Beyond the barrier, Pt 2

Posted on Thu Feb 20th, 2025 @ 10:18pm by Commodore Finchley Kerr & Commander Shr'Nesh Karadis & Lieutenant Commander Kevin Kilbane & Lieutenant Jock McCrudden & Commander Alec Hunter & Lieutenant Commander Isabelle Savette & Lieutenant Commander Shoniara T'ghann-Dex. Doctor & Lieutenant Drevas

1,763 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Voices of the past
Location: USS Blackeagle, Bridge/Sickbay.
Timeline: Current.

Finchley tried not to show surprise on his face, but he failed as his eyebrows raised and his mouth fell open. "Did you just say twenty thousand light years?"

"According to our scan, yes Commodore" Karadis said.

"Ok" Finchley replied, sounding a little lost at the answer, "Scan again, this time look for any habitable planets, see if you can pick up any technology."

"Aye Sir" Karadis replied, turning back to the scanners. Again, a few minutes passed and she looked back at Finchley. "There's two planets within our area, both have signs of technology. If we can get then ship moving again, we can reach the nearest one in about an hour."

"Ship wide comm's have been restored Commodore" the Ensign at Communications reported.

"Good" Finchley replied, and no sooner that he had, COMM's chirruped and a message came through.

"Bridge this is Lieutenant Commander Dex. Commander Hunter will be okay but he will be out of action for at least eight hours. We have one dead, Lieutenant Malley from Engineering, they seem to have taken the brunt of it. Two others are in serious condition but should recover. We have fourteen walking wounded who should be able to return to duty when treated. We seem to have gotten lucky."

~Not for Lieutenant Malley~ Finchley thought to himself, "Thank you Doctor, pass on my well wishes to all those who have been injured, keep me informed about Commander Hunter please."

~Not for Lieutenant Malley ~Shon thought as she placed him in the unit until his autopsy.

Finchley tapped his COMM badge, "McCrudden, it's Kerr, are you still in Sickbay?"

"No Sir, I discharged myself, I'm needed in Engineering, that's where I am" McCrudden replied.

"Ok, so, how's it looking there?" Finchley asked.

"Well, we'll have the ship going in five minutes" McCrudden answered.

"Really, that's great!" Finchley said enthusiastically.

"NO you dickhead, we're in pieces down here!" McCrudden shouted back, "I can get you warp point five at best, but more than that will be a while so the more you talk to me then longer it'll take."

Finchley swallowed hard, biting back his urge to have the CEO thrown in the brig for insubordination, realising the enormity of the task he and his team had before them fixing the ships engines, so replied "Keep me informed of progress, Kerr out."

He looked at Owens at Helm, "Set course for the nearest planet, warp point five MrOwen's."

Owens nodded, "Aye Sir, course laid in, heading there, warp point five."

[Four hours later]

The Blackeagle began it's approach to the planet, and Finchley watched the viewscreen as the blue green ball grew larger before them.

He looked round at Isabelle, "Commander, do you think you can get any kind of reading this far out?"

Isabelle nodded. “I already am, there’s quite a population down there from what I’m sensing and at least some of them must be part Betazoid, or similarly telepathic. It’s the only explanation I’m getting for the strength of reading.”

"Is there any way for you to tell if they're able to read us, or are reading us?" Finchley asked Isabelle

“It’s possible” Isabelle nodded before she was interrupted.

“Sir! There’s a hail coming through from the surface, they’re asking to speak to Commander Savette.”

Isabelle looked at Finchley, a worried expression on her face. “Me? Why me?”

"There's only one way to find out Commander, and that's by us accepting the hail and you speaking you speaking to whoever's asking for you" Finchley replied.

Isabelle nodded. “On screen please” She took a deep breath as the screen showed a man and a woman, the woman looked very much like an older version of herself.

“It is you!” The woman smiled as she looked at the man stood beside her. “Forgive me, this must be very strange, you see we are the descendants of your parents... we’ve been waiting for the lost children to come home.”

“My parents?” Isabelle frowned looking at Finchley before looking back at the screen. “That... isn’t possible.” She looked at Finchley hoping he would step in to get her out of the conversation.

Seeing the pleading look in Isabelle's eyes, Finchley stepped forward, "Please forgive this intrusion into your conversation with my Chief Counsellor, I'm Commodore Finchley Kerr, CO of the USS Blackeagle. May I ask who I'm speaking to?"

The man onscreen stepped up. “Our Apologies Commodore Kerr, I am Jackson Monroe and this is my wife Kara. We are the descendants of the original crew of the USS Ranger, I am colony leader here. I realise this is awkward, please feel free to come to our colony where we may talk more freely. No harm will come to any of you.”

"That's very generous of you Mr Monroe, Mrs Monroe, however, before we make a decision on that, may I ask how you knew Commander Savette was onboard this vessel, and why you wished to speak to her specifically instead of the Commanding Officer?"

“That was my fault Commodore” Kara gazed towards Isabelle. “As she sensed us, we sensed her, and we know our own Commodore. Besides the family resemblance is astonishing!” She picked up a frame from nearby. “This is an image taken of those aboard the Ranger, as you can see the family resemblance is unmistakable.”

Isabelle looked at the image wide eyed before sitting in her seat, if all this was true she was a descendant of one of the lost children.

"Whilst that is all very interesting Mrs Monroe, it's still..." Finchley began to say, then he suddenly realised the full meaning of what Kara had just implied.

He looked at Isabelle, then back to Kara, and then to the picture she was holding, "Wait a minute, as much as there's a passing resemblance between someone in that picture and my Chief Counsellor, I dare say that anyone could pick up a picture of any former crew at any point in time and say that I resemble someone in 'that' particular photo. It's well documented that some of the USS Ranger crew were Betazoid, so I would hasten to think that that's why you were able to sense Counsellor Savette scanning the planet, as she's Betazoid as well, but for you to say she's sibling or relative of yours, that's reaching a lot."

Kara nodded. “Then might I suggest a dna comparison Commodore? We are willing to provide your ship’s Doctor with any samples required. All I ask is that you allow us..” She looked towards Isabelle, then back at Kerr. “..to get to know each other.”

Jackson rested his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Forgive my wife’s enthusiasm Commodore, if what we believe is true then your Chief Counsellor is the first to return to us, it’s very exciting.”

"The first" Finchley asked, "does that mean there's more?"

He thought back to the conversation that he and Isabelle had about the findings of she and Alec had come across about six children not making the journey on the Ranger and subsequently going missing, never found.

“There were six children in all, from the research we did. They just seemed to disappear.” Isabelle looked towards the viewscreen. “I’m to take it that I’m descended from one of those children?”

“Possibly more than one” Kara nodded. “We won’t know without a dna test, that’s if you’re willing Counsellor?”

Isabelle looked towards Finchley, her concern was evident. If she was a descendant it could put her Starfleet career, and her freedom at risk. “I’m willing Sir, if only to clear this up.”

Finchley looked at Isabelle, this was a very hard decision. On the one hand it would indeed clear it up, but on the other, if it was found that Isabelle was descended from Augments, it would mean that she herself had augmentation in her, and that was something Starfleet, and the Intelligence arm of it, wouldn't stand for and her career would be over. Not only that, but there was every chance she'd be arrested and contained in a specialist prison.

"If it's something you feel strongly about Commander, then we can do it" he replied.

[Sickbay]

At last sickbay was emptying out, Alec was the last patient she wanted to discharge. Standing by his bio bed she looked down at him whilst running her last observations and tests. “Alec, Alec, wake up.” She whispered into his ear.

Alec heard Shon's voice gently telling him to wake up. He didn't want to, he just wanted to sleep but despite that his eyes snapped open, and he saw her standing beside the bed looking down at him. "Shon." He replied in recognition.

"How are you feeling?" she asked as she checked his current readings. "You've been asleep for four hours."

"Is that all? It feels like I have been asleep for a lot longer. Like I was asleep for years," Alec replied. He thought on Shon's question, "I feel better. My head still hurts but not has badly. I can manage." He finally answered.

"Alec, to tell you the truth there is an anomaly in your parietal lobe that was not there before, the sensory part of your brain has grown. I do not know what this means but something is different. However I can discharge you if you feel up to it?"

Alec went cold at Shon's words. "A tumor?" He asked not really wanting to hear the answer. "Yes." He quickly changed the subject, "Please discharge me."

Shon smiled reassuringly and put her hand on his shoulder. "No no nothing like that Alec, it's just an anomaly, something that wasn't there before. You may feel some things that perhaps were..." she tried to think of a word, "muted, like your sense of smell might be stronger, your sense of touch might be different. listen if you don't feel like returning to your quarters I can let the Commodore know you will be a few hours yet?"

Alec shook his head, he had never run from anything and he wasn't about to start now. "No, I'm okay Shon. Thank you for informing me of what to expect.. Let's get to the bridge."

"I'll let you get up and dressed, there is a uniform replicator to your left." she moved away.

"Alright just give me a few minutes and I'll be ready." Alec answered, already swinging his legs over the side of the bed.

TBC

 

RSS Feed