The Beginning of a Star Trek Story
By Luke McGrane
2009-11-26
…The Transphasic Torpedo is a device given to the USS Voyager by a future Admiral Catherine Janeway. Her intention was to use them to fend off a Borg assault while the starship used the Transwarp network to reach sector one and, finally, Earth ending their long odyssey in the Delta quadrant…
6 Days after Voyager’s Return
“We cannot forget that the Borg had more than enough time to scan this technology. They may be able to reproduce…”
“The Borg are destroyed. You destroyed them. Now you want me to begin a massive reverse engineering program to figure out how these things work and install them on new ships?.. Catherine. Don’t worry about the Borg”
“Admiral, I fought the Borg for years in their own space. I know how devious they are, I know how strong they are and I know their weaknesses. We hurt the Borg but they will come back. They always come back.”
“Catherine end this now. There will be no official program to create our own Transphasic weapons and there will be no attack from the Borg. The Federation is not concerned by the Borg. Our top scientists tell us that even with their vast technology it will take them at least 35 years to rebuild their Transwarp conduits and in that time we…”
“Official?”
Admiral Ross stared long at the Captain, angry at her interruption, but thankful that she picked up on her obvious breadcrumb.
“All is in hand, captain, the Federation does not fear the Borg and it is all thanks to you. We are entering a golden age and we intend to make it last as long as possible – by all means necessary.”
Janeway graciously thanked the admiral for her time but both of them knew she was really thanking Ross for taking her advice and conducting research on the 29th century technology.
15 years later somewhere in the Delta quadrant
The corridors were dark, the air was warm and all equipment had an ominous green glow. A Borg drone sprang to life and stepped out of an alcove. He paused looking left and right assessing his position. There were only thirty alcoves in total, six of them damaged and ten empty. He already knew the damage was caused by huge energy surges in the life support mechanisms and sadly those drones were vaporised instantly. His task was clear and concise and had come through as a booming voice delivering a godly edict awakening him.
“eight of twelve, primary adjunct of unimatrix seventy-five. Activate. Replace energy regulation conduits on alcoves seventeen to twenty-two.”
He knew his task was going to take exactly 23.2 hours to complete and it would be quicker if other drones were available to help. He did not hesitate for a second or falter in his approach as he set to work repairing the machinery.
In a shielded section just a few meters away the remaining conscious drones were busily working to repair the equipment that had caused the power fluctuation. Directly below the room stood a vast storage facility filled with Boronite ore.
“Particle zero-one-zero has become unstable. Initiate self des…” and the voices ended. Everything ended. The small moon deep in the Delta quadrant that the facility was on no longer existed. Instead a blinding flash of light filled the entire region of space and was gone again. In 80,000 years the flash would be seen from Earth. The planet was knocked off its orbit and scarred for all eternity with massive canyons ripping out from the point below where the moon once was. Its atmosphere was gone along with all plant life, 320 other Borg facilities and even the 2 tactical cubes posted several billion kilometres away. Millions of drones wiped out in less than a second.
Back on Earth
The Federation science council was in session discussing the best methods to apply ablative armour technology to large vessels such as star ships and perhaps even star bases. None of the scientists questioned where this technology had come from as they were all under the impression it was acquired from the destroyed Borg sphere that inadvertently brought the USS Voyager home. The entire council sat in their dedicated theatre wrangling ideas back and forth with their voices echoing just slightly in the cavernous space. Commander T’Rol, an angry middle-aged Romulan/Vulcan halfbreed, sat admiring the décor around the room. Thanks to the wonders of modern lighting the large window provided an unparalleled view of Starfleet Headquarters in broad daylight without causing any shadows or eyestrain within the room. She was actually one of the engineers involved in improving the technology so that it could be applied to starship viewscreens. Essentially the ambient lighting around the room is as bright as the natural sunlight outside making the whole area seem open and free. T’Rol felt at home in this room and imagined herself as a powerful philosopher in charge of vast understanding and given the opportunity to share it with the world.
After several hours the meeting ended and, as usual, the council was not any closer to making a decision but T’Rol was grateful for just having been allowed in to the session. As she exited the building she did not have to blink to readjust her eyesight and took pride in the fact that she was part of the solution to that age-old problem.
“T’Rol! Hey! T’Rooool are you deaf?” a brash voice bellowed from across the grass. T’Rol peered over and noticed a fresh-faced cadet jogging towards her.
“Hello James, as a matter of fact I can hear you quite well.”
“I know” he smiled “I just wanted to get your attention. I’ve found something interesting about what you’re working on. You know the ablative hull armour? Well I don’t think we got it from the Borg. I don’t think they had anything to do with it at all. I think we got it from Voyager along with advanced weaponry. Aaand you know that ‘accident’ that destroyed two unmanned probes near Io? Well I don’t..”
“That is enough, cadet, what point are you trying to make?”
“I think Starfleet has been engaged in top secret research using advanced Delta-Quadrant technology”
“Starfleet is always engaged in secret research, it is that which ensures our safety in the galaxy and the Borg are from the Delta quadrant… I fail to see your revelation.”
James looked dejected but knew he was fighting a losing battle trying to get such a logical mind interested in a conspiracy theory. Although he knew that T’Rol was right in that Starfleet is always doing something secretly he felt that there was something odd about this new technology. It just didn’t seem to fit with anything else Starfleet had and he wasn’t sure why.
“Ok, “ he said finally “its just business as usual then… but why would they bring in Red Squad? We’ve not been told what we’re supposed to be doing yet but we have been unofficially hinted towards the prospect of trying out an extremely new kind of ship. A secret ship… with your ablative armour and some kind of torpedo system. It’s all very ‘hush hush’”
“Then why, cadet, are you telling me?”
“I just thought you might be interested and being as your clearance level goes way above mine I thought you might know a little more about it”
T’Rol now fully understood what James was asking. His pesky allusions to conspiracy were, in fact, an attempt to get her to tell him everything she knew. They were friends but he was always trying to get information out of her and she recognised that he was very good at doing so. She realised that must be why he is top of Red Squad.
“James, I’m not giving you any more information. You have tricked me once but I shall not fall for it again.” With a very slight smirk she turned away and headed toward her office as James laughed and started walking to a nearby café. T’Rol couldn’t help but wonder what ship James was talking about. She knew some prototypes had been built but they were no bigger than a class 9 probe. Starfleet had decided it was better to pursue the technology for large ships as they are the ones used in battles.
To be continued.... maybe :P
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