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» LCARS » Newspaper: The Federation Tribune » Newspaper Archives » 2005 » November 2005 » Back to the Calhoun, part 4, by Rob Versteegt.
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In the past, on board the USS Calhoun in 2390 during its very first mission, Jeff Jalando struggled to keep the Calhoun in one piece. He was, after all, accused by Starfleet's Temporal Security with the destruction of this ship. . . when he got sent back in time because of a reason Jalando still doesn't understand, he was determined to do whatever was necessary to protect the Calhoun. And so far, that seemed to be a day-time job. The Calhoun was attacked by transwarpcreatures which seemed to see the ship as a mate, the Engines overheated, CEO Baugh died, and an artificial virus was set free on board the ship. Jalando too got infected with this virus, but he managed to get out of Sickbay to find out what was going on. By sheer coincidence, -or just by following STC Logix- he discovered a room filled with canisters with contained this artificial virus. Nanoprobes and Xenexian grenades also seemed present. This wasn't a storage room. . . it was an armoury!
When STC Logix went away to report this, Jalando stayed behind. . . only to encounter someone he already knew.
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"You?" Jalando managed to get out. This wasn't possible, was it? There, on the other side of the room, stood a man whom Jalando knew already. A man who was as much out of time as Jalando was. A man who could very well be responsible for Jalando's trip back in time. . . his trip to the launch of the Calhoun.
"Me." The man said, nodding to Jalando. "Good to see you Jeff. I hope your little trip through time hasn't confused you too much?" This sentence. . . this small, little sentence, was enough to let Jalando yet out a yelp of surprise. Yes, from the moment he had seen this man, he had realised that it was possible for this man to have been responsible for his coming to the Calhoun, but to actually hear it from him was both disturbing and a relief. It answered a couple of questions, but it raised much, much more.
"Kevin, isn't it?" Jalando could finally say, after a moment of trying to calm down. He had seen this man before indeed: 'Kevin', as he had been called before -or. . . would be called, whatever- had been on the Federation Timeship Eternity, when Jalando had been transported to the Calhoun in the past. Had this man been responsible for this? That would explain his presence here of course, but. . . they had seen Jalando as a criminal, had they not? Then why would this Kevin come back now?
Kevin nodded. "Kevin DeSerre to be exact. I am, was and/or will be the First Officer of the Eternity." He smiled a reassuring smile. "It's best not to think about that too much. . ." He then started walking around the room. "My my, you certainly have discovered something. . . interesting here, Jalando."
Now it was Jalando's turn to nod. "Indeed." He said, still not understanding what this Mr. DeSerre was doing here. But since that First Officer of the Eternity hadn't imprisoned him just yet, he couldn't be that bad. . . could he? "It seems as if this is the source of the mysterious illness which is spreading through the ship." He held up his hand, where there were still red dots present. "Also, there are enough explosives here to. . ." he paused, and shook his head while trying to come up with the right words. "To destroy the Calhoun!" He finished.
Kevin tilted his head sideways, and smiled faintly. "Really?" He asked.
"Yes, and I have no idea why they are here." Jalando continued. "It makes no sense that. . ." he now paused, frowned, and looked up at Kevin. "What did you just say?"
Kevin DeSerre was now the one to shake his head. "My dear, innocent, gullible Jeff Jalando." He started, grabbing his phaser from the holster. "You really have no idea what is going on here, do you? Tell me, honestly, what you think had happened to you. Why you had travelled back in time to the Calhoun. Hmmm?"
Jalando blinked. This certainly had not been what he had expected. "I. . ." He started, recognising the face he was staring in right now: it was the face of danger. He had stared in this face before, back on Sigma Altair IV, the colony where he had lived during the Dominion War. The face of Danger was then a Dominion Soldier, aiming his weapon at little Jeff and his two older sisters. Adriana, his oldest sister who had just graduated from the Academy, had protected the children, but she herself had paid a horrible price: she got vaporised by a Jem'Hadar weapon. In time, Jalando had realised that Adriana had sacrificed her own life for that of her family. She had rescued him.
But there was nobody to rescue him now. No one else. He was alone. And he knew that his days were over: he would die. And that scared him. "I thought I was sent back to prove my innocence. . ." Jalando explained softly. Not that it would help: he knew his end had come.
A grin appeared on DeSerre's face. The same kind of grin which appeared on the faces of lousy-written holo-villains, just before they were to unveil their masterplan: after all, they were sure that they would win, even though 'good' always triumphed over 'evil'. Not that those holo-villains knew that though: they were always convinced of their own victory.
The difference between a holo-novel like that and the situation Jalando was in now, was that this was no lousy-written holo-novel. . . this was real. And DeSerre had every reason to be certain about victory, since there was nobody to stand in his way. . . except Jalando. And he couldn't do too much either, since he was looking into the firing-end of a futuristic looking phaser.
"You're right." Kevin DeSerre, who turned out to be a characteristic bad-guy, said with that grin of his. "Well, part right, actually. You see, you were sent here to prove someone's innocence. . . but it's not your own. It's my innocence. Remember when we arrested you? We said that we have found evidence in the past, that the Calhoun was blown up because of you. That we had found your DNA. And we had. Or rather, we will have."
Jalando swallowed, realising what had been happening all along. "You set me up." He started, looking Kevin DeSerre in the eyes. "You transported me to the past, so that you could fabricate your evidence there, to destroy the Calhoun and remain out of harm's way at the same time. . ."
"Clever, aren't you?" The man said, smiling still. "Once the Calhoun explodes, Starfleet Temporal will find you there, and that will lead to your arrest, which will lead to you being transported into the past by me, which will again lead to the Calhoun's destruction." He grinned. "Don't try to understand it Jalando. Just accept it. It's fate, live with it."
He now stretched his arm which held his phaser. "Or better yet, die with it."
An orange phaserbeam struck Jalando in the chest, and he fell down to the floor, right next to these containers of explosives. The pain was too much to bare. He wanted to scream, wanted to move, wanted to do anything. . . but he couldn't. The beam paralysed him. All he could move were his eyes. What had this man done to him? Jalando wasn't dead, but. . . this wasn't being alive either.
From where he was lying, Jalando could see DeSerre grinning at him. That grin. . . that terrible grin on that face of Danger. This time it wasn't Jalando laughing in the face of Danger, it was Danger laughing in the face of Jalando. "Oh don't worry, I won't kill you." The man said. "Well, not yet anyway. In fact, you will kill yourself."
Jalando couldn't say anything back. He tried to, but he couldn't. He wanted to stand up and stop this man, but there was no way for him to do that. All he could do was look helplessly, knowing that his chance of saving the Calhoun, and thus the entire transwarpproject, were now lost.
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" DeSerre asked with a smile. "Go on, do something to me. I dare you."
But Jalando was unable to do anything, and DeSerre knew that. With a loud laugh, he turned away from Jalando, only to turn back again a moment later. Now, the phaser he had fired was no longer pointing at Jalando. In fact, he was handing the phaser to the paralysed First Officer of Pandora! Yes, the man was putting that weapon in Jalando's hand! But. . . why?
Jalando heard soon enough. "I've programmed this phaser to fire automatically in about a minute." DeSerre started. "In the direction it's facing now, the phaserbeam will hit these containers. . . and we both know what disastrous reaction that would have. The Calhoun would explode if that would happen, would it not?" He grinned. "Well, it will. And the best thing is, this way people will think you did it. You'll get all the blame, and nobody will expect me to be the one responsible. Isn't it great?"
But Jalando said nothing. He just stared at the phaser in his hand, trying desperately to move it. But. . . it was to no avail. He was unable to do anything.
"Well, if you don't mind, I'll be going now." Kevin DeSerre said with a smile. He stood up, and gave a mock-bow. "Mister Jalando, I hope we never meet again. But then again, there isn't that much chance of that happening, now is there?" He smiled. "Au revoir." With those last words, he tapped a device fitted on his arm, and quickly beamed away.
Jalando was left all alone. . . in this cargobay, with the futuristic phaser in his hand. He had to move, had tried to move, he tried to do anything, but he couldn't. He couldn't! A single tear showed his anger, fear, sadness and despair. A single tear. . . and then his time was up.
The phaser fired.
The phaserbeam wreaked havoc on the containers which were present in this room. These containers, filled with explosives and other terrible weapons, could not stand this violence. The only thing these explosives could do now, was to do what they were created to do. To detonate.
At that moment, Jalando closed his eyes: it was all he could do to protect him from the incredible explosion which followed. Pain surged through Jalando's body for just a moment. . . before the violent explosion vaporised him. Due to the force of the explosion, waves of fire, heat and immense destruction quickly found their way through the entire deck, feeding on the systems and personnel which they encountered. Just a matter of seconds later, minutes at most, the Sovereign class vessel USS Calhoun -the pride of Starfleet- exploded.
*****
Stardate 2390.06.28.
Starfleet Headquarters.
Admiral Morgana reporting.
Begin log.
There are no words to describe the terrible tragedy which has happened. After extensive search, Starfleet's Scientific Department had determined that the USS Calhoun, Starfleet's first functional transwarpship, has indeed been destroyed. Starfleet has been forced to agree with what Talaxian government already stated: after coming out of Transwarp, the USS Calhoun's engine must have overheated. All that was needed was a single spark to let the entire ship explode.
The Calhoun's destruction will have an impact on us all. Not only have some of us lost close friends and colleagues, but it has been decided that Starfleet's transwarp project will be halted, indefinitely. After this. . . accident with the Calhoun, Starfleet will not take any chances. Maybe we weren't ready for Transwarp at all. Maybe we rushed into things. We might never know if the Calhoun's destruction could have been prevented, but one thing is certain: we will not let something like this happen again.
The USS Calhoun has been destroyed. The transwarp-project has been halted, and our relations with the Talaxians and Vidiians have come to a similar stop: while they do understand our position, they feel that just talking over subspace with a lot of delays is not like they expected from a diplomatic relationship with the Federation. It seems as if the Calhoun's destruction has not only caused countless deaths, but a diplomatic crisis as well.
To conclude this log: the USS Calhoun was important. To all of us. Its destruction is a serious blow to morale, technological advancement and diplomatic relationships. And on a personal note, the loss of the Calhoun means the loss of several close friends, and some damned fine colleagues. They will be missed.
May they rest in peace.
This is Admiral Morgana, Starfleet HQ,
End log.
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