Improper Procedure

Posted on 26 Mar 2012 @ 5:29pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm
Edited on on 20 Apr 2012 @ 11:58am

1,549 words; about a 8 minute read

Mission: Episode 01 - Project Sienna
Location: USS Petersham, Klingon Neutral Zone
Timeline: MD 01 - 0830 hrs

[ON]

"What the hell is going on?" Captain Lonera yelled loudly across the bridge, slapping her hand across her chair's console in frustration. "Why haven't we received clearance yet?" she demanded from the nearest member of her crew.

"No one's answering our hails, Cap'n. Been like this for ten hours now." a husky voice belonging to the operations officer replied from behind her.

With a ruffled sigh, the captain slouched back in her chair and placed her fingers together as she contemplated her next course of action. The USS Petersham, her Miranda Class transport, had been patiently waiting on the outskirts of the Klingon Neutral Zone for almost half a day. Their hails requesting permission to cross the border had gone unanswered and Lonera was at the end of her rope. Her simple orders to resupply Starbase 152 were turning into one of the most time-consuming adventures, and a serious test of her patience.

"Anything on sensors?" she asked her science officer, a young Vulcan ensign.

"Indeed." came the soft reply. "I'm detecting several tachyon emissions bearing three-five-one mark nine, distance thirty-thousand kilometers." she added as she adjusted the main deflector's EM band to compensate for the interference. "There is a high probability that they are the result of one or possibly several cloaked ves--."

"Captain!" interrupted the operations chief, "I'm picking up a ship on sensors..." his voice trailed off as his fingers manipulated the information on his console, "Bird of Prey bearing three-five-five mark five, ten thousand kilometers. We are being hailed." he finished, looking up at the captain and waiting for the next course of action.

"Finally," Lonera muttered as she straightened her uniform and sat up properly in her chair. "On screen." she ordered, then watched the view screen flash to suddenly display a rather feminine-looking Klingon captain. Her ridges weren't as pronounced as a male's, and her facial features were more delicate, her neck and uniform adorned with Klingon armor.

"Star-ship Petersham, you will proceed to the designated coordinates where your ship and crew will be searched for illegal contraband. Then you may proceed to your destination." she said with a thick and aggravated Klingon accent.

Before Lonera could reply, the viewscreen suddenly went black as the communication was terminated, leaving the bridge crew to stare at one another in stunned silence. Searched? Designated Coordinates?

"Illegal Contraband?!" she exclaimed in a fit of anger. "What the hell does that mean?!"

"Captain," began the operations chief as his console chirped, "I've just received a set of coordinates from the Klingon ship. They're two light years from here, not very far off of our original course." he said, then paused for a second before continuing, "I don't see that we have much choice if we are to complete this delivery on schedule." he added.

Lonera paced slowly across the front of the bridge and contemplated her options before turning back to the chief. "Do we have anything on board that would be considered 'illegal' by Klingon standards?" she asked. The captain and her XO had hastily departed Starbase 234, and had not had a chance to review the full inventory all of their cargo items, nor had they been briefed on the sensitive nature of the delivery.

"Honestly Cap'n, there's stuff in those containers that I've never seen before. The rest of it is a bit of a mess...magnetic field coils, bioneural circutry, power flux relays. I don't even want to guess what it's being used for because I honestly have no idea." he said, a little disconcerted. "And if it looks suspicious to me, there's no doubt that it will to the Klingons." he added.

"Agreed." replied the captain as she stroked her chin in thought. The chief was right, of course, and there was no way to accomplish their mission without traveling through Klingon space, which meant subjecting her ship to a full search. She mulled over her options for a second before turning towards the helm. "We'll just have to take our chances then. Helm, set a course for the designated coordinates, warp eight. Engage." she said simply.

The Miranda Class starship slowly came about, curling around the Klingon ship as she positioned herself at the new waypoint. With a bright glow, the blue warp nacelles flashed white as they snapped the Petersham into high warp, leaving a faint trail of plasma in her wake.

Four hours later...

Not much time had passed before the Petersham returned to sublight space, the stars snapping stationary around the ship as she approached the designated coordinates provided by the Klingon captain. Slowing to one-quarter impulse, the Petersham crept slowly through space. On the bridge, Captain Lonera waited patiently as she spoke in hushed tones with her chief of operations.

"Did you take care of the entire manifest?" she asked him quietly, curious as to where he had found the space to hide some of the more exotic pieces of cargo equipment.

"Pretty much," he replied with a nod, "The rest of the cargo is just standard stuff. Food rations, replacement parts, maintenance tools...nothing that should look out of the ordinary. I've isolated all of the advanced equipment inside several of our holodecks and rigged a makeshift sensor dampener to the holomatrix. It should throw them off enough to ignore the area and keep moving." he added.

The captain nodded in approval. "Good job, Chief. Let's hope for the best." she said as she returned to her command chair. "Helm, full stop. Open hailing frequencies." she ordered, then adjusted herself in her chair as a loud chirp signaled the activation of an open comm line.

"This is the Federation starship Petersham. We have been diverted to these coordinates and await clearance to proceed to Federation territory." she said simply.

Several seconds passed with no reply, followed by minutes, and finally, an hour and a half. The space surrounding the coordinates was barren. No nebulae or spacial phenomena, no nearby stars for at least five light years, and no ships, except for the lone USS Petersham.

"Well? What's the problem now?!" the captain grumbled out loud, her hands spread open in frustration. "Are we at the right coordinates?" she asked.

"We sure are, Cap'n." replied the chief as he tapped several command into his console. "Honestly, Ma'am," he added, "It wouldn't surprise me if this is some sort of twisted Klingon joke."

The Vulcan science officer turned in her chair, slightly amused. "Your assessment could be accurate, Lieutenant." she chimed in. "Klingons are known for their rather peculiar and...inappropriate sense of humor."

"Try hailing them again." Lonera said as she let out an annoyed huff.

Several moments passed until the operations chief finally spoke up. "Klingon vessel decloaking off the port bow. Vor'cha Class battlecruiser." he called out, "They're hailing us."

"On screen." she replied, turning her attention towards the large view screen. The image shifted, this time displaying an older Klingon man, his gray hair and beard finely-combed. His dress was much more elegant than the previous captain's, and his dark robes suggested that he was of a much higher rank. "To whom am I speaking?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"I'm Captain Rose Lonera of the starship Petersham. We're on our way to Federation space for a resupply mission and we've been instructed to proceed to these coordinates and await further instructions." she replied.

The Klingon captain stared unwavering into the view screen before finally speaking in a slow and deep voice. "We must search your vessel for unauthorized contraband. You will keep your weapons offline and prepare to be boarded. We require access to all areas of your ship." he said.

"Now hold on, that's completely unnecessary," Lonera protested as she rose up out of her chair, "You may scan our vessel, however no Klingon personnel are to step foot on my ship." she forcefully replied.

"Unnecessary for you...perhaps. But not for us." the Klingon captain replied with a grin before his image suddenly cut out, replacing his face with an image of his green and gray battlecruiser on the view screen.

"Cap'n!" the chief called out with caution in his voice, "I'm reading multiple transporter signatur--" his voice cut out as a series of speckled red transporter beams materialized on the bridge in several areas. The captain had just enough time to turn around and watch a Klingon warrior materialize in front of her before she was overcome with agony, a sharp and severe pain at the base of her spine. Her body went limp and she crumpled to the floor in front of the captain's chair, her eyes squeezed shut as she struggled to catch her breath.

Using the element of surprise and superior numbers, the Klingon quickly and efficiently seized the Petersham. All around the ship, Klingon security personnel boarded the small Miranda Class and incapacitated her crew using a combination of taser sticks and hand to hand combat. Most of the unconscious crew were merely left aboard the ship while she was searched, however a select few were transferred to the Klingon command ship...for interrogation.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

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