Star Trek Discovery

Out of Time – Out of Place

Chapter One

The Long Lost

USS Enterprise's Number One sat in her Captain's vacated chair and sadly watched as the smaller vessel, the USS Discovery, disappeared in a blur of blue and white light. She sighed inwardly and wished, not for the first time, that Captain Pike was still on board and not in temporary command of the other ship.

Unfortunately, Pike couldn't use his own ship for the mission he was to embark on due to the recent multiple system failures they'd experienced. The USS Enterprise might be the best thing the Fleet had but not even she was invincible. The Enterprise simply couldn't travel the distance required for the mission in her current condition and time was of the essence here. Besides, the Enterprise was built to explore strange new worlds and civilizations beyond anything anyone had ever seen, or been to before. Although she was a Constitution class ship and built as a heavy cruiser her assignment was one of peace. For that reason the Admiralty had decided Captain Pike should use the Discovery for this type of mission. The Flagship of the Federation wasn't to be seen as a symbol for wartime or instil fear in people throughout the galaxy, she was to instil curiosity and to carry the message of peace. Right now, as far as anyone was concerned, the seven red signals in the sky appeared to be of great concern, perhaps even a threat to the Federation itself. At least that was what the president had expressed during the last council meeting. Una sighed wearily, they didn't need more bad news. The shit had already hit the fan with the war and everything it had brought with it.

There was another reason behind Pike taking temporary command of Discovery as well as the Enterprise going in for an overhaul. One that was top secret at the moment and probably one the SFC didn't know how to deal with. It was the delicate topic of Captain Gabriel Lorca. Starfleet Command had felt it best to send the Discovery away as soon as possible.

Una sighed and shook her head, she didn't envy those who had to attend to the matter. 'How did you explain that the promising captain of the USS Buran, who supposedly survived the incident while his ship was destroyed by enemy hands, didn't actually survive at all?' She pondered that for a moment as she stared blankly at the large view screen in front of her.

'How did you explain that a counterpart from another universe took the captain's place and managed to fool the entire staff and that not even his closest friends could tell the difference? Furthermore, how did one explain to the people of the Federation that the impostor had gotten command of one of the most secretive and expensive project currently existing.' Una sighed and reached up to absentmindedly run a hand over her forehead.

'How did you actually explain to the masses that Captain Lorca, who wasn't Captain Lorca at all, had been trusted with the USS Discovery to put an end to the war that started with the mutiny on board the USS Shenzhou and by an officer of the fleet that he had then taken under his wings.' Una smirked without even realizing it and then scowled. 'Some things were obviously best forgotten. Was it even possible to explain that the impostor used everyone and everything around him to get back to his own universe and that by doing so he sacrificed thousands of people to the Klingons? By taking that course of action he allowed for the enemy to reach far into Federation territory before the Discovery finally made it back home to Starbase 46 with the modifications she carried. Modifications that would tip the scale in favor of the Federation.'

Una couldn't help but to grow cold as she thought about it. 'The impostor Gabriel Lorca had deliberately taken one of Starfleet's greatest assets away from the front line at a crucial time. Had the Discovery returned immediately with the harmonics that gave them insight in the resonance of the Klingon shield modifications the war would have ended far earlier.'

It was not without dismay that Number One realized dejectedly that that part of the war would never be revealed to the people of the Federation, certainly not the fact that Starfleet had messed up. In truth it wasn't coming down to a handful of people. It wasn't down to Captain Gabriel Lorca or even the former mutineer, Michael Burnham. They'd just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time – or in Captain Lorca's case - not present at all.

Una chuckled ruefully under her breath as she remembered the look on Chris's face when they'd first spoken over a private channel, one week after his temporary transfer. Even though he was a master of hiding his feelings from people who didn't know him she could easily see through his façade. He had been angry and frustrated, his stance guarded and his shoulders tense. She had called him about it. He had leaned forward in his chair and levelled his eyes with hers and sadly told her that he'd lost Connelly in an accident.

She gave him a smile, trying to reassure him that things happen in space but it did nothing to comfort him. Una wished she could have been there to talk to him in the flesh, to be able to give his shoulder a gentle squeeze and cursed command for taking him away from her. Their ranks aside, he was her best friend and partner in crime, she missed having him around.

He had asked about his ship and crew. She had told him they were fine all things considered but that the space dock was crowded with people and that the Enterprise had been ordered to stay back while they tried to clear mooring space for her large frame. He had enigmatically asked her if she thought the Enterprise was up for a ride.

She'd told him they could make it past Pluto and back, that was just about what the battered starship was up to at the moment.

He had actually laughed at that. "That far, huh?" he'd said with a twinkle in his blue eyes.

Una had replied that she would see what she could do. Two days later, after travelling much of the distance at slow warp and shields at 50 percent, held together by force fields and escorted by a smaller fleet vessel, the large Constitution class starship smoothly decelerated and changed to sub-space drive. They'd made it past the rim of the Sol system and out to Starbase two, one of the first that had ever been built, which housed a large medical hub. After everything that had happened lately in the aftermath of what was to be named the Federation-Klingon war the hospitals back on Earth were heavily crowded. Starfleet Medical headquarters in San Francisco had just enough space to house the wounded from the crippled ships that had escaped the wrath of the Klingon armada. Therefore the Enterprise had relocated to drop off her wounded here. Pike had told Number One to wait for Discovery there, claiming they needed to talk. Una hadn't liked the darkness in his tone of voice when he'd suggested that – it simply wasn't like Chris.

She waited eagerly for him to come and join her as she sat alone at the counter in the popular Hubby Bubby bar. She sipped on a green-tinted drink and sighed. Una was well aware of the men eyeing her from all around the place but she didn't bath an eye, she was used to the attention. The flirting might have bothered her when she was younger and an unexperienced cadet but not now, being the first officer of the flagship. After three non-alcoholic drinks and several hours later she finally gave up, paid the bartender a few credits and walked off. She decided to take a tour of the rather large station in order to keep herself occupied. She was certain something had happened to Chris and she didn't want to mull over it unless she could help it. Una desperately wanted to be there for him, with him, and tackle the problems together.

When Philip Boyce found her standing in the observation lounge, gazing out through the windows overlooking the Enterprise's docking bay she was almost afraid to turn around and fully face him, he looked so dejected and worn-out that she feared he'd received news she dreaded to hear.

"He's not coming, is he?" Una finally managed as the doctor walked up to stand beside her.

Phil shook his head. "A call came through a few minutes ago. Lieutenant Nicola tried to call you but you've obviously not brought your communicator with you," he said with a smirk.

Una managed a sheepish look. "Is he all right?" she asked.

The good doctor pursed his lips into a thin line of displeasure for a moment and then shook his head slightly. "He was very vague about the reason for his delay, said something had come up," Boyce answered cryptically.

"Did he sound okay to you?" she pushed worriedly.

"No," Phil replied. "I'll deal with him later, don't you worry about that. Why don't we get back on board? I've set everything up here and handed over our injured crewmen into the best capable hands."

Una nodded. "I'll get the ship ready for travel," she said wearily. "Then I'm going to make sure that space dock has saved us a place for the night. I'm sick and tired of hearing the hacking of the engines, Louvier's constant whining, of seeing the lights flickering on and off in the mess hall and crew quarters of deck four, of the power burnout in the main circuit bay, the damage to the deflector dish,-"

Phil held up a hand to stall her. "Stop it, Una. I know the ship's in a bad condition, I just don't want to hear it out loud at the moment," he said wearily, his tone soft and kind as he gently steered her in the direction of the airlock. "I'm surprised SFC even let us leave the queue and warp off in the first place."

OOOOOO

Christopher Pike groaned when he awoke in sickbay for the third time during a short amount of time. The place was familiar yet strangely unfamiliar. The smell of antiseptics always made him grimace and the sterile room always made his mood plummet. However, strangely he preferred being the one with injuries and not the one standing next to the biobed wishing for someone to be well. He hated seeing people under his command being sick, injured or even worse – dead. It meant he'd failed them somehow and he didn't like that.

Chris chuckled lightly as he thought about Phil. His friend and doctor would hit the roof when he saw the new entry in his medical file. Severe phaser burn to left-hand side of his torso, hairline fracture in several ribs, two cracked ones, and an internal bleeding that would have killed him if Doctor Pollard hadn't whisked him into theatre and stopped it.

He could tell she was angry at him but he couldn't really understand why. He had saved a child and it had felt good to do it although afterwards he was a little peaky, stiff and sore.

OOOOOO

"Number One," Lieutenant Nicola called over his shoulder, with a hint of surprise in his voice. "I'm picking up a distress call. It's faint and irregular but-"

Una turned around in the captain's chair and frowned.

"It makes no sense, ma'am, but it's Starfleet," he reported as he turned to look at her with a look of confusion etched on his face.

She marvelled at the words briefly. This had been considered the rim of the galaxy as they knew it when the Starbase had been built all those years ago. No one had ever set foot this far out in space, at least not anyone from the fleet. Nowadays Starfleet had established two pretty heavily trafficked corridors in the area although the nearest planet system had been left alone, uncharted mostly because of the values botanists, field geologists and historians had found down there. The third planet was suited for human population but it was off-limit.

Una didn't doubt that someone would try to head back down there and repopulate the Minshara class planet despite the restrictions when everything that had been destroyed in the war had been restored and rebuilt all around the Federation territory.

Her mood darkened somewhat as she straightened and worked out the kinks in her back. The Enterprise was just about to head back to the Sol system. She hadn't expected, nor did she want, to deal with something unknown without backup.

"You're right, lieutenant," she mused. "It makes no sense at all."

OOOOOO

To be continued