Chapter 1.1
Posted on Mon Feb 20th, 2023 @ 3:21am by Lieutenant JG Rrawran & Lieutenant Hezaar & Lieutenant Jardok & Lieutenant JG Anzai Sulu & Lieutenant 0110 & Lieutenant Ilbis Ilkun MD & Lieutenant Percival Godfry & Lieutenant JG 1001 & Commander Bezru Tua & Gul Nayat
Edited on on Tue Apr 11th, 2023 @ 2:46am
1,358 words; about a 7 minute read
Mission:
No Sleep Tonight
Location: USS Enterprise
Timeline: 2431-05-30, 17:30
Captain's Log, Commander Bezru Tua Recording:
Enterprise is currently on patrol of the Demilitarized Zone, the border between the United Federation of Planets and the Republic of Cardassia. Aside from the relatively routine twenty-five particles of space dust per cubic meter, a class one comet, and the nearly two hundred ultra-violet radiation spikes that are normal to the Maelstrom this has been a mundane assignment. After two week son patrol the crew are looking forward to our return to Deep Space 12 tomorrow and I'm right there with them. If I had known that being assigned to the Federation's Flagship would be so routine I would've accepted the assignment with the Interspecies Officer's Exchange.
Lieutenant Anzai Sulu stood at the Tactical console on the Bridge of the Enterprise staring at the sensor sweeps of the border. When she was the Flight Controller of the Enterprise she at least had buttons to push to keep herself occupied while standing watch on the Bridge, since transferring to Security Chief she'd been a bit more bored. She knew that she was looked at differently when she served at the Helm because of her family's history. More than one had given her the nickname "The Princess" because of her family's time in Starfleet. Her father was an Admiral, her Grandmother retired as Captain of the Enterprise, and her father had been the Helmsman of Kirk's Enterprise. When Anzai transferred to Tactical she thought it would stop. So far it hadn't.
Yawning, she switched screens to look at the short range scans.
"Tired, Lieutenant?" Commander Bezru Tua asked from the Captain's Chair.
Sulu shook her head, "No, Captain, far from it. Just looking through the sensor scans of the border."
"Ah," the Trill answered, "bored then."
"No, Ma'am," she replied almost on rote. Everyone knew that it was a lie though. So far their scans had been relatively straightforward for the region.
Commander Tua looked toward the Chief Science Officer, "What do you think, Mister Godfry? Do you support the Lieutenant's comments that the region isn't boring?"
As the Hysperian Scientist turned away from the wall mounted console, Lieutenant Sulu wondered if he was thinking 'Dragonsblood' for having been called out like that. Hysperians based their culture around concepts popular during Earth's Renaissance period, combined with elements of fantasy so hearing something like that from the Chief Scientist wasn't outside the realm of possibility. She wondered how honest he'd be.
"I'm sorry to say that this has been a rather boring assignment compared to the last time I was out here."
Rrawran spoke up from the First Officer's Chair, "Ah yes, when the Uhura was out here being chased by the Cardassians."
Sulu remembered that mission. The Uhura had been sent out to investigate a series of Cardassian bases within their territory of the Maelstrom. When the ship approached Tezle a flotilla of older Cardassian ships were launched to pursue, but the scary part was their systems were far more enhanced than other ships of the class. They were about to engage when Enterprise intervened and they fled the scene.
She was about to comment again when an alarm beeped on the Operations, Science, and Tactical stations in unison. Before either she or Percival could answer their new Operations Manager, Lieutenant 0110, was the one to report. "Captain, Sensors are detecting movement along the Demilitarized Zone."
"Tactical plot on screen," Commander Tua ordered as she rose from the center seat.
Searching through the menus of the Tactical Console, Anzai was trying to comply with the order but couldn't find the appropriate control. Feeling the weight of everyone's eyes upon her, she quickly scrolled through the menu until she heard the Strategic Ops Officer interrupt.
"Mister Zero display tactical plot."
The viewscreen immediately came alive after the Bynar Lieutenant input a quick sequence of commands. On the screen a map of the Alioth System appeared showing the Enterprise on its current patrol route. Formerly part of the Cardassian Union, Alioth had been abandoned by the Cardassians and was now an uninhabited system that made up part of the Demilitarized Zone. On the screen a series of indicators representing Cardassian ships appeared on their side of the border.
Tua turned and looked at Lieutenant Sulu, "Yellow Alert."
This she knew how to do. Opening the menu, the new Tactical Officer pressed the appropriate button, "Yellow alert."
Turning back to the Helm, "Mister One, lay in an intercept course. Warp Two."
The brother of Lieutenant Zero, her replacement at the Helm typed on the control interface and engaged the engines for their short ride to the border. Within five minutes the Enterprise was in position along the border, directly parallel to half dozen Cardassian vessels.
"Open a channel," the Captain ordered.
Zero nodded, "Channel open."
"Cardassian vessels," the Trill woman greeted, "This is Bezru Tua, Commander of the USS Enterprise. Please acknowledge."
Within moments an older Cardassian man appeared in the center of the viewscreen of the Enterprise, his expression stone faced as he sat in the Command Chair of the Keldon Class vessel opposite the Enterprise. The Cardassian's hair was greying at his temples and his skin was wrinkled even by Cardassian standards, but the long scar along the side of his face, not too dissimilar from a knife wound, spoke volumes about who they were seeing before them. This was Gul Nayat of the Cardassian Fourth Order.
"Enterprise, you are ordered to disengage from this system immediately," the Cardassian directed firmly.
"Gul Nayat," Tua tipped him off that she recognized him, "The Alioth System is in neutral territory and we are in the process of studying the local fauna."
The Cardassian Commander answered quickly, "The Cardassian Republic has annexed this star system, Captain, due to the presence of Cardassian materials and resources within the system. Withdraw immediately or we will be forced to defend our territory."
"The Treaty between our two governments prevents you from annexing this system, Gul. Remain on your side of the border and I will arrange for representatives to join us here." She looked at Rrawran, "Send message to the Federation Diplomatic Corps that we need a Special Envoy."
"Perhaps you were not listening. We are exercising our rights to reclaim this region as our own. This is our territory once again and you are ordered to leave immediately or be the cause of an interstellar incident." The screen went dark and returned to a view of the six Cardassian vessels.
A series of warning alarms erupted from the Science Console, "Cardassian ships are emitting anti-lepton radiation to block our communications."
Now Anzai's console was beeping, "Their weapons are coming online, Captain." She looked closely and couldn't believe what she was seeing, "Ma'am, if these readings are correct, they've been armed with the Interstellar Coalition's Pulsar weapon."
"Confirm," the Captain ordered to the Science Officer.
Godfry typed on his keyboard and stared at his monitor, "Readings are consistent with the weapons signature from the ship we encountered at Talos."
Rrawran rose from the XO's station and walked to his Captain. The Rorworr Commander spoke lowly, but Anzai was close enough to hear. "We can't withstand six vessels armed with that weapon."
Anzai tried to hide it, but her Captain saw her. The Trill woman looked at the Helmsman, "Mister One, lay in a course back to Deep Space 12. I want Warp Nine until we're clear of the system then move to Coaxial speeds."
"Aye Captain," the Bynar replied as he adjusted the indicators.
The Operations Manager looked at the Captain, "Ma'am, switching from high Warp to Coaxial can cause some system disruptions."
"So can the Cardassian's weapons," Tua answered bitterly as she sat back in the chair. "Engineering, I am assuming you heard my order, Chief."
"I received them from the Helm a few seconds ago," their Gorn Chief Engineer's voice came over the communicator. "Captain, there is a danger..."
Tua sighed, "Understood. Proceed with my order's Chief."
"Yes Captain."
As the Enterprise jumped to warp, Anzai Sulu hoped that they would make it safely to Deep Space 12 because, if they didn't, the whole galaxy would suffer the consequences.
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