Arrival at Qo'noS Part I

Posted on Sun Aug 31st, 2025 @ 1:23pm by Captain Robert Burke & Commander Vincent 'Vin' Salvatore & Lieutenant Marques Hunt & Lieutenant Juno Jones & Lieutenant Nelar & Lieutenant Ryssa Dari & Lieutenant JG Maël "Gideon" Beauregard & Lieutenant JG Gianna De Luca

1,736 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: EPISODE 1: SHAKEDOWN
Location: USS Hecate Bridge - Qo'noS Orbit
Timeline: MD036

::ON::

Few serving Starfleet officers had been privileged enough to see the Qo’noS bathed in the orange light of its primary star (Type K1 IV // Bright, Orange, Sub-giant as Burke recalled the designation from endless Academy lectures), but the crew of the Hecate were now amongst them.

Their convoy, battered by Orion battleships and raiders, the buffeting of radiation storms, and the hazards of crossing the theoretically non-existent border with the Klingon Empire, had made it, now flanked by a motley assortment of Klingon vessels. Burk stood in the center well of the Bridge, looking on through the viewscreen at the Klingon’s homeworld below.

After delicate negotiations with the Klingon Imperial Fleet, the Hecate had been allowed to approach, the Klingons still weary of the immense firepower an Excelsior-class ship could wield so close to their capital. Some Klingons still suspected the Federation of treachery.

The ruins of Praxis marred the view, great mountains of rock and mantle drifting through the system, and causing near-daily comet showers on the surface of the Homeworld. The fiery molten core of the moon was still aflame, the dilithium that had sparked the explosion still burning brightly in what little remained of the satellite’s atmosphere.

Amidst the orbital chaos stood one lone Federation station, a beacon of calm. Pinnacle station, a modified Regula-II-class facility was tasked with leading the Federation effort to assist the Klingons.

‘An incredible feat of engineering,’ Burke commented as he leaned forward, ‘the Corps of Engineers have installed industrial tractor beams right around the facility – she can catch most of the debris still falling towards Kronos. The rest the Klingons hoover up.’

Ryssa couldn't help nearly gawking at the scene before them. It was incredible. She carefully scanned the moon and the debris for later study. She didn't think the Klingons would appreciate it, but there was much scientists could learn from this.

Vincent sat at a station that was converted for Intelligence as he observed the chatter on the network coming through. When he heard the Captain comment about the marvel of the station he couldn’t help but look over, but his eyes only glimpsed the station as they focused on the remains of Praxis. He took a minute to lock out the station before standing up to walk over to stand at Burke’s side.

“Tragic, isn’t it?” He said as he stopped by Burke’s side and looked over to the view screen, his eyes still locked on the remains of Praxis. “Those who have crossed paths with the Klingons and suffered a loss at their hands would say it’s karma giving them what was due. Call it karma. Call it Klingon’s being over zealous with their mining. Call it a strategic hit by an enemy of the Klingon Empire. No matter how you spin it, lives were lost and their entire home world was affected. Either by the lose of their moon and how it affected the planets around it or the hit to their morality to see a resource of theirs destroyed in an instant with no time to do anything to stop it.” Vincent placed his arms behind his back and looked over to Burke as he continued. “One can only wonder, if this happened to one of our homes, would one of our enemies be as quick to help us or would they seize the opportunity and hit us when we were at our lowest.” He looked back to the view screen and added softly. “Lady Luck was empathetic. She made sure it was the Federation who answered their call and not someone else who would have taken advantage. More lives were spared just because we decided to help an enemy.”

Having missed the entirety of that conversation, Gia walked onto the Bridge at the Captains request and stood off to the side. Being on the Bridge wasn't her forte, she much preferred being in her office, but it was nice to be involved with everything nonetheless.

Spying the Counsellor slipping on to the Bridge, Burke waved a hand, and motioned her to one of the empty mission stations. 'Make yourself at home - I hope you read the briefing materials on Klingon psychology and culture,' Burke remarked as he flashed a smile, excited at where they had found themselves.

Gia nodded, "I certainly have been, sir. This is going to be an exciting experience for everyone." She had only dealt with Klingons in a very limited capacity previously, so to study them more from a professional viewpoint would be great for her.

Grinning in return, Burke chuckled, 'exciting is definitely one way of putting it Counsellor,' he gave her a lingering look while he thought she wouldn't notice, and turned to face the viewer once more.

TAG ANY FOR REACTION – ALL SENIOR OFFICERS CAN BE ON THE BRIDGE OR THEIR REGULAR DUTY STATIONS

‘Helm – thread the needle, and get the convoy home and safe to Pinnacle,’ Burke ordered as he settled in his chair. ‘Science, feed through any telemetry you can, we don’t want to be caught off-guard by any debris

"Aye sir," Hunt responded as he guided the ship accordingly. Never did he imagine that he would ever see Qo'noS. At least without an entire fleet backing them. These were interesting times indeed.

"Aye, sir." Ryssa switched her attention from scanning the area while watching the approaching planet on the viewscreen to adjusting the deflector dish and shielding to better protect the ship. The Hecate was well-protected already, but a continuous bombardment of debris could take a toll.

'Very good,' Burke stated as he leaned back in his chair, checking the telemetry feed embedded in its arm. 'Hunt, watch those two fragments to starboard - looks like they'll pass close by.'

"Aye sir," the helm officer replied as he continued to navigate the ship at a safe distance. The fragments drifted by the Hecate with no issue.



[ * * *]

As the Hecate drew near to Pinnacle, the duty Comms Officer moved to Burke’s side, and with Deltan daintiness bent his head and whispered into Burke’s ear. The Captain got to his feet, and nodded to Hunt, ‘engage docking procedures. You’ll have the Bridge for a while.’ He looked over at his Ready Room, ‘I have some business to attend to.’ Smiling he said, ‘there are some crew from Pinnacle waiting to come aboard – once they get to the Bridge, please point them in the direction of my Ready Room.

Looking back at the Captain, Marques nodded in acknowledgement. "I'll take care of it."

Before Vincent had a chance to say anything, he was interrupted by Marques speaking up. He gave a slight smirk as he placed his hands behind his back and stood by the Captain's desk. He admired his 'go getter' attitude, even thought some might have seen it as brown nosing, but he understood why the young Lieutenant was eager to put his good foot forward.

"In the meantime, Lieutenant, do you think you could keep your focus on flying the ship avoid hitting any Klingon Bird's of Prey?" Vincent couldn't help but ask in a joking tone. Not intending to put Hunt on the spot, but to add some levity to the bridge. Especially after his observation of the Praxis Disaster seemed to cause in uneasy silence.

"I will do my best," Marques acknowledged. "But avoiding the cloaked ones out here might be tad more difficult to avoid."

"If you hit one, Lieutenant, just remember they were cloaked and it's their fault. If Starfleet could detect them while cloaked it would have avoided a lot of surprise attacks." Vincent counted with a smirk as he placed his hands behind his back. "If they are out there, and they are cloaked, let's hope they are smart enough to stay out of the way. Let them have their suspicions of us. Once they see there is nothing to worry about, they'll know we aren't here to be a threat to them and the word will spread. Maybe this Accord will actually stand a chance."

"For a bunch of warriors their behavior is real scary," the Lieutenant responded. "And they obviously have the numbers advantage out here."

"They may outnumber us, but they also need us. A Klingon ship, no matter the reason, firing on the ship that was sent to them as part of this new found peace will place the Federation in a position to either severe the Accords or allow the destruction and the deaths of their own to go unpunished. They won't allow it because losing us would put them back where they started when Praxis was destroyed and they can't afford it." Vincent replied as he watched the main view screen closely. "As long as we don't give them a reason to fire, any act on their part, will jeopardize their world and its people. Believe me, Hunt. As much as they want to attack... they wont. The Klingon High Counsel won't let actions like that go unpunished. They signed the Accords and so they have to abide by it or risk everything."

Hunt chuckled a bit. "Let's just hope that they're willing to honor that Accords if the roles are ever reversed."

'Let's hope it never comes to that,' Burke murmured to himself.

TAG ANY

Several minutes later the turbolift doors revealing a freckle-faced Vulcan lieutenant with dark chestnut hair pulled back into a loose bun, and a young operations officer with dark blonde hair.

Gideon glanced over at Nelar with a half-smirk and stepped through the doors first. “See, doc? I’m an adaptable gentleman,” he said with a wry look and a lilt, enunciating each syllable.

Nelar let out a small sigh as she stepped through the turbolift doors behind him and onto the Bridge. “Indeed,” she stated dryly as she stepped into line beside him.

[To be Continued ...]

::OFF::

Captain Robert Burke
Commanding Officer
USS Hecate

Commander Vincent Salvatore
Executive & Chief Intelligence Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Marquis Hunt
Chief Flight Control Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Juno Jones
Chief Engineer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Ryssa Dari
Chief Science Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant Nelar
Chief Medical Officer
USS Hecate

Lieutenant JG Gianna De Luca
Chief Counsellor
USS Hecate

Lieutenant JG Maël "Gideon" Beauregard
Chief Operations Officer
USS Hecate

 

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