First Encounter
By
Shawn M.I. Tigges
The Space Rover's concept is property of Warner Brothers entertainment, and has been furthered by Robert Baer Jr.
The Kilrathi were originally designed by Cris Roberts and are © Origin Systems Inc. I have modified their history and technology for this story line, but the idea remains with its originators
Rocky, Delta Dog, Yuhon, Ng Hu, Shu-ol © Robert Baer Jr.
Christian and Angelita © Bart Walls
Captain Allen Rikes, Commander Sarah McLoude, Iella Weis © Shawn Tigges
Wolve © Wolve
Duke McAllen © Duke
Any comments, suggestions, or ideas, please e-mail me at shawn.tigges@asbury.edu
Personal Log, Commander Sarah McLoude,
Today the Galatea
left Earth Orbit on the official start of her mission of interstellar
exploration. Being the second Space Rover ship, Galatea will explore the
opposite end of the galaxy from Canus Minor.
We should be out for a few years, exploring worlds. The Independent Space Organization
back on Earth thinks it has found several systems that might be able to support
life. Our first stop is one of those systems, one hundred and fifty light years
out. It should only take us about a half month to reach it. Galatea's warp engines have benefited from the Canus Minor's experiences, built with many innovations
her crew conceived, we can travel faster and farther than Canus Minor on our drives.
Now that I have laid a
base for the beginnings of this log, I have to admit something. At I am
actually quite glad to be leaving Earth behind for a while. No, and it isn't
because of my parents, Mama and Papa couldn't have been anymore loving or
supportive and never expected anything of me other than what I wanted. No, it
was the expectations put on me by others, intentional or not that has driven me
from Earth.
Being
the daughter of a pair of Rovers, and especially talented and successful ones
at that, has caused other to hold me to the expectation that I too, would
someday become a Rover. The problem with that expectation is that I am not
exactly all that fond of the Rover life stile. Duking it out with terrorists and what not is not my
idea of a good life, all though it suits others well, mother and father
figuring into that group.
That is why I originally
joined the Independent Space Organization after I completed my degrees.
Admittedly I was only eighteen at that time, but still I loved the idea of
space travel and exploration, the exploration part especially fascinating. I
know I supposedly "let down" several people in my decision not to
become a Rover, but mother and father couldn't have been happier for me, and
that was really all I cared about. Plus, I was working on the new Hubble
Program, using the Hubble II space telescope to chart potential life baring
planets.
It was there after a
year of work that Captain Persia of the Canus
Minor found me. Apparently she had remembered me from somewhere, I am not
exactly sure how, after all I had not made myself very widely known among the
other Rover children when I was growing up. She found me studying starcharts to find the next planet to put under survey. I
still remember that first conversation as if it were yesterday. She told me
that although I was doing wonderful work with the ISO, that there would be a
place I could use my talents and abilities to there full effect.
That was when she told
me of the new Space Rover starship being constructed in orbit. How it had a
captain but needed a first officer. She offered me that position, along with
the ability to steer the design of the ship in small way to better suit its
mission. She told me the ship would be completed in a year, more than enough
time for me to go through a short pre-flight coarse,
all the while working with engineers on the ship. Captain
It took me all of one
day to finally make up my mind. I have never regretted this decision. Galatea
is my ship as much as she is Captain Rikes, I helped design her latter systems,
and she has my hand in her construction. That if anything makes me more
comfortable aboard her than back on Earth where I was constantly badgered by
the fact that I wasn't a Rover like my parents. I am looking forward to this
life, and seeing where it takes me.
***
Commander Sarah McLoude sighed as she looked up from her log entry that she had just typed out and at the stars streaking by her quarter's window. This was the best way, a combination of my wants and everyone's expectations of me, she thought. Though I wonder how some of those in the ISO thought about a twenty year old being the second in command of a starship.
The akita/malamute/collie-mix cano-sapien smiled playfully at that thought. Yes she was young, but who really had experience with interstellar travel? Only the crew of the Canus Minor really. Both the Master, and Captain Rikes put the utmost of faith in her, and after their little adventure during shakedown had cemented that faith.
Sarah stood, then turned and looked at herself in her mirror. Her brown streaked grayish-blue hair splayed about her shoulders, covering a bit of the blue of her uniform's shoulders. A brown flare over her right eye set off the white of the rest of her fur. Her gray-flecked blue eyes sparkled a bit behind the small framed glasses she wore. Yes, she did look the part of a Space Rover in uniform.
"Commander McLoude?" a voice called out from the ships intercom.
"Yes?"
"Ma'am, just wanted to remind you your shift is up in thirty minutes."
Sarah chuckled a bit. "I know Lieutenant," she said, then smiled and exited her quarters. "I am on my way up to the bridge, I should be there in about a minute."
"Aye ma'am."
***
Sarah stepped out onto the bridge from the 'lift and smiled. There was a quite hum from the life support system and view from the bridge, perched high on top of the tower like structure that bisected the Galatea's main hull. The bridge had two ways of viewing the outside space. First was the wrap around transparent shield, which would be covered over with a blast shield in combat, and then the view screen. The view screen itself displayed data from the forward sensors, replicating the view out the transparent shield.
Ensign Rocky, the golden retriever that was their helmsman was sitting at his post, hands idly playing across the helm controls at the moment. With Galatea in warp on a set coarse, there was not really much for him to do, but that didn't stop the young and earnest golden retriever from attending to every facet of Galatea's maneuvering systems. "We're on coarse Commander, our speed is warp five and holding steady," Rocky reported.
Sarah nodded as she rounded the command chair, the leather of the chair giving a bit under her slight weight as she settled herself into the chair. "Thank you Ensign, Miss Weis?"
"Yes ma'am?" the pretty red and white boarder collie sitting at the science officer's station responded as she turned in her seat, her long braided white-streaked red hair staying put over her right shoulder.
"Do you have an early analysis on the planet we are to survey?"
"Yes ma'am, " Iella said as she stood, took a PDA and walked over to Sarah and handed it to her. "Basically, I have done a partial work up based on the Hubble II's visual spectrum findings, and a long range scan. Looks pretty close to Earth normal. Oxygen levels look a little higher according to the Hubble's data."
Sarah nodded as she looked over the data. Iella was a good scientist, even though she was quite young just like Sarah herself. The two were becoming close friends as they got to know each other, and had even started playing racket ball on the rec. deck. Sarah smiled with at thought as she handed the PDA back to Iella.
"Rocky, how much time will we shave off our journey if we move the speed to warp six?"
"About two and a half days ma'am," Rocky returned almost instantly.
Sarah smiled. "Bridge to Engineering," she called out as she tapped the touchpad on the command chair
"Engineering, is something amiss Commander?" a slight Vietnamese accent voice called out over the intercom.
"No Ng Hu, I was just wondering, would you allow me to bump your engines up a bit?"
"How much?" the
"Warp six."
"I think we can do that commander, no real harm."
"Thank you Ng Hu, Ensign, if you please."
"Yes ma'am," Rocky called out as he played his fingers out across the controls. "We are now at warp six Commander," the golden retriever announced, even though there was no perceptible change in speed through the deck.
"Recalculating arrival time ma'am, now one week, three days," Ensign Dayton, the beagle at Ops reported.
"Thank you Ensign," Sarah returned and then leaned back in the command chair crossing her legs, she brought up the data she had downloaded from Iella's PDA to scan it more thoroughly. It was a good fifty pages of text. Most of that being from the ISO's report though Sarah read that thoroughly too, ISO had a habit of making long reports, but she had learned how to get the proper information out of them without to much trouble. She spent the next several hours reading through it until she heard the his of the 'lift doors open and Lieutenant Duke McAllen, the ships xenobiologist and first contact specialist exited, heading for his station next to Iella's. He nodded at both Sarah and Iella, and Iella gave him a 'love sick school girl' grin back. Sarah almost lost control at that. Iella had expressed a liking towards Duke though she wanted to make sure he would have interest in her before she actually asked him.
Duke, for his part smiled back at Iella, the turned and handed Sarah a PDA. "There you go ma'am, complete layout and documentation of First Contact procedures. I wanted you and the Captain to review them before I handed them out to all the crew whom might go on away missions. I delivered a copy to he Captain as well."
Sarah accepted the PDA with a nod. "Thank you Mr. McAllen."
She took another hour of her shift to review Duke's procedures, which were quite thorough for his staff and everyone else. Making some notes here and there on a few minor points, Sarah saw absolutely nothing wrong with the Lieutenant's ideas, she then plugged the PDA into the slot on the command chair and downloaded the data to the Captain's information bank.
Just then, Lieutenant Christian's tactical board started beeping and he began typing in commands quickly, finally the golden retriever with the green hair in ponytail looking up at Sarah. "Ma'am, I have an object twelve light-years out, doesn't look like a asteroid… I think it might be a ship ma'am."
Sarah nodded, tapped in a
call for the Captain, he should have been finishing up his reports by now, and
then looked at the view screen. "Mr. Dayton, plot a coarse
to bring us out of Warp within fifteen thousand kilometers of the object, Mr.
Rocky, bring us out of Warp on
"Aye ma'am,"
Rocky and
"Brining us out of Warp," Rocky said and the streaking stars ceased, resolving into the pinpoints of light as Galatea drifted forward on her impulse drives. "Closing within ten thousand Kilometers…"
"It's made out of mettle Commander, so it is definitely artificial," Christian responded as his fingers flew across his console. "And big…"
"On Screen Mr. Christian," a new voice called out as a slim, good looking English Setter in his middle ages exited the 'lift and rounded the bridge to the command chair that Sarah had just vacated. Captain Rikes nodded at Sarah as she settled into the duty-officer's chair to the Captain's right.
"Aye sir," Christian responded and the forward screen flickered and the view changed.
"Miss Weis, scan for atmosphere and life signs, Mr. McAllen, see if you can figure out whether the thing is still active," Rikes said, then flick an eye towards Sarah in an unspoken question. Sarah was a limited psionic, with an eidetic memory, the ability to put people to sleep if they were not paying attention to her, and danger sense. It was that danger sense Rikes wanted a read off of. Sarah shook her head in answer, she wasn't getting even a tingle, at least, for the moment.
"I am getting an atmosphere and livable temperature conditions inside the artifact Captain, though it is a little high on the "other" gasses," Iella called out.
"Elaborate on 'other' Iella."
"Nothing deadly sir, neon, and some other gases that are classified in the other category of Earth type atmospheres, Oxygen is same, if a little higher than Earth Normal, and carbon monoxide is at a lower concentration."
"I've got power readings on the thing sir," Duke called out. "Looks like a active power relay system, and several main power sources."
"Delta, any communications from the artifact?"
"So far," The female terrier at the communications station called out in her southern belle drawl. "Communications clear C'pan."
Rikes thought for a moment, leaning forward in his chair a bit. Finally he leaned back and nodded. "Mr. Rocky bring us to transporter range, carefully. Sarah, you lead an away team of Iella, Duke and Lieutenant Yuhon over to the artifact and explore a bit, see if you can find some sort of command terminal to link to the computers, that is, if it is possible to translate any language they use."
Sarah's heart quickened a little, though not from the prospect of leading the away mission, even though that was exciting enough. It was the simple mention of the ship's damage control officer, a strong, smart and very handsome Great Dane by the name of Yuhon. Snap out of it Sarah, you are the second in command of the largest Starship ever designed by the Rovers, she told herself with a frown. You can't afford this little crush, and besides, she continued as she flicked her eyes to Delta, her Space Rover's uniform modified not with the normal pants, but a short skirt. Someone else wants Yuhon as well, and I am not going to get into a contest with Delta Dog, I'd be lowering to her level.
All of this went through Sarah's head in an instant, then it was gone. No one would have been able to tell it had even happened as she stood and tapped her combadge. "Lieutenant Yuhon, Commander McLoude, meet Iella, Duke and myself in transporter room one in three minutes, and bring a tool box, we might need it," she called out as Iella, Duke and herself all entered the spacious lift at the back of the bridge.
"Aye ma'am," Yuhon's deep bass voice returned, sending a shiver up Sarah's spine. HEAL girl, she told herself forcefully. Your acting like a little kid about this, there is no time for a relationship for you. However, the other side of her mind wasn't quite ready to give up the conversation. Luckily for Sarah however, that side of the conversation was shelved as they descended towards the transporter room and the away mission.
***
Sarah felt the tingle of the transporter breaking down her molecules and then shooting them across space and reassembling her and the others aboard the artifact. As she solidified, a wave of heat slammed into her. She would have staggered back a step from the sensation if Yuhon wasn't directly behind her, she bumped into his huge chest, blushed and mumbled an apology to Yuhon. Yuhon simply smiled.
"Okay, maybe I was a bit wrong about the livable temperature levels," Iella said as she tossed her braid over her shoulder, going for her tricorder. "This would be a livable temperature, if we were not covered by fur."
Sarah shook her head at that thought, well, maybe whoever made this place liked their bodies roasted. "Duke, got any lead on a computer terminal?"
Duke shrugged and studied his own tricorder. Then shook his head. "Whatever these power relays are, they are pumping so much juice through them that I can't get a clear reading. I can tell you where the relays lead though, we might be able to find one that way."
Sarah nodded, that would work. "Captain, this is Sarah, the power relays are confusing our tricorder readings, but Duke thinks he can find a command terminal by tracing a relay rout."
"All right Sarah, just be careful, we still don't know why this thing is abandoned."
"Aye sir, we'll be careful, and I'll keep the com channel open so you can here what is going on."
"All right Sarah, proceed at your discretion."
"Aye sir," Sarah finalized, then waved a hand forward motioning for Duke to lead them on.
The group traveled for several minutes across the deck they were on till they came across a large terminal with a waterfall text display, only the text was not in any language any Space Rover had ever encountered. It was a pictograph in a way, something like Japanese or Chinese Sarah thought as she stepped up and looked at it, though it was all angles and unsymmetrical, just like the construction of the artifact.
"Captain, we found what looks like a terminal, but as we thought, it is an unknown language," Sarah called out then looked at Duke. "Any ideas?"
Duke frowned as he stepped up to the terminal. "Well, the universal constant is math, lemme see if I can download a sample of their language and then apply some of the mathematical First Contact routines to it, though I might not be able to do it fully without Galatea's computer core."
Sarah thought for a second, then nodded, they had not seen anything threatening the time they had been on the artifact, and she wasn't getting anything from her danger sense. "Do it."
Duke nodded and then started typing in commands to his tricorder, trying to set up a download between it and the alien computer systems. "This'll take a few minutes."
Sarah nodded, then turned to Yuhon, looking into his eyes, and almost sighing like a schoolgirl. Luckily she caught herself and pushed that thought aside. "Yuhon, have any ideas on why this place is abandoned?"
Yuhon scratched the underside of his muzzle for a moment looking around the corridor they were in. It was poorly lit, and in a red hue, the mettle inside was the same rust color as outside, but if one looked, one could tell the color was natural to whatever mettle was used, not actual rust or decay. "To be honest Commander, I have no idea, this place looks like it is fairly good repair. I can't really see why it was abandoned," Yuhon said with a shrug.
"Iella? Are you sure you haven't read any life signs?"
"Positive, we are the only ones alive on this thing," Iella returned as she tapped a few commands into her tricorder. "I'm not getting anything else."
Sarah frowned at that, a completely operational, well, the place looked like some sort of starbase, that was abandoned? The race that made this place definitely had some sort of Faster than Light drive to be able to build it out in the middle of nowhere. Sarah wanted to know where the builders were, and that was starting to gnaw on her a bit. It also didn't help her thoughts that the place was a virtual sauna to cano-sapiens and she could feel her bangs beginning to become plastered against the fur of her forehead, even though the group had only been aboard for a few minutes.
"Got it," Duke called out as he stepped back from the terminal. I think I got a mathematical schematic of the place. That should be able to give us a good baseline. But like I thought, this tricorder isn't going to have enough umph to do the compilation, we're going to have to go back to Galatea.
Sarah nodded. "All right, Commander McLoude to Galatea, did you get all that?"
"Yes Sarah, we got it, we're beaming you back now, standby," Rikes voice called out and Sarah felt the familiar tingle of the transporter once again envelope her.
**
Yuhon sighed as he stepped off the transporter pad and back into the cool air of the Galatea. The starbase they had just been on had been livable, but fairly hot. He had it lucky, having shorter fur than all the other members of the away team did and even he still had felt the effects of the heat. He sighed as he stepped off the pad behind Sarah, who was talking with Iella and Duke on finding out how to crack the alien language. Then the commander nodded and exited the transporter room.
Yuhon walked out the transporter room with the intent of catching up to the Commander, unfortunately, he was intercepted by Delta Dog, apparently just coming off shift. "Highya sugah, how are you feeling after that little jaunt? Ah understand it was rathuh hot an' steamy ovuh there?"
Yuhon shrugged at the pretty Terrier, she was nice enough, though he really didn't care much from her rather revealing dress and pushy manners, he couldn't tell her that, he was much to polite for that. "It was a little hot but nothing major," Yuhon said as he looked up to see Sarah's form disappearing behind a set of 'lift doors. He could have sworn he saw her frowning but he couldn't have been sure.
"Tell ya' what sugah, why don' you come on ovah ta my quarters, lemme help ya' relax," Delta saud as she pushed her body against his.
"Sorry Delta, but I have to get to Engineering and hand these readings over to the Chief," Yuhon said as he gently sidestepped Delta and walked down the corridor towards another 'lift.
Delta pouted as she watched Yuhon disappear, zipping the front of her uniform dress fully up. Yuhon had not even noticed the little show she had given him, either that or did not especially want to comment on it. The tall, muscular Dane was much too polite and considerate for that, unlike a lot of men she had known. However, Delta also knew that would make him a good catch, and she intended to catch him, before the little prissy brat Sarah did.
Delta hrmphed at the thought of that near baby being the second in command of the Galatea. Delta had taken a peek at Sarah's file, and found out she hadn't even attended the Space Rover academy. She had been through a good college, an excellent one in fact, but still, she was also only twenty, several years younger than Delta and still a little girl in the terrier's mind. That little girl however, was Delta's main competition, even if Sarah herself was so confused that she didn't want to admit it, and it rubbed her a bit the wrong way that someone so young could compete with her.
***
Iella sighed as she rubbed her eyes, looking at a mathematical computation on her PDA, then one that Duke had picked out as being the probable alien equivalent. The language was so different from anything anyone had ever seen, even the Jurrasian language had some recognizable elements. Iella sighed and rubbed her head for a moment. This was not exactly her specialty, stellar anomalies, planetary geography and make up, that was her thing. First contact, xenobiology, xenopsychology and xenoanthropology, those were things she had only the barest knowledge in. That was why Duke was aboard Galatea after all, this was his area of expertise.
Unfortunately, this language had proved even too much for him to handle alone, so he had asked for Iella's help. Iella had jumped at the chance, partially for the experience of helping on a First Contact. Another part of Iella's mind also accepted the chance to be able to be close to Duke. There was something about the gray wolf that caused her to have to suppress shivers up her spine whenever he talked. She at first chalked it up to just the school girl crush she had never when she was a kid. The more and more she thought about it however, Iella was beginning to realize that she was quite attracted to Duke. He was strong, smart, and handsome, what more could a woman want. Only problem was, she wasn't sure if Duke had any feelings in a similar way towards her, and until she got some sort of signal one way or the other, she would not push.
"Hm, I think I found another corresponding string," Duke commented as he looked at a readout, bringing Iella out of her wanderings. "This mathematical string looks like it might be their equivalent of pi."
Iella walked over to Duke and bent over him to look at the screen, a series of alien characters was dressed across the screen. Under it was displayed the mathematical number pi, out to fourteen decimal places. The computer had singled out the alien string above as being a probably match.
"Well, that should make things easier," Iella said as she straitened up. "Pi is supposedly the mathematical baseline constant, if we know that, we should be able to figure out the rest of this language."
Duke nodded with a smile. "And I have you to thank for this little breakthrough."
"Huh, me? I only figured out one small addition string."
"And that string led to this," Duke said with a smile. "Come on, lets go to the lounge, get some coffee, we’ve been at this for hours."
Iella smiled and nodded. Coffee sounded good, and coffee with Duke sounded better.
***
Yuhon scrunched his brow as he looked over the schematics the Galatea's sensors had compiled of Starbase Angles, as the engineering department had dubbed the oddly shaped construct. Power relays went everywhere on the thing, but half of them didn't go anywhere, no foreseeable shield generator, or weapons mount could be found at the terminus of a lot of the high power relays. Weapons mounts were clearly obvious on the station if one looked, small turrets surrounding the ship did have power relay terminus. Unfortunately for Yuhon, who had been tasked to find the defensive capabilities of Angles, the mystery of exactly what those dead end relays were was stumping him. The shield generators had already been identified in scans, so it couldn't have been them that they were powering. The only other thing Yuhon could think of was gravity generators, but that didn't quite make sense either. Grav generators were normally laid out in an organized pattern, at least Space Rover and Jurassian ones were. This looked like some sort of hodge-podge. Of coarse, the station itself didn't look too orderly either.
"Yuhon?" the lightly Vietnamese accented voice of Lieutenant Commander Ng Hu, the giant Burmese Mountain Dog that was Galatea's chief engineer and Yuhon's immediate superior called out as he walked up behind the Dane. "What are you doing here so late?"
"Still trying to figure out these dead end power relays Chief," Yuhon responded as he tapped the computer display. "I am fairly sure they are not leading to weapons arrays, we've pretty much pinned all of those down, and we have found what we think are the shield generators. Only other things I can think of is either they are grav generators or some sort of bizarre redundancy system. Redundancy for what however, I have no idea."
"Perhaps you should go to your quarters and take some time to rest," Ng Hu responded as he laid a large hand on the Dane's shoulders. "You have been at this ever since you got back from Angles."
Yuhon paused for a second, then sighed, no, he really wasn't doing anyone much good banging his head against the console half asleep trying to figure this out. He did need some rest. Then, he thought of something, and turned toward Ng Hu. "Chief, what are you doing up so late?"
Ng Hu smiled. "I have already slept, it is almost oh four thirty ships time."
"What? You mean I went through the entire night without realizing it?"
"Apparently yes, now, are you going to leave for your quarters? Or shall I have one of my wife's aids come down here and drag you into sick bay?"
"Yes sir," Yuhon said as he stood, and found that his legs almost didn't want to work for him. The Dane shook his head and walked stiffly out of Engineering and to the 'lift. The lack of sleep finally was catching up to him and he could feel his eyelids closing and himself drifting off to sleep as he walked down the corridor to his room.
It was then that he realized that he was dozing and tried to snap himself awake. However it didn't happen fast enough for him to prevent slamming headlong into someone. Whoever it had been had not been very large because even their forward motion had barely sent Yuhon staggering. The other person however, thumped to the deck and Yuhon heard a very familiar feminine voice let out a 'ow,' more in surprise than anything else.
Yuhon's eye went wide as he realized who it was whom he had just run over, and bent over. "Commander, I'm sorry I didn't…"
"No, it's all right Yuhon," Sarah returned as she situated her glasses back on her muzzle then accept Yuhon's hand, allowing him to pull her to her feet. "I wasn't paying to much attention to where I was going either," she continued as she picked up the PDA she had been examining, then looked up into Yuhon's eyes, and had to keep herself from acting like a little school girl again. "Um, are you heading back to your room?"
Yuhon nodded slightly. "It was either that or sickbay."
Sarah's face turned to one of confusion and Yuhon smiled. "I stayed up almost thirty hours, the Chief ordered me to get some rest or he was going to sic his wife on me."
Sarah laughed slightly at that. "And I thought I was the one who was suppose to do that."
"Huh?"
"Oh, nothing Yuhon," she said as she looked up at him. "Well, I should let you go, you do need your sleep and I have to get to the bridge."
"Um, sure," Yuhon said as he stepped aside to let Sarah pass, then smiled. "Uh, I was wondering, when you come off shift and I am more lucid, would you like to go to the lounge and talk?"
Sarah started at the statement, then turned towards Yuhon, unable to think of a response. The young mix was sure her cheeks were burning read underneath her fur. "Um, well…"
Yuhon shrugged. "If you don't feel like it, then that’s okay."
Sarah snapped herself out of her stupor just as Yuhon was entering his quarters. "No! Wait!" she called out, cursing herself for sounding so blasted eager. "I think that would be a good idea."
Yuhon smiled and nodded. "Just give me a buzz when you're off, I don't go back on shift till tomorrow morning."
"All right," Sarah said with a shy smile and then turned away before Yuhon could see the stupid 'little school girl' grin that she was sure was developing on her face. Come on Sarah, it is just talking to a friend, get a grip, she told herself as she walked towards the lift.
But it is what you want, the other half of her told her as the doors closed. You want to get to know him better, and this the perfect chance to.
"Oh shut up will you?" she told herself out loud and then shook her head. "You know Sarah, arguing with yourself probably isn't the best thing in the world to do."
Then will you just give in? The small voice in her head told her and Sarah almost laughed at that thought.
**
Delta grumbled as she stood and gave up the command chair to Sarah, who had just walked on the bridge. It was still something she did not exactly like doing. Still, she was Delta's superior, however much Delta hated to admit it. Besides, Delta didn't have to put up with Sarah more than a few minutes, her shift replacement was coming through the lift doors so Delta made for the lift herself.
"Deck Five," Delta called out and the lift whined into motion. The lift deposited her on the deck she had asked for. She walked towards her quarters, and then had a thought, she jogged towards her quarters and made a staight line for her closet where a sizable wardrobe was kept. There she stripped her uniform and searched her closet for just the right outfit. Finding it in a short red mini-skirt. After slipping it on and making sure she presented the right picture she wanted, she fixed up her hair and makeup, then went down the hall to Yuhon's quarters and pressed the door chime.
It took several minutes, and Delta was almost sure that Yuhon would not respond, but finally the door slid open to reveal Yuhon in a pair of nit workout shorts and nothing else, a groggy look on his face.
"Delta, what are you doing here?"
"Seeing you sugah, though I thin' your getting' a bit of a head start."
Yuhon looked at her with not a least bit of comprehension in his eyes. Delta just smiled, taking in the finally chiseled features of his body. Yes, Yuhon was a prized catch, and she was his prize catch. "Tell ya what sugah, lemme come on in an' we get better aquatinted."
As Delta moved to step through the threshold, Yuhon regained some comprehension, enough to put his bulk into the door, barring Delta's way. "I'm sorry Delta," he began politely. "But, I just got off a thirty hour shift, and I do need sleep, so if you don't mind…"
And with those words he stepped back quickly, almost catching Delta's muzzle in the door. Almost immediately he heard the chime go off again. Sighing, the powerful Dane simply shook his head then looked up in the air and began to speak to the computer. "Computer, ignore all door chimes initiated by Lieutenant Delta Dog."
"Confirm Authorization?"
"Authorization Yuhon Alpha Five Five Six," Yuhon returned, and the computer let out a beep signaling the request had been processed and immediately the incessant chimes form the door stopped.
"There, that ought to take care of any more interruptions," the Dane said to himself with a smile as he turned back towards his bedroom and climbed in under the covers, quickly falling asleep.
***
Sarah stretched her neck as she walked into her quarters, slipping off her uniform boots and going for the shower. It had been another long shift of trying to understand the artifact that they were studying, and it hadn't helped that her mind refused to forget about Yuhon wanting to talk with her in the lounge after she got off shift. Sarah had told herself several times through the shift that she did not need to be thinking about it, that it was just friendly talk later on, but once again, the other side of her did not want to listen.
Oh well, she thought as she finished her shower and stepped to her closet. Maybe once this is over I'll stop fantasizing about him. As soon as she thought that however, she knew she was wrong, and just simply shook her head and got dressed.
Sarah stepped in front of her mirror and shook her head. Her off duty wardrobe was probably a bit lacking, especially compared to Delta's. She had chosen a simple skirt and silk blouse that her mother had given her. It was a nice fit and Sarah liked wearing it, the problem was that it made her look a couple years younger than she was, and being twenty, that was a problem. Sarah really hated looking like a teenager, it was bad enough some aboard ship still thought of her as a child, but to look like one? That was even worse.
Sarah just shook her head, her other options probably made her look even younger, for goodness sakes she still had her private school uniform from college. That outfit made her look even younger than this did. Sarah almost laughed. She spent so much time trying to get people to focus on her abilities and not her age, but when it came to casual attire, she always accentuated how young she really was, it was actually funny in an ironic way in Sarah's mind, but it still annoyed her.
Sarah shook her head. Well, she had called Yuhon as she had rode the lift to her quarters, so he should be on the way to the lounge by now. Sarah looked one last time at her image in the mirror, shook her head, then summoned all the courage she could and walked out of her quarters and towards the lift.
"Deck Two," she called out and the lift moved smoothly into motion.
***
Angelita smiled as she watched Commander McLoude and Lieutenant Yuhon talking to each other. The Dalmatian had noticed the commander's nervous expression when she came in the lounge and almost laughed. Commander McLoude had never shown anything like that during their rather hairy shakedown cruise, and it just didn't look right on her. However when Angelita saw Sarah make a straight line for the table Yuhon sat at, she understood why. She had to admit, Sarah did have good tastes, Yuhon was strong, handsome, very intelligent and caring, anything a woman could want, he seemed to be, just like her Christian. Angelita smiled at that and picked up the PDA she had sat down to watch the Commander. Her mind now half on the novel, and have on Christian, which for her, really was not a bad thing in her mind.
***
"My parents sent me to a private school that accepted us cano-sapiens," Sarah said as she took a sip of the orange juice she had ordered from the lounge, trying to conceal the looks she was giving Yuhon. "Then, another private school for college."
"But you said you were only twenty," Yuhon returned as he took a fairly decent sized drink out of his coffee.
Sarah sighed. "I preformed a bit better than most, and I am a bit of an over achiever. Also my eidetic memory helps."
"Eidetic memory?"
"Sort of a by byproduct of my minor psionic abilities. Once I have seen, heard, taste or smelled something, its there, all stored away up here," Sarah explain taking one of her slender fingers and lightly tapping the side of her head. "For total recall, whenever I want it, it is there."
Yuhon looked a bit skeptical, he had heard of photographic memories, and had known a few people with them, but total recall? That was unheard of.
"You find it hard to believe don't you?" Sarah said with a shy smile."
"Actually, kind'a, just seems a little, impossible," Yuhon returned with an embarrassed blush.
"Believe me you are not the only one to find it hard to believe," Sarah returned with another sip of her juice. "All right then, a test, ask me anything, however obscure."
Yuhon sat his coffee down and thought for a moment. It was strange enough that he was getting so familiar with Sarah, she was his superior after all, even though she was three years his junior. Still, he really was beginning to like her, and he had a feeling her the same. Finally, Yuhon sat up dramatically and posted himself in the classic thinker's pose. "Fourth question on the Space Rover Command exam."
"'In what circumstance is it considered feasible to exert command authority over those not directly under your command'," Sarah returned without even the slightest hesitation.
Yuhon felt he jaw drop and chuckle as soon as he recovered. "You know, I thought everyone tried to forget that test after they took it some find it so traumatic."
"Unfortunately, I really can't" Sarah returned in a light giggle.
"You know, you really are quite an interesting young woman Sarah," Yuhon said, almost gagging when he realized he had called her 'Sarah' not 'Commander.'
Sarah's mind skidded to a stop at those words spoken so familiarly. She had never expected to here them from Yuhon, after all, she was the one with the silly adolescent crush on him. Well, that little voice in her mind called out to her, maybe you'll stop thinking it is so childish and adolescent now, won't you?
Sarah was about to shoot back a mental reply to herself when the intercom system came to life. "All members of the Senior Staff, assemble in Briefing Room One, I repeat, all members of the senior staff, assemble in the briefing room."
Sarah and Yuhon looked at each other for a split moment, then the two stood in unison and headed out the door of the lounge. Both mentally decided to stop by their quarters to retrieve their uniforms. After all, it really wouldn't look right if the Chief Damage Control Officer and the First Officer both came into a staff meeting looking as if they had just been on a date,
Was this what this was? Sarah asked herself as the two rode the lift to their deck, but she quickly put that out of her mind. It was time for work, personal life would come later. And for once, that little voice did not argue with her.
***
Captain Rikes nodded as the last two members of the senior staff, Sarah and Yuhon, entered at the same time and took their respective places at the briefing table. Yuhon at Chief Ng Hu's right hand side, and Sarah at Rikes'. Rikes took in his staff for a moment, then nodded and began. "All right, as all of you know, we have been working on trying to decipher the alien language so we can figure out what exactly 'Angles' is. Duke and Iella have had a break through on it, would you two care to present your findings?"
The gray wolf and boarder collie both nodded and stood at the same time, Iella handing out read only PDA's to the staff, and Duke moving to the main computer terminal inlaid into the wall.
"Well, we have been able to do a partial translation on their written language," Duke began as he tapped out a few commands and the alien language appeared on the screen, cascading downwards. "It is a interesting written script, pictographic in a way, we first tried applying some principles common to almost all pictographic languages on Earth, such as Kanji, Mandarin and the like, where the language flows from top to bottom of the page. Unfortunately this got us pretty much nowhere. We were bouncing our heads against the wall for a while till we decided to try running it through the computer a different way. Ancient Hebrew, and a few other Semitic languages are pictographic, but instead of reading from left to right, or top to bottom as most languages do, it reads from right to left. We took a hunch, and started feeding mathematical strings in backwards of what we thought was right, and we started getting somewhere."
"Seems like they ah little mixed up if yah ask me darlin'," Delta said with a frown looking at the display. "readin' they're language backwahds?"
"Actually Delta, it probably makes complete sense to them and our languages would probably look completely strange to them, well, they might be able to figure out Hebrew better than English," Iella said and that garnered a chuckle across the room.
"Also, we had to do a little creative thinking with mathematical baselines as well. At first, we assumed they used a base ten counting system, you know, one two three, ten twenty, thirty, well, they don't they use a base four system based completely on multiples and sets of four and eight," Duke picked up."
"Such as?" Sarah asked as she looked up from her data, totally intrigued by the nature of the language and counting system.
"Well, say you want sixteen of something, to them, you just don't say: 'Give me sixteen so and so.' They would say: 'Give me Two Eigthths of this.'"
"This is all reallah fasanatin' but, did ya actually get into translating any of they'ah records?" Delta asked, frowning at Sarah like an older sister would her brainy kid sister.
"Actually yes, we have a name for them now, and a rather scratchy, hole filled history that we are still working on," Duke said with a smile. He tapped another control, bringing up a computer-generated image of a felinoid that looked rather ferocious with the features of large wild predatory cats such as lions or tigers. "This ladies and gentlemen, are our mystery aliens, the Kilrathi."
"Looks like a felo-mutant on steroids,"
"Actually, that could probably be the best way to describe them," Duke returned. "From what we can tell from our sketchy translations, this race has had a rather ferocious past. Even after they obtained faster than light technology, they're government was still split into squabbling feudal sects. That, from what I have been able to determine after studying other faster than light races, is rather unusual, most have some form of world government by that time."
"Are these feuding states still in existence?" Ng Hu asked. "And if they are as fractured as you say, how could they build such an extensive structure as Angles?"
"That, is where we start loosing things a bit," Iella said with a shrug. "We have gotten to a certain point, apparently, for about three hundred years, the Kilrathi were united under an Emperor, with the rest of the Kilrathi polarizing along either religious, or warrior mentalities. Then, fifty years ago, or there about, it seems the last emperor died, without leaving an heir. The religious mentality we think, was in the process of setting up a parliamentary style government, when the warrior mentality pulled a coupe de' ta, or at least that is what the data looks like. Since that time, there has been a civil war of a sorts, with religious and warrior mentalities going at it for control of the whole shabang."
"In other words, we
just landed ourselves in the middle of someone's family feud,"
Rikes let
Christian shrugged. "I'd have to get with Engineering, see if they have worked out a baseline for their tech, then work off of that."
"Any ideas on how massive a race we are dealing with?" Wolve asked as he leaned back in his chair.
"We thinking a little bulkier than your average felo-mutant, but what we do have is rather sketchy, most of it coming from detailed medical data that we haven't been able to translate yet," Iella returned.
"If it is true that these people are in a civil war, then we may be called upon to render medical aid sometime in the future," Shu-ol, Ng Hu's wife and the Chief Medical Officer commented.
"Are you nuts?!"
"At ease Ensign," Rikes' commanding voice called out immediately silencing the rather vocal beagle. "We are a vessel of exploration and peace, we will render aid if required and within reason."
"Do we have any starcharts on them?" Rocky asked, the young golden's interest peeked by the fact they had run into a faster than light race so early in their mission.
"We think but we haven't gotten them trans…"
Sarah suddenly shot upwards in her seat as if shocked electrically, causing Iella to break off. The sharp movement from the so far quite mix caught everyone by surprise. Yuhon leaned forward with a look of shear concern across his muzzle much to Delta's dismay.
"Sarah?" Rikes asked carefully, beginning to stand.
"We're getting company," Sarah returned, gaining control of her body again after the initial shock of her danger sense going off so strongly. She shook her head out and looked at the captain. "And from what I just felt, they don't seem too friendly."
"Everyone to your
stations," Rikes called out and the staff pored out of the briefing room
and onto the bridge. Just as Rocky and
"Ship just came out of light speed, and is approaching us at a quarter impulse, or whatever they use," Christian called out finally reaching his station.
"Suh, I'm getting' some weird transmishun from the ship," Delta called out. "Ah think I can adapted it to ouah communcashun's equipment."
"Do it," Rikes said as he settled into his chair. "Duke, Iella, will that universal translator be able to work for us?"
"Probably not sir, we can barely read their language, and rather shakily at that, we have no idea what the language will sound like."
"Run it through anyway Duke," Rikes said as he stood from his command chair. "On screen Delta."
Delta nodded and tapped a few commands in, displaying the image she had been receiving. Rikes was immediately on his guard, knowing what had just happened with Sarah. The image resolved into what looked like a bridge, one station forward, a few aft. All crew members of the Kilrathi ship wore rather hard lined uniforms and each carried a very deadly and gruesome looking blade strapped to their side A rather highly raised command chair that almost looked like a throne sat in the middle. Upon that throne sat what appeared to be the commanding officer. The Kilrathi looked like a tiger sent through the cano-mutator, and had what Rikes thought of as a feral grin. The setter really did not like that.
"Kell'eck tra'nell," the voice called out.
"Well, we might want
to get a refund on that translator,"
"Duke, send them a first contact package, of what we have been able to translate of their language, maybe that will help them with ours," Rikes said softly, then flicked his eyes to Christian's station. "Mr. Christian, I am not going to ignore the Commander's warning, have shields ready, Mr. Rocky, try to keep our distance, but make it look casual."
"Aye sir," A coarse of hushed voices replied in unison.
"They have the first contact package sir, what they are going to do with it, I have no idea," Duke called out.
On screen the commander smiled wider. He turned and called out in his language to his crew, and Rikes did not like that develop meant one bit. "Christian?"
"I'm getting a power spike in their systems… Weapons fire initiated!!!"
"Shields! Rocky try to get us out of the line of fire," Rikes called out as he sat back in his command chair. "Delta get that off the screen and cut our transmission."
Delta didn't respond just simply cut out the transmission, the view screen reverting to sensor data as the blast shields closed around the wrap around transparent shield. Several bolts of energy shot from Kilrathi ship. Rocky's fingers played franticly over the helm controls as he dropped Galatea down a few hundred meters as fast as her massive bulk allowed him to. The sudden move caused most of the shots to stream over the Galatea, though the weapons fire quickly tract down and a small amount of the initial barrage slammed into Galatea's shields, quickly raised by Christian. Galatea rocked softly, surprising most of the crew as the general alarm finally began to wail throughout the ship.
"Report," Rikes ordered, his voice steady and calm.
"We missed most of the brunt of that shot," Christian said from his station. "Shields are holding at ninety-nine percent."
"Mr. Rocky, bring us around, try to present as little of our profile as possible to them. Mr. Christian, charge the phaser arrays and bring those new pulse batteries that are suppose to be so wonderful on-line."
"Aye sir," the two goldens responded as one.
"They're firing again!" Christian called out. This time, the barrage landed fully and squarely against Galatea's shields, sending a violent shudder through the ship.
"Shields at ninety percent and still holding, all weapons online and targeted on the Kilrathi ship!' Christian yelled out over the violent boom of the ship shaking under the barrage.
"Looks like we're not going to get out of this without a fight," Rikes mumbled under his breath, only strong enough for Sarah to here. "Mr. Christian!! Let them know we are not exactly helpless. Target whet we think are their engines and weapon's control centers."
"Aye sir, forward phaser and pulse batteries firing!" Christian called out.
There was no evidence inside that Galatea had fired, but in the void of space twin orange red beam of coherent energy lanced out from the Galatea, followed shortly by four pulses of packet explosive energy from the pulse batteries. The weapons fire hit squarely aft on the Kilrathi ship. The alien ship's shields shimmered as the destructive energy splashed against them.
"Reading a definite drop on power scales Captain!" Christian called out. Just then the Kilrathi ship opened up again, this time with a new weapon. "Torpedo Class weapon!! Brace for impact!!"
All on the bridge listened
to the golden retriever, and it was fortunate they did. The torpedo impacted
and sent a shudder through the Galatea twice as violent as before. Sarah
was thrown forward, slamming her head into the back of
"Shields at seventy-nine percent!!"
"Someone get the
Commander to
"Aye sir firing!!"
Yuhon bolted forward from his station at Damage Control and grabbed Sarah's light frame rushing her to the 'lift. "Deck Nine!" he called out to the 'lift then tapped his combadge. "Dr. Shu-ol!! I have a emergency case coming in with me!"
"I understand Lieutenant, we'll have the bed ready," Shu-ol's calm voice called out, calming Yuhon somewhat., enough to remember his own job. Remembering the last display on his console, he tapped his combage again to reach his second in command down in engineering.
"Ensign Kastin, have Damage Control teams ready! Deck Fourteen and Fifteen!"
"Aye sir!"
***
"Captain! She's coming around for another shot!" Christian called out from his station as the doors closed on Yuhon.
Captain Rikes noded grimly. Nothing he could really do about that, this Kilrathi ship seemed intent on blowing Galatea out of space. But that didn't mean they were going to succeed. "Mr Rocky, present our port side, that is the least hit of our shields, Mr. Christian, broadside, full weapons, I mean everything even torpedo launchers."
"Aye sir… Sir!! Second ship coming out of light speed!"
"On screen."
Christian complied just in time to see the second ship slowing to sublight, drifting into local space quickly before lighting it's main sublight engines. The design was similar in size and shape to the first ship, signifying that it too was Kilrathi. Unlike the first ship however, this one was trimmed in light blue instead of red like Angles. Also, this ship drifted in between Galatea and the first ship.
"Oh Great, as if we
weren't in enough problems as it were,"
The Captain was about to reply when the new ship opened up its weapons. Only instead of targeting Galatea, the ship fired on it's near twin. The first ship quickly turned its attention from Galatea to the new arrival. However, where the new ship was fresh and ready for a fight, the first had been battered by weapons fire from Galatea and was in no real condition to fight. The crew seemed not to know, or care as they let their weapons loose on their twin. The fire was shrugged off by the new ship, its shields fully charged. The new ship fired its weapons batteries on the first. Weakened shields buckled and collapsed allowing destructive energy to poor over the battered ship, slicing it in half nearly, before it erupted into a brilliant flash as its power core detonated.
"Report," Rikes asked calmly as he watched the new ship turn about on screen and come to face Galatea. The light fading from the previous explosion.
"Our shields are holding at fifty-five percent, with minor damage on Decks Fourteen and Fifteen, though damage control is already there and has started repairs."
"Could we last another bout with this ship?"
"I really don't think so sir."
"Suh, Ahm getting' anuthuh transmisshun from he Kilrathi," Delta called out.
"On Screen."
Another transmission resolved on the view screen of a similarly decked out as the first ship. Only this one did not have the throne like command chair, and instead oh wearing rather harshly cut weapons and uniforms, the crew wore mostly rather drab robes, all save four the commander, or, the one who appeared to be the commander. She, atleast Rikes thought it was a she, was dressed in a simple blue tunic. Her lioness like head was wrapped in a similar blue headband.
"Vrek khan," the Kilrathi called out, though her tone was not harsh as the other had been. "Tlk 'narr Theell, hees b'kraan nelk?"
"Duke, I think she's trying to ask us a question, dose the universal translator have a base yet?"
"No, but I'm sending the first contact package to this ship, hopefully they will react better than the first," Duke returned, an edge to his voice.
"Ghahk Blen Tch," one of the crew called at out on the other ship. The commander turned briefly then faced back towards Rikes. The lioness bowed and held up two open, three fingered, opposable thumbed hand then the transmission was cut.
"Christian?"
"No power spikes from the ship, I think they're going to be nice."
"My guess," Duke said obviously relaxed, "was that that last gesture was one of openness and peace."
"Lets hope your right," Rikes commented. "Sickbay, this is the Captain."
"Captain," Dr. Shu-ol's voice responded calmly.
"How bad did we come off Doctor."
"Cuts, legions and nasty bruises but nothing a that is serious, save for the Commander. She suffered a severe concussion and several other head injuries. She is stable, but unconscious, I don't know how long she will be down."
Rikes nodded and sat back in his command chair. "Make sure she's comfortable Doctor." Rikes then closed his eyes and thought for a moment. "This could have turned out much differently, now we have to play the waiting game, that Kilrathi ship is holding all the cards at the moment."
***
Captains Log,
It has been six hours
since our pitched battle with the Kilrathi ship. The second vessel that came to
our aid is keeping formation with us but has not initiated communications since
we sent the First Contact package. Lieutenant Duke McAllen believes that this
ship belongs to the Kilrathi "Religious Mentality," and so far the
brief view of their bridge I have seen tends to support that theory. The
problem is, are these members of the Kilrathi benevolent, seemingly unlike
their warrior brethren? Our are they just more
stealthy in their ways of destroying a foe? Only time will tell, but, I have
ordered full repairs to the slight damage Galatea took during the
skirmish. Lieutenant Yuhon is also to be commended for being able to repair the
fused shield circuitry in such a short period of time. Galatea is back
at one hundred percent operating capacity.
The same, I am afraid,
cannot be said for our crew. Commander McLoude still remains unconscious in
***
Yuhon sighed as he strolled
into
He sighed as he rounded the corner and found the same site he had found the last three times he had visited. Sarah lying in the med bed, looking quite peacefully sound asleep. "Before you ask Lieutenant," Dr. Shu-ol said as she walked around the corner, a large medical PDA in her hand, "The Commander's condition has not changed."
Yuhon nodded and was about ready to leave when he heard an almost inaudible groan from behind him. The big Dane spun quickly to find Sarah sitting up, gingerly touching the place where she had slammed her head into the chair. "Oww," she said rather weakly as she brushed her fingers against the spot.
"Sarah!" Yuhon blurted out and Sarah snapped her gaze to the Dane, and winced at the sharp pain the sudden movement caused. Yuhon, for his part, blushed through the brown of his fur, he hadn't meant to blurt that out, he was relieved that Sarah was awake again, and well…
"Commander," Shu-ol called out, saving the big Dane any more embarrassment. "Welcome back to the world of the conscious."
"How long was I out?" Sarah asked, her voice still weak.
"Six hours, you took a pretty good bump."
"Then, since we are talking, I take it we one the shoot out?"
Yuhon took over the conversation as Shu-ol turned and picked up some instruments to examine Sarah. "We didn't exactly win," Yuhon said, keeping his voice soft and quite for Sarah. "Another Kilrathi ship arrived just after you went unconscious, targeted the one that we were fighting and blew it out of space. It then transmitted to us, Duke sent a First Contact package, and, well, that is the way things have been ever since."
"Any ideas on weather these Kilrathi are going to remain friendly?" Sarah asked as her tone turned to the one that she used when on duty.
Yuhon frowned softly at that, he didn't exactly like the fact that she was focusing back on work after she had been hurt so badly. "Sarah, are you sure you should be thinking of this right now?" He wanted her to stay here for at least a few more hours, after all…
Yuhon stopped his thinking right there. Why am I acting like this, I'm acting like she's my girlfriend, he told himself, the Dane stop at that, well, she was a nice girl…
No Yuhon, she's not a girl, she's the Commander, and you’re a Lieutenant, he told himself.
Sarah, for her part was grateful for a bit of protectiveness from Yuhon. She smiled gently, then turned toward Shu-ol. "Well Doctor, what's the prognoses?"
"I would say decent Commander," Shu-ol responded. "Your concussion has gone down, I think you are ready for light duty, and Commander, I stress the word light."
"All right Doctor," Sarah said as she began to flip her legs off the bed, then stopped herself and checked under the sheets. Just as she thought, all she was wearing was a nightgown. "Um, first maybe a uniform?"
"Way ahead of you Sarah," Yuhon said with a smile as he tapped a button on the small shelf next to Sarah, causing a draw to slide out with one of Sarah's uniforms in it. "I had one sent from your quarters."
Sarah nodded and almost giggled as Yuhon politely excused himself out of the room. She liked that about him. He was a bit of a knight in shining armor. Now, if only you can get off your tale and realize he's your knight in shining armor, the little voice inside her told her, and Sarah almost growled a reply to herself as she pulled on a set of undergarments, then her uniform. She however refrained and stepped out of the room where Yuhon was waiting.
"All right, lets see if our new friends are still friendly."
***
Sarah and Yuhon walked onto the bridge together, that fact alone caused Delta to sigh in frustration. Oh well, she still had her chances, she thought. Just then, her communications console came alive. After touching a few places on the smooth surface, she nodded in satisfaction that it was not a malfunction. "Cap'n, ah'm getting' uh transmisshun from the Kilrathi."
"On Screen," Rikes said as Sarah and Yuhon took her place.
Delta wordlessly patched the transmission through. The main screen flickered and the alien bridge appeared again. Nothing had really changed, at least not that Rikes could tell. The same lioness stood in the middle of brown robed crewmen.
"This is Commander Tlk 'narr Theell of the Parliamentary Defense Ship T'lek Hkr'em. Do you require assistance?" the lioness said in a gruttly-accented English.
Rikes flicked an eye toward Sarah, who shook her head, then to Duke.
"It's not coming over our translator, they might have one themselves."
Rikes nodded, then turned back to the view screen. "I'm Captain Rikes of the Space Rover Starship Galatea, no, we do not require assistance at this time, but I do wish to express our thanks for intervening against your opposing ship."
"We apologize for not arriving sooner," the Lioness returned. "We had been tracking the War Council ship for two eighths days, we did not know that this war outpost was still operational, till we tracked the ion trail. When we observed you battling the War Council ship, we were afraid the light speed inhibitors on the outpost were active."
Yuhon's eyebrows shot upwards at those words. The Dane pulled up the schematics he had been bouncing his head against to figure out exactly what the power relays were. There was a huge amount of energy tracing through the relays, a device that prevented whatever type of faster than light drive the Kilrathi used would have to have been a power hog. So that is what those things are, Yuhon thought with a bit of satisfaction. Now he had something to give the Chief, something to look for if those devices were ever successfully turned onto the Galatea.
Sarah, for her part, felt her head throb as her empathy began to pick up on Yuhon's elation. No, your still not at one hundred percent girl, Sarah told herself. Which means you have to be careful how much you use your abilities. Sarah then looked at the lioness, she still didn't set off the familiar tingle that was her danger sense. That should have eased the mix's mind, but, Sarah still was a bit unease, especially since another of this lioness's species had just tried to blast the Galatea out of space.
"Very well Galatea,"
The lioness returned, and a smile spread across her muzzle, revealing some
rather large canine teeth. "We are returning to our home
"T'Lek Hk'rem, I believe your home port is the system we were traveling to before we discovered this outpost," Rikes said diplomatically. "We are a ship of exploration, would you permit us travel to Golar Veck? Perhaps to meet with representatives?"
The lioness thought for a moment, then nodded on screen. "Agreed Galatea, T'Leck Hk'rem is at your serves."
With that, the transmission ended and the T'Lek Hk'rem came along side Galatea, drifting into an escort position.
"Cap'n, Ah'm getting' some sort ah navigashun data from the ship," Delta called out.
"Pipe it through to
"Not like it is right
now…"
"Oh brothuh," Delta mumbled under her breath.
"Well, Ensign, where are they taking us?" Rikes asked.
"To the planet they call Golar Veck, looks like most of it is planetary approach vectors."
"Very well Mr. Dayton, lay in the coarse, Mr. Rocky, bring us up to speed.
"Aye sir," both young cano's responded and within moments, Galatea was accelerating out with the Kilrathi ship right at its side.
***
Captain's Log,
We have arrived at Golar Veck a bit sooner than
Commander Tlk 'narr
Theell first estimated. I must say, this is
a quite interesting racial culture. The approach to the planet was lined with
array after array of weaponry posted on satellites, and large orbital stations.
However, cursory scans of the planet itself have revealed the surface almost
completely devoid of any weapons, or factories to make such weapons. We have
also noticed, through communications both to ground side and to the T'Lek Hk'rem that, at least
this portion of the Kilrathi race is not quite so blood thirsty as we thought.
Although these are just preliminary observations, it is beginning to appear
that, at least the 'Parliamentary Government', as the religious mentality calls
their government may prove to be a vital ally.
Our final decision,
ultimately, however, rests in our first meeting with this government. Commander
'narr Theell has
told us that Golar Veck is
the Parliament's seat of government. This probably explains the heavy system
defenses, for it appears to be on the front lines of the on again, off again
war. We are being greeted by the Parliamentary Council, a group, as explained
to us, of four Kilrathi, elected through the Parliament, to be in charge of
overseeing four aspects of Kilrathi life. Hopefully, we will be successful in
convincing our peaceful intent to the Council on our presence in this area of
space.
***
Rikes felt the tingle of the transport diminish as he and his officers materialized on Golar Veck. Rikes nodded a bit as he took in a breath, and was quite surprised by the sheer cleanliness of the smell. It reminded him, not of a highly advanced civilization's primary city, but of the air one would find out in the middle of the woods, far away from any civilization.
Rikes quickly took a look at his away team, Lieutenant Wolve, towering over just about everyone in the team, shot his eyes back and forth regularly, well, it was his job to be suspicious, after all, he was Chief of Security. Yuhon nodded in appreciation of the crystalline structures surrounding them, and Delta looked like she was simply admiring Yuhon. Iella and Duke were already conversing in hushed tones over what they saw, getting some impression of life planet side.
Sarah had originally protested the fact that Rikes had beamed down and not her. Rikes however, had steadfastly held firm, citing the fact that Sarah was still suffering some lingering effects from her concussion, and that Rikes wanted her on ship, where Shu-ol could keep an eye on her.
Rikes was brought out of his thoughts as three Kilrathi, two male, two female, walked forward. Each one wore dress, while not eyesore or gaudy, were colorful. One of the man, a large muscular specimen that looked like a Lynx, held his hands out, palms turned upward. Duke had said that that was basically the Kilrathi version of a handshake after his study of the freshly translated records. A way of showing respect and openness. "Captain Rikes," the translation immediately came into Rikes' ears in the Kilrathi's own voice, with a bit of gruttle undertones. "Welcome to Golar Veck, I, am Councilor of Administration Jhen Brek'nal."
Rikes emulated Brek'nal's gesture, "thank you Councilor, allow me to introduce those accompanying me. The is Lieutenant Wolve, Chief of Security, Lieutenant Yuhon, our Chief of Damage Control and an engineering analyst, Lieutenant Delta Dog, our communications officer, Iella Weis, our science officer, and Lieutenant Duke McAllen, our First Contact specialist and xenoanthropology expert."
Brek'nal nodded slightly, then turned to his companions. "I introduce to you, Councilor of Health V'klan 'narr Res, Councilor of Religion the Dromess d'Ret Hkal, and Councilor of Defense B'raak 'narr Mklan."
Rikes nodded to each
councilor in turn, noting that the Councilor of Defense,
was the last to be named, and seemed be a bit more reserved and guarded of the
Council. "Now, Captain, let us escort you and your officers to our meeting
hall in the
Rikes nodded and followed the quartet towards a magnificent crystalline building not more than a few meters away. The Captain suppressed a whistle, and made a mental note to ask Yuhon of the technology it would have taken to build such beautiful buildings.
***
"Captain, we must admit, your coming into this sector of space is a bit surprising," Parlimin Jeme Los commented as he leaned forward in his large chair. "We thought the B'raath System, what you call your Solar System, was not a light speed society."
"Normally Parlemin, that would be correct, but, the organization known as the Space Rovers, which we belong to, have the technology, and have been tasked by our world with exploration," Rikes returned.
"So you are a lone ship in the see of the void?" the Dromess asked, her lioness features giving her the look of one who was studying a specimen.
"In this area, yes, there is another ship, exploring spinward, while we explore anti-spinward."
"Your goals are noble," the Dromess returned, satisfied with Rike's awnser.
"Indeed, and from what Commander 'narr Theel has told us, your actions are as well," Councilor 'narr Mklan commented. "It is sad that we ourselves have been so distracted with this war, that we ourselves have not explored much of this region."
"From what we are able to tell from data recovered from an abandoned War Council outpost we stumbled upon," Rikes started, leaning forward, "that, the Kilrathi, total, only are settled on eight planets, with two more planets in almost constant contention between the sides of this war."
"Correct," Councilor 'narr Mklan replide. "We know, unfortunately almost nothing of the systems beyond that, other than astronomical names and data."
Rikes nodded, then placed his hands on the table. "Coucilors and Parlimins, I would like to propose an idea to you then. We will share all and any findings and exploration data we encounter on our journeys through this sector of space, all we ask is free passage through your territory."
The Kilrathi gathered begun mumbling back and forth, Rikes had no psionic powers like Sarah, so he couldn't get much of a read other than facial expressions. But, what those facial expressions told him was promising.
"Captain, your proposal is acceptable," Councilor Brek'nal finally spoke up. "It will be put forward to a vote of Parliamentary Session in two days. It must seem a bit cumbersome to have the full session vote on such a small matter, but, it is our way of maintaining equality in the government."
Rikes Shook his head. "It is nor our place to judge your government."
The Dromess
nodded appreciatively. "Then, until the vote, your officers and yourselves are welcome to stay as our guests in the
"Thank You Dromess, we are honored," Rikes replide as he stood and extended his hands palms up to all the members gathered.
"And we you," the Dromess returned, and with that, the meeting ended, two Governance Officers escorted the group of cano-sapiens towards a spacious suit of rooms and gave them basic instructions on the systems in those rooms. The two officers then left the cano-sapiens in privacy.
"All right people, impressions?"
"Can't say much for their governmental security," Wolve commented. "Only two gaurds for all of us? With their most prominent leaders in the room? They are trusting souls."
"I don't know, it may just be their customs," Duke responded. "Did you notice how, while all the Council members, and the Parlimins seemed to be fairly equal in rank and status, that the Dromess was given, not leadership, I'd say more a bit of an extra amount of respect?"
Rikes nodded at that, motioning for Duke to continue.
"From what I can understand, this area of the society stresses the religious aspect of their life, and while it dose not control the society, it gets a lot of respect. You earning the respect of the Dromess put you up a couple notches in their eyes."
Rikes nodded, then looked around the room. "All right people, I'm going to report in to Galatea, find out what is going on in orbit, everyone else, take some relaxation time."
All the crew members nodded
and began to mill about the room, Duke and Iella
still conversing on some point, Wolve standing close
to Rikes, not letting his guard down.
Yuhon nodded absentmindedly as he put his hand to the underside of his muzzle. "You know, these are probably the most remarkable engineering structures I have seen, an entire city made of crystal buildings."
Delta frowned as she realized Yuhon was paying more attention to the site outside than the site of her. She began to snuggle up close against Yuhon's body. "Common, that's not all that untersetin'."
Yuhon looked down, and gently pushed Delta away from his body, then gently shifted his position so she could not lean against him without discomfort. "Actually Delta, it is, I have never seen anything like this."
Delta hrrmmphed and stalked over towards the couch, planting herself in it. This was going to be a harder chase than I thought, she told herself as she looked at Yuhon.
***
"How are things in orbit Sarah?" the Captain's voice came over the speekers on the bridge as Sarah bent over the tactical console with Christian, Angelita walking onto the bridge to replace Delta at communications.
"Fairly quite Sir, but there is a lot of construction going on in the yards about a half orbit away from our position," Sarah returned as she and Christian studied the readouts of his display together.
"Thoughts?"
Sarah looked at Christian, signifying for him to talk. This idea was his after all, and Sarah was going to give him due credit. "Sir, Lieutenant Christian, I think it is a war yard, building warships. Looks like they are building in a hurry, several of the ships coming off those ways look like they don't have all the features they should. I think that the Parliamentary Government is gearing up for some sort of operation, and the way things are looking, it is most likely defensive, these ships don't look like something I would put into a war fleet. Most of them have just rudimentary engines and their weapons mounts."
"So this government is in a loosing situation?"
"I wouldn't say that Sir," Christian returned. "From the scans I have gotten, it looks like they just simply didn't put everything in, the missing components are still sitting in the yard. My guess, the Warrior Council just pulled an end run around the main fleet, and are going to be striking at a rear area, the Parliamentary is trying to stop them."
"All right Mr. Christian, good work, keep us posted, Rikes out."
Sarah nodded as she circled back around to the command chair, settling into the seat, she looked out the view screen at the spinning blue ball below. It looked so peaceful, and the flat gray and rusty color constructs drifting in orbit with Galatea seemed completely out of place.
Suddenly, there was a slight tingle at the base of her skull. It was not strong, but Sarah had learned over the years to trust that sensation. "Mr. Christian, are we getting any strange readings?"
"Negative Commander, nothing that seems out of the ordinary."
"Commander'?"
Angelita called in her
"From the planet to orbit?"
"Negative Commander, it is coming from outside the big gas giant."
"Angelita, contact the surface, and the T'Lek Hk'rem, give them the triangulation of the transmissions, inform them we are going to check them out."
"Aye Ma'am."
"Rocky, as soon as our intentions are stated, pull us out of orbit and put us on intercept coarse, Mr. Christian, have shields and weapons ready."
"Aye."
"Ma'am, we have confirmation of the signals," Angelita called out. "T'Lek Hk'rem is moving in an investigation as well, we are cleared to accompany her."
"Pull us out of orbit Mr. Rocky, Angelita, dose the Captain know?"
"Aye ma'am, they are being brought to the Parliamentary war planning center."
Sarah nodded grimly, T'Lek Hk'rem was pulling out of orbit, and the Galatea needed to support her, she didn't have the time to stay and pick up the crew ground side. "Keep us a few thousand kilometers of the T'Lek Hk'rem. I want to be able to support them, but I don't want to chance one shot catching the two of us."
"Commander, you think these transmissions are hostile?"
"Yes Angelita, yes I do," Sarah returned.
***
Captain Rikes and his other officers walked into the planning center in tow of the Councilor of War. Introductions were made around a large holographic situation display. Several equivalents of generals and admirals had gathered, and had apparently been in this center for a few days by the haggard looks on their faces. Rikes found it surprising that information was being displayed in bot Kilrathi script, and English.
"Your computers can display in English?" Duke asked the question that was on Rikes' muzzle.
"Yes, Lieutenant, the computers here are extremely large, and as of yet, have not found their limits in processing power," one of the Generals returned with a prideful look on his face. "It was simple to translate information to your language, however, it has taken us longer to convert your mathematical system. The data is still displayed in our system.
Duke nodded, fascinated, they must have had a huge computer core complex under this place, he thought. Just then, Iella came up beside him, studying the graphics, and the in system map. Two ship icons moved away from Golar Veck, heading to the outer system. One was coaded blue, the other green. "Which one is the Galatea?"
"This one Child," the Councilor said pointing to the green blip. Iella not taking any notice of the use of the word 'child' used to describe her, simply leaning over, studying the data. It showed both Galatea's and the Kilrathi ship's coarse track both were angling toward the gas giant, Galatea spacing out a few thousand kilometers from the Kilrathi ship.
"Contact in four and two eighth seconds," someone called out from behind.
"Captain, this is the Galatea," Sarah's voice called out. "We are reading two, make that three Kilrathi starships, Warrior markings, according to readings, each masses less than Galatea, but, they look more maneuverable. I'd estimate they're pretty close to the Canus Minor in capability."
As Sarah was reporting, three red icons appeared in the holographic field. Two immediately moved towards the green icon, two to the blue.
"Commander," Angelita's voice called out over the open channel. "I'm getting a transmission from the lead Warrior vessal."
"On screen."
"Canine vessel." A throaty voice called out through the translator. "This is the War Cruiser K'rvez. Stand down and brepair to be boarded, we are claiming your ship."
"K'rvez, this is Commander Sarah McLoude of the Starship Galatea, we do not recognize your authority over us, or this system."
"We are the true rulers of this space Galatea, and we shall prove it to you!"
"Commander, I'm getting an energy spike!" Christian called out
"Shields Mr. Christian, target forward weapons arrays on the K'rvez."
"We are reading weapons fire from the Warrior ship Councilor!" a tech called out somewhere in the cavernous room.
"Target?" 'narr Mklan asked.
"The Space Rover ship Councilor."
"She's firing Commander," the voice of Christian came over the speakers once again. "Impact on forward quarter shields, shields holding at ninety-six percent."
"Mr. Rocky, Bring us to port five degrees, put us at a five degree down angle relative to our current plane of flight."
"Aye ma'am."
"Space Rover ship is changing coarse," the tech called out again. "Warrior ship firing again."
"Shields at ninety percent." Christian's voice reported.
"What are you waiting Sarah, Fire!" Delta growled, but was ignored by everyone in the room.
There was something spoken softly on the Galatea's line, as if someone was reciting something under his or her breath, almost sounding like equations. "Fire Mr. Christian," Sarah called out. "All forward weaponry."
"Aye ma'am."
"Power spike from Galatea," the tech reported again. "She is firing."
"Severe drop in K'rvez's power, her shields are down," another tech responded.
"Take out her weapons and engines Mr. Christian," Sarah announced.
"Galatea is firing again… K'rvez is disabled. Galatea is coming around."
"T'Lek H'krem has destroyed one War Cruiser," a new voice called out. "She's taken sever damage however."
"What happened with the K'rvez?" Delta asked in confusion.
"Mr. Yuhon, after studying the design and performance profile of our encounter with the first Warrior Council ship," Rikes said without turning. "We found they were keeping their lower port side away from us, Yuhon took a guess and devised a one shot tactic, holding fire and changing coarse till what we thought was a week spot to their shields. We don't believe that we would get to use it twice."
"Councilor!!" Another Warrior Council ship had exited light speed within the twin moons!!"
"Bring defense satellites to bare!" the Councilor ordered.
"They are in the wrong firing position, the ship entered the safe corridor!"
"How did they know?"
"That must be their intelligence operations," a General returned.
"Their coarse?"
"They will be in firing position in one minute."
"Have we nothing."
"Commander, what is your eta in system?" Rikes asked as he saw the icon representing Galatea heal about as the last red icon around the gas giant went grey, signafying it was disabled.
"Ten minutes Captain," Sarah's voice called out, knowing she couldn't get Galatea back to Golar Veck in time.
Iella frowned as she looked at the holographic display, "Councilor, are there any moons in orbit around the gas giant?
"Three."
"Where are their positions?"
'narr Mklan nodded to the tech manipulating the projector. Three spheres appeared around the gas giant. All were out system at the moment of the sun. Iella smiled in trimph as she tapped her combage.
"Commander! Mark these coordinates and make a three second warp jump!!! That will put you in firing range of the War Cruiser!"
"Are you craz'a Iellah!!!" Delta exclaimed leaning forward. "Ya can' go tah light spead inside the inner limits of ah solah system!!!"
"She is correct," a general returned.
"You can if you have exact coordinates and known distance to jump," Iella said as she tapped in some calculations into the console she was at.
"But they'ah using ah diferen' base system than we are!"
Iella stood silent for a second, then punched a transmit button. "I sent those to Duke's console on the Bridge, it has a conversion program running, it has since Commander 'naar Theel set us a base line conversion they did to translate their spatial coordinates."
"Mr. Rocky, do you have the coordinates in base ten?" Sarah asked.
"Yes ma'am but are you sure you want to try this?"
"Lay them in, Mr. Rocky, engage the drives," Sarah said calmly, completely trusting her friend's work.
There was no reply as the Galatea went to warp, and everyone in the chamber held their collective breath.
***
Several thousand kilometers above the gathering, the War Council ship drifted closer towards Golar Vek. Her commander smiled with feral glee as he saw the blue ball grow larger in the view screen. He fingered his ceremonial blade, waiting for the right moment."
"We are in range of
the
"Fire the weapon."
Just as the crewman at the weapons station was turning to his console, there was a flash and the distorted shape of a ship exiting light speed just above the cruiser, the sensors automatically focusing the view screen on the giant ship, speeding toward them at an astounding rate. The ship did not bother to slow, it simply unleashed all weapons it could bring to bare as she speed past.
***
On the Galatea, everyone gripped their seats firmly as the ship shuddered violently from the rough after effects of an in-system warp jump. Sarah watched as the phasers lanced out to the opposing ship cutting deep into its hull. The pulse batteries followed, causing explosion after explosion to rip across the war cruiser's hull, spewing atmosphere that gave fuel to fires across the hull that should have been snuffed by the vacuum of space. Finally, Christian laid in a single torpedo. It detonated against the protruding claw where the bridge was, the brilliant flash of the warhead ripping that portion of the ship away as the Galatea raced past.
Everyone on the bridge looked as they saw the spinning wrackage. Sarah stood slowly, walking forward two steps, finally speaking. "Mr. Christian, damage report?"
It took Christian a moment to answer, his hands still gripping the console, fingers above fire controls. He still couldn't believe the crazy maneuver they had just pulled, and survived. "Ma'am, we… we have some damage to the engineering decks, and the Chief is shutting down the Barium cores, the in-system jump put too much strain on them. Also a few of the families got a little tussled up, but nothing major, Dr. Shu-ol says she has things under control."
"Commander!!" Ng Hu's voice called out in a growl over the intercom. "You had to have pulled the craziest maneuver I have ever witnessed…"
"I had to use it Chief, or we would have lost the captain and a lot of civilians would have died."
"You didn't let me finish girl!" Ng Hu returned. "I was about to say that it was also one of the most spectacular and effective I have ever seen."
"Thank you Chief."
"Just, next time you decide to do something crazy? Warn me first, It's going to take me a couple days to get Engineering cleaned up!!"
Ng Hu's words broke the tension on the bridge, sending everyone into laughter. "All right Chief, I will," Sarah returned as she tried to suppress a giggle that would have made her sound quite young. She turned and took the command seat again. "Angelita? Did we loose communications?"
"De' blacked out when we jumped," Angelita replied. "But, I think I got them back.
As to signal Angelita's success, the Captain's voice came over the open channel she had set up. "Commander? Are you still there?"
"Yes sir," Sarah said with a sigh. We're still here, and the warship is gone, though, I think we are going to need a tow, the engines took a bit of a beating from that little stunt we just pulled."
"We are sending two tugs from the yards," a Kilrathi voice returned.
"Thank you."
"Good Job Sarah," Rikes returned, the smile obvious in his voice. "Pass that to the rest of the crew as well."
"Aye sir, Galatea out," Sarah said as she leaned back, looking out the transparent shield as the armor plate retracted away from it. Then, she punched the ship wide intercom. "Crew of the Galatea, this is Commander McLoude, Great job everyone, not from me, but from the Captain down on planet, we saved a lot of lives today, and that is something to be proud of."
***
Captain's Log,
The Galatea has
spent the last few days inside the Golar Vek shipyards tending to the minor repairs needed after the
fight with the Warrior council. During that time, the Kilrathi Parliamentary Government
has voted to approve not only our request for safe passage, but use of any
Parliamentary shipyards whenever time and need arises. We have entered into a
loose alliance, if not a formal one, with this civilization, mostly because of
our actions and deeds. Commander McLoude and Lieutenant Weis were honored by
Parliament for their rolls in defending Golar Vek. Sarah transported down the day after the incident,
leaving Galatea in Chief Ng Hu's capable
hands.
MY First Officer seemed
a bit overwhelmed at first with the treatment she and Iella
were receiving. Apparently in this culture, to act as a shield to someone unknown, or even an enemy is considered the greatest of
honors, and the Kilrathi here have come to respect the two women as honored
heroes. There was a short broadcast ceremony for them in the main chamber of
the
Today we leave Golar Vek to continue our voyage
of exploration. We have made an ally, but unfortunately, I am afraid we have
made an enemy as well. However, time will only tell how bad this enemy will
truly be.
***
Captain Rikes smiled as he saw Sarah and Yuhon step out of the lift and onto the bridge. The did not look at each other, just simply walked to their stations. Rikes suspect the two had just come from one of their 'getting to know you' sessions in the lounge. Rikes also noticed Delta's face as she eyed Sarah rounding to the duty officer's chair and took note that there could be a problem developing there later on.
Not now though, he thought with a smile as he looked across the bridge. All the bridge crew, even Ensign Angelita, their 'pinch hitter' of sorts, an officer called upon to fill anyone's seat while they were out of action was standing next the Lieutenant Christian. Cief Ng Hu and his wife stood to the opposite side of the command chair as Sarah's duty chair.
The crew had preformed well and he was proud of his people, proving again that each one had been the right choice for their duties.
"C'pan," Delta called out. "Transmishun from Golar Vek."
"On Screen."
The Dromess and the other members of the Parliamentary Council appeared on screen. "We thank you again Captain, for your crews brave intervention, and we hope to hear from you soon on your journeys."
"Thank you Dromess, as we have agreed, you will receive anything we find."
The Dromess nodded in respect. "Till we see each other again Captain, safe journeys."
"Thank you," Rikes siad, and with that, the transmition ended.
"We have been cleared through Golar Vek d'fense cooridorah," Delta announced.
"Course plotted and
ready Captain,"
"Very well Mr. Dayton. Mr Rocky, take us out system."
"Aye sir," Rocky chimed and his fingers danced.
The Galatea pulled free of orbit, and as soon as she was clear of the planetary system, launched herself into warp, continuing her mission once again
End