Vadia

Posted on Sun Mar 8th, 2026 @ 6:42pm by Commander Jenna Ramthorne & Lieutenant Commander Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell & Captain Rhenora Kaylen & Commander Savar cha'Salik hei-Surak Talek-sen-deen & Commander Dean House & Lieutenant Commander Thriss Kla'ren & Lieutenant Commander Aurora Vali & Lieutenant JG Micheal Stevens & Lieutenant JG Jacob Rosen & Lieutenant JG Rowan Hale & Lieutenant JG Olivia Voight & Lieutenant JG T'Lar & Commander Jennifer Baldric & Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell

1,583 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Beholder
Location: Vadia IX
Timeline: Current

USS Sunfire Bridge- Arrival at Vadia IX

T'Lar stepped off of the turbo lift for her first time on the bridge. She came around to the counselor's chair and addressed the senior officer.

"Lieutenant T'Lar, Ship's Counselor reporting for duty."

"Nice to meet you T'Lar, I'm Jacob, the new Operations Chief." He replied with a casual friendliness. Jacob gestured to the First Officer's seat. "Please take a seat, I have the conn and would appreciate you stepping in to fill this role." As he waited for the Counselor to settle in, Jacob looked over to Ensign Gonzalez who had taken his usual spot at the Ops station. "Gonzo, how we lookin'?"

"We are tracking the away team with both comm badge and vitals lock. Transporter reports they are synchronized to our feed as well."

"Great, patch that feed over to the command console too if you please." Jacob replied with a curt nod. This was the first time he had been placed in an actual operational command role since the close of the Dominion War. Jacob's heart raced temporarily. Breathe Jake. You're not back there right now. His heart rate returning to normal, he focused on the task at hand.

"Any observations Counselor?" Jacob asked, turning slightly in his seat to address his 2IC.

T'Lar cocked an eyebrow.

"At this juncture, Lieutenant, it would be illogical for me to conjecture without data," she stated in that oh so Vulcan matter of factly manner that sometimes got interpreted as dismissive or cold. For her part, T'Lar meant no offense, however she could think of no other reasonable response having just arrived on the scene.

"As information becomes available, I shall do my best to provide insight," she added. "For now might I recommend that we go to Yellow Alert while the Away team is on mission?"

Meanwhile the Captains Yeoman emerged from the turbolift with a tray of refreshments. Ronson was a kind young man and had served the Captain for many years.

"Snacks?"

"No, thank you," answered T'Lar.

"You sure? I do a wicked Vulcan spiced tea" Ronson quipped as he moved on.

"I'm good as well Senior Chief, but your offer is appreciated." Jacob said warmly. "Please make sure to take care of the rest of the bridge." He stood, looking around at the collection of fellow junior officers. "I concur with T'Lar, bring us up to Yellow Alert." Crossing over to the ops console again as the bridge lights began to reflect the raised readiness status. "Gonzo let's make sure we don't tunnel vision just on the away team. Let me know if we get a blip out of the ordinary."

"Aye Lieutenant."

"Let's look alive folks." Jacob said addressing the bridge. "The senior officers are counting on us for support. Ideally we have the easy job but..." His memory flashed back, a smoke filled bridge, the smell of ozone as electricity arced. Shaking his head he continued. "...Well, I don't believe in easy jobs."

"If history is any indicator, this will be anything but an easy job, Lieutenant. It is logical to be wary," T'Lar concurred.

Meanwhile, a dark ship lay in wait, obscured by a spatial anomaly, biding its time. It's purpose, to contain the Vezda and use them as a weapon.

---

Vadia IX - Prison

The away team broke into two groups, the Engineering team who were setting up their equipment, and the others who would hopefully not be needed. Kaylen looked up as Dr Hale made his presence known beside Captain Batel and Dean, both of which were looking at the well. Screeching could be heard from within, building in intensity.

"They're preparing to strike" Batel said absently, her eyes distant.

Rowan’s tricorder hummed softly as he stepped up beside Batel, the display already tracking her neural telemetry. His eyes flicked briefly to the well before returning to the readings.

“Your cortical activity is spiking,” he said calmly. “Whatever they’re doing… you’re feeling it.” He glanced once toward Kaylen. “Captain, if this escalates, we’ll see it in her telemetry first.”

"It's escalating" Batel whispered, a frown creasing her brow. "They're nearly through the containment field" she focused her mind. Kaylen looked at the Engineering team. "We're on the clock, we need this done now" she said simply.

ET2

The transporter pad hummed with quiet anticipation as Engineering Team Two assembled around Bonnie. She stood with a tricorder hanging slightly crooked at her hip and a toolkit clasped against her chest, running through the synchronization math one more time because the numbers felt like old friends she trusted more than silence. Her hair had long since surrendered to the previous night’s work and gathered itself into an uncertain knot that swayed when she moved.

Bonnie cleared her throat, glanced over the gathered engineers, and gave a small, determined nod that carried equal parts responsibility and nervous energy. The transporter chief acknowledged the signal. Blue light gathered around them in layered columns and carried the team away.

The beam released them outside the phase shifted chamber of Vadia IX. Bonnie stepped clear of the dispersal shimmer and inhaled slowly. Her tricorder chirped to life in her hand, sensors reaching outward along the subspace layers that wrapped the prison like folded cloth.

“Okay,” she murmured, more to the math than to anyone in particular. “Let’s see where these ley lines are hiding.”

The ERI unit materialized moments later within its gravitic cradle, descending through the chamber’s layered air with a steady mechanical grace. Alloy panels caught the shifting light of the phase environment and reflected it in quiet bands along the emitter rings.

Bonnie circled the device with quick, efficient steps while the rest of ET2 moved into their practiced rhythm. Lt. Commander Klaren monitored subspace interference from a portable console while two engineers guided the placement arms toward the convergence point Bonnie’s tricorder projected onto the floor. She paused beside the primary housing and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face before kneeling to open the tachyon chamber.

The canister slid into place with a firm mechanical click that echoed through the strange acoustics of the chamber. Bonnie sealed the housing and ran the diagnostic sweep across her tricorder display. Phase harmonics rose in neat, obedient curves. Chronotron density registered exactly where the equations predicted.

The ley line interface pulsed once and settled into a stable rhythm that matched the distant twin signal being prepared on Skygowen. Bonnie let out a small breath she had apparently been holding since orbit. “Okay... okay,” she whispered to the console, watching the data smooth itself into agreement. “That’s... actually behaving.”

The energy refraction inverter hummed softly as it anchored itself to the hidden current flowing beneath the prison’s layered geometry. Bonnie rose slowly, brushing her hands together as if shaking loose the last crumbs of uncertainty, and gave the device one last careful glance before signaling to her team that anchor point two stood active and stable.

Commander Baldric watched the team work, feeling somewhat as though her role was more a guardian than a participant. Weapon in one hand and tricorder in the other she constantly monitored their surroundings. Kaylen said the Vezda were on the move.

"So how do we get them in this loop exactly?" She asked, slightly unsure of that exact detail.

Bonnie looked up from what she was calculating, "Ah, well, that's the easy bit. We are all in the loop, technically. The ley lines are energy in subspace. It travels back and forth like an Interstate Highway, two lanes of travel. The inverters will invert that inergy into a continuous loop and channel it into the prison, like a time bubble, so to speak."

Before she could finish speaking about how to control said time bubble, the call came through the comms. Panic struck her first. "We're... we're almost ready." Bonnie turned to Commander Klaren. "Time?" They had set up a synchronous counter with ET1 as a linkage to know when to activate the inversion. The first alarm hadn't sounded yet.

"Three minutes" Thriss replied having looked his tricorder.

"Shit!" She replied in a scramble to collect her thoughts. She knew the time was approaching, but she had lost track of just how much time was left. She pulled out her tricorder and took another reading from the Ley line energy.

ET1

Back on Skygowen, 5 hours had passed slowly. First the tricorder alarm sounded, an alarm Jenna had set in order to synchronize with ET2. She deactivated the first alarm. "Alright people, positions. The other team should be on the surface and moving into place. Be ready." Those around her move into their assigned positions, including the security team, just in case.

Leo watched the instruments for a moment longer than necessary, thick fingers resting against the edge of the console as if he could feel the current through the metal itself. The readouts flowed steady and clean, numbers marching along without a flicker. That earned a quiet grunt of approval.

“Energy’s holding steady, Commander,” he said at last, voice calm and matter-of-fact. “Ley lines are behaving themselves for the moment.” He glanced once more at the display, then added with the dry confidence of a man who trusted machinery more than optimism. “Flow’s clean as a winter stream. If it changes, I’ll feel it before the panel does.”

TBC

 

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