Editor’s
Note: This story is a sequel to a USS Sarek adventure written over three
years earlier.
You can read
the original story at “A Fond Farewell.”
Personal log, stardate 51142.6:
While the Dauntless spends a few weeks exploring on the galactic core-ward side of
Federation space, both Ensign Ethan Othello and Commander Q have requested and been granted some leave.
In the meantime, we have a happy occasion to
celebrate aboard the Dauntless. It was recently brought to my attention that
Ensign Dar, our half-Klingon, half-human diagnostic Engineer, and Lt Commander
Carrie Karandanz, one of our senior Security Officers, have become engaged.
A large group, including the Captain
and his young daughter Gem, Counselor Sutherland, Lt Ga’gh, and Dr Dourden
crowded around inside the crew’s mess, watching the ceremony that was
occurring. While not typical, it was
something of a tradition within the Klingon culture that when a non-Klingon
betrothed themselves to a member of a high Klingon house, such as the House of
Kor from which Dar descended, they would change their name.
Karandanz looked straight into Dar’s
eyes and recited the words she had been practicing all morning. With little emotion in her voice, she said,
“As I am now bonded to you, let me now be bonded to your family, your line,
your heritage. I take the name...
K’danz.”
Dar nodded, then himself said, “As
we are now bonded, you, K’danz, are accepted into the House, the family, the
line of Kor.”
The two nodded to one another, which
started the round of applause from the crowd.
And as she started to gently unwrap her hand, K’danz looked out into the
crowd, a pained look in her eyes, and whimpered, “Medic!” Even Dar had to chuckle as Dr Azriel Dourden
made his way to the front, medkit in hand, and sprayed first a disinfectant on
the slash before resealing it with an autosuture.
As synthahol and champagne were
passed out around the crowd, Koester made his way back over to the engaged
couple.
“I’ve already spoken to the ship’s
Quartermaster about moving the two of you to larger quarters on Deck 3,” the
Captain told them. “And I assume you’re
going to want some leave time once the actual ceremony occurs. When do you plan on actually holding the
wedding?”
Before either Dar or K’danz could
answer, they were interrupted by a comm signal from the bridge.
“Bridge to Captain Koester and
Lieutenant Ga’gh,” said First Officer Virgil Kane’s familiar voice.
Koester sighed as he tapped his
combadge, saying, “This is the Skipper.”
A few feet away, Ga’gh likewise responded to the call.
“Sorry to interrupt the ceremony,
Skipper, but we’ve detected a beacon originating at 348 mark 0, approximately
forty-eight million kilometers. I
thought you might like to be on the bridge when we intercept it’s source.”
Koester looked at the faces of his
officers around him, asking, “Do we have any beacon like this on record?”
“No, sir,” Kane answered, apparently
anticipating the question. “Orders?”
“Maintain course,” Koester replied. “I’ll be right up, Exec.” The Captain looked over toward Lieutenant
Ga’gh. “Coming, Mister Ga’gh?”
“This sounds interesting. I think I’ll tag along too,” K’danz said,
making an apologetic glance toward Dar and clenching her still sore hand as the
three officers disappeared into the corridor.
Space, the
Final Frontier…
These are
the voyages of the starship Dauntless!
Its ongoing
mission;
To seek, to
chart, to explore…
Slipping the
surly bonds of Earth, going where none have been before!
Star Trek:
Dauntless
“Payback” By PJK
Koester stepped out of the
turbolift, followed closely by the Wilryk Lieutenant Ga’gh, who took his post
at the tactical console directly behind the Captain and First Officer’s chairs,
and K’danz, the former Lt Commander Carrie Karandanz, who manned the security
station.
Koester walked the few steps down
and around the rail to his command seat, which Lt Commander Virgil Dylan Kane relinquished
as the Captain approached.
“Status,” asked Koester as he took
his seat.
“We’ve just dropped out of warp,
Skipper,” Kane said, taking his own seat to the Captain’s left. “The beacon appears to be a probe of some
sort. Aside from the pulse it is
transmitting, the probe appears to be inactive.”
“The probe bears 340 mark 10,
range... two-hundred-fifty thousand kilometers,” reported Ga’gh.
“On screen.”
The main viewscreen blinked for a
moment, the starfield displayed changing slightly. An object as large as a pinprick could barely
be seen moving slowly across the screen.
“Magnify.”
The screen blinked again, and the
image of the metallic probe appeared.
Koester stood up from his chair and
moved directly behind the helm seat, which was manned by Lt (JG) K’orlan, the
ship’s half-Klingon, half-Romulan Chief of Intelligence, and peered closely at
the image on the screen.
“It looks like Sputnik,” commented Master Chief Pono Kyman from his post at
Mission Ops.
“Sputnik,
Chief?” Kane asked, confused.
“The first artificial satellite to
orbit the Earth,” the El’Aurian man remarked, showing off his personal
knowledge of 20th century.
Turning to face Lt Commander Phillip
Winters, who manned ops, the Captain asked, “Could it be an ancient Earth
probe?”
Winters did not look twice at the
object before glancing at the displays on his panel, then reported, “Sensors
indicate the probe is made up of tritanium and rodinium composites, and powered
by a small fission reactor. It’s
definitely not one of Russ … er … ours.”
“Captain!” Ga’gh shouted, almost
interrupting Winters’ report. “Our scan
seems to have activated the probe somehow.
It’s now scanning us.”
“Raise shields, just in case,” Kane
ordered.
“Shields raised,” Ga’gh confirmed.
“What is it scanning for, Mister
Winters?” Koester asked, returning to the center of the bridge.
“It appears the probe is
extrapolating our hull composition and shield frequency variables.”
“Are we in any danger?”
“Unknown,” Winters replied with a very
small smile. “It is a low energy scan
that...”
Suddenly a bright beam emanated from
the probe, and a squeal like a tornado’s wind filled the bridge.
“What is that?” Kane demanded.
After a moment, Ga’gh responded,
“The probe is trying to bypass our shield frequencies. It will penetrate our shields within ten
seconds!”
“Mister Ga’gh, lock phasers on that
probe and fire!” Koester ordered.
Ga’gh quickly attempted to comply.
“Captain, phaser resonance
frequencies have been deranged. I cannot
fire phasers!”
“Lock torpedoes on target!” ordered
Kane.
“Shields have been breached,”
Winters called out, all too calmly.
“Skipper, we just lost life support
on all decks!” Kyman added.
“What’s going on?” Koester demanded to
know, already starting to feel lightheaded.
“Are the torpedoes locked on
target?” Kane inquired desperately.
The sound on the bridge grew to a
deafening pitch, but Koester could not tell if it was actually occurring or a
result of his lightheadedness.
“Torpedoes locked,” Ga’gh reported
as first K’danz and then Winters fell to the deck, unconscious.
“Fi...,” Kane started to say as he
too fell over.
The last thing Koester saw was two
photon torpedoes streaking out to destroy the alien probe, which blew apart in
a spectacular light show. And then
blackness overtook him.
* * * *
Koester awoke to the sound of a
hypospray on his arm and a headache the size of the warp core.
“What happened?” he asked groggily
as Ga’gh helped him back into his chair.
“Lt K’orlan and I managed to
replicate hyposprays of Tri-Ox compound before we too would have succumbed to
the lack of oxygen, Captain,” Ga’gh explained.
Koester looked slowly around the
bridge, where K’orlan was administering a shot to Lt (JG) Xavier ‘Xenon’ Adosh
at the Engineering console. Winters was
again working at ops as if nothing had happened.
“How long were we out?” he asked.
“About fifteen minutes,” K’orlan
answered forcefully. “And as far as we can
tell, the entire rest of the crew had been knocked unconscious by that probe
before we managed to destroy it.”
Koester glanced at the viewscreen,
where a space ship about one-quarter the Dauntless’
size maintained position.
“Who are our friends?” the Captain
asked.
“We are not sure,” Ga’gh
answered. “They showed up about five
minutes after the probe was destroyed.”
“Anyone want to make bets the timing
wasn’t just coincidence?” Kane said, rubbing the sides of his temples.
K’orlan administered another shot to
Lt Commander K’danz, then moved on to where Chief Kyman lay on the deck. Groaning as she re-manned her station, K’danz
became fully alert when she glanced at her security board.”
“Captain!” she exclaimed. “We have intruders aboard. Decks 2 through 7 in the primary hull and 10 through 15 in
the secondary hull.”
“Captain, I am registering the outer
door of cargo bay 1 being opened,” added Winters.
“Seal off the bridge!” Koester
ordered. “Cut off all auxiliary
functions. Turbolifts. Cargo and Shuttlebay doors.”
“Re-route all command and control
functions to the bridge stations,” Kane added.
K’danz and Ga’gh worked quickly,
re-routing all important ship control functions to the bridge.
“Can we get a visual of what’s going
on in the lower decks?” Koester asked as the two officers completed their
work. “I want to know why the intruders
opened the cargo bay.”
“Patching into interior sensors,”
said Winters, pressing a myriad of buttons on the ops panel. Quickly, the main viewscreen switched to an
interior view.
“This is deck 8, outside cargo bay
2.”
The view showed members of the Dauntless crew being dragged into the
cargo bay by blue-skinned humanoid aliens.
Each of the aliens wore a breathing unit of some kind over their mouths
and noses. Most wore helmets, but those
that did not sported short-cut green hair.
“Oh no! This can’t be happening again!” exclaimed
K’danz with a whisper. Despite how
softly she said the words, she still drew the attention of the Captain, Kane
and the rest of the bridge crew.
“You know these aliens, Commander?”
Koester asked, slowly getting up and walking around to the security post.
K’danz nodded, her emotions held
tightly in check.
“They’re called the Qualen,
Captain. About two and a half years ago,
while I was assigned to the starship Sarek,
we encountered this race. They believe
themselves to be superior to every other species, whom they have decided exist
only to provide the Qualen with the means to move out into the galaxy and claim
what they believe is theirs.”
“What do you mean?” Kane asked, also
moving up to stand beside his captain.
“They capture spaceships that come
too near their territory, eliminate the crew, and use the ship to further
expansion.”
“Well, I say we take them home with
us and see how they like
being kidnapped,” suggested Kane.
“Mister K’orlan, plot a course for the nearest Federation outpost.”
Before K’orlan could take his helm
position, Adosh interrupted.
“Sir, I have no control over warp or
impulse systems, sir!”
“Winters?” Koester said, spinning to
face the ops position.
“I’m already on it,” Winters
replied. After a moment he added, “We’ve
interrupted the Qualen just as they were attempting to break into our
engineering subsystems. Our lockout
managed to keep them from gaining control of the propulsion systems, but we
also managed to lock ourselves out of key control parameters.”
“Can we bypass?” the Captain asked.
“Sir, yes, sir!” Adosh
responded. “Sir, but it would require
re-initializing the system from main engineering, sir!”
“Wonderful!” Koester said, throwing
up his hands in frustration. “You’d
think they would design a system to prevent us losing control.”
“Actually, Captain,” Winters said,
“the system was designed this way on purpose, to prevent capture of the vessel
should both engineering and the bridge be compromised.” His emerald eyes sparkled with his opinion of
how often that occurred.
“Why are these Qualen herding all
the crew into the cargo bays? And what
else have they done to the ship?” Kane asked.
“I’m afraid I can answer the first
part,” K’danz said. “The easiest way to
eliminate the crew is to simply space them while they’re still unconscious. That’s why they opened the outer door to
Cargo Bay 1.”
“And I can answer the second
question,” added Winters in his typical British accent. “So far the Qualen have completely shut down
the holodecks. Why I don’t know? They’ve also deactivated the torpedo
launchers, phaser relays, and lifeboat controls.”
“I can understand the weapons and
escape pods, but why the holodecks?” Kane inquired.
“I know the answer to that too,”
K’danz added. “We defeated the Qualen
aboard the Sarek by simulating an
overwhelming force of armed security guards on the holodeck, tricking the
Qualen into surrender.”
Koester nodded, saying “And they
don’t want to be fooled twice.”
The Captain sighed, then walked over
to the ops station. “Let’s see what
other areas of the ship they control.”
Winters fingered his controls, the
viewscreen blinking from image to image.
“Main engineering.” The large room was empty, save for two Qualen
soldiers trying to access propulsion controls at one of the work stations. There was no sign of any of the Dauntless crew.
“Sickbay.” Three Qualen stood in the medical center,
another one carrying the last remaining patients out the door, probably to the
cargo bay holding pen.
“Transporter room 1.” Another Qualen stood guard behind the
transporter console.
“Crews mess.” Half a dozen Qualen stood around the room,
holding sinister-looking weapons on the large group in the mess hall. Some of the crew had regained consciousness,
and were trying to help those still unconscious to wake up. The Qualen seemingly ignored them, yet the Dauntless crew looked terrified, as if
knowing the fate that awaited them if they tried escape or even simply
cooperated.
“Dar!” K’danz cried out as she
noticed her fiancé among the crowd.
“And Counselor Sutherland, and....,”
Kane hesitated. “Pete, Gem is in there
with them too!”
Koester turned to ask K’danz more
about the Qualen when he noticed she had left her post. Quickly turning, he saw her strapping a
phaser on while moving across the back of the bridge toward the doors of the
briefing lounge, which connected to a sealed-off ramp down to deck 2.
“Where do you think you’re going,
Commander?” the Captain asked fiercely.
“I’m going to rescue the crew from
those Qualen bastards!” K’danz answered, and she marched into the lounge.
“Commander, come back here! You’ll get yourself killed!” Koester ordered,
but K’danz simply entered her security code into the sealed door’s access pad
and headed down toward deck 2.
“Commander! Commander K’danz! Oh, hell!” Koester growled. “Kane, take Ga’gh, K’orlan, and Xenon. Arm yourselves and help her out!”
* * * *
“What are we to do with these
inferiors?” asked one of the Qualen soldiers in crew’s mess to another nearby.
“We wait for orders from First
Philton,” the other replied. “Our forces
were purposely sent against this vessel because we must teach the Federation
inferiors that they cannot treat us the way they did, when they tried to limit
us to our own planet. The Qualen belong
among the stars, and one day all the stars will be Qualen. When we are assured of control of this
Federation starship Dauntless, we
will move the inferiors to one of their holds.
Once we have them all there, we will open the outer doors and omit them
from this plane in small groups, so those that remain until the end can fear
their fate and fear their superiors, us, until their own time for ommission
comes.”
“But how will we pilot this vessel
without members of the crew to instruct us?”
“Have you learned nothing from our
previous encounter with these Federation beings?” the first soldier said with
contempt. “First Philton learned from
his ommitted predecessor, Grebbeck, that we must only capture the vessel, omit
it’s crew here, and tow it back to Qualen II.
Once home, we will have plenty of time to examine and understand this
Federation starship Dauntless.”
As the two Qualen soldiers
conversed, seemingly ignorant of the
Starfleet crew around them, Ensign Dar slowly crawled along the floor to where
Counselor Kethry Sutherland huddled with
“You look like you recognize these
aliens. Who are they, Counselor? And what do they want?” Dar asked in a
whispered growl.
“I’ve had to deal with them before,”
Sutherland whispered back. “And their
being here bodes no good. If we can’t
regain control of the situation soon, we’re all as good as dead!”
* * * *
Using the Jefferies Tube network and
a couple of well hidden access panels, K’danz made it to the doors of crew’s
mess in near record time. She had not
encountered any of the Qualen soldiers along the way, fortunately for them, she
thought.
About to storm through the doors,
K’danz was stopped by the sudden arrival of Virgil Kane and his team.
“What are you doing, Commander?”
Kane asked, his face tinted with anger.
“I was going to rescue our
crewmates!” K’danz responded harshly.
“You were going to get yourself
killed!” Kane said back, his voice an angry whisper. Pulling K’danz around a corner of the
corridor, he added, “And probably everyone in the mess hall as well!”
“Well I can’t just stand here
and...”
“You need a plan,” Kane said, his
silver Bajoran earring dangling from it’s earlobe with each movement. “And Mister Ga’gh thought of one as we made
our way down here.”
The strong Wilryk officer placed a
finger to his lips, making a shushing sound as he did, then crept around the
corner to a small control panel beside the mess hall doors. Kane and Adosh snuck over with K’danz to
observe what Ga’gh was doing, while K’orlan covered the group from behind.
As Ga’gh worked, the doors on the
starboard side of the mess hall slid open, and an entourage of ten Qualen
sauntered in. All the soldiers that had
been standing around the mess hall snapped to attention.
“We have claimed control of this
vessel, this... Federation starship Dauntless,”
said Philton 1st Level Pod Darra Flimkin.
“Most of this vessel’s original inferior crew have been herded to the
cargo holds. We accomplished the
omission of half a dozen of them before we lost control of the great outer
door. All that is left is to transfer
these inferiors there as well, omit all of them however easiest, and then rig
this vessel for towing.”
“What of the control deck, First
Philton?” one of the soldiers behind Flimkin asked. “If we were to gain control there, we could
regain control of the cargo bay outer door, and the entire vessel. How many inferiors are there?”
“We have not gained access to the
control deck yet, but even if other inferiors are found there, they will
produce little resistance. Omitting them
from this plane will be little trouble.”
A soft whooshing sound suddenly
turned the Qualen’s attention, as well as a few of the Dauntless crew, toward the doors on the port side of the mess
hall. Weapons held at the ready, nothing
seemed amiss. All the prisoners were
still present, for the moment. None had
tried escape. The doors were still
tightly shut.
“What produced that noise?” Flimkin
asked. “Go investigate it!”
The Qualen soldier closest to the
door started to move to investigate when suddenly all hell broke loose. Without warning, the wooden doors blasted
inward, showering the room with wooden shards.
The Qualen soldiers retreated in surprise. And before anyone could regain their
composure, dozens of armed security guards charged into the room, phaser rifles
blasting, each going for one of the Qualen invaders.
“All troops, this is First Philton! We are under attack in the ingesting
facility, second deck!”
As the Dauntless crew who had been prisoner in the mess hall all crawled
closer to the large forward facing windows to avoid the crossfire, more Qualen
poured into the room from the doorway behind Flimkin and his men. It seemed within moments that every Qualen
soldier who had boarded the Dauntless
was in the mess hall fighting.
Before the doors had a chance to
close again, and while their captors were preoccupied by the sudden offensive,
many of the crew darted out into the corridor.
“Counselor, take the Captain’s
daughter!” Dar shouted, almost literally tossing the little girl to Sutherland,
who grabbed her and dashed around the bulkhead to safety. As Dar himself attempted to get out the door
without being shot, the fire fight slowly started dying down as bodies, both
Qualen and Starfleet security guards, piled up around the room. Phaser burns and disruptor scores lined the
walls on both sides around each doorway.
A Qualen soldier fell at Dar’s feet, his disruptor rifle slipping out of
his hands. Dar quickly scooped it off
the deck and crouched into a marksman’s kneeled stance, firing off shots at the
few remaining Qualen. Within moments,
the fewer Qualen that still remained dropped their weapons in surrender.
Dar smiled a satisfied grin, which
turned more genuinely happy as Lt Commander K’danz moved into the room through
the other doorway, hand phaser drawn.
She was quickly followed by the First Officer, Lt Ga’gh, Xenon, and K’orlan. But before he could join his fiancée, one of the Qualen suddenly pushed past him,
tripping Dar over the fallen body of one of the Qualen soldiers. Before anyone could react, the Qualen was out
the door and around the passageway corner.
Dar quickly got up, straightened his
uniform, and froze in his tracks. He
looked around the room, uncertainty on his face.
“Where...? What happened to the bodies?” he asked.
At his feet lay the dozens of Qualen
soldiers felled during the attack, but not a single Starfleet security guard
could be seen. Ga’gh smiled, showing his
sharp fang-like incisors. K’danz could
not help but smile as well.
“Simple,” she responded. “Computer, activate the EMH.”
Immediately, the bald-headed
projection appeared in the middle of the room.
“Please state the nature of the
medical emergency.” The holodoc took a
glance around the room, then added, “Oh my!”
As the EMH started scanning the Qualen bodies with his medical
tricorder, realization dawned on Dar’s face.
“This room is equipped with
holoemmitters! The assault was just a
holographic projection!”
“The Qualen didn’t realize that more
than just the holodecks are equipped with projectors. We programmed the assault from outside, with
the holographic phasers set to stun, to disable the Qualen and just in case any
of our people were hit,” Ga’gh explained.
As he said it, the port side doors of the mess hall slowly swished shut,
whole as always.
As members of the crew returned to
the Mess Hall and started moving unconscious Qualen down to the brig, an
emergency call sounded across everyone’s combadges.
“Bridge, this is Counselor
Sutherland. We have a hostage situation
on deck 3.”
* * * *
Sutherland and two security guards
stood with phasers drawn as Captain Koester and Chief Kyman arrived from the
bridge and Kane, Dar, Ga’gh, and K’danz joined them from the mess hall. What they all found was Philton 1st Level Pod
Darra Flimkin trapped in a dead end corridor fifteen meters away. The Qualen had tried to escape to another
deck, but with the turbolifts cut off, he was boxed in. He held his arm around the neck of young
“Daddy!” she called out, arms
outstretched.
“I’m sorry, Captain,” Sutherland
apologized. “Gem was with me, but he
grabbed her as he ran past us. I
couldn’t stop him.”
Flimkin looked at the man his
hostage reached for to, his eyes zeroing in on the four pips on his collar.
“You!” Flimkin spat out. “You are the leader on this Federation
starship Dauntless.”
Koester’s eyes narrowed with rage,
but he nodded slowly.
“You will guarantee me safe passage
off this vessel,” Flimkin demanded, knowing by blind luck he was once again in
control of the situation. “Me and all my
men you have not killed.”
“Very few of your so-called men are
dead,” Kane said with barely hidden fury.
“Unlike you, we try to preserve life, even when under unprovoked
attack. They’re all locked up in the
brig right now.”
As Kane finished speaking, Koester
took a step past his First Officer.
“We don’t make deals with
terrorists,” Koester said emotionlessly.
“I know of your weakness, the need
to preserve unworthy life. Get me off
this vessel or your child dies, Leader of this Federation starship Dauntless.”
K’danz had had enough. She slowly moved passed the other security
guards who had phasers covering Flimkin, her own phaser pointing directly at
the bridge of the Qualen leader’s nose.
“Enough of this,” she said
calmly. “You wouldn’t dare kill your
hostage, because you’re already a dead man.
I’ll give you one chance of survival and one chance only.”
K’danz started taking slow,
deliberate steps toward the end of the corridor where Flimkin crouched. The Qualen lowered the phaser for a moment,
then stuck it into Gem’s ribs, causing the little girl to squeal in pain.
“Here’s the deal,” K’danz continued. “If you release your hostage, you get to
live. In custody, but at least you’re
alive.” She took another step closer. “If you don’t release her, you’re dead. Here and now.”
Another step.
“One chance,” K’danz concluded. “One chance only.”
“You wouldn’t dare!” Flimkin
growled, but before he could even blink his eye, K’danz shot her phaser. Gem screamed as the Qualen’s body fell back
against the sealed turbolift doors behind them and she ran into the open arms
of her father, tears streaming down his cheeks as he hugged his daughter tight.
Slowly lowering the phaser from it’s
firing position, K’danz quietly said, “Try me.”
She then turned and quietly walked into the waiting arms of her fiancé,
Dar.
* * * *
Captain’s Log, Stardate 51143.1
Dauntless is currently awaiting escort by the
starship Thunderchild to enter Qualen
space and.... return... the Qualen crew who attempted to commandeer our
ship. Once again, I’m afraid, the Federation
is going to have to sterilize this culture of all spaceflight capability,
technology stolen from dozens of species, and more carefully quarantine their
system from the rest of the galaxy as a whole.
During the course of their assault, seven members
of my crew were killed. Another fifteen
injured, mostly minor.
The damage they did to the Dauntless is repairable, and not too much of a
concern. The damage they’ve done to my
crew however, both physical and mental, will never be fully healed.
This episode has made me aware of a number of
shortcomings in the current make-up of my crew.
I have petitioned Starfleet Command to have a small contingent of
Marines added to our Security Department.
A specially trained force better capable of dealing with this sort of
assault in the future.
I must also now deal with Lt Commander Karan.... I mean, K’danz. Her insubordination cannot be overlooked.
Koester, out.
Lt Commander K’danz stood at ease
near the door to the Captain’s ready room.
Although justified in her actions, she was aware that she had disobeyed
direct orders, and would have to face those consequences.
The doors slid open, and Lt Ga’gh
walked out of the ready room. From
within the room, K’danz could hear the Captain say, “Thank you for your time
and advice, Mister Ga’gh.” A moment
passed before he added, “Please come in, Commander.”
K’danz walked into the ready room,
taking a position in front of the desk.
Knees locked, arms rigidly at her sides, she faced the Captain.
“Lt Commander K’danz, reporting as
ordered, sir.”
Koester looked up at the Security
Officer, his face an emotionless mask.
“I assume you are aware that
Starfleet regulations about the chain of command and protocol exist for a
reason, Commander?” Koester said.
“Yes, sir,” she answered. “Permission to speak freely?”
Koester nodded.
“Sir, I know my actions were
inexcusable, but under the situation, I was unable to contain myself. I felt the need to fight, to protect those I
care about. The one I love.”
K’danz took a deep breath, then
continued.
“I wasn’t thinking clearly,
sir. I know that is not an excuse, but I
couldn’t simply stand by and watch. I
had to do something. I will,
however, accept any punishment you deem warranted.”
Koester smiled very slightly,
saying, “Perhaps there is more Klingon to you than just your new name,
Commander.” He paused a moment. “I’ve discussed this situation with Mister Kane
and Mister Ga’gh, and they both agree with me.
None of us believe we could have just stood there watching. Hell, if you hadn’t left the bridge when you
did, I probably would have myself half a minute later.”
K’danz looked at the Captain, her
tension easing slightly as she listened.
“Add to that, I have a personal
reason for unofficially approving of what you did. I almost lost my daughter to the
Qualen.” The Captain paused again. “We all agree that there will be no punitive
measures.... this time!”
K’danz released a breath she had not
realized she was holding. She almost
collapsed against the chair in front of her.
Meanwhile, the Captain continued.
“From this point on, however, you
will route all planned assaults up through the chain, is that clear?”
“Yes, sir!” K’danz answered with a
slight smile.
Koester stood and walked around the
desk. He offered a seat to K’danz, which
she gratefully accepted, while he sat on the edge of the desk itself.
“I have also been discussing a
reorganization of the departments with the Exec and Mister Ga’gh. A way to better utilize our resources,”
Koester continued. “We are expecting a
small special contingent of Starfleet Marines to be assigned to the ship. They should arrive within the next couple of
months. To better facilitate their
incorporation into the division, I have decided to split Tactical and Security
into separate departments. Mister Ga’gh
will retain his position as Chief Tactical Officer. I would like you to assume Chief of Security.”
The news overwhelmed K’danz. She had walked into the ready room expecting
at least a reprimand noted on her service record, perhaps even to be busted
back down to lieutenant. Instead she was
walking out as a Department Head!
“The new Marines, when they arrive,
will report to you and work within your department,” Koester explained. “The officer in charge is 1st
Lieutenant Sean Elliot McIntyre, SFMC.
He will check in with you shortly after they arrive.”
Koester offered his hand to K’danz
as way of congratulations. It took a
moment for her to realize it. The shock
of the new title still buzzed around her head.
But likewise, the name the Captain had mentioned sounded familiar
somehow. McIntyre. Why did that name ring a bell?
“Thank you, Captain,” K’danz finally
answered as she shook Koester’s hand. “I
promise I won’t go on another wild assault again.”
“I trust you won’t,” Koester said
with a grin. “Thank you, Commander. Dismissed.”
And with a grin of her own, K’danz
quickly left the room to share the news with Dar.
The End
Return to 2374.
Return to Stories Archive.