[Adster94]

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[Adster94]

No Time For Fear

“You know, this is not the best way to spend your afternoon.” The young girl shook her head, still keeping her eyes on her male companion.

“I don’t care,” came his reply.

The young girl persisted. “Your shuttle leaves in less than two hours, and you need more training.”

The young man’s brow furled a bit. “You sound like my mom.” He paused and looked away. “My father says I’ve all the training I need at this point.”

“But don’t you think the commander would—“ She was interrupted.

“Let’s not talk of my training. Just enjoy our time, my love. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, so I want to soak up your smile and this wonderful sun.”

He smiled warmly, a contagious expression that warmed her heart. The two sat for what seemed like an eternity, looking out over the meadow, enjoying the warm breeze, and occasionally discussing what their future might look like. She was too young for service now, but that would change. And then they could be together, in the stars.

Eventually, voices came from over the hill. No communicators or alert relays up on this mountainside. Just the shouts of adults, and the obvious heightened sense of anxiety in their voices. Something was happening.

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The young children were scurrying about, at a frantic pace, running to and fro. They were dodging debris and screaming with sweaty and dirty faces. The playground was not just for swings and repulsor-tech, but it was a stage for their grand tactical plans to rule the world. At least, that’s what it was to them.

“Ok, you can’t do that,” yelled one of the boys. “That slide has plasma inhibitors so you can’t say it was destroyed like that.”

The one with the toy gun gave an angry face through his wet hair. “This is a Federation phaser – I’m not using plasma.”

“Well then the shields on the base are protecting from simple photons,” said the first.

One of the girls ran up with a toy gun in her hands as well. “You two will never take over the playground if you squabble over the rules.”

The two just looked at her and sighed.
“Besides,” she continued. “I’ve already disabled your shields and taken control of your main system. The base is mine.”

The two boys were not happy. In this competitive game for control of the world… Or playground… One did not have time for subversive, rule-breaking tactics such as this. And she did it all the time.

The boy with the play gun had a rather adult solution, no doubt from his father’s teachings. He aimed his gun at her and fired, making the disruptor noise from his mouth as he did. “Now you’re vaporized, and the base is mine.” He smiled proudly.

The boy up on the main play structure smiled as well, since the girl was noticeably upset.

They could not react as the older couple from up on the hill came running down into the play area. “Come on, haven’t you heard the sirens?” The alert calls were indeed audible from here. “Let’s go!”

“Come on,” the boy on the ground said to his two friends.

“No, just you. Father said just the family.”

“Then why is SHE here?”

The boy shook his head. “Just do as I say!” He grabbed the younger boy’s hand and they all ran together.

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“Are you sure this is everything?” The woman was concerned, for obvious reasons, and it was showing in her actions and her voice.

The man looked at her with a smile, which served as a veil for his own anxiety. “Yes, once the kids are here, we will be set to leave.”

The woman went back into the house to undoubtedly look frantically for other items to pack into the shuttle. It was a good thing the man and his son were officers and had a shuttle. Others around the village were not as lucky.

The kids came running down the hill and into town, practically floating through the small streets and arriving at their home. “Have they said what it is?”

The man looked at his sons and the girlfriend. He knew exactly what it was, and he actually knew most of their efforts were likely in vein. But he had to try – the whole planet knew they were in danger, and it was not in their nature to be complacent and wait for the inevitable.
“They are still looking at the extent of things, son.”

The older boy shook his head – that wasn’t an answer, and yet he knew why his father had responded as such. And it was just then that he looked up in the sky, still holding the girl’s hand, ignoring his father’s attention, not noticing his mother coming back out of the house with an arm-full of more personal affects.

The man joined the gaze of his eldest and just stared. They were looking towards the sun of their system, but the star’s bright burn did not harm their eyes as it was masked by the broader spacial event.

“It came faster than they thought,” he said quietly, pulling his family near him. He looked up as they all huddled. It was almost good, as it was too late to worry or cry or shout or run. They were afraid, but they could not dwell on it. The seconds that followed were filled more with awe and wonder than fear, as it was not something people saw more than once in their lifetime.

“Aefvadh,” said the man, welcoming their devastation. Their fate lied with the planet and the stars this day, and their lives would be consumed by a wave of destruction, instantly sweeping through their star system. It would be an oddly beautiful few seconds.

Hobus hit many planets this way, including the Romulan homeworld. Many families and towns and planets were destroyed that day, and the Romulan Star Empire would writhe in pain from this blow. They would not falter, though, as it was not in their nature to be complacent with circumstances like this. But all of the families and towns and planets like this would be remembered and honored. D’era, the Romulan way, would not lie down in sadness, but would be reborn from these memories, stronger than before.

[Adster94]

Spolin' For A Fight

“As most of you are aware, tensions between the Federation and Klingon Empire are the highest they have been for some time now, especially with multiple disappearances along the Klingon border over the past month,” Captain Young stood at the foot of the conference table, looking towards all of her senior offices, she pressed a button on the large monitor to switch the screen to a map of their current sector.

“Here, is where the latest incident occurred, convoy Alpha 2-1 escorted by the USS Buffalo, was attacked and presumed destroyed by Klingon forces,” Young quickly highlighted the last known position of the convoy, and highlighted several more locations. “And these are the locations of the other disappearances. This clearly has Starfleet on high alert.” She saw the look on her young crews faces which she knew all too well: fear.

It has been believed for some time that war with the Klingons was inevitable, their Empire has been fiercely growing over the past 50 years, but now the Federation has thrown a spanner in the works: colonisation in sectors the Klingons wanted for themselves. Now the Federation encounters issues along the Klingon border all the time, minor skirmishes and a spree of disappearances has the Council worried and confused. Starfleet however, sees this as a very clear sign that the Klingons want war, but the Council doesn’t – thus at every turn, Starfleet gives up ground.

“Before we lost contact with the USS Buffalo, they transmitted this image,” the young Captain changed the image to a distorted picture of what was obviously a K’tinga class vessel with distinct markings. “This ship is the one we believe to be responsible for the 11 incidents documented within this sector, and we’re going to hunt it down.”

“Hunt it down? Captain, surely that would start a war,” the newest member of the Resilience’s bridge crew, Lieutenant Richards, quickly jumped on what the Captain said.
“Yes, we are going to hunt it down, but we aren’t going to attack it,” she quickly responded.
“What do you propose we do? Ask them out for a drink?” Captain Young’s oldest friend, and XO Commander Andrews, clearly making a comedic gesture, as the mood was dull and negative.

“No, we are going to shadow them. The USS Canberra, in it’s latest encounter with the Klingons discovered a slight imbalance in their energy field whilst cloaked, that can be detected within five light years – this gives us a minor safety margin.” Once again, she changed the image on the screen to their current flight path and moved onto what everyone was interested in – what they were doing.

“This map shows the course of two convoys, Zeta 2-7 and Tango 4-9 – both escorted by 1 Okinawa class escort; not strong enough to take on the K’tinga, but we are. Our course is going to take us on a parallel course with both convoys within 2 days, allowing us to respond to any distress call, but we will be the closest target to the Neutral Zone. We need to keep our eyes peeled, and make sure we’re in a position to react to any movement.”

She gestured towards Lt. Westall, the helmsman of the Resilience, and gave the order: “Lieutenant, set a course for the neutral zone, maximum warp.” He nodded and headed back towards the bridge.

2 WEEKS LATER

For the past two weeks, everyone onboard the Resilience had been uneasy, struggling to sleep and prepping for a battle that may never come. To make matters worse, there was no sign of the Klingons on sensors, whilst being so close to the border this is a very unusual occurrence. Since the Federation colonised regions close to the Klingon Neutral zone patrols have been so frequent that there is always a Klingon ship on sensors – but not now.

“Two weeks…no Klingons…no nothing…” Lt. Westall mumbled to himself whilst sitting at his station, “Anyone else feeling as uneasy as I am?”
“I think we are all feeling the strain Richard, keep focused” Andrews quickly responded, whilst Young clearly was focused on other things, he leaned over to her, “Sarah, are you ok?”

She mumbled her response, ”Yes I am fine, I can just feel that something is going to happen soon…” She paused briefly then faced him. “You remember that feeling I had near the Cestus system?”
“How can I forget it, if it wasn’t for you we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“I am getting a similar feeling now, something is going to happen and -” She stopped as Tactical Officer Lt. Commander Peters announced to the bridge: “Sensor alert, picking up unusual energy readings approximately 4.2 light years away.”
“Is it the same readings we have from the Canberra?” Young quickly responded.
“Yes Ma’am, wait, the readings have changed – the ship has decloaked!” Everyone on the bridge felt a sudden jolt of alertness.

“Bring up the sensor readings onto the view screen.” Young stood up from her chair whilst the view screen changed. The screen now showed a map of the sector, including the neutral zone border, as well as the positions of the Resilience, the two convoys and the Klingon vessel. The Klingons were flying dangerously close to the Federation border, mere metres away from crossing it, but their movement was equally erratic.
“What are they doing? They must know that we can see what they are doing.” Andrews stood up, and moved next to his Captain.
“Considering the K’tinga class has sensors comparable to a Constitution class, they know exactly what they are doing” Peters contributed to the conversation in the only way he knew how, with tactical information.

The Klingon ship icon kept edging closer and closer to the Federation border, near enough touching the border but not crossing it. Regardless, the presence of the Klingon ship in the neutral zone is bad enough, violating the treaty that the Federation has with them, although they never have trust worthy.

“Why don’t they cross over and be done with it? What is the point at messing around?” Lt. Westall grew ever more impatient with the actions of the cruiser. The Klingon ship now was proceeding along the border, without crossing it but moving along a parallel course with the Zeta 2-7 convoy.

Young had been frozen staring at the view screen since she stood up, considering her options, as always, and wondering what to do next. She has always trusted her gut feeling, especially since she saved the Resilience from destruction when she ordered red alert, moments before a Bird of Prey decloaked and fired. From her experience, she knew what was going on, and how to respond…

She began to mumble, “they are spoiling for a fight…”
“Sarah, you ok?” Andrews became concerned by the lack of activity from his friend.
“Yes, don’t worry. They are spoiling for a fight, they want us to react and engage them” she paused for a moment then let off a small smile, “and that is exactly what we are going to do.” She turned around and sat back in her chair whilst everyone looked at her in surprise.
“Sarah, are you sure we should actually engage them? Our orders -”

“Our orders are to protect the convoy, no matter what, this is the only way to do that. This ship is the ship responsible for the loss of over 20 freighters and 5 Starfleet ships, this is going to end here. If a fight is what they want, that is what they are going to get. Are you all with me?” She looked around the bridge to see if there were any signs of disagreement, of which there were none.

“Well then.” Everyone sat back into their chairs and focused on their stations as Young gave the order, “Red Alert, all hands to battlestations. They wanted a fight, now we will give them one. Mr Westall, plot an intercept course, maximum warp. Engage.” The bridge went dark with a bright red flashing glow, as everyone prepped for a battle they hoped not to have. When a Klingon is spoiling for a fight, the best thing to do is give them one. At least, that is what Young thinks.

[Tain]

Great job to our writers, both stories are quite enjoyable!

[Eaglesg]

Great job to our writers, both stories are quite enjoyable!

I agree with Tain, it was hard picking just one story !

[Adster94]

Thanks to all those who have voted thus far, voting is open for another 4 days.

[Adster94]

Voting closes at 18:00UFP tonight and the authors will be revealed!

[Tain]

I hope the authors will continue these stories in the future, regardless of who wins. I am curious to see what happens next!

[Adster94]

Authors of these stories:

No Time For Fear - Caymen Greener

Spoilin' For A Fight - myself

Thanks to all those who voted and read the stories!

[Eaglesg]

I hope the authors will continue these stories in the future, regardless of who wins. I am curious to see what happens next!

I agree with Tain !

[Caymen Greener]

Congrats, Adster! Well written story, mate!

[Avenger]

I hope they continue as well! UFP book club/publishers club???;-)

[deuZige]

Any chance there will be any more short story competitions anytime soon??