The Shipyard Part 3
Posted on Fri Jan 30th, 2026 @ 9:50pm by Captain J.T Carlson & Lieutenant Kris McEntyre & Lieutenant JG Daphne Crenshaw & Lieutenant Shiki Ichiose & Lieutenant Alice Zuberg MD & Lieutenant JG Kas Th'shrytrir & Ensign Aneitrius Mexi & Ed’Rah, Daughter of Khartan & Kro'NeQ, Son Of Y'thaK
3,875 words; about a 19 minute read
Mission:
Season 1, Episode 3: Trespassing
Location: Klingon Shipyard
Timeline: Stardate 1538.4
Captain's Log - Supplemental:
We continue our way through the shipyard. Our goal in sight. Meanwhile, Tigerfish remains close but each second may bring it one step closer to being discovered. We're on the clock
Racing through the shipyard, Carlson was tense, alert. The Klingon resistance had been light, odd for a shipyard this size.
Carlson stops, throws a hand up to stop them all and points towards a rather large window, looking down into a laboratory of sorts.
"Ooooh, what's this?" Shiki smirked mischievously.
Daphne stayed quiet but she slowly approached the window, keeping low and slow. She still had her phaser at the ready.
J.T crouched down, directing by hand signals for the away team to do the same. He peers over just slightly to see a large laboratory where several Klingons were work to pry open the Dolphin probe.
"It looks like they're trying to force out the memory tapes from the post." J.T answered Shiki.
"I thought you couldn't do that," Alice whispered, keeping her eye open for Klingons. "Not without the key, or the tapes get ruined."
"My thoughts exactly," Shiki remarked in agreement. "Starfleet Intelligence would have implemented a failsafe mechanism into the probe for just this occasion."
"Even so," Daphne said, "we have to consider the possibility that the Klingons have found a way to bypass those protections."
J.T furrowed his brow. If the Klingons pulled the tapes, their mission would end in failure, the tapes would destroy themselves.
"We need a way to disable the Klingons without harming the probe or risking the tapes," he started before he turned his head to look at his science officer.
"Any ideas, Ms. Ichiose?" J.T inquired.
Shiki leaned forward and carefully surveyed the laboratory for anything they could possibly use to their advantage.
"A-ha!" she exclaimed, spotting what appeared to be a large gas vent on the far wall. "Might need to find some sort of control interface, but if we play our cards just right... perhaps we could gas them and then make off with the probe before they have the chance to raise the alarm?"
"Klingons are resilient," Daphne pointed out pessimistically, "and gas takes time to effect the system. There's a good chance that one of them might be able to raise the alarm before they're all unconscious."
“Plus, the effects of gases on the body vary tremendously based on metabolism, mass, a slew of other factors,” Alice observed. “It isn’t quite as simple as the vids would imply.” She looked closely at what was available. “Huh. That said… we could make them a bit dopey.” She identified several gas tanks with Klingon markings. “Can someone check my translation? I think this might be nitrous oxide. They wouldn’t be unconscious, and they’d definitely know something is up, but they’d be slow on the uptake and a lot easier to overpower.”
"That could work, but Fish would have to make a quick getaway if we do this?" J.T commented.
"We're nicknaming it 'Fish' now? I gotta remember that," Shiki chuckled.
"Either way, it's the best solid choice i've heard, let's make it happen."
“Assuming the station operations centre is part of the same ventilation system, they’ll have trouble responding,” Alice observed as she picked up the first NO tank and carried it toward the control area. She gestured for the others to help. “But yes, they should be able to put out an alert and nearby ships will be able to respond. They wouldn’t be affected. I see some connector hoses up here.”
"Hey, if there's mischief to be had, I'm all in!" Shiki smirked as she moved to assist Alice with the setup.
Daphne kept her phaser at the ready, covering them.
"Let's be about it then" J.T nods to the two, pulling out his phaser again to cover them along with Daphne
Kro'NeQ Son of Y'thaK was bent over his console, brow furrowed in frustration. He had been at his post for what seemed like countless vatlh puzzling his way through the Starfleet probe's countermeasures.
A bead of sweat ran down between his shoulder blades. Failure was not an option for him. He had to succeed. Kro'NeQ's kinsman was notoriously unsentimental of those who failed House Khartan, no matter how closely they were related.
Looking up at the bulkhead above him, he sighed, running his tongue across his square teeth. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in one of the console screens, and quickly looked away.
Though he had been born with it, the smooth human-like forehead that cursed him was a mark of deep dishonour for his family. A shame that burned deep in the lineage, he had spent his life trying to atone for the sins of his family's past. Scientific service in the name of the Empire and her Defence Forces had been the answer. Not as glorious as command of a vessel, but work that would safeguard his kinsmen nonetheless.
It was the most a QuchHa' like he could hope for. Returning to his work with a growl, he worked through the schematics they had made of the probe, Kro'NeQ became oblivious to the environment around him.
Without warning, the sound of several sharp, mechanical clicks echoed throughout the chamber, followed by a soft hissing noise coming from up above them.
"La' Kro'NeQ!" one of the scientists alerted. "Someone's locked us in the lab!"
Looking up and grunting, Kro'NeQ bared his too-straight teeth at the scientist. 'Well don't just stand there like some brainless, wriggling piece of gagh, find out what's going on!'
As his underling went in search of what was going on, Kro'NeQ slapped the console, switching it from the schematics of the Starfleet probe, and to the door mechanisms. The systems blinked a harsh orange alert, and an insistent alarm beeped away at his ears.
He noticed breathing was becoming difficult, his head light. 'Something is wrong!' he bellowed across the lab. 'Check our air supply!'
Another scientist, already showing signs of oxygen deprivation, stumbled over to a nearby console and took a quick scan of the lab.
"Sensor readings are detecting unusually high levels of nitrogen oxide in the lab," he reported grimly. "It's almost as if..."
Before he had the chance to finish, he was overcome with an intense fit of coughing as he crumpled up on the floor, struggling to inhale what little oxygen was still available.
Swearing under his breath, Kro'NeQ worked his own console. It was indeed nitrous oxide. He alternated holding a sleeve up to his mouth and nose and typing commands as fast as he could.
No good ... breathing was becoming difficult, his head wadded with cotton wool. Black spots appeared in his vision. Kro'NeQ had no choice, no time.
As his vision failed and be began to keel over, he hit the alert klaxon that would summon the guards ...
"Well, shit, Shiki muttered as red alert klaxons began to sound off. "That wasn't supposed to happen..."
"We know it was a risk," Daphne said sharply. "We have to move quick. Hopefully, Klingons in other areas have been affected as well."
"Move, double time, we got to get to the probe before they destroy it. Phasers to stun" J.T said as he dashed towards the lab access.
“Yes, sir,” Alice said, phaser at the ready.
J.T flips his communicator open, it sqwaks a chirp. “Captain to Tigerfish?” No reply came, just the static of subspace.
“Damn!”
J.T continued down the corridor, alarms still blaring throughout the shipyard. His phaser aimed ahead, raised. The first of the Klingon Warriors summoned to the alarm appeared from the corridor with disruptors raised and bat’leths at the ready.
J.T aimed and fired, a lash of blue striking one of the warriors square in the chest, causing him to tumble over backwards as the second warrior fired his disruptor, green bolts screaming out towards the away team.
J.T got to the warriors first, one lashing out with his Bat’leth, swinging wide enough for J.T to be able to duck in time, returning the favor with a swift right hand punch to the side and a left hand to try to strike the cheek.
Alice was not well trained in close quarters combat, but she was good with a phaser. She stunned one that had been readying a disruptor and aiming it for the Captain. A second got off a shot at her that went wide, but she got off another shot and dropped him.
More seemed to be coming behind them. “This isn’t sustainable, sir!” she called out.
The Klingons always half-wanted to use the bat'leth. That unnerved some people. At a distance, Daphne thought that just made them better phaser targets. She aimed and fired. One down. Another. Another. But then she was among them. A bat'leth was coming right at her. She threw herself to the side, firing again at close range as she rolled. Staying low, she aimed a sweeping arc at the upcoming Klingons. With no friendlies in sight and worsening odds, she thought it worth the waste of energy. The Klingons, hardly sat still as she shot. Disruptor beams struck all around. She smelled burnt air. One grazed her thigh and she winced. "Dammit," she cursed, leaning against a wall.
On the bridge of the Tigerfish, the situation there had gone just about the same as it was on the station. Alarms on the helm/navigation console began beeping as one crew member on the outer walls turned towards Johnson.
"Sir, the station has gone under lockdown, I have heat plumes from two starships firing up in the dry docks."
"Ah... well that's not good," Ben muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Can we get in touch with Captain Carlson?"
Kris tapped at her station, all coming up with the same, no joy. "Negative Commander, They're jamming the entire comm spectrum."
Alarms beeped again. "Sir, new contact coming around the belt, Klingon D-5 Battlecruiser. Intercept in 5 minutes." the crewmember reported from the tactical station.
"Battle stations, everyone," Ben ordered as he nervously settled into the Captain's chair. "Looks as if we're going to be in for a firefight..."
'We're in no fit state for a firefight,' Kas replied with a grunt, antennae undulating with nervous energy as he brought the engines on board.
'Right,' Mexi replied, slapping her hand on the shields, 'best thing we can do is buzz the station at speed, and beam out our team as best we can. Maybe drop a few torpedos on the facility for good measure.'
"Agreed; Mr. Kas, make it happen," Ben nodded as he braced himself in the center chair.
'Alllright,' Kas drawled, powering up the impulse engines, and gunning them to full. The 'Fish lurched forward before the inertial dampers caught up, letting the crew breathe.
The Andorian kept the Lancaster-class starship close to the planet's rings, almost skimming the surface as he headed dead straight for the Klingon station. 'Let's hope our transporter techs are up to scratch,' he muttered, glancing at Mexi. 'We're gonna do an up-and-over,' he told her confidently. 'Just like Adrianople Seven, yeah?'
She looked at him bug-eyed for a second, calm Deltan demeanour cracking. 'Just like A-Seven? You sure?' Mexi dropped her voice to a concerned purr as she angled the dorsal shields to protect the ship from the ring debris. 'You remember we went up as one ship, and came down as three, right?'
'Yeah well, we didn't have you then, you were in Sickbay,' Kas shot back, antennae standing straight on end with concentration. 'We got this,' he said confidently.
'Captain,' Mexi said quickly, 'compensating for the planetary ring's debris is causing a bloom effect - it's a dead giveaway on our position. Hope we're all ready to cop some flack.'
"She'll hold. Shields Up, Ms. Mexi. Mr. Kas, evasive action, bring us in range of the station." Ben ordered as he sat back in the center chair, holding the arm rests tighter than normal.
“Clever, clever, Mister Carlson,” Ed’Rah said from her command chair as she watched the Federation ship get bigger on her screen. Her people would need to examine closely how Starfleet had eluded her. It would be a lesson for future battles…and a lesson in pain for whoever failed her.
“Ready disruptors,” she ordered. “Inform Kro’NeQ that he may be under attack.”
“He’s the one who triggered the station alarm, Captain,” the comms officer informed her. “We’ve since lost contact with his lab.”
Ed’Rah growled. The humans were one step ahead today. But not for long. “Fire on my command.”
Daphne flipped open her communicator as she struggled to stand. She wasn't sure how much more they could take. They had moment to quiet. "Crenshaw to Tigerfish, we're in a tight spot here." No answer. "Crenshaw to Tigerfish." She looked to the captain. "No contact, sir."
"Doesn't matter, we need to get the tapes from the Dolphin. Stack up on me!" J.T called to the away team, moving up to the lab door before shooting out the control panel with his phaser and releasing the door open. The gas rushed out, as J.T moved in, motioning to Shiki to move with him so she could grab the tapes as they stepped over the unconscious klingons to get to the probe itself.
"Right, quick and easy then, Ms. Ichiose."
"Famous last words," Shiki smirked as she reached forward and cracked her knuckles.
"Just get the tapes intact" J.T said as he aimed his phaser and cut the panel open, exposing the data tapes.
"You're up, Ms. Ichiose" J.T stepped back after his work was done.
Before Shiki had the chance, however, there was a loud popping noise from within the probe itself, followed with thick black smoke and a pungent, vinegar-like odor.
"Oh, shit!" Shiki cursed as she immediately realized what was happening. "Quick, gimme a hand here!"
JT put his phaser away, moving quickly to bat out the flames. They had to move quickly to save the data tapes, pulling out many as he could before the smoke got heavy.
"Take these and let's move!" JT said to Shiki, handing over tapes as quickly as he could pull them before he couldn't see anymore. Coughing a bit, he didn't feel any more data tapes and felt ok that he got all he could.
"Right, back to the Fish. Let's find what's jamming us." J.T said as he moved towards where Daphne and Alice were guarding the lab doors.
Daphne was covering them, still leaning a little against the wall. Her phaser was still leveled as she kept an eye out for more Klingons. She glanced over worriedly as something seemed to be amiss.
It seemed her hunch was correct, for no sooner had she done so that she observed JT and Shiki stumbling back to rejoin the group, their arms laden with at least a dozen or so tapes as thick, black and likely toxic smoke poured out from the probe.
"Sorry about the mess~" Shiki expressed with a not-at-all-sorry grin on her face. "We may have tripped the probe's self-destruct mechanism trying to cut our way in, so the Cap and I retrieved what we could."
"At least the Klingons won't get it," Daphne opined.
“Try not to breathe that in,” Alice offered dryly. “How do we get back?”
"We'll get to the outer edge of the station, see if that doesn't clear up the interference. Science Officer?" J.T turned to Shiki.
"Would make for a pretty useless station if the bulkheads are so thick it's nearly impossible to use your communicators the deeper you go," Shiki speculated. "I don't think a few less walls is going to make all that much a difference here; we're better looking for a communications center of some kind and seeing if we can boost our communicators' signal."
"Sound Option." J.T commented. "Where would that be on an Imperial Klingon Station?" He inquired, moving towards the door to help cover the away team as Shiki worked.
"Lowest deck of the station core?" Alice suggested. "If there are concerns about espionage, they'd want to keep communications systems close to station security. But antennae need to go on the outside, right?"
"There are no safe assumptions at this point, sir," Daphne argued. "Fog of war."
"What she said," Shiki agreed, indicating towards Daphne with her free hand.
"Right, let's move!" J.T lead the way, sprinting down the corridor with everyone closely behind.
Groaning and snorting, Kro'NeQ's eyes fluttered open. His throat and lungs felt raw, no doubt caused by the invaders poison gas attack on his laboratory. A cowardly war crime he thought to himself sourly. Rolling to his knees, he got to his feet, a sense of urgency quickening as he scented smoke and burning.
The alarms still blazed, the lights beating out a harsh pattern in time to the ear-splitting noise. Acrid smoke filled his nostrils, the Starfleet probe immolating its insides as it sat in his cradle. He recognised the hole in its side as the one that covered the tape storage. The oily smoke belching from it could mean only one thing.
QuchHa' though he was, Kro'NeQ still had the heart of a full-blooded Klingon beating in his chest. Letting out a roar of fury and frustration, he slammed a fist into the nearest console, denting both it and his temper somewhat.
Flipping a switch, he opened a comm channel to Ed'Rah. 'tey' Ed'Rah,' he growled into the comm interface, gravelly voice partially a product of the gas, 'our facility has been infiltrated. It appears those Starfleet Ha'DIbaH have sabotaged their own probe... There is nothing we can retrieve from it.'
There was a long pause on the comm line. “I see,” said Ed’Rah, her voice level and quiet, a perfect vocal mask hiding a quiet rage. “We have them in our sights. They won’t get away with this. Get ready for beam-out. We will talk soon.”
'Of course Ed'Rah,' Kro'NeQ bowed obsequiously as he acknowledged her order. 'May your hunt be a happy one,' he declared, snapping off a Klingon salute before cutting the channel.
The channel closed and Ed’Rah stood, her feet clanging across the metal deck. “Weapons free,” she snarled. “Get rid of that Starfleet ship.”
'Klingons have a weapons lock,' Mexi declared, voice tight as she slapped down on the buzzing indicator on her console. 'Expect incoming!' she cried.
"Divert all auxiliary power to shields!" Ben shouted. "Brace yourselves-!"
The Tigerfish shook violently as it took the full brunt of the Rop'A's salvo. Ben had to do everything in his power not to get thrown from his seat and halfway across the bridge.
"Damage report!" he demanded.
'Heavy damage across the ship,' Mexi replied, taking note of what the readouts were telling her. 'Engineering reports warp drive still enabled, but shields will need a boost from non-essential systems!'
Antennae at ninety-degrees, Kas slalomed the ship around a plasma torpedo.
'Going up!' he declared, throwing the 'Fish into a climb towards the station. 'Get ready to drop dorsal shields,' he instructed Mexi.
She tapped his arm in understanding. 'Ready when you are,' she called to the acting Captain.
"Let's just hope we get this right on the first try," Ben lamented. "On my signal, Miss Mexi."
The ship zoomed below the station, the hum of the ships dissipating from the background noise of the ship.
"NOW!!!" Ben exclaimed.
The transporter operator slamming down the controls, the whirr and whine of the transporter activating, howling as it scored a lock on the landing party.
J.T, Shiki, Daphne and Alice materialized on the transporter pad as the alarm klaxons rang out once more. It took them all a good few seconds before they realized what had happened.
"We did it!" Shiki exclaimed. "Holy shit, we did it!"
Before JT had the chance to respond, Shiki in her excitement ran over and chest-bumped him, knocking him off-balance and sending him toppling to the ground.
Daphne reached out to try to steady her captain but then winched in pain from where the disruptor had grazed her.
"Whoops, sorry about that, Captain," Shiki chuckled as she helped J.T to his feet.
J.T got up to his feet, brushing off his uniform. “Thank you, Ms. Ichiose, Ms. Crenshaw. I’m heading for the bridge.”
J.T handing the datatapes off as he hurried to the bridge.
"Let's get you to sickbay," Alice said as she helped support Daphne's weight and guided her out of the transporter room.
The Turbolift opened; J.T and company strode out onto the bridge and assumed their stations once more.
"Captain!" Ben exclaimed in surprise. "Is the probe safe?
“Probe has been destroyed and the data is with Ms. Ichiose.”
"Thank you, Number One. That was quick thinking." He said as he sat.
"Mr. Kas, escape course, helm hard left, 270, all engines ahead, Warp factor 6"
The engines whirred and whined as the spun up. The acceleration kicking in as Tigerfish banked and dodged and then fled the shipyard, allowing J.T to let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and leaned back in his chair.
"Any sign of pursuit?" He asked Shiki at the science station
Shiki glanced at the radar.
"None, Captain," she reported. "We've lost 'em."
He nodded and turned to Kas and Maxi once more.
"Navigator, new course for K-9, Warp Factor Six." J.T ordered as he finally relaxed for the first time since he arrived on the Tigerfish.
It may not have gone as smoothly as they would have liked, but they knew their enemy, they got the data and they were heading home.
A Success in his books.
"Mr. Johnson, you have to Conn." J.T said as he stood. "I'll be in my cabin" with that, J.T stepped into the turbolift.
-------
Captain J.T Carlson
Commanding Officer
U.S.S. Tigerfish
Lieutenant Commander Benjamin Johnson, Sr.
Executive Officer
USS Tigerfish
Lieutenant (JG) Kas Th'shrytrir
Helmsman
USS Tigerfish
Ensign Aneitrius Mexi
Navigator
USS Tigerfish
Lieutenant JG Daphne Crenshaw
Chief of Security
USS Tigerfish
Lieutenant Alice Zuberg, MD
Chief Medical Officer
USS Tigerfish
Ed'Rah, Daughter of Khartan
Klingon Battlecruiser Rop'a
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