By Jay P. Hailey
"Peekaboo, you are most illogical." T'Nara said stiffly.
The Terran house cat stared back at her as if to say
"Yes? And your
point is...?"
With effort T'Nara got her temper under control and
bent to pick up the
sad remains of her plant. T'Nara had kept her
previous quarters aboard
the USS Robert April at normal temperature for Vulcan,
which was 100 -
110 degrees Fahrenheit.
With her new responsibility though, T'Nara could not.
Peekaboo was a
Terran house cat, comfortable at much lower temperatures.
But that
presented a problem for T'Nara's native Vulcan plant.
So T'Nara set up a
shelf with a heating lamp for the plant. The
plant could thrive at its
normal temperature while the cat thrived at its.
Theoretically.
Peekaboo however seemed to have her own ideas on what
did and did not
constitute her normal environment. T'Nara had woken
up to an unpleasant
surprise. Her plant was knocked down and all
but destroyed.
"No." T'Nara said firmly. It was optimistic, true.
However, T'Nara was
somewhat uncertain about how to deal with the house
cat. The manuals for
the animal were written by Humans and therefore not
nearly as informative
as they seemed to feel they were.
Also, an Earth book about and Earth animal tended to
leave critical
things unsaid. Not only that but some flatly
contradicted each other.
Looking as the smug expression on her cat's face T'Nara
began to feel as
though some of the books she had read were not terribly
accurate at all.
"No." T'Nara repeated hopefully.
"That's what *you* think." Peekaboo seemed to think.
T'Nara trotted into the ready room attached to one of the landing bays.
"Greetings Lieutenant Chou." T'Nara said. She didn't
sound breathless
despite having had to hurry a great deal to arrive
on time for her duty
shift. It would have been most un-Vulcan to be late.
T'Nara wanted to
avoid this. It would also be un-Vulcan to look harried
or hurried.
T'Nara managed to look calm and relaxed as well.
"Ni Hau, T'Nara." Lieutenant Chou smiled. He
was in charge of the
landing bays and auxiliary crafts of DS 13.
He was an old man for a
lieutenant, but he'd worked his way up through the
enlisted ranks to
achieve his current assignment. He didn't seem to
crave status of power
as far as T'Nara could determine. He was content to
present a smoothly
running department to the Command staff. "There
is an assignment for
you. The briefing begins momentarily in briefing
room Number three. You
will be piloting the runabout Rainier. This
is all I know. You should
report to briefing room three now."
"Thank you, Lieutenant." T'Nara said. She turned
and walked right back
out of the landing bay ready room.
It took a turbo lift ride down to the deeper areas
of DS13, and some
trotting around the curve of the corridors to reach
the briefing room
with some alacrity. The circular nature of the
chambers of DS13 led to
an odd resemblance in some areas to Starship corridors.
The
Administration complex was one of these areas. It
was filled with
offices, laboratories, storage rooms, spare equipment
lockers and all the
routine stuff that was required to run a Deep Space
station. It had been
dug deeply into the body of the moon Zola, along with
the power
generators, life support equipment, main computers
cores and operations
center. The aim was that if attacked, the vital
sections of DS13 would
be the hardest to reach.
T'Nara entered one of the numerous briefing rooms in
the administration
complex. There were several people in there
already, but T'Nara only
knew the Second in Command of DS13, Lalonde Sheri.
"Ah." Sheri said. "This is T'Nara, she'll
be your pilot for this
mission."
"Ensign T'Nara reporting as ordered." T'Nara
said, standing at
attention.
"Thank you, Ensign, sit down." Sheri said.
T'Nara found a seat and quickly sat down.
"We have received a distress call from the long haul
freighter Ruby
Tuesday. They are having a medical emergency
aboard. The ship is run by
a civilian named Xavier Michael O'Keefe. Starfleet
has a record on him,
mostly violations of safety regulations, attempted
smuggling and
violation of local trade ordinances. He's basically
a small time
criminal. He has his family aboard but we have
no record of them or who
they might be. The distress call specified that
the subject of the
Emergency is one X'ari, a child of some sort. We also
have a copy of the
described symptoms." Sheri explained.
One of the occupants of the room snorted. T'Nara
noted that he was a
Human male, of medium height. He had straight brown
hair with gray
streaks in it. He had a very fussy manner. He
wore the blue uniform of
the medical department, and lieutenant's pips.
"An untrained person describing symptoms of an unknown
illness in an
unknown species? That'll help a lot." The Human said
disdainfully. "Can
we get a medical scan?"
Sheri Lalonde looked at the Human coldly for a second.
"Protocol,
Doctor."
The Doctor at least had the good grace to look embarrassed.
T'Nara noted a look of distaste on the face of a blonde
haired Human
female seated nearby.
"We're working on getting a medical scan. If we get
it we'll forward it
to you." Sheri said. "Your mission is to take
the runabout Rainier out
to meet the Ruby Tuesday, investigate the health of
the crew and treat
them as necessary. This seems to be a fairly routine
mission, so we're
not sending along a more senior officer. Dr.
Kempton is in nominal
command of the mission. Doctor, I advise you to listen
carefully to the
advice of your staff, they're competent professionals
or they wouldn't be
here."
"Yes, Ma'am." Dr. Kempton said in mock seriousness.
Sheri continued "I want the Rainier to lift off within
the hour. You'll
be getting an energy boost from the station, which
means it will take ten
hours to arrive at the Ruby Tuesday. Without
the power boost it will
take you three days to return home. So make appropriate
arrangements.
Any questions?"
A caramel colored woman in Security colors raised her
hand. "What sort
of threats might this situation pose to us?"
Sheri nodded "Good question Ensign Vogel. Not
to disparage your
capabilities, but I don't expect any serious problems
from the crew of
the Ruby Tuesday or we'd send a whole squad of security
instead of just
one Ensign. You represent a back up system.
You're also going along to
do a routine security inspection of the Ruby Tuesday.
Flight Engineer
Ashby is also along to poke his nose into the Ruby
Tuesday, make any
repairs they might need to make it to port safely
and to be a back up
crewman in case of need. But this is primarily
a medical mission, which
is why Dr. Kempton is in charge."
Sheri looked around. "Any other questions?"
No one had any.
"Good. Get moving, the clock is running."
Outside in the hall way Ensign Vogel caught T'Nara
and Ashby. "I need to
know. Since you're my back up, how good are you two
are at shooting and
hand to hand?"
T'Nara raised an eyebrow. The question sounded
paranoid to her, but
there was some logic to it. "I am... adequate
in these skills. How are
you at flying runabouts?"
Ashby grinned. "At the range last week, I only
shot myself in the foot
once and most of the time I was holding the phaser
the right way. But
what I lack in skill I make for in enthusiasm. "
Vogel gripped the bridge of her nose. "Oh, good."
Ashby continued "I am a class four pilot, though.
I can land a Runabout
without difficulty most of the time. Just don't
ask me to parallel park
it."
T'Nara was about to ask what the parallel parking maneuver
was When Dr.
Kempton walked up.
"We leave in less than an hour. I want you toy
soldiers to do three
things. Get my runabout ready to fly, Do what
I tell you to do and
otherwise sit down and be quiet. This is
a medical mission and we don't
need you three goose stepping around making our job
harder." Kempton
stalked off.
"Charming." Ashby said.
"He's in touch with his inner Chihuahua." Vogel said acidly.
T'Nara caught up with T'Lei on the main Arcade.
T'Lei was in the odd
stage between adolescent and adult, about 18 years
of age in Earth terms.
Although T'Nara was 25, they seemed closer in
age because of the longer
Vulcan life span. There was a wide gap in experience
between them,
though that kept them from becoming as close as they
might otherwise be.
"T'Lei, I would ask you a favor." T'Nara said.
"I am here to serve." T'Lei answered with the
proper form. With T'Nara
she was more sincere about it.
"I must leave on a mission of approximately four day's
duration. I would
like you to watch after my house-cat, Peekaboo." T'Nara
asked.
T'Lei assented with a very Vulcan nod, but an un-Vulcan
twinkle in her
eye. "I will do this."
T'Nara handed her a PADD. "Although their accuracy
is questionable, I
have loaded the most popular manuals for these animals
onto this PADD for
you. I have noted at the top, Peekaboo's preferred
feeding times."
T'Lei accepted the information with another nod.
"Peekaboo is in good
hands until your return."
"Thank you." T'Nara said. "My mind is relieved.
I must go now. We will
speak again when I return."
"I look forward to that." T'Lei said.
T'Nara walked off briskly towards the turbo lifts.
T'Lei looked at the PADD. Manuals for a house cat? How... Vulcan.
T'Nara set her over night bag down near the hatch of
the runabout and
began her walk around. It was an old custom,
taught to her at the
academy by a crusty old flight officer named Chama.
"The Computer will tell you everything you need to
know except when the
computer is lying. The only true and factual
source of data is the real
world. So before you take off in a craft, always give
it a visual
inspection on the ground." Chama had said.
T'Nara calculated the probability of an undiagnosed
computer failure that
could lead to false feedback readings as a very small
probability indeed.
Oddly T'Nara also found that a walk around inspection
and physically
getting to know the craft she was to fly led to a
greater intuitive
connection with the craft. So she did it anyway.
Coming around the aft end of the Runabout, T'Nara
could see Doctor
Kempton and his crew double checking the medical supplies
on the
runabout, through the big view ports on the aft end
of the Runabout.
The module the Rainier was carrying was divided into
three main sections.
A very cramped bunk section and fresher, an
extensive engineering tool
rack, and a mini-sickbay. It was standard equipment
for a search and
rescue mission.
Around the other side, T'Nara discovered Ashby making his own inspection.
"What is your judgement of the Rainier's flight readiness,
Engineer?"
T'Nara asked.
"She seems to be in good shape, Pilot." Ashby
said gravely. "Not that I
think Lt. Chou would ever let a ship launch in less
than perfect
condition."
"Then what purpose does your inspection serve?" T'Nara asked.
"It keeps me away from Dr. Kempton." Ashby said
grimly. "He demanded
that we dump all the engineering tools to make room
for more medical
supplies. We settled that, but I really don't want
to know what he's
coming up with next."
T'Nara nodded. "Coping with adversity is the
mark of a true..." She
searched for the right Standard word "Professional."
"If I make it through this mission without killing
him, I'll be
professional enough to make Admiral." Ashby said.
T'Nara entered the runabout and tossed her bag on one
of the unoccupied
bunks, then she went forward to the flight deck. She
found Ensign Vogel
there working idly at tactical scanners.
"Greetings." T'Nara said. "Do you expect trouble with the Ruby Tuesday?"
"Nope. Just finding something constructive to do while
staying out of Dr.
Kempton's way." Vogel said.
"A common goal on this mission." T'Nara said.
"Wait until you really talk with him. You'll
get the full force of his
personality." Vogel said. "Oh well. This is
the first time I have been
the chief Security officer and tactical officer.
It'll look good on my
resume."
"I believe this is called 'looking on the bright side'?" T'Nara said.
"Yes," Vogel said. "Maybe not logical but often quite necessary."
"On the contrary, a good attitude is quite logical." T'Nara said.
"Let's hope we still think so when this mission is over."
"Deep Space Thirteen Control, Rainier requests permission
to launch."
T'Nara said.
"Permission granted Rainier." The Space control
officer said. "Safe
journey. Engineering reports ready for subspace field
transfer."
"Acknowledged, Control. The Rainier is on her
way." T'Nara piloted up
and to the entrance of the landing bay then delicately
through the large
doors of the landing bay. T'Nara could feel
the gummy feel of the force
field that held the air in the landing bay with the
doors open as the
Rainier slipped through it. Once clear she pointed
the nose at the
designated area of space and advanced the impulse
drive to full throttle.
As the Runabout left the surface of the planet behind
Kempton sitting in
the science officer's chair said "Do you have to take
off so fast?"
T'Nara looked at Kempton and raised an eyebrow at him.
"On a medical
emergency response mission, does every second not
count?" The question
obscured the fact that T'Nara always took off that
way.
Kempton grunted. "Does the patient no good if you kill
the doctor." But
he let it drop.
Within a few minutes the Rainier was in position over
the powerful
subspace array on the surface of the small planetoid.
T'Nara turned to
Ashby. "Engineer, are you ready to begin the energy
transfer?"
"Yes, Pilot, I certainly am." Ashby replied.
T'Nara looked at Kempton "With your permission, Doctor."
"Oh, go right on ahead." Kempton waved a hand in a dismissive way.
T'Nara reopened the channel to Control. "Rainier
to Deep Space Thirteen
Control, we are ready to begin energy transfer."
"Control to Rainier, here it comes."
The Rainier was targeted by a beam of subspace energy.
Usually this
powerful energy was used for communication or scanning
deep space, but
this time it was used to supercharge the engines of
the runabout. This
gave her a much higher FTL cruising speed that the
runabout could achieve
on her own.
The warp engine nacelles soaked up the energy.
Within a few moments
Ashby said "That's enough. We're ready."
T'Nara sent the signal to DS13 Control to stop the
beam. As soon as the
beam cut out, T'Nara programmed the course of the
runabout to avoid the
asteroid belt at the edge of the system, and then
to continue on their
towards the stricken freighter.
With streaks of rainbow color and burst of energy the
Runabout Rainier
went to warp speed.
T'Nara went into the rear of the runabout. She
went to the replicator
and ordered a cup of Vulcan tea with honey.
"Shouldn't you be flying this boat?" Kempton asked
"I believe that the autopilot and Ensign Ashby have
things well in hand,
Sir." T'Nara replied reasonably.
"Hmph." Kempton stomped off.
The blonde haired woman who worked with Kempton approached
T'Nara.
"<Greetings>" She said in passable Vulcan.
"And you." T'Nara responded in standard.
"I'm Shannon Nelson." The woman said. She proved that
she knew Vulcans by
not offering to shake hands. To touch telepaths
it was a much more
intimate gesture than was reasonable.
"T'Nara of Vulcan." T'Nara replied.
"Pleased to meet you." Shannon said. Shannon got her
own beverage out of
the replicator, coffee. "You're new to Deep
Space Thirteen, aren't you?"
"Correct. I transferred there sixteen days ago." T'Nara said.
"Ah. I've been there a little while longer myself."
The Terran woman
waved to the two stubby chairs built into the walls
of the galley.
"Shall we sit? I'd like to know more about you,
if you don't mind."
T'Nara nodded and sat down with the Nurse.
"What part of Vulcan are you from?" Shannon asked.
"ShiKahr City. " T'Nara answered "What part of Earth are you from?"
Shannon smiled faintly "I was born aboard the USS Tudor."
T'Nara nodded "Unusual. What was it like to grow up on a starship?"
"I didn't spend my whole childhood on the Tudor," Shannon
pointed out.
"We lived in San Francisco, too. Living on a
starship as a child is hard
to explain. I grew up with an awareness that
I lived in a small,
man-made and cozy world. I thought the scale
of it was just right. At
that time the Tudor had a very family like atmosphere.
I still sort of
miss it. And what was it like growing
up in ShiKahr?"
T'Nara struggled with the description. She'd
tried number of different
way to answer the question, but had not found a comfortable
one, yet. "I
believe that you would find it... hot."
Shannon smirked. "I heard that ShiKahr
was the home of Sarek and his
family. Did you ever see Sarek or Spock?"
T'Nara understood that Spock and, to a lesser degree,
Sarek were held in
celebrity status by some people in the Federation.
She didn't really
understand why, although she clearly understood the
weight of tradition
and history that seemed to follow them around.
"Yes. My Grandfather
used to meet with Sarek regularly. I saw Spock
once, at a distance. We
did not speak."
"Your grandfather knew Sarek, though." Shannon said.
"Yes. They worked in the same field." T'Nara explained.
"Your grandfather was a diplomat?"
T'Nara repressed the childhood impulse to say that
her grandfather was
*the* diplomat. "Yes, he was."
"Who was your grandfather?" Shannon asked.
"Soren." T'Nara said. A number of people
knew the name idly from their
history lessons. If they liked history, then
they usually considered
Soren another Celebrity.
"Your grandfather was Soren the Elder?" Shannon said, impressed.
"Yes." T'Nara said.
"Does that impose any pressure on you?" Shannon
asked. "I don't know a
lot about how Vulcans view such things."
"We view them logically." T'Nara said.
"My people have a great respect
for tradition and history. My family has a great
deal of history to
respect." Her tone turned very faintly sour
at this.
Shannon sighed "I know what you mean. Starfleet
is sprinkled with
Nelsons and has been since the Romulan War."
T'Nara spoke the earliest Nelson name she could remember.
"Captain
Howard Nelson, of the USS Grant."
Shannon nodded. "He was the first, but not the last."
T'Nara nodded. "You would be the most recent."
Shannon grinned. "Yep. I'm the last link in a long chain."
T'Nara quirked an eyebrow. "Does this put pressure on you?"
"It sure does."
T'Nara nodded in rational commiseration.
"Is that what you're doing in Starfleet? Pursuing
the family tradition?"
Shannon asked.
"No." T'Nara replied. "In fact Starfleet for
me represents a chance to
establish my own identity away from ShiKahr and my
family's history."
"Good. Good for you." Shannon said decisively.
"And what does Starfleet represent for you?" T'Nara asked.
Shannon smiled broadly "An opportunity to be
a Nurse. I have two older
siblings who are carrying forward the Family's Starfleet
tradition."
T'Nara rolled the odd phrase through her mouth. "That's good for you."
"If you two are done with your coffee break now,"
Dr Kempton said
interrupting, "There is still some prep work
left."
"Yes, Doctor." Shannon said, rising smoothly.
"T'Nara we haven't gotten
to your physical exam for your transfer, yet."
T'Nara's eyebrow quirked. "I had a physical a
month before I transferred
off the Robert April. Is that not sufficient?"
Shannon smiled faintly as she left the runabout's tiny
galley. "Sorry.
Each time you transfer it's a new physical.
Regulations."
"I will make an appointment to be examined as soon
as practical." T'Nara
said.
"Good. Talk to you then." Shannon replied.
T'Laren looked at her instruments carefully.
She was in the new
astrometrics lab of Deep Space Thirteen. It
was based on the innovative
design of the USS Voyager's astrometrics lab.
A lot of starships and
bases were getting them.
As a Science officer T'Laren was enthusiastic about
the new range of
tools offered to her by the new lab design.
It included new computers
and a few new sensors. But what it did mostly
was to look through DS13's
sensors in a whole new way. The lab was a lovely
tool to work with.
But right now T'Laren wasn't looking at her new tools
but what they were
showing her. She felt as if she had been blind
earlier and now could
see. T'Laren was systematically getting to know
the space around DS13
intimately. And there were surprises in it.
T'Laren was looking one surprise that was not pleasant
and could have
dire consequences if ships in the area were not warned.
T'Laren quickly
began to download scans and data for a preliminary
report to Lalonde
Sheri.
The Ruby Tuesday was a long, fat tube. It was
flattened along the bottom
and rose to a very gentle point on the top.
There was a bulge on the to
the front most upper edge with windows, that was the
bridge. There was
another bulge three quarters of the way towards the
back along the spine
of the ship. From it two pylons held warp drive nacelles
out laterally
parallel to the body of the ship. The Ruby Tuesday
was at least four
times as big as the Rainier
To T'Nara it looked like a big, fat tub. And
it looked like it would
wallow like a big, fat tub. But she supposed it was
a logical enough
design for a slow freighter. The freighter was
chugging along at a
relatively low warp speed.
As thy came to within hailing distance T'Nara reported.
"Dr. Kempton.
We are now within communications range of the Ruby
Tuesday. Would you
like to come forward and speak with them?"
Kempton sighed. "Sure. Hail them and I'll be right there."
T'Nara activated the communications system "This is
the USS Rainier to
freighter Ruby Tuesday. Do you read? Please
respond."
T'Nara waited for a bit. Kempton came forward.
"Haven't you hailed them
yet?"
"I have. They have not replied yet." T'Nara said.
"Hail them again."
"Aye, Sir." T'Nara opened the channel again.
"Freighter Ruby Tuesday,
this is the USS Rainier, please respond."
The screen lit up to show a Human man with a round
face and a thinning
shag of unruly hair. His face was red
where it wasn't pasty and his
nose was bulbous and red tipped. "Aye, Aye,
we're here, Starfleet. Keep
yer britches on!" T'Nara noted with some distaste
that the man was not
wearing a shirt. She also noticed that the picture
was filled with
static.
"I'm Dr. Kempton. You have a medical emergency on board?"
The man looked confused for a second then said "Oh
Yeah! The girl's in a
bad way. Thank ye fer comin' out all this way
t' look at 'er. I'm
Captain O'Keefe. Er... This won't be costin'
us anythin' will it?"
Kempton put on his best bedside manner smile
"No. Sir. Starfleet
doesn't charge for medical aid. If you'll bring
your ship out of warp,
I'll beam over and take care of your problem."
"Like bloody hell I will. Can't you people see
there's an ion storm
brewin' up? Yer fancy little runabout can out
run it easy, but the Ruby,
she's the slow but steady type." O'Keefe said.
Kempton smiled firmly and said "Perhaps there is a
storm coming, Captain,
but unless you let me on to your ship, I can't treat
your sick little
girl."
"Listen Doctor, yer little runabout can easily match
speeds with Ruby.
You'll just hafta beam over that way.
I am not droppin' out of warp."
O'Keefe insisted.
Kempton's smile froze and he nodded sagely. "Can
we do that?" He asked
quietly.
Ashby said "Yes, Sir."
"Alright Captain, We'll match speeds and
I'll beam over shortly."
Kempton sounded impatient.
"Fine. I'll transmit my headings and warp field
parameters to ya. That
oughta make it easy enough." O'Keefe's face
left the screen to be
replaced by technical data.
T'Nara began to catch the data on her board to use
to match speeds with
the Ruby Tuesday.
"Thank you very much." Kempton snarled at Ashby.
"For making me look
like a fool in front of that man."
Ashby held up his hands placatingly. "I
didn't know, Doctor. How was I
supposed to know?"
"Oh, shut up before I put you on report, or something."
Kempton stomped
out of the control deck and into the back of runabout.
"Let me know when
you're ready to beam me over!"
Ashby, Vogel and T'Nara stared after Kempton for a
minute. T'Nara could
clearly hear Ashby say "As if you needed the help."
Under his breath.
Ashby turned to T'Nara "I'm trying to run down
the cause of that static
we were seeing. Can you scan local subspace
for me?"
"Yes. Beginning scans." T'Nara said. She
called up the science controls
on her board and began her scans.
"There is a region of dangerous subspace instability
in grid gamma 234."
T'Laren reported to Lalonde "It poses a threat
to passing traffic."
Lalonde took the PADD and looked at it carefully.
"The Serova effect?
But we've redesigned our engines not to stress subspace
as badly. That
shouldn't happen any more."
"More modern ships do not. But the area
has been a heavily traveled
trade route for a long time. Older ships did
not and do not have the
equipment to make their engines safe for subspace."
T'Laren explained.
"How soon might this piece of subspace be disrupted?" Lalonde asked.
"I could not say with any accuracy. It
is fair to say that it could
become a subspace rift at any time." T'Laren replied.
Lalonde turned and headed out of the astrometrics lab.
"Come with me.
We have to report this to the Commander."
T'Laren had to hurry to catch up "Is there something
of which I am
unaware?"
"We have a runabout responding to a medical emergency
right in the middle
of grid gamma 234. We have to get those people
out of there before this
thing blows up in their faces." Lalonde explained
as she bombed into a
turbo lift. "Ops!" She barked at it.
The subspace nearby began to tear...
"We are ready to transport, Doctor." T'Nara said.
Kempton came into the flight deck with his gear strapped
on. Nurse
Nelson was with him. He stepped into the two
place transporter of the
runabout followed closely by Nelson and said.
"Okay. Beam me over
there."
"Doctor, you should send me first and then come after
I've determined
that it's safe." Vogel protested.
"Yeah, yeah, you're a good little soldier. Whatever.
Now let's get this
show on the road." Kempton said.
Ashby shrugged. "Aye, Sir." And he beamed
Kempton and Nelson to the
Ruby Tuesday.
Vogel turned to T'Nara. "I guess you're
elected to stay with the
runabout until we're done. Do you mind?"
Actually T'Nara sort of did. What was the point
of exploring space if
you never got to beam down? But T'Nara realized
also that everyone had
their jobs to perform and that eventually her turn
would come. So she
nodded and said "I will stay here and mind the store."
Vogel smiled faintly.
"T'Nara," Ashby called, "Can you localize the source
of that subspace
interference? I had to really crank up the power
on the transporter to
make sure the transport was safe."
T'Nara replied. " I could not. The subspace
interference we are
experiencing is not consistent with an ion storm,
but I can not tell
what it actually is."
Vogel looked at Ashby. "Will it be safe for us to transport over?"
Ashby shrugged. "Sure. If it gets worse,
it might not be safe for us to
transport back. But right now we can over come
it."
Vogel sighed. "Great." She put her phaser
and holster on. "Do you have
yours?"
Ashby grabbed a tool belt with an improbable number
of pockets and
pouches on it. He turned the belt carefully around.
T'Nara and Vogel
clearly saw the phaser hanging on it.
"Um. I know it's on here,
somewhere."
Vogel sighed. "That will have to do." She
stepped up to the
transporter. Ashby put on his tool belt and
stepped up. "T'Nara, will
you do the honors?"
T'Nara transferred the transporter controls to her
control panel . she
said "Energizing" And activated the transporter.
With a sparkle and hum
the Transporter ferried Vogel and Ashby away.
"Ach! There's more of ye!" Ashby and Vogel found themselves
looking at a
shorter man built from circles. His face was
red where it wasn't pasty.
His clothes were rumpled and looked like he'd been
sleeping in them for a
couple of days. One whiff of the man told that he
was saturated with
alcohol, an unpleasant smell that Vogel and Ashby
were not used to.
"I'm Ensign Vogel." The security woman introduced.
"This is Engineer
Ashby."
"Well, I don't need an Engineer. Ruby Tuesday
is workin' foine." The
man said. "I'm Captain O'Keefe the *master*
of this vessel, and last
thing we need is a Starfleet Engineer pokin' about
an' whinin'." O'Keefe
caught site of Rose's Uniform. "Except Starfleet
Security stompin' about
causin' trouble. Both of ye' clear off."
Vogel stood firm. "You called for a rescue mission,
Captain O'Keefe.
Now we're here."
"I called for a doctor for me little girl, I wasn't
expecting the bloody
Spanish Inquisition!" O'Keefe howled.
"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition." Ashby
grinned, but nobody got
the joke.
Dr. Kempton waved a medical tricorder at the small
Green Orion Girl on
the bed. The Ruby Tuesday's crew area reminded
Kempton of nothing so
much as the small apartment he and his wife shared
when he was in his
residency. It was cozy, about the right size
for a small family's home.
The little girl had her own cabin. It was small
but decorated in classic
little girl. Brightly colored posters and dolls
of characters from
popular children's media spattered the room.
The décor was very rounded
and brightly colored as well.
A Green Orion Woman hovered near Dr. Kempton.
Kempton knew little about
Green Orion Women, except that they generated pheromones
that were
supposed to generate uncontrollable lust in men of
almost any species in
known space.
Tari O'Keefe looked worried. She was dressed
in house wife comfortable,
but not a lot of it. The body underneath looked
very nice. It was an
athletic dancer's body. Kempton idly wondered
how she wound up with a
slug like O'Keefe.
The medical tricorder beeped. Kempton looked
at it and double checked
its conclusions and found that he agreed with the
medical tool. "Okay,
Mrs. O'Keefe what we're looking at here is Vegan Chloriomegenitis."
Kempton cross referenced the disease and the Green
Orion copper based
metabolism. "The treatment is pretty straightforward."
The computer
quickly informed him that Genericillin, the most basic
wonder drug in
Federation would do nicely. It even calculated
the correct dosage given
the little girl's weight, race and state of health.
Kempton smiled reassuringly as he drew an ampule of
Genericillin out of
his kit and grabbed his favorite hypospray.
"Once I give her this, in a
few days she should be as right as rain."
"Thank you, My Lord." Tari said bowing.
Kempton and Nelson exchanged
looks.
"That's not necessary." Kempton said "This is what I get paid to do."
Tari ended her bow but looked uncomfortable.
She was profoundly grateful
but didn't know how to express it. "Thank you."
"I do have one question, though." Kempton said
seriously. " Vegan
Chloriomegenitis is one of several diseases that are
routinely inoculated
against in standard Children's shots. Hasn't
this girl been given those
shots?"
Tari looked miserable "Michael says that they're too expensive."
Kempton looked grim and started digging in his medical
pack. "Since I'm
here I might as well cover that, too. Nurse,
please work with Mrs.
O'Keefe on tending the girl through her recovery phase.
After we
inoculate her, I'll go have a talk with Mr. O'Keefe."
"Have you been able to raise them yet?" Giovanni asked.
Lalonde shook her head. "There's too much subspace
interference
already."
"Keep trying. And find out what starships are
in our area. If they get
caught in a rift then it'll take a starship to get
them out." Giovanni
said.
"Aye, Sir." Lalonde replied.
"Great Googely Moo!" Ashby said.
"What?" Vogel asked. The Engineering deck
looked old, unkempt and ratty
to Rose, but she couldn't make heads or tails out
of it.
Parker could and what he saw surprised him. "This
whole assembly here.
It bypasses all the safety equipment. This one
here - I don't know why
it hasn't exploded already."
"But it hasn't, has it, Lad?" O'Keefe said.
"Maybe it's because your
engineering regulations were written by conservative
old women."
"There are good reasons for Federation safety regulations,
Sir." Ashby
said. "As near as I can tell, if this thing
feeds back, there goes your
entire engineering deck, if not the whole ship."
"Just how old are you, son?" O'Keefe said patronizingly
"I'm twenty five, Sir, but I don't see-"
"Mary, mother of God, they're rippin' 'em away from
their mother's
breasts and sendin' them out t' harass us, now.
Lad, would ye believe
that I have been pushin' these ships back and forth
across God's great
firmament for just exactly twice as long as ye've
been alive? 'Tis the
truth, so help me. I learned that trick there,
from a drunken old pirate
during a friendly game o' cards nearly thirty standard
years ago, and
none of the ships I have performed this little modification
on has
exploded, even the tiniest bit, while I've been aboard
'em." O'Keefe
explained patiently. "If the ship's being run
by Mike O'Keefe, it's as
safe as houses, I always say."
"Well, that's nice, but it still violates Federation
Regulations, Sir-"
Ashby said
"I don't care what it violates, you-" O'Keefe was beginning to yell
At that moment the small tear in subspace became a
very large tear,
blossoming in a single violent instant into a subspace
rift tens of
thousands of miles across. Inside it, space
was twisted and warped
crazily, into a chaotic, swirling maelstrom.
T'Nara clung to her seat as the Runabout Rainier tumbled.
"Red alert!"
She called, hoping to maintain some reserve.
"There has been some sort of high energy subspace event."
T'Nara called.
She knew that when any Starfleet ship went to
red alert it's fight data
recorder began making extremely detailed recordings
of the ship. T'Nara
was speaking for the benefit of the ships log and
her senior officers who
would undoubtedly review the recordings. "The
Rainier is out of
control."
T'Nara began to counter steer against the new and wild
turbulence that
buffeted her ship. "There is a very heavy gravitational
sheer." T'Nara
read on her instruments that the runabout was involuntarily
surfing a
very steep wave. "I can detect no sign of the
Ruby Tuesday." T'Nara
said with some regret. Would she ever see anyone
again?
"What the hell have ye done NOW?!?" O'Keefe demanded
from the floor of
his engine room. All the lights were out except
for weak emergency
lights on the engineering panel. The people
inside the Ruby Tuesday were
thrown to the deck by the violent tumble and continuing
spinning motion
of the ship.
"I have no idea!" Ashby yelled. "I didn't touch *anything*!"
In a few moments the spinning motion died down to a
level where the
people on the Ruby Tuesday could regain their feet.
Doctor Kempton
weaved into the doorway in an almost drunken motion.
"What's going on?!" He demanded.
O'Keefe was struggling to his feet. He seemed
well adapted to the
sickening sway of the deck. "Yer engineering
student has ruined my
engines apparently." He moved to check on the
status of his engines.
"I did not!" Ashby yelled "I didn't touch anything!"
Kempton yelled "Are you both trying to get us all killed?
There's a sick
little girl on this ship! This is no time for idiotic
playing around!"
Vogel got up and managed to make it over to Kempton
"Doctor, why don't we
let these two figure out what happened and fix it?"
"Are you sure we can survive that?" Kempton demanded
but he backed away
from the Engineering door with Vogel.
Shannon Nelson and Tari clung to the little girl's
bed until the spinning
motion died down.
"What's happening?" Nelson asked.
"I don't know." Tari whispered.
"Mommy, I don't feel good." X'ari said.
she had an odd expression on
her face.
Shannon instinctively grabbed for any container she
could find. She came
up with a small trash bucket and held it out for X'ari
just as the little
girl threw up.
T'Nara read the sensors but didn't understand them.
The Runabout Rainier
seemed to be making different warp speeds in different
directions all at
once. The odd orange, pink and green swirls seemed
to be normal space and
dust and particles viewed the through a lens of insanely
twisted space.
The Rainier's main engines were down. T'Nara
called up the impulse
engines and carefully throttled them and steered against
the wild spin.
The Rainer was being pushed along by a gravitational
wave. Sort of
surfing, T'Nara supposed. She steered a course
perpendicular to the wave
and eventually freed the runabout from it.
The she had to decide which way to go. The Rainer's
sensors were
hopelessly confused by the swirling subspace maelstrom.
T'Nara had to
weigh carefully between the logic of searching for
the Ruby Tuesday and
the logic of trying to escape the rift.
"Near enough, Lad. The main converter's gone.
We have no more warp
drive." O'Keefe said
Ashby nodded "That's okay. Starfleet will send another rescue mission."
"Goody. Whatever happened was not from inside
me engines, laddy buck.
D'ye think we might have been attacked?" O'Keefe
said.
"Let me check." Ashby said. he pulled out
his tricorder. It didn't
have the power to scan for hostile ships, especially
not Orion Stealth
Raiders, but if the Ruby Tuesday had been struck by
weapons fire, he
could scan the residual energy signature.
After scanning a moment, Ashby sighed "I can't
tell anything. My
tricorder must be broken"
"Let me see it." O'Keefe plucked the instrument
out of Ashby's hand.
"Oh Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We're is a subspace
rift."
"You're kidding." Ashby said.
"You bloody little tin soldiers have killed us, that's
what." O'Keefe
left the Engineering compartment and ran unevenly
towards the nose of the
ship and the bridge.
Vogel and Kempton stared after him.
Vogel looked at Ashby. "What is a sub space rift?"
Ashby sighed. "It's region of space where there's...
I don't know. Call
it a tear in space. We're now existing in a
sort of state that's half
way between warp speed and a worm hole."
"What's going to happen to us?" Vogel asked.
"I don't know really. I know that for all intents
and purposes we're
trapped. We're moving along at sublight speed
but without power. We're
being dragged along by recursive gravity waves. We
can get close to the
edge of the rift but the waves would merely push us
back towards the
center." Ashby explained. "It's only a
matter of time before the
gravity waves become strong enough to destroy this
ship."
"How long until that happens?"
"Depends on the strength of the rift, how deep
into subspace it goes.
Could be minutes. It could be weeks or months
if the rift is stable."
Ashby said. If we have time, we can think of
something."
"I want to talk to you." Kempton said to O'Keefe.
"And what d' you want?" O'Keefe said with a resigned
tone. His attempts
at a distress call were futile and he knew it. All
but the strongest of
signals were bounced right back by the edge of the
rift.
"You've been abusing your little girl." Kempton said
"Have I, now?" O'Keefe said casually.
"You've been keeping her from getting proper medical
care." Kempton
said, grimly
"Oh. That." O'Keefe replied. "You
think your Federation medical care
is free don't ye? Ye'll treat anyone, any time,
anywhere without the
thought of payment crossin' yer pristine minds."
"I think my presence here proves that." Kempton pointed out.
"Ah, but yer starbase commanders don't happen t' hold
the same opinions,
Doctor. If I pull in to yer base and offer up
my little girl to th'
benefits of the Federation, then within moments
I'll be up t' me armpits
in people just like your engineer, and I use th' term
loosely, or that
little security girl ye brought with ye. Every
detail o' me private life
becomes the property of the Federation and it's loyal
enforcement arm,
Starfleet t' poke into and disapprove of."
"That has nothing to do with me. I'm a doctor." Kempton said
"It has everything t' do with you. Look at yourself
Doctor, ye're out
here with yer finger out, pointing at what a bastard
ol' Mike O'Keefe is
fer not subjectin' himself to humiliatin' loss of
privacy and his own
freedom, fer the sake of his little girl. Ye're
a perfect representation
of yer Federation, there, Doctor. You've got
yer nose in the air and
ye're perfectly convinced you know best fer God and
everyone how t' run
the show." O'Keefe said
"When it comes to medical care, I do know best, O'Keefe."
Kempton snapped
"The freedom you're crying so bitterly over
is the freedom to smuggle,
run guns and drugs. It's the freedom to break the
law, to hurt people and
then try to escape the consequences of your actions.
And one of the
people you're consistently hurting is your own daughter."
"Oh, cry me a river, would ye? Doctor I'm going
t' have t' ask y to
leave me bridge while I conduct necessary operations
to try an' save out
lives." O'Keefe said dismissively.
"When we get back to DS13, I'm going to get in touch
with social
services. We'll see how they like your speeches
about freedom and
liberty." Kempton said moving out of the Ruby
Tuesday's bridge.
"If yer're alive to make that call. Not something
I'll give us odds on
at he moment." O'Keefe said.
"Really?" Kempton said. "You're not just
threatening me to try and
distract me?"
O'Keefe looked Kempton in the eye. "With no warp
drive, It could take
months fer us to get t' the edge of this subspace
rift. Assumin' it
doesn't collapse, crush us all and spread us
all over God knows where.
But even then, assumin' the gravitational waves don't
crush us before
hand, the edge of the rift is a much more powerful
and sharp edged
gravitational incloine. I don't think this old
girl has the energy t'
cross that in one piece."
"Oh." Kempton said.
"Yeah, oh." O'Keefe said.
T'Nara was flying the Runabout like a mad woman and
enjoying it. Gravity
waves came from every direction. She had to
bob and weave like crazy to
keep some semblance of a directed heading. Down
and under this wave,
Spin the runabout and thrust side ways to avoid the
next one and so on.
In the middle of this she was trying to do research
on subspace rifts,
and the level of concentration necessary to do both
was taxing
"Unfortunate." T'Nara said to herself.
Then she explained for the logs.
"The Rainer and Ruby Tuesday seem to have been
caught in a subspace
rift. My warp drive is down, however with proper
adjustments I may be
able to recover main power. That only leaves
seven specific problems
unresolved. One of those is the ability of the
Ruby Tuesday to cross the
gravitational incline at the edge of the rift.
I suspect that the
transport ship does not have the ability to cross
this gravitational
incline with out being destroyed."
T'Nara searched for a found a specific gravity wave.
She piloted the
runabout into the wave and began carefully surfing
along it. Then, as
she grew more confident about the balance of forces,
the Vulcan Pilot
shut the engines of the runabout down and let it drift
along the wave.
As soon as thrusters were cut, the runabout started
to spin crazily, but
it stayed in the wave, obeying the dictates of insane
gravity.
T'Nara didn't look out side the ports once she had
the runabout balanced
in the wave. Getting motion sick would solve
nothing. As long as the
Runabout wasn't fighting the waves, it could be safely
left alone for the
time necessary for the first item in T'Nara's priority
list
"I will now go and re-activate the Rainer's main power."
T'Nara informed
the logs.
"Lad, yer' goin' ta hafta do it my way." O'Keefe insisted.
"I don't see how I'm going to get the main power system
back online,
Captain." Ashby said.
"We're not. It's a write off, lad.
You'll have ta' use the impulse
generators ta' reinforce the ship's integrity."
"The Ruby Tuesday has integrity?" Vogel wondered aloud.
"She does, Lass, even if I don't." O'Keefe grinned
"I just hope she
enough."
"If I'm using the impulse generators to hold the ship
together, then how
are we going to move her?" Ashby asked.
"I'm going to pilot her usin' the thrusters, Lad." O'Keefe said.
"Those won't have enough power to move the ship!" Ashby exclaimed.
"Those are what we have ta' work with. That's
why I'll be the pilot, and
you're monitoring the structural integrity.
Otherwise you'd be too green
to let back to my engine room."
"Oh, gee. Thanks for your support." Ashby said.
"What do you want me to do, Captain?" Vogel asked.
O'Keefe looked at her bitterly for a moment.
He hated Starfleet
security, busy body interfering do-gooders.
He restrained himself from
asking her to inspect the hull from outside.
Instead he smiled. "If a
particularly bad gravity wave comes along lass, you
can stun it with your
phaser and toss it into a brig." He turned back
into the Tuesday's
bridge.
Vogel rolled her eyes.
"C'mon." Ashby said "You can help me."
Kempton sat in the darkened wardroom of the Ruby Tuesday.
It looked just
like the living room of any small family apartment
back on earth. But
outside the windows hell rampaged.
He stared at the mad sherbet flowing outside of the
Ruby Tuesday and
sighed deeply.
"Dr. Kempton?" Shannon Nelson asked from the doorway.
"What?"
"I just wanted to see if you're alright."
Kempton snorted derisively. "I've been killed
by a drunken Irishman with
a sideline in child neglect and an Engineer so new
he shouldn't be
allowed to look at tools without adult supervision.
Other than that, I'm
peachy."
"That's alright." Nelson said seriously.
"Your attitude is so poisonous
that you wouldn't have lasted much longer anyway."
Kempton stared at Nelson as if he'd been slapped.
"Watch your mouth,
*nurse*."
"Doctor, you've been complaining and abusing
everyone since this mission
started. Why?" Nelson challenged.
"Does it bother you in the slightest that through incompetence
and
negligence that we're all as good as dead?"
Kempton shot back.
"We're not dead, yet." Nelson said "I'm not giving up that easily."
"Oh, yes." Kempton sneered "The proper
Starfleet, never give up, never
say die attitude. Did they issues it with your uniform
or are you using
one handed down by your illustrious ancestors?
And look where it's
gotten you."
"I am where I need to be and so are you. That
little girl would have
died soon without us." Nelson said.
"No!" Kempton snarled "We didn't need to
be here at all! If that sot
O'Keefe had been a responsible parent, there would
be no need for us to
have our heads on a chopping block. Shannon,
you could have handled the
diagnosis and prescription. Hell, Anderson or
Morgan could have! Why
was it necessary to drag me out here in to-"
he waved his hand at the
window "-this?"
Shannon tilted her head to the side. "Why are you in Starfleet, Doctor?"
Kempton looked at his nurse for a few seconds.
Then he answered
honestly. "I don't know any more."
Nelson nodded. "Was there even anything to begin with?"
Kempton sighed again "I used to think I could
make a difference out
here. That to perform my job as a doctor somehow
mattered out here on
the frontier. I felt that I could... push back
some boundaries or
something."
"Haven't you?"
"It's just an endless string of disasters one right
after another. Most
of them are caused by idiots who, if they just thought
things through,
could be avoided."
"Being a Doctor is about solving problems, isn't it?"
Nelson asked.
"Healthy people who look both ways before crossing
the street don't wind
up in sick bay. Or Med-Lab, or the Infirmary,
or what ever they're
calling it this week. We don't see the smart
or lucky ones."
"It's not just that." Kempton said. "Starfleet
itself is accident
prone. There's always another emergency, always
another crisis that
needs coping with. I used to think space exploration
was, you know,
Human nature. Part of The Human Adventure and
all that crap. But now,
I'm not sure. Most of it seems to be looking for the
next Klingon Empire,
or the next Borg, or the next Kynah to bang our collective
heads against.
Do you realize that Starfleet provoked most
of the confrontations by
poking around out here? Is it a coincidence that most
major powers we run
into these days take one look at us and start shooting?"
"That's an interesting perspective, but I thinks
it a negative one."
Shannon said.
"It's not negative! It's realistic! Do
you know how many phaser burns
and knife wounds I treated on Earth? Not many,
that's the truth. How
many out here? I've lost count. Basic
instinct tells us that if
something hurts, to stop doing it. Exploring
space and pissing off
everyone with a star ship and a bad attitude hurts
us every day, but
still we don't stop.
"The Federation is composed of 150 member worlds, doctor,
not all of
them started shooting as soon as they saw us." Nelson
pointed out.
"Maybe they should have."
"You go ahead and sulk, Doctor, if that's what you
have to do. For me,
I m not dead yet, and if exploring space and doing
medicine out here is
an illness, then I've already got it pretty badly.
You go ahead and
decide what you want to do, I'll be somewhere
else, living." Nelson
snarled. She turned on her heel and left the
Wardroom.
Part of Kempton's brain snarled right back. She
couldn't talk to him
that way. He'd out her on report! He'd
show her!
The rest of Kempton stayed dejected. A little
petty anger wasn't enough
to arouse him. Kempton took a picture out of
his medical kit. A picture
of himself, his wife and his three children.
What would happen to them
when he didn't come back? Those kids needed
him and he cherished the
occasions when he could be there for them. Now
they'd have a few
holo-recordings and the platitudes of Starfleet about
honorable deaths
and the so called Human Adventure.
"This wasn't what I wanted for you." Kempton told the picture.
The scanners on the Rainer alerted T'Nara to the existence
of an object
near her. The scanners were set to scan visually
to maximum sensitivity
since subspace sensors were completely useless in
the rift.
T'Nara dialed in the sensors and identified the object
as the Ruby
Tuesday. If she'd been Human, she would have
smiled at the discovery.
It was an unexpected stroke of like to find the ship
at all, let along
intact. To tell more about it she'd have to
get closer.
As she approached the stricken frieghter, T'Nara made
note of something
disturbing. If she were Human she would have
grimaced. The Ruby Tuesday
was caught at point where three huge gravity waves
were converging. It
was as if the waves were conspiring together to destroy
the frieghter.
T'Nara pushed her throttles to the maximum. What's
she do about it when
she got to the Ruby Tuesday was a question she had
no answer for.
"The Impulse Reactor is overheating!" Ashby called.
"We can't take much
more of this!"
"Try somethin', anythin' Lad! I'm outta ideas!" O'Keefe wailed.
Ashby grimaced and almost yelled. It wasn't fair!
They'd survived so
far, only to be wiped out by a random convergence
of waves. Actually it
wasn't all that random. The Ruby Tuesday just
hadn't been able escape
the waves, and they systematically dragged the ship
to the convergence
point.
The engines were too hot. Too hot... "I'm
flooding the engines!" Ashby
yelled. Why not? If they were dead they
didn't need any extra fuel
anyway.
The Ruby Tuesday like all starships of the day used
variant of liquid
hydrogen called deuterium for fuel. Liquid hydrogen
was a fair coolant.
So Ashby sent three times the amount of fuel through
the engine. The
engine burned as much as it could. The rest
acted to start cooling the
engine. A little bit. Ashby hoped it would
be enough.
Even with the impulse engine of the Ruby Tuesday maxed
out and producing
as much energy as it ever would, Ashby knew
that surviving the impact of
the divergent waves would be chancy at best.
"Impulse reactor at 105% rated power and holding!" Ashby called.
"Hold together, old thing, hold together!" O'Keefe prayed.
T'Nara carefully estimated a course that would allow
the Runabout to pass
close by the stricken Freighter and allow her to start
dealing with their
problems without unduly jarring the ruby Tuesday.
The ship jerked and shuddered as if stuck by two thousand
metric tons of
pillows.
"What's that?" Ashby called.
"I don' know Laddy! We've been hit by somethin'." O'Keefe said.
Lights started lighting up on the decrepit old engineering
control panel.
Ashby looked at it carefully. "We're getting
power from somewhere!"
O'Keefe boggled "Say again, Laddie! Are you sure!?"
"Yes! Yes, I'm sure! Hull integrity is back up
over 50%! Someone's
lending us energy!" Ashby yelled
"Let's not look a gift horse in the mouth lad!
Let's get out of these
bleedin' waves!" O'Keefe activated the Impulse
drive in and drew some
power from the impulse reactors. The Ruby Tuesday
began to fight her
way clear of the gravitational whirlpool.
Inside the Rainier, T'Nara had stopped being a pilot
and was now an
engineer, doing her best to keep the Rainier intact
while hooked to the
Ruby Tuesday by the tractor beam.
The Runabout was fighting waves now, instead of surfing
them and that was
even less comfortable than before.
The frame of the Runabout twisted and then stopped
halted by the internal
force fields of the Runabout's structural integrity
field.
The Ruby Tuesday began to move, dragging the run about along.
"Finally!" T'Nara thought, but did not say aloud.
The Ruby Tuesday broke free of the grip of meshing
gravity waves and
turned straight for the nearest edge of the Subspace
rift.
"This is the Rainier." T'Nara hailed. "What is
the status of the
Starfleet crew on board?"
"Aye, They're all foine Starfleet, don't get yer panties
in a bunch."
O'Keefe answered.
"Thanks for the Tractor beam!" Ashby called "That saved us for sure!"
"I was merely doing my duty as specified in Starfleet regulations-"
O'Keefe pressed the mute button. "She's a Vulcan isn't she?"
Ashby nodded "Uh huh."
"Oh lord and little green apples." O'Keefe sighed.
He turned his
microphone back on. "Lass if ye could dock yer cute
little hip to the
Ruby Tuesday, we could set up a much better power
transfer rig. That way
we'd be able to survive in this mess until yer Starfleet
sends a rescue
mission after us."
T'Nara thought about it briefly. "That would
not be wise. The docking
tunnel of our runabout is only rated for 1250 kilodynes
of pressure."
O'Keefe blinked "And that's bad, is it?"
"The torsional forces of the gravity waves we have
encountered are well
in excess of that." T'Nara explained.
"So if ye tried t' dock with us then yer Runabout's
docking tunnel would
be ripped right off again, is that what yer sayin'?"
"Yes." T'Nara enunciated clearly.
O'Keefe sighed. "Then I won't be able t' invite
you over fer any of me
wife's corned beef and cabbage until after we're rescued."
Vogel nodded "That would explain the smell when we beamed aboard."
"Hey, Now!" O'Keefe protested.
"T'Nara, how much of the Runabout's power do you have?" Ashby asked.
"Unfortunately I was only able to restore 50% main
power. The Warp
engines are not functional." T'Nara replied.
O'Keefe blinked and hit the mute button again.
"Lad, that's not
possible. That runabout should be on impulse
and auxilary power, just
like us."
Ashby nodded "I know. But she's not an engineer.
Don't say anything. If
she knows it's impossible it may stop working."
O'Keefe shot Ashby a look. "We may make an engineer out of ye yet."
O'Keefe repoened the channel "Okay, Rainier.
Please keep sending us what
power ye have and we'll stand by."
"Noted." T'Nara said "Please steer course 131
mark 72. It will be
easier if we don't resist the gravity waves, but rather
work with them."
O'Keefe shrugged "Whatever ye say." And changed course to suit.
O'Keefe came back into the wardroom and offered
Ashby a container.
"Somethin' t' wet yer whistle while we're waitin'."
"No thanks." Ashby said he was working on something on his tricorder.
"How about you?" O'Keefe turned to Vogel and offered her the bulb.
"Is it really wise to be drinking during this crisis?"
Vogel asked
pointedly.
"D'ye think I could stand this without panicking if
I were sober?"
O'Keefe laughed. "Half way lit is the only t'
face danger and
adversity."
Dr. Kempton entered the Wardroom. "Have you considered
seeking treatment
for your problem with Alcohol?"
"Why? I have no problems with Alcohol.
I love it and it loves me. No
problem." O'Keefe answered broadly.
Mari followed Kempton in. "What happens now?"
"Now, m'dear. We wait and see if we can survive another
Starfleet rescue
mission." O'Keefe said.
Kempton turned and in a surprising change of tone said
"I'm sure
everything will be fine." It almost sounded
like he believed.
Mari wanted to believe it and so she did.
Shannon Nelson came in. "X'ari's asleep.
She should be fine after a few
days rest. Is there any coffee on board?"
"In the pantry. We have me special mix, and bulbs
of instant." O'Keefe
pointed.
Shannon ducked into the small kitchenette to grab a
ulb of instant
coffee.
"We might be able to get out on our own." Ashby said.
O'Keefe snickered. "Maybe you don't need anything
t' drink after all.
You have your delusions to keep you warm."
"Would prefer to wait here and let the subspace rift
collapse on us?"
Ashby asked.
"As opposed to what?" O'Keefe asked.
"I think that with the Runabout and the ruby Tuesday
we may have enough
energy to get over the gravitational lip at the edge
of the rift." Ashby
said.
"And if we don't?" O'Keefe asked.
"Uh... We might damage the ships trying." Ashby said.
"So we gamble our lives on solving the problem ourselves,
or we stand
pat." O'Keefe said.
"Didn't you say that this rift thing might collapse on us?" Vogel asked.
"It might." Ashby said. "Eventually it
will collapse. The question is,
are we here when it happens?"
"We have no way t' tell when that might happen lad." O'Keefe said.
"It will be too late to change our minds when it starts
to collapse.'
Ashby replied.
"I'm the captain of this boat, laddie. And I
say we stay. That's the end
of it." O'Keefe harumped.
"No actually, it's not." Vogel said.
"What do ye mean? Yer goin' to hijack ol' Mike O'Keefe's
ship away from
him?" O'Keefe whined.
A phaser appeared in Vogel's hand. "Sit down
and keep your hands where I
can see them."
Shannon stepped into the doorway and then quickly away from O'Keefe.
"What in the hell are you doing!?" Kempton shouted.
"Hey! Hey!" Ashby stood up quickly but stayed
well away from Vogel's
field of fire.
O'Keefe kept his hands in the air but didn't move.
"As the senior Starfleet officer present during a crisis,
the decision is
yours, Doctor. Not his."
Kempton sputtered "Wha- what!?"
Vogel nodded shortly, never taking her eyes off O'Keefe.
"You're in
charge Doctor."
"This isn't my field!" Kempton said "I'm not a line officer!"
"I mighta known. Starfleet, goose stepping dictators, the lot of ye."
"You were placed in command, Doctor." Ashby said.
"The decision is
yours."
"This isn't my sort of decision to make! Put
that thing away!" Kempton
yelled.
Vogel lowered her phaser, but didn't take her eyes off O'Keefe.
Shannon looked at the doctor carefully. "You're a doctor.
You make life
and death decisions all the time."
"I make medical decisions in a field I am trained in.
This, this is
space stuff." Kempton flailed.
"Well you have some experts to ask, don't you?" Nelson said.
"What experts? A couple of trigger happy,, wet
behind the ears ensigns
and drunken sot. Some experts!" Kempton
sneered.
"We're who you have, doctor, deal with it." Vogel said sharply. "Sir."
Kempton looked at Ashby "What do you think?"
Ashby looked very uncomfortable. "I think we
should make the attempt to
escape. We have no way of knowing when the Rift
will decide to
collapse."
O'Keefe shouted. "And if we wreck this ship tryin'
we won't last until a
rescue mission kin get here!"
"What are the odds of the Rift collapsing?" Kempton asked.
Ashby said promptly "I have no idea."
O'Keefe shrugged. "I dunno.""
Vogel said very clearly "So it's a fifty/fifty shot, as far as we know."
"What shall we do Doctor?" Nelson asked quietly.
"The patient is on the
table. It's up to you."
Kempton said "Let me think about it." And left the Wardroom.
Vogel's disgust was plain on her face.
Ashby looked shaken.
O'Keefe looked mad. "Well, since ye've relieved
me, Ensign, I think I'll
go take a nap meself."
Ashby said "Don't get drunk. We'll need you piloting
the Ruby Tuesday,
if this is going to work."
O'Keefe snarled. "Oh. I'm working fer you now.
I'm working fer
Starfleet. Does that mean I get a nice new uniform
and a phaser set on
oppress fer meself?" he stomped out of the wardroom.
"Well, that went well." Ashby said.
"What ever gets my daughter out of this alive.
That's what I want."
Mari said.
Nelson nodded "That's what we're working on."
Kempton stood in the darkened bedroom and looked out
the port. What must
it be like growing up like this? Kempton wondered.
Always in space,
always on the edge of the unknown. A new planet
every few weeks, a new
view out the bedroom window.
Kempton looked at his picture of his family again.
"I really, really
didn't want this for you." he whispered.
A fifty/fifty gamble for his whole, entire life.
Each day that followed
would be determined by the decision he was about to
make. This wasn't
too unusual. The course of peoples lives was
often decided by kempton.
But this was the first time it was him on the table.
This was the first
time it was him at risk.
He looked over at the deeply sleeping little girl.
And his patient. She
was here, too.
The Hippocratic Oath had as one it's primary elements,
it's prime
directive - "First do no harm."
On that basis, Kempton almost decided to wait and see
what happened.
Something might break right. The procedure had
a 50 percent chance of
saving their lives and a fifty percent chance of killing
them.
But Kempton looked at his family photograph again.
Staying here was
letting a potentially dangerous condition continue
to it's natural end
with no attempt whatsoever to change things.
Kempton wanted more than anything else to go home.
To take his entire
family back to earth and never think of another spaceship
as long as he
lived.
Kempton returned to the Wardroom. "My decision
is made. We'll attempt
to escape. Ashby start setting it up."
"I don't think this is the way t' go Doctor." O'Keefe said.
"Listen, You have your wife and child here, O'Keefe.
Mine are waiting
for me on the outside of this thing. I want
to go home. I want to leave
this thing behind." Kempton said.
"Yer riskin' all our lives on this." O'Keefe
said That doesn't sound
like a family man t' me."
"You want to hang tight in a subspace rift and hope
it doesn't collapse
and squish us all. It's the same risk except
for one thing." Kempton
said
"And what's that?"
"If we move the risk is in our hands. If we wait
we have to accept
whatever the house deals us." Kempton said.
"Doin' somethin' just t' be doin' somethin' isn't my
idea of any
intelligent plan, there Doctor." O'keefe said
thoughtfully.
"Sometimes doing something just to be doing something
is all we have."
Kempton said.
O'Keefe looked at Kempton. "Is that the way they
teach you t' practice
medicine on Earth, then?"
"What I've learned is that we win some and we loose
some, but I like it
to be in my own hands either way." Kempton said.
"Yer a bloody control freak, that what." O'Keefe grinned.
"I'm a doctor. Being a control freak comes with
the territory." Kempton
sniffed.
The two ships swooped through the gravity waves and
struggled for the
edge of the rift.
The Ruby Tuesday actually moved very well under Impulse.
She had big
engines to move big cargoes. Unloaded the ship
was almost, but not quite
maneuverable. She could move with some conviction.
And had the mass to
bull her way through the gravity waves.
The Rainier, being much lighter had a tough time staying
in formation.
Each gravity wave had a much grater effect on her.
If T'Nara was the sort of person to admit it, she'd
say that she really
enjoyed the flight. Her reflexes were pushed
to their limits, and her
skill at flying was taxed by both flying in formation
with the Ruby
Tuesday, but also by keeping the powerful tractor
beam on the ruby
Tuesday. The energy from the Runabout was what
kept the Freighter able
to run her Impulse engines at such a rate. The
Tractor beam had very
little attractive force. It was mostly there
to transmit energy.
T'Nara knew, perhaps as well as anyone, that getting
the Frieghter
through the edge of the rift was a very uncertain
proposition. She
wracked her brains to come up with a method of adding
leverage to the
attempt.
All at once, the answer came to her, as things so often
did while she was
concentrating on flying. In Command School they
called it "Spock's
Solution" apparently in reference to Spock's
experience in the Kobyashi
Maru exam.
T'Nara began making preparations. "Computer, Seal off the command deck."
"Wheeee haaaaaaa!" O'Keefe shouted. He was enjoying himself too.
"You actually like this." Vogel said.
"I haven't had a decent excuse t' play barn stormer
in years." O'Keefe
said. "This old girl has a couple of surprises
up her sleeve doesn't
she?"
Ashby called from the engineering deck "I'm ready
down here! I'll need
about five minutes warning before we hit the edge."
"We're about four minutes away now, Lad!" O'Keefe said.
"Oh Hell! Right!" Ashby said and cut the channel.
"Should we show down o give him another minute?" Kempton asked.
"No, Doctor, momentum is all that we have goin' fer
us. Ashby'll ready."
O'Keefe said.
"I just hope you're right.
The gravitational incline at the edge of the subspace
rift was like
trying to climb a mountain side that kept collapsing.
With a running start, the two ships plunged into the
climb and made
headway. Then as each wave battered them falling
down into the heart of
the rift, they began to bog down.
Shuddering and rattling the two ships clawed their
way against
unimaginable force opposing them.
The Ruby Tuesday struck a wave, turned almost completely
around and when
she regained her head she was almost at a complete
stop.
"Computer," T'Nara said with a fine sense of timing "initiate overload."
Ashby grimaced at the readings The Ruby Tuedsay's engines
and SIF fields
were at the straining point, her hull about to buckle.
Her impulse
reactors were well into the red line and threatening
to close down at any
moment.
And they were just a bit shy of the goal.
Then, the energy coming across the transfer beam began
to increase
sharply.
Ashby didn't ask any questions. He threw every
bit of the new energy
into the engines.
The impulse drives of the Ruby Tuesday screamed as
energy well in excess
of their tolerances flowed through them and into the
ship's motion. The
hull buckled as more force than she could bear washed
across her, but the
over worked force fields held on just a few moments
longer.
The Ruby Tuesday drifted in blackness. Lights
and life support were
working but that was all. Her impulse drives
were a slagged memory
hanging of the back of the ship. The power system,
abused too far was so
much recycling fodder now.
O'Keefe stared out the viewports on the command deck.
"I'll be dipped.
We actually made it, didn't we?"
Kempton was shaking and felt gray. "Yes.
Yes, we made it." He chuckled
a little at the thought.
"What about the runabout?" Vogel asked.
O'Keefe started running a visual scan of the area.
Almost no sensors
were working and the Ruby Tuesday was down to emergency
power anyway.
"Bloody. Will ye look at that." O'Keefe put the
rear ward sensors on the
larger view screen.
The Subspace rift was collapsing as if some cosmic
child was sucking up
the mad sherbet through a straw. It swirled and shrank
and spun and
shrank further until normal Space closed the wound
in itself with a very
weak joint. The subspace rift was gone, for
now.
T'Nara piloted the Runabout command module on thrusters
only. They were
all that was left. And they were running on
emergency batteries which
were running dry very, very quickly.
But the Ruby Tuesday wasn't moving anywhere at all.
T'Nara efficiently
backed the module that was all that was left of the
Runabout Rainier up
to the Ruby Tuesday's docking port and successfully
docked with the
Crippled freighter.
"You're very lucky, you know that?" Nelson told T'Nara.
"Yes." T'Nara said.
"Hold still." Nelson was treating minor burns
and lacerations on both
Ashby and T'Nara, results of the energetic deaths
of both the runabout
and the Ruby Tuesday's engine room. "What if
the Command Module hadn't
been thrown free?"
"Such speculation is pointless." T'Nara replied.
"The Module was thrown
free and here I am."
Nelson rolled her eyes. "It's good to see you
again, and well in any
case."
"And you." T'Nara said politely.
The starship Alliance picked up the Ruby Tuesday, the
Starfleet officers
and the crew and took them all back to Deep Space
13. For the huge
starship, it was a much shorter trip than for a runabout.
Commander Giovanni looked at the PADD in front of her
with distaste. She
didn't like loosing any of her people for any reason,
but resigning a
commission and running back to Earth struck her as
a less than dignified
way to leave service in Starfleet.
"Are you sure Doctor?" She asked.
Kempton looked her straight in the eye. "I have never
been more sure of
anything in my life. We're packed and ready
to board the first available
transport back home."
Giovanni sighed. "if that's the way you want
it Doctor." And signed the
resignation, accepting it. Doctor Gregory Kempton
was once again a
Civilian.
Lt. Hull looked at Vogel sternly. "O'Keefe
complained that you hijacked
his ship at Phaser point. Doctor Kempton complained
about a lot of
things but not least was that you forced him to make
a command level
decision, more or less at phaser point, too.
Do you have anything to add
to your official report?"
Vogel thought for a moment and said "Nothing to my official report, Sir."
"How about unofficially?" Hull added.
"Sir!, Unofficially, Doctor Kempton is whiny and spineless
and should not
have been placed in command of the mission.
Captain O'Keefe is a drunken
stumble bum with a severe lack of moral character."
Vogel said staring
straight at the wall.
Hull nodded. "Alright. I prefer to handle
relations with the public and
Federation citizens in a somewhat more diplomatic
fashion, Ensign. Is
that clear?"
"Yes, Lieutenant." Vogel said.
"Good. Dismissed." Clair Hull said.
when Vogel left she reead through
the report again, snickering.
Parker Ashby was seeing O'Keefe, Mari and X'ari off
at the transporter
stage. The Ruby Tuesday was written off as a
total wreck. Beggared the
O'Keefe's were returning to Earth to try and arrange
a fresh start.
"I'll be seeing ye' around the space ways, Lad." O'Keefe
said expansively
to Ashby. Ashby noted he was mostly drunk still.
"Take care of yourself, Mike." Ashby said.
"Yer too good fer Starfleet, lad. When ye realize
it, come look me up
and we'll work out something t'gether, you an' me."
"I'll look you up some day, Mike." Ashby said.
"I like Starfleet!" X'ari yelled. "It smells
good! I want to stay! I
want to be a Starfleet someday!"
O'Keefe looked at his daughter like she'd just grown
three heads. "You
watch yer tongue young lady!"
Mari smiled embarrasedly and stepped between them "Please
tell Doctor
Kempton and Nurse Nelson thank you, Engineer Ashby."
"I will. I hope you find happiness." Ashby said
The transporter whisked the O'Keefes away.
With a fine sense of timing, Peekaboo the cat calculated
the exact moment
when T'Nara's alarm would go off. Then she came
and sat on T'Nara's face
exactly a half an hour before that.
"No." T'Nara said sleepily to Peekaoo,
Peekaboo squeezed her eyes at T'Nara and seemed to think "Oh, yes."
Getting uyp and getting ready for the day was a more
leisurely procedure
with Peekaboo's advanced wake up call. Apparently
Peekaboo was convinced
that whatever T'Nara was eating was much better than
her own food and
begged piteously.
"Vulcans are not ruled by emotion." T'Nara thought
to herself sternly.
But eventually she let Peekaboo have a bit of
Vulcan senot, a sort of
omlet but made with a sort of vegetable paste, instead
of eggs. Peekaboo
sniffed the bite of senot, licked it and gave it a
courtesy chew but
quickly abandoned it.
"Wanting a thing is sometimes more pleasant than having
a thing." T'Nara
thought to herself.
After wards T'Nara got out and put on a fresh new uniform,
which Peekaboo
decided needed a good rubbing on the ankles and fresh
dose of cat hair.
Eventually T'Nara got out of her quarters with her
dignity mostly intact.
T'Nara walked into the ready room for the hangar bay
to find a set of
engineering tools on one of the desks and Lt. Chou
waiting for her. He
had a set of tools on a belt of his own.
"Good morning, Lt. Chou." T'Nara said.
"Ni Hou, Ensign. Please pick up your tools."
Chou said, with an
expression somewhat reminiscent of a house cat on
his face.
"Yes, Sir." T'Nara picked up the tools and began
to arrange them on her
person.
"You're solution to escaping a sub space rift was novel." Chou said.
"It was a logical sacrifice. The Rainier for
the safety of the civilians
and the rest of the crew." T'Nara said.
"Yes. Quite logical. Come with me." Chou stood and left the ready room.
T'Nara followed Chou to a service bay a few steps away
from the ready
room. In the service bay was the battered command
module from the
Runabout Rainier.
"Now we reach another logical consequence of your decision."
Chou said.
"we will repair the runabout."
T'Nara blinked. "Correct me if I am wrong, Sir,
but will this not entail
building most of a runabout to replace the destroyed
sections?"
Chou squeezed his eyes at T'Nara. "I believe it will Ensign."
T'Nara was particularly struck by Chou's resemblance
to a house cat.
"Yes, Sir." She stepped forward to get to work.
-End-
