Episode 83. The Wreck of the Schak'Irra
Context
- Coordinated Universal Time
- Saturday, August 10, 2024 - 19:33
- Location
-
- Earth
- USA
- Nevada
- Area 51
- Schak'Irra Hangar
- Timeline
- Schak'Irra Timeline
- Previously
-
The special operation ordered by Admiral Michaux led to the capture of the Grand Tsar Putin, but Captain Agnes Rodriguez was gravely wounded while protecting President Macron. Placed in a coma, she encountered the enigmatic entity Q, who whispered three keywords to her: Angie, Koala, Area 51. Convinced that this was a coded message, Acting Captain Angie Chen assembled a team made up of Colonel Gomard, engineer Eros Vitos, Captain T'Met and Tarsi. Guided by Agnes's clues, they took the AspiroTube network from NORAD to Area 51, where a vessel from the future is believed to rest: Schak'Irra.
Characters
| Name | Affiliation / Branch | Title / Rank | Species | Original Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Angie Chen | NATO / Special Fleet | Commander Acting Captain |
Human | Schak'Irra Timeline |
| Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi | Starfleet / Temporal Division | Commander | Andorian | Prime Timeline |
| T'Met | Starfleet / Temporal Division | Captain | Vulcan | Prime Timeline |
| Robert Gomard | NATO / Army | Colonel | Human | Schak'Irra Timeline |
| Eros Vitos | NATO / Special Fleet | Ensign | Human | Schak'Irra Timeline |
| James Cliffton | NATO / Army | General | Human | Schak'Irra Timeline |
| Lingua | Starfleet / Temporal Division | N/A | Artificial intelligence | Prime Timeline |
Manifest
| USS Enterprise | |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | NATO |
| Location | Earth Orbit |
| Captain | Angie Chen (Acting) |
| First Officer | N/A |
| Pilot | Eric Corda |
| Communications | Emilie Flores |
| Operations | Charlene Savea |
| Tactical | Eric Corda Charlene Savea |
| Science | Manu |
| Advanced Weapons | Eros Vitos |
| Sickbay | Victor S. Calpel |
| Counselor/Consultant | Manu |
| Custodian | Manu |
| Passengers |
Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi (Confidential) Robert Gomard and his squad T'Met and 4 Vulcan survivors from Schak'Irra Emmanuel Macron |
| Detainees | Vladimir Joseph Putin and his bodyguards |
| Ground Team |
Angie Chen Robert Gomard Eros Vitos Tarsi T'Met Several crew members |
TL;DR
Beneath the beams of the floodlights, the group finally discovers the mythical twenty-sixth-century vessel, still majestic despite its wounds. T'Met attempts a reactivation and awakens Lingua, Schak'Irra's artificial intelligence, confused, frightened, but conscious. She remembers the evacuation order and the crash, believing she has been abandoned since 1954. Emotion quickly gives way to tension: General Cliffton, guardian of Area 51, refuses to authorize the transfer of the equipment. Angie, implacable, brandishes her requisition rights and proves the Tholian threat with the recordings from the special operation at the Kremlin. Cliffton capitulates. The team finally receives the green light to recover essential components from Schak'Irra...
Story
The small group has barely crossed the threshold of the hangar when a cascade of floodlights comes on, flooding the shadows with white beams.
At the center of this halo, surrounded by metal scaffolding, stands Schak'Irra.
For Tarsi and T'Met, its massive silhouette leaves no doubt.
It is her.
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
There is your alien vessel, Captain Chen.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
Incredible...
It is bigger than the Enterprise.
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
By all the hairs of Rag'Miniah!
What have you done to her?!
She is a ruin!
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
She is exactly as we found her at the North Pole, in 1954.
Dismantled, transported... then reassembled here.
Col. Robert Gomard (Army)
Is it just my dirty mind, or do all twenty-sixth-century vessels look like cock rings for King Kong?
Ens. Eros Vitos (Weapons Engineer)
That one is not your size, Colonel.
Col. Robert Gomard (Army)
No kidding, Vitos.
Capt. T'Met
Schak'Irra belongs to the D'Kyr class.
The original model was designed in the twenty-second century by the Vulcans.
The ring you are referring to is the equivalent of your warp nacelles.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
For a vessel that crashed, it is still in good condition.
Starfleet ships are sturdy.
Capt. T'Met
Schak'Irra is not part of Starfleet.
She belongs to the fleet of Ni'Var.
She was made available to Starfleet to reinforce its numbers during the Temporal Cold War.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
Ni'Var?
Capt. T'Met
Ni'Var is the current name of Vulcan.
The planet was renamed after the Unification Reform between Vulcans and Romulans.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
The Romulans?
Capt. T'Met
A sister civilization with which we maintain... deep philosophical and political divergences.
As the team moves toward Schak'Irra, T'Met seems increasingly willing to answer questions about the twenty-sixth century.
Her answers are precise, measured.
Angie, sensing the opening, plays the card of almost naive curiosity, hoping to push her into saying more.
But the Vulcan yields nothing beyond the strict minimum.
Near the access ramp, everyone abandons their electric scooter.
They enter the vessel.
The air is cold.
Dry.
Heavy with a metallic smell and ancient dust.
Ens. Eros Vitos (Weapons Engineer)
Brrr...
This is grim.
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
It looks as if there were fires in this corridor.
We should try to restore power.
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
To be honest, since my assignment here, I have never seen it work.
Col. Robert Gomard (Army)
Can it still fly?
Capt. T'Met
No.
The Humans reassembled it with bewildering naivety... as an illiterate Pakled would have done.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
Where are we, exactly?
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
We are approaching the vessel's neural center.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
Wow...
What is all this?
Capt. T'Met
We are in the Cocoon.
The room the team enters is a vast circular space.
The walls are covered with control panels, interface screens, access terminals and data storage modules.
Everything is off.
Silent.
At the center, a small raised platform supports a few plastic cups abandoned by workers.
Cables and stripped wires hang from the walls, obvious traces of the tinkering carried out by Area 51 engineers.
Capt. T'Met
Computer!
Ka'athara t'arvakh, y'nashaya.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
What did she say?
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
It is ancient Vulcan.
It means Open yourself to knowledge, O guardian of secrets.
Lingua
[...] Mooooo... mo-mo-mo-mode... an-ti-ti-ti... in-in-intrusion... acti-va-va-vated... [...]
Ens. Eros Vitos (Weapons Engineer)
Look!
Something is materializing on the central display stand!
Col. Robert Gomard (Army)
Draw your phasers!
That thing is going to blow up in our faces!
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
Do nothing, Colonel!
Let T'Met handle it!
Capt. T'Met
Computer!
Apply configuration Maurice-Arthur-001.
Lingua
[...] Con-configuration... Maurice... Arthur... zero-zero-one... va-va-validated... [...]
Ens. Eros Vitos (Weapons Engineer)
Who is Maurice Arthur?
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
One of the scientists behind Schak'Irra's artificial intelligence.
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
I have never understood this need to manufacture intelligence artificially...
When we can produce it naturally.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
Progress, General.
Progress.
Besides, we have our own AIs too.
Col. Robert Gomard (Army)
That is true!
MS&G GeminiCopilot AI is at least a hundred times smarter than all humans combined!
Ens. Eros Vitos (Weapons Engineer)
Seriously, Colonel?
You tried it?
Col. Robert Gomard (Army)
Of course!
Ens. Eros Vitos (Weapons Engineer)
And?
Col. Robert Gomard (Army)
It explained to me that Trek Outta Time was a bicycle company in a sci-fi series.
Capt. T'Met
Computer!
Divert residual energy from the intermix chamber to the Cocoon.
Apply configuration T-Met-2.5.5.4.
Lingua
Weeee-el-come... Cap-tain... T'Met.
Capt. T'Met
Greetings, Lingua.
Recalibrate your connections according to your current capabilities.
Lingua
Hello, Captain.
I am happy to see you again.
You have been absent for 2,207,529,152 seconds.
Ens. Eros Vitos (Weapons Engineer)
Is it a guy or a girl?
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
Originally, neither.
After her education, Lingua chose the feminine gender for her vocal and graphic representation.
Capt. T'Met
How do you feel, Lingua?
Lingua
Captain T'Met...
I am afraid.
Capt. T'Met
Why?
Lingua
I no longer feel Schak'Irra.
Nor her crew.
I...
Oh my God...
I remember.
We were attacked.
You ordered the evacuation.
You asked me to control the vessel's fall onto Earth's northern hemisphere... then deactivate myself.
You abandoned me.
Capt. T'Met
I did not abandon you.
I am here.
Lingua
I...
I do not know anymore...
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
Lingua, it is Tarsi.
Do you recognize me?
Lingua
Hello, Commander Tarsi.
Your biological signature indicates that you have aged more slowly than Captain T'Met.
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
Correct.
Remember.
I was in the twenty-sixth century on Earth when you and T'Met were on mission in 1954.
I came with friends to rescue you.
Lingua
Are you going to take me home?
Cmdr. Vexoriana-Lyss'ra Tarsi
Yes.
We are going to find you a new Cocoon.
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
One minute!
No one is taking anything out of this complex.
All equipment stored here is the property of NATO.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
General...
We are NATO.
And we need that equipment.
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
You, perhaps.
But not those two alien women.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
We will take this equipment, with or without your consent.
In wartime, requisition is one of my prerogatives.
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
You do not need all this obsolete junk to fight the Russians!
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
Our enemy is more dangerous than the Russians.
Colonel Gomard, please show the General the videos from your last mission at the Kremlin.
Gomard takes out his pad.
The images scroll by.
The Tholians invading Moscow's underground network.
Their crystalline structures.
Their methodical attacks.
The general turns pale.
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
Are those... extraterrestrials too?
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
They are the Tholians.
Compared with them, the Russians are only a secondary problem.
So either you let us requisition this equipment... or I inform the starbase general staff that you are obstructing a strategic operation.
Gen. James Cliffton (Army)
Very well.
Take what you need.
I will dispatch engineers to inventory what you take with you.
Cmdr. Angie Chen (Acting Capt.)
Thank you, General.