USS POLARIS(HORIZON): Investigating the cosmic anomaly

The Polaris shook again. For the past twelve hours of flight, as each time it happened, they all had the disturbing feeling that, for a fraction of a second, both heart and mind stopped as something like a cold wave was barely felt, more like a remembrance than an actual feeling. The impact followed the feeling which was only truly felt after it was over and it struck them with a clockwork regularity since they had gone to warp, leaving the Azimuth Horizon anomaly behind.

"No other vessel detected in the area," announced Carmillia Julian without moving her eyes from her tactical scanner. "But the warp trail of the last damaged Bird of Prey does lead here. But it,s gone now. They must have dropped to impulse to better hide."

"Engines and power reserves unaffected," engineer Jheonghun said then.

"All systems remain functional, " ops Lieutenant S'tron reported. "Ship's chronometer is being disrupted but returns to normal once the effect has passed."

"Same with our organic functions," Doctor Osaro-Lyth added. "Our biological clock is being reset each time. In plain words, Sir, since we've closed in on this area, no one has aged even for a second."

Then she frowned as she looked more closely at her medical scanner while she turned towards Redding.

"Except... for you, Commander..."

"Confirmed, Sir," Valencia Irksos finally said as another vibration struck them. "We are being hit by ripples in time."

That didn't smooth the frown on the Deltan doctor's lovely face.

"Your telomere degradation in your genome is registering our last twelve hours of flight into this area... while ours does not. I've checked my tricorder, remade the measurements several times and even use ship internal sensors to get another reading, just to be sure; but the discrepancy is there... and I can't explain it."

"While I can't say I understand why that's happening.. Or even what the hell you just said, he thought at the same time. "It's not exactly surprising either."

He put his left hand to his chin.

"My own temporal quantum signature is... unique... in that it also resets itself after a trigger event. I guess that it's 'protecting' me from the effect."

He could feel the hair on his neck rise at the thought of it.

"I am aware of your... temporal instability from your record," the Deltan woman admitted with a smile. "Not that I understand it... beyond the medical effects that is. Seems here it prevents you from being directly affected by the side effect of these... ripples in time. So you continue to age normally, while we do not."

"Only time will tell if that's a good thing or not, quite literally."

He mussed at his own pun.

"In the meantime, let's be ready in case I wink out of existence... or worse, all of you do."

He frowned at the thought of finding himself floating in space if the ship should vanish around him.

"Do we have anyway of off putting this effect? Are there any other notable effects beside immortality for the crew if we never leave.. this.."

He stopped as a thought occurred to him. He gave S'Tron a curious look.

"What if the Klingons aren't time jumpers? maybe they've been right here the whole time, until the Romulans found them."

As he spoke he retrieved an environmental field belt from the supply closet putting it on and setting it to activate automatically if a hostile atmosphere should appear.

"There is as yet any evidence of Romulan presence or activity to be found, Commander," the Vulcan pointed out. "Since our own systems appear fully functional despite the periodical resseting of the clock, and with the Klingons appearance a light year from here and then coming back here when damaged and threatened, it is logical to assume that nothing interferes with normal navigation even at the proximity of the phenomenon."

A new shockwave made their entire deck tremble like under a sudden gale.

"That's what you say," Sheeneea grumbled. "Helm is still responding but, the closer we get to the source, the more sluggish controls become."

"And what is the source of those... ripples?" asked engineer Jeonghun with two hands on his tri-poded hips and a third scratching his bald chitinous head.

"That," Irksos answered. pointing at the main viewer. "Computer; enhance image with spectrographic scan and project on main viewer."

They had all noticed the blotch of darkness that blotted some of the stars at the center of their viewing screen. The computer-generated image now made all wavelenghts of light visible to the human eye as vivid discernable colors, most notably deep blue and bright red. A slightly flattened sphere with a rough surface partially covered with gaseous formations appeared before their eyes.

"That... that is a planet!" Carmillia Julian voiced for everyone on the bridge. "A planet... alone without a solar system?"

"Rogue planets are not such a rarity in our universe, and apparently not here either," the astrophysicist at the scanning station commented. "Numerous cosmic conditions and occurences can tear a planetary body out of it's orbit around a star and throw it wildly accross the void, from supernova to passing giant comet; however, this is the first time such a planet exhibits all the signs of being M class."

"An M class planet without a star to support it? That is most improbable," flatly stated S'Tron; "at least, under natural conditions."

Irksos nodded to him and turned towards Redding.

"Quite right, Sir. And sensors indicate that there are definite traces of artificial constructs on this planet... all in an advanced state of decay... and a massive power source on this side. That power source is the point of emanation of those temporal waves hitting us. It seems to come from a structure about three kilometer in size."

She frowned as she worked with her console before sighning loudly.

" There is highly decayed but definite evidence of what looks like the remnants of a technological civilization around the point of emanation. No life signs beyond primitive vegetation and animal life; molds, fungus and lichens on land, alguaes, krill and planktons in the seas. Sorry but I can't give you anything more specific from here. There is heavy interference from the aftereffect of these dense and abrupt chroniton waves that even the space sonar is unable to penetrate. And any computer image constructed from our sensors' limited data is being deconstructed before it can be transmitted to our viewer."

Another jolt struck them, making them sway in their seats. But the PIDs they were all wearing had activated automatically after the first serious vibration felt through the hull and ensured that they stayed there.

"These emanations distort space as well," S'Tron understood from this effect. ". If we are to use transporters to get down there and investigate, It would have to be very precisely timed between two of them, or the annular confinement beam will be disrupted and the signal lost. "

"A shuttlecraft might make it," Sheeneea offered as an alternative. "It would be very rough flying and required expert flight skill, but it could be done with careful planning and timing."

At that point, Nathaniel Gray came up between Redding and Aron'Son.

"Sir, I have to remind you of the Prime Directive; if we do go down there, we will have to be very careful not to disturb anything. If these emanations do come from that giant structure and indicate it is something active, this might mean that someone or something is either using it or at the very least has claim to it... which we do not."

hearing it right beside her, tactical officer Julian felt the need to offer a counter-argument.

"However, Sir, if Klingons have been around here as we most suspect and if it is made evident that they have tampered in any way with what's down there, the same Prime Directive compels us to intervene in order to correct their violation. Therefore, we have to make that assessment."

"What if they did not commit a violation," Aron'Son speculated "Could the structures on the planet be the remains of a Klingon colony? What if they were drawn into the anomaly as the Nuntio was?"

"If this is Klingon in origin, then, we would be trespassing," Gray answered. "And they have as much rights to be here as we do."

"And if they were victims of the anomaly like the Nuntio was, that could explain their attack on a supply ship," Julian acknowledged. "It would explain it but not justify it. In this scenario, then we would be apprehending criminals, which is in our rights according to intergalactic law... to which the Klingons officially abide by,  especially when it is convenient for them to do so; like during the historical Admiral Kirk trial of the last century."

"As for this being a colony," Irksos then added; "this is most improbable; radiometric measurements estimate some of the oldest of these ruins to be several millions of years old; the Klingon species itself was not even evolved yet by the time this civilization collapsed."

"I do not entirely understand this," S'tron put in. "You say some of the oldest; are you detecting differences in radiometric datings?"

The black-skinned woman nodded to her commanding officer as she acknowledged her Vulcan colleague.

"Another mystery to add to our collection about this place; according to our sensor readings, as sketchy as they are, there seems to be numerous variances in isotope decay around this giant structure; as much as between a hundred years old and millions of years... and these ruins seem to be as much different in composition and structure as in age; some are of natural, worked stone while others are made of alloys known and unknown and even substances we can't identify in our database. It's like thousands of civilizations sprouted and fell around this thing. There may even be Klingon artifacts down there... but not a colony. And there is no lifesigns either."

"And we haven't found the last Bird of Prey there," the security and tactical chief stated. "However, tactical scans are picking up a faint impulse trail around this planet, leading to the far side of it."

Throughout the the entire conversation Redding had attempted to interject at three times, but gave up on the idea and he started feeling groggy by the end of it.

"Right then, planet lost in time, missing BOP.." He realized he had started slouching and sat back up.

"First things first, lets see if theirs anyone home, hail the planet and see if were stepping on anyone's toes."

"Sending standard hails on all frequencies," Doctor Osaro-Lyth answered.

Although there was no medical command chair  on the diminutive bridge of the Polaris, just like there were no exec seat, the Deltan woman nevertheless doubled up as communications officer while the infirmary was inactive. After a moment, she shook her smooth shaven head.

"No answer to our hails, Commander... but... Sir, the message was received. Something down there echoed our signal, meaning that there is some sort of communication system active or at least in standby mode. But it is not acknowledging our signal, just receiving it."

"Helm, plot a course around to the other side of the planet going over its southern pole, keep us at one quarter impulse and slide us in quietly."

Redding made a gliding motion with his left hand.

"Our priority is still the Klingons, then we can turn our attention to the planet, if necessary."

 "They all acknowledged their orders and the Polaris smoothly followed the axial curvature of the rogue planet, skimming it's thin atmosphere. With clockwork regularity, shockwaves hit them even when they were past the perigee and starting to orbit it from the other side. They had barely started to fly over the hidden face of the lone planet when Carmillia Julian translated for them the lights that suddenly flashed on her tactical sensors board.

"Found them, Commander! The Bird of Prey is down on the surface, near what appear duranium shelters at the foot of an eroded mountain range."

"It's a standard Klingon military camp," Irksos reported from her own sensor readings. "They seem to have settled down there for some time... and they have not scanned us yet."

"But there might be others cloaked in orbit," warned the muscular woman at the tactical station.

"Cloaking technology requires too much energy expenditure to implement it as a basic routine stationary measure," countered engineer Jheongun.

"But they might be on alert, expecting pursuit after our clash with them," Carmillia reminded them all.

"But what could possibly interest them here?" wondered Doctor Osaro-Lyth. "If they wanted to establish a foothold, they could have just easily found the Eden system and settle there, where conditions are much more hospitable."

"My guess is, whatever is causing those space-time distorsions and allowing the impossible yet definite inhabitable state of this lost planet," Gray offered."

"Perhaps the Romulans have some interest in the planet and the Klingons are merely their pawns," the large Jem'Hadar officer offered "Romulans manipulate others  as if it is a sport and for the right reasons Klingons can be manipulated, or perhaps the Klingons are aware of the temporal nature of the area and are using it somehow. Klingon science is not like that of the Federation, but they do have scientists." 

S'tron lifted an eyebrow.

"Romulans, Sir? We have no evidence that they are involved. The only reference to them was from one of our prisonners in passing, naming them allies."

"isn't that enough?" asked Carmillia Julian.

The Vulcan officer explained in more detail his point.

"Making a thorough analysis of the facts we do have, their presence here is not evidenced;  we know both empires have been bitter and deadly enemies since the Narendra III incident of the last century, and only in the century before that had they been doing limited technological exchanges;  but no military collaboration was ever recorded. Only the last Klingon civil war showed a limited collaboration between Romulans and one House of Durass attempting to seize power, itself responsible for the same Narendra III incident as a prelude to it's usurpation attempt. Keeping this in mind, we have found Klingons typical of this very specific earlier time period and now confirmed a temporal anomaly to which they obviously know about. The logical conclusion is that these Klingons may indeed come from the 23rd century... either voluntarily or involuntarily. As for Romulan involvement, we have yet to find any real evidence at all."

"Romulans are masters at dissimulation and backstage intrigue," Julian insisted. "They could be involved but staying in the shadows, using Klingons as their attack dogs."

"Agreed; but the twenty-third century cloaking technology of the Romulans is powerless against our state of the art sensors and we would have found them easily by now. As for modern Romulans, they would not waste their time with obsolete Klingons, as they can match us in every aspect by themselves... and with no need for such duplicity, as we are not barring them from coming into this universe in the first place. You will recall that we met an exploration and colonization task force on our way here three months ago; they would also have come here and right alongside us, has it not been for the dangerous incapacity of their singularity-based drive to go through the anomaly. Assuming they would now succeed and choose to do it covertly with these relics of the past is quite illogical, even for them. And again, we have no evidence whatsoever."

"Afraid we might be chasing ghosts, S'Tron?" Valencia Irksos shot with a half-smile.

The Vulcan simply raised an eyebrow in response.

"I don't think I've even suggested we were looking for Romulans S'Tron, as I said, Klingons." Redding took a breath and looked at his first officer.

"Of course I want too keep an eye out for Romulans, but I'm not expecting any to be here personally."

He pointed a finger at him.

"In fact, it may just be that collaboration our Klingon was referring to is because he was from the same time period after all. In any event, it looks like we have to go down and find out anything more. So lets get to it."

He stood up.

"Find us a safe landing spot near the Bird of Prey and take us in easy and obviously,. There's no point in being mysterious anymore."

As the ship entered the atmosphere, Redding sent a message to the Klingon ship.

"Klingon vessel, This is the United Federation ship Polaris; Stand down and prepare to be boarded. Any attempt to lift off or activate your cloak will be considered a hostel action and you will be fired upon. This is your ONLY warning."

Then he faced his tactical officer.

"Julian, stand by to fire if they do anything I just said; disable if it's probable to do so, but they can't be allowed to leave under cloak again."

"Aye, Sir," the muscular woman said with a grin that told how much she wanted the klingons to do just that.

"Commander Redding; we are being hailed from the surface," Doctor Osaro-Lyth announced then.

On their screen appeared the dark-skinned, bearded face of a smooth-browed Klingon wearing a sivery mesh uniform barred by a wide red sash. despite his peculiar human-like appearance, his scowl and tone of voice were very klingonee.

"Federation warship! This planet has been claimed by the Klingon Empire! Leave immediately or be destroyed!"

"Damn it; they were here first; if it's uninhabited, they do have the right to claim it," Gray grumbled in a low voice as if only for himself but just loud enough for Redding to hear it.

"If they are from another century, they have no claim here whatsoever," Aron'Son stated. "I say let them come. If they are foolish enough to attack a vessel with superior weaponry they deserve their fate."  

While the Jem'Hadar knew that comment probably sounded bloodthirsty to the humans, Aron'Son genuinely believed his statement. As a soldier, he knew it was suicide to charge an enemy with superior numbers or weapons. But he also knew the Klingons were likely to do just that, no matter which century they were from.

"Their temporal legal status might be up for debate, but their position is not. They can call 'dibs' on the planet all they want, that's not my problem."

He contacted the Klingon Bird of Prey once more.

"Your claim to the planet is not my concern,. You have thirty seconds to comply with my order or we WILL open fire; Polaris OUT."

He looked back around.

"Target their weapon systems and stand by to fire on my order, or if they try anything."

He swung back at the viewer with his trademark smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Or if you think it's just the right thing to do, as you will."

He settled back. But he didn't have to wait long. The smooth-faced, bearded Klingon reappeared, a definite reddish hue on his glowering countenance.

"We established this outpost according to interstellar law of precedence! You have no right to threaten us here! Attacking us is not only a crime according to Law your Federation itself drafted and signed with us but an act of war against the Klingon Empire!"

"Twenty seconds," Carmillia Julian said, loud enough for even the flustered Klingon on the screen to hear.

Redding cocked his head slightly keeping his eyes on the Klingon.

"Sir, they are in their right to legally refuse us," Nathaniel Gray stated, looking only at Redding as he did so, talking as if the Klingon wasn't even there, listening. "However, we have traced back the trail of a pirate vessel all the way here, as our sensor logs would be evidence for. Interstellar Law compels us to investigate and Starfleet mandate orders us to ensure the safety of all settlements within our patrol territory, regardless of allegiance. Of course, the planetary governor's consent and collaboration is required... but if there is suspicion of such authority to be under duress or threat by criminals, a rescue operation might be called for."

On the screen, the face of the Klingon went by so many mood changes that it was difficult to assess his final reaction to what he was hearing. But his voice had lost a lot of the bluster it had before.

"We are not under threat from anyone... except by you!"

Redding looked over at Gray. "I'm sensing a lot of potential duress here."

"Ten seconds," the tactical chief announced.

"This is outrageous! You wouldn't dare... "

"Five seconds... four... three... two... one... Target locked; firing forward pulse..."

"WAIT!"

"Hold fire." Redding said calmly.

The woman's finger was almost touching the firing button. For a moment, all was still except for the sweat trickling down the smooth brow of the Klingon. A growl came out of his clenched teeth before he finally spoke with a strained tone.

"In the interest of Interstellar detente, we will... allow... your... inspection to proceed."

"The Federation appreciates your cooperation on this matter, and assuming you have nothing to hide of course, we should not take up to much of your time Captain..."

He hung on that word as the ship started it's final approach. The Klingon on the screen straightened his posture to better show the red sash crossing his mesh-covered shirt.

"Commander Wruk, son of Keltrik of the House of Khell, squadron leader under the command of Dahar Master Koloth! Remember this well, Earther, because I will remember you! Land your ship in front of ours. Iwill meet you there personally."

As the communication went off, Valencia irksos came to redding's seat.

"Commander... I checked our data banks; there is no Wruk, son of Keltric of the House of Khell in the known Klingon roster of officers."

"A poser?" wondered Nathaniel Gray.

"Negative; when he mentionned Dahar Master Koloth, I checked it too. Dahar Master Koloth, or D'Akturak, the "Ice Man" is synonymous with shrewdness and hardness in negociations and tactics within the whole Klingon empire. before he died during a vendetta in the second half of the last century.  He was himself a survivor of the Augment plague and was restored eventually to his original DNA about one hundred and thirty years ago."

She made a pause to let it sink in before concluding.

"I was then able to find about our friend here; according to Klingon historical database, Commander Wrug was the squadron commander who first tested the then newly designed Bird of prey attack vessel in mid twenty-third century. According to the files, he disappeared with his entire squadron except for one Commander Kruge later to be involved in the Genesis Incident. They were all field-testing the first prototypes on stardate 8101... a hundred and twenty-five years ago, somewhere within Federation space."

"We are on landing approach to the coordinates,Sir," Sheneea reported. "Touch down in fifty-three seconds."

The ship shook under a new spatial ripple and again for a moment, all systems went dark. Almost at the same moment, there was a much more violent impact that almost ovepowered even their PIDs. Sparks flew all around them and the entire bridge tilted dangerously to the left while the rumble of the engines became silent.

"That was no spatial shock... that was disruptor fire!" Julian shouted as she worked hard to revive her weapons systems. "All tactical systems inoperative! No weapons, no shields!"

"It was timed exactly with the incoming distorsion effect," Gray understood immediately."Just as our sensors were blinded and our shields fluctuating. Had it not been for our armor plating..."

"Warp core and Impulse engines offline!" announced Jeonghun, his voice as shrill as ever adding to the general nervousness. "Thrusters only!"

"Damage to our aft  and port section; port nacelle strut system jammed. Other systems coming back online," S'tron's cam voice making counterpoint to that of the engineer as some lights started to flare again on their consoles. "four point seven minutes before nominal status."

"We are in freefall; impact with planet in thirteen seconds!" the Andorian helmswoman said then.

"Computer! emergency mass transport to..." He glanced at the tactical screen losing 2 seconds."Grid gamma 42! execute!"

He couldn't be sure this was still possible but there wasn't enough time to check. Immediately after doing this, he pulled off his combadge, tossing it away and jumped for the helm controls, maybe he could still bring it down in one piece. 

The Polaris only has two 4-men transporter pads and one cargo transporter that  needed reconfiguration from molecular to quantum resolution to allow lifeform transport of twelve more. It should have been impossible to beam out more than a handfull of crewmembers before the crash; but the Polaris, like the Horizon, had benefited from the brand new nanite enhancement the scientists of the Phoenix had tested a few months ago... and Captain Kheren had insisted that all cargo transporters on both ships be pre-programmed for instant autoreconfiguration upon receiving an emergency evacuation order. Thus, twenty people were beamed out the second Redding ordered it. Twenty more followed four point five seconds later. As per regulations, the bridge crew were last to go less than five seconds after that, leaving Redding alone to man the ship for the last  seconds.

Fortunately, Sheeneea had time to activate the thrusters at full power before she was beamed out. The Polaris was shaking with the vibration of the powerful reactors struggling to slow down her descent.

It was a tempting idea to crash into Commander Wurk's ship, but the shot could not have come from that ship; and it just.. felt wrong.

A glance at the tactical sensor answered his question; there was a concealed disruptor cannon mounted as an anti-aircraft battery on the main colony building, now detectable because it was locking target, again, on his ship.

"So much for that..."

Redding gritted his teeth and cut power to all but the lateral port thrusters. The ship dropped like a rock but stayed level and slid starboard at an alarming rate, alarm claxons blared. He sat down and activated his chairs restraints and braced for impact.

If he had timed it right, the ship would crash on the far side of a natural formation, unable to be targeted by the cannon.

If he had timed it wrong the ship would flip and tear it self apart.

He smiled.

"I hope I get to remember this one.."