Star Trek: Fortitude
Season Five, Episode Nine - “Homeward Bound”
By Jack D. Elmlinger
PROLOGUE
“It sounds like you could do with a break…”
Lowering the coffee cup from his lips, Ewan Llewellyn fixed the desktop quarters in his quarters with a raised eyebrow and a half-hearted chuckle. A break did sound nice, right about now. The recent foray into the Beta Quadrant’s undiscovered sectors hadn’t been the most successful or the most relaxing.
That much was certain.
Some people were blaming the Norway-class starship that they now flew in. while it was the understatement of the century to say that the old Fortitude experienced her fair share of scrapes and losses. This second incarnation in the line seemed to find danger and death far more easily than before. Ewan didn’t buy that explanation for a second.
This was his ship, his command, so if anything, he blamed himself.
“Look, you’ve got only three weeks left before your next scheduled return,” the friendly face of Rear Admiral Edward Blackmore suggested on the monitor. “Why don’t you head back early and put your feet up? You, Valerie, and Kate can join Erica and I for Friday’s poker tournament. We’ve finally got Veth to understand how to play the game!”
“Is that an order,” Ewan asked him,” or a recommendation?”
“I don’t want to make it the former, my friend. You need this. Your crew needs this.”
“Well, you do have a point there…”
“Besides, I wouldn’t mind having you around,” Blackmore continued, rubbing the salt-and-pepper beard on his chin as he constructed a plan. “I’ve been chatting to one of the biggest trading barons in the sector. He wants to come and visit Starbase 499 soon, undertake the grand tour and the likewise. Having the famous Captain Llewellyn at my side would be a bonus.”
“Famous, huh? More like infamous, wouldn’t you say?”
“Absolutely not. That’s just you being modest again.”
Ewan considered that there was actually nothing to consider on this matter. He wanted to head for home. Hell, he had wanted it ever since Keveshi VI became a distant speck in the starfield beyond the Observation Lounge windows. Downing the last of his coffee, he zipped up the front of his uniform’s gray-shouldered jacket and shot a thankful glance at the desktop monitor.
“Okay,” he agreed with a smile.
“Excellent! See you in three days, Ewan. Blackmore out.”
ACT ONE
Captain’s Log, Stardate 53762.9;
Cutting our latest exploratory mission slightly short, I have ordered that we reverse course and return to Starbase 499 early. Crew morale has responded positively. Nobody sees this as a retreat or a failure but rather simply a chance to take stock after certain unforeseen events and prepare ourselves for a triumphant fresh start in the near future. Thanks to the uneventful path ahead of us that will take three days to traverse, I have granted extra downtime to the senior staff.
He was to be found on the holodeck.
Finding the door unlocked and unsecured, Valerie Archer pondered over whether she should just barge in or wait for him. The schedule on the wall monitor said that his hour was almost over but she had tried to contact him via combadge and had gotten nowhere. He was needed, after all. Deciding to wear an apologetic expression just in case, the Commander took a deep breath and walked inside.
The simulation underway was certainly not what she had expected to find. Valerie had predicted, at least, some kind of rudimentary setting to be fabricated but no, only the bare walls of the deactivated holodeck met her gaze. It made tracking him down that much easier, but for an entire hour? No reminder of home? No projection of Siberius Prime? Or even relaxing music? Why did he even need the holodeck time then? Valerie got her answer when she finally zeroed in on her objective. He stood with his back to her, talking to another figure that she didn’t recognize. Ah… he would be the hologram.
“Sollik?”
The Suliban chief engineer turned at the sound of his name, his slight frustration swept aside when he realized that it was his superior officer calling it. He quickly tilted his head towards the ceiling of the holodeck, his green scales twisting into a frown as he moved to address the First Officer of Fortitude more formally.
“Computer,” he hissed,” freeze program!”
“I’m not interrupting anything important, am I?,” she asked him.
“No… well, just a correspondence that I try to maintain.”
“With this fella?”
Valerie was looking at the humanoid figure over Sollik’s shoulder. He was frozen by the holodeck controls in mid-sentence. Upon closer analysis, she saw that he was a Human to be somewhere in his late thirties. He was perhaps of Middle Eastern descent, presuming that he was born on Earth at all that was, with jet-black hair and a lean figure. The Starfleet uniform answered the obvious question, a blue collar emerging from underneath his uniform jacket. Science or even medical?
“If you don’t mind my asking, who is he?”
“A doctor who served aboard Deep Space Nine during the Dominion War,” Sollik openly answered her with nothing to hide from the Commander. “He is another Starfleet officer like me who had dealt with the issue of genetic engineering and his career. It was suggested through a mutual associate that we contact one another. His experiences have been a great help in reminding me that I’m not alone.”
“Alone?,” Valerie objected. “Sollik, you’re never alone! You’ve got friends here!”
“With all due respect, ma’am, I’m one short recently.”
Valerie went to reply when she stopped herself short and closed her mouth back up. He had a point. The recent death of Lieutenant Arden Vuro was still recent enough to leave a sting in the air, especially on the Bridge near the helm. It didn’t matter who flew the ship anymore and it didn’t matter if they did it better. Nobody could replace him. Nobody was trying to either. They wouldn’t want to.
“Not only that,” the Suliban tried to continue,” but… well…”
“What is it? Go on. You can trust me.”
“I got another letter from my sister last week. She and I had a falling out last year, just prior to the Battle of Four-Nine-Nine. She wanted me to return to Siberius Prime to have my genetic abilities surgically removed. She sees me as sick. I’m sorry, Commander, but before today, I had only told two other people. The first is being projected over my shoulder right now, and the second is no longer with us.”
“I’m sorry to have interrupted you,” Valerie blushed, shaking her head.
“Not at all. Thanks for listening, ma’am. What was it that you wanted anyway?”
“Oh, there’s a slight imbalance in the warp field. There’s no urgency. It’s not exactly a serious problem right now, but we’ve been scratching our heads up on the Bridge as to why it happened in the first place. I was wondering if you could get down to Engineering and see what you can learn.”
Sollik agreed with a short nod. Together, he and Commander Archer headed for the door. It was only at the last moment that the chief engineer realized that he had left the holographic letter running. Briefly, he paused to end the simulation.
“Computer, deactivate program Bashir Response Alpha-Four.”
* * * *
There was scant worry about the warp field imbalance. Such technical glitches were bound to happen now and then, especially when dealing with a machine designed to take the laws of physics and completely disregard them. It was with a casual yet determined pace that Sollik returned to Engineering and set about trying to locate the cause of today’s little hiccup. His green hands tapped away at one of the LCARS terminals situated directly in the icy glow of the warp core.
This was strange… The numbers weren’t supposed to be sequenced in such a haphazard way.
A frown was the first indicator of a major problem. Try as he might, Sollik failed to come up with a good answer for why Fortitude’s warp field was skewed out of proportion. All of the usual indicators were absent. Why was this happening? What was this happening to his engines?
“Engineering to Bridge,” he decided to call out.
“Llewellyn here,” came the reply. “What’s happening down there?”
“I am unable to ascertain the reason for the imbalance, Captain. Could you direct the sensor readings for the surrounding sector to my console? There is only one possible explanation that I can think of, although it’s only a theory.”
“You should have them now.”
“Thank you…”
It only took a fraction of a second. This was impossible! Nothing like this had ever been seen before! No course at the Academy ever briefed him about this eventuality! Damn, but it was happening and it would only get worse unless somebody did something about it… and Sollik was that somebody. Without hesitation, he marched over to the opposite side of the warp core and punched in a code that he had never wanted to use.
“Sollik, we’re dropping out of warp,” Ewan’s voice shouted over the intercom. “Explain!”
“I’m sorry, Captain, but I had to shut down the core!”
“Would you care to give me a reason why?”
“Because if we had continued along our present course, it would have breached!”
ACT TWO
“Are you familiar with teldromite, Captain?”
Ewan Llewellyn shook his head in honest ignorance. There was no point in pretending to understand just what Sollik’s question had to do with anything. Casting his eyes over the rest of the assembled staff members in the Observation Lounge, the chief engineer seemed to be the only one holding all of the aces. Everybody else wore the same blank expression. They just wanted to know why Fortitude had been unexpectedly torn away from warp and ground to a shuddering halt, especially since, for some, this hastily-called meeting interrupted their extra downtime.
“Teldromite is a mineral compound usually found deep within planetary cores,” Sollik began to explain slowly. “It has the annoying property of subduing electromagnetic fields from a certain distance. Until today, teldromite was only ever observed as a solid. However, we had just discovered otherwise.”
The Suliban moved to the large wall monitor and conjured up a display.
“This gas cloud,” he indicated with a wiry finger, tracing an outline around a patch of dull gray overlaid onto a local spatial grid,” is composed entirely of teldromite. It covers this entire sector. A more detailed scan reveals that it most likely originated from a nearby moon that, after a powerful asteroid collision, was blown clean open. The reaction of the impact has, by some means, unleashed the teldromite from beneath the surface and vaporized it. Somehow, against all scientific records, it survived in gaseous form and drifted out into space.”
“Hold on,” Katherine Pulaski interrupted from the far end of the table,” you’re going to have to spell this out for me. Teldromite counteracts electromagnetic fields, right? What is that bad news for our warp drive?”
“Inside the warp core, the reaction between matter and antimatter is regulated by our dilithium crystals,” Sollik clarified for everyone. “Only by subjecting the crystals to a high-frequency electromagnetic field do we get the by-product of warp plasma which is then sent into the warp nacelles to power them. Without the electromagnetic field to regulate the reaction, we are sitting on a ticking bomb. The imbalance that was detected earlier was the first indication of teldromite in the area. Had we continued, the electromagnetic field would have collapsed and the ship would have been destroyed.”
Pulaski nodded appreciatively. Several others, not wanting to reveal their shortcoming in warp theory, were also grateful for the lesson. Deactivating the wall monitor and returning to his seat at the table, Sollik interlocked his fingers and leaned forward to accept one final question from Captain Llewellyn.
“How come this teldromite cloud wasn’t here before?”
“Stellar winds have shifted in the past week. On our way out here, the cloud was a safe distance away. Now it’s been moved to cover our tracks, so to speak, and prevent us from returning to the Santrag system.”
“Is there any way around it?,” Valerie asked, almost knowing the answer already.
“I’ve run a full spectral analysis of the sector,” Jason Armstrong revealed, the concern on his young features tipping everybody off to the bad news. “The teldromite cloud is massive and stretches out in all directions. It seems to me that we have two options. One, we sit and wait. With any luck, the stellar winds will continue to push the compound through space and it’s clear up naturally.”
“Won’t that take weeks, if not months?,” Llewellyn stated semi-rhetorically.
“If not years, sir,” the Kentuckian concluded. “The second option is highly dangerous but it beats sitting on our hands in my book. Somehow, we find a way to isolate the dilithium reaction chamber from the teldromite effect. Unfortunately, the usual way to isolate a ship’s system is with a force field which is also knocked out by the teldromite. That means we’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way.”
“Any mistake,” Sollik emphasized for dramatic effect,” and we would be obliterated.”
“Who cares?,” Gabriel Brodie growled from his seat, his arms folded over his chest.
“Care to venture an opinion, Mister Brodie?”
“Sir,” the tactical officer said, taking up the Captain’s invitation,” this Norway-class ship can’t sustain us as long as an Intrepid-class ship could, even with all of the retrofit prototype enhancements that she boasts. We have to try and get out of here and I think I know just the way… but it will involve dismantling a quantum torpedo.”
* * * *
It wasn’t necessary for the entire meeting to decamp to the torpedo loading tubes and as such only Llewellyn, Archer, and Sollik peered over the shoulder of Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Brodie as he crouched beside the smooth casing of a quantum torpedo. The space in which he worked was cramped enough without three of his shipmates standing right behind him, but their presence was the least of his worries. He was about to willingly open the internal mechanism of one of the most destructive weapons available to Starfleet.
Oh, sure the warhead had been disarmed long before his arrival and an extra safety check was made, thanks to the presence of the Captain, but still… it wasn’t exactly the done thing, was it?
“Here,” the black man pointed once inside,” this is called the zero-point field reaction chamber. When this baby gets to work on even a molecule of matter and antimatter… Well, let’s just say that running would be pointless.”
“What’s your point, Mister Brodie?,” Ewan pressed him, eager to leave the side of the weapon.
“Quantum torpedoes are designed to punch a hole in almost anything, including the shields of an enemy vessel. When you get close enough to shields, however, there is a good deal of electromagnetic interference. The beauty of a quantum torpedo is that this interference is countered by the zero-point. It generates a plasma cocoon to cancel out anything that might prematurely detonate the warhead.”
“I see where you’re going with this,” Sollik noted with genuine interest. “If we applied this zero-point technology to the warp core’s dilithium crystals, it should deflect the teldromite and keep us from being spread across the Beta Quadrant!”
“In theory, yeah,” Gabe honestly said,” but only in theory.”
“Is there a way to test it?,” Valerie frowned.
“Only one, ma’am. We have to fire a quantum torpedo into the teldromite cloud.”
“You say that as if it’s a terrible idea,” Llewellyn observed.
“It is. Teldromite is highly combustible when exposed to antimatter. If this zero-point technology fails and the torpedo detonates inside the cloud, the resulting explosion would devastate this entire sector, tearing a hole in subspace… and happily wiping us out.”
The Captain and First Officer shared a hesitant glance.
“Oh, joy…”
ACT THREE
Captain’s Log, supplemental;
Despite the risks, I cannot sentence seventy-two crew members to a lifetime of waiting for good weather. It is with great caution and fingers tightly crossed that I have ordered the firing of a quantum torpedo into the teldromite cloud. I must be the first captain in Starfleet to shoot something and wish for no explosion… Because if there is, the seventy-two crew members that I’m trying to save will be annihilated in seconds. I do take some solace in the fact that it won’t be a long, drawn-out end…
Together, they watched it.
More than a few prayers were whispered as the azure torpedo spiraled into open space, flung with the hope of everyone aboard from the forward launcher of Fortitude. It cut through the heavens, diving fearlessly into the murky gray depths of the teldromite cloud that infested the region. It would run until it either lost power or fell out of range… or worse, detonated, thanks to the interference.
Back on the Bridge, walking in a tight circle, Ewan Llewellyn couldn’t have torn his gaze away if he wanted to. The intrusive mode of the holographic viewscreen showed it in three dimensions. The glowing image of the quantum torpedo hung over his command chair, dominating the center of everybody’s attention. It bathed the Captain’s intense frown in an eerie glow, casting long shadows like the fingers of a potential catastrophic specter that could quickly become very real. Despite traveling at ridiculous speeds, the device’s image was motionless and almost peaceful. He hoped that it would stay that way. He would have gladly watched the thing for hours, paced around it for days, would it guarantee the lack of an explosion.
“Come on…,” he breathed aloud. “Come on… Make it…”
“The torpedo has penetrated the cloud’s outer edge,” Jason Armstrong called out.
“Mister Brodie,” Valerie Archer confirmed,” anything?”
“Quantum torpedo is holding steady on its prearranged trajectory, ma’am,” Gabe reported with a wide grin. “All readings confirm the stability of the warhead payload. The zero-point field reaction chamber is intact. No teldromite interference detected!”
For an instant, the collective sigh drowned out the background hums and beeps of the Bridge consoles and systems. Giving Ensign Armstrong the kill signal with a finger jerked across his throat, Llewellyn ordered the holographic representation of the torpedo removed from his sight. Reclaiming the area in front of his chair, he began to wrap up the test and start the preparation for the real thing.
“Power down the torpedo,” he said,” and place a marker on the navigational sensor grid so we can pick it up on the way through. Bridge to Engineering. Sollik, you were probably watching anyway but the test was a success!”
“I was watching, Captain. Congratulations.”
“You may begin modifying the warp core at your discretion.”
“Thank you, sir. We’ll be ready to get underway in just over two hours.”
“Can’t wait. Bridge out.”
* * * *
Those two hours passed by without any major incidents. During the quantum torpedo test, Sollik had been meticulously preparing the task of adapting the zero-point technology to the warp core. He had even exposed the dilithium matrix and had his tricorder open and ready when the Captain called down from the Bridge to get underway.
With two hours of solid hard work, uninterrupted, there was a precision and scale to the task at hand that denied anybody else’s presence or help. The engineering team was floating nearby, keeping an eye on systems but this was Sollik’s baby.
Thanks to the lack of interruptions and preparation beforehand, the Suliban found his thoughts drifting over the two hours. It helped to calm his nerves. Despite the whole thing being deactivated, he was essentially sticking his bald green head inside the heart of a matter/antimatter combustion engine.
The first thought that he entertained was of his sister, Sekana. They had been so close and he had been so infuriated by her reaction to his genetic modifications. It had been a harsh and bitter blow. So much had happened since he had read that letter. So much had changed in his life and yet all that he could do was keep hearing it over and over again. He heard it particularly loudly as he squeezed his hand through a minuscule gap in the dilithium couplings that were not normally big enough for humanoid appendages. His ability to do this was saving seventy-two people from a lifetime of motionless abandon.
How could it be a horrible, unnatural thing?
Well, no… technically speaking, it was an unnatural thing, an echo of Suliban mistakes from the 22nd century. That was the common ground of agreement with the Suliban people. Those born with the genetic modifications were reminders of their past, their error in judgment, and the reminder that they had once been a nomadic race spread out across several worlds and colonies. They were also a reminder of when they were hunted by those races like the Tandarans and grappling with early spacefaring Humans.
Sollik understood this.
Like he had said to his sister in that letter, months ago, surely such history wasn't something to shy away from?
His shipmates realized this and encouraged it. How he had learned to accept them as friends, to appreciate their implicit support through the shared uniforms and shared experiences. How he had never had to defend himself against an old look or insinuating comment, not once, and not even from those that he had been subjected to prejudice in the past. How he felt part of a family and not just a crew.
Before, at several key moments in his career over the past year, Sollik had wondered about the point of continuation. What was waiting for him in the future? Empty family reunions, a feeling of exile from his own homeworld? What was the point of survival? These feelings had been killed by those aboard both starships named Fortitude.
Without turning, he reached out into the empty space behind him. “Arden, hand me the -- “
He trailed off in regret. Of course, there was no Arden Vuro standing there to help him.
There never would be anymore.
It wouldn’t stop him. It couldn’t stop him! His helmsman friend had been sympathetic and considerate, accepting and selfless … but those qualities weren’t what sustained Sollik through difficulty. They made things somewhat easier to stomach. They had listened and provided somewhere for the chief engineer to share his feelings as challenging as that had been initially but he had learned that lesson now.
Newfound determination flowed through his veins as he finished his work alone.
Standing in triumph, he tapped his combadge. “Bridge, this is Engineering. The zero-point technology has been installed on the warp core and it’s online. If this is going to work, I’ve done all that I can down here. Impulse power is at your discretion.”
“Okay, thanks, Sollik,” the Captain’s disembodied voice replied. “Stand by…”
Hope filled the faces of the engineering team. It filled Sollik’s face too.
It was a new kind of hope for him. This time, he actively wanted to survive.
This time, he would.
EPILOGUE
He was heading back to the holodeck when he heard his name called.
Turning around, Sollik felt his musculature tension increase as he stopped and assumed the proper stance of attention. Ewan Llewellyn noted the reaction with a smile and waved it away, this being far from a formal meeting. This wasn’t a Captain addressing his chief engineer… Well, not really. The Welshman caught up with him and his smile broadened.
“I just wanted to congratulate you again… and thank you.”
“I’m just doing my job, Captain,” the Suliban attempted to deflect.
“No, I’m serious,” Ewan persisted. “I don’t think I tell you this enough, but you’re not just an important part of this crew. Over the years, I know that I’ve worked hard to earn your respect. We didn't exactly see eye-to-eye during those first few years. I think it’s important that you know that you’ve got my respect too, Sollik.”
He wasn’t capable of blushing. Such praise made him slightly uncomfortable. Ewan saw a head bow and a mind struggle to find an appropriate response. Feeling bad about putting his shipmate on the spot, he changed the subject
“Got your holodeck time back, eh?”
“Yes,” Sollik finally managed to answer. “Thank you, Captain.”
“Don’t mention it. See you tomorrow, okay?”
Grateful for the encounter to end, Sollik turned away from his superior officer and entered the holodeck. There was so much swimming in his head, so many thoughts, feelings, and reactions to recent actions. He had to talk about it with somebody. He had to get them out in the open. Only one person remained that he felt comfortable doing all of that with.
Clearing his throat, he stepped into the middle of the chamber and gave himself a second of composure before he began.
“Computer, activate program Bashir Response Alpha-Four…”
The End.