***
written by
Michael Gray
***
Please Note-
As with all of the material presented in
the Star Trek: Dark Horizon story, this installment
falls generally within the PG-13 category.
***
***
Chapter 1 - Riding The Wave
Jack McCall stood looking out the window at the front of his ready room watching the stars streak past as his ship, the Chamberlain, screamed across the darkness of empty space toward the world Hel'yra.
Four days earlier a planet named Cajma Six died. Every living thing on that world of magnificent sea cities now lay unmoving--- not a single bacteria remained. Along with Cajma Six, a third of the starship Venture's crew perished as the thing responsible passed by and departed the system on its way to where the Chamberlain now raced.
Jack tired of sitting on the bridge where all he could learn was that they were still a full day away from their destination. He hated the waiting. Even worse he hated that he couldn't keep his thoughts off his wife.
They had spoken only once since warping away from the Cajma system. Mei-Wan stopped by just long enough to get some clothes and a few personal items. The short words between them were for him to have the rest of her things sent to her new quarters on Deck Eight. His only response was to nod as she walked out.
Jack wanted her to come back, but he was convinced she never would. He had been the one to demand an answer--- an answer she had yet to give. Over the past four days he suspected she no longer loved him, or worse, no longer understood what the word meant.
The sound of the ready room doors opening at the bottom of the stairs that led up to Jack's sanctuary interrupted his dark musings. He turned to see his Chief Staff Officer, Celeste Purcell walk up to him.
"Yes, Commander?" he asked.
Purcell stood next to him and looked ahead at the path the Chamberlain parted amongst the stars.
"Thought you might want to know that Captain Gann has worked his way down the chain of command to Doctor Preston," she said with no expression to give away her mood.
Jack raised an eyebrow. "He's been busy."
"He did skip Mr. McGuire, so there's still a chance he'll get some results."
Jack smiled. "I'd have thought he'd have been his first choice since McGuire's a personal friend of Admiral Simmons."
"I thought that too, but for some reason he hasn't sent any messages to Lee yet."
Jack turned to her. "What about you?"
"He didn't send any orders to me either. I did think that was strange."
Jack took a breath. "And if he did?"
She tilted her head to the left a bit as she contemplated Jack's question. "It would put a few days of starship command on my service record." Purcell smiled. "However, I doubt it would be a very successful notation without the rest of the officers fulfilling their tasks."
"You think they'd refuse your orders?"
"I've heard a rumor that the senior officers all might become quite ill at a moment's notice if someone were to relieve you of command."
Jack looked back at the stars. Despite the undercurrent of unhappiness he had noticed in many of his senior officers the last six months, they had decided to stand by him. He wondered why.
"But you know it's all a load of crap. If Gann orders you to take command, you really ought..."
Purcell cut him off. "You're the last person I should be taking counsel from concerning following orders, sir."
After a moment Jack grinned. "You're probably right about that."
The intercom chimed and the voice of the Chamberlain's acting science officer came through the speaker. "Captain McCall, I think you better come down to the bridge."
Jack took a step toward the stairs. "You find something?"
"Something is about to find us, sir."
"On my way," Jack said as he and Purcell left the Ready Room.
***
Jack entered the large main bridge and turned to his science officer. "So what do you have, Mr. Blackwell?"
The light haired man sat stooped over his science station reading displays. "Some sort of subspace interference approaching at high warp, Captain. I'm still trying to get something definite."
Jack nodded to Lak Negev, an Andorian and his Executive Officer.
Negev turned to Hank Evans at the Tactical Station, "Raise the shields, Mr. Evans."
Hank touched the panel in front of him and a moment later the Oceana class starship was protected from almost anything that it might encounter.
"Still nothing from the Ravenscroft?" Jack asked Arthur Conrad, the communications officer.
Conrad shook his head.
"Keep trying. They eventually have to come out of that nebula."
Melissa Vargas, the Chamberlain's Operations Officer, turned to Jack. "Captain, I've gone through Starfleet's orders for the Ravenscroft and they were required to leave the nebula to send a signal back to Kel-j'na every three days."
"When was the last message sent?" Jack asked.
"Six days ago," Melissa said softly.
That was the last thing Jack wanted to hear.
Hank looked up at the main viewscreen and his eyes went wide. "Holy..."
Timothy Blackwell shot up from his sensor displays. "A subspace shockwave!"
Everyone on the bridge watched as a bright green wavefront was magnified on the viewscreen. They now knew what had been approaching them.
"Red alert!" Lak Negev shouted. A second later the alert klaxon blared throughout the ship.
Jack rose to his feet. "Take us out of warp!"
Conn officer s'Felis activated the controls at his station bringing the ship to sublight velocity.
Jack knew they only had a minute at most and he didn't dare let the wave strike them while they were at warp nine point seven. The ship would have been torn asunder.
"Can we outrun it?" Negev asked Blackwell.
"Negative. Even at warp nine point nine going the other direction we'd still get hit by it in about ten minutes."
"Time to impact?" Jack asked.
"Twelve seconds," Blackwell said.
Jack sat back in his command chair knowing it wouldn't be smart to remain standing when the subspace wave hit. Two seconds later Negev took the seat next to him.
Negev's antennae twitched. "The ship is secure, Captain."
Jack closed his eyes letting the last remaining seconds pass by. He knew they shouldn't have much to worry about. Their new shields would be more than adequate to defend against this wave.
Everything went black.
Jack felt himself become weightless as the chair beneath him seemed to sink away. The next moment the chair slammed back against him as the hull of his ship roared in agony. Jack was more confused than anything else. What the hell happened to the shields? he thought.
The viewscreen flared brightly and then went black. Jack heard several of his bridge officers yell as the deck beneath them again fell away.
Two seconds later, Jack felt himself flung from his chair against a wall and at least two other people. One was the blonde haired half Vulcan, Melissa Vargas, the other his conn officer, s'Felis, a native of the world Trefel.
Jack saw bright flashes of light illuminate the ceiling and walls of the command center of his vessel.
He felt pressure push against his ribs, almost as if someone had kicked him. The jolt pushed him against Melissa Vargas causing her to cry out.
Jack looked up and saw something leap up to the ceiling. It took a moment for his eyes to focus enough to recognize their conn officer, Nedj s'Felis grab one of the ceiling arches that went from a wall up to the center of the room. s'Felis' hands held tightly onto the edge of a recessed emergency light that had yet to activate despite the danger the ship was in.
The conn officer looked down from his position above at Jack as a dim light reflected in the Trefelian's ruby colored eyes. Jack almost thought s'Felis grinned at him, but a moment later the orange skinned officer's form moved in a blur toward the front of the bridge just as the hull of the Chamberlain again groaned in agony at the pressures attempting to tear it apart.
The ship suddenly rocked to port sending Jack and Melissa rolling into another group of officers wedged up against a wall.
"Damn it!" howled the voice of Hank Evans.
Jack smiled knowing Hank was probably more mad than hurt.
The lights on the bridge returned to normal a second later and while the ship continued to be buffeted about, it wasn't nearly as violent an ordeal as the minute before had been. Moans and groans from the bridge officers replaced those from the ship itself. A number of them would be in sickbay for a while after they were sure the danger had passed.
Melissa Vargas made it to her feet and offered a hand up to her captain which Jack eagerly accepted. His legs resisted at first with a sharp pain from his knee.
"We seem to be through the worst of it," Melissa said while extending another hand to Hank.
Jack looked toward the main viewscreen which was black and in front of it at the conn sat Nedj s'Felis working the controls of his station. He'd evidently landed there after leaping down from the ceiling above their heads. Jack had rarely seen s'Felis show much speed or agility at walking or anything else. He'd just assumed Trefelians weren't made for rapid movement. Now he knew better.
"Good work, Mr. s'Felis," Jack said as he returned to his command chair. "Remind me to make sure you're at the conn the next time we detect a subspace wave like that."
s'Felis turned back briefly to look at his commanding officer. "I'm just glad I was able to get control of the ship again, sir. I should have done a better job when the wave first struck us," he said in a lyrical, yet deep voice.
Negev took his seat next to Jack. "We appear to have suffered some hull damage sir, but I'm still waiting to hear from engineering."
"Can we get the viewscreen operational again?" Jack asked, wanting to see if it was really over.
Melissa had just taken her seat at the operations station. "Working on it, sir."
The ship bucked once more, but afterward all was calm.
Jack waited a moment before speaking, not certain if that was the end of it or just the beginning of another spell of chaos.
The U.S.S. Chamberlain emerged from the far end of the bright green subspace wave standing relatively still to the wave's extreme warp velocity. The large vessel quickly stabilized its shifting course.
"We have come through the wave, Captain," Blackwell noted as he watched his displays at the science station.
"That's good to hear," Jack responded.
Negev turned to Jack. "Lieutenant Commander Bishop is asking to see you, sir."
Jack took a deep breath. His Chief Engineer asking to see him that soon wasn't a good sign. "Tell her to meet me in the main conference room in five minutes."
***
"But that can't be true. Those shields..." Jack let his words trail off.
Bishop tilted her head slightly waiting for him to continue, but when he didn't she couldn't resist. "It might help me understand what happened if you told me exactly where our shields came from, Captain."
Jack smiled. Bishop had been trying every way possible to get this particular piece of information out of him for weeks, but he was under direct orders from Admiral Hancock not to tell anyone who didn't already know that their shield system had been a gift from the enigmatic Vedala.
"Sorry, but that's classified," Jack said softly.
Bishop frowned. "Then I'm not likely to figure out why they failed when we were hit by the subspace wave."
He shook his head. "Nice try, Kristen, but I doubt it would do you much good."
"Now you've really got me convinced I should know. Come on, sir. I'll never tell," she said with a smile.
Jack laughed. "Dismissed, Lieutenant Commander."
"Oh, come on, Jack! You know you can trust me."
Jack's eyes widened at her use of his first name. She was usually all business and had only used it when they were both off duty in the makeshift bar on Deck Thirty-three.
He grinned. "Out, Kristen, out."
She stood to her feet. "You do know I'll never give up on this."
He shook his head as she turned and walked out of the conference room. Trust me, Kristen, you're better off not knowing this one, he thought.
Jack looked out the large windows of the conference room staring at the nearly stationary stars. Bishop had told him they would have warp power in a half hour, but he didn't like to lose any more time getting to Hel'yra. The appearance of the subspace wave had unsettled his already troubled thoughts.
Lak Negev entered the room and stood on the opposite side of the table.
"Captain, Mr. Blackwell has completed his analysis," Negev said.
Jack turned in his chair. "And?"
"It was as we suspected. The wave originated from the Hel'yra system and its composition was consistent with that of the nebula."
Jack was afraid of that. "Have you sent information on the wave to Starfleet?"
"Not possible at this time, sir. It appears that since we're now within the bubble of the subspace wave we can no longer receive or transmit out of it," Negev said. "Blackwell suggests we try again in twenty-four to forty-eight hours."
"That might explain why we couldn't contact the Ravenscroft."
"A logical assumption, sir. However, we still have been unable to make contact with them despite now being within the radius of the wave."
More bad news.
***
Hank Evans sat up in bed catching his breath.
"You okay?" Kadan Loftus asked. With a hand she brushed the dark red hair out of her eyes.
"Yeah, I'm just fine," Hank said hoping she'd believe him. Their little excursions into ecstasy were becoming more difficult with time. I'm really getting too old for these two hour bouts, he thought.
She smiled. "Maybe we should take it easy next time."
"No, I'm fine. Just a little winded's all."
"Hank, you don't have to prove anything to me."
He grinned and pulled her close to him. "I know."
She looked into his eyes and grinned. "I hope you enjoyed yourself."
Hank laughed. "There's no question about that, darlin'."
Loftus pulled the sheet up around them both. "You may have to do without for a while if Gann ever catches up with us."
"Why's that?" he asked.
"I received orders about a half hour before that subspace wave hit to relieve Captain McCall and take command of the ship," she said looking at Hank.
"I take it you intend to disregard those orders."
She smiled. "Of course."
He pulled her closer. "That's my girl."
Loftus rolled her eyes. "Getting possessive now, huh?"
"It's just a human expression."
She chuckled and rolled over to face him. "You don't think it will cause trouble with the leave I have planned in two months do you?"
"It might," Hank said with a grin.
She frowned at him. "You're just trying to get out of going, aren't you?"
"Not at all. Dalvanax Two is a wonderful planet, if you like the desert," Hank said.
Her frown intensified. "I had to pull a lot of favors in to get those two tickets. Don't tell me you're having second thoughts."
"You'll probably get into more trouble attending that group's concert than you will for disobeying Gann. They've been banned from performing in most Federation systems."
"That's why I want to hear them."
"I wouldn't worry too much about Gann. Jack is the one most likely to take the brunt of this mess."
"You think they'll take away his command?"
Hank took a long breath. "Probably so. Jack has few friends in Starfleet Command these days."
***
Wearing a tight-fitting casual jumpsuit, Melissa Vargas strolled down a corridor on Deck Eight. She'd not had much time lately to give for occasions like this so she had decided to make the most of it.
She entered Mei-Wan McCall's sparsely decorated quarters and found the Chamberlain's Chief Archaeologist hard at work over a bright display at a desk.
"You sure know how to have fun," Melissa said.
Mei-Wan turned to her friend and noticed the bottle of wine Melissa carried. "Sorry. I was just reading through the Ravenscroft's last transmission back to Starfleet. You still up for a game of chess?"
"Sure." Melissa slumped into a couch and busied herself with opening the seal on the bottle. "You have a couple of glasses?"
Mei-Wan walked over to a shelf near the replicator. She picked out two tall glasses and stared at them a moment. They were from her and Jack's wedding and for some reason they were part of the collection of items she had taken from their quarters when she left.
Mei-Wan remembered the day she bought them. She and Jack had spent the afternoon at the Hickok Museum in San Francisco and on their way home she saw the set in a small shop window. They were the first items they bought for their wedding and though it was little more than a year in the past it seemed so long ago.
The glasses had lost their significance now, but for a brief heartbeat Mei-Wan paused, feeling she was profaning something sacred.
She turned back to Melissa, now with a wide smile. "These do?"
Melissa fought with the bottle seal and without looking said, "Sure, whatever you've got."
Mei-Wan sat on the couch next to her friend. "You really don't have to waste your evening with me, Melissa. You could drink that bottle with Lee."
Melissa frowned. "We had another argument."
"Nothing big, I hope."
The half Vulcan woman grinned. "Oh, I just threatened to break both Lee's legs and remove part of his intestinal tract if he followed any orders to relieve the captain."
Mei-Wan looked down at the glasses in her hand. She knew Jack was in trouble and probably needed someone he could talk to, but she wasn't that person, not this time. "How far down the chain of command has Gann gone?"
Melissa thought a moment as the seal finally came loose and she began working at the cork with a corkscrew from her pocket. "Today it was P'rada and Kadan."
"You're all setting yourselves up for a lot of trouble."
Melissa grinned. "You're one to talk. Who sassed Zachary in front of the CO?"
Mei-Wan sat back in the couch and let out her breath. "That was different. There was a principle at stake."
"And you don't think we're acting on principle?"
"I think you're all acting out of loyalty, which is admirable, but I don't think it will be much to stand on at a court-marital," Mei-Wan said.
Melissa stopped with the bottle and turned to her friend. "Mei, I disobeyed Gann's order because I don't think it's legal and I think he's dead wrong for wanting this ship to remain at Cajma. And now that we've gone through that subspace wave, I'm more convinced than ever."
"And loyalty to Jack has nothing to do with it?"
"It's not the reason I did what I did, but it made me more certain of my decision." She returned to removing the cork from the bottle.
Mei-Wan nodded and set the glasses on the table in front of them. "I just hope the bunch of you don't end up ruining your careers."
The cork came free and Melissa began pouring wine into the glasses. "Or is it you can't understand why anyone would go out on a limb for your husband?"
Mei-Wan turned away. "That's a cheap shot, Melissa."
"Maybe, but is it true?"
Mei-Wan turned back to watch the golden liquid fill their glasses. "No, it's not. If it is out of loyalty, I know what that's about."
Mei-Wan looked directly at Melissa as her friend handed her one of the glasses. "But, I also know that loyalty to Jack has a down side."
Melissa leaned back in the couch and sipped her wine. "Why don't you just tell him you don't have feelings anymore for this Hoffman guy."
"Because it would be a lie," Mei-Wan said as she looked at the liquid in her glass. She thought back to the last time she drank from these glasses--- a happier time, but a time with its own pain.
"Look, Mei. It's not like you'd ever act on those feelings, I know you. So, what's the problem with telling him you no longer have them?"
"I think I could sleep with Kyle before I could lie to Jack. I just don't think I could do that, ever."
"Because of loyalty?"
"Because I have to be able to live with myself."
