by Hauk – Kaiwolf
Scene: Main Bridge — U.S.S. Fenrir
Location: Just inside the Malstrom Expanse
—-
‘Look before you leap’ are wise words that have been around for generations.
It’s a lesson you would think a Starfleet captain would have engrained into his very soul.
Does the captain of our sister ship, the U.S.S. Beowulf, know or follow this philosophy?
At first glance at the view screen in front of me, the evidence is suggesting that might well hold a lot of weight.
Of course, another lesson that should be engrained into us captains is … ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover.’
Now that statement often refers to other people, but it CAN be applied to situations as well.
Such as the Beowulf and freighter which happen to be caught inside the anomaly.
As we understand it, our sister ship received a distress call from the freighter, S.S. Golden Monkey.
Now as we understand it, that ship’s captain decided to shave off quite a bit of his travel time by trying to cut through the Malstrom Expanse – a region of space the Federation and other governments has listed as too hazardous to explore, let alone travel … outside specific areas, of course.
Suffice to say, they promptly drifted to close to an anomaly which sucked them right in that a paperclip to a magnet.
They transmit a distress call which is then picked up by our sister ship, Vanguard, that was patrolling a region not far from this location.
They arrive and although we’re not clear on the details … they too are sucked into said anomaly.
“Captain, I can’t get any clear readings of just what this thing is (talking about the anomaly), and even the probe is coming back with nothing,” Bob called from the science station.
Although actually a Commodore … or Read Admiral Lower Half if you want to be technical … in rank, the crew referred to me with the “captain” title as I was and am … captain of the Matsumoto-class dreadnought, named U.S.S. Fenrir.
And to be honest, I preferred the title Captain over Admiral anyway.
“What do you mean by ‘coming back with nothing?’” I asked.
“Any signal is being bounced back with a lot of garbled non-sense.”
“So, what DO we know?” My eyes scanned the bridge, seeking out each set of eyes.
‘We know from the first probe verses second problem dispatched about how far into the anomaly we can likely travel before we too get sucked in,” said Jacob from tactical.
“Could we reach them with tractors from that point?”
“Likely,” Bob returned after a moment’s thought.
“Now could we lock tractor beams on both ships and pull both out?” I asked, exploring the beginnings of a plan.
Jacob knew those systems and shook his head in the negative.
Of course, Bob also knew those systems inside and out.
“Unless we lock onto the Beowulf and have them lock onto the Golden Monkey,” Bob explained. “And as we pull the Beowulf out, they drag the Golden Money out with them.”
“Only problem is we don’t have Beowulf at the moment,” I countered.
“From what we’ve learned from the probes, we should be able to hail the Beowulf once we are inside the anomaly and at the threshold of safe distance,” Bob was quick to answer.
“Do it.”
Within fifteen minutes, the Fenrir broke the threshold of the anomaly.
Communications had been established and it learned the Beowulf had suffered a deal of internal and even structural damage.
Yet, her tractors were one thing still working so she could do her part when the time came.
The entirety of the Fenrir shook and shimmied as the transition occurred, never really going away … even with the ship compensating.
Could literally feel the vibrations in my lips.
And the plan we … well … according to plan.
As planned, the Beowulf lassoed the Golden Monkey with their tractors even as we lassoed them.
And we backed back out of the anomaly as planned, dragging the pair of ships out with us in short order.
Thank the gods my teeth had stopped with that vibrating feeling.
“Captain, something’s strange.”
Gloria over at communications never looked up from her console, her fingers danced as she worked her magic.
One hand lifted to the earpiece she wore, her head tilting slightly as she listened to … something?
“There’s way more Federation comm traffic than before. And I mean WAY more.”
The head tilt grew more profound.
“And a LOT of Klingon and Romulan traffic as well.”
“CAPTAIN! …. VIEW SCREEN!” Travis yelled even as the alert chimes sounded.
Looking forward, I saw a Federation starship of a class I’d never seen before.
WE were supposed to be one of the most advanced ships in the fleet, yet what appeared out of nowhere in front of us was a ship that quick sensor scans said put us to shame.
Made me choose the path of caution.
“Yellow alert! … Shields up!”
“Receiving a hail!” called Gloria.
Now this should be good.
“On screen.”
The image of the strange ship disappeared to be replaced by what appeared to be a Starfleet officer wearing a uniform I’d never seen before.
Stranger and stranger. … My mind raced, turning the puzzle quickly over in my mind.
[“This is Capt. Agnarr Krog in command of the U.S.S. Valkyrie,”] he stated.
[“We were investigating an anomaly when you three simply appeared out of nowhere.”]
Behind him, one of his crew appeared to be vying for his attention.
It was obvious the screen was muted as he conferred a second and then turned back to the screen.
[“Mind telling us what you happen to be doing aboard three ships that went missing over a hundred years ago?”]
Something told me we weren’t in 2293 anymore.
And what’s more, although the Beowulf likewise joined us in this … temporal transition, her crew had not.
No sign of them was yet to be found. Just one empty and rather damaged ship.
We on the other hand came through with hardly a scratch.
The Golden Monkey was a total loss, yet their crew survived the transition unscathed.
—
Respectfully,
— @P-A-T-H-F-I-N-D-E-R
aka.
Commodore Mykal Kaiwolf
CO, U.S.S. Avalon (NCC-5347)