Star Trek: Delta Expedition - Chapter-14

The Malon Transport approached the Asteroid field ahead when the Justman and Bluford intercepted it. It came to a halt, dwarfing the two shuttles that blocked it's path. Teshurr and Mikita gazed upon the ship, seeing the size of it.

Mikita checked the sensors. “They are carrying 83.4 isotons of theta radiation.”

“That's enough to wipe out the entire colony in a matter of minutes.” Teshurr replied.

Then the LCARS chirped. “Incoming hail, from the transport.”

“Open hailing frequencies.”

“This is controller Rabock of the transport Muron. Explain to me why you are blocking our path?”

“This is Lieutenant Teshurr of the Federation Starship Expedition. This asteroid belt, as well as the inhabitants of it, is under our protection. We ask you desist in your dumping of radiation in this area, and open up a dialogue to use it for other purposes.”

The sound of chuckles is heard from the Malon ship before they replied. “Our customer is paying us a price that I doubt your Federation can afford. Now move or we will make you.”

“The Federation has resources that can be very profitable for you, as well as your crew. Before you try to move us, I ask you hear our offer.”

There was a moment of silence as Teshurr looked to Mikita. Mikita checked the display before her. “Their weapons are still offline.”

“He must be thinking about it.”

“From their run ins with the Voyager, it might be something more sinister.”

Just then Rabock replied, “How can you make a profit from waste?”

“We have technology to remove the dangerous radiation from your waste and recycle the remainder into Warp Plasma.”

“So what? Warp plasma is the reason we have so much waste.”

“True, but think about this. If you are paid to remove the waste, how much profit is there to gain to resale it as plasma?”

Once again there was an eerie silence from the Malon. “You should have been an Ambassador.” Mikita stated with a smirk.

“It is part of the curricular. Besides, I did some reading up on them. They Value profit more than life itself.”

“They should give the Ferengi a run for the money.” she chirped back just as there was an answer.

“Tell me....why should I believe you. You are two small craft with particle weapons compared to our Transport. We can easily push you aside.”

“This is true, but do you really want to risk an opportunity to become one of the richest Malon controllers in this sector? Besides, size is irrelevant when you consider that your targeting sensors are hampered by the radiation you are carrying. Spatial charges need to be precise to cause any real damage, and our size and maneuverability will be a factor in how many you have and how many to get by us.”

Once again there was a pause, but Mikita was quick to act as their weapons came online.

“Initiating Sidania Delta four nine.” she announced as the Malon ship fires a spread of spatial Charges. The Justman rolls over to the port as the Bluford starts to move just as the charges explode all around the area. The Justman narrowly escaped the shock waves, but the Bluford was not as lucky as it's engines go offline. The Malon vessel tractor beamed the small craft as it begins to move off. Teshurr, dizzied by the maneuver that Mikita initiated, tried to get his bearings, but Mikita was aware what to do next.

“Shields on, arming phasers.” she announced as she charged the vessel. Closing the distance did not allow the charges to detonate as the Justman began to fire first, knocking out their tractor beam and then the starboard weapons. The Muron continued to make a wide turn to their port.

“Take out their Port Launcher!” Teshurr exclaimed, yet it was a bit a late as the Justman ducked under the Malon ship before it gained speed. A rapid succession of phaser fire came from the Justman, missing the port launcher as the Muron went into evasive mode. Just then, the LCARS on the Justman chirped.

“Incoming ship!” Mikita stated.

“I hope not another Malon Transport.” replied Teshurr.

Just then, one phaser strike hit the Port Launcher, leaving the Muron toothless but still running until a tractor beam grabbed the ship. The Justman adjusted itself to come to the aid of the Bluford that was floating free in space. It was that moment they realized the ship that came to their aid was the Expedition.

As Teshurr finally got his bearings, he answered the Hail. “Teshurr here.”

“Lieutenant, any casualties?” the voice of Captain Yates chimed in.

“We are ascertain the damage to the Bluford, but we are fine here.”

“Good. We will beam over the crew. Bring the Justman into the Hanger, we will talk to the Malon.”

“Understood. Teshurr out.”

Mikita looked to Teshurr with a somewhat playful smile. “Sorry, Lieutenant, for the rough ride.”

Teshurr, a bit surprised with her piloting, simply checked the shuttles’ systems. “You probably saved the Bluford, as well as ourselves, Ensign.” This gets a more beaming expression from her as she took the Justman back to the Expedition.

Back on the Bridge of the Expedition, The Captain sat on the Bridge with Norcona and Ambassador S'anra by her side. Commander Morgan manned the helm as they viewed the Muron on the main screen.

“Incoming hail from the Malon ship.” announced Lieutenant James.

“Onscreen.” the Captain replied.

Rabock seemed a bit anxious as his bridge appeared somewhat damaged from the attack. “Who are you, and how dare you break up a negotiation!”

“I am Captain Vanessa Yates of the Federation starship Expedition. As for your negotiations, it appears you had one of my shuttles in your tractor beam. As well, you fired upon my crew. I don't consider that negotiating.”

“Your crew had interfered in our dumping operation that is a binding contract.”

“This is Command Norcona. Our contract is no longer valid.” Norcona stated as he stood and looked to the screen.

“You cannot do this! We were promised Borg technology!” Rabock replied maddeningly.

“We can no longer promise you payment, and the Borg would target you just as they targeted us.”

“What are you saying? The Borg are dead! We witnessed it!”

“The Borg can adapt! It would be foolish not to believe that in time, some of the Borg would adapt.” replied Captain Yates.

“It is true, Rabock, and if they have assimilated my people, they will find all the equipment we gave as payment.”

Rabock appeared unsure to trust Norcona or Captain Yates, yet the state of his ship was far more concern. “We will not dump here, but this Teshurr spoke about a process to recycle this waste. Can you really do this?”

The Captain was feeling a bit more relaxed as Teshurr and Mikita arrived on the bridge. “If we survive this event, I promise to open a dialogue with you and any other Malon that is interested.”

“We will consider your offer, Captain.”

With that, the screen went blank. S'anra was not impressed by the dialogue as she looked at Yates. “Brokering a peace with profit. Very interesting choice.”

“When away from home, you must play to the home crowd.” replied Yates.

“Yes, but will your diplomatic skills be useful against the Borg?” asked Norcona.

“Chances are, no. But with the rest of my crew, and some ingenuity, we may have a fighting chance to prevent them getting their hands on that Boronite.”


Captains Log Star Date 55659.82. It’s taking all of our teams to come up with a plan of action against the Borg, as, with every minute that passes, they will assuredly be coming closer. Dr. Gunn will be working with the EMH and Commander Morgan to begin work on a new neurolytic pathogen to fight the Borg. This one will be more localized so that the Borg won't give away our presence in the Delta Quadrant. As well, it will help extract those Caissacians that have been assimilated and reverse the process. Lieutenants Teshurr and Drek are working on weapons that can be used against the Borg. In this case, we only have 80 Photon Torpedoes to go into battle with, as the Expedition is a science vessel. But our size and maneuverability will be a bonus. Our shielding is another concern for Lieutenant Commander Greene, who has developed new shield modulation techniques just for the Borg. Working with Ensign Lydinar should also help her come up with new shielding techniques as well as the ability to bypass Borg shielding. Also working in concert with them is Ambassador S'anra, who seems eager for this mission. We believe that the Borg having no knowledge of the new Romulan cloaking device may also give us an edge for a tactical strike team to infiltrate the Borg, rescue those they can, and set up charges to take out the Borg before they can contact others. Yet one loophole remains: informing Starfleet, but Lieutenant James and Ensign McKinnon may have a very ingenious plan to do just that.



“A Trans-warp subspace transceiver.” Ensign McKinnon stated as he stood before the Captain in her Ready room with Lieutenant James.

“Is that even possible?” the Captain replied.

“We believe so, Captain.” James responded. “That temporal eddy we encountered in the Trans-warp corridor may be the means to do just that.”

“Sending a transmission through a temporal corridor? A subspace signal is just data, not a physical object.”

“Correct, Captain, but subspace can access a warp signal as well as stationary space. Surely using the Trans-warp beacon that operates on the same principle as a transceiver, it should be able to transmit and receive a signal quicker than a normal subspace signal.” McKinnon stated with some enthusiasm.

“Even if we could send a signal, it would have to be something to get their attention.”

“Yes, and I figured out what to send. One of the Talaxian EMH's”

Yates raised an eyebrow. “A Mark I Hologram?”

“I said the same thing, Captain, but even our Mark III Holograms use a more sophisticated program which will take hours to decode, breakdown, and then reassemble.” James replied.

“But the Mark I's have already been used in this capacity a number of times by Voyager.” added McKinnon.

So our plan is dependent that a Mark I hologram can convince Star-gate Alpha to send a fleet to aid us as soon as possible.” Yates pondered this for a second as the two officers stood before her, awaiting her response. “Do it!”