Final Chapter
"Into the Maw"
When both groups reconvened at the clearing, Liara and James were both quick to recount to each other and the others what both encountered. What became clear was that this digital world called the ARK, was the last remains of a civilization and that Catherine Chun, the creator of the ARK, was the last survivor of that civilization, having stored her mind as a digital copy within the ARK. Years of degradation and corruption had eroded at the ARK, making the data within largely inaccessible.
"While it would seem this 'digital world' has no relevance to our situation of being lost between dimensions," Liara said, explaining to everyone how they would be proceeding,
"it still contains data that would be valuable to recover. This was a civilization's last chance and it would be ethically irresponsible to ignore."
"Wonderful," Elliot said sarcastically.
"Are the rest of us free to do as we please?"
Liara stared at him, but after a moment, she nodded.
"... I will exit us from this place and begin working on how to extract both the data and the woman trapped within the ARK." Liara raised her hand, pulling up her omni-tool and tapping at it. Everyone felt a tingling sensation in their bodies before the world went dark.
***
Everyone awoke, back safe and sound on the Enterprise. Some felt a bit woozy from the transition back, or perhaps even a headache.
"I have no doubt in my mind that interacting with this machine has taken something of a mental toll on you, so in the meantime, you are free once again to mingle as you see fit within the Lounge; in the meantime, the captain and I shall check up on the status of the Discovery," Spock announced to the group, speaking ever so formally with his arms tucked behind his back.
"I will stay here with the ARK," Liara said,
"and try to figure out how to proceed with it."
With the group was left to their own devices, Elliot waited in the lounge, thinking over the day's events. It was approaching twenty-four hours now since their arrival on this "adventure" with seemingly no end in sight. That was until Burnham messaged the group over the communicators they had been outfitted with.
"Discovery to the displaced, we have an update. We have compared the space coordinates between the three universes we have visited so far and have determined that they all share incredibly close coordinates. That has led us toward two similar theories: one, that the empty space we occupy shares these coordinates and that we have been exiting and entering at the same point, or two, that this empty space is not equivalent to the size of a universe and that it is much smaller. The second theory would suppose that this empty space, though small, connects to multiple points and the similar manner of our jumps has put us at the same coordinates across universes."
"Sorry if that sounds a little confusing," everyone heard Stamets say.
Burnham continued after a moment.
"If the second theory holds true, it could be possible to map this space, or even possibly make use of our transporter technology. There is a range limit when it comes to beaming matter, but the size of a small pocket dimension could allow us to make use of it to cross into new dimensions, supposing we know the entry and exit points."
"A theory has to be tested, however," Stamets said,
"and to do that we must attempt to make another jump. If we end up in a new universe, we must do what we can in that universe to determine our coordinates and compare them to the three sets we have already."
"But we won't be doing this right away. Everyone deserves some rest."
With that, Burnham cut the communication. Many of the crew were thankful for the break.
***
Not even thirty minutes into the break, Elliot awoke to the sounds of the Enterprise issuing a code red situation. Everyone heard Burnham speak once again.
"This is the Discovery, we're doing an emergency transportation back to the ship!"
Everyone was beamed back to the bridge of the Discovery, where they could see they too were issuing a code red.
"Status report! What is the meaning of all this?" Saru questioned in the midst of the Discovery's bridge, to which a helmsman responded.
"We're reading unidentified entities burrowing through both the Discovery and the Enterprise!" He said in alarm,
"For all we know, they could be the same entities who appeared at the beginning of all this."
Burnham was aghast.
"If we are at the same coordinates as before... these creatures have been right here alive and floating in space!"
"We'll have to accelerate the intended jump time. We cannot risk another encounter with those creatures if so!" Saru said, his Kelpian ganglia standing up, able to sense the great danger in this immediate scenario, though his ganglia didn't exactly need to tip him off. Tapping into the commlink, he patched to Stamets's position.
"Stamets, engage!"
***
As the world came to, everything went wrong all over again. The Discovery jolted and everyone was sent flying as the ship dipped harshly to the right. A horrid sound of metal grinding on metal could be heard.
"What is happening?!" Burnham yelled, scrambling on her hands and feet.
Suddenly, the Enterprise bridge appeared on the screen of the Discovery's, with Kirk standing in the middle of it.
"Enterprise to Discovery! I'm not entirely sure what just happened, but something -- an unidentified vessel -- rammed into us, veering us off-course and knocking us into you guys," he exclaimed,
"As it stands, we must attempt an emergency landing on the nearest planet, to gather our bearings and to get away from whoever we're in the way of. I can see the planet coming into range, in fact."
"A sound maneuver, Captain. I will do the same with the Discovery," Saru responded, especially considering his ship was where the displaced group were now.
As the Discovery managed its descent down to the nearby planet, everyone on the bridge could see that it looked like no place they should be. It looked inhospitable and dangerous, but there was no choice in the matter.
"Everyone, hold on!" Burnham yelled as the ship entered the planet's atmosphere. Dust, rocks, and what seemed to be lightning lashed out at the ship.
"Shields at fifty percent!" declared the helmsman.
Breaking through a field of dust clouds, the crew could see the planet's surface below them. The Enterprise was nowhere to be seen, but the Normandy had landed on the planet's surface.
"Captain, we have lost sight of the Enter--"
A lightning bolt slammed into the Discovery, shredding through the exterior and blowing a hole in the bridge.
The crew ducked for cover, but many, including the displaced, were tossed out into the sky. The Discovery was forced to weave off course and it disappeared into the clouds, leaving those falling only the ground below to view as they slowly hurtled to a dead end.
It would only be thirty seconds until it was all over.
