Re: The Pebbled Sea - CHAPTER FIVE
USS Weisskopf, stardate 57263.8
Gregory Drummond did not look peaceful. His face was a grimace of pain and Doctor Vallejo had informed Dhrex that any more medication would most likely kill him instead of helping him fight off whatever he was fighting. Dhrex sat by the biobed listening to the steady rhythm of the captain’s lifesigns. There was very little that anyone could do at this stage except hope or pray that he came out of it. He’d had little to do while they were hurtling through space warp eight point eight trying to catch up to an alien vessel that might or might not have Nicholas Locarno on board. Then there was the possibility that someone else might have picked up the luckless Federation citizen. His mission was to retrieve Locarno, alive or dead, and he prayed for the former, but would be content with the latter. In either case, catching up to the vessel responsible for the trouble in this sector would be a coup that Commander Logan, as Sector Commander, would be delighted with. Logan was hiding something from him, of that he was sure, and he seemed awfully intent on finding out who the aliens were, and not just because they’d kidnapped a Federation citizen or two.
‘Captain, we’re closing on the alien vessel. It looks like we’re not the only ones,’ Ensign Euhena sh’Felen, the alpha shift helm officer called.
‘I’m on my way, Dhrex out.’
He reached the bridge quickly but they were still too far away to see anything. ‘What do we have on sensors?’ he asked Lieutenant Andrew Banks, the tactical officer.
‘Two vessels, one belongs to the Ynelavii Cooperative and the other is…’
‘Lieutenant?’ Dhrex asked.
‘Sir, sensors identify it as a Daedalus-class or Olympic-class vessel.’
‘Starfleet?’
‘Unlikely sir, we don’t have anything like that anywhere near here. No one has used the Daedalus for more than a century.’
‘Well, someone seems to have stolen our classified designs then. Can we increase speed?’
‘I wouldn’t recommend it, sir. The engines are already overheating,’ sh’Felen answered.
‘Time to intercept?’
‘Thirty-seven minutes at our current speed,’ Banks replied.
‘Both ships have stopped, sir. They’re holding position proximate to each other.’
Dhrex sat down in the command chair and watched the stars streak by. His mission was to locate Locarno but he might have found the aliens who were responsible for kidnapping the Denobulan couple and many more besides. Looks like the day was about to get better.
‘Are you detecting any weapons fire or communications between the two vessels?’
‘No sir, they’re just sitting there. We’re too far out to tell if their shields are raised or not.’
‘Thank you for anticipating my next question, Lieutenant. Shall I just go back to my quarters?’
‘Vallejo to bridge.’
‘Go ahead, Doc.’
‘Drummond’s neural levels just spiked, what is going on up there?’
‘What do you mean, spiked?’
‘Whatever that entity is in his brain just got a little extra help from somewhere.’
‘We’re in proximity to a vessel that might be responsible for the kidnappings in this sector.’
‘Nice of you to tell me. I suggest you raise the shields then, Dhrex. I had to give the Captain a dangerously high dose to keep him fighting.’
The acting captain bit back a response regarding the doctor’s casual lack of protocol. The situation with the captain was getting dire. ‘Is there any danger when we get closer?’ he asked as Banks raised the shields.
‘Not unless the shields fail,’ Vallejo replied. ‘His neural output is returning to its former state.’
‘Not normal?’
‘They haven’t been normal since that entity hitched a ride in his brain, sir.’
Dhrex could almost hear the sarcasm in that last word but decided to let it go for now, but he would deal with it later. ‘Keep me informed, Carl, Dhrex out.’
‘Entering extreme visual range, sir,’ Banks informed him.
‘On screen, maximum magnification.’
The two vessels were indeed just sitting there, neither doing anything just yet, but he knew that the situation could change any second, and when it did it was likely to turn badly. The Ynelavii vessel appeared to be a new heavy cruiser, like the Constitution-class starships were in the mid twenty-third century. The alien vessel, now that he saw it close up, did resemble the Olympic-class which itself was a retro look back at the old Daedalus-class starships of the late twenty-second century. There were differences, though. The nacelles were stubbier and at different angles to those of Starfleet vessels, and the spherical hull looked slightly squat at the poles, like planetoid pasted onto an engineering hull.
‘Someone give me some information on that ship.’
‘Our sensors can’t penetrate the hull,’ Banks replied. ‘But from the data I can get just by scanning the ship itself, I can definitely say that they did not get the designs from us. Any similarity is purely cosmetic. It is really weird though.’
Dhrex turned to look at his tactical officer. ‘Weird?’
Banks nodded. ‘We have thousands of different ship designs in our database, from hundreds of races and none have even superficially resembled ours. I just think that the one time we do come across one, they could be the total opposite of Starfleet.’
Dhrex understood that reasoning. ‘Keep the shields up but don’t charge the weapons until we need them. Open a channel to the Ynelavii vessel.’
‘Channel open.’
‘This is Commander Dhrex of the Federation starship Weisskopf to the Ynelavii cruiser. Please respond.’
The image on the viewscreen faded to reveal a humanoid not that much different to himself, except for the purple-hued skin. ‘I am General Allak of the Oxelus. State your intentions.’
‘General, I was hunting for the debris of a freighter when I picked up your vessel. Did you find any survivors in the debris field?’
‘He did, Commander,’ said someone stepping into view.
‘Nicholas Locarno, I’m glad to see you survived. Commander Logan will be gratified to learn that he didn’t send us on a wild goose chase.’
‘That vessel is responsible for the kidnappings.’
Dhrex sighed. ‘You know that for a fact do you?’
‘I do, they destroyed my freighter and kidnapped two Ynelavii citizens, as well as the leader of the Resoto Hegemony.’
‘Mister Locarno, please do not reveal any more information on this channel.’
‘We can help you, General. We’re looking for this ship as well. They kidnapped one of our citizens.’
‘I do not need or want your help, Commander. Do you want to take Mister Locarno back?’
‘I do, we’ll beam him back aboard our ship.’
‘As you wish,’ Allak said. ‘He’ll be in our transporter room. I’m sending you the coordinates.’
‘Thank you, General.’
‘Once you have him, please withdraw to a safe distance. I do not wish your ship damaged.’
Dhrex nodded. ‘Very well, Dhrex out.’ He turned to Banks. ‘Drop the shields and beam him directly to the bridge, then raise them and back off to one hundred million kilometres.’
‘Aye sir,’ Banks replied. ‘Dropping shields…energising…raising shields.’
‘Back us off, Ensign. Welcome aboard the Weisskopf, Mister Locarno,’ he said as the tall human finished materialising.
‘Commander, why are you backing off?’
‘Because the General is going to try and destroy that vessel. If we don’t fight this time we’ll get enough data so we know how prepared to be when we do.’
‘Captain, I’m receiving a hail from the alien vessel.’
‘On screen.’
‘It’s audio only.’
‘Let’s hear it.’
‘To the commanding officer of the Federation vessel, this is Melex of Denobula. We have taken this ship from the aliens who kidnapped us and they have all been found dead in various parts of the ship. Recommend quarantining this vessel as there are likely a number of biological agents aboard in pure form and in some of us.’
‘Damn,’ Dhrex replied. ‘Contact Commander Logan and inform him of the situation. Get a hold of Captain Astar and tell her that I need that genius doctor of hers.’
‘Sir, General Allak is charging his weapons!’
‘Move us between them; we have to protect that damn ship.’
‘Commander Logan on subspace,’ Banks said.
‘Put him on the screen, but keep the ships in the corner.’
‘Aye sir.’
‘Commander, what the hell is happening out there?’
‘Melex is aboard the alien vessel, sir,’ Dhrex answered. ‘He thinks that the aliens might have infected their kidnap victims with some kind of biological agent.’
Logan paled a little and swallowed hard. ‘I’m sending the Dauntless to you at maximum warp. It’ll probably take about two days so try to keep them in one piece, Logan out.’
‘Charming.’
‘At least they’re on their way.’
‘We still have two days to keep the peace.’
‘We’re being hailed by the General.’
‘On screen.’
‘I told you to back off.’
‘There is a Federation citizen on board that vessel, General. I will not sacrifice his life for your mission. There are members of your people on board as well aren’t there?’
Allak scowled. ‘They are sacrificing themselves for the greater good.’
‘There will be no sacrifices,’ Dhrex shot back angrily. ‘If you fire on that ship, I will be forced to return fire.’
‘Make no mistake, Commander,’ Allak replied. ‘I will not let the aliens get away.’
‘They are all dead, General. We have received a message from our citizen on board the alien vessel. They’re worried about infecting anyone they come into contact with which is why they haven’t attacked.’ He didn’t add that they probably hadn’t figured out the weapons yet.
‘How long do you require to deal with the contagions?’
Dhrex tugged his uniform down. ‘I don’t have the facilities to deal with the contagions. Another vessel is on its way. It will be here in two days.’
‘That is a long time to wait.’
‘A small price to pay if you get your people back.’
‘Perhaps,’ Allak said and cut the channel.
‘Keep the shields up, Lieutenant. We might only have delayed the inevitable.’
USS Weisskopf, stardate 57263.8
Gregory Drummond did not look peaceful. His face was a grimace of pain and Doctor Vallejo had informed Dhrex that any more medication would most likely kill him instead of helping him fight off whatever he was fighting. Dhrex sat by the biobed listening to the steady rhythm of the captain’s lifesigns. There was very little that anyone could do at this stage except hope or pray that he came out of it. He’d had little to do while they were hurtling through space warp eight point eight trying to catch up to an alien vessel that might or might not have Nicholas Locarno on board. Then there was the possibility that someone else might have picked up the luckless Federation citizen. His mission was to retrieve Locarno, alive or dead, and he prayed for the former, but would be content with the latter. In either case, catching up to the vessel responsible for the trouble in this sector would be a coup that Commander Logan, as Sector Commander, would be delighted with. Logan was hiding something from him, of that he was sure, and he seemed awfully intent on finding out who the aliens were, and not just because they’d kidnapped a Federation citizen or two.
‘Captain, we’re closing on the alien vessel. It looks like we’re not the only ones,’ Ensign Euhena sh’Felen, the alpha shift helm officer called.
‘I’m on my way, Dhrex out.’
He reached the bridge quickly but they were still too far away to see anything. ‘What do we have on sensors?’ he asked Lieutenant Andrew Banks, the tactical officer.
‘Two vessels, one belongs to the Ynelavii Cooperative and the other is…’
‘Lieutenant?’ Dhrex asked.
‘Sir, sensors identify it as a Daedalus-class or Olympic-class vessel.’
‘Starfleet?’
‘Unlikely sir, we don’t have anything like that anywhere near here. No one has used the Daedalus for more than a century.’
‘Well, someone seems to have stolen our classified designs then. Can we increase speed?’
‘I wouldn’t recommend it, sir. The engines are already overheating,’ sh’Felen answered.
‘Time to intercept?’
‘Thirty-seven minutes at our current speed,’ Banks replied.
‘Both ships have stopped, sir. They’re holding position proximate to each other.’
Dhrex sat down in the command chair and watched the stars streak by. His mission was to locate Locarno but he might have found the aliens who were responsible for kidnapping the Denobulan couple and many more besides. Looks like the day was about to get better.
‘Are you detecting any weapons fire or communications between the two vessels?’
‘No sir, they’re just sitting there. We’re too far out to tell if their shields are raised or not.’
‘Thank you for anticipating my next question, Lieutenant. Shall I just go back to my quarters?’
‘Vallejo to bridge.’
‘Go ahead, Doc.’
‘Drummond’s neural levels just spiked, what is going on up there?’
‘What do you mean, spiked?’
‘Whatever that entity is in his brain just got a little extra help from somewhere.’
‘We’re in proximity to a vessel that might be responsible for the kidnappings in this sector.’
‘Nice of you to tell me. I suggest you raise the shields then, Dhrex. I had to give the Captain a dangerously high dose to keep him fighting.’
The acting captain bit back a response regarding the doctor’s casual lack of protocol. The situation with the captain was getting dire. ‘Is there any danger when we get closer?’ he asked as Banks raised the shields.
‘Not unless the shields fail,’ Vallejo replied. ‘His neural output is returning to its former state.’
‘Not normal?’
‘They haven’t been normal since that entity hitched a ride in his brain, sir.’
Dhrex could almost hear the sarcasm in that last word but decided to let it go for now, but he would deal with it later. ‘Keep me informed, Carl, Dhrex out.’
‘Entering extreme visual range, sir,’ Banks informed him.
‘On screen, maximum magnification.’
The two vessels were indeed just sitting there, neither doing anything just yet, but he knew that the situation could change any second, and when it did it was likely to turn badly. The Ynelavii vessel appeared to be a new heavy cruiser, like the Constitution-class starships were in the mid twenty-third century. The alien vessel, now that he saw it close up, did resemble the Olympic-class which itself was a retro look back at the old Daedalus-class starships of the late twenty-second century. There were differences, though. The nacelles were stubbier and at different angles to those of Starfleet vessels, and the spherical hull looked slightly squat at the poles, like planetoid pasted onto an engineering hull.
‘Someone give me some information on that ship.’
‘Our sensors can’t penetrate the hull,’ Banks replied. ‘But from the data I can get just by scanning the ship itself, I can definitely say that they did not get the designs from us. Any similarity is purely cosmetic. It is really weird though.’
Dhrex turned to look at his tactical officer. ‘Weird?’
Banks nodded. ‘We have thousands of different ship designs in our database, from hundreds of races and none have even superficially resembled ours. I just think that the one time we do come across one, they could be the total opposite of Starfleet.’
Dhrex understood that reasoning. ‘Keep the shields up but don’t charge the weapons until we need them. Open a channel to the Ynelavii vessel.’
‘Channel open.’
‘This is Commander Dhrex of the Federation starship Weisskopf to the Ynelavii cruiser. Please respond.’
The image on the viewscreen faded to reveal a humanoid not that much different to himself, except for the purple-hued skin. ‘I am General Allak of the Oxelus. State your intentions.’
‘General, I was hunting for the debris of a freighter when I picked up your vessel. Did you find any survivors in the debris field?’
‘He did, Commander,’ said someone stepping into view.
‘Nicholas Locarno, I’m glad to see you survived. Commander Logan will be gratified to learn that he didn’t send us on a wild goose chase.’
‘That vessel is responsible for the kidnappings.’
Dhrex sighed. ‘You know that for a fact do you?’
‘I do, they destroyed my freighter and kidnapped two Ynelavii citizens, as well as the leader of the Resoto Hegemony.’
‘Mister Locarno, please do not reveal any more information on this channel.’
‘We can help you, General. We’re looking for this ship as well. They kidnapped one of our citizens.’
‘I do not need or want your help, Commander. Do you want to take Mister Locarno back?’
‘I do, we’ll beam him back aboard our ship.’
‘As you wish,’ Allak said. ‘He’ll be in our transporter room. I’m sending you the coordinates.’
‘Thank you, General.’
‘Once you have him, please withdraw to a safe distance. I do not wish your ship damaged.’
Dhrex nodded. ‘Very well, Dhrex out.’ He turned to Banks. ‘Drop the shields and beam him directly to the bridge, then raise them and back off to one hundred million kilometres.’
‘Aye sir,’ Banks replied. ‘Dropping shields…energising…raising shields.’
‘Back us off, Ensign. Welcome aboard the Weisskopf, Mister Locarno,’ he said as the tall human finished materialising.
‘Commander, why are you backing off?’
‘Because the General is going to try and destroy that vessel. If we don’t fight this time we’ll get enough data so we know how prepared to be when we do.’
‘Captain, I’m receiving a hail from the alien vessel.’
‘On screen.’
‘It’s audio only.’
‘Let’s hear it.’
‘To the commanding officer of the Federation vessel, this is Melex of Denobula. We have taken this ship from the aliens who kidnapped us and they have all been found dead in various parts of the ship. Recommend quarantining this vessel as there are likely a number of biological agents aboard in pure form and in some of us.’
‘Damn,’ Dhrex replied. ‘Contact Commander Logan and inform him of the situation. Get a hold of Captain Astar and tell her that I need that genius doctor of hers.’
‘Sir, General Allak is charging his weapons!’
‘Move us between them; we have to protect that damn ship.’
‘Commander Logan on subspace,’ Banks said.
‘Put him on the screen, but keep the ships in the corner.’
‘Aye sir.’
‘Commander, what the hell is happening out there?’
‘Melex is aboard the alien vessel, sir,’ Dhrex answered. ‘He thinks that the aliens might have infected their kidnap victims with some kind of biological agent.’
Logan paled a little and swallowed hard. ‘I’m sending the Dauntless to you at maximum warp. It’ll probably take about two days so try to keep them in one piece, Logan out.’
‘Charming.’
‘At least they’re on their way.’
‘We still have two days to keep the peace.’
‘We’re being hailed by the General.’
‘On screen.’
‘I told you to back off.’
‘There is a Federation citizen on board that vessel, General. I will not sacrifice his life for your mission. There are members of your people on board as well aren’t there?’
Allak scowled. ‘They are sacrificing themselves for the greater good.’
‘There will be no sacrifices,’ Dhrex shot back angrily. ‘If you fire on that ship, I will be forced to return fire.’
‘Make no mistake, Commander,’ Allak replied. ‘I will not let the aliens get away.’
‘They are all dead, General. We have received a message from our citizen on board the alien vessel. They’re worried about infecting anyone they come into contact with which is why they haven’t attacked.’ He didn’t add that they probably hadn’t figured out the weapons yet.
‘How long do you require to deal with the contagions?’
Dhrex tugged his uniform down. ‘I don’t have the facilities to deal with the contagions. Another vessel is on its way. It will be here in two days.’
‘That is a long time to wait.’
‘A small price to pay if you get your people back.’
‘Perhaps,’ Allak said and cut the channel.
‘Keep the shields up, Lieutenant. We might only have delayed the inevitable.’
