=/\= Chapter Three =/\=
Stardate 58039.25 (January 15 2381, 07:55 Federation Standard Starship Time.)
USS Mjolnir
Interstellar space approaching Proxima Centauri, Sector 001, United Federation of Planets
As the alpha shift bridge crew walked towards their stations to relieve the crewmembers that had been manning it on the gamma shift Callum walked towards the captain’s chair to relieve the ship’s purple haired Boslic gamma shift officer of the watch, lieutenant junior grade Dina Kryll, and take command of the bridge. As Callum approached the center seat he watched as Dina stood up and stepped to the side so she was standing next to the captain’s chair.
“Quiet shift, lieutenant?” Callum asked.
“Yes, sir.” Dina replied, “We are approximately ten minutes out from the Proxima Centauri system.”
Adopting a more formal tone and stance Callum said, “The bridge is mine, lieutenant.”
“I stand relieved.” Dina said formally relinquishing command of the bridge.
As Callum sat down in the captain’s chair Dina and the rest of the gamma shift bridge crew filed off of the bridge and into the turbolift on the port side of the bridge to go about their various plans for their off duty time. Just before Callum was about to speak up to ask for a status report from all stations Damrus spoke up as he sat at the first officer and communications station behind and to the right of the center seat.
“Captain, we are receiving a hail from the Proxima Centauri Navigational Control department.” Damrus’s said.
“Onscreen.” Callum said as he straightened up as he sat in his seat.
Seconds later the enormous viewscreen on the bridge’s forward bulkhead came to life as its multi-spectral imaging sensors began creating the image of a Human man with brown hair and brown eyes.
“I am Traffic Controller First Class Thomas Gibson of the Proxima Centauri Navigational Control. To whom do I have the pleasure of speaking?” Controller Gibson said.
“Ahm Captain Callum MacLeod o’ the Starfleet ship Mjolnir. We have been ordered tae transport medical supplies tae your central hospital.” Callum said.
“You are cleared to enter they system and enter orbit. We will transmit a flight plan and orbit for your vessel to maintain while you are here as well as coordinates to transport the medical supplies down. You and your people have permission to come to the surface at your discretion while you are here. When you wish to leave contact us and we will assign you a flight path out of the system and a departure time.” Controller Gibson said.
“Thank-you, Controller. Mjolnir out.” Callum said before the viewscreen reverted to a view of space in front of the Mjolnir as the Diligent class ship cruised at warp speed towards the Proxima Centauri system.
“We’ve received the flight and orbital plan, Captain. We’ve been assigned a priority flight plan into the system. I am transferring the course to the helm.” Damrus said a moment later.
“Flight and orbital plans received.” Nerah said as his fingers danced across the helm console, “Altering course as speed accordingly. ETA to orbit is fifteen minutes and twenty five seconds.”
“Very good, Lieutenant.” Callum said. Turning in his Mark VII Captain’s chair so he was facing the first officer and communications station he continued on saying, “The bridge is yours, Commander Rel. I'll be in my ready room.”
"Aye, sir." Damrus said acknowledging Callum's order and standing up so he could assume the center seat as Callum began to cross the bridge as he headed for the ready room.
Walking across the bridge past the helm and ops stations and the Mjolnir’s dedication plaque Callum walked into the ship’s ready room. Once Callum had walked into the ready room he walked past the blue outlined octagon of the ready room’s holo-communicator to the alcove that contained the replicator and a door that was labeled ‘Captain’s Head’. As he walked toward the replicator Callum spoke to the computer ordering himself a lime pick-a-pop. Picking the bottle up Callum walked towards the center seat. As Callum sat down his combadge chirped to indicate that he had a waiting hail. Reaching to his combadge with his right hand Callum tapped it with his pointer and middle fingers to open the comm-link.
“MacLeod. Go ahead.” Callum said after he had tapped the combadge giving whoever was hailing him the go ahead to speak.
“Commander Rel, Captain. We are receiving a hail from the surface from the commanding officer of the local Starfleet post.” Damrus’s voice said coming from Callum’s combadge.
“Route it here, Commander.” Callum said.
“Aye, sir. Bridge out.” Damrus replied.
A moment later the desktop monitor chirped signaling that the communication he was waiting on had been routed to his monitor. Turning to the monitor Callum pressed the button to open the channel and the blank viewscreen came to life with the image of a Bolian man with three solid pips on the collar of his command division Starfleet uniform.
“Hello, ahm Captain Callum MacLeod o’ the Mjolnir.” Callum asked diplomatically.
“I’m Commander Halin Knalf, commanding officer of the Starfleet contingent here on Proxima Colony.” Knalf said in the typical gregarious yet somehow still professional tone virtually all Bolian Starfleet officers seemed to perfect.
“Tae what do I owe the pleasure, Commander Knalf?” Callum asked.
“Navigational Control’s sensor scans detected some something coming towards the system at sub-light speeds at an eighty five degree angle to the plane of the system. They can’t get a clear reading due to interference from the whatever it is but they CAN tell that it is pursuing an independent course and correcting for gravitational effects so they asked me to request that you investigate. If you’re willing I’ll transmit you the sensor data they have and the coordinates that the readings seem to be coming from. Unfortunately I don’t have any shuttles or runabouts that I could send to investigate.” Knalf said.
“We’re more than willing commander.” Callum said, “Ye can let Navigational Control know that we’ll alter course tae investigate.”
“I’ll have that sent to you right away, Captain.” Knalf said, “And I’ll let Navigational Control know. Thank-you for your help, sir.”
“Think nothing o’ it, Commander. Mjolnir out.” Callum said before he reached over and tapped a control on the monitor to close the channel. Tapping his combadge to open a channel Callum said, “MacLeod tae the Bridge.”
“Bridge, Commander Rel. How can I help you, sir?” Damrus’s disembodied and Andorii accented voice said coming from Callum’s combadge a moment later.
“Commander Knalf, of the Starfleet contingent assigned to Proxima Colony, passed on a request from the Navigational Control Department to investigate some unusual sensor readings. Ah’ve agreed tae investigate them. Once we’ve received the coordinates have Lieutenant Nerah take us there. Ah’ll be there shortly.” Callum said.
“Aye, sir. Rel out.” Damrus said from Callum’s combadge before the channel quietly clicked closed.
“Nae rest for the wicked.” Callum said to himself as he stood up and walked around the ready room desk.
=/\=
Ten minutes later, as the Mjolnir glided silently through space at warp thousands of kilometers above the plane of the Proxima Centauri solar system, Nerah reported that they were approaching the coordinates provided by the Proxima Colony Navigational control through Commander Knalf.
“All stop, Lieutenant Nerah. Hold this position.” Callum ordered from the captain’s chair. Continuing on he said, “Full sensor scans, Commander Tymoshenko Lets see what’s oot there”
“All stop. Aye, aye sir.” Nerah reported as he brought the Mjolnir to a full stop.
“Aye, aye captain. Beginning full sensor scan.” Navesh said once Nerah finished speaking Navesh spoke up as she sat at the science and combat tracking station as her enormous uniform covered bosoms pressed against the edge of her console while her uniform skirt hid the fact that she wasn’t wearing anything underneath it as she worked the controls on the Science and Combat Tracking console to use the ship’s sensors, “We’ve got a contact directly ahead, sir.”
“Put it on screen, Commander Rel.” Callum ordered.
Seconds later the viewscreen flickered to life showing the image of a roughly spherical asteroid covered with what looked like a massively scaled up version of the original design of the deflector dish from a Constitution class starship and banks of gigantic rocket nozzles at each of the poles and at the equator half way between the poles on either side of the asteroid. At the rear of the asteroid, hidden from the view of the Mjolnir was a bank of rocket nozzles hundreds of the times the size of the other rocket nozzles.
“Maintaining relative distance from the… asteroid-ship.” Nerah said from the helm as his fingers danced across the helm console.
“From these sensor readings its most definitely not warp capable. So my guess would be that it is a generational ship. Its engines appear to be powered by primitive anti-matter reactors and equipped with low yield particle weapons much like the ones that the United Earth Starfleet used on its ships prior to the founding of the Federation. Projecting her course ahead based on the data we have it appears to be on a course for Proxima Colony.” Navesh reported from ops.
“Life signs?” Callum asked from the Mark VII captain’s chair in the center of the Mjolnir’s bridge.
“Indeterminate. There is high concentrations of kelbonite and fistrium in the asteroid’s crust and there appears to be a primitive polarization grid on the asteroid’s surface. It appears to be on par with their level of weapons development, equivalent to that of Earth technology used just prior to the founding of the Federation. There also appears to be several warp capable vessels in what seems to be a sub-surface launch bay.” Navesh reported from the science and combat tracking station.
“Hail them on all EM and subspace bands, Commander Rel.” Callum ordered.
After a couple of moments of silence Callum asked, “Any response, Commander?”
“Negative, sir.” Damrus replied from the first officer and communications behind Callum and to his right.
"Captain! The asteroid-ship’s weapons systems are coming on-line!" Gratakka tersely chimed in from the tactical station. "And it has activated its polarization grid."
"Shields up, but keep our weapons on standby. I don’t want to look too aggressive." Callum said aloud to no one in particular. Continuing on he asked, "Is she taking evasive action, Commander Tymoshenko?"
"Negative, Sir. She is continuing on course for Proxima Colony." Navesh replied from the science an combat tracking station.
"How long until she reaches Proxima Colony?" Callum asked.
"Seventeen years at her current sub-light velocity, give or take a few months." Navesh said after consulting the readouts on the displays of her station. After a moment she continued on saying, "We are being probed by sensors from the vessel. They are attempting to achieve a transporter lock on our crew."
"Not precisely the response I had hoped for. Is there any chance of them locking on?" Callum asked.
"Not a chance, unless they’re hiding some tech that WAY more advanced that what they appear to have." Navesh replied.
"Hail them again, Commander Rel" Callum ordered.
Damrus responded by tapping a series of commands into his console and after a moment’s silence he shook his head as he spoke, "No response."
“Captain, they’ve have increased transporter power by a factor of six and are attempting to lock on again.” Navesh reported from her station.
With a frown Callum realized that a show of strength was necessary and said, "Lieutenant Gratakka, fire a full-power one second warning shot from our phasers parallel their surface — quarter kilometer separation."
"Aye, sir… firing phasers." The Nausicaan tactical officer replied as his fingers danced across the tactical console causing a orange-gold beam of phaser energy to lance out from the dorsal phaser array above the navigational deflector.
"They have ceased their attempt to acquire a transporter lock." Navesh reported from the science and combat tracking station a moment later. Seconds after that she suddenly spoke up saying, “Captain! They are beaming a photonic warhead into space ten meters from our forward shields!”
"Evasive action, Lieutenant Nerah!” Callum ordered as he grabbed the arms of his command chair, "Brace for impact!"
As the Mjolnir rapidly backed away from the warhead Damrus tapped a command into his console causing the computer to warn the crew to brace for impact. Seconds later the ship shook as the device exploded.
"Shields are holding at ninety-six percent." Navesh reported from the science and combat tracking station.
"More transporter signatures!" Navesh called out a moment later, "I am detecting another eight warheads bracketing us!"
"Warp speed, Lieutenant Nerah! Get us out of transporter range." Callum barked as he remained held in place by the safety restraints built into his command chair.
Under Nerah’s guidance the Mjolnir wheeled about so it was facing away from the asteroid ship and jumped into warp seconds before the eight photonic warheads exploded in bright flashes of light similar to miniature suns.
"Take us out of warp and maintain position facing the asteroid ship at a distance of one hundred twenty thousand kilometers and keep our shields as strong as possible." Callum ordered figuring that if they kept distance of three times the Mjolnir’s transporter range it was very likely that would be outside of the asteroid-ship’s transporter range.
"Aye, aye, Sir." Nerah replied as he tapped a series of commands into the helm causing the Mjolnir to drop out of warp and come about so it was facing the asteroid-ship.
As Callum rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the image of the asteroid-ship on the viewscreen he said, "Damage report."
“Minor radiation bleed through the forward shields causing contamination to the forward hull but no physical damage." Navesh replied from the Ops station, “I’ve got the forward shields back to one hundred percent and have auxiliary power ready to route as necessary.”
"Lieutenants Gratakka and Washbourne, Ah want a full tactical and scientific analysis o’ that vessel. We’ll be having a senior staff meeting in fifteen minutes and ah want answers by then." Callum ordered. Continuing on he turned to face the first officer and communications station and said, “Ye have the bridge, Commander Rel. Ah’ll be in mah ready room. If there is any aggressive actions from the asteroid-ship you are authorized tae evade or go tae warp as ye see fit."
"Aye, sir." Damrus said acknowledging the order as Callum stood up. Hearing a chirp from his console Damrus looked down and seeing what it was continued on saying, "We are being hailed by the asteroid-ship, Captain."
"On screen." Callum said as he sat back down in the center seat.
Seconds later the image on the viewscreen changed to the view of an alien command center that looked more like the operations and command center of a Cardassian Nor class station that a starship’s bridge. In the foreground of the image was what appeared to be a male humanoid. His smooth hairless skin had a deep yellow color to it which offset by the bright red eyes with a vertical iris like those of domesticated Terran cats.
"You will remove your vessel from this area at once and surrender possession of the planet we are approaching to us. If you don’t we will take it from you by force." The alien man demanded.
"Ahm Captain Callum MacLeod, in command o’ the United Federation Starship Mjolnir. The United Federation of Planets is the governing authority of the planet you are heading for. We dinnae desire conflict with the you an’ are prepared tae greet ye in peace and enter into discussions relating tae the possibility o’ sharing the planet. However if ye attempt tae attack mah vessel again we are more than prepared to respond in kind." Callum said.
"I am Speaker Lyhrias of the Kavadah’ni generational ship Kumanshu. You would fight over a single world? You would condemn thirty-five thousand to death and see an entire species destroyed?" The alien man asked.
"We dinnae want tae see the extinction o’ a race, but we will defend our people and assets if it proves necessary.” Callum replied.
The alien on the screen met Callum's stern gaze evenly and said, “Your people are intruders upon a planet which our race set out long ago to colonize to replace our long dead homeworld."
"We are most willing to discuss SHARING the world, Speaker." Callum said, “However threats will nae accomplish anything.”
"Captain, the Kumanshu has fired more photonic torpedoes at us! " Navesh said aloud seconds after Callum finished speaking as soon as she saw the warning on her console.
“Take them out, Lieutenant Gratakka.” Callum said to his Nausicaan tactical officer without taking his gaze off the forward viewscreen.
Seconds after he had tapped commands into his station Gratakka reported that the photonic torpedoes that were on approach had been destroyed and that he was standing by on the phasers incase they fired anymore torpedoes.
"Ah would advise ye tae cease attempting to attack us, Speaker Lyhrias. They could easily be interpreted as evidence of a hostile intent. Ye have seen the power of our weapons and undoubtedly scanned my ship by now and know our defensive and offensive capabilities. Ah’ve restrained from responding tae your attacks in kind in the spirit of friendship and cooperation."
The Speaker turned to someone off-screen and spoke rapidly in a language that the universal translator did not recognize and made a slashing motion with a hand with three elongated fingers and an opposable thumb on each side.
"The Kumanshu has powered down its weapons systems." Malcolm reported from the intelligence and combat tracking station.
"Thank you, Speaker Lyhrias. Ah would like tae begin preliminary discussions about sharing the world and why you feel ye need our people off o’ the planet." Callum said in earnest.
Lyhrias' mouth twisted into a cruel half smile as he said, "The power of your weapons technology is impressive, Captain MacLeod. As is your ability to target and destroy our torpedoes. The survival of my race is at stake and I shall not let ANYONE stand between our people and their survival as a species. We will not give up the world we approach. We still need a new homeworld. The Kavadah’ni must survive, I order you again to depart and trouble us no further. Failure to comply will result in your own deaths." Lyhrias said with an evil sneer in his voice before he made the same slashing motion as he had before to signal his communications officer to close the communications channel.
“Well that could’ve gone better.” Callum said aloud to no one in particular after the viewscreen reverted to a computer generated view of the Kumanshu slowly proceeding on course towards Proxima Colony to claim that world and its people.
“For a moment there I thought you had gotten through to him.” Navesh said turning from he station to face Callum.
“So did I.” Callum said after turning to face Navesh. Once he finished speaking he turned to face Damrus at the first officer and communications station and said, “You have the bridge, Commander Rel. I'll be in my ready room. Please get Starfleet Command on the channel and route it to my ready room.”
"Aye, sir." Damrus said acknowledging Callum's order and standing up so he could assume the center seat as Callum began to cross the bridge as he headed for the ready room.
=/\=
Moments later, as Callum was sitting behind the desk in his ready room, the desktop monitor chirped to indicate that he had a waiting hail. Turning to face the monitor he pressed the control on the monitor to open the channel causing it to change from the black screen of its power saving mode to the image of Admiral Connaught Rossa.
“Hello, Captain MacLeod. What can I do for you?” The diminutive and grandmotherly-looking grey haired admiral said.
“We’ve run in tae quite the situation just outside o’ the Proxima Centauri system. We’ve encountered a sub-light asteroid ship on course for Proxima Colony. The main ship itself may be restricted to sub-light, however it possesses what appears tae be warp capable attack craft and its occupants are intent on claiming the planet for themselves.” Callum said grimly filling in Admiral Rossa on their encounter.
“That is quite the situation. Can I assume that all attempts at peaceful resolution have failed?” Rossa asked.
“Unfortunately, Admiral.” Callum replied.
“What is your current position?” Rossa asked.
“We are retreating ahead o’ it at impulse power.” Callum replied.
“I want you to return to Proxima Colony at warp speed and take up a defensive position incase the asteroid-ship launches its warp capable attack ships for an attack against the colony. You are authorized to use whatever force necessary to protect the colony and its inhabitants. I am going to contact command and we will come up with a solution to the situation.” Admiral Rossa said.
“Aye, Admiral.” Callum replied.
“Very good, Captain. We will be in touch. Rossa out.” The grey-haired and legendary Starfleet Admiral replied before closing the comm-link causing the monitor to revert to its power saving black screen mode.
Tapping his combadge Callum said, “MacLeod tae bridge.”
After a moment’s pause Damrus’s disembodied voice came from Callum’s combadge saying, “Bridge. Rel here. How can I help you, sir?”
“Admiral Rossa has ordered us to return to Proxima Colony and take up a defensive position incase Speaker Lyhrias orders the Kumanshu’s attack ships to attack the colony.” Callum explained, “Please have Lieutenant Nerah take us back to Proxima Colony right away and place us in a defensive position between the Kumanshu and the planet. Also contact Commander Knalf and bring him up to speed and have him deploy any and all fighters or shuttles they have assigned join us in a defensive formation once we arrive at the planet.”
“Aye, sir.” Damrus said, “I’ll also have Commander Tymoshenko deploy a probe to monitor the Kumanshu’s activities.”
“Good idea, Commander. Notify me when we are back at the planet, MacLeod oot.” Callum said before he tapped his combadge to close the channel.
