Disclaimer: Don't own startrek or any of its characters, blah blah blah! You know the drill! I am obviously NOT making any money from this. I just happen to enjoy writing!
For reviewing special thanks to:
Its me, get over it: You know what, I reread the first chapter later on and thought the same thing, but it does get better and I can't really go back and change it now. Thanks for the honesty, its what I prefer over any type of praise. I've got no beef with critisism, especially considering this is the first story I've posted.
Itsonlyme: Thanks for the suspence compliment. As for Eddie, I HAD to add him. I can only make Wesley cynical and sarcastic to a certain point before he starts losing his original character. Eddie lets me get out all my needs for sarcasim and lol moments. He's basically my inner teenager taking form. Jenna is the reflection of my inner grumpy b side. Mold them together and you get me. Wes can be boring and too seriouson his own so I decided to give himfunny sarcasticfriends who fight and lighten the mood abit.
Chapter 4: Questions without Answers
"Damn it!"
Wesley cursed under his breath. He had once again run into another dead end. For the past hour Wesley had been attempting to establish some sort of a link with the computer systems on Starbase 41 and so far, he had failed in every attempt. The security for this base was top level and it didn't seem to mater to the computer system that it was a federation ship trying to make contact, not an alien intruder. The computer system for this base just didn't want anyone checking their files, whether it be transporter records, cargo manifests, or even docking schedules.
Wesley shook his head defeat. It seemed more and more apparent to him that the only way he was going to find out anything would be to physically go to the base and check their records through one of their own computer terminals. And that was a step he wasn't sure he was ready to take.
Wesley looked over to his fellow cadets to see how they had been doing for the past few hours. All Wesley had been able to do was send a Starfleet a mission update which took him a total of only five minutes to do. He wasn't even sure it had made it to them because of the magnetic interference. Beyond that he had nothing to show for his struggle and by the looks of things, his comrades obviously appeared to be having more luck than him. Both wore a look of concentration as they worked tediously at their duties and both seemed to be getting some results. Whether these results were good or bad was something Wesley was not sure he wanted to know.
"So what have you guys found so far?" Wesley asked.
"Not much," Jenna said as she swung around in her chair. "I've checked our computer records, which, might I add, are very limited considering the fact that this is a shuttle pod computer library which I've been checking-"
"Just get to the point Jenna," Eddie interrupted.
"I'm getting there," Jenna said starring daggers in Eddie's direction. "As I was saying, I haven't found very much. From what the records showalmost allof the research on the base is classified. They won't even mention what kind of research is being done let alone the types of experiments they are doing over there."
"Well that would at least explain why they built this starbase where they did." Wesley said.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if the base was built for the specific purpose of running classified research, and they want to keep security tight, this is probably one of the best areas they could of built it in. The natural magnetic field would make it that much harder for someone to send a long range transmission, let alone leak classified information."
"It makes sense. I mean, I wasn't even able to get an exact crew compliment because the list of scientists working has been deemed classified. I've got a number for the medical and maintenance staff, but that's all. There could be a hundred more researchers and scientists there that we don't even know about but we have no way to find out."
"So basically what you're saying is we know as little about the base now as we did before?" Eddie said. "Well that was helpful, now wasn't it?"
"Actually, it was helpful Eddie," Wesley replied to the surprise of Jenna.
"It was?" Jenna asked. Although she was glad she was in the right for this argument, for the love god she couldn't figure out why.
"How so?" Eddie asked questioningly.
"Well, for one, we now know why for the past hour I haven't been able to link up to the base's computer system to access their records," Wesley said. "It's because everything is classified. We also know that whatever they were doing over there must require major security, so we're going to have to proceed with extra caution if decide to dock with them at some point."
"More like if we can dock with them," Eddie said cynically.
"Yes, well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Another thing we've learned is how many people are missing. Or at least we have an idea. What was the number for the listed staff on the base?"
"With both medical and maintenance staff it totaled at 112 people," Jenna replied. "We can only assume there must have been a high population of science staff, but like I said their names and the number of them are classified."
"Starfleet just loves to make things challenging, don't they?" Eddie said sarcastically.
"It certainly seems that way," Wesley replied, "So what did you find out Eddie? Any escape pods missing? Any sign of an attack?"
"No and no. Go figure, I found about as much as you guys did. There was no debris, no sign of an attack, and all the escape pods were in place. Not even a sign of an explosion within the compound. Everything seems to be functioning fine over there. No fires, no warp core explosions, no nothing. It's like everyone just disappeared into thin air."
"Weird," Jenna said.
"Very weird. But on the bright side, I can also confirm that I've detected nothing dangerous in the area which means we could probably go over there without being in any danger to ourselves."
"Not necessarily," Wesley said to the surprise Jenna and Eddie.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean that just because we can't detect any Romulan warbirds or see any sign of a fight doesn't mean that the base is safe. There are other enemies out there that don't carry phasers or weapons. Ones that are a lot deadlier than the ones we hear about in class."
"I'm not following you Wes," Jenna said with concern growing in voice. "What are you saying?"
"I'm saying they may not have disappeared at all."
"What? What are you talking about?" Eddie asked, his eyes getting wide. "We scanned the base for lifesigns, no one is there."
"No Eddie, no one alive is there. You wouldn't pick up any lifesigns if everyone there is dead, which is what I believe may be the greatest possibility of what happened. I think that it's very much possible that the people of Starbase 41 are still there, but the reason we're not detecting any lifesigns, is because everyone there is dead, and something on that base killed them."
To be continued…
Cue the cliff hanger music. Once again I am keeping up with my one chapter a day record! Go me! Especially considering I wrote this chapter the same day I posted it. True, not much happened, but all the necessary info stuff happened so now comes the adventure stuff in the near future. Hope you're enjoying the story so far.
Once again, please review! Whether good or bad, fantastic or flaming, I just want the truth.All critisism is GLADLY appreciated and always welcome. I want to know what I'm doing wrong.
Thanks.