Same old, Same old.

A Chapter by Dave Donovan

the war is going badly, major losses across the board have placed the (federation) in peril. enter a new threat.

“I know that look.” Captain George Rex said as Commander Helen Harper approached the centre chair. She had a look of grim determination, almost as if she were gritting her teeth for some reason. “What’s up?” he asked, “bad news?

“Update from Starfleet.” She said simply, holding out the padd in her right hand. Their hands brushed together lightly for a moment, sending a shiver down his spine.

'Stay calm, Rex' he told himself, glancing up at her to see if she noticed the mistake. Good, she didn't seem to react. Panic over. For now. “Definitely bad news, then.” He commented. He focussed his attention on the information a little too much,trying desperately to not let on how he felt. She was watching as he went through the report with a fine toothed comb.

“Six ships lost in the Mutara nebula, huh? Not good.” He said at last.

“It’ll leave that area undefended for quite a while until those ships can be replaced.” Harper explained, taking the seat beside him. She occupied herself with the console to her right, seemingly oblivious to his blunder. That suited Rex fine. He could think of nothing worse than to have two senior officers getting mushy on the bridge of a starship at a time of war.

“Enterprise lost with all hands in a cross fire between the Dominion and the Romulans? How could Picard allow himself to get caught up in such a thing? ” Rex mused.

“Sometimes it's unavoidable. Scuttlebutt has it that he was trying to prevent the Romulans from being coerced into joining the Dominion. Things got a little out of hand, and the two sides ended up destroying both each other and the Enterprise.

Rex nodded, seemingly ignoring her. “Three more ships lost in the delta quadrant. Ten ships in twenty-four hours?”

“The Federation will be hard pressed to replace those losses.” Harper commented, She focussed her attention on the console more closely, as if searching for something or other.

“Yes, especially with the defence of Radiron just around the corner. That’s gonna be hard enough, but tougher now the Enterprise is gone.” Rex pointed out.

Harper remained silent. Rex waited a while before looking across at her, then noticed she was staring at him. “What?” Harper opened her mouth as if to reply, but never got a chance to speak.

“Captain.” Interrupted Lieutenant Raymond 'Sparks' James. “We've a priority one message from starfleet, sir.

“On screen.” Rex ordered, holding a finger up at Harper to make sure that she knew to hold the thought for later. Dutifully, she closed her mouth, nodding. Rex noticed she looked disappointed. Whatever it was, it would have to wait. Starfleet came first, in any order of business.

The main view screen flickered for a moment, then the face of Admiral Hanson came into view. He looked concerned. “Rex,” he said at last, then frowned. “Why is it you never receive my messages in private?”

“I keep no secrets from my crew unless you order me to do so, sir.” Rex replied, his face straight as a die. “I trust them.”

“Well, it's a good thing that we don't have time to worry, then, isn't it? I want you to divert to the Redknapp sector immediately. We have a problem. A top secret base in the nebula has come under attack by an unknown assailant. I want you to investigate. The report came to me by buoy, so you can guess what that means.”

“Hmm. No radio contact.” Rex observed. He hated this type of mission. “OK, sir. We'll begin that one after we've dropped off Dr Soong-Linkard.”

“Better to put the Doctor on hold for the time being, this takes priority. We've got some very sensitive research going on in there, and it must not fall into enemy hands. It's probably nothing, but I just want to be sure. Things sounded pretty grim on the recording. Take every precaution you can, and get me an answer as quickly as possible.” Hanson seemed worried, almost as if he were hurrying to get off the line.

“Any other ships in the area?” Harper cut in, Rex noted the familiarity between the two, but said nothing. He knew she had relations high up in the fleet, but he never realised they were THAT high.

“Eight.” Hanson told her, without even flinching. “The Farragut, Flying Fox, Redoubt, Belfast, London, New York, Excellence and Hood.”

“Great.” Rex mused to Helen. “A cruiser, three escorts and a bunch of amateurs pretending to be Federation specialists.”

“Are you kidding?” mumbled Harper “The Flying Fox, a cruiser?” she half laughed. “That thing is as old as the Mutara Nebula!”

“So is her Captain.” Grinned Rex, just as amused by her quick retort.

“Whatever you think of the Flying Fox, she's at least a backup if things get nasty. Now get on with it, Captain. Hanson out.”

Rex whistled quietly to himself. “He's a bit agitated.”

“Hmm. I've only ever seen him like that once before, and that was when his wife left him.” Harper pointed out.

“Helm, set course for Redknapp. Maximum warp.” Rex ordered, turning to harper for a moment. “Let's get a message to those ships, just in case we need them, number one.” He stabbed at the controls on the arm of his command chair, feeling the seat tilt slightly as he did so. He really hated these new chairs the federation had introduced, they were as uncomfortable as hell.

“All hands, this is the captain. We are diverting to the Redknapp nebula, in response to a distress signal, be ready for anything. Red alert, all hands to battle stations. I want flight crews on the cat in three minutes.” He closed the channel, then glanced over at Helen. “Let’s just hope we’re in time.”

He sat back in his seat, and felt the vibrations of the engines change as the ship began to divert to the new course.

Inside a deep auburn nebula called Redknapp, a blur of light appeared. To an idle observer, it would have seemed as if a rainbow had flown past the stars. The rainbow curved past the dark blanket of space, twisting in it's path before heading towards the Nebula with frightening speed. Coalescing into a huge, almost birdlike hull with wings like outstretched arms supporting the elongated nacelles tipped with red and clothed with blue. The Thunderchild had arrived.

Slowing to almost a crawl, she hung in space amidst the nebula, her grey panelled hull taking on the red hue of the nebula like a cloak of chiffon that barely disguised her lines. Deep within her hull, her crew stood ready to face anything.

“Sensors indicate no sign of any vessels in the vicinity, sir.” Reported Ensign Taylor, his eye never leaving the console he sat at.

“Understood.” Something didn’t feel right about this, Rex decided.

“Where’s the other ships?” asked Harper, putting into words what he himself was thinking.

“Good question.” Rex responded, his mind still taking in every piece of information he could, as he peered at the holographic globe to his left.

“According to our readings, the other ships should have arrived before us, sir.” reported Lieutenant Freeman. He half turned to face Rex. “Although they could have been delayed.” He added after a pause.

“Sparks, see if you can hail them, find out how long they’ll be.” Rex ordered, he hoped they wouldn’t be too long, as the Thunderchild wasn’t really designed for extended combat on her own. After all, she was meant to repair other ships, not to fight them alone. If it came to a fight, she could give as good as she got, but she would be pushed to her limit to deal with more than two or three smaller ships. Anything more than that, and she'd have trouble.

“Sensors are picking up traces of warp signatures in the area, along with nadion particles. There was a fight here, that’s for sure.” Reported Lieutenant commander Jacobs from the rear of the bridge.

“Acknowledged.” Rex concentrated his thoughts. The hackles on the back of his neck pricked up, causing him to flatten them with one hand while he tried desperately to glean anything further from the reports coming in.”Where's the other ships, Sparks?” He asked.

“Can’t raise them, sir. It's almost as if they just disappeared!” ‘Sparks’ said, incredulously.

“Keep trying.” Rex rose from his chair, and stepped up to the holo-globe, folding his arms. “Let's scan the area, I want to know if you find anything. And I mean ANYTHING!”

“I'm picking up a gaseous anomaly on the far edge of the nebula, approximately twenty thousand kilometres across. It is stationary, but expanding, sir.” Freeman said from the ops position. “There is a signal coming from within.”

“On screen.” Odd, Rex thought. Why post a buoy INSIDE a gas cloud? What would be the point? And where had the other ships gone? Eight vessels didn't just disappear that quickly, especially without trace. Something didn't add up here. Big time. “Let’s get over there then, Ensign.” He folded his arms across his chest, using one hand to support his chin as he did so.

He watched the green cloud, now stained a deep brown by the red of the nebula, undulate and pulsate. After the briefest of pauses, it began to grow in size, doubling with every passing second.

As they approached, foreboding overwhelmed Rex, and he began to get the sensation that not everything was as it seemed. He watched as the gas of the cloud became more and more detailed, tendrils appearing as if by magic in the redness, reaching out seemingly to grab at the huge starship before it could escape.

“Closing on the source of the signal now, captain.” Ensign Taylor reported. “Ten thousand meters.” He added.

Rex nodded.

“Let's see it.” He said. The view flickered for a moment, then settled on the image of a small device about the size of a cargo container. It looked a little like it had come straight from a junk yard, festooned with small protuberances that were crazily angled like someone had just thrown it together higgledy-piggledy. It glowed from within with a deep green hue that told of the alien technology that had created it.

“Borg.” Harper noted, examining the image on the repeater screen on her console. “I think it’s some kind of transmitter array. Not very powerful, though. Just enough attract attention. What’s it doing here?” she asked.

“When does anything the Borg do make sense?.” Rex moved closer to the screen, taking in every detail as quickly as he could. There was definitely a mystery here, and he was no closer to solving it than when he had started. “Where was the base in relation to this thing?” He asked, stepping back to his command chair and tapping the controls on the arm. A holographic globe appeared to his left, showing the current position of the ship, the relay and the supposed position of the base. They weren’t that far apart, he noticed.

“Given the position of the base and the proximity of the cloud, I’d say they were within easy reach of Borg weapons.” Harper pointed out.

Rex nodded yet again. “True.” He agreed. “But why would the Borg want to assimilate a staging post the size of Redknapp, when they could go for something much more strategically important elsewhere?”

“Well, the admiral did say they were doing some important research here..” Harper replied, her thoughts far away. “But I’m sure we'll find out.”

Rex stepped down to the second level of the bridge, walking over behind the helmsman. As he drew near, The ship lurched to one side under the impact of something massive. Klaxons sounded and metal groaned as the vessel righted itself.

“Report!” Rex demanded, picking himself up from the floor. “What the hell hit us?”

“Two Borg cubes, abeam of us! They just appeared out of nowhere! They’re firing again!” Another clang rocked the ship. “Shields came up automatically just in time to prevent major damage, but they’re now at thirty five percent and holding. Cycling shield generators.” Reported Ensign Salver at the tactical post, his voice just about carrying over the din.

“Return fire, target their main power relays!” Rex watched as the lances of phaser energy stabbed at the Borg vessels, causing little to no damage. A lance of green fire erupted towards the Thunderchild, and another smashing clang rocked her from side to side.

“Another cube, it’s just emerged from the anomaly!” Harpers' voice was almost a shout as she reported the event. “It’s firing!” Another clang buffeted the ship. “No damage to shields, secondary scarring to primary hull.”

“Fire quantum torpedoes! Full spread!” Rex braced himself for yet another smash as the third vessel approach them through the void. Bright blue sparkling orbs sped toward the new enemy, closing rapidly with it as if guided by some unseen force. They smashed their way into the cube, rending parts of it with immense force. Secondary explosions ripped into the already crippled vessel, leaving it floundering.

“They’re disabled, sir.” Explained Ensign Salver, switching targets automatically.

“Second spread on the other two; let’s get rid of them asap.” Rex commanded, itching to get into the fight himself. He wanted to do things for himself, being in command wasn’t enough sometimes.

More points of light spun towards the two remaining cubes, smashing into them and starting fires almost everywhere. One of the cubes - still alight - swung around and came at them from the left side, the other continued to attack from the right.

“Split fire, torpedoes and phasers!” Rex ordered, barely able to contain the excitement in his voice.

He could feel the excitement of battle rise in his blood, sending a thrill up his spine as he watched the fight unfold on the screen. More and more torpedoes flayed towards the cubes, followed by lances of light that stabbed at the enemies like swords of energy that punched even more holes in their hulls as if they were made of Papier Mache. One exploded into a massive fireball, spreading debris and junk across the shields of the Thunderchild. The other pressed forwards, charging headlong into the massive starship in an insane attempt to ram it.

“Sound collision!” Rex barked, watching the view screen intently. He gripped the back of the helm seat as he spoke, expecting to feel the smash of the two hulls coming together at any point. It seemed as if time froze for a second, and he could feel himself moving in slow motion as he began turn to face Harper. His one thought at that moment was to see that she was OK

A sudden smashing sensation threw him to the ground as the ship lurched beneath him.

Metal scraped across metal as the two vessels collided, sending debris spinning off as the two hulls twisted and bent into each other. The cube dug a great gouge into the underside of the saucer, rending apart whole decks and ripping plates off of the body. Tearing almost a complete section from the saucer, the cube continued to embed itself into the ship, exposing more and more rooms to the vacuum of space. Eventually coming to rest, trapped not only into the saucer, but tightly into the secondary hull as well, leaving a massive rip in the engineering section. As it came to rest, part of the cube impacted with the deflector dish at the front of the hull, knocking it gently from it's moorings before it settled back into position once more.

Explosions rocked the bridge, sending smoke and debris flying high across the room. Rex could hear muffled screams and yells from the crew as they pulled themselves together and responded as quickly as they could to the fires that now spread out of control all over the room.

Picking himself up from the floor near the helm, Rex found he was looking at blood. Dazed, he touched his head. His hand ran through something wet and warm on his forehead, and he knew he was bleeding. Unperturbed, he got to his feet. Almost slipping again, he soon realized that the bridge itself was at fault. The ship was leaning to the left, listing badly to port. Almost as if the sheer weight of the Borg cube was pulling them over.

“Damage report!” He heard his own voice but it seemed as if it came from someone else, as his ears were ringing so badly that he could hardly understand what he was saying.

“They collided with us!” Lieutenant Freeman shouted above the noise of rending metal as the two vessels settled into their new attitude. Fear took hold of him and he began to shake violently.

“Snap out of it, crewman!” Rex barked, watching for a moment to see if the Lieutenant got himself under control.

“Y-yes, sir.” Freeman got back to work quickly. The last thing he needed was Captain Rex on his back!

“Well, who’s gonna give me a damn report? Or do I have to do it myself?” The demand did not fall on deaf ears, soon reports were coming from all over the ship, as the crew re-awoke and began to get on with the task of clearing up the wreckage.

“We have hull penetration on decks 27 through 36, and 74 through 81, with minor damage to the navigational deflector. Also, we have reports of temperature rises on decks twenty seven and thirty one.” Harper reported, seeming dazed as she read off the reports.

“Engineering, status?” Rex demanded. A long pause followed. Rex and harper exchanged a glance, Rex raising an eyebrow at her. “Engineering? Do you read?” Rex barked once more. A shaky voice came through the comms link, a little frightened and overawed.

“S-sir? This is Ensign Beatty, s-sir.” He gulped. “We’re pretty banged up at the moment. Not too sure about the rest of the ship, but we’re holed in two places at once here.”

“Hmm.” Rex thought for a moment. “Where’s Commander Telkus, son?” Rex’ voice took on a calmer, kinder tone. No need to panic the kid further, he thought.

“D-dead, sir. He was killed when his console exploded.” Beatty gulped again. “We need some help down here, sir. M-medical aid as fast as you can, we’ve got wounded all over the place.”

Rex flicked his fingers at Harper to get that done, then said: “On the way, son. Now, is there anyone of a higher rank with you?” He was hoping that he wouldn’t have to rely on a fresh-faced youngster to do all the work.

“N-no. They’re all dead. There’s a big hole here...” Beatty’s voice trailed off at that moment, as if he were lost in thought.

“Stay with me, Ensign.” Rex reassured him. “You’re in charge of engineering now. Understand? I need you to help me as much as you can for as long as you can. Do you hear me?” Silence pervaded the bridge speakers, covered only by the general murmuring of the crew doing their bit to run the ship as best they could under the circumstances. Rex ran out of patience. “Do-you-hear-me, Ensign?” He repeated.

“Aye, aye, sir. From now on, I’m in charge here. Yes, sir.” Rex could almost see the poor lad standing to attention down there. Still, whatever works, he thought.

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