Ansolon Season 02 / Episode 11
by Alan Tripp

2412

U.S.S. Yakushima

“The Straits,” Malstrom Expanse

Capt. Maekaylan Adoy gripped the arm of the command chair.

When off the known ‘safe’ routes, turbulence (or worse) was the name of the game.

Name of the game for those out exploring the depths and byways of the Hell’s Gate region of the Malstrom Expanse at any rate.

But then the Yakushima was definitely off the beaten path as she flew through the currents of the Straits on one wild ride.

The shortcuts taken for them to get here had been nothing compared to this, however.

Maekaylan stabbed the channel open with his finger.

“Miles, what the hell have you gotten me into this time?”

When word reached Maekaylan that Capt. Shallana Ironwolf and her ship were missing and then word that they were believed to be missing within a cluster of black holes?

He made sure the Yakushima wasted no time in traversing the distance to lend a hand in the search and rescue efforts.

After all, Shallana had been more than his former commanding officer … one whom he’d served for years as her Number One. … She was closer than family.

It was she who’d been there for him when he’d gone through the metamorphosis that had been his very real evolution from “Adoy” to “Maekaylan.”

Shallana had taken the time to be there for him during the months spent in metamorphosis — is evolution from the first stage of life for a Molletaan to the second form … that which his people called a ‘Dragon Lord.’

And being real, not many survived the first stage metamorphosis and even fewer the trials just after.

Shallana had been there as his Kallaroqa through it all – first human ever permitted to do so.

That meant she shared many of the same dangers as he during those moments in his life.

When he finally left the billet of first officer, he did so only at her insistence that it was indeed time for him to … “spread his wings and fly.”

That led to his accepting a command position within the Khitomer Alliance as part of their officer exchange program whereby, he’d accepted the billet of commanding officer of a Romulan Republic warbird.

He’d remained in that position for a long while, assisting the Romulan people, before returning to service in Starfleet.

But as a result of that time, he holds join rank in both Starfleet and the Romulan Navy.

And now he commands a Talas-class light battlecruiser … one of the newest designs churned out by the Starfleet shipyards.

The thing about the Talas-class Light Battlecruisers is that they are heavily influenced by Andorian designs.

Which as he understood it was why the Yakushima was perfect for this particular action.

A voice crackled back to him from across the open channel.

[“Remember … You all volunteered for this, Captain.”]

Maekaylan knew it was a comment made in jest, but also knew there was something very, very off with Miles Llwellyn.

He’d known the officer for years as he had been the love of Shallana’s life, not to mention father of their daughter.

But then he’d disappeared having (as it turns out) transitioned to this universe before they did … after they did?

It was all rather complicated when one was dealing with matters of alternate realities and skipping from one to another through the flow of time no less.

But until this moment, it had been years since he’d last seen the human.

The Dragon Lord’s finger tapped the arm of his chair.

Something about racing along gravitational currents on a haphazard pre-programed course churned one’s memories, it seemed.
And although there was no doubt this was the same Miles Llewellyn as from their reality, there was definitely something … off … different … out of sync with the man.

Maybe that was why he’d chosen to stay away from Shallana and their child through the recent years?

The Dragon Lord seemed to brush the thought aside.

“It’s Shallana,” he said. “You aren’t the only one who’d move heaven and earth for that woman.”

He said back into the open channel — a channel that remained oddly quiet in the wake of the comment.

“Approaching the gravitational eddy, Captain.”

“Helm, turn us into the prescribed approach pattern and engage slingshot,” he ordered.

“Slingshot engaged.”

The view from the main viewer shifted and rotated as the Yakushima moved into the proper trajectory for the coming move.

Maekaylan imagined he could hear the groan of her engines as she fought the stresses of generated from the gravitational forces of the Straits.

He did NOT have to imagine the groans of the hull as even through a newish starship, they were asking a lot from her … AND from those aboard her.

There was a LOT of risk in what they were doing which is why it was a strictly voluntary mission.

After the plan had been explained to them, it had been decided to strip ship’s crew down to the barest of minimums to keep the risk to as few as possible.

Maekaylan was proud of his team as over 90% of his people stepped forward to volunteer.

But because of the risk, most were offloaded to other ships assisting in the effort.

And then there was the vibration that was now setting the Dragon Lord’s teeth on edge.

[“Fortitude to Yakushima … Maintain course and heading,”] Miles’ voice came across the bridge speakers.

[“You’re picking up speed,”] he continued.

[“Stardrifter … pickup what speed you can and make sure you are aligned into the proper position. We do NOT want to see you ripped apart by all this.”]

“We are definitely accelerating to expected speeds,” called Zavra G’zov from the helm.

Maekaylan considered the Andorian helmsman one of the best pilots in the fleet.

“Standing by with tractor beams,” chimed Nol’ina from tactical.

The Romulan looked over to engineering.

“Don’t worry, Subcommander. … The power will be there when you need it, Ayeilak assured her.

“At least I think it will,” he teased her.

“And strengthening structural integrity grid and key points surrounding those emitters,” the Romulan engineer added.

Although a primarily Starfleet ship, over one-third of its crew were officers and enlisted from the Romulan Republic Navy.

“Velicity achieved. … Stardrifter coming up fast,” Richard called from Science.

“Engaging tractors in five … four … three … two …one …,” Nol’iina called.

Suddenly, the view shifted again as the nose of the ship seemed to dip.

Velocity slowed with a jarring effect that sent a few of the crew flying as the force tossed them from their chairs.

A console blew aft of the bridge and sparks fell from overhead yet the view on the screen continued to move.

“MAINTAIN!!! … Hold her to course Just a few more seconds!”

And then they flew clear of the currents … just as the lights went out and all went dark.

Respectfully,

Capt. Maekaylan Adoy
CO, U.S.S. Yakushima

— OUT OF STORY—

Tag, Richard! … YOU’RE IT!

The post The Straits: “Skipping Across the Pond” appeared first on The Malstrom Expanse.

Ansolon Season 02 / Episode 07
by Alan Tripp

2412

U.S.S. Stardrifter

Capt. J’nae Travanner Skysen dropped back into her command seat, letting out an explosion of air as she did so.

As a Vulcan, Jenni (her nickname since the academy) did NOT like losing her composure.
But there were certain times where a little of her human genies were appropriate to allow to shine through.

And THIS was one of those moments.

And if she were not Vulcan, she’d likely be unleashing a string of curse words at this very moment.

But she was Vulcan and also captain of the U.S.S. Stardrifter … which was living up partially to her name at the moment.

“Send out on all channels a general distress call,” she ordered.

U.S.S. Britannia

The refitted Odyssey-class U.S.S. Britannia sliced smoothly through the clouds of Hell’s Gate with her captain sitting comfortably in a favorite chair in his ready room … padd in hand.

Capt. Dynazar Thaleaz Valryn was making use of a lull in activity to catch up on a bit of reading … status reports from elsewhere within the fleet.

A cloud of smoke from his ‘cigar’ hovered over his head as the seasoned Andorian relished his ship no longer the one assigned to relaying messages back and forth between fleet elements operating within the Hell’s Gate region of Malstrom and fleet command.

The current one caused him a bit of a chuckle as it was a back and forth exchange between Fleet Admiral Ka’nej Hauk and the yard master … one Jenkins … who was responsible for the drydock facilities surrounding Starbase Ansolon.

As a former design engineer and yard manager himself, he could respect Jenkin’s point of view on this one.

Apparently the good Klingon admiral had taken the Ross-class U.S.S. Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi out of spacedock for a search and rescue mission, despite the fact said ship had not yet completed trials.

What made the incident more interesting is that the Kusanagi ran aground on a subspace sandbar just before a metreon storm hit.

Let’s just say the Kusanagi was in the process of itself being rescued with said ship still needing a tow back to space dock … once said storm abates that is.

Wolf imagined the good Admiral was NOT taking the matter well.

Especially since Jenkins was making sure the incident was very, very public.

[“Captain to the bridge.”]

With a sigh, the seasoned captain … one born in another reality btw … rose from his chair, tossed the padd lightly onto his desk and made for the exit.

Within moments, he was on the bridge.

“Report.”

Cmdr. Janel Kimmons was already rising from the centerseat.

“We have received a distress call from the U.S.S. Stardrifter,” she began.

“It’s not much on details and broken up, but we do have an idea as to point of origin,” she continued.

“Let’s hear it,” he ordered, smoke billowing from the cigar.

To say it was broken up was an understatement.

All he could decern from it were the words “Stardrifter,” “found,” “stuck,” “gravity” and “need help.”

The rest was a soup of distortion and static.

“Send word to command apprising them of the situation,” Wolf ordered.

“And recall the fighters.”

He stepped forward of the command well.

“Helm, once the wing is aboard, set course for the epicenter of the transmission … best possible speed.”

— Three Hours Later —

When the Britannia came out of warp, she shuttered violently sending more than a few down to their knees or worse … at least those standing.

On the viewer among the reddish clouds of Hell’s Gate, was the gaping maw of a black hole

And for some reason, sensors did not detect it until they were almost on top of it.

At least while at warp.

Now that they had a visual, they knew better how to align the sensors to begin painting a bigger picture.

At least as much as this beast was willing to thus far share.

Valryn followed the stream of data coming in via the interface built into his chair.

And after a few seconds, he realized he’d seen something like it before.

“Centerpoint,” he whispered under his breath.

Well, not that old starbase from another reality so much as where it was located … in the heart of the Neffen Cluster.

The Neffen Cluster had been a massive cluster of black holes with very few safe paths in or out.

Centerpoint had been constructed within a massive pocket of calm space in a star system that somehow found balance with the gravity wells surrounding.

As a member of the Sam Houston’s crew, Valryn had been a veteran of both Battles of Centerpoint and spent many a day exploring Centerpoint and its surrounding space.

And this looked so close to the original … from that other verse … that it could almost be a copy.

“But where’s the path in and out he asked,”

“Captain, we’re being hailed.”

“On screen.”

Valryn had met Jenni only a handful of times, but it was enough to note the edges of relief around her eyes.

[“I wasn’t sure anyone would receive our distress call,”] she said in her normal cool Vulcan manner.

Her image crackled here and there as the gravimetric forces fought to distort it.

“What happened?” Valryn asked.

[“We think we’ve located the approximate location of the lost Crazy Horse,”] she began.

[“Following information relayed to us by an Orion interceptor led us here,} she explained. [“And we were following a path through the currents trying to reach it when the currents took a turn and the path disappeared.’}

[“We are lucky we fell into a safe pocket but appear to be trapped,] she continued. [“Can’t seem to escape.”]

Valryn rubbed his bearded chin, realizing they might have to leave the area if only to (1) let command know where the hell they were and (2) tell possible help where to go.

A place that looked to him damned similar to another place he had gotten to know well … but apparently not well enough.

They were definitely going to need help. … A LOT of help.

Respectfully,

— Capt. J’nae Skysen
CO, U.S.S. Stardrifter

and

— Capt. Dynazar Thaleaz Valryn
CO, U.S.S. Britannia

—- OUT OF STORY —-

This sets the real stage for the meat of “The Straits.”

And not much, but it was fun for me being able to reference the Battle of Centerpoint, Centerpoint Station and the Neffen Cluster.

The post The Straits: “Stuck in Hell” appeared first on The Malstrom Expanse.