Chapter Four – Hidden Evil
Utopia Planitia Starfleet Yards, Mars
Brian Tracy inhaled deeply as he felt the blue beam of light grasp his body. When he exhaled, he was standing on the transporter pad on his new ship. Damn transporter. He nodded to the transporter chief, and briskly walked out of the room. He took two lefts, two rights, and stopped at a pair of doors.
"Computer, inform the bridge and engineering that I am on board."
-Acknowledged. The ships computer replied, as he reached out and pressed the turbolift call button. He stood there for a moment, and heard a woosh noise as the turbolift behind the doors applied its antigrav brakes, and came to a stop. The doors opened, and he walked in. The doors shut, and he commanded 'engineering'. Moments later, they whisked open and he stepped out on the bottom story of the four story engine room. He allowed himself a slight grin as he looked at the marvelous sight before him. He watching approximately fifty Utopia Planitia technicians in white Starfleet field suits busy prepping his engine room staff of thirty-five. He looked past the people, and let a broader smile slip. His gaze stopped on the new dual-core warp system. Two huge warp cores were mounted side by side in the very back of the room, reaching from floor to ceiling. He knew that they actually were about as tall as the ship itself, but you couldn't tell from in the engine room. This particular ship had started as one big science project, and turned out to be the biggest success ever to be pulled off by the Starfleet Ship Development Team. He looked around, searching for his Chief Engineer, Jake McCliff. He saw Jake on the third level balcony, talking to an engineer. He reached up and tapped his comm badge. "Tracy to McCliff." He watched his friend slightly jump, reach up and tapped his badge.
"McCliff here, sir. Welcome aboard."
"Look down to the turbolift doors." He saw Jake whirl around, and grin.
"There you are." He tapped his badge, and cut the Captain off. He tapped it immediately afterwards three times fast. Jake McCliff disappeared from his previous location, and reappeared in a flash of light in front of Tracy. Brian Tracy raised his eyebrows.
"That was new."
"Yes, its one of the many new things this ship has. I am really going to enjoy working here." McCliff said.
"Yeah, well, just keep in mind if it breaks… you are the one that gets to fix it."
"That's why I applied. I like fixing things."
"Good, because I don't. Speaking of fixing… why aren't these beauties online?" Tracy said, as he pointed to the dual warp cores, both dead, offline. McCliff's eyes shimmered when his captain asked that question.
"I'm glad you asked. We were just about to bring our reactors online, and make the switch from Utopia Planitia's power system to our own. I'm glad you are here to watch."
"Don't let me hold you up, please proceed."
"Alright people!" McCliff said loudly enough the entire room could hear him. "Let's do a full system check. Everyone give me green, and we will make the transition." Moments later, all engineering stations had checked in status green. Captain Brian Tracy slowly walked up to the dual cores, and touched the casing. It was very cold. That will change here in just a few minutes.
"They sure are pretty aren't they?" Jake said as he walked up behind Captain Tracy.
"They will be even prettier when they are on. Let's get this party started, shall we?" Tracy fired back.
"Alright. Let's do get this party started. Computer, start the warp reactor system. Low power yield." McCliff requested.
-Affirmative. Warp reaction system startup in progress. All of the engineers turned to the cores. The ship shuttered briefly, and a very low rumble echoed through the room. Both warp cores slowly lit up, to a dim blue color.
-Warp reaction online. Power output, five percent. All systems are operating within normal parameters. McCliff grinned. "Computer, bring the reaction to full yield, and replace power distribution from Utopia Planitia to ourselves."
-Standby. He turned to his Captain and whispered: "This is where it gets cool." Lights under the floor leading to the cores suddenly lit up underneath everybody. Blue pipes that were once dark suddenly lit up brightly. Red pulsing coolant conduits running into the core suddenly sped up. Suddenly, the rumble got louder, then ceased. A bright light flashed inside the warp cores, and brought the fluid inside them to full brightness. Suddenly, all noise ceased except a slight vibration under them.
-Warp reaction is at 100 percent. All systems are operation within normal parameters. Disconnecting from the Utopia Planitia power uplink, and transferring power workload to main reactors. Standby. The room was dead silent for the brief moment the computer paused. -Transfer complete. The room erupted with applause. Jake McCliff sighed. "It's beautiful." He said softly. He then turned to the Captain. "You now have the most powerful ship in the entire Federation. Congratulations." He patted the Captain on the shoulder, and turned and walked away. Brian Tracy looked at the powerful reactor for a moment longer, and turned and left the room. The most powerful ship in the Federation.
--
Admiral Katheryn Janeway walked into the lobby of Starfleet Command. She smiled at the huge United Federation of Planets logo frosted in a glass fountain. She briskly walked foreword to the building turbolift, and nodded at the four desk lieutenants who saluted her as she passed. She stopped at the glass doors, and waited for the turbolift to descend from above. Moments later, she stepped in and waited for the doors to shut.
"Transporter room." She spoke to the building computer. The moment she said it, she had a flashback.
-
"The Transporter room? What the hell does that have to do with anything? It is completely on the other side of the ship… besides, I have a hard time believing that that damn corrosive gas beamed itself in." Captain Janeway testily said to Ensign Kim.
"Actually, Captain, what you just said is not far from the truth, or so the sensor logs recorded." Ensign Kim boldly said. Janeway rubbed her temples, and pushed her hair back for the fifth time. They entered the turbolift, and she commanded: "Transporter room one."
"So, Mr. Kim, what you are telling me is that this thing just beamed in? Just like that? Who was in the transporter room when it happened? Why did they not alert the bridge? And why the hell is it hot in here?" She was getting really aggravated with life at the moment. A mystery was fun up until the point when the mystery was trying to kill someone, then its time to solve it. And Janeway intended to solve this one. Mr. Kim took a deep breath, and started his reply.
"We are not sure how it got in the ship; the transporter was initiated from somewhere else. The officer in the room, called in an emergency to sickbay, and was beamed out. The bridge was never notified for some reason. And it's not hot in here, it's just you." He bit his toung for a moment, wondering if that last comment was too much. Janeway snapped her head to him for a moment, and then grinned.
"Thanks, ensign." The turbolift stopped, and the doors snapped open. They filed out, and walked up to the transporter room doors.
"This, Captain, is what we can't figure out." Kim said, as he reached out, and slowly tapped the button to open the doors. They screeched apart, and grated all the way, until they were open. Janeways jaw dropped as she looked at the room in front of her.
-
Admiral Janeway blinked, as the glass doors opened again. She willed herself to focus on the present. Walking out, she noticed the carpet downstairs had been blue, and this carpet was white. She liked it, make the place look brighter. She took the first door to the right, and stepped into the large room. Three transporter officers were working behind a large panel. The one closest to her noticed someone walked in the room, turned, and saluted.
"Admiral!" He said. The other two turned, and snapped to attention.
"At ease boys, before you strain something." She grinned, for this was one of the things she loved about being an Admiral. The young men dropped their rigid stances somewhat, although they all remained stiff as a board. "I need you boys to send me to Starfleet Medical." The boy closest to her finally looked her in the eyes.
"Are you sure that's where you want to go?" He asked.
"Excuse me?"
"Did you know about the containment breach? That entire building is under quarantine. Nobody in, Nobody out, even Admirals."
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Hope you guys like. Its my story, but Paramount owns everything else. Go Star Trek! Ha. Please review.