No Man's Land (Part 1 of 10)

Posted on 21 Apr 2017 @ 2:00pm by Lieutenant JG Stephanie Fraiser (KIA) & Senior Chief Petty Officer Martin Caine (KIA) & Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & Commander Aren Ban & Commander Allyndra illm Warraquim & Commander Luke Wyatt & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Commander Marisa Wyatt & Ensign Miraj Derani & Ensign Mimi & Ambassador Soral Varro & Sub-commander S'anara Valdran & Lieutenant JG Eelim Galan & Petty Officer 1st Class Eviess & Chief Petty Officer Crispin Snow & Petty Officer 1st Class T'Lin & Petra Varelli Ph.D.
Edited on on 21 Apr 2017 @ 2:56pm

2,826 words; about a 14 minute read

Mission: Episode 14 - Statecraft
Location: IKS DuJa'Q, Klingon Neutral Zone
Timeline: MD 11, 2235 hrs

[ON]

In her private office -- at least, what passed for a ready room aboard IKS DuJa'Q -- Lirha had found herself preoccupied with a series of intelligence reports that Medara had managed to forward to her less then four hours ago. It seemed strange that the Klingon battlecruiser was still somehow in range of Kreanus' transmission capabilities, but Lirha had a sneaking suspicion that the Romulan commander was using the Federation's subspace relay network to piggy-back her encoded messages through Starfleet space.

The report she now held in front of her on a Klingon data pad detailed the latest ship deployments within the Klingon Empire, specifically those closest to the Neutral Zone. Patrol patterns, fleet movements, and even merchant traffic were all neatly organized and ready for analyzation. She'd matched their entry point into the Neutral Zone to a location which was traditionally heavy on civilian traffic: Rura Penthe. The infamous penal colony was a hub for prison ships and cargo vessels hauling extracted minerals from the world, and Lirha's strategy once they crossed the border was geared more towards concealment than stealth. She knew the Federation traditionally had more trouble detecting cloaked vessels due to their unfamiliarity with the system, but Klingon warships were much more adept at revealing infiltrators -- a necessity that was a result of their long-standing conflict with the Romulan Star Empire.

While she double-checked Medara's intelligence packet with her own predictions based on the data gathered from DuJa'Q's most recent long-range sensor scans, she leaned back in her chair and retrieved her warm mug of hot chocolate. The warm and frothy drink wasn't nearly as pleasant as it could have been had it been replicated aboard a Starfleet vessel, but such were the times. It was a minor inconvenience, all things considered. Just then, her commbadge chirped and a Klingon voice began to speak to her.

"General, we are approaching the neutral zone," said her Klingon first officer, Commander Chorag. His voice was merely informative and Lirha could tell that his demeanor was one of caution and attentiveness.

"On my way," she replied, giving a tap to the silver and gold Starfleet emblem pinned to her decorative sash.


Deck 3, Forward Section - Bridge

It took only a few short moments until Lirha stepped into the bridge. No matter how many times she'd gazed upon it during the past week, the sight of the Klingon ship's command center was a striking reminder of not only the severity of their mission, but also how much she longed for home.

"Report," came her request as she stepped past the aft stations and down toward the command chair. Chorag's chair turned to face her.

"Five minutes until we enter sensor range of the nearest Federation probe," he answered, his dark brown eyes illuminated by the red glow of his chair's console. "All systems are functioning normally. The cloak is holding with minimal emissions."

When he began to rise from the command chair to offer it to her, she held out a hand and shook her head to decline. She instead wanted to observe and take in the information around her with minimal distractions. "Bring the crew to general quarters," she ordered. "I want every station fully staffed."

Chorag flexed his large fingers and tapped the ship-wide intercom toggle on the chair's armrest. "This is Commander Chorag," he began to bark loudly, his voice deep and punctuated with his pointed Klingon accent. "Assume general quarters and prepare for battle!" he relayed. It seemed the concept of Yellow Alert was strangely absent in Klingon starship doctrine.

Amaranai Franklin was in her bed. She wasn't sleeping anymore. She never slept. Her eyes closed and her body rested, but there was nothing close to the definition of sleep that most people would adhere to. She heard the call for general quarters and popped up from her bed and stood. She was still in her uniform, again, so she straightened it - again - and headed to the bridge.

When she arrived, she took her seat at the tactical station and started to check the sensors on their current position and status. Having heard the Klingon say to prepare for battle, she wanted to make sure that weapons were ready and the shields were fully charged.

"All weapons functional and standing by," she said.

Miraj heard the call to battle and knew everything it meant and portended. This was everything she had feared. She could only hope the steps she had taken only a little time before would do something, anything, to prevent the impending mutiny. She got straight up and walked to the bridge, trying to look calm and not about to commit murder.

When she got to her post, Miraj sat down and checked the readings. Her grasp of Klingon had improved immensely over the last two weeks, and she quickly saw where they were and where they were heading. Everything was as it should be, the plotted course taking them in amongst the civilian space lanes, as far as possible from the Fleet sensor net that they could get. They were almost onto the border. Not long now. Her hand slipped down below the panel to the hidden compartment. Her heart dropped further. There was the knife. It was time. She couldn't bare to look at anyone, just in case Chorag thought she was about to betray him.

Mimi was already fast asleep by the time Chorag's loud voice echoed around the ship. "Keelah, nyasi vegeda." she said to herself as she slipped out of bed and slowly into her uniform. Stretching her tired body she jogged towards the bridge arriving in no time at all. "Ops is ready General." Mimi called out trying not to yawn as she spoke.

When Chorag's voice boomed over the intercom S'anara groaned. The longer she spent on the ship, the more she is reminded why she hated Klingons to begin with. To her surprise, the only thing tolerable on this mission was the Starfleet crew. She got out of bed and got herself ready for work. It wasn't too long before she was walking onto the bridge, taking her station.

Aren had been near the bridge when the summons to general quarters had been called. It took him only mere moment to arrive on the bridge. He quickly made his rounds to each station, glancing at each screen so he can get a brief picture of what was going on. He turned to the general, waiting for orders.


Deck 9, Forward Section - Sickbay

Marisa Sandoval was reading an old book of Klingon folktales she'd come across on the ship. It was quite interesting as it helped her with the language and culture. Although she decided that she much preferred the tales of Grimm and Anderson to these. When the call came, she set down the book and hurried to sickbay in case she was needed.

When she entered sickbay, she quickly set about making sure everything was ready in case of more injuries. Allyndra would be busy enough with other duties. Now that she'd had one round of triage with Klingons, she made a few changes as she went to help process them through with as little fuss as possible.

Allyndra spent what time she had in either engineering or sickbay. The quarters available were all too close together and cramped and she definitely could feel the claustrophobia creeping in from the edges. Both places at least offered a little room and she found she was becoming a somewhat decent mechanic. As the ship went to alert, she made her way back to the sickbay and found Marissa already there.

"Now what?" she quipped somewhat grumpily.

"I wish I knew," the counselor said. "Then again, I think I'd rather not. Best guess, we've spotted another ship, or we're crossing into the Neutral Zone."

"A good assessment, hopefully nothing more than just general caution," Allyndra replied taking a deep breath.

Eviess entered sickbay and walked over to Sandoval and Allyndra. "Ladies. Reporting for duty."

"Welcome," Marisa said. "I've got everything set up for triage, but I hope we won't need it."

"OH! Thank you! That was thoughtful." Allyndra was impressed. "Yes hopefully not needed."


Deck 7, Engineering Hull - Armoury

Caine, Martin Caine, was sitting in the armory quietly working hard he thought about the battle at the station. Now we have to get through the neutral zone.

Abbey was sat in the mess hall, its barbaric nature reminded her all to of where she had come from. The alarm for general quarters began sounding and she finished off her soup before heading towards the armory which was her designated post.

Luke was next to stroll into the armory, still thinking about what Miraj had warned him about only an hour before, he quickly scanned the room. In it he saw that Caine and Abbey were already there. Giving them a polite nod Luke sat down on one of the chairs pulled out his phaser and rested it gently on the side as he thought over his next actions.

Eelim finished checking all equipment, I was the only thing that brought him some measure of peace. He heard the call back to stations just as he was packing it in for the night. Sighing he reported back to his station. He saw Luke sitting and took a seat next to him. He gave a nod. "Sir."

Luke looked up, distracted from his own world of self doubt and worry and smiled. "Please, there's no command staff presence here, just call me Luke" He resettled himself before continuing, "How are you doing?"

Eelim smiled. "Very well, Luke." Eelim picked up his equipment and sighed. He hated this. He was still troubled by the earlier tango they danced with Starfleet. "I just want all this to be over. I want to go back to Starfleet," he said not realizing that he'd said it out loud.

Luke couldn't agree more with that comment, everything that had happened had changed the crew in a way that he didn't think would be something they could come back from. "Me too, but don't wish it to soon there's going to be hell to pay when we do go back"

Eelim sighed, "Don't I know it. I just hope we'll have positions to go to when this is over. I worry that we could all be drummed out of Starfleet." This was a scenario that was damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Abbey had stood up and was pacing the room, stopping in the center she turned to hr father and Eelim "Dont worry about that, if starfleet cast us out we can always become pirates!" She teased, "I can be the captain! Being a tough cookie and a stunner works well in that line of employment" Abbey said flickering her hair up and winking at the Cardassian.

Eelim chuckled softly. He'd come to see that Abbey had a great sense of humour.

Luke stood up purposefully "Abbey, Eelim." He said fetching a phaser. "I think we might have a problem. Mr Caine please stay here and watch the armoury." Going to touch his comms badge he stopped, who knew how deep Miraj warning went. Trust the people he had. He thought to himself "Bring you phasers. We're going to the bridge."

Abbey stared at her father curiously "Urm ok?" She said not wanting to question Luke but she did wonder where this sudden sixth sense came from. Standing up she checked her phaser and made sure it was on stun.

Eelim picked up his phaser and headed with Luke. He turned to Abbey as they walked. "I hate being in the dark."

Abbey understood his concern but despite only being around for a short time she also trusted Luke "Luke wouldn't do anything without knowing the facts but you're right I hate being kept in the dark. Let's watch each others backs ok?"

Eelim smiled. Today he'd truly felt a part of the crew. Abbey, Luke, they had treated him as a part of the family. "Agreed." He looked around. "Can I ask you something?"

Abbey followed behind Luke as he left the armour, he seemed uncomfortable and certainly on edge. Whatever was bothering must be something big so for now she would follow him. "Arent you already?" She teased.

He laughed, "I guess. But I meant. Do you ever feel like there is more to this then meets the eye?"

"In what sense? No one can fully comprehend something as we are never fully in control." She said surprising herself with the responce. "If you mean right now? Then yes there is definitely something more than meets the eye."

Eelim smiled. "You remind me of my kid sister."

Abbey looked at the Cardassian "I am not a kid" She said in jest, "But if your sister was a good looking and as bad ass as me then she was lucky!"

Eelim grinned but said nothing.


Deck 9, Forward Section - Science Lab

Petra was playing cards with several non-coms. She wasn't a great card player, but she enjoyed watching the others' game face. With the call, the hands were placed on the table and the winner grabbed his earnings while the others hurried to their stations.

Petra figured she could be most helpful in science so headed there to wait for something to happen.

Steph walked in carrying a sleeping JJ. After her last adventure they had decided to keep her with one of them if possible. Putting her down in the portable cot to keep sleeping Steph smiled at Petra "How was your evening?"

"Well, this may have kept me from losing all my credits in a card game," Petra admitted. "Or it kept me from winning some. Either way, I'm probably better off here. The evening would have ended with a lot of drinking." She nodded to the sleeping JJ, "She's handling it well."

T'Lin only noted that there were others. She turned back to the sensors. While the science sensors on the Klingon ship were vastly inferior to those on the Galileo she figured she could use them and supply feed to the tactical station. The one thing she monitored for was another cloaked ship. As she had mentioned, one could not hide the mass. As long as the mass moved, it caused changes in the space-time which showed up as gravitational waves.

Petra wondered what kind of jerry-rigging had been done to get any sort of sensors in the science department. Even on a starship that couldn't be done. A Klingon ship didn't even have a science station on the bridge. Which probably explained why some enterprising engineer spent far too long climbing through the various conduits and relays to set that up. Ops would have been a better choice, in her thinking. But, as she went to an empty console, she continued to marvel at that particular feat.


Deck 6, Engineering Hull - Main Engineering

2PO Crispin Snow had been looking forward to bed, but fate was not to be kind, and he had to turn halfway to his bunk to head to engineering. Without a fully trained engineer, the crew, such as it was, was muddling along with the patchwork of skills provided by people like him, from operations, and others. Down here you got no information as to the why general quarters had been called, and given what had happened last time, firing on a Starfleet vessel, sometimes ignorance was bliss.

Varro had just finished talking with Eviess when the call came in. Knowing a thing or two about Engineering he decided to go back there and help. He entered, gave a nod to the small group there and took his station.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

GEN Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

Commander Chorag
First Officer
IKS DuJa'Q
[PNPC Saalm]

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

CPO2 Crispin Snow
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q
[PNPC Derani]

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical and Second Officer
IKS Duja'Q

PO2 T'Lin
Science Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Warraquim]

Lieutenant JG Marisa Sandoval
Counselor
IKS Duja'Q

Petra Varelli, PhD
Forensic Anthropologist
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Sandoval]

Ambassador Sorel Varro
Chief Diplomatic Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Petty Officer Eviess
Medical Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Varro]

Lt. JG Eelim Galan
Security Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Varro]

Commander Aren Ban
Executive Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Lieutenant JG Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Chief Security / Tactical
IKS Duja'Q

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Strategic Operations Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Ensign Abbey St James
Security Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Wyatt]

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