Star Trek: Wings of the Renaissance
A Star Trek fanfiction by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan-based work of prose. Star Trek is the property of CBS and Paramount. Please support the official release.
Joseph Kerwin Memorial Hospital, New Berlin, Luna, Sector 001
2366
The next few days, Dimaano didn't show up. Keiko couldn't help a certain satisfaction about that. It left her with a lot of nurses and interns who entered her room to give her food, check her vitals, occasionally talk a bit but most importantly? Be bullied into bringing her things.
Like a computer or two and a few PADDs, all of which she immediately put to use accessing the hospital network and learning about this new time she was in.
Faster than light drive. Aliens. Interstellar wars. Exploration. So much to absorb, but the more she learned, the more Keiko wanted to learn more. Her mind had been frozen for three centuries, after all: She needed to get it going again.
At last, around Friday, the doors slid open and Doctor Dimaano appeared with her same smile. She reached up to touch her nose when Keiko glared at her.
"Miss Matsunaga, I hope you don't mind if we go through a few things with a colleague of mine?" She asked. Keiko's glare didn't cease.
"Why don't you apologize first, and I'll think about it?" She retorted. Dimaano sighed heavily, like she was dealing with a child. It made Keiko's hackles rise.
"I am sorry. I should have been aware of how… Sensitive certain topics can be," the doctor said in a very formal, plastic voice. "It may not have been the… Best approach."
"I'm so glad you figured that out," Keiko replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Dimaano nodded.
"Well. Shall we begin?" Dimaano asked. Keiko returned to her PADDs. "Miss Matsunaga?"
"I didn't say yes, and it's Doctor Matsunaga," Keiko shot back. Dimaano sighed again.
"Well! I thought you might be excited to meet your first alien," she said. She managed to make her smile wider. "Wouldn't that be interesting?"
Keiko shrugged. "You make it sound like it wouldn't be."
A frustrated growl rumbled from outside the door. Dimaano and Keiko both jumped. A large man, a head or two taller than Dimaano, entered the room. His forehead was large and covered in ridges, like the crest of a triceratops. His hair was long and bristly, trapped in a tight ponytail. His fingernails were pointed, as were his teeth. He wore a long, white coat with a number of red symbols on it, over a jet black tunic of some kind.
"Doctor, if you're done wasting time, perhaps I can get about the business of speaking with the patient?" The large man growled, making Dimaano flinch. Keiko decided she immediately liked the man, especially with how fake Dimaano's smile was back at him.
"Ah, Keiko, this is Doctor Stord. He is a-"
"Klingon," Keiko immediately identified. "Member of some kind of exchange program, right?"
Stord hummed with a nod. "Yes," he replied. "I see you have been catching up."
"Beats sitting around doing nothing all day," Keiko replied. The Klingon nodded, and Keiko studied him. "You know, it's hard to think of you as an alien. I mean, a lot of our popular culture imagined aliens would be humanoid, but that was just because special effects sucked back then. The odds of aliens actually looking anything like us was very low."
"Hm. We thought much the same way, for a time," Stord replied. He stepped into the room, past the annoyed Dimaano. He took another few slow steps up to Keiko's bedside, a PADD held out in his hands. "In our case, we were invaded and conquered by an alien race we later drove off. It left a lasting impression on us."
"Yeah, I read that too," Keiko said with a nod. Stord hummed, making a note.
"Indeed? Well. Perhaps we can talk more about Klingon history and culture at another time," he stated. "For the moment, Doctor Dimaano would like you to answer a few questions."
"Ah, yes, I would," Dimaano stated, moving to the other side of Keiko's bed but keeping her distance. "For instance: What were you doing onboard that ship?"
Keiko took a deep breath. "I was on the Orbital Defense System Project team for the Allies. We built the satellites that were…" She trailed off, but managed to continue. "That were supposed to prevent a nuclear exchange if ECON launched an attack."
"I see," Stord rumbled, even as Dimaano winced. "You were found far from the satellites."
"We were headed to check on deployment of similar satellites to protect the Moon colonies," Keiko explained, and the Klingon nodded in understanding. "While we were in transit, the ECON nations launched an attack… We just saw the ICBMs launching."
"According to my research into World War III," Stord began, flipping through his PADD, "Colonel Green had decided to launch an all out attack after turning a few key personnel throughout the Allied command and control structure. His agents launched a few parasitic satellites with what you would call 'stealth' technology to disable your defense network." Stord eyed her carefully.
Keiko managed a nod. "Yeah… We figured that out pretty soon after the launch started. We tried to disable the satellite that was jacked, and we did but…" She sighed. "After that, something hit us and we couldn't stay in contact any longer."
"The logs recovered from the satellites indicate that someone tried to get them back under Allied control for over twenty minutes," Stord stated. "While under fire. Impressive."
Keiko shook her head. "I wasn't good enough," she stated firmly. "That's… All it was. In the end, Colonel Green won." Her eyes narrowed. "And in the end, what did he win? An irradiated hell with constant death and suffering."
She fixed Dimaano with an angry glare. The doctor shrank back a bit. Keiko glared at the far wall, her fingers gripping one of her PADDs tightly. Her knuckles were pale from the strain.
"I hope they savored it," she growled.
Stord nodded in understanding. "The Eastern Coalition was monstrous. Even by Klingon standards," he admitted. "Green acted as a coward. His only satisfaction was a burning world, brought about by his own hands. There is nothing honorable about that." He reached out and grasped Keiko's shoulder, making her look up at him.
"However: To fight on as you did marks you as someone of great courage and determination. To not give up after all that, and to try and survive takes strength. No matter how difficult it may seem now, I assure you: You have the strength needed to live in this time. You will only require guidance. And many will be willing to guide one as worthy as you."
What's with this guy? He's talking like someone out of my Japanese animes, her mind pointed out. Yet it didn't stop her genuine smile.
"Thank you," Keiko replied. She glanced over at Dimaano, and then back at Stord. "So… Um, what else can I help you with?"
Stord asked more questions, mainly related to Keiko's expertise. He admitted that several other historians were already very interested in talking to her, but for the moment they were held at bay due to Keiko needing time to recover. Dimaano was mostly just annoyed the entire session. Which suited Keiko fine. She talked about some of her medical issues as well, and Stord patiently went through the tests with her.
Frankly, she was astonished at just how much information the little sensors in the bed were getting out of her. It was like they'd shoved an MRI, X-Ray, Thermal and dozens of other scanners into tiny panels no thicker than a few pieces of paper. Stord himself was not an engineer but he was able to answer a number of her questions about the operation of the devices.
"So, it's not just increased resolution and processing power, you're also using some kind of exotic particle field to measure mass displacement?" She asked. Stord nodded.
"Yes. Subspace interface technology has multiple uses. I believe that at one point, you called the missing mass of the universe and the energy that kept it expanding 'dark matter'?"
"Yeah," Keiko nodded. "It was really kind of a stand in for something we didn't understand."
"Hrm. Well, I am not a physicist but I do believe you were detecting the first signs of subspace," Stord stated. "It is a multilayered dimensional domain that intrudes on our own level of reality."
"So because the laws of physics are different through subspace technologies, you can bend them a bit," Keiko said. She grinned brightly. "That's… That's actually amazing!"
"I suppose it is," Stord said with a nod. His phone beeped, and he checked it. Sure, they called it a "communicator" but it was really just a phone to her. Stord grimaced at whatever he saw on the screen of his device. "I am needed elsewhere," he said. He looked at Keiko. "If you require anything else, you may ask Doctor Dimaano."
"Will I see you again?" Keiko asked, a bit shyly. Stord hummed.
"It is usually not a good thing to want to see a doctor more than necessary. But I would be happy to speak to you and help with your recovery more," he said. Keiko grinned.
"That's all I ask!"
The Klingon turned and headed out. Dimaano sighed, and finished a few notes on her PADD. Keiko looked over at the doctor, raising her eyebrows.
"You seem happy to see him go," Keiko observed. Dimaano shook her head rapidly.
"Not at all! It's an honor to have Doctor Stord as a resident doctor. His expertise is well established," she said. "I suppose he can just be hard to work with sometimes."
"I didn't have any trouble," Keiko retorted. Dimaano gave her a condescending expression.
"Yes. You're a weapons designer, and he's a warrior. There's a natural synergy there."
"I thought he was a doctor," Keiko replied. Dimaano huffed.
"In their hearts, all Klingons are warriors. Even as allies, they keep trying to find excuses to fight. To war." She looked intently at Keiko. "We're in a time where we're supposed to be… Better than that. I guess his race just has a lot more growing up to do."
Before, Keiko would have just gotten angry at that. Even now, she was angry. But rather than lash out physically, she slowly nodded.
"Oh, I see," Keiko replied. "I mean, it's not like the Federation has had to fight to defend itself. Against, let's see," she began, checking a PADD, "the Romulans, the Klingons, the Tholians, the Kzinti, the Klingons again, the Gorn, the Klingons yet again, the Romulans again, the Talarians, the Tzenkethi, the Cardassians and these new guys… The Borg?"
"Wha-" Dimaano snatched the PADD out of Keiko's hands, and looked through it. She stared at Keiko in shock. "How did you get access to these files?! These are restricted!"
"People apparently still use their birthdays for their passwords, even in the 24th century," Keiko replied breezily. "I'm just saying, for a 'peaceful, enlightened' civilization you've had a lot of wars."
"Minor skirmishes ever since the Khitomer Accords, at best," Dimaano sniffed. She sighed. "I think you've been doing too much reading. It's time to get out and about: It'll do you good!"
Dimaano went over and pulled out a wheelchair… Minus the wheels. But thanks to the anti-gravity pads on it, it just floated easily. She pushed it back to the bed with that plastic smile again.
"Come on: It's been a while since you saw the sun anyway!"
Keiko grumbled a bit. She knew the doctor was just trying to get her way and make Keiko do something to assuage her own ego… But she had to admit, she would like to get out. So she stood up, brushing off Dimaano's attempts to help, and sat down in the chair with the imperiousness of a queen. She gestured to the door.
"By all means," she stated. Dimaano pushed her along, and Keiko leaned back, her blanket tucked tightly around her. It was still too damn cold.
The Joseph Kerwin hospital was on the edge of the huge, transparent aluminum dome that protected the New Berlin colony. When Keiko had been to the colony last, it had been a few dozen habitat modules and 3D printed pressurized caves: Now it was a full blown city, with skyscrapers reaching for the dark night sky and aircars going to and fro. The technology was impressive, but the most gratifying sight was the Earth high above. The blue dot, thriving and living again. Even after World War 3 and the horrors that followed, it had recovered. She found herself staring intently at it, a smile on her face.
Dwayne… Renji… I'm so sorry you couldn't see this.
The garden around the hospital was full of other patients, and had several screens displaying news from around the Federation as well as entertainment. She caught sight of several different species she remembered reading about: Andorians, Bajorans, Bolians, Tellarites, Trill, Nasat, Triexian, and many others she hadn't read about. Despite Dimaano's poor first impression, she was already liking the Federation. What she'd seen of it, anyway.
It was at this point though that every screen changed to a single news report: Footage from Wolf 359. Keiko looked at the reports with a frown, as numerous other eyes all turned to watch too. Dimaano shook her head.
"Oh, that. The new guys, as you called them," Dimaano explained with a huff. "The Borg. They attacked one colony out on the rim and now are trying to come here with one ship! Can you imagine something so ridiculous?"
The grave looks on the reporter's faces and those of the other people who showed up didn't seem to reflect Dimaano's apathy. Keiko shook her head.
"You've assembled 40 starships to fight this one ship. It doesn't look ridiculous to me," she said. Dimaano shook her head back, and patted Keiko's shoulder. This made Keiko glare at her.
"Please. I'm a Starfleet officer, and let me tell you: This is just an overreaction and it's all going to blow over soon. The Federation is enlightened. We just have to teach the Borg what they're missing, and they'll learn soon enough."
It was at this point the Borg cube entered visual range. Keiko studied it intently, as she did the designs of the Federation starships she could see. Most of the Federation ships seemed built for speed as a priority, and long range-Not necessary bad things, but maybe not that tough. Then again, the Borg ship was a gigantic cube, like a brick the size of a mountain-It was hard not to look frail against that.
Out of forty ships… Four of them immediately launched forward in a first wave, while the other vessels hung back and began to encircle the cube. So far, not terrible…
"A vanguard to slow the cube down while the other ships surround it? Not bad," she allowed. "But why aren't they firing all weapons? Why aren't they concentrating their fire on a few single points? Why aren't they coordinating?"
"It'll be fine, Keiko, now calm down," Dimaano tried… Just as the first ship was caught by a Borg tractor beam and torn apart. Her jaw dropped, and a horrified silence began to grow as more and more ships were similarly destroyed.
The Federation ships began to attack in larger groups, raining fire down on the cube from all sides. More smaller groups broke off to engage the cube, as the rest of the fleet bombarded it. The footage was getting confused, as the feed had to keep switching from ship to ship as the cube pressed on. More ships were destroyed. More formations shattered. A small scout vessel, an Oberth if Keiko recalled correctly, tried to ram the cube but was caught and tossed aside like a toy.
The fleet had been reduced in number by half. Fires and impact damage were visible on the cube but the giant kept pushing on even as more fire struck it from all sides. The Federation ships drew back, trying to regroup around a big ship: A Galaxy-class, she believed.
It put up a valiant fight: All phasers and torpedoes firing, maneuvering hard with its companions as it kept trying to find anywhere vulnerable. Yet it wasn't able to keep its distance. The Borg rammed through another vessel, and another, pushing to get to the flagship.
The feed switched to a civilian vessel. The reporter on the scene looked terrified, sweat dripping down his brow as the crew rushed to and fro in the background.
"The captain is ordering us to retreat. I don't have access to external comms-Something's jamming us! I-I can see the admiral's flagship! The cube has it! They're tearing it apart! It's coming apart! I can't believe it!"
The ship began to shake violently around the reporter. He held on for dear life.
"The cube's here! It's caught us! We can't-!"
The image jerked, janked and dissolved into static before a deep, grating electronic hum filled the air. Keiko gripped the armrests of her wheelchair tightly, as a pale face covered in cybernetics appeared. The face was hard as granite, yet emotionless. Then, it spoke.
"I AM LOCUTUS OF BORG. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US-"
The screen went black. Keiko looked at Dimaano. The Filipino woman was pale, her mouth trying to work but no sound came.
"What was that you said about Federation enlightenment? I think the Borg learned something else," she commented, despite the fear she felt.
More to come.
