Star Trek: Returner


Episode 1: Strange Nation

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Out in the emptiness of space, sparked a most unfamiliar blue light. Before no time, that light exploded into a vortex-trailing Timeship. Such a Timeship, labeled the Returner, dragged into space as rough as possible until it came to a semi-stop.

The Returner floated through space, with pieces of the ship drifting along side it. Inside, were two Human occupants whom miraculously survived.

"Ugh!!" The first Human, roughly in his late-20's, got up in smoking clothes.

The second Human, shorter and in his late 70's struggled to a chair at their very small Bridge. "Are you alright back there, Lei?" He asked in his shaky voice.

"I'm okay, thanks..." Lei replied in pain. He struggled over to the chair next to the old man and sat down. "What happened?"

The Old Man tapped at a few hovering control buttons and checked the ship. "We crashed! Well, I guess this means I'm going to have to fix it." He slowly got up and started making way around broken debris to the back door of the Control Bridge.

"Wait!" Lei got up and ran after him, "Do you even know how to fix a Timeship? I mean this thing is from the 30th Century right?"

"I'll figure something out. I'm not totally useless, you know."
"But where are we?" Lei asked.
"I dunno. Check the sensors or something! If you need me I'll be in the Engine Room," he stepped through the swooshing doors grumpily.

Lei knew the man didn't have any rude intentions, and that he was just in a bad mood becaues of the crash. Walking over to the front Control Deck, Lei hesitated before pressing anything. "Hmm..." Oh man, I am way out of my league here.

He looked out the front window of this very small Ship into space as noticed an approaching Starship. Suddenly a console started beeping, signifying a hail. Okay, this shouldn't be too hard... Hmm. He pressed a blinking holo-button activating a semi-transparent hovering viewscreen before the window. On it was the strangest alien he had ever seen.

'"Greetings,"' the pink and large headed alien said. Behind him were his crew of even more pink and large headed aliens.
"Um, hello... What are you?" Lei asked in fear of the sight.
'"We are a species called the Bynars, and you are Human. My name is 00."'
"Oh alright. Nice to meet you," Lei said finally.
'"Are you unknowledgeable of our species?"' 00 asked.
"A little," Lei admitted. "I'm actually not from this Century... What year is this again?"
'"According to Human standards the Stardate is 58013.4."'
"To be honest with you, that doesn't mean a thing to me."
00 glanced at his fellow Bynars in momentary confusion for Lei's confusion. '"The year is 2381,"' he corrected.
"Oh! Okay, I see now," Lei glanced away in deep thought for a moment. This was the year after he had recently visited... the year after of his meeting with the one he fell in love with. "Well it looks like I'm back."
'"Back?"' 00 asked.
"Well, I'm not from this time-period, you see. I'm actually from the 21st Century. Earth to be exact."
'"How intriguing."'
"Yeah, well, I had a run into a Timeship that just accidentally landed near the outskirts of this City I lived in. There is where I came to board it and before I knew it I was in the 24th Century... Sufficed to say, I came to understand quite a few things about this era."
'"But you are still here,"' 00 questioned in uncertainty.
"Right! Well of course it was imperative I returned to my time, but when I got back I ran into this guy," Lei pointed his thumb to the back door, "Well, the guy in the Engine Room right now. His name is Darpa; and he and I are trying to track down a few friends we met the last time we were here. But we seem to be having Timeship problems."
The Bynars onscreen all nodded to each other, in finally understanding Lei's predicament.

'"We shall help you get your vessel running again,"' 00 said.
"You will?" Lei widened his eyes at this, "Wow that's great! But why are you going to help me?"
'"Your story has intrigued us, and it is in our nature to help others in times of need."'
"This is awesome. Just let me tell my companion. I'll call you guys back."
00 bowed his head in acceptance and the screen went out.

-----

Down in the Engine Room, Darpa was under a section of the Temporal Drive. He was having a hard time trying to get it going again.
"That last jump really made things bad. It's going to take me so long to fix this..." He said as he heard Lei enter the Room.
"Don't worry, I have some people who are willing to help us." Lei said.

Darpa came out from underneath. "Huh? What are you talking about?"
"A ship came near us and I met this species called the Bynars. They agreed to help us get our engine back online," Lei was enthusiastic about his first alien arrangement.
"I know the Bynars and they have deceived the Federation once before."
"Apparently we're in the same time-frame you're from. The 24th Century!"
Darpa looked away for a moment. He suddenly realized he was back in his timeframe. But that didn't help a thing, since the friends he and Lei needed to save were in a completely different time-frame.
"Darpa?"
The old man got up and placed a laser tool on the control panel nearby. "I don't like the sounds of this."
"Trust me. I met them and they're nice. They don't look so good, but they're nice. I'm going to make the arrangements."

Lei left Darpa in the Control Room to his thoughts. The old man was still too shocked to find out what time-frame he had fallen into. He was more back to where he started than ever before.

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The Returner sat in space next to the Bynar starship. In the small Transporter Room of the Returner, beamed in four Bynars.

They all looked around the advanced interior in awe. "Welcome aboard the Returner gentlemen," Lei said.
"Thank you," 00 nodded as he and the others stepped off.

Lei led the way through the small Timeship towards the back-end where the Engine Room would be.
"How many Decks do you have?" 00 asked.
"Just three," Lei answered. "We're not that big compared to maybe your ship, but we get around."

-----

When they entered the Engine Room, they saw Darpa's lower body sticking out from under the Temporal Engine. He was back to work, desperate to get the ship going. "Ugh!"
"Darpa, meet the Bynars," Lei said.
"Mreh..." he grumbled and continued working.
Lei glanced over at the four Bynars and shrugged, "Do you think there's anything you can do?"

The Bynars made their way to control panels throughout the Room and started tapping like crazy. They were just fast, and Darpa even stopped working and got up to watch them.

"I heard they were fast, but not that fast..." Darpa said in amazement.

The Bynars suddenly stopped and glanced at Darpa and Lei. "We must converse for a moment."

As all four turned to speak to themselves, Lei and Darpa began backing away in creeped-out-ness. "Well... We'll just be in the Dining Area the Deck below us..." Darpa said. The Bynars didn't even answer and continued talking telepathically to each other.

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On Deck 2, Lei and Darpa came to a table in a Dining Area at the front of the ship. The window showed a clear view of space and the Bynar Starship.

"So what do you think?" Lei asked.
"Well they are impressive. I have to admit, I do hope they can fix the Engine," Darpa replied.
"I hope so too." There was a faint pause between them as they thought of thier friends. Lei glanced over at Darpa, "Don't worry old man. We'll find them."
Darpa nodded, "They are in the future, so it's not like they're going anywhere."
Lei looked at a cup of coffee he had replicated. There was someone special he was missing. There was an emptiness in his heart.

But the lights suddenly blinked in defection around them. The power to the ship seemed to suddenly distort. Darpa and Lei stood up quickly.
"What was that?"
Darpa quickly went over to a hovering control panel. He tapped at it, "What!? The Bynars have taken control of the ship!"
Lei went for the door, trying to step through, but they didn't even open. "Crap! We're locked in."

Darpa scrolled down the control panel menus in desperate search. "Argh! They brought the Warp and Impulse Engines online and are moving us!"
Lei shook his head in fear and disappointment.
"Darpa to the Engine Room. Bynars, come in!" But there was no response. "What the hell are they doing?" Looking at the windows they noticed the stars moving fast. Darpa checked the panel again and found the ship was headed towards the Bynar's homeworld. "They're taking us back to thier own System!"
"Maybe they're going to help us out there?"
"If that's true then they would have told us!" The old man urked. "We have to regain control of the Returner, but how?"

Lei glanced at the Door. "Well, we have to get through this..." His eyes moved fast in a quick review of possible ways to get through it. Then he just slammed his foot into it. SMACK! --But there wasn't even a dent in the door. "Dammit!" He yelled in pain.

But then he got an idea. Darpa watched as Lei went to the replicator and replicated a crowbar. Lei ran up to the door and began prying it open. The door came to understand its function and eventually opened for him.

-----

Then Lei ran down the corridor. Darpa caught up just as Lei was scoping out the next corridor. "Hrh! Hrh!" Dapra panted out of breath, "Do you-- Hrh! --even have a weapon?"
Lei took out a 9mm Handgun from his side-pants pocket. "Yes."
"Wait. Isn't that from your time-period?"
"Look, I used to be a Cop, okay?"

He then ran down the next corridor, until he made his way to the Engine Room. This Engine Room spanned all three Decks, so he climbed a ladder to the floor above him where the Bynars were.

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There, he saw three of them working at panels really fast. He jumped to his feet and aimed his gun at them. "Stop right there!"
The three Bynars turned to see him, and one of them pulled out a disrupter. A blast was shot at Lei, but Lei fell to his back dodging it while aiming his gun. Lei fired and hit that same Bynar in the shoulder. Pink blood spilled out in mid-air.

A Bynar to his right fired another disrupter blast for Lei, but Lei rolled away as it singed the floor, and Lei fired again. That Bynar was hit by a bullet to his chest and fell.

The third Bynar didn't have a weapon, but quickly tapped at his panels linking into the Engine. The computers around the Temporal Matrix suddenly over loaded and an electric current shot out towards Lei on purpose.

Lei then quickly tapped a code into a device around his forearm and suddenly the current of energy slowed down in mid-flight. In fact, all time around him slowed down. It was slowed, but not stopped. Lei was the only one in normal speed and quickly dodged the current while running over to the other Bynar.

When time sped up again, Lei spun that Bynar around and kneed him in the stomach. The Bynar fell to the floor in agony.

-----

Lei entered the Control Bridge where the last Bynar was at the Helm, 00.
"Thanks for the help," Lei said sarcastically.
00 turned around in shock, "I am sorry but we had no choice."
"Oh really? Is that another part of your nature?"
"Your vessel has so much advanced capability. We could not pass up the opportunity to advance the Main Computer of our homeworld."
"Well in that case, go right on ahead!"
"We planned to send you to the time-frame you wished and give you the means to help your friends. We would even return this vessel to you once we learned of its computer technology."
"That isn't right, 00. This is our ship and we didn't give you permission to do this!"
"We could not take the risk of you knowing. I'm sorry, but now you must go to your Holding Cells," 00 turned to quickly tap at the panels, but Lei quickly tapped at the controls on his arm device just as fast.

Time slowed all around him and he ran over to 00, pushing him away from the front Controls. When time sped up again, 00 fell to the floor.
"Uh!?" 00 fell back confused.
"I'm sorry, but it's you who's going to be leaving."
Darpa entered the Control Bridge with an advanced phaser rifle. He aimed it at 00, ready to shoot.
"Very well. We will leave... Our... apologies..." 00 said.

Then all the Bynars on the Returner beamed out. The Bynar Vessel traveling at Warp along side them suddenly dropped out.

When all was done, Darpa and Lei approached the Control Deck. They brought the Returner out of Warp to a full stop.

"I can't believe this... They have revived the technology around the Warp and Impulse Engine Systems!" The old man exclaimed in amazement.
Lei took at seat at the Control Deck and slouched back. "I was so stupid... I can't believe I let them board our ship."
Darpa took the other seat next to him and swung around to face. "Ah, don't beat yourself up for it. It was an honest mistake."
"But I was so naive. From now on, we shouldn't let anybody board our ship!"
"I agree to that," the old man turned to check the systems again.

"What's the status of the Temporal Engines?" Lei asked.
A few hovering buttons popped up and fell down through Darpa's scrolling of the systems. "They're more than just offline. The technology has been blown apart. Our crash helped that; not to mention that overload the Bynars did to it earlier."
"Dammit!" Lei turned and punched an outstretched wall area. He then calmed himself and sighed... "So we're stuck here?"
"Until I can find a way to fix it."
They looked out into space in deep thought for a moment.

"Don't worry," Darpa continued. "They're in the future. It's not like they're going anywhere."
Lei nodded, "You're right."

But the thought of being alone hurt Lei more than ever. Would he ever see her again? Would he even meet anyone like her again? Lei just continued to stare out into the stars as Darpa turned to get to work.

What the hell is out there...?

 
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THE END
written by Hawku