Shadowing

Bridge

The Leviathan was suddenly rocked violently, catching everyone on the Bridge by surprise. The last week had been quiet, at least for the crew of the Leviathan. Having fought Loreans, a non-corporal entity, a rogue Dominion fleet and a group of Borg vessels, all out to destroy the Leviathan and her crew, things currently had been very boring. Not to mention an assassin sent by who knows to kill the Captain, even if it meant the destruction of the entire ship.

"What the... Report !" Captain Devore demanded looking around as the various members' of the Bridge crew regained their feet again.

"We've just been hit by a slipstream eddy, but not one of ours Captain." Lieutenant Shaka announced.

"Captain, Long range sensors have detected a vessel ahead of us approximately seventy five light years. " Barker announced.

"What is the vessel's velocity ?" Devore asked.

"The vessel is at Warp 12.75 and holding a steady speed and course. At our present speed we will 'collide' with the vessel in two hours." Chu replied

"Yellow Alert. Reduce speed to match the vessel and maintain our distance Mr. Ambrose" The Captain ordered. "Have we been detected ?"

"I don't think so, the vessel has not changed speed or course. The subroutines that Lieutenant Shaka and I developed and implemented are working at 130% of expected performance." Chu explained.

*Someone else with Slipstream technology, just great* Lieutenant Shaka thought. Then she realized she had to take advantage of this opportunity to talk to someone else who understood SS technology as well as she did. A smile formed upon her face, which went unnoticed by everyone but Devore. He had stood up to look directly at Lieutenant Barker, but as her smile broke, he somehow knew what Shaka was thinking.

"OK, what can you tell me about the vessel, Mr. Barker ?" The Captain asked.

"The vessel obviously has slipstream drive technology and it's about half the size of the Leviathan. The profile does not conform to any known ship design." Chu explained.

"Any indication of weapons, shields, power source ?" The Captain asked.

"Unable to ascertain Captain, the sensor readings are being distorted by the slipstream eddies." Lieutenant Toran said.

"Can you bring the ship on the viewer ?" Devore inquired.

"Negative, the sensor images are just too messed up to give any decent image." Chu said.

"How close would we need to be to get a visual ?"

"Forty five light-years, which could be within their sensor range." Barker said.

"I wouldn't recommend that Captain, we don't know whether the alien vessel and it's crew are hostile. Showing our presence may endanger the ship and it 's crew" Lieutenant Toran suggested.

"Then what would you suggest, Mr.. Toran ?" Devore inquired.

"Normally I would suggest launching a class 8 probe, being smaller it would not be as easy to detect. However, the class 8 probes have a maximum speed of Warp 8.5, which is too slow. The only thing I can suggest is that we follow the vessel and wait." Toran replied.

"Lieutenant Shaka, how rough a ride will we get if we follow this vessel ?" Devore inquired of their slipstream specialist.

"It will be rough sir, make no mistake. However, now that we know that the ship is out there, I can detect the eddies and compensate, smooth out the ride a little." Shaka replied.

"OK, Mr... Ambrose let's keep our distance constant for now and 'shadow' the vessel" Devore asked his helmsman. "Shaka, try and keep us steady. Chu, see if you can't increase the range of the forward sensor array and get me a more detailed analysis of the vessel and maybe a visual."

"Affirmative Captain, I'll get right on it" Chu replied.

"Captain Devore to Lieutenant Rashad Please report to the Bridge immediately."

Ten minutes later, Rashad appeared at the turbolift doors and walked over to her intelligence station.

"Rashad, does Starfleet Intelligence have any information on other species with Slipstream technology ?" The Captain asked.

"None that I know of Captain." Rashad replied confidently

"That's not to say that there aren't any other species with SS technology though !" Toran 'chipped' in

A frown of annoyance started to appear on Rashad's face, which she quickly got back under control using her Vulcan training. No one noticed this brief lapse in her emotional state. Ever since Rashad had taken over the Intelligence position from Lieutenant Toran, there had been an unspoken contest between the two officers. Captain Devore had once spoken to Toran about it and he'd apologized, saying that he still thought like the Intelligence officer sometimes. Devore privately thought that Toran did not rate or totally trust Lieutenant Rashad to provide the Captain with all the facts.

Twelve hours later.......

"Mr. Ambrose, what's our status ?" The Captain inquired

"We're cruising at Warp 12.8, still following the alien vessel. Our current distance is forty five light years." The helmsman replied.

Every hour on the hour over the past eight, the same routine had been played out on the Bridge. The Captain asking the helm for a status report and Ensign Ambrose replying to the request with a report on their current speed and distance from the alien vessel. Captain Devore had ordered that the Leviathan should try to approach the vessel slowly. The increase to Warp 12.8 had allowed the Leviathan to achieve this goal.

Lieutenant Shaka had been right about the roughness of the ride, but she had started to get the hang of compensating 'on the fly'. However, as they got closer the ride got rougher and Shaka's job got harder.

"No significant change in the alien vessel's course or speed Captain" Mr. Ambrose added.

"OK Mr. Barker, over to you again." The Captain said.

"We are finally getting more detailed information on the vessel. We're getting some sort of energy signature, Lieutenant can you identify it." Chu said turning to Shaka.

"It's definitely a SS energy signature, although it's totally different to our own." Lieutenant. Shaka replied.

"Captain, I can finally give you a computer enhanced visual." Barker told Devore.

"On screen"

The computer graphic that they saw astounded everyone. There wasn't a sharp angle on the vessel, it was one smooth rounded shape.

"What a beautiful sight." The Captain exclaimed out loud, a look of embarrassment on his face as he realized that he'd said what he was thinking to the whole Bridge crew.

"Can you get anything else Lieutenant, weapons, shields, secondary propulsion system, power source ?" The Captain asked, regaining his composure.

"There's not much else we can..." Lieutenant. Barker started to say.

"Captain, I think we've been detected." Lieutenant. Toran interrupted.

"Confirmed sir, the vessel has slowed to Warp 8." Chu replied.

"Mr. Ambrose, reduce to Warp 8 and prepare to make a one-eighty turn and accelerate to Warp twenty on my mark. If the vessel slows any further, reduce speed to match" The Captain ordered.

"Sir, I wouldn't recommend that. The stresses on the ship and the SS drive would be tremendous." Lieutenant. Shaka exclaimed.

"Do you have a better idea Lieutenant ?" The Captain replied.

"No sir." Shaka said embarrassed.

"I'll try and enhance the structural integrity fields." Lieutenant Hansen announced, quickly getting to work at his engineering console.

"Captain, we're detecting a coherent energy wave of unknown origin approaching at Warp twenty five." Chu exclaimed.

"Mr. Ambrose, get us out of here NOW. Increase power to the aft shields" The Captain ordered.

However, it was too late

The energy wave hit the Leviathan and passed straight through.

"Damage report, NOW ?" Devore said loudly.

"No reported damage, minor injuries on decks seven and eight." Lieutenant Toran reported.

"The energy wave would appear to have passed through the ship without causing any damage." Lieutenant. Barker reported.

"Ahhh!"

Suddenly there was a loud scream on the Bridge and everyone turned around and looked at the source of the scream. Lieutenant Shaka stood up, hit the slipstream drive console and just to make sure that it knew it had done something wrong she kicked it as well, hopping on one foot after she did so.

*That's got to have hurt* Everyone else on the Bridge thought.

"It's impossible, it can't be, NO, NO NO." Shaka shouted at the console.

"LIEUTENANT, calm down, take a deep breath and explain your outburst." Commander Harris said.

She did what the first officer suggested took a deep breath and then started to speak. "I don't know how they did it sir, I really don't. It shouldn't even be possible." Shaka said, controlling her anger.

"What Lieutenant, what has happened ?" the Captain asked.

"Sir, the SS drive is dead. All reaction within the chamber has ceased. We're dead in the 'water' and far from home."

"Sir, we're beginning to leave the slipstream." Mr. Ambrose reported.

Within seconds, the ship came to a halt in normal space.

"OK people, the SS drive is off-line, Shaka try and get it back ASAP" The Captain ordered, starting to take control of the situation that they had found themselves in.

"But sir.," Shaka started to protest.

"I don't want to hear excuses, you're our slipstream expert, just do what you have to do. What do we have that still works ?" The Captain said.

"The startup procedure for the auxiliary warp drive was activated as soon as the SS drive went south, so we should be able to go to warp in about five minutes. Shields are fully operational, all weapon systems are on-line and we can proceed on impulse engines now". Lieutenant. Hansen reported.

"Full impulse Helm, straight ahead." The Captain order.

*I don't suppose it matters which direction we head in*

"Captain, I'm detecting a slipstream vortex forming, we've got a vessel coming out of the slipstream. No, make that two, three, no, four. Sir, we have eight vessels, coming from all bearing. Sir, we're being surrounded." Lieutenant Toran exclaimed.

"Shields up, power all phaser banks. Lieutenant Hansen, Lieutenant Shaka I need one of you to give me Warp NOW" the Captain ordered.

Within a minute, the Leviathan was surrounded by twelve vessels of various sizes, all of which had left a slipstream vortex and surrounded the Leviathan.

"Captain, I've scanned all the vessels, they are of no immediate threat to the ship. I've detected two plasma charge cannons on each ship and that's it. Their weapons wouldn't make much of a dent in our shields. However their shields are no match for our phasers, one shot at 30% power would probably blow their ships to a million pieces." Lieutenant. Toran announced.

"Confirmed. For a race with SS drive technology, their other technologies are primitive by Starfleet standards. Early twenty first century, hydrogen fusion reactors, ion drive propulsion, without the SS drive, these vessels would be short-range. There are life signs aboard, I'm reading between two and four hundred per ship, three thousand and twenty four in total. They are
crammed in like sardines." Lieutenant. Barker added.

"Sir, one of the ships has started to move away from us." Ambrose announced.

"Captain, This vessel is also the largest and it would appear to be the one that we've been following." Lieutenant. Barker added.

"The other vessels are also starting to move away from us. I don't believe it !, the lead vessel is turning, it's going to try and ram us, do we move out of the way or fire." Lieutenant. Toran asked.

"Neither, Mr. Toran use the tractor beam to move the vessel away from us." Devore said.

"Affirmative."

The vessel came closer firing three volleys of charged plasma at the Leviathan, the shields absorbed the full impact with no damage or loss in effectiveness. As soon as the vessel was within range, Toran activated the tractor beam. The beam 'caught' the vessel that visibly shook with the force, then slowly moved the small vessel two hundred meters off the Leviathan's port side.

"Open all hailing frequencies" Devore ordered.

"This is Captain Marcus Devore of the Federation Starship Leviathan to alien vessels. I do not intend to get into a fight with you. However, if attacked I will defend this ship and it's crew. If you have any sensors, you will probably already know that your vessels are no match for our weapons".

"Sir, we are getting a reply. It's being transmitted from the ship we currently have held in the tractor beam. The beam is however distorting the signal." Toran announced.

"Release the beam Mr. Toran and put the message On screen."

"It's audio only Captain."

[Greetings Captain Marcus Devore]

The voice was female and sounded to everyone as if it was coming from the voice of an angel.

"Greeting, to whom am I addressing ?"

[I am Commander Si-Amber of the Catatonian vessel Alpha 172. Why have you been following our vessel for the last twelve hours ?.]

"Commander, our vessel's sensors detected your ship and we were curious as to who you were. We come from a Federation of planets in the Alpha quadrant and our primary mission is to seek out new life and new civilizations. We have only recently developed Slipstream drive technology and this vessel is the first to use SS technology."

[Then you are not allies of the Bariens.]

"Commander, until just now I have never hear of the Bariens."

[Then we will restore your vessels systems to normal.]

A second beam passed through the Leviathan rocking it gently and everyone could hear the hum of the SS drive as it came back to life.

*I never realized just how noisy that SS drive was* Devore thought.

"Lieutenant. Shaka status report on the SS drive ?" The Captain requested.

"Sir, the SS drive is running at 110%, it would appear that the reaction has been enhanced somehow." Shaka replied

[Captain, please accept my apologies for disabling your vessel. We are a persecuted race and thought that the Barians had finally acquired SS technology and found us. If you would accept the hospitality of my race, we will lead you to our home.]

"Your offer is most grateful, my crew would appreciate some R & R and your offer would allow us to achieve this. I also would like to learn more about your race." The Captain graciously replied.

[Then head towards these co ordinates, we will join you there.]

"I look forward to meeting you in person Commander, Devore out. Well crew, it looks like we're going to get some to make our first new contact in the Beta quadrant. Mr. Ambrose do we have the CO ordinates."

"We do Captain, it will take us twelve and a half hours at Warp fifteen to reach them."

"Set course helm, Warp fifteen. Enter the stream Mr. Ambrose".

"I want a briefing in one hour, everyone. Lieutenant Shaka I want a report on what happened with the SS drive, how the Catatonians managed to stop the reaction in the chamber as well as how this reaction has been effected once reinitialized. Lieutenant Hansen, I want to know if there is any way that we can reduce the 'warm-up' time of the auxiliary warp core. Lieutenant Rashad, if we have any information on the Catatonian's or these Bariens, I'd like to hear it. Everyone else, I want reports on everything that we have been able to gather from our sensor logs."