- CHAPTER 34 -
- ISS Athena, Slipstream Core Alpha, that same time -
Clay Heidberg pushed a lock of curly auburn hair away from his sea gray eyes as he read through the status readouts for the Bastion class's engineering systems. The results were not promising. While many of the ships six slipstream cores could be restored to operational efficiency given a few hours, 2nd Fleet and the Athena didn't have a few hours. Over half the crew were either unconscious or acting like madmen, with the rest were busy trying to stay alive as their former crewmates tried to slaughter them. They had tried to do the same with Heidberg's team when they beamed into Core Alpha, and Clay thanked his lucky stars that Captain Vanguard had stipulated that the Engineering boarding party be armed and armored. The attackers were lying side by side in a corner under the effects of heavy stun. Those who were incapacitated by what was apparently a backlash from a Psychonic attack gone bad were also stunned and lying peacefully next to them. Those not as fortunate were lying outside in the corridor. There were still bloodstains on the carpet where they had been found, but Heidberg forced himself to ignore them. Instead he focused on his duties. It was his and his small team's job to get the ship operational and into the fight ASAP and Clay was going to do everything he could not to let Captain Vanguard down.
It wasn't going to be easy, for even though a Bastion class could run on a single core, the redundancy and added power from the other five would have been very welcome. But he had only five people, and two of them weren't even engineers. Lt.'s Eton and Wendell had been attached to his team because they were the only free hands available. Nearly all of the Hopolite's surviving crew had been beamed aboard the Athena before the Psychonic attack, and thus were in the same boat as the rest of the Athena's crew.
"Alright." Clay said as he turned away from the master systems display holo and towards his team. "Wendell and Eton, you go with Ensign Higgins and start putting the isonlinear chips back into their slots." It still irked him that the sniveling little piss ant was one of the few engineering personnel left on the Hopolite when this entire bad dream had begun. Fortunately there were only a few dozen chips pulled out of Core Alpha's systems. The Athena's chief engineer had been playing with them like they were building blocks and he was a toddler. He was now unconscious with the rest of the crew present in Core Alpha. "Martin and Colton, you are with me. We have to reconnect the severed pathways on this terminal there." The engineering panel had been hit by a phaser blast, and most of its wiring was fused with the shell and display in a melted mess. It would have to be worked around, with splices sent from beyond the damaged area to the appropriate ones on the other side. As he was talking, an EMH appeared in the room and started treating the Athena's injured engineering staff. Clay ignored it and commenced work with a length of wire and a plasma welder, linking them as fast as possible in order to bring the massive slipstream core in a pit in the middle of the room online again.
- ISS Athena, Sickbay -
Ulysses set T'var gingerly down on the bio bed. An EMH in a rankless uniform with a medical green branch designation came up and started administering treatment. After a few seconds, it turned to the three ship less officers from the adrift Hopolite.
"The Admiral has suffered severe neural trauma. It will take a few hours of treatment to rectify the damage." Ulysses nodded then approached T'var. She looked up at him, and already the confusion in her eyes was beginning to dissipate as the neural regenerators at her temples worked their magic. Those brown eyes locked on him and he saw their final comprehension.
I know this man, T'var thought. Finally her memory coughed up the answer. A more youthful face, lacking the Borg modifications, swam to the surface. "Well young Mr. Vanguard. I see that you have indeed met the capabilities you so ably demonstrated as a Cadet at the Academy." She said, glancing down to rank pips on the collar of his uniform as it peeked up through his chest and shoulder armor. A look crossed his face like he had bitten into something spoiled, and when he replied there was a bitter undertone to his voice.
"Yes Ma'am." That statement of agreement was more apt than T'var realized. Ulysses memory went back to when he had first met T'var. Early on during his Academy days, the only capabilities he ably demonstrated had been picking fights with fellow classmates and getting into all manner of trouble. He had almost been turfed out of Starfleet Academy until then Instructor T'var had taken him under her wing in an attempt to salvage him.
With his crude yet strong telepathic abilities, he had been able to convince the board of admissions and their battery of telepathic scans that he wasn't a threat. Yet he WAS a true threat, for at that time his one goal in life was to gain access to one of the Imperials most powerful vessel and lay waste to Terra at the earliest possible opportunity. He was also barely able to contain his aggression against officers and fellow classmates at the Academy. One of his instructors, the then Rear Admiral T'var, had decided that she would get to the bottom of his rage.
After another night in close confinement in his quarters for starting a fight with a fellow classmate, she went to meet him. He remembered that experience vividly, for it had changed his life.
- 11 Years Ago, Star Fleet Academy, Cadet Ulysses Vanguard's Quarters -
Ulysses three bunkmates were not present. They had been told in no uncertain terms to be elsewhere this morning, and no one argued with Admiral T'var, let alone a first year Cadet. Ulysses Vanguard paced in his small room like a caged tiger. Although he had managed to slip into the very nest of the beast, his admittedly far-fetched plan wasn't going to be near completion for a while. Yet he was finding it considerably harder to hold his hostility in check now that he was in among those that served the beast day in and day out. And with each day, the rage that burned inside him flamed brighter. He didn't try to dampen it, in fact he fed it, let it grow. He knew that it threatened to consume him, but by now he was beyond caring. Ulysses had lived with the hate so long that he wasn't sure that he could go on without it.
It was a hate filled drive to strike back at the Terran Empire for all that it had taken from him. Yet he was still young and immature, but thanks in large part to his half El Aurian heritage, at 16 he looked 20 Terran years. El Aurian's aged in spurts with rather long pauses between them even early on in life. Their average life span wasn't common knowledge to anyone other than the El Aurians themselves, but it was known to be at least centuries long. The Human genes Ulysses got from his father had combined with the El Aurian ones he got from his mother strangely, so that his growth spurts were compressed considerably from the El Aurian and even human norm. Being only 16, yet able to pass for 20 had opened many doors to someone who could obtain the appropriate foraged papers and records. Like say opening up Star Fleet Academy to him years before he was eligible. In his still childish brain, he had hatched a plan that he at least found wonderfully ironic. He would enter the Academy, gain access to a ship, and then use said ship on the Terran Empire. It was just the kind of plan that a bright young boy filled with teenage hormonal changes, inexperience and hate would think up. And it was just the kind of plan that would never work in practice, for even if he succeeded in getting his commission, then getting assigned to a reasonably powerful warship, he would still have to overcome the various security lockouts preventing junior officers from activating systems without authorization. And if he pulled off a miracle and got past them, he still would have to get it to Sol system, then get through the various, multi layered defensive shells all without outsiders finding out. While any adult would have found this series of events improbable in the extreme, to an angry teen they were all highly probable. And he couldn't think of anything else he could do to get back at the TE, so he strode up to the recruiter's office and signed on the dotted line.
That was how he had ended up in Starfleet service, but it was also the root cause of his troubles fitting in. He was trying to become a member of what he despised and vilified most in the universe. Of course T'var knew none of this. No one did, just like no one alive knew that he was part El Aurian. His genetic heritage was muddled enough courtesy of nature that he could pass for a genetically modified human. Fortunately for him, all of the major genetic markers for El Aurian weren't present when the Medical branch did their tests on him. He only had the minor ones, and they were, while odd for a pure blood Terran, explainable due to his "in vitro genetic modifications". Ulysses had been particularly proud of that part of his plan. The medical staff had bought his genetic modification story hook, line and sinker. While genies weren't particularly prevalent in Terran society, the practice being frowned upon by the government and medical establishment, it could and was still used from time to time.
The door to Ulysses quarters chimed, then a second later Rear Admiral T'var, Academy Instructor: Advanced Starship Combat Tactics 101, entered the room. As it swooshed shut behind her, Ulysses had absolutely no idea just how much his life would change as a result of this meeting.
- ISS Athena, Slipstream Core Alpha, that same time -
Clay Heidberg pushed a lock of curly auburn hair away from his sea gray eyes as he read through the status readouts for the Bastion class's engineering systems. The results were not promising. While many of the ships six slipstream cores could be restored to operational efficiency given a few hours, 2nd Fleet and the Athena didn't have a few hours. Over half the crew were either unconscious or acting like madmen, with the rest were busy trying to stay alive as their former crewmates tried to slaughter them. They had tried to do the same with Heidberg's team when they beamed into Core Alpha, and Clay thanked his lucky stars that Captain Vanguard had stipulated that the Engineering boarding party be armed and armored. The attackers were lying side by side in a corner under the effects of heavy stun. Those who were incapacitated by what was apparently a backlash from a Psychonic attack gone bad were also stunned and lying peacefully next to them. Those not as fortunate were lying outside in the corridor. There were still bloodstains on the carpet where they had been found, but Heidberg forced himself to ignore them. Instead he focused on his duties. It was his and his small team's job to get the ship operational and into the fight ASAP and Clay was going to do everything he could not to let Captain Vanguard down.
It wasn't going to be easy, for even though a Bastion class could run on a single core, the redundancy and added power from the other five would have been very welcome. But he had only five people, and two of them weren't even engineers. Lt.'s Eton and Wendell had been attached to his team because they were the only free hands available. Nearly all of the Hopolite's surviving crew had been beamed aboard the Athena before the Psychonic attack, and thus were in the same boat as the rest of the Athena's crew.
"Alright." Clay said as he turned away from the master systems display holo and towards his team. "Wendell and Eton, you go with Ensign Higgins and start putting the isonlinear chips back into their slots." It still irked him that the sniveling little piss ant was one of the few engineering personnel left on the Hopolite when this entire bad dream had begun. Fortunately there were only a few dozen chips pulled out of Core Alpha's systems. The Athena's chief engineer had been playing with them like they were building blocks and he was a toddler. He was now unconscious with the rest of the crew present in Core Alpha. "Martin and Colton, you are with me. We have to reconnect the severed pathways on this terminal there." The engineering panel had been hit by a phaser blast, and most of its wiring was fused with the shell and display in a melted mess. It would have to be worked around, with splices sent from beyond the damaged area to the appropriate ones on the other side. As he was talking, an EMH appeared in the room and started treating the Athena's injured engineering staff. Clay ignored it and commenced work with a length of wire and a plasma welder, linking them as fast as possible in order to bring the massive slipstream core in a pit in the middle of the room online again.
- ISS Athena, Sickbay -
Ulysses set T'var gingerly down on the bio bed. An EMH in a rankless uniform with a medical green branch designation came up and started administering treatment. After a few seconds, it turned to the three ship less officers from the adrift Hopolite.
"The Admiral has suffered severe neural trauma. It will take a few hours of treatment to rectify the damage." Ulysses nodded then approached T'var. She looked up at him, and already the confusion in her eyes was beginning to dissipate as the neural regenerators at her temples worked their magic. Those brown eyes locked on him and he saw their final comprehension.
I know this man, T'var thought. Finally her memory coughed up the answer. A more youthful face, lacking the Borg modifications, swam to the surface. "Well young Mr. Vanguard. I see that you have indeed met the capabilities you so ably demonstrated as a Cadet at the Academy." She said, glancing down to rank pips on the collar of his uniform as it peeked up through his chest and shoulder armor. A look crossed his face like he had bitten into something spoiled, and when he replied there was a bitter undertone to his voice.
"Yes Ma'am." That statement of agreement was more apt than T'var realized. Ulysses memory went back to when he had first met T'var. Early on during his Academy days, the only capabilities he ably demonstrated had been picking fights with fellow classmates and getting into all manner of trouble. He had almost been turfed out of Starfleet Academy until then Instructor T'var had taken him under her wing in an attempt to salvage him.
With his crude yet strong telepathic abilities, he had been able to convince the board of admissions and their battery of telepathic scans that he wasn't a threat. Yet he WAS a true threat, for at that time his one goal in life was to gain access to one of the Imperials most powerful vessel and lay waste to Terra at the earliest possible opportunity. He was also barely able to contain his aggression against officers and fellow classmates at the Academy. One of his instructors, the then Rear Admiral T'var, had decided that she would get to the bottom of his rage.
After another night in close confinement in his quarters for starting a fight with a fellow classmate, she went to meet him. He remembered that experience vividly, for it had changed his life.
- 11 Years Ago, Star Fleet Academy, Cadet Ulysses Vanguard's Quarters -
Ulysses three bunkmates were not present. They had been told in no uncertain terms to be elsewhere this morning, and no one argued with Admiral T'var, let alone a first year Cadet. Ulysses Vanguard paced in his small room like a caged tiger. Although he had managed to slip into the very nest of the beast, his admittedly far-fetched plan wasn't going to be near completion for a while. Yet he was finding it considerably harder to hold his hostility in check now that he was in among those that served the beast day in and day out. And with each day, the rage that burned inside him flamed brighter. He didn't try to dampen it, in fact he fed it, let it grow. He knew that it threatened to consume him, but by now he was beyond caring. Ulysses had lived with the hate so long that he wasn't sure that he could go on without it.
It was a hate filled drive to strike back at the Terran Empire for all that it had taken from him. Yet he was still young and immature, but thanks in large part to his half El Aurian heritage, at 16 he looked 20 Terran years. El Aurian's aged in spurts with rather long pauses between them even early on in life. Their average life span wasn't common knowledge to anyone other than the El Aurians themselves, but it was known to be at least centuries long. The Human genes Ulysses got from his father had combined with the El Aurian ones he got from his mother strangely, so that his growth spurts were compressed considerably from the El Aurian and even human norm. Being only 16, yet able to pass for 20 had opened many doors to someone who could obtain the appropriate foraged papers and records. Like say opening up Star Fleet Academy to him years before he was eligible. In his still childish brain, he had hatched a plan that he at least found wonderfully ironic. He would enter the Academy, gain access to a ship, and then use said ship on the Terran Empire. It was just the kind of plan that a bright young boy filled with teenage hormonal changes, inexperience and hate would think up. And it was just the kind of plan that would never work in practice, for even if he succeeded in getting his commission, then getting assigned to a reasonably powerful warship, he would still have to overcome the various security lockouts preventing junior officers from activating systems without authorization. And if he pulled off a miracle and got past them, he still would have to get it to Sol system, then get through the various, multi layered defensive shells all without outsiders finding out. While any adult would have found this series of events improbable in the extreme, to an angry teen they were all highly probable. And he couldn't think of anything else he could do to get back at the TE, so he strode up to the recruiter's office and signed on the dotted line.
That was how he had ended up in Starfleet service, but it was also the root cause of his troubles fitting in. He was trying to become a member of what he despised and vilified most in the universe. Of course T'var knew none of this. No one did, just like no one alive knew that he was part El Aurian. His genetic heritage was muddled enough courtesy of nature that he could pass for a genetically modified human. Fortunately for him, all of the major genetic markers for El Aurian weren't present when the Medical branch did their tests on him. He only had the minor ones, and they were, while odd for a pure blood Terran, explainable due to his "in vitro genetic modifications". Ulysses had been particularly proud of that part of his plan. The medical staff had bought his genetic modification story hook, line and sinker. While genies weren't particularly prevalent in Terran society, the practice being frowned upon by the government and medical establishment, it could and was still used from time to time.
The door to Ulysses quarters chimed, then a second later Rear Admiral T'var, Academy Instructor: Advanced Starship Combat Tactics 101, entered the room. As it swooshed shut behind her, Ulysses had absolutely no idea just how much his life would change as a result of this meeting.