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No Time Like The Present
lukeminherexx
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Captain's Log, Encoded:Finding Git is like finding a needle in a hay stack. If he does not wish to be found, he will not be. Not by me, not by anyone. Going dark as we have, and rogue as we are now marked, it may be easier for me to get a message to Git.
Romulan Space proved to be unprofitable in finding Git, but sure opened up more questions. Git apparently was tied in with some Bajorian Rebels. I simply need to find out who. This will also answer some questions that Star Fleet will have concerning some Romulan antagonists that still wish a war.
Previously: While looking for his Ferangi friend, Git, Luke Minhere and his crew has gone dark, working for Section 31to track down some rogue Romulins. They feel Git may have some answers for them, but as Luke considered, if Git does not wish to be found, it would be very hard to find him. While listening to communications near the Bad Lands of space in the Cardassian sector, science officer Sizeria began a study of a singularity, a black hole that was not stationary, but seemed to free roam. While studying it, the ship encountered a strong energy wave of sorts.
arcgames.com/en/forums/startrekonline/#/discussion/1098289/the-wolfpack-2409
"Shut off those alarms, I can't think," Luke hollered. The red alert warning almost instantly ended.
"Anyone have any idea what that shock wave was from?"
The bridge was silent now, everyone looking at their instruments, as if a new answer would pop up out of thin air.
"Sizeria?"
The Trill science officer just watched her monitor, but did not answer. That was normal for her as she studied a problem. By the look on her face there was definitely a problem.
"It's a binary system, not a single," she said, her face pale now.
Luke just looked at her, having no idea what she was getting at. He knew what a binary system was. One object rotating about another. Stars are mostly made up of binary systems. Sometimes the system is very broad, and inhabitants of planets in one solar system only recognizes the binary sister star as a star, while in other systems they have a tight orbit, causing a double sunrise. He really did not see where she was going with this.
"Luke, this is a binary system, and we are within the orbit of the other black hole," she said, as if that explained it all.
"Impulse power, get us out of here Commander Roselli" Luke called out.
"Hold that order sir," Sizeria said, rushing to another science station, quickly entering data.
After a moment of patience, Luke finally decided he needed an answer.
"Sizeria," he asked, trying to prompt her to shed some light on the situation.
"This is very odd indeed. The orbiting singularity must have been positioned behind it's much larger companion upon our arrival. Very close to one another. That wave we felt is the gravitational tidal forces between the two. That we can survive, as is obvious. However, it is causing some kind of anomaly within the orbit. We know singularities cause a space time interchange, but this anomaly has affected the area even around the black hole itself."
Luke just looked at her. He actually understood most of it, but could not quite understand why they could not leave.
Sizeria looked to her captain with a thoughtful, worried look. Her face actually showed some excitement, mixed with much horror.
"Captain, while we are not experiencing the devastating gravitational tidal forces within the singularity, that would rip us apart, we are experiencing the change-over of space and time."
Luke still just looked to her, waiting for the answer.
Sizeria rolled her eyes, having trouble explaining things that she felt she already said in a more simplified way.
"If we move, in any direction, we will not move through space. We will move through time, and the space that we think we are covering will remain static. Push the engines to full power, and watch us age, but we wont move a bit. Is that simple enough?"
Luke nodded, and looked about the bridge. He felt better that he was not the only one that just got it.
(Writer's Note: Please remember, it is an anomaly, which is writer term for "no, it probably cannot really happen that way but for some unknown reason it did.)
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
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Luke poured himself a glass of brandy and sat back in his leather chair. Of course he would not drink much. He needed to keep his head. Being stuck like this was unnerving for the rogue captain. Staying in one place always was. Since he was a young man he felt the need to keep on the move. At 36 earth years, he had to admit it had not diminished much.
Another wave had hit the ship, as he felt it lurch a bit. It was no danger to them. The ship held.
"I don't have time," a gray haired woman called to him, almost suddenly appearing in his office.
She quickly locked the door behind him, as he heard shouts from the security officers. She then removed a phaser from her belt and shot the lock, disabling it, and locking herself in the ready room with Luke.
Luke was standing and ready to defend himself when he was hit with a phaser blast. It was set on stun, and knocked him back, but otherwise caused no other harm.
"I know you do not recognize me but I am Sizeria, and we have gone through this a half dozen times already. We do not have years to get out of here, so listen to what I know and tell me exactly what I am about to tell you," the woman said, very sure of herself.
"Why would I..." Luke began.
"....tell me what I about to tell you? Because you will be telling the me from this time, now shut up and listen. We are not alone here. There are others that were caught in this anomaly, which is quite possibly not natural. I cannot get into that except that if you see them, run. Do not fight. They will kill you. Now tell me that the quantum jump drive is the answer. It will not be stable, but if we time it right with the shields we can bend space enough to warp us out of here. I will understand that and begin researching a way. Now back to the ones trapped in here with us," she began, but looked back quickly as security was cutting through the door.
"You will not see them right away, and they will not see you. Slowly, however, they will start to appear, as if our times begin to meld together. They seem....." she stopped as the door was knocked in. Security quickly entered.
"Hold," Luke said, and they stopped, phasers pointed at the elderly woman.
"Luke, are you alright," a younger Sezeria called as she too entered.
As soon as she did enter, the elderly woman seemed to simply no longer be there.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
Luke rubbed his temples.
"Basically she, uhm, I, am telling me," Sizeria stopped and looked to Luke. "I think I am giving myself a headache here."
Luke chuckled.
"Anyway, in a black hole you are in constant angular motion, once you pass the event horizon. Nothing spectacular or confusing about that. It means though that you cannot pass out of the event horizon, no matter what you try and do. You will always simply be circling the axis, angular motion."
"But we are not in the singularity, we have not crossed the event horizon," Luke said, catching on to where she was going with it.
Sizeria hurriedly read through more of her own notes from study.
"No we are not, we are in an anomaly though that is functioning much like a singularity. No event horizon, which means we may be able to get out of it," Sizeria walked over to another station and began typing very fast.
"I will need Pac and Monica, this will require engineering."
Luke nodded, just happy that he was getting some news about this.
"Oh, you told me there were others here," Luke said, looking to Sizeria.
"What?"
"The old you, told me there were others here, what do you make of that?" Luke asked.
"Insanity was setting in," she said quickly, "and if it was setting in for me, the rest of you were probably well passed insane."
"Back to Pac and Monica," Luke prompted.
"We need more energy than our warp core can provide. I need to find out what their thoughts are on how to harness that energy."
"The quantum drive," Luke offered, understanding where she was going with it.
"Yes, the quantum drive, but it will be dangerous, and may not work. I think the main thing I was telling us is that either way, we need to get out of here."
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
The ship shook, and Luke watched as the same conversation occurred between two ensigns in the lounge. It was if they never noticed. Which was strange, because he was wondering if they noticed the same thing, and if they had, they made no indication that they had.
"Perception," Betsy Debreto said, smiling down at the handsome captain who was sitting comfortably on one of the couches.
Luke looked to the pretty dark skinned woman, her brown eyes flirting with him, and offered his own smile.
"Betsy," Luke said, nodding to her, then taking a sip of his drink.
"We all see it," Betsy sat down on the lounge sofa with the captain. "Just we do not perceive our own time stutter, or whatever it is."
"Have you expanded your studies from counseling?"
"Not really. I am well studied on many things, you know that," she offered, sipping her own sweet drink.
"Let me ask you something," Luke said, but seemed very cautious in asking.
"Go ahead, " she said, running her fingers over the lip of her glass.
"Can this, these time stutters as you called them, can they cause insanity?"
"I do not see how, or why," Betsy replied, then seemed to consider it a bit more.
"What do you think is happening when time stutters?" Luke questioned, but did not really think she would have a precise answer. Betsy was highly intelligent, but this was not really her field.
"I am not really sure on that. When you get into quantum mechanics, strange things really happen. I do not think even Pac or Sizeria knows this for sure," she shook her head a bit.
"So what it is a beautiful lady like you doing in a lounge like this," Luke chuckled a bit.
"I was just looking for someone," she said, scooting closer to him.
"Did you find him," Luke asked, motioning for a bottle. The lounge tender nodded, knowing what Luke wanted.
Betsy chuckled a bit, knowing Luke too well.
"Guess we will see captain," she offered, smiling into his dark eyes.
"I think the captain needs to hear this," Pac said, his normal look of concern on his brow.
"Captain Minhere is one of the best captains in space, but this is not his field. He is quite aware of the dangers," Sizeria offered. She knew Luke well enough to know this would all just annoy him. He really was a good captain, and was known to get his ship out of many scrapes. He was just not a scientist.
"We have to bend space, because we cannot simply travel in any straight line. We know the slip stream can do that, but it is not powerful enough to get us out of this anomaly," Pac was saying as he traced the energy paths. He seemed a bit frustrated, but went on with it.
"The two cannot be connected, because it endangers us all. In more ways than one."
"Such as creating our own singularity without the ability to contain it," Monica added.
"Exactly," Pac said, looking to the other two.
"In theory," Sizeria said, "but we do not know the reality."
Monica looked at the engine core, apparently debating in her mind what to say and what to add on. This was a far way from earth, a place she was born and raised on, and wishing she was back on right about now.
"Apparently YOU thought it would work," Monica finally said, looking to Sizeria.
"Apparently I did," Sizeria nodded.
"Anything we do, we can take time, it seems, so far, to get it done. I do not want to rush into anything," Pac said, and they all agreed.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
His duty had been difficult, because many had been reporting seeing people in their living quarters. Some were shadows, some were familiar people. Many things could not be explained, and every investigation proved no one to be there. It could be mass hallucination brought on by the anomaly, or simply people's nerves getting the best of them. Again, he would let better minds figure that out. He was instead more geared to handling situations of security.
It was during this thought process that Lakan saw someone enter his own quarters.
"Computer, security officer Lakan, pass 15467G, who is in my quarters," he asked, even as he removed his Star Fleet issued phaser.
"You are alone in your quarters Ensign Lakan," the computer responded.
"I am not in my....." Lakan began as he walked into his quarters. Before him was someone in a Star Fleet Security Officer uniform, drawing his phaser even as Lakan drew his own. Lakan quickly fired, even as the figure fired on him. His enemy seemed to fall even as he did.
Lakan heard the security alert sound as he fell into unconsciousness.
"Dr Movat, what did you find," First officer Iana demanded.
"Seems he was shot with his own phaser, sir," the doctor responded, looking to the First Officer.
"Why would he do that," Iana asked, looking the security officer over.
Dr. Movat shrugged.
"I could not say."
Iana nodded. "Very good, doctor, see to him, and when he is able, I will need to speak with him."
"So it appears he saw someone in his quarters, captain," Iana said, having discussed the happenings with Lakan.
"You did warn me that if we saw these strangers, to run," Luke said, looking to Sizeria.
The three met in Luke's ready room after Iana completed her investigation.
"Well, the me from the future warned you this, apparently having more information than I do."
Luke nodded, and looked to Iana.
"There are no other life forms on this ship other than who is suppose to be," Iana said.
Luke nodded again, then walked to his observation window in thought.
"We are stuck in an anomaly, and we have all seen the stutter of time. Could that have something to do with this?" Luke finally asked.
"I would think possible," Sizeria said.
"He said he saw someone enter his quarters. As he removed his phaser," Luke began.
"They removed theirs. As he fired," Sizeria went on.
"They fired," Iana finished.
"He did fire on himself," Luke said, as the other two agreed.
The ship shook from another energy wave, then Luke watched as Sizeria and Iana entered his ready room.
The entire conversation would start again. This was starting to get annoying.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
"We function on linear time. It is what we know. We exist in the present, but we learn from our past. Then their is the future that we strive for. The things we do in the present and the things we wish to accomplish in the future, no matter how minute the time in the future is, is what makes us who we are in this present," Sizaria said.
Luke nodded, understanding. Luke, Iana, and Sizeria sat in his briefing room, as Luke called for an update on the situation.
"These waves that hit our ship, what, every four hours? They are moving us out of a linear time line," he finally said.
Sizeria and Iana looked to Luke, seeming a bit shocked that the captain really did understand.
"I went to the same schools you went to," Luke said, with a chuckle. "Sizeria will learn how to use that to her advantage, some way, but way in the future. She was older, grey haired when she came to me. 70 or 80 years from now."
"Yes, which means we have tried every way to get out of this anomaly. Why didn't we just use that knowledge, in her time, she put to us to get out? I fear there may not be much of a crew left, only those that have extended lives, well, in human comparison," Sizeria offered.
"Has Pac gotten any closer to deciding what to do?" Luke asked.
"We have several methods to consider, but each leads to one thing. We need to somehow warp out of here, which means transferring as much power to the core as we can. Some scenarios suggest we will rupture the core, and destroy the ship. Others suggest we may actually survive, but we will have no power," Sizeria said.
Luke nodded.
"So we have no real solution yet," Luke said. "The way out is right, but the methods to accomplish this are all dangerous. We will have to decide whether to live our lives out here, which we can for generations, or risk destroying the ship and everyone on it. Do I pretty much have that right?"
"That is our choices, but if we stay here, it will not be normal life as we know it. Remember, every time we are effected by the time stutter, it grows longer. Time on this ship is fading away. I am unsure of how long time will remain linear to us. Most minds, if not all, on this ship, will not be able to take the strain."
"You are full of good news Sizeria," Luke offered a smile.
Sizeria simply shrugged.
"Get with Pac, you have 48 hours to decide how we will go through with it. However we decide, we are not staying here," Luke ordered.
Iana and Sizeria nodded, and left the briefing room.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
Massive black hole, in radio.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
"Captain, back," called Lt. Security Officer Brin, a large, half Klingon male that Luke became friends with. The man was loyal.
Luke ducked down the hallway as phaser fire whisked past him.
Luke adjusted the eye patch, which covered a nasty wound. His hand only briefly ran the scars, something he started doing when in deep thought.
"How many are there," Luke asked.
Brin glanced around the wall quickly.
"Three, but they have cover," he said.
"Are they in the transport yet," Luke asked.
"No, they are stuck at the other end of the hall as well," Brin said, even as phaser fire came from the other direction of the hallway.
Monica was holding the mutineers down.
"I have to get into the transport," Luke said.
Brin understood the importance, and nodded. Catching Monica's eye, Brin made some motions to her that Luke understood. More cover fire.
"Roll low to the far wall, and stay close to it. Monica and I will keep fire on the far end of the hall so that they cannot fire back. Once you are inside transport, you will be safe," Brin said.
Luke nodded, understanding.
"You stay safe until I return," the captain ordered.
"Of course sir, I have to get you back out of there," Brin smiled.
Luke looked up to see a man standing in his ready room, looking at him. He obviously recognized the captain, but Luke was not sure he recognized the man. His face was scarred, and he had a patch over one eye. Still, he did look familiar. He appeared to be around 50 years old, fit, and was wearing a star fleet uniform that was worn and torn in some places.
He was also a captain.
"Captain Minhere, I am sorry to come in here without invitation," the man said, and Luke noticed the duel plasma pistols hanging on his hips.
"You are me," Luke said low, but loud enough for the man to hear him.
"Yes, not as pretty as we once were, am I," the elder Luke chuckled softly. "Also not as much worried about our looks."
"How did you manage this, wait, how much time do we have?" Luke asked.
"Time depends, pretty much until I tell you something that will change our future," Luke said. "We have played this game already, in my past, but in your future. It is best we not waste, uhm, time."
Luke nodded to himself, his other self.
"I, we, are experiencing a mutiny. I will not divulge who and why. I do not wish to influence your thoughts on the people, and it may change things, causing me to be....gone, and not able to tell you everything. Just trust me on this. Time is lost to us now, pretty much frozen. Basically, we are immortal, if you will. It takes 20 years for this to ultimately occur, but it does. Because I am here, it should mean you did not escape, however, that in itself is not completely necessarily true. If you do not escape this place very soon, or if you make a wrong move and mess with time, we will be stuck here. "
"If you are me then you know I was actually just doubting my decisions, this is not helping," Luke said.
"I suppose not. Listen, this may assist you and the crew. Time will slowly start to stretch. By now you, we, have been seeing images of ourselves. The stutters will soon begin to turn into elongated time. In a couple of years you will literally be able to turn around and shake your own hand. That of course will begin to change as time on the ship settles. It will settle into a 20 year span. Once that occurs, all options are off the table. There is no escape. Time closes off."
"Yet I met a Sizeria that was 70 years in the future," Luke said.
"I know, of course. I have no explanation of that," the elder Luke said.
"What course did we take that lead you here," Luke asked.
The elder Luke sat down on the ready room couch, and closed his eyes a moment.
"We spoke about it, us, Sizeria, Iana and Pac. We decided that the low chances of safely leaving this anomaly at this time meant we should just stay and see what occurs. That will eventually lead to a civil war on the ship, those that wish to try and leave the anomaly, and those that wish to stay and be immortal and safe, but stuck here. The truth is, we cannot leave now. We just learned this, but the mutineers do not know. Your...our instinct will be to include all passengers in a vote on what we do, since it effects us all. You cannot do this. You must make the decision........" and with that, the elder Luke was gone.
Luke sat back in contemplation. Apparently he made a decision already. Now he had to understand what that decision is.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
"Use the slip stream technology with a tachyon beam. The tackyon beam will cause the instability in this time prison, as we have come to call it. Since it works on a Four-momentum space time configuration, in theory it should depose a part of the anomaly. While not exactly the proper way to consider it, it would be similar to punching a hole in the wall of this anomaly. If we accomplish that with no damage to the ship, which I will explain, then we can use the slip stream technology to piggy back it's energy and get us out of here," Sizeria said, nodding afterwards to show the captain she was done.
Luke looked at her a moment, then turned his chair, looking out of the observation window, into nothing.
"What is the danger of this," Luke finally asked, after considering what she said.
"We are unsure of the exact parameters of this anomaly, therefore, striking it's wall could mean we would get caught up in it's energy," Pac said.
Sizeria looked to Pac then back to Luke.
"I do not think that will happen," Sizeria said, a little too quickly. It appeared to Luke the two probably had argued over this quite a bit, from the looks on both of their faces.
"Iana," Luke looked to the science officer.
"50/50 chance at best for it to succeed sir," Iana said. "If we are too close, it will cause the hull to rip apart, much like a singularity would do if you were to fall into one. The shields would be of no help. However, we looked at other options, and this is our best chance by far."
Sizeria nodded while Pac looked to Luke with little expression.
"Thank you. Send me the computer simulation of how this will, or will not, work. You are dismissed," Luke said, nodding his approval to them.
The three stood there a moment, looking to one another questioningly, then looked to Luke.
'Sir, don't you want us to help you make this decision," Iana asked. "Maybe we should explain it better, or..."
Luke put up a hand, then offered a gentle, handsome smile.
"No need. There will be no more debate, as it is apparent there has already been. I trust the information you gave me is the best, and now I just need to decide. As I see it, we either do the tachyon slip stream maneuver, or we stay here and look for other possibilities. You will have my answer in ten minutes."
"Yes captain," Iana said, then the three left.
Luke knew the moment Sizeria offered the possible solution that it was exactly what they were going to do. He really was not one for long waits, and according to those that came from his future, they would be in for a very long wait.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
Iana was double checking her stats. She convinced herself it was like a battle, getting out of this anomaly, and Andorians were well equipped for that. She left her home, which is a frozen moon of the Andoria system, when she was a young adult. She had military training from her own kind, but wanted something different for herself. She found it in Star Fleet. Most figured she would excel in military matters, which she did, but it was matched by her scientific abilities. She was a natural choice for Luke as his First Officer.
"Let your woes become your deadliest weapons," Iana said to herself, an old Andorian saying that she liked.
Sizeria waited for the others on the bridge. There were but minutes left until they would try the tachyon slipstream maneuver. She and Pac came up with it, but she seemed much more sure it would work than he did. She wasn't sure why she felt so strong about it. She was ready to argue with Pac until Luke saw her side of it. That was not like her. She was Trill, a combination of two life forms. She was in fact designed to get along with others in that aspect, wasn't she? Pac was just frustrating.
Pac looked at the time in his quarters. Like Iana he was Andorian. He was a scientific engineer, and the two worked well together. Sizeria, however, always seemed only to want to impress Captain Minhere. He usually did not let that worry him, but he was not too sure about the maneuver they were going to try, even though he helped to design it. It was very risky, much more risky than Sizeria was wanting to show. He was a bit taken back that Iana sided against him, but then this was Star Fleet, and one did not take sides due to race. That thought shamed him almost immediately, and he pushed it away. He considered trying to convince the captain to wait, again, but alas Minhere seemed set on what he was going to do. It was out of his hands.
"I have viewed and reviewed and viewed it again sir. Their conclusion is correct," Jason McCoun said, a smile on his face. His visor hid his eyes, that were blinded when he was but a child. He now saw things in a different light, so to speak.
"Yeah," Luke nodded. "50/50 chance. That is better than we have had many times over, isn't it?" Luke asked as much as said to his long time friend.
The two met in the Academy and have been close friends ever since. He felt very fortunate when Jason was put on his crew. Jason was one of the few that knew the truth of Luke's background.
"And the decision is all yours my friend," Jason chuckled. He was usually upbeat, and did not sink into worry like most. Things to him were what they were. Luke appreciated that about the man.
"Indeed it is. Indeed it is," Luke smiled at his friend's chuckle. This was really no laughing matter, but he found it hard to be solemn with the man.
"Luke, we aren't going to a funeral. Come on man. Remember the 5 Ferangi ships that had us surrounded near the moon Versailles. We were not even suppose to be there, so we could not call for help. Yet, you got us out of it. No fear, that is what we all thought of you," Jason said, pouring himself some wine.
"All? There were 5 of us Jason, and we were all in it together. There are people on this vessel that have no idea what is going on," Luke said, referring to the civilians.
"Everyone knows about this anomaly," Jason sipped his wine, wondering what Luke was going on about.
"Not the anomaly my friend. We are dark, and cannot even call for help if we wanted to."
Jason shrugged a bit at that. It was true, they were on a black ops mission, and many of the 84 on board were not sure of what was going on.
"They know they are on a military vessel, not a science one. I think we think too little of our civilian crew at times. They knew what they got into, and they know they will not be told everything we do. They have their jobs. We have ours."
Luke nodded again at that. He found he nodded often when Jason spoke to him. The man knew Luke as well as Luke knew himself it seemed. Sometimes better.
"Well," Luke said, standing up, exhaling loudly.
"Deep subject, but this one isn't. Get us out of this mess, that is all you have to do. One way or another, my friend. In the meantime, I will finish my wine if that is okay with you sir," Jason toasted.
"No, it is not okay. Come on, all officers to the bridge," Luke ordered, and Jason followed.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
The spinning was incredible. He was not use to it.
Star Ships do not spin.
"Get the thrusters under control," Luke called, "And shut off that alarm!"
The force was too much for the gravity control to even begin to keep up.
"Pac!" Luke called, but of course he did not get an answer. Pac was flung from his station and was somewhere on the floor of the bridge.
It was space. When you spin, you don't stop unless another force stops you. When you are flung at speeds faster than warp, the forces are incredible.
Luke could only imagine would it would look like from another craft.
They performed the Tachyon Slip Stream move. Punched a hole in the edge of the anomaly, then used the energy to slip stream out of it. Of course they had no way of knowing it would destabilize, well, everything. The anomaly began to collapse, causing some kind of an implosion, then explosion. It was beyond Luke on what he witnessed, and it was hardly the time now to dissect it.
"THRUSTERS!" Luke yelled, just as the ship began to stabilize. Any of the crew that were not seated and strapped in were cast about the ship.
Some very well could be dead.
The ship was still in a spin but able to stabilize. While the alarm was not sounding, all instruments were reading red. His crew was quite disoriented.
He was quite disoriented as well.
"Report," Luke called, unstrapping and going to Pac.
Pac had a gash on the top of his head, but otherwise was fine.
"Report now!"
"Sir, all systems are failing, but we are on it," Jason called from engineering.
Luke just noticed emergency lights were on, the red glow should have been a hint.
"What about life support," Luke asked, that of course being the most important.
"Getting that back up now. The warp drive is trash," Jason reported.
Luke sighed. They were on the edge of space, so to speak, and he had no warp drive. Impulse would not even get him to the closest cargo lanes.
"Can we get the warp back up," Luke asked.
"I am going to get power and subsystems up first, before we can even begin to work on warp," Jason replied. "We need to get sick bay up. We have injured."
Luke nodded, knowing Jason could not see that.
"Get on it," Luke said.
"Instrument panels look fine," Pac said out loud, but not particularly to anyone.
"Get to sick bay, Pac," Luke ordered flatly.
"I am fine sir," Pac said while opening up another panel.
"It was not a suggestion."
Pac nodded then headed to the lift. When he pushed the panel, nothing happened.
"Captain, I am not taking the emergency ladder," Pac said, no amusement in his voice.
Luke sighed, but nodded. Pac was hit in the head, and that would be dangerous anyway.
"Fine, get back to work until the lift comes back up."
It was going to be a long day.
If space had days.
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
"Well Jason, there is an old earth saying. If you do not like it, you can kiss my..."
"CAPTAIN!" Iana shouted.
Luke held his tongue, his face showing his obvious frustrations.
"Captain, I am sorry. I am not saying I will not try and get this up in 24 hours, but you are simply asking more of my crew than is possible at this moment," Jason finally explained over the com.
Luke nodded, though there were no visuals. It was times like this that frustrated him the most.
"Jason, do your best," Luke said, ending the link.
Luke looked to Iana who was busy working on one of the stations. She was a scientist, but she knew plenty about the mechanics of it all as well.
"Pac, can we please get more than coms up? Can we get the lifts to working?" Luke asked, trying to take the edge off of his voice.
Pac looked to his panel, and began attempting to route some of the power to the lifts.
"Sir, engineering will have to get more power flow before we can even accomplish that," he replied, with hopes the captain was not going to lose his temper again.
"Sick bay to bridge," a male voice called, and Luke tried to recognize it.
"Go sick bay," Luke called back.
"We cannot open our doors, and we cannot even get anyone on this deck into sick bay as needed, much less from anywhere else."
"We are aware, we are working on that," Luke said.
"Thank you sir," the voice called back. It was not the main doctor, and Luke felt bad that he did not recognize who it was.
"Pac, get the doors and lifts online. If we cannot move people around, we cannot get the crews to where they need to be," Luke said, walking toward his ready room.
Luke then stopped.
"I cannot even go into my ready room," Luke sighed.
"Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course." -Shakespear
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
Baby steps.
"I hate babies," Luke said to himself.
"What sir," Pac asked, looking to his captain.
"Nothing," Luke said with a sigh.
"If we redirect from here to here we can get the station modules up, which will open up inner visual links as well. From there," Monica said, moving to the next set of routing,"we can eventually load the outer visuals, and we will at least no longer be in the dark."
"How long," Jason asked.
"Less than an hour for inner visuals, less than 12 for outer. We may have to walk though to reboot," Monica said, referring to a space walk on the outside of the vessel.
"I hope not," Jason said, hating walking on the outside.
'No worries sir, I can do it if needed," Monica said.
"What about slip stream," Luke asked Ian in his ready room.
"We have to re-energize the core, then get the slip stream back up if we even can. Of course if we get the core back we will have warp, and we will not be needing to have this conversation," Ian said.
"So the answer is no," Luke said, looking out of his window into the very darkness of space. Nothing was magnified, nothing was lighting up around them, everything was just dark.
"The answer is no sir," she confirmed.
Of course he already knew that answer. He was hoping that she had another answer.
"When we went dark, I did not suspect it would be so literal," Luke chuckled.
"Sir, we have transport up," Ensign Sinden called from the com.
"Thank you ensign," Luke said.
"See, things are not so bad," Ian pointed out. "We are getting systems back."
"Yes, but there is nowhere close enough for us to limp to on battery power, unless we have thousands of years of course," Luke said.
"No, but the gel packs will keep life support up, and eventually we can send out a message," Ian said.
Luke nodded.
"I need to get back to check and see how the reboot is going," Ian said with a nod.
Luke nodded and heard the door as it opened and closed.
"Well, at least that works," Luke rolled his eyes.
The Blackwolf was built for war, not science adventures and not as an engineering marvel. It was equipped to withstand attacks and return devastating fire that put even the Borg at a disadvantage. With the Multi Vector Modulator, it could split into three separate, warp capable, sections. None of it's advantages helped in rebooting the warp. It would take significant power to reboot the Overcharged Warp Core, which was an unfortunate name for a warp core that was not even charged.
Luke sat down a moment. He was well versed in engineering and science, but his specialty was battle. He could recharge a quantum mine and return it to it's source if needed. He could use the Wolf Pup, the Stalker Fighter he kept on board, to take down much larger and well equipped vessels. He could....
"The Wolf Pup," Luke said, even while he hit his com.
"Captain Minhere to Commander McCoun."
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein
Monica looked back to the security officer that was watching her trip. It was Brin, a handsome half Klingon. She felt safe with him keeping an eye on her and the life line she was connected to.
Monica put her mind back onto the job at hand. She was able to open the panel without trouble. It would take a few minutes to reboot and check the computer's status before integrating it with the ship's overall computer system. It was then that a sight caught her eye that made her blood run cold.
"How are we coming with visuals," Luke called to Jason.
"Lt. Monica Bower and Security Officer Brin Baak are working on that right now, sir," Jason reported.
Luke sighed. Over all it was going well. Finally things were getting done. He had Ian and Pac looking into using the Wolf Pup to reboot the main warp drive. From there it would chain react to the other sectors of his ship, and he would have full power. Monica would have the visuals up, but even without the screens working, the ship could be easily guided.
All things were going well.
"Sir, we have visuals, and our sensors are now up, we have something...." Officer Wheler said, but stopped suddenly even as visuals came up.
Luke looked up at the screen, then sat in his captain's chair, in disbelief.
"Last warning. We are Borg, prepare to be boarded. You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile."
"Shield's up!" Luke called, "Red alert!"
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. -Einstein