Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: Sun, 14 Mar 2004 19:07:41 GMT In: alt.startrek.creative From: "Jay P Hailey" Title: Star Trek: Outwardly Mobile Author: Jay P Hailey (JayPHailey@hotmail.com) Series: MISC - TNG OCs Codes: None Part: 38/342(?) Rating:[PG] Archive: Fine with me, just tell me where. Disclaimer: Paramount owns all things Star Trek. I claim Original Characters and Situations for me. Webpage HTTP://jayphailey.8m.com The Kliges'chee by Jay P. Hailey And Dennnis Washburn Two days later the Harrier slid into stellar system that we had spotted. It was centered on a dim red dwarf star, the most common in the universe. The little red star had a large gas giant as it's only planet. This was basic move in starship combat. Gas giants had large and violent zones of electromagnetic disturbances and radiation storms. This made the sensors on the Harrier and any pursuing ships unreliable. We ducked into orbit around the gas giant in an attempt to lose any pursuit. The Kliges'chee ship had plenty of time now to call a warning to other ships or bases nearby. Because of the effects of the gas giant, we didn't see the Kliges'chee moon until we were almost on top of it. -*- "Report." I said. We had been scanning the moon since we had stumbled onto it. The sensors weren't doing too much good, since they were badly muddled from the nearby gas giant. "There seems to be a ring." Tillean, the Science Officer said. We could see it on the snowy, intermittent view screen pictures. "The ring probably has a high metallic content." "Are there any energy signatures?" I asked "I can't tell precisely, Captain. I might be able to spot a starship in this mess, but anything less energetic would be difficult to spot definitively." "How about life signs?" "Probably not. Again I can't tell for absolutely certain." "Yellow Alert. Raise shields. Take us closer." It was a risk, but my curiosity was nagging at me. -*- The ring was destroyed Kliges'chee starships. There must have been thousands of them. We hadn't been able to spot the energy and left over radiation from the battle because of the interference from the gas giant planet, but the signs were all there. The moon had once been fit for Kliges'chee, but had been bombarded into a wreck, the surface was chewed up, and the mix of gasses was all wrong. There were layers of frozen oxygen on the new surface. Oxygen at gaseous temperatures would have fried any surviving Kliges'chee on the moon. There were dead Kliges'chee in orbit among the wrecks, and littered all over the ground in the ruins of a huge Kliges'chee base. We couldn't get a decent estimate of how many Kliges'chee had been killed there, but it was over ten thousand. The wreckage seemed about three years old. I wondered at first if the Romulans might have been involved, but there was nothing to suggest that. The wreckage contained only Kliges'chee ships, and the weapons traces could have all been Kliges'chee. True the main disruptor of the Kliges'chee ships was structurally similar to the Romulan model, but there were no plasma torpedo fingerprints or photon torpedo residues. We quickly slid away from the battleground and headed due galactic south. We were headed out of the plane of the ecliptic for the galaxy. There were many fewer stars in this direction, but that meant much less reason for Kliges'chee ships to be there. -*- A week later we were still heading galactic south, but I had elected to visit type "G" stars and any class "M" planets along the way. We were still in need of new stocks of spare parts and supplies, as well as a friendly port. We were approaching the first such star along our route. As we reached the edge of the solar system belonging to this star, we dropped out of warp and began scanning. We spotted a class "M" planet in the second orbit out from the star. "Yellow Alert. Set course for that planet, and engage at one half impulse power." I ordered. Over the next four hours we scanned the planet as we approached. It was inhabited by a sentient species, and they had a certain amount of technology visible. -*- The Harrier was at an extremely ready version of yellow alert. We were nervous about running into a group of Kliges'chee ships. Everyone wanted to be on their toes in case the Harrier had to run for her life. "Captain, we're being hailed." Stephanie said. "The planet?" I asked. "Yes, Captain. The signal is addressed to us, but it's being carried by a primitive radio carrier wave." "On screen." The screen fuzzed for a moment while the computer sorted the signal out, and then a face appeared on the screen. They were humanoid. They had a complicated set of cartilage ridges along their nose. "Alien ship! Identify yourself!" The man seemed tense and on a hair trigger. "This is the starship Harrier. We are on a mission of peaceful exploration. Will you communicate with us?" He waited. I realized that the carrier signal was traveling at the speed of light and would take a few moments to reach him. Idly I thought of changing the way I introduced the Harrier. The standard phrasing I used seemed more an invitation to trouble than anything else. "Thank God! Please come into orbit and maintain radio silence until a tight beam can be arranged." The man's face was beaming happily. "Agreed." I said and then motioned to Stephanie to cut the transmission. "I have a bad feeling about this." Li'ira said. -*- "I am Defense Minister Nook." The man on the screen said. His appearance screamed "Jarhead!". His hair was cut in a short bushy cut and his back was ramrod straight. His uniform was crisp and incredibly precise, with much symbology on it. "How many are in your flotilla?" He asked. "Er, we are alone. We are on an exploration mission." I explained. Nook's face grew grim. "We would like to discuss an alliance and technical advice for our military." "Hmmm. That's a little premature. Can we meet and discuss it at further length?" "Yes. That is a job for more civilian officials, in any case. We will contact you again." In his crisp, military style, Nook cut the channel. -*- We agreed to the meeting. The people were called the Murachi, and their planet was called Murachi. They seemed in something of a hurry. Their shuttlecraft was a larger fusion powered affair. It was good design, but not an advanced one. It landed in the Harrier's shuttle bay and as soon as the atmosphere was re-established, the Murachi representatives came aboard. There was Nook, the Defense Minister, Suarin, a member of the Elected Council, and Crelose the Minister of Culture. Their Marine bodyguards suspiciously eyed the Starfleet Marines that I had set out as an Honor Guard, but stayed with shuttle at a word from Nook. We adjourned to the conference room and the representatives got right to business. "We were conquered by the Kliges'chee thirty years ago." Nook was telling us. "They swept in swiftly, and destroyed all of our space vehicles. Then they bombed our cities and systematically destroyed our military. Then they called us and demanded immediate and unconditional surrender. The whole war lasted just over one day." He seemed bitter. "They demanded that we submit to the kidnapping of thousands of our citizens. They informed us that they were prepared to destroy all life on our planet and just go find someone else to conquer if we gave them any reason to believe that we were resisting them." "Since then, Kliges'chee ships visit once or twice a year. They arrive in orbit and randomly beam our citizens to their ships and then eat them." "We lost five thousand people, last year." Crelose said. He was a distinct contrast to Nook. Where Nook was a military man through and through, Crelose looked like some sort of academic. He wore a rumpled sweater and old, baggy slacks. His manner was quiet and somewhat personable. The number of Murachi people lost seemed to genuinely sadden him. The other representative, Suarin, was a born politician. He grinned upon being welcomed aboard the Harrier. He shook my hand, and seemed to want me to feel as though he were my true friend, right away. Any moment I expected him to try to sell me something. I was not disappointed. "We are in a bad position, but don't think that we're purely a charity case." He said "We could be very good, loyal and profitable allies." "Listen," I said. "I am sorry to hear of your situation, but my ability to change it is extremely limited. The Harrier is a lone ship. We couldn't liberate you from the Kliges'chee by ourselves, and there probably isn't going to be a Federation fleet in the area for quite some time." I was thinking of what the Federation Council might say if asked to fund a rescue mission to this planet. The fleet would take nearly three years to get here, if they didn't stop along the way. I mentally arranged the transports and tenders necessary to support a large fleet. Then I acquired the starships and the ground forces. Then I bought the two or three Starliners needed to give the Spacemen, Soldiers and Marines a place to go for R-and-R during the long trip. It was hideously expensive. Add to that the fact that if the fleet was defeated or surprised by enemy forces or a strange phenomenon, then you'd have scattered and possibly damaged ships in the same condition as the Harrier was in now. All this to fight a war against an enemy that didn't directly threaten the United Federation of Planets or have any declared hostilities with us. I could almost hear the gales of laughter from the council chambers now. On the other hand I could understand how awful it must be to be a Murachi and know that aliens could beam you up and eat you and that your world was powerless to do anything about it. "I'll see what we can do." I said. I couldn't stand to leave these people without any hope at all. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.611 / Virus Database: 391 - Release Date: 3/3/2004 -- Stephen Ratliff ASC Awards Tech Support http://www.trekiverse.us/ASCAwards/commenting/ No Tribbles were harmed in the running of these Awards ASCL is a stories-only list, no discussion. Comments and feedback should be directed to alt.startrek .creative or directly to the author. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCL/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ASCL-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From ???@??? 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