Star Trek: Babylon
Andrew J. Talon
Commodore Koroshiya's onyx eyes narrowed at the progress of the probe. The small unmanned vehicle crept stealthily in normal space, towards the anomaly swirling menacingly in the distance. Silhouetted against the glowing emerald phenomenon, three vessels—one cube-shaped, the other two spheres—sat unmoving. The probe was only a few million kilometers away.
"Probe status?"
"No reaction from the Borg vessels," Lieutenant Mizuho reported from Ops. Koroshiya turned to Adam Osborne, at tactical, who also shook his head in a negative response.
"Looks like they're too focused on what they're doing right now to notice," the security chief noted. The commodore frowned.
"What are they doing, exactly?" Captain Marik frowned at the readings the ship's science sections were sending to his console.
"They are generating powerful transwarp fields, tuned to the subspace modulation and frequency of the anomaly," the Vulcan stated smoothly. "They have increased both the size and strength of the anomaly by four-hundred percent since the last MIDAS scan." The commodore's frown deepened.
"Well, we need to put a stop to it. Whatever it is they're planning, I doubt we want to see it come to fruition. Bridge to Engineering."
"Engineering here, sir," Chief Koishi's feathery voice responded.
"Chief, stand by to execute."
"Aye sir. Standing by." Koroshiya watched the sensor image from the probe's link for a heartbeat more, until nodding to Osborne. The human tactical officer nodded back grimly, before inputting the commands.
"The probe is now broadcasting the signature of several slipstream events," Mizuho spoke. Onscreen, the probe's cameras showed the three Borg vessels begin to grow in size, as they moved away from the anomaly.
"The probe is now broadcasting the warp signatures of a Federation battlegroup," Mizuho went on. "The Borg ships are arming weapons, and closing the range at full impulse."
"Engineering, stand by."
"Aye." The Borg vessels continued to grow in the cameras of the probe, their menacing black bulks looming with sinister green highlights. The cube flew behind the two smaller spheres, suddenly resembling a gigantic playing die.
"Borg ships are closing. Four hundred thousand kilometers," warned Osborne.
"Not yet," Koroshiya vetoed.
"Three hundred thousand… Two-hundred fifty thousand… One hundred ninety thousand…" Rattled off Osborne, his tone urgent.
"Kusanagi, do we have accurate enough navigational data to execute?" Koroshiya asked. The ensign nodded, looking paler than usual. Koroshiya nodded.
"Allright. Engineering, hit it!"
"Aye sir!"
"Osborne, confirm locks and prepare to fire once we come out."
"Aye sir!"
A few seconds later, the Borg cube had one whole face of its massive hull explode outward in a green flash, as the slipstream portal tore through its structure with ease. A spilt second later, the Archangel rammed its way through the rest of the cube, emerging with her powerful shields burning against her hull, as the mighty starship blew yet another hole in the Borg cube. Her phaser arrays and torpedo launchers went into action then, four quantum torpedoes a piece annihilating the two spheres, and a sustained phaser and photon-torpedo barrage pounding the already floundering cube behind the Archangel. The Borg cube met its end in a critical blow to its transwarp engines, which, still retaining an energy charge from its previous use, exploded with terrible force, reducing the once fearsome behemoth to a burning, radioactive debris field.
Koroshiya, after settling himself back in his chair calmly, cleared his throat and yelled over the red alert klaxons, "Report!"
"Permission to throw up, sir?" Kusanagi moaned from somewhere beneath the helm. Mizuho, only looking mildly rattled, tapped out the commands onto her console.
"Shields at seventy percent. The deflector dish has suffered a minor overload from the sheer amount of mass we had to blast out of our way. No casualties reported, and no hull damage. However, the structural integrity field is down to fifty percent from the feedback." Koroshiya nodded, grimacing as Kusanagi went ahead with his request without permission.
"Ensign!"
"Sorry sir… I was just so… terrified…" Kusanagi shivered, before his face turned green and he resumed retching his guts out onto the deck. Marik wrinkled his nose, while a medic tended to Kusanagi with a washcloth and a soothing tone.
"Status of the enemy?" Koroshiya pressed.
"All three Borg ships have been destroyed," Osborne laughed, a feral grin on his face. "Now that is something to write home about! Or to write a song about. Too bad we don't have any Klingons onboard…"
"Indeed. Using the navigational deflector, in concert with the shields, to ram through an enemy ship already badly damaged from the eruption of an artificial wormhole within its hull… Was a very ingenious, if 'unique', tactic," Marik observed. Hatsuo grinned impishly at engineering.
"And I came up with it," the purple-haired vixen boasted. "So, do I get a medal or something for this?"
"Excuse me? I came up with the plan, though I admit you inspired me," the commodore grinned. Hatsuo glared.
"What! I did not—How?"
"You screamed at that petty officer to get out of your way, before you just shoved him," Koroshiya observed mildly. Hatsuo flushed an angry red, before turning to her console and kicking it, a number of Onegian curses leaving her mouth quietly.
"Sir, Voyager, Eagle, and Miyazaki have all left slipstream. The admiral is hailing us," Mizuho piped up. Koroshiya nodded, wincing at the continuing red alert klaxon.
"Shut that thing off, please, and put the admiral onscreen," the commodore ordered. As soon as the high-pitched alert shut off, the incredulous face of Admiral Janeway appeared on the viewscreen.
"Commodore Koroshiya… Please allow me to first say, that had you told me why, exactly, you wanted the Archangel outfitted with a slipstream drive before we came here, I assure you, I would have said no." The commodore smirked smugly.
"Oh, come now, admiral: It got the job done, right?"
"Yes, but it was foolhardy and suicidal." Koroshiya shrugged.
"Ramming maneuvers are perfectly allowed in combat situations, according to the regs."
"But not like--! … Nevermind," the admiral sighed, shaking her head in exasperation. She looked critically at the still-smirking commodore.
"Just remember that if you pull a stunt like that again, I'll court martial you. Or I'll promote you. Either way, you'll be in a HEAP of trouble, mister."
"Yes ma'am," Koroshiya replied, enjoying how annoyed the admiral was. She blew out a breath, before rearranging herself in her seat.
"Now then. Voyager, Archangel, and Eagle will proceed through the anomaly. The Miyazaki will continue to ferry ships to and from the area with her slipstream drive, since we don't have time to outfit them all with their own drives. That said: Captain Stingray, Captain Powers, Commodore Koroshiya? Let's not waste any more time."
"Yes ma'am," Koroshiya repeated, as Powers and Stingray stated the same over the shared channel. Voyager turned and headed for the anomaly, with the Nebula-class Eagle closely following. Koroshiya (noting that Kusanagi was still lying on the deck in his own puke) nodded to Marik, who took the station and inputted the commands.
"Course laid in, sir."
"Engage, Captain. Mr. Kusanagi! Go rest in your quarters for a while, and rest." The ensign nodded gratefully, as the medic slowly escorted him off the bridge and into the turbolift. The commodore wrinkled his nose.
"And someone, please, clean up that mess…"
"The good news, Captain, is that you were right to initiate a total systems reboot before we took off after Seven," Lieutenant Marla Gilmore explained to Captain Lee, as the two stood over the main control console in Main Engineering. Lee nodded thoughtfully, looking over the readouts.
"This line of booby-trapped subroutines, here, would have burnt out our warp coils," Gilmore explained, running a finger down the specified lines of code. "This other one would have ejected the warp core and dumped our antimatter pods too."
"What would this one have done?" Lee asked, pointing to a rather peculiar algorithm. Gilmore rolled her eyes.
"Turned all the replicators on at full power, and flood the ship with mashed leola root." The captain stared at his chief engineer. She stared back.
"… Why?"
"I havent' a clue, sir. Perhaps Seven's actions indicate that she's, well…"
"Crazier than a Vulcan during pon farr? Or possibly, higher than a kite?"
"Those… Are probably distinct possibilities, yes sir," Gilmore coughed. Lee sighed, before his combadge chirped.
"Captain here."
"Sir, the Delta Flyer's shields are holding. Our phasers aren't having any effect and our photon torpedoes just bounce off," Wyn reported in her usual monotone.
"Damn!" Lee cursed. "Keep after her, Wyn. Any idea where she's headed?"
"Looks like she's set a course for Khitomer. We've been monitoring the subspace channels for any indication about this Raii Empire's status, but so far, there's been nothing. It's like the subspace network isn't there."
"Or was never built," Lee mused. At Gilmore's confused look, Lee cleared his throat.
"The subspace network as we know it didn't come into existence until 2345. Since this is an alternate universe, where the Federation seems to have been conquered by this Raii Empire…" He trailed off. Gilmore nodded, growling deep in her throat.
"Great. These Intrepid-class starships seem to be cursed. Voyager got sent to the far side of the galaxy, the Intrepid had to fight off some space creature with sexual energy, the Bellerephon was captured by the Romulans, and now the Sojourner is sent to another bloody universe! " Lee gave her a lopsided grin that didn't reach his eyes.
"I dunno… This might be interesting, in a twisted sort of way." The chief engineer rolled her eyes.
"Captain… Go save your girlfriend," Gilmore said flatly. Lee blinked, and then scowled. Gilmore smiled cheekily.
"Expect your demotion to cadet tomorrow morning."
"Aye sir. But still…"
"She's not my girlfriend," Lee growled, turning and heading out, the anger he'd been restraining for the last hour finally releasing into his fast, furious gait. Gilmore nodded in approval: It showed that he cared.
"Gilmore to bridge: What's the speed of the Flyer?"
"Warp 9.8, and it looks as though it's not taxing its engines at all. How long can we keep up with them?"
"About 48 hours… But I think I can extend that by a considerable margin. I'd like to talk to the captain about it when he gets there." Gilmore's smile returned. "Oh yes... I won the bet on the captain's reaction to The Question."
"The first question or another on the list Haro made?"
"The first." Marla heard the faint cursing of a young, female Bolian who had just lost one hundred credits, and grinned.
"Understood. Wyn out," the Angosian replied, who, despite her monotone, seemed almost amused.
To be continued…