Chapter Three
The very next day, David finally finished his task. Then suddenly the room lights went dim and red, the Red Alert wail came on and David was shocked. The door to the Captain's room swished open and there stood a very annoyed Jaret ,"What is going on Lt. Dyck!", and walked over to his chair. Ryan hurriedly jumped up and stood aside as the Jaret sat down in the seat that Ryan was occupying.
David looked about his console and reported," The external sensors turned on, which I had no intention of doing. I thought I was working on the internal, but I guess I did something. Sir, on the surface, outside the school there is a large mass of a crowd standing about. May I turn on the audio sensors as well?"
"Do so David, I'm curious now." calmed down Jaret.
David turned on the audio and the entire bridge staff heard the noises and voices.
"I'm telling you chief, I don't understand this. The witness reported something strange, three unusual people appeared out of nowhere and attacked this girl with a phaser? Sir, this is like science fiction, and I don't think they're telling the whole thing."
"No, they are telling the truth because I know this because of my earlier experience. I just hope Capt. Pieper is listening in on this." said a familiar voice.
"Jaret that is Chief O' Hara isn't it?" asked a startled David.
"I'm afraid so, Lt. Dyck, please escort a medical team to the scene, I'll inform Dr. Livingston.", ordered Jaret.
"Aye sir." acknowledged David as he left the bridge.
"Dr. Livingston, please meet Lt. Dyck and his security team with your Medical team to transporter room one." informed Cmdr. Livingston by intercom.
"Okay, will do.", replied Tammy's voice as she signed off.
Outside the
school, Chief O' Hara was busy talking to some of his officers in
charge while the rest of the police force kept the reporters and the
crowd of curious people at bay. Paramedics were on the scene to
attend the injured girl with a very puzzled look on
their faces
for they knew not how to treat her wounds. All of the sudden the
crowd, and the police went quiet, Chief O' Hara looked up to see
Lt. Dyck, Dr. Livingston and a few unknown people dressed in the same
uniform he had saw earlier. He walked towards Lt. Dyck seeing
that Dr. Livingston and her people in the blue uniform headed towards
the paramedics and the injured girl.
"Lt. Dyck, thank goodness you are here. I trust you heard what had happened here?" asked Chief O' Hara.
"Only a bit but please what else can you tell me on what happened here?", nodded David.
"One of the children noticed her first. She was looking about the place as if she was looking for a way in. They think she was searching the walls. Anyhow, the child introduced herself to the witness who was asking her what she was doing. All she replied was that her name was Lisa Crusher and that she had to find a way in to save her people. But then these three armed people came down, but the witness reported that they did not look entirely human for one thing. They had pale gray skin, black hair, and pointed ears where ears are not supposed to be and they didn't speak any English at all. They came right after Lisa Crusher and fired at her. From what the witness said, the girl defended herself and fired back, and in the process she managed to injure one of the strangers and green blood was seen to spill from the wound. Before the attack occurred, the children asked her how she got here and Lisa replied that she "beamed" down, whatever that means. And just now, the girl Lisa wears the same uniform as you three did when you came to my office earlier." explained Chief O' Hara.
Then Tammy came up to Chief O' Hara and David and informed them, "Lt. Dyck, Mr. O' Hara, I need to get this girl back to Medic Bay, from the looks of her, she is one of ours. The computer in my tricorder indicated that she is one of the old crew before they left here. She is seriously injured but in no way life threatening. Now is there anything else you want to do before I take her back?"
"Go do your thing Doctor, Lt. Dyck, all the information is at your disposal, good luck on finding her attackers. You guys wanted to know what happened to the original crew, you found one way of finding out.", Chief O'Hara shook his head as he left the two by themselves and ordered his officers and everyone to clear the area until further notice.
Back in Medic Bay, an hour later, Tammy sat down for her first cup of hot chocolate in a long while. She was worried about the girl for she was still unconscious but nothing else was wrong with her. She looked to her computer on the desk and looked at the picture of a Lisa Crusher, the picture showed her as a young child, not the same image as she is now. It was all too apparent that her people had survived the initial encounter with their enemies when the fled the Galaxy.
" Am I interrupting anything?" asked a voice.
Tammy looked up and saw Jaret standing in the doorway of her office," No, you're not interrupting anything. I just wish that she would wake up, it would be nice to know what happened and the waiting is really driving me crazy."
"I know what you mean. I read David's report and it sounds serious enough. I just informed Mr. Cryer that the Galaxy is space worthy. John managed to get the repairs done very well but the hard part is telling Mr. Cryer that he won't have a school after we are done leaving Earth. I also talked to your parents as well, they are mad at you for lying to them but they understand. Ryan is accepting this well. Many people, our new crew is handling this tremendously. So, who is she?" asked Jaret as he sat down in the nearest chair and leaned back.
"Her name is Lisa Crusher, daughter of the Chief medical doctor Sherilyn Crusher. Right now, the question remains, why did she come back especially after all these years. Did you find anything about her attackers?" explained Tammy.
"Yes, Lisa's attackers were Romulans. I read some of Capt. James report on them and to me they are very bad news. They've been enemies with them for a very long time. How's your patient?" informed a grim Jaret.
"She's still asleep, but the treatment went well. I hope within an hour, she'll awake and them we will have all our questions answered sooner than we can ask for." guessed Tammy.
Jaret stood up, and nodded," Okay, then I will see you later. Good night." and Jaret left Tammy's office.
An hour later went by slowly; Tammy was busy reading some medical information for her training. She was startled by an unfamiliar voice calling out. Tammy looked up and saw that the child had finally woke up from her ordeal. She got up from the desk and entered the main treatment area of Medic Bay.
"How are you feeling Lisa? No, don't be afraid, I'm not here to hurt you. You're on Earth, Lisa, calm down. I know you had a rough ordeal with the Romulans, you're safe. Captain Pieper won't let them hurt you again. My name is Dr. Tammy Livingston, and I will later introduce you to the captain but can you tell me what happened before you arrived on Earth?" asked Tammy.
Lisa's face went pale as she started to remember what happened to
her," Before I arrived here, I was on another planet, similar to
Earth. In your time of 1979, I was only three years old when I
left my home. I remember clearly that day, the Romulans
were
attacking constantly and we were sustaining heavy damage. Our
life support was slowly being drained; and if we stayed we could've
died. The Captain made the hard choice and gave us orders to
abandon the ship quietly. We didn't want the Romulans to know what
our intention was. So we just left. We found another
place and called it home. We, I mean I just grew up there for
the next 12 years and we lived in complete isolation. Now, the
Romulans have found Aldrea and they attacked us. They've
started to round up the people but I hid and found a shuttle and came
here. I came here to get help but when I left Aldrea's
atmosphere, I was detected and they followed me here. They wanted to
stop me from reaching the Galaxy. I was hit badly but I crashed
here, near by as I can. I ran here but to find that the Galaxy
was buried underneath the building. At first I was dismayed, but I
was hoping that enough of the sensors were on and that they would
detect me and detect the Romulans but I guess that didn't happen. Thank you for helping me when it was needed. Now they probably think
I'm dead now, I hope. Is there anything I can help you with?"
shakily asked Lisa as she sighed.
"Yes, is there any chance that the Romulans could find out that you survived and they are still hanging around just in case to finish you off if you didn't die? I'm sorry if I upset you but allow me to introduce myself, I'm Captain Jaret Pieper. Welcome aboard." asked Jaret as he entered the main room.
"Please
to make your acquaintance Captain. I have a feeling that you
already know my name, so I'll answer your question. It's
possible that they are still here and my suggestion is to get a crew
rounded up so you don't have to take them on alone." advised
Lisa. Lisa
looked at Jaret and was surprised to find that he was
about two years older than her.
"We are way ahead of you, soon this ship will be fully operational but since you are here, perhaps it's the wise choice I offer you a command. This is because of your knowledge about this ship, and we are just learning about the wonders of this vessel. What do you think?" smiled Jaret.
"A command, are you sure sir?" asked a shocked Lisa.
"Yes, we are in need of a Lieutenant commander. Please accept this post." nodded Jaret.
"Aye sir, I do so gladly. Where do I report to get the uniform?" agreed Lisa as she got up from the bio bed.
"Get your uniform from Lt. Dyck, he's on deck 36. He will instruct you to your quarters. Report to the bridge after you have settled in.", replied Jaret.
Lisa nodded and left Medic Bay, leaving Tammy and Jaret by themselves. Then suddenly the room shuddered with small electric explosions and the ground heaved beneath them. Jaret and Tammy were thrown onto the floor in a matter of seconds. After it stopped for a brief second, Jaret helped Tammy up from the floor when David contacted them via combadge.
"We're under attack, the ship and the school is taking a beating. The Romulans must have found out about Lisa's miraculous survival. Your orders sir?" explained David.
Jaret brushed off some dust off his uniform and looked at Tammy. She nodded to him to indicate that she was fine.
"David, put the shields up around the school, I'll be up to the bridge shortly. I'm going to have a little chat with our friends." assigned Jaret as he left Medic Bay.
"Yes sir." acknowledged David as he cut off communication.
The room was silent, and Tammy looked around and sighed, "Great, now I'm left to clean up the mess here again."
On the Bridge, David and Ryan were busy keeping the ship and the school intact from the weapons fire from the Romulans who were firing from space. It was hard to keep everything from falling apart as they just had finished repairs only to have it damaged again. The door swished open and entered Jaret and Lisa. Lisa immediately went to her station and sat down. David nodded to Jaret to let him know that everything is all set.
"Very well, let's get this over and done with. Hail them." replied Jaret sternly.
The view screen changed to an image of an old face, black hair, pointed ears. It appeared male to Jaret and he noticed that the person seemed surprised.
"I'm Captain Jaret Pieper of the USS Galaxy. May I ask you what you are doing?" introduced Jaret.
The
person shifted uneasily and sighed, "I am Captain Tomahawk, serving
under the military of Romulas. We have declared you a threat to
the Romulan Empire. Now
would you please hand over our
prisoner that you have in your custody?"
Lisa gasped and turned around to look at Jaret.
"I think we have a problem here Tomahawk, you see, she is not your prisoner. She never was to start with. You however just attacked her people without warning and you came here to kill her. I don't think so, try again." Advised Jaret.
"How dare you dare insult me!" scoffed Tomahawk.
David stood erect after hearing Tomahawk's challenge. He had his fingers poised over the command buttons to return fire if he was order to do so. He hoped it won't come down to it because he knows that John will have his head when more of the relays gets fried if he had to fire the main phaser. Not counting furthering damage the surface and its surroundings by such a response.
"I'm not insulting you Tomahawk, I just want to hear the truth for once in your life." defended Jaret.
"Then would you consider coming aboard my ship so we can solve this terrible situation from becoming out of hand?" suggested Tomahawk slyly.
Ryan had a sinking feeling that something like this was going to get suggested and looked to David and Lisa before looking at Jaret when he responded.
"That would be agreeable, tomorrow at 0800 hours?" implied Jaret.
The view screen flipped off to a dark view to indicate that Tomahawk agreed to it. Jaret heaved a sigh of relief, realizing that things are going to get a bit tricky from here on out.
"Jaret, you are going to go aboard Tomahawk's vessel, to talk to him. Are you bloody insane?" asked Ryan concerned.
"I agree with the commander, do you know the risk of doing this Captain? Tomahawk doesn't seemed to be a person anyone can trust." pointed out David as he stand down the red alert wail and returned the ships system to normal operations. Then officers started to repair what they can till John could send some of his officers to help officially.
Jaret turned his attention to David, "It doesn't matter right now, what is done is done. I have one question though why haven't we detected their presence before till now. What changed?"
"I can answer that question sir; the Romulans have a device employed in their ship known as the cloaking shields. For years, we have tried to break that weakness of our sensors to find them. We still can't obviously." Explained Lisa.
"That really puts us at a disadvantage then, who knows how many more cloaked ships are out there orbiting Earth? I have a bad feeling about this." Groaned David.
The turbo lift doors swished opened and Tammy entered the bridge. She looked at Jaret and shook her head.
"Is there something wrong doctor?" asked Jaret cautiously.
"I have people up on the surface wounded, and I have no orders to go up there and lets see, assist them? By now, if you have noticed, the police and Mr. Cryer are in the gym, what's left of it, hollering for us." grated Tammy.
Jaret winced at Tammy's scathing words and realized that he forgot about the surface while trying to defend his actions for going on board Tomahawk's ship.
"Sorry doc, we sort of got sidetracked. You can go and assist and I'll see if I can get Mr. Cryer and Chief O' Hara here. I'll bring them to the observation lounge?" inquired Ryan nervously.
"Do that and I'll be waiting. Doctor, I expect a report of any injuries of either on board here or the surface. I like to know how bad it got. Lt. Dyck, please inform Lt. Cmdr. Paul that he is to put a team together to assist in debris removal at the school. I want a recommendation from him regarding the school and the ship situation as well on my desk first thing in the morning prior to my meeting with Tomahawk." ordered Jaret. He turned around and headed for his ready room.
Tammy nodded to her brother and left the bridge with David following after her. Ryan was left back in command of the bridge yet again. He sighed, so much for his second day of command. He got up and looked to Lisa, "Would you kindly inform transporter room one to lock onto Mr. Cryer and Chief O'Hara. Have someone from security to escort them to the observation lounge.
"Yes commander. Anything else?" asked Lisa.
"I need a break is what I need but I don't see that happening anytime too soon." Sighed Ryan in response. He just walked about the bridge, talking to the various people who were helping in fixing some of the damage that has happened at the result of them being attacked. So much for repairing the ship only to have it back the way it was before.
The next day came too fast for Jaret's liking. He dreaded
what he will come face to face with Tomahawk in the next few hours. He sighed and looked down to his desk, he shook his head. He
was reading the recommendation that John had made regarding
the
school. He hated to tell the principal the bad news. He
spent the few hours figuring out a way to inform his staff of what
will need to be done. He groaned in frustration, he leaned back
in his chair. The door to his ready room beeped to him
indicating that someone wanted entry.
"Enter." allowed Jaret.
The door opened up to reveal Ryan standing there; he entered the room and gestured to the empty chair in front of the desk. Jaret nodded his approval. Ryan sat down and crossed his arms across his chest.
"I read John's report. I don't like the news very much. I hate to say it, but the last thing I would want to do is tear down the school so we could leave the surface." grumbled Ryan.
"I
know, but the damage was extensive, there is nothing we can do about
it. Mr. Cryer is not going to be pleased with this. I had
to spend two hours with him and Chief O'Hara yesterday regarding
the attack. To be honest, I don't blame them for being upset;
too
many people were injured in that attack. Luckily no one
died." nodded Jaret in agreement.
"So, when are you going to tell Mr. Cryer the bad news?" asked Ryan.
"Soon, I have no choice. I'm due on the Warbird in less than two hours. Hopefully he won't argue too much. I haven't even bothered telling them about my intended visit to the enemy ship." revealed Jaret.
Ryan leaned forward and sighed, "Well, is there any additional orders you want to give me before you leave. I'm helping John with the teams who will be assisting in the dismantling the school and to prepare the ship to leave the surface."
"Just do it as safely as you can, and quickly too. I don't know how long our situations with the Romulans will last." advised Jaret strongly.
Ryan got up and nodded his understanding and left the room. Jaret was once again alone with his thoughts. He thought to himself and decided that it was time to contact Mr. Cryer and tell him that bad news. He turned to his monitor on his desk, punched in a few key controls and waited for a response. When the screen came to life, there was a middle age man, with graying hair, a tired look to his eyes. He recognized Jaret and greeted him, "Hi Jaret, so what brings you to contact me? I wasn't expecting a call for several days now? I've got things squared away with the school board since its Monday and well, no students are in classes. They're not happy but it's out of my hands. What can I do for you?"
Jaret heaved a sigh before he
continued, "It's about the school. My chief Engineer, John
Paul, have went over the damage reports of both the school and the
ship. I'm afraid the attack we suffered yesterday has caused
enough of a serious damage to the school that
is beyond repair. We had hoped to move the school intact in order to have the Galaxy to
leave the surface but now that option is no long available."
"I see, so now what?" asked Mr. Cryer.
"My crew will assist
in removing anything that is not damaged, such as school supplies and
then tear the school down. Perhaps, after this crisis is over,
we can assist in rebuilding the school. Since I feel partially
responsible for the damage caused by the
attack." suggested
Jaret.
"That sounds like a good idea, can we start right away? I'll notify the school board that this school will be temporary out of service. Thanks for letting me know. When do you want to do this?" agreed Mr. Cryer.
"Very well, I'll contact Lt. Paul, and we will get started right away. Again, my apologies for what happened. I wish you the best of luck." signed off Jaret.
Jaret got up from his chair and went to the door; he turned back and looked at his ready room, shook his head and stepped through the opened door that lead to the bridge. He saw Lt. Cmdr. Crusher in the Captain's chair. He strode towards her, and nodded to her. She saw him and got up from the seat and sat down into the commander's chair. She looked at him as Jaret sat down in his chair.
"How did things go?" asked Lisa.
"I've explained to Mr. Cryer the situation with the school. I didn't bother tell him about my impending trip to the Romulan vessel. I gave Ryan the go ahead to give John a hand with the tearing down of the school and to prepare the Galaxy for our trip off the surface. Anything to report?" explained Jaret.
"Tammy just informed me about needing medical
supplies. The ones that were left here are outdated. She just
contacted the hospital about it and they are already lending a hand. The replicators however are having a picky time with the medical
aspect. As John
is a bit busy at the moment, I'm sure once
this is over, the replicators in medic bay will be functioning enough
that we won't need organic supplies from the hospital. David
is currently training the new people. Our crew has grown, I'm happy
to report that we have a crew of 1,500." informed Lisa.
"Wow, I'm impressed. Where did all these kids come from?" whistled Jaret in amazement.
"That's what I was trying to figure out, but Ryan said that most of the province volunteered, guess word spread fast." chuckled Lisa.
"Great, now, let's get down to planning. I want to be completely prepared. Tell me about the Romulans. What should I expect." suggested Jaret. The two started conversing about their proposed plans.