Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 12:11:30 -0800 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: 46/342(?) 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 Zantree: Episode 46 by Jay P. Hailey And Dennnis Washburn A few weeks later the other shoe dropped. The Murachi Delegates met the Zantree. They tried to arrange a rescue mission to liberate their Homeworld. The Zantree could not even begin to afford it. But they liked the idea of sending delegates to the Federation. The request came and I said yes. I thought that two or three more passengers at this late date would not be a serious problem. I was wrong. The first list was fifty three delegates long. The total list with retinues came to one hundred and forty-three beings. I quickly pointed out to Poong that the Harrier was only so big. It turned into the second biggest diplomatic negotiation in Zantree history. The Harrier completed her refit and we took her around Poong's system. The new parts and adjusted systems settled in with only a few hiccups. Then the Harrier returned to orbit around Poong's World and I rejoined the diplomatic fray. The engineering crew joined the rest of the crew on the shore leave list for Poong's World. -*- It took about four weeks to work all the details out. Many of the worlds in the Zantree Alliance didn't want to hear of combining delegates. The Alliance wasn't that close and many worlds were afraid that another world's delegate wouldn't fairly represent their point of view. Eventually it was decided that only the five founding worlds would send delegates. Newer world would tie their fates to the delegates from the founding worlds. This actually made new relationships inside the Zantree Alliance. They might remain stable, if the Zantree could survive the Kliges'chee. Then the discussion turned to the delegates. That was a whole new can of worms. Most of the delegates eventually saw reason, and agreed to travel light. The Delegate from Youn insisted that his body guard of five Marines be included on the manifest. The Delegate was a fat, self important ninny. I figured that he would be the Federation Council's problem, when we returned home. -*- The last delegate was added at the last minute. None of the other delegates raised a word of objection. I went to the surface of Poong's World to meet the last delegate. He was deep inside the government complex of Poong's World. Poong and I took and elevator deep into the bowels of the building. We went through a heavy secured corridor and past a door with guards on it. I went into a large chamber. In the middle of the chamber sat a transparent cube. Inside the transparent cube there was a familiar green mist. A sickly green shape slid up to the glass and peered at me with a dozen eyes. "Greetings, Captain Hailey." The Kliges'chee said "For the sake of convenience you may call me Mike. I am the delegate from the Free Kliges'chee. I couldn't help it. I yelled. -*- Eventually it was sorted out. The Free Kliges'chee were the back bone of the Zantree defense against the Kliges'chee comptrollers. They had as much right to send a delegate back to the UFP as anyone. However, I had an instinctive revulsion to them and it was all I could do to allow the slimy horror on my ship. We installed Mikes' life support cube in a cargo bay on the lower decks of the Harrier. I was worried. If the life support system didn't hold, or if the Harrier was damaged, then the chances of loosing Mike the Kliges'chee were good. We didn't even have time to rig a jettison mechanism for Mike's life support cube in case we had to abandon the ship. Mike's attitude was philosophical. "If I do not take these risks, then the Alliance between the Federation and the Zantree might be too weak. If I do go and succeed in convincing your people of the danger that threatens all of us, then the Federation might support the Zantree Alliance and the war might yet be won. Lives have been spent for far less hope." This speech was delivered in a cultured computer monotone, while the various eyes of the Kliges'chee just stared out at me. I could tell that there was something there, but I couldn't tell what it was thinking or feeling and that disturbed me. "Does your life mean so little to you?" I asked. "On the contrary, my freedom is that valuable to me and more so." That at least, I could understand. Then came time to feed Mike. It was his last real meal before being hooked up to a self contained recycling system. One of the Poong brought in a bunny. It was a little bigger than an earth rabbit and it had little horns. It struggled in the man's arms. He was grim as he approached the life support cube. He attached a pass-through port to the cube and stuffed the bunny into it. I saw the bunny leap from the port into the environment of the Kliges'chee. The bunny shrieked and then suddenly stopped. The two hundred and fifty degree below zero temperatures had frozen its lungs. It struggled on the ground as its temperature fell. Mike picked it up in a tentacle. The bunny's fur had frozen and protected Mike's tentacle from the burning temperature of the bunny. The bunny kicked frantically. It was painfully blind and it was starting to freeze solid while still alive. Mike opened his mouth and popped the bunny inside. I will never forget the sight. The bunny slid down Mike's throat and into a gizzard were rocks and liquid nitrogen would quickly finish it off. I could see the impressions in Mike's skin as the bunny kicked frantically on it's way down. "Thank you my friend. That was very satisfying." Mike said. I had to leave. -*- Soon the Harrier was equipped and stocked as well as the Poong and the Zantree Alliance could manage. They even equipped the Harrier with the Kliges'chee shield disruptor and shield protector. The Kliges'chee had developed the shield disruptor and the Free Kliges'chee had developed a related device which neutralized the effects of the shield disruptor. These were great prizes for Starfleet. With them, Federation Starships would be nearly invincible, at least for a while. It was with a sense of great confidence that I ordered a course set for the Zantree Exploration Zone. The Harrier was now six months shy of the Klingon Border. Almost home. -*- (Stardate 46716) A couple of days later, The door bell chimed in my office. "Enter." I said. I was surprised when the Marines assigned to the Delegate from the Zantree World of Youn came in. Truth to tell, they had spiffy uniforms. They were green and black, with straps, buttons, ribbons and a neat trim. However, as I admired the uniforms I noticed that they were not clean. I couldn't tell exactly, but some of the lines didn't seem to be set straight. The guys wearing them didn't exactly seem to be prime specimens, either. One of the men with an extra layer of rank markings on his arm spoke. "Captain Hailey? I'm Sergeant Yung." "How can I help you today, Sergeant?" I wondered why he was talking to me. His direct superior was the delegate. "Well, sir, We'd like to register a complaint." I couldn't believe my ears. "A complaint?" "Yes, Sir, you see it's those Starfleet Marines." "What did they do?" A fight? No, these poor guys were still walking. "Well, ah-" Another Marine broke in "They're always pickin' on us!" His tone was belligerent and accusatory. "They what?" "Well, sir there was a fight." "Uh huh. Go ahead." I wouldn't have been notified of a minor disciplinary problem if Stephanie or Li'ira felt that they could handle it. "Well those Starfleet Marines are really giving us a hard time. They go out their way to be mean to us, to call us names, to pick fights, you know." "I'm not certain I understand." The other Marine spoke up. "They hate us. They know that we're better than they are." "Really, I think that they're jealous, Captain. They obviously feel a little insecure around us." The Sergeant said. I was stunned. These guys were whiny, undisciplined slobs. "I see. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, gentlemen. I will look into this." They all looked relieved. "Thank you, Captain." As they walked out I heard one say "See, I knew he was different. He's kind of cool." As soon as they were out of my office I called Sergeant-Major Kendricks and asked him to handle it. -*- "Hello!" The planet was saying. "I've waiting for you for so long!" The messages were coded into lighting flashes that ripped though the atmosphere. "Open a channel to the planet." I said. Stephanie keyed a few buttons on her station and was met with a complaining buzz. "Captain, the planet doesn't seem to be receiving our subspace signals." I looked at Tillean. This was her fault. She was the first to detect that the lighting flashes of the planet were organized signals. "Lieutenant, do you have any ideas about how to communicate with it?" She looked at me helplessly "Not a one, Captain." "Hmph." I said, disapprovingly. We tried everything we could think of. Subspace signals modulated in every band that the Harrier could reach. We tried old fashioned radio signals. We even tried flashing the running lights on the Harrier in different sequences. The planet seemed not to notice any of it. The messages coded into the lightning flashes became a little exasperated. "Why won't you talk to me? Why did you leave me all alone? Anything might have happened!" Our scans of the planet were not complete. The heavy lightning flashes and weird metals in its crust along with the boiling hot nitrogen-chlorine atmosphere interfered with our sensors. "The problem seems to be that we don't know what it's using for eyes." I said. "If we knew more about how it saw, we might be able to design a message that it could see." "Permission to launch a probe, Captain?" Tillean liked to use probes. So did I. No one got hurt if the planet ate one of our probes. --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.639 / Virus Database: 408 - Release Date: 3/22/2004 -- 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! 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