The Early Years To Boldly Go, Ch 26-Fin By C.L. Nelson

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

They had come again for Fairfield, dragging him from his cell back to the office he was in before. Once again, his captors faced him.

"Your ship has been destroyed by our defenses," the Official began, "You are now permanently without outside help. In light of these circumstances, I suggest that you cooperate with us now."

"I don't have anything to say," Fairfield responded.

"I was afraid of that. We've taken precautions to help us in this process," the Official retorted.

One of the others rolled a device into the room. It looked like a hair dryer, only the headpiece was more conical. he couldn't even begin to imagine what it was, but for a civilization which had no advanced technology to speak of, this was quite unusual. The assistant plugged a cord into a nearby receptacle.

"This looks pretty weird for a civilization which doesn't have anything more than a basic technology," Fairfield commented.

"We reserve the higher science for the trustworthy," answered the Official.

Fairfield almost laughed out loud, "You've been keeping your people in the dark for years, haven't you?"

The Official smiled as he pointed the cone into Fairfield's face, "Only the trustworthy are allowed the benefits of science."

"That's insane! Science is to be used for the benefit of mankind!"

"With the benefits also come the dangers. We will not speak of this, for now I must continue the interrogation," the Official said, manipulating a few controls on the machine's control panel. He pressed the start button and stood back.

Fairfield felt the immense power of this tool as it began to suck his mind. It was though he'd been placed in a mental wind tunnel. He tried to fight it, but didn't know the first thing about what to do. He tried a nursery rhyme. Slowly he began concentrating on it. He began to sing softly, at first: "All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel..."

The Official was watching the monitor as it measured the bulk of data being written to the storage device. The levels began to drop off sharply.

"The monkey thought it was all in fun..."

The levels continued to fall off. The Official re-entered the drain factor. He pressed the start button again, and the levels began to rise again.

The machine pulled even harder this time. Maybe illogic, he thought. One plus one is eleven; The velocity of travel is determined by the speed of a dead fish multiplied by a horseless carriage...

The Official lost his temper and grabbed a large book from the bookshelf aside of his desk. He swung it across Fairfield's head and the blow knocked out his prisoner. Fairfield slumped forward in the chair.

"Now then, " the Official muttered, "We'll continue."

He hit the start button once again.

***

The landing party materialized into the room where the signal was detected. April, Szylnick and two security members began milling around the room. The security men had their weapons out, facing the door. Szylnick had another communicator, and was tracking the signal. He followed the signal to a cabinet in the room. He opened it up, and on the second shelf was the tricorder. They still hadn't found what they were looking for.

April sighed, "Any ideas?"

"He could be in this building somewhere," suggested Szylnick.

April motioned the guards to check the corridor. They looked out into the hall and signaled the rest. They moved out into the corridor. It was your basic office building. There were doors down each side of the narrow hallway, with a carpeted floor. The walls were a simple off-white color and fluorescent lights shone down from the ceiling every few feet. It was approximately mid-afternoon, which meant that there would be a lot of activity in the building. It would be difficult to search each room.

"Lasers on stun. We'll have to hit each room. Hit anyone who's there. Hopefully, no one will come to until we've found our man," April briefed the team.

They came to the first door. One of the security team pushed it open and the other one jumped in, ready to shoot. The room was empty. They continued this down the hallway. At the end of the hallway things got more complicated. A group of uniformed people were moving up and down the hall in sporadic patterns, presumably going about their daily business. A shooting spree here would surely alert everyone, April thought. Soon enough, the hall emptied. However, problem number two was the glass door which people had been coming in and out of. It looked like the office of someone who was in a very high position. There was some decoration on the door and what looked to be a receiving area right outside the door.

"This is going to be ugly, " Szylnick commented.

"We'll just have to hit everyone in the room, sir," one of the security men stated, plainly. To them, it was just another mission behind enemy lines.

April was rather surprised to find himself repulsed at the sheer cold-bloodedness of the statement. He admonished himself for that thought, he was a Captain in Space Command. This was the enemy, but they sure looked like peaceful human beings.

The security team readied their weapons for the assault. April waited until the hall was clear for the most part. He nodded, and the security men raced into the receiving area. They brought their weapons to the ready position, poised for the attack. April and Szylnick waited, their backs to the adjacent hallway. April nodded. The security team broke through the glass doors, firing at everyone in the room. April and Szylnick followed. There was some screams, but everyone had fallen by the time they got into the room. The security team moved into the inner offices, leveling all of its occupants. One motioned to the other, and they hit the main office. They were surprised to find it empty. It was lunch time, however, so many people had left the building.

"Now what?" Szylnick asked.

"We keep going," April answered.

"The stun effect should last about thirty minutes," one of the security team added.

"As long as nobody enters the room and sees everyone lying around," Szylnick responded.

"We're wasting time," interjected April, "There's another office like this one down this hallway."

The security guards hit with precision as they knocked down everyone in the office. The security team entered the inner office in the same manner as they'd done before. April whirled around, startled by someone who entered the room. She was medium height, in a blue dress which flared at the bottom slightly. April thought he was seeing a ghost. She looked at him in horror as their eyes met. Her brown hair flowed down around her shoulders, her blue eyes wide with fright. She dropped the stack of papers she was carrying.

"Belinda?" April muttered.

One of the security team yelled at him, "Shoot, captain! Now!"

He couldn't bring himself to do it. If this wasn't his ex-wife, she was an exact duplicate. The security team lost patience, and one of them fired at her. The beam hit her, enveloping her body in a bluegreen glow. She fell where she stood. April whirled around and drew on the security member.

Szylnick grabbed April's shoulder and shook him, "Captain, she's not here. It's not what you think!"

April came back to reality, although he was shaking from the event, "I-I'm sorry."

"Captain!" one of the security guards whispered.

The door was shut, but there were voices coming from behind it. The security team, once again, took position on either side of the door. They burst in and began firing, knocking everyone down in the room. Szylnick came in and saw Fairfield slumped in the chair.

"Captain, here he is!" Szylnick called out.

April withdrew his communicator, "Transport, lock on to us, we've got five to bring up."

"Aye, Captain. Energizing," the transport operator answered.

The familiar tingling sensation began. Suddenly, Szylnick thought about what would happen if he was holding someone else, in this case the unconscious Fairfield. He was hoping they wouldn't be permanently bonded by the transport effect. It was too late to find out. The room began to blur and disappear.

***

The figures in the transport chamber took shape and became whole again. Szylnick let go of the still unconscious Fairfield and was relieved to find that he fell onto the chamber floor. The transport operator had called sickbay, anticipating casualties. The scanners had pieced up heavy burst of laser fire while they were on the surface. Doctor Guest and a few of his technicians attended to Fairfield. April stepped out of the chamber and punched the intercom, "Bridge, this is the captain, get us out of here! Lay in a course for the fourth planet. I want some answers."
 

Deacon realized that he had less fuel than originally thought. The levels had hit zero about a minute ago, and he was now drifting. Skillful piloting on his part allowed him to be drawn in by the gravitational pull of this system's third planet. Now, all he could do was wait. There was still a reserve of fuel, but he needed that for descent. Without that, he'd burn up in the atmosphere. He could try to pull the tiny ship into orbit, but then he'd suffocate when his air ran out, which would be in another twelve minutes. The planet was getting closer. He shut down all the secondary systems and was using stellar power for the computer functions. Twelve minutes, he thought, I could probably survive for a little while after, until I could no longer think straight or maintain consciousness. He grimaced at the thought of that. The planet filled up the entire forward view. He made the necessary preparations. He saw something glinting over the sunward side of the planet. It was too far away to see what it was. He was passing into nightside. He punched the comm frequency ident, which marked the location of the ship to anyone who was listening. The sun slipped behind the planet as the ship entered nightside. The power levels immediately dropped to below normal. Deacon didn't know if the monitor miscalculated the amount of air left. It must be out, he thought, I'm getting drowsy. He couldn't hold out any longer, and he lost consciousness, presumably sleep. At least he thought that's what it was.

***

The Senior Controller noticed a blip on the tracker board, just to the opposite side of the planet. He selected a topical view, and the blip identified itself as infinity three, previously logged as lost in battle. He touched the blip and the full mission statistic was displayed. This one was scrambled about twenty four hours ago. Oxygen levels would be depleted. The squawk didn't register until the craft entered planetary space, which meant the possibility of a pilot still alive. Sometimes, the squawk circuits operated even after the ship was destroyed. He contacted the bridge.

***

They once again all gathered in the meeting room. The senior staff all sat around the table, facing their captain.

"We'll need to bring him in with a tractor beam," Szylnick said.

"Agreed. How soon till we can reach him?" April asked.

"He's on the nightside," the Senior Controller answered from the intercom.

"Shit," grumbled April.

"We may be able to reach it without being in planetary space. The tractor beam can be focused tightly enough. If we concentrate the beam to a tight area, the range should increase. There's less scatter attenuation," Jarvis explained.

"We're still going to have to move closer to the nightside," April stated.

The intercom beeped. It was Schmidt, "Sir, we've got another problem. Our scanners are showing a fleet of Romulans in attack formation."

"How far out?" asked April.

"About an hour and a half, by computer's estimate. They've got a rammer and they're rigged for solar."

"Wonderful. Keep me posted, I'll be up in a few minutes," April pointedly hit the button on the intercom and folded his hands in front on the table. Sokar was coming back for a repeat performance, he thought, "Well, gentlemen, can we do this?"

"We should only need to come within a few kilometers of the nightside," Jarvis continued.

"We started feeling the effects last time about three kilometers in. That's a damn strong draw, whatever it is," Szylnick said, clarifying the situation.

April leaned back in the chair, "Mr. Jarvis, I think you can handle this. But we only get one shot at it."

"Understood, sir," Jarvis got up and left the meeting.

"Which leaves us with the second problem," April said, "Our old friend Sokar."

"Agreed. Any chance of diplomacy?" Szylnick suggested.

"Forget it. They're attacking in retaliation for the warbird they shot down a couple days ago. Sokar was on that ship and he's out for blood. I don't think there's any reasoning with him. What kind of weapons do we have left?"

"Mostly missiles. Of course, there's still lasers," Szylnick answered.

"Not stable enough. That rammer can really hurt us," commented April.

The Senior Controller reported his position, " We've barely got enough ships to run another defensive operation. We lost a lot in the past couple days. If we engage the Romulans, we may not have any left to defend the ship."

April drew a heavy breath. The rammer concerned him the most. He'd only ever seen one of them, but they were not a pretty sight to a battleship. These things were primarily designed to punch through a ship's hull and place a boarding party to take the ship from the inside. If it escaped the repulsor, there was no stopping it. Lasers didn't have a close-range capacity, so they were ineffective. A blast across the bow from a nuke explosion could do just as much damage to the ship that fired it as it could to the intended target vessel.

"Battle stations, gentlemen. This is going to be a bloody one. Dismissed," April stayed behind as the rest of the staff left the room. It was time for the walk.

***

Jarvis turned another knob and Weber read the display.

"That's got it," Weber remarked.

This was an extremely tight beam. It was almost too tight. If the beam was tighter than the carrier could stand, it would become unstable. An unstable beam couldn't be controlled and could turn into a repulsor, if the frequency got inverted. Still, this was the best they could do. Jarvis called the bridge. They were ready.

***

Schmidt was virtually flying the ship by the seat of his pants. He had the control stick out, and was maneuvering ever so gently toward the lost starfighter. The screen was showing a grid which had the position of the ship and the planet. There was a green X to show the ship's position and a red box with an X in it to show the starfighter. Schmidt concentrated on the green X, pushing forward on the control stick. IN RANGE flashed above the green X. They were in position, but drifting closer to the nightside.

***

The launch bay doors opened and the controller concentrated on the target. He could see it, glinting in the sunlight. He placed the targeting mark over the glinting object in the display, then pressed a series of buttons. The tractor beam shot out from just inside the launch bay. The object moved, slightly. The display acknowledged the contact. The controller pulled back on the lever and the ship began to move forward.

***

"Problem, captain!" Szylnick reported, "We're experiencing a power drain. It's still small, but it seems to be growing."

"Keep on it," April responded.

***

The beam was beginning to fluctuate. The controller added some more power and continued to pull back on the lever. The ship was still being carried forward toward the launch bay.

***

"Power levels now down to seventy five percent," Szylnick reported.

"Not now..." April muttered under his breath.

***

What was going on, the on-duty Controller thought, struggling with the controls. The beam was fluctuating in and out. It was hard to maintain a lock. He looked at the monitor and the polarity looked like it was shifting again. He added more power and pulled back on the lever again. The object could now be seen as a starfighter. It was in relatively good shape. There were a couple of burn marks on the sides, but there wasn't any major damage from the looks of it. The ship was still a ways off, maybe a few kilometers. He glanced at the monitor again. The polarity was still in the minus range, but creeping slowly toward zero. If it went positive, then the beam would become a repulsor and send the ship into the planet's atmosphere. He couldn't allow that to happen. The viewer showed that there was someone in the ship. Alive or dead, he couldn't take any chances. The power was peaked. He couldn't add anymore. He pulled back on the lever, then shut the beam off.. He called the bridge.

***

"This tractor beam is just too unstable. I've disengaged it, so I need the ship to hold steady. The drift is bringing the ship in. I think its moving fast enough that the gravitational force won't interfere. It's still heading toward us," the Controller explained.

"Contact me as soon as its aboard," April answered.

***

It was just a matter of time, now. The ship was drifting toward the opening. He could re-engage the beam once the doors were closed. At lower levels, it may remain stable. The next few minutes seem to pass very slowly. Finally, the ship was just outside the launch bay. Then he realized too late that it was coming in too low! The wingtip would hit the bottom deck as it crossed the threshold. All he could do was watch. The airfoil caught the deck as it drifted inside the ship. It spun over as it hit the deck, the other airfoil hitting the deck at twice the force. The stress was too much for the craft, and the wing broke off. The rest of the ship tumbled end over end, until the cockpit end slammed down into the deck. The controller shut the doors and tried to re engage the beam before the ship crushed its occupant. INSUFFICIENT POWER read the monitor. The controller stood up to watch the ship splinter into several more fragments before it finally stopped. The controller called sickbay for a medical team. According to the monitor, the pilot was still alive.

***

They pulled Deacon out of the wreckage. He was gasping heavily as a result of a punctured lung. The Senior Controller was watching over him as the medical team treated the injured pilot. Deacon looked at the controller, trying to speak.

"Save your breath, son," the Controller told him.

Deacon was flailing wildly now, "Sir...Romulans...are...coming!" he gasped. He passed out as one of the medical techs gave him an injection. The loaded him onto a gurney and carried him off. The Controller decided to report this to the captain.

***

"Engage warp drive!" shouted April.

The engines growled, weary from the lack of power. The ship lurched forward and they were free of the planet's energy drain. Now they had to fight the Romulans.
 

There they were, right in front of them. Just as the Senior Controller had told him. The lost pilot they'd recovered earlier had seen them and was attempting to warn the ship when the electrical malfunctions started. A whole attack formation of ships. They appeared to be bound for the fourth planet. Although April's gut feeling was to let them attack and get their butts kicked, he couldn't, by the terms of the treaty, allow them to operate this far from the Neutral Zone. Analysis of their current heading put on a direct course to the fourth planet. The same place as the last attack.

***

Jarvis was in his office when Weber walked in, "Sir, I think I've stumbled onto something when we were working on the tractor beam."

Jarvis looked up at him "Oh?"

"I think we can generate a force field, using the inertial dampers and equalize the polarity of the carrier to zero, we can get a sustained field of energy."

"They've been trying to develop a working force field for years, but the they're too unstable to last."

"If we use the power from the warp drive, running it through the inertial damper field emitters, it might work."

"What about the inertial dampers?"

"We only need one of the emitters, as I figure. The other two won't be affected."

"This would work as the first line of defense against those Romulans. I'll call the captain. You better start working on your presentation."

***

Weber was a little nervous in front of the senior staff. The screen showed the diagram of the primary hull, with the dampers which would be affected outlined in red. He continued his explanation, showing exactly how this would work, and that there would only be a slight decrease in the warp capacity.

"What about impulse power?" asked Szylnick.

"That won't be affected at all. Inertial dampers are only engaged during warp," Weber explained.

"There may be a slight back current, caused by the field emitters. The ship could be pushed back at a fraction of the force its being propelled forward by," Jarvis added.

April scratched his nose, thinking about this option. They desperately needed something for this battle. There seemed to be no serious risk to the ship and this could also be a historic moment. He allowed himself a minute to think about that, although it really wasn't supposed to be his first concern, "I think it's worth a try. How soon can you get this thing working. We engage the Romulans in about an hour."

"The basic systems are already in place, sir. All we need to do is realign the circuitry," answered Weber.

"All right," April concluded, "Get to it. Mr. Jarvis, keep me posted on this one. I need to know my options before we meet the Romulans."

"Aye, sir," Jarvis said, standing up.

***

Matter, the presence thought, where would I get raw matter? The propulsion area spoke of a matter/antimatter reaction. If he could find the location of the matter, he could return to his proper form. Slowly, he slipped back toward the propulsion controls.

***

Giraud was working on some background information in relationship to the planetary situation. Was there a correlation between the power drain and some part of the fourth planet's surface? Was there an unforeseen variable? Maybe another ship? She waited while the analyzer worked on these queries. It seemed to be acting slower than it normally did. It was probably because of all the power drains. Still, she thought she'd better run a level-two diagnostic. That would cover the overall system. She didn't think that there would need to be a level one at this point. She fed the instructions into the console, waiting for the results.

***

The presence felt something touch him. He was back in the place of knowledge known as main memory. Something brushed up against him. It was probing him. It made him uncomfortable. He unleashed his new weapon on the intruder. The probe immediately disappeared as each of the values were returned to zero.

***

Giruad looked back at the console. She was taken aback by the current display: DIAGNOSTIC PROGRAM READY. It was as if she'd never actually ran it. She called up an image of the memory bank and ran a print. She grabbed it as it came out of the slot, pouring over its contents. This doesn't make any sense, she thought. The display listed dozens of variables, ranging from low to high. Not at all what would normally occupy the memory banks of a science workstation. She put the paper down and tried to run the diagnostic again. The paper, in the course of her movement, fell to the floor.

Commander Jarvis entered the bridge, "We're ready. We can control the force field directly from the bridge."

"Good. Are you going to operate it?" asked April.

"I can," Jarvis answered. He noticed the paper laying on the floor and picked it up. He'd seen this before, but not in a long time. He turned to Giraud, handing the paper to her."

"Thank you," she said.

"Why were you printing transport patterns, anyway?" he asked, matter-of-factly.

"What?" she responded.

"That's a pattern. It's what the transport mechanism uses to reassemble the form of whoever's being transported. I haven't seen one printed since the concept was first introduced several years ago," Jarvis explained, picking up the paper again, "I helped design the circuitry for that system!"

Giraud's eyes widened as he spoke, "Commander, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I followed this project really close. I was trying to get on the developmental team," he told her, some pride showing in his voice.

"I got that as a result of an aborted level two diagnostic on the computer. It's been acting slow lately," she continued, "Is this part of a random memory cell used by the transport mechanism?"

"No, not possible," he lectured, "That is a fully self-contained system. It was compartmented so that, if there was a failure of the main computer system, the transport mechanism could still be usable. If you lost the transport buffer, you lost whoever was being stored in it. However, you could draw on the main computer for additional storage, if necessary. It's just a circuit connection"

April turned around to face the two, "Is this something I should be involved with."

Giraud didn't want to sound ridiculous, but there was no other explanation for it, "Sir, there's something in the main computer."

April blinked once, "Come again?"

She handed him the printout, "This is memory bank image printout. The level-two diagnostic I was attempting to run aborted before it could be completed. Commander Jarvis says that this image resembles a transport pattern."

Szylnick joined in the conversation, "Jarvis, you had something seriously wrong with you when you first came back from the planet."

Jarvis thought for a minute. He didn't remember a lot of it, just little pieces. Mostly about headaches.

"What happened, Mr. Jarvis?" prodded April, unaware of the events taken place in his absence.

"I haven't had a chance to brief you on everything," Szylnick began.

"Now would be a good time," April said, slightly agitated.

Szylnick explained about Jarvis' behavior and the subsequent entrapment in the transport mechanism. Jarvis was even more surprised than the captain to hear all this. The doctor had speculated that someone, presumably the etherians, had combined an alien being with Commander Jarvis just prior to returning him to the ship.

"Commander Jarvis, you mentioned a link to the main memory, could an electrical contact be made from the transport buffer?" asked Giraud.

"Sure, its a circuit link to draw off the memory in the main computer for storage purposes. You don't think--"

"A human can't move during transport," Szylnick observed.

"A human didn't." said Giraud.

"Those people we encountered from the fourth planet had extraordinary mental powers. One of them might've found their way in there," Szylnick hypothesized, "Of course! That's why they sent you back! They smuggled someone aboard! What the doctor had speculated was true!"

"Captain, the Romulans have changed course to intercept us," Schmidt reported.

"Here we go again, charge lasers, load main missiles," April began, "Let's have a firing solution on the lead ship. I want that rammer gone first. Stand by all weapons. Screen on, I want to see what we're dealing with."

The viewscreen showed fourteen warships, in a V pattern, the attack formation. The rammer was out in front. They were on ordinary propulsion. The rammer was a fearsome looking craft, honed to a point in the front with the trademark bird wings sweeping back towards the aft section. The fuselage was cylindrical, tapering to a point. Just behind the taper was the retracted collar which would seal the ship to the victim ship's fuselage. The seal would keep the ship in place. Nasty things, indeed, April thought.

"Incoming message from Romulans," Tigue reported.

"Let's hear what they have to say," April responded.

The voice was low and steady. Sokar was definitely cool under pressure. His voice had the presence of a calculating sort of person, one who was constantly thinking, and surely was thinking at this very moment, "Earth vessel, we have no quarrel with you."

With a rammer? thought April, not likely. He turned to his communications officer, "Open a channel," he said.

Tigue signaled to him as he prepared the relay.

"This is Captain Robert April of the battleship Exeter. You have entered earth space. We are a good distance from the Neutral Zone," April said.

"I repeat, we have no quarrel with you. We request that you let us pass."

"I can't do that. What are you doing in earth space?"

"We will be forced to attack you if you do not stand down. There is nothing more to say."

Tigue spoke from the console, "They've broken the connection, sir."

The fleet began to back away from the Exeter, proceeding toward the planet.

"We can pick at least two off from here," mentioned Szylnick from the viewer.

"We can't last in a fight with all of them. It won't do us any good to try," April stated, "But I think I have another idea. Is that gizmo of yours ready to work, Mr. Jarvis?"

"Aye, sir. Whenever we need it." Jarvis answered.

"Good. Lay in a course for the far side of the planet and engage warp drive. I don't want the Romulans to see us. How long until they reach the planet?"

"Twenty minutes, captain," Szylnick answered.

The ship hummed as the warp was engaged. The bridge fell silent as the planet came into view.

***

Giraud had been working to pinpoint the location of the intruder. It was now somewhere in the diagnostic section. Lt Commander Weber had been assigned to help her with this project, since everyone else was tied up with Romulans. He looked over her shoulder as the display overlaid the intruder's location on a top view map of the ship. Weber reached across her and began typing some numbers into the console.

"I think we can lock onto him from the transport mechanism," suggested Weber.

"Let's go," Giraud acknowledged.

Both got up and left the bridge. Science wouldn't be necessary to a battleship in combat, anyway, she thought as she left the bridge.

***

The planet was now directly in front of the ship, as viewed from the viewscreen. April held his chin, staring at the window.

"Where are those Romulans?" he asked.

"Just coming into the planetary edge," Szylnick answered.

"Ahead on new course, intercept the Romulan fleet. Full impulse power," ordered April. Phase one of his plan was complete, now on to phase two.

"Sir, if I may," Szylnick began, "What good will letting them go now do?"

April answered, "The Romulans are a very logical and rational people. Whenever we engaged them in battle, they were always methodical and logical in everything they did. I plan to do something which is totally irrational. That'll give them a surprise."

***

The ship, once again, faced the Romulans head on. The Romulans were still in attack formation. By April's estimate, they were preparing for atmospheric operations, with the rammer staying in orbit while the warbirds went in for the kill. It was now or never, he thought.

"Sir, we're within seven hundred kilometers of the fleet and closing," Szylnick reported from the viewer.

"Steady as she goes," April acknowledged.

The fleet was now visible in the window, the rammer still in front. Still, they traveled an unwavering path towards the planet surface.

"Sir, we no longer have safe a passage interval between ships!" Szylnick stated, rather forcefully.

"Mr. Jarvis, activate your gizmo. Steady as she goes, commander," said April.

***

"I got a lock! There he is," Weber exclaimed as he manipulated the transport controls. He began the transport process, flipping the power switches and pulling up on the lever to charge the mechanism. Slowly, he pulled down on the lever. The transport mechanism began to hum, its sound building as the chamber darkened.

***

"Captain! We have less than two kilometers distance. The ship will not be able to maintain safe interval between ships," Szylnick exclaimed.

"All stop," April commanded.

Szylnick turned around to face his captain. He was beginning to think April had lost his mind.

April faced Jarvis, "Status on your force field."

Jarvis looked down at the engineer's station, noting a few readings, then looked back at the captain, "All systems functioning normally."

"Collision imminent! Oncoming ships."

April punched the shipwide intercom button on the console, "All hands, this is the captain. Prepare for collision."

"Captain, what the hell are--" Szylnick never got to finish his sentence. The impact threw everyone forward on the bridge.

***

The ship shook violently while Weber fought with the controls. There was an image forming in the chamber. At first, it appeared to be a tall human, but most of the detail was still missing. The lights browned out and the force threw Giraud on top of Weber, who was already on the floor. The room began to tilt slightly upward. Weber looked into the chamber to see the image begin to fade again. He climbed back up to the console and threw in more power and readjusted the controls.

***

"Ahead full impulse power!" April said, climbing back into the command chair.

There was nothing visible on the screen but the underside of a Romulan vessel. It was their lead ship, the rammer. The Exeter groaned as its engines pushed itself and the added weight of the immobilized Romulan fleet forward.

"Force field is holding," Weber reported.

"Set a new course for the Romulan Neutral Zone," April said. It was working, he thought. Phase two complete.

"Sir, what are you trying to do?" Szylnick asked, flabbergasted.

"We can't fight them. I plan to shove them all the way back to the Neutral Zone," explained April.

"If we lose the force field--"

"There won't be any reason to care. If we fought them, we would've lost. At lease we have a chance this way."

***

The shape in the transport chamber finally took shape. It was an etherian. The etherian looked around the room, slightly disoriented. He had form and substance, once again.

"Who are you?" Giraud asked, approaching the alien.

The etherian looked at her and thought his answer.

My name is not important. I must leave this ship.

"Not likely, we're in the middle of space," commented Weber.

The etherian stood for a moment, then spoke, "We must attend to your bridge. My people tell me something is wrong there."

"The captain will want to see you anyway," Giraud said, "Come with me."

***

"Sir, one of the Romulans is attempting warp while in close proximity," Szylnick noted.

Jarvis turned around, "Sir, if the warp is engaged, it could affect the force field."

"How close to the Neutral Zone are we?" asked April.

"We're still an hour away," answered Szylnick.

"Shit!" April spat. It was a good strategy, too, he thought. The Romulans were definitely surprised.

Szylnick looked down at the console, and adjusted some controls. He looked at one of the readings again, scratching his head. He played with some more of the adjustment controls and looked up at the captain.

"Captain, I think the console is malfunctioning. According to these readings, we're not moving at all!" he said.

Before April could respond, Giraud, Weber and the etherian entered the bridge.

"I'm afraid that was our doing," said the etherian, now speaking directly

April got out of his chair, "Who's doing?"

"We appreciate your assistance, but we are quite capable of defending ourselves," the etherian explained. He made a slight motion of his hand and the Romulans vanished from the window.

"What have you done to them?" demanded Szylnick.

"They have been returned to their home planet. They have not been harmed, I assure you," the etherian began, "It was never our intention to involve you in our planetary affairs. You should've never been able to find this planet, except that our riats have proved to be ineffective against your scanning equipment. We will assure that matter is taken care of."

Jarvis realized who this etherian was. He pointed at him, "You--You were the one in my head! I remember, now!"

The etherian held up one hand, "I can sense you have many questions. I shall attempt to explain. When your man was deposited on our riat, we were intrigued. We attempted to study your mental pathways, since they were similar to another species we'd contacted hundreds of your years past. I was to explore and gather information for our records. Our science hall catalogues data retrieved from many planets. We then realized that your species was that same one we had encountered in the distant past."

April addressed the alien, "We experienced a power drain on the nightside of the third planet opposite your sun. Everything on the planet surface was being drained of power. Including mental energy. What was that?"

"This was the natural harvest of resources needed for our planet to survive," the etherian answered.

"You feed on energy?" Giraud responded.

"No, the great controller feeds on energy. Without the great controller, there is no life for we've grown dependent on its existence."

"The inhabitants of the third planet spoke of a war with an alien race. Was that your people?" Giraud asked.

"The war that they speak of never really happened. That was a diversion, which we created. This kept them from detecting what it was that we were really trying to accomplish."

Giraud gasped, "They were so busy looking for aliens, they never realized that they were already there!"

"That is correct."

Szylnick noticed another craft appearing in front of the ship. It was another disk, like the ones they'd encountered earlier. It just appeared out of nowhere.

"Captain, new contact, just off the port side," Szylnick commented.

"So the city was never destroyed on your planet by the Romulans!" concluded Szylnick.

"The Romulans are a very patient and determined people. They will try to attack you again," warned April.

"These Romulans do have some superior capabilities to ourselves, but they can only do minimal damage to us. They are a very minor threat. We will also insure that the riats can withstand another of their attacks," replied the etherian.

"What about the attack on your city?" asked Szylnick.

"We moved the city before the attack took place. No one was harmed.," the etherian continued, "You see, my people have discovered the means with which to control time. We can travel between time units anticipating what things will happen before they come to pass. Now, I must go. We will return you to the point which you first encountered our riat. You will not be able to find us again, I'm afraid. This must be so."

The etherian disappeared. The view outside the ship changed and the planet, disk, and accompanying star was gone. Only the depths of space shone through the window.

"Schmidt, can you figure out where we are?" asked April.

The navigator did a little figuring, and looked frustrated. He worked his controls again, coming up with the same answer, "Sir, we're just within tracking range of Starbase Nine!"

"Right back where we started," April commented.

***

Giraud was back at her station, checking the data they'd recorded during the voyage. She couldn't believe what she'd discovered.

"Captain, the etherians appeared to have added a significant amount of information about themselves to our data banks. There's more here than I can study right now. It'll be several hours before I can give you a report," she explained.

"Thank you," he said as he stared out the window, "I'll be looking forward to seeing it. I'm going to get some rest. Commander, you have the bridge."

April got up and walked out of the room.
 

April couldn't sleep. He began working on the log, reports of the voyage and cataloguing its most recent highlights. He didn't think he'd ever see this place again. It was good to be back. The door chime rang.

"Come in," he answered.

Giraud entered the room with a viewboard in hand, "This is the report you wanted, captain. I've reviewed the data the etherians left us. It's interesting to note that from about 1947 to 2094 there have been numerous reported sightings of unidentified aircraft in earth airspace. I cross-referenced them to the data the etherians gave us and there is a correlation."

He took the board from her and set it on the edge of his workstation, "You mean that the etherians were carrying out some sort of operation on earth during the last century?"

"It would appear so, according to these findings."

"Thank you, lieutenant," he said, not sure what to say next, "I'll make sure that you're mentioned in my report to Space Command."

She stood there for a minute.

"Was that all?"

She looked at him, "Captain, I...never really considered the dangers involved in space travel. After all, most of my experience in space has been on space stations and transport vessels. Being stranded on that world really started me thinking."

"Are you concerned about your safety here?"

"Captain, I'd like to think I could make a valuable contribution to this mission. The nature of this assignment is much different from deep space posts or starbases."

April leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes. Space Command never truly prepared their members for that part of service. It was just understood among the servicepeople that there could be a time where you might not come back. This person, standing in front of him, never took part in a battle or a war. How do you make her understand? he thought, "We have to be ready for whatever life gives us, even if it's unpleasant. I choose not to think about it and go on with the mission. This is a truly unique opportunity we've been given. I had my doubts about this mission, but there's a whole world out there that we haven't discovered yet. Think of the possibilities! You do contribute significantly to this mission. I was wrong to think otherwise."

"Thank you, captain," she said. She wasn't taking much comfort in his answer, although it was an exciting mission they'd been assigned, "Did you ever consider an answer to my question about retirement?" she asked.

April thought for a moment, "No, I don't think I plan on retiring," He looked out of his cabin window at the parade of stars whizzing by, "I know I could've retired five years ago, at the end of the war, but this is where I truly belong. I know that, now."

"I think I belong here, too," Giraud agreed, smiling, "Well, I just stopped by to drop off the report."

"I'm sure it will be fascinating reading. I'll look at it tomorrow," April reached out to shake her hand, "Incidentally, welcome to the team."

She smiled, and left. As the door closed he thought about how close he came to her while they were on the planet. It would be nice to have someone to come home to again, he thought. In a small way, he almost was disappointed that he didn't get to live out that simple life with her. He looked down at his reflection in the workstation screen. His uniform showed him who he really was as he looked at his reflection. The gold braid in his captain's insignia and devices on his medals reflected the overhead light. He looked into the face of a warrior, an adventurer, and now an explorer. He held the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and the Space Combat Award. He was proud of all his accomplishments. Maybe there were other reasons why his marriage never worked, he thought, confronting the image in front of him. No, he knew who he was. He would retire in a few more years. Maybe then he'd consider marriage again, then again, maybe not.

THE END

Read more from The Early Years and C.L. Nelson.

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C.L. Nelson The Early Years To Boldly Go, Ch 21-25	On Site 2012.09.17
Follow  Captain Robert April and the early Starfleet crews!

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