Corey Wethern - Trojan Horse

[Corey Wethern]

The Type-11 shuttlecraft careered through the event horizon of the wormhole the trans phasic torpedo resulted in a starburst propelling the ship faster into the abyss that awaiting ahead. There was no going back as Lt. Jack Henderson rode the shock-wave from the now closed entry portal. There was a check on the sensor screen, nothing, nothing for light-years. No assistance, no Starfleet and no hope to get home. Jack took a deep breath and relaxed back into his seat for a second the restraints still tight against his torso. He looked down at his hands and they were trembling. He steadied himself rotating his training within his mind. Running system check, medical scans. The sweat now lingering into his open head wound which stung and throbbed but was sealed with the dry blood that crusted into his brown wavy hair.

 

He thought back to what had happened, could he even ever go back to Starfleet he almost could hear the screams of the bridge crew as he closed his eyes. He opened them again. “Computer being recording for ships log” the computer acknowledged with a chirp. “Engineering Officers Log” he thought back about how to recall his tale. That if they found the shuttle someone would know someone would be warned. He looked at the console and set the ship on autopilot to the nearest starbase which would still be several months travel and he couldn’t risk activating the distress beacon on the shuttle. He was forced to close his eyes again and started to drift off into a haze, part concussion and part exhaustion.

 

Jack could see the atmospheric processing unit in front of him the weight of the EVA suit and the recycled air sterile in his mouth. He had nearly completed the modifications the Nova Class vessel, the USS. Armstrong had been sent to the area to investigate a subspace anomaly which was actually a stable wormhole however there needed to be adaptations to the bussard collectors to allow the ship to traverse the new space. He remembered receiving the klaxon on his suits channel, signalling a Red Alert, then he saw the green glistening shield array and then the imposing Romulan Bird of Prey prowling in front of them. He turned to head straight for the nearest access port. The thud that had hit the ship knocked him off his feet. He had expected that would be it the remaining explosion would have finished him. However nothing, just silence. Comms were being jammed. He struggled his way to the nearest airlock and cycled the procedure. However the internal door wouldn’t release. The klaxon and lights on the computer “Warning Biological Hazard Detected”. Jack looked at the panel, the computer was picking up some contagion that wasn’t in any Starfleet database and it wasn’t letting him in. Jack pulled the panel apart and shorted a few wires to which he would regret later. He would rather see what was onboard rather than die in an airlock. The sealed door opened. However what Jack saw was far worse. Corridors full of bodies. He pulled up to the nearest panel and ran a sensor scan that moment the recycled air tasted the sweetest it could be. The panel confirmed his worse fears no life signs. Jack crumpled on the ground, he thought of his friends and colleagues onboard the ship. Sorrow washed over him, then anger. Jack stood up with a new vigour and set off with purpose.

 

The ship was still bristling with power but like a headless beast with no one to direct it. The turbolift was ahead he knew deck 4 was his target, the shuttlebay. As he entered the cylindrical pod and felt the ascension the air seemed stale in his EVA suit, Jack knew this was in his mind but played on his anxieties. He then felt the jolt as the momentary delay as the inertial dampeners kicked in, the ship was being tractor beamed. The turbolift doors opened and the small fleet of shuttles lay in front of him. He knew there was something he had to do first. Jack called up the console in the shuttlebay and inputted engineering codes, this gave him remote access as he opened the shuttlebay doors. He thought through the impeccable timing this would need. He engaged the thrusters on the ship propelling it faster towards the Romulan vessel. Jack knew this would get the attention as he received boarding alerts from the computer. The ship jolted as it increased speed. “Computer initial self destruct sequence timer for seven minutes, authorisation Henderson, Kilo Kilo Four Four Seven”. The computer paused whilst it worked through the crew who was still alive. Jack knew the answer but still hoped the computer would confirm it wasn’t just him. “Confirmed Self Destruct initiated, ranking officer authorisation. Time set seven minutes. Warning! Self Destruct Sequence Initiated” the computer klaxoned and continued the countdown. Jack ran to the shuttle awaiting and initiated the take off sequence. The thoughts running through his head as he started the flight prep, a phaser blast hitting the cockpit, too small to do any harm. He saw Romulan soldiers in EVA suits in the shuttlebay attempted to close the blast doors. The timing had to be precise, that was when the explosions started the chain reaction commenced by accelerating towards the Romulan ship, the tractor field fluctuating as Jack redlined the thrusters weaving out of the starship and straight for the wormhole back towards what he hoped was friendly space. He saw the explosions on the sensors two huge starships becoming a mangled molten mess in the vacuum of space. A pang of loss for the starship he thought of as home then a renewed will to live to avenge those lost.

 

The nightmare continued as fighters launched from the Romulan vessel before its demise streaming to seek vengeance, the bolts of phaser fire jolting the small but sturdy shuttle, Jack focused reaching the wormhole he knew the shuttle was no match for the fighters, he had speed on his side. Jack wasn’t sure what the reasoning of poisoning a Starfleet vessel but preserving it, intact, was this a Tal Shiar plot, was this beginning of war. Jack’s focus was surviving. The small shuttle crested the event horizon of the wormhole, Jack hovered over the console as he released 2 transphasic torpedoes. The impact brought a huge starburst and captured in the heat and loss of a beautiful new opportunity was Jack’s pursuers.

 

Jack awoke with a startle bringing him back to his reality the sweat congealed with blood as the nightmare of the previous few hours replaying each time sleep came to take him. Jack mourned his friends and colleagues, he knew not what the reasoning of the attack, he only knew two things as he remembered the wormhole close for the last time, that he would prevent anything like that happening again and that there would be no going back.

Edited February 20 by Corey Wethern