[Majosea]

A long, dark path lay ahead of me in my quest. The fog had settled on the marsh early this evening, and all but masked everything except for a few feet around me. I was basically blind and stumbling along.
To my left a few yards away, I could hear the creature stalking me. The crackle of the leaves and breaking of branches told me where to expect an attack to come from so I kept the pistol pointed in that direction. The silver tips of the bullets glistened lightly from the chamber in the dim light of the marsh. I hoped that the legends were true and they could bring the beast down.

The marsh suddenly got silent. The beast was preparing to make his strike against me...

“Captain , your presence is required on the bridge”
“Computer freeze program Dephra-Delta.1, save and exit holodeck.”

The scenery froze, flickered then changed to a gridded matrix of black and blue. I headed to the newly appeared doors of the holodeck and left the room to the swishing sound of the doors closing behind me.

I pulled my combadge from the coat pocket of the 19th century earth garb I was wearing and pressed it lightly,“What is the situation Commander?”

“Captain we have received a request for you to contact the Fleet Admiral as soon as you can.”

“I'm on my way to the bridge Commander”

Well the Wolfman will have to wait for another day. I cannot begin to fathom my fascination with the story, other than on Andoria we have few stories that play fiction as fact with the exception of a few religious stories about gods and heroes but every culture, so far, has those. I remove the costume on my way to the bridge revealing my uniform beneath and continue heading to the bridge. I see several crewmen snickering as they see me changing from the outfit. My fascination with the story has been the talk of the ship's news service as of late but I don't mind as the crew needs something to keep their minds occupied since the return of the Borg and the Species 8472. I have never been able to bring myself to call 8472; Undine.

I moved purposely through the corridor to the bridge turbolift and instructed it to take me there. The door swished open to my home-away-from-home, the bridge of the Trail of Tears.
“Captain on the bridge!” came the command from my first officer.

The crew swiftly came to attention except for the crewmen on critical duties. I continued moving to the Captain's chair.

“Carry on!” I ordered, “Put me through to Starfleet. Let's see where they are sending us.”

A push of a button and Fleet Admiral Astrus appeared on the viewscreen.

“Captain Dephra, it's good to see you. Congratulations on the promotion.”

“Thank you Sir, although I did miss you at the promotion ceremony at Starfleet Command” I replied.

“Well things in Gama Orionis have been keeping most of the fleet busy these days. Luckily for you and a few others, the mundane business the fleet has to attend to still exists throughout the Alpha Quadrant, which brings me to this assignment.” Admiral Astrus continued, “Starfleet has been receiving sporadic communications from our research bases in the Khazan Cluster near grid 072.14 of the Alpha Centauri sector. According to the reports, ships belonging to a previously unknown race calling themselves the Vito'D have been attacking claiming sovereignty of that area of space. During Starfleet's initial scans and reconnaissance of the area, we found no traces of any warp capable races that would lay claim to the unexplored region other than the Klingons and Romulans, but they claim anything their eyes fall upon.”

“Did the Diplomacy Corp attempt to contact them” I interjected.

“Of course they did.” Admiral Astrus replied, Ambassador Sugihara dispatched a first contact team to meet the Vito'D. The U.S.S. Wegonow took the team to the area and the last message we received from Lt Commander Raklok was that he was under attack from a Vito'D battle cruiser and first contact had failed. We can only assume that the Wegonow has either been destroyed or captured at this point.”

“Why not send a warship to investigate?” I asked the Admiral, since the Trail of tears was a deep space exploration cruiser and ill-prepared to sustain any long term combat should the situation require it.

Admiral Astrus replied, “As I stated earlier, the situation in Gama Orionis is dire and every warship is needed there, so that leaves only our exploration corps to do the dirty work. Sure we could send the smaller cruisers or escorts but I want to get the Vito'D's attention and your ship is large enough and has enough firepower to get it. While she is not a bonified warship, the Trail of Tears should be able to hold her own against these thugs. I am sending you the base coordinates and all available information on the area and of the Vito'D. Standard protocol is in force, defend yourself if needed but try diplomacy first. Astrus out.”

The screen went back to the area outside Starbase One.

“Commander Nikae, set course for the Khazan Cluster.”

“Aye aye M'am, course laid in and set.” she responded.

“Warp factor 7 helmsman” I ordered “Engage!”


“To be continued”

[Fullback]

OOOO more

Dude I think there is room for some Serious collaboration here. With all the writers and artists we have here a short film if not a Novella could come of it.

[Jasko_Denew]

Good start dude. Looking forward to seeing where it goes

[Astrus]

Jasko_Denew, on 27 July 2010 - 01:16 PM, said:

Good start dude. Looking forward to seeing where it goes

I totally agree. This is well written.

we might have to start another forum for our writers in the fleet

[Zhiv]

Astrus, on 29 July 2010 - 03:58 AM, said:

I totally agree. This is well written.

we might have to start another forum for our writers in the fleet

Wha!??!!?? It's not already done? Astrus, you slacker! lol


Good story so far...can't wait to see how it turns out.

[Majosea]

“Staff officers”, I said into the comm system “ Meeting in the ready room in one hour. Lieutenant Shiloh, you have the Com, I'll be in the ready room”

I walked into the ready room and sat down at the console at my place at the table.
“Computer, bring up all Starfleet information concerning the Vito'D. “ I demanded.

“The Vito'D are a first contact race, No information is available other than contact communications.' the voice of the computer coldly responded.

“Computer playback communications first contact: Vito'D.”

The screen came to life in front of me.
“Unknown vessel, this is Captain Torana of the Federation starship U.S.S. Tarrington. We are on a survey mission in this sector. Please respond.”

On the screen appeared a humanoid, dark hair, with a close resemblance to the Vorta,

“Federation starship, I am Commander Sh'Krah of the Vito'D Union, we have claimed this sector of space and demand that you surrender your vessel to us immediately.” Commander Sh'Krah continued, “We have scanned your vessel and determined that you will not survive an assault by our ship and boarding party. You will choose now”

“We are on a peaceful mission” Captain Torana responded, “ This sector has never been claimed until now....”

Commander Sh'Krah broke in “You have made your decision then.”

“Transmission terminated” the computer stated and added., “Playing next communications log.”

“Vito'D vessel, this is Lieutenant Commander Raklok of the Federation Starship U.S.S. Wegonow, we have received a distress call from one of our explorer missions that they came under attack by your forces. This may have been caused by a misunderstanding and we are here to negotiate with you.”

“Federation Starship”, it was Commander Sh'Krah speaking again, “you have entered into Vito'D Union claimed space, you will surrender your vessel or be destroyed.”

“We are prepared to defend ourselves and you will not find us as easy prey as the Tarrington.” Raklok responded. “Surely we can negotiate a ceasefire.”

“We have no interest in your ceasefire, only your vessel” Sh'Krah then added menacingly “defend yourself well.”

“Starfleet command, this is the U.S.S. Wegonow, we have come under fire by several Vito'D warships and are severely outgunned.” Raklok transmitted, “They have shown no interest in negotiations. Request assistance. Our shields are failing and transporter signals are being reported from all over the ship.”

“Transmission terminated” the computer said calmly. “ No more files on the subject exist.”

“Could the Vito'D be an offshoot of the Vorta?” I thought to myself as they appeared very similar to the Vorta in appearance although they were a lot more aggressive and bulkier”

Two ships lost and apparently more than one Vito'D ship in the area. The Vito'D must have been watching us closely as they decide to press their claims at nearly the same time as the Borg re-invaded the Alpha quadrant. They must know that the bulk of our forces are fighting to stem the Borg advances.

The door to the ready room swished open and Commander Nikae sundered in and sat down at her chair.

“Well Commander” I inquired, “I know you have looked at the communications dealing with the Vito'D. What are your thoughts on the matter?”

“Captain” she responded “ The Vito'D do not really seem to care much about negotiations or if they do, we just are not phrasing it right according to their customs.”

“What do you mean? I asked.

“Some races see negotiations as a sign of weakness and only respond when beaten in combat” Nikae answered. “We may have to just beat them into talking to us.”

I shook my head in agreement.

"To Be Continued"

[Shawkorrr]

We want more!

[TerilynnS]

oooh yes - more please. (AND yes, where is a place for we writers?) ;)

[Zhiv]

TerilynnS, on 26 August 2010 - 04:10 PM, said:

oooh yes - more please. (AND yes, where is a place for we writers?) ;)

...Astrus, me thinks it's time for a sto forum just for story tellers.