No Man's Land (Part 9 of 10)

Posted on 21 Apr 2017 @ 3:11pm by Rear Admiral Lirha Saalm & General ('aj) Ko'raH House of G'Iogh & Commander Medara t'Keras & Commander Aren Ban & Lieutenant Amaranai Franklin & Ensign Miraj Derani & Ensign Mimi & Petty Officer 1st Class Eviess
Edited on on 21 Apr 2017 @ 3:15pm

3,184 words; about a 16 minute read

Mission: Episode 14 - Statecraft
Location: IKS DuJa'Q, Klingon Neutral Zone
Timeline: MD 11, 2345 hrs

Previously, on No Man's Land (Part 8)...

Saalm turned and stared up at the Klingon woman who'd entered the bridge. It was Eviess, the only Klingon member of Galileo's crew who towered over the Orion with her tall build. That she would serve aboard a Starfleet vessel despite her heritage spoke volumes, and her disdain for the Klingons on the other starship was understandable despite it's optical contradiction. But given their current situation -- the casualties they'd already suffered and their crippled warship -- there was little in the way of alternative options. "I would agree with you, but we have no choice," she replied. "We cannot fight or flee...we are at their mercy." The cold truth of their predicament was one that only a member of the command staff could understand. It was why they'd been trained in their specialty.

Frustrated Eviess just gave a nod. "I know." It was a haunted whisper. Her mind swirled with shadows of the past. She knelt back down and continued to tend to one of the wounded so that she could at least stabilize the ensign. She looked up at Lirha with haunted eyes. "Let's get this over with."

And Now, the Continuation...

[ON]

It seemed that the fates were not on the former Galileo crew's side this dark and late evening. While Councilor Karh's battlecruiser slowed and closed the distance to DuJa'Q and prepared to board the vessel, the tactical console suddenly began to blare once again with an identical tone indicating another new sensor contact.

Things were getting rather confusing with a group of Klingons claiming they had taken care of the Klingons that had mutineed. And then another contact - another Klingon vessel - asking for their surrender. She understood the reasons for the general surrendering because the ship was in no shape to battle. The crew wasn't in any shape to fight, either, for that matter. Another blip on the sensors caught Amaranai's eyes.

"General!" she shouted. "New contact. K'Vort class Bird of Prey decloaking. It is bearing down on the Vor'cha cruiser."

Streaking through the stars, the medium-sized hull of a large Bird-of-Prey variant shimmered into existence to the aft-starboard quarter of the councilor's heavy cruiser and swiftly began an attack run. With its disruptors and torpedoes already charged, the warship unleashed a volley into the shielding of rear section of the Vor'cha-class -- it's weakest defensive point. Flares of bright green disruptor fire and shield impacts illuminated the sky and were soon punctuated by return fire from the larger vessel.

The guard comm channel that'd broadcasted Karh's message suddenly came to life again, but this time, it was from an unmistakable voice that all of the Galileo's former crew could recognize.

"Karh! I will have my revenge, bIHnuch!" yelled Ko'raH.

The two Klingon vessels began to maneuver around one another with each one fighting for supreme tactical position in order to bring their forward weapons to bear. The Empire's starship design philosophies had always favored warships with heavy forward armament, which left them at a disadvantage during circular duels where positional attrition was concerned. While more heavily-armed than the K'Vort-class, the Vor'cha was larger and its corner speed -- maximum turn radius at combat impulse -- was larger than the vessel it was facing. The two warships continued to exchange fire and wither away each other's shields, but within a matter of minutes, Ko'raH's vessel had maneuvered behind the councilor's.

An alpha strike consisting of intense disruptor fire from the K'Vort's wingtips along with several photon torpedoes collapsed the Vor'cha's aft shields and destroyed one of the two primary impulse generators with a spectacular secondary explosion. As Karh's vessel began to drift and loose it's maneuverability, the Bird-of-Prey suddenly ceased firing. The open comm channel lit up once again with Klingon voices.

"PetaQ! You dare challenge me? The High Council will have your head for your treachery!" yelled Karh over the channel.

"I do not recognize any authority from a group of Ha'DIbaH," Kor'aH replied with a satisfied laugh, "And now I will face you and end your reign of oppression. You and the rest of the High Council denied me the right to appoint my cha'Dich, and now I will avenge the dishonor you have brought upon my name under the chancellor's corruption!"

A few muffled sounds could be heard through the channel, followed by Ko'raH's voice once again. "Engineer, beam me to the councilor's bridge," he could be heard, speaking to one of his bridge's crew. "I will end this farce and restore my honor once and for all..."

Aren clenched his fists. While he knew that he wasn't at felt, he felt that he had let the crew down. How had they messed up so badly? Aren shook his head. "Sir, is there anyway we get a torpedo online and fire it at the bird-of-prey while the shields are down?" Aren said, reaching for anything, that they could to salvage the situation.

"No," Saalm answered, then paused to try and explain herself. How much could she reveal to her crew and officers now that the cards had been played? All of her secrets and knowledge of Ko'raH had become but a mute point at this stage. "We must let them fight. This is not our quarrel," she began. "I...have known that Ko'raH was shadowing us ever since we departed from Kreanus. Medara forced me -- us -- to draw him out, to deliver him to the High Council. And so we have..." With much regret and the knowledge that her command aboard DuJa'Q had resulted in the death of even more Starfleet crew members, she lowered her head and stared briefly at the floor while she waited to hear the battle cries between Ko'raH and Karh.

Klingon insults and expletives littered the open comm channel. Soon, they were replaced by battle cries, a series of grunts, shouts, and warrior exertion that audibly told the tale of the struggle between the two senior Klingons. Almost a full minute passed while the heavy grunts continued, occasionally littered with the sound of a blade impacting a solid metal component on the Vor'cha-class' bridge. Suddenly, a rejuvenated level of ruckus began, and then the sound of a blade puncturing chest armor could be heard. Silence then ensued, only punctuated by the sound of a single man's heavy breathing. The viewscreen flickered and a stream of static quickly disappeared to reveal Councilor Karh standing before them with disheveled hair and streaks of blood splattered across his face. Two men had entered, and now only one remained.

"...This is Councilor Karh..." began the old warrior over the broadcast network in between labored breaths, "..Ko'raH -- the traitor -- is dead!" he proclaimed triumphantly before turning his attention to the Orion general and stepping forward into the large viewscreen. "Admiral Saalm, your assistance in this internal matter has now ended. As we agreed, the High Council has taken note of your actions and will fulfill the terms of our...arrangement," he discretely mentioned.

Miraj stared at the dishevelled bleeding Klingon on the screen, searching for some sign of Ko'raH's demise. The old salt was a slippery bugger. But it looked like he had finally met his match. It was a vaguely anti-climatic feeling. She'd hoped to see him dragged in chains in front of the High Council and his head chopped off. Or for Lirha and Ban to look like they were bargaining for him, and then cunningly reveal his presence and see his shocked face as he was betrayed and dragged away in ignominy. Or maybe thrown in a pit and eaten by wild targs by the rest of the Galileo crew when he tried to make his grand entrance. That would have been good. Then everyone would have got to stick an oar in.

Instead he had died at the hands of someone else, somewhere else, somehow else than any of the grisly and humiliating ends she'd hoped for as payback for the humiliation he'd inflicted upon her. She knew it wasn't civilised but she didn't care. Ko'raH wasn't civilised either, and deserved everything he got. Neither she, nor any of the mysteriously absent Galileo crew could get their own vengeance now. And worse still, the new Klingon who'd deprived her of her satisfaction seemed to think the stranger in the captains chair was her Admiral. What in the name of Davy Jones Locker was going on? Would that explain what had happened to everyone. She blurted out: "What arrangement?"

To the starboard side of IKS DuJaQ and directly behind Ko'raH's K'Vort-class Bird-of-Prey, the backdrop of clustered stars began to shimmer and ripple. A massive green starship hull decloaked and revealed revealed its hidden presence, seemingly in a vague attempt to answer the pink-haired conn officer's question. The vessel's large, pointed bird-like command hull was supported by two large pylons on the dorsal and ventral sides of the spaceframe, each with two large, glowing green nacelles encased within the wingtips.

As Amaranai sat at the tactical console, she thought about everything that had transpired in the last few minutes. There was a mutiny. There was an assassination attempt. There was a fight. There was a victory. There were more Klingons on the bridge that apparently took care of the mutineers below decks. There was contact from two different Klingons in ships that had been following them. And there was a surrender. As if her head wasn't already in enough pain from being hit across the face by Chorag and hitting the deck, everything else that had happened since their victory over him was so crazy to even think about.

Another blip caught Amaranai's attention on her console and she turned to identify it.

"General," she spoke up. "Romulan warbird decloaking. "D'deridex class."

She would ask Lirha about charging weapons or shields but noticed the red flashing letters on her screen showing the weapons were still offline. Instead she looked to the general in hopes that she would be able to talk her way out of whatever was coming next.

Miraj turned to the strange captain. "If you want to run, you need to let me fly." Otherwise they were going to to be caught in the middle of two old enemies squaring off, and that would be messy."

But there was no where to run to. The Orion knew that with one of her starship's nacelles lost, that they couldn't maintain a stable warp field. Let alone one that could achieve a higher warp factor than the other three larger, more formidable warships. And even at full impulse, the larger fusion reactors of the other vessels would be able to overtake them in no time. "We cannot run," she simply replied, stating the obviousness of the situation.

Eviess stared at the view screen. The Romulan side, the Klingon side. It was as if her inner struggle had been brought to life. She stood up to watch the unfolding scene.

DuJa'Q's Operations console -- what remained of it -- began to emanate a distorted, repeating chirp. The distinctive sound was that of an incoming transmission, and combined with the unexpected arrival of the Romulan warbird, it could only mean one thing.

Mimi checked the console "General we are being hailed by the warbird."

"...On screen," Lirha replied while she tried to digest the entirety of what was happening. Ko'raH's duel with Karh was still fresh in her mind, but the arrival of a Romulan warbird was either a sign that their mission had gone terribly wrong, or something else had occurred that she was unaware of.

It took Mimi a few seconds to figure out how but she set the system to conference mode, linking the communication and visual feeds of all three ships

The bridge's viewscreen split into two columns, each now taking up half of the large display. With Councilor Karh on one side, the other side suddenly blinked to reveal a Romulan commander sitting in the command chair of the warbird. The dark, short-cropped hair, delicate features, and piercing brown eyes of the woman on the screen were all-too-familiar. Medara.

"Councilor. Admiral," she said to both of them with the slightest of nods to acknowledge their presence. Her demeanor was calm and subdued, almost as if she had been overseeing both of their movements and the subsequent engagement.

Karh was first to speak, and by now, he'd regained his composure and wiped most of Ko'raH's pink blood from his face. "Commander Medara," he started gruffly, "your presence in the Neutral Zone could be considered an act of war..." he threatened, with creased eyes. "What are you doing here?" he then demanded.

The Romulan colony commander remained stoic while she stared at the Klingon High Council member. "I am merely ensuring that the terms of our agreement were honored," she casually replied. "Did you really think I would arrange for Ko'raH to be delivered to you by a Starfleet crew with no insurances?" Said 'insurance' was obviously the immense warship she commanded. At over twice the size of a Galaxy-class heavy cruiser, the D'deridex-class' green hull was larger than all three of the other starships combined. And it bristled with an equal amount of impressive weaponry. "Besides," she continued, "if you wish to declare war on me, I believe you will be forced to go running back to Qo'noS for reinforcements," she smirked.

Lirha stared at the viewscreen with unblinking eyes. She tried to process all the information and revelations that were both hidden and obvious, but she struggled to fully comprehend what was now occurring. "Medara, you...followed us? This whole time?" she asked naively. "And you knew about Ko'raH's agents aboard my starship?"

"Yes, I have been trailing your vessel since you first departed Kreanus. I also knew of Chorag's treachery," the Romulan commander revealed without much care or bluster. "It was necessary to keep this information from you in order to maintain your ignorance, otherwise you and your crew might have inadvertently compromised the mission by revealing our strategy to Ko'raH's men."

Councilor Karh grunted and gave a reluctant agreement of Medara's strategy. "When you contacted us, Admiral Saalm, we did not believe your claims at first -- that he wanted to return to Qo'noS to avenge himself and would use a Starfleet crew as his instrument. We have...limited intelligence of this world called Kreanus, but we all remember Ko'raH's past treachery. He was a devious man. A warrior without true honor who would bribe and subvert those he allied with for his own personal gain," he started to explain. "When the commander contacted me to explain your peril, I departed from Qo'noS to intercept your vessel at the Neutral Zone to be sure he had not defeated you and taken command of your battlecruiser."

"Which, judging from our sensor scans and your vessel's casualties," interrupted Medara, "it seems he almost did." The Romulan leaned back in her chair while gazing thoughtfully into the viewscreen. "I hope none of your crew were injured?"

Saalm visibly shook while her fists balled up with anger. She clenched her teeth then stepped forward so Medara could see every nuance of her battered body and enraged green eyes. "Two of my own crew are dead! And many of us are injured, including myself!" How callous could the Romulan be? "You destroyed my starship, took my crew and I prisoner, and then demanded more sacrifice from us...all in under the disguise of 'cooperation'?"

"And yet, we have cooperated to achieve our mutual goals," Councilor Karh interjected. "Had it not been for your actions, Ko'raH would still be a menace to his new people, and the Federation would continue to loose vessels such as yours from his raiding tactics. By helping us defeat him, you have ensured the safety of your own people's starships."

"Yes," agreed Commander Medara, "the Paulson Nebula is now a safe place for Federation starships. We've already started eliminating Ko'raH's sympathizers on the colony, and it is only a matter of weeks until their presence is fully purged. You should feel comfortable in the knowledge that you have fulfilled your duty and assisted both Kreanus and the Klingon Empire." She paused then added a final set of words, perhaps the most important. "And the Federation."

Saalm's head began to swim. Perhaps from the revelation of recent events just given to her, or maybe from the pain and fatigue of struggling to fight Chorag. She thought back to her captivity on Kreanus, when she'd first been approached by S'anara and then Medara. Her private meeting with the Romulan command staff had necessitated her unconditional cooperation to deliver Ko'raH to the Empire. Even a ploy to ensure he would follow the Orion's starship into Klingon territory to draw him out and finally get rid of his hidden presence on the colony. But while Lirha had known about his cloaked vessel tucked deep behind DuJa'Q's stern throughout their foray into the Neutral Zone, the rest of the 'arrangement' had been completely oblivious to her.

Turning slowly to face the rear of her bridge, Lirha's feet became heavy with each shuffle step. She looked at the officers around her -- all of whom she were responsible for -- and lowered her head in shame. Her eyes drifted to the spiked boots she wore on her feet as part of her Klingon-Orion armor. The revelation of her involvement and knowledge that had jeopardized her entire crew was now public, and she had no words of rebuttal. Fleetingly, she looked up to cast a final gaze at Amaranai in the hope the security officer would give some sort of consolation that Lirha hadn't completely failed in her mission.

To Be Continued...

[OFF]

--

GEN Lirha Saalm
Commanding Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

General Ko'raH
Klingon Traitor
[PNPC Saalm]

Councilor Karh
Klingon High Council
[PNPC Saalm]

CMDR Medara
Colony Administrator
Kreanus Colony
[PNPC Saalm]

Ensign Miraj Derani
Chief Flight Control Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

CPO2 Crispin Snow
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q
[PNPC Derani]

Ensign Mimi
Operations Officer
IKS DuJa'Q

Cmdr Allyndra illm Warraquim
Chief Medical and Second Officer
IKS Duja'Q

PO2 T'Lin
Science Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Warraquim]

Lieutenant JG Marisa Sandoval
Counselor
IKS Duja'Q

Petra Varelli, PhD
Forensic Anthropologist
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Sandoval]

Ambassador Sorel Varro
Chief Diplomatic Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Petty Officer Eviess
Medical Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Varro]

Lt. JG Eelim Galan
Security Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Varro]

Commander Aren Ban
Executive Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Lieutenant JG Amaranai Franklin
Assistant Chief Security / Tactical
IKS Duja'Q

Lieutenant Commander Luke Wyatt
Strategic Operations Officer
IKS Duja'Q

Ensign Abbey St James
Security Officer
IKS Duja'Q
[PNPC Wyatt]

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