Star Trek: Fortitude
Season Two, Episode Four: “The Team”
By Jack D. Elmlinger
PROLOGUE
“Nobody has seen this in over eight hundred years.”
It was incredible.
They stood together, firmly in the center of the chamber with their palm beacons dancing over the huge stone walls. Shadows merged with the rocks. There was some serious undergrowth covering most of them but there were enough gaps remaining to show off the intricate carvings and masonry beyond them.
The temple’s capacity alone must have been close to five thousand humanoids. That is, if they had been humanoids. The civilization that built this collection of four temples on this particular jungle moon hadn’t been around to maintain them, leading one to presume their extinction. They knew that there were no other biosigns on the moon’s surface, save for a few native bird species and some kind of alligator.
It was a shame.
Whoever had managed to construct such marvels would have been a fascinating culture to meet and learn from.
“I love the echo in this place. There are some great acoustics.”
“You think that it was some kind of concert hall?”
“Perhaps. Well, actually, see up there? Those are the same religious icons that we saw in the other temple. Maybe this was a prayer hall instead?”
“One more question to ponder. Damn, it’s impressive.”
The distant background noise was dominated by distant drips of residue but other than that, it was completely silent. The atmosphere was damp but not overpowering. This was a place of complete solitude. Enjoying the change in scenery and the chance to do some real exploring, they almost lost track of time.
“We should get the archaeological survey teams down here.”
“I guess you’re right,” the team leader sighed, tapping his combadge. “Llewellyn to Fortitude, three to beam up.”
ACT ONE
Captain’s Log, Stardate 49584.3;
We have made a major archaeological find while exploring an uncharted system that we have dubbed ‘Vir’, the Latin word for ‘hero’. One single red giant sustains almost fifty small planetoids and moons. It’s on one of those moons, Vir IX, that we have discovered the remains of a long-dead civilization. It’s a remarkable place and an incredible change of pace for my crew. Nobody needs to be rescued here. Nobody is waiting in the shadows to attack us. We could find ourselves taking our time with this exploration.
“These scans are certainly impressive, Ewan.”
“They don’t do the place any justice, Boxer.”
Leaning back in his chair in his Ready Room aboard Fortitude and, for the first time in a long time, Ewan Llewellyn felt completely at peace with himself and his mission. He smiled at the desk monitor as the head and shoulders of Rear Admiral Edward Blackmore smiled back at him, sitting in his office aboard the distant Starbase 499. They had been chatting casually about the Vir system and the archaeological discovery on Vir IX for several minutes. Their conversation was beginning to wind down but despite this, due to their friendship transcending their respective ranks, they continued to exchange dialogue.
“Well, I’d love to be out with you,” Blackmore admitted to him. “You know that.”
“The problem is we’re running out of starships,” Ewan reminded him, referencing the recent loss of the USS Winchester at the hands of the Rear Admiral.
“Yeah, yeah, fair game, my friend. You’re never going to let that drop, are you?”
“Not really. Anyways, how are things going back home?”
“Same as always,” sighed the older man on the monitor. “I had breakfast with Prime Minister Ka’Gerren this morning at the Prime Minister’s Residence down on the planet. I consider Veth a friend, but boy, can he moan.”
“Are his political reforms still disappointing the Santragans?”
“I don’t think they’re ever got a chance of success. The Santragans hate their political system so nobody within the political system will be able to escape unscathed, let along fix the crippling divisions in their society Ka’Gerran’s hands are tied by his job.”
“Hmm, yet let his job, and he’ll lose the power to even try.”
“Catch Twenty-Two, Ewan. Just be thankful that our jobs are somewhat simpler.”
“At the moment, I’m thankful for the change of pace. These ruins will take us some time to catalog, stunning that they are. I think this mission is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Fortitude.”
“I look forward to the next collection of scans,” Blackmore concluded.
Llewellyn gave a little mock salute towards the monitor, flashing his trademark winning smile, a sight that the Rear Admiral had almost forgotten. It was a reminder of the happier times, of poker games, and shared laughs. Vowing to bring those times back, no matter what political storms were brewing on Santrag II or whatever the great unexplored realms of the Beta Quadrant held, the subspace link was terminated.
“See you later, Boxer.”
* * * *
On the surface of Vir IX, standing in awe of the ruined third temple and letting the warm sunlight dance across his smooth face, Ensign Jason Armstrong took in the sweet musky air deeply through his nostrils. It was a joy to breathe non-recycled atmosphere for once and the beauty of his surroundings only accentuated the experience. Running a hand through his blonde locks, he reopened his eyes and absorbed the echoes of the lost civilization before turning and absorbing something that he found all the more beautiful. A few meters behind him, running a mapping scan on his tricorder, was his beloved boyfriend, Ensign Jim Morgan.
“Would you put that thing away and just experience this?,” he chastised him playfully, joining the tactical officer and embracing his shoulder.
“The captain wanted this scan, and the captain’s going to get this scan.”
Jason grinned. Jim was ever the eager officer. Perhaps it was his aversion to his own assigned task that had taken roots in recent events, the Kentuckian wondered. It had taken many sleepless nights to mentally grapple with the burden that he carried ever since he had destroyed the End fleet. With no order to do it and nobody to share the responsibility with, it had been a difficult time.
Jim had helped him greatly. Many hours had been spent with Jason staring into his deep, dark eyes and being cradled in his arms. He was the most sympathetic and most supportive person that anybody could wish for. While he hoped that he would never truly understand the feelings of guilt behind eradicating an entire species, he felt like, in some small, yet important way, he did.
“You know,” Jim laughed,” this kind of behavior could qualify as harassment.”
“Even though I know exactly how you like to be harassed?”
They kissed like it was the first time all over again. It was like that when you were in love. It never got old, and it never became commonplace. As they parted, both of them took a moment to recover with unavoidable joy spread across their faces.
“I think I’m getting some interference with my scans,” the tactical officer finally decided with a flirtatious raise of his thick black eyebrows. “My mapping survey might take a little longer to complete.”
“That’s the spirit, partner,” Jason winked with relish.
* * * *
On the other side of the cavern, covering what remained of the third temple’s ceiling and entrenched in his own tasks, Lieutenant Arden Vuro noticed the activities of the young couple with amusement. Unlike his colleague in Engineering, the Bolian pilot was completely at ease with the concept of a same-sex relationship and he actually found it a comfort when he observed the banter between the two ensigns.
It was sweet, he thought, and a rare moment of luck for both of them to be Bridge officers, not to mention senior officers on the same starship. His thick blue skin twisted into a smile and he turned towards the person that he had been assigned with for the exploration of the temple.
“Bless them, huh?”
“Oh, must I?,” sighed Doctor Lynn Boswell, her attention turning towards the couple only briefing before her eyes locked upon Vuro. “They’re great guys and all, but we singletons aboard Fortitude see them as reminders of our own sorry status.”
“That’s quite a pessimistic view, Doctor,” the lieutenant chuckled. “I think we should do something to correct that.”
Lynn’s eyes widened and her cheeks morphed from faultless to flushed. “Are you asking me out on a date, Lieutenant?”
“Oh… oh, no… No!,” Arden blustered apologetically. “I mean, not that I wouldn’t, uh… no, all I meant was… Ah, I…”
“Stand down,” Lynn assured him, her turn to chuckle,” I’m just teasing you.”
As if to seal the lid on the conversation altogether, her tricorder made enough noise to take focus away from their current topic. The doctor stared at it, her slender fingers tapping to double-check the readings appearing on her display.
Her face was now shielded by her long brown hair as Vuro stepped over to join her, his eyes peering over her blue-covered shoulder. Sensing his presence, she narrated her observations. “I’m getting some unusually biometric readings from a small antechamber directly below us.”
“What kind of biometric readings?”
“Unknown. The tricorder can’t lock on them. Want to go take a look?”
“Now, hold on,” he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “We know what happens when people go exploring suspicious readings. Rear Admiral Blackmore is minus one starship if you haven’t forgotten.”
“Well, thank goodness, I’m not taking a starship with me,” Lynn teased him, walking away from the lieutenant with her nose buried in her tricorder. “If I’m not back in ten minutes, you can send in Search and Rescue. Look after my fish.”
Glancing back at Jason and Jim, Vuro came to a moment of sudden sarcastic clarity.
No wonder they were in a same-sex relationship.
“Women…”
ACT TWO
Valerie Archer was starting to humanize the USS Fortitude.
It was commonplace and not a worry for the first officer. Had she been unaware of the incredibly Human attribute of forming relationships with inanimate objects, she might have been apprehensive about her inner monologue. Yet, sitting here on the Bridge in her cozy command chair, she embraced her attachment to the Intrepid-class starship with relish. It provided her with a warm bed, a secure workplace, and a home for almost a year now. It had protected her from interstellar combat, belligerent asteroids, particle fountains, and the cold, harsh vacuum of space while saving her life on numerous occasions.
And she was grateful.
Slowly, she felt her hand press against the armrest of her chair and a smile creeped across her face.
Standing behind her at the mission operations console, Sollik worked on upgrading the sensor matrix for the afternoon’s complex process of continuing the survey of Vir IX and the wider Vir system. The Suliban was happy to remain aboard Fortitude while the away teams beamed back and forth from the surface, collecting pictures and scientific readings to store in the database. His demeanor hardly allowed for him, the frivolity of a jaunt down to the surface to indulge his senses and give himself a break from bulkheads and gravity plating.
Then the alarm sounded. It was a proximity sensor that warned him of something unexpected and unscheduled. Ignoring his sensor calibrations for the moment and calling up the relevant data, his green scales creased into a frown.
“Commander,” he hissed,” I have the Shuttlecraft Domtar coming up from the surface at maximum impulse.”
“That’s funny. I didn’t expect anybody to be finished up just yet.” Archer stood, relinquishing her own comfort for the coming inquiry. “HAve they logged their return?”
“No communications between Fortitude and Domtar have been logged,” snarled a highly suspicious Sollik, a moment later. He took note of another sensor reading and his snarl intensified. “Commander, it’s moving away from us on heading two-four,two, mark three-three-zero.”
“What?! Hail them!”
“No response. I’m not getting any biosigns either.”
On the main viewscreen, the Type-9 Federation shuttlecraft thrust hard away from the misty green orb of Vir IX, showing its aft plating to the Bridge crew and pushing itself as hard as it could to make a run for the deep starfield beyond the system.
No biosigns?
What the heck was going on over there? The shuttlecraft was trying to escape… on its own? Only a hail from the surface broke the slew of questions running through Valerie’s mind.
“Doctor Boswell to Fortitude. Commander Archer, please respond!”
“Go ahead, Lynn,” allowed the commander.
“You’ve got the beam us all up immediately! I’m guessing that you’ve already detected the shuttlecraft getting away? Well, you’re not going to believe what happened!”
With a somber tone, Archer turned towards Sollik. “Get the captain.”
* * * *
“From the top, Doctor,” ordered Captain Llewellyn.
All of the senior officers were seated around the Briefing Room table, with the captain sitting at the head as usual, leading the discussion while being framed by the panoramic window. Archer, Vuro, and Sollik were all focused intently on Lynn Boswell’s worry-riddled expression as she began to relate her tale about what exactly happened in the antechamber of the third temple. Jason and Jim were giving the best of their attention, although a small degree of their collective minds was frustrated that their romantic interlude had been interrupted by yet another incident, crisis, or event in the line of duty.
“I found some unusual biometric energy readings coming from an unexplored section of the third temple, Captain,” Lynn began to say in earnest. “I would like to note that at this point, Lieutenant Vuro, my partner on this assignment, warned me against the dangers of proceeding with such haste. This isn’t his fault. It was entirely my idea to explore the readings without hailing Fortitude or bringing in another team.”
“Lynn, I know that you’re new to this away team business, but we’re still fundamentally explorers,” Ewan soothed her, reassuringly, knowing full well that he would have done the same thing in her position. “You were exploring. Don’t apologize.”
“Understood. Thanks, Captain. Anyways, I found the source of the biometric readings to be some kind of ceremonial artifact. It was spherical, about a meter high, resting on an engraved plinth and dominating the antechamber. It was clearly of great importance to whatever culture had resided on Vir IX and a major archaeological find, but the presence of biometrics on my tricorder display piqued my medical curiosity.”
“That’s when I stepped forward,” Arden continued, taking over the story. “I rested on a small idol carved into the wall and before we knew what was going on, the sphere shattered. It released some kind of… well, I don’t know what it was, Captain. All I know is that it floated about her heads for a while. I felt uncomfortable.”
“Was it alive?,” Jason asked him, sitting forward with his attention now fully focused.
“My tricorder busted,” Lynn sighed in response. “Our phasers, tricorders, palm beacons… everything technological that we were carrying was ruined by the… thing. It stuck around long enough to ruin our equipment and then darted through the wall.”
“That’s when we gave chase,” noted the Bolian helmsman.
“That’s also when we saw you,” Jim Morgan pointed out,” and realized that something was wrong. Unfortunately, Jason and I were too far behind them to catch up.”
“It reached the shuttlecraft and well… you know the rest, Captain,” Boswell finished off with a defeatist shrug that suggested she had absolutely no idea what happened to her, despite her position of knowledgeable authority in the Briefing Room so far.
“We’re currently giving chase,” Sollik reported. “Our estimated intercept is just in less than ten minutes. Whatever had control of the shuttlecraft hasn’t raised shields or charged any weapons so I am willing to submit that this is a non-hostile entity that we’re dealing with. I suggest that you beam me over as soon as we’re within transporter range and let me try to disable the internal systems. I can see if we can’t trap this… thing… and establish a dialogue.”
“I’ll join him, sir,” Valerie offered.
“Me too, Captain,” Jim said immediately. “Backup, in case, things get ugly.”
For once, Llewellyn had little to say in the way of substantial orders to issue. It happened frequently when starship crews began to combine their shared talents over time. Here he was, presented with a unique and distinctly alien problem to deal with and the solutions were instantly place before him for an evaluation and a rubber stamp. At least, he reasoned, it lightened the workload.
“You heard our chief engineer, ladies and gentlemen,” he finished off. “Just under ten minutes.”
ACT THREE
The gap closed, right on schedule. Fortitude loomed over the tiny auxiliary shuttlecraft, the arrowhead-shaped saucer section casting a shadow across the dorsal white hull as both vessels streaked through space at maximum impulse.
Instantaneously, three humanoid forms materialized within Domtar’s confined cabin space, all completely prepared for the unexpected and armed accordingly. As Sollik advanced on the main control console, setting about his task of finding out what was going on, Archer and Morgan exchanged a nervous glance before running their own scans with their tricorders. The atmosphere was stable as they established before beaming in. Fortitude’s sensors had told them that much, as well as confirming the lack of any biosigns. Still, there was something controlling this shuttlecraft, something above and beyond their current level of comprehension.
“Any thread,” the commander told her away team,” however small, just find a thread.”
“I think I have one,” Sollik replied, a moment later.
“Then give it a tug,” Ensign Morgan suggested, sitting down beside the chief engineer and looking at the main LCARS access panel. What he saw made his eyebrows raise and his jaw drop slightly. “Whoa, then again, maybe not…”
Two words, that was all.
Welcome aboard.”
“That’s rather spooky,” Archer observed grimly.
“I can’t tell where the commands are coming from. Something had bypassed the ODN relays throughout the shuttlecraft and it’s feeding directly from the antimatter residue in the warp containment field.”
“Our guest, perhaps?,” Jim suggested.
The screen before them changed in a heartbeat. I am responsible for the modifications. This is your vessel?
“It can hear us?”
“I guess so,” Valerie realized aloud, standing tall and clearing her throat. “Yes, we call this vessel the Shuttlecraft Domtar. My name is Commander Valerie Archer of the Federation Starship Fortitude. We come in peace. Who are you?”
All eyes snapped back to the screen. A second passed and then an answer came. I am an Ancient Guardian. You violated my temple.
“We have no idea that the temples were still inhabited. We apologize for any violation. We are merely explorers and we were curious about your civilization.”
Apology denied. This vessel will be seized. You will be detained.
Okay, that was getting terrifying. Sollik’s gleaming yellow stare blazed at that last communique from the entity within the shuttlecraft. As a Suliban, his natural response to threats was to become as equally threatening. Yet his Starfleet training kicked in and he turned his head towards his superior officer. His expression remained and Archer took careful note of its determination and anger. A glance at Jim reinforced the feeling hanging in the atmosphere around them. They were all thinking the same thing, experiencing the same dread and the same reaction of defiance.
“We can’t allow that,” she finally stated. “We ask you to surrender the shuttlecraft and return to your planet immediately.”
No surrender. No return. You broke the rules. You pay.
Jim flinched at that last line. This situation was starting to turn out like one of Jason’s B-movie holo-programs. Working and thinking quicker, he tapped a small secondary display on the co-pilot’s access panel and wrote his own lines of dialogue, adopting the entity’s method of communication. It was hardly a foolproof plan but it made sense at the time, at least, to the young tactical officer.
We can’t discuss a plan openly. It’ll hear us. I suggest leaving.
Valerie and Sollik read it. The chief engineer shook his head in refusal before he was even finished, making up his mind to deny all advice from Jim. Senior staff or not, his own personal relationship with the man was shaky at best, prickly at the moment, and rocky at the worst of times. The commander felt her thin red lips twist into an expression of agreement, nodding along with the suggestion.
Then Sollik typed out his own message. I can send a feedback surge through the antimatter containment field.
Jim leapt to his own panel. You’re going to kill it? Will it work?
Hopefully, it should just wound it, but yes, I believe so.
“Listen to me,” Valerie called out to the Ancient Guardian as soon as the somewhat ridiculous written exchange had subsided,” we can forcibly remove you from the shuttlecraft systems if you leave us no choice. We will defend ourselves.”
An unsettling, uneasy pause hung in the air like the inescapable stench of live gagh before the entity responded on the central console. I have control. You can do nothing.
“I’m sorry, Guardian, but you’re a little bit behind the times.”
Sollik had finished his work. The feedback surge was ready, primed to cause irreparable damage to the Ancient Guardian entwined with the systems of the shuttlecraft. His scaled finger hesitated over the activation control, the glow of the LCARS display giving him face a sinister shadow.
Archer held up her hand, holding him off for a moment, waiting to see if Domtar would respond.
Eventually, it did. No surrender, and no return. You broke the rules. You pay.
Enough was enough, watching this latest development unfold without his own participation, Jim Morgan decided to take action. Deep inside, he would, just like his partner had done recently with much larger stakes, wrestle with his conscience later. Right now, there was a danger and he could stop it. Brushing the Suliban’s hand aside, he pressed the feedback surge control without remorse.
Sparks flew. The team lost their footing, struggling to remain upright. The display with the Ancient Guardian’s words upon it faded.
It was dead.
EPILOGUE
The debriefing in the Ready Room was hardly conducted in a jovial mood.
“It was unavoidable, simple as that,” Archer said, resigning herself quietly to the facts. Clasping her hands behind her back, she stood firmly before the captain’s desk, resolute in her position. “I have to condone Lieutenant Commander Sollik’s recommendation and Ensign Morgan’s actions. There’s no question of that. They have my full support on this one.”
Ewan knew that she was right. Still, he wanted to have his say so he could put his point across. “We unleashed some kind of religious spirit? And for what? Because we got curious, and we poked our noses in. Whatever it was, that entity ceased to exist. We wanted our shuttlecraft back, but so forcibly to evict its alien tenant? Is that how things work out here now? We peer into corners of civilizations that take our fancy, the consequences be damned? No care or attention given to their customs or their rules? I don’t know about you, Valerie, but that doesn't sit too well with me. We need to do better.”
Valerie was in agreement. “You know what they say about curiosity, Ewan.”
“Absolutely, but deciding what party qualifies for status as the cat is not our job. We don’t decide who lives and who dies. To have that kind of power… is wrong. It would make us monsters.”
The first officer simply paused, letting those final words sink in. It was an indirect attack and it probably was not meant to be one by the Welshman seated before her. Nevertheless, she felt that it was necessary to defend herself, to defend those who were there, and who had to make the choice.
“I was part of the team, Ewan,” she finally responded.
The End.