Chapter 36 - Teaser! (Patreon)

Still working on my second run through of the chapter polishing things up.  Should have it ready for publishing here on Thursday or Friday night.  :-)

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Comfortably sitting in my captain’s chair with my legs crossed, I probably looked like a King on his throne as I stared at the stars through my ship’s sensors, my attention split between multiple tasks, including monitoring ship traffic on short and long-range sensors to ensure no one was too close or on an intercept course, tracking the journey of my 11 sensor modules and monitoring their status reports, and reviewing the engine logs from our recent warp travel test.

“B’Elanna, I’d like to begin the slipstream test in the next hour, do you require more time to review the data from our warp trials?” I asked over the comm.

“Negative, Captain, engineering is ready to proceed as scheduled,” B’Elanna immediately responded, sounding happy with all the progress we’d made.

“Very good, prepare for the test-” I started to say, before I was cut off by a loud, insistent beep from T’Maz’s console and a similar ping in my mind.

“Captain, we are receiving a priority 1 distress call, audio only,” T’Maz reported.

Wow, why did it suddenly feel like I was going to be sucked into an episode of Star Trek?

“Let’s hear it,” I calmly ordered.

“To any allied ships in range, this is the Federation colony of Kessik IV requesting emergency assistance! Our long-range sensors have detected Hur’q ships on an intercept course. It is estimated that they will arrive in system in the next 3 hours. We urgently request any and all assistance! To any allied ships in…”