on the Romulans radar. W continued in quite for another ten minutes.
"Ma'am, I believe we will be able to free ourselves from the pull now."
"Very well Sepek, proceed."
"Proceeding, Timothy, your assistance would be appreciated." Kelly walked over to Sepek's station and they both started pressing buttons. The ship gave an incredible lurch.
"That better mean were free gentleman."
"We are ma'am, sorry for the lurch."
"Ma'am! Romulan warbirds uncloaking! There are three of them!" Josef sounded terrified, and not without reason. Three against one, we would not have a very good chance if our ship had been fully operational, but with our current situation I did not see us making it out.
"Shields up! Lownes now would be an ideal time to get a message through. Tell them we did not intend to enter the neutral zone."
"I'm trying ma'am, its still not responding!"
"They're powering up!" Manson's hands were moving so fast I could barely see them.
"Red alert! Hermann, Rosef, take evasive action!"
"I did it! I got through to tactical; I am preparing our phasers and torpedoes." Right at that moment we were hit by the Romulans.
"Status report!"
"Minor damage to shields ma'am, it barely got us. Our shields are still at 90%." Kelly's voice sounded a little shaky. "I'm diverting emergency power to our shields and weapons."
"Very good Kelly. Manson, prepare return fire. Hermann get ready to get us out of here!"
"Ma'am, they've recloaked." great, they got a hit on us and then they run and hide. What a cowardly species. However there cloaking did have a good aspect- they couldn't fire while cloaked.
"Fire in a disperse pattern." Manson nodded her head and continued to fire.
"Confirmed hit ma'am, should I continue firing?"
"No, Hermann, take us out of the neutral zone, warp 6! If they uncloak get ready to fire Manson!"
"They're all uncloaking, we are being fired at!" The next minute seemed to take a hundred years. The Enterprise was hit by three disrupter . Our shields went down to 30% and the hull had taken some serious damage. Manson returned fire before they recloaked. She managed to hit two of them. Then in a incredible bit of flying Hermann managed to avoid two other hits and get around to the back of there ships. Manson shot them again. We got one of them down.
"Hermann, get us out of here! Lownes, figure out how to get that message out! Kelly, divert everything but life support to our shields and weapons! Sepek, how are the energy fields coming?"
"I have discovered that the fields are originating from the Enterprise, some where on the third deck." Well that's strange. Why would someone on the Enterprise want to trap us? I did not get a chance to ponder on the question though, the warbirds were uncloaked.
"I got through! Sending message to Starfleet and Romulans." Great, Lowens finally got to Starfleet, I hope the Romulans get theirs. However I would never know, because right at that moment the warbirds fired. Our shields were down to 5%, we were less than five minute from the federation side of the neutral zone.
"Kelly, can you get us any more power to our shields?"
"No ma'am, I'm giving it all we have!"
"Tim, I have an idea." Sepek's voice was calm as he motioned the engineer over. Tim looked over some calculations Sepek had made and nodded his approval.
"Gentlemen if you have an idea I suggest you act on it."
"Ma'am, I believe we can transfer the energy being used on the energy fields to our shields."
"Well get to!"
"Yes ma'am." Sepek turned back to his station and made the necessary adjustments.
"Shields back to 40% ma'am."
"Ve are thirty secondz from our side of the neutral zone." Great, we may get out of this after all.
"Proceed Hermann, any change in the warbirds status Manson?"
"No ma'am, there just is following us."
"Ten secondz till ve are out." I watched the countdown, at three seconds the Romulans fired. Thank God Sepek figured out how to transfer that energy. We made it to our side with shields at 10%.
"The field is gone ma'am."
"How did you remove it?"
"I did not remove it. It simply is no longer there."
"I am able to contact the rest of the ship!"
"The Romulans are gone."
"I can send and receive messages."
"I haf regained control of my con"
"So haf I!"
"How did this happen? Sepek, any speculations?"
"No ma'am, none at the moment."
"Crowl get a hold of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. Tell them they are needed on the bridge."
"That won't be necessary commander." I nearly fell out of my seat at the Captains voice. Both he and Mr. Spock were exiting the turbolift.
"Good evening Sir. We were..."
The Captain cut my sentence of before I could finish it. "I am aware of our situation Ms. Wesley. Mr. Kelly, why don't you check the ships status again."
Kelly went to his computer and checked some readings; he looked utterly shocked by his findings.
"Ma'am, the ship, she's in perfect condition!"
"Excuse me?" Did he mean that we had no damage, that the fight left us un harmed?
"Let me explain" the captain cut in on our conversation "You passed the test." He let us absorb that bit of news for a second before he continued. "It is our tradition to test a new crew on there abilities the night of there first shift. It allows us to see how they behave under pressure- gives us a real look at whether or not there fit for their posts. I must say y'all passed admirably well! You managed to escape with shields intact, that hadn't been accomplished before." He looked around positively beaming with pride at his new crew. A test, I couldn't believe it had just been a test. Why hadn't he let me know? we could have seriously injured someone.
"Sir, how did you do it?" Sepek was the first to recover.
"It was simple, we took the bridge offline and fed the view screen information, it was just a movie. We then programmed the coms to show only what we fed them. The force field was made by Spock to see how well y'all responded to being trapped, and to see how well you could use the few tools you had available." Well, it did make sense, and it would be an excellent test. The captain looked around at us all and then turned to the crew, "Well, I'll let y'all run your shift, and this time I mean it. " He then turned and left the bridge, accompanied by Mr. Spock. I had to hand it to them, their idea really worked. Not only had they learned about us, but I also had. I now knew what all my crew was capable of and how best to utilize them.
"Ms. Hermann, head to starbase V at warp six."
"Vith pleasure ma'am."