<USS Avalon> "On the Other Side

"On the Other Side"

The little lights on the console started to blink red which alerted the little 
Ferengi officer that something was going on. She looked over the readings 
coming across her screen from the science and tactical probes. She sighed 
softly before swallowing hard and looking up. Her commanding officer was 
sitting in the center seat with a cup of tea and a padd. She looked calm enough 
but the little Ferengi knew better. Taking a deep breath she cleared her 
throat. 

"Captain, there's activity on the other side of the wormhole." 

The woman sitting in the center seat sat her tea to the side and turned so she 
could look at the troll at the science station. "What kind of activity, 
Ensign?" 

The little Ferengi female looked down at her readouts again. "It appears that a 
craft has entered the wormhole." 

"Red alert!" The brunette called out from her chair before turning to the 
Romulan at tactical. "Can we identify the craft?" 

The tall dark haired Romulan shook his head. "No, Captain, not at this 
distance. They would either need to come closer to our end our we would need to 
go inside." 

The Captain looked straight ahead and stared at the swirling mass that meant 
the wormhole was opening on their end. "Helm, take us closer to the opening, 
but not inside. Lieutenant, scan the inside of the wormhole as best you can. I 
want to know who's in there and what their doing."

"Aye Captain." Replied the Romulan. 

The bridge of the USS Banshee-C fell deathly quiet, not even the consoles and 
panels dared to beep, ping, bleep, or toot. After what seemed like hours, but 
were merely minutes, the Romulan finally spoke up. 

"I can not find the shuttle in the registry." The low hiss that his Captain let 
out did not go unnoticed. "However, it does not appear to be like the others 
who have come through before." 

"That doesn't mean those bloody thieves haven't acquired a new type of craft." 
The Captain spat. "I want to know what we're up against and I want to know what 
the bloody hell their up too."

The Romulan nodded before going back to his scans. "I believe I am picking up 
explosive charges of some sort."

"Explosive charges?" The Captain asked. 

Before the Romulan could answer the young human woman at the helm spoke up. 
"I've found it!" 

"Found what?" The Captain asked harshly. 

The woman turned to look at her. "The shuttle. I found it in the historical 
archives. It's a mainland fare, a four person personal shuttle vehicle. It's 
older then Mister Party Animal over there." The Romulan grunted. "It's listed 
as being a Federation ship." The woman paused to look over the scans she was 
pulling from the tactical console. "This one seems altered, upgraded somehow."

"An upgraded old hunk of shuttle junk with explosives on board." The Captain 
recapped and then moaned. "Status of that shuttle, Lieutenant?


"They appear to be preparing to launch the charges." The Romulan Lieutenant 
replied. 

The Captain got to her feet quickly as she barked out orders. "Can we safely 
disable that shuttle from here?" At the Romulan's negative replied she hissed 
again. "Helm take us in slowly, I want to be able to back out of this thing. 
Lieutenant disable that damn shuttle and haul it into our shuttle bay. I've had 
enough! I wanna word with the blokes inside."

She watched as her ship carefully entered the wormhole and as a small shuttle 
appeared on her view screen. She watched as three short phaser blasts leapt 
from her ship, make contact with the shuttle, and then watched as her ship's 
tractor beam grabbed hold of it.

"Back us out nice and slow, Helm." She ordered. 

There was a long pause before the woman at the helm replied, "Um. Captain." 

The Captain didn't like the sound of that. 

"I can't." 

The Captain glared at the woman. "What do you mean you can't?" 

"We've been pulled in. We either hang out here, pull a Uy which would tear us 
and the shuttle and the wormhole apart, or we go through." 

Reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose the Captain grumbled under her 
breath. "We can't go through! It's a temporal wormhole! Do you know what that 
means Lieutenant?" She glared at the poor woman sitting at the helm. "It means 
that the time line is different then it is at our end." 

The woman at helm nodded. "Yes Ma'am. Science believes that the other end of 
the wormhole dumps out sometime in the past." 

"Oh good! You do listen at the briefings!" The Captain scolded. "Forty years in 
the past, Lieutenant. Do you know the damage that could be done if we went back 
forty bloody years?" 

"Captain." The Romulan broke in 

The Captain turned and asked, "What is it now?" 

"The shuttle's trying to break away and in doing so is pulling us further in. 
If we do not release it or pull it in quickly we'll have no choice but to go 
through." 

"Then by all means Lieutenant pull the bloody thing in."

"Captain?" Came the voice of her little Ferengi science officer. 

The Captain sighed. Her mother warned her there would be days like this. 
"What?" 

"I think I'm picking something up on the other side of the wormhole." 

Slumping into her chair she asked, "And what would that be?" 

The little Ferengi paused before announcing. "The USS Avalon - B?" 

"Oh bloody fucking hell."

Other related posts: