Christmas wishes

That's right, the crew of the USS Gibraltar has a message for you. Of course, being all Klingon still after last monday's RP, we did this Klingon style!

Enjoy the holiday season folks, and we hope to see you again in 2012, when the Gibraltar will continue to go where no-one has gone before!

Episode 47: "The Klingon Way"

Pointy teeth, ridges on his forehead and an armour which felt as if he was trapped inside a metal crate. No, Captain McMillan couldn't say he was feeling at ease, looking like a Klingon. Doctor Talax had done an excellent job though, surgically altering him and most of the rest of the senior crew to look like Klingons. Of course, the true test of Talax's handiwork would be later on, when the crew would actually walk amongst real Klingons.

Lieutenant Desade and Ensign Debbydo had been kidnapped by Klingons. A quick check with the Klingon High Council told McMillan that they weren't responsible: it had to be a Klingon House that opposed the High Council. Rebels, so to speak. And they could be anyone. And anywhere.

Luckily, the Gibraltar crew found the warptrail of the ship that took their officers. They followed that ship – a Klingon Bird of Prey – to a planet nearby. McMillan had ordered the ship to use the planet as a shield to make sure their approach wouldn't be detected. So far, it didn't seem that the Klingons down on the planet knew they were there. However, they also couldn't just beam the missing officers out: there was too much interference.

So, it was decided to send out a team to recover the kidnapped officers. And that team would be surgically altered to look like Klingons. It'd be a mission where they'd get in, not attract any attention, get Desade and Debbydo, and get out. Hopefully it would be that simple.

As McMillan and his 'Klingon' crew stood on the deck of the Bird of Prey, he actually started to believe it *would* be that simple. There were no Klingons in sight. . . in fact, there was nobody. The ship seemed to be empty.

"Alright folks," McMillan stated as he moved onwards, "Remember who we're supposed to be. Let's get our 'prisoner' incarcerated, shall we?" 

The 'prisoner' was of course Ensign Johnson. The plan was to beam on board the ship with a prisoner, hand her over to whomever was in charge, so that Johnson could explain the plan to Debbydo and Desade. Then they had to wait until they were rescued: probably the most difficult thing Johnson had ever done. She was an action girl, after all.

After roaming the empty decks of this Bird of Prey for a while, the 'Klingons' and their 'prisoner' arrived at what seemed to be an Engineering room. There was one Klingon here. Now, McMillan realised, the game began.

"Q'apla!" McMillan shouted out, walking towards this mean looking Klingon. But then again, they were all mean looking. "Are you in charge of this ship?"

"I am now." The Klingon responded. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

"I am Ro'Bob, of the Klingon ship Gib'tar." McMillan said with a grin on his face. "While we were on our home base, we found this prisoner." He pushed Johnson forward for effect. The look she gave him was a foul one, and for a moment McMillan wondered if she was even acting. "We heard you had experience with these Federation people?"

The Klingon's lips parted in a grin as well. "Indeed we do. We can put her with the others." He moved to escort Johnson to the brig, but he 'prisoner' wasn't going to allow someone else to touch her.

"Don't you dare touch me, Klingon." Johnson said with anger. "If you do, it will be the *last* thing you'll ever do."

"Silence, Trill scum." Commander Westland seemed to be enjoying her role a bit too much.

The doors opened, only to reveal Lieutenant Desade and Ensign Debbydo behind a red shimmering forcefield. The Klingon, apparently named 'Kor', turned the forcefield off, at which point Commander Braveheart led Johnson in. After the usual threats were exchanged, the shield was put back on, and the 'Klingons' went back into the main room.

At that point, Desade turned to Johnson. "Pretty smart Ensign... coming here without any backup?"

Johnson smiled. "No backup eh? Let me tell you something. Did you see the Klingons I came in with?"

…

In the main room, Kor quickly checked the settings, at which point Commander Braveheart turned to his Captain. "Sir. . . Ro'Bob of the Gib'tar?" he asked with a smile.

McMillan grinned too. "I never said I was original. . ."

Kor quickly returned, at which point McMillan started talking to him again. "So Kor, are you here alone on this ship?"

The only *real* Klingon on the ship began to laugh. "Oh, I won't be alone for long. My crew is out on an honourable mission. Once they come back. . ." He glanced at the others, changing the subject. "What do you think of the Federation?"

The way Kor spat out that last word, told the Gibraltar crew enough. "Kahless would be ashamed if he saw we had allied ourselves with those. . . P'takh." Westland bellowed.

"They are *not* honourable." Reimiyaki chimed in.

"One wonders how they win so many battles." McMillan added. "During the Dominion War they did pretty well, even though they fight without honour."

"Luck." Braveheart answered. "Sheer luck."

"Klingons do not *believe* in luck." McMillan said loudly, grinning. "It's their tactics. Scanning first, asking questions later. That is no way to wage war."

"Exactly!" Their little performance seemed to have convinced Kor. "Our people have lost their ways by allying themselves with the Federation. So it is up to us to make sure our people see how weak the Federation really is. To that end, I have sent my men off to gather intelligence. Federation ship deployment, their number of troops... the information we need to strike, and strike hard."

It was hard for the Gibraltar crewmembers not to look shocked, but somehow, they managed. "Sounds like an honourable mission." Westland spoke up. "We would like to join you."

"To what house should we pledge our loyalty?" Braveheart asked. An excellent question indeed: that way they knew exactly who their adversaries were. The Klingon High Council would also be pleased with this information.

"Why, the House of Kor of course!" Kor said as if it was obvious. "And the mission has only just started. The things we have planned. . . it will be glorious!"

"Good." McMillan said, his grin disappearing from his face. "You can tell it all to Starfleet Security. Commander Braveheart, Commander Westland. . . hold him. Lieutenant Weatherwax, free our crew please."

Kor was genuinely surprised when the two 'Klingons' grabbed him. "What in the name of Kahless is going on?"

"I'm afraid I haven't been entirely honest to you, Kor." McMillan said, standing in front of the man. "My name is Captain RoBobby McMillan of the USS Gibraltar. We came here to rescue our crew." He nodded to the trio of Starfleet Officers who now walked out of the Brig. "And we stumbled upon a plan to attack the Federation. Thank you for that."

Kor spat at the Captain. "This changes nothing." he said defiantly. "The Klingon Empire *will* be restored to its former glory!"

As Kor was held tight by both Commanders, Ensign Johnson moved closer, jabbing McMillan in the side. "*Never* push me again, Sir."

"Noted." McMillan said with a smile. "Now, how about we go back to the Gibraltar? I for one could do without the teeth."

"As soon as I've downloaded their database in my matrix Sir." Lt. Weatherwax, the hologram, stated. It would be best to learn all these Klingons knew about whatever plan there was to attack the Federation. . . since McMillan had a feeling Kor would not be particularly helpful. . .

With all the necessary information downloaded, the crew beamed back. They had succeeded in their mission and had uncovered a plot against the Federation. Today, McMillan reflected, was indeed a good day. . . to live.

Episode 46: "Missing"

Odd was one word to describe it. Strange, was another. McMillan glanced at the empty seat at the Helm, now taken by Mr. Actor, and the chair at the tactical station. Lieutenant Desade and Ensign Debbydo had not reported in for duty this morning. That was *not* like them. They were usually well on time. Sure, they had reported going down to the surface of this planet to visit an Irish Pub that had just opened, and the Captain knew full well what alcohol did to one's sleeping pattern, but even then they would have responded to the Bridge crew trying to contact them. They hadn't.

"Try again." McMillan said to his XO, feeling more and more ill at ease with this whole situation.

Braveheart nodded and tapped his commbadge once again. "This is the Bridge to Lieutenant Desade and Ensign Debbydo. Come in please."

No response. Again.

This just wasn't like them. "Ensign Johnson, run a scan of the planet surface." McMillan ordered. "See if they're down there."

"Aye Sir." came the response, before Johnson turned to the Gibraltar's resident hologram. "Rich, can you give me more power?"

Richardjrn Weatherwax grinned. "I'll transfer auxiliary power to the sensors, that should help."

"Thanks Feathers," Johnson responded, before going back to work. Something was going on between the two of them, that much was obvious. Now Captain McMillan wasn't all that strict about banning relationships between crewmembers, as long as they just did their jobs. Fortunately, Weatherwax and Johnson didn't seem to have any problem keeping their minds of the job.

"No sign of them Sir," Johnson said after a while. "I did find the shuttle they went down in: it's standing next to the Irish Pub."

"Alright then." Something had happened to both officers, and McMillan needed to find out what. "It's time we paid a visit to that pub."

 

It didn't take long for the Gibraltar's away team to be standing inside the pub, armed to the teeth. A while back, McMillan would have found it unnecessary to come in this hot. Nevertheless, the last few missions they'd been on had required them to be armed. He wouldn't get caught off-guard again. Not anymore. If the price of vigilance was a few armed people, then so be it.

 

However, today he could have just left the weapons at home. There was nobody here at this Pub. No sign that Desade and Debbydo had been here. Nothing. Not even a...

"Sir!" came the call from Lieutenant Weatherwax. "Over here, you'd better see this."

 

"What is it Lieutenant?" McMillan queried as he followed the hologram behind the bar. And there he saw it. It was a Klingon Bat'leth: a Klingon's weapon of choice. Sharp, strong, deadly. It definitely *wasn't* McMillan's preferred weapon. Too bloody.

Speaking of blood. . . "Oh no." Braveheart stated as he scanned the weapon. "No, no no!" Something had really spooked him. "Sir, there's blood on the weapon. It's. . . It's Lieutenant Desade's!"

Chief Medical Officer Talax was brought in, and he confirmed Braveheart's findings. This, McMillan knew, wasn't good. Klingons, attacking Desade? Had Ensign Debbydo been there too?

Speculations ensued, but McMillan's mind wasn't really in it. At least one of his officers had been attacked by Klingons. . . perhaps taken away too. But why? What would the Klingons have to gain from attacking Starfleet Officers?

This, he vowed to himself, he'd find out. When they'd get back up to the Gibraltar, he'd have a talk with the planet's government. If there *had* been a Klingon ship here, at least they would know about it. And then the Gibraltar would pursue. Because one way or another, he'd get his officers back.

Episode 45: "Clones? Not again!"

"Ship's Log supplemental, what a couple of week's it's been. a couple of weeks without the Captain and Starfleet Command have reported a ship of Gibraltar's Specs which has recently been destroyed. We've been ordered to investigate. Who knows what we'll find. End log entry."

Braveheart advised Debby that he wanted an immediate Yellow Alert once the ship had reached the debris field, as he didn't want to be caught short by the Borg or anyone.
    When the ship arrived Sophie scanned the field and discovered that the debris is spread out over a few thousand kilometers so scans of the area would take longer than expected.
    Once Sophie had scanned 30% of the field, she confirmed it matched over 400 vessels in the Starfleet database, and was later confirmed as having an 84% match to standard Intrepid Class designs in Starfleet.
    Sophie recommended beaming a fragment of the hull to Cargobay 2, to run a sub-molecular scan. However when Richardjrn had managed to beam the piece aboard he advised it was off on the transport spot by 0.1m, advising the targetting scanners were off.
    After the error was corrected, Braveheart sent Debby to Cargobay 2 with Sophie to ensure safety to the ship whilst Sophie performed the scans.
    Whilst the Ensigns were gone, Braveheart had a communique sent to Starfleet Command advising of the current situation.

    When Sophie and Debby returned to the bridge, they brought with them some startling news. According to all of the scans they ran. The ship debris we were investigating was a 100% match... to USS Gibraltar! Sophie went on to add to her report that there was residue of a Tricobalt device on the fragment. The ship was destroyed!
    As the situation had got worse. Braveheart asked for Richard to open a secure channel to Admiral Janeway and patch it through to the Conference Room.

    Upon his return to the bridge. Braveheart and Sophie had a theorising 'cross-examination' moment until Braveheart quoted something he learnt at the Starfleet Science "the more you have to think as a scientist, the easier the answers get...the only question that remains is...why?" After which he then put a 'hypothesis' to the bridge crew "Suppose the ship was filled with clones?" To which Richardjrn replied by asking "When were we all cloned?" The Big Question!
    Chronic then put another hypothesis to the bridge. "Suppose that ship out there was from another dimension?" At which point Braveheart asked Sophie to confirm if scans revealed any indications of parallel worlds. She advised it was of this universe, and built 6 months ago.

    Further scans went on to reveal that the warp core had a mixture of matter/antimatter AND a tricobalt device. However the tricobalt device was impure in strength, hence why there was debris in the first place.

    Braveheart asked if there was any confirmation as to where the ship was made, but there was nothing as yet.

    Sophie and Richard started to work through the possibility of trying to find an emergency transponder, however the location of this was limited to senior engineers and command officers due to sensitivity.
    When Braveheart tried to find it, Sophie was unprepared to allow Braveheart to conduct the scans for it himself as she was sure he was going to get the ship into danger, and even told Braveheart that if during his scans he puts the ship in danger, she will come down hard, advising him to transfer the co-ordinates to the helm before she does it. However Braveheart advised that he was transferring the co-ordinates to Ops as he wanted further scans being conducted.

    Whilst all this was going on, Sophie and Richard were privately conversing without Braveheart's knowledge. At which point, Braveheart turned to Richard advising that if there is a transponder found...to have it beamed aboard to the Science Lab behind a forcefield whilst asking Debby to continue on Tactical scans.
    Richard goes on to tell Braveheart that if they can calculate the axis of the explosion, they can then calculate the corresponding force and radius... THEN calculate the transponder location, which he's actually already done, and transfers the co-ordinates to the helm.
    Braveheart asks for a course to be set at full impulse.
   
    Once they found the transponder, Braveheart ordered it beamed aboard and had Sophie follow him to the Lab so that she could see he was only interested in the security of the Federation. Not liking what he found. He returned to the bridge with Sophie in hot pursuit. Instructing Sophie to run a full scan for any functioning sources in the debris, finding beta-emissions and a possible Z-Neutrino core. Technology used by both The Cardassians and...according to information gathered by USS Voyager... The Hirogen. Which in turn...could mean...The Borg!

    Braveheart asked Sophie the best way to completely destroy this debris. Sophie advised of 1 photon torpedo with a boost of reserve power to the torpedo tube. Braveheart asked if 3 torpedoes without the boost would do it. Sophie thought it might if detonated at the right place. Braveheart ordered 4 torpedoes to be armed at Sophie's best guess. Whilst having the ship prepared for maximum warp so that as soon as the 4th torpedo detonated, they would be able to go.

    Sophie went on to advise that the torpedo explosion has created a level 2 shockwave. Braveheart advised he would personally inform Starfleet and take any blame.