And Now...Things Are Worse - Part I
Posted on Fri Jun 26, 2026 @ 7:50am by Lieutenant Commander Alanna Wells & Civilian Paula Pendergast & Colonel Nicholas Means III & Lieutenant Commander Curtis Thibideaux & Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon & Ensign Matilda Cromwell
1,555 words; about a 8 minute read
Mission:
Jubilee
Location: Various
[Pangaea]
The first indication Alanna had of a problem was when her computer woke her at 0500. It hadn't done that since the war with Cardassia.
She rolled out of bed and hurried to her office, fearing it might be another ship trying to land on one of the forbidden continents. Two had already tried. Fortunately, they were both driven off by fighters before they could come to any harm. She had no idea why they thought the warnings were frivolous.
But what she did see was, in many ways, worse. The comet had entered the system and was now close enough to affect the sun and the planet was experiencing an overabundance of temporal ripples. What's more, the portals were active. Mostly.
She tried to contact the station, but the ripples were affecting communications. So, she called the Marine Base. "This is Commander Alana Wells. I need to speak with Colonel Means."
[Camp Puller]
The call to the base came in to the Ops center. Setting her coffee aside Corporal Fenan took the call. "Good morning Commander, the Colonel is usually PTing...", checking the Colonel's calendar as she spoke. "Yes ma'am he is on a run right now. I can..." Just at that moment the base was hit by a temporal ripple.
Setting her coffee aside Corporal Fenan took the call. "Good morning Commander, the Colonel is usually PTing...", checking the Colonel's calendar as she spoke. "Yes ma'am he is on a run right now. I can patch you through to his location."
Alanna wasn't sure if it was the long-term connection between Bag End and the portal complex, her distance from the Marine base, or just the readings she'd been monitoring, but the temporal reset was something she hadn't seen before.
"Yes, please, Corporal. Thank you." While she waited for the Colonel to answer, she made sure she copied the recording and the temporal readings for later study. She'd have to send this to T'gan and see if the station recorded the same ripple.
Means and the group of pilots he was running with were nearing the lake when his combadge chimed. Continuing to run as he replied. "Means here."
"Hi, colonel. This is Alanna Wells. The comet just entered the system and it's creating temporal ripples and fluctuations. And the portals are active again."
He had thought he would have been back in the command center when the comet arrived, no matter. "Roger that. I will get the reinforcements dispatched to the portal complex and call you when they are enroute. Mean out."
Closing one channel he opened another and was beamed back to the base.
That done, Alanna focused her attention on monitoring the ripples and tracking the data to figure out why the comet was having this affect in the first place.
Paula Pendergast was tending to the main arboretum. It was peaceful now that it was sealed off and no one without direct access could enter. She wasn't much of a people person and she liked not having to worry about someone picking the wrong flowers or trampling one of the new plants. And it meant she could sleep in the back room and completely avoid the chaos on the rest of the station.
When her combadge chirped, she stabbed her trowel into the ground, then answered. "Paula."
"This is Betty. There's something weird going on here. I'm on the recreation deck and the lights are going haywire. Not only that, the river is glowing."
That caught her attention. "What color is it glowing?"
"Purple. I don't detect any chemicals that shouldn't be there, and it didn't start in one area and spread. It was like the entire river just...illuminated. What should I do?"
"Kick everyone out. Lock the doors. Call Matilda. No one else should come in until this is fixed. Or until the comet leaves. Make it until the comet leaves. I had report of some drunken Klingon peeing off the high dive. Seriously, why?" Paula shook her head. "Don't answer that. Just get everyone out and seal off the area. At least no one will be sleeping under the bleachers tonight."
Betty sounded like she was about to cry. "Oh, thank you! I'll do that right now. Betty out."
A message received and Matilda answered, she set off to the Arboretum in a dead run, weaving her way through the crowded corridors. It seemed like everyone was trying to find something to eat or drink. Matilda had to jump over the legs of someone who had decided to take a nap with their back against a wall.
She called security's attention to that. Once Matilda arrived near the entrance of the Arboretum she could see that it had been shut down and people milling about. Some were trying to peer in, Some were trying to get in, only to be met with a barrier.
Matilda had another way in, the code was given to her, in confidence. Sliding in through that one area, locking it behind her, Matilda went to find Paula.
"I am here, and someone called for me?" the redhead having a serious expression in her eyes. "The station is definitely dealing with something."
Paula had been waiting for her and stepped out of her workroom. "Yeah. It's the recreation deck of the arboretum. The lights are going haywire and the river is glowing. Someone did something to mess with it, so I kicked everyone out and sealed the deck. Can you go check it out?"
"Holy Moly, okay I'll get right on it. So much has been happening on the station what with this comet coming this way. Matilda checking her toolbelt and making sure she had hopefully all that she needed. She even brought up the scans that had been made by the bumble bees and the ladybugs.
Things were definitely glowing, she quickly went up to the fifth deck where the river was glowing, keeping Paula on open comms just between them.
Curtis stood as if a god, contemplating all that he surveyed as lights moved about him. Not quite a galaxy that bent to his whims of course.
He was standing in the middle of the Strat Ops Command and Control repeater chamber which had a holo going showing everything that the sensors could label as a thing of some sort that could affect others within the system. The comet was like a silvery black bladed arrow as it made its way through the system and he'd spent an hour or so going through all the new sensor information that had been gathered during his off-duty rotation. With this much going on, he'd used the excuse to stand up the station Strat-Ops systems for a real time analysis, tracking and threat assessment, or RETA (localized) to help Ops deal with everything. His analysts were running RETA checks on every ship in the system, double checking manifests and customs declarations that met every ship and person that wanted to do any kind of business with the station had to fill out. All of that information was targeted and flagged, if needed, for security.
It was dull work, for the most part but it needed doing. "We're getting some odd power fluctuations," one of the analysts said, getting his attention. Curtis stepped out of the holo-map and made his way to the operator. "Might be from the comet, bouncing off the planet. Or something new from the planet as the magnetic fields respond more to the comet’s intrusion," the operator guessed.
"Notify station ops and flag it for science-general. Let them determine who should look at it, but make sure you put a response-require by no later than afternoon shift. The Commodore will want to at least know about it," Curtis ordered as he brought up the energy pattern that had been picked up. He manipulated a display next to the operator and added the energy fluctuation to the holo-display, turning to look at it as a pale golden representation seemed to tremor between the planet, station and comet.
"Well. That's new," Curtis said to himself.
Ace stepped out from behind the Commander dressed in his best Elvis regalia and in his best Elvis accent told Curtis, "This might get me all shook up." He grinned at the Commander and told Curtis, "My station having power fluctuations like this makes me feel like I'm 'In the Ghetto.' So, 'Don't be Cruel,' I'll get this place back in order for everyone because the Show Must Go On." Ace stomped his foot down after that last statement and said, "Darn it, that last one is Queen, not Elvis."
Eyeing the... Ops Officer???, Curtis's HUD identified the man before him and he remembered this particular J.G.'s jacket had many flags attached. "Well," he drawled out as his wit shifted gears. "I thought you'd left the building. Which Elvis are you, Mr. Cannon?"
(To be continued...)
Lieutenant Commander Alanna Wells
Director of Science, Exploration, and Archaeology
Pangaea
Corporal Fenan
Communications Officer
Pangaea
Colonel Nicholas Means III
21st MU
Deep Space 5 & Pangaea
Paula Pendergast
Botanist
Deep Space 5
Betty
Botanist
Deep Space 5
Ensign Matilda Cromwell
Operations Officer
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant Commander Curtis Thibideaux
Chief of Strategic Operations
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
Deep Space 5
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