Mission Briefing

[Joe Manning 0]

Commander Mench shimmered beside Fox on the transporter pad at the rear of QoB's bridge. As he stepped toward his chair, the ExOps officer gave a report.

 

"We have a sensor image of the incoming ship, Commander," she announced proudly. It was Zilane Rya, a Bajoran woman they had captured from a passenger liner nine months earlier. How nervous she had been back then. As he did with all the non-Klingon crew, Mench played the understanding Human and won her trust. He'd pushed for her advancement in the crew, ultimately earning her a second-shift bridge assignment. More and more non-Klingons were earning such prominence on the crew under his command.

 

"Show me," Mench ordered, taking a seat. Smokey took his usual seat at the Flight station. The silhouette of the incoming ship appeared on the main viewer. Mench smiled. "Oberth class. Shouldn't be too much to handle."

 

Mench pushed the comm button on his armrest. "Sargh ... they're sending a science vessel to do a combat vessel's job. We should be able to take it out quickly, but I don't like the kind of attention this could bring us from Starfleet. I want that cargo over here in short order. Have Lieutenant Pike look it over and determine if it can survive a space flight."

 

The cargo was a problem. Mench hadn't been expecting such a large package. He certainly hadn't been expecting an armored car with three energy cannons. Gular's 'cargo' seemed to be aimed at preparing QoB's crew to enter a combat zone. Peculiar considering that they were supposedly going to be robbing a mining colony with a light security presence. But Gular had been perfectly clear about the need to secure this cargo.

 

There was simply no room in the hold for it. Even if they were willing to jettison precious cargo to make room, there was no time with Starfleet now putting the heat on. Sargh's suggestion to tie the thing to the hull was sounding a lot more attractive ... at least as a temporary measure, just long enough to get the thing out of this system and to a more secure location.