My apologies for the delay, but I've been so held up with college work. Now the summer's here, i intend to start working in this and other stories. Stay tuned and please leave more feedback.
Enjoy!
Spartan Axel-001
Episode 1 – Arise
Travelling at impulse through space, the USS Voyager was on her long and perilous journey to the Alpha Quadrant, Earth. Home. As the ship moved through the stars, on the bridge, Harry and Tom were scanning asteroid debris, pretty mundane stuff. As they moaned their way through the work, Harry was startled by something on the sensors. A large craft emerged from behind a large asteroid. As Voyager came into visual range, Tom called Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay out of the ready room.
The ship drifted out from behind the asteroid into view. The design of ship was one the crew didn't recognise. It appeared to be comprised of a large rectangular shaped block with two large nacelles at one end. Except the ship wasn't complete. The rear half of the ship, with the engines was here, but from the look of it, the front half was missing. There was a uniform rip in the ship.
Tom took in the sights. "What the hell happened?" Harry scanned the structure. "I'm reading several gravimetric strain on the hull. Looks like the ship was pulled apart by an anomaly." "Is it in the system?" Chakotay asked. "No, the damage looks old. I'd say at least 60 years old." "Safe to assume whatever did it's long gone now." Tom quipped. Tuvok's console then bleeped. "I am reading a faint distress transmission. Curious…it appears to be an Earth signal?" Everyone looked at him shocked. "You mean Federation?" Janeway asked. "No. There are no Starfleet of Federation identifiers in the carrier wave." "I've never seen an Earth starship of this design before." Harry said. "The entire ship seems to be a vacuum as a result of the breach. I'm not reading an atmosphere." Harry's console then bleeped. "Wait. I'm reading faint power readings on board. They seem to be localised. Someone could still be on board."
Janeway ordered an immediate boarding party. As Chakotay, Paris and Harry left the bridge, Janeway use the helm console to magnify the viewer image. She could see some patterned markings on the side of the hull, but she couldn't make them out.
On the wreckage tumbling through space, five people transported aboard. Chakotay, Harry, Paris, B'elanna and Seven of Nine, all wearing EV Suits. They looked around the area they materialized in. The corridor was plain grey and square. The only light around was from the headlights on their EV Suits. The group headed down the corridor. As harry turned, he watched a PADD float past his head. "The Artificial Gravity must be offline." He summarized. B'elanna scanned the equipment and surrounding area. "Looks like everything here is offline." Chakotay tapped his communit. "Chakotay to Voyager. The ship looks abandoned. Seems like no-one's around. Any update on those power readings?" "Not yet but we've identified what looks to be a transmission being broadcast from the ship." Janeway replied. "What is it?" "We can't tell yet. The file's encrypted and its being broadcast on a secure wavelength. But from what we can tell, the transmission source is somewhere on your deck. If you can find it, you should be able to clear it up" "Understood." Chakotay then issued his orders. "Spread out. Be careful."
B'Elanna and Tom found their way to the engineering room. Tom started playing with the consoles, whilst B'elanna looked out at the main engine. It wasn't a warp core, but it looked to be a drive unit of some description. "What is it?" she asked herself aloud.
Chakotay, Harry and Seven found themselves entering a room with windows all around. They walked up to the console on the upper level. "Is this the bridge?" Harry asked. "No. Seems to be an observation point." Seven answered in her cold, to-the-point tone. Chakotay starred out of the windows until he looked up and saw Voyager. He raised his right hand and waved at them. Harry laughed slightly, whilst Seven looked confused. "You do know they can't see you." "Yeah well…" Chakotay looked at Seven, and saw her face "…never mind." The comms bleeped. "Paris to Chakotay." "Go ahead." "We're in Engineering, or whatever passes for it." B'elanna chirped in. "The drive system here is one I've never seem. There isn't a warp core. I dunno what they're using." "I hope you have some good news for me." Chakotay said optimistically. "We've managed to isolate the transmission. Breaking through the encryption now."
Harry noticed a bronze plate on the bulkhead whick stood out from the grey. He walked over and saw writing engraved on it, it was a plaque. Harry brushed the dust off it, and read out the inscription. "'UNSC FFG201 Forward Unto Dawn. Charon-class frigate. Launch date: November 22nd 2268." Tom spoke up. "This crate was launched over a hundred years ago?!" "Looks that way." B'elanna's console chirped and she smiled. "Gottit!" A transmission echoed throughout the ship.
"Req…t Imm..iat…..c. Surviv…" The transmission shorted out. "What was that?" Harry asked. B'elanna started working her console again. "Hang on. And…." The transmission started again. The transmission on Voyager became clear too. A bold female voice spoke.
"MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. THIS IS UNSC FFG-201 FORWARD-UNTO-DAWN. REQUESTING IMMEDIATE EVAC. SURVIVORS ABOARD. PRIORITIZATION CODE VICTOR DASH FIVE DASH THREE DASH SIERRA ALPHA ZERO ZERO ONE. MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. THIS IS UNSC…" Janeway spoke up. "Shut it off". Tuvok did. "It was a distress call." Tom spoke up the things that immediately jumped to his mind. "I'm starting to think we're in trouble here. The only ships I know that use codes like that are military, and unless Starfleet started using ships of designs we don't know of…" "I get your point Tom. Prepare to beam back." Chakotay stopped her in her tracks. "Hold on Kathryn. We still haven't found what we came over here for." Seven, who had remained quiet in the background then jumped in. "I believe I may have a lead. I've identified an area of this ship where the power systems seem to have been altered." Chakotay walked over to her console. "Where?" "One deck below us." "Tom, B'elanna. I'm sending the co-ordinates to your tricorder. Meet us there." The two looked at each other, then left Engineering. Janeway jumped in. "Commander, be careful. And maintain open comms. I'm worried about that distress call." "Understood." Janeway then starred hard out of the viewscreen, like she was trying to make is break with a cold stare. She quietly repeated a part of the distress call which had her worried. "Survivors aboard."
The 5 members of the away team all arrived at a set of doors. Behind which was the mysterious power reading they'd been looking for. The doors were sealed tight. Chakotay saw some deployable handles on the doors, which he and Tom used to pull them open. As the doors parted, a datapad drifted out from inside across the deck, which amused everyone. Once inside, they saw what they found.
"Cryo-stasis pods?" Harry questioned. "When this would certainly explain the power readings. Question is: why?" The group disbanded into the room. There were at least 16 pods in this room. Most of them they could clearly see were either damaged or inactive. But they were all empty. "Seven, try and find out exactly where the power in this room is going." Chakotay said. Tom questioned. "This seems odd. A room locked and secured as tight as this, you'd think someone got in here before…whatever happened happened." "Maybe they didn't have time to…"
"COMMANDER!" B'elanna shouted. Everyone ran to her as fast as they could. They found her examining a cryopod which was at the far end of the bay. The window on the tube was fogged and iced up. The sides of the device were wired differently to the others. Seven scanned the tube. "I'm reading a faint power reading identical to the one we found earlier. I think it's safe to say we found the source of the power." Seven then walked over and started rubbing the glass on the tube. Harry was looking at the controls on the side. "System seems to still be operational." Seven spoke up slowly. "Commander." Chakotay looked inside. He could see a silhouette of someone inside.
Voyager had pulled the entire cryo-unit out and transported it to the cargo bay aboard Voyager. Seven and the Doctor were analysing it when Janeway entered. "What can you tell me about our gift basket here?" The Doctor gave his prognosis.
"Not much. Our pod here is well protected. Lead lined as well as others. This was designed to be stable in extreme conditions, anything from the vacuum of space to a…crash landing on an icy rock." Seven furthered "The power systems were completely rewired. Normally the pod is on a cycle linked to the ship, to the power will flow back into the ship. Instead, the power cycle circuit is internal, so it reuses its power again and again. The extra line is the ships in-feed, to top up the low supply." "Whoever wired this…intended for it to stay active for as long as possible."
"Any idea on our mystery guest inside?" "Not yet. Ensign Kim is pulling the data from the ships computer. With any luck, he can give us an idea." Janeway started going through the Doctors data on his PADD, whilst Seven found herself staring at the tube. She was staring hard as though she was trying to defrost the tube and get whoever or whatever was inside to wake up. Janeway saw this and walked over to join her. "It's like being a kid on Christmas." Seven was naturally confused, and showed this by looking at the Captain in such a way. "The urge to crack it open. Find out what's inside even though you know you should wait." "The desire to explore is something you have told me we need as Starfleet officers." "I know. But let's get an idea what's inside here before we unwrap it."
On the bridge of Voyager, Harry's console bleeped. "Incoming vessel. Looks to be a single-person shuttle." "Hail them." "No need. He's hailing us." Harry opened the comm channel, and the alien started speaking in
"I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation Starship Voyager. How can we be of…" Before she could finish, the ship fired its weapons on Voyager, aiming directly at the Bridge. Tuvok ran an analysis. "Plasma cannons, small arms fire. It's having no effect on us." "Alien vessel, cease your attack immediately." The ship didn't listen, it just kept on firing. "Tuvok, can you fire a phaser blast qith just enough to knock out its weapons?" Tuvok fired a single phaser beam from the main weapons, set to a low level. "Direct hit. Shields and weapons are down, and his ship has been damaged. He's retreating." Janeway breathed a sigh, but wondered what provoked that.
The Senior staff had gathered in the conference room. Harry began his debrief on his research into the Forward-Unto-Dawn's computer core. "I've only managed to dig up bits and pieces of information. Most of the memory and core were lost when the ship was damaged, but I've managed to get a rough idea of what he is." "So what is he?" Chakotay asked with anticipation. "Best guess, some kind of human supersoldier created and raised for combat." Janeway looked at him stumped. "You're gonna have to start from the top, ensign." Harry stood up and started to explain.
"Everyone's familiar with the U-Genix wars on earth?" "The global war where genetically created superhumans fought?" Paris confirmed. "Exactly. The war originated from genetic manipulation of embryos, enhancing intelligence, muscle growth, strength. After decades of fighting, the war ended and all research was confiscated."
Janeway mentioned what she knew. "Most of it was destroyed. A few embryos were put into cold storage due to ethical issues, and the whole concept of genetic research on humans was buried." "Well someone dug it up, and refined it." Harry walked over to the console on the wall. "Most of the files are too degraded to even try, but i did manage to get pieces of 2 files. One was marked 'UNSC', the other 'Project Orion'. Now the first one looks to be an organisation similar to Starfleet. Beyond stellar maps and mission logs, there wasn't much more i could recover. But the second file looks related to our mystery guest on ice." He tapped the file and opened it up, showing multiple pages on the screen, diagrams, timelines, lots of things involving genetics.
"From what i could gather, this project started around the time of the first Human-Klingon war. Humans couldn't match the brute strength of the Klingons, so a small group of scientists decided to restart creating super-humans. Unlike the work in the wars, this was focused augmentation, rather than micro-genetic alteration. The first test batch was a group of 50 volunteers with military backgrounds, people who knew how to fight." The Doctor then stood up and joined him at the console, where he pulled up a research file showing a human body and the work done to it.
"Increased muscle density, enhanced synapses, reinforced framework on the skeletal structure." B'elanna asked. "What would this result in?" "Increased strength, quicker reflexes, work on the lungs suggests an ability to breath in places with a thin atmosphere, possibly even none at all." "Was this project successful?" Chakotay asked. "Far from it." The Doctor replied, as he tapped the console to reveal segments of logs and scans. "Fragmented medical analysis shows a negative reaction to the process. To say the least. Of the 50 volunteers who joined the programme, only 7 survived the augmentation process. Those men soon showed severe distress. Uncontrollable rage, psychological episodes, apparently two of them ripped themselves apart trying to pull the work out. The rest degraded into a brain-dead state."
"From what we can tell, the project was officially cancelled, the research buried with its predecessor and the concept forgotten. Unofficially…there's mention that the project was restarted at somewhere called 'Reach', an off Earth facility. Beyond that, we know nothing."
"Well, if the project was more successful, it would mean we could be looking at one of these soldiers being kept on ice down below." Tom said. "But why is it in cryo-sleep?" Neelix questioned. Tuvok, using his tactical and military mind, came up with an obvious reason. "Obviously if they were created to combat the Klingons, he could be in stasis for deployment, waiting for his next combat situation." Tom spoke up. "You make it sound like these guys go from one battle to the next." "Given what we know, I can only surmise one reason why such a person was created: to fight. Move from one battle to the next, push back and defeat his enemy, then re-enter cryo-stasis to be transported to his next battle. It is most likely that the war ended whilst he was still in stasis, and since there was no fighting, there was no need to wake him up."
B'elanna then thought about something she noticed earlier, then started to poke holes in Tuvok's theory. "That doesn't explain one thing. The rest of the pods in that bay were all linked straight to the ships power supply. That pod was rewired to an isolated power unit, connected with the ship only to recharge and maintain the system. If he was left in storage between battles, why would someone do this?" Janeway then spoke up.
"Clearly, we don't have the big picture here, but it's a start. Harry, Doctor, I want you to keep digging through the database, find out something to help us fill in the blanks. B'elanna, what's the possibility on salvaging equipment from the ship?" "I still need to run an analysis on the structural integrity of the ship. Since it was ripped in half, it isn't the most stable place. I'd say give me a few hours to run scans, then see about a salvage party." Seven had remained quiet, listening to the words put before her. She had ran it through her processors, and the conclusive analysis gave a possible idea, which she instantly pitch to the others. "Captain, there is another option. We should engage the activation sequence on the cryopod and awaken its occupant." Chakotay was the first to protest. "Out of the question. We have no idea of knowing what's inside the pod, much less how they feel about their situation." Seven argued her point. "If the occupant is one of the soldiers, then he may be able to tell us about what happened to the ship."
Tom spoke up. "Seven, as curious as I am about what's inside that easter egg, I'm still worried. Harry only said he found a file on these soldiers. It doesn't mean ones in there. It could be one of them, or it could be anything from a midget in a party hat to a 12ft reptile with four legs and spits acid." Janeway smiled at Tom's image. Seven decided to re-angle the conversation to the captain, as she made the final choice. "That is exactly why we should investigate, and the only way is to open it. Captain, I'm sure with the proper security measures…" Unfortunately, Janeway had already made her mind up. "As much as I appreciate your devotion Seven, I agree with Chakotay. I want to gather much more research on what's going on here before I decide to open it up. We all need to work." Seven started to protest like a young child when they don't get their way. "Captain…" "Seven, let me make it clear. Until we know for certain what's inside that pod, under no circumstances are you or anyone else to reactivate it. Dismissed."
A small vessel approached Voyager, with a crew of only 6 people. It was a similar design to the fighter from earlier. The ship instantly started firing on Voyager, then tried to get a tractor on the Forward Unto Dawn. Voyager managed to destroy the weapons and tractor emitters on the ship without damaging it. The vessel left without a word.
'Captains log supplemental. Over the last 6 hours whilst we have been salvaging what we can from the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn, we have been attacked by the mysterious aliens at least once an hour, each time escalating. I'm sure it won't be long before they return with a large force. Meanwhile, I'm still having trouble with Seven's curiosity about the cryo-pod. I can sense her eagerness to open it up, and i fully share it with her. But I'm still unsure of what we'll find: a soldier designed for war, or the alien which he was fighting.'
Everyone around the ship was talking about the cryotube, and what might be inside. Tom and Harry naturally came up with wild ideas such as face hugging aliens and zombies, but as Harry dug deeper into the files he recovered from the Dawn, he began to narrow his suspect list. Seven found herself distracted from her work by the tube. Her focus was found more and more on the control panel on the side of the tube. The bid blue button on the panel marked 'reactivate'. Her hand got closer and closer to touching it each time, but she regained control. Soon Harry had asked the senior staff to have a meeting around the tube to discuss his findings.
"OK. I've been pouring over what's left of the data and I think I've got an idea on the story here. That ship, the Forward Unto Dawn, was a warship in a massive fight. The battle soon raged so that there were lots of aliens and humans on board. One person from those two groups managed to rewire this tube, get inside and freeze themselves before something catastrophic happened which ripped the ship apart. I've narrowed my guess down to one of 2 things. The person in this tube is either one of the human super-soldiers created, called SPARTANS, or one of the aliens who boarded the ship. Unfortunately I can't say which one since the tube is sealed tight." Seven took this as her chance to put forward her idea again.
"Then the most logical course of action is to open the tube and see what comes out." "Absolutely not Seven." "If we take advanced precautions…" Chakotay could sense her uprising as well, and decided to end it now. "Seven, the captain has made her mind up. Pushing the issue won't change it. If you want to open it up, bring her solid proof of what we'll find in there." "Ensign Kim has already narrowed the list down to 2 possibilities. With security measures in place…" Janeway put her foot down. "No Seven. We'll focus on salvaging what we can from the Dawn, but for now, he stays on ice."
The comms then chirped. "Captain, we're picking up a vessel on an intercept. Its hull matches the ships that have been attacking us." "Battle stations."
The alien ship pulled up close to Voyager. Voyager manoeuvred to put itself between the aliens and the Dawn. Janeway marched onto the bridge. She's had enough. She ordered weapons to fire at the ship, but it had little effect. Whilst the cruiser distracted Voyager, a smaller transport ship clamped on to Voyager's hull and started cutting through, feeding the way for 4 dozen alien troops to invade the ship.
The aliens quickly began working their way through the ship. Voyagers personnel were pushed back and back. Their weapons were able to stun the aliens, but they could only take a few down. Starfleet weapons were phasers, able to take out one target at a time. The Aliens used rapid-fire disruptors, able to sweep across a hallway and knock down several security personnel in one go.
Seven was in the Cargo bay by the cryopod when the door opened. A 5 foot bipedal alien marched in and fired a shot from a single shot weapon, which looked like a pistol. A blast from the disruptor shot past Seven by inches, impacting on the side of the cryotube, blowing the panel off and exposing the wiring underneath. Seven ran to the console and pulled out a phaser and returned fire. The blast pushed the attacker running back out the door, and Seven gave chase.
She followed him to a standoff between Starfleet and the Aliens, with the Aliens pushing forward. Seven managed to help hold position. She tried calling for help but the rest of the ship was under siege.
In the cargo bay, the exposed wiring which the disruptor blast hit was sparking. The control panel on the side of the tube started to flicker off and on as the power malfunctioned. As it flickered, the touch button for the reactivation sequence started the fade. As the wiring sparked in a large bang, the screen returned to its original full state. Only there was one difference. The button which read 'reactivate' on the screen had changed. It now read in bold red font 'ACTIVATING'.
Seven was pinned down in the doorway of a turbolift with three ensigns against six Covenant, three Grunts, two Jackals and an Elite ranger. Seven fired her phaser, managing to pop one of the grunts in the head. But as she did, the Elite fired his disruptor, blowing a hole in an ensigns chest. Seven turned and cowered behind the little cover there was. She was fighting a losing battle and she knew it.
Condensation and mist was seeping from the cryopod, as the reanimation process started to revive the occupant. The ice on the inside of the tube was thawing. Looking through the glass, small areas of red armour appeared.
The console on the cryopod beeped, and the tube opened upwards, releasing more cryogenic mist. From the mist, a human hand wearing an armoured glove shot up and gripped the side of the tube. The armour was red on a black glove. From the mist, a tall human figure arose and stepped out of the tube. A deep male voice called out. 'Cortana'. A second voice, a female voice spoke up from inside the helmet. As it did, a small slot on the back of the helmet that looked like a chip, started to glow into life. "I'm here." "Where are we? This isn't the Dawn." "Patching a remote link to their computer systems now. I've got a fix on the Dawn. She's about a thousand kilometres away." "Could this be a rescue ship?" Her response didn't come, as instead they heard weapons fire from outside the cargobay doors. "I doubt it." Cortana replied. The figure then turned around and reached into the tube by where his legs were, as pulled hard, detaching something.
Seven was still crouching behind cover. She took in the situation. One ensign was dead, the second has a hole in his arm. It was her and the third ensign against the alien intruders. She analyzed the situation in her Borg processors and came to the conclusion 'Unless a miracle happens, we're finished'. The cargo bay doors opened in front of her. As she looked up, she saw a black boot with red armour emerge from within. As her head raised up, she saw red and black armour on the knees and waist, rising up to a helmet. However, in the hands of the massive man, he wielded a large weapon which looked like an assault rifle, which he slowly raised up till it was pointing at her. She looked into the visor of the helmet, hoping to see who or what was behind it. Unfortunately, the visor was black and reflective, so she could only see herself cowering on the ground.
Suddenly, the weapon was raised slightly, then he pulled the trigger. A volley of phaser-like blasts blazed out of the barrel, through the air, past Seven and into the chest of an alien warrior who had sneaked up behind her. He fired his weapon and knocked the alien off balance. The Spartan charged at him, striking him with the butt of his weapon. The aliens behind down the corridor saw this, and screamed 'Demona!' The soldier ran towards him and tackled him to the ground, he pointed his rifle at the alien head and uttered one sentence quietly, but Seven with her cybernetic hearing could hear it. 'The name…is Spartan'. He then fired his weapon, and looked up. The Aliens then started retreating. Seven was in shock. Whoever this person was, they obviously feared him. Does that mean they should too?
The Spartan had his rifle aimed at the aliens as they fell back, and started talking to the voice in his head. "Any ideas?" "If we can access their comms, we can send a high-pitch soundwave throughout the ship, acting like a super dog whistle." The soldier then turned and stared straight as Seven. "Where's your communications relay?" Seven looked at him stunned. "We don't have time. Where is it?" Seven regained her senses, nodded and ran down the corridor. The Spartan followed.
On the bridge, Janeway was trying to cope with the volley of the attack from the cruiser, as well as manage the boarders. After Tom and Tuvok gave bad news, Harry's console started bleeping. "Captain, main communications are being reconfigured." "Stop it." Harry tried, but the console bleeped the 'access denied' tone. "I can't. It's being done from the main communications relay on board." Suddenly, the comm lines opened, and a loud piercing screech resonated throughout the ship. Everyone was slightly stunned, covering their ears, but they quickly regained their composure. Janeway gave orders. "SHUT IT OFF!" Harry replied. "I can't. It's being broadcast on every channel." In the decks below, the alien invaders were riving in agony. The screech was causing them to god mad. They started falling back towards their entry point. Voyagers security officers regrouped and pushed back the offensive.
The Alien ship dis-connected from Voyagers hull, and fled to its carrier. Janeway saw an opportunity and took it. "Tuvok, aim for the power core." Tuvok fired all phasers at the ship, crippling it. Both the assault ship and the main carrier turned and fled back the way they came as fast as they could. Janeway sighed a sigh of relief. She then started thinking about why they turned and ran, and how her ship was. "Damage report." Harry scanned the ship. "We have a hull breach on deck seven, nineteen people wounded, five seriously. Some damage to the power systems, but other than that, we're ok." Harry's console then bleeped. "Wait. I just scanned the ship. I'm reading a lifeform on board. It isn't one of the crew, and it's bio-readings don't match the aliens. Where did it come from?" Janeway thought, then like a tonne of bricks, it hit her, and she froze at the thought. "The cryo-pod. Where is it?" "Deck 9, section 18, communications relay. I'm reading another lifesign there. It's Seven." Janeway then headed for the turbolift, and signalled for Tuvok to follow. "Tuvok to all security personnel. Meet at Deck 9, section 18. Intruder alert." The turbolift doors shut.
Janeway and Tuvok marched down the corridor followed by half a dozen security officers, all armed with large phaser-rifles. When they all arrived at the doors to the Comms relay, three more security personnel were already there, waiting for them with eyes on the door. They all took up positions to enter the room by force. As they did, the guards quickly fanned out and took aim. Janeway entered as the 5th person. Seven was a few meters from the door, starring into the room like she was hypnotised into a pose. As Janeway pulled her out of the trance, she turned to look. The Spartan had his back to her, as he was standing facing the console. The guards and Tuvok all aimed their phasers at him. The Spartan turned around slowly to face them all. They all admired his armour glistening in the light like a saving angel. They then saw the large weapon he was carrying in his hands, and re-affirmed their aim at him. Seven then spoke. "Commander, are you really going to shoot the man who just saved us all?" Janeway looked at her, then at the Spartan, trying to stare into his eyes. The Spartan simply looked at the captain, and was heard to utter only one phrase.
"Here we go again."
Next Time: Voyager learns more about their Guest, and when the aliens make a massive attack, the Spartan must once again battle, in a self-sacrificing move.
