Future's End, Part I

 Episode Name:  Future's End - Part I

   Written By:  Starfleet

         Cast:  Edwards, Evans, Ghorev, Laco, Raxil, and Dakin.

  Produced By:  Starfleet

  Directed By:  Starfleet

     Aired On:  Sun Jan 27 10:52:33 2002

     Stardate:  52181

Edwards looks up from the console in front of him, "Evans?"

Evans straps himself into a passenger chair. "Sir?"

Edwards gestures toward the other flight console and remarks, "Would you be so kind as to take the reigns?"

Ghorev sits down at Engineering.

Edwards sits down at Mission Command.

Evans sits down at Pilot.

The runabout lifts off, and is shortly making its way toward Earth. Some may be dreading the trip, some may be looking forward to it. But like it or not, the ship is making a heading toward Sector 001 and the planet that is the very birthplace of Starfleet.

Laco takes a seat in the rear living areas of the runabout, tossing a duffel bag onto the floor.

Raxil takes a seat in one of the passenger chairs, reading through something on a PADD.

Dakin keeps tactical sensors on constant scan and maintains a constant check for... well, anything. He thus far hasn't said much during the trip.

Ghorev keeps his eye on the usual power output and throughput numbers, giving occasional requests for slight speed decreases or even encouraging speed increases as the micro-warp engines go through their usual cycles during travel.

Evans tries to do his best not to crash into the nearest star.

Edwards comments idly, "So, can we make the atmosphere a little more depressing?"

Dakin shakes his head and smiles a bit. "Sorry, sir, I left my Cardassian opera collections back at the station."

Laco pulls out a PADD and starts to do a wordsearch puzzle on it.

Ghorev comments, "I could always set the temperature the way I like it, of course. I'm sure you'd all *love* that."

Evans looks to Ghorev. "Is that hotter or colder?"

Ghorev's reply is cut off by a warning sound from his console. "Emergency power drop. We're about to cut out of warp field, folks. Hold on!"

Edwards erks and grabs a hold of his console, "What happened?"

Raxil's head snaps up, a hand gripping the armrest. "What..!"

Dakin also grabs onto his console, bringing up the tactical sensors for a higher degree of resolution.

The runabout shudders and is tossed about as the warp field collapses in an ungraceful manner. Emergency lights kick on. Panels start to flicker ominously.

Ghorev says "Primary power systems have been drained dry ... Reason unknown." His hands move over his console. "The core's fine, but we're on emergency power, and can't sustain warp fields or higher power functions."

Dakin frowns. "Please tell me that doesn't include weapons or shields."

Evans holds his console.

Edwards grits his teeth when everything switches to emergency power. "If we lose anything else... I'm going to throttle someone." he mutters. While he tries not to succumb to flashbacks, he turns around in his chair to face Dakin, "We got communications?"

Dakin contests his Shipboard Systems (Tactical) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Fails!

Edwards contests his Shipboard Systems skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Ghorev contests his Shipboard Systems (Engineering) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Evans contests his Shipboard Systems (Vsenors) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Evans looks at his console. "We are 6 light years off course sir."

Ghorev frowns. "Frankly, for all I can see, it appears the ship is simply drained. As if by an over-extended use cycle. The power doesn't seem to have *gone* anywhere. It's just ... well, as if we've used up all our fuel. Somehow."

Edwards grumbles, "Always refuel before we leave..." He finishes retrieving a status report from his console and states, "Shields and weapons are off-line. We got comms, but they'll tax the little power we have left. Wonderful."

Laco comes up from the back of the runabout, looking confused.

Raxil swallows. "Ahh... what's the baseline for life support?"

Dakin asks to no one in particular, "Do we have any signal bouys? And for that matter are we near anything or anyone out here?"

Evans frowns...

Ghorev says "If we can get a sensor lock on the nearest place to refuel the dilithium matrix, we can get underway again, and I can keep a closer eye on the power levels to determine if there's some flaw in the EPS conduits that's draining the power prematurely from the regular use cycle."

Edwards glances back toward Ghorev and questions, "Do we have enough power to get back to the station?"

Ghorev says "At 1/4 of a light year, Michael, we're still going to need a warp field to get back there before, say, your next birthday, and we can't sustain one. I'll see what I can eke out, though, while we explore other options."

Edwards ehs, "I knew that." Quickly, he changes the subject, "I won't kill us all if I hail the station and ask for a tow, will I?"

Dakin says "We've still got EVA suits in here should life support become a problem, right?"

Evans hmmms. "This all reminds me of something that happened to the Enterprise D..."

Raxil frowns a moment, tapping on his PADD. "Ahhh... sir?" he asks, looking over towards Edwards. "If-if we're 6 light-years off course... why is the station only a fourth of a light-year away?"

Edwards glances sidelong at Evans, "Got an answer for the man?"

Evans looks to Edwards. "1st. It depends on how far we were from the station. We could have been 6.25 light years and been knocked back sir." He takes a breath before continuing. "Unfortunately I dont belive thats the case."

Evans contests his Space Sciences (Stellar Cartography) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Fails!

Raxil nods as he listens to Evans, then begins frowning as he glances down at his PADD. He taps it, shakes it; apparently to no effect. "Hey... I thought these things lasted for longer than this."

Edwards remarks, "Seems like that'd be a little too simple. Where are we, exactly, Mr. Evans?"

Dakin looks over at Raxil and frowns. "It's almost like power flow's being sped up..."

Laco hears Raxil, and his eyes widen a little. He says to himself, "Wait a minute...I remember this..."

Evans exhales. "Sir. I was just trying to figure that out. I need some help for the final analysis. But I dont think were in the same time as the station. Because the station isnt there."

Raxil's mouth opens slightly; he remains silent.

Ghorev looks over his readings and nods, after a while. "We should have enough power for a distress call, but if the theories here are correct, that's a moot point." He frowns.

Edwards doesn't look terribly surprised, "Someone shoot me now."

Laco says "Uh...Lt Edwards...remember what happened to our runabout, and all our equipment when we went to that...place...after running into the Anomaly?"

Evans nods. "I dont think our situation is totally hopeless sir. We might be able to get a distress call to another ship. Just depends on when we are..." He stops when Laco speaks.

Edwards replies, "Unfortunately." Absently, he runs a hand through his hair, and tries to think "Where we are doesn't matter right now. Any way to find out when we are?"

Ghorev frowns further as whatever theory is in his head seems to be confirmed. He voices it. "Chroniton activity around the Runabout is off the scale, by the way. So it would be best to be prepared for further odd temporal anamolies. If there's a subspace relay station in range, we can send out a pulse to it for proper stardate information."

Dakin rubs the ridged portion of his nose at the sound of Edwards' utterance of "when."

Laco says "If we had computer access, couldn't we compare the position of the stars surrounding us with where they should have been when we left?"

Evans nods. "We still have some computer access. I was attempting to do that myself. I need some help though."

Dakin looks to Evans. "What do you need, Mark?"

Evans shrugs. "Someone who knows more about stellar cartography than I do."

Edwards turns his chair about and looks to the other science fella, "Laco?"

Laco looks up. "What? Oh. Yeah, I can try, sir."

Ghorev runs some brief calculations on his console. "Well," he says, after a few moments, "I have good news and I have bad news."

Edwards glances toward Ghorev and frowns, "Give us the less dramatic news first."

Laco (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Stellar Cartography) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Ghorev says "The good news is that in theory, if we can use emergency power to set up a course heading, and begin to propel us, we can *attempt* a very short-duration warp bubble with what's left of our reserves, getting a very short burst of Warp 4 or so, then coasting back down to Warp 1 and into impulse. Effectively, like skipping a rock across water, only we're the rock and warpspace is the water."

Laco heads up to Evan's console and messes around with it for a minute.

Raxil nods, listening to Ghorev.

Laco taps around for a moment, then speaks up, "Uh, yeah, it looks like the universe has moved about six years worth of movement. As far as I can tell, we're right where we should be, in case it makes any difference.

Ghorev says "The bad news is that succeed or fail, we use up the last of our power reserves, and I do mean all o fit. as in , we'll be using EVA suits for life support and the station will likely have to grapple us in with tractor beams."

Evans looks to Laco. "How many years Lt?"

Laco looks up to Evans, "Oh, about 6. It must be around 2381."

Evans mumbles to himself. "I wonder if theres still a war..."

Edwards flashes a defeated look in Ghorev's direction and slumps in his chair.

Raxil purses his lips and whistles. "They're... probably not looking for us anymore, then."

Evans looks to Edwards. "Sir. THere must be someone still out here. If even if we lost there would be still be some traffic. Were right between three powers. We should be able to contact whatever is left out here."

Dakin looks crestfallen for a moment, whispering to himself. "Prophets... Mor-... um..." Back at his usual tone of voice, "I agree with Mark, Lieutenant, though if Ghorev's right, we're only going to have enough power for one of the two options: calling for help or the warp-jump attempt.

Ghorev stands and leaves Engineering.

Ghorev rises from his station and walks over to Edwards to say something quietly.

Ghorev whispers to Edwards, "Michael, if we can find a source of dilithium, we can risk it and head there, then refuel. But clearly we can't risk a distress signal if this is the timeline we both clearly think it might be."

Edwards listens to whatever Ghorev has to say and frowns a bit. He nods and glances around at the others, "Dakin, scan the area, see if there are any nearby sources of dilithium." That said, he looks to the resident science geeks, "Anyone know anythings about chronitons?"

Evans turns and watches everyone look at Laco.

Dakin nods to Edwards, then goes to work at his console. "Aye, sir."

Ghorev pats Edwards on the shoulder, and then retakes his seat to begin whatever calculations are necessary for what comes next.

Ghorev sits down at Engineering.

Laco looks down at Evans. "Oh, uh. Well, I recall a few things. Nothing much without the help of the library computer, though."

Dakin (claiming advantage) contests his Shipboard Systems (Sensors) skill vs a difficulty of Routine and Succeeds!

Edwards grunts, "Too bad we can't replicate Wendy Tyler. I was wondering if there was a way we could mess with the chronitons surrounding the ship, to make a makeshift time transporter."

Raxil winces. "Ahh... I think we're lucky enough to have gotten here in one piece." he mumbles to himself. "Whatever happened to 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'?"

Dakin finishes his scan. "Closest source is 419 itself, Lieutenant. Next one along's Dulcais Prime, but that's five light-years away."

Ghorev says "Well, given that the station isn't where we left it now that the 'when' has changed....where is it?"

Evans nods. "I was wondering about that."

Laco says "Does the station maintain a static position in space, or does it move relative to Dulcias Prime? If it stays put, it should be where we left it, sir."

Raxil frowns yet again, looking at his hands, turning them over.

Edwards drums his fingers against the side of his chair idly, "If we can detect dilithium onboard the station, surely we can detect where the station is."

Laco mutters to himself. "Yeah, unless the station was blasted and its just dilithium floating in the debris."

Dakin looks at his readouts. "The six light-year distance is from the station's position in our time. In this time, it's traveled to a quarter-light-year distance from out current position."

Evans hmmss.."We should be on there sensors by now. Wonder why they havent hailed us."

Edwards turns his chair around, to face forward, "Well, Ake, I volunteer you as our resident expert on the Temporal Prime Directive. Can we contact them?"

Ghorev says "There's no reason why we can't as long as we clearly identify ourselves as temporal refugees so they can lock down anything we aren't supposed to see, at least, not unless I'm sorely mistaken. I might be, mind you. Being a resident expert is always a relative thing."

Dakin glances to Evans. "Good question."

Edwards contemplates his console briefly before asking, "Can we get any scans of the station? See what life is like aboard?"

Evans looks to the rest. "Were already on a alternative time track here..." He exhales. "We disappeared at point a. We have appeared in the future. Anything we see or do here will be unlikely to have happened when we go back."

Raxil stops with his perusal of his digits, looking up to Laco. "Wait... something's wrong here..." he says faintly before trailing off, thinking.

Ghorev notes, after Edwards speaks, "Any scans we do at this range will be *very* detrimental to my chances of keeping a short-term warp bubble intact, I fear."

Edwards frowns at that information, "Kill the scan request." Probably a good thing he didn't actually ask anyone specific to do it. "What's wrong, Doctor?"

Evans frowns. "Sir I think we should take the warp bubble to the station. Once there hopefully we'll be able to be saved, or gain some salvage."

Raxil looks up. "Oh..." he frowns for a moment before continuing. "Our engines were drained after being subjected to constant running conditions for a period of six years, yes?"

Edwards replies, "It's as good a theory as any."

Ghorev pulls out his tricorder with a 'hrm'.

Laco says "Wouldn't we all be six years older, then, sir?"

Raxil nods. "Or -extremely- hungry."

Evans frowsns. "Perhaps it only affected machines. Not living creatures."

Raxil shrugs. "Not much difference between the two, when you get down to it."

Ghorev says "Well, I think I know where this is going, and 've confirmed it. My tricorder's dead, in fact."

Edwards gives Laco and Raxil a funny look. "We would have starved to death already." he responds. "Now, who's up for seeing if 419 is populated by man-eating monsters?"

Ghorev says "I better go check on the EVA suits, just in case we *do* lose life support after this jump."

Laco says "Heh, sounds like a blast, lt."

Ghorev stands and leaves Engineering.

Dakin looks to Ghorev as he walks over to the phaser storage racks. "Would the charge in the phasers have degraded if they were on standby like this?"

Ghorev, from the 'locker' corridor just beyond the cockpit, "They likely would have, yes. I might be able to work a recharge ... but I think the EVA suits will be a priority."

Dakin shakes his head. "Oh, I was just thinking we could use their internal power supply to contribute to our low power reserves, that's all."

Edwards looks back from, well, the front, "How are they, Ake? I wanna get this over with."

Ghorev exhales sharply from the locker corridor. "Well, the suits are drained. But if I crack open an EPS conduit, I may be able to rig some power taps to recharge them, and a few small hand-held items, during the warp bubble experiment. I'd have to swap out for never-used spare cells from our stores, and rely on the burst of power to recharge them." A frown. "I can maybe -- MAYBE -- give us 2 or 3 phasers, a like number of tricorders, and also recharge a medical kit in case we run into trouble and our medic has to perform some emergency field surgery. Might as well be prepared."

Edwards nods a little, "If it won't hamstring us during the warp jump. Let's get on it."

Dakin nods. "I'll start gathering all the equipment we can afford to use." He then goes to work removing three of the type-2 phasers from the racks then goes in the back for the other items.

Ghorev says "Aye."

Ghorev nods to Dakin. "Start stripping out the power cells and replacing them from stores on those. I'll handle the power suits and some tricorders." He calls out to Raxil. "Your medical kit, too -- replace the power cell from stores and pass it back here."

Raxil nods, pulling the case out and following Dakin back.

Evans begins to asist Ghorev.

Laco watches Evans go, and takes a seat in the chair he vacated.

Once Dakin gets to the back, he lays the phasers out on a table and starts to pop off the access panels and remove the dead power cells.

Evans stands and leaves Pilot.

Dakin stands and leaves Tactical.

Raxil sets his medpack on a nearby counter, pulling the cells from the base of the pack and setting them in neat rows.

Ghorev, for his own part, begins stripping and replacing power cells from EVA suits. He's rather quick about it, as if EVA suits are specifically something with which he is intimiately familiar. He starts humming something energetic, a work song.

Ghorev, once the EVA suits are re-celled, cracks open a panel to begin arranging the power tap.

Raxil finishes with his medpack, bringing it over to Ghorev. "That should do it..."

Ghorev says "Thank you, Doctor."

Soon, the Andorian has strung together the equipment with a makeshift raw power feed from the warp core, and has finished the modifications necessary to make the runabout 'skip' back to the station.

Evans tries to help but sees Ghorev do all the work by himself. So he goes and sits in a passenger chair, cause Laco is sitting in one.

Dakin finishes reloading the phasers then sets them to recharge and hands them to Ghorev. "Here you go."

Raxil nods politely to Ghorev before going and sitting in his old chair.

Ghorev hooks the phasers up to the powertap, and heads back to his console. "Right. Now, unless the chroniton activity afflicted me with colorblindness and I've misconnected a few wires, this *should* work. On the other hand, if we're now in a timeline where red is blue, we may all explode in a blinding shower of hypercascaded dilithium. Is everyone game?"

Edwards remarks, "You bet."

Dakin walks back over to the tactical station and straps in. "Works for me."

Dakin sits down at Tactical.

Ghorev sits down at Engineering.

Evans walks over and kicks Laco out of his seat.

Evans sits down at Pilot.

Laco heads back to the passenger seats.

Raxil smirks slightly, but says nothing.

Ghorev says "I believe we're ready on your command, then, Sir," to Edwards. "At least, that's the way it looks from here. Flight Control?"

GAME: Ghorev spends a courage point.

Edwards looks to Evan, to see if he's ready or not.

Evans is waiting his finger above the button.

Laco says "Lt Ghorev, do you need a hand with anything?"

Laco nods, and goes to work.

GAME: Laco spends a courage point.

Laco (claiming advantage) contests his Space Sciences (Warp Field Theory) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Ghorev says "When you've got the field computer, we're clear to maneuver in the proper direction with maneuvering thrusters, and then ... well, we give it the old Academy try."

Edwards makes sure the proper course is laid in. Once that's done, he takes a deep breath and orders, "Let's do it."

Dakin grips the armrests of his seat a bit...

Ghorev (claiming advantage) contests his Systems Engineering skill vs a difficulty of Challenging and Succeeds!

Evans pushes the big red button.

Evans looks at the screen trying to see if they made it to the station or not.

Edwards closes his eyes and waits for the sound of any explosions.

Raxil taps his fingers against the arm of his chair... tappity-tappity-tappity-tap-tap-tap, the drumming growing more rapid as time passes.

Dakin simply eyes Raxil.

Ghorev holds onto his console for the rocky ride, the skimming of warpspace. "Power surge achieved. We should have enough distance ... if the power tap on our suits holds out, we'll even have breathable air while we wait to be tractored in."

The runabout wheezes once as Laco enacts the warp bubble. The ship drops into warp, a little more clumsily than normal. The ship shakes slightly and there is a hearty rumble from within the bowls of the warp core. The bubble collapses after twenty or so seconds, but the runabout starts to glide more gracefully out of warp. The warp lines shorten, and soon the station can be vaguely seen floating nearby - all her windows dark. There is no anomaly, so there is barely any light casting across the station's dark hull. The runabout's consoles finally give up the ghost. The computer announces a slurred, "Warning. Life support is now off li...." before cutting out completely.

Ghorev says "Well, Borva preserve us, I think we're almost in. Now to avoid collapsing our our own doorstep, as it were. I'l l pass out the EVA suits. No sense in all of us tripping all over each other in the dark."

Evans pushes off from his seat and starts heading toward the suits. Now why didnt he get in one before this.

Dakin finally lets go of his armrests, then glances out the forward viewports. "Okay, this looks... hmm."

Edwards mutters under his breath, finishing Dakin's thought, "Damn scary."

Ghorev says "Don't suppose anyone can approximate distance to the station?"

Laco says "Huh....maybe we lost the war...? BUt where's the Anomaly?"

Raxil stays put, looking over Dakin's shoulder.

Ghorev hands out the suits, one at a time. "Suit up, folks. We don't have much time before life support reerves go dry. Those who haven't brushed up on EVA procedures recently shouldn'tbe afraid to speak up."

Edwards rises from his chair and moves toward the EVA suits, so he can grab one and pull it on. "Evans, check the sensors once you're suited up." he remarks.

Raxil stands, taking an EVA suit and pulling it on, with a certain amount of difficulty.

Dakin immediately climbs out from behind his dead console and starts suiting up.

Ghorev hands Edwards a suit, as well. And then, what with the rest handed out, climbs into his own.

Ghorev asks Edwards while suiting, "Your orders on phaser and tricorder distribution, Sir? We have three of each, and they *appear* to be fully functional."

Laco takes an EVA suit and wrestles it on.

Evans does the same.

Dakin contests his Intellect (Perception) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Edwards questions, "Does that count a medical tricorder?"

Raxil contests his Intellect (Perception) skill vs a difficulty of Moderate and Succeeds!

Ghorev says "The Medical kit contains one, I believe."

Edwards glances over everyone present and orders, "Evans, Raxil and Laco will carry tricorders. You, me and Dakin will carry phasers."

Dakin blinks at what he sees. "Sir, look..." He's pointing out the portside viewports which show the stars rapidly winking out.

Ghorev is reaching for the items to detach the power taps and start handing out the assigned gear appropriately when Dakin points out what he sees. "What -- ?"

Raxil looks mildly stunned. "The stars... they're... going out?"

Evans frowns. "I think we should get onto the station. We cant stay here."

Laco heads a little closer to the windows, "Are there ships blocking them?"

Edwards checks his phaser momentarily and really doesn't feel the urge to look at the snuffed stars. "Let's get what we came for." he comments.

Dakin takes a phaser from Ghorev. "We still have gravity... if we turn that off, would we have enough power for the transporter?"

The blackness grows larger, and larger, until it finally consumes the runabout... SLAM. The sound of metal on metal. The runabout collides with something solid, and everyone tumbles to the floor since intertial dampeners are off line. The runabout starts to move away from the impact, and the Aegis slowly rotates where you can get a good look at her dead, dark hull.

Ghorev is about to say something witty like, "If we were the size of *small melons*, sure," when the impact occurs, so what comes out is "If we -- whoa!" And he collapses.

Evans bounces off the hull. "At least we know why the stars were going out."

Dakin falls backwards against the starboard bulkhead, grunting a Bajoran curse. "What the...?!" It's then that he sees what hit them. "Prophets...."

Raxil manages a good half-roll across the compartment before slamming into a bulkhead. "Tru-oof!" He's got his eyes tightly closed. "Wha-what'd we hit?"

Edwards tumbles to the ground himself with an annoyed grunt. Upon hearing everyone's assorted exclamations, he turns around, and gets a good look at just what's out there. The only thing he can do is look on grimly.

Ghorev sighs as he rises. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say we hit our dilithium source. And yet, somehow, I've got a bad feeling about this."