UniversalStarfleet

Smeerworld · Posted: Sat Jul 06, 2013 11:21 pm Post subject:

“Don't tell me your scared”, I hear Randell tell me as I hesitate using the hypospray on my arm.

I press it against my skin and hear the hiss as the enzyme is released into me. My arm burns for a second, but the feeling is quickly replaced by a euphoric sensation throughout my body. It is like 30 years are just stripped away. I feel 20 again, full of energy and vitality. I can certainly see why this stuff is a big seller. I'm no fool though, not anymore. I pulled myself from heroin addiction 20 years ago, I know the trap this stuff would set me up to fall into. Right now I need to use this stuff. There is an arduous journey ahead with four pirates on this same enzyme. If I were not to use it, I fear that I would not be able to retain control of the group. Only Neelix has refused to take the drug. I had explained to him that he can not slow us down. He insists that he won't.

“You should have seen my younger brother back in the day”, Sam told the group with pride. “He used to be able to drink and drug everyone under the table.”

“That was a long time ago”, I tell him.

“The monster never leaves you. It just lets itself be tamed.”

“I'm much more interested”, Randell asks, “in how you are so sure that this other ship in distress will have all that we need to get off this rock?”

“I had a good fly-over of the vessel”, Garak answers, “before I set our ship down.” All three of us are together in the back of the ship with the pirate crew. We have the Bridge locked off for now. “It is a Krell freighter and it seems to be to be in one piece. I read two life signs on board.”

“And I guess”, Randell says, “that I am just going to have to take your word for it. I wouldn't mind being allowed onto the Bridge to take a look at these sensor readings myself.”

“You know the rules”, Sam snaps, “the Bridge is off limits.”

The enzyme seems to be having its way with me. Besides the power I feel, I also am much more aggressive than normal. I have a strong desire to rip Randell's head off.

“So I shouldn't be concerned that you just want me outside”, Randell continues, “so you have an opportunity to kill me?”

Before I was consciously aware of what I was doing, I had lunged from my chair and had Randell against the wall with my hands tightly around his neck. I was apparently able to easily over power him, because his level of the enzyme is wearing off. He had yet to dose up for our trip.

“If I want to kill you”, I snarl in his face, “I would not care about hiding it from the others. I would just do it.”

“We are not going to survive”, Neelix says as he tries to gently pull me away from Randell, “if we can't start learning to trust each other and work together.”

“So is this why”, Randell says to me mockingly, “you want to bring this monkey along? Is he going to make us behave?”

I stare into Randell's eyes and try to control the rage I feel by his amused look. How I would love to wipe that smirk off his face right now.

“Neelix is Starfleet”, Garak says, “and he is an ambassador of sorts.”

“What the fuck do we need an ambassador for?” Randell continues to mock us.

“What do you think that those two on the Krell freighter are going to do”, Sam adds, “when they see a raiding party coming at them?”

“We are not going to give them much of a choice. We will get into that ship one way or another.”

“If you have to force your way in”, Sam continues, “Who knows how much damage you might add to their ship. The parts on that vessel are our ticket out of here.”

“So the monkey is going to talk nice and make them open the door with a smile?”

“Well”, Neelix says as he tugs on his jacket to make his clothes more presentable, “I can't guarantee that they will be smiling, but I'm sure that I can convince them that if we all cooperate we can get off this planet.”

I step away from Randell as Sam brings the enzyme doses for the four pirates I've chosen for the trip. As Randell eagerly takes his shot with the others, Garak has stepped back with his phaser drawn on them. Neelix goes over by the hatchway to double check the supplies we have prepared to take with us. Sam also has his phaser out now. I go over by Neelix and open up the weapons case. I hand Neelix his phaser and then close the case again.

“Once we are outside”, I say as I turn back towards Randell and the other three who are starting to feel the enzyme flow through them, “I'll hand out the other phasers to you. If your smart, you won't worry about Neelix and I. We all have to worry about the life forms on this planet.”

“I did manage to see some rather large creatures on the way down”, Garak adds.

Neelix opens another case to take out a couple of Romulan tricorders. “I was able to set these up so that the displays read in English. With all of the atmospheric ionization, I can't tell how effective they will be out there. I'm sure it will at least give us some warning if any of these creatures approach.”

“How do you expect us to bring all of the stuff back”, Randell asks somewhat more serious and focused on what's ahead. “Even with the enzyme, I don't see us carrying some of the heavier parts if we get them.”

“The ionization field”, Garak explains, “does make it too dangerous for us to use the transporters on ourselves. If you do indeed find some of the larger pieces that we are looking for though, I should be able to beam them back here. There are transport enhancers with your equipment to use.”

A few minutes later, Randell, Neelix, the other three pirates, and I are outside the ship heading off towards the Runabout disguised as the Krell freighter.

Smeerworld · Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2013 6:43 am Post subject:

'Journey to Krell freighter' (part 1)

SMEERWORLD
Before we left the ship, I was worried that I had made a mistake by taking the enzyme. Now I am very glad that I did. 'Harsh' is not a strong enough word to describe conditions out here. Besides the double gravity and air pressure, it is about 44 degrees Celsius. Within five minutes my clothes are soaked with sweat. My eyes are burning from it.

Everyone now carries phasers and are thankfully all more concerned with protecting the group than in-fighting. A few hundred meters from the ship, we begin to move through some tall bamboo-like trees that blocked out everything past arm's length. We all stick very close together. Neelix and the pirate named 'Gregs' use the Romulan tricorders to scan for approaching lifeforms.

I wish that we hadn't put the Runabout so far away, but it seemed a safe distance to allow the ruse of the Krell freighter to be set up safely. It might take two hours to get there at the rate we are going. We continue on through the forest for about twenty minutes before something happens.

“Hold a second”, Gregs called out. We all waited while he toyed with the thing for a minute.

“What's the problem”, Randell asked him harshly.

“Its not a life form”, he answered still glued to the scanner. “Some kind of technology about ten meters ahead.”

“Could you be more vague please.” Randell was back in his mocking mode.

“I'm sure it is not Cardassian, or Krell, so it didn't fall off of one of our ships. Very low energy and the components seem made from elements indigenous to the planet.”

I decide to press ahead and visually check it out. Everyone else presses in right behind me, not wanting their views obstructed by the dense trees.

“I see it”, I tell everyone so they will not push into me.

It was a stone-like post about three meters tall, wrapped in wire that looked like copper. At the top and also halfway down, there seems to be some kind of sensor equipment. With the tricorders we learn that there are a series of these things placed in a straight line with each one having about eight meters between them. On the other side of the line, the trees abruptly end. Instead, there begins a large field of short grass. I have the impression that this might be some kind of electric fence, but I pass through it and onto the field without incident. Everyone follows, happy to now be back in the open.

“Well apparently”, Neelix comments, “Some of the native life has a pretty good level of intelligence.”

“Why didn't we get a hint of this on the way down”, I wonder out loud.

Randell rips the tricorder from Neelix's hand and scans the object. “It seem to be drawing its power from the planet's ionization field. It uses the wire wrapped around it like a Tesla coil. This would make it hard to detect from the background radiation.”

“Well”, I tell the group. “As far as I'm concerned, this is just another reason for us to hurry to the freighter. Now that we are on open ground we can make good time. Just keep the tricorders scanning for-”

The roar that came from the thing was deafening! We turn to see it floating over the top of the trees in the forest that we had just exited from. It was huge, the size of a blimp. Instead of one mouth, there seems to be a group of them along the front of it. I counted about five eyes before I was blinded.

Just as it appears to be ready to move at us, it crosses over the fence and a series of lightning bolts shoot up from the posts to strike it in several areas. The creature roars even louder this time and retreats back over the trees, staying well clear of the fence. It took several seconds for the spots to clear from my vision. I didn't wait to see well to run away from it over the grass. None of us did. We all run for about a minute before stopping and turning back to look at the thing again. Even at this distance, it didn't look any less monstrous.

“You have gotta be fuck'n kidding me”, one of the pirates shouts at it.

“It's good that we were on this side of the fence. It came out of nowhere”, another said.

“What kind of scanner readings”, I asked Randell and Gregs, “are you picking up from it?”

“It seems to have a concentration of ionized particles in it”, Gregs answers. “I'd say that, besides the oxygen, the ionization field makes up a big part of its physiological function.”

“Can you find something to use as a marker from the readings? We need to flag some aspect of the thing so we can detect it coming. We are damn lucky that we were on this side of the fence.”

“With the trees not blocking our line of sight anymore”, Neelix adds, “there is no way that I'll miss something that size approaching.”

“This grass field won't last”, I comment and again focus on Gregs. “We won't have the luxury of being in the open like this all the time. Take a minute to set up some kind of early-warning system for it. I don't know, in mineral content, any patters in the ionization energy, or unique emissions.” Gregs nods and gets to work scanning the creature carefully. I turn to Randell who has the other tricorder. “I want you to try to find some kind of marker for the alien technology. I'm sure its best to find a way to avoid whatever kind of more advanced life there is here also.”

After a few minutes, ways to better detect both the large creatures and the native technology seem to be established. Two more of the creatures are detected about 300 meters behind the one that we see. About a kilometer off to the right, Randell seems sure that there is a cluster of some type of underground dwellings. The technology there is much more extensive than the electrical engineering being employed on the fence posts.

Without having to deviate away from our destination to avoid the dwellings, I set a fast pace towards the freighter. Neelix seems to be wearing down a little from the planetary surface conditions and most likely also from the excitement that just passed. I wish that he had taken some of the enzyme. I made sure to pack enough extra to dose us up all real good again if the need arises. I would rather not have to force Neelix into taking it, but if he becomes too weak to travel, I'll do what I must. Once he is back on Voyager, their doctor can easily get it out of his system before any harm is done.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Jun 2011 Posts: 184

*posted as Chief O'Brien/Smiley*

Im aboard the runabout disguised as a Krell Freighter with Captain Tony Stark both pretending to be cargo haulers. I can still call him Captain as he is acting as the freight commander, but to make it more believable he suggested I call him 'boss' and he is going to call me smiley or tinker man, because I tinker with things.

Everything is in place ready for the Almar crew to meet us.

After making final checks, to get into role I turn to Stark & say

"Hey boss, we're all set here, the holo cloak is working and all the equipment is in place... you ready for this?"

Smeerworld · Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2013 2:47 am Post subject:

The journey to Freighter (part 2)

SMEERWORLD
The grass field is about a kilometer wide. We tried our best to cross it as quickly as possible. This open area is great for us to see any creatures approaching if they are able to cross the electric fence anywhere, but it also leaves us exposed to being seen by the native intelligent life. When the other side of the grassland was visible, we can see that there is also a fence there at the edge of it. Instead of more forest though, this side seems to have other rough terrain. I can see a lot of large rocks and some different types of local vegetation growing among them.

“Something is approaching from the direction of the native habitats”, Randell says as he swings his tricorder in that direction. “Its not traveling directly towards us, but it is moving pretty fast.”

We all look in the direction that the unknowing object is coming from. I, nor anyone else, has yet to see anything yet.

“Can you give us a guess”, I ask Randell, “what it might possibly be?”

“Definitely some of the native tech”, he answers, “using much more power drawn from the ionization field than the fences.”

“Over there”, one of the pirates says while pointing off into the distance across the grass.”

I look that way and can see a small cloud of dust being kicked up.

“I believe”, Randell continues, “that it is some kind of ground vehicle. There are three or four lifeforms riding in it.”

“And it is definitely not heading towards us?”

“Directly, no. If it does not veer from its present course, it will still pass about 200 meters from us though.”

Looking back towards the dust that the car is kicking up, I can finally pick up the dark shape of the vehicle. If we can see them, they most likely will be able to see us soon. “Everybody get down low”, I tell the group. We all crouch down. Without being asked to do so, I see the four pirates looking at each other and passing a head nod between them. All four of them check the power settings on their phasers.

“And just what do you guys think that you are doing”, I ask them. The other three pirates turn to look at Randell.

“We are getting ready to protect our group”, Randell replies for all of them, “from whatever intentions these aliens may have for us.”

“There is no reason”, Neelix cuts in, “to believe that they mean us any harm. Our best course of action should be to try to avoid them altogether. We should try to make for the fence and hide behind those large rocks on the other side.”
“They're too close”, Randell replies harshly. “We will not be able to get behind those rocks without being seen.”

Neelix looks towards me to see if I agree with him. I give him a small nod signaling that I do.

“Well”, I say to everyone, “we have no reason to believe that they are out here looking for us. If that is the case, I think that if we just lay down flat right here in the grass they will pass us by.” I see Randell not looking happy by this plan. “I don't see any danger in trying this. If they do see us and approach with hostile intent, I’m quite sure that our phasers are more than enough firepower to safely defend against them.” I bring myself down onto the grass, trying to be as flat to the ground as possible. The others follow my example. As the pirates lay in the grass, each one has their phaser in their hand at the ready. “Remember”, I say to Randell, “no one fires on them unless I say so. Even if they do approach us, there is still a chance to talk with them and avoid a fight.”

“I hope you have a good speech to give them monkey man”, Randell says to Neelix. “Not for our sake, but for theirs.”

The ground car sped past us from about 200 meters away. With my face virtually in the dirt, I never got a good chance to see what they looked like. Hopefully, I will never need to see what they look like. All I want right now is to get our needed parts installed onto the Almar and off of this rock.

Once the car disappears off into the distance, we get off from the ground and continue on to the freighter. After passing through the fence, we find ourselves in a whole new world of shit. Besides the uneven, boulder-filled landscape, we begin to pass through a large variety of super-strange plant-life.

The Freighter is still almost two kilometers away.

Smeerworld · Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 9:35 pm Post subject:

Journey to Freighter (part 3)

SMEERWORLD
Since my time in the universe beyond Earth, I've managed to visit a few planets. Most have been through the Stargate. Because the Ancients were only interested in planets with earth-type conditions, the 'alien' worlds that I visited seemed a lot like home. The few planets that I visited after Atlantis became part of the USF have also been very Earth-like. Shit Hole is nothing like any of those worlds. I can honestly say to myself that this is the first planet that I have visited that is truly 'alien'.
Besides the obvious differences with the heavy gravity and an atmosphere that is both thick and high in oxygen content, what is most striking is the planet's animal and plant life. It is all exciting and fearful.

The strange plants that we have come upon growing between the boulders are no exception. There is nothing comparable to them growing on Earth. The most interesting of these odd plants I call 'balloon trees'. There is a base rooted firmly into the ground which then has a rope-like stem growing out of it that leads up to a large inflatable structure that is most of the plant. On the outside of this floating sphere are both leaves and sticky areas that appear to capture insects and small birds. The plants also seem to have a good sense of the environment around it, including what its fellow plants are doing. When I took the time to examine one of the floating spheres, it quickly expanded in size and pulled itself upwards beyond my reach. Seconds later, all of the other Balloon tress also floated their heads upwards away from me.

When we were about a kilometer away from the freighter, Gregs shouts for us to stop. “I'm definitely picking up some large creatures coming into range”, he tells us. “They appear to be heading our way.”

Randell quickly makes some adjustments on his own tricorder and swings it in an arc around him. “Damn right we got some large shit coming our way”, he confirms.

“Are they the same as the one that we saw”, I ask them.

“Could be”, Gregs says with obvious panic in his voice. “These seem to be close to, or on the ground though. Its not floating like the first one. Definitely similar in size and body make up though.”

“I got two heading in from the North”, Randell says holding the tricorder in that direction. He swings his body around in to almost a full turn. “One coming from the East and two from the South-East.”

“All heading towards us”, I ask.

“Almost directly.”

Over the last hour we have had some of these creatures on the scanners, but this is the first time that any major movement was detected from them. Now they are all moving at once.

“The freighter is West of us”, I say. “I think that we should try to make a run for the it and hope that we can stay ahead of them.”

“I would kill”, the pirate Zack says, “for a bunch of high-powered phaser rifles right now.”

“I don’t know about you guys”, Randell says as he grabs the case with the enzyme in it from the pirate carrying it, “but I'm dosing up for this” He grabs one of the prepared hyposprays and drops the case onto the ground at his feet. As he starts to shoot the stuff into him, the other pirates scramble to get their own doses.

I get two of the hyposprays and hold one out to Neelix. “You can barely walk now as it is”, I tell him, “If you want to survive, I recommend that you take it.” He doesn't look happy about it, but he silently takes the hypospray and puts down his equipment pack so he can use it. As Gregs is medicating himself, I take his tricorder to take some scans myself. What I see on it is not encouraging. “These suckers are moving fast and with determination. They definitely must have some kind of sent on us.”

With everyone now dosed up, all of the gear is picked up and we head off quickly for the freighter. I continue to study the creature's movements in the scan-field. “Their movements seem pretty damn coordinated. The two coming in from the North should be on us in a few minutes. We are also going to have the problem of finding defensive positions. The boulder field is going to diminish up ahead. The ground will be almost completely open”

With everyone's nerves so on edge, we all get startled by the series of ripping sounds going off everywhere. As I spin around, I am amazed by all of the Balloon trees as they break their connections to to the ground in near complete unison. The ropes drop down to their bases and get pulled out of sight into the ground. The balloon part of the plants all expand in size, to gain more buoyancy, and float upwards into the sky.

“Well fuck you to”, Zack shouts upwards as they float away to safety.

We press on as fast as we can. Even with the enzyme in us, both the high gravity and the sum of all that we have been through so far have taken a noticeable toll. Just as I had seen on the tricorder readings, the terrain is clearing up. The ground is becoming empty of any usable spots that could afford us some defensible positions. Great place to call a 'killing field'. I hope that these creatures are not smart enough to have guessed where we are heading and staged this all as a well thought out trap. They should be upon us in minutes. There is no way that we can outrun most of them before arriving at the freighter.

Janeway had told me that she would do what she could with her ship to protect us, but with Voyager on the surface about 500 kilometers away and the desire to not break the mission's covert profile, her choices of action are very limited. I have to move forward with the expectation that we are on our own.

I was debating with myself if we should perhaps stop moving forward to take advantage of the last few boulders remaining here for protection when the ground exploded off to my left. The creature seemed to leap out of the ground as it lunged at us to take Zack in one of its mouths. Zack didn't even have a chance to scream since almost his entire body was inside the thing instantly. The creature manages to roar though as we all struck it with phaser beams set to maximum setting. It was in such distress from our attack that it allowed Zack's mutilated body to fall out of its mouth and fall to the ground.

The only good news is that our phasers seem to have hurt the creature severely. Large chunks of its body easily disintegrated from the beam's strike-points. Before I could consciously absorb all that happened so quickly already, I am forced to respond to the ground exploding open right behind me. No one had a chance to fire at it, because it was too close. We all scattered into different directions to avoid not only the creature's mouths, but also all of the dirt and rock plummeting back down to the ground.

I was running in a blind panic. These things came from nowhere. They are not the ones that we were watching on the tricorders. A large rock fell to the ground right in front of me and I tripped over it. As I hit the ground the wind was knocked out of me and my phaser flew from my hand. When we all scattered and ran off into different directions from this second attack, I never took the time to look over my shoulder see which of us the thing decided to go after. As I flipped myself over and turned back to finally see what was behind me, I froze in shock. It had chosen me! One of its giant mouths was open and moving towards me at blinding speed. I had maybe half a second. I didn't even try to move. It lunged at me to swallow me whole.

Smeerworld · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 6:13 am Post subject:

Story Narrative
As Smeerworld disappears inside the creature, he has no idea how many people are witness to it.

The event was broadcast from a live feed sent by Tony Stark's remotely-controlled and cloaked suit as it flew overhead. It happened too fast for anything to have been done to prevent it.

The debate between Stark and O'Brien over how to use the suit to give aid abruptly ended as they saw it and gasped.

Both Ronon and McKay watched in horror inside their Jumper as they tried to get close enough to be of help.

The whole bridge crew on Voyager 2 are shocked as they also see it on the main viewscreen from tapping into the suit's signal.

Everyone was frozen in shock.

Amazingly, there was a bigger shock to follow.

Once the creature had Smeerworld, it turned and moved off to try to get another member of the group to devour. As everyone continued to watch the event on their screens, they saw that as the creature quickly moved off, Captain Smeerworld was left still sitting on the ground.

Neelix and the three remaining pirates were all too busy trying to save themselves to have seen the miracle that just happened.

Everyone else who just saw it are all wondering the same thing - What just happened?????

Smeerworld · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 6:43 am Post subject:

Eaten Alive ????

SMEERWORLD
As the creature's mouth flies towards me, I expect it too hurt, but be real quick before I die.

Instead it does't hurt at all.

When the pain doesn't come, I realize that I am feeling something else. Not exactly the same as I felt once before, but similar.

It reminds me how I felt when the Runabout disintegrated around me when the Boundless warp core exploded.

The Yargo !!!!

The brief moment of darkness disappears as the creature turns away from where I am sitting on the ground. I am now back in the daylight of Shit Hole.

Once the creature has moved off with its attention elsewhere, I can suddenly feel the ground under me again. I have been returned back 'in-phase' with normal space-time.

I don't understand why the Yargo used their incredible powers to save me just now, but I'm very thankful for it.
I quickly run over to where I had accidentally tossed my phaser and shoot the creature from behind as it is stalking the others. My sustained phaser shot manages to kill the creature before it could get to anyone else.

Like I began to guess by their surprise attack, these creatures apparently have some level of intelligence. The attack was well planned, but the phasers that we had were unexpected to them. Once they began to realize that we had a deadly firepower that could kill them rather easily, they began to withdraw as quickly as the appeared.

Neelix, Randell, and Gregs were left. We lost two. Apparently no one here has seen what had happened with me and the creature. I'm glad, because I am yet to explain it to myself so I'm happy that I don't have to explain it to anyone else. I have no idea why I am still connected with the Yargo, but once this mission is over I intend to find out.

Using the tricorder we could see that the creatures that we didn't kill are about a half kilometer away now. It would appear that there are more gathering there. I had to take a minute to look over the three giant corpses that are lying near us. I still can't believe how big that they are.

“I don't like how those things are sticking close to us”, Randell say as he studies the tricorder again.

“That's why we have to get moving again”, I tell everyone. “We can make the freighter in 20 minutes if we push it.”

As I turned to go, I saw Neelix still staring at the dead creatures.

“Come on Neelix”, I yell to him.

“Its just such a shame”, he says in a quite voice,”that we had to kill these magnificent things.”

“It was them or us Mr ambassador”, Randell cuts in.

Still looking heart broken Neelix answers quietly. “Yeah, I suppose so.”

As we finished our journey to the freighter, we never stopped watching the creatures on the tricorder. They seemed to be remaining at a distance of a half kilometer, but their numbers grew. It seems that they are staying in three large clusters. I don't know what their intentions are, but I'm sure that we will be seeing them again.

When the freighter was in sight, we did not try to hide our approach. For the sake of the two pirates with me, I have to keep them convinced that all of this is what it appears. Randell, Gregs, and I stand in plain sight as Neelix approaches the ship. From inside the cockpit windows we could see the faces of two men watching us. I am happy to see that one is O'Brien. With him helping, I'm sure that we will be able to get the Almar up in running quickly.

The three of us stood back about 50 meters from Neelix, but we could tell that he was now talking with the freighter with his hand communicator. I may already know how this is going to pay out, but after all that has happened I'm getting impatient still. After about a minute, Neelix turns back to us and waves us forward.

“We have to leave our weapons just outside the airlock”, he tells us when we get close to him, “but we are welcome inside to talk.”

“I don't feel like leaving my weapon outside”, Randell says.

“I don't care what you feel like doing”, I say as I give him a shove. “If it makes the people inside more comfortable, who cares. Do you really think that we need our phasers to overpower them if it comes to that?”

Randell just grunts in response, but like the rest of us he drops his phaser on the ground next to all of the others. The hatch to the freighter opens and we step inside.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Jun 2011 Posts: 184

Posted as SMEERWORLD

After a few minutes, the hatch to the freighter opens and Neelix waves us in. After the attack from the creatures, besides Neelix it is just me, Randell, and Gregs left.

"Gentlemen”, Neelix tells us as we meet O'Brien and Stark, “this is Mr Smiley.” O'Brien nods his head to us. Stark steps out from behind him and looks the three of us over. “His partner here, ahhh, well I didn’t quite catch his name, but Mr Smiley calls him Boss.”

“Did you explain to them our proposal”, I ask.

“He most certainly did”, Smilely steps forward to tell us. “The damage to our freighter is irreparable, we will never be able to get this ship off the ground again. When we first saw your group approaching we got pretty nervous, you guys look like a motley crew.”

“You look even more motley from in here”, Stark cuts in. I'm very pleased by how he is playing his part as 'Boss'.

“Perhaps so Boss”, Smilely continues, “but by working together we can all get off this rock.”

“If you have the parts”, Randell interrupts, “that we need to fix our ship.” He gives both freighter men a hard stare.

“From what Mr Neelix has explained”, Smilely says with an upbeat voice, “I believe that we do. The damage to our ship is mostly with the hull. Both our warp and slipstream drives are operational. We'd leave if our freighter wasn't broken in half structurally.”

“You can use”, Boss says, “whatever you need as long as we leave with you.”

“That's the plan”, I say. “I can't believe that you guys got a slipstream. How did you wind up with that?”

“Being smugglers”, Smilely say, “It comes in real handy.”

“They don't need to know our business”, Boss tells him.

“If you want to get out of here”, Randell says in a threatening voice, “everything about you is our business now.”

“Please gentlemen”, Neelix says, “we all have the same goal in mind. Let's just work together to safely leave here.”

“Exactly”, I add. “Randell, why don't you and Gregs go in the back and check out the engine room.”

“Come with me”, Smilely says. “I hear that you got a Cardy ship. Don't like Cardassians, but it works out good for us. Both Cardassian and Krell hardware are very compatible since they use similar power distribution systems.”

“I guess you won't like our pilot then”, Gregs adds with a smile.

“Cardy”, Smilely asks. “Well, it don't matter. We all don't have to be friends, just team players all wanting to find our way home.”

“We have transporter enhancers”, I tell the freighter crew.

“Great”, Smilely says as he leads Randell and Gregs to the back of the ship. “That should cut through the ionization field and let you beam the parts to your ship just fine.”

“Do you want to tell me”, Stark asks once the two pirates are gone, “what happened with you and that creature? Janeway believes it was the Yargo.”

“The Yargo”, Neelix asks since he didn't see what happened.

I explain that apparently I am still somehow connected to them, but I don't know how. Stark tells that that the Admiral wants a report as soon as possible, but of course that will have to wait for now. Most importantly, he says that she wants Neelix safely returned to voyager. On our journey back to the Almar, we have to find a way to get Neelix separated from the group. Stark says he will use his suit to carry him back here to the Runabout and he can pilot it cloaked back to voyager. The pirates will have to believe that he is dead.

“With those creatures out there”, I tell them, I'm sure that we will find the opportunity to do it.”

Since this was all planned out making sure that we would find all of the items that the Almar needed, Randell, Gregs, and Smilely pull everything on our list to transport back. I had feared that the pirates would get suspicious by our 'good' luck in finding all these needed items, but they just seem happy that we have them. The good acting on O'Brien's and Stark's part also helped and the addition of some good phaser rifles made for a nice distraction on top of it.

“Do you know what that crazy fuck has done to the warp core”, Randell tells me. “He rigged it to explode!”

“We have what we need for the Almar”, I respond. “Who cares.”

“We should finish up here”, Smilely says, “I'm not sure exactly how long it will be till it goes.”

Just outside the hatch, Neelix and Gregs are setting up the transporter enhances around the pile of engine parts for the Almar. They begin working faster after hearing the news.

“I don't want any evidence left behind”, Stark says back in his 'Boss' role. “I don't want any authorities to ever come upon this wreck and tracing things back to us. We are already wanted for enough crimes and our hold is full of illicit goods that we were planning on selling on the black market.”

“I'm sure”, I tell Boss, “that my brother will be happy to meet you guys. “There is always more room for your type with the stuff that we are involved in.”

“Can we get things done”, Randell says as he loads himself up with extra weapons. “We need to get far from the explosion. There might not be but anti-matter left in the containment field, but it will still be quite a blast.”

With all of the large parts already beamed directly out of the engine room, everything left that the Almar needs is in the pile of items outside. Gregs signals Garak and we watch as it is all beamed away.

“I'm sure that we have at least an hour”, Smilely tells us as we all finish gearing up for the hike back. “Well should be at least an hour.”

Smeerworld · Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:15 am Post subject:

Journey back to the Almar (part 1)

SMEERWORLD
With all of the needed parts, including the added surprise of the slipstream drive, now beamed safely back to the Almar and the added addition of Stark and Smilely to our team, we begin our journey back. Even with the Yargo apparently acting as my 'Guardian Angel', I can't say that I am trilled about how things will be for us. My hope is that we will all make it back to the Almar safely, but I'm not betting on it. The tricorder is showing more of the creatures gathered in those three clusters that they retreated back to after our first battle. Once they detect that we are on the move again, who knows what they will do. My hope is that they have come to realize how dangerous we are to them and they will stay where they are.

I managed to learn from Stark that his suit is cloaked and will be over us for protection if needed. Its use might blow our cover though, so I hope that will not need any help from it. Voyager is also at standby to attempt to offer help, but there are many factors to hinder any aid from them. First is, just as with Stark's suit, we have to avoid blowing our cover-story. Other factors are Voyager's distance to render immediate aid and the fact that the Sun is very active right now, so the ionization higher levels are interfering with systems worse than ever.

Both Stark and Smilely are having trouble keeping up with us, but we had decided before we got to the freighter to keep the enzyme a secret from them. Randell felt it better to keep us with and advantage over our new team members. His idea seemed too sound to disagree with.

We were about a third of the way home when the creatures went on the move again. All three clusters of them started for us at the same time. They are definitely coordinated and have some level of intelligence. Between all three groups approaching, we will be facing about 15 of them this time.

“OK”, I stop and tell the group, “they're coming. I think it best that we stop now and try to form up some kind of defensive position. Let's get all of the high powered weapons out and try to find a way to defend against the whole 360 degrees. I think that they will come at us from every direction at once.”

Thankfully the simulated freighter came stocked with plenty of real phaser rifles and high yield grenades. Randell points out to a cluster of boulders that we can form a ring around to make our stand. We bring all of out equipment there and set ourselves in position. I manage to get alone for a minute and tell him to keep his suit close, but not to use it unless there is no choice.

“I'm sure that these things are intelligent. When they encountered our phasers the first time it took them by surprise. They know that we have them now, so they will plan their attack with our weapons in mind. If I had to guess, I would assume that because we are small in number, they will try to overwhelm us with a quick frontal strike with all of there number at once.” I paused a second for everyone to take these facts in. “What they are not expecting though is that we have rearmed ourselves with much more powerful weapons, including the grenades.”

“We'll blow all of these bastards to shit”, Randell shouts.

“We may very well have to. My fear though is that since they outnumber us three to one, ever with our better weapons, we won't be able to hold them off.”

“Then this plan of yours sucks”, Gregs says.

“Its not a great plan, but what I'm counting on is that once they see that we are so much better armed, they will again decide to retreat like they did the first time. In a straight out battle they might be able to win, but their losses will be great. I'm hoping that they will decide that its not worth it to them.”

No one looks happy, but neither does anyone seem to have any better ideas to add. That is until Stark approached me.

“If the attack is as overwhelming as you expect”, he says to me, “I think that we should plan on dividing up immediately after our initial defensive response. There will be a few seconds when the creatures will be surprised by how hard we hit them. If we scatter into three groups and plow right through them, this will bring expansion to the battle area.” He looks around at the surrounding terrain. “Two could head of to that cluster of rocks over there. Two could run towards the top of that small hill and the two fastest of us could run off in that direction. We fan out 120 degrees apart.”

“It could work”, Randell says, “but these things are fast. I don't want to have my back to them again like last time.”

“I see where you're going with this”, I tell him.

“Like you said”, he continues, “If we just defend this position, they will overwhelm us if they don't consider their own losses.”

“And by staying here”, I continue his thought, “the battle will be so quick that they may never stop to think things over.”

“Exactly”, Stark continues. “By us scattering after we just kill a number of them, it might give them the few seconds that they will need to see how hard we just hit them.”

“You're counting a lot on them thinking”, Randell cuts in.

“Yes we are”, I say moving to stand right in front of him. “Unfortunately, if these creatures don't think things through.... then we are all dead.”

What Stark doesn't mention, but I'm sure is on his mind is his suit. If we split up, he will have a chance to use the suit to help us since everyone's attention will be all over the place.

“I see that creatures about two minutes out”, Gregs informs us with his voice cracking with nervousness.

“OK”, I tell the group. “Why don't Stark and Smilely head for the rocks. Randell, you and Gregs head for the hill. Neelix and I will take the last direction.” No one had anything to add.

“Wait a minute”, Gregs says, “I'm picking up another lifeform coming over the small rise over there.”

We all look over at the hill and see a large human figure is standing there holding a large rifle. I can't believe it, it's Ronon! He walks down the hill and right up to Stark.

“I guess you didn't plan on seeing me again”, he says to Stark, “after I set out looking for help three days ago.”

“No I certainly didn't plan on seeing you.”

“Well I'm not dead.”

“And who the hell is this”, Randell asks.

“They didn't mention me”, Ronon turns to tell Randell. “They were too scared to try to go out exploring and looking for help. I guess since they figured that I was dead, I wasn't worth bringing up.”

“I don't care who you are”, I tell Ronon. I wish I didn't have to act like I don't know him, but it is sure great to see him. Especially to see him here and now! “All I know is that we could use an extra person here in the fight right now.”

“Well”, Ronon says as he gives his rifle a quick spot check. “There is nothing that I like more than a good fight.” He looks over at the supplies. “Give me some of those grenades.”

“It's good to have you back”, Smilely adds even though he has never met him before.

“Here they come”, Gregs shouts.

The ground explodes all around us as the creatures begin their attack. As we had hoped, even though the creatures came at us fast to try to not give us much of a chance to use our phasers, are assault on them was devastating. All six creatures that comprised their front line of attack were dead in seconds. Grenades were thrown outward to hit the second row of attackers. As soon as all of the explosions were over, I yell, “Move out”, and we all run off in out assigned directions. Ronon stays with Neelix and I. Once we get some distance, I grab Neelix and tell him to keep on running. Ronon and I will cover him.

As we had thought, it took the creatures a few moments to recover from the shock of our attack upon them. Instead of deciding to retreat as we had hoped, the remaining ones broke of into groups and turned to move against our fall back positions. I covered Neelix as long as I could. By this point he got some good distance from the battle, so I turned my attention back to the four creatures rapidly moving in on us.

AdmiralKathrynJaneway · Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 3:23 am Post subject:

On the Bridge of Voyager 2, we are all glued to the screen watching the battle unfold. The video is being sent to us by Dr McKay hovering overhead in his cloaked Jumper. I am relieved when I see Neelix lifted off the ground by Stark's cloaked suit at the edge of the battle field. I'm also happy when I notice that the jumper is able to fire off a few helpful shots at the creatures.

With my attention so riveted, it took me a moment to notice that B'Elanna was trying to get my attention.

“I'm sorry B'Elanna”, I turn to tell him, “what are you trying to report?”

“It would appear that we are experiencing a serious malfunction with our main sensors.”

“Does it have anything to do with the increases in the ionization levels?”

“By the severity of the sensor malfunction, I believe not?”

This definitely has got my attention now. I watch her as she gives her station a good look over.

“I'm also having a problem on my board also”, Tom adds.

“What's the nature of the malfunction”, I ask.

I see many of the crew checking over their own stations, but am fixated by B'Elanna and the look that comes over her face. For a Klingon, I don't think that I have ever seen such a look of surprise and shock break through her usual mask of stoicism, this has certainly brought forward her Klingon side as she looks angry and confused.

“I am starting to believe”, she says with that same sense of shock coming through her voice, “that this may indeed not be a malfunction, but true readings.”

“What is it?”

“I do not know what could possible cause this event, but it appears that a large portion of the surrounding space above us has disappeared.”

This gets me out of my chair and over to his station. I look over her shoulder and examine her readings myself. I find myself at as much of a loss as she is.

“It must be something that is blocking out our readings of that area of space”, I tell her.

“That is the hypothesis that I am working on to verify, but if this is indeed the case it is blocking out things so completely that it is unexplainable.”

“B'Elanna”, Tom says from the helm, “in the areas of space that I can still read I'm picking up many subspace anomalies.”

“Subspace anomalies”, I say to myself. “The U.S.S. Boundless had encountered a large region of subspace anomalies that caused its disaster at the beginning edge of the Beta Quadrant.”

Everyone in the Science department stationed on the Bridge took that information to task and worked their stations diligently.

“It would appear”, B'Elanna tells me, “that the anomalies surrounding the null area are very similar to the ones encountered by the Boundless.”

“Tom”, I say turning to the helm, “Get us off the surface and into a standard orbit as quickly as possible. We need to investigate this immediately.” I give the viewscreen one last look to catch the battle raging on. I wish that I could keep my focus on those lives out there, but they will have to do with what help they have with them now.

Once Voyager is in orbit, the ship's sensors are able to get a much better understanding of what is going on. The null area in space is approximately a spherical shape almost a half light-year in diameter. It begins about 14 AUs from the this system's Sun. The make-up of the null area is similar to the protective field that the Yargo put around their ship to protect it from the physical laws of our universe.

This null area is considerately larger though and unlike the Yargo, who modified their field to allow photons to travel through and reveal their ship, this area is pitch black. Whatever is inside does not want us to see them.

Just then sensors detect an explosion on the planet surface, and the viewscreen changes, the explosion is where the runabout was.

"Checking!... " B'Elanna shouts as I look to her for another explanation.

She adds "..auto sensors show the runabout on course for the shuttle bay, cloaked with Captain Neelix aboard"

"Clever O'Brien, he must have faked a core explosion to cover it leaving"

A shock wave hits the ship systems are still operating and the cloak is still holding but just to be sure I hit my badge

"Yellow alert, all senior officers report to duty stations...."

I look to B'Elanna "...get down to engineering and prepare to engage slipstream at a moments notice"

Turning to Tom "Tom we'll give the Almar and her crew as much time as we can, but be ready for a quick exit just in case"
_________________
Im Admiral Kathryn Janeway, Welcome To The Bridge.

lvd4527 · Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:17 am Post subject:

*Fox Mulder is sitting at his desk when Captain Vanessa James walks up behind Mulder*

*James shakes Mulder which freaks out Mulder and Mulder turns around*

Fox;Who the............... *stops and looks at James* Oh hello Captain what would you like?

James:Are you making any progress over here Fox?

Fox;Not rapidly, but yes

James:Well keep on working

Smeerworld · Posted: Tue Jul 16, 2013 2:06 pm Post subject:

Journey back to the Almar (part 2)

SMEERWORLD
Although the creatures have not decided to retreat like I had hoped, they are not rushing at us like they did at first. The grenades seem to especially spook them. By throwing them in well placed locations, we managed to shift the creatures around in a way which allowed all of us to regroup together. Except for Neelix missing, everyone else was still alive.

As a group, we began to back off from them and head towards the small hill that leads in the direction back to the Almar. It was Ronon who first noticed the new problem facing us. Most of our group were completely focused on the creatures, but Ronon was looking towards the top of the hill. I turned to follow his gaze and saw that there was a group of the technological aliens watching us standing next to three of their ground cars. I guess I shouldn't be surprised by this. Our fighting was bound to come to anyone’s notice for kilometers around.

Ronon tenses up with his weapon and aims it towards these new aliens. I see why. One of them is holding something that looks like an RPG. As I am about to shout a warning for the others to look at this new danger behind us, the aliens weapon goes off firing a projectile over our heads. It explodes high above and lightning bolts shoot down at the remaining giant creatures stalking us. Although the bolts of energy don't seem to do them any serious harm, it stops them in their tracks.

Everyone in our group is now focused on the new arrivals. The giant creatures have now become still and just seem to be watching us. They have turned from wild animals to tamed domestic pets.

“Well isn't it a damn shame”, Randell says, “that these guys couldn't have shown up sooner.”

“Don't be so sure”, Ronon says still holding his weapon on them, “that these guys are good news.”

“Well until we know otherwise”, I tell Ronon as I gently put my hand on his rifle to push it downward, “I think it best that we work with the assumption that they are good news.”

Ronon doesn't look happy by having me lower his guard, but he doesn't resist. I look over and see that Randell is not as cooperative. He has his phaser rifle pointed at them now.

“Lower your weapon”, I tell him. He gives me a challenging look, but after looking back at the creatures and seeing that they are still remaining in place, he also lowers his weapon.

“Apparently”, Gregs says, “we have lost our ambassador.”

“I'm the new ambassador”, I tell the group. I slowly put my rifle on the ground and take my USF commbadge out of my pocket.

“Where did you get that from”, Randell asks me with suspicion.

“Sam took it off of Neelix as soon as he arrived on the Almar.” I turn to face Randell directly. “You probably don't remember since he had you stunned unconscious at the time.”

“So what do you plan to do”, Randell asks me, “call Voyager for help.”

“Garak deactivated its ability to send out signals. We kept it to be able to possibly monitor Voyager's transmissions and for the other apps it has. A universal translator for example.”

Randell scoffs, but doesn't say anything else.

“Wait here”, I tell the group. Unarmed, I slowly approach the aliens keeping my focus locked on them. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice that Ronon has also placed his rifle on the ground and moves up to walk with me. At first I'm pissed that he not following my order, but in fact Ronon has never officially joined our group. It feels good having him next to me anyway. With Stark and O'Brien with the pirates, I'm sure that they will keep them in line.

The size of the aliens are comparable to us, but their body shape is not fully humanoid. The biggest difference being that they stand on three thick and sturdy legs instead of only two. They only have two arms like us, but at the end of each it branches off to form two sets of hands. They have eyes and ears similar to ours, but instead of a nose there appears to be a sense organ that interacts with the ionization field instead of using smell. When we first got close enough to the aliens to talk, all that we heard come out of their mouths was gibberish, but after a few sentences it started to become English through the commbadge.

“You have killed many of our animals”, we finally understand the alien that appears to be their leader tell us. “Why have you come here to do this?”

“It was never our intention to be here at all”, I reply to him. “We came in two ships from the stars that were both badly damaged. We landed here so that we could fix our vessels and leave your world. It was never our desire to kill anything. Your animals attacked us and killed some of our own. We had to defend ourselves.”

The aliens seem to take a moment to absorb what I just told them.

“Our animals are trained to protect what is ours from our rivals. They do not understand you not from our world. They do what they are meant to do.”

“I am sorry that things have happened the way that they have. Our only intention by traveling across your land was to bring parts from one ship to the other so that we may fix one and leave here.”

“You have caused us great loss by this.”

“We have also had great loss from what has happened. Allow us to leave in peace and there need be no more loss for either of us.”

The aliens take a minute to talk to amongst themselves. The commbadge manages to pick of enough of it that I know what the leader is about to ask of us.

“We will allow you to return to your ship to fix. What we ask is that the two of you come to our home while the others work on your vessel. During the time your ship here, we would like to understand more about you and where you are from. It can not replace what we have lost, but to gain new understanding of the sky above will be a benefit from our tragedy.”

Ronon and I look at each other and exchange the understanding that we could also be considered hostages during the remainder of the Almar's stay. The situation is not what I would prefer to do, but considering the loss of life so far, I would rather find a peaceful solution to end all that has already occurred.

I explain to the leader that we agree to their terms. The payoff of our cooperation does look good from our end. Not only can my team have safe passage back to the Almar free of any more danger from the creatures, but they can also get a ride there in the alien's ground cars.

Both Stark and O'Brien don't seem happy with the arraignment, but Randell sees no problem with it at all. Since I will be remaining behind with Ronon, I am forced to put Randell in charge of the group until they can return to the ship. Obviously if a problem does arise, I have no doubt that Stark and O'Brien will step up to do what is needed to keep the two pirates in line. I do not want any more confrontation during the remainder of our stay on Shit Hole.

Smeerworld · Posted: Wed Jul 17, 2013 10:45 pm Post subject:

The Object (part 1)

Posted as JANEWAY
While the Science department was spending some time trying to develop a probe that could safely travel through the null-space barrier and return with data revealing what lies inside the exo-universe pocket, I spent some time in my Ready room going over what the Yargo have told us of the universe that they come from.

We have tried all different types of shield configurations to protect our probes, but the null-space membrane, along with the exotic universal laws that exist inside the pocket have destroyed our probes every time. How do you protect something from an environment that is without time or space like the membrane? How do you shield the probe made to exist within our rules of matter, time, and energy, survive somewhere with different rules of existence?

Obviously it can be done, both the Yargo and whatever lies hidden in the pocket here can do it. From what I am now reading though, it appears that these mysterious civilizations have had millions, or maybe even billions of years of history to develop the technologies needed. I've sent word to the starbase where the Yargo ship is located, but they have suddenly gone quiet. It is almost like they are trying to hide themselves by not breaching past their null-space membrane and interacting inside our universe.

The lights suddenly change in the room and I hear red alert go into effect. I am walking onto the Bridge before the message to alert me is completed. On the viewscreen I see a cylindrical object being tracked against the blackness of the null-pocket.

“Report”, I ask Chakotay.

“This object just came out of the null-pocket and has gone into orbit around the planet. It apparently is comprised of substances not designed to exist in the other universe, but is made of matter that can exist here in ours. There is no null-membrane protecting it and sensors read it as extremely dense, but normal Nutronium matter. It is approximately 3 meters in length”

“What kind of detailed scans results are we getting?”

“As far as we can read, it is just a solid piece of Nutronium, but it must be more than that. It apparently is under its own propulsion and has been able to navigate itself into the planet's orbit.”

“Tom”, I say to him at the helm, let's move into orbit behind the object and follow behind at 20,000 kilometers. Activate the standard First Contact protocol transmission package and let's see if we can get a response from it.”

Because I am assuming the the intelligence behind this object is so disassociated with the norms of our universe, instead of attempting a standard voice hail, the first Contact protocol is used. It begins with simple mathematical constructs that build in complexity till a more meaningful bridge of communication can be reached.

“Admiral”, the officer manning Opps reports, “the object is projecting some type of high energy scanning beam down to the planets surface.”

“Where on the surface?”

“Very close to where Captain Smeerworld was taken out of phase four hours ago. The scanning beam is so powerful that it is disrupting the planet's ionization field in the immediate vicinity. There are electrical discharges radiating outward from the location.”

Smeerworld · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:48 am Post subject:

SMEERWORLD
After the others of our group went with the aliens (Shit Holians) on their ground cars towards the Almar, the alien leader and the other half of his group took us on another ground car back to their dwelling. I was worried at first about going with them without our weapons, but after we spent some time talking more and relaxing with them I felt better. It would seem that their fascination with us coming from space has let them overlook the tragic loss of their pet creatures.

When the aliens led us to an area to clean ourselves up a little, we finally had a chance to talk freely. With no pirates around, we are able to speak without having to stay in our covert roles. It was so good to see him after all this time and have a chance to enjoy the great friendship that we had developed back on Atlantis.

I had told Ronon that I was surprised to hear that both he and McKay had come in a cloaked jumper to join in the mission. Until we had arrived on Shit Hole, I had understood from Janeway that only Captain Stark and his suit were being added to assist us. O'Brien was then added once the severity of the damage to the Almar was reported.

A smile was on his face when he revealed that Janeway had never requested their assistance. He told me to thank Elizabeth when I get back. She was not allowed to go against Janeway's orders and add them to my mission, but she found a way a assign them on one that 'put them in the area'. They were with a team on the colony planet where the medical crisis occurred, when they heard about how the staged pirate rescue had gone off track. Only after they reported to Voyager 2 to render assistance, did Janeway then decide to include them as another team to shadow the Almar.

“I'm not sure how good of an idea it was to join us as you did”, I told him. “We're lucky that Captain Stark was able to react the way he did and fit your surprise appearance into the cover story so effortlessly.”

“You saw how many of those creatures attacked your group”, he replied. “Trust me, you needed my help.”

“I am glad for your help, but it was a risk to the overall mission. Randell is smart, I don't want to give him any extra reasons to get suspicious of things.”

“If I wasn't there”, he says with a playfully cocky smile, “your overall mission might have just ended. I saw your first battle with them. It seems that panic caused you to throw all of the combat training I gave you away. You even threw your phaser away when you tripped over that rock. Always keep a firm grip on your weapon.”

I know that he was mostly playing with me, but when I think back to that moment when I turned to see that giant mouth lunging towards me..... Helpless. There was never a time in my life before that was filled with that much terror.

“Hey”, he says. I must have a pretty disturbed look on my face. “In all seriousness, don't sweat it. Those things are fast. He puts on a big smile and pats me on the shoulder. “Besides, apparently you have friends in big places now. That was some magic trick you pulled. It almost gave McKay a heart attack, but don't ask him about it. He won't admit how scared he was for you.”

All hell broke loose at once. First we get startled by the lighting panel over our heads. It starts to flicker and sparks begin to fly out of it. Outside we can hear the large creatures off in the distance howling in apparent pain. We hurry back to the main room to find Lenk, the leader, and his companions holding their heads in pain. The lights are also flickering in here. Ronon looks as bewildered as I do by what is happening.

“Come outside and look”, my commbadge translates from the shouts of one of the aliens on top of the stairs leading out. We race outside past him as he also holds his head in pain. I can sense Lenk and the others struggling to follow behind us.

Out in the distance across the grass fields, we see what appears to be an electrical storm. There are no clouds, but lightning flashes can be clearly seen. Against the gray haze of the daylight sky a blue beam can be seen shooting downwards into the storm. Before we can really get a sense of what is happening the beam suddenly stops and the storm quickly dissipates.

I turned back to the aliens and notice that the pain that they were experiencing seems to have also stopped. I was about to ask them if this kind of things happens sometimes when they rush us and shove Ronon and I to the ground. Before we can get up I see that one of them has brought their weapons out from the house to hand them out.

“What is going on”, I demand.

The only answer that I get is a bunch of weapons pointed at me.

AdmiralKathrynJaneway · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:06 am Post subject:

The Object (part 2)

JANEWAY

“Open a channel to it”, I order.
“This is deputy C-n-C Admiral Katheryn Janeway of the Universal Starfleet vessel Voyager 2. The scanning beam that you are focusing on the planet's surface is severely disrupting the ionization field within the atmosphere. Please deactivate your scanning beam at once. If you require information, please attempt to contact us directly. We are willing to communicate with you and to help you acquire whatever data you are looking for.”

Several seconds go by without the object stopping its surface scan. I again repeat my hail, but the object continues the use of its scanning beam. The disturbance on the surface grows in intensity.

“OK”, I say to myself before turning to the Tactical officer.

“I guess we will have to find another way to get its attention. Put a high-intensity phaser spread 5 kilometers in front of its orbital path. Maintain for 5 seconds.”

“Ready” he replies

I give it a few more seconds hoping that the scan beam will stop. It doesn't.

“Fire!” I order.

A few seconds after our phaser spread is completed, the object's scanning beam stops. After waiting for almost a minute for some other type of response from the object, I decide to try to hail the object again. Before I get a chance to order a comm channel open, Voyager is struck by the object's scanning beam aimed directly at us. The ship shakes violently for almost ten seconds, but our shields manage to deflect most of the beam's energy.

The scan stops as suddenly as it started. As damage reports come in, the object moves off at rapid acceleration to disappear back into the null-pocket. Things again happen fast as the whole null-pocket itself begins to move away from us at incredible relativistic speed. As the back edge of it swings through the system, about 20% of the Sun is 'bitten' away and two Jovian-sized outer planets disappear. As the pocket appears to jump into warp speed it suddenly pops out of existence.

The damage left in its wake is hard to imagine. Besides the damage to our ship, the system's Sun has diminished in mass by a fifth, two planets a gone and for 50 light-years around, the fabric of space is filled with subspace anomalies.
_________________
Im Admiral Kathryn Janeway, Welcome To The Bridge.