Episode 10: Act 2 [The VerbenaVerse]

This page is read only. You can view the source, but not change it. Ask your administrator if you think this is wrong.
~~META:
title = Episode 10: Act 2
~~
====== Episode 10: Future Potential - Act 2 ======
//Game was 8/16/12 and went well.//

<WRAP todo round>
  * [[todo:missing:summary]]
</WRAP>

<WRAP hide>
===== Summary =====
[TBA]
===== =====
</WRAP>

===== Stardate 63391.17, May 23rd, 2386 =====

==== Another Friendly Blue Face ====

After some work, the crew manages to do the best they can with the crippled //Thunderbird//. Unfortunately, the ram scoop is a total loss, the Bussard collector is shaky at best, and they will need new antimatter pods as the original ones locked up when the crash occurred. The officers are concerned that some of the repairs were made with engineering tape, but [[trek:characters:p8blue|P8 Blue]] shrugs and says this is what they have right now. [[trek:characters:sola|Sola]] appears to the five time-displaced crewmembers and asks them to accompany her to the bridge. [[trek:solstice:pcs:mel|Mel]] agrees as P8 Blue bemoans the lack of spare antimatter and plots to "liberate" some from //Voyager//.

They follow Sola to the bridge and are startled when they enter and a familiar voice drawls that they've been in 2386 for a few hours now yet they haven't bothered to say hello. Mel grins when she spots [[trek:characters:threyshaan|Threy'shaan]] at tactical; the Andorian remains expressionless until he hugs her. In the captain's chair -- with his uniform open and his feet up -- is Lt. [[trek:characters:shantaar|Shan'taar]], who welcomes them back to the bridge, but announces he's on hour forty-seven without sleep. The normally taciturn Andorian -- who now sports a neatly-trimmed beard -- is much more loquacious now, and admits he just finished the morbid task of cleaning up the remains of the engineering crew.

==== Sanctuary ====

The time-lost officers make small talk with Shan'taar as they watch [[trek:characters:owen|Owen Parsons]] maneuver through the Andorian nebula. Shan'taar offers to let [[trek:solstice:pcs:z_daphne|Daphne]] pilot //Solstice// into Sanctuary, which thrills her, but he warns her that the conn is now a merging of Starfleet and Dai'Loq technologies. They see Sanctuary as the //Solstice// draws closer; the Dai'Loq base resembles a giant, glittering ochre golf ball. It's not until the station continues to grow on the main screen that they realize just how large Sanctuary is, and Shan'taar admits the base is the size of a small moon. The inside is mostly empty; all functions revolve around the inner core.

Shan'taar reveals that [[trek:characters:jen|Captain Kras]] led the shattered fleet here in 2382; her Dai'Loq nanites have proven invaluable to their survival and adaptation of Dai'Loq technologies. He also admits Sanctuary is semi-mobile, but he cannot provide schematics to [[trek:solstice:pcs:z_jace|Jace]] when he asks; the base's inner computers refuse anyone but Jen, and the base is almost pure kelbonite. Daphne takes the helm and takes a few seconds to acclimate to the Dai'Loq technology; the hybridization is pretty intensive, and her panel is now swirls and circles, not the orderly rows she's used to. Despite that, she manages to maneuver the //Solstice// into one of the divots, which irises open to admit them. Once inside she follows a lighted course to the core.

The inner walls of Sanctuary are unpowered and unused, but the total surface area is immense. As they dock, they see two //Sovereign//-class vessels and one //Akira//-class; both classes have not yet appeared in 2371 and their respective prototypes won't be done until mid-2372. One //Intrepid//-class is also docked, and Shan'taar admits //Voyager// is on her way and will be here shortly. //Solstice// docks as Shan'taar reveals //Voyager// survived a trip into the Delta quadrant, home of the Borg Collective, and the Council estimates upwards of twelve percent of the Delta quadrant has been assimilated.

==== A Tribble With an Oompa-Loompa Shoved Up Its Ass ====

There are a few jokes, and [[trek:characters:rebecca|Rebecca]] mutters, "Not all of you have to make it back to 2371." Shan'taar smirks and says they can disembark and get something to eat; the Dai'Loq have some sort of animal here that was raised as food. Shan'taar admits they don't taste all that great, and according to the captain they look like a tribble with an Oompa-Loompa shoved up its ass. Mel and the others look at the Andorian, but Shan'taar shrugs and says he has no idea what an Oompa-Loompa is either. Jace argues that tribbles are extinct, but Shan'taar makes an oblique reference to the return of the tribbles in 2373.

Shan'taar asks them if they want to go swimming and reveals there is a large pool in the core that's used as a recreation facility. Daphne makes a crude joke about cabana boys, but the Andorian frowns and mutters they did find some weird uniforms when they took Sanctuary, so the pool may have been a communal Dai'Loq sex-pit at one point. As the crew disembarks, Jace asks Sola about the resources the Starfleet remnant has, in the hopes of "trimming and slimming" antimatter from different sources. Sola replies that Sanctuary creates antimatter itself for their use. Shan'taar escorts them to the pool, which is actually a large lake of glowing water situated over a disused heat sink. The water temperature never gets above 23°C, so [[trek:solstice:pcs:z_alberic|Alberic]] and Rebecca go for a swim. Jace sits down with his numbers again, while Daphne and Mel head out to see //Voyager// once she arrives. None of the other Starfleet crew present gives them a second glance, despite their older uniforms.

==== Naomi Wildman ====

Mel and Daphne stare at the battered //Voyager// next to //Solstice//; both vessels are clearly damaged, but //Voyager// is the worst of the entire fleet -- hull plates are missing and at least one deck is totally decompressed and open to space. They are greeted by a teenaged girl; she looks human but has nubby spines running down her forehead. The teenager introduces herself as [[trek:characters:naomi|Naomi Wildman]], and says she was born on //Voyager// while the ship was in the Delta quadrant. Mel and Daphne pump Naomi for information about //Voyager's// excursion into the Delta quadrant and the new -- to them -- //Intrepid//-class vessel.

Naomi reveals much, including the fact that the bio-neural gel packs didn't work out as well as expected, and the [[trek:characters:doctor|Emergency Medical Hologram]] became the ship's chief medical officer and eventually outgrew his programming and was independent of the holographic emitters in sickbay. The extensive damage to //Voyager// occurred because she was the only ship to survive the defense fleet resisting the initial Borg onslaught, and they don't have the resources to fully repair her. Naomi sadly tells them that the EMH was on Jupiter Station when the Borg assimilated the Sol system and his backup program is still stored on //Voyager// but they lack the resources to repair the holo-emitters and bring him back. Captain [[trek:characters:chakotay|Chakotay]] was killed in the fight with the Borg and [[trek:characters:paris|Tom Paris]] took over. Naomi says she became the captain's assistant in the Delta quadrant, and they survived the Borg due to a combination of guile, luck, and Captain [[trek:characters:janeway|Janeway]]'s refusal to give up. Mel muses that she needs a flunky herself.

==== The Council ====

Sola hails the five time-lost crew and tells them the council meeting is about to start; Naomi offers to escort them there. The five officers regroup and Naomi escorts them through the alien corridors of the core to the council room. Their eyes are immediately drawn to the seven people in the room, but especially Admiral [[trek:characters:picard|Jean-Luc Picard]] at the head of the table. Now totally encased in a life-support chair; Picard's face is covered with retrieval scars there the Borg implants were torn out of him. At his right sits Captain [[trek:characters:worf|Worf]], who glowers at them. Next to Worf is Captain [[trek:characters:shaytaal|Shay'taal]]; the Andorian eyes them coolly. Captain [[trek:characters:yemen|Thraka Yemen]] also eyes them but doesn't seem overly hostile. On Picard's left sits Captain Kras, then Captain Paris. Paris eyes them with mixed emotion, as he remembers Mel, Daphne, and Alberic. Finally, next to Pairs sits Captain [[trek:characters:stadi|Stadi]], who eyes them with the look of a zealous fanatic.

Picard greets them in a synthesized voice interrupted by wet coughing. He says that Captain Kras has already explained the plan and reminded everyone here what the values of a Starfleet uniform entail. He invites Captain Deline to speak next, and Mel steps forward. She states her case and the need for her crew to go back to 2371 and prevent this from happening. Jace steps up and does his best to summarize and simplify his theorems, while Alberic offers a blunt assessment that the Starfleet remnant is living on borrowed time anyway,

However, Admiral Picard points out that they are asking the Starfleet remnant to die: only the destruction of a starship will generate enough power to open the anomaly. Further, he points out that they are asking the remnant to surrender all their remaining torpedoes, leaving them open to assimilation. Jace points out that Borg reinforcements are likely coming to investigate and exploit the anomaly regardless, while Captain Shay'taal points out that several people here just want to survive one more day and spare their loved ones. The argument gets heated when Paris defends his children's right to live while Worf argues that they are not living.

==== "We Raised Ourselves Daphne, And There Are Problems." ====

To prevent things from derailing entirely, Kras calls for a fifteen-minute break to let tempers cool, then the Council will reconvene and vote. The five time-lost officers depart, and Mel shares a knowing nod with Captain Worf. They file out and regroup with Naomi. Alberic muses honestly, "That went well," and the others are forced to agree that went as well as it could have. Jace asks Naomi how long Sanctuary could last, and she replies, "With the base drawing power from the nebula, essentially indefinitely, at least until the Borg come for us."

The officers talk a bit and Daphne belittles Paris's concern for his family. Jace retorts, "We raised ourselves Daphne, and there are problems." Mel mutters that she raised herself while Rebecca asks rhetorically if she was the only one who had a normal family life. Alberic replies that his life was fairly normal, and the others snort in derision. He makes a comment about political power being the only currency left worth having, and Naomi cocks her head and points out, "Spoken like a true Romulan." Alberic shrugs and admits he found Romulan easy to learn.

Jace asks Naomi if they could move Sanctuary and she admits most of the higher functions are solely accessible to Jen Kras due to her nanites. She also reveals that there are elements of Starfleet outside of Sanctuary; the //Titan//-class deep-space explorers were far enough out into the remote Alpha and Beta quadrants that they survived the Borg holocaust, and the few times Sanctuary hears from their lost kin is a cause for celebration.

==== The Decision ====

Captain Kras joins them a few minutes later and says that five of the six Starfleet vessels will join together to get them back to the anomaly; Paris refused to risk //Voyager//. She makes a joke about dealing with mad Betazoids and MassPIRG that goes over everyone's heads but sobers and says they're still lacking antimatter -- or would be, if antimatter stores from //Voyager// weren't about to go missing. She passes on the collective fleet data to Jace and admits she'll be stealing radiation suits from //Voyager// as well, to protect the five time-lost crewmembers for their return journey. Jace eyes the data on the "new" quantum torpedoes and Mel looks over his shoulder and hisses, "Memorize this. All of this." Captain Kras snorts and tells them the fleet will be departing in an hour, and she advises them to finish their repairs on the //Thunderbird//. She then excuses herself, for she has messages to record and thievery to accomplish.

The officers return to the //Thunderbird// with their donated and purloined parts and with P8 Blue's help finish the repairs the shuttle -- as best they can. The fleet departs Sanctuary on time, although the crew can feel the lurch when the //Solstice// goes to full impulse -- her inertial dampeners are suffering. Jace runs his numbers and confirms at least one starship will have to die; he wonders aloud, "Which one?" Alberic retorts, "This one." As soon as the //Solstice// is clear of the Andorian nebula, she goes into high warp and the entire ship shudders.

Captain Kras gives a ship-wide address to her crew, outlining the needs of the mission and the strong probability of their deaths. Despite these facts, she reminds them all that they are still Starfleet, and she is proud of them. After the address ends, Jace asks Sola how she was created; Sola admits her "birth" is classified even from her -- and it drives her into incursive feedback loops. Jace doesn't care and states his intention to build her.

==== "We Are Inevitable" ====

Seventy minutes of rough warp travel brings the flotilla to the location of the anomaly, and immediately after dropping out of warp //Solstice// goes to red alert status. Captain Kras informs the shuttlebay that two Borg tactical cubes are blocking their path to the anomaly. P8 Blue says a quick goodbye and scuttles off to engineering while the others gather in the //Thunderbird// and make ready to depart. Sola appears in the shuttle and passes on two isolinear optical chips to Mel -- one with a pink tag and the other blue. Mel correctly guesses the blue one is for [[trek:characters:bjornson|Bjornson]] and the pink one for Jen from 2371. Sola nods and vanishes, and the //Thunderbird// powers up and departs the //Solstice//.

The battle rages outside, but with the //Solstice// carrying the fleet's quantum torpedoes to open the anomaly, it isn't going well. One of the Borg cubes hails the //Thunderbird//, and Mel stares at the face of [[trek:characters:saval|Saval]] -- post-assimilation. Her former first officer states, //"We are inevitable,"// but Mel retorts she was expecting more. She cuts the link as the Borg claim their first kill: the //Stargazer// explodes! The energy cloud from her destruction starts the subspace breach, while Alberic uses the radiation to spoof the phasers from the //Thunderbird// to strafe the closest Borg cube -- unfortunately, to no appreciable effect.

The //Varich// is the next vessel to die, and with her destruction Jace estimates they have about fifteen percent of the energy needed to fully open the breach. That fifteen percent jumps to fifty-five percent when the //Enterprise// and the //Ausdis// ram one of the Borg cubes simultaneously, causing massive damage! The cube falters, but the second cube closes on the //Solstice//. Before the //Thunderbird// can react, another contact appears as //Voyager// drops out of warp right in the thick of the battle above //Solstice// and then rams the approaching cube! //Voyager's// destruction bumps the energy needed from fifty-five to sixty-five percent, and then the //Solstice// opens up with all of the quantum torpedoes! The torpedoes explode in a specific chain reaction, which rips open subspace with ninety percent of the energy needed!

Captain Kras hails the //Thunderbird// and tells Daphne to start her run, and they'll make theirs. The //Solstice// spins on her axis and her warp engines flare one last time as she plows into the cube! The crew watches their ship die in less than a second, but her sacrifice provides the last ten percent of energy needed to fully open and stabilize the breach! Daphne immediately flies towards the anomaly, and then the crew is once again enveloped in the white void of nothingness.

===== Stardate 48916.12, December 1st, 2371 =====

==== Home Again, Home Again ====

The void ends a split-second - or a century - later, and the //Thunderbird// comes screaming forward to see two Tholian cruisers approaching! The //Thunderbird// is badly damaged, but Alberic immediately jettisons the two nacelles at the cruisers! One manages to evade, but the other is struck by the matter/antimatter explosion and is seriously damaged! The anomaly closes completely, and the sudden dearth of interference allows Jace to synch the //Thunderbird// back with the //Solstice// -- and he whoops with joy when he confirms they're back in 2371 and were only gone twelve seconds! He then frets that a Borg cube may have tried to follow them back but consoles himself with the knowledge that if one did, it's now trapped in that void of subspace for all time.

The //Solstice// launches herself at the //Thunderbird// in a full-impulse burn, easily beating the Tholian cruisers to her location. Daphne flies the //Thunderbird// into the waiting shuttlebay, and sighs with relief when the safeties immediately engage and settle the //Thunderbird// down nicely. The //Solstice// immediately jumps to warp, as the crewmembers stagger out of the damaged shuttle. Mel pats the //Thunderbird//'s hull affectionately. Saval hails Mel and once assured the captain is in one piece, Saval relays Cidhela's request to beat Jen for the full-impulse burn. Mel snorts, but says they'll be on the bridge in a minute.

The five crewmembers make for the bridge, but marvel at the bright lights, full repairs, and lack of shrines on the 2371 //Solstice//. They reach the bridge, and Mel is openly giddy at seeing her crew in one piece. She makes a few excited comments about Virgil's next host, the lack of metal in Saval's face, and Cidhela being alive. Now really confused, Cidhela eyes Jen, who has just surrendered conn to Daphne, and makes another semi-serious request to beat the ensign for putting the ship in danger. Jen protests that Saval ordered her to get to the //Thunderbird// as quickly as possible -- she never said //not// to do the burn. Mel refuses Cidhela's request and mutters Jen would simply enjoy it, which earns her a strange look from both women.

[[trek:characters:armina|Armina]] frowns and asks what happened to their minds; Rebecca flinches and shies away from the counselor while the others wince -- although Daphne ignores the exchange. Alberic turns to Jen and demands, "What is an Oompa- Loompa?" Jen blinks in confusion and explains the reference to Willy Wonka. The collection of blank looks leads her to mutter, "Obviously, //Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory// didn't survive to the 24th century." Alberic decides it's time to go drink heavily, and Daphne agrees. They leave the bridge, and Rebecca goes to rest as well. Jace starts downloading the data he collected while Mel orders Jen to her ready room.

==== "Tell Mel To Go the Fuck Away." ====

Mel passes on the pink chip and gives Jen a much-abbreviated version of what happened to the //Thunderbird// and her crew. Jen is shocked to learn she's holding a message from her future-self, and that future-Jen was the captain! Mel intends to watch the message with Jen unless some part of the message is clearly personal, as future-Jen is of higher rank than Mel. Jen slots the chip into the monitor and stares as her future-self appears. She mutters, "I look like my mother," but her future-self replies, "Yes, I know I look like our mother. This is personal, so pause it now and tell Mel to go the fuck away." Jen terminates the message and Mel gives a much more detailed rendition of what occurred -- including Jen's future engagement to a certain Viking.

Jen decides to watch the message later, after she's had time to come to terms with all this. Mel warns her not to wait too long, and if there's anything in the message she needs to know Jen had better tell her. Jen departs, and Mel summons Saval. She gives her first officer a detailed report of what they experienced and passes on the blue chip. Saval mutters that Starfleet Intelligence and the Department of Temporal Investigations will both be likely to come down on the //Solstice// for this, but she admits she can get this message to Bjornson -- however to do so will cost favors and might lead to her having to leave the ship for a while. Mel says that Alberic may try to get ahold of Bjornson via his cousin, so they'll start there.

Saval asks what the worst thing was about the future they experienced, and Mel replies the pervasive defeatism. Mel brings up the need for a second counselor, now that Armina is tainted due to the actions of her future-self. Saval argues that Armina cannot be held responsible for her future-self's actions but concedes the need for a second counselor regardless. She promises to begin that process immediately, and Mel goes off-duty to rest.

----
<WRAP group>
<WRAP half column leftalign>
[[{}trek:solstice:recap:10_act_1|<= Act 1]]
</WRAP>
<WRAP half column rightalign>
[[{}trek:solstice:recap:11_act_1|Episode 11 Act 1 =>]]
</WRAP>
</WRAP>


{{tag>star_trek solstice recap}}
User Tools

Site Tools

Page Tools
