Star Trek

Klingon Hamlet

They came from nowhere and unleashed hell: five cruisers, long and sleek, built for war. They opened fire on the civilian spaceport. She cracked open like an egg, spilling her inhabitants. They screamed and choked and died in silence. The ships detected escape pods, picked them off one by one. One escaped their sensors, whisked its way through a nearby nebula, and got caught up in a sun’s gravity well. Its sole inhabitant sent a distress signal, wept and roared, slept, and in her sleep, she died, as the pod sunk into the heart of the sun.

Her cries reached out through the ebb and flow of subspace: a message in a bottle buffered by cosmic waves. It bounced off old satellites, wound up in the ear of a frowning half-human named Spock.

“We were attacked,” cried the dead woman, “and they killed...all of us. Couldn’t ID...” Static intruded, the effects of long-distance signals. She said another word, an alien word, and then her voice died off. Spock replayed it, then left his science station and stood staring out his starship’s viewport.

“Captain to the bridge.”

He watched Earth roll in blissful silence while his captain and friend stepped onto the bridge. “Problem, Spock?”

Nod. “I picked up a distress call.”

From the communications centre, halfway across the wide bridge, the comms officer Uhura shared his frown. “I’m not detecting any-“

“The signal is analogue,” Spock added, which only vexed Uhura more.

“Radio signals in space, Spock?” Kirk smiled warmly. “I told you we’re in Spacedock for five days, take some leave...” He walked over to Uhura. “Analogue signals, Nyota?”

She drummed her board, tweaked the booster, then grimaced and nodded. “Yes, Captain, picking it up now. I’m sorry, I-“

Kirk shook his head while Spock said, “It was pure chance that I found it, Lt Uhura. Radio signals are centuries old. I could not get the full message, but I know that you are more than capable.”

Uhura nodded her thanks. “Straightaway.” Their eyes locked, lingered, then she went back to business, while Spock returned his gaze to Earth.

Kirk hovered, stepped up close. “For a Vulcan,” he said gently, “you look pretty bothered.”

“The woman on the message said something.” He turned to his captain, and his eyes burned. “‘Rihannsu’.”

Uhura’s bright eyes flashed up at them.

Rihannsu. Kirk grunted, “Romulans.”

***

Scotty took a sip of whiskey, put his feet up on the bar and grinned. Five days shore leave. Three, really. The last two would be spent priming the Old Girl up for another five-year stint.

Sure I might as well enjoy the calm before the storm.

The barkeep leaned on the counter, said, “What has you in such a humour?” His smile matched the Scotsman’s; they were friends for too long, saw each other not enough.

“I love my job, Joey,” he said, “I love my ship, and my crew...but sometimes, you need a little distance to make the heart grow fonder.”

Joe nodded. “Wish I could say the same. Stuck here, no choice. Gotta feed the kids y’know?”

“All for a good cause,” he said, raising a glass. “To family.”

Joe grabbed a high-baller, poured a drop in, raised it to the roof. “To family and friends.”

Both knocked their drinks back—Scotty’s considerably larger---slammed the glasses to the bar, and grimaced.

Joe coughed and spluttered, somewhere inbetween he got the word “Liver” out, walked away to rub his eyes.

Scotty’s hip buzzed; he snatched up his communicator, flipped the lid, coughed, “Scotty here, go ahead.”

It was Kirk: “Mr Scott, gonna have to finish shore leave a little early.”

“Aye, Captain. Be right with ya.”

“Thank you, Scotty. Kirk out.”

“Kirk cracking the whip again?” Joe smiled, his cheeks still red from the whiskey burning inside him.

“Och, he’s a good man, our captain. Must have a decent reason to spoil my fun!” He leapt to his feet, surprisingly sprightly considering his girth, and threw on his overcoat.

Joe offered, “One for the road?”

“No roads where I’m off to, Joey. See you in five years.”

Joe saluted, and watched Scotty disappear in a transport beam. “Godspeed buddy.”

***


The young ensign strummed his board, checked all systems, then turned and said to his captain, “All departments check out, Captain. We’re ready to depart.”

Kirk slid into his chair. “Very good, Chekov. Sulu, departure protocols.”

Sulu, seated beside Chekov to the front of the bridge, nodded. “All systems are go. Cutting all moorings. Warp engines primed.”

On the front viewport, Spacedock gleamed—a gigantic ring of enclosures, into which Starfleet’s greatest ships harboured. Spacedock fell away, as did the blue Earth, and then all that remained was black space, white stars, and that repeating voice of the dead woman.

“All stations, this is the captain. I’m sorry your leave was cut short. You’re the best crew in the Fleet, and our mission is urgent. Our destination is Alpha Kitana system. A lot of good people died out there, and we’re going to get some answers.”

Rihannsu.

“Remember your training, trust your shipmates, and we’ll be home before you know it.”

Romulan ships, cloaking devices, the unknown...they didn’t scare Kirk, but he worried how many of his men were going to die. He always did. For good reason.

“ETA two hours, crewmen. Be ready. Kirk out.”

Sulu and Chekov looked to him. Spock gave a quiet nod. Uhura scanned the boards, always focused.

Kirk said, “Best speed to Kitana.”

The stars became swirling columns of fire, as Enterprise rushed off towards her fate.

EileenG

I enjoyed it, but I'd take it down if I were you. Paramount have copywrited everything to do with Star Trek and are zealous about chasing people who publish anything to do with ST without permission.

If you want to write classic Trek, then see if you can do it as an official Trek novel, otherwise keep it on paper and in private.

Antilles

Are you sure about that, Eileen? There are lots of fan made Star Trek productions which Paramount seem to have no problem with, e.g. Phase II. I thought the only issue was if people try to profit from it.

claire h

Yup, that does strike me as a tad ill-informed. Some owners of copyrighted materials are quite deranged about fan works (e.g. Anne Rice), but you only need to take a glance at the tremendous amount of Star Trek fanfiction and other fan works online to know that Paramount are slightly less bothered by it. As Antilles rightly says, the main problem for most copyright owners is if people are trying to profit from fan works, which is actually quite rare - most writers of fanfiction are aware of this, and will include disclaimers in their work.

OP - http://www.fanfiction.net/ or http://archiveofourown.org/ might be a better place to post fanfiction than boards.