STAR TREK

The Time To Say Good-bye

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By: Derek Kestner

 

Based on Star Trek™ created by Gene Roddenberry

            Captains Log, Stardate: 51711.5.  With the help of Lieutenant Commander’s Derek Kestner, Brad Foreman, and Lieutenant’s Michael Sheffield and Ashley Rickman, we cleared the TONarians of the charge of sabotaging our engines, and found that it was a Volshins spy planted on our ship.  However, with victory, come losses.  Lieutenant Lindsey was killed in the crossfire with the Volshin spy.  Kestner seems to have taken the loss fairly well, returning to the bridge in the ships time of crisis.

            The Cobalt has presently been engaged by a Volshin starship.  It was thought to be here the entire time, waiting to see if their spy would fail.  The Volshin commander’s intentions are very clear, they mean to destroy us.  They fired upon us with our shields down, and now our shields are offline.  I am hoping they do not fire upon us with the TON torpedo, they have demonstrated the awesome power of firing the TON torpedo with shields down.  End of log entry.

 

            Captain Blankenship stood from his chair on the U.S.S. Cobalt.  He walked over to the ops. consol and asked, “Mr. Kestner, find a weak point on the Volshin ship.  Anything we can manipulate to at least weaken the Volshins in any way.”

            Kestner looked down at her sensor readouts.  He said, “Captain, there is a weak point in their shields near their warp nacelles, however, it’s not as weak as what their weak point used to be.”

            “Anything we can manipulate, Mr. Kestner,” Blankenship said moving back to his seat.  Once he was seated he said, “Mr. Foreman, take us between the Volshins warp nacelles, Mr. Sheffield, prepare to fire.”

            “Aye, sir,” they both said.  Slowly the Cobalt maneuvered toward the Volshins warp nacelles.  The Volshins continued their assault on the Cobalt not paying attention to the Cobalt changing positions.  Blankenship grabbed his chair as a phaser tore into the hull. 

            Sheffield’s urgent voice announced, “Captain, we have a hull breech on deck four section thirteen, there were three people in that section!”

            Blankenship looked back at Sheffield.  He asked, “Have forcefields put in place of the hull breech.”

            “Aye, sir,” Sheffield said pressing prompts on his consol.

            Blankenship turned his attention back to the viewscreen.  He watched as the Cobalt slowly went around to the back of the Volshin ship.  It finally came to rest above the Volshin warp nacelles.  Blankenship said, “Prepare weapons and fire with everything you have.”

            Sheffield pressed the fire prompt on his consol.  Photon torpedoes and phaser blasts lanced out and struck the Volshins ship.  They watched on the viewscreen as the ship shuddered under the blast.  The Volshin ship slowly began to turn toward the Cobalt.

            “Captain, they can out maneuver us,” Foreman said.

            “I know, I know,” Blankenship said.  “Blankenship to Odum.”

            “Odum here,” Odum called out.  Behind him could be heard the shouts of the other engineers.

            “Mr. Odum, I need every ounce of power you can give me, transfer all none essential power to the engines.  We’re not gonna be destroyed without a fight.”

            “Aye, Captain.  Odum out.”

            “Mr. Foreman, do the best you can to keep out of the Volshins weapons arc.”

            “Aye, sir.”

            Kestner shouted, “Incoming.”

            The crew grabbed their consoles as another phaser blast ripped across the naked hull.  The blast sent the Cobalt shuddering to port.  At this, the lights went off, to be quickly replaced by the emergency lights. 

            “Odum to Blankenship.”

            “Blankenship here.”

            “Captain, that last one just about did us in.  The engine room is a mess.  I can’t give you anymore power, and the best speed I can give you is one-third impulse power.”

            Blankenship slumped back into the command chair.  He was starting to run out of ideas.  He said, “Thank you, Mr. Odum, Blankenship out.”

            The ship continued to rock as the Volshin ship continued its attack on the Cobalt’s defenseless hull.  Blankenship straightened back up after a moment and said, “We have on final hope.  Prepare the emergency channel…”

 

            Captain Tra’ON was lying on her bed in her quarters.  It seemed these days on her ship she never got any rest.  She had to be ready at a moments notice to fight another Volshin demon that had ventured into TONarian space.  These days she found herself in many skirmishes with the Volshin’s. 

            She was almost asleep when she heard, “T’mlON, to Captain Tra’ON.”

            “Tra’ON, here.”

            “Captain, we are picking up a distress call from a Federation Starship near by,” T’mlON reported.

            “Let me hear it.”

            The sound out of the speakers was fuzzy but she heard, “This is Captain Brandon Blankenship of the U.S.S. Cobalt.  We are under attack of a Volshin starship.  If anyone is within the sound of my voice, we ask for you assistance.  We cannot hold out much longer.  Cobalt out.”

            Cobalt, Cobalt, she thought, that is the ship carrying the TONarian Ambassadors.  She announced, “Commander, what is the position of the Cobalt?”

            “The Cobalt is at two-three-seven-mark-four-one-eight.”

            “Go to red alert and set a course, maximum warp.”

 

            The Cobalt shuddered under another Volshin torpedo.  At this the lights on the ship flickered, then went off.  The red emergency lights turned on in their place.  Captain Blankenship looked around at his bridge lit in red.  He stood and said, “My good officers, I cannot tell you how proud I am at how hard you fought here against the Volshins, however, the odds were against us from the beginning.  Your efforts at saving us have been gallant.  A captain could not be more proud of a crew than I am.”

            Kestner looked down at his sensor board then suddenly said, “Captain, TONarian ship coming out of warp.”

            “Do we have enough power to hail them?” Blankenship asked.

            Kestner brought the engineering station up on his board and said, “Barely, Captain.”

            “Very well, Mr. Sheffield, hail them.”

            Sheffield said, “Aye, sir, however, I only have enough power for audio only.”

            “TONarian commander, I am Captain Brandon Blankenship, any assistance you can give me would be greatly appreciated,” Blankenship said.

            “Captain Blankenship, this is Captain Tra’ON of the TONarian government, we’ll give you all the help we can,” Tra’ON said. 

            On the viewscreen, they watched as the TONarian starship open fire upon the Volshin ship.  The TONarian weapons sliced the Volshins shields.  Blankenship saw this then said, “Mr. Foreman, back off, let’s see if we can’t find some power somewhere and help them out the best way we can.”

            “Aye, sir,” Foreman said.

            Foremen slowly backed the Cobalt from the intense battle.  Blankenship looked around the bridge and said, “Alright, now that we are out of the briar patch, for the moment, let’s see if we can’t get some power back to the ol’ girl.  Mr. Odum.”

            “Odum here, Captain,” Blankenship said.

            “Have you completed the replication of the parts?”

            “Aye, Captain.”

            “Very well then.  Get to fixing it.  Send a repair team to repair the weapons and shields.  Those are your top priorities.”

            “Aye, Captain.  Odum out.”

           

            Lieutenant Commander Joey Odum stood in engineering looking at the info. padd in front of him.  On it was a list of the damages that needed repairing including the warp drive, impulse power, the shields, the weapons, and the sensors, not to mention the power transfer conduit.  He looked at a young lieutenant standing over a terminal nearest him and asked, “Lieutenant Morgan, how is the repairs going on the power transfer conduit?”

            “Very well, Commander, I would estimate completion in ten minutes,” Morgan replied. 

            “Get it finished as soon as possible,” Odum ordered.  He then walked over and looked over the warp drive station.  He laid the padd down beside the terminal and pressed a few prompts on the board and watched the effects flash before his eyes.  He then tapped his comm badge and said, “Odum to Blankenship.”

            “Blankenship here.”

            “Captain, we should have impulse engines at full power and warp drive at about warp 6.5 in fifteen minutes,” Odum reported.

            “Very good, Mr. Odum, get to work on the weapons systems and the shields,” Blankenship ordered.

            “Aye, sir, I have teams on it, they report that weapons and shields should be back online in thirty minutes,” Odum said reading the report that had just arrived at his console.

            “Very well, report to me the minute that the shields and weapons are online.  Blankenship out.”

            Odum walked over to where a young officer was standing over a consol.  He said, “Captain Blankenship wants us to get working on the shields and weapons.”

            “Aye, Commander, I’m working on bringing the shields back online,” the young officer said.

 

            Captain Blankenship sat and watched the horrible battle that was still being fought on the viewscreen.  They had been fighting for nearly an hour, and Blankenship wondered when the Volshins would become agitated and fire the TON torpedo.  He stood and walked up behind Kestner and asked, “What is the two ships status, Mr. Kestner?”

            “Sir, I believe they are evenly matched, neither one seems to be more severely damaged than the other,” Kestner reported.

            “I wonder why they haven’t used the TON torpedo yet?” Blankenship asked.

            Kestner looked down at the sensor readouts on his board and said, “Captain, it seems that the TONarians have some different modifications to their shields.  The TONarians and Volshins have been age-old enemies; perhaps these modifications were to combat against the TON torpedo.

            Blankenship nodded in agreement then sat back down in his chair.  Odum’s voice suddenly came over the comm system and said, “Odum to Blankenship.

            “Blankenship here.”

            “Captain, weapons are back online and shields are stable at ninety-three percent.”

            “Good work, Mr. Odum.  Blankenship out.”  Blankenship turned to Foreman and said, “Mr. Foreman, move us into the battle, red alert.”

            The Cobalt moved forward toward the fighting ships.  Blankenship said, “Hail the TONarian ship.”  The computer beeped, then Blankenship said, “Commander Tra’ON, we have made sufficient repairs to our ship to join the fight.”

            “Very well, Captain.  Concentrate all your firepower on the coordinates that we are now sending you,” the feminine voice of Commander Tra’ON said.

            “Very well, Cobalt out.”  Blankenship turned to Sheffield.  “Do you have the coordinates?”

            “I do, Captain.”

            “Fire at will!”

            The Cobalt turned toward the Volshin ship and began firing.  The TONarian ship also turned on the Volshin and began to fire all weapons at the Volshin.  The weapons pounded the shields until on photon torpedo slammed against the Volshins hull and exploded.  Blankenship turned to Sheffield and said, “The shields are down, Mr. Sheffield, lock on the bridge and fire.”

            The ships sensors locked onto the Volshins bridge, then Sheffield fired the weapons.  Phaser blasts and photon torpedoes smashed into the Volshins bridge.  Kestner then turned to Blankenship and said, “Captain, the Volshins are hailing us.”

            Blankenship smiled.  “Onscreen.”

            The floating Volshins ship on the viewer switched to the green face of the Volshin commander.  He growled, “I am Commander Za’lor of the Volshin Empire.  Our ship has received sever damages and my crew have suffered sever causalities.  I ask that you halt your firing and move your ship back to a safe distance, so that we may enact the self-destruct action so that we may die with a little honor.”

            “Commander, we will stop firing, however I suggest that you return to your own space,” Blankenship said.

            For once, Za’lor smiled and said, “You humans know nothing about us.  If we were to return home not destroying you, tortures much worse than death would come upon us.  No, Captain, I just ask that you back off so that we do not harm your ship when we destroy our ship.”

            “If I may ask, why are you giving us the opportunity to back off, why would you care?”

            “You fought bravely, even after the damages our agent gave to you.  Anyone who does that must be a commander who has great control over his crew and his ship.  I suggest you back down now, or we will activate the destruct sequence with you in this close quarters.”

            “Very well, we’ll back down, I am sending orders for the TONarians to do the same.  Cobalt out.”

            Blankenship then gave orders to back the Cobalt and for the TONarian to back down.  Both ships slowly backed away from the Volshins ship.  When they were at a safe distance, the Volshins warned that the self-destruct sequence had started.  The crew of the Cobalt watched the viewscreen as the seconds counted down.  After three minutes, fireballs flew from the Volshins ship, then the entire ship exploded, and was gone. 

            Blankenship then said, “Hail the TONarian ship.”

            “Aye, sir,” Kestner said. 

            Seconds later the blue face of Captain Tra’ON appeared on the screen.  Blankenship said, “Captain Tra’ON, we thank you greatly for helping us.  While you’re here, we can transport your Ambassadors over to you, if that is alright with you.”

            “Very well, Captain.  I must say your ship fought bravely.  Tra’ON out.”

 

            Somber faces filled the room.  Derek stood at the head of the coffin, fighting back tears.  Blankenship stood on one side of him and Brad to the other side.  The crew’s of the Cobalt and the Bozeman sat in seats in front of them.  Blankenship said, “A captain has many duties on a starship.  His is the commander of the ship; he makes decisions that affect the lives of thousands everyday, he even gets to marry people occasionally.  There are, however, two duties that a captain wishes he didn’t have, to order a person to his death, and to speak at a funeral.  I didn’t know Lindsey as well as some of you did, but I do know that no matter what, the pain will get better.”  He then turned to Derek and said, “It will get better.”

            Derek nodded.  He turned to his friend, Brad, and said, “Buddy, when Whitney died, I didn’t know what you were going through, I didn’t know how it felt.  Now I do, and I know that no matter what, it will get better, and I want to thank you for being my friend.”  Brad and Derek then shook hands. 

            When Derek had finished, Blankenship turned back to the crowed and said, “Very well, I want to thank you for coming, you are dismissed.”

            Everyone stood, came around the casket and shook hands with Derek, then left.  Derek turned to the casket and looked at it one last time, then turned and walked out of the room, the doors closing behind him.