Star Trek is copywright of Paramount Studios and Viacom Industries, and no infringement of copywright is intended by the creator of this fan fiction, which is intended purely for entertainment alone USS Horizon takes place in the early years of the Federation, late 21st century. The stories may use 'canon' characters, vessels, planets, races, events, in order to create the fictional setting of Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. Credit is given to those persons whenever possible. This cybernovel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. -The Entity first appeared in the USS Hunter sim 1997 episode 'Where Angels Fear to Tread" gamemastered by Mark Kingsnorth.
Cdr. Stovar- XO Cdr. Thelev- Second Officer
Lt.Cdr. Jana Hasekova- Chief Engineer
Lt.Cdr. Susan Axworthy - Chief Medical Officer
Lt.Cdr. Solomon Kabala - Chief Science Officer
Lt. Cdr. Joseph Vincent - Chief Security Officer
Lt. Ryan Dugay - Chief Helmsman
Lt. Gaz - Chief Navigator
Near the Romulan Neutral Zone
As the USS Congo orbited the desolate planet, on the surface was a team of archeologists in environmental suits, all hovering over a tablet embedded in the rock. It contained ancient alien script.
The First Officer, Commander Townsend, was overseeing the landing party and the safety of this mission. With him was Chief Science Officer Ivanov who was working closely with his civilian counterparts from the London Museum of Offworld Antiquities. As far as Townsend was concerned, they were too close to the RNZ for his liking and every few minutes, would ask for a progress report which would get him glares. There was little for him to do but wait.
The planet was Class K (similar to Mars) and lacked any vegetation or life signs. It looked to the XO as just a lot of rocks and if it wasn't for the tablet, none of them would even be here.
[How's it progressing?] Came the voice of Captain Ida over the commlink. Townsend subconsciously looked to the stars, spotting the Congo, moving along like a star with a mind of its own. Another disadvantage with this planet was the location of the tablet was near the polar region, allowing only a few hours of sunlight before the alien sun dipped below the surface. They had spot lights set up which made it look like a photo shoot.
"They are still trying to translate it. They have ruled out a few I never heard of." Townsend sighed.
[Well they are running out of time. Outpost three is picking up significant comm traffic from the Romulans who are more than a bit curious why we are so damn close to the Neutral Zone.]
The XO looked up into the night sky toward roughly where the Romulan Star Empire was, four light years away. The idea of a fleet of cloaked birds-of-prey on their way sent chills down his spine. "Understood Sir." He had served under Ida long enough to know that the captain wanted things rapped up sooner than later.
Suddenly something did happen when they pressed on certain keys', raised alien script. Something hissed as gases escaped and Townsend found himself pulling out his cylinder shaped laser pistol. After fighting the Romulans only a few years ago, he might expect to be a little rattled.
After a few tense seconds, with Ivanov pulling out his scanner, did anyone realize what had happened.
Captain Ida nodded as his communications officer relayed that Townsend was hailing them. What he heard over the speakers shocked him. Screams.
He tapped the comm unit on his chair's arm rest controls. "Transporter Room, beam the landing party up now!"
"Captain, I'm reading a high energy reading from the landing party's coordinates." The relief science officer reported as he was looking into his scanner.
"An explosion?" Ida was still worried about his people as he considered the possibility of a Romulan attack.
"No. The energy reading is moving . . . Heading into the atmosphere."
Ida couldn't believe it. "What? Put it on the viewscreen." What he saw looked like a moving nebula, colorful gases but then it changed. Six birds-of-prey bearing down on him. "Romulans!"
"Sir?" The tactical officer who was watching his long range sensors for Romulan activity, since they arrived was perplexed.
"Don't just sit there, man! Fire torpedoes!" The Captain shouted as he sat in his chair. "Battle Stations. Lieutenant . . . " He addressed his Comm Officer. "Contact Outpost 3, tell them we have encountered a Romulan squadron."
Some of the Bridge personnel didn't know what was going on while the rookies among them began to get scared, those who had never faced off against a plasma torpedo slamming into their hull plating.
"Fire those goddamn torpedoes, Mr. Sanchez!"
Sanchez looked at the screen but all he saw was the nebula like cloud, glancing at his sensor readings for all of a few seconds to initiate some sort of lock, he turned to see the birds-of-prey himself. He pushed the fire button.
Spacial torpedoes blasted from their tubes while a few junior officers tried to see their targets, assuming the Romulans must be cloaked. The warheads didn't impact or at least it looked that way until Captain Ida shouted out a direct hit. There was a direct hit, to the location where the landing party and the relic was located. A mushroom cloud had reduced it to dust.
The situation deteriorated when Sanchez reported that Romulans had come aboard, at least three dozen. The helmsman looked at the viewscreen but saw the multi colored cloud, nothing more. The navigator looked over at him with at first sheer terror which turned to hatred as he jumped out of his seat and plummeted his fellow flight control officer with his fists then his feet after the helmsman fell out his chair.
"Sir, the Romulans are accessing the computer's memory bank on the Federation's defenses including specifications of all our starship classes!" Sanchez shouted over what was becoming pandemonium.
"Stop them!" Ida came around the railing.
"I can't! They have control of two decks including the Engine Room. They are rerouting helm and navigation function to Auxiliary Control."
Ida looked at the helm-navigation console, splattered with the helmsman's blood. On the viewscreen, at least twenty more birds-of-prey decloaked. It looked like an invasion force with Earth only forty light years away. "Sanchez we have to blow up the ship."
Sanchez activated the main computer. "We still can access the auto-destruct."
"Do it. A warp core breach should take a good chuck of the Rommie fleet with us and stop them from using whatever they got from our own computers against our forces." Ida waited impatiently as Sanchez brought up the program.
The navigator went after the communications officer who grabbed a stylo that was lying beside a padd and stabbed his attacker right through the heart. The helmsman collapsed into the command well, dead.
"Okay Captain." Sanchez prompted.
"Captain Yasuji Ida, self destruct sequence zero, zero, mark zero."
"Lt. Commander Miguel Sanchez, Second Officer . . . "
The Starship Congo exploded, taking 93 crewmen with it leaving nothing left but a scattered debris field. Some of it was pulled by the planet's gravity into burning up into the atmosphere. The only working piece, albeit battered, was the ship's recorder marker which had begun transmitting a homing signal.
The mysterious cloud was gone and only death and destruction remained.
Captain Huke Williams of the USS Horizon was in his Ready Room off the Bridge. He was doing up field reports that would be sent via subspace communications to relays and eventually into the hands of Starfleet Command. It was routine, perhaps too routine.
He had a lot to adjust in just the past few months. The formation of a political union with four other planets called the United Federation of Planets was heavy in idealism but still required people strong enough to move it forward without it collapsing upon itself. Starfleet was just as ambitious trying to incorporate five militaries with eventual multi-species crews. Williams had only a few non-humans aboard and it seemed a struggle to remind them and everyone else of the new reality. The new Starfleet, sharing the name of Earth's space force, had undergone many changes just since its conception. The use of United Starship for Starfleet vessels to be applied to all member military vessels regardless of whether it was a Surak, NX or the new Daedalus class.
Uniforms were also universal for all member worlds. Gone was the old Starfleet jumpsuit, that he had thought practical, for a design that featured a department colored shirt, three-quarter length pants that over lapped boots. He found the pants bizarre as if they were too short for him without the boots. Gold shirts were worn by Command, blue by Sciences and a new color, tan, by Services. Even his female crew had a slight variant to the shirt, having a scooped collar rather than the crew neck he wore. He wasn't sure why that was but suspected bureaucrats with nothing better to do.
Ship insignia was nothing new to him. The old jumpsuits had the ship patch on the upper right sleeve. These were different. Every ship had a unique insignia worn on the left breast of the shirt. The Horizon was given a gold vertical ellipse - some of the crewmen sarcastically called the egg badge'- that had one of the three branch symbols within it.
One thing that was unusual, as far as Williams was concerned, was the lack of differing rank insignia. It was possible that bringing in the various space forces that had wide-ranging insignias meant that something new had to be developed. At this point, it had yet to happen. Officers, including the captain had a single ring while crewmen had none. Admirals had a single wider ring. It was simplistic and he suspected was fabricated by the logical Vulcans.
It took some getting used to beyond the cosmetic changes.
The intercom whistled and he tapped the transmit button on his desk. "Williams here."
[Sir, receiving a message from Starfleet.] Reported Lieutenant Rajiv Chandra, his Communications Officer.
Starfleet? Now what? "Put it through in here, Lieutenant."
His monitor came alive but the old veteran with white hair and a terse manner that often portrayed the admiralty was replaced with an attractive dark-haired woman. If he remembered correctly, she was Admiral Chryseis Carinae. She had made a name for herself in the Alpha Centaurian Defense Force and when the powers that be were filling the new admiralty, she was selected. One story had her single handedly take on four Orion pirate ships. One thing that puzzled him was that Alpha Centaurians looked just as human as Terrans did; not even pointed ears or blue skin. The insignia on her uniform was the starburst, which had become the symbol of the new Starfleet.
"Admiral." He said after he realized he was staring at her. Must be out in space too long.
[We have lost contact with the Starship Congo in Sector Z-6.] She told him, sitting behind her desk at headquarters. The blue Federation flag draped to her left.
He didn't need to bring up the star charts for that particular sector. "Do you think it has something to do with the Romulans?"
[Conjecture right now, Captain.]
"Can I ask why they were so close to the Neutral Zone."
[During the Romulan War, the Starship Ranger located what was a 2,000-year-old ancient tablet on Falbos III in the sector. As the conflict did not warrant study at that time, it was cataloged. Now with the border outposts in place, we have a safer climate to do that study and that was what the Congo was doing.]
"Don't tell me. I'm the only ship in the quadrant." It was a Starfleet idiom for being the only available ship in a given area, as a quadrant was a quarter of the galaxy. "Do I enter the area under the assumption that the Congo came under attack?" He wanted to know the rules of engagement since any vessel that crossed the Neutral Zone from either side was a declaration of war.
[The USS Tu'Vok is twenty light years away. I know it is little comfort but you know the condition of the fleet. Space is not small.] She paused. [I do not have to warn you of the implications of whatever actions you commit could lead the Federation into a war with the Romulans. I advise caution.]
The Tu'Vok was a Surak Class cruiser formerly of the Vulcan High Command but now commissioned into the new Starfleet. It was expected that indigenous ships before the union would be eventually phased out by new designs giving it that multi-species look the politicians were after. The Daedalus class was one such baby of that joint effort.
"Understood." The monitor faded after communications ended and he found himself staring at the blank screen. One misstep on his part could lead to a second war and this time dragging their fraternal partners along for the ride. He pressed the comm button again. "Lieutenant Gaz, plot a course to the Falbos system, third planet. Lieutenant Dugay, warp six. The Ship is to be on Condition Yellow."
He got the acknowledgment of his Tellarite navigator and Terran helmsman. He also knew that his Vulcan first officer, Commander Stovar, would soon be in his office. Commander Thera, his Second Officer from Andor was below decks.
Williams spoke aloud to the computer as he leaned back in his chair, gazing out at the stars at the Horizon entered warp speed. "Captain's Log, August-. Computer halt recording and erase. Start from the beginning." Another change as a result of this Federation was the dating system. Five planets used five different calendars that varied so much there was no common ground. Hence the mathematical formula that divided time into microseconds - sounded like a Vulcan invention- and was commonly called a stardate. He still had to catch himself from using the old Earth calendar and suspected a lot of Terran captains were doing the same. After all they had been using the Gregorian calendar since the 16th century. He sighed, knowing it was futile to fight progress.
Captain's Log,
Stardate:164.4
We've been ordered to the Falbos system to search for the missing
Starship Congo. As it is so close to the Neutral Zone, I've ordered
the ship on Condition Yellow. Starfleet has not determined if
the Romulans are involved. I am cautious at this point until I
have more information. This will be the first test of the Horizon's
capabilities since its launch three months ago and although my
Chief Engineer is certain all will be fine, I'm not so sure.
As he expected, Stovar came into his office. The Vulcan looked young but that was a mute observation because of their longevity made age guessing virtually impossible. He had been a subcommander in the Vulcan High Command and had been transferred over from the Tu'Vok. Relations between Williams and the Tu'Vok's captain, Stom, was difficult in the best of time and only made worse by the transfer. Stom had been opposed to the Federation but when his ship was assigned to the new Starfleet, he hadn't resigned in protest. Now he was just a pain in the ass.
"Captain, may I ask what prompted the current status of Condition Yellow?" Stovar had his hands laced behind his back. His tone, as always, was formal.
The door buzzer went off before Williams had a chance to explain and Commander Thera, his Andorian Second Officer entered. She was rather attractive - if you were into blue women - but herr attitude was adversarial and had been since she first stepped on the Horizon. She looked suspiciously at the two males in the room. "What's going on?"
"Starfleet has lost contact with the Congo in the Falbos system and we have been ordered to investigate." Williams informed them.
"Falbos system is four light years from the Neutral Zone." Stovar reported. The walking encyclopedia.
"You think the Romulans are behind it?" She crossed her arms, mentally prepared for battle but suspecting the Vulcan pacifist would counter it and she was not disappointed.
"Without further evidence, we must assume other possibilities."
"I am not ruling out anything, Mr. Stovar, but if it was an attack then I rather be ready."
"Are you?" Thera put her hands on the desk and leaned over. "It was your war with the Romulans that created the Neutral Zone in the first place and now that we are this grand Federation, the rest of us have to fall in behind you . . . It looks like Earth got the lion's share out of this treaty. The Council, Starfleet Command, the Academy, even the President's office are all on your world. The current president is human." She said human as if it was an affliction. "Your English language has because the official tongue and we are using Earth time, three hours longer than Andor's. Starfleet itself is named after your space force. It almost looks like a Terran Empire and the rest of us are your vassals."
Williams allowed her to rave. All parties had made compromises but he wasn't going to debate this. "Accept it, Commander." He snapped feeling a headache coming on. "We're all on the same team now and as an officer on my ship, I'd expect you to act in accordance with that. We're all a little uncomfortable, after all this is new to all of us but it is no excuse for bigotry, not on my watch. If you have a problem, Commander, I'd suggest you request a transfer to an Andorian-crewed vessel but we here have work to do."
Stovar raised an eyebrow but otherwise did not comment. Thera attempted to remain defiant but Williams knew she had no leverage. The former Andorian Imperial Guard had assigned her to this mostly human ship as a sign of unity and were not about to have her wish to be elsewhere, not when a Vulcan remained.
After a few seconds, Williams continued. "Mr. Stovar, arrange a senior staff meeting for one hour's time."
The Briefing Room was located on C Deck. A rectangular table was situated in the center with three chairs on both sides. The captain's chair was at one end and a 32-inch monitor was at the other.
Besides Williams, Stovar and Thera, were the rest of the senior crew. Chief Engineer Jana Haskova whom the captain once admitted was the first female CEO he had ever served with. Her blonde hair was just above the shoulders of her tan shirt in a popular style of the times.
Chief Science Officer Solomon Kabala was a dark-skinned man who was one of the few humans to also attend the Vulcan Science Academy. He was considered a leading scholar in a number of fields and Starfleet made it known that Williams should feel lucky to have him. Kabala had the monitor control panel in front of him.
Dr. Susan Axworthy, another blonde, was the only one to have served with the captain on a previous assignment, the SS Excalibur. She had been personally requested by him when he met her on Starbase 3.
Chief Security Officer Allan Vincent also attended. He too had blond hair but kept short in a military style crew cut. He was the only human on the senior staff not born on Earth. His father had been a diplomat stationed with the Terran Embassy on Alpha Centauri and most of his childhood memories are of this world.
Bridge officers Ryan Dugay, Gaz and Rajiv Chandra were not required. Thera was defacto Chief of Operations and was their immediate superior.
Williams filled them in on what Starfleet had told him as Kabala brought up the Falbos system from the memory banks and displayed it on the screen. The first display was of the sector, showing the Earth outposts that were stationed along the Neutral Zone.
"If none of the outposts picked up Romulan ships on sensors-." Jana was cut off by Vincent.
"If they were cloaked, we wouldn't detect a thing until they were right in our face."
"True, Mr. Vincent but I can't imagine the Romulans trying to start a new war." Kabala added.
"How do you know, Science Officer?" Thera growled. "Do you even know what they look like? Then how do you know what intentions they might have."
Williams remembered on the Excalibur that many had thought the Romulans were reptilian, it gave them a loathsome quality. In fact no one knew what they looked like. Almost all the battles during the war were fought by starships that resulted in no prisoners or even corpses. It was almost bizarre to fight a war when you never saw the enemy's face only their cursed birds-of-prey, named for the avian without swept wings that graced their ventral hull.
"I would like to remind the senior staff that we do not have any facts as yet to confirm that the Congo's disappearance was the result of a Romulan attack. These assumptions may be proven inaccurate. I advise, Captain that we continue at Condition Yellow and that Sickbay be made ready for the possibility of many injured from the Congo. This is but a precaution as there are no facts to base this implementation on." Stovar was the ship's devil's advocate and presented a logical viewpoint over the often emotional tide around the table.
"I can have Sickbay ready but if there are a lot of wounded, I'll need a cargo bay converted for triage." Susan pointed out.
"We're getting ahead of ourselves. Engineer, have a team ready to make the necessary room in the cargo bay if it becomes warranted." Williams ordered Jana who acknowledged. He then addressed Kabala. "I want long range sensors at optimal and to deal with this matter only. If there is even a slight deviation, I want to know. What do we know of the Falbos system?"
"Just the Ranger's initial sweep during the war. Ten planets with the third being Class K. Five outer planets are gas giants. Captain, I know this takes presidence, but there is a brief window in which we can take the trilithium sample to the reserach facility on Alpha III before it becomes unstable."
"So noted. What about this tablet?" Kabala had nothing to add so he turned to his two alien officers.
"It did not meet the criteria for study." Replied the Vulcan First Officer. He was not the first to hold such a position on a ship dominated by Earthmen but it was still strange to see a Vulcan in the same uniform.
Thera folded her arms. "I find myself in agreement with the Vulcan. Falbos was not worth it."
Sensor sweeps detected a recorder marker's beacon as the Horizon entered the Falbos system, heading for the third planet. The starship's ordinance of laser banks and fusion torpedoes were put on standby as their crews awaited orders from the Bridge. Dugay had weapons control on his helm console as a targeting sensor extended out when needed. It was a drastic change from a decade ago when there was a tactical station for this purpose. The helmsman was briefed and was as good a marksman as he was a pilot.
The deflector klaxon went off with its beep-beep-beep and blinking red light on the flight control console. Something was out there for the deflector screen to come on.
Williams spun around in his chair to face Kabala who was at his right. The Science Officer was already looking into the scanner. "Debris, Captain. Consistent with the tonnage of a Messier class starship."
"Can you find traces of weapons fire?" Williams asked as his attention changed from the viewscreen that showed Falbos III to Kabala and back. He needed to know whether a plasma torpedo destroyed the Congo.
"It looks more like an internal explosion but I can't be certain . . . Wait I have its recorder marker's beacon. Isolated it . . . I have its coordinates, Captain."
Williams tapped his comm panel on his chair. "Transporter Room, prepare to lock onto recorder marker at these coordinates . . . " Kabala read them aloud and to the chief down on F Deck. acknowledged.
After Kabala had a chance to download the recorder marker's database and quickly go over the megabytes of information, he was ready to present it to the Captain.
Williams stood behind him on the Bridge, which due to the spherical design of the primary hull was on B Deck. The Science Officer began, first outlining the logs.
"They had a landing party on Falbos III which was studying the tablet. All seems normal until they apparently open it. Sensors pick up a high energy reading from their location followed by a cloud that rises into the atmosphere. This is when Captain Ida reports the arrival of Romulan birds-of-prey. The Romulans attack and board the Congo, taking Auxiliary Control and the Engine Room. It appears that the Romulans had gotten into the memory bank files on our strategic defenses when Ida ordered the self-destruct as an additional twenty birds-of-prey arrive."
"So it was the Romulans." The Captain grimaced. So much for the peace.
"The data recorder paints a totally different picture. Sensors did detect the cloud coming from the surface but nothing else. No Romulan ships are detected and internal sensors indicate only 93 humans aboard, no Romulans. They indicated that they fired a torpedo striking one of the Romulan ships but the radiation fall out on the planet matches the yield of our torpedoes. That location was the landing party site. While it appears the crew believed they were under attack, none of the instruments collaborate it."
Williams rubbed his temple. "Only thing not a contradiction is this cloud. Could it be some chemical or biological weapon that affected the crew?"
"The Congo's sensors did scan it. It uses gravimetric propulsion. The wake was registered by the ship's systems as slight tremors. The best part is that it is composed of antimatter."
"Antimatter? How is that possible? Contact with matter should have annihilated this system if it is as big as these readings indicate. What gases use gravimetric propulsion?" It was a rhetorical question and Williams didn't like mysteries, especially the kind that cost 93 lives.
"Captain . . . " Dugay said as the deflectors came on.
Williams went around the black railing into the command well to take his seat. The viewscreen showed nothing.
Dr. Axworthy was in Sickbay looking over lab results. The need for a triage had ended when there were no survivors from the Congo disaster. At the moment, she had no patients and unless something happened, she was getting caught up in paperwork'.
The power dimmed, then flickered and her monitor went black. "What the hell?" The Horizon was a recently commissioned ship but she had hoped all the bugs were out of her system. She went to reach the intercom buttom when she froze, disbelieving what she saw. Her ward had gone from no patients to being overfilled with wounded. The smell of burnt flesh mixed with sizzling circuitry. The uniforms were different, the jumpsuits they used to wear during the war. It then hit her like a ton of bricks. This was the SS Excalibur. But how could it be, she had to be hallucinating.
Someone gripped her arm and she turned to see an engineer covered in blood. "Doctor . . . "
"It's not happening." She whispered, removing his hand, which felt as real as her desk.
One of her nurses shouted. It was Shultz . . . But she had died during the Battle of Cheron, only 18-years-old . . . Damn it what was going on?
The ship shuddered violently. She remembered that a plasma torpedo had weakened the polarized hull causing even more wounded. Shultz lost her balance and her head slammed into an ECG. She died instantly.
"Hurry up, Hun!" Shouted Dr. Galace, her old CMO, over the commotion. The nurse scrambled around the dead and dying to give him the required medication. Galace looked in her direction.
Mesmerized by what she was seeing, trying to rationalize it, she was startled when someone tapped her shoulder. She half expected another critical patient only to have her nurse - the one in the here and now - looking confusingly at her. "Are you all right, Doctor?"
Susan didn't say anything as she whipped her head around to see an empty ward. No blood, no bodies.
"Reading gravimetric turbulence." Kabala reported as the ship shuddered slightly.
"If it's that antimatter cloud, you should be able to pick it up." Williams leaned forward in his chair as if that would enable him to get a better look at the viewscreen. "Raise shields, Mr. Dugay, to full power." Shields were adapted from the Vulcan design but he had no way of knowing whether they could withstand an antimatter barrage of that magnitude. The big question was what the hell was the cloud?
As if reading his mind, Stovar arrived on the Bridge. "Captain, I believe this cloud is a sentient lifeform. It has been trying to reach me telepathically."
"Sentient?" Williams paused knowing that the universe was filled with more than good old fashion bipeds or even solid beings for that matter. "What does it want?"
Thera was heading to the Engine Room, walking the length of F Deck's interconnecting strut that joined the primary and secondary hulls together. From a tactical point of view, she considered it a weak point on this design but figured the humans were influenced by the Klingon battle cruiser. She was finding it harder to get used to the new reality but should not have let her feelings be known to the Terran captain.
The corridor ahead changed and she stopped dead in her tracks. Gone were the bulkheads and in its place a destroyed settlement and the sound of weapons fire. She remembered this place, 9 years ago, Weytahm, the Vulcans called the planet Paan Mokar, either way they were fighting for control of it. The Vulcans brought the human Captain Archer to help negotiate a cease fire. What she saw were the actions before he arrived.
In her hands were chaka blades and ahead an unsuspecting Vulcan soldier whose attention was focused on one of Commander Shran's positions. She killed him as she had done then but only when his green blood was on her hands did she realize that this was the past, that it was impossible for her to have been on the Horizon one moment and on the surface of Weytahm the next. A Vulcan fired off a shot which grazed her arm and sent her tumbling back over what was left of a building's wall. She rolled down a small incline, finally to rest among rubble covered in layers of dust. She grabbed a hold of her arm, the pain was real enough.
The sound of the Vulcan language - as a sonic vibration - carried by the breeze caught her attention and her antennae twitched in that direction. Several of Surak's finest were moving toward her position, weapons drawn. She unholstered her pistol, knowing she had but one chance.
Suddenly she was back in the corridor, looking blank faced while the crew passed her by, giving her space. After she felt in control again, she continued to Engineering. She took the turbolift up one deck but when the doors opened, she was back on Weytahm. The Vulcan raised his sidearm and having no cover, she acted instinctively, charged him and knocked him down. Her fist slammed into his face twice before she felt hands grabbing her from behind. When she turned around, ready to fight, her supposed opponents were the Horizon's engineers. Another laid on the deck bleeding, a spanner near his hand.
Williams was busy looking at the sensor readings when Chandra told him Vincent wanted him.
The Captain went over to the Communications station and Chandra pressed the transmit button. "What is it, Mr. Vincent?"
[I've had to detain Commander Thera. She attacked an engineer in the Engine Room.]
Williams glanced over at Stovar who only raised an eyebrow. If the Vulcan had any emotions, it would probably be glee for having his historic adversary in such a predicament.
"Confine her to quarters until I can deal with it."
"If I may, Captain." Stovar stepped over to him. "Commander Thera is too volatile to be a Starfleet officer."
"If the Federation is ever going to work then-." Williams was cut off by Chandra.
"Excuse me Sir. Dr. Axworthy is on the line."
"Yes Doctor?"
[I have several reported cases from the crew of hallucinations. I myself have also experienced it.]
"Hallucinations? Do you know what might be causing it?" The Captain asked, staring at the viewscreen. It sounded a lot like what happened to the Congo.
[I don't know . . . I have run tests on several crewmen already with higher than normal serotonin levels. I'm not even sure it is hallucinations. My experience, I was on the Excalibur during the war and it was as if I was there reliving a memory. It seems the same for the others as well.]
"Perhaps Commander Thera was also affected." Stovar added.
"Keep me informed Doctor." Williams went down into the command well. "Mr. Dugay, give us some distance with that entity."
"Aye Captain." The Helmsman responded. Soon, the Horizon was slowly pulling back. "Mr. Kabala, what is that thing emitting?" When he turned to face his Science Officer he found that he too was experiencing a hallucination. Like Susan, his was aboard the Excalibur during the war. The Bridge was damaged and several officers were either wounded or dead. Captain Drewett was slouched over in his chair, no longer among the living. He winced then realized he had injured his arm. Susan had been right, it felt too real except all this happened three years ago.
"Commander, thirty reported casualties, ten dead. Hull breaches on C and D Decks, emergency doors holding. Impulse power down to forty percent. Port cannon damaged . . . "
He remembered that they had limped back to Daran V after the battle where he had been awarded a Medal of Valor for saving the rest of the crew. The ship shuddered and then disappeared and he found himself on a planet's surface.
"Lieutenant!"
He spun around, dressed in the Earth Starfleet jumpsuit of the SS Shenzhou, one of his early assignments in the late 2140's. The location was vaguely familiar but the scream for his attention soon took priority. When he saw Ensign Dawson being dragged under the desert sand, he reacted, as he did 15 years ago by pulling out his laser pistol and firing at the thing. The creature let out an ear shattering whine before letting her go and slipping below the sand. He rushed over to her and checked her vitals. The creature injected a venom that had paralyzed her. Her breathing was shallow. He flipped out his communicator and requested the doctor ASAP.
"Hello Captain."
Williams looked up, blocking the glare of the sun with his hand. It was a Starfleet captain and when he saw the insignia, he realized it was Captain Ida of the Congo. "You are the cloud creature, the entity responsible for these hallucinations."
"Hallucinations they are not . . . You are called human, a species that has existed for a mere 500,000 years."
Williams unholstered his sidearm, an old EM-33 laser pistol. It didn't have the firepower of the EM-60 used now but it could still kill a man or thing. He still was uncertain where he was.
"Put the gun away, Captain." The Entity changed to a little girl. "You wouldn't shoot a child would you?"
The Captain hesitated for a moment, then fired. The laser beam passed through her harmlessly to strike the sand behind her.
The Entity laughed and morphed back into Ida. "Energy, soothing energy. Do you want to know a secret, Captain. I'm going to consume your petty little planet and I'm going to enjoy it." He smiled.
"What are you?" Williams, realizing the hopelessness of the laser, slid the weapon back into its holster.
"All you need to know is that I am the slayer of worlds." The Entity felt overly confident and he again morphed, taking the likeness of a man from the first century BCE. The Horizon's commander recognized him as Julius Caesar.
"The tablet . . . It was a prison wasn't it?" Williams watched as Caesar' welded his sword.
"The Debrune thought they could contain' me. They were foolish." He morphed again into the Shenzhou's CO, Captain El-Sayed. "As you will also see."
Tentacles wrapped around Williams' legs and he fell to the sand as the beast began dragging him below. He scrabbled for his laser.
"This is a fitting place for your grave." The Entity's confidence wavered and he shouted out "No!"
Williams was awaken with Stovar's fingers place on his face in the manner of a mind meld. The Vulcan pulled back and Susan stepped forward with her scanner, began to study his physiology.
"I met the Entity." The Captain said but found his throat felt parched. "It threatened to destroy Earth." He turned to Stovar. "That little trick of yours saved my life. I almost was dinner for a nzsroitr."
"Most illogical, Captain, for you were here the whole time."
"Captain, the Entity is moving toward us." Reported Dugay as they watched on the viewscreen, the cloud encompass Falbos III which was between them and it. The planet was literally vaporized into its basic atomic molecules. With this energy, it grew in size. "Torpedoes, Sir?"
"A 475-kiloton warhead would just be an extra energy booster we don't need." Williams had a headache, the residue effects of having it inside his head. "Keep ahead of it, Mr. Dugay. Mr. Chandra, contact Starfleet and fill them in on our situation."
"I like to do further tests. Your serotonin level is high . . . " When Susan realized he was ignoring her, she became personal. "Huke, please."
"It'll have to wait." He insisted.
"Captain, I can't raise Starfleet on all channels. To much interference." Informed Chandra, with the ear piece, was listening to white noise instead of an open commlink via arrays to Earth.
Williams was cut off from responding, finding himself again with the Entity, but this time he wasn't the only one. Stovar was also brought here.
The Entity studied the First Officer. "Vulcan, a species that predates humanity by 10,000 years but even with your intellect are no equal of mine. You look like the Debrune but they were more warlike, more emotional." It paused, having appeared as a Romulan though neither Starfleet officer had ever seen one so assumed it had mimicked a Vulcan soldier before the Reformation of Surak. (In many ways that was also true for they had left Vulcan 1,800 years ago, in protest of Surak's teachings, to colonize Romulus . . . None of this would be known for another century)
"What do you want?" Williams demanded.
"I thought I made that clear before. I want to consume what you cherish. I think after Earth, I will feast on Vulcan and then the rest of your pathetic Federation."
Commander Thera, who was released from house arrest', arrived on the Bridge to see several of the officers, including Susan, huddled around Williams and Stovar. Both appeared to be in a trance.
"Their serotonin levels are high. They must be in contact with the Entity." Susan explained, looking at the reading from her scanner.
The Andorian looked at both her superior officers incompacitated. Command now rested on her shoulders. "Lock weapons on that cloud."
"It absorbs the energy, Commander." Dugay informed her. The Tellarite beside him grunted. "We could throw stones."
A warning light began blinking on the Helmsman's console. "One of our torpedoes has been armed."
Thera looked sternly at the lieutenant. "Countermand that order."
"No response. If it detonates in the Torpedo Bay . . . " Dugay let it hang for everyone knew what would happen.
The Second Officer tapped the commlink on the captain's chair. The gooseneck monitor attached to the chair came to life, showing Vincent. "Mr. Vincent, have a security detail sent to the Torpedo Bay."
Torpedoman Second Class Guido Constanza had opened the casing of a fusion torpedo and manually armed the warhead. He thought he was working on the engine of his antique 2027 Corvette, one of a very few ground vehicles from the pre-Third World War era still in existence. He last tinkered with the Vette before his enlistment and in his mind, he was there now.
The Torpedo Bay was locked down when Vincent arrived with two of his tan shirts' in tow, both armed with EM-60 laser pistols. The Security Chief first tried to access the interior by using door controls, to no avail. He then pressed the commlink to speak with those inside. The lieutenant on duty and the other torpedomen were all in fantasyland as well which allowed Constanza to do what he was doing unchecked.
"The door is locked and I've got no response from the ordinance crew." Vincent reported after he tapped a nearby commlink. He went over to a small monitor, tapped in a security override and the cameras inside the room revealed what Constanza was doing. "There is a crewman working on a torpedo. Looks like he's influence by the cloud entity."
[Chief Engineer Hasekova is on her way. You may have to disarm the torpedo but if you cannot, gently place it in one of the torpedo tubes and we'll fire it out.]
The guards looked at their chief knowing just how risky moving an armed warhead was, especially in a room of warheads.
Jana arrived wearing a tool belt and immediately went to work by removing the door control panel, exposing the wiring. Using pliers, she cut two of the wires then spliced a different pair together. The door hissed open.
Constanza reacted by picking up a pipe but never got a chance to use it as Vincent tackled him to the deck. The crewman acted like a wild man and the only way to subdue him was to use his fist.
The Entity glared at them. "I have enjoyed watching you squirm, powerless to stop me yet to primitive to accept that truth. Soon the universe will understand."
"There is no need to resort to violence." Stovar stated. "We can coexist. This galaxy alone is 100,000 light years in diameter, sufficient for such a purpose."
The Entity took the form of a Gestapo officer. Even 200 years after WWII, the sight of the black uniform with its Swastika armband was enough to disgust the captain. "I am far superior to the likes of either of you. Why share when you can have it all." He stepped toward Williams. "As we speak, your vessel will be consumed by fire and your existence, however amusing, will be over."
Williams grabbed him by the collar of its Nazi uniform. "Stop this or so help me-."
It ignored the threat and grabbed the captain's throat, squeezing until the human was gasping for air.
Susan noticed as Williams showed signs of asphyxiation and went immediately to work attempting to open his air way. Thera left it in the doctor's capable hands as she waited to hear from Vincent on whether they would all be dead.
The torpedo had a timer and they were left with a mere five minutes. It had been locked into place. Jana was attempting to over ride the warhead's computer system while Vincent assisted. The torpedoman had set up an encrypted code to prevent her from disarming it. More complex than she could have imagined. She cursed in Czech several times as the seconds ticked away. She finally pulled a spanner from her tool belt and with a rather unorthodox approach, shorted out the main program, however the backup took over. Jana then pried out the computer chip and the whole system shut down.
She held up the chip, made by the computer giant, Earthtech. "Be grateful this wasn't one of those fancy Photon torpedoes the Klingons use or we would definitely be nothing but atoms right now."
"There is definitely a place for Earth inferiority but I'd never thought I'd be glad it was in here." Vincent smirked as relief overwhelmed him. He went over to the commlink and informed the Bridge.
Stovar realized that physical combat here was not logical. This was the creation of the Entity. He instead had chosen the path of psychological warfare and placed his hand on its face. Before it could react, the Vulcan had achieved mindmeld.
It was by no means an easy mental connection. The Entity was no mere humanoid but truly an alien creature of incredible telepathic powers. Stovar was bombarded by the Entity's defensive mechanisms and for a moment believed that he would have to quit or suffer insanity. Images flooded his mind, some difficult to decipher but some surprised him. Ships, like the ones that left Vulcan to protest the Reformation, attacked the Entity. Worlds annihilate, much death and destruction. The Tablet where Vulcanoid men awaited . . . A hopeless battle then imprisonment for two millennia.
Susan sighed with relief as the Captain regained his breath. Stovar, on the other hand, showed increased brain activity and an immediate danger of apoplexy. She had taken a crash course on Vulcan anatomy under Starfleet Medical auspices at the Health Directorate on Vulcan. Though they resembled humans, albeit the pointed ears and green blood, the configuration of internal organs and the brain itself was quite different. She knew that Stovar's mental threshold exceeded humans but even he could only take so much. "I need to take Commander Stovar to Sickbay NOW!"
The urgency in the doctor's voice was not lost on Thera who motioned a couple of crewmen to assist in taking the Vulcan down to F Deck. Others took the captain. One problem escalated into another with a warning from Kabala.
"The Entity is moving toward us."
"Turn the ship around, and increase speed to Warp two, away from populated areas." Thera ordered as she sat in the captain's chair.
"Increasing speed to Warp two." Dugay responded. "Warp one . . . Warp 1.3 . . . Warp 1.5 . . . Warp 1.8 . . . Warp Two."
"The Entity is matching our speed. Will overtake us in seven seconds." Kabala was looking into his scanner.
"Warp five, Mr. Dugay." Thera clenched her fists on the armrests.
Soon, the Horizon was at her cruising speed but the Entity was not lost in their plasma trail but was gaining rapidly on them.
"Warp six." Thera hissed as the cloud was at 200,000 kilometers.
Dugay and Gav exchanged looks. Warp six had been a revolutionary achievement since the warp five engine first came into service 12 years ago but it was the maximum the current FWF-2 nacelles could take.
Chandra had Jana on the commlink. She was back in the Engine Room. [Bridge, the engines can only maintain warp six for roughly six hours but that is just theory.] It was her way of suggesting they don't exceed the posted speed limit for very long.
"Keep an eye on your precious engines, Engineer but I have little choice. We are being pursued by the Entity."
Williams snapped to, sitting up on the biobed. Susan rushed over and began scanning him. He looked over to see Stovar still unconscious
"Lie back down." She insisted, gently pushing him back onto the bed. He eventually resisted, coming to the conclusion that he wasn't in some Entity inspired dream. "I got to get to the Bridge."
"You're physically and psychologically exhausted." She looked over at the Vulcan. "If he doesn't recover soon, he'll suffer permanent brain damage. I've already given him 15 milliliters of cordrazine. I can't risk giving him anything else."
"He's mind melding with the Entity and right now is buying us time. Vulcans are resilient people, Susan." He went over to the commlink. "Williams to the Bridge. What's going on?"
[Commander Thera here, Captain. I am glad you were able to free yourself from the Entity.]
"I think Stovar's mindmelding must have distracted it enough to free my mind of its influence."
[We are at Warp six but the Entity is steadily gaining on us, now at 50,000 kilometers. I advise raising the shields to maximum.]
"They would do no good."
[I believe we have few options as our weapons simply give it strength.]
The Captain rubbed his jaw. The Entity absorbed energy so a nuclear weapon was simply useless against it, ditto for the lasers. They could only go so far at maximum warp before the stress ripped apart the Horizon yet . . . It then occurred to him. "Mr. Kabala, if I remember correctly, we were issued a trilithium sample."
[Yes, Captain.] Responded the Science Officer. [However it never remained stable enough to use as a possible power source. The research facility on Alpha III was to work on it.]
"Trilithium can inhibit the nuclear fusion of a star . . . "
[Theoretically. The Vulcan Science Directorate had stipulated that you would need more than we could stabilize for that kind of effect. I'm not even sure it could be done.]
"Could it inhibit the energy of the Entity?"
There was a pause then Kabala muttered. [I really can't say without data. It's all theory.]
"Commander, have the Chief Engineer meet me in the Torpedo Bay. Mr. Kabala, please bring the sample here." Williams didn't wait for protests as the commlink was severed.
When Kabala entered the Torpedo Bay, Williams and Jana had already removed the nuclear warhead from a torpedo. The Captain took the sample and placed it into the connecting node. Jana attached it to the arming mechanism.
"I have to warn you, Captain, trilithium is unstable." Kabala advised them as he watched.
"Noted, Mr. Kabala. What kind of yield can we expect?"
"Significant but as I've stated before. It is only theory."
Then theorize."
Kabala sighed. "For the best effect, the Entity would have to consume it. A kilogram is not likely to kill but it should weaken it."
"If this doesn't work, Captain, we might not have to worry about the Entity. Pushing the engines to the max could destroy us." Jana Cautioned.
She helped Williams load the torpedo in the port launch tube.
[Bridge to Captain Williams.]
Williams pressed the on button of the nearest commlink. "Williams here."
[The gravimetric distortions caused by the Entity has interfered with our warp field. The Entity has not overwhelmed us but remains at 20,000 kilometers.] Thera told them.
"Bring us about. Mr. Dugay, I want you to fire the port tube at the Entity on my command."
"Why hasn't it finished us off?" Inquired Jana.
"Stovar." Williams suspected the Vulcan's telepathic fight was causing the Entity some difficulty.
[We are in position.] The Andorian's voice said over the speaker.
"Fire!" Williams watched the launch from a monitor. The torpedo entered the cloud and detonated. At first there was no reaction and it looked like a dismal failure. The trilithium must have broken down which meant they were now sitting ducks.
Bolts of electrical discharge started to occur within the cloud creature then it began to fade.
You may have won this battle, human, but I will return. The Entity's voice boomed in Williams' mind and then nothing. The cloud was gone.
"Scan for antimatter." The captain ordered as he continued to watch the screen.
[Negative reading. Perhaps it is dead.]
"No, Commander. It's simply wounded; gone to whatever hell it came from." He then turned to his Science Officer. "I guess you best tell the research facility on Alpha III that they will not be getting their trilithium sample. I'm going to Sickbay."
Jana and Kabala watched him leave. "You didn't think it would work did you?" She asked him.
Kabala shook his head in amazement. "Honestly, I had my doubts."
Williams arrived at Sickbay to see Stovar still lying on the bed. At first he thought the Vulcan had not survived but Susan made it clear that the First Officer was still among the living but had fallen into a coma.
Captain's Log,
Supplemental
Dr. Axworthy has been in conference with the CMO of the USS Tu'Vok
who has looked over Stovar's vitals. It had been four very long
days but the Vulcan doctor insisted that Stovar was in a healing
trance and that only time would tell whether he was successful.
As for the Entity, no new sightings have been reported but I believe we have not seen the last of this creature. It had waited 2,000 years in its imposed prison for it to simply scurry away now.
Sensor readings indicate that the trilithium was a mere five seconds from breaking down. This means that the Entity itself might have detonated it believing it was a normal nuclear warhead, giving it the energy to rid itself of Stovar and finally finish us off.
We continue to be vigilant.