| abstract | - Initial Captain’s Log,, November 11th, 2410 U.S.S. Parthenon Captain Eva Reed, Commanding It’s been a few hours since we departed Mars. I’ve called a meeting of my senior officers to discuss what we were told there. I can seldom believe the statement we received before our departure. Admiral Wulf informed me that the attack that destroyed the Firebrand was carried out by extremists within the Federation citizenry, opposed to new exploration so soon after one of the bloodiest wars in Federation history. On one hand I can understand where they come from.. Exploration has put us in many conflicts, the Borg, the Dominion, the Iconians. While I feel the Iconian War was inevitable, perhaps the others could have been avoided. But at our core, we are explorers, not soldiers. On the other, I can scarcely believe that Starfleet officers carried out an attack that killed 750 fellow Federation citizens. The door chime rang. “Computer, end log,” I said. “Enter.” As the door slid open I saw my first officer. “Commander.” “Captain, the rest of the senior officers have gathered on Deck Seven.” “Very well, I was just finishing my log, I will be down shortly.” Zylla nodded before returning to the bridge. And after a few minutes I followed, before taking the turbolift to deck seven. As I walked into ten-forward I noticed most of the senior staff were in the observation area. I nodded at the bartender as I walked around the bar to talk to the chef in the back “Ensign, how’s it coming?” “I’m doing the best I can with the recipe provided.” “Right, well. That’s part of our tradition so do your best.,” I said before joining the others. “Alright everyone,” I said taking a seat. “I know you all have questions.” “You’re damn right we do, Skip,” Chief Spakes said. “Calm down, Chief,” Lieutenant Rahn said, “No, it’s fine, he is entitled to his anger, we all are. 750 people are dead, whose only crime was following the orders they received from Starfleet Command. If any among their murderers are aboard the Parthenon they will be hunted down. To that end, I’d like to present a new face,” I said before tapping my combadge. “Captain, come to ten-forward.” A couple of minutes passed, during which they talked among themselves, before we heard heavy footsteps approaching, As the footsteps stopped I turned to see a tall man. He wore a solid grey version of the uniform we were in, with two silver bars on his lapel. “Reporting as ordered, Captain,” he said saluting. “Everyone this is Captain Marcus Illiar of Starfleet’s Military Assault Command. Captain Illiar and his squad were dispatched here at my request, to ensure if there are saboteurs aboard this vessel, they are found out. Captain Illiar’s squad were among the highest decorated in ground combat against the Heralds.” “Who does the Captain report to?” Lieutenant Noah asked. “His rank is Captain, which is the equivalent of Lieutenant, but he reports to you, as you are Chief of Security, Edwin,” I replied. “Anyway, now that we are all here, I will tell you everything we know, or at least all that I was told.” Utopia Plantitia, Mars Shortly after the destruction of the Firebrand “Bree, take us to blue alert, and begin preparations for docking with the station.” “Yes, Captain.” The ship slowly pulled into the dock and the gantry extended to the ships docking port. “Post security at the airlock. No one gets on or off the ship without my say so.. Zylla, you have the bridge,” I said before getting in the turbolift to deck three. As I entered the station I made my way quickly to the Admiral’s office. Standing inside was Admiral Wulf and Captain Robart of the Tempest. “What the hell happened out there, Admiral?” “I’ll get to that in a minute. What to do you know of the group?” “Are you asking me as a Starfleet Captain or as an operative of SIA?” “Both.” “I’ve heard mention of them in files that crossed my desk, but I did some digging. SIA currently believes the group is made up of Starfleet officers and Federation citizens opposed to new exploration efforts, and instead are spreading xenophobic rhetoric in the hopes of closing our borders and replacing Starfleet with an actual military. I can only speculate as to why they are doing this.” “The past couple years have been fraught with conflict. The Borg, the Klingons, the Romulans, the True Way, and that’s not even counting the wars with the Vaadwaur and the Iconians. Everyone has a breaking point, but why Starfleet officers would turn to an act of terror against fellow officers, I can scarcely believe it,” Robart said. “Even still. Do we know how the Firebrand was destroyed?” “According to the final report we got from ZE-AND, the crew had been incapacitated and then someone manually overloaded the warp core.” “Do we delay departures for the Parthenon and Tempest? There could be saboteurs aboard the ships,” Robart said. “No. If we keep the ships here, it’ll be just as dangerous. If they could get into Starbase 173’s fleet yard, they can get here, so the mission continues.” “Right, well then, I would like to request MACOs to be deployed aboard my ship,” I said. “Lieutenant Noah’s job is to police the crew, not hunt down saboteurs.” “Agreed,” Robart said. “Very well, I’ll contact the man in charge of MACO and have him send his best.” “In the meantime, I will return to my ship, and get it ready for the upcoming journey.” “Very well, dismissed, Captains.” Present Day U.S.S. Parthenon “Now you all know everything I know,” I said. “I want each of you to go to your departments and tell them everything I’ve told you. I want the saboteurs aboard this ship to know that we know they are here, and that we will hunt them down. Now on to a less serious topic. As you all know, the first ship I served on, the Ophelia, her captain had a ritual to celebrate the end of one mission and beginning of another, I quite like it so without further ado.” I tapped my combadge to signal the chef. Ensign Fira was assisted by a couple of crewmen. The chef carrying a large plate, while the others carried a couple bottles and glasses. “We survived the Iconian War, and we will survive this. We will complete our mission and return to the Federation victorious,” I said as they set out the glasses and poured wine into them. “A toast. To the launch of the Parthenon, the completion of her mission, and to absent friends.” All the glasses clinked before they turned their attention to the large plate containing a freshly cooked pizza. “There’s a slice for everyone here,” I said taking one. “After you finish up, head to your departments and start briefings.” Everyone grabbed a slice and headed off. The ship lurched a bit as it rapidly slowed down to warp 5. “Why are we slowing down, we shouldn’t be there for another fifteen minutes,” I said, leaving the bar. “Maybe we’re early,” Zylla said. “Bridge,” I said as we stepped into the turbolift. As the turbolift climbed the ship went to yellow alert. The lift slowed to a stop and as we stepped out of the lift we saw a Romulan warbird on the screen. “Report!” I said taking my seat. “We detected the warbird near the gate, we scanned it. According to the database, it’s the I.R.W. Destra,” Zenon said. “The Romulans are our allies, hell we even have a pair of Romulans serving aboard this ship,” I started to say. “Wait a second. That name sounds familiar. Hail them.” “Aye, hailing frequencies open. Response coming in.” I rotated my chair around to face the monitor behind me. It shifted from a MSD of the ship to a Federation logo, before changing again. This time the face of a very familiar Romulan. “Subcommander Sirol, is that you?” “Captain Reed, how good to see you again.” “I didn’t realize the Republic had operations out this far,” I said rotating around for a moment. “Stand down yellow alert. Return to warp 9.” “The Republic sent us to see you off.” “Ah, well, given the day we’ve had, we’re all a bit on edge.” “Oh? What happened?” “The Firebrand was destroyed during the triple launch ceremony this morning. An extremist group is responsible.” “How could such a thing happen in the Federation.” “It was an unexpected turn of events.. Anyway, Subcommander we will arrive in a few minutes.” “Very well. I will contact Republic Command to see if they know anything.” The channel closed. “Status of the gate?” “Acceleration gate is standing by for activation.” “Cease all secondary deflector activity. All stations, standby for gate activation.” The ship cruised in before dropping out of warp next to the gate. “Helm, bring us around to 105 mark 45, stand 5 kilometers off the gate.” “Aye.” “All secondary deflector operations have ceased, Captain.” “Astrometrics, plot our course through the gate and to the target system, then upload to helm and to the gate.” “Already working on it, Captain.” “I have the course, Captain.” “Plot the course through the five gates, then set autopilot to engage slipstream .01 seconds before final gate.” “Aye.” “Zenon, program the secondary deflector pulse to trigger the gates.” “Programming pulse now, Captain.” “Sir, we’re being hailed by Subcommander Sirol.” “Onscreen,” I said as I rotated around to the screen.” “Captain Reed, I checked with Command and they told me a Romulan ship was in Sol at the time and recorded the incident. They’ve sent the recording to Starfleet Command, but I’ve been ordered back to Mol’Rihan, just in case there are further incidents.” “Very well, Subcommander, thank you for seeing us off. Jolan Tru,” I said before closing the channel.” “Status of deflector pulse?” “Standing by.” “Sir, the Destra has gone to warp.” “Very well. Fire the deflector pulse.” “Firing.” “Acceleration Gate One, active,” Lieutenant Valla said. “Continue monitoring.” “Acceleration Gate firing pulse. Gate Two, active.” “Helm, standby to engage autopilot.” “Gate Three, active.” A few minutes passed. “Gate Five, active.” “Zenon, confirm all gate’s activation sequences.” “All gates confirmed active, and locked to target coordinates.” “Helm, engage autopilot, warp 9.” “Aye.” The ship jumped to warp and after passing through the first gate the ship lurched forward as it increased to warp 20. “Gate One, clear, ten seconds to Gate Two.” “All hands brace.” As we passed through the second gate the ship lurched forward again, as it broke warp 30, nearly knocking me out of my chair. “Reroute auxiliary power to inertial dampers,” I yelled. “Five seconds to Gate Three.” “All hands, I hope your still bracing.” As we passed through the third gate I thought I was going to go flying, but I felt like I left my seat for a second or two. “Warp 40, sir.” “Captain, structural integrity is dropping.” “Reinforce with emergency power.” I barely finished my statement before we passed the fourth gate, I was surprised that I didn’t fly across the bridge but it seemed less harsh than the third. But there was no time at all between the fourth and fifth gates. “Slipstream is engaging!” was all I heard before I was sucked back into my chair. “Status report!” I yelled. “We’ve cleared the final gate. We are cruising at warp 60.” “How long until target system.” “Not long.” Several minutes passed but the ship continued to continue, no hint of slowing down. “Engineering, report!” “We’ve passed our target system, the core isn’t shutting down.” “Use the manual override to disengage the core.” “The slipstream core is locked online. I can’t disengage it.” “Zenon, any ideas?” “None, Captain.” The ship lurched again., “Captain, I think we’re slowing down.” “Helm?” “Speed is dropping. Warp 50. Warp 45.” “Captain, I believe once we drop below warp 20, I can force the ship out of warp. But it won’t be graceful.” “Do it.” “Warp 35, 30.” “Anytime Neytia!” As the ship slowed below warp 20 the ship dropped out of warp, this time I was thrown, when I came to I was near my ready room. “Damage report,” I called out, but no one answered.
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