what the hell...
Posted: 2005-06-18 04:46pm
I started on this a while back, and never really did anything with it. But it is serving as a nice little diverson while I work on the overall story arc for the big one I'm working on. No idea how far I'll go with this, depends on response and my spare time or lack thereof. Feedback welcome
Thus far untitled.
Chapter 1: First Contact
It crawled. Over the wreckage of cities long worn away by the passage of time, and consumed by those who had gone before it. It had only one thought, one thought that guided everything it did, every second of every minute of every day. To…
Energy spike.
Detected 1.37 kilometers to the west.
Investigate.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Titan, this is away team Charlie, do you read?”
“Charlie, this is Titan, go ahead”
“Sir, we’re at the gate building. It’s pretty trashed. The city looks even worse. I don’t think we are going to find much here to tell us about the Iconians, their technology, or their destruction.”
“Your opinion is noted Lieutenant. Commence your search anyways”
“Copy that.” Segerson turned. “Bloody waste of time this is.”
“Ah come on sir, this is what we do: Explore new worlds, seek out new life, to boldy go.. oh wait, this is a Section 31 mission, which means all we are out to do is beg, borrow or steal any technology that isn’t nailed down so we can kill anyone who looks at us sideways if the Romulans and Klingons start shooting at each other. My mistake.”
Segerson glared at the ensign.” Your mouth will not be a benefit to your career in Starfleet, Ritter.” He smiled. “But your keen grasp of the obvious might serve you well”
Ritter gave a mock salute. “Thank you sir, I do my best”
Segerson sighed. “Okay people, tricorders out, phasers set for stun, safeties off. We don’t know if anyone else is out here, but we are close enough to the Neutral Zone that we can’t rule out running into some Romulans looking for the same things we are. Thompson, scans pick up anything?
“Yes sir. We have some odd energy signatures in the ruins. Some kind of exotic energy particle. I don’t recognize the source, but there is about a dozen of them moving towards us.”
“Automated defenses?”
“I don’t think so sir. Nothing close to a known weapons shows up.”
“Life forms?”
“Signature doesn’t match with biological sir. It could be artificial.”
Artificial life forms… now that would be interesting. Might be enough to get these Section 31 goons off the ship and back to under whatever dank rock they crawled from.
“How close are they?”
“Depends sir, they are coming from all over. Closest one is about a minute out, coming in from the east.”
Segerson grunted. “Well boys, get ready to make first contact”
The noise alerted them first. A soft whirring and clanking noise, like a pneumatic lift. Then they saw it. It a dull gray, like unpolished tritanium. With a flat body, small wings, and pinchers, it looked like some kind of four-legged bug. They arrived one after the other and began searching the area.
“Thompson, what have you got?”
“Active scanning sir, hyperspectral but more concentrating in the UV range. No subspace tech readings.”
‘Titan, are you seeing this?”
“Yes. And you boys seem to have found something big. Standby.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Captain Riker sat in his office chair, staring out the window. The depths of space. They held so many possibilities. And to hear some talk these days, all of them violent. It had all started with Sisko and the Dominion war. His assassination of the Romulan senator had seemed necessary at the time, and justified at the war’s end. But nothing could be kept secret forever. Eventually some members of the Tal Shir had found out. And they had been outraged, with good reason. A respected senator murdered to bring them into the war, so they could send their sons and daughters, their husbands and wives, their brothers and sisters; off to die in a war their enemies had started.
Riker couldn’t blame them.
The Romulan ships had comprised the battleships of the Alliance fleets; the massive concentration of firepower in their Warbirds made them stronger then most Federation cruisers or Klingon frigates. They had been the primary targets for the dominion, take out the heavy hitters and the rest of the fight just became easier. The casualties had been enormous, only the Klingon death toll was greater and they had been fighting this war before the Dominion even became involved.
But their response was, in his mind, unconscionable. The Tal Shir had taken the information and gone to one of their long time supporters, Sela Yar. Sela had extensive contacts in the military and senate and used them to prepare what the romulan politicians had since declared “an appropriate response”. She had recruited Shizon and spearheaded the Scimitar project. Then, with much support, assassinated the peaceful senators and launched an attack on Earth.
They were stopped of course.
Riker grit his teeth. The rage he still felt from the incident burned inside of him. One of the things Federation children were taught from early on was that revenge was wrong. But he would be damned if it hadn’t felt good to throw that bastard to his death. And Data… he would miss Data. Picard had his “brother” serving aboard the Enterprise now. But he’d never replace the original to Will.
The door chimed, stirring him from his brooding.
He slowly spun away from the window. “Enter.”
Agent Adare entered, wearing his usual smirk. “Sir, We may have found something on the surface.”
“What do you mean ‘something’?”
“It appears to be an artificial life form. Ships scanners are picking up millions of the things all over the planet.”
“Is there any danger to the away team or us?”
“No sir. But they are unlike anything we have ever encountered. I’d like”
“You’d like to bring them aboard to study, poke, prod, and see if you can send them to someone else and make them explode.”
Adare’s face darkened. “Yes Sir”
“”You know what my opinion of this program is Agent, and “
“And with all due respect sir, you know I don’t really care. Section 31 was given specific authorization to carry out these operations to better protect the Federation and her interests. Our mission is the same as yours sir, and we don’t appreciate the hostility.”
Riker snorted. That’s how it had been since the end of the Dominion war. At first it had just been the standardization and remilitarization of Starfleet, with increased production of war designs like the Sovereign and Akira, and older ships like the Nebula class being outfitted for the old explore and science missions. Then there had been the Scimitar incident. After their failed attack on the Federation, the Romulans had turned their attention to gearing up against their other former ally, the Klingons. And between the aborted attack and the threat of their cold war becoming hot, Section 31 had pressed their advantage. They got teams assigned to ships to search for anything that could aid them if the Federation was drawn in.
At first Riker hadn’t minded getting the Titan. It was a Nebula, meaning it was very similar to the old Enterprise-D, and it was an exploratory vessel. It lacked a war pod, which served Riker just fine; he had never liked or been very good at combat. Then the Section 31 team had arrived. Riker didn’t like it, rumor held that they had their own shadow fleet, and there were plenty of young captains on the new military vessels who supported their view. They could have used one of those ships. But then it was pointed out that an under equipped exploratory vessel would attract much less attention then a Steamrunner or Akira.
It was like that all over the fleet. New, young captains being promoted in the wake of the war, older, more pacifistic people like him being pushed to the side.
“Sir, the sooner we get a look at these things, the sooner we’ll be off our ship, and you can get back on your merry way of finding this weeks anomaly that will almost kill everyone aboard until you stop it at the last second.”
They glared at each other.
“You know that this is just a formality sir, and that my team does have the right to”
“Permission granted” Riker said gruffly.
“Thank you sir, a pleasure as always, have a fine Starfleet day”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seggerson and the rest of Charlie team stepped off of the transporter pad and waited. In a few minutes the local S31 goon arrived. Segerson saluted while the rest of the team snapped to attention.
“Ready for debriefing sir”
“No need Lieutenant, we have your readings and the specimens. Its in our hands now.”
“Specimens Agent Adare?”
“Yes. We beamed a dozen of the things up here to the science labs. They are well contained and should provide some interesting data.”
Segerson cocked his head “Is that wise? We know nothing about them, for all we know..”
“Your concerns will be noted Lieutenant.” Said Agent Adare with an edge. “You are dismissed”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy spike.
New location.
Coordinates unknown.
Scanning.
11 other signals detected.
Suspended in an anti-gravity bubble. Contained by oscillating force field. Commencing analysis.
Usable materials detected.
Analyze.
Consume.
Replicate.
Thus far untitled.
Chapter 1: First Contact
It crawled. Over the wreckage of cities long worn away by the passage of time, and consumed by those who had gone before it. It had only one thought, one thought that guided everything it did, every second of every minute of every day. To…
Energy spike.
Detected 1.37 kilometers to the west.
Investigate.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Titan, this is away team Charlie, do you read?”
“Charlie, this is Titan, go ahead”
“Sir, we’re at the gate building. It’s pretty trashed. The city looks even worse. I don’t think we are going to find much here to tell us about the Iconians, their technology, or their destruction.”
“Your opinion is noted Lieutenant. Commence your search anyways”
“Copy that.” Segerson turned. “Bloody waste of time this is.”
“Ah come on sir, this is what we do: Explore new worlds, seek out new life, to boldy go.. oh wait, this is a Section 31 mission, which means all we are out to do is beg, borrow or steal any technology that isn’t nailed down so we can kill anyone who looks at us sideways if the Romulans and Klingons start shooting at each other. My mistake.”
Segerson glared at the ensign.” Your mouth will not be a benefit to your career in Starfleet, Ritter.” He smiled. “But your keen grasp of the obvious might serve you well”
Ritter gave a mock salute. “Thank you sir, I do my best”
Segerson sighed. “Okay people, tricorders out, phasers set for stun, safeties off. We don’t know if anyone else is out here, but we are close enough to the Neutral Zone that we can’t rule out running into some Romulans looking for the same things we are. Thompson, scans pick up anything?
“Yes sir. We have some odd energy signatures in the ruins. Some kind of exotic energy particle. I don’t recognize the source, but there is about a dozen of them moving towards us.”
“Automated defenses?”
“I don’t think so sir. Nothing close to a known weapons shows up.”
“Life forms?”
“Signature doesn’t match with biological sir. It could be artificial.”
Artificial life forms… now that would be interesting. Might be enough to get these Section 31 goons off the ship and back to under whatever dank rock they crawled from.
“How close are they?”
“Depends sir, they are coming from all over. Closest one is about a minute out, coming in from the east.”
Segerson grunted. “Well boys, get ready to make first contact”
The noise alerted them first. A soft whirring and clanking noise, like a pneumatic lift. Then they saw it. It a dull gray, like unpolished tritanium. With a flat body, small wings, and pinchers, it looked like some kind of four-legged bug. They arrived one after the other and began searching the area.
“Thompson, what have you got?”
“Active scanning sir, hyperspectral but more concentrating in the UV range. No subspace tech readings.”
‘Titan, are you seeing this?”
“Yes. And you boys seem to have found something big. Standby.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Captain Riker sat in his office chair, staring out the window. The depths of space. They held so many possibilities. And to hear some talk these days, all of them violent. It had all started with Sisko and the Dominion war. His assassination of the Romulan senator had seemed necessary at the time, and justified at the war’s end. But nothing could be kept secret forever. Eventually some members of the Tal Shir had found out. And they had been outraged, with good reason. A respected senator murdered to bring them into the war, so they could send their sons and daughters, their husbands and wives, their brothers and sisters; off to die in a war their enemies had started.
Riker couldn’t blame them.
The Romulan ships had comprised the battleships of the Alliance fleets; the massive concentration of firepower in their Warbirds made them stronger then most Federation cruisers or Klingon frigates. They had been the primary targets for the dominion, take out the heavy hitters and the rest of the fight just became easier. The casualties had been enormous, only the Klingon death toll was greater and they had been fighting this war before the Dominion even became involved.
But their response was, in his mind, unconscionable. The Tal Shir had taken the information and gone to one of their long time supporters, Sela Yar. Sela had extensive contacts in the military and senate and used them to prepare what the romulan politicians had since declared “an appropriate response”. She had recruited Shizon and spearheaded the Scimitar project. Then, with much support, assassinated the peaceful senators and launched an attack on Earth.
They were stopped of course.
Riker grit his teeth. The rage he still felt from the incident burned inside of him. One of the things Federation children were taught from early on was that revenge was wrong. But he would be damned if it hadn’t felt good to throw that bastard to his death. And Data… he would miss Data. Picard had his “brother” serving aboard the Enterprise now. But he’d never replace the original to Will.
The door chimed, stirring him from his brooding.
He slowly spun away from the window. “Enter.”
Agent Adare entered, wearing his usual smirk. “Sir, We may have found something on the surface.”
“What do you mean ‘something’?”
“It appears to be an artificial life form. Ships scanners are picking up millions of the things all over the planet.”
“Is there any danger to the away team or us?”
“No sir. But they are unlike anything we have ever encountered. I’d like”
“You’d like to bring them aboard to study, poke, prod, and see if you can send them to someone else and make them explode.”
Adare’s face darkened. “Yes Sir”
“”You know what my opinion of this program is Agent, and “
“And with all due respect sir, you know I don’t really care. Section 31 was given specific authorization to carry out these operations to better protect the Federation and her interests. Our mission is the same as yours sir, and we don’t appreciate the hostility.”
Riker snorted. That’s how it had been since the end of the Dominion war. At first it had just been the standardization and remilitarization of Starfleet, with increased production of war designs like the Sovereign and Akira, and older ships like the Nebula class being outfitted for the old explore and science missions. Then there had been the Scimitar incident. After their failed attack on the Federation, the Romulans had turned their attention to gearing up against their other former ally, the Klingons. And between the aborted attack and the threat of their cold war becoming hot, Section 31 had pressed their advantage. They got teams assigned to ships to search for anything that could aid them if the Federation was drawn in.
At first Riker hadn’t minded getting the Titan. It was a Nebula, meaning it was very similar to the old Enterprise-D, and it was an exploratory vessel. It lacked a war pod, which served Riker just fine; he had never liked or been very good at combat. Then the Section 31 team had arrived. Riker didn’t like it, rumor held that they had their own shadow fleet, and there were plenty of young captains on the new military vessels who supported their view. They could have used one of those ships. But then it was pointed out that an under equipped exploratory vessel would attract much less attention then a Steamrunner or Akira.
It was like that all over the fleet. New, young captains being promoted in the wake of the war, older, more pacifistic people like him being pushed to the side.
“Sir, the sooner we get a look at these things, the sooner we’ll be off our ship, and you can get back on your merry way of finding this weeks anomaly that will almost kill everyone aboard until you stop it at the last second.”
They glared at each other.
“You know that this is just a formality sir, and that my team does have the right to”
“Permission granted” Riker said gruffly.
“Thank you sir, a pleasure as always, have a fine Starfleet day”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seggerson and the rest of Charlie team stepped off of the transporter pad and waited. In a few minutes the local S31 goon arrived. Segerson saluted while the rest of the team snapped to attention.
“Ready for debriefing sir”
“No need Lieutenant, we have your readings and the specimens. Its in our hands now.”
“Specimens Agent Adare?”
“Yes. We beamed a dozen of the things up here to the science labs. They are well contained and should provide some interesting data.”
Segerson cocked his head “Is that wise? We know nothing about them, for all we know..”
“Your concerns will be noted Lieutenant.” Said Agent Adare with an edge. “You are dismissed”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Energy spike.
New location.
Coordinates unknown.
Scanning.
11 other signals detected.
Suspended in an anti-gravity bubble. Contained by oscillating force field. Commencing analysis.
Usable materials detected.
Analyze.
Consume.
Replicate.
