Foreseeable future – In charge of your future
by HoD Ro' Matlh & Soghla' HIchop Matlh

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Post Details

Title   In charge of your future
Mission   Foreseeable future
Author(s)   HoD Ro' Matlh & Soghla' HIchop Matlh
Posted   Fri Oct 19, 2012 @ 11:35am
Location   Bridge
Timeline   Varied
HIchop was holding tight with one hand to the tactical console while typing firing solutions with the other. The Cardassian ship was already destroyed and the Federation Nebula class was gripped by the Borg tractor beam, but it had not yet deployed it's cutting beam.

Ro' waved the smoke from in front of his face trying to focus on the screen, "Target that weapon cluster and take us for another run. Marla, I need that cloak!"

There was a sudden shudder and the tactical console exploded in a plume of smoke and flames. HIchop was dropped heavily onto his back and lay there stunned. Smoke and haze filled his eyes.

A voice was calling out, "Captain? Captain are you all right."

Some part of HIchop wondered why Ro' wasn't answering. Another wondered who the voice was. He didn't recognise it. He tried to open his eyes, blinking away the smoke. Someone was leaning over him.

"Captain?" asked a female voice. The image of a Human female in Starfleet red came into focus. She gripped him by the shoulders and helped pull him to his feet.

HIchop looked around him in wonder. The bridge of the FHew was gone. Instead there was a large open plan operations room. Images of a starbase on the situation monitor suggested he was no longer on a ship at all. the architecture of the place was a little hard to pick. there were distinctive hard lines of the Klingons, but most of the consoles were of federation make. There were also some Cardassian beams supporting the ceiling.

The woman spoke again, "Captain, we have almost evacuated Section 5. What are you orders."

"Get off me woman," as he pushed her to the side. Except she didn't move as far as he though she should have, as he stumbled to his feet trying to compete the stand himself. Hichop felt old, very old. As he looked at his hands even the weight of his arms seemed too much. The hands looked aged and worn. He thought to himself he must be at least 70 but knew it would be older.

"Tricorder," he barked but with much less strength than he remembered.

"Sir?" the woman next to him asked. He turned and just held out his hand and with in moments he had his tricorder. To his disappointment he was not suffering from anything medical that would account for memory loss. He also now knew he was over 80. His age seemed to be bothering him less and less.

As he looked around he simply couldn't make sense of the situation. Clearly he was forward in time but what was attacking the starbase and where was this starbase? If the attack was from the Nhilus then it meant the IKC FHew escaped the fight. But wouldn't that mean the FHew would have returned to the fight? Maybe Ro' was given a bigger ship. Why would have he left Ro's side? The questions were too many to work though. Enough, he thought to himself, time for some answers.

Looking back at his hands he knew Ro' would be dead. What about the others Tell?

Then He thought to himself "Jared would still be alive".

He manoeuvred to a screen and typed in Jared's name. None of the faces that came up looked familiar. He then did a search for crew with a record of serving on the FHew. three names came back.

- Commander Theresa Hope, Chief engineer. -

- Doctor Germite Ephilom, Medical. -

- Professor Marie St. Helene, Lecturer in Economics. -

The woman asked again with more concern in her voice "Orders Captain"

"Give me status reports and bring me these people on this screen". Hichop then sat at the nearest terminal and searched for history on the Nhilus expecting the worst as officers started to give their reports.

"All systems green except for Section 5. We are loosing chroniton containment and evacuating the research facility. Engineering reports complete failure in three minutes. The injured and refugees are still coming out."

The last record of the Nhilus seems to be the battle of Nine Fleets in 2380. After the victory, there were 6 surviving ships from the Federation, Klingon, Tholian, Gorn, Lyan, and Romulan. It appears to have been the bonding moment for a united front. It was seen by many as the seed that was to grow to be the United Empires, binding all the area under a joint banner.

"Chroniton containment?" Hichol mumbled under his breath sounding all of his age.Where was this from? Romulans used it and the Borg used it for riding their conduits. What were we doing with it? More questions and still few answers.

Still tapping away on the screen and now looking up section 5 on the station to determine what its purpose was or why chroniton containment was needed.

"I wanted a full status report. I survived the Nhilus and I didn't do that with cut down status updates so if you please remind me again what has been happening in and what has gone wrong in Section 5. 2 minutes and 52 seconds remaining". Then a disturbing thought entered his mind. Perhaps this station was built around a chroniton containment filed that had placed the Nhilus/Borg ship out of time and space. Hichop grabbed the top edge of the display waiting for answers.

There was a flash and a pop and the screen went dead.

The Human sighed, "Opperations to Maintenance. We need another monitor."

"Captain HIchop's?" came the reply.

"Who else?" Turning to the Captain she lowered her voice and spoke so she could not be overheard. Tell has reminded you many times that these monitors are not as strong as the ones in the old KDF. As for Section 5 that is the research and teaching wing. We have 15 classes and experiments running. The important one is the Chroniton Inversion in Temporal mechanics. I am not sure of the full details, but it was something to do with drawing energy from a temporal displacement interface. Despite safeguards it appears some aspect of the experiment has gone runaway. There are Chroniton fluctuations in the local area and that is causing radiation leaks, Hull breaches and a number of other problems. At last report it appeared to be an issue only with that section. Commander Hope went down to see if the issue was likely to escalate and threaten the whole of station. Do you need me to get details of the other experiments and what lectures were being taught?"

"Keep drawing everyone back as far away from section5 as is possible. Crikey if we can detach from section 5 and create room between us do it. Have medical staff ready to deal with the injured, use the holodecks for extra bed capacity."

The human looked confused, "You... you've already given those orders, sir."

"We can, of course detach the boom, but we are over the Iapetus colony and it would land right on Command City. Thousands of people would die, not to mention it will piss of the Dracine. Do you really want to do that?"

"Medical reports are still coming in, but the medical teams are pulling back."

As a junior engineer rushed up with a replacement monitor and began to turn the quick release on the dead screen in front of him, HIchop stabbed a Comms button, "Captain Hichop to Chief Engineer Hope. What can you tell me about the failed chroniton experiment?"

A Vulcan in science blue turned and responded, "They are still too far inside the radiation for a clear signal, Sir. they have reported that they are withdrawing from engineering 5 and Commander Hope is on her way to the Bridge, along with Doctor Ephilom and Professor St Helene."

Hichop let put a laugh. "You think the biggest worry right now is who lives and dies. Then if this station can move let's pull section 5 out of the way so the good people below don't die and we can detach or is there a reason we can't move a space station but it will drop if we let it go?

The human looked shocked but turned to the floor, "All hand to emergency stations. Prepare to initiate Emergency Impulse Manoeuvrers. Then we are going to move to decoupling of Pontoon 5."

"Vulcan, do you have complete security clearance relating to the failed chroniton experiment?"

The Vulcan in blue at the communications station looked up in surprise, "Me, Sir? Well, yes of course. Why?"

The Human looked back at her Captain, "Is everything alright, Captain Matlh?"

Before he could reply further the turbo lift doors opened.

To Be Continued....