ACT II
The Enterprise dropped from warp, greeted by a starbase hauler. The ships served to load and offload cargo on and off the starship. They also contained work bees that repaired damages on the ship, and conducted routine maitenence.
The young female pilot nodded on the main viewscreen. "Welcome to Starbase 248, Enterprise. Follow my vector to dock."
"Acknowledged," Picard said.
"Following the vector," Paris announced.
"All hands, prepare for docking protocol," Madden announced.
Within moments, Enterprise entered into a drydock, attached to the starbase. The starship nestled into the dock, like a baby into a craddle. The hauler came about, hovering just above the saucer, launching work bees.
Twenty minutes later, Lieutenant Commander Geordie LaForge looked over the Runabout Ohio, which still sat in the main shuttlebay of the Gulfstream.
Right beside him was Lieutenant Rachel Kelliram, the Gulfstream's chief engineer. Standing behind them both was Captain Picard, Commander Nakajima, and Lieutenant Wing. "They sure did a number on you guys," Nakajima noted to Wing.
Wing sighed. "They have type eight phasers. I don't know where they got that firepower from, but that's not usually sold to civilians or on the black market. I know. I've searched the black market. They're hard to come by."
"The Enterprise has been outfitted with type nine phaser arrays," Picard noted. "The main core of the fleet still uses type eight."
"So does the Gulfstream," Kelliram mentioned, while she ran a tricorder over a phser burn. "There's no doubt about it, Captain. These blast marks are consistent with a type eight phaser."
"That's fleet core hardware," Nakajima said. "They must've gotten some support from within Starfleet."
"Doubtful," Wing said, with optimism. "But that's just my Starfleet ideals talking."
The shuttlebay corridor egress yawned open. A short-haired, smooth- faced, fully uniformed, and very well cleaned, Captain Bruce McGawan stepped into the shuttlebay. In his "Starfleet personae," he seems to command his facilties with the greatest of presence. "Sorry I'm late, Captain. It takes a while to get cleaned up after looking like an ape."
"Not at all," Picard said. "We were just going over the damage on the Ohio Runabout."
Nakajima turned to McGawan, who smiled warmly at her. Of course, Nakajima surrendered to her Vulcan side, keeping the emotions hidden with the greatest of ease. "Commander Kaori Nakajima, Station Manager."
"Captain Bruce McGawan," McGawan introduced. "Sector Commander."
"Does that mean I have to move out of the office?" Nakajima wondered.
"Hmm... yes," McGawan confirmed. "That's funny. I didn't think Vulcans had a sense of sarcasm. Nor a human name."
"You will find that I am not a typical Vulcan, Captain."
"I can see that."
"Captain," LaForge addressed. "I want to have a look at the Ohio's sensor logs. I'd like to check out the scans she took of the pirate vessels."
Picard yielded to McGawan. "Captain, this is now your command."
McGawan nodded. "Go ahead, Mister LaForge. Report back to Captain Picard whatever you find."
LaForge nodded. "Understood."
Nakajima nodded. "I think it's time to brief you two on what's going on. If you'll follow me to the conference room on the station."
"For the last three weeks, these so-called 'Freedom Fighters' have been looting freighters and supply stations," Commander Nakajima briefed, before an audience of Picard, McGawan, Worf, and Wing. "Starfleet intelligence has zero information on the details of this terrorist unit. So far, we have no idea where they originate from, nor do we have any leads to a base of operations, or anyone involved with the group."
Wing sat at his position at the conference table, with his arms crossed. He looked intently at the video replay logs of the hijacking of an Orion transport tug. The terrorists blew the ship apart without mercy.
"Command wants this situation taken care-of, ASAP," Nakajima concluded.
"The Enterprise will set a course for the Minas Supply Depot," Picard briefed. "It seems like the best place to start our investigation."
"Agreed," McGawan said. "I'll have the Gulfstream maintain position here, until you return. I'm sure Captain Daniels would want to conduct his own part of the investigation."
"I'll have our people ready Enterprise for immediate departure," Nakajima said. "In the meantime, Captain McGawan, the sector is yours."
"Yippie," McGawan said, his comment filled with sarcasm. "Let's get to it."
Seven year-old Josh ran to his mother, who held him tight. "Mommy," he said, "when will the bad men let us free?"
"Soon, baby, soon," Jennifer said. The room was crowded, but there was still plenty of space to walk around in. Her husband, Richard, came to her, and kissed her softly. "What is it?"
"They have secured all of the habitat and equipement modules," Richard said. "I don't know what's going on. No one can get anywhere. They've locked us down."
"How about getting a message out to Starbase 248?"
"Already tried, My Love," Richard said. "When Sam and Thomas went into the communications room to send a subspace message, they were killed."
Jennifer put a hand to her mouth. "My God... I hope they didn't suffer much..."
"Actually, they were viciously slaughtered, while I was forced to watch," Richard said. "They let me go only as a reminder to me that I shouldn't do anything like that again."
"Wow Mommy, look!" Josh said, pointing to a viewport. "That is a huge starship!"
Jennifer and Richard, along with anyone who can crowd near a viewport, looked out to see the massive starship settle into an orbit around the station. Jennifer read the text between the streamlines on the secondary hull. She smiled broadly. "Starfleet must've gotten our message!" she said, happily. "Good job, Sam and Tommy! God rest you two!"
Richard smiled. "Good. Let's get ready to get the hell out... of..."
They all watched through the viewports. The Enterprise turned on a fine dime towards some random point in space. She turned so quickly that it was almost unreal to watch. Then, as though in the same motion, the Enterprise jumped to warp.
Jennifer and Richard both looked at eachother, stunned. "What the hell's going on...?"
Suddenly, a scortching heat filled the room. A heat so intense that it brought on darkness in a matter of seconds...
Captain's Log.
Supplemental. The Enterprise has arrived at the Minas Supply Depot, where we will begin
our investigation.
The Enterprise's deflectors managed to push some of the debris from the earlier battle out of the way. Picard stood on the bridge, looking at the old style supply depot, that resembled the infamous K7 station. The station's exterior offered a very weathered look, and only a faint semblence of the old station's designation shown on the central module.
"Hold position, Mister Paris," Picard ordered. "Mister Kim, scan the station. Mister Worf, hail the station."
All did as they were told with uncany precision that Picard had come to expect from them over the last few years. Easily, and quickly, Worf reported in. "Channel is open, Captain."
"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise. Please respond."
After a brief pause, Worf reported the obvious. "There is no response, Captain."
"Captain," Kim reported, "I've scanned the central module of the station. I'm not picking up any life signs."
"Finish your sweep," Picard ordered.
It didn't take Kim long to comply to the order and finish. "Nothing, Captain. Nowhere on the station." However, out of nowhere, the ops sensors went off the deep end. "I'm picking up an overload in the central power core of the station!"
"The energy build up is at an increased rate," Worf said.
"At this rate, the station will blow in a matter of seconds!" Kim urged.
Urgently, Picard lept into action. "Warp one, any course Mister Paris."
Paris didn't even reply. With reflex, he set a preprogrammed course, and hit the engage button on the console. Just as the Enterprise jumped into warp, the station went up in flames.
Only when the ship was in warp did Paris announce, "Aye, Captain."
"What do you mean the 'power failed'?"
"I mean, Sir, the power failed on level five," the engineer announced.
McGawan snarled. "Listen, Mister. I didn't get transferred to this station only to have the power shut off on me like someone who didn't pay their power bill. Fix it, fix it right, or you're going to find yourself out the nearest airlock. Got it?"
"Umm... yes, Captain!" With that, the crewman scampered away.
"You know, Captain," Nakajima said, after the crewman disappeared into the turbolift, "You can't threaten crewmen like that."
"Yes I can," McGawan said. "Anything to get the job done faster, better, and right is fair game, Commander. That includes exposure to the harsh vacuum of space."
"Captain," Wing called from the operations console, "The Enterprise is reporting back via subspace. They're reporting that the Minas Supply Depot has been destroyed."
"What the hell?" McGawan crossed the upper level of the operations section, and finished reading the text report. "Well, this is just great. Now what the hell is going on?"
After a few moments, Enterprise returned to the new debris field of what was left of the Minas Supply Depot. On the bridge, Doctor Bashir joined them in hopes that the sensors were right about there being no one on the station. He ran his scans from a side station.
"Mister Worf," Madden addressed, "what do you make of the debris?"
Worf ran a few scans on the debris to see if he could recognize the scorch marks on the hull fragments. "Sensors are registering evidence of a tricobalt explosion."
"That would easily ensure no survivors and total devistation," Bashir said. Finally, his scanns have ended and the results were coming in. "Captain, I'm picking up huge amounts of organic fragments within the debris. And I'm pretty sure it's not from the depot's hydroponic bays."
"I thought sensors recorded no life signs on the station," Picard recalled.
"None were detected," Kim said. "I'm sure of it."
"Captain, there are stray tachions within the debris field," Worf said, "consistant with a high-frequency dampening field."
"I can't be sure of the exact count," Bashir said, "but I am picking up traces of biomatter from at least twelve different races, and in huge quantities. Judging from what the sensors have found, I think about two hundred people were killed in this blast."
Picard's heart sank. So did Dax's. She was right beside Picard to comfort him. However, no solice could be found right away. "I know it doesn't make a difference right away," Dax said, comfortingly, "but there was nothing we could have done, Captain."
Worf's tactical board startled everyone out of their shocked trance. "Captain, six vessels have dropped out of warp and are on an intercept course."
Picard came to, just enough, to mumble in a broken voice, "How long until they—" And he was answered with the rumbling of the deck beneath him. "Red alert! Mister Paris take evasive action. Hail them."
Worf tried. "There is no response."
Another blast sent an EPS conduit on overload on the bridge. The unmanned station blew apart.
"I guess there was your reply, Captain," Paris snipped.
"Sensors confirm type nine phaser arrays," Worf said.
"Where the hell are they getting this firepower from?" Kim wondered aloud.
"Helm, set a course for SB248. Maximum warp."
"Aye, Captain."
The Enterprise had to maneuver, difficultly, around the enemy ships. Paris did his absolute best to keep their weapons away from the warp drive systems. It wasn't an easy job, but he managed to get the Enterprise into warp without much of a challenge.
"Send a message to SB248," Picard said to Commander Madden. "Inform them to report to Starfleet Command. The problem just got worse."
Madden nodded. "Understood, Captain."
Dax put a hand on Picard's shoulder just as he began to relax and sink back into mourning for the dead. She leaned over, and whispered to him, "Take a break, Jean-Luc."
Picard sighed deeply, looking somber. "Commander Madden?"
Madden looked over. "Yes, Captain?"
"You have the bridge. I'll be in my read—" Dax squeezed his shoulder more. He turned to see Dax shaking her head. Finally, Picard surrendered. "In my quarters."
Madden smiled, understanding completely. "Aye, Captain."
END OF ACT II
The Enterprise dropped from warp, greeted by a starbase hauler. The ships served to load and offload cargo on and off the starship. They also contained work bees that repaired damages on the ship, and conducted routine maitenence.
The young female pilot nodded on the main viewscreen. "Welcome to Starbase 248, Enterprise. Follow my vector to dock."
"Acknowledged," Picard said.
"Following the vector," Paris announced.
"All hands, prepare for docking protocol," Madden announced.
Within moments, Enterprise entered into a drydock, attached to the starbase. The starship nestled into the dock, like a baby into a craddle. The hauler came about, hovering just above the saucer, launching work bees.
Twenty minutes later, Lieutenant Commander Geordie LaForge looked over the Runabout Ohio, which still sat in the main shuttlebay of the Gulfstream.
Right beside him was Lieutenant Rachel Kelliram, the Gulfstream's chief engineer. Standing behind them both was Captain Picard, Commander Nakajima, and Lieutenant Wing. "They sure did a number on you guys," Nakajima noted to Wing.
Wing sighed. "They have type eight phasers. I don't know where they got that firepower from, but that's not usually sold to civilians or on the black market. I know. I've searched the black market. They're hard to come by."
"The Enterprise has been outfitted with type nine phaser arrays," Picard noted. "The main core of the fleet still uses type eight."
"So does the Gulfstream," Kelliram mentioned, while she ran a tricorder over a phser burn. "There's no doubt about it, Captain. These blast marks are consistent with a type eight phaser."
"That's fleet core hardware," Nakajima said. "They must've gotten some support from within Starfleet."
"Doubtful," Wing said, with optimism. "But that's just my Starfleet ideals talking."
The shuttlebay corridor egress yawned open. A short-haired, smooth- faced, fully uniformed, and very well cleaned, Captain Bruce McGawan stepped into the shuttlebay. In his "Starfleet personae," he seems to command his facilties with the greatest of presence. "Sorry I'm late, Captain. It takes a while to get cleaned up after looking like an ape."
"Not at all," Picard said. "We were just going over the damage on the Ohio Runabout."
Nakajima turned to McGawan, who smiled warmly at her. Of course, Nakajima surrendered to her Vulcan side, keeping the emotions hidden with the greatest of ease. "Commander Kaori Nakajima, Station Manager."
"Captain Bruce McGawan," McGawan introduced. "Sector Commander."
"Does that mean I have to move out of the office?" Nakajima wondered.
"Hmm... yes," McGawan confirmed. "That's funny. I didn't think Vulcans had a sense of sarcasm. Nor a human name."
"You will find that I am not a typical Vulcan, Captain."
"I can see that."
"Captain," LaForge addressed. "I want to have a look at the Ohio's sensor logs. I'd like to check out the scans she took of the pirate vessels."
Picard yielded to McGawan. "Captain, this is now your command."
McGawan nodded. "Go ahead, Mister LaForge. Report back to Captain Picard whatever you find."
LaForge nodded. "Understood."
Nakajima nodded. "I think it's time to brief you two on what's going on. If you'll follow me to the conference room on the station."
"For the last three weeks, these so-called 'Freedom Fighters' have been looting freighters and supply stations," Commander Nakajima briefed, before an audience of Picard, McGawan, Worf, and Wing. "Starfleet intelligence has zero information on the details of this terrorist unit. So far, we have no idea where they originate from, nor do we have any leads to a base of operations, or anyone involved with the group."
Wing sat at his position at the conference table, with his arms crossed. He looked intently at the video replay logs of the hijacking of an Orion transport tug. The terrorists blew the ship apart without mercy.
"Command wants this situation taken care-of, ASAP," Nakajima concluded.
"The Enterprise will set a course for the Minas Supply Depot," Picard briefed. "It seems like the best place to start our investigation."
"Agreed," McGawan said. "I'll have the Gulfstream maintain position here, until you return. I'm sure Captain Daniels would want to conduct his own part of the investigation."
"I'll have our people ready Enterprise for immediate departure," Nakajima said. "In the meantime, Captain McGawan, the sector is yours."
"Yippie," McGawan said, his comment filled with sarcasm. "Let's get to it."
Seven year-old Josh ran to his mother, who held him tight. "Mommy," he said, "when will the bad men let us free?"
"Soon, baby, soon," Jennifer said. The room was crowded, but there was still plenty of space to walk around in. Her husband, Richard, came to her, and kissed her softly. "What is it?"
"They have secured all of the habitat and equipement modules," Richard said. "I don't know what's going on. No one can get anywhere. They've locked us down."
"How about getting a message out to Starbase 248?"
"Already tried, My Love," Richard said. "When Sam and Thomas went into the communications room to send a subspace message, they were killed."
Jennifer put a hand to her mouth. "My God... I hope they didn't suffer much..."
"Actually, they were viciously slaughtered, while I was forced to watch," Richard said. "They let me go only as a reminder to me that I shouldn't do anything like that again."
"Wow Mommy, look!" Josh said, pointing to a viewport. "That is a huge starship!"
Jennifer and Richard, along with anyone who can crowd near a viewport, looked out to see the massive starship settle into an orbit around the station. Jennifer read the text between the streamlines on the secondary hull. She smiled broadly. "Starfleet must've gotten our message!" she said, happily. "Good job, Sam and Tommy! God rest you two!"
Richard smiled. "Good. Let's get ready to get the hell out... of..."
They all watched through the viewports. The Enterprise turned on a fine dime towards some random point in space. She turned so quickly that it was almost unreal to watch. Then, as though in the same motion, the Enterprise jumped to warp.
Jennifer and Richard both looked at eachother, stunned. "What the hell's going on...?"
Suddenly, a scortching heat filled the room. A heat so intense that it brought on darkness in a matter of seconds...
Captain's Log.
Supplemental. The Enterprise has arrived at the Minas Supply Depot, where we will begin
our investigation.
The Enterprise's deflectors managed to push some of the debris from the earlier battle out of the way. Picard stood on the bridge, looking at the old style supply depot, that resembled the infamous K7 station. The station's exterior offered a very weathered look, and only a faint semblence of the old station's designation shown on the central module.
"Hold position, Mister Paris," Picard ordered. "Mister Kim, scan the station. Mister Worf, hail the station."
All did as they were told with uncany precision that Picard had come to expect from them over the last few years. Easily, and quickly, Worf reported in. "Channel is open, Captain."
"This is Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise. Please respond."
After a brief pause, Worf reported the obvious. "There is no response, Captain."
"Captain," Kim reported, "I've scanned the central module of the station. I'm not picking up any life signs."
"Finish your sweep," Picard ordered.
It didn't take Kim long to comply to the order and finish. "Nothing, Captain. Nowhere on the station." However, out of nowhere, the ops sensors went off the deep end. "I'm picking up an overload in the central power core of the station!"
"The energy build up is at an increased rate," Worf said.
"At this rate, the station will blow in a matter of seconds!" Kim urged.
Urgently, Picard lept into action. "Warp one, any course Mister Paris."
Paris didn't even reply. With reflex, he set a preprogrammed course, and hit the engage button on the console. Just as the Enterprise jumped into warp, the station went up in flames.
Only when the ship was in warp did Paris announce, "Aye, Captain."
"What do you mean the 'power failed'?"
"I mean, Sir, the power failed on level five," the engineer announced.
McGawan snarled. "Listen, Mister. I didn't get transferred to this station only to have the power shut off on me like someone who didn't pay their power bill. Fix it, fix it right, or you're going to find yourself out the nearest airlock. Got it?"
"Umm... yes, Captain!" With that, the crewman scampered away.
"You know, Captain," Nakajima said, after the crewman disappeared into the turbolift, "You can't threaten crewmen like that."
"Yes I can," McGawan said. "Anything to get the job done faster, better, and right is fair game, Commander. That includes exposure to the harsh vacuum of space."
"Captain," Wing called from the operations console, "The Enterprise is reporting back via subspace. They're reporting that the Minas Supply Depot has been destroyed."
"What the hell?" McGawan crossed the upper level of the operations section, and finished reading the text report. "Well, this is just great. Now what the hell is going on?"
After a few moments, Enterprise returned to the new debris field of what was left of the Minas Supply Depot. On the bridge, Doctor Bashir joined them in hopes that the sensors were right about there being no one on the station. He ran his scans from a side station.
"Mister Worf," Madden addressed, "what do you make of the debris?"
Worf ran a few scans on the debris to see if he could recognize the scorch marks on the hull fragments. "Sensors are registering evidence of a tricobalt explosion."
"That would easily ensure no survivors and total devistation," Bashir said. Finally, his scanns have ended and the results were coming in. "Captain, I'm picking up huge amounts of organic fragments within the debris. And I'm pretty sure it's not from the depot's hydroponic bays."
"I thought sensors recorded no life signs on the station," Picard recalled.
"None were detected," Kim said. "I'm sure of it."
"Captain, there are stray tachions within the debris field," Worf said, "consistant with a high-frequency dampening field."
"I can't be sure of the exact count," Bashir said, "but I am picking up traces of biomatter from at least twelve different races, and in huge quantities. Judging from what the sensors have found, I think about two hundred people were killed in this blast."
Picard's heart sank. So did Dax's. She was right beside Picard to comfort him. However, no solice could be found right away. "I know it doesn't make a difference right away," Dax said, comfortingly, "but there was nothing we could have done, Captain."
Worf's tactical board startled everyone out of their shocked trance. "Captain, six vessels have dropped out of warp and are on an intercept course."
Picard came to, just enough, to mumble in a broken voice, "How long until they—" And he was answered with the rumbling of the deck beneath him. "Red alert! Mister Paris take evasive action. Hail them."
Worf tried. "There is no response."
Another blast sent an EPS conduit on overload on the bridge. The unmanned station blew apart.
"I guess there was your reply, Captain," Paris snipped.
"Sensors confirm type nine phaser arrays," Worf said.
"Where the hell are they getting this firepower from?" Kim wondered aloud.
"Helm, set a course for SB248. Maximum warp."
"Aye, Captain."
The Enterprise had to maneuver, difficultly, around the enemy ships. Paris did his absolute best to keep their weapons away from the warp drive systems. It wasn't an easy job, but he managed to get the Enterprise into warp without much of a challenge.
"Send a message to SB248," Picard said to Commander Madden. "Inform them to report to Starfleet Command. The problem just got worse."
Madden nodded. "Understood, Captain."
Dax put a hand on Picard's shoulder just as he began to relax and sink back into mourning for the dead. She leaned over, and whispered to him, "Take a break, Jean-Luc."
Picard sighed deeply, looking somber. "Commander Madden?"
Madden looked over. "Yes, Captain?"
"You have the bridge. I'll be in my read—" Dax squeezed his shoulder more. He turned to see Dax shaking her head. Finally, Picard surrendered. "In my quarters."
Madden smiled, understanding completely. "Aye, Captain."
END OF ACT II