A lonely runabout took off from Starbase 18, its destination: an empty patch of space. Piloting it was only one person: David Rolans, a promising young Starfleet officer from earth. David was very excited - he was only twenty six years old, and already StarFleet had made him the Commanding Officer of his very own Starbase. And not just any Starbase; judging from what he'd been told so far this Starbase would be special in more than one way and could lead to a revolution in deep space exploration. The details had been kept secret to him so far, but that it would be special he was certain of. He hadn't even been told the location of his new home - instead he'd been given sketchy instructions on a rendezvous point just out of sensor reach of Starbase 18, where someone would meet up with him to instruct him further.
And as instructed, a long range sensor scan indeed revealed to him that another ship was waiting for him; judging from the size it was another runabout and David wondered if this would be the start of a wild goose chase... The computer beeped. The other ship was hailing him, audio only: "Good afternoon, Commander Rolans. You're well on time, it's good to know the future commander of something as special as the Maelstrom is punctual."
"Thanks for the compliment... Though I'm curious to know what this Maelstrom is? Is it the name of the StarBase I'll be in command of? And where is it anyways? It's not in this area..."
"Everything will become clear to you soon, Commander," the pilot of the other runabout reassured, "And by the way, my name is Captain Black. I'm sending you a new set of coordinates. Simply enter them in the computer and let the auto-pilot do the rest. And don't turn it off, no matter what."
"Ehrm...acknowledged," David agreed with some hesitation, entering the
coordinates in the computer, even though the instructions sounded weird.
Without further conversations both ships then departed, Black's runabout in the lead followed by Rolans' ship closely behind. They kept their heading for quite some time at impulse speed when the shuttlecraft's external sensors picked up something, getting the commander's attention with their beeping. Apparently they were approaching a large graviton distortion, and according to the readouts, they were headed directly towards it...
Feeling slightly worried about approaching an anomaly like that, David decided to contact Captain Black who had made no actions to change their heading. "Captain, my sensors detect a strong graviton field dead ahead. With our current heading we'll fly right into it."
"I am aware of that, Commander, but there's no need for concern. Keep your heading and ignore the readings, please."
Still, David couldn't help but to feel very concerned. According to the
readings he was receiving those emissions were powerful enough to tear apart a Galaxy-class starship within minutes; he could only imagine what they could do to two helpless runabouts. Again Captain Black reassured him that there was nothing to worry about, and reluctantly David Rolans agreed, sitting back and waiting for what was yet to come as the auto pilot guided him on....
And finally the anomaly came into visual range, and its shape and size
surprised David completely when he finally caught a glimpse on it.
The anomaly was in fact an enormous silver disc, shining on the starry horizon like a large, bright star. The graviton readings seemed strongest on its outer edges, even though there was more than enough to crush a ship, or at least shakeit up good, at the centre. When Black's runabout flew directly into the anomaly, David had expected it to appear on the other side of the large disc, crushed to a lump of metal, but instead the runabout disappeared completely and he finally realized what the
disc was: it was a wormhole - and not just any wormhole, it was a stable
wormhole, most likely created by StarFleet engineers!
"This is amazing!" David cried out, seconds before his runabout entered the
wormhole as well. He'd expected to be blinded by the silvery light, but instead his ship was surrounded by total blackness for a brief moment as time itself seemed to have come to a complete stop. And then the starry skies returned and his ship automatically came to a full stop. Short range sensors registered the anomaly behind him and Black's ship in front of him, also motionless. Long range sensors however were offline and he couldn't get a bearing of his current position.
"Your long range sensors are most likely offline," Black informed him, "But
your present location is the first planet of the Bel System. Welcome to the
Maelstrom, your Starbase, Commander."
"Where is it then?" David asked, puzzled, "My sensors only register the
wormhole and your runabout."
"Ah yes, the graviton emissions must block it from being detected... You'll get a reading of it when the wormhole closes in a minute or so, but for now I suggest you get a visual of the graviton anomaly...It'll explain a lot to you."
David did as he was told, switching on his rear camera, and indeed it did
explain a lot. He couldn't detect it at first, but when he zoomed in he could
clearly see the metal structure surrounding the silvery disc. Just then the
disc dissipated and collapsed on itself, leaving only the Starbase.
"So that's it..." David whispered to himself, not realizing he was still
transmitting, "This entire Starbase... this Maelstrom, it's basically a device
to create a stable wormhole. Amazing!"
"It is, isn't it?" Black agreed.
David heard the Captain's words, but didn't pay attention to him. His full
attention had shifted from the Captain and the Maelstrom towards the moon of the first planet of the Bel System, when his sensor readings told him what was going on there...
"That's no moon," he whispered softly, "It's a space station..."
