And the Sky Was Made of Amethyst

Posted on Sun Aug 27th, 2017 @ 4:51am by Fleet Admiral Donatella Figueroa & Lieutenant Commander Ezekiel Hill & Lieutenant Junior Grade Shras th'Zarath & Lieutenant Junior Grade Ethan O'Donoghue & Chief Petty Officer Alphonso Phillips & Admiral Ke'gak

Mission: S01E01 - At the Brink of Night
Location: Beta Quadrant | Zaran System | Above Zaran II

USS Musashi -- Bridge --

Captain Donatella Figueroa exited the lift and proceeded down into the 'pit' where her Captain's chair beckoned for her. It was currently being occupied by the starship's new Chief Navigator. His light blue skin looking interesting in the darker blue jumpsuit uniform with gold accent. "How did it feel, Lieutenant?" asked Fig with a little smirk on her face. "With my First Officer and Second Officer on the landing party, that does make you next in command should anything happen to me, Lieutenant," she said, reminding him.

"Comfortable. And enlightening," Shras replied, mouth curling into a reflexive smile. He got up and assumed his station next to the helm officer. "Navigation ready. All systems go."

The Captain nodded. "Nav, use Ensign Marquez's calculations and lay in a course for the Zaran system."

Shras worked his console and within a few seconds had a course locked in. "Source plotted, Captain," he said

"EJ, how are you feeling at helm today? Things might get a little dicey with these Klingons," said Fig as she planted herself firmly in her seat and watched at EJ was joined by Lieutenant Phillips to the helmsman's right.

EJ smiled as the captain addressed him, "Primed and ready to go captain," he said as he turned back around to face the helm console, looking at the console he'd spent this entire week getting used to the controls, but now he was ready for his first mission. "I'm sure I'll be able to handle it captain, these klingons won't know what's hit them," he said winking and laughing a little. His irish accent coming out in full swing.

"Congratulations, Ensign. You've earned yourself the nickname Banshee with that laugh. May the Klingons tremble in fear of that battle cry," the Captain said a bit teasingly of her young helmsmen.

Fig then turned her chair ever so slightly. "Status Report, gentlemen," she said to the remaining Bridge crew, albeit one of them was Doctor Hill who was filling in for Commander Samuels at the Science station.

Zeke's hands felt inept at the controls of the science station. He prayed that nobody from Samuel's department would end up asking him questions.

"Science division ready, captain," Zeke responded. "I'll begin monitoring the status of the away team once they reach the surface."

The Captain nodded. "Keep me aware of any changes, Doctor. If there's any indication they might be in trouble, I want to know."

The last two days had been enlightening. The ship was ready to go and Phillips had just about completed the training with the new small arms that he had brought with him. When he got the word to report for duty on the bridge, he was about to ask yeoman Vanessa Strong (npc) if she would have dinner with him, but instead. He had to report to the bridge, perform a level five diagnostic on the tactical station and make sure things were ship shape. "Captain, Tactical is as ready as it ever will be. We are locked and loaded just waiting for your orders sir," replied CPO Phillips from the back of the bridge.

Cornet Jakku at the Communications station swiveled his chair around with a headset earpiece in. "Captain, I have Captains Pike and Augenthaler. They are powering engines and going to warp, Sir," the young Trill informed her.

Captain Figueroa brought her chair around and squarely centered. She took a deep breath. She watched on the viewscreen as the USS Constitution and USS Enterprise went to warp. "Sharas, let EJ have those coordinates... EJ, bring us up to full impulse and then into warp 6. This is going to be a bit risky, but I want to drop out of warp at Zaran II," the Captain instructed.

"Aye, Captain." He punched in the commands. He nodded to the helmsman. " There. Coordinates transferred."

EJ laughed again. "To me captain that is a compliment," he said, as he tapped into his console the coordinates. "Coordinates punched in captain, impulse is at full," he said winking, as he twisted and pushed the impulse lever. "Hold onto your seats, guys and dolls, Warp Six punched in," he said as he smirked as he pushed the warp button "YEEHAW!" he said as he laughed again this time a little quieter than before.

The scene when the USS Musashi arrived was as tense as one could expect and then some. There was no shooting going on just yet, but four D6 Klingon battlecruisers were present in the system lead by the larger and more powerful D7. "Five against three if things go sour," commented Fig.

Typically she would have consulted her First Officer at this point, but with things how they currently were that was Lieutenant JG th'Zarath de facto. "What do you make of the situation, Shras?"

"If it came down to blows I'm confident that we could hold our own long enough to get reinforcements. But the Klingons do have numbers and firepower on their side, and they probably know it." he took a breath. "If we cant outfight them, we outthink them?"

Fig scoffed "That should not be a problem. I've met smarter Regulan bloodworms" she said with a snicker.

Phillips sent a message to his Security counterpart, to have the ships patrols in groups of two, armed with a 45 each and the senior team member with a shotgun, just in case. Blunt Force Trauma was in full swing!

"And your analysis of the situation Chief?" Fig asked of the Chief Petty Officer at the weapons station.

"I think we shall wait a little longer before I make an assessment. As of right now, long range sensors only show ships with a federation signature. But I'll be scanning continuously. The moment I see a Klingon, you'll be the first to know sir," replied Phillips

Fig shook her head and pointed to the viewer. "Chief, adjust the sensors. Those look like Klingons to me," she said with a small stifled chuckle.

The young Trill observer at the Communications station swung his chair around with a perplexed expression on his face which soon contorted into utter disgust. "Uh Captain?"

Donatella Figueroa turned to look at the Trill. "Yes Mister Jakku?" she asked.

"Captain, that Klingon D7 battlecruiser is hailing," reported the Trill at the Communications station.

Fig sighed. "Mister Jakku, tell the Constitution or Enterprise to answer it. I'm in no mood for Klingon threats," she said knowing diplomacy was not her strong suit.

Cornet shook his head. "No, Captain. This isn't a general hail. The Chief Communications Officers on the Enterprise and Constitution have tried to translate it the best they could. They think the Klingon is calling for you... by name," Cornet said with a bit of a shiver down his spine.

The Captain was on the edge of her seat. There was only one Klingon who would specifically single her out and request her. "Play the message," she said as she took a deep breath.

Cornet played the message which was a bunch of snarls, grunts, and breathy growls with some sharp sounding Klingon words. "I'll translate what we believe the first part says," added the Trill. He shook his head and continued on. "FEDERATION, BITCH WHORE."

Fig shook her head and smirked. "Yeah, that's me. It was between Captain Pike and I, but I am pretty sure that is directed at me. Open a channel to the Commander of that battlecruiser."

Ke'Gak's face appeared on the screen and he grinned wickedly. He had aged since she'd last seen him, but it was definitely him. He actually had fairly nice teeth for a Klingon, but something about his grin was not at all friendly. It was the type of grin that someone directed at the person they hated the most in the world, but were being forced to be nice to at a party. His face was broad, as were his shoulders and his brow was heavy. The ridges on his forehead were not pronounced, but ran in a line down the middle. He pointed at Figueroa. "There's the petaQ I was looking for!" He developed a bored tone before delivering his next line and his face became serious, almost murderous. "You will give me what I want, human bitch." He sort of looked her up and down, it was leering. A sort of disgusting, old leering, and then he snorted, seemingly with disgust. "You can't even tell!" He snarled and smashed one heavy hand down hard on the console in front of him. "I better see something next time you puny whore! Or everyone here... on your precious little ship... will die." As he talked about "everyone here" he pointed at various people around the bridge. He shook his head suddenly, wildly, his thick, black hair actually whipping back and forth and when he stopped his eyes were a little wild. "And it won't be like last time, bitch... Oh no..." His voice was low and menacing. He stabbed at his console with one thick finger. "I'll be watching you... don't sleep petaQ bitch. You might wake up gutted." He terminated the connection with a heavy finger jab.

Fig wasn't even given a chance to respond to him. How typical, she thought as he immediately terminated his side of the communications channel. She gave Cornet Jakku the signal to just close the channel on their side as well. If he was not in the mood for words then so be it. "Clearly someone woke up on the wrong side of the d'k tahg this morning," she said, using a Klingon word she had learned. It was a sort of dagger or knife. Unfortunately, not the side that impales, thought Fig.

The Captain sat in her command chair and thought for a moment. "Helm, bring about. Full impulse," she ordered. "Navigator, relay coordinates for that D7's position. EJ, full impulse a hundred or so meters right across their bow," Fig instructed. It was an aggressive maneuver without firing a shot.

"On it, Captain!" he said, trying to hold back a twinge of excitement. "Locked onto the D7 now."

EJ twisted the impulse lever, he was angry, the Irish man hated the way that klingon had spoken to his commanding officer. "Full impulse captain that D7 Battlecruiser better watch its back," he said as he looked at the view screen.

Ke'gak didn't take too kindly to being buzzed by the Musashi. The Klingon battleship wheeled and fired disruptor cannons at the Musashi. The disruptor cannons were an ineffective weapon against the Musashi and Ke'gak knew it. It was a warning, or a promise, of potential things to come. The D7 was capable of warp nine so it also wasn't a problem for Ke'gak to make himself and his ship scarce very quickly. It was almost as if he had simply disappeared, but jetting off from impulse to warp 9 could very much seem that way.

The USS Musashi took a hit from the Klingon disruptors. Shields held, but the first shot was fired. Damn you, she thought, clenching the edges of her armrests. She could not do it. She could not sink to his level and return fire. So far the other starships Klingons and Federation had remained in fair temperance. Commander Ke'gak was just testing her patience. If she fired back, things would just get worse and fuel would be added to the fire and everything could ignite into a war.

Naturally, the USS Musashi tried to match the D7's course and speed, but even Fig knew that if Ke'gek decided to push his engines to their limits, her Ares class was no match and by default neither were the Constitution class starships. "Helm, break pursuit. Change courses and heading. Return us to orbit of the planet," she ordered. Fig knew that Ke'gak would be just circle around and return to torment her in due time. For the time being, she had a mission to carry out and the landing party was waiting in Transporter Room 1.

EJ felt the rumble of the of the disruptor fire. "Bastards," he spoke in harsh irish accent. "They better hope I don't break a chair over there deformed heads," he said, spitting venom, another rumble and EJ grabbed his console.

The Captain could only shake her head and smirk at the young man's enthusiasm. Sounds like me at his age, she thought to herself.

"Shras," she said as the Captain stood up from her chair. "As Acting Executive Officer in this situation, I confer with you. Meet me on deck six in the Briefing Room," she said sternly. "Doctor, you as well," she added looking at Zeke.

Zeke sat at his post with his fists clenched tightly. His knuckles turned white from the rumble of the disruptions, and the Musashi's tight maneuvering.

When the Klingon appeared on the viewscreen, Zeke was filled with a curious feeling of disgust and fear. Even if the Klingon commander's smile was directed at the Captain, Zeke felt that it exposed guilt of transgressions against him. He shrugged that feeling off as irrational.

When the Captain ordered him to the briefing room, his grip loosened. He was relieved as his nails were beginning to burrow into the soft flesh of his palms.

Leaving his seat, he waited by the turbolift. "After you, Captain."

Shras nodded and got up himself and fell in behind the CO. He motioned for another officer to assume his station.

"Mister Jakku, inform the Transporter Room to beam down the Landing Party and keep a lock on them at all times," she instructed the Trill.

Cornet turned in his seat and nodded. "Bridge to Transporter Room. Prepare for transport. I repeat prepare for Landing Party transport. We are returning to planetary orbit. Please keep a lock on the landing party at all times, Captain's orders," he said.

The Captain looked at the young ensign at the helm. "Alright Banshee, keep up in orbit. We need to stay in close proximity to monitor the Landing Party," the Captain explained. She started to proceed to the lift before realizing she was taking Lieutenant th'Zarath with her. "Ensign," she said once again calling on EJ. "You have the Bridge," she said with a small smirk that she concealed by turning her head and walking onto the lift. God save the Klingons, she thought.

He winked at the captain. "Aye Captain I'll see her right," he said as he punched in the orbit to his console, standing and leaving his station. Sitting in the captain's chair, smirking and looking at the view screen, they were now orbiting the planet "Tactical I want weapons, you never know if these klingon dogs will try for another pass, once the landing party has beamed down to the planet bring those shields up aswell I want this ship primed and ready for any attack these bastards can give us," he said as he looked towards the view screen, "God save their souls," he said smirking to himself.

Donatella Figueroa nodded. Well, if I ever need a day off, I think I found my stand in, thought Fig shaking her head as the lift doors closed.

"Sir, I'll keep my ears sharp and listen to ship chatter. I'll also let you know if the landing party tries to contact us," said Cornet Jakku from the Communications station.