CROSSING LINES
A STAR BLAZERS/ STAR TREK/BABYLON 5 FANFICTION WORK BY:
JASON BOND
Chapter 2
Unexpected
Visitors
Earth
Defense Force
Space
Battleship Yamato
March 22,
2203
6am
Captain Derek
Wildstar entered the mess hall, yawning and trying to come to life. He had been
sleeping hard these last several days, and his dreams had been confusing his
mind in his off duty hours. His fiancée, Nova Forrester, was beside him as they
took their place in the morning breakfast line.
"What's
wrong, Derek? You've been very quiet lately. Is something the matter?"
Nova inquired.
"I'm not
sure, Nova. I've been dreaming a lot lately about my brother, Starsha, Sasha,
and Iscandar. I can't for the life of me understand what the dream is all
about, but it seems like something major is about to happen."
They made
their way to the servers, and they both pretty much ate the same thing:
sausages, ham, eggs, home fries, fruit, and coffee. Derek didn't think much of
his wife eating as much as she did, because she has an incredibly fast
metabolism, which didn't bother him in the least because it allowed her to keep
her slim, trim figure. But he also knew that, while she looked like a weak
woman without much muscle tone, she was a real pain to battle with in a fight.
They made
their way to a table at the far side of the hall, and the rest of the morning
shift gave them a wide berth out of respect for their privacy. This crew, for
the most part, had been together since the beginning, when they made that mad
dash to Iscandar for the cure to the radiation poisoning that was killing off
all life on Earth. Since then,
they had faced and defeated two other major enemies, and now Earth seemed to be
at relative peace with the universe.
But the cost
was high, as Derek knew all too well. Captain Abraham Avatar was the biggest
loss, as this was his command when they made their journey to Iscandar. He had
managed to survive it all, despite the radiation
sickness that was slowly killing him. He made it long enough to see Earth
again, and then silently passed away aboard ship, in his quarters. To this day,
no one had been billeted in them, and as far as the crew was concerned, no one
ever would again.
Derek and Nova
ate in relative silence for a while, watching the members of the morning shift
come in and out as they grabbed a bite to eat before heading off to their duty
stations.
Derek was the
first to break the silence, "You know, it never
fails that I expect some of those we've lost to come through that door."
Nova sighed,
"I know. It seems like just yesterday we were taking off for the first
time and heading out, not knowing if we'd be back in time to save Earth."
"Mind if
we join you," said Mark Venture, Derek's best friend and Yamato's chief
pilot. Stephen Sandor, chief science officer and engineer, also joined him.
Derek nodded
and replied, "Sure, guys. What's up?"
Mark and
Stephen sat down, and Stephen was the first to speak, "I just came back
from the radar room. It seems as if they've picked up some kind of disturbance
in sector 78."
"Any idea
what it could be," said Derek.
"Not
sure. It's in an area that's pretty much remote from any planets with life on
them, so I'm not sure if it's a danger to anyone yet. What we have been getting
is a signal from the disturbance. It's too weak to make out, but it has the
appearance of a distress signal.," replied
Stephen.
Derek, looking
down at his now-empty platter, took his napkin and wiped his mouth, then rose
up and asked Nova, "Are you finished, dear?"
Nova was in
mid-bite when he asked that, but she instantly recognized the look on his face,
and nodded to him. She was pretty much finished anyway, but she was one who
always cleaned her plate. Together, they made their way to the dishwashers,
where they put in their platters and walked back to Mark and Stephen.
Mark and
Stephen were wolfing down their meals, and Derek only said,
"I'm heading up to the bridge. I'll see you two guys up there."
They two guys
nodded and continued their eating, as Nova and Derek made their way out of the
mess hall and toward the elevator that would take them to the bridge. They
stepped inside the car, where they were alone with each other. Nova turned to
Derek and asked, "Does this have something to do with your dreams?".
Derek looked
off into space for a few moments, then turned to the
woman he loved and told her, "I believe so. One of the images in my dream
is a portal in space, and we have to go through it. I don't know why, but we
have to enter it."
Earth
Alliance Starship Titans, Warlock-class destroyer
In orbit
above Episilon 3 and approaching
January 22,
2271
12:30pm
Earth Standard Time
Captain Susan
Ivanova looked out at her main view screen at the station that was her home for
four years as executive officer. First to Commander Jeffery Sinclair, then to
her mentor, Captain John Sheridan,
she served in the most turbulent times in the galaxy's history. She remembered
her thoughts when she first boarded the station so many years ago, thinking
this was just another temporary assignment before she got her own command.
In those four
years, she was a part of events that dramatically altered the shape of life in
the galaxy. They seceded from the Earth Alliance,
went back in time to save
It had been
years since she had been promoted to captain and given the first Warlock-class
ship to command. Her reasons for taking it were to get away from the station
and the memory of Marcus. There were still nights, in the privacy of her
quarters, where she still cried her eyes out over his loss. She never let
herself breakdown in front of the crew,
instead switching on that cold, hard personality that she had honed back aboard
the station she was looking at now.
Her executive
officer, Commander Henri LaCoste, came up to her,
"Captain,
She says, 'I'm looking forward to your visit and your crew is more than welcome
to take shore leave here.' Any reply, captain?"
Ivanova nodded
and said, "Acknowledge the message and tell them I'm on my way over. As
for shore leave, wait about 24 hours and I'll let you know."
"Yes, Captain.," nodded LaCoste and he went back to his
station.
Soon after,
Ivanova was by herself in a Thunderbolt fighter, enjoying the brief flight
between the ship and the station. She, like her mentor Sheridan and her first
commanding officer on the station, Sinclair,
loved to get out in a Star Fury and fly around. Granted, she got her nose
bloody a few times along the way, but she also knew that she walked away, save
once, from every battle.
All too
quickly, she turned over control of her fighter to command and control and let
them guide her ship into the immense docking structure.
Once she was docked and out of her flight suit, Captain Elizabeth Lochley met her. They made their way to Lochley's
quarters, talking about professional stuff and current events, especially about
the plague that the Drakh had released on Earth three years earlier.
"So
what's the latest from Excalibur," inquired Ivanova.
Lochley sighed and admitted, "Not much. Gideon is still
running here and there trying to find anything he can that would give us a
cure, but he's had no luck. He's due back here in a few weeks for a resupply,
so hopefully I'll know more of what's going on then."
They made
their way into her quarters and dropped the professional act,
embracing like old friends.
"God I've
missed you, Liz! It seems like you're one of the few people I can talk to about
all of what's going on."
"I know.
It seems like ever since this place got built, all
hell has to break loose on a regular basis! So how have you been, Susan?"
"Fine. Could be better, could be worse. So he's due back in a
few weeks,
eh? Anything special planned," winked Ivanova.
Lochley blushed, "I've not had much time to plan anything,
but I'll come up with something."
Ivanova patted
her friend on the back and said, "Just be sure to let me know when the
wedding is, ok?"
Lochley threw back her head and laughed, "Getting a little
ahead of ourselves, aren't we?"
Ivanova smiled
and sobered quickly, "I'm serious, Liz. I missed out on falling in love
with two special people and having them taken away from me before I could do
anything about it. I know that I'll never be able to love anyone else again
after Marcus, but it would make me happy to see you with Matthew."
Lochley's eyes misted over and she had a little trouble responding.
"Thanks, Susan. I'll keep that in mind. Speaking of Marcus, are you going
to see him while you're here?"
Ivanova sighed
and walked away for a moment, then turned back to Lochley,
"Yeah, I will.
"Do you
want to go see him now?"
"No, not right now. I'm not ready yet for that. I'll be staying a
few days anyway so the crew can blow off some steam."
"Ok,
then. You can stay here, if you'd like. Lord knows that I'm not in here that
much..."
That's when
the flash of light hit Lochley again.
Lochley was in a room overlooking the city that was in the flash
earlier in the day. Starsha was there, sitting behind a desk. With her was a
dark haired man in a military uniform, as well as a shorter blond that looked
to be Starsha's daughter.
"The time
draws near,
"How
soon," asked Lochley.
"Very soon. Just wait for them to appear, then head to Minbar."
The flash of
light came again, and she was back in her quarters aboard
"
Lochley looked shocked for a moment, then walked over to the
couch and motioned for Ivanova to join her. "I've been having strange
dreams as of late, and I don't know what it all means. Care to hear about
them?"
Ivanova nodded
and joined her friend on the couch, and Lochley told
her everything.
Earth
Defense Force Space Battleship Yamato
March 22,
2203
12 noon
Captain
Wildstar was seated at his usual position, that of the combat chief. He could
have moved to the captain's chair long ago, but never felt comfortable sitting
where his mentor once sat. Besides, he had a better view of things from his
perch anyway.
Seated beside
him was Mark Venture, chief pilot. To Venture's right was Stephen Sandor, who
was scanning the phenomenon before them. They had arrived at the portal an hour
before, and the message that they had picked up still sent a chill down his
spine.
"Can
anyone help us? This is Commander Susan Ivanova of
Nova walked
over from her post as chief radar tech and stood beside her fiancé as the
message kept playing above them on the main view screen.
"I've never seen a uniform like that before. And I don't know of any
station named
Instead of
responding to his love's question, Derek looked over at his chief
communications officer and asked, "Have you heard back from headquarters
yet, Homer?"
Horatio
"Homer" Glitchman turned to his commanding officer and shook his
head. "No sir. The phenomenon is interfering with out transmissions as
well as our communication system."
Mark looked
over at his friend and asked, "What do we do, Wildstar?"
Derek closed
his eyes and leaned his head back against the headrest,
then turned to Stephen, "What do you have for me, Sandor?"
"Wildstar,
all I can tell is that this phenomenon has something to do with time travel,
though I am not sure what it is exactly. If you are asking me if we should go
through, I'm not sure if we should, because we might not be able to return if
we go through it."
Derek inhaled
and blew out a long, deep breath. "it's possible
that whatever is attacking that station may come through this portal and try to
attack Earth. I think we have to go through and take the risk."
Stephen
nodded, "I tend to agree with you, Wildstar. There's plenty of risk
involved, but if this is a new enemy, meeting them on their turf would be
better than having them come through and getting a foothold here."
Mark spoke up,
"I agree, too. We need to know what they're plans are."
"Then
it's settled. We'll go through.," said Derek,
"Venture, power up the engines and take us in."
"Yes,
Captain."
Earth
January 22,
2271
6:45pm
Earth Standard Time
Ivanova was in
Lochley's office, along with
"This is
Captain Derek Wildstar of the Space Battleship Yamato. We are on our way. Hang in there,
Ivanova looked
at the paused message on the vid screen with a haunted look on her face. She remembered
the first time she had heard the distress call that a future version of her had
sent out shortly before the trip into Sector 14 with Ambassador Sinclair to
stop the Shadows from destroying
"Have you
contacted Draal about this?"
"Yes, and
he doesn't know why this is happening either.,"
sighed Lochley. Draal was the Minbari who had taken
over the Great Machine on Episilon 3, the planet in which
Just then, Lochley was beeped on her comm link. "Lochley, go."
It was
Lieutenant Walker in C&C. "Captain, we've picked up a ship in Sector
14. Its identity is unknown, according to the computer. What shall we do?"
Lochley thought for a moment, "Prep Alpha wing for launch.
I'll command the mission. Lochley out." She then turned to her friend and asked
"Captain Ivanova, since you have first hand knowledge of Sector 14, would
you please join me on the mission?"
"Yes, Captain. It
would be my pleasure.," replied Ivanova. Without
another word, they departed from the office and made their way to the cobra
bays, home of the Thunderbolt fighters.
TO BE CONTINUED....
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