Captain’s Log, Stardate 86085.80. Earlier today, we arrived in the Beta Orionis sector and began our search for the Pendragon and Aurora. So far our endeavors have yielded very little other than two engine trails that suddenly end for no apparent reason. I remain hopeful we will find some clue as to the reason for this strange disappearance... and that we are not too late.
Nick finished recording the log entry in his ready room when the comm system went off.
“Bridge to Admiral Ford, we are being hailed by the Garrett on an encrypted channel.”
“Patch it through to my ready room, Commander.”
Shortly after his first officer’s acknowledgement, the terminal on Nick’s desk blinked to life to show Captain T’Laris in her own ready room. The Vulcan wore her usual stoic expression.
“Report, Captain. Have your specialized sensor arrays picked up anything?”
The Vulcan nodded. “My Chief Engineer confirms that the the engine trails we encountered were indeed left by Sol- and Phoenix- class vessels, which match the respective classes of the Aurora and the Pendragon. I estimate that the chance these are the trails of two other ships is below 0.001%.”
Nick resisted the urge to chuckle at the gratuitous amount of information and nodded. “So at least we have somewhere to start. Anything else?”
“Just one, Admiral. At the area where the two engine trails vanish, our ship picked up the evidence of tachyon particles, though in very trace amounts. It is difficult to determine what could have spawned them, especially since there are a variety of these tachyon traces in other areas of this region of space.”
“Could you elaborate?” Nick asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Tachyon particles travel faster than light and, since we detect no actual particles in the system, they are not being produced here. Instead, we are detecting the effect of their radiation on other particles in the area. Additionally, we have detected two varieties of these remnant effects. At the moment, all we can deduce is that this may have something to do with the anomalies that the Pendragon and the Aurora were investigating.”
Nick frowned as he mulled that over in his head. “Tachyon particles are usually associated with some disturbance in the spacetime continuum. Could an opening to fluidic space have produced them?”
“It is possible, Admiral. That is one explanation out of many. We require more evidence before we can make any definitive conclusion, even with regard to its relationship to the disappearance of the two ships.”
At that moment, Nick heard T’Laris’ comm beep through the communication. Nick nodded, and T’Laris took the call.
“Yes, Commander?”
“Captain, we’re detecting a sudden instability in the fabric of space-time about 20 kilometers from our current position. We are also starting to detect tachyon particles.”
T’Laris raised an eyebrow then looked at Nick. Nick looked up expecting a call from his own bridge at any moment. “Captain, I’m going to return to my bridge. Investigate this new anomaly and we will do the same.”
T’Laris nodded and ended the communication. Nick stood and walked out of his ready room much to the surprise of his first officer.
“Captain, I was just about to call you on the comm. We’ve--”
“--picked up space-time anomalies and tachyon emissions. The Garret just did as well. Continue monitoring it and stay on the lookout for any others.”
“Yes, sir.”
Nick was about to take his seat on the bridge when his Chief Science Officer suddenly spoke up.
“Sir, I’m detecting chroniton particles 40 kilometers directly ahead!”
Nick looked back at the officer quizzically. “Chronitons? Is something decloaking?”
“No, sir. These are more like chronitons that emit from a quantum singularity, but there are no known... wait. Yes, there is an unstable quantum singularity forming at that location, sir! It’s becoming more pronounced. This isn’t unheard of, but rare. I believe it may be due to the instability of this region of the space-time continuum as well as the recent spike in tachyon particles. The interaction of all of these factors are allowing this singularity to form. It will probably dissipate shortly though.”
Something about this did not sit well with Nick. Quantum singularity... what could this have to do with...
Nick’s eyes widened as he remembered. Just as he was about to issue an order, the science officer shouted a report from the rear of the bridge.
“I’m detecting a rift opening in space-time!”
“Sir, the Garret is raising shields and powering weapons!”
T’Laris must have come to the same conclusion he had. “Do the same! We are at Red Alert. All hands, prepare for a confrontation with the Undine!”
His first officer looked at him in alarm. Just as Nick was about to explain, his tactical officer did it for him.
“I’m detecting Undine ships emerging from the rift. Sir... I’m counting three... and they’re Tethys Dreadnaughts.”
Nick felt a pit form in his stomach. The Stonewall and the Garrett were outgunned and outnumbered.
“Send a message to the Garret. Order them to leave the system at maximum warp. Helm, get us out of here!”
“Sir, I wouldn’t advise that,” came the voice of the bridge’s engineering officer. “Between the singularity and the tachyon particle bursts, we won’t be able to form a stable warp field. The best case is that our attempt at going to warp fails. The worst case is that the warp core experiences a positive feedback loop resulting in a cascade failure and breach.”
A silence fell across the bridge as the crew waited for Nick’s orders. Going to warp wouldn’t be possible for now, which meant fleeing wasn’t an option. There wasn’t any choice.
“Evasive manuevers. Execute attack pattern Omega-II once the first ship is clear of the rift. Keep their attention away from the Garret.”
Tactical and helm acknowledged the orders. The Stonewall moved into position as the first of the ships finished moving through the rift.
“Sir, communication incoming from the Garret.”
“Onscreen!”
The image of T’Laris and her bridge filled the viewscreen. “Admiral, my ship is detecting that the tachyon emissions are coming from a temporal rift in space-time, separate from that the Undine are using. The rift is too small at the moment, but a tachyon beam from our deflector array could open the rift further.”
Nick was surprised at what T’Laris was suggesting. It must have shown on his face, as T’Laris spoke further.
“Admiral, I put our chances at surviving this battle at less than 2%.”
Nick’s mind raced. Deliberately traveling through time without evidence that another party was altering the timeline was questionable according to the Temporal Prime Directive and probably a violation. At the same time though, was he willing to sacrifice his crew and that of the Garret? In a matter of seconds, but what seemed like minutes to him, Nick spoke.
“How long will the rift remain open?”
“Very briefly. It is highly unlikely the Dreadnaughts will be able to follow us.”
“Do it. You go first and we will follow.”
“Yes, Admiral. T’Laris out.”
The Garret flew toward the anomaly, positioning its side toward the first Dreadnaught. The Stonewall positioned itself off to the side, letting loose all of its phaser banks at the oncoming ship. The Dreadnaught responded in turn, hitting the Stonewall fore with a volley of its own.
“Forward shields down to 45%, Captain!”
“Reroute all reserve power to them and return fire!”
The two ships exchanged fire while a beam of blue light emitted from the Garret’s deflector array. Within seconds, a large rift began to form in front of the ship. Once it had reached the appropriate size, the ship flew toward the rift.
“Follow her in, now!” ordered Nick as his ship suddenly shook from a sustained hit. “Route shield power as needed!”
The Stonewall arced toward the rift, firing its rear weapons at the Dreadnaught. By now, all three ships began firing at the lone Federation vessel. The ship sustained the combined volley, its rear shields dropping just as it reached the rift. The Stonewall sailed through the rift just as the Dreadnaughts were powering up a second volley. The rift sealed shut a fraction of a second before the energy weapons lanced through the region of space it had once occupied.
