— 2294 —

“CAPTAIN! WE’VE LOST THE EXCALIBUR!” 

Capt. Urshyra Sollace saw the explosion on the lower right edge of the view screen.

That ship simply seemed destined to be cursed. 

First, the M5 computer incident with the Enterprise …. all hands lost … and now this. 

From the bridge of the U.S.S. Thunder Strike, they watched in a split second of silence as debris spread outward in all directions. 

A Romulan warbird veered sharply away from the spreading remains of the Constitution-class, seeming to think twice about cruising through the expanding wreckage as subspace rippled outward from the point of the explosion. 

The enemy had turned to the use of some new form of chronometric-based isolytic subspace weaponry, and it was ripping the Federation assault fleet to shreds. 

“Shift targeting to that warbird,” Urshyra ordered, seeking a bit of payback for the Excalibur. 

As commanded, phaser bolts sliced through the distance to strike the warbird amid ship even. 

It was enough to weaken shields on that quarter enough that a large chunk of debris broke through, smashing into the warbird’s hull. 

And even as the warbird spun on her axis and into a spin, it was not quick enough to stop them from firing their new torpedoes.

The struck secondary hull of the U.S.S. Hiroshima.

Shields seemed not to matter as subspace warped and distorted around one of the most powerful ships in the Federation fleet, ripping through shields and crushing the hull in dramatic fashion. 

In retaliation, another Federation dreadnought in their armada … the U.S.S. Star Empire … caught the warbird from the stern, making use of the opportunity opened up by the Thunder Strike and the Excalibur’s debris. 

But the exploding warbird was but one in a fleet of Romulan ships – a fleet built for invasion. 

Starfleet had hoped a preemptive strike would catch the Romulans off-guard, ending the threat to the Federation before it had truly begun. 

But as good as their intelligence gathering had been, no one had prepared them for the enemy’s new weaponry. 

These were weapons the Federation had yet learn about, let alone see in action. 

So they had no adequate defenses. 

“Helm … Zero-Nine-Three downward angle into Attack Pattern Delta Four,” Urshyra ordered. 

Commander Daenerys sat center chair of the I.R.W. Elessar, watching the devastation their fleet was enacting on the Federation attackers. 

And she was no fool. 

Daenerys knew they were only attacking as a preemptive strike against the Romulan Imperial forces assembled in this place before these forces could begin an invasion of Federation space. 

Thus was the path the new elements controlling the Romulan government had set them on. 

It was an invasion that Daenerys herself did not condone, but one she was ordered to participate in regardless. 

She was a naval officer. NOT Tal Shiar, and like many in the naval forces lived by a strict code of honor … mnhei’sahe.

This attack violated that sense of honor. …. What had they become? 

And she knew there were many within this fleet who felt as she did. 

But who were they to question the will of their government? 

Coming up from astern, the Elessar now had the Federation starship “Red Wolf” in their sights with their finger hovering over the firing button. 

 All it would take was a simple pressing of a single button and their new torpedoes would arc through space, collide with the hull of that ship and cause disruptions in subspace on a temporal level that would rip their enemy apart on a near quantum level. 

Their enemy. … Where these Starfleeters truly their enemy? 

She like many had heard the stories of another Romulan ship commander, one Ael t’Rllailleu, who had taken her ship across the line and sided with Starfleet in a stand against this new Romulan regime. 

She and the crew of the I.R.W. Bloodwing were said to still be out there somewhere acting as rebels. 

Acts of defiance that defended the TRUE honor of the Romulan people. 

Acts of defiance … 

With a sigh, Daenerys reached down and  input commands into the interface built into the chair’s arm. 

She pressed that button. 

[“Weapons fire and spatial disruptions detected in proximity to Borg aperture six-nine-two-five-five.”]

This caused the Borg Queen to look up and turn her head as she hung suspended in air above the queen’s chamber aboard the octahedron-shaped starship. 

Aperture six-nine-two-five-five was a new creation only recently brought online, yet not completely operational. 

There were … as some species would call it … quirks in its operating parameters that had yet to be isolated and corrected. 

It was one of the new set of apertures connected directly to this recently constructed transwarp hub – a hub designed to open up new pathways of assimilation within this newly reached part of the galaxy. 

The Queen had brought her ship here specifically to help her drones directly in isolating the problems that had crept into the operating parameters of this new extension of their network. 

Reaching out her mind, several ships dispatched from the main complex to investigate. 

With a sigh, Daenerys reached down and  input commands into the interface built into the chair’s arm. 

She pressed that button. 

Orders were orders, after all. 

The torpedoes leapt from the warbird’s forward-facing tubes and closed the distance between them and the as yet unaware Red Wolf. 

Acts of Defiance … 

Those same torpedoes missed their mark, passing instead downward and underneath the Federation cruiser. 

It hadn’t helped that the ship’s commander had altered targeting alignment ever-so-slightly. 

It was enough to send the orbs streaking past their target to explode a safe distance from the target – close enough to give that crew an incredible shake and rattle, but not enough to shred their ship. 

Her first officer, sub-commander Maq’betlh, glanced across from his station, caught her eye and gave a slight nod of understanding. 

They’d spent many nights in shared conversation about Ael and the Bloodwing. 

Then all Areinnye broke loose. 

That’s when all Hell broke loose. 

The enemy should have had them dead to rights, but instead the torpedo’s trajectory was too low causing the weapon to pass underneath their hull and explode what should have been a safe distance away. 

However, the … event? … eruption? … Whatever it was that was spilling out from what could best be described as a breach was a shockwave unlike anything previously seen.

“WARP DRIVE!” Urshyra yelled followed by. “ALL DECKS! … BRACE! BRACE! BRACE!” 

It was only because the helmsman was one to have all escape options available at his fingertips should retreat orders ever be given in battles such as this. 

As soon as her captain’s orders left her lips, Lesli’s fingers keyed the drive sending them into warp. 

At least, that’s what should have happened. 

Yes, the ship picked up speed, and it did obtain enough distance to keep them from being at the epicenter of the shockwave … enough to keep them from crumbling under the initial forces but not enough to keep most of the crew from being jarred around and thrown from seats and stations. 

Consoles blew around the bridge as Urshyra crawled back to her chair, fighting what felt like intense gravitational forces. 

Climbing back into her chair, she looked to the viewscreen just in time to see everything in the area … Starfleet, Romulans, ship debris, asteroids … all of it … being sucked into epicenter of the event and away from everything they’d ever known. 

— Out of Story —

And here we have the first part of the story as two fleets suddenly have more to think about than the battle they previously waged.  

The post Darkstar: “And so it Begins” appeared first on The Malstrom Expanse.

Scene: Aboard the U.S.S. Thunder Strike
Date: August 1, 2294

A bundle for another time

Capt. Urshyra Agnes Sollace walked along the corridor of the starship she commanded, imagining she could hear the hum and slight vibration of the Kerala-class’ warp core. 

All her imagination of course as the warp core could not be felt through the decking or the sound of its power coursing reach her ears from where she stood. 

Her imaginations, however, gave her comfort as it was part of what for Unyrra was everyday life aboard the U.S.S. Thunder Strike. 

Farther down the corridor loomed the double doors to the ship’s arboretum. 

And once inside, it was easy to find the special guests that had asked to come aboard so as to make a private, special request of her specifically. 

With no idea what this request was to be, it did raise her curiosity up as it wasn’t everyday that one received a visit from a medicine person of the Bear Tribe Medicine Society — an interracial (now interspecies) society founded in 1971 by Sun Bear, an Ojibwe man who had a vision of people of all ethnicities coming together to learn to live in harmony with the Earth and natural world of the universe.

She found him located down a trail, standing atop a cliff, overlooking a waterfall that poured into a small lake – a lake located in the heart and hull of a starship out among the very stars themselves. 

He held up a hand sprinkling something into the wind … an offering she guessed … while he seemed to be muttering words of a prayer under his breath. 

Airing on the side of caution, Unyrra chose to wait for him to finish. 

Only when he turned away from what he had been doing and in her direction did she speak. 

Atohi Walker smiled as he stepped away from the cliff and approached the ship’s captain. 

“This is a remarkable place to find aboard a starship,” he said. 

Samuel Windwalker was a tall yet slender man, likely in his fifties or early sixties. His heritage was one not just of human mixed, but likely a couple other species as well. 

However, his features definitely showed deep roots in one of the tribal peoples of Earth North American origin. 

“I have to admit, it’s definitely a favorite spot of mine,” Urshyra returned with a warm smile. “A place to be and escape the calls of command during off hours.”

“Why don’t we sit, Captain, then and take in the view together as we discuss matters?” he asked with a nod, yet waiting for her to accept his offer to sit together. 

“Why don’t we indeed?” she returned, moving to sit lotus-style in a position to take in the view as they spoke.

After a moment, he placed the fur wrapped bundle he carried with him between them. 

“As you have likely surmised, there is a reason for my visit.” 

“I surmised as much,” she returned. “What can I do for you, Mr. Windwalker?” 

“Samuel, please, Captain.” 

“Only if you call me Urshyra,” she returned. 

“Very well.” Samuel smiled. “Urshyra it shall be.” 

“So, what brings you aboard the Thunder?” she asked. 

In response, he very lightly and respectfully patted the bundle between them.

“This,” he answered. 

“It is a sacred bundle that happens to protect a sacred Pipe within … a newly carved Pipe fashioned from black Pipestone,” he continued. “And its spirit has asked that it be brought here to you.” 

“I … I don’t understand,” Urshyra said, trying to make sense of it.

“Why would a sacred Pipe want to be brought to me?” she asked.  

“Because it wants you to carry it to where it needs to go … and when the time is right, pass it onto the person who it is truly meant for.” 

“So, I’m just a messenger then?” she asked, seeking clarity. “Who am I to deliver it to?” 

“THAT, I do not know, Captain, only that to say that you will know when you meet the person as the Pipe’s spirit will speak to you in that moment …. Whether through dream, intuition or other means, but there will be no doubt.”

“ In that moment when you meet the person it’s meant for,” Windwalker continued. “You will know.” 

“But why me?” Urshyra asked. 

“Why are any of us chosen for anything?” he returned in answer. 

“Those reasons were not shared with me other than the feeling that you are about to go on a journey and only through your journey will the Pipe be able to reach the person who is destined to carry it.”

Urshyra sat, taking in his answer and rolling it around in her mind … and it was her in her spirit she felt his words to be true.

‘But what journey?’ she asked herself inwardly. 

“Then who am I to argue with what is destined to be?” she said outwardly.

“Good!” Samuel exclaimed happily even as he reached for the bundle. 

“Then let us introduce you to this … as yet unnamed … sacred Pipe you will be carrying.”

As he opened the bundle and began spreading it out between them, he eyed Urshyra.

“You captain ride a wolf that travels the stars,” he said.

Many see the wolf as an adventurous spirit, loyal to its pack, a creature of courage & leadership, one who gathers wisdom from its adventures and is a great teacher,” he continued.

“This ship of yours is a beacon of life that runs through the stars as a wolf runs through a forest,” he continued. “The galaxy is her forest and she sweeps all of you along with her.”

As if on cue, a pair of wolves stepped from the tree line of the forest below, looking at them intently as the Medicine man turned his attention back to the Pipe between them.

At some point in the past, someone through adding a pack of wolves to the arboretum a fun addition.

The Thunder Strike’s “mascot” as portrayed in their ship’s seal and logo was the Wolf.

Even if holographic in nature, these wolves seemed to have personalities each of their own.

“Just as this Pipe has the spirit of the stars themselves, this ship has the spirit of the wolf it was so aptly named after.

—

Out of Story: This one is meant to introduce a new captain, ship and item … all of which are destined for a major story arc that is about to begin with the next story that’s yet to come.

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