Ouroboros

Posted on Tue Aug 30th, 2016 @ 2:44am by Second Mate Quinton Beck & MERCHANT RANKS Fala Gaz (NPC)
Edited on on Tue Nov 1st, 2016 @ 12:06pm

4,259 words; about a 21 minute read

Mission: Tenuous Grasp on Destiny
Timeline: May 12th 2135 2393

-Start-
"Far off, unknown, beyond the range of mortal minds, scarce reached by gods, there lies a Cavern of immense age, the rough, haggard mother of Time, in whose vast breast lies the cradle and the tomb of the ages. A serpent surrounds the Cavern, consuming all things with slow, powerful jaws, and green scales always glinting. Its mouth devours its own backbent tail as with mute motion it rediscovers its origin." -- Claudian (400 CE)

{Deck 7- Reactor Controls}

Akio spoke to himself, the sleepless three days of mechanical surgery having blended into a timeless moment. His mind wandered, and then his eye caught the display he had set up for this purpose. The universe was collapsing around them by the second, time was precious. “Terrence, you are starting to lead Fala, the coils need to be initiated together.”

=0= Acknowledged.
He checked all the others in their various work, all exactly as he had shown them. His mind wandered yet a part of him remained at full attention to the process, the last few days had been the most stressful of his life, the precision he asked of them had been demanding but so far they had performed well.

Removing the reactor had been simple, placing it had taken time, but was not complicated. However there were over a hundred thousand critical components to be installed and linked, synced, tested, regulated, monitored and calibrated. This took a week in stardock, they had two and a half days before the sky fell in on them.

{Deck 8- EPS/ODN Mains}

Kas stood at the bottom of the massive reactor, now nestled in the soft underbelly of the Saucer Section. Matter sat with the Deuterium slurry premixed, ready for annihilation in the chamber. Her job had been easier than most, it simply involved being on the outside of the hull during a collapsing universe event.
The large machine had nestled into the Engineering section just behind the Navigational Deflector. Surprisingly it was smaller than the chamber, so placement had been easy, however the technology was beyond the ship's generation. It looked like an oddly shaped smooth lump of gray metal, the two chamber system had been easy enough to hook into the ship.
=0=Akio, we are ready for the flow through to the Impulse Manifolds, waiting for you.

{Deck 14= Engineering/OPS}

Quinton had the pleasure of regulating incoming energies, routing as needed. They still needed to draw off the stations reserves as well as their own internal power supply as long as possible. One problem had already reared its ugly head, they had no way to seal the open section of the ship with the reactor. Then just as the sync completed, the stations power reserves began to dip dramatically, without a reactor of its own the station was depleted, and they lost their only stable connection to the real world outside their small one.
=0= Akio, the stations is going dark, we have enough charge for only minutes, it's now or never!

{Deck 7- Reactor Controls}

They were running on the remaining battery packs from the Second Star, that was only enough charge to try once to fire up the engines. In a moment within a moment, Akio let his prayers lift, “Ouroboros. I ask for your guidance in this rebirth.” He hit the controls, “Vicente, pull the lines, retract umbilical. Othor the cascade will flood at 4, 10, and 12, Avor and Fala, confirm Magnetic interlinks are locked!

=0=Fala reporting, Locked.

=0=Avor Reporting, still aligning the phase coils. Confirmed… now!

Akio acknowledged as he saw the pathways turns green. The energy would flow irrevocably once they initiated the process, it had to work right this was their only chance. Akio called out once more, eyes glued to the console. All systems ready.

“Kas on my mark… 3… 2… 1…”

He loved the pregnant pause of this moment, it was the throw of the dice which had always plagued him the most. He had the usual luck of a gambler, but lately... he won once with Judah, bringing life back to the boy, he had lost once as well, and that was his wife. He would win this time.
All their plans were set to follow this moment, life or death would be determined by the work of everyone involved. One mistake and they would either be crushed powerless, or explode furiously.

“Mark!”

{Deck 8- EPS/ODN Mains}
Kas pulled the large toggle switch, unleashing the potent mix to the chamber where it met with a stream of antimatter and began the violent reaction only meters from her head. A powerful rush wracked the ship, a jolt going through as systems engaged, internal dampening fields and structural integrity systems snapped the ship into a solid frame. Sparks flew, and the strain on some of the smaller or jury rigged systems began to show already. Above her, the blue and red fuel mix glowed as the fury of a star was contained within. Kas was indifferent to the thrum, waiting for her next order, and signalled ready at her end.

=0= Fuel on the way, am I good here?’

{Deck 7- Reactor Controls}
Singing praise to his eternal fortune, Akio saw power levels raise throughout the ship. Routing and buffers, transmission lines all showing clear. The ship was viable, it was alive! Externally the pilot lights flared, from inside a white eminence shone at all ports. The name-plate of the ship had been scorched off, but nonetheless lit it up awaiting its identity. He called to Beck over comms,
=0=Engineering, power up deflectors, get us away from the moorings immediately.
To Judah he simply called out, “Judah set course for the flexion point at Zeta Apex.”

=0= Akio to Beck, I am on the way to you, continue to keep all systems nominal to low, we have no surge or EPS transfer safeties.
=0= You better get down here then Akio. I’ve got a fire in the reactor assembly, exo’s can't contain it! I’m trying to-
The line ended abruptly.

{Temple of Light- Collapsing}
No sooner than the ship flared to life did they begin their ascent. Freed from captivity, the motions sent tremors throughout, but the shakedown was short after the appendages and lines fell away. Pitted and scarred as it was, Starfleet makes a good sturdy frame and it fired engines with a mighty surge.
Red engines flared bright, a course was set for the top of the collapsing ovoid sphere universe they occupied. The deflector sparked to life at the crew command, the ship eager to be released. It flared a violent blue as they executed the program, the beam fired at their exit point. It appeared to simply vanish into the ethereal nothing past the universe edge.
They nearly flew into the collapsing waveforms of this universe as the beam failed to do anything. Judah fired thrusters he wasn't aware the ship had until just then and the vessel nearly cracked into the maneuver as they managed to bank along the curled edge.

{Deck 14- Engineering}

“Known Universe is an ovoid spherical ellipse approximately four light years in diameter collapsing into a compressed quark singularity-”
Judah's computer voice droned on, Beck needed answers faster,

“Why didnt the particle burst carry us out of here Judah?”

A moment passed and he felt guilty for yelling, Judah eventually replied, “No power to Deflector, three of the seven EPS conduits are blown, I can bypass all but the one in main controls.”

Beck was no ship systems master. He had passed competencies and proficiencies at the Rigelian Licensure but what he was faced with was a systems nightmare. Different parts processed at different rates, or required a step reduction, or had another demand he had to hold in his head as he tried to balance levels evenly. Deflector control had eaten up to much power, they had overloaded at multiple points and now they had lost power altogether to their deflector dish. Judah was also there, trying to help, but even the two of them were just plugging holes and baling water.

Kas came overhead on shipwide comms,
=0=Kas to Engineering, we’ve got fires and blow outs all over, Avor and I are seeing to it. Exo’s are assigned to me. Stat.
Kas was dealing with deadly damage, she couldn't go but they needed power to the Deflector. Akio was too far away, turbolifts were down. Beck grimly considered who was closest, and it was him. With no hesitation he left the details to Judah, explaining. Turning to the long corridor, he only had to run in a straight line and fall down three decks. They had minutes at best so he ran.

{Deck 14- Engineering -Minutes prior}

Terrence knew exactly what had to happen, the burden of knowledge compelling him to act immediately. He ran to deflector control the moment it happened, instinct to act on the damage part of his training. With no computer, Judah had not been able to keep the energy under control as so many systems craved it or were flooded with it. The result had shorted the EPS console in the Deflector Control, it was no longer receiving commands.

He heard the comm announce,
=0=Beck here, Im heading to Deflector control.

Something told him to shut up, to let Beck run and make the fix. He knew vaguely this sensation, this inner voice was his instincts for survival. Fire raged across five decks, bypasses were working but for how long? He could save them all, or run and live or die as a coward. He was here, now and knew what had to be done, what other choice could he live with?

=0=Captain, I am already there.

Someone needed to reset the console and replace the EPS conduit. Beck was minutes away, and they couldn't afford that. The corridor leading up to the Deflector was burning slightly, though suppression systems were in effect. He steeled himself, there was no time, so he opened the door to the control room, thick fire spilling out. Force fields contained the fire to a degree but the plasma shot through in angry spats. He clutched a meter long cylinder and ran inside the room, the smoke coming through the door thick and black.

{Temple of Light- Collapsing}

The collapse was accelerating, though they were at the center, the Universe itself was down to forty thousand kilometers. Once more the engines flare a bright red, a streak remaining as Judah carried the ship in a tight spiral, gaining speed despite the limitations of the space. The deflector sputtered but wasn’t shining as it should and the spiral was soon coming to its apogee. Delicate strands of space-time re-weaving itself danced at the edge of their horizon for a moment.

Then there was fire.

{Normal Space- Aerowing}

Tasco knew they were in the largest Asteroid, they had orbited this body several times. He fired on the surface in frustration. Firing his one pulse phaser left was merely to scare them from hiding. It certainly wasn’t doing any damage, but he had nearly hit the end of his timeline. He had to leave, loose ends or no they were stranded here. He could come back to finish them as much as he wished to close affairs out here and now. As much as he hated to leave witnesses he was out of time and options, and prepared the Aerowings micr torpedo launcher, intent to collapse the asteroid.

His bout with the Second Star had reduced him greatly, but he knew the Rigelian hulk was floating half a light year away, its sole occupant dead. the rest of the crew found some safe haven in this rock, but not for long. Tasco bled off as much antimatter as the torpedoes could hold, maximizing their yield. No bodies to confirm by was sloppy work by his standards, but this was the end.

A sound on his control board reported a massive disturbance at the central Asteroid. It seemed like a black hole but lacked the requisite supernova and obligatory Star. Nonetheless, a great force pulled the hulk and rocks of the scrapyard into the event horizon where they blinked away. Tasco put his engines to counter, dazzled by the spectacle. A part of him suspected some technical treachery had fooled him, and his patience had paid off.

Tasco flew to the point in space where the malevolent pull came from, careful to avoid getting too close. He had only one pulse cannon left, the other three disabled, but he was ready to do whatever it took. Watching in wonder and mystery his finger was poised ready to fire.

{USS Lafitte}

In Engineering Beck and Akio, held on to the main display, shouting orders, their deflector had fired when they needed it and they had punched through the dimensional walls. Subspace and time itself separated for their awareness, and recombined with no grace or gentle manner.

In the sickbay Vicente grabbed onto the bed and gripped hard, the hologram however was walking unmolested and commented, “Never enjoyed sick bays myself, this motion isn't helping.”

Near the Reactor assembly Kas and Avor both had to drop their equipment and step away from the flames. The sudden change in dimension hitting their Antennae much like Vertigo, Kas collapsed totally, Avor struggled to pull her away from the flames.

Judah however- Judah was treated to a show. The digital input was beyond anything his eyes would have taken in. He found innate comprehension on matters of cosmology and physics outside anything he ever conceived. His imagination conjured images where his intelligence failed to identify, the brain behind the computer still able to dream. A place outside of anywhere he could describe, where all uncertainty was simultaneous discovery, Judah saw the fingers that wove it all together.

{Normal Space}

In one instant.

Tasco fires at the emerging shape from the aperture of the vortex.

The asteroid shatters, violently expanding and sending Tasco into an evasive frenzy.

The Laffitte emerges, seething with power.

Tascos shots land, scoring minor damage to the hull plating along the top ridge of the saucer.

{Laffitte- Engineering/OPS}

Quinton Beck had no time at all to rally as Judah sounded his own custom Red Alert. Displays fired up showing Tasco firing on them. Though there was damage, this ship was a floating barge of damaged hull plates, they wouldn’t notice it amongst the others. Despite the vice grip between his ears he calls out,
“Weapons? Shields, Can we escape?”

Akio shook his head, “We have nothing, we are trapped as before at his mercy.” Akio punched the console so hard it split his knuckle. Judah was paging through their inventory when Fala entered Engineering.

Judah asked about surrender in text on the console.
“No Judah-”

“Quinton, hail him. We can deal?”

Beck said no with a fiery countenance, he had that new look in his eyes, “We are easily a thousand times his tonnage. We could flyby. Do we have that Barolian tech installed?”

Fala smiled, she loved life when it was exactly like this, it wasn’t profitable but she liked to be versatile in her tastes. She would have never thought of this, and her keen eye had certainly served her in Beck. She ran to the engineering desk, what they had started to call the “pool table.”

“Judah, open a channel.” Beck had his warface now, a new acquisition but one gained in good time. They didn't have much going for them, but after all that had happened they were still alive. A curious resilience, a calm under fire he never knew he possessed came over him. Whereas panic tapped on the glass, it was gone from his mind, a forgotten hurdle. He decided to press that hard won luck, knowing, confident that it would hold.

“Tasco, do you like our new home? You have tried to take everything, and I am telling you now that if I have to roll over you like a merciless tide to live my dream then I will. You think to murder us, but we will take you down. If it means imploding our core and firing our weapons out the window by the gods of all who believe you will die here and now TO-DAY if you persist. Our mettle has been tested, you can bring yours to bear if you wish. This is your one chance to fly away and hope we can’t find you. So fire that weapon one more time, and you’ll evince fury beyond your kin.”

There was open line, and Tasco only replied, “Challenge accepted.”

Beck turned to Fala, gave her the go ahead. He cut the line and let go of hope, hope was a distraction, he needed discipline. He needed to scare the man…
“Lock on tractor beam maximum screens to protect the emitter, take a lap around the scrapyard, don’t worry about keeping clearances. Fala, you’re up, show me more about this tractor emitter you've installed.”

Fala stepped to the controls, having already made plans with Judah she took them at full impulse less than four meters from scraping hull with Tasco. The wake caught the Aerowing, disorienting him as he re-oriented only to feel the tractor beam latch on. And drag him back.
He fired in futility, the minor canon unable to seriously harm the screens over the tractor beam. As he tried to buck, alarms screamed, the beam he was in was far stronger than anything he considered. He was wide eyed in terror as the starship took off at top speeds full colliding with anything in its path.

{Scrapyard}

The two ships locked together by a thin blue beam headed directly into the messy interior. Small debris collided with the Lafitte who took the damage without pause. The Aerowing tumbled helplessly from every hit. The Lafitte was shredding itself in the process but the Aerowing was taking much bigger hits. They watched useless shots scatter wildly as he fired the few torpedoes he had in vain. They would drag him to his death if thats what it took.

{Deck 14- Engineering/OPS}

“We need to re-orient deflectors to forward-” Kas was trying to mitigate the damage to the ship but Beck stopped her.

“No, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” He leered in an almost manic way, the heady emotional cocktail he was riding on making him punchdrunk. Kas made to do it anyway but he caught her wrist, eyes blazing with strength of will.

Beck left no room for question in his response. “They are protecting the beam emitter, he will break.”

Sparks and surges accompanied klaxons and wailing console alarms. Beck was determined not to blink. Tasco was spinning wildly, a lure on the string helpless to the currents. A solid impact nearly disrupted their hold, but the tractor beam was as hardy as Fala promised.
The channel opened, they saw an image of Taso being bandied about firing helplessly in errant valor. What strikes did land were nowhere close to anything vital, he was just trying anything to escape. Damage was evident as well as they all trailed streaks of coolant and gases, neither of them doing anything it seemed to slow down or stop.

“Incoming message.” Judah showed the channel, Beck opened it without speaking by gesture, listening quietly.

“Stop!Please! Just stop. I’ll surrender.”

Beck waited for another solid hit which had to have sent poor Tasco all over the place inside as the Aerowing bucked mightily.

“Stop!!!”

Tasco had hit that point some men get to when they fear death more than indignity. He wailed and begged. Beck only ordered the full stop to spare his own home further damage, he delighted to torment this awful man further.

“Stand down your weapons and power down completely. We will pull you into the shuttle bay. Comply immediately.”

Kas, Avor just entered Engineering as this was going on, Kas was shocked by the development to say the least.

“Captain, is he giving up to us?”

Fala was laughing and pounding the table in delight. They all found a smile if even for a moment as they took the first breath of relief in weeks.

=0= Othor, meet Avor and Kas in the Shuttle Bay. Tasco is coming back I’d like you to take him into custody. You see weapons, eject his ass back out to space.

Quinton took a few seconds to run the list down for all that still had to be done. Something nagged at him, a dreadful feeling he had missed something important. He found he was doing a headcount without knowing why. Kas, Avor, Othor… Akio, Vicente, Terrence-
Beck swallowed hard, the bedlam of the moment had disguised the tone he heard as worried, but it had been… dread. Terrence had called him off the deflector control.

=0= Beck to Terrence. Terrence. Shipman Bartlett!

Beck felt the grip, familiar now in his throat and stomach. “Judah, scan for Terrence, is he in deflector control?”

Judah showed the fire damage to the section, readings were impossible. Once again Beck found himself running down that hallway saying,
=0= I’m heading to deflector control!

{USS Laffitte- Deflector Control- 1 hour later}

Quinton stared at the charred remains, one more dead crewman on his watch. The whole room was black, carbon scorching covering it all. It had been so hot the metal taps fused with the fire paneling. Plasma burned hot, there were only bones and teeth left. Listening to Akio was torture, but he held silent as was his way.

“He had to replace it and reset the console manually. Looks like he never made it back out. We owe him our lives too.”

As much as Beck wanted to blame Tasco, this one was on them as well. They had all made the decisions to lead to this. He lamented the man he never got to know, clearly he had been made of stern stuff. A lesson for him to remember all men had this potential in them. He stood with Akio sullen once more.

Vicente called over, breaking his moment of silence.
=0= Captain? We found the Second Star. She’s in rough shape.

Another pang of dread. The remnant of their old home lay broken and vented in space. they would salvage what they could, it was all he could think to do for now given his view.
=0= Acknowledged. Take it into tow.

Othor was next,
=0=Captain, Tasco has been confined. Do you want me to talk to him?

Beck replied right away,
=0=Yes. Vigorously.

An exocomp came into the room along with the two men, it's sad tones for their loss an offering of sympathy. They left it to do its work, it would dematerialize the remains and leave an ash sample in medical. It was all they could do for him until they could send him to Earth.
As Beck returned to Engineering, he looked to the crew around him. He hit the ships comm, he hated this announcement.

“Attention Crew. In brave service to his fellow crew Shipman Terrence Bartlett has been lost in the line of duty. He died defending us, and we shall remember him as with all our dead. Before we get taken away once again in the horror of such loss, consider that we are alive. We are alive despite the odds and now we can make a life.There are challenges ahead and we can never replace what we’ve lost, but we have learned to depend and trust one another. We can move on from this. We will thrive from this. We dared to be bold and by the blood of our family and friends we stand here now! We are something else in this moment, not just people scraping by on a former Starfleet vessel.... Rather something else. We are astromariners, we fly our own flag. This ship lost its name in battle and scuttle so I rechristen us, to be made formal when we get a bottle to break proper, as the Second Star. In her memory, and for those we have lost in her name. May she see the families of many fine crew in a long unending day. To the crew of the Second Star, my family, I swear to you my honor, my undying oath to serve this ship and her crew. Thank you for all you have done, and for those who made it possible.”

Judah piped imagery of the crew around the ship for Quintons benefit. Vicente was the most jubilant, while Kas remained aloof and detached. Fala was speaking with her recovery team, still a week out, but able to rescue them for sure. She took a moment to nod in gratitude to Beck.
And for a moment there was hope again. That fickle traitor who left when you needed it most returned and he dared once more to dream.

Moments were all he got, maybe it was all he deserved. Exactly enough time to know that all was good, and the fires were out, for the moment.

Then he heard it, proof his luck was only good to lead him to ever worsening bad. A message piped through to Engineering, Judah usually fielded these for Beck to have time to prepare, but given who it was the urgency was proper.

=/\= This is the Captain Douglas of the USS Rampart, Hailing commandeered Starfleet Vessel. Respond Immediately!

-End-

-END: "Tenuous Grasp on Destiny"

Quinton Beck

Fala Gaz

Othor Jaxsz

 

RSS Feed