"Open fire!" Kala shouted.
The bootnecks unloaded a massive amount of ordinance onto the surface of the Iron Star. Rifles, chain guns, photon launchers, and even bursts from the HK Drone slammed savagely into the metal surface.
But the hole still didn't appear.
"This isn't fucking working. And we've been at this for five hours. LT, maybe call in an OSP?" Kala suggested to Ryhr.
"Unless anyone else has an idea?" Ryhr said as she raised her wrist comm.
"Would you just stop?! All of you?!" Kath roared, trying to fight the Klingon instinct of killing everyone around her, "The very definition of insanity is performing the same action over and over again and expecting different results!"
Ryhr marched right up to the Klingon's face, "We can't just leave them inside this thing! We're Marines, and we don't leave people behind!"
Kath's first instinct – the Klingon one – was to kill everything around her, except for Kala who she would brutally rape before killing.
But the Vulcan trained part of her instinct won, and instead she replied in a frustrated tone, "As I have said, several times now, the surface of this Iron Star is composed of Neutronium. Even a direct hit from Tirpitz's entire magazine of quantum torpedoes would fail to penetrate the surface."
She raised her tricorder before continuing, "If you will simply stand down for a few moments and let me think, I believe now that I can—"
A motion suddenly drew everyone's attention to the 'east', and the missing members of the Landing Party suddenly returned.
The hole opened in the surface of the iron star, just as it did before.
Ginny and Yue raised up on the platform. The platform hovered in the same spot as it did five hours ago.
Ginny, easily able to step down, did so first, and reached a hand up to help the shorter Yue down.
Once both women had stepped off, the platform lowered itself back into the hole, and the hole disappeared as though it were never there to begin with.
Ryhr immediately ran to Ginny's side, "Major?! Are you alright?!"
Ginny nodded, "Yeah, we're okay LT."
She looked around the surface and saw the scorch and impact marks of the bootneck's weapons fire, "Did we miss a good party or something?"
Ryhr gasped, "Major Tatum, we've been trying for five hours to open that hole again to find you. You stopped responding to comm's an hour after you left, and I lost your sub-dermal bio-signs monitor an hour after that! We-we..."
Kala spoke up next, "We thought you were both dead!"
Ginny and Yue both looked at each other.
Yue then looked at Kath, "Five hours? That can't be right, we weren't inside for more than a few minutes."
Kath seized her tricorder back from Yue and ran the device over both her and Ginny, "According to quantum scanning, your chronological signatures are out of sync with local space-time by 5.3 hours. This suggests that the interior of the iron star must be a quantum tunnel. Fascinating, you should both be dead."
Ginny looked at her medic next, "LT, am I dead?"
Ryhr shook her armoured head, "Unless all my scanners are wrong, they're telling me you are both alive, Major. We should get you back to the ship, I'll want to run some tests with Dr. Selar."
Kala waved, "Hey, what did you guys see in there?"
Yue smiled at the Bajoran Marine, "We met Star, she sang to us and gave us something to talk to her on the outside with, so we don't get scared again."
"Uh, LT? Maybe there's something wrong with them that your scanners wouldn't pick up. Like, inside their brains," Kala said, taking a step back from the smiling XO
Ginny started walking towards the Raptor, "Well, then my brain is completely fucked too, Sarge. Because I met Star too, and she even said not to shoot things. It's not nice."
The Marines and Yue all piled aboard the Raptor.
Only Kath was left standing outside, still looking at the surface of the iron star.
"Fascinating," Kath said, before being screamed at by Yue to get back on the Raptor.
─•~:~•─
USS Tirpitz
Sovereign Class Capital Cruiser NCC 84937
Main Sickbay
Holding position near "Star's Home"
Beta Quadrant
"Remain still please, the scan will complete shortly," replied Dr. Selar, the Vulcan CMO of Tirpitz.
As soon as Raptor 2-7 returned to the Lonely Queen of the North, Ginny and Yue were both beamed into the decon chamber and had been standing inside of the small room for the last three hours.
Yue had ordered Selar to run every test the doctor knew how to run before being allowed back into the closed environment of the ship.
Selar was by far the most experienced officer on the entire ship, holding more time in service then even Captain Scott Hathaway.
Selar was widely considered to be the finest doctor serving in the fleet, and Captains were practically fighting one another for her services.
Scott Hathaway, thanks to his friendship with Douglas Mitchell, won out and Selar was posted to Tirpitz as CMO – holding the official line rank of Captain no less – and beside Scott himself, no one on The Lonely Queen of the North dared to argue with Dr. Selar.
Ginny, however, liked to argue, and sighed in frustration, "Is this going to take much longer, Doc?"
Selar raised an eyebrow, "It will take as long as it takes, Major. If you are uncomfortable, I suggest you take a seat. I will reset the scanner and begin again."
Ginny sighed deeply and shook her head while remaining standing.
The decon chamber had a pair of small bunks with a thin sleeping pad, but now the Marine major was craving her own bed in her private cabin, which also held a change of clothes.
Both her and Yue were as naked as the day was long, a requirement of the decon scans.
Ginny was hardly modest, but given the circumstances, this wasn't exactly an ideal situation for nudity.
Yue, who was playfully holding her hands over her eyes, giggled at her, "I promised I wouldn't peek, didn't I?"
Again, Ginny sighed, "You're almost worse than Cyron. Alright, go ahead and get it out of your system. Enjoy the show, this one doesn't happen very often either."
Yue lowered her hands and smiled brightly, "Oh, this is an incredibly special show indeed. I'll remember this one for a long time."
Yue took a long look at her friend, the Major.
Ginny was in about as perfect shape as any woman could ever be. It was like her muscles had muscles.
If it wasn't for her buzz cut, Ginny would be everything she could ever want.
But even Michelangelo's David had it's flaws, she thought to herself.
And besides, When am I ever going to get a chance to see a show like this?
While Yue was enjoying her show, Captain Hathaway's hand knocked on the transparent aluminum viewing port, "Is it safe to look, ladies, or should I just talk from over here?"
Ginny sighed once again, "Go ahead, Sir, everyone else has already seen me naked today, might as well put you on the list."
Hathaway stepped in front of the viewing port, taking a heroic effort to keep his eyes on Ginny's, "You feeling okay, Major?
"Am I feeling okay, Doc?" Ginny asked in return.
Selar nodded, "Physically, I can detect nothing wrong with either of you. I will need to administer a small hypo-spray of Trillium-D to correct your time-space synchronization, but otherwise, you may exit the decon chamber. For the sake of modesty, I have provided a change of clothing for both of you from your private quarters, you will find it to the right on the bio bed when you step out."
With the scanner deactivated, the large bulkhead with the viewing port lifted into the ceiling and the bright lights of sickbay lit up the otherwise darkly lit decon chamber.
The blue medical force-field deactivated, and Ginny quickly stepped out to put on her change of clothes.
Marine Regulations were strict on personal effects, and since she didn't have much of a taste in fashion to begin with, all Ginny had was a black tank-top and a matching pair of nylon boxer briefs.
She quickly put both items on, noting that Hathaway had respectfully turned his back to her.
Yue put on a very elegant and comfortable looking kimono from her quarters, and Ginny couldn't help but to notice that the Japanese XO kept one eye on her while she was changing.
Just let her enjoy the show, Ginny thought to herself.
Once dressed, The Doctor administered the hypo-spray to both women via the neck.
The solution was colder than Ginny expected, "That feels weird."
Selar simply nodded, "Side effects are very minimal. The sensation of coldness should go away momentarily. Please inform me if you experience any tingling or sensations of numbness in the extremities."
Now dressed, Yue hopped up on the bio-bed and sat with her legs hanging over the edge.
Hathaway finally dared to turn around, and Ginny snapped in place and offered a salute, "Apologies for my state of dress, Captain Hathaway, Sir! I'm aware that this is a violation of FMC Grooming standards."
Hathaway returned her salute and smiled, "I'll skip the court martial filing this time, Major. Let's start with the beginning, shall we? You two went inside of an Iron Star?"
Ginny stood at ease and nodded back, "Yes Sir, that's about the long and short of it."
"I don't know whether it has a stellar core like other stars, or that's where we actually were, or if it was something else like quantum tunnelling or a displacement effect. And we're calling this an iron star for a fact, Captain?" Yue asked.
Sitting down next to his 'Number One', Hathaway nodded, "From everything you've described so far, and everything we've collected from both the tricorders and our sensor grid, that object out there is an Iron Star, no question about it. This is a massive scientific achievement."
"I would say it's a big fucking deal, Captain, if you'll pardon my language," Yue replied
"Language pardoned XO, if only for the fact that you're right. This is a big fucking deal. Now, tell me about this… entity you spoke to inside of the star?" Hathaway replied
"I don't think she'd like it if you called her an entity, Captain. She was very adamant that she was her, but she let us call her Star," Ginny added.
"I'm not sure what else I can tell you that's not in my report, Skipper. Her name is Star, and she claims to have built the Iron Star as her home, because it's more comfortable for her to sing in," Yue said.
"And you didn't learn anything at all about this 'Star' character from your tricorder scans?" Captain Hathaway asked.
"Nothing, she wasn't registering at all on any scans. But unless Ginny and I both hallucinated the same thing at the same time, she was very real," Yue said apologetically.
"What about the device she gave us?" Ginny asked, still standing at attention.
Hathaway stood up and walked over to the nearby table, where the white block was sitting.
He gingerly picked it up, and then held it in his hands between the women, with Dr. Selar still running a medical tricorder over Yue and Ginny.
"We've ran every scan that we know how to run on it. And all those scans are telling me the exact same thing. This is just a piece of Iron-56, white in colour, strange considering that Iron-56 is typically greyish silver. There's no power source, technology, or anything else that indicates that this is a device or transmitter," Hathaway said.
"Did you push the button?" Ginny asked, flatly.
"That was the next step. But first," Hathaway said, turning to look at Selar and Yue, "I'd like a word with the Major, in private. If you don't mind ladies?"
"Of course, Captain, everything checks out from my end, I will be in my office if you need anything further," Dr. Selar said in her flat, non-emotional Vulcan tone.
Yue politely nodded and left sick bay, feeling the need for a nap.
Once alone, Captain Hathaway sighed before asking Ginny, "I understood from the XO's report that she ordered you to open sealed mission packet nineteen?"
Ginny nodded, "Yes Sir. I wish to point out that it was an unlawful order, but I chose to obey it for the purposes of unit cohesion and safety to the ship. This was noted in our war journal, and I can provide a copy of it for you in writing if you want."
"That's alright Ginny, I sympathize with your reasons. I'll be confining her to quarters for a week for issuing unlawful orders, but that's immaterial for the moment. I do have one question. Is Star responsible for Tranbir Nine?" Scott asked, returning to his seat on the bio-bed.
"I asked her that same question. She claims that she wasn't there, that she could only sing to things that come to her home. Her words sir, not mine. But her…singing, I guess we're calling it that, anyway, is the very same sound that I heard on Tranbir Nine and on the bridge."
"Well, if she didn't sing on Tranbir Nine, who did?" .
"Star said that there might be others, others like her. It might have been them, but she didn't know. She said that if we did hear the sound again, we're supposed to use that device, and that she might be able to talk to them for us, or at least tell us what it is."
"Do you have any idea what Star is, or what these others could be?"
"Once again, Sir, I'm not a scientist, I just shoot things. I have absolutely no idea what Star is. Do you?"
"I did have a few ideas, but my best one is this," Scott said, holding up the white block, "Lets ask her."
Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Is that a good idea, Captain? You and I both know what the sound does."
Scott tapped his ear, "I've got micro-filters on, Kath has isolated sickbay with a harmonic displacement field, and I've got a full team of both Dean's guys and yours on the deck if something does happen. We've taken every precaution we can, but I don't have any better ideas so far."
Ginny took the block and held it up, "Alright, but don't blame me if this goes wrong."
She took a deep breath, and then with her thumb pushed the black button in the middle of the white block.
At first, nothing happened.
And then suddenly, Star appeared standing on the bed next to Scott Hathaway.
The man jumped slightly, since neither he nor Ginny heard anything, but with effort, he steadied himself.
Ginny nodded at her, "Hi Star. I just wanted to see whether this worked or not."
"Hi Ginny. And I knew that it would work, I made it myself. But its okay if you wanted to see if it worked too," Star replied.
"She's uh, she's talking to us," Scott said, not believing his eyes.
"Yeah, this is outside talking. If she does it inside, It's scary."
Yes. In three dimensional spaces, it can be a little scary if you hear me inside. But this is what it sounds like
Hathaway shuddered, "What the hell is that? I didn't hear that, more like…"
"Felt it? That's exactly what happened to me sir," Ginny replied, still holding the block.
Star was still standing on the bio-bed, but her 'voice' was now that same, scary feeling that Ginny felt originally on Tranbir Nine.
"Okay, point taken. Let's stick to outside, shall we?" Scott said.
"Outside it is. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Star said.
Ginny noticed that her tone was never raised, or angry, or sad or happy.
It was completely flat, in the voice of a little girl, nine or ten years old.
"You should introduce yourself, Sir. The XO made me do it," Ginny said.
Hathaway stood up straight and nodded at the girl, "Hello, Star. My name is Captain Scott Hathaway, I'm the commanding officer of Tirpitz."
"Hello, Scott. What is a commanding officer? Is that like a bridge or a Tranbir Nine?" Star asked.
"Uhh, no, not like those things. It means that all the people onboard this ship report to me. I'm their leader."
"It's another 3D space thing, Star. If Captain Hathaway orders me to jump, I have to jump," Ginny added, hoping it would help.
"Oh. I understand. Hierarchical organizational structures and delegation. I haven't done that in a long time either. Can you order Ginny to jump, Scott? I want to see how it works," Star asked.
"Sure, I can do that. Major, I order you to jump in place," Hathaway ordered.
Ginny hopped once in the air and remained standing still when she landed.
"How was that Star? Did that work like you were expecting?" Scott asked.
"Mhm. I can see why that has its uses in this universe. I'll try it if I ever go back to being three dimensional again," Star replied.
She hadn't moved at all since appearing on the bio-bed.
"Star, can I ask you a few questions?" Hathaway asked.
"Okay, Scott."
"What are you, Star?" Scott again asked, sitting down next to her on the bed.
"I am Star."
"What I meant was…how do I want to say this? Me and Ginny are Humans. Dr. Selar is a Vulcan. There are forty-seven different species on Tirpitz. Is there a name for your species?"
"What is a species? Is that like a bridge or a Tranbir Nine? Or is it another example of hierarchical organizational structures?"
Ginny sighed, "That's usually what happens when you try anything specific, sir."
"So it seems. Okay, let me try it another way. Where did you come from, Star?"
"I came from my home, Scott. I'm there right now. I'm just speaking to you outside, through the piece of my home that I gave to Ginny," Star said, pointing at the white block in Ginny's hands.
"Right, but my question was moreso in the past. Ginny told me that you built your home before you went inside of it, the object we call an Iron Star. Where were you before you built your home?"
"I was outside my home. And then I built it and went inside. Did you build Tirpitz?" Star asked in response.
"Well, not exactly. It was the same thing you did, I was outside Tirpitz, and then I came inside. But before that happened, I was born in a city called Yonkers, New York, on Earth. Let me ask you this, where were you born?"
"I don't understand what born is. You came from Yonkers forty two years ago, using your number scale. I built my home much earlier than that, and your number scale is too small for me say what that number is. It would take me (10 + 10) to the fifteenth thousand power of your years to write it out it by hand."
"Wow, that's really old," Ginny said in shock, not quite sure if she could understand the math.
"How did she know when my birthday was?" Scott asked Ginny.
She shrugged, "Don't look at me, Sir. She just knows things like that."
"Star, that number doesn't make sense. You're saying that you built your home before the universe began. To our best knowledge, the universe is only 16.2 billion years old, give or take."
"That's your universe, Scott. It's still fairly new," Star replied.
"Really? That's…quite interesting. Let me try one more thing,"
He stood up and walked to the empty display on the wall next to the bio-bed, "Computer, display all historical recordings of the entities known as the Q Continuum."
On the screen, a series of flight recordings played every known encounter with the entities known to the Federation as 'Q.'
The pranks and displays of omnipotent power that they demonstrated to humans, as well as their various trials were all displayed, a collection of the most powerful beings known to exist.
Ginny laughed when Ben Sisko punched the same Q who had harassed Big D for many years in the face.
Scott pointed to the screen, "We call these beings the Q Continuum, Star. As far as we know, they are the only other, entities, if you'll excuse the term, that can do the things you've said you've done, like building an Iron Star, for example."
"They are also the only beings that could possibly be as old as the time you've said that you built your home. Are you a Q as well?
"I'm not a Q. I am Star." she replied, in that same, flat, and emotionless tone.
"Do you know who they are though?"
"Yes, Scott. Their name is…" and from Star's mouth, a sound just like 'the sound' but yet different erupted into Ginny and Scott's ears.
"Star, that's hurting us, outside please!" Ginny shouted.
"Oh. I'm sorry. Thank you for not shooting things Ginny. I'll try again with outside. Their name is Q," Star said.
After taking a moment to steady himself, Hathaway said in an annoyed tone, "And why didn't you just say that?"
"Because it's not right, Scott. The inside is what they call themselves in their own language. But it since it hurts you, I'll stick to outside. And on outside, it's Q."
"So, you and the Q are not the same?" Ginny asked this time.
"No Ginny. I am older than they are too. They didn't appear until after I built my home. Again, your number scale is too small to put it in years, and it would take me (7 +10) to the seventeenth hundred power to write out the number."
"I think they came to my home once, and I sang to them as well, but they didn't like to hear my songs and they ran away. Are they scared of me too?"
"If I ever see a Q, I can ask for you. Would that help?" Ginny asked
"Sure. They exist in 73rd dimensional space. I haven't been there in a long time either. I should try it later. Do you want to try it too Ginny? You'll have come to back to my home though."
Hathaway indicated that he wanted the conversation to end, so Ginny shook her head, "Maybe another time. And uh, sorry for bothering you Star, there isn't a song here right now. Captain Hathaway just wanted to meet you."
"It's okay Ginny, you didn't bother me. Should I go away now?" Star asked.
"Yeah, I'll uh, I'll push the button again if we need you. Bye again, Star," Ginny said, waving as she did earlier inside Star's home.
"Bye Ginny," Star said, waving her hand.
And moments later, she was gone again, no sound or air rushing away to reveal her appearance.
It was as though she had never been there to begin with.
After a minute, Hathaway stepped forward and waved his hand where Star had been standing, not believing that she was gone.
After convincing himself that she had left, he sat down and looked at Ginny, "Well, that was both fascinating and extremely terrifying in the same measure."
Ginny shrugged her tank-top covered shoulders, "If you say so, Sir."
"Ginny, The Q are about as close to godhood as anything that we know of can claim to be. And your friend Star is not only claiming that she predates them by what is, quite frankly, an impossible time scale, but that her singing is enough cause these supposedly god-like beings fear, fear enough that they don't like to hear these songs anymore than you or I would."
"And she's my friend too, supposedly."
Scott smiled, "Yes, that's also another unique thing about her. This is way and above what I ever possibly imagined we would encounter out here."
"At a certain point, it stops being a question of science and we start getting into… metaphysics, and I'm not even sure that's an accurate statement to make. We're talking about of levels of… existence, which are orders of magnitude beyond our own."
Hathaway looked down to the floor, "I don't know if you believe in God, or the Prophets, or Shah-Ka-Ree, or something like that, Major. I don't believe in those things myself. But seeing all this today? It makes you think, doesn't it?"
Ginny again shrugged, "Couldn't say sir. I just shoot things. Unless Star tells me not to."
Hathaway let himself laugh, "Well, that's probably for the best. But let's get back to our world for a minute. We do know that whatever Star is, she has admitted to being responsible for producing that ELF signature that still scares the living shit out of me, and she says that it's possible there are other things like her out there. I suggest we try to find them, agreed?"
Ginny nodded, "Agreed, Sir. And maybe if Star helps us, I won't have to shoot them either."
"Let's hope so. I had Kath do a scan for any more ELF signatures matching the one's we've seen. She thinks she's picking up one on a planet a few hours away. Why don't you get changed and join us on the bridge? Unless you prefer to work in your underwear?" Hathaway asked, with sarcasm all but exploding from his mouth.
"It's against FMC Regulations, Captain Hathaway. And Yue already had her show today." Ginny said, with serious sarcasm.
"And people say Sharkies don't have a sense of humour. I'll see you on the bridge, Major, dismissed."
"Aye Sir!" Ginny replied, snapping a salute.
The Captain returned her salute and allowed Ginny to walk past him.
As she left Sickbay and made her way to the turbo-lift that would take her to Marine Country and her MDU, Ginny felt her mind swimming.
She really wanted to shoot something.