Star Trek: The voyages of the USS Apollo

Chapter Nine: The Bounty on Apollo

August 25th 2410

"Captain's Log: Star Date 387348.378. The female Changeling, Ada, has been with us for about six days. Ever since we saved the ship she was travelling on from a brutal group of pirate raiders. Ada has been informed of the Dominion and it's crimes against sentient life. She was shocked and appalled at what her own people had done. But she agreed to travel with us to the Alpha Quadrant. Apparently Ada is now looking for a fresh start in the Federation and has agreed to give us information regarding the Gamma Quadrant in exchange for passage to the Alpha Quadrant. Apparently she has crossed several thousand lightyears searching for her people, unaware that she has been headed away from them all this time. Now she has to go back the way she came in order to get as far away from the Dominion as possible."

Ada was in one of the Crew Quarters she had been assigned to, the same one that Lieutenant Toral Laren slept in each night with nine other Crewmen and was staring out the window at the eternal abyss of space. Ada had always wondered what was out there and now had the honour of learning with the greatest interstellar explorers the Galaxy had ever seen: Starfleet. True, Ada herself had explored strange new worlds, met new life and new civilisations. She had boldly gone where she had never gone before, but now she would do so with those who had been exploring the Galaxy for more than two hundred and fifty years. Ada had shapeshifted to be wearing Federation civilian clothes and was wondering what life would hold for her when she arrived in the Federation. That was when Toral said "I like looking out at the stars too ya know." Ada turned around to see Toral standing behind her in full Starfleet uniform and said "My mother used to take me to look at the stars each night when I was a child. It was my favourite thing to do. Still is in fact." Toral sat down on the bunk mattress by the window and said "Ya know some early Humans believed that the stars were Gods and prayed to them each night. I wonder what they thought Luna was?" Ada thought for a moment and said "Maybe they thought that it was the Chief God?" Toral laughed a little bit, but then froze in fear as she saw a Drakor pirate ship approaching at high speeds. Ada saw it too and said "We have to warn the Captain!"

As the pirate ship approached with weapons armed and ready, Ethan said "Red Alert. Raise shields." As Toral and Ada entered the Bridge the lights turned red T'Vrell said "The pirate vessel is hailing us Captain." Determined to end this matter peacefully, Ethan said "On screen" and the image of a Drakor pirate appeared on the viewscreen. Like many pirates had in stereotypical old Earth stories this pirate captain had an eyepatch over his left eye and a short beard growing. There were scars around his eyepatch and an evil grin on his face. The pirate then angrily said "I am Captain Tarkan, of the Fortune Seeker. I am giving the Crew of the U.S.S Apollo ten minutes to surrender your advanced Warp and weapon technology. If you don't then you shall face the fury of me and my crew." Ethan stood up and defiantly said "That will not happen. I understand that you are aware that our weapons can easily destroy a ship such as yours, so I strongly insist that you leave us alone. Or it shall be you that is destroyed." Tarkan had an angry and furious look on his face as he said "Transport boarding crews to their ship. We shall steal their technology and then sell it to the Reptarian Empire in exchange for the bounty on the Apollo."

Ethan's face lit up with fear when he heard Captain Tarkan say that the Reptarian Empire had placed a bounty on the Apollo. Ethan then realised something terrible, but knew that now was not the time to explain it because a boarding crew could come on at any moment. Ethan turned to Toral and said "Lieutenant Laren, set the shields to block transports onto our ship." Toral began pressing buttons as she said "Yes Captain." Ethan then turned to Voq and said "Lieutenant Commander Voq. Tell security teams to be on standby to intercept any pirate boarding parties and fire to disable that ship." Voq grinned as he said "Yes Captain. It will be an honour to defeat these cowardly pirates."