The Way Home (Part 1)

Posted on Sun Dec 9th, 2018 @ 5:11am by Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn & Lieutenant Azusa Nakano & Lieutenant Trei Jansum & Lieutenant Xander Oroyo DSci & Captain Ka'Tock

1,279 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Cloud Surfing
Location: Aurora
Timeline: Two Months Later

ON

For two months, there was little of interest. Science continually searched for anything that could be a way back to the Alpha Quadrant. Engineering kept the ship together, and everyone else marked time.

And then, early in Alpha Shift, the science computer beeped that it found something.

"Commander, I think we've found something!" Xander Oroyo's excited voice practically shouted from his station. "It could be a way home."

"On screen," Amber said. "What have you found?"

The viewscreen changed from its familiar view of the warp effect to an image that wasn't so familiar. "Sir, I think we're looking at a cyclic wormhole. And according to the vertiron exit vector, it looks like it leads to the Alpha Quadrant."

Amber was almost afraid to hope that they were actually going home. "Chroniton particle levels? Are we going just through space and not time as well?"

"No chroniton particles present, Commander. I ran that test the first thing after I detected the phenomenon. I had the same thought," Oroyo replied.

Amber smiled, pleased that Oroyo had already checked. "Excellent. Shall we have a closer look?"

"Yes, Commander, Let's," Xander said smiling back at his superior officer. "Transferring the coordinates to the helm...now"

Ka'Tock was at his element here; the helm of a ship, any ship was pleasure to him. He had lost a life in a duel and part of that life was his love for Helm of vessels, he could only mentally thank the captain for allowing him this indulgence.

"Coordinates received..." His hands were like a skilled pianist over the controls. "Course laid in Sir." The Baritone voice gave the details.

As they approached the phenomenon, Xander was taken aback by its beauty. He hadn't expected it to look so good. It was a blue-green anomaly that was glowing in the depth of space and pulsing with a visual form of power. Oroyo turned and looked at his superior and said, "Sensors don't do it justice, eh Sir?"

"Not at all," Amber said. She, too, was starting at the viewscreen. "That's...incredible." She stared at it for another minute. "Is it indeed a way home?"

"It appears so but we won't know until we send in some probes. I don't suggest using us as test subject, Commander. But I suppose it's up to you, is it not?"

Amber glanced towards the door of the Ready Room. The captain was still taking some personal time. "It is, but as eager as I am to go home, I won't risk the ship or its crew. Prepare the probes."

"We are at optimum range to launch now Sir." Ka'Tock noted the readings from his console. "WE have a margin of Error

Trei grinned. "We just might make it home after all." He waited for the message from the torpedo bay, which came pretty quickly. "Probes are in the torpedo banks, ready to be launched."

"Launch torpedoes," Amber ordered.

Oroyo grinned as the data flowed in giving them a first hand account of the phenomenon's secrets. He read in the data that the exit vector does indeed not only end in the Alpha Quadrant but also near Sector 001. They could be well and truly home in a matter of minutes. But there was one snag in the plan; the radiation in the energy stream could kill them all very painfully.

Amber carefully read the data and let out her breath. "Calculate the odds, Mr. Oroyo. What are our chances of coming out alive?"


Oroyo looked down at his console and began crunching the numbers for Commander Quinn. His expression became even more grim than when he delivered the news about the radiation. "The odds are 50/50 sir. We would either survive or not. There's no way of knowing without going through. I'm sorry, Commander."

"Don't be. How long do we have before we have to decide? Also, if we boost power to forward shields, enhance the warp bubble, would the increased shielding give us better odds?"

"It appears to be stable, Commander as well as able to last for quite sometime. I'm not sure exactly how long it will last but I'm certain it will last long enough for us to take the time to come up with the right shield frequencies to attempt the chance. Now Lieutenant Jansum, let's get together on the shield problem."

"Head down to engineering and see what you can do together," Amber said.

"Aye, Commander," Oroyo said looking over to Jansum and nodding.

"Commander, we could modify a Shuttle; take out the non-essential systems to make room for larger shield generators, perhaps only the barest maneuvering sensors as we really do not need much more than that for getting a shuttle through that..." He turned to the commander. "With a good Pilot behind the helm of course."

Amber considered that for a moment. "That could work. Run a simulation and give me the odds."

Ka'Tock turned to his console and started the calculations for the worst case scenario; the extreme gravity flux and acceleration factors. Analyzing the course and knowing the amount of skill it would take to fly a shuttle rather than a Warbird in combat he came to the easy conclusion.

"We have a fine margin of error Ma'am 63% in favor of the plan with provisions of the added shielding to help with gravitational anomalies ma'am." He said with a grin. "With a good pilot I think the computer low-balled the odds."

Amber considered the odds, and the hope of getting everyone back safely. "Good enough. Get the shuttle prepped."


[Engineering]

Azusa stood at the warp core control console. She wasn't quite sure what was going on, so she was instead making sure that the ship was keeping together nicely. It had been hard as the Nova class wasn't built for extended time in space.

"Commander Quinn wants you to help these two," a junior officer said. "Something about needing to make sure the ship survives going through an anomaly."

Azusa narrowed her eyes. "An anomaly?" she asked simply. "That narrows it down, what sort are you referring to?"

"A cyclic wormhole that could be a way home for us if it wasn't for one thing;a deadly form of radiation in the energy stream of the wormhole that could possibly kill us in a matter of minutes," Oroyo said.

"What he said," the junior officer said.

"Oh... only..." Azusa said narrowing her eyes. "So basically, if we screw up its all my fault and we'll end up coming out looking like jelly on the other side?" she said simply. "And we couldn't find a safer less deadly way home?" she asked.

"Oh, if we come out like jelly, I don't think any of us will care whose fault it is," the young engineer joked.

"Oh trust me, there will be at least one jelly that will want to know in their jelly-ish afterlife" Azusa replied. She moved over to a nearby console that showed the systems for the shields.

"I think we best start with the shields then. If anything is going to protect them its those" she explained. "However, my advice is to move all non-essential personnel to more heavily shielded areas and divert power from areas we won't be needing until we're through" she said.

"Yes, ma'am," the engineer said. "How shall we proceed?"

"Very, very carefully," the young engineer said.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Commander Amber Quinn
Executive Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Xander Oroyo DSci
Chief Science Officer
USS Aurora

Lieutenant JG Ka'Tock
Chief Counselor
USS Aurora

Lieutenant Trei Jansum
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Aruroa

Lieutenant Azusa Nakano
Chief Engineer
USS Aurora

Engineer NCO

RSS Feed