Star Trek Bonaparte

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Episode Two

Nightmares in a Cloud

Chapter One

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the star ship, Bonaparte. It's ongoing mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before.

Captain's Log, star date 54231.1. Our journey in this new galaxy has begun, our mission to transport supplies to the Carlina System went without incident and we were paid well in the local currency of Imperial Credits. Since then we have been travelling from system to system for more possible work while Commander Sunik and his scientists work on ways to get us home. However, without Doctor Shemmer this task is extremely difficult.

'So there is no transport work that the local governor has for us?' Lewis asked Woods and Sunik, the three of them sitting in his living room, Harry the Collie on the floor in front of Lewis's armchair.

'It is regrettable sir,' Sunik responded. 'Governor Morlo claimed that our ship is too heavily armed for a cargo ship and it will attract too much attention. His response had some logic to it.'

'That and the local cargo runners have an unofficial monopoly,' Woods stated and then drank some tea. 'Sir, I was talking to Megan earlier and she says that if the crew isn't given a mission soon, morale is going to hit the bottom faster than the Titanic.'

'Titanic?' Sunik asked her.

'Look it up. There's a moral to the story.'

'I am sure there is.'

'Anyway,' said Lewis, 'I think that our Counsellor is right. We need something to do.'

'I believe I may have a solution,' said Sunik.

'A five hour Vulcan poetry jam?' Woods asked with a smirk.

'No. Before I came to this meeting I noticed that there was an uninhabited system close by with several gas giants. They may contain valuable materials which we can use for trade and repairs to the ship. If we organise a survey and mining mission it would give the crew something to do other than basic maintenance.'

'How long will it take to get there?'

'Four hours at Warp Eight.'

'We'll set a course then. If that's all, I'll take little Harry here for a walk on the holodeck.'

At the "W" word Harry sat up and looked at Lewis with excited eyes.

'Anywhere nice?' Woods asked him.

'Penshaw Hill,' he answered and at her clear expression of not knowing the meaning he explained. 'It's a place in the north of England, my mum took me there when I was a kid.'

'I hope you enjoy it.'

'I'm sure we will,' he responded.

…

About half an hour later Lewis, wearing a thick tweed coat, flat cap and walking boots, hiked up a hill on the holodeck, Harry just in front of him on a leash. He had this programme made specifically for taking Harry on walks and he had specified that it was to be fairly cold with strong wind. For Harry though it didn't matter, he loved the feeling of the grass, the wind and the air. It was fake but not to Harry. Lewis looked up to the top of the hill at the large Roman temple on top of the hill. It wasn't really Roman, if he remembered right it had been built in the Victorian era, but he still thought it looked nice.

'Alright Harry,' Lewis said to his dog as he took him off the leash and removed the holographic tennis ball from his pocket. 'Fetch.'

He threw the ball as hard as he could and he watched as Harry raced after it, kicking up tufts of grass as he went. That was when he heard someone approach him from behind so he turned to see Armando Kruge of all people approaching him.

'Sorry about the weather,' he said loudly over the wind.

'Your ship's full of surprises.'

Harry then returned to Lewis, the bright green ball in his jaws and then he dropped it in front of Lewis.

'Good boy,' Lewis said and stroked him before picking up the ball and throwing it again. 'How can I help you Mister Kruge?'

'I understand that we'll be performing a mission to locate resources. I want to volunteer for it.'

'Why?'

'My ship's sensors may be better for scanning in this galaxy, they're more familiar with local minerals.'

'I see what you mean. Alright Mister Kruge, you can join the mission.'

'Thank you.'

He then turned to leave, heading towards the holodeck doors nearby, Lewis watching him and considering if he did the right thing in agreeing to let Kruge onto his ship. He had no idea of the mans past, only that he was looking for someone, and that, if crossed, he was a dangerous enemy

…

Commander Woods walked through Hanger One, a large chamber which took up two decks, each one housing banks of Type 12 shuttles. There was also Kruge's slightly haphazard looking ship which he was in the cockpit of, looking over the controls while his droid carried out basic maintenance. Dozens of crew members moved around the shuttles, checking on the shuttles before they would head out.

'Alright,' she said loudly and a crowd soon gathered around her while she looked at her data pad. 'Shuttles, One, Two, and Three will head out as well as Kruge's ship. Shuttle One's crew is me and Ensign Purs, Two, Lieutenant Clarke and Ensign Morris, Three, Lieutenant Marseille and Ensign Rodney. The gas giant we will be surveying is producing a great deal of interference so our sensors can't get a solid lock on anything but there appear to be traces of potentially useful gasses. Today we will be locating them and tomorrow we will attempt to harvest any. To your shuttles. Good luck ladies and gents.'

At that the assigned crews rushed to their shuttles, the sleek looking vessels soon occupied by their crews, making Kruge's look very out of place. Woods took her place in Shuttle One, the right hand seat, while Ensign Purs, a Trill officer, took his place next to her.

'All systems online,' he said to her. 'These shuttles are damn effective.'

'Yeah I know,' she responded as she set the controls ready and tapped her comm badge. 'Captain, this is Woods. Request permission to head out.'

'Granted,' Lewis responded.

'Thank you, sir,' she then switched to all of the other shuttles. 'Head out as soon as the doors open.'

As she said it the hanger opened and she piloted her shuttle out, followed by the others and then Kruge's vessel last. Piloting a shuttle was something she enjoyed doing although her favourite job was taking command of the Chiton. When they made it back to the Federation she hoped that she would get a go at the bug seat properly. If she had to choose she hoped she would get permanent command of perhaps a Galaxy Class. They were getting on a bit but with the recent refits they were still powerful ships. A Sovereign would be a good command but for a first time captain that would be unlikely. That said she had heard that Starfleet was preparing a new design of smaller warship to fully take the place of the Miranda Class.

'How's morale from your perspective?' she asked Purs.

'It's not bad,' she responded. 'Could be a lot better though.'

'Being trapped in another galaxy isn't good for keeping up the good mood,' she dryly responded. 'For an Ensign you're quite straight forward.'

'One of my previous hosts was a Captain,' he responded.

'I didn't know we had any joined Trill on board.'

'You didn't?'

'No I didn't. So, what body are you on now?'

'This is my fifth host. My first one became a Captain, the second was a relief worker, third was a lawyer, number four was a historian and now I've decided to go back to the fleet.'

'And it got you stuck in in another galaxy.'

'I'm not disappointed,' was his response and when he saw Woods's curious look he explained. 'If what happened to Voyagers crew when they got back this trip means instant promotion.'

'There's one way of looking at it,' Woods chuckled. 'Captain Jessica Woods has a ring to it.'

'I suppose it does. Besides, the point of becoming a host is to experience new things. We're coming up on the gas giant now.'

She looked up through the front window and saw the large red and purple sphere ahead, she switched on her sensors and began scanning as they entered the clouds.

'So far we are picking up some traces of highly charged plasma, could be dangerous if we let our shields down.'

'We'd best keep them up then. Commander, I can see there are solid objects in here as well. Wow, some of them are solid blocks of dilithium.'

'Excellent. I'm picking up something else, it's solid but not dilithium.'

'You're right. It looks like it's made from a mixture of granite, steel alloys and marble. It's structure contains perfect angles.'

'In other words it's not natural.'

'Basically yes.'

'I see,' she then flicked a switch to open the comm unit. 'Mister Kruge can you hear me?'

The screen just off to the side switched to life and there she saw Kruge, sitting in his cramped cockpit.

'What's going on?'

'We're picking up some sort of artificial structure in here. I'm sending you the coordinates now. If you recognise it can you let us know?'

'Of course,' he responded, and the screen turned off.

Woods set the shuttle towards the structure, finally they entered visual range.

'Odd,' Woods said when she saw it through the clouds.

The structure was massive, made up of two extremely tall and narrow pyramid like structures and some sort of complex between them, linking them together. It was all on a plain which looked like it had been scooped off the surface of a planet.

'Do you think it was taken off a planet and taken here?' asked Purs.

'I'm not sure,' she answered. 'According to our sensors the structure is air tight. It was built to be in here.'

'So they built it on a planet and towed it here?' asked Purs. 'Why not just build a space station?'

The screen activated again and it was Kruge,

'Commander I can see it and it's not new. It's a style of building that was command around five thousand years ago, maybe even before.'

'Damn, that's a long time ago.'

'I know. There's some sort of landing platform, I'll try to land.'

'No,' Woods ordered him. 'It might not be safe, we'll perform further scans and then head back to the Bonaparte when we've finished our mission.'

'Very well.'

…

'So we have a mystery in the gas giant?' Lewis asked Woods and Kruge, both of them sitting opposite him in his ready room.

'Apparently so sir,' Woods told him.

'Our scans suggest that there is a stable oxygen field inside the structure and there is an airlock connected to the landing platform.'

'Are you planning on an expedition?' he asked her with a grin.

'That's what we want,' Kruge told him. 'I am an archaeologist.'

'Really?' he asked, now he was surprised.

'I know but it's true.'

'How did you go from archaeologist to gunman?' Woods asked him.

'It's a private matter.'

'Very well,' Lewis ended it. 'You have permission to lead an away mission to this, structure. Good luck.'

'How many members?'

'As many as you need. Good luck.'