Quantum Fury
2409
[Starbase Versailles]
Khiy had just finished a full checkup by Kelcy, dealt with the commander’s normal scolding, and was headed back to his quarters when he was intercepted by the Trill Admiral. He didn’t know much about Enor other then the fact that the Vice Admiral was becoming the deputy commander of the fleet, a bit of knowledge which confused him since another small bit of information he did know was that the Trill and Cerywyn did not get along. “Greetings Admiral.” Khiy was cordial even though he found Enor to be a bit irritating.
“Ah, I was just looking for you Commander.” Jolias studied the young man. It was hard to read his expression which always seemed to be stuck in ‘serious’ mode. “There is something I wanted to discuss with you. However, I think a more private venue would be better.”
Khiy nodded his head and beckoned for the trill to follow him. He led the Admiral down the corridor and into the turbo lift where he set the destination to the bowels of the Starbase. For the most part that section of the station had been deemed off limits but he was certain with a flag officer accompanying him there wouldn’t be any serious attempt to stop them. When the lift doors opened he stepped out followed by Enor and immediately a security officer moved to intercept them “I’m sorry Commander and” the man paused and studied Enor “Admiral- This section of the station is currently off limits.”
“It’s fine.” Khiy looked at Enor who was watching quietly “the Admiral is here to inspect this section. It’ll be brief and there is no need for an escort.” Khiy carefully motioned to his holstered sidearm and the security officer nodded not wanting to seem too intrusive he stepped aside and let them pass. Khiy walked in by followed by the Admiral and he wondered what Commander Cain might say when she found out but he could easily levy blame onto the Admiral.
Jolias first noticed the stench. The area smelled like musty Klingons only amplified “what is this place?” He asked Khiy. The floors were littered with a lot of trash, most of which seemed to be tattered papers, broken bits of crates, and other bits of items he couldn’t recognize.
“The bowels of Versailles.” Khiy answered and continued to lead him down the corridor “it’s where most of the criminal element on the station does their business aside from the toothless targh.” And Khiy knew that the only criminal element there were Commodore Fury and his band of goons “although security has started a heavy crackdown of this area they haven’t been too forceful. If you have something private you want to discuss or if you have some illegitimate business to conduct. This is the best place to do it.”
“I see.” Jolias said and he meant it literally. As they walked through the dimly lit corridor they had passed at least three sets of Ferengi conducting business with an assortment of aliens including a band of dingy looking Nausicaans. “Well, this certainly doesn’t look like the friendliest place. Where can we talk?”
“Here.” Khiy led the Admiral through a half opened door into a small cargo space that was empty. It was basically Khiy’s second office. He used it whenever he was gathering information about the black market “it’s secure and no one will overhear you. What is it you need to discuss?”
“Nice decorating.” Jolias did his best to ignore the splatter of blood on the wall and began pacing “you rescued the Romulan Praetor, I’m sure they’re pretty favorable towards you for that.” He stopped and looked at Khiy “are you familiar with the USS Charon?”
Khiy nodded “it is the Luna Class exploration vessel you put under the command of Shiarrael t’Rehu, a former Romulan wing commander who formulated the Romulan plan of attack at Tomika, a plan that resulted in the defeat of Federation forces.” He glared at the Admiral “the USS Charon was sent through Romulan space to explore the back end of their territory. Specifically a cluster of stars discovered by the Vulcan science academy and until the USS Charon the Romulan government had refused any Federation vessel passage through their space to reach that stellar cluster.”
“Well informed I see.” Jolias bit his lip finding the Commander a bit hostile towards him “until recently the mission had been proceeding smoothly. However, there was an attem-”
“Attempted mutiny by the Marines assigned to the Charon.” Khiy finished the sentence for him “not meaning to be rude Admiral but I am well aware of that incident. You have decided to send the Quantum Fury to retrieve the Marines and to provide fresh personnel to the Charon.”
Jolias winced “can you read minds too Commander?”
“No, but I do have excellent hearing.” Khiy continued to hold a glare on the Admiral.
“Ah, so you overheard my conversation with Cerywyn.” Jolias smirked “good, then I can just skip summary and get to the point. I need to get the Quantum Fury to them but the hard part is convincing the Romulan government. That’s why I want to put you command of it.”
“I am not command material and I refused to be used as a political pawn.” Khiy frowned. He didn’t like the idea of having to supervise an entire ship. His mother was good at that but he didn’t feel he inherited her sense of command. Also, the idea of the appointment only being to appease the Romulan government made him feel even more leery of the suggestion “the reason you appointed Shiarrael t’Rehu was to convince the Romulan government to acquiesce to the science mission. We can now see the fruits of that appointment.”
Jolias stiffened at the last comment. Normally he was pretty laid back but he wasn’t going to let this officer speak to him in such a manner “Commander, let me remind you of your place first and secondly the primary duty of Starfleet is exploration. So far Rehu has proven herself an apt commanding officer.” He sighed and stopped pacing “There are a dozen marines who are currently in Romulan custody. I’m sure you know how Romulans treat their prisoners? You may not like the commanding officer of the Charon but you are a Starfleet officer and there are over three hundred Starfleet officers aboard the Charon. They need relief.” He stared at Khiy “if you hate command so much after the mission ends you can resign and go back to being one of Cerywyn's lackeys.”
Realizing he was being out of line Khiy nodded his head “I apologize for my comments.” He sighed and considered the Admiral’s proposal over. Enor was right, when he finished he could call it quits and go back to doing his own thing. He was also well aware of how Romulans treated prisoners. He was surprised that Rehu could have handed them over without much protest “very well, I will accept your request.” It was true he didn’t approve of Rehu’s appointment but he couldn’t hold that against the Charon’s crew.
Jolias grinned “good, Cerywyn is already privy to this detail. The only issue now is how to build a new command crew. Most of the original crew transferred off to other stations. I’ll speak to the commanding officers of the ships docked at Versailles and see who they can spare for the mission.”
Khiy felt like he was being cornered but he had already accepted Enor’s request. Hopefully it didn’t turn into a disaster.
Unexpected Detour Part I
2409
[USS Quantum Fury]
“The faint signal detected six hours ago appears to be a distress signal Commander.” T’Ern’s never changing visage looked at her Captain from the operations station. Her shoulder length raven hair was neatly trimmed but it’s shaped reminded Khiy of the old Romulan military unisexual look. Even though he found her appearance rather cumbersome he valued his Operation officer’s keen insight. She, like most Vulcans, was prone to unnatural correctness in both calculation and manner.
It took him a moment to digest the depth of the information. So far from Federation space Khiy had to wonder if it was their responsibility to answer this distress signal. The Romulans certainly would have noticed it- but would they care? And if they didn’t should he involve the Quantum Fury? “How far away is it and how long will it take us to get there?”
This time, Alia, the fair skinned Deltan helmsman spun her seat around to face Khiy “I have looked at the signal’s origin as calculated by Lieutenant T’Ern” she glanced at T’Ern to emphasize the credit “and I believe we can reach the signal’s source in less than two days at maximum warp.” T’Ern looked at Alia and nodded in confirmation at the final piece of information.
“Will the engines be able to handle it?” Kaen said. The Cardassian was wearing his normal unnaturally dapper expression as he sat next to Khiy. His eyes seemed to glimmer in the bright lighting of the Quantum Fury’s bridge. He wants to investigate this. Khiy thought. Even though they had only served together for a few months he had become accustomed to the look in the Cardassians eyes whenever his curiosity was piqued.
“I believe so.” Alia said, her neutral expression was almost Vulcan but she was confident. She was a great pilot so Khiy trusted her and the lack of T’Ern interjecting a correction into the Deltan’s assessment solidified his opinion. Not that it made things any easier for him.
“What do you think Commander?” Khiy turned his head to look at his Cardassian executive officer. It seemed as though Onarin was expecting the question. His smile shifted into a grin and he leaned forward looking at the view screen. He looked almost smug- and annoyingly like the Cardassian Guls Khiy had encountered- full bluster and little else.
“I think we should go Captain. At worse it’s a four day detour and I’m sure Admiral Cerywyn will understand. We are Starfleet vessel. It’s not in our nature to ignore a distress signal.”
Would she understand? Khiy wondered. He had specific orders. Deliver relief personnel to the USS Charon, make an assessment of the situation, and return with injured personnel and the marooned Marines. The latter of which was impossible since the Marines were missing and probably dead. However, he knew Onarin was right. Starfleet officers didn’t just ignore distress signals and shrug them off. Cerywyn might have a fit but they should at least investigate to ensure that help did indeed arrive to those people. He nodded “set a course for the origin of the signal and engage at maximum warp.”
Alia spun around to face her console “yes sir!” The entire mood on the bridge seemed to change with the order. Energy. Khiy thought. They are excited to do something other than play chauffeur. Even the normally subdued T’Ern seemed subtly enthusiastic about the change in pace.
Present…
[USS Quantum Fury]
“Arrival in one minute Captain.” Alia announced.
Khiy sat up; his eyes focused on the moving star field displayed on the view screen “do scanners detect any Romulan fleet activity in the area?” He asked. T’Ern had discovered six hours previous that the distress signal stopped. All efforts to locate any information about the source of the signal from local comm. traffic proved negligible. Since the source of the signal emanated from a planet located outside of the official boundary of the Star Empire he decided to keep course and see if aid had been rendered but now he felt slightly concerned about the situation.
“Nothing on sensors or scanners Captain.” Nik Nok said. The reptilian’s long black tongue slipped rapidly in and out of his mouth like that of a serpent. Khiy could see he wasn’t the only one with reservations. Either aid had been rendered or something much worse had happened. There were plenty of stories he remembered; all about Romulan commanders simply torching worlds to absolve themselves of irritating issues.
“I don’t like this.” Khiy said. Onarin nodded slightly in agreement. “Bring us to yellow alert. When we drop from warp keep the cloaking system on-line until we have a chance to assess the situation.” His ‘gut’ was screaming at him that something was not right.
“Ten seconds.” Alia said “nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one- arrival now!” The passing stars on the view screen immediately stopped and the long streaks turned into dim specks obscured by a bright glowing nebula. The Quantum Fury twisted and pulled up, from the edge of the view screen moving towards the center was a bright green and blue planet. Slowly it grew from a tiny dot to encompass the entire view screen.
“Detecting a Romulan ship- it’s to starboard” Nik Nok’s translator whirled the words out violently. A large shadow seemed to encompass the section of cloud cover the Quantum Fury hovered near. The view screen image switched and like a massive beast an old D’Deridex loomed behind them eclipsing the light of the local sun.
“Have they seen us?” Khiy asked. His eyes watched the ship now looming on his view screen with the utmost concern. While the D’Deridex was an old Romulan warhorse it still had more than enough bite to crush the Quantum Fury.
Unexpected Detour Part II
2409
[USS Quantum Fury]
“No, it does not seem so Captain.” Nik Nok said.
“Whew.” Onarin sighed “don’t see many of those these days. I would have thought the Romulans would have phased those things out by now.”
“This is the frontier commander- they are the last ones to receive any technology. This has been and will always be the least of the Empire’s focus.” Khiy frowned at the threatening visage now haunting his viewscreen “Lieutenant Nik Nok, scan the area meanwhile Ensign Three, scan the planet. Run passive scans to avoid detection from the D’Deridex.”
“Yes sir.” Both officers echoed.
It took only a minute for Nik Nok to find something interesting- and distressing “Captain. Sensors are detecting residual weapons residue. From analysis the computer believes they originate from Romulan disruptor fire and Starfleet phaser discharges.” Khiy wasn’t the only one surprised by the news. Everyone on the bridge stopped to look up at the reptilian save for Three and T’Ern who were busying themselves with their consoles.
“There was only one other-”
“The Charon.” Khiy said interrupting his executive officer’s thought. “Were they destroyed?” He asked. His stomach churned. While he had no love for Shiarrael t’Rehu the crew of the Charon was another matter. Nik Nok’s clawed fingers loudly rapped on the console as he worked to get the information- however T’Ern spoke up in his stead.
“Forgive me Captain; I have taken the liberty of accessing the tactical data.” Khiy looked at T’Ern, Nik Nok seemed somewhat relieved by her interjection “according to the debris data I have gathered the Charon has not been destroyed. However, it appears to have been significantly damaged and judging from the pattern of residual weapon discharges, debris, and impulse signatures, they were being pursued by at least four other vessels. The signatures lead directly into the nebula.”
Khiy sighed and leaned back in his chair “perhaps they were able to escape.”
“Unlikely Captain.” T’Ern said; her tone cold and neutral “they were pursued into the nebula by four other ships. While the Charon has certain advantages in such an environed the level of damage based on the debris greatly decreased their chances of survivability.”
“Thank you for that ray of sunshine Lieutenant.” Onarin quipped- his original mood having soured considerably in the span of minutes.
T’Ern’s brows perked “ray of sunshine sir? I do not believe I understand your statement. Certainly a ray of sunshine would be impossible to-”
“It is a terran aphorism.” Onarin said grimacing “never mind Lieutenant, thank you.” He looked at Khiy “do you think they set up the Charon sir? They would have come here just like we did- to help. But why is this ship still out here?”
“I believe I can answer that question.” Three said from his science station “I have been scanning the planet and I have detected one thousand three hundred life signs- however in this short time period that number has already decreased to one thousand one hundred and fifty- or approximately eleven point six percent of the population had died in one minute and twenty seven seconds.” Three’s short blond hair obscured the obsidian implants which covered his slightly tanned skin “upon further inspection I detected a thin layer of abnormal biomatter located in the stratosphere. I believe a biological weapon is being tested on the planetary population sir.”
“They’re here to record their work.” Khiy was disgusted- this was the exact reason why he despised these people. His blood may be Romulan but his heart would never be anything close “the Charon may have accidentally stumbled upon something they should not have.”
“It seems that way.” Onarin grimaced- and odd expression for a Cardassian. “What should we do? The Charon may be in danger and those poor people on the planet…” His voice trailed off.
“They’re dead.” Khiy stated it simply “they will all have died long before we have any plan of action formulated. If we act without thinking we will be no better off. We are no match for that D’Deridex warbird- not without a plan.” Khiy stood up and slowly made his way towards the view screen “shift image to system-wide holographic display.”
T’Ern simply nodded and the view screen dimmed and in front of it a holographic diagram of the solar system appeared. Khiy stepped into it- his fingers sliding through stars and nebula gasses. He touched the planet and it zoomed on the holographic display “we are here- it appears to have two moons; both are on the other side.” He turned around and looked at the bridge crew “we will use one of the moons to aid us in our cover. In the meantime we will find a way to help the Charon.” If there is still a Charon to help.