Disclaimer: The rights to 'Star Trek' and 'Star Trek Online' are owned by its creators, Gene Roddenberry, CBS Studios, Paramount Pictures, and Cryptic Studios. This story is based on the idea from Gene Roddenberry and is used for entertainment purposes only and written without the expectation of monetary or material profit.

Notes: The plot of this story is based on the Star Trek Online (STO) plot from 'Season 1' during the initial release back in 2010. While the original prologue has long been changed from the initial release to the new prologue which tells the story of a class of cadets who are on the wrong side of a distress call and are attacked by Klingons. If those who remember the original tutorial, this was not the case. We will start from the originally released tutorial which tells of a different plot point.

Timeline: The Stardate for STO starts on 87695.52 or September 11, 2410, it also coincides with its launch date of February 2, 2010. The Star Trek Stardates will also be used for anything before that Stardate. This timeline will be based on the fact that the current season started in 2409, with the latest being in 2411. I will use the date of May 20, 2405, or Stardate 81384.80 as the start of the story. This makes it easier to reference dates both with STO and with the original Star Trek series.

Warning: This story is self-beta'd. If there are any spelling or grammar mistakes, please PM me the paragraph.


Star Trek Online: Reign of Terror

By

RyanSlicer

Book 1: The Klingon War

Part 3: First Contact


"Captain's Log. Stardate 83184.51. We're following a lead from a Vulcan science vessel about a warp-capable planet in the Hromi cluster. As is the custom of Starfleet, we were dispatched to make first contact with this new warp-capable species. Scans of the Hromi cluster found the warp trail that the Vulcan science vessel, Deetn, detected and we are proceeding to the planet at warp 5. It should only take us a few hours to get there." Captain Tresh paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before continuing. "The away team's rotation will need to be decided as this is a first-contact situation. I'll be speaking to my senior officers here shortly to discuss who should be on the away team." Tresh finished his log in his office before walking over to a communication panel. "All senior staff, report to briefing room 3." He stepped out of his office on deck 6, "Ms. Isabella, I'll be in briefing room 3, notify Bravo shift to stay on course, and notify me once we've arrived. Alpha shift will then take over."

"Yes Sir," Isabella responded before tapping a communication unit on her desk. "Captain Tresh's office to bridge." Tresh heard before the door shut behind him. He walked towards briefing room 3, where most of the senior staff had made it before he did.

Once they all had arrived, Tresh began his briefing. "As you're aware, we're on course to find this planet that the Vulcans found and suggested that we take over the first contact scenario. Because of that, we'll put our best people on the job." Tresh looked at each of the senior officers before looking at his first officer. "Commander, who's on the current away team roster?"

"We have a Lieutenant, and two Ensigns assigned. A Lieutenant Darmoth, Ensign th'Zarath from tactical, and Ensign Jules from science." First officer Peter Rodgers, a blond human with an operations jumpsuit and three gold pips on his collar, read off his PADD of the current roster assignments. "Are you thinking of changing them around?"

"I would advise not to. This is probably their first away mission with diplomatic experience." Tresh looked over at his Vulcan science officer V'sok. The male Vulcan, wore a blue science uniform, with two gold pips and one black pip on his collar. "Especially the Lieutenant. He seems to lack the experience needed for his rank." he continued logically.

"He was elevated to his rank on the battlefield." A trill woman spoke up, her two gold pips and one black pip showing her as a Lieutenant Commander, Tresh looked over to her now so he was focused on her explanation. "He took command of the Argon when the entire senior staff was killed during the Borg invasion at Vega colony." She said as she continued, "He's a damned good engineer and took command of a ship that was barely held together while still trying to keep the rest of the crew from being assimilated."

"That's why his name sounded familiar, DeSoto." Tresh remarked, "I read up on his file when Andre recommended that he be transferred to us."

"That's right, I think V'sok is right. He should get some more diplomatic experience." DeSoto remarked, acknowledging V'sok's suggestion.

"Alright, What about Jules, V'sok?"

"She's an excellent science officer, with a little bit of medical training. I think she's a good choice for this away mission."

"Patrick, what about you? Is th'Zarath okay to go on this mission?"

"I'm surprised you even can say her name. She usually goes by Mirra." Patrick chuckled, the tactical officer with two gold pips on his collar, sat up a bit in his chair. "But she'll be fine. She has a good working relationship with Darmoth, as in her report, she was on Vega IX when the borg attacked and helped him get the colonists off the planet."

"Well if they have a good working relationship, then I think that settles the matter." Tresh nodded and looked at his senior officers. "I'll lead the away team for this first contact and let them work out the diplomatic responses. If there are any issues, I'll step in and assist as needed." His senior staff nodded at the recommendation before Tresh got up from his chair, "Get your away team members up to date on the mission and have them ready in a few hours." A chorus of "Yes, Sir" was given as the rest of the senior staff got up from their chairs and left, with Captain Tresh being the last one to leave the briefing room.

-LINE BREAK-

DeSoto sat in her office just outside of the main engineering before tapping her communicator, "Lieutenant Darmoth, report to my office." She spoke as she went over the mission brief she was about to pass to Markus, her auburn bangs got in the way of her viewing the PADD. The door to her office slid open and she looked up to see a young man in a black jumpsuit with yellow shoulders and one gold pip on his collar. The door closed behind him as he stood there at parade rest.

"Reporting in, Ma'am," Markus said, looking at the woman behind the desk.

"Sit down Markus." The Trill woman told him, waiting until he was seated before sliding the PADD she was looking over towards him. "You're on the next away team rotation and this mission is a first contact mission." She said as she tapped the PADD, "This is all the information we have so far."

"A diplomatic mission, Ma'am?" Markus questioned as he picked up the PADD and began to read through it.

"Yes, but it's a first-contact diplomatic mission, so we've got to be extra careful with them," DeSoto explained as Markus continued to read the mission profile. "In all honesty, I wish I was going on this mission myself."

"Oh, you're jealous of me taking this mission?" He looked up from his reading and at the lieutenant commander in front of him.

"Yes, ever seen a pre-warp 1 ship? They look like little rockets or almost like submarines in your Earth's oceans back before your third world war."

"Great, so like cramped Jefferies tubes, but with standing room only."

"A little bit more than that, but you got the gist of it," DeSoto remarked at Markus' thoughts about how cramped some of those pre-warp and post-warp ships were. "But I want you to go down there with a plan. See how far they've gotten, and if Captain Tresh says it's okay, help stabilize anything that needs to be stable."

"Yes, Ma'am," Markus responded before looking over the PADD once more. "I won't let you down."

"That's great. Take the rest of the day off from engineering and get your stuff together. Make sure you have all your parts and the tricorder ready." DeSoto recommended to him, "You're dismissed, Markus."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Markus smiled as he got up, walking out the door of DeSoto's office.

-LINE BREAK-

Captain Tresh sat on the bridge in the captain's chair as they began their orbit of the 5th planet from a small white dwarf star. Once they began their orbit, the crew saw a primitive space dock with a ship only fifteen times bigger than the largest shuttle they have in the shuttle bay. As they passed by the space dock, the communication officer on deck looked over to the captain.

"Sir, receiving a communication from the planet." He turned back to the console before responding again, "Audio only."

"Patch them through."

"Channel open, Sir."

Tresh stood up from his seat and responded to the audio call. "This is Captain Tresh of the U.S.S. Kano of the United Federation of Planets. We're here on a mission of peace. We see that you've been able to travel across the system with your warp drive and we would like to discuss with you the possibility of joining us."

"Captain Tresh. I am Relaqu. Thank you for responding to our communication. We do see that your ship is much larger than our faster-than-light ship. We are pleased you're not here to conquer our planet." An elderly voice came across the speakers on the bridge, "You are allowed to dock your ship and we'll assist you in getting down to the planet's surface."

"That's quite alright, we have shuttles that can take us down. We don't think any of your docks could support our craft."

"Indeed. We'll be glad to meet you once you have arrived."

"It'll be our pleasure," Tresh remarked. "Kano out." And the audio channel was dropped from the speakers.

"No video feed from a warp-capable species?" Remarked John, his tactical officer.

"That's a bit unusual," Commented First Officer Peter replied, "Even our Earth history shows we had visual communications available all over the world, until world war three happened."

"Not as unusual as you think, Peter." Tresh spoke up during the discussion, "Remember Zephram Cochrane didn't have visual communications during his warp flight."

"That is true. I take back my statement." Peter replied to his captain's observation.

-LINE BREAK-

Captain Tresh walked into the shuttle bay and saw that the three away team members were waiting for him to arrive. Each member had a personal type 2 phaser and tricorder, with Markus having a bag of engineering tools and equipment and Nasera with a medical bag. "Lieutenant, is everyone ready?" Tresh asked Markus, as the second highest ranking officer on the mission, it was Markus' duty to confirm with the rest of the away team that they had all their required equipment and possible weapons.

"Yes Sir," Markus responded, tapping the bag on his left hip. "Lieutenant Commander DeSoto and Lieutenant Commander V'sok recommended we take the extra equipment just in case," Markus reported.

"Excellent. We'll make you a proper Lieutenant there, Mr. Darmoth." Tresh remarked as he gestured to one of the ready shuttles, "Let's get this party started." They all entered the shuttle with Markus and Tresh taking the conns, while Mirra and Nasera took seats in the back of the shuttle. "Mr. Darmoth, do the preflight checks and notify the control room that we're ready for departure."

"Yes, Sir." Markus ran through the preflight checks and opened a comm channel to the shuttle bay control room. "Repose to Control. Preflight checks are completed and we're awaiting departure clearance."

"Control to Repose, clearance granted. Opening shuttle bay doors." The control room remarked back to Markus before opening the shuttle bay doors. Once the doors were fully opened, the control room called back to the Repose. "Control to Repose, bay doors are opened and you're cleared of any other traffic."

"Roger Control. Repose out." Markus responded before he took control of the ship's thrusters, getting the shuttle in line with the exit lane before engaging the rear thrusters to push them out of the shuttle bay and out into space.

"Repose to Control, we're clear of the bay doors."

"Confirmed Repose, have a good flight." the control room responded to Markus' all clear and began to close the bay doors.

"Take us to the surface near the capitol, Mr. Darmoth. We'll begin our mission there."

"Yes, Sir." Markus nodded and began to pilot the ship down to the planet's surface.

As the shuttle descended, the crew could see the tall buildings and other large structures in a circular pattern that brought them close to the capital. Markus received an audio communication from the plant's control towers.

"Ground Control to Kano Shuttle, we're receiving your IFF signal now. Confirm designation. Over."

"Ground Control, this is shuttle Repose, awaiting landing instructions near the capitol." Markus communicated with the ground crew on the planet.

"Control to Repose, you can land in the main courtyard bearing 243.7. Maintain low speed until you reach your destination.

"Repose to Control, Acknowledged, Repose out." And Markus closed the communication between him and the planet's local ground control.

"Well, let's not keep them waiting," Tresh responded. "Mr. Darmoth, slow and steady."

"Aye, Sir," Markus replied following the instructions of the ground control and his captain.

A short while later they landed the shuttle down on a wide area of grass that was the front lawn of the capitol building. Tresh got out of his chair first before the rest of the landing party got out of theirs. "Alright people. First contact scenario is in play here. Let's keep weapons cold and keep our happy faces on."

"Yes, Sir." The other three away team members replied, holstering their phasers and tricorders set on the opposite hip. Markus and Nasera picked up their respective bags and stood behind their captain as the shuttle's back door opened up. Once they stepped out of the shuttle, they saw a few individuals that were going to greet them. These beings were tall about half a meter taller than they were, crescent horns made them slightly taller and their eyes were reflective and expansive. Their skin was light purple or violet and their scales covered mostly their necks and hands. An elderly man stepped forward and towards Captain Tresh.

"Captain Tresh, I presume?" The elder spoke in a calm, but deep voice. "I am Ralequ."

"That's correct, Ralequ," Tresh replies. "These are some of my officers, Lieutenant Markus Darmoth from our engineering division," Tresh gestured over to Markus on his right, "Ensign Mirra th'Zarath from our tactical and security division," He gestured to the Andorian on his left, "And Ensign Nasera Jules from our medical and science division." He gestures one last time over to the Trill ensign, left of Mirra.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Ralequ says, bowing slightly to each one after they were introduced. "Behind me are a few of our people. Ralsha," He points to the tall female behind him, her crest adorned with jewelry that crossed over the hole, "is our chief engineer for our ship." Ralsha bowed her head slightly, "Torelch is our security enforcer," The shorter of the four beings with a muscular body that made him look wider than the other three, bowed his head in acknowledgment, "And Quterra is our resident doctor for the program." The younger-looking one with a slight scar on her lower jaw and a darker hue on her skin. "They will be your guides for the duration of your stay."

"That's fine with us," Tresh said as he looked at his away team. "Mr. Darmoth, go with Ralsha, Ms. th'Zarath with Torelch, and Ms. Jules with Quterra." He began his orders to the rest of the away team. "I'll stay with Ralequ while you three talk to your counterparts and get a good feel of things." Tresh ordered, getting a chorus of "Yes, Sir."

The three officers walked over to their counterparts and began asking questions. Markus looked up at his counterpart, Ralsha, "So, were you on the ship that passed the speed-of-light barrier?" Markus asked while they walked over to an outdoor table.

"Yes, I was, it was a fascinating experience, the feeling of the engine humming as it passed the barrier." Ralsha smiled at the experience, "I'm sure that we can go faster, but we haven't theorized a possible way to get past that next barrier."

"It sounds like you know that there's a way to get passed a second barrier. What sort of issues were you having?"

"I think it would be better to show you the main core of our ship," Ralsha remarked, "Would you like to go up and see it?"

"That would be nice," Markus replied as they both stood up.

"We'll take one of our ships to get up there." She said as she guided him to one of their shuttles.

-LINE BREAK-

Markus stood there looking at the rudimentary warp core. While he could understand what DeSoto said about what a pre-warp ship might look like, he wasn't expecting it to be so tall. But then he looked over at his escort and found that it would be tall for the species he was with. "It's larger than I expected." He remarked as he casually took it all in. The warp core itself was running lengthwise down the engineering hold with a conduit going up towards the ceiling before branching off horizontally to either side of the hold.

"We had to make it larger to push past the boundary, but we're having issues with making it go faster."

"So you are theorizing the next available warp barrier?"

"Of course. The barrier is only the first step. Since we can achieve the first speed past light speed, there must be more to it than just this." Ralsha smiled, almost like a schoolgirl excited about her first science fair project.

"Are you having any issues with getting past the next barrier?"

"Well, it seems that when we get to the next barrier, the field starts to collapse," Ralsha explained as they walked back towards the bridge of the ship. "It's a little frustrating to get so close to that barrier, only for it to fail as we get closer to that..." She was about to finish her thought when an explosion happened in the back of the engineering hold, throwing them both to the ground. Air started to escape from the hold before the airlocks slammed shut behind them. Alarms started going off in the ship as they coughed and struggled to get up off the floors.

"What happened?" Markus asked Ralsha as they got to their knees.

"The Terachs." Ralsha remarked before scowling, "Traitors to the Union."

"A terrorist group?" They stood up and looked back to the hold before they heard voices coming towards them.

"Let's confirm that we got the she-devil and the outsider." One voice yelled out over the alarms.

"We must have gotten them, we've got to quickly get off the ship."

"No, we must confirm, or else they'll still be able to repair this infernal machine."

"Engineer Darmoth, we must escape before they find us," Ralsha told Markus as they walked down a corridor, they heard the voices getting closer and opened a room next to the engineering section. Ralsha pressed a button on the control panel to lock the door before the Terachs went past the door. After a few moments, they quietly unlocked the door and stepped out of the room.

"Looks like they're still trying to find us. Come on." Ralsha spoke quietly to her companion.

"Let me raise our ship to see if they can help out," Markus said as they walked quietly and quickly down the corridor. "Darmoth to Kano."

"Kano here. What seems to be the problem Lieutenant?"

"We need an emergency beam out. We have hostiles on board the warp ship." Markus heard the pause before he got a response from the transporter room.

"Negative Darmoth, we can't get a lock on either of you. Something is blocking the ability to transport."

"It might be the fuel we use to sustain the warp field," Ralsha said to Markus, who relayed it back to them.

"You're going to have to figure a way out or get away from the fuel cells." The transporter chief responded. "I can't get a good lock on your two."

"Roger that, Kano. We'll try for the bridge or the shuttle we came in." Markus replied.

"We'll continue to try and get a lock on your combadge as you move around."

"Acknowledged, Kano. We'll keep comms open in case of issues." Markus took a moment to take his phaser out, setting it to stun unless he was permitted to set the settings higher. Ralsha looked at him before looking startled at the weapon.

"What kind of weapon is that, Engineer Darmoth?"

"It's a phaser. It uses nadion particles to emit a beam out of the front, like a pistol or projectile weapon." Markus said as they continued to walk through the corridors. "It can also be a tool, but right now I think we need it for protection." Markus finished as they rounded a corner.

Down the hallway, two people held rifles that looked like projectile weapons to Markus. He ushered Ralsha back around the corner as he tried to figure out the best way to deal with them. Unfortunately, the people turned around and saw him standing there.

"The outsider is alive!" One of them yelled out before aiming their rifle at him. "Kill the unbeliever!"

Markus dove back around the corner as Ralsha ducked to avoid any ricocheting bullets. Markus took aim around the corner and fired his phaser at the two, hitting one before a barrage of bullets started coming his way. He ducked back and held his phaser in a ready position with the emitter pointed up. He tapped his combadge to initiate communications back to the Kano. "Darmoth to Kano. Where is that lock you promised?"

"We're not getting as much interference but we still can't get a lock on you two."

Markus fired again at the other person, managing to hit them on the third shot. He grabbed Ralsha's hand and started running in the direction where the two terrorists were. "Keep trying Kano, let Captain Tresh know what our situation is."

"Acknowledged, Darmoth. We'll keep trying." Markus tapped his badge again to terminate communications with the ship.

"Take a left here. We should be able to get to the shuttle..." Another explosion rocked the ship, making the two hit the wall. "That came from the airlock."

"There goes our ride." Markus jokes, mostly to himself. "Where is the bridge? It should be far enough to where they can transport us out of here."

"Transport how?" Ralsha questioned before pointing down another corridor.

"We have a matter transporter that beams people from location to location, we didn't want to beam down to your planet and scare you, which is why we took our shuttle." Just as they started running down the corridor that Ralsha pointed towards. The two people that were trying to confirm their deaths had managed to catch up to them and were taking whatever shot they could find. Markus turned and shot a few times with his phaser back at the attacking duo, causing the two behind them to duck for cover. As they turned around the corner, some more terrorists spotted them and started firing their weapons. Markus pulled Ralsha into an alcove and tapped his combadge. "Darmoth to Kano, we're stuck between two groups." Markus aimed at one side and fired at them, making them duck for cover, "We need transport now."

"We got a pattern lock on your badge now, but we can't get the other one next to you. You'll have to squeeze together to get the transporter to lock onto you both."

"Roger Kano," Markus replied and grabbed a hold of Ralsha, "You'll have to get close to me," Markus spoke to Ralsha. She nodded and held on tight to him. "Darmoth to Kano, Energize." As soon as he finished speaking the sound of a swooshing beam told the terrorists their targets were getting away. As they rushed to the alcove, they just happened to catch the beam of light causing the two to disappear. The terrorists dropped to the ground and started praying until the docking station security forces arrived. The only thing they could get from the terrorists as they arrested them was that the Gods have taken them to a better place.

-LINE BREAK-

When Markus reached out to Kano for the emergency beam out. The rest of the away team was in a conference room hashing out the next stage of development for a new civilization to join the Federation when a chirp came out of Captain Tresh's combadge. "Tresh speaking."

"Captain, this is the Kano, we have an issue." Peter remarked, "Multiple explosions are coming from the warp ship and Darmoth relayed that he's under attack by some terrorist group."

"Can you get him and his escort out of there?" Captain Tresh asked.

"We're trying, but there are some fuel cells blocking or scrambling the transporter emitters signal locks."

The door to the conference room opened up and allowed a security force with Torelch in the front. "Captain Tresh, we're sorry to inform you that there's been an attack on the FTL ship. We don't have a status on Ralsha or Engineer Darmoth."

"I'm in communication with my ship, which has heard from Lieutenant Darmoth. They're alive but under attack by a terrorist group." Tresh replied

"The Terachs. A religious group that thinks we're destroying the sky and space because of our FTL ship." Torelch said.

Captain Tresh nodded, it wasn't the first time a religious sect caused issues with space flight. But, he was concerned about his crew member and the representative of the Iracis species. "We're aware of some religious groups that don't like change, we'll keep an eye out for them while we're here."

"We thank you, but it is our responsibility to make sure you are safe. Unfortunately, we were not able to keep your engineer safe from them." Torelch replied, "It seems some radicals infiltrated our station's security."

"Lieutenant Darmoth will keep your engineer safe as much as he can." Tresh remarked, "In the meantime, my ship is trying to get a way for them to get off that ship so your forces can take care of these terrorists."

"We will try to clean up this mess quickly. We once again apologize for this to occur on your visit."

Suddenly Tresh's combadge chirped. Tresh tapped it to begin the conversation, "Tresh here."

"Captain, we got them. They're both safe and being looked over by medical right now." Peter responded with the good news.

"That's great news. I hope we didn't scare our guest."

"Not really. I think she rather enjoyed it from what I'm hearing from the medical team."

"I guess we'll have to bring her down in a second shuttle then."

"Sir, she wants to experience the transporter again. Just so that she can get a feel for what it does."

"Alright, beam them both down to our location in the conference room."

"Roger that, Sir. Kano out."

"Ralsha is safe?" Torelch asked, to which Tresh nodded. The sound of an energized beam of light appeared for a few seconds before the two beings were consolidated back into their normal forms. "I don't believe it. It's like she appears from light itself."

"It's our transporter. We can transport people and cargo from our ship to any destination on the planet if we're close enough."

"This was just theorized last month," Ralsha said as she walked over to Torelch, "The fact that it works and on people means that theory is true."

"We'd have to take a look at the theory that you've mentioned so you don't accidentally hurt someone. There have been accidents in the past." Captain Tresh said, looking over at Markus, "Lieutenant, please make sure that their theory is sound before we leave."

"Yes, Sir," Markus remarked as he walked back over to the rest of the away team. Ralsha and Torelch looked at the team before Torelch spoke up.

"We'll have to tell the elders about what you did, Engineer Darmoth and Captain Tresh," Torelch said before he and Ralsha left the conference room.

Captain Tresh looked over at Markus. "Report Lieutenant."

"Sir, there was a first explosion within the engine room, the bulkhead dropped down, saving us the first time. We then heard these terrorists trying to make sure we died. After a brief excursion towards the shuttle, that area had an explosion and we believe we lost the shuttle. I had contacted the Kano to try and get us out of there with the transporter."

"And they had the lock issues." Tresh stopped the report. "You did a good job. But you did violate some of the Prime Directive."

"Sir, I'll take full responsibility for that."

"There are exceptions to the directive, and I think being attacked by a group of terrorists is one of those exceptions we can forgive." Tresh nodded and gestured for Markus to take a seat.

Markus gave a slight nod to the response and sat down in the next chair available, sitting right next to Mirra. The Andorian looked at him, then leaned over to whisper into his ear. "It seems like trouble always follows you. First the Borg then this."

"Hey, this time I'm not in command like I was before," Markus replied before looking at Narera. "So, how was your day?" Markus cheekily joked.

-LINE BREAK-

Several moments later, Ralsha and Ralequ entered the conference room while the away team was in a full discussion about the next steps to bring this species into the Federation if possible.

"Captain Tresh and Engineer Darmoth, please follow me," Torelch said, after entering the conference room by himself. Tresh and Markus stood up and headed out with Torelch. They walked down the hallways towards the main reception room where Ralsha and three elders, including Ralequ. Ralsha was standing next to Ralequ, who was seated on the left side of the other two elders. The elder in the middle seat stood up, her hunched-over body still keeping her taller than either of the humans, and took a few steps forward.

"Captain Tresh, I am Eshara, the current high elder of Iracis. Besides me is Ralequ, whom you already know, and Mawter." Both elders stood up and walked forward toward the group. "We recognize Engineer Darmoth has done a great deed for one of our own. As an outsider, we would normally not allow anyone to join a family. However, because of your valiant efforts to save one of our own at great peril to yourself, we humbly ask you to join us, as if you were one of our own, and receive the mark to signify you've joined Ralsha's family."

"It would be an honor," Captain Tresh looked over at Markus who spoke up. "If the captain allows me to." Tresh gave Markus a slight nod to acknowledge that he can proceed. "Then I accept." Ralsha smiled at Markus, showing that she accepted him into her family.

"Then please step forward." Mawter, the elder on the right side spoke up, his voice gravely and rough. He gestured to the right and a seat with a contraption that looked like a tattoo machine. Markus walked over to the machine and sat down as directed by Ralsha. The chair moved back slightly before being level with the machine near his temple.

"Stay still and close your eyes," Ralsha said to Markus. "Normally this is done on the crest just above the eye," She remarked, turning her head slightly to show the mark he was about to receive. "We had to make some adjustments so you could still see it."

"That's fine," Markus said as he closed his eyes. The machine started up and started to outline marks. A small circle sat below his temple and at his cheekbone, a small mark below and to the right. A half-crescent, along with a claw mark covered half of his eye and temple while another claw near his ear dropped down to his cheek. And last a mark that looked like a bird was the final mark just below his hairline above the final outer claw.

"This is a symbol of our friendship," Ralsha intoned as she let the machine start inking the outline in light violet color, "The ink is the blood of our kinship." The machine then finished inking the tattoo and Markus sat up as the chair pushed him back into a sitting position. Ralsha leaned down and kissed his tattoo, causing Markus to wince slightly but Ralsha had to finish the ceremony, "And this signifies the love of family."

"Thank you, Ralsha." Markus responded, not sure how to finish the ceremony.

"Your welcome, Engineer Markus." Ralsha helped him stand up from the chair. "You will need to complete the ceremony with a pilgrimage to our family homestead and be accepted by the patriarch." Ralsha said, walking with Markus back to Captain Tresh. "When you have time."

"We'll make sure he has time before we leave." Captain Tresh responded to Ralsha's unasked question. "Right now, we understand that your ship needs to be repaired. We'll have some of our engineers help with that in good faith." Tresh said, looking over at Markus "We'll need to go back to our ship to gather supplies and help assess the damage."

"Thank you, Captain Tresh," Eshara said, coming up to the three of them, with Mawtar and Ralequ just behind her. "We would like Engineer Darmoth to work with Ralsha on completing the repairs."

"He'll be made available." Tresh replied to the elder. "By your leave." Tresh and Markus bowed to the elder, who dismissed them with a wave of her hand. Markus, Tresh, and Ralsha left the reception hall while Torelch followed behind them.

-LINE BREAK-

Tresh and Markus entered the conference room with Ralsha following behind them. Tresh then tapped his combadge, "Tresh to Kano."

"Kano here."

"Prepare an engineering team to join Lieutenant Darmoth on the Iracis' ship so they can help with repairs. Get DeSoto to get her best team to help out."

"Roger that. We'll await your return."

"It shouldn't take that long to get back. We'll bring the shuttle up to take their supplies over to the ship. Prepare a few worker-bees and work pods as well."

"Acknowledged. We'll get those ready by the time you arrive."

"Thanks, Number One. Tresh out." Tresh looked back over at the away team, both Nasera and Mirra stood up and walked over to both Tresh and Markus. "We'll be heading out back to the Kano. Once there, you'll be given a few hours of rest before you three will be back on board their warp ship."

"Aye, Sir" All three of them responded.

Tresh looked at Torelch, "Please let my security team know if you need assistance. I'll put you in touch with my first officer Commander Peter Rodgers." Tresh told the security specialist, handing him the communication frequency. "We'll help with any of the security concerns you have."

"Thank you, Captain Tresh, I'll look forward to working with Commander Rodgers."

"How long will you be, Engineer Markus?" Ralsha asked Markus.

"A few standard hours. Just need to get some more things together so we can repair your ship."

"I look forward to your return," Ralsha responded, leaning over and rubbing her cheek with his. "Thank you once more for saving my life."

"You're welcome."

-LINE BREAK-

"Personal Log: Stardate 83185.52." Markus started, "In a few hours, I'll be heading back towards the planet of the Iracis. I've been getting things ready for the trip back down while taking it easy." Markus grabbed a few things he normally kept from his engineering kit and put the kit down on the desk. "I've been tasked by Commander DeSoto to help fix their warp core and help them get past warp two and three. Their theories and correct, but they just need to keep the warp field stable. Something that should be easily fixed by tuning their warp drive just a bit to keep the output steady." Once his kit was outfitted correctly with the appropriate tools, he began to finish his log. "As of now, I'm a member of Ralsha's family and after we're done with the warp core, I'm to meet her father." Picking up the PADD, he reviewed what they were to fix and what tune-ups might need to be done. "I just hope that I didn't get married." Markus smiled at that fact before his door rang. "Computer, end log." Markus walked over to the door and tapped the panel next to it to open it. "Hello, Mirra,"

"Ready to head to Dachis and get something to eat before we get back to work?" The Andorian asked her friend.

"Sure," Markus replied as he turned the lights off from the panel, and both left to go to Dachis.