Chapter 3: Skirmish

The Romulan disrupters hit the Enterprise's aft shields.

"Shields are holding sir!" the tactical officer behind Nara tried to shout in all the commotion.

"Drop out of warp and assume an attack posture!" Nara commanded.

The starship dropped out of warp and turned to face the warbird.

"Fire a spread of photon torpedoes." Nara told the tactical officer. "Try to disable her."

The tactical officer hit the 'FIRE' button and the torpedoes were away.

The torpedoes hit the warbird's warp engines and shorted out her impulse control.

"Target their weapon systems with phasers, and fire." Nara commanded.

The phasers did their job and disabled the weapons systems.

"Hail them." Nara commanded. The door to the turbolift opened and Captain George stepped out onto the bridge. He looked at the view screen and saw the Romulan warbird, disabled.

"Excellent job lieutenant." The captain told Nara.

"Thank you sir." Nara stated.

"Sir they are responding to our hail." The communication officer told him.

"On screen." George ordered.

When the screen turned on it reviled a little orange skinned creature with big ears.

"The Ferengi?" One of the stated, bewildered.

"What is the meaning of this!" the Ferengi shouted.

"You attacked our vessel, and what are you doing with a Romulan Warbird?" George asked calmly.

"I'm a ship trader. This little gem was drifting in the yomety sector. I was delivering it to an Andorian on Parais two." The Ferengi explained.

"You still didn't answer my first question, why did you fire on a Federation Starship?" George asked.

"I was testing the clocking device and the weapon systems, and as for firing on your ship, I didn't hit anything vital." The Ferengi answered.

"I'm afraid that is no excuse. How many men on your ship?" George asked.

"Five, three of them are sleeping." The Ferengi answered him.

"I see." George stated as he pressed the com button. "Transporter room, beam the five Ferengi onboard."

"Wai…" The Ferengi began when the transporter beam was activated.

George turned to Nara, "Shall we meet our guest?" George asked.

"Yes sir." Nara stated.

In the transporter, a very angry Ferengi was screaming at the transporter chief.

"How dare you take us from our ship! We have rights! You'll be hearing from the Ferengi government, I assure you!" The Ferengi captain shouted.

Then Captain George and Lieutenant Nara walked through the door. George was a little surprised that only two of the Ferengis were dressed.

The Ferengi Captain walked over to captain George. "We demand to be released from this ship! We demand to speak to your superiors!"

"We demand clothes!" One of the naked Ferengi shouted.

"We will not take clothes from our captures." The Ferengi captain stated at the other Ferengis.

"But we're cold, sir." He complained.

"Too bad. We demand to be returned to our ship!"

"We will, after you are processed at starbase 389, and pay the penalty for firing on a Federation starship." He then looked at the other Ferengi, "And I'll get you some clothes." George and Nara then left as the two security guards took the Ferengi to their quarters.

Nara and Captain George arrived on the bridge. Beta shift was almost over, so Captain George took his place in the center chair.

"Set course to Starbase 389 warp six." George commanded.

"Course set and initiated sir." The ensign at the helm stated.

Then alpha shift arrived. First Officer Thomas Riker and Demora Sulu got out of the turbolift first.

"Good morning, computer begin alpha shift." George commanded to the computer.

Alpha shift started.

"I heard we had a little run about with a Ferengi Warbird." Riker stated to the captain.

George turned to him. "You heard correct Commander. The Ferengi, evidently, wanted to test the warbird's weapon systems on us. I communicated Starfleet salvage operations and they sent out a ship to retrieve it."

"Let's hope the Romulans don't find out, I really don't want a Romulan/ Ferengi conflict on our hands." The two laughed.

Suddenly the lights flashed.

"Commander what's happening?" George asked Riker.

"Checking all systems." Riker's eyes went wide. "Sir!"

The ship suddenly jolted forward, causing everyone to fall forward. The lights went out and the ship was drifting.