Stardate: 70626:1900
Title: Useless Again...
Author: Ensign Megan Garrett
Time: Slightly Before, During, and Slightly After "The End Is Now Part 2"
Scene: Shuttlecraft Kauffman


The readings from the sphere were becoming more and more erratic with each passing minute. Megan had no idea what was going on in there but, whatever it was, it was using a whole lot of different types of energy. There was no way to get a signal through the sphere to the Horizon, especially with all the radiation and energy in the space surrounding the sphere. She'd had to give up on that attempt rather quickly after arriving in the vicinity of the sphere, so she had focused her efforts on trying to get the massive doors open. Unfortunately, she was having limited success there as well.

After a few calculations, it became apparent that although her shuttle was well equipped, she did not have the required power necessary to open the doors. She also couldn't rely on the automatic systems on the sphere as they were most likely not functioning as a result of the wide array of malfunctions occurring. Megan had never felt so frustrated; she was so used to being in control and knowing what to do.

After a few more minutes of work, she'd found a way to open the doors, but it would require much more power than she was capable of producing. She was fairly certain that if she directed a powerful enough phaser blast onto a specific location near the doors edges it would cause them to open just enough for her small shuttle to get through. From there, she would need to activate both the fore and aft tractor beams to force the door open wide enough to let the Horizon out. 

Unfortunately, she wasn't positive she could get enough power to the phasers to create the blast necessary, and even if she could that would leave her with minimal power left, certainly not enough to route everything she had into the tractor beams to force it open. Megan tried taking a deep breath forcing her heart rate to slow down as it was beginning to race from all the stress.

Just as she was about to begin her work once again, sensors detected another ship approaching the sphere, but the radiation prevented her from determining exactly what type of vessel it was. Moving further away from the sphere to try and clear the readings up, Megan was surprised to find it was an Akira class ship, the USS Exeter. Before she could react, they were hailing her.

Opening a channel, Megan found herself face to face with the Captain of the Exeter, who spoke first.

"Ensign Garrett, this is Captain Nagama. We've received your reports, and I was sent to assist you in freeing the Horizon from the sphere."

Megan smiled politely.

"Thank you, Captain. I do believe I have a plan to free the Horizon from the sphere, but I didn't have enough power. It will require a phaser blast from you, and then I'll need to do the rest. I'm sending the frequency, intensity, and location of the phaser blast to you now," Megan replied as she sent the information to the tactical station on the Exeter.

"We're making the modifications now. We'll let you know when we're ready to start."

"Acknowledged," Megan responded as she moved herself into position on the opposite side of the doors from where the Exeter would be firing. The Exeter was also moving into position. Megan wished she could get a message through to let the Horizon know what they were doing, but there simply wasn't a way.

"Our modifications are complete. Ready when you are," Hito reported a few moments later. "What exactly are you planning on doing, Ensign?"

Before Megan had a chance to respond, there was a brilliant flash of light outside her window, which caused her to shield her eyes. Once it had dissipated, she checked sensors and found, to her astonishment that the Horizon and one of their support craft were now on the other side of the sphere outside. The sphere's energy readings spiked to an all new high, and it was quite clear that there was about to be a massive explosion.

Megan quickly reacted to steer her shuttle to a safe distance, and the Exeter and the Horizon, seeing the same readings she was, were also moving away from the sphere. 

It was only a few moments before the sphere exploded. The shockwave sent Megan's shuttle spiraling out of control. Megan gripped the armrests of her chair to remain seated, but when she saw her console begin to spark, she allowed herself to be thrown out of her chair and just out of reach of the exploding console. She'd managed to protect her head, but felt her right arm snap.

Crying out in pain, Megan stayed where she was until the shuttle came to a stop. Coughing slightly from the smoke and exhaust, she managed to pull herself up with her good arm, and collapsed back into her seat. Ignoring the pain, she pulled up the sensor readings; the Horizon and Exeter, which had been further away from the sphere at the time of the explosion, appeared to have suffered no damage.

Grateful for that at least, Megan was debating which ship to contact, when a hail came through from the Exeter. Opening a channel, Hito's face once again appeared on her small screen. "Ensign Garrett, are you alright?" 

"Yes, Captain, I am." Megan replied as she brought up a damage report on her shuttle, which was pretty badly damaged. "However, my shuttle is not."

Her engines and shield were completely offline, as were half a dozen other systems. Life support seemed to be alright, as did the sensors and weapons. Several hull breaches were present in the aft compartments, but emergency forcefields were holding.

"Acknowledged. We'll tow you into the shuttlebay with a tractor beam." Hito responded before closing the channel. A few moments later, the shuttle was bathed in blue light as the tractor beam locked onto the Kauffmann.

Slumping back in her chair, Megan felt completely defeated. She had done absolutely nothing to assist the Horizon, and now she was being towed. Admiral LaPage was not going to like that she'd already damaged his shuttle, but she smiled slightly realizing that he would probably just tease her to no end about it later.

Sighing, she carefully pushed herself up from the chair with her left arm and went to get the medkit. She'd had plenty of experience with treating her own injuries and would most likely have herself all fixed up by the time anyone saw her. At least she could do that correctly on her own.


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Ensign Megan Garrett
Science Officer
USS Horizon
NCC-72400
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