Star Beagle Adventures Episode 2: Astral Traveller

[Robert Bruce Scott]

The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 2: Astral Traveller
Scene 13: And In The Ruins

2.13
And In The Ruins​

Pel had sought out Captain Rhonda Carter and Lt. Ki Kresid. They were to be found in Lt. Kresid’s temporary quarters aboard Deep Space 9, along with General Krank.

They hadn’t called this meeting. It was more like the meeting had called them.

Even though the rooms were among the smallest available on DS9, they seemed enormous compared to Ki Kresid, who was up and wandering around, clearly enjoying the feeling of space - needing it. The minuscule roylan casually scrambled up an apparently featureless wall to make use of the replicator, clinging to the wall with her left foot and right hand like a spider while she retrieved a tiny, freshly replicated, square cup of something called teka teka nectar.

The fact that Kresid was comfortable being seen doing this was striking. Pel was aware that roylans preferred to conceal their abilities so that they would come as a surprise when needed to escape predators.

General Krank was in a corner, sitting absolutely still, eyes closed, doing his best impression of furniture. Furniture decked out in highly polished klingon armor.

Kresid slid down the wall from the replicator, walked across the room and effortlessly hopped backward onto her bed, dangling her tiny legs over the side.

Captain Rhonda Carter sprawled comfortably all over the divan. She was in dress uniform - her dress uniform jacket carelessly folded over the back of a nearby chair.


“Well,” said Pel, “We’re all here…”

Kresid flicked her long, thin, clearly prehensile tongue down into the nectar with a slight clicking sound. Her eyestalks clicked slightly as she focused first on Trader Pel, then on Captain Rhonda Carter.

“All three of us shared each of three dreams… visions… journeys…” Rhonda Carter offered. “But do either of you know what an ocean-going battleship from Earth’s 20th Century looks like?”

“I do now,” said Pel.

“No, you don’t,” Carter rejoined. “But you know what a bizarre caricature of one looks like. Can you crawl upside down on a metal ceiling?”

“No,” Pel responded. “But now I have an idea what it feels like.”

"Krank seems to think we're communicating with their souls. That's why so much emotion and context seems to be coming through," Carter added. "Not direct experience... more subjective... dreamlike. As if we're sharing their dreams."

"According to Captain Howard, some physical part of us is actually traveling," said Pel. "He and Dr. Uto saw it - right here in this room. Skip called it, 'astral projection,' whatever that means."

"They're reaching out to us," said Carter. "Baring their souls to us, as much as they can. They might not even be consciously aware they're doing it."

“They want our help.” Ki Kresid seemed garrulous for the normally reticent roylans. “They don’t want to hurt us. But they will kill us if at all they can.”

“Because that is their nature,” Pel said, only realizing it in that moment.

“It’s what they were made for,” Captain Carter concluded.

“They are machines,” said Krank. “War machines. Machines created to end the race that built them.”

He opened his eyes to see the three small astral travelers looking at him.

“My people have history with this,” the elderly klingon general added. “There are great swathes of my home planet, Qo’nos, that are completely uninhabitable. Because of the machines our ancestors built to do their fighting for them. There is an ancient myth that we klingons killed our gods because they were meddlesome… querulous… troublesome. We had created them to be exactly that. It is why we became warriors. And why we will never again allow anyone, or anything, to do our fighting for us.”


There was a long silence.


Captain Carter got up. Put on her dress uniform jacket. Smoothed it down.

General Krank rose. His armor wasn’t different. But it was spotless. They had a banquet to attend. He followed Captain Carter to the door.

“So what do they need our help for?” Pel finally asked.

Krank turned at the door and fixed a steely gaze on the tiny ferengi:


“They need our help to die.”

2.13​

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 2: Astral Traveller
Scene 14: The 16th Fleet

And all the sights worth seeing
Just believe in....​

2.14
The 16th Fleet​

General Krank was an unusually quiet natured klingon, preferring to observe and assess rather than boisterously joining and dominating any conversation. He had not always been this way. It was part of an enormous personality shift following his years of torture and reprogramming at the hands of the changelings. A coping strategy he had developed and now considered an asset.

In fact, it was more reflective of the man than the facade of boisterous klingon bravado he had previously employed to fit in. As a warrior, he won because he took his time, observed and assessed the situation, and applied his assets strategically. Even in hand-to-hand combat.

On the surface, General Krank was the celebrity of this banquet - easily the most famous person in the room. Kawa, the klingon chef, had been tapped to provide the cuisine and had blended authentic klingon foods for the general with more human-influenced dishes designed to provide klingon dishes that were appetizing to (or at least safely edible for) humans, along with some authentic bajoran foods that had also become favorites among humans.

The absence of any indigenous human cuisine was one of many subtle markers of human dominance, even this far from Earth. Most of the attendants were human, but more subtly, in a way, all the cuisine was human cuisine, meaning there was no need for hamburgers or potatoes. Human culture was the ultimate cannibal. It ate other cultures whole and crapped out more human culture. It was not lost on Krank that by selecting him, his culture and cuisine as the celebrity for this banquet, all of these were not-so-subtly subsumed into human culture.

Kawa was aware of this too. He had become the klingon humans felt comfortable around. Which spoke of his emotional control and intellect. The klingon chef and the klingon general communicated their understanding to each other by not communicating at all. No eye contact. No acknowledgement of each other’s presence at all. It was the most eloquent communication they could have managed.

Perhaps most damning of all, no humans were involved in planning this banquet. It was planned by Colonial Kira Nurys and her new Star Fleet 2nd in command, a bolian named Voll Waht. The additional labor was all provided by the Bajoran Army. And the humans didn’t notice it at all.

Except, perhaps, Rhonda Carter, who might have garnered some inkling by paying attention to the klingons.

Another bolian was the next to arrive - Lt. Cmdr. Zizira Gross introduced herself to Captain Carter. Krank was grateful that Carter’s attention was now demanded for developing her relationship with her new executive officer.

The humans showed up last. Another subtle signal of their understated dominance. Skip Howard and his father were completely relaxed. Captain Yui Song and Vice Admiral Ho were more reserved, but having gotten a sense of Captain Yui, Krank could see that she was more relaxed, even happy, in a guarded way.

Sakura Nakamura Holland and her husband, Commander Dutch Holland, took seats next to the Howards and were quickly engaged in lively, light-hearted conversation with Captain Howard and his father.

Major Janet Carter, now in U.S. Marine dress blues, found a seat on the other side of Krank from her cousin. The concept of dress uniforms for formal occasions seemed odd to the elderly klingon general. But the large, muscular African American woman was no less impressive in dress blues. She was, in much more than skin color, the polar opposite of her older cousin - alert, erect, naturally intimidating because of the precision of her movements combined with evident athleticism. A trained and tested warrior.

Admiral Ronald Howard, XII was the last to arrive. He was not an intimidating man in appearance - he had the same warm, irrepressible smile as his son and grandson and was rather slight of build. But he completely owned everything and everyone in the room, the entire space station and pretty much anything else nearby. Not smug, but entirely self-possessed.

“General Krank,” the admiral said, “We are very grateful for your company and I hope you will accept my personal thanks for looking after my grandson and for agreeing to share in his adventures.”

Admiral Howard was not asking Krank for a speech. Just providing the opportunity.


Krank stood up.

“Admiral, I lost my family in the war. My wife. My sons and daughters. My grandsons and granddaughters.” Krank paused for a moment. “Retrieving me, rehabilitating me, bringing me back into service was your idea. Everything that happens here today, it was your plan. The romulans only think they are clever and manipulative. They are backward, helpless children compared to you humans, and to you in particular, Admiral Howard. I will protect your grandson with everything I have and everything I am. You have left me no other honorable choice.”

Krank sat down.


Admiral Howard was, probably for the first time in several decades, completely flustered - completely at a loss for words.

The tension in the room was almost a physical presence.

And was broken by a stage whisper from Captain Skip Howard - he was leaning in toward his father, but his whisper was precisely pitched to be heard across the room: “See Dad, I told you he’s awesome…”


The room exploded with laughter. Even Krank couldn’t keep from laughing. The entire mood of the banquet changed. It wasn’t until after several dishes of everything except Earth food and nearly an hour of small talk that Admiral Howard stood to speak again.

“I stand both humbled and enthused. I did not come here expecting anyone could take me down a peg and fill me with joy in the same moment.” The admiral gestured and bowed to the elderly klingon general. “Any pride I may have is nothing compared to the safe-keeping of my family. Especially in this moment.” He turned to the Vietnamese woman seated next to him. “Vice Admiral Ho Lan Thao, you were promoted for a purpose. I am pleased at this moment to confirm your appointment as the Director of Deep Space Exploration and simultaneously, the recomposition of the 16th Fleet and its rededication for that purpose under your command. Vice Admiral?”

Vice Admiral Ho stood as Admiral Howard resumed his seat. “I am pleased to announce the retention and promotion of Yui Song to Fleet Captain, a commission informally known as Commodore. Commodore Yui will remain with the 16th Fleet, and will keep her flag aboard the U.S.S. Mako. We are placing the Beagle task force under Commodore Yui’s command. The task force may be expanded at need, but at its core will include the U.S.S. Escort, under the command of Captain Rhonda Carter, and the U.S.S. Beagle, under the command of Captain Ronald Howard, XIV.” Ho Lan Thao resumed her seat.

Admiral Howard did not stand, but addressed the gathering more informally. “We learned a bitter lesson about the need for this deep space exploration. First contact with the Dominion was disastrous and we have all suffered the consequences. Both the Federation Council and United Earth Governments have made it clear that Star Fleet must dedicate more resources and, as we had in the past, make deep space exploration a professional, ongoing service to ensure potential threats such as the Dominion and the Borg are identified, analyzed, understood, and managed for the protection of the Federation and our allies. The U.S.S. Beagle was designed, built and staffed for this purpose. The Beagle task force will be the first of six task forces dedicated to long range exploration and discovery. And I understand you already have a target identified and a fascinating and dangerous voyage of discovery awaits you…”

2.14​

Notes:
The U.S.S. Mako is named after the late, great American actor, Makoto Iwamatsu, beloved by a new generation of fans for his voicing of Uncle Iroh in Avatar, The Last Airbender television series.​

 

[BountyTrek]

Liking this becoming a story about a little convoy of ships, with their very different captains working together. And already a big fan of General Krank. And I'm intrigued to see if the mysterious messages are an ongoing arc or the convoy's first port of call.

Liked the note about us humans cannibalising cultures as well. There’s probably a bunch of ‘human-ized’ cuisine out there in the Trekverse. I bet someone, somewhere has put gagh on a pizza. Probably with pineapple, the monsters.

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

Liking this becoming a story about a little convoy of ships, with their very different captains working together. And already a big fan of General Krank. And I'm intrigued to see if the mysterious messages are an ongoing arc or the convoy's first port of call.

Liked the note about us humans cannibalising cultures as well. There’s probably a bunch of ‘human-ized’ cuisine out there in the Trekverse. I bet someone, somewhere has put gagh on a pizza. Probably with pineapple, the monsters.

My approach to this story is the opposite of how I wrote Star Trek Hunter. I was a planner, planning out storylines several episodes in advance and including a lot of foretelling. For SBA, I'm totally pantsing it.

Actually, a lot of my writing in this series is in direct response to YES lyrics, using the lyrical poetry as a writing prompt.

So I really didn't plan for the task force to continue beyond Episode 1. But keeping Escort and Mako in the story seemed to make sense and has given me many more story opportunities.

Recently, cultural cannibalization has gotten a bad rep in the US, but it was once considered an American cultural strength and certainly the Romans considered it a strength. Although I'm not sure about the gagh/pineapple pizza...

Thanks!! rbs

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 2 : Astral Traveller
Scene 15: Sprites

Astral traveller
Leaving without her
Wondering where lights go
Leave out the body load​

2.15
Sprites​

A warm, pink glow warped space inside an incomplete space station, the warping evident as walls, struts, flooring, ceiling, furniture and debris flexed and stretched as the glow moved by. As the glowing moved out from an unfinished apartment and into the hallway, its color changed to a combination of orange, red and yellow, which then separated into three amorphous glows as they entered the promenade.

The three glows slowed, moving close to the floor to linger over the corpse of a long-dead cardassian. Then a couple of long-dead bajorans. Each glow gradually fused with one of these, animating long dead, dilapidated muscle and sinew.

Long dead bodies wandered about, limbs dragging, flopping, only playing at walking, like marionettes prancing across a stage. Ill fitting clothing for the brightly glowing, colored sprites. Eventually, one by one, the long dead bodies slid off; the freed sprite warping toward the ceiling - one passing through it. Another bounced off the ceiling back toward the floor. The glow fell apart and dripped in streams that melted the steel flooring. Hissing columns of poisonous steam arose from the holes burned into the floor.

As the glowing strands dripped through the floor, mingling with molten metal, the glows dissipated. Without their luminescence, the interior of the station gradually faded to the deepest black.

Large pieces of metal buckled and collapsed in the pitch darkness. Then the slight rattling of smaller objects… Then silence. A few moments later and low-pitched groaning grew and then gradually subsided…

Astral Traveller​

Notes:​

This is the final scene for Episode 2.
The adventure continues in Episode 3: Yours is No Disgrace.

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