The Continuing Story of Deep Space 2: Page 55
"This station is O so quiet…one can be so easily alone among many or few…" Arthur's mind wandered away, while listening to a small history lesson from the Vorlon ambassador.But, whatever he did, the message got through. Because, although the Vorlon didn't move around much - sometimes a little turning from left to right and back (how can one do anything else in an outfit like the one from the Vorlon)- those words were not spoken, only put in the mind as ideas…
Again he (or she or…) said, without revealing anything important, that the Vorlons where an old, mysterious, species, extremely old, extremely advanced, extremely spiritual, but that there was an older race, which they, themselves, called "The masterrace" or "The Elder". They were there - at the beginning of the beginning…Some (the few who might know) even say that they started the beginning ; that incredible beginning,…of our known universe…Indeed, rumor has that they started our "Big Bang".
"The Elder are due back ! ! The Elder are due back ! !" He kept putting those words in the minds of Arthur and Jan Theys.
The Elder there's that word again and again and again, …Can't he (or she…or …whatever) talk about anything else ? ? ? Arthur couldn't really focus on the explanations of the ambassador, there was the unexplainable message in engineering, the anomaly Luke and Marianne encountered in the Vega-sector, and a lot of small things which he wouldn"t explain. Sure, there was that thing called "stress", but to blaim everything on it would be wrong. And now that ambassador is continuously talking (or was it thinking ?) about that so called "Masterrace".
The Vorlon continues "The Elder never ceased to exist.They went - after seeding life where possible, after creating worlds where possible, after creating solar systems where possible-to another plane of existance. While they came from an infinite number of dimensions, they turned their attention to another infinite number of other dimensions. Allways starting over, and over and over… Who knows, are they our God's ? Why is there no trace of them left ? WHY ARE THEY RETURNING ? Oh Yes, They are ! ! ! Some of your crew will face them in the midst of their existence, at the pinnacle of their excellence !
…
The sudden silence hit the two men like a brik from a wall. Jan seemed dazzled and stared at Arthur. Then they both looked at the Ambassador, whom left the room and returned to his quarters, where a much more comfortable environment was setup for him.
"What was all that about ?" Jan asked, still trying to put one and one together.
"I can only say this : first of all - I don't know ; and second of all - three words - Luke, Nadine and Marianne. They will be the first to meet them. But THE BIG QUESTION will be - how will they react towards us ?" Arthur replied after a seemingly long minute. "The only ( !) option is they will react in a friendly manner ! The other possibility is something I must force myself not to think about. A race that powerful make even the infamous "Q" seem small in comparison. We can only hope that, like the omnipotent Q, they too have some kind of a code of conduct."
By observing the look on Arthur"s face Jan Theys knew not to say anything more. What difference would it make to say anything at all. First they meet the Vorlons, a race as mysterious and strange as it gets, and now there is that kind of "masterrace", even stranger and more mysterious. What will be next ? How will the people, now currently on the USS Elltuhs in the Vega-sector , react after seeing a race of Gods ? Will they survive ? Will we all survive ? How will the Vorlons react ? Will they help ? Can they help ?
"Jan, go and get Wim, let Louis handle that message with the cadets ; see if someone else is available and contact every known alien species, search in the databases every possible reference, check archeological findings,…I will notify Starfleet. Get those damn computers to work and have them to do something useful instead of allways breaking down on the worst possbible moment ! " Arthur turned his back to Jan and, for the first time in his life he felt completely lost, he stared to the numerous stars, thinking,…"Will there actually be a tomorrow, a day after ? Actually, the big joke of it all is that it is they who made that tomorrow…Will the joke be ON US ?"
"Yes Arthur, I will get to it immediately, but as you know, we can only do so much." Jan said silently, almost whispering, trying not to disturb Arthur too much. Who knows how he might react.
The admiral turned around and looked Jan straight in the eyes, strangely giving the sensation of looking through him and with a soft voice, as if he was trying to imitate his XO "Wasn't Wim working on these enhanced worker-droids, before starting on that scanning device ? Didn't he finish some of them or almost finish them so that some extra programming would suffise ? It is not as they must be able to be fully operational, just plug them into the mainframes." Arthur turned back. "Now go to CompOps, Jan and don't forget to contact Wim. Actually, I am curious as to what he might have to say about it."
"Luitenant Helena, can you say what the exact position is of the USS Elltuhs ? " Jan asked via his comm-badge while waiting on the turbo-lift to take him to engineering. He had to tell this to Wim and Louis in person.This story was too fantastic to send over the communications" system.
"At this moment the USS Elltuhs reaches warp 2 and is heading to investigate an unknown gravity-well just outside the Vega-sector. They should be there in about seven hours, Sir.Reaching the perimeter of the gravity-well will cause communications to be sluggish, at best, but I will notify you an hour before reaching those coordinates ".
"Very well, Helena. I know, I know, you still have a lot of work to do reorganizing safety-protocolls in Sick-bay, programming difficulties in the EMH, etc… But you have to stay put at Ops. I need Joeri Verschaeve here down with me in engineering.And, if you decide to take computerprocessing above five percent, for whatever reason, first contact me ! ! Understood ?" The liftdoors finally opened with the familiar hissing sound.
"Understood Sir" and now the dissapointment was audible. The sound of that voice was cool, outspoken...
The doors closed after Jan entered the lift…"Engineering ! !" he said.
"Computer, priority one, maximum coding, communication to Starfleet, Adm.Necheyev." Arthur pronounced whitout turning his face to his desktop computer.
"Admiral Necheyev is currently unavailable for communications. Please redirect all your communications for the Admiral to Vice Adm.Conan O"Connor." The image of the computer didn't change, the Starfleet logo was the only image it showed, everything else was audio only.
"What the hell is going on over there ? What is it with all the secrecy, the recent personnel-changes,…this situation is darkening and I am stuck in the middle of it. And THAT I don't like."
The CO from the DS2 station looked down to his shoes when Helena disturbed his "meditation"…"Sir, Akira-class starship is approaching bearing 265 mark 83 ; distance 1/3 Parsec ; E.T.A.12 hours, arriving at maximum speed. They only want to speak with you Sir. Adm.necheyev is on board."
"Thank you Helena, put them through and secure the channel".
"Aye aye Sir, sending through."
The familiar image of a cold, hardened, and yet handsome, face, on a completely unknown background appeared on the viewer. "Hello Arthur, it"s been a while since we…hhmmm… spoke" (Arthur randomly thought back to that evening-dinner at the romantic, art nouveau-like "Café des Artistes" in Paris. The romantic setting for an evening which couldn't be disrupted, which became tense, perhaps more tense then they both liked, but of which they had absolutely no regrets and after that evening he couldn't think straight for days ; at that time he would have done anything for her, even give up Starfleet to be full time there for her.)
"Arthur" ..she paused… "Sh*t has hit the fan. Meet me in spacedock as soon as we have boarded".
"Very Well, Alynna, looking forward to seeing you again .Arthur out !".