Alliance Central Access Network
Presents: Arrhythmia
The Story Of One of the Finest Ship in The Ghost Fleet
ACAN v 1.0
ARRHYTHMIAIn Production throughout the year 2001.
Prologue
For My Grandmother, Karen, and Emily
On Stardate 250101.31, The Alliance of Incorporated Worlds’ first
government began its work to create and affirm a new nation. The Alliance
of Incorporated Worlds had been created out of a desire for peace, and a
desire for a united galaxy that was led by a unified government. No one
could have thought a year before this Alliance was created, that an
institution which had lasted for ten millenniums could have, within six
months been destroyed by a civil war. Desolation, destruction, and love
all melded together in an awkward and bizarre fashion that permitted for
the creation of a new balance of power. When His Majesty the Crown Prince
Alexander Rosbourg, His Majesty the Crown Prince Youri Rosbourg, and Her
Majesty the Princess Catherine Defont proposed the idea, they didn’t
know that they were about change the very nature of a galaxy. It happened
quickly, more quickly than anyone could really understand, but within a
short few months, a new government was created. The new government was a
government of principles, a government bound by a legal constitution that
promoted the ideas of liberty, freedom, and equality. No one would be
alienated in this government, and this government would alienate no one.
But even in the most idealistic systems, there are things, which go wrong,
and it becomes the responsibilities of those who are loyal and faithful to
take on the duty of ensuring that future generations enjoy the current
benefits benefited by the generation of the present, so that they too may
add other benefits, so that our future is continually preserved and
continually made better.
Stardate 290101.31, the 30th Century has just begun. The
Alliance of Incorporated Worlds celebrated its quadric centennial, with a
warm nostalgic memory of the past, but with a reserved apocalyptic
sentiment about the future. All the parties accepted the election of
Chancellor Viderick Argum by twenty-nine percent of the votes wearily.
Viderick’s campaign on the platform of “selective privilege”
amounted to an acceptance of a racist, divisive platform by a nation whose
division had grown to incapacitate it. The growth of The Alliance of
Incorporated Worlds had been primarily the responsibility of all of the
Arch-Prime Ministers and Chancellors, and councils that together had led
it. The Alliance of Incorporated Worlds now was responsible for the
governing of almost eighty-nine percent of the entire Selevenar Galaxy. An
achievement, but the flaw with the expansion was the complete disregard to
fundamental views and differences between the provinces, which were now
clear. Viderick’s secret orders to put an end to the long “Berleon VII
revolts” were now in the hands of The Alliance’s Society’s temporal
division. They would destroy the riot in the past, where The Alliance’s
laws weren’t as strict, and The Alliance was barely born. They would
attack Berleon VII in 2501, and they would do it without anyone noticing
it, a perfect, flawless operation its designers hoped.
The Éclair Class Heavy Destroyer time-shifted and then phase
cloaked as it entered the Berleon star system. It was now undetectable, a
true shadow. The Ghost Fleet had become more advanced and more dangerous
than ever before in its history. The Alliance of Incorporated Worlds,
thanks to the head start it had received from indirectly acquiring the
technologies of the Intergalactic Alliance of Powers’ Strategic
Readiness Agency and C.S.R. divisions, was an expert in the control of
time, and evasion of sensors. While The Alliance of Incorporated Worlds
kept that expertise a secret, it could now be made certain that starships
assigned to the temporal division of the Society and the Legionnaires
didn’t have to resort to unpredictable warp orbits around stars to
time-travel. The propulsion systems could create the fields that were most
advantageous to time travel. Likewise, they didn’t have to worry about
being detected. The Éclair Class Heavy Destroyer was one such class that
had the capability to time-travel with relative ease and had the
capability to put up layer upon layer of systems that were designed to
ensure it couldn’t be seen either by the eye or by mechanical sensors.
It entered the Berleon star system like a merciless predator as it
approached its prey. The starship was very small compared to the planet
that was its target, but the starship’s mission was clear and would be
executed despite the beautiful alluring qualities of the planet.
The starship’s crew was at Alert 1; all personnel were awake and
were at their battle stations as the starship’s preparation for time
warp was being made. The Chief Navigations Officer conferred with the
Chief of Temporal Mechanics as they together discussed the equations
needed to ensure they would return four hundred years in the past. They
were being assisted by the helpful mind of the central library computer
access and retrieval system that was making the equation much more simpler
for them. The equations were made complicated by the fact that they had
all of their anti-sensors equipment running at full strength. There was
also the fact that they needed to exit the time warp at a location where
they could remain unseen for several days. The force of the time warp
would knock them unconscious for a period of no less than forty-eight
hours, according to Medical and all this had to be factored into the
equations of the Chief Navigations Officer and Chief Temporal Mechanics.
Sitting in the central chair of the bridge, looking at the CONN with a trusting eye was the Ship’s Captain, Sandstorm of the Star. He was a Xiverdand, and had come to learn that four hundred years before; the Xiverdand Nation was one of the first Selevenar Galaxy governments to ratify the Treaty of Arnouville. That treaty had spelt the end of the Xiverdand Nation as a sovereign government, and had created the beginning of the Xiverdand as a wealthy, and prosperous province of The Alliance of Incorporated Worlds. If it hadn’t been for The Alliance of Incorporated Worlds, his family would have never received the attention needed to ensure that the condemned rejects of the Xiverdand Nation were treated equally within their nation. The system that had existed had always ensured the rejects of that society would never be able to leave their misery. That system ended abruptly when the Xiverdand Nation ratified the Treaty of Arnouville, and the rejects’ vote was for the first time counted. Since then, everything had changed and Sandstorm of the Star would make sure that he would be a faithful servant of the Chancellors, both past and present, who had made all of this possible for him.
“Are
the calculations complete, Lieutenants?” Sandstorm requested, as he
stood up from his chair to look over the calculations.
“We’re
just about to put in the last variable, Captain,” The Chief Navigations
Officer, replied as he tapped in the expected time of unconsciousness.
“Very
good, the moment you have the calculation, relay it to Engineering so they
can activate the time warp pulse,” Sandstorm turned around as he heard
the confirmation from the two amateur mathematicians, “XO, inform all
hands to prepare for time warp.”
“Affirmative,
Captain,” The Executive Officer replied from the Tactical console, as he
tapped the intercom on, “Attention all hands, this is the XO, prepare
for condition one-tee, double-u, I repeat, all hands prepare for condition
one-tee, double-u. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill.”
“Transmitting
calculations to Engineering,” The Chief of Temporal Mechanics announced
has he tapped the intercom, “Engineering, CONN, we’re transmitting
final calculations for the time warp pulse.”
“CONN,
Engineering, affirmative we’ve received your calculations,” The Chief
Engineer shouted through the intercom as he headed back towards his
console, “Hang on to your seats, we’re about to do some time
traveling.”
“Engineering,
CONN,” The Captain chimed in, “Initiate the pulse.”
A light blue pulse emitted from the forward deflector dish, as it
seemed to stop abruptly twenty-five meters from the front of the ship. The
pulse then encircled the entire ship as the blue reflected off the
biological hull of the vessel. The pulse then began to pass over from left
to right over the ship, as the ship’s engines began to react to the
pulse aggressively. The ship began to spin on its own axis as a second
pulse was emitted. That same pulse encircled the ship on a completely
different plane as the pulse circled over the ship from top to bottom. The
ship was now frantically spinning on its axis as the ship’s crew began
to loose consciousness from the pressure forces building inside. The ship
was no longer visible, only a ball of light encircled by two rings of
light sky blue were visible to the naked eye. There followed an explosion
of white light, as the ship disappeared. Space remained quiet, as where
there used to be an Éclair class starship, remained only a sector of
empty space.
The starship’s view screen was a mesh of gray lines intertwined
with black and white lines. It had already been several days since the
ship had arrived here, in this place and at this time. The Chief of
Navigations awoke groggily, stretching himself as he felt the onset of a
headache. He muttered, as his mouth yawned loudly. The Lieutenant looked
at the console in front him, and with shock looked around to make sure he
wasn’t sleeping on the job. He saw most of the crew, except for the
Vulcan science officer, sleeping. His mind connected, and remembered the
time travel. He looked at the view screen for a moment and walked back to
his usual station, looking over his console. He watched, seeing that the
ship was receiving a subspace communications message. He groaned and
looked back and walked to the Captain, shaking him slightly. The captain
awoke much the same way the Chief did, and then confusedly began babbling.
“What?
What? Oh, Lieutenant,” He too began to remember the mission, “Report,
Lieutenant, what’s our status?”
“I’m
not exactly sure, Captain,” The Chief Navigations Officer answered
looking suggestively at his console as he once again yawned, “We’re
receiving some sort of subspace communications.”
The
Captain looked at the view screen, as he turned to the Vulcan, “Get the
view screen back up. Computer, sound ship wide alarms at fifteen seconds
interval. Let’s get the crew up from their siesta shall we?”
As throughout the ship the general quarters alarms sounded, awaking
the entire crew from their three-day rest, the Vulcan science officer
proceeded on the general maintenance work. Within a few minutes, he had
the aid of an engineer that was reconnecting several input relays that had
been damaged during the violent spin. Five minutes later the view screen
was back in order. The subspace communications had everyone worried; if it
was directly addressed to them then they were in trouble for a breach in
temporal protocols had occurred. The under-manned stellar cartography
section was also doing work in order to figure out whether not they had
arrived at the correct era. The view screen’s lines dissipated as the
subspace communications link was restored. The Captain looked up as he
watched the symbol of The Alliance spinning around on its axis.
“This
is A.P.N.N. News, here with the latest headlines for this Stardate
250101.31,” The newscaster’s voice rang through the ship, “The
elections are still continuing to be very close with Socialist Citizens’
of The Alliance candidate Maitre Wolf going head-to-head with Democratic
Citizens’ of The Alliance candidate Andrew Neyez. Andrew Neyez is
currently holding a frustrating one point lead over Maitre Wolf who is
trying to rally the Segan votes…”
The crew cheered as the A.P.N.N. news broadcast confirmed their
hopes. The bridge crew clapped for the Chief of Temporal Mechanics and the
Chief of Navigations, while in engineering the Chief Engineer was
receiving cheers for his good work. The Commanding Officer and the
Executive Officer both already were moving on to their mission. They
didn’t have much time before they were expected back, and they had to
make sure their plan succeeded. The Commanding Officer sat in his chair,
as the Exec took reins of the situation.
“All
right crew, let’s settle down,” He turned to the Commanding Officer
and then turned back to the Navigations Chief, “Set course for Berleon
VII and engage at maximum warp.”
“Medical,
CONN,” The Commanding Officer tapped his console, “Prepare for
operation vee-twenty-nine. We’re going to reach Berleon VII in a few
hours, so we don’t have much time to introduce the virus.”
“CONN,
Medical,” The scientist holding the deadly vials of the virus replied,
“Everything’s all ready to be introduced onto the planet.”