EP 7 "EROWOON: PART I" - TEASER
The section of the SS Fantasy which the
survivors of the K’Tani invasion had come to know as the Command Yacht slid
silently through space, passing fleetingly through the Borovati system at warp
speed.No-one noticed on the Borovati
homeworld, of course.Well how could
they?Even had they possessed subspace
telescopes or scanners, the Borovat were a subterranean race and only the
foolish and stupid thought of life on the surface.
Besides, covered almost entirely in a jet black metallic
substance, the vessel could hardly be seen against the backdrop of night.
COMMAND YACHT 1124 HOURS
Captain Christian walked around the
Yacht’s upper bridge, his sense of achievement increasing with every stride he
took. At last, a run of good luck, he
thought, and scratched his unkempt beard.
He was desperate to tell the others of what he had just found following
their most recent escape from K’Tani clutches [see last ep – ed], but he knew
that it was something best kept secret for the present.
“No sign of pursuit, Captain,” towering
over the tactical station, the middle-aged yet still trim and imposingly
handsome angular frame of the Andorian Ambassador for Trade Narli re-checked
the long-range sensor display.He turned
to the Captain, his slicked back hair, neat Van Dyke beard, eyebrows,
eyelashes, teeth and the whites of his eyes all a dazzlingly white contrast
against his cobalt blue skin.“I’d say
we’ve lost the K’Tani for at least for a day or two.”
Christian smiled and turned to the gently
perspiring, rotund African American Commodore as he sat down beside her.
Oblivious to his inquisitive stare, she
pinched her button nose beneath the bridge of her glasses, her lower eyelids
uncontrollable twitching from physical and emotional tiredness.
“That’s excellent news, Ambassador,” he
said.After their first warp jump out
of danger, Christian had ordered Reb find a succession of other pockets of
clear space from where they could make short and seemingly random warp jumps,
in an attempt to evade even the most persistent of K’Tani trackers.
Christian thought back to that time, just
an hour or so earlier, after escaping the K’Tani by the skin of their
teeth.The half Ferengi helmsman had
proffered a best guess as to the location of the rest of the ship based on
their recent navigational logs.This
prompted the Captain to make the unpopular decision to first lead the K’Tani a
merry dance before they re-connected with the rest of their vessel – it was
risky, and would use valuable fuel, but Christian insisted they do their best
not to lead the K’Tani to the other survivors.
Whilst Reb had executed the carefully
calculated series of warp jumps under Jackson’s beady eye, Christian took a
moment to himself in his office, whereupon he had made this outstanding recent
discovery he was so desperate to share.
Christian couldn’t stop thinking about it
– and realised several more minutes had passed since he’d spoken.
For a heartbeat he wondered if Reb had
miscalculated the final return vector. “Mister Rebbik, how long until we get
back to the Command and Passenger Sections?”
Reb merely gestured to the main
viewscreen of the Command Yacht bridge as they dropped out of warp, star
streaks shrinking to pin pricks of star light all around and a vague dark image
in the space before them grew steadily larger.
In less than a minute, Christian and his
bridge crew saw the rest of the Fantasy parked in space ahead of them.
However, the Passenger Section's sleek
nacelles were now visibly deployed and glowing with life, protruding from what
appeared to be long indentations in each side of the ship.
The smaller, more compact Command Section
nacelles some distance behind and below them were also deployed, but were
shades of dull grey and off-line, as if like small dead wings.
Even at this distance they were all reminded
just how big the ship truly was – and in the short time they’d been aboard they
barely knew a tenth of her.
Ambassador Narli tapped his console
controls several times, switching to a short-range sensor diagnostics
setting."Although I'm getting
indeterminate readings from the hull, from the energies they are emitting those
larger nacelles appear to be fully powered."
“They must have got them working
somehow,” Reb commented.
It was an odd site, Christian thought to
himself, seeing the long, dark ship, almost invisible to the naked eye against
the blackness of space, with two sets of nacelles fully deployed.
He focused on their first task.
"Can you zoom in on the..ah..
separation furrow?" Christian wasn't sure of the correct terminology for
that area in the top of the Command Section, though he was sure the designers
had a name for everything on this curious vessel.
Perhaps now he wondered, with enhanced computer control more or
less fully restored, they would be able to gain archive access and ascertain
the exact history of the ship.Everyone
was curious to know how it had reached the Outer Zone in the first place, what
the K’Tani had done with it, what other mysteries it contained – and of course
how they could use it to their best advantage.
Narli tapped the controls some more,
activating the viewscreen angle menu, each movement ringing a soft localised
'beep' to his long, thick blue-fingered caresses.
"On screen," he said, posting the desired image to the
main viewscreen.
The original white surface of the concave
connection plane would have shone in brilliant contrast to the surrounding
glistening night-dark hull had it not been blackened and charred around the
many power connection points and docking tethers, showing evidence of where the
Command Yacht had so violently ripped free hours earlier.
Cabling protruded from these points,
twisting out into the vacuum of space like innate sea anemone.
A small explosion had also opened an untidy
gash very close to one of the tethers, its right-angled hook now not quite
flush with the housing as it was meant to be.
Warnerburg sighed audibly to Christian’s
right as she made a calculated visual estimate of the repair needs.
"It's too damaged for us to reconnect
out here.The whole area requires an
extensive dry dock overhaul by the look of it."
Narli’s comm panel flashed a
message.“I’m receiving a signal from
the other part of the Fantasy, Captain, audio only.”
Without waiting he posted it to the speakers.
"Fantasy Beta Section to Command
Yacht," Lirik's English voice was crisp and clear over the short-range
comm channel.
The Captain slapped the leather arms of
his chair with uncontrolled joy, curious at the expression ‘Beta Section’, but
accepting it as means of identifying the Command and Passenger Sections
combined."Mister Lirik, for once
it is a pleasure to hear your voice.”
Jackson shot the Captain a disapproving look at the untimely jibe,
glowering at him over the top of her spectacles.
“What's your status?"
In the mellow surroundings of the
Secondary Bridge over on the Command Section, Lirik swallowed the Captain’s
unkind remark away and shifted in the centre chair as if to recompose
himself.There was too much detail to
explain everything that had transpired in one hit, so he carefully tried to
sound as much like a Starfleet Commander as he could – suddenly keen to impress
the Captain."The Command Yacht's
unscheduled separation took a heavy toll on us – I’m afraid we have two dead,"
gasps from some Main Bridge crew at this, "and the Command Section's warp
engine has been disabled in the process."
The Captain shifted in his own chair,
eager to know who the dead were, but suppressed the question until later.
“What happened?”
"Having initially lost main power we
switched over to reserve generators.
This somehow brought as yet inaccessible systems back on line, including
the security systems that had previously cut us off from the Passenger Section,”
he said.
“Something similar happened to us,”
Warnerburg blurted out, but her eye was caught by a disapproving glance from
the Captain.“Sorry…”
“Carry on, Yeoman,” Jackson hurriedly
said.
“We made our way to the Passenger
Section’s main engineering and sickbay areas respectively.
Commander Leonard managed to start up the
warp core - we are now running off main power from there, slaving fuel supply
from the Command Section tanks.
However, we're so low on fuel reserves that we’re rationing power to all
but the most necessary areas. Sadly
Lieutenant O’Hara’s venture to sickbay was not as rewarding, though she would
like to immediately relocate her operations there once full power is
restored," Lirik could carry on, but that was all he thought the Captain
would want to know for now.
One pressing thought forced itself
forward in the Captain’s mind, though he was also conscious of his own relief
that O’Hara and Leonard didn’t appear to be either of the two dead.
“I’m afraid your situation will get worse
before it gets better, Yeoman.There is
a possibility that harmful arachnids are roaming the ship.
Take all the necessary intruder protocols –
confine people to secure sections.
Don’t let anybody wander off, and keep all duty personnel in groups with
at least one person armed.”
“Understood, Captain,” Lirik nodded over
to a depressed looking Souveson sitting at the tactical station.
She barely reflected a nodding response at
her new task, deflated at not being more in the thick of things on the Yacht’s
bridge, out-done by the veterans around her.
It was a difficult situation for her to handle emotionally, even though
she was, as the Captain had asked her to be, Head of Security and Acting
Tactical Officer.Perhaps when she was
in his presence, she wondered, she would begin to feel more useful and
appreciated once more.
“Did you find the K’Tani agent?” Lirik
asked, eager to know what had happened to the mysterious Bajoran girl – he
assumed from the outset that she had been responsible for the Yacht’s
unexpected departure.
Jackson whispered something into
Christian’s ear."Let’s just say
she won’t be any more trouble.Standby…
er Beta Section." Christian called to Reb; "How does space look ahead?"
"The intense ionisation we’ve been
passing through begins to dissipate about ten minutes from here at maximum
impulse," he nearly smiled, but held it back for some reason.
"Clearer space exists beyond
that."
“We are in what we call ‘hash’ space,
Captain,” Ganhedra called over from the distant corridor.
“Beyond Qovakian space, but not quite in any
other state.There are several routes
further away from the K’Tani that we may take from here.”
The old man with thick, leathery antennae
moved away from his group of people and came to stand beside the helm station.
"Unfortunately we’re none of us going
far at the moment.We first need to
find somewhere local to dock and make repairs,” the Captain called down to the
alien leader.“We also need fuel – plus
food, medicine and other supplies.Is
there a friendly race who might help us anywhere hereabouts?"
The old man bowed a deep nod.
"Not a friendly race as such, but there
is Erowoon, a merchant trader station in a corridor of neutral space, about
seven or ten hours at warp speed from here, give or take.
It’s a port of call between Qovakia and several
other races.Though I warn you that the
station mostly extorts its visitors for profit, so we would need a good deal of
collateral just for the privilege of docking there," the Helan had
anticipated the Captain's request and began to show Reb its approximate
location on the navigation planning controls.
“I’m not worried about the money, Sir,”
Christian smiled, much to Ganhedra’s horror.
“You should be, Captain.
Although the station provides a full range
of maintenance and repair services, they charge way over the odds.
The more shrewd visitors opt to make use
instead of one of the many private shipping companies, shipwrights or scrappers
who use the station as a base from which to drum up business,” the old man
said.He spread his fingers and clenched
them tightly together.“There are a
good few dozen such installations in these parts.
Most know they can undercut the station’s prices by more than a
third, so I recommend we merely make an overnight stop to find an independent
dry dock supplier, take on fuel and supplies, and then continue our journey on
to the private dock.”
"Mister Lirik, I take it you have
warp capability?" Christian glanced up at Jackson and followed her gaze
toward the Helan group gathered on the lower part of the bridge behind Ganhedra,
whispering softly amongst themselves.
He had also observed them in such a way more than a few times since
coming aboard – there was just something not quite right about them…
"Yes, sir, all flight systems appear
to be fully operational," Lirik said, "However, if Ganhedra's
estimation is correct, we’d run out of fuel before we even got half way."
Ganhedra suddenly turned from his
location next to the helm and looked up at the ship’s commander.
"Actually, I recommend we take only the
Command Yacht on to the station anyway, Captain.”
“Oh?
Why is that?”Christian noticed
the rest of the Helan slowly leaving the Bridge.
“As I mentioned the station is located in
neutral territory that is merely a thin, winding corridor between a number of
states beyond the border of Qovakia.
While they do not have much of an opinion about who they trade with, I
suspect that with the recent K’Tani invasion of Qovakia, they will not be
exactly welcoming to potential refugees or asylum seekers,” Ganhedra fluffed
the cuffs of his jacket slightly.“The
Yacht is more or less in good working order and would pass as a passenger or
cargo transport of sorts.But with so
many people aboard, it’s possible they would regard the Beta Section as an
escape vehicle, a casualty of the invasion, and most likely refuse docking
rights,” he had a strange, almost cruel glint in his eyes as he spoke - as if
he were proud to be conveying such gloomy information.
“We would have to find somewhere to hide
the Beta Section, then…” Christian gazed off deep in thought.
“How can we be sure Erowoon hasn’t also
been invaded, or at least infiltrated by the K’Tani?” Jackson felt concerned;
walking into a trap would end in certain defeat.
“I would doubt it,” the old Helan
scoffed.“The local population don’t
exactly like the K’Tani.During their
last occupation the K’Tani constantly intercepted any traffic going to or
returning from the station that passed too close to its own Qovakian border
patrols..“Needless to say the
station’s shareholders didn’t appreciate such interference, let alone the
friends and relatives of those who perished in such incidents.”
“Then surely that’s a good enough reason
for us to steer well clear…?” Jackson deterred.
Ganhedra shook his head.
“I think perhaps the K’Tani are still too
busy securing Qovakia and picking off any potential hostiles for them to be
interested in the station.At least for
a few months yet, anyway.”
Jackson flinched at Ganhedra’s matter of
fact assessment.She still couldn’t
decide if he was telling them everything.
His eccentricities didn’t help to sharpen the picture, either.
“Well judging by recent experiences, the
K’Tani seem pretty interested enough in this ship for some reason,” Christian
admitted.“We can only assume that they
will resume their search for it at some point.
Perhaps the Commodore is right.
Is there not another station we could go to?
Somewhere less conspicuous?
Maybe go directly to one of these private dry docks you mentioned?”
“The next nearest station is at least 15
days hence from here, and controlled by one of the most ruthless extended
families in the sector,” the old man said.
“I wouldn’t recommend it for repairs, either, it would be a long, drawn
out and botched job at best.As for
making independent contact with freeporters, well it’s just not done.
Not if you value your life and
property.Since the last occupation,
anyone living on an isolated homestead has learned to shoot first and ask
questions later.No, Erowoon is the
only place to guarantee meeting someone who is legit.”
“Then we have a difficult choice to
make,” Christian said, fixing his eyes on Jackson.
“I’ve been thinking it for a while now, but we could ditch the
Beta Section and continue as we are in the Yacht.”
“It makes sense to me,” Jackson swiftly
agreed – she had always instinctively felt the whole ship was too big for them
to manage.The Passenger Section seemed
like a dead appendage they were lugging around for no reason.
And with the spider creatures on the loose,
it was even more reason to be ditched.
“Captain,” Narli interjected, “if we’re
ever to hope to rescue our friends or take on more survivors, then we would
need a large enough ship to accommodate them.”
“Er, excuse me Ambassador, but we haven’t
even decided on a clear course of action, yet,” Jackson interjected.
“We haven’t even begun to explore the
vessel in detail,” Warnerburg added, “As you said, the K’Tani appear to want it
back for some reason.We know it
contains a lot of inventory intended for the Federation Archive planet – it
could hold some valuable assets for our particular needs.”
“Also, sir,” Lirik piped up from across
the speakers, “its unique configuration of interdependent and multi-redundant
systems and especially the cloaking substance it’s covered in are all a
distinct tactical advantage.”Souveson
shot him a glare at that remark – she felt it was her duty to point out such
facts, not his, and once again she’d been pipped at the post.
Christian nodded to his bridge crew,
smiling about one such valuable asset he’d stumbled across.
“My thoughts exactly.”
He turned to Jackson.
“So we’ll keep hold of the whole ship for
now then.Commodore, perhaps we should
take our chances with these people of Erowoon.”
“In my opinion, Captain, the station is
only interested in turning a tidy profit,” Ganhedra added.
“I do not believe we would be in any
danger.”
“I’m still uneasy,” Jackson bit her
lip.“Isn’t it too risky putting our
trust in such total strangers?We’ve so
much to lose.And virtually nothing to
trade with.What if there’s another one
like that android girl aboard the station?”
‘Android girl?’ Lirik thought to himself,
surprised but understanding a moment later.
“As I said, don’t worry about the money,”
despite being annoyed at her giving something away across the comm channel,
Christian couldn’t restrain a grin – a little too widely for Jackson’s
comfort.“The fact is we need supplies,
and we need them quickly.And who
knows, as well as finding a repair contractor we may also gather information on
the fate of our comrades.Perhaps even
make some allies in the process.”
On the bridge of the Command Section,
Ensign Souveson couldn’t contain herself any longer.
“Captain, as your Tactical Officer I recommend we at least assess
the risks further before making a final decision.
Going to the station in the Command Yacht is dangerous enough,
but leaving the Beta Section unprotected-”
“Thank you Ensign,” Christian smiled an
almost paternal expression to Jackson.
“But I’ve made my decision. Reb, find a safe place to park the Beta
Section and lead it there – be sure no one will find it, even if they brush
past her.Mr Lirik, once you’re safely
parked come get me and the other section leaders in the runabout, I want to
assess the damage for myself and take a look at the Passenger Section’s
engineering deck.In the meantime,
Ambassador, please would you get together a must-have list of supplies we
need.I’ll be below with the
Commodore.”
Narli nodded, though Reb seemed a little
annoyed by something.Jackson raised a
massaging hand to her brow in disbelief at their fate.
The Captain patted her cheekily on the
thigh.“Relax, Commodore, we’ll be
fine.I feel sure of it,” Christian
smiled.“Come with me and I’ll show you
why.”
* * *
ACT 1