Down the rabbit hole
Posted on 22 Apr 2022 @ 9:02pm by Captain Jonathan Reynolds & Commander Amelia Fox & Lieutenant Commander Aidan Datari & Lieutenant Cassandra Higgins-Stevens & Lieutenant JG Rosaline Belikov & Lieutenant C'Tora Kuroka & Lieutenant JG Harper Matthews
Mission:
Through the looking glass
Location: Bridge/Cardassian Science labs, DS21
Timeline: md1 10:00
2821 words - 5.6 OF Standard Post Measure
ON:
"Docking umbilicus's disengaged," The stations ops informed them. "God speed Andromeda."
"Thank you," Jon said. "Set course back to the agora crossroads and engage,"
He felt the change to impulse and the station started to get smaller. It was peaceful. However the peace did not last long.
"Sir we are seeing strange readings from the station. Some sort of charge. Its building up exponentially..." he was informed by the man on science. Jon groaned. He was looking forward to seeing Datari back in on the bridge rather than on reduced shifts and monitoring from his quarters.
"Commander Datari are you monitoring? Can you link in with the stations science?" he stated.
"Yes sir," Aidan replied, his hands already flying across the console in his quarters. "I am monitoring, and I'm trying to link to the station. I'm experiencing difficulty sir." The Trill sighed. "Give me five minutes and I'll be on the bridge."
Michael looked up sharply from the engineering section on the bridge "Ensign Han what is happening?"
Derek was still looking at the display readout on the monitor before him when he answered. " Sir, this is one of the weirdest readings I've ever seen. I can identify a low level tachyon mixed with something else radiating from the station, It's effecting our short range scans out to fifty thousand kilometers and...." He clutched his head as the room began to slowly spin. " Woah.. Sir I'm starting to feel somewhat strange. "
SB21 Science Lab
In the science lab on SB21 Anja looked at the Chief of Science Junjie Han, "Um Sir something is happening! Did we get the harmonics wrong?"
" What the hell!!? " Exclaimed Junjie. " The harmonics were correct from the previous scan that we took and had no effect on the device, However in the sub harmonic range we're getting wild fluctuations with a cascade effect in the lower register. " Junjie stared at the screen as he observed a new reading appear on the monitor and Stood shocked briefly before reacting. " The subharmonics have somehow triggered that old tachyon pulse generator that the Cardassians had on the outside of the station. The beam struck the Andromeda in wave after wave of tachyon pulse for about five seconds before turning off, But during that time the Andromeda jumped and bucked like a wild horse trying to throw a unwelcome rider. And then silence.....All the readings returned to normal, with one minor exception. The Andromeda was nowhere to be seen.
Junjie keyed the Com channel. " Science lab to Ops. We have a bit of a situation, It seems that Umm.... The Andromeda has vanished and is nowhere to be seen. "
USS Andromeda
As the ship started spinning and shaking like they were being made in a cocktail or something Jon clung on to his chair for dear life not quite managing to buckle himself in.
"Red alert," he yelled. The view screen seemed to shimmer oddly for a moment before everything settling down again as if nothing had happened. Except...
There was no sign of the station.
"Report," Jon snapped.
"The station is gone, Captain." Harper reported as she tried to look for it everywhere. "Sensors show a complete absence of the station. All other landmarks are present consistent with our location in space, but..." she paused as she double checked her readings. "I cannot find the Briar Patch."
"She's right sir," Aidan said, the shock clear on his face, "there's no sign of the station or any of the life-signs that had been aboard. And the Briar patch... it's as if it never existed. No trace of it, or any trace elements. Nothing sir, as if they were never there."
"Widen scans. Get everything you can about our new environment. Try to find the closest habitable area," Jon ordered. He lent in to both Amelia and Cassie. "What do you make of this?"
"Yes sir," the Trill answered, without looking up. A worried frown creased his brow as he did what he was told.
Amelia was looking at her console. "I'm beginning to think I picked the wrong day to resume my duties. We're still in the same location as we were. Everything else has changed around us."
"Didn't something like this happen to Deep Space Twenty One recently... Time travel was it? Could something like that have happened here?" Cassie was grasping, she was no scientist but she could follow a logical train of thought.
C'Tora tapped his combadge. " Sickbay to bridge, What's going on up there? I've got about a dozen minor injuries currently and we've got tongue depressors everywhere. talk about rotten timing, and just as I was winning too. "
Jon looked confused. Tongue depressors and winning. He shook it out of his brain reminding himself his doctor was Caitian and an entirely different culture. "Doctor we are just trying to work things out. If I was betting man I would guess we have either gone back in time or into another reality. Or someone's playing games with us and our sensors."
" Ahh Bloody blue blazes. " responded C'Tora. " It's been a very slow day for us down here and now your telling me that we're in a different reality or time? How the..... Never mind. I'll be up there soon to check on the bridge crew and run some exams while you work. Got to make certain you're not effected in anyway. "
Allisara sat at flight control with her head slightly bowed and her fingers on her temples. She lowered her hands as she looked up and swiveled her seat. " Captain Reynolds, You already know that we haven't moved from our current location, to which I concur from the reading here at helm. But something....." She hesitated briefly. " ... Doesn't...Feel right. I can't explain it to well in words. We don't belong here, this isn't our home. "
A few minutes later C'Tora stepped off the turbolift with medical bag slung over his shoulder. He walked directly to the Captains chair and pulled out his tricorder and began scanning. " So do you feel dizzy? Any nausea or other symptoms? Your readings appear to be in a minor state of flux but are returning to baseline. " C'Tora glanced at the viewscreen, and nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary to him. But he wasn't there when the event took place. " So the 64 latinum bar question of the day, on everyone's mind is ... What happened? "
C'Tora took a quick look about the bridge, giving a visual check of those on the bridge. " If anyone is feeling Ill or strange in any way in, Speak up and I'll come to attend to you. "
"I feel a little nauseous, Doctor." Harper admitted unsure as to why. "And my head hurts a little." This was of course due to her hidden El Aurian heritage that she knew nothing of. The disappearance of DS21 had caused these effects on her, the effects usually attributed to time/universal changes.
C"Tora came over to Ensign Matthews and ran the tricorder and checked the results. His tail stopped moving and his whiskers twitched. He then pulled two hypos from the case and gave a quick spray on the side of the neck. " there you go, that will clear up the nausea and the headache in short order. " He leaned down close and spoke very softly to her. " Ensign, please stop by Sickbay after your shift. I would like to run a little blood work and a bio scan on you. It shouldn't take more then fifteen minutes tops. And don't worry. There's just a minor anomaly on a reading I'd like to check out. I promise you it's nothing that will affect your duties. " He stood up and looked about again. " Anyone else? "
Hawkins felt his head, it was spinning. " I am thinking I need to get down to Engineering and check to see if things are okay." Then he looked up towards the viewscreen, "What is that?" standing up and pointing. "Is that a station of some sort?" squinting his eyes slightly. He put his hand up to his head feeling slightly dizzy.
C'Tora saw Mr. Hawkins put his hands to his head and checked the tricorder and noted it was the same nausea and dizziness that had been effecting the others and quickly administered the hypo sprays. " There, that will take care of the symptoms. " he turned to see what the Lieutenant was looking at on the forward viewer. " By the goddess! What in the blue blazes is that? " He asked.
"That looks familiar ...." Jon said. "But its not meant to be here."
His brain flashed through several memories for a minute before remembering the report on Amelia sick from eating space weavil. "That's the crossroads. Well a slightly more intimidating version of it," he cocked his head. Yes it was bigger. Yes it was more angry looking.
"That is why I didn't recognize it." Hawkins remarked, "It makes the one we are familiar with seem soft and fuzzy and filled with warmth." giving a slight shiver. He was comparing where he had been with Iola before this happened when he and Iola went and got married at Agora Crossing. "It looks like we are in another universe."
"Another universe?" C'Tora sighed. " So in our universe are the people at this station friendly or hostile towards the federation?" As he waited for an answer, he continued to stare at the screen. " Looking at that makes me feel a little nervous for some reason, I wish we had a cloaking device right now. "
"Scans confirm that's the crossroads," Aidan answered, reaching to rub the spots at his temples, "at least... they think it's the crossroads, but it's different. It's way bigger than I remember and more... populated? I'm reading a wide variety of lifesigns, way more diverse than what I've seen at the slave market."
C'Tora's Eyes narrowed and his ears flattened. " Slave markets? Then there will be no way that they'll be happy to see us. " He paused a moment. " We're in a different universe, Does the federation even exist here? " He asked. " Is there any ship chatter of signals from federation communication buoys? Or are we a new unknown to the people here? " He asked the questions that were on his mind, and was pretty certain they were on other minds as well.
"There were slave markets in our crossroads too doctor," Aidan reminded him, a pained look crossing his features as he was reminded of the place. "As for chatter... there is chatter but for now I can't tell if it's friendly or not, I need more data." His eyes traveled back to his console. "And a painkiller," he muttered under his breath as he continued to rub his temples.
C'Tora removed a hypo from the case And brought it over to Aidan, The hypo hissed as C'Tora stepped back to observe Aidan. " That was 10ml of Metorapan, If you feel any pain now then you'll be going to sickbay with me and that will be an order from the CMO. " He stated. " And as for the slave markets at the crossroads, I've never been there so I wouldn't know. All I know is I've had enough experience with slavers to last a lifetime." As a pained expression flashed across his face.
The Trill nodded in understanding. "I was there doctor... I was captured, and sold... And punished for trying to get home to the Andromeda." He waited for the painkiller to kick in but it was apparently going to take a while for it to cure his headache. "I'll come down to sickbay later," he promised, "we have work to do."
"Well now that we are here, we've got to figure out how to get back to our own universe." Michael stated quietly.
"That requires figuring out how we got here in the first place, first," Aidan commented lightly.
Stumbling into the bridge from one of the turbolifts, Rose looked around at the bridge crew before standing up as straight as she could, “have the inertial dampeners failed or something? I haven’t felt this queezy since the academy”
C'Tora walked towards Rose and held up the hypo. " A little something for the nausea if you'd like. And no, we have a bit of a situation currently. " He turned his gaze to the command staff. " But that's not my place to inform you of, I am but a doctor and I won't act out of protocol unless the situation is dire. Would you care for the hypo? "
Looking to C’Tora, Rose gave him a nod, “sure, thanks. “
C'Tora walked over and administered the hypo to Rose. " there you go, that will take care of the nausea. " He looked about the bridge once more. " Does anyone else require medical attention? " He asked. " Captain Reynolds, would you like me to stay here on the bridge or return to sickbay? "
Just then, a ship appeared from arround the far side of the Crossroads and appraoched the Andromeda.
"Captain. we are receiving a hail from that incoming ship." Harper announced from the tactical station. "I'll put it on screen."
A rather surley looking human appered on the viewscreen. "If you're with the Alliance, get lost or prepare to die! We don't need you're sort around..... " His voice trailed off when he saw the first officer. He scowled at Amelia. "You! You better have the latinum you owe me, you whore!" He then broke out into an enormous belly laugh. "Looks like you returned from the other universe with a prize. Others said I was a fool for trusting you again but I knew you'd not diaapoint me. Not a bad ship, might be worth a few coins. And.." He added "you had better have the start up sequence for that super weapon you told me about. Meet me in the Black Hole, our usual table. Don't keep me wating!" and with that the screen went blank.
The ship then turned and headed back to the Crossroads.
Amelia was too stunned to talk for a moment, but then calmly turned to Jon and said dryly. "I think I've got a rough idea of where we are Captain."
"I'm fairly certain that the captain has no intentions of turning over the Andromeda to that scoundrel. " Interjected C'Tora. " Even if it is to pay off a debt owed by that witch from this universe. And what is this super weapon that he is referring to?"
"He could be referring to a Planet Killer..." Amelia interjected. "When I was questioning her, Mirror Fox mentioned smoothing about they had discovered a planet similar to the one we found in our universe, with several Planet Killers stockpiled but they had no clue as to how to get them working. It was part of the plan to overthrow the Alliance and for Terrans to claim their freedom once again. She was supposed to return with the startup sequence."
If C'Tora were human he would have turned pale at the mention of the planet killer. " You mean that there are several more of those things just waiting for someone to figure out how to use them? I saw what it did to the Europa, It took a warp core breach from the inside to take it out. And now we have several in orbit around a planet? Is there any way we can destroy them before they activate? " He asked.
"Lets hope not," Jon stated. "Right well number one take one of the runabouts and Lieutenants Belikov, and Datari with you and Ensign Mathews. Go see what you can dig up. Preferably the location of Deep Space 21 as a priority. Under no circumstances eat any space weavil or get sold," he said firmly.
"Get into some civvies and convince them we are not "alliance" and your not your counterpart. In fact take the footage of her confession and incarceration if you need it. Perhaps we can play on her ability to jump realities and say she screwed us over and that how we ended up here?"
“Sounds like fun” Rose commented as she turned back around and moved to stand near the turbolift.
"Yes..... Fun..." Amelia muttered as she rose from her seat. She was just accepting the fact she was free from her mirror counterpart after learning of her incarceration and now she had to pretend to be her.
"Let's get this over with. Advise the shuttle bay that we're on our way." Amelia added as she boarded the turbo lift.
OFF:
Lieutenant Michael Hawkins
Chief Engineer
USS Andromeda
Commander Amelia Fox
XO, USS Andromeda
Captain Jonathan Reynolds
CO, USS Andromeda
Lt. Commander Aidan Datari
Chief Science Officer
Ensign Harper Matthews
Chief Security/Tactical Officer
USS Andromeda
Lieutenant JG Rosaline Belikov
Chief of Intelligence
USS Andromeda
Lieutenant JG C'Tora Kuroka
Chief Medical Officer
USS Andromeda
Lieutenant JG Cassandra Higgins
Ships Counselor
USS Andromeda
