Lady A: Three cans of coke and a pizza later and I am finally awake. Welcome back to TCC! Things were kind of depressing in the last chapter, but don't worry. In the next few chapters, you'll be looking for the emergency brake. *grins evilly*
Lock: *walks in with a cup of tea in her hand* What have you done this time, Watson?
Lady A: *smirks* You'll see.
Lock: *frowns then just sips her tea*
Chapter Two: Spatial Rift
The Enterprise was currently on route to the Vedaron system at the suggestion of a cargo ship captain they had helped a few days prior. He had informed them of a mineral that could improve the efficiency of the dilithium matrix. When he was asked why he was offering such valuable information to them, he told the Starfleet captain of his knowledge of a certain crimson haired woman. Lady Crimson was known throughout the galaxy as 'The Warrior', a savior of worlds in search of 'her chosen', whatever that meant.
Jim was currently sitting in the captain's chair looking over some reports handed to him by his first officer. The Vulcan was suggesting that the crew be allowed shore leave soon as a means to improve overall efficiency and ship's morale. He was inclined to agree because of the recent up surge of reports where people had started snapping at each other. The crew was running kind of ragged. He needed to find a nice M class planet or a hospitable species that would allow them access to their world for his crew's recreational needs.
"Captain, I'm picking up some strange gravitational distortions in the area." Chekov informed frowning at the console in front of him.
Before the captain could respond, they dropped out of warp unexpectedly near an asteroid belt. Several people wound up on the floor including the captain. He returned to his feet and pressed the comm button on the captain's chair.
"Scotty, what happened? Why'd we drop out of warp?" He asked.
"I don't know, Captain. Some type of gravitational surge shorted out the warp conduits and destabilized our warp field." The chief engineer responded, "As of now, we have impulse, but I need time to replace the conduits before we'll have warp capability again."
"Understood. Get on it." Jim ordered before deactivating the comm.
He looked over at Spock who was currently utilizing the sensory equipment of science station one.
"What do we know about that asteroid belt?" The captain asked.
"The belt itself is several kilometers long and has an assortment of asteroids rich in adamite, aluminite, and hematite minerals. However, there is a strong nexus of gravitational forces converging near the center of the belt and I believe that it was this phenomenon that caused us to drop out of warp." Spock answered turning to face the captain.
Jim turned around and faced the view screen.
"Mr. Sulu, take us into the asteroid belt, one eighth impulse, full sensor scans. Bring the shields up and place us on yellow alert." He ordered sitting in the captain's chair.
Spock came to stand next to the captain.
"Are you certain that this is the wisest course of action, Captain? Without warp capability, the ship could be at risk." His first officer asked.
"If we can find a way to neutralize the gravity distortions then it won't affect other ships that are passing through the area. Besides…we're explorers. Where's your sense of adventure?" Jim replied playfully, smirking at his frowning science officer.
Lady A: Chapter 2: Spatial Rift is complete! *giggles* I just got so psyched by this chapter. I could see it playing in my head perfectly. Coming Soon: Chapter 3: Tangled Web!