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"Time For A Reset"
(Previous Post: "Twisted Timelines")
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Setting: USS BASTET, Observation Lounge
Stardate: 31228.0200 (Based on standard passage of time and not that of the current dimension)
Lenaas had accepted to be beamed over to the BASTET, another indication that she had been more than willing to hear the time twisted tale of what had and would happen. Knowing that the meeting would likely be a long one, Captain Iverson had asked Lieutenant Mitshiba to bring the Temporal Drive back online and extend their shields to encompass the other ship. With both tachyons and anti-tachyons in perfect balance, the flow of time inside the shields, as it had before, placed the Federation and J'Den ships as well as everyone on board both ships in a sort of temporal hold, granting them the time to talk and plan.
Still, with the threat of the Masters using their own temporal drive to arrive here in order to destroy the BASTET and secure the new timeline they ruled unopposed, haste had been of the utmost importance.
"That is quite an imaginative tale," Lenaas said through a sigh of exasperation and disbelief, the last 2 hours having been filled with accounts of what the crew of the BASTET had done and encountered to bring them here. "A tale that you expect me to believe despite not having any proof to present."
"Our knowledge and understanding of the situation should have been enough to convince you," Counselor Lopez pointed out. "Just as it convinced you to come here and listen to us."
"I will admit that I found your take on my relationship with Shutaar interesting," Lenass continued, "but having me believe everything that you have told me is an entirely different story."
"Captain," Janeel said as she stood from her chair. "I suggest we send her back to her ship and allow events to unfold as we have already seen them happen. Lenass should by now have ingested enough tachyon isotopes to allow her to be aware, granted maybe only on a subconscious level, but still able to recall the repetition of time. After going through the destruction of her ship and death of her crew a few hundred times, I am sure that she will be more receptive to what we have to say."
"You poisoned me!?" The J'Den woman blasted as she bolted from her chair.
The rest of the senior officers remained perfectly silent, their eyes glued on the ILO.
"Tachyon isotopes are non-poisonous," Janeel calmly explained. "In fact if we had not told you about them you would never have known that you had ingested the compound and the effects would not have been apparent unless you were made to repeat the same moment in time again and again. Given that your ship is meant to be destroyed and its temporal drive to fall in the hands of the Masters' vessel which is hiding behind your planet, we would be the only ones able to rewind the clock," the ILO paused for a moment then turned to her Captain. "So my recommendation is that we beam Miss Lenaas back to her ship and have our temporal drive ready to take us back in time, say 2 minutes. That should be enough of an interval for her to experience the full impact of what she will be facing each time it happens without having the time to actually change the outcome."
"Alright, you win," Lenaas acknowledged as she defeatedly returned to her seat, her hands trembling at the thought of reliving what would be the last few moments of her ship and crew for as long as the people on board the BASTET wished it. "What do you need me and my ship to do?"
"Give us a moment please," Captain Iverson said as she stood from the chair at the head of the large table and asked for everyone to follow he out of the Observation Lounge.
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Setting: USS BASTET, Bridge
Stardate: 31228.0215 (Based on standard passage of time and not that of the current dimension)
"I am starting to see a pattern in those serving under me," Selene said as the door closed behind them, the woman obviously upset. "I appreciate and encourage people to come up with their own ideas, but I would greatly appreciate these ideas to be passed by me first before being implemented," the Captain scowled those standing before her. "That said, Commander Janeel, I would like to inform you that you have been banned from any and all poker event this ship may have in the future. That was quite the bluff you pulled back there."
"We were lucky that Lenaas' scientific knowledge was not greater than it is," Mitshiba pointed out. "There is no such thing as tachyon isotopes."
"Sorry," the ILO said as she took in a long deep breath. "We had to try something that was unexpected and over the top to make her actually reconsider her position. I had noticed that her disbelief had only been growing the more we each gave accounts of what we knew."
"Now that we have her on our side, what do we do next?" Commander Valentine questioned.
"We already know how the battle between the J'Den ship and that of the Masters ends," Iverson pointed out. "We need to make sure that it does not happen that way."
"Easier said than done," Misaki said, her eyes wide opened. "We saw just how easily the were able to overpower the J'Den ship and I doubt that our joining the battle would change the outcome. The technology of the Masters, even before they gained control of the temporal drive, is rather impressive."
"Maybe we need to figure out a way to use that to our advantage," Commander Valentine offered. "We currently have *two* temporal drives here, surely there is a way for us to use them for offset the Masters' superior technology and firepower."
"We should all be involved in this discussion," Adriana said. "Lenaas has agreed to help and it would be only fair to her and her people to be included in what could change all of our lives."
"Agreed Counselor," the Captain said inviting everyone to return to the Observation Lounge.
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Setting: USS BASTET, Observation Lounge
Stardate: 31228.0225 (Based on standard passage of time and not that of the current dimension)
"Sorry about that," Captain Iverson said in all humility. "We just needed to check a few things first, namely what actual advantage we might have over the Masters, which in this case is our temporal drives."
"It is clear that you have a far better control of it than we do," Lenaas pointed out. "We are only able to travel backwards and by large segments only."
"Backwards only?" Misaki gasped. "But what about you returning home to your time?"
"It was a sacrifice that we were all willing to make if it restored our people and world," the J'Den woman sincerely explained. "It was even suggested that we use it to destroy the Masters but the explosion was deemed too powerful and would risk destroying the world we came here to same."
"An imbalanced explosion would most certainly affect this entire region of space including the planet," the Chief Science Officer agreed. "But what if we could actually create a *balanced* explosion."
"I see a headache coming on," Janeel whispered to herself.
"Please explain Lieutenant," Commander Valentine said, her curiosity having been piqued.
"The J'Den temporal drive, being basically the same as ours, should be able to be modified to create a balanced tachyon field like the one we are in right now," Misaki explained as she called up the device's specs on the holographic emitters of the conference table. "The temporal bubble created by it enables whatever is inside to move *faster* then everything else outside, but what if we could reverse that effect and have whatever is *inside* the bubble move slower? When we tested the drive, we actually experienced something like this so we know it is possible."
"We could set the J'Den ship on a collision course and have the modified temporal drive trigger allowing us to have as much time as we need to attack and destroy the Masters' vessel," Sarena offered, sounding rather pleased with the plan.
"We have no idea just how effective our weapons will be against the Masters' ship," Janeel added. "It would make more sense to have the modified temporal drive launched separately and allow for out of our ships to attack together."
"I would love to be able to get a few shots in on that ship," Lenass admitted.
"Than it is settled," Captain Iverson stated as she once again stood from her chair. "Lieutenant Mitshiba, you and Lenaas are to return to the J'Den vessel and effect the necessary modifications to their temporal drive. We will keep the shields extended and the neutral temporal field active for as long as we can."
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Setting: USS BASTET, Bridge
Stardate: 31228.0310 (Based on standard passage of time and not that of the current dimension)
"Good timing Lieutenant," the Captain said as the Chief Science Officer returned to the bridge. "The shields were starting to fluctuate."
"I know," Misaki noted as she made her way to the science station. "Lenaas reported the fluctuations to me. The modifications were not completed but I am certain that they will have them done and the temporal drive ready in a few minutes."
"The plan stands as we discussed over the comm system," the First Officer said. "The BASTET will engage the Masters, our shields being far more powerful than those of the J'Den. We will draw their fire and attention hopefully long enough for the temporal drive to be launched and make is way to the Masters' vessel. Once the temporal drive is triggered, the ship should be a sitting duck for us to attack."
"Let's hope so," Captain Iverson voiced, not ready to accept that this had already been a done deal. There had still been too many things that could go wrong.
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Setting: Space
Stardate: 31228.0320 (Based on standard passage of time and not that of the current dimension)
The USS BASTET headed for the planet along the same trajectory that the J'Den ship had been set to use, matching the course and speed that had been observed when they had arrived to this time.
As expected the Masters ship engaged the moment it was in sight, but instead of an unsuspecting target with their shields down, the energy bolts fired hit a battle ready Federation ship, its shields having been restored to full prior to the encounter.
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Setting: USS BASTET, Bridge
Stardate: 31228.0321 (Based on standard passage of time and not that of the current dimension)
"Shields down to 67%," Commander Valentine reported, that single attack having once again shown how powerful the Masters' weapons technology had been.
"Helm, evasive maneuvers. Get them to follow us and open their flank to the J'Den ship. Tactical, fire all weapons, we need to keep their focus on us and if at all possible to weaken their shields," the Captain ordered as she held on to the arm rests of her chair.
The bridge as well as the whole ship rocked violently as another set of energy bolts impacted against the BASTET's shields.
"Shields down to 32%," the First Officer added. "Transferring all available power to reinforce the shields."
"J'Den temporal drive has been launched," the Chief Science Officer reported from her station. Now all that had been left to do was to hope that the plan would actually work.
Without a propulsion system of its own, the J'Den temporal drive had to be jettisoned from the ship, its momentum having originated from the sudden controlled decompression of the cargo bay in which the device had been moved to.
The targeting had been rough but to be effective the temporal drive had not been required to hit a specific part of the ship, in fact as long as it was triggered within the established range of the temporal field that would be generated, all should work as plan.
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Setting: Space
Stardate: 31228.0322 (Based on standard passage of time and not that of the current dimension)
Tumbling through space, the temporal device appeared to be nothing more than a piece of junk, one that held the future of an entire race and more in the successful completion of its one and only task. The emitters had been boosted to their maximum capacity to increase the size of the field that would, in theory, be generated and bring the vessel of the Masters to a standstill.
Far slower than most would have wanted it to happen, the temporal drive rolled closer to its target as the energy bolts directed towards the USS BASTET continued to be fired and impact on the rapidly weakening shields of the Federation vessel. Just as the aura of the shields vanished from around the ship acting as lure, the device was triggered and in a flash of light engulfed the Master's vessel.
Although the sensors would have likely taken a while to confirm the effectiveness of the plan, the fact that the energy bolts that would have impacted again the now defenseless BASTET hung motionless in space had been all that they needed. The Masters and their ship had been immobilized, for the time being.
That is when a second Masters ship appeared, this one giving clear indications that it had originated from the future.
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Setting: USS BASTET, Bridge
Stardate: 31228.0324 (Based on standard passage of time and not that of the current dimension)
"Helm, get us out of the line of fire of those bolts and bring us about on a flanking attack vector to that first ship," the Captain ordered glad that they had avoided dealing with the last set of energy bolts and expecting that the defences of the new ship had been even greater than that of the first.
"Firing all weapons," Commander Valentine reported.
"Reading an energy build-up in the secondary power conduits," Lieutenant Mitshiba reported, "the last shot that took out our shields seems to have also ruptured the primary energy grid triggering an emergency rerouting. Channeling all that energy into the phasers is going to cause an overload."
"Set torpedoes on repeating firing sequence," Iverson said adapting their strategy according to what the Chief Science Officer had reported. "Keep firing until we either run out of torpedoes or that ship is destroyed. Hopefully the explosion will take them both out."
"Captain, we have another problem," Counselor Lopez announced as she pointed to the main view screen. "Look!"
On the screen the members of the senior staff could see the energy bolts from the first ship moving once again, slowly but still indicating that the temporal field had begun to fail.
"Their shields are still holding," Janeel announced in a mixture of disbelief and anger, their efforts have fallen short of accomplishing what had been hoped. "With the second ship inside the field the power supply of the temporal drive is being rapidly drained, both ships are going to be back at full *speed* in less than a minute."
"The J'Den have noticed the same thing," Sarena reported.
"Are they looking for a way to avoid getting into the fight?" Captain Iverson asked, knowing that their ship had been no match for that of the Masters.
"Actually no," Commander Valentine said with surprise in her voice. "They are heading straight for the first ship. Looks like they are planning on ramming it."
Selene had been ready to open a comm channel and argue the course of action being taken, but the Captain quickly realized that this had been the one and only way to see this battle end in their favour. "Can we beam their crew off before it impacts?"
"Not without blowing ourselves up in the process," Mitshiba reported. "The power grid is already looking like it could collapse at any moment.
"Captain, we need to distance ourselves from the explosion which will very likely take out both ships and us in the process," Janeel pointed out. "We have no shields."
"Helm, get us out of here. NOW!"
Using full impulse power the BASTET placed as much distance between it and the Masters ships which exploded one after the other soon after the J'Den vessel embedded itself into the flank of the first. Despite the increased distance, the Federation vessel was still violently rocked by the powerful shockwave of the exploding vessels, tossing several members of the senior staff onto the floor.
"Report," Captain Iverson demanded as she looked around the bridge.
"No major structural damage but our sensors, transporters and communications have all been knocked out," Commander Valentine reported as she scanned the list of damage system appearing on her console.
"The power grid and energy supplies have also taken a massive hit," Lieutenant Mitshiba added. "We need to get back to our time *now* or risk to be stuck here with no way to effect the needed repairs, at least not within our lifetime."
Selene had wanted to go back, to search for survivors, to make sure that the planet and its inhabitants had been alright, but all of this would have come at too high a price forcing the Captain to give the one order she wished she could have delayed for later, much later. "Do what you need in order to get us back to our time."
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Non-Mission Message:
With both the J'Den and Masters temporal drives destroyed, our *should* be the only left. Even if it is not, for the time being, this post officially brings us to the climax of our mission. All that is left for us to do is to get back to our time and dimension and take a well earned rest, both in game and in real life. You people have done an amazing job with this mission, one that took one amazing turn after another.
I am open to getting ideas for our next mission as well as feedback on our last mission. What did you like, not like so much, how can we improve in the future? Let me know, I am always only an email away.
Again bravo to you all for a superb and very successful mission.
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Jessica Solarik
Commanding Officer
USS BASTET
&
Chief Science Officer
USS ANUBIS
"To see the world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild flower.
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour."
- William Blake (British, 1757-1827)