Drifting Starbase

The massive two and half kilometer wide Starbase full of over 2000 Starfleet officers and almost 10,000 crewmen continued to slowly drift, but accelerate toward the Azimuth Horizon. Lieutenant Commander Grok was furiously entering commands to try to regain access to thruster controls.

"USS Aurora, report," Fleet Captain Samji said.

"The Starbase continues it's trajectory," came the response, "and has accelerated to 150% of our previous speed, Fleet Captain."

"Damn!" the Captain shouted. "Computer, isolate all command and operational functions to Ops, authorization Samji-Epsilon-Blue-Four-Three-Six."

"That function is not available," came the voice of the computer, simply.

The wrinkled, weathered face of Lieutenant Commander Sangliar poked his head from under a console and said, "Sir, the diagnostic loop is shutting us out of all command systems, there's no way around it... at least not manually. I am attempting to break the diagnostic loop by simulating damage to the station's life support. The safety lockouts in place should halt all diagnostic routines so that the imagined damage can be fixed."

"How long?" Samji commanded simply.

"Thirty minutes, twenty if I'm lucky," the Tellarite responded gruffly.

"Very well, carry on. Any ideas people?"

"We could destroy the thrusters," Lieutenant Commander Ssta'elia said.

"Hmph, typical for a Tactical officer, to always resort to destroying things," responded Lieutenant John Vanhook, the oldest and arguably the least violent person in the room, excepting possibly Dr. Hugh Michaels. His diplomatic role suited him well. "That won't stop us anyway."

"No, but it will keep us from accelerating and buy us more time to regain control. We don't need the thrusters on that side right now anyway and we will still retain the ones to move us away from the Anomaly."

"Steamrunner this is Fleet Captain Samji. I need you to target and destroy our thrusters on the opposite side from the Anomaly only."

"Roger, Fleet Captain," came the voice of the Steamrunner Captain. "You'll need to lower your shields."

"No can do, Steamrunner. We've lost control of our systems. You'll have to poke a hole," responded Samji.

"He's kidding, right?" the Tactical officer on the Steamrunner bridge said, with a sigh. "With the shields that behemoth holds, that will take hours."

"Uhh, Fleet Captain, I don't think we have the time for that. You'll have to find a way to lower them."

Allen Samji swore under his breath. "Very well, Steamrunner, stand by."

"Maybe we should focus on regaining control of our power systems first," suggested the Trill science officer. "Without power, our shields will be gone and the thrusters will cease. The Steamrunner can them damage them so that with power back on, they won't restart."

"Very good suggestion Mister Rexil," Samji said. "Lieutenant Commander Ssta'elia take Lieutenant Mandella and escort Mister Sangliar." Nodding to the Tellarite he said, "See if you can't shut down all power systems manually except for Life Support and Weapons."

While they were speaking, a Neurologist, Lieutenant Shian Andres had entered and was consulting with Dr. Michaels. "Belay that!" shouted Michaels, earning a cold stare from Samji. "Sorry Sir, but there may be a medical reason not to send Mister Mandella."

"May I send Ssta'elia and Sangliar?" he asked.

"Yes, Sir," the Doctor responded.

"Is there anyone I can send to accompany them?"

Dr. Michaels punched a query into the nearby console selecting all Security officers on the base grouped by species. "No, Sir," he shook his head, woefully.

So with a nod from Samji, Ssta'elia and Sangliar made their way to Lower Engineering on Deck 256. "Lieutenant Junior Grade John Mandella to Operations," Samji then said over his combadge, so that he would have a Tactical and Security
officer on hand.

"Now Doctor, would you mind telling me why I just sent two of my senior officers without an additional security escort down to an area that may be crawling with saboteurs?"

Dr. Shian Andres answered instead. "Because, Sir... Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, and Saurians are the only known races immune to the infection those very saboteurs contain."

Just then a tall man in a yellow uniform walked in. He stood at attention before Samji, who noticed an ever so slight point to his ears hinting at Vulcanoid ancestry. "Lieutenant Junior Grade John Mandella reporting for duty, Sir," said the man, just before Samji could ask Doctor Andres what the hell he meant by "infection".

"Thank you Mister Mandella," replied Samji. "Just a moment, however... you'll probably want to listen to this. Please elaborate, Doctor."

Dr. Andres cleared his throat. "Well, Sir. We had been doing some studies on the Horizon's Children that were captured on the Artemis several months ago. We were trying to define a medical or psychological virus or disorder that may have led to this kind of behavior in Starfleet Officers."

Dr. Michaels then spoke. "We had a theory, but we only had six people, which wasn't enough of a sample to thoroughly define the cause. However, we've recently had a large influx of new patients to study in the last day or so, and we believe we've come to a conclusion. Doctor?"

Being given the chance to present the findings to Samji, Shian eagerly jumped in. "What we've found in many of the patients is a strange neural reading in the High Beta wave signature. Normally, that's a sign of psychological distress, but these patients were otherwise normal. This alteration is actually caused by a foreign energy signature present in their entire body. Small bursts of energy, when near the brain are causing the High Beta wave to be malformed. It is like an incorporeal virus, Sir."

"Why are the four species you mentioned immune?" Samji asked.

"Well, Sir, the effect is only present when the brain is in the High Beta wave state, which only occurs during intense mental activity. The species I mentioned tend to be more logical, practical, and less quick to anger or be emotional. While analyzing data or forming a conclusion, their mental state is in that range, but only for a very short time. When not being called on for those very specific, short tasks, those species tend to move to the Low Beta or even Alpha wave state where the infection has no effect. To be clear, Sir," added Dr. Andres, "they are infected. However the infection causes no symptoms in them."

Dr. Michaels added, "Strong emotional states tend to elicit heavy Beta wave activity when the brain would otherwise be less active. Humans, Bajorans, Betazoids, Klingons, Rethians... especially Deltans are therefore at greater risk."

"Where did this thing start?" asked Samji.

"Well, we're not certain," answered Dr. Michaels, "but since it clearly originated on the Artemis, we think it came from the Universe on the other side of the Azimuth Horizon."

"Of course it does."

Dr. Andres added, "This is supported by the fact that the only other lifeforms encountered from there are incorporeal. Sir, it also seems to be highly contagious. We recommend that anyone who was in continuous contact with the Artemis crew or anyone in contact with those people, and on down the line, be examined, and if infected, confined behind a forcefield, if they're not one of the immune species, and those that are immune should limit contact with others. From the Spectre mission, we've learned that these incorporeal beings had to be behind a forcefield with a continuously modulating frequency, so the same would apply to the virus."

"That would include me then," Samji said, referencing his meeting with Kheren.

"Sir, we already scanned you and you're clean. It must not have been consistent enough contact."

"So there is an easy way to scan for these things?"

"Oh yes, we can distribute the specs to the ship Engineers to have them modify their medical tricorders," said Andres.

"And inform the Doctors of our findings," added Michaels.

"Good, please do so," Samji replied, and the doctors moved off to get that information out.

Samji then turned his attention to the Tactical / Security officer.

"Now, Mister Mandella. Your chief is currently busy trying to regain our control of this station. Now that we have the means to scan for infected cultists, I need you to put together a team to route them out and secure them behind the forcefields. You'll need to look beyond your officers to crewmembers of Vulcan, Tellarite, Andorian, or Saurian species for this job, and you personally will need to stay away from anybody infected you find, as I doubt being a quarter Vulcan will be sufficient."

"Aye, sir. Understood! I'll gather and disperse them." Exclaimed Mandella as he saluted Samji. He turned away with a sharp movement and tapped his combadge. "Attention all Security Personnel: All crewmembers of Vulcan, Tellarite, Andorian and Saurian ancestry report to Deck 7 Conference Room 7 ASAP." Mandella hastily walked towards the turbolift with long strides. "Deck 7," He said as he entered.

The conference room was already swelling with crewmembers as he approached. He barked from the hall to the increasingly growing crew, "Anyone with less then three quarters of said species standby in Conference Room 6, you will be the Support Team. The rest of you file into Room 7." Mandella walked to the head of Conference Room 7 as it filled with crew members. "You're being tasked with locating, reporting and confining any infected cultists you find by way of full sweeps of all areas. Direct any other personnel to designated safe areas throughout the station. You will confine any found infected cultists by way of sectionary bulkhead force fields of modulating frequency. Report to Engineering for modified tricorders for detection of infected cultists. Crewman Leaders, divide into squads and relay your organizational information once you report to Engineering. Dismissed!"

Mandella proceeded to instruct the crew members of the Support Team in Room 6 of similar activities, though they would be following after the main sweep and maintaining the force fields and reporting additional information.

Meanwhile, Lieutenant Jorga was beginning to regain consciousness in Auxiliary Control, after taking a console explosion to the face. He had plasma burns all over his body and winced in pain as he moved his hand to his combadge. His thick Tellarite skin was the only thing that has saved his life, but he was still in bad shape. "Jorga to... Samji. Need, medical assistance... Children..." he got out before passing out again.

Hearing this, Samji immediately alerted the medical team and told them to send officers of just the four known immune species. He also put a call in to Mandella. "Lieutenant, I recommend you search in the vicinity of Jorga first in Auxiliary Control, and please perform an investigation on the console that exploded to see if that will help you narrow down the saboteur."

“Understood, I’ll have a detachment en route.” Mandella replied to Samji’s report from his combadge. Alpha and Beta teams had just arrived at Engineering for modified tricorders. Mandella was monitoring the teams from a console in the conference room until they had started sweeps and he could return to Ops.

“Mandella to all units in Alpha Team, I need a detachment en route to Lieutenant Jorga’s location in Auxiliary Control.”
“Aye sir, this is Squad Alpha 2, we’re en route, ETA: 5.” Reported Master Chief Petty Officer Romero, leader of an Alpha detachment squad of five crew.

The team collected modified tricorders from Engineering staff and were en route to Auxiliary Control. They arrived down the corridor from Auxiliary Control and proceeded in squad formation. They cleared the hallway and were at the entry door to Auxiliary Control. The door did not open automatically. Romero pried the doors open as two other members reared their rifles through the door frame to clear the area. They could spot the exploded console and Jorga on the ground nearby.

“Romero from Squad Alpha 2 to Mandella, we are at location. No hostiles detected. Securing area.”

“Good, keep me informed.” Mandella replied as he exited the conference room and made his way to Ops. “Mandella to Samji, a squad is at Jorga’s location, they’re securing the area. Will advise.”

The squad entered through the doorway.

There was phaser fire from the right, near the exploded console and Jorga. The Children had made their way in. The squad barely avoided the fire as the door jam above them heated with energy. The Children’s phasers were at full power.

“Ambush!” Yelled Romero as he and the team leapt for cover in the room. Whatever cover there was it wasn’t enough. The squad was down to three from five and they couldn’t tell how many Children there were.

“Romero to Mandella, we’ve been ambushed in Auxiliary Control! Requesting ba-aaaccc-kk-rrrrrrrrrrrr *static*”

“Mandella to Romero! Do you copy? Mandella to Romero!”

Mandella had just arrived in Ops and was operating a console while briefing the staff that the teams had been sent out when he received the transmission.

Samji heard the static through the comm system and looked at Grok for an answer. He had already began checking the systems and responded before Samji could order him to investigate.

"Sir," Ensign Grok replied, "it looks like a jamming signal was put up around Main Engineering and the Computer Core."

He frowned and tapped his combadge "Samji to Ssta'elia." The same static was heard.

"This is not good. Our systems and Engineering is compromised and we have no way of contacting those who are trying to get it back. I guess we'll just have to hope they get the job done. Sorry Mister Mandella, we'll just have to wait and see."

Romero and two other members were hunched behind various consoles and crates as they tried to report what was happening but nothing was getting out.

“Screw this, on ‘Three’ we counterattack, got it?” Romero ordered the remainder of this squad. They each nodded reluctantly. The phaser fire had temporarily ceased, either the Children were scared off or they were posed for a full frontal assault as soon as the squad poked their heads up. Either way, this was the time for action.

“One...”

“Two...”

“Th-...” His last count was cut short as a photon grenade was detonated near the remainder of his squad.

Hearing this grenade a couple decks up, Ssta'elia turned back toward Sangliar who had been working on taking down most of the power systems. "How much longer?" she hissed.

"I almost have it," he grunted. "I just need to reroute a few more EPS conduits to cycle the majority of the base's systems into a recursive shut down program and then secure it so it can't be undone. Five minutes tops."

The Saurian Tactical and Security officer let the Tellarite's jargon go in one tiny ear and out the other until he said, "five minutes," at which point she said, "Good, as soon as you're done get back to Ops ASAP. Sounds like someone needs my help."

She lithely sprinted down the hall to the nearest Jeffrey's tube -- she didn't want to be caught in a turbolift when Sangliar took the systems down -- and deftly made her way up three decks and then in the direction where she heard the noise. Finding the nearest access hatch, she opened it slowly, and looked through to see a cloud of smoke and several of her fellow Security officers laying dead or injured on the ground. One remaining person, who she recognized as Romero, was coughing and heaving to clear his lungs of the smoke, but otherwise seemed to be unhurt. Despite his name, he was three-quarters Vulcan... otherwise she'd be concerned of the allegiances of the one man who had survived the massacre of his team.

"Romero!" she hissed, directing her voice such to get his attention without alerting the Children to the fact that anyone had survived. "I'm going in... cover me!"

The man nodded. Using her lizard-like agility, she braced herself against the back wall of the tube and came plummeting out like a torpedo. In mid-air, she turned and saw two surprised men, one a Bolian and the other a Human, who tried to draw their phasers, but were cut down with two expert shots from the Saurian before they even were able to take aim. While recovering and attempting to stand, a third person drew her phaser in time to get a shot off and struck Ssta'elia in the shoulder with a glancing blast before a full stun shot from Romero leveled her. Advancing into the room, Ssta'elia turned to thank Romero for the assist when a fourth attacker who had been hiding the whole time came up from behind a workstation and fired a shot directly into her back. Her already wide eyes filled with shock as she collapsed into Romero's left arm. At the same time, he used his right to finish off the final attacker and laid his commanding officer on the ground in front of him.

"Medical emergency!" he said firmly into his combadge, but it was unnecessary. A medical team was already on their way in to care for Jorga and the rest of the wounded.

He turned and without any show of emotion at what he had just experienced, simply exited the room in order to make his way back to Ops to report in to Mandella.

As he did so, all the lighting powered down around him and a low, red lighting appeared to replace them. It was clear Sangliar had accomplished one of their tasks, but there were still likely to be more Children to round up before the day was through.

In Ops, Samji said, "Looks like Sangliar got the job done. Grok, let me know when communications are back online."

Romero arrived in Ops and went straight to his superior to report in his unemotional, but distinctly human-like way of speaking that he picked up from his father and grandfather. "Sir, we managed to route out what should be the last of the Horizon's Children members. There was an insane firefight, Sir. They even used grenades. Our team took a fair amount of casualties in the process. Four dead, two injured. I take full responsibility. Lieutenant Commander Ssta'elia arrived to help me and was also injured in the process. It appears that she's going to be alright, but will be in sickbay for a few days, I reckon."

"Looks like you're our new Chief Tactical and Security Officer, Mister Mandella," Samji chimed in.

Before he could respond, Grok said, "Sir, communications online." Samji began to say "Put us..." but Grok was already ahead of him. "I put us through to the Steamrunner, Sir."

Samji shook his head in amusement at the Ferengi's prophetic impetus and said, "Steamrunner, this is Samji. Please come in."

"Steamrunner here."

"Shields are down. Please commence firing on our thrusters... just the ones opposite the Anomaly," he reminded them.

"Very well, Sir, ETA three minutes." The communication ended and the ship began to move into position.

"Samji to all hands on deck 260, sections three and four. Please clear all outer ring areas and remain at least one bulkhead away from the outside edge of the Starbase. You have three minutes to clear the area."

"Commander Schmidt, please take Ops and commence the operation. I will be reporting in to Rear Admiral Kotari about our progress."

Momentarily after Samji left, Grok said, "Commander we have a message from the Alsea. They want us to let the Fleet Captain know that their primary warp core sustained damage and they're limited to warp nine."

"Acknowledge our receipt of the message," she said, and to herself said, "That will slow down the containment operation significantly."

"Starbase 10, this is Steamrunner. Ready to begin firing."

'Mister Rexil, monitor the area for hull destabilization. Also keep an eye on life support." She tapped her combadge. "Dr. Michaels, be ready to receive casualties. There shouldn't be any because we cleared the area, but better to be prepared. Yellow alert! Acknowledged, Steamrunner. Begin."

As the Steamrunner fired targeted phaser blasts at each thruster along the edge of deck 260, the officers in Ops could hear the faint explosions. They were no bigger than a typical photon grenade, like the one that went off in the computer core recently. However, Kletan Rexil said, "Commander, hull destabilization detected near the third thruster."

"Seal it off."

"Aye, Sir," he responded and erected a forcefield just before the explosive decompression occurred forcing all the air and loose items in the adjoining maintenance area out into space. As ordered everyone had evacuated the area, so there were no casualties.

The remaining thrusters were knocked out without incident.

"Operation complete, Commander," the Steamrunner reported. "Your acceleration toward the Azimuth Horizon has ceased, but of course, you will still have to find a way to halt your current velocity."

"Thank you Steamrunner, we'll let you know if we need anything further," Schmidt replied. By then Sangliar had returned to Ops. "Mister Sangliar, how long to get our propulsion back online."

"The cultists really locked down which ones were firing and messed up the other ones so we couldn't slow down. It will take at least a day for a full reconfiguration."

"We can't wait that long, ma'am," reported Grok. 'With the projected spread of the Anomaly, we'll be within range of its outermost tendrils in thirty hours."

"But will that make a difference?" asked Schmidt. "The Anomaly is spreading faster than this Starbase can move anyway."

"Yes, but we certainly don't need to be moving closer at any rate," Grok replied. "If we can somehow stop our momentum now, that gives us all the more time to move away once Mister Sangliar has repaired the thrusters, and even though we wouldn't inevitably be able to escape, it gives our ships that much more time to complete the Operation."

"Very well. Bottom line is we need to stop our progress now if we can," Commander Schmidt said. "Any ideas?"

Mandella shrugged off the news of his sudden and grim promotion and focused on more pressing matters: stopping the drift of the Starbase. He paced and mumbled to himself with expressions of brilliance and then disappointment. Ideas were dissected and then refused, until the last one.

“Sir, I think I may have an idea...”

“If we can’t stop the drift of the Starbase from onboard, perhaps we can overboard. Anyone ever surfed? ...If we can generate a large enough wave of energy between us and the anomaly we can at least soften our drift, if not gain some backwards thrust. If, of course, we can survive the push. We’ll have to increase structural integrity and anomaly-facing shields, but I think it may work if we can afford the ordinances... and provided we’re clear to use certain, rather ‘dangerous’, means.”

The aging but still beautiful Commander twirled a lock of her auburn hair as she thought. She was no science officer... heck, barely even qualified for deep-space missions, she mused. Her previous missions had all been from behind the desk. Just like her superior who was presently reporting in to Rear Admiral Kotari, she had rose through the ranks as Administrator and had been called to Starbase 10 just like many of the other senior officers in the room to supplement the base that had been quite destructively cleared of staff by the Borg War. She had not expected to be put in a position to make on-the-spot decisions, but rather to fulfill an administrative role, managing the staff.

She turned to the Joined Trill science officer for support, and her expression was enough to cause him to jump in to provide his analysis of the plan presented.

"One of my previous hosts," Rexil started off thoughtfully, "was a pilot, with experience riding shockwaves. This is the same concept, just on a much larger scale. I think it could help. We won't be able to put the shockwave directly in our trajectory; any surfer knows you can't surf perpendicular to the wave, or the board would just cut right through. It would have to be a series of waves, the first one almost propelling us further toward the Anomaly, but then gradually moving around the base until it begins to send us in at least a ninety-degree trajectory from our current course; just like when the surfer rides the wave down the beach but then eventually it will move to shore and cause him to either follow it along or ditch off in order to pick up the next one."

Commander Schmidt tried to wrap her head around the concept, but trusted in her officers to do what was best. "Very well, she nodded. You two work together to come up with something both tactically and scientifically sound and get it ready for the Fleet Captain. Sangliar, can we get those shields back online? We wouldn't want to attempt this without them!"

"Yes, Sir... twenty minutes at most," he reassured her.

"Right, get to it," she said and the officers quickly went about their duties. She hoped the Fleet Captain would be done soon in order to give the final approval of this radical plan.

Although Mandella’s focus was Tactical, his heritage and personal path led him through many scientific studies. He was a practical, applicable man and sought out any area of study that could be applied to his career, often resulting in new ideas and strategies. He turned his attention to Rexil.

“I’m no scientist... but wouldn’t a more segmented radial pattern initiating from between the Starbase and the Anomaly in succession around the outer circumference of the Starbase produce a more desired backward directed thrust? You are correct, however, that the first wave set off between the two bodies would not affect the Starbase’s forward trajectory much but the successive blasts, starting at that location, would create a more stable, directed energy wave pattern away from the Anomaly, in my opinion... but I’m no scientist.”

"I'll defer to your... surfing expertise, Lieutenant," Rexil responded. "Just tell me where to reinforce the shields and you can handle the explosions, being the Tactical officer after all."