USS LOTUS: Queen to King's Bishop Two.

 

"rogers HoD, pa'vetlhDaq maH."

 

Spinning slightly left in the command chair, Shelly deftly threw one of her Kut'luch knive's. The deadly assassin blade thunked solidly into the head rest beside the navigation officer's head.

 

"Qo' De' lagh chonayta' vISov HInob"

 

 Re-facing forward she barked a command to the officer seated at the station immediatlely below her podium and to the right.

 

"Tactical!"

 

 With a almost inaudible crackle of emerging power, the bridge viewer came online. The dull red hue of a triangular grid depicted the immediate space around the vessel with a distance marker displayed prominently along the bottom centre of the screen; fifty thousand kellicam's.

 

 "Target primary warp coils and fire."

 

  Against the orange hued backdrop of the desolate Donia system, an orb of red pulsing light appeared from the emptyness of space, resolving into a speeding torpedo. Trailing a warp tail, the deadly projectile raced across the backdrop of the system's debris field, arcing into the complacent, cruising D'kora class vessel transiting the dead planets silhouette. Impacting on the starboard warp generators, the Ferengi vessel fell out of warp as its field collapsed. Pallid green smoke trailed the now drifting capitol vessel as it spun around her x and z axis'. Immediately, the shimmer of a dropping cloak shimmmered aft of the stricken ship, and the IKS Ya'Vang settled into a vector match behind the tumbling ship.

 

 On the Ferengi ship, amid the acrid smoke rising from a few critically damaged consoles, DaiMon Ishil heard the telltale bleep of an incoming hail from the comms panel. Quickly touching an opening icon, she immediately started a berating barrage of insults and incriminations.

 

"What gives you the right to fire on a peaceful vessel, you klingon QI'yaH!"

 

 On the screen Shelly's shoulder length light red hair came into focus, framing her blue eyes which reflected the reddish hue of the battle lighting prevalent on the Ya'Vang bridge. Speaking tersely, she arrived straight to the point.

 

"DaiMon, a few months back you sold a Klingon cloaking device. I want the name of that customer. In payment, the Syndicate will ... allow you ... to stay clear of the vault of eternal destitution."

 

 Swallowing a temporary lump which had suddenly formed in her throat, Ishil responded with encredulity.

 

"You? Are orion Syndicate? How did you get a Klingon battle cruiser? What ... never mind."

 

 Backtracking rapidly, Ishil returned to the immediate threat to her and her ship and crew.

 

 "Cloaking device? Very well. In the interests of profit and loss, I guess I must tell you. I sold it to a star fleet officer. Under the table, as the hoomons say."

 

 Shelly crossed her arms akimbo, staring menacingly at the Ferengi woman on her screen. "Get to the name DaiMon. That idiot tried to kidnap me from the syndicate, and as you well know, no one ever leaves the syndcate."

 

 DaiMon Ishil well knew the legendary status of the Orion Syndicate's practice's. One never left their employ, except through death. And even then, it was rumored, one simply continued on in it's employment registry.

 

"Rogers. Commander David Rogers. And you didn't get that from me Captain."

 

Without so much as a passing glance, Shelly's image dissolved off the Marauder's screen and DaiMon Ishil watched the Klingon heavy cruiser turn away, rapidly cloaking as it jumped into warp and became just an after image on her retina's.

Stardate 88666.1

Hromi Cluster, Khitomer Sector.

 Having achieved full stealth parking within the outer fringes of the Hromi cluster, Shelly ordered the passive scan of the area. As it was being performed by one of the two remaining bridge crew, she reviewed again the display hanging to her right; A shielded screen only the captain's seat on the raised dais could see. The Klingon Intelligence file was short, but consise enough for her purposes at the moment.

Fr: Gelera, Klingon Intelligence;

To: All KDF captains

Subject: Commander David Rogers, Star Fleet, UFP.

D.o.B.: February 16, 2386 (approximately);

P.o.B.: Romulus Orbital Detention Facility;

Physical:

-Height: 6'1";

-Weight: 99.7 Kg;

-Black, shoulder length hair;

-Eye Color - Hazel

(See attachment 2 for Federation Star Fleet file photo.)

Known History:

Nothing was known about Cmdr. Rogers until his appearance in Star Fleet files at registration with Star Fleet Academy. The following parameters then became apparent ...

Engineering crew, Utopia Planitia, Mars. (Federation year) 2402-2406

Star Fleet Academy, 2406-2409

Lotus Fleet, 2409 - present

Last known assignment. USS Spectre, Federation Akira class Heavy Cruiser

Unsubstantiated reports place Cmdr Rogers on the Ferengi maurader of DaiMon Mok prior to the Utopia Planitia reports. Current assesment, based o known history and Star Fleet Academy files, place a rating of 8.5(out of 10) on Cmdr Rogers.

 This rating based on engineering and warp field dynamics studies at San Fransisco, Earth; as well on specific reported actions between the USS Spectre and Klingon Defense Forces during the past two years.

Threat Assesment: High

Turn Assesment: None. Cmdr Rogers half Romulan ancestry precludes possible Klingon Intelligence profiling for turning.

Recommendation: Kill on Sight

End transmission.

 Shelly turned the screen off once again and swivled back and forth in her chair, lost in thought for a moment. She herself had been found to be half Romulan, so if this Rogers guy had indeed taken her from the Syndicate, then perhaps it was because he was a kindred spirit. But no matter, she couldn't leave their employ, even had she wanted to. As she mulled this thought over, the tactical officer to her right grunted for her attention. Facing him, Shelly gave him a nod to proceed.

"Passive scans complete Captain. No nearby vessels of any type. The base is readable, but through the clutter of the Hromi cluster, and given this distance, we cannot obtain life form individuality. This human base Captain ... it is a Capital class!."

"Yes Lieutenant. The Famous Lotus Fleet's home base. Never mind that, what about their fleet. Where are their ships?"

 Scanning his screen again the Klingon officer replied factually.

"Internal scans reveal six vessels of different configurations. Power scale readings suggest one each of a Defiant class, Intrepid class, Prometheus class, Akira class, Avenger class and a Nebula class. We cannot ascertain if any vessels are docked on teh back side of the station."

"Very good lieutenant. Tag the Akira as Alpha One, mark the rest. If the Akira moves, let me know immediately."

 

 Turning cautiously in his chair at communications, the sturdy Klingon lieutenant addressed his captain.

 

"HoD. De' ngeH ra'lw' korak."

 

 Shelly motioned from the command dais to have the transmission sent to her personal screen. As it sluiced down from overhead she unconciously brushed her hair away from her forehead. Commander Korak was Klingon intelligence, so this was likely an intelligence update for ship's captains. According to her contacts within the syndicate, the intelligence officer was simply an intermediary, passing along information for high command. The screen stopped in front of her view and she touched the power up icon on its lower left frame. An intelligence intercept scrolled downward. Gathered, no doubt, by surveilance operatives between Earth and the Lotus Fleet star base. Subspace transmissions were covertly listened to, if they were not encrypted.

 

The intercept concerned recent decisions forwarded from Starfleet Command to the Lotus Fleet, and Korak was simply updating KDF ship's captain's. As she read the scrolling file, Commander Rogers' name sluiced up the screen and Shelly rapidly stopped the read out to focus on her nemisis's name.

 

""Commander David Rogers, position Executive Officer, assignment USS Phoenix is to be put on the list of eligibility for a starship command position. This officer is also requested to serve on the technical investigation comitee assigned to the case of the USS Diamond Star's unexplained disappearance and return to Utopia Plenitia Shipyards (see file in appendix A).""

 

 Of course, appendix file A wasn't attatched. But the information stated clearly that Commander Rogers was on this Phoenix.

 

 Shelly closed the file and opened the intelligence registry. The Phoenix was the newer sentinal class assigned to this base last year. According to the file, her cruiser would be slightly overmatched head-to-head; not counting this ships ability to fire while cloaked. Regardless of that, she had no intention of fighting the federation at this time, although she would defend herself if push came to shove. All that mattered was the fact that Rogers was not on the Akira vessel, but this other one. She was about to change files again to look it up when navigation interupted her thoughts.

 

"HoD vergh DIvI' Duj mej logh. defiant Segh!"

 

Nodding affirmation, Shelly gave orders to keep track of the small ship but take no other action at this time.

 

"ghoch neH. mIn mu'tlhegh'e' ja'chuqtaHvIS 'oH."

 

   The Ya'Vang hung motionless along the edge of the Hromi cluster for two days, gathering intelligence on the remote Capitol class star base. Even with the scattering effect of the cluster's numerous young stars and proto stars, passive scans revealed the goings of ships by their drive signatures resonating within sub space. These electromagnetic traces were slow to detect using passive scans, but eventually revealed approximate mass and velocity of the target. Thus, the ships that left the Lotus base were eventually traced and their approximate direction of travel deduced from their wake trace's.

 

 Shelly studied the traces on her board, deducing from the information the destinations of the four ships that had left the capitol class base over the previous three days. The small defiant type signature had gone toward the neutral zones and was of no concern. A larger trace,most likely the Prometheus class by it's spectrum signature, had left and gone toward the Azure nebula and Klingon space. Shelly also ignored that one and studied another trace. Suggested by its signature as the Intrepid class, it had just left the star base ten hours ago and had travelled past the Ya'Vang at about fifteen lightyears. Because the of the passive sensors limited results from within the cluster, and the distance involved, only now was this information available. Cursing lightly, Shelly recalled the intelligence report of the previous day. Utopia Planitia was at Mars, near Earth, deep in Federation space. If this Rogers charaacter was purportedly to be investigating something there about a Diamond Star, then the probability of his being on this Intrepid class ship was high. She couldn't afford to miss the chance.

 

"Degh! He HIjmeH qaSpu'DI' Duj 'e'!"

 

 The Ya'Vang laboriously swung about and jumped to maximum warp.

 

Wolf 359

 "HoD! rI' maH!" *Captain! We are being hailed!*

 'About time', Shelly thought with exasperation. She had sent the message over six days ago.

"'oH jang." *Answer it*

The forward viewer sprang to life to reveal a backdrop of scattered debris and a bright beacon pulsing through the clutter. The wreckage, remnants of the Federation fleet that battled the Borg at Wolf 359, effectively hid the large klingon cruiser's cloaked signature; Especially because the Ya'Vang was motionless along the periphery of the vast expanse of dismembered ship hulls. 

 Directly in front of the Ya'Vang, a ship appeared, dropping out of warp and coming to a full stop a few thousand meters in front of the Ya'Vangs position. Almost simulatneously the comms officer enabled the transmission from the now visible Keldon class cruiser. The screen coalesced to reveal a Cardassian woman, the very person Shelly had messaged six days ago. Without preamble, Dejar spoke, while glancing amusingly about the revealed Klingon bridge within which Shelly sat perched upon the raised command dias..

"Well well Shell, you look comfortable!"

 Shelly smiled back at her cohort, a fellow asassin of the order. Her illustrious past as a Cardassian Obsidian Order operative had been cut short with the destruction of the order's fleet in 2371, at the battle of the Omarion nebula. The fact that she wasn't present there was only due to the fact that prior to that doomed raid, Dejar had been on the one crippled ship the Obsidian order had built at the Orias system in Cardassian territory. It had been severely damaged during an intercept battle with a Federation Defiant class escort ship. The ensuing repaires caused her and her ship to not be available to engage the Dominion homeworld 39 years ago.

 Since that time Dejar had ultimately joined the Syndicate, in order to find a use for her Obsidian Order training. As a spy she had few equals, and her talent for finding things ... information, people, even technology, was invaluable. Thus Shelly had asked her sybndicate colleague to find Commander Rogers. So, with equal amusement, Shelly replied in kind to Dejar.

"Glad to see you too Dejar. You came as needed, and you have my thanks. But why not cloaked? We are well within Federation space."

 Dejar smiled back while looking around her own bridge slightly.

"Why bother. I'm just a friendly Cardassian passing through." Dejar shifted slightly in her chair and her demeanour took on a more serious tone."But, you didn't ask for my health Shell. I have the data for you, as requested. Why the interest in this star fleet commander? You should be concerned with the boss! They want you back and are ... actively, searching for you."

 Shelly glanced around her bridge uncomfortably, knowing full well no one ever left the syndicate, but having her own curiosity toward this commander Rogers to fullfill. She noted as much then back to her, relatively lone, friend.

 "Dejar old friend, I must see this through. Why did he kidnap me? Why drop me at a relatively non-descript hospital on Risa? What was his reasoning in all this? I must know before I consider returning!"

 Dejar studied her assassin friend carefully, but detected genuine distress from her counterpart. The two had worked together on numerous missions for the sybndicate, and Dejar considered the dimunitive half human a trusted ally and formidible killer. As a former Obsidian Order operative, she full well knew the demands placed upon agents, but also sympathized with her fellow female's anguish.

"Very well then Shell. You know I'll help with what I can. Please, come aboard. My ship is faster, and I must tell you the Syndicate is aware you've comandeered this Klingon battle scow anyway. Time for you to jump I'm afraid."

 Shelly thought it over for a few seconds. It was obvious that the hevily modified Keldon class ship Dejar commanded was superior to this one. And equally obvious was the distrust she held for this Klingon crew. She could, and already had, handled the Klingons individually and in very small groups, but their fear would eventually be overcome by their honor. Yes, it was time to go.

"As you wish Dejar."

 The transport beam initiated immediately, as Dejar had known Shelly would accept her invitation as practical. Materialising on the bridge beside Dejar, Shelly had the fleeting glimpse of the Ya'Vang staring menacingly at her through the view screen before the Orias cloaked and swung away, leaving the Wolf graveyard behind in a quick jump to warp.

By Schaell Schyssyllyss on 01/29/2016 @ 12:44pm

Do not forget to identify which ship the post belongs to in BOLD CARACTERS in the title.

By Connora'tu Felez on 01/29/2016 @ 11:30pm

Having connection issues over the past 2 days.
Spent most of the day working on it, looks like I got it licked now. Sorry for the delay.

By Kheren on 02/01/2016 @ 8:27pm

I removed the Horizon from the scanned ships because the flagship is still in the pocket universe where it has overseen the colonisation project of Eden III for the last three months and did not come back to base yet.

By David Rogers on 03/12/2016 @ 1:41pm

http://www.bing.com/translator/?ref=SALL&br=ro&mkt=en-US

If you want to translate the Klingon in these posts, feel free to use the Bing translator

By Kheren on 03/12/2016 @ 4:51pm

you might want to take into account here that the Lotus moved out of SB lotus and then jumped at Transwarp 3; on the Klingon sensors, this would register as an impossible warp 27! They would lose contact with it in mere seconds... and they would themselves reach sector 001 only well over two months later! (while the Lotus take less than two days!)

That should certainly give pause to Shelley about her hunting plans, as simply pursuing the Lotus would seem like next to impossible.

By David Rogers on 03/13/2016 @ 4:12pm

I was aware of that. :)

By David Rogers on 03/13/2016 @ 4:12pm

I was aware of that. :)

By Kheren on 03/13/2016 @ 7:31pm

Cool because as things stands here, she will reach sector 001 long after the investigation will be over lol!