The Alpha Centauri Mystery - Part 6 - by Ben Versteegt
Summary
Ensign Sandra Burke, together with the Ferengi bartender Zaag, a mysterious Cardassian and some even more mysterious samples, have all just been beamed from a planet in the Alpha Centauri system to the USS Aquinas. A devastating attack by the Romulans has left the Starfleet base on that planet in ruins. The purpose of that attack was to find and take the samples the Starfleet scientists were researching. However, the Cardassian also wanted those samples, and unaware of the Romulans' plot to steal them, he had tried to do the same by taking Zaag hostage. He was freed by Sandra, who lured the Cardassian into a trap by using the samples as bait. Now, neither the Romulans nor the Cardassian possessed the samples... but Sandra did.
And now the continuation
The doors to the Bridge opened, and, escorted by an Ensign from Security, Sandra and Zaag stepped out of the turbolift. She still held the case containing the samples in her hand. "All right, Uncle Pete," she said to the Captain. "We're here. Now what?"
The Captain gave her a look.
"Er... sorry, *Captain*," she said, correcting herself. She knew Captain Ayer didn't like to be called 'Uncle Pete' in front of his Bridge crew. She understood. It wasn't appropriate for an Ensign to address a Captain like that.
She cleared her throat, trying to hide her shame. "Er... Captain," she began again, "Why am I here, exactly? What was it that you wanted to see me about?"
"In a minute, Ensign," he said, and turned to the CONN officer. "Helm, break orbit, and set a course for Starbase 067. Warp 8."
He paused as the Helm officer entered the coordinates and speed. The Lieutenant reported ready, after which Ayer ordered, "Engage."
On the viewscreen, Sandra saw the planet they were going to leave behind, and which had been her home for a while. It disappeared of the viewscreen and was replaced by the starfield. A colourful spectacle of light appeared, as the ship went to warp. Finally, the stars flew by them at great speed; the ship was at warp.
Sandra felt a little queasy. It had been a while since she had last been at warp. She'd be fine, though.
The Captain got out of the center seat. "In my ready room." he said, while looking at Sandra. She nodded, and followed him.
"What about me?" Zaag asked. He felt out of place on the Bridge of a starship.
"I'm sorry," was the response from Captain Ayer. "This is confidential."
"Zaag can be trusted, Captain," said Sandra. "He's not like other Ferengi. Plus, he has been through so much already, I think he deserves to know what is going on too."
"Fine," the Captain sighed. "He'd probably hear it from you anyway, Sandra. Might as well hear it from me." He gestured towards Zaag to follow him.
The three had moved to the adjacent room that was Ayer's ready room, and the Captain offered them a seat and a drink. "Tea anyone?" he asked. "Coffee perhaps?"
"Coffee." Sandra said immediately, without thinking. She could use a cup. Zaag didn't want anything. The only thing he wanted was to know what exactly was going on.
The Captain didn't waste any time with pleasantries. As soon as they had sat down and he had handed Sandra her cup of coffee, he leaned forward on his elbows, eyeing both Sandra and Zaag. This was going to be important.
His eyes remained fixed on Sandra. "You've gotten yourself into a lot of trouble, Sandra. Again."
"What trouble?" she replied. "What do you mean?"
"The samples," he stated. "It seems the whole quadrant is after them. The Cardassians, the Romulans, hell, I wouldn't be surprised if even the Borg decided to drop by and try to steal those samples."
"But why?" Sandra asked puzzled. "Why do they want these samples so badly they would risk a war with the Federation to get them?"
The Captain leaned back into his chair with a sigh. "You've scanned the samples," he said. "You know as well as I do that those samples can be used as an energy source."
"So?"
"What you probably don't know, is that the power output of even one of those crystals is far greater than the output of the power sources we've been using so far. Hell, the samples you're holding can probably power about fifteen of our starships, quite possibly with power to spare!"
The case suddenly seemed much heavier to Sandra. "Fifteen ships?" She looked at the content of the case. There were only four crystals in it. "How can a crystal produce that much power?"
"You've probably noticed already that the samples emit an unusual form of radiation," the Captain answered. "Properly processed, and with a modified conversion matrix, the radiation could be used to power anything, from a warp core to a whole starbase, to quite possibly a whole planet!"
"That's... fascinating," Sandra said. "So these crystals are a power source. So what? There are other sources of power in the galaxy. Why does everyone want these crystals?"
"Because they're the most powerful source of power known to us. The power is comparable to..." he paused, to find the right words for this comparison. "To tell you the truth, Sandra, we don't know exactly how powerful these crystals are. We just know they are the most powerful substance known to us."
"That sure is something."
"It is." The Captain's face was more serious than Sandra had ever seen. "And it is also a great threat to the Federation," he said softly. He paced around the ready room, and finally stopped to stare out of the window into space. "You both know the Cardassians and the Romulans are involved already," he continued, keeping his eyes fixed on the moving starfield, "however, Starfleet fears that other races might decide to join the party, and try to get some of their own samples." He sighed. "As you may know, the Dominion War has cost Starfleet many good ships and crews. They're not easy to replace, especially on such short notice."
"What are you trying to say, Uncle Pete?"
The Captain took a deep breath, and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "We are weak, Sandra. Weaker than we have ever been before. All our ships are scattered across Federation space. If one is attacked, the closest ship will be a few hours away, even at maximum warp."
Sandra didn't move. She tried to keep a neutral _expression, but it wasn't easy to do. "Are you telling me that... we may have peace now, but we are too weak to defend ourselves if war, if , or when, it comes?"
Captain Ayer nodded. "That's about it, yes. A new source of power like these crystals inside Federation space could easily lure other species here - as it has already done in the case of the Cardassians and the Romulans, it seems. You must understand, we are not ready for such an invasion."
"I doubt the Ferengi will just stay and watch this happen," Zaag said. It was the first time he spoke since the meeting began. "They will probably want to take advantage of the situation. There are a few who will do anything to get their hands on valuable merchandise, these days."
Ayer turned and looked at Zaag with a hint of suspicion in his eyes.
"I'm not one of them!" the Ferengi said quickly.
"Bridge to Captain Ayer," the comm suddenly burst to life. "Long range sensors just picked up a ship... It's on an intercept course."
Ayer's eyes met Sandra's for a moment. They were both worried. This could be a Romulan or Cardassian ship, trying to steal the samples.
The Captain sighed and walked out of the Ready Room. Zaag and Sandra followed him to the Bridge. "What kind of ship?" Ayer asked the tactical officer.
"Unknown, Sir," the Lieutenant answered, looking at his console. "They are generating some sort of dampening field. It's interfering with our sensors."
"Red Alert!" Ayer shouted. As the Bridge was lit up by the lights of the red alert, and the sound of the klaxon filled the room, the Captain turned to the Helm officer. "Time to Starbase 67?"
"Six hours, at our current speed," was the answer.
The Captain sighed. Six hours... "Take us to maximum warp," he ordered.
"The unknown ship is still gaining on us, Sir." The STC sounded nervous. "They will overtake us in less than ten minutes."
"What's their speed?"
"They are travelling at warp 9,98, from the looks of it, Sir," the STC replied.
"And this old Excelsior class can only go 9,4, max..." the Helmsman muttered.
"Hail them," the Captain said.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence.
"No response, Captain."
"Open a channel."
The STC nodded to the Captain to indicate the channel was open. "This is Captain Ayer of the Federation starship USS Aquinas to unknown vessel. Please identify yourself."
Again, a moment of silence. Ayer looked at the STC.
"They are receiving the transmission, Sir," the Lieutenant reported. "They just seem to ignore it."
"Send the message again. All languages, all frequencies."
After another tense moment, the STC shook his head. "Nothing, Sir."
Ayer took a deep breath. "Shields up," he said softly. "Ready phasers and photons."
"Sir, they are entering visual range."
Uncle Pete straightened his uniform. "Let's see them. Maximum magnification."
On the viewscreen the image of the stars passing by disappeared, and was replaced by the sight of a vessel, closing on the Aquinas with great speed.
It took the Bridge crew a few moments to realize they were fleeing from a Starfleet vessel. Sandra was the first to speak. "But... it's Starfleet! A Prometheus class, if I'm not mistaken. An ally!"
"Sir," the FO, a Vulcan, began, "maybe it would be wise to drop out of warp. Clearly we have nothing to fear from them. Why should we run?"
The Captain shook his head lightly. "Something doesn't smell right."
"Sir?" the Vulcan FO raised an eyebrow.
"Why the aggressive posture?" Ayer asked, "Why the sensor dampening field? Why won't they let us scan them? And why won't they respond to our hails?"
"Perhaps they consider us a threat," the Vulcan explained. "We *are* exceeding the standard Federation cruising speed of this area, Sir. Our course indicates to them that we have recently left a planet where a Federation base was attacked. They may suspect we have something to do with that attack."
"We are a Federation ship!" Ayer cried out.
the FO raised her eyebrow again. "So are they."
The Captain still didn't like it. He looked at the STC. "Anything on sensors?"
"No Sir. They are still somehow deflecting our sensor scans with their dampening field."
The CO rubbed the bridge of his nose again. He had a decision to make. Continue to flee from a Starfleet vessel, which seemed totally illogical, as his FO had pointed out, or to drop out of warp?"
"Sir, we should drop out of warp," the FO urged. "If we continue to flee from them like this, they will certainly think we are the enemy. I suggest we disengage the warp drive immediately."
The Captain looked up. "I don't think so. Lieutenant Watters, increase power to the aft shields." He tapped his comm badge. "Bridge to Engineering. I want all the power you can give me to be rerouted to the warp engines. Give me more speed, Commander."
A confused voice replied, "Aye Sir, I'll... see what I can do. Zjavick out."
"Sir, what are you trying to do?" the Vulcan asked in a calm, but at the same time surprised voice. "The logical thing to do would be to drop out of warp, not increase our speed."
"Call it a hunch, Commander. I have a gut feeling something is wrong with these people who are chasing us, and I don't want to find out what."
The FO was going to reply, but a voice over the comm interrupted her. "Zjavick to Bridge. I can give you warp 9 point 6, but that's the best I can do."
"That won't be enough, Commander," Ayer replied. "We need more speed if we're going to outrun these guys."
"But sir..."
"More speed, Commander!"
"Sir, I can't just..."
"Then find a way, Mr. Zjavick. That's an order. Ayer out."
He looked at the Lieutenant at Helm. "CONN, warp 9,6. Engage!"
"Aye Captain. Warp 9 point four three... 9 point four six... point four eight..." the Helmsman reported as the ship began to move faster. "Warp 9 point five one... five two..." The ship started to shake heavily. Sandra had to hold on to a console, to prevent her from falling onto the floor.
"Warning." the voice of the computer sounded throughout the Bridge. "Current speed exceeding structural integrity field specifications. Six minutes and twenty-five seconds to structural integrity field collapse."
"Great..." Ayer muttered. He tapped his commbadge "Mr. Zjavick, I hate to disturb you..."
"I'm already on it, Captain!" the CEO shouted. "Rerouting emergency power to the SIF! I might be able to stabilize the field for now, but if we don't drop out of warp soon, the field will collapse!"
The STC interrupted the conversation, "The Prometheus-class vessel is still gaining on us... They are entering weapons range!"
Ayer sighed. "I have the feeling we will be forced to drop out of warp soon enough, Mr. Zjavick. Do what you can. Bridge out."
He had just closed the comm channel, when a few severe shocks went through the entire ship. A console exploded, along with a plasma conduit. Pressurized gas found it's way onto the Bridge. "Seal that leak!" Ayer shouted to a few crewmen who were standing around on the Bridge, doing nothing. He turned to the STC. "Rapport!"
"That was a quantum torpedo volley!" the Lieutenant shouted back, as he was reading the data off his console. "They are firing on us, Sir!"
Another shock forced the crew to hold on to their seats and consoles. "They're targeting our warp engines, Sir."
"They are Federation!" Sandra yelled. "Why would they attack us?" Some more shocks and explosion threw her on the ground. Zaag helped her get up.
"Aft shields are down to 69 %!" the Lieutenant at Tactical reported.
"Bridge!" Zjavick yelled through the comm channel. "the engines are under a lot of stress already. They can't take much more of this pounding! We have to drop out of warp, or we'll blow up!"
More torpedoes hit the ship. "Send a distress call to Starbase 67," Ayer ordered Watters. "Let them know we are under attack, and that we need help now!"
"Aye, Sir." Watters began to work, but looked up only a moment later. "Sir... they're jamming our transmission... I can't get through!"
Ayer didn't have time to reply to this new set back, since the voice of the CEO again shouted through the comm channel, "Bridge, we need to drop out of warp *now*! The engines won't hold much longer!"
"How much more time can you give us, Commander?" Ayer asked, desperately searching for options.
"About 20, maybe 25 seconds," was the reply. "After that, I can always give you more time... if you don't mind the ship to explode, that is."
Ayer sighed heavily. He was now forced to drop his ship out of warp, and to defend it from a Prometheus class vessel, which was a lot more advanced that the Aquinas, an old Excelsior class. Still, he didn't have any choice.
"On my mark," he said, "drop out of warp, then turn the ship around. Watters, transfer all available power to the shields and weapons once we disengage the warp drive. Once we face them, fire everything you got, understood?"
Both the Helmsman and Lieutenant Watters nodded.
"Good," Ayer said with a faint smile. "We'll show these bastards what the Aquinas is made of. We may be outgunned and outclassed, but we're sure as hell not going to give up without a fight!"
Sandra waited in fear as the last seconds slipped away. She knew she might die in the battle, but there was nothing she could do about it. Ayer looked at her, and she nodded. Whatever would happen, she would support Uncle Pete. Always.
Captain Ayer took a deep breath. More shocks hit the ship. Numerous systems were beginning to fail. On top of that, the ship he was on was going to explode if they remained in warp for a few seconds. He grabbed hold of a console, bracing himself for what would happen. Then, with remarkable confidence in his ship and his crew, and with no hesitation at all, he said,
