Vignettes: Tales of the Gamma Quadrant

[Cptn Corizon 0]

Note from the Author: A huge thanks to my contributors, Odly Condacin, Tristan Xenatos, and the Lovely Colonel Harper. Also a thanks to Ben Mullikin for lending me Captain Shreve.

 

As the Excalibur crew hunts for ghosts in dark places, the rest of the Federation and Romulan fleets continued their patrol and exploration of the surrounding sectors.

 

Captain Jaenson Laokoa sat musingly in the observation lounge of the Intrepid-class USS Manchuria gazing at the blue giant known as Nakio 456, or at least that was the Federation designation for it anyway, the local name for it was something the Vissian captain didn't even want to try to pronounce.

 

They'd been in the Nakio system now for just under two days, just over a week into their patrol and so far it'd been the picture of serenity. The four inhabited systems in their designated patrol area were sparsely inhabited, and were mostly small farming colonies that were in low stages of development.

 

Apparently the Dominion's only real interest in the area was an unusual ore deposit on the fifth planet of the Nakio system, but the mines there had long since been inactive. Tomorrow several away teams were scheduled to explore the mines themselves, while a team from science and engineering was heading down to the only inhabited planet in the system to meet with local leaders to discuss some problem they were having with their aqueduct system.

 

Tipping back a frothy, warm beverage Laokoa sighed happily. Now this was his kind of mission. He only hoped the rest of the fleet had it so easy, and he made a mental note to send a thank you note to Captain Corizon when they returned to base in a few weeks.

 

In the archeology lab of the USS Shinano a be-dreaded figure sat muttering lowly to himself as he scooped a pile of dirt into a soil analyzer. Lt. Jack DeChevel rubbed at his pronounced brow, the most obvious sign he was not a full-blood human.

 

A young enlistee trainee came over with a padd, smiling slightly. "Everything alright, Lieutenant?"

 

The youngish half-Daliwalkan science officer frowned. "Soil samples..."

 

"Sounds like fun. Think on the bright side -- you could be dealing with live Scorpiad younglings!" the woman suggested brightly. "Want some coffee?" she asked, moving towards the replicator.

 

"I'd like to examine their ruins," he said with a smile. "And sure."

 

Sighing he hit the start button on the soil analyzer and leaned back into the grey padding of the silver lab chair. "I mean here we are in the Gamma Quadrant, one of the most unexplored areas accessible to Starfleet Scientists, and I am trying to find out what these bumpkin natives dumped into their soil a few hundred years ago..."

 

She smirked. "Someone has to do the dirty work. Though I admit... it seems a little beneath you..." She tapped a button on the replicator. "Two black coffees," she instructed the device.

 

A smile crossed his face, "Well with Commander Tarinis' team still back on that one planet helping those people design a better flood prevention system, someone had to do it."

 

"See?" She handed one of the mugs to him. "At least you're not playing gofer," she referred to herself with a smirk. "Now, that would be a waste of energies."

 

Looking over the Xenexian for a few moments, he took the coffee and took a drink. "Trying to tell me something, trainee?"

 

"Maybe," she said, taking a gulp of the beverage. "But who would I be to complain? Second month on the job -- not like they're going to assign me to important jobs like dissection or..." she snickered quietly, "...soil analyses."

 

"Maybe," putting the beverage to his lips and setting it back down, "they weren't sure if you could work the equipment."

 

Shrugging, she half-mindedly tapped a weapon at her side. "Could be. Wouldn't be the first time someone underestimated me." Sighing, "But you don't want to listen to a little enlistee gripe, now do you?"

 

"No more than you want to listen to some spoiled Earth-brat officer gripe," he smiled widely.

 

"Spoiled? Hardly. Just... soft," she corrected.

 

"We can't all have grown up under the abject boot of the Danteri," he said honestly as he tapped at the soil analyzer again.

 

"Mmm, thank the gods for the small things, eh?" She took a seat, leaning forward on her elbows. "I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy, except for the Danteri themselves, of course. At any rate, any scientist can head to the gym. There aren't signs with 'Security and Marines Only' posted on the doors."

 

"I go three times a week," he said proudly. "I suppose you'd identify with these people better than I ever could..."

 

"Probably," she admitted. "What about you? Lap of luxury?" Pursing her lips, she scrutinized him. "Generally good posture -- raised on Earth -- son of an ambassador?" she asked.

 

"Shop owner and scientist."

 

She nodded, sounding slightly impressed. "Then you didn't do half-badly. As for me..." she paused, finishing her coffee. "My father oversees a province on the homeworld."

 

"And I am the spoiled one," he smirked, but quickly turned his attention to the beeping analyzer. "Now why would that be there..."

 

"What is it?" she inquired, instantly all-business.

 

The central command hub of the Camelot Station was eerily quiet. Commander Corris Sprint sighed in relief. It had been sometime since he could simply sit down to his station log in, and not expect the end of the universe before his shift had ended. With nearly the entire fleet out on patrol, Admiral Day and Captain Sorehl off on some mission, and the Scorpiads busy doing what ever it was that giant, sentient arachnids with a penchant for galactic conquest do, it was completely calm in the Avalon system.

 

Behind him a set of door slid open and Captain David Shreve strolled in carrying a silver mug of something heated. “Commander,” he said with a grin. “What's the latest news?”

 

Sprint looked towards the console quickly. “Nothing to report Captain,” he said. “Colonel Kimura seems to have everything in control.”

 

Shreve nodded before making his way over to the central holotable to look over the positions of the ships under his command. With Camelot Station moved into orbit above Avalon, the small fleet he had at his disposal was free to look after the edges of Avalonian space.

 

He'd instructed the fleet to create a perimeter around the system, keeping watch for anything unsightly. So far though it had been tranquil and calm. The Scorpiads and their alies apparently had no interest in taking advantage of the comparative weakness of the Federation fleet.

 

There was the few Klingon vessels left behind when K'Vorlag had reassigned most of them to intelligence gathering; not that Shreve minded that though—in this war, any information they could gather would be useful, but other than that, if the Scorpiads decided to attack full on, there would be little Shreve could do to stop them.

 

“Contact the Isonzo and tell Commander Zah'kal to return to base, the Phoenix will take her place in the patrol route for a few days.”

 

“Understood,” Corris said without hesitation. “Will you be going with them, sir?”

 

Looking a bit surprised by the question Shreve smirked. “I am not one of these 'adminstrative' types,” he said wryly, “I'll be on the Phoenix and out of your hair. You know where to call if there's a problem, Commander.”

 

“Of course, Captain.”

 

The darkness of his quarters paled only in comparison to that of the space outside the bulkhead of the Aida. The soft, gentle recitations of prayers passed down through generations echoed softly along the metallic surfaces of the room. With each breath time itself felt slowed. Peace and serenity. It was a luxury that had not been afforded to most of the crew of the Aida in many months, but now one they seemed to have in abundance.

 

Sheng-Ji Marish was grateful for the respite, and was planning on thanking his former teacher and mentor for the assignment at the earliest opportunity—eleven weeks from now. Till then, he was planning on enjoying the rather quiet patrol route his ship had been given, focusing his free time on his studies of ancient texts and meditating.

 

As the Aida skimmed softly at low warp, his thoughts returned to his master. Something had been troubling Corizon; something more pressing than the knowledge of the rain. Sheng-Ji could not place it yet, but there was a change in Ah-Windu, but what it was...and for good or bad he could not tell. For now though, there was little the younger Dameon could do to address the situation. So he let the thoughts fade into the darkness of shadows.

 

It would be another seven days before they would arrive at the next stopping point of the patrol route, and there would be plenty of time for thoughts on things he could not alter. So for now, he focused on the tranquility of his self.

 

In a stuffy Jefferies tube of deck 5 of the USS Ollie, Ensign Xc-ieen lay flat against the metallic floors, sweat dripping down his face, staining his uniform.

 

The hatch slide open with a hiss-click, and Barnes crawled through. "Xc-ieen?"

 

The aquamarine skinned Engineering officer set up. They never had learned to pronounce his name -- primitive speech centers. "Hello?"

 

"Lt. Colburn wants to know your status," Barnes replied, sticking his head into the tube the voice had come from.

 

Colburn. Barnes. Such...simple names. The humans really were a dull race; even their spiciest food barely registered on his pallet. It was like living with the dead. And only one skin tone. And one gender. It was frightening really. "Well it would be better if they didn't keep getting fired on by pirates...or running into asteroid fields."

 

Barnes smirked at the blue tinted creature in front of him. It must put one in such a bad mood to be tinted such a neon color... "We are on a Starfleet vessel, in an unexplored quadrant. You expected smooth sailing?"

 

Xc-ieen rolled his eyes. "What I'd like is for some off time for repairs," he said grumbling. "We barely get one thing fixed before they have us off fighting them or that. If it's not Hundred, it's those vampire things, and if its not them it's some substandard pirates."

 

Barnes slid into the other end of the tube, popping open a hatch, and fishing a repair kit from a compartment in the wall. "Look on the bright side," he said flashing a smile. "At least it's not the Borg."

 

"Oh no," Xc-ieen said sardonically, "they just erase your memories. These giant, arachnid things probably feed you to their young. Mmmm tasty,"

 

"Be optimistic....maybe they are allergic to sushi," Barnes reached up into the compartment and began checking the chips inside, over the past few weeks most of the chip sets had begun to burn out. Only one of the setbacks of being in the middle of nowhere without

regular starbase overhauls...

 

"I am not aquatic," Xc-ieen growled as he jabbed a spanner into the proper location. "And last I checked you hu-mons did

poorly underwater with out breathing apparati."

 

Looking rather proud of himself, "Or do you have a set of gills hidden away somewhere?"

 

"I will have you know I was a renowned free diver during my last two years at the Academy," he retorted as he placed the last of the chips back into place. This set was still functional...for now.

 

Xc-ieen grasped the set of wiring that had been eluding him and began pulling on it gently at first, then not so gently. "So," he said pulling on the cables. "If I hold you underwater for a few

hours, you'll come up alive?"

 

Barnes looked down the tube at his fellow engineer. "If I did not know we were such good friends, I might take that as a threat..." The sarcasm was evident as Barnes replaced the cover and snapped it closed.

 

"Point. Set. Match." The multicolor engineer smirked. "Or something like that. It's from that hu-mon game of yours where two people run around trying to hit a yellow ball with a racket."

 

"Tennis, the game is tennis," Barnes said, sliding down the tube a bit farther to check the next set of relays. "If you are going to make fun of our sports, at least learn the names..."

 

"Tennis," he said smirking even wider. "What ever you want to call it."

 

Grabbing at a coil of new wires, Xc-ieen placed both of his hands in the hole above him and began connecting ends in the proper locations.

 

"At least my culture has amusing sports," Barnes said grabbing the next chip in the line. As he removed it, it slipped from his grip, his hands begging to sweat in the confined area. He heard it clink to the deck beside him and began to feel for it. "Damnit."

 

Before Xc-ieen could respond with an equally witty response, the wail of a red alert klaxon, followed shortly by the shaking of the ship interrupted him.

 

Barnes found the chip, and quickly jammed it back into place. "Here we go again," he said sliding down the tube.

 

Colonel Kimura looked out the tiny window in his minuscule office -- nee closet -- and gave in to the urge to groan. Things were rapidly spiraling out of his control.

 

Pulling a PADD from his walking jacket, Doctor Shujinko Akia rapped his fingers on the office door of the commanding officer of Avalon base.

 

Straightening up, Kimura wiped the fatigue from his features and turned to the door. "Come," he said crisply.

 

Akia entered and headed straight for the desk and chairs at the other end of the rather cramped room. "Colonel," he said respectfully, tipping his head slightly as he'd been programed to do towards an elder since nearly birth. "You asked to see me?"

 

"Thank you for coming, Doctor," the colonel said. "I know you're busy." He drew out the desk chair the whole 20 centimeters it could move and squeezed into the seat. "What can you tell me about this virus?"

 

Taking his seat as well, which he found rather...spartan by Starfleet

Standards, Akia sighed softly and looked towards his PADD as small beads

of sweat formed. "It's the darnedest thing Colonel."

 

"Elaborate," Kimura said, not having the patience to beat around the bush when half of the colony's skeleton staff was in the infirmary and the other half pretending to be well enough not to be.

 

"Well at first I thought it was Allgaivine's Fever," he said trying to figure out how to put it in terms the Marine could understand easily. "Or at least a mutation of it native to this planet."

 

"But it's not," growled the Marine, "because we can vaccinate against that, to say nothing of the effectiveness of a broad-spectrum antibiotic. What is it, Doctor?"

 

He shook his head, "If I knew that, I'd not be here. It's something coming out of our water supply, because the Romulans haven't reported anything from their colony site."

 

"And the drinking water was the only common thing among those infected."

 

Kimura frowned, considering the possibility that the Romulans – blasted stubborn haughty lot that they were - wouldn't admit to having the disease if they were all on their deathbeds. "Well, call up to Camelot and have them beam down more replicators, and use the emergency supplies."

 

Akia nodded, "Of course, sir. What about you, Colonel," Akia continued. "How are you holding up?”

 

"I'm fine," Kimura replied, grateful that even doctors didn't take such license in Starfleet as to touch a colonel's face without permission. The room was unaccountably cool to him, and yet he'd noticed his reflection looked flushed. "Or as fine as I can be trying to run a base with about a quarter of the staff I need to do it."

 

Lifting one of his dark eyebrow Akia looked towards the Colonel, "Are you sure, because if you should start to feel hot, and flushed..."

 

"You sawbones will drag me off to your chamber of horrors, and do you know who's next in command here? And healthy enough to do the job," he added quickly.

 

"You're probably better off staying in your office, all we can do in medical right now is make you comfortable," Akia said quickly, noting the famed aversion for medical by commanding officers.

 

Kimura scowled. "I assure you, Doctor, I have absolutely no intention of leaving command of this base to Ensign Rolland. I will be staying right here."

 

"If you don't mind though, sir" Akia looked sheepishly on, pausing before he continued. "I'd like to take a sample of your blood for study, I am trying to see if this is more than just some bacteria."

 

The colonel tapped one finger against the desk slowly. Finally, he said, "So long as the sample is not labeled, Doctor."

 

Command Officers. Akia took a deep breath and reached for hypospray. "Deal."

 

Kimura rolled up one sleeve, extending his arm across the desk.

 

Pressing the hypo against the arm, Akia took the sample and clicked it lightly, just to make sure it wouldn't turn to a murky brown color—old habit die hard. "Looks like I've got everything I need," he said when the blood continued to be blood.

 

"Very good, Doctor," Kimura said, pulling down his sleeve and noting the tap with approval. "Then I won't take any more of your time."

 

"I'll get back to you as soon as I found out anything else, Colonel."