Story:Star Trek: Prometheus/Rightful Destiny/Chapter 3

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THREE

A few hours later a Danube class runabout was passing through the Copernicus shipyard at half impulse beaming its passengers to various ships and docking facilities as it went. In the runabout’s passenger compartment was Solen, a Bolian lieutenant, a Betazoid ensign, a Bajoran lieutenant commander, and six civilian crewmembers that were intended for the Icarus.

“Commander Solen?” a blond human man, whose collar had an ensign’s pip on it, asked Solen.

“I am Solen,” the dark haired commander said in even Vulcan tones, “what is it that you require of me, ensign?”

“The lieutenant asked me to inform you that we will be within transporter range of the Prometheus in two minutes.”

“Very well, ensign, I will be along momentarily.” Solen said in the usual dispassionate Vulcan manner.

“Aye, sir.” the ensign said before he turned and headed out of the cabin, “I’ll transmit the location of your belongings in our hold to the Prometheus so they can beam it aboard once we’re within in range.”

Solen stood up, straightened his uniform with a quick tug, and picked up the tube shaped equipment tote he had put on the seat beside him before heading for the runabout’s transporter. Inside the foam-lined tote was a bottle of Chivas Regal, a blended malt scotch bottled in 2333, that Solen had bought as a birthday present for Logan.

“Sulu to MacLeod.” Jon’s voice said over the intercom in Logan’s ready room.

“MacLeod here. Go ahead.” Logan said as he put a PADD that contained an English translation of a passage from the Kir’Shara, the original writings of Surak, on the desk.

“We’ve received word from an approaching runabout. Commander Solen is ready to beam over.”

“Have transporter room one beam him over and tell the Chief to tell him to report to my ready room.” Logan instructed.

“Aye, sir. Sulu out.” Jon said before he closed the channel.

The transporter in transporter room one, located on deck two aft and below of the bridge, filled the room with the characteristic whine of a Starfleet transporter as commander Solen materialized on one of the raised platform’s transport pads.

“Permission to come aboard.” Solen asked the transporter technician formally once he materialized. The technician was a grizzled veteran who seemed to ooze ‘grandfatherlyness’ known as ‘Chief’ for his rank of master chief petty officer. Logan had trained under the Chief on his cadet training cruise and Solen had served with after his assignment to the Federation Embassy on Ktaria VIII, said, “It’s good to see you again.

“Permission granted, sir.” the Chief said, “The captain wants to see you in his ready room as soon as you come aboard.”

“Thank-you, Chief.” Solen said as he stepped off of the transport platform, “For your information I am not displeased at the prospect of serving with you again.”

Solen walked out of the transporter room and headed for Logan’s nearest turbolift as the Chief chuckled to himself and thought that Vulcans had a roundabout way of saying just about everything. When he was standing outside Logan’s ready room Solen reached out and tapped the chime button on the door controls and waited until he heard Logan issue the standard command/invitation of ‘come’. Upon hearing Logan say ‘come’ Solen walked into the ready room with the equipment tote hanging at his side and stood in front of the desk and spoke.

“Commander Solen reporting for duty, sir.” Solen said, formally, as he stood at attention.

“Welcome aboard, commander.” Logan said responding formally. Logan then broke formality and stood up and offered Solen his hand as he continued, “ ‘tis good to see you again, Solen. I’m glad that you accepted the offer to be my ex-oh.”

“It is good to be here.” Solen said as he shook Logan’s hand and came as close to smiling as Vulcans ever did, “I would not have passed up the chance to serve with you for, as you once said, ‘all the ale on Romulus’.”

Solen took the tote from his shoulder, put it on the desk and pushed it towards Logan as he spoke, “Happy Birthday. I realize that I am late, however this is the first chance I have had to present this to you.”

“Thank-you, Solen.” Logan said as he sat and gestured for Solen to do likewise, “and dinnae worry about it.”

“Vulcans do not worry.” Solen said.

“It’s just an expression Solen. It means that it is not an issue.” Logan said, telepathically, with a chuckle as he pulled out the bottle of scotch, “a 2233 Chivas Regal, blended malt scotch…how’d you know that I wanted one?”

“Given your fondness for Starfleet history, non-replicated beverages in general and blended malt scotches in specific I deduced that you would appreciate owning a bottle of scotch that made the year that captain Kirk was born.” Solen responded in kind.

“You know me too well, Solen. ” Logan said as he put the bottle back in the tote and put the tote in the safe-drawer of his desk, “I’d be worried that I’ve become predictable if that was nae the very reason I asked you to be my ex-oh.”

“The fact that we have known each other for nineteen years, since our first year at the Academy, has allowed me to be able to predict your behaviour with ninety-five point nine five seven accuracy.”

“I’ve always wanted to ride shotgun with Kirk and his crew, it’d be a grand adventure. The lot of them would probably be kicked out of Starfleet today, though. Now-a-days Command does nae like that type of cowboy diplomacy.” Logan said. Continuing on he said, “Oh by the way, how are T’Par, T’Lai, and T’Pana doing?”

“They are well.” Solen said before continuing on about his wife and daughters, “T’Par is teaching comparative humanoid anatomy at the Vulcan Science Academy. T’Lai and T’Pana are in their first year at Starfleet Academy. Apparently their studies are proceeding well.”

“Where does the time go?” Logan said, “I remember your wedding. A fine thing it was. And I remember when the girls were born.”

“Now down to official business, Solen.” Logan said, “I’m going to tell you my standing orders so you can communicate them to the crew.”

Not needing a PADD to remember the forth coming orders Solen spoke, “As you wish, sir.”

“From now on its nae necessary to call the crew to attention when I enter a room. All security personnel are to be armed with a minimum of one type two phaser each while on duty, unless they are at a diplomatic function. Any children that are or may come aboard are not allowed in the shuttle bay, engineering, the battle bridges, or the main bridge. Also master chief petty officer Gunn, is to attend senior staff meetings and be reassigned to quarters befitting a senior staff member.”

---

“What the hell is that?!” Owen Paris asked lieutenant Reginald Barclay as they stood in the Pathfinder Lab in the Starfleet Communications building in San Francisco.

“A Borg transwarp aperture, sir.” Barclay stammered, “less than a light-year from Earth.”

“How many vessels?” commander Harkins, Barclay’s superior officer and friend, asked.

“We can’t get a clear reading,” Barclay responded, “The graviton emissions are off the scale.”

“I want every ship in range to converge on those coordinates.” Paris ordered. Upon hearing that his attaché headed for the nearest communications console to send admiral Paris’ order to every undocked ship and station traffic control officer within communications range.

---

Just as Logan finished issuing his orders and before Solen could say anything, lieutenant Sulu’s voice came over the intercom and asked Logan and Solen to report to the bridge.

“What is it, lieutenant?” Logan said, aloud, as he walked onto the bridge with Solen following behind him.

“Starfleet Command has detected a Borg transwarp aperture less than a light-year from Earth.” Jon replied, “We’ve been ordered to rendezvous with the rest of an impromptu fleet that is assembling at the aperture.”

“Are the work bees finished their work?” Logan asked as he sat down in the captain’s chair while Solen took his post at his station.

“Yes, sir.” Jon said as he checked his console, “they’re finished and clear. All umbilical have been retracted. We’re under our own power and all systems are at the ready.”

“Very well.” Logan said as his face took on a determined look, “Red Alert! All hands to battle stations! Mister Sulu aft thrusters at one-quarter port and starboard at station keeping. Full impulse through the yard then maximum warp once we’re clear.”

“Aye, sir.” Jon said as his fingers flew over his console as the regular lighting dimmed and the red alert lights turned on and illuminated the bridge with their red glow, “ETA to rendezvous one point five minutes.”

“Commander Solen let Command know that we’re underway and apprise them of our ETA.”

As Solen advised Command of their status as the Prometheus eased out of its docking frame as its hull marking lights and the running lights, red on the port side green on the starboard side, activated. Once it eased out of the docking frame the Prometheus made its way through the Copernicus fleet yard at full impulse - just over twenty-eight times the thrusters only fleet yard speed limit. Once the Prometheus reached the edge of the fleet yard it jumped to warp nine point nine nine on a direct course for the rendezvous coordinates passing the communications and sensor relay station on the Sedna planetoid on the fringe of the solar system moments later.

---

The disk shaped transwarp aperture, which bore a light resemblance to the Barzan wormhole, was gaping open like a portal to hell and glowing with an unnatural light and an eerie dull radiance. At the centre of the disk was a tunnel that came from nowhere and curved backwards to form the aperture’s disk.

“Commander Solen, put Starfleet frequency one-four-eight-six on the speakers.” Logan said, “and tell Command that we’ve arrived at the rendezvous point.”

Meanwhile at the Pathfinder lab commander Harkins checked a console before addressing admiral Paris, “Eighteen ships are in position and nine more are on the way.”

Barclay looked down at his console and attempted to make sense of the sensor readings that half a dozen independent sensor arrays were relaying to the lab. A sense of dread settled into his mind as he realized what the data was telling him.

“Sir…” Barclay stammered.

“What is it Mister Barclay?” Paris asked as he neared Barclay’s console.

“There’s a vessel coming through…”

Suddenly an imposing Borg sphere burst forth from the transwarp aperture like a lightning bolt emerging from a thundercloud just before the aperture disappeared. The sphere’s surface was an aesthetic nightmare; the sphere’s surface was a mass of exposed conduits highlighted by an unholy green glow from the plasma relay junctions beneath them. Displayed prominently on the sphere’s equator was a large doored aperture that led to the interior.

“This is Admiral Paris,” Paris’ voice said over the speakers of every ship in the fleet, “Use all necessary force. I repeat, use all necessary force.”

Hearing the order the fleet opened fire on the much despised Borg ship, however before the fleet could fire more than a few shots a tremendous explosion began deep within the bowels of the sphere.

“Cease fire!” admiral Paris’ voice said over the intercom on the Prometheus' bridge as the explosions within the sphere reached the hull.

Atmospheric gasses and highly charged plasma escaped from the breaches in the sphere’s hull a moment before the entire ship exploded into a rapidly dissipating an distorting cloud of gases and debris. Suddenly a familiar shape emerged from the flaming cloud. An Intrepid class shape that had clearly had been equipped with defensive technology that Starfleet had no knowledge of. The Intrepid class ship’s hull markings spelt out:

U.S.S. VOYAGER NCC-74656

On each of the eighteen ships at the aperture, the nine ships en route, and at the Pathfinder Lab everyone who had seen what had happened was stunned speechless. After several second of silence Solen broke the quiet on the Prometheus' bridge.

“Captain,” Solen said, “Command is hailing Voyager.”

“Stand down red alert. Put them on speakers.” Logan ordered, “Non-participatory mode.”

“Sorry to surprise you admiral,” Captain Janeway’s voice said over the Prometheus' bridge speakers, “next time we’ll call ahead.”

“Welcome back, captain,” admiral Paris’ voice said over the Prometheus’ bridge speakers, “How did you…?”

“It’ll all be in my report, sir.” Janeway said after Paris trailed off.

“I look forward to it.” Paris said before the Pathfinder Lab closed the channel.

“Orders captain?” Solen asked after turning off the speakers.

“Put me on ship-wide and coordinate with Command for escorting Voyager home.” Logan ordered, “Once we’ve received the signal set a course for Earth and follow Command’s flight plan exactly.”

As Jon’s fingers flew over his console readying the helm to accept the impending flight plan Solen nodded to Logan to tell him he was on ship-wide intercom.

“Attention all hands.” Logan’s voice said in all areas of the ship after the three toned whistle of a boatswain’s whistle, “we were dispatched to deal with a suspected Borg invasion from a transwarp aperture less than a light-year from Earth. Instead a miracle happened…Voyager has returned home. She’s out there ahead of us, less than two thousand kilometres of our bow. You are all members of a small group that will be the envy of billions of Federation citizens because you were present at Voyager’s triumphant return to Federation space after seven years in the Delta quadrant.”

Logan made the ‘cut it’ gesture to Solen so he would close the channel as the nine ships, led by the Enterprise, that were en route arrived. The now the twenty-seven ship fleet fell into an escort formation and began escorting Voyager back to Earth.

“We are under way, captain. Our speed is full impulse and our ETA at Earth is in twenty-four hours.”

“Why so slow?” Logan asked amazed that command would have chosen such a drawn out flight plan.

“Command’s flight plan.” Jon said, “If I had to take a guess I’d say it’s to give command time to organize a reception and give Voyager’s crew time to adjust to being home.”

“Commander Solen,” Logan said as he stood up, “You have the bridge. If I’m not on the bridge when we’re on approach tomorrow call me to the bridge.”

“Aye, sir.” Solen said as Logan headed for the turbolift trying to hide a limp as he walked.

Logan walked into the Prometheus’ sickbay moments later where Atana and her medical staff tended to the health of the ship’s one hundred forty person crew and headed for the CMO’s desk that Atana sat at doing prep work as her head nurse lieutenant junior grade Halley Williams stood at the pharmacy station as she checked over the medicine supplies. The sickbay consisted of a circular surgical area with a single bio-bed on a slightly raised dais and a computer workstation a few feet from the bio-bed and an office area to the aft of the surgical area. Around the surgical area was a circular walkway which provided access to the office area and surgical area while still affording the surgical area with a degree of privacy. Between the surgical area and the chief medical officer’s desk, which faced the bio-bed and was in a recessed alcove with LCARS computer access panels on the wall of the alcove, was a duty nurse’s station and pharmacy station.

“What can I do for you, captain?” Atana asked Logan as he approached her desk.

“My left leg fell asleep from the knee down.” Logan said with a crooked smile, “I can barely walk.”

“Hmmm,” Atana mused as she got up and walked towards Logan, “It’s probably just the nerves in your bio-synthetic knee. Take a seat on the main bio-bed and I’ll take a look at it.”

Logan walked, albeit slowly and uncomfortably, to the bio-bed at the base of the large display and climbed up on it as Atana snatched a medical tricorder off of the pharmacy station and walked over to him. Atana flipped the tricorder open with a flick of her wrist and pulled the medical scanner from the compartment in the back of the tricorder and began scanning Logan’s left knee. After a moment Atana stowed the scanner in its compartment and closed the tricorder.

“It’s just as I thought. This shouldn’t take long it’s nothing a little asinolyathin can’t cure.” Atana said before she walked over to the pharmacy station and set down the tricorder before picking up a hypospray with a blue cartridge in it and adjusting the control.

Atana walked back to Logan and pressed the hypospray to his knee, injecting 1 cc of asinolyathin, one of Starfleet’s general purpose anti-inflammatories. Seconds later Logan’s knee felt like normal and he hopped off of the bio-bed.”

“Is there anything else I can do for you?” Atana asked.

“No, lass. That was all that was wrong. Thank-you. Be seein’ ye later.” Logan said before he left the modest sickbay and headed for his ready room to record his first official log entry.

---

''Captain’s Log. Stardate 54973.8''

''These are the voyages of the Federation starship Prometheus. Her continuing mission: to defend the worlds of the Federation, to seek out new worlds and new civilizations, to advance the frontiers of knowledge and to follow the mandate in Starfleet’s charter; to boldly go where no one has gone before.''

''Today the Prometheus, the prototype for the Prometheus class deep-space tactical cruiser, was ordered to proceed to a set of coordinates, less than a light-year from Earth, where a Borg transwarp aperture appeared. The Prometheus was meant to be part of a hastily assembled fleet intended to deal with the anticipated Borg invasion.''

''Just as the Prometheus and seventeen other ships, who were able to make it to the aperture in eight minutes or less, fell into a standard wall formation a Borg sphere emerged from the aperture just before it closed. The sphere exploded after a few moments of being fired on from internal explosions that could not have been caused by the fleet’s combined weapons fire. Something happened next that no one could possibly have predicted…the starship Voyager emerged from the cloud of debris, flaming plasma and atmospheric gases.''

''As the explosion dissipated the fleet fell into a multi-ship escort formation and began escorting Voyager back to Earth so she could dock at Spacedock. The escort is occurring at full impulse, to allow time to debrief Voyager’s senior staff and give Voyager’s crew access to counsellors before they see their families again. This delay also happens to give Starfleet Command a day to plan a welcome home bash for Voyager’s crew. I’m assuming that Command has already dispatched a clean-up crew to gather up the Borg debris and transport it to the Anti-Borg Task Force R&D team at Starbase 324.''

Forward to Chapter 4