Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Farscape Fanfiction
Disclaimer: - Don't own anything.
Summary: - Ship of the Line fanfic with a twist. Thanks to the events of Halloween, Starfleet vessels suddenly began appearing in high orbit over Earth changing Earth's fate and its destiny. And the destiny of a frelling Erpman.
New Horizons
Chapter One: - Boldly Going…
Timeline: -
October 31st, 1997 – A chaos spell cast by Ethan Rayne creates a fleet of Starships, Earth Spacedock, Deep Space Nine, and the Utopia Planitia Shipyards in high orbit above the Earth over Sunnydale, California. Of the ships that appeared was the USS Defiant, the USS Voyager, the USS Enterprises NCC 1701 – D and NCC 1701 – E and lastly the USS Aventine. Several people, many of them teenagers, including Buffy Summers and her friends, Alexander Harris and Willow Rosenberg, Cordelia Chase and her clique of friends the Cordettes as well as many others, including several adults also, who were affected by the spell, had retained the knowledge of those they had become and managed to secure the fleet and accompanying facilities.
November 15th, 1997 – Under the direction of the officially decorated Admiral Rupert Giles and Vice Admiral(s) Jenny Calendar and Joyce Summers, the newly created Starfleet began the recruitment and training of new personnel. Some of these new recruits were IASA astronaut and scientist John Crichton, his father and former NASA astronaut Jack Crichton and his friend Douglas Knox (D.K.)
December 27th – 31st, 1997 – On New Year's Eve the Starfleet board of Admiralty along with Starfleet's newest member Vice Admiral Jack Crichton and the Starfleet Special Advisory Council (the Scoobies and the Cordettes) deliberated for some time on the subject of revealing their existence to the United Nations. With voting eventually in favour of the move despite some objections, Admiral Giles, Vice Admiral(s) Summers and Calendar beamed down to the United Nations assembly and informed the gathered representatives of their intention to fall under the command of the UN; so that no one nation can seize control of the fledgling organisation.
January 1st, 1998 – Starfleet reveals itself to the general public.
January 8th, 1998 – With Starfleet officially ratified under the control of the UN, the slowly growing organisation begins to expand current operations. Training and recruitment is increased as Starfleet begins preparations to construct Starfleet Academy in San Francisco. With help of the fleet, Deep Space Nine is moved to the L2 Lagrange point, 1.5 million km from Earth. The Utopia Planitia Shipyards are moved to Mars. Earth Spacedock is officially renamed Starbase One.
January 13th, 1998 – Long range inter system scans reveal significant Tritanium and Duranium deposits on Mars, three of Saturn's Moons – Enceladus, Mimas, and Dione. Scans had also shown significant deposits of Dilithium on Titan and a large deposit of Benamite crystals on Rhea. Plans are made to set up and begin mining operations within the next eight months.
January 21st, 1998 – The heads of Utopia Planitia Shipyards, Jonathan Levinson, Warren Mears and Andrew Wells approached the Admiralty, the Advisory Council and the UN representatives with plans to build the next generation of ships that Starfleet had in various planning stages; ship classes in particular were the Luna, Vesta and Prometheus classes while keeping up production of the more well – known ship classes such as the Galaxy, Intrepid, Sovereign and Defiant as well as others. Consequently to save confusion, the Galaxy class USS Enterprise NCC 1701 – D had been rechristened the USS Venture and affixed with a new registration – NCC 78547; the Sovereign class USS Enterprise – E had been re – registered as NCC 1701 without the letter prefix, much to the disappointment of Andrew Wells.
January 25th – 31st, 1998 – More in depth discovery of the ships that appeared during what is now called the Halloween incident, has led to the discovery of several key features that the Advisory Council and the Admiralty have ordered to be implemented within the current production of Starfleet's ships. Most notably is the Romulan cloaking device aboard the USS Defiant, the Borg transwarp coil and other Borg technologies aboard the USS Voyager, the technology that Admiral Janeway had brought back in time with her from the 25th Century, notably being the transphasic torpedoes and the retractable ablative armour. Also discovered in the ship's memory banks was data pertaining to Harry Kim's and Seven of Nine's initial work on Quantum Slipstream technology. The discovery that the Enterprise D, now the USS Venture, had the Interphasing cloaking device that had been developed in secret and tested aboard the USS Pegasus (William Riker's first ship posting.) before that ship's destruction had been surprising. Discovered aboard the Aventine was a fully functional Quantum Slipstream drive. The Enterprise had been outfitted with ablative armour generators, transphasic torpedoes and higher rated Phaser arrays; upon discovery as to why, the Advisory Council was appalled to discover that the reasons for the refit was that the Borg had invaded the Alpha Quadrant en masse and had been systematically destroying Federation and allied worlds. This led to the summation that the ships had been pulled from the Star Trek universe at different points in time.
February 1st, 1998 – Fearing an incident where the Borg were somehow to be created from the technology discovered aboard the USS Voyager, the Special Advisory Council and the Admiralty ordered the more dangerous Borg technology to be removed from the ship and placed in isolation, much to the annoyance of Willow Rosenberg, who had expressed interest in studying said technology. Safe to say that her request was denied until safety measures could be implemented for safe study of the technology.
February 5th, 1998 – Newly appointed Commander(s) John Crichton and his friend DK, heading up Starfleet's fledgling Science and Engineering Departments approach the Advisory Council and the Admiralty with plans for the first miniaturised Quantum Slipstream Drive. After much consideration, they are given the go ahead for their project: Farscape.
February 7th, 1998 – Originally designed to prove Crichton's theory of using the Earth's gravity in order to perform a slingshot manoeuvre and achieve high speed acceleration, the Farscape One module undergoes a massive redesign and refit to facilitate the inclusion of Starfleet technology, specifically the Quantum Slipstream Drive.
June 16th, 1998 – The demonic group known as the Scourge detonate a magical weapon in downtown Los Angeles, thereby exposing the world at large to the supernatural. Millions of humans and non – violent demons were killed. Ironically enough the LA offices of Wolfram and Hart were caught in the attack as well, killing all employees in the building; the Senior Partners begin a recruitment drive.
June 18th, 1998 – After being in closed session for the last two days, the UN officially declared war on the Scourge and other violent demon sects. With the aid of the Watchers Council, Starfleet took the fight to them and with aid from the UN; Starfleet formed the MACO's. Commander Crichton's Farscape project is temporarily put on hold.
June 23rd, 1998 – Under orders from the UN and the President of the United States, the Demon Research Initiative is folded into Starfleet and Captain Riley Finn begins to lead the MACO's in the first of several successful battles against the Scourge and other violent demons.
February 3rd, 1999 – The Initiative is almost destroyed from within when project leader Dr. Margaret Walsh lost control over ADAM. The project took severe casualties before Finn, Lt Cmdr. Graham Miller and Lt. Forrest Gates managed to destroy ADAM's primary and secondary CPU, taking serious injuries themselves. Unfortunately, a stray blast from a fatally wounded Lt. Gate's Phaser hit ADAM in his uranium power core. With only seconds to spare the wounded Gates had moved over to ADAM's body and placed his communicator upon ADAM after he had contacted the Enterprise in orbit. Under the command of Captain Alexander Harris, the Enterprise beamed ADAM's body up into space and it was able to detonate safely. Lt. Gates died of his wounds shortly afterwards.
February 6th – 18th, 1999 – Margaret Walsh is arrested and tried for crimes against humanity when it was discovered that ADAM was made from combined parts of human, demon and cybernetic components. Sentenced to life imprisonment in maximum security, when asked if she had anything to say in her defence, stating that the ends had justified the means she was not apologising for trying to protect her species. This incident is what eventually leads to the Eugenics Weapons Test Ban Treaty of 1999.
February 20th, 1999 – Lt. Gates is posthumously awarded a Starfleet commendation. The first Defiant class vessel to be completed at Utopia Planitia is named USS Gates, NCC 78598. The violent demons step up their attacks. Upon discovery of the death of the second Slayer Kendra, Faith Lehane is called as the Slayer.
March 12th, 1999 – Mayor Wilkins' plans for Ascension are discovered when his Deputy Mayor brings significant evidence to Starfleet's attention. Upon discovery of these facts and with knowledge of what he intended, Mayor Wilkins is arrested, tried, and executed. His last words were 'Well gosh!'
March 19th, 1999 – After much deliberation by the Advisory Council and the Admiralty, the Farscape project is reinstated, while working on the changes to the original Farscape One Module in his own home; Commander Crichton is attacked and almost killed by two unknown demon types. The Farscape project is nearly put on hold once more until Commander Crichton heals from his injuries. Crichton's friend DK takes over the project temporarily.
May 18th, 1999 – The Scourge track down Ethan Rayne and coerce him to perform another spell to beseech Janus. Fearing for his life, Rayne performed the spell to the Scourge's satisfaction, bringing ships to this reality that can rival Starfleet's. Two days later Rayne is discovered dead shortly afterward by a MACO patrol squad in Oakland.
June 1st, 1999 – The Scourge launched a three pronged attack in the solar system; they attacked Utopia Planitia, Deep Space Nine and Earth in Klingon Ships that they had Ethan Rayne bring forth into reality. The attack fails with Starfleet driving the enemy out of the system, but the Scourge still managed to inflict heavy losses on Starfleet. The war steps up.
June 9th, 1999 – Commander Crichton resumes leadership of the Farscape project; upon discovery that DK had completed the Farscape One Module, Crichton and his friend approached the Advisory Council for permission for a test flight of their miniature quantum slipstream drive.
June 11th, 1999 – The Starfleet Advisory Council and the Admiralty sign off on the Farscape test flight. Farscape One is scheduled to launch in two weeks.
06:50 June 25th, 1999
Farscape One Test Flight
Starbase One
He sat there in the lounge looking out the window down upon Earth; as he looked out at North America, he couldn't help but wonder how the war was going down there… and that was a depressing thought. He had enough to worry about today with the test flight and everything, thinking about what the Scourge was up to next wasn't helping him in the slightest. Besides that was a job for the Advisory Council and the Admiralty.
As he saw the sun rising above the Earth, he watched as Voyager and the Defiant continued on their routine patrol of the solar system. Latest intelligence reports had stated that the Scourge had been probing for weaknesses along the outskirts of the system near Pluto and Neptune; he knew that Starfleet... and nearly two years on, it was still crazy to know that Starfleet was and is a reality.
He sobered, but then so was magic. And demons and vampires. It was a strange concept for him, thinking of the two things that were so completely different yet here they were, hand in hand. He shook his head free of those thoughts as he had his own insecurities to sort out. There was just something about today… a feeling…
John shook his head again, trying to clear it. It was probably just pre – flight nerves or something; as he looked at his watch and checked the time, he got up out of his seat and walked over to the window and looked out at the blue green orb that was his home.
"I thought that I'd find you here."
John turned around at the voice of one Alexander Harris, Captain of the Enterprise. That was a heady concept to think of still. An eighteen year old teenager was a Captain of one of Earth's most powerful Starships. "Just thinking… sir." And that was another thing as well. Calling him sir. Don't get him wrong, Xander was a great guy; funny to be around and a sense of humour that rivalled DK's, but when he thought about what he and his friends had been doing for the last two and a half years, who and what they had been fighting, John wouldn't say it out loud, but he was in damned awe of the young man and his friends.
"It's Xander, John." Xander said as he approached the man and stood next to him as they looked out over Earth. "Today's the day huh; you must be feeling pretty nervous?"
"Yeah." He turned and looked at his friend. "I still can't get my head around it… all this sometimes! All of this!" He said to the young Captain.
Xander understood where the astronaut was coming from; even he still couldn't believe everything that had happened since 1997.
"Last year before Giles revealed Starfleet to the UN and to the world, the Farscape project was supposed to be used to test a theory. A theory!" John started; Xander listened as Crichton explained that the module was designed to see if it was possible to use the Earth's natural gravitational pull to increase its speed. "That's what I was set out to prove, that my theory was right. My mind's been blown away thinking of concepts like warp theory and quantum slipstream. Now I'm testing out a miniaturised engine. I was originally all set to drive a Ferrari, now I'm suddenly driving a tricked out Lamborghini."
"There's nothing wrong with that, John. Sometimes it's good to actually do something like this every now and then, you know? " Xander said.
"Yes there is, Xander." Crichton stated emphatically. "When Halloween ended and the ships and facilities stayed and you decided to use them, did you or the others ever feel like you were moving too fast so suddenly, I mean here you were suddenly filled with knowledge about twenty – fourth century technology and access to Starships and humans as a species hadn't even been to Mars yet?"
"Yes." Xander said truthfully. "Definitely, how could we not, John?" Xander rebutted before continuing. "Sometimes some of us still do. Look where we are at now; we're on the eve of testing a miniaturised Quantum Slipstream Drive and we're at war with demons with access to Starships."
"I know that Xander, but I still can't get over the feeling that because of Halloween, my project has been took over." Crichton finished quietly. Xander looked at the man and could feel his despair over the matter, the feeling of disillusionment was palpable to him. "While a part of me likes playing with all of the fancy new future tech, giving my Module all the latest toys and gadgets and bells and whistles, another part of me can't help but resent the fact that my module isn't the module I that designed anymore."
"That's ridiculous John, of course it's your module, regardless of whatever's put into it. She's your baby, John that's not going to change." Xander said trying to console him, but John still had that nagging doubt, or was it something else.
The silence stretched as both men didn't know what to say to each other; whilst Xander did understand how John felt, he didn't know how to help John with his problems. The silence stretched further and Crichton felt like a heel for unloading his feelings upon his young friend, he decided that a change of subject was needed. "How's the Enterprise doing? She got pretty banged up chasing after the Scourge near Barnard's Star."
Xander was kind of grateful for the change in subject. "Not just the Enterprise, the D took a beating as well." Xander said, still calling the Venture by the old Enterprise D prefix; as he remembered chasing the Scourge's fleet of Klingon ships out of the solar system when they had launched their three sided attack. "It took us completely by surprise when we found that they were in possession of Klingon Starships. But they're doing OK. The boys at Mars say that the D is nearly repaired. The Enterprise just got out of dry – dock this morning." The young Captain finished.
"Where's she headed off to now then?" Crichton asked looking at the young man.
"Outer system patrol. Long range sensors have picked up the Scourge trying to poke holes in our defences near Pluto, but we've detected a build – up of ships out by Wolf 359. Giles wants the Enterprise to head out and investigate; I think he's hoping that having the Enterprise out there backing up the Aventine and the new Prometheus ships will discourage them from attacking again."
"And what do you think?" John asked, curious about Xander's opinion.
"They're going to attack regardless, whether the Enterprise is there or not." He said flatly. "The only question is when." Xander shook his head, tired of talking about the Scourge and this damned war for the moment. "What times the test flight?"
"07:30." Crichton replied. "I'm heading down there now; DK's probably worrying I'm not gonna turn up or something." Crichton turned fully to face Xander and extended his right hand, Xander returned the gesture and shook John's hand.
"Good luck out there, John." Xander said. "I'll see you when I get back."
"Right, Xan. I'll see you then." John returned before both men let go and John moved off toward the Turbolift. Xander watched him go as Crichton neared the door and stepped inside as the Turbolift opened and allowed him entry.
"Shuttlebay five." John called out, as the lift began moving towards its destination, John pondered just what it was that he was doing. "Damn it, what the hell is wrong with me?" He muttered as he leaned against the wall of the Turbolift. "Maybe he's right and it is just pre – flight nerves." Crichton shook his head again, trying to free himself of his doubts, he shouldn't be thinking like this now.
As the Turbolift came to a stop and the doors opened it was as if that he knew by magic that DK was waiting there. In the two years since they and his dad had been recruited, DK had changed; wearing a Starfleet engineer's uniform Douglas Knox was a stark contrast from how he used to be. Gone was the T – shirts and shorts and sandals and trainers, unless he was off duty. DK now looked like a consummate professional. The last two years had been good to him, allowing him to work with this technology. "There you are." DK started as John got out of the Turbolift and made his way towards the Shuttlebay ready room.
"John? Is everything all right? Hey john?!" DK called out to him as he quickly caught up to his friend. Along the way as they were walking, he saw through an observation window the module surrounded by a team of technicians and engineers. It was bigger than he had originally intended it to be; originally envisioning the craft to be no bigger than five meters long and three meters wide, Farscape One was now double that. He looked at the nacelles that had been fitted into the design of the module as well as the main deflector array affixed into the bored out nose of the module. He also saw a type XIV shield generator fixed atop of the module, a type XIII phaser array affixed at the aft of the module and two of the newest type XVI pulse phaser arrays that Jonny had been working on at Utopia Planitia affixed at the fore. He didn't think that they were ready to be installed yet.
"Yeah… yeah." John said finally acknowledging the man. "Everything's fine D. Just nerves or something."
DK nodded and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Well good. Come on, everything's nearly ready." He said as he led Crichton into the ready room and he made his way over to a nearby table covered with a few data pads.
"So how's she looking?" Crichton asked.
"The module's looking fine John." DK responded as he perused a specific data pad and cross checked the data on another pad. "The latest computer simulations showed that everything was performing as it should be." The engineer and scientist stated. "The data showed that the module's drive had performed exactly as it should; the energy was focused through the ships' main deflector and generated a quantum field that penetrated through the quantum barrier."
"What about the phase variance?" John asked.
"Phase variance was nominal and well within normal parameters. The on – board computer was fast enough to keep with and make the appropriate phase corrections and the simulation showed that the drive's quantum matrix remained stable throughout." DK said as he looked at his friend. "John, the quantum threshold held. It's going to work."
"Alright, how about everything else, the RCS thrusters, the –" Crichton asked.
"The RCS thrusters, impulse drive and life support systems are functioning normally, as are navigation and helm control. Inertial dampeners are online and sensors are nominal and the communications system is fully functional. Should anything go wrong with the drive, the main ejection system reports as fully functional and the back – up warp core reads nominal… and before you ask, yes the matter/anti – matter intermix chamber reports as nominal as well."
"And what about the weapons systems and shields, D?" John asked.
DK sighed, he knew that John had been dead set against having the weapons and defences installed on the module, but his father had overruled him, due to the war with the Scourge. "Weapons and shields are functional as well, John." The scientist said as reassuring as he could. "As of 07:00, launch conditions are optimal." A smile suddenly adorned DK's face. "Final checks are underway and Captain Chase is standing by with the USS Gates in position."
John chuckled a little. "You still hoping for a date with her, man? She's eighteen. And a Captain of a warship, besides, she and Xander are still together as far as I know." He finished with a sardonic grin.
"Don't take away my dream, buddy." DK pleaded.
John chuckled and held his hands up in surrender before he sobered. "Okay… how are the CRC numbers?"
"Mid – 30's and holding." DK said as he looked at another pad with the information on it. "However Ops has got some kind of hiccup on the sensors they're currently checking out –"
"What hiccup?" John asked as he looked at his friend. "I wasn't informed about any hiccup."
"Will you relax, John." DK said/half pleaded. "It's probably some type of sensor glitch." He sighed as John whipped the data pad from his hand and turns away to read it himself; maybe this is what had got him so nervous, John thought to himself. As he read the pad, DK grabbed a magazine from the table that had been near the collection of pads. He had been reading that magazine before and seeing how wound up his friend was he tried another tactic to relax his friend. "See our latest press? 'Childhood friends, originally set out to prove a theory, now test out new propulsion engine.' Huh?" It didn't work as it was another reminder for John that his original theory had been left high and dry and without a word, Crichton whipped the magazine out of DK's hand and tossed it away before turning away.
"Man, what is wrong with you?" DK asked exasperated.
John took a breath to calm down. "D, you know that feeling you have the night before something really big is about to happen in your life?" He asked before continuing. "It's… it's like the night before graduation, it's the night before we started thinking about the slingshot theory, and the night we thought about signing up with Xander, Buffy and the others… I had that same feeling last night when I was having my check up in the Infirmary."
DK seemed troubled by John's seriousness. "Is this experiment that important to you?"
John sighed. "I don't know… sometimes I feel like that we got swept up in the moment when the Scoobies talked us into this."
"John… I know that we were looking forward to proving the slingshot theory could be done…" DK started to say, but before he could finish the door to the ready room opened and he watched as John's father entered the room quietly. He quietly alerted John. "Uh – oh, one small step buddy…" As DK broke away from John, Crichton spun and faced his father, Admiral Jack Crichton. Both men stood to attention.
"Easy John, I just came to see how you we're doing." Jack said in his usual Texan drawl. "You're looking pretty sharp there, Commander Crichton." Jack said before acknowledging DK.
"Sir." The man said respectfully.
"Thanks dad." John said with a small smile; he and DK shared a look for a moment as along uncomfortable silence suddenly descends upon the three of them. "Let's do this thing." John spoke suddenly as he turned and then moved towards the ready room door that led out into the Shuttlebay. Jack and DK looked at each other for a moment before following John out.
Walking over to the module John approached the ten meter craft from the nose and began to do an inspection of the craft; as he started to look at the main deflector his father and DK approached him from behind. DK walked over to a group of technicians that were standing to the right side of the craft and conferred with them while Jack began talking to his son. "I uh… talked to Maxwell and the others at Ops. They're gonna take real good care of you while you're out there." John moved onward and started to look over the portside nacelle and the wing as Jack continued. "I heard that you went AWOL from the Infirmary during your check – up…" John laughed and looked back at Jack. "… Man, back in my day at NASA, if I had ever broken quarantine like that, they would have –" Jack cut himself off as the realisation that his son might be worried about the test flight kicked in. "Son, have you got rattlers in your stomach?"
John turned to look at his dad, feigning machoism. "Aw… I've been up on the shuttle before dad, remember? Twice. And that was before we worked for Starfleet."
"It didn't matter how many times I went up, John." Jack started. "Every time – rattlers. First EVA, first time I walked on the moon –"
John headed off his father's recitation of his resume for NASA as he finished checking the impulse exhaust vents at the rear of the craft; unbeknownst to them DK glanced at them for a moment before he went back to conferring with the technicians. "I'm not goin' on the moon, dad. I'm not walking on the moon. I'm just doing a test flight."
"Yeah, an' that's the problem isn't it?" Jack asked. "It's not your slingshot theory that you're setting out to prove, it's an experimental engine." Jack looked at his son. "John, it was you an' DK that came to the Advisory Council with this."
"I know, dad." John interrupted.
Jack continued. "I know that you were all for proving your slingshot theory, so why did you come to the council with this if you don't even want to do it?"
John looked at him. "I don't not want to do it, dad. I want to do it. I want to do this!" Crichton said resolutely before he sighed. "It's just…"
"Just what?" The Admiral asked seriously.
"You get the feeling that we've moved too far, too fast?" John asked. "I mean the furthest that man has ever gone in outer space on a manned space flight before '97 was Apollo 13. Now here we are nearly two and a half years later and we're talking about setting up listening posts for the Scourge near Barnard's Star and Luhman 16. Luhman's six and a half light years away, dad."
Jack sighed. "Son, I get what you're saying I really do. Hell even I still have trouble understanding some of the concepts that we've uncovered, but human's as a species are curious… even before Starfleet. It's why you wanted to prove your slingshot theory in the first place. To see if it could be done."
"I know." John said.
"But even if the theory's changed, John. You're still setting out to prove your own idea." Jack said. "Whether it's a slingshot theory or testing a prototype engine, do you have any idea how proud of you that makes me? That's something I never did, son. All the guy's that are wearing button – down collars and neckties, they got to use their brains. All I ever got to use was my –"
Smiling a little, John cut his dad off by finishing his father's sentence as he'd heard Jack say it before. "Guts! And the seat of m' flight suit!" He finished with a sardonic chuckle.
As John steps around and checks the starboard side of the module, Jack continued. "John, I can't help bein' who I am… who I was."
John stopped and looked at him. "God dad, it's not who you are. I love who you are. It's being the son of who you are." John and Jack chuckled a little but it faded fast as John continued. "Look I… uh… I can't be your kind of hero."
"No, you can't be. And I don't want you to be son." Jack said. "Each man gets the chance to be his own kind of hero John. Your time will come and when it does, watch out. Chances are it'll be the last thing you'll ever expect." As he finished, Jack fished something out of his pants pocket and held it up for John to see.
John saw the glint of it as it reflected the light off of the interior lighting in the Shuttlebay; the Commander recognised it instantly. "Oh no. That's your good luck charm. Yuri Gagarin gave you that." He said as he started to inspect the module's cockpit.
"Well now I'm giving it to you." Jack said insistent. "Listen, you hang onto it and later tonight when you get back you can give it back to me tonight. Alright?"
Hesitantly John reached out and took the ring. "Thanks dad." John smiled at his father before the old man nodded in return.
"I'll be up in Ops watching the flight; Rupert and Jenny are planet side at the academy. I talked to them earlier, they hope the test goes well. Joyce is at DS9. We've got the press on board waiting in the lounge. Good luck, son." Jack said before he turned around and exited the Shuttlebay.
As Jack left, DK had finished conferring with the technicians and walked over to John. "Well that didn't look so bad." He said before he continued. "Does everything check out?"
"John waited a moment as he finished checking the module's auxiliary systems before he answered. "… She looks good." He said. "It feels weird not needing to wear a flight suit."
DK smiled. "The benefits of having good environmental subsystems and inertial dampening technology. G forces are a thing of the past my friend." The scientist said. "Come on, it's almost time."
"Right." Crichton said.
DK looked at the technicians and engineers muddled about around the module and the Shuttlebay. "Alright everyone, we are a go for launch. Let's clear this equipment out of the way." He called out as John climbed into the module. Crichton gave himself a moment to settle as everyone moved the equipment out of the way of the module. DK looked back at John. "OK, remember the test area is a hundred thousand kilometres out from the Starbase."
"I know." John said, reassuring his friend.
"And remember that you need to be at full impulse before you initiate the main deflector and focus the quantum field." DK repeated.
"I know, D." John repeated again. "Relax."
DK forced himself to breathe slowly, taking John's advice. "OK. Did your dad tell you about the press?" John nodded. "Well, the broadcast is about to start."
"You watch it." John said to his friend.
As DK nodded and activated the status display monitor on the module and set it to receive the press broadcast, John protested. "Hey, come on!"
"Hang on." DK rebutted as the status display monitor changed to show the press coverage.
"… Ladies and gentlemen of the press, thank you for coming. Well as you can see from the flight clock…" The Starfleet Public Announcer indicated to a display monitor to her right of the podium. "… We are at T – minus ten minutes and eighteen seconds on the clock. We are going to begin this major experimental test flight of the new miniaturised Quantum Slipstream Drive. Commander John Crichton, the son of Admiral Jack Crichton will pilot a craft of his own design as an experimental testbed to test the viability of the design. If successful, the results are anticipated to be the first concrete step towards exploring the galaxy at large. The test flight will consist of a short trip to the Procyon Star System, which is a little over eleven light years from Earth…"
"Well, at least Joanna isn't just a pretty face." John joked as he watched the broadcast and the blonde female New England born Public Announcer. "Come on." He said to DK as he switched the monitor off.
DK laughed as he stepped back from the module. "I'm gonna head on up to Ops." DK said as he moved back. "I'll see you when you get back."
Minutes later as everyone stood away from the module, Crichton looked over at DK and gave him a thumbs – up before the module hatch automatically lowered and sealed itself and its pilot inside, DK left the Shuttlebay at that moment. John started up the module's RCS thruster assembly and the impulse engines as the Shuttlebay duty officer opened the Shuttlebay doors.
Crichton waited as the doors opened exposing the Shuttlebay to the view of space, it was an incredible sight as John waited for the doors to fully retract; he looked back to see DK and everyone else safe from harm from being sucked out into open vacuum thanks to the Shuttlebay's force field keeping the atmosphere inside looking excited as they also looked out at the view.
As the doors finally retracted the module's communications system kicked in. "Farscape One, you are cleared for launch." Said the voice of the Shuttlebay duty officer.
"Roger that, Shuttlebay. I am clear for launch." John said in response before he switched the communications to the Operations frequency. "Farscape One to Ops, permission to disembark from Spacedock?"
"This is Operations, Permission granted. Good luck and Godspeed Farscape One." The voice of the Ops duty officer said over the comms.
"Roger." A moment later, the module slowly, surely rose from the floor of the Shuttlebay and slowly headed forwards out of the Shuttlebay under the power of the RCS thrusters. "Yeah that doesn't feel weird." John muttered sardonically as the module passed through the atmospheric force field before he flew the module fully out of the Shuttlebay.
Somewhere else in the Solar System
"Sir, the humans have launched their module." Said the voice of one of the warriors of the Scourge at the Sensor station aboard a cloaked Klingon Bird of Prey.
"Signal the others, stand by to attack." The Ship leader ordered his crew. "We wait until the humans have begun their test flight. Tell the ships to move in. We target the Starbase first."
"Yes, sir." The demon at the communications station replied.
The Ship leader, a demon called Murg pondered at the upcoming destruction that they were about to inflict upon the humans. He knew that the pilot of the test craft was one of the human Admiral's spawn; Murg donned a look of malice upon his rotting and scarred face; he wanted to let the human Admiral see his son die before he would grant him death as well.
Farscape One
A minute later out in open space, John could tell that the flight crew in the Shuttlebay were jumping around for joy as they watched the culmination of their work for the last two years fly. He could hardly blame them, even he had to admit even to himself as well, it did feel great despite his reservations. He allowed himself a small smile before he flew the module out fifty metres before he switched over to the impulse drive. "Starbase One, this is Farscape One. I am free and flying." John said as he opened the communications channel to Ops. "Are you with me there, Momma Bear?"
"Farscape, I'm reading you loud and clear." DK's voice said over the comms. John could tell that his friend was smiling. "You are clear to proceed."
Then a voice other than DK's comes over the communication. "Son…" It was Jack. "… I've arranged a little surprise for you. Look above."
John frowned a minute before the Farscape One's sensors registered three incoming objects coming from behind Starbase One. Looking up through the hatch dorsal viewport John gaped. "Whoa…" At full impulse, the USS Voyager, Defiant and Xander's ship, the Enterprise quickly sped into view and sailed over the module before all three Starships veered off, John watched as the Enterprise set course towards Pluto while Voyager and the Defiant headed back toward Earth orbit. "... Now that is something…"
"Good luck Son, and Godspeed." Jack's voice said once more over the comms.
'Thanks again, dad.' John thought before he acknowledged DK's message. "Roger that, Ops, I am unfolding the wings and engaging full impulse." He said as he activated the controls to unfurl the module's wings.
"Acknowledged Farscape." DK's voice called out; John quickly engaged the impulse engines and the module quickly accelerated to one quarter of lightspeed; in under six seconds Farscape One had passed the Earth's moon, travelling at a hundred and sixty – seven million miles per hour. And John hardly felt it.
"Starbase One, I have just past beyond lunar orbiting position. I am authorising the flight computer to activate the main deflector and initiating the quantum field… now." John reported.
"Roger Farscape One, you are a go for Quantum Slipstream procedure." DK's voice responded.
And as Crichton started to initiate the procedure, the module's impulse thrusters flared brighter and the module momentarily accelerated faster. As the Commander checked and monitored the small crafts' status display , he spoke. "Approaching maximum impulse… now! Activating quantum field in five… four… three –"
And that was when everything went to hell in a hand basket.
DK's voice came over the comms as John and the module was about to breach the quantum barrier. "Farscape One, hold a moment. What the –" Over the comms. DK's voice took on a tinge of worry. "Oh my God. Red Alert!"
"Hold? Starbase One, say again." John replied. 'Did DK just signal a Red Alert?!'
"Red Alert, Scourge Birds of Prey decloaking fifty thousand kilometres off of starboard! Reading weapons lock on Starbase One and… oh no…" DK's voice called out over the comms.
Over the comms. Crichton heard his father's voice order for the shields to be raised and the Starbase's weapons to be armed. "Dad! DK! What?!"
"Far…pe… do y… r..d… ab..t fl.… s.y… agai… Abor… fli…!" DK's suddenly broken voice called out over the comms. John looked at his status display and saw that the communications subspace band was being jammed by the Scourge.
"Oh crap!" John said out loud as the module's sensors registered a weapons lock.
"Th… Sc..rg… h.v… yo… .t.d…!" DK''s voice called out again. Just then, Farscape One was rocked by a near weapons impact as a Scourge claimed K'vort class Bird of Prey came upon Crichton's module on full impulse.
As John tried to move out of the way of the incoming weapons fire, Jack's voice came over the garbled comms. "Son… ab..t…! You… … t… !"
Starbase One
Operations
Thanks to the demons, things had degenerated quickly. As Jack tried to reach his Son's craft, the massive station took heavy weapons fire as the Scourge ships unloaded barrages of photon torpedoes and disruptor fire against their shields.
Then DK's voice called out. "John, DS9! Head to Deep Space Nine!"
Jack looked at the scientist. "DK, have you managed to break through the jamming?!"
"I think so, Sir!" DK said as he rushed a series of commands into the console.
"You think so?!" Jack repeated. "Son, I think you had better find out and fast!" The Admiral ordered.
"I'm trying, Sir!" And Jack knew that the young man was; the older man berated himself momentarily as he knew that DK wouldn't leave his son out there alone.
"Admiral…!" It was the former Cordette, Aurora. Starbase One's Tactical and Weapons Officer. "Three Scourge Birds of Prey, coming up from behind us, they're charging weapons. They're firing!" The station rocked momentarily under the combined assault as the shields held against the onslaught. "Shields at eighty – two percent and holding!"
"Aurora, target those ships, quantum torpedoes. Full spread!"
"Aye, Sir!" Aurora replied as she followed the Admiral's order. "Birds of Prey targeted, firing!" As Aurora fired, she and everyone watched on the view screen as two of the enemy ships, which the targeting computers had identified as B'rel class Birds of Prey exploded on impact as the torpedoes ripped through their shields. The other enemy ship, another K'vort class had been struck amid ships and everyone watched as the ship spun suddenly out of control and collided amid ships with a nearby Vor'cha class.
"Outstanding, Aurora." The Admiral called out as the station rocked under another assault from the Birds of Prey at the fore of the massive station. As the view screen changed to show the other group of enemy ships, Admiral Crichton ordered: "Targets those ships, phasers, full spread!"
As Aurora worked to acquire a weapons lock on the other group of enemy vessels, the station rocked again under another assault. "Enemy vessels targeted!"
"Fire!" The Admiral ordered.
As the phaser energy overloaded and burnt through the enemy vessel's shields and struck, another two Birds of Prey exploded whilst two more started listing away from the station.
"Sir…!" DK called out from the science station. "… I'm reading more incoming vessels… they're Starfleet!"
"Who is it?" The Admiral ordered.
"It's the Enterprise… and the Aventine!" DK called out with a glimmer of hope in his voice. But then DK face grew more concerned as he checked the sensors. "Sir, one of the Birds of Prey has changed course! It's heading away from us!"
"Where is it going?" Jack asked.
After a moment, DK checked the Bird of Prey's heading. "It's going after John."
The world suddenly bottomed out from under Jack's feet as he heard the news. "The Defiant and Voyager have also rerouted the enemy forces attacking Earth. They're coming to help." The scientist reported.
"Signal the Enterprise." The Admiral ordered, concerned for his son. "Tell Captain Harris to intercept that ship and save my son!" He ordered.
"Aye, Sir." DK responded. He was just about to do that when the station's long range sensors picked up an electromagnetic disturbance near John's position. "Uh, Admiral Crichton, Sir…"
Farscape One
John was grateful that the signal disruption had cleared up somewhat; he assumed that someone at Ops on the Starbase was trying to clean up the subspace comms. jamming and had nearly succeeded. 'Probably DK.' John thought as he valiantly dodged incoming weapons fire. He decided to follow DK's advice, but seeing as there was a Scourge ship trying to blow him into little tiny pieces, he thought it best. Still taking fire from the Bird of Prey, Crichton did his best to dodge the weapons fire as best as he could but a glancing blow from the Bird of Prey's disruptors had hit the Quantum Slipstream Drives' core housing on the module.
"Holy…!" Crichton exclaimed as the module went into a spin for a moment before the pilot recovered the craft and noticed that the slipstream drive had been damaged. "… Starfleet Command, this is Farscape One, I've been hit, I say again, I've been hit! Slipstream drive is offline, impulse engines are offline… I've lost RCS thrusters and inertial dampeners." There was a flash of blue light off to the portside of the module, and then a flash of green as the Bird of Prey decided to take another pot – shot at him. The shields of the module barely held as the small craft began to spin end over end towards the blue light. With the Scourge Bird of Prey following right behind him.
"John!" Jack's voice called out over the comms. "There's some kind of electromagnetic disturbance near your position… It's pulling you towards it! John! Do you read? The Enterprise is on its way to your position! John!"
Crichton heard the message, but to his detriment, he quickly discovered that he couldn't transmit as the weapons fire had knocked out his transmission capability. "And I've lost transmission capability it seems." He said more to himself, grimacing.
John checked to see what functionality his module still had. After a few moments he was grateful to discover that the sensors were still operational; he focused the module's sensors towards the blue light before the increasingly closer light suddenly emitted an electromagnetic wave that encompassed both the module and the pursuing demon filled craft.
Then the Bird of Prey fired again at the small craft but missed as the spinning craft was suddenly pulled faster and faster into the disturbance. Spinning John missed the arrival of the Enterprise firing on the K'vort class Bird of Prey, the enemy vessel suddenly spun out of control over the Farscape One module as he was fixated on the disturbance.
When the K'vort hit the centre of the anomaly, another wave of electromagnetic energy erupted from the nexus of the disturbance and washed over the module as the Bird of Prey suddenly disappeared down what looked to John was like a blue shimmering sinkhole in space. He looked towards his sensors and was dismayed this time to see that they had been knocked out as the module was pulled more violently towards the sinkhole. Desperate, John tried everything he could to get away. "Starfleet Command… DK… I'm being pulled in…" John tried. "… DAD!" John screamed as finally the module was pulled inside the anomaly and disappeared. It's only witness was the Enterprise and its crew.
Enterprise
Xander watched from the centre of the Enterprises' Bridge as John's craft was pulled into the anomaly that suddenly appeared. "Transporter Room, can you get a lock on Commander Crichton and the module?" He asked over the ships' internal communications.
"I'm trying, Captain." The voice of the Enterprise's transporter officer replied over the comms. "There's too much electromagnetic interference from the anomaly. I'm trying to compensate."
"Try harder, Lieutenant." Xander ordered.
"Aye, Sir…" The officer replied. "… attempting to narrow the annular confinement - I'm losing the signal!" Just then the module disappeared down the sinkhole.
"Get it back!" Xander ordered.
"I can't, Captain. The anomaly is emitting high end electromagnetic interference. Commander Crichton's gone, sir."
Starbase One
So far the battle had turned towards Starfleet's favour; as the Defiant targeted a Scourge claimed Negh'var class ship with the assistance of the Starbase's weapons the enemy vessel rocked under the assault as their shields finally failed and Starfleet forces pressed their attack until the Negh'var was nothing but floating debris in space. Then the Defiant turned its attention toward a Vor'cha class ship that was giving Voyager a pounding.
The Ops officers on board the station watched as the Defiant assisted Voyager and then the two ships quickly turned the tables on the enemy, but seeing as how the human's had decimated their forces, the Vor'cha quickly turned away and engaged warp, leaving the scene of the battle and the two Starfleet vessels alone amongst the wreckage of burnt out and destroyed ships.
Just then, DK spoke: "Admiral, incoming hail… it's from the Enterprise."
As Jack worked to assist Aurora in putting out a fire that started when a console had exploded in a shower of sparks during the attack, he turned towards DK. "On screen." Jack turned to look at the view screen as Xander's solemn face appeared. "Xander, did you –"
"Admiral… sir, I'm sorry." Xander said before continuing. "John disappeared into some kind of sinkhole. Our sensors are unable to get a clear reading from it. My science officer believes that it could be some kind of –"
Xander trailed off as he saw the Admiral and DK's shock visibly on their faces. He turned towards the stations Weapons Officer. "Aurora, tell the Admiral that we'll be returning when we've managed to get all the sensor data we can from the anomaly."
"It's still there?" The Weapons Officer asked.
"Yes." Xander said before the girl nodded. "I'll contact Cordy and tell her to get back to Earth." He said before he looked back at the Admiral and then over at DK.
Jack wasn't listening, neither was DK. All they heard was that John, basically was gone. As one silently mourned a friend, the other a Son, Xander saw the despair that John's closest friend and father were under and decided to cease the communication.
Authors Note: -
Hello everyone, I'm back. And with a new SotL story. OK, first things first; there had been questions as to where am I, when is such and such going to be updated. I want you all to know that my current fics are still very much active, alive and writing. The reason why they were and for the time being, still delayed is because seven months ago my father was diagnosed with bowel cancer back in April. He was given four months to live without treatment. He lasted seven. Last week my father died peacefully in his sleep in hospital and his funeral was yesterday.
This was a trying time for me and my family as we were very close to my father and we're saddened by his loss in our lives.
I ask for you all to please be patient, the fics are coming. In the meantime please enjoy the beginning of this new little bit of excitement from me.
Read and Review.
Enjoy.