Posted Sept. 29, 2021, 11:55 p.m. by Commander D'Vash Odinson (Chief Intelligence Officer) (Terry Sullivan)
Posted by Fleet Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Atlantis Bridge…When the past doesn’t match the present…or the future
Posted by Fleet Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Atlantis Bridge…When the past doesn’t match the present…or the future
Posted by Fleet Captain Kelly Bordeaux (Commanding Officer) in Atlantis Bridge…When the past doesn’t match the present…or the future
Captain Kelly Bordeaux looked out the viewport into space. She was never tired of its dark beauty. Space was like a sea but instead of sharp reefs and whirlpools, there were asteroid fields and ion storms. These were just as deadly as anything on the actual ocean and made exploration fun and exciting. She shifted in her captain’s seat to stretch her stiff muscles. “Delta shift isn’t too bad for a change,” she thought silently as she took a deep drink of her coffee and stared at the clock reading 0300 hours. Normally she lets some junior officer take this shift. They loved getting “time in the chair” as Kelly called it and this shift was typically the quietest. The problem was junior officers tended to be a bit more uncomfortable and formal around her. It made sense. They didn’t have the big names of Mardusk, Nash, Drayke, Garinder’Jen th’Jir, or Odinson sitting in the chair but less senior officers like Rios, Benton, and Smith watching over their shoulder. Kelly tried to crack a few jokes and put them at ease but it was met with side glances and nervous chuckles. She tried to keep things casual on her ship using last names and first ones when appropriate instead of rank. For some, this took a while to get used to. Maybe she would have to assign more senior crew to these shifts. Each shift ran perfectly but all shifts should run as if they were a seamless team with everyone feeling at ease no matter who sat where.Taking a long draw on her coffee, Kelly tried to engage them again in the light-hearted banter that typically accompanied long, boring shifts when consols were manned by her senior staff. “If this mysterious ship is not detected in the next 48 hours I’m declaring it a hallucination by command and redirecting the Altantis to some hot, sunny, tropical world for shore leave,” Kelly joked but the response from the crew is only more silence and just a few fleeting glances. God, these guys need to get a little life, she mused silently and made a mental note to place them on the first round for shore leave. Maybe she will go with them this time. Spend some time with someone other than her core group. Kelly let her mind drift to all the possibilities of a vacation. Bored, Kelly pulled up the alien transmission again on her PADD that brought the Atlantis here.
ARRIVE LOCATION 932.8604. WE ARE FRIENDS. WE HAVE SOMETHING VITAL TO THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF THE FEDERATION. SEND THE ATLANTIS TO TAKE DELIVERY OF THE PACKAGE. IAN BORDEAUX REQUIRED FOR EXCHANGE. ALL RESTS ON YOUR DESIRE FOR FIRST CONTACT AND PEACE.
The message is vague enough to spark interest but specific enough to raise eyebrows. With all the excitement from their last trip into the unknown, most in command figured it was someone they had met on their last venture to the unknown. Kelly had taken bets with some of the senior staff on which alien race was contacting them. Until someone contacted them though, the pot was still unclaimed. Kelly settled back in her command chair tracing the events in her mind that had gotten them here. They were finishing loading supplies and tying up loose ends when the message was detected by StarBase 11. No date was sent telling them when to arrive at the coordinates until someone in communications discovered the message was sent on a repeating feedback loop. The signal degradation from the loop calculated that it was received only two days ago. Star Fleet had ordered the Atlantis to wait a week at 932.8604 before it would be relieved by another ship. Kelly had given it three days already. If something did not happen in the next four, she was going to go out of her mind with boredom.
Kelly Bordeaux
BEACON OF HOPE STAR YACHT
“Can you do this pet,” Zala Tsu turned to face Jessa. The time had come. They would be on the alien ship in minutes. Zala Tsu needed to know she could handle her end of the mission. “It is all riding on you pet. Trillions upon trillions of species need the Prism for their survival. These people here are not our friends. You must be wary. If you do not fulfill your end of the mission,” Zala Tsu let a hard stare fall on Jessa though a smile covers her face.
Jessa’s heart pounded in her chest. She has been in a constant state of anxiety since departing for the mission. Ten minutes after leaving Xetis, Jessa began regretting her decision. A day into the journey Jessa toyed with the idea of trying to contact home but they watched her so carefully. Two weeks into the journey Jessa began to believe that maybe they were traveling to another galaxy. She has never heard of this but the other species claimed it was possible so why couldn’t it be. Between weeks two and three Jessa knew her three companions were not of the Divine but she clung to the silly notion it was war stress. By now Jessa had enough of the implied threats she had received throughout the journey. “Yes,” she snapped standing taller. “I know my job and I am capable of doing it. That is why you brought me is it not.”
Rogan glared at Da-Mu-Unka. Jessa and her precious family are strong-willed and not easily controlled but she should know her place in front of the Elders. Maybe they needed to put an ounce of fear into their youngest companion. “They will kill you if they find out your true purpose there. You are not special and mean nothing to them,” Rogan’s words were like a stab wound to Jessa’s heart but she was good at playing self-confident and assured when it served her. “Remember the plan. We are refugees looking for a home. That should get us on board until you find it.”
“And you are positive this ship has it,” Jessa asked skeptically. For years people had searched for the Prism. How they had discovered it was here, still confused Jessa but she needed it almost more desperately than the Elders did.
Zala Tsu sensed Jessa’s trepidation increase. “Pet,” she walked to Jessa tracing fingertips down her body from shoulder to hand causing Jessa to feel a wave of revulsion course through her. She hated it when Zala touched her. It is cold and jarring like a thousand needles of ice piercing her skin. “He is very cunning, this Captain of the USS Atlantis. He was able to steal the Prism years ago from your mother when she came in peace. He will spin sweet words that he loved your mother but he and his kind drove her from this place. Hunted her like an animal until she was found battered and broken, half-dead by the hands of the Federation.” Zala Tsu clung to the details that would make Jessa furious and not waver in her resolve or the mission. “They are not like us here. They kill those that do not conform whereas we embrace them. They fear what they do not know and destroy it instead of learning the gifts life offers. Mind what you have learned,” she whispered in Jessa’s ear causing gooseflesh to rise on her arms. “He will try to force the truth from you of the mission. He will drug you and your food to make you psychologically willing to share but you must resist it all. Take nothing from them no matter how desperate you feel. They will use everything and anything to cloud your mind. Do not fall for it. Do not trust them but play along with each falsehood they spill. You are Divine.” Zala looked at Jessa knowing how motivating not only her speech but hunger and thirst could be. They need to be gone in a week and hunger is very motivating no matter what species you are. “
“I get it. I can do it,” Jessa said walking away from the companions crowding around her. She hated being this close to them. Their fear and anxiety over her safety feel cold and heavy. She wished they could relax and project the love and warmth Jessa always felt around other Divine but until the mission was complete, she would have to tolerate them. Sitting at a small console in the back of the room Jessa waited to board the shuttle and begin the mission.
Rogan watched Zala move to the drive station preparing to exit the hyper tunnel and into Federation space. “And when she finds out the truth?” Rogan whispered in Zala Tsu’s ear as she made the necessary adjustments to enter real space.“She will be angry and scared. She will lash out. With each word they utter, our story becomes stronger and stronger. Their truths will validate our lies,” Zala Tsu purred confidently as she ran her fingertips down his cheek. “And if she doesn’t believe us and accepts the truth…she will lose her home,” Zala Tsu’s tone turned frigid. “We will just have to make sure she knows we are only way back to everything she knows and loves. Jessa has no option but to follow our directions. The need to save her mother will never be undermined. Jessa might be a reckless, free-willed child but she understands what is at stake.”
Dropping into the seat next to her, Rogan exited the hyper tunnel. The ship bucked and creaked loud enough for him to glance about as if waiting for the walls to decompress. Even he wasn’t sure they would survive re-entry using the Ratakan portal coupled with hyper tunnels but somehow they had. Entering real space, the viewport was filled with countless alien stars. Jessa looked out feeling a wave of dread and fear. Not one star could she place. Not one a map to something familiar.
Jessa and the Elders
BRIDGE OF THE USS ATLANTIS
“Captain. I have detected an anomaly off the port bow,” Ensign Edwards said nervously and then stopped. Nothing ever happened on the graveyard shift let alone with the Captain looking over his shoulder. Right now he would gladly give up his console to anyone with more pips on their collar than he was wearing.
“What kind of anomaly,” Kelly asked as she took another drink of her coffee. Her felt a slight twinge of annoyance. Alpha shift would already be spouting off the size, shape, and composition of the anomaly instead of having to be spoon-fed what to do or say.The anomaly, which started as a swirling coalescence of light suddenly shrunk into a pinpoint before exploding in a huge energy burst. The build-up of energy sent shock waves out in all directions one of which slammed into the port bow rocking the Atlantis slightly. The front viewport filling with blue and white light so blinding that anyone looking directly at it was now seeing spots. Kelly blinked her eyes and immediately began to bark orders. “What the hell was that? Damage report? All stations.”
“I have detected a small ship off the port bow. It… It appeared out of nowhere Ma’am. It is of an unknown design with an unknown energy signature. The energy wave had dissipated and there appears to be nothing left of it. No residual energy. Nothing” gasped Ensign Edwards. “It is running with shields up.”
“Calm down Ensign and raise our shields,” she ordered. It was no coincidence that the anomaly and energy waved happened at the exact spot the Atlantis had been told to wait. The question was why such a dramatic arrival and who were they. Not getting the answers, Kelly needed she moved quickly to Edwards station.“The ship is hailing us, Captain,” remarked Lt. Barbara Sanders from communications. Kelly looked up seeing for the first time the small ship sitting just to the left of the screen. It was beautifully sleek in its design. Like a sliver of liquid mercury about 50-60 meters in length with two engines and possibly two weapons ports.
“Open a comm line Lt, and order senior staff to the bridge” she ordered sitting straight in her chair. It was not that she didn’t trust this command staff, but something in her gut told Kelly she needed the A team.
Kelly Bordeaux
A moment later, the turbolift doors parted and Odinson stepped onto the bridge and moved directly to the tactical station. “Can’t say I’m a big fan of the your new alarm system, Captain. It was a good thing I was already awake or that jolt would have surely knocked me out of bed. What have we got?”
As he sat down, his hands began flying over the console trying to get readings from the ship on the viewscreen.
Odinson (CIO)
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