Episode 107 – Window of Dreams
Data sat at the desk inside of the Commanding Officer's cabin aboard the Normandy, going over reports on data pads when suddenly there was a chiming sound to indicate that someone was at the door. At this, Commander Data pressed a key at the computer terminal which caused the door to open.
Lieutenant Paris entered, automatically standing at attention and saluting. "Sir."
"At ease, Lieutenant."
"Yes, sir. Can I talk to you?"
"Of course. I am listening." He put out the pad down and looked at Paris.
"Well, sir, you know that I'm just a shuttle pilot. There's not a lot I can do on a Frigate. That's why I'm asking for a transfer, specifically to the newly finished carrier, the Voyager."
"I understand, Lieutenant, but the notes on your Military Vocational Code chart indicate that you were training for a position of helmsman. You technically have enough hours for a promotion to level 2. Level 2 is the experience level needed for piloting a Frigate weight ship."
"Yes, sir. I know."
The Commander walked over to the tiny window on the port bulkhead and stared out at the side of Asgard that was visible. "If I were to promote your MVC to H2, would you stay and pilot the Normandy?"
"Um, I haven't really thought about it, sir. But... It'd be a good chance to get some experience and try something new. Yes, I'll stay, sir."
"Then I will file the appropriate documents. At 1900 hours you will report to the Bridge as Ensign Kelley's relief." He turned around as Paris stood at attention and they both saluted each other. "I firmly believe you are our best chance of getting through this alive. Dismissed."
He watched silently as the Lieutenant headed out of the cabin and then turned around to continue staring out the window.
In the landing bay on C deck, several crew members were running around in mechanic's jumpsuits, assisting the Asgard team that was installing the weapons or making calibrations to different systems. The crew member on watch, and Chief of the Deck was Chief Benson, an experienced NCO who tended to refer to C deck as 'his deck' and the Drive Core as 'his engines' despite Lieutenant Commander LaForge's authority. He was now making rounds which included making sure the hatches were closed and peaking around between the exterior and interior pressure hulls to make sure no one was doing something they weren't supposed to.
He picked up a flashlight and opened a hatch on the starboard side of the hangar which led into the space between hulls and stepped into the walkway. Once he was satisfied that things were clear, he moved back into the hangar and greeted a woman who approached him. This woman was also on the Enterprise, her name was Casey and the patches on her suit indicated that she was a Specialist.
"Specialist Roberts."
"Sir, I've checked capacitor coil T6 and it seems to be faulty."
"Well, we should do a bypass. If we replace it, we'll be here three months and we need to get our people back." As they were talking, they were also moving to the port hatch which led into that side of the ship's inter-hull compartments. As soon as they'd closed the hatch behind them, they threw themselves at each other and began removing the others' suit. "Do you think anyone suspects us?"
"I don't know, sir." She grinned and continued to remove his clothes, as he did her, but there was a sudden banging sound which caused them to both stop. "What is that? Is it the refit crew?"
"I don't think so." Suddenly, the metal began to make massive creaking sounds and they held each other tight as they looked around, trying to see something in the extreme darkness. Suddenly, the exterior hull buckled and ruptured, venting the both of them out of the compartment and into space.
Back in the CIC, there was a sudden flood of chaos as officers moved back and forth between stations, coordinating damage control and trying to assess the situation. Commander Data stepped out of the lift and stopped Commander Morrison. "Sitrep."
"The port compartment on C deck just vented for no discernible reason, sir. We're trying to work out what happened."
"Are you telling me that this ship is not ready for this mission?"
"We don't know anything yet, sir."
"Very well. Do you have any theories?"
"When the USS Olympus was decommissioned, some of the metals were scrapped and reused, some on the Normandy and notably C Deck. Starfleet couldn't get its hands on enough Titanium-Coltan-Aluminum alloys from normal channels so they had to sacrifice their plans to turn the Carrier over the museum and instead use its materials to build new ships."
"Not having enough Tritanium would be a problem, but what does any of this have to do with the hull rupture, Commander?"
"The Olympus once jumped out of warp too close to a Neutron star, and the radiation nearly melted the hull. That ship, like ours, carried its water between the exterior and interior hulls, providing a shield against Neutron radiation for the crew but the hull was still badly damaged."
"That is enough, Commander. Thank you." She saluted briefly before handing a pad to a crewman at a terminal on the starboard side of the CIC and assuming other duties. Commander Data walked to the Command and Control station in the Bridge, looking at the giant round computer console that was the only source of light in the small room. He clicked several keys on both the keyboards and touch screens, bringing up a damage scan of the ship.
He noted that the clock indicated the time as 1900 hours and Tom Paris was just coming down the hallway and relieving the helmsman at that station. Data acknowledged him and went back to looking over the Normandy's blueprints.
It had been nearly twelve hours since the hull rupture, and the repairs along with the refits were finished. Commander Data was standing behind Lieutenant Paris, looking over his station and checking all the warning lights. "Lieutenant, you have a red light on L4."
"Ensign Kelley briefed me about that. It's been bypassed. We're cleared to embark, sir."
"Very well. Disconnect from the docking cradle."
"Aye, sir. Releasing maglocks." He tapped some keys and there was a faint rumbling.
"Aft one quarter impulse. Heading Yaw 249, Pitch 000. Steady as she goes, Lieutenant."
"Aye, sir. Aft one quarter impulse 249 by 000, steady as she goes."
"Take us to the relay node and once there, enter the coordinates and activation codes Virgil-2 transmitted to us."
"Aye, aye, Commander. We are away." The ship sped toward the large Torus ring to which the five pylon sections, covered with their cities, were connected. A blue stream of ion particles were flowing from the aft end of the ship's nacelles, which were suspended diagonally below the ship on the end of large wing shaped structures and gave the Normandy its forward momentum as the Drive Core of the ship constantly created an invisible gravitational field which altered the vessel's heading in order to keep it in line toward its destination.
As soon as the frigate had taken its position under the node, which was a large rod shaped structure, one of approximately 30, descending from the Torus and in toward the center, Commander Morrison approached the communications officer in the CIC and nodded toward him, an unnamed crewman whose rank insignia indicated him to be a Petty Officer.
After he'd entered the codes and transmitted them to the node, there seemed to be nothing happening for a few seconds. Suddenly, though, the end of the node unfolded into a metallic disk shaped structure, which then began creating a deep crimson light that passed over the Normandy over and over again. Nearly as quickly as it had begun, the scanning stopped and the dish folded back, turning the node into a rod again.
And then the process began, in a similar way to Starfleet transporters. The frigate began to vibrate, faster and faster until it was a blur, before becoming a field of energy which collapsed in on itself in a massive electrical explosion which rippled out into the nebula.
Over 30,000 light years away, in the middle of a binary Neutron star system, the process happened exactly the same, only in reverse, with electricity exploding outward and forming the Normandy.
The entire crew was amazed to know that their ship had essentially been transported over such a massive distance in nearly an instant. There was a brief hesitation as the Astrometrics officer awaited a star fix from the Astrometrics lab on B Deck, and when the message of confirmation came in, there was a wave of excitement flowing through the CIC as the crew cheered and rejoiced before Morrison ordered them to resume standard duties before walking off to the Bridge to go over the situation with Data.
Two enlisted crewmen, both Specialists including the Astrometrics officer, who were sitting by each other looked at each other and laughed. The other crewman, who was at an auxiliary engineering station high fived his neighbor. "She must be pretty butt hurt about losing her command."
"Nah, she's the XO now. If we don't hate her, she's doing something wrong."
"Aye, that's true."
In the Bridge, Data and Morrison were gazing at a map of the system they were in, and Morrison touched the planet closest to the largest star and zoomed in on it. "Astrometrics reports that this cluster, is Messier object 2... It has approximately 150,000 stars." She sighed and looked at the system map. "We're going to have a lot of trouble in just this one system. Radiation interference will make our sensors near useless."
"This planet is only 2537 kilometers in diameter. BRADIS is not detecting the radioactive markers indicative of an atmosphere. It is likely that being so close to the star would have prevented the planet from forming one."
Morrison nodded in agreement and manipulated the touch screen to rotate the model of the planet. "Also, we may not know much about that ship, but I don't think it can survive there for long periods of time. We'll have to search for no more than two hours before backing off and recalibrating several systems."
Paris peeked around the corner of his station as he overheard. "What about the shuttle? I can fly it. All I'll need is an ECO to run the scans, keep our systems going and everything."
Commader Morrison nodded. "It's the only one we got, but then again so is the Normandy. Alright, we'll stay between bingo fuel and hazardous radiation exposure range. But we should start from the outside of the system, going in."
Commander Data nodded and tapped some keys, zooming out and displaying the entire system again. "I agree, but if we do not find anything here, we will be looking at an extensive search. This cluster is estimated to be over 175 light years in diameter. This could take months or even years. Just searching this one system will take us approximately three weeks, and we cannot even enter the singular gas giant here."
"Do you think the ship could be there?"
"The radiation would fry the electronics in any of our ships, and the people, but this ship is obviously far more advanced than anything the Federation has encountered previously."
Suddenly, there was the sound of metal clanking on the deck plates and both Morrison and Data turned around to see Virgil coming toward Command and Control. "Data-Commander, I implore you. Do not attempt to rescue your people. We will all be destroyed."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Commander Morrison was puzzled as she stepped toward the machine and looked into its glowing red optical sensor. "We have thousands of people out there, we can't just ignore them! They need our help."
Commander Data stepped forward to place his hand on his XO's shoulder before turning to face Virgil. "Calm down. Now, can you explain your reasoning?"
"This ship is the vanguard for an invasion by Ragnarok."
"Ragnarok?"
"I have told your Captain the tale. Ragnarok is the name for a collective of Creators transformed... Mutilated... By the Ancient Construct Drazzana. They are an invasion force of powerful cybernetic organisms, their only goal is to collect all organic life for harvesting by Drazzana."
"For what purpose?"
"We do not know. There is little information on these beings because they destroy or corrupt us nearly immediately on contact."
Morrison shook her head and turned back to face the forward bulkhead. "We'll take your suggestion under advisement. Dismissed."
"Data-Commander, please list-"
"I said dismissed." Morrison was now clenching her fists and sweating as she stared angrily at the metal wall in front of her.
"I will go, but I cannot condone you allowing our destruction. I must preserve myself so I request that you place me in a lifeboat and eject it near the relay in this system."
Data shook his head. "No, we need our lifeboats and you." He looked at the marines stationed at the entrance to the Bridge and nodded causing them to move into a position that allowed them to keep their weapons trained on Virgil. "Will you cooperate willingly?"
It took a few seconds to process the situation before generating its response. "Yes, Commander."
"Good, now I need to know if there is anything you can do to assist in our search." They all walked back over to the Command and Control console, and Virgil held his hand on the surface of the center touch screen. Suddenly, the color of his eye's glow turned white and the display on the screen become a garbled mess for several seconds before Virgil took his hand off and returned to normal.
There were several new files listed in the computer's index and Virgil looked at Data. "I have uploaded data for several shield modulations that will assist in interfering with the Neutron radiation. This will add two more hours to your shuttle's search times and allow the Normandy to take a position two million kilometers closer."
"What about our sensors?"
"An upgrade schematic has been uploaded that will allow up to fifty klicks at half resolution on the first planet, with a significant decrease after that distance. This is for the shuttle only, there were no upgrades in my databases for ships like the Normandy."
Morrison turned to Paris, nodding. "Take us to the tenth, and farthest out, planet. Fast and quiet."
"Aye, sir. Activating emission sinks... We are in silent running."
"Call for relief and report to the Landing Bay for pre-flight checks."
"Yes, sir."
Within the next ten minutes, Paris was in the Landing Bay and running his pre-flight checks, with a logbook and manual sprawled out over his lap. He heard a rustling sound and turned around to see Commander Data dressed in a flight suit and taking position at the sensing equipment. "Sir, you're my ECO?"
"I am the only officer aboard ship qualified for this position, Lieutenant."
"Yes, sir. The board looks green here."
"Here as well. We are ready to embark."
Paris adjusted his headset and linked into the CIC's channel. "Normandy, this is Flyboy ready to depart on recon mission M2-001-10."
"Confirmed, you are cleared to launch, sir. Good hunting."
The shuttle phased through the barrier which was holding in the atmosphere of the landing bay and sped out from underneath the small Frigate, heading toward the brownish green gas giant several thousand kilometers away. Data was tapping keys and throwing switches as he monitored the sensing equipment.
He began focusing on a single screen which was showing a scan of the ambient background radiation of space. "Lieutenant, the BRADIS is picking up something."
"Where?"
"In orbit of the planet. It is difficult to acquire a complete image. I will have to complete several sensor passes and then compile them in an image manipulation program. It will be easier if we maintain our position."
"Yes, sir. All stop and cutting engine power." In space, the shuttle adjusted its position, firing chemical rockets from several areas along its hull until it fired all of them at once while at the same time shutting off the main engines on the aft end of the hull, causing the blue stream of particles to die down. "We have minimal inertial drift of 3 KPH."
"That will be sufficient, Lieutenant." He began manipulating the sensors, fine tuning the scan fields and focusing on the one specific location over the planet. After nearly half an hour, he had gathered enough scans of all types and was ready to begin making the image in a special program, which took nearly as long as gathering the scans. After the image was prepared, the Commander printed it out and sat beside Paris in the cockpit showing him the image.
"The silhouette... It looks like a ship. Do you think this is what we're here for?"
"I have compared it to sensor readings I took on the Enterprise of the ship that attacked us, and there is a 92.34 percent match between the two."
"It seems close enough. What do you wanna do?"
"We need to get close enough for a visible light image to be certain."
"Are you crazy? Close enough for our gun cams to get a glimpse of this thing is close enough for it to destroy us."
"I have an idea about that. Restart the engines, but keep them at minimal power, only enough to adjust our heading and fire a one second burst at one quarter impulse. Then I will kill all power, except for the cameras."
"Right, if we don't have any systems running, there's no electronic signals to pick up so we just look like a metal rich meteorite."
"And the engines should have cooled down by the time we reach the planet, ensuring there are no thermal signatures, either." Data sat back down in front of the computer equipment and shut off all of the instruments, except for one computer, bringing up the gun camera feed to it. He nodded to Paris, and they both locked their helmets and seat harnesses down, before finally shutting off life support.
The shuttle moved as its pilot fired thrusters to orient it and then the engines flared up briefly, for one second, before shutting off. This forced the shuttle to move quickly toward the planet and Data turned on his radio, which hissed into Tom's helmet. "FTL is green, and our course is plotted. I should be able to warp us away before we hit the atmosphere, and it should look like we burned up in it."
He saw the Lieutenant give a thumbs up before he went back to manning the camera. They were able to pass closely enough to the ship to take several clear images and they were suddenly hitting the outer atmosphere before Data rebooted the FTL Drive computer and engaged the engines. The shuttle spun around to adjust its heading as it began to burn up, though it was able to jump away quickly enough, exiting warp an instant after right on the other side of the Normandy, which due to its stealth systems was able to block out the shuttle's emissions to any observer on the opposite side.
Data was staring at two screens filled with static, the computers that had previously been active during the entry of the planet. "All systems which were online during our descent have overloaded. The hard disk drives are shielded, however and they should be intact. Take us back on board the Normandy, Lieutenant."
"Aye, sir."
They were now on the Bridge, surrounding the Command and Control console as Data plugged the hard-drives into the terminal and browsed the directories for the images. Eventually, he'd been able to pull up all of the scanner images plus the gun camera shots, a total of over 45 photos.
Data manipulated the touch screen to cycle through the photos, stopping at a compiled graph of the ship's electronic output. "This is curious. This spectrograph shows the ship as if it were an electronic void. The planet's ambient electromagnetic fields are overwhelming this ship's output, when it should be the reverse."
Commander Morrison looked over a real graph at the edge of the screen, showing all electronic signals emanating from the planet's direction. "Could they be in some sort of silent running mode?"
"That is highly doubtful. We may not know much about this species, but I find it unlikely that the ship could have any sort of stealth technology. I do not think their emissions are being masked. I believe they have been disabled and their systems are offline."
"But you saw the power of this ship. It obliterated the Enterprise in one attack. What could possibly outdo that?"
"I do not know. But I intend to find out. I will take Lieutenant Paris, Lieutenant Commander LaForge, Virgil and three Marines. We will board the ship and attempt to discern what happened. Please prepare a mass spectrometer so that we can perform a metallurgical analysis on samples from the ship's hull."
"And from where do you intend to take these samples, sir?"
"We have been able to locate several hull breaches from the visible light images taken during the recon mission. This is where we will board the ship and from where we will extract samples of the hull. Inform my companions to join me in Small Arms Locker one."
"Aye, sir." She saluted him before he turned around to head for the lift, taking it down to C deck, where he headed to a room on the port side of the ship. He looked at the ten powered combat suits stored here, scanning them carefully before selecting one and activating it. Once it had powered up, the metal and ceramic panels slid around and unfolded on the suit's support frame, assuming a configuration that would allow its wearer to step inside the frame, which Data did. Once the suit sensed that its occupant was in position, it began to reverse the opening process around the Commader's form, and he then began selecting his weapons as his selected team members joined him, and all of them save for Virgil selected combat suits and weapons, as well.
After the Lieutenant had suited up and selected his weapon, he stood in front of his CO. "Sir, if I may ask you something?"
"Go ahead." He divided his attention between checking his gear and listening.
"As far as we know, tens of thousands of people were taken. It would be pushing it to have 30 people on the Normandy. How are we getting our people home, sir?"
"I have been thinking about that. I assumed we were going to find the ship, report back to command and have them move a fleet in."
"And now?"
"I am now considering commandeering the enemy vessel, installing Starfleet IFFs and taking it back to command. I am going to attempt to convince Admiral Yuroa that we should study the ship and its technology in order to figure out how to defend against them."
"You sure that's wise, sir? I mean, I understand what you're saying, but can we even operate the ship? More importantly, are our people even alive over there? We're not detecting anything but it's possible the hull is masking emissions. Or the ship really is dead, there's no life support and all we'll find is frozen corpses."
"My idea for operating the ship was to find its hangar, which judging by the vessel's size should be large enough to accommodate the Normandy, and then synchronizing the systems of the two ships. That way we can control it from our own CIC and Bridge. As for our people, the only way to find out is to go over there."
"Yes, sir. I'm ready to move out."
"Good." He turned toward Virgil. "Assuming there are any... Ragnarok drones over there, would I be correct in assuming that they would have a way of detecting our shuttle approaching?"
"Yes, they are machines which means they have an advanced sensor suite built into their bodies. They would see us coming."
"Well, then mister Paris, we will go in silently, with only minimal systems running until the last second, when will activate engines only to initiate docking procedures."
It had been fifteen minutes since their time in the arms locker, and they were now nearing a gigantic hull breach, able to peer inside and see a spot where they could sit the shuttle down. Tom initiated the appropriate engine burns, gently placing the shuttle down and then powering everything off.
They all stepped outside, onto a large metal surface, the deck plating. They looked up and all around, seeing the floors of higher decks torn and ruptured above them. Data tapped into the comm system for everyone. "I will take Paris, Virgil and Corporal Marsh. Geordi, you will lead the other Marines, and look into the ship's engineering systems while we search for any survivors. Move out."
It was strange to them being in this ship, no rooms to speak of, nothing indicative of any former presence of organic life or otherwise. Just endless metal hallways. Eventually, a door was found and Data tried to access it, yet the lack of any power was making it difficult. He signaled his team into a covering position and got his fingers into the thin crack between the top and bottom halves of the door, pulling one arm up and one down, wrenching it open far enough for the team to move in.
Inside, all that was to be found were some sort of computer terminals, all offline. Virgil moved over to one and examined it. "I believe this could be their command center." He spotted some sort of odd data port, and from his left arm formed a connector which he could use to access it. "I am unable to detect anything, even by giving this computer network sufficient power to activate."
Paris moved over behind Data, facing in the opposite direction and pointing his assault rifle around the room. "Sir, if there's nothing here, then we should continue looking for survivors."
"Agreed. Everyone move out." He signaled for everyone to take cover again while he opened the door on the opposite end of the room.
Little did Data know due to infrequent radio contact, the other team was moving the opposite way to the same door that Data was opening, and once there was enough space to see, one of the Marines in Geordi's team opened fire with his weapon, before verifying his targets. Three shots were fired into the room, and one of Data's Marines dropped to the ground, clutching his chest as blood poured out.
Data had pinned the Marine who fired to the ground and handed his weapons to Geordi, but he noticed the Private was crying, and through his tears he was repeating the same thing over and over, "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know what I was doing. I was scared. I'm sorry, sir."
After taking time to process, the Commander let the man go and moved over to his own wounded soldier, scanning his body. On his HUD, the position of the wounds were highlighted by indicators and he then tried to see X-Rays, though it was proving impossible. "I cannot see X-Rays. I cannot explain it, but I believe it could be this ship's hull material. Geordi, have you collected samples?"
"Yes, sir. I have several from different areas of the ship."
"Good." He spotted another Marine, one who was carrying a med-kit. "Lance Corporal, you are a medic?"
"Yes, sir."
"Why are you just standing there?"
"Sorry, sir. I froze up." He dashed over, crouched and flipped open the med-kit. "First thing we should do is get him on Morphine and something to stop the bleeding."
"Can we not take him back to the Normandy?"
"We could after I get him stabilized, but we don't have a doctor."
"No doctor? How could you have permission to embark with no doctor?"
"Well, we have an Emergency Medical Hologram but we've never used it. There are several medics and nurses on staff and they do most of the day-to-day stuff."
"Corporal, this is not 'day-to-day' stuff."
"Yes, sir. I'll have to get him stabilized. To be honest, it's going to be hard to do with these pressure suits."
Data scanned the room, with the contents of the environment registering on his HUD. "There is a breathable atmosphere in here."
"Okay. And, may I ask for your assistance, sir? Your hands can certainly move quicker and more precise, right?"
"Yes, Corporal, that is correct and I have an extensive knowledge of human, Klingon, Vulcan, Romulan, Andorian-"
"Anatomy?"
"Yes."
"Good. Sorry for interrupting you, sir."
"It is quite alright. The Private was using a .45 caliber carbine. It looks like one shot directly through the left lung from what I can tell. We need some light, because even though I can see in Infrared, the quality is far inferior."
"Okay, my helmet. I'll hold it up." He took his pressure helmet and activated the bright white LED lights inside, shining them down on the Marine.
This light caused the young Private, First Class to recall his first day on the Normandy, walking into sickbay over an upset stomach. It was a beautiful young nurse who was looking after him, sighing. "Didn't anyone warn you?"
"Warn me, ma'am?"
"Stay away from the Chef's Vulcan salads. Humans can't handle it." He casually looked at the ceiling, but had to divert his gaze when it stumbled upon the bright lights. "But, if you don't mind, Private I would like to show you what you could eat, if you're that interested in Vulcan food."
"Are you asking me out?"
She leaned up to his ear while handing him a cup of milky white liquid and whispered, "Yes."
He drank the stuff in the plastic medicine container and handed it back to her. "Thank you, ma'am. I'll meet you in the Mess Hall at 1900 tomorrow?"
"Don't be late."
"Don't you be late." He smiled and left the room before returning back to his present reality as the Morphine started working.
Data looked curiously at him while he worked. "I am sorry, Private, but what would I be late for?"
Back on the Normandy, Commander Morrison sat eating a salad when the intercom system of the ship chimed in with a male voice. "Pass the word for Commander Morrison, please report to the CIC. I repeat, XO to the CIC."
She walked over to the lift in the center of the room, exiting out into a metallic hallway, in which she took a left and through a door, entering the CIC. "Sit-rep."
The radio operator, who had been the one delivering the intercom directions, brought her over to his station. "The shuttle is returning unscheduled. It seems they have a wounded officer on board, and the shooter."
"Shooter?"
"They haven't said anything else about it, sir."
"Alright, I'll report to the Landing Bay, have a medical team join me."
"Aye, sir."
