Risk is our business

Posted on Tue Nov 19th, 2024 @ 5:31am by Captain Michael Murphy & Lieutenant Commander Steve Ryan & Lieutenant Kestra Ral

Mission: Through the Looking Glass
Location: Finibus System

ON:

"We are coming up on the Finibus System now, sirs," Lieutenant Mann announced.

"Thank you," Commander Murphy responded. In their home universe, the Finibus System was the site of both a Federation colony and an active black hole. They had briefed the crew about the possibility of the need to pretend to be their counterparts since they were coming so close to a colony.

Fox was ready, Well not for behaving like her counterpart, no, But yes to everything else, Which is not like her, She was ready for anything, But today she was not.

Steve's face became tense in anticipation.
"We're moving to passive sensors only, trying to keep a low profile and avoid being detected by the entire colony" he told the captain.

Murphy caught himself holding his breath, and forced himself to breathe normally.

Kestra had pulled the knowledge of the whole science department. This was an iffy plan. Luckily, it wasn't one who had come up with, so if it failed, she wouldn't have this on her conscience. Still, she needed to come up with a way to make it work.

"The first sign of activity from the worm hole. Should let us know that the other ship has entered. If they enter it......" She bit her lip. They might just go to all the races they had destroyed and do the same thing over there until the federation destroyed them. Her team had also discovered that their body's couldn't exist in this dimension for an extended period of time. Hopefully, the head of the since department on the mirror ship had the same findings.

"I'm thinking they'll dislike our reality just as much as we dislike theirs," Murphy said. "I'm confident that they'll be looking for a way back." He wasn't, really. If he had to put a value on it, he'd say he was 65% sure. "Do we wait for them to enter first, or would it have to be simultaneous?"

Kestra bit her lip as she thought about the timing.
"we should enter as soon as there is a power increase. That should indicate the other ship has entered as well. Then, as we travel and meet, there should be a cross-over point. When they are here, and we are back home. In theory, Sir. We could also end up in our universe but at some other location. The explosion at Chaltok IV and Polaris ion sent shock waves throughout all of the known space. There really isn't any way to predict just what problems this has caused, but if they had actually used the weapon, it would have been far worse." she looked at the console "energy starting to increase, Sir. if we are going to do this now would be the time." she nodded. Setting her console to record all the information as they went. There was no telling what they might pick up.

"Let's go, full impulse!" Murphy ordered, leaving no time to worry about ending up in another wrong universe.

Lieutenant Mann immediately started piloting the Montana into the singularity. "Here we go!" he exclaimed. He followed the same instructions given by Captain Adams from their previous black hole excursion.

When things settled down, they found themselves still in the vicinity of the Finibus system, but with three Oberth-class starships close by.

Murphy hoped they were friendly.

"Let's hail them, and find out if we're home," Murphy ordered.

Kestra's lifted her head. She had been reading the sensor logs and fighting the nausea from the wormhole travel. When anger hit her full force.

"They aren't happy, captain. I believe they think we are the mirror ship they just chased into the wormhole." Kestra told him with a frown.

"Well, let's make sure they know we're friendly," Murphy said.

Kestra raised an eyebrow but nodded. That would be a good plan. Closing her eyes for a moment she tentatively she let her mind reach out but all she picked up on was anger and rage that they had not stayed on the other side of the black hole.
Running scans of the area to see what information could be gathered Kestra got to work while their communications officer handled contacting the ships. So far data was proving to be they had come home but was it the right time and what damage had been done?

The viewscreen changed to show the picture of a human Captain and the bridge of one of the Oberth ships in the background. The Captain looked cautious.

Adams spoke up. "This is Captain Adams of the USS Montana. We've just been on a bumpy ride, but hopefully it's over?"

To Murphy, every second felt like four seconds as he waited for the response from the other vessel.

"This is Captain Connors," came the reply from the viewscreen. "It looks like our scans have just verified that you are home. Trust me, it's a welcome relief for us, too. The version of your ship that just left was not very friendly."

Murphy felt a wave of relief wash over him. He let go of the tension he'd been holding. He found he didn't even hear the rest of the conversation between the captains.


OFF:
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Captain Jackson Adams
Commanding Officer

Commander Michael Murphy
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Steve Ryan
Chief Communications and Operations Officer

Lieutenant Kestra Ral
Chief Science Officer

Lieutenant Stuart Mann
Navigation Officer, NPC