Within Under The Rim

Posted on Mon Feb 24th, 2025 @ 5:36pm by Captain Nycolas Temple
Edited on on Wed Feb 26th, 2025 @ 2:02am

Mission: The Only Thing Left Was Hope
Location: Neutral Zone - Krakau Corridor
Timeline: After "Vantage Point"

=== Previously ===

Standing in the Destiny Bar room on Risa, Nyx looked around to his assembled crew, their faces looking to him for answers.

"Like many of you, I was visited recently by a stranger who insisted that I return to the Pandora." Nyx said, "That our time was not over yet. Something I had been thinking myself for some time. I had always thought the day would come that I returned to our ship. Imagine my surprise then, when I discovered the Pandora could not be located."

"...There is another mission ahead of us, something that I believe is of grave importance. Finding the Pandora is the first step in the mission... We won't have Starfleet's full support. But I know we can do incredible things together when we try."

Then, in a flash, Nyx was taken by the Mystery Man.

"Captain Temple is on his own quest now," Mr. Mystique replied. "As all of you are about to be on yours."

=====

Onboard the shuttle after being taken, Nyx was on the floor of his cell, looking up at the Mystery Man in his black jumpsuit and helmet.

Nyx retorted, "...What greater good can come from playing hide and seek with the Pandora? We're a science vessel that was mothballed years ago!"

"The Pandora was not just a science vessel." The man declared. "It was an unstoppable force."

=====

Nyx frowned and he shook his head, "What if I refuse?"

"Then you will lose the Pandora and your crew's mission will fail." He replied. "Is that what you want? Is that what you've fought so hard to let happen now?"

"No." Nyx answered sullenly. "I will protect the Pandora and my crew."

=====

On the Federation Prison Colony Jaros II, Nyx stood in his own black suit, confronting former Admiral Thac in his cell.

Nyx lowered his head a little. "I feel so sorry for you."

"Why?" Thac spat back incredulously.

"Because I see now that you've spent your life living in spite and hatred. You think you can change the Federation from who we are meant to be." Nyx said. "You want the Federation to be militant because you think that's the only way to achieve power. You want Starfleet to act like Section 31, to take 'extraordinary measures' and to win no matter the cost, because you can't conceive of a Starfleet that achieves through diplomacy, community, and... hope."

At this, Thac scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Hope?" He scoffed again for good measure. "You can't run the galaxy on hope."

"Of course you can." Nyx insisted. "Hope takes a war-torn planet away from the brink of destruction and propels them into conquering space travel. Hope binds a group of completely different species together to form a unified coalition of planets to explore the galaxy together, and to help each other. When the Pandora was trapped and surrounded in the depths of hell, behind enemy lines, the only thing left was hope. But that was enough to deliver them all home, safe and sound, back to the Federation again."

=====

In the cabin of the S.S. Prime, Nyx was trying to connect the computer core to his ship when the Mystery Man, now called the Protector, appeared.

The Protector said, "Remember, I gathered you and your crew because I believed you all had more to achieve; your journey was not finished. The story of the Pandora and her crew will be significant to Starfleet, as well as personal to each of you. There is no destination without the journey."

"That sounds like a speech I would make." Nyx remarked with a wry tone, "To someone in my situation."

"What else would you tell someone in your situation?" The man pressed.

Nyx smiled a little, "Well I'd definitely find a way to talk about hope. Hope is all we need, hope keeps us going, hope can move mountains. If you have hope, you have a plan."

"Do you?" The man tilted his helmet to Nyx. "Have hope?"


=== Now ===

ON:

[Neutral Zone - Krakau Corridor]

The S.S. Prime was flying at high warp towards the Krakau Corridor - a sliver of safe space that ran from the very corner of Federation territory into the Neutral Zone. He had no idea what he would find when he got there, only that he was sure the anomaly would appear once more in this region. He was violating Federation law and Starfleet protocol by entering the Neutral Zone without permission but after stealing a computer core from the wreckage of the Khonsu Science Station and being hunted by the USS Marigold - Temple had already crossed the point of no return.

Finding the anomaly and figuring out what was behind it was paramount to helping the crew find the Pandora. The two were linked in a way that he was not yet assured of, and only further investigation would show the way. The anomaly was also growing in size and strength, responsible for destabilizing an asteroid field and destroying the Khonsu - so Nyx felt a sense of responsibility to help prevent it from hurting anyone else.

Nyx's previous calculations had estimated the anomaly would appear again in the Krakau System, but where exactly he was unsure. There were multiple planets, many inhabited, as well as a fairly busy trade route. Patrols from nearby superpowers like the Ferengi were common, as were attacks by pirate raiders looking to make a quick score. A Starfleet vessel, even one modified such as the S.S. Prime would not last long in this region. He was wearing his jump suit - the special velocity device given to him by the Protector - just in case.

The computer chimed helpfully. "Diagnostic complete."

Nyx blinked as he pulled himself out of his trance. "What?" He stammered, wondering what diagnostic he had been running. "OH!" He cried out, remembering the Khonsu computer core.

Placing the ship on autopilot, Nyx hurried back into the cabin of the Prime, where the Khonsu's computer core had been messily attached to his shuttle's system through a series of haphazard wiring. He had been attempting to download the last remaining readings from the Khonsu station before it was destroyed by the anomaly and had asked the computer to investigate what could be behind such a powerful force.

"What cha got for me?" Nyx joyfully asked the computer core in front of him.

"Data indicates the anomaly contains a combination of elements and particles. Those elements include 16.2 percent dark matter, 13.4 percent neutrino particles, 17.4 percent chroniton particles, 16.3 percent Hesian crystalline substances, 18.4 percent Gojiric radiation, and 18.3 percent tritanium." The computer replied.

Nyx's mouth dropped. He stared at the reading on the screen. "Can you repeat that?" He said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Data indicates the anomaly contains a combination of elements and particles. Those elements include 16.2 percent dark matter, 13.4 percent neutrino particles, 17.4 percent chroniton particles, 16.3 percent Hesian crystalline substances, 18.4 percent Gojiric radiation, and 18.3 percent tritanium." The computer replied.

'It couldn't be.' Nyx thought to himself, denying what he had just heard. All of those particles were familiar to him, he had come across them each before.

"What is the point of origin of these particles?" Nyx asked, a heavy feeling creeping over.

The computer thought about this. "Unable to determine. There is no record of a singular location that would contain all particles listed."

"Remove the dark matter and tritanium." Nyx pressed, "Where in our galaxy would the rest of those particles exist?"

The computer thought again, and then chimed. "The only location of known space that would contain the remaining particles in close proximity would be the Inconnu Expanse, an isolated region of the Alpha Quadrant."

"The tritanium is the hull of a Federation starship." Nyx answered, the words falling out his mouth as the realization was sinking in. "What starship would have encountered all of these elements in the Inconnu Expanse."

The computer buzzed negatively, "Unable to determine. Starfleet Records regarding the Inconnu Expanse are classified."

"I already know." Nyx sighed. "It's the Pandora."

The Expanse was covered in dark matter storms, they had crossed through one while escaping the Ravagers. Neutrino and chroniton particles were present in the Indigo Sky, which had enveloped the ship and disabled her. The Hesian crystallization and further dark matter exposure had occurred during their ill-fated attempts to protect Hesiod Green from the Pithos disaster. Gojiric radiation was from the ship's crossing through the Renata Nebula while attempting to get back home quicker.

Only the Pandora had come into contact with all of these elements, one after the after.

Nyx slumped down against the bench chair, eyes closing. 'How did I not see this sooner?' He thought.

Admiral Milne had said that Starfleet Science had wanted to conduct further testing on the Pandora, likely because of these particles she had gathered from their time in the Expanse. The Protector however, decided to hijack the ship while enroute to Utopia Planitia shipyards and hid it in a bubble universe protected by a beacon. The bubble was designed to open up again should the Protector fail to re-secure the beacon. Now someone else had intervened and tried to take the Pandora's beacon away but that ship - that damn stubborn, miraculous, unstoppable force of a ship - was breaking through the bubble and trying to get back into normal space.

He had a moment of pride, a small smirk forming on his lips as he admired that simple Luna Class vessel that plain refused to do anything simply and quietly. The Pandora and her crew had torn a new path through the Expanse, sparked a fire through that region, and despite everyone else's best efforts, she was not going to be put to rest in some shipyard.

But the pride soon turned to dread, as Nyx realized his ship was now responsible for this terrible anomaly that was tearing up their space, destroying the Khonsu, and threatening lives. He furrowed his brow in consternation.

"We need to free the Pandora from within the beacon." Nyx said aloud. "That's the only way to prevent the anomaly from growing. Whoever has stolen the beacon has upset the dimensional fold hiding the ship and it's destroying regular space." He went back to the flight deck and started hitting buttons. "Transmit the data we have discovered to Admiral Milne, using a secure channel."

"Unable to comply, subspace communication... offline." The computer replied.

Nyx raised up his hands in frustration. "Why?"

"Un...able ..o... ply." The computer jittered and faltered. "Warn... anom... form... detect..."

"DROP OUT OF WARP!" Nyx yelled, slamming his hands on the shuttle's controls.

The Prime's engines immediately ceased and the warp bubble dissipated but it was too late. In front of him, the space had opened up and the bright white light of the anomaly was blinding the ship.

"Reverse thrusters!" He ordered, pushing all power to the engines to try and turn the Prime around.

The anomaly yawned opened, growing to its full size as it seemingly enveloped all of the space around him. The shuttle was immediately being dragged forwards into it. There was no amount of power in the Prime's entire system that would be able to fight against the gravitational pull of this magnitude.

"Prox... alert... destruct... seconds... " The computer stammered.

Nyx was helpless as the Prime approached the anomaly, unable to stop its inevitable absorption. The cabin of the Prime shuddered and groaned as what little resistance the shuttle was putting up struggled against a true unstoppable force. Pieces of the shuttle began to tear away - hull plating, the starboard nacelle, external lights. The Prime was being shredded to pieces.

The computer attempted to put up a containment shield around the flight deck to protect Temple, Nyx could only watch as the blue bubble formed around him. He was trying not to panic as the shuttle pulled apart, seeing his options quickly dwindling.

'FIND A WAY OUT!' His mind was screaming at him as he looked around himself. The Prime groaned as the port-side nacelle flew past the window. The rear doors ripped open, the contents of the cabin - including the Khonsu computer core - were immediately sucked out into space and consumed by the anomaly. Every second that passed was a second towards total destruction.

"THINK!" Nyx cried out helplessly.

Finally, Nyx saw the black helmet sitting by his side, secured inside the shield bubble with him. He realized he was still wearing the jumpsuit given to him by the Protector.

Nyx pulled the helmet on hurriedly and he activated the jump controls, which appeared via a digital display on the screen in front of his eyes. The bay window of the shuttle tore away in front of him, the containment shield started to falter. He didn't have time to find a safe location - all he could do was try to jump away as far as possible.

The shuttle completely broke apart just as Nyx hit the 'Jump' button - the destruction around him immediately faded as he found himself within a speeding tunnel of light and he zoomed away from the collapsing Prime. He closed his eyes as he hoped he would be able to propel himself far enough away from the anomaly.

….

Just as he dared to believe he might have actually escaped, the tunnel began to slow down, and Nyx felt his body slump against a sudden wall of inertia. The jump controls on his helmet display glitched, suddenly red alert messages were popping up before his eyes.

The jump suit faltered, and he stopped moving. He found himself floating in open space. Ahead of him were distant stars, flickering quietly. The suit was not designed for long space travel - short but quick jumps only. The emergency oxygen supply would not last long. There was nothing around him he could aim for, the likelihood of a ship passing would be miniscule at best.

Then it came around him - the bright white light. The anomaly.

Nyx struggled to turn around as he saw he hadn't made it far enough away to escape the anomaly's gravitational pull. It yawned towards him as it grew in strength and drew closer, like it was specifically hunting him down. The suit was still at full power trying to get away, but like the Prime, it simply wasn't enough.

Nyx tapped the control panel on his suit, and the displayed shimmered to life on his helmet. It faltered so he had to hit the panel again. He tried to find a reading inside the anomaly - something, anything, he could potentially aim for.

'The Pandora's in there.' The thought came through his mind. ‘It has to be!’

He didn't know this for sure. It was just his hypothesis, based on data from a reading, formed by his assumption of the events that had led him to his very spot - floating in space, the anomaly before him, unable to escape its pull. Slowing moving his hand up to his face, Nyx tried to see past the white light, to see what was inside this strange, destructive phenomenon. All he could see was white, he had no idea that if he managed to cross through into the anomaly whether he would actually find anything at all on the other side. It could be the Pandora.

But that was all he had now. His only chance of surviving.

Nyx raised up the control panel and set in a new destination. He closed his eyes and hit 'Jump' once more.

=====

"Do you?" The Protector had tilted his helmet as he spoke. "Have hope?"

"I still have hope." Nyx had replied. "My crew needs me to complete this mission, doing so will keep everyone safe, so I must find those answers."

"Having that purpose keeps me going." Nyx had said.


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