Lovell 1
USS James Lovell
The USS James Lovell screamed into the area, went sublight, and swooped ahead on powerful impulse drives.
“Federation starship, your presence here is unwarranted. Leave immediately.” The Tholian ships said.
“We’re in neutral space, and our sensors say you’re cooking up something to do with temporal physics. We’d like to advise you to not do that.” Captain McGee said.
“You are Temporally Deviant! Your presence endangers all! You must flee! Immediately!”
“Power build up! Temporal energy spiking!”
“Shut your machine down! That sort of thing is extremely dangerous!” McGee said
“Impossible, this energy build-up has taken weeks. If we try to stop now, we will be vaporized. Your deviant quantum signature will have unpredictable effects, please leave now!” The Tholian waved its limbs and looked much more agitated than its computer voice suggested.
McGee thought about it “Helm. Hard about. Get us separation from that thing.”
“Too late! It’s detonating!”
A point of light blazed and then turned into a shockwave. The shockwave shredded the Tholian ships and creeped up behind the USS James Lovell
“Emergency speed, dump all batteries into the impulse drive! Engineering, We need warp speed now!” McGee said
“Aye, Sir!” Redska said
The shockwave caught them, and the Starship seemed to be hurled about like a leaf in a strong wind…
-*-
They found themselves screaming along near a pretty class M world.
“All stop! Sensors report!”
“Are we warping or not, Captain?” Redska asked
“I don’t know yet, Stand by.”
Dodza, the Tellarite Ops officer said “I can’t establish our position, yet. The stars… keep changing. Sensors detect three ships near the planet. Correction, two ships, and debris. I think it’s the Tholians.
“Scan and Identity,” Skip McGee moved to the helm and looked at the navigation readout.
It showed the James Lovell in a space near a class M planet. Sensor readings were coming in about the star they orbited. It was a standard generic, yellow, type-G star. There was a normal amount of rock and dust within range of their sensors.
But beyond that, the sensors couldn’t lock onto anything. No bouys or beacons. None of the usual navigation landmarks, black holes, pulsars, and magnetars the computer could use to fix their place.
They could see the center of the galaxy, but it was fuzzy. The edges were moving. The size and energy output of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way reported back changing, and fuzzy.
The navigational computer immediately discarded all such input and reported major faults with the sensor systems.
Skip said “Begin a level two diagnostics of the sensor systems. If we have to run, I don’t want to run blind.”
“Aye, Sir.”
Zestalaban ran onto the bridge from the turbo lift. **Captain, something is very wrong.**
His voice sounded distant and distorted.
McGee squinted ”Lieutenant, what’s wrong with your voice?”
**I’m not sure, yet, but this is part of the problem.**
“Any ID on the other ships yet?
“I’m seeing two ships that look Klingon-ish and parts of our Tholian friends.”
“What? On Screen.”
The screen showed a collection of debris, with large chunks that McGee could identify as parts of the Tholian Orb Weaver cruisers.
“Rescue stations. Let’s see if we can help them out. Helm take us to the Tholian ships.”
Tarsi said, “That’s a tall order with their life support requirements.”
The Lovell turned and moved toward the ruined Tholian ships.
McGee said, “My hope is that if we can find enough of a chunk of a Tholian ship, we can stabilize it and use it as a life-boat.”
“One of the other ships is hailing us, Captain.
“On Screen.”
The screen changed to show another starship bridge. It looked Klingon with old fashioned starfleet screens on all the display panels. McGee saw Humans, Orions, Klingons, and an Aneilog. Their uniforms were blue fatigues. McGee was reminded of the Starfleet Uniform of the 2150s. Similar patches and rank markings.
A red headed man stood in front of the Captains chair “This is Captain Spaulding Ashby of the EDS Atlantis. Please identify yourselves.”
“I’m Captain Skip McGee of the USS James Lovell. We are a starship of the United Federation of Planets. We’re on a peaceful mission.”
Ashby said “James Lovell? Like the Astronaut?”
McGee nodded “He’s a notable historical figure on my homeworld.”
Ashby said “Mine, too. Can you tell us what’s going on here?”
McGee said “I can not. We’re still working on defining it. But I suspect it has to do with the Tholians over there. They were trying something involving time travel when it exploded and we found ourselves here.”
Ashby looked into an old-fashioned scope “Ah. We were exploring a wreck that shared some elements in common with that debris. We’re reading life forms in that debris.”
“Yes, we’re heading to rescue them now.”
Ashby looked up “Molten lava crystal spiders?”
“I didn’t say it was going to be easy or that we’d succeed. I am honor bound to try.”
“We’re reading a Dominion ship here with us,” Ashby said, “But they haven’t moved.”
“The Dominion?”
“Our enemies. We’re in a state of war, Captain.”
McGee turned to Zwihasi, his Betazoid science officer “Is that a Dominion starship?”
“Not ours, Captain. That other ship looks Klingon, Romulan, and something else.”
“Show me.”
The screen showed a ship configured like the Romulans and Klingons liked to make their ships. A wedge-shaped main hull with a boom out front. Like a bird. The swoop of the design looked Romulan to Skip.
The scan showed metals, devices, and construction techniques used Klingons, Orions and Romulans. Along with something else. The whole thing was unified and run through a gothic horror filter. McGee was reminded of a Romulan ship designed by HR Gieger.
McGee said to Ashby, still in a smaller window “Is that your enemy?”
“Yup. Looks like the same guy who bounced us when we were exploring the wreck of the Tholian ship.”
“The Federation is an organization of peace. If you’d like we can try to negotiate a peaceful resolution of your conflict.” McGee said.
“If you think you stand a chance, please do. I’d love to see it.”
“Hail the other ship.”
No answer, Sir.”
“Alright, keep an eye on them while we rescue the Tholians. Care to assist, Captain Ashby?”
“I’d like to see that, too.”
Lovell - New Friends in weird places
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 990
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 2
“We are unable to escape. Life support is failing. We will soon perish.” The Tholian said.
“Can we help?” McGee asked
“Why would you do this when we’ve made our enmity to you clear?” The Tholian asked.
“It’s a Federation thing. There’s nothing we like doing better than difficult rescues in the nick of time.” McGee said.
Tarsi, his Andorian XO slid a wry grin his way.
“Accurate accounting of the mind-set,” The Tholian said “Very well, for now, enmity is set aside. We would welcome your assistance.”
“If we can find a good chunk of surviving Tholian ship and then support that with energy and supplies, that might work for a while.”
“An adequate solution. Our transporters are unlikely to have survived. Can you use yours to transport Tholians to the improvised life-boat?”
“Yes.”
“Then I recommend the forward section of the Crystal-Starlight-Edifice-Left-Gateway.”
“Alright, let’s get to work.”
“Indeed.”
-*-
Zestalatan raised his icon to the All.
What he saw was terrifying. There wasn’t just one. There were many. They wavered and shimmered like water and came and went. He saw them as if from a great distance.
Montaban, the Engineer from the EDS Atlantis was there **This isn’t good.**
Zestalaban shared his memories with Montban who returned the favor.
**We’re our own little All now.**
**This seems to suggest we’re in a space between spaces. We’re stuck between dimensions and timelines.**
Zestalaban considered his memories of Montaban **This is bad. I have to go warn my Captain.**
**We’ll be here.**
Zestalaban left the Ane of the Lovell and the Ane of the Atlantis reforming their community.
-*-
The Atlantis soon joined in beaming Tholian survivors into the front half of the ruined Tholian ship. The Lovell transmitted energy through a tractor beam that the Tholian crew used to stabilize it.
“Captain, the Dominion ship just cloaked.”
“Can we penetrate their cloak?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Hail them, Open channel.”
You’re live, Sir.”
“Your cloak is ineffective. I’d like to discourage violence. Let’s talk this out.”
The screen showed the bridge of the Dominion ship. It was dark and continued the HR Geiger style motif. McGee could see normal bridge stations, designed in an overly halloween style including a throne that seemed to suggest bones and skulls at the center, where the Captain chair was located in a normal bridge. At the front there were two stations, a Helm and a Navigation console.
There were two people in dark clothing, one in each seat. A Romulan and an Orion. Standing over them, another being. Humanoid, dark robes, a dark cloak with a high collar. Their skin was purple. They looked like an evil octopus decided to grow a humanoid body underneath it.
The being held their hands on the shoulders of the Romulan Helmswoman and the Orion Navigator. The purple being wriggled their fingers.
“More humans. Intriguing,” The Romulan Woman said. Her face was absent, her body was rigid. The purple being was using her voice.
“We seem to be stuck here. I hope we can avoid unwarranted violence.” McGee said.
“You speak with my enemies, You’re cooperating with them to rescue the crystaline ones.”
“That’s correct, We help those in need, when we can.”
“How do I know you won’t turn both your ships on me when you’re done? I should strike now. My disadvantage will only grow greater.”
“We will not initiate violence against your vessel. If attacked we will defend ourselves. Stay peaceful and we will, too.”
“You say my cloak is ineffective against your sensors?”
“That is correct.”
“I withdraw.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to negotiate? We could make progress towards ending your war.”
The purple being and the Romulan Helmswoman both looked surprised “Does the El-Nanth Alliance wish to surrender?”
McGee squinted “I don’t think so.”
“Then the war continues. We have agreement not to initiate violence at this time.” The channel cut.
The Dominion warbird backed away slowly.
Zwihasi said “Captain, if I’m reading this right. The Dominion warbird is operating with minimal systems. Something’s going on with them.”
“Keep an eye on them, for now. We’ll come back to them after we’re done with the rescue.”
Zestalaban came to the Bridge and gently laid his hand on McGee’s shoulder **Captain, may I speak with you for a moment?** His voice sounded much more clear with the touch.
“We are unable to escape. Life support is failing. We will soon perish.” The Tholian said.
“Can we help?” McGee asked
“Why would you do this when we’ve made our enmity to you clear?” The Tholian asked.
“It’s a Federation thing. There’s nothing we like doing better than difficult rescues in the nick of time.” McGee said.
Tarsi, his Andorian XO slid a wry grin his way.
“Accurate accounting of the mind-set,” The Tholian said “Very well, for now, enmity is set aside. We would welcome your assistance.”
“If we can find a good chunk of surviving Tholian ship and then support that with energy and supplies, that might work for a while.”
“An adequate solution. Our transporters are unlikely to have survived. Can you use yours to transport Tholians to the improvised life-boat?”
“Yes.”
“Then I recommend the forward section of the Crystal-Starlight-Edifice-Left-Gateway.”
“Alright, let’s get to work.”
“Indeed.”
-*-
Zestalatan raised his icon to the All.
What he saw was terrifying. There wasn’t just one. There were many. They wavered and shimmered like water and came and went. He saw them as if from a great distance.
Montaban, the Engineer from the EDS Atlantis was there **This isn’t good.**
Zestalaban shared his memories with Montban who returned the favor.
**We’re our own little All now.**
**This seems to suggest we’re in a space between spaces. We’re stuck between dimensions and timelines.**
Zestalaban considered his memories of Montaban **This is bad. I have to go warn my Captain.**
**We’ll be here.**
Zestalaban left the Ane of the Lovell and the Ane of the Atlantis reforming their community.
-*-
The Atlantis soon joined in beaming Tholian survivors into the front half of the ruined Tholian ship. The Lovell transmitted energy through a tractor beam that the Tholian crew used to stabilize it.
“Captain, the Dominion ship just cloaked.”
“Can we penetrate their cloak?”
“Yes Sir.”
“Hail them, Open channel.”
You’re live, Sir.”
“Your cloak is ineffective. I’d like to discourage violence. Let’s talk this out.”
The screen showed the bridge of the Dominion ship. It was dark and continued the HR Geiger style motif. McGee could see normal bridge stations, designed in an overly halloween style including a throne that seemed to suggest bones and skulls at the center, where the Captain chair was located in a normal bridge. At the front there were two stations, a Helm and a Navigation console.
There were two people in dark clothing, one in each seat. A Romulan and an Orion. Standing over them, another being. Humanoid, dark robes, a dark cloak with a high collar. Their skin was purple. They looked like an evil octopus decided to grow a humanoid body underneath it.
The being held their hands on the shoulders of the Romulan Helmswoman and the Orion Navigator. The purple being wriggled their fingers.
“More humans. Intriguing,” The Romulan Woman said. Her face was absent, her body was rigid. The purple being was using her voice.
“We seem to be stuck here. I hope we can avoid unwarranted violence.” McGee said.
“You speak with my enemies, You’re cooperating with them to rescue the crystaline ones.”
“That’s correct, We help those in need, when we can.”
“How do I know you won’t turn both your ships on me when you’re done? I should strike now. My disadvantage will only grow greater.”
“We will not initiate violence against your vessel. If attacked we will defend ourselves. Stay peaceful and we will, too.”
“You say my cloak is ineffective against your sensors?”
“That is correct.”
“I withdraw.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to negotiate? We could make progress towards ending your war.”
The purple being and the Romulan Helmswoman both looked surprised “Does the El-Nanth Alliance wish to surrender?”
McGee squinted “I don’t think so.”
“Then the war continues. We have agreement not to initiate violence at this time.” The channel cut.
The Dominion warbird backed away slowly.
Zwihasi said “Captain, if I’m reading this right. The Dominion warbird is operating with minimal systems. Something’s going on with them.”
“Keep an eye on them, for now. We’ll come back to them after we’re done with the rescue.”
Zestalaban came to the Bridge and gently laid his hand on McGee’s shoulder **Captain, may I speak with you for a moment?** His voice sounded much more clear with the touch.
-
jayphailey
- Posts: 990
- Joined: Tue May 29, 2018 7:50 pm
Re: Lovell - New Friends in weird places
Lovell 3
“So you’re saying the space somehow interferes with psionics?” McGee asked
**It seems so. I am locked out of The All.**
“Are you okay?” McGee asked.
**You read the Admirals Book?**
“As soon as you were stationed with us. I like that he left us a manual for you guys.”
Zestalaban’s tail flipped about. McGee could feel the smile **Thank you. I can sort of see The All. I know my people are there, they’re just out of range for now. There are Ane on the EDS Atlantis. They’re in a similar predicament. We’re helping each other through.**
“Hmmm. That’s going to make appearing neutral to the scary-looking guys harder.”
**You shouldn’t worry about that. I doubt your overtures will succeed.**
“Oh? Why?”
**Because of what the other Ane know of the Illithid. They are… the opposite of the Ane in most ways. They engage in Telepathic conquest. The crew of that ship have probably been psionically altered to be loyal to the Illithid. They consider all other species inferior, suitable only as slaves or food. Montaban says they’ve taken over a big chunk of the space we’d call Romulan, some of the Klingon and Orion worlds. In response the Ane have formed the El-Nanth Alliance, The unconquered Klingons, the Free Romulans, and many of the worlds that would make up the Federation in our dimension. The Atlantis is a ship of the Earth Defense Force, built in 2022, old calendar.**
McGee winced “That’s the Prime Directive out the window.”
**The El-Nanth Alliance has no such rule.**
“And the Temporal Prime Directive.”
**I’m not sure it applies here**
**Greetings, Young Ones!** McGee heard the voice as a jovial old grandpa, speaking over a loudspeaker.
Zestalaban grabbed his head **OW!**
**Why, you’re in a spot of bother. Come on down, and let’s talk about it.**
McGee could almost hear his ears ringing with the volume of the voice.
Zestalaban had his arms curled around his head.
**I’ll set the table for ya**
-*-
Skip found himself standing along a street. The buildings were low and rustic. The place was designed around pedestrians. The sky was blue and the sun was warm. Skip could smell grass and trees and flowers.
His body let out an “aaaahhhh” feeling.
“Rude,” Tarsi said.
Along the road to the west were most of the Lovell’s crew.
“Tarsi, gather up everyone, and get a head count.”
To the east, he could see figures in blue. The Atlantis crew?
Along the road to the north, he could see Tholians. “What in the hell?”
“Voltu, you’re with me,” Skip jogged north with his Bajoran Security chief.
“You think it’s safe?” Voltu asked.
Skip said, “I gotta see.”
They approached the Tholians.
The Tholians turned and the largest one moved to the front “How do you survive without armor and life support?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“I am Sparkling-Thursday, the ranking Tholian present.”
“I’m Captain McGee, of the Federation starship-”
“Yes. Skipworth Beauregarde McGee of the USS James Lovell NCC-93309. We know of you.”
Skip let that lie for a few moments. Then he asked, “What environment are you experiencing?”
“We are experiencing what we took to be a hologram of a humanoid town. We often use such things for training.”
“Weird.”
“Excessively odd.”
“Are these the guys we were rescuing?”
Skip turned to see Captain Ashby and a sleek black cat woman approaching.
“Captain Ashby,”
“Captain McGee, This is Seelein. My wife.”
“Pleased, ma’am. This is my security chief Voltu Bob.”
“Bob?” Spaulding asked.
“My parents had a close friend from Earth. Bob is my given name. Among Bajorans, the family name comes first.”
“And this is Sparkling-Thursday, the ranking Tholian.”
“Inaccurate rendition of my name. But, how do you say? Close enough.”
“Pleased to meet you in person.”
“This simply cannot be,” Sparkling-Thursday said, “Unless our captor instantly transported us to separate holodecks, that are cross-feeding.”
“I’d like to think we’d have seen some evidence before our captor activated a transporter, no matter how advanced.”
“Interesting that it brought clothing but no weapons,” Ashby said.
“Were you carrying weapons?” Skip asked.
“Yes. My mom always insisted. I feel naked without a hold-out piece.”
“I also had a concealed weapon, Sir.” Voltu said, “It’s not here.”
“We have to figure this out,” Skip said, “There’s a trick here. Some element we’re overlooking.”
“Are any of your Ane folks here?” Spaulding asked.
Skip looked around “I didn’t think to count. Let’s head back and complete the headcount.”
“We should stay in proximity in order to provide mutual support,” Sparkling-Thursday said.
“By all means.”
The party moved back toward the center the town.
Their head count revealed that none of the Ane were present. None of the Holograms among the crew of the Lovell were present, either.
“Holograms?” Lt Heidleberg asked. She was the chief tactical officer of the EDS Atlantis.
“Uhhhh, the old term would have been Artificial Intelligence, I guess,” Skip explained.
“We have several of those on Earth and one who really insists on the term R.I.”
“Therilan,” Spaulding said, “Very Ane.”
“Huh,” Spaulding said “We have RI’s in our fleet, too. I haven’t met any in any depth.”
So, Ane and AI’s are not here.” Heidelberg said.
Zwihasi Trez said, “I’m a telepath, and I’m here.”
“Let me see what I can do,” A pretty dark-haired woman said. She began to make certain odd hand motions and chanted in an odd tongue.
Skip looked at Spaulding.
“Magic,” Spaulding said. “When I was a kid, I didn’t believe in it.”
Skip and Tarsi shared an “Oh hell” look.
The magic-using woman finished her ritual and as she finished the last word and the last gesture there was an acintic blue-white flash and a popping noise. The woman flopped over backward.
The black cat woman was by her side in a flash.
After a few moments Spaulding asked, “Fanna, are you okay?”
The woman looked at her hands. “Spell failure. That should have burned me.”
“I’m glad it didn’t,” Seelein said.
“Me too. But it’s weird.”
“Hey!” A voice called from the south.
The combined crews turned to see other humanoids in black uniforms.
“What have you done to us? Where is our Master?” The leader of the party was a Romulan woman. Skip thought it might be the one the purple guy was using to talk through earlier.
Skip held up his hands. “We don’t know any more than you do, Ma’am. I’m Skip McGee of the USS James Lovell.”
“Human SCUM!” The Romulan yelled, “WHERE IS HE?”
A Klingon standing next to her said, “I’ll wring the truth out of him.”
Voltu said, “You’ll have to go through me.”
The Klingon grinned. “Okay.”
Skip said, “Can we please handle this like adults?”
Spaulding put his fingers in his mouth and blew a piercing whistle. “Fighters up front, Scientists in the rear. Form up on me!”
The Atlantis crew moved with alacrity to form up for hand-to-hand combat.
Tarsi and Voltu moved to place themselves level with Spaulding's combat line. More of the Lovell crew moved to join them. The Tholians stayed well back, watching.
Skip placed himself between the two groups. “We didn’t do anything with your purple guy!” Skip said, “Something screened certain people out. We don’t know why.”
The Romulan woman approached him and hissed, “I serve Pollarghast the Immortal. I will find my way back to his side, and then I will wreak a horrible vengeance on you.”
“What’s wrong with vengeance now?” The Klingon asked, genuinely enjoying the face-off.
“Look at these idiots! Look at the blank incomprehension on their faces! They know nothing!” The woman said, “They may have value… as meat shields and emergency rations.”
Skip nodded “Okay… that’s progress of a sort. How about we let fighting wait until we know something about what’s going on here?”
“Coward,” The Klingon enunciated the word carefully. He wanted everyone to hear him say it.
“Well, let’s pretend we were smart,” Skip suggested. “What would genuinely smart people do in this situation?”
The Romulan woman looked at him disbelievingly. “That’s what you’re going with?”
“I know it’s a stretch here, but let’s try it.”
“You wouldn’t put yourself in your own trap,” The Klingon said.
“Unless that was part of the trap,” The Romulan woman replied.
“Okay, I’ll bite. How does putting ourselves unarmed against the angriest Hot Topic in the Galaxy advance a hypothetical trap?” Spaulding asked.
The Romulan woman glared at Spaulding.
“Come on! He can’t have eaten that much of your brain yet.”
That got a reaction from the Romulan woman. Anger, fear, and horror warred across her face in a moment, to be replaced by rage. “Kill them!”
-*-
Skip blocked a Mok’Bara attack, set his feet, and threw the biggest haymaker he could into the Klingon warrior’s face. His stomach got slapped hard, and the Romulan chief thrall punched him in the face three times.
Skip went down and rolled away. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Focus on surviving. Skip rolled to his feet as a Romulan man backhanded one his science crew people to the ground. Skip grabbed the Romulan’s arm, twisted the arm, then twisted his body and pulled diagonally away as hard as he could. The Romulan went right down and yelled. But his shoulder didn’t pop. Skip needed his shoulder to pop. So Skip twisted the Romulan’s arm around, set himself, and twisted the shoulder out of its socket.
Except it didn’t go. Skip heaved hard. The Romulan man screamed. But the shoulder didn’t pop out of its socket. The science crew woman was back up kicking the Romulan’s head. Full heel right to the face. Skip expected to see green blood and gore. The Romulans were tough, but not that tough.
There was no blood. The Romulan was yelling and cursing and trying to shield himself with the arm Skip wasn’t heaving on. Ensign Blackmore was good and mad and kept kicking.
Skip reset his grip into an arm lock and held the Romulan down. It was a struggle. He was damnably strong, but Skip wasn’t going to give up his leverage.
Voltu Bob appeared and said, “Captain! We’re not hurting them!”
“Are they hurting us?”
Voltu thought about it “Not seriously.”
“This is hurting me!” The Romulan yelled.
“Ensign! Please stop for a moment.”
Blackmore stepped back, calling the Romulan a motherfucker under her breath.
“Look at him.”
Voltu knelt in front of the Romulan and examined his face.
“She smashed my face!” The Romulan rubbed his face with his free hand “Where’s the blood?”
“There’s no blood. I can’t see any swelling or bruising.” Voltu said.
“The Lead Romulan got me with a hell of a combo. She should have broken something.”
“Really?” The Romulan said, “She’s skilled at hand-to-hand. You should be down.”
“I think we can inflict some pain, but we can’t hurt each other.”
“Well, let me up, then I’ll kill you, and we’ll see.”
Skip looked at Voltu, Voltu looked back with a slight nod.
Skip said, “Okay. Let’s try that. I’m going to let you go now.”
He let go of the Romulan and then stood up. Skip's stomach area was still a little tender, but he couldn’t tell if that was psychosomatic.
The Romulan stood up grinning, set himself, and launched an attack at Skip.
Voltu intercepted the attack with a tight circular block, put a hammer fist into the side of the Romulan’s head, then spun him around, got his neck in a peculiar hold, twisted and yanked to the side. The Romulan left his feet and Voltu rolled him to the ground to his right.
“Ow! Hey!” The Romulan yelled.
“I just broke your neck. You’re dead.” Voltu said.
The Romulan looked up with a mix of resentment and hurt feelings. “That was very unpleasant!”
“Tal Shaya. Don’t fuck with the Vulcans.”
“The Romulan rubbed his neck. “It stung, but nothing broke.”
Voltu looked at Skip. “It should have. That should have separated his c3 and c4 vertebrae, with serious collateral damage to surrounding tissues.”
“It’s like a holodeck with the safeties on,” Skip said.
“What’s a holodeck?” The Romulan asked.
“Let’s stop the brawl, and then I’ll explain,” Skip said.
“So you’re saying the space somehow interferes with psionics?” McGee asked
**It seems so. I am locked out of The All.**
“Are you okay?” McGee asked.
**You read the Admirals Book?**
“As soon as you were stationed with us. I like that he left us a manual for you guys.”
Zestalaban’s tail flipped about. McGee could feel the smile **Thank you. I can sort of see The All. I know my people are there, they’re just out of range for now. There are Ane on the EDS Atlantis. They’re in a similar predicament. We’re helping each other through.**
“Hmmm. That’s going to make appearing neutral to the scary-looking guys harder.”
**You shouldn’t worry about that. I doubt your overtures will succeed.**
“Oh? Why?”
**Because of what the other Ane know of the Illithid. They are… the opposite of the Ane in most ways. They engage in Telepathic conquest. The crew of that ship have probably been psionically altered to be loyal to the Illithid. They consider all other species inferior, suitable only as slaves or food. Montaban says they’ve taken over a big chunk of the space we’d call Romulan, some of the Klingon and Orion worlds. In response the Ane have formed the El-Nanth Alliance, The unconquered Klingons, the Free Romulans, and many of the worlds that would make up the Federation in our dimension. The Atlantis is a ship of the Earth Defense Force, built in 2022, old calendar.**
McGee winced “That’s the Prime Directive out the window.”
**The El-Nanth Alliance has no such rule.**
“And the Temporal Prime Directive.”
**I’m not sure it applies here**
**Greetings, Young Ones!** McGee heard the voice as a jovial old grandpa, speaking over a loudspeaker.
Zestalaban grabbed his head **OW!**
**Why, you’re in a spot of bother. Come on down, and let’s talk about it.**
McGee could almost hear his ears ringing with the volume of the voice.
Zestalaban had his arms curled around his head.
**I’ll set the table for ya**
-*-
Skip found himself standing along a street. The buildings were low and rustic. The place was designed around pedestrians. The sky was blue and the sun was warm. Skip could smell grass and trees and flowers.
His body let out an “aaaahhhh” feeling.
“Rude,” Tarsi said.
Along the road to the west were most of the Lovell’s crew.
“Tarsi, gather up everyone, and get a head count.”
To the east, he could see figures in blue. The Atlantis crew?
Along the road to the north, he could see Tholians. “What in the hell?”
“Voltu, you’re with me,” Skip jogged north with his Bajoran Security chief.
“You think it’s safe?” Voltu asked.
Skip said, “I gotta see.”
They approached the Tholians.
The Tholians turned and the largest one moved to the front “How do you survive without armor and life support?”
“I was going to ask you the same thing.”
“I am Sparkling-Thursday, the ranking Tholian present.”
“I’m Captain McGee, of the Federation starship-”
“Yes. Skipworth Beauregarde McGee of the USS James Lovell NCC-93309. We know of you.”
Skip let that lie for a few moments. Then he asked, “What environment are you experiencing?”
“We are experiencing what we took to be a hologram of a humanoid town. We often use such things for training.”
“Weird.”
“Excessively odd.”
“Are these the guys we were rescuing?”
Skip turned to see Captain Ashby and a sleek black cat woman approaching.
“Captain Ashby,”
“Captain McGee, This is Seelein. My wife.”
“Pleased, ma’am. This is my security chief Voltu Bob.”
“Bob?” Spaulding asked.
“My parents had a close friend from Earth. Bob is my given name. Among Bajorans, the family name comes first.”
“And this is Sparkling-Thursday, the ranking Tholian.”
“Inaccurate rendition of my name. But, how do you say? Close enough.”
“Pleased to meet you in person.”
“This simply cannot be,” Sparkling-Thursday said, “Unless our captor instantly transported us to separate holodecks, that are cross-feeding.”
“I’d like to think we’d have seen some evidence before our captor activated a transporter, no matter how advanced.”
“Interesting that it brought clothing but no weapons,” Ashby said.
“Were you carrying weapons?” Skip asked.
“Yes. My mom always insisted. I feel naked without a hold-out piece.”
“I also had a concealed weapon, Sir.” Voltu said, “It’s not here.”
“We have to figure this out,” Skip said, “There’s a trick here. Some element we’re overlooking.”
“Are any of your Ane folks here?” Spaulding asked.
Skip looked around “I didn’t think to count. Let’s head back and complete the headcount.”
“We should stay in proximity in order to provide mutual support,” Sparkling-Thursday said.
“By all means.”
The party moved back toward the center the town.
Their head count revealed that none of the Ane were present. None of the Holograms among the crew of the Lovell were present, either.
“Holograms?” Lt Heidleberg asked. She was the chief tactical officer of the EDS Atlantis.
“Uhhhh, the old term would have been Artificial Intelligence, I guess,” Skip explained.
“We have several of those on Earth and one who really insists on the term R.I.”
“Therilan,” Spaulding said, “Very Ane.”
“Huh,” Spaulding said “We have RI’s in our fleet, too. I haven’t met any in any depth.”
So, Ane and AI’s are not here.” Heidelberg said.
Zwihasi Trez said, “I’m a telepath, and I’m here.”
“Let me see what I can do,” A pretty dark-haired woman said. She began to make certain odd hand motions and chanted in an odd tongue.
Skip looked at Spaulding.
“Magic,” Spaulding said. “When I was a kid, I didn’t believe in it.”
Skip and Tarsi shared an “Oh hell” look.
The magic-using woman finished her ritual and as she finished the last word and the last gesture there was an acintic blue-white flash and a popping noise. The woman flopped over backward.
The black cat woman was by her side in a flash.
After a few moments Spaulding asked, “Fanna, are you okay?”
The woman looked at her hands. “Spell failure. That should have burned me.”
“I’m glad it didn’t,” Seelein said.
“Me too. But it’s weird.”
“Hey!” A voice called from the south.
The combined crews turned to see other humanoids in black uniforms.
“What have you done to us? Where is our Master?” The leader of the party was a Romulan woman. Skip thought it might be the one the purple guy was using to talk through earlier.
Skip held up his hands. “We don’t know any more than you do, Ma’am. I’m Skip McGee of the USS James Lovell.”
“Human SCUM!” The Romulan yelled, “WHERE IS HE?”
A Klingon standing next to her said, “I’ll wring the truth out of him.”
Voltu said, “You’ll have to go through me.”
The Klingon grinned. “Okay.”
Skip said, “Can we please handle this like adults?”
Spaulding put his fingers in his mouth and blew a piercing whistle. “Fighters up front, Scientists in the rear. Form up on me!”
The Atlantis crew moved with alacrity to form up for hand-to-hand combat.
Tarsi and Voltu moved to place themselves level with Spaulding's combat line. More of the Lovell crew moved to join them. The Tholians stayed well back, watching.
Skip placed himself between the two groups. “We didn’t do anything with your purple guy!” Skip said, “Something screened certain people out. We don’t know why.”
The Romulan woman approached him and hissed, “I serve Pollarghast the Immortal. I will find my way back to his side, and then I will wreak a horrible vengeance on you.”
“What’s wrong with vengeance now?” The Klingon asked, genuinely enjoying the face-off.
“Look at these idiots! Look at the blank incomprehension on their faces! They know nothing!” The woman said, “They may have value… as meat shields and emergency rations.”
Skip nodded “Okay… that’s progress of a sort. How about we let fighting wait until we know something about what’s going on here?”
“Coward,” The Klingon enunciated the word carefully. He wanted everyone to hear him say it.
“Well, let’s pretend we were smart,” Skip suggested. “What would genuinely smart people do in this situation?”
The Romulan woman looked at him disbelievingly. “That’s what you’re going with?”
“I know it’s a stretch here, but let’s try it.”
“You wouldn’t put yourself in your own trap,” The Klingon said.
“Unless that was part of the trap,” The Romulan woman replied.
“Okay, I’ll bite. How does putting ourselves unarmed against the angriest Hot Topic in the Galaxy advance a hypothetical trap?” Spaulding asked.
The Romulan woman glared at Spaulding.
“Come on! He can’t have eaten that much of your brain yet.”
That got a reaction from the Romulan woman. Anger, fear, and horror warred across her face in a moment, to be replaced by rage. “Kill them!”
-*-
Skip blocked a Mok’Bara attack, set his feet, and threw the biggest haymaker he could into the Klingon warrior’s face. His stomach got slapped hard, and the Romulan chief thrall punched him in the face three times.
Skip went down and rolled away. Something was wrong, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Focus on surviving. Skip rolled to his feet as a Romulan man backhanded one his science crew people to the ground. Skip grabbed the Romulan’s arm, twisted the arm, then twisted his body and pulled diagonally away as hard as he could. The Romulan went right down and yelled. But his shoulder didn’t pop. Skip needed his shoulder to pop. So Skip twisted the Romulan’s arm around, set himself, and twisted the shoulder out of its socket.
Except it didn’t go. Skip heaved hard. The Romulan man screamed. But the shoulder didn’t pop out of its socket. The science crew woman was back up kicking the Romulan’s head. Full heel right to the face. Skip expected to see green blood and gore. The Romulans were tough, but not that tough.
There was no blood. The Romulan was yelling and cursing and trying to shield himself with the arm Skip wasn’t heaving on. Ensign Blackmore was good and mad and kept kicking.
Skip reset his grip into an arm lock and held the Romulan down. It was a struggle. He was damnably strong, but Skip wasn’t going to give up his leverage.
Voltu Bob appeared and said, “Captain! We’re not hurting them!”
“Are they hurting us?”
Voltu thought about it “Not seriously.”
“This is hurting me!” The Romulan yelled.
“Ensign! Please stop for a moment.”
Blackmore stepped back, calling the Romulan a motherfucker under her breath.
“Look at him.”
Voltu knelt in front of the Romulan and examined his face.
“She smashed my face!” The Romulan rubbed his face with his free hand “Where’s the blood?”
“There’s no blood. I can’t see any swelling or bruising.” Voltu said.
“The Lead Romulan got me with a hell of a combo. She should have broken something.”
“Really?” The Romulan said, “She’s skilled at hand-to-hand. You should be down.”
“I think we can inflict some pain, but we can’t hurt each other.”
“Well, let me up, then I’ll kill you, and we’ll see.”
Skip looked at Voltu, Voltu looked back with a slight nod.
Skip said, “Okay. Let’s try that. I’m going to let you go now.”
He let go of the Romulan and then stood up. Skip's stomach area was still a little tender, but he couldn’t tell if that was psychosomatic.
The Romulan stood up grinning, set himself, and launched an attack at Skip.
Voltu intercepted the attack with a tight circular block, put a hammer fist into the side of the Romulan’s head, then spun him around, got his neck in a peculiar hold, twisted and yanked to the side. The Romulan left his feet and Voltu rolled him to the ground to his right.
“Ow! Hey!” The Romulan yelled.
“I just broke your neck. You’re dead.” Voltu said.
The Romulan looked up with a mix of resentment and hurt feelings. “That was very unpleasant!”
“Tal Shaya. Don’t fuck with the Vulcans.”
“The Romulan rubbed his neck. “It stung, but nothing broke.”
Voltu looked at Skip. “It should have. That should have separated his c3 and c4 vertebrae, with serious collateral damage to surrounding tissues.”
“It’s like a holodeck with the safeties on,” Skip said.
“What’s a holodeck?” The Romulan asked.
“Let’s stop the brawl, and then I’ll explain,” Skip said.