Chapter Text
USS Valley Forge
“What is it?” Exiting the turbolift on to the bridge with her friends, Ashley pointed to the strange looking spaceship exiting what appeared to be a vortex or portal of some kind.
“Good question, Lieutenant.” Captain Magnussen responded as he turned his attention to his science officer, “What are you picking up Talana?”
“Databanks indicate that it is an Elachi cruiser, Captain.” The Andorian science officer responded, this time without her usual levity.
“Thank God they managed to put in all those retrofits in time.” Magnussen remarked in a low voice that only Ashley could hear.
“Shields at one-hundred percent, Sir.” The ship’s helmsman announced, “Phasers locked on.”
“Photon torpedoes armed and ready, Captain.” The navigator declared.
“Anything we can do to help, Captain?” Nelia inquired as the Elachi vessel turned its attention to the starship.
“Stand ready for now Lieutenant Commander in case I need you or your people to pitch in.” Magnussen replied as the helmsman shouted in alarm.
“They’re firing!”
“Brace for impact!”
As the ship shuddered under the impact of the alien’s fire, the navigator shouted, “Shields at eighty percent.”
“Fire all phasers.” Magnussen ordered as the helmsman pressed the firing button on his console.
“Elachi shields holding firm, Sir.” The science officer reported from his station.
“Concentrate fire on his aft shield and overload the torpedo yield.” Magnussen commanded as the alien ship fired again, the force of the Elachi ship’s beams and torpedoes weakening the old Constitution-class starship’s recently upgraded shields.
“Shields at sixty percent.” The navigator called out as the helmsman was stunned into unconsciousness.
Moving quickly to replace the injured crewman, Shelana called out, “Firing phasers.”
“Set course 270 mark 20.” Magnussen commanded as Ashley quickly filled another crewman’s slot and Nelia took over at the engineering station.
“We’re venting plasma on C and D decks.” The green Orion engineer reported, “Damage Control responding.”
“Inertial stabilizers holding.” Ashley reported. “Security prepared to repel boarders if necessary.”
“Sir?” Twesata called out, “I think I might have a way of at least distracting the Elachi ship…maybe causing a weakness.”
“Explain.”
“The virus they tried to download into the station’s computer.” The Betazoid flashed a wicked grin, “I think I can turn it against them…but I’ll need time to break through their system.”
“How much time.” Magnussen asked as his ship once again shuddered under the impact of the alien’s weapons fire.
“One…maybe two…minutes…” Twesata replied as she began work.
“You’ve got thirty seconds.” The captain exclaimed as the Valley Forge shook under the impact of the Elachi ship’s concentrated weapons fire.
“I think I know a way to buy us the time.” Nelia grinned as she tapped her comm badge. “Now, Belen.”
Decloaking the Spoiled Princess behind the attacking cruiser, Belen unleashed a full volley of phaser fire, following it up with two quantum torpedoes, his surprise attack forcing the Elachi to break off.
Opening a portal into subspace, the Elachi disappeared through the aperture, only to appear moments later behind the Princess.
Nimbly avoiding the Elachi’s weapons fire, the Princess cloaked as Magnussen ordered his ship back into the fray, “Fire phasers! Photon torpedoes—maximum spread. Glex…is that surprise of yours ready?”
“Got it!” The Betazoid science officer cried out triumphantly as she pressed a button. “And now they’re getting it!”
“Doesn’t feel like!” Shelana snarked as the ship shook again under the impact of the Elachi’s weapons.
“Give it a moment or two.” Twesata retorted as the enemy ship’s weapons fire suddenly ceased.
“Power levels on the enemy ship are spiking!” Ashley called out.
“Move us away.” Magnussen ordered as both the Valley Forge and the Spoiled Princess disengaged, withdrawing to a safe distance.
“Their systems are overloading.” Nelia reported.
“And BOOM!” Twesata crowed victoriously as the Elachi ship exploded, “Can I cook or can I cook.”
“Good job, everyone.” Captain Magnussen praised as the ship’s damage control crews, accompanied by medics, entered the bridge, quickly and efficiently carrying out their tasks.
“So…the Elachi were pulling the Devedians’ strings.” Nelia concluded as a holographic image of Agent Daniels appeared on the starship bridge.
“Not really.” Daniels replied with a ghost of a smile. “We think the Elachi are nothing more than middlemen for the true manipulators.”
“Who are?” Rana interjected, rolling her eyes.
“Even we aren’t completely sure.” Daniels reluctantly admitted. “All we know is that their reach apparently extends not only through time, but also across galaxies and universes.”
“Great…” Nelia scowled, “We’re dealing with omnipotent god-like aliens.”
“Just what I needed before breakfast.” Ashley quipped, bringing a wry grin to the face of the 23rd century starship captain seated at the center chair.
“That’s what makes this job so much fun, Lieutenant.” Magnussen bantered, his smile fading away as he read the casualty reports, “No deaths, thankfully, but we do have a few wounded. Doctor Thanoptis? Can you give our medical people a hand?”
“Of course, Sir.” The asari scientist replied as she exited the bridge, “I’ll be in sickbay.”
“I’ll head to engineering, Captain. It sounds like your chief engineer can use a hand.” Nelia declared, receiving an acknowledging head nod from the captain.
“And I’ll help security with damage control, Sir.” Ashley said as she also exited the bridge with the captain’s permission.
A short time later, after repairs had been made and injured crewmen tended to, Agent Daniels, having returned to his own ship, appeared this time as a holographic image on the bridge as what appeared to be a gateway opened up near the ships. “I’ve created a time portal to return your ships back to the 25th century. Thank you again for your help and I’ll be in touch. Farewell…for now.”
“Thank you all for your help.” Captain Magnussen, accompanied by his first officer, a handsome Andorian male named Zheren, complimented the four women now standing on the transporter pad. Before giving the order to energize, the starship captain gave one of the women, a certain dark-haired human, a playful wink. “If there’s anything I or my ship can do for you, let us know.”
Picking up on the suggestive wink that the starship captain had given her friend and Ashley’s blushing response, Nelia smirked, “Glad to help, Captain. If you and your first officer would like, you could join us for dinner on the Spoiled Princess when we return. We’ve got an excellent cook and a fully stocked bar…and I know that there’s a certain someone who would definitely be pleased for you to join us.”
“Kill you slowly.” Ashley whispered to the roguish Orion as her cheeks turned even redder.
“Thank you.” The captain answered back with a chuckle of his own, “Just comm when you want us to beam over.”
“Will do.” Nelia chuckled as she tapped her comm badge. “Belen. We’re ready to come home. Oh…and by the way…we’ll be having guests for dinner tonight.”
The Spoiled Princess—25th Century
“Where did you get this recipe for Stegt flaesk med persillesovs of kartoffler?” A very pleased Captain Magnussen exclaimed as he took a sip of his aquavit. “And the Rugbrod and Honsekodssuppe! I haven’t had food like this since I was last in Copenhagen!”
“Let’s just say that I made a few subspace calls.” Belen replied with a twinkle in his eyes as he refilled everyone’s drinks.
“Well…it was very good.” Magnussen praised as Nelia, giving Ashley and Shelana a coy wink, stood up and made a production of stretching.
“I think I’m going to turn in early tonight. I’m supposed to be shooting a new holo-novel, aren’t I, Belen?”
“That’s right.” The Ferengi bartender smirked, “It’s the sequel to Orion Love Slave. I think the title’s Triple Tangle on Trill.”
“Yep.” Nelia grinned, “So…I’m gonna need all the rest I can get. Gotta get those pheromones all juiced up for the sex scenes, you know.” Sauntering out of the bar, the green Orion seductress waved her hand, “Good night! Don’t stay out too late!”
Giving her lover a flirtatious caress, Twesata yawned, “Me and Rana are going to turn in too. See you tomorrow. Sleep tight.”
Smiling as she saw her friend talking intently with the Valley Forge’s Andorian first officer at the other end of the bar, Ashley inclined her head towards the door, “Observation room’s open. Wanna go there and look at the stars?” Her lips turning up in a sly grin, Ashley joked, “It looks like Shels and your first officer want to be alone.”
Chuckling, Magnussen nodded his head in agreement, “Lead on, Lieutenant.”
“Ashley.” The former Alliance gunnery sergeant, now a Starfleet lieutenant, responded with a giggle, “Please call me Ashley. I’m not wearing a uniform now and…I’ve got a cover to keep up.”
“All right, Ashley.” Magnussen grinned, “But only if you call me Soren. I’m not wearing a uniform now either and since you’re no longer under my command and we’re both off duty. I don’t think Starfleet will mind…do you?”
“Not at all, Soren.” Ashley chuckled as she escorted her guest to the Observation room, the couple sitting down close to each other on the couch. “Beautiful view, isn’t it?”
Magnussen quoted in a low voice, “If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.”
“Emerson.” Ashley grinned as she took a sip of aquavit. “My father would have loved that quote.”
“Your father sounds like a good man.” Soren remarked as the woman next to him scooched closer with a sigh.
“He was.” Ashley murmured. “I remember he’d read from Tennyson or Frost for me every night before I went to bed. Did the same for my sisters too.”
“Were you born on Earth?”
“No.” Ashley replied as she leaned into the warm arms of the Danish starship captain, “I was born on Sirona, it’s a colony world in the 61 Ursa Majoris system in my universe. Does it exist in this universe too?”
“Yes.” Soren smiled, “It’s also called Sirona and, the last I checked, it was a thriving colony. So…your father liked poetry? Was he a soldier too?”
Ashley replied, her voice now taking a mournful quality. “Yeah. Dad loved poetry. Especially Tennyson. But he also liked Frost and Shelley. He served in the Alliance too—family tradition. Even though the Williams name was shit.”
“You mentioned something about that earlier, but that you weren’t ready to talk about it.” Soren gently probed, “Do you want to talk about it now?”
“Yeah.” Ashley’s lips turned up in a sad smile, “I think I do.” Taking a deep breath, she spoke as the man next to her quietly listened. “Dad spent a career being assigned to crap postings only to retire as a serviceman third class, but through all the shit and abuse he had to put up with, he wore the uniform with pride.”
“You can tell me to back off if I’m prying too deep…” Magnussen began only to be cut off by the woman leaning up against him, her gentle hand falling on his forearm.
“It’s okay. I know what you’re wanting to ask. I read that in this universe, first contact with aliens was peaceful.”
“Right.” Soren nodded his head, “It was during our 21st century—after the Eugenics Wars and the Third World War. The planet was a mess—the human race came very close to not making it. Then, Zephram Cochrane invented the first human warp drive. Fortunately, a Vulcan science ship picked up on the launch and traced it back to Earth. That peaceful contact pretty much set the tone for the future—not that everything always went smoothly or easily. There were plenty of obstacles and roadblocks, but I won’t bore you with those. I take it that first contact didn’t go so peacefully for you.”
“No.” Ashley shook her head. “It didn’t. We call it The First Contact War, but the turians call it the Relay 314 Incident. We opened a mass relay without even knowing that we weren’t supposed to and a turian commander got trigger happy and fired on our ships. We didn’t have a universal translator or anything like that and that turian was too impatient to wait to figure out what our people were trying to say. Because of that, a lot of people got killed and my grandfather…” she barely repressed a sob as Soren hugged her closer.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” He said in a soft voice.
“No…I’m good.” Ashley replied, quickly rallying herself. “You see, my grandfather was a general. He was put in command of our troops on one of our colonies—Shanxi. When the turians attacked the colony, he made them fight for every inch of ground…every city block. Made it brutal for them. So…the turians changed tactics. Instead of taking cities block by block, they settled for leveling them to the ground…killing anything or anyone moving. Civilian casualties started mounting up so he…”
“Surrendered.” Magnussen finished as the woman next to him lowered her head. “He fought hard…fought well…and when it reached the point where innocent lives were being lost for no good reason he did the only thing he could do.” The starship captain concluded before continuing in a grim tone, “Let me guess…his superiors needed someone to blame and they chose him.”
“Right.” Ashley nodded her head. “He was court-martialed and demoted. He retired and disappeared soon after. We still don't know what happened to him. Ever since then, the Williams name has been garbage. They even invented a term for when you’re blacklisted. It’s called being Williams-ed. I was surprised I made Chief.”
“Well…you’re a lieutenant now.” Magnussen declared, “And a very good one.”
“Thanks.” Ashley grinned, resting comfortably in the handsome starship captain’s arms. “Ummm…do you mind if we just sit here…like this? I mean…I’m interested in more…maybe…one day…but right now…you understand? Don’t you?”
“There’s no need for us to rush, Ashley.” Soren replied in a soft voice as he gave the woman seated next to him a tender smile, “I can wait until you’re ready. And it is a beautiful view…isn’t it?”
Gazing at the starry vista, Ashley huddled up closer to the captain as she whispered back, favoring him with a kiss on the cheek, “Yes…it is.”