Chapter
Six
The
ten survivors came on board and were given quarters…I was kind of strange
seeing the hundred year old bodies walking around the ship. Stevenson was in
command of the first away-team to be sent to investigate the
The
other team members were Ensign Gerhard Fischer and Amanda Marlowe, both
engineers from his staff on board the Valiant.
"Ready?"
He asked as they stepped into the transporter room.
"Yup,"
Marlowe was already holding her tricorder in her right hand.
Chief
Robinson greeted them and said: "Whenever you're ready." Once they
were upon the transporter pad.
Stevenson
nodded: "Energize…"
They
found themselves on a deserted deck of the
"Engineering
should be just that way…" Stevenson gestured in the correct direction.
They
began walking in the eerily silent and empty corridor, not a sound was to be
heard besides their steady breathing within the EVA suits and the hollow sound
made by their heavy boots upon hitting against the cold metal of the deck
plates…
Soon
enough, they were in main engineering. Marlowe immediately began taking scans
around her.
"Yup,"
She nodded. "These engines haven't been used in decades…"
"Really…"
Stevenson sighed. "I would never have guessed…"
* * *
"Glad
to finally meet you in person…uh…kind of." Kline smiled as he shook the
hand of Reelin--or to be more precise: the hand of
the late Captain Rose Meier…The hand was unusually cold, the skin was truly
dead…It was strange.
"Indeed,"
She smiled. "We are also glad that we have been released from that
prison…A few more days and the stress on the ship would have been too great, it
would have been ripped to pieces."
"Yeah,
we were lucky." He nodded. "I'm curious…What will you do now? I've
never heard of your race before…Where will you go?"
"I
believe we shall attempt to get back home, I'm sure your Federation will be glad
to offer its help."
"We
certainly will be." Kline agreed. "And I'm sure you won't mind if our
two species could do some sort of…information exchange…See what we can learn
from one another."
"Excellent,"
She nodded. "It shall be a marvelous relationship…"
Kline
grinned: "I certainly hope it shall…"
* * *
"Wait
a minute…" Marlowe frowned as she studied the readings on her tricorder.
"I'm reading an organic signature…"
"Where?" Stevenson approached her to catch a
glimpse of what was displayed on her tricorder.
"Right…over…here."
She approached a door and used the manual handle to open it.
"Whoa…"
Stevenson
crouched near the body and turned it over, his face contorted into an
expression of disgust when he saw in what state the body was…Decomposed, the
skin brown and falling from the dirty skeleton.
"I
thought this ship was in a vacuum…" Fischer said. "How could this
body have decomposed?"
Stevenson
took a few readings of the corpse with his tricorder: "Whatever
happened…This body had the time to decompose. The ship wasn't in a vacuum…And
this person was killed by an energy weapon…The degradation here tells us
that…"
"Who
killed him?" Fischer asked.
Stevenson
frowned.
* * *
"This
ship is truly marvelous…I am so glad to be here." Kline couldn't remove
his gaze from Reelin's face as she stared out the
window of the mess hall in wonder. "Thank you, Captain…For
everything."
"Call
me, Alan…" He said with a smile. "You're not a Starfleet officer
so…"
She
nodded: "Alan…What else is there that you show me on board this
ship?"
"I
don't know...what do you want to see?"
"Do
you have a room on this ship? Quarters?" She
asked with a glint in her eye.
He
grinned: "Of course, follow me…"
* * *
"They
told us the ship was in a vacuum a short moment after being caught in the
rift…But this corpse obviously tells us that the vacuum came at least a few
years after…The officer was killed with an energy weapon…hmm…" Stevenson
scratched his head.
"They
killed them…" Marlowe said immediately.
"Wait
a minute…How can we?" Fischer began.
"We
don't know anything about them…" She interrupted. "How do we
know they are the nice little cute noncorporeal
beings they pretend to be? I think we've been fooled…"
Stevenson
nodded: "You're right…We can't risk them taking over someone on board the
ship. If they don't have friendly intentions we'll be in a bad situation."
Fischer
agreed.
Stevenson
activated the communicator in his EVA helmet and said: "Stevenson to Valiant…I
want the ten Tnathian survivors from the
Sutter's
voice answered after a brief hesitation: "Understood, we'll be beaming
you back immediately."
"Thanks,
Commander…See you in a minute."
* * *
"I
haven't had time to decorate my room yet…" Kline said. "Work takes a
lot of my time."
"I
understand," She strolled slowly around his quarters, checking out a few
little statues Kline had placed on his desk. "You are an interesting man,
Captain…"
"And
you are a very interesting wom…uh…" He smiled.
"You are very interesting too."
She
grinned and came closer to him: "It has been a long time, trapped in that
ship…"
"Must've
been hard…" He said, his gaze locked with hers.
"Yes,
I was so lonely…My comrades are not the most interesting beings in the
universe…" Her large eyes stared into his with intensity. "They are
not like you…"
Kline thought: What the hell… As their faces came closer together. She was a noncorporeal being…So what? It wasn't stranger than a
Klingon and a Ferengi (Something he had heard about).
Their
lips touched and Kline was expecting a normal kiss…But it was definitely
not a usual one. As soon as they touched he felt electrocuted, but not in the
same way as with other woman…This really hurt. He tried to pull away but
her hands grabbed him behind the neck and kept him locked in the terrible
embrace.
"Mmfff…" Was the only sound he managed to make in sign
of protest...
Then
he felt as if she was blowing into him, emptying all her air into his body. He
felt as if his lungs were going to explode, his neck was burning from the
inside and the world was becoming blurry.
There
was a brilliant flash of energy and everything went black…
* * *
Stevenson
stepped into sickbay and was relieved to see Captain Kline sitting on his
bio-bed, looking as terrible as ever--if that was possible.
"How
are you, Captain?"
Kline
sighed: "I feel young again, Lieutenant."
"You
sure look a lot younger, sir." Stevenson winked. "So…What
exactly happened? Nobody's told me just
yet…"
"Well…"
Kline took a deep breath. "I was being…friendly with Reelin.
And she kind of…Uuuuh…Well, she tried to take control
of my body with that fancy noncorporeal thing she
does…And Mantion came into my quarters just at the right moment and stunned
both of us with the maximum setting on her phaser."
"Great!
And now they're in the brig, right?"
"Right,"
Kline nodded. "We'll drop'em off somewhere…By
the way, I've heard I've got you to thank for informing us about the truth
about our Tnathian friends…"
"It's
no problem…"
"I
should have known something was wrong…In my dream I saw her hacking the bridge
crew to pieces…She killed them. Maybe not with a sword but she killed
them." Kline sighed. "Damn…"
The
Captain yawned then said: "I better get some sleep…Now that they're not
playing with my mind anymore I guess I'll be sleeping after this exhausting
day…"
"Exhausting…"
Stevenson repeated, nodding. "What exhausted you specifically?"
Kline
blinked: "Huh? I don't know…"
"The stun beam or the noncorporeal
kiss?" Stevenson grinned.
Kline
groaned: "Both, what do you think?"
* * *
The
next day, Sutter heard the turbolift doors open. She turned and saw Captain
Kline walk onto the bridge…But a new Captain Kline.
"Morning
everyone," Kline smiled. He had shaven, fixed his haircut, gotten a new
uniform and looked as healthy as ever.
"Hello,
Captain." She smiled. "I'll unfortunately have to note you in the
ship's log."
He
frowned: "What?"
"You're
an hour late for the beginning of the shift, sir…" She said with a grin.
"This kind of behavior is unacceptable."
He
sighed: "Come on, Commander…You relieved me of command yesterday…Not only
that! You stuck me in the brig! Have a little compassion for your poor
captain."
She
shrugged: "Well…Okay, but I don't want this to become a routine."
"Nah, of course not." He waved his hand
dismissively. "I promise not to sleep long that often. Deal?"
"Deal,"
She nodded.
"Okay…"
He smiled. "I'm relieved…"
"So
are we," Eskina said from his Ops console to the left of Kline. "Good
to have you back to normal, sir."
"Normal?" He frowned. "I was
normal…Just tired because of their mind games."
"Really?" Eskina raised his brows in
mock-surprise. "I really thought you had lost your mind…"
"You
fooled us Captain." Sylvia Burnel said from conn, smiling.
He
sighed: "It's always great to know your crew trusts you…"
He
shrugged: "Set a course for the nearest starbase, warp 6. Engage. Stay on
the course; if possible…I'm not crazy."
"Let's
hope," Burnel winked at him and activated the engines.
-THE END-
Star Trek and all
related names is the property of
Star Trek S-I and
all related stuff is the property of Agelshaxe