Crossing the boundary

Captain's log

Stardate: 88299.2

We are about to cross the boundary between our universe and the pocket universe that lies beyond the Azimuth Horizon wormhole. The Romulan task group left us several minutes ago, under escort by the USS Pittsburgh, the USS Wisconsin and the USS Spectre. Captain Summers of the Spectre assured us that our Imperial friends would be politely but firmly showed the way home.

Since the anomaly was reconfigured with Operation Horizon into a cosmic fueling generator to stabilize the wormhole within it, crossing the area should be much easier and safer than it originally was when it ran like wildfire accross the cosmos. However, no starship yet has been authorized to attempt the crossing and data from previous probe launches were difficult to decipher due to the chaotic nature of the phenomenon.

We are going in. Into what, we will soon find out.

"Steady as she goes, Mister Snow."

"Aye, Captain."

On the wide screen before them, the sparkling distant stars started to blur and waver as if they were plunging into some still pond, creating ripples in the water that moved away in concentric waves. Then, those ripples started to glow a soft, diffuse orange color then suddenly blazed into fiery gold that swirled around them like a whirlpool of molten metal. Violent crackling of blinding white streaks of lightning crisscrossed everything around them as they plunged into that tunneling inferno, right toward some intense point of white light.

Kheren for one had never been into the Bajoran wormhole; but from the records he had seen of it, it looked much like it, save for the colors and whitish center. He however had been with his original USS Artemis crew within the Azimuth Horizon anomaly more than anyone else; he instantly recognized the golden-orange maelstrom of fire and lightning now engulfing them, even recognizing the distant specks of darkness floating within the waves of plasma; huge masses of neutronium, capable of crushing even his titanic starship like an egg if they came too close.

That, and the slight feeling of nausea that made his skin turn a shade paler and his antennae to reflexively shrink halway into his throbbing skull.

"You feel alright,Captain?"

The Andorian heard his Human yeoman as if through a helmet and, when he looked at her, she was almost deprived of any color; the consequence of his antennae retracting, a peculiar feature of his mutation that now proved more annoying than debilitating. He was glad that Redding was right there to take over if it became any worse.

He could see that Lyrya and Tyvya were also frowning , paler than usual and there own antennae flattening in discomfort each side of their thick white hair. But even as Andorians, they were holding up better than he was, although the blind eyes of the Aenar were whiter than usual; probably due to her neurogenic sensitivity overwhelmed by the electromagnetic havoc of their surrounding.

Glancing around to the main science station, he could see that Ke'Leysha was also greyer of skin and frowning as if feeling a slight headache. She was as powerful a telepath as his wife Lyrya; she was also feeling the effect of the anomaly's nearness. It would be like this for every psionic endowed crewmember aboard like Vulcans and Betazoids, more or less annoying depending on their individual sensitivity. The Horizon had one of the largest contingents of Andorians in Starfleet and as diverse a crew as the famous USS Titan of captain William T. Riker; still, a large part of it was Human, as was usual since the creation of Starfleet. As for the other species present, they would not be affected any more than Terrans would be.

"I can manage, Yeoman, thank you," he answered after a moment. " It had been much much worse than that the last time."

The last time, he had flown the saucer section of the Artemis right into the firestorm now surrounding them... and almost burned with it. Despite the discomfort, this now felt like a quiet cruise to him in comparison.

"How fare our ships and crews?" he then asked with an informal tone.

The engineer spun around in his seat, letting himself make a few rotations before speaking.

"Engineering has completed the Matter/Antimatter shutdown. Had a few plasma burns on some ensigns who had not read the system shutdown instructions I had sent them. I've made sure to log disciplinary actions into their files. We cannot afford to lose even one officer to foolishness. Besides that, impulse is functioning at what I believe to be 102% efficiency. Mr Baoule is monitoring their outputs from Engineering itself and I have Mrs Blakely working the repair teams. Our ship does not seem to fully approve of our location...." He glanced at the Governor and finished his thought. "I hope the planets are more hospitable."

That's when he realized the Bajoran woman had left the bridge, probably before they entered the wormhole. So did Kheren.

"Lieutenant Lyrya, where is the Governor? I thought the sight of the Azimuth Horizon would have been for her... well... inspiring?"

"An hour ago, she requested the use of the observation deck for her and her people. She asked for the presence of the Prophet... I mean, Commander Sisko."

Kheren turned to his Ops officer.

"They're all down there?"

"Yes, Captain," confirmed the Edoan. "Fortunately, our observation deck is just large enough for almost the three thousands of them; a hundred of their... most faithfuls... are packed above them with Governor Sufra in the Lighthouse, our main lounge."

"Well... at least we know where they are and what they are doing," grumbled the Andorian.

There was a short moment of silence.

"What are they doing exactly?"

"Praying, Sir," answered the Aenar at his left.

"Sisko is with them?"

"Negative, Sir. Neither in person nor in holographic form."

Kheren just looked blankly at the swirling inferno around the bright light they were flying into, again silent and pensive.

Aron'Son reacted to the news that the cultists were all in one place not with alarm as a human might, but with a tone of voice that might  have sounded like measured irritation. 

"Captain, request permission to move additional personnel including the MACO unit to the observation deck...I do not trust them." 

As Jem'Hadar did not get nervous Aron'Son's request was both strategic and at the same time cautious as he realized that having so many beings whose organization had a known history of dangerously unpredictable action in one place was not a good thing. 

Kheren was tempted for a moment to simply agree. of all people, he certainly had all the best reasons to not trust them either. Even beyond his natural and cultural Andorian bias towards pragmatism, religious thinking was so foreign to him that he had a hard time understanding such people, even less predict their behavior... unless he considered them as violent, passionate Andorians in the grip of one of their legendary emotional conflagration; and that made him definitely uncomfortable.

But then, one look at his chief science officer brought him back to their heated argument before they had started this journey. Everyone else in the galaxy was not Andorian... and everyone else was not the same as everyone else, even when sharing ideas and values. That was the very essence of the United Federation of Planets. The son did not share in the crimes of his father.

" Move security as you see best to ensure everyone's safety, Lieutenant, especially their safety; that is our duty after all. But keep the MACO in reserve. If they planned anything, it would come from another angle than such an obvious lure, all of them being in one non-vital location where they can be so easily dealt with. And, until proven otherwise, they are unarmed citizens we are helping achieve their dream of a peaceful life on their own world. So, smile... just do not blink."

"Aye Sir" Aron'Son replied before tapping his combadge

"Aron'Son to Celes"

"Send it Sir."

"Lieutenant, what is Commander Sisko's status?"

"It's funny you should ask Sir, he hasn't moved, but the colonists are gone."

"Yes, I know they are praying in observation." 

"Ah, well..the Commander is still here at any rate." 

"What about the team I sent to reinforce you?"

"They followed the colonists Sir."

"Good, maintain your position, Aron'Son out." He then tapped the badge a second time "Aron'Son to Ensign Kyle."

"Kyle here."

"Take two full teams to observation. We need to reinforce the team down there immediately, all of the colonists are there, we need to ensure nothing happens to them or by their hand."

"Understood Sir, Kyle out."

Aron'Son nodded in approval, he was pleased with the reactions of his subordinates, they were well trained.

S'Tan stretched his back as he overheard all the conversations that were ongoing on the bridge. Most of them were unimportant to him at this point and time. In his tactical estimation, the cultists wouldn't try anything until they had found a stable planet to colonize. That was still hours...days...away. But they could still pose a risk to his people, whom were still scattered around the ship monitoring the Anom-pulse engines, as he started calling them. With the ship being on minimal power he had diverted the sensors to track the cultists, not the electrical systems of the ship. 

"I'll divert some auxiliary power to force fields on that deck, as needed, Aron'Son. Create a corridor for the cultists to move to-and-from without being allowed to sneak away."

Kheren didn't openly react but if his rigid face had allowed a smile, one would have strectched his lips at that moment. His bridge officers were alert and innovative, taking proper initiatives within and between their departments to ensure the proper workings of the ship, the safety of all and the success of the mission. Be they new or old to the crew, they all acted efficiently and together facing whtever may come as if they had been crewmates for years already.

That is Starfleet for you, Captain Sir, he thought not without pride in the people he was with.

For a moment, this brought him back to his first command, his first mission in the center seat of the late, great USS Artemis. The feeling he had felt then, of being at the right place at the right time with the right people doing the right thing, rushed back to him and threw his antennae straight up and forward.

With renewed hope and excitement, he stared at the unknown stars calling to them.

Aboard the Polaris Oseno waited patiently for his chief engineer to inform him their core shutdown was complete. 

"Time to event horizon?" he asked Lieutenant Palos

Before he could respond the ship's intercom chimed

"Engineering to bridge, core shutdown complete, impulse engine operating at 100% efficiency."

"Understood, bridge out." Oseno replied before addressing Shawn Hunter "steady as she goes Mister Hunter, stay in formation."

"Aye Sir."

"Mister Palos, inform the Horizon our core shutdown is complete and we are prepared to cross the threshold."

"Aye Captain." 

The report was received by a frowning Lyrya at the comm station of her medical command chair.

"Polaris is still with us, Captain, steady as she goes and on course."

"Acknowledge and send my compliments to Commander Oseno."

Kheren had the same frown on his dark indigo face. Even more than his wife, he felt a dull, throbbing ache at the base of his antennae and between his facial eyes. And then, he felt a sharp sting in his neck. Turning around with a hand at the base of his skull, he found Doctor Nasaro-Myth adjusting a new hypospray cartridge to an injector sporting a long thin needle.

"This will dull your receptors and ease the pain, Captain Sir. You should feel nothing in a moment."

"Indeed, Doc; the stabbing pain of this dagger of yours is enough to surpass any other ache of my entire body."

The Deltan was smiling broadly and winked.

"A necessary evil, my dear captain; a standard hypospray can not penetrate that thick chitinous skin of yours. Now your turn, my dear, if you please."

With Tyvya and Kheren already rubbing their neck, Lyrya sighed in resignation and pulled aside her thick white mane to allow the injection.

The door to the bridge opened with a swoosh and Commander Riker stepped through rubbing his forearm and making a fist.  Walking up to the commander Master Chief Eddington approached and pointed at the arm.

"How is the arm sir?"

Continuing to rub his forearm and clench and relax a fist, Commander Riker just shook his head slightly

"A little stiff, but it will be fine.  Anything to report?" While he would never admit it the pain and stiffness from the recently healed bone was still bothering him, but nothing that would affect performance.

With that simple question and nod Eddington handed Riker the PADD he had been working on and with a glance Riker handed it back to him.  

"Very good Master Chief, as you were"

Eddington nodded and returned back to his post continuing to monitor crew assignments.

Kalynda Hunter, standing by the science console on the bridge of the Phoenix, suddenly began to feel a bit queasy and disoriented. With her hand positioned on the station she tried to steady herself but before she knew it, her quadroscopic vision  began to narrow and darken as if she were entering into a long and dark tunnel. Silently her legs collapsed beneath as she lifelessly dropped to the deck.  

Beside her, Lieutenant Livingstone had barely time to catch her before she completely fell and hit her head on the deckplates; not so much because of his reflexes as his abnormally long arms allowed him to catch her just in time. 

The image of Doctor Gray appeared an instant later near both of them. With a glance from his tricorder-linked eyes, he understood the situation. However, he still used a hand held medical tricorder out of habit of what was expected of him from his fellow organic crewmates.

"I feared this would happen. The accelerated regenerative process I tried on her to regrow her lost antenna faster than the nine months usually required, well it worked fine... but it left her hypersensitive to excessive electromagnetic variances."

"Can you do anything for her?" inquired the X'Ell with obvious concern. 

"She needs rest in an isolation field until we get out of this crazy wormhole. She'll be fine afterwards, don't worry. To her Andorian physiology, it's more or less as if she suffered of the bends for a few seconds; a condition her species is normally immune to. It will not have repercussions if we bring her to sickbay without delay."

This he also addressed as much to the Captain as to the pair of orderlies who came with a hand-held stretcher. 

"Using standard antigrav units is potentially problematic within the anomaly," he then explained about the primitive yet efficient contraption carrying the unconscious Andorian off the bridge. "By the way, this is the worst case so far among the crew. The few other Andorians, Vulcans and Betazoids we have on board are just complaining of mild headaches. I ordered painkillers to be made available for those who request it."

This last sentence he directly addressed his commanding officer. 

Syntron gazed for a few additional moments at the fallen Andorian officer before directing his attention back to the EMH.

"Your assessment would seem logical, Doctor Gray. The symptoms appear to have affected her rather suddenly. Keep Commander Riker and myself apprised of her condition and that of any other crew members who indicate negative signs in reaction to the excessive electromagnetic variances as we continue onward."

"Sure thing, Captain," aknowledged the disappearing holographic officer.

Then the captain shifted his attention to his avian CSO.

"Impressive reaction to this situation Lieutenant Livingstone. It would appear that your unique physiology possess a multitude of benefits to our crew... in addition to your scientific contributions."

This was about as close as the Vulcan commanding officer could get to complementing his new X'Ell science officer.

"I hope you are not considering transfering me to security, Sir," answered Jonathan as he rubbed the insides of his elbows, obviously surprised by the praise given. "Long and strong arms attached to a denser sternum and collarbone might provide good lifting ability, but hollowed bones do not make for strong levers. Lifting and carrying PADDS is quite enough for me, if you don't mind , Captain. Especially now that I need all my fingers while we proceed through this anomaly."

That's when a few on the bridge realized for the first time that the lights in his feathered crest were off. Obviously, it was a precaution the X'Ell had took to alleviate any risk of electromagnetic damage to his implants.

Shaking his head Riker tapped his own body int he location of Livingstone's implants.

"Nice"

We call it the sheereess; every X'Ell has one, Commander. It allows us to interact fully and instantly with our environement and technology, back on the homeworld. I'm afraid here they are quite limited in range and scope... but they still interact efficiently with the ship's systems if I'm near enough of them. For the moment however, the elelctromagnetic fluctuations of the outside might impact on the ship and by relay with it, so I thought more prudent for the time being to use my fingers and voice as you do."

Nodding slightly Riker continued.

"I also appreciate your offer to join our security force I will have Master Chief Eddington look into adding you to the training rotation as soon as we are done"

Before Livingstone could say anything Riker turned back to console he was observing, with only a slight smirk.  Catching the joke Master Chief Eddington nodded and began entering nothing into the crew PADD.  As Livingstone looked at the Chief of the Vessel with slight worry Riker simply winked at him.  It did not say much, but it was enough to let him know all was well.

It still took a while for the gawking, blinking avian to catch on. Fortunately, even as accelerated his Academy course had been, it had still allowed him to familiarize himself with humor, especially the very rich one of Humans. There had been a lot of Humans there to educate him in it's finer points.

Still, he thought safer to keep silent, tuck his small feathered head between his wide, thin shoulders and return to his duties.