Total Harmony 1

"Total harmony - Part 1"

Written by Michael Finley

The Hawkins drifted silently through the vacuum of stars and gasses. It glinted a bright silver/white as made its way through the blackness that is space. The dim red of the impulse engines left a thin particle trail as speed increased. The type-2 shuttlecrafts looked like an arrow with warp-nacelles but were cramped and inhospitable. The Hawkins was no different. The two occupants inside - the pilot and passenger - sat with their knees up against their chests and pushing against the two forward consoles. The pilot sat totally motionless aside from a random pattern of blinking and occasionally moving his hands over the console, adjusting the shuttle's trajectory, compensation for various things that may affect it.

"After eight years in a huge Starship this feels a little off!" Commented the female passenger, trying to break the silence. "We used a slightly larger shuttle to get around!"

The pilot nodded, barely acknowledging her. "Mmm Hmm."

The woman frowned. "So, Ensign…how long have you been in Starfleet?"

"Two years, ma'am."

"Two years?" She repeated. "Enjoying it?"

"It's…interesting, ma'am." The Ensign remarked, not taking his eyes from the window. He didn't seem too interested in talking. Why should he? It wasn't his job. His job was to get people from point A to point B. "Very interesting."

The passenger laughed, not sure if he was being sarcastic or not. "That it is." She looked around, having nothing more to say.

"We will be arriving in approximately two minutes," reported the pilot. On the screen, a small silver dot could be seen, shining in the starlight. That was their destination: the Starship Consonance. The latest Akira-class Starship to be built. Both occupants of the shuttle looked at it in awe as the Hawkins closed in on it. The magnificent ship filled the two windows at the front of the shuttle. Its oval saucer was patterned with standard Starfleet décor. Windows ran along certain sections of it, along with the name and registration written at the front: USS CONSONANCE, NCC-84255. Two pylons led from the saucer to the Stardrive section. Two warp nacelles hung beneath the ship; they were currently powered down. The Hawkins began to drift between the two pylons that connected the saucer with the Stardrive section. It was hardly a "section". It contained main engineering, the Shuttlebay, a secondary torpedo launcher and one of the seven science labs. They were headed towards the Shuttlebay.

"Are you going to switch over to auto-pilot?"

"No," replied the pilot. "I think I can do this. Sensors report that they're ready to receive us."

She frowned. "Uh…very well. Take us in Ensign."

The doors of the bay opened and the Hawkins effortlessly swooped in through the atmospheric containment field. The quiet noise of the shuttle landing on the bay-floor echoed around the rest of the room, as the door remained open - ready for the Hawkins' departure.

"You can leave now, ma'am." The pilot stated as the aft door began to open.

"Thank you Ensign," she stepped out of the Hawkins. "Have a nice day."

"You too," the pilot said. "Goodbye Admiral Janeway."

Admiral Janeway exited the Hawkins, which quickly took off and left through the doors. Janeway looked around and saw an extremely small welcoming party. She expected no less - in fact she had requested a small group rather than a large one so more crew could be hard at work. In the party, she saw a rather thin man smiling at her. It wasn't a particularly friendly smile, more of a polite one. He had a golden collar, which meant he was engineering, security or operations. There were also two red-collared ensigns with him.

"Admiral on deck!" He said as the two Ensigns stood to attention.

"At ease," Janeway smirked and everyone relaxed.

"Greetings, Admiral. I've heard a lot about you and your missions on Voyager." The man stated. "I'm Lieutenant Krieg, chief of security and tactical."

"Nice to know you've heard of me, Lieutenant." Janeway stated as she walked towards him. "Are you here to give me the `grand tour'?"

"That I am," replied Krieg - speaking with a slight Irish accent. "Where would you like to go first?"

"I've never had a tour guide ask me that before," Janeway laughed light-heartedly. "Well, I've already seen the Shuttlebay, as we're close I might as well see Main Engineering."

As Krieg, Janeway and the two ensigns left the bay behind, Janeway commented: "I've done a little research, myself Lieutenant. I know an awful lot about this ship. Bio-circuitry, experimental quantum missiles, what I don't know very much about is the Holographic masking system. Can you explain it to me?"

Krieg thought back to his briefing. "We have a new device aboard that has a set number of ship designs programmed into it. Using holographic technology, we can create a field around the Consonance so it can take on the appearance of several Klingon, Romulan and Cardassian ships. We also have the ability to look like a Borg cube. However, the device uses quite a lot of power and we can't really do much when it's switched on."

Janeway nodded along to what the security officer was saying. They began walking through a long corridor: practically identical to the ones she was used to seeing on Voyager. It had been months since she had returned to Earth from her eight yearlong excursion into the uncharted Delta quadrant and she had been promoted to Admiral almost immediately. Voyager had been decommissioned and had become a museum, now orbiting Earth for people to beam freely on to. Sometimes, when she woke up in the morning she expected to see stars flying past, rather than the gleaming sun and the Goldengate Bridge.

Two doors were at the end of the corridor and they all walked through into a darkened room with a tall, pulsing cylinder in the centre. The Engineering section was not at all like the ones she had been used to. It was a different layout completely. In stead of having two consoles parallel to the core with the other consoles against the wall leading to the door, it looked very similar to the one on the original Enterprise captained by Jonathon Archer. Research had shown that it was the most efficient design. No one knew why, but that was the way things were. Although it did have a top section virtually identical to the one on Voyager. Janeway looked around to see various crewmembers working on various consoles. There was also attractive young man wandering around between consoles.

"Admiral Janeway," Krieg gestured towards the large man. "This is our Chief engineer Commander Peter Becker. Pete!"

"Can you just wait TWO minutes…" The penny dropped. "Oh! Admiral in the room!"

The team stood to attention until Janeway said: "At ease." Déjà vu, she thought to herself. "Enjoying life in engineering, Mister Becker?"

Becker looked like his was caught off guard by the question, his eyes squinted and his eyebrows raised. "Um…it's…it's fine, ma'am."

Janeway, in turn, raised her brows at the Commander's reaction. "Well, keep up the good work, Mister Becker."

"I've been doing pretty well so far."

Both Krieg and Kathryn Janeway left the room, however the ensigns remained for some reason that she couldn't be bothered to ask about.

"It's a pretty long walk to our next destination," Krieg announced. "Nothing but crew passenger and low-ranking crew quarters along the way."

"Why not use a site-to-site transport?" She asked, but it was more like an order. There was too many important things to see and she didn't want to walk through miles of crew quarters.

"Of course," Krieg contained his laughter. "We don't HAVE to walk…we do have turbolifts."

"Oh," Janeway sighed. "OH! Yes, yes of course!" She chuckled slightly. She had forgotten about the style of transport that had been around for hundreds of years. "Let's do that."

Krieg tapped a button on the wall and a set of doors rapidly opened and they both walked in.

"What IS our next destination?"

"Sickbay," said Krieg in response to Janeway's question and to order the turbolift to take them. They felt the ground move beneath them as the car began to power through various shafts.

"Tell me a little about the Consonance," Janeway said to Krieg. "What do you think of it?"

Krieg considered it for a moment. "She's a good ship. State-of-the-art as far as Starfleet is concerned."

"Starfleet considered Voyager state-of-the-art in its day, and you know what happened." Janeway retorted back. She sounded sarcastic but Krieg couldn't tell.

"Admiral, I hardly think we're going to be snatched from our quadrant by another Caretaker!"

"You're right," Janeway said. "Of course. I'm just saying a ship is only state-of-the-art if her crew is the same way."

Krieg nodded when the doors opened and he gestured for Janeway to step out first. She did and he followed suit. After a short walk down another corridor, they came to a silver door.

The door opened and they were almost deafened by the sound of snoring. A woman wearing a Doctor's uniform was stretched out across Biobed, asleep and sucking her thumb. She was incredibly attractive - long brown hair dropped across her face and she had a great body.

"Doctor?" Whispered Krieg. "Doctor?" There was still no answer. "DOCTOR!"

She jolted upwards. "Yes, hello!"

"Doctor Hunt, this is Admiral Janeway." Explained Krieg. "She's going to be with us for a few hours."

"Nice to meet you, Admiral." Doctor Hunt smiled. She got off the bed, walked towards Janeway and shook her hand. "I've heard about the adventures you had on Voyager."

"Always nice to meet a fan."

"I'm Lieutenant Helena Hunt - CMO of the Consonance." She smiled at the admiral. "This is where I work - sorry about the mess."

The sickbay was a clutter of bed sheets and medical equipment and several pictures she had wanted to hang up but hadn't found the time to yet. Janeway had noticed. "It is a bit of a clutter, isn't it."

Hunt laughed. "I promise I'll get it cleared up, Admiral."

"Is the Captain on board yet?" Janeway asked both of them, changing the subject. They both shook their heads.

"The Captain, along with about 20 per cent of the crew are at Deep Space 12. Starfleet felt that the Consonance needed a short test run before they sent her on a mission." Hunt explained. "The First officer is in charge at the moment."

"I'm not familiar with the first officer," Janeway said. "What's his name?"

"HER name is Telsia Walker," Replied Krieg with a slight chuckle. "She's on the bridge along with the chief helm officer. There are also a couple of ensigns and Lieutenants up there."

"Understood," Janeway said. "Lieutenant Krieg, shall we make the bridge our next destination?"

"After you, ma'am." Krieg gestured and Janeway left.

The bridge was quiet as the team performed final checks before the Consonance's departure. The golden-haired woman sat in the command chair, legs crossed. She quickly read the display panel next to the chair then sighed. Commander Telsia Walker was bored and had been for an hour now. She glanced back to see Lieutenant William Stelker drumming his hands across the helm controls.

"You're not going to shoot us into Earth, are you Lieutenant?" She asked jokingly.

"I don't think so," he leant back to reveal the console had been switched off. "A little safety precaution."

Walker laughed. "Maybe I should give that a go."

The turbolift doors opened and Krieg and Janeway stepped through.

"Admiral on the bridge!" Stelker shouted and all the personnel stood to attention. "Welcome aboard Admiral Janeway. I hope Lieutenant Krieg hasn't been too tough on you."

Janeway raised a sarcastic eyebrow. "He shot me a few times, other than that he's been the perfect gentleman."

Both Stelker and Walker laughed. Walker pointed to the executive officer's chair. "Admiral, if you'd like to take your seat, we've been performing final checks before we head to DS12 to pick up the rest of the crew."

Janeway nodded at the security officer next to her, who promptly to his position to the right of Stelker. The bridge layout was unfamiliar to Janeway. There were two chairs in the centre, at the front of the bridge there were two consoles: tactical and engineering. At the back, there was one forward facing console that Stelker and Krieg sat at. It was a joint helm/security console. There was a master-systems diagram displayed on the wall next to the engineering console and there was a wall filled with consoles stretching across the other side of the bridge where various crewmembers stood. The viewer at the front of the bridge covered the full wall. Janeway shrugged and sat down next to Walker.

"Course laid in," reported Stelker from his aft position. "Checks complete."

"Admiral Janeway?" Walker prompted. "Care to…?"

"Oh, yes…of course. Take us out."

The thrusters outside the Consonance powered up as the running lights activated, illuminating different parts of the ship. Although sound cannot travel in space, there was a faint hum inside the ship. Captain Janeway smiled as she remembered Voyager's maiden voyage. The atmosphere was exactly the same.

Dammit, she thought. I must stop reminiscing.

Ensign Sharon Jurota sipped her drink then set it back down on the table. She had been at the bar for roughly over three hours and she was still on her first drink. She didn't enjoy synthahol so she didn't know why she was at the bar drinking it. Yes she did; because she was bored. She had neglected to check when the Consonance was supposed to be arriving and now she didn't want to. She entertained herself with different story PADDS, but that had become boring. Now, she was just sitting and staring. Many times she had thought about prying into other people's mind using her Betazoid ability, but there were regulations in place. Suddenly she realised that no one would know. She looked around the bar on Deep space 12. A couple was sat gazing into each other's eyes. Jurota smiled as she went into the read their minds. The female's mind was focused on building a relationship with the male. Currently she was thinking about where furniture should go in their quarters. However, the male was concentrating on her breasts.

No, thought Jurota. This is no way for a chief of operations to behave! She relaxed her mental powers and went back to staring out of a window.

"Excuse me, Ensign."

She heard a male's voice from behind her. She didn't want to read his mind before she turned around - it would spoil the surprise. She swivelled around in the silver chair to see a tall man wearing a red collar with four pips down the side. "Aye sir?" He had dark hair and a reasonably pointed face. For an unknown reason, she was instantly attracted to him. It wasn't a good idea to be attracted to a superior officer.

"I take it you're waiting for the arrival of the Consonance?"

"Yep." She replied.

"Me too," the Captain said. "Hi, I'm Captain Richard Adams. Commanding officer." He smiled at Jurota. "Do you mind if I sit down Ensign…?"

"Jurota, sir. Sharon Jurota, chief of ops on the Consonance." She gestured towards an empty chair. "Please join me, I've been bored out of my mind for hours!"

Adams laughed and sat down in the chair. "I hate these chairs." He commented.

Jurota nodded. She sensed immediately that he was trying to engage in a sincere conversation with her. Not normally something that a captain would normally do with an ensign. "When is the Consonance arriving? I neglected to check the schedule."

"14.00," Adams replied almost immediately. "You're a Betazoid, right?" He said suddenly.

"Yes sir. It's on my BIO…"

"I never read those things until after the maiden voyage." Adams interrupted. "I saw it in your eyes."

Jurota fluttered her lashes sarcastically and they both laughed. "What is the time now?"

"I don't know…" he looked around for a chronometer. "About 13.00 I'm guessing. Computer, what is the time?"

"The time is 13.02 hours." The monotone voice said from nowhere.

"Damn," Adams said. "Two minutes off. Ah well."

"How did you know?" Asked Jurota. "That's very clever."

"Position of the stars in relation to the station." Adams smiled. "My father taught me."

Jurota and Adams both smiled. "I can't read your thoughts." She commented.

"My father also taught me how do conceal my mind." Adams laughed.

Suddenly, the room rocked and the alert sirens blared.

"Bridge?" Jurota asked quickly.

"Bridge." Adams nodded as they both got up and headed for the nearest turbolift.

Captain Adams and Ensign Jurota arrived on the bridge of DS12 as the station was rocked again. Commander Liota, the CO of the station, was pacing around different consoles. The officers looked to be working hard at their posts.

"Commander Liota, report?" Adams asked, he had to shout almost for his voice to be heard over the sirens.

"An unknown ship-design has just decloaked and is currently in the process of firing on us." The Commander pointed to one of the viewports and the two new arrivals gazed out to see a large menacing ship lashing out at the station with energy weapons.

"Can we hold them off?" Jurota asked.

"Unknown," replied Liota. "Our shields are falling with every blast and our weapons are damaged. They attacked before we had to time to even notice them. Our only hope is the Consonance."

"They won't be here for almost an hour, Commander." Adams frowned. "I have an idea. Are there any Runabouts posted here?"

Liota looked puzzled for a time, then the penny dropped. "Yes," he said. "Yes! We have one; the Loupe-Velez."

"Excellent," Adams smiled as DS12 shook violently. He looked out to see another barrage of energy hit the station. "I'm going to take it out and try to help the station as much as possible until the Consonance arrives. It won't have much of an affect but if you send out a priority-one distress call to any ship it should be enough."

Liota sighed, then nodded. Adams walked back towards the turbolift, but Jurota put her hand on him.

"Take me with you," she said as she looked into his eyes. "I can help you, Captain."

Adams thought for a minute. "Agreed, Ensign." He smiled. "This isn't exactly how I planned our first mission together to start."

They both chuckled slightly. Then they walked back into the turbolift.

The Shuttlebay doors creaked open and the Velez soared out at half-impulse, creating slight shock waves inside the bay. Inside the Runabout, Adams and Jurota sat poised at the two forward consoles, working the systems. Red strips of light flashed around the cockpit.

"How good are you at high-speed close-range tactical work?" Adams tilted his head towards Jurota.

"I've never tried it in a Runabout before. Why?" Jurota replied, watching the dark grey ship outside getting larger as it got closer.

"Because I'm going to get us in pretty close and we'll be going pretty fast and I need to you to make each shot count." Adams calmly explained.

Jurota looked slightly worried. "Um…aye sir."

The Velez closed in on the grey ship. It was shaped like the tip of a spear at the front, and the aft section flattened out to look like a fish's tail only with three perforations instead of two. The Runabout pitched up at a 90-degree angle as it ran parallel to the aft outer-bulkheads at an incredibly high speed.

"NOW ENSIGN! FULL SPREAD!"

She nodded and pressed her hands into her console. The Velez spat out phaser-beams and torpedoes, which impacted with the alien ship with force.

"Their shields are at 87 per cent." Jurota reported. Suddenly her console began to chime. "Sensors show that they're locking weapons onto us."

Adams' eyes widened. "Taking evasive action!"

The Velez dodged between energy-blasts as Adams worked the controls. "DS12, is the distress signal transmitting?"

"Affirmative Loupe Velez," came Liota's voice through the communication system. "We're doing our best to…"

His voice was cut off when an energy blast hit the port nacelle of the Loupe Velez and the Ops panel ignited and exploded. In the confusion, several more blasts rocked the Runabout. Inside consoles detonated and both Adams and Jurota were thrown to the floor. The lights deactivated and the emergency lights activated. Only a few consoles were working as the huge ship swooped overhead, leaving the Velez for dead.

Jurota groaned as she pushed her self up from the floor. She had a huge gash in her forehead. "Captain?" She saw Adams lying in a pool of blood. "CAPTAIN!"

(Continued in Part 2…)