Time to take back the Tokyo (part 2)

Posted on Sun Dec 10th, 2017 @ 7:33am by Captain Taiga Aisaka & Commander Alora Knight & Commander Alexander "Alex" Knight
Edited on on Sun Dec 10th, 2017 @ 7:34am

1,948 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Caught in the Cracks

[CONTINUED]

[OLD]

[NEW]

Several Monitors in the Tokyo's Engineering switched on. It began to display a Starfleet Intelligence Insignia, followed by the sudden sound of trumpets and fanfare. The image faded to reveal an image of the sword Excalibur in the stone. Slowly, words began to get carved in the stone that read: To pull the sword, from this stone, you must reveal why Greatness is more than just potential. Only then shall you be able to use this SWORD. The fanfare and trumpets then stopped as the image remained, leaving an area to input an answer.

Alora's head turned to the console. She stared at it for several moments, then ran over and entered the answer. "Greatness is more than potential. It is the execution of that potential. Beyond the raw talent. You need the appropriate training. You need the discipline. You need the inspiration. You need the drive."

It was Alex. It had to be Alex. She waited for a reply.

The image of the sword in the stone began to move. The sword began to raise from the stone as a spot light appeared over it. A choirs began to play for a few notes until it suddenly stopped and all the screens went black again. After a few seconds of silence, the screen in front of Alora, turned on and a familiar face appeared.

"Well." Pitbull said with a smile. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes?"

"I could say the same for you. Where's Alex?"

Pitbull smiled before replying. "Somehow, I knew you'd ask that. He's right here. Hold on." He walked away and some soft voices could be heard in the background before Alex stepped into view and looked to Alora from the monitor.

He didn't say anything at first. Alex just smiled and let out a huge sigh of relief. For the moment, he just stared at her lovingly. For the last few months, all he did was dream of seeing her, stare at her picture during the down times, and imagine bringing her in his arms again. Now, she was right there. "Hey." Alex said softly, still smiling.

It had been so long. Alora scanned his face to make sure he was okay, grinning like a schoolgirl. "Hi." She wanted to hug him, ask him a hundred questions, but this was not the time or place. "Where are you?" Obviously he was close or he wouldn't be talking to her. "You probably know our situation."

"I'm on my own ship." Alex replied, chuckling softly, before continuing. "Runabout actually. The Prowler. You'd like her. She's got some neat tricks up her sleeves." He paused slightly, his eyes never leaving her gaze. Slowly, he placed his hand on the bottom of the monitor as he smiled again, before clearing his throat. "We know there is some funky stuff going on with your ship. Dutch has gotten a better scan now that we are close."

"Got good news and bad news, Boss Lady." Dutch shouted slightly from off the screen. "Looks like you guys are caught in some kind of rip. Somehow your Tokyo and the Tokyo from this universe flew into the same rip at the same time. Got to be honest. The odds of that happening are really high and kinda of interesting. Also a bit scary."

"Dutch? Move on." Alex replied, still locked on Alora.

"Sorry, Boss." Dutch replied until suddenly he popped his head on the side of the screen and added. "Sorry, Boss...Lady." He raised a brow slightly before disappearing off screen as he continued. "Okay. Moving on. Seems as though, the rip is trying to compensate because it can't hold both ships at the same time, so its trying to bring you guys together. Problem is the rip is becoming unstable. We might be able to do something from out here, but we don't have any record of something like this happening so as soon as you guys figure something out, let us know."

Alex shrugged at Alora before asking. "Can we board her?"

"Not without dinner and a movie, Boss?" Dutch replied quickly before adding. "Oh, you mean the Tokyo?" He laughed slightly before continuing. "Not without going into the rip itself, but there is no telling what kind of effect it will have on us. Like I said. This is new, so if they come up with a way, I don't see why not. Would be smart to leave two or three people on the Prowler to work on this end."

"We know we're stuck in null space with the ISS Tokyo. We've had a few...encounters with their crew. Lora is here, too. I want to get to Intel and see if I can figure out a way to reverse this and get us back home. But, I don't want to leave you behind." Not now that she'd finally found him again.

Dutch stepped back into Alora's view and looked at her sternly. "Alora? Your ship is literally trying to pull itself together, but it doesn't know what parts belong to which ship. Think of it like a puzzle, but upside down, with other pieces mixed in. All you have are the shapes of each piece, but no image. No map to go by. Now imagine when you put a piece of that puzzle together, the other piece burns up because a different piece is in its position. If both ships are gonna survive then you need to figure out a way to split them up."

"Can we beam aboard?" Alex said, looking over to Dutch for a moment.

Dutch paused in thought. "Maybe." He said with an odd look on his face. "If I can match the transporter beam using bits of the null space, I might, be able fashion up a device to get you through. I will only have a few so not everyone can go. It also might be a one way trip. Once you're there, you can't come back until we split the ships or there is one left."

Alex looked over to Alora for a moment, as if thinking about his options, before turning to Dutch and saying. "Get to work. Now."

Dutch looked over to Pitbull, off screen, than to Alora as if double checking.

"I don't want you to try if it's too dangerous," Alora said. "If we can recreate the rift and back out of it, we might be able to reverse the effect." But she didn't want Alex to be stuck on the outside.

Taiga wandered over to the console where Alora was.
"Who are these people?" she asked simply.

Alora turned to Taiga and smiled. "SWORD, or that's what they call themselves. Rebels from the Terran Empire who came over to our universe and became part of the USS Niagara crew. Our Chief Flight Control Officer was kidnapped and they went to rescue him. I haven't seen them for nearly a year."

She smiled at Alex. "Alex, this is the the commander of the USS Tokyo." She raised an eyebrow and looked from one to the other. "Could we use the cargo transporters to bring your ship on board? That way, we'd have everyone here."

"Rebels?" Taiga asked, she leant around Alora and muted the channel. "How do we know we can trust them?" she asked simply. "If they kidnapped an officer before and then disappeared, how can we trust that they won't do such a thing again?" she asked with a concerned face. "Also. We'll have to establish full transporter control to be able to do such a thing and we hardly have main power at the moment"

"I trust them. With my life," Alora said. "They didn't kidnap anyone. Dylan Knight, Alex's brother, did. Dylan kidnapped Lex, Alex's twin in this universe. Alex and his team went after Dylan to rescue Lex. They're the good guys. And to be honest, captain, I trust them more than I trust you. I've known them longer, and I've worked with them before." She touched the chain around her neck. And she had a very personal reason to bring them safely to the Tokyo.

Taiga raised an eyebrow. "Well" she said simply as she turned away. "If they can help us get out of this mess. Then get them aboard and here as soon as possible" she told her. "Once they are aboard lets work on a plan to get all this hell back to normal!"

"To do that, we need information on the rift and how we got here," Alora said.

Taiga nodded. "That would make sense" she said. "If we can use one of the Science Labs we might be able to find a way to seperate both ships. But I doubt that the Terrans would let us walk idly into such areas" she explained.

Taiga tapped on the console infront of them. "This can be a plan" she said.

"Its quite simple" she began. "We secure our own front for our personal protection. We secure one of our Science Labs and find more information about the space around us. Once we have developed some sort of plan to seperate both ships we approach the Terrans in a neutral location" she explained. "Once we have them in a neutral location we will let them know the plan, if they can do the same on their ship we can seperate both ships and be on our way" Taiga said. "But first, we need to secure what we have"

"I think we should talk to them first and get their help," Alora said. "We only need Astrometrics, Engineering, and maybe Intel."

Taiga shook her head in disagreement. "We need something to barter with first" she said. "If we approach them they might think we are just stalling for time. Without some cards to lay down on the table would only give them time and possibly an advantage to take the entire ship" she explained. "If we have a plan first, then they might listen to us. If we don't have a plan, they may not listen at all"

"And if we try to take part of the ship first people will die that may not need to. We should not fight unless we have to," she said. "Why start a ship-wide battle if we can talk first and work together?" Besides, they had the captain of the ISS Tokyo in the brig. Or she was."

"Then we do both" Taiga said. "I will lead a team to meet with them" she told her. "We can negotiate a ceasefire, meanwhile you can lead a team to the Science Section and work on a plan to seperate the ships" Taiga said. "If anything, talking with them will give us some time to get some answers about the space around us. And if we fail at talking to them, we have your team in Science as a backup plan"

Alora nodded. "Okay. But first, I need to get Alex and his team aboard."

Taiga nodded. "Use whatever people you need" she said in response. "Once his team are aboard, and if they are as good and trustworthy as you claim they are, they will be vital for our success in regaining control of the ship and splitting us" she said. She turned and walked away from Alora, she could make herself useful by helping getting things in Engineering back working again.

Posting By

Captain Taiga Aisaka
Commanding Officer

Commander Alora Tau'Ri
Executive Officer

Lieutenant Commander Alexander "Alex" Knight
Sword Team Leader

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