The Final Frontier 8

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Text File | 1995-02-23 | 16.5 KB | 396 lines

TF01 3,The Hunter - Part 1 4,by Stuart Mackaness The Vanguard Chronicles - "The Hunter" ---------------------------------------- by Stuart Mackaness --------------------- PROLOGUE "Shields collapsing!" Lieutenant Hakon roared from the Tactical rail. The ship bucked again. This time the shock was enough to send Counselor Drayton careening into the food replicator. Blood pouring from his nose and forhead he slowly slid down the wall. Before Captain T'Jun could do anything she was forced to hold onto the command chair as another blast struck her ship. "Fire phasers and photon torpedoes." The Vulcan ordered. "Weapon control not responding!" Hakon howled in frustration. The ship rolled again, a roar from behind T'Jun told her something was awry. Hakon's body hurtling over her only confirmed that assesment. T'Jun considered for a second. "Reroute all Tactical functions through Ops, continue scanning the enemy vessel's hull," she turned to face the young ensign at the helm, "Continue evasive manoeuvres Ensign Gates and ensure that only our prow is visible." She watched with interest as the young officer simply sat there looking at her. Tears began to roll down his burning cheeks. She stood up and spoke to him in her usual neutral tone. "Did you hear me ensign?" He sat there, huge sobs now racking his body. Humans, she thought, so much emotion. The ship on the view screen turned again, its angular hull reminded her of the Tholian Webslingers the Crystallio had encountered many times in her missions along their boarder. This ship was different though, with two long, curved pylons jutting out from the underside of the wedge shaped hulll. A third pylon stuck out from the front and this seemed to be the location of the ship's main armament. Ops had informed her that the beam which kept striking her ship were composed of 'inverted sotrions'. T'Jun wasn't sure what inverted sotrions were. A dull roar flooded the bridge, T'Jun saw her first officers lips move in some Bolian profanity and then blackness engulfed her. The Crystallio exploded, fragments of debris scattering across space. Satisfied at the kill, the hunter moved on. PART ONE Lieutenant Macha Hermandez studied her communication readout for a momment and then slapped her communicator. "Hermandez to Captain Warner."She called. There was an undetectable pause as the Vanguard's computer routed the call. "Warner here, go ahead Lieutenant." He responded. "Sir, we have recived a subspace message for you from Admiral Cohen at Starbase 247." "Patch it through to my quaters." He replied automatically. "Sir," she added, "It's code four delta." Warner let this sink in for a second. "Very well, I'm enroute to the bridge. Warner out." The Hispanic chief of security began ordering checks to the weapon systems. Whatever the message was about, four delta meant it was trouble. Macha always preferred a few phaser banks at the ready when trouble was around. * * * Jonathan Warner waited for the crew woman to leave the turbolift and then stepped in. The doors snapping shut as he entered. "Bridge" he ordered, the 'lift car humming into life. Code four delta meant that the message contained information on an unknown threat to Starfleet security. Warner prayed it wasn't the Borg. He had his fill of the Borg in the scare a few months ago. There had been a press release declaring that the Borg threat was over, but Warner wasn't sure. Well, if it was the Borg, the Vanguard would get a slice of the action this time, unlike the fiasco at Wolf 359. The rythmic flashing lights either side of the 'lift slowed and with a 'swoosh' the doors opened onto the bridge. Of all the places on the ship, this was his favourite. The circular room always gave the impression that it had remained unchanged in the Excelsior class ship's sixty two years of service. This was obviously untrue but it made all of Warner's actions seem like something out of a period play. Warner took a mental regester for the bridge crew. Lieutenant Commander Karma was at her post on Ops, continually checking on the status of the ship and the resources which had been alocated to the various science and engineering departments. Actually Karma wasn't at her post, she was levitating a foot above the seat. When Warner had first seen this ability on her file, he had questioned it's day to day use. He didn't know about the Farenoids - or 'fairies' as they had been inevitably branded. If he had known about them he would have realised that his second officer was just over eighteen inches high and had the temperment of the devil himself. Junior Grade Lieutenant Robert Dean was busying himself at the Con, with their current surveying mission taking them across the boarder of a large asteroid field, the young, dark haired officer had to ensure that the Vanguard didn't end up spread across the sector by an asteroid which was too big to be shunted out of the way by the navigational deflector. Lieutenant Hermandez was likewise engrossed with her sensor readings, not quite trusting the helmsman's famed skill to keep the ship in one piece. Warner knew that if she could, she would cut a clear path through the field with phasers and the occasional photon torpedo. She wasn't the best person to put in command of an exploration vessel, but she made one hell of a tactical officer. She would have been snapped up with a position on a Nebula class starship if she could control that hot headed attitude of hers. He only hoped that if she did get a command, she wouldn't loose it in a risk like his first officer had. Warner suddenly realised who was missing from the bridge. "Where's Commander Halk?" He demanded. "Her whereabouts are unknown sir." Macha replied instantly. "Karma?" Warner prompted. "How should I know!" Karma snapped. Warner let the insubordination slip, he knew from past experience that someone in Starfleet was obviously looking out for her and pulled apart all the attempts he made for a formal reprimand. Another reason was her outstanding service both as a Science officer and as third in command. He also knew that her attitude problem either stemmed from her being the only surviving member of her race or that it was a natural trait for a fairy. Farenoid, Warner immediately corrected himself. Perhaps the constant cruel alteration of her race name only angered her more. Warner attempted to call his first officer to the bridge twice more before consulting the computer. "Computer." He began. "Working." Came the reply. "Where is Commander Lyrinda Halk?" "Commander Halk is on deck eight in the holodeck." It replied instantly. "Why can't I contact her?" He demanded. "There is a communications blockout on that facility." "What? On whose authority?" He demanded. "On the authority of Commander Halk. Alpha One clearence." Warner looked in amazement at his chief of security. "What the hell is she playing at?" He turned to face the view screen in a subconcious action and said icily, "Over-ride communications blockout on the holodeck, Alpha Two clearance!" The computer chirped for an instant and then replied in it's unemotional female tones, "Communications have been restored to the holodeck." Warner angrily slapped his communicator, "Captain Warner to Commander Halk." he called, emphsising the rank as he always did when he was giving someone a dressing down. After a brief pause the chanel was opened and a low sigh was heard. "Commander Halk here." came a tired sounding voice. "Commander, this is Captain Warner. What are you doing on the holodeck?" "I'm off duty right now." She replied , sounding slightly distant. "Are you a senior officer?" Warner asked. "Of course sir, I'm your first officer." Halk said puzzled. "Then when I ask for all the senior officers to report to the bridge, am I to asume it would include you?" Obvously realisation dawned on Commander Halk as there was an awkward pause. "My apologies Captain, I'm on my way. Halk out." "Captain, Admiral Cohen is calling us again." Hermandez informed him. The message! It was code four delta! He forgot! "Damn!" He muttered. "Pardon sir?" Macha asked. "Nothing Lieutenant, please put the Admiral on screen." Warner replied clamly. With a nod of acknowledgement, she caressed the smooth, touch sensitive controls on her station and looked towards the main view screen expectantly. The United Federation of Planets symbol appeared, set against a black background with 'Code 4 Delta' in capitals underneath it. The image changed to that of a black, middle aged man wearing the cranberry uniform of a command officer. The design of the uniform and the pips set on a gold and black bar identified him as an admiral in Starfleet. "Admiral Cohen." Warner presumed. "Yes Captain, what was the delay?" Cohen said sharply. Warner carefully phrased his words, he was confident that Lyrinda would explain herself at a more convenient time. "Sorry sir, we are having problems with our warp drive. Being an old ship the Vanguard has developed some quirks." Warner explained, wondering how the warp drive was going to credibly delay the transmition. "And..?" Cohen prompted, taking no trouble to hide his puzzlement. "It's an old problem my engineers complain about when we sometimes drop out of warp." Warner continued. "The engines refuse to start again unless Lieutenant Gart, my Chief Engineer, strips down the tertiary power coupling and replaces the power regulator. "You mean it blows a fuse?" Cohen said skeptically. "In a manner of speaking, yes." Warner agreed. "And this affects my transmittion?" "Aparently so." Warner said deadpan. If the Admiral bought the story or not, he didn't show it. Warner turned briefly to acknowledge Commander Halk, who had just stepped out of the turbolift and was now making her way towards the Mission Opperations station where she usually worked when both she and the Captain were on the bridge. Warner returned his attention to the view screen. "Captain Warner," Cohen began, "Two months ago the USS Crystallio went missing while enroute to the Beta Maximus colony. No trace of the ship has been found, and no message has been received. We are now working under the assumption that it left its flightpath for reasons unknown. One possibility could be that it was going to answer a distress call from the USS Enforcer in the Dallis system. The Enforcer recived no response from the Crystallio to say it was on its way though. We have the Regata searching the Colliar and Dantona systems and the Draken searching the Muhadra nebula." "What can we do to help?" Warner asked. "We want you to check out sector three four seven." Cohen informed him. "Just us sir? That's an awful lot of space to cover." Warner replied. "It's mostly empty, a few systems and a gaseous anomaly but nothing else. Besides," he added, "We're teaming you up with the USS Andromeda." After signing off and laying in the course, Jonathan left the bridge with Karma in command. Halk muttered something about shutting down a holodeck program and left the bridge. With an estimated fourteen hours to their destination, Warner took the chance to read up on the various elements in his quarters. First up was the USS Crystallio. Ambassador class, it was commanded by Captain T'Jun who was a Vulcan of some standing and was heavilly involved in the Brok'Navor project on Cengus IV. She didn't have a particularly outstanding service record, but a note on the bottom of her file indicated she had submitted a thesis on 'Humans and their emotional drives'. An unusual choice for a Vulcan but probably not important in relation to the mission. Flicking through the details on the Draken and Enforcer, Warner finally came across the file on the Andromeda. Warner groaned inwardly. The Andromeda was the prototype for the mistrusted Andromeda class of ships. Forerunners of the Nebula class starships, they were incredibly fast for their time but suffered from poor defensive and average offensive capabilities. That alone wouldn't upset him - there was a famous saying: 'There are no bad ships, only bad Captains.' This was especially true for the Captain of the Andromeda. How James Chenery became a starship Captain was anyone's guess. Although nepotism didn't exist in the fleet, the fact that Admiral Olgar was incharge of the personnel department at the time and that he also held a seat at the selection council, meant that if he was so inclined he could get his nephew a command without his nephew actually earning one. Such discusions and scuttlebutt were passed off by everyone as jealousy - Chenery was one of the youngest Captains in Starfleet. But the number of poor command decisions and failed missions were infamous. The disasterous first contact mission with the planet H'sitreb led to the death of his first officer and the loss of two shuttlecraft. This coupled with the bad relations that currently exist with the H'sitrebi people means that promotion was unlikely for Captain Chenery. There was even talk of demotion to the rank of Commander in charge at Deep Space Four on the M'Dok boarder. Putting these thoughts aside, Jonathan examined the file on the USS Regata. Not that he needed to, the Regata was one of the most famous starships in the history of the Federation. Its name stood along side those of the original starship Enterprise, the Enterprise- D and the USS Hood. Commanded by Captain Kimi Nile, who was decorated four times for outstanding service and exemplory performance, the Regata was Starfleet's most popular ship. Especially since Nile and her command team had appeared on Tri-D vision three years ago after the Regata was the only ship to return from the armada at Wolf 359. Something didn't feel right about all of this. Why was a ship as useful as the Regata undertaking a search mission? Why is Starfleet sending at least five starships out on a simple recovery mission? Maybe one or two, but not five! "What's Cohen up to?" Warner muttered. * * * The hunter drifted onwards, it's prey thought it hadn't been seen. No pathetic camouflage was going to save this beast. It leisurely circled round it's prey, looking for a good place to strike. This one seemed an even greater challenge than the previous one. It was nearly three times as large and seemed more readily equipped for fighting than the first kill. Suddenly the hunter noticed it's prey move off, dropping it's cloaking screen. The game was afoot! Commander Valok of the Romulan Star Empire realised that the enemy was closing to strike. "Sveuj ne lesoon!" he barked to Sub-commander Nevret, who quickly reached the secondary weapons station. He wanted as many shots at this d'chwim before he was forced to retreat. If this was the foe which had destroyed the Warbird Haakona at Rujes XI then the Scliad was in for a fierce fight indeed. The warbird shook as the enemy opened up on them. Bolts of death slammed into the shields The ship shook again, this time part of the oppeations room collapsed, crushing the aft weapon and defence stations. "Nevret! Lah bune heims?" Valok called out as his first officer was buried under a shattered bulkhead. Another blast slammed into the ship, this time the navigation systems burned out and most of the command crew were killed as the internal electrical systems began arcing. Valok threw himself from his command throne just in time as a blast ripped through the back of the seat. Pewolt, his head of external activities rushed to the main weapons console. With it's operator either dead or unconcious, the warbird wasn't returning fire. Valok muttered an old Romulan war song to himself as the lights began to fail. Monitors flickered and died. A garbled report from his enginering corps mentioned a power core meltdown but then burst into a screach of static and died. Valok watched as his world exploded around him. The prey spiraled below the hunter, explosion after explosion ripped through the once graceful lines, slowly it tumbled into a fiery grave. The hunter moved on, it's attention caught by a faint signal from a far off nebula. The hunt goes on!