7: Shift Change


Romulus System

USS Vanguard

Bridge:

...

"Commander, we have something entering the system."

MacLeod turned and looked at the Ensign currently manning tactical. "What 'thing'?"

The ensign shook her head, "I don't know. It seems to have some kind of basic cloak. It's small, one or two people at best, so that, it's technology and the distance make it hard to detect, though it is moving closer and is still well outside the scanner range of the Magellan."

MacLeod activated the display on his chair and examined the small craft. It looked too small to be a major concern, but the fact it was trying to hide from sight automatically made it a threat. "Keep an eye on it."

"Aye sir."

He turned back to look at the Magellan. It had launched several fighters and shuttles to scout the system, though what it was scouting for eluded him. Drake had suggested it was looking for the strange substance that was used in the 'jump-gate', but several such legs were seemingly carried by the Magellan. The young scientist had theorized that the ship would build and activate a new 'jump-gate' in any system unclaimed that showed potential for mining or colonization.

MacLeod had suggested to Willard that they lay claim to the Romulus System as it had almost every resource they needed, and seemed to be unused by the races of this galaxy. Willard had smiled and just told his young XO that it was his decision to make, and Willard would only provide advice from now on.

Willard had taken the news of his limited time left well and was grateful for the chance to put as much as he could of his affairs in order, and prepare as much as he could for helping MacLeod to lead the Vanguard and her remaining crew, especially if they ended up stuck in this universe for any great length of time.

"Any reply back from the Magellan?"

"No sir. Guess they're having problems with Bolian." MacLeod couldn't see the Ensign's face, but he knew she was smiling. Bolian was a grammatical nightmare with nine basic tenses.

"Give them another hour or two then send a short message in Standard saying we have broken their language ciphers."

"Aye sir."

MacLeod turned as the turbo-lift opened and gamma shift came onto the bridge, led by Sub-Commander D'Mora.

"I am here to relive you." She saluted as though still on a Romulan cruiser.

MacLeod stood and returned the salute, much to his amusement, and the bridge officer's shared confusion. "I stand relieved." D'Mora smiled, thankful he was trying to help her adjust to 'Starfleet' approaches by allowing her to keep some of her Romulan rules.

MacLeod walked over to the turbo-lift with the ensigns from the helm and tactical.

"Why did you do that sir?"

"A long story Sasha. I'll tell you over a drink in the cafeteria."

"Ayr sir." MacLeod turned to face Ensign Sasha Fourier, the new deputy security chief when he noticed D'Mora walk over to the Helm.

"Ensign Ku, could I talk to you in private."

MacLeod never heard the answer as the doors closed. "Ah hell." he muttered to himself, now worrying just what they'd share with each other.


EAS Magellan:

Bridge

...

Captain Terry looked at the monitor displaying the image of the small alien craft once again. Neither ship had moved much in the four hours since initial contact and some of his crew were starting to get nervous.

While the alien ship was much smaller they were, the sporadic energy readings, and ease with which it carried out course corrections to match the Magellan was a sign that it could run rings around his vessel.

"How are the tech boys doing?"

The officer manning the science station, Lieutenant Jacobs, shook his head. "They're really struggling. It seems these people use at least six grammatical tenses."

"Six?" muttered Commander Smith. "That's more than even the Drazi or Narns use. This could take days to break. Why can't these aliens ever do things the right way?"

Terry looked at his XO, once again wishing that the Commander was somewhere else. His Earth-first views were worrying, but a large percentage of Earth-Force seemed to think the same way, which was forcing Terry to seriously think about leaving the service when the Magellan returned to Io in six months' time.

"We have learnt that they use an atmosphere almost identical to our own." Said Jacobs, trying to soothe over his superior. "Eighty two percent oxygen, fifteen percent c-o-two. So once we sort out their language, we can hopefully visit their ship."

"Bet it stinks worse than a Pak'ma'ra ship." Muttered Smith as he walked away from Jacobs.

"Well, while we're sitting her, our ships are carrying out the scans of the system." Terry had moved over to a secondary science station to examine the data as it came in. "Those twin planets both suffered GLE events sometime in the last one to two thousand years, but the contaminate matter in the atmosphere suggests that they won't be suitable for colonization anytime soon. Wouldn't you agree Sara?"

"Aye sir." Answered Ensign Sara Connors, who was manning the station. "There are significant signs of useful minerals in system, so a future mining effort might be worth it, but the distance and location make it an unlikely venture for the Alliance." She paused as she turned to face the Captain. "Still, if this is the edge of their space, it may make sense to establish a gate here and share custody with them. A way for us to, potentially, open access to their markets and technology."

Terry smiled; glad to see that at least some of the younger Earth-Force personnel were open to learning from aliens. He turned as the hatch opened and a small group of officers entered the bridge. "Alright, alpha shift stand down. All senior officers are to get some food and rest, but stay prepared as we're still in a first contact situation."

All the bridge officers with the exception of Smith walked towards the hatch, glad their shift was over.

As soon as the door closed Smith walked over to the Lieutenant now manning the weapons and sensors. "Franks, do you think you could pierce their armour to get a detailed scan of their interior?"

Franks looked over the readings then tried unsuccessfully to hide a smile. "I think it could be done, if we focused all of our scanners on a small section of their hull and fired our main guns at the same spot. At this range we don't even have to worry about the targeting computers."

Smith nodded then whispered quietly, so no-one else would hear. "Better make it look like a 'misfire', you know how 'uneducated' the captain is about aliens."

"Aye sir."


A/N: This story might slow down as I really need to plan 2259 (S2) fully, or at least the 1st 6 months as they are slow on the show and don't have access to the Technomage trilogy. (Should I add them in or just let they go beyond the veil?)