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[2005: NOV-DEC] The USS Marx


Sirkit
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Smoke filled the bridge as numerous explosions rippled throughout the Galaxy Class starship USS Marx. Entire portions of the engineering section were open to space, the warp core was breaching and still the spacial anomalies ravaged the ship. Again and again, they intersected the hull ripping off layer after layer of hull plating opening more of the ship to space. They had been drawn by the warp nacelles, as if attracted to the warp field they generated, the engineering section had taken the most damage, though the saucer section had not been completely spared.

“We are nearing the edge of the anomaly field,” Commander Javic, a human, informed no one in particular, he stood between the piloting and sensor consoles, steadying himself on the piloting chair “We can use inertia to drift the rest of the way.” Javic’s voice shook with distress. He leaned over to look at the scans of the ship, at least a hundred people were still in the damaged engineering section; many were trapped.

“Understood, initiate decoupling sequence. Maximum power to the impulse engines as soon as we are decoupled.” Captain T’Vek’s cool Vulcan exterior betrayed no sign of concern for the situation, he merely directed his crew as though it were any other mission.

Javic swung around, “Sir there are still people in the engineering section, we require a few moments to get them out,” he turned to his ops officer, “Lt. use the transporters to pull the rest of the survivors out of the engineering section.” The officer nodded.

“Commander, we are running out of time, carry out my order.” T’Vek remained seated in his chair, his voice was deadly calm.

Javic paused, “but Sir…”

“Commander you have your orders,” as if to punctuate his argument the ship shook from another decompression in the engineering section.

Javic glanced at the ops officer, “do as I said Lt.”

Captain T’Vek stood from his chair, were he human anyone on the bridge would have sworn the look on his face was outrage, “Commander you are relieved, leave the bridge immediately. Initiate decoupling sequence, now!” T’Vek’ s voice raised ever so slightly.

Javic stared in disbelief; he could not believe The Captian could give such an order. A hesitant chorus of ‘Yes Sir’ followed. The ship shook once again, this time in the expected sequence of the decoupling grapplers, the saucer section was free.

“Sir, we have cleared the engineering section.” The Ops officer made a reproachful glance over his shoulder at Jevic as though pleading for The Comanders forgiveness. Javic stared at T’Vek, the mans unnerving calm was eerie in contrast to the emotional faces of the predominantly human bridge crew,

“Full power to impulse; get us out of here Lt. Fredrickson.” Javic remained transfixed his gaze locked on T’Vek, the Vulcan had just abandoned over a hundred members of his crew to die.

The ship shook as the Matter Anti-Matter matrix in the engineering section finally mixed freely, matter was crushed, space torn. The crew of the bridge heaved forward the shockwave passed. Javic regained his balance, they were dead, all of them left behind by a man they had trusted.

“Commander I believe I relieved you,” T’Vek had returned Javic’s gaze the entire time; the man had not once flinched or looked away.

Javic suddenly became aware of himself he half heartedly straightened himself, and rose his hand in salute, “yes sir.” Javic left the bridge, he felt all eyes on him as he left; the crew was as shocked as he was.

----

Javic reported to The Captains ready room as ordered, it had been the first time he had seen the bridge in a month. The Captain had placed him under house arrest after their altercation on the bridge. During that time Javic had reviewed the reports on the casualties, one factor had been clear not a single Vulcan had been killed in the warp core breach, though almost twenty had been posted in that section. His mind had mulled over these facts for some time, there were various orders which seemed to have led to the spontaneous reassignment of the Vulcans only hours before the disaster, had The Captain known about the approaching anomaly? Worse, had The Captain racially reassigned the crew to protect his fellow Vulcans?

Javic saluted and glared at T’Vek across the captain’s desk “reporting as ordered, Sir.”

T’Vek looked up at The Commander, as though surprised he was there, “Commander are you aware of our status?”

“Yes”

“I see,” T’Vek picked up a PADD, “then there is something you may not be aware of, the subspace beacon, and communications are damaged beyond repair.”

Javic blinked, this could not be possible, without communications the ship was cut off; they couldn’t even call for help. Worse, this placed The Captain well outside the oversight of Starfleet. Javic wondered, if T’Vek was seemingly willing to transfer Vulcan crew away from areas only moments before a disaster, would he kill his first officer to stop the evidence of his act from coming to light? Javic brought himself back to the moment and managed to speak though his voice betrayed his disbelief, “Sir, we have to contact StarFleet, we must use every means possible to repair the subspace communicator.”

“I’m afraid that appears impossible,” T’Vek set down the PADD he was holding, “Mr. Venrick informs me that the required equipment was destroyed with the engineering section.” T’Vek returned Javic’s stare, “Calm yourself, we are only ten years at impulse power from a subspace relay; we will make the journey and contact Starfleet from there.”

Javic stared, shocked, could The Captain be lying to him? The equipment required to repair such systems should have been housed in the saucer section, with backups in engineering, “Sir, perhaps we can use the replicators…”

“We are lacking in the raw components,” T’Vek paused, and then continued, “I have explored all logical options, we will have to make the trek to the relay. Since you are more in tune with the crews… emotional state I have decided to reinstate you to your command. You will inform the crew of our situation.”

Javic nodded, that was something, at least he wouldn’t be cooling his heals in his quarters the whole trip, “What of the senior staff lost in the ‘accident’” Javic barely managed to hold back his sarcasm.

“They will be replaced by competent replacement officers.” T’Vek picked up a PADD and began to scan the contents, and then passed it to Javic, “These are the new position placements in the senior staff.”

Javic took the PADD and glanced at the names of the officers who were being promoted, they were all Vulcans, “Sir…”

“Yes, Commander?” T’Vek looked benignly across the desk.

Javic felt hostility, he could swear it, but from a Vulcan? In that moment he had feared for his life, he hot blood pumping in his ears, “… never mind.”

“Very good commander, you are dismissed.” T’Vek’s voice remained eerily calm.

“Yes Sir.” Javic turned on his heel and left the ready room, he was terrified, for himself and the crew. The Captain held all the cards, and after the crew transfers on the PADD a Vulcan would hold control over every vital system on the ship.

Javic forced himself to calm down, this was his captain, a man who, while distant, had never seemed irrational or emotional. He reevaluated the situation, perhaps the Vulcan replacements were the best choices for the vacant positions. Javic carefully pushed his suspicions to the back of his mind, he had a job to do, the crew would need leadership, not decent.

---

Javic, looked at the senior officers seated in the conference room, it had been three years since the disaster, since the effective takeover of the ship by T’Vek’s officers. There had been many schisms in the crew, some had resulted in officers or dissenters going mysteriously missing, Non-Vulcans all. The Non-Vulcan crew had banded together under The Captains oppression they were no longer a crew they were plebs under the control of a tyrant. Javic looked at the Non-Vulcan senior officers left, they all were grimly discussing old arguments, old complaints, but nothing could be done, The Captain at the first sign of questioning had placed his Vulcan officers as eyes and ears in every corridor, every moment was monitored, duty shifts no longer allowed for time off, sleep was the only respite from the constant demands of The Captain through his Vulcan emissaries.

“We haven’t seen him in weeks, we only get orders through Venrick,” Lt. Joran’s voice was heavy; he had lost hope that was evident.

“How do we even know he’s still alive?”

“What if were just following Venrick’s orders, that pompous [...] probably killed him and never told us!”

“He’s not dead…” Javic called over the gradually increasing volume of hysteria, he picked up the tricorder sitting on the conference room table, it was still jamming all outgoing frequencies, for the moment this discussion was unmonitored. “He’s very much alive; I’ve spoken to him off and on for the past week.”

“Have you seen him?”

“Yes, he’s been passing the time meditating and reading. He informed me that I may continue to be the CO as long as I follow Venricks orders.” Javic, shook his head he was sure if he had refused he would have joined ‘the disappeared’. The last time he had spoken to The Captain, he had barely acknowledged his presence. Javic wished he could blame The Captains behavior on an illness but the man seemed so logical, every decision was so precise in nature. As it stood Venrick was now the voice of The Captian, the Non-Vulcans were to obey; the threat of ‘or else’ remained largely unspoken. The situation over the course of the last year had grown more tense Venrick and the other Vulcans had become the only people allowed to see the Captain. Javic was the lone exception, but even when Javic saw the Captain the Vulcans had spoke for him.

“I don’t believe the Captain is capable of commanding any longer.” Javic saw the expressions on his senior staff’s faces shift first to concern, then to agreement. They had all been cast aside as Vulcans took up many of their key duties, relegating those he had not directly replaced to little more than roles as figureheads. Of course when prompted the Vulcans had given perfectly logical reasons for the changes, citing higher logic and the wishes of The Captain.

“So that’s why we’re here…”

Javic nodded, he could not relieve The Captain without the assistance of the crew, and for that he needed the assistance of the remaining senior staff, though he very much doubted any would object given the idea, but the word still had to be spoken. The Captain had broken every rule placed them all under a racist tyranny only one thing remained…

“Mutiny.” The word rang in the conference room like a bell, “There is no other way.” Nods accompanied this statement at least that was true. “Are we in agreement?”

Many of the officers nodded, the Chief Science Officer spoke, “What’s the plan?”

---

One week later, Javic stood on the bridge and watched the as the now predominantly Vulcan bridge staff performed their duties. The Mutiny would start here with a gassing of the bridge staff, it would be tense, no one was sure how long it would take to incapacitate the bridge staff, it was theoretically possible that the Vulcans would realize what was happening and kill him before they were rendered unconscious. Likely if the mutiny failed the Non-Vulcan crew would be subject to strict reprisal, Jevic wondered if The Captain would resort to torture before he killed them all, the thought was gruesome, the logic of a Vulcan instilling pain in a victim. Jevic shivered at the thought and touched his left bicep where the doctor had inoculated him, and the only other Non-Vulcan left on the bridge staff rotation, with a counter toxin. Javic hoped it would work since the concentration of toxin about to be administered to knock out the Vulcans was roughly double what it would take to kill a human. Javic fiddled with his uniform trying to pass the time, the chronometer ticked time away at an excruciating pace. Suddenly the color of the room lighting shifted to blue.

“Contaminant detected!” The computers voice echoed over the bridge as the room was flooded with gas. The air coloration changed to a slight green hue, the required concentration of gas was reached within a second, there was nothing the Vulcans could do it was to fast to stop, even for them.

‘Show time,’ Javic thought as the Vulcan bridge crew clawed at their throats and collapsed, they began to convulse on the floor.

“Will they be all right?” Lt. Fredrickson looked at Javic, even now in the heat of mutiny against the Vulcans she showed concern for the officers, even if they had been her oppressors.

“I hope so,” Jevic too felt a level of pity for the fallen officers, though it was tempered by the knowledge that these men were likely aware of, or participated in, the disappearances of members of the crew.

The turbolift doors opened and a team of security officers flooded onto the bridge their phasers were raised, they clearly expected a fight. Javic paused and looked at them, the moment was tense, in mutiny friend or foe could vary at the drop of a hat.

“Sir, we are here to protect you.” The security officer saluted and his team took up positions around the bridge replacing the fallen Vulcans.

“Very good; status report,” Javic, felt a brief sense of victory, he had taken the bridge, it was a step in the right direction. He readjusted his uniform; the air felt muggy from the toxin. The toxins green haze was disturbing, only the anti-toxin was keeping him alive at the moment, it lent a eerie sense of vulnerability to the scene; even the air was trying to kill him now.

“We have seized decks 1 through 9 and 11 through 22, we are experiencing some resistance on deck 10.” The security officer paused.

“What is it?” Something had happened, something unexpected, Javin could feel it.

“We’ve taken losses on deck 9… the Vulcans are using phasers set to kill.”

Javic paused, shocked, Vulcans were a peaceful people it was out of character for them to kill. Javic quickly pulled himself together, “Pull our men out of decks 9 and 10; vent the decks.” Javic turned and sat in The Captains chair, he felt a sense of loss, he had hoped the Vulcans would be reasonable once it was clear they had lost the ship, that he would not to be forced to use this strategy.

The security officer nodded and made the order, and other officer yipped back a response, time passed, the air in the bridge was heavy with tension. Finally the ship shuddered as the engines fought against a sudden expelling of gas. The Vulcans were dead. Though it felt like a hollow victory, the ship was his.

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