Homeward Bound (Part 2)

Posted on Sat Aug 3rd, 2019 @ 6:52am by Captain T'mpest Michaels & Commander Rylie Cattmor & Lieutenant Commander Orin ch’Valri & Lieutenant Commander T'kaarch & Lieutenant JG Morgana 'Deathstrike' DeViro & Chief Petty Officer Jack 'Crow' Addy

1,127 words; about a 6 minute read

Mission: Ripples
Location: Ranger

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

"In other words..." Orin replied firmly, looking over to Jack, before concluding. "Don't dwell on it and accept it as a good thing."


[NEW]

Jack nodded quickly. "Whatever will keep my head from blowing up, Boss." He gave Orin a thumbs up.

"Temporrral mechanics arrre... confusing at the best of times." T'kaarch purred, chuckling. "We can only do ourrr best and hope it worrrks. Captain, the science team is pourrring overrr the data as we speak. Unless we find anything we don't expect, we should be rrready to time surrrf ourrrselves in about half an hour."

"Hope it worrrks?!?!" Jack replied, in a horrible impression of T'kaarch, as he raised his brows in shock. "This is a guess? There is no actual assurance it will work?"

"Science is about experimentation, Jack. Sometimes, failing, is part of learning." Morgana replied before looking to T'kaarch with a smile, only to look back to the console in front of her.

"I am no ones Guinea Pig." Jack said loudly, shaking his head, as he raised his hand. "That's why Starfleet invented probes... and simulations... and actual guinea pigs. I refuse to be a part of something that doesn't assure my safety."

"Then you can ride it out in the brig." Orin replied firmly before turning his head to Jack. "Mister Addy, if we do not put our faith in others how can you expect them to put their faith in us when it comes time for us to do what we were trained to do?"

Jack looked at him, quiet but also a bit concerned, before opening his mouth to reply softly. "I get it, Boss, but... "

"Brig or Bridge? Those are your only options." Orin said firmly, and with sternness, before looking to T'kaarch and nodding. "What's next, Lieutenant?"

"I'm surrre we can miss a shuttle if you arrre so deterrrmined to stay in this timeline." T'kaarch purred. He suggested adding that a 'safe' warp core still had a 0.003% chance of failing, but decided against it. "Ourrr calculations show that we should get into this exact position," T'kaarch purred as he pointed it out on his viewscreen, "then detonate the torrrpedo on this exact position," another viewscreen tap, "which crrreates a time wave rrresulting in us surrrfing to ourrr corrrrect timeline."

"Mr. Addy, no one stays behind," T'mpest said firmly. "Not even you. Think of it this way. If we do not go back, we cannot prevent this future from becoming our future. We owe it to these people, to ourselves, to go back. T'kaarch and others have done extensive research to do as much preparation as we believe necessary to make it back safely. Now, we go on faith." She smiled at Orin as she turned to T'kaarch. "Now, Mr. T'kaarch, Orin, let us go home."

"Helm, I've rrrelayed the coorrrrdinates the Rrrrangerrr needs to be to you. Also, captain, this is prrrobably gonna be a bumpy rrride, so I suggest alerrrting all hands beforrrre we attempt it..." T'kaarch purred.

"Aye, lieutenant, I'll get us there." replied the helm officer.

The captain nodded and pressed the ship-wide comm. "All hands, this is the captain. We are ready to launch the probe. All non-essential personnel please report to your quarters and brace for a bumpy ride. Everyone else, brace yourselves." When she'd closed the comm she added, very softly, "And wish us luck."

"We arrre in position. All sensorrrs arrre rrready, and will be rrrelaying any issues to Ops and Helm. Tactical, rrrelaying the point of detonation now." T'kaarch purred.

"All decks report ready, captain." Cattmor reported.

Orin smirked slightly, amused a bit, before responding. "Tactical receives. Imputing coordinates into the computer." He tapped into the console and soon stopped, taking a bit of a breath, before tapping the last button. "Firing."

T'mpest watched the data intently. The science was sound, but there was always room for failure, and this was their only shot.

For her part, Rylie sensed the tensions of the crew--their thoughts and concerns were almost palpable, and it was difficult not to marry those same thoughts with her own. On the other hand, she also had faith in their calculations, and that T'mpest, T'kaarch, and the rest of the science buffs would be successful. She was an engineer, she was used to picking up the pieces after a venture such as this, even if it was her hope they wouldn't have to.

For a brief moment, the silence and tension could be cut by a knife. Then, the torpedo exploded in another brief flash on the viewscreen, only this time the black dot quickly seemed to fold around the Ranger.

As time converged, minutes became hours, years, seconds, and the silence stretched, with only the red pulsing of the alert lights a constant reminder of the gravity of the situation.

T'kaarch woke up, seeing without eyes. Floating in mid-space. In front of him, the Ranger in pieces. Barely recognizable debris. Had he failed? He tried to cry, but failed without eyes. Then, a voice "Yourrr time has not come." it purred. His unseeing eyes blacking out.

On the bridge of the Ranger, pandemonium. As the starship was never designed for time travel, let alone time surfing, its shields failed almost instantly. The deflector array at the bottom of the ship taking the brunt of the damage, as the temporal shockwave tore deck after deck apart, pushing the ship through time.

But then, again after years, or before years, or within seconds, the shaking and explosions stopped, leaving the Ranger heavily damaged, but intact, in space.

The force of the jolt through time and space was enough to catapult Cattmor over the arm of her seat, her light frame rolling across the bridge, ending with the connection between the railing support post just behind the helm station and the base of her skull. The lights didn't stay on long for her.

T'mpest was also on the deck. Her left arm hurt. She gently flexed it, stopping when a shaft of pain shot through her body. Broken. Well, at least she was alive. She took a moment to let the pain ease, looking around at the emergency lights. "Everyone, report. First, your condition. If the person next to you is unconscious, report his or her condition." She didn't want to ask about anyone not surviving. She wasn't going to consider that possibility.

(To be continued...)

Lieutenant Commander Orin ch'Valri
Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Lieutenant T'kaarch
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant JG Morgana deViro
Assistant Chief Security/Tactical Officer

Captain T'mpest Michaels
Commanding Officer

Chief Petty Officer Jack "Crow" Addy
Tactical Officer

Commander Rylie Cattmor
Executive Officer

 

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