And Now...Things Are Worse - Part II
Posted on Thu Jul 23, 2026 @ 10:30am by Lieutenant Commander Alanna Wells & Civilian T'gan & Civilian Paula Pendergast & Colonel Nicholas Means III & Commander Cara Letsul & Lieutenant Commander Curtis Thibideaux & Major K'doc Valadorn & Lieutenant JG Anson Lee & Master Chief Petty Officer Marion Sunday & Lieutenant JG Jali Andloch & Ensign Matilda Cromwell
1,857 words; about a 9 minute read
Mission: Jubilee
[PREVIOUSLY]
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?"
[CONTINUED]
"There is only one Elvis, Commander and as I am certain that you are aware, Elvis is a hunk of 'Burning Love.'" He then gyrated his hips in his best Elvis impression and informed Curtis, "The women, well, they 'Can't help Falling in Love' with me because of it. But with all these imitators here, I'm going to have to 'Return' them 'to Sender.' Address unknown, of course, because I need to get myself a 'Little Darlin' to 'Love Me Tender.' The whole concept has me 'All Shook Up,' however you seem to have some 'Suspicious Minds' about this event."
Ace paused for a moment and his voice grew low and serious, "And God help me if this station doesn't behave itself so I can win this competition, there will be heads that roll."
Mouth quirking in amusement, Curtis said "With this much going on, Mr. Cannon we need to stabilize the station's deflectors to handle these power fluctuations or even she may not be able to help us.' Activating the holo to pull up localized display. "I'm no scientist, but it seems something is causing the planet and sun's gravitational effect on the station to be fluctuating."
"I'm not a scientist either," Ace replied simply. "Maybe we should get one involved in assisting with this issue. 'It's Now or Never,'" Ace told Curtis with a maniacal grin.
"We'd probably better go with now," Curtis said agreeably. "Let me know if you need anything from me, Lieutenant. I'll even help you run down GNDN conduits if needed and you give me forty clicks."
Ace's eyes opened wide. "You'll work?" Well, that was certainly different. Maybe he could get the Commander to do all the work for him.
Curtis checked his HUD, the updates scrolling with nothing new flickering amber and red. "I always do," looking at Ace closer and aware of the man's reputation, he added "You'd better get started, yeah?"
"Yeah, I will. If I don't fix this, then I will not be able to dominate the competition." There was a fierce confidence in his eyes as he made his statement and started to turn away.
The door to Ops slid open, and Ensign T’Vren entered, her gaze fixed on the PADD in her hand, a near wrinkle in her brow that spoke to concentration. She looked up and caught sight of Cannon in his outfit. She blinked once. Twice. “I…. see.”
She had been keeping tabs on those who were walking through the promenade, Jali even broke up a fight between owners of some pop up stalls. The argument was about the spot they chose to sell their wares.
Jali got the notice of Commander Letsul having disappeared, she wondered if K'doc had received the notification.
Tapping on her combadge she sent a call to him.
"K'doc, it seems that Commodore T'mpest as well as Commander Letsul have gone missing, where are you at?"
K'doc paused for a moment as he heard Jali's report. " What do you mean they're missing? Has security locked down the station yet or checked transporter logs to see if they were beamed off the station or taken off in a cargo crate? I take a few days off and go down to the planet with Khylara and everything goes to hell."
[USS Phoenix]
Captain Montoya was in his quarters finishing getting dressed and looking out the window at the station in the distance. For a split second the station disappeared, replaced by a what was obviously a construct site as a station was under construction. Before he could take a second look to clarify what he had thought he had seen, alarm klaxons sounded and a general page came over the comms. Captain to the bridge!”
Moments later he was stepping out on the bridge, “Report.”
“Captain, we were hit by a temporal wave. Stronger than what was projected. We...”
“Yes I was in my quarters and it appeared that DS5 disappeared. For a moment it looked like the was a construction site.”
“Yes sir we saw it, too. Computer display any sensor reading of Deep Space 5 that differ from the current visual display.
The main view screen split and a side by side comparison displayed. On the left the Celestial class station, with all the comet tourist traffic hung right where it was supposed to. On the right nothing much more than a framework was in place as a space station was being built.
Rico looked closer at the image. There were no desirable differences in the star field. What were they seeing?
“Open a channel to the station.”
“Open.”
“This is Captain Montoya on the USS Phoenix. We were hit by a stronger than expected temporal distortion. For a second the station seemed to disappear. Well sort of.”
"DS5 CnC here. Sir, with all due respect, our sensor show that we haven't moved. You were the one who vanished. You were gone for 22 seconds, sir."
"To be expected...differences in perspective and all. The thing is, something's definitely happened. We are breaking orbit to put some distance between us and the planet. Recommend recalling all civilian craft to the station so we don't lose anyone. Where is Lt. Commander Wells?"
"Commander Wells is on Pangaea, sir. You should be able to reach her directly."
"Understood. Send us your sensor data on our disappearance and I will combine it our data for her to review."
There was a long pause. Then, "Sending now, sir. I'll also send this to our temporal science officer. She'll reach out to commander Wells as well."
"Acknowledged. Montoya out."
Rico moved to the Phoenix's science station. "Look over their data and see it there is any patterns emerging in these waves."
He made his way back to his chair thinking about the temporal issues he and his crew had recently been through. Stopping as he lowered himself into his seat. "Let's error on the side of caution, Yellow Alert."
[Temporal Science]
T'gan hadn't expected to be awakened by a temporal alert. Her equipment had been mostly quiet since shortly before the battle. It was a logical assumption that it would be temporary, but the comet was...unexpected.
She dressed and headed to her lab to review the recent data. Then she called the command center.
Billy had the watch. This would normally be a relatively easy task for the Chief. However, the Captain and XO have gone missing on his watch. Thusly, this had become a virtual nightmare. However, Sunday was determined to weather this storm just as he had thousands of times before. The call from T'gan brought his attention. "This is Chief Sunday here. Go ahead, Doctor."
"The system was just hit by a strong temporal ripple causing a measurable fluctuation. Solar activity has increased. I have yet to contact Commander Wells, but I believe Pangaea was affected as well. I do not know if any ships in the system were affected, but I thought you should be aware of it. It coincides with the arrival of the comet, indicating there may be further temporal abnormalities before it passes."
Billy cocked an eyebrow in appreciation of the report. This was perhaps the most disciplined person he has met thus far on Deep Space Five. Reporting to the CIC is not only warranted it is protocol. "Thank you Doctor. Please keep us informed of the situation. Sunday out." He turned his attention back to the Security console and the reports relating to the Captain and First Officer.
Over the coms, one meant just for the arboretum Matilda took a good look at the river. There it was, the river was glowing purple! Matilda went to get a closer look. At first she liked the color and found it interesting, then she saw the ducks swimming in the river.
Even though their feathers were white, they seemed to have a purple glow to them as well. Matilda stared, the coloration of the, she was getting a rather sinking feeling about this.
It was... it couldn't be... Matilda felt herself shivering. She walked to the edge, took out a sample bottle, even if she wasn’t a scientist but to test the quality of the water was important.
She contacted Paula
"Paula, we've got something we need to look into, I'm coming down with a sample of the water and I have a bad feeling about this."
A few minutes later she walked up to Paula, holding the tube with the sample of water.
"I am afraid to look, but this needs to be checked out." the water had a purple glow to it.
"Of course it needs to be checked out. Blackwood's been busy and Alyssa's on the planet with Brianthe. Send it to the main science lab and tell 'em it's urgent. In the meantime, I have an idea of what we can do about the river. It's bad enough this level of the arboretum has to be shut down, but we can't have whatever this is infecting the other levels." She looked at Matilda. "I think this may be connected to that glitter stuff we dealt with earlier."
[Pangaea - Camp Puller]
Means was still in his PT gear when he arrived in the bases command center. "All Call."
There were no questioning looks just instant reply as the Sergeant opened a base with channel. "You on sir."
"Marines. This is Colonel Means. We are going to Alert level Alpha. The comet we were expecting has arrived. At the same time temporal wave have been detected as well as new activity within the portal complex. Report ANYTHING unusual immediately. Portal reinforcement units 1 is to deploy with 2 & 3 on standby. Out."
Means watched out the windows on the command center as his people burst into activity. To some it probably looked more like organized chaos but he saw otherwise. Within 10 minute ground units were rolling out towards the portal complex just as transports dropped in and Marines streamed out of their assembly area and loaded up.
Once the troop transports were airborne, he issued another order as he headed out. "Let Commander Wells know that the reinforcements for the portals are on their way." Tugging at his sweaty t-shirt, "I'll be back after I change over."
A post by
Lieutenant Commander Curtis Thibideaux
Head of Strategic Operations
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant JG Ace Cannon
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
Deep Space 5
Ensign T’Vren
Assistant Chief Operations Officer
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant JG Jali Andloch
Security Investigations Officer
Deep Space 5
Major K'doc Valadorn
Marine XO
Deep Space 5
Captain Rico Montoya
Commander
USS Phoenix
T'gan
Temporal Scientist
Deep Space 5
Lieutenant Commander Billy Sunday
Chief of the Station
Deep Space 5
Ensign Matilda Cromwell
Operations & Engineering
Deep Space 5
Paula Pendergast
Botanist
Deep Space 5
Colonel Nicholas Means III
21 MEU
Deep Space 5
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