Disclaimer: Yes, Paramount still owns the Star Trek Universe, but they don't own any characters that I've made up (even if they own their parents) nor the vessel I made up. Dana Marcus is my creative product from some of the events in the novel "Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan" by Vonda N. McIntire, but is still owned by me, H. S. Hines. Saavik history derived from "The Pandora Principle" by Carolyn Clowes.
Notes: References to TNG and TOS
Genre: Angst, Drama
Rating: M
Codes: B/7
Feedback: Reviews beget more fiction!
Description: Back in the alpha quadrant and life is very different.
Issues
Chapter 3
Two years later...
"Oh, My god..." Captain Marcus swung her head around at Lieutenant Kim, silently demanding that he explain his outburst. "Captain, you might want to take a look behind us." Frowning, Dana turned back to the viewscreen.
"Display aft view." The screen switched from the J-class planet that they had been studying to a starscape, apparently normal. But Marcus knew that she wouldn't be looking at it if it were normal. She scanned the stars for any distinct difference, but she saw nothing. "What am I looking for, Lieutenant?"
"A spacial distortion," Kim answered. Marcus' eyes narrowed, and then she saw it. The stars wavered slightly, as if something were passing in front of them.
"Yellow alert, raise shields," she commanded automatically. "Is it a cloaked vessel?" she asked, never taking her eyes from the screen, tracking the distortion.
"No, Captain. It's producing extreme gravimetrical disturbances. Similar to a black hole." Dana raised her eyebrow.
"A black hole is a stationary phenomenon. Also, there is no evidence that there was ever a neutron star here, nor that this was once a binary system."
"Yeah, and it's too small, as well." Harry added. "More like a quantum singularity."
"Romulan warbirds employ a forced quantum singularity as an energy source. Have you scanned for tetryon emissions?" Marcus asked.
"Yes, Captain. I'm almost certain that we aren't dealing with a cloaked ship of any kind. It's almost certainly dark matter."
"Fascinating," she murmured. "But that doesn't explain why it's moving."
"It appears to be using negative gravity as a propellant," Harry said, his hands flying over his console as the reading came in.
"Negative gravity? That isn't possible. Dark matter is unaffected by that phenomenon, as it is not a solid or gas, but rather a well. That is why black holes are truly stationary, rather than being subjected to universal expansion."
"Be that as it may," Harry said, shrugging by tilting his head, "That's what's causing it to move—at an extremely rapid rate, I might add. It's moving at about the speed of a comet."
"Is it a comet, Mr. Kim? A dark matter comet perhaps?"
"Negative," Harry reported. "I've seen a dark matter comet before and it didn't behave like this. Every time it comes closer—universally speaking of course, to a planetary or solar body, it is repelled and changes course."
"Marcus to Lieutenant Hansen. Are you getting all this?"
"Yes, Captain. I must admit to never having witnessed this particular phenomena, either. I agree with Ensign Kim's assessment. It is neither a cloaked vessel nor a dark matter comet."
"Then what is it?" Dana asked, a thrill of excitement rushing through her body. She refrained from sitting forward and clutching the arms of her chair, as she wanted, and settled on bringing her hands together, fingers steepled.
In Astrometrics, Seven tried to establish an answer to her captain's query, but found herself at a loss.
"Unknown," she answered, unsatisfied with her own conclusion.
"Could it be a life form?" Seven looked up at the chart in front of her, zoomed in on the moving singularity. Again, she had to give her unsatisfactory answer.
"Unknown. But unlikely," she was happy to add.
"I want a probe that's able to study that thing, Lieutenant. Get down to Engineering and help design it. I'll inform Lieutenant Torres that you are on your way."
"Acknowledged," Seven answered and exited Astrometrics, hoping that B'Elanna wasn't in the mood to constantly refer to her as 'Borg' as she often was. 'Lieutenant Hansen' was what she called her on her friendly days.
"Take us a little closer, Mr. Paris. Maintain a safe distance, however," Marcus ordered.
"Aye, Ma'am," Tom responded automatically. Dana raised an eyebrow. The old crew always called her 'ma'am' or 'captain', while the new crew still called her sir. She preferred 'captain' the most, as 'ma'am' made her feel old and 'sir' made her feel male. But she had learned to respond to all three titles and actually found it amusing not to state a preference, since it caused a bit of stammering here and there.
"Nice and easy, Lieutenant. Watch out for the event horizon."
"A probe? How the hell does she expect us to design a probe that can survive a black hole? It hasn't been done yet!" B'Elanna fumed, directing her rant at Vorik, since she still wouldn't talk to Seven. Seven had relayed her orders through the same Vulcan, who was used to their outright animosity now and no longer stated the illogic involved in speaking through him when they were standing next to each other.
But humans so rarely displayed logic and Klingons far less, so he felt he should not have expected them to understand. He found that if he stood quietly, they wouldn't wait for him to respond, but rather interact with each other, despite their protests that they did not speak to one another.
"Perhaps she believes that she has a superior Engineer to any other in the fleet," Seven said, quietly. B'Elanna blinked and actually looked at her for a moment. Then the ship lurched. Red alert klaxons blared around them and everyone snapped to attention, trying to discern what was going on. B'Elanna leaned over the railing, looking down at her staff, wondering what had happened.
The warp core suddenly began whirring to life and roaring in evidence to the strain it was suddenly put under.
"What the hell is going on?" B'Elanna yelled.
"Lieutenant, it would probably not be wise for you to stand there."
"What?" B'Elanna asked, turning to Seven. At that moment, the ship gave a mighty heave and B'Elanna went flying over the railing. She saw a blur of blue warp core, four decks below her and rushing at her head first. She had just enough time to think 'I'm going to die' when a pressure on her ankle made her realize that she had stopped falling.
She looked around, the engine room upside down, trying to get her hair out of her face and finally managed to look up. Seven was holding onto her and the railing, her leg hooked carefully through the lower rung so that she wouldn't slide over it any more than she already had. B'Elanna couldn't see any way for her to pull them both back onto the deck and realized that another jolt might kill them both.
"Seven, let go. If this ship starts shaking again, we could both die. You might be able to swing me onto the next deck," she offered, seeing the determined set to Seven's eyes.
"It would undoubtedly break either your neck or your back, from the impact. I will neither let you die nor severely injure you." The engine room began shaking violently again, but Seven held on. B'Elanna could feel the vibrations in her leg.
"You've already severely injured me," B'Elanna hissed, trying to get Seven to let her down before they were both killed. Seven didn't respond for a moment and she ship's shaking didn't decrease.
"It was not my intention to do so. You... do not understand." Seven held tight to B'Elanna, hurt more by the words than she let on. A sound began behind her, a high-pitched mechanical whine.
"That conduit is going to explode, Seven," B'Elanna yelled, wishing someone would help them, but seeing that her staff had their hands completely full keeping the engine from overloading. "Let me go and get away from it. You can't hold on forever!"
Seven listened to the mounting whine, but ignored it, seeing several members of the staff hurrying along to help B'Elanna down safely. Until they reached them, she had to hold on. For almost a minute, Seven held on, her wrists feeling as though they would break under the constant vibrations and weight of the woman whose life she literally held in her hands.
The crewmembers finally arrived and one grabbed B'Elanna by the shoulders, others ready to catch her when she fell. Seven let go just as the plasma conduit blew.
B'Elanna fell into her staff's waiting arms and felt the blast knock them all down. She crawled away from the tangle of limbs and looked down. Seven wasn't lying at the bottom of Engineering. B'Elanna looked up and found her, badly burned and slung across the railing, slowly slipping toward her death.
B'Elanna stood and broke into a full run to the small lift. It carried her up one deck, painfully slow and she jumped off before it had finished its ascent, running to pull Seven off the rail, just before she slipped off. She hit her commbadge.
"Medical emergency in Engineering!"
To Be Continued…