Where No One Has Gone Before Pt. 06

"Sorry, but a couple things crossed my mind on the way back," I said.

"Sure," Jim said, a bit concerned.

"How far have things progressed with this... woman? Have you two..."

"If you're wondering whether or not we've had sex, the answer is yes. At least in what I thought were my dreams."

"That's fine, I don't need details," I told him. "I need to send my report to Admiral Simmons, and I'm curious to know if she's asked about the ship, or the mission."

"No, sir, that's never come up," Jim stated emphatically. "There's never been any mention of the mission details or the ship's operation. It's more like a... virtual booty call... than anything else."

"Alright," I said. "That's all I need. Keep me updated, if you would."

"Yes, sir," Jim said. "Is that all?"

"Yes, Jim, it is," I said. I put my report together and sent it to Alan through a secure comm link. I knew it would be a while before I received an answer, so I continued plotting the search pattern we would use once we reached the target zone. Three hours later, my desk console pinged.

"Captain, we received a secure comm from Star Fleet Command, sir," the duty comm officer informed me.

"Patch it to my ready room," I instructed.

"Yes, sir," the comm officer said. When the message showed on my board, I pressed play, and saw Alan's face on the large wall monitor in front of me.

"Captain Jones, I just reviewed your last communication," Alan said. "I must say that is an... interesting... development. I agree with your assessment, and I like the idea of using this... communication... as a way to home in on the anomaly. With regard to Commander Decker, I will leave it to your discretion. If Commander Jones says he's fit for duty, that's good enough for me. Just... don't take any unnecessary risks. Keep me informed. That is all for now. Admiral Simmons, out."

The communication ended, and I felt relieved. I really didn't think Alan would argue against my assessment of the situation, but halfway expected he would recommend I temporarily relieve Jim of duty - something that would've pained me to do. I wrapped up my work and headed for the bridge.

Sitting in my chair, I glanced at Jim and threw him a "thumbs-up" with a smile. He smiled back, and I could see the relief on his face. I just hoped I was doing the right thing. The first shift finally ended and I watched Jim leave with the crew for dinner. I stayed to catch up with the second shift before leaving.

I informed Kyra of Alan's communication to me that day, and she seemed relieved as well. She informed me that the communications engineers were hard at work developing something that could interface with the dream monitor, and hoped to have a working product in a day or two.

I had hoped they could've come up with something sooner, but Kyra reminded me that we weren't dealing with standard communications protocols, and they were working on something far outside their normal parameters. We ate and retired to the couch for an "evening" of music and hot chocolate to take our minds off the worries of the day before coming together in bed.

The following day, I went to the bridge, knowing this was the day we would reach the exclusion zone. After the morning briefing, Jim approached me and quietly informed me he had an even more lucid "dream" than the previous night.

"Which means we're getting closer," I said. "Alright, thanks for letting me know, Number One." I took my chair and observed the bridge crew as they worked. A couple of hours later, the navigator turned to me.

"ETA to objective, one hour, sir," he said.

"Very well. Helm, slow us down, take us out of warp," I instructed.

"Aye, aye, sir," the helmsman answered. I felt the deceleration and saw the shift in the rainbow effect through the front viewport. An hour later, I saw the shimmering metal of the pre-positioned supply and communication array Enterprise would use as a temporary base of operations. The helmsman expertly aligned the large vessel close to the array as the duty engineer took remote control of the other vessel.

Soon, arms swung out from the array and made contact with Enterprise. The gangplanks were pressurized and gravity applied so crews could walk and move supplies between the two vessels. I pressed a button on my console, activating my chair camera.

"All hands, this is the Captain. Stand by for mission briefing." The bridge crew turned to me as I informed the crew about the nature of our current mission. Other than my voice, one could hear a pin drop as everyone sat or stood silently, listening to what I had to say. I eventually completed my briefing and gave the crew a final word.

"I have no idea what... or who... we might find out here. This is all part of our mission - to go where no one has ever gone before. For all anyone knows, this could be a natural phenomenon peculiar to this area of space. That's what we're here to determine.

"So, from here on out, I need everyone to be on their toes. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask your station heads as they have already been briefed. Do not hesitate to report anything you feel is out of the ordinary.

"We will remain here for the next 36 hours while Engineering performs a complete system check. In the meantime, Logistics will restock our supplies. Enjoy the next 36 hours, folks. I have a feeling it will get interesting from here on. Captain Jones, out."

I pressed the button closing the connection and looked at the stunned faces of the bridge crew. This was something none of them had ever expected.

"Any questions?" I asked. One by one, they all indicated "no." I nodded my head before continuing. "We have work to do, folks. Get to it," I said.

...

To be continued...

Notes:

I had considered ending the story with this part, but as the story grew, I realized it would take at least one more part. So yes, there will be a part seven. What - or who - will Bill Jones and the Enterprise encounter?

The story about Obadiah Jones and the fate of Lone Pine comes from my ebook, "Justice Rides." To my knowledge, neither Lone Pine nor Hard Rock, Texas, exists...