From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Fri Jul 06 2007 - 15:33:13 PDT
=The First Day of the Rest Of My Life=
(cont’d from Jerome’s “Detonation”)
LOCATION: Transport Ship BLUE HORIZON
SCENE: Bunk
STARDATE: 2.70706.1410
TIME INDEX: Before Jerome’s “Desolation” Posts
{{I still don’t know how I feel about it,}} Melissa Crichton sighed. Jacob Crichton sat up from the bunk where he was laying to look directly at the viewscreen which displayed her face.
“Mom, it’s not a big deal,” Crichton said. “It’s not like you’ll never see me again or anything. I’m just on the other side of the wormhole. Hell, you and Dad have taken the GOLDEN TOUCH through the wormhole once.”
{{Yes, but there’s a difference between going there to visit and going there to live,}} Melissa replied.
“Well, I go where the fleet tells me to go,” Crichton shrugged, hoping to stave-off the guilt trip he could already see was coming.
{{Now Jacob, you know that’s not exactly true,}} Melissa scolded. {{I know all about your request for the posting on GATEWAY station.}}
Crichton did a double-take. “You do? How’d you find out?”
{{*I* didn’t. Your father did. He has a few friends in Starfleet, he’s been keeping tabs on your career.}}
“Really?” This was news to Crichton. He and his father had not spoken since the day Crichton left for EARTH, to join Starfleet Academy. His father had wanted Crichton to go into the family business, becoming a full-time engineer aboard the mining vessel GOLDEN TOUCH. But Crichton had other ideas- he wanted adventure, and excitement.
Most of all, he didn’t want to end up as a 60-year old, broken down miner with nothing but stories about space rocks.
“How is he?” Crichton asked.
{{Your father? You know him. Grumpy, stubborn… but still the best damn asteroid miner in the quadrant.}}
“That’s him,” Crichton sighed. It was true- Brian Crichton demanded excellence from his crew, and he got it. His profits had always been among the highest for independent ore miners, and he had a reputation for getting the job done no matter the obstacles.
In fact, his father’s stubbornness was part of the reason they hadn’t spoken in five years. Crichton didn’t really resent his father, and although he wouldn’t have minded a change of scenery a few times, his childhood wasn’t bad. But Jacob Crichton had inherited more than his share of his father’s stubbornness, and both men had decided that they would not be the first to apologize.
“What about Will?”
{{Eager to follow in his brother’s footsteps,}} Melissa smiled. {{You know, Jacob, despite everything, you know that your father and I are very proud of you.}}
“I know *you* are,” Crichton sighed. “I wish I was so sure about Dad.”
{{He’ll come around, Jacob,}} Melissa said. {{I suppose the one up-side to your being posted to GATEWAY is that we won’t have to worry about you gallivanting around the galaxy on some starship. We’ll always know where you are if we want to drop by for a visit.}}
“Yeah, uh…” Crichton said, shifting in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with *that* prospect. “Well, just make sure you call first, huh?”
{{And give you a chance to flee the station?}} Melissa giggled. {{I think not.}}
Crichton laughed with her. Then, he stared at her for a long moment… and suddenly, felt the overwhelming urge to tell her he loved her.
Like he was suddenly sure he would never get the chance to speak with her again.
“I love you, Mom,” he said. “And give my love to Will and the rest of the crew. And Dad.”
{{I will,}} Melissa said, smiling. {{I love you too, Jacob.}}
---------------------------------
A few hours earlier, Crichton had disembarked from Deep Space Nine, headed for his new assignment aboard GATEWAY Station. There was a lot of traffic aboard DS9, as well as around the wormhole- Crichton had heard stories about some kind of Bajoran apocalypse, coinciding with the appearance of a mythical orb on the other side of the wormhole, but he didn’t pay much attention to them. Crichton himself was not religious, and he didn’t know very much about Bajoran mysticism.
Instead, Crichton had mostly been annoyed. All the excess traffic had delayed his departure to GATEWAY Station by several hours. By the time he finally received notification that his transport was departing, he was more than ready to leave, eager to get to work at his new post.
Crichton was looking forward to serving aboard the GATEWAY. It was probably the single most important space station in the Federation, and its crew had a reputation for excellence. But even more than that, it was out on the frontier, an aptly-named gateway to the great unknown.
Crichton couldn’t think of a more exciting place to finish his training.
-----------------------------------
And in an instant, everything changed.
Defying everything that the Federation had come to understand about it, the Bajoran wormhole closed and disappeared with not even a whisper. Instead, the only noise was the simultaneous wails of fear and confusion of a hundred thousand beings, fighting desperately against the idea that their only way home was gone forever. The space around the wormhole had, almost instantly, become a sea of ships zipping about erratically. Ships desperate return to the Alpha quadrant made insane runs at where the wormhole had been while other ships tried to get out of the way.
Crichton’s mind was reeling- in the span of about 10 seconds, everything he knew to be true about the Gamma quadrant had changed. The wormhole had fading (was it supposed to disappear like that?), and Crichton knew by the desperation of the fleeing ships that this was not a normal occurrence.
When the wormhole had finally faded, things finally began to calm down. Seeing that there was no more wormhole to make a break for, most of the fleeing ships powered down, and those that didn’t simply careened off into space.
Crichton had watched the wormhole disappear from a window aboard BLUE HORIZON, and when it had gone, he had rushed to the nearest console. Pushing a few hysterical people out of the way, Crichton immediately scanned the space that the wormhole had formerly occupied. He scanned again, and again. He changed scan settings and search parameters, knowing that the captain of the ship would probably not have liked it, but also suspecting the man was probably too distracted right now to notice.
But his scans revealed nothing, even when he modified the sensor-settings and ran the scan again, then again. There was just nothing there anymore.
The wormhole was gone.
Slowly, what this meant began to dawn on him. Crichton realized that without the wormhole, there was no way for him to return to the Alpha Quadrant. No way to go home.
------------------------------------------
LOCATION: GATEWAY Station, Engineering Module
SCENE: Docking Bay
GATEWAY station was enormous.
When Crichton first laid eyes on it, his breath had caught in his throat, and for a moment the gnawing dread that the wormhole might really be gone forever was forgotten. It was as big as a city, many times larger than the largest space-station or outpost that Crichton had ever seen. Ships of all shapes and size filled the space around it, reminding Crichton of a great galactic beehive, swarming with tiny workers and defenders.
The chaos in the wake of the wormhole’s disappearance had caused pandemonium for the GATEWAY’s docking bays. Traffic was diverted to the commerce module, and then to the recreational module. The BLUE HORIZON was delayed at least three hours before finally getting a chance to dock.
Crichton spent the time pouring over the GATEWAY schematics. He hadn’t completely familiarized himself with them yet, and he was thankful for the chance to focus his mind on something. Anything to distract him from thinking about the things he’d just seen.
Now, as he stepped off the shuttle and got his first look at his new home, he wasn’t very reassured. The interior of the docking bays was not much better than the space outside- a collection of bedraggled, frightened looking people milling around in confusion, none of them totally sure of what happened or what they should do next.
A large group of them had gathered to watch a televised statement. A blue woman with white hair was talking, but the noise in the docking bay was too loud for Crichton to hear what she was saying. He thought he recognized her from files on the GATEWAY staff, but his mind was too mixed up right now for him to remember her name.
Crichton suddenly felt very small, just another confused soul amongst a sea of hundreds. But unlike most of them, Crichton at least had something to fall back on; he still had a job to do. His orders were to report to the COO for his assignment, and he resolved to do just that. He sighed, shouldered the bag containing his few possessions, and began to pick his way through the crowd.
----------------------------------
LOCATION: Entertainment Module
SCENE: Promenade
Finding anyone amid the chaos caused by the wormhole’s disappearance had been effectively impossible. Almost every public terminal was occupied round the clock by travelers trying in vain to contact loved ones on the Alpha Quadrant, or by greedy merchants already calling their Gamma Quadrant connections and salivating off the profits they stood to make from this situation.
When Crichton finally *had* made it to a terminal, he had found out several things. The station’s acting COO officer, some Lieutenant J.G. whose name Crichton didn’t remember, was busy with coordinating all available resources to GATEWAY station, trying to manage things during the crisis. Crichton’s next idea had been to contact the station’s ExO, but discovered that she was laid up in sickbay, on maternity leave. Crichton next tried to contact the station’s Second Officer, but found that Lt. Commander Gorman was also the CMO, and was busy with trying to expedite Commander Gorman’s convalescence.
It was getting late by then, and the events of the day had started to wear Crichton down. He had finally decided that getting in touch with anyone who knew what was going on was probably not going to happen for at least a day or two, and decided to find a hot meal and a warm bed.
And a part of him, one larger than he wanted to admit, hoped that he would wake up and find that it had all been a dream.
--------------------------
SCENE: Ops
TIME INDEX: During “Detonation”
A good breakfast and a shower had made Crichton feel worlds better. Although a gnawing dread that he would never see his family again still lingered in the pit of his stomach, he was filled with new resolve. He tried, once again in vain, to contact the COO, the ExO, and the 2nd Officer, and finally decided that if he couldn’t speak to any of them, he would just go right to the top.
Because he still didn’t have a permanent place to stay, Crichton had his bag with him when he stepped into Ops. The room was buzzing with activity, and Crichton had to step out of the way of several officers as they moved with silent efficiency from assignment to assignment.
Crichton made his way towards the CO’s office, going over what he knew about the GATEWAY’s commanding officer in his head. Crichton had watched Kane’s address earlier in the day, and was a little nervous about being in the direct gaze of the man’s prosthetic eye. He knew that Kane was probably more frazzled than most by the wormhole’s disappearance, because he had suddenly been thrust into the position of one-and-only caretaker for the thousands of Federation citizens trapped on this end of the wormhole. And like many of the CO’s Cricthon had known in his short career in Starfleet, Crichton had a suspicion that Kane wouldn’t show even one iota of the uncertainty he must be feeling.
------------------------------------
LOCATION: Engineering Module
SCENE: CEO’s Office
TIME INDEX: After “Detonation”
Crichton’s discussion with Captain Kane had been brief, but Crichton had come away with a mostly favorable impression of the man. Kane had been all-business, wasting no time in sending Crichton to the Engineering module to report to the station’s acting CEO, a Vulcan named Lt. Salor, and Crichton appreciated the chance to throw himself into his new assignment.
Lt. Salor looked up from the PADD he’d been reading when Crichton entered the room. The Vulcan set the PADD aside and folded his hands, regarding the young human with the same steely, emotionless gaze that Crichton had become accustomed to receiving from his Vulcan superiors.
“May I help you?” Lt. Salor asked.
“Jacob Crichton, sir,” Crichton said. “I was assigned to GATEWAY station to serve as assistant CEO. I made it through the wormhole right before… well, before.”
Lt. Salor nodded. The closing of the wormhole had affected him as much as it had everyone else, but his Vulcan heritage made it easy for him to hide it. He turned to the terminal on his desk, verifying the young officer’s assignment with the station computer. He was rewarded with not only confirmation, but Crichton’s personelle file as well. Salor scanned the file quickly, then flicked his gaze back up at Crichton.
“You’re an ACT graduate,” the Vulcan stated flatly.
“I am,” Crichton nodded.
“I see that you had several problems with discipline during your training,” Salor said. “Physical altercations with fellow students. Ignoring orders. Arguing with superior officers.”
“With respect, sir,” Crichton said, smirking a little. “I wouldn’t have had to argue so often if my superiors hadn’t been wrong all the time.”
“The command structure exists for good reasons, Mr. Crichton,” Lt. Salor said, ignoring Crichton’s smile. “If you are unable to follow orders, I have no need for your services.”
“I can follow orders, sir,” Crichton said. “Just not blindly.”
The Vulcan stared at Crichton for a long moment, and Crichton met his gaze equally. Finally, Lt. Salor nodded.
“Very well,” he said. “Welcome to the crew. If you are prepared, there are several matters with which I could use your assistance.”
“It would be my pleasure, sir.”
NRPG: First post! Let me know what you think!
Jerome: Is Crichton a cadet or an Ensign?
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jacob Crichton, Cadet (or Ensign)
Assistant Chief Engineering Officer
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
“Sometimes magic sounds like tape.” –The Amazing Jonathon
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