=== Bridge USS Gott=== After placing his personal effect in the captains ready room, Keylor bounced back on to the bridge. By now the effects of the medicine Rangi had given him, the two stimulants and half a bottle of spring wine were now in full effect. Though he could feel the soreness of fatigue in his bones, he was anxious, fidgety. Quickly moving across the bridge he plopped down in to the captains chair. "Report!" he calle dout wanting to know the status of things. From behind the young Cadet at tactical chimed in. "We are in orbit sir. Waiting to evacuate the last person aboard and let the Chimera loose." She said. Keylor looked back and watched her as she spoke. Though he saw Vulcan in her face, he was amazed at the almost human like expressions she had on her face. "Very well . Calculate the trajectory and point of release and send the data up to Harker at the helm." He replied Noticing Shane walk in though the doors behind C'el. "Sir," she responded, "Should I have them beam aboard the last crewman now?" she seemed to ask but knowing what needed to be done. "No." he replied simply with out giving an explanation and followed Shane as he sat to Keylor's left. As Shane got comfortable, Keylor felt a hand on his arm. Looking over to Athena he flashed a smile. Athena looked a bit worried and leaned forward. "Sir are you ok? You seem, out of character." She whispered. Keylor nodded, "yes, just a little .. How do they say. Punchy form the meds the doctor has seen fit to give me." Hearing Shane clear his throat, Keylor looked back over to him, holding a pad out. Taking the pad, and wearing a puzzled look he waited for Shane to explain the contents. And as if scripted in some play, Shane spoke right on cue. "Sir. Recommendations for our return home." He said sharply. Keylor nearly missed the short reply. He figured Shane had found out about his last minute trip to the Chimera and was probably upset Keylor had not checked with him first. None the less he took the pad, hunched over it and started skimming through it. Keylor tried to focus, and though he had a new found energy, hid brain was bouncing about like a spring ball in a tournament. H did his best to read the document, but quickly found himself reading the same paragraph 5 times. After taking enough time to appear to have read it, he handed the pad back, only remembering that Oriana had suggested a set of coordinates for the attempt to return home. "Well it looks like we have little choice. " he said avoiding direct contact with Shane. Looking back at the view screen he simply said, "Once we drop off the Chimera, have Harker make for the coordinates at best possible speed." Shane replied "Aye sir." And stood up and walked forward to Harker. Keylor remained hunched forward a bit, he right foot tapping out a steady beat as he waited impatiently. Though he was able to track what people were saying to him, all he wanted to do is get up and walk about to work off some of the chemical induce energy. But he knew this would only unsettle the crew and tried his best to remain still. A minute passed by when he heard Shane speak, "Sir?" he said with a bit of bewilderment in his voice. Keylor looked up and raised a eyebrow waiting for the rest of the statement. "We are ready." Shane said plainly. Keylor nodded and quickly stood up. "Very well proceed." Barked out. Shane turned back to C'el. "Cadet on your mark release the Chimera." He said in a much more professional manner than Keylor appeared to be acting. "Yes sir. Let me have the crewman beamed aboard first." She replied. "Crewman?" Shane said with some surprise. Keylor whipped around and looked sternly at C'el. "Belay that cadet. Lieutenant Stephens will not be joining us." He stated quickly. He then turned to Shane. "Yes Stephens." "Sir?" he said simply appearing a bit amazed and the thought of leaving some one behind. Keylor nodded and replied. "There was a possibility that the detonation might not go off as planned. He is staying aboard to make sure it does not fail." Keylor said coldly. Behind him, Athena jumped out of her seat as if shocked by electricity, "Sir! We cant just leave him. There has to be another way." She said in an impassioned plea. Keylor turned back to Athena. Almost nose to nose he responded. "We can, and we will!" he emphasized. Looking back to the view screen he continued. "We can't take him back with us, he is not from our time. And if we fail here, now, there might not be a time to return to." "What about the temporal directive Sir? What if his presence changes the time line?" Shane said. "Well." Keylor said with a matter-of-fact tone, "IF anything of the chimera survives , that could effect the time line. I don't think his presence will make that much difference. Any way, With the little explosion they have rigged up, I don't think that will be a problem." He paused a bit and continued. "Who knows. May be by some stroke of luck he will return to his onw time line." Athena chimed in next. "But sir. To order a man to stay behind?" she said. Keylor looked back and gave a solemn look. "He volunteered. It was his idea. Have to admire that." He could see a though forming in her head. She pursed her lips and simply remained silent. Looking back to Shane, he saw Shane nodded in agreement and then turn back to C'el. "Cadet. Inform the lieutenant we are releasing the ship." C'el looked a bit uneasy at the order, "Aye sir." She replied. Looking back to the view screeen Keylor waited for things to happen. "Helm start your approach." Shane commanded, Harker replied with a less than enthusiast response. Soon C'el chimed in. "Releasing tractor beam in 3..2..1.. Chimera away." "Lieutenant Foster. On screen please." He asked wanting to take one final look at the chimera. The screen flickered and the chimera could be see slowly heading in to the atmosphere of the planet. The bridge grew quiet as the former crew of the chimera watched as their home for the past several years headed to its final demise. "Sir." Shane said quietly, "We need to leave." Nodding Keylor turned and returned to the captains chair. "Helm head out to the coordinates, warp 3." Shane said. Soon the view of the planet disappeared and the ship shook ever so slightly as the warp engines engaged. Sitting down Keylor looked at the screen as the streaks of starlight the quickly passed in to the oblivion. A few minutes passed when C'el called out. "Detonation in 20 seconds General." "On screen." He commanded. There was nothing to be seen, the planet to far away to magnify. Again the bridge erupted in to silence as everyone seemed t hold their breath waiting to see a flash of light. At this distance, Keylor only expected to see a brief, flash, no bigger than a pinpoint. " #.2.1." C'el counted off waiting for the explosion to occur, then, as if on queue, a flash. Like a tired, but well oiled machine, Shane called out for sensor sweeps, to verify the planets demise. A few tense second passed as a science officer on the bridge called out. "The planet seems completely destroyed!" they said as if almost amazed. Looking puzzled Shane looked at Keylor, and he back, also amazed. "Seemed like we over did our selves General. "Shane quipped. Before Keylor could respond, The science officer called out. "Sir. I am reading a Shock wave heading for us, fast." Keylor stood up, "Can we out run it?" he asked back throwing decorum out the window. "No sir, it is traveling too fast." Pointing at C'el Keylor commanded, "Yellow alert! Brace for collision!" Soon the lights on the bridge lit yellow and people seemed to start to brace themselves. Shane and Keylor both sat down and gripped the chairs. They barely had time to brace their selves before the wave shook the little ship violently, luckily it did not last long. Looking almost relieve, Keylor looked to Shane and remarked, "well that could have been worse." He said as if tempting the Prophets. Shane nodded and called out for a damage check. The bridge quickly returned to the busy hum it normally was when the science officer chimed back in. "Sir? That shock wave. I was running a sac of it after it passed us and Well, it was full of Chronometric particles." "Chronometric particles? Keylor replied standing form his chair. "Yes sir. But these are different some how, they seem to be gaining intensity as they travel, not decay like normal particles." Keylor looked puzzled and then remembered reading the report from science. {I wonder.} he thought as he turned to the view screen ."Lieutenant Foster. Bring up the forward view on the screen." He commanded. As Andersen obliged, Keylor watched the star ready to go nova appear and quickly grow larger by the second. Then, as he squinted to try to look closer he started to see something unusual, a tint of pink forming like a line across the entire view of the screen. A slight murmur erupted and the unusual sight as everyone talked quietly about the unusual color. "How long till the shockwave reaches the Nova?" Keylor asked blindly. "One minute. Called back the science officer. Starting to get that 'what next' feeling Keylor ordered, "Helm drop to warp one." Keylor did not hear Harker reply, but he could tell Harker obeyed when the ever increasing nova's growth slowed. Shane stepped up beside Keylor and watched along side, saying nothing. In his head, Keylor counted slowly to mark the time, as he reached 60 he his speculation was confirmed. Soon the screen erupted in a bright flash as the Nova exploded. Covering his eyes form the flash he waited till the flash subsided. In almost a gasp he looked over the screen in amazement. Once where a nova appeared, now was a ever thickening mass of pinkish haze. "the marsh." he muttered under his breath as a question. He looked over to Shane with amazement, wondering if Shane was thinking the same thing. With no prompting Shane ordered scans of the area. The next minutes passed as the tension grew. Finally the science officer reported that the space was growing increasingly unstable and fast. "Full stop!" Keylor ordered trying to decide what was their next move. AS he looked about the bridge, he saw several unsure faces. Not only had the crew gone to the past, survive battling X'chi and riding temporal anomalies, but now they appeared to be alarmingly close to an unstable area. Before Keylor could open his mouth, an unfamiliar alaem sounded. "What is that!" he commanded. "Sir Chronometric particles are forming around us, They seem to be growning exponentially. " Called out the science officer frantically. "Chronometric? And how is that dangerous?" he asked back. The science ofier turned around in the seat and looked back to Keylor ."Well sir. If I am correct once they reach maximum density, They will from a temporal rift." "Can we escape it? Hs asked. "No sir. The shock wave seeded the space between the nova and the planet. I don't think we could navigate clear of it before the rift opens up." "How long do we have?" he asked. "I am not specialist, but at the current rate of saturation.. 10 minutes." Looking a bit frayed Keylor glanced over to Shane. "Well looks like we are going for a trip commander. " he quipped. "Aye sir." Shane remarked and then tapped on his comm. badge. "Lieutenant Oriana! You have 9 minutes to prepare the ship for temporal travel." He commanded seemingly knowing Keylor's mind. Ignoring the rest of Shane's conversation with Oriana, Keylor returned to his seat to wait out the time. ==10 minutes and 30 seconds later.=== The lights flickered as the dim red of emergency lighting barely lit the bridge. Keylor looked about and took mental inventory of the crew. The trip was rougher than when the Gott first passed through the temporal anomaly, but he was hoping that the Gott faired better than when the Chimera went through. As the lights grew brighter he called out. "Damage reports, all decks. And some one get a fix on where , and when we are!" Dusting himself off, he waited in the captains chair for answers. He did not have to wait long when the science officer called out. "Sir! A federation beacon! I found a federation Beacon!" "Good ensign, so can you tell where we are, and when?" he asked sarcastically. After a pause, the ensign science officer answered. "Sir if my calculations are correct we are 4 hours and 30 minutes after the chiera first spotted the Gott." {Ok, so far so good. Federation beacon, not far from where we should be. But now for where we are?} Keylor thought. Looking over to C'el he gave a wanting look and asked, "Any idea where we are at?" C'el looked down at the console and tapped a few times. "Sir. We appear to be on the outer edge of the marsh, only 30 light years from the taurus dark cloud." She replied. Keylor looked up at the ceiling and thought. {That is over 5 light years form where we entered the Marsh. Well not bad for flying blind and in a rush.} he thought. Standing up he straightened his tunic and stepped forward to the helm. "Mister Harker. Get us out of the marsh as quickly as possible. Then once out set a course to Starbase 485 near Gama Tauri, best possible speed." Harker nodded and started plotting a course. Turning back to Shane, Keylor remarked. "Well so far so good. As soon as we are clear of the marsh, start giving the crew rest. I think I will go see if I can get some rest of my own. I will relieve you in 4 hours." He said heading to the captains ready room. === 1 week later=== Keylor looked out of the window of the starbase at the damaged Nova class vessel as she slowly mad her way back to Starbase Bragg. They had been on the base for all of 5 hours when a team from command arrived in a small transport and took over the Gott. Having been handed orders for Keylor and all members of the Gott to remain at SB 485, they loaded up on to the Gott and quickly restricted the access to it. Now ship less, and guests to a small backwater starbase, Keylor and his crew awaited to see what fait held in store for them as then recovered from their latest ordeal. ===End Log=== <<OOC: Ok so there you go. Plenty of room to log your perspective of the events that unfold. Also we are now on a starbase and you can log R&R the trip to the starbase, basically any thing that fits in to what has been written. . Remember we have no ship at the moment and most of your personal belongings were lost with the chimera. We will be getting a new ship which will be logged about soon. If you have any questions please contact the command team. Also new crew waiting to join the crew should report to SB 485. Also we will be having a memorial service for those who were lost on the mission. So be prepared to attend the service in some way.>>> Bgen Bretam Keylor Captain USS Chimera (Destroyed but soon to be reborn)