The Timeline

Posted on Sun Apr 5th, 2026 @ 1:36pm by Rear Admiral Jarred Wallace & Commander Jorel Torin II & Lieutenant Hamlyn Ambrose

2,263 words; about a 11 minute read

Mission: Match sticks and Gasoline
Location: Station Meeting room
Timeline: -- --

OOC: Talking about the addition of a few voyager tech items.

ON:

The Admiral was looking out again over the vastness of space, the skeletal frames of dry docks cradling ships in various stages on construction, but one of two specific drydocks had Jarred's attention, on the right was his own flagship undergoing yet another overhaul, the aging Ambassador Class ship had been in service since the early 2360's and was into it's fourth decade, it had changed somewhat in appearance since it's last overhaul, the hull had additional plating installed to protect once vulnerable areas, along with a few other high tech treats should anyone want to take on his ship. He'd managed too secure many of these systems for another ship, including ones' that his own command wouldn't have, he felt he trusted this crew, he saw the reason why Jason wanted too keep them together, his new guests were about too learn of the special modifications and a discussion of a few other things.

Stepping through the door, Hobb noted the Admiral stood there on his own. He cleared his throat, and took a large swallow from the coffee mug he carried with him. 'Didn't think anyone else would be here yet, sir,' he said.

"That's fine Chief, I got here for a bit overseeing to different ship projects, my own flagship is undergoing a full refit again, some of the new systems the Columbia were interesting enough my own chief engineer is like a kid in a candy store right now with them being installed on my ship." The Admiral said, "to be truthful some of this is reverse engineered tech Voyager brought back."

'I started looking over them when we got back from Shoreleave, Sir.' Hobb waved his padd vaguely, 'it's not surprising it's taken a while to reverse-engineer some of the stuff they brought back. If you asked me, some of it was definitely from a future.' He gestured out the viewport, 'you think an Ambassador-class can handle the new tech?'

Hobb chuckled, 'not to be rude, but that space frame almost has enough mileage on it as my own.'

The Admiral looked at the engineer "The Asia is one of two ships that survived the invasion of Betazed during the Dominion war, When Jonathan Rittenhouse got her back he had the engineers spend two years refurbishing and doing upgrades that he felt would have kept that class in the fight longer, when I got her I added a few toys of my own that make her a mean machine in a fight." he paused taking one long glance at his ship, "When I pulled her out of mothballs again last year I made sure it could take out a Minotaur class if it ever came to that..." he said testing the engineer.

'A Galor-killer?' Hobb clarified. 'Saw that USS Minotaur up close while we were training on Earth during the early part of the war - looks quite intimidating from a starfighter.' He sighed. 'Never could fathom why they kept them in reserve. We coulda used them on the frontlines.'

The Admiral laughed "My son said the same thing when he was at the academy a few years ago, I wish I'd been a fly on the wall for that debate." He became somber suddenly, "We made a lot of mistakes too.."

'No doubt, there hadn't been a war like it in a long time,' Hobb replied with a sad smile, 'not even the border wars with Cardassia prepared us. We learned, though.' He shook his head, 'I'd rather not see the inside of a starfighter again though.'

"When Betazed fell I was angry, during a debriefing I took a swing at a Fleet Captain knocking him on his pretentious ass it was worth the demotion, in the end I survived the war and I don't know for sure what happened too him but it didn't matter," the Admiral said.

'Ah we lost too many men to be angry for long. You just went numb, tried making it from one sortie to another, basically,' Hobb shook his head, chewing his lip, 'never seen a roomful of pilots so shut down emotionally day after day.' He jerked his head out of the memory, offered a wan smile. 'Those days are behind us, thankfully.'

"They are now," he paused turning too the view port "Most of these days we seem to be jumping at shadows, mostly shadows who don't want to reveal themselves."

'That's the nature of threats, you can't really see them until they're gunning for you,' Hobb replied neutrally, then pressed, 'are we talking about something specific here, Sir?'

Jarred turned his head to the side too sort of look at the Engineer, "I try to know every officer directly and indirectly under my command, especially the senior ones, not because I'm into micromanaging them, it's so I can feel confident that they can do their jobs and they can feel assured that I'm not going to lead them into danger I'm not willing to face with them, that includes being in engineering during a crisis."

He took a moment to consider the superior officer's words, then Hobb nodded, 'I suppose that is more than fair.' Shrugging he continued, 'I've worked Engineering in a few crisis situations - including the one that crippled Columbia. If there's something you feel the need to ask, then go ahead, Sir.'

"I'm putting together a special task force, It will involve everything from high tech gadgetry too keeping a ship held together with bailing wire and prayers and possibly a morally challenging situation or three, nothing completely unethical just challenging and from what I saw the first two are covered on your part." The admiral said his gaze aimed off into the surroundings.

'A special task force?' Hobb echoed. 'Do we have a specific threat in mind as it's being assembled?' Not for the first time, he was glad he was an Engineer. His most complicated questions usually centered around how best to keep the ship running, no moral quandaries needed there. Not completely unethical, he worriedly thought to himself. Hobb wondered if there would come a point he'd have to abandon ship.

"The underspace corridor you found a few months back wasn't the first one found on this side of the galaxy, there are five split between the alpha and beta quadrants and a recent expedition discovered a map with about ten more some of which have exit points into the delta quadrant near Borg territory." The Admiral said "There was no indicators the Borg have used them in the last two centuries which is the only positive."

'Admiral, that phrasing suggests they have used them in the past,' Hobb replied lightly, but the crinkling of skin at his eyes betrayed his concern. 'These underspace corridors then ... they're artificial? Created by some long-gone species? And this task force is being assembled to what, make sense of the corridors? Make contact with their creators?'

"Based on wreckage recovered they've existed for millennia, USS Edison took a trip though one and found debris that was on the order of two thousand years old, we've kept a low profile on any that exit into the Delta quadrant, which is why when they're kept classified for the most part." The Admiral started "We're not certain who built them, we're not even sure of how extensive the network it for that matter."

'So we are going to be investigating them,' Hobb replied with satisfaction. 'Anything on the schematics of these things? Wasn't able to pick up too much data when we last saw one. And do any other powers know - maybe Lieutenant Cortez can give us a briefing on what the Klingons and Romulans may know?'

The Admiral smiled, the scaring made his face look like an antique map, "The Klingnons only know what we know, the Romulans know of two of these corridors, the one in the old neutral zone and another they was on the edge of the blast radius of the super nova that is believed to be compromised and until the day of the nova was thought to be inactive." he paused looking toward the engineer, "There's a copy of an ancient map that I'll make available too everyone once we get the new ship squared away."

"Corridors? Sounds like we might be talking about a new mission profile? Also, sorry I'm a bit late. I got caught up in one meeting after another. Fill me in really quick?" Jorel asked as he walked into the Station Meeting Room.

Jarred turned too the new arrival, "Commander Torin, Right on time." He paused "The underspace corridor like the one that you traveled through a few weeks ago are far more numerous than you've been briefed on, mostly because the Joint chiefs wanted too keep then quiet."

"Oh, yes! Since our little adventure, I did do some digging and found something similar maybe? I don't know if it's related, but I think Voyager had a similar experience during their time in the Delta Quadrant," Jorel said as he pulled out a PADD and pulled up some information before handing it over to the Admiral.

Jarred smiled taking the pad "I've read this one myself, which goes to parts two and three of what's going on and why the captain is at Starbase five....well part of why he's there."

"How is the Captain doing? I haven't had the chance to talk to him after you and him promoted me to XO and gave me a bump up to Commander. How is he doing and am I able to ask what he's up to at Starbase Five?" Jorel asked the Admiral.

"He's chasing down a lead concerning USS Olympia and he's reconnecting with Varris, the Romulan woman he saved during a Gorn attack." The Admiral said.

"USS Olympia? Which one is that? Was that the prototype ship for the Olympia-Class starships or another one?" Jorel asked to the Admiral, trying to rack his brain to remember if that was it or not.

"No, the Olympia was or is a nebula class starship that..." Jarred paused looking around "It's believed they're the other ship from Admiral Layton's coup attempt."

'That was a long time ago,' Hobb interjected, not seeing the connection. 'Why would we be looking for the Olympia now?'

The Admiral looked to the engineer, "Unfortunately they have gone rogue and they have fired on other Starfleet vessels over the years." He paused to look around, "About a month ago intel got a report they had been operating in the Neberite corridor, it's not known in what capacity."

"Any thoughts on the reasoning behind why they went AWOL? Besides supporting someone like Admiral Leyton?" Torin asked, pulling up the reports about the Olympia really quick.

The admiral shrugged, "It was a crazy time, those months leading up too the Dominion invasion, the conflict with the Klingons, it was a dark time that never really saw a resolution, hell until I met Jason following the incident with the Blackburn I thought it was over and Starfleet and the Federation were getting along again."

'Impressive they've managed to keep a Nebula-class ship running this long - she must have come in for some wear and tear over the years.' A thought crossed Hobb's mind, 'there might be a trail left by the repairs they needed - some of the parts on the Nebula were fairly unique ... Might point to a homebase or at least a port they pull in for repairs.'

Jarred looked too the chief engineer, "We think they're using one of the decommissioned forward supply bases from the four years war along with scavenged parts from various battles, although I wouldn't rule out anything including sympathizers who are farming them out parts from supply depots."

'If there are sympathisers, there are requisition orders and parts missing from inventories,' Hobb suggested, then smiled, 'if we're going after them, that is, Sir.'

"Yeah, what are the orders, sir? Are we getting to go after them or are we to head out on orders towards another thing?" Torin asked the Admiral.

"Let's get the ship ready for launch, then Starbase five." The admiral said.

"We're getting that new Constitution III Class Columbia aren't we? How's she coming along? I'm assuming she must be getting closer to launch by now," Torin asked, curious as he hadn't heard much about the new ship's progress in a bit.

"The yard master has cleared us to start onboarding the crew over the next few days, I wanted to do a walk through mostly to ensure the ship is ready to go." He said.

"Yeah, I'd like to go up myself when we're cleared to do so. I've heard some good stuff about the Constitution III ships. Better engines. Slightly faster speeds. Stuff like that," Jorel replied as he thought about it.

"There goes the running lights. looks like they're ready for us...." The admiral paused "Shall we beam over?"

"I'm just the XO, sir. You're the one that gets the honors of telling them when and where to beam us up. So, Admiral? If you may?" Torin said with a bit of a mischievous smile.

Jarred tapped his badge "Wallace to Columbia..." pausing as he always did "Three to beam over."

End Pt 1

 

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