From: Shawn _ (alamo_nate_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Dec 31 2007 - 22:29:32 PST
=Wolf At The Door=
(cont’d from “A Natural Phenomenon”)
LOCATION: Shuttlecraft
SCENE: Cockpit
STARDATE: [2.7]1231.2254
“It should take about three hours to complete the field,” Jake Crichton explained to the tiny screen mounted in the console before him. “Hopefully, that will give us enough time to finish before the Dominion come back.”
[[We’re keeping all our long-range sensors trained on them,]] Commander Daisy Davidson’s image said. [[We’ve picked up some suspicious movements- they’re definitely up to something. We’ll let you know if they begin moving. GATEWAY out.]]
“Let’s hope that they do,” Lt. Nick Cannon muttered. “I don’t want to be caught in this bucket when a Dominion battlecruiser shows up.”
“What’s wrong, Nick?” Crichton smirked. “Miss your Aurora?”
“Yuk it up all you want,” Cannon frowned. “But if it comes to dodging laserblasts, you’re going to wish we had the maneuverability of a fighter. Not to mention the engine and shields, too.”
“It’s always the shields with you.”
“Yeah, I kind of have a thing for the device that keeps me at a comfortable arm’s length away from a fiery death,” Cannon shot back.
“I’m *sure* Commander Davidson will not leave us out to dry,” Lt. Yao cut in from nan’s console behind them, heading off the argument that was already starting.
“Right, right,” Cannon nodded. “I’ll do the flying, you kids worry about the science project.”
“You realize that kind of makes you our chauffer?” Crichton asked.
“Boy, wouldn’t it be a shame if I pulled over and let you walk home?” Cannon warned.
“Alright, alright… Jeeves.”
A blinking light on Cannon’s console distracted further verbal dueling. Cannon hit a few controls on his console, and the shuttlecraft slowed to a halt.
“We’ve reached the first set of coordinates,” he reported. “Speaking of which, I’m still not sure I totally understand this plan of yours. It sounds a little…”
“Complicated?” Crichton asked.
“I was going to say ‘made-up’,” Cannon shrugged.
“It’s scientifically sound,” Yao said, sounding a little defensive. “With the assistance of Lt. Kor, Crichton and I are confident that we can create, maintain, and control distortions in the subspace field. And I’m sure you don’t need a lesson in the kind of damage that they can cause.”
“Yeah,” Cannon said. “That’s the part that worries me.”
“Just relax,” Crichton said. “We’ve got it all under control.”
“He’s right,” Yao assured him. “There’s every likelihood that this will work.”
“I dunno’,” Cannon said. “You weren’t there when Boy Wonder here sent us out on that field test of the stealth-fighters… *without* the shields.”
“No, but you *have* mentioned it before,” Yao said, rolling nan’s eyes. “Repeatedly.”
“See?” Crichton said to nan. “It’s always the shields with him.”
“I’ve doublechecked the settings,” Yao said, once again all-business. “If that deflector array you jury-rigged to the shuttle is up and running…”
“Everything’s reading in the green,” Crichton said. “Starting the feed now.”
The trio watched as a purple-colored stream began to stretch out from their ship, hitting a point in space about 1000 kilometers off their hull. At the beam’s terminus, a growing rift could be seen, rippling slowly outward like tiny waves caused by a rock hitting the surface of a pond. Yao silently counted the seconds in nan’s head, giving the beam a long enough time to complete its work.
“Alright, that’s it,” nan said.
“Cutting the feed now,” Crichton said. “How’s it looking?”
“I’m reading a distortion in subspace at the coordinates in question,” Cannon nodded. “It’s not very big- but its there. And according to these readings, its *exactly* the type of subspace rift that we don’t want to be flying into.”
“Good,” Crichton said, beaming. “That means it worked.”
“Mark the coordinates in the computer,” Yao advised. “We have to keep track of where all these things are- we need an accurate representation of the ‘minefield’ if we want our forces to have any chance of navigating it.”
“Alright,” Cannon nodded. “Coordinates marked. Moving to the next set of coordinates now.”
And so the work progressed- their ship moving from point to point in space, seeding it with subspace distortions that would spell almost certain doom for any ship unlucky or foolhardy enough to be caught in the middle of them. But after about 35 minutes, another flashing light on Cannon’s console interrupted their work.
“Hold on,” Cannon said, frowning as the light.
“What is it, Nick?” Crichton asked.
“I’m reading a distortion in the subspace field,” he said.
“Uhm.. right,” Crichton said. “That’s kind of the point.”
“That isn’t us,” Yao said, peering over Cannon’s shoulder at the results before calling them up on nan’s own console. “I’m getting a power-reading that’s way off the scale, about 3 million kilometers from our current position. Much higher than anything we’re trying to create.”
“Could it be a side-effect of the bubbles?” Cannon asked.
“I doubt it,” Crichton said. “Even if it were, there’s no reason the power readings should be that high. I mean, measured against the scale of power we’re generating or manipulating, this is… astronomical.”
“Whatever the hell it us, I’m moving away from it,” Cannon said. “We’re getting back to the station until we can figure out-”
Nick Cannon never did get to finish that sentence. His words caught in his throat suddenly. Crichton and Yao didn’t complain- they didn’t even notice. Like Nick, everything had suddenly stopped. All concerns had, in an instant, disappeared from their mind, and all they could do was stare blankly at what had appeared in front of them.
Blossoming into existence, like a blue-and-purple cloud of pure hope and joy, was the wormhole. It had re-appeared.
“It’s… beautiful,” Crichton managed, appreciating the sight more than any other he had beheld in his entire life.
A pity they had almost no time to enjoy it.
[[GATEWAY to Shuttlecraft,]] came a sudden transmission.
“We see it, GATEWAY,” Cannon reported, his eyes still wide and fixed on the wormhole.
[[Sensors indicate the Dominion is re-entering the system,]] the voice from GATEWAY came again, the urgency bringing all three of them back to reality. [[A small group of ships have broken off from the main-attack group and appear to be approaching your position. Get out of there, immediately! Repeat, get out-]]
The shuttle was suddenly rocked violently, so violently that Crichton banged his head on the console, creating a new gash in his forehead to go along with the cuts and scrapes he’d already suffered in his last battle against the Dominion.
“Bet you’re glad I had the shields up,” Cannon said, sparing a quick glance and smile at Crichton.
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NRPG: Sorry its been so long since my last post. Truth be told, my roommate spilled beer all over our computer keyboard a couple days ago, so I’ve been without a keyboard for a few days. I’ve still been keeping up on posts, but haven’t been able to write any of my own. I’m at my parents’ house now for New Years Eve and thought I’d get out a quick post while I could. It will probably be another few days before we get another keyboard (I get my next paycheck on Friday, so I’ll be getting a new one by then for sure), but rest assured- I am still out here, and I’m still reading.
Anyway, quick summary- the field is incomplete and the Dominion has returned. Yao, Crichton, and Cannon are stranded in a shuttle dodging attacks from a Dominion ship, and who knows what the rest of the Dominion fleet has in store for GATEWAY station. On the other hand, the wormhole has reopened- what effect will that have on their attack plans?
Happy New Year, everyone!
Shawn
a.k.a.
Jake Crichton, Lieutenant
Chief of Engineering
GATEWAY Station, GS-2
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