Epilogue
Captain Berg walked the halls of the Kongo. She was still not completely whole. Most notably the long range sensors were completely destroyed. They had, however, been able to use the Colonial Star Charts to determine their location and course back home. They were actually in unexplored space but there were records of long term scans they were able to match up to the local stars. Despite these obstalces, Captain Berg relished that the Kongo was alive and vibrant again.
His walk had taken him to the crew quarters section. He had not really kept track of where he was walking and realized his shift was starting soon. Even as captain, he had responsibilities to his crew. Just as he turned to go back to the Turbolift, a door opened to his right and Andrew Smith walked out. He was straightening his tunic and appeared to be ready to report to his duty shift as well.
"Crewman," he said. The young engineer nodded somewhat nervously. "Aren't those Lieutenant Rodriguez' quarters?"
"Uh, well," he stammered.
The Captain smiled. "Carry on crewman." Crewman romances were not forbidden by any stretch as long as they adhered to proper decorum. He continued on to the turbolift and waited for it to arrive. They door slid open and there was Ensign Gravelson and Ben Clarkson locked in an embrace. Did we put something in the food processor? He thought.
"Ensign, Mr. Clarkson," he said.
They both looked up with a start and didn't say anything.
"Mr. Clarkson, please remember some of the talks we have had about proper behavior on a starship." Neither of them moved. "If you all will excuse me, I need to get to the bridge." Both of them quickly left the turbolift. Captain Berg noted that they went the same direction.
Once on the bridge, he sat in the command chair. Commander Hasan came up to him.
"Assad, please schedule a refresher on proper decorum on shipboard romances," he said. Hasan nodded without comment. "Ship status,"
"The dilithium crystals are holding up pretty well so far. Without long range scanners, we are staying at warp 4. Our computations show that have about a week before we get in short range communications with starbase 314. No activity to report right now but we are near sighted. We could have a Klingon Attack force paralleling us and we wouldn't know it."
"Thank you, Commander. Carry on."
"Sir, we have something," said Scogaska quickly.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Not sure. Might be a ship. Their hailing us! Starfleet channels."
"On audio," he said.
"…prise calling the Kongo. Repeat. This is the Starship Enterprise calling the Kongo please respond."
The bridge let out a cheer. Captain Berg hit a button on his command chair.
"Enterprise this is Kongo. Jim is that you?"
A face came on the monitor. It was James T. Kirk. "Gerhardt, where the hell have you been? We have been looking for you for two weeks. Starfleet had pretty much written you off. Other ships have been out for well over a month."
"Jim, it is good to see you. We have had an adventure."
"Our scans show that your ship has taken a beating. Do you need some assistance?"
"Actually, we could use some. Why don't you and your senior staff beam over and we'll tell you all about it."
James Kirk, Mr. Spock and Montgomery Scott sat in the meeting room with Captain Berg, Commander Hasan, Mr. Scogaska and Chief Engineer DeSoto. Captain Berg had just given a full briefing to the Enterprise crew.
"Are these Cylons a threat to us?" asked Kirk.
"We'll have to keep on eye on them. We are technically superior, but they seem to have vast numbers."
"Captain, I am intrigued by their method of interstellar travel," interjected Spock. "We have not seen the like before. Warp is faster and more efficient but there may be some applications for this method."
"We have not yet determined exactly how it works," responded Scogaska. "We do have samples of the alloys they use. We'll turn it over to the Federation Science Bureau when we get back home."
"Okay," said Kirk. "What do you need Gerhardt?"
"We could use standard dilithium crystals. We are jury-rigged and it is definitely making us nervous."
"Captahn, I have ta say that contraption is bloody clever. I have nae seen the like" Mr. Scott was obviously impressed.
"Thanks Scotty," answered The Kongo's Chief Engineer. "We have some good people here."
"We could also use long range scanner components. The Event knocked our everything related to subspace. And before you ask," Captain Berg said, looking at Spock, "we don't know what is was. I am getting more and more suspicious that there were higher power at work."
"Not particularly logical," responded Spock.
"No," answered Berg, "but you had your run-ins with Trelane and the Organians. I don't know, it's just a feeling for now but nothing else makes sense. It was almost like subspace got taken apart and put back together. The worst part is I don't think this is the last we have heard from them."
The all stayed silent for a while. Kirk finally spoke up. "All right Gerhardt. I'll have our repair crews coordinated with yours. Let's get you home."