Posted 03 June 2008 - 12:32 AM
Okay everybody... let's give this a go... hope you enjoy, and again, sorry that it's rather long!
***
SEASON ONE
EPISODE ONE
“This Corner of Space”
PROLOGUE
2372.
The Beta Quadrant.
The forgotten corner of the galaxy, or so people joked.
With all the recent political excitement in the Federation, many had shifted attention away from the Beta Quadrant. Many also forgot that it was home to dozens of important galactic races, such as Vulcans, Andorians and Bolians. No, all the excitement was happening in the Alpha Quadrant. The wormhole in Bajoran space, tensions mounting between the galactic powers… nobody cared about the Beta Quadrant anymore. It was tragic for those stationed there.
Rear Admiral Leo Quarren gazed out across the stars before him with a sigh. He didn’t like this view. He preferred it when Starbase 499 rotated so that his office faced the gorgeous Class-M planet below. It reminded him of Earth, but now, here, faced with a blank starfield, he was alone with his thoughts.
It was lonely out here. Starbase 499 was one of the most extreme Federation outposts one could hope to find. Right on the edge of the Beta Quadrant, overlooking vast unknown chunks of the galaxy with the impending sense of dread that someday, something horrible would belch forth and reveal itself… Quarren shuddered. He was an old man, more grey hairs than brown these days, even in his beard. Oh, he wouldn’t trade his posting for anything else in the Starfleet, not a chance. He was in command of his own starbase, for goodness sake! And this far from Earth, he was free to manage his own little collective family. They even had a few old starships for company.
The planet below, Sirrustra II, was a beautiful world. The people were humanoid, friendly, warm and inviting. They’d been made members of the Federation pretty darn quickly, in exchange for the promise of the starbase in orbit. It was a relationship of mutual benefit… symbiosis, almost. Quarren valued it extremely highly.
Something broke his thoughts. There was a light, in the starfield beyond the bulkhead... a light that didn’t belong to a star.
And it was growing.
“Quarren to Mendoza,” the old man growled as he slapped his commbadge. “Direct your sensors out to… oh, co-ordinates 347 by 114.”
“What am I looking for, Admiral?” a female Latino voice answered from nowhere.
“You’ll see it… what is that?”
“I’m not sure. Hold on, I’ll try increasing sensor resolution.”
Little did he know that, at that point in time, the incoming light was going to change the nature of his assignment forever. Upon hearing what Station Master Erica Mendoza had to report, Quarren’s eyes went wide with fear.
ACT ONE
“Captain’s Log, Stardate: 48531.2
Under new orders from Starfleet Command, I’m taking my brand new starship to her first assignment deep within the Beta Quadrant. I’d wanted it to be under better circumstances, but to all intents and purposes this will be a rescue mission. I’m told that there is no better test for a new ship and crew, but I can’t help wishing I’d been given something a little easier during my first day on the job…”
The door chimed. The log was paused, for now.
“Enter.”
Stepping in to the Captain’s ready room, Commander Valerie Archer made an immediate impression. She always did, always had done. That was one of the main reasons why she’d made First Officer of the USS Discovery. Smiling the warm, charming smile he always told himself he would, Captain Josiah Graves motioned for her to take a seat at the desk, which she quickly did.
“Captain,” she acknowledged with a nod and a slight smile in return. “You asked me to report right away?”
“Yes, Commander… but please, call me Jed.”
That caught her off-guard. Josiah Graves was a young Starfleet Captain, and this was his first command. She’d expected something a little more laid back from the handsome thirty-something Englishman, but not first-name terms on the first day. She decided to play along. After all, he was the Captain.
“Only if you call me Valerie, sir,” she replied.
“It’s a deal. I wanted to inform you of Starfleet’s orders. I mean, I know you’ll have read the mission brief, but there’s more than meets the eye to this one.”
“Oh…?”
“What do you know?”
“Orders are to proceed to the Sirrustra System at maximum warp to render assistance to Starbase 499. We got rushed out of Spacedock pretty darn quick, Jed. Discovery is barely finished; I’ve got engineering doing what the assembly teams at Utopia Planitia should have done.”
Captain Graves leaned back in his comfortable chair. It was all true, he had to admit, they were rushed somewhat. Intrepid-Class starships were at a premium these days. Loaded with all the most up-to-date systems, the assembly teams were notoriously protective of them before they’d let anybody take them out into the final frontier. Discovery was different. Under the most classified order from Admiral Owen Paris at Starfleet Command, she’d been launched three days early.
“We got pushed out of those space doors for a reason, Valerie,” Jed admitted. “What isn’t part of the regular mission briefing is that Starbase 499 was attacked by an unknown alien entity. We’re talking the edge of known space here, Commander. Beyond Sirrustra II, we simply don’t know what’s out there… well, beyond what sensors can tell us, but I don’t have to remind you of their limitations.”
“A rescue mission, then?” Archer’s eyebrows rose as she spoke.
“I want to be prepared. It won’t make me a popular Captain, but I want to run a few battle drills as soon as possible. I don’t know what we’ll be facing out there.”
Jed’s new First Officer stood, her red-capped shoulders arching backwards with pride in her duty and anticipation of the unknown. The smile returned, despite the circumstances, and she parted with one of her trademark observations that her Academy sponsor had warned everybody about.
“That’s why we all signed on, Captain.”
Lieutenant Commander Sakal was having a crisis of confidence.
Lying in sickbay under the watchful eyes of the Vulcan Chief Medical Officer, Doctor T’Pri, and her trusted yet untried Nurse, Carla Kenyon, he recoiled in unwarranted fear. His mottled green skin was being repaired by a dermal regenerator, a completely harmless process, and yet for some reason he was apprehensive, to say the least. The Vulcan looked about fifty in Earth years, her hair still jet-black and her skin only now showing signs of age. Maybe it was just sickbay, he reasoned.
“Your fear is illogical,” was the obvious statement from T’Pri. “Your injury is superficial. I have found your people to be most resistant to such wounds.”
“I’ll be sure to let all Suliban know of your findings…” Sakal mumbled sarcastically, wishing the procedure done with. He was desperate to return to engineering. He had work to do, after all.
“What exactly happened again?” Nurse Kenyon, an attractive young woman born and raised on the Mars Colonies, asked.
“It’s these damn battle drills! How am I supposed to run engineering as Chief Engineer if every hour we down tools and play war games? We’ve got the worst deal when this ship was rushed out; we’re the ones finishing all the jobs!”
“You did not answer the question,” the Vulcan doctor noted.
Sakal rolled his blazing yellow eyes in frustration at the unceasing Vulcan logic.
“I wasn’t paying attention while recalibrating a plasma manifold. One of my team was making a mistake, and when I turned to tell him, I lost concentration. The next thing I know… well, boom.”
“Boom indeed. Your wound is healed.”
The Chief Engineer slid from the biobed and gingerly tried standing. Satisfied with the result, he thought about thanking the Doctor and the Nurse, but decided against it. He was far too busy to be nice about things. He was about to leave when the lights suddenly dimmed. A klaxon sounded. The sickbay was bathed in red.
“Now what…? Another drill…?”
“Red alert! All hands, this is the Captain. We are approaching Starbase 499, to your stations!”
“Lifesigns?”
Behind the Captain’s seat on the bridge, Ensign Jason Allenbach furiously worked his operations console. Eager to prove his worth on his first assignment, the young kid was a long way from his father’s farm in Kentucky. The image on the viewscreen had almost sent him into shock: there, rotating in orbit above Sirrustra II was Starbase 499. It had taken a beating. Debris was spinning in all directions, still after almost a day of the initial attack. There were a handful of Sirrustrian vessels trying desperately to lend a hand, but they weren’t equipped for a full-scale rescue like this.
“There are approximately one thousand people still aboard, Captain. They’re alive, for now. Life support is holding.”
“Okay… I guess we should be thankful for small blessings…” Valerie Archer nodded, getting to her feet. “Helm, move us in closer. Watch out for that debris.”
“Aye, ma’am.”
At the helm, the Bolian male Lieutenant Mitan skilfully steered the Intrepid-Class USS Discovery through the wreckage, bringing the vessel alongside Starbase 499 for ease of transport and subtlety of location.
“Their comm system is down. I can’t get a message across,” reported Jason.
Still in his seat, Captain Graves nodded, his fingers arched in contemplation. So, they’d have to do things the old fashioned way, then? No problem.
“Away team to transporter room one!”
ACT TWO
Starbase 499 was in ruins. The lighting was down, and bulkheads were ripped open by energy surges, leaving sparking ODN relays exposed. In the darkness, using palm beacons, repair crews graciously accepted the assistance of the Sirrustrian equipment as they worked long and difficult hours to get systems back up and running. One particular focus of such attention was the Station Master’s Office. It was basically the starbase version of a starship bridge, and while work was dangerous in one corner thanks to a ruptured conduit, now more than half the LCARS consoles were working. In the middle of the chaos, providing a brief few seconds of light, a transporter beam delivered four humanoid figures to the deck.
Captain Josiah Graves surveyed the damage with a grim expression. He’d seen only a few combat situations in his time. His postings always seemed to be less deadly and less exciting than most… well, not anymore. Joined by Valerie Archer, Jason Allenbach and Sakal, they ignited their own palm beacons and started to move through the wreckage strewn across the office.
“Who the Hell are you?” a voice called out.
Turning, the away team from Discovery came face-to-face with a tall, beautiful Latino woman in a Starfleet uniform. Jed stepped forward.
“I’m Captain Josiah Graves of the starship Discovery. We’re here under orders direct from Admiral Owen Paris to render aid after your distress signal.”
“Station Master Erica Mendoza,” the woman sighed, giving a very short, curt handshake before turning away. “As you can see, we’ve got our hands full, so have your people just dive in wherever you can. Captain Graves, there’s somebody who’ll want to speak with you. Follow me, please.”
Before leaving the mess of the Station Master’s Office behind, Jed leaned over to his away team and whispered a few parting orders.
“Sakal, organise repair crews, get to work on the lights first. Maybe it would help if people could see what they were doing around here. Valerie, you’re partnered with Station Master Mendoza when she gets back from… wherever we’re going. Ensign Allenbach, well, you heard the lady. Dive in.”
“Got it, Captain.”
“Good luck!”
Rear Admiral Leo Quarren stood alone. His study was, thankfully, mostly intact following the assault on the starbase. As the door gave a familiar chime behind him, he turned his weathered face only slightly. He was preoccupied with his thoughts once again, staring out across the debris field that floated past his window.
“Enter.”
Mendoza wasn’t sticking around.
“Captain Graves of the Discovery, sir. I’ll be heading back.”
The door slid shut behind her no-nonsense posture as she literally marched away to tend to the repairs. Left alone with the Rear Admiral, Jed stepped slowly forward, guessing it wouldn’t be exactly fitting to stand on ceremony. He was right, Quarren wasn’t interested in procedure. He finally turned fully from the window and surveyed the thirty-something Captain with narrow, experienced eyes.
“I’ll cut straight to the point, Graves,” he barked. “What the Hell are you doing here?”
“You weren’t made aware of our dispatch?” Jed frowned.
“No! We haven’t directly communicated with Starfleet Command for years… damn it, that distress call was the closest we’ve come to calling home! We’re too far out for such things. This, son, is the edge of known space… the real final frontier. I’ll tell you something else. Your presence isn’t required.”
“Forgive me, Admiral, but it doesn’t look that way to me.”
“One day you’ll learn, son. One day you’ll understand, but right now, I suggest you take that fancy starship of yours and leave.”
Jed walked forward even further, joining Quarren at the window. It only took him a second to pick out the right star. He’d been a stellar cartographer aboard the USS Hood several years ago: his first true passion. Pointing, he drew Quarren’s attention. The older man frowned, not understanding where the Englishman was going with this one.
“With all due respect, sir, do you see that star?”
“What about it?”
“That’s the halfway point between here and Earth. This is my first command. I’ve been pushed out of spacedock early, thrown aboard a brand new vessel I don’t even understand myself yet. I’ve got an untested crew and I’ve dragged them all this way at breakneck speed to assist you in repairs and repel whatever unknown alien force caused this mess. I had to sneak past the Romulan Star Empire and skip a corner of Klingon space to get here, endangering ourselves in the process. So again, I stress this is with all due respect, but I’m not leaving.”
“I could order you.” And it was true. It would be a binding order of dismissal.
“Then you’d have to Court Martial me too, Admiral.”
There was a silence between both men, a tense silence that formed a thick atmosphere in the air. Quarren was sizing Jed up, and likewise, the Captain was analysing his superior officer. There was only one conclusion to reach based on that little speech, and it was finally made after a good thirty seconds of silence.
“Ha ha… I like you, Graves. You’re my kind of people. Ballsy… you remind me of a younger me.”
“Thank you, sir. I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“The truth is, we don’t know who attacked us or why. We only have two starships assigned to this starbase, and they’re old, useless. An Oberth and a Miranda, and whoever attacked us were good… fast, deadly and good… if you’re going to stick around, why not make your assignment here permanent? We could use an Intrepid.”
Jed was taken aback by the sudden offer. It was as if Admiral Quarren had known him for years, like they were old friends. He had some fast thinking to do.
“Right now, why don’t we focus on getting 499 back together?” he finally suggested, sidestepping the difficult decision until later. “Then we’ll talk about future orders… if, of course, that’s okay, sir?”
“Drop the sir, Graves. My friends call me Boxer.”
“Jed.”
“Welcome to the edge of the galaxy, Jed. You’re gonna love it.”
The repairs went well. The crew of the Discovery effortlessly merged with the teams aboard Starbase 499. Within twenty-four hours, basic systems were all back together, up and running like nothing had ever happened. The clean-up would take longer. As she returned to the Station Master’s Office, Erica Mendoza had to smile. The new arrivals to the Sirrustra System certainly knew how to fit in. It probably helped that they were a new crew. Those who’d been in space aboard a starship for a long time together tended to create a family atmosphere which was tough to integrate… not these guys, she knew. These guys were ready to embrace whatever was thrown at them. Rear Admiral Quarren was right all along, they were his type of people. And that, of course, made them the type of people welcome in orbit of Sirrustra II. Rumour had it that Captain Graves was sticking around, formalising his assignment to Starbase 499. Exploring the great unknown beyond… part of Erica wished to go with them, but she was too attached to her starbase. Still, maybe one or two trips out aboard that gorgeous Intrepid-Class…
Her thoughts were broken by an alert.
One of the Ensigns working beside her hit a newly-repaired LCARS panel and turned to her with fear spread across his face.
“Sir,” he reported. “They’re back!”
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