Vadia Part III

Posted on Thu Mar 12th, 2026 @ 1:34am 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 & Lieutenant Commander Rynn Upland & Senior Chief Petty Officer Ronson Mitchell

2,251 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Beholder
Location: Vadia IX / Skygowen
Timeline: Current

Vadia IX - Prison

As the Chronoton beam struck the prison, time itself felt as though everything were slowing down. The beam was creating a pocket of time centered on the prison, creating an obvious effect on the Vezda and those within the bubble. Just outside the area of effect, outside the prison, the Engineering team could see the prison, the air, the very birds caught in the wake practically freeze inside the bubble.

"This isn't quite working!" Dean unhinged the shield on his back. Throwing it, aimed to hit one of the Vezda in the head. It however, penetrated the bubble and just stopped. At least as far as he could see. "That's not good. New plan. We're still doing it my way. Stay there, Batel."

Time seemed to slow down, taking infinitely longer than previous. Movement and thought slowed, as though grinding to an eventual halt. Batel was on the deck, Dean was maintaining the bubble and fighting off the Vezda, Rhenora, Aurora and Rowan were trying to stay alive. The Vezda felt something change and reacted.

Rowan felt the pull of the chronoton field immediately. His tricorder lagged between readings as time itself stretched around them.

Rhenora supported Batel who clutched her head and looked towards Rowan and they all looked towards Dean who was the only thing standing between them and the angry Vezda. Reality seemed to blur, and Rhenora felt the familiar tug of something just outside of this reality. The Prophets...or Patin...or both.

The prison faded and was replaced with an endless white mist. Rhenora looked around and notrd the rest of the team were also present, but looking confused.

"Why have you brought us here?" Rhenora asked clearly, knowing the Prophets were nearby, having orchestrated this construct.

"The Patin has expressed her desire for us to...accept responsibility. Those who were cast out, have caused pain" the disembodied voice replied from an indeterminate distance.

"Then do something about it" Rhenora retorted angrily.

"You will succeed, but there is a cost."

Deep in Rhenora's gut she knew who the 'cost' would be. Batel was sandwiched between Rowan and Rhenora - even in this temporarily place - supported to be kept on her feet.

"I will not let you take more from her" Rhenora replied defiantly, looking across at Batel. "This is your mess, you clean it up" She tossed the words into the mist.

"If there is no cost now, there will be cost later. It must be paid." The disembodied voice replied from afar.

"Wait, you'll spare her... us?" Rhenora was a little taken aback by the turnaround.

"The Patin - the Prophet of Chaos and Boom - has taught us flexibility... this will exact a price" They replied from everywhere and nowhere all at once.

Dean could feel some of the weight starting to lift. At least some. He wanted to just drop to his knees, or even just flop down on his back. However, not yet. "It was my idea, I accept the price." Said out to the voices.

"You accept the price that lies with the Beholder?" The Prophets echoed, and Rhenora's head snapped around so fast she would need a massage when this was over. "Dean...." She whispered.

"It's okay Nora. Remember the quote that everyone just loves to use. The needs of the many." Holding a hand up to stop her. Whatever she was about to do or say. "Let me have this one. I changed the parameters," His head tilted up,

"However, Batel lives. Also... there's something else that needs to be done." That of which he didn't mention out loud. They should be able to pick up on what it was.

"It is done" The Prophets replied - but the mist still lingered.

Batel looked up, semi coherent. "What deal have you made?" She asked simply. Her fate was she thought was sealed.

"The Beholder will live, the VezdaPagh will be contained, the Dean has offered himself as penance" the Prophets replied. Batel looked at Dean with wide eyes.

"The Beholder cannot leave, she must monitor containment" the disembodied voice continued.

"You're the all powerful Prophets, you monitor!" Rhenora shot back, angry at the turn of events.

"The Beholder will monitor, she has always done. We will... adjust... the parameters"

"Adjust? What does that mean?" Batel was wary, and rightfully so. She had no idea who these creatures were and what they were doing messing with their lives.

"The Beholder will live. It is done" and with that, they were back in the bubble on Vadia with a thousand angry Vezda trying to eat them.

"And..right back where we started..." Dean tilted his head a bit. "Can I at least shield one of them?"

It was at that point, time froze entirely.


ET2

The second alarm sounded on the tricorder. This was her signal to activate the inverter. Bonne glanced at Thriss for the 'Go-Ahead' signal. She then pressed the activation control and mouthed, "Hold onto your butts."

The moment Bonnie brought the inverter online the ground answered with a deep, rolling tremor, as though the planet had drawn a sudden breath. The device’s core flared to life and drove the tachyon injection into the nearest ley junction, forcing its way into the ancient current like a pulse of lightning entering a buried river. Lines of pale energy ignited across the landscape, racing outward along invisible channels beneath the stone.

The vibration intensified underfoot as the flow surged, the inverter bending the natural current and launching a coherent wave between the planetary network. The energy gathered and focused, accelerated, and roared along the ley highway in a brilliant cascade, streaking across Vadia IX and hurling itself outward through space toward Skygowen like a signal the universe itself could feel.


ET1

Minutes later the final alarm sounded. This was the one they'd been waiting for. The wave was on its way. Tricorders were removed from holsters and flipped open with a synchronicity of trained fingers and minds. Leo was the first to suggest out loud the worried look that was on his face. "She's inbound, faster than a tidal." He turned and ran for the second tachyon canister.

"What is it Leo, what's going on? Someone tell me something." Jenna trusted them but she needed to understand what they were dealing with. "Upland? Any idea?" She asked.

Rynn tapped on her tricorder furiously. "I'm not sure. I can't get a clear reading. Whole thing is off the charts. Leo?"

Leo grabbed the second tachyon canister and ran it back toward the inverter assembly, boots thudding against the stone. He braced both hands on the injector ring, eyes flicking between the flow readout and the glowing line of energy racing toward them across the display. “ET2 gave the stream a shove,” he said through clenched teeth. “Whole ley line’s coming down the pipe like a breaking sea.”

He glanced once at Jenna, tusked grin sharp with grim determination. “When it hits the mark, we punch the tachyons in and twist the current into a Möbius. Miss…” He tapped the console once, hard. “And we’re the shoreline.”

The ground began to hum beneath their boots as the numbers spiked higher. Jenna’s eyes tracked the racing line on the tricorder. “How long?” she asked, steady but tight.

Leo didn’t look up, one hand gripping the tachyon injector lever as the readout climbed. “Ten seconds,” he muttered. The hum deepened into a rolling vibration through the equipment frame. “Nine... eight..." He glanced once toward graph displayed on the tricorder. “That’s a lot of angry energy, Commander.”

Jenna stepped beside him, hand hovering over the control. The air crackled faintly as the wave surged closer, light pulsing like the crest of a cosmic tide. “You call it,” she said.

Leo bared a tusked grin at the approaching energy, eyes fixed on the mark. “Seven... six... steady... steady..." The tremor surged through the platform as the wave bore down on them. His voice dropped into a sharp bark. “Now, Commander... now!”

---

USS Sunfire Bridge

"Unidentified vessel now approaching, slowly but they're getting closer." Came the report from the Ops console.

Jacob's brows furrowed, deep in concentration, willing the ship closer. "C'mon, almost there. Let your guard down, we're easy prey..." He continued muttering to himself. A bead of perspiration trickled down his left temple but had nothing to do with the cool ambient temperature of the Bridge. The tension was palpable throughout the deck, the sounds of readouts echoing ominously by comparison. Jacob took the briefest moment to survey the scene, the white knuckle grips on chairs and the edges of panels. He breathed in, and then out slowly, almost forcing his body language to relax.

"Well, Counselor if we get through this I might need to start actually attending my Starfleet mandated therapy sessions again." Jacob said with a chuckle that had just the barest hint of being forced if you looked hard enough. He was counting on most on the bridge crew not being in the space to do so at the moment, they needed some levity at this point and he was the one to give it.

"I should prefer when rather than if , Lieutenant..." T'Lar retorted

The enemy vessel, still undisclosed as to who they were and why they were there, slid closer to the Sunfire, curious as to the ship appeared lifeless in space.

"They are venting gas, engines appear offline" the enemy Ops officer announced triumphantly. "We should fire and move to the second phase"

"Indeed, end their misery..fire weapons, full spread," the enemy commander ordered.

Weapons fire lanced forth from the enemy vessel once more, slamming into the Sunfire's shields. The Ship rocked again, more violently than last time.

"Shields at sixty five percent!" called out Tactical

T'Lar was becoming genuinely concerned.

"Lieutenant, whatever you are planning it may be advisable to do it sooner rather than later," she counseled.

Jacob steadied himself as the ship rocked, nodded to T'Lar, and addressed tactical. "Weps, prepare salvo of Photon Torpedoes on my mark." He tapped his comm badge. =^= "Bridge to Wing Command. Commander, we're about to give them their surprise from our end and maneuver. Sending you our targeting telemetry. Good Hunting." =^=

He looked to T'Lar again, then to the rest of the bridge. Jacob's first Captain, when he was a fresh enlisted crewman, once told his department that she was entrusted with the Starfleet's greatest resource. Not its ships, or its training, nor weapons, or armor. It was people. Finally, all those years later, Jacob understood completely as he made eye contact with each and every teammate.

"Fire."

The enemy ship rocked from the impact, tilting in space as its shields overloaded, flickered, then partially reestablished. An angry barrage of weapons fire returned, like an animal knowing it was getting backed into a corner.

"Shields down to forty five percent!" called Sunfire's tactical officer.

"Reroute power from all non essential systems to the weapons and shields," T'Lar ordered.

"Re-routing, Aye." There was a brief pause as the crewmembers' fingers flew over the LCARS display. "Shields at sixty percent and holding..." came the reply.

USS Sunfire Hangar Bay

Rosa watched the targeting telemetry cascade across the tactical repeater as the bridge fed its firing solution down into the fighter control grid. A tight smile touched the corner of her mouth. =^= “Wing Command acknowledges, Bridge,” she replied calmly. “We’ll be ready when the curtain lifts. Good hunting up there.” =^=

She cut the channel and switched back to squadron command. Her voice carried across the fighter network, clear and steady. “All wings, listen up.”

“Red Squadron, you are first through the door. Maintain Kestrel pattern until visual confirmation of hostiles. Once they commit to the attack run, you break and harass their forward screen.” She keyed the next squadron channel without pause. “Blue Squadron, you’ll launch ten seconds behind Red. Sweep port quarter and intercept anything attempting to flank the Sunfire. Keep them away from our carrier.”

Across the hangar the Peregrine interceptors hummed louder as their reactors climbed toward combat output. “Gold Squadron,” Rosa continued, her tone tightening just slightly, “you remain in reserve. Once the enemy realizes we’re not dead in the water they’ll get jumpy. When they try to pull out, you’ll be waiting.”

Acknowledgements flickered across her console as pilots locked in their vectors. Red One’s voice cut through the channel with a grin barely hidden behind professionalism. “Red Squadron copies. Been waiting all morning for this dance.”

Rosa leaned slightly over the control console, watching the countdown timers align. “Good,” she said quietly. “Because they think we’re crippled.” Another tremor rippled through the hull as the Sunfire’s maneuvering thrusters fired somewhere above.

Her hand hovered over the launch authorization. “Stand by, all wings.” For a moment the entire hangar seemed to hold its breath. Then Rosa spoke again, voice calm and precise. “On my mark... we remind them why you don’t hunt an Akira-class carrier.”

Now this, Handzon murmured, is a hunt worth watching.

The launch cradles locked into position, engines flaring to life as the interceptors prepared to leap into the stars.


TBC

 

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