A New Frontier

Posted on Thu Jan 13th, 2022 @ 11:19am by Game Master
Edited on on Mon Jan 17th, 2022 @ 12:55pm

1,672 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: How Did It Happen? Prequel Stories
Location: An Alternate Universe > Another Alternate Universe
Timeline: Test Day, Unknown Time Prior To Mission "Enter Starbase 616"

Command, Deck 1

"It is ready Captain." The Science Officer announced from her console nearby.

The Captain smiled, it had been a very long time coming. The construction of the station and then the various levels of experimentation to fully develop their newest technology: Interdimensional Travel.

Soon they will be exploring a new frontier of many alternate universes, meeting perhaps their own counterparts and new life forms that evolved differently to those in their own. "Excellent, did you pick out a set of quantum coordinates?" He asked walking the few steps to stand by the science officer.

She grinned. "If I may, I set it to random?"

He couldn't blame her really, as they hadn't had any contact from any other universes but it was scientifically known they existed. The collective knowledge of their United Federation of Planets, spanning the entire galaxy, saw to that and more. The Captain returned her smile and nodded. "Very well, let's count it down then. Get me station wide please," he called out to the operations officer.

"Station wide sir."

He figured he should give a pep talk. "=/\= Well done everyone, we are ready to explore a multiverse of differences like never before. We have a well equipped station and experienced crew so we will meet any challenges that come our way on this new 'expedition'. I have every confidence in all of you and let us make our Federation proud as we are the first to explore strange new universes. All hands, man your posts as we are preparing to initiate the drive/device, please prepare for anything. Command out.=/\="

The last few drills had the crew and most of the civilians taking at least 15 to 20 minutes, at the latest, getting organised at their workstations and into safeholds established across the station respectively. It seemed a long time but the fastest they could muster, regularly. The Captain had the station's population run drills on lockdown procedures and a variable number of scenarios that hostile forces could take even during the final days of construction.

This new drive/device hadn't come at a better time as the entire galaxy is under Federation rule, there was no more to explore, expand or meet new life. Starfleet needed more direction than ever, of course the extragalactic 'expeditions' were only started construction 2 years ago. Despite the galactic prosperity for member worlds and only small pockets of both isolationists and rebels, much of Starfleet was in decline due to the achievement of peace.

While waiting for the countdown to end, the Captain recalled his last few missions, and a few even had some of his current crew aboard the station with him, they defeated their enemies then absorbed those worlds into membership. Some had resisted further but gave up when it appeared futile, not many lives were lost either, soon they all found they couldn't deny the benefits of being under Federation rule. Word spread of Starfleet superiority fast and while there had been war, no one died, only disabling injuries and mass relocations of the populace were the preferred actions of Starfleet. As Federation territory expanded and more worlds encountered it seemed as though the rest of the galaxy simply accepted their offer of membership either upon first contact or the days after.

He recalled one species who picked isolation upon first contact, the Sheliak. They simply and concisely refused membership then demanded to be left alone. While Starfleet Central had debated the demand and the Sheliak overall threat, it was decided to leave them alone but like all the others several starbases were built around Sheliak space which managed to deter any expansion or vessels leaving no matter what.

The thoughts of his recent past led the Captain to the meeting with Starfleet Central about placing him as commanding officer of a starbase that was special, for it could jump to alternate universes. So here he was, leading the way into a new frontier on Starbase 616, Watchtower-class Station and more were already in the works.

"5 minutes to activation," the Computer announced and the Captain glanced around Command at his officers who offered smiles back, he wondered what excitement awaited them. A moment later, a completely different thought occurred to him. What dangers could they be simply walking into, ones that they had no real preparation for. "1 minute till activation… All personnel brace for interdimensional travel!"

He didn't know what to expect the drive/device to feel like when it activated, maybe some vertigo or turbulence, shaking of the station? The Captain saw a glow in the deck, the walls, the consoles, his crew also began to glow a soft blue then green. A quick disruption to the gravity and lighting systems and the glow vanished just as quickly as it had appeared, apparently they had made their first jump.

In Another Alternate Universe

"Is everyone okay?" The Captain called in a loud voice.

As he looked around Command, he saw his officers either picking themselves off the deck or had held on firmly, shaking off their apparent disorientation. Soon they all reported ok. Though that was forgotten when an alarm sounded, the proximity warning. "On screen!" The Captain ordered and a moment later a large fleet was visible surrounding the station, at first nothing happened, clearly the station's arrival surprised them.

They looked familiar but that too was forgotten as the fleet began firing on the station. Luckily their shields had been raised in time, the Captain glanced over at Tactical to see his tactical officer smiling. He nodded his thanks. "Analysis of them Tactical?" The Captain asked as he walked back into the center of Command where a holodisplay table changed to bring up the immediate area. The station, the now enemy fleet arrayed around and now weapons fire.

"Our sensors cannot identify the weapons signature nor the ships or penetrate their shields. Though our shields are reducing in strength at the rate they are firing, slowly. We should be firing back." The Tactical officer suggested.

Though the usual protocol was to hail, the Captain had a feeling their enemy wouldn't respond. "Fire." He ordered, "and keep changing frequencies and modulations, do not use any heavy weaponry yet. Let's see if we can capture a small ship to analyze." He added, and then began issuing battle instructions to all personnel, informing the civilian population to remain in the safeholds and ordered all bulkheads be lowered in all key areas.

Several hours passed and the battle had continued with a majority of enemy ships being eliminated, though they hadn't been able to find a small ship to capture yet. Shields were at 80% and seemed to hold there as they remodulated their shielding as well. The Captain and senior officers all began to suffer from fatigue at around about the same times, though it didn't seem possible so quickly, well at least to the Captain.

He could have sworn he saw a rushing Klingon holding a blood dripping bat'leth out for an attack in the corner of his eye but when he actually looked in that direction, nothing. The adrenaline however in his system convinced him otherwise. A scream from sciences caught everyone's attention, the Captain and others rushed over to see the science officer under her console. At first she seemed scared out of her mind then noticed that only her crewmates were around her with concerned expressions.

"Are you okay?" The Captain asked and slowly offered his hand which she accepted. He pulled her to her feet as she frantically looked around for whatever petrified her.

"I.. I… I am." She stammered several times after that, "I'm okay. You didn't see that?" The Science Officer asked even more afraid of the answer than what she had seen.

"No." The Captain replied slowly. "But I could have seen an attacking Klingon in the corner of my eye, a moment or two just before you screamed. What did you see?" He finally asked slowly the question that he knew would be difficult to answer.

"A Gorn brute with blood everywhere on it." She replied and now with her holding the Captain's hand, it seemed she had regained confidence though she was squeezing a little hard.

He squeezed her hand back and she noticed what she was doing, she stopped but didn't let go. "Sorry sir," she said in a small voice.

"Quite alright. It seems something odd is going on and it is definitely psionic in nature." The Captain announced, "I suggest you all prepare yourselves, we have encountered some species with the same abilities and overcame them." He said though in the next moment everyone was on the floor and the station had shook so violently that the lights and consoles flickered wildly. The red alert klaxons sound had ended a while ago but the red lights continued uninterrupted.

"Shields at fifty five percent Captain, sensor logs say that the enemy fleet stopped firing then fired everything they had at the same time." The Tactical officer announced as he watched his console and his eyes widened. "They are preparing to do it again," he quickly opened a station wide channel. =/\="Brace for impact!"=/\=

Again the station rocked hard and everyone once again knocked to the floor in a tangle of arms and legs if they were near each other. Others slammed into walls or hit consoles in some way upon the full force of the enemy fire struck the shields which blinked out of existence for an immeasurable brief amount of time allowing some of the weapons fire to continue to impact the hull.

That caused power surges, explosions, a few hull breaches and the station power grid to glitch on and off a few times in a span of several moments but stabilized. Though the people in Command had been on the floor at the first hit, the second one didn't do much to them but a few of the displays and consoles on the other hand had a fireworks show.

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

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