Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron, Star Trek, or any characters mentioned here that are canon to either franchise. What I do own are the fighter, Thunderwing, and the crew of the Berlin, except for Mordock. The rest I'm just borrowing for a while. I also don't own the songs mentioned.
And thanks to RedLion for the encouraging reviews.
Star-Tron: The Black Suits Cometh
Chapter 3
Lieutenant-Commander Jacobs watched as Thunderwing executed a high-side attack on the running light on the Berlin's port nacelle, then barrel-rolled around the engine and attacked the underside-port saucer running light.
It was just before 0700 hours, and the captain was on his usual morning flight. The Berlin had been on patrol for three weeks, without so much as a flitter of a subspace tornado on the sensors. The ship had started near the Hekaras Corridor, and had been working its way toward Earth, staying in well-traveled space, which was where the captain expected to find the disturbances. Early on, Captain Driscoll had settled into a routine of taking his plane out in the morning before his duty shift started. Jacobs, who liked to start her shift early, had gotten into the habit of watching her young commanding officer in his daily exercises.
As she performed her usual checks on the ship's security and defensive systems, she kept an eye on her captain. So engrossed was she that she didn't notice Gredar arrive on the bridge and step up behind her. "What is it, Commander?" the Gorn asked.
Jacobs jumped and turned to face the first officer. "Uh, nothing, sir. Just doing some routine diagnostics." Gredar had established himself as a strict and businesslike officer, and didn't abide distractions.
He looked at the display on Jacobs' board. Jacobs herself looked down just in time to see Thunderwing attack the forward-dorsal running light, and then strafe the light just behind the bridge, fast and low.
"I've got to hand it to him, sir, he's good," said Jacobs. She, along with most of the crew, had been a little resentful of being under the command of an officer who was younger than any of them. However, after seeing how he handled his plane, Jacobs was beginning to give the young captain some credit.
"So it seems, Commander," Gredar rasped. "However, it takes more than flying skill to command a starship."
Jacobs nodded as Gredar walked around her station and began to check the other duty stations on the bridge. She had long ago concluded that the Berlin could run the Enterprise a merry chase as the strangest ship in the fleet, with her teenage captain, Gorn XO, and her mission to track and chase subspace anomalies.
Just then, her console beeped, and a light indicated an incoming message. She accepted it, and ran it through the decoding and descrambling protocols. With the Dominion War and the recent Borg threats, Starfleet was encoding everything.
Before even finishing the message, she punched a control, hailing the Mustang buzzing the ship, and called Gredar over. The Gorn reached her as the captain said, "Driscoll here, go ahead."
"Captain, Starfleet reports a Subspace Electro-Gravitational Anomaly near Proxima Centauri," said Jacobs.
"Can we make it?"
Gredar and Jacobs looked at Mordock, who was already calculating the answer. After a few moments, the Benzite looked up. "Yes we can. At maximum warp, we can be there early tomorrow."
"Tell Mr. Curtis to set a course for the disturbance, and engage on my signal. I'm coming aboard."
"Aye, sir," Jacobs replied. She closed the channel and relayed the orders to the helmsman.
A few minutes later, Driscoll jogged off the turbolift, still wearing his leather jacket and flying gear. "Mr. Curtis?"
"Course laid in, sir."
"Warp speed, all ahead flank. Engage." The captain settled into his chair and tapped a control on the arm. "Bridge to engineering."
"Scott here."
"Scotty, I need all the speed you can give us, red line be damned. We've got a twister near Proxima Centauri," said Driscoll.
"Aye, sir, I'll give ya all I got."
"Thanks, Scotty."
"Mr. Curtis, maintain best possible speed at all times."
"Yes, sir. Passing warp 9.5. . . 9.6. . . 9.65. . . 9.7. . ."
As Curtis read off the
increasing warp numbers, Driscoll was grateful for the Highland Miracle
Worker in his engine room.
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"How long until we reach Arus?" Lotor asked. He was pacing the bridge of his command ship nervously. He was eager to launch his latest robeast against Voltron. It had taken Hagar weeks to perfect it, and they both had the utmost confidence in the witch's latest creation. Of course, the true test would be in the heat of battle against the greatest robot in the history of the universe.
"Four more hours, my Prince," one of the robot crewmen replied.
Lotor cursed under his breath. Four hours. It seemed like an eternity. But even so, it was only four hours until all his dreams came true. He would be rid of Voltron, the only thing that could stand up to the forces of Doom. He would have Arus, and with it, his beloved Allura.
In only four short hours. So soon, and yet, still an eternity.
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"Approaching the disturbance, Captain," Mordock announced.
"Match course and speed. Sound general quarters. All hands to battle stations. Alert the shuttlebay to load probes onto the Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and Thunderwing and prepare to deploy."
The rapid barrage of orders was quickly relayed and carried out by the crewmen on the bridge. The Dorothy and Scarecrow were the Berlin's two type-9 shuttles, and were modified to carry the large probes to be used on the subspace tornadoes. The other shuttles were type-15 shuttlepods named Tin Man, Cowardly Lion, and Toto. The shuttles had originally been named after famous German scientists, but the crew had decided that the new names were more appropriate, given the starship's mission.
"I have a visual," Mordock announced.
"On screen," Gredar ordered.
On the main viewer, a nebulous, blue cloud loomed like a strange, translucent cotton ball. It crackled and flashed with energy discharges at all levels, and it was ringed by a debris field of meteors, space junk, and other space flotsam it had accumulated along the way.
"Mordock, what's the class on that thing?"
Mordock consulted his instruments for a moment before replying, "Class four, sir. It is the size of Earth's moon, and the energy discharges are equal to one thousand isotons or more."
"Dios mio." Singh breathed.
"Amen to that, Lieutenant. Gredar, you have the bridge." Driscoll
rose and headed for the turbolift.
He made his way quickly to the shuttlebay and his plane, which had just
had a probe attached to the rack under the starboard wing.
On the port wing was a single-shot torpedo launcher, as per the captain's
specs. He retrieved his helmet from his locker, and
climbed into his plane as he pulled it on and fastened his oxygen mask.
He started the P-51's engine and rolled out of the bay, immediately jumping to warp four to keep pace with the tornado. The two shuttles were right behind him, and the three craft formed up in a vee with Thunderwing at the head.
"Everyone on the same channel?" the captain asked.
"Dorothy, Lieutenant Jackson here, sir."
"Scarecrow, Ensign Falstaff."
"We read you, Thunderwing," said Jacobs.
"Okay, here's the plan. I'll make the first pass. Then Dorothy and Scarecrow. First one whose probe gets data out buys the drinks. Mordock, watch your sensors. Let us know if that thing so much as twitches odd."
"Aye, sir," Mordock replied over the open comm channel.
"Okay, boys, let's rock." Driscoll hit a switch on his holographic instrument panel, which he used for warp and impulse flight, and Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone" drifted over the comm.
The three small craft headed in while the starship hung back to monitor. As they closed, they started to shudder slightly as a result of the gravity. But when an energy bolt passed through the formation, they decided they were close enough.
"Okay, guys, I'm starting my run. Tallyho!" Driscoll announced. He rolled onto his course toward the center of the anomaly and readied his probe. The gigantic device, four times the size of a photon torpedo, was specially equipped and armored to withstand the forces inside the anomaly, reach the center, and return detailed readings to the ship.
The old fighter barreled into the cloud, dodging energy bursts and gravitational eddies. Finally, the forces became too intense and Driscoll decided to launch the probe. He squeezed the trigger on his control stick and pulled out as the probe hurtled into the tornado. As he egressed, he monitored the probe's progress, until it was destroyed by an energy discharge without reaching its target spot.
"Damn!" Driscoll grunted as he rejoined the shuttles. "No dice, guys. Your turn, Dorothy."
"Roger, going in," Jackson replied, beginning his run.
Neither Dorothy nor Scarecrow had any
better luck. But as the third shuttle rejoined the
formation, Mordock piped in. "Captain, we have a
problem."
"Define 'problem', Mordock," Driscoll replied.
"The probes somehow caused the anomaly to shift. It's on a direct course for Earth, and it is accelerating."
"Are you sure?" Driscoll demanded.
"Yes, sir."
The captain cursed violently. "Everybody back to the ship. Berlin, prepare to match the tornado's course and speed as soon as we're all aboard."
"Aye, sir," came Gredar's reply.