The noise sounded like someone being strangled while trying to fight off a pack of wolves. The smell was worse than the waste disposal unit on that Pakled freighter he had travelled on a few years ago. The atmosphere was smoky and humid. Why am I doing this?, he thought. He walked toward the table he had agreed to meet R'marak at. As he did so, he remembered what R'marak was going to give him, and what that would allow him to do. All doubts left his mind. He ran the last few steps and almost fell over when he sat down. R'marak banged his goblet of bloodwine down on the table and looked up.
''T'noq, you Andorian pah'tahk, you're late!'' he said in a slurred voice.
''My apologies,'' said T'noq. ''I had a spot of trouble with a Federation patrol ship. It's actually quite an interesting story. If you'll...''
''Enough!'' shouted the drunken Klingon. ''Do you have the money or not?''
''Erm... yes,'' T'noq replied. He heaved the large bag he had carried all the way from the transporter station onto the table and unzipped it.
''1000 bars of gold-pressed latinum, as agreed,'' T'noq stated proudly.
''And?'' R'marak growled.
''And?... Oh yes, and passage on my shuttle to Ferengi space. Provided my shuttle hasn't been used for target practice by any of the Klingon ships in orbit, of course. Some of those Klingon commmanders can...'' T'noq stopped suddenly, and changed his tone. ''Now, do you have what I came for?"
''Yes.'' grunted the Klingon. He reached into a pocket in his uniform, and took out a tiny tube. He handed it to T'noq. T'noq turned the little tube over in his hands. He inspected the ancient Earth symbol on the casing. What was it called again? Omega, that was it. Omega. T'noq snapped out of his daydream and spoke to R'marak again. ''We should depart immediately,'' he said. R'marak grunted and lurched out of his seat. The Klingon and the Andorian walked out of the bar and headed for the transporter station.
''This is Miranda IV orbital control to Andorian shuttle, NAR-9795. You are
cleared to
leave the system.'' The Klingon transmission ended and T'noq slowly piloted the
shuttle
between two Vor'cha class attack cruisers. Once he was clear of the massive
vessels,
he set a course for the Ferengi border and engaged his small craft's warp drive.
R'marak
was lying on the passenger bunk. He's going to have one hell of a hangover when he wakes
up, thought T'noq. He sat back in the pilot's chair. He now had several hundred
molecules
of the most powerful substance in the known universe. He could do anything he
wanted
with it. He had however, made up his mind years ago when he began his quest. Now the
time had come for him to single-handedly make the Andorians the most powerful
race in the
Galaxy. He smiled to himself. The rest of his race were too weak, too content
with peace to
take such drastic action. But not me, he thought. History will remeber me as the
man who
saved Andoria. With that thought on his mind, he drifted into a deep sleep.
--Stephen Errity
T'Noq had just settled into a quiet sleep when an alarm went off. It did not wake the Klingon, who was now too drunk to move. It would be a long 5 day journey at this rate. "Too bad my maximum warp is 3.9," thought the Andorian.
"Computer," he stated. "Why the alarm?"
In his native tongue, the computer replied, "A Federation starship has entered weapons range."
"What type of ship?"
"Excelsior-class."
Suddenly, the hailing system alerted T'noq. "Damn," he said, before swearing to his gods. "Audio only."
"This is the Federation starship Enterprise. Please submit to Starfleet inspection protocol."
"Never," replied the Andorian. He locked phasers onto the impulse engines and fired.
No damage.
On the Enterprise, Captain Harriman coonsulted with the ambassador they had been assigned to transport to Andoria.
"He can't harm us," stated the captain. "But we can't risk firing
on him or it could destabilize warp drive throughout the whole
quadrant. Do you have any recommendations, Ambassador Dax?"
--Lee Jamilkowski
On the bridge of the Enterprise, the crew were left staring at the last letter of the Greek alphabet while Curzon Dax and Captain Harriman retired to the ready room.
''Computer seal doors. No unauthorized entry.''
The computer beeped and carried out Harriman's request.
''I'm open to suggestions, Ambassador,'' he said.
''I say we act like we haven't detected the Omega,'' said Curzon, ''It's very likely that that's why he's reluctant to let us on board.''
''It's worth a try,'' said Harriman.
The two men walked back onto the bridge.
''Captain, would you mind telling me what the hell has screwed up my console?'' said the tactical officer.
''Sorry, Lieutenant that's classified.''
The last letter of a disused alphabet is classified, thought Lieutenant Keefe to himself. Has Starfleet gone mad? His bleeping console distracted him.
''Captain,'' he said, ''We're receiving another audio transmission from the Andorian.''
''Let's hear it.''
''I... I am T'noq. Um... I believe the Federation has been tracking a Klingon named R'marak for several months now. I... he... attacked me... but... I, eh, overpowered him. I have him in custody. I'd be willing to hand him over... i-if y-you'd overlook the inspection of my vessel.'' The Andorian was clearly nervous.
''R'marak,'' said Harriman. The Klingon who'd commited thirteen criminal acts against the Federation in the past year, seven of them in violation of the Khitomer Accords. He would like to bring him in, but not if it meant letting the Omega get away.
On T'noq's shuttle, R'marak finally stirred.
''T'noq,'' he shouted, 'T'NOQ!''
The Andorian jumped at the roar.
''Y-y-yes,'' he said.
''What's happening now?''
''I'm afraid we've been stopped. Another Federation starship.''
R'marak heaved himself off the bunk and staggered to the cockpit. He took a small box out of his uniform and attached it to the control panel. He pressed a few buttons, turned to T'noq and grinned.
''Captain,'' said Keefe, ''The Andorian shuttle has disappeared from our
sensors. It's cloaked!''
--Stephen Errity
Ambassador Curzon Dax suggested," Cloaking devices have been affected by tachyon particles before. Fire a tachyon pulse out and if we hit it, it should become visible."
"Would it affect the Omega?" asked Harriman.
"Most likely not... but it is the only choice we have at the moment," responded Dax.
"Lieutenant, prepare a tachyon burst and fire," ordered the captain to the dark-skinned lieutenant at the science station in the back.
Demora Sulu asked from the conn station, "Sir what is Omega?"
"It is confidential," said Harriman.
"Sir, we have detected the other vessel," said the Lieutenant.
"Lieutenant, vent some warp plasma. It might disrupt our shields, though I know we risk activating the Omega effects," stated Harriman.
Demora Sulu exclaimed, "The enemy vessel's shields are down!"
The captain ordered, "Beam the two life signs directly into the brig."
Then he added, "Ensign and lieutenant," indicating Sulu and the dark-skinned officer at the back of the bridge, "secure the Andorian vessel. I am going to meet our guests."
The three officers headed to their respective destinations.
Ambassador Curzon Dax then decided to follow and witness the events
that would soon transpire.
--Lee Jamilkowski
"Tractor the ship," the captain ordered.
Demora noticed something strange about the ship. "The ship is building energy up and slightly phasing in and out of the subspace," she replied. "The energy buildup and the phasing co-insided with moment the tractor had it in lock... correction we lost tractor lock."
"I remember reading a log in the starfleet archives of ship unknown origin later classified as R'tian, possessed a new technology that could that could render tractor beams useless," the captian replied.
One of the bridge crew spoke "What about the subspace phasing?"
The captain suddenly realized something. "Shields now, take us out a 100,000 kilometers."
"Why?" erupted the bridge.
The ship emitted a subspace wave that disrupted and repeled every thing in 100,000 kilometers radius.
The Enterprise shook a bit, but got out in time.
"I just remembered that subspace phasing was build up for the repulsion
device it has," he finished.
--Falbe
On the shuttle, now fully sobered by the jolt from the repulsion device, R'marak leapt to his feet and roared, "What in the name of Stovocor was that?"
T'noq did not have time to answer; he and the Klingon dematerialized and reappeared in what looked like a starship's brig.
R'marak swore in Klingonese and growled, "T'noq, if this is your doing I will tear those antennae from your ugly blue head and feed them to you!"
Three humans in starfleet uniforms and a trill in an ambassadorial robe entered the corridor and looked into the cell through the force field. One of them said, "I'm Captain Harriman of the USS Enterprise. I would like to know who you are, why you fired upon us, and what you intended to do with the Omega which we know you had on board."
T'noq grumbled. "I fired upon you to protect my privacy from your inspection. Who I am and what I intend to do with my property are none of your business."
Curzon spoke. "The Omega is a matter of international security, and your Andorian government suspected that you were attempting to aquire it. That is why your government asked Starfleet to inspect your vessel."
T'noq's voice grew low and serious. "The current Andorian government is a weak and ignoble usurper, inferior to the true government my people once had. I have no respect for the government that wants to censor my actions... actions which will help restore Andoria to greatness."
Harriman smirked. "Well, you leave us with no choice but to turn you over to that usurping Andorian government. Fortunately, we were already heading that direction to drop off Ambassador Curzon. We will also hold onto the Omega for safekeeping."
Suddenly concerned, T'noq felt in his pocket for the device. It was gone.
Harriman chuckled, and held up the device in his own hand. "We beamed the Omega out of your clothing when we transported you onboard."
A few days later, the sky over the Capitol City was cold and cloudy when
Harriman, Curzon, and T'noq beamed to the surface
of Andoria with a security officer. T'noq recognized Andorian weather patterns
quickly, having been raised on that world. A
storm was coming; not a minor storm like an Earth hurricane, but a true
Andorian cyclone, with subfreezing winds blowing
thousands of kilometers per hour.
--Argus Skyhawk
What happens next? You decide. Write a sentence, write a paragraph then send it to me and I will add it to the story.
