Chapter Eight
"Why is nothing working?" Geordi LaForge yelled out of frustration.
"I don't know, sir." One of his engineers responded.
"I know you don't know. Nobody knows." Geordi said, and fell into a chair. He stared at the inactive warp core thinking. "Maybe…" He started a thought. "computer, are all the power feeds functioning properly to the new equipment?"
"Yes, everything is functioning within normal parameters." The holographic computer avatar appeared and responded. Geordi glanced up at her.
"If everything is working within normal parameters, then why are none of the new installed systems working? The holo generations we installed don't work except for the ones in this room, and the entire three-dimensional LCARS interface won't initialize! We have to be overlooking something." Geordi sighed, and glanced over at the dark curly-haired Enterprise hologram. "Any ideas?"
"Now that you mention it, yes." She replied, with an expressionless face. Geordi stood up.
"Well do you mind sharing?" He asked and crossed his arms.
"Perform a cold boot on the ship." She said calmly.
"A cold boot?" Geordi LaForge repeated her words, skeptically. "You mean turn the Enterprise off, and turn it back on? Starships aren't really designed for that." He laughed at her idea, and started to walk around the room. Suddenly he stopped, thinking. "Wait a second. You may be on to something. If we do that, it will purge everything from active computer memory! When everything is reactivated the new programming should surface and everything should initialize properly! Great thinking!" Geordi ran off to a computer panel, leaving the avatar with a large smile on her face.
--
Darius McKinney and Orlando Walker stood silently in the turbolift as it descended rapidly from the command deck. Darius was the first to speak.
"That was a crazy briefing."
"I agree. That Caitian, Vrant, was a strange one too."
"Hah. He was real weird. What do you think about the Stargate?" Darius asked his lover, as he felt the turbolift change directions.
"I think it is incredible. Considering I majored in the three fields that I would presume make up how it works, it is really exciting. What about you?"
"Oh, it is of great archaeological importance. Captain Riker said in the preliminary report from Starfleet that it's been on earth for a long time… as well as that ZPM thing. What's better, is that they didn't originate from earth."
"That's right. The Stargate had to come from somewhere. That Vrant guy was convinced it still worked. I find it hard to believe that something that's been buried that long could work."
"According to their ledged, it's a large ring that supposedly can let you travel huge distances. Who knows, it could be absolutely nothing at all." Darius chuckled.
…or not. Orlando thought as the turbolift stopped, and he stepped out.
--
Geordi LaForge looked at the emergency torch that was sitting on top of a dead panel. A few minutes ago the Enterprise had disconnected from drydock power, and had initiated a complete system shut down. The entire vessel was dark, with the exception of glowing tricorder screens and emergency torches. He had his entire engineering staff dispatched throughout key areas of the ship, ready to re-engage power. It was time.
"LaForge to engineering teams." He said after he tapped his comm badge. "Full system start up in three, two, one… now!" He said as he looked at his tricorder. The warp core suddenly lit up bright, including the lights in the room. Geordi looked at the LCARS panels, as the new holographic interface suddenly activated. The three-dimensional controls that he had spent the past few months on creating suddenly sprang to life throughout the entire room. Geordi jumped up in the air. "Yes!"
--
"Bridge to engine room, the new holographic LCARS system just came online up here. Good work." Commander Martin Madden praised Geordi as he walked over to the science II panel to observe the new interface.
"Thanks commander. The systems restart seemed to fix everything, I am showing the new holoemitters and the turbolift networks are back online. A few more tweaks, and the Enterprise will be ready to depart."
"Very good. Bridge out." Martin tapped a hovering button and watched the entire display change. It's going to take me forever to learn how to work this. He thought as he studied the floating buttons.
Two people on the bridge had been trained for the new systems, and were manning the tactical and science I panels. The science I panel suddenly begin to emit a shrill beep.
"Commander, sensors are picking up a disturbance in subspace." Lieutenant Simmons said to him, after he pressed a few buttons. Madden walked over to him and looked at the readout.
"What kind of disturbance?"
"Sir, it looks like an artificial wormhole just opened up at Starfleet command!"
"What?" Martin whispered. "Where is it coming from?"
"I can't tell the source. Or even how it is being generated… but it's there, and it's stable."
"Collect all the sensor data you can on that. I want to know…"
"Sir, the wormhole collapsed." Simmons cut him off. Without warning the comm system chimed on the Enterprise.
"All personnel with level black security clearance report to section three of Starfleet command immediately - repeat, all level black personnel report to section three. All other priorities have been rescinded." The comm line broke off.
"That was a global message. I'll bet everyone five lightyears from here heard that." Simmons said.
"You have the bridge, Lieutenant." Martin said as he took off for a turbolift.
"Picard to Madden, did you get that?"
"Yes sir, I am on my way." Madden crossed his arms as the turbolift descended from the bridge. Maybe now we will get some answers.