Dimensional Fear
The Adventures of the Enterprise J circ. 2654
Chapter-1
In the humming silence of Captain Braxa's Ready Room, the smells of many different beaches all over the galaxy permeated through the room. Braxa had a collection of items like a framed Civil War rifle from Earth on the right wall, a tricorder from the mid-24th century, and on the wall behind his desk, a portrait of Captain Creswell, a noble commander from the 25th century. One thing that is more or less alive is a holographic dog lying peacefully under the window, overseeing Starbase 01A. This was conquered years ago by the federation from the inter-dimensional beings. The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-J is here for supplies to fight the war with the sphere builders.
Spock woke up, stretches his front legs, then popped on all fours and trotted over to his master, Captain Jack Braxa, who is ½ Betazed, ¼ human, and ¼ Risan. Sitting behind his desk working, he glanced over at Spock who was staring at him, wanting his attention.
"Hey Spock." Braxa picks him up and puts him on his lap.
"Are you looking for some steak...Huh?... are you looking for something g-o-o-d?" Spock, the dog named after the legendary Ambassador Spock of Vulcan was especially fond of steak and shoes.
Just then the door chime sounded.
"Come in." Braxa is still petting Spock as Commander Josh Sealen enters.
"Ah, commander, come sit."
"Sir, here's the report on the repairs." Sealen handed the pad to him. "Looking forward to the concert tonight?"
"Of course!" the captain said, still looking over the report. "When will the Gyrodine Relays be repaired?"
"The Nano-repair systems are in progress," the commander responded. Then playful smile begins to form across Braxa's face.
Sealen's face brightens curiously, and then asks him. "What are you thinking?"
"Do you remember when we used to be explorers?"
"...Yes!... When our wives told us to get out there and make a difference." Sealen answered.
"Make a difference..." Braxa whispered. Then Spock started to whine at him.
"All right." Braxa hit a few buttons and waved his hand over the console. "Got to make my rounds—you still have the Bridge." Then he stood up with Spock and exits. Josh follows. The door hissed open to a rather large bridge; He first put Spock down on the floor. Then he pranced to the turbolift and waited in the middle for him. Sealen returned to the Captain's Chair while Braxa heads for the turbolift but the security officer stops him before entering.
"Captain." Braxa turned his head in the direction of Lt. Vol, a man with the pointy-eared features of Romulan origins. He continued.
"The items have just been beamed aboard sir."
"Thank you Lieutenant Vulduon, carry on." He continued to the turbolift and stepped inside.
Braxa headed to his quarters to drop off Spock; the doors opened and music filled his ears. His wife, Jennifer Braxa, played the violin as part of the Enterprise symphony. She stopped and smiled at him
"Hi honey!" Spock came up to her and started to paw at her leg.
"Oh, Spock, are we hungry?" She picks him up and gently places him in front of his bowls
"Computer, Spock's food zero-one." Then the food appears in his bowl.
"Good boy!" Braxa grabbed a pad from his desk to takes it with him. Then he surprised her with a passionate kiss.
"What was that for?"
"Oh, just thinking about you."
"Oh, you know me too well, and how is tonight's performance coming?" he asks. "Oh, doing well, just practicing this elaborate part here"
"Yes like that high screech last week." She threw a pillow at him. He started to laugh.
"You think its funny, don't you?"
"Of course! Not that I'm just doing it for your benefit." Still laughing, Braxa answered.
"Go on, get out of here," she said humorously.
"I'm going...I'm going...I will see you tonight." Then the doors closed as he waved goodbye. Spock tilted his head and looked at him curiously.
He headed back to the turbolift and entered it.
"Alpha 1A." The turbolift responded in a quick speed as it went downward from the bridge. Towards the bottom, there seemed to be energy barrier, but the turbolift didn't slow down, it penetrate the barer with ease. Then inside, an amber line came up from the bottom and went upward through Braxa's body— and still he didn't move. As the light change to a green color, Braxa turned around, and started running his fingers over the console, replacing the turbolift run, with a map of the decks that are obscure from the rest of the ship and crew. Suddenly the lift stopped.
"Welcome Captain to deck 1A."
The doors hissed open to a cargo bay area of some sort. An officer wearing a grey black uniform, not standard officer's wear, turned and stood up.
"Captain!"
"Commander have they kept you locked up down here?" said Braxa humorously.
"Of course not sir; I just beamed over from Starbase 01A."
"So what do we have from Starfleet?"
"A lot ...most of the pieces are here."
"Have they tested it?"
"Yes, but we didn't have enough Xitium left; supplies are gone, and a team is stranded in the Sphere-builder's realm." Braxa's face went cold.
"We need you to get the Xitium from the Sphere-builder's mother ship that the Fleet 27G is fighting; have a large quantity of it retrieved."
"Starfleet will be contacting you shortly."
"Thank you, Mr. Steel." Commander Steel left the command center. Braxa peers over the console in front of him. Then he looks through the glass at the of science officers working on a large incomplete triangular object. Suddenly, the console started to beep. He waved his hand over the main Circular area and a well-seasoned admiral named J.T. Ryan appeared.
"Admiral!"
"Captain, have you seen it?"
"Yes! Does it work?"
"Yes! We have finally attained the ability to cross dimensions with Trans-dimensional Drive, but we require more Xitium from the Sphere-builders at once!" The Admiral answered.
"Yes Admiral; is there anything else?"
The admiral's face turned stone, as he added, "Do not let them get this technology even if you have to destroy the ship. Ryan out." The transmission ended, and the Starfleet insignia appears in it place. Braxa looked bothered then looked up into the large room as the three scientists were continuing to put the drive together. In his mind, through the neural chip embedded in his brain, he communicated to the computer. "Computer, open door." With a hissing noise the door opened, he stepped through with ease.
"Report." All three of them looked up the two assistants continuing their work then the head officer with Vulcan features, speaks:
"We will finish the assembly of drive by tomorrow."
"Thank you, keep me appraised" The captain left.
In the engine room, the hustle and bustle of officers worked furiously for the preparation of the new drive. Lt. Cmdr. Cooper was at his station, working on the Trans- dimensional drive and completion of the Tri- Propulsion system. He punched at the panel, and then waved his hand over the circular area to the upper right-hand corner of the console. He then looked up at the two drives: warp and quantum slipstream, and then looked at Lt. Hawk at one of stations, on ring of consoles around the drives.
One of the officers, a twenty-something human with brown was running with arms full of bio-gel packs when he slammed into a female officer, heads colliding; his gel packs escaped and sprawled onto the deck, slitting one and spraying a blanket of gel on the causality. Henderson was his name, a rookie at heart. Marissa T. Golron was her name, an Andorian. At first, he could only see a blur, and then to his amazement he sat up. He could not hear any sound; when his vision slowly returned, everyone was staring at them; He was humiliated; he wanted to crawl into a Jefferies tube and stay there. He decided to focus his attention to Marissa.
"Are you alright?" Other crewmembers were helping her up. Her antennas slowly came back to life as they twitched.
"I... I think so." She wasn't bothered as much with the crowd.
"Looks like we took a bad spill." she said.
Another voice spoke "Are you guys ok?"
"Yes sir." He answered
Meanwhile, at the main entrance of the room, the door opened and the captain entered. At that point, Henderson and Marissa were at their feet. Cooper the engineer met the captain half way.
"Commander, report on the status of the Engine Room."
"We are three hours away from being competed, the..." but before he could say anymore, Braxa was looking around to the mess on the deck plates and the two officers receiving medical attention.
"Commander, what the devil is going on? What happened to those two officers?"
"There was an accident sir. Mr. Henderson collided with Lieutenant Marissa while he was carrying bio-gel packs; one of them must have slit." The Captain had a worried look.
"Just make sure you're ready!" Braxa looked at the two again and then back to Cooper, before exiting main engineering; the door closed behind him. Cooper looked back at the two then continued his work. A clean-up crew arrived on the scene; Mr. Cooper is talking in the background about the spill. Meanwhile, Henderson and Marissa headed to Sickbay with Dr. Gram, a holographic doctor unlike the doctors of the 24th Century: this one roams the ship freely, and goes on away-missions.
In Sickbay, the doors opened to Henderson first; he immediately went over and laid on the bio-gel bed. It had a nice crystal color that contours the body; and in addition, it monitored the vitals of the patient, a useful tool in medicine. Marissa joins him on the bed next to him; immediately, a blue-colored tube emerged from the bed and connected to each of their heads. Above them, the Doctor could oversee everything that is going on in the body by a large screen.
"There seems to be no permanent damage." Said Dr. Gram, in a sober voice. The tube accessed the bio-chips by sending their information to the screen for examination. Dr. Gram picked up a hypospray and pressed it against each of their necks, putting the antidote into their respective bloodstreams.
"This will make you feel better."
"Thank you doctor," said Marissa, in a gracious manner. Both of the tubes disconnect from their heads and retreats into the bed. As they arose, the gel-beds reformed back to their original state.
"Hey, Henderson wait for me!" said Marissa eagerly.
"Do you want to join me later this evening? It's game night... you know, they're playing Stratagema!"
"Oh I don't know... I'm kind of tired... maybe next time." To his surprise, she didn't take no for an answer.
"Please! Please! It will be fun!" as she dragged him along.