8 WEEKS AGO.
-
PLANET B1-M2 III (Kagome's home-world)
YOKOHAMA HARBOR, JAPAN
The container ship was loaded up for the journey to San Francisco, USA. Some containers held grains, since Japanese food products were doing well on the international market. Some other containers held parts for the new car "Cresta C99". It was a Japanese car, but for some reason, the Americans insisted on being able to assemble the cars at their own factories. Because of this, several CEOs had gotten together in one big meeting, and decided that rather than let the Americans purchase the production rights for their new car, the Japanese would ship the parts to the American factories. Now, this ship was carrying one of many shipments of car parts to the United States for assembly.
The dock workers signalled to the crane operator, and another massive container, this one holding several hundred gas tanks, was pulled into the air, off of a flatbed traincar. The harbor crane carried the heavy container through the air, and brought it back down, to rest on top of another container that was already on the ship, one of many containers holding parts for the new automobile. But as this particular container was stacked on the ship, the rookie crane-operator brought it down just a bit too fast, and it "BANG!"ed loudly when it hit the container on the next stack over. This kind of incident happens on occasion at seaports, and though one of the dock-workers on the ship checked it, he didn't find any problems. That was because the doors on the container were between the container and its neighbor container. One of the locking mechanisms came loose, and the door to the container opened just a little bit.
The ship left Yokohama five hours later, beginning another routine journey across the vast Pacific Ocean. The weatherman had said that there would be a storm blowing off the ocean this evening, so the captain of the cargo ship wanted to leave the port in time to escape north. Two harbor tugs and a pilot boat escorted the large freighter out of the harbor, clearing the last buoy as the first dark clouds appeared in the horizon, like the silhouette of a massive warship rising out of the vast sea. The Pacific Ocean and her many islands had been the location of all of the battles against the American enemy during World War Two, and that warship-shaped storm cloud was the herald of a conflict that was soon to be renewed.
NOW (20 MINUTES AFTER THE END OF CHAPTER 1) ...
USS COLUMBIA NCC 26233 NEBULA -class BRIDGE...
"Captain, I'm still picking up K-band emissions bearing two-three-two mark four. It's now been sitting there for the past half hour, and it has only gotten weaker." Ensign Gregory Hall was working at the sensor console on the bridge of the crashed STARSHIP COLUMBIA. Sark had already taught him the controls, and Hall was a fast learner. Now, the captain decided to test his decision-making ability.
"How big?" Captain Ramon was on the bridge because he wanted to supervise Ensign Hall's lessons.
"Tiny, sir."
"A campfire, perhaps?"
"I would guess so, sir."
"What do you propose we should do about it, Ensign?" Captain Ramon caught the ensign off guard. He fully expected the ensign to grow out of it, but that would take time.
Ensign Hall turned around in his chair, the word "WHAT!" spelled out all over his face. If this had been my Spanish class, my teacher would have called it the "deer-in-headlights" look.
Captain Ramon cocked an eyebrow: "Well, ensign?"
Poor Gregory quickly composed himself and blurted out a hasty reply: "W-well, sir, I would um, I would send a security team to, uh, to investigate."
"Can you say that with a tad more confidence, ensign?"
"I would send a security team to investigate the anomaly, sir!" Captain Ramon had to admit that the ensign was certainly learning. But this lesson wasn't over yet.
"And why would you do that, ensign?"
Another "deer-in-headlights" look. This time, however, the ensign was better prepared. "So we could find out what's causing it."
"Very good, Ensign." The captain then addressed his second-in-command. "Mr. Boslin, do you agree with the ensign here?"
"I certainly do, Captain," Commander Boslin answered.
"Security to the transporter room," Sloane said as she tapped her combadge. "Captain, would you like me to go?"
"Fine, but take another person from the hydroponics lab with you. You can't have all the fun, you know."
"Aye, sir." Sloane turned to leave, but the captain had one last thing to say.
"Oh! And, uh, Ms. Sloane?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Don't hurt yourself. Starfleet says they're coming for us, and it would be good to stay well so we can pack up and skootch that much faster." Upon hearing this, Ensign Hall quickly typed what the captain had said, and he saved it for further reference on the isolinear chip that he carried around his neck on a keychain necklace. By the time he had finished, the security team was waiting in the transporter room. 32 seconds later, Sloane arrived and they beamed down to the surface, 20 meters away from the campfire. They were concealed by the darkness, so they did not fear detection.
But also hidden by the darkness of the night was Shippo, who happened to be collecting berries (and popping them into his mouth) when the five shimmering pillars of light appeared, and coalesced into people. Though Shippo could only see their outlines, he did see that one of them was holding something that looked like a weapon. The leading silhouette held something that had blinking yellow lights on one side. There was another light on it that reflected on the person's face, causing the face to appear garishly red. Another person held a similar device, but that other person was turned in a different direction, and Shippo didn't see his face. Shippo didn't even know he was a 'he', but he did try to guess. The leader of the 4 people pointed in the direction of the campfire, and they started walking. Shippo got scared, and he held his breath. He had seen their weapon, and he'd rather be damned than let those intruders even get within a meter of Kagome. Shippo counted to ten and dashed as fast as he could toward the dying campfire. But as he came out from under the berry bush, well... let's just say he was a bit loud.
"What's that!" Ensign Higgins hissed as he reacted immediately, pointing his phaser rifle at the bush, though he held his fire. He activated the red scope-light and pointed the rifle at the bush. Within a fraction of a second, all three security personnel were aiming in the same general direction. All they (referring to the whole away team) saw was the berry bush. Botany-specialist Elaine Heller picked a few berries and a leaf and scanned them with her tricorder.
Hmmm... "This is interesting," Heller whispered.
"Yes, lieutenant?" Sloane prompted.
"Commander, these berries are similar to a variety on Earth. May I take this sample back to the ship for further study?"
"Yes, you may," Sloane approved.
"Thank you, ma'am." Elaine promptly secured the leaf and the berries inside one container from her pack. Her pack wasn't that big; all it held right now was twenty small sample-containers, each about one inch deep and three wide by three long. It also contained some collapsible field-equipment and not much else. Then, everybody activated their flashlights (the heavy-duty kind with the huge, bright lightbulb. Again, these also emitted light through a red night-filter.
MEANWHILE.
APPROXIMATELY 50 METERS AWAY
"Hey, guys! Guys! Wake up!" Shippo was trying to wake everyone up as quietly as possible. "Aww, come on, Inuyasha, Wake up! Ya gotta wake up! Someone's coming! Kagome! Kirara! Sango! Come on, guys! Wake up!" Kagome was the first to stir, still rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
"Yeah, Shippo?" she yawned.
"Someone's coming, Kagome! Someone's coming!"
That woke her up. "Put out the fire, Shippo. I'll wake everyone up." Shippo went to the bucket of water and tipped it over so it spilled all over the smoldering embers and extinguished it completely with a loud WOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Smoke went everywhere, and through that smoke, Shippo saw a wide, red beam of light! Yikes! The beam was joined by another one momentarily. Since Shippo was so short, he was easily concealed by the smokescreen, and he wasn't seen. Meanwhile, Kagome went to Kirara and picked her up from Mirouku's side. Holding Kirara, Kagome then whispered in his ear: "Wake up, you stupid monk!" she hissed. "Somebody's coming!"
"Ah, yes. Somebody's coming," Mirouku muttered blissfully in his euphoric sleep. His arm went up and down, and his hand waggled for a moment, and Kagome couldn't tell whether he was awake yet, or dreaming about something (or someONE, for that matter). Kagome stood up and kicked him in the side fiercely.
"Wake up, you stupid monk!" That got his attention immediately.
Mirouku came up to his knees and sat just like that with his arms outstretched as though he wanted to hug her. "I knew you'd come to me, Kagome!"
He was rewarded by the impact of Kagome's shoe in the pit of his stomach. "You stupid, perverted Monk! There's something out there, and its coming toward us!"
Apparently missing the second part of Kagome's message, Mirouku muttered between clenched teeth: "I'm not a perverted monk! I'm a VIRTUOUS monk!" But Kagome wasn't listening. She had already dealt Inuyasha his own kick-in-the-ribs via "SIT!" Moments later, Inuyasha manhandled Mirouku out of the area, again generating a noise as he stepped on dead leaves and shrubs when he made his exit. Sango was up, but with the intruders so close now, there was little point in trying to get Kouga awake. They escaped into the woods, where they found Inuyasha and Mirouku. It was also at that moment that the last of the intruders arrived at the campsite. Everyone was watching as the intruders walked over to where Kouga was sleeping, blissfully unaware that he had become the center of attention- the center of SOMEONE-OTHER-THAN-KAGOME's attention! As she watched, she suddenly felt something rubbing her butt, and she bit her lip as it was the only thing that kept her from screaming out of disgust. Kagome made a mental note to beat the crap out of Mirouku as soon as they got away. Kagome slipped her hand behind her to ward off Mirouku's wandering hands, when suddenly she realized that... drum roll ...SHE HAD LEFT HER BACKPACK AT THE CAMPSITE! OH NO! Suddenly tense, Kagome grabbed the closest thing she could grab, and she hung on tight. She was scared as hell.
Inuyasha felt something squeezing his arm, and he glanced in that direction for a second (long enough to find out what it was) and he was surprised to see Kagome there! He immediately considered making plans for telling her off later, but he shrugged that off and returned his attention to Kouga. He could have burst out laughing at any moment, but he was also nervous about what would happen if he did. He held his laughter for awhile, and when Kouga woke up, he swore he would laugh so hard that... well, you get the idea. Anyway, Kouga suddenly rolled over in his sleep, and everyone held their breath, not knowing what to expect. Kouga groaned in his sleep...
And then, it happened: Kouga rolled the other way and stopped moving. He was still fast asleep! Everyone giggled a little bit at that before they could regain control of that impulse. Luckily, at that moment, the wind picked up and their muffled laughter was never heard by anyone else. Their laughter immediately died when they saw the intruders going through Kagome's backpack. The intruders pulled out the foodstuffs that were at the top: leftover shishkabob material from lunch (with the other team of Starfleeters). Then they pulled out another bag, and then they put everything back in, and they started checking the side pockets.
Unnoticed, however, were the security trio. They had begun to spread out to keep watch, and one was headed on a roundabout path right towards them!
When the First-Aid kit was discovered, everyone blanched, because that Kit was the only thing they had to keep themselves uninfected. When the kit was searched, the gang's eyes widened from suspense. Their night-vision was much better than the intruders... as long as they didn't look at their lights too much.
"CAN I help you, people?" A harsh female voice asked from behind them.
The gang jumped and gasped collectively. Behind them stood 'someone'. And that 'someone' was pointing the business end of what could only be a weapon DIRECTLY AT THEM! They had gasped so loudly that they had been heard this time all the way back to the campsite! Something made a chirping noise, and the person with the rifle tapped something on her shirt and spoke: "Major Sira here."
And the chirping thing talked back: "Is everything all right, Major"
"Yes, it is ma'am. I found our missing campers."
"Where were they? How far away are you?"
"Don't worry, LTC. I can see you from here. Shall I bring them back to camp?"
"How many are there?"
"I count four frightened campers and two cute pets."
"All right. Bring 'em back to camp, then, Major."
The Major turned to her captives (well, what else could she call them?) and said: "All right, people. Let's go back to the fire circle so we can all share stories." Then her shirt chirped again.
"Be nice, Major. They haven't hurt us yet."
Major Sira Tyres took a deep breath of the fresh air around her before she replied firmly: "Understood, ma'am." She lowered her rifle and addressed Mirouku: "What's your name, mister?"
"M-m-my name?" he stuttered, because he was still surprised; he could have cared less about the rifle simply because he didn't know what it was.
"You have a name, don't you?" Sira inquired innocently.
"W-why yes. I do have a name," replied Mirouku. He scared to hell, partly from surprise, but also because the newcomer looked somewhat intimidating with the way the light from the red flashlight shone on her face because it made her look like a demon. Mirouku didn't realize that he hadn't answered the question yet.
"What is your name, mister?" As far as the major was concerned, anybody that didn't have a name could be called "mister".
"My name is Mirouku." He finally collected himself.
"Well, Mirouku, take this." Sira tossed the heavy flashlight to him, and he barely caught it. "You're gonna need it to get back to camp." Mirouku accepted it without question, but he didn't know what to do with it. Inuyasha grabbed it from him when he saw that he didn't know how to use it. Then he pointed in the direction of the camp and they started walking back, Inuyasha in the lead, and Major Tyres picking up the rear. Half-way back to camp, Inuyasha tripped over a tree root that he didn't see, and the major laughed.
"Hey! What's the idea!" Inuyasha shouted.
"Nothing!" Sira replied between bouts of laughter. "Nothing!"
Sango didn't like this. She threw her Hiraikotsu at the major, but the major saw it coming and ducked. A crashing noise was heard over head, and Hiraikotsu returned, bringing several tree-limbs down with it, to Sango, who caught it nimbly. The major had stopped laughing when she stood up again. "All right, keep moving people. It might help if you pointed the light where you're walking." Sira was still smirking, though.
"NOW you tell me," Inuyasha groused. He clearly didn't think his brief trip was all that funny. He stood up, and then he realized he didn't have the flashlight anymore. He started looking for it, but Kagome had jumped ahead and picked it out of the bushes. It was still on.
When they finally reached the fire circle, there was a new blaze in the fire pit. In this new light, Kagome clearly saw her captors, who had apparently taken the time to bring more logs near the campfire for the pupose of sitting. One of the intruders stood up, and spoke: "You may stand down now, Major. Have you introduced yourself, yet?" Apparently she- She-was addressing the one who had surprised the one who surprised them back in the forest, because the one standing behind Mirouku immediately moved away. Kagome felt somewhat relaxed, but only a little.
Inuyasha, however, had something to say when he saw the intruders' uniforms: "Hey! You're the people from on the mountain!" But the newcomers just looked at each other: what was the guy with the crazy hair talking about?
"I'm sorry, but I don't know what you're talking about," the one who was apparently in charge said. Kagome didn't recognize her right away, but the spots on her neck made her somewhat familiar. Kagome frantically searched her memory, but she came up blank. Then she the newcomer in charge spoke again. "I apologize for the Major's rough conduct. She's just been through a very rough time. Anyway, my name is Lura Sloane-" Where have I heard that name? thought Kagome. "-and you may call me 'Lieutenant Sloane', 'Lieutenant Commander', or just 'Lura'. Behind you is-" the woman named Sloane paused, and the first newcomer spoke again:
"Major Sira Tyres of the Bajoran Militia; security lieutenant in the service of the Federation's Starfleet," the major recited, as though from memory. Sloane then gestured toward one of the people who was seated on a log:
"My name is Elaine Heller and I you may call me 'Ms. Heller'."
The person to Heller's left stood up from his section-of-log and said, "I am Lieutenant Brandon O'Donald," and then he sat down again.
The next person said "I am Ensign Joey Higgins," he said.
The last person said, "You can just call me Daniels." So modest was he.
Suddenly Kagome remembered! She pointed at Sloane and said: "You're one of the people that rescued Inuyasha from Yura! You were in the airplane thingy that blasted the hair apart!"
"Very good!" Sloane was somewhat surprised that she remembered hanging around with Sark (quite literally) at the beginning of this whole thing on this planet. "What's your name?" Sloane asked.
"I'm Kagome," she replied. "This is Inuyasha; this is Mirouku; this is Sango; and this is Shippo. We're all camping out here." Kagome paused, thinking she was finished talking, but then Kouga rolled over, nearer to the flame. When his hand made contact with the coals, he instantly woke up screaming loudly. "YYYEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWW! OOOOOWWWWW! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT! OW! MY FUCKING HAND! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!" It was at that moment that Kouga saw Kagome sitting next to Inuyasha. She was LEANING AGAINST HIM! "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS DOG-SHIT! I'LL GET YOU FOR YOUR LITTLE PRANK!" Kouga was practically bouncing up and down with pain and anger. He didn't even notice the newcomers! Kagome yawned, partly from being tired, but also because Kouga had picked a bad time to burn himself. "Why did you have to wake up, Kouga?" Kagome muttered, not realizing or caring she had spoken. Fortunately, Shippo picked that moment to tell Kouga that "the stream is just down that hill, Kouga. Go cool your hands off." Upon hearing where the stream was, Kouga went. He was too far out of his sensibilities to realize that going to the stream would mean leaving Kagome with mutt-face for awhile. He ran, and nobody tried to stop him, though the major moved so she could track him with her eyes.
Once Kagome was seated again, Sloane sat down again. Now, the gang was on one side of the fire, and the Starfleet team was on the other side. At first, each group simply eyed each other, waiting for someone to make the first move. Now, Sloane wanted to make conversation. "So, Kagome, how did you get out here?" Sloane prompted.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean you're school uniform isn't exactly of the times. Where are you from?"
Kagome talked about the centipede, and how she got dragged through the well, when she had only intended to take Buyo, her pet cat, out of the wellhouse. And she went on and on while the Starfleeters, as well as Kagome's friends, listened intently (give or take Inuyasha, who immediately stood up, and climbed up the nearest tree to snooze). Finally, Kagome finished talking. "Okay. Now it's your turn." Kagome pointed to Sloane.
"Very well. We-" Sloane gestured to her comrades-in-uniform "-came from a place way up north, aboard a ship named 'Columbia'. We were traveling to our farthest border to explore beyond our territory. We were attacked on the beach of this land, and our boat was torched by savages, and we lost most of our supplies (NOT rpt NOT referring to the Indians or natives; rather an imaginary race of cannibals that Sloane created off the top of her head, entirely because Starfleet regulations intend that personnel and technology are not to become subjects of worship if it is avoidable, hence the Prime Directive.)
Inuyasha picked this time to wake up and ask, "Your boat doesn't happen to be that metal circle thing in the valley, does it?"
"How did you guess?"
"You call that a boat?" Kagome protested.
"You guys only show up whenever your strange, flying things happen to be there," Inuyasha explained.
"If that's your 'boat', then where did you REALLY come from?" Kagome asked, determined to get the true answer. But Sloane's answer was surprising, both to Kagome and her comrades:
"Earth," Sloane said simply.
USS INCURSION, NX-74808
The order from Admiral Nolotai had arrived, and they were going into the wormhole. Marcus Refelian looked at the viewscreen, watching the pale-green/blue spiral-shaped phenomenon as it opened on the viewscreen, and gradually filled it as the INCURSION was pulled through. Commander T'Andoria and Chief Engineer Brexen Ijoula stood at the main Ops console directly behind the captain's chair, from which Captain Refelian rose to check on the holographic masking system at the rear of the bridge; it wouldn't be good if the Federation's latest top-secret starship was suddenly discovered behind enemy lines. All of the lights were green. Half an hour later, the INCURSION arrived at the other terminus of the wormhole.
Suddenly, the ship rocked violently! Sparks shot out from the helm-control interface, and the poor lieutenant who was sitting there a moment ago flew out of his chair, shrieking with pain, and barely missed landing on the captain, who moved out of the way just in time. That move saved the captain from some injury, as the dying helmsman would have landed on the captain's back. The lights on the bridge flickered and went out, to be replaced by the glow of the red emergency lights. Alarms screeched throughout the ship, and a computerized voice (normally played by Mrs. Majel Barret-Roddenbery) reported a possible hull breach in engineering. The ship lurched downward, as if yanked by a giant who were using the ship as a kite. The viewscreen flickered back to life, and no one on the bridge could believe their eyes, for they saw what could only be a large hill in the distance- they were flying over the surface of a planet! Captain Quint Freedman, the first officer, was back on his feet first. "Damage report!" he ordered. His response was the groans of pain coming from the rest of the bridge. He slapped his combadge, "Bridge to engineering! Damage report!" No response. After his second try, Slovaak answered the call: "The deflector is offline... the starboard engine took heavy damage... hull breach in engineering is sealed... warp-core micro-fracture is repaired... life-support is offline in the fore section of decks two and three, and those sections are evacuated... Many reports of overloaded power conduits are coming in now from throughout the ship... the Bussard-collectors are offline... sensors are coming back online now... Structural anomalies are reported near and around the Bussard-collectors... Warp-drive is offline... warp-engines have taken severe damage... hull integrity is compromised 44... that is all, captain. Slovaak out."
Captain Refelian tapped his combadge as soon as Slovaak finished his report. "Sickbay! Casualty report!"
"All biobeds are in use. Five deaths and lots of cuts, scrapes, ad bruises. People are still coming in, but all personnel are accounted for. Captain, what the hell did we hit?" That last question identified the person on the other end as Sirta d'Quo, the Andorian medical technician.
"I don't know, doctor, but I might be paying you a visit soon."
"Two technicians should be on the bridge by now. Aren't they there yet?"
"No, doctor, they are not."
Sirta d'Quo muttered something in her native language, and the captain had the wisdom not to ask what it meant.
"The turbolift must be broken," the captain replied. "I'll wait another minute, but I don't think the helmsman can." The former helmsman was lying on his back, sprawled in front of the captain's chair. His face was half charred by the exploding console. Poor guy. Aloram Vas had been working at one of the nearby science stations when the ship had reacted badly to its new planetary environment. Fortunately, her console did not explode, though she was still thrown toward the front of the bridge.
Ivan Verov, one of the specialists operating the masking technology suddenly shouted something. Captain Refelian looked at the viewscreen, and he saw that the ground was steadily filling the picture! They were going to crash! They were much closer to the plateau now, and the captain saw that it had a visible forcefield around it.
MEANWHILE.
DECK 3
Yulana Oxila, the ship's Betazoid counselor, felt something knawing on her nerves. She knew that the ship had taken a lot of damage, else she wouldn't be carrying this poor crewman from engineering to the turblift to get to sickbay. But something didn't feel right. It felt... evil? But how could that be?
At that moment, the captain's voice came over the intercom: "All hands, brace for impact! All hands, brace for impact! We're about to crash on to a planet's surface! All hands, brace for impact!" Yulana found a turn in the corridor and lay the injured crewman on the carpeted floor, face down. Then she did the same. After a moment, nothing happened.
But after another moment, something did happen: the floor bumped violently, and Yulana and her injured charge were violently thrown forward several meters. Fortunately, the corridor was long enough that neither of them received anything worse than they already had.
HIJIRI ISLAND NARAKU...
At that moment, Naraku felt a disturbance in the barrier surrounding the island. He was already on his way to the peak to await the reports of his saimyoushous when he felt the disturbance. He immediately discarded the thought that Inuyasha might be stopping by because that idiot hanyou could not possibly be able to cover the distance to this place within 48 hours. So what could have hit my barrier? he thought. Once at the top of the hill, Naraku looked out toward the source of the disturbance, but there was no one down there. Hmm... Naraku looked across the moat that surrounded his island and there, lodged in the hillside on the farther shore of his moat, was a strange black object. Naraku could only see the top of the aft section of the ship because of the angle at which it had landed, but he had seen enough. In an instant, five saimyoushou buzzed around his head, awaiting their orders, and a moment later, they had them: investigate.
USS INCURSION ON THE BRIDGE...
A section of the floor near the captain's chair popped up, and Wes Pulaski pulled himself out of the Jefferies' Tube, followed by another medical technician. They immediately went to work on the helmsman, though they could do little more than put him in a stasis field until they could get him to sickbay.
"Captain, incoming Starfleet warp signatures on long range sensors," reported the ensign who had taken over working at ops.
"Where are we?" asked the captain.
"We are... ten thousand light-years from our last position, sir." The ensign looked up, "We're in the Beta Quadrant."
"How deep?"
"I don't know sir."
"Can you hail the nearest ship?"
"No sir, they are out of hailing range."
"How soon before we can hail them, ensign?"
"Two or three days, sir. The lead ship is definitely Federation, and the second ship might be Klingon."
The captain whorled around in his seat and looked intensely at the ops ensign "What's today's date?"
"Today is..." The ensign read off the date, "Stardate 54852.1." The technology that allows a starship to track its own passage through time, in the event of time-warp (accidental or otherwise), has existed since the 23rd century, as seen in multiple ST:TOS episodes.
"At least we haven't gone back in time," said Captain Refelian with visible relief. "But why would there be a fleet out here?"
"Beats the hell out of me, sir," the ensign replied.
"Do we know of any reports of hostile activity out here?"
"I don't-" the ensign started.
"Check the database, ensign."
"Aye, sir." After a few seconds the ensign spoke again. "Sir, the USS COLUMBIA was reported lost in the Beta Quadrant just prior to our mission. That might be the recovery fleet."
"Where was the COLUMBIA lost?"
"According to this report, Admiral Nolotai received a distress several days after contact with the COLUMBIA was initially lost. A later message said that a Cardassian battleship decloaked and attacked them."
The ensign kept talking, but the captain phased him out until he was able to put two and two together. Then, he interrupted with an outburst of enlightenment: "That's why Admiral Nolotai ordered us to go through the wormhole! That's why he sent us into Cardassian territory! Good work, ensign." The captain tapped his combadge. "Bridge to sickbay."
"Doctor Thatcher here, sir," the CMO replied.
"Is T'Andoria all right, doctor?"
"She'll live. A few burns, but nothing too serious. I wouldn't recommend putting her on an away team, though."
"Is she conscious?"
"That she is, sir."
"I want her in the Briefing Room at 1300." It was 1128 right now. The Briefing Room is the closest thing to an Observation Lounge on the USS INCURSION, and it is the rear-most room on Deck 1. While it is not actually seen in "Star Trek: Away Team", it is seen on the INCURSION in the intro-movie for "Star Trek: Armada II".
"Aye, sir."
"Bridge out." The captain turned back to the ensign and said: "Ensign, I want you to download everything you just told me, and everything you can get about the COLUMBIA's latest assignment. I want you to get the information to me at 1200 hours. At 1300 hours, I want you to report to the Briefing Room."
The ensign's face lit up with enthusiasm and excitement when he heard that he would be let in on the goings-on of an away mission! His entrance into Starfleet Intelligence was just beginning to pay off.
Wes then moved on to tend Vas' injuries, and the technician checked out the captain, who only had minor carpet burns on his palms.
DECK 2.
ENGINEERING
The fog of the fire-retardent was still fading, but many personnel were back on their feet. The three medical technicians were finishing up. It was a remarkable situation, considering how few injuries there were in engineering, but it was also an unusual case, considering that the ship had crashed, rather than coming under attack. The warp-core was stable, which was good, but according to another readout, the engines were completely shot! The Bussard-collectors were broken (to say the least); the port warp-engine was breached, and that meant that the ground under that engine was vaporized by leaking plasma. Fortunately, the aft landing struts were activated, and that took care of that danger, as far as having the ground come out from under the ship went. The thrusters on the bow and on the port side of the ship were smashed, leaving the impulse drive as the only usable propulsion system. Fortunately, the safety valves on the thrusters had been activated since they had departed Deep Space Nine (see last book) and those valves could prevent any leakage, unless they were removed entirely from the ship. Someone called to Slovaak, reporting that the sensors were repaired.
DECK 3 TRANSPORTER ROOM 4
T'Andoria was badly injured, so Lieutenant Commander (and Demolitionist) Vin Asunder (what a name for a bomb-boy!) was next in line to lead the away team outside. Lieutenant Sinjin Kirk, (Captain Kirk's great-great-great-nephew, marksman, sniper, and spec-op enthusiast) was far too skinny to be the image of the ideal security-guard, but he knew his job, and he did it well. He had fought the Klingons and the Romulans on their own turf during the Warden Crisis (as Captain Refelian had dubbed it), and he had taken part in the final raid on the Warden base. Only seven people had taken part in that raid, and all of them had been awarded the Starfleet Medal of Honor. The entire crew of the INCURSION had been awarded the Legion of Honor and promoted, except for Captain Refelian who refused to be promoted to "Rear Admiral" or even "Commodore" if it meant leaving the front line. Captain Quint Freedman was waiting for the completion of the USS NIGHTHAWK, which he would soon be reassigned to as commanding officer. For now, he had the rank of Captain, but he retained the position of First Officer as long as he remained aboard the INCURSION.
Anyway, now that our Bolian friend Ty can't remember his last name has finally arrived, let's go back to the story...
"Ty is here," Ty announced as he bounded onto the transporter pad. Matrina Sedik worked the transporter controls and the team vanished from the room...
...and reappeared outside of the ship, on a hillside. Sinjin Kirk dashed up to the high ground (the best place for a sniper to be, right?) at the top of the hill. A team of engineers was already dealing with the leak in the port engine, having already stopped the leak by shutting off a valve inside the ship. Ty and Vin took up positions on either side of the INCURSION, downhill from the wreck. From the top of the hill, Lieutenant Kirk reported: "Kirk to the captain, it looks like we picked a bad parking spot. That mountain on the other side of this ridge has a shield around it. I think somebody's home."
"Your comment is noted, lieutenant," the combadge replied with Captain Refelian's voice, "but I don't think we'll be leaving any time soon. Did you see the port engine."
"No, sir, captain, but I get the message. Sinjin out."
SICKBAY...
Yulana walked in with the wounded engineer in her arms. The instant Doctor Sheila Thatcher saw her, she took the injured crewman from the counselor and scolded, "I told you that the Saurian Brandy was not the drink for you, counselor." The doctor was referring the drink that the counselor had bought at the Promenade on Deep Space Nine. Counselor Oxila had bought it, claiming that it would help loosen some tongues when someone clammed up about something that needed to be let out, into the open. The doctor had said this because the counselor looked like she was high on caffeine or sugar or... something.
No, the doctor decided. It might not be the drink after all... The doctor was looking the counselor in the eye the way she always looked at someone who had done something against her professional recommendation, and she saw something in the counselor's eye that she had not seen since the Borg had destroyed the USS MONITOR less than four months ago: she saw the intense fear that only people who encountered the Borg displayed. But this fear was also somewhat different: it was worse. "You should lie down in your quarters, counselor. You don't look well at all."
Yulana nodded stiffly and walked out of sickbay. Doctor Thatcher was worried, so she called Captain Refelian, and warned him about the counselor's condition. Aloram Vas programmed a computer monitor on the counselor, so if she had been infected by the Warden contagion she could be isolated at a moment's notice. At that moment, his combadge chirped, so he answered "Marcus here."
"Captain, I think we're in enemy territory now." It was Yulana's voice, and she sounded tense.
"Explain, counselor." If she was hallucinating, it would be good to get it out right now.
"Something doesn't feel right. I feel as though something... something... I can't describe it, captain. I feel as though someone is stalking me. No, that's not it. I sense that someone is watching us. Someone... mean... cruel... something like that."
"Evil?"
"I suppose that works. I sense an strong aura, an energy, nearby. It's looking for something."
"You think it found us, counselor?"
"No. Not yet but something is coming to look around."
"Something like what?"
"I don't know, sir."
"All right. I'll warn the security patrols."
"Thank you, captain."
"Get some sleep, counselor. You sound fatigued."
"Aye aye, sir. Oxila out." The counselor seemed to relax as soon as she said that. Captain Refelian knew to trust his crew, even if they seemed out of it.
The captain walked to the nearest computer terminal and opened a communications channel to his guards. "Vin, get your boys on the alert. Yulana thinks somebody's watching us."
"Yeah, um, Kirk noticed that the hill on the far side of the moat has a forcefield around it."
"Upload his tricorder scans to the science station, pronto," Refelian ordered.
"Aye, sir." Inside his shirt, something wriggled. "Easy, Spike," Vin whispered as he patted the bulge. "It's all right, boy." Vin's pet tribble was getting nervous. Vin always carried Spike around with him as a good luck charm, and, as a result, Vin had not been killed yet on an away-mission, so his luck was evidently holding. But Spike refused to cease trilling.
"Maybe Spike not want to stop?" prompted Ty, with his deep, throaty voice. Ty almost always mixes up his pronouns and forgets his connecting-verbs, so please don't complain about it in your reviews, readers.
"I don't know, Ty." Vin tapped his combadge. "Kirk, upload your scans to the INCURSION's computer. The captain wants a heads-up."
At the top of the hill, Kirk adjusted his tricorder and he scanned the forcefield. Suddenly, five insects came out of the blue and began buzzing around his head. "Hey! Cut it out!" He waved and swatted at them, and took a step uphill, losing his balance momentarily, and he fell on his back, landing on his phaser-rifle that he wore across his back. As he swatted at the saimyoushou with his tricorder hand, he also scanned the bees. As it showed up on the tricorder and on the ship's computer, these were not just any ordinary bumble bees. When they finally left him alone, he had already fried one with his Type-II phaser.
Now, the bees were moving downhill, toward the ship, and the rest of the security team. Sinjin warned ahead, and the team prepared accordingly. But Spike went nuts when the saimyoushou began flying around Vin's head.
"Shoo! Shoo!" (I'm trying to keep the strong language to a minimum here.) Vin shouted as he swatted at the saimyoushou with the butt of his phaser rifle. He was allergic, though he was too proud to let the insects have their way with him, and he would rather be damned than let them bother Spike like this.
Suddenly, it happened: he was damned! One of the saiyoushimou stung the back of his hand! Vin jumped back, swearing fluently as he watched the swelling begin. He raised his other hand to his combadge, but he could only get out "Vin to sickbay! Help!" before he went into anaphylactic shock. His throat closed, and he couldn't breathe!
The transporter room received an order from sickbay, and Vin rematerialized on one of the biobeds. The rest of the injured people still waiting for treatment mostly had small things, as all of the worst injuries had been tended within minutes after the crash, thanks to the skill of the Starfleet medical staff.
"Take over for me." Another technician arrived to finish the cast being applied to a crewman's arm, and Doctor Thatcher immediately moved to Vin's biobed, and upon recognizing the symptoms of anaphylactic shock, she prepared a hypospray with an adrenaline shot. It worked within seconds, and the swelling went away, but Vin remained unconscious. That was unusual, considering that he only had a bee sting. The doctor quickly found the sting wound in his left hand, and the first thing she noticed was that his hand was badly discolored. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that his hand was colorful (disgusting, but colorful), nonetheless. This was definitely no ordinary bee sting. The doctor than cut off his shirt and sedated Spike, who (Spike) was handed off to yet another technician to be left in Vin's quarters. There was simply no place for a tribble in sickbay. In engineering, another crewman shut off the power to the food-replicator in Vin's quarters, lest Spike get hungry and eat to her little heart's content.
-
Author's Note:
All fires give off K-band emissions. This information was gleaned from "Popular Science" magazine.
An isolinear chip is pretty much the same as flash-drive, except that it is much flatter, it's partially see-through (all the way through), and it slides almost completely into the drive-interface.
Red light will not affect one's night vision. I think has something to do the fact red light has the lowest wavelength on the visible spectrum.
"Sir" is the usual suffix of any statement directed at a fellow officer, and especially a superior. In the process of re-developing Ms. Lura Sloane's personality, I decided to make her sensitive to this formality.
Don't you just hate those lucky coincidences? They take all the fun out of the story, don't they?
Nobody minds that I like to refer to Kagome & co. as "the gang", right?
The Major calls Lt. Cmdr. Sloane "LTC" because... well, just look at the official abbreviation: Lt. Cmdr. ... LT. Cmdr.
The INCURSION never actually hit the barrier; rather, the debris that flew off the hilltop hit the barrier, creating distrubances.
Thanks to "Son of Zhon", I have received my second constructive-criticism (a review that identifies a flaw in my writing)! I now intend to pay more attention to emphasizing the characters' emotions, and to address the language problems.
I am going to introduce a crossover between this fanfic and Tom Clancy's book "Debt of Honor" since part of the storyline happens in Japan. This does NOT mean, however, that I am going to copy straight out of the book; rather, I will match up events as I see fit, and it is up to you if you want to find out what happens in between. Some stuff may seem out of chronological order, but it's in here anyway because I think I found a way to make it fit. You shouldn't be able to realize that I did this, unless you read Mr. Clancy's book.
DISCLAIMER: the Japan conflict and its related plot is from Mr. Tom Clancy's book "DEBT OF HONOR". I own none of it, including the following characters:
John Clark, Domingo "Ding" Chavez, Jack Ryan, Yamata, Chet Nomuri, Roger Durling, Arnold "Arnie" van Damm, Ed Kealty, Mary Patricia "MP" Foley, Ed Foley, any/all of the Russian characters, all of the other US government executives and agents, all of the business executives, and all of the Japanese people that have not been mentioned in the Inuyasha cartoon.