By Ariel Klay and the Members of the Starship Asimov Fan Club

Word Count: Story in Progress, to be determined.

Rating: PG-13 for minor blood and sensual content

Summary: The Adventures of the Crew of Starfleet Science vessel USS Asimov. 

Chief Engineer’s Log, Stardate 8891101.5, Lieutenant Commander N’ka Gallagar, reporting: the Asimov is headed for the Alkara Sector in response to a distress call from the Aurora, which reported it is under attack. Lieutenant Twig altered Captain McCoy’s holodeck program in a drunken state so I am forced to run a low level ship wide diagnostic of its computer systems to be sure they were not affected by the altered program while Twig sobers up in sickbay. I now have three hours to prepare the ship for a rescue and possible battle.

N’ka grumbled heavily over the main engineering console in front of the warp engine, “So much lost time,” he thought, “Oh, well. Best thing to do is keep Twig as far away from me as possible for a while but still keep him useful.”

N’ka frowned as Twig sauntered up.

“You okay, Boss?”

“Twig, I have been forced to run a ship wide diagnostic of all its computer systems,” said N’ka, “Do you know why!?”

“No, Boss,” said Twig, clearly puzzled.

“Do you recall that rain shower you programed on the holodeck?”

“Wall, Boss, my memry is kinda fuzzy.”

“Well it turned into hail and it spooked the captain.”

“Oh, Ah’m sorry.”

“So she ordered a full computer diagnostic just as we are heading on a rescue mission, and possibly into battle in three hours. So instead of prepping the ship, I’ve had to clean up after your mess while you were sobering up in Sickbay!”

“Uh, oh.”

“However, amazingly, the computers appear to be fine.”

Twig sighed.

“Now, Twig, I want you to go directly to the captain in her ready room, apologize, tell her the problem is fixed and then go to the torpedo bay and be sure everything is in order down there.”

“Yes, Boss!” said Twig and he disappeared.

“All them computer seestems, thay is normal,” said the computer.

N’ka turned around, wondering why Twig got back so quickly. Seeing nothing, he looked up at the ceiling, and said “Computer, why do you sound like Lieutenant Twig?”

The computer chirped and then said, “Wall, when ya’ll did that there di-ag-nostic, Ah dun went to this here back up personalitea.”

N’ka sighed, “Computer, display all programmed personalities.”

Looking down at the console, he saw a list of the default personalities as well as computer personalities from the holodeck. The current default personality was labeled “Twig.”

“When was the Twig personality made default, computer?”

The computer chirped again and said, “’bout four hours a-gow.”

Looking down at the console, N’ka parsed the current default settings for the computer’s personality. Checking the list, he found that the personality “Twig” was the default for all interactions.”

“Where is a bat’leth when you need one, oh well,” N’ka thought, then said, thinking aloud, “What does it say about me, that I actually like this personality better than the default one.”

N’ka’s comm badge chirped, “Stevens to Gallagar, the computer is a bit, off.”

“You mean it sounds like Twig?” asked N’ka, “I know, but it seems to be functioning normally, as long as you can understand it. I’m fixing it right now.”

N’ka swore he heard the computer whimper.

“Understood, Gallagar, Stevens out.”

Going back to the console, N’ka changed all the default personalities back to default except main engineering which he left as “Twig.” Picking up his padd from a nearby table, he looked at his current check list. Checking off “run a test on computer,” he looked at the next item on the list, “check the alignment of the phase emitters,” and so he walked to the forward section of main engineering. He pulled out a micro-resonator and scanned for cracks in phase emitter.

A few minutes later, while he was still working on the phase emitter, an explosion rocked the ship.

N’ka’s comm chirped, “Stevens to Gallagar, report!”

“Boss, there wuz an eenternal explosieon in that thar torpeada bay,” said the computer.

N’ka began to run to the bay and on his way he said, “There was an explosion in the torpedo bay, Sir.”

“Keep me advised,” ordered Trevor, “I’m sending a medical team.”

“Understood,” said N’ka.

Entering the torpedo bay, N’ka found it was covered with black splotches, and in the center a man was coughing, surrounded by thick smoke.

Tapping his comm badge, N’ka said, “Medical emergency in the torpedo bay.”

Rolling the man over, he realized it was Twig and asked, “Are you alright?”

“Yes Boss, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Do you have a death wish?” said N’ka, who grabbed a med kit and looked for some pain medication.

“Well sorta, I found your cousin with my cousin.”

“Well I wish you’d play somewhere safer with thoughts like that,” said N’ka, shaking his head.

“But you ordered me te go te the torpeada bay, Boss,” protested Twig.

“I know,” he said, helping Twig up.

At that moment, Aquina burst in the room came in and shouted, “Who is hurt, Commander?” then seeing Twig, she rolled her eyes and said, “Clyde Finn Twig, what were you thinking about this time?”

“Ah’d ruther not say,” mumbled Twig.

“Let’s get you into Sickbay” said Aquina.

“I’m fine, Doctor, Ma’am,” said Twig.

“Clyde, you are worse than my son, Ro’kor, or some other Klingon I could mention,” said Aquina.

N’ka rolled his eyes, but said nothing.

“Ma’am, this here’s ex-plosiean wuz my fault,” protested Twig, “I gotta hep’ ma Boss clean it up.”

N’ka jerked up and said, “Now wait, Twig, the doctor is right. There might be something serious going on. You better get checked out, better safe than sorry. Isn’t that right, Doctor?”

“Oh, of course, Mr. Gallagar,” agreed Aquina, “Come along now, Clyde.”

“Yes, Twig,” said N’ka, “listen to the good doctor.”

“Ya’ll sure ya’ll can handle thangs without me, Boss?” asked Twig.

“Quite sure,” said N’ka, who sighed with relief when Twig and the doctor left the room and looking up he said, “Okay, computer, back to work.”

“Yas, Boss,” said the computer.

oooOOOooo

On the bridge, Trevor looked at his chronometer, tapped his comm badge and said, “Stevens to the Captain.”

Amanda’s voice was heard over the comm system saying, “Yes, Stevens?”

“Captain, we are five minutes away from the Alkara Sector,” said Trevor.

“Thank you, I’m on my way,” she answered.

When she entered, Trevor stood up and said, “Captain on the bridge,” and Amanda sat down in the command chair and Trevor went to ops.

Kahra nodded at the captain, noting the d’k tahg and phaser the captain had strapped to her waist. James, who had arrived on the bridge an hour earlier, noted to Kahra, “I guess the captain wasn’t kidding when she said she was getting ready for battle.”

“Mr. Troi, Klingons are always ready for combat,” said Kahra.

“So I noticed,” said James.

Amanda tapped the comm panel button on her chair. A whistle was heard over the comm system, then then McCoy said, “This is the captain speaking, red alert,” a claxon was heard and the she continued, “All hands to battle stations!”

Kahra went over to the bridge’s weapons locker, grabbed a phase, gave it to James and told him, “Better strap one on, Sir.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant,” said James.

“You do know how to use one of these, right?” asked Kahra.

“No time like the present,” said James.

Kahra looked at him steely eyed and said, “Next time you go to the holodeck, you’ll be taking me with you, for combat training.”

“I was joking, Lieutenant,” said James, “after all you just have to point and shoot, right?”

“If you want to stay in the captain’s good graces,” said Kahra, “you’ll have to learn to enjoy combat.”

“Trust me, I do,” said James.

“I didn’t mean verbal combat,” said Kahra, “don’t you know anything about Klingon women?”

“No, I only have my learner’s permit,” said James, “maybe you can give me some pointers.”

Kahra grumbled and walked away. At this point, Amanda looked up and said, “Mr. Troi, a word.”

James walked over and Amanda murmured, “I wouldn’t aggravate Kahra if I were you. She is as protective of me as a mother targ.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, Captain,” he said.

The helmsman Lieutenant Lewis said, “We’ve reached the Altara Sector, Captain,” as the ship came out of warp.

Amanda’s heart beat faster as she saw the Aurora on the view screen, clearly adrift in space. Pock marks adorned its hull. It had clearly been in battle, but no other ships could be seen.

“Mr. Troi,” she said, “scan for life signs.”

“Captain,” said Mr. Troi, “subspace disturbance detected-“

But before he could continue, a large thunderbolt appeared on the view screen, which hit and rocked the ship, the ship’s power briefly fluctuated and the ship de-cloaked.

Kahra called out, “Reconfiguring ablative plating.”

“Can you bring up the shields and cloak the ship?” asked Amanda.

“I will try, Captain,” said Kahra.

“Do or do not, Lieutenant,” said Trevor.

“What?” asked Kahra.

“Never mind, Lieutenant,” said Amanda, “do your best.”

Kahra swore under her breath and said, “Shields inoperable, Captain. That electrical discharge blew out the relays and the cloak is off line.”

Amanda tapped her comm badge and barked, “Captain to Gallagar, I need those shields and the cloak!”

“Working on it, Captain,” answered N’ka, “I should have the shields back up to twenty-six percent in two shakes of a targ’s tail, the cloak will take longer.”

“And just how long is that?” asked Trevor.

“Half way between two twitches of a horse’s tail and quick as a bunny,” answered James.

After what felt like hours, but was only minutes, Kahra exclaimed, “Captain, we have shields!”

The entire bridge crew exhaled in relief and Amanda tapped the comm button on her chair and said, “Captain to Mr. Gallagar.”

N’ka’s said over the comm system, “Yes, Captain?”

“How soon until we get full shields?” she asked.

“Unknown, Captain,” answered N’ka, “I’ve restored what I could via a patch job and we’re currently working on the power relays and repairing damage to the ablative hull-plating.”

“Good enough, Gallagar,” said Amanda, “keep me advised.”

“Yes, Ma’am,” said N’ka.

“Captain out,” said Amanda, who then turned toward the science station and asked, “Mr. Troi, can you detect where that electrical discharge came from?”

“Scanning, Captain,” said James.

“And when you get a chance,” said Amanda, “scan for life signs on the Aurora.”

“Yes, Captain,” said James and as he set to work, he sensed Amanda stand up, and approach his station. She leaned over and said softly, “I know I can count on you, Mr. Troi, to figure out what’s going on.”

James smiled at this, having served in Starfleet for more than four decades, such a comment from a commanding officer twenty years his junior might have been considered condescending at best, but of course, Amanda wasn’t just his commanding officer, and he knew she meant she trusted him with her ship and her crew’s safety, which was much important to her than her heart.

“Thank you, Captain,” he answered softly, continued to look over his instruments then said, this time loud enough for the bridge crew to hear, “The electrical discharge appears to have come from the other side of Alkara IV.”

“Excellent, Mr. Troi,” said Amanda, “So what are we dealing with?”

“Uncertain, Captain,” said James, “it appears to be impervious to our scanners. Judging from the electrical discharge pattern though, it seems to be coming from the thorium gas cloud above the planet.”

“Well, I don’t want to get any closer to that thing until we know more about it,” said Amanda.

“Agreed, Captain,” said James, “perhaps the crew of the Aurora has more information.”

“Sounds good,” said Amanda, “Stevens, hail the Aurora.”

After a few seconds, Trevor said, “I cannot raise them, Captain.”

“Have you picked up any life signs on the Aurora, Mr. Troi?” asked Amanda.

“Yes, Captain,” answered James, “but roughly a third of the crew is not on board.”

“Hmm,” said Trevor, “so where is the rest of the crew?”

“Good question,” said Amanda, “Mr. Troi, can Alkara IV support life?”

“Let me scan it, Captain,” said James, who then shook his head and said, “No, it is a H class planet. No life signs detected, Captain.”

“So if we’re going to get any answers,” said Amanda, “we’ll have to beam over to the ship to get them. Is the Aurora‘s life support system working, Mr. Troi?”

“Scanning the Aurora, now, Captain,” said James, “life support appears to be the only system working. It appears the whole ship has been powered down.”

“At least we won’t have to use E.V.A .suits,” said Amanda, “but before I send over a team, we better be sure we are not exposed like a bunch of sitting ducks.” She tapped the comm button on her chair and said, “Captain to Gallagar.”

“Yes, Captain,” N’ka answered over the comm.

“What is your status?” she asked.

“Lieutenant Kahra and I have adjusted the ablative plating, Captain,” said N’ka, “We should be able to take multiple electrical discharges with little to no damage. Also, Captain, I recommend we lower shields.”

“Lower shields?” asked Amanda incredulously, “and this would be a good thing because…?”

“Well, Captain,” said N’ka, “The reason why the initial discharge did so damage was that it amplified by the shielding, whereas the plating should deflect any damage.”

“Understood,” said Amanda.

“Believe me, Captain,” said N’ka, “I don’t like the idea, either, but even if the Mari’Ma do attack, the Asimov will give as good as she gets.”

“All right,” said Amanda, “You heard him, Lieutenant Kahra, lower the shields.”

“Aye, Captain,” she said.

Turning to Trevor, Amanda said, “Mr. Stevens, please lead an away team to the Aurora to find out what is going on.”

“Aye, Captain,” said Trevor.

oooOOOooo

Transporter beams lit up the Aurora‘s heavily damaged bridge. Trevor was standing tall, beside him on either side, Kahra and N’ka had their phasers spread out to cover the room. Dr. Altara was standing behind them, tricorder in one hand and a medical bag in the other.

At that moment, a lieutenant commander in an engineering uniform stepped toward them, he smiled broadly and his bright white teeth stood out against his dark brown skin, his short straight black hair was a disheveled mess, his arm in a sling, “Stevens? N’ka? You two are a sight for sore eyes and Doc, I could kiss you!”

Aquina came up to him, pulled out her med kit and mended the arm, asking, “How did you bust your wing, Blake?”

“Well, we got pretty shook up when the electrical discharge hit us, and worse, we lost so much power, we had to save our reserves to treat only the most critically wounded.” When Aquina finished, Blake moved his arm around and with great relief said, “Oh, thank God! It would sure help if we could beam our other injured to the Asimov!”

Aquina said, “Our Sickbay is far too cramped.”

“Well,” said N’ka, “We could convert Science Lab Four into an auxiliary sickbay. However, the only person I can spare is Twig.”

“Twig!” said Blake, laughing, “Is he still in your department!?”

“Yes, he is,” said N’ka dryly, “He’s like a fungus. He grows on you eventually.”

“Don’t worry, Blake,” said Aquina, “I know how to work with him. I just have to help him stay focused. Well, I better get to your sickbay.”

“It would be best if you beamed directly to our sickbay, Doc, the turbolifts are only being used for emergencies.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem, what do you think?” she asked Trevor and N’ka.

Trevor looked at N’ka, who said, “Oh, yes, Trevor, no problem.”

Aquina tapped her comm badge, “Altara to McCoy.”

“McCoy here,” Amanda’s voice was heard.

“Please beam me directly to the Aurora‘s sickbay,” said Aquina.

“Prepare for beam out.”

Aquina stood tall and said, “Energize,” and disappeared in a sparkle.

N’ka then said with a smile, “Havinof, it seems we have to do something about your electric personality, its wreaking havoc with the time-space continuum.”

“Yes, yes. Well, you can see the evidence of the havoc created by our unannounced project,” said Havinof.

“A new one, Blake?” Trevor asked.

“Yes, we found a fragment of it in a gas cloud, and it’s an amazing sight to see,” explained the Aurora‘s chief engineer, “It’s at least eighty thousand years old, and appears to be light years ahead of us.”

“Wow. So do you guys have any thoughts on its origin or purpose?” asked Trevor.

“Well, to be honest there isn’t much. We, hmm, well, we decided to hide it from Starfleet, at least until we could understand it better,” said Blake,” You know, after all, we did discover it, and thought we should get to study it a bit before the free-for-all.”

N’ka nodded, “Makes sense enough. So what’s your timeline for the electrical issue?”

“About four and half hours ago something activated it, and it started shooting those electrical discharges out,” explained Blake, “We got struck about five minutes later, took out all our EPS, but then we didn’t get struck again. So we figured it was best to keep powered down. Thankfully we were able to send you that distress call.”

“Glad we were able to get to you so quickly,” said N’ka.

“Not half as glad as I am,” said Blake, “It was a nightmare, stuck with no sensors, no weapons and no shields with the likes of the Mari’Ma lurking around. Makes me thankful you pushed the Asimov like I know you had to, so thanks guys.”

“You would do the same thing for us,” said N’ka, quickly changing the subject, “so how are the folks on the artifact?”

“I sent a level nine probe out to the habitat module where the rest of the crew is held up, and they were able to use to probe to communicate that they are fine, not in any danger,” continued Blake, “You know level nine probes.”

“Yeah you can pretty much stick them into the middle of a sun and they’ll be fine,” said N’ka.

Trevor then said, “All right, we’re assuming they have rations, etc. What are your thoughts on the electric bolts?”

“So far not much, Trevor” answered Havinof.

An ensign in an engineering uniform walked up and asked Blake, “Sir?”

“Yes Ensign Merriweather?”

“Well, I was thinking. Do you know the concept of a lightning rod?”

N’ka shook his head, and Blake did the same. Stevens grinned, “You mean I know an engineering thing when you two don’t? But then again maybe it makes sense that you don’t, since most Federation planets control their weather systems.”

“So, what is it Trevor?” N’ka asked.

“Essentially, it’s from the olden times where you had thunderstorms and you didn’t know where lighting would strike,” explained Trevor, “So they would put up a tall iron rod high up on top of a building and a wire was attached to it that went along the side of the building which is attached to a rod in the ground to “catch” any lighting strikes. My grandparents have a farm in Michigan that has a very old big red barn with a lightning rod on it.”

“Cool, very cool, Trevor,” said N’ka and looking at Blake, he continued, “All right, so setup a level nine probe with an inducement antenna on it, maybe even set it up with a negative polarity to help it draw in any electrical discharges.”

“Yeah, it’s a good start at least,” said Blake.

Trevor turned to Kahra and said, “Since it appears neither ship is in any immediate danger from attack, beam back to the Asimov in case the Mari’Ma do make an appearance and advise the captain of the situation.”

“Aye, Sir,” said Kahra, saluting smartly.

“Ensign Madoff,” said Blake, looking at an Andorian science officer, “You have the conn; let me know if you need anything.”

“Aye, Sir.”

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