Topic: ST: Tigermoth - Return Of The Andromedans

[Commander La'ra]

I jokingly comment about an old superstition and Andy answers with a long explanation about how he imagined it happening.

...

Dude, there is no one on this planet quite like you.

Suggestion:  Have other people call her the 'Woody'.*shifts his eyes about suspiciously*

[Scottish Andy]

Thanks for the suggestion, Larry. I think I'll use both. The weird, anal engineers who put her together will use the "Beans" nickname and it will be seldom heard, maybe in the Engineering Dept. and the more "normal" human Fleeties will use "Woody".

[James Smith]

Smithy, shift patterns and all the silly anal stuff like that is what I waste my time on instead of actually writing stories.    Don't bother with it, your stories are perfectly fine "in the finest tradition of..." stories without such details, and if you'll note, you have a lot more fiction out here than I do. 

Well, I still think I'll set the times in stone for when my main characters are on duty. Even if I don't show the other shifts.

As for the stardate, you are right about the year. That was my mistake. I've corrected it above, but it should have been stardate 54308.5.
As for your unusual day and month, my system uses the generally accepted (I thought) system of 1000 stardates = 1 Terran year, and so stardate 54000.0 is midnight on 1st January 2377. Stardate 54999.99 is 11:53pm om 31st December 2377. It does mean that every season cliffhanger happens over New Year, but... *shrugs*
What system do you use?

I use this calculator.

Yeah, I'm glad you like the "Beans".    As I said to Larry, I'll not explain it now. People who get it will get it. Those who don't will just have to wonder.

As for tying in with the Tiggy's history... when do you have the Valiant built, and when do you have the Tigermoth built? The whole point of my story here is that Starfleet will be re-building these ships to make up for losses in the Dominion War. If we're too far out of whack I guess I'll forgo the direct connection to your ship but keep it anyway and chalk it up as a Berman Inconsistency. 

Valiant was built sometime prior to 2377 during the Dominion War, Tigermoth-A being built towards the end of that year/start of 2378. Smithy had done some consulting work on her refit, and when the original Tigermoth (Saber class) was destroyed in the "Vengeance" story arc (still being written) the vessel was named in her honour. She was giong to have a different (new) registry number, but Harriman got permission to tack an A on the old one. During the ISC, Imperial and Gatrellian conflicts she was the sole ship of her class in service with TacFleet, but that doesn't mean there weren't any more around due to the way OSF operates. The galaxy is a big place after all - plenty of places other ships could be while all the excitement is happening in the Alpha Quadrant.

At any rate, the build order I have right now is as follows:

USS Valiant - OSF - 2375ish
USS Tigermoth-A - Starfleet - 2377/2378, further refits since
USS Tempest - Starfleet - 2394, to same specs as Tigermoth-A
USS Typhoon - Starfleet - 2395, to same specs as 'Moth and Tempest.

There are a few more hulls left. Take out one for Beans....I'd reckon that there are two, maybe three more useable hulls (the other ships would have been scrapped, stuck in museums, used in weapons tests etc). I want to write in a heavier version at some point called Lancaster, but that may end up as a refitted Federation class DN 

[Governor Ronjar]

One major thing I loved about the log entries on Enterprise....

...no damn stardates.

Just the Earth Date and a year affixed. Much clearer.

And yeah, I loved blasting my wingmen. You tell anybody about my base defense technique on Aces High II?

--thu guv!

[Scottish Andy]

So, any chance of a new chapter on this story? (sorry for high-jacking your thread, Smithy...)

[James Smith]

So, any chance of a new chapter on this story? (sorry for high-jacking your thread, Smithy...)

Eh, maybe. Got some work to finish up, but once I've got that out of the way I might do some writing tonight.

As for hijacking the thread - not a problem. Most of the hijacking was semi-on-topic anyway!

[KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.]

Glad to see you're still writing, Smithy.

Now that you are, maybe we should sit down and hammer out the details of this collaboration thingy.

[James Smith]

Glad to see you're still writing, Smithy.

Now that you are, maybe we should sit down and hammer out the details of this collaboration thingy.

Good point, we should. I PM'd you the rough timeline I had a while back didn't it? I can't honestly remember 

***********

Chapter 4 - Stage Left (part 4)

***********
Antares Shipyard Command Post
28th March 2395
1056hrs EST
Conference Room 1A


Harrison watched a steady stream of officers enter the room. The conversations were typical Starfleet - bragging about the performance of their ships in the recent combat, some wrangling over who was next in line for repairs. The usual nonsense. I'll be glad when Special Operations takes over the entire fleet.

Smithy walked into the room, absently playing with the pair of isolinear chips he held in his hand. "Dave, your data."

"Thanks Smithy." Harriman took the data chips from him. "Everything completed on the 'Moth?"

"Checked on her yesterday morning, the diagnostic found about four hundred things wrong. Orlatrel has his teams back on the job today sorting it all out. Should be done sometime this afternoon."

Harriman glanced at the clock on the wall. "You sure you want to talk about that incident?"

"Everyone has to know. We haven't seen the Andromedans bring their full force out yet."

Harriman frowned. "Have you seen anything?"

"Nothing I can make sense of yet. But....I will do, it's important. If I think about it, I'll never work it out. If I ignore it, it'll click." He turned as Lisa arrived. "Hi hon."

"Hey. You ready?"

"Yeah."

Everyone took their seats. Harriman looked around the table. A lot of captains and officers present, and more on the end of the comm. link that was broadcasting the briefing. "I've asked you all here to listen to the details of the last encounter Starfleet had with an Andromedan vessel. Smithy?"

Smithy closed his eyes for a couple of seconds, steeling himself. Then he began speaking. "On stardate 33052.2, the USS Excaulibur was investigating some strange readings near the Barrier Zone. Starfleet had lost a scout vessel, the USS Feynman, in this sector a few weeks ago, and we were the closest vessel able to investigate...."

***********
USS Excalibur NCC 26517
June 12th 2355
1030hrs EST
Bridge

"Regulations specifically state that-"

"Bollocks to the regulation Bob."

"You will not talk to me in that manner Smith!"

Smithy sighed, wondering what he'd done in a previous life to deserve this. Captain Robert Metcalf stood before him, a symbol of everything Smithy found wrong with the way Starfleet was going - a captain who could quote the rulebook off by heart but who had no idea what to do when the situation was outside of that rulebook's experience. "Bob, that is a twelth power energy field out there! If we take this ship anywhere near it we stand a good chance of something bad happening."

Metcalf snorted derisively. "'Something bad'. And yet you refuse to give me anything specific, beyond your usual mumbo-jumbo about 'seeing something'." He sat back down. "What makes you right and the computer wrong?"

"The computer is only as good as the person who programmed it. Energy fields like this aren't exactly common."

Metcalf shook his head. "Get back down to Main Engineering. I want full power on all sensor and scanner systems, engines and shields."

"You're going to have to compromise on something. We're still running with a cracked dilithium crystal thanks to that business last week."

"That will do, commander!" Metcalf reddened, remembering the incident that lead to that damage. Still, it wasn't like it was his fault! If his crew would just do what he wanted, rather than what they claimed was possible! And Starfleet saddle me with a chief engineer who refuses to grant me any respect. "You have your orders."

"Aye aye captain sir!" Smithy mockingly saluted, and stomped off towards the turbolift. He paused next to the communications station, and leaned in to the ensign on duty. "Keep an open line. If anything happens, I want to know instantly."

"Yes sir. Channel 2 will be open."

***********

Engine Room


*CRUNCH*

Everyone kept their eyes rivetted on what they were doing. Even the recent additions to the crew knew when to stay out of the chief engineer's way, and when he was punching bulkheads that time was now. Very few people could approach him when he was in this kind of mood.

Orlatrel was one of them. Deliberately keeping his voice even and low, he stood facing his CO's back. "Went that well?"

"Yeah." Smithy swung around to face him. "Can you give me a couple of minutes to calm down?"

"Sure thing." Orlatrel turned, and cleared his throat. "Alright people, we'll be heading into the middle of hell quite soon. Baker team, concentrate on shield systems. We need them above everything else. King team, you're on engines."

"Evans, remember that the port impulse packs are a bit scorched." Smithy had just about recovered his composure. "Everyone else, you're on power management and damage control. Hopefully we won't need too much of the latter." He knew that it was a forlorn hope. Ever since Metcalf had taken command of the ship Smithy had seen his worload triple. Some of it was down to the fact that they were exploring way out in uncharted space, but most of it was down to the idiot in the centre chair. Smithy had seen four young engineers lose their lives on this deep space mission. Sure, danger is part of the job. Sure, they signed up for that danger. But no-one signs up to be commanded by a complete moron. "Orlatrel."

Sensing this was going to be a private conversation, Orlatrel moved to stand up close with him. "Sir?"

Smithy looked up at him. "I'm...going to request a transfer off the Excalibur."

Orlatrel was momentarily thrown by that. "You're....you're certain that you want to do that?"

"I'm certain. There's a guy I taught a few classes at the Academy, he's about to get his first command. We talked last week, after....you know. Anyway, he's put in a request that if I become available, he'd like me to join him. And Bob isn't going to stand in the way of me getting off this ship....hell, he'd be overjoyed at me leaving. The point is, Starfleet would then ask you to be chief engineer."

"And if I don't want to be?"

Smithy raised an eyebrow at that. "You don't?"

Orlatrel looked around the room. "I'm learning a lot from you. I'd like to continue learning from you." He shook his head. "Reckon you know any ships that would have me?"

"I might." Smithy listened to the background chatter coming from the bridge. "Well, hang on. Sure hope I'm wrong about this."

***********
Antares Shipyard Command Post
28th March 2395
1118hrs EST
Conference Room 1A

"And I wasn't." Smithy paused, remembering the utter chaos as if it was yesterday. "The ship entered the region, and began a standard search pattern looking for the Feynman. We had completed most of that pattern, when sensors picked up a vast energy flux off our starboard bow...."

***********
USS Excalibur
June 12th 2355
1123hrs EST
Engine Room


Everyone fought to stay on their feet. The ship rumbled and shook underneath them, protesting at the treatment. And suddenly, all was calm again.

"Everyone okay?" Smithy let go of the rail, flexing his fingers to get the blood flowing again. "Damage report."

Orlatrel glanced at the System Monitor screens. "Nothing reported in. Nothing new, anyway."

"Bridge, you mind telling me what that little lot was in aid of?"

"Stand-by, sir. Ops is currently trying to ascertain our position-"

"Position? Ensign, pipe the data feed from sensors down here." Smithy scanned the readouts. "Wormhole. Son of a....I told him, I f*cking told him!"

Orlatrel leaned over him. "According to this, we've jumped past the Barrier. Quite a way past in fact."

Smithy shook his head. "I hate it when I'm right...." He listened intently to the voices from the bridge. "Right, looks like we'll be here for a few minutes while the wormhole re-aligns itself. Definitely not a natural one....these energy patterns are far too regular. Doesn't match anything on file though."

***********
Bridge


"How long, lieutenant?"

"Around five minutes captain. The wormhole is beginning to re-align, we'll be able to follow it back then. It definitely is a manufactured one, judging by our readings."

Metcalf frowned. "Who would have the ability to create something like that? And what happened to the Feynman, are we picking up any sign of her out here?"

"Nothing on SRS sir, widening to LRS...." The lietenant studied her board. "Contact with a ship sir, moving at warp speed. Signature doesn't match anything on file."

Metcalf frowned. "Probably just some problem with the sensors. It must be the Feynman, what else would be out here? Helm, set a course over to the ship, warp speed. Ensign, hail them."

"No response sir."

"Try again." Metcalf returned his attention to Ops. "Are they in visual range yet?"

"Aye sir, they changed course to intercept us. Entering SRS range now and slowing to impulse."

"Helm slow to impulse. Onscreen." Metcalf stood, staring. "What....what is that?"

The ship filled the screen, it's distinctly alien lines nothing like the crew had ever seen. The lieutenant at Ops began checking her board. "Definitely matches nothing on file." He stiffened as the console began a shrill beeping. "Sir, reading power fluctuations from the vessel. It reads like-"

She didn't get a chance to complete the sentence. A large bolt of light lanced out from the vessel, straight at the Excalibur.

***********
Engine room

Alarms rang out, flames and sparks shooting out of the equipment lining the walls. Engineers fought to stay on their feet, fought to stay at their posts. It was a battle few of them were winning. Even throughout all the simulations at the Academy, even throughout all the incidents they'd faced before, nothing had ever happened quite like this. Smoke filled the room, the lights dimming as the power grid struggled to cope under the sudden onslaught.

A voice boomed out over all the noise, all the chaos. "Team leaders, report!" Smithy emerged from the gloom, wiping blood from a cut on his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket before discarding it. "Seppowitz!"

"Warp drive is disabled sir! Port nacelle shows as offline!" Seppowitz glanced across at his team's monitors. "I think we took a shot to the port pylon!"

"T'Pon, impulse engine status."

The Vulcan woman's voice was impressively controlled for the situation, but had a definite hint of emotion to it. "Power relays are struggling to maintain their link. Impulse engine efficiency down 32.6%!"

"Alright, everyone report in to the repair teams. Lets get some control back on things. Orlatrel."

"Sir?"

"Take over, I've got to get to the bridge."

***********
Bridge


Smithy stepped out of the turbolift, hastily moving out of the way to allow the medical team to rush around. "Someone want to give me a quick summary of how f*cked we are?" He saw Metcalf on the floor. "Oh, well....things aren't so bad. Bob's getting a chance to catch up on all that lost sleep he's given us." He made his way down to Tactical. "You'll be getting power for shields in a few seconds if I taught Orlatrel well. As soon as you're nominal, get them up. Ops, what do we know about that ship out there?"

"Not much sir. I didn't get chance to scan them too deeply before the attack, and I've lost most of the sensor array now."

Smithy shook his head. "We really have got problems, haven't we? Alright, new plan. I need the warp entry program for single nacelle flight implemented. My people have enough to do right now, so you've got the job. There's a basic program in the library, it'll need editing to take into account our mass, our cracked dilithium crystal and the fact that we don't have full hull integrity by any stretch. Get on it."

"Aye sir."

"Tactical."

"Shields are up sir. The vessel backed off after firing at us, but it's moving in again. We don't have weapons power at all, not even torpedoes."

"Yeah, the power relays took a battering. Torpedoes are the priority, you'll get them soon hopefully." Smithy stepped down to the helm. "Go get that arm seen to lieutenant." He took a couple of seconds to familiarise himself with the control layout. "Damn sight different to the last ship I flew." He thumbed the intercom tie-in. "Engine room."

"Orlatrel here."

"We're going to need torpedoes. Can you spare anyone to reset the power relays?"

"Have someone on it already. Warp drive stands ready once you have the new program in the computer. I've got everyone trying to keep what we have left together."

"Good, you're doing a grand job of it. Stay on the line." Smithy glanced over at Tactical. "Soon as you get power, fire at will."

"Aye sir. Forward tubes are charging now."

"Ops."

The lieutenant turned. "Programming. It's taking a while sir, I'm not sure if-"

"It's alright, the computer is just a bit overloaded right now. Too much going on, not enough processor time to allocate. Let me know as soon as you have it." His attention was caught by the viewscreen. "Never thought I'd be so happy to see a photon torpedo."

The torpedoes struck the enemy ship, which banked off to avoid further fire. Smithy watch one of it's aft weapon nodes light up. "Everyone brace!"

The impact wasn't quite as bad as the previous one, but it still left everyone fighting to keep working. Smithy tied into the second comm channel. "Mack, Mack you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. But I'm not going to be for much longer if we keep this up."

"How many?"

Doctor Mackenzie's voice softened, knowing how much his friend hated moments like this. "We've lost eight. Another seventy are seriously injured, many more with less threatening injuries."

Smithy closed his eyes. Eight. Damn it. This isn't right, this shouldn't happen. "Alright Mack, look after them. Orlatrel, we're getting ready to go back to warp. Keep her together."

"We'll do our best."

"Ops?"

"Program ready sir!"

Smithy stabbed at the control panel. "Warp speed now."

Everyone felt the ship struggle into warp, the one working nacelle almost stalling under the load being asked of it. Smithy glanced over at Tactical. "Are they following?"

"Yes sir. We got the jump on them a bit, but they'll overtake us in one minute."

"That's alright, we're only 55 seconds away from the wormhole." Smithy glanced around as the medical team finally got Metcalf loaded onto a stretcher. "Make sure he doesn't get a bed."

***********
Antares Shipyard Command Post
28th March 2395
1142hrs EST
Conference Room 1A

"We made it to the wormhole just ahead of the ship, and got back through. The vessel didnt follow. Once back on our side, we spotted something....a data log buoy from the Feynman. She'd gone through the same wormhole, and had been attacked by the same vessel and boarded. The Feynman's commander confirmed that the vessel was Andromedan....no-one knows what happened to the ship or crew after the buoy was jettisoned back into the wormhole and into Federation space."

He paused for a moment, thinking back. "As I said before, eight people were killed pretty much instantly. Of the seventy seriously injured people, twelve didn't make it. We went back over our sensor logs at the time....our photon torpedoes barely did anything to their shields. One bolt from them, our shield power dropped by about half. Our technology has moved on, but as we saw in the last encounter even our newest ships are still having a hard time of it. Ghelev?"

Ghelev nodded. "The SOD force that joined up with you suffered massive losses. Our engineers are currently working with Starfleet to get more of our ships ready."

Harrison frowned at that. "Is the President aware that Starfleet engineers are working on Special Operations ships?"

"No, but I'm sure he will be soon." Smithy rubbed at the ache in his knee. "Harrison, those ships that SOD have promised to be the next greatest thing in defence are not remotely ready. Half of them shouldn't have ever left the drawing board in their current form. They're underpowered, overgunned and more dangerous to the crew operating them than to any opposing vessel. They're lemons. At least with Starfleet engineers and Starfleet facilities we stand a chance at getting some of them into useable condition. If our great and glorious President doesn't like that, then he's more than welcome to come and explain his position to me. But he shouldn't be surprised if he ends up knocked down on his arse nursing a bruised jaw."

***********
***********

Not quite happy with it, but at least it gets something posted.

[KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.]

Nice part, Smithy. I like how you spliced the flashback with the rest of the story.

And yes, you did PM me that timeline.

[James Smith]

Nice part, Smithy. I like how you spliced the flashback with the rest of the story.

And yes, you did PM me that timeline.

Cheers K-Fo. Would you mind PMing it back to me? Think I deleted it 

[KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.]

Ask and ye shall receive, Smithy. Check your PMs.

[James Smith]

Ask and ye shall receive, Smithy. Check your PMs.

Ta muchly.

Currently working on April and May, if the world willl leave me along for a while on Monday I might actually get some more writing finished up this week! PMed you back.

[Governor Ronjar]

Ah, the Excalibur. Pre-MacCalahan or whatever his name was days...

Nice touch.

Once I'm done with my current running plot line, I was thinking with some wormhole usage...

Anyway

Bravo!

--thu guv!

[James Smith]

***********

Chapter 5 - The Approaching Storm (part 1)

***********
USS Tigermoth-A
4th April 2395
1002hrs EST
Captain's Quarters


"Captain's Log, stardate 71121.2. The Tigermoth is currently on her way to Jupiter Station to assist with the trial runs of some of the new SOD ships. Ordinarily I'd rather jump out of an airlock sans spacesuit, but since Dave asked so nicely...." Smithy paused the recording a second, something nagging at him that he couldn't quite grab hold of. "Hopefully I shall be proven wrong, and these new ships will perform well. Something tells me that I'm not going to be wrong though."

He switched off the terminal, and gazed out of the window. The familiar white streaks of warp flight weren't there, replaced by the red of transwarp. Smithy still wasn't used to that. He'd lived many years with transwarp being the almost legendary pipe dream, the name you'd club Starfleet R&D over the head with whenever you wanted to remind them that they weren't all that clever. Then the Gatrellian war happened, and while Smithy had been missing in that wormhole the entire galaxy changed. Transwarp opened up so many exploration possibilities, and what was it being used for? Getting to battles quicker. Maybe Kieran had the right idea. Leave Starfleet, go home and let other people risk their lives instead. Trouble is....where is home?

Having no official planet of birth or residence drove Starfleet's paper pushers crazy, and Smithy knew it. He hadn't been born on a planet - he'd been born on a starship, and the system couldn't cope with that. Most parents usually listed their home planet as the place of birth in those cases, but Robert and Kate Smith had never gotten around to it after finally being told it wasn't possible to list their son's birthplace as the Enterprise-B. He didn't have a home on a planet either - virtually all officers had property on a planet somewhere that they could call home, Smithy didn't. Of the rest, they at least had an apartment on a station or starbase somewhere, Smithy didn't. Leave was usually spent doing something or visiting someone, so he'd never found the need to have a place of his own somewhere.

He heard the door open, watching Lisa's reflection in the window. "We about there?"

"Few more minutes before we secure from transwarp." Lisa dropped onto the couch next to him. "Listen, I was scanning through the paperwork Starfleet sent."

"Rather you than me. Anything remotely interesting?"

"A few. Crew transfers. Apparently Captain T'Pos has been making a play for some of our people."

Smithy shook his head grinning. "She does like to play dirty. The only female Vulcan I've ever known who has truly mastered the art of being a complete bitch. Who's she after?"

"Riggs, for one."

The grin was replaced by a scowl. "She can go suck a photon torpedo if she thinks she's going to get Riggs transferred." A thought struck him. "She doesn't want a transfer does she? I mean, it's slightly hazardous duty being on a ship like this. I wouldn't blame her for wanting to leave."

"Nah, talked to her already. T'Pos contacted her, was told no, and went ahead to try and transfer her anyway."

"Where is the USS Fox at the moment? I wouldn't mind a word with the captain about her recruitment policy."

"Fortunately for her, well away from us right now. Out on the Barrier Patrol, sector 18 I think."

"Very fortunately for her." Smithy got up, grabbing his uniform jacket. "Coming to watch the show? There's every chance that it'll be a glorious failure."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. Got a bet going with Captain Mirra of the Ariel, she's convinced that this is going to go smoothly."

***********
1028hrs EST
Bridge


"Right, what's on?" Smithy stepped out of the turbolift with Lisa and immediately headed for the Communications console.

Riggs looked up from her board. "SpecOps ship USS Dragon is about to leave dock, they don't have her up to full power yet but are going to try it as soon as they're clear."

Smithy nodded. "Well, I do hope we don't get any fireworks." He glanced over at the Operations console bank. "Winchester, how many medical and repair ships are in the immediate area?"

Winchester scanned his readouts. "Quite a few sir. We expecting trouble?"

"Better to assume the worst. Still, unless things really have gotten bad I doubt we'll have anything catastrophic. Bit worried that they haven't taken the Dragon up to full power yet though." He sat i nhis chair and thumbed the intercom. "Engine room."

"Orlatrel here."

"What d'you know about USS Dragon?"

"Lizard class heavy destroyer, brand new design that hasn't seen a whole lot of simulator time. Beyond that....it's a Special Operations ship, so the technical journals haven't been able to divulge many details."

"Alright, thanks." Smithy closed the connection, and turned to Lisa. "Something is up. That ship should have been powered up fully while in dock. Hell, when the 'Moth was first built we put overload power through her warp core before even thinking about leaving Spacedock."

"Yeah, and that sure did wonders for the power grid."

"Hey, we didn't have problems with the grid until after the Imperial conflict." Smithy glanced at the main screen. "Well, here she comes. Winchester, keep a watch over her."

"Aye sir."

The view zoomed in on the Dragon as she slid forward out of the dock. Smithy grinned. "Well, despite the SOD paintwork she's a very pretty little thing."

Everyone had their eyes glued to the screen. Winchester quickly glanced at his console. "She's powering up."

Smithy held his breath. Nothing. No explosions, no fire. He sighed. "Well, glad I was wro-"

He didn't get a chance to complete that thought, as a line of explosions erupted from the primary hull of the Dragon. Lisa was immediately on her feet. "Riggs, get those repair and medical ships over here now! Winchester, full scan! Transporter room, stand by for emergency evacuation of the Dragon!"

Winchester turned from his console. "Reading massive fluctuations in their power grid, looks like they blew a whole series of relays!"

Riggs threw a look over her shoulder. "Repair ships are coming in, medical ships are standing by to co-ordinate with our transporters."

Smithy nodded. "Alright, lets get them out of there. Engine room."

"Orlatrel here. I have engineering teams standing by in Transporter Room 1. Just waiting on you."

"On my way." Smithy glanced at Lisa. "I should have seen this."

"You probably did, not like this but you definitely were concerned about it. You certainly put an awful lot of preparation in place in case of it." Lisa shook her head. "I'll update Dave, doubt SOD will be advertising the problem to Starfleet."

***********
USS Dragon SOD-792
6th April 2395
1235hrs EST
Deck 3 Section 12


Smithy levered himself back up off the deck. "Well, that was definitely the failure point judging by the damage. What was sat here on this EPS tap?"

The young SOD engineer hurriedly checked through his notes. "Uh....I believe it was a junction point for the phaser power."

Smithy frowned at that. "A phaser junction here? The phasers are on Deck Two, about five sections over. Here was the closest point?"

"Yes sir. The EPS tap near the phasers is sending power to the secondary shields."

"That doesn't make a single shred of sense." Smithy took the PADD from the engineer. "Who the hell designs a ship this way? This power grid is a complete disaster. I haven't seen anything cross-circuited and bodged together like this since the Academy." He handed the PADD back. "We were bloody lucky the entire works didn't blow." He closed off the wall panel, and tapped his comm badge. "Smith to Tigermoth."

"Here hon'."

"Are the tests progressing okay?"

"Anything but. No fires or explosions, but a number of ships are dead in space right now."

"More power grid problems?"

"Yeah, but very few things in common with where they're failing. We're currently towing one of them back to dock, starting to run short on tugs here."

Despite the situation, Smithy had to smile at that. "TacFleet's flagship, currently on tug duty dragging half-dead ships back into dock. There's something really, really wrong about that."

"Yeah, the crew are chafing at it a bit. Dave called to let you know, we're up on patrol duty from Saturday."

"That'll be a welcome change of pace. Alright, I'm finishing up here. Prepare to beam me back in a few minutes."

***********
1749hrs EST
Captain's Quarters


"Hello Dave." Lisa sipped at the cup of coffee and regarded her former captain's image on the comm link. "We're on our way back to Antares now, James is just finishing up his report."

"As bad as he expected?"

"Probably worse." Lisa sighed, shaking her head. "I know he expected problems, I don't think he was expecting things to be quite this bad though. Four people are still in critical condition from the accident on the Dragon." She turned as the door opened. "Talk of the devil." She got up and crossed to the replicator.

"Evenin' Dave." Smithy took the coffee that his wife held out to him, and sat in front of the comm terminal. Lisa dropped onto his lap. "Riggs is uploading a report to you."

"Look forward to it. So, just how screwed are we?"

"On a scale of one to ten?" Smithy thought for a second. "About nine. We'll see anyway. You should be getting an additional report from SOD themselves. They seem a bit chastened by the whole thing, I'm not sure they even considered the possibility of a failure on this scale."

"I'm not sure any of us did." Harriman turned to someone off-screen to sign a PADD. "I've got a whole bunch of meetings to sit through now. I'll talk to you when I've read through the report."

"Alright. Enjoy the meetings."

***********
***********

Little more for you.

[Scottish Andy]

Hey Smithy,

Enjoying your first-rate character interplay as always. 

Just wondering though. I know that we're supposed to be "booo!"-ing the SODs, but would they really be that incompetent? Speaking of which, their design philosophy reminds me of Rob Grant's brilliant book 'IncompetEnc'.

[James Smith]

Hey Smithy,

Enjoying your first-rate character interplay as always. 

Just wondering though. I know that we're supposed to be "booo!"-ing the SODs, but would they really be that incompetent? Speaking of which, their design philosophy reminds me of Rob Grant's brilliant book 'IncompetEnc'.

I did hesitate over having the new SOD ships perform so badly, but there is a sort-of precedent for it in the Real World™ with the Apollo CSM. With Apollo you have a craft that had over 100 seperate defects in design and construction, and it killed three astronauts with that fateful pad test. NASA and North American had to do some heavy reworking of that ship before they dared put men inside it again. On the Russian side of the space race, Soyuz 1 failed badly on it's first mission - virtually every system quitting on it when it was in orbit after a solar panel failed to deply and then the parachute failing when a landing attempt was made.

With something as complex as a warp capable starship, the potential for screwing up in similar ways over design and construction matters must be there. We had it with the Tigermoth and her power grid problems, then the phaser coolant issues. In Trek canon, we had it with the refitted Enterprise tearing space a new wormhole the first time they tried to go to warp, and then the Enterprise-A performing very poorly indeed on her first outing. Defiant - Starfleet built her and the first time they tried to use her she nearly tore herself apart due to being overpowered and overgunned.

I'll be delving deeper into the reasons why the failures happened anyway, so see how you feel about it after I've done that.

[CaptJosh]

More specifically, DS9's Defiant's IDF and SIF systems were not commensurate with the extreme amount of propulsive and weapons power she had for her size.

[James Smith]

Oooooookay, think I've left it a little too long again without checking in....

Stuff that has happened of late:

1) Bounced in and out of hospital a few times, more fun with the knee. Reckon the NHS might get it right eventually if they keep hacking away at it. It's okay though - I can have a new metal and plastic one when I'm old and doddery. Jolly good.

2) That said, I can't rag on the NHS too much. Mum's father had a stroke a little while back which he's just about recovered from thanks to the care he received at a hospital in Bury. Haven't seen him yet, but talked to him and Gran on the phone quite a bit. Going to see them for Gran's birthday in a few weeks time.

3) Work goes well. Earning enough money to live at any rate. Currently trying to buy a house, but given that a price crash could be on the horizon I'm still trying to hedge my bets on that score. If I do buy, it'll need to be a place that I could live in for a long time just in case there is a crash and I need to stay there long enough for the value to come back up.

4) I've actually written quite a lot. Unfortunately, I didn't work on this fic - instead, I worked on the "Vengeance" story arc. On the plus side, now that I've gotten a lot of very, very dark, very violent story action written I'm back on to this one so you might even see some more posted in the next few days....

[NCC-1701-V]

Well, keep up the good work, ol' chap.

And in ancticipation of my 16th birthday, I have prepared something just for you...

[spoiler]http://starfleetcommand3.filefront.com/files/Starfleet_Command_III/Ships/Andromedan;4140[/spoiler]

The Andromedan Warships for your fanfic!

[James Smith]

***********

Chapter 5 - The Approaching Storm (part 2)

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USS Tigermoth-A
15th April 2395
0910hrs EST
Bridge

"Captains log, stardate 71149.8. The Tigermoth has completed a week long patrol of the Barrier Zone, sections 12 through 15. Aside from a number of Andromedan probes attempting to fly into Federation space, all is quiet at the moment. But I feel....I know that this quiet won't last long."

Smithy stomped around the top area of the bridge, making no attempt to block out the stab of pain every time he shifted his weight onto his left leg. The pain gave his mind a focus, and he was using that focus to try and make some sense out of the myriad of images that were just floating out of reach in the back of his head. Nothing. Just the same flashes. Explosions. Pain. Death on a scale he'd never seen before. His own death. And over all of it, the image of his late 'friend', Robert Metcalf. Must be losing it. There is no way that Metcalf is involved in this. You blew the stupid bastard up, remember? Hopefully this meeting will sort my damned brain out.

He glanced over at Ops. "Are those ships arriving any time today, or do I have to start knocking some heads together?"

Winchester half-turned from his console. "Starships Daytona and Fox are about ten minutes away, sir. I think they got held up at Starbase 312, taking on equipment. My brother is posted there, he said this morning that there had been some trouble getting ships away on time."

"Some things never change" Smithy grumbled. "You collated all sensor data ready to hand over to them?"

"Yes sir. Just finishing off appending Drelkar's tactical reports on the shielding those Andromedan probes are using."

"Good. Riggs?"

Riggs spun around from her communications console. "Captain?"

"You have the bridge. Once we've transferred the patrol data to the ships, take us back to Antares. There's someone there that I need to see."

***********
Captains Quarters
16th April 2395
1350hrs EST

Lisa tossed a PADD aside, picking the next one up. The paperwork was just unending. I can see why James just refuses to do it.

Sighing, she closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them with a start. The pattern was back. She'd been seeing the same pattern in her mind, every so often for the last couple of days and had been drawing it into the computer as she remembered bits of it. Quickly, she activated the terminal and called the file up, finishing it off with what she'd just seen. What does it mean? I'm going to have to tell James....mind you, he probably knows already.

***********
Antares B II
Goltaka Garden
1520hrs EST

Smithy found the cloaked and hooded figure near the centre of the garden, sitting on a stone wall. "Thank you for coming to see me."

The figure drew back his hood, revealing the time worn face of Atrran Varek, the oldest living El Aurian. "Always a pleasure James." He returned his gaze to the trees. "I was informed of your....concerns."

"Yes." Smithy frowned. "I have nothing definite, nothing beyond...."

"Intuition." Varek turned to him. "You have intuition in these matters, and you act decisively on it. But you have been hurt, gravely hurt by him and you no longer trust that intuition."

"I find myself wondering if my insight can be relied upon when his name and his face come up. Metcalf was more than just an enemy of mine....he is....was....the enemy. Everything I stand for as a Starfleet officer, everything I stand for with the human part of my heritage...."

"And everything you stand for as a guardian of the Nexus."

"And that, as the El Aurian half of me." Smthy shook his head. "And there's more. A pattern that I keep seeing. I think my wife sees it as well."

Varek raised an eyebrow at that. "Your wife....she is human?"

"Yes. Don't look so surprised Varek, you know as well as I do that certain human minds are more than capable of seeing what I see." Smithy paused, trying to recall the pattern. "Curves and straight lines, crossing each other seemingly at random. I don't recognise it at all."

Varek stood. "It is time for me to leave. My advice James is this - you must trust your intuition in this matter. It is better to err on the side of caution, hmm? As for this pattern, perhaps like other things it will become clearer if you don't think about it too hard."

Smithy levered himself up, and extended a hand. "You realise of course, that if my insight is correct....I'm staring death right in the face."

Varek took his hand. "Yes, I know. The universe may well demand that you lay down your life to save it. And when the time comes, you'll know what you must do."

***********
1700hrs EST
Captains Quarters

Smithy walked in, sniffing the air appreciatively. "Smells good."

Lisa was pulling a couple of plates out of the replicator. "Orlatrel worked wonders on the replicator network." She sat next to him at the table. "Beef, onion and potato jalousie. Enjoy."

"I will." Smithy dug into the food. "Just like that bar on Starbase 91 makes it."

Lisa took a sip of water. "Listen, I need to tell you something."

"About that pattern you keep seeing?"

She smiled. "I'd ask how you know, but...."

"But I just do." Smithy grinned. "I've been seeing it as well."

"I drew a copy for the computer, which also doesn't recognise it. Did you ask your friend about it?"

"Varek isn't really just a friend....he's more of a godfather. And I mentioned it. I expect it means something reasonably important....I'd just love to know what."

The two finished their meal, and Smithy took the plates back to the replicator. "Can you call up that drawing on the terminal?"

He limped back over as Lisa brought up the image. "It definitely doesn't match anything in the library, it isn't even similar to anything." Lisa shook her head, and dropped down onto the sofa. "I really don't get it."

Smithy sat next to her. "Listen....I told Varek about seeing my own death."

Lisa swallowed. "And?"

"And....he noted that the universe might require me to sacrifice my life." Smithy frowned. "But I'm not ready. Once, I was. Metcalf came calling with his ultimate weapon, and I stood in his way ready to die if it meant taking him with me." He turned to Lisa. "But I can't do that now. I have you. And I will not go gentle into that good night. I will rage against all of Creation. Because I am not leaving you. Ever."

***********
***********

There you go. Little bit that I was finally semi-happy with.