Post of the Month - February 2012

Post from Lance Krol of the USS Churchill. Well Done!

Lance blinked.

Lance looked around.

And suddenly, he realized Taras was right. He was the ranking officer.

Jesus, I'm the ranking officer.

He reached under his uniform and felt the little wooden crucifix there, older than him, worn and snarled with age. Not of any particular significance, but he felt like this was a scene God should witness. Everyone else had turned to face him, so maybe he could use someone that actually outranked him.

"...No."

"...No. I won't do it. I'm not the ranking officer, I won't take this amount of power and if anyone has any problem with that they can step into that ready room and tell the captain that his best and brightest engineering officer is refusing to rise any further," Lance's heart was beating. When did he start talking? It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore.

Everyone was staring at him. The regular beeping of buttons being pressed had absolutely stopped.

How loudly was I talking? Was I shouting?

"I'm sick of this. I am a god among you people. In six months I have gone from ensign to lieutenant and now I have no experience and control of the bridge. Do you people expect me to know what to do? Am I your messiah, that sweeps away error and sin like God? I've got nothing on God," and he realized he had raised his voice. He didn't know what he was saying.

"I don't know what you people expect, but I don't have it. I am smart, I know how to build a warp drive and I could God damn run the engineering department by myself if I needed to. But I won't rise to this. Not this," he killed his tears without feeling. Like beheading a child, like breaking a wooden toy box, his emotions died with a childlike scream. All the joy and all the pain went out of him, because if he allowed himself to feel anything now of all times then he'd collapse on the spot.

He looked around, and realized where he was. His emotions lay broken in the back of his mind. His eyes lost sharpness and his body sagged, then he stuck himself back together again and walked to the engineering console. "Mr. Cadenza, you have the –" his voice broke slightly. "– the bridge."

He touched the shoulder of the poor crewman at his console gently, kindly, suddenly feeling older than he ever had. These people were so young. They didn't stand a chance.

"I'm your relief, crewman," he stated, his blank tone not at all matching his tired, aged face.

He whipped his hand away from the crucifix and ended with an inaudible murmur to his own obsolete beliefs as he tapped at the console in the total, stunned silence of the room.

"...amen."

This day is going to be hell, and I know this because I've nowhere left to go.

Despite it all, he felt better. Free. He'd finally jumped off the chain of command, too late to simply exist but not too late to rebuild himself.

The Shadow Fleet Timeline

Arranged by: Shelaf Greegy

2379

• USS Enterprise-E defeats Romulan Praetor Shinzon during the Battle in the Bassen Rift

2383

• Shadow Fleet formed, with its base of operations at Deep Space Station Discovery
• USS Discovery commisioned into Shadow Fleet, under Captain Kayla Harper
• USS Monitor attached to Shadow Fleet center of operations, DS Discovery

2384

• Captain John Kawolsky takes command of the USS Discovery
• USS Discovery discovers Shadowous Station
• USS Discovery first learns of civil unrest in Cardassian territory
• Orion crisis begins
• USS Discovery becomes the second Federation starship to witness the collapse and expansion of two binary stars in the Omega IV system.
• Commander Scott Bradley seemingly killed in action against Romulans.
• Peace talks begin with the Orion Syndicate.
• USS Discovery is destroyed by the Orion Syndicate in a final stand.
• Orion Crisis ends

2385

• The Akira-class USS Blackpool is commisioned into Shadow Fleet
• Admiral Chris O'Neill kidnapped from the DS Discovery, but shortly thereafter rescued by Captain Kawolsky on the USS Blackpool
• USS Blackpool renamed USS Discovery-A in honor of the first Starfleet vessel to bear the name.
• Commander Bradley discovered to have been kidnapped by Romulans, but rescued by the crew of the USS Discovery
• USS Discovery comes across large Sal'Tek fleet and is almost destroyed in the fighting, however it is rescued by the USS Monitor, under Admiral O'Neill
• Cardassian Civil War begins
• Scott Bradley takes command of the USS Atlantis
• Planet codenamed "Safehaven" discovered for Cardassian settlers and government.
• USS Discovery and USS Atlantis forced from SafeHaven leaving many crewmembers behind.
• USS Discovery and USS Atlantis return and rescue the stranded crewmembers.
• Cardassian Civil war ends, and Scott Bradley returns to the USS Discovery
• USS Discovery makes first contact with the warlike Telonians, and several crewmen are kidnapped

2386

• USS Discovery transported to the far reaches of the Beta Quadrant.
• USS Discovery rediscovers the extinct Iconian species, and the sleeper agents appear for the first time.
• USS Discovery returns home to the Alpha Quadrant
• Iconian War commences
• A large Federation fleet, accompanied by the USS Discovery, destroys a major Iconian staging vessel, setting back their war effort
• DS Discovery renamed Blaisdell Station and Commander Riley T. Munro appointed Commanding Officer.
• Blaisdell Station attacked by a large Iconian fleet. The USS Discovery is mobilised to defend it. Several sleeper agents activated onboard the Discovery

2387

• USS Repulse commisioned, under command of Commander Richard Ransom
• USS Repulse encounters the rogue Vulcan T'vek
• USS Intrepid commissioned, under command of Captain Jacob Hannagan
• USS Discovery finds a damaged Iconian ship, and it is discovered that the sleeper agents onboard the Discovery are the historical leaders of the Iconian people, the Draynar
• Blaisdell Station destroyed by an imposter posing as Starfleet Admiral Hansen, killing several crewmen
• Starbase 83 becomes Task Group Alpha Headquarters
• USS Repulse transported to alternate timeline, in which Starfleet has lost the Iconian War
• Romulus destroyed by a supernova
• USS Intrepid transfered out of Shadow Fleet
• USS Repulse defeats T'veks plans to ignite a civil war in the Federation
• USS Repulse destroyed, with T'vek on board
• USS Port Royal commissioned under command of Captain Riley T. Munro
• USS Discovery encounters a rogue Iconian faction, and begins negotiations
• USS Port Royal finds and kills the imposter who destroyed Blaisdell Station
• Iconian war ends after approximately 500 days of fighting, with millions of casualties on both sides

2388

• USS Port Royal destroyed in combat after an imposter beams aboard and discharges a phaser in engineering
• Commander Scott Bradley takes command of the USS Discovery after John Kawolsky is promoted to Rear Admiral (Lower Half)
• USS Discovery transported to an alternate timeline, where it encounters and fights the Borg
• USS Churchill commisioned, under command of Commander Alexander Clarke
• Commander Clarke is kidnapped by pirates. Mike Cortez takes command of the Churchill
• Pirate crisis begins
• The crew of the USS Discovery arrested by Starfleet and held for questioning.
• Commander Clarke rescued and resumes command
• USS Discovery returns to earth and encounters strange phantoms.

The Calm Before The Storm

 This piece was written by our very own T'Ra Jones of the Fleet, we are so proud of her talents.


The Calm Before The Storm
Written By : T'Ra Jones (USS Churchill Science Officer)

She stood on the bridge, a padd in her hand
Her mind was so empty, her thoughts were so bland
She listened silently as others walked by
Things happened so slowly, yet in the blink of an eye
Sensors beeped, machines hummed
Surrounding air smelled a bit like rum
The doors swished open, the captain walked out
His shoulders were broad, his stand was so stout
"Hello, ensign," he said with a sigh
He let out a belch, "I ate too much pie."
With food on his mind, he sat in his chair
His stomach rumbling, as if the cupboards were bare
The ship was quiet, in such a blissful state
Such a peaceful lull was actually the bait

Although it was peaceful, it wouldn’t be for long
Alarms started sounding, ringing in her ears like gongs
“All personnel to battle stations!” exclaimed the captain with a cry
The crew began to scramble, some on the fly
They switched on the main screen to see what came near
Although they thought they were ready, their hearts filled with fear
Onto the screen appeared a big, massive ship
It was an enemy vessel making an unexpected trip
“Maintain the shields,” said the captain with fright
“We don’t know if they’ll fire, but they very well might.”
A scarlet beam, from the enemy ship came
It broke through the shields, the bridge was aflame
Chaos ensued, “Look out!” she said
Objects went flying, one struck her on the head

The bridge was quiet went she awoke with a start
Who knew how long she’d been in the dark
She rose to her feet and took in the view
So many dead bodies, all over they were strewn
The captain was among them, by his chair he lay
His once good-looking shirt, stained by the blood of the day
“T’Ra to the crew, the captain is dead.”
Her voice almost cracked as her mind filled with dread
“Hello?” she asked, “Is anyone there?”
Why was she still alive? It didn’t seem fair
“Hello?” came a voice, it was Buehler that replied
T’Ra was so happy, she even almost cried
“Thank goodness you’re alive,” a weak Buehler said
“We’re the only ones left. Everyone else is dead.”