Yet another wormhole-based crossover fanfic...
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 12:22 pm
Yet another wormhole-based crossover fanfic...
(Not to be confused with Yet Another Fantasy Gaming Comic.)
Since it's been a little while since the author of a VS debate website started a bad crossover fanfic starting with an unimaginative wormhole connecting the two universes, and it was a new year, I decided I'd launch one. Now starring your opinions. Since mine, well, surely they'd make for a boring story.
Episode 01: Gateway
Names are courtesy of random name generators everywhere.
Beta Quadrant, neutral territory. Bridge of the U.S.S. Cheron
"Sensors are reading gravimetric fluctuations at one four seven mark three five two, half a parsec off. I'm... not sure what to make of it, sir. Readings are anomalies. I'm picking up a Hawking signature, but there's no singularity event horizon. Boundaries are defined... it looks like a stable phenomenon, although it has a high proper motion. Highly energetic." An ensign manning the science board looked nervous, like a freshman cadet taking a practical exam during an admiral's tour of the Academy. Difficult to believe she was twenty five standard years old and an old hand with gravimetric anomalies, even if new to Starfleet.
"Ms. Hoop, could it be a wormhole?" The captain's detached expression concealed intent interest - and concern. No stable wormhole had yet been discovered in Federation space; discovering one this deep in the Empire's sphere of influence would pose a dilemma, especially given their mission. However, it wouldn't hurt to detour a light year or two off course and take a closer look.
"Can't tell, sir. We'd need a full scan at a much closer range, and we might not be sure even then. That's the thing about anomalies, sir; no telling what they really are until you study them a bit."
"Mr. Hoq, set a course for the anomaly. Ms. Hoop, would you report to Engineering to help them prepare a probe? You have more experience with gravimetric anomalies than anyone else on board, I'm afraid." Captain Robinson frowned.
"Aye, sir," chorused the petite human and the lanky saurian, as Captain Robinson moved to the science board to have a look at the anomaly himself.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
"Captain Zhet? No sign of that freighter, but one of the fighter patrols has found something. It's... well..." The lieutenant shifted from foot to foot nervously, like a child with a full bladder in a house full of strangers. "Strange."
Hours later, Captain Zhet looked out of his window at the swirling ... thing. Nobody could tell him what it was, or what it could do; it looked like a hole to nowhere. It probably was a hole to nowhere. They'd sent an unmanned fighter through the middle of the brilliant swirling disks; it flared brighter, then vanished. He'd sent a message back to Coruscant, but for now, it was a mysterious, floating... thing. Anomaly, if you liked the scientific term.
A thousand light years from Corellia - but not along the good hyperspace lanes, it was going to be days before reinforcements arrived. Until then, one Captain Molan Zhet would be cooling his heels and wondering why the admiral had sent him such a terse, uninformative reply and ordered him to abandon pursuit of the missing freighter. No accounting for the priorities back at headquarters - when was investigating spatial anomalies a priority?
A sudden flare of light from the anomaly left Molan blinking, and the ship shuddered under his feet, a fluctuation in artificial gravity rolling his stomach. What was that?
Back in the Beta Quadrant:
Commander Shovas paced on the bridge. "Launch the probe," he said.
"Launching probe, sir."
"Forty thousand kilometers... thirty thousand... gravimetric flux is increasing. Probe has entered the anomaly... I've lost the data stream. If this is a navigable wormhole -" The dark circles under Ensign Hoop's eyes disappeared as her eyes widened in shock and a flare of light consumed the ship.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Molan was out of breath when he reached the main bridge of the Judgment. He thanked the designers who put the captain's quarters near the bridge of the Republic attack cruiser - no, he corrected himself, the Imperial attack cruiser - no, Star Destroyer, that was the term now. His breath completely caught, he straightened his jacket.
"Report! What's going on?"
"Sir! The anomaly's flare temporarily blinded our sensors. It temporarily doubled in size, we think, from the peak readings - when it died back down, well, this ship was there." Zhet couldn't recall the name of the lieutenant addressing him. He tried to keep the names of the bridge crew straight, but the rapid expansion of the Navy meant a lot of turnover between tours.
He couldn't recognize the holographic ship, either. Maybe he was losing it. Time to put in for a medical leave of absence. “Not the freighter we were looking for earlier,†he said leadingly.
"Not anything in the database, sir. Not anything near, by a wide margin."
Good. He wasn't losing his mind.
"It's half a kilometer long, almost a third of a kilometer across the circular part.†The lieutenant was brisk and informative. “The thrusters are amazingly small, if those are even thrusters. It hasn't moved since we spotted it. I'm not sure if it can do any more than just keep station."
"Do we have any flights out on patrol? No?" He motioned to another officer. This one he recognized - Commander Garnik. “Commander, I want a fighter squadron out there behind it five minutes ago. Helm! Take us closer. I don't want that thing to vanish into hyperspace. Warm up the tractor beams. Have we hailed them?"
Commander Garnik turned away from the junior officer he'd just passed the task of coordinating a fighter launch and shook his head. "Not yet, sir."
Captain Zhet frowned. "Start trying."
On board the bridge of the U.S.S. Cheron:
The red-alert sirens were blaring. "Damage report!" Shovas gripped the rail.
"Warp core is off-line. Structural integrity fields are holding just fine. Sensors were down, but they're coming back online."
Shovas rubbed an ear. "Computer, reduce alert status to yellow." The sirens muted. "And what are sensors showing us? Ensign?"
Ensign Hoop shook her head. "We're a long way from home, sir. I'm not sure where we are."
Shovas sighed patiently. "Run an astrometrics check."
"Sir. Nothing's matching yet. Not the planets, not the stars, not even the galaxies. We're -" She cut herself off. "Sir, I'm picking up a ship. It's a big one, over a kilometer long and twenty four million tons. Picking up a heavy ion trail. It's accelerating towards us at thirty gravities and they're charging up something."
"Onscreen." Shovas walked around and seated himself in the command chair. "Mr. Toner, see if you can open a channel with them." That ship is eight times as massive as the Cheron, and I'll eat my antennae if that's not a keel-built warship. "And get me Engineering."
Can our brave heroes make contact with the bizarre aliens from another dimension? Will Ensign Hoop fall asleep at her post? Will Captain Zhet drink a poisoned cup of coffee? Find out in the next installment!
(Not to be confused with Yet Another Fantasy Gaming Comic.)
Since it's been a little while since the author of a VS debate website started a bad crossover fanfic starting with an unimaginative wormhole connecting the two universes, and it was a new year, I decided I'd launch one. Now starring your opinions. Since mine, well, surely they'd make for a boring story.
Episode 01: Gateway
Names are courtesy of random name generators everywhere.
Beta Quadrant, neutral territory. Bridge of the U.S.S. Cheron
"Sensors are reading gravimetric fluctuations at one four seven mark three five two, half a parsec off. I'm... not sure what to make of it, sir. Readings are anomalies. I'm picking up a Hawking signature, but there's no singularity event horizon. Boundaries are defined... it looks like a stable phenomenon, although it has a high proper motion. Highly energetic." An ensign manning the science board looked nervous, like a freshman cadet taking a practical exam during an admiral's tour of the Academy. Difficult to believe she was twenty five standard years old and an old hand with gravimetric anomalies, even if new to Starfleet.
"Ms. Hoop, could it be a wormhole?" The captain's detached expression concealed intent interest - and concern. No stable wormhole had yet been discovered in Federation space; discovering one this deep in the Empire's sphere of influence would pose a dilemma, especially given their mission. However, it wouldn't hurt to detour a light year or two off course and take a closer look.
"Can't tell, sir. We'd need a full scan at a much closer range, and we might not be sure even then. That's the thing about anomalies, sir; no telling what they really are until you study them a bit."
"Mr. Hoq, set a course for the anomaly. Ms. Hoop, would you report to Engineering to help them prepare a probe? You have more experience with gravimetric anomalies than anyone else on board, I'm afraid." Captain Robinson frowned.
"Aye, sir," chorused the petite human and the lanky saurian, as Captain Robinson moved to the science board to have a look at the anomaly himself.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
"Captain Zhet? No sign of that freighter, but one of the fighter patrols has found something. It's... well..." The lieutenant shifted from foot to foot nervously, like a child with a full bladder in a house full of strangers. "Strange."
Hours later, Captain Zhet looked out of his window at the swirling ... thing. Nobody could tell him what it was, or what it could do; it looked like a hole to nowhere. It probably was a hole to nowhere. They'd sent an unmanned fighter through the middle of the brilliant swirling disks; it flared brighter, then vanished. He'd sent a message back to Coruscant, but for now, it was a mysterious, floating... thing. Anomaly, if you liked the scientific term.
A thousand light years from Corellia - but not along the good hyperspace lanes, it was going to be days before reinforcements arrived. Until then, one Captain Molan Zhet would be cooling his heels and wondering why the admiral had sent him such a terse, uninformative reply and ordered him to abandon pursuit of the missing freighter. No accounting for the priorities back at headquarters - when was investigating spatial anomalies a priority?
A sudden flare of light from the anomaly left Molan blinking, and the ship shuddered under his feet, a fluctuation in artificial gravity rolling his stomach. What was that?
Back in the Beta Quadrant:
Commander Shovas paced on the bridge. "Launch the probe," he said.
"Launching probe, sir."
"Forty thousand kilometers... thirty thousand... gravimetric flux is increasing. Probe has entered the anomaly... I've lost the data stream. If this is a navigable wormhole -" The dark circles under Ensign Hoop's eyes disappeared as her eyes widened in shock and a flare of light consumed the ship.
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...
Molan was out of breath when he reached the main bridge of the Judgment. He thanked the designers who put the captain's quarters near the bridge of the Republic attack cruiser - no, he corrected himself, the Imperial attack cruiser - no, Star Destroyer, that was the term now. His breath completely caught, he straightened his jacket.
"Report! What's going on?"
"Sir! The anomaly's flare temporarily blinded our sensors. It temporarily doubled in size, we think, from the peak readings - when it died back down, well, this ship was there." Zhet couldn't recall the name of the lieutenant addressing him. He tried to keep the names of the bridge crew straight, but the rapid expansion of the Navy meant a lot of turnover between tours.
He couldn't recognize the holographic ship, either. Maybe he was losing it. Time to put in for a medical leave of absence. “Not the freighter we were looking for earlier,†he said leadingly.
"Not anything in the database, sir. Not anything near, by a wide margin."
Good. He wasn't losing his mind.
"It's half a kilometer long, almost a third of a kilometer across the circular part.†The lieutenant was brisk and informative. “The thrusters are amazingly small, if those are even thrusters. It hasn't moved since we spotted it. I'm not sure if it can do any more than just keep station."
"Do we have any flights out on patrol? No?" He motioned to another officer. This one he recognized - Commander Garnik. “Commander, I want a fighter squadron out there behind it five minutes ago. Helm! Take us closer. I don't want that thing to vanish into hyperspace. Warm up the tractor beams. Have we hailed them?"
Commander Garnik turned away from the junior officer he'd just passed the task of coordinating a fighter launch and shook his head. "Not yet, sir."
Captain Zhet frowned. "Start trying."
On board the bridge of the U.S.S. Cheron:
The red-alert sirens were blaring. "Damage report!" Shovas gripped the rail.
"Warp core is off-line. Structural integrity fields are holding just fine. Sensors were down, but they're coming back online."
Shovas rubbed an ear. "Computer, reduce alert status to yellow." The sirens muted. "And what are sensors showing us? Ensign?"
Ensign Hoop shook her head. "We're a long way from home, sir. I'm not sure where we are."
Shovas sighed patiently. "Run an astrometrics check."
"Sir. Nothing's matching yet. Not the planets, not the stars, not even the galaxies. We're -" She cut herself off. "Sir, I'm picking up a ship. It's a big one, over a kilometer long and twenty four million tons. Picking up a heavy ion trail. It's accelerating towards us at thirty gravities and they're charging up something."
"Onscreen." Shovas walked around and seated himself in the command chair. "Mr. Toner, see if you can open a channel with them." That ship is eight times as massive as the Cheron, and I'll eat my antennae if that's not a keel-built warship. "And get me Engineering."
Can our brave heroes make contact with the bizarre aliens from another dimension? Will Ensign Hoop fall asleep at her post? Will Captain Zhet drink a poisoned cup of coffee? Find out in the next installment!