Through the silent Great Western Sea, there cruised a great seaship. It had the head of a dragon, and the wings of a dragon as well. Upon its side there were engraved letters. They read 'NCC 1701-D.' The ship's full name was 'The Federation Ship Enterprise.'
Upon the deck there stood a proud man, with blue bangs and a head-dress. He stood imposingly, gazing out across the open waters. There stood a blonde girl at the helm, checking the coordinates and trajectory of the ship on the small LCARS console beside her.
"Captain," she said, looking up, "we'll be entering Proxian sea-airspace in approximately 3 hours and 12 minutes."
"Number One, what do you recommend?" asked the captain.
"Begin Psycrystal injection and prepare for Warp Three. Load Magma Balls into the cannon and charge weapons."
"Excellent." The captain stood up, letting all feel his presence. "Make it so."
All present shivered. The captain radiated such power when he said that.
The Tactical Officer began pressing the button on his own LCARS console, carrying out the orders. He was much taller than 'Number One,' and bulkily built. Also his hair was big and red instead of long and brown, and he wasn't a woman, like the second-in-command was.
The captain, again in his chair on the 'bridge,' as it was called, pressed a button on the armrest. "Ivan, I may need you on the bridge when we engage the Proxian Bird of Prey."
The science officer's disembodied voice came from a speaker that no-one could actually see. "I'm on my way, sir." His voice was very clear and precise; this was at least partially due to the fact that he was an android.
The captain smiled. The enemy ship would not escape now.
Three days earlier Admiral Kraden of Seafleet had contacted Captain Picard of the TS Enterprise, NCC 1701-D, with details of an attack by what seemed to be a renegade Proxian Bird of Prey on the great docks of Lalivero. Several other ships had been dispatched from Lemuria to intercept and confirm the enemy status of the Proxian vessel. All had been destroyed.
Several seabases had been transmitted details of sightings. The Bird of Prey did not attack them, but seemed only to engage with those that actually interfered with its return to the far north.
Admiral Kraden told Picard that the renegade ship had stolen something of great importance; the captain wasn't authorised to know what, and as soon as the enemy ship was destroyed or disabled he was to send a sub-space message back to Seafleet Headquarters at Tolbi. They would dispatch a salvage crew to retrieve the stolen item.
Picard, being the good captain he was, didn't even question these orders.
He stood up again, and all stood in awe of the great man.
He gave the order. "Helm, set a course to intercept the enemy ship at warp three. Once we arrive, rotate 180 around them at half-impulse."
"Yes, sir," said the helmsman as she keyed in the commands.
Captain Picard sat down, and pointed his finger out in front of him. "Engage."
The great wings lowered to optimise propulsion. In a chamber deep inside the ship, a Psycrystal was passed though an electron induction field, ionising it, and then ejected into the warp core. There it decayed, slowly releasing huge amounts of elemental energy to power the impressive warp drive.
The nacelles on the wings briefly glowed blue, then the Enterprise was off.
On board the Bird of Prey, the Proxians were arguing; this was common amongst them. The people of Prox had fought a long war against the Federation a couple of centuries earlier, but that had been resolved. There was now a peace between them, but still enmity, though neither side admitted it.
These people were easily distinguishable. Each featured a unique skin colour, such as baby blue, radish red or a pungent green. Scales also covered their upper arms and shoulders, and their foreheads had ridges upon them. Some of the Proxians' ridges even had spikes, which was certainly handy at a barbeque if you had run out of skewers, though many still preferred not to walk around with chunks of pineapple gracing their faces.
"I keep on telling you, but no-one listens!" roared a thuggishly built Proxian. "The accursed Federation will be after our blood!"
A younger red Proxian kicked him and he fell to the ground groaning in pain.
"You're an idiot, flare-head!" yelled the younger Proxian. Her somewhat sinister red eyes glared at him, but he didn't see that because he was currently engaged in letting everyone there know of the agony through which he was going.
A tall but somewhat leaner blue Proxian stamped his foot a few times. "Shuddup you morons! I wanna say something!" He pounded his chest thrice. "I have spoken!" He grabbed the muscular man who was still bemoaning his pain to the world by the nape of his neck, and yelled in his face. "Agatio, you spineless apple chomper! You hogmanay heathen! You barbarian horned plate! I hate you!" He threw the poor man at the wall.
A red woman started singing. "Oh, Saturos, what have you done to hiiiiim? Please, deposit me not in a biiiin! And Karst, my dear younger sisteeer, don't burn yourself and get blisteeers!"
"Quiet you!" bellowed the blue man, and he head-butted her in a most un-gentlemanly manner.
"Yaah!" The younger red girl started kung fu-ing the bully. "Leave my sister alone!"
Amidst the unbridled chaos, there sat two men. One appeared to have come from either Imil or Lemuria, for his hair and eyes were blue, and he was effeminate. The other man had brown hair in a ponytail, a bit like a deranged punk rock star, but his expression was deadly serious.
"Let us hope that our plan does not go awry," he said in a dead tone to the polished blue-head.
"Indeed. At this stage of our operation, it would be severely demoralising to have come thus far and to fail now."
The brunet nodded. He pressed a button on his chair in much the same way as Captain Picard had done only a few minutes before, but this time a small hatch opened and two cups come out.
"Tea, Alex?"
"If you please, Felix."
Ignoring the shouting and cries of pain coming from around them, the pair sipped their heated beverage and brooded silently.