Ad Infinitum

[Mr. Atoz]

[Might as well keep adding to the Fan Fiction section. This is the first story about my starship, the USS Odysseus...]

AD INFINITUM >>

The number emblazoned across the hull was NCC-26278-A. It was a Perseus class light cruiser, built along the lines of the old Miranda class. Its primary hull -- rarely was the USS Odysseus called "she" -- was the same basic saucer shape used on all of the larger Starfleet vessels, and its secondary hull was a superstructure which spanned the rear half of the disk and extended aft. The pylons for the two parallel warp nacelles, rather than jutting upwards above the secondary hull, thrust downwards instead, giving the whole ship the appearance of a low-slung racing sled. The deflector dish was mounted on a "roll bar" above the secondary hull.

Captain Seven-Seven Atoz looked over his new starship with pride as he approached in the shuttlecraft Penelope. Lieutenant Enir Rosh, the Chief of Security, was piloting, leaving him free to hold his long-haired tabby cat and enjoy the smooth lines of the ship without distraction. For the past month, the Odysseus had been in space dock having its engines completely refitted, and this was Atoz' first opportunity to see the ship in its entirety without various struts and cranes in the way. "Very nice," he said. "They did a good job, didn't they?"

"Exceptional, sir," replied the Eminian, his eyes fixed on the thruster controls as he steered the shuttle the length of the hull. The two shallow ridges along his forehead and his short goatee made him look almost like a Satyr. "The New Aberdeen shipyard is one of the finest in the Federation."

As Penelope cleared the stern, wheeled about and headed towards hangar bay number one, Atoz looked out at the warp nacelles on either side. "I hope these new engines work out," he said. Twelve years ago, it had been discovered that, over time, space-warping engines caused permanent damage to the very fabric of the universe. The Federation had acted at once, limiting starships to under Warp Five until less stressful engines could be produced. In the years since, Starfleet had been forced to accept much slower velocities than it was used to. Finally, a new design had been devised, using a different principle. The new engines caused no damage to the structure of space, but were supposed to be just as fast as the old engines.

"As for myself, I will believe it when I see it, sir," Rosh replied, as the shuttle glided in through the hangar doors and touched down.

Atoz and Rosh had been back and forth to the ship many times during its refit, but this was the cat's first time. From the safety of his owner's arms, Shiva looked around with curiosity at his new surroundings. By the time he was set down in Engineering, some of the novelty had worn off. He stood for a moment peering about cautiously and then he trotted off to explore. Atoz kept one eye on him as he inspected the warp core -- he had already taken the precaution of instructing the computer not to open the ship's pocket doors for the cat, but there was always the chance of him slipping out with a crewman. If he once got into the Jeffries tubes...

"Does this... quadruped belong to someone?" demanded Chief Engineer Vho Vespis, bustling in from the central computer annex and coming to a screeching halt as she caught sight of Shiva. The Andorian looked around at Lt. Rosh, her antennae quivering with disapproval. "Just when I thought I had gotten used to all the oddities of you pinkskins, you surprise me again."

"We won't be in your way for long, Lt. Vespis," said Atoz, standing up from behind the dilithium chamber where he had been hidden from her view. "Just wanted to make sure you had everything under control down here."

"Um... everything checks out, Captain," said the engineer, shrugging off what most people would have considered an awkward moment. "Of course, we won't know for sure if the new engines are fully integrated with our ship's computer until we try to go to warp speed, but..." -- she paused for a heart-felt sigh -- "...I think we've got all the bugs worked out. All the major ones, at least."

"You inspire me with confidence, Mr. Vespis," said Atoz, turning towards the exit. "Shiva! Come on, let's go." To the evident surprise of Rosh and Vespis, the cat came running, nuzzling against the Captain's leg, and followed him out the door.

*****
An hour later, leaving Shiva in his quarters, Atoz stepped onto the bridge. Looking around at the quiet, disciplined activity, he took his place in the command chair. Apart from Lt. Rosh at Tactical, there was only one familiar face -- Lieutenant (j.g.) Lucius Caeli, a helmsman from the planet Romana Magna whom he had known on the USS Devonshire, where Atoz had been First Officer. Since the Devonshire had been taken out of service, he had managed to get several of the crew transferred to the Odysseus.

His own First Officer was a handsome Anglo-African named Charles Fawkes who always seemed to be frowning. "All present and correct for departure, Captain," he said in a rather grim baritone, handing over a data padd.

"Everyone actually managed to report in, then?" said Atoz with a faint smile. New Aberdeen, in addition to being one of the Federation's best shipyards, was also widely known as a prime shore leave spot.

"Yes, sir. I double checked the roster myself."

"And the cargo for Starbase 173?" asked Atoz, glancing down the manifest.

"All secure, sir."

Atoz was already familiar with the ship's roster. He currently had a crew of 320, scheduled to pick up the final forty -- including the Chief Medical Officer and Science Officer -- at the deep space station near the Romulan border. "Very well. No reason to wait around, then," said Atoz, turning to the comm station and struggling to remember the name of the female officer, whose long blonde hair was arranged in an attractive bun. "Request departure clearance, Ensign Penner."

"Aye-aye, Captain," she replied, adjusting her ear clip. A moment later..."Clearance granted, sir."

"Take us out of orbit, Mr. Caeli. Warp One as soon as we clear the defensive perimeter."

The orbital maneuvers and the transition to warp speed both went smoothly enough. Soon the ship was cruising at Warp Five with not the slightest quiver from the deck plates. Fawkes, standing behind the Operations officer, glanced down at the console, then back at Atoz and gave a little nod.

***

Atoz was standing in his ready room, watching the stars stream past the porthole, when the door signal chimed. "Yes, come in!" he said.

"I don't mean to disturb you, sir," said Fawkes. "But we'll be arriving at Starbase 173 shortly, and I wondered if you'd be conducting the docking procedure yourself. Most Captains have the First Officer do it, but I wasn't sure if..."

"I think I'd like to do it myself, Mr. Fawkes," said Atoz. "Not that I don't have the highest respect for your abilities."

"No need to apologize, sir," the First Officer said gloomily. "I quite understand."

"Mister Fawkes," said Atoz, a little more firmly. "You were in command of the system defense boat Ashanti when the Borg attacked Earth, weren't you?"

"Yes, sir," Fawkes said with a bitter sigh. "My ship was destroyed in their first salvo, although most of us got to the escape pods in time. I can understand why that doesn't exactly make me command material."

"I wouldn't know about that," said Atoz. "I only know it's the reason I asked for you as my First."

"You... asked for me, sir?"

"Yes I did," said Atoz, folding his arms. "You sort of left out the part where you led the charge against the Borg Cube, giving the larger ships time to get into position. I figure any man who can coldbloodedly do that is the man I want watching my back."

"Thank you, sir."

Atoz came around his desk and laid a hand on his First Officer's broad shoulder. "Now, are there any questions you'd like to ask me, Commander?'

"Nothing that won't keep, sir," said Fawkes, turning hesitantly towards the door. "Except..."

"Come on, out with it."

"Your name, sir? Seven Seven? When I read my orders, I thought I'd been assigned to an android or something."

Atoz smiled easily. "Yes, it is a bit unusual, I guess. The colony I grew up on, Indra II, was established over a century and a half ago with the intent of creating a completely gender neutral society. With, I have to say, a mixed degree of success."

"Gender neutral? You mean, no social distinction between the sexes?"

"That was the idea. One of the things they decided to do was ban the use of gender specific names for children. They ended up using numerals instead. I have an older sister named Three Eight."

"It must be very confusing. Only ten first names for an entire planet?"

"And ten middle names," said Atoz. "Everyone has at least one middle name. It's a small colony; we get by."

The comm system whistled. "Bridge to Captain," said Lt. Caeli's voice. "We're approaching Starbase 173, sir."

***

The entry portal doors opened with a hydraulic hiss. A mass of crewmen who had been waiting with their duffel bags began to shuffle along the docking tunnel to where Atoz and Penner were standing. At the head of the line were two officers -- a man and woman -- both wearing blue and black Sciences uniforms, and both with Lieutenant Commander pips on their collars. "Seven!" said the man, breaking into a broad grin. "Nice ship you've got! I have to say I'm impressed, and you know I don't impress easily. I'm practically unimpressable."

"Hawkeye," said Atoz warmly as they shook hands. "I told you that I'd try to get you as ship's doctor on my first command if you were available. You didn't believe me?"

"Tell you the truth, I didn't believe you'd make Captain," said the other, giving him a wink. Then he noticed Ensign Penner, waiting to check his name off on her roster. "Pierce, Benford Harrison. Chief Medical Officer and all-around lovable guy," he said to her. Then he gestured to the woman beside him. "Oh and let me introduce you to this gorgeous and talented young lady. This is--"

"--Diane Weir, Science Officer," said Atoz, extending his hand towards her. "Welcome aboard."

"It's a pleasure to be serving with you again, sir," she said, giving his hand a firm squeeze.

"You already know each other?" said Pierce.

"Captain Atoz and I served together on the Devonshire," said Weir, smiling. "I'm sure I would have mentioned this earlier--"

"--If I had let you get a word in edgewise, I know," said Pierce, grinning as he hoisted his duffel bag onto his shoulder. "Well, let's stop blocking the doorway. Point me towards my kennel, ensign."




[I'll post some more installments next week.]

[Mr. Atoz]

"Captain's log, Stardate 51748.5: Leaving Starbase 173 behind and heading parallel with the Neutral Zone, we are prepared to give our new ship a shakedown cruise before heading out for the Gaiman cluster."

"What's our present heading, Mr. Caeli?" said Atoz, easing into the command chair.

"Present heading is 278 mark 20," the helmsman replied. "Warp Five."

"Ship's status, Mr. N'maste?"

The felinoid lieutenant junior grade sitting next to Caeli at the Ops position let out a soft purr of satisfaction. "All astronautical systems are conforming to Operational Ready specifications, Captain."

Atoz touched a control on the armrest of his chair. "Engineering, are you ready?"

"That depends entirely on how you define 'ready', Captain," came Vespis' voice over the intercom. "But I suppose we're as prepared as we'll ever be."

This was the moment of truth. "See how he takes Warp Seven, Mr. Caeli."

"Warp Seven, aye."

On the main viewscreen itself, there was little indication of any change as Caeli called off numbers. "Warp Five point five... Six point oh... Six point five... Warp Seven!" But Atoz knew at any rate that the "stars" which streaked past the screen were merely optical illusions. There was supposedly a Doppler shift as the ship altered velocity, but he had never been able to notice it with his unaided eyes. All of the indicators on his command chair were still green; the deck plates hadn't even stuttered.

"All astronautical systems continue to meet accepted specifications," said N'maste.

"No evidence of continuity stress, Captain," reported Science Officer Weir, eyes locked on her sensor display.

Atoz glanced over at Fawkes, standing behind Ensign Jameson at the engineering monitor. The First Officer nodded to signify that all appeared well as far as he could see. The next thing to do was take the ship up to maximum cruising speed, Warp Ten, and see if it still held together. Atoz gripped his armrests...

"Captain," said Rosh suddenly, "Sensors are detecting a probe of some sort, at bearing 228 mark 5. Distance approximately one light-hour. Inside the Neutral Zone, and heading straight for us."

"Science Officer, confirm that please," said Atoz. The Neutral Zone of course marked the uneasy boundary between the United Federation of Planets and the Romulan Star Empire. A probe launched by the Romulans could not be good news.

Weir adjusted her instruments for long range sensing at the heading indicated. "I'm picking up something, sir. I'm not entirely certain what it is, though."

"Mister Caeli," said Atoz, "come around to that heading."

The ship veered smoothly onto its new course. "Something coming within visual range now, Captain," said the helmsman.

"Put it on screen. Mister Rosh, I thought you said--"

"I cannot explain it, sir," the Eminian replied. "It seems to be approaching at Warp Factor Nine! But even so, it should have taken several minutes to close the distance."

"I'm not reading a material object at all," stated Weir, shaking her head and frowning. "I mean, it has mass, but no substance. It doesn't seem to be made of any known elements."

The viewscreen, greatly magnified, was now showing a bright, metallic-looking object with no definite shape that you could put a name to. It seemed made up of geometric curves which seemed to constantly twist and turn in upon themselves like a compact, spherical Moebius. Even as they watched, it loomed closer. "It's going to--" said Caeli, as the strange object shot past the Odysseus and continued to accelerate into Federation territory.

"Pursuit course, Mr. Caeli," said Atoz. "Sound Red Alert."

As the ship swung around and gave chase, its alert sirens blaring, Rosh rechecked his console. "Captain, the object was classified by the tactical computer as a probe merely because it was moving under its own power and no life signs were registered. I am detecting an energy signature, but it is unlike anything I have seen."

"Could it be Romulan?"

"It doesn't conform to any known energy pattern," said Weir, swaying a little in her chair as the inertial compensators struggled with the extreme effort of matching velocity with the probe. All around them, the tritanium fabric of the Odysseus trembled with the strain of Warp Eight, then Warp Nine.

"Captain," said the helmsman, "our speed is now Warp Ten, but I think the object is... yes, sir, it's still pulling ahead a little bit."

"Stay with it, Caeli," said Atoz. "Ensign Penner, try to hail it."

The young woman pressed buttons on her console, then shook her head. "No response, Captain."

"Warp Ten point one... Ten point five..." chanted Caeli, rapidly making adjustments at his console to keep the ship in equilibrium. The bulkheads and deck plating began to seriously tremble.

"Options?" said Atoz, turning to the bridge crew in general.

"It is just within phaser range," suggested Rosh. "If it is a Romulan weapon, it must be stopped."

"Good point," said Fawkes, joining the Eminian at the Tactical station. "Targeting could be a little problematical, but if we fire both banks in a grid pattern, we can increase our odds of hitting."

"Warp Ten point seven five," said Caeli. "I don't think we can keep up this speed much longer, Captain."

"But what if it's not Romulan?" said Weir urgently. "What if it's not a weapon at all?".

"The very fact that it doesn't answer our hail," said Fawkes, still punching instructions into the tactical console, "means its intentions may be hostile, commander."

"Not necessarily," said Weir, turning toward Atoz. "Captain, whatever this thing is, it must be folding space/time the same as we are. A burst of tachyons would cause a fluctuation in its warp envelope without permanently harming it."

"You think," added Fawkes.

N'maste spoke calmly from his station. "I am reading an instability of fourteen per cent in the magnatomic flux density. Intermix temperature is seven thousand degrees Celsius. Plasma injector failure predicted within the next ten minutes."

Atoz made a quick decision. "Mister Rosh, ready a spread of tachyon flares."

*****

A small projectile streaked out from the Odysseus' forward torpedo launcher. Within seconds, it overtook the probe and burst, splitting into six smaller warheads which then exploded, showering the device with streams of white hot particles. The constant rotation of the object seemed to slow down fractionally. "It's dropping back to Warp Ten, Captain," said Caeli.

And then, abruptly, it accelerated again, spinning faster and faster until it was a blur. Atoz covered his eyes as the main viewscreen flashed once in a brilliant nimbus of radiance. Once it had faded, the stars which were still visible seemed to elongate to infinity, but unlike the normal spacewarp effect, instead of vanishing again they remained frozen in place like imprisoning bars of pure light. He drew in a deep breath, an action which subjectively seemed to take hours. Looking around, he could see the others on the bridge moving as though in slow motion. The entire ship was vibrating as if it were about to burst.

Weir turned towards the command chair, leaving dozens of after images with each movement, each image appearing to be as solid and substantial as the original. "Sensor array is down, Captain!" they said.

"Deflector shields at maximum!" Fawkes and Rosh, still clinging to the Tactical station, made a small crowd all by themselves. Each image, once spun off on its own, seemed to continue on its own, oblivious to the others. Atoz wondered if he were doing the same. If he were to get up from the command chair, would he spawn a dozen different Atozes?

Then the viewscreen went completely dark, the ship ceased trembling, and everything went quiet.

The helmsman was the first to speak. "Captain, the warp engines have stalled out. According to my indicators, all of our antimatter has been expended!"

"That is the indication of my console as well," said N'maste. "I have attempted confirmation from Engineering, but they do not respond."

Atoz tried his direct command line. "Engineering? Mister Vespis, talk to me. Are you there?"

There was a chirp from the comm system. "Hoo what a ride, huh Captain?" said Vespis.

"I was hoping for a more useful analysis, engineer."

"Sorry, sir. I'll have to get back to you on that. Things are a little chaotic down here just now."

"Main and secondary sensor arrays are both off line," reported Weir, shaking her head. "I don't understand why. But I've got an external view from a monitor in the Section 4E observation lounge." She touched a control on her panel, and the main viewscreen engaged.

The people on the bridge all froze in the middle of whatever they were doing to look at the image. There were no stars. Framed in the portholes of deck 4, they could see... nothing. There wasn't a cloud of obstructing matter, it was more like the dull gray background of space itself was made up of an endless, insanely complex geometrical pattern which stretched to infinity, making your eyes cross if you looked at it for more than a few seconds.

"Where the hell are we?" whispered Fawkes.

***

The portholes in the conference room showed the same scene. Although it hurt your eyes to look at it, it was strange how at the same time you didn't seem to want to take your eyes away from it. Atoz had to darken the portholes to opaqueness.

"I have twenty-five people in Sickbay," reported Dr. Pierce, "with headaches, muscle aches, nausea, rashes, and breathing disorders. And those are just the ones too ill to return to duty. No discernible cause other than looking out a window. Purely psychosomatic, is my guess. But we shouldn't linger here any longer than necessary."

Fawkes was pacing nervously. "Lieutenant Caeli reports no navigation reference points the computer can recognize. He has no idea where we are, or how to get back to where we belong."

"That's not too surprising," said Vespis, sitting back in her chair. "Most of the recording instruments in engineering were burned out, but according to my calculations, for a split second we attained Warp Factor Forty-nine before our fuel was depleted."

"Forty...?" gasped Fawkes. "That's not possible."

The Andorian merely shrugged. "If you say so, pinkskin."

"I finally got the main sensors working," said Weir, across the table from her, "but the readings make no sense. We seem to be in a region of space/time where none of the laws of nature I was taught are valid."

"What does that mean?" asked Atoz.

"Let me put it this way, Captain," interrupted Vespis. "You've probably heard theologians and philosophers talk about 'higher planes of existence' that sentient beings might someday reach, assuming we ever get our zek together? Well, it looks like we've tripped over the door post of one of them."

"Just my luck," said Pierce sardonically. "And my halo and wings at the cleaners, too."

Weir rolled her eyes and sighed impatiently. "I wouldn't put it in precisely those terms, Captain," she said coldly. "But essentially that seems to be the case. We've somehow arrived in another dimension of space/time."

"How did it happen?"

The Science Officer shook her head. "Sensors recorded an covariant subspace pulse from the probe, just before this happened. Presumably this interacted with our warp engines--"

"-- Probably severely misaligned our slipstream insertion," added Vespis. "At the time, we were in transition between warp speeds."

"Is there any way to recreate that pulse, do you think?"

Weir slumped back in her seat, shaking her head and looking overwhelmed. Her body language said it all. "Maybe you didn't hear me, Captain," said Vespis. "All our antimatter is gone! As of now we're running strictly on Impulse."

"That will be your assignment, lieutenant," said Atoz calmly. "To figure out how to coax some raw antimatter out of this place, whatever it is."

The Andorian opened her mouth, but for once she couldn't think of anything to say. "Better you than me," said Pierce lightly. "I try not to do more than six impossible things before breakfast."

[Mr. Atoz]

On the bridge, Atoz and Fawkes went around to each station in turn for a report. "No response on standard Starfleet channels, Captain," said Ensign Penner, fidgeting anxiously in her chair. "Nothing on subspace, nothing on any channel, not even the cosmic background radiation."

Atoz heard the tremor in her voice, the fear lurking just under the surface. "This must be a new experience for you," he said, trying to keep his own voice firm and reassuring.

"For a Comm officer," she replied uneasily, "space is supposed to be noisy, sir. I don't mind telling you, this gives me the willies."

"You and me both," said Atoz, lowering his voice and leaning forward confidentially. "From now on just listen, don't broadcast. If anyone from Starfleet was able to receive us, they'd have responded by now. You and Schechter take it in turns."

"Ship's defenses are on line," reported Rosh. "The ship is on Yellow Alert. Shields are fully charged. Tactical sensors still unreliable at any range."

Caeli was next. "Propulsion checks out okay, Captain. But thrusters don't seem to have the same effect – like they don't push as well against this space. I think I can compensate for the difference."

"It's not like we have anyplace to go anyway," said Fawkes, crossing his arms gloomily.

Atoz turned to the starboard side of the bridge, towards the Science station. "I've picked up a number of radiation point sources, Captain," said Weir, "but they're like nothing I'm familiar with. I tried launching a probe, but the topology of this space is unpredictable."

Just then a warning siren sounded briefly, and the clear, feminine voice of the ship's computer calmly stated, "Proximity warning. Collision alert. Collision alert."

"What the--?" said Fawkes.

"Get me an external view," said Atoz.

As the main view screen engaged, the first thing he noticed was movement, and it took a second for his mind to accept what he was seeing. The object was at least a mile long, whatever it was – an enormous string of dull gray oblong shapes, strung out in an elongated chain and moving sinuously past the view port. Starting from an enormous head, it tapered to a point in the rear, looking somewhat like the skeleton of a gigantic metallic snake or dragon, but it was actively overtaking the ship from astern with a curving, swimming motion! "Is it alive?" Atoz asked, turning to look towards Weir.

The Science Officer frowned at her sensor station and shook her head. "No recognizable proteins or chemical activity. It doesn't conform to our idea of life, but it's obviously mobile and reacting to our presence..." As she spoke, the thing brushed against the Odysseus' deflector shield, causing the energy to flare brightly. Instantly it reacted, moving faster as it twisted around like a whip.

"Shields holding," reported Rosh. "No damage."

"Charge phasers, Mr. Rosh," said Atoz. "Ten percent. Just enough to let it know we can bite."

The creature, if that was what it was, lashed against the Odysseus again, much harder this time, causing the starship to rock slightly in place. "Phasers charged and... targeted manually, Captain. Unable to achieve a sensor lock."

"Fire." The phaser beam lanced out, aimed at what appeared to be the "head" of the beast, but it never even got close. Instead, the straight beam curved downwards and missed. Fawkes bit back what sounded like an Anglo-Saxon swear word of considerable vintage. Rosh merely frowned a little more deeply and fired again. This time the beam swerved to the right, then veered sharply around, nearly clipping the ship's starboard engine nacelle. "Cease fire," Atoz said quickly.

"That's what I was trying to tell you, Captain," said Weir. "The topology space is unpredictable. There doesn't seem to be anything like a perfectly straight line in this universe."

"There's more of them," said Fawkes, switching the screen to a view through one of the stern portholes. A second creature was rapidly approaching the ship from behind, with another dozen or more in the far distance.

"Evasive action, Mr. Caeli," said Atoz. Under the direction of the helmsman, the starship turned, its course wildly erratic, as the first creature slammed into its shields again. A flickering lightning storm seemed to erupt between the thing's head and the ship's shields, culminating in a tremendous explosion which violently rocked the Odysseus. The bridge lights dimmed, and the crew had to clutch at consoles to steady themselves.

"Shields reduced to thirty percent," said Rosh, bracing himself with difficulty as the emergency lights came on. As the Odysseus lurched away, the creature, apparently mortally wounded by its own attack, fell quickly astern, disintegrating as they watched. The second creature paused to thrash at the remains. It was soon joined by a third and a fourth. The crew of the starship watched on the viewscreen as the herd seemed to absorb the dead creature.

"Captain, this is unbelievable," said Weir, staring at her display screen in sheer awe. "I've managed to perform a preliminary quantum resonance scan of that organism, if that's what it is. It is not made of matter as we know it at all. Not atoms, molecules, electrons, protons, or even quarks. If I can trust these readings, it seems to be a vibration in space, but nothing more."

"But it's solid," protested Atoz. "It slammed into our hull."

"It appears to be, yes sir. The same way that we appear to be solid objects, when we're really made up of atoms and molecules. This universe is on a much higher quantum scale than ours. We can't stay here."

"Tell us something we don't know, commander," put in Fawkes.

"How about this, Commander?" said Weir. "One of the great mysteries of science is why our universe is made almost entirely of matter. The vibrational alignment of these organisms is one hundred and eighty degrees out of sync with our own. This entire universe and everything in it is made of anti-matter."

[Mr. Atoz]

"You're saying these... dragons are made of antimatter?" said Fawkes, looking at the viewscreen, now showing a view astern as a good dozen of the creatures continued to devour the dead one. "What are the chances of us beaming a glob of it aboard?"

"I'd say none, Commander," said Weir, sitting back in her chair with her arms folded and her legs crossed. Rather than retreat back to the conference room, Atoz had called a meeting of the department heads in full view here on the bridge.

"Right," Vespis agreed, her antennae nodding as she leaned against the library computer station. "The quantum resonance of our transporter and tractor beams would be completely incompatible. If we tried..." The Andorian clenched both hands into a big fist and did a graphic pantomime of a tremendous explosion. "...Whoosh!"

"Mutual annihilation you mean?" said Fawkes.

The Chief Engineer nodded. "The reaction would propagate along the beam to the ship itself, at the speed of light. We wouldn't even get the chance to kiss our posteriors goodbye."

"And I was just getting attached to my posterior," said Dr. Pierce dryly.

Weir pointedly ignored them both. "Of course the Bussard collectors on the warp nacelles are designed to do just that -- scoop up particles of all kinds as the ship travels through space. If we could--"

"Sure," said Vespis scathingly, "and when the superconductors fry from the strain, we get to see what proton reversal looks like from the inside out. Oh joy!"

"As I was about to say, lieutenant," said Weir icily, "if we could modify the magnatomic constriction--"

"With what? Overhauling the matter sinks would take a week at a starbase!"

"Lieutenant," said Atoz, interposing himself, "let's use our indoor voice, please. Is there any way this could be jury-rigged with what we have on hand? It doesn't have to be pretty."

The Andorian paused. "Well... as a very temporary patch, mind you... I might be able to redirect the annular confinement stream. That is, if someone happened to have a completely new unified field theory of antimatter regeneration..."

"You're in luck then," said Atoz, "because Science Officer Weir studied under one of the best theoretical astrophysicists in the Federation."

Vespis wasn't finished. "But I still don't see how we're going get one of those mile-long dragons to just fly into the Bussard collectors. We don't dare hit them with phasers or torpedoes..."

Fawkes grunted thoughtfully. "The runabouts, Scylla and Charybdis, come equipped with phased neutrino particle beams, developed to fight the Borg, don't they, Mr. Rosh?"

"That they do, Commander," replied the Eminian. "However, we would have to greatly enhance their deflector screens, if we hoped to engage in battle with creatures such as these."

"There, problem solved," said Atoz. "Can everything be ready within two hours?"

"Gee, I don't know," said Pierce. "I was thinking of taking a long lunch..." Everyone laughed gratefully at the break in tension, but nodded their consent.

"Carry on then," said Atoz, turning on his heel and going to his ready room, where he heaved a sigh of relief. He was only halfway to his desk when the door hissed open again.

"I can't work with her, Captain," said Weir, after the door had closed behind her. "She's arrogant, she's disrespectful, and she's undisciplined."

Atoz didn't need to ask who. "But in her own area of expertise, she's as brilliant as you are, Diane."

The Science Officer ignored the compliment. "If she's so brilliant, why is she still a lieutenant? If I'm any judge, she's a year or two older than I am."

"That's not something I'm at liberty to talk about," said Atoz carefully.

"You're right, sir. It was inappropriate of me to ask. It's just so..." She had been standing there with her hands clasped in front of her, fidgeting nervously, and now she suddenly turned her face away from him, clutching her arms as if a cold draft had just hit her.

Atoz, having known her for five years, had never seen her as discomfited as this. True, she had come aboard as a physicist on a science vessel, looking forward to supervising interesting but essentially uneventful surveys of planets and assorted phenomena. And suddenly they were in a situation where their very survival depended upon her knowledge as Science Officer. Atoz, having known her (and secretly been more than a little fond of her) for five years, wanted nothing better than to put his arms around her and comfort her, but as Captain, he knew that he didn't dare.

"Diane..." he said, walking up beside her and placing one hand firmly on her shoulder. "I know this is rough. You haven't even got settled in yet, and we're in a crisis. But I need you."

He could feel her body tense up at his touch. "I just wasn't expecting this," she said, still facing away, almost as if she were talking to herself. "I feel like everything I know is useless here. And I don't want to let you down."

"You won't let me down," he replied with confidence. "I know you. I trust you. And it's not just you; it's the rest of the crew. We'll get through this, if we all work together."

She nodded, then looked up at him. "I'm sorry, sir." From somewhere, she managed to dredge up a smile. "I'm better now. Thank you for understanding."

He squeezed her shoulder. "I also need you to trust that Vespis knows her stuff, too. Have a little patience with her."

Weir pulled herself together and gave an awkward tug at her uniform. "Aye-aye, sir."

[Mr. Atoz]

But sitting secluded in his ready room only encouraged Atoz to brood over their situation. Restlessly, he moved around the Odysseus, checking in with sections at random to see how the crew were taking it. An hour and a quarter later found him on the hangar deck, watching as Fawkes, Rosh, and Caeli completed calibrating the enhancements on the runabouts. "Who do you recommend to fly the mission?" he asked Fawkes.

"The two highest rated shuttle pilots on the ship," the First Officer replied. "Lieutenant Caeli and myself."

Atoz turned to the helmsman. "How are you feeling, Mr. Caeli? Are you up to it?"

The young Roman gave him a boyish grin. "You know me, Captain. I'll try anything once."

Thank goodness for the inexperience of Youth, Atoz thought. There was something to be said for the heartfelt, if irrational, belief that you're immortal. "How about you, Mr. Fawkes?" he said quietly. "I'm afraid I haven't given you a lot of attention.."

The First Officer's gloomy expression didn't change. He merely shrugged. "Don't worry about me, sir. I'm sort of a Fatalist. When I saw that Borg Cube in my viewscreen, I expected to snuff it right then and there. I figure anything that happens after that is extra credit. And you, Captain? Are you holding up?"

"It's funny, " said Atoz. "But I've been so worried about the morale of everyone else, it completely slipped my mind to worry about myself. One of the advantages of being Captain that they don't tell you about in Command School."

Suddenly Atoz' comm badge chirped. "Captain," said Weir's voice, "we've located one of those dragons, sir."

"Thank you, I'll be right there," said Atoz. "Prepare to launch immediately," he said to Fawkes, as he and Rosh ran for the nearest turbolift.

***

On the bridge, Atoz noted that the Sciences station was being manned by a male lieutenant junior grade, which indicated that Weir was still in Engineering with Vespis. Then he looked at the main viewscreen.

The ship was coming up on a torus-shaped object the size of a substantial planet. In a funnel-shaped region for thousands of kilometers around it, the very color of the background pattern of space had changed subtly. The region was rotating slightly in a counter-clockwise direction, which at this scale meant that it was whirling at considerable velocity.

"Where did that come from?"

Caeli's place at the helm had been taken by the second watch duty officer, Lt. Valentin Capek. "I don't know, Captain," he said. "I was following the last course you set – zero zero zero, space normal speed – and it was like we turned a corner and suddenly we were here."

Rosh was already at the Tactical station. "I am detecting no gravimetric or electromagnetic field from the object, Captain. And yet the ship does show a marked preference for moving in that direction."

Then Atoz caught sight of the dragon, several kilometers ahead. It was moving slowly and sinuously towards the planet, while Capek kept pace with it. He tapped his comm badge. "Bridge to Hangar Deck! Launch the runabouts!"

Like a brace of hunting dogs, the runabouts shot out ahead of the Odysseus, yapping at the tail of the strange dragon. "Take it easy," said Fawkes at the helm of the Scylla. "Remember these might be intelligent beings for all we know. Try half power at first. Just try to take a slice off the end of its tail."

"I copy, Commander," said Caeli, in the Charybdis.

The two shuttlecraft described an elegant helical pattern as they circled in from opposite directions. Charybdis was the first in position. "Targeting," said Caeli, as he punched buttons on his firing pad. "No sensor lock. Initiating pulse..."

On the bridge of the Odysseus, Atoz watched as the dark green neutrino beam shot out from the pods slung underneath the runabout. It lanced into the after portion of the dragon's tail. The beast reacted instantly by whipping around, its head reversing down its length towards Caeli's craft.

"Evasive action!" said Fawkes over the comm link, as the Scylla streaked in from the other side. His neutrino beam also fired, slamming into the thing's midsection.

"No appreciable effect," said Rosh, peering into his Tactical display.

"What? Nothing?" said Atoz, swinging his command chair around. "Phased neutrinos will penetrate anything short of neutronium!"

"They are penetrating, Captain," the security chief replied. "Just not having any effect."

"Go to full power," said Fawkes. The dragon flailed at Scylla as both runabouts fired their neutrino beams again, carving slivers from its flank. Caeli put his helm down, flipped his craft around, and looped back upwards as the head thrashed sideways. The dragon's maw suddenly gaped wide open...

"Caeli!" Atoz gasped, leaping out of his chair as the dragon engulfed the Charybdis whole. A second later, unable to stop its momentum, the runabout exploded out the far end, tunneling a hole straight through the beast and disintegrating in flames as it did so! The dragon snapped along its length like a whip and began to undulate away, leaving nothing but a cloud of drifting material where its head had been. "Fawkes! Did you--?"

"I've got him, Captain," said the First Officer grimly, appearing abruptly on the view screen. "He activated his emergency transporter at the last possible second."

"Sorry about that, Captain," said Caeli, standing behind Scylla's copilot seat and grinning a little sheepishly.

Atoz was trying to think of something suitable to reply when Rosh interrupted. "Captain, the probe. It has returned."

[Mr. Atoz]

The probe was streaking towards them from the torus-shaped planet. "Recall the runabout," said Atoz, sitting back in his chair and watching as the object approached. It stopped suddenly just fifty meters off the bow and sat there in space, slowly rotating. He tapped his comm badge. "Commander Weir, " he said urgently, "how are the modifications coming along?"

"We're almost ready to try it, sir," her voice replied.

"Captain," said Rosh, "we're being bombarded by tachyons. Force twelve. Shield harmonics fluctuating but holding." Atoz frowned at the probe on the viewscreen, which was now spinning faster and faster. The new metaphasic shields should keep them out, but... "Force fifteen," said Rosh.

"I am reading a concentration of lethal radiation," said N'maste at Ops, "of types J through M. Increasing in intensity."

"Captain," said Weir's voice. "Lieutenant Vespis thinks the tachyons are somehow transmuting into harmful radiation as they pass through our shields. I have to say that it sounds reasonable."

"What do we do about it?" said Atoz, as the turbolift doors hissed open and Fawkes and Caeli arrived.

Ensign Penner swung around from her Comm station with her hand on her ear clip. "Captain, the tachyon pulses -- they're modulated! It's a repeating mathematical sequence. In base seventeen I think." She paused to send a query to the ship's computer. "It doesn't match anything in the Communications database, though."

"The probe is trying to communicate with us?"

"The question," said Fawkes, "is Do we have time to learn the language before it kills us?"

In Engineering, Weir was standing over the main console, while Vespis worked at the relay panel nearby. Suddenly the Chief Engineer stopped what she was doing and rushed over. "It's playing Zotu Says with us! It's a game Andorian children play. You make up a random word. The other children repeat it, and then add their own twists."

Weir raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "Our original tachyon burst was random," she said. "If it thought that we were trying to communicate with it..."

Atoz whirled around in his chair. "Ensign Penner! Tie in the tachyon generator. Replay the first pulse the probe sent towards us. Add a random variation, and send it!"

Just as before, the probe began to spin faster, shedding a halo of brilliant white light. "It's broadcasting that subspace signal again, Captain," said Weir.

"Mister Capek, one quarter impulse ahead. N'maste, open the Bussard collectors as far as they'll go."

***
The ship lurched forward at the speed of light, its shape elongated and deformed by Lorenz contraction, then seemed to freeze in place like an insect caught in amber. Around it, bars of vivid red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo sprang into existence. The spectrum spread out into a solid tunnel, and time suddenly leaped forward again.

Atoz felt as if the bulkhead had reached over to slam him on the side of the head. It turned out to be the deck instead. The bridge was completely dark. He sat up just as the lights came back on, the main viewscreen showing a normal view of space. "Is everyone all right?" he said, as Penner helped him to stand up..

Rosh appeared behind the Tactical station. "One moment, Captain. Damage reports coming in."

Capek was still at the helm, with Caeli leaning over his shoulder. "Our present location is... somewhere in the Daran sector, Captain. I'll have our exact position in a moment."

"Only five hundred parsecs from where we're supposed to be," said Fawkes, brushing off his uniform. "But at least we're in the right universe for a change." He hurried over to join Rosh at Tactical.

"No casualties reported," the security officer was saying. "Considerable minor damage, but the ship is space worthy."

N'maste looked over his Ops panel. "Engineering reports that antimatter fuel supplies are restored to nearly normal levels. And there is no indication of the presence of the probe."

"Secure from Alert status," said Atoz, not sure whether to be disappointed or relieved. He stood looking around the bridge for a long time while he made his next decision. "Resume course for the Gaiman cluster, Warp Factor Two."

With normal duty shifts restored, Caeli had already hastened to take his rightful place at the helm. "Warp Factor Two, sir," the Roman repeated, sliding into the seat. He couldn't resist a grin. "That's what I call a shakedown cruise."

THE END >>>
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[Mr. Atoz]

Here's a link to some of my other stories about the USS Odysseus...
startrek911.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=fanfic

[Thallassa]

My goodness! Where have you been hiding these stories? I can see I'm going to be busy for a while!

[Mr. Atoz]

This is another forum which I help moderate. Don't think you need to rush over there and join; it's even less active than this one is! That's the reason I started posting my stories here.