Karst's Gambit

 

 

Part 1: I have a job for you....

 

 


From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 14.04.2010 - 02:55

Approximate Stardate: 201001.05

J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=was sitting on the bridge of the IKT Whirlaway reading a particually interesting bit of news from the THE KLINGON EMPIRE Communications channels. There was some news about Rhulaner attacking several Kingon colonies that had very recently setted close to the border of Rhulaner space. The news was not good. Suddenly a subspace message interupted the silence on the bridge.
 
"Dr. Karst - Chief Medical Officer =Klingon Empire= to J'Ssen! J'Ssen I need to talk with you immediately!" His voice came in clear over a secured open channel for only those members of the THE KLINGON EMPIRE."

J'Ssen looked up suddenly at the urgency of his voice, "Of course Dr. Karst my dear."

J'Ssen had grown close to Dr Karst as she had Mathias in the recent weeks. They were all three Humans in a very large Klingon Empire.

"I mean, I need to talk with you in private...quickly." Karst insisted, "I really need you to do something important for me. A job of sorts."

"OK, I'll take this in my quarters T'Laurn." J'Ssen replied as she stood quickly and headed to the turbolift, "Please transfer the link to my secured channel."

T'Laurn nodded as Jenssen left the bridge.

In the privacy of her quarters on the IKT Whirlaway, Dr. Karst told J'ssen of a mission vital to the survival of many in the THE KLINGON EMPIRE. J'Ssen grew very concerned over the welfare of her close friend as she listened to his proposal. His idea was valiant and bold to help the colonies along Rhulaner space, but she couldn't help thinking it could also get them all killed. J'Ssen knew she could not refuse his request now...he was into it too deep for a simple rescue attempt. His life depended on his success now and she had to figure out a way to get him out of there without risking the wrath of the great Rhulaner queen Ly upon the whole Empire. She agreed to find this 'object' for him that he needed. It would have to e done under cover of darkness as the Dominion would undoubtedly want to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Rhulaner Empire or the knowledge from being given to the galactic colonists as well.

 

 

To be continued....

 

 

 

  

 Part 2: A Shadowy Scavenger Hunt throughout the Galaxy


From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 14.04.2010 - 03:02
Reposted from Several Public notice and bar channels - Stardate 201001.06:

It is 03:00 and all is quiet. A dark figure in a deep green Vulcan robe calmly and quietly walks in the shadows. The figures stride is commanding, purposeful. There is a mission at hand and a hunt is about to be on in the galaxy for an object of great value and importance. The figure walks up to a public digital billboard outside this designated establishment and quickly inserts a data chip. The figure quickly slides an unmarked credit chip across the top of the billboard to pay for the notice. The billboard chirps in acknowledgment of the payment and the successful download of the notice. The figure removes the data chip, tucking it into the robe and strides on quietly out of sight.

As you approach the darkly lettered notice on the board, you peer at the unusual scroll-like lettering. It is unreadable. No language or script you have ever seen before. Suddenly the Notice Board scans your face and DNA print and determines you are not a member of the Dominion. The scroll like letter rearranges to a script you can easily read.

                                                     Attention Delta Quadrant Colonists

An object of great value has been lost in the Delta Quadrant. There are members of a secret alliance who are seeking to retrieve this object before it can fall into the hands of the Dominion. I have been tasked with finding out what information I can to locate this object at great personal risk to my valiant crews and myself. Undoubtedly, my ships and colonies will be targeted by the Dominion once they learn of my mission.

I am to be your only contact for any and all information you may wish to pass on. This will protect your ships and your colonies from the Dominions attempts to retrieve the object first. Any and all information I receive through you will be held in the highest confidentiality. My crews and I on our honor, pledge to take this information to our graves.

I will pay well for information leading to the successful recovery of this unique object. If you think you may have this object or you may know who does, please send a secured subspace transmission directly to channel 13700 and await further instructions. Do not post any information in any unsecured location. The current Colonist in possession of this object will be fairly rewarded for its recovery.


The notice quickly fades, replaced once again by an unreadable script to await the next Colonist to venture close enough for a formal identification scan to commence.

Note to all game players....whether you think you have a unique item of great value that you are willing to trade or you think it is just space junk ...please contact me about it....it might become very valuable as part of this RP scavenger hunt. At very least it will lead to some interesting RP game SCN posts linked to various in game objects. ... Thank you for your attention... player 13700 (Incogneto)

 

 Part 3: Galactic hunt for an object of great value....

 


From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 03:36
Reposted from SSCN Historical Channel
Stardate:201001.10 - Captains Logs of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=


You see the beautiful bridge of the IKT Whirlaway a modified sleek, fast Nausicaan Corsair Class vessel. The lithe, blonde human Captain Burgundy Jenssen, clothed in her traditional black sleeveless rock-climbing t-shirt and khaki canvas cargo pants with a beautiful green Romulan Blooddagger strapped to her shin is sitting slouched in her Captains Chair studying a digital pad. She has a scowl on her face as she studies the report. Suddenly there is a crackle of static over subspace lines that her first officer and science officer the tall, angular female Vulcan, T'Laurn is monitoring diligently.

"Captain, there is a rather badly degraded message coming in for you over subspace. It is very faint and indications are it is being transmitted a great distance. It’s being disguised on a theta band to appear as if it only a fluctuation in background echoes of subspace."

The stately Vulcan with long, braided, black hair, clad in tan a desert soft suit raises an eyebrow as she receives the rest of the transmission. "The encryption code used is impressive. Who ever sent this does not want the information to fall into the wrong hands."

"How long will it take you to decode the encryption T'Laurn?" Jenssen quickly glances back up at the science station.

"Perhaps twenty minutes Captain." T'Laurn's upswept eyebrows betrayed her concentration on the message.

"Twenty minutes?" Jenssen is a little shocked that T'Laurn hadn't immediately decrypted it.

"As I indicated, it is a very sophisticated code." T'Laurn again raises an eyebrow at the message she had captured.

"Very well. Let me know when you get it decoded. In the mean while, I need to go send another message and arrange another meeting. I'll be transporting to the IKT Black Wolf as soon as you get that code decrypted. T'Laurn, you're in command here until I return." Jenssen stands up and activates her inner ship comm with a quick slap on her Andorian Ice Crystal commbadge.

"Gorp and Dr Nibbert, I need you two to meet me in the transporter room in one hour. We are going to have a little business to attend too shortly."

"Yes Captain!" Gorp, the huge Naussicaan weapons expert replies over the comm.

"Yes Captain." Dr Nibbert replies, "I'll be there."

Jenssen nods at T'Laurn, Jrell her Bolian Helmsman and Tellis, her Alpha Centurian Security chief as she departs the bridge, "Until then, I'll be in my quarters. If we pull this off well, perhaps we can get this dangerous business over with and get back to our colonization of that new Desert. I'd like a free moment attend that concert you suggested for the science staff on our colony Kinderscene, T'Laurn. I'm thinking that Elgar's Enigma Variations the Orchestra is featuring is sounding real peaceful about now."

Jenssen tosses her dark green Vulcan cloak over her shoulder as she resolutely exits the bridge of the Whirlaway.

To be continued....

 

 Part 4:    A buzzing from the fields in search of "Honey"

 

 

From: Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 03:38

Reposted from SSCN Historical Channel
Stardate:201001.10 - Captain's Log's of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=
 

You see a rather neatly decorated crew quarters on-board the IKT Whirlaway -- a Nausicaan Corsair Class vessel. The cabin lights are dim but you can see there are a few holophotos of various animals and landscapes as well as various star ships. There is a bronze statue of a rearing Mustang from the Planet Earth on a shelf above a computer desk. There are a few old fashioned books on the shelf too. Your eyes fall on an old and tattered spine of 'Lad: A Dog' by the Earth author 'Albert Payson Terhune'. You see Captain Jenssen's strong back, her golden hair flowing around her shoulders, sitting stiff backed at her private computer console. There is Vulcan scripting along the edges of the monitor screen and it is very apparent that this console has some of the most advanced encryption software in the galaxy. She is busily typing out a subspace message and you can just barely see the script.

’Little Bee to Hive; We must meet. I must know why it is you have requested me to locate these "blooms", these flowery "objects". There is buzzing in the field that you might be working close to the "Bears Den". I must know why we must track these flowers down for you. What is the status on the "Hornet's" attempts to gain these flowers first? Send me your coordinates using the following encryption code to the sector noted at the end of this message. I will be waiting there for your answer with my most trusted wing bees. Little Bee out.’

Captain Jenssen directs the subspace transmitter to broadcast a message towards coordinates deep within Rhulaner Territory. She punches the encryption and transmit buttons.

{Encoding message}
{Adding hexidex layer}
{Reversing code}
{Encoding message}
{Adding triplication layer}
{Message sent}

She sits back and rubs her neck in worry and mumbles to herself, 'Damn you Karst! I hope you are ok, and I hope the Dominion hasn't found that object yet.'

To be continued....

 

 

Part 5:  Searching for Dr Karst

Little Bee seeking the hive before the Bear gets to it.

 

 

From: CaptainBurgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 04:04

Reposted from SSCN Historical Channel
Approximate Stardate:201001.10 - Captain's Log's of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=

Nearly 15 minutes later.....
Captain Jenssen had just received and decoded the response from Dr. Karst'HoD - House of Kor =Klingon Empire= indicating he did want to meet with her. His news confirmed her deepest fears. He was deep within Rhulaner territory and working on something there with the leader of the Rhulaner's Pirates. Karst had been very vague in the past about the items he had wanted her to find, but Jenssen through back on many of the conversations she had had with him in private during their times together in various sectors. It dawned on her that Dr Karst had been very preoccupied with ancient propulsion systems and in particular, Borg Vinculums. Could that be what he was trying to acquire? Had he actually gotten one or was he looking for it still. She would have to go meet with him and find out. But how was she going to find him in the vast depths of Rhulaner space? Jenssen took a deep breath and wondered how Rhulaner would interpret her intrusion into this space to aid her dear friend Dr Karst. Jenssen leaned back form the computer console, pondering this mess she had gotten her self into by being so dedicated to helping Dr Karst. She had fed his wild ideas and adventurous spirit with her tales of heroics and now he had gone off and started an adventure on his own without maybe thinking about the consequences. Suddenly, the door chime to her quarters softly rang.


"Yes, come in." Jenssen quickly acknowledged the door chime and sat up straight in her chair to clip off the computer communications screen.

The door slid open to reveal her Vulcan first officer, T'Laurn, "Captain, I have decoded the message we intercepted."

Jenssen glanced at the chronometer, it had only been 15 minutes since she had left the bridge and once again her first officer had efficiently and effectively broken the code on a very complex message quicker then she had estimated it would take. Jenssen smiled as she replied, "Wow, you shaved five whole minutes off that estimate. That must be a new record for you, overestimating the time it would take for you to complete that decode by a whole five minutes. You're typically so exact, T'Laurn." She smiled mischievously and taunted her close friend, knowing T'Laurn had a wickedly dry sense of humor, which was rather untypical for a Vulcan.

T'Laurn did not raise an eyebrow as would have customarily been her response to her Captain light hearted attempt to get a rise out of her. Captain Jenssen knew instantly that the news she brought was not good. Jenssen stood up from her console, all joking put aside.

"The message we have received was from the Klingons NPC great warrior Tho'Pok. It appears that a fellow by the name of Lieutenant Mark of the Terran Empire has sold him a propulsion system from an ancient probe. He thinks this is what Dr Karst wanted you to look for. He also reported that Dr. Karst has recently obtained a Borg Vinculum." T'Laurn knew just how dangerous a Vinculum could be. If the Klingons Warrior was right then Dr Karst was experimenting with items that could get him killed or worse, assimilated by the Borg if the vinculum was re-energized. An explosion from it could rupture subspace, creating portals in the fabric space leading to anywhere in the galaxy if the proper means of controlling that rupture could be established. If it was fused with a weapon of some kind, it would be an almost unstoppable weapon of attack.

"Damn you Karst! Damn you! You're building a weapon with the Rhulaner. No wonder the THE KLINGON EMPIRE is questioning your loyalty. No wonder the Rhulaner Empire wants a non-aggression pact with the THE KLINGON EMPIRECaptain Ly is counting on keeping you happy enough you will build something she can use against us all. You used my trust to drag me into this." Jenssen recoiled at the thought of being involved in building a weapon like this. She had only wanted to keep information out the Dominionhands as Karst had told her he wanted to do, so the Dominion would not do more damage to the galaxy.

 

Jenssen had no idea Karst was working with the Rhulaner for sure. She had only heard rumors he was. Those rumors were now confirmed.

Jenssen was furious. She wanted to kick something real hard about now for trusting Karst before she got all the details.

"Perhaps he thought if he could keep the Rhulaner occupied, she would not raid the newest colonies in the Klingon Empire. I do believe his intentions may have indeed been very honorable." T'Laurn offered as a logical explanation for his actions. Both of them knew Karst was not known to be an intentionally deceptive man. Then she did raise an eyebrow at her Captains anger. "If I may suggest Captain, your proclivity for using an almost Vulcan like logic to analyze a situation before becoming involved in it, may have been clouded by your human tendencies to still indulge in emotions such as affection."

Captain Jenssen stopped pacing the floor and stared at the Vulcan for that response. Then she laughed, "Touché, T'Laurn. You are right, as usual my friend in perhaps too many ways. He did stop Rhulaner from raiding the weaker colonies with that non-aggression treaty. He did sign with her on behalf of the Empire. At least it has given our newest colonists a little breathing room and ability to build up their defenses before she starts raiding again, no matter how brief that treaty is likely to be. He trusts their leader too much because that is his nature. One I find often enduring as well. The Rhulaner may be an honorable Pirate, but she is still a Pirate. I'm just hoping he's not in over his head and expecting me to bail him out. "

"Perhaps, that is exactly what he is hoping for, Captain." T'Laurn replied with little expression on her angular face to betray her true suspicions, as she gracefully turned to exit the room. T'Laurn paused at the door way and added "And to clarify the record, I finished the decoding the message 7.2497 minutes earlier then my previously estimated time. It took the remaining time to walk to your quarters." The door swished closed behind her.

Jenssen couldn't help but smile. T'Laurn knew both her and Dr Karst too well. Of course Jenssen would go to the aid of her close friend. She just hopped it wasn't too late now for all of them.

Jenssen grabbed a small duffle bag with the needed supplies to meet up with Karst and adjusted her green Vulcan robe around her shoulders as she left her quarters for the transporter room to transfer over to her Oberth Class Scout ship, IKC Black Wolf .

A few moments later...

Jenssen met up with Gorp and Dr Nibbert in the transporter room of the IKT Whirlaway precisely one hour from her hail to them from the bridge of the Naussicaan class ship.

"Ready or not boys, here we go." She stated causally to her two crewmen as they all stepped onto the transporter pad. Security Chief Tellis beamed them over to the IKS Black Wolf before either of her men could answer.

to be continued...

 

 

 

Part 6:  A Toast to Ensign Solstice

 


From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 04:13

Reposted from Channel 401
Stardate:201001.14 - Captain's Log's of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=
 

En route to meet up with Dr. Karst, J'Ssen, Gorp and Nibbert stop briefly at a outpost in the Terran Empire to refuel. J'Ssen decides to check out the local "English Pub" on her own since she is not well know in this area of the galaxy. She doubts many will disturb her brief moment alone She gets completely engrosed in reading the postings and logs of several members of the Terran Empire.

Captain Jenssen is sitting quietly at a low table in the back corner of a small pub located deep within the Terran Empire. She's slouched back, strategically turned to see those coming and going through the reflection on the mirror above the bar, but turned enough that her features are not obvious to those in the main bar. She's nestled into over stuffed leather chair off to the side of the holographic fireplace in this almost rustic country pub. She is comfortable among those she calls friends in this sector of the galaxy. She sitting alone, looking over a digital pad filled with the de-classified logs of some of the Terran Empire's finest. Captain Jenssen has her highly polished black ankle boots propped up against the low set table as she silently reads the logs, sipping a nice steaming cup of hot mint tea.

The darkness the corner allows her deep green robe to blend her into the surroundings, almost hiding her completely from all but the most observant of eyes. Jenssen nods quietly as the Terran Maco Commander, Ten-Bear's "the Wise" as she affectionately calls him on sub-space, locks eyes with her reflection in the mirror from across the room. He smiles and nods slightly, acknowledging her desire to sit alone and read the tales of his heroic crew. But his young companion has noticed his eyes dart to the mirror above the bar and has now turned around and look at what Ten-Bears has seen. The young Ensign's eyes light up at the sight of the Warrior Bard in the pub with them. Before Ten-Bears can stop him, he jumps down off his seat and purposefully walks over to introduce himself to this stunning lovely lady with the golden mane reminiscent of a wise old lion. Before he can speak, she addresses him...

"Why Ensign Solstice - Terran Empire, I have been sitting here reading your most exciting and heroic tales of events in the Terran Empire. I must say, I think I have competition now in the Delta Quadrant for my title as a Warrior Bard." Captain Jenssen inclines her head with a mischievous sparkle in her bright green eyes as she sees his hopeful expression.

"I'll offer you a toast my young Ensign friend...and perhaps a few small words of wisdom from a fellow explorer who has often been a thorn in the side of those in authority positions in my own right..." She winks at him over his tale of the loss of his command of his own ship. She understands the desires of this fellow free sprit with a tendency to buck those in authority.

"May you have the hindsight to know where you have been,
the foresight to know where you are going,
and the insight to know when you are gone too far."

"Keep that in mind my dear lad and you will be Captain of your own flag ship very short order. May that same insight keep yourself and your crew safe in the future adventures."

Then Captain Jenssen quickly stood; ready to leave now that her anonymity has been uncovered. She quickly finishes the last of her tea and sits down her cup, tucking her hood of her Vulcan robe up over her golden hair, all in a fluid motion of a lady who has seen much action in her life. She turns and faces the young Ensign and rested a warm, wise hand on the young man's shoulder and said, "And do keep writing about your adventures. I quite enjoy them in my spare time. Good luck and Godspeed Solstice."

Captain Jenssen quietly exits the pub with a friendly hug to Ten Bears on her way out.

  Part 7: On the way to Rhulaner Space


From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 04:22

Reposted from SSCN Historical Channel
Stardate:201001.24 - Captain's Log's of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=

On board the small scout class ship IKS Black Wolf, the lights in the ship are glowing a dim red-alert as the ship is running hard at Warp 9, conserving power from all systems as Captain Jenssen pilots the tiny craft quickly through system after system, dodging all normal ship lanes and areas of high occupation.

Jenssen doesn't want to be intercepted in this area of the galaxy so far from her colonies out among territories she does not know well. She mumbles under her breath obscenities at what Dr. Karst'HoD House of Kor =Klingon Empire= has gotten them all into. Gorp looks up from tactical and chuckles at her creative use of descriptive modifiers for Karst's last three known ancestral generations. Dr Nibbert looks up a little worried from the back of the small craft as he is working on making preparations for receiving the wounded. No doubt he has begun to wonder if it is going to be Dr Karst he'll be administering too when Jenssen gets her hands around his throat. Suddenly collision-warning alarms go off on the console and Captain Jenssen's fingers fly across the navigational panels to avoid a ship and large convoy that have suddenly appeared on the screen also traveling at high warp.

The sleek IKS Black Wolf dives under the convoy of ships as Gorp reads out the ship details to Jenssen.

"Damn! That is Nuclear Doughnut -- Omega INC.-- and his trading fleet. What is he doing way out here outside of shipping lanes?" She whistles at that large convoy of impressive battle worn vessels.

"He's hailing us." Gorp causally states.

"Send him back a sorry we can't stay and chat, we are a little busy. Be nice, but be brief." Jenssen hastily replies.

"He insists on talking with you. Wants to know if you are still looking for those items you posted about in some of the local Notice boards." Gorp quickly rattled back.

"Tell him, no, that item has been found but thank him for the offer." Jenssen sighs
as she re-plots the course towards the last coordinates Karst had sent her.

"He says he has information for you too....he almost ran over and I quote 'your dear lover-boy Karst' leaving Rhulaner space and he wasn't going the direction we are headed." Gorp quickly relayed to her before they got too far out of range of the convoy.

"What!!?? Tell him well drop out of warp for just a moment, but we are on an urgent mission and must continue. The fate of many sectors in the galaxy might be at risk." Jenssen replied back,her fingers flying over the helm to drop the tiny ship out of warp and come up strategically under the belly of Nuclear Doughnut -- Omega INC.--'s mighty D'deridex where it would be difficult for him to take a shot at her or lock on a tractor beam, just in case his intentions were not as forth coming as they appeared to be. She was taking no chances. She had to get to Dr Karst and stop him now. If she couldnt stop him, at least she wanted to make sure if this weapon was going to be used to target what ever the Dominion was looking for. She had to know if the leader of the Rhulaners was as an honorable of a pirate, as she seemed to be, as Karst believed her to be.

"Put him on Gorp. Maybe he can shed some light on where Karst is now." Jenssen sat back in her chair at the helm and waited to hear from this man she had talked to occasionally over long-range subspace but never had the opportunity to meet up with. She was intrigued to learn if his reputation for industrious and lucrative trade, which allowed him to build the great Omega Mart centers of commerce was really the strewed businessman everyone claimed him to be. She could only hope he was as good at exchanging information as he was tangible goods.

To be continued with a post from Nuclear Doughnut....

 Part 8: The Search for Dr Karst 


From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 04:35

Reposted from SSCN Historical Channel
Stardate:201001.24 - Captain's Log's of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=

Jenssen listened carefully to Nuclear Doughnut -- Omega INC.--'s information and knew that troubled times were ahead for her dearKarst. He must have realized that working with Rhulaner posed significant risks to the galaxy. She only hoped Karst had taken the research he was working on with him when he left to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

"I want to show my appreciation for your timely information Mr. Doughnut. Allow me to send over a little Antimatter as payment for your troubles and hopefully that will help get your fleet home." Jenssen quickly motioned to Doctor Nibbert to go to the shuttle bay and beam over a container of AM, whatever they could spare.

Nuclear Doughnut -- Omega INC.--'s  nodded on the view screen in appreciation of the payment for the information.

"I don't want to seem rude Mr Doughnut, but we do need to track down Karst as quickly as possible. Please forgive me for not having the time to stop in and see your Omega Mart or your cargo holds full of interesting collectors items. Any other time I would be intrigued to spend an afternoon or perhaps an evening in your company, perhaps another time." Jenssen smiled, genuinely interested in strictly looking over the odd bits and peaces for some unique items, when she wasnt pressed for time, but he could take that to mean what ever he liked as far as she was concerned if it let her ship continune on in peace. "Farewell, noble trader.....Gorp end transmission."

Jenssen's fingers flew over the helm controls again. Laying in a course in the direction Nuclear Doughnut -- Omega INC.-- had indicated Dr Karst had taken. This made finding him in the vastness of space much more complicated. The tiny ship continued on for several hours. Gorp was using every trick he knew with the long-range sensors, sniffing long for bits and pieces of a warp signature they knew was here, as if the ship were a bloodhound. He picked of a signature of Dr Karst's vessel and Jenssen launched the ship at full speed after the trail that was almost cold.

 

A few hours later....

 

 

The ion trail suddenly started to show signs of growing warmer. It passed several uninhabited planets and came to a stop on the backside of a large asteroid belt. Dr Nibbert groaned looking at the scene in front of them on the main view screen. Gorp and Captain Jenssen sat silent, unbelieving at the site.

 

Space itself was twisting and folding in upon itself. A huge ring of distortion had encircled the black gaping mass in front of them. A well of gravity not even light could escape from. A mass of particles created an eerie blue-gray swirling nebula mist punctuated by x-ray bursts and ionized particles along the outer most edge of the phenomenon. Bits of what were several ships lazily twisted along the event horizon, forever trapped in a slow spiral down into the gaping abyss.

 

Jenssen swallowed hard and softly asked for a reading from Gorp, "How many ships?"

 

"Twenty two, give or take a few....there are a lot of hull pieces missing. Many are Dominion ships and there are two Rhulaner escort cruisers." Gorp quickly replied.

 

"And Karst's ship?" Jenssen asked not really wanting to hear the answer.

 

"It's not there Captain. No signs of debris from his ship, but the ion signature is all over through out the area here. He was here in the middle of this battle, or accident, or what ever this was." Gorp confirmed.

 

Possibly, Dr Karst made it....just possibly....Jenssen could only hope.

"Any escape pods or log buoys?" Jenssen asked hopefully.

 

"Scanning," Gorp replied. "Yes! I have an escape pod bearing 212 mark 37, Z minus 40. Its from one of the Rhulaner ships. It is badly damaged. The titanium hull is melted in spots. Life support is minimal."

 

Jenssen's fingers flew over the helm, swinging the Black Wolf around like a predator stalking the edge of the anomaly, keeping it just out of grasp of the deadly eddies.

 

The pod was below the northern edge of the anomaly's ugly, toothless grin in space.

 

"Scanning for life signs!" Dr Nibbert jumped to his scanners to find any hint that someone who could tell them what had happened was still alive. "There are two life signs in the pod, both are failing...they have been there for almost three days by the oxygen supply usage."

 

Jenssen brought the Black Wolf within transporter range of the pod and Dr Nibbert beamed both of the survivors to the cramped aft medical bay on the small scout ship and scrambled back to attend to them.

 

Captain Jenssen looped the Black Wolf carefully around the anomaly one more time to allow Gorp to scan for any more survivors or any log buoys. Her eyes fixed on the anomaly so she wouldn't turn and allow Gorp to see the grief in her eyes at what was likely Dr Karst's final resting place.

 

"Captain, I have a log buoy. It's damaged but the message is intact and it is from Karst's ship!" Gorp called out, as they were just about to set a course for safer space. "I've beamed it into the cargo hold."

 

"Take the helm Gorp and plot a course back to the edge of Rhulaner space. If these survivors are hers, I want to return them to her before we head home. Don't rush it until we find out what happened from them just incase we need to call in back up to take these two back to Rhulaner space." Jenssen said standing up to go back to the medical bay to see if either survivor was able to tell her what had happened.

 

"Aye, Captain." Gorp responded reaching down to rest a hand on his Captain's shoulder. "If he is dead, at least he died in glorious battle."

 

Jenssen patted the big gruff Nausicaan's hand and smiled, "Perhaps, Gorp, perhaps."

 

Then she continued to aft to the medical bay.

 

The doors to the medical bay swished open and the stench of rotting, burn flesh made Jenssen's stomach roll and eyes water. She quickly blinked and coughed. One of the casualties was no longer, considered a survivor; he was dead on the examination table. Burns covered almost half of his face and torso. His flesh twisted and patched like some of it was inside out but still sitting in the right position on his body. She wondered if his organs had the same unnatural patchwork of almost inside-out and outside-in look to them. If they did, then undoubtedly that had killed him. She had enough medical training during her time in Starfleet to know there was no medical way to correct so much damage. The medical transporter could modify and replace patches throughout a body, but to return patches of improperly orientated flesh from all layers of the body could not be quickly enough to save them. His companion may not be long with this galaxy either at that rate and she had to know what happened. Dr Nibbert glanced up from his administrations to the last survivor with a grim expression. Jenssen knew she had come to the same conclusion that Dr Nibbert had. This one had little time left.

 

Dr Nibbert met her halfway to the examination table where the Rhulaner Pirate was laying. Jenssen didn't recognize his species, but he was humanoid and obviously in a great deal of pain even semi-conscience.

 

"I've done everything I can Captain. He's dieing and all I can do is make him comfortable. He wants to talk to you, but some of what he is saying does not make a lot of sense. His brain is as scrambled as the rest of his body."

 

Jenssen nodded. Maybe he couldn't tell her what she needed to know, but any bit of information that could help her out hope that Karst might have made it was worth her time. It never hurt to show compassion or to sit and offer what little comfort she could to a dieing man.

Jenssen pulled up a small stool to sit on by the Pirates shoulder and took his scorched hand gently in hers. She smiled at him as much as she wanted to just wrech and walk out due to the smell of death in the air. The Pirates eyes widened at the sight of what might have been a golden haired angle sitting beside him and he breathed heavily, "My lady....it... jump ship...it jump...tumble..then light..Dominion attack....and Dr Karst."

 

Jenssen leaned closer to him as he was trying to piece together the confused words.

 

"Karst did it..no hands... .no hands....Black...all black....no Dominion hands! YES!"

 

The pirates eyes went wide and his back arched. He screamed a final scream of someone trying to get the tale out but realizing he had run out of time.

 

Jenssen reached over and closed the eyes on the dead pirate, then stood to wipe the charred flesh from her hands.

 

"Sorry Captain, there was nothing to be done for him." Dr Nibbert quietly prepared two stasis chambers for the bodies. "I hope what he was trying to say was that Dr Karst did what was needed to save the galaxy from what ever this was he had. It would be in his nature to do that. Or at least it sounds like he destroyed the thing that the Dominion was after befoer they could get their hands on it."

 

"We can only hope, Doctor, we can only hope now." Jenssen replied as she headed out of the medical bay to the cargo hold to get whatever information she could from the log bouy. Perhaps it would fill in the gaps. She had to know if Karst had suffered the same fate as these two hapless souls.

 

To be continued..


-----

 

 Part 9:  Return to "Cookie" with the Rhulaner Crew's bodies

 

 

From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 05:40
Reposted from SSCN Historical Channel
Stardate:201001.25 - Captain's Log's of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=

The staccato sound of boot heels are heard echoing in the empty cargo hold as Captain Jenssen approachs the buoy from Karst's ship.


Captain Jenssen entered the small cargo hold and walked around the one half meter long buoy to look at the control panel. It was damaged, but still operational, barely. The markings on the buoy looked like it had been partially melted by whatever the effect was that caused the anomaly in space and what ever Krast had done to destroy it.

She knelt down by the controls, inserted a data retrieval disk and downloaded the information. It took a few moments to record all the data. Once done, it fizzled and spit sparks as she pulled the disk away. The data was secure, but the Buoy was lifeless. Its memory core still held a copy of the information, but it would now be difficult to retrieve that even by the most skilled engineer. She would see to it that the buoy was destroyed once the information was confirmed to be complete.

She turned and headed out of the small cargo bay towards the bridge. Her boot heels echoed in the recesses of the empty hold until the door swished shut.

Captain Jenssen returned to the bridge of the Black Wolf in time to see Gorp negotiating with a huge Rhulaner Nausicaan Pirate on the screen.

"What do you mean I'm not welcome? My captain has retrieved two of your pirates and we intend to return their rotting corps to you. Tell your Captain Ly we have a personal invitation from Dr Karst to come here. How did I find you? What do you mean how did I find you! We Naussicaans are the best in the business at pirating. I used my pirating instincts, you space dog!" Gorp bellowed in true Nausicaan form and that apparently was what was needed to get them access to the coordinates to get to the planet Cookie, deep within Rhulaner space. His name-dropping also didn't hurt apparently. Jenssen smurked at the outcome of the exchange. Captain Ly would be wise to discipline this one for being so easily swayed to provide information on the coordinates to Cookie, but then again, maybe that was the easiest part of it. Actually getting there might be a bit more challenging since Pirates tended to not trust anyone, even their own, with their bounty.

This was not a trip Jenssen was looking forward too.

"Sorry Captain, I would have told you we made contact with the Rhulaner patrol ship, but this fool had his finger on the trigger of a torpedo launcher the whole time we spoke. He was about to shoot first and ask questions later. I did not want to spare a moment to call you because there would have been no later." Gorp's gravely guff voice typical of the multiple jawed species sounded almost comical apologizing to her.

"I trust you Gorp. You wouldn't have been my personal guard for the past eight years if I had any doubts you would do anything that wasn't in both of our best interests." Jenssen replied without even a pause as she slide into the tactical station and keyed in the data disk. She needed to read this now and determine just how much of it she was willing to share with anyone and just how deeply involved in this mess they were right now. The data streamed over the screen and her eyes widened at the vast amount of assembly data. She quickly calculated the devastation this weapon would bring to the Galaxy. There was also a comm video of the last ten minutes on the bridge of Dr Karst's tiny ship. 

 

Jenssen bit her lip and debated whether she really wanted to watch this now with Gorp here. It was one thing for her to maintain her aura of command in front of her various crews and colonist, but Gorp knew she had her human weaknesses. He'd been her personal guard for too long to not know it. He discretely kept his eyes on the controls and main view screen when he heard her punch in the video and leave it on the full audio. He didn't need to see it to grasp the full impact of the video. The sounds alone were horrific enough.

Karst and two Rhulaner scientists were trying to shut down the portal through the science station on his bridge. The Rhulaner helmsman working the controls and Karst's ship was just keeping out of weapons range of over twenty Dominion fighters as they swarmed like hornets over the field of spaced around the portal. The two Rhulaner escort cruisers were too sluggish to keep up with the multitude of tiny bites of all the fighters were landing.

"Load that Polaron Torpedo and target that Vinculum! We've got to get through those displacement waves or they are going to eventually get a tractor on that!" Karst bellowed, "and Stov-vo-kor claim us ALL he yelled out angrily...Damn them all the hell and back! WEEYWWY! Follow it in!"

Karst jumped to the Helm pushing the helmsman to the floor with the look of an obvious idea on his mind as he hit warp 3 headed into the portal. His elbow accidentally hit the launch button for the log buoy at the same time. A huge eruption on the screen made the video go white which lit up the cockpit of the Black Wolf like a mini sunburst from the terminal screen as the buoy dropped out of the ship just before warp engaged and recorded the polaron explosion with the Borg Vinculum. Karst's ship had just passed the Vinculum hanging in space when the torpedo found it's mark. Then all hell broke loose.

Space bubbled like hot tar and the Dominion ships swaming on his tail all instantly seemed to be facing opposite directions at the same time, in the same position in space. The shock wave rippled out and quickly dissipated. The center of the portal collapsed and pulled the tiny fighter ships into fragments like strings of taffy before her eyes. The two Rhulaner ships were a little further out from the main shock wave and only half of those two ships were inverted back upon themselves in space. A warp core went critical on one of the Rhulaner cruisers and that explosion blew the second partially inverted Rhulaner ship in half. Six escape pods were launched at the same time the explosion ripped through the second ship. Only one pod survived the blast, shielded by the primary hull of the exploding ship. Then the warp core breach shock wave hit the buoy and the recording fizzled and went blank.

Jenssen sat starting at the screen in silence. This was more dangerous then even she had imagined. A means of inverting space upon itself was part of the Borg's transwarp drive system. Linked with the other technology to pinpoint an exit position on the other side of the portal and then add on top of it the destructive subspace and time distortions given off by the detonation of a polaron torpedo. This could rip the very fabric of space and time apart and lay waste to whole planets and sectors if it fell into the wrong hands. She had no way of knowing if Karst made it through the portal or not. By the look of the devastation, she didn't see how that could have been possible. Even if he had, where or when, would or could he be if time and space both were in flux at the time.

Karst was undoubtedly gone.

"We're coming up on a mine field Captain and there is a huge flag ship that is hailing us! Audio only." Gorp replied to break her silence. "She's hailing you," he continued softly, "She wants to know where Dr Karst is. It's Captain Ly of the Rhulaner Empire, ma'am."

Jenssen's green eyes took on a steely, angry, stare at the voice of the person she knew was the reason Dr Karst had come here to build this weapon. Her well-trained bard's voice did not betray her sheer anger. "Return reply, audio only." Jenssen commanded her loyal officer in dead flat tone. Gorp nodded that the channel was open.

"Yes Captain Ly, this is Captain Jenssen. It is most fortunate we have met up with you. I seem to have retrieved two bodies of Rhulaner crewmen from a rather unfortunately area of space just north of this position. Karst requested I meet him at those coordinates, but there seems to have been an explosion of terrible proportions there. "

"Oh! Dr Karst was supposed to meet with you south of here. This is not so. This is not so. Why he change his heading?" Captain Ly's sultry voice floated over the comm and Captain Jenssen detected a hint of compassion and true affection for Dr Karst. "Where is his ship? Where are the escorts? Did you see them?"

Jenssen was shocked at her concern. Could this lady really have fallen for Dr Karst so quickly? Jenssen almost smiled a mischievous smirk. Well that wasn't so hard to believe she had to admit, but her gut felt like she had just be sucker punched. She was going to have to say it now and that would make it all become just too real.

"Captian Ly, Karst is gone. There is reason to believe that the site of the accident also happens to be the final resting place for my dear friend. I got a little information from one of you crewman before he died that indicated Dr Karst was successful in both the development, deployment and the destruction of this weapon. It appears his ship warped into the portal to escape an attack by the Dominion just as he detonated a Polaron torpedo to destroy the weapon. I would like to return the bodies of your crewmen to you so you can see for yourself the level of destruction this weapon has caused. I implore you to stop this research before the Galaxy is irrevocably damaged by it."

There was silence for a moment and Jenssen's tactical station lit up like a Christmas tree as the Rhulaner weapons targeted the tiny Oberth ship. Gorp's hands hovered over the warp drive controls for her to give the word so they could run. 'They are scanning us.' he mouthed silently to her, his multiple jaws carefully forming the words so she could ready his features with out him uttering a sound. The Black Wolf was no match for this huge pirate flagship.

"Jenssen...I must tell you the Romulan Empire has just declared war on the Klingon Empire over the non aggression pact I had with the Empire. Kor has left the High Council and left the Empire. I have dropped the pact to save the rest of the Klingon Empire you swear your allegiance too. You owe me. I can not allow you to leave here without payment." There was a tinge of sadness to this answer.

Jenssen's mind raced. Karst gone! Kor gone! The pact gone! The colonies of the newest Klingon settlers were unprotected now and open to raids. The information in the Buoy could and probably would be used against even the Klingon Empire now if Rhulaner got her hands on it. Jenssen realized, she and her small crew were in deadly danger here now. Gorp's alarmed look at her and Dr Nibbert's sudden rush into the cockpit of the vessel were only an indication of how quickly they all realized things could go from bad to worse.

Jenssen's normally steely resolve crumbled under the shock and the weight of all this information at once. She knew she only had one thing to barter with that would be of value to this pirate. The pirate ships scan already told her they knew she had it too. She would have to use some of the information in the buoy to buy her freedom. She couldn't give the information on the weapon back to Captain Ly without a treaty in place. If this didn't work, they would have to run and they would likely die protecting the galaxy but they would take the information to the grave with them if they had too. But then again, Jenssen's mind raced, would it be enough? 

Jenssen held up a hand to her crewmen for silence, but when she went to speak her voice broke, "Captain Ly, the only thing I have to offer you is the last ten minutes of the bridge recording from Karst's ship. I was one of Karst's dearest friends and I was not going to share his final moments with anyone. It is the way I want to remember him. I must tell you, his last moments were spent in a heroic deed protecting the Klingon Empire and this galaxy from you and the Dominion. His bravery will live on in my heart forever." Jenssen swallowed back tears, "I'm willing to share it with you for safe passage out of your space. I can tell you were also close to him by your voice. Perhaps you have heard, I am often called the Warrior Bard? I can hear the songs of peoples heart in their voice and if I might be so bold to say it, your heart is also breaking as mine is, if I am hearing its song correctly."

There was another silence.

"Yes, Jenssen," there was a brief pause on the other end of the channel as the weapon's lock was pulled off the tiny ship and Jenssen's tactical console only blinked a proximity alarm for the large ship. "He was a brave and honest man and I would also want to remember him this way. I think I would like to meet this famed Warrior Bard and friend of Dr Karst." Captain Ly responded with what was undoubtedly grief in the tone of her voice, "Come! We will share a drink and a story and I will tell you why I asked him here to build this weapon for me. I hope you like rum dear."

"Yes Captain Ly, actually I do. I have been known to smuggle a case or two in my days. We will follow you in. Jenssen out." Jenssen replied sadly.

Gorp and Dr Nibbert both let out a collectively held breath and patted her on the back for her quick thinking. It was an unexpected outcome in a situation that held all their lives by a thread for a moment. Their trust and admiration for their Captain's instincts swelled.

Jenssen sat quietly, head resting on her folder hands at the tactical console. She closed her eyes and let the beating pulse of the engines course through her body, an almost mechanical thrum that right now matched the beat of her own heart. Normally her heart would have been cheering at the thrill of such a successful negotiation for safe passage out of Rhulaner space with one the Galaxy's most notorious Pirate, but today it was a cold and shallow victory.

Gorp followed Captain Ly's ship into port on the large rock planet Cookie. Jenssen quickly downloaded the video portion of the buoy as Dr Nibbert made arrangements with the dock master to beam the bodies of the two Rhulaner Pirates to the morgue. Jenssen then went alone to meet this Captain Ly.

Tonight, they would remember the man that stole both their hearts and drown their sorrows over a flask of Pirate's rum. Tomorrow, Jenssen knew she, her two crewmen, and her tiny ship, would run for their lives.

to be continued....

 

Part 10:  Escape from Rhulaner Space

 

From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 05:40
Reposted from SSCN Historical Channel
Stardate:201001.25 - Captain's Log's of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=

 


The small Oberth Black Wolf was escorted to the edge of Rhulaner space as Captain Ly had promised. She had earned Jenssen's respect for truly being a woman of her word. The two of them, Jenssen had discovered over a few flasks of rum, had a lot of things in common.Karst hadbeen a good judge of character and Captain Ly had earned his respect and trust. Jenssen now knew why Captain Ly wanted this weapon and she almost considered sharing the rest of Karst's research with her, almost. Still Jenssen had been thinking, as the two had been drinking their way through the second flask of rum, and had found a better alterative for this research. The greatest Klingon Warrior Tho'Pok was also collecting the items needed to build his own weapon.  If she knew this warrior's honorable heart the way she through she did, he could be trusted with Karst's data. He would use this data well and perhaps rid the galaxy of a known evil. Jenssen decided she had to try to get it to him.

"We're clear of Rhulaner space and our two escorts just left." Gorp announced happily.



"Good. Now set a course towards the Terran Empire as quickly as you can and engage engines at warp 9 Gorp. Find every nebula you can to hide us in on the way. Don't stop, don't look back, and don't answer any hails. The information in that buoy has painted a huge bullseye on our hull. I have no idea who might know we have this information. I suspect the Dominion is still sniffing around that area of the anomaly in space and if they catch scent of our warp trail there, we will be hunted to the ground." Jenssen replied with all seriousness. There was almost no hint of the alcoholic fog that still lingered from last night's drinking to her sharp focus.

"Aye Captain, but we will run out of Deuterium if we can't find a space port to refuel if I hop nebulas all the way home." Gorp warned her of something she already knew.

" Ten Bears Terran MACO Smartass and Dark Solstice Of The Terran Empire have a refueling depot here." Jenssen indicated a spot on the Stellar Map to him. "We will refuel and have a short jog home from there."

Jenssen was confident she could bargain a little of what she had in the Ferengi accounts still left after the taxes were hiked for the fuel they needed.


The Black Wolf scurried through nebula after nebula like a lone wolf running cover until they hit the depot in Terran Empire space and all three of them let out a sigh of relief.

"Dr Nibbert, see if you can go find the dock master and buy us some Deuterium. You should be unrecognized enough to pass yourself off an independent trader and not draw suspicion to our reasons here."

"Yes Ma'am, good as done." Dr Nibbert's easy reply at handling the restocking and what ever odds and ends needed handled at any time was just one of the many talents her Chief Medical officer had. Jenssen smiled at his willingness to dive in and tackle any task with almost a medical precision. It would be done quickly and efficiently.

"Gorp, you and I will make a little appearance on the Promenade. Let us see just who might be looking for us shall we?" She replied offering herself and Gorp up as bait to see if they really had made their escape from Rhulaner space undetected.



Gorp and Captain Jenssen, cloaked in her dark green Vulcan robe quietly strode into the only pub at the new Depot Station. The massive Nausicaan dwarfed his Captain as he lead the way into the pub. All eyes were on him, pulling the attention of those in the bar from Jenssen's quiet entrance as she skirted around him and walked to a quiet area to the back of the main bar.

Gorp bellowed, "What does a man have to do to get a drink in here!"

"Sir, Sir!" The shiny new robot tending the bar waved at him to get his attention before his specie's Nausicaan reputation for looking and getting into any fight he wanted, or cause the bar to empty, or something else less then favorable to happen. "I can get you anything you want right now! You name it and I'll reduce the credit cost by 20%. Please take a seat. Perhaps over here."

The robot indicated the space Jenssen had strategically left open to give the robot a place to tuck this Naussicaan out of the way so that the shiny new bar wouldn't see its first big black distruptor burns.

Gorp smiled a huge multi-jawed grin showing rows of teeth along with his spike mandibles and replied, "Why that's more like it....I like this place already!" As he took a seat on the opposite side of his Captain, just as they always did when entering a bar in unknown territory, so that her presence would be overshadowed by his ominous bulk.

As the robot delivered their drinks, a figure approached Jenssen and sat down at the bar beside her.

"Greetings Jenssen the brave and beautiful Warrior Bard." His mellow voice welcomed her quietly to Terran space.



Gorp her Naussicaan bodyguard and traveling companion looked over her shoulders from where he was sitting on the other side of her in the bar. Jenssen placed a steady hand on the big warriors wrist and a glance at him told him it was ok for this fine gentleman to approach them. Jenssen's grim face lit up a little at the sight of Ten Bears Terran MACO Smartass in the bar

"Greetings Ten Bears the Wise and Fearless. You are a bright spot in my rather dismal day today. I suspect you have heard by now that Dr Karst has gone missing. I've just come back from Rhulaner space where a huge rift in subspace, normal space and time all intersect. It is believed that Karst's ship was lost in the anomaly. It has been a trying time for us in the Klingon Empire my friend. Much turmoil has resulted from Kor stepping down over the mess with Rhulaner. A trying in time indeed." Her sadness was palpable.

Ten Bears Terran MACO Smartass  replied with a little wisdom,"He's always here, as long as we remember him." He pointed to his heart.

"Captain Ten Bears Terran MACO Smartass , report to the Overlords Office" the communicator chirped.

Ten Bears sighed, got up and motioned to the bartender to add her drinks to his tab.

"Perhaps later we can sit and discuss better times ahead. I must refuel and get home anyways dear Ten Bears." Jenssen called after him as he hurried to the door, headed to the top floor of the starbase.

 

 
Gorp had been looking around the bar as his Captain had been causally chatting with Ten Bears Terran MACO Smartass . He noticed two Klingon Warriors he did not know staring at them as they came in and sat at a table next to the door. Jenssen and Bear's quiet conversation ended. Gorp nudged his captain to warn her and she stiffened.


"Time to go." He indicated to the door as she stood up and glanced at the two Klingons seated there. Their head ridges were not quite right and she knew instantly they had been followed. She purposefully, but unhurriedly walked through the exit.

 

Gorp quickly stood up and bellowed, "This drink isn't fit for a Ferengi dog!" and stormed out of after Jenssen ,sheilding her back from what he knew was going to follow them out the door.

Janssen and Gorp hit the corridor at a dead run heading for the docking port where the Black Wolf was moored. The two Klingons who were seated at the table near the exit were only steps behind them, when suddenly three other Klingons appeared in front of them an intersecting corridor. One of them stiff-armed Jenssen in the midriff as she was running full tilt, catapulting her over herself like a rag doll. Jenssen amazingly twisted like a cat in mid air and landed on her knees and hands grabbing her blood dagger from her boot and her disruptor in her hand.

Gorp body slammed into the three Klingons as he charged the corridor keeping them from grabbing Jenssen again. The Klingon's and Gorp went down in a pile, with Gorp on top. Their images shifted and squirmed out from under the big Nausicaan. It became imminently clear all five of these attackers were Dominion shape shifters, not Klingons.

Jenssen was already firing her disruptor at the two following them, gasping to catch the wind that the stiff arm hit had knocked out of her. She hit one of the shape shifters and blew a hole in it. It quickly regenerated, but the two shape shifters were kept at distance from the adding to the mayhem Gorp was causing by her accurate shots.

Gorp was pounding and kicking the other three into, oblivion when around the corner of the corridor appeared the galactic Dark Knight, Takila Boog -- Omega INC. --. He was standing behind the two shape shifters when he reached down and grabbed them both by their necks and lifted them off their feet. His cigar bobbed in his mouth as he eyed the two Dominion Shifters. A gleaming sonic scattering pendant on Takila Boog -- Omega INC. 's jacket made it impossible for them to shift into some other shape within the scattering field.

 

Gorp and the three Dominion shifters paused a moment to look at the large figure holding the dangling forms of the other two Dominion shifters.

 

Takila Boog -- Omega INC. -- instantly recognized the sweet singing voice of the Warrior Bard as she shouted at Gorp to fall back. The smaller cloaked form and her huge Nausicaan companion slowly retreated towards the docking area, eyes on the corridor for any other assailants. TakilaBoog spit out his cigar, which tumbled to the floor as he whistled down the corridor, back the way he had just come. Then turned back and yelled, "Jenssen??! You need a hand my fair lady?"

"I sure could use it right now, my dark knight!" Jenssen yelled to him, holding her side half doubled over. TakilaBoog's crewman instantly responded to the whistle of their Captain. Eleven huge, rough looking members of the Omega Alliance rounded the corridor, armed to the gills with every manner of projectile and energy weapon. The three Dominion shape shifters Gorp had just been pounding into the ground, saw they were overpowered and overwhelmed by Jenssen's uncanny luck. They took the pause in the fighting caused by Takila Boog's  and his crew's arrival to run for the nearest airlock. Half of Takila Boog's men lit out at a dead run after the three fleeing Dominion shifters.

"I got these two." Takila Boo ' countered. "We'll make sure they learn what Davey Jones' locker looks like from the inside." He handed the two Dominion shape sifters to the rest of his gang of crewmen who less then ceremoniously stuffed them in sealed warp coolant containers so they couldn't shift themselves out of confinement.

Jenssen nodded at Takila Boog', "I owe you one!"

She and Gorp high tailed it for the docking bay. Takila Boog  noticed Gorp was supporting his injured Captain as they ran. Jenssen's Vulcan rope flowing behind her as the staccato sounds of their boot heels echoed through the corridor until they were out of earshot.

Takila Boog looked down to see his cigar sitting on the corridor floor, still smoldering. "Damn, got my little stogie dirty." He picked up the stub of the Klingon Red Cigar, brushed it off, stuck it back in his mouth and took a long drag on it before puffing the smoke down the corridor, thoughtfully, in Jenssen's direction. Then he turned and followed his crewman to the station brig, laughing. " 'Dark Knight of the Galaxy' indeed. Where is commissioner Gordon to put this Galactic rabble away so fair damsels are not jumped in dark alleys when you needed him anyways!" Takila Boog'  snorted in merriment at getting in on a little action.

to be continued.....

Part 11: State of Emergency

   

 

From:  Captain Burgundy Jenssen Warrior Bard (13700) Time: 15.04.2010 - 06:30
Reposted from SSCN Historical Channel - 27.01.2010 but in game is
Stardate: 201001.25 - Captain's Log's of J'Ssen'la House of Mathias =Klingon Empire=

 


Doctor Nibbert sees his two companions running for the Black Wolf and tosses in the last container of Deuturium, slaps down a credit chip to the dock master and yells, "Keep the change."

 

Doctor Nibbert bolted into the ship's cockpit and flipped the engine start. Jenssen was leaning hard on Gorp as they hit the shuttle doors. Gorp's slimy Nausicaan blood was dripping from his mandible where one of the Dominion shifters had gotten in a lucky kick, but he was otherwise unhurt. Nibbert did not miss Jenssen's more serious condition with his trained medical eye as Gorp and her catapulted into the shuttle. Jenssen scrambled into the back compartment and sat shaking on the floor.  Her adrenalin rush was the only thing keeping her on her feet. Gorp punched the undocking commands and brought the shuttle about, setting in a course of Alpha Tau at warp 9. The shuttle screamed out of Terran Empire Space.


Dr Nibbert grabbed a medical tricorder and rushed to pass it over her torso knowing full well his Captain wasn't squeamish about medical accuracy, "You've got blunt force trauma to your right kidney and you are bleeding internally Captain, no broken bones but lots of muscle damage...what happened?"

 

"Dominion shifter stiff armed me as we were running down the cooridoor to the ship. Caught me right in the gut." Jenssen grimaced.

 

"How many times do I have to remind you that body armor is only good for stopping particle weapons, energy weapons and Borg assimilation tubules. It's too thin for blunt force trauma absorption....you have to get out of that body armor so I can treat you." Dr Nibberts concern was apparent in his chiding, as he helped her up from the deck and supported her on their walk aft to a biobed.

 

"Give me a moment...alone...." Jenssen eyed Dr Nibbert sternly.

 

"Oh for pete sakes, I'm a doctor. Why can't you trust me with how to turn off that damn body armor?" Dr Nibbert snorted back at her, "Some day your going to be hauled into sick bay unconscious and no one is going to be able to treat you through that confounded contraption because no one knows how to turn it off."

 

"Well if that ever happens, ask Gorp or T'Laurn. They know. They are the only two I can let know. There is no way the two of them could be tortured or coerced into giving up that information. You and me, well we humans, don't stand up to that too well sometimes. Sorry Doctor, it's a matter of security. I'm sure you understand." Jenssen shot back a pained look at him. It wasn't that she didn't trust him with her life, but some information like this had to be kept to as few of people knowing as possible.

 

Dr Nibbert walked out of the medical bay. Jenssen waited to hear the door swish close before she quickly disengaged the body armor and quickly looked under her black sleeveless shirt at her side. Her whole side was already black and blue and taking on a slightly distended look of blood pooling under the skin. The release of the compression from the body armor helping to stem the internal bleeding, allowed the blood to flow freely under the skin, making Jenssen gasp and a black swimming tunnel vision threatened to fold her into unconsciousness. She called back to Dr Nibbert, "Alright, lets get this over with."

 

Dr Nibbert quickly entered and began tenderly treating his Captain, knowing full well she hated doctors, hated medical bays, and sometimes, even hated being touched.

 

"You know, I think you wear that armor as an excuse just to keep anyone from getting close to you." He chided her.

 

"Ya' think?" Jenssen weakly replied with all the indignant tone she could muster, almost fading out of consciousness with the loss of blood. 

 

Dr Nibbert quickly pulled back her shirt, exposing her badly discolored ribcage and started repairing the internal damage by running a deep tissue regenerator over the damaged area.  He quickly gave her something for the pain and to help replace the loss of blood, as she passed out from sheer exhaustion on the biobed.

 

 

Two hours later Jenssen woke up, stiff and sore but a little rested from the last two days or constant motion.  Dr Nibbert had tucked a light blanket over her as she slept.  She quickly pulled up the edge of her shirt and glanced at her side and stomach to see the Doctor has done his typical exemplary job patching her back up again, but the black and blue marks from the pooled blood under her skin would take time to fad as well as the soreness in the muscles. 23rd Century medicine still had its limits still. She re-engaged the body armor and headed up front to the bridge to attend to the next order of business.  Gorp looked up and frowned as Jenssen entered the cockpit of the small craft. She knew something else is troubling him now.

 

"Those Dominion shifters were not working for the Dominion." Gorp relayed to her, handing her a data pad with a mass of intelligence reports from the Klingon Empire that came streaming in as they approached Alpha Tau's borders.

 

Jenssen's eyes widen at the reports on the datapadd. No, they were working for someone even more evil. Now she really did have to contact the great Klingons (NPC) Warrior Tho'Pok. Jenssen sets about sending off a quick subspace message to him from the tactical a station on the Black Wolf as Gorp pulls it into orbit of Alpha Tau along side her favorite Naussicaan Ship the IKT Whirlaway

 

"Gorp, Nibbert, I've got to get these messages out, then we will all beam over to the Whirlaway and head south to Palladio to see if the new storage roid is up and running yet. I need the information screens there for my next task. Gorp make sure we have staff in the Black Wolf to move our key scientists north for their protection. Dr Nibbert get on the horn to Governor Renquest at Solfeggietto and update him on the what's happening. I'll meet you both in the transporter room in 20 minutes."

 

"Aye Captain," They both replied in unison.

 

To be continued once classified documents can be released..

 

 

 

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