Blast From The Past

[Images 0]

BANG!

 

A bright glow flashed in the dark emptiness of space. Where there had been nothing mere moments before there now was a spacecraft. It was small, dented, rusted and chipped. It had obviously once been painted red but “not recently” were the first words that sprung to mind. It seemed to be some kind of emergency vessel but to take a ride in it willingly, the pilot must have been mad or had one hell of an emergency.

 

On the side of this little pod was the word “Hispaniola” Inside there was a man, slumped hard over the controls. He wore the uniform of a Starfleet medical officer.

 

The metal of the fragile hull creaked loudly, awakening the unconscious passenger. “Nghghg!…Whu? Whu?” Were the sounds of his first attempts at speech as his head swiveled from side to side taking in his surroundings.

 

A few moments passed as his mind silently worked out the situation. His thoughts lingered on words said to him by a man he had trusted his whole life. The words of a man who had betrayed him and exiled him to a timeless, empty, abyss.

 

His last memory was being engulfed in light. After that, he had felt nothing. He had actually felt the sensation of nothingness. Not cold, not warmth, not pain or comfort, just nothing. But now, now he could feel again. The stale air around him, the hard seat against his back, the ever-present hum of the decrepit engine.

 

“I’m back” He whispered.

 

“Imbackimbackimbackimback!!!” he screamed with a wide smile as he slammed the sides of the craft with his fists until it began to shake violently at which point he immediately stopped. He carefully attempted not to move.

 

Once all the vibrations ceased he looked at the fuzzy, navigation map on the screen above his head. Looking out the window was pretty useless since it was a few decades overdue for a cleaning.

 

He was exactly where he had been before. The blinking dot that was Aegis lay straight ahead of him. If the window hadn’t been covered in filth he could probably have seen it from this distance. The scanners which surprisingly worked showed quite a bit of damage to the station so he knew he couldn't have been gone that long. That Ion storm that was in the area before he disappeared to 'that other place' must have passed the area by only hours or at the most, days. That was lucky, he thought. It had been his greatest worry that he'd been gone for ages and that absolutely everything would have changed in the system in his absence but that was apparently not the case! And even better there seemed to be a few unidentified ships surrounding the station, probably there to lend a hand to the repairs, how brilliant was that?

 

A grin stretched between the man’s ears that could have given a Cheshire cat a run for its money. He nodded a slow nod before he reached out to the control console and put the pathetic ship into forward motion.

 

- - - - Meanwhile, back on Aegis - - - -

 

Muon watched the "discussion" between Ayers and Nurani like someone watching a tennis match. Her head went back and forth, looking for the first sign that she needed to bust some heads. As it turned out, she didin't. At last Ayers ordered them all to the CT and for Muon to get rid of the male lobes. With V'Ran taking up the rear, they all arrived on the CT in time for the Admiral to call a meeting in the observation lounge. Ayers directed that the VIPs be escorted there so Muon, of course, delegated that duty to V'Ran. Muon had had her fill of puffed up, stuffy, full of themselves, VIPs. Besides, she needed to speak with Adams and get an update on the security situation.

 

As the meeting was about to start, Aegis picked up 4 unidentifed ships on long range sensors. Aegis went to yellow alert. The unidentifed ships became Dominion ships. Muon asked for red alert. Receiving no reply from the Admiral, she ordered Adams to sound red alert.....silently.

 

As Muon was about to turn away from the console where Adams was sitting, she noticed something else on the sensors. Heading towards Aegis, it had almost been to small to detect. Add in the Dominion ships and it was a wonder they even saw the small blip at all. Muon ran a scan on the ship but the database was not working too well. It came up with nothing. Muon started another scan and then hailed the small ship.

 

"Aegis to unidentified ship. Respond immediately or you will be fired upon."

The reply from the vessel was clogged with static but was still audible.

 

“Ummmm...Hello? Muon is that you? Its me, Victor! How you doing?”

Muon's mouth dropped. "Victor? Doctor Victor Images?" She asked stunned and then directed Adams to scan for Victor's bio sign. Adams smiled and nodded. It was Victor.

 

The comm. unit crackled again.

 

“Yes…I’m Dr. Victor Images. I’m a Lieutenant? I work in sickbay? Sheepy’s my boss. Muon are you alright? You’re acting a bit strange. I suppose all this damage the Ion storm caused must have got you all a bit tense and shaken. Sorry if I was a little bit delayed coming back, something cropped up.”

 

"Victor, you've been gone alot longer than a little bit. Months actually. The damage you're seeing is from a Bolian attack, not the Ion storm we had. Quickly Victor, dock at Pylon one immediately. We have Dominion ships on the outskirts of the system headed this way and a fleet of Starships enroute for Cardassia. You don't want to be caught out there. I'll fill you in when you're safely onboard." Muon replied concerned.

 

The truth hit Victor like a pile of bricks. He was gobsmacked. His first fears had been correct. The world had been passing him by. He’d probably been completely forgotten, assumed dead or AWOL. That poor excuse for an S.O.S. he’d sent had either not been received or been so badly damaged it was useless. And now he’d shown up smack bang in the middle of a terrible set of circumstances, with multiple attacks imminent.

 

A bit rattled, he managed to force out the words “I’ll be right in immediately” before closing the comm. channel and piloting his way towards the dock. “I should have said sir” he thought to himself “God knows what rank she might be by now.”

 

Everything was messed up and the situation looked grim. It looked like only more trouble and confusion was on the way. “But” Lieutenant Victor Images M.D conceded as his ship moved up to Aegis “What better a time to have another doctor on hand?”

 

“Back on the scene” He murmured