From: kinnema@wkuvx1.bitnet (Mark Kinney, Attorney at Chaos)
Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative
Subject: TNG: Baptism By Fire [2]
Date: 12 Sep 92 22:10:03 GMT
Organization: Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY


	Thanks for the response (I had tried doing a story on
rec.games.frp last year, and found out no one was reading it, so I
wanted to be sure).  Enjoy...

STAR TREK :: Baptism By Fire [Part 2]

	"Raise shields, red alert!" Picard commanded as the Borg ship came
into full view.  Despite their obvious sighting, though, the Borg ship made
no move toward the Enterprise.
	"Data, could the Borg have done all this?" Riker asked.
	"The damage the other ships were subjected to is inconsistant with
Borg weapons technology," the android said. "Also, some of the derelects 
clearly predate the Borg's presence in this area of the galaxy.  In any
event, sensors show that the Borg has sustained even greater damage than any
of the other ships present."
	Captain Picard straightened his tunic and sat down in the command
chair, clearly in deep thought.  This was interrupted by alarm klaxons and
an earthquake-like shuddering.
	"What's happening?" Picard said, almost yelling.
	"It's the plasma emmision we were evading," Data answered, tapping
various buttons on his control console.  "It seems to have followed us,
sir."
	"Followed us?" Picard asked, sharply cutting off the end of his
question.
	"Captain," Worf announced. "The plasma burst is gathering and
subjecting our rear shields to-"  Worf stopped when something on his
console beeped.  He checked, and then said "Rear shields breached, sir."
	In the meantime, Data had switched the viewscreen to a visual of
the events, showing many points of light swirling about in back, playing
against the shields in a bright blue glow, followed by a white flash and
the light points rushing towards the Enterprise's warp nacelles.
	
	In engineering, Commander Geordi LaForge was working to divert more
power to the rear shield when he felt the shuddering that accompanied the
shield collapse.  We was about to report it when he started reading extreme
heat in the warp nacelles.  The next thing he knew, the Jefferies Tube
openings had what appeared to be fireflies pouring out of them, if
fireflies had made a habit of flying about in plasma.
	An ensign approaching from the rear areas inadvertantly walked into
one of these things, before Geordi could warn him off.  His uniform,
despite being fire-resistant, immediately burst into flame.  The fire
control units began activating.

	On the bridge, Worf was reading off damage control reports from all
over the ship.  
	Deanna Troi looked increasingly uncomfortable, and approached the
Captain.
	"It's them," she said.
	"What?"
	"Those things," Troi pointed to the lights on the viewscreen.
"They're the source of the anxiety."
	"You mean they're alive!?"
	"That would be a reasonable hypothesis, considering their behavior,
Captain," Data added.
	"Captain," Worf interrupted. "There are reports coming in from
around the ship that our fire control units are ineffective against the
creatures themselves."
	As those words finished leaving the Klingon's mouth, an array of
the firefly like lights burst out from one of the turbolift shafts.  It
zipped toward the front of the bridge.  Worf pulled out his phaser and
fired at it, managing nothing better than shooting through it and burning
an irregular black line into the wall.  In the meantime, the thing was
catching the bridge carpeting on fire, and fire control units were putting
the fires out just as fast.  However, just as they had heard, the force
fields did nothing to whatever this creature was.
	Data, meanwhile, had opened a compartment at the foot of the
viewscreen, and pulled out an old style fire extinguisher.  He aimed at the
lights and activated it.  After several seconds, the lights faded out.  He
tapped his communicator.
	"All hands, this is Commander Data.  Use personal fire extinguisers
on these points of light."
	"Data," the captain said. "Can you detect thse things on board the
ship?"
	"Checking," Data said as he sat back down at his station. "I can,
sir."
	"All transporter rooms," Picard commanded over his communicator.
"this is the Captain.  We're sending you locations on these things that
have invaded the ship.  I want them beamed out as far as possible at widest
possible dispersion."
	Picard looked at Data, the fire extinguisher still at the android's
feet.  He decided to save the questions for later, though.
	"Bridge to engineering."
	"Engineering, LaForge here."
	"Engine status?"
	"The warp engines have sustained some rather heavy damage.  Warp
speed is impossible in their condition."
	"Can you give me full impulse?"
	"Yes, Captain."
	"Make it so.  Helm, get us to the outer edge of the system. 
I want all officers in the conference room in five minutes."

	"Analysis?" Picard asked his assembled officers.
	"They appear to be entities composed of living plasma," Data said.
	"Intelligent?"
	"They have a rudimentary intelligence," Troi said. "Throughout the
encounter, I felt extreme anxiety from them, but I don't think it had
anything to do with us.  At least, not directly."
	Picard considered the information he had just heard.  His curiosity
returned.
	"Data, how did you think to use the reserve fire extinguishgers on
them?" he asked.
	"As you know, our fire control system uses force fields to
eventually deprive fires of oxygen," Data said. "I conjectured that that
system would be ineffective against these creatures because they are
obviously capable of survival in space.  Older types of fire control
equipment were removed, until the attack on the USS Barnabas by a Gorn ship
near their space on stardate 39834.1.  As you know, the computer that
controls the fire control system was damaged, and fires resulting from the
attack gutted the entire ship-"
	"Data, your point?"
	"I conjectured that the fire extinguishers installed as a result of
that incident would be effective."
	Picard nodded. "Can we get a distress call out?"
	"The communications gear was damaged," Worf said. "But we should
have it online in a few hours."
	"LaForge, what about engineering?"
	"We can outrun these things on impulse, it seems.  However, warp
speed isn't possible at all.  We'd need to make a stop at a repair base to
bring them back up fully."
	"Bring them back up fully?  What do you mean?"
	"I might be able to rig up something to give us warp one, maybe
even two if we're lucky.  It'll be strictly temporary, though, and will
require some EVA to set up, which means it would be safer to not use the
impulse engines at that time, and that's where the catch is: time."
	At this point, Data interrupted. "Such a stop would give these
creatures a chance to catch up to us.  I estimate an approximate delay of
seventeen hours, seven minutes, thirty two sec-"
	"Basically, not enough time," Geordi said. "I estimate about three
days of work on the engines."
	"It would seem we're damned if we do and damned if we don't,"
Picard said.
	Data looked confused, and then asked, "Query: what does damnation
have to do with our current situation?"
	"It's an expression, Data.  We'll take the Enterprise as far out as
we can, and you can start your work then.  In the meantime, we need to find
a way to distract them if they do catch up with us.  Counselor, were you
able to deduce anything about how they sense things?"
	Before Troi could answer, a voice came over the intercom. 
"Captain, this is the bridge.  There's something coming out of the star."

	The crew took their places on the bridge.  The viewscreen showed
what appeared to be a part of Fomalhaut itself moving away from the star.
	"The section of the star is about the size of an Excelsior class
ship, sir," Data said.  "The plasma creatures seem to be crowding around
it."
	"Is this a natural occurance?" Riker asked.
	"I seriously doubt it, given the nature of other things we have 
observed here.  However, that possibility can not yet be ruled out."
	Captain Picard was about to say something, when Counselor Troi
suddenly bolted from her chair, a shocked expression ingrained on her face.
She shook her head back and forth, gripping it between her hands.  She then
yelled something sounding like "Nghatha thllp reh cthugha lagh!" and Picard
barely caught her as she fainted.
	As most of the bridge turned their attention to Troi, Riker tapped
his communicator, saying urgently, "Sick bay, this is the bridge! We have a
medical emergency!"

==============================================================================
Coming soon: Part three!  What happened to Counselor Troi?  What is it that
the Enterprise now faces?  Will Commander LaForge have a chance to repair
the engines?  Should I try turning this into an episode script and send it
in? :) 
-- 
Mark Kinney [KINNEMA@WKUVX1.(BITNET)(WKU.EDU)] | MEN AT WORK
PhoneNet: (502)745-4246	  (Bowling Green, KY)  | New .sig Under Construction
Quote of the week: "No, I'm sorry lads, he's still got 23 hit points to go!"
				-- "Dragonmirth," _Dragon_ #150