Chapter 5

USS Victory

High Warp

6 Hours Later

"This is boring dad." Said Mark as he stared at the stars whipping past on the view screen.

"Oh is it? Well let's see what we can do about that, hu buddy?" Terry said with a huge grin. "Mr. Williams, put something good on… something fitting for high warp speeds?"

"Yes sir. How about something old?"

"Depends on what it is."

Peter tapped in several commands and an old earth song from the 20th century "Born to Be Wild" began to play.

Terry looked around at the bridge and laughed. "Permission granted for the bridge to relax and enjoy the ride. Mr. Williams, keep the music coming."

Suddenly Mark jumped upright "Dad! Stop the ship! There is something out there!"

Terry yelled "Full stop! Ops, full sensors!"

Peter tapped away on his console as the ship came out of warp. "Hey Rene, can you come here for a minute? I don't understand these readings."

The science officer jumped up and jogged over. "These appear to be low level posatronic readings. I am going to try to clear up the readings." She said, tapping the console. "They are coming from a small object approximately 5 KM off out port bow."

Terry thought for a minute. "Ops. Beam it aboard to cargo bay 5. Put a level 5 security field around it"

"Sir," Rene called "The security field is not necessary. These readings show the object as powered down."

"Very well," Terry said. "Beam it directly to cargo bay 5 and we will work on this at a later time. Helm, as soon as its on board, go back to maximum warp."

"Aye sir. Engaging now."

The ship shuddered and slowly accelerated to maximum warp.

"Cargo bay 5 to the Bridge. We just received what appears to be a small android. What would you like us to do with it?"

"Bridge here," Answered Terry, "Keep the android in storage for the time being. I will have it reactivated when we have time"

"Understood Sir. Cargo Bay out"

"Sir, I am reading something else out there, about 300 KM away. We are having problems reading what it is." Peter reported from Ops.

"Onscreen"

The view screen powered up and Terry almost gasped. Everyone on the bridge looked shocked. Floating in space was a old NX class starshipIt was rather beat up looking with at least one large hull breach near the bridge module.

"Intensive scans Mr. Williams. I want to know exactly what happened to it, and magnify the forward hull. I want to know what registry she is."

"Aye sir." The view screen zoomed into the hull just above the ships deflector dish. The numbers read NX-08.

"Sensors indicate the ship suffered multiple hull breaches and the left warp nacelle is crippled. I also read that all the ships lifeboats where launched. She is in surprisingly good condition considering she has been floating here for 300 years."

"Mr. Williams, does the bridge have atmosphere?"

"No sir. There is a hull breach just outside the bridge. I suggest we bring it into our ship bay so we can investigate it. I believe the android may have come from that ship."

"That is my conclusion as well." Said Terry thoughtfully. Personally, Terry could not wait to get a look at the old ships systems. He and several members of his crew had ancestors who served on the old NX Class ships. Mike Archer, his first officer was a descendent of the famed Jonathan Archer who was captain of the first Warp 5 star ship, NX-01: Enterprise.

"Bridge to Ship Bay. There is an old NX class starship off our port bow. Lock on a tractor beam and tow it in. Go nice and slow, we have no idea what condition its warp core is in."

"Understood sir. Do you want us to take any additional precautions?"

Terry thought about it for a moment. "Yes. Dock it nice and close to the ship bay doors in case we need to get rid of it in a hurry."

"Yes sir. We will inform you when we have it secured on board."

"Thank you. Bridge out."

Terry watched as a tractor beam latched on to the old ship and began towing it ever so slowly towards his ship.

"Sir," Mike started, looking at Terry "I would like…"

"Hold that thought number one. Mr. Williams, hail Deep Space 9."

"Hailing sir."

As Terry waited for Peter to hail Deep Space 9, he looked at the view screen. The old NX class ship was nearly to the ship bay doors.

"Sir, I have Benjamin Sisko for you. Shall I put him up?"

"Yes. Please do so."

"Greetings Captain. Our sensors show you have dropped out of warp. Run into trouble?"

"Not so much trouble as a unexpected discovery. I am calling to say we are going to be about an hour late and to ask you to have engineering teams waiting for us."

"You ask me to have engineering teams waiting and you expect me not to assume that you ran into trouble?" Sisko joked.

"You just wait old man. Your in for a real treat when we show up in 3 hours." Terry joked back.

"Now this I can't wait to see. Sisko out."

The view screen switched back to an exterior view. The NX class ship was gone.

"Ship bay to the bridge. NX class ship docked. Reporting ready for warp."

"Understood. Bridge out. Helm, engage, maximum warp"

"Engaging sir."

"Anders to Engineering. Send a repair team to the ship bay. They will receive instructions when they arrive."

"Understood sir. How many members should the team contain?"

"Seven people. I want the team small enough to beam out at once if need be."

"Understood sir. The team will be ready in 10 minutes."

"Very good. Bridge out"

Terry watched as the stars streaked past the view screen.

"Hey Mark. Lets go down to ten-forward. We'll find something fun to do. Number one, the bridge is yours."