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“When Being Alone is All You Fear, Part 2”
Previous posts: (ANU) “When Being Alone is All You Fear, Part 1” by Francois / (BAS) “Jumping Into The Impossible” by Dawn
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Setting: USS BASTET, Bridge
Stardate: 36086.2235
"What do you mean we lost the beacon?" Although the stoic Captain had not raised her voice while speaking those words, there was no doubt in those present on the command deck that their Commanding Officer was less than pleased by the announcement.
"I cannot explain it," the Caitian Flight Control Officer said in an apologetic tone. "The signal was perfectly clear when we jumped, but now I am not reading anything from the ANUBIS."
"I can confirm that this is not from our end," it was Commander Mitshiba, the First Officer and Chief Science Officer having quickly looked into the possibility that this had been caused by some equipment malfunction. "All of our systems are operating well within normal parameters."
"Could it have been a result of us performing a manual calibration during the jump?" Selene already knew the answer. The question was a longshot, one that would have placed the blame on Gemma who had taken on the duties to manually calibrate the Dimensional Drive. Just asking the question aloud made Iverson feel like she was questioning the skills and knowledge of the woman, something that she was not.
"The jump went as smoothly as could have been," A'Janni said without hesitation, not wasting a single second to come to the defence of the absent officer. "I would even say that it went better than most of our previous ones."
"Something must have happened on their end," the joint Trill added, taking the side of Gemma, pointing out the only possible explanation to account for the unexpected loss of the beacon that was meant to guide the BASTET back to the ANUBIS.
"Without it, there is no way we can jump back and be anywhere close to the ANUBIS," the Asian women said, hoping to leave behind the search for a reason and instead focusing on finding a solution. "Due to the gravitational interference from the system, we are not even certain of the exact location of the ship, that is why we needed the beacon. Our best sensor readings had an error factor of plus/minus fifty or so meters."
"That will do it," the Voth Chief of Security who was back on the bridge stated. "Fifty meters too close and we risk creating a dimensional vortex right on top of the ANUBIS leading to its destruction. Fifty meters too far and we risk being pulled by the gravitational forces and ripped to shreds. Without the beacon or any other way to clearly pinpoint the exact location of the ship, there is no way for us to proceed as planned."
=/\= Engineering to bridge, =/\= it was the Germanic woman, her thick accent making it easy for her to be identified by everyone. =/\= Why have we not moved closer and jumped back? =/\=
"Something happened to the beacon," Misaki informed. "We lost the signal and therefore have no way to precisely locate the ANUBIS."
=/\= Understood, I am heading back to the bridge, =/\= although it was the same person who had spoken, the voice had not been that of the Germain saboteur but that of the ILO herself, another voice that the senior staff could easily recognize.
"All right, what are our options?" Captain Iverson inquired, hoping to see that someone would be able to offer something better than them doing nothing thus leaving the ANUBIS to face its end alone.
"Jumping back would prove pointless," the Caitian offered. "Nothing there has changed that would allow the BASTET to get anywhere close enough to the ANUBIS to beam the crew aboard."
"I doubt that our targeting scanners would be able to even get a lock on anyone," the Voth added. "That was one of the reasons we needed to get as close as possible, the gravimetric interference is just too great.
"What about using our dimensional sensors to see if we could find another way to help them?" Nicole proposed.
"While we are in this dimension, we can move closer to the general whereabouts of the ANUBIS," Misaki agreed but her tone clearly hinted that there would be a sizable *but* to follow. "Once there though, I am not sure what our sensors would be able to offer that could help. The resolution of our trans-dimensional scans is extremely limited and are mostly meant for us to avoid arriving at our destination and finding ourselves inside some planet or other large celestial body."
Gemma stepped onto the bridge at that point, the ILO was visibly upset with their inability to carry out their initial plan. "What is our new course of action?"
"The top option appears to be for us to use the dimensional sensors and try to figure out something for us to do that would help the ANUBIS," the Flight Control Officer replied in a half sarcastic manner.
"That might not be such a bad idea," the Intelligence Liaison Officer offered as she turned to look straight at the First Officer. "On the way back, I was thinking that there may be a lot more about this void sphere than we have been giving it credit for. I started considering that possibility following something that Lieutenant Commander Mitshiba said during one of our conversations."
"Care to elaborate?" The Captain asked, curious to hear more as this was the first time she had heard anything about this.
"Commander Mitshiba theorized that the sphere we encountered in our dreams and nightmares, which matched the one the crew of the ANUBIS discovered near them, might have its origin from another dimension," Gemma explained.
"It was just a thought," Misaki said as if trying to distance herself from the mentioned theory. "We simply did not have enough raw data to formulate any solid working theory.
"That is the beauty of theories," the Uxali scientist continued, replacing Gemma. "A theory is born out of an idea, no matter how simple or complex it may be, and it is then either proven or disproven. The theory that the sphere could have originated from another dimension was mostly based on the idea that there is simply nothing like this in our universe, at least not that we know of, but there have been some mentions of similar instances with links to other dimensions. It is, therefore, a valid option for us to investigate this possibility and see if our sensors are able to pick up some trail leading to where the sphere came from."
"Helm, set course for the relative center of the HR 8619 system in this dimension, take us in at half impulse," Iverson ordered. As much of a longshot as this might be, it was still better than doing nothing, and the Captain knew that time was of the essence if they were to save the ANUBIS and its crew. "Commander, Lieutenant" Selene continued addressing the First Officer and Intel Liaison Officer. "See what our dimensional sensors are able to pick up. Ensign Zub, keep an eye open for any possible threat. The last time we were here, things were especially peaceful, but I do not want for us to get caught unprepared should something unexpected comes our way."
Silence took over the command deck of the USS BASTET as the ship made its way into what should have been the center of a star system that existed in a completely different dimension. Here, in this universe, there was only emptiness where two stars and a black hole had been before, which of course made the task of getting closer to the center a great deal easier. as soon as the ship was where it needed to be, the Asian Commander spoke up.
"Sensors are picking up something," Misaki reported. "Or more accurately the absence of anything. Baring 002 mark 1 and I would guess it is roughly 1500 meters away. It appears to be a perfect match to the sphere described by Commander Shar'El."
"Interesting," the Uxali scientist currently manning the Operations Station noted. "Whatever this sphere is it appears to be crossing into multiple dimensions all at the same time. We will need to do a deeper dimensional scan to figure out how this is possible."
"Is our proximity to the sphere posing any risks to the BASTET?" The question from Captain Iverson made perfect sense as they were clearly dealing with an unknown the likes of which they had never dealt with before.
"I am not detecting any radiation or anything else that could be considered dangerous emanating from that general location," Ensign Enel reported. "In fact, sensors are not picking up *anything* whatsoever."
"Makes sense," Misaki said, as she nodded her head. "Our sensors are not calibrated to scan for such matter. The dimensional sensors though are definitely picking something. According to these readings, the sphere is actually more like a rod piercing through the fabric separating the dimensions. What is interesting is that one end of it appears to end in *our* dimension."
"Like treading a needle through multiple layers of thick fabric, the rob encountered something that stopped it from going any further," Wimdalli theorized.
"The extreme gravitational forces of HR 8619!" The Asian officer exclaimed. "That had to be the answer. It is the only explanation that makes sense given this new data."
"Can we use this data to help us save the ANUBIS?" Captain Iverson inquired.
"Unsure," the Lieutenant Commander said, her fingers dancing on the science console with frantic determination. "The other end of this *rod* appears to be located in the dimensional coordinate X: -034 / Y: 311 / Z: -401."
"The Chaos Dimension," it was Gemma who said this, the Intel Liaison Officer having returned. "Now all of these fears and nightmares are making a lot more sense. Captain, since both ends of this *rob* appear to be at fixed inter-dimension locations, we might be able to use it to help us reach the ANUBIS."
"Wait a minute," the Flight Control Officer warned, presenting a single trembling finger to the other officers. "Please tell me that you are not expecting us to use whatever that thing is to guide us back to the ANUBIS."
"If this is beyond your piloting skills, I am sure that Gemma knows someone who would be able to take up the challenge," Zub fired back at his friend.
"I was just wanting to warn everyone that it would not be a smooth journey," the Caitian amended. "I can fly this ship through whatever you wish with one eye closed," he added using the common expression.
"The last thing we need is a blind pilot," the Captain sighed. "Lieutenant Gemma, please return to Main Engineering, we are going to need your expertise in manually calibrating the D-Drive. As soon as you are ready, we will return to our dimension, once there we will extend the field to encompass the ANUBIS and take it out of the clutches of that system. Hopefully, once all of this is done, we will be able to head back home together."
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Setting: Dimension X: -004 / Y: 084 / Z: -002, Space
Stardate: 36086.2250
The USS BASTET sat in the middle of empty space, preparing to follow a path that it only could see. From out here, there was no sense of concern or even fear, the crew knew what they were doing and the ship would travel as only it could, stepping from one dimension to another almost effortlessly.
A small, barely noticeable rift surrounded by a gentle shimmering effect began to form in front of the BASTET and son came to envelop the ship whole. When the rift vanished, so had the vessel and all aboard.
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Setting: Dimension X: 000 / Y: 000 / Z: 000, Center of System HR 8619
Stardate: 36086.2250
An identical, barely visible rift, began to form and quickly grew in size, matching the size of the ship that had created it. By the time the shimmering effect was at its largest, the USS BASTET stood nearly on top of the USS ANUBIS.
Time seemed to come to a stop as the effect quickly grew larger, washing over the much larger SCARAB-Class cruiser. As soon as both ships were completely engulfed the two vessels vanished as if they had never been there to begin.
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Setting: Dimension X: 000 / Y: 000 / Z: 000, Empty Space
Stardate: 36086.2255
Another insignificant rift opened, well beyond the reach of the gravitational forces of the trinary star system. It quickly grew to a size that allowed not one but two Federation vessels to emerge and return to their home dimension.
Whatever fears, whatever complications the two crews had faced, they had done so together and in so doing found their way back, safe and relatively sound.
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Setting: USS ANUBIS, Sickbay
Stardate: 36086.2330
Erik opened his eyes to see three women looking down at him, only one of them being from his own crew.
"Welcome back, Captain," Doctor Bruxa said.
"What happened?" The Commanding Officer of the ANUBIS demanded.
"Things got a little rough," Captain Iverson explained. "The BASTET was never designed to bring another ship through the dimensional barriers, and certainly not one the size of the ANUBIS. "There were some injuries on both ships, but our respective Chief Medical Officers have taken care of everyone, so you have nothing to be worried about."
"I guess we owe you big for saving us," Morningstar said.
"Tell you what, make sure that we get back to NEW ALEXANDRIA and we can call it even," Iverson offered. "My engineering section is in shambles and I am not sure that we will be able to make it back on our own."
"Done," Erik quickly agreed. "I will send Sonja and whoever else is available to help with your repairs."
"Speaking of which I should head back," Selene said as she turned to Doctor Bruxa. "He is all yours" As Iverson made her way out of Sickbay, she turned to the third woman that had been there with them, the Chief Medical Officer of the BASTET. "How is Gemma?"
"She is fine," Doctor Andersson replied in a whispered tone. "As fine as I can tell, which I guess is a good thing when considering everything else. She is still unconscious, but her readings are normal, which means that her nanites are operational and doing their job. The explosion was pretty bad, and she is lucky to have survived."
"We are all very lucky," Iverson noted before glancing back over her shoulder at the Commanding Officer of the ANUBIS who was now sitting on the biobed, the man not giving any indications that he was traumatized by what his crew had lived through.
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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)