Stardate 76443.8; June 11, 2399
EPISODE
107
Edited by Peter Bossley
Written by Chris Adamek
ADDITIONAL CHARACTERS
Doctor V’Sal
Arayne
Lt. Commander
Turathan Karalis
Captain Kayvok
Lt. Commander
Ian Meade
Odo
Commander Amy
Robinson
Solis
Lt. Commander
Jayla Trinn
Prologue
The Columbia was a very busy ship. After partaking in a series of tactical
simulations, the Columbia was assigned to chart Sector 83024, an
unexplored region of space near the Cardassian border. Save a brief, but pleasant encounter with a
species called the Nu, Sector 83024 was relatively uninteresting. There were two trinary star systems and a
small pulsar, but nothing out of the ordinary… and certainly nothing that
required Harrison’s attention.
Thus, the Captain decided to sneak away from the bridge for a few
hours. Now was as good a time as any to
take a short break; besides, ever since he stumbled upon an archival recording
of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, his mind had been somewhat
distracted… Though it was an ancient,
non-interactive movie, Harrison was nonetheless eager to watch its plot unfold
before his very eyes.
He knew little about the film—only that it was about a people
engaged in a constant struggle with some powerful insects called the ohmu,
the guardians of a poisonous jungle creeping across the Earth. It certainly seemed interesting enough, but
he would find out for himself soon enough.
Eager to get started, Harrison dimmed the lights in his quarters,
grabbed a cup of green tea from the replicator, and seated himself on the
sofa—just in time for the door to chime.
For a moment, Harrison considered ignoring the chime so that he might
watch his movie without interruption—but somehow he suspected that tactic would
ultimately fail. So he carefully set
aside his tea and said, “Enter.”
The doors slid apart with a hiss, and Commander Robinson poked her
curious head inside. “Sorry to disturb
you, sir, but… I have the final report on our recent contact with the Nu.”
Typically, Harrison left the status reports for Robinson to deal
with, but first contact situations were a completely different story. Because meeting a new alien species was such
an important event, Harrison wanted to make absolutely certain the report for
Starfleet was flawless. And since this
encounter with the Nu was Harrison’s first first contact situation, he
was going to analyze every single word in the document.
After his movie.
“Set it on my desk,” Harrison politely instructed.
Robinson quietly crept into Harrison’s quarters. She set the sleek gray padd on the nearby
desk and started to make her retreat, when her gaze suddenly fell upon the
opening moments of Harrison’s movie. “Nausicaä!”
she happily exclaimed. “That is one of
my favorite movies!”
This certainly came as a surprise to Harrison. While there were countless anime fans in the
galaxy, it had been Harrison’s observation that most Starfleet officers
preferred the more interactive forms of entertainment offered by the holodeck
(or holomatrix, as it was called aboard the Columbia). Thus, he didn’t expect to meet a fellow fan
aboard the Columbia. “I have not
yet seen this particular film, however, I am quite familiar with many of the
other masterpieces from this genre.”
The sentiment brought a faint smile to Robinson’s face. “Are you familiar with the Ivalice
series?” she asked, gently resting her hands on the back of the plush black
sofa.
“Vaguely,” said Harrison, shaking his head. “I have seen a few episodes, but not nearly
enough to hold an intelligent conversation.”
Robinson’s grin widened.
“I have all fifty-two episodes if you’re interested… It’s similar to Nausicaä, so you’ll
probably like it.”
Even though he still knew next to nothing about Nausicaä,
Harrison was still very interested in this Ivalice series. “I would certainly like to peruse your
library.”
“I’m sure something can be arranged.”
“Most excellent.” Harrison
was tempted to invite Robinson to stay and watch Nausicaä with him, but
he knew that she was still on duty.
Still, he could not allow this opportunity to pass him by, and he was
suddenly quite eager to discuss their common interest. “I recently came upon a complete collection
of The Chozo Chronicles… Perhaps you would like to watch it with me
someday?”
Since the collection in question was an incredibly rare find,
Robinson had no choice but to agree. “I
would like that,” she said after only a moment of contemplation. “‘Tis a date, good sir!”
And on that curious note, Robinson departed, leaving Matthew
Harrison alone, and in a state of utter shock.
A date? That was not at
all Harrison’s intent; in fact, it was a violation of almost every Starfleet
protocol he could think of! Obviously,
the situation would have to be rectified before any rules or regulations were
violated…
Obviously.
“I used to be the science officer aboard the Damocles,”
said Ian Meade, indolently pecking away at the Columbia’s helm. “It wasn’t exactly what I would call my true
calling, but… I learned quite a bit during my tenure there, so I guess it
wasn’t a complete waste of time—got me interested in temporal mechanics…”
Sitting in the nearby command chair, Megan Reinbold tried her best
to feign interest in the… conversation (for lack of a better term). Ian Meade was certainly a likable man—and a
very competent officer— but… Reinbold was quickly discovering that the man
liked to talk, and he didn’t seem to care if anybody was listening. Reinbold assumed that she was the
intended listener, but since she very rarely got a chance to speak, it didn’t
really matter.
“…I’ve been tinkering around in our temporal science lab,” Meade
continued. “It’s impressive, but not
nearly as nice as the one aboard the Starlight. Kendall Johnson is clearly a visionary when
it comes to temporal science; I met him a few months ago—right around the time
the Iconian Station was discovered. He
seemed a little distracted, but—”
The sensors suddenly bleeped, and in the blink of an eye, Ian
Meade was down to business. “A ship
just dropped out of warp,” he gleaned from the data flitting across the helm.
“The vessel barely within sensor range,” added Turathan
Karalis. The Andorian carefully studied
the sensors for a few moments—but his twitching antennae gave away his neutral
façade.
“What is it?” asked Reinbold, already on her feet.
Karalis shook his head, still slightly confused by the
information. “The vessel’s warp
signature is apparently consistent with Dominion technology. If I am not mistaken, that is a Jem’Hadar
attack cruiser…”
“Jem’Hadar… in the Alpha Quadrant?” Reinbold’s curiosity was immediately piqued—but she wasn’t going
to let that get in the way of the investigation. They definitely needed to proceed with caution. “Yellow alert.”
Reinbold quickly slinked over to the operations console to view
the sensor data for herself—and sure enough, the purplish blip that represented
the vessel was slowly creeping closer to the Columbia. It was, without a doubt, a Jem’Hadar attack
cruiser.
“And where there is one Jem’Hadar ship,” grumbled Karalis, “there
are usually two more lurking nearby.”
Even though she had no experience with the Jem’Hadar, Reinbold
knew that they almost always worked in teams of three. “Have they detected us?”
“Yes,” said Karalis. And
in retrospect, it was probably a stupid question; the Dominion’s sensors were
equal to the Federation’s in almost every way imaginable. In fact, the Jem’Hadar were probably aware
of the Columbia several minutes before their little attack cruiser
appeared on the Columbia’s sensors.
“They are hailing us.”
That was a surprise.
Reinbold couldn’t even begin to fathom what the Dominion might want with
the Columbia… and she would have preferred Captain Harrison deal with
them—but until he got to the bridge, the Columbia’s fate rested entirely
upon Reinbold’s shoulders. Thus, she
pulled in a lungful of nervous air and approached the command chair. “On screen.”
The glittering starfield blinked away, and Reinbold prepared
herself for an encounter with the Jem’Hadar or one of the Vorta… But she was
quite surprised when a changeling flitted onto the viewscreen—and a very
familiar-looking changeling, at that.
If her memory served, Megan Reinbold now stood face-to-face with
one Constable Odo…