The lights darkened further on the bridge of Calistoga, and a familiar and unwelcome red hue illuminated around the consoles and in the corners of the room. Red Alert had activated as ordered, which caused the officers on the bridge to have an even more heightened focus. 

“Eddie… Try and evade it as best as you can. I know we don’t have much chance, but give it your best – Callisto… Will weapons have any effect on the object?” Raiem gave his orders to their fly boy and figured the answer to his weapons question was a no, given this energy ball was in some sort of reported flux. 

“I’ll try, Captain. All I’ve got are thrusters.” Sinclair replied, his voice sounding a bit defeated.

“I don’t think so, Captain. I only have minimal level phasers at the moment too.. Impact in ten seconds.” Atraix’s voice, too, seemed helpless sounding in its tone. 

“Divert power to shields and try and maximize output there. A weapons shot isn’t worth the effort at this point.” Raiem gripped his armrests even harder somehow. He was surprised his hands had not cramped with all the white-knuckling he had been doing the past while. 

“All hands… Brace for impact!” Mayvilis had called this for him, she grabbed her armrests too and looked at Raiem. Her face still showed a determination and optimism which was somewhat catching still.

The Calistoga became enveloped in a strange spiderweb-like covering when the spatial flux ball made contact with the hull. There was no shaking, but the air seemed to develop an electrical static charge, and all the consoles started blinking on and off with some sort of electrical current travelling across the surface. All of the officers had removed their hands from the consoles proactively. Within moments, the lights flickered on and off, as if power distribution was being tampered with.

“Captain. Something has accessed our systems and is taking full control of the vessel. I have no response from any systems. It’s like we’ve been locked out.” Nahl reported, navigating the current state of her console to try and get a better understanding of their current situation. Immediately after her report, all the consoles on the bridge went dark. 

“Why have you come here?” The standard computer voice, although with a lower, more metallic reverberation, sounded across all decks of the Calistoga, creating an even more ominous vibe.

“Why have you come here?” The voice repeated once more. Mayvilis and Raiem looked at each other. 

“We were in trouble and needed help. We did not come to this region on purpose.” Raiem spoke back to the computer voice. Along with many others of his bridge crew, he had concluded that some sort of lifeform was trying to communicate with them. 

“You intend to invade our home. You need our energy.” 

“We mean you no harm. We could not tell that there was life on your planet. There were readings which did show that there was a power source that we had hoped to use to help us. Please. We mean you no harm. You must believe us.” Raiem’s voice was both genuine but desperate in its tone. 

The viewscreen showed a beam of blue and pink light shooting straight up from the planet at them. A loud and piercing sound took over the senses of everyone on board when contact with Calistoga was made. Raiem’s head felt as if it was suddenly ten times the size it normally was, this lasted only around fifteen seconds before he returned to normal. 

“You tell the truth. You mean us no harm. You are lost. You need power. We will help you.” 

Raiem could only conclude that their minds had been probed.

“Thank you…” Before he could utter anything else, the lifeless planet on the viewscreen became enveloped in the same blue and pink coloured light and another beam emerged struck Calistoga. A blinding whiteness preceded everyone on Calistoga losing consciousness. 
 

Some time later….

Raiem noticed the soothing sounds of engines and the slight vibration of the deck plating as he came to consciousness. His eyes felt heavy and tired, and he rubbed them as he sat himself up. As he opened his eyes, he could see other officers on the bridge in a similar state. Everyone had ended up on the floor and was coming around just like him. 

“Report… Where are we?” Raiem asked. The lighting on the bridge seemed normalized, and the consoles were all lit in normal power mode. 

Some other officers had come around too and taken position back at their stations. “Activating viewscreen.” A familiar dark brown fluxing space appeared – the same looking space they had been in that landed them in the void of the black hole. “We’re back in the space corridor that we were in last time,” Nahl confirmed what they saw. 

“Captain. Somehow we have power… Not fully but impulse engines are online and our reserves are back to full charge.” Atraix reported in, sounding perplexed but relieved. 

“Gravimetric distortions are not nearly as substantial as they were, I am finding it easier to pilot through.” Sinclair had taken back the helm and was piloting Calistoga with ease this time around. 

“We have a large amount of data missing from the computer banks. In fact, everything from right before we were pulled into this phenomenon is missing. Sensor logs, reports… Everything. It’s as if someone erased the events entirely.” Mayvilis stated as she worked away on one of the wall consoles. She checked and triple-checked to ensure she was not misleading in her report. 

“That’s not all, though. It’s…. Captain – if the chronometers are correct on this ship, nearly a week and a half has passed since I last remember viewing them. It aligns with the gaps in our data recorders as well.” Mayvilis’ voice seemed confused and perplexed as she continued to update the bridge crew. 

“How?” Raiem didn’t quite have the words. The last thing he remembered was the ominous voice of the computer telling them all that they would receive help and the blinding light that surrounded them. Now somehow they had power once more, were back in the subspace phenomenon corridor, had their data completely wiped and were in the now in the future. It was a sequence of events he himself couldn’t quite believe, even though he was experiencing it.

A proximity alert sounded on the bridge and Atraix reported in immediately. “Captain, there is a small flotilla of Klingon vessels that just emerged into the corridor a few thousand kilometres off the port bow. They are headed away from us.” 

Raiem took a deep breath. “Emergered into. It doesn’t sound like they have been thrown in like we were. Could it have been a controlled entry?” He looked back at Atraix who nodded in agreement with his question. 

“It must be an entry point of some sort.” She answered. 

“Which means it could be an exit point too. It’s our best shot. Eddie, lay in a course at best possible speed and engage. Prepare to transfer auxiliary power to deflectors and shields to counteract any gravitational stress.” Raiem gave his orders and sat back in his chair, bracing himself for more possible turbulence. 

There were many unanswered questions but there would be at least time and a chance to figure things out. If this lucky streak they had experienced continued, perhaps they would see home before the eventide.