Chapter Two: Stardate 47305.5 (22 April 2370)
Four days… They had made it. It had been a long four days and no Borg were detected, whether it was fate or just dumb luck, no one cared. All anyone cared about was the fact that they made it safely to their destination. The Devolin System; located in what was once the Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone, during a time in which both the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire once existed. Being both political and ideological enemies, the Neutral Zone was established after the Earth-Romulan War during the 22nd century. Now however, it was just another system in another part of space. Asteroids and giant rocks littered the system like sand on a beach; hopefully this would be an ideal place to hide.
"Captain we are approaching the Devolin system." Said Data
"Any sign of the Borg?" asked Riker
"No, sir." Data responded
"Good, I'm not in the mood to deal with them today." Riker said while scratching his beard
"Sir, there is an amazingly high amount of ionizing radiation coming from the asteroid field. That, and along with the sheer amount of rock would make even the Borg sensors have a hard time locating us." Stated Wesley.
"Perfect, we want to make it as difficult as possible for those murdering bastards to find us." Said Shelby
"Take us is to the center of the field Wes, nice and easy. We don't want any of those asteroids to hit us, especially with the shape we're in." Riker ordered
"Aye, sir. Maneuvering the Enterprise into the field at 1,000 KPH and holding steady." Wesley stated.
"How long until we reach the center of the field?" Shelby asked
"At current speed, approximately 42 hours." Data replied simply
"Good, I want us surround by as much rock as possible. The more rock around us, the better we can hide. Like I said Wes, nice and easy, we're not in a hurry. If the Borg are around out there somewhere, we don't want to attract any more attention to ourselves than what we absolutely have to." Said Riker
"Yes, sir." Said Wesley
"Worf, engage silent running." Riker stated
"Aye, sir. Silent running engaged." Worf responded
Engaging in silent running is meant to decrease the Enterprise's energy output signature to bare minimum, and hopefully making it a great more difficult for the Borg to detect them. By doing so, the warp drive is powered down and the warp nacelles go dark. The impulse engines are reduced to the lowest functional output levels possible to maneuver the Enterprise. All lights are turned off, those that functioned anyway, and only the minimum amount of the deck lighting that is needed are left on. Even life support is left running at minimum levels for survival. Having the ship go to silent running wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was better than fighting and running from the Borg.
"Good, Data I want you to go to Engineering and help Geordi in the repair efforts." Said Riker
"Aye, sir." Data responded and proceeded to the turbolift.
"Wesley I want you to keep guiding us through the field, make it look natural as if we're a part of the field. We don't know who might be looking out there." Riker stated
"Aye, sir." Wesley responded
"Worf, I want you to keep an eye out. Continue with passive scans only, anything more powerful than that might attract unwanted company. But if you see anything out of the ordinary, and I mean anything, don't hesitate to inform me immediately." Said Riker
"Aye, sir." Worf answered and attended to his duties
"You're going to see her?" Shelby asked gently
"… Yeah… It's been a while… I should've gone sooner but…" Riker said, his emotions starting to build inside him.
Shelby gingerly placed her hand on top of his and looked at him. It startled him a bit, he wasn't expecting the gesture, but he was comforted by it, and gently placed his own hand on top of hers. It wasn't a sign of romantic feelings towards each other. It was simply an indication of deep understanding and of a close friendship.
"Don't worry, I've got the bridge, and if anything happens while you're with her, I'll contact you right away… Go to her…" She said softly
"Thank you…" Riker managed to choke out, and rose out of his chair.
The doors slid open to sickbay and he stepped inside, even after these long four years, the sickbay still had a particular smell to it. It was the smell of disinfectants and filtered air. You would think that the smell would have faded away and had been replaced with the same odor as the rest of the ship. But if anything, the smell had pretty much stayed the same, more or less. There was also a faint musk to it now, of course the longer you stayed in sickbay you more you got used to it. But Riker hadn't been down here in weeks, so when the doors slid open, he noticed it immediately. The smell of the sick and the lame… The dying… Just slightly overlapping the smell of the disinfectants. Sickbay had quickly become one of the major priorities on board the Enterprise since the Borg invasion. It had to be, if there was no place to treat the wounded, then there would be far less people alive on the Enterprise than there were now.
Riker stepped into the dimly lit sickbay and gained the attention of one of the nurses who was currently attending to a boy, with dark hair, who had suffered from a minor burn injury he acquired during the last Borg attack. "Excuse me nurse, but is the doctor still here?" he asked her
"Yes, sir. She's in her office, I can go get her if you want." The nurse replied, that is if you can even call her that. The young lady had long sandy blonde hair and had to be no older than 14 years of age. 15 at the oldest, but this is what the crew had come down to. In fact many of the 'staff' were nothing more than teenagers, assisting the adults in keeping the ship in working order. Taking over the jobs and duties that was once performed by seasoned Starfleet officers and personnel, even replacing their own parents after they were killed. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and these were far more than desperate times.
"That's alright nurse, you may resume your duties." He said. The girl nodded, and went back to treating the boy. Riker walked back to the Chief Medical Officer's office and knocked lightly.
The doctor spun around in her chair and smiled at her Captain. "Hello Will, it's been a while since you've last been down here. Are you hurt?" she asked
"Hello Lilly." He smiled back, "No, I'm not hurt. I came down to see how she was doing."
Doctor Alyssa Ogawa, or Lilly to those closest to her, used to be the head nurse on the medical staff when Doctor Beverly Crusher was the Chief Medical Officer of the Enterprise. However, almost eight months ago, Doctor Crusher was killed during a Borg attack along with 19 other people dead, and 23 injured. It was at that time that Nurse Ogawa was promoted to Doctor Ogawa, and she had proven herself to be every bit as skilled and the medical professional as Beverly was.
"The same… Which isn't saying much." She replied, "Come on, I'll take you to her."
As they walked to the back of the CMO's office, Doctor Ogawa slid back a curtain to reveal the burned and comatose figure of Counselor Deanna Troi. Laying on a cot and covered by a thin blanket, her breathing was slow and steady. The right side of her face was scarred by the fire that nearly took her life. The same fire that took the life of her friend, and the ship's doctor, Beverly Crusher. The fire had been caused when the Borg fired on the Enterprise to weaken the ship's shields. Deanna and Beverly were down on deck 17 when several of the plasma vents along with the power relays exploded, igniting the entire corridor. The lucky ones were the ones who died almost instantly. The unlucky ones, like Deanna and Beverly, remained alive and conscious. Beverly took over nine hours to finally succumb to her injuries and pass away. Deanna on the other hand, made it through the night, but never regained consciousness. She had originally remained in the sickbay, however as time went on, they couldn't afford the constant use of a bio-bed to an unconscious patient, even if it was Deanna… So they moved a cot into the back of the CMO's office and had set up privacy curtains for her. She was checked on every day, cleaned as best as they could, provided with nutrients and fluids and so on. But it was still extremely hard not knowing if she'll ever actually come through.
"I'll leave you two alone." Said Ogawa and closed the curtain behind as she left.
Riker slowly knelt down next to the cot that held his beloved. Gently brushing her hair with his fingers, tears welled up in his eyes. "Imzadi…" He spoke softly.
Gingerly he caressed her face and tenderly kissed her lips, knowing that she would never feel his touch. "Come back to me Deanna, it's been too long." He choked on his words as his tears slowly trickled down his cheeks. She looked thin and fragile. The burns covered nearly half of her body and it was a miracle that she had survived her injuries. But what made it worse was the waiting, the not knowing… Not knowing if she will wake up one day or not at all… Waiting for eight months, eight years, or 80 years to see which will finally happen; having Deanna finally waking up from her coma, or dying in her sleep. Every time he looked at her, his heart was broken all over again.
"How can I keep on going knowing that you're still like this?" He said, and wept openly.
Doctor Ogawa had respectfully stepped out of her office after closing the curtain behind her. She knew how hard it was for him to see Deanna in that condition. Seeing her nurse finishing up with her patient, she went over to speak with her. "Hello Marissa."
"Hello Doctor." Marissa replied
"How are things going here?" She asked
"We're almost done here." She said as she finished wrapping the gauze over the boy's injury. "Okay, that's it. Now I want you to come back in a couple of days so we can check on it for signs of infection. Alright?"
"I will. Thanks." Replied the boy, and walked out of sickbay while gently caressing his arm. Taking only the briefest moment before exiting the sickbay to glance back at the nurse who just treated him.
"Was that Patterson?" Ogawa asked
"Yeah, he's been helping Mrs. O'Brien in the hydroponics bay." Marissa answered
"Wow, he's grown. He's as tall as you are." Ogawa said
"Yeah I know, he likes to remind me about it all the time. I think he has a crush on me too." she laughed
"Oh?" Ogawa smiled
"Yeah, he's always trying to find an excuse to be around me. If I didn't know better I'd say his burns were faked just so that he would have a reason to come to sickbay." She said
"Really?" she said, arching an eyebrow.
"What?" Marissa asked uncomfortably
"Well? How do you feel about him? He is kind of cute for his age." She said
"W-what!?" Marissa exclaimed. "We're not like that; he's like a little brother to me. Besides, he's only 12 and I'm almost 15!"
The expression on Ogawa's face softened, "It's not like there are a lot of choices left, you know. He might be good for you Marissa."
"I know…" Marissa replied. "It's just…" she sighed.
"You don't feel the same way about him like he does about you." She stated more than questioned.
"Yeah… I mean, I don't want to hurt his feelings or anything but… I don't see him like that." She said. "Does that make me a bad person? With everything that's happened to us I mean?"
"No, it just makes you human." Ogawa said and lightly brushed her arm. "What few of us that are left anyway."
"Thanks." She smiled
"Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you've completed the inventory yet." Ogawa asked
"Oh, yeah." She answered and walked over to the counter near the far wall of the sickbay and picked up a data pad. "It's not good."
Ogawa sighed, "How bad?"
"Well, for starters, I just used the last of the gauze we had to treat Patterson's burns, and we're down to only half a vile of anti-burn ointment." Marissa said as she gave Ogawa the data pad. "The rest is right here."
Ogawa knew they were getting dangerously low on supplies. Four years of treating patients, with the replicators down and no chance to resupply, it was only a matter of time before they began to completely run out. "Damn… This is not good. Sooner or later we're going to have to resort to treating patients like how doctors did in the pioneering days during the 17th and 18th centuries. Using splints to set broken bones and cauterizing people's wounds with red hot pieces of iron or other metals. "
"And what if we can't even do that?" she asked nervously
"Then we're going to have to start cutting people's limbs off like they did in the dark ages and hope that they make it through the night." Ogawa answered seriously
"You're kidding right?" She asked
"No, unfortunately I'm not... This is very serious…" Said Ogawa
"I hope it doesn't come to that." Marissa said grimly
"Sadly, we may have no choice." Ogawa replied
In the hydroponics bay Keiko O'Brien, with the help of four other people; mainly children under who had lost their parents over the years, the youngest being only five, were harvesting the latest crop of potatoes and carrots. It was extremely difficult to grow vegetables on a starship in order to feed hundreds of people, even more so when your ship was the only one left in the galaxy and the only resources you had were already slim to begin with. However, the children actually seemed to enjoy it. They liked putting their hands in the dirt and making things grow, and the loved it more when they got to eat the food they helped grow. It gave them a sense of pride, and accomplishment. Knowing that they were helping the people on the Enterprise survive. She and Miles had thought about having children, but every time they discussed it, they always came to the conclusion that it would be too cruel to bring a child into this world knowing that one day, that child would never grow up and have a family of their own. If the circumstances were different, they probably would have had at least one child already, maybe even two. But as fate would have it, the Borg destroyed everything, and they couldn't bear the thought of having a family in times like this. She felt sorry for the children still on board the ship, most of them having lost their parents, and more still haven't even reached puberty yet… And probably never will…
Thinking about these things made the memories of her wedding suddenly come into the forefront of her mind. It was one of the few good days after the Borg's invasion of the Federation, and she cherished it with all her heart. It was a little over three and a half years ago on stardate 44390.1; it was on a Tuesday in May. They had taken refuge in a nebula along with about a dozen other Federation ships, trying to hide and regroup. The war against the Borg was all but lost at this point and everyone knew it. Over 90 percent of the Federation's forces were gone at this point. They were either destroyed or assimilated, and the few that remained were scatted across the galaxy, or had gathered in small groups for mutual protection.
All of their friends were gathered in Ten-Forward and were genuinely happy for them. It was a rare, shining moment of happiness, in a universe filled with darkness and pain. She can still remember her wedding as if it all happened yesterday. She wore a long, pink and shimmery pearl colored kimono styled wedding dress with a traditional Japanese veiled hat. The beautiful melodies of the Koto and flute played in the background. Miles wore his gold, dress uniform. Everyone was dressed in their finest attire. The lavender and blue-green hues of the nebula outside the windows of Ten-Forward made for an exquisite background. No on board knew if they would ever see such a beautiful day like this one ever again, regardless of the horrors befalling the universe outside. The each took a sip from an opaque, crystal wine glass; looked longingly into each other's eyes and slowly turned to face their Captain.
"Since the days of the first wooden sailing ships, all Captains have enjoyed the happy privilege of joining together two people in the bonds of matrimony" Captain Riker smiled deeply. "And so, it is my honor to unite Keiko Ishikawa and Miles Edward O'Brien together in marriage. We have come together today in the presence of friends and loved ones, to witness the joining together of this man and this woman in Matrimony. The union of husband and wife in heart, body, and soul is intended for their mutual happiness; for the help and comfort given one another both in prosperity and adversity. Therefore marriage is not to be entered into unadvisedly or lightly, but reverently, deliberately, and in accordance with the purposes for which is true to their hearts. Now, you may join hands."
She can still remember how much her hands were trembling when she placed hers into Miles's, it may have been her imagination, but she could have sworn that his hands were shaking just as much as hers were, and at that moment, Riker continued with the ceremony.
"Miles O'Brien, will you have this woman to be your wife; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love her, comfort her, honor and keep her, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?" Riker asked
"I will." Miles answered, and smiled at Keiko
"Keiko Ishikawa, will you have this man to be your husband; to live together in the covenant of marriage? Will you love him, comfort him, honor and keep him, in sickness and in health; and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?" he asked
"I will." She answered and smiled Miles
Riker suddenly looked up at the gathering of people around Ten-Forward and spoke loudly for everyone to hear. "Will all of you witnessing these promises here today, do all in your power to uphold these two people in their vows of marriage!?"
"We will!" Everyone shouted
"Good!" Riker shouted, and the room erupted with laughter, "Then by the powers invested in me by the United Federation of Planets, Starfleet, and as Commanding Officer of the USS Enterprise. I, Captain William Thomas Riker, pronounce Miles Edward O'Brien, and Keiko O'Brien as Husband and Wife."
The room practically exploded with cheers and joy, for a small period of time, everything seemed normal. As if nothing had changed and the world remained the same as it was before. They talked, laughed, ate, and danced for hours… It was a beautiful day.
She was shaken out of daydream when she felt a tap on her shoulder, "Oh, Patterson. I didn't see come in. How's your arm?"
"It's okay." He said while rubbing his arm
"That's good. Do you think you can help the other kids gather the vegetables?" Keiko asked
"Sure thing Mrs. O'Brien." Patterson said
"Thanks." Keiko smiled as Patterson went over to the wall, picked up a large sack and started to help the other four children with the harvesting. "So Patterson…" she said
"Yes Mrs. O'Brien." Patterson answered
"Was Marissa on duty today?" she asked mischievously
The other four children giggled and snickered at the comment as Patterson struggled to answer, "W-what do y-you mean?"
She waved him over to her, in order to save him some embarrassment, although it didn't do much except to increase the other children's amusement and made them only giggle even more. "You know what I mean, was Marissa on duty?"
"Well…" Patterson gulped. "Y-yes... B-but she is the nurse you know. She has to be on duty."
"Yes, that is true." Keiko stated, and continued. "However, your burns weren't that bad. You could've treated them yourself with the emergency medical kit down here in the hydroponics bay. In fact, I seemed to remember that you did, but then for some reason decided to go to sickbay because you thought it wasn't healing fast enough."
"W-well, it w-wasn't." he said nervously
"It was healing just fine, and there's no reason to be embarrassed Patterson. Marissa is a very pretty girl; it's only natural for a young boy like you to be attracted to a pretty girl." Keiko teased
"B-but I'm not… I mean, I'm not… Uh…" Patterson started to say, but stopped in mid-sentence as he couldn't think anything good to say in return.
"Go ask her out on a date." Keiko whispered
Patterson nearly fainted as he began to panic over the thought of the possibility of going out on a date with the girl that he's had a crush on for years. "W-wh-what!?" he exclaimed as the other children behind him exploded in laughter.
"Ask her out, it obvious to everyone that you like her Patterson. Every time she comes by down here to check on the other kids, your eyes light up and can't take them of off her." Said Keiko
"Yeah Patterson, you can't take your eyes off her!" shouted Natalie. She was the youngest person on board the Enterprise, born only one year before the Borg invasion. She had never known anything beyond this life of running, hiding and survival, and yet, at the same time she also seemed to be completely innocent of what life was really like. Everyone on board the ship, who knew her, adored her.
"Natalie, it's rude to interrupt other people's conversations." Keiko stated, while suppressing her own need to snicker at her statement.
"I'm sorry." Natalie giggled and ran off with the other three children to put the vegetables they've harvested away in large collection containers.
"There really is nothing to be embarrassed about you know. Ask her out, what's the worst thing that can happen?" she asked
Patterson was now beat red, and sweating. He had no idea that his crush on her was so noticeable. He liked her very much, probably a lot more than he should have, but he couldn't help the way he felt about her. He thought about her almost constantly, and if everyone else knew about how he felt about her, did Marissa know? That idea nearly sent him into a panic. What if she did know? What if she always knew and he had been acting like an idiot around her the entire time? He couldn't possibly ask her out, could he? He was younger than she was, there's no way that Marissa would actually go out with someone younger than her.
"Earth to Patterson, are you there?" asked Keiko
"Huh?" Patterson said
Keiko couldn't help but smile at the boy's awkwardness, "I said you should ask her out."
"Oh…" he gulped, "I… Uh… I-I can't."
"And why not?" she asked
"She's older than I am; she's smarter than me, and… and… and…" Patterson began to stutter
"And what if she says 'no'?" Keiko filled in, knowing what the boy was thinking
Patterson became very quiet and slowly nodded his head, "…Yeah…"
"That's the risk everyone takes, but ask yourself this question instead. What if she says 'yes'? Do you really want to pass up an opportunity like this? There's not a lot of us left…" Said Keiko
"I know… But what if she does say no?" He asked nervously
"At least you'll know, and isn't that better than not knowing at all?" said Keiko
"I guess…" he responded.
Jay Gordon, a tall 13 year old boy with curly blonde hair, anxiously stepped into the Main Engineering area, unsure of what he was supposed to do exactly. He had asked to help out in engineering, but that was weeks ago. He had always been interested in starship mechanics, especially warp engine designs. It was in his blood. His father was an engineer on Lt. Commander La Forge's engineering staff, before he was killed. His father died almost one year after the Federation fell to the Borg, and he could still remember his father talking about the future.
"No matter what happens, we will endure and live on son. The human race will survive. We've done it before and we'll do it again, it's in our blood to survive." His father had told him one night as he was lying in bed.
"What do you mean dad?" Jay had asked him. He wasn't very good in history, but he was pretty sure that the Borg had never invaded Earth before.
"You've never heard of the 'Bottleneck' theories of our ancient ancestors?" His father asked
"No, what's that?" Jay asked
"Well son, scientific studies have shown that somewhere around 60,000 and 70,000 years ago, there was a gigantic super volcanic eruption that reduced the entire human population of Earth to about 10,000 individual people. Even later on as early modern humans left Africa to colonize Europe and Asia, somewhere around 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, they squeaked through another 'genetic bottleneck' that reduced the number of individuals who passed their genes on into the present to somewhere as little as 1,200 individual people. That's only around 600 couples that were able to reproduce and have babies. The entire human race was descended from these 1,200 people. Thousands of years later there were billions of us, and we went out to the stars and populated other worlds, passing on our genes to the next generation of human beings." His father told him
"Yeah, but that's different." Jay had told him
"Oh, and how's that?" His father asked
"Our ancestors never encountered the Borg." Jay said flatly
His father smiled at his comment. "That's true, our ancestors never did meet the Borg, but the point I'm trying to make here son is that the human race has faced near extinction before. Just like we are now, and just like before we will find a way to pull through this and survive. Not only survive in fact, but thrive. It's who we are, no matter how low we fall, we will always find a way to pick ourselves back up and hold our heads high."
His father always seemed so certain about that, and he wanted to believe. But he just couldn't… His mother was killed after the Federation had completely fallen to the Borg and his dad was killed a year later. He wanted to believe his father, to have the same optimism about the future, but he just didn't… He didn't mean that he wanted to die, but he just couldn't see living a full life with the Borg always chasing after them. The only thing he felt he could really do was to try to walk in his father's footsteps and help the people on board the ship, for as long as he possibly could, with the little amount of time they had. The Enterprise was his only home. He wanted to believe his father that the human race would endure and live on… But no matter how much he tried to believe his father's words, he just couldn't do it…
He shook the memories out of his head and focused back on the here and now. Making his way deeper into Main Engineering, he didn't see anyone, anywhere. Looking all around him and seeing no one unnerved him somewhat. Even though the population of the Enterprise had dropped by over half since the Borg invasion began, the silence and lack people always made him a little afraid. He walked onto the main landing in front of the warp core and saw no one. He was about to call out to someone when he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks and held his breath. The glorious sight that beheld his young eyes was an image that would be burned into memories for eternity.
Down on all fours was the figure of a woman, whose head and shoulders was buried behind a wall panel on the floor. The angle of her body being in this particular position resulted in her back to curve downward in such a way that the lower half of her body, and the most attractive half, to arch upward instead. And there, the most private and beautiful parts of woman's body was on full display for the young, teenage boy. The two heavenly, voluptuous, rounded cheeks of her backside, with her long, erotic legs spread just slight apart was enough to make him hold his breath and tremble from the very sight of it. This most divine woman, whoever she was, had the body of a goddess that most men, and even women, dreamed about having, and for many different reasons. It was perfectly enveloped in a tight, black, form fitting uniform. The pulsating lights from the main warp core was reflecting wave upon wave of brilliant blue light off of the woman's flawless posterior, and giving it an almost divine magnificence.
"It is truly, a most beautiful sight to behold, isn't it?" Said a voice from behind, causing him to literally jump in the air and scream like a little girl.
"AGHHHHHH!" he screamed
"Whoa! Calm down now, I didn't mean to scare you." Said the tall unshaven man, "What's you name kid?"
"J-J-Jay G-Gordon." He squeaked out. His heart was pounding and sweat glistened from his forehead from the shock and fear, and other primal feelings.
"What in the world is going on here!?" Shouted the heavenly Angel making her way towards them, who only moments before had been displaying to Jay the most beautiful parts of her.
"Sorry about that Sonya, but it appears that I scared this young man." Said the bearded man
"Reg what did you do?" Sonya, the woman of Jay's dreams, asked
"Well, I was making my way into Engineering when I saw this young man standing around. He looked lost, so I went over and tapped him on the shoulder. I guess he wasn't expecting anyone to be here and I scared him." Reg stated confidently, "Right?"
"R-r-right." Jay stuttered, clutching his hand to his chest
"Look at him, he's breathing hard, his face is red and sweating, his eyes are dilated; you must have scared him half to death." Said Sonya and placed a hand on Jay's shoulder, and he tensed up instantly when she did so. "Don't worry, you're not in trouble, but what are you doing down here?"
"I think he's the one that Mrs. O'Brien was telling us about a few weeks ago." Said Reg
"Oh, so you're the one that wants to be an engineer?" she asked, receiving a nervous nod in response. She couldn't help but smile at his awkwardness. "So what was your name again? I didn't catch it."
"J-Jay Gordon." Jay said "I-I thought that I was supposed to meet Mr. O'Brien and Commander La Forge down here, but I didn't see anyone." He explained
"Jay Gordon, it's nice to meet you. Commander La Forge and Mr. O'Brien are with Commander conducting repairs to other areas of the ship at the moment. I'm Sonya Gomez." She said and extended her hand
"It's nice to meet you too." Jay responded and shook her hand enthusiastically
"It's good to meet you too Jay, my name is Reginald Barkley. But my friends call me Reg." said Barkley
"Nice to meet you Mr. Barkley." Said Jay and shook his hand
"Call me Reg… I knew your dad." He said
"You did?" said Jay
"Yes I did. He even saved my life on a few occasions when the Borg attacked us a few years ago. He was a good engineer, and a good man." Reg told him
"Yeah… He was a good dad." Jay said solemnly
"Come on, I'll show you around and show the basics. We'll start with routine maintenance operations on the warp plasma injectors, unless of course you think it might be too hard and would rather go with Sonya and have her show you what she was doing up close and personal." Said Reg as an evil grin passed across his face
"Reg stop teasing him." Sonya said and smacked Reg across his arm. "You'll be okay Jay. Reg knows what he's doing, you'll learn a lot from him."
"O-oh, okay." Jay gulped
"Good, you go with Reg and I'll go back to work repairing the power conduits." She said and walked away.
"No problem, and if you need a hand, just give a shout and I'll send Jay to help you, I'm sure he'll be more than excited to do so." He smiled as Jay's eyes grew wide.
Stardate 47310.3 (42 hours later…)
The Enterprise was almost to the center of the asteroid field. It swam through the field of rocks and empty space with grace and elegance as a ray would swim though an ocean of coral and fish. The night watch, commanded by Lt. Commander Data, and staffed by a few of the older teenagers on board the ship, were relieved of their duties as Worf, Shelby, Wesley, and Riker came on the bridge. Data was taking his position at the Conn as the night watch crew began to enter the turbolift, exhausted and weary from the night before. Wesley had just relieved the night watch helmsman of his position and began a passive sensor sweep of the local area. It was ironic really, the 'helmsman', if you wanted to call him that was no more than 15 years of age. No older in fact when Wesley himself came aboard the Enterprise almost seven years ago with his mother. Even back then, he knew just as much about the intricate workings of the Galaxy Class starship as any of the Starfleet officers on board. And now, it seems that he was the old man. Training the younger 'kids', being mostly the teens between the ages of 13 through 16 years of age, about the workings of the Enterprise, whenever they actually had the chance to do so. Fortunately, the night watch always had Data in command, and since he never needed to sleep, he always found the opportunity to train the younger members of the crew far more often than the others. Suddenly, during the first sweep of the passive sensor scan, his console started to beep.
"Sir, sensors appear to be picking up a faint subspace resonance signature." He said
"What? From where?" he asked
"It looks like it's coming from grid 0158, sir." Wesley answered
Shelby immediately jumped from her seat and rushed over to the science station and began punching in commands. "He's right, sir. Sensors are definitely picking a subspace resonance signature. It coming from a very large asteroid designated as Gamma 601, from approximately 100 kilometers to out starboard bow."
Riker got out of his seat and joined Shelby over at the science station, "Anything else? What kind of subspace signature?"
"From the frequency variances, it looks like the pattern of a…" She gasped
"What it is Shelby?" he asked her
"Sir, it looks like the pattern of a Federation warp core." She answered, suddenly gaining the attention from everyone else on the bridge.
"Wesley, take us within ten kilometers of asteroid Gamma 601." Said Riker as he turned.
"Aye, sir." Said Wesley
As the Enterprise moved closer to the asteroid, and the readings from the sensors became clearer, his Riker's eyes got wide. "That's impossible." He said to himself, out loud.
"Sir?" Shelby questioned
"I recognize some of the variance patterns." Said Riker
"But how?" she asked him
"I think…" Riker stated, "I think I know what ship that is."
"You do?" she questioned once again
"Yes… I think I do, but that's why it can't be possible. If that resonance signature is what I think it is, it means that we're looking at the warp core signature of a ship that was supposed to be destroyed a little over 12 years ago."
"What ship?" said Shelby
"The Pegasus." Said Riker
"The Pegasus…" Said Shelby, and thought a moment. "Wait a minute, wasn't the Pegasus an old prototype?"
"Yes, it was. It was an Oberth Class science vessel that was heavily modified as a testing bed for new and advanced Federation starship technologies. The Pegasus was outfitted with an experimental engine and new weapon systems, some of which were used in the designs for Galaxy Class starships."
"But if it was destroyed 12 years ago, then how is it here?" she asked
"I'm not sure…" he responded, "Data, put that asteroid on the main view screen."
"Aye, sir." Data responded and the view screen was suddenly illuminated with the static filled image of a very large, rocky, and brown colored asteroid. "Captain, I have confirmed the sensor readings, the warp core resonance signature is originating from beneath the asteroid's surface."
"Beneath the surface? But how is that possible?" stated Worf
"The asteroid contains several deep chasms large enough for a starship to enter. It is possible that the Pegasus drifted into the asteroid's gravitational field and was pulled into one of its fissures." Data responded
"If it the Pegasus." Worf said
"Captain, why do you believe that the resonance signature is from the Pegasus? The ship was destroyed 12 years ago."
"Because… I served on the Pegasus." Riker stated
"You did? But, what happened?" she asked him
"I'll have to explain later, right now we've got another problem on our hands." He said
"Sir?" she said
"If we can pick up the resonance signature from beneath the asteroid's surface, then that means the Borg can too. We have to find a way to mask the resonance signature of the ship and fast before it's too late. If a Borg ships happens to enter the system, their sensors will pick up the signature and us with it." Said Riker
"What about Vertiron particles? Couldn't we saturate the asteroid with Vertiron particles to mask the resonance signature?" asked Worf
"In order for the deception to succeed it have to appear to be a natural phenomenon; Vertiron particles are artificial in nature." Data explained
"Wait, we could blanket the asteroid with high levels of ionizing radiation. There's so much of it in the system already, the Borg shouldn't know the difference." Wesley suggested
"Data?" said Riker
"Theoretically, it should work." Data responded
"Then do it." Riker order
"Aye, sir. Initiating ionization field pulse." Said Data, and tapped the commands into his console.
"Sir, if that really is the Pegasus down there in that asteroid, then how will we get to it? We have only one working transporter, and I wouldn't to attempt to beam through that much solid rock." Said Worf
"Neither would I, sir." Said Shelby. "What if we tried to send a shuttle down through one of those fissures?"
"I wouldn't recommend it, there could be gravimetric or magnetic fluctuations inside the asteroid that could over power the engines of a shuttle craft, and besides, we only have two shuttles left and neither one of them are in top working order." Said Wesley
"Ionization field pulse is complete." Announced Data. "Captain, I have just completed detailed scan of the asteroid, and from the strength and polarity of the resonance signature it would appear that most of the warp core is still intact."
"Thanks Data." Said Riker
"Well… How are we going to get to it?" asked Shelby
Riker slowly walked back down to his Captain's chair and sat, thinking long and hard on the matter, he finally came to a decision. "We have no choice… We're going in."
"Into the asteroid?" said Shelby
"That's right; you see that main fissure on the asteroid." Riker stated, pointing out the fissure on the static filled view screen. "The chasm is large enough for the Enterprise to maneuver in."
"But, sir; it could very dangerous. " Shelby said
"I know, but we don't exactly have any options. If it really is the Pegasus down there, then we need to go down there ourselves. We need the salvage. The Pegasus was the prototype for many of the systems that's still used on the Enterprise, and it'll be easy enough to convert and modify some of the older systems to be compatible with our newer ones. We needs the spare parts to repair the ship, and it might also give us a good hiding place in case the Borg decide to show up." Riker explained, "If anyone has any better ideas, I'm all ears."
After a few moments of silence, Shelby finally agreed. She knew the risks of taking a starship so deep inside a planetary body. There were just so many unforeseen variants that could damage or even destroy the Enterprise. However, he was right, they need the salvage and they had the perfect opportunity to do it. All they had to do was take the ship inside. "Aye, sir." She said. "Worf, raise the shields and engage the inertial dampeners at maximum."
"Aye, Commander." Said Worf and did as he was told
"Wes, plot a course into the chasm, maneuvering thrusters only." Said Riker
"Aye, sir; course plotted." Wesley responded
Taking a moment to catch his breath, he gave the order. "Take us in."
Authors Note: I hope everyone is enjoying reading this story so far. I would like to know what you think about it, and how it's progressing. I think I pretty much have it down, in how I plan to take and develop this story and the characters. But if you have idea in how you want to see things turn up, just let me know.
