Chapter 11: Chapter 11 - Displacement
Aidan Cross was waiting in the wave runner for Sharp to wake up and was alone with his thoughts. This had been the most intense week of his life. Having only left Starfleet Academy a few months ago his original plan was to be stationed on Voyager to gain some experience in security from this tour so that he could then progress onto the command path when he got back to space dock. Now seventy thousand light years from home, there was a real chance that he would never see his friends or family that where back home.
Trying to move past the melancholy in his heart, he turned his thoughts to the past few weeks and how he'd met the new editions to the Voyager crew, an aggressive human man, who could give the Klingons a run for their money and refused to tell anyone his name other than his title. Followed by his apprentice, Petra. She'd been rescued from death from her pre-warp planet by Diederick.
These two individuals had the power to force a Starship to stop in its tracks, even while at warp. They could even bend the universe to their will just by using their minds; thinking about their potential made his blood run cold. They were a frightening combination, one who was in complete control whilst the other was essentially a bomb, albeit a beautiful bomb, nobody knew if or when she was going to explode. Diederick was confident in his teaching ability but judging by his wistful smile whenever he mentioned training, he knew mistakes were going to happen, he just didn't know how or when.
He was tapping commands into the terminal and going through pre-flight checks when Sharp woke up "Hey James. How many times are you going to pass out on this trip? Aidan asked humorously.
"Not funny..." James spat back "Why did Darth come back and attack us?" He asked.
"Turns out that wasn't Diederick but a clone or something that was trying to get his attention but needed us out of the way first. Petra apparently manage to hold him of until the real one came back to camp." Aidan replied wistfully "We're going back to Voyager. When you're ready, I could use a hand going through pre-flight and making sure everything is secure."
James looked relieved at this update and was excited to get back to some level of normality "No doubt the Captain will want to hear about everything that's been going on over the last few days. The Borg incident will be a headache for everyone..." He said sourly.
Aidan's brow raised in surprise "For us, an ensign and a Crewman, to get this much attention from the captain already without being in trouble, I think this can only be a good thing. If we play our cards right, we could be getting field promotions in no time!" Cross explained enthusiastically.
"Seriously? This again?" Sharp replied wearily "We're the other side of the galaxy Aidan. No one gives a damn about what rank you are and more to the point, there's a good chance we'll run into something that could easily board the ship and leave us on a desolate planet for the rest of our lives and Starfleet will still think we're dead" James snapped back at his starry-eyed friend.
"There's also a chance we'll be killed in the next five minutes but I'm not going to let that get in my way of getting back to earth and to get me a ship of my own one day" Aidan replied glibly "Anyway, has your tricorder been able to figure out how those two manage to do the impossible?" Aidan's previous jovial mood descended back to his usual serious demeanour.
"No, it knows that a massive air pressure congregated around the boulders but how it's holding it is still unknown..." James replied despondently "On the plus side, it knows that his weapon is made out of pure plasma, the type of plasma is unknown and what is keeping it in place is also unknown. By all rights it should explode upon ignition and kill him immediately... I've stored the data on the Wave runner so engineering can try and make heads or tails of it when we get back to Voyager." He wistfully reported.
"Just one mystery wrapped up in another..." Aidan mused "At least he's the only one with one" He then turned back to the flight console and finished the pre-flight checks. James stood up and went to the cargo bay and made sure everything was in order before moving onto the shuttle's engineering for final checks. This was also when Diederick followed by Petra stride onto the bridge "Gentleman, are we ready to depart?" Diederick asked as he sat in the command seat "Pre-flight checks have been complete; Sharp is just performing the last checks on the warp core." Cross turned in his chair to look at Diederick. He nodded his head and then pulled out another data pad from his pocket and started to read the contents of it.
"Warp core still there James?" Aidan spoke out over the comms.
"All systems are in the green, we're good for take-off" James replied, ignoring the joke.
"This is wave runner to Voyager" Aidan spoke and waited for a reply. After a few moments of silence, he tried again, still nothing "Sharp, is the communication relay working? I'm not getting anything back from Voyager." After another few seconds James replied "Everything is working as it should… Is Voyager still in the system?" Aidan walked to one of the science stations and checked the sensor readings "Yep still there… I'm going to take off and see what's happening, it could be that there's maintenance at Voyagers end" Aidan replied and sat back at the helm and proceeded to take off.
They had left the planet and was coming close to where Voyager was at the edge of the solar system Petra, who was sat in the copilot seat, was looking over the displays with curiosity "Aidan, if I'm looking at this right, this display is stating that a few hours ago there were a lot of warp signatures in the area Voyager is…" She said. Aidan frowned the statement and pulled up the same display Petra was looking at on his screen "They're Kazon warp signatures... we'll get a little closer to Voyager and try them on comms again" Aidan stated then increased the speed of the shuttle "James. Check over the weapon and defensive systems we may need them"
"You do remember I'm a security officer, not an engineer" James grumbled "All in order Aidan. I'm coming back through" He said and made his way to a tactical station on the bridge "From this distance I'm reading that Voyager is drifting. No other ships in the area" James reported.
"Are we close enough to see it on the view screen?" Diederick asked glancing up from his data pad. After a few moments the view screen activated, showing the vast sea of stars and planets, in the middle was a small grey and black blob. "Magnify" He ordered, and the small grey and black blob now filled the screen, though pixelated they could see that there was heavy damage to the starship with small fires being visible behind the containment fields. "Gone for a few days and they've already got themselves killed…" The Sith face palmed "At least we now know why we can't reach them, they've got bigger issues happening. Take us in and get us docked as soon as possible Cross." Diederick started to bark orders "Sharp, anyone over there?"
"Three life signs, one human, human-Klingon and Talaxian" Sharp replied soberly
"Great…" Diederick muttered.
After another half an hour the wave runner docked with the stricken ship. "Docking complete, power systems are now symbiotic." Cross reported and leapt from his chair to grab a phaser rifle and a medical kit, Sharp did the same.
Diederick turned to Petra "Now, I want you to feel out the ship with the force, can you tell where everyone is, dead bodies included." Petra nodded her head and closed her eyes and concentrated. After a few moments she opened her amber eyes which held confusion "I'm only feeling the three individuals that James said earlier. One is on the bridge and is pretty weak, another one is in the mess hall and the last one is in main engineering"
"Well done, so what does that suggest?"
"With all those warp readings we saw earlier and the state of this ship, piracy?" She questioned
"That might have been the intention, but I couldn't see any escape pods on the hull as we approached." Diederick replied. Petra's eyes widened in shock "Abducting the crew when they went to escape this ship blowing up after the attack?!"
"Why steal the technology when you've got the workers to make it for you?" He asked rhetorically and moved towards the exit "Let's see what we've got to work with" Petra followed close behind.
When they exited the shuttle, they were on deck nine, Diederick was leading the party followed by Petra with Aidan and James flanking them. Devastation was under playing the scene in front of them with burnt out consoles and structural supports hanging from the ceiling. All the lights were out except for a pulsating red light every few seconds to indicate that condition red was still in action. "We'll go to the bridge first and see if Janeway is there if not we'll go and see Torres in engineering and get this thing ready for a fight" Diederick commanded and the team made their way to the turbolifts.
Once there Diederick noticed that the power was out so he waved his hand that the sliding doors screeched open to see the empty lift shaft. Peering in he saw that turbolift on the deck below "OK, we're going to climb" He stated. Aidan and James grimaced at each other and proceeded to start climbing up the shaft followed by Petra then Diederick.
Once on the bridge they found that there was just as much damage as the last deck they were on. Diederick scanned the bridge and found Janeway underneath a fallen pylon. "She's alive but barely. Whoever has a medical kit go see to her, Petra move that pylon if it is safe to do so. Lastly, I need someone to bring up the master systems display and show me what we're dealing with." Diederick barked and everyone got to work. James shouted to the Sith "Here's the MSD Darth" He then brought it up on a large display on the back wall of the bridge "Hull breaches on Deck three, seven and fourteen, emergency forcefields are in place and holding, Warp core is offline, impulse engines are out of commission too and EPS relays are just about to fail" He listed.
"Is anything working?" Diederick asked irked by the report.
"Waste reclamation…" Came a reply from the far side of the bridge. Janeway was coming too "Good to see you Darth" she said weakly as she slumped into her chair.
"I wish it were on better terms Janeway. What happened here and why has your crew abandoned the ship?" Diederick walked over to the first officer's seat and sat on it, waiting for her reply.
"We were finishing a couple of big projects whilst waiting for you to finish your 'sightseeing' then four Kazon warships jumped us and somehow their weapons managed to go through our shields like they weren't even up. This caused a coolant leak in our warp core and multiple breaches in the hull. B'Elanna and I stayed behind to stabilise the core and fend off the Kazon so the escape pods a chance to escape…" Janeway replied painfully. Diederick nodded and then said, "Is your doctor able to be projected here?"
"Yes, but the power on this deck is on emergency power only."
"OK, that's the first step then." Diederick then turns to the other two Starfleet officers "We need the lights on in here gentlemen. Find the switch" He ordered and Cross and Sharp nodded and made their way to operations to work the problem.
"You seem so calm and used to this sort of situation Darth…" Janeway commented.
"I've been in worse situations…" He replied cryptically "Panicking wont help and neither will wallowing. Talk to someone when this mess has passed but for now, work one problem at a time. You're no good to anyone dead so we need Doc here to get you away from deaths door."
"Power's back Captain." Cross reported
"Computer. Activate EMH and project on the bridge" Janeway ordered.
A few seconds later the bald doctor appeared in the middle of the bridge.
"Please State the…" Doc stopped his usual initial dialogue when it realised it wasn't in sickbay any longer "This isn't sickbay?" It stated
"Good eye Doc" Diederick replied
"We've been setting up hollo emitters on key areas of the ship so it's easier for you to get around Doctor" Janeway said with a wince
"Why wasn't I informed of this project?" Doc asked
"It's a work in progress and I didn't want to get your hopes up."
"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'd like to be informed of such projects going forward Captain"
"Noted…" She said tirelessly. The Doctor, now noticing the captain's pale completion marched over to her and started scanning her with his medical tricorder.
"You need to go to sickbay Captain, frankly I'm surprised you're still conscious!" He cried out
"Just patch me up so I can walk around. The crew need me." She ordered
"The crew need an able-bodied Captain" Doc replied harshly
"I'll take over Janeway, until you're back on your feet." Diederick said
"I'm not letting you do that!" She shouted back.
"You don't have a choice…" He replied and waved his hand in front of her face.
"You…" Was all Janeway managed to say before she fell asleep.
"I believe as CMO you're to relieve Captain Janeway of command and give her treatment in sickbay. Once healed and had a full psych evaluation she will then be re-instated as captain of this vessel, not a moment before." Diederick turned his attention to The Doctor, his eyes turning a darker shade of red. The Doctor nodded and then asked the computer to transfer his program back to sickbay and for an emergency transport for Captain Janeway to sickbay. He also ordered that the Captain is to be relieved from duty until he authorised. Both disappeared soon after. Diederick smiled and then turned to the others "Now that is dealt with, let's get a plan in motion."
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