Chapter Six – Border Breach
-Warning, transport is not recommended, the USS Terra Nova is beyond targeting scanner range, repeat, transport is not recommended. The computers voice announced.
"Computer, re-route all available power to the transporter array." Tuvok said in a loud, but calm tone.
-Unable to comply, all available power has already been re-routed.
"Computer, hail the Terra Nova."
"Kim here, Tuvok, our sensors show that your core is critical, you need to eject it!"
"I can't! The core ejection systems are damaged."
"Damn! We are already at maximum warp, we are going to try to get there in time, but it doesn't look good, sir. We are getting scattered readings from your ship, how many people do we need to get?"
"Just me, Captain Kim."
"Acknowledged. Standby, Tuvok. Terra Nova out."
-Warning, hull stress limits have been exceeded. The computer announced. The bridge started to shake violently around Tuvok.
-Warning, warp core is at critical. Estimated time until core breach, fifteen seconds. A panel next to Tuvok exploded, sending sparks and fire everywhere. He shielded his eyes, and stood up.
"Vision to the Terra Nova, please come in!" Tuvok yelled to the comm system. He was starting to loose control of his emotions. As he thought back, he realized that he had never been this close to death like this. The heat on the bridge of the USS Vision was starting to get unbearable.
"Terra Nova here, Sir. We are setting up a transporter bridge. Are you transporter systems still online?" Tuvok glanced to the nearest computer panel, as the helm console exploded, showering him with sparks. He felt the Vision drop out of warp, and the internal dampeners went offline.
"Barely." He responded.
"Good, can you create a transporter bridge with our ship?"
"A transporter bridge is very risky, but under the circumstances, I think we can try." Tuvok pressed several buttons, and created a link between the Vision and the Terra Nova. "It's ready." He replied.
"Ok, standby." A computer display blew out of the wall behind Tuvok, and the main view screen flickered out. Tuvok closed his eyes, and willed the transporter to take him. Moments later, when it did not, he thought of his wife and four kids. May you be safe in the years to come without me, my family. His desperate mind reached out to them. He stood in the middle of the bridge, as the core started to fall in on itself.
-Warning, core systems are at critical! Warning core syst--- the computer voice disappeared, as Tuvok heard an explosion deep within the ship. My life ends here. He thought, as he felt the flames touch his skin. Suddenly, his body turned ice cold. Is this death? His head started pounding, as he suddenly felt weightlessness. He opened his eyes, and watched the Vision explode from space. The ice lifted, and he collapsed on the transporter pad of the USS Terra Nova.
--
Captain Harry Kim sprinted out of the turbolift, and right into sickbay. The Terra Nova Chief Medical officer was running a tricorder over Tuvoks unconscious body. Doctor Corey Brazil looked up at Captain Kim, and shut his tricorder.
"He was only exposed to space for a fraction of a second, Sir. I have repaired most of the zero-atmosphere damage, but his lungs had already suffered severe damage from something else. I was able to patch them up for the most part, but until he regains consciousness, and tells me what happened, I can't do anything else." Kim took a breath of relief, as he looked at his old friend.
"Inform me the second something happens, Doc." Kim said, and turned and left. As he was walking down the corridor to the turbolift, his comm badge buzzed.
"Bridge to Captain Kim." He reached up and slapped the badge.
"Kim here."
"We have company, Sir… I think you had better get up here."
"Acknowledged, Kim out." He shook his head. His first officer, Darius Lauren, was never one to quickly call the Captain. He liked to handle situations by himself. Kim knew that when he was called to the bridge by Lauren, something was up. He walked into the turbolift, and commanded "Bridge." The car jumped to life, and quickly catapulted itself toward deck one. Kim made a mental note to re-align the foreword sensor cluster, because when they were scanning Tuvoks ship, they kept getting mixed readings. Suddenly, he felt the turbolift skip a beat. His stomach jumped with it, and then it corrected. "Computer, report!" He said to the small turbolift.
-The Terra Nova shields has scraped with an unkn- The computer's voice faded out, as the turbolift went dark. Kim screamed, and the car went into a freefall.
--
On the bridge of the Terra Nova, red alert klaxons were blaring left and right. The operations panel turbolift status indicator shifted from green to red.
"Commander Lauren!" The ops ensign yelled over the commotion. Lauren shot his eyes up at him. "Sir, all of the active turbolifts have lost power!"
"The safeties?" Lauren asked quickly. The ensign's face turned white, as he looked up from his panel.
"Not responding." He squeaked out. Commander Lauren jumped up out of his seat, and screamed to the computer.
"Computer! Initiate an emergency site to site transport… get everyone out of the turbolifts!"
-Acknowledged. The computer paused for a moment, and then said, -Emergency transport complete. Eight crew members have been transported directly to sickbay. Lauren sighed with relief, as he suddenly heard six blunt crunching noises, one after the other. He cringed, and looked up at the ops ensign.
"That was six turbolifts, all came in contact with the bottom of their shafts." The ensign said.
"Find out why they fell." Lauren said, as the lights on the bridge flickered. He then turned and looked up at his tactical officer. "And what the hell is that, that keeps hitting our shields?"
--
Admiral Janeway took a bite out of her salad, as she made a mental list of things to pack for her trip to Risa. They built another Voyager, and didn't tell me! How dare they. Although I am looking foreword to seeing her, this is just a little unexpected. I guess I should have seen it coming though, I mean it takes a lot to retire a vessels name… they probably started the blueprints the minute they lost contact with us in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway sat in her personal apartment out on the patio, eating a standard earth salad. Ugh, Janeway remembered, I have a meeting with Admiral Tirre tomorrow. He is the most stubborn person in the entire Federation.
-Incoming Video Call. The computer announced from inside the apartment. Janeway left her salad, and quickly walked to her study.
"Route it here." She commanded, as she sat down. Her screen came to life, and an Ensign that she did not know of came up on the screen.
"Admiral Janeway, I am Ensign Bonds, from Spacedock."
"Yes?"
"My Commander wanted me to inform you that the USS Vision has been destroyed, and the USS Terra Nova was sent to provide aide." Oh, God, Tuvok!
"What happened to the Vision?"
"We do not know, Sir. We got word that they were able to get her Captain out, but something happened and we lost contact with the Terra Nova shortly after. They told us something about a gaseous anomaly, but the details are sketchy." Oh, no.
"Tell your Commander that the second you hear more, for him to contact me personally. Janeway out." She slapped her panel, deactivating it. Could it be possible? That the gas could have tracked me down? Tracked Voyager down… no way. "Damn." She softly whispered, as she sat there thinking back to the day after Voyager's encounter with the gas.
-
Captain Janeway and Ensign Kim stood in the door, looking into transporter room one. At least, what used to be transporter room one. Janeway looked around the room from the doorway, completely amazed at how the entire room was obliterated. She slowly walked a step in, and noted that an explosion seemed to originate from the transporter pad. The floor of the pad was shattered, small fragments of it were scattered everywhere around the room. Bare conduit was showing behind the transporter platform, which had also blown out. She tuned her head toward the computer console, and noticed the blood.
"Oh my God, Harry. Look at that."
"I know Ma'am. The only problem with that is this: the officer on duty did not loose any blood."
"What? Whose is it then?"
"The blood on the walls of transporter room one does not belong to any member of our crew," The Doctor was giving a report to the senior staff in the briefing room. ", although I am compelled to believe that it does not belong to just one individual."
"What?" Chakotay interjected.
"There are exactly fifty-nine different blood types from different races around the galaxy. Just to name a few I discovered: Vedian, Talaxian, Breen, and even Human. I also cataloged six different types that are not in Voyagers database." The Doctor finished, turned the display off, and sat down.
"Damn." Janeway muttered, as she looked out at the stars, flying by at warp. "This presents more questions than answers. Commander," She turned to Chakotay, "Did we just loose time? Why did you not miss us? And, why were the Doctor and I the only ones that were able to communicate with each other. It's not like we are on the same deck. And who was the officer in the transporter room when this happened?" Harry Kim consulted a padd in front of him.
"The computer doesn't know." He replied.
"Harry, you told me earlier that whoever it was reported a medical emergency, and were beamed to sickbay. Doctor, do you know anything about that?"
"No, Captain. I never received any patients."
"Well the person could not have just disappeared. B'Elanna, run a diagnostic on the computer core. It should know all these things, but it doesn't. I'm afraid it might be damaged somehow."
"I'll get right on it."
"Oh, and make sure our engines are at peak performance. We need to be prepared to get out of here if we need to. I want to be able to sustain maximum velocity if needed." B'Elanna nodded. "Tuvok, do a full security sweep of the ship. We might be missing something. Also, bump the internal sensors up to maximum gain. I want the sensors to know if someone's shoes are dirty. Seven, I want you to monitor your sensors in Astrometrics. If you find anything out of the ordinary, tell me directly. Harry, you're with me, we need to go over every bit of what used to be our transporter room. Tom, be ready to get us out of anywhere fast, ok? Let's get to work, people!"
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So. What do you think? I like this chapter over all of my others I think. Anyway.. please review. Comments are much appreciated good or bad.