Chapter Three
The next morning was rather peaceful, up to a point. Jason finally managed to get some sleep, and even woke up in time to get breakfast, dressed, and show up to the bridge in time. Feeling refreshed, he moved to his chair, and looked around, smiling. "Good morning, everybody. Status report please, Mr Jonas?"
His helmsman nodded, never taking his eyes from his console. "Every department reporting 100% efficiency. Engines are at 97% of capacity, and Doctor Edwards would like to see you at your earliest convenience."
"Did he say why?"
"No, sir, merely that he wanted to talk to you about something." Jason pondered over this. "Did you speak to him face to face, or over the Comms?"
"Face to face, sir."
"Was he smiling?"
"Sir?"
"Or was his left eyelid twitching?"
Jonas turned around in his chair. "…Twitching, sir?"
Jason smiled, himself. "Ensign, I've known our Doctor since we were nine years of age. Over that amount of time, you learn to read someone's tells…when they're lying, when they're out to start trouble, that sort of thing. Doctor Edwards, when he's trying to plot my inevitable doom, as he is often wont to do, will smile and get an uncontrollable tic in his left eyelid."
"I only met the man yesterday, sir. I honestly haven't spent much time looking into his eyes."
Whyrens sighed. "I can't say I recommend it. If the eyes truly are the window of the soul, then Sammy is the most evil man alive. Looking into his eyes is like looking at a shuttle-crash. It's horrific, but you can't look away."
Jonas blinked, then nodded slowly. "I'll try to keep that in mind, sir."
"Good." Jason nodded back. "Has our First Officer reported in for duty today?"
"No, sir, she said she had to run a personal errand."
"A personal errand?"
"Yes, sir."
"How…exactly," Jason said, puzzled. "Can someone run a personal errand on a ship that's
roughly the size of a kumquat?"
"I don't know, Sir, but that's what she said."
Jason thought about it for a moment. "Maybe she wanted to see if she could reach out with her hands and touch both sides of the hull with her fingers?"
A few officers on the bridge chuckled lightly at that one. "Or…possibly she decided to run the entire length of the ship, did it twice, but stopped after 10 seconds because she got bored."
Ensign Jonas smiled broadly at that one. "I believe she's actually in the science lab, sir."
"Science lab? I thought she studied tactics."
"Yes, sir, but she was bet that she couldn't find anything smaller in the universe than this ship, so she's using the most powerful Nanoscope we have to locate something. The molecule she found before was too big, and had to be discounted from the bet."
Everyone on the bridge laughed, and the Captain nodded appreciatively towards Jonas. "That's a good one, Ensign. You should remember that."
As the laughter subsided, the door to the bridge slid open, and Commander Hill entered. "Good morning, Captain."
"Commander." Jason greeted her. "How was the science lab?"
"Sir?" Kat blinked, then looked around as the bridge crew started laughing. She flushed slightly, then tilted her head in the direction of the ready room. "A moment of your time, sir?"
"Of course, Commander." Jason glanced around. "Ensign Corspa, you have the bridge."
Corspa nodded. "Aye, sir."
As Jason and Kat entered the ready room, Jason swore he heard Corspa say "I'm not saying this ship's small, but…" before the door closed.
"What was that?"
Jason blinked. "Pardon?"
Kat gestured towards the door, and, by extension, the bridge. "The laughing. Were you making fun of me?"
"What?" Jason laughed. "No, of course not. I'm not going to undermine your authority. What do you take me for?"
"Oh. I just thought you were trying to get some sort of childish revenge…after last night…"
"There's the 'child' comment again. I'm, what, 10 months younger than you? And after what last night?"
"After…you know."
Jason shook his head, confused. "Nooo. We had a brief talk, you ran like you were on fire, and then I went to bed."
Kat sighed. "Do you really want to force me to say it?
"Say what?"
"After you…made a pass at me."
Kat continued, pacing the ready room. "Don't get me wrong, Jason, I'm flattered, but, we've only just met, and I can't make the sudden leap from total stranger I've argued with to romantic interest. It's just not who I am, and…" She turned to face him, and grew slightly un-nerved by the shocked look on his face. "What?"
"You…think…you think I was trying to get you into bed?"
"Well, not right away. I'd expect a little romance, first. Maybe a nice meal, a moonlit stroll on some quiet planet…but not Risa!" She made a shooing motion with her arms. "I don't jump into a swimsuit for just anyone, buddy." She jabbed him in the ribs with her finger, hard.
"Hey!" Jason said, rubbing the spot where she poked him. "That isn't…I wasn't trying to 'make a pass' at you."
"You weren't?"
"No."
"Then what was last night about?"
Jason sighed, and sat on the edge of his desk. "Okay, look. Last night when I got into my quarters-"
"Red alert! Captain and First Officer to the bridge! All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill."
Jason and Kat looked at each other for a split second, then shot out of the door.
"Report, Ensign."
Corspa moved out of Jasons' chair, and waited until he sat down before starting. "We've received a Distress signal from a ship two light years out. They say they're under attack from Klingon marauders."
"Ensign Jonas, where are we, exactly?"
Jonas consulted his console board for roughly half a second, to confirm what he knew. "We're in the Argelius Sector, approximately four light years from Xleen."
Kat turned to Jason, confused. "That's well within our borders, sir. This could be the start of a push from the Klingons."
"Time to intercept?"
"Three minutes, Captain."
"Commander Hill, send a message to Starfleet Intelligence, requesting any and all data to confirm that Klingons are starting to infiltrate our space. Priority One that, Commander, I don't want to show up with phasers blazing because someone's playing a prank."
"Aye, sir." Kat pulled her Padd from a pocket, and started typing. "Whyrens to Medical bay. Doctor Edwards-"
"Jason, what the hell's going on up there? I can barely hear myself not thinking!"
"Sammy, we're about two and a half minutes from entering combat. Stand by to receive wounded from crew and survivors of a Klingon raid."
"Klingon? Aye, sir." Sammy sounded more professional now, more like the Doctor that Jason knew he was. "Medical bay reports ready. Science systems ready."
Corspa looked up. "Tactical systems ready."
"Engineering, ready." This from the Comm system, the ships engineer that Jason had met only briefly the day before.
"Sir." Kat looked up from her Padd. "Starfleet Intelligence confirms they've received reports that Klingon vessels are starting to enter our space and harassing Federation ships."
"Understood, Commander." Jason spun in his chair to face Corspa. "Ensign Corspa, weapons status."
"Sir, front phaser bank is active and ready. Front torpedo bay is primed and ready. Rear phaser bank, active and ready."
Jason waited expectantly, but Corspa shrugged. "That's our full complement of weapons, sir."
He frowned. "Well, if a little Jewish kid can beat a giant with a rock, I'm sure we can do better with phased energy and antimatter warheads."
Kat glanced at him sideways. "Some rocks."
Jason smiled at her, and was about to make a follow-up comment, when he was cut off. "Captain, we're in visual range."
"On screen, Ensign."
The viewscreen image was one of death, and fire. Four Klingon ships…Jason could pick out two Birds of Prey, one Raptor class Escort, and a Vor'cha Cruiser…engaged in what could generously be labelled as wholesale massacre of a supply ship.
"Status of the distressed vessel?"
"Life support failing on decks four, six, seven, nine, and ten. Engines non-functional. They appear to have hull breaches across the majority of the ship, and they're venting plasma from their nacelles."
Jason absorbed this all. One poorly armed vessel, in theoretically safe space, getting hammered into oblivion by four ships, each one of them capable of destroying it in seconds.
"This is sport."
"Sir?"
"Run the math, Ensign." Jason looked at Jonas. "Each one of those ships is, at bare minimum, capable of unleashing four times the firepower of that vessel. It didn't stand a chance. Any life readings?"
"17, sir, very faint."
Jason thought for a second. "Shields up. And hail the Vor'cha."
"Shields up, sir."
"Captain…"
Jason looked at Kat. "Commander, please hail the Vor'cha."
Kat held back a sigh. "Yes, sir. On-screen."
A Klingon warrior appeared before them, glowering as only a Klingon could. "nuqneH, jaghla' Tera'ngan?"
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." Kat glanced over at her console. "Sir, the Universal Translator is functioning."
Jason nodded. "Of course it is. Klingons speaking ta' Hol in times of war means very few non Klingons can understand them, so their transmissions are harder to decode." He looked around. "Who here actually speaks another language?" At the assembled blank looks he received, he shook his head. "Too dependent on technology to do our thinking for us."
"You waste my time, Human!" The Klingon spat in perfect English. "Are you going to teach, or fight?"
Jason glared back at the Klingon, and stood, moving closer to the screen. "This is Captain Jason Whyrens, of the Federation Starship Fizzgig. You're intruding on Federation space. Turn back now, or I'll be forced to engage."
The Klingon laughed. "You are a puq Tera'ngan, not worthy of my time."
Jason sighed. "Why must everyone around me call me a child?"
"Go back and play with your toys, puq. I will be with you soon enough."
"naDevvo' yIghoS, Hom Quch Hutlhbogh tlhIngan."
The Klingon growled at him, visibly angry. "tlhIngan maH!"
Jason yawned, and pointedly turned his back on the warrior. "bImoH. 'oy' mInDu'wIj"
"NuQ?"
Jason nodded to Kat, who shut off the transmission. Whistling jauntily, he sat back in his
chair. He grinned at Kat. "David and Goliath." Before she could ask what he meant, he had turned to face the tactical console. "Ensign Corspa, when we get to half a lightyear from target, prepare a high yield torpedo burst at the Vor'Cha, to fire when we reach a quarter lightyear, and put all shield power to forward. When we get to within 11 kilometres, increase power to phasers and when we get to ten, maintain a continuous attack on whichever shield side the Torpedoes will hit. Ensign Jonas, drop from warp when we're 11 and a half kilometres out, and close to optimum range for the phasers, using attack pattern Alpha. I want those shields down, or weakened drastically, before the torpedoes hit. We've only got one chance at this."
"Aye, sir."
"Aye."
As the two Ensigns worked together to prepare the tactic, Kat moved closer to Jason, and leant down, so they could talk quietly.
"Sir, what did you say to the Klingon that got him so mad?"
"The first time, or the second?"
Kat frowned. "Let's start with the first."
"Literally translated, 'naDevvo' yIghoS, Hom Quch Hutlhbogh tlhIngan' means 'Go away, you forehead bone-less Klingon.' It has some colloquialisms that were, well, highly insulting to his ancestors, and his manhood."
"…You insulted a Klingons' ancestors."
Jason shrugged. "He called me a puq. A child."
"I got that part."
Jason winked at her. "I really don't like being called a child."
Kat flushed slightly. "And the second time?"
"Ohh, that was an easy one. I told him he was ugly and hurting my eyes."
Kats' own eyes widened. "You insulted a Klingons' ancestors, his manhood, and told him he was ugly enough to hurt your eyes."
"Pretty much, yeah. And I had my back to him when I said it. Klingons believe that if you're not looking in their eyes and facing them when you speak to them is one of the most insulting things you can do."
She couldn't stop her voice from raising. "You're going to get us killed!"
"Not even close." Jason turned back to Corspa. "Ensign, are you ready?"
"I think so sir, but this is going to be risky. We'll be flying in the path of our own Torpedoes, with no rear shields other than navigational shields that wouldn't put up so much as a whimper from a direct Torpedo hit when it's moving at impulse, let alone the speed they're going to be travelling. If we mess up, we won't live long enough to realise it." She pondered. "But, if we pull this off, this'll probably go down in history as the Whyrens Manoeuvre."
Jason ignored the last comment. 'Assuming I'm alive to enjoy the fame.' He glanced at Ensign Jonas, who grew pale after he'd thought that. 'Eyes forward, Mr Jonas.'
"Ensign," he continued. "What's the status of the supply ship?"
"It's…" Corspa looked surprised. "Sir, the Klingons are leaving it alone, and forming up against us."
Kat smiled slightly. "We save the civilians."
"Only if this works." Jason admitted. "If it doesn't, we're all dead. However, we'll die first, and I want to know we did everything we could to save those people." Kat studied him, and Jason thought he saw, for the first time, a measure of respect. "Distance?"
"One third of a lightyear, sir."
"Save the 'sir' stuff when we're in combat, Mr Jonas. It takes too much time."
"Aye, sir. I mean, aye." Jonas watched his board. "Starting in three…two…one…mark."
"Torpedoes away, High Yield spread."
"Dropping from warp, initiating attack pattern Alpha."
"And here we go…" Jason heard Kat mutter.
Phasers, or PHASed Energy Rectification, was precisely what the name implied. Phased energy sapped the Vor'cha Cruisers shields at almost the instant the Fizzgig emerged from warp. The insulted Klingon commander laughed when told this, because yes, the little ship was slowly draining his shields away, but it was one ship, created before his father was even born. His father, the Klingon mentioned loudly, who had very prominent forehead ridges. He was too busy, too fixated on what the puq Tera'ngan had said, however, to monitor his bridge crew. He was Klingon! A proud warrior, and none before him had reached this far into enemy space. Songs would be sung about this day.
"Tell the other ships to depart." He spat out to his communications officer.
"What?"
"Are you questioning my orders?"
"No, sir."
"This ship is no match for us." He rose his voice to be heard by all on his bridge. "tlhIngan maH! We are Klingons! They are shooting at us with one phaser beam. We have 18 disruptor beams! We have our Disruptor Cannon! If they had anything more powerful, they would be using it. We can swat them like Globflies! Send the others away, this kill is mine. The glory is mine."
The communications officer sent the other ships away. 'Good', the commander thought to himself. 'Let them go, to sing the songs about my deeds today. I will play with this puq before I kill him for his dishonourable words. Victory shall be mine!'
"Distance to the Federation vessel?"
"Three and a half Kellicams."
The commander grinned, baring his teeth. "Let them get to one Kellicam. Then blow them out of space."
"Yes Commander."
On board the Fizzgig, Jason watched the tactical display. "When we get to just over two kilometres, peel off and evade."
"Evade what? The other ships have left, and they're not attacking."
"Ensign Jonas, their main weapon is a Disruptor cannon that could disintegrate us at two kilometres, shields or no. The cruiser doesn't need the other ships. When we get to two kilometres…evade."
"The Klingons' shields are at 2%."
"Estimated time to our gatecrashers, Corspa?"
"Five seconds."
"Two kilometres, Sir."
"Evade, shields to maximum rear…get us out of here!"
Corkscrewing away from the Cruiser, the Fizzgig pushed its' engines as hard as it could. The Commander of the cruiser saw it, and opened his mouth to speak.
"What are they-"
He never got the chance to finish his sentence.
Whilst Phasers are good for sapping shields, they have relatively little punch when it comes to the thick hull of a starship. Photon Torpedoes, however, have excellent punch against starship hulls. The damage they can do is roughly on the order of ten times the damage of a phaser, and that's during combat at impulse power. Photon torpedoes, and its' later cousins, were designed for warp combat. So, their casings are, whilst not warp capable by themselves, still capable of travelling at warp speeds. Whilst two relatively weak Photon Torpedoes wouldn't do much against the amazingly thick duranium hull of the Vor'cha, when you consider that warp one is the speed of light, and that space is frictionless, this would mean that the Fizzgig launched two highly explosive missiles, which would still be travelling at the speed of light, directly at an unshielded vessel.
Had they fired a pair of shoes at the ship instead, the result would have been the same.
The torpedoes punched through the hull of the Vor'cha as if it wasn't even there. Calculated down to the last nanosecond, the torpedoes waited until they were in the direct centre of the ship before obediently fulfilling their only purpose. Magnetic containment shields within the casing shut down, and Matter and Antimatter reacted as they only ever can. With a violent explosion.
One hundredth of a second after initial impact, there was nothing of the cruiser left larger than a fingernail.
On the Fizzgig, the bridge crew cheered. Jason smiled to himself, and sat back down in his chair, unaware of having stood up in the first place. He looked over at Katharine, who was looking back with a lot more respect. "Captain, the Klingon ship has been destroyed. Damage report coming in…zero damage across all decks. Sickbay reports no injuries save for nausea that affected a crewman in an area where inertial compensators were working inadequately. You did it…sir." She smiled.
"We did it, Commander. All of us. Well done. Ensign Corspa, Ensign Jonas…I'm putting a note of commendation in your permanent records for the fine work you did. You two saved the people on board that ship, and the lives of every man and woman on the Fizzgig. Get us to within transporter range of that supply ship, and beam the survivors directly to sickbay."
He tapped a button on his chair. "Whyrens to Doctor Edwards. Please stand by to receive wounded from the ship we just saved." He waited for a response. "Doctor Edwards, report."
"That son of a bitch threw up on my shoes!"
The feeling of celebration continued well across the rest of the day. When Jason toured the ship on his way to sickbay, to check in on the survivors of the attack, his crewmen all wanted to shake his hand. They had gone up against a foe with more than six times their firepower, and gotten away clean, without a scratch. They felt immortal, unstoppable, and their new captain was a hero in their eyes.
'They'll stop feeling that when we're in another battle and people do get hurt, or do die. When we have to limp back to a Starbase for emergency repairs, or to bury our dead. When they learn I'm not unstoppable.' He shook himself out of his train of thought. 'But for now, of course, let them enjoy their feelings. I know I will.' He walked a little further, then felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around, expecting another crewman to want to offer his congratulations, and stared right into Katharine's green/brown eyes.
"Captain."
"Commander. What can I do for you?"
"I just wanted to say…I'm sorry. About everything, I mean. That tactic was crazy, and suicidal, and brilliant." She paused for a second. "And…I know I would never have come up with something like that."
Jason frowned. "Yes, you would have. You're a tactical prodigy, aren't you? That's what your file said. You probably thought of it before I did. You don't have to congratulate me for an idea we both had, Commander. If I hadn't have come up with it, you would have."
"No, sir." She shook her head. "That was totally unorthodox. I don't think in such…inventive ways. My brain says 'Go to point A. Then point B. Then point C.' Yours went 'Go to point A. Then point F. Then point D.' And that business with the Klingon…when did you learn to speak it?"
"My father was a trader who did some business with Klingons. One of them decided to teach me the finer points of etiquette, years ago, after I accidentally insulted his mother."
"Could you teach me?"
That stopped Jason in his tracks. "Teach you?"
"Yes, sir. I think that, if we're going to survive this war, we need to understand the enemy completely, and not just their strategies."
"I'll think about it, Commander…but the answer will probably be yes."Kat smiled. "Thank you, sir. Oh, and you wanted to talk to me about a message you got last night?"
Jason shook his head. "Later, Commander. I want to meet with the survivors, to see if they know why Klingons are in this sector of space."
"Of course, sir. I'll leave you to it." Kat nodded at him, and moved to walk away.
"Commander?" Jason called after her.
"Yes, sir?" She turned.
"I'll see you on the bridge, Kat." He smiled at her, enjoying the smile he got in return, and entered Sickbay.
"So, it was a random encounter with the Klingons?"
Jason nodded at Sammy. "That's how it appears. I have no reason to doubt them, they're just traders on a supply run, taking food and medicine to the Tostig system, in case the Gorn advance there like the rumours they've heard are true."
The two men were walking towards the mess hall for an early dinner. Sammy had prescribed Jason an early night, since his first 36 hours on board the Fizzgig weren't as relaxing as a shakedown cruise was supposed to be. They had decided on joining the crew, rather than dining in one of their quarters, to show that the senior staff wasn't too good to eat with the rank and file. 'Actually, it had been Sammy's idea, and he was pretty insistent about it.' Jason pondered to himself, but put it out of mind.
"So, was the battle today worthy of recreating for a dinner scenario when we get a ship with a Holodeck?"
"No, it was pretty one sided. David beat Goliath, and with roughly the same tools."
"But instead of throwing a rock, you threw a bomb at the speed of light."
"Pretty much, yeah."
"I'll wait for the holo-adventure to come out, then, don't spoil any of the big scenes." Sammy chuckled. "Is it true you were bad-mouthing a Klingon?"
"I thought you didn't want any of the big scenes spoiled."
"That's no fair."
They paused outside the messhall. "Seriously, though, man, you did a good thing today." Sammy looked sincere, which was in and of itself a cause for Jason to get worried.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing!"
Jason looked closer at his friend. "Sammy, your left eyelid's twitching."
"Is it? Don't be stupid, Jay." He pressed the door-button for the mess, and strode inside two steps, before turning back to Jason. "Dammit, why're the lights out?"
"Not in here, too?" Jason sighed. "The voice recognition in my quarters doesn't recognise the light command, and now these ones just don't work? Hang on…" He reached for the manual control, and brought the lights up…to see his senior staff all wearing silver and gold conical hats on their head.
"Surprise!"
Kat beamed at them, holding a hat in each hand. "We convinced the Doctor to bring you along, so we could have a proper welcoming party for you." She handed Sammy a silver hat, and, before Jason could protest, put the gold one on his head. "A time honoured Fizzgig tradition."
Jason blinked. "How many times have you done this?"
Kat blushed. "Okay, this is the first time,but I've only been here a few weeks, myself. We should make it a time honoured Fizzgig tradition."
"Definitely, Commander." Jason nodded. "Make it so."
The party continued for several hours, until it came down to just four people. Sammy and Corspa were sat in a corner of the mess, resting on a table and leaning in close to each other, talking quietly and whispering things in each others ears. Jason watched them contentedly, whilst Kat maintained a close, yet respectable distance.
"Jason?"
"Yeah?" He said, snapped back to reality after wondering idly what any off-spring Sammy and Corspa would look like.
"You said you'd talk to me later about a message?"
"Oh, yes. Well, I wouldn't want to kill the party mood."
She smiled at him. "There's not much of a party anymore."
"True. Well…" And he explained the message, and how it arrived, to her. When he'd done, she frowned. "Who sent the message?"
"I don't know, the information about the sending terminal scrolled past so quickly, I couldn't read it."
"Okay, but you scrolled up, right?"
"Huh?"
"If you scroll up, you can read the information."
"…Really?"
"Yes." Kat smiled patiently. "But remember, if you can't trust me, and I knew you couldn't trust me, I wouldn't have told you that. And, if I was the one who sent that message, I wouldn't have told you that, because if I wanted to be anonymous about it, I would have sent it from a public terminal, and wouldn't care if you saw the terminal data or not."
Jason grinned. "No wonder you outrank me. You're smart!"
Kat blushed. "I try. Should we go check it out?"
He shrugged. "Sure." He turned to where Sammy and Corspa were sitting. "Hey, kids, Mum and Dad have to go out for a while. You two behave, and no wild parties."
Sammy didn't even bother to turn around. "Yes, Mum. You and Dad have a good time."
As they were leaving, Kat turned to Jason. "Was he calling me…mannish?"
"No, he said I was a girl."
"Ah."
They reached his Quarters in short order. "I'm not sure how I feel about having quarters so close to the messhall."
"Well," Kat said sagely, "I've heard it said that this ship is so small…"
Jason groaned. "Not you, now, too." As Kat laughed, Jason thumbed the Open command. As soon as his thumb made contact with the panel, his fingerprint was recognised by the computer, and scanned against the records of people who were allowed unrestricted access to the Captains' quarters. When it recognised the thumbprint as belonging to Whyrens, Captain J, it activated a fairly new subroutine, that reversed the flow of electricity away from the servos that opened the door, back through into the panel, and into Jason.
He wasn't aware of being thrown back against the opposite bulkhead. He was unconscious by the time his body crumpled up and smacked against the floor. The last thing he heard was just a loud, impossibly deafening bang.
