Dare the Impossible (Part 1 of 5)
Posted on 25 Jul 2024 @ 2:51pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Morgan Tarin & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Lieutenant Commander Ryan Alexander & Lieutenant JG Rafe Caradec & Lieutenant JG Saelihn Valenis & Lieutenant JG Delainey Carlisle & Lieutenant JG Montgomery Vala & Lieutenant JG Nusien & Ensign Mimi & Ensign S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor & Ensign Mackenzie Laren & Lieutenant JG Vren Vral & Ensign Amanda Turell & Ensign Asha & Senior Chief Petty Officer Goldie Brown & Chief Petty Officer Katja Becker & Chief Petty Officer Lysander Octavio & Petty Officer 2nd Class Donald Andrews & Petty Officer 3rd Class Jeysa Zeror & Master Chief Petty Officer Toren Vral
3,609 words; about a 18 minute read
Mission:
Episode 19 - Tomorrow's Galileo
Location: Pleiades Cluster, Sector 189, Block 02
Timeline: MD 06, 1902 hrs
[ON]
Time is the fire in which we burn. The prophetic words once popularized by an ancient Earth poet now carried more significance than could ever be imagined. The cold and dark stellar cosmos within the Pleiades Cluster appeared almost suffocating with its plethora of solar nurseries and dense nebulae in the near background. There was no sound in space, but any crew member aboard the Galileo-A or Galileo-B could hear the palpable tension and soft hums of their respective ships' systems. Time. It was running out and the candle wick would soon be extinguished.
In space, the two Nova-class starships maintained a stationary formation separated by a loose 10 kilometer range. Each of the small silver hulls glistened beneath the stars' bright twinkles in a serene manner which obfuscated the true peril they now found themselves awaiting. The future was never certain but there was no doubt within both crews' minds that tomorrow would never come. Here and now was the end of their timeline for better or worse. Here, time was waiting to be molded and reshaped.
Crimson red alert strobes silently pulsed within the darkened bridge of USS Galileo-A, reflecting off each metal surface and casting the chamber in an ominous glow. All essential personnel had reported to their stations both above and below decks, and now the final countdown began.
"ETA until the Klingons enter weapons range?" queried Commander Morgan Tarin from the command well at the center of the bridge.
Rafe looked at the chronometer counting down to their inevitable fate, "Two minutes, 31 seconds, Captain." All this alternate timeline stuff could get really confusing. God, he wished he could consult with Captain James T. Kirk. He was a legend. He was also a temporal menace! Nevertheless, he seemed to be able to make time bend to his will like Beethoven conducting a symphony! At time travel, the man was a master.
"Tarin to Saalm, we're almost out of time. How long until you're ready?" the -A's captain asked the future rear admiral.
A short pause ensued which eventually produced an non-ideal reply. "Three minutes. We are finishing realignment of the driver coil assembly."
"Understood," said Tarin who now looked down to the tactical display on the center console between she and Warraquim. Two blue Starfleet emblems denoted their current positions while three red and orange Klingon icons slowly closed on their position.
"This is the captain," Tarin spoke again, this time thumbing the intraship comm button. "Hostile Klingon warships are still on an intercept course and are two minutes out from our present location. Maintain station readiness and prepare for combat. All hands...battlestations."
Saelihn had been watching the small emblems on the display at her station. The orange and red encroaching all the more on their blue ones. It could almost be mistaken for a game, a fiction on a screen but this was nothing like that. The stakes were real, their lives on the line and the stake of the future of the Federation and Starfleet hung in the balance.
So, just a regular Tuesday then...
"Shields are at 100% and weapons on standby. Maybe they are just coming to give us a send off..." Saelihn said in hope more than what she believed.
Vala sat swaying slightly at his console. It had now been many hours since his last 'treatment' and another would not likely do him much good. It was do or die, and it felt difficult to care all to much about either.
Normally his fingers would skitter over the console, establishing various novel sensor parameters that would be useful. But... well... there were barely any sensors to calibrate in the low power state.
The universe, time itself, was closing in. Dragging the cosmos towards a single point. He grinned for a moment and let out a quiet laugh. Whether that point was their return to 2392 or their demise was anyone's guess.
Toren sat stoically, his gaze on the rest of the bridge rather than the viewscreen. He'd been minutes away from doom a number of times in his career, and each time had left him with his life intact and more stories to tell.
Allyndra yearned to be back in sickbay, but that was handled and if this didn't work and the Galileo-B didn't come through then none of them would most likely survive and it would be a moot point. Her job right now was to try to project calm and support Tarin. She used her best counselor training from long ago. "We have this, captain. It will work. They are over confident."
At the Ops station Mimi focused on what she was doing and trying not to shout at the computer that was conflicting with the instructions she was giving it to shut down everything that wasn't critical; like lighting in all the definitely unoccupied crew quarters. Every drop of power was going to be needed to keep the ship in the horrendously one sided fight that was coming.
Unsure precisely where to place herself, Jeysa stood near the turbolift entrance with a good view of the whole bridge. She nervously fingered the type II phaser at her hip, from here if any Klingons beamed onto the bridge she'd have a good shot at them. A medical kit lay in a hatch in the console beside her. Which would be needed first was the question.
Deck 3, Sickbay
Sick Bay had been abuzz with activity as they prepared for the inevitable wounded that would come their way. When the Captain began to speak a calm hush filled the Galileo's medical facility as all listened to the Captain. When the channel closed that hush continued as the worry and fear of the situation settled in. Nusien took control of his team and directed them back to the task at hand. "To quote an old human phrase: This is the business we've chosen. We are medical professionals and very soon our crew, our family will need us. Stay focused and on your toes and we will all get through this and see tomorrow."
Becker leaned over to Carlisle and raised her hand in a pantomime of a hook, "Arrr, counselor. We be medical professionals!" She said in her best pirate accent - which with the Germanic undertone to her words sounded rather...ah...ridiculous. Ah, no matter. She was still 'flying high' after the brief interlude with Octavio--and the Chateau Picard--that the terrible odds they were facing didn't phase her at all. Her prep was almost complete - now was just the 'agony' of the wait.
Delainey looked at Katja, partly confused and partly chagrined. "I think that's what's known as black or gallows' humor, yeah?" After a beat or two, Carlise fist bumped Katja's pirate arm. "We got this."
"Gallows humor?!" Katja had never heard such a phrase before but it was utterly delightful. "Yes, yes. Perfekt! What is it the Klingons' are fond of saying? Oh yes, Today is a good day to die!"
Nusien was delighted to see that his team was willing to make conversation as they waited. After all he was a social creature. He smiled and turned toward Delainey and Katja. "Now, now there will be no deaths today. Not if we can help it."
Deck 7, Main Engineering
Engineering had also been abuzz with activity. With the probes jerry-rigged and ready to launch, Mack had returned to main engineering. Now would be the hardest challenge: Keeping the Galileo-A aloft without a warp core to call upon. As the Captain's announcement to battle stations came through: Mack stopped what she was doing and said a quick prayer to the prophets:
"Dearest prophets, who reside in the wormhole - may you give us the strength to survive this engagement..." She muttered under her breath.
Sera heard the Bajoran's prayer and she huffed air through her nose in the same manner Lamar Darius did at something she said earlier. "Survive?" Why, by Surak, would they want to do that? She closed her eyes as she fought back the nihilistic thoughts that were beginning to subsume her rather painfully obtained temporary clarity.
"The Galileo was a great ship to build." Donald said as he passed by handing out type II phasers seeing as 'battle stations' had been called. "Didn't think I'd still be here when she gets destroyed though."
"An ending must happen for another beginning to occur, Petty Officer Andrews." Sera said as she took the phaser from him and clipped it to her belt and then after a brief hesitation she reached out and lightly touched his upper arm as she had seen other humans do with one another.
"I would prefer not to be destroyed. I will do my best to ensure all of your considerable effort with the construction and maintenance of this vessel is not scattered amongst the Pleiades."
"Well, let's hope we've patched up the ship enough that that outcome is achieved, Ensign." Mack responded as she accepted a phaser from Andrews. "I'd hate to think we wasted all that school glue for nothing."
Deck 3, Main Cargo Bay
"Of all the places to be posted when we're about to go into a battle." Amanda said as she fiddled with her phaser rifle clearly annoyed. "A cargo bay."
"Come now, Ensign, you never know what can happen in a cargo bay," Lysander gave her a winning smile. Only the previous evening he had enjoyed quite a few antics in such a place. The memories of fine wine buoyed him in the moment. "Perhaps we'll have a few Klingons to tangle with in a few minutes," a peal of his laughter filled the cavernous space.
"I hope so. After we're done with these bombs we'll probably get orders to guard the bridge or engineering. Which do you want?" Amanda said, her voice betrayed her eagerness to get to grips with the Klingons.
"Bridge," he said with a glint in his eye, "I always enjoy being near the... heart of things." He let out a musical giggle as they awaited further orders.
"Alright, I'll take Engineering unless we hear otherwise."
Deck 1, Bridge
Within the calm and serene Pleiades Cluster expanse, three closely-knit warp trails manifested when the small task group of Klingon warships decelerated from high warp. Their green and gray hulls suddenly became visible as only streaky blurs at first then snapped down to impulse propulsion.
"Captain, the Klingons are dropping out of warp. They are approximately 2 million km away and closing.", Rafe declared with intensity. This was it. The time was now!
Tarin's fingers tightened their grip around each of her hands' armrests while she leaned forward in her chair with private anxiety. "On screen."
The bridge's large holographic viewscreen materialized and displayed the small and indiscernible shapes of the enemy. "Magnify," ordered Tarin to the computer which enhanced and zoomed the image in by a factor of ten. "Magnify," she repeated, and now the three distinctive hulls of each Klingon vessel could clearly be seen. The two Vor'cha-class heavy cruisers' distinctive slim forward profiles and glowing red bussard collectors were an immediate indicator of their classification, as was the large up-winged K'Vort-class bird-of-prey's unique attack posture. Together, the three warships maneuvered into a line-abreast attack formation then accelerated to meet their insignificant Federation opponents.
"Tactical analysis. Time to intercept?" called out Tarin once again.
"Ships will intercept us in 70 seconds captain." Saelihn replied as she looked over the vessels in more detail. "Two Vor'cha class vessels, still mostly of the same armament as the ones we know. Slight change 22 ship-mounted disruptor cannons, one large forward disruptor and 4 torpedo launchers. The K'Vort class has 4 disruptor cannons and 2 photon torpedo launchers. All 3 ships in an attack formation and bearing down on us." she reported.
The captain's hand slapped the commbadge on her chest to open a channel down to deck 3. "Bridge to cargo bay, prepare the probes for transport. Standby to arm fuses on my mark."
Lysander glanced at Turell then strode over to the make shift mines. "I hope they give us enough warning," he flashed another smile, "Wouldn't want to get caught in a cargo transporter." Another laugh. He wasn't usually all too keen on macabre humour but a strange mood was affecting him.
Amanda pushed the second mine onto the transporter pad then stood by the operators console and tapped her combadge. "Mines in position, standing by for co-ordinates."
The plan was now in motion and the chess pieces had been moved across the board. Either Galileo's unorthodox tactical play would be successful and eliminate the enemy, or they would soon find themselves overwhelmed by superior vessels and subsequently destroyed...and with them, any chance to prevent this future from unfolding as it had.
"Helm, set course for the center of the Klingon formation. One-half impulse. Let's meet them and give Admiral as much time as possible," ordered Tarin.
Rafe's hands were already moving before the Captain could finish her sentence. "Aye aye, Captain.", Rafe said as he felt the ship move under his hands. Even though they had no warp core, the profile of the ship could be used to their advantage. And in close quarters, where warp drive could do neither them nor the Klingons any good, Rafe could do some pretty adept maneuvering at impulse speeds everyone would rather not consider. His time at Jupiter Station, flying all manner of crafts, served him well, very well.
The small and sleek Nova-class Mark II's single impulse engine glowed bright red as the starship accelerated to combat speed on a direct course toward the Klingon warships. Trajectories aligned directly for a head-to-head engagement on all tactical sensors while the time to intercept rapidly decreased to less than 30 seconds. Two of the three green-hulled Klingon vessels now tracked Galileo-A and committed, while the third - one of the Vor'cha-classes - broke off from the main group.
USS Galileo-B - Deck 1, Bridge
The interior of the Mark III Nova-class' command center was currently a bustling coalescence of various departments and personnel all working toward one priority goal: to restore complete primary power back to the deflector arrays then initiate the temporal field generator...before time ran out. The operations alcove was manned by three yellow-collared officers who each tapped away at their consoles with urgency while attempting to pull all secondary and auxiliary power necessary from various ship systems to compensate for the deficiency. At the science station, Commander Wyatt worked to review final preparations and temporal alignment trajectories while below decks the engineering department finished up the last of their repairs to the warp and impulse reactors.
Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm was stationed at her position within the command well and quickly tapped at her center console to isolate the incoming Klingon warships and plan for defensive maneuvers if and when they came into firing range. "25 seconds!" she called out to the seasoned bridge team before tapping her commbadge with urgency. "Saalm to Asha, we're out of time. I need those repairs done yesterday!"
"Too bad we can't create a temporal distortion to delay them another minute," Marisa quipped. The Klingons were familiar with most of the Federation tactics, so pulling the proverbial rabbit out of their hats would be difficult. But she wasn't going to stop looking for something.
Goldie double-checked that the bridge was ready to do its part to help align the temporal generator once Asha worked her magic. She tried to keep focused, but she couldn't help bouncing just a little with nervous energy. "I'd prefer a Tholian web in a can. You know, like that old-fashioned silly string," she countered. Joking around helped her calm down just a bit.
Vren's watery eyes remained fixed on his console. Years of planning, months of drudgery and long hours of repairs had led to this. The erasure. How the others managed to smile or joke he had no idea. To so permanently erase one's self... he was ever surprised how few nihilists he bumped into.
His fingers tapped over the controls as he traced the optimal paths through the temporal field device and into the deflector array. It all looked in order, for now.
USS Galileo-B - Deck 7, Main Engineering
"Ok, try it now." Asha called out as she pulled her head out of a wiring trunk.
"Nothing." Was the response from an engineer.
Moving to another wiring trunk she dove inside. "How about now?" She said after a few minutes.
"Still nothing." The same voice replied.
"De jebatai doga" Asha said to no one in particular. Standing up she kicked the console repeatedly.
"What did you just do?"
"Took out twenty four hours of frustration on the console why?"
"Well it worked, this diagnostic says we've 100% main power again."
"Run it again quickly." Asha quickly ran around to join him. within a few seconds every indicator on the power system flashed green. "Patai misa rekin guri. Engineering to bridge. Main power is online."
USS Galileo-B - Deck 1, Bridge
Several computer tones crescendo'd audibly emanated from various consoles within the bridge while the few remaining dormant LCARS displays came to life following a brief flicker. Saalm checked her armrest's power allocation screen which now showed all primary and secondary utility trunks and EPS distribution nodes generating full output capacity.
Ryan studied power output readouts on his LCARS display, making some minor tweaks before nodding once. "Ma'am, I have good checks on all systems. All systems are stabilized and back online, and the temporal drive is standing by." Ryan reported.
"The Thousand Gods thank you, Asha," replied the Orion over the comm before standing and issuing orders. "Vren, charge the temporal displacement drive and Marisa, send coordinates to the conn for our new orientation. Standby to initiate on my command."
Marisa ran a quick calculation as the galactic coordinates had to be exact on both ends to get the Galileo-A home. Once done, she sent them to the conn with a quick prayer. Time was running out.
His console began to light up as the energies slid into their rightful places. Vren's monotone voice cut through the usual sense of agitated urgency that pervaded the bridge.
"Thirty seconds and counting."
Within the local expanse of space, the future's Nova-class ghost white hull swung about and rotated around its positional axes to now face the exact spacial coordinates where the temporal anomaly was required to be generated. In the not-so-far distance to port, a menacing green hull bore down on the Federation scout vessel at combat speed, its shields and weapons systems fully armed.
"The Klingon ships are fifteen seconds from firing range." It was too close. Marisa looked at the admiral and then at tactical. If the shields held, they might have the few seconds they'd need.
Too close and too soon, the Orion rear admiral shook her head to herself. If her Galileo was fortunate enough to survive the initial alpha strike from the Klingon heavy cruiser, it wouldn't take more than another half minute before it came about and finished the job it started. "Ops, divert primary, secondary and auxiliary power from all non-essential systems to the shields. Take everything not related to the temporal displacement drive offline - including weapons and life support. We need to survive the next minute of this battle."
Ryan's hands flew across his console as he moved to comply with Lirha's orders. Ryan moved power from across the ship, taking power from secondary systems and diverting it to shields. "Ma'am rerouting secondary power to shields." Ryan reported.
"Admiral, the Galileo-A is engaging the Klingons." Marisa looked at the time still needed to activate the temporal portal. She wasn't sure what would happen if the Galileo-A was destroyed in their timeline.
To Be Continued...
[OFF]
--
CMDR Morgan Tarin
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-A
RADM Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
USS Galileo-B
[PNPC Tarin]
CMDR Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical Officer/2XO
USS Galileo-A
CMDR Marisa Wyatt
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo-B
LCDR Ryan Alexander
Operations Manager
USS Galileo-B
LTJG Rafe Caradec
Senior Conn Officer
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Saelihn Valenis
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Delainey Carlisle
Chief Counselor
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Montgomery Vala
Deputy Science Officer
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Nusien
Deputy Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
ENS Mimi
Deputy Operations Manager
USS Galileo-A
ENS S'Ers-a M'Lyr'Zor
Deputy Engineer
USS Galileo-A
ENS Mackenzie Laren
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
LTJG Vren Vral
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-B
[PNPC Vala]
ENS Amanda Turell
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]
ENS Asha
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-B
[PNPC Mimi]
MCPO Toren Vral
Chief of the Boat
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]
SCPO Goldie Brown
Operations Officer
USS Galileo-B
[PNPC M. Wyatt]
CPO Katja Becker
Medical Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC M'Lyr'Zor]
PO1 Lysander Octavio
Security Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Vala]
PO2 Donald Andrews
Engineering Officer
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]
PO3 Jeysa Zeror
Yeoman
USS Galileo-A
[PNPC Mimi]