Open Mouths and Narrowed Eyes

Posted on 10 Apr 2015 @ 11:29pm by Commander Scarlet Blake & Commander Andreus Kohl & Chief Warrant Officer 3 Amon Mormont & Captain (HoD) Valkris

2,656 words; about a 13 minute read

Mission: Episode 08 - NIMBUS
Location: USS Nautilus - Various
Timeline: MD 01 - 1000 hrs

[ON]

A set of wide, double-doors on deck four speedily parted when Andreus Kohl approached them. He was smartly clad in his ivory dress uniform, which was getting more play than his standard uniform these days. He was also dabbed with a musky fragrance, which his research had suggested Klingons would respond to. Once the doors were recessed within the bulkhead, the sense of panic that was clenched in his chest came undone. He could see the transporter platform was empty; the Klingon envoy hadn't arrived before him.

Kohl entered the compartment, and approached the steps at the foot of the transporter chamber. "Feel free to slap me across the face," Kohl remarked, "if I start to divulge state secrets in the name of diplomatic relations."

"Will be sure to sedate you," Naois promised as he approached, tricorder at ready. "I know the biofilters will catch anything, but I think it is bad form to get them to sickbay first to see if all are healthy. I would rather not be faced with medical surprises," he clarified his presence.

"I am sure we will all be fine," Mormont said softly, but it was with a playful smile. "We have a spread ready and everything so they won't try to devour us. We even look decent."

"I'd have to agree," Blake nodded with a small smile, coming to a halt next to the others as she joined them, her hands clasped behind her back, shoulders pulled back in her usual militaristic posture. She was leaving the tour mostly in the hands of Kohl, to give him the chance to experience that part of being a First Officer. He also had a diplomatic background, so it made sense.

"Agree with what?" Naois asked innocently, "sedate Kohl or that all will be well?"

"Both!" Mormont grinned, watching them all with warmth before chuckling. "Look, when this is all over, I am cracking open a nice old bottle of something strong. And we can celebrate getting rid of the Klingons."

Kohl grinned over at Mormont's plans, and then he turned his body to face the transporter platform. "I could put my hands on something strong right about now," Kohl remarked wryly.

"Better hug one of the Klingons then," Mormont said playfully, arching an eyebrow before he schooled the grin off his face.

"You think that is advisable?" Naois queried curiously.

"Oh," Kohl sighed, "I don't think anything is advisable as far as the Klingons are concerned." --His grin took on a wicked little curve-- "But wouldn't it be damn fun?"

Standing silently to the side of the other, Lex Thanial watched the empty platform, awaiting their visitors in silent contemplation, a frown etched above the Bajoran ridges. The Intelligence Chief was more than just a little sceptical about this entire exchange. He was the kind of the man that usually tried to prepare for the worst. And there were a lot of worsts he could imagine being involved with a group of Klingons on a Starfleet ship.


HarqSIj

Valkris stood on the transporter along with two aides. She did not go in for all this idiocy of tours and playing nice. There were only two reasons for her to even be doing this and this was one, it was orders and second to evaluate one their opponent. She smiled, it was not really all that pleasant of a look, but humans seemed to like that.

She nodded to her chief, "Signal we are ready."

Over the comms, the voice of Starfleet Ensign Szerda responded to the signal: "Nautilus is prepared to receive your envoy. Please transport over at your leisure."

Valkris looked to her two officers and then nodded at her chief, "Energize."


USS Nautilus - Transporter Room One

The sheen of the transport wore off and Valkris looked at the gathered Fleeters. She made a sharp Kllingon salute hearing her fellow officer follow in near perfect motion.
"I am Valkris Daughter of Ondagh, Captain of the HarqSij. This is my first officer Koch son of Koch. And this is Sogh M'orgot my Second in Command and Tatitical Officer" She smiled which bordered almost on a sneer showing sharp teeth, "Thank you for welcoming me aboard your vessel." Her eyes only briefly held the small group before taking in the room, the position of the console and trying to drink in every detail.

"Pe'el," Blake said with a firm, almost forceful tone to their guests, bowing her head to them before looking back with a steady gaze. "Welcome to USS Nautilus, Captain, we're honoured by your visit. I am Commander Scarlet Blake," she turned slightly to motion to the other with her, her marine ingrained posture keeping her rigid even as she motioned to them with a hand. "This is 'Commander Kohl, my First Officer...Chief Mormont, in charge of Security and Tactical...Lieutenant Mercy, our Chief of Medical...and our Chief Intelligence Officer, Lieutenant Lex. You'll be able to meet other crew on your tour."

Mormont watched the Klingon with interest. A strong female. It was not rare for the species, but he found them fascinating. He wished he could speak the language; it was a skill he had never acquired. And yet, it did not matter. This was a Federation ship and they would speak in Standard.

Kohl raised his right fist, and beat it against his chest in a Klingon salute. "Q'aplaH!" he declared.

Naois just watched, his face carefully kept devoid of showing any expression. He occasionally peered down at his open tricorder but he said nothing.

Valkris turned her attention back to the group. The one did a fair Klingon imitation salute. She made a small bow of the head that she had seen Federation types do.
"Well Captain, I am sure you have many duties to attend to before tomorrow shall we begin?"

She whispered to her other two officers especiallly M'orgot who would on this ship observing, "Pay attention. No detail to small to be missed. And smile, be polite, more glob flies are caught with sweetness than battle."

Kohl spoke up to draw the attention of their Klingon guests. "If you'll follow me, Captain Valkris, I will be beginning our tour in the Stellar Cartography lab," Kohl said. He waited for the Klingons to regard him, before he said, "I'm Commander Andreus Kohl. I will be the one showing you around our beautiful, sturdy starship."

Blake watched the Klingons steadily, a slight smile on her lips, but with a firmness to her gaze that assured that she was set on the plan of action presented.

Valkris scrutinized the Commander a moment. While his tone was professional enough there was something about his demeanor that did not quite jive with Command staff. A certain tone of voice that said his expertise was really elsewhere.
"Excellent, lead on," she replied.

As Kohl distracted the Klingons, Naois moved up to Blake. "They are not carrying any pathogens," he whispered to her, "I am going back to sickbay to process these readings and prepare for their visit."

Scarlet nodded gently to him, nudging his arm slightly. "Pass the word on through the departments that we're on our way..."


USS Nautilus - Main Engineering

"--and this is where we keep the warp core," announced Andreus Kohl. His mannerisms, his inflection and even his posture were nothing like he appeared to be in his quarters or at his duty stations. Back when Kohl had served as a junior diplomatic officer, the demands of the job had caused him to carefully craft the persona of Ensign Kohl, diplomat extraordinaire. In the years since Kohl had transitioned to medical and the sciences, he had grown comfortable in his own skin. He didn't feel such a need to walk around in a personality mask. And yet, the moment Commander Blake had entrusted him with the diplomatic tour, the old Andreus Kohl came back with the same ease as flicking a switch.

"As a Miranda-class light cruiser, the Nautilus has a cruising velocity of warp 7.6," Kohl explained. He lead the way into the wide-open chamber of the engineering section. As he headed towards the towering column of the warp core itself, he made eye-contact with each of the Klingon guests. For the most part, he did so to ensure they remained near him, and weren't wandering off. "Although her spaceframe may remind you of the days when Starfleeters wore red jackets, Nautilus' entire infrastructure from the warp core outwards has been retrofitted with a modern electroplasma system and bio-neural circuitry."

"And the weaponry? Is it still 6 x Type VII phaser bank, total output 3,000 TeraWatts
2 x 2nd class photon torpedo tube with 40 rounds with the banks still mounted on the bar?" Valkris asked. A light cruiser like this was no match for the Vor'cha class but even less so as that bar between the nacelles made for a structural weakness.

Kohl stopped dead in his tracks. "Captain Valkris," bellowed Kohl; "You are getting ahead of our itinerary," and he was far too impassioned for a man speaking about an itinerary. As such, Kohl toned himself back down to the mien of a travel agent. "However," Kohl said pleasantly, "Nautilus' rollbar has been retrofitted with quantum torpedo launchers. The primary phaser emitters on the saucer section have been upgraded to the type nine phaser array -- comparable to an Intrepid-class starship."

Valkris observed the outburst and had to give a hard glance at her other two warriors as they tensed. She only replied, "I am sorry," that grated but this was a way to learn and being obstinate here would do no good. "I am simply curious. Please continue." She had tried to drill her exec especially that being foolishly headstrong did no good. It was learning as well as skill that had got her command.
She whispered to her first officer, "If you opponent is of a cholic nature, irritate him."

"Thank you, Captain," remarked Kohl in his most gracious timbre. As Kohl's expertise about the technical specs of their weapon systems was drying up, he added, "Perhaps our Chief of Security, Mister Mormont, can elaborate?"

Mormont grinned as he watched the Klingon before nodding. "Depends on what you want to know that you don't already know," he said as he gave a gentle nod. "The Miranda class is older than you think, over 100 years. Six dual phaser banks and all that our XO mentioned. And it surely bites hard, as the Cardassians could testify for."

"Plenty of time to work out the flaws then. I see. Somewhat like our old Bird of Prey class. Most have been retired now but they served a long time. Since this ship is here for the maneuvers I suspect that it is biased more toward patrol function in its outfitting than scientific?"

"You would be correct," Mormont said easily, nodding as he held her eyes. "I find the Miranda...quite sufficient for various duties that Starfleet gives it. I would be honoured to some day come on board a Klingon ship, see how you all have it."

Watching the interactions, Blake remained silent, pleased with how her crew were handling the tour. She stood upright, hands clasped comfortably behind her back in a show of both military poise but also ease and confidence with what was happening. She had known Kohl would do a good job of this. She still watched with an observant gaze and a natural eye for detail, but it wasn't Kohl she watched, it was the Klingons.

Valkris simply nodded. "I am going to request my second officer be allowed to observe from you ship so I suppose I should extend the courtesy back. Now lead on."

M'orgoth watched them with narrowed eyes before looking at Blake. Without any hesitation he smiled, showing off his sharp teeth.


USS Nautilus - Sickbay

"--behind these doors is where we take our wounded warriors," said Kohl. Leading the group onwards, Kohl quickstepped inside Sickbay's intensive care unit. He waited until everyone had entered from the passageway, when continued, "We pump them full of analgesics and kick them back to their duty stations." Kohl swept a hand towards the teal-collared man who had been waiting for them. "Doctor Mercy here is our most experienced officer at stitching us back together."

"Except that we hardly use any stitches anymore these days," Naois replied calmly, "we now use dermal regenerators where necessary, and bone knitters."

Koch looked at the scene with a distinct scowl. "You should let them die in glorious battle! It is what every TRUE WARRIOR," the words were emphasized. "Would wish for! Not a single officer, enlisted or even the lowest son of a targ would think on the HarqSij to abandon a post while breath was in them!"

Kohl couldn't help frowning at that, but it was a thoughtful expression on his face. Inquisitively, he asked Koch, "But if we let all of our warriors die at their posts, who would fly our starship? Who would let loose the quantum torpedoes? We would all die together, rather than vanquishing our foe!"

"Would you?" M'orgoth asked as he watched Kohl, stepping closer. "Anyone can die. You shut up long enough. A true warrior...he takes down foes even at the cost of his life."

As if to say he didn't understand the premise beneath the question, Kohl looked right at M'orgoth and he shrugged. Kohl shook his head, and he didn't speak with the mask of the measured diplomat nor of the demanding egotist. "We don't come into space to be warriors," Kohl said.

The half-Vulcan healer watched the debate before him, his blue eyes sparkling in an odd amusement. "Commander Kohl is correct," he finally spoke up. "If we were all to die at our posts then no-one can claim our victory, however if we are patched up then we can return to our stations quicker and continue to bring glory to our people. Surely, you see the wisdom in providing medical assistance so the battle may continue fairly?" He shrugged. "Where is the honour, in vanquising a foe that cannot fight back?"

M'orgoth laughed loudly, throwing his head back. "A glorious death! That is what it is about. Medicine is good, patch up is good. But battle is better, glorious battles!" he reached out and pushed the half-Vulcan's shoulder in what was for a Klingon a friendly manner.

Naois did his best not to stagger back at the unexpected shove. "I am glad we are in agreement then," he all but smiled. "Is there anything specific you wish to see?"

"Oh I suppose no tour complete without a visit to your engineering. Really the heart of any ship." Valkris did not ask as a question but left it as a statement. She had enjoyed the banter. Verbal fights were sometimes almost as appealing as a physical one.

"All that's left now is the Bridge and our Stellar Cartography lab," Kohl announced. "And the torpedo launchers. You're in for a treat."

Valkris noted that they would not be going engineering. She pulled aside M'orgoth and said quietly, "When you are here find out what you can. I am curious why we seem to be missing a certain area."

Swinging his arms wide, Kohl gestured back to the doorway to herd the crowd back into the passageway. "If you'll follow me..." he said, and led the way onwards to the rest of the ship.


[OFF]

Lieutenant Commander Andreus Kohl
Executive Officer
USS Nautilus

Lieutenant j.g. Naois mercy
CMO
Uss Nautilus
[pnpc T'Vanna]

Hod Valkris
Captain HarSij
NPC Allyndra

CMDR Scarlet Blake
Commanding Officer
USS Nautilus

CWO3 Amom Mormont
Security/Tactical Officer
USS Nautilus
[PNPC Markos]

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