Chapter 2 – Anomaly
Stardate 60547.4
Captain Baikel was naturally an easygoing woman. She commanded the respect a captain should have, while keeping her crew at ease in her presence. Harry settled in nicely as her first officer, offering his opinions to her knowing she would give them a fair consideration even if she did not agree with them. Reading all the reports, personnel reviews, and handling the conflicts that are common among such a large group of people on a small ship kept him very busy. It was easy for him to avoid Libby by 'attending to his duties' especially when she walked in the room. He could not wait until they reached Capriosa so he could stop feeling like a coward.
"Here are those engineering reports, Captain. Lt. Kohlman was able to realign the plasma relays and we are now operating at maximum efficiency. Here is tomorrow's duty roster. I have reassigned a few of our crewmen to posts for which they are better suited. I've also begun reviewing the data collected during our last sensor sweep, there seems to be some anomalous readings we may want to follow up on."
"Well Commander, you sure have been busy. I don't think I've seen you once without a PADD in your hand. Either you have had some extremely interesting engineering reports, or you are trying to avoid something or maybe someone."
"I'm not sure what you mean Captain." Harry's face began to turn a deep scarlet.
"It's pretty obvious, Harry, you tend to become rather agitated when she is around. You seem to become very engrossed in your reports about that time as well. It's okay Harry, I'm sure it isn't too obvious. As your Captain it's my job to notice things." She had a smile on her face that made Harry feel a little less embarrassed. "I'm sure once we complete our first mission, things will calm down and you'll find more time to relax between your duty shifts." She winked and started reading the engineering report he had just delivered.
"Thanks Captain, I'm sure you are right. I was really taken by surprise when I saw her. I wasn't prepared to see her after all these years." He was relieved that Captain Baikel understood. Of course, being a nervous wreck was not necessarily the impression he wanted to make on his first duty as First Officer. He would make it up after they dropped Libby off.
All of the sudden the lights went dim and the room began to shake. Harry and the Captain sprinted toward the door separating her ready room from the bridge.
"Report" yelled the captain.
The security chief, Lt K'Haina reported immediately. "It seems we've entered some extremely rough turbulence. We are attempting to pinpoint the origin."
Lt Wildman at ops continued, "We've picked up some strange readings from an anomaly we passed about 7 hours ago. We had originally identified it as an unstable anomaly, blinking in and out of our sensor readings but always at the same coordinates. Now it seems to be moving toward extremely fast. At it's present velocity it will be at our position in 2 minutes 35 seconds."
Captain Baikel turned to the helmsman. "Divert our present heading 180 degrees to starboard, and drop speed to impulse." She headed toward her command chair "With any luck this wormhole, or whatever it is, will continue on it's course right past us. If it's following our warp trail it's about to hit a dead end."
The helmsman acknowledged the order and confirmed when he had completed the course change. "Dropping out of warp; traveling at full impulse, Captain."
Lt Wildman looked up from her station, "It looks like the wormhole is continuing on our previous course past us. It's slowing…slowing…Captain, it stopped 3 parsecs past the point we diverted course and seems to be holding position."
Captain Baikel sat back in her seat contemplating her next move. "Helmsman, follow this course at full impulse until we are beyond sensor range." She turned toward Harry "Then, lay in a course to Capriosa and continue at warp 5." To ops, "Lt. Wildman, transfer all your data on this anomaly to my ready room. Commander you have the bridge."
The captain sat at her desk studying the screen of her workstation. She had been been at it for 2 1/2 hours and was more confused now than when she began.Traditional wormholes, if there were such things, do not follow warp trails, as this one seemed to. Could they have snagged it somehow traveling so close? There were too many unanswered questions. For the most part, they were probably unanswerable. Wormholes are not easy to predict and there was not much in the way of conclusive data on the phenomenon. In fact, most of the theories surrounding them contradicted each other. Yes, she needed to see the data for herself and try to make sense out of what just happened. After they dropped the doctor off, perhaps Starfleet would allow them to return and study this area more closely.
"Captain, report to the bridge!" Harry's voice pulled her out of deep study but her years of training had her walking out the door before the words had finished echoing through her ready room.
"What is it, Commander?"
"It's the anomaly, as soon as we returned to warp speed it was right on our tail. We've dropped to impulse and changed course, but it is coming up fast." The activity exhilarated Harry in a way he had not been since Voyager docked in San Francisco.
"Put it on main viewer," said the captain.
On the giant screen, the passing stars turned into a picture of a giant yellow circle moving toward them. It was getting dangerously close to enveloping their ship.
"Captain, the anomaly has changed directions. It is matching our course," Lt Wildman announced from her station.
"Ensign Marks, increase speed to Warp 9. Engage."
"Aye, aye, Captain."
"It's overtaking us, Captain, it will intercept in 10 seconds." Lt. Wildman called out.
"All hands, brace for impact!" The captain grabbed the arm of her chair in anticipation of a jolt.
The wormhole overcame the ship and pulled it through it's vortex backwards through twists and turns and finally ended 45 seconds later. The crew began to regain control of the situation.
"Where are we?" asked Captain Baikel.
"Unknown, but I'm still scanning," announced K'Haina
"Vessel approaching, Captain. Unfamiliar hull pattern"
"They're hailing"
"On main viewer"
On the screen came an unusual form. A dark skinned young man in his early teens glared at them under distinctly Cardassian forehead ridges. The familiarity ended there, on the top of his head his black hair seemed matted and stood up in clumps all over.
"Federation ship, surrender now or you will be destroyed."
"Captain, I'm not completely sure but that boy appears to be Kazon," Kim said quietly
"That's impossible, that would mean we've been pulled all the way to the Delta Quadrant!" The captain was practically yelling as she said this.
Behind the ops station, Lt Samantha Wildman stared wide-eyed at the screen, then fainted dead away making only a soft thump as she hit the deck.