Story:Recent Upgrades

Captain R'Mala Copperstripe Sikith, daughter of a Lyran warrior, veteran of the Iconian War, commanding officer of the grand USS *Mol'ecurai*, sat at her desk skimming a report.

That was one of the downsides of being in command. Reports on personnel, supplies, and so many other mundane things needed to be reviewed and acknowledged. They were a "necessary evil" as R'Mala's mentor at Starfleet Command had once said. The report she was currently reviewing was a bit different. It was more interesting than most as it was on the new weapons systems that had been installed during her starship's recent refit.

"Very thorough, *riov*." R'Mala set the PADD down and looked up at the Reman sitting on the other side of her desk. "I look forward to seeing how effective these new arrays are in a practical test."

"I am sure that you will be impressed, captain," Tzenek said confidently. "Simulations run by engineers from both the Republic Militia and Starfleet shows that they have great promise."

R'Mala let out a low growl.

"That's the good captain's way of showing her skepticism." The dark-skinned human sitting next to Tzenek leaned forward in his chair with a smirk on his face. Faisal had many variations of that smirk and R'Mala had come to know them well. This one was amused. "You'll learn what all her different growls mean soon enough."

"Captain, do you not trust the work of our engineers?" Tzenek asked with a hint of concern.

"It is not that I distrust them or their work," R'Mala responded. "I simply have learned to..." She paused, twitching her whiskers as she looked for the best word. "...temper my optimism until practical trials have been completed."

"*Riov* Tzenek, you likely aren't aware of the captain's service history," Faisal said, drawing the Reman's attention. The Human had known R'Mala longer than anyone else on her crew since the two had served together aboard the USS Oberon. Faisal Khushrenada had just graduated from Starfleet Academy and R'Mala was serving as the starship's chief of security. The Human's aptitude then, and accomplishments since, were why she had requested him as her first officer aboard the *Mol'ecurai*.

"She was a tactical officer, first and foremost," Faisal continued, "and spent the decade leading up to the Federation's war with the Klingons developing various armaments. So you could say that she has some experience with optimistic engineers."

"I see." Tzenek paused, before turning to address R'Mala. "Captain, I hope that I can prove their optimism to be well founded."

"As do I, *riov*," R'Mala replied. "When it comes time to use these new plasma phasers, I would like to observe from your station. Please have your diagnostic program running to the side, so that I won't get in your way."

"I will configure my console as soon as we're done here."

"Thank you. You're both dismissed," R'Mala said with a wave of her hand.

The two officers stood and exited the ready room, leaving their captain to sit alone in her office. R'Mala sat a moment before standing and heading over to the small replicator in the bulkhead. She ordered a Lch juice, slightly chilled. The replicator could never quite match the taste of the fresh juice made by the Lch Clan, but it was good enough to satisfy R'Mala's craving. The juice was made from a variety of plants on Cait and had been a favorite of her father's. He was a Lyran who had fled the Lyran Star Empire years before it formally merged with the Caitian Republic. Taking a sip of the juice, R'Mala returned to her desk and relaxed in the chair.

It had only been four hours since the *Mol'ecurai* had left the Laikan Starfleet Shipyards over Andoria on its second shakedown cruise. Things were running smoothly so far and it appeared that the engineers had done an excellent job refitting the *Odyssey*-class starship into one of the new *Endeavour*-class cruisers.

R'Mala was still a little uncertain about the unique shield and weapons systems that had been installed. During her time at Starfleet Command, she had found an old report on the abandoned effort at plasma phasers. They had been theorized as a weapon that could more effectively combat the Borg, but development was stopped when the pulse phaser cannon became viable.

But Vice Admiral Sysary had gone to great lengths to make the collaboration happen, and both Starfleet and Republic engineers had been excited at the undertaking. But the systems still had yet to be tested and not knowing their capabilities in actual combat left R'Mala anxious. Especially after the last few years of near constant conflict in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

Testing the systems was exactly the purpose of this shakedown cruise, she had to remind herself. Thankfully she had an excellent crew. There were many new faces, after all an Endeavour-class carried a standard crew of almost two thousand, but the senior staff had returned. Well, at least the surviving ones.

Taking a long sip of the juice in her hand, R'Mala's thoughts drifted to those lost during the Iconian War. The *Mol'ecurai* had been commissioned for less than a year when the war erupted. The unpredictability of Iconian attacks due to their gateway technology meant that her starship stayed mostly unscathed until the Battle of Iconia. It was a desperate attempt to fight the enemy on their home field and it had failed. Miserably.

During the battle, a small Iconian starship had rammed into the Mol'ecruai, destroying over forty percent of the primary hull. The bridge had remained unscathed but hundreds of crewmembers were killed, including Lonam-Iber, the ship's chief medical officer. R'Mala's tactical officer, Sariah Powell, was aboard the USS Hachae and had been killed when the Aquarius-class corvette had taken fire intended for the *Mol'ecurai*.

Thankfully the warp drive had remained operational and R'Mala had been able to effect a retreat. Many lives had been lost that day and those who had survived would be putting in many hours with counselors for months and years to come.

R'Mala put the glass to her lips and let the juice play on her tongue as she took another drink. Internally, she was conflicted. The tactical officer in her wanted to see her ship's new weapons in action. But the war veteran hoped for more peaceful times where they would never be fired.

The center chair was still intimidating. Even after serving as both first and second officers for the past nine years, Faisal was still a little anxious about taking that seat and being in command. Especially over a ship as large as the *Mol'ecurai*, with a crew complement to match.
A chirp from a nearby console distracted Faisal from his thoughts. He turned to see the operations manager, a Tellarite named Erca Zoir, examining her screen.

"Commander," Erca looked up to address her superior officer, "I'm picking up a distress signal coming from the Nequencia system."
Faisal nodded towards the Tellarite. "Onscreen."

"Captain to the bridge." Faisal's voice broke the silence in R'Mala's ready room.

She downed the remainder of her Lch juice and placed the glass in the replicator for recycling. As she stepped out of her ready room and onto the bridge, R'Mala called to her executive officer.

"Sitrep, commander."

"We have received a distress call from the Republic Militia contingent assigned to defend the Nequencia system." Faisal stood as his captain approached, offering her the central chair. He continued, "Arrain Sathe reports that they are under attack by Nausicaan vessels. We are currently en route to assist."

R'Mala turned toward the operations station.

"Do we know the quantity and make of the pirate vessels, Commander Zoir?"

The Tellarite responded with a shake of her head, "Not at this range, captain. And the message from the lead warbird did not include that detail."

"Understood." The tip of R'Mala's tail began to flick back and forth, betraying her annoyance at the situation. "Helm, what is our ETA?"

"Twelve minutes to the system, captain, then another two at full impulse to intercept." The young Bolian officer turned from his console to face R'Mala and Faisal. "They are in orbit of the colony's moon and I thought it best not to risk exiting warp too close to the gravity well."

"It is generally prudent to be cautious, Lieutenant Doss, but lives are at stake. I want us dropping out of warp right on top of them." R'Mala's ears quivered as she gave the order.

Faisal leaned in and whispered, "Excited, are we?"

R'Mala gave her first officer a sidelong glance, a Human expression she knew he would understand.

"Perhaps," she whispered back. "It will be good to test the mettle of our reforged starship." R'Mala turned to address her operations manager once more. "Open a channel to those Nausicaan ships, all bands."

"Sir," Erca responded as she tapped at her console. "Channel open."

"This is the Federation starship *Mol'ecurai*. Cease hostilities and withdraw." No matter how much she tried, R'Mala could not rid herself of the purr in her accent. It would probably be one of those small things that she would never shake. But that was a concern for another day.

"No response, captain." Erca reviewed her screen. "They should be hearing us."

"Keep broadcasting, commander," R'Mala ordered before turning to her first officer. "Has the admiral been informed of our detour?"

"Not yet," Faisal responded before turning toward the operations station. "Erca, connext us with Admiral Sysary."

The Tellarite officer worked at her console for a moment before the wide viewscreen at the front of the bridge shifted to an image of a female Andorian. Her white hair was draped over her right shoulder, hiding the pips on her collar that showed she was of commander rank.

"Captain Sikith," the woman said, "the admiral is indisposed at the moment. How can I be of assistance?"

"Commander zh'Ukon, the *Mol'ecurai* has received a call for assistance from Militia forces defending the Nequencia system. Please inform Admiral Sysary that we will be late in arriving for the festivities, as I intend to assist them."

The Andorian, Shresayv zh'Ukon, nodded in understanding.

"I had just been informed by New Romulus Command about the attack. I'm sure they will be pleased to know that the *Mol'ecurai* is responding. I will inform the admiral. He will want a full report upon your arrival."

"He will have it on his desk before we arrive to pick him up," R'Mala said confidently.

"Thank you, captain," Shresayv responded. "Good hunting."

The viewscreen returned to the starship's forward view with particles being stretched as streaks of light across the cruiser's warp field. The part of R'Mala's tail that hung off the chair slowly drifted back and forth. Her hunting instinct, inherited mostly from her Lyran father, helped her sense the determination in the air. Although her crew had been through a living hell during the recent war, they were prepared to go back into the fray for those in need. It made R'Mala proud.

"ETA?"

"Three minutes," Lieutenant Doss responded.

"Commander Zoir, do we have any more information on the hostiles yet? Or any response to our hails?"

"No response, captain, and I'm filtering the data now." The woman's fingers flew across her console as she spoke. "There are two *Scourge*-class, two *Vandal*-class, and a single *Garumba*-class."

Faisal let out a low whistle. "This is no minor raiding party. They must be part of one of the new syndicates that formed during the war."

"So it would seem," R'Mala said in agreement. She then turned towards the tactical station behind her. "*Riov* Tzenek, focus on their weapons systems. Let's see if we can get them to withdraw with minimum casualties."

"Understood," Tzenenk said with a nod.

It was still difficult to not have Sariah Powell at the tactical station. The young Human had been abrupt, but R'Mala had valued that directness. Tzenek was a capable officer, but it would take some time to become accustomed to having him at the console.

"Captain, the lead warbird is hailing us," Erca called from her station.

"Onscreen," R'Mala ordered, her ears flicking forward as she stood.

The bridge of a *T'varo*-class warbird splashed upon the viewscreen. A young Romulan female sat in the command chair, looking a little out of her element.

"Captain Sikith, thank you for responding so quickly. These pirates have become more bold of late."

"So it would seem, Arrain Sathe. Pull your ships back. The *Mol'ecurai* will arrive momentarily and we shall occupy the pirates."

"Ten seconds, captain." R'Mala acknowledged the update from Tzenek with a swish of her tail.

"Arrain, see to your crews," she said, ending the communication. "Shields up. Red alert."

The bridge was bathed in a crimson glow at the captain's order. R'Mala glanced at Erca.

"Put those ships on the screen."

The viewscreen was suddenly filled with a large, claw-shaped vessel flanked by four smaller, but still fearsome looking craft. All began spitting disruptor fire towards the *Mol'ecurai* as it dropped out of warp.

"Helm, put us between that ship and the warbirds," R'Mala ordered as she climbed the ramp to her left, rounding the tactical console. She stopped before the screen that Tzenek had set to display diagnostics on the weapons systems. "*Riov*, it looks like we're getting that practical test. Open fire."

A few minutes later most of the Nausicaan vessels had fled, limping away bearing various levels of damage. R'Mala let out a purr and Tzenenk turned towards her with a puzzled look.

Faisal, still seated in his chair, turned back towards the tactical station. "And that, *riov*, means that she's pleased."

"He's correct," R'Mala echoed as she finally looked up from the data on her screen. "Tell your engineers, Tzenek, that they have done very well."

"We have reports from the three warbirds that repairs are underway and they are all operating under their own power." Erca stole a quick glance at her PADD to remind herself of the difficult Romulan ship names. Klingon names she could handle, but her Tellarite tongue always seemed to struggle with Romulan names. "The *Aye'Stelam* and *M'ret* haved arrived and taken custody of the pirates and vessel that were unable to flee. Militia engineering teams have also been delivered to assist the *Mosaram* and *M'sarr*."

"Thank you, Commander Zoir," Captain Sikith purred before turning her attention to the Andorian sitting next to Erca. "Commander ch'Soph, what is the status of our own vessel?"

Tall by Andorian standards, Tharel ch'Soph sat over thirty centimeters taller than his Tellarite crewmate. Erca tried to not let that intimidate her, but it sure helped that Tharel was friendly. That had not been the case with the last Andorian engineer she had worked with.

"Little different from when we left the docks. My team is finishing up a final diagnostic as we speak, but I expect that it will prove what you already know: our new shields are quite impressive."

Erca noticed a small twitch of the captain's ears, but otherwise the Caitian gave no other reaction. She knew that Commander Khushrenada could discern what each movement of Sikith's ears and tail meant, but Erca still had a long way to go before she would fully understand.

"Understood, commander, please let me know as soon as you have an update." Slowly swiveling in her chair, Captain Sikith turned to face Tzenenk. He had joined the crew after the refit so Erca was not very familiar with him yet. She made a mental note to change that. An operations manager should know all the senior staff well.

"*Riov*," Sikith said, "what of the new weapon systems?"

"I have little to add, captain," the Reman responded. "You saw the live data, and how efficient and effective they were. My report simply emphasizes those facts."

"Understood." Sikith slowly shifted her gaze to the other officers around the conference table. "Is there anything else to report?"

Erca indicated a negative with a brief shake of her head. She noticed that the other senior officers did the same or remained silent.

"Good," Captain Sikith said with a nod. "Return to your stations." As Erca stood to return to the bridge, she saw her captain open a channel with a tap of her finger. "Lieutenant Doss, lay in a course for New Romulus. Warp 7."

## Appearances

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