Stardate: 40717.1950
Title: The Death of Independence
Author: Commander Scott Deadilus
Time: After "Opening the Door to What Lay Beyond, Part 2"
Scene: USS Independence, Mirror Universe
As the Starion pulled back into her docking bay on deck 50, Scott
tapped his combadge, informing Ensign Salic to activate their
overrides on the Atomic. The small device and few re-routings of
control systems they had done now gave them complete control over
the weapon.
And as the bay doors closed behind them, the forcefield now
active, Scott could see the archaic rocket motor burst into life,
pushing the sleek, deadly weapon forward.
=/\=
Scene: Planet Trill, Mirror Universe
The telemetry from the Atomic had halted before going offline.
The scientists, at first unaware of what had happened, ran from
terminal to terminal, trying to get a communication channel open
to the weapon.
And above them, Emperor Jax-KS waited, looking down on his
scientists, unaware of the problem.
The rumbling beneath his feet had gotten worse in the past few
hours, and he had had his private ship prepped for immediate
launch along with a small wing of fighter escorts.
He did not know that the last rumble had been the small spacedock
directly above them crashing to the ground, trapping them inside
the caves of Mak'ala until helped arrived, if indeed it would.
=/\=
Scene: Earth - Terran Empire Headquarters, San Francisco
The large impaled globe hung from the wall, and beneath it
President Narayan Mudeno sat upright in his chair, Admiral Kelly
briefing him on the Trillian Empire situation.
The Admiral chose his words carefully - only a few months prior
Narayan Mudeno had orchestrated the gruesome assassination of
President Jaresh'Inyo, his infamous Section 12 'hit-squad'
carrying out the dirty deed.
"Contact Captain Morris on a secure channel!" the
President ordered.
=/\=
Scene: Mirror Independence
The call routed directly through the computer to his combadge,
and so the Captain, confined to quarters by Commodore Daran, had
been able to take the call unobserved.
The President's orders had been simple - take the other USS
Independence intact. One Universe class vessel provided a strong
arm for the Terran Empire, but two...
Turning to the computer console, Captain Morris began to
orchestrate his escape and begin his reclamation of his ship.
=/\=
Scene: USS Independence
The turbolift doors slid open to allow Scott access to the
bridge, the viewscreen giving him another glimpse of the rocket
driven weapon making its way slowly deeper into space.
Ensign Salic relieved himself, although Scott told him to stay to
"watch the fireworks". The Ensign could not tear
himself away from the screen in front as they both watched...
=/\=
Scene: Open Space
As the Atomic slowly moved away from the Independence a simple
subroutine kicked-in, entering the pre-arming stage. Only a few
seconds would pass before it would complete the checks and
determine that all was well.
Once those few seconds had passed, the rocket was vaporised
instantaneously as the warhead ripped through not only subspace,
but dimensions. The portal between universes formed almost as
quickly, the gravitational flux shooting off the scale before
settling quickly down.
Two doorways now lay before them, almost identical in nature, but
both as unnatural as could be...
=/\=
Scene: USS Independence
Commander Daran and Captain Morris turned to Commander Deadilus,
who was busy strumming his fingers across the interface, feasting
on the information before him.
"Permission to launch probe, Captain?" Scott asked.
Captain Morris nodded his head in the affirmative, and a small
blur could be seen on the viewscreen heading towards the newer
anomaly. And as it bore down upon its target, everyone watched
the screen; everyone except Scott, who continued to watch the
small console's display.
And as the probe passed through the portal, everyone knew a
doorway to a mirror universe, hopefully theirs, had been created.
"Helm, set course for that portal. Ahead full impulse."
Captain Morris ordered.
"Aye, Sir!" the young Ensign began, before adding,
"Sir, we have a vessel on intercept course. It's the USS
Independence."
"Raise shields."
=/\=
Scene: Mirror Independence
The turbolift doors whooshed open for what seemed like, and
probably was, the hundredth time that day.
And, as only a few hours earlier, the gruff voice came from
behind her, a hint more anger in it this time.
"Excuse me, Commodore, but I believe that's MY chair you're
in."
Commodore Daran didn't need to turn around in her chair to know
the phasers were all pointed at her head, and they probably were
not set to stun this time. She didn't need to turn around to see
the look in his eyes - his tone had carried his intent...
=/\=
Scene: USS Independence
"Prepare to fire all weapons" Captain Morris ordered,
both ships already turning to bear.
Like two evenly matched wrestlers, the two Independence's
proceeded to twist and turn around each other, each trying to get
in that blow that would win them the match.
With each little shot, one vessel would proceed to lose some
minor system, some tertiary system that 'didn't matter', some
backup. And so it carried on, for several minutes, until both
ships unleashed a salvo of quantum torpedoes and a volley of
phaser fire, striking at their own mirrored weaknesses.
* * * * *
The two Independence's rolled slightly, both wounded and knocked
by the abruptness and accuracy of the hit upon their weak points.
And as they rolled, the last of the massive gravity waves exerted
by the opening of the new portal cascaded down upon the planet
Trill, shattering the tectonic plants, causing magma to spew out
from the molten core, and slowly causing the planet to tear
itself apart.
* * * * *
Many had perished in the destruction, and as the planet continued
to tear itself to pieces, quite literally ripping into fragments,
two silent Independence's rolled end over end not too high above...
=/\=
Scene: USS Independence
Engineering crews struggled to get the primary systems back
online before the enemy could. Ultimately, it was a race against
themselves, only the losing side would lose everything.
Luckily the artificial gravity was still in place, and Scott
stood on the bridge, quietly contemplating their dilemma. A few
Engineering personnel worked at the console, attempting to re-route
power around affected systems.
Suddenly it clicked. Although the primary systems control
propulsion and weapons, that was NOT what they needed.
"Captain - request the Engineering teams shift priorities to
the secondary systems, Sir." Scott requested.
Captain Morris and Commander Daran both looked a little horrified
as they looked at Commander Deadilus.
"The tractor beam, Sir - It's all we need for now."
Scott replied to their unasked questions.
"Captain Morris to all Engineering crew. Shift repair
priorities to secondary systems." He relayed to the crew.
Slowly the seconds ticked by as, on both ships, Engineers worked
hard to re-route the secondary systems to main power relays.
And, on the USS Independence, those connections were made those
few crucial seconds earlier.
"Engaging tractor beam!" Scott called out.
The viewscreen in front showed the blue beam latching on to the
Mirror Universe Independence. But the polarity was reversed,
pushing the Mirror Universe versions of themselves unto almost
certain death into the gravity well of the now-destroyed Planet
Trill, as they themselves were slowly pushed clear and towards
the recently created doorway.
Unpowered, the ship floated through space, slowly crossing the
distance between the planet below and the portal above. And as
the Engineers proceeded to restore primary power, Scott beamed
the modified probe out into space, a small timer slowly counting
down towards their escape...
=/\=
Scene: Our Universe
The second portal had opened up closer to the planet Trill, but
the gravitational waves had been less pronounced that those of
the first.
Only a few hours after it opened, the USS Independence emerged,
damaged but intact, only seconds before the portal closed.
And, in a final feeling of deja vu, Scott proceeded to beam the
second modified probe out into space nearer to the original
portal, hopefully closing it forever...
===========================
Commander Scott Deadilus
Chief Science Officer
USS Independence
Scott_Deadilus@ntlworld.com
===========================
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