"Thank you Captain," Jevor replied from the Engineering console on the Bridge of the Bristol. Freeman didn't reply.
Captain Freeman sat patiently in his command chair with Yilaan seated next to him. Lieutenant Zaras, normally the third-shift duty officer on the Bridge, had taken over at the helm instead, while Ensign Todd manned the navigations console. Lieutenant O'Shea remained at the tactical station.
"Captain, I've launched the log buoy and our shields are up and engines are online; we are prepared to enter the anomaly," O'Shea reported.
"Initiate red alert," Freeman ordered, pressing a button on his command chair which opened intraship communication. "Captain to crew," Freeman called out over the ship's intercoms. "We are about to enter the anomaly which has swallowed up our shipmates. Man your stations and be prepared for power fluctuations. The ride is likely to be rather rough; brace yourselves in the event that our inertial dampeners cannot fully compensate. Captain out," he finished, closing the comm channel. "Lieutenant Zaras, give me one quarter impulse power. Take us to the exact center of the anomaly."
"One quarter impulse power Captain," Zaras replied, as she and Ensign Todd carried out the captain's instructions. The Bristol glided slowly forward.
"Ten seconds to the edge of the anomaly," O'Shea informed the Bridge crew. The ship shook somewhat upon entering the spacial distortion.
"Steady as she goes," Captain Freeman said calmly.
"Captain, gravitational pull from the center of the effect is increasing; it's pulling us toward it," Lieutenant Zaras reported. "Shall I reverse engines to keep our speed at one quarter impulse?"
"Affirmative; let's make this thing take us in on our own terms," Freeman replied, nodding to his helm officer.
The ship progressed slowly; after a few more seconds, there was a bright flash of light which temporarily blinded the Bridge crew until the viewscreen dimmed the image. The Bristol began to shake violently.
"Captain, we appear to have entered some sort of inner boundary or lining of the anomaly; the energy from our shields is being drained," O'Shea reported over the sounds caused by the violent shaking of the ship.
"Sir, the helm is no longer responding to control," Zaras quickly added. "Manual override is also off line; our speed is increasing."
"Report on hull integrity, Lieutenant O'Shea," Freeman ordered.
"We're fine for now sir, but the ship can't take much more of this pounding," O'Shea replied. At that point several panels sparked as main power fluctuated and the lights blinked plaintively for a moment before both lights and panels went dead.
"Emergency lights," Freeman ordered; the computer then activated the soft white lighting, flooding the Bridge with kind of an eery glow.
"Main power is completely dead, Captain. Life support is now on batteries," Commander Jevor reported from his blank Engineering control panel behind where the captain was seated.
Just when the crew thought the ship was about to fall apart all together, that which they had entered disgorged them back into space. Main power remained off, though at least the ship had stopped shaking.
"Commander Jevor, what is our engine status?" Freeman asked, standing and turning to face his Chief Engineer.
"I cannot tell from here sir; permission to leave the Bridge," Jevor requested, standing as he did so.
Freeman nodded, "Make getting power back online your top priority Commander. Pull anyone you need."
"Aye Captain," Jevor replied as he stepped towards the aft-port turbolift. The doors failed to open for him, and after several moments he tried the aft-starboard turbolift; however that too failed to allow him access. "Captain, it would appear the turbolifts are off line as well," the Andorian Chief Engineer informed Captain Freeman as he headed for the Bridge's emergency access panel. This panel allowed Bridge access, or in Jevor's case, departure, through a narrow vertical shaft dotted every few feet with metal ladder rungs.
"Noted Commander," Freeman replied. Freeman then hailed Sickbay. "Doctor Giovanni, what is our status? Did we sustain any casualties?"
"Only a few minor cuts and scrapes, Captain," Giovanni reported over the intercom.
"Viewscreen on," Freeman ordered. The screen was engaged, albeit dimly. The slow shift of stars from right to left indicated the ship was drifting. "Bring us to a full stop, will you Lieutenant Zaras?"
Her fingers danced across her non-functional control panel, ending with an irritated sigh. "I still have no helm control sir."
Freeman made a face and paced back and forth. His frustration was interrupted by a word from his First Officer. "Captain," Yilaan spoke up, "we could make use of one of our remaining shuttlecraft. Its power should still be online, and its scanners as well. If our people are in trouble, we might be able to retrieve them more quickly in this fashion."
Freeman paused for a moment and smiled at Yilaan. "Excellent idea Commander. Assemble your shuttle crew and take the 'Vienna;' Jevor just refitted her with the latest sensor upgrades. You'll have better luck with that ship."
"Thank you Captain," Yilaan replied. Turning to Lieutenant O'Shea at the tactical station, she nodded at him, indicating she wished him to join the shuttle crew. Yilaan then pressed her comm-badge, "Doctor Giovanni, I'm taking a shuttle to go after our missing crewmates; can you spare someone from Sickbay?"
"The situation is under control down here; I can spare myself Commander," Giovanni replied.
Yilaan then nodded to the captain as she and O'Shea made for the aft-port turbolift doorway. She smiled when it opened for them. "It appears the turbolifts are functional again sir."
"At least that's something. Be careful Commander," Freeman called after Yilaan as she and O'Shea exited the Bridge. Freeman then hailed Engineering, "Jevor, how's it look?"
"I'm afraid I haven't actually made it to Engineering yet sir, but my people tell me that we have auxiliary power stable, so some power should be coming back online. No warp power yet, though you should have helm control and sensors shortly," Jevor replied somewhat breathlessly from his lengthy descent.
"Commander, you'll be pleased to hear the turbolifts are functional again," Freeman replied.
A metallic thunk was heard, followed by Jevor's voice, "That's good news Captain. Jevor out."
Freeman waited impatiently on the Bridge of the Bristol for his ship to be repaired, as he ordered Zaras to man the tactical station, and summoned Lieutenant Hathaway back to the Bridge for helm duty. In the interim, Commander Yilaan, Lieutenant O'Shea, and Doctor Giovanni had boarded the shuttlecraft 'Vienna' and ran a quick systems check. As predicted, the ship was in decent shape, despite the recent jostling of its host vessel, so the three wasted no time exiting the Bristol and beginning their mission. Since there were only two seats at the front of the shuttle, O'Shea and Yilaan piloted the craft while Giovanni sat in the back.
Once they were clear of the Bristol, Yilaan ordered O'Shea to perform a complete sensor sweep of the surrounding area, in an attempt to pick up the warp signature or the impulse engine trail of the 'Perseus'. As he scanned, Yilaan used the shuttle's computer to triangulate their position. Surprised by her findings, Yilaan immediately hailed the Bristol and Captain Freeman.
"Freeman here," the captain replied as a side view screen of the shuttle replaced a pattern of stars with his signature.
"I've picked up something very unusual on sensors sir," Yilaan began.
"Is it the Runabout?" Freeman inquired.
"Well no sir; something unexpected. If you have thruster power, I suggest turning the ship around. You'll find your home planet to be almost within shouting distance."
Having regained partial helm control as Jevor had predicted, Freeman ordered the ship turned about. A small sphere about the size of a pea on a background of stars appeared on the screen, replacing Commander Yilaan. "Magnify," Freeman ordered. Sure enough, as Yilaan had reported, there was Earth.
"It gets better sir," Yilaan said, once again appearing on the screen. "In my attempt to triangulate our position against the surrounding stars, I've determined that O'Shea was right; that thing was some sort of temporal vortex. We've exited near the turn of the century. Not our century mind you, but, using the old calendar, the year 1999."
Freeman sat back down in his command chair. "What do you think happened to our people?"
"I've picked up faint traces of Federation-type thruster fuel in the direction of the planet. Along with an ejected warp core," Lieutenant O'Shea inserted.
Freeman frowned, "But no wreckage. It is reasonable to assume that they crashed on the planet if they had any choice in the matter. Get yourselves there; and assume a high altitude polar orbit. If my Terran history serves, they have enough awareness of their surroundings at this point that a standard orbit might be detected."
Yilaan nodded. "I've done this drill before sir," she replied, referring to her experience in an alternate past time line. "We'll bring our people back."
"We're working as fast as we can here to get ourselves mobile. We'll join you when we can. Bristol out." With that, Freeman's image faded from the Vienna's monitor screen.
"I'm laying in a course for Earth, one half impulse," Yilaan noted as she brought the shuttle around. The craft sped off without delay in the direction of Earth, arriving several minutes later. "Assuming a polar orbit," Yilaan reported.
"Commander, I'm picking up traces of titanium alloy on the surface. In North America," O'Shea reported as he glanced over expectantly at Commander Yilaan.
Yilaan in turn activated the ship's communications channels. "Yilaan to the Runabout Perseus, come in." Static greeted her attempt at communication; Yilaan frowned and tried again, "Yilaan to any crew member of the Perseus, come in." She set the hail to try and raise not only the ship, but also the individual comm-badges of the crew members on board; all to no avail. Yilaan frowned at looked at the other officers in the shuttle.
"Something could've shorted out their communicators," Giovanni suggested hopefully. "It's certainly happened many times before, and usually in the worst of situations."
"Can you sense anything of them Commander?" O'Shea asked hopefully.
Yilaan frowned, partly in wishing she didn't have to open her mind in this way, and partly in concentration as she sat motionless and attempted to filter through the thousands of minds within several dozen miles of the general area of where sensors had detected the wreckage. At length she shook her head, "I don't know; Ivanovna may be alive down there, but it's very hard to filter through everyone, especially from this distance. We're going to have to beam down." O'Shea and Giovanni both got up to prepare to beam down, but Yilaan put up her hand and shook her head. "Not you Doctor; we don't know what we're going to be getting into down there. These coordinates are in a sparsely populated area, so it's possible our crew can be retrieved without contact with the local population, but O'Shea and I will make sure of this before I have you beam down."
Giovanni nodded and sat back down. "Understood Commander."
Go back to the list of Trek stories, go back to the previous chapter, or go on to the next chapter.