Star Trek: Pyramid
Pyramid. by P Hubbard <phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Copyright 1994.
Part 1
No one had set eyes on this area of the Amazonian rain forest.
No one except the native indians of the area and the survey team
now standing on the banks of a small river. A chance find in a
old dusty archive at the Smithsonian museum had dug up a old NOAA
survey satellite picture, a picture that revealed several dozen
pyramids of various shapes and sizes built in uniform rows, deep
within the jungle.
The natives referred to the builders who created the pyramids as
the old ones and regarded themselves as the protectors against
outsiders, people who would bring death and destruction like the
Spanish conquistadors who arrived from the east many centuries
ago. In these 'enlightened' times however, the natives existed
with the outside world in a uneasy co-existence and would only
tolerate scientists, men and women driven by knowledge, not
greed. This survey party was the first of many, set down near
the ancient ruins by the transporters at Earth orbital control,
three hundred miles above.
At the bank side, geologist Tamara Hudson sat on the damp earth,
PADD in hand, checking off the inventory of supplies and
scientific equipment. The team of five had been dropped a day
earlier and were ready to make their way into the ruined city,
as soon as the supplies had been checked. The archaeologist of
the group, Gustav Svensson sauntered over to Tamara from a
cluster of trees.
'How's it going?' enquired Gustav.
'Nearly done' replied Tamara, 'just a few more things to do, send
the slip back to orbital control and we are on our own for two
weeks. Plenty of sun, might get a tan'.
'Ha, you'll be lucky. Knowing our luck, Harry will have us
inside deep, cold pyramids for the two weeks'.
'Oh, knock it off' she chuckled, 'you know Harry isn't inclined
like that, besides, we have been happily married for three months
and he didn't book us into a cave for our honeymoon'.
'Ok ok, just winding you up, anyhow, our beloved leader has sent
me to ask you if your coming on the preliminary scout around or
sulk here?'.
'No, I'll give it a miss. I have a few rock samples to take from
that bluff over there, noticed a few bones sticking out like a
sore thumb and they got me interested'.
'We'll be back later, keep the dinner on the boil'.
'But it's field rations'.
'Just using my imagination, see you later'. He walked off over
to the other three who were now ready to get started. With a
cheery wave, they disappeared into the jungle.
____________
A few hours later, the survey team popped out into a clearing.
Before them stood a mighty Aztec style pyramid, covered in bushes
and creepers. A white streak was visible where heavy rains had
washed away the undergrowth, revealing the stones.
'Nice!!!!!' exclaimed Harry.
'Early Aztec design...', said Gustav, 'very similar to those
found in Mexico, almost intact'.
'I would'nt get too close if I was you' said George Prowse, the
missions scientist, 'the tricorder is picking up a radioactive
reading....'.
'Say what????? Are you sure????'
'Sure as sure can be, look at that, reading are right off the
scale over there where the plants don't grow. Someone's been
popping mushrooms around here'.
Benson, the survey leader cut in. 'Just how close can we get?'.
'Provided we don't spend too long near it, about a hour, hour and
a half at the most. The radiation level may be lower inside'.
They covered the ground over to the entrance tunnel, carefully
picking their way around several hot spots. Finally, they
arrived at the entrance to the pyramid.
'Readings?'
'High outside Guv, but the reading tail off inside'.
'OK, we go in' replied Benson. 'If it gets too hot in there then
everybody out, we can't take chances. And, as I'm sure our
resident bonepicker will tell you, watch out for booby traps,
don't touch anything!!!!!'.
Gustav chuckled. 'That's telling em Guvnor'.
'OK, lets go'.
Benson entered the tunnel first, shining his small flashlight
ahead. Prowse and Hudson entered with Gustav in the rear,
whistling the theme tune to a old 20th century movie.
Hudson glanced back at Gustav. 'I knew it was a mistake to watch
those old films, who do you think you are? Dakota Jones?'.
'Indiana, get it right'.
The tunnel continued into the pyramid, overgrown with plants and
vines. A colony of bats hung from the roof, several species of
large spider was in abundance.
'Euughhh, can't stand spiders' remarked Prowse.
'Remind me to send you one for Christmas' called Gustav.
Benson cut the banter short. 'Hey you guys, belt up and have a
look at this picture on the wall up here......'.
They all clustered around a wall carving. A figure in ceremonial
clothing was seated in some sort of a throne, his hand grasping
a stick attached to a table fitted to the chair. Flames were
shooting out of the rear of the chair and small stars were carved
into the stone.
'Look at this guy', exclaimed Prowse, 'looks like he's been
eating our bean rations as well!!!!!!'.
They all chuckled. 'With all that gas, you'd see stars as well!'
replied Gustav.
'Photograph it. Radiation reading?'.
'Nominal'.
'OK, lets go on'.
__________
Back at the bank side, Tamara stood at the bluff, trowel in one
hand and sample hammer in the other. It was'nt a wasted day,
several samples of anthracite had been dug out along with a few
animal bones.
A clump of bushes twenty yards away rustled violently. Startled,
Tamara turned to look. As she did so, her tricorder dropped off
of her belt and fell into the sample box. Warning chimes
emanated from it.
The bushes were quiet, 'Probably a dumb bird' she mused.
Bending over, she removed the tricorder from the box. A small
radiation reading was visible on the scale.
'Radioactive anthracite......nice!'.
The bushes rustled again.
She whirled. 'OK, WHOEVER YOU ARE, COME OUT NOW....'
Nothing happened for a few seconds, then the bushes parted to
reveal a small boy, indian in appearance. Timidly, he made his
way over to Tamara.
'Who are you'.
The boy remained silent.
'What are you doing here?'.
Silence.
'Your welcome to watch' she replied finally and turned to carry
on removing samples from the rock. The young boy stood for a few
seconds, then sat down on a small boulder and watched.
__________
The survey team stood in a small chamber, in the centre stood a
small pedestal. On it, a large quartz ball sat in a dimple.
Various baz reliefs, dirtied by age and animal life stared down
at the interlopers. Prowse stood next to it, tricoder in his
hand, examining the object.
After a few seconds, Benson interrupted. 'What have you got?'.
'We'llll......it's not quartz........it's Dilithium!!!!'.
'Are you sure?'.
'One hundred percent positive, no doubt at all'.
'Jeeeeezzz, what a find'.
'The best part is' continued Prowse, is that it didn't originate
here. It's not from this planet, grade is all wrong, too pure'.
'Any booby traps?'.
'None that this detector can find'.
Benson came to a snap decision. 'All right, remove it and bag
it'.
'Your taking a chance' exclaimed Hudson. A large spider ran
across his feet, he jumped.
'Your just a bunch of old women' snapped Benson who leaned across
and removed the ball from the pedestal.
The tricorder queeped. Prowse looked at it and recoiled in
horror. 'Radiation levels have just jumped sixfold.....and
climbing. We gotta get out of here now'.
'Alright' replied Benson. 'Everybody out.........NOW'.
_________
Back at the bluff, Tamara stood, working a large stone loose.
It came free in her hand, dust and all. She pointed a tricorder
at it, no radiation.
'Strange' she muttered.
Picking up a large brush, she cleared away a mound of debris and
made a startling discovery. Two empty sockets and teeth stared
back at her. Pointing the tricorder at the skull, the radiation
reading went wild.
'Will you look at that' she said to the young boy who was by now
interested in what she was doing. 'Radioactive bones'.
The bushes parted and Gustav staggered into the clearing, blood
pouring from his lips. He took two paces and collapsed in a
heap. Tamara ran over to the now prostrate body and helped him
up. His hands were covered in blood blisters and hair was
starting to drop out of his head in clumps.
'Where are the others???....the others???' she yelled, violently
shaking him.
'Dead' he mumbled, 'all dead' and then passed out. A bag he was
carrying fell to the ground and the clear ball rolled out. The
young boy ran off screaming into the forest. Tamara didn't know
much spanish but the boy was screaming 'the plague returns'.
She set Gustav down onto the ground and ran over to the subspace
transmitter unit, selected a open channel and started sending.
'This is Survey one to Earth control, survey one to Earth
control. We have a medical emergency, repeat, medical emergency,
come in Earth control.....'
End of part 1.
~~~ Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR]
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
From: phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk (Paul Hubbard)
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!shbbs!phubb
Subject: Pyramid Pt2
Organization: Silicon Heaven BBS (2200-0630 UTC) (44-1626-834331) V32B
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 00:10:50 +0000
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Pyramid by P Hubbard <phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Copyright 1994.
Part 2
Captains log: The Enterprise has been ordered to rendezvous with
the USS Nadir at the Zinomos system for a top level meeting with
Admiral Harris. Very little has been forthcoming from the
Admiral and I admit to being a little apprehensive as to the
details of the briefing. My engineering officer was dispatched
on a runabout three days ago, under orders, to meet with the
Nadir for preliminary reports and engineering has been enjoying,
for want of a better word, a quiet spell. We are currently in
orbit around Zinomos 4 awaiting arrival of the Nadir which has
just been picked up by long range sensors. The crew are on
standby awaiting orders which is a pity since Zinomos 4 boasts
the best rest and relaxation facilities in this corner of the
galaxy, with the exception of Risa. Commander Riker has been
chafing at the bit, wanting to set foot on the surface but
realises duty comes first. Maybe when this mystery is over, we
can relax here on a extended leave. End log.
Out in space, the USS Enterprise drifted lazily in Zinosyncronous
orbit above the planet. Forty thousand miles astern, space
wavered, stretched and burst into colour and the Nadir exited
warp space, dragging sub atomic particles with it. With a quick
burst of speed, the Nadir matched bearings with the Enterprise
and slid alongside, a bare 2 kilometres off the port side. A
Ambassador class starship, the Nadir had the unenviable
distinction of belonging to the elite but small club of starships
to escape the gravitational well of a black hole. The full
details were sketchy but apparently the Nadir was testing a new
subspace sensor system when it malfunctioned at a critical
moment. The Nadir had run blindly into the grasp of a uncharted
black hole and it was only the quick thinking of her commanding
officer, namely jettisoning all matter and antimatter reserves
into the hole that saved the ship, the resulting explosion
blowing her away. Two thirds of the crew died in that incident
along with the captains beloved Basset hound, the ships
unofficial mascot.
The captain of the Nadir never forgave himself.
On board the Enterprise, Picard stretched in his seat, stifled
a yawn and stood up, unconsciously tugging at the waistband of
his tunic. He turned to Worf on the tactical panel.
'Mr Worf, open hailing frequencies'.
'Aye Sir, hailing the Nadir'. A few seconds passed,
'communications link established Sir' reported Worf.
'On screen'.
The view of the planet and surrounding stars cleared to a
internal image of the Nadir. At the conn sat Captain Donald
Brooks, a twenty five year veteran of the Cardassian wars and
latterly, survivor of the Borg encroachment at Wolf 359.
'Jean Luc, nice to see you again. How's the leg?'.
Behind him, Troi smirked. Riker, totally non plussed, looked
over at Troi for a hint, none was forthcoming.
Picard chuckled, suddenly reminded of that wild promotion party
on Saris Prime when a Andorian gatecrasher started a brawl,
sinking his teeth into Picards leg. The marks were still visible
after all these years.
'Oh not bad Donald, the limps gone away. How's things with you
on the Nadir? A fine ship if ever I saw one'.
'You can talk, my old pal, Jean Luc Picard, commanding officer
of Starfleet finest ship. The guys from our old class always
knew you'd make it big whilst all I got was a clockwork
starship'.
'Clockwork my foot, you should get our electric bill!'.
Both chuckled at this. Picard paused for a second, then
continued.
'Down to business, do you have any idea what this is all about?'.
'Nope' replied Brooks, 'Not a sausage. I've been sworn to
secrecy about the whole matter. Admiral Harris would have my
heart on a plate if I disclosed any details before time. Your
instructions are as follows. You are to de-pressurise and
deactivate the gravity system in your main shuttle bay. The
admiral will be coming over by shuttle in a few minutes, in fact'
he said, glancing at the panel', they are just signalling they
are ready to leave'.
'I'll get onto it right away'.
'By the way, commendations to your engineering
officer...ummm..Geordi Lafladge?'.
'LaForge'.
'Thanks, LaForge. Whilst we were on our way over here he took
a look at our warp engines for us. Improved engine efficiency
up to ninety two percent, old girl goes like a rocket'.
'We wondered why you arrived half a day early!!!'.
'Hell of a guy, told him to relax and he spends his time looking
at the design specs. I envy you Jean Luc. Anyhow, they're just
leaving now, my orders are to get going as soon as you have been
briefed by the admiral. Got a job on hold out Vasath way. Nice
to see you again Jean Luc, and don't let the Andorians bite'.
'You too Donald. Till next time'. He turned to Worf, 'close
channel and put the shuttle up on screen'. The view screen
cleared to image of the Starfleet banner.
'Channel closed Sir' reported Worf.
Riker couldn't resist butting in. 'Leg biting Andorians?'.
'Long story Will, maybe later I'll explain. It was a....
memorable experience'.
Riker turned to Troi and raised his eyebrows at her. Troi had
a idea of what happened but was not going to give on.
'Worf, Riker, with me'. They marched over to the Turbolift where
a car was conveniently waiting.
'Deck three'. The lift dropped.
They entered the shuttlebay in a pressurised area. As
instructed, the main shuttle bay had been depressurised and the
gravity turned off. Several wall fixed cargo straps waved like
seaweed in a current. A strange looking shuttle slowly nursed
it's way into the cargo deck, ungainly looking and badly out of
date, two hundred and fifty years out of date to be exact. It
hovered over a marker and slowly, with a puff of thrusters,
settled down onto the deck.
'Cargo bay force field engaged' reported Chief Starr, 'Re-
pressurising cargo bay'.
A few minutes passed, then Starr cut in. Bay pressurised, it's
safe to enter captain'.
'Thank you Mr Starr, gentlemen..'.
They proceeded into the shuttle bay. As they approached the
craft, the exit hatch slowly cranked open and Geordi LaForge
popped out onto the deck, looking decidedly green as his stomach
re-adjusted to gravity. A striking young woman followed next
with Admiral Harris following up in the rear. Picard and his
officers started to line up to give the traditional salute.
Harris waved them down.
'No formalities gentlemen.' retorted Harris, 'This is a friendly
visit. besides, I have been waited on hand and foot on the Nadir
and a break is most welcome'.
'Welcome to the Enterprise' replied Picard.
'Good, we don't have much time. First, your chief engineer, safe
and sound but a bit green around the gills. Secondly, this is
Tamara Hudson. She will be going with you on your mission, I
trust your conference room is not far from here?'.
'No Sir'.
'Well, lets get a move on'.
End of part 2.
~~~ Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR]
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
From: phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk (Paul Hubbard)
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!shbbs!phubb
Subject: Pyramid Pt3
Organization: Silicon Heaven BBS (2200-0630 UTC) (44-1626-834331) V32B
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 00:10:50 +0000
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Pyramid. by P Hubbard <phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Copyright 1994
Part 3.
As conference rooms went, the Enterprise's was one of the better
decorated but still looked functional. Admiral Harris, his first
time on a galaxy class starship, was looking and everyone and
everything within sight. Finally, the last department heads
arrived and the old admiral signalled it was time to start.
'Gentlemen...and ladies' he started. 'I am here on official
business from the Federation council'.
He paused and took a deep breath.
'Three months ago, a deep space sensor drone on a routine survey
picked up the first signs of life in the Alpha Digorius star
system. The signals in question were of a old form of
communication similar to Television of the late 20th century
Earth period. Very little is known about the inhabitants of AD3
but they have made large inroads into space, have mastered atomic
spaceflight and have set up several bases on their outer
planets'.
Picard cut in. 'Why all the interest?'.
'Errm, the problem is this. For their technological level, they
are using Dilithium as a energy mediator in their spacecraft
engines. I know what your thinking, there is no mistake at all,
Dilithium. And what's more, the planet is heaving with it.
However, there is another connection and I'm now turning this
meeting over to Ms Tamara Hudson...'.
The young woman stood up, looked nervously around the room, then
started.
'We have reason to believe that the inhabitants of AD3 visited
Earth several thousand years ago'.
Picard's eyebrows climbed, Riker looked at Troi, Crusher looked
at Data who sat surprised, assuming a android can be surprised.
Only Worf looked indifferent to the news.
She glanced around, then continued. 'Five months ago, a survey
team lead by my late husband, conducted a survey at a site within
the Amazonian rain forest. A sample, at great cost to human
life, of Dilithium was obtained from one of the ruins. Analysis
proved it to be of non Earth origin and totally alien to any
other sources of Dilithium within the solar system'.
'Excuse me' interrupted Data, 'but what proof do you have that
the sample is connected with AD3?'.
'Very little,' continued Tamara, 'the only proof we have is
this'.
She motioned to the wall mounted screen. On it was displayed two
pictures, the left hand picture a archive record of a Aztec
pyramid and the right picture, a image of a identical pyramid.
The only problem being that the right hand image had been
obtained from radio transmissions from AD3.
'Pretty conclusive, my congratulations' said Picard.
'The is another issue at stake' started Admiral Harris. 'Three
hundred parsecs beyond Alpha Digorius is the boundary of Gamma
Quadrant and territory belonging to the Dominion. I don't have
to remind you all what could happen if the Dominion got their
hands on such a stockpile of pure, weapons grade Dilithium'.
Worf looked disgusted. 'They would be all powerful and roll over
us as though we never existed'.
'Exactly. Captain Picard, your mission is this. You and a
handful of select officers are to go undercover and pose as
traders, collect as much data on the current state of
technological progress and determine if they are ready for first
contact. Since they have a advanced space tracking network that
extends into space for 75 million miles, the use of the
Enterprise close to AD3 is prohibited, we don't want to tip our
hand. With this in mind, a small short range star freighter, the
Corvus, will be arriving tonight. With the shuttle you will
travel to AD3, the Enterprise will monitor. Commander Riker,
I understand you hold a A1 pilots license?'.
'That's correct Sir'.
'You will be one of those going on this mission. The Corvus
arrives tonight, you have until then to familiarise yourself with
the shuttle. That's it, any questions?'.
Silence...
'Good, I would have liked to stay longer but pressing problems
elsewhere require my attention. Nice ship Jean Luc, good luck
and make sure you get back'.
'Thank you Sir, briefing dismissed'.
__________
Down in the shuttle bay, a perplexed Will Riker stood and stared
at the shuttle craft. 'What a wreck' he thought, ' a real
dinosaur!!!!'. He slowly circled the ship and came across a foot
sticking out from the underside of the ship.
'Geordi?, is that you?'.
'Uh hhhuuhhhhhh'.
'Problems?'
'Oh no Commander.' came a muffled voice, 'Just adding a few extra
items, more oxygen for the life support, that sort of thing.
Also a subspace tracking beacon where no one can find it'.
'Sounds like you have your work cut out, is there any gravity on
this thing?'.
'Oh no, gravity was a luxury when these were built. Sir, to be
honest, if you think this looks bad, wait until you see the
Corvus'.
'Bit of a heap?'.
'Lot of a heap!! She's fitted with a fusion powered plasma drive
engine as main drive. Maximum acceleration is about .2g and when
you want to de-accelerate, you have to turn the ship and apply
thrust against the direction of travel'.
'Sounds like a lot of fun'.
'Are you being serious commander?'.
'Nope, just apprehensive I guess. When can we take her out for
a test flight?'.
'A few minutes, just fitting the last connection to the beacon
unit........yeah, all done, coming out'.
Geordi slid out from the underside, rolled over and fitted the
access panel back on.
'Ready when you are Sir' he said, and started for the hatch.
Riker took another look at the old ship, shook his head and then
followed, buttoning up the hatchway.
The inside was not much better. Obsolete equipment hung from the
rack. Four acceleration couches sat two abreast , the front two
for the pilot and navigator, the last two for passengers. A
impressive cargo bay area stretched behind, several old pre-
duotronic computers sat in harnesses.
'Are we flogging those old computers?'.
'Yes Sir.' replied geordi. 'Those old computers will be state
of the art on AD3. We needed a good cover and trading
technological goods seemed as good as any. The hold of the
Corvus is full of old equipment, useless to use but perfect for
our destination. Besides, Starfleet is offering us a cut of the
profits if we manage to sell it all'.
'I guess it would only end up on a matter reclamation dump site
if we didn't have a use for it,' mused Riker, 'besides, it's time
to find out how this crate flies'.
Riker squeezed past the seats, found the pilots couch and plonked
himself squarely down on the seat. A grimace of pain shot across
his face and he slowly adjusted himself.
'Problem commander?'.
'Just these seats Geordi, a little padding would not go amiss.
Right, shuttlecraft to bay control'.
'Bay control here Sir' squawked the reply.
'Ready to depressurise bay and cut gravity'.
'Three minutes to full depressurisation, cutting gravity now'.
Small objects slowly began to rise. Riker's stomach looped the
loop and Geordi's green hue returned. Composing himself, Riker
carried on with the startup sequence.
'Bay to Shuttlecraft'.
'Shuttle here'.
'Confirmed bay is depressurised. Annular force field has been
dropped. You are cleared to release magnetic clamps for
departure'.
'Roger. Dropping clamps'.
Geordi cut the holding clamps and the shuttle slowly lifted off
the deck. Two puffs of the OMS thrusters and she drifted out of
the bay into space.
'Right,' said Riker, 'lets see what this superannuated
firecracker can do....whhhoooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'.
The battered old shuttle took off like a rocket, which was not
at all surprising since that was what she was, looped the loop
twice around the starboard warp nacelle and shot off astern,
weaving and bucking like a wild horse at a rodeo.
'I thought you could fly this thing commander???'.
'Relax, just feeling out the controls, throttling back engines'.
The shuttle screamed to a halt, flipped around at a 90 degree
angle then shot off on a crazy looping course back towards the
Enterprise.
On the bridge Picard was looking just a little worried at the
antics, staring with amazement at the forward viewer. Finally,
he turned to Troi.
'I'm having second thoughts about this mission already....'.
'Relax.' replied Troi. 'Remember, I'll be in the same boat as
you as well'.
'Sir.' called in Worf. Incoming transmission from the shuttle,
voice only'.
'On speakers'.
'Shuttlecraft to Enterprise'.
'Enterprise here, having fun number one?'.
'Just a few problems with the guidance systems sir. They use a
old device called a gyroscope and according to Geordi, they kept
tumbling. He's sorted it out now and all ok'.
'How does she handle Will?'.
'Like a dream, not as responsive as the Enterprise shuttles but
has a good engine. You won't believe this sir but she has no
inertial dampers fitted'.
'None?'.
'Nope, none at all. You can feel every twist and turn she makes,
should make for a interesting ride'.
'Are you coming back in number one?'.
'Just five more minutes of checking and we will head back. By
the way, ask Worf if the locator beacon is working'.
'Worf?'.
'Beacon on board shuttle craft is coming in strong, 5 by 5'
repled Worf.
'All OK at this end number one, Enterprise out'.
On the main viewer, the shuttlecraft had finally straightened out
and was slowly circling the Enterprise at a sedate .13 light
speed.
'Sir...' called in Worf, 'incoming message. The Corvus has
arrived, matching orbit in 20 minutes'.
'Good. Troi, you have the bridge, I'll be in my ready room'.
End of part 3
~~~ Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR]
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
From: phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk (Paul Hubbard)
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!shbbs!phubb
Subject: Pyramid Pt4
Organization: Silicon Heaven BBS (2200-0630 UTC) (44-1626-834331) V32B
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 00:10:50 +0000
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Pyramid. by P Hubbard <phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Copyright 1994
part 4
The Corvus sat five hundred yads to the starboard side of the
Enterprise. The finalised crew selection sat in thier
acceleration seats. Riker, Troi, Picard and Hudson, all
apprehensive as to the coming trip. Picard would have dearly
loved to take LaForge along for the ride, a skilled engineer in
a outmoded rust bucket would have been a asset. However,
Geordi's visor would have caused more problems than it would have
solved and he was reluctant to stay on the Enterprise.
Another problem was what to wear. Starfleet uniforms were out
of the question. It was finally decided that the away team
should wear boiler suit type dressing, assuming anybody could
remember what a 20th century well dressed boiler man would wear.
The final product was not too short of roughly looking like a
sack with holes cut in the ends for various appendages. Picard
and Riker carried it off perfectly, Troi looked bulky but a few
curves strategicly stuck out, much to the interest of Riker.
Only Hudson looked good, a small belt around her waist giving the
suit a bit of shape.
All too soon it was time to get underway.
"Picard to Enterprise".
"Enterprise here Sir" boomed the voice of Worf through the tinny
speaker.
"Departure track confirmed, ready to power up plant".
"Departure track confirmed" replied Worf, "Good luck Sir".
"Thank you, Corvus out". He closed the comm channel. "O.K,
let's get this rust bucket on it's way".
"Powering up main reactor" called in Riker.
"Confirmed power up, starting fuel pumps, plasma igniter at full
charge" replied Troi.
"Just like old time's Deanna!!" said Riker. She did'nt say much,
just smiled. Memories of sharing a clapped out hover flier on
Betazed came to a head, those sultry nights in the mountains.
She stopped, suddenly aware of Riker's gaze. Maybe he had learnt
some skills on Betazed after all.
"Main drive firing in 5...4...3...2...1....ignition....."
A pure blue white plasma flame slowly emerged from the main drive
of the Corvus, leaping out several kilometers from the ship.
Observers in Ten Forward were momentarily stunned by the fury of
the old ship, many harking back to the good old days of
spaceflight where a pilot actually flew by the seat of his pants.
Troi looked up. "Message from Enterprise Sir, message reads
'Nice fireworks, Bon Voyage. Data'".
"Signal our acknoledgements".
Just at that moment, Riker forehead creased into a frown.
Several indicators on the board had suddenly lit up.
"Problem number one?".
"Number four fuel is overheating. Nothing to worry about at the
moment provided we don't push her too hard. Also, number two
tank pressuriser regulator has gone out of tolerance. If the
pressure build up gets to high, I may have to vent".
"Keep at it number one".
Picard privatly smiled to himself. The next forty eight hours
would be, to put it bluntly, very interesting.
Riker looked up. "Main drive drive shutting down in
5...4...3...2...1...shutting down now".
The howling from the rear of the ship slowly died away.
"Relative speed to the Enterprise is approx .3 sublight. Eta for
AD3 is 47 hours 15 minutes".
"Very good Will" replied Picard, "Troi?, where are you going?"
"To figure out how these zero gee toilets work..." she replied
with a wry grin.
________________
It's funny how easy it is to kill time on a long distance trip,
that is assuming you have a talkative computer on a modern
shuttle to keep throwing trivial pursuit at you. The Corvus was
not one of those ships, however, digging around in spare crew
compartments, a old and battered Monopoly game was found and gave
many hours of enjoyment. Poker would have been more fun but
nobody has figured out how to play in zero G, cards floating away
was and still is a major problem, chips were another matter
altogether. Monopoly was'nt too bad, the pieces had to be stuck
down with pieces of tacky, keeping a track on winnings was
another matter. The only cure was to stuff it down the back of
thier waist belts.
Troi rolled the dice, which was made of metal. Tamara has
magnetised then so they would stick to a metal surface. A six
and a two stuck up, Troi started to move her piece.
"..six...seven...eight....Alpha Centauri sanitary works!!!.."
"Mine!" replied Riker with glee, "600 credits.."
"Bloodsucker!" retorted Troi, then paid up.
Picard picked up the dice and rolled a 2 and a four.
"That put's me on Risa 4, how much to buy Banker?".
"1500 credits for the planet".
"Ok, I'll buy, and also put me up a Holosuite palace on Deneb 2"
"1800 credits total bill.......thank you, your roll Will".
Rattle rattle rattle clunk. "Federation Chest.......You owe the
First Federation bank 6000 credits in bank fees...oh hell!!".
Troi beamed, "pay up and look big".
"You know I'm big!!!!". Troi blushed.
"Bragging again commander?" enquired Hudson.
"not at all, not at all..."
A chime sounded from the control cabin, breaking all
concentration. Picard got up, followed by the others and headed
for his control desk.
"I have a incoming message from a outer control base near AD3"
called Troi.
Picard half turned to Troi, "what do they have to say?".
"Very little Sir, just who are we and what do we want".
"Send our ships ident and details of trading cargo. Will, are
we being scanned?".
"They're locked onto us and scanning, old style radar only".
"Keeping a lock just incase we don't appear to be what we claim.
What's the bets there are nuclear tipped missiles locked on as
well?".
"Forgone conclusion Sir".
"I have a return message sir" cut in Troi. "Vector co-ordinates
as well for a point somewhere in orbit around AD3, sending to
navigation desk now".
"Got it" replied Tamara.
Picard came to a decision. "OK, adjusting trajectory, five
second OMS burn will give enough deviation, prepare to rotate
ship after OMS burn. Burning...Mark".
Several small rocket's adjusted the course slighty, not by much
at the firing point but enought to give a four thousand mile
deviation at planet fall. Riker checked his readouts, making
sure everything was alright.
"Course deviation confirmed, ready to rotate ship and start up
fusion drive for de-acceleration phase".
"Make it so".
The Corvus slowly turned on her axis, a dull red glow emanated
from the rear as the fusion pile slowly warmed up for it's power
burn. Finally, the ship stopped turning, a few OMS thrusters
popped as residual spin was cancelled.
"Start main engines for de-acceleration" called Picard.
A dull roar filled the cabin. "Main drive running at 47%"
replied Riker.
"How's that number 4 pump?"
"Steady for now, it appears to be behaving itself for the
moment".
Several tense minutes passed as the de-orbit burn continued. All
eyes were on the flight path indicators. Not only had the de-
acceleration burn had to be carried out but the orbit insertion
burn had to be done as well. Finally, the engines shut down on
the mark.
"Tamara, orbit?" enquired Picard.
"Orbit confirms as equatorial, altitude 250 kilometers"
"Good".
"Message coming in Sir, message reads ..Welcome to Asqath
station, please proceed to docking bay twelve. That's all".
"Adjust course for intercept".
End of part 4.
~~~ Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR]
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
From: phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk (Paul Hubbard)
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!shbbs!phubb
Subject: Pyramid Pt5
Organization: Silicon Heaven BBS (2200-0630 UTC) (44-1626-834331) V32B
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 00:10:51 +0000
Message-ID: <e83_9410140729@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk
Lines: 152
Pyramid. by P Hubbard. <phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Copyright 1994
Part 5
For a technologically backwards planet such as AD3, Asquath
station was a large and lavish affair. Studded with multiple
docking bays around the perimeter of a rotating hub, the bays
remained steady with a constant zero G whilst the rest of the
station enjoyed a near planet gravity. The Corvus, by no means
small at 100 meters in length was dwarfed by the entrance to
docking bay twelve.
Picard took no chances, slowly sidling up on the station at a
sedate pace. Satisfied that nothing was amiss, the Corvus was
slowly driven through the portal into the station. Inside, two
small space tugs floated over, attached magnetic grapples to the
hull and winched the Corvus into her docking berth.
A message from the space dock caught Troi's attention.
"Sir, space dock reports that the ship is secure and they are
activating artificial gravity!!!!"
"They're not supposed to have anything so advanced" replied Riker
whose thought train was cut off in mid stride with the sound of
objects slowly crashing to the deck as the gravity came on.
Almost immediately, the crew felt better, their internal body
systems giving away the fact that they developed in a gravity
environment.
"That's better number one" said Picard, "I guess the AD3 version
of customs will be along shortly. Make ready the cargo manifest
for inspection."
Asquath station internally was by no means a impressive affair.
To the untrained observer, a space station is just that, a
station. To the Enterprise crew, Asquath station was a badly
bolted together, urgent affair. Strange girders had been bolted
on in places almost as a after thought. How the station held
itself together was a mystery.
A loud grappling noise made them jump. Customs had arrived.
After the necessary identities had been confirmed, the airlock
hatch opened and in strode a smartly dressed official, electronic
clipboard in hand. His gaze slowly passed over the interior,
then over the crew.
"I am Official Zarn of his Imperial Majesties Customs and
Excise." he said. "I require a full inventory for my report of
all cargo and details of the crew for landing passes."
"Of course, no problem at all" replied Picard, handing over to
him the inventory sheet.
"According to this, you are Captain Livingstone. Where are you
people from?"
Picard grimaced, his pseudo name was a hasty grab from his pet
fish inside his ready room.
"We come from a small planet about three light years outside your
system. We have been in transit for four and a half years, this
is our first foray outside of our system on a trading run."
"Hmmmmm, how did you find out about us?"
"Passing traders mostly, and what we managed to pick up from the
EM emission from your planet."
Zarn slowly walked back into the cargo bay, took a quick look at
the rows of computers and turned.
"Is this all your cargo?"
"Yes" replied Riker, now interested.
"Ha! You will have trouble selling this technological equipment
on our world" said Zarn.
"Too advanced?"
"Too retarded" retorted Zarn. "We have progressed onto Optical
chips for our data processing now. This computer equipment is
so much junk, no more, no less. You may be better off selling
it to a matter reclamation unit".
"Oh" was all that Riker could say.
Zarn continued. "I have no problems granting you shore leave at
all. A copy of the local laws are available at the customs desk.
Here are your passes, enjoy your stay".
The airlock cycled and Zarn was gone, his customs tender slowly
cruised back to it's holding berth.
"That's our profit down the pan!" bemoaned Troi.
Picard cut in. "We still have a mission to perform here. Myself
and Tamara will go over to the main station and sample the
cuisine. Troi, see if you can link the main sensors into the
local communications net, keep the recorders rolling. Will,
after you transport myself and Hudson over to the station, ships
security will be your responsibility. Keep her safe. Hudson,
with me".
"Aye aye Sir" she replied resolutely.
________________
As it turned out, Riker was a dab hand at flying the small
shuttle. He docked neatly at the airlock, gave a cheery wave to
Picard and Hudson as the lock closed, then bolted off back to the
Corvus to try and sell some of the computer equipment. 'Maybe
a museum would be interested' he mused.
Picard and Hudson stood before the secondary lock entrance. The
main safety light turned from red to green and the door slid
open.
The last thing they expected was twenty handguns, all pointing
in their direction.
And Zarn was standing there, a small blaster in his hand.
"Ah, Captain Livingstone I presume?".
Picard grimaced at this rather out of date pun.
"Or maybe I should say Captain Picard, commanding officer of the
USS Enterprise, representative of the United Federation of
Planets and Starfleet command?"
Picard could say nothing, Hudson looked stunned.
"You are both under arrest for treason against the state, illegal
entry into our star system and spying. Take them away".
Two guards grasped Picard and Hudson, placed restraints on their
wrists and marched them away.
End of part 5.
~~~ Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR]
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
From: phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk (Paul Hubbard)
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!shbbs!phubb
Subject: Pyramid Pt6
Organization: Silicon Heaven BBS (2200-0630 UTC) (44-1626-834331) V32B
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 00:10:51 +0000
Message-ID: <e84_9410140729@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk
Lines: 178
Pyramid. by P.Hubbard. <phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Copyright 1994
Part 6
Zarn sat at his desk in his favourite seat, the seat he liked to
relax in, just before interrogating prisoners. Posing as a
customs official was just like wearing another hat to him, he had
many undercover missions to his credit and his ranking within the
ruling party was high.
He sighed, ordered another drink from the replicator that his
'supporters' had provided him and a few trusted others with.
Until a few years ago, replicated foods and beverages were a
dream, nothing more, nothing less. Then a stroke of good fortune
propelled himself and a few others to prominent places.
Artificial gravity for their old station was just a minor
footnote. The new computers and weapons technology was the
prize.
AD3 was known to it's inhabitants as Asquath. As a planet it had
had a long and chequered history. Several thousand orbits ago,
two great nations had almost extinguished all life on the planet,
indeed, a few hot spots still remained where nothing would live.
Political prisoners were banished to these few 'hellish' hot
spots. The time after the wars, compared with the minor atomic
fracas on Earth was carnage. Billions died in the great
aftermath, the survivors taking shelter in the planets stone
pyramids or fleeing to distant shores. Slowly, technology
recovered back to it's former glory and space travel became
fashionable once again. It came as a surprise to the second
generation of space explorers that the great space station
orbiting high above the planet was built by them, many millennia
ago. It was rapidly reclaimed as a convenient stepping stone to
recover their past glories.
Since then, they had never looked back.
The comm panel queeped. Absentmindedly, Zarn thumbed the
acknowledgement button and answered the call.
"Zarn"
"Commissioner Zarn, we have the prisoner ready for
interrogation".
"Good, I will be along shortly". He closed the link.
He rose from his chair, crossed the room to the main door which
diligently opened for him. A slow walk down the corridor,
observing the prisoners always done much to calm his nerves. He
stopped at a cell, observing the prisoner. This man had been
caught red handed smuggling Dilithium to the rebels. Ten years
buried in mildly radioactive sand up to his neck would cool his
ardure down and make sure he would never father any young rebels
to take his place.
Moving further down the corridor he stopped again. He remembered
this man well. Attempted assassination of a high ranking
Commissioner was not to be sniffed at. Zarn had survived the
attempt at venting his personal shuttles atmosphere to space but
his personal bodyguards were not so lucky. Let the punishment
fit the crime, the appeal was up by noon the next day and the
assassin would be 'spaced' for his blow for democracy.
Finally, he reached the door of the interrogation chamber which
diligently opened for him. The room was empty, except for a
cabinet of vicious looking torture instruments and a large open
framework chair with Picard strapped to it, his upper torso bare.
Zarn slowly circled the chair, observing Picard who was in no
position to make any attempt at escape. Zarn pulled up his chair
and sat down a few feet from Picard.
He eyed Picard for a few minutes, finally decided on a course of
action, then made a start.
"Let me tell you a story..." started Zarn.
"I'm in no position to object" replied Picard.
"Good, good. Now then, Oh yes. We know who you are Picard. We
know who your crew are, we have known for a long time. I noticed
your reaction when you was told that we use optical chips for
computers. Bit of a shock eh? Expected to find a backwardly
technological planet, in it's second industrial revolution and
here we are with artificial gravity and advanced computers".
"I take it someone handed it all to you on a plate" said Picard.
"Yes. Five orbits ago, I was a member of a expedition to the
outer reaches of our empire, reclaiming all that was originally
ours and adding to it. We had the good fortune to make contact
with a race who, in exchange for Dilithium, would give us the
latest technological advanced in a straight deal".
"The Dominion!"
"The Jem Hadar were most helpful. Myself and a few others have
risen above the rabble and made names for ourselves by claiming
we invented the traded technology. I became commissioner in the
fight against crimes aimed at the state, outlawing the pro-
democracy group and installing a puppet regime in power. All was
fine until you came along and threatened to upset all our hard
labour. Why did you come? Staying quiet will not help you and
will be painful".
Nothing would be gained by concealing the truth. Picard decided
to tell.
"The Pyramids!" started Picard. "We knew of your existence only
recently due to your EM transmissions. Several structures on
Earth were exactly alike to those viewed in your television based
services. We had to find the truth".
"And the truth brought you here, chained to a torture chair, and
your slow, protracted death. You and your crew will not leave
here alive. I have a laser cannon trained on your cargo ship
ready to blast it into a thousand pieces and your doctor Hudson
is currently being prepare to have her central nervous system
torn apart from the inside by nanites, a little toy our friends
provided us. As for you, I will take great pleasure dismantling
your brain, micron slice by slice for information contained. You
won't feel much after the first three quarters of you brain has
gone but I assure you that up to that point the pain will be most
enjoyable, for me that is".
Zarn got up from his chair, walked over to the cabinet and
withdrew a small control box. Walking back over to Picard, he
pointed the device at the ceiling. A panel opened and a large
device slowly dropped down from the ceiling, the barrel pointing
at the top of Picard's head.
"Behold!!!!, the mind stripper. This will not hurt me a bit".
At that moment, the entrance door slid open and Riker dived in,
firing a hand phaser. A bolt caught Zarn squarely in the chest
and he went down. Riker strode over and started to free Picard
from the chair.
"Number one, am I glad to see you".
"The feeling mutual Sir".
"Where did you get the phaser from?".
"Geordi hid a 'optional extra' at Worfs insistence. A few hand
phasers, several graviton grenades and some other goodies. He
kept it quite from you because he knew you'd object".
"Correct number one, and I'm glad he did. Have you got to doctor
Hudson?".
"Yes Sir, Deanna has taken care of the guards and they are both
waiting outside. It was a lucky thing we managed to tap into the
security net and see what was happening".
Picard and Riker headed for the door. At that moment, Zarn, who
had been feigning injury made a rush for the security alert
button. Riker turned and shot Zarn who tumbled back into the
torture chair. His small control box flew from his hand and
smacked against the wall with a resounding crunch setting the
mind stripper off.
The screams were not nice. They were still audible from behind
the closed doors after Picard and Riker left.
End of part 6.
~~~ Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR]
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
From: phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk (Paul Hubbard)
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!shbbs!phubb
Subject: Pyramid Pt7
Organization: Silicon Heaven BBS (2200-0630 UTC) (44-1626-834331) V32B
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 00:10:52 +0000
Message-ID: <e85_9410140729@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk
Lines: 144
Pyramid. by P.Hubbard <phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Copyright 1994
part 7.
Riker and Picard raced down the corridor. They turned the corner
and almost bowled into Troi and Hudson.
"Thank god it's you" said Troi. "Half of the stations security
is on the warpath".
"We know, they are right behind us" replied Riker.
At that moment, several heavily beweaponed guard's turned the
corner at the bottom of the corridor and raced towards the four,
hand weapons ablaze.
"Deanna, give me a grenade".
Troi tossed Riker a graviton grenade. He pulled the safety tag
off of it and as the others withdrew, lobbed it at the
approaching security guards. It went off, instantly creating a
25g gravity field which crushed anybody unfortunate enough to be
near it to a pulp. He paused just long enough to view his
handiwork and then shot off after the others.
Getting back to the shuttle was a close thing. Several security
guards were snapping at their heels as the airlock closed and
Riker gunned the shuttle back to the Corvus at high speed,
dodging laser bolts that were flying around and about. Finally,
they made it back to the cargo ship and made preparations to make
a quick getaway.
_______________
"Troi" called Picard. "Use the laser prospecting equipment to
burn off the mooring lines. Will, they have a laser cannon aimed
at us, any suggestions?".
"If they try anything, a quick blast from the main drive would
take care of it".
"Good. Tamara, use the communications panel to jam their
network, anyway you can. Keep them in the dark as much as
possible. Let's get the hell out of here".
Riker sat at the engineering panel and started to bring the
engine's back on line. Tamara Hudson was having trouble jamming
the space stations systems but was keeping on top of it.
Troi rushed back into the cabin. "Captain, the mooring lines are
off, we can go anytime we like".
"Good work, take the defense systems panel and keep alert". He
paused for a few moments. "Aft thrusters, fifteen second
burn...Mark!".
The old freighter slowly began to move. At that moment several
small fighter craft shot after the ship, laser's firing, closing
the gap.
"Company" reported Troi. "Taking hits on the rear drive
section".
Riker looked worried, "If that goes, we're stranded!".
"Suggestions number one?".
Riker thought for a few moments. "Troi, close blast doors
between us and the main cargo bay. Release cargo holding
clamps".
"Closed and sealed confirmed, clamps are down".
"Blow main cargo bay doors".
"Blowing doors now".
The Corvus shook as explosive bolts on the cargo bay blew the
doors away, rapidly followed by the atmosphere and several
thousand tons of computers. The sudden outrush of air slowly
swung the Corvus around making Picard fight to keep her on
course.
You can imagine the fright that the pursuing fighter pilots had
when confronted by a wall of tumbling computer parts. Pursuit
1 shot around at 180 degree's and just managed to get clear.
Pursuit 3 was clipped and tumbled into a docking port and pursuit
2 was hit squarely by a old duotronic module, all three tons of
it. The fighter disappeared in a sheet of flame.
"Well done number one. Good thinking."
"Don't look now" called in Hudson, "but they are powering up that
laser cannon you was worried about".
"Taken care of" called Riker. "A five second main drive burst
coming up now".
The plasma engine leapt into life for a five second warm up burn.
A jet of pure fire shot at the laser mount wiping it clean away.
"Scratch one popgun".
Troi looked up from her instruments. "Captain. We are clearing
the entrance of the station and are free to navigate".
"Good. Will, set a course back to Federation space, maximum
thrust. Give it all she's got".
"Full power burn now running".
The old freighter leapt forwards, a incandescent flame shooting
back many kilometres which luckily vaporised five pursuit ships
that were emerging from the station. In a few minutes the Corvus
had reached escape velocity and was rapidly escaping from the
hornet's nest.
_________________
Back on the station, one of Zarn's trusted friends sat enraged
at his desk. Zarn was dead, foully murdered, so he believed, by
the intruders. Half the station disrupted and damaged with many
casualties. What to do?, What to do......
Finally he came to his senses. He would call apon his friends
from the Dominion to take care of the assassins. They had
superior firepower and the old freighter would be no match
against the power of warp engine backed destroyers.
He opened a comm line.......
End of part 7..
~~~ Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR]
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
From: phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk (Paul Hubbard)
Path: tivoli.tivoli.com!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!cs.utexas.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!pipex!demon!shbbs!phubb
Subject: Pyramid Pt8
Organization: Silicon Heaven BBS (2200-0630 UTC) (44-1626-834331) V32B
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 00:10:52 +0000
Message-ID: <e86_9410140729@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Sender: usenet@demon.co.uk
Lines: 217
Pyramid. by P Hubbard <phubb@shbbs.demon.co.uk>
Copyright 1994
part 8.
"Corvus calling Enterprise, come in Enterprise..... It's no use,
they either can't hear us or don't want to".
"I'm not at all surprised..." said Riker to Hudson as he floated
through the door. "Our transmitting aerial has been shot away".
"Can you fix it?" enquired Picard.
"Not without a suit. The service drone shows a hole the size of
a large boulder in the hull. Lucky it's over the cargo bay
area".
Picard turned to Troi. "Time to intercept the Enterprise?".
"At current speed, 36 hours fourteen minutes".
At the communications and scan panel Tamara Hudson scowled.
"problem?" enquired Riker.
"We've got company, closing rapidly with us at warp speed".
"Enterprise?".
"No, configurations all wrong. I say we picked up a couple of
Dominion ships".
"Swell!!!!".
"Can we outrun them?" said Picard to Riker.
"No way, maximum thrust is out of the question. We stripped a
turbine on number four fuel pump during out getaway and that
pressure vent on number two tank has stuck again".
"Tamara, how long before the pursuit ship's intercept?".
"Four hours thirty four minutes at present speed. If we can
increase speed we can extend it to maybe five hours".
"No good" replied Picard. "I have a better idea. Will, how much
munitions do we have left?".
"A few pounds of high grade explosive compound and two proximity
detonators".
"Good enough. Deanna, Tamara. Go around the ship, fill the
shuttle with anything needed for life support. Food, blankets,
extra oxygen. Anything of use, strip it and use it".
"On our way".
"Will, with me".
___________
Several hour's later saw a exhausted Riker crouched inside a
service access tube underneath fuel tank 1. The modifications
to the system had taken longer than expected but were nearly
complete. All that was needed was the connection of the
munitions on the main reactor safety systems to the scanning
system on the main desk. In the shuttle bay, Troi and Hudson
were equally exhausted having spent the better part of two hours
stocking the shuttle up with essentials, especially food and
oxygen. The final job, topping up the shuttles engines from the
main fuel supply was just coming to a end.
Up on the bridge Picard set up the computer system to run the
ship after they had left. All that needed was a arming code to
get the whole thing working. Satisfied with his labours, he
thumbed the comm system.
"Will".
"Yup, here".
"All finished down there?".
"Just buttoning up the panels and it will be finished".
"OK, get down to the shuttle bay. I've just got to prime the
system tanks and I'll be right down".
"OK, out". <click>.
Picard took one last look around at the systems and made sure
everything was ok. Finally, he transferred fuel from tanks one,
two and three into tank four and filled it full to the top. The
remaining fuel was pumped into tank three for exclusive use by
the main engines only. with that, he set the exit timer program
in operation and shot down to the shuttle bay.
____________
Five minutes later, the shuttle was floating a safe distance away
from the Corvus. The timing program took over and the main
thrusters re-orientated the old freighter onto a new course.
After a few minutes, the new course was laid in and the computer
started the main engines up on her new course, away from the
Enterprise and AD3. Finally, the computer set the modifications
in motion.
"That's that" said Picard. "Will, take us out of here at minimum
speed towards the Enterprise. I'm hoping that the fireworks from
the Corvus will cover our escape and the pursuit ships will take
off after her as soon as they realise they have been rumbled".
"What did you do to the ship?" enquired Troi.
Riker answered. "We pumped all spare fuel into tank four, the
one next to the main reactor and connected a detonator charge to
the reactor safety system, the other end is connected to the
proximity detectors on the navigation console. As soon as they
try to dock...BOOOM!!!!".
"Oh I see." continued Troi. "You used the ships maximum thrust
as a lure to get the pursuit ships away from us, giving us time
to get away. Very smart move Captain".
"Thank you. Now I suggest we all relax and get some sleep and
conserve as much oxygen as possible. It's going to be a long
trip".
____________
The two Dominion ship's slowly approached the freighter. They
had planned to blow the ship apart from a distance but something
was wrong. The ship was not fleeing as expected but just hung
there. They had no way of knowing that her propulsion fuel had
been expended, nor or the booby trap set for them. Finally, one
ship approached and drew alongside. Still no life signs. A
docking adaptor slowly snaked out to the Corvus and attached
itself to the docking port.
Deep in engineering, the safety panel on the main reactor was
fused into a million bits as the proximity detectors detonated
the charges. Without the safety system, the engineering computer
turned to the emergency backup which was the worst thing that
could happen as Riker had re-programmed it to overload the main
reactor. Finally, a fuel valve opened and flooded the reactor
room with liquid hydrogen.
On the second pursuit ship, a minor operative was puzzled by a
sudden build up of power in the engineering section of the
freighter. He mistakenly reported to the commanding officer that
the freighter was powering up for a getaway.
Finally, despite being immersed in liquid hydrogen, the pain
started to blister off of the side of the reactor. One side
glowed cherry red as the radioactive fuel burn it's way through
the containment vessel and reacted violently with the hydrogen
fuel.
In the blink of a eye, the Corvus and the two Dominion pursuit
ships disappeared in a searing flash of superheated plasma.
____________
On board the shuttle, Picard was woken by Riker shaking his
shoulder.
"Captain, come and have a look at this".
Outside the viewport, a new star flared up for several seconds
then died down to a small point and slowly died out.
"That's the end of that" said Riker.
The communication receiver squealed. "Enterprise to Corvus,
Enterprise to Corvus. Come in please".
Riker responded. "Corvus shuttle here, it's nice to hear your
voice Data".
"Likewise Commander. We are just calculating your position and
hope to be with you in twenty minutes".
"Roger that. Corvus shuttle out".
"And now all the fun starts" mused Picard.
"Fun Sir?"
"The fun filling out numerous reports and inquiries from
Starfleet Command".
"Oh, that fun Sir".
And with that, they waited for the arrival of the Enterprise.
The end.
~~~ Blue Wave/RA v2.12 [NR]
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