The five members of the away team
switched on their wrist beacons and looked around the room that they had just
appeared in. The room was dark and cold, even though the environmental systems
were online. Lieutenant Gregholt moved towards the far wall searching for the
environmental controls so that he could bring some light into the room.
Lieutenant Yellowhorse and Ensign Topar were scanning the room using tricorders,
until Topar tripped and stumbled, remaining upright only because he’d instinctively
reached out and found a sturdy support.
Just then the lights came on and the away team got their first good look at
the room they were in. At first sight it appeared to be a mess, but unlike any
other Klingon mess, this was very clean, bright and immaculately tidy. Then
Kira realised this wasn’t just a mess, but also a briefing room, a single
large viewscreen dominating one of the longer walls.
"Cody, how’s the air in here." Kira enquired.
"Breathable, but still cold. I’d suggest we keep using the breathers
until we can get the environmental systems to raise the temperature up a little
more." Cody replied.
"OK, let’s search and secure the rest of the vessel." Kira ordered.
"Steven, you head to engineering with Topar, see if you can’t speed
up the environmental systems. The rest of us will head for the command deck."
The away team headed out of the room and into the main corridor, which like
the rest of the ship was dark. Steven and Daniel headed right towards the engineering
room, whilst Kira, Cody and Dani headed in the other direction, towards the
front of the vessel and the command deck.
Command Deck
As they entered the command deck, the lights came on.
[Gregholt to Commander Markos. We’ve got main environmental controls back
on, we should have the vessel ‘warmed up’ in about ten minutes. I’ll
let you know when it’s safe to remove the breathers. We’re going to
try and start bring the other systems back online now.]
"Well done." Kira replied.
Again the three members of the away team were surprised. The command deck was
clean and bright, it almost looked more like a Federation Bridge that a Klingon
command deck.
"Look at this Commander." Dani exclaimed.
Kira walked across to where Dani was standing at the helm position. The console
in front of her was still black, but they could both see that it wasn’t
Klingon.
Just then the console came to life and they gazed at the console in front of
them as if they couldn’t believe their own eyes. After about a minute,
Dani sat down and started to run her hands over the console and check everything
out.
"Well Commander, the vessel is secure. The warp core is stable and it looks
like Lieutenant Gregholt has been able to bring the weapon systems back online.
The cloak is on standby, as are the impulse engines and shields." Cody
announced from what appeared to be a tactical console.
"We don’t however have any helm control apart from thrusters, that’s
all somehow tied in with the navigational systems. From what I can gather, that’s
how the vessel got here in the first place. Its flight plan was pre-programmed
and the vessel travelled on automatic." Dani reported. "However, the
vessel made three course changes to avoid a comet and two ion storms, which
leads me to believe that whoever programmed the main computer gave it some intelligence
and an ability to determine a threat."
[Gregholt to Commander Markos. All systems are back online. It’s safe to
removed our breathers.]
"Good. Come up to the Bridge, we need to regain helm control from the main
computer." Kira replied.
[On our way. We’ve already released the transwarp drive from computer control,
so I doubt we’ll have much difficulty releasing the helm.] Gregholt replied.
"Time to inform the Captain." Kira said under his breath. "Commander
Markos to Ronin."
[Evans here. How’s the away team ?"]
"Just fine Captain. It was a little chilly for a while, but I think you
may want to see this for yourself." Kira replied.
[I’ll be over there in ten. Ronin out.]
Ten minutes later……….
"This is amazing." Ryan exclaimed as he looked around the Bridge.
It almost reminded him of the Bridge of a Defiant class, a single central command
chair, helm position ahead, other stations around the outer wall. All of the
equipment and consoles were obviously Federation.
"It is isn’t it." Admiral Pike replied an air of satisfaction
in his voice.
Ryan spun around to look directly at the Admiral.
"Welcome aboard the ‘Bounty’." The Admiral said, a smile
coming across his face.
"Bounty, now where have I heard that name before." Kira said. "Bounty….
Got it. The HMS Bounty was an eighteenth century Earth sailing vessel, some
of the crew mutinied and set the Captain and the crew loyal to him adrift. The
remained of the crew tried to make a new life for themselves. If I remember
my Earth history, most were recaptured and tried, but a few escaped and their
descendants still survive."
"Correct. But this Bounty is more recent." Pike replied.
"Kirk." Ryan exclaimed suddenly. "The Klingon scout vessel Admiral
Kirk used to travel back in time and save Earth by bringing back the Humpback
whales. The vessel sank into San Francisco bay, from the reports I read about
it the vessel broke up in the storm."
"That’s what the reports say. Infact, Starfleet Intelligence recovered
the vessel intact about six years later. It was transported to a secure shipyard
and refitted, then used by SI for covert missions outside Federation space."
The Admiral explained. "Over the years, it’s been upgraded, the design
maybe nearly a hundred years old, but the technology aboard is state of the
art."
"Do the Klingon’s know we have this vessel ?." Ryan enquired.
"Officially No." Pike replied. "Although they do suspect. They’ve
made several requests to Starfleet to have the border outposts looking for what
they call a rogue Klingon vessel."
"But why send it to us. We already have the Ronin, what could we do with
a Klingon scout." Kira asked.
"The USS Federation was as you now know being built to combat the Kelvan.
When the Ronin was destroyed, I pulled some major strings to get the Ronin’s
crew assigned to the Federation. But the vessel wasn’t one hundred percent
ready, we were forced to leave before the temporal shielding system could be
installed and a supply of genesis torpedoes created. The plan was to send a
vessel along with specialist engineers and the necessary systems when they were
developed. The discovery of the Kelvan’s in our galaxy three months before
we estimated has forced our hand, we needed to get the systems here fast and
this was the only vessel large enough and with transwarp to get it here fast.
Plus now it’s here, we can use it in our search for the Kelvan and their
battle planets." The Admiral continued.
"Two heads are better than one." Dani remarked.
"Exactly." The Admiral replied."How is the cargo ?" He asked.
"It’s all secure Admiral. The computer shows that there are three
genesis torpedoes, plus another five basic devices. We also have one hundred
tri-cobalt and twenty Trilitium torpedoes, plus sixteen temporal shield generators."
Kira announced. "There’s also a number of major spare and replacement
part for the Ronin. There’s also a massive amount of data in the ships
main computer. Weapons, shield and sensor enhancements mainly, some modifications
for the isokenetic cannon. There’s also a group of secure messages for
you Admiral."
"Have the messages transferred to my personnel database aboard the Ronin."
The Admiral requested.
"We’re already in the process of downloading the vessels database,
Admiral." Kira replied. "The messages should be transferred before
you return to the Ronin."
"Then I suggest we get the equipment transferred to the Ronin as well and
start work." Ryan ordered. "I’d like to get underway again as
soon as the Kelvan specialist arrives."
"What about the Bounty ?" Dani asked.
"The vessel is almost entirely automated, we could pilot it by remote."
The Admiral announced. "Although it maybe wise to leave a small crew aboard.
We don’t know what effect Klingon disruptors will have on Kelvan technology
and having a second vessel could increase our chances of detecting the Kelvan."
"I’d like to stay Captain." Dani announced. The opportunity to
pilot a new vessel giving her voice a childish tint.
"OK." Ryan replied. "The job’s yours, for now. Commander
Markos, will you see that a crew is assigned to Bounty and that it is regularly
relieved."
"Of course Captain." Kira replied.
"Then let’s get moving. The Federation specialist will be here in
a little over twelve hours." Captain Evans announced.