Chapter Three
Eskina
yawned, he checked the time: oh-two hundred hours, Delta shift should
be here soo...
The
turbolift's doors opened, the Delta shift stepped in
and replaced most of the Gamma shift officers. Kline came to Eskina and said: «
What's our ETA, Greg? »
«
Five minutes, captain. Nothing interesting to report… » Eskina said.
«
Good. I relieve you, commander. » Kline said.
«
If it doesn't bother you, sir… I'd like to stay on for the next shift. » Eskina
said.
Kline
frowned: « You've been on the bridge since the beginning of Beta shift. That's
a lot. »
Eskina
smiled: « It's okay. I'll just take one shift off tomorrow...Uh, I mean, later
today. »
Kline
hesitated, and then nodded: « Okay. You can take Commander Sutter's seat while
she's not here. »
Eskina
sat down in the first officer's chair. At the conn, the ensign that had
replaced Reeves said: « Captain, we can come out of warp. »
«
Go to impulse power, ensign. » said Kline. « Put us in an elliptical course
around the nebula. Scan for any breaches. »
The
Valiant slowed down to sublight speed. On the
viewscreen, the Hydra nebula was displayed, its long tentacles reaching out in
all directions, and its energetic center lighting up every cloud in the dark nebula.
«
I might have already said this a dozen times... » Kline smiled. « But it's
amazing. »
«
Captain, » The officer at Ops said. « I've just received a message from
Starfleet. The USS-Crystal was sent on a scientific mission to the
nebula a few days ago. They should've arrived yesterday. »
«
Do you read the
The
officer shook his head: « No, sir. But I do read an ion trail on approximately
the same course we're taking. It's pretty recent, judging by the decay rates. »
«
So they were here. » said Kline. « But where are they now? »
«
Wait a minute... » The Ops officer frowned as he studied the information
displayed on his console. « I read the ion trail for three hundred thousand
meters, and then it disappears... »
Kline
frowned: « Disappears ? »
«
Yes, sir… I don't read any warp activity in that area so they didn't warp
out...But wait...I'm reading some smaller trails that seem to be from
Federation type probes. »
«Can
you project their course on a schematic representation of the nebula? » Kline
asked.
«
I think so... » He tapped a few buttons and an overview of the nebula appeared
on the viewscreen. Small yellow lines appeared, going straight into the nebula.
The Ops officer suddenly jumped in his seat: « Captain!! I'm reading a two-hundred
meter wide opening in the nebula's outer energy field!! »
The
outer energy field of the nebula was created by the energetic output of the
core and the radiation from some of the dust particles. It was so powerful, in
fact, that if a starship wanted to cross it, the stress on the hull would be so
strong that it would explode in less than ten seconds. Kline had read about
breaches, none of them had even approached the size of two hundred meters!
«
Bring us within two thousand kilometers of the
breach, thrusters only. » Kline ordered. « I want to take a closer look. Prepare
a class-1 probe, just in case. »
«
Aye, » The woman at the tactical station said.
The
Valiant approached the large breach.
«
We're in position, captain. » said the conn officer.
Eskina
frowned, and pointed at an unusual swirl forming inside the nebula: « What's
that? It looks pretty strange... »
The
Ops officer rushed to the science station and said: « I...I've never seen
anything like it. It's some sort of plasma strand. »
« A what? » Kline raised an intrigued eyebrow.
«
Uh... » the officer hesitated. « Well, it's certainly looks like a
plasma stra... »
There
was a brilliant flash and the whole bridge disappeared in white light. When the
lighting came back to normal, Kline blinked a few times, then
looked around the bridge. Everyone was fine.
« Report! » He said.
Eskina
walked to the Ops station and studied the readings on the screen, he frowned: «
I can't make any sense of these readings...The sensors are going insane. »
Kline
looked at the screen, it was entirely white, and he couldn't discern anything:
« Tactical, do you have anything? »
The
tactical officer shook her head: « Nothing, sir. »
Kline
sighed: « Does anyone have something about where we are? »
No
one said anything.
«
Great... » Kline nodded. « I... »
« Captain! » The conn officer pointed at the screen.
All
eyes turned to the viewscreen at the front of the bridge. There was a Nebula-class
starship on the screen.
«
The
Kline
tapped his commbadge: « Kline to the senior staff, sorry to bother you. But we
have a problem. »
Chapter Four
«
I think we're inside some sort of subspace pocket. » Stevenson said.
«
How is this possible? » Kline asked. « Subspace pockets are only theoretical,
and no one has been able to create any. »
«
Well, there is a lot we don't know about the Hydra nebula. And there are many
subspace distortions around the nebula. » Said Eskina.
«
Sorry to slow you down. » Tarses said. « But what exactly are subspace pockets?
»
Stevenson
explained: « Subspace pockets are areas outside of normal space, the pockets
will look like rifts from the outside, only a few hundred kilometers
large. But inside, it has no length and no width. Just a void in which
everything is in subspatial phasing, everything in
here is overlapping in an infinitely small distance. Our sensors are not made
to read such information, so we're seeing the
Tarses
stared blankly at the engineer, Stevenson smiled: « I agree...It's really
confusing. It'll take time, but you'll understand soon. »
«
So...How do we get out? » Sutter asked.
Stevenson
sighed: « That's the big question... »
«
Can we communicate with the
«
No. » Kline shook his head. « We can't establish a stable channel in this
subspace environment, but... » Kline turned to Stevenson. «...can we beam over?
»
Stevenson
scratched his head thoughtfully: « Well...We can try to modify the
configuration of annular confinement beam so it doesn't dissipate in the
subspace pocket. But that would also mean that we would need to create a new direction
sequence so that the beam manages to get on board the
«
How long will you need? » asked Kline.
Stevenson
shrugged: « I'd say it would take about two hours...If I have Chief Robinson's
help. »
«
Okay, get to it right away, lieutenant. » Kline said. « Meanwhile, we'll try to
get some of the internal sensors back online, so we can at least read what's
going on inside the ship. »
* * *
Sylvia Burnel's Log, supplemental.
We've just entered some strange subspace pocket that
exists in the Hydra nebula. John's been working on the transporters for one
hour already and he says he'll be ready to beam someone to the
* * *
Yasmin Reeves walked to the cryptology department from her quarters. As
she passed next to a dormitory, the doors swished open. But no one came out...
She
peered curiously inside the room, there was no one; this was one of the crew
quarters with three double beds. Then, suddenly, the doors closed, almost
slicing her head off. She frowned, there must've been some problem with the
door mechanism, and she would report it later on the bridge.
Kline
couldn't sleep. He never could sleep while in a stressful situation, everything
that was happening to the Valiant and its crew was very theoretical.
They were just guessing what was happening to them. With the sensors down, they
were standing in a room plunged in darkness with only their collective brains
to try to figure out where to walk.
He
turned and looked out the window at the far end of the room, the void of the
so-called subspace pocket was white, but it sent out no light. As if there was
nothing there, which was true...?
He
sighed and closed his eyes. Trying to clear his mind so as to slowly doze off...
«
One...Two...Three...Four...Five...Six...Seven... »
Kline
sat up abruptly: « Computer lights! »
His
room lit up, no one was there.
He
frowned; he had clearly heard someone counting. It was probably a symptom of
fatigue; he had spent almost twenty-four hours without sleeping. He yawned and
tried to fall asleep again.
Then, the communications panel next to his bed
beeped. He pressed on it; it was the transporter chief, Robinson: « Captain,
we've just completed our second test of the transporter systems. Looks like we
can beam over to the
«
Very well... » Kline said wearily. « Tell Commander Sutter to prepare an
away-team. We need some answers. »
«
Aye, sir... »