Second Beginnings

Posted on 18 Mar 2016 @ 5:36pm by Ensign Calin
Edited on on 18 Mar 2016 @ 5:45pm

788 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Episode 10 - Symposium
Location: Shuttle Enroute to USS Galileo
Timeline: MD81: 1500 Hours

[ON]

The eighteen hour transit from the Ticonderoga to the Nova-class Galileo at low warp on board a Type-VII shuttle-craft would have been a taxing experience for even a veteran pilot. While not nearly as confining as the cockpit of a Valkyrie star fighter, heaps of cargo in the aft hold restricted Calin’s ability to move around. What little movement he did make was mostly designed to prevent his limbs from cramping up. If they did, it would only further inflame the trauma still ebbing its way across his body.

For the rest of the while, Calin had made due the best he could of his long journey: he meditated, carefully, lowering his heart rate and oxygen consumption, thereby reducing his metabolism overall. It was an efficient way to pass the time, as well as preserve resources. He relied on the shuttle’s autopilot to either bring him to his destination, or alert him if it appeared that he’d missed his rendezvous with the Galileo.

With his heart rate down to less than 170 beats-per-minute, Calin had entered a self-induced trance-like state which allowed him to dream. He dreamed of his homeworld and of his family. Of his mother, T’ffal, and of his father, Vadek. He allowed some of his more favorable lectures from Elder V’cek to permeate the blankness of his mind for a time. Eventually, Calin’s journey brought him to Starfleet Academy on Earth, where he relived his first experiences living amongst Humans, Andorians, Tellarites, Brikar and others. Such did not end favorably; while Calin had anticipated what it would be like to experience first-hand what living with aliens would be like, he’d grossly underestimated just how difficult it was to coexist with these emotionally rampant, nasally offensive sentient beings. But as expected, Calin managed to work through and past such difficulties.

The shuttle-craft dropped out of warp. The shift of momentum brought Calin’s dream to more recent, unwelcome place in his memories:

A trio of Valkyrie star fighters prowled the open space over Europa. Lacking any large-scale features such as mountains or craters, navigating the surface of Europa meant relying on its penitentes where the effects of direct starlight, plus sizable amounts of radiation from Io and Jupiter had inflicted prominent cracks that crisscrossed the moon’s surface.

“Alright Legacy flight, it doesn’t look like Pwyll has fallen to the Borg, the Romulans, or even the Tholians just yet. The galaxy is safe for another day,” said Flight Leader Samuel Hopper, whose Valkyrie led the formation, “Alter your heading to zero-six-five mark three-two and accelerate to five-hundred kps. We’ll skirt Jupiter’s atmosphere, using a gravitational assist to bounce out to Saturn.”

The scene jumped forward on its own. Now, they were navigating Jupiter’s troposphere, expertly enduring its storm as they did so. And then something went terribly and unexpectedly wrong. Sun ‘Jabber’ Cha Ko’s Valkyrie mimicked the appearance of a feather being tossed in the wind. It whirled violently before swinging off its flight path towards Calin’s Valkyrie. The collision warning arrived too late. Atmosphere seeped into the void, depriving Calin of oxygen. Trying to regain control of his vessel proved impossible due to hull damage, imminent asphyxia, and the gravitational storm Jupiter imposed. He felt Jupiter’s weight crush him, it’s atmosphere poisoning him.

Calin’s tormented insides burned like fire. Vulcan meditation techniques permitted him to roll that pain into a tightly compressed ball. He wrapped that ball, hot and radiating like an exploding star, within layer upon layer of logic and self-control, then allowed its own weight to sink it into a sea. The pain dissipated slowly, then vanished completely.

Then blue-white energy began to shimmer around him like fireflies. He felt his mind and body being pulled away from his dying craft as millions upon millions of individual atoms were simultaneously plucked from reality where they would be held in stasis until a full restoration was possible.

”Incoming communication." a stoic voice informed him.

The alert from the shuttle’s computer broke Calin from his rumination. Allowing consciousness to return, he confirmed that he was no longer in his Valkyrie, nor was he even in Sol. He was several hundred light years away from either, in fact. Not a Valkyrie fighter pilot, but a Security Investigations officer. Heaving a small, inaudible sigh, Calin mentally commanded his heart to resume its normal 242 beats-per-minute. The computer and environmental systems accommodated his increased vitals automatically. Calin opened his eyes and studied his console. The Federation starship Galileo had appeared on his medium range sensors.

They were hailing.

[OFF]

Ensign Calin
Security Investigations Officer
USS Galileo

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