Problems on The Horizon

Mission: Whispers in the Clouds

Timeline: Day 2 - 1100

• Location: USS Casseopeia

"Captain Kiana to the bridge, yellow alert." The lighting changed. Shields were raised and weapons began to charge. Commander Porter had been in command of the Cassiopeia for about 3 hours now, following his Captains order to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. He tapped a few controls on his arm rest, checking the status of the weapons and shields. He turned as he heard the noise of the ready room door opening, revealing the Captain. Like most Nebula class ships, the bridge module was designed to be removed or replaced. During the Dominion War the bridge of the Cassiopeia was destroyed. As they were in short supply, this ship was replaced with a Galaxy class bridge module.

The Captain looked to her first officer as he stood and moved to the chair to his right. "Report?"

"We detected a ship closing in at high warp. Its warp signature matches those in use by the Karemma Foundation. It appears to be on an intercept course." The Commander turned from the Captain and continued to tap away at the console in front of his chair.

"Captain," the Andorian security chief called out. "The ship should drop out of warp in approximately 4 minutes."

"Thankyou Commander zh'Vahi. Lieutenant Sonak, open hailing frequencies."

"Channel open," he replied in his monotone, Vulcan voice.

The Captain cleared her throat. "This is Captain Rebecca Kiani of the Federation starship Cassiopeia. Please identify yourselves and state your intentions." The screen flickered, and was then replaced by a Karemma captain.

"This is a vessel of the Karemma Commerce Ministry. My name is Hirok. We were dispatched from Karemma on a mission of great importance, to help find a starship from your Federation that has gone missing. The U S S Galvalant?" He spoke the name of the missing ship as though he wasn't entirely sure that it was correct.

"The USS Galavant." Captain Kiani confirmed.

He nodded, thanking her "Yes, the Galavant. They were to arrive at Karemma within a few hours, carrying some perishable good from the Alpha Quadrant. When we heard they were missing, we felt compelled to come and help the search."

"So you are here to protect your goods?" Kiani's tone was direct.

"No, no no," he replied with mild annoyance. "We are not here just for our goods, we are here to help find the ship. I have dealt with the Federation for some time now. Some of your officers are what I would consider friends." He seemed sincere in his reply, at least the part about considering Starfleet officers his friends. "We are here to help find one of those people."

Rebecca looked to her first officer, who clearly shared the same confusion that she did. "You didn't even know the name of the ship - "

"ETA 1 minute Captain." Interrupted Lieutenant Sonak to which the Captain replied with a curt nod.

"So you expect me to believe that you are here to help find an officer on that ship?" She was becoming increasingly suspicious of this Hirok. She tapped her command console and sent a text message to the Tactical station, ordering the Commander to lock weapons on the incoming ship. "Why are you really here Hirok?"

"I already told you," Something caught his attention away from the view screen. He nodded in reply. "I am here to help with the search. I will commence with my scans once I drop out of warp. Hirok out." The screen flashed off leaving only the view of the nebula and the stars.

"Red alert, ready weapons. I don't like this one bit." The Captain immediately ordered, her demeanur remaining calm and composed, yet her orders firm, and clearly understood.

"Aye Sir, weapons ready." The Andorian commander called over. "They should be dropping out of warp in approximately 20 seconds."

The XO looked towards his Captain. "What are you thinking Rebecca?"

"Honestly, I have no idea Deven. This just all seems to... Convienient. They were dispatched to look for a person on a ship, but they didn't know the ship name?" Commander zh'Vahi interrupted their conversation.

"Sirs, they are dropping out of warp, weapons remain targeted on them. But, something's..." He paused. Clearly something was wrong. "I'm losing tactical control."

"Conn is down." Came the voice of the young conn officer. The Captain turned from the tactical officer to the ensign sitting at the conn.

"Engineering to bridge. Some sort of virus has infected out system, our computer techs are trying to slow it down. It already tried to vent the cargo bays, but we overload the system."

"I knew something was wrong," she said as the bridge lights started to flicker. "Commander Porter, you have a background in computers, go to engineering, help them get rid of that virus." With a nod he stood and headed for the turbo lift at the rear of the bridge. "Commander Savage, Commander Porter is on his way down to help out. Do what you can, bridge out." These people were supposed to be our allies, she thought to herself, as she turned to zh'Vahi. "Hail that dam ship now."