The Final Battle : The Vortex

Bridge

The crew of the USS Leviathan-A had won the day, the mirror vessel was destroyed and the threat neutralised. Or so they thought.

"Captain, we may have a problem." Chu suddenly announced a hint of panic in his voice.

"What is it ?" Aki enquired, reacting to the odd tone of voice from her friend and chief science officer.

"The vortex is starting to show signs of instability." Chu reported. "We could have a problem."

"Why would that worry you ?" Aki asked. "Surely the vortex will dissipate now that the mirror Leviathan is no longer generating it."

"Unfortunately, that does not appear to be the case." Chu replied. "The vortex has become unstable, its rate of increase is acceleration, it looks like it's somehow tied into the gravitational forces of the black hole. The device the mirror vessel was using probably focused the gravitational waves somehow. Now that the beam has been removed, the forces are going out of control."

"What will happen if we can't stop it ?" Aki asked.

"It will continue to grow, exponentially." Chu stated. "In a month, it will have consumed the black hole, in two months it will have consumed this entire systems. In a year, it will have reached the next star system. Eventually it will consume the entire galaxy."

"OK, we need answers." Aki suggested.

"I'll need some time." Chu commented.

"How long ?" Aki asked.

"A couple of hours." Chu estimated.

"We'll have a briefing in three hours." Aki stated. "Everyone, let's get this ship back into some kind of order.

Main Briefing Room

The senior staff arrived in the main briefing room, many looking battle-worn and tired. Several of the crew sported various injuries that had been sustained during the battle and there were a couple of empty chairs. The Captain stepped into the room and took her seat beside Commander Rashad. She looked around the room at her crew, how sad they looked.

As well as the senior staff, both mirror advisors were also present, sitting at the far end of the conference table. Although they we're not needed, they had asked to be at the briefing. There was a way home for them, through the vortex. The vortex had not been large enough to allow the ISS Leviathan to pass through, but t'Rashad's small transport was small enough to pass through. If the crew of the Leviathan were going to cut off their way home, then they'd like to hear how and why.

"Let's start with a status report on the repairs." Aki announced. "Mister Taline."

Taline stood up and started to speak.

"We've managed to patch up the hull damage, but only temporary." He started to explain. "We've lost many of the secondary systems from the upper decks and at least two shield emitters. The slipstream drive requires some minor repair, but we won't be using the slipstream drive for a whilst anyway."

"Why ?" Aki asked.

"The ship has sustained severe hull damage and we've lost several SIF generators." Taline continued. "We'll break up within seconds if we try and enter a quantum slipstream, the ship cannot stand the strain."

"What about the auxiliary warp core ?" Aki enquired.

"That took some severe damage during the battle as well." Taline explained. "We've managed to do some repairs, but it's not going to get us past warp three. Part of the speed limit is due to the status of the hull, but the drive is only working at eighty percent due to damage to the matter-antimatter injectors."

"That means it will take us months to reach the nearest starbase." Chu remarked.

"Sixteen months and three days, to be precise." Taline replied. "And that's if the ship and the core both stay together. We could send a signal back to Starfleet, but it will at least a week to get a reply and it will still take them three months to reach us."

"Understood." Aki remarked. "Mister Barker, what do you have to say about the vortex."

"I've figured out a possible way to force the vortex to close." Chu reported. "But you're not going to like it."

"Give us what you've got." Aki requested.

"What we need to do is cause a massive explosion within the vortex itself. In effect break up the vortex from inside. Which means someone will have to go into the vortex and release the device. But we have one problem."

"What's that ?" Aki asked.

"There's only one thing on this ship powerful enough to create an explosion of the magnitude we require." Chu announced. "The auxiliary warp core."

There was silence around the room as the news set in, in order to stop the vortex which was expanding out of control they would need to sacrifice their only means of getting home.

"What about using the warp cores from some of the shuttles." Taline enquired. "We could link them together and detonate them simultaneously."

"We'd not get enough explosive power." Chu replied. "The auxiliary warp core is the only thing large enough."

"How long will it take the Hellcat to reach the nearest starbase ?" Aki asked.

"About two weeks." Chu replied. "But the Hellcat is not large enough to carry a warp core back and we couldn't tow one through the slipstream."

"OK. We use the warp core." Aki stated firmly. "Now how do we deliver it."

"That's the second problem." Chu admitted. "We need to detonate the core at the very centre of the vortex between the two universes. There won't be much time for a ship to get out."

"I volunteer the 'Maru'." t'Rashad announced suddenly. "Commander Barker, what would be our chances of reaching the other side, get back into our own universe."

"Provided you can outrun the shockwave, pretty good. One thing in your favour is the fact that the vortex is drawing its power from the black hole in this end. About sixty to seventy percent of the power will be drawn back towards our universe." Chu suggested. "But the 'Maru' isn't the strongest of ships and you'll still have to survive a thirty to forty percent warp core explosion."

"Just tell me what you need to me to do." t'Rashad said. "We'll do the rest. It will be better to die preventing the Terran Empire and their plans to invade this universe than to remain here."

"The Federation, Starfleet and this crew are grateful for your assistance." Aki remarked. "And we'll do everything in our power to ensure that you have the best chance to reaching the other side."

Lieutenant Commander Barker coughed politely, grabbing the attention of the members around the table.

"That just leaves us with one last problem." He announced. "When we detonate the warp core inside the vortex, the resulting explosion will release the destructive power of the black hole. Everything within half a light year will be totally destroyed."

"Where's the nearest class-M planet ?" Aki asked.

Chu tapped a few keys on the console in front of him and came back with an answer.

"There's a system about four light years from here. The Gorta Extius system, it's uncharted, but there's a class-M planet."

"Taybar to Bridge." Aki announced. "Set course for the Gorta Extius system, maximum speed."

[Understood Captain.] The voice of Brayden McCaffee came back. [We'll arrive in two days.]

"Mister Taline, Mister Barker start working on loading the warp core aboard the 'Maru' and devise a way of dropping and detonating the core safely. Also see what you can do to increase their chances of survival."

"We should be able to upgrade the aft shields some more." Taline remarked. "And if we overhauled the engines and replicated some new parts, we could increase their sub-light speed as well."

"Right, let's get to it." Aki remarked, standing up and heading back to the Bridge.