Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: Tue, 13 Jan 2004 06:31:08 -0800 In: alt.startrek.creative From: "Jay P Hailey" JayPHailey@TIC1.NET Title: Star Trek: Outwardly Mobile Author: Jay P Hailey (JayPHailey@yahoo.com) Series: MISC - TNG OCs Codes: None Part: 4/335 Rating:[PG] Archive: Fine with me, just tell me where. Disclaimer: Paramount owns all things Star Trek. I claim Original Characters and Situations for me. The Holly Hop Incident By Jay P. Hailey And Dennnis Washburn "Captain's Log: Stardate 44623.1" "The USS Harrier has maneuvered to the edge of Earth's solar system. All ship's systems are functioning well. The crew is settling in to their duties quickly. We will begin the test of the experimental drive this morning." "Red Alert." I ordered. The bridge lights flashed red and the alarm announced red alert to the rest of the USS Harrier. All around me I could see the crew struggling to trim the unfamiliar ship for action. I couldn't tell right off the top of my head if they were doing it well or not. I was somewhat unfamiliar with the ship, myself. Soon enough, we were rigged for battle. Or whatever. "Bridge to Engineering." I opened the channel. "Report, please." "Engineering here." Answered Lieutenant Green, my Chief Engineer. In the background I could hear two things. First, I heard Chief Dubonich telling Green "All Secure, sir, power systems nominal." I could also hear Charles Holly yelling "What is the point of that racket? What are they up to on the bridge now?" Green Reported. " All secure in Engineering. Dr. Holly reports that he is go for the test." "Very good." I replied. "We will test the drive in thirty seconds." Green replied "Aye, Captain." "Finally!" Holly shouted. "All hands! All hands! Test in thirty seconds!" Li'ira barked. I thought that this was very efficient and considerate of her, but a look at Lt. Colonel Flagg's face showed that he was displeased. No doubt he felt that the rest of the crew didn't have a `need to know'. Thirty seconds went by. It seemed to take forever. I sat in the center seat and struggled not to fidget. I caught Li'ira's eye. It was plain that she was tense, but controlled. She seemed almost amused at my discomfort. But she wasn't about to let it show. "Ten...nine...eight...seven..." Spaat, our big Vulcan helmsman was counting down. His name might have been a source of humor, except that he was built like a football player. It would have taken hours to explain to him why that would make a difference. Ensign Spaat was young, as far as Vulcans went. "Power to the Holly Device." Reported Harksain Varupuchu, our uptight Andorian Operations Officer. Everything had to be perfect for Lieutenant Varupuchu. Our current mission disturbed his conscientious nature. "Shields and weapons are at stand by." Flagg reported. Flagg was actually my equal in rank, but he was under cover as the Chief of Security for the USS Harrier. "Four... three... two... one..." Spaat reported. "Device activated." Lt. Varupuchu reported. There was a flicker and the stars on the screen were different. That was all there was to it. I didn't feel a thing. "Mr. Spaat, please get a fix on our position." I ordered. I felt a little let down. "There are no other vessels nearby. No damage reported. No casualties or injuries." Flagg reported. "Stand down from red alert, please. Go to yellow alert." I ordered. "Mr. Spaat, what's keeping that position report?" Li'ira asked. "I am calculating our position now, sir." Spaat replied. "Our current position is sector Delta Gamma, near Mereau 4." He proceeded to give us our position very, very exactly. As I said, Spaat was somewhat young for a Vulcan. "Uh oh," I thought. That wasn't where we were supposed to be. Spaat continued "I had to calculate our position from natural land marks. I am not receiving any signals from the navigational buoys." My head throbbed. I could almost feel my blood pressure rising. With effort, I controlled myself. There was no need to jump to conclusions. "Open a channel to Starfleet Command." I said. We were still in range for real time communications. Flagg reported "I can't raise Starfleet command, Captain." Li'ira ordered "Lt. Commander, check all subspace frequencies, Starfleet and civilian." "Aye, Sir," Flagg responded "No subspace signals detected within our range." "Lt. Commander Flagg, please run a level three diagnostic on the communications array." I ordered. Rule one: Check to see if it's plugged in. I called Engineering. I could hear Green and Holly babbling. They both seemed very happy. "Engineering report!" I spoke sharply to get their attention. Perhaps I was still tense. "It worked! It worked!" Holly shouted "I told you! Stick that in your Starfleet pipe and smoke it!" "Dr. Holly could your device interfere with the operations of subspace communications?" I asked, in as reasonable a tone as I could manage. "Huh? I don't think so..." Holly sounded like he wasn't following me. "Disconnect the device, immediately. We seem to have misjumped." I ordered "But, but..." Holly began. Lt. Green jumped in over Holly's protest. "Aye, Sir!" And the channel cut off. "Captain, the communications systems are intact and fully functional." Flagg reported. There was no doubt who was in command now. "No interference detected by the sensors, Captain." Varupuchu reported. I thought for a moment. "What's our range to Mereau 4?" "At warp six, our ETA is 4 hours, 9 minutes, and 23 seconds, approximately." Spaat reported. "Very good. Set course for Mereau 4 and engage at warp 6." I gave the order as though this happened every day. "Commander, you have the bridge." I left the bridge headed for Engineering. I had to talk to Holly. In engineering, everything seemed to be running smoothly. The old NCOs were seated at their panels, keeping things under control, while the junior engineers ran to fetch thing and conduct the minor repairs. In the middle of the smoothly functioning department, Lt. Green and Charles Holly had the "Holly Hop" about half dismantled and disconnected from the master systems monitor. The two men were engaged in a heavily technical discussion, oblivious to the ship and crew around them. "Dr. Holly, " I began as I approached. Holly's hair had grown wilder, if possible, and he had a strange device on his face. I recognized a micro scanner mounted on spectacle frames. It was a good idea, allowing Holly to look into the guts of his device while keeping both hands free. But the pickups in front of his eyes made him look like a bug. "Why have we misjumped?" Holly pushed the scanners back from his face. He looked grim and distracted. He mumbled something. I said "I'm sorry, come again?" He said "I don't know." And I could tell he hated to say it. I wanted to laugh at him. I wanted to yell "Hah! Dumb shit know-it-all! Looks like you weren't as smart as you thought!" The thought occurred to me, however, that we might need to recreate the misjump to get back where we belonged. Besides, he really looked miserable. Instead I said "We have wound up in the vicinity of Mereau 4. I'll have navigational data downloaded to your panel if you want." Holly shook his head "No, no, that's not necessary, Captain." He returned to his work. "When you find out what happened, please tell me immediately." I said and returned to the bridge. -*- We entered the Mereau system 4 hours later, just as Mr. Spaat had said. You don't have to worry about a Vulcan being inaccurate, usually. There were no sentry and communications satellites at the edge of the system. By long tradition, the jurisdiction of the Federation ends at the edge of a solar system. Most member worlds will let Starfleet ships operate inside these boundaries. But there are always markers to let you know whose territory you just entered, and to let them know that you are there. As we approached the planet Mereau 4, I ordered "Scan the planet, please, Mr. Varupuchu." And with his customary efficiency, he did so. The results were confusing. There was no evidence of Federation technology on the planet. Nor any hint of warp speed vehicles. There were fusion reactors, but it was obvious from the scans that they were different from the impulse reactors that were the Federation standard. There were satellites in orbit, but they were fairly primitive. Just to check I ran a search of the archives. There were historical accounts of satellites from pre-contact Mereau 4, which seemed similar. The satellites we could see were different from the historical accounts, though. They were bigger and more advanced. I figured that these were "Spy" satellites. Earth had spawned these during the "Cold War". Before any of the scientific uses for earth orbiting satellites were discovered, all the tools had been invented for military reconnaissance. A perverse and backwards road into space, but, hey, it worked. I knew that "Spy" satellites were not commonly known. In my work with old records at Starfleet Command I had run across records that were still classified after four hundred years. I declassified them, of course. The existence of a "Spy" satellite in orbit around Mereau 4 just served to tell me that my initial guess had been correct. We had been thrown back in time by the malfunctioning `Holly Hop' drive. However the sensors also reported the population of Mereau 4 to be 4 billion. The population of Mereau 4 has never been greater than 2.5 billion. We retreated from Mereau 4 and back in to deep space. -*- It was my first briefing as Captain. The whole command staff was there except for Lt. Green the Chief Engineer. I would have liked Dr. Holly there, too, but they were still up to their armpits in Holly's device. I started the meeting "Good evening. We're here to discuss options for dealing with our current situation. First, Commander Li'ira will update us." I nodded to the Orion woman. "The situation is not entirely known." She started out "Sensors have detected no hint of Federation activity or presence in this sector. It is not known what happened with the "Holly Hop" drive or if the fault can be repaired. Aside from that, all departments seem as ready as can be expected, and the ship is functioning normally and within specifications." I caught myself thinking that she had updated us too well. What was left to say? "Anything else?" I asked the room at large. Spaat gave us the results of his investigation. "We do not seem to have traveled in time. There are a number of stellar phenomena whose appearance changes with time. By measuring the changes of various objects in the interstellar medium, and cross referencing the effects seen, a measure of our place in time can be made. I have cross referenced fifteen different objects using the stellar cartography sensors. Our current time and external time match to approximately 2 hours. I can give a more accurate placement in 2 hours when I have more observations done." Our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Miskele was next. He was as old as dirt and twice as crusty. He was about five minutes shy of retirement age. He started off his report in a crotchety tone. "Since we have no ship's counselor on this tub, I suppose I'm it. The crew isn't a crew yet. We're a bunch of strangers stuck on a ship. I expect this to improve over time, what with all that `danger shared' stuff. But right now we're riding on inertia and the ingrained habits of discipline." He paused. "Not the most comfortable position to be in, but I've seen worse." I wondered what that might have been. I really shouldn't have thought of it. "Any one else?" I asked. No one seemed to have anything else to contribute. "All right then, dismissed." And I stood. The rest of the command staff filed out. Except for Li'ira and Flagg. As soon as everyone else had left, Flagg said "Computer, secure this room." The computer beeped, and after a moment it said "The room is secure." Flagg rounded on me. "I want you to understand that Holly's device must not fall into the wrong hands." I was taken aback "Huh? What are you talking about?" "Holly's device." He repeated slowly. "It is paramount to the safety of the Federation that no other agency or nation gain control of it." "Why not?" I said "It doesn't seem to work! Why are you worried about this right now?" He repeated again, with peculiar intensity, "The security of the device must be maintained." "Do you have reason to suspect someone in the crew of tampering with the device?" I asked in a formal tone of voice. He was treading on dangerous ground by insisting that the security of the "Holly Hop" was compromised when there was no one but the crew aboard. He stopped and grinned knowingly "I request permission to increase security around the device, Captain." I hesitated. Obviously I didn't know the whole story. But Flagg's request was a reasonable one. "Granted." I said, feeling like I was making a mistake. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.556 / Virus Database: 348 - Release Date: 12/26/2003 -- Stephen Ratliff ASC Stories Only Forwarding In the Pattern Buffer at: http//trekiverse.crosswinds.net/feed/ Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCL/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:ASCL-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. From ???@??? 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