“Convergencies, Part I”
“Commander! There's also something strange on sensors about 2000 kilometres off the forward bow?” Lieutenant Commander Veker reported from his science station. “It's some kind of a crack, in space?”
Seifer walked over. “Seriously? You're some-kind-of-ing? My last Science officer did that to no end, so I relieved him of duty.”
“Ensign Dan. That's why he was never promoted,” Veker realised.
The Commander nodded while looking at the console. “Hold on, the crack is emitting some kind of dark energy quantum-phased, chronometric field? Like, a temporal-dimensional portal?” Then, realising, “Ah! I said the thing.”
Seifer pondered. “Hmm. Is there a Devidian-synchronic-Mark Twain option? Wouldn't mind a hokey 19th century San Francisco horse and carriage chase through dirt roads.”
“I'll see what I can do,” Hachi acquiesced as he brought the Phoenix-X closer to the phenomenon which then appeared to be leaking chroniton particles into normal space. But, before more analysis could be done, a Miranda-class starship came frantically skidding out of the rift until it slowed its momentum to a stop.
Tong blinked. “Never thought I'd see a starship do that? I mean, I heard an alternate Voyager went snow skidding once, but space skidding is something else.” He then scanned the vessel. “I'm reading an NCC-11130. The U.S.S— Wait, no. It's just called the Unreliable?”
Seifer looked momentarily perplexed. “Fascinating. Why would a potentially alternate Starfleet name a ship that? Like they can’t be relied upon? Anyway, hail them. Perhaps we can get some answers, or at least some skidding tips.” He took a seat.
“Bit late for that, sir,” Lieutenant Briggs uttered, manning comms. “They’re hailing us, but the signal seems different from other Starfleet ships?” His eyes looked frantically across the console, seeing the message appear as if the other ship was expecting this.
“That’s odd. I guess that crew is more forward than others. Put it through,” Seifer ordered, sitting up and trying to look formal for this mysterious Unreliable.
The viewscreen cut to the bridge of the Unreliable, which looked significantly more retro. A variety of people were dotted around the bridge, all looking rather shaken up. A black woman with orange eyes, a tied-back afro and a light purple tank top stood up from what appeared to be the captain’s chair. “This is Captain Breezie McKormic of the Unreliable, would you mind telling me where… and when we are?” The woman said, having paused to gaze at the uniforms of the Phoenix-X crew.
“Greetings, Captain. I’m Commander Night Seifer of the Federation Starship Phoenix-X. It’s 2393 and you’re in Federation space. Our sensors also suggest a temporal and dimensional element to the rift you just came out of.”
Breezie leaned on a railing, thinking. “Perhaps that's the case. Our sensors are going nuts as despite being Federation space, it seems to think of it as new territory,” she replied. “Maybe we could discuss it on your ship? I'd offer mine up but—” Breezie was about to explain when the science console exploded. “Yeah, mine is in a bit of a poor shape right now. Especially after coming through that rift.”
“Agreed, and please allow us to send over support staff and medical, should you require it?” Seifer suggested.
“We’ll only need engineers. Our doctor can heal us up on the way there. I’ll see you in the shuttle bay,” Breezie said before Seifer nodded and the transmission ended.
—
After meeting in the Shuttle bay (and watching as some of the crew members scanned the Type 4 shuttle they arrived in), Seifer led Breezie and a few of her crew members up to the Conference room, where a few other senior staff joined.
“Guess you want me to explain how the hell my ship, crew and I got here, huh?” Breezie said, looking at Seifer. “I mean, you said something about dimensional elements so… It’s likely nothing you’ve seen on your voyages.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Captain,” Andy replied, looking at his captain as he and some other crew members entered the Conference room. “I’ve heard some weird talk around here. I guess to them visitors from the past and future aren’t anything new.”
Seifer nodded. “Actually, my non-com special counsellor is time-displaced from seven years in the future. His name is BOB.” The Commander gestured to a seemingly random Ferengi, standing nearby. “He’s been banned from any more time travel. Anyway, that shouldn’t diminish what has happened to you. Hopefully, we can help if you need it, and maybe send you home, tying up all loose ends, easy-peesy, Captain Breezie.”
“I don’t think getting us home is the issue. If we ignore the issue at hand, nothing will survive,” Devoid said, grimly.
“He’s right. We didn’t choose to come into your time, Commander. We were forced,” Breezie explained, her expression stern. “Forced by something we only know… as the Hiss.”
Seifer furrowed his brow in concern. “The Hiss?”
“I guess I should explain. The Hiss is… How do I say this?” Breezie said before thinking for a moment. “The Hiss is a... humanoid that not only holds a lot of power, not only has seemingly infinite golden tentacles, but has an entire race worshipping her like a god, and she probably is. She wears very formally, has orange hair, and two horns that are the same shade of gold as the pupils in her hollow, soulless eyes… and she was trying to kill us for opposing her. In my mind, a rather crap deity.”
The Commander’s eyes went wide. “That does not sound good in the slightest, especially if she’s tearing through dimensional barriers. What did you mean when you said nothing will survive? What is she trying to do?”
“If nobody takes action, the Hiss will destroy everything. Every world, every galaxy, every timeline… If we sit around and do nothing, then we’re all doomed,” Devoid explained, looking at Commander Seifer. “Perhaps you could help? I doubt our ship can take on the Hiss on our own, even with the modifications.”
“We barely escaped with our lives earlier. Our tactical officer in particular is incapacitated thanks to her attack. She’s completely ruthless,” Breezie stated, a sense of panic in her voice.
The Kelpien, Lieutenant Commander Veker placed his PADD on the table in mid-calculation. “Commander, Captain, I may have something to say to that. You see, our deep scans of the interdimensional-temporal tear of the Hiss, as you know, show a quantum-phased dark energy with a residual chroniton emission.”
“And, just before, being in said area of such a tear neutralised the Phoenix-X’s transwarp capabilities because our subspace/tachyon resonant frequencies were no longer relevant to this now modified space,” Gewdeque continued.
Veker nodded. “We are certain, based on our past chroniton research, that by adjusting the subspace field/tachyon pulses to a higher resonant frequency, intermixed with a modulated chroniton supply, will neutralise the quantum-phased dark energy by this Hiss.”
“We launch it out of our deflector dishes,” Seifer realised. “So, we need to equip the Unreliable with a transwarp coil, make the modifications, and load up on chroniton particles.”
The Kelpien eyed everyone. “A lot of chroniton particles.”
“There’s an unspoken supply at Starbase 55,” the Trill, Seifer, recalled. “And I’m certain they have transwarp coils.” He turned to Breezie. “We go there, get prepared, and the Phoenix-X will join you against this multi-tentacled Hiss. What do you think?”
“We’ll have to bring our other science officer aboard once we get there. We only have two and one of them is our Doctor, who’s already aboard. Otherwise, I believe we should set a course for Starbase 55,” Breezie said, getting up from her chair. “Come along,” Breezie commanded, with Devoid and Andy getting up from their chairs and leaving the Conference room.
—
Not long after, the Phoenix-X and the Unreliable dropped warp back into normal space and approached Starbase 55. The modified Miranda-class starship was temporarily brought inside the large starship hangar as both crews and engineers from the starbase worked together.
Seifer and Breezie were next met with Admiral Cloud in the starbase’s Officer’s Lounge, next to the large window overseeing the indoor hangar and Unreliable therein. “Commander, I can’t say I’m particularly excited about you abandoning the Excelsior launch to steal one of our experimental transwarp coils, but it sounds like this threat is larger than any misgivings I or anyone may have about anything,” Cloud said, sipping a scotch.
“Yeahhhh, about that. We’re also going to need to syphon whatever experiment you have going with those chronitons. We need all of them,” Seifer said, awkwardly.
Cloud did a double-take before nearly exploding with a, “How did you even—!?” But he calmed himself for the greater good. “Never mind. I don’t want to know. Just take it.” He downed the rest of his scotch and left.
Suddenly, a voice came from Breezie’s combadge. “Alex to Breezie,” it said.
Breezie tapped her combadge and spoke, wondering what her first officer wanted. “I’m here. What’s up, Alex?” Breezie said as she leaned against a pillar.
“Seifer wasn’t kidding about the amount of chronitons around here. Our sensors are detecting a good few cubic metres of the stuff.” Alex spoke, reading off sensor information from the science console. “More than enough to stop The Hiss, at least according to what Veker proposed.”
“Fascinating. I suppose you’ve got a shuttle prepared for the Doctor and Wally?” Breezie asked, her hands on her hips as she inquired.
“It left only seconds ago, the science team on the Phoenix-X should be expecting them shortly, if not right now,” Alex answered.
“Good to know, I hope they keep us updated, Breezie out.” Breezie concluded, tapping her combadge once again. Breezie looked at Seifer, who seemed baffled.
He arched his brow. “You only have two science officers? One of them being your doctor?”
“They’ve worked well for me thus far,” Breezie responded, shrugging. “I just hope your team helps them.”
Seifer looked to the side for a moment, thinking carefully before turning back to her. “Captain, if you don’t mind me asking, but why are you the Unreliable? What happens in your timeline?”
Breezie sighed, looking at Seifer. “I saw a lot of high praise for an idiot. That’s how I knew something was different.” Breezie answered, vaguely. “But about the name… It’s because of the graffiti on the hull. You see that big red N? That was there when I saw that old thing abandoned, and decided to keep it as… Well, it has charm. She isn't the fastest or the strongest or the toughest ship around... But the Unreliable is mine. And that is what matters.”
Seifer smiled, appreciating the sentiment before parroting, “High praise for an idiot?”
Breezie seemed angry as she answered. “Kirk! That idiot lost his ship when dealing with the Tholians! He couldn’t accept that the Defiant was unsavable and tried to pull it out of interphase, only to dump the Enterprise into it like a total jackass! I don’t know why people see him as a legend, when he managed to do that!” Breezie then sighed, trying to keep calm.
“The loss of the Enterprise must have had drastic ramifications to your timeline,” Seifer realised, staring away at the notion. “Sometimes I wonder if we could have handled the Borg differently, or the destruction of Romulus, or somehow pre-empted the Synth attack on Mars. Even my own Captain being forced out of Starfleet.”
Breezie looked at Seifer, confused out of her mind. “What? None of what you said makes sense. What even is this ‘Borg’ among many other things?”
“Another nightmare, like the Hiss,” Seifer continued, gazing out, past the Unreliable in echoes of recalled terror. “Let’s put an end to these nightmares.”
“Agreed. I just hope it’ll be as easy to deal with using your plan. Otherwise, we’ll have to use brute force, like with the parasite on the NX-02,” Breezie explained, looking at her ship.
—
Meanwhile, in the Phoenix-X’s Engineering, Gewdeque and her team welcomed the science officers from the Unreliable.
“Looks like the coil refits are just about done on your ship,” she said while checking a status screen. “It exited the starbase bay. We can use your data and expertise to refine the chroniton modifications for both vessels.”
“If they can handle it, I don’t particularly wish for our ships to be stripped down to the bulkheads if this all goes south,” the Unreliable’s EMH said, now in a late 2360s uniform, looking at the data with a slight bit of concern. “I suggest we run some tests prior.”
“Do you think we have time to do so? We have no idea when the Hiss will strike again,” Wally replied, sitting down on a nearby chair. “She could appear in the middle of our test and blow our ships up from the chroniton usage.”
“Only one way to find out. Begin contacting Engineering on the Unreliable,” Gewdeque ordered to Belm, who was near the comms console.
A small screen appeared next to the console the EMH was near, showing Gary with Fiora in the back helping prepare the Unreliable. “I assume we’re ready to begin testing the chroniton burst?” Gary asked, looking to see if the energy flow was stable.
“We’re ready on our end,” Gewdeque confirmed, checking another status console.
“Alright, readying a controlled burst. We’ll fire on your mark,” Fiora said, preparing the ‘attack’.
Tension rang high between both ships, with all hoping it wouldn’t damage them. “Mark,” Gewdeque seared through it.
The Unreliable fired the burst first, followed by the Phoenix-X, initially causing a bit of shaking between both ships, as if a sonic boom ripped through space.
“Status report! Is everything stable?” the Unreliable’s EMH asked both ships as the shaking began to subside.
“Nothing’s gone quite wrong over here, Doc,” Gary responded. “Though, Commander Seifer has just arrived in the shuttle bay. I assume Breezie is over on the Phoenix-X then.”
“Yep, she’s just beamed in using the station’s transporter. I just hope she isn’t badly malformed from the experiment,” Wally replied.
Gewdeque checked Veker and Brigg’s remote monitors too. “We’re stable on the Phoenix-X as well. I think it works.” Her eyes began to light up.
—
In the Unreliable’s Engineering, Seifer arrived looking around at the rather small room. “I assume the experiment was a success?” Seifer asked, sitting down on a nearby chair.
Gary looked at Seifer, a confident grin appearing. “You bet. Everything seems stable. All we have to do is figure out if this can work against the Hiss.”
Fiora looked up from her console and towards Seifer, continuing on from Gary’s statement. “Everything seems fine on paper, we just have to put it to the test.”
“That makes sense. I suppose we should try and find another one of those cracks to see if it works,” Seifer said, getting up from his chair.
“It’s a reasonable test, Commander. It could work to help confirm the theory fully,” Gewdeque replied through the monitor.
Seifer tapped his combadge. “Seifer to Phoenix-X Bridge. Can you locate any more of those dark energy-quantum tears?”
“Sir, you’re not going to believe this, but two of them have appeared in sector space,” came Tong’s over-air reply. “Now three..? Oh no.”
The Commander glanced at the Engineering crew of the Unreliable in shared hesitation. “Hachi, set a course. Breezie, are you getting this?”
“Yeah, I’m on your bridge as we speak. Gary, get Andy to follow the Phoenix-X. Science team, report to the Phoenix-X’s bridge immediately,” Breezie spoke through Gary’s combadge.
—
Seifer entered the Bridge of the Unreliable as everyone was fast at work.
“I’ll just come out and say it. This ship is chock-full of classic late 23rd century nostalgia and it really gets you,” he conveyed as appreciation to Breezie’s crew while tapping his heart. “Oh, and it’s also a very addictive class for maniacal Shakespearean Augments.”
The modified Miranda-class ship dropped warp to a view of the Prometheus-class Phoenix-X sitting before a large, energetic rip in the fabric of the Multiverse. Another began opening a few hundred metres back.
“Although the frequency of these things has unexpectedly increased, it may be all the more reason for us to run our anti-Hiss bursts,” Seifer objectified. “Breezie, let’s do it.”
The Unreliable positioned itself in front of the other rip and both the Phoenix-X and Unreliable blasted bursts of tachyon-modified chroniton pulses into each target, seemingly beginning to cause the energy of both cracks to be eaten away like an eraser removing a sketch. Each intrusion began to disintegrate in a highly charged burn from reality before their very eyes.
But then… more began opening up at an increasingly rapid pace. More than the two ships could handle. “The hell?! What's happening, I thought we were stopping them!” Breezie yelled.
“We were! But they seem to be getting stronger, the timeline's beginning to destabilise! If we stay here, we might get erased!” Devoid replied through the network.
“Commander, what can we do? They're multiplying at a way too rapid rate to control!” Sally yelled to Seifer, concerned.
Both Commander Seifer and Breezie hesitated as the gravitational stresses rattled both ships. Seifer turned. “Helms, set course for the tears. We have to bypass what it’s doing to our timeline so we can live to attack the source. Breezie, do you concur?”
“I think so too, we have to escape. One of those tears should lead to my timeline… It’s likely the best place we could go,” Breezie stated, her tone solemn and serious.
Veker kicked in over the same comm. “I’ve isolated the tear the Unreliable is from based on their quantum signatures. It’s that big one, starboard!”
“Helm, refine your course!” Seifer ordered Andy who was quick to act.
Both commanding officers stabilised themselves in the increasingly loud, chaotic anarchy as the Phoenix-X and Unreliable gained speed and dodged a sudden long-tear into the fabric of space to the right of them! Then another, and another. A sign of the timeline quickly destabilising. They pushed on, faster, when one last long tear struck quickly from above, just metres in front of them, forcing them to split around it, the Phoenix-X to the left, the Unreliable to the right, until they reached and passed through their intended tear.
—
Both the Prometheus-class U.S.S. Phoenix-X and the Miranda-class Unreliable came skidding out into the normal space of the Unreliable’s timeline and time period of origin, kicking in thrusters to steady themselves. The crew of each vessel slowly got themselves off the floor.
“We did it,” Tong realised from his tactical station. “We did the skid thing! Also, detecting no immediate dangers.”
Veker pulled himself off the floor. “Also, we’re alive. Veker to Commander Seifer. Are you okay over there? I’m sorry to say, your Ready Room fish may have fallen over.”
“We’re good here,” Seifer reported. “And those fish can take care of themselves. Now, let’s get our statuses and our bearings. Captain McKormic, are you okay? That Hiss really packs a punch. Let’s regroup, either your ship or mine.”
“I’m ready to get back to my ship, it seems to have suffered the least from passing through… I’m just happy to be back in familiar territory,” Breezie stated, looking at the Unreliable from the Phoenix-X’s viewscreen, sighing in relief slightly at the fact they managed to escape. “Right then, I’ll be there sharply. Same with the others, I hope.”
Hachi turned from the helm console. “Well, it was nice to have a Captain again on the Bridge, even if they aren’t in uniform. Don’t tell Commander Seifer I said that.”
“I’m still on comms, Hachi,” Seifer deadpanned over air. “Never mind. I get it. I’m two years into the first three years of pre-Captain Sisko and I have yet to punch out a Q. I’m working on it.”
—
Later, Captain Breezie McKormic, Commander Seifer and several staff from both crews met in the Unreliable’s Conference room, all with readied reports.
“Ugh. I do not like the feeling that our timeline is on the brink of destruction,” Tong commented. “But, is it? It seemed like it was only that section we were in, so far?”
BOB arched a brow. “It’s possible she slowed her attack after we left, since it was obvious we were her primary targets. Being that I’m from the future and I’m still here, it’s likely the timeline is okay. Depending on your paradox of choice.”
“The actions of the Hiss against us as well as our practical applications solidifies our threat to her,” Seifer surmised. “The science checks out. As long as we don’t have any more setbacks, we should be on track.”
Gewdeque raised a pointer finger. “Uh, you wanted us to remind you when you were speaking too soon, sir? Well, that is a full-time job and, I’m sorry to report, passing through that interdimensional rift nearly depleted the chroniton supply for both our ships.”
“Yeah, that’s not good,” said Sally. “I’m still having crack flashbacks from the first one.”
“I’m just glad that’s the only bit of damage between our ships, I can’t handle another repair session,” Devoid replied, looking at Sally.
Gary then spoke up after snapping his fingers in realisation. “Actually, I may have something for this. You see, there is a fantastical temporal nebula called the Amaranthine in our timeline, not many people know about, in the Eta Serpentis Sector, chock-full of chronitons. I came across it once.”
“We could harvest the material from that nebula,” Breezie realized, catching on and building up hope again. “Possibly enough to attract her once more, on purpose, and defeat her.”
Seifer latched on to the momentum. “Yes, that’s right. She’ll attack again, but from our scans of all those tears we passed by, we did find that one of them matched the quantum signature of the highly charged dark energy source. It has to be her original timeline.”
“This is a maths problem now,” Veker snapped his fingers. “We can calculate how many chronitons are to be depleted when passing through those rifts, as well as what’s needed for an attack. We collect enough for both if not more.”
The Commander looked to Breezie. “Surely, this has to work. Does this plan at least supersede your previous encounters with this thing? How did you originally come across her?”
“Well, it’s a funny story. The Hiss were worshipped by people who thought she was harmless, on a voyage to discover what’s in the universe. Like Starfleet, in a sense but in order to study the creatures, they had themselves becoming them. But before I get off topic, the Hiss seemed to have more… hostile intentions. Thankfully, with the help of these shape-shifters. We managed to push her back… until now,” Breezie explained.
Seifer nodded in solemn understanding. “I see. Then, like that success through teamwork, we should overcome our latest setbacks the same, albeit with our abilities being Starfleet ingenuity. I’m not sure how your crew feels about our kind after what just happened, and I know I’m not a Captain by rank of my own people, but our drive to make a difference must not waiver.” He looked at everyone. “Let’s set a course, repair our ships on the way, and prepare for anything.”
