A strange twist of fate

by Lucas43

A Confed battle group is trying to destroy a strange ship. And when it does, the people of the battle group find out how fickle the fates can be.

2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

As the Galahad and the Jason were pulling away, the admiral watched on his monitor. There was a knock on his door, and he just said "Enter."

When he looked up, he saw Lt Commander Langford standing in front of his desk. "Admiral, we've completed repairs to the Mastiff sir, and the rest of the repairs to the fleet should be completed within the hour."

He smiled to himself, "well at least its not all bad news today" he thought.

He motioned for her to have a seat, and when she was seated, he looked at her. "Hershell, you're pretty much my resident 'Science Officer', any idea's on what happened?"

She looked at him for a moment, and then she smiled, "Any idea? No matter how crazy it may sound."

Now he looked at her rather dubiously, and then he just nodded.

"Well admiral, I've managed to look at the results the Nav-comp has been getting, and I did some rough calculating. My best guess is that wherever we are, it's only the year 2245, plus or minus 2 years." Now the admiral looked shocked.

"You mean that we've traveled through time?"

"Oh no sir, that's not what I meant."

"Well what did you mean?"

She looked at him with her deep brown eyes, "Admiral, Because of the differences in our star charts to surrounding space, I don't think we're in our own universe any more."

If he hadn't been in shock before this, he certainly was now. "How is that possible?"

"Well sir, as you know, when we activate a jump point, we are essentially creating a miniature wormhole. Which we then pass through, and we end up in the next system over."

"Yes Hershell, they teach that at the academy in first year science."

"Well sir, as we know, when the unknown ship was destroyed, it had activated the jump point. When it exploded, the massive energy released from the ship must have caused the jump point to become extremely unstable. And as it collapsed in on itself, the gravitational force pulled our fleet into it, and it deposited us here."

He just sat there for a few minutes thinking about this bit of news. Now he reached down and opened one of the desk drawers, and pulled out two shot glasses and a small bottle of blue liquid. He quickly filled the two glasses, and pushed one to Hershell.

"Admiral, I don't usually drink the hard stuff," she said.

"I know that, but I need one, and I don't like to drink alone."

She just nodded, and then the two of them quickly swallowed their drinks. She felt it burn its way down to her stomach, and her eyes began to water. When she tried to talk, all that came out was a whisper. "What was that?"

The Admiral looked at her for a moment, allowing him to enjoy the drink. "That was Firrekian wine. It's only used at special ceremonies."

"And to field strip rifles." he added quietly.

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"So Hershell, if this is true, is there any way we can get back home?"

Now he could see that she had a deep look to her face. She just sat there and shook her head.

"You mean to tell me that there is no way we can ever get back home."

"Admiral, even if we knew exactly how we got here, and could duplicate it down to the last milli-volt of energy, there is no way to guarantee that we could ever find our own universe again."

Now he looked even more in shock than before.

"Putting it simply admiral, there are just to many possible universes for us to try."

"Imagine a box, 2 meters square and 10 centimeters high. Now it's filled with marbles, all different shades of red. Now you take a single marble out and scratch an X on it. Then turn around and drop it over your shoulder back into the box. Then close your eyes and turn around and shake the box and reach in. What do you think are your chances of finding the marble with the X on it on your first try?"

As he sat there, picturing the example, he just started to shake his head. "Astronomical to say the least."

Hershell just nodded, and quietly said, "Yes sir."

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"So since we can't get home Hershell, what are we supposed to do?"

"That's not my call sir, it's yours. That's why you have the star on your shoulder."

The Admiral just looked at her for a second, "Well you're no help."

She laughed at that, "Solving problems like that are way above my pay grade sir."

Now he looked at her seriously, "What about our guest?"

She looked at him, "Well sir, Captain Tate had the quartermaster assign him a room in pilot country, and I asked Katie to give him a hand in repairing his ship. Within reason."

"Good, we may need all the help we can get before this is over."

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Mastiff landing bay: Sam Laqua looked at his centurion as he walked around it. It still had a few scorch marks on it from the fight, and the armor needed to be replaced in a few areas but all in all it was in pretty good shape. "I'm glad I opted for the Mil-Spec design back on New Detroit," he thought.

As he was checking out his ship, one of the crew chiefs came over to his ship. "Looks like it's just about fixed sir."

Sam turned around and saw a young woman looking at his ship.

"Yeah, she's just about there, but I still got a few things to swap out."

He extended his hand, "Names Laqua, Sam Laqua."

She shook his hand, "Chief Petty Officer Katherine Reynolds, but you can call me Katie."

"Well Katie, would it be to much trouble to ask for a little help fixing her up?"

Katie looked at him for a few seconds, and then smiled. "As long as you don't ask for nukes, it shouldn't be a problem."

Sam found himself starting to like this lady, "Well I don't think I'll need any nukes right now, but you never know." he quipped.

Soon the two of them had the ship back in full working order.

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As they sat taking a break, she looked at him. "Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"No go ahead."

"I was just curious, where did you get that cannon?"

He looked at her for a minute then smiled. "Where do I start? I guess at the beginning of this little fiasco. About 3 weeks ago, I had just finished finding what was probably the biggest archeological find in Confed history. During my travels in the Gemini sector, I had managed to acquire an honest to goodness treasure map. 2 stone tablets, that when translated, gave the location of a ship belonging to an ancient race. I found out during my searching, that the race in question was called the Steltek. Apparently, they were flying around those parts while mankind was scratching his hairy butt against a tree limb. Then one day, they just up and disappeared. Well for once my luck was actually pretty good, because I actually found that ship. And I managed to salvage that cannon from it as well. It's a really nice weapon. Then when I launched, and headed back to Rygannon to report to the explorer core, I found that I was being followed by this weird looking ship."

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"Well I managed to give it the slip by doing a few double jumps, and I thought I was rid of it. But I was wrong. The nasty bugger had been following me for 3 weeks now, wherever I go. It was then that I met a navy Captain. She told me that this 'unknown ship' has been following my flight path, and that wherever I went it showed up soon after. She also told me that the Navy was going to try to capture or destroy the ship. And then she invited me to meet with the Admiral at Perry station. What can I say, I can't say no to a beautiful woman, especially when she has a 6-man escort with her. So a few days later, we were in the Admirals office at Perry. And he told me that all I had to do was to fly to the Blockade point Alpha system, and that they would do the rest."

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"On my way to the system, I was jumped by a flight of Kilrathi, but they didn't last long against my new toy. Then I got a really big surprise. The strangest looking ship I have ever seen just pulled up in front of me and hailed me. The darn ship looked like it was alive, and more than that, it looked hungry. It turned out, that the pilot was a real live Steltek. He or it offered to spare my life if I told him or it where I had found the technology on my ship. Well I managed to talk it out of blowing me away, and we made a deal. In exchange for the system coordinates, he or it would install the correct conversion device on my new cannon, to make it completely compatible with my ships power systems. Seemed like a good idea to me, so after the device was installed, I gave him the coordinates. He wished me well, and before he left, he said, "Watch out for the drone." Then he flew away and vanished into space. If it weren't for the device on my cannon, I would think that the meeting never took place. Then I jumped into the Alpha system. Well you pretty much know the rest of what happened."

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"So that cannon is alien tech from a million years ago?"

"More or less, but it still works like new."

"You know Sam, if I hadn't seen it up close, I would think your story was a lot of bull."

Sam smiled now, and then he stood up and looked at her. "Do you know where a fellow can get a bite to eat around here?"

She just wiped her hands clean, and stood up. "Follow me Sam." and they headed for the lift at the end of the landing bay.

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Bridge of TCS Mastiff: The comm. tech was adjusting his seat when the message from Galahad came in. He turned and looked at Captain Tate.

"Sir, we just received a flash message from Galahad. The have been attacked and are engaging a hostile force."

Captain Tate activated his comm. switch. "Bridge to Admiral."

"What is it Captain?"

"Sir we've just received a message from Galahad. They are engaged with a hostile force."

"Understood, I'm on my way." Admiral Douglas and Commander Langford headed for the bridge. They were just arriving on the bridge, when the second message from Galahad was being received.

Captain Tate looked at the Admiral, "We just got a second message, and they have destroyed the hostile force, and have found 4 other ships."

The Admiral just shook his head. Comm., open a channel to Galahad, I want to speak to Commander Blackwell."

"Aye sir."

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On the bridge of the Galahad, the comm. tech called the captain, "Ma'am, I have the Admiral on line."

Commander Blackwell looked at her XO, and just shook her head. "Put it through." she looked at her monitor, and soon was looking at Admiral Douglas.

"What happened Commander?"

"Sir, we were checking out the structure, and it activated. It seemed to open a portal, similar to a jump point. Then 4 ships came out of the portal, 3 transports and a warship. The Captain of the warship identified it as the Earth Alliance ship James Carter, and himself as Captain Santiago. As we were talking to Captain Santiago, another portal opened near us, and the crew of the James Carter started to prepare for combat. I tried to hail the other ship, but they opened fire on the Jason. I ordered all ships to return fire, and soon the alien ship was destroyed."

"Any casualties?"

"No sir, our shields held, but they were hit pretty hard sir."

"Where are you now?"

"We're escorting the ships back to the fleet sir. I thought you might want to speak to Captain Santiago yourself."

"Your right Commander, I do. But keep an eye on those ships, if they do anything strange, I want you to incapacitate them."

"Yes sir. Our ETA is 40 minutes."

"Roger that Commander." the admiral then closed the channel.

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Captain Tate looked at the Admiral. "Did she say the Earth Alliance?"

"Yes she did, this should be an interesting meeting."

"Admiral, I suggest that we put the fleet at condition two sir."

The Admiral sat and thought things over for a second. "You're right Leroy, put the fleet at condition two until further notice."

"Aye sir. Comm., have all ships of the fleet go to condition two."

"Aye sir."

The comm. tech contacted the fleet, and within 3 minutes, all ships reported at condition two.

Captain Tate looked at the admiral, "Sir, all ships at condition two."

"Very good Captain, I'll be in my ready room, have a channel to the James Carter opened as soon as they get here. I want to talk to their Captain."

"Yes sir." The admiral left the bridge and went to his ready room. Once inside, he sat at his desk and just started rubbing his temples.

"This mission just keeps getting weirder and weirder," he thought.

Captain Tate informed the Admiralas the ships approached,and the Admiral returned to the bridge.

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As the small group of ships neared the fleet, the scanner tech on the James Carter called the Captain. "Sir, I'm showing a large group of ships ahead."

Captain Santiago looked at him, "How many?"

"Sixteen sir,"

His XO went over to the scanner station.

"Well Mickey?"

"We can't get a clear scan sir, they seem to have some sort of EM jamming in effect. But they are definitely warships sir."

The comm. tech spoke up, "Sir, we're getting a signal from one of the ships sir."

"Put it through."

Captain Santiago saw and older man on the screen.

"Captain Santiago, I'm Vice Admiral Douglas, of the Terran Confederation. I would like to meet with you as soon as possible. I think we have a lot to talk about."

"Of course Admiral, I would like to meet you as well."

Captain Santiago immediately noticed that the crew behind the Admiral were walking or standing on the bridge.

"I can be in a shuttle in a few minutes Admiral."

"Good, I look forward to our meeting." and the channel closed.

"Did you see that Mickey?"

"Yes sir, they weren't floating."

"They must have gravity on their ships. Sir, we need to inform Earth-dome about this as soon as possible."

"Yes we do, but first let's meet this Admiral Douglas, and find out what he has to say."

"Yes sir."

"Have Lt. Masterson meet me in the shuttle bay in 5 minutes in dress uniform, I'm taking the atmospheric shuttle over to their ship."

"Yes sir."

Then Captain Santiago got up and made his way to his cabin to change.

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After he closed the channel, the Admiral spoke to Captain Tate.

"Captain, we are going to be having guests soon. I want a full marine honor guard/escort for our guests." then the Admiral went to his quarters.

Captain Tate just nodded his head, "Yes sir, understood."

He turned to the CAG, "Lt Colonel Lee, I want you to talk in the arriving shuttle."

"Yes sir."

Captain Tate then called the Marine detachment CO. "Colonel, The Admiral needs a squad of marines for honor guard/escort of incoming dignitaries."

Colonel Ellison got on the monitor, "Are we expecting trouble sir?"

"No Colonel, but better safe than sorry."

"Yes sir, I'll have a squad on the flight deck in 5 minutes."

Captain Tate buzzed the Admiral, "Sir, all preparations for our guests have been made."

The admiral was just slipping on his dress pants, "Thank you Captain." and then he continued dressing.

As soon as they launched, the shuttle was contacted by the CAG on the Mastiff, and was given landing instructions. As the shuttle neared the flight bay, they saw the doors to the bay slide back, and they saw that the crews were moving around on the deck. The CAG told them to lower their landing gear and cut their power, and then they felt the ship shake a little. Captain Santiago realized that they were being pulled into the ship by some sort of gravity beam. As the shuttle passed into the flight bay, they saw that they passed through some form of energy barrier. Then the shuttle was set down gently on the deck. They both felt the pull of 1G on themselves as they stood there inside the shuttle. Lt Masterson looked a little surprised by this fact. They also saw an honor guard awaiting them, along with several other people. Captain Santiago looked at the Lt., "Keep your sidearm holstered Lt."

"Yes sir."

They opened the door of the shuttle and stepped out. The Honor guard snapped to attention. As they neared the end of the honor guard, the Captain and Lt came to attention and saluted Admiral Douglas. He returned their salute crisply.