Posted on Tue Jun 30th, 2020 @ 10:12am by Commodore Yoshi Minawara
Mission:
Back Post
Location: San Francisco Fleet Yards
Timeline: August 1st, 2385
1440 words - 2.9 OF Standard Post Measure
100 Years.
Almost 100 years to the day the USS Excelsior had launched from this dock. In 100 years many things had happened. The Federation had warmed relations with the Klingon Empire, becoming almost brothers. The Romulans had reentered the global stage. The Federation had encountered and defeated the Dominion in war. The Borg had arrived, been driven off, arrived again, and been driven off again. They had explored, intentionally or not, the Delta and Gamma Quadrants, encountered whole new civilizations, developed technology beyond the comprehension of many of the engineers who had worked to finish the Excelsior right here. Even the concept of recycling dilithium crystals in warp was something they wouldn't have grasped for another twenty years. Much had changed.
And now it had changed again.
Four months ago the unprovoked attack by rogue synths on Mars had lead to the complete dissolution of synthetic life research. Many holograms had been stripped of their personalities, their ability to function beyond their specified task completely stripped. This was the surface level problem of course. Mars was on fire, many of the environmental domes destroyed and raging fires spreading across the planet. Much of Utopia Planetia had been destroyed, and with it, the relief Fleet for Romulus. A massive countdown clock to the loss of the Romulan homeworld, mixed with chaos and panic. How would the Empire survive? Would they? What was the Federation going to do, the Klingons? Barely a decade since the end of the Dominion War and the Federation was up and abandoning a lot of its relief efforts, leaving the Cardassians on their own to try and stop the worst humanitarian crisis since the war.
Then there was the reason Lieutenant Commander Minawara was standing there. Fifteen drone tugs were pulling the... wreck? Space frame? blank slate? What did one call the remains of the Vesta that was being pulled into dock. As the ship pulled through into its berth, the man got a good look at it finally. Along the hull were long gouges and scorch marks, signs of the damage that had been done. The ship had been crewed during the attack, and they had managed to escape their clamps and get away from the majority of the damage and tried to rescue people. It hadn't succeeded much before it had run out of auxiliary power in its batteries and had been forced to drift until a rescue team arrived a few minutes later.
Rather than try and evacuate the ship, the team had dragged the hulk into orbit of Phobos. Some emergency generators were attached to the ship, and it had been used as a stationary hospital, it's medical facilities intact enough to be useful. That had been its use for a month until there was really nothing more left to do for Mars, and the Vesta was left there for two months while decisions were made. Talks of the Quantum Slipstream Project being used to bring some hope to the Federation citizens made sense, to give people a dream to work on. At the very least to keep the minds of the people who had not been at UP at the time free from the thoughts of what had happened. The lives lost, the panic and chaos. Yoshi himself had been dealing with those thoughts, the what-ifs and the "who's to say"s. Ewan was, after all, sleeping in his guest room still.
Forteen hours.
That was the difference between the time he had looked Alice in the eyes and said "I do" and the time of the attack. Aeron Klans had stood behind and to the left of him, and Ewan just behind him. It had been a rather surprise affair, the pair having decided to be exclusive but unmarried had gone on long enough for them, and with friends so close had been happy to surprise them with a wedding. It had been a small affair, family, some close friends, and a few members of Brass who had insisted on stopping by. Dinners were had, a reception, and Alice and Yoshi had danced on the side of the ocean overlooking the Pacific sea. The Cherry blossoms had bloomed late, making for an almost picturesque set of photos. Aeron had, drunkenly, proclaimed that the Federation was headed in the right direction, that they would be a beacon of hope. None of them had expected the news the next morning.
Ewan's team was gone, the research facility was one of the first places to go. Yoshi had seen the videos of the facility after the Synths were shut down, seen the debris field. Nothing had survived that. And while the main habitation ring had survived the attack itself, without people to recover it and restore power?