I think you may be right, GMST. But thank you very much for giving me the chance to play out my childhood fantasies and try out a new system!
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Merry Christmas! God Bless Us, Every One!
I had also thought of promoting Thoss before Dr. Bhalla spoke up. Thoughts?
Sounds good. I think a new character is in order.
Reeves kneels to check the pulse of the engineer, shoving the archaic pistol towards Kerensky. "Take that and cover me."
"Valiant, Reeves here. Something is wrong here. There is gunfire in the corridors. Have a security team on standby. If we lose communications for more than an hour or if this ship attempts to bring warp engines online, they are to beam in and seize control of engineering. Reeves out." He indicates that Kerensky should follow him and he head to the door, looking carefully out.
"Very well, Mister Kerensky. You're with me. Mister Thoss, you have the Conn. If this situation goes poorly and you cannot easily retrieve us, your orders are to report this incident to Starfleet and track that ship from a distance." Reeves heads for the transporter room. Once he and Kerensky are on the transporter pads, he indicates to the chief that he is ready. "Energize," he says.
"Captain, do you need assistance? I can send armed security officers to assist you if you have a problem. Otherwise, I don't think there will be a need for weapons. I'll beam over in ten minutes." Reeves severs the connection.
Reeves sighs. "The jig, as they say, is up," he says to his bridge crew. "Let them go." Punching the comms button, Reeves talks to Atlantis's captain. "Captain, your weapons would be hard-pressed to ripple the paint on this ship, but you're not wrong. We're not who we said. You're in danger, but not from us. I propose a meeting. You and your first officer can come to us or I and mine will come to you. Your choice."
"I doubt that old ship can do us much harm," says Reeves, "but let's not take any chances. Standby phasers, but do not lock weapons." "Comms, give me a channel to Atlantis, audio only." Once the channel is open: "Atlantis, stand down. You are not under attack. This is a peaceful rescue operation. I repeat, stand down."
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! Everyone else, happy Thursday!
"Hmmm. Very well. For now, we'll do as Commander T'Karra suggests. Mr. Thoss, begin towing Atlantis towards the planet. You have the Conn. I'm going to report to Starfleet." Reeves gets up and goes to his ready room to make his report.
Reeves considers this. "Are there any threats to life or safety that we know of in the area?"
"I think it's unlikely that the "correct" timeline involves Atlantis at all. They've been stuck in the anomaly for two centuries. So far as their era knows, they were destroyed. If they were "supposed" to have done something in the past then they have done it. If we didn't interfere, they'd be stuck in the anomaly for all eternity, never doing anything again. I'm reasonably certain that their connection with the past is finished. We can't return them to their time without risking the present. Therefore our options are to leave them or to rescue them." "Therefore, we will rescue them. I suppose our subterfuge will prove a waste of time."
Reeves mulls this over. "It occurs to me that if Atlantis was never found, she has no further part to play in the history of that time. If we managed to return her to her own time and somehow eject her from the anomaly, she would begin to alter history. I don't think we can allow that. I'm beginning to think that they may be permanent residents of our time now." "Nonetheless, we don't have complete data. Mr. Thoss, please find us that aperture. It will give us options while we consider what to do."
"Nicely done, T'Karra," says Reeves. "Thank you." "Okay, people, I want some answers. Has that ship really been in a time bubble for more than a century and a half? If so, what are our chances of returning them to their own time?" "And get me some estimates on what they'll need to repair their damage."
Reeves regards T'Karra, nodding for her to continue playing the role.
"I think we'll just get out of the shot," says Reeves.
Reeves considers the suggestion, but considers that deception now is just as likely to cause trust problems in the future. But then he has an idea. "That's a good idea, Kerensky. But I have a wrinkle of my own to add. Security, escort Commander T'Karra to the bridge." He looks at Thoss and Kerensky. "I don't like deceiving the crew of that ship, but if we can possibly return them to their own timeline, it won't do to reveal too much of the future. I'm going to try to let on that this is a Vulcan research vessel. The Vulcans of the time were positively disposed toward Earth, and possessed technology well in advance of Earth's."
Reeves regards his old friend levelly. He knows she will neither appreciate nor approve of any reference to his feelings about having to suspend her from the command roster, so he speaks to her in practical terms. "Commander, we have a situation you may be able to facilitate. We have just retrieved an twenty-second century Earth vessel from a time warp. They don't know who we are and I am not ready to reveal to them the existence of the Federation. They'll figure out that the temporal shift soon enough but that doesn't mean we have fill them in just yet. I don't want to lie to them but I do want to give them the impression that they have been rescued by a Vulcan research vessel. Would you mind playing the part?"
Hi! I just got my Internet connection back after four days of outage. I'll be posting soon!
"Is locking tractor beams onto that ship going to mess with the wormhole, Lance?"
No! They got Kerensky! Why?!
"Evasive Maneuvers!" shouts Reeves. "Shields up! Red Alert. Damage report, all departments."
"Let's see what you can find, Kerensky."
<Cut to Reeves's stateroom. A shirtless Reeves is pulling on his boots.>
"Yellow alert," says Reeves. "Helm, bring us to a position just outside the minimum safe distance from that wormhole. Lance, what about a tractor beam? Can we pull them out?" "Are we receiving any signals from either vessel?"
Sorry I've been gone for so long. But now I'm back! Just pretend the Captain's been working -real- hard on a crossword puzzle and no one wanted to disturb him...
Thank you for bearing with me. I'm leaving tomorrow for a legal conference out of state and won't be back until Sunday. I'll have no Internet access. So I'll just see you on Sunday. Cheers!
"Alright, Commander. Let's do that. Mr. Kerensky, I want to know if that wormhole changes in any way. It's likely what caused this Earth ship to crash. Doctor, since you're here on the bridge, please scan for life signs, especially near either of the crash sites."
Reeves waits for his officers to report.
"Captain's Log: We have left the Bacchus system under high warp as the machines left behind by the alien civilization that once lived there destroys the system. We may never know what secrets it held or what we might have learned there, given time. Why call so many people to it and then self-destruct when they arrive? What purpose would the mind-controlled victims have served if we had never entered that building?" "If anything positive is to be salvaged from this mission, it has little to do with ancient civilizations. We gave assistance to stricken mariners by the ancient Law of the Sea. It is to be hoped that our peaceful cooperation with the Klingon crew and the aid we rendered them in a crisis results in a lessening of tensions with the Empire. Computer, End Log."
Unless sensors report problems with the Klingon ship, Reeves gives the word to go to warp.
"Well done," he says to Thoss and Bhalla. Waving at the damaged bay doors, he looks to Garrett. "Your services seem to be always in demand, Mr. Garrett. Don't bother with the repairs now. We need to get moving. Do what you can to rig for safe running." Addressing himself to Banks, he says "Move us away from the planet, Commander. Full impulse. Monitor the Klingon vessel's warp core. Be ready to go to warp." Reeves runs for the turbolift and heads for the bridge.
"Go, Thoss!" says Reeves, moving to buckle himself into a crash seat. He knows when to stay out of his specialists' way and let them do their job. "Commander Banks, open the shuttle bay doors and rig the barrier for emergency landing. Have damage control and medical teams standing by. Reeves out."
"Agreed, Doctor. We've done what we can here." Reeves moves towards the airlock.
"You can still come with us," says Reeves. "If those repairs don't hold, you're going to want a way to abandon ship."
"My chief engineer," says Reeves, by way of introduction.
"Or you and your crew can take a shuttle to my ship," adds Reeves. "We can all make it out of here safely. Death in battle may be honorable, but there is no honor in a pointless death. Come with us and survive to serve the Empire another day, Captain."
Reeves takes out his communicator. "Reeves to Valiant. We're onboard the Klingon vessel. Five to beam up. And Valiant, be precise about who you take across, please." He turns to the captain of the Bird of Prey. "I am Captain Adam Reeves of USS Valiant. We appreciate your cooperation."
As soon as all the non-crew are in the beam, Reeves orders everyone else in and follows close behind them. |