Star Trek: Side tracked - Chapter 1 & 2.

Chapter 1. Side tracked.



Christ looked around him while he put up his feet onto the console and leaned back into the cockpits master seat. He let out a content sigh. From the back he could hear the laughter of his wife as she fed their son. He was happy. Finally his life was turning out to be what he’d always dreamed it would be.



For years he had given his life to Starfleet, hoping to be an explorer of the furthest regions of space. For those with exploration aspirations Starfleet was a natural choice. It’s main mission being to boldly go where no one had gone before and all. It wasn’t to be however with Starfleet getting itself into one conflict or war after another. When the Dominion War ended he had resigned his commission and, using the ship his father had left him, started ferrying cargo across Federation space.



Two years later he had met Nickey. Not the woman of his dreams in any sense but somehow she managed to break through the emotional walls Christ had built up over his life and he couldn’t help but fall in love with her. Her beauty, her outgoing personality and the enthusiasm with which she did everything she did must’ve gone through his shields like they weren’t there. Even though she was 15 years younger than Christ she was his true soul mate.



One and a half years later they were married and had their first child, a son called Arend. The most beautiful baby ever to exist! Putting both of their resources together Christ and Nickey were able to acquire a bigger, faster and more comfortable ship than they’d ever dreamed of.



Now they were on the journey of their lifetimes to a new Federation Colony on the outskirts of Federation space and take the opportunities a new Colony offers for pioneering individuals like themselves and a bright future for their son.



Out of the windows of the cockpit streaks of light flashed by as the Eagle sped through space at a leisurely warp 5. They were on the last leg of their journey now and soon they’d reach the Euhm system where he and his wife planned on building a future for themselves and their son.



“Can you grab a diaper and bring it over here? They’re in Arend’s bedroom!” shouted Nickey from behind Christ. Letting out a sigh he checked the readouts before getting up and moving out of the back of the cockpit. Walking through the living area he saw Arend on his back having his butt cleared of poo by his wife and he smiled. “I never get tired of seeing this” he said as he walked past and into the small bedroom of his child. He picked up a stack of diapers and returned to the living area. “Here you go.” He said as he handed the stack over to his wife. “You know, you could have asked the replicator for those diapers as well.”



“Yeah I know I just wanted to get you over here so I could do this” Nickey answered and leaned over to kiss him. Just as their lips touched alarms went off and lights flickered. “Warning, gravitational anomaly detected.” said the computer’s feminine voice. Christ exchanged a worried look with Nickey before smiling and said “see, when you kiss me, all hell breaks loose!”. Christ then lunged for the cockpit. “Drop out of warp, raise shields” he shouted at the computer.



As he reached the cockpit he saw the streaks of light shorten and then change into pinpricks of light. They’d dropped out of warp and from the cockpit window he could see a bluish glow spread out from the distance like gasses expanding out of a hull breach. “What the hell is that?!” he said to no-one in particular but got an answer anyway.



“Insufficient data to determine nature of anomaly. Gravitational pull at 1700 units and rising.” The computer intoned impersonally. “Back off, get us away from it” Christ ordered. The vibration of the deck plating told Christ the engines were revving up to escape the pull of whatever it was that was tugging at them.



The point Christ was getting worried at was when he noticed the vibration kept increasing even when it reached levels he’d never experienced before. A look at the engineering readouts told him the engines were maxing out and they were still moving towards the center of the blue anomaly that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.



“Arend is strapped in and so is everything that can break” said Nickey as she plunged into the seat next to Christ and activated her control surfaces. “Oh my” she exclaimed as she looked out of the cockpit window.



“Its pulling us in. The engines can’t pull us free” Christ stated and flashed Nickey a very worried look. “What do you mean it’s pulling us in?! What is pulling us in?!” Nickey yelled while she fed commands into her console. For a split second Christ's mind noted his wife was shouting, and it was the first time he had ever heard her do that. A split second later though annoyance replaced the notion. “You tell me, you’re the science buff.” Christ bit back, immediately regretting snapping at his wife like that.



Despite their best efforts though, Nickey never got to answer Christ’s question, as a beam shot out from the center of the anomaly, latching onto Eagle they were suddenly swallowed up into some sort of rift in space-time. Everything seemed to stretch as they entered into the rift, including sounds, smells and sights. For what seemed ages everything seemed elongated than truncated and finally, after a spiraling swirling sensation everything went black and silent.



Chapter 2: To boldly go…



The pain from his beating head was the first sign of consciousness Christ became aware of. It assaulted him so much it was hard to think. Slowly he became aware that he was in fact thinking and with that realization he became aware that something happened and he might be in trouble.



Then he thought that if he was in trouble, so was his family… his son… With a loud gasp Christ suddenly sat up with eyes wide, filled with panic. Then, seconds later, at the risk of worsening the beat his head was banging to, he looked around to see that his wife was still beside him. A felt a fleeting sense of relief at the notion they were both still in the cockpit.



Nicky shocked to consciousness, just as Christ reached out his hand to her. Christ unlocked his seatbelt and moved over to her.



“Are you ok?” he asked. Nicky looked around with a bewildered look on her face. “What happened?” she asked quietly.



“I have no idea. You see what’s up with the ship and see if you can make anything from the sensor readings. I’ll go check on Arend.” Christ told her, fear striking him deep in his soul. If they’d been knocked out by whatever happened to them, what effect would it have had on their one year old son? He rushed out the cockpit into the living area where, to his surprise, nothing looked out of order. He looked at his son, and was faced by a happily mumbling smile. “Poom…” Arend kept saying, as he always did after falling down. “



Arend is fine, and so is everything else back here!” Christ yelled to reassure his wife. He took a medical tricorder from one of the drawers beneath Arend’s bed and turned it on. Just to be sure he took a scan of his son. Other than a wet diaper the tricorder agreed with his assessment that his son was unharmed. He quickly changed Arend’s diaper and strapped the little guy back in just to be safe until he knew what the hell was going on. Then he went back to the cockpit. “Learn anything?” he asked. Nicky looked back at him with shock in her eyes.



“The sensors must be mistaking.” She said. “Look.” She added pointing at a screen. On it there was some sort of map and two markings. One read “Milky way Galaxy” and the other read “Current position”. The oddest about the map was that the second one was nowhere near the first one. It took a moment for his brain to catch up with what he was seeing. “We’re not in our own galaxy anymore?” he asked almost too soft for Nicky to hear. “Affirmative” the computer answered in Nicky’s place.



“What about the anomaly?” Christ asked, fearing he knew the answer before he heard it. “Gone” said Nicky. Scans of surrounding space show nothing out of the ordinary. Two systems within sensor range. One has only gas giants and the other has 15 planets in orbit around a yellow star. Some might have atmosphere.” Nicky answered. “We’re lost” she added, turning her face down.

 

It took about half an hour before either of them could speak again. It was Nicky who voiced what the core of their thoughts were about. “What are we going to do now?”



Christ inhaled deeply and forced a smile onto his face. “We were planning on making a new start for our little family, far away from everything we’ve ever known. That’s exactly what we are going to do. It’s just going to be a little farther away from everything than we’ve planned. We’ll find a place to settle down, make a home for ourselves. We’ve still got the ship, we’ve still got each other… what more do we need?” Christ said, looking his wife in the eye.



As she drew strength from his words, he drew strength from that strength reflected in her eyes. “You’re right. We need to find some place to stay first, and then maybe we can try to find out what happened… and how to get back if we wanted to” Nicky said, taking hold of Christ’s hands. “As long as we’re together, everything is going to be all right.”



“Set course for that system with the 15 planets. Let’s see what’s out there.” Christ said, suddenly flooded with a feeling he hadn’t felt since he’d been an ensign about to embark on his first assignment. He realized he and his family were going to do what most Starfleet officers could only dream of; explore another galaxy! They were really going where no man had gone before! “Alright. Just as soon as I complete a level one diagnostics on all our systems. Whatever pulled us here, it wasn’t exactly a smooth ride. I want to make sure we’re 100% before we plunge into the unknown.” Nicky answered.



Three hours later they dropped out of warp just outside the star system their sensors had picked up. “Sensors activated.” Nicky told Christ as their ship’s sensors reached out into the star system. “I’m picking up one class M planet. It’s the fourth planet from the star.” She added. As Nicky scanned the system for life signs Christ had the scanners looking for signs of civilization. A beep from his console indicated something was found. “I’m picking up metal alloys on that planet, as well as in orbit around it.” Christ told Nicky.



“Scanners are not picking up any communications or any emissions  from the planet.” Nicky answered. “Let’s get in closer, maybe we’ll pick up something else.” Christ suggested. “I’ve got an odd feeling about this place Christ. Let’s be careful” Nicky said. “Agreed” Christ answered and punched up the impulse engines to half impulse. He steered the Eagle as close to the outer planets as he could before sweeping to a halt just below the fifth planet from the star. “Lets see what the sensors can tell us from here” Christ said.



“Scans are showing the planet has some plant and animal life but no higher life forms. There are signs of civilization though, there seem to be cities or ruins of cities dotted across the planet. Oh my!” Nicky said as the sensor readings rolled across her screen. At his wife exclamation he turned to face her. “Oh my what?” he asked. “Look!” his wife said as she pointed at the main screen in the cockpit. On it the planet of their interest was shown spinning slowly on its axis.



When Christ looked closer he could see a small round black dot coming into view. Then the magnification increased and increased until he and his wife saw what the dot was. An impact crater 3000 kilometers in diameter. “I don’t think anyone’s down there anymore” Christ said softly. A soft beep drew Nicky’s attention away from the main viewer. Her sensors had found something else. “There are two energy signatures on the planet. One at the center of the crater and one in a city on the northernmost continent. As far as I can tell it is the largest city on the planet.” Nicky told Christ. “What now?” She asked.



“Let me go down there and take a look. Maybe there is something there that can help us. Maybe I can find out what happened here.” Christ suggested, somehow excited at the thought of discovering an ancient extinct civilization. Nicky had reservations though. “My scans of the objects in orbit of the planet shows that one of them was a space station. My scans show that it is full of pockets of calcium… skeletons” she told Christ. “Any sign the station is active or has an active power source?” Christ asked.



“No. Sensors show complete vacuum” she answered after checking her readings. “Then the planet is the better option. Sensors show nothing harmful in the atmosphere, so I won’t need a clumsy environmental suit” Christ said. “Where there is energy there might be active machinery. Maybe something we can use later on. Besides. We need fresh food supplies so we don’t run out of energy. This ship’s got an awesome power source but it needs fuel just like any other to produce the antimatter. Maybe whatever is powering the power source down there can help us in that department” Christ explained his reasoning. “All right then. I’ll stay here with Arend and keep the sensors peeled.” Nicky agreed.



Christ got up and went to the living area, and kissed his son. Then he moved to fill a satchel with everything he thought he might need. Two tricorders, a phaser, a couple of torches, and a med kit. Then he packed some food and water rations and put on the survival outfit he had found in the stuff his father had left him. When he was ready he went back into the cockpit and kissed his wife. “I’ll be in contact the whole time, and be back as soon as I can.” He promised. “Just be careful and make sure you come back” She answered.



Then he moved over to the transporter pad and stepped on. “I guess the energy source in the city is the best place to start. I doubt there is anything useful to be found on the bottom of a crater.” He told Nicky. “Coordinates set. I’ll put you in the open square in the center of the city. It’s two kilometers from the source of the energy readings.” Nicky answered. “Ok. Love you. Energize” Christ said, flashing Nicky a reassuring smile. Then he was gone.



Chapter 3 coming soon!