"So what do you think?"
Captain Mitch Jikrowski glanced at the engineer, trying to formulate an answer. But Lieutenant Piotr Zarenkov was beside himself with pride and wasn't listening.
The trubolift that the captain of the USS Contsantinople and his chief engineer were riding on halted. Jikrowski watched as the engineer literally danced down the corridor to his quarters, nearly crashing into two crewmen and drawing gizzical stares from others. Then the turbolift doors closed and it continued its ascent to the bridge.
The USS Constantinople was a brandnew Constitution-class starship. A popular rumor had it that the Enterprise's chief engineer, the reknown Montgomery Scott, had peronally designed the Constantinople. However, this rumor hadn't been justified as of yet.
The turbolift arrived on the bridge and Jikrowski got out and sat down in his chair. "Ensign Ghia, have we recieved our orders from Starfleet yet?" he asked the officer sitting at communications.
Ghia nodded and replied, "Yes, sir. We are to rendezvous with the Enterprise at the coordinates that were transmitted directly to Commander Sukor. Captain Kirk is going to tell you the rest of your orders."
Jikrowski swivelled his chair to look at Sukor. The Vulcan science officer calmly answered his unasked question with a nod, before returning to her work.
"Take us out, Mr. McMann," ordered Jikrowski. "Commander Sukor will give you the coordinates."
"Aye, sir," replied Lt. Bill McMann, the helmsman. "Recieving coordinates. Course laid in."
"Ahead warp factor one."
"Warp one, aye, sir."
The Constantinople broke out of Earth's orbit and warped
out toward the edge of the galaxy.
"Is Starfleet going to do anything to help us?" Captain Kirk looked exhasperated as he glanced around the officers assembled in the Enterprise's briefing room. "We've got an unexplainable phenomena occuring no less than 50 kilometers off our port side!"
Dr. McCoy mumbled something that sounded like "What else is new?", but it was quickly disguised as a cough.
"All right," said Kirk, "let's look at what we do know. What do we know about the phenomenon, Spock?"
"Captain, may I point out that this is the 7th time that you have asked me the same question?" replied the Vulcan.
Kirk groaned and rubbed his face with his hands. Scott and McCoy exchanged concerned looks. Uhura then broke in over the comm system. "Bridge to Captain Kirk."
Kirk hit the intercom button. "Kirk here. What is it, Uhura?"
"Starfleet report they're sending the USS Constantinople to aid us. The Constantinople is fresh out of San Francisco Fleet Yards. She's commanded by Captain Mitchell Jikrowski. The crew roster is boing sent to the briefing room."
"Thanks, Uhura. Kirk out." Kirk looked at the others and asked, "What do you know about the Constantinople and her captain? Spock?"
Spock cleared his throat before replying, "Mitch Jikrowski has a spotty record. He was demoted once for defying the chain of command and costing thre men their lives. He was a prime suspect when certain vaulables disappeared during his tenure there."
"I can tell you virtually nothing about the Constantinople. However, I do know the vessel's chief designer."
Kirk's eyebrow went up in a thoroughly Vulcan way. "You do. Ah, do I know him or her as well?"
"You do, sir."
A few seconds went by without a word being spoken. Then a minute. Finally, Dr. McCoy exploded, "Jesus Christ, Spock! Who is it?"
"I assure you, doctor, that no religious deities were involved," replied Spock.
"Spock? Who was the chief designer of the Constantinople?" Kirk had his I-am-in-no-mood-for-nonsense tone of voice.
"Why, Captain, he's sitting right next to Doctor McCoy. Why don't you tell us about the Constantinople, Mister Scott?"
Instantly, all eyes were on the Enterprise's chief engineer, who looked startled. He cleared his throat and said, "Well, t'begin with, th' Constantinople is a Constitution-class starship. She was scheduled t'leave port, ah, a week ago. She is jus' like th' Enterprise, only wi' newer engines. They've been broken in o'course, but they c'n go warp 7 an' warp 8 fer longer'n we can."
Kirk nodded thoughtfully. "Scotty, how come I wasn't informed about this project of yours?"
"But Ah did tell ye, sir. In th' corridor, few months back."
"Oh. That. I wasn't paying attention."
McCoy snickered. Kirk glared at him, then picked up the computer printout that Uhura had sent down via Yeoman Snail Mail. "All right," said Kirk, "I'm goint to read the names of the crew of the Constantinople. Then I want your input on what you know about each. Got it? OK. Captain Mitchell Jikrowski is commanding. Second in Command and Science Officer is Commander Sukor. Then we have Lieutenant Commander Maji as Security Chief. Lieutenant Piotr Zarenkov is engineering head, Lieutenant Bill McMann is helm, Dr. Michael Grey is medical, and ensigns Nathan van Dyke and Natalie Ghia are Navigations and Communications. Now what do we know about Ms. Ghia?"
Kirk looked at Spock, who looked at Sulu. Sulu shrugged and looked at Chekov, who did likewise and looked at Giotto. Giotto automatically looked at Scotty. Scotty just looked at McCoy, who said, "Hell if we know, Jim," and looked at him.
Kirk groaned and said, "All right, this is how we're going to do this. One at a time, we're going to choose a crewmember and cite everything we know about them. I'll start. I met Natalie Ghia on Earth -- India to be precise. She's a native of India, got dark hair and green eyes, and is a competent officer. If I remember rightly, she's got a soft spot for mysteries, real life or otherwise. She helped solve that murder case on Hardin IV half a year ago."
"You 'met' her, eh, Jim?" asked McCoy evilly. "'Met', hmmm?"
"Bug out of my personal life, Bones," growled Kirk. He turned to Spock, whose eyebrow was touching his hairline. "Your turn, Spock."
Spock shifted and the eyebrow went down. Then he said, "Commander Sukor is a Vulcan. A very adept science officer."
"Spock, did you ever meet the woman?" asked McCoy.
Before Spock could reply, Kirk told the Doctor, "Cut the commentary. It's your turn."
Grumbling under his breath, McCoy glared first at Spock then at Kirk. Then he said, "Mike Grey is two years younger than me. We grew up together in Georgia. He wasn't very trustworthy: couldn't keep a secret for beans. He got arrested and stuck in jail for shoplifting. I don't know how much he's changed, 'cus I shipped off to Medical School while he was still serving time."
Ensign Chekov cleared his throat and said, "Mr. van Dyke was in my class at the Academy. Nate and I didn't always get along, but we both graduated."
"Lt. Zarenkov was one o' the engineers workin' on the Constantinople," said Scotty. "If I'm thinkin' 'bout the right engineer, he was little jumpy and wild. Good fella, though."
Kirk looked around the table when no one volunteered any new information. "If you don't know anything about these last two," he said, "we're going to ask the computer. Spock?"
"Computer," Spock said, "give us a brief summary of the Starfleet profile of Maji."
"Working," responded the mechanical voice. A picture of what looked
like a human with brown fur, unruly silver hair, silver-green eyes, and
obsidian teeth appeared on the briefing room viewscreen."Profile accessed.
Name: Maji
Sex: presumed male
Species: unknown
Age: unknown
Homeworld: unknown
Height: 7'9"
Weight: 313 lbs
Current Rank: Lieutenant Commander
Current Assignment: Security, USS Constantinople NCC-1708
Career Path: Command
Highest Rank Achieved: Admiral
Demoted three times.
Profile summary complete."
"Computer, what was the nature of Mr. Maji's demotions?" asked Kirk.
"First demotion occured when Maji was serving onboard the USS Potemkin as a Lt. Commander in charge of engineering. Charge: striking a superior officer. Demoted to Lieutenant, junior grade.
"Second demotion occured when Maji was serving onboard the USS Gleason as a Commander in charge of the Science Division. Charge: neglection of duty and striking a superior officer. Demoted to Lieutenant."
"Ouch," commented McCoy.
"Third demotion occured when Maji was commanding the USS Benington, the USS Fort Lauderdale, and the SS Sea Watch as an Admiral during a diplomatic mission involving several other admirals. Charge: defying the chain of command and striking a superior officer. Demoted to Lieutenant (j.g.). Report complete."
McCoy let out a low whistle. "From Admiral down to Lt. (jg)," he said, "That's quite a demotion. Computer, who'd he hit?"
"Commanding officer, USS Potemkin, Captain Gary Billings. Commanding officer, USS Gleason, Captain Laura Lackey. Commander-in-Chief, Starfleet, Fleet Admiral Ben Crawson. Report complete."
"He hit the commander-in-chief of Starfleet and they didn't boot him from the service?!" exclaimed Kirk in complete amazement. "I don't know if I should congratulate him or ask for lessons."
"Computer," Spock said in an 'all business' tone, "brief summary of the Starfleet profile of Bill McMann."
"Working," A picture of a dark haired man with brown eyes and a
contagious-looking grin appeared on the briefing room viewscreens. "Profile
accessed.
Name: William "Bill" McMann
Sex: Male
Species: Human\
Age: 27
Homeworld: Earth
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 198 lbs.
Current Rank: Lieutenant
Current Assignment: helm officer, USS Constantinople NCC-1708
Career Path: Operations
Highest Rank Achieved: Lieutenant
Profile summary complete."
"Jim, if I didn't know better, I'd say they stuck all of the trouble makers together on one ship," McCoy said.
"But what about Ghia an' McMann? They've got clean records," Scotty pointed out.
"They needed someone to keep the others reigned in or something, I guess," replied McCoy.
"Captain Kirk! Captain Kirk!" Uhura's face replaced McMann's on the briefing room viewscreeens.
Kirk hit the intercom button and said, "Kirk here."
"Captain Kirk, the Constantinople is approaching our position. Captain Jikrowski is requesting permission to beam over."
"I'm on my way to the transporter room. Kirk out." He looked at
the others and said, "Spock, Bones, Scotty, you're with me. Everyone else,
scat."
Captain Kirk took his customary spot in from of the transporter controls. McCoy and Spock stood to the right of the door, and Scott manned the controls. "Energize," ordered Kirk.
Five people materialized on the transporter platform. THere were three humans, a Vulcan, and another creature. One of the humans wearing a gold command shirt stepped off of the platform and said, "I am Captain Mitch Jikrowski. Permission to come aboard?"
Kirk stepped forward and shook Jikrowski's hand saying, "Permission granted."
Jikrowski was roughly Kirk's size and stature. He had yellow/white hair in a buzz cut, blue eyes, and two small hoop earrings in his left ear. "May I introduce to you my officers?" he asked. Pointing to the Vulcan, he said, "This is Commander Sukor. She is my second in command and the head of the science department." He pointed to another human. This one was about 5'9" and had wispy light brown hair, brown eyes, and a red shirt. "Lieutenant Piotr Zarenkov is my chief engineer." He pointed to an unremarkable looking human who had dark brown hair, blue eyes, and long sideburns that reached his jaw. "And this is my Chief Medical Officer and head surgeon, Dr. Mike Grey." Finally, he pointed to an immense furred creature that towered a foot over the tallest of them. The being had silver-green eyes that seemed to glow, ears like a cat, and obsidian teeth that resembled a dog's, and raggedly cut silver hair. Kirk recognized him instantly from the profile picture. "This is my rather infamous security chief, Maji."
Kirk nodded to each officer in turn. Then he introduced his officers to the others. "I believe that if each of the Constantinople's officers pairs up his or her Enterprise equivalent, we can get this problem solved faster. What do you say, Captain?"
Jikrowski grinned broadly,revealing straight white teeth. "I agree completely, Captain."
"Then I propose we split up here, gentlemen. Spock? I trust you'll introduce Lt. Commander Maji to Mister Giotto."
"Yes sir," Spock replied crisply and motioned his two charges out
of the transporter room. Kirk watched Maji duck his head to get out of
the transporter room and wondered what the gravity was like on the man's
homeworld.
"So let me get this straight," Captain Jikrowski said. "There is an anomaly of some sort here. It's got the properties of a whirl pool. It's sucking stuff in and spitting it out in pieces. So why is Starfleet concerned?"
Kirk was getting annoyed by this young captain's snotty behavior. "Because, Captain, it is also sucking energy from all mechanical devices, not to mention suns, in this sector. The Enterprise is running at 75% power. It is also growing stronger and more potent over time. When we arrived three days ago, we only lost .5% of energy. Now we've lost 15%. It will soon become a potential hazard to everything in this area, not to mention the rest of the galaxy."
"That's a good reason," replied Jikrowski thoughtfully. "But what's my job?"
Kirk was tempted to say 'to get off my ship and out of the quadrant.' Instead he replied, "Your job is to stop it."
"Then what's your job?"
"To stop it."
"But that's the same as my job."
"So?"
"We can't have the same job."
"Yes, we can. That's how it gets done faster."
"But...."
"No 'buts', Captain," said Kirk. He was interrupted by Uhura over
the comm system (again):"Captain Kirk to the bridge! We have an emergency!"
Captain Kirk marched onto the bridge with Jikrowski at his heels. Spock and Sukor were standing at the science station. Giotto and Maji had replaced the bridge security guards, and were standing at either side of the turbolift door.
"What's going on, Spock?" asked Kirk, taking his seat. Jikrowski stood behind the command chair.
"There seems to be a sudden increase in the energy output of the anomaly. We are now running at 52% power. Certain nonessential secondary systems have been shut down," replied Spock. "I am putting the anomaly on the viewscreen now."
What looked like a spinning spiral appeared on the viewscreen. It ws blue and pink. Bolts of yellow and neon green energy were bursting throughout the thing.
"Holy crap," breathed Jikrowski. "That's the big Mama of anomalies." He looked at Kirk and asked, "Captain, may I transport back to the Constantinople with Commander Sukor? I'd like to run a few scans of our own."
"Be my guest," replied Kirk. "I trust you still know the way to the transporter room?"
"That's a good thing to put your trust in," replied Jikrowski as the turbolift door closed behind him and Sukor.
As soon as the other captain was gone, Kirk sighed and rubbed his face. It was obvious to all present that Jikrowski obviously annoyed him. Sitting up straight in his chair, he turned to the Constantinople's security chief, who hadn't moved a milimeter. "Mr. Maji," he said, "you've served in Starfleet for about half a century more than I have. Did you ever, in all of your time in the fleet, ever see such a thing before?"
Spock, Scott, and the others of Kirk's crew heard the change in Kirk's voice. When the Enterprise's captain was talking to Jikrowski, his voice didn't have a very respectful tone. It was just a day-to-day run-of-the-mill normal tone of voice. But when Kirk adressed Maji, he was more respectful and never interrupted the other. He had a respect for the older security chief because of the knowledge that the man had amassed and of the experience that he had because of his 50-odd year enlistment period. But that same respect was not mandatory when dealing with the younger, rasher, and more inexperienced captain.
Maji had not said a word during his visit to the Enterprise. Now, he considered Kirk's question thoughtfully before he answered ina deep baritone, "I think I did. Once. But before I joined Starfleet."
"How about we take this to the briefing room," said Kirk after looking startled. "Spock, Scotty, you're with me. Scotty, where's Zarenkov?"
"He went wi' his Cap'n," replied Scotty, getting up from his chair and following the others into the turbolift.
A few minutes later they reached the briefing room. After everyone had taken a seat, Kirk turned to Maji and said, "OK, can you tell us the conditions under which you saw this phenomena before?"
Maji cleared his throat and replied, "In order for you to fully understand my tale, I have to tell you a little about my people and their culture."
"Go ahead."
"To begin with, my people are the Coremoni. We live on Coremon Prime. You haven't found our planet yet, and probably won't for at least 200 of your years. There is a very good reason for this: my planet is in another galaxy."
There was silence. Spock was looking as surprised as his Vulcan heritage would allow. Kirk, who had been fiddling with his coffee cup, froze with it halfway to his mouth. Scott was the first to speak.
"Ye mean that ye come from th' other side o' the barrier? A diff'rent galaxy, diff'rent stars?" he asked. "Och, what Ah'd give t'go there."
Maji just looked at him then continued his story. "About three of your centuries ago, I was in my craft exploring a dangerous asteroid field. I stumbled upon what was known as a Murderous Maelstrom.
"The Maelstrom is a phenomena that is sort of a gateway between two galaxies. That is the only way I can explain it. But the only way to close or terminate a maelstrom is by sending something through the eye of the storm. This taxes it so much that it uses up all of the energy that makes it up when it is throwing the object into the other galaxy."
"So this thing that is hanging off our port bow is the same thing you encountered 300 years ago?" asked Kirk. "How old are you anyway?"
Maji nodded onced, slowly. "Yes, Captain," he replied. "It is. I am 793 Earth years old. By Coremoni standards, I have crossed the threshold of adulthood. You reach adulthood when you are 613 Earth years old."
"Lieutenant Commander, what exactly do we need to send through the center of the Maelstrom?" asked Spock.
"But Mister Spock, this could be th' most amain' thing ever occured!" exclaimed Scott. "Ye could travel to Maji's galaxy an' discover th' most amazin' things!"
"All of the Maelstroms." interrupted Maji, "have led to your galaxy. The Maelstrom I stumbled upon grew so powerful that the only thing large enough to close it down would be my vessel. I arrived here.
"The last few Maelstroms were closed down likewise: by ships being flown in. Before that, torpedoes were used. Recently, my people just let them operate longer in order to study them. Anyhow, when I got through, I made contact with several others who had made it across. Every one of them had come to your galaxy.
"Then a Maelstrom appeared in an area of your galaxy that was still uncharted. This was circa old-Earth year 1989. One of my colleagues decided to see if flying into it would spit him out into our own galaxy. It didn't, and he is still in this galaxy. It is a one way trip."
"So there is no harm to the ship or to its personnel?" asked Spock.
"My shields failed, but that was all," replied Maji.
"I've got it," said Kirk, slapping the table triumphantly. "Spock, signal the Constantinople of everything we know about the Maelstrom. Tell Captain Jikrowski that he is going to fly his ship into the exact middle of the Maelstrom. Return all of the Constantinople's personnel back to their ship. OK? Mr. Maji, you can return to your ship. Everyone dismissed."
Everyone stood up and left, except for Maji. The Coremoni gazed
out of the viewport where the Maelstrom was visible. It was hypnotizing
to look at with its blue and pink swirls and its green energy bolts. Maji
frowned as he stared at the thing. He felt that something wasn't right.
But what? "The colors," he muttered under his breath. "Weren't they reversed?"
Maji thumped onto the bridge from the turbolift. Maji always thumped everywhere. When you're over 7 1/2 feet tall and are made up of 313 pounds of pure, solid muscle, it's a little hard not to thump.
Walking up to the Captain's Chair, he asked, "You called?"
Without taking his eyes from the viewscreen, Jikrowski replied, "We've gotten the Enterprise's signal, and are going in. I wanted you to be here. Mr. McMann, take us in, dead center."
Maji didn't move from his position next to Jikrowski. The Maelstrom got bigger and bigger on the viewscreen. Maji's frown just got deeper and darker. Then as the Constantinople's saucer section enterred the storm, Maji remembered one important fact. One of his friends had gone through a differently colored Maelstrom and disappeared. But what was the correct color?
"The colors," he muttered. "It's all in the colors. Reverse the
colors, reverse the effect!"
The Enterprise watched as the Constantinople enterred the Murderous Maelstrom. The Bridge Crew held a collective breath, waiting for the ship to come out again.
A minute went by. Then two. Then five. Finally, Sulu said, "Shouldn't they be out by now?"
"Security to Captain Kirk," came the voice over the comm system.
Krk hit a switch on his chair and said, "Kirk here, Mr. Giotto. What's up?"
"Sir, we hadn't finished debugging the briefing room since our last mission when we planted those hearing devices. After the rest of you left the room, Maji said something strange."
Kirk glanced at Spock and replied, "What did he say?"
"Well, sir, he said, 'The colors...weren't they reversed?'"
"Thank you, Mr. Giotto. Kirk out." He turned to Spock and said, "What do you think he meant?"
"Judging from the circumstances, and the fact that the Constantinople hasn't emerged," Spock said slowly, "the only logical conclusion that I can draw is somewhat sketchy. The Maelstrom from which Maji gained access to this universe had colorations that were the complete opposite of the one through which the Constantinople enterred. If you think upon those lines, then if you reverse the order of the colors, you reverse the effect of the phenomena."
"Therefore, since the colors were the exact opposite from the originals, the Maelstrom took them to Maji's universe," Kirk said, finishing Spock's thought. "I guess there's nothing we can do. Uhura, prepare a transmission to Starfleet. Include all logs and those recordings that Security has. Sulu, set a course for our next assignment. Knichi II, wasn't it? Warp factor 2."
As soon as the Constantinople emerged from the Maelstrom and the phenomenon disappeared behind it, Captain Jikrowski knew that something was wrong. This was confirmed by the surprised and confused looks on his helmsman's and navigator's faces.
"Van Dyke. McMann. What's wrong? What's happening?"
"The stars," murmered van Dyke. "The stars are all wrong!"
[Commercial break! Commercial break! How long will these stupid announcements take?]
"what?!" exclaimed Jikrowski. He turned to Maji and asked, "What's going on?"
"The Maelstrom had opposite colorations in comparison with the ones I dealt with," replied the towering man. "I am sorry, but I noticed it too late."
There was not a sound on the bridge. Everyone had turned from their station(s) to look at the security chief.
"Do you mean . . . ?" murmered Jikrowski.
"I believe," answered Maji, "that the correct thing for me to say is this. Welcome to the Karthax galaxy."