Corporate Dispute - Chapter 1

'''2249 Andorian Freighter Brumara Somewhere between the Delos system and Sheliak space'''

Captain Shiratt rubbed the back of his left antennae as he stood behind his navigation officer staring down at the sensor display in front of them. The Andorian freighter captain’s hardened eyes interrogated the strange blob that pulsed on and off at the top of the octagonal display that had attracted their attention. The blob indicated an object in space at the very edge of their sensor range possibly unaware that the Andorian freighter’s sensors had detected them.

Shiratt was a short and stout Andorian whose complexion betrayed his increasingly advanced age. The best years of his youth were long behind him and his career with the Andorian Interstellar Freight Consortium had settled in to captaining the ''Brumara. ''He knew he had been passed over for promotion to a more managerial position but had made his peace with it. Instead he worked at furthering his reputation for reliability and soundness of mind in his ship’s role; hauling ore across the Federation.

“It’s matching our speed perfectly,” reported the navigational officer, a middle-aged Andorian female named Tirol who had served on Shiratt’s ship for many years. “Warp 5.2.”

Shiratt’s hand had given up massaging the nervous itch on his antennae and was now supporting his weight on the back of her chair as he leaned down closer to the screen as though looking for something on the screen, an answer that so far escaped him.

“Still no transponder signal?” he asked her.

She checked her instrument panel before answering, “Nothing. Should we contact Starfleet and ask for assistance?”

“Not yet,” said Shiratt. “If it proves to be a sensor malfunction or just somebody who forgot to switch their transponder on then we will get it in the neck from both Starfleet and Andor.”

Tirol looked puzzled as she queried her captain’s choice of words. “In the neck?”

“Something I picked up from one of the pink skins in the captain’s lounge at the the Delos Transfer Station.”

“Is that all you picked up from him?” she asked referring to Shiratt’s gambling prowess.

“Don’t be so rude,” he said jokingly rebuffing her.

The blob disappeared off the sensor screen signalled by a dull beeping sound. Tirol silenced the warning sound and said, “It’s gone!”

“We’ve probably overtaken it,” reasoned Shiratt. “It’s dropped out of sensor range.”

“I still think we should inform Starfleet, sir,” said Tirol. “Even if it is just to let them know that somebody is out here without a functioning transponder at least.”

Shiratt sighed and his antennae drooped sullenly. “If you feel you must but it’s probably nothing.”

Shiratt’s dismissal of her suggestion made Tirol feel somewhat dismissed by her captain which offended her own personal sense of honour. Despite her being on his ship for many years she felt he still viewed her as a subordinate whose views were no more important as the latest raw recruit when compared to his own. For his part, Shiratt had built a career as being one of Andor’s toughest freighter captains. He had commanded the Brumara for nine standard Federation years and had never failed to deliver his cargo.

“I just feel that given we are quite close to Sheliak territory that Starfleet will want to at the very least investigate it,” she explained with a more authoritive tone.

Shiratt threw his right hand up in an impassive manner. “The Sheliak have been quiet for months now but as I said, if you wish to inform Starfleet then go ahead. I won’t stop you.”

Tirol accessed the communication system and set the subspace frequency to contact Starbase Komarov, a space station in orbit around Delos IV named after an early Human space traveller who was killed in his attempt to return to his home planet.

“Starbase Komarov this is the Andorian Interstellar Freight Consortium vessel, Brumara. Are you receiving me, over?”

After a few moments the subspace radio crackled in to life with a female voice. “Brumara this is Starbase Komarov; we are receiving you. Pass your message.”

“We have detected an object following us at warp speeds and operating at the extreme range of our sensors. The object was not transmitting a proper transponder code and did respond to hails. We lost contact with it a few moments ago. I am sending you the coordinates, now.” Tirol tapped the coordinates in to the comms panel and transmitted them to Starbase Komarov.

“Coordinates received,” replied the voice. “We will investigate. Thank you Brumara. Komarov, out.”

Now that she had sent the message, Shiratt experienced a momentary feeling of foolishness. Perhaps it was best that Starfleet were told of the strange object. After all he was sure his reputation could survive sending Starfleet on a sensor ghost hunt or two.

It was then he remembered the Sheliak.

“Have you ever seen one?” he asked almost absent-mindedly.

“Seen what, sir?” she asked.

“A Sheliak. Strange creatures. I saw one once at the outpost on Xirillia when I was still serving with Captain Prolan on the Groutan. Our ship had been hired by the miners on New Rosmina to deliver four hundred tons of raw beritium ore. I was selected to be one of the ones to transport over to the Sheliak ship to handle the transfer.”

“I’ve heard they’re not humanoid?” she asked intrigued by her captain’s story.

“No,” he said. “They’re not. They’re appear almost gelatinous in nature from a distance and then rock-like close up. They have what appears to be a head but other than that they are just a mound of…Actually I’m not sure. Their skin has a reflective surface that glistens purple and pink as it moves.”

“Do they breathe?”

“I don’t know. We only dealt with the one and the room was filled with oxygen for us to breath at least although it was quite warm for an Andorian. I do know they wanted us off their ship as quickly as possible. It was like they thought we were radioactive; that our very presence was going to hurt them somehow.”

“I’ve heard they are quite xenophobic,” commented Tirol.

“When you think about it all races are to some extent,” said Shiratt.

“That’s quite a negative view on Federation society,” said Tirol.

“I’m Andorian,” stated Shiratt. “Part of the Federation; yes. But I know my ancestry and I am proud of it.”

They were suddenly interrupted by a loud beeping from Tirol’s console. She turned her head just in time to see the blob indicating the ship they had detected earlier speeding towards them. Before she could open her mouth to speak a smaller red dot appeared on the screen shooting from the ship and colliding with the point in the centre of the display indicating the location of the Brumara.

The bridge of the Brumara rocked with the sound of an impact against the side of the hull. The bridge then erupted in a shower of sparks and fire that engulfed Shiratt inflicting horrendous pain on the Andorian. His body had protected Tirol from the blast but the heat from the raging fire was itself excruciating for her and she wailed in anguish.

A few seconds later a second explosion rocked the freighter. The bulkhead behind Shiratt disappeared as the hull breached which quickly extinguished the fires with there being no more oxygen to fuel it and allowing the now dead bodies of Tirol and Shiratt to drift out in to the vacuum of space. The first weapon to impact the freighter had destroyed the warp engines and the remains of the Brumara sat motionless. Its attacker, a sleek looking ship with a deep blue hull and two pincer-like protrusions at the front seemed to sit in space staring with glee at its work.