Playing the Hand You're Dealt

Posted on Sun Aug 25th, 2024 @ 3:57am by Captain Malcom Llwyedd & Ensign Gazo Daw & Crewman Thyra Kevensdotter

3,923 words; about a 20 minute read

Mission: Interlude 1 Gamma Quadrant
Location: DS 18, Upper Pylon 4

[ON]

Daw glanced over at the young woman standing in the turbolift next to him. He'd seen her once or twice on the Firebird but they'd never actually spoken to each other. He thought she looked... exotic?

"So. Uhh. You have much experience with Klingons?" Daw asked and immediately his face turned bright red.

"Some, sir," Thyra replied checking her phaser, "My stepmother is the head of House Rasmehlier but I didn't spend much time there. Most of the Klingons that I had contact with were either Star Fleet Officers or members of Lady Rasmehlier's personal guard. Good fighters but prone to overconfidence."

Daw almost looked over his shoulder to see what officer was standing behind him before he realized she was talking to him. It was surreal.

"Good to know," he managed to say. Don't sound stupid, Daw! he thought and then went on. "So it sounds like they are pretty upset. How do you deal with an angry Klingon? Because I've never been in this situation before."

"Meet force with force," Thyra answered, "Acting upset is normal for a Klingon. Aggressive yelling and insults are their love language. They will only respect you if you are strong and unflinching."

The turbolift came to a stop and the doors opened. Daw saw a wide corridor with an almost entirely transparent structure extending away from him. He was surprised at how expansive it was. He could see the Bird of Prey hanging against the black backdrop of space. He moved forward and walked toward the airlock.

"Meet for with force. right," he said as he moved. "Maybe I should have read up on these kinds of interactions but usually I'm just working with technology not angry Klingons." He sighed.

“Not to worry, I am more intimidated by technology than Klingons,” Thyra said somewhat flippantly, “Which is your dominant side?”

"Good question. I guess it's technology. On the other hand, I recently managed to shoot a Lorcan in mid-jump with a phaser, so that was good."

Thyra stopped and looked askant at the engineer. "No," she said patiently, "Which hand do you prefer to use? Left or right?"

"I'm ambidextrous," he replied.

Thrya rolled her eyes as she unclipped her phaser and tossed it to Daw. He caught it with both hands, his left hand above his right.

"Hand my phaser back to me, sir," Thyra asked politely. Daw offered the phaser in his left hand. Thyra took the phaser and said thank you.

She moved to Daw's right side and adjusted her phaser to allow for her draw to be unimpeded by the Ensign’s presence. All tricks that she had learned from her Shieldmaiden mother.

As they approached the airlock attaching the Bird of Prey to the station, a large Klingon in heavy armor, a bat’leth sling across his back, looked up at them. “Mev!” he shouted, “SoH 'Iv! ToH meqlo'!”

Daw’s comm badge translated the words as “Halt. State your name and business.”

Daw took a deep breath. "I am Ensign Gazo Daw of the USS Firebird. I am a propulsion specialist and have been ordered here by Captain Llwyedd to help repair your vessel," he said. Man I hope he doesn't cut me in two he thought and tried to stand up straighter.

"The Captain told me to expect a Federation engineer," the Klingon responded in a surly tone, "I didn't think that they would send a ghew Hom!"

Thyra frowned slightly and glanced towards Daw. The comm badge translated the Klingon's phrase as bug runt. She wondered how Daw would respond.

Daw frowned. "Oh. Well, I could always go back and tell Captain Llwyedd that the Klingons didn't want a propulsion specialist and wanted a genericengineer instead. Of course, that would create a long delay and I was under the impression that you were in a hurry to depart," Daw said and then smiled pleasantly. He might be only an Ensign but he'd been dealing with people who didn't understand engineering his whole life.

The Klingon snarled and spoke into his communicator. His voice was too low and distant for the comm badge to make a translation but after a short conversation, he turned back to Daw and Thyra and said, “The Captain supposes that you will have to do. He is sending a technician. You will have to leave your woman here.”

Daw took a step towards the airlock but was arrested by a Thyra’s surprisingly firm grip on his shoulder. “I am no mere woman,” she told the Klingon flatly, “I am his avwI batlh. Where he goes, I go.”

“That is not permitted,” the Klingon countered.

“Then you can explain to your Captain why you have shamed his ship.”

The Klingon’s eyes narrowed and he gave a non-committal grunt. Thyra kept her eyes locked on the Klingon’s. Finally, he acquiesced with a wave of his hand toward the airlock.

Daw made himself not turn and stare at the massive Klingon warrior as he strode past. He stepped through the open hatch, wrinkling his nose at the rank smell of the interior of the ship. He moved out of the way so that Thyra and the warrior could follow. They were in a passageway that was dimly lit.

"Where do we go?" Daw asked.

But there was no answer from the Klingon warrior as he remained outside the ship as the airlock closed.

"If memory serves, sir," Thyra spoke dryly, "The engine room is in the aft." Her estimation of the engineer was falling by the minute.

Before Daw could reply, a door on the interior side of the Bird of Prey slid open, and out stepped a Klingon woman about Daw's height. She was dressed in maintenance coveralls and more tools than weapons adorned her belt.

"Ah, the Federation engineers," she said, "I am acting Chief Technician Ko'lara."

Daw smiled. "A fellow technician! I am very glad to meet you. I am Ensign Gazo Daw. My specialty is propulsion and power systems, which is why I was sent instead of a different type of technician. This is my colleague, Crewman Kevensdotter," Daw said. "If you would like to show us to the engine compartment that would be wonderful."

Ko'lara observed the two Star Fleet members with a dispassionate and critical eye, noting Daw's tools and equipment and Thyra’s lack of the same. After a moment she said, "Follow me," and entered the turbolift.

"We passed a test," Thyra muttered softly to Daw before he entered the turbolift.

"I love tests," Daw said with a confident smile as they followed Ko'lara through the interior of the ship. The technician walked quickly and only moments later they entered the Bird of Prey's main engineering section. Daw wasn't surprised at the small size. He immediately spotted signs of a power issue.

"It looks like you've got an intermittent power surge," he said.

"A targ whelping could see that," Ko'lara replied with evident disdain, "I was hoping that trained Federation engineers would have a more helpful suggestion.

Thyra took a deep breath. By stating the obvious, Daw had presented the Klingon technician with a prime opportunity to challenge their expertise. She knew that they would be expected to respond in a manner that answered the challenge while simultaneously demonstrating their own expertise. But Thyra had no idea how to respond. Technical matters beyond how to field strip and maintain a phaser rifle were quite beyond her.

She hoped that Daw would recognize the Klingon's attitude for what it was and respond appropriately.

Daw felt his face flush. "Oh yeah?! Really? I'm so sick of people insulting me because I am an engineer and then turning around and asking for my help! I don't want to be here on your smelly ship! I'm only here because I'm following orders! If I'm so badly trained, then perhaps you should just fix it yourself ACTING technician! Oh wait, you couldn't, which is why you are here asking for MY help and doing a really bad job of it," Daw yelled. He turned to Thyra. "They can insult some other engineer at some other starbase. Let's go."

Raised eyebrows were the Klingon's only reaction to Daw’s verbal assault. "If you are offended by the odors produced by honorable warriors," Ko'lara offered dryly, "I could provide you with a clothespin." She waited a beat then laughed uproariously at her own wit.

Thyra relaxed. The insult indicated an acceptance of the Federation officer for the time being.

Ko'lara wiped at her eyes as her guffaw subsided then continued, "You are quite correct that we are not equipped to deal with this problem in deep space. A ship this age deserves an honorable death in combat not the indignity of a scrap yard. Our Chief Technician died in glorious battle against the denizens of the Gamma Quadrant and took with him the secrets of this old warrior's peculiarities."

None of what Ko'lara had said surprised Thyra. Klingon ships were built to be durable and easy to repair. Klingon disregard for anything outside of "glorious" warfare meant that maintenance and technical expertise aboard their ships was often lacking. Technicians were expected to live by the adage "It is a good day to die" by keeping their ships in fighting condition with little more than spit, bubblegum, and bailing wire.

She wouldn't be surprised if Ko'lara were the only remaining technician on the ship after the death of her Chief.

Daw managed a weak laugh at the Klingon's response. He stepped closer to the warp core and what he guessed was the main engineering console. "I took a class on non-Starfleet engineering so I am somewhat familiar with the Klingon systems," he said and began navigating through different sections of the engineering computer system, looking for any indication of what was causing the power fluctuations.

"This might be something," he said and looked up at the technician. "Have you discharged your main weapons recently?" He asked.

"Has the smell of our ship compromised your hearing?" Ko'lara replied sarcastically, "I just said that we had been in battle or did you think that we talked our enemies to death? Of course, we recently fired our weapons, although had it not been for Chief Technician Galrath we wouldn't have been able to."

Daw shook his head. "I did hear that. But what I mean was, have you fired them within the past hour? There's a static plasma bubble formed around your main disruptors. It's incredibly dangerous. If anyone should decide to fire those weapons, the ship, and probably a good chunk of the station, would be destroyed. If you haven't fired them for longer, the bubble could be even larger than I think it is," Daw said. He turned to Thyra. "Could you go to the bridge and speak to whoever is in charge and let them know that they should lock down all weapons systems?"

"Aye, sir," Thyra replied, and without another word she spun on her heels and departed the tiny engine room.

"She is well trained, that one," Ko'lara observed, "but no, the battle was over an hour ago. We destroyed our enemies, Kahless be praised, but the damage that we sustained forces us to make port at this starbase. Perhaps the static plasma bubble that you mentioned is a by-product of the battle repairs that Chief Technician Galrath made?"

Daw nodded. "I need to get closer to the site of the repairs," he said and rolled up his sleeves. "Finally we are getting to the good stuff," he said and slapped Ko'lara on the shoulder. "We are going into battle." He held up a hand before the Klingon could belittle him. "I know, not battle with a bat'leth but we are still putting our skill and strength against an opponent that can kill us. If we succeed, your crew and my station survive and glory is hours. Lead the way, Technician Ko'lara. The closer you can get us to the damage the better."

[Bird of Prey Bridge]

Thyra approached the bird-of-prey’s bridge. She was unfamiliar with the layout of the ship. The only appreciable time that she had ever spent on a Klingon vessel was her stepmother’s Vor’Cha class cruiser and then only once for a short period. But as she had told Daw that the engine room would be in the aft, then the bridge would be in the bow.

I had taken a couple of attempts, however, to find a way to get access to the ship’s command center. The turbo lift did not connect directly to it nor did the access ladders. She had been unable to ask a crewmember for assistance, even if she had been willing, as they were nowhere to be found. Attending to duties or elsewhere on the starbase, Thyra supposed.

She entered the bridge to find one warrior sitting in the captain’s conn, another seated at the pilot’s controls further forward, and a third at a console off to her right. Before they had a chance to interrogate her, she announced, “Acting Chief Technician Ko’lara has ordered a complete shutdown of the ship’s weapons.”

All three turned to stare at her. “Why did not Ko’lara inform us of this herself,” the one in the captain’s conn asked, “Why did she send a Federation petaQ to give order me?”

The epithet required no translation. Thyra drew herself up to her full five-foot-ten-inch frame. “Only a true petaQ would put his own ship in danger of a dishonorable death at his own hands,” she shot back.

[Starboard Wing]

Ko’lara led Daw to the starboard wing containing half of the ship’s disruptor cannons. Daw was so engrossed in analyzing the readings on his PADD that he paid scant attention to where he was being led. The readings continued to climb as they entered the wing pylon and eventually peaked well away from the ship’s centerline. “The readings are strongest here,” he announced.

“Right where Chief Technician Galrath made his final repairs,” Ko’lara said matter of factly.

Daw looked up from his PADD and beheld an elderly Klingon holding two power couplings, one in each hand. Most of his body was charred with burns but one undamaged wide eye stared balefully out at him.

“Galrath feasts with Kahless in Sto’vo’kor this day,” Ko’lara spoke in a reverent tone.

Daw stood in stunned silence, staring at the "repair" that the former Chief Technician had made. One part of his brain was screaming in disbelief and terror while another part was appreciating the dedication the Klingon had shown in saving the rest of his crew.

"That is one of the most... impressive repairs I have ever seen," he said at last. "I... uh... honor his sacrifice." He moved closer, ignoring the burnt smell that filled the starboard wing space. He looked closely at the power couplings. "Chief Technician Galrath was brave. However, after the surge subsided, the metal fatigue shown here, here, and here," he said pointing and three small spots on the right coupling. "Extend from the coupling, through the main casement and out into the exterior weaponry. That's where the bubble is forming and it's leaking into this space as well."

Daw touched his combadge. <=>Daw to Thyra. We really need this shut off. How's it going?<=>

[Bird of Prey Bridge]

The Captain drew his d’k tahg. “Who are you to insult me on the bridge of my own ship,” he demanded.

This was going about as well as Thyra had expected it would. She removed the pair of hand axes secured at the small of her back and ready herself for the Klingon’s attack. “I am Thyra, daughter of Lance, step-daughter to Lady Rasmehlier of House Rasmehlier. You will show the proper respect to my Lady else you will find yourself at war with a seated member of the High Council!”

The Captain’s eyes widened in surprise and, perhaps Thyra thought, a bit of fear at the prospect of offending by proxy a member of the Klingon High Council. But he did not change his stance or sheath his dagger. It was a classic Klingon dilemma. Having threatened an interloper he prejudged was challenging his authority as Captain, he couldn’t back down after the revelation of that interloper’s identity without a grievous loss of honor.

<=>Daw to Thyra. We really need this shut off. How's it going?<=>

“Stand by Ensign,” Thyra replied, “Negotiations are reaching a critical point.”

She still wasn’t certain that the Captain wouldn’t try to kill her as the most expedient way out of his predicament when a female voice to Thyra’s right said, “Little Shieldmaiden? Is it really you?”

Thyra was instantly transported in time and space back to her youth aboard Starbase 364, that brief happy time when her family circle had included her mother, her father and stepmother, and her half-brother. Little Shieldmaiden had been her family nickname but how did this Klingon know that?

She turned to see an older Klingon woman manning one of the tactical consoles at the rear of the bridge. “You have the advantage of me I am afraid,” Thyra said carefully.

“I am not surprised,” the woman replied, “You were still very young when I was discharged from Lady Rasmehlier’s security detail. I am D’Klala.”

The name had no special meaning to Thyra, just one name amongst many that her stepmother had associated with albeit reluctantly. Still, Thyra knew the forms and protocols. She bowed respectfully and said, “I greet you lady, and pay homage to your House and ancestors.”

D’Klala returned the bow with equal respect. “May Kahless bless you and shower your House with honor,” she replied, “Thank you for the honorific but aboard this ship I am simply Lieutenant. Now what is this about needing to shutdown the ship’s weapons?”

Thyra didn’t relax. D’Klala was being reasonable but there was still an armed and angry Klingon Captain nearby. “I am unclear on the specifics,” Thyra related, “but a plasma bubble has formed around the weapons such that if they are fired, it will cause a chain reaction that will destroy this ship and much of the starbase.”

“How did that happen?” the Captain demanded

“I don’t know,” Thyra shot back, “Engineering is not a subject that a true warrior invests much time in.”

The Captain considered her statement then returned his d’k tahg to its sheath with a low snarl, the Klingon equivalent of a shrug.

“Technician Ko’lara,” D’Klala spoke into the ship’s communicator, “Weapon systems are now offline.”

[Starboard Wing]

Daw heard the call from the bridge confirming that the weapons system was offline. He looked over at Technician Ko’lara, not sure how to proceed. He didn't want to offend the Klingon by attempting to remove the form Technician's body.

"What is the proper procedure for removing a Kligon's body after such a noble sacrifice?" Daw asked.

Ko'lara's eyebrows shot up and she stared at Daw in disbelief but her features quickly morphed into an expression of disgust. "You are clearly untutored in our ways," she replied with disdain, "so I will ignore the very great offensive to the honor of this ship and to Chief Technician Galrath that your suggestion gives. Especially as the Captain has already performed the ritual of bonding. No. We must contrive a way to incorporate the Chief Technician into the ship's circuitry or bypass him enough that the plasma bubble is dissipated."

"And if we can't achieve either?" the Starfleet engineer asked.

Ko'lara gave a low snarl, "Then I will advise the Captain that we need to seek out and engage the enemy in one finally glorious battle."

Daw paused and mentally ran through the situation. He had to dissipate the plasma bubble and somehow use the body of the former Chief Technician in the process. Plasma likes electricity he thought and then it clicked.

"Ok I can work with this," Daw said, finally in his element. He stepped up to the Klingon control panel and began rapidly tapping on the screen as he moved from system to system, looking for what he needed.

"We are going to use the plasma in the bubble to create a negative particle electrical burst. We will utilize your deflector system to generate the negative particle ray. When it hits the plasma bubble, it will collect the plasma and add it to the ray itself. In essence, it will drain the plasma bubble and continue out into open space until it dissipates completely."

Ko'lara considered Daw's proposal. "You would siphon off the plasma as one would draw Romulan poison from a wound," she nodded appreciatively, "But how do you propose that we prevent a plasma bubble from forming in the future,"

Daw nodded. "That's a good question and thankfully the solution is fairly simple. We simply have to repair the metal fatigue at the three locations and the plasma should then be vented properly through the ship's systems. In fact, you should see a 6% increase in your disruptor output. I can make the repairs with my equipment. Shouldn't take more than thirty minutes," Daw said.

Daw was true to his word and within thirty minutes he had effected the necessary modifications to strengthen the areas where metal fatigue was greatest. He had even been able to route a series of redundant energy conduits through the Chief Technician's body to give the casual observer the impression that the ship's energy was being passed through him to the starboard wing disruptors.

Thyra returned from the bridge about halfway through the repair and now sat on a ledge, juggling a pair of hand axes in an effort to stave off boredom.

When the repairs were finished, Ko'lara complimented Daw. "Very impressive Federation. You show great promise as a technician. I don't suppose that I could entice you to stay onboard." And without further prelude, her fist shot out and tagged Daw firmly in the shoulder. Stars appeared before the engineer's eyes and he let out a yelp of pain.

Thyra stopped juggling and tapped one of her blades against the metal grating that she was seated on. "Hey," she shouted as she hopped down, " That's enough of that. I am sure our Captain wants him back in one piece."

Ko'lara stared at Thyra as she advanced and gave a low snarl to the security crewman. "I shall escort you off of the ship," Ko'lara answered curtly before turning to march off.

"Are you alright, sir?" Thyra asked Daw will a tone that expressed concern.

"I don't think she dislocated my shoulder," Daw replied as he rubbed the joint, "but I will have the doctor check me out just in case. We were getting on so well. Why did she hit me?"

Thyra looked at Daw with brows knitted in a question. "You know that she was flirting with you? Right?"

[OFF]

Ensign Gazo Daw (NPC by Llwyedd)
Propulsion Specialist / Security Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298

Crewman Thyra Kevensdotter
Security Officer
USS Firebird NCC-88298


Acting Chief Technician Ko'lara (NPC by Thyra)

 

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