Back to the past to begin our future

Posted on Thu Nov 25th, 2021 @ 1:49pm by Lieutenant Brakon Ryal & RESIGNED & Captain John Wells & Lieutenant Commander Trevor Andrews & Lieutenant Nerex & Lieutenant Robyn Cole & Lieutenant JG Hank Solomon

Mission: Why Do Things Seem Different?
Location: USS Eminence & Space Dock, Earth orbit

[ON]

[USS Ohio – Temporal Alignment Vessel - 2725 AD The Future]

Captain Marco studied the temporal flow displayed on the massive holographic imager in the center of the chronology room, watching closely as the hundreds of interconnecting time-lines gently and subtlety adjusted and changed position, interweaving and twisting into a new pattern.

He glanced over as his Chief Chronologist. The Vulcan caught his look and nodded slowly “We have achieved an alignment of ninety-nine point nine-eight-three-five percent Captain. Well within acceptable parameters.”

Marco nodded. “We’ve put them back at the right time and place, but they have no idea of what they are about to encounter” he said grimly.

“True, however, they will not be the first, Archer and the Enterprise survived. Wells and the Eminence have at least equal odds” The Vulcan replied dispassionately “It should play out as it is meant to.”

“I hope you’re right” Marco replied still watching the temporal display. “There is a lot riding on their next few weeks…”


[Bridge -USS Eminence – 2400 The present]

“And coming up on the Firing Range in six minutes sir” Brakon called out from the Executive Officer’s chair. “Helm standby to drop out of warp on the Captain’s mark. Engineering standby for any problems; Tactical standby to begin our Combat Run”

The Eminence had completed her third and final shakedown cruise, a three-day run at high warp, out and through the Gargent Nebula, a route known to be hard on all ship’s systems.

So far, all of the Eminence’s refit work had held together, the high-output warp core and upgraded nacelles had powered her at an average speed of warp eight-point-eight for some seventy-one hours.

Now they were on the last few light years back to the Solar System and their final test, a simulated combat run against a series of automated targets in the starship firing range out by the planet Neptune.

After that, they would return to Space Dock where she would be officially released to her crew.

Just so long as there were no problems when they dropped from warp…

"Standing by for sub-light speeds, sir," Nerex called out. He was happy with the results of the test so far. He didn't anticipate any problems with the termination of the test. Nerex listened for the order to drop out of warp.

"Very well, then, reduce to sub-light speed" ordered Wells.

"Aye, sir." Nerex brought the ship down to impulse power. He was happy to see no complications on his end of things. He was sure Engineering was, too, even though they had other things to worry about on top of this. He hesitated a moment once the change had been completed. Had they done this before? Not come out of warp, but done this exact shakedown already? Strange things happened out in the universe, and even stranger seemed to happen to starships, but he shook it off as deja vu.

Captain John Wells was happy that the ship was doing so well and that, in fact, he would have the inspectors off his ship soon. No one had told him that all these 'tests" would be necessary before his command was released.

Moreover, as well as the shup was completing its tasks, the Captain could not shake the feeling that he had been in this spot before. Was it that he had the feelings from another ship or was it something more? Only time would tell.

The rest of the senior staff were on the Bridge at their specialist stations or there to observe.

Hank duly stood at his station monitoring the stream of data collected by the external sensors’ array of the ship and fed into his monitor. He felt a little dizzy and tired. The more he kept reviewing those bits of information appearing at his console and the more it felt strange. He felt like he already saw those numbers and data before, like if that situation already happened.

“How strange” he thought “I must be hallucinating due to the excessive work hours I and my section put in to prepare the ship for the shakedown cruise” he said himself while rubbing his tired eyes and continuing to act professionally as usual but mentally taking note to rest more as soon as he will be allowed to.

Doctor Cole looked at the tired officer. "Are you alright Lieutenant?" Even if she hadn't been on the Eminence for long, she usually knew when a crewmember wasn't feeling right.

Solomon looked at the gracious medical officer standing close to him with a reassuring smile.

“Yes, Doctor” smiling back “I’m probably just a bit tired and stressed by all these tests and anticipation for the upcoming deployment” he answers back.

“It’s just that…” he continues while still keeping a close eye on the data stream to ensure nothing wrong happens “For a moment it felt like I was …” he stops and frowns. “Oh, never mind…you would probably think I am crazy” and saying so he cracks a huge smile trying to reassure her.

Wells popped up, "Are we completely ready for these exams XO? I would like to get on with our mission."

"As ready as we're going to be Captain" Brakon replied

Lieutenant Jennifer Miller stood on the bridge of the ship that she had recently transferred to, and was amazed at how well-oiled and regimental the crew were already becoming. Jennifer had performed well over the course of the last three days, and had relinquished the tactical station to Van Der Luan and Williams to ensure that they got some practice in. After all, Jennifer couldn’t possibly man the tactical console twenty-four hours a day, so it made sense for others to get acquainted with the controls.

This would be her first posting as a Chief Tactical and Security officer. She had held the assistant Chief position on her previous ship for four years, and was coming up to her tenth year in Starfleet. She was often underestimated by those around her because of her looks and her frame, but she soon proved any doubters wrong by showing them examples of her skill and leadership. She was determined to do her best onboard Eminence, and prove to its Captain and crew that she deserved her place on the ship.

"Weapons on line; all torpedo launchers loaded and ready, ready to activate shields" Van Der Luan reported to Miller. Then said it again "Weapons on line; all torpedo launchers loaded and ready, ready to activate shields"

He felt a strange shudder run through him, had he just repeated himself?

He had no idea why he had done that, it felt like a sort of weird echo in his head. It was like looking in two mirrors and seeing your own reflection disappearing away into infinity, only with sound instead of visually.

He shook his head and steadied himself "Standing by to engage targets on your mark Boss." He said to Miller.

Miller had not been aboard long but Van Der Luan liked his new Chief. She seemed to know what she was doing, dedicated, not afraid of hard work and was somebody he felt he could trust. Hence his use of the respectful term Boss

Jennifer smiled at the man, and acknowledged him with a bow of the head. She was pleased with the staff working alongside her. She’d taken a particular interest in Master Chief Petty Officer Van Der Luan. She’d quickly read over his personnel record ahead of her official appointment to the Eminence, and saw that he hailed from New Transvaal, a planet she wasn’t too familiar with. She made a mental note to catch up with him over a beverage sometime to find out more about the planet. But for now she needed this shakedown to be successful. Tactical and security departments were so far excelling at their duties.

[Engineering]

Assistant Chief Engineering Officer Trevor Andrews knew enough to keep his mouth shut, especially since his last "Body-Frame-Upgrade" gave him an actual mouth.

While the future Temporal Alignment Vessel may have reset his on-board memory concerning the events beyond the Blackhole. It had not reset an independent back-up memory storage device within his brain.

It was an original resource for rebooting his series of Android if the body frame was terminally damaged". He and the others in that series had been built to serve as Hazardous Duty Personnel, the back-up unit was tough and hardened and it had apparently been missed...

Andrews was making sure the Engineering Section and crew was performing at their best. Andrews announced through Engineering, "Okay boys & girls, we've got to be on our toes, because the fun is about to begin!"

He resolved not to hack the Range's scoring system, as much as would have liked to have done.

[Bridge]

=^= USS Eminence this is Neptune Range Control! =^= Came over the communications system. =^= Right on schedule Eminence, sending you vector and coordinates to the range entry point to begin your run =^=

=^= Thank you Neptune Range Control, coordinates received. Eminence is proceeding to the range entry point. =^= Nerex replied. He was momentarily tempted to have them take a more complicated path to the entry point, maybe with a barrel roll or something, but he overcame the temptation and plotted a simple course.

Range Control continued =^= You will be engaging a series of static weapons platforms and mobile simulated aggressor-ship target drones. This will include mobile cloaked targets!

This is a live-fire simulation. Targets will be engaging your ship with beam weapons and simulated munitions. Targets will fire low energy weapons that will drain your shields but will not damage your hull or systems.

However, we will be linking into your command codes and you will experience simulated systems failures if you begin to take damage. =^=

There was a series of beeps and the computer announced Command Code override received. Simulated combat damage program initiated in three... two .. one! Simulated combat damage program is active!

Van Der Luan looked over at Miller and said under his breath. "I heard a couple months back an Intrepid messed up badly on this, they suffered multiple simulated critical systems failures, including losing their life support and warp core, left them dead in the water being swarmed over by the target drones!"

“I hear the same thing.” The woman replied, her voice low and soft. “We’ve got nothing to worry about onboard the Eminence though. At least not with the both of us manning the guns.” She winked at the man. Miller didn’t usually break ranks by doing something like that, but she was having fun, and she was looking forward to this exercise.

Once they arrived at the range start point, marked by a couple of sensor buoys Range Control continued.

=^= Ok Eminence you will follow the buoys through the course.

You will be graded on speed, accuracy, targets and drones damaged or destroyed and simulated damage received.

Standby to commence your run on your mark Captain Wells. Good hunting! =^=

A series of buoys showed up on the view screen, marking out a course over thousands of kilometers. The course twisted, pitched, curved and yawed through all three dimensions.

Holographic weapons platforms began to appear in the distance as well as several ship types.

"Red Alert! All hands to battle stations" Wells announced. "Take us in Mister Nerex, nice and slow."

Now this would be fun. Nerex knew that now he could fly a little crazier, so that they could avoid or confuse the enemy weapons fire. If only it had been a shuttlecraft, then they'd really be flying crazy. But he started out simple, surely the tactical team would appreciate that, too.

Barkon called over to Solomon. "Mister Solomon, assist tactical by monitoring sensors and locating targets for them please"

The Chief Scientific Officer nodded at the order, his hands flying fast over the console he was manning sweeping the area for hostile ships or possible targets.

“Ready when you are, lieutenant” said to Jennifer while signaling her with a brief nod of his head he was ready to start the training.

"Lieutenant Miller you are weapons free! Do us proud." Wells announced.

Jennifer took over the tactical and weapon controls fully from Van Der Luan and stretched her fingers, audibly cracking her knuckles as she did. “Aye sir, engaging targets as they appear on my screen.” This almost felt like fun to the woman. “All weapon systems online, phaser banks full and ready to go.”

"Thank you, fire as your targets bear" Wells instructed.

As soon as the ship passed the entry point the nearest weapons platforms opened up, a barrage of energy beams began reaching out for the ship.

Then two Breen assault fighters appeared and began an attack run

“We got incoming fire” Solomon warned “two hostiles, both Breen assault fighter classes” He rans a quick test on them “Bearing 090 and 098. On parallel course.” He added to his previous information while feeding the set of raw data to the tactical console so that Miller could use that information to optimize the firing vector.

His console showed him some more incoming vessel, dead ahead on an intercept course.

“Two more, dead ahead, still outside weapons’ range.” Without waiting for further orders, Solomon immediately starts scanning the two vessels highlighting their main features and comparing them with the ship’s database in order to identify them.

“One is a Cardassian Galore class, the other…” He kept trying to analyze it without success.

Shaking his head in disbelief “It’s not within our databases” he finally said adding “Both three minutes out based on our current relative speed”.

"We can close that gap faster, if we're ready, Captain," Nerex offered excitedly.

"Lets take out the fighters and nearest weapon's platforms first, then we can move on to the ships" Brakon ordered. "We don't want to leave anything that can start hitting out stern!" He did not the idea of having a couple of stray Breen fighters tailing them around.

“Aye, Captain!” Nerex made sure to give good firing angles to the tactical team.

"Tracking, the port one..." Van Der Laun called out. "Got a lock! Firing!"

The port phaser erupted and the beam slashed through the fighter's starboard wing and engine, it went tumbling off course and exploded.

"Going for the starboard one... Locked! Firing! Missed! Re- tracking!"

The agile fight jinked and weaved around the phaser beam, flipped inverted and began to line up a strafing run on their starboard nacelle. It let loose a stream of pulse-disrupter rounds. The shots slammed into their shields rapidly draining energy on two sets over the nacelle.

"Sonnofabitch! Starboard nacelle shields at twenty one percent! That's got a sting!" Van Der Luan muttered as he brought up the aft phaser bank, waiting for the fighter to appear from under their hull "Tracking... Locked! Firing!"

The fighter pulled up sharply to flip back over and come in for another run. The phaser beam caught up with it just as it righted itself and tore the entire nose off the craft. "It's gone!"

Too busy to enjoy the early successes Van Der Luan double checked that all torpedo launchers were loaded and reported the same to Miller so she could engage the weapons platforms
ahead.

"All launchers ready to fire Boss"

Miller locked on to the platforms and sent a spread of torpedoes their way. Thirty seconds later the platforms were gone.

[Engineering]

Andrews, even though he decided not to fix the game in their favor found that the unidentified ship Solomon had encountered did peak his interest a little. Trevor happened to be tapping into the computer readouts the Bridge to get an idea of what he and the crew in Engineering might be dealing with repair-wise. Mentally registering an "Oh bloody hell!" response after analyzing the data he collected on it.

=^= Bridge, You might want to put the Cardassian ship between us and Mister Solomon's UFO =^= Andrews suggested to the Captain and Bridge crew via the comm channel.

=^=Because we're going to need all the shielding we can get when that turkey starts shooting!=^= Andrews added as he sent the craft's specifications to the Bridge stations.

He finished with =^= They loaded that one with everything including the kitchen sink and garbage disposal! =^=

While sending his message to the Bridge, Andrews put every non assigned all non-active Engineering Crew to Damage Control. Especially on the reactor engines; weapons and life support systems.

[Bridge]

Brakon looked over Andrew's analysis, the Android was right, the unknown ship was indeed heavily armed. =^= Good advice Mister Andrews, thank you! =^=

"Lets try and keep the Galor between us and the intruder Mister Nerex, at least until we can get more tactical data on it" Wells instructed. "Mister Solomon find us a weak spot!"

"No problem, Captain." Nerex had nothing to input because the kind of flying he was doing couldn't be done as effectively on autopilot. While maneuvering, he also looked at the way the Galor class moved. If he could predict which way the Galor would move, it would make his job a lot easier.

"Yes Sir" he promptly answered while he kept analyzing the sensors' reading on his console. His hands and eyes glued at his monitor while the alien unidentified ship shoot a volley of photon torpedoes.

Solomon startled at his readings and asked his colleague manning the backup science console to double check that reading before giving his inputs to the captain and, in turn, the tactical officer.

Nodding an acknowledgement to the Chief Science Officer, Senior Chief Petty Officer Alessia Oxford ran a set of simulations and crunched a few more data before confirming his theory.

"Exactly as you thought, lieutenant" she told him smiling while Hank sensed her deep dark eyes on him.
"Thankyou" he smiled her back before feeding the tactical console with a set of data for the best firing options on the alien ship.

"We got something" he spoke up rising his voice to be heard by all officers on the bridge. "Every time the unidentified ship sends out a volley of photon torpedoes, the energy buildup is such that their shields weakens...but just for a fraction of time"
He then turns towards Miller "If we can time the shot and hit their impulse engine at least we can get them adrift." he offered.

"Sensors indicate the ship is about to fire...now" he finally yells turning to Jennifer just as the buildup of energy on the alien ship is being registered.

"Divert power to the forward shields!" Miller called out. Seconds later a barrage of bright orange energy pulses slammed into the shields. The ship shuddered as the shields were rapidly diminished. "Forward shields at thirty two percent! Recharging"

"Galor's have a blind spot, each side of the bulges where the ventral thrusters are, towards the stern. The shields are thin there and they can't depress their phaser canons to cover it" Van Der Luan called out.

Miller activated the torpedo controls, locked on to the Galor and launched two torpedoes. “One away! Two away! Both locked and tracking, time to impact nine seconds”

The blue flames of the torpedoes’ engines flared across the screen, nine seconds later they slammed into the Galor, the first tearing through the shields and impacting on the hull, the second finished the job and the Galor dropped away, as it’s hull cracked open.

The Galor was finished but now they had no cover from the alien ship!

Another barrage of energy pulses slammed into the Eminence's shields. "Forward shields are gone!" Miller announced. "Helm don't let them hit us in the bow, keep us broadside on!'

Nerex didn’t respond verbally, but abruptly turned the ship to keep a side towards their enemy. He was grinning as the ship spun.

Miller and Van Der Luan poured over the tactical data coming in from the enemy alien vessel looking for a weak spot.

"Mister Solomon, any suggestions?" Miller asked the Scientist.

Hank briefly shook his head “We don’t have much” he starts “the only thing we noticed is that their weapons use lots of energy and they definitely need to take it from other places” he runs another in depth scan of the enemy ship.

“If we have to shoot at them we’d better do it in between of one of their shots and the other” he pauses for a moment before continuing to explain “their weapons system are power hungry and to build up the needed energy they need to draw power from the rest of the systems…shields as well. When that happens, their shields are less effective than in any other moment”.

He then turns towards Miller “regarding to where to shoot at…” he shrugs helplessly “…we are not accustomed to their ship design and initial scans are not that accurate to plot the best targeting solution.”

He recalls a zoomed image of the alien ship.

“Their engines would probably be the optimal firing solution, if they are indeed located in their port and starboard side” he then concludes and feeds that information to the tactical console as well, awaiting for Miller to review his strategy and act on it or enact a more fitting one.

"Engines it is then!" Miller agreed, with limited options it was best to take the risk. She loaded four tri-cobalt torpedoes, locked in targets to the guidance systems and waited for an opportunity to launch.

A few moments later the alien ship unleashed another heavy salvo and sure enough the shield energy dropped significantly as the weapons recharged.

"Firing!" Miller called out "One, two, three, four! All away and running! Time to impact seven seconds!"

The torpedoes arced away, splitting into two pairs and heading for either side of the alien ship.

The shield levels were still low enough when the torpedoes struck. The first two strikes took out the shields and penetrated the hull, the second pair impacted a second later, one managed to drive deep into the hull before detonating. There was split seconds pause then the hull cracked open and a series of secondary explosions ripped the alien craft apart.

[Engineering]

Andrews kept one "Head Comm. Line open to monitor Bridge Comm. Traffic, as he also kept of track of all the Ship's Damage Control Sensors. While also making sure Everyone in Engineering was Productively Engaged.
Plus, being ready for any Systems Repair/Replacement/Over-ride, etc. ...In short, to be ready when the "Shit-Hit-the-Fan", and to be prepared to be "Part-of-The-Solution"; NOT! "Part-of-the-Problem".
LCDR Trevor Andrews knew the USS Eminence would get a "Passing Grade", but how "High"...That was up to His Gang working in Concert, with everybody-else's and the entire Crew putting on Their Best "Performance", for the Damn Critics Scoring this "Concert".
He thought to Himself, "Captain John Wells, is good 'Conductor'. My Section and I are ready. So, the Curtains Up. Let the Space Opera Begin."
As he Hoped they won't have "Shovel" to much "crap.'
......................
Ship's Engineering.
Andrews was proud of The Engineering "Elves" because They got on-to the Nacelles shielding problem before even he could put someone on It.
" Keep Up the Good Work Gang!" Andrews "Head Comm.-ed" all of Engineering. " We with the Grace of Mars and Aires, and anybodyelses God's of War, we have a less than 'quark-sized' chance of not even sustaining any 'virtual' hull damage."


[Bridge]

The Eminence completed the remainder of the run, taking out targets and avoiding incapacitation.

=^=This is Range Control. Very good run Eminence, we're rating you in third place overall for Saber Class, that's a damn good result for a new ship and crew Captain Wells!

We are concluding the drill, returning computer control. You are cleared to depart the range Eminence, well done. =^=

"Take us back to spacedock Mister Nerex" Wells ordered.

[OFF]

Capt J Wells
Commanding Officer

Lt. Brakon R
Executive Officer

Lt. Nerex
Flight Control Chief

Lt. JG Solomon
Chief Science Officer

Lt J Miller
Chief Security Officer

Lt R Cole
Chief Medical Officer

MCPO E Van Der Luan
Master At Arms