Fantasy Trek Story Mode: "'etlh Komerex Chapter Fourteen"

Fantasy Trek Story Mode: "'etlh Komerex" Chapter Fourteen

Koral fought the urge to run, or to strike out. The readings continued to show his squad, diffused and hot, and everything else a white hot haze. It showed no Tholians, true... it just showed heat. Lots of heat. Finally he began to adjust the combat tricorder's sensor to filter out anything below the 1000 KilnaQ temperature of a Tholian. That cleaned up the image, but did not distinguish the Tholian forms as it should have. All he saw was the glow that was residual heat clinging to the suits worn by his squad. Where were the Tholians? Then the sound came through his commlink. The sound of rustling foil associated with Tholians on the move. His tricorder display flashed, and he saw and felt a wave of heat pass through their ranks.
He stood still, bracing himself as if a wind was battering him. Then he saw that the rest of the squad was doing the same thing. "They are moving aft, towards the dorsal torpedo catwalk." He was referring to the access catwalk that serviced the 'etlh's unique and lethal bank of spinal-mounted microtorpedo launchers. "Now that we can track them we can kill them."
Kapact felt his blood pounding and his head throbbing. The human woman stood there, daring him to finally break free of the bounds of honor and kill her. He'd brought Janeway along to help fight the Tholians and all she could do was talk of the dangers of interspace and retreating to safety without the 'etlh. "Is this how you survived the Delta Quadrant?" He taunted her. "By running from every threat?"
"If you just wanted a Klingon perspective you could have left me out of this mission," Janeway answered with real anger. "If you want my help then let me help!" In fact Janeway had little hope or intention of changing Kapact's mind. Her real goal was keeping the enraged Klingon in the heavily shielded Auxiliary Weapons Control room at the center of the massive Ab'Qaff long enough for the effects of interspace to abate. "You understand strategy and tactics better than I do. The direct approach isn't always the best approach."
"Humans always find a reason to avoid fighting. Talk, talk, talk."
"You aren't talking to a Vulcan, General," Janeway answered with a voice like brushed steel. It was the same voice she'd used to face down the Borg. "Don't mistake study and strategy for cowardice." She struggled to keep from gulping. In his state, he'd think he'd just been insulted.
"I would advise you to choose your words with more care, human," Kapact rumbled. "You are alone on this ship. Surrounded by-"
"Surrounded by Klingons who asked for my help," Janeway countered. "Surrounded by Klingons who know better than to attack without studying the terrain."
"Klingons do not trade in flattery." Kapact said. "It is usually a lie."
"Think, General," she continued. "They have your ship. Filled with your warriors. You know better than I do that the Tholians use interspace to trap ships and crews. Interspace is their terrain and their weapon. If you want to defeat them you need to outflank them. Negate their advantage."
"And how to you propose to do that, Borg-killer?" Kapact shouted at her.
"You start by grabbing that ship and getting the hell out of here!" She resisted the suicidal urge to grab him by the collar and shake him. "Do you want to die here?"
"What?" Kapact pulled a metal duty chair from its housing and threw it past her at the bulkhead.
'Interspace', Janeway thought. But she could only see picking up the broken chair and beating the stubborn, dangerous klingon to a pulp. Instead she activated a computer panel. "Neither one of us is thinking, General." Without taking her eyes off of Kapact, she spoke into the audio pickup. "Computer, access Federation medical records. Keywords Leonard McCoy, interspace, theragen."
"Working." The flat male voice caught Janeway by surprise. "Stardate 5693.2. Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy, Federation starship Enterprise used diluted theragen derivative to negate effects of interspace on crew during incursion into Tholian space."
"It wasn't an incursion," Janeway said without thinking. "It was a rescue." Then she renewed her efforts to focus. "What are the details of McCoy's solution?"
"Specifics are classified. Clearance level Il whitlh wej or above required."
Janeway fought down the urge to swear, then raised her eyebrows at Kapact. In response, he growled, and then spoke quietly. "Du Qo Chorgh".
"Details on screen."
Janeway glanced at the screen and laughed.
to be continued...