- CHAPTER 12 -
- Shuttle Pod Concordia, Enroute to I.S.S. Shiva, 6:38 PM Ships Time -
A lone shuttle pod cruised closer to the imposing bulk of the Shiva. As the gargantuan ship swelled in the forward window, Ulysses began to realize why Chriton had wanted him to use a shuttle. The shuttle was like a mere tic on the back of a massive steed, small and inconsequential. It was a tactic designed to make him feel smaller, to remind him of his place in the Admiral's grand scheme of things. And as much as he hated to admit it, Ulysses was feeling slightly insignificant against the vast mountain of alloy and armor in front of him. It seemed plastered with weapons emplacements and armor generators, with the odd window thrown in barely breaking up the pattern. But those windows were few and far between, clustered islands of blue white light shining out in a sea of dark gray armor.
The shuttle pod aligned with the bay, and its ten deck high and 80 foot wide doors began to ponderously slide open to reveal the cavernous interior within. Flight Operations Command was stationed high up on the far wall of the main hangar, ten decks up off of the main floor. Along the sides of the bay were the multi tiered docking slots for the various small craft a Wraith class carried. Some bays were empty, some had parked ships in them, and some had partially dismantled ships undergoing maintenance by scores of engineers.
You could damn near fit the entire Hopolite inside here, Ulysses thought. There must be close to 50 fighters docked in side here, not to mention the four runabouts and 20 odd shuttlecraft of various types. Of course with a vessel the size of a Wraith class, that was to be expected. And all of it just reinforced how small Ulysses command was. Hopolite, despite all her power, was like a mere child's toy compared to this leviathan. In a fight between the two, the Hopolite's attacks would barely be noticed before she was snuffed out of existence by the massive weaponry a Wraith class possessed. Chriton certainly knew what he was doing when it came to making junior officers' feel small and insignificant. In all likelihood, Chriton or one of his staff, had read his personnel file. They would then know that he had never served on a ship bigger than an Akira class. At the time, then Lt. Ulysses had thought that ship massive. He now knew just how uninformed that personal opinion had been.
Landing in one of the quieter corners of the bay, the shuttle pilot began to shut down systems. Techs and engineering personnel were scurrying around like ants, servicing the Shiva's various fighters and small craft. The sheer scale of operations was something that was usually only seen on starbases, not on starships. Yet the Wraith class was one of the biggest vessels in space and was the flagship of an entire fleet. It was because of this that it was a beehive of activity. Ulysses got out of the shuttle pod, entering into the cavernous bay. There was a man standing at the foot of the shuttle's ramp. His black and silver uniform had the gold and white sleeve band of a flag staff officer. The officer's rank was that of Lt. Cmdr.
"Captain Ulysses?" He questioned as if stating facts in a brisk manner. "If you would be so kind as to follow me." And without a backward glance the flag staff officer turned and strode quickly towards the port side bay exit. Ulysses pursed his lips in a silent whistle. It appeared that Chriton's attitudes towards those lower ranking than he was had rubbed off to at least this member of his staff. No usual Lt. Cmdr. would have dared act like that to a Captain. Yet this one acted like it was merely a mater of course. Ulysses hurried to catch up with him as he walked through the bay exit. Given the way the crewmembers, even those with a similar rank, made way for him, Ulysses thought that he must have been used to having officers fear him. Most of that was probably due to the fact that he was a representative of Fleet Admiral Chriton. Ulysses had no doubt that the Admiral could cause such a reaction from other people, even by proxy through his staff. Just thinking about the Admiral send fresh chills down his spine. And it wasn't even so much his actions, it was more of the aura of dread that he projected so ably.
The main shuttle bay of the Shiva was also much farther away from the Flag Officers dining room than the transporter room was. This allowed for a much longer trip through the ship, further reinforcing its size and grandeur. Yes, Chriton most certainly knew how to best belittle his junior officers, even when he was nowhere near them. After a trip that seemed to take ages after serving most of his career on small ships, Ulysses and the staff officer finally approached the meeting place. The twin transparent doors swooshed open, hiding the etched translucent relief of Shiva, the ship's ensign. Darkness and light played across each other in the dining room beyond. A massive window dominated one entire wall. Where most vessels had only small windows, this one ran from one end of the room to the other and from floor to ceiling, without interruption. Ulysses looked out the massive window upon the top of the engineering hull, the massive upper quantum slipstream drive nacelles gave off a pale blue glow on the dark gray ablative armor that was an integral part of the Shiva's hull. Beyond the Shiva, many of 24th Fleet's units could be seen as they went about establishing a perimeter encompassing the entire Borg installation. The stunning display was made even more powerful by the fact that the room's roof was taller than normal. Most decks were around seven and a half feet tall. This one seemed to be close to 20 feet tall.
Lighting had been turned down to a very dim setting, causing the room to be illuminated primarily by the QSS nacelle glow and very slightly by the meager solar furnace burning around a light hour away. Having nearly an entire wall all but open to space made Ulysses, despite his many years in space, more than a little awe struck. The view was quite simply amazing. There, in the middle of the window, with his back turned to the room, was a figure in the brilliant white and shimmering gold of a flag officer. A dagger with a handle of what looked like gold and a metal so polished it could have passed for a mirror intertwined into intricate patterns graced one hip. A standard Type-II phaser was holstered on the other. The Admiral was standing at ease with his wrinkled, age spotted hands clasped lightly behind his back. They looked more like a bird of prey's talons than aged human hands. And they still held that finely worked silver colored chain. Crouched a few feet behind the Admiral was the same dejected form that Ulysses had first glimpsed on the Hopolite's main viewer. In the pale blue light coming from the window, the Klingon seemed to become even sicklier looking. The light caused his eye to disappear into the shadows below his bushy eyebrows. But Ulysses could spare him little time for a second glance because Admiral Chriton turned his head slowly towards him. When those eagle like hazel eyes settled on him, Ulysses nearly froze in mid stride.
Blue light made the Admiral appear like a phantasm, some ghostly apparition straight from hell. His hazel eyes were turned black pits, as if for the first time in their existence showing the utter darkness within their owner's soul. His creased and age spotted skin was changed to a deathly pale grayish blue. His sliver white mane took on the same blue gray tint as his skin, with the odd black hair mixed in with its far more multitudinous counterparts. That same twisted half smile again played at the corners of the Admiral's mouth resembling some hell spawned imp's. It was as if time itself stopped for a split second. All sound normally associated with a starship ceased inside that room for what seemed like an eternity. Then the Admiral's staff officer spoke, his voice breaking the spell that had numbed both Ulysses brain and his very soul.
"Fleet Admiral Chriton, I present to you Captain Ulysses Vanguard, commanding officer of the ISS Hopolite."
"Very good Herbert, you may leave us. Be sure to tell the cooks that we will start dinner shortly."
"Yes sir." And with that the Admiral's chief of staff left the room, leaving Ulysses alone with the Admiral. The Klingon didn't count, he wasn't a person anymore, not really. He was more of a pet. Ulysses shuddered inside, he had been doing that far to much since he had the unpleasant privilege to meet Tomas Chriton.
"Well, well Captain Vanguard, I see that you ARE punctual." There was again a definite note of regret in his voice.
"I try my best to please sir." Ulysses managed to spit out without too much trouble. Chriton merely gave a half nod.
"So," the Admiral said, coming to the point, "I hear that you gained command through the time honored tradition of assassination. VERY good! I wish more officers of your generation had the balls to grab command by the horns like you did. Why, I made captain myself by assassinating my commanding officer." Ulysses didn't think that telling the aged Fleet Admiral that he had only acted in such a manner out of desperation, and that he regretted that no way else had presented itself to solve his dilemma, would do his career a bit of good. In fact, the opposite effect was a certainty. So he just gritted his teeth and nodded his agreement. What was the ancient saying Ulysses thought? Shut up and soldier?
"What do you think of my view Captain? Beautiful isn't it."
"Yes sir, it most certainly is." Ulysses replied, more than a little relieved at the sudden switch in topics.
"I made them put in this window, so that I would have a worthy place to contemplate. But lets not sand about here in the dark! Computer: Lights!" At his command the lighting increased in the room, casting a more healthy looking yellow/white tone to everything in the room. For the first time, Ulysses noticed the flags of both the Empire and the ship's pennant standing in holders in the two corners opposite from the window. The one flag's red field was capped by the black sword and Earth emblem of the Terran Empire on a white circle in the middle. Ulysses had taken many history courses at Starfleet Academy. He knew full well the evil that had sprung a flag very similar to this one in Earth's past. Hanging beside it was the midnight blue flag with a stylized picture of the God Shiva in gold and red in the middle. The two go well together Ulysses thought, surprising a snarl forming in his throat, for what is the Empire but the destroyer of worlds.
"The reason I brought you here Captain, is to gain a measure of you as a man. And I have to tell you I like what I see." The impish grin on his face grew wider, but it never seemed to reach his eyes. They remained cold, calculating pits set on the Admirals face. "You are just the man to leave in command here until the follow on force arrives."
The rapid changes in topic were confusing. They must be another tactic to keep me off balance Ulysses thought. For a moment they succeeded. Then the jarred gears inside Ulysses mind began to turn.
"Leave in command sir? But I thought that you would be waiting here until the other Fleet units arrive."
"Bah, that's what the staff flunkies in the Admiralty want. But you and I both know that it takes more than waiting around for help to make history." Ulysses was thoroughly confused by this point. Fortunately the Admiral continued and spelled out the horrible truth for him. "It is my intention to power up the Borg device tomorrow and proceed through it to see what is on the other side."
The rapid changes in topic, the irrational tendencies, they all made sense now. Fleet Admiral Tomas Chriton was quite thoroughly mad.
"But sir, would it not be advisable to wait until the new Conquest Fleet was assembled before attacking? Where ever it is that the Borg went, they got their buts handed to them. According to the records, they sent over 300 Cubes and lord knows how many lesser vessels through whatever it is that that station outside creates. And only one made it back to report what had happened. Then whatever they found followed the Cube through and laid waste to every installation in this system!"
"The recovered reports are fragmentary at best!" Chriton growled, then narrowed his eyes. "I thought that you of all people would understand, thought that you and I weren't too different. Perhaps I was mistaken?" More than you will ever know Admiral Ulysses thought.
"Of course not sir! I only meant to warn you of the possible risks Admiral, nothing else." The hell I did. "Your plan is bold and could provide a valuable first look at the new enemy of the Terran Empire." Ulysses lied.
"Fine, just don't do it again!" For the moment Chriton seemed sated. He started for the chair at the head of the long table, jerking the chain in his hands forcefully as he did so. "Come!" He commanded the Klingon at the end of the leash. The tug caught the Klingon officer by surprise, nearly making him fall over before he got up and followed the Admiral to the head of the table. The doors to the dining room opened and in streamed more officers with blood red wristbands or the gold and white of Flag Officer staff. Introductions were made, but Ulysses was functioning on auto pilot. His mind was filled with the vision of each and every ship in 24th fleet floating broken and scorched against the velvet black depths of space.
- Shuttle Pod Concordia, Enroute to I.S.S. Shiva, 6:38 PM Ships Time -
A lone shuttle pod cruised closer to the imposing bulk of the Shiva. As the gargantuan ship swelled in the forward window, Ulysses began to realize why Chriton had wanted him to use a shuttle. The shuttle was like a mere tic on the back of a massive steed, small and inconsequential. It was a tactic designed to make him feel smaller, to remind him of his place in the Admiral's grand scheme of things. And as much as he hated to admit it, Ulysses was feeling slightly insignificant against the vast mountain of alloy and armor in front of him. It seemed plastered with weapons emplacements and armor generators, with the odd window thrown in barely breaking up the pattern. But those windows were few and far between, clustered islands of blue white light shining out in a sea of dark gray armor.
The shuttle pod aligned with the bay, and its ten deck high and 80 foot wide doors began to ponderously slide open to reveal the cavernous interior within. Flight Operations Command was stationed high up on the far wall of the main hangar, ten decks up off of the main floor. Along the sides of the bay were the multi tiered docking slots for the various small craft a Wraith class carried. Some bays were empty, some had parked ships in them, and some had partially dismantled ships undergoing maintenance by scores of engineers.
You could damn near fit the entire Hopolite inside here, Ulysses thought. There must be close to 50 fighters docked in side here, not to mention the four runabouts and 20 odd shuttlecraft of various types. Of course with a vessel the size of a Wraith class, that was to be expected. And all of it just reinforced how small Ulysses command was. Hopolite, despite all her power, was like a mere child's toy compared to this leviathan. In a fight between the two, the Hopolite's attacks would barely be noticed before she was snuffed out of existence by the massive weaponry a Wraith class possessed. Chriton certainly knew what he was doing when it came to making junior officers' feel small and insignificant. In all likelihood, Chriton or one of his staff, had read his personnel file. They would then know that he had never served on a ship bigger than an Akira class. At the time, then Lt. Ulysses had thought that ship massive. He now knew just how uninformed that personal opinion had been.
Landing in one of the quieter corners of the bay, the shuttle pilot began to shut down systems. Techs and engineering personnel were scurrying around like ants, servicing the Shiva's various fighters and small craft. The sheer scale of operations was something that was usually only seen on starbases, not on starships. Yet the Wraith class was one of the biggest vessels in space and was the flagship of an entire fleet. It was because of this that it was a beehive of activity. Ulysses got out of the shuttle pod, entering into the cavernous bay. There was a man standing at the foot of the shuttle's ramp. His black and silver uniform had the gold and white sleeve band of a flag staff officer. The officer's rank was that of Lt. Cmdr.
"Captain Ulysses?" He questioned as if stating facts in a brisk manner. "If you would be so kind as to follow me." And without a backward glance the flag staff officer turned and strode quickly towards the port side bay exit. Ulysses pursed his lips in a silent whistle. It appeared that Chriton's attitudes towards those lower ranking than he was had rubbed off to at least this member of his staff. No usual Lt. Cmdr. would have dared act like that to a Captain. Yet this one acted like it was merely a mater of course. Ulysses hurried to catch up with him as he walked through the bay exit. Given the way the crewmembers, even those with a similar rank, made way for him, Ulysses thought that he must have been used to having officers fear him. Most of that was probably due to the fact that he was a representative of Fleet Admiral Chriton. Ulysses had no doubt that the Admiral could cause such a reaction from other people, even by proxy through his staff. Just thinking about the Admiral send fresh chills down his spine. And it wasn't even so much his actions, it was more of the aura of dread that he projected so ably.
The main shuttle bay of the Shiva was also much farther away from the Flag Officers dining room than the transporter room was. This allowed for a much longer trip through the ship, further reinforcing its size and grandeur. Yes, Chriton most certainly knew how to best belittle his junior officers, even when he was nowhere near them. After a trip that seemed to take ages after serving most of his career on small ships, Ulysses and the staff officer finally approached the meeting place. The twin transparent doors swooshed open, hiding the etched translucent relief of Shiva, the ship's ensign. Darkness and light played across each other in the dining room beyond. A massive window dominated one entire wall. Where most vessels had only small windows, this one ran from one end of the room to the other and from floor to ceiling, without interruption. Ulysses looked out the massive window upon the top of the engineering hull, the massive upper quantum slipstream drive nacelles gave off a pale blue glow on the dark gray ablative armor that was an integral part of the Shiva's hull. Beyond the Shiva, many of 24th Fleet's units could be seen as they went about establishing a perimeter encompassing the entire Borg installation. The stunning display was made even more powerful by the fact that the room's roof was taller than normal. Most decks were around seven and a half feet tall. This one seemed to be close to 20 feet tall.
Lighting had been turned down to a very dim setting, causing the room to be illuminated primarily by the QSS nacelle glow and very slightly by the meager solar furnace burning around a light hour away. Having nearly an entire wall all but open to space made Ulysses, despite his many years in space, more than a little awe struck. The view was quite simply amazing. There, in the middle of the window, with his back turned to the room, was a figure in the brilliant white and shimmering gold of a flag officer. A dagger with a handle of what looked like gold and a metal so polished it could have passed for a mirror intertwined into intricate patterns graced one hip. A standard Type-II phaser was holstered on the other. The Admiral was standing at ease with his wrinkled, age spotted hands clasped lightly behind his back. They looked more like a bird of prey's talons than aged human hands. And they still held that finely worked silver colored chain. Crouched a few feet behind the Admiral was the same dejected form that Ulysses had first glimpsed on the Hopolite's main viewer. In the pale blue light coming from the window, the Klingon seemed to become even sicklier looking. The light caused his eye to disappear into the shadows below his bushy eyebrows. But Ulysses could spare him little time for a second glance because Admiral Chriton turned his head slowly towards him. When those eagle like hazel eyes settled on him, Ulysses nearly froze in mid stride.
Blue light made the Admiral appear like a phantasm, some ghostly apparition straight from hell. His hazel eyes were turned black pits, as if for the first time in their existence showing the utter darkness within their owner's soul. His creased and age spotted skin was changed to a deathly pale grayish blue. His sliver white mane took on the same blue gray tint as his skin, with the odd black hair mixed in with its far more multitudinous counterparts. That same twisted half smile again played at the corners of the Admiral's mouth resembling some hell spawned imp's. It was as if time itself stopped for a split second. All sound normally associated with a starship ceased inside that room for what seemed like an eternity. Then the Admiral's staff officer spoke, his voice breaking the spell that had numbed both Ulysses brain and his very soul.
"Fleet Admiral Chriton, I present to you Captain Ulysses Vanguard, commanding officer of the ISS Hopolite."
"Very good Herbert, you may leave us. Be sure to tell the cooks that we will start dinner shortly."
"Yes sir." And with that the Admiral's chief of staff left the room, leaving Ulysses alone with the Admiral. The Klingon didn't count, he wasn't a person anymore, not really. He was more of a pet. Ulysses shuddered inside, he had been doing that far to much since he had the unpleasant privilege to meet Tomas Chriton.
"Well, well Captain Vanguard, I see that you ARE punctual." There was again a definite note of regret in his voice.
"I try my best to please sir." Ulysses managed to spit out without too much trouble. Chriton merely gave a half nod.
"So," the Admiral said, coming to the point, "I hear that you gained command through the time honored tradition of assassination. VERY good! I wish more officers of your generation had the balls to grab command by the horns like you did. Why, I made captain myself by assassinating my commanding officer." Ulysses didn't think that telling the aged Fleet Admiral that he had only acted in such a manner out of desperation, and that he regretted that no way else had presented itself to solve his dilemma, would do his career a bit of good. In fact, the opposite effect was a certainty. So he just gritted his teeth and nodded his agreement. What was the ancient saying Ulysses thought? Shut up and soldier?
"What do you think of my view Captain? Beautiful isn't it."
"Yes sir, it most certainly is." Ulysses replied, more than a little relieved at the sudden switch in topics.
"I made them put in this window, so that I would have a worthy place to contemplate. But lets not sand about here in the dark! Computer: Lights!" At his command the lighting increased in the room, casting a more healthy looking yellow/white tone to everything in the room. For the first time, Ulysses noticed the flags of both the Empire and the ship's pennant standing in holders in the two corners opposite from the window. The one flag's red field was capped by the black sword and Earth emblem of the Terran Empire on a white circle in the middle. Ulysses had taken many history courses at Starfleet Academy. He knew full well the evil that had sprung a flag very similar to this one in Earth's past. Hanging beside it was the midnight blue flag with a stylized picture of the God Shiva in gold and red in the middle. The two go well together Ulysses thought, surprising a snarl forming in his throat, for what is the Empire but the destroyer of worlds.
"The reason I brought you here Captain, is to gain a measure of you as a man. And I have to tell you I like what I see." The impish grin on his face grew wider, but it never seemed to reach his eyes. They remained cold, calculating pits set on the Admirals face. "You are just the man to leave in command here until the follow on force arrives."
The rapid changes in topic were confusing. They must be another tactic to keep me off balance Ulysses thought. For a moment they succeeded. Then the jarred gears inside Ulysses mind began to turn.
"Leave in command sir? But I thought that you would be waiting here until the other Fleet units arrive."
"Bah, that's what the staff flunkies in the Admiralty want. But you and I both know that it takes more than waiting around for help to make history." Ulysses was thoroughly confused by this point. Fortunately the Admiral continued and spelled out the horrible truth for him. "It is my intention to power up the Borg device tomorrow and proceed through it to see what is on the other side."
The rapid changes in topic, the irrational tendencies, they all made sense now. Fleet Admiral Tomas Chriton was quite thoroughly mad.
"But sir, would it not be advisable to wait until the new Conquest Fleet was assembled before attacking? Where ever it is that the Borg went, they got their buts handed to them. According to the records, they sent over 300 Cubes and lord knows how many lesser vessels through whatever it is that that station outside creates. And only one made it back to report what had happened. Then whatever they found followed the Cube through and laid waste to every installation in this system!"
"The recovered reports are fragmentary at best!" Chriton growled, then narrowed his eyes. "I thought that you of all people would understand, thought that you and I weren't too different. Perhaps I was mistaken?" More than you will ever know Admiral Ulysses thought.
"Of course not sir! I only meant to warn you of the possible risks Admiral, nothing else." The hell I did. "Your plan is bold and could provide a valuable first look at the new enemy of the Terran Empire." Ulysses lied.
"Fine, just don't do it again!" For the moment Chriton seemed sated. He started for the chair at the head of the long table, jerking the chain in his hands forcefully as he did so. "Come!" He commanded the Klingon at the end of the leash. The tug caught the Klingon officer by surprise, nearly making him fall over before he got up and followed the Admiral to the head of the table. The doors to the dining room opened and in streamed more officers with blood red wristbands or the gold and white of Flag Officer staff. Introductions were made, but Ulysses was functioning on auto pilot. His mind was filled with the vision of each and every ship in 24th fleet floating broken and scorched against the velvet black depths of space.