Captain’s Log, Stardate 49761.1:
The Dauntless has been assigned to patrol the Romulan Neutral Zone. Intelligence reports have noted an unusual
amount of Romulan activity near the Galorndon Sector, and Starfleet Command
feels it best to ‘Show The Flag’ in the area.
In the meantime, I’m using the spare time this will afford to meet our
newest crewmembers.
Koester, out.
The most unusual feature about the
Klingon standing on the Bridge before
Either way, Ensign Korlan deTuille
was a very unusual crewmember.
“You come highly recommended,” the
Captain said to the Klingon/Romulan hybrid as he glanced from the padd
containing Ensign deTuille’s service record to his First Officer, newly
promoted Lt Commander Virgil Dylan Kane.
“Though I question Starfleet’s need of an Intelligence Officer aboard, I
suppose it’s a good idea for this mission.”
deTuille remained silent and
stone-faced, simply looking at the Captain.
Koester, feeling slightly uncomfortable, continued.
“Uh.... Though most of the time I
suppose we’ll be more likely to require your services as Helmsman.”
deTuille remained silent.
Koester stood, offered his hand, and
said, “Welcome aboard, Mister deTuille.”
deTuille looked at the Captain’s hand, back at the Captain’s face, and
remained stone silent.
“Uh.... That’ll be all. Dismissed,” Koester said.
The Captain almost felt a wave of
relief as deTuille entered the turbolift.
The Bridge bustle was slightly
subdued this day as the ship made its way toward the Romulan Neutral Zone. At the Helm, Ensign Ethan Othello, another
recent addition to the crew, adjusted the course slightly, as Commander Q hovered nearby watching over
him. Ensign Xavier ‘Xenon’ Adosh, who
seemed to have a more ‘military’ attitude to Koester than most Starfleet
Officers, manned the Engineering Station.
And at the rear of the Bridge, Lt(JG) Ga’gh Schuukveldlaan, a native of
the planet Wilryk in the Gamma Quadrant, and the first being from the Gamma
Quadrant to join Starfleet, stood watch at the Security/Tactical station.
“Mister Shoo... Mister Shuck... Mister Shuuv...,” Koester stuttered. “Aw, hell.... Lieutenant Ga’gh, what’s the
status of the short range sensor calibration?”
The huge alien, built like a Klingon
warrior but with an intellect closer to that of a mature Vulcan, looked up at
his new captain.
“Everything A-Okay and on schedule,
Captain,” Ga’gh said. “Sensors will be
at optimal condition upon reaching our patrol area.”
“Very well. Exec, who do I meet next?” Koester asked as
he returned to his seat.
Kane checked the computer screen between
the two command chairs and smiled conspiratorially as he said, “Our new Command
Master Chief.”
A smile spread on Koester’s face as
he said, “Ah, yes. Our
And almost as if on cue, the
turbolift door opened and the new ‘Chief of the Boat’ stepped down to stand
before the Captain. Koester’s jaw fell.
“Chief Kyman?!” the Captain
exclaimed.
Master Chief Petty Officer Pono R.
Kyman did a double-take on the CO as he himself asked, “Captain...Kirk?!?”
The Bridge was dead silent for a
moment, than suddenly filled with the raucous sound of laughter as the entire
Bridge crew, except the Captain and Chief Kyman, broke down laughing.
“Him? The legendary Captain Kirk?” howled Q.
“Hardly!”
Koester and Kyman simply looked at
each other, Koester’s finally saying, “It seems we have a lot to talk about,
Kyman nodded, than smiled.
Space, the Final Frontier...
These are the voyages of the
starship Dauntless.
Her five-year mission...
To Seek, To Chart, To Explore.
Slipping the surly bonds of Earth,
Going where none have been before.
Star Trek:
Dauntless
“Playthings”
By
PJK
Sub-Comander Truul adjusted his
sensors. Despite all the wonderful
things the ability to cloak had provided for the Star Empire, it still bothered
the Sub-Commander the way the cloaking shields degraded his sensor’s abilities.
“I read no other ships in the area,
Commander,” Truul reported.
Commander Tembok smiled and said, “I
expected no less, Sub-Commander. As I
said all along, the reports are exaggerations and overblown.”
“But, Commander,” Truul said. “Shouldn’t you put some reliability in the
reports of five fellow commanders?”
Tembok sneered.
“Fools and favorites promoted merely
to fill a quota. But it is no matter
either way. The galaxy trembles at the
name of the Warbird Romulus!”
The Romulan flagship,
“Helmsman,” the Commander said. “Move on to the next sector.”
“Yes, Commander,” the Helmsman
responded, and the
* * * *
The Dauntless dropped out of warp just outside the Galorndon System and
assumed a patrol of the Neutral Zone.
Meanwhile, in the Captain’s Ready
Room, Captain Koester and his
“Until this morning, I had always
wondered how we’d escaped from the
“History had to remain on track,
“Captain, I’ll be one of the last to
complain about what you did back then,” Kyman said with a slight laugh. “Because otherwise I wouldn’t be here to
complain.”
The Captain placed his tea cup back
on its saucer and was about to add another comment when he was suddenly
interrupted by a voice with a thick
“Cap’n, shields jus snapped
on-line,” reported Commander Ray Russell.
“Soundin’ yella alert.”
“Acknowledged,” said Koester. “I’m on my way.”
Koester, followed quickly by Kyman,
stepped out through the Ready Room doors and onto the Bridge.
“Report.”
“Thay ain’t nothin’ out thea,”
Russell said with confusion.
“Mister Ga’gh?”
“Sensors are clear,” the Wilryk
stated.
“Then what activated...”
Koester’s sentence was cut short by the
fact he suddenly found himself, along with most everyone else on the Bridge,
laying on the deck.
“What happened?” the young captain
demanded to know.
“Unknown, sir,” reported Othello,
sweat running down the Betazoid’s dark skin.
“I’ve lost helm control. We’re
heading into the Neutral Zone.”
* * * *
“Commander,” said Truul. “I’m sorry to disturb your dinner, but I
think you should see this.”
“Yes, Truul, if you’re interrupting
my dinner it must be important,” Commander Tembok said, his voice full
of sarcasm. Tembok stood, murmered his
apologies to the Centurians and Sub-Commanders sitting at the table around him,
and walked out onto the Bridge.
“So what is it, Truul?”
Truul looked up at his commander and
said, “Sensors just picked this up, moving across the Neutral Zone.” He transferred the image to the viewscreen.
The image was fuzzy, due no doubt to
the distance involved and the fact the
Tembok’s upswept eyebrows crossed in
annoyance.
“Why are they doing that?”
The question amazed Truul, in as
much as it made no recognition of the fact the Federation ship was violating
the treaty. He scanned the ship again.
“According to sensors, their warp
drive is engaged, full reverse, but still it seems they are being pulled across
the Neutral Zone.
“Maybe those other reports weren’t
such nonsense after all, ehh, Truul?” Tembok mumbled with a hint of amusement. “Helmsman, plot an intercept course.”
The Helmsman started to enter the
new course into the Warbird’s computer, but before he could reply, another
officer reported, “Commander, our cloak has dropped!” And suddenly the
With the Warbird and the Dauntless headed toward one another at a
speed just below the warp threshold.
Collision seemed eminent, when suddenly, only a few hundred meters
apart, both ships suddenly changed course, and moving sideways as if being
dragged, moved deeper into the Neutral Zone.
* * * *
Captain’s Log, Stardate 49766.8:
Having been dragged across space by an unknown
force, the Dauntless now finds itself
in orbit of a small, uncharted, barely class-M planet in the heart of the
Romulan Neutral Zone. Sharing our orbit,
to our alarm, is a Romulan Warbird that decloaked while on a collision course
with us two hours ago.
Apparently the Romulans are as powerless as we
are, but tensions are running high and I’m keeping the Dauntless at yellow alert.
Koester, out.
“What’s your opinion, Mister
deTuille? Could this be some sort of
Romulan trap?” Koester asked his new Intelligence Officer. The half-Klingon/half-Romulan Starfleet
Officer looked thoughtful for a moment, the only expression Koester had seen on
deTuille other than his usual stone-faced expression since the new officer had
reported aboard.
“Theoretically, I suppose two or
three Warbirds in tandem could tow an Intrepid-class starship like we were, but
that would assume they could use high power tractor beams while cloaked,
without us detecting the tractors. And
if they could do that, why not simply destroy us? And why drag one of their own ships here as
well?” deTuille offered.
“In other words, that explaination
raises more questions then it answers,” Koester said. deTuille started to shrug and ended the
motion with a nod.
“Mister Othello, status?” the
Captain requested.
The new Helmsman rechecked his
status board and confirmed, “All control is normal, Captain. We’re in a standard orbit of this small
planet. The Warbird remains in a
geostationary orbit two-hundred kilometers higher.”
“Mister Russell, what’s the
Warbird’s status?”
“Thea at mimimal powa, sah. Shields lowad and weapons off-line.”
“Mister Shoo... Mister Sh...
Damn... Mister Ga’gh, hail the
Warbird.”
The Wilryk Junior Officer pressed
the indicator. A moment later he
reported, “Hailing frequencies open.”
“Romulan ship, this is
The screen blinked to the image of a
Romulan Commander sitting in his own command chair.
“Tembok, commanding the Romulan
flagship
Counselor Sutherland, who until this
point had been standing near the Science Station, sat down in the small seat to
the Captain’s right and spoke softly in his ear.
“Captain, the Romulan Commander is
presenting a confident front, but underneath he’s confused and worried.”
Koester nodded and said, “Thank you,
Counselor.” Then to Tembok, “Commander,
I want to assure you that we are not responsible for our ships being towed to
this planet.”
“That much is obvious,” Tembok said
with contempt. “But what are your
intentions now?”
“It appears ship control has been
restored to the Dauntless. Our intention is to break orbit and return to
our own side of the Neutral Zone. Do you
still require assistance, Commander Tembok?”
“No, but your concern is noted,
Captain. We too will resume our mission
on our side of the Zone.”
“Very well. Dauntless,
out.”
Koester motioned to Ga’gh to cut the
com line. The screen changed to the view
of the stars and the light-tan planet spinning below.
“Mister Othello, plot a course back
to our patrol route. Engage, warp 2.”
“Plotting a... Captain, I have a problem!” Othello said.
“What is it?” Koester asked, though it
was obvious. The planet on the screen
had suddenly taken up most of the view. Dauntless’ orbit was deteriorating.
“Helm, full impulse. Take us out of orbit.”
“I’ve lost control of impulse and
warp drive.”
“Bridge to Engineering,” Koester
almost shouted. “What’s the status of
our drive systems?”
“Impulse systems and warp drive are
on-line and at 100%,” responded the ship’s new Warp Field Specialist, Ensign
Nathanial Johnson. “We should be running
like a scalded monkey!”
“Cap’n, we’re entern’ the
atmosphere,” reported Russell. “Outa
hull tempcha 100 degrees C and risin’!”
“Raise full shields!” Koester
ordered, than mumbled to himself, “I swore I’d never do this.” He turned back toward the helm. “Prepare to deploy the landing legs!”
“Shields ‘r non-responsive,” Russell
reported.
“What next?” Koester demanded
rhetorically.
“
“Mister Othello?”
“Nothing, sir,” Othello responded in
frustration, uselessly pounding on his controls.
The Dauntless plunged into the planet’s atmosphere, starting to glow a
dull orange color.
“Two minutes until structural
collapse,” Russell reported. “Exteria
tempcha, 200 degrees C. Interia tempcha,
91 degrees.”
Koester’s thoughts momentarily turned
to his young daughter, right now attending nursery school in the ship’s
training facilities, and to Q, with
whom he shared a mysterious bond.
Perhaps she could...
“Cap’n! The Romulan ship’s just locked a tractor beam
on us. Our speed is slowin’ and we’re
headin’ back up to orbit!” Russell said with a grin.
Koester smiled slightly and mumbled
under his breath, “Thank you, Tembok.”
Then to Othello, “Assist with thrusters.”
As the Dauntless cleared the atmosphere and its hull cooled, Othello reported,
“Full control has returned, Captain.”
“Finally! Bring us alongside the Romulan vessel.”
“Captain,” said Counselor
Sutherland. “I’m sensing something. A strong emotion, something akin to... amusement.”
“Coming from the Romulans?” Koester asked
with suspicion.
“No, from...”
Before Sutherland could finish, the
turbolift doors snapped open and Q
barreled out, shouting, “The planet!”
“Yes,” Sutherland confirmed.
“I can feel a great power there,” Q explained. “So powerful that it seems to fill this area
of space.”
“Captain!” exclaimed Chief Kyman as
the turbolift doors snapped open again and the El’Aurian entered the Bridge.
“Don’t tell me, let me guess. You sense a powerful presence?” Koester
asked.
“No.
I do sense something though...
This may sound funny to you, sir...
I sense... immaturity.”
Now Koester was completely confused.
“Mister Kane,” Koester said, turning
toward his First Officer. “I want you to
assemble an Away Team.”
Kane nodded, but his reply was interrupted
by Russell at the Ops Station.
“Transpotas won work, Cap’n. I don’t know if it’s the ionizashun our
passage through the atmosphea caused, or some field emminatin’ from the planet,
but transpotas are useless.”
“Great,” Koester mumbled. “Bridge to Engineering.”
“Engineering. Lt Commander Bloom.”
“Jeff, I want you to ready the
Koester looked at those gathered
around him, deciding the priorities of who he needed where.
“Commander Q will be in the shuttlebay shortly. I want the two of you to investigate the
planet below.”
Sutherland was about to protest when
Koester raised his hand to stop her.
“I need you here in case we have to
deal with the Romulans again, Counselor,” he explained. “And upon careful consideration, I’d rather
not do without my First Officer right now either. Q,
go.”
“Aye, Captain,” the Trill said and
disappeared into the turbolift a second later.
* * * *
“Dauntless,
this is the shuttlepod
“Confirmed,
Slowly, the shuttlepod descended
toward the planet’s surface. As the
small craft entered the planet’s atmosphere, a light began to quickly flash on
the control panel.
“Uh-oh,” said Bloom. “Lost control indications, lost vector
thrusters... We’re going down!”
Q
immediately hailed the Dauntless.
“
Koester, on the Bridge of the Dauntless, looked toward Russell with
concern.
“I’m sorra, Cap’n. The ionizashun field won let me lock on!”
“Tractor beam!” Koester shouted to
Ga’gh.
“Out of range,” the Wilryk answered.
“God-dammit, we’ve got to do
something!” Koester almost screamed. He
could feel the terror of the two in the shuttlepod. Sutherland moved over, taking the Captain’s
arm and leading him back to his chair, simultaneously transferring some of the
terror from him.
The shuttlepod began to roll over
and over. Recovery had become an
impossibility, even if control was restored.
The ground loomed closer and closer, coming at the two Starfleet
Officers faster and faster.
And then the shuttle impacted on the
surface.
“NO!” Koester screamed, a tear
making its way down his face.
Everyone on the Bridge, especially
those who had been aboard the Dauntless
since its launch, knew how close the Captain was to the Chief Engineer, and
more so to Q.
Kane looked up at Russell, asking,
“Is there any chance there were survivors?”
Russell silently shook his head.
* * * *
The Dauntless drew closer to the huge Warbird when suddenly the Romulan
ship spun away, tumbling around and around out of orbit. Captain Koester, who had been sitting down on
the couch in his Ready Room, attempting to regain his composure after the
emotional gauntlet he had just been through, saw the immense green starship
tumble away. The Captain stood up to
return to the Bridge when just as suddenly the Dauntless too was pulled out of orbit, heading out into space in
the opposite direction from the Romulus.
Koester entered the Bridge to find
his crew again sitting helplessly as the ship was drawn away by the unknown
force.
“This is getting real old, real
fast,” Koester complained.
“Distance from planet, one-million
kilometers,” reported Othello.
“Distance from Warbird, two-million
five-hundred thousand kilometers,” reported Ga’gh.
The distance kept increasing until
the Warbird was barely detectable on the long range scanners. Then all at once the ship became motionless.
“Report,” said Kane from the XO’s
chair.
“We’re motionless in space relative
to the planet, now two-hundred million kilometers distant. All systems for propulsion still
unresponsive,” Russell reported.
Koester looked at Kane and said,
“What’s next?”
“Sir, we’re moving forward at
maximum impulse,” reported Othello.
“Very good. Get us out of here!”
“But, sir,” the young Betazoid
said. “I’m not doing it.”
“Cap’n,” said Russell, causing both
Koester and his First Officer to turn around.
“Accordin’ ta sensors, we’re on a direct collision course with th’
“Dear God, not again,” Koester
muttered.
* * * *
On the planet’s surface, two figures
extracted themselves from the wreckage of the shuttlepod
“We should have been killed in that
crash,” he said.
“Old 20th century crash survival
position,” she shrugged. “Guess it still
works, huh?”
Bloom chuckled. As he finished climbing out of the wreck, Q checked through their equipment.
“Tricorder’s shot,” she said. “But my combadge is still functional.” Tapping it, she tried to raise the Dauntless.
“Nothing,” she said after a couple
of fruitless attempts.
“You don’t suppose they were
destroyed?” Bloom asked with alarm.
Q
closed her eyes for a moment, her concentration elsewhere. When she looked at Bloom again she simply
stated, “No.”
The two officers started to gather
their survival equipment out of what remained of the
“What is it?” Q asked.
“Listen,” Bloom said, his pointed
ears perking a little more as he tried to locate the source of what he heard.
Q’s
puzzled look strengthened as Bloom grabbed her arm and lead her over a
rise. When the two reached the top what
they saw on the other side astonished them.
Three people lounged around atop a
checkered blanket, an almost typical family scene. The family looked almost exactly like those
portrayed in the black & white situation comedies of Earth’s 1950’s. The ‘father’ relaxed off to one side, wearing
a business suit and tie. The ‘mother’
wore a pink dress with a necklace of pearls.
And the ‘little boy’, off to a side by himself, wore a red and white
striped shirt, shorts, black suspenders, and a little propeller beanie
cap. The mother and father sat together,
apparently talking to one another, while the young boy played with his toys by
himself, which he ‘flew’ straight toward one another. Toys that looked remarkably like the Dauntless and the
“Hello?” Q called out to the family.
At first it seemed no one heard her.
“Excuse me? Hello!” shouted out Bloom.
The mother glanced over toward the
two disheveled Starfleet Officers as they climbed over the low hill, then
looked at the boy with annoyance.
“How many times do I have to tell
you to play nicely without hurting the little pets you find or breaking your
new toys?” she said. “I’ll just have to
take them away until you learn.”
“But mom!” the boy whined.
“No buts,” the mother said.
“Listen to your mother,” the father
advised.
Continuing to ignore Bloom and Q’s attempts to greet them, the mother
started picking up the young boy’s toys, placing them in the pockets of the
apron that now covered the front of her pink dress.
“Come now, it’s time to go home.”
“Aww, mom, do we hafta?” the boy
pleaded.
“Yes, it’s half a millennium past
your bed time. Coming, dear?” the mother
said, turning her attention to the father.
But as Bloom and Q made their
way down the other side of the rise and started running toward the family the
three of them simply faded from sight, along with the blanket and all evidence
they had ever been there.
Q
and Bloom looked at each other.
“What were they?” Bloom asked.
“I don’t know,” Q responded.
* * * *
“Distance, one-thousand kilometers
and decreasing rapidly,” Ga’gh reported, excitement accenting his voice. “Time to impact, thirty seconds.”
The moments ticked by, second by
second. The Warbird loomed closer and
closer. Sweat dripped like molasses down
the back of Koester’s neck.
“Captain! I have control again!” Othello exclaimed.
“Impact in ten seconds!” Ga’gh reported.
“Warp us out! Full impulse!
Do something!” Koester shouted.
“Too late to alter course! This’ll have to do!”
A tractor beam, set to repel,
emerged from the Dauntless, striking
the forward hull of the huge Romulan ship.
But rather than move the Romulus,
as most on the Bridge had hoped or expected, and both Koester and Kane knew
would not happen with the Warbird’s huge mass, the Dauntless ‘leap-frogged’ over the Romulus, completing its course into orbit on the other side.
A moment later, everyone on the
Bridge started breathing again.
“Excellent work, Mister
Othello. Status report, all stations.”
One by one the reports came in. The tractor beam had overloaded some ship’s
systems with the strain, not the least of which was the transporter. But navigation, propulsion, shields, and
weapons were all back on-line and in working order.
“Captain,” said Ga’gh at
Tactical. “I’m getting a communications
signal.”
“Put Commander Tembok on the
screen,” Koester ordered.
“No, sir. It’s from...”
“Away Team to Dauntless. Nice of you to
come back for us.”
“Q?” Koester asked with hope.
“Who else, you schmuck!”
“Are you alright? Is Mister Bloom with you?”
“I’m here, Captain,” the Vulcan’s
voice responded with happiness. “We’re
both fine. Though I think we put a dent
or two on the
Koester could not help but laugh.
“We’re ready to beam up,” Q’s voice said, also sounding happy.
“Well, Away Team, we’d love to
accommodate you, but the transporters are down.
We estimate...” Koester looked at
Ensign Adosh.
“Sir, four hours to repair, Sir!”
Koester rolled his eyes, than
repeated the estimate to Q and
Bloom.
“We’ll send down a shuttlecraft,” he
added.
“We’ll be waiting,” Q responded.
* * *
*
Q
tapped her combadge to close the channel when she unexpectedly felt a somewhat
familiar tingle cover her body and a hum filled the air.
Bloom and Q found themselves materialized on the transporter of the Romulan
ship. Before them stood two Centurians,
a Sub-Commander, and Commander Tembok. Q and Bloom looked nervously at each
other through the corners of their eyes, and slowly lifted their hands in
surrender.
“I offer you a ‘lift’ and this is
how you thank me?” Tembok asked, mild contempt in his voice. Bloom’s eyebrow again rose as Q warily lowered her arms.
“I wish to send my thanks to your
Captain,” Tembok said. “If your ship had
not activated its repulsor beam when it did, both of our vessels would have
been destroyed. I only wish I could
explain to my superiors what happened here.”
“We may have a partial explanation,”
Q offered and the two Starfleet
Officers began to tell, quite expressively, what they had seen on the planet’s
surface. When Q and Bloom had finished, Tembok, still very skeptical, looked at
Sub-Commander Truul.
“Opinion, Truul?”
“There are still a great many things
we don’t understand in this universe, Commander,” Truul said.
“You’re as vague and meaningless as
ever,” Tembok complained, then pressed a button on the transporter console.
“Tembok to Dauntless. I have your two
crew members aboard the
Koester’s astonished voice answered,
“Thank you, Commander. Much
appreciated.”
“And I believe, Captain, that when
you debrief your crew, you will make the same recommendation to your Starfleet
Command that I will make to my government.
That the area we refer to as the Ulthia Delta, your Galorndon Sector,
should be placed off-limits. ...For
safety reasons.”
As Tembok closed the comlink, he
looked back at the two Starfleet Officers still standing on the transporter
platform.
“Goodbye, Commander Q.
And it was a true pleasure meeting you, Commander Bloom. You were no where near as boring as most of our
Vulcan cousins can be,” Tembok said.
Bloom chuckled as the transporter energized and he and Q faded to nothingness.
* * * *
Captain’s Log, Stardate 49770.2:
I have recommended to Starfleet that marker
buoys be placed around the Galorndon Sector, warning ships not to enter or risk
possible damage and destruction. The Dauntless is moving on to her next assignment.
Koester, out.
Personal Log, Stardate 49770.2:
What was it Q
and Bloom encountered on the planet?
Obviously beings of great power and intellect, but where did they come
from? What are they called? And what do they truly look like? At first I thought maybe they were other
beings from the Q Continuum, but Poe assures
me they aren’t. They even looked down on
her as an inferior being. Merely
a pet to be played with.
Perhaps one day we will evolve enough to be
considered their equals. But for now,
it’s best to stay out from underfoot.
The End
Return to 2372.
Return to Stories Archive.