Stardate: 70311:0530
Title: Riding Out On The Wave
Author: Maxine Jenna
Time: During "Dude, Where's My Starbase?"
Scene: Starbase 9 - Other Universe
A single particle of Omega held more energy than a warp core; some even believed
it may have been what initiated the Big Bang. So, in creating the Omega bomb,
John Galt had been more than careful to ensure that its detonation would not
result in the destruction of the facility or ship utilising it, whilst still
devastating subspace for light years in every direction, rendering warp drive
useless. Although their own ships would be unable to leave, the enemy ships
would also be unable to attack.
As the bomb started to 'warm up' on one of the lower levels, Elizabeth Foster
watched from the Command Centre on one of the upper levels as the Relentless
departed. With their ships spread out, this 'other Relentless' had nowhere to
go. Even so, the detonation of the bomb would ensure that by slowing them down
to a virtual dead stop.
=/\= USS Relentless =/\=
It was the first time they had attempted to perform an inter-universal jump at
speed, but every time Maxine configured and armed the drive, the bridge
collapsed before it could fully form. Without performing further analysis she
couldn't be certain, but she was sure that their speed was interfering with a
stable bridge formation.
"Captain, we need to come to a complete stop for the jump drive to work," Maxine
informed the Commanding Officer.
They were in a far from perfect place to come stationary, but they needed to
nonetheless. And, as Ensign Keller threaded the ship through the eye of the
needle, fate finally seemed to give them the chance they needed...
~
The shockwave tore through space and subspace at an almost immeasurable speed,
bearing down upon the now-stationary Relentless at the same instant Maxine
initiated the jump drive; the deformation of space and subspace caused by the
alien device served to act like a sinkhole, drawing the Omega shockwave towards
it... The ship lurched as the shockwave hit it.
~
Temporarily existing in every and no universe at the same time, the Relentless
was effectively 'blasted' from this universe to their home one by the leading
edge of the wave, but a voyage that usually took three seconds seemed to take
several times that, and Maxine was sure that the violent tremors continued to
run through the ship even when they had arrived at their destination.
"Maxine, are we in our universe?" The XO asked, looking out onto the blackness
of space portrayed to the bridge crew through the viewscreen.
Tapping a few buttons on the console in front of her, Maxine quickly had Relly
work up the Multiverse Index. Luckily, whilst the MI calculation took time to
figure out for new universes, it determined their home universe's MI (which
corresponded to zero by nature of the logarithmic function) with surprising
speed.
"Yes, Ma'am. We're home," Maxine replied with a slight smile.
"Maxine, what happened on that jump?" Captain Khavok asked.
"I’m just reviewing the data, Sir. It will take a couple of minutes." Maxine
turned back to the console, scanning the scrolling lines of data from both their
last universe and the transitional period.
"Shouldn’t we be able to see Starbase 9?" Abigail asked, and everyone froze.
"According to the data, just as we jumped the Omega bomb was set off," Maxine
explained to the assembled group. "That was what caused the disturbance during
our jump and, I am going to go out on a limb here, I would say that is why we
haven’t landed in our designated re-entry spot near the Starbase."
Of course, she would need to run several simulations based on the data gathered,
but the theory was simple - the bridge they had generated and effectively 'rode'
between the universes had been twisted and contorted by the Omega shockwave,
causing their destination to shift.
But to where?
====================
Lieutenant Maxine Jenna
Chief Science Officer
USS Relentless
NCC-11966
====================
