The shock waves were at their strongest peak, and now that there was a centrally located medical facility on the Promenade the patients began to flow in on a strady influx.
The shock waves were at their strongest peak, and now that there was a centrally located medical facility on the Promenade the patients began to flow in on a strady influx.
At first it wasn't a challenge for the medical officers but slowly, and without anyone really noticing it, patients began to pile up....there was an atrosious wait and the patients never stopped coming in. It was as if they didn't know that a medical facility existed before this one....some of them were so desperate......and some of them weren't.
Salvine was treating the worst of the worst with the assistance of Rager....while the rest of the medical personnel went to work in treating the other patients who were not critically injured but needed attention nonetheless.
"This one is going to make it but she is going to need a bed. I am afraid that some of our other guests are going to have to move."
Several patients had been given beds but when the influx of patients hit its full stride it was apparent that those who were occupying the beds could do without them while others could not.
"What is this!!! We aren't animals! I want medical attention." a rather obnoxious civilian began bellowing, quickly pushing his way through the throng of patients, he was met face to face with the Chief Medical Officer.
"Sir, I do not have time for this! You are not critically injured, thus you will have to wait your turn!" Salvine angrily informed the disgruntled patient. Normally Verin was not this aggresive and his anger never seeped through to his professional life but due to the situation and abrasivness of the man....it all came out.
But the man wasn't quite done with Salvine....Salvine turned to walk away but the man had other plans...with one aggressive shove Salvine went flying across the Promenade.......landing on the groun with a thud but not before cutting his forehead open from the corner of a surgical table.
With his head nearly cut in two, the man went at him in some sort of psychotic rage.....pounding on him the life began to ooze out of Verin and no one could stop the civilian........he just pounded and pounded on the doctor until a phaser blast erupted from the other side of the Clinic.
Rager stood there, mouth gaping open staring at the pool of blood at the feet of Salvine and at the unconcious man lying in it....she knew the instant she looked at her commanding officer that he was dead but there might still be a chance for his symbiont.....with a tricorder in hand she made her way to determine if she could save Salvine at the cost of Verin.
"Verin....Salvine....both of them are still alive." With the help of a civilian she hoisted the doctor up onto a bed....there was still time to save both of them........or at least she thought there was....
As her and one of the doctors prepared to go to work to save Verin they were engulfed by a great white light....and the sun had set on Verin Salvine.
"Did We Get Out"
Ensign Expok, USS Galaxy
The Galaxy shook as fire from the void task force struck her. Expok lost his footing and went to the ground. He got back up and resumed his post only to be knocked down again the next time the ship took a pounding. "This is getting old," he said under his breath. The security officer brought up a visual of what was happening outside. He looked into the small screen and a second later it was filled with a bright light. The same light that had gotten them into the Void. Only one thing crossed Expoks mind, "Did we get out,"
"How is Station Beta Two faring in all of this?" Captain Price asked.
"The smaller ships tried to attach to her hull like before, but Commander Morris' strategy of keeping the station turning and tilting seemed to be an effective counter measure. The Station's weapons were able to destroy the invading small fighters in the confussion."
In Engineering, on Station Beta 2, Lt. Cmdr. Hanson was, like the rest of the personnel on the station, working feverishly.
The jerry-rigged controls influencing the spin and yaw of the station were working surprisingly well; the Inertial Dampening Fields were the problem. The station's structure was, apparently, DESIGNED for this kind of topsy-turvy rocking; the Federation Standard IDF's, however, weren't calibrated for THIS. The main IDF console had sparked almost immediately, and was *this* close to going out altogether. Tom didn't even want to THINK about what would happen then.
Hanson lay deep in the console, flashes sparking from within. Engineering personnel ran from task to task, regulating the power supplies to the various parts of the station. This was as bad as it had ever gotten. The entire station wanted power, and wanted it NOW.
As bad as it was, some part of Tom's mind noticed that everything was getting done. His people were handling it. Shields were holding, the Re-Directive project looked like a success. The station's crazy rocking had kept the few small Void ships that had survived the Federation Defenses, from attaching themselves to Beta 2 and delivering their deadly cargo.
Finally, the console fixed and sparking no more, Hanson stood. Sweat pouring off his face, he wiped his forehead with the back of his rolled-up sleeve. He keyed up a view of the outside on his console -- just in time to see --
the PROBE. The one that had gotten them INTO this mess. Before he could even contact OPS and ask what the devil was happening, it fired. The searing, pervasive LIGHT was back -- Hanson tensed to see what would happen next!
"Coop Strike"
by CPO Jalal Dawner
Chief of Security Station Beta Two
"Ramos call a stage two security red alert. Let's get eveyone to their positions." Jalal says walking into the brig area. Moving to the master control for the force fields he stops. He quickly changes the password so that only he can take down the force fields. Leaving he stares coldly at the Orexian prisoner.
Walking into his office he steps behind his desk. Leaning over he lifts a grey box from under his desk. Setting it on his desk he places his thumb on a black button and opens it. He lifts two roll balls of crystal about the size of a softball and two metal looking stands. Closing the box he places it back under his desk.
Reaching down he taps two keys on his desk calling up the Romulan guards the Ambassdor put under him. As the viewscreen comes to life a Romulan face appears on it. "In a few minutes a hundred or so Coop ships will be attacking us. Now I know the embassy is your main concern, but it's unlikely to be a target. I could use you and your men here at Main security."
"Our standing orders are to protect the embassy."
"It's your choice, but Kale would be upset to hear that you disobey his order. Or his wife if he should die. Do what you thinks best." Touching his desk Jalal cuts the conection. Taking a crystal ball he carefully sets it on top of one metal base. Then he repeats the same for the second one. Holding one in each hand he steps back into the front office.
Going to one of the corners away from the main entrance he sets the ball and stand down. Touching his thumb to it causes a small symbol to appear on the stand. In the other corner he repeats it.
"Alright Ramos." Jalal says handing him a small black remote control and then continues. "Pushing the button there will set off those mines. The entire room will fill with crystal shards, so we Don't want to be in it. I have a matching one. Now we need to disconnect your desk and move it."
With a low whistle Ramos says. "Crystal shards? That will make some unhappy campers." Looking at the control Ramos flips the safety over the button he hooks it to his belt. Then with skill he quickly goes through the steps to disconnect his desk. Glancing up he nods to Jalal that he's done.
"Then grab that end and we'll move it. Let's put it across the main entrance as cover."
"Do you know how much this desk weights? It will take more then two to lift it."
With a small grin Jalal says. "Just grab that end and lift. Turn and take a step to your left." Doing what his Chief says they manage to move the desk across the main entrance. Jalal backs up to the desk setting on it's side and stares at each crystal ball. Walking to one he moves it over about an inch. Stepping back once again he looks and nods. "that ought to do it."
"What do we do know now?" Ensign Johsonn asks both of them.
"Well, we wait. When they board and attack we fight them. If we have to we fall back to my office. I've set it up at our command to raise a force field blocking the brig off. And setting one up about four foot tall blocking my office that we can use for cover. After blasting the front office with the mines. No one and I Mean no one, will take my office. Not while I still draw breath. Let them come."
"The Return of the Cydonia"
by: Doctor Will Andrews, Medical Officer
The doctor arose from his position on the ground, to see that things were not going too well. Commander Reix and Lieutenant Mitchell were debating whether or not they should go to the probe, to learn more about it. It seemed like an interesting discovery, but the consequences were too great. That was at the back of his mind, however. Right now, he had to deal with a painful gash on his forehead.
Will grabbed the med-kit, and started treating his wounds, as he listened to the two officers controlling the shuttle decide what they wanted to do. He noticed that the shuttle was riding on the shockwaves that sent him flying towards a console, so he decided to hold on tight to the backs of the shuttle seats. "This is going to be fun," he mumbled sarcastically, as he fumbled with a dermal regenerator.
"It certainly does look like it, but we never really got a good chance to check it out before we were thrown into this Void. If it is... it could be our way home. I think one of us should beam over. There might be something on there to help us out." Mitchell's voice caught Will's ear, as he put down the dermal regenerator.
"Are you nuts?!" Will was shocked. He knew that no one would be able to survive a beam-in. "With these shockwaves? You'll never get positioning! One big wave and you'll dematerialize half in, half out of the probe! No way. I can't sanction that."
The two of them discussed ideas for a moment, until yet another hairbrained idea came up. "I would suggest that we configure the tractor beam to just push the probe ahead of us. We can't get a good lock on it to tow it, forall the radiation interference, but I WOULD like to keep an eye on it, AND get back to Beta 2 and the Galaxy at the same time."
"Run that by me again?" the Doctor tried to ask politely, as he held a bandage to his head.
"Well, DOCTOR..." Reix said sarcastically, "The tractor beam would push the probe ahead of us, so that we can keep a close look on the probe. It is, after all, something of interest to us."
"I disagree with your reasoning, Commander. The waves are pushing the probe as it is. The probe just MIGHT lead us back to the ship. If we use the tractor beam now, it might alter its trajectory." Mitchell butted in. Will wasn't exactly in his element, but it didn't really make a lot of sense to him to use a tractor beam at this stage, or at any stage, for that matter.
"Well, then, what do YOU suggest? That we just follow the probe to wherever it leads us, hopefully back to the ship?" Reix questioned, as Will looked closely at the both of them.
"Yes, that is exactly what I suggest." James said smartly, as he glanced at Reix, and Will in the back seat. Will nodded slightly, and Reix turned to his console. The two of them began to tap on their consoles.
"Setting course to follow the probe... wherever it leads us..." Reix said calmly, as the shuttle continued on its merry little way.
*** Several minutes later ***
The probe did manage to lead the shuttle back to where the Galaxy was located. "There's the ship!" Will pointed, as he exclaimed in joy. *The end of an interesting away mission,* he thought to himself. He was happy to be back, but he was somewhat sad that his first away mission had to come to such an abrupt end.
Doctor Will Andrews Medical Officer, USS Galaxy
"Not Good"
by Lt Ti Miran
Miran guided the sleek ship through a series of manuevers trying to keep away from damaging the ship even more. It wouldn't hurt her feelings any if they did not have a repeat of Deck 22.
Poor people in the shuttle Cydonia. It was rough flying the starship; it had to be near impossible in the shuttle. Hope that the pilot was good.
"Bring us about Ti. Hard to starboard," the captain ordered.
"Coming about Captain." Miran responded. She tapped the proper sequence of commands to get the ship to do her bidding. This was almost as fun as flying the fast little planes that did a couple of Gs if you turned fast enough- though the ship was to big and not to mention all the equipment built to protect the people onboard from crazy pilots.
"Let us go home- the rocking and lack of no stars has just about made me go nuts," Miran thought to herself. It would be nice to fly among stars again. A romantic evening with Deiran all to herself wouldn't be too bad either. Maybe something Medievel.
"Helping out"
by Lt. (jg) K'arta
Assistant Chief of Security USS Galaxy
Lt. K'arta and her team were wandering the Promenade decks when the station came under attack. Seeing several people headed into the Promenade medical clinic, the Klingon motioned to her team and followed the officers inside.
"Anything we can do to help?" she asked one of the doctors. He looked at her slightly startled then answered.
"Of course. If you could help in bringing the injured in and moving them around, we'd be grateful." Dr. Salvine said.
"Sure thing." K'arta told him, then turned to her officers. "Let's split up into teams of two, Campbell, you're with me. We need to get the wounded to this clinic and help the doctors out by administrating basic first aid." with her last words, she glanced to the doctor for his confirmation. He nodded in agreement and uttered his thanks as the team headed out of the clinic.
"Let's get to work, Cadet." K'arta said as the teams split up.
"Aye, Lt." he responded with a smile.
They began their patrol on the Promenade, struggling to keep their footing when ever the station rocked and changed direction.
"Didn't Commander Morris order everyone to their quarters earlier?" Campbell asked K'arta.
"I'm pretty sure she did. Although it doesn't look like everyone obeyed her." K'arta responded as she and Campbell sidestepped around a Pakled intent on preserving his shop. A lot of people were still on the Promenade after the station began its trek.
They completed their patrol of the Promenade and headed up to the next deck. There they immediatly found a station inhabitant sprawled on the corridor floor. K'arta and Campbell rushed to her side, The woman lay in an uncomfortable postition with her arms, all four of them, streched out in unnatural positions. Campbell looked to his superior officer slightly confused.
"A Terellian. Noted for their four arms. All of which look broken to me, what do you think?" she informed him.
"I think you're right." he answered, scanning the unconscious woman with his tricorder. "She's still alive, barely. It looks like she took a severe blow to the head."
K'arta nodded in agreement. "Let's at least get splints on her arms before we move her." Campbell nodded and pulled the necessary equipment out of the med kit K'arta had picked up from the clinic.
They worked quickly and efficiently to splint the Terellian's arms, then requested an emergency transport to the clinic.
"Negative, Lt. The transporter is temporarily off line. Sorry." the officer replied.
K'arta growled under her breath, then turne
d to Campbell. "Help me get her up." she ordered.
Campbell hoisted the Terellian up, then held her until K'arta was positioned. With one motion, K'arta swung the woman onto her shoulder, drawing on the strength in her Klingon blood. Campbell grabbed the med kit and followed the burdened K'arta to the lift.
They arrived in the clinic to see several other people already waiting to be taken care of. Dr. Salvine looked up when he saw her enter with the Terellian.
"Put her over there." he said, nodding to an empty bed. "Thanks."
"No problem. Anything we can do to help." K'arta smiled as they headed back out to the rest of the station.
Chandler and Sanchez were carrying another person in and K'arta and Campbell stepped aside to let them pass.
"Good work." She said in appreciation and left the clinic.
They continued their rescue work throughout the battle with the Void Cooperative.
*** Deck 7 Saucer Section Hallway***
Ensign Thomas was at loss of where he was suppose to be. Starfleet Academy training had prepaired him these types of conditions, but simulation could never replace the real effect. Chris was used to working alone realying only on himself, but this was not Starfleet Intelligence. This was the USS Galaxy a dream for most cadets and ensigns, less than 2% got assigned to the newer ship models. He new that having spent 2 years with Starfleet Intelligence, first as a cadet, then for his first assignment might effect his preformance on a starship. The ship was being hit hard, Chris was at loss of what to do, yes he had been assigned to Ops, but you only needed one on the bridge. Then he made a decision standing in this hallway was doing him nor the rest of the crew any good, so he set off sickbay. He figured that atleast this way I'll be doing something useful besides holding the down on deck 7.
*** Sickbay ***
The biobeds were filled and injured crew members were lying down where ever they could find space. Even the hallways where being used, by the nurse and doctors. Then he caught the glimpse a doctor whom appeared to be running everything. "Dr. Rousseau" a patient said trying to explain where she was hurting. Chris made his way over to her where she was helping another crewmen.
"Dr. Rousseau, how can I help?" Chris asked he didn't want to do something that would mess up what someone else had already do to help a patient.
Ensign Christopher Thomas Operations USS Galaxy
"Stressful Situations"
by Lieutenant Andrew Hutchcraft
Lt. Hutchcraft returned from Deck 22, and immediately walked into Engineering. It's next action was to fall on a banister near the warp-core, and get his breath back.
One of the new officers onboard the Galaxy, a young Ensign Mercury, had also returned with him.
"Lucky we managed to get them folks out, Lieutenant" he stated as he stood next to him.
Hutchcraft looked at him "Yeah ... sure ..."
Being Chief Engineer was not something that you simply jumped into, which Hutchcraft pretty much had done. This was a lot of hard work for him. As an Assistant Chief, all Hutchcraft had to deal with was a handful of graveyard-shift security officers, handling hardly little. He only had to deal with one big issue - the Chiron case.
Engineering seemed like it would be easy. No cats to rescue, no brawls to stop, no Borg to pull around the ship, or any murders to solve. Simply maintain the Warp-Core. That was the job.
So far, it had been hell. The incident Hutchcraft, Chiron, Mercury and their fellow officers had gone through was frightening for all of them. They had lost several fellow officers, some of them were even friends. Either way, it was the loss of human life.
This wasn't like a murder-case. People died because some mad-man (or at least, a Tamarian influenced by a mad-alien) was going around the ship killing them. This, however, was people dying simply because the Galaxy's Captain, Mr. Price, would not join the Void Co-Operative.
Hutchcraft personally, was having his own doubts about the whole thing. He didn't like the idea of being stuck inside a void all his life, but he wouldn't miss anything back in the Milky Way. His parents were people he would miss, and maybe some of the other folks from back home would fill his hurt with misery as he realised he would never see them again, but it wasn't that bad.
Until now. "Lieutenant ..." yelled Ensign Rolil, the Bajoran Ensign that Hutchcraft had been arguing with in the turbolift "... we're in trouble"
"What now?" Hutchcraft was under a lot of stress. The pressure of being a department head was high. Dealing with his fellow officers, ordering about, controling the most dangerous of situations. He was wondering why Chiron had gone on the murder-spree, instead of the previous Chief Engineer Lieutenant Kane. The pressure was enough to make a normal man cry in agony.
"Sir, it's about the Void Co-Op ... their coming!" yelled the young Bajoran.
Hutchcraft looked worried. He hadn't planned on dying. Joining the Co-Op might be a final option, but dying was definetly not before it. "Battle stations..." Hutchcraft began "Everyone, to your posts, we're about to into a critical situation. We could be dealing with all kinds of problems on this one ..."
Chiron walked in as Rolil continued "It's worse sir ... the Void ... it's the milky way, the big bang, back in the ..."
"I understand, move it Ensign!" shouted Hutchcraft at the young officer. Hutchcraft slammed his hands against a console. The Big Bang theory was kids stuff, it was taught to teenagers. But to understand the full impact required proper intuition, like Starfleet Academy intuition. The Galaxy was in big trouble.
Hutchcraft could feel the Co-Operative coming. What a name, the Co-Operative. Firing on another ship was hardly Co-Operative. Hutchcraft glanced around the crew, as they flowed like an adrenline-pumped vein. The Blood of the Engineering Department was flowing through the heart as fast as possible
"Watch those regulators crewman." Hutchcraft reminded. "We are running at one hundred and five percent on the matter anti-matter reactor. It could change in an eye blink."
"Aye sir. I'm on it!" the crewman said enthusiastically.
The Lieutenant smiled. The Engineering bay was not the only area pumped with Adrenline. Andrew was covered in sweat, and yet smiling. It was a stressful job, but it was also fun, in a life-threatening kind of way. To think that he could have ended up like his parents - quiet peaceful cafe owners. Oh no, he was a Starfleet Lieutenant. Finally, a real direction to go in.
As he thought about this, he failed to notice something.
The explosion was the blinding, the results were horrific. "WHAT THE HE.." Hutchcraft screamed as what appeared to be a particle beam, ripped through the hull of the Galaxy. The Deck started decompress,
This was it. The end. Sure, he had found his path, made something of himself. He had even gained the confidence of his superiors to rise to this rank. But as his foot slipped, the slow-motioness of death sank in. He had enjoyed a strange life, it had it's ups, it's down, and it's nons. Hutchcraft's body relaxed as death came. Finally, the end was nigh ...
"AARGH!" shouted Hutchcraft, as he fell to the floor. He touched the space in front of him, and could now see the forcefield that had saved him
He could see the hole in the ship clearly. It was kind of wonderous, with the exception of the bodies now flooring in to the void. Hutchcraft cared not to look further.
"Chief! The regulator appears to be stuck!" Shouted a young Crewman to his side.
Hutchcraft quickly returned "We've got to reduce the flow immediately or the reactor will overload!"
"How?" replied the crewman.
Struggling for a solution, the Chief looked blankly back at the Crewman. He then turned to Chiron, who had also been caught by the forcefield. -- I need your help -- Hutchcraft thought.
Chiron shoke his head. "Why are they stuck, crewman?" Hutchcraft asked
"I DONT KNOW" Shouted the Crewman. He looked as bad off as Hutchcraft, being a new recruit.
"What would happen if we turned off the reactor, and then restarted it?" spoke Ensign Rolil from Hutchcraft's side.
"During a fight, with over 40 ships?" responded Hutchcraft, startled by the idea. "No way ... Ensign Rolil, get working on the regulalators. Ensign Mercury, join him"
-- You too, Chiron -- Hutchcraft thought to himself.
--------------
It was a tough situation. While Hutchcraft and the remaining crew tried their best to keep control of the near-overloading reactor, the small team working on the Regulators managed to get them back online.
"Good work, people!" cheered Hutchcraft.
As he did so, word came from the Bridge that the Galaxy was on it's way home, via a second probe. Hutchcraft wondered what this was all about, but had a feeling he would find out soon enough ...
James Donovan
"The Cydonia Returns"
by: Doctor Will Andrews, Medical Officer
The shuttle wasn't any worse for wear. It had been through a turbulent ride, with the intense shockwaves and radiation. The three occupants were lucky enough to make it out alive. And they weren't coming back alone. A massive CoOperative fleet was massing and converging towards the Galaxy and B2.
Salvine was in a void. When Trill symbionts were no longer joined, an emptiness spread throughout them at an instantaneous rate, in the same way that a host feels a deep emptiness after being separated from their symbiont, if they survived that is. But the difference with symbionts was that they just wanted to be joined, they never got attached to a particular host. As one host died a new one always came along but this time there was new host, not yet at least.
The memories contained within the symbiont were no longer organized according to what host they had belonged to, that only happend when it was with a host, now that it was separated the memories of: Toran, Javen, Tellana, Geiger, Joval, Tarena, Kreta, and Verin: were all one, any distinction would not come until the new host came.
Verin: Where.........
Toran: Take control...you can form your identity amongst the chaos if you try........
Joval: He's right Verin...concentrate.
Tellana: Don't pressure him, he hasn't realized yet he can regain his indivduality within the symbiont after death. It will come.
Kreta: Tellana is right. Let the boy rest...we should all rest. Our new host will be here soon and we must be ready.
Verin: New host?
Geiger: He catches on fast.
Tellana: As soon as we mentioned new host just after you died you caught on to.
Tarena: He needs compassion now.
Geiger: What he needs is to come to grips with the facts that he is nothing more then a collection of memories before we are re-joined.
Verin: Don't expect a host anytime soon.
Kreta: What happened?
Geiger: Just access his memories....we have as much right to them as the new host does.
Verin: Kreta...weren't you the.....
Kreta: Yes, I was the host before you. You learn quick....
Verin: Yes, I do. I learned I am dead.
Geiger: In a sense you still live....hopefully your inner being went on to the next level.
Verin: Isn't my inner being here?
Geiger: We are only memories.....
Kreta: Memoires is what makes the person.
Toran: Enough! We must prepare for the new host...silence.
And with that the memories of the former hosts went into a sleep, hopefully the next time they awaken it is by the presence of a host.
"A Piece Of The Action"
by Ensign Soushonn Arcas
Soushonn let out an audible sigh, his head and shoulders drooping a little more from the gesture. How could anyone be this annoying? How could someone who talked this much ever get anything done? How in all of the possible postings on this vessel had he been stuck on the same shift as this all-too-social socialite?
"Hey, Souse, you there?" came Lieutenant Junior Grade Charlie Feinwein's laughing voice over the com again... "Don't you get it?"
Feinwein's sense of humour was nothing if not demanding.
"Yes, Lieutenant, I... 'get it.' Very funny indeed."
Soushonn looked over to Wierzbowski with a questioning visage. His first friend aboard the Galaxy was the same rank as Feinwein and could probably order the pesky officer to 'shut up' for him if anyone could. But Wierzbowski just shrugged.
Soushonn sighed again... Being stuck on security watch of the deck 32 SIF port generator was mundane enough without having to listen to some rambling lieutenant go on and on with pointless stories and unintelligible jokes. He wished he could just be back in the defense perimeters of Sector 001 instead of on some huge starship that had been sucked into a sort of void where all that was to be found were enemies galore.
He dismissed the pleasant memories along with the pessimistic view of the present and tried to focus on the bulkhead in front of him. If he could shut everything but the aesthetic curvature of the corridor wall out from his mind, he'd be able to pull through to the next duty shift without 'blowing up' on Feinwein.
"Souse, buddy, you really have to lighten up. You're not going to make it on this starship without a better attitude. If I were you, I'd be too busy asking Wierzbowski out on a date to pretend that I was all angry at being demoted. In fact, Weirzy baby, how about joining me in ten..."
Feinwein was cut off mid-sentence as the first Cooperative particle beam sliced through the Galaxy's Secondary Hull. He had only a split second to witness the dissolving deck plates beneath him before he was vapourized in the luminescent flare of energy. Within nanoseconds, the starboard SIF generator absorbed what was left of the blast and exploded into a brilliant shower of flaming metal shards. Over four decks had been penetrated by the Cooperative weapon, the entry point directly within Main Engineering.
"Feinwein? Feinwein, answer me..."
Wierzbowski nodded to Soushonn and the two officers began making their way to the other side of the ship.
Soushonn drew a quick breath as he came upon the scene. The particle beam had struck on a 45° angle, passing through SIF room's exterior wall just left of the door. Exactly where Feinwein would have been standing.
He tapped his communicator. "Damage control teams to decks 32 through 36, sections 21 through 29."
Wierzbowski's arms dropped limply to her sides...
"Soushonn... They're dead... Both of them gone, just like that..."
"Both of them?"
Soushonn spun back around and scrutinized the scene. Debris from the generator, the bulkheads and assorted electrical materials covered everything as green plasma flames pressed against the containment field around the destroyed SIF generator. Under a large piece of tritanium alloy rested the open palm of Ensign Chay Demora.
"She might be alive... I'm going in" spoke Soushonn quickly as he loosed his phaser and handed it to his shaken friend.
"Are you out of your mind? There's type 4 radiation levels about to go critical in that containment field and with all those live wires hanging you'll be killed for sure" yelled Wierzbowski. "We've got to get this area contained immediately!"
"Get this area closed off now, then. I'll find a way out."
"You can't beam out of this kind of radiation! We're in battle anyhow, and we might not even"
"Go!"
As Wierzbowski ran to the the security field controls, Soushonn twitched his comm badge clockwise and a type one personal shield erected itself around the contours of his uniform and body. He had neglected to return the relief suit back to Sigma Alpha 2 and had been wearing the hi-tech gear while on duty since he began on the Galaxy. "Don't fail me now, old friend." he whispered.
The ponytailed junior security officer leapt into the mess of tangled wires and misplaced metal and began tossing aside the debris on the floor beside his fellow ensign, hoping that he would be able to pull her out from under the piece
of tritanium. As a plume of steam cleared away, Soushonn laid down beside the long strip, seeing only the glimmer of a StarFleet Comm Badge and two horror-filled eyes.
"Help me" cried the hidden voice.
"I will. Just hold on." spoke Soushonn as he got into position.
With the containment field indicators now flashing red in the backdrop of the horrendous scene, Soushonn fashioned himself into a human jack, propping his back against the bulkhead and using his legs to push the heavy piece of metal up and off the ill-fated ensign. His muscles strained and shook from the effort and he forced out an exasperated yell as his legs finally extended fully,
With a quick tugging at the ensign's arms, she was free from the pinion.
"Got you!" exclaimed Soushonn as the tritanium slab fell back down to the deck.
With only seconds to spare, Soushonn looked back towards the entraceway only to find that Wierzbowski had sealed off the area.
"Oh no." he thought. "I didn't think she'd listen... "
Spotting the hole that had been created by the particle beam, Soushonn immediately picked his injured crewmate up and ran for it, half-huddling over her to shield her from any dangers created by the wires and such.
"Computer, release containment field 37B for time lapse of two seconds on my mark... Mark!"
The computer-erected force field lowered and Soushonn leapt down through the gap in the decks. As it went back up again, the containment field around the destroyed SIF failed and the green plasma flames flushed out into the hallway where he had been just seconds ago.
Falling a good four decks, Soushonn's personal shielding helped very little as he landed with a loud smash. He rolled a somersault forward to take the force of the impact away but he had heard his calf crack as the landing was made. He felt his head heave from pressure as the weight of the two bodies forced down onto his neck. They rolled to a stop, now both injured...
"Owwwwwwwwwwww... Stupid, defective, lousy, no good... " he yelled. "Are you alright?"
Ensign Demora looked up and let out a great sigh of relief.
"Thank you."
As Soushonn struggled to get up, he looked around Engineering to witness officers running in every which direction. He took ahold of an ensign and started to explain the situation with the SIF generator but was knocked against the port-facing wall by someone screaming something about regulators.
He didn't fight the urge to collapse and crumpled into a sitting position beside the rescued crew member.
"Gee, this is much healthier for my psyche than test flying little fighters around in friendly space... Anybody know whose BUTT I CAN KICK now?" quipped the exhausted security officer.
Within minutes the medics arrived and things seemed to be settling down.
"Not to strike up a sour note or anything," he asked the blue-collared officer "but this doesn't happen on a weekly basis or anything, does it?"
"The Beginning"
Ensign Michael Duncan had arrived on the USS Galaxy two weeks ago. He had met with his senior officer, Lt. Dieran Casey on his first day. Lt. Casey was a young man, younger than Duncan and Ensign Thomas (the other new operations officer) but it was of no concern. Lt. Casey knew what he was doing and he was good at it. Duncan and Thomas had learned one or two things from him already.
Lt. Casey had stationed Ensign Duncan to the Operations 2 station on the bridge. Duncan loved being on the bridge. The Galaxy was his first posting since he graduated Starfleet Academy. Everyone was proud of him for getting on the Galaxy. It was the hardest ship to get posted on to. You either had to know somebody or have some pretty damn good credentials.
Nevertheless, Duncan wasn't going to let it get to him. No matter where he was, he still had a job to do and superiors to impress. Thats exactly what Duncan was going to do.
His shift had ended and Duncan was heading towards the Hard Rock Cafe on deck 12. It was a good representation of the Hard Rocks in the 20th century. Very good.
Michael went over to the bartender, "Give me something good. Different. I want something tasty."
"I have just the thing for you. Try it."
"Gladly," Michael took a drink and instantly loved the drink. "What is it, I have to know?"
"It's a home made secret. Its called Backlava."
"Very good, thank you much!"
Ensign Duncan grabbed his drink and sat at one of the tables. He was relaxing after a long days work. He had worked before, but not like this. He loved it.
A few minutes later, Lt. Casey entered the Cafe with Ensign Thomas. They noticed Ensign Duncan sitting alone and joined him.
Ensign Michael Duncan
Operations Officer, USS Galaxy
wesley1701@hotmail.com
"The Attack"
Ensign Expok, USS Glaxy
Expok was on deck 36 when it happend. First the attack came. The ship would shake as weapons hit her. Expok watched the battle from a small viewing station. A ship came around preparing for a pass, "Come on get him," Expok said under his breath. A second later a phaser beam hit the enemy ship destroying it. "Yeah" the Ensign said quietly. The next thing he knew he was knocked to the ground as a blast cut into the ship slicing it up. Expoks eyes filled with pain when he heard a bone snap. The Attack had got him.
The ship shooke again. Expok opend his eyes. He stugled to stand up. One of the bones in his ribs had broke through the skin and it was jutting out of his body. Blood poured out of the Ensign as he sturgeld to walk. He fell against the wall as he lost his balance. He got up again. He was feeling lightheaded as he started to walk. His gold uniform was stained red. He fell into the turbolift a moment later. "Sickbay," he managed to breath out. The turbolift whisked away.
When he woke up he was on an operation table. He looked to where the bone had stuck out of his skin. The skin was brusied but the bone was back in place. He just layed there eyes open staring at the light above his head. A few moments later he fell asleep.
USS Galaxy
Lt. Deiran Casey
"Ops- Saving Lives Again"
It was a tough mission. When you’re heading to a space station to be refitted with a new Shuttle Bay door and end up in a time continuum before the Big Bang, it just doesn’t happen every day. It was just one of the things about Space travel and serving in Starfleet. You just don’t know what will happen next. Talk about your adrenaline rush.
Casey was very good at taking care of the ship’s power in battle situations. He always kept an eye on Engineering and Sickbay. Two of the most important non-battle stations on the ship. And there was one person in particular who was happy that Casey was so good at his job. Lt. Andrew Hutchcraft, who would be space debris if it wasn’t for Casey’s quick reaction to the decompression of engineering during the battle with the Void co-op.
Casey’s shift was over and he wanted to unwind, relax and just sit back and enjoy being in his own Time- Continuum. There’s nothing like your own time-continuum, it was home.
Casey stood in the entrance of Ten Forward. He really didn’t want to be here. He wanted to be with Miran. But, she was exhausted over pulling double duty after double duty in the Void and she needed her sleep. So, Casey found himself here in Ten Forward looking for someone to have a drink with. A non-alcoholic drink. The only person he saw that would be fun to be with was a certain engineering chief. Casey was going to have fun with him.
He walked over to Hutch. He was at the bar, enjoying Liam’s strange concoctions that he was making just for Hutch.
"Hey, it’s the walking dead man!" Casey said with a huge smile.
"Ah, Deiran, come to rub it in hey?" Hutch responded.
"Care if I join you chief?" Casey asked.
"Sure, Casey. Pull up a chair, enjoy yourself at my expense." Hutch’s face looked as if it was made of stone as he responded to Casey.
"Well thanks for the invitation. I heard that I put up the forcefield on deck 36 just in time to stop you from being sucked out of our little ship. Is that correct?" Casey asked.
"Yes," Hutch mumbled under his breath, clearly not enjoying this little conversation.
"Gee, I would say that it’s time to give you a list of things you can do to repay me. Let me see now. What should I have you do first?" Casey said as he rubbed his chin, looking up in the air and pondering the worst things he could get Hutch to do in return for Casey saving Hutch’s life.
"That was your job! Are you telling me that you want me to pay you back?" Hutch was furious.
"Sure, why not. If it wasn’t for my impeccable timing, you wouldn’t be standing here, now would you?" Casey looked serious, he meant it.
Hutch started to swear under his breath. Some pretty imaginative cursing Casey thought.
"Listen Hutch. It won’t be too bad. I know you’d do the same to me. You’d milk it for all it’s worth. And you know it. It won’t be too bad. Most of it will be little, small jobs. I need a new I-chip in my replicator. The lights over my desk aren’t as bright as I’d like. Let’s see. Oh, yeah my sonic shower could be better. Maybe you can install a massager for my back. Mmmmmm. What else?"
"Hey! That’s enough right there. If I’d known you were going to ask me for all of this I’d just assume be floating in space right now!" Hutch was screaming, he was mad.
Casey watched Hutch as he reacted to Deiran’s words and demands.
Casey put his hand on Hutch’s shoulder and as he was smiling, he began,"Hutch, your overworked and stressed out. You need some rest. This has been fun. I liked seeing you screaming and ranting. I’m not the kind of guy who would expect something in return for saving a person’s life. It was my duty. I’m glad I could save your life. I’m glad your sitting there yelling at me. I’m just kidding with you. Pulling your chain. I appreciate the laugh, it was fun."
Casey stared at Hutch as he realized what Deiran was doing. A reluctant smile appeared on Hutch’s face.
"You’re a scoundrel!" Hutch laughed.
"Of course." Casey stopped and said with all seriousness,"Hutch, I’m glad your still here with us. I’m glad I got the forcefield up in time to save you. I don’t expect anything from you. I was just kidding. See you around."
"Well, at least let me buy you a drink?" Hutch asked.
"Okay, I’ll accept that." Casey looked at Liam, "I’ll take a large grape juice. The real stuff, Liam, not replicated." Casey turned to Hutch, Casey was beaming. Casey just cost Hutch a lot of credits.
"You offered," Casey said in response to Hutch’s growl.
"When you wish upon a star"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price
Dozens of Void Cooperative ships began to converge upon the USS Galaxy and Station Beta Two. Their energy weapons and explosive warheads were bombarding our Federation heros in an almost vindictive way. No longer did they appear concerned with capturing the ships and station intact, the Void Cooperative forces were now bent upon their destruction for the defiance the Federation represented to their political system in this starless void.
"DAMAGE REPORT!" Captain Price screamed over the noise of explosions, alert warnings and the shriek sound of the Galaxy's fire suppression system.
"Shields down to 36 percent Captain. Warp engines are offline. Life support is failing. We have forward photon torpedoes, the main phaser array has burnt out. Hutchcraft is working on bypassing the problem, but the reactor is giving him a hard time." Blair sounded less that enthusiastic in delivering his report the Captain. And like Troy's tone, the chances of the Galaxy and Station Beta Two surviving this encounter looked quite grim.
"Load up Quantum torpedoes 'mate. All tubes, full spread."
"Aye Sir." Blair managed as another CoOp ship fired on the Galaxy, rocking her to one side.
"Captain," a tired Deiran Casey began, "at this range, our torpedoes may cause damage to our system's as well if we use them."
Lee nodded. There was soil covering his duty jacket now, and a smudge of black soot on one side of his face. The Bridge of the Galaxy looked like hell, and that was reflected by the Captain's own appearance. "I understand Lieutenant. But they should do a far sight more damage to the Cooperative. They'll be a lot closer than we will 'mate." It was a desperate remark, but given the circumstances, Deiran just nodded.
"Aye Captain."
Yet another blast struck the hull of the Galaxy, rocking her back the opposite direction.
"Where are those torpedoes gentlemen?..." Captain Price asked in a low tone.
"They are having trouble with the loading system sir." Blair explained. "They should have it cleared in a moment."
A third explosion rocked the ship, followed by a fourth. "I hope so 'mate. We can't take much more of this!"
"Shields are failing sir. Down to 7 percent. One more hit could finish us...." Blair stated flatly.
The Bridge crew all grew silent for a long moment. This was it. This was the end.
"CAPTAIN LOOK!" Ensign Vo exclaimed.
Looking at the view screen, the crew of the Galaxy could see the alien probe begin to glow. A faint beam emitted from it's hull, washing over all the ships and the station in the immediate area. Some, but not all, began to shine in a brightly glowing white aura that pulsated. The Galaxy, Station Beta Two, the shuttle Cydonia, the Llaiir, basically every non-Cooperative aligned vessel began to glow.
"What's happening?" Lieutenant Ti Miran asked from the Helm station. "We seem to be engulfed in some kind of energy 'cocoon'?"
Ensign Mai began to check her Science station quickly, trying to answer the Lieutenant's question.
While Ensign Vo did that, Casey reminded everyone of the true imminent danger they all faced. "The shock wave from the matter explosion will be upon us in five seconds. Four. Three. Two. One..."
Everyone tensed up as the wave washes over the Galaxy. They watched as the energy wave impacted with the other vessels in the area, often forcing one ship to fly directly into another and explode on impact. Large chunks of rock and solid matter impacted with other ships, totally annihilating everything in it's path. Everything except those few Federation ships and the station that had refused to join the Cooperative. Those that hadn't given up on the hope of finding a way home.
A blinding white light penetrated ever micron of the Federation vessels, saturating everyone's senses, causing them to black out just as they had before.
What seemed like moments later, the light faded. Lee placed his hands upon his head, he had a slight head ache from the white light.
"Are we dead Captain?" asked Mai in a meek tone.
Glancing around the Bridge, he could see the Galaxy was still in a big mess. Lee watched while other members of the bridge crew regained their senses.
"I don't think so 'mate. The bridge isn't clean enough for this to be 'eaven, and it's a far sight too functional for this to be 'ell." He said with a grin.
"Well then, where are we sir?" the oriental officer asked inquisitively.
Lee was about to speculate when Ti cheered out loud.
"That's Orion's shield! And that's the Holkin cluster. And there's the eyes of Polaris..."
Ti was pointing out constellations through the main view screen as everyone looked at the millions upon billion of stars that somehow looked unusually bright this morning.
"Receiving an incoming transmission from Starfleet Command Captain!" Troy exclaimed in a gleeful tone.
Captain Price smiled a bit as he sunk back into the command chair and just gazed out the view screen at the stars. "Tell them we are home Lieutenant. Tell them the Galaxy and Station Beta Two are home."
"YES SIR!" Lieutenant Blair answered with an ear to ear grin.
"Injuryed"
By CPO Jalal Dawner
Chief of Security Station Beta Two
From Jalal's office Ramos calls in. "Hold on! Here they come!" Almost on cue the Void ships charge into the defe
nding ships exchanging fire. Jalal steps into his office and to Ramos' side. Both of them watch the screen intently as the attacks come.
"Ha! Nice shot Kale." Jalal says to no one in particular as the ambassador takes out one of the Void ships.
Ramos points at one of the void symbols coming right for the station. As it closes Ramos and Jalal hold on tightly to the desk. The whole station seems to jump to one side as the ships fire.
"I Think they've given up on taking the station." Jalal just gets out as yet again the station takes fire. This time Jalal's grib on the desk slips as the station gets slamed. Tossed across the room he crashes into one of the walls. An odd poping sound is heard as his knee connects to the wall.
Rolling over Jalal grabs ahold of his right knee. Why Now! Jalal thinks to himself as the pain floods into his brain from his knee. Dark stains slowly appear on the pants around his knee. Ramos after letting the station stop moving he moves beside Jalal.
Tapping his com-badge Ramos says. "Transporter room four, transport Jalal to the infirmary. He needs medical help."
[Their down! We're trying to get them back on-line.]
"Alright." Ramos replies. "Johnsonn! We need you in here."
Holding on to the doorjam Johnsonn manages to reach them. "Johnsonn grab one of his shoulders. When I tell you we slide him into the front room. Jalal this Is going to hurt."
"Yea, I Know will. Just do it!" <
Together they both manage to get Jalal into the front office. Three Romulans are standind looking into main security. Seeing them Ramos yells to them. "Well, move that damn desk out of the way!"
They just stand there for a second before moving the desk out of the way. Two of them move to help with Jalal. One of them say. "Carrying him will work better." All of them lift and get him to the Promenade infirmary.
++++++++
Blla directs them to one of the last few open floor places. "Set him down there." Using her medical tri-corder she says. "So the knee finally went. Next time get it fixed when I tell you do." She quickly stops the bleeding and stablizes the wound. Soon the pain killer puts him to sleep.
Counselor Salshyar regained consciousness after most of the rest of the senior crew, she had a pounding headache. She looked around the bridge, everything was suddenly calm, too calm for a battle scene. She wondered if this was death.
Just then, Ti started to cry out, "That's Orion's shield! And that's the Holkin cluster. And there's the eyes of Polaris..." Constellations. Milky Way constellations. They were home. Looking out through the view screne, Devlynn had an odd feeling, it was permeating the ship. An emotion that is rarely felt in such powerful proportion. Contentment.
The crew of the U.S.S. Galaxy was feeling as good as they could feel. Right now everyone had forgotten the Void, forgotten the deaths on the ship, all they knew what that they were home...
"Receiving an incoming transmission from Starfleet Command Captain!" Troy exclaimed in a gleeful tone. Devlynn snapped back to reality, as did most of the rest of the Bridge Crew, the whole crew began to wind up like an old fashioned record player.
Captain Price smiled a bit as he sunk back into the command chair and just gazed out the view screen at the stars. "Tell them we are home Lieutenant. Tell them the Galaxy and Station Beta Two are home."
Dev stood up, and made her way to the door, she figured that she best served the ship by being out of the way when the repairs and clean-up began. She would obviously volunteer to help, but for now, she had to assemble her subordinates.
She arrived on her home deck, she was shocked to she the state of the halls. She began to work her way through the rubble, to her quarters. As she turned a corner, she collided with a young Ensign. She recognized him from his photo-bio. "Ensign Thomas," she nodded, and began to walk passed the Ensign.
He stood for a moment, she stopped. Turned around and asked, "I can speak with you now Ensign, if you have the time."
He smiled. He didn't know she was a betazoid. He followed her to her quarters and they began to chat. Her quarters were a mess! She was slightly embarrased. Thomas didn't seem to notice.
"Counselor Salshyar," the ensign began... She cut him off.
"It's Devlynn," she smiled. "May I call you Chris?" He sighed. She took that as a yes.
"Chris. I have read your bio, and your starfleet record. You have an impressive record and your professors have had nothing but the best to say about you." She stopped for a moment, not sure how to proceed. "But, I have some, as I feel it, well founded concerns. Chris, I want to talk about Gwyen." She could see him flinch visibly. She reached out and touched his arm. "Chris, it's okay. I know what you feel." She could see that he was about to say something, then stopped. He remembered she could sense his thoughts.
"Chris," she continued, "the lost of a loved one is hard for anyone, but I don't think that you have dealt with Gwyen's death, have you?" She looked into his eyes. There was pain there, a lot of it. She was dedging up emotion that he didn't want to expose. Or did he? He had wanted this conversation to take place. Maybe he knows that it's standard practice anyway. It was of little matter, they were there now.
he didn't answer right away, then he spoke in a soft feeble tone, "Gwyen died while I was away." He stopped, choking slightly. "I was working for Starfleet Intellegence. I didn't find out she was dead until I finished my tour. I..." He began to cry. "I wasn't there when it happened."
Devlynn reached out her arm. She could feel his pain. He wasn't there when she died. There had been a promise, a promise broken. But there was more to the story of her death. More that even he didn't know. He felt that they both should have died together.
He began again, affirming what she'd sensed. "We knew each other before we graduated. I had done a tour with S.I. before. We had promised that we would go together, who ever was posted first, the other would follow. She got a posting to Starbase 81, I tried to get posted there too. S.I. wanted me back to go to..." He stopped. "For a mission. I had a choice, I did't have to go... But I did." He was crying openly now.
He stopped crying suddenly. He jumped forward in time. "I spent three days on her gravesight. I just stayed there, talking to her. It was peaceful. I didn't want to leave. I was once told by a Vulcan mentor, that there wasn't anything that I couldn't do. Gwyen's death proved that false. For all my trying, I couldn't undo what had been done."
He sobbed a couple of times, "that was just over a month and a half ago. I requested a transfer here, and was granted. And here I am." He straightened himself in the chair, and breathed deeply. You couldn't have told from the outside what was going on inside.
"But there's more," Devlynn queried, "isn't there?"
Chris' eyebrows furrowed. "There is." He said flatly. "Or I think that there is." He stopped for a moment, collecting his thoughts. There was too much emotion and confusing going on inside of him for Devlynn to be able to read anything concrete. "I was never told the cause of death. When I tried to find out, I came up against a security wall. I couldn't access the information." His eyes betrayed his stony face.
Devlynn interjected. "But someone knows." She looked at him, "someone that you know knows."
Chris almost smiled, he was impressed with the Counselor. "Yes, Suvak knows. My Vulcan mentor. He had the access. He was my professor at the Academy. He also held a position within S.I. He trained me to..."
They were interupted. "Counselor Salshyar, please report to Sickbay."
Devlynn appologized and explained that she had medical training and that in cases where she was in need, she was to be called to Sickbay for relief.
"We will have to get together again soon, Ensign." She commented.
"Yes Counselor," he replied. "I shall go now to my quarters, I will meditate."
"Ensign, you may want to report your CO, there may be repair work to be done somewhere on the ship. I think that we will need all the able bodies we can find."
Chris conceeded. He left her quarters with an appointment, for tomorrow. After his duty shift.
Devlynn Salshyar headed down the hallway toward the Sickbay. Trying to sort out in her mind what was in his mind. It was very confusing. There was more there than meets the eyes.
Devlynn suddenly remembered her staff she had sent off to various parts of the ship, she began to contact them, via commbadge, as she walked. All reported in, except Lt. Semanka, he found his way into Sickbay. Well, that's better than the alternative. Dev had heard of the damage in Engineering, where Semanka had been placed.
V: "We're Home!"
Katarina watched the monitor as the second wave of Void ships came in for attack. These ships were bigger than those destroyed in the first assault.
"Lt. Cohen, fire at will," ordered Cmdr. Morris.
The station took out some ships but they were still outnumbered.
"Shields down to 40%," reported Ramone from OPS.
"The shock wave will hit us in thirty seconds," yelled Lt. Fowler from Science.
"Transfer all available power to the shields!" There was little chance of them surviving the shock wave but there was nothing left to do...
"The probe is changing course...I'm detecting a large energy buildup," reported Fowler.
And then the bright white light bathed the station and the Galaxy. Seles was temporarily blinded by the light and she yelled to Ramone. "Report!"
The Betazoid could hardly see his terminal as well but soon the light dissipated and he got a fix on their location. "We're home!"
Lt. Cmdr. Seles looked out the viewscreen and sure enough there were stars again. She was so tired and all she wanted to do was go to sleep but she still had things to attend to. "Ops to Engineering. I need a damage report."
"Ramone. Coordinate repairs with Engineering. Lt. Cohen. Do a complete sensor sweep of the area. Make sure that no Void ships came back with us."
[Sickbay to Ops. This is Nurse Blla Nora. Dr. Salvine is dead. He was beaten to death but I think we can still save his symbiont.]
Seles looked over to Cmdr. Morris and saw sadness in her eyes.
"Lt. Clay. Contact the Chief Medical Officer at the Symbiosis Institute on the Trill Homeworld. Tell them we need a new host."
Lt. Cmdr. Seles, XO Station Beta Two
"Home Ground"
Chris walked away from the Counselor's office heading to for the bridge to see what he could do to help repair the ship. He was a qualified engineer, but like all good officers you all check in with your CO, before doing something, unless there is no other choice. While one his way to the nearest turbo lift he continuously searched for any injured crewmen in the area that required help. His search revealed no one in need of such help, in fact he found nobody in the area at all. This did explain the need for the counselor to go to sickbay and lend a hand. He had seen sickbay earlier it looked like a rock'n'roll concert gone bad. He could only help but think of what Gwyen had gone through assuming she'd even lived long enough to be treated. This is ridiculous that he couldn't find anything even with help from friends in S.I. he had learned very little information of value. I should see the captain after this all over and ask if he could make some inquires, no it will have to wait before I can talk to him. Chris would have to prove himself a worthy officer to the captain, before he would do anything that might get him into trouble. Chris stepped onto the turbo lift 'Bridge'.
A few minutes later he was stepping out of the turbo lift onto the bridge. Lt. Cohen was manning the main ops position. Chris went over to one the empty aft science stations, and sat down. They were going to need all the information the sensor had gathered in some organized manner. His quest for knowledge about alien races spurred him into action. He called up current sensor logs and began to scan for any sign of co-op activity, as he proceed he noticed that Lt. Cohen was already conducting a full sensor scan of the area. With that he turned and proceed to call up sensor logs from the first encounter to the last encounter. The first step was correlating the data so that he or any other ops, tactical officer could read and understand the information clearly. With that then they could summarize the information to the senior officer. The problem with begin a senior officer is that there is more demand on your time than most people realize, before they get there themselves. The correlation of the data took about two hours from him and the computer to complete. The repairs to the ship and the station had already begun, which was good news.
Then over the next three hours Chris proceed to analyze the data and record a summary of the data on a PADD. Once he was completed he would turn the information over to Lt. Cohen if he was still on the bridge when he completed the data analyze, if not then he would give it to the duty officer on watch at that time. The analyzes was lengthy as was usually the case when it came to reports on first contact with alien species, and even more so if the contact proved to hostile and a threat to the Federation or the alpha quadrant. When he finished the information was still over seven pages long for the summary. Which he thought was really a bit to long, but by the vary nature of this alien race, perhaps not. His full report was just under thirty pages of text, graphical information and other information. He decided to go one step father on the summary and add a page comparison to the Dominion. This of course was do to the fact that the Dominion was one the greatest threats to the Federation, besides to adaptive Borg.
With his report complete he got from the station and proceeded to turn his report in. Lt. Cohen had just left the bridge a few minutes ago. Chris seriously consider following the Lt. and giving him the information, but the nature of the info really did require it to be seen by the captain and Xo ASAP. The captain was in his ready, 'no surprise here, considering what had just happened'. "Sir, may I come in?" Chris asked after the door opened. "Yes, of course please come, Ensign Thomas right" The captain said as he sat behind his desk. "What is that you wanted to see me about, Ensign?" "Sir, as you know my time with Starfleet Intelligence helped to strengthen my investigation of other species and so I have correlated a data analysis regarding the Cooperative. The analysis is lengthy to some extent, I've placed my summary on top and then in another file I've a full report of the sensor data that was collected." Chris said as he handed the PADD over to the captain. "Thank you, Ensign Thomas, I'm sure this will prove to be very useful. Dismissed."
Chris returned to the bridge long enough to verify when was to be on duty, which was right now. He took his station at ops and began his shift. As he worked, he knew that the captain would receive similar reports as life on the Galaxy got back to normal.
Chiron tapped madly at the panel, redirecting DamCon teams all over the ship to patch up the ragged holes left in the hull from the Void weapons. He quick-scanned Beta 2, and noticed the Cooperative weapons glancing harmlessly off of their shields, right back to the enemy ships.
The Tamarian marvelled at the technology, and made a mental note to work on the same program when they eventually returned to the Alpha Quadrant. Chiron had full faith in Captain Price, and no doubt that they would return home.
A second probe???? He heard Hutchcraft's thoughts on the subject, and began to hope. Another probe like the one that had brought them there could be their only escape. The Big Bang on one side, and a hostile force on the other was not Chiron's Ideal way to die. He opened his mind up again to find out more details.
That was a mistake. The tense emotions from the thousand inhabitants of the Galaxy, the fear from the crew and civilian population of Beta 2, and even the fierce determination of the cooperative forces flooded into his mind. Chiron tried to close his mind again, but it was like trying to shut a door on a raging river.
-+Salshyar!!! Counselor Dev!!! Help me close the door!+-
[ The Schizoid Man ]
"Starry Night"
"We're home!" Ramone's voice cut through the silent room and everyone heaved a mental sigh of relief.
Lt jg Jania Fowler looked out the viewscreen. Jania never thought she'd be so happy to see the tiny flecks of light that people called stars. Lt Cdr Seles started spitting out orders.
"Ops to Engineering. I need a damage report. Ramone, coordinate repairs with Engineering. Lt. Cohen, do a complete sensor sweep of the area. Make sure that no Void ships came back with us."
=/\= "Sickbay to Ops. This is Nurse Blla Nora. Dr. Salvine is dead. He was beaten to death but I think we can still save his symbiont."
A moment of silence fell on the people in Ops. Another casualty of the Void.
"Lt. Clay, contact the Chief Medical Officer at the Symbiosis Institute on the Trill Homeworld. Tell them we need a new host." The last order was given with a softness that Jania hadn't heard from the Lt Cdr. There was a general feeling of sadness around them. Jania let a silent sigh escape as she stared out the viewport at the stars.
Varin arrived on the Bridge, and proceeded to the Science Station. 'I hope I'm not intruding on your domain, Mitchell, but I'd like to examine those...'
The Trill was interrupted by an intense white light flooding the bridge. [It's the end... or... the beginning... The Big Bang is here...]
He opened his eyes only to see the Science panel blinking away merrily as if nothing had happened. Except for the fact that the Astrogation section was no longer blank. He was getting readings from Federation Timebase Beacons, Starbases... everything!
He turned to the viewscreen, and breathed in deeply. The stars were back... but at what cost? They had lost their Commander, Not to mention all the people in those other attacks, and Varin couldn't help noticing the wide gash in the Galaxy's belly as they were returning on the Cydonia.
On top of it all, however, Varin was just glad to be home.
[ The Schizoid Man ]
Ronni lay in the corridor with the newly awakened Ensign Washington. Nobody seemed to be present in the corridor in this section of the crew quarters. The 'thrumm' of the ship as it fired the torpedoes was echoing in her ears.
Quickly, she helped Ensign Washington to her feet. The Ensign was still a little shaky, but was looking better.
"Come on. They're going to need us in Engineering!"
The two women ran down the corridor to the next turbolift and headed for Engineering. As the entered the chaos, Ronni noticed that the flux regulator on the WARP core was arching to the catwalk above. Fortunately, nobody was up there. Unfortunately, the main switch to shunt the excess energy into the capacitor was up on that self same catwalk!
Ronni, followed by Ensign Washington, climbed up the emergency ladder to the catwalk. Their uniforms offered partial insulation to the energy, but it was still a painful walk. Ensign Washington removed the panel and pulled down the shunt switch.
Ronni, meanwhile, was setting the capacitor to shift the excess energy to re-enforce the shields. The work would have gone smoother except the ship was being rocked by alternating gravitational waves and weapons fire. With the work completed, both women returned the panels.
Suddenly, the wall near the WARP core disappeared, evaporated by enemy fire. Explosive decompression pulled both women to the edge of the catwalk. Ronni cried when she saw several crewmen pulled out. Just as Chief Hutchcraft and Lt. Chiron were about to be sucked out too, the emergency forcefield kicked in. Both officers slammed into the forcefield and fell to the ground.
Ronni ran for the ladder to go check on them when suddenly everything seemed to go quiet. She realized that the same white glow that they had seen previously was permeating the walls. Suddenly the claxons sounded as they appeared in normal space, all of the waiting messages and information hit the systems, downing most of the remaining systems.
"Great, just great! We come to Beta Station Two for repairs, and the ship is in worse condition that when we arrived!!" Ronni sighed.
The station was bathed in brilliantly bright light, so bright that it temporarily blinded everyone in Main Operations. One minute there were dozens of ships coming in for another attack, then all went quiet. Seles yelled to Ramone. "Report!"
A moment later, once his vision cleared a bit, Ramone could hardly believe his readouts, there rechecked them, it was true. "Lt. Cmdr, we're home, back were we should be that is."
Everyone in Main Ops let out a quick sigh of relief. They were home, but at what cost....Captain Zahn....dead.....how many others had been hurt?
"Ramone. Coordinate repairs with Engineering." Seles had ordered. She sounded weary. He felt weary as well, it felt kile days since he had slept. "Aye, sir" he replied.
He tapped his console nu,erous times, located the major areas of damage and sent repair teams to those vital spots. Then Ramone opened a channel to engineering to see if they needed addition help with repairs. <
[Sickbay to Ops. This is Nurse Blla Nora. Dr. Salvine is dead. He was beaten to death but I think we can still save his symbiont.]
Ramone was saddened by the news of the doctor's death, that made two executive officers dead. It was a shock to everyone in Main Ops, especially to Cmdr Morris. Ramone could sense her sadness as well as see it in her eyes. Dr. Salvine would be missed and so would Captain Zahn.
He called the ensign from auxiliary Ops to relieve him. He noticed that Jania had been relieved. He sent a quick thought to her, {wait, for a moment and I'll join you.} A few minutes later, the ensign relieved him and he and Jania left main ops.
"Fighting for Your Life"
"Looks as if we won't get a chance to implement your plan 'mate." Captain Price said to Troy, as the main attack fleet approached the Galaxy and Beta 2.
"Quite alright, Captain." Troy replied, as he pushed a few buttons on his console. "I have weapons on-line, sir."
"Very well Lieutenant... Helm, initiate defensive pattern Omega 7" ordered the terran commanding officer.
"Aye sir." Ti Miran replied.
Slowly the Galaxy went into a pattern of turns, designed to keep the number of hits the ship takes to a low number. The moment many feared had arrived, a hopeless battle against overwhelming odds. Only the best of luck could save the two crews now. Then, with little warning, the warships opened fire with phenomenal results. The hull of the Galaxy rocked from side to side, while sparks shot out of many consoles.
"Target that lead ship, and fire phasers!" The Australian yelled, as the Galaxy took more hits.
"Aye sir!" replied Troy, pushing the necessary buttons. The main phaser bank came to life, striking the closest ship in several areas.
"No good Captain!" Troy replied, gripping the arch to keep balance as the Galaxy rocked yet again, "Permission to use Photon torpedoes!" The Captain motioned with a nod, giving him the 'ok'.
Within seconds, four red streaks hastened their way toward the same ship. This time the result was better, as several moderate size explosions flashed across the hull. But the small victory was minor, compared to the number of ships that were now firing at the USS Galaxy. Systems were failing right and left, Ti had her hands full changing to different maneuvers, and even Casey was beginning to look a little overwhelmed as the requests for additional power came from all over the ship.
"Lieutenant Blair," Captain Price shouted over the noise "Fire at will 'mate! Use your own judgment as to what to target!" Price obviously had his hands full with other matters.
"Aye, Aye Captain!" Troy returned, firing a full spread of torpedoes at another one of the coop ships.
*** Moments Later ***
The situation aboard the Galaxy was desperate, the ship was near death, shields were practically gone, there were minor hull breeches all over, and there was barely enough power to keep weapons on-line.
"Help me out here Winston!" Troy ordered, wiping the blood from a gash on his forehead.
"Aye Troy! ooks' as if we are gonna loose phasers soon lad!" The Scot said as he fired the stern phaser arrays.
"I know. I want to get as many hits in before that happens!" Blair replied, keeping balance from another round of fire. "Damn!" he yelled as the tactical console flickered, then barely came back.
"We're 'bout ta be sittin' ducks in a second!" Lieutenant Groom commented.
Just then a nearby console exploded, knocking Winston and Troy to the ground. Winston immediately got on his knees to check tactical's status, Troy hesitated for a second trying to get rid of the dizziness.
"Tha's it lad. We've no phasers!" Groom announced. Troy stood up and checked the system, he was right, there were no phasers.
"DAMAGE REPORT!" Captain Price screamed over the noise of explosions, alert warnings and the shriek sound of the Galaxy's fire suppression system.
"Shields down to 36 percent Captain. Warp engines are off-line. Life support is failing. We have forward photon torpedoes, the main phaser array has burnt out. Hutchcraft is working on bypassing the problem, but the reactor is giving him a hard time." A report he was not happy to give.
"Load up Quantum torpedoes 'mate. All tubes, full spread."
"Aye Sir." Blair managed as another coop ship fired on the Galaxy, rocking her to one side.
"Captain," a tired Deiran Casey began, "at this range, our torpedoes may cause damage to our system's as well if we use them."
"I understand Lieutenant. But they should do a far sight more damage to the Cooperative. They'll be a lot closer than we will 'mate." It was a desperate remark, but given the circumstances, Deiran just nodded.
"Aye Captain."
Troy began to load all launch tubes, but was quickly greeted by an alarm from the computer
"Where are those torpedoes gentlemen?..." Captain Price asked in a low tone.
"They are having trouble with the loading system sir." Troy explained. "They should have it cleared in a moment."
A third explosion rocked the ship, followed by a fourth. "I hope so 'mate. We can't take much more of this!"
"Shields are failing sir. Down to 7 percent. One more hit could finish us...." Troy said, looking up at the Captain.
The last battle Troy would fight for the United Federation of Planets had arrived. Each torpedo that he fired was an attempt to keep the Galaxy alive for just a second longer, a second that all hands would cherish as their last. Suddenly, a voice filled the entire bridge......
CAPTAIN LOOK!" Ensign Vo exclaimed.
The same probe that had brought them to the void, was beginning to emit the same white light it had done before. As the light filled the bridge, the picture of coop ships exploding filled the viewscreen. After several seconds the light faded away, but what just happened? Did the probe take them somewhere else, another timeline, another universe? It didn't take long for Troy's question to be answered, the tactical console began to beep, or atleast as best it could because of the damage. But there was no question about it, the Galaxy was receiving a message on a Federation frequency.
"Receiving an incoming transmission from Starfleet Command Captain!" Troy exclaimed overwhelmed with joy to be back.
"Tell them we are home Lieutenant. Tell them the Galaxy and Station Beta Two are home." Lee Price stated, as he sunk back into his chair
"YES SIR!" Blair replied with a smile.
The battle was over, and in a way the ships and station emerged victorious. All over the ship, everyone breathed a sigh of relief to see the stars once again.
Commander Morris was in shock. Stars. There were stars out there. Over the comm she heard:
[Sickbay to Ops. This is Nurse Blla Nora. Dr. Salvine is dead. He was beaten to death but I think we can still save his symbiont.]
Seles looked over to Cmdr. Morris and saw sadness in her eyes.
"Lt. Clay," said Cmdr. Morris, " Contact the Chief Medical Officer at the Symbiosis Institute on the Trill Homeworld. Tell them we need a new host."
She looked over to Lt. Cmdr. Seles and said, "Lt. Clay, when you're done, put a connection to Captain Price through to my office. Seles, start coordinating repairs. When I'm done here, I'll be heading to the Promenade Clinic and then to sickbay."
"Aye Sir." came the responses from the officers.
Kra'lana pushed herself into her office. An absent thought told her that she should move her things into the Captain's office. She went to the replicator and ordered a Vulcan tea known for relaxing the drinker. As she sat at her desk, the comm chimed and Captain Price's image appeared on the screen. The image behind him was horrible. The bridge of the Galaxy was dark except for occasional showers of sparks.
"Commander, how are you?" he said bravely.
"I think we're faring better than you. Our damage isn't too extensive, but we lost a lot of people." she said. "Our Chief Medical Officer was killed. We're putting his symbiot in stasis until a new host could be sent. Unfortunately, that leaves me as the only physician on board. I know you have your own troubles, but I would like to request on of your doctors to be temporarily assigned here."
"Well, let me talk to my Chief Medical Officer and see who we can spare." he said. Lights came on behind him, but the scene didn't improve much.
"Thanks. I would like to have a memorial service for Captain Zahn and the others tomorrow if possible. I would also like you to perform the service, if you would." she said humbly and honestly.
"I'd be honored 'mate. Lee out" he said. His image was replaced by the standard Federation logo.
Kra'lana got up and took a deep sip of the Vulcan tea. She then went first to the Promenade Clinic and worked for eight hours straight. She then went to the sickbay to check mostly on two particular patients.
Salvine, the symbiot, was floating there in the pool of goo that the symbiotes seemed to like so much. Kra'lana was so thankful that she had convinced the Symbiosis Commission to send some of the stuff after Reix's accident. It was probably the only thing that would keep him/it alive until the host arrived. She still couldn't accept that Verin was gone. What a waste.
She then went over to see Electra. She just laid on the bed in the fetal position, staring straight ahead. Kra'lana put her hand on Electra head and gentle brushed her hair. Electra stirred slightly and said, "You know Kra'lana. I was jealous of you for quite a while. You spent so much time with Joseph that I thought for a while that he was two timing me. But he kept paying a lot of attention on me. He was wonderful to me. You know, I pursued him until he all of a sudden caught me. Now he's gone. All I have left of him is this child." she started crying softly.
Kra'lana bent down close the Electra's ear and whispered, "That's not true. You also have his memories and his friends. We're here for you and your baby, whenever you want."
Later on, Blla-Nora, treating a Golden uniformed Starfleet officer's broken leg, looked over at Kra'lana and Electra. Electra asleep on the bed and Kra'lana asleep in the chair next to the bed. Both of their faces were wet with tears.
Katoc Malron Kenit,
Katoc had to brace himself as another shock wave shook the station, they seemed to be increashing in intensity and frequency every minuet. He could tell the station was under attack as well, by the shuddering of the station being hit by weapons fire and the sight of Co-op ships flying past at fast speeds, but he knew that was because the station was spinning like a top since the Galaxy was flying by as well.
Suddenly the shock waves stooped and he saw a blinding light for a few seconds and then he saw a shock wave emanating from a distant point in the void. A warning came over the intercom to brace for impact in 15 minuets. Katoc began tosecure his quarters and he put the small flute in it's case and put the case in his pocket.
Fourteen minuets later Katoc was prepared, at least as prepared as he would ever be, for the impact of the shock wave. For some reason the Co-op ships were ignoring the wave and still attacking the station when they should have been getting AWAY from the wave.
Seconds before the wave was scheduled to hit the station was overcome by a brilliant light, just like when they had been BROUGHT to this Godforsaken void and he almost passed out from it. At the time when the wave was supposed to hit he felt the minds of about thirty of his people cry out in... Joy! There were free he felt, free from the Void Co-op!
Katoc was saddened that the only contact he had had with his people had been brief mental contact and also that he would not find out anything about his people from this experience. But he was glad that they were free.
Then the light was gone as well as the mental contact of his people. Katoc sat up and looked at the portal. The stars were back! The wonderful, beautiful stars!
V: “Home Sweet Home”
The call came over her communicator that the all security officers were to report to their post. Tatalia had fallen asleep next to her piano.
That was about 20 minutes ago. Now she was guarding the Promenade, ready for any type of invasion. Tim and Tolan looked very stressed and tired.
‘We are all going to need a vacation when this is over,’ Tatalia thought.
The station rocked ever time they got hit. The Promenade was very empty. All the citizens were in their quarters. Only some of the store owners were there.
Suddenly the entire Promenade was flooded with a bright white light. The entire team exchanged looks. They all recognized the light from before. The light faded quickly and the trio ran to the window.
Tatalia broke out into a smile at the sight that greeted her. Stars, beautiful stars. She knew immediately they must be back home. She looked over to her team. Tim was grinning ear to ear. Tolon was staring at the stars with typical Vulcan calm. Tatalia thought she saw a small smile on his face when he first saw the stars.
“Home sweet home,” she said quietly.
V: "Picking Up the Pieces"
Things were slowly getting back to normal. The station was back where it belonged and Lt. Cohen was grumbling at her...Some things never changed. She just sighed. She was too tired to deal with him at the moment.
She looked over the damage reports from Engineering and it wasn't a pretty sight. The lower decks had taken a beating, but the repair crews were already on top of things. The station had fared better than the Galaxy probably due to Ramone's redirective shielding system. After Cmdr. Morris left for the Promenade Clinic, Katarina decided to take a tour of the damaged decks. She turned to Lt. Cohen and said, "You have Ops, Lieutenant."
"Aye, sir," came the reply. She winced at the word 'sir'. For some reason, Starfleet protocol dictated that male and female superior officers be called 'sir'. But the alternatives weren't much better. 'Ma'am' made her feel too old, 'Lieutenant Commander' was way too long, and 'Commander' was also a mouthful in an emergency. Maybe she would just have to get used to 'sir'.
She nodded to Lt. Cohen and headed for the turbolift. She leaned tiredly against the wall of the turbolift and said, "Engineering."
After Seles left, a priority flash message came in from Starfleet Command to Lt. Cohen's terminal regarding the new developments with the Dominion...
Lt. Cmdr. Seles, XO Station Beta Two
"Stomping Ground"
Ensign Duncan had just come from meeting with Lt. Dieran Casey, the Cheif Operations Officer. He had received his assignment, Duncan was to work the Gamma shift while Ensign Thomas would work the Beta shift. Michael didn't mind the Gamma shift. He knew that trouble or surprises did not know time and he would get his share of them just as Thomas or Casey would.
Michael had about an hour and a half before reporting for duty, he was to releave Thomas at 0000 hours, midnight. He would work until 0730 hours when he would be releaved by Lt. Casey. A full circle.
Michael walked the corridors of the ship looking for something to do. He came across a holosuite on deck 11. {This would be a good time to have some fun}, he thought to himself. Michael walked to the entrance of holosuite four and entered. He browsed the controls to find a suitable program for himself. Michael loved the medievel times of the old days on earth. He came across a program from a former officer of the Galaxy. (The Knight's Way.) {This should be interesting}, he thought.
"Computer, open program 'The Knight's Way'"
[Program open and running]
Within seconds, the golden checks in front of Duncan's eyes turned into a forest scene and Michael's uniform turned from the grey and red to a knight's uniform. Out of the bushes beside him came a voice, "Lancelot, are you there?"
Supposedly Duncan had taken on the character of Sir Lancelot, he was quite impressed. While in his readings as a child he had loved the character of Lancelot. He was really impressed with the program.
"Yes, I am," he answered back.
"It is I, Maid Marian" she replyed
Gavin and Rebecca sat on their couch staring at their bags, longing to get a message from command telling them that B2 was back safely and they could leave soon........and then it did.
Gavin rushed toward the console and activated it to be greeted with the face of Commander Gaver.
"Lt., you are to leave in one hour for Beta Two. A trasnport ship is waiting for you and Rebecca."
"Thank you Commander. We will be ready."
"There are a few changes though. You have been given a promotion."
Gavin looked at the Commander warily, how could he have gotten a promotion before he even arrived at the station.
"There have been some changes in the command staff, thus leaving many empty positions. You will be the Assistant Chief of Operations."
Gavin was blown away...he was going there expecting to start at the bottom and now he was only one away from the top...things were certainly looking up.
"And you will be getting a different symbiont. The Chief Medical Officer, Dr.Verin Salvine, was killed but they were able to save the symbiont....you are going to be its new host. Good luck."
Rather abruptly the Commander cut the line, before even exlplainig what was going on Gavin began to get the bags to the transporter pad....his life had just taken a very unexpected turn.
Kale sat on in his quarters with a headach, he had fifty diffrent reports to make, and he been recalled to Ch'Rhin for debriefing, at least he would get to see his family, a smile crossed his face at that thought, He dictated a swift message to station administration, sure commander Morris had other things on her mind at the moment and packed his bags. He could not wait to be really home
As mysteriously as the entire adventure began, the crews of the Galaxy and Station Beta Two had found themselves back home. There were numerous speculations about the origin of the alien probe that hurled the two crews seemingly back to the beginning of time and then returned them to the present. There was also controversy over the scientific data Lieutenant Mitchell and Lieutenant Commander Reix had collected of the phenomenon, their readings of the exploding space mass would no doubt be studied and argued by the best minds in the Federation for years to come.
Right now what was important was putting things back in order. Both Station Beta Two and the Galaxy were damaged badly in the battle with the Cooperative forces inside the Void. Repairs began immediately, with crews working around the clock to stitch up the damage done to both vessels.
Captain's Log: supplemental:
We have returned to our own galaxy after being abducted by an alien probe of unknown origin. The Galaxy and Station Beta Two were somehow transported back to a time before the universe had been created. While there, we were able to witness what some scientists are calling the creation of the universe, or "Big Bang" that started it all. While that point is being debated, all I can say is I am glad to be home.
Repairs are proceeding nicely on the Galaxy and Station Beta Two. Starfleet command has sent two Starships to assist in the needed repairs and to transfer personnel to replace those that were regretfully lost in our conflict with the Cooperative forces of the Void.
Admiral Rowell has made Commander Kra'lana Morris' field promotion official. With the regretful and untimely death of Captain Joseph Zahn, Kra'lana is now Station Beta Two's official Commanding Officer. I wish her well in her very first command. I am sure she will do a wonderful job commanding the Station's fine crew.
Sadly, my next duty is not a pleasant one. I am to attend the funeral services for Captain Joseph Zahn. As the Senior ranking Starfleet officer, it is my responsibility to say of few words to try to sum up Zahn's life and career in Starfleet. I'm not looking forward to it.
*********
*** Main Observation Deck, Station Beta Two ***
The distinctive attention tones of the Starfleet whistle sang out as Captain Price stepped up to the podium on the main Observation deck of Station Beta Two. Adorning his full dress uniform, Captain Price glanced around the floor of the giant deck chosen to hold the ceremony. There was literally standing room only as the many crew members, friends and family members attended to pay their last respects to Captain Joseph Zahn. For those that were unable to attend because of the repair efforts and duty rosters, the ceremony was broadcast on intra-ship frequencies.
Lee cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention.
"I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to attend this ceremony. Captain Zahn,... Joseph, would be happy to see so many friends and loved ones in attendance."
Captain Price paused while he glanced around at the crowd. He could see Electra standing near the front, with Miss Dee Dee DuBios comforting her. Both were wearing black dresses and dark veils covering their teary faces.
"Joseph's parents, Donna and Randall Zahn, wanted me to let you know that they appreciate the love and dedication you have given their eldest son. Joseph would often share with them how proud he was of each member of the Station Beta Two crew. He loved you all very much. His parents send their regrets that they were unable to attend these services. Having just dealt with the death of their other son, Michael, who was killed on board the Lakota, they were not up to making the trip from Earth to go through these proceedings once again. If you can find the time in the next few days, I know they would appreciate anything you could do to cheer them up. Loosing a child would be hard for any parent. Loosing two in a short time would seem to be impossible to imagine."
Lee glanced around. Those that were closest to Joseph, knew of his younger brother's death just a short time ago. Those not nearly as familiar were some what surprised, and devastated at the news. Some how feeling for Joseph's parents double loss helped to soften their own burdens of wishing Joseph was still alive.
"Captain Joseph Zahn had a distinguished career in Starfleet. His warm, open personality made him well liked among his 'mates, and his thirst for knowledge and exploration made him a natural candidate for a career in Starfleet Command. Joseph was very proud of this Space Station. It was his pride and joy, and he enjoyed showing it off to anyone who would stop in port."
Another glance around the room. Lee could hear a few muffled sobs coming from Electra. Dee Dee handed her a handkerchief, herself sobbing as well.
"Joseph loved this posting. He loved commanding such a distinguished Space Station and an even more distinguished crew. He treated you all as if you were his family, and in a real sense, you all were, just as he was to you. Some will miss Joseph Zahn because he was a kind, friendly Commanding Officer. Others because he was a close and trusted friend. What is important to remember is that while Joseph may be gone, his love for you, and the love you shared with him will go on forever. As long as you remember, and care for Joseph Zahn, he will always be with us. He will always touch our hearts."
Lee's voice began to get emotional as he took a step back from the podium. After a long moment, he regained his composure and readdressed the crowd.
"If I can have you turn your attention to the Observation windows to your immediate right."
Everyone turned, knowing what was to come next.
"We commit the love and memories of the departed Captain Joseph Zahn to the vast openness of the space frontier he loved with a passion." Lee glanced over to the crewman standing by to authorize the launch of the symbolic casket. "Do it 'mate." Captain Price said quietly.
Again the familiar attention tones sang out from the Starfleet whistler, standing by with two other officers in full dress uniforms, each holding a long flag pole with banners of the Federation of Planets and Starfleet command.
In the distance, the fiery red streak of the photo torpedo launched casket zoomed away from the Station and disappeared into the darkness of space. A darkness that was someh
ow reassuring as millions and billions of twinkling stars shone in the distance, slightly brighter after these last few days.
In the background, the Starfleet anthem started to play on the Station's communications system. The three Starfleet flagmen began removing the Federation flag and rolling it up carefully, meticulously, as was dictated by tradition. Slowly they marched through the crowd, stopping just in front of Electra and Miss Dee Dee DuBios. Captain Price stepped down off the podium and stood before the Orion 'widow'.
Reaching for the triangular shaped bundle, Lee turned and faced Electra. "Joseph's parents asked that this Federation token be presented to you. Please accept it."
Lee handed the folded flag to Electra. This close he could see her wet face beneath the dark veil that hid her from the public. Her eyes looked sad. With shaky hands, she reached out and took the cloth, not saying a word. Lee nodded, and turned to return to the podium.
"Thank you all for coming." Captain Zahn said, breaking the silence. He watched until Captain Zahn's casket faded away into deep space.
"Dismissed." Lee finally said.
Slowly the crowd began to break up. Quietly, they began exiting the Observation deck, summing up their own final thoughts of what Joseph's death would mean to their own lives.
Varin stood at the final resting place of Captain Zahn. He had been a good friend through life... death... and life again. Captain Price finished his eulogy, and handed the Starfleet flag to Electra. The Science officer touched the torpedo casing. 'Don't you know, friend? Only Trills are immortal'
He turned his thoughts to the other Trill on the station. Verin had died, but thankfully, Salvine, the symbiont had survived, and a new host was on its way. He still vividly remembered his own death not too long ago, and knew how disconcerting it was to suddenly be detached like that.
On a sudden Idea, he turned and headed to the SickBay. He would make Salvine's wait a little less traumatic.
***Sick Bay***
"You want to do what, sir?"
'The liquid that Salvine is presently residing in also allows for communication between symbionts. I would like to talk to the symbiont.'
"I'll set up the equipment."
[ The Schizoid Man ]
Lt. Sutter tapped him on his shoulder, handing him a PADD. *The major hull repairs have finished, sir, and the internal systems overall are at 85%.*
Chiron read the information, nodding in approval. *Send my regards to the Samston and the Terabithia, their assistance has been most appreciated.*
His assistant took the PADD and left. They were woefully understaffed since about 10 people got sucked out into space during the attack, but they were performing well beyond the norm. He would have to enter a commendation for each one of them.
Chiron looked up at the chronometer, his shift was over. He was still troubled over the periodic floods of emotions. He had read through many starfleet records on the subject, and had found his situation similar to one Tam Elbrun of Betazed. Mr. Elbrun had transferred to a living ship, interacting with it fully, and he was never heard from again. Chiron wondered if he would ever gain the stability to be able to sift everyone out. He almost lost control at one point in the battle when the intense feelings of fear, hatred, helplessness, and determination assaulted his mind.
He tapped at his ever-present PADD, scheduling another appointment with Counselor Salshyar to learn how to further control his telepathy.
The Galaxy and Station Beta 2 had surrived the ordeal in the void of the coperative. Unfortantely the loss of life had been great, one amoung them was Captain Zahn. When he was amoung the Klingons he had heard one the mentioning that he had been beaten a Federation Officer named Zahn. It wasn't until today that Chris made the connection, the Klingon had spoken of him, honorable. That was not something that many humaniods earned from any Klingon easly. Chris had worn his dress uniform so many times he felt that he lived in it, which most people disliked to wear. The report that he had done for Captain Price, had earned him the spot light of summarizing his findings to the commanding officers of the two ships tha had arrived to aid in the repair efforts. Upon compelting his report to them, they all left to attend the funneral.
Personal Log:
Although Station Beta Two is nothing like Starbase 81, it still reminds Chris of his loss. The counselor had spoken with him earlier about this and suggested that he only attend if he felt that it would not be a problem. Chris on the hand had choosen to attend so that he might be able to say good bye to her out here in space, where the cosmos is limitless and so are the possiblities. She would always be a part of his life, nothing ever would or could change that. 'Computer please send a message to Counselor Salshyar: "Counselor I have been thinking about are talk regarding Gwyen. I .. . I would like to setup a session with you so we can talk some more." End message.' That was the toughest thing the he had hone since learning of her death. He could symapthize with Zahn's family over the loss of their son. If some one ever says there is no way he can understand what they're feeling, he tell them, but yes I can. However before he could seriously do that he needed to come to realization of his own loss and that would take time. He reconsider his thought about how tough it would be to talk with the counselor. Starfleet had deemed in neccasary to add counselor's to ships, for the benifit of the crew. He hoped that in the coming days, that he would have the time to talk with the counselor, of course he could've seen a counselor a long time ago, but he always said he was to busy. He could fool most anyone, but a telepathic counselor was extemerly tough to fool.
*********
*** Main Observation Deck, Station Beta Two ***
Lt. Casey, Ensign Duncan and Ensign Thomas had arranged it so they could all attend the funnel for their fellow Starfleet Officers. He focused his thoughts on the duty at hand, the funneral for the honored dead. The captain gave his speech, after all he had been expected to do so, as part of starfleet protical, but more than that it was done out of respect to a fellow officer. (Insert the Captain's Speech here)
Everyone turned and watched as Captain Zahn's body was sent on it was back the universe from which life would spring again. The whistle blew again, and again paying homange to the dead and the survivers.
"Thank you all for coming." Captain Zahn said, breaking the silence. He watched until Captain Zahn's casket faded away into deep space.
"Dismissed." Lee finally said.
Everyone began to go there seperate ways, for tommow would be a new day of hope, life and love, someone once said. Though Chris beleived in those words, the actions were tougher to achieve in real life. The captains from the ships that had arrived to provide assitaints had went over to speak with Captain Price. Three captains talked for awhile, out of earshot of everyone. Chris turned to talk with Lt. Casey and Ensign Duncan for a few minutes. They talked, Chris mainly spoke only when the ship's status came up, however he decided to share the story that the Klingon had told of an encounter with an officer named Zahn. They listened quitely to Chris retell the story. Then Chris put in final "Although I was close enough to hear the story begining obviously retold to some of his fellow Klingons, I never did hear him mention Captain Zahn's first name. Though the age of the Klingon and Captain Zahn would be about the right time for the meeting to have actualy taken place. I only wish that I could actual remeber the Klingon's name, assuming his still alive, I'm sure he'd like to know." Chris finished up the story by qouting Khales the Unforgetable, then took his departure from them. He need to get away from this funnel, Klingons honor there dead, he thought to himself as he headed for holodeck three, hoping it would't be in use.
*** Holodeck 3 ***
He was in luck the holodeck was empty. He decided that he would do something different. 'Computer do have any records on any Klingon Battles fought in early Klingon history?' 'Searching, there are none on file, a direct link would be required with the Klingon homeworld, or a copy of the program.' Oh just great, he had thought that there had been a program already in the computers memory banks, it must have been lost due to the attack. Well he had to correct the oversight later, for now he decided to go to his quaters and rest.
*** Ensign Thomas's quarters ***
They were a mess from the fight, he started picking up and putting everything back in it's place when ran across a set of cards. Poker he wondered if anyone of this ship would be interested in playing. He sat down as his desk, 'Computer please send an invation to all the officers, inviting them to game of poker my quaters tommow. Time is yet to be determined.' They were due for some shoreleave which meant the better likeyhood of getting a game together.
Ensign Christopher Thomas Ops USS Galaxy
"Moving On"
Admiral Rowell, with the minimal ceremony, told Cmdr. Morris that she was now the official Commanding Officer of Beta Station Two.
The talking with Captain Zahn's parents was hard. She had done that too many times in her career. The Funeral was harder. Everyone expected her to stand there bravely and stoically, which she did, even if it hurt. The hardest part was gathering up Joseph's things in his quarters and office.
In the year that he had been on board the station, Joseph had been through a lot. Kra'lana sat down at his desk in his quarters and opened his personal Logs. She read for more than three hours. Apparently, Joseph had been truly apprehensive about returning to the station since his rescue mission here when the station was transferred from Yridian to Starfleet hands. His denial of the ghost had been so firm. Kra'lana remembered her brief encounter with the ghost and it still gave her chills.
Here, Joseph logged his multiple conversations with the ghost, named the Oracle. This being was apparently still here on the station, only appearing to be disparaging, cryptic, or obnoxious. She kind of hoped that the Oracle would disappear now that Joseph was no longer around.
For the next two hours she packed up Captain Zahn's life into crates. Most of the pictures of Joseph and Electra she set aside to give to Electra. "I wonder if Electra has told Joseph's parents about the baby?" she thought.
She dropped the pictures off at Club Spectrum for Electra and then headed for Ops. It didn't take long to pack up his office. She then had the crate from the office and the crates from his quarters beamed directly to Shuttlebay 2. CPO Winston would set them on the next transport to Earth. Donna, Joseph's mother would meet there to gather the things.
Kra'lana then moved her belongings to the CO's office. This office was so much more ornate than her own and hers was gaudy. "The Yridian style is too baroque for my tastes!" she said to herself.
About 20:00 hours she decided she was hungry. Varin was sitting at the Science station. Leaving the office with a small look back, she went over to Varin and said, "Hey handsome, need some dinner?"
V: "Saying Goodbye"
Katarina was welding the last power transfer conduit back together on Deck 86. The Void Coop ships had been targeting their shield generators and things were a mess. After a few minutes, she turned off her torch and wiped the sweat off her brow. Noticing that it was almost time for Captain Zahn's memorial service, she quickly packed up her tools and left. On her way, she ran into Chief Winston, the Shuttle Commander.
"I was on my way to Ops. I think when we came back from the Void, we rematerialized on top of a ship. There is wreckage outside."
"Are you sure it's not debris from the Void ships," Seles asked.
"I ran some scans and it appears to be a Federation scout ship."
Katarina frowned and said, "Round up some shuttle pilots and start rescue efforts." She didn't think they would find anyone alive, but they had to try.
**************
Katarina took a quick shower and looked around for her dress uniform. She found it crumpled under the bed where she had tossed it after the dinner with the Galaxy crew. That had seemed like weeks ago. She opted to wear her old yellow uniform rather than a red uniform. It seemed more appropriate.
After changing, she rushed off to the Observation Deck. The place was jam packed and she had to fight her way through the crowd. She stood at attention with the other senior staff of Beta Two as Captain Zahn's casket was jettisoned into space. She had attended too many funerals for fallen officers in her short Starfleet career. Many of the soldiers she had served with had died behind enemy lines and most of the time they had been unable to bring the bodies back.
Katarina quietly mumbled under her breath, "May your spirit quickly find its way to Sto-Vo-Kor, Captain Zahn."
Lt. Cmdr. Seles, XO Station Beta Two
*** Station Beta Two ***
Dev thought that it would be a good idea for her to be present at the funeral. Simply because the mourners might need someone to talk to, and besides, she wanted to meet the counselors of SB2.
The emotions thar were present at the funeral were staggering. She had to keep her mind completely closed to keep them out. But still they were evident on the faces of the gathered.
Captain Zahn was very special to his crew, and though Devlynn had never interacted with him, herself, she felt saddened none-the-less.
After the Captain's speech and the subdued 'mingling' that occured. She returned to the Galaxy to set about her work. She had several things to take care of. Two appointments to book, and to prepare herself for an influx of new crew members. She was only thankful that there were no changes to her department in the forseeable future.
*** U.S.S. Galaxy ***
Upon arriving in her quarters she recieved the messages from when she was away. There were several. Three comunications from off the ship. Her parents, no doubt. They were deleted. She didn't have time for that now.
She began to organize her schedule and noted that Ensign Thomas was off at the moment. She took the initiative to seek him out. She found him in his quarters, playing with a deck of cards. She grinned. She excelled at card games, but then, what telepath wouldn't?
*** Ensign Thomas' Quarters ***
He welcome him to his quarters and the meeting got underway.
"You wanted to see me Ensign?" She queried.
"Yes Counse... Dev." He grinned when she furrowed her brow. "I want to talk about Gwyen. I've been thinking a lot about our last talk, and the funeral for Captain Zahn prompted me to do something about it."
"Yes, I could tell. I could sense that while we were at the funeral." And as a sidenote, and a tension breaker, she added. "There was a lot of emotion in that room, it was really hard on me. I had a bit of a headache." She smiled. "So, down to business. What is it that you wanted to discuss. I know that the ca
use of her death still ways heavily on your mind. And I know that you wish to know how she died. I can sense your fear."
Chris was silent for long moments, then said finally, "I want to know if she was in pain."
Dev was caught unawares. She studdered for a moment then caught herself. "Honey, don't think about that. I assure you that the medical team at the Starbase would have made her as comfortable as they could." She didn't know what else to say, she had been summoned here and Chris was being very guarded with his thoughts. It was up to him to direct the conversation now.
"I want to contact Starfleet, make a plea for information." He said simply. "I want the mystery around her death to be dissolved."
"I cannot help you with that. For that, you must talk to the Captain or your Commanding Officer, they may chose to contact Starfleet on your behalf. I do know though, that you have impressed the Captain. The compilation was very helpful to him in his report to Starfleet Command. That may sway him slightly." Then she added, "and The General can be a bit of a soft touch, if you know how to talk to him." She smiled.
"The General?" Chris asked, confused.
"The Captain's nickname. It's what everyone calls him, but don't use it when he's within earshot. He's not fond of it."
"Understood."
Tatalia stood near a window in the crowd of people who had come to mourn Captain Zhan. She was feeling very uncomfortable and it wasn’t just the uniform. She had never seen anyone die. Sure, she had been exposed to it but never seen it with her own eyes. All she had been able to think since Captain Zhan’s death was about her own family.
‘What if their death wasn’t as quick and painless as I had hoped. What if it was quick and painful like the Captain’s? What if it took a while? What if?’ Tatalia thought. Her thoughts swirled around almost all of them starting with what if.
Vaguely she heard Captain Price’s voice. She pulled herself out of her haze to listen to the Captain.
"We commit the love and memories of the departed Captain Joseph Zahn to the vast openness of the space frontier he loved with a passion." Lee glanced over to the crewman standing by to authorize the launch of the symbolic casket. "Do it 'mate." Captain Price said quietly.
Tatalia turned to look out the observation window. She saw the photon casket fly through space and fade from sight. “Goodbye Captain. Go in peace,” she whispered. She heard the Federation anthem and knew they were folding the flag. She slowly turned and saw Captain Price give the folded flag to Electra. The ceremony came to an end and Tatalia headed back to her quarters.
***********
Entering her quarters, Tatalia walked into her bedroom and sat down on the bed. She sat their for a moment before moving. Slowly she got up and walked over to the dresser. Kneeling before it, she opened the top drawer. Her eyes fell on the Federation flag. Almost an exact replica of the one just given to Electra. Slowly she pulled it out, it was encased in an Oak container and their was a gold plate at the bottom.
The inscription on the plate read: “In Memory of Lt. Commander Timothy Connor, his wife Natasha, and daughter Terry. They gave their lives for the Federation at Wolf 359.”
Tears welled up in Tatalia’s eyes. Her thoughts returned to the horrible day when she received the flag.
***********
15 year old, Tatalia Connor sat in the front row of the garden Starfleet Command was using for a memorial sight. The closet family member to those killed in Wolf 359 sat in the front row.
There were so many dead that all the deceased shared a funeral. The Federation anthem was played but only one flag was folded. A table was set up with folded flags in Oak frames. So many were on the table. After the symbolic flag was folded, the deceased’s names were called off and the closest relative came up and received their flag.
“Lt. Commander Timothy Connor,” the Admiral called.
Tatalia slowly stood up and walked over to the Admiral’s. No matter how hard she tried not to cry, the tears crept down her cheeks.
The Admiral handed her the flag and shook her hand. “I’m very sorry my dear,” he said.
“So am I,” she whispered as she walked off. “So am I.”
***************
22 year old, Tatalia Connor sat on her floor on Beta 2. Tears ran down her cheeks as she clutched the flag. She just sat there and cried.
V: Funerals, Weddings, and Ferrets
As proper, Miran dressed in her most hated of uniforms- the dress uniform- and attended the Funeral for the fallen Captain. She had never before attended an actual funeral for anyone. She attended the memorial service for the Voyager crew- she would always morn the loss of Robert but she wouldn't let it affect her happiness with Deiran. She loved him too much to let it and besides he deserved her complete love.
She felt for his friends and family. She knew the pain of losing loved ones accutely. She was the last of her family. It made her appeciate Deiran's love even more. Would her parents approve of him? How could they do other wise?
Captain Price's words moved her. He spoke so eloquently. It would be an honor for him to preside over the wedding.
***
She left as soon as the funeral was over. She didn't know anyone from the station and there were too many people anyway. Deiran met up with her soon after she came back on board. He had visited a little at the funeral. He had to spend sometime with her and Bobbie so that he might at least become tolerant of her. She had already made it clear that he had better because she wasn't giving the ferret, that was more than just a pet, up for him.
"What would you think about Bobbie at the wedding?" He didn't answer but gave her one of his looks. He would never like let-a-lone love the creature that Miran doted on.
"Fine, be that way. Which of these dresses do you like better?" She handed him a PADD with several choices on it.
"I don't care. Any of them would look fabulous. I figure its your wedding."
"Thanks, you are a lot of help." He pulled her close to him and kissed her.
"I love you and don't care which dress as long as you're in it at my side at the alter," he then handed her Bobbie. "Here you can have your rat." She took Bobbie from her hands and if looks could have killed he'd been dead.
Soon. It would be soon that they would be wed. She would have tolerated a long engagement- anything could happen as proven by Robert's dissapearance and presumed death.
"Consequences"
0600 Hours, station time.
Ops hummed with renewed activity and vigor, officers manning their posts. To one side, an Egineering and Operations team worked to repair a breach in the hull, the remnants of their recent action. It was hard to imagine that only a few short hours ago, the Station and another starship, the USS Galaxy, had been in another reality, fighting for their very right to try to get home.
The figure at the Tactical board stifled a yawn behind his hand, the skin still pink from recent burns. Matthew Cohen had been at his post for nearly twenty hours, watching the boards and verifying that no forces had tried to take advantage of the Station's absense. It didn't help that he'd had to file a report with Starfleet Command regarding his access of the tactical database, but he'd known that was coming too. And then there were the letters home for the families of the officers under his command that had died in the action. All part of the job he'd enlisted to do.
Then, there were the jobs one took upon themselves. His fingers moved over the various windows on his console, taking on a few of the odd jobs left in the wake of the adventure. Captain Zahn had left behind his lover and an unborn child, who needed to be taken care of. A few keystrokes left a message on the Station grapevine regarding setting up a fund for the widows and dependents, and also put a few chunks of his own paycheck into the till. That was followed by a few orders to shops on the station, ordering foodstuffs. Electra was an Orion, that was true, but he still had his own beliefs on rituals surrounding deaths in the family... and if Starfleet wasn't a family, he didn't know what was. A quiet note accompanied the orders, a reminder to go make the shiva call after he got off work.
"Lieutenant." The human looked up, meeting the gaze of his new CO, formerly his XO, Commander Morris. The delphinian-human hybrid's eyes held his own a moment before she lowered her tone. "Get some rest. Others can hold the fort while you get some sleep." The argument rose quickly to his lips but was swallowed before it could be voiced.
"Aye, sir."
____________
1830 Hours, station time.
"/*Makh'sheva*/, open a channel to the New Yerushalayim colony." There was the soft sound of cloth falling on leather as Matthew discarded the jacket he'd worn to pay his respects to the Captain's widow. Across the cabin from where he was standing, a small machine by the replicator continued to hum away quietly as it processed the Hebrew request.
"/*Communications are not currently possible with the New Yerushalayim colony." The reprogrammed male voice had the same lack of emotion as the female, repeating the same message he'd heard a couple dozen times. Always the same.
"/*Reason?*/" Cohen didn't need really to know. He was already in the bedroom, getting out of his shirt, his uniform spread out on the quilt on his bed.
"/*The New Yerushalayim colony is a possesion of the Cardassian-Dominion Alliance. All communications with that system are restricted by order of the Federation Council and Starfleet Command.*/" The human's eyes closed tightly as he heard that news, and held back the tears. It was most likely too late... and he hadn't been here to do anything to help.
Without a single word, the lieutenant donned his uniform, and returned to Ops.
____________
2300 hours, station time.
*BEEP*
The door monitor chimed for the second time, again overwhelming the usual sounds of the station's systems. Behind the desk, Commander Morris was reviewing notes on a padd, going over the reports of the various departments. It had been only a day since Station Beta Two returned from the Void to which it had been abducted, and along with the starship Galaxy, had paid a horrible price for their escape. Now the acting commander, the half-Delphinian half-human officer had her hands full with her new duties. Sighing with yet another complication, she looked up.
"Come in."
The doors parted with a sigh, sounding as weary as the crew manning the distant outpost. Cohen appeared in the openning and stepped in, pausing as the doors closed behind him, before advancing before the desk. He was back in his uniform, having changed after the memorial services, but still looked as uptight as ever. One hand came forward, bearing a padd.
"Sir, I have the report from the tactical and StratOps departments for you." His fingers readily relinquished the padd, almost as if the tablet was hot to the touch. Morris perused the information for a few moments, before glancing up at him.
"Is there anything else?" The silence that followed was palpable. Matthew had never truly been known as one to hang around when there were other things to do.. and something was visibly weighing on him. He drew a deep breath, and then let it out slowly.
"Sir...." His voice was soft, pained. "I failed in my duty to this station. As per the terms of my parole, I was sent here to fill the post of StratOps Officer, charged with the protection of this station from all threats, internal and external. And... as per the terms, my failure requires that I be returned to Auckland." Whether it was fatigue or not, one would never know, but the captain didn't seem to miss a beat.
"That's ridiculous, Matthew. If this has something to do with Commander Seles's promotion..."
"This has nothing to do with her promotion." Cohen cut in quickly, waving a hand. "I am not permitted the position anyway, due to my involvement with the Maquis. This has to do with my dereliction of duty that resulted in the death of Captain Zahn." The fatigue crept into his voice as well. "Every action has consequences, every mitzvah a reward, every misdeed a punishment. Such is how our world works."
"Request for transfer to Auckland denied. We need you where you are." She sighed, and relaxed again. "If you really feel guilty about it, put it into your work and learn something from this. You and your conscience aren't getting the easy way out." When he failed to move, she looked up at him again. "Dismissed."
The door whooshed shut behind the retreating back of the human officer, and Morris let out a sigh, watching after him a moment, then returning to her new duties.
___________
0000 hours, station time.
The Nebula floated past the viewports along the Prominade of Station Beta Two. The shopping district itself was rather quiet, most residents having gone home for the night to their beds, though here and there, figures moved swiftly, en route to various places.
Before one window, watching the panorama of color, stood Cohen's figure, staring in self-absorved silence. The events of the last few days still were too sharp in his mind, too fresh to put to rest. Somewhere, out beyond the port before him, the Galaxy was on her way back to Earth, carrying the remains of those who had died in defense of what they'd believed. Another group of faces to add to the company of the dead that visited him in his dreams, the people he'd failed in the line of duty.
"Never again." He shook his head, a hand resting on the window for a moment, before pushing off, and heading back to his office, the solitary figure blending back into his home.
The return from the Void was relieving for everyone on each of the ships and the station. With this danger somehow removed, duty returned to normal on the Federation ship and station, which meant mainly repairing the damaged parts of the ship and the station.
Joerg had two main things to solve, while the repairs lasted. The first one was about the strange person, who stole a phaser rifle and tried to kill several of the Galaxy's crew. The second was concerning the female alien, who was some kind of fugitive from the Void Cooperative.
"Lieutenant Paran, your report on the lady in holding cell 4 please." Joerg stated as he saw Paran enter his office.
"Everything she told us is right here on this PADD sir." Chanor said while handing him the PADD.
"Good job Lieutenant. Have you found out anything new about our other guest. You know the more violent one." Joerg asked, while partly reading the PADD.
"No sir. The only thing we know for certain is that he came aboard from Beta 2. Perhaps someone there know more about him." he answered.
"Thank you Lieutenant. You better go and get dressed. The funeral for Captain Zahn is about to start in 10 minutes." Joerg said and got up.
He too, wasn't yet wearing his dress uniform, so he headed straight for his quarters.
*** Main Observation Deck, Station Beta Two ***
Many officers and friends of Captain Zahn paid their tribute to him at his funeral. Captain Price held a very emotional speech about the deceased Captain.
After the speech Joerg tried to speak about his two problems with the Captain and the commanding officer of Beta 2.
He explained them, that the female guest aboard the Galaxy was a fugitive from the Void Cooperative and was seeking asylum. They came to
the conclusion, that it was in the best interest of everyone, that F`Sala Gratan, that's how she called herself, should stay aboard Beta 2, so that she can be slowly introduced to the life in the Federation.
The second person, Joerg spoke about with the commanding officers, was also decided to be brought to Beta 2, as Chief Dawner was quite capable of handling that kind of persons.
After the funeral Joerg returned to the ship to arrange the two transfers to Beta 2. He ordered Ensign Mulich and O'Lindey to escort the prisoner directly to Beta 2's security department, where he was questioned by the station's security chief.
The other tran
Lt. Devlynn Salshyar (Dev)
Chief Counselor, USS Galaxy - NCC-70637
by Ensign Chris Thomas Ops
by Lt jg Jania Fowler SD 49706.24
"Repeat"
by Lt. (Jg.) Ronni Morris
Asst. Chief of Science, USS Galaxy
"Getting repairs underway"
by Lt. jg Ramone Pescadeiro
Assistant Chief Operations Officer Beta 2 Station
Lieutenant Troy Blair
Chief Tactical Officer, USS Galaxy
"The Crush of Tears"
by Cmdr. Kra'lana Morris CO, Beta Station Two
"Return"
by Ensign Tatalia Connor
Security section Alpha-One leader
Ensign Michael Duncan Ops Officer
"Settling dust"
by Captain Robert Edward Lee Price
It was Chiron's shift to mother the large core that kept the Galaxy alive. Hutchcraft had gone to the funeral, leaving the Tamarian in charge. He had a lot of work to do, repairing the damage caused by the Cooperative. Chiron felt terrible about not making it to the funeral, but he also felt that he knew Zahn better than anyone else there. He had died with him, living in his mind in those last few minutes. He felt the intense determination the man had had, and the hope that his crew would return back to normal space safely.
"Repairs and Honoring the Dead"
by Ensign Christopher Thomas Ops - USS Galaxay
by Commander Kra'lana Morris CO, Beta Station Two
Lt. Devlynn Salshyar (Dev)
Chief Counselor, USS Galaxy - NCC-70637
V: “Time for Goodbyes”
by Ensign Tatalia Connor
Security section Alpha-One leader, Beta 2
by Lt Ti Miran
(-( This exerpt for your enjoyment, from the FSG Writers Guild (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Zone/9296). Submissions are welcome. )-)
A short story in the Station Beta 2 Universe
Copyright 1997 by T.J. Casser
All Rights Reserved
______
"Problems"
by Lieutenant Joerg Sterner
Chief of Security, USS Galaxy